Acne diagnosis, severity assessment, and treatment follow-up rely primarily on clinical examination. In vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) provides non-invasively, real-time images of skin lesions with a level of detail close to histopathology. This systematic literature review aims to provide an overview of RCM utility in acne and a summary of specific features with clinical application that may increase objectivity in evaluating this condition. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for reporting our results. We systematically searched three databases: PubMed, Clarivate, and Google Scholar (January 2022). All included studies used RCM to investigate acne in human patients and reported the investigated skin area and type (acne lesions or clinically uninvolved skin), the substance used in the case of treatment. Our search identified 2,184 records in the three databases investigated. After duplicate removal, 1,608 records were screened, 35 were selected for full-text assessment, and 14 were included in this review. We used the QUADAS-2 tool to evaluate the risk of bias and applicability concerns. RCM was selected as the index test, and clinical examination as the reference standard. The total number of patients from all studies was 291, with 216 acne patients and 60 healthy participants aged between 13 and 45 years. The 14 considered studies analyzed 456 follicles from healthy participants, 1,445 follicles from uninvolved skin in acne patients, and 1,472 acne lesions. Consistent RCM findings concerning follicles of acne patients reported across studies were: increased follicular infundibulum size, thick, bright border, intrafollicular content, and inflammation. Our analysis indicates that RCM is a promising tool for acne evaluation. Nevertheless, standardization, a unified terminology, consistent research methods, and unitary reporting of RCM findings are necessary. PROSPERO registration number CRD42021266547.


A study was made of the oral absorption of droxicam in the rat. Five minutes after administration of 1 mg/kg droxicam, only piroxicam levels (its active metabolite) were detected at the portal vein and caudal vena cava. The transformation of droxicam into piroxicam takes place in the gastrointestional tract. A pharmacokinetic test to compare the plasma levels of piroxicam obtained in rat and dog was then made after oral administration of droxicam and piroxicam. In both animal species the oral absorption of droxicam was not dose-related. However, droxicam given at therapeutic doses (0.2-0.3 mg/kg) was bioequivalent to piroxicam. The elimination half-life of piroxicam after oral administration of droxicam and piroxicam was 8 +/- 2 h in the male rat, 27 +/- 12 h in the female rat and 38 +/- 18 h in the male dog, whilst the half-life of oral absorption of piroxicam did not vary from one animal species to another. In the case of droxicam, however, this value was higher than that after oral administration of piroxicam, as a consequence of the process of transformation of droxicam into piroxicam. It is concluded that droxicam is a prodrug of piroxicam with a slower rate of absorption, but with the same bioavailability within the range of therapeutic doses.


This research aimed to measure the effect of tacit and explicit knowledge sharing on teacher innovation capability mediated by organizational learning. Data collection was done by simple random sampling via electronic to the teacher population in Indonesia. The returned and valid questionnaire results were 781 samples. Data processing used SEM method with SmartPLS 3.0 software. The results of this research showed that explicit knowledge sharing had a positive and significant effect on teacher innovation capability, both directly and through organizational learning mediation, while tacit knowledge sharing had a positive and significant effect on teacher innovation capability through organizational learning mediation. Novelty research was proposing a model for building teacher innovation capability through tacit and explicit knowledge sharing with organizational learning as mediation. This research can pave the way to improve teacher readiness in facing the era of education 4.0.


Intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) to detect cellular immune responses to infection or vaccination has become routine. Laboratories develop and optimize ICS assays independently and there are many variations of the assay in use today. However, little is known regarding the underlying biology that results in the variable outcomes following assay optimization. The results from the different assays can range from highly similar (slight changes in magnitude) to incredibly different, such as large changes in magnitude or a change in the responding cell types detected. These large differences prompted our investigation into the underlying reasons for the discrepancies in reported data for clinical trials. Here, we used leukapheresis samples from CMV-reactive volunteers to examine viability over time, the effect of costimulation, and response kinetics. The data show that golgi transport inhibitors diminish cell viability after 12 hours of stimulation, emphasizing the importance of viability markers particularly during long stimulations. Costimulatory antibodies increase responses but at the expense of sensitivity, given the increase in background. Interestingly, we found that CD4+ and CD8+ T cells exhibit differential kinetics in their response to CMVpp65 peptides. CD8+ T cells were largely exhausted by 6 hours following the initiation of stimulation, while CD4+ T cells continue to make cytokines well past 20 hours of stimulation. These data have implications on the design of ICS assays and the interpretation of data generated by ICS. Furthermore, the data provide a basis for understanding the differences in ICS assays and provide insight into the kinetics of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses.


Background: while access to safe water in Uganda increased between the early 1990s and 2010, current studies are showing that many safe water sources are not being properly maintained and so end up being abandoned. Since the maintenance of safe water sources is under the jurisdiction of water user committees (WUCs), this study seeks to measure the ability of water user committees in mitigating a deterioration in access to safe water. The overall aim is to explore the impact of social capital (represented by the WUCs) on sustainable development (represented by changes in access to safe water).
Methodology: Household level data was obtained from the most recent Uganda National Panel Survey (2013/2014). The survey collected information on 3,123 households, and this paper's data was taken from section 9 of the survey- Housing Conditions, Water and sanitation, which has 3119 cases. The types of analysis conducted were descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, mood's median test and ordinal logistic regression.
Findings: ten and 35 percent of households reported a deterioration and improvement, respectively, and 54.7 reported no changes in access to safe water. Households in communities with WUCs were found to be 52 percent less likely (OR=0.48, p-value <0.05, 95% CI from 0.42 to 1.03) to report a deterioration in access to safe water. However, the added advantage of having a WUC does not change the probability of reporting a deterioration in a major way since the estimated probability of reporting a deterioration when there is a WUC is just below 10 percent, and without a WUC is just above 10 percent.
Discussion and Conclusions: local water management through WUCs is a weak contributor to sustainability of safe water access in the context of Uganda. The results indicate that the influence of a WUC seems to be limited. The government and NGOs need to play a more prominent role in helping communities maintain their water sources through more innovative approaches, such as copayments.


Background: In several countries, including Brazil, the livestock industry plays a key role in the country's economy. Brazil has the second largest bovine herd in the world and the biggest commercial herd. Ticks are an ongoing problem for both large operation cattle producers and small family farmers. Rhipicephalus microplus causes expressive losses in cattle breeding, since it occurs in important beef production zones like South America, Africa, and Oceania. Some of the negative consequences of tick infestation to cattle breeding are anemia, loss in milk and beef production, and transmission of Babesia bovis and B. bigemina. Significant losses are caused by the cattle tick (R. microplus) in several regions of the world, costing around US$ 3.3 billion per year to the Brazilian livestock industry alone. The tick control methods are mainly based on synthetic acaricides. However, the improvement of current tick control requires the identification of new molecular targets in tick physiology and development of molecule compounds to target important physiology pathways. The strategies proposed to address this issue are expand the knowledge about the molecules involved in the detoxification of chemicals to enhance the efficacy of the acaricides as well as to develop new compounds for chemical control. Review: Tick control is currently based on chemical acaricides; however, effective control and prevention of tick infestation remain distant goals. In recent decades, a progressive decrease in the efficiency of acaricides due to drug resistance has been observed. Acaricide resistance is an evolutionary adaptation, which implies the existence of behavioral and physiological mechanisms that allow the survival of resistant individuals. Four resistance mechanisms are described: behavioral resistance, reduced drug penetration, target site insensitivity and increased drug detoxification. Augmented drug detoxification may be due to increased activity of enzymes or transporters due to increased gene expression or mutations in some genes. Research focus on mechanisms of acaricide resistance in ticks characterized detoxification pathways based on (1) increased activity of enzymes (cytochrome p450, esterase and GST) which play a role in biochemically altering acaricides towards decreased toxicity and, (2) enhanced excretion of the modified less toxic compounds. To bypass the current problems, a better understanding of the biology, physiology, and molecular biology of the mechanisms of resistance to acaricides is fundamental to prolong their efficiency in controlling ticks. Moreover, identifying the genes and proteins associated with resistance can support in the development of more sensitive diagnostic methods to identify acaricide resistance, as well as improving control strategies. Discussion: In the last years, many researchers have been studying resistance mechanisms and important advances have been made which showed that, in several tick species, ABC transporters, esterases, P-450 cytochromes and glutathione-S-transferases participate in acaricide resistance. The characterization of the alterations in the targets in tick physiology and identification of new drugs with potential to tick control are crucial goals to increase tick control


Stunting is one of the priority health and nutrition problems in Indonesia. In the 2020-2024 National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN), the government targets the stunting rate to be 14%. The stunting rate in Indonesia using UN standards is still above 20 percent (BKKBN sources say 24.4 %). The handling of stunting cannot only target the stunting toddler group. Involving one life cycle from young women, pregnant women, and toddlers becomes a critical window in specific interventions to prevent and treat stunting. Therefore, awareness for fulfilling nutrition is an awareness that needs to be grown on a family basis. In farming families, it can be started by developing food sources and/or animal feeds with high Fe and Zn content, one of which is Tropical Alfalfa or Kacang Ratu BW as a functional feed/food source towards eradicating stunting. Program activity was the dissemination of this tropical alfalfa throughout Indonesia and one of its demonstration plots in the Mekar Farmers Group of Nglinggo, Samigaluh, through an appropriate technology scheme. The method used is learning by doing. In parallel, education on stunting was carried out. On the other hand, the community prepares feed ingredients that can be implemented in livestock to produce food/food rich in Fe and Zn. The results of the pre-test and post-test showed an increase in understanding of stunting, where before the program, 40% understood what stunting was, while the post-test results showed figures of 87-100%. Before the program, 0% knew tropical alfalfa. After the program, 93% not only knew but also planted. Massively developing feed ingredients sourced from Fe and Zn and implementing them in every family will become a solid nutritional foundation for a family-based stunting reduction mitigation pattern.


