ICRF-159, at a dose of 300 mg/m2, was given orally every 8 hours for nine doses every 21 days to 40 patients with metastatic breast cancer refractory to hormonal therapy and cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil, and adriamycin chemotherapy. Two patients with soft tissue disease had short-lived partial responses. The hematologic toxicity was severe. Three patients required rbc transfusions. Four patients became septic at the nadir of leukopenia; two of these patients died while leukopenic. Two patients had platelet counts less than 25,000/mm3. All patients who were nonevaluable or who had life-threatening or lethal toxicity were nonambulatory. Since the 19 nonambulatory patients had a median survival of only 1.25 months as compared to 7 months in ambulatory patients, it is recommended that future phase II trials in chemotherapy-refractory breast cancer be limited to ambulatory patients. Although ICRF-159 has minimal antineoplastic effects, it is not recommended for further investigations in metastatic breast cancer, even at more hematologically tolerable doses of 250 mg/m2 every 8 hours for nine doses.


A paradigm is proposed based upon a taxonomy of knowledge; a taxonomy that has been strongly influenced by the need to represent knowledge for machine processing. The importance of such a paradigm is to show an equivalence of activity in all spheres of system design from knowledge systems to machine architectures and thus open up the possibility of cross fertilization of techniques and a redistribution of tasks across fields. Both these possibilities will improve the design of knowledge systems within the framework of a rapidly evolving technology.


This paper proposes and discusses a test of the chemical composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays that relies on the anisotropy patterns measured as a function of energy. In particular, we show that if one records an anisotropy signal produced by heavy nuclei of charge Z above an energy Ethr, one should record an even stronger (possibly much stronger) anisotropy at energies >Ethr/Z due to the proton component that is expected to be associated with the sources of the heavy nuclei. This conclusion remains robust with respect to the parameters characterizing the sources and it does not depend at all on the modelling of astrophysical magnetic fields. As a concrete example, we apply this test to the most recent data of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Assuming that the anisotropy reported above 55 EeV is not a statistical accident, and that no significant anisotropy has been observed at energies 10 EeV, we show that the apparent clustering toward Cen A cannot be attributed to heavy nuclei. Similar conclusions are drawn regarding the apparent excess correlation with nearby active galactic nuclei. We then discuss a robust lower bound to the magnetic luminosity that a source must possess in order to be able to accelerate particles of charge Z up to 100 EeV, LB 1045 Z−2 erg/s. Using this bound in conjunction with the above conclusions, we argue that the current PAO data does not support the model of cosmic ray origin in active radio-quiet or even radio-loud galaxies. Finally, we demonstrate that the apparent clustering in the direction of Cen A can be explained by the contribution of the last few gamma-ray bursts or magnetars in the host galaxy thanks to the scattering of the cosmic rays on the magnetized lobes.


