Mustard gas or sulfur mustard (SM) is an alkylating chemical warfare agent that was widely used during the World War I and in the Iran-Iraq conflict. We aimed to study late toxic effects of SM on the respiratory system of severely intoxicated Iranian veterans. Respiratory examination, spirometry, arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis, and high resolution computed tomograpghy (HRCT) of the chest were performed on all severely SM-poisoned veterans in the province of Khorasan, Iran. HRCT abnormalities were classified into four grades based on the number of lung lobes involved. ABG and spirometric results were compared with each other, as well as, with the severity grades of HRCT abnormalities, using Spearman's rank correlation test. Forty male subjects with confirmed SM poisoning 16 to 20 years ago, were studied. Main respiratory complications were diagnosed as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (35%), bronchiectasis (32.5%), asthma (25%), large airway narrowing (15%), pulmonary fibrosis (7.5%), and simple chronic bronchitis (5%) patients. While there was a significant correlation (p<0.05) between ABG and spirometric results, the severity grades of HRCT abnormalities revealed a significant correlation (p<0.05) only with PaO2. We concluded that SM-induced respiratory complications tend to progress over the years. While spirometry is a valuable diagnostic tool for evaluation of pulmonary impairment during regular follow-ups, ABG and HRCT are more objective and should be more considered for evaluation of the severity and for diagnosis of the respiratory complications.


The I-V characteristics of SiOx films deposited in an RF magnetron system with low pressure ( approximately 6 mTorr) SiH4/O2/Ar gas mixtures have been studied. With the enhanced surface processes under the high flux, low energy ion bombardment, the substrate temperature ( 300 degrees C). The film deposited under the optimum conditions without annealing has a very smooth surface, low leakage current (<10-10 A for F<6 MV cm-1) and high breakdown field strength (9-10 MV cm-1). It is found that the breakdown voltage is strongly correlated with the initial injection current. The film roughness, porosity and stoichiometry are the important factors for the electrical properties and can be controlled. The effects of RF power, deposition rate, and the oxygen to silane partial pressure ratio are investigated and discussed.


The 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are the only country grouping to have a dedicated article in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Article 4.9 commits all parties to the convention to take full account of their specific needs and special situations with regard to funding and technology transfer. As part of efforts to implement this commitment, in 2001 the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) was established to support LDCs in their climate change actions. But 15 years later, the fund is empty while the backlog of projects waiting for resources continues to grow. Is there a future for the LDCF in the post-Paris climate regime? The LDCs argue that there should be, but the fund needs strengthening.


Background RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation, the most abundant and prominent form of epigenetic modification, is involved in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) initiation and progression. However, the role of m6A methylation in HCC tumor microenvironment (TME) formation is unexplored. This study aimed to reveal the TME features of HCC patients with distinct m6A expression patterns and establish a prognostic model based on m6A signatures for HCC cohorts. Material/Methods We classified the m6A methylation patterns in 365 HCC samples based on 21 m6A modulators using a consensus clustering algorithm. Single-sample gene set enrichment analysis algorithm was used to quantify the abundance of immune cell infiltration. Gene set variation analysis revealed the biological characteristics between the m6A modification patterns. The m6A-based prognostic model was constructed using a training set with least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression and validated in internal and external datasets. Results Two distinct m6A modification patterns exhibiting different TME immune-infiltrating characteristics, heterogeneity, and prognostic variations were identified in the HCC cohort. After depicting the immune landscape of TME in HCC, we found patients with high LRPPRC m6A modulator expression had depletion of T cells, cytotoxic cells, dendritic cells, and cytolytic activity response. A high m6A score, characterized by suppression of immunity, indicated an immune-excluded TME phenotype, with poor survival. A nomogram was developed to facilitate HCC clinical decision making. Conclusions Our results highlight the nonnegligible role of m6A methylation in TME formation and reveal a potential clinical application of the m6A-associated prognostic model for patients with HCC.


Nowadays, great attention is paid to the study of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) due to their key role in distant metastasis. At the same time there is little data on the properties of circulating cells showing simultaneous expression of the leukocyte and epithelial markers and their possible role in tumor progression and chemotherapy resistance. The study was aimed to assess subpopulations of cells with hybrid epithelial/leukocyte phenotype and estimate the features of stemness, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), and integrin interface, which determine the cells' possible metastatic properties in breast cancer (BC). The survey data from 128 patients with invasive breast carcinoma of no special type were included. Multicolor flow cytometry was used to assess the population structure and metastatic potential of the cells circulating in blood and primary tumor cells with hybrid phenotype. The primary tumor cell suspension was prepared by mechanical disaggregation. The high degree of heterogeneity was noted in the population of cells with hybrid phenotype, including the combination of the stemness and EMT features, and diverse integrin interface. Cells with hybrid phenotype are involved in the mechanisms underlying lymph node and distant metastasis. In lymph node metastasis, metastatic potential of these cells is associated with the stemness features (р = 0.0422) and co-expression of β3-, β4-, and αVβ5-integrins (р = 0.0338). In distant metastasis, metastatic potential of hybrid cells is associated with the stemness features (р = 0.015) and is not associated with the EMT features and integrin expression.


We analyse the Hamilton-Jacobi action of gravity and matter in the limit where gravity is treated at the background field approximation. The motivation is to clarify when the Wheeler-DeWitt equation leads to the Schrödinger equation in a background geometry. In particular, we investigate the problem of the choice of the background and that of the corrections to the Schrödinger equation associated with this choice. To this end, we first work classically. We determine when the total action, a solution of the constraint equations of general relativity, leads to the matter action in a given background. This is achieved by comparing neighbouring solutions differing in their matter-energy content. To first order in the change of the 3-geometries, the total action splits into an irrelevant background contribution and the usual matter action evaluated in the background. Higher-order terms are governed by the choice of the background geometry and by its `susceptibility'. These properties apply to quantum cosmology when it is described by WKB wavefunctions. We then show that the corrections to these WKB waves and to the background field approximation appear together and remain small when the susceptibility of the background is low.


To accurately identify lumbosacral transitional vertebrae and disease location, cervicothoracic sagittal scout images were obtained in addition to the standard images used in magnetic resonance imaging studies of the lumbar spine, and vertebrae were counted down from C-2 rather than up from L-5. In 200 patients, these techniques revealed 24 transitional vertebrae (15 cases of sacralization of L-5 and nine cases of lumbarization of S-1).


A low-loss silicon rib waveguide crossing with low polarization dependence loss is proposed. The insertion loss for TE (TM) polarization mode is -0.14 dB (-0.29 dB) and the crosstalk is -28 dB (-30 dB) at 1550 nm. The footprint of this device is around 8×8 μm2.


Using haemolysis in gel, two bacterial IgG-binding substances, an Fc-receptor isolated from group A streptococci type M15, and protein A from Staphylococcus aureus, were shown to inhibit complement-mediated lysis of sheep erythrocytes sensitized with rabbit IgG. When the crude alkaline extracts of ten types of group A streptococci were tested to see whether streptococcal components other than Fc-binding material might affect lysis, the degree of inhibition was found to be correlated with Fc-binding activity. In no case was the lysis of IgM-coated cells inhibited. Opsonophagocytosis experiments showed that both purified streptococcal Fc-receptor and protein A impaired antibody complement-dependent killing by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes of each of two strains of group B streptococci (lacking IgG Fc-receptors). Furthermore, the impairment was ascribable to interference with the fixation of complement to the antibodies, as demonstrated in pre-opsonization experiments with one of the strains. Our results suggest that blocking of the binding of complement to IgG is an important virulence mechanism in Fc-receptor-bearing streptococci and staphylococci.


The highly microheterogeneous, N-glycosidically linked oligosaccharides in the glycoproteins of Friend murine leukemia virus (as produced by Eveline cells) were liberated with endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H and by alkaline hydrolysis. They were fractionated (as desialylated oligosaccharitols) by gel filtration and by concanavalin A affinity chromatography, and the major fractions were analyzed by methylation-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, by digestion with exoglycosidases, and, especially, by one- and two-dimensional proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Guidelines for qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex oligosaccharide mixtures by NMR were worked out and the results compared with those obtained by methylation analysis. It was found that these major fractions consist of bi-, tri-, and tetraantennary oligosaccharitols of the "complex" type (comprising a minority of species with N-acetyllactosamine repeating units), which are, in part, substituted by nonreducing terminal Gal alpha (1----3) and/or bisecting GlcNAc beta (1----4) residues.


In this paper, we discuss the development of very sensitive, very long wavelength infrared GaAslAL Ga__ _ As quan- tum well infrared photodetectors (QWIP's) based on bound- to-quasi-bound intersubband transition, fabrication of random reflectors for efficient light coupling, and the demonstration of a 15-pm cutoff 128 × 128 focal plane array imaging camera. Ex- cellent imagery, with a noise equivalent differential temperature (NEAT) of 30 mK has been achieved.


Welcome to this installment of ACM SIGMOD Record's series of interviews with distinguished members of the database community. For this interview, we're in Madison, Wisconsin, the site of the 2002 PODS and SIGMOD conferences. I have here with me Jim Gray, who received a Turing award in 1998 for his contributions to computer science, especially in the area of transaction processing. Jim served on the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, which advises the United States President on technical matters, and on an advisory committee for the Library of Congress. Jim got his PhD at Berkeley in 1969 and has worked at IBM, Tandem, DEC, and now Microsoft Research. So, Jim, welcome.