To improve the optical and electrical properties of AlGaN-based deep ultraviolet lasers, an inverse-trapezoidal electron blocking layer is designed. Lasers with three different structural electron blocking layers of rectangular, trapezoidal and inverse-trapezoidal structures are established. The energy band, electron concentration, electron current density, P–I and V–I characteristics, and the photoelectric conversion efficiency of different structural devices are investigated by simulation. The results show that the optical and electrical properties of the inverse-trapezoidal electron blocking layer laser are better than those of rectangular and trapezoidal structures, owing to the effectively suppressed electron leakage.


It has been hypothesized, based on physiological evidence, that there is a greater proportion of 1-adrenergic receptors on the myocytes of the conduction system when compared with the working myocardium. The purpose of these studies was to examine f3-adrenergic receptor subtype in the conduction system of the dog by using the technique of coverslip autoradiography. Scintillation studies of ['25l]pindolol binding to ventricular sections demonstrated that binding was saturable (dissociation constant of 116 pM), had the correct order of potency for a 13-receptor, and was stereoselective. Both betaxolol (p,-selective) and ICI-118,551 (f2-selective) competition curves fit a two-site model in nonlinear curve-fitting analyses (78% B13-receptors). Autoradiographic studies determined that the myocytes of the sinoatrial node had approximately twice as many autoradiographic grains as the surrounding atrial myocytes. The myocytes of the atrioventricular bundle had a number of grains similar to the number in surrounding septal myocytes. Autoradiographic inhibition curves with betaxolol or ICI-118,551 demonstrated that both the sinoatrial node and the atrioventricular bundle had inhibition profiles similar to the surrounding myocytes (predominantly B13) but unlike the inhibition profiles of arterioles (predominantly j%). Calculations using the dissociation constants derived from the nonlinear curve-fitting analysis and the percent specific binding in the presence of 4 10-7 M betaxolol or ICI-118,551 determined that the proportion of 61to P2-receptors was the same (70-80%o 131) when comparing the sinoatrial node and the surrounding atrial myocytes. The atrioventricular bundle had a higher percentage of P3-receptors (95%) than the surrounding septal myocytes (79%) with betaxolol, but with ICI-118,551 the difference was not significant. Thus, by using techniques that can precisely quantify adrenergic receptors over myocytes of the conduction system, it was concluded that, whereas the myocytes of the sinoatrial node have approximately twice as many j3-receptors as the surrounding atrial myocytes, the proportion of Plto jB2-receptors is the same. (Circulation Research 1992;71:51-57)


JapanIn an annual rite of summer, the Japanese education ministry's budget requests are trimmed by advisory bodies, politicians, and the powerful finance ministry. This year, there is a new twist: The newly elected Democratic Party now has responsibility for finalizing the budget—and no one knows how R&D will fare. The Democratic Party's platform keys in on the importance of research. But the party also promised to cut wasteful governmental spending, without being specific, and party politicians have called for reining in bureaucracy.


In this paper, we explore the design of a powerful type system that provides a general mechanism to encapsulate low-level imperative program fragments into type-safe functional abstractions without imposing any single-threadedness constraint. Although connuence is the responsibility of the user, the type system guarantees that data-structures exported out of the functional abstraction are fully polymorphic and non-mutable and therefore can be safely embedded within functional programs without disturbing their functionality. We present the static and the dynamic semantics of our system for a mini-language containing ML-like references. We describe the mechanism of converting mutable types into functional types and prove its soundness. Finally we discuss extensions to include arrays, tuples and general multi-level data-structures in our framework.


This is a complete course in study skills for students in further and higher education institutions. Skills taught include: improving reading efficiency; note-taking; preparing for seminars; research techniques; essay organization and presentation; exam preparation. One unit also deals with the social aspects of studying in Britain. The emphasis is on student activity and realistic practical work. To make the course as flexible as possible, suggestions are given in the Tutor's Book for 'full-time' and 'minimum time' allocations within each unit. Full-time allocations give about 90 classroom hours; the shorter programme can be completed in about 50 hours. The Tutor's Book also provides suggestions for further reading and answers to the exercises. Answers are also given in the Student's Book, so making it possible for most of the course to be used for individual study. The cassette recording contains the lecture material for Unit 3 Taking Notes.


Data from 11 years of a breeding program for upland rice of the partner institutions Embrapa arroz e feijao, Epamig and UFLA conducted in 11 regions of Minas Gerais, were analyzed by the mixed model methodology. The genotypic correlations between environments ranged from medium to high, suggesting the predominance of simple interaction, but with differentiated ranking of genotypes at the different locations. Lines with specific performance, as well as lines of broad adaptation were identified. The performance of cultivar BRSMG Caravera, released in 2007, was superior to the others in terms of grain yield at all sites assessed, in other words, broad adaptation, in addition to a high genotypic performance.


This work presents the first steps towards the development and implementation of a novel 3D biomechanical-based method for assessing the viability of myocardial tissue, with particular interest for its application in myocardial infarction (MI) diagnosis. This assessment technique quantifies the myocardial contraction forces developed within the ventricular myofibrils in response to the electrophysiological stimulus. In this manuscript we provide a 3D finite element (FE) formulation of a contraction force reconstruction algorithm based on an inverse problem solution of linear elasticity, along with its implementation using clinical data. This algorithm has been applied to patient-specific models obtained by extracting anatomical features from high-resolution, high-contrast magnetic resonance (MR) cardiac images. The input consists of motion information extracted by nonrigid registration of the mid-diastole reference image to the remaining images of the 4D data set, acquired using ECG-gating throughout the cardiac cycle. The result consists of a display-map of the contraction force distribution superimposed on the anatomical ventricle model, which allows the clinician to identify regions of low contractility in the myocardium


We have cloned a cDNA sequence encoding the second bovine beta-galactoside-alpha2,6-sialyltransferase whose sequence shares more than 75% of identity with hST6Gal II cDNA coding sequence. The bovine gene, located on BTA 11, spans over 50 kbp with five exons (E1-E5) containing the 1488 bp open reading frame and a 5'-untranslated exon (E0). The gene expression pattern reveals a specific tissue distribution (brain, lungs, spleen, salivary, and mammary glands) compared to ST6Gal I which is ubiquitously expressed. We identified for bovine ST6Gal II three kinds of transcripts which differ by their 5'-untranslated regions. Among them, two transcripts are brain specific whereas the third one is found in all of the tissues expressing the gene. Two pFlag-bST6Gal II vector constructions were separately transfected in COS-1 cells in order to express either membrane-bound or soluble active forms of ST6Gal II. Enzymatic assays with these two forms indicated that the enzyme used the LacdiNAc structure (GalNAcbeta1,4GlcNAc) as a better acceptor substrate than the Type II (Galbeta1-4GlcNAc) disaccharide. Moreover, the enzyme's efficiency is improved when the acceptor substrate is provided as a free oligosaccharide rather than as a protein-bound oligosaccharide. In order to investigate the potential role of ST6Gal II during the acute phase of inflammation, we used primary cultures of bovine mammary epithelial cells which were stimulated with pro-inflammatory cytokines. It appears that the ST6Gal II gene was upregulated in cells stimulated by IL-6. This result suggested that alpha2,6-sialylation mediated by this gene could contribute to organism's response to infections.


Abstract:In this article, I explore Nietzsche's account of the origins of the ascetic ideal in his Genealogy of Morality (GM). I offer a reading of his claim that this ideal springs from an instinctive response to the sicknesses he describes as "physiological inhibition and exhaustion" (GM III:13), arguing that these sicknesses are primarily nervous conditions found among the priestly class who come up with the ascetic ideal, and periodically among "large masses of people" (GM III:17). The historical frequency of the latter outbreaks accounts for the popularity of the ideal. But the origin story is very much about the ascetic priest, and it is a story Nietzsche tells in bits and pieces over the course of the Genealogy. This article integrates these bits and pieces into one cohesive account. Finally, I consider how the priest's more innocent ascetic lifestyle suggestions respond to the twin conditions of inhibition and exhaustion.


A hybrid design scheme for the synthesis of asynchronous circuits is described which exploits the rapid design time achievable using the Tangram silicon complier (developed by Philips), the high performance of 4-phase micropipelines and the use of synchronous design techniques to increase concurrency and therefore performance. Trade-offs between area, power performance and design time are thus supported. Substantial performance gains and power reduction may be achieved.


Home automation technology is rising and growing in demand, one of the devices being actively developed and highly sought is a vacuum cleaner robot. Products available today has many features, but none has the ability to clean on different leveled surface area or multistory house. This research develops a vacuum cleaner robot that is capable of cleaning open-space area using boustrophedon path planning and has the ability to completely clean staircase area. Arduino Mega 2560 is used as the main processor, with timing belt system to move a platform as the climbing mechanism. The robot uses mecanum wheels, enabling the robot to move in all directions within a tight space. Step up test will be conducted in 2 phases, first the robot will climb a box with varying height from 5-25cm with 5cm increments, repeated 10 times for each different height. The second phase tests the robot on a staircase for 20 repetitions, to examine its ability in completely covering a staircase. The result is the robot successfully climbs to the height of 20cm with 100% success rate and fails at 25cm, it also achieves 80% success rate on staircase complete area coverage test. The boustrophedon path-planning test is conducted using an unobstructed, walled, 120x120cm open-space arena, marked with 30x30cm grid. The robot is tested by placing it at 4 different initial position, repeated 10 times for each to test its ability to find the nearest corner, and then, using the same arena, make the robot cover it completely using boustrophedon path planning. This results in 100% success rate in finding the nearest corner and 85% success rate for complete area coverage. Vacuum cleaning ability is then tested by having the robot clean traces of flour and salt, representing very fine and small particles of dirt, but due to a bad design for the dust collection tunnel, the vacuum suction power is very weak and this results in failure to completely clean both substances.