This chapter is concerned with the enhancement of planning systems using techniques from Machine Learning in order to automatically configure their planning parameters according to the morphology of the problem in hand. It presents two different adaptive systems that set the planning parameters of a highly adjustable planner based on measurable characteristics of the problem instance. The planners have acquired their knowledge from a large data set produced by results from experiments on many problems from various domains. The first planner is a rule-based system that employs propositional rule learning to induce knowledge that suggests effective configuration of planning parameters based on the problem's characteristics. The second planner employs instance-based learning in order to find problems with similar structure and adopt the planner configuration that has proved in the past to be effective on these problems. The validity of the two adaptive systems is assessed through experimental results that demonstrate the boost in performance in problems of both known and unknown domains. Comparative experimental results for the two planning systems are presented along with a discussion of their advantages and disadvantages. This chapter appears in the book, Intelligent Techniques for Planning, edited by Ioamis Vlahavas and Dimitris Vrakas. Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING Machine Learning for Adaptive Planning 91 Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. INTRODUCTION Domain independent heuristic planning relies on ingenious techniques, such as heuristics and search strategies, to improve the execution speed of planning systems and the quality of their solutions in arbitrary planning problems. However, no single technique has yet proved to be the best for all kinds of problems. Many modern planning systems incorporate more than one such optimizing technique in order to capture the peculiarities of a wider range of problems. However, to achieve the optimum performance these planners require manual fine-tuning of their run-time parameters. Few attempts have been made to explain which are the specific dynamics of a planning problem that favor a specific planning technique and, even more, which is the best setup for a planning system given the characteristics of the planning problem. This kind of knowledge would clearly assist the planning community in producing flexible systems that could automatically adapt themselves to each problem, achieving best performance. This chapter focuses on the enhancement of Planning Systems with Machine Learning techniques in the direction of developing Adaptive Planning Systems that can configure their planning parameters automatically in order to effectively solve each different planning problem. More specifically, it presents two different Machine Learning approaches for Adaptive Planning: (a) Rule learning and (b) Instance-based learning. Both approaches are described in detail and their performance is assessed through several experimental results that exhibit different aspects of the learning process. In addition, the chapter provides an extended overview of past approaches on combining Machine Learning and Automated Planning, two of the most important areas of Artificial Intelligence. The rest of the chapter is organized as follows: The next section reviews related work on combining learning and planning and discusses the adopted learning techniques. Then the problem of the automatic configuration of planning systems is analyzed. The following two sections present the two learning approaches that have been used for the adaptive systems and present experimental results that compare them and show the gain in the performance over the initial planner. Finally, the last section discusses several issues concerning the two learning approaches, concludes the chapter and poses future research directions. MACHINE LEARNING FOR AUTOMATED PLANNING Machine Learning is the area of Artificial Intelligence concerned with the design of computer programs that improve at a category of tasks with experience. It is a very broad field with many learning methodologies and numerous algorithms, which have been extensively exploited in the past to support planning systems in many ways. Since it is a usual case for seemingly different planning problems to present similarities in their structure, it is reasonable enough to believe that planning strategies that have been successfully applied to some problems in the past will be also effective for similar problems in the future. Learning can assist planning systems in three ways: (a) to learn domain knowledge, (b) to learn control knowledge and (c) to learn optimization knowledge. 29 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/chapter/machine-learning-adaptiveplanning/24460?camid=4v1 This title is available in InfoSci-Books, InfoSci-Intelligent Technologies, Science, Engineering, and Information Technology, InfoSci-Computer Science and Information Technology, InfoSci-Select, InfoSci-Select. Recommend this product to your librarian: www.igi-global.com/e-resources/libraryrecommendation/?id=1


A new colorless electrolyte containing an organic redox couple, tetramethylthiourea (TMTU) and its oxidized dimer tetramethylformaminium disulfide dication ([TMFDS]2+), is applied to dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Advantages of this redox couple include its non‐corrosive nature, low cost, and easy handling. More impressively, it operates well with carbon electrodes. The DSCs fabricated with a lab‐made HCS‐CB carbon counter‐electrode can present up to 3.1% power conversion efficiency under AM 1.5 illumination of 100 mW·cm−2 and 4.5% under weaker light intensities. This result distinctly outperforms the identical DSCs with a Pt electrode. Corrosive experiments reveal that Al and stainless steel (SS) sheets are stable in the [TMFDS]2+/TMTU‐based electrolyte. Its electrochemical impedance spectrum (EIS) is used to evaluate the influence of different counter‐electrodes on the cell performance, and preliminary investigations reveal that carbon electrodes with large surface areas and ideal corrosion‐inertness toward the sulfur‐containing [TMFDS]2+/TMTU redox couple exhibit promise for application in iodine‐free DSCs.


Can we automatically predict failures of an object detection model on images from a target domain? We characterize errors of a state-of-the-art object detection model on the currently popular smart mobility domain, and find that a large number of errors can be identified using spatial commonsense. We propose ourmodel , a system that automatically identifies a large number of such errors based on commonsense knowledge. Our system does not require any new annotations and can still find object detection errors with high accuracy (more than 80% when measured by humans). This work lays the foundation to answer exciting research questions on domain adaptation including the ability to automatically create adversarial datasets for target domain.