We present the synthesis, characterization, and photophysical properties of three luminescent rhenium(I) polypyridine fluorous complexes [Re(Me(2)bpy)(CO)(3)(L)](PF(6)) (Me(2)bpy = 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine; L = 3-amino-5-(N-((3-perfluorooctyl)propyl)aminocarbonyl)pyridine (py-Rf-NH(2)) (1), 3-isothiocyanato-5-(N-((3-perfluorooctyl)propyl)aminocarbonyl)pyridine (py-Rf-NCS) (2), 3-ethylthioureidyl-5-(N-((3-perfluorooctyl)propyl)aminocarbonyl)pyridine (py-Rf-TU-C(2)H(5)) (3)). The isothiocyanate complex 2 has been used to label bovine serum albumin (BSA) and glutathione (GSH). The photophysical properties of the resultant bioconjugates have been studied. The isolation of the luminescent fluorous rhenium-GSH conjugate from a mixture of 20 amino acids has been demonstrated using fluorous solid-phase extraction (FSPE). Additionally, the cytotoxicity of complexes 1 and 3 toward HeLa cells has been examined by the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The cellular uptake properties of complex 3 have also been investigated by laser-scanning confocal microscopy.


The aim of this research is to analyze the theta rhythm distribution in volunteers with a different physical activity status. We examine forty healthy males divided into four groups according to degree with physical activity (low, moderate, high dynamic and high static). The electroencephalographic data are recorded during both eyes-closed and eyes-open resting conditions. Resting state recordings had no differences in terms of the amplitude of the theta rhythm in representatives of groups. In their turn, the changes during eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions are more pronounced in the groups with high physical activity. For example, theta activity in high dynamic group decreases in the temporal region during eyes-open and increases in eyes-closed conditions. This rhythm in high static group increases in the occipital region during eyes-open and reduces in eyes-closed conditions. We assume that a physical activity status influences the formation of theta waves.


ABSTRACT

Many high-rise office buildings in the tropics have a full-glazed facade and a deep open-plan space. Without any external shading, the office space has a non-uniform daylight distribution and glare problem. A deep open-plan space design also causes insufficient daylight levels in the area distant from the building perimeter. Previous studies about Horizontal Light Pipe (HLP) mainly focused on system improvement in capturing, transporting, and distributing daylight into deep space. Integration of HLP as a light transport system that can deliver daylight deeper into building interiors and shading systems consist of Light Shelf (LS), blinds that can redirect and reduce the excessive daylight level near the side window are proposed and studied. The research objective is to explain the daylight performance of the integration of HLP and shading systems. The research method is experimental with Radiance-based simulation as a tool. Surabaya (latitude 7.38° S and longitude 112.79° E), a typical city in the Tropics, was chosen for the simulation. Daylight level, daylight distribution, and Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) of office room with East-facing window are compared with office room with HLP and shading systems. The results showed that the integration of HLP and shading systems increased the average illuminance level in the deep area reached 135 % and reduced the average illuminance level in the area near the side window reached 55 %. HLP and shading systems also increase the daylight distribution inside space and slightly improve the DGP but still in the range of imperceptible for building users.


Spectacle. 'This is Sparta!' : the reinvention of the epic in Zach Snyder's 300 / Monica Silveira Cyrino -- 'Philip never saw Babylon' : 360 degree vision and the historical epic in the digital era / Kirsten Thompson -- Heroic chivalry, heroic sacrifice : 'martial arthouse' as epic cinema / Leon Hunt -- -- Bare life and sovereignty in Gladiator / Robert Burgoyne -- Center and periphery -- Rise of the rest : globalizing epic cinema / Dina Iordanova -- Signs of the times : the semiotics of time and event in Sirk's Sign of the pagan / Bettina Bildhauer -- The fall of the Roman Empire : on space and allegory / Tom Conley -- An Italianmade spectacle film dubbed in English : cultural distinctions, national cinema and the critical reception of the postwar historical epic / Mark Jancovich -- Red cliff : the Chinese-language epic and diasporic Chinese spectators / Ruby Cheung -- Remembering the nation. Passing through nightmares : Cecil B. DeMille's The plainsman and the epic discourse in New Deal America / Philip Wagner -- Epos indigenized : the New Zealand wars film from Rudall Hayward to Vincent Ward / Bruce Babington -- The family epic. Epic melodrama, or cine-maps of the global South / Bhaskar Sarkar -- Black blood : There will be blood / Anne Gselvik -- The body in the epic. The monstrous epic : deciphering Mel Gibson's The passion of the Christ / Alison Griffiths -- Reading the black body in epic cinema / Saer Ba.


Devolution and pressures from elected officials and citizens to reduce government involvement in service provision have increasingly led many public agencies to contract with nonprofits for service delivery. In this article we consider the effects of the changing institutional arrangements governing the delivery of publicly funded social services on citizens' satisfaction and ability to hold service providers accountable. Specifically, we consider whether citizens are able to accurately identify service providers as nonprofit or governmental providers and investigate what drives individual perceived and actual use of nonprofits for social services; what the relationship is between perceived and actual use and a citizen's satisfaction with social services; and whether satisfaction with services influences the likelihood that citizens will correctly identify a provider as a nonprofit or governmental agency. Using public opinion data, we examine these questions empirically. Our results suggest that citizens are more likely to misidentify nonprofit service providers as governmental agencies when they are less satisfied with the services that they have received. The public management implications of contracting with nonprofit organizations and citizen satisfaction and accountability are discussed.


Objectives: To assess whether microemboli burden, assessed noninvasively by bedside transcranial Doppler ultrasonography, correlates with risk of subsequent stroke greater than 24 hours after hospital arrival among patients with blunt cerebrovascular injury. The greater than 24-hour time frame provides a window for transcranial Doppler examinations and therapeutic interventions to prevent stroke. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Level I trauma center. Patients: One thousand one hundred forty-six blunt cerebrovascular injury patients over 10 years. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: We identified 1,146 blunt cerebrovascular injury patients; 54 (4.7%) experienced stroke detected greater than 24 hours after arrival. Among those with isolated internal carotid artery injuries, five of nine with delayed stroke had positive transcranial Dopplers (at least one microembolus detected with transcranial Dopplers) before stroke, compared with 46 of 248 without (risk ratio, 5.05; 95% CI, 1.41–18.13). Stroke risk increased with the number of microemboli (adjusted risk ratio, 1.03/microembolus/hr; 95% CI, 1.01–1.05) and with persistently positive transcranial Dopplers over multiple days (risk ratio, 16.0; 95% CI, 2.00–127.93). Among patients who sustained an internal carotid artery injury with or without additional vessel injuries, positive transcranial Dopplers predicted stroke after adjusting for ipsilateral and contralateral internal carotid artery injury grade (adjusted risk ratio, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.42–5.97). No patients with isolated vertebral artery injuries had positive transcranial Dopplers before stroke, and positive transcranial Dopplers were not associated with delayed stroke among patients who sustained a vertebral artery injury with or without additional vessel injuries (risk ratio, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.21–3.83). Conclusions: Microemboli burden is associated with higher risk of stroke due to internal carotid artery injuries, but monitoring was not useful for vertebral artery injuries.


Abstract : This sixth edition of "Introduction to Defense Acquisition Management" provides an update of the regulatory framework from the May 2003 "Department of Defense Directive 5000.1" and the "Department of Defense Instruction 5000.2" governing the defense acquisition system. In addition, information about the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System from the June 2003 Chairman of the "Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction 3170.01C" and information about the new Department of Defense Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) process also are provided. Although the general format of the second edition has been retained, this version has been significantly revised to reflect the aforementioned acquisition management policies and procedures and the DoD 5000 documents. The handbook is designed to be both a comprehensive introduction to the world of defense systems acquisition management for the newcomer and a summary-level refresher for the practitioner who has been away from the business for a few years. It focuses on Department of Defense-wide management policies and procedures, not on the details of any specific defense system. Chapters discuss the role of the Congress, the Executive Branch, and Industry in Defense Acquisition; Authority for the Defense Acquisition System; Transformation of the Department of Defense, including joint vision, acquisition streamlining initiatives, major legislation, regulatory reform, and changes in emphasis; Program Management in Defense Acquisition; Department of Defense Acquisition Policy, including regulatory documents, decision support systems, acquisition categories, the space systems acquisition process, and the acquisition, technology, and logistics knowledge sharing system; Defense Acquisition Management - Key Personnel and Organizations; Determining Joint Warfighting Needs; the Acquisition Management Framework; and the Resource Allocation Process.


The current teaching model has been characterized by activities distant from the student's reality and mainly based on memorization. Since it is assumed that unconventional teaching strategies may foster  the knowledge of the syllabus contents, this paper aims to present the construction of an ambient room simulating the human digestive system to provide high school students an experience of its physiological processes. The room  was built in a government school with different materials, such as nonwoven fabric, PVC pipes, mortar and PET bottles. Visiting the ambient room, monitored by their teacher, the students were able to simulate the experience of each stage of the digestive process, allowing one to believe that the ambient room can be an effective playful approach activity, enabling students to construct meaningful learning on subjects which otherwise they may see as too theoretical and of difficult comprehension


During a survey of freshwater diatoms from streams in North Tianmu Mountain, Liyang City, Jiangsu Province, China, a new Cymbella species, Cymbella liyangensis sp. nov. was recorded. A detailed morphological description of C. liyangensis is presented, based on light and scanning electron microscopy. The main features of C. liyangensis are: moderately dorsiventral, semi-lanceolate valves with broadly to obtusely rounded ends; indistinct central area on the dorsal side, bordered by 1–2 shorter central striae; three or four round, different-sized stigmata open at the ends of the central ventral striae; a "ridge like" structure is present at the junction of the valve face and mantle around the valve; a marked tendency to develop biseriate striae, with up to 10 biseriate striae near the apices. The new species is compared with C. hubeiensis, C. sumatrensis, C. tridentina, C. parva, C. rumrichae, C. hantzschiana and C. vulgata, all of which show similarities to Cymbella liyangensis but differ in details of size, valve shape, stria density and structure, and number of stigmata. The species is common to abundant on stones from relatively clean stream waters from North Tianmu Mountain.