Introduction The commensal bacterium Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is a prominent member of the microbiome of animals and humans, and it plays an important role in several physiological processes. Numerous studies have correlated the reduction of F. prausnitzii abundance with many disease states, including irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, obesity, asthma, major depressive disorder, and metabolic diseases in humans. Studies have also correlated F. prausnitzii with diseases in humans involved in altered glucose metabolism, including diabetes. Research design and methods The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of compositions derived from three strains of F. prausnitzii (coined FPZ) on glucose metabolism in diet-induced obese male C57BL/6J prediabetic and type 2 diabetic mice. The primary endpoints of these studies were measuring changes in fasting blood glucose, glucose tolerance (as measured by a glucose tolerance test), and percent hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) with longer term treatment. Two placebo-controlled trials were carried out using both live cell FPZ and killed cell FPZ and extracts. Two additional placebo-controlled trials were carried out in non-diabetic mice and mice that previously had type 2 diabetes (T2D). Results Both trials in prediabetic and diabetic mice revealed that peroral administration of live FPZ or extracts from FPZ lowered fasting blood glucose levels and improved glucose tolerance compared with control mice. A trial administering longer FPZ treatment also resulted in lowered percent HbA1c compared with control mice. Additionally, trials in non-diabetic mice treated with FPZ demonstrated that FPZ treatment does not lead to hypoglycemia. Conclusions The trial results have shown that treatment with different formulations of FPZ result in lower blood glucose levels, lower percent HbA1c, and improved glucose response in mice compared with control prediabetic/diabetic mice. FPZ is a promising candidate as an orally administered probiotic or postbiotic to manage and improve pre-diabetes and T2D.


In part 1, we introduced a software environment for augmented reality (AR) on mobile phones, discussed development and debugging strategies, and showed how to execute several tasks of a common AR system in parallel on a mobile device. Here, we discuss how to overcome the most severe limitations, such as memory, rendering speed, and computational power. We analyze in detail where an optimized mobile phone AR application spends most of its processing time and give an outlook on what to expect in the next few years.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has traditionally been an attractive system for cancer research because many animal HCC models are available. It is well known that liver tumors in animals can be induced by many different protocols, such as chronic hepatitis viral infections, carcinogens, toxins, steroid hormones, and dietary intervention. Although these different inducers have different cellular targets and modes of cytotoxic effects, their common denominator is the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this review, we present compelling evidence to support the hypothesis that ROS play important roles in hepatocarcinogenesis and the associated upregulation of drug resistance gene expression. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Acknowledgements Preface Chapter 1 The Double Mirrors of School Improvement: The Aga Khan Foundation in East Africa Stephen E. Anderson Chapter 2 Evolution in School Improvement with the Aga Khan Foundation, from 1984 to 2000 Jeremy Greenland Chapter 3 Building Professional Community at Mzizima Secondary School, Tanzania Stephen E. Anderson and Suleman Sumra Chapter 4 Conflict Between National Curriculum Standards and Efforts to Improve Teaching Joanne Capper, Shelom Nderitu and Paul Ogula Chapter 5 Supporting Child-Centered Teaching under Universal Primary Education in Kampala, Uganda Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Matthew Odada and Martin Omagor Chapter 6 Decentralized Partnerships for School-Based Teacher Development in Mombasa, Kenya Stephen E. Anderson and Shelom Nderitu Chapter 7 Incentive Grants, Management Training, and Teacher Change in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania Geoff Welford and Herme Mosha Chapter 8 Curriculum Materials and In-Service Training for English-Medium Instruction in Zanzibar Ann Brumfit and H. R. H. Hikmany Chapter 9 The Aga Khan Foundation Experience Compared with Emerging Alternatives to Formal Schooling Joseph P. Farrell Chapter 10 The Aga Khan Foundation School Improvement Initiative: An International Change Perspective David Hopkins Notes References Contributors Index


____________________________________________________________________________________ Aim: Tracheotomy is a surgical procedure used in the management of the airway in pediatric and neonatal patients. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological characteristics, clinical indications and complications of tracheotomized children discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Service of the National Children's Hospital "Dr. Carlos Saenz Herrera "(HNN). Methods: We reviewed, retrospectively, the clinical records of all those children who underwent tracheotomy and were discharged the Neonatal Intensive Care Service of HNN in the period between January 1996 to and December 2007. Results: During the study period 48 patients were discharged with a tracheotomy. The average number of tracheotomies performed per year was 3.9. The average birth weight was 2192 g. The average age at which the tracheotomy was performed was 44 days. The main indication for tracheotomy was prolonged mechanical ventilation for bronchopulmonary dysplasia in 23 patients. The tracheotomy-related complications occurred in 40.4% of cases. A total of 29 patients (61.3%) were discharged alive and 18 died (38.8%). Conclusions: Most patients who underwent tracheotomy were preterm (61.7%) and with a birth weight less than 2500 g (57.44%). The main indicators for tracheotomy were bronchopulmonary dysplasia, myopathies, subglottic stenosis, hemangioma, craniofacial anomalies and malacia. The main early complications were obstruction of the cannula, accidental decanulacions and wound complications. The most common late complications were granulomas, obstruction of the cannula. No study patient had complications associated with tracheal tube that could cause his death.


Recent studies with cDNA microarrays showed that diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cases with gene expression profiles similar to germinal center (GC) B cells had much better prognosis than DLBCL cases with gene expression profiles resembling activated B cells. The goal of the current study is to evaluate if using a panel of GC B-cell (CD10 and Bcl-6) and activation (MUM1/IRF4 and CD138) markers by immunohistochemistry defines prognosis in patients with de novo DLBCL. Immunohistochemical stains for the above markers were performed on paraffin-embedded tissues from 42 de novo DLBCL patients. Median follow-up in all patients was 41 months (range, 1–103 months) and in surviving patients was 65 months (range, 14–103 months). These cases could be classified into three expression patterns: GC B-cell pattern (pattern A) expressing CD10 and/or Bcl-6 but not activation markers; activated GC B-cell pattern (pattern B) expressing at least one of GC B-cell markers and one of activation markers; and activated non-GC B-cell pattern (pattern C) expressing MUM1/IRF4 and/or CD138 but not GC B-cell markers. Patients with pattern A had much better overall survival than those with the other two patterns (Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, P < 0.008, log rank test). Using multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, the international prognostic index scores and the expression pattern of these markers were independent prognostic indicators. Our results suggest that expression patterns of this panel of GC B-cell and activation markers by immunohistochemistry correlate with the prognosis of patients with DLBCL. Immunohistochemical analysis on paraffin-embedded tissues is more readily available than gene expression profiling by cDNA microarray and may provide similar prognostic information.


Though a large percentage of micro-task crowdsourcing workers have a college degree and report a household income above the national median, they persistently return to crowdsourcing platforms, despite the low pay and relative simplicity of the tasks. In this study, we aim to understand why prior research has identified task-related factors to be important determinants of worker behavior on micro-task crowdsourcing platforms. We explore workers' perceptions of task characteristics and their impact on subjective and objective outputs in micro-task crowdsourcing contexts, taking into account the unique nature of crowdsourcing platforms as a new IT artifact. We draw on two theories, the theory of motivation through work design and the expectancy theory, and aim to extend them by incorporating the IT artifact in them, in the context of micro-task crowdsourcing. Our findings help understand workers' behaviors on micro-task crowdsourcing platforms and thus inform the task and platform design process.


Although high-energy facets on metal oxides are usually active and preferred for gas sensing, it is difficult to expose them according to thermodynamics. In this work, nanocomposites of SnO2 and graphene are prepared by a hydrothermal method. The SnO2 nanoparticles change from a lance shape to an octahedral shape as the concentration of HCl in the solution is increased gradually from 6.5 to 10 vol %. However, the SnO2 nanoparticles have an elongated octahedral shape if the concentration of HCl is increased further. The octahedral SnO2 nanoparticles are mainly surrounded by high-surface-energy {221} facets, thus facilitating gas sensing. First-principles calculation shows that the surface energy and adsorption energy of the {221} facets are larger than those of the stable {110} facets, and so, the gas adsorption capacity on the {221} facets is better. Furthermore, because the Fermi level of the SnO2{221} facet is higher than that of graphene, the electrons are transferred from SnO2 nanoparticles to graphene sheets, enabling effective electron exchange between the composite and external NO2 gas. The excellent gas-sensing properties of the octahedral SnO2/graphene composites are ascribed to the high-surface-energy {221} facets exposed.


Techniques have been developed and implemented to enable the continuous assessment of Minuteman inertial guidance performance and in-flight reliability in a situation of relatively few flight tests planned for the remaining service lifetime of the weapon system. The Minuteman force consists of 1000 deployed missiles with guidance systems in full-time operation. Inertial Measurement Unit Performance Data are collected continuously for processing by the Minuteman Data Analysis System. Output data products provide observability of critical parameters measured during the calibration mode and during the normal strategic alert operating mode. Algorithms facilitate the prompt identification of performance anomalies as well as the ensemble statistical characterization of performance parameters. A simulated flight test is used to augment the in-flight reliability data base and to detect possible incipient degradation under the stresses representative of flight. The simulated flight environment is modeled from actual flight shock and vibration data. Systems are selected from the force for this non-destructive test on an unbiased sampling basis.