As buildings become higher, larger, and more complex, safety issues for construction workers working at such environments become more important. We analyzed 83 critical accident cases reported to the KOSHA(Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency) for construction cranes by types of cranes and by patterns of accidents and causes. There are more number of accidents related to mobile cranes than that related to tower cranes, but the numbers of dead were similar in both cases. The most dominant cause of crane accidents was "fall of materials". We also analyzed the cases of crane accidents using the FMEA(Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) in order to set up a priority for safety management and also to prioritize research and development items relating tower cranes. In the process, we tried to eliminate subjective indexes such as an expert group survey and use objective and quantitative indexes. As a result, it was found that critical crane accidents occurs most during the "lifting and translating" activity.


SUMMARY In this paper, we describe AntHocNet, an algorithm for routing in mobile ad hoc networks. It is a hybrid algorithm, which combines reactive path setup with proactive path probing, maintenance and improvement. The algorithm is based on the nature-inspired ant colony optimisation framework. Paths are learned by guided Monte Carlo sampling using ant-like agents communicating in a stigmergic way. In an extensive set of simulation experiments, we compare AntHocNet with AODV, a reference algorithm in the field. We show that our algorithm can outperform AODV on different evaluation criteria. AntHocNet's performance advantage is visible over a broad range of possible network scenarios, and increases for larger, sparser and more mobile networks. Copyright # 2005 AEIT.


Abstract The present paper proposes a maximum power extraction control for a wind system consisting of a turbine, a permanent magnet synchronous generator, a rectifier, a load and one constant voltage source, which is used to form the DC bus. We propose a linear PI controller, based on passivity, whose stability is guaranteed under practically reasonable assumptions. PI structures are widely accepted in practice as they are easier to tune and simpler than other existing model-based methods. Real switching based simulations have been performed to assess the performance of the proposed controller.


In this paper an efficient high step-up converter with a coupled- inductor with soft- switching operation is presented. The proposed topology includes a coupled-inductor boost converter for raising the voltage gain. Moreover, a simple auxiliary resonant circuit composed of an auxiliary switch, a clamping diode and a resonant tank (inductor, capacitor), is adopted in this paper. The coupled-inductor boost converter presents poor efficiency because of hard switching and switch losses. All switches in the adopted circuit perform zero-current switching at turn-on, and zero-voltage switching at turn-off. This soft-switching operation reduces the switching losses and diode reverse-recovery problems. The converter uses PWM method for switching and it is controlled by a PI controller to improve its dynamic output response. The paper presents detailed analysis of the converter operational modes. A 225W dc-dc converter used in PV application is designed and evaluated by simulations. The results are presented to confirm the theoretical analysis.


We review recent progress towards the solution of exactly solved isotropic vertex models with arbitrary toroidal boundary conditions. Quantum space transformations make it possible the diagonalization of the corresponding transfer matrices by means of the quantum inverse scattering method. Explicit expressions for the eigenvalues and Bethe ansatz equations of the twisted isotropic spin chains based on the $B_n$, $D_n$ and $C_n$ Lie algebras are presented. The applicability of this approach to the eight vertex model with non-diagonal twists is also discussed.


Background: The influenza-related burden remains high and the COVID-19 pandemic may difficult its accurate surveillance. This study aimed to evaluate the performance, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, of the case definition of suspected influenza used in community surveillance in Mexico. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study took place and cases fulfilling the suspected case criteria (n = 20,511), and with laboratory-conclusive evidence (quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction) to confirm or discard influenza virus infection were analyzed. Results: A high sensitivity and modest specificity were documented, and this later decreased during the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as its diagnostic accuracy. However, no significant differences were observed in the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristics among the analyzed periods. Conclusions: The evaluated case definition remains to be a cost-effective alternative to identify patients who may benefit from influenza-specific antiviral drugs, even during the COVID-19 global outbreak.