Authentication mechanisms are considered the typical method to secure financial websites. Context authentication has become increasingly important in the arena of online banking, which involves sensitive data that belong to users who trust their banks. Multifactor authentication is the most commonly used method of strengthening the log-in process in e-banking. Developing a usable and secure authentication approach and method is the most challenging area for researchers in the fields of security and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). This paper describes a work-in-progress towards a new approach for authenticating users when access online banking by giving them the opportunity to choose their preferred method to log into e-banking. In our complex experiment with 100 online banking customers, we simulate an original online banking platform based on the proposed approach; then, we evaluate the usability and security of three different methods and assess user awareness of the most visible security design flaws. The initial result shows that the new system model was able to assess the usability and security of different multifactor authentication methods and it is considered a first attempt towards a usable and secure authentication approach.


Recent years have seen the emergence and establishment of antibodies to citrullinated antigens as the primary diagnostic marker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recent work has established the close link between genetic factors, environmental factors and the presence of these antibodies. The authors have therefore examined these relationships in another serological subgroup with RA. Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is reported in up to 30% of patients with RA. Like RA, AITD has also been associated with a combination of genetic and environmental influences. The authors have examined the incidence of antithyroid antibodies (ATA) and anti-CCP by ELISA in a well-characterised cohort collected by the Arthritis Research Epidemiology Unit, University of Manchester. This cohort (n=754) was genotyped for shared epitope and PTPN22 and smoking history was recorded as never smoked; past smoker or current smoker. Antibodies to thyroid peroxidase or thyroglobulin were detected in 16% and 9% of patients, respectively. The overall frequency of ATA in this cohort was 19%. Anti-CCP was detected in 58% of patients. There was no association between the presence of ATA and anti-CCP. There was no association between the shared epitope expression, or shared epitope copy number, and the presence of ATA. However the presence of PTPN22 R620W was significantly associated with the presence of ATA (p=0.034). The presence of the R620W allele increased the risk of ATA by 44%. This association was shown to be independent of any association between PTPN22 and anti-CCP. There was a negative association of ATA and smoking. ATA frequencies were higher in patients who had never smoked. A differential risk was observed between those patients who were still smoking (p=0.001; OR 0.360 (0.198–0.654)) and those who had stopped smoking in the past (p=0.013; OR 0.558 (0.352-0.885)) compared to those who had never smoked. This is in keeping with the recent reports of a protective effect of smoking in primary AITD. The presence of ATA in patients with RA is associated with the expression of the PTPN22 R620W allele, independent of any association with RA or anti-CCP. Smoking, in contrast to its role as a risk factor for the development of RA, appears to have a protective effect for the presence of ATA in RA patients.


Abstract Background Globalisation and changes in the nature of work have resulted in increasing work-related stress in people in developing countries. Work stress is at present already acknowledged as one of the epidemics of modern working life. It is associated with a number of disease conditions, such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, affective disorders, depression, disturbed metabolism (risk of Type II diabetes) and musculoskeletal disorders. Objective This study was a work site cross-sectional descriptive study carried out amongst the health workers at the Baptist Medical Centre Ogbomoso, Oyo State, south-western Nigeria. The aim of the study was to discern the prevalence of perceived work stress and to explore the relationship between perceived work stress and the presence of hypertension. Methods A total of 324 consenting health workers of the institution were administered the job demand-control questionnaire to assess work stress. A standardised questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic data and other personal data. Measurements of blood pressure, weight and height were carried out and body mass indices were calculated. Results More than a quarter (26.2%) of the subjects perceived themself as stressed at work. The single largest group of hypertensive subjects was seen amongst subjects with work stress. Conclusion A significant number of health workers in this study is afflicted by work-related stress and perceived work stress was found to be significantly associated with higher hypertension prevalence.


We have measured neutron reflectivities at the liquid-air interface of polydimethyl-siloxane solutions, and we have observed remarkable properties. We report, for the first time to our knowledge, a dramatic effect of the isotopic composition on the reflectivity curve of such interfaces. This is discussed in terms of the propagation equation. The results obtained with deuterated solvent and nondeuterated polymers agree with the kinematic approximation. These data show the existence of a polymer concentration profile extending far away from the surface and support recent scaling predictions.


Climate Science
During the last deglaciation, between approximately 18,000 and 10,000 years ago, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 rose from around 180 to more than 260 parts per million. Although several plausible explanations for this increase have been proposed, it has not yet been possible to assign one over the others definitively. Lourantou et al. provide an additional constraint for the competing scenarios: a record of the isotopic composition of the carbon in atmospheric CO2 over the time interval in question. Because different sources of atmospheric CO2 have distinct carbon isotopic compositions, the authors could determine where in the carbon system the CO2 was coming from by comparing their data with proxy records related to carbon cycle processes, and also by conducting simulations using carbon cycle box models. They conclude that most of the increase in atmospheric CO2 was caused by Southern Ocean ventilation and upwelling, with additional contributions at various times from a decline in marine productivity and a buildup of terrestrial carbon. More sophisticated Earth system models that incorporate carbon cycle–climate feedbacks could help to disentangle the contributions of the processes involved in the rise.

Global Biogeochem. Cycles 24 , GB2015 (2010).


Toe-to-hand transfer is an acceptable treatment option for children born with absent digits. Toe transfer can provide functionally useful digits and may enhance patient wellbeing. A total of 19 children had 31 free second-toe-to-hand microsurgical transfers between 1998 and 2012. The mean age of these children at the time of the first operation was 45 months. All transferred toes survived. The donor site was satisfactory in all 19 patients. Twelve children (19 toes) attended a special review clinic; all children could grasp large objects (Duplo bricks) after toe transfer. The total passive range of motion was greater than total active range of motion by an average of 54 degrees. Static 2-point discrimination was generally excellent (mean = 5 mm). Eleven out of 12 children strongly agreed that their toe transfer had improved hand function. Microsurgical toe-to-hand transfer is a safe and reliable technique that can provide useful function for children with congenital differences. Our series compares favourably with the published literature. Level of evidence: IV


Do you use instruments produced by companies using child labour? Approximately 7,700 child workers help to produce surgical instruments in Sialkot, Pakistan. These instruments end up in the hands of nurses and doctors in thousands of hospitals and clinics around the world. Paul Germanotta of Public Services International reports on the problem and what nurses and nursing organisations can do to help end exploitation of child workers.


The analysis of unbalanced power systems depends usually on transformation methods by which the phase quantities are substituted by, for example, symmetrical component quantities. These transformations had the computational advantages in the past, but with the use of digital computer, they no longer appear to be necessary. In this paper the analysis of power system faults including the simultaneous ones has been undertaken with the help of phase coordinates, i. e., the actual system phase voltages, currents and impedances. This approach is found to be simple and readily adaptable to digital computer techniques. Symmetrical components are, however, used as a measure of the system unbalance.


With the development of general aviation, China needs a kind of airborned communication terminal, which is affordable, reliable and convenient. This terminal can broadcast its ranging data periodically which will be received by the aircrafts in the same airspace, so it can realize ADS function. In this paper, based on TD-SCDMA international standard, it introduces two communication modes named "controlled" and "self-organized" used by the airborned terminals. Airborned terminals will realize the wideband data link through the handover flexible between two communication modes and update reserved slots table dynamic. It will assure the safety and regular of ATC through the method in this paper


ABSTRACT Capsule: Trophic status of a deep-water lake was the main driver of changes in breeding population size of Great Crested Grebes Podiceps cristatus while reproductive success was also strongly affected by weather parameters. Aims: To determine the effects of changes in nutrient status of a formerly highly-eutrophicated deep-water lake and other environmental parameters on a Great Crested Grebe population during a phase of re-oligotrophication. Methods: Annual surveys were carried out on a natural lake in Switzerland over a period of 25 years to determine breeding population size and reproductive success. The effects of phosphorus content, other limnological parameters and weather variables were analysed with quasi-Poisson models. Results: The breeding population increased from 80 pairs in 1992 to 417 pairs in 2001, after which numbers showed strong fluctuations. Total phosphorus content in the lake had a strong negative effect on breeding population size. A significant positive correlation was found with the national population index. Reproductive success fluctuated strongly but showed an overall decline. The model indicated positive effects on reproductive success of phosphorus and negative effects of the number of days with strong wind. Rapid water-level increases in early summer and water transparency in June led to higher proportions of late broods. Conclusion: Phosphorus concentration was identified as the main driver affecting the breeding population of Great Crested Grebes during the phase of recovery of the lake from a highly-eutrophic state. Results indicate that mesotrophic to eutrophic conditions enabled a large population and high breeding success. Reproductive output was further negatively affected by strong wind during a critical breeding phase.