In recent years, the increased use of cell-based functional assays for G protein-coupled receptors in high-throughput screening has enabled the design of robust assays to identify allosteric modulators (AMs) in addition to the more traditional orthosteric agonists and antagonists. In this article, the authors describe a screening format able to identify all ligand types using a triple-add assay that measures changes in cytosolic calcium concentration with three separate additions and reads in the same assay plate. This triple-add assay captures more small molecule ligand types than previously described assay formats without a significant increase in screening cost. Finally, the customizability of the triple-add assay to suit the needs of various AM screening programs is demonstrated.


Patient safety in Canada has improved. Yet, dramatic transformation in safety across the continuum of care remains elusive. Front-line ownership (FLO) as outlined by Zimmerman and colleagues represents a novel bottom-up, or "discovery," approach to surmounting the challenges of further improving patient safety. Zimmerman et al.'s rationale and pilot study results suggest, however, that answers to important questions are required prior to the general adoption of FLO. For instance, in FLO's front-line collaborations, what is senior leadership's role? Is it limited to support, or is there a critical role in setting priorities and networking outside organizational boundaries to avoid reinventing the wheel? Who is included in the FLO team? Are housekeepers, doctors and patients all key teammates and contributors to success? In the near term, health organizations' support for FLO should be balanced with more directive safety solutions, within a broad framework that values both evidence-based practice and the generation of practice-based evidence. In this context, the authors of this commentary probe particular dimensions of FLO's theory and practice to promote the best positioning of FLO to enhance its optimal application of knowledge to reduce harm and improve patient safety.


Value pricing strategies are beginning to be considered for future improvements in suburban areas that currently do not experience significant congestion but are expected to become congested in the future. This is a significant departure from implementing these strategies in congested urban areas, as is commonly done. Therefore, traveler reaction in these suburban areas is unknown. To plan and design value pricing projects most effectively, requires an understanding of the potential reaction of suburban travelers to value pricing. Responses to a survey of travelers using the eastern and western segments of Interstate 10 (I-10) outside San Antonio, Texas, were used to study differences in response to value pricing by suburban population groups. These surveys collected information on travelers' socioeconomic and trip characteristics, as well as their attitudes toward implementation of value pricing. Overall, the majority of travelers on I-10E and I-10W did not favor the implementation of value pricing for the expansion of these corridors. However, I-10W travelers seemed to be more willing to pay for travel time savings, probably because travelers on I-10W had higher average household incomes, were more likely to use I-10W on a regular basis for commuting, and were more often exposed to some traffic congestion.


ABSTRACT This paper reports on a large nesting site of the ground-nesting solitary bee Hesperapis (Carinapis) rhodocerata (Cockerell) from southern New Mexico first discovered in the late summer of 2010 and active again in late summer 2015. Because the site was visited annually during intervening years without observation of any specimens, the species is believed to sustain a multiyear diapause that is broken in response to rain. It is judged to be univoltine, and females at the site collect pollen from Heterotheca (Asteraceae). Nests are briefly described as are the nest-digging behavior and pollen-transport system of females. The feeding behavior of larvae involves grazing on the surface of the food sphere, thus reducing its diameter. This is accomplished with the aid of paired ventral tubercles on each of the three thoracic and first eight abdominal segments and a single median ventral tubercle on the ninth abdominal segment. The second and last larval instars are described and illustrated. The first instar is essentially identical to the second instar except for size. Mature larvae are similar to other known Hesperapis larvae. The strongly curved egg of H. rhodocerata is described and illustrated with a diagram and SEM micrographs of the micropyle. Because the last larval instar does not spin a cocoon and freshly constructed brood cells are unlined by females, questions are evoked concerning humidity control and parasite exclusion during the long diapause of mature larvae. This information is compared with and found in some ways different from that uncovered in an earlier study of H. (Amblyapis) larreae Cockerell. It is hypothesized that the clear thin transparent material covering the postdefecating larva of H. rhodocerata may function to inhibit desiccation and furthermore may be the same material that hardens and waterproofs the cell walls of other congeneric species including H. larreae, thereby serving a similar function but in a different way. Because too few mature larvae of H. larreae had been collected at the time of drafting the study of that species, their description is added here as an addendum.


We recently demonstrated that the activation of ceramide kinase (CERK) and the formation of its product, ceramide 1-phosphate (C1P), are necessary for the degranulation pathway in mast cells and that the kinase activity of this enzyme is completely dependent on the intracellular concentration of Ca2+ (Mitsutake, S., Kim, T.-J., Inagaki, Y., Kato, M., Yamashita, T., and Igarashi, Y. (2004) J. Biol. Chem. 279, 17570-17577). Despite the demonstrated importance of Ca2+ as a regulator of CERK activity, there are no apparent binding domains in the enzyme and the regulatory mechanism has not been well understood. In the present study, we found that calmodulin (CaM) is involved in the Ca2+-dependent activation of CERK. The CaM antagonist W-7 decreased both CERK activity and intracellular C1P formation. Additionally, exogenously added CaM enhanced CERK activity even at low concentrations of Ca2+. The CERK protein was co-immunoprecipitated with an anti-CaM antibody, indicating formation of intracellular CaM·CERK complexes. An in vitro CaM binding assay also demonstrated Ca2+-dependent binding of CaM to CERK. These results strongly suggest that CaM acts as a Ca2+ sensor for CERK. Furthermore, a CaM binding assay using various mutants of CERK revealed that the binding site of CERK is located within amino acids 422-435. This region appears to include a type 1-8-14B CaM binding motif and is predicted to form an amphipathic helical wheel, which is utilized in CaM recognition. The expression of a deletion mutant of CERK that contained the CaM binding domain but lost CERK activity inhibited the Ca2+-dependent C1P formation. These results suggest that this domain could saturate the CaM and hence block Ca2+-dependent activation of CERK. Finally, we reveal that in mast cell degranulation CERK acts downstream of CaM, similar to CaM-dependent protein kinase II, which had been assumed to be the main target of CaM in mast cells.


Abstract We discuss the probabilistic properties of the variation based third and fourth moments of financial returns as estimators of the actual moments of the return distributions. The moment variations are defined under non-parametric assumptions with quadratic variation method but for the computational tractability, we use a square root stochastic volatility model for the derivations of moment conditions for estimations. Using the S&P 500 index high frequency data, the realized versions of the moment variations is used for the estimation of a stochastic volatility model. We propose a simple estimation method of a stochastic volatility model using the sample averages of the variations and ARMA estimation. In addition, we compare the results with a generalized method of moments estimation based on the successive relation between realized moments and their lagged values.


This paper proposes an on-line algorithm to detect the phase connection for end users in a power distribution system. In distribution systems, feeder switching often changes the phase connection information of end users in the real-time operation. Recently, Advanced Metering infrastructure (AMI) are being installed in distribution systems. They enable utilities to record end-point voltages in defined intervals. This paper first presents a method to find phases belonging to same phase using synchronized data and fixed topology of distribution grid. Then, this paper presents a method to clean the noisy data through Artificial Neural Network (ANN) trained by the historical data. The proposed methods is tested using modified 13-bus IEEE distribution test system on the low-voltage side.


>>>Check out the Tim Murphey Tips Playlist on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=274902FC5BDAAA30).<<<NPRM Near Peer Role Modeling. Video is encoded with DivX, you may download a free DivX video viewer for viewing the videos in our collection at http://www.divx.com/en/products/software/windows/divx (Windows) or http://www.divx.com/en/products/software/mac/divx (Mac).


Adolescence is a period of emerging independence, in which adolescents face difficult decisions, including those that involve risk for health and well-being. Previous research suggests that learning from others might be a prominent strategy of adolescents to inform these difficult decisions. However, there is a gap in the literature that addresses the active role adolescents may have in gaining information about others' behavior (i.e., social information search). Here, we investigated when and how much social information adolescents search before making decisions under risk and ambiguity, using a novel social search paradigm. In this paradigm, adolescents were able to reveal real information about their classmates' choices before deciding on their final choice. Our two experiments suggest that social information search can be broken down in two independent decisions: first the decision to initiate search, followed by the decision to continue search. Several factors motivated initiation of search, including: (a) the difficulty of the choice, (b) uncertainty about the outcome, and (c) the magnitude of the reward at stake. Search took generally longer when adolescents faced information not in line with their initial preference. Finally, we observed that adolescents used the sampled social information to inform their risky-choice behavior. Taken together, these results provide novel insights into the dynamics of peer influence in adolescence and stress the importance of treating adolescents not only as receivers, but as active agents searching for social information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).


The phylogenetic relationship, biogeography, and evolutionary history of closely related two firefly species, Curtos costipennis and C. okinawanus, distributed in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan were examined based on nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial (2.2 kb long) and nuclear (1.1-1.2 kb long) DNAs. In these analyses, individuals were divided among three genetically distinct local groups, C. costipennis in the Amami region, C. okinawanus in the Okinawa region, and C. costipennis in the Sakishima region. Their mtDNA sequences suggested that ancestral C. costipennis population was first separated between the Central and Southern Ryukyu areas, and the northern half was then subdivided between C. costipennis in the Amami and C. okinawanus in the Okinawa. The application of the molecular evolutionary clocks of coleopteran insects indicated that their vicariance occurred 1.0–1.4 million years ago, suggesting the influence of submergence and subdivision of a paleopeninsula extending between the Ryukyu Islands and continental China through Taiwan in the early Pleistocene.