Currently the industry is trying to improve its competitiveness. This makes the manufacturingindustry needs to adapt the Lean-Kaizen concept. Lean-Kaizen means eliminating waste through small improvements made on an ongoing basis. This research takes a case study at PT Inoac Poltechno Indonesia, which is engaged in foam production. The current production target is only 56% of the planned target. Besides that, there are found many defective products and activities that have no added value. Furthermore, a map of the current condition is made to find waste and know the kaizen that will be carried out. Furthermore, a future map was developed with work standardization and Value Stream Mapping to determine activities that have no added value. Calculation of Waste Assessment Model (WAM), shows the biggest waste is defect (26.73%), inventory (15.79%), and waiting (13.35%). This study found that by adding trolley, adding operators, making SOPs, scheduling engine maintenance would make non-value added (NVA) activities decrease from 29.95% to 20.5%. Process Cycle Efficiency increased from 22.31% to 28.25% (thus fulfilling international PCE requirements for the manufacturing industry).
Keyword : Lean-Kaizen, productivity, waste


Background Methotrexate (MT) – is one of most preferable disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Objectives Aim – prospective study of harm caused by subcutaneous MT to achieve target RA activity and inflammation control (within REMARCA trial protocol). Methods 237 RA patients (with RA duration ≤6 mo (very early RA) – 101, >6 mo – 136) were administered subcutaneous MT (SC MT) as DMARD starting at 10 mg/week with further rapid dose increment up to 20–30 mg/week. All ITT (who received at least I MT injection) population was evaluated. Patients were monitored with monthly routine clinical, lab and instrumental examination, all adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were documented in a special standardized form by a physician. MT discontinuations (for up to 3 weeks, i.e. with total medication washout) and withdrawals were also registered. Randomly assigned 60 patients were filling questionnaires in order to better evaluate SC MT tolerability and patient's willingness to inject the drug continuously. Results MT–associated ADRs were registered in 49 (21%) patients: in 30 (61%) with very early RA and in 19 (39%) with RA >6 mo. Most common ADRs: increase of aminotransferases levels (ALT; 5,1%), (AST; 4,2%), nausea – 3,4%; post-dosing reactions (dizziness, BP increase) – 2,5%; alopecia – 2,1%; rash – 1,7%; injection site skin reactions in situ – 1,3%; infections requiring antibiotics or antiviral drugs, – 1,3%; leukopenia – 1,3%; less common: diarrhea – 0,8%; metallic taste in the mouth – 0,4%; remote from injection site soft tissue abscess/infiltrate – 0,4%. In 4,2% patients both MT-related and non-related ADRs led to SC drug withdrawal: rash (2,1%), post-dosing reactions (0,8%), nausea (0,4%), elevated transaminases (0,4%), leukopenia (0,4%). In these patients ADRs were not related RA duration. Only in 1% of patients SC MT was intolerable, while other patients classified SC MT as comfortable (42%) or tolerable (57%). 88% of responders were in favor of SC MT long-term use, the rest were either not willing (12%) or have not yet made their mind (1%). Conclusions ADRs associated with SC MT were registered in one of every 5 patients and led to withdrawal from SC MT in 4,2% RA patients. In 11% SC MT was discontinued due to ADRs, bat later restarted again. Obtained results allow to discuss the usefullnes of SC MT before administration of GEBA. This study has also established RA patients' compliance with continuous use of SC MT. Disclosure of Interest None declared


BACKGROUND
Brachioradial pruritus (BRP) is a localized pruritus of the dorsolateral aspect of the arm. BRP is an enigmatic condition with a controversial cause; some authors consider BRP to be a photodermatosis whereas other authors attribute BRP to compression of cervical nerve roots.

OBJECTIVE
We sought to investigate the presence of neuropathy in patients with BRP.

METHODS
We performed electrophysiologic studies of the median, ulnar, and radial nerves in consecutive patients with BRP, including measurement of sensory and motor distal latency, conduction velocity and F responses of the median and ulnar nerves, and sensory distal latency of the radial nerves in both upper limbs.

RESULTS
Included in the study were 7 patients, 5 men and 2 women, with an average age of 58.3 years (range: 42-72 years). Of the patients, 4 (57%) had abnormal F responses that were diagnostic for cervical radiculopathy, and 3 of these patients had prolonged distal latencies of the nerves tested, which may be interpreted as sensory motor neuropathy secondary to chronic radiculopathy. The fourth patient had polyneuropathy secondary to diabetes mellitus.