Significance How NK cell development diverges from T/B cell commitment at the common lymphoid progenitor stage is poorly understood. Histone modification near critical gene loci often influences lineage determination. Ezh2 is a histone methyltransferase frequently associated with gene repression. Here we observed that Ezh2-null hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) or HSPCs treated with Ezh2 inhibitors gave rise to increased NK precursors and mature progeny that display enhanced cytotoxicity against tumor cells. The latter effects were associated with up-regulation of IL-15R (CD122) and the NKG2D-activating receptor. These findings may provide insight into the contribution of epigenetic regulation to the genesis of NK cells and suggest that Ezh2 inhibitors may inhibit tumor growth directly and indirectly through mobilization of NK cells. Changes of histone modification status at critical lineage-specifying gene loci in multipotent precursors can influence cell fate commitment. The contribution of these epigenetic mechanisms to natural killer (NK) cell lineage determination from common lymphoid precursors is not understood. Here we investigate the impact of histone methylation repressive marks (H3 Lys27 trimethylation; H3K27me3) on early NK cell differentiation. We demonstrate that selective loss of the histone-lysine N-methyltransferase Ezh2 (enhancer of zeste homolog 2) or inhibition of its enzymatic activity with small molecules unexpectedly increased generation of the IL-15 receptor (IL-15R) CD122+ NK precursors and mature NK progeny from both mouse and human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that enhanced NK cell expansion and cytotoxicity against tumor cells were associated with up-regulation of CD122 and the C-type lectin receptor NKG2D. Moreover, NKG2D deficiency diminished the positive effects of Ezh2 inhibitors on NK cell commitment. Identification of the contribution of Ezh2 to NK lineage specification and function reveals an epigenetic-based mechanism that regulates NK cell development and provides insight into the clinical application of Ezh2 inhibitors in NK-based cancer immunotherapies.


BACKGROUND
Low-grade albuminuria is an indicator of endothelial dysfunction and is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. A graded level of exposure to bisphenol A was recently identified to be associated with increased risk of low-grade albuminuria in children and adults. Because bisphenol A and phthalates coexist as dietary contaminants, this study investigated whether exposure to phthalates is also associated with low-grade albuminuria.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
Data were examined from 667 children who participated in the 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and who had results for urinary phthalate metabolites and albumin excretion. Urinary albumin and creatinine concentrations were measured in a first morning specimen using a solid-phase fluorescent immunoassay and a Roche/Hitachi Modular P Chemistry Analyzer with an enzymatic method, respectively. Phthalate metabolites were analyzed in a separate spot urine sample from each participant, using high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectroscopy.

RESULTS
For each (roughly) 3-fold increase in metabolites of di-2-ethylhexylphthalate (a high molecular weight phthalate commonly found in foods), a 0.55 mg/g increase in albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) was identified (P=0.02), whereas a 1.30-fold odds of a higher ACR quartile was also identified for each (roughly) 3-fold increase (P=0.02). Higher ACR was not identified in relationship to metabolites of lower molecular phthalates commonly found in lotions or shampoos, suggesting specificity.

CONCLUSIONS
Although reverse causation and unmeasured confounders represent alternative explanations, these findings, in conjunction with our earlier data on bisphenol A, indicate that a wide array of environmental toxins may adversely affect albuminuria and potentially increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. In view of the potential long-term health implications of ongoing exposure in this vulnerable subpopulation, our data support both further study and renewed regulatory efforts to limit exposure during childhood.


The substantial amount of reviews in the realms of computer graphics and the multimedia as well as emotion synchronizing and controlling techniques of 3- Dimension (3D) have thrown the 3D Virtual Human (VH) model in Virtual Reality (VR) into the spotlight. It only requires a small number of 3D VH model systems to manage emotions through sophisticated procedures that include human brain activity together with 3D emotion expression feedback. However, this circumstance leads to a deficiency in emotion interpretation. Emotion interpretation is crucial for the categorization of human sentiments so that they can be coordinated and plotted with a 3D VH model to generate the interaction outcome via emotional walking expression and reveal complete emotion interaction feedback in VR. This study recommends a hybrid emotion classification technique which attains the immersion of emotion interaction with a 3D VH model. This technique involves three steps. Firstly, the criterion of the obstacle that requires a solution is identified. The second step involves emotional feature extraction through a reformulated method, and categorization with a hybrid method and plotting with a defined formula. The third step entails the assimilation and execution of all the features of the recommended technique and mapping the classified emotions. This includes the implementation of a synthesis of emotional walking alongside emotion integration, brain activity and the 3D VH model. Ultimately, the recommended model is analysed and substantiated through actual emotion effects on the 3D VH model with emotional walking style in a VR circumstance. The classified accuracy percent is 88.7% that is achieved by the proposed technique. Outcomes from the tests established that the enhancement of immersion of emotional expression through this procedure is achievable through the utilization of game-based Brain Computer Interface (BCI) in the VR domain. The employment of this technique considerably elevates the realism and immersion of other applications such as robotics regarding emotion.


Purpose – There is increasing interest in the domestic preparation of food and with the postulated health benefits of "cooking from scratch". The purpose of this paper is to examine the demographic and food preparation associations of this term in order to examine its operational value. Design/methodology/approach – A national online survey was conducted during 2012 in Australia among 1,023 domestic food providers, half of whom were men. Questions were asked about cooking from scratch, demographic characteristics, food preparation practices and interest in learning about cooking. Findings – Three quarters of the sample reported they often or always "cooked from scratch" (CFS). More women than men always CFS; fewer 18‐29 year olds did so often or always but more of the over 50s always did so; fewer single people CFS than cohabiting people. No statistically significant ethnic, educational background or household income differences were found. High levels of cooking from scratch were associated with  interest in learning more  about  cooking,  greater  use of most cooking techniques (except microwaves), meat and legume preparation techniques, and the  use  of broader ranges of herbs, spice, liquids/ sauces, other ingredients and cooking utensils. Research limitations/implications – In future work a numerical description of the frequency of cooking from scratch should be considered along with a wider range of response options. The data were derived from an online panel from which men were oversampled. Caution is required in comparisons between men and women respondents. The cross‐sectional nature of the sample prevents any causal attributions from being drawn from the observed relationships. Further replication of the findings, especially the lack of association with educational background should be conducted. Originality/value – This is the first study to examine the associations of demographic characteristics and cooking practices with cooking from scratch. The findings suggest that cooking from scratch is common among Australian family food providers and signifies interest in learning about cooking and involvement in a wide range of cooking techniques.


In this paper, a multivariable control strategy based on a parameterized Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) approach is proposed for a Diesel engine air path. The aim is to control the level of pollutant emissions by coordinating the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) and the Variable Geometry Turbocharger (VGT) valves simultaneously. The main feature of the proposed controller lies in its compatibility with more elaborated nonlinear representations since it uses the model as a black box predictor. Some experimental results performed on a real world Diesel engine are presented in order to emphasize the efficiency of the controller.


The synchronized disinflation across Europe since end-2011 raises the question of whether non-euro area EU countries are affected by the undershooting of the euro area inflation target. To shed light on this issue, we estimate an open-economy, New Keynsian Phillips curve, in which we control for imported inflation. Regression results suggest that falling food and energy prices have been the main disinflationary driver. But low core inflation in the euro area has also had a clear and significant impact. Countries with more rigid exchange-rate regimes and higher share of foreign value added in domestic demand have been more affected. The scope for monetary response to low inflation in non-euro area EU countries depends on concerns about financial stability and unanchoring of inflationary expectations, as well as on exchange rate regime and capital flows dynamics.


An approximate analysis method for brake squeal is presented. Using MSC/NASTRAN, a geometric nonlinear solution is run using a friction stiffness matrix to model the contact between the pad and rotor. The friction coefficient can be pressure dependent. Next, linearised complex modes are found where the interface is set in a slip condition. Since the entire interface is set sliding, it produces the maximum friction work possible during the vibration. It is a conservative measure for stability evaluation. An averaged friction coefficient is measured and used during squeal. Dynamically unstable modes are found during squeal. They are due to friction coupling of neighbouring modes. When these modes are decoupled, they are stabilised and squeal is eliminated. Good correlation with experimental results is shown. It will be shown that the complex modes base-line solution is insensitive to the type of variations in pressure and velocity that occur in a test schedule. This is due to the conservative nature of the approximation. Convective mass effects have not been included.


IoT based eHealth system brings a revolution to healthcare industry, with which the old healthcare systems can be updated into smarter and more personalized ones. The practitioners can continue monitoring the physical status of the patients at anytime and anywhere, and develop more precise treatment plans by analyzing the collected data, such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose. Actually, these smart sensors used in eHealth system are smart embedded devices (SED). Due to the limitations on hardware capabilities, these inter-connected SEDs lack of security considerations in design and implementation, and face the threats from the network. To prevent the malicious users (or programs) from tampering with the SEDs, trusted platform module (TPM) is adopted, which can guarantee the system integrity via detecting unauthorized modifications to data and system environment. However, due to the limited scalability and insufficient system resources, not all SEDs can be deployed with TPM chips. To address this issue, in this paper, a TPM extension scheme (xTSeH) is proposed. In xTSeH, we have extended the functions of a TPM deployed in a SED (TSED) to those non-TPM-protected SEDs (N-TSED) via network. A shadow TPM in the form of a kernel module is designed as the trust base for the N-TSED, which is the representative of the TPM in TSED. Then, three protocols are proposed to implement the integrity verification and inter-SED authentication. Finally, a Raspberry Pi based prototype system is designed and implemented. The feasibility and usability of our scheme are proved by the analysis of the experimental results of system performance.


Abstract: The possibility of using raw glycerol as a substrate for yeast biomass production as a source of proteins was investigated. Biomass concentration, protein content and total protein content of four yeasts (Yarrowia lipolytica NRRL YB-423, Candida lipolytica NRRL Y-1095, Candida utilis NRRL Y-900 and Candida rugosa NRRL Y-95) were determinate, comparing analytical grade glycerol and raw glycerol. Y. lipolytica NRRL YB-423 has been selected as promising for cultivation in a raw glycerol-based medium, mainly due to the higher biomass concentration in relation to the other strains. For this strain, four different culture media were tested. The best results were obtained with 50 g/L glycerol, 5.5 g/L ammonium phosphate, 5.5 potassium dihydrogen phosphate, 1 g/L ammonium sulphate, 0.25 g/L magnesium sulphate, 0.021 g/L calcium chloride dehydrate, 1 g/L yeast extract, 1 g/L peptone, pH adjusted to 5.5. In these conditions, it was possible to obtain 17.8 ± 0.6 g/L maximum biomass concentration, 18.2 ± 1.0% protein content and 3.1 ± 0.1 g/L total protein production. These results represent a 1.2-fold increase in biomass concentration, a 1.5-fold increase in protein content and a 1.9-fold increase in total protein production in relation to the results obtained with the previously medium composition.