The isokinetic performance of thigh muscles has been related to athletic performance and risk for non-contact injuries, such as anterior cruciate ligament ruptures and hamstring strains. Although isokinetic profile of American football players from United States (USA) is widely described, there is a lack of studies comprising players acting outside the USA. The primary objective of this study was to describe the isokinetic performance of thigh muscles in elite American football players in Brazil. Secondarily, we aimed to compare the playing positions and compare the Brazilian players with high-level athletes from USA. Knee extensor (KE) and flexor (KF) muscles of 72 Brazilian players were assessed through isokinetic tests at 60°·s-1. KE concentric peak torque was 276±56 N·m, while KF had concentric and eccentric peak torques of 151±37 N·m and 220±40 N·m, respectively. Offensive linemen players presented greater peak torque values than defensive lineman, halfbacks, and wide receivers (all comparisons are provided in the article). Brazilian players had lower scores than USA athletes for KE and KF peak torque values. In addition, a conventional torque ratio (concentric/concentric) lower than 0.6 was found in 76-83% of athletes, and a functional ratio (eccentric/eccentric) below to 1.0 in 94%. Bilateral asymmetry greater than 10% was verified in 26% and 43% of athletes for KE and KF muscles, respectively. Elite players in Brazil present high incidence of strength imbalance in thigh muscles, and they are below USA players in relation to torque production capacity of KE and KF muscles.


Pectin methylesterase A (EC 184.108.40.206), one of the pathogenicity factors of Erwinia chrysanthemi strain 3937, was purified to homogeneity using one-step chromatography on cross-linked pectate. The purified protein showed maximum activity at pH 8-9, 50 degrees C, 50-100 mM monovalent cations or 5-10 mM divalent cations, and on a 50% esterified pectin. A particular effect of Ca2+ and Zn2+ on PMEA activity, due to the formation of a pectin gel, was observed. A Km value of 0.03% and 0.051% was determined at pH 6 and 7.6, respectively, using the same substrate. Polyclonal antibodies raised against the PMEA from E. chrysanthemi strain 3937 were produced. It recognized PMEs from Erwinia species, but did not cross-react with PME of fungal or plant origin, and will therefore be a useful tool to immunolocalize the protein during plant-pathogen interactions.


The research investigation is carried to observe the clinical efficacy of the combination of Chinese traditional medicine (TCM) and Western medicine on the traumatic chronic tibial osteomyelitis (CO). A total of 80 patients who were admitted to this hospital between January 2012 and January 2017 were randomly divided into two groups, i.e. the control group and the observation group, with 40 patients in each group. In the control group, patients underwent the surgery to eliminate the lesion plus the antibiotics, while those in the observation group received the surgery, antibiotics administration and the wuwei xiaodu drink. In the observation group, patients had lowered erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), white blood cells (WBC) and neutrophils in comparison with the control group (p<0.05). The total effectiveness rate of patients in the observation group was 92.5%, significantly higher than 80.0% in the control group (p<0.05). Combination of the TCM and Western medicine can mitigate the local lesion of traumatic CO and ameliorate the general status, with significant efficacy. Thus, it is worthy of being promoted in clinical practice.


A bio-inspired robust adaptive random search algorithm (BioRARSA), designed for distributed beamforming for sensor and relay networks, is proposed in this work. It has been shown via a systematic framework that BioRARSA converges in probability and its convergence time scales linearly with the number of distributed transmitters. More importantly, extensive simulation results demonstrate that the proposed BioRARSA outperforms existing adaptive distributed beamforming schemes by as large as 29.8% on average. This increase in performance results from the fact that BioRARSA can adaptively adjust its sampling stepsize via the ``swim'' behavior inspired by the bacterial foraging mechanism. Hence, the convergence time of BioRARSA is insensitive to the initial sampling stepsize of the algorithm, which makes it robust against the dynamic nature of distributed wireless networks.


We designed and manufactured equipment for exposure of cultured cells to extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELFMF) at 5, 50, and 400 mT and examined the effect of ELFMF on cellular transformation in mouse C3H10T1/2 cells (clone 8). Transformed foci, Type II and Type III, were independently counted as transformants. The cells were exposed to ELFMF alone at 5, 50, and 400 mT for 24 h or X-irradiated with 3 Gy followed by the ELFMF exposure. No significant difference in the transformation was observed between sham-exposed control and the ELFMF exposure from 5 to 400 mT. The transformation frequency for X-rays plus ELFMF was decreasing compared with X-rays alone. When 12-O-tetra-decanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) was contained in the medium throughout the experiment, the transformation frequency by X-rays alone was elevated more. In the combined treatment with X-rays followed by ELFMF, the transformation frequency was slightly decreased at 50 and 400 mT even in the medium containing TPA. The long-term exposure at 5 mT suppressed both spontaneous and X-ray-induced transformations significantly. It is well known that overexpressing protein kinase C (PKC) failed to yield identifiable transformation of foci induced by ionizing radiation. We demonstrated previously that exposure to high-density ELFMF induced expression of several genes through an increase in PKC activity. From these results, it is suggested that ELFMF might suppress X-ray-induced transformation through activation of PKC by ELFMF.


To explore whether the meaning of a word changes visual processing of emotional faces (i.e., visual awareness and visual attention), we performed two complementary studies. In Experiment 1, we presented participants with emotion and control words and then tracked their visual awareness for two competing emotional faces using a binocular rivalry paradigm. Participants experienced the emotional face congruent with the emotion word for longer than a word-incongruent emotional face, as would be expected if the word was biasing awareness toward the (unseen) face. In Experiment 2, we similarly presented participants with emotion and control words prior to presenting emotional faces using a divided visual field paradigm. Emotion words were congruent with either the emotional face in the right or left visual field. After the presentation of faces, participants saw a dot in either the left or right visual field. Participants were slower to identify the location of the dot when it appeared in the same visual field as the emotional face congruent with the emotion word. The effect was limited to the left hemisphere (RVF), as would be expected for linguistic integration of the word with the face. Since the task was not linguistic, but rather a simple dot-probe task, participants were slower in their responses under these conditions because they likely had to disengage from the additional linguistic processing caused by the word-face integration. These findings indicate that emotion words bias visual awareness for congruent emotional faces, as well as shift attention toward congruent emotional faces.


We review the current status of liquid noble gas radiation detectors with energy threshold in the keV range, which are of interest for direct dark matter searches, measurement of coherent neutrino scattering and other low energy particle physics experiments. Emphasis is given to the operation principles and the most important instrumentation aspects of these detectors, principally of those operated in the double-phase mode. Recent technological advances and relevant developments in photon detection and charge readout are discussed in the context of their applicability to those experiments.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the doctors' satisfaction of the doctor-patient relationship and find out the influencing factors of the patients, gathering evidence to improve the doctor-patient relationship.

METHODS
This study was a cross-sectional study, in which doctors and nurses in 10 hospitals of Beijing, Shandong and Chongqing were surveyed with structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews.

RESULTS
The mean score of the doctors' satisfaction of the doctor-patient relationship was 59.97, which was much lower than the patients'. The patients' socio-demographic characteristics, social economic status (SES) and behavior characteristics influence the interaction of the doctors and the patients. The doctors' satisfaction of the doctor-patient relationship was influenced by the patients' trust.

CONCLUSION
The doctors' perspective is helpful to define the tension and the cause of the doctor-patient relationship. The patients' characteristics have important influence on the doctor-patient relationship. It's necessary to take action on the patients to improve the doctor-patient relationship.


The Wnt/beta-catenin pathway, which signals through the Frizzled (FZD) receptor family and several co-receptors, has long been implicated in cancer. We have previously demonstrated that inhibition of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling by vantictumab (anti-Fzd7, OMP-18R5) or ipafricept (FZD8-Fc, OMP-54F28) inhibits tumor growth, decreases tumorigenicity and induces differentiation in solid tumors. The anti-tumor effect of our Wnt antagonists is most evident in combination with chemotherapeutic agents. We sought to determine if the anti-tumor effect of Wnt pathway inhibitors varied with different chemotherapeutic agents. We compared the growth inhibitory effect of vantictumab and ipafricept with either taxanes (paclitaxel and nab-paclitaxel) or with DNA synthesis inhibitors (gemcitabine and carboplatin) in patient-derived tumor xenografts. We observed enhanced anti-tumor activity when combining vantictumab or ipafricept with nab-paclitaxel or paclitaxel compared to the combination with gemcitabine or carboplatin in pancreatic ductal carcinoma and serous ovarian cancer xenograft models. Histologic analysis in a pancreatic ductal carcinoma indicated that nab-paclitaxel increased mitotic cells and beta-catenin levels. Importantly, the addition of vantictumab to nab-paclitaxel reversed the nab-paclitaxel-induced increase in mitotic cells and beta-catenin expression. A potential mechanism to account for these results involves the observation that Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is under cell cycle control and peaks at the G2/M phase. Taxanes inhibit microtubule function and block the cell cycle at G2/M. In contrast, other chemotherapeutic agents, such as platinum compounds and nucleoside analogs, inhibit DNA synthesis and block cell proliferation at S phase. Our findings suggest that combination of Wnt blockade with chemotherapeutic agents, such as taxanes, that induce G2/M arrest may resulted in enhanced anti-tumor activity. The optimal synergy of anti-Wnt plus taxane combination occurs when the antibody was applied prior to taxane. Further analyses in serous ovarian tumors reveal that pre-treatment with ipafricept resulted in dysregulated beta-cetenin localization within giant multi-nucleated cells and up-regulation of genes associated with negative regulators of G1 progression. Our work provides evidence for the enhanced anti-tumor effect of Wnt pathway inhibitors in combination with taxanes and highlights the importance of preclinical examination to identify the most efficacious combination therapy regimens and the timing of antibody action for Wnt antagonists in combination with taxanes for optimal treatment efficacy. Citation Format: Wan-Ching Yen, Marcus Fischer, Belinda Cancilla, Fiore Cattaruzza, Tracy Tang, Pete Yeung, John Lewicki, Austin Gurney, Timothy Hoey. Enhanced antitumor efficacy by sequential application of Wnt pathway antagonists in combination with taxanes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2576. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2576