CONCLUSION
BRP may be attributed to a neuropathy, such as chronic cervical radiculopathy. The possibility of an underlying neuropathy should be considered in the evaluation and treatment of all patients with BRP.


Emerging technology always opens new dimensions to improve and revolutionize the way of doing business. RFID is one of the latest technologies with a potential to improve business processes not only within an organization but also throughout the market. The potential value of RFID has been widely recognized and reported. Various reasons are required to acknowledge new technology in an organisation and they differ from industry to industry. RFID is not an exception from this regulation. RFID is a technology and therefore numbers of issues are studied for the acceptance of the technology in the market. These issues relate with technological, operational, efficiency, etc. This paper identifies the prominent factors which are responsible for the adoption of RFID in hypermarket retail stores. Keywords: Radio frequency identification technology, adoption, retail


Introduction: Treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has changed with the approval of novel agents, which have different toxicity profiles. The aim of the current analysis was to determine how incremental changes in efficacy and toxicity profile impact treatment selection among patients with CLL and oncologists.
 Methods: In this US-based study, oncologists and CLL patients completed an online survey that included a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to quantify preferences for first line (1L) treatment with novel agents. Self-reported data on oncologist and patient characteristics were also collected. In the DCE, respondents selected between hypothetical treatment profiles consisting of 8 attributes with varying levels. The attributes were selected based on the findings of qualitative interviews assessing treatment priorities among oncologists and patients. The attribute levels were abstracted from clinical trials and published literature (Table 1). Hierarchical Bayesian regression models were used to estimate preference weights for each attribute level.
 The preference weights were used to generate a base case hypothetical treatment profile, against which other hypothetical profiles varying in adverse event (AE) risk and 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) were evaluated to understand which attributes and levels drive treatment selection. The overall mean summed preference weight for the collective set of alternative profiles was then compared with the base case, with higher positive values indicating the more preferred profile.
 Results: Oncologists (N=151) reported a mean of 16.3±7.0 years in practice (Table 2). Most practiced in a community setting (72%) and in a major metropolitan/urban area (64%). Among patients (N=220), median age was 56.0 years, with a mean disease duration of 2.0±3.1 years at time of study (Table 2). Most patients were in or had completed at least 1L therapy (68%).
 Figure 1 illustrates the impact of changing various attribute levels on the overall preference of an alternative profile, relative to a base case profile. Decreasing 2-year PFS from 95% to 75% (Profile A) and reducing the risks of atrial fibrillation (A-fib) from 20% to 5% (Profile B) and infection from 30% to 7% (Profile C) had the greatest influence on treatment preferences for oncologists when holding all other attribute levels constant. Oncologists preferred the profile with reduced 2-year PFS and reduced risk of AEs (Profile G) to the base case profile, corresponding to a 45% difference in preference share. Similarly, for patients, reducing 2-year PFS from 95% to 75% (Profile A) and reducing the risks of infection from 30% to 7% (Profile C) and A-fib from 20% to 5% (Profile B) were most influential in treatment choice when all other attribute levels were held constant (Figure 1). However, patients preferred the base case profile with higher PFS and higher risk of AEs to Profile G, corresponding to a 38% difference in preference share.
 Conclusions: For oncologists and patients, decreasing 2-year PFS and reducing the risks of either A-fib or infection had the most influence on 1L treatment preference, relative to the base case in which 2-year PFS was the highest and the AE risks were set to the worst levels reported in literature for novel therapies. The pattern and direction of treatment preferences were generally consistent among oncologists and patients, relative to the base case, across all alternative profiles when individually examined. However, for patients, the positive impact of reducing the risk of AEs was outweighed by the negative impact of reducing PFS. Consequently, all other things being equal, patients preferred a 1L profile with higher PFS even if it came with higher AE risks. In contrast, oncologists were willing to accept a treatment with less efficacy in exchange for the most favorable safety profile. This difference may be due to a patient's lack of understanding of the potential severity of AEs or a physician's lack of awareness of the patient's treatment priorities. This is an area for future research and highlights the importance of oncologists explicitly communicating the known efficacy benefits and AE risks associated with each treatment option because these factors may influence patients' treatment choice in a way that differs from their own.