Hypocotyl elongation is a critical sign of seed germination and seedling growth, and it is regulated by multi-environmental factors. Light, temperature, and water potential are the major environmental stimuli, and their regulatory mechanism on hypocotyl growth has been extensively studied at molecular level. However, the converged point in signaling process of light, temperature, and water potential on modulating hypocotyl elongation is still unclear. In the present study, we found cell wall was the co-target of the three environmental factors in regulating hypocotyl elongation by analyzing the extension kinetics of hypocotyl and the changes in hypocotyl cell wall of Brassica rapa under the combined effects of light intensity, temperature, and water potential. The three environmental factors regulated hypocotyl cell elongation both in isolation and in combination. Cell walls thickened, maintained, or thinned depending on growth conditions and developmental stages during hypocotyl elongation. Further analysis revealed that the imbalance in wall deposition and hypocotyl elongation led to dynamic changes in wall thickness. Low light repressed wall deposition by influencing the accumulation of cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin; high temperature and high water potential had significant effects on pectin accumulation overall. It was concluded that wall deposition was tightly controlled during hypocotyl elongation, and low light, high temperature, and high water potential promoted hypocotyl elongation by repressing wall deposition, especially the deposition of pectin.


Since 1994 South African further education and training (FET) has undergone significant and fundamental changes. These changes include the transfer of colleges between state departments, curriculum revision, forced mergers and a shift in the student population. As a result of the growing interest in, and funding of, vocationally aligned education, education and training excellence models have permeated into the management portfolio of South Africa's FET. FET colleges (FETCs) have been faced with the emerging excellence discourses in the higher education and business sectors, as well as funding and accreditation linked motivators. How FETC managers have chosen to incorporate, or not to incorporate, centres of excellence (CoEs) into their organizational structures indicates both the difference in the application of CoE models to the sector compared with the higher education and business sectors and the way FETCs are managed in their volatile environment. This paper uses data initially gathered for a funded project aimed at identifying excellence indicators applicable to the FET sector, and a comparative content analysis of related publications and telephone interviews with senior staff responsible for innovation. The authors argue that higher education or business excellence models cannot be applied to the further education and training college environment; models need to be adapted to suit this specific type of environment.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of our study was to investigate outcome predictors of short- and medium-term therapeutic efficacy of facet joint blocks.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Forty-two patients with chronic lower back pain who were undergoing facet joint blocks at one (n = 29) or two (n = 13) levels were analyzed. All patients underwent MRI or CT of the lumbar spine within 5 months before the facet joint blocks. The facet joint blocks were performed under fluoroscopic guidance. A small amount (< 0.3 mL) of iodinated contrast agent, 0.5 mL of local anesthetics and 0.5 mL of steroids, were injected. The initial pain response was prospectively assessed using a visual analogue scale. Additional data, including short-term effect (> 1 week) and medium-term effect (> 3 months), were collected by a structured telephone interview. CT and MRI were reviewed with regard to the extent of facet joint abnormalities. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify outcome predictor for efficacy of facet joint blocks.

RESULTS
A positive immediate effect was seen in 31 patients (74%). A positive medium-term effect was found in 14 patients (33%). Pain alleviated by motion (p = 0.035) and the absence of joint-blocking sensation (p = 0.042) predicted pain relief. However, the extent of facet joint osteoarthritis on MRI and CT was not a significant predictor for outcome (p = 0.57-0.95).

CONCLUSION
Facet joint blocks appear to have a beneficial medium-term effect in one third of patients with chronic lower back pain and may therefore be a reasonable adjunct to nonoperative treatment. However, outcome appears to depend on clinical, not on morphologic, imaging findings.


The compositional systematics of biotites and hornblendes from the batholiths of California have been examined for the purpose of assessing the effects of temperature and pressure of crystallization on the distribution of Fe and Mg among coexisting mafic silicates in granitic rocks. Thermodynamic calculations indicate that at magmatic conditions, Fe-Mg exchange between biotite and amphibole is probably not a strong function of crystallization temperature. However, theoretical predictions and natural mafic phase compositions show that the Fe-Mg distribution is dependent upon amphibole composition. Specifically, decreases in amphibole total Al and A-site occupancy lead to increases in the Mg/(Mg+FeT) of amphibole relative to the Mg/(Mg+FeT) of coexisting biotite. In magmas containing the appropriate igneous buffering assemblage, amphibole Al content is positively correlated with crystallization pressure (cf. Hammarstrom and Zen, 1986). In these magmas, the distribution of Fe and Mg between coexisting amphibole and biotite is primarily a function of consolidation pressure, owing to the dependence of Mg/(Mg+FeT) on Al content in amphibole. Variations in natural amphibole chemistry as a function of crystallization pressure indicate that the dominant pressure-sensitive coupled substitution in amphibole in the batholiths of California is probably of the form: (A-site)+(Mg+Fe2+)+2Si⇔(Na+K)(A-site)+2AlIV+(Al+Fe3+)VI


An efficient implementation of the Crout elimination method in solving large sparse systems of linear algebraic equations of arbitrary structure is described. A computer program, GNSO, by symbolic processing, generates another program, SOLVE, which represents the optimal reduced Crout algorithm in the sense that only nonzero elements are stored and operated on. The method presented is particularly powerful when a system of fixed sparseness structure must be solved repeatedly with different numerical values. In practical examples, the execution of SOLVE was observed to be typically N times as fast as that of the full Crout algorithm, where N is the order of the system.


Integrated Global Positioning System (GPS) and Satellite Digital Audio Radio (SDARS) antenna is proposed for automotive use. The GPS antenna is formed by modifying an annular ring antenna operating at TM12 mode, and the SDARS antenna is placed at the ring center using a slot-loaded degenerate mode TM11 square patch. The GPS antenna operates at 1575.4 MHz with right-hand circular polarization, and the SDARS antenna operates from 2320 to 2345 MHz with left-hand circular polarization. The antenna is also placed on an automotive model, and simulations with the vehicle are performed. Simulations and measurements of the antenna exhibit good performance for automotive use.


MR is the imaging method of choice for detection, staging and follow-up of synovial tumours and tumour-like conditions. The majority of lesions have non-specific features but careful analysis of lesion morphology and signal characteristics reduces the differential diagnosis and leads to a specific diagnosis in some cases.


An infrared camera based on a 256x256 focal plane array for the Mid-IR spectral range (3-5 μm) has been realized for the first time with InAs/GaSb short-period superlattices. The detector shows a cut-off wavelength of 5.4 μm and reveals a quantum efficiency of 30%. The noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) reaches 9.4 mK at 73 K with F/2 optics and 6.5 ms integration time. Excellent thermal images with low NETD values and a very good modulation transfer function are presented. Furthermore, a new method to passivate InAs/GaInSb superlattice photodiodes for the 8-10 μm regime is demonstrated. The approach is based on the epitaxial overgrowth of wet-etched mesa diodes using lattice matched AlGaAsSb. A complete suppression of surface leakage currents in small sized test diodes with 70 μm diameter is observed.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate the vitamin stabilities in dentifrices by analyzing various vitamins according to the level and storage temperature. The stabilities of water- and fat-soluble vitamins were investigated in buffer solution at different pH values (4, 7, 8, 10 and 11) for 14 days and in dentifrices at different pH (7 and 10) for 5 months at two temperature conditions (room and refrigeration temperature) by analyzing the remaining amounts using HPLC methods. In the buffer solution, the stability of vitamins B1 , B6 and C was increased as the pH values increased. Vitamins E and K showed poor stability at pH 4, and vitamin B3 showed poor stability at pH 11. In dentifrices, the storage temperature highly influenced vitamin stability, especially vitamins C and E, but the stabilities of vitamins B1 and C according to pH values did not correspond to the buffer solution tests. Vitamin B group was relatively stable in dentifrices, but vitamin C completely disappeared after 5 months. Vitamin K showed the least initial preservation rates. Vitamins were not detected in commercial dentifrices for adults and detected amounts were less than the advertised contents in dentifrices for children.


This study aims to determine the relationship between self-control and self-regulated learning in students of the Faculty of Psychology and Education at the University of Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo who have a tendency to have low levels of self-regulated learning. The population in this study were students of the eighth amounting to 463 students and the sample of this study was 210 students who were taken using cluster sampling technique. The data collection technique uses a psychological scale with a likert, namely the self-control scale and a self -regulated learning scale compiled by researchers based on aspects of the scale. The data analysis technique used is the Spearman rho assisted by JASP software. The results of data analysis obtained rxy = 0.694 with a significance value of 0.001 < 0.05, then the proposed hypothesis is accepted, which means that there is a significant positive relationship between self-control and self-regulated learning in eighth semester students of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Muhammaadiyah Sidoarjo.