How do contemplative pedagogies inform learning skills such as academic writing? This article draws on the Tibetan Buddhist distinction between the literal meaning of words ( drangdon ) and the inner sense of those words ( ngedon ), from an account from the sacred biography of the Indian saint Naropa (956-1041), abbot of Nalanda University. This founding Naropa University professor has adapted these criteria from traditional Tibetan education for the contemporary secular classroom. Writing pedagogies that integrate third-person inquiry drawn from conventional academic research and first-person inquiry, the result of inner research, brings academic writing alive. The author outlines writing strategies that integrate these two methods of inquiry, including progressive assignments that distinguish among personal narrative, opinion, and insight in the development of first-person inquiry. Finally, the article addresses specific challenges in teaching contemplative academic writing, including evaluations and grading, cultivating critical perspectives, and supporting rigor with academic, contemplative methods in the university classroom.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the major public health problems worldwide. The genomic actions of vitamin D are mediated through its binding to the Vitamin D Receptor (VDR), which allows it to modulate the expression of genes in a cell-and tissue-specific manner . The VDR directly or indirectly regulates the expression of more than 200 genes that influence cell,differentiation and apoptosis, as well as immunomodulation and angiogenesis.The VDR gene polymorphisms have been identified that may influence cancer development including HCC .The aim of study to evaluate the possible association between VDR gene polymorphism with (HCC) in top of chronic hepatitis C (HCV) patients. This study aims to investigate the possible association of VDR gene polymorphism and HCC development in patients with chronic HCV infection.103 patients with HCC on top of chronic HCV infection, 44 non-viral HCC. 100 Healthy volunteers as a control group. The control group subjects are sero-negative and PCR negative for hepatitis C virus and HBs-Ag antibodies were analyzed for serum 1,25(OH)2D3,liver functions were determined and VDR-FOK1 gene polymorphism.Results revealed that individuals with F/F homozygote have a lower risk in HCC development ,while others with f allele have a higher risk (with OR =2.58) and we found that vitamin D level was significant lower in HCV related HCC cases than normal control.We concluded thatVDR genetic polymorphisms are significantly associated with the occurrence of HCV related HCC especially f allele carriers which could be considered as a risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma in Egyptian patients. The FOKI C>T polymorphisms may be used as a molecular marker to predict the risk and to evaluate the disease severity of HCC in those infected with HCV.


A prospective randomized double-blind trial comparing Opsite alone, Opsite after application of bupivacaine, scarlet ointment dressing alone and scarlet ointment after bupivacaine was done to assess the effect of these four dressing regimens on split skin donor site pain and healing. Significantly less pain was reported by those dressed with Opsite and this was thought to be due to the immobility of an Opsite dressing. Many of the patients dressed with scarlet ointment felt no pain. It was concluded that movement of dressings is the main factor in pain production and that bupivacaine appeared to have no effect. There was no difference in healing rates between those treated with Opsite and those treated with scarlet ointment. It is concluded that using Opsite is a convenient way of preventing donor site pain, but that to gain maximum advantage from this it should not be applied under tension.


We report the key results of a study of the optimization of capacitive sensing for LISA. This work was a component of an ESA study into drag-free satellite control. We discuss the problems associated with the capacitive sensing and control of a proof mass which is electrically isolated and develop models for candidate non-resonant and resonant detection schemes. We calculate acceleration noise assuming an ideal control system whose only noise sources are the capacitive sensors and actuators. On the basis of this model it appears that the design goal of acceleration noise for the LISA mission is achievable using both resonant and non-resonant detection schemes. The residual acceleration noise on the proof mass is dominated by oscillator noise which produces force and displacement noise due to asymmetries in the electrode capacitance values and bridge components.


Forest vegetation structure assessment is a time expensive effort with traditional methods. The Mobile Laser Scanner (MLS) technology can greatly speed up field works, achieve detailed quantification of three-dimensional forest structure at detailed resolution and drive forest management to increase the conservation status of forests-specialist bird species. In this study, using Mobile hand-held Laser Scanner (MLS), we calculated a fine-scale vegetation density index (namely the Plant Density Index, PDI) to characterize the vertical structure of forest subcanopy (0-10 m). The collected MLS point clouds were used to estimate the abundance of Potential Hiding Refuges (PHR) for the hazel grouse (Tetrastes bonasia), a sedentary bird extremely sensitive to forest structure and composition. The study was carried out in 10 plots located in the Adamello Brenta Geopark (Southern Alps, Italy). The species was detected in 8 out of 18 transects in an uneven-aged spruce forest with a discontinuous tree cover. The PDI decreases as the height increases, showing greater value in the shrub and herbaceous layer while the upper values are represented by trees stems, and branches. Visibility analysis of lower understory, highlighted PHR mean value of 73.2% (sd = 9.2%). In our area, PDI and PHR revealed that the environmental factors for hazel grouse occurrence are forests with open habitats, understory vegetation, and good hiding opportunities. Our study is the first application that uses MLS derived parameters to describe the ecological niche of a grouse and we presented the surveyed area as "case report" of hazel grouse habitat.


Global maritime business networks channeled the flows of people and goods for modern production and consumption societies. The principal instrument for constructing and sustaining these networks was the business trip. In the course of their travels, shipping-company and trading-company executives founded new commercial networks, established new routes and services, inspected agents, gathered business intelligence, and promoted new contacts and connections. These trips relied on a business culture that combined cosmopolitanism with national preferences and competitiveness with gentlemanly codes. Personal relationships remained fundamental to the networking process, despite a bureaucratization of business structures. An examination of the business trips of Belgian, British, Dutch, French, and German maritime firms reveals the centrality of global networks in modern economies, shows how such networks were constructed and maintained, and argues that face-to-face relationships continued to characterize business life deep into the twentieth century.


The entrepreneurial intentions of the young generation in the agricultural sector are decreasing from year to year. Based on this, it is important to question the characteristics of agricultural student entrepreneurial intentions. Many university graduates are unemployed but on the other hand there are still agricultural sectors that can be potential for these graduates to be developed and become one of their career choices going forward. This research provides support for the application of TPB (Theory of Plan Behavior) and the concept of entrepreneurial intentions to understand the emergence of complex economic behaviors such as entrepreneurship before the emergence of observable actions. The purpose of this study was to determine the intentions of agricultural entrepreneurs and the facts that influence them. Questionnaire filling by 100 students of the Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Agriculture of the University of Diponegoro was carried out using incidental sampling techniques and descriptive statistical analysis methods. The results showed that the interests of UNDIP's animal husbandry and agriculture faculty were determined significantly by attitude, while subjective norms and behavioral control had no effect on entrepreneurial intentions. As many as 66% of students are interested in entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector.


A combination of an allele specific C-bulge probe and the fluorescent molecule N,N'-bis(3-aminopropyl)-2,7-diamino-1,8-naphthyridine (DANP) that binds specifically to the C-bulge provides a method for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing with only one fluorescent molecule without covalent modification of the DNA probe. The allele specific C-bulge probe contains one additional cytosine and produces a C-bulge directly flanking the SNP site upon hybridization to the target DNA. The C-bulge is a scaffold to recruit and retain DANP directly neighboring the SNP site. The DANP fluorescent probe was selectively modulated by the flanking matched and mismatched base pairs. The mutation type could be discriminated by the modulated fluorescent intensity with respect to the allele specific C-bulge probes used for the assay.


Secondary organic aerosols (SOA) exert a significant influence on ambient air quality and regional climate. Recent field, laboratorial and modeling studies have confirmed that in-cloud processes contribute to a large fraction of SOA production with large space-time heterogeneity. This study evaluates the key factors that govern the production of cloud-process SOA (SOA cld ) on a global scale based on the GFDL coupled chemistry-climate model AM3 in which full cloud chemistry is employed. The association between SOA cld production rate and six factors (i.e., liquid water content (LWC), total carbon chemical loss rate (TC loss ), temperature, VOC/NO x , OH, and O 3 ) is examined. We find that LWC alone determines the spatial pattern of SOA cld production, particularly over the tropical, subtropical and temperate forest regions, and is strongly correlated with SOA cld production. TC loss ranks the second and mainly represents the seasonal variability of vegetation growth. Other individual factors are essentially uncorrelated spatiotemporally to SOA cld production. We find that the rate of SOA cld production is simultaneously determined by both LWC and TC loss , but responds linearly to LWC and nonlinearly (or concavely) to TC loss . A parameterization based on LWC and TC loss can capture well the spatial and temporal variability of the process-based SOA cld formation ( R 2 = 0.5) and can be easily applied to global three dimensional models to represent the SOA production from cloud processes.


Liver glycogen α particles are molecularly fragile in diabetic mice, and readily form smaller β particles, which degrade more rapidly to glucose. This effect is well associated with the loss of blood‐glucose homeostasis in diabetes. The biological mechanism of such fragility is still unknown; therefore, there are perceived opportunities that could eventually lead to new means to manage type 2 diabetes. The hierarchical structures of glycogen particles are controlled by the underlying biosynthesis/degradation process that involves various enzymes, including, for example, glycogen synthase (GS) and glycogen‐branching enzyme (GBE). Recent studies have shown that fragile glycogen α particles in diabetic mice have longer chains and a higher molecular density compared to wild‐type mice, indicating an enhanced enzymatic activity ratio of GS to GBE in diabetes. Furthermore, it has been shown that with an improved blood glucose homeostasis, the glycogen fragility in diabetic mice can be restored by treatment with active ingredients from traditional Chinese medicine, yet the underlying mechanism is unknown. In this review, we summarize recent advances in understandings glycogen fragility from the perspectives of glycogen biosynthesis/degradation, glycogen hierarchical structures, and its relation to diabetes. Importantly, we for the first time set GS/GBE activity ratio as the therapeutic target for diabetes.


The past two decades in the United States have seen an immense liberalization and expansion of women's roles in society. Recently, however, some women have turned away from the myriad, complex choices presented by modern life and chosen instead a Jewish orthodox tradition that sets strict and rigid guidelines for women to follow. Lynn Davidman followed the conversion to Orthodoxy of a group of young, secular Jewish women to gain insight into their motives. Living first with a Hasidic community in St. Paul, Minnesota, and then joining an Orthodox synagogue on the upper west side of Manhattan, Davidman pieced together a picture of disparate lives and personal dilemmas. As a participant observer in their religious resocialization and in interviews and conversations with over one hundred women, Davidman also sought a new perspective on the religious institutions that reach out to these women and usher them into the community of Orthodox Judaism. Through vivid and detailed personal portraits, Tradition in a Rootless World explores women's place not only in religious institutions but in contemporary society as a whole. It is a perceptive contribution that unites the study of religion, sociology, and women's studies.


A receptor cone-1 based on a hexahomotrioxacalix[3]arene bearing three pyridyl groups was successfully synthesized, which has a C3-symmetric conformation and is capable of binding alkylammonium and metal ions simultaneously in a cooperative fashion. It can bind alkylammonium ions through the π-cavity formed by three aryl rings. This behaviour is consistent with the cone-in/cone-out conformational rearrangement needed to reorganize the cavity for endo-complexation. As a C3-symmetrical pyridyl-substituted calixarene, receptor cone-1 can also bind an Ag+ ion, and the nitrogen atoms are turned towards the inside of the cavity and interact with Ag+. After complexation of tris(2-pyridylamide) derivative receptor cone-1 with Ag+, the original C3-symmetry was retained and higher complexation selectivity for n-BuNH3+ versus t-BuNH3+ was observed. Thus, it is believed that this receptor will have a role to play in the sensing, detection, and recognition of Ag+ and n-BuNH3+ ions.


Abstract A detailed study of a proglacial bedrock site and a subglacial cavity of an outlet of Øksfjordjøkelen, Norway, is presented together with observations from the foreland of Konowbreen, Spitsbergen. Striation directions and subglacial observations indicate that local ice-flow paths were highly variable, deviating at angles of approximately 90° from the main ice-flow direction. Stepped bedrock topography appears conducive to the production of highly variable ice-flow paths, because the high bed roughness creates a locally variable stress regime within the ice, including low-pressure, lee-side areas into which ice can flow. If ice flow is sustained along a specific path and the ice contains debris, then abrasion should produce an erosional bedform. Models are proposed whereby locally variable ice-flow patterns could produce erosional bedforms, which would be described as p-forms, purely through mechanical abrasion.


CD4 T cells respond to in vivo activation stimuli, in part, by rapidly producing the homeostatic cytokine IL-2. It is thought that this acute production of IL-2 is necessary for full activation and fate determination of both the conventional CD4 T cells themselves, as well as other components of the adaptive (Tregs/CD8/B cells) and innate immune responses (NK/NKT/DC) to infection. Within a population of responding CD4 T cells, only a percentage of cells will secrete IL-2. Though much is known regarding regulation of IL-2 production by CD4 T cells and the downstream consequences of autocrine and paracrine signaling, little is known about the quantity, quality, or fate of CD4 T cells that produce IL-2. Using L. monocytogenes engineered to express foreign MHCII peptides and peptide-loaded MHCII tetramers, we are able to track and assess the fate of endogenous, antigen-specific CD4 T cells in infected mice. Combining this methodology with novel transgenic IL-2 reporter mouse models, we are able to address questions regarding fate by isolating, depleting, and/or adoptively transferring live, antigen-specific CD4 T cells to secondary hosts based on acute expression of IL-2. Preliminary data suggests IL-2-'competent' and -'incompetent' cells differ in their ability to traffic to peripheral tissues following an acute, systemic infection, resulting in a potential functional, as well as proliferative and survival advantage for competent cells over those incompetent for IL-2 expression.


Following the open innovation paradigm, many technological firms organize idea contests to surface bright ideas for new products, services or business models. This article focuses on a new form of innovation contest: the generic technology idea contest, which aims to design technological platforms that can enable emerging applications in various business domains to be economically addressed. Based on the analysis of a series of innovation contests conducted by STMicroelectronics, this research points out main elements of the generic technology ideas contest: challenge initiation, idea generation and collection, genericity identification, enrichment and its reward system. The findings indicate that such innovation contests do not fundamentally establish commercial relations between seekers and solvers as usually described in the literature. Rather, this type of contests aims to build design communities who are able to collectively explore the potential of technological platforms. Managerial recommendations, key mechanisms for enhancing the genericity of ideas and probing questions are formulated to facilitate the organization of generic technology innovation contests by high-tech firms.


This introduction to media studies aims to provide a comprehensive overview of media studies themes, debates and methods. It was written for a British market, where media studies courses seem to proliferate in secondary, technical and higher education. The British focus means that it is unlikely to be taken up as a prescribed textbook in the Australian market, but it could be a useful addition to high school media studies resources, and to introductory university-level reading lists.


We present the first efficient approach to global routing that takes spacing-dependent costs into account and provably finds a near-optimum solution including these costs. We show that this algorithm can be used to optimize manufacturing yield. The core routine is a parallelized fully polynomial approximation scheme, scaling very well with the number of processors. We present results showing that our algorithm reduces the expected number of defects in wiring by more than 10 percent on state-of-the-art industrial chips.


Assuming helicity independence for q-qbar scattering in the color-dipole picture, or, equivalently proportionality of sea quark and gluon distributions, we find R(W^2,Q^2) = 0.5 (approximately) at large Q^2, where R(W^2,Q^2) denotes the ratio of the longitudinal and transverse photoabsorption cross sections. The forthcoming direct measurements of R(W^2,Q^2) allow one to test the underlying hypotheses.


Non-stoichiometry is considered to be one of the main problems limiting iron pyrite, FeS2, as a photovoltaic absorber material. Although some historical diffraction experiments have implied a large solubility range of FeS2-δ with δ up to 0.25, the current consensus based on calculated formation energies of intrinsic defects has lent support to line-compound behavior. Here it is shown that pyrite stoichiometry is relatively inflexible in both reductive conditions and in autogenous sulfur partial pressure, which produces samples with precise stoichiometry of FeS2 even at different Fe/S ratios. By properly standardizing in situ gas-flow X-ray diffraction measurements, no significant changes in the lattice parameter of FeS2 can be resolved, which portrays iron pyrite as prone to forming sulfur-deficient compounds, but not intrinsic defects in the manner of NiS2-δ.


Introduction: Driving impairment due to sleep loss is a major contributor to motor vehicle crashes resulting in severe injury or fatalities. Ideally, drivers should be aware of their sleepiness and cease driving to reduce risk of a crash. However, there is little consensus on how accurately drivers can identify sleepiness, and how this relates to subsequent driving impairment. To examine whether drivers are aware of their sleepiness, we systematically reviewed the literature. Methods: The research question for this review was "are drivers aware of sleepiness while driving, and to what extent does subjective sleepiness accurately reflect driving impairment?". Our search strategy led to thirty-four simulated/naturalistic driving studies for review. We then extracted the relevant data. Correlational data were examined using metaanalysis, while predictive data were assessed via narrative review. Results: Results showed that drivers were aware of sleepiness, and this was associated with both driving impairment and physiological drowsiness. Overall, subjective sleepiness was more strongly correlated (a) with ocular and EEG-based outcomes (rweighted = .70 and .73, respectively, p<.001), rather than lane position and speed outcomes (rweighted = .46 and .49, respectively, p<.001); (b) under simulated driving conditions compared to naturalistic drives; and (c) when the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale was used to measure subjective sleepiness. Lastly, high levels of sleepiness significantly predicted crash events and lane deviations. Discussion: This review presents evidence that drivers are aware of sleepiness when driving, and suggests that interventions such as stopping driving when feeling 'sleepy' may significantly reduce crash risk.


The use of artificial drainage devices (ADDs) or "setons" in glaucoma surgery is generally restricted to patients with refractory glaucoma at high risk for failure from conventional filtration surgery. ADDs, both valved and nonvalved are currently available in this country. Recently, some of these devices have been propogated as primary treatment even for primary glaucomas. This article examines the role of ADDs in the modern management of the glaucomas. Specific indications for ADDs and methods to reduce the complication of overfiltration are discussed. The use of antimitotics, such as 5-fluorouracil or mitomycin, with traditional filtration has decreased the indications for ADDs. The literature and our experience confirm that currently there is no role for use of ADDs as a primary procedure in most glaucomas.


Concern that lineup administrators can influence eyewitness identifications has led researchers to suggest implementing double-blind testing, an idea that police resist. Using a typical eyewitness paradigm (video event followed by photographic identification test), the present study demonstrated that an alternative technique, minimizing the level of contact between lineup administrators and witnesses, could reduce false identifications without reducing hits. Specifically, witnesses were more likely to make decisions consistent with lineup administrator expectations when the level of contact between the administrator and the witness was high than when it was low. These results are explained within the experimenter expectancy framework. Implications for applied settings are discussed.