Considering the operation reliability of flexible and optical electronics (FOEs) in dynamic and real-world environments, autonomous self-healing electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials with high transparency, good stretchability and excellent tear-resistance are urgently required but always difficult to achieve due to the poor dynamics of their elastic substrates. Herein, we propose a facile strategy to design a highly dynamic polyurea elastomer (PDMS-MPI-HDI) featuring with ultrahigh optical transparency (>94%), ultralow elastic modulus (<1 MPa), high tear-resistant stretchability (800%), and ultrafast autonomous self-healing (100 s for scratch-healing). Taking PDMS-MPI-HDI as a substrate for embedding silver nanowires (Ag NWs), the first transparent, stretchable and self-healable EMI shielding materials (Ag NWs/PDMS-MPI-HDI) are presented. Failure behavior of Ag NWs/PDMS-MPI-HDI is highly tolerant of prefabricated cracks under deformation. Due to the robust interfacial adhesion between Ag NWs and PDMS-MPI-HDI, the fractured Ag NW network can autonomously self-reconstruct during the healing process of PDMS-MPI-HDI substrates, contributing to the complete restoration of EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) and full erasure of scratches at both the resting and stretching states. Besides, Ag NWs/PDMS-MPI-HDI exhibits fast autonomous self-healing at high (60 °C) and low (0 °C) temperatures, and in artificial sweat, which is essential for FOEs applicable in various practical environments.


Abstract : The FCS Laser-Hardened Vision STO seeks to develop an electro-optic targeting vision system that utilizes a combination of nonlinear and sacrificial materials to provide protection from damage by frequency-agile battlefield lasers at both long and short range. Evidently, the selection of sensor protection technologies for incorporation into the final targeting system will be based on their optical limiting performance under field conditions. While few optical limiting devices perform as well in the field as in the laboratory, some, notably an otherwise extremely promising prototype sacrificial mirror, exhibit a discrepancy that is particularly striking. In the case of a thin, passive limiting component (e.g. ablative mirror or dye cell) situated at a focal plane, the decrease in performance can be attributed to the randomly fluctuating axial displacement of the focal plane that is known to arise from the effects of atmospheric turbulence on a propagating laser beam. I present the results of a quantitative study of the effects of turbulence-induced focal shift on the performance of passive optical limiting devices. The results apply not only to the FCS targeting system, but to all laser eye and sensor protection devices that employ a thin, passive component whose optical limiting performance depends strongly on the input irradiance or the input fluence.


In the April 2004 issue of The Indexer, Geraldine Beare interviewed Drusilla Calvert about the history and development of MACREX. Later that year I was asked by Maureen MacGlashan, as incoming Executive Editor of the journal, to write something similar about CINDEXTM. Although it is not in interview format I hope I have matched the order, coverage, and spirit of that earlier interview.


Vasculitis secondary to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) usually occurs in patients with high circulating titres of rheumatoid factor and established, chronic disease. Vasculitis of the gallbladder causing acute cholecystitis is an extremely rare manifestation of rheumatoid vasculitis. To our knowledge, this is the first case in which vasculitis occurred early in the course of disease. We report the case of a localised gallbladder vasculitis in a 74-year-old, newly diagnosed male patient with RA. He presented with acute abdominal pain, a history of constitutional symptoms and a 1-week history of polyarthritis of his wrist and hands. Cholecystitis was diagnosed clinically and radiologically and he underwent a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Histopathology of the gallbladder confirmed cholecystitis and gallstones but in addition found small vessel vasculitis and rheumatoid nodules. This case illustrates that rheumatoid vasculitis can occur early in the onset of RA. Additionally, although rare, the gallbladder can be a site of localised rheumatoid vasculitis.


We design a PCI Express controller for endpoint (APCE). APCE supports the full functionality of the transaction layer and data link layer of PCI Express. We propose an efficient buffer management scheme for APCE to obey the replay mechanism and it can dynamically adjust the size of a replay buffer space. We employ 80C51 to manage the designed functional blocks in APCE effectively, and implement the real-time OS, MicroC/OS II, on 80C51. We also code software under a real time environment. This coded software covers supporting the replay mechanism, checking and generating error messages, processing TLP (transaction layer packet) acknowledgment, and management for exchanging flow control. To verify APCE, we built a test bench including behavioral models of host bridge, local master, and local slave. We also propose an effective verification for compliance and corner case testing when using a behavioral reference model of APCE, random generator, and compare engine.


Genetic Algorithm with Multiobjective formulations are realistic models for many complex engineering optimization problems such as QoS routing protocol for mobile ad hoc network. The paper presents QoS routing protocol for MANET with specialized encoding, initialization, crossovers, mutations, fitness selections and route search using genetic algorithm with multiple objectives. The aim is to find the best QoS route in order to optimize the design of MANET routing protocols. This NP-hard problem is often highly constrained such that random initialization and standard genetic operators usually generate infeasible networks. The performances of the protocol was done to indicate the feasible of the proposed multiobjectives formulation.


We experienced a case of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) following transurethral ureterolithotripsy (TUL). A 78-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with the complaints of fever and urinary tract infection. Urine culture showed positive E. coli and antibiotics were given. Radiologic findings revealed a left renal stone. The patient underwent TUL. After the operation acute renal failure occurred. Laboratory data revealed DIC on the next day. In spite of intensive therapy the patient died. Pathological findings showed that acute renal failure was caused by DIC. It is important that we should note the risk of DIC after TUL.


In this paper, we present a novel blind code synchronization algorithm, referred to as the Capon algorithm, for direct-sequence (DS) code division multiple access (CDMA) systems. The idea is to design a bank of filters, each of which passes one user signal of interest without distortion (unit-gain), meanwhile suppressing the overall interference as much as possible. The only required knowledge of the proposed scheme is the spreading code of the desired user; therefore, it is appealing to a decentralized implementation. The Capon algorithm is able to mitigate not only interference signals originated within the same cell (i.e., intra-cell interference), but also unknown interference of various origins, such as unmodeled inter-cell interference and narrowband interference in cellular overlay systems. It can be readily implemented using standard adaptive schemes, making it amenable to both acquisition and tracking. An additional advantage enjoyed by Capon is that it does not need to know the number of active transmissions, a knowledge usually indispensable for some blind algorithms to function properly. Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed Capon scheme.


Three new species of saccocirrids from interstitial sand habitats off O'ahu, Hawai'i, are described. Two are from subtidal depths, 9–33 m, and the third is from the intertidal to 3.5 m deep on a fringing reef and at Hanauma Bay, the Marine Life Conservation District and public park. The two deeper-water species, Saccocirrus oahuensis, n. sp. and S. waianaensis, n. sp., have 76–119 and 157–210 segments, respectively; they also have bilateral gonads but lack a pharyngeal pad. The third, S. alanhongi, n. sp., has 35–47 segments, unilateral gonads, and a muscular pharyngeal pad. These species are distinguished from 18 known Saccocirrus spp. by their unique chaetation, number of segments, presence or absence of ventral cilia, and pygidial adhesive structures. Saccocirrus oahuensis consumes foraminiferans, and S. alanhongi contained diatoms, unicellular algae, and ostracods. These species add to the interstitial fauna of O'ahu and cooccur with polychaetes Nerilla antennata (Nerillidae) and protodrilids (Protodrilidae), and Kinorhyncha. Saccocirrus alanhongi withstands almost daily disturbance by 600–1200 bathers per day entering the sandy swimming holes in the reef at Hanauma Bay.


Selective separation and enrichment of phosphoproteins are essential for understanding their important functions in almost all cellular processes. Here, taking advantage of the feature that cadmium ion (Cd2+ ) has an overwhelming preference for phosphates, we developed a robust and simple Cd2+ co-precipitation strategy for the selective isolation of intact phosphoproteins. After evaluating the feasibility of Cd2+ in phosphoprotein precipitation, we compared the washing protocols for the remove of non-specific binding proteins, and then used the best-performing protocol for the isolation of phosphoproteins from different complex samples. It was found that phosphoproteins can be specifically enriched from artificial protein mixtures containing α-casein, β-casein and BSA or plasma, in which BSA or plasma were served as interferences with very high molar ratios. Applying this method to enrich phosphoproteins from complex cell lysates, a high specificity was confirmed by western blotting analysis with a phosphoprotein-specific kit. Finally, we successfully applied this method to the purification of caseins from drinking milk, highlighting its potential application in the studies where purified phosphoproteins were required. In a word, this Cd2+ co-precipitation method enables universal and effective capture, enrichment, and detection of intact phosphoproteins, making it a powerful tool for the comprehensive analysis of the phosphoproteome. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


From August 2016 to July 2017, a passive seismic survey was conducted in South Western Iran as a part of a pilot project aimed to improve the imaging in geologically complex areas. Passive seismic methods have shown to be a useful tool to infer the physical properties of the underground geological structures where traditional hydrocarbon exploration methods are challenging. For this purpose, a dense passive seismic network consisting of 119 three‐component borehole seismic stations was deployed over an area of 400 km2 around the city of Dehdasht. This paper focuses on the details of the network design, which was devoted to high‐resolution seismological applications, including local earthquake tomography and seismic attenuation imaging. In this regard, we describe the instrument types and the station installation procedures used to obtain high‐quality data that were used to retrieve three‐dimensional models of P‐ and S‐wave velocity and P‐wave attenuation in the area using tomographic inversion techniques. We also assess the network performance in terms of the seismic ambient noise levels recorded at each station site, and we revise the horizontal orientation of the sensors using surface waves from teleseismic earthquakes.


ABSTRACT The generation and intracellular accumulation of reactive oxygen species have been shown to be associated with the infection of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) by Rickettsia rickettsii. In response to the oxidant superoxide, the activity of the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) increases following infection by this obligate intracellular bacterium. Other oxidants which are capable of oxidizing the fluorescent probe 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescin (DCFH) also accumulate intracellularly within infected cells. In the study reported here, we show that (i) an inhibitor of SOD, diethyldithiocarbamic acid, reduces the observed rise in SOD activity in infected cells by 40 to 60% and at the same time reduces the degree of intracellular oxidation of DCFH; (ii) catalase-sensitive peroxides can be detected in supernatants of R. rickettsii-infected cells shortly after rickettsial exposure; and (iii) fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis demonstrates significant intracellular oxidant activity in infected cells within 5 h after exposure to R. rickettsii. The results of these experiments indicate that hydrogen peroxide is a major oxidant associated with infection of HUVEC by R. rickettsii and that intracellular oxidant activity sensitive to SOD inhibition is detectable early and prior to significant rickettsial multiplication and much earlier than the ultrastructural manifestations of cell injury seen by electron microscopy.