Traditional artificial spraying of pesticides leads not only to lower utilisation of pesticides but also to environmental pollution. However, intelligent weeding devices can identify weeds and crops through sensing devices for selective spraying, which will effectively reduce the use of pesticides. The accurate and efficient identification method of crops and weeds is very crucial to the development of the mechanised weeding model. To improve the segmentation exactitude and real-time performance of crops and weeds, we propose a lightweight network based on the encoder-decoder architecture, namely, SResNet. The shuffle-split-separable-residual block was employed to compress the model and increase the number of network layers at the same time, thereby extracting more abundant pixel category information. Besides, the model was optimised by a weighted cross-entropy loss function due to the imbalance of pixel ratios of background, crops and weeds. The results of the experiment prove that the method presented can greatly improve the segmentation accuracy and real-time segmentation speed on the crops and weeds dataset.


In (12)C(13)CH(2) 129 vibrational term values up to 10,000 cm(-1) are merged, about 60% of which are newly reported. They are fitted using an effective Hamiltonian with a standard deviation of 0.22 cm(-1). The vibrational assignments and vibrational constants are listed and discussed. The energy pattern is found to be very similar to the one in (12)C2H2 with additional anharmonic resonances arising from the lack of u/g character in the asymmetric isotopolog.


Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of low and high Karlovitz number (Ka) flames are analysed to investigate the behaviour of the reactive scalar sub-grid scale (SGS) variance in premixed combustion under a wide range of combustion conditions (regimes). An order of magnitude analysis is performed to assess the importance of various terms in the variance evolution equation and the analysis is validated using the DNS results. This analysis sheds light on the relative behaviour among turbulent transport and production, scalar dissipation and chemical processes involved in the evolution of the SGS variance at different Ka. The common expectation is that the variance equation shifts from a reaction-dissipation balance at low Ka to a production–dissipation balance at high Ka with diminishing reaction contribution. However, in large eddy simulation (LES), a high Ka alone does not make the reaction term negligible, as the relative importance of the reaction term has a concurrent increase with filter size. The filter size can be relatively large compared with the Kolmogorov length scale in practical LES of high Ka flames, and as a consequence a reaction–production–dissipation balance may prevail in the variance equation even in a high Ka configuration, and this possibility is quantified using the DNS analysis in this work. This has implications from modelling perspectives, and therefore two commonly used closures in LES for the SGS scalar dissipation rate are investigated a priori to estimate the importance of the above balance in LES modelling. The results are explained to highlight the interplay among turbulence, chemistry and dissipation processes as a function of Ka.


Increasingly, sanitation issues are becoming a central part of global environmental governance and the discourse on sustainability. The city of Bangalore, India, is one of many cities worldwide that is trying to come to terms with its solid waste management (SWM) problems. In 2000, the Government of India issued SWM handling rules, which is a non-binding handbook (MSW Rules 2000) that seeks to guide state and city municipalities and stakeholders in their efforts to deliver better services. A serious SWM crisis prompted Bangalore to be the first city in India to mandate segregation of waste at source. However, implementing these mandates has been a slow process, for reasons we explore in this paper. Building on transition management scholarship, the paper examines the role of interpersonal competency and framing in facilitating partnerships between diverse actors. We do this by i) clarifying the motives of actors and their aims and frames; ii) understanding roles, needs and skills; and iii) selecting, from communication research, communication methods that could possibly secure an enduring shift to more sustainable SWM policies. Our analysis shows that i) the drivers and objectives of some of the actors involved are not coherent with the main vision of the government, and ii) some actors in the city's SWM field stand to lose financially because of the new mandates, and hence strongly oppose the change. Role transformations would need diverse stakeholders in Bangalore's SWM system to come together for a cleaner city. This paper focuses on framing and facilitation strategies in the transitional arena for better participatory governance and stakeholder engagement.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

c-jun, which is overexpressed in a number of human cancers encodes a critical component of the AP-1 complex. c-jun has been shown to either induce or inhibit cellular apoptosis. Germ line deletion of both c-jun alleles is embryonically lethal. To determine the role of the endogenous c-jun gene in apoptosis, we performed mammary epithelial cell-targeted somatic deletion using floxed c-jun (c-jun f/f) conditional knockout mice. Laser capture microdissection demonstrated endogenous c-jun inhibits expression of apoptosis inducing genes and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-reducing genes (MnSOD, catalase). ROS have been implicated in apoptosis and undergo enzymatic elimination via MnSOD and CuZnSOD with further detoxification via catalase. c-jun-mediated survival was in part dependent on ROS production. c-jun-mediated repression of MnSOD and catalase occurred via mitochondrial complex I and NOX I. Collectively, these studies define a pivotal role of endogenous c-jun in promoting cell survival via maintaining mitochondrial integrity and expression of the key regulators of ROS production.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 202. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-202


As I passed quietly through the open door of the second-grade classroom, the students were gathered on the floor around their teacher. Even with my best effort to be unobtrusive, the teacher caught my entry out of the corner of her eye, turned her head, and smiled. The alert second-graders followed her gaze and saw me standing there, taking notes on my yellow cards. In this elementary school, seeing a man enter the room in a business suit, wearing a staff ID badge, and taking notes was an unusual sight. The teacher sensed the students' curiosity and chose to stop class for an introduction. "Class, this is Dr. Schomburg, our superintendent of schools," she explained. Like most second-graders, this group smiled and waved, with several attempting to repeat my difficult name. Choosing to make this a teachable moment, the teacher asked, "Does anyone know what Dr. Schomburg does as the superintendent of schools?" A confident young man shot his hand up and replied, "He is here to check us for head lice!" Thus I came to learn that second-graders view all "doctors" as medical practitioners. Scenes similar to this one occurred frequently during my second year as superintendent, when I began a practice that enabled me to be more active in instructional issues and increase my visibility in the schools - walk-through observations. This activity had its genesis in table talk during negotiations with the leaders of the teachers' union. During one of the sessions, the union leaders expressed a concern about the clinical observation plan in use in the district and stated that they would like to see administrators in classrooms more often than just for the clinical observations required by the contract. Also during those talks, these same labor leaders gave me to understand that, while I was a good communicator, in their eyes I wasn't visible enough in the buildings. I took these comments as constructive criticism, and the following school year I sought to improve in these areas. The means I settled on was the walk-through observation. Walk-through observations stem partly from the theory of "management by walking around," made popular in the 1980s by Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman, authors of In Search of Excellence. Their research showed that, in successful companies, the executive stayed close to the work, rather than remaining isolated in an office. Educators have enhanced this concept by adding data gathering to the "wandering around," including taking note of specific instructional practices during short visits to classrooms. These visits and data gathering allow principals to engage in dialogue with teachers regarding instruction in ways that go beyond the required formal observations. Early in the school year following my talk with the union leaders, I asked all district administrators who had any connection to classroom instruction to join me in attending training sessions on walk-through observations. This training consisted of a review of the research, an overview of legal concerns related to the evaluation process, specific recommendations on a consistent method of note taking, and recommendations on providing feedback to teachers. To practice the process during the training sessions, teams principal meeting, a practice that continues to this day. By conducting monthly team walk-through observations, the district sends the message to the building principals that this is important and that we want them to continue this practice at other times. Teachers also receive the clear message that we are serious about improving the quality of classroom instruction. Following our initial training, building principals engaged in team walk-through observation at each monthly principal meeting, a practice that continues to this day. By conducting monthly team walk-through observations, the district sends the message the building principals that we want them to continue this practice at other times. …


Summary Proximate mechanisms involved in forming extracellular matrix (ECM) variations within and between bones are not yet clear. Deficiencies in the collective understanding of details required to illuminate the process that forms a highly ordered ECM are exposed when considering that there is still significant debate as to the importance of cellular control in the assembly of the ECM vs. the observation of collagen fibrillar "self-assembly" (i. e., occurring devoid of cells). We examined data and opinions with respect to possible mechanisms involved in the formation of distinctly different ECM patterns of secondary osteon morphotypes (SOMs). Important considerations include: (1) stretch within the osteoid during fibrillogenesis, (2) various mechanotransduction mechanisms, and (3) whether or not the formation of regional variations in osteonal ECMs requires osteo blast alignment and/or rotation and migration. We propose that primary cilia of osteoblasts and osteocytes have an important role in their perception of variant-related (vectorial) stimuli, which is deemed essential in the genesis of distinctive and mechanically relevant ECM patterns of SOMs.


The current trend in microelectronic systems has made thermal management a critical design phase with the increase in the number of transistors per chip and decrease in system footprint. For high end systems, it has become increasingly difficult to rely on air cooling. As a result, liquid cooling has grown in prominence as a method for cooling high density interconnect (HDI) devices. Water cooling in particular has multiple advantages over air cooling as it has a greater heat carrying capacity. Cold plates will play a prominent role in cooling such high end systems. As a way of demonstrating the proposed methodology, the performance of the cold plate previously employed in IBM's Enterprise System/9000 water-cooled mainframes is optimized. By varying multiple design parameters, such as the channel dimensions, a conjugate CFD model is deployed to optimize the thermal resistance for a fixed pumping power. This will serve as an indicator for future studies into the design of robust cold plates for energy-efficient thermal management and packaging of high power single and multi-chip planar modules.


The segmentation is a challenging task in digital image processing. There are various methods available for performing segmentation. Clustering based image segmentation is an important technique in image segmentation scenarios. Under this ExpectationMaximization algorithm (GMMEM) for image segmentation is taken here for analysis. This algorithm is a popular tool for estimating model parameters, especially mixture models and it is a hill-climbing approach. But Image segmentation using GMM-EM algorithm has several drawbacks, such as local maxima, plateau and ridges. The important drawbacks are local maxima which mean that it is sensitive to initialization. To overcome the problem of local maxima this paper proposes a new Glowworm swarm optimization (GSO) algorithm along with EM algorithm. In the initial stage, the GSO is executed for a short period for automatic clustering. The result from the GSO is used as the initial optimal seed of the EM algorithm. Compared to the existing method of segmentation using only with GMM, this paper GSO based EM gives better results with minimum time and errors.