By installing HFC 134 a on the air conditioning machine designed for HCFC 22, it was proved that a more efficient heat pump system could be operated without changing mineral lubricant oil. The circulation mechanism of mineral oil with HFC 134 a was investigated in comparison with that of HCFC 22. It was shown by the flow visualization that the mineral oil was not solved in condenced HFC 134 a, but droplets of mineral oil were transported with condensed HFC 134 a at the outlet of condenser. The circulation of mineral oil with HFC 134 a was also confirmed by extracting the working fluid from the tubing of the air conditioning machine under operation.


Na+/H+ exchanger regulatory factor 1 (NHERF1) is reported to be associated with the development of numerous types of tumor; however, its effects on the metastasis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma are not fully understood. In the present study, it was revealed that the expression level of NHERF1 in pancreatic adenocarcinoma is decreased compared with normal pancreatic tissue based on the analysis of a protein expression database. The present study was undertaken in order to investigate the potential effects of NHERF1 overexpression on the malignant phenotype of MIAPaCa-2 pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells. NHERF1 was stably overexpressed in this cell line, and Cell Counting Kit-8, wound healing and Transwell assays were used to detect the proliferative and migratory abilities of the cells. NHERF1 overexpression suppressed proliferation in the MIAPaCa-2 cell line compared with empty vector-transfected (negative control) cells. Additionally, NHERF1 overexpression significantly inhibited the migration of MIAPaCa-2 cells. The results of a western blot analysis identified that NHERF1 overexpression markedly decreased the expression of phosphorylated-protein kinase B (p-Akt), while no significant difference was observed between untransfected and negative control cells. Taken together, these results suggested that NHERF1 may be able to inhibit the proliferation and migration and alter the malignant phenotype of pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells via reduction of p-Akt levels. These findings indicate a potential novel approach to the treatment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.


Three asymmetries in the dynamics of 1:2 interlimb coordination were examined: the asymmetry in uncoupled frequencies, the asymmetry in coupled frequencies, and the left-right functional asymmetry of the body. In a bimanual 1:2 task, participants (N = 8) oscillated hand-held pendulums whose uncoupled frequencies were adjusted so that the first kind of asymmetry could be manipulated. For any given pendulum pair, the pendulum assuming the faster motion in the 1:2 coordination was oscillated in the right and the left hands. By assigning combinations of uncoupled eigenfrequencies and coupled task-specified frequencies across hands, the authors studied the interaction of all 3 asymmetries. The results confirm the appropriateness of generalized relative phase as a collective variable for 1:2 coordination. Additionally, they suggest that the generalized form of the detuning parameter represents the first asymmetry and that the coupling function expresses the second asymmetry. In 1:2 coordination, the body's functional asymmetry plays a limited role.


INTRODUCTION
Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (p-NETs) are an important disease entity and comprise of peptide-secreting tumours often with a functional syndrome. Accounting for a small percentage of all pancreatic tumours, they have a good overall survival rate when diagnosed early, with surgery being curative. The role of nuclear medicine in the diagnosis and treatment of these tumours is evident. However, the vast majority of patients will require extensive imaging in the form of conventional radiological techniques. It is important for clinicians to have a fundamental understanding of the p-NET appearances to aid prompt identification and to help direct management through neoplastic staging.

METHODS
This article will review the advantages and disadvantages of conventional radiological techniques in the context of p-NETs and highlight features that these tumours exhibit.

CONCLUSION
Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours are a unique collection of neoplasms that have markedly disparate clinical features but similar imaging characteristics. Most p-NETs are small and well-defined with homogenous enhancement following contrast administration, although larger and less well-differentiated tumours can demonstrate areas of necrosis and cystic architecture with heterogeneous enhancement characteristics. Prognosis is generally favourable for these tumours with various treatment options available. However, conventional radiological techniques will remain the foundation for the initial diagnosis and staging of these tumours, and a grasp of these modalities is extremely important for physicians.


Ottoman Empire- Tsarist Empire, Turkey-Soviet Union and Turkey- Russia's politic conflict dates back past to present. Tsarist Empire or Soviet Union or Russia Federation's goal, which is "desire to gain access to the warm waters", in other words "Panslavizm" still continues. The ideal for them is that Turkey constituted a threat of all time. Turkey and Soviet Union's relationship alternates between tense and cold. Turkey is allied NATO due to its self-border security. It has regarded Soviet Union as a threat and their relationship are exceedingly tense owing to politic conflict of interest. In the same way, with the world power USSR. Turkey is a threat to NATO for the World power USSR's regional politic factors. However, the relationship between Turkey and Russia has been very improved in time. Today Russia is in the top 10 of the countries that Turkey exports. That is to say, Turkey and Russia's political relationship are more advanced comparing with the past. Although their relations are "warmer" than the past, the two countries' remarks does not match in the Middle East politics. These issues are North Iraq and Kurdish State, PKK and terror Issues, Turkoman, Energy Issues, and the Syria Crisis… This issues especially concern Turkey but Russia follows different politics thus this obstruct constituting 'trust' issue between two countries. Russia really fell down in the Soviet Union's period of regression but it recuperates today. Old foreign affairs minister and the Middle East expert Yevgeni Primakov and ongoing period Putin government has been building "trust" and showing "stability" in a sort of way again and it works for gaining their old power today. Russia has understood that it needs to gather themselves up; by trying to get support from Muslim state for Chechen problem that leads Russia to play an active role in the Middle East and Syria Crisis. At the same time Putin government is planning arms sale which will be a significant economic resource for the mixed zone. Turkey is in the opposite of the Russia in terms of policy as it follows its own which protects its zone's stability. Today the detrimental effects of the conflict reached its peak and there is a war in zone. Besides that, Turkey wants to take the advantage of the power and the authority vacuum in the region in order to be effective power in the zone. Because of this entire situation, Turkey and Russia conflict in terms of politics.


Regularized Auto-Encoders (AE) form a rich class of methods within the landscape of neural generative models. They effectively model the joint-distribution between the data and a latent space using an Encoder-Decoder combination, with regularization imposed in terms of a prior over the latent space. Despite their advantages such as stability in training, the performance of AE based models has not reached that of the other models such as GANs. While several reasons including the presence of conflicting terms in the objective, distributional choices imposed on the Encoder and the Decoder, and dimensionality of the latent space have been identified as possible causes for the suboptimal performance, the role of the regularization (prior distribution) imposed has not been studied systematically. Motivated by this, we examine the effect of the latent prior on the generation quality of the AE models in this paper. We show that there is no single fixed prior which is optimal for all data distributions, given a Gaussian Decoder. Further, with finite data, we show that there exists a bias-variance trade-off that comes with prior imposition. As a remedy, we optimize a generalized ELBO objective, with an additional state space over the latent prior. We implicitly learn this flexible prior jointly with the AE training using an adversarial learning technique, which facilitates operation on different points of the bias-variance curve. Our experiments on multiple datasets show that the proposed method is the new state-of-the-art for AE based generative models.


Vertebral artery dissection typically causes an ischaemic brain stem stroke. We report a man who presented with left sided neck pain and Brown-Sequard's syndrome localised to C1, and in whom a focal C1 ischaemic cord lesion secondary to a localised vertebral artery dissection was found using MRI.

A 47 year old machine operator was admitted as an emergency with neck pain, headache, and gait disturbance. Three weeks before admission he developed minor stiffness of his upper cervical region while decorating his home, which was relieved by ibuprofen. There was no history of neck manipulation or trauma. Two days before admission he awoke with a severe left sided pounding headache and neck ache with an associated cold sensation on the left side of his neck. He was nauseated but did not vomit. His symptoms again resolved within an hour with ibuprofen, but two hours later there followed a tingling sensation in his left index finger, thumb, and forearm spreading up to his elbow. He slept for a few hours but awoke with more generalised paraesthesiae in the left arm which spread over the next 36 hours to involve the left trunk and leg. He noticed minor gait disturbance as well as …


The core events which took place last year and which are related to the issues under consideration are the approval of a new three year privatisation programme for 2014–2016, including corporate control of market transactions associated with Rosneft and Gazprom, as well as the restructuring of the space industry, which is similar to that performed in relation to the aerospace and ship building industries.


Glycogen content, glycogen synthetase and glycogen phosphorylase were studied in the endometrial tissues of 28 women with normal menstrual cycles and in the decidual tissues of 24 women with normal early pregnancies. The endometrial glycogen synthetase enzyme increased gradually from the proliferative phase to the secretory phase and reached maximal activity during the sixteenth to twenty-third days of the cycle, a time coincident with maximal glycogen content, while the glycogen phosphorylase reached its maximal activity on and after the twenty-fourth day of the cycle. In addition, glycogen phosphorylase activity in the decidual tissue during the early period of gestation (4--10 weeks) was lower than that in the endometrial tissue during the late secretory phase of the cycle, and in particular, the active form (-AMP) was significantly (p less than 0.005) low, with the result that the glycogen content in the decidua was significantly (p less than 0.05) higher than that in the endometrium. On the other hand, in 20 normal pregnant women during the 6--10th weeks of gestation, the glycogen contents in the decidua and in the placental villi were 599 +/- 44 mg/100 g wet weight (mean +/- standard error of the mean) and 731 +/- 55 mg/100 g, respectively, but the difference between them was statistically not significant. The levels of glycogen synthetase and glycogen phosphorylase enzyme in the decidua were significantly (p less than 0.005) higher than those in the placental villi.


Acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery is a common and underappreciated syndrome that is associated with poor shortand long-term outcomes. AKI after cardiac surgery may be epiphenomenon, a signal for adverse outcomes by virtue of other affected organ systems, and a consequence of multiple factors. Subtle increases in serum creatinine (SCr) postoperatively, once considered inconsequential, have been shown to reflect a kidney injury that likely occurred in the operating room during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and more often in susceptible individuals. The postoperative elevation in SCr is a delayed signal reflecting the intraoperative injury. Preoperative checklists and the conduct of CPB represent opportunities for prevention of AKI. Newer definitions of AKI provide us with an opportunity to scrutinize perioperative processes of care and determine strategies to decrease the incidence of AKI subsequent to cardiac surgery. Recognizing and mitigating risk factors preoperatively and optimizing intraoperative practices may, in the aggregate, decrease the incidence of AKI. This review explores the pathophysiology of AKI and addresses the features of patients who are the most vulnerable to AKI. Preoperative strategies are discussed with particular attention to a readiness for surgery checklist. Intraoperative strategies include minimizing hemodilution and maximizing oxygen delivery with specific suggestions regarding fluid management and plasma preservation.


In this paper, we draw on pro-feminist, anti-essentialist espistemological and theoretical frameworks, in conjunction with adopting autoethnographic narratives, both to provide critical insight into and contextualize the particular testimony and witnessing of our own personal involvement in the gendering of a government-commissioned research project on boys' education. The research project was undertaken in a politically volatile environment, when the 'what about the boys?' debate was at its zenith in Australia. As pro-feminist men attempting to ameliorate some of the negative impacts of the boys' debate, whilst contributing to the new sociology of masculinities field, we had to negotiate a complex gender politics operating within the bureaucracy, including aligning with allies, to undertake this research in ways that remained honest to our own politics and the research evidence we collected. Our experiences and negotiation of the gendered and politicized relationships between the bureaucrats who commissioned the research and us as researchers constitute the foci of this paper. The paper demonstrates the ways in which doing research produces a 'set of findings' beyond those that are the subject of the research questions. The approach adopted in the research rejected 'epistemological innocence' by making evident our own 'positionalities' and in so doing demonstrates the ways in which this research was socially framed, managed and contested and tells us much about the topic of the research and about the gendering of research.


This study suggests the two types DEA models such as DEA CCR model and Super Efficiency model to evaluate the value of a company and to apply them for the investments. 14 kinds of real data of companies such as EV/EBITDA, EPS growth rate, PCR, PER, dividend yield, PBR, stock price/net current asset, debt ratio, current ratio, ROE, operating margin, inventory turnover, accounts receivable turnover, and sales growth ratio were used as input variables of DEA models. 12 year data from December 30, 2000 up to December 30, 2012 were collected, and the data with negative, missing and 0 values were removed reflecting the characteristics of the DEA. In order to verify the effectiveness of the models, we compared the historical variability and rate of return of both models those of the market. Study results are as follows. First, two DEA models are more stable than market in terms of rate of return because the historical variability of both models are less than that of market. Second, Super Efficiency model is more stable than CCR model. Lastly, the cumulative rate of return of Super Efficiency model (434%) is greater than that of the CCR model (420%) and that of the market (269%).


Pension policy represents in many respects the corner stone of the contemporary European welfare states. And its reform has emerged as a key issue in most of the European countries. This book aims at improving the knowledge of the long-term and more recent evolution of retirement programmes and their regulation at national and supranational level. It gives detailed information about pensions in nine Western and Eastern European countries (Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and UK). In parallel it develops the study of the European Union action in the field, through regulation, the Stability and Growth Pact and the Open Method of Coordination. What does history tell us about the evolution of pensions? Is it a story of stability or change? Is there any convergence between European pension models? And then what is the role of the European Union in the field? This book provides answers to these questions and gives scholars, students and policymakers a comprehensive description of national retirement programmes as well as theoretical analysis of the reform politics, output and outcomes with a focus on national and European dynamics. 'Pensions in Europe, European Pensions' represents a promising step beyond the more traditional comparative contributions, revealing the complex interaction of national and supranational institutions engaged in the most important welfare policy in the ageing European society.


We suggest a new model for strategic voting based on local dominance, where voters consider a set of possible outcomes without assigning probabilities to them. We prove that voting equilibria under the Plurality rule exist for a broad class of local dominance relations. Furthermore, we show that local dominance-based dynamics quickly converge to an equilibrium if voters start from the truthful state, and we provide weaker convergence guarantees in more general settings. Using extensive simulations of strategic voting on generated and real profiles, we show that emerging equilibria replicate widely known patterns of human voting behavior such as Duverger's law, and that they generally improve the quality of the winner compared to non-strategic voting.


We consider a tracer particle on a lattice in the presence of immobile obstacles. Starting from equilibrium, a force pulling on the particle is switched on, driving the system to a new stationary state. We solve for the complete transient dynamics of the fluctuations of the tracer position along the direction of the force. The analytic result, exact in first order of the obstacle density and for arbitrarily strong driving, is compared to stochastic simulations. Upon strong driving, the fluctuations grow superdiffusively for intermediate times; however, they always become diffusive in the stationary state. The diffusion constant is nonanalytic for small driving and is enhanced by orders of magnitude by increasing the force.


Several controlled release formulations of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) are currently available. However, none of these results in an optimal bioavailability of the active ingredient as a function of the absorption windows for bile acids found at the gastroduodenal level. Nonsaturated passive absorption of bile acids occurs at these sites, while absorption in the rest of the intestinal tract is less consistent as it is limited by the presence of carriers. These considerations led to the development of an original delayed-release formulation of UDCA using the bioadhesive technique. This allows a longer residence time at the appropriate sites and hence a higher passive absorption of UDCA. The results of this pharmacokinetic study, which compared the new formulation with a traditional pH-dependent sequential release formulation, demonstrated that the new formulation had a greater area under the curve (AUC) during a 24 h period, when compared with that of the reference drug, reaching statistically significant values (p < 0.01) within the first 12 h.


Abstract Objective Although patient decision aids (PtDAs) have been shown to improve shared decision‐making, integration into clinical care pathways remains limited. This study investigated, among other outcomes, the uptake of the PtDA by professionals and the uptake as perceived by patients. Methods We performed a process evaluation among four breast cancer care teams that had been exposed to a multifaceted implementation strategy. Data were gathered by auditing patient files using a standardised data extraction sheet and conducting telephone interviews with patients using a structured interview guide. We analysed the data by using descriptive statistics. Results We found that the implementation strategies, including advice on how and when to present the PtDA to the patient, were followed for 14% of the included patients (N = 84); 92% of the patients reported to have received a login code for the web‐based PtDA, while 67% logged in and used the PtDA at home. An important factor influencing the use was the clinician promoting it when delivering the PtDA (OR 9.95 95% CI 3.03–37.72). Discussion The implementation strategies were followed in 14% of the patients, and a high delivery of the PtDA was achieved. Redesigning the care pathway and providing personal instruction on using PtDAs seem crucial.


Exploring the novel application to the quantum optics, the periodic crystallographic-polarity-inverted GaN waveguides were fabricated. In addition to the successful periodic reversal of the crystallographic orientations, periodic grating structures were formed on the surface due to the slight difference in the growth rates for different polarities, which gives the occurrence of the well-known photonic band structures. In this work, basic optical properties were investigated utilizing the variable-angle optical reflectance measurements on these waveguides with one-dimensional periodic grating structures, in order to obtain their photonic band structures. In addition to the optical interference fringes, clear reflectance dips originated from the resonance between the incident light and allowed waveguide modes appeared, aside from a weak resonant feature due to the coupling of the diffracted light to the evanescent mode on the grating surface, known as Wood's anomalies. Taking into account the refractive index dispersions and the zone-folding effects invoked by the grating, the origins of all the resonant features are successfully elucidated. Especially in case of resonant coupling to the waveguide modes, the corresponding orders of both the grating diffractions and the guided modes are assigned. Based on these assignments, the possible configurations of the wavelength conversions are discussed.


To describe occupational illness data in two large data sets, two national data sets were aggregated, and the numbers, percentages, and rates of cases of occupational illnesses were determined. Job-related illness data were from Bureau of Labor Statistics documents containing Annual Survey and Census of Fatal Occupational Injury data. A severity index was created to assess the overall burden of a disease. The index multiplies the number of cases times the median days lost. Circulatory disease accounted for 85% of the deaths in the Census and at least 80% in the Annual Survey. More fatal myocardial infarctions occurred on Monday than on any other day. Low-paying occupations had the most myocardial infarctions: operators, laborers, and truck drivers; high-paying occupations had the least: executives, administrators, and managers. Carpal tunnel syndrome and hearing loss accounted for more morbidity, measured by cases and days lost, than any other illness. Persons at great risk for carpal tunnel syndrome included dental hygienists, butchers, sewing machine operators, and dentists. Mental disorders generated more morbidity than is generally acknowledged. Neurotic reactions to stress were highest in the transportation and public utility industries, as well as in finance, insurance, and real estate. Manufacturing contributed far more cases than any other industry. Industries generating significant asbestos-related deaths included construction and boat building. Ninety-three percent of all illness fatalities were among men. Few African Americans died from coal-workers' pneumoconiosis. Illness cases increased much faster than injury cases in recent years. The two data sets provide insights into the incidences and prevalences of occupational illnesses, but underestimate the burden of job-related illnesses.