 Ryan: AstraZeneca: Current Employment, Current equity holder in private company. Le:AstraZeneca: Current Employment, Current equity holder in private company. Wahlstrom:AstraZeneca: Current Employment, Current equity holder in private company. Beusterien:Kantar: Other: Employee of Kantar, which received funding from AstraZeneca to conduct this study. Will:Kantar: Other: Employee of Kantar, which received funding from AstraZeneca to conduct this study. Maculaitis:Kantar: Other: Employee of Kantar, which received funding from AstraZeneca to conduct this study. Leblanc:UpToDate: Patents & Royalties: Royalties; Agios, AbbVie, and Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene: Speakers Bureau; AstraZeneca: Research Funding; AbbVie, Agios, Amgen, AstraZeneca, CareVive, BMS/Celgene, Daiichi-Sankyo, Flatiron, Helsinn, Heron, Otsuka, Medtronic, Pfizer, Seattle Genetics, Welvie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; American Cancer Society, BMS, Duke University, NINR/NIH, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Seattle Genetics: Research Funding.


Cardiac arrest followed by resuscitation often results in dramatic brain damage caused by ischemia and subsequent reperfusion of the brain. Global brain ischemia produces damage to specific brain regions shown to be highly sensitive to ischemia (1). Hippocampal neurons have higher sensitivity to ischemic insults compared to other cell populations, and specifically, the CA1 region of the hippocampus is particularly vulnerable to ischemia/reperfusion (2). The design of therapeutic interventions, or study of mechanisms involved in cerebral damage, requires a model that produces damage similar to the clinical condition and in a reproducible manner. Bilateral carotid vessel occlusion with hypotension (2VOH) is a model that produces reversible forebrain ischemia, emulating the cerebral events that can occur during cardiac arrest and resuscitation. We describe a model modified from Smith et al. (1984) (2), as first presented in its current form in Sanderson, et al. (2008) (3), which produces reproducible injury to selectively vulnerable brain regions (3-6). The reliability of this model is dictated by precise control of systemic blood pressure during applied hypotension, the duration of ischemia, close temperature control, a specific anesthesia regimen, and diligent post-operative care. An 8-minute ischemic insult produces cell death of CA1 hippocampal neurons that progresses over the course of 6 to 24 hr of reperfusion, while less vulnerable brain regions are spared. This progressive cell death is easily quantified after 7-14 days of reperfusion, as a near complete loss of CA1 neurons is evident at this time. In addition to this brain injury model, we present a method for CA1 damage quantification using a simple, yet thorough, methodology. Importantly, quantification can be accomplished using a simple camera-mounted microscope, and a free ImageJ (NIH) software plugin, obviating the need for cost-prohibitive stereology software programs and a motorized microscopic stage for damage assessment.


A new method of beam steering and scanning using elliptical arrays is analyzed in this paper. The analysis is based on the idea that the elliptical array with the same feeding and geometry of the circular array that adjusted originally to give a main beam at a certain direction will orient the main beam towards another direction according to a certain transformation. The elliptical array can be obtained by mechanically squeezing the circular array elements. The new technique of scanning has a great advantage over classical mechanical scanning systems represented in keeping the antenna aperture itself fixed. This advantage yields no need for the large amount of power exhausted in mechanically moving the heavy antenna system beside the mechanical problems of that system.


This study considers the career identities of Vietnamese students studying at an offshore (Australian) university in Vietnam. The students had completed the first module of a new career development learning program called Career Passport. As part of the program, students were required to write a narrative on their 'career story' to reflect on their experiences and synthesise their learning. The study drew on a social constructionist and narrative psychology approach to explore the major influences on the career identity that emerged from the students' narratives. The strongest influence on the students' career identities and career decision-making was family, which is in accordance with the collectivist cultural values of Vietnam. Somewhat less expected was the effect of various media, such as film and television. Despite the influence of family, the narratives reflect a strong desire to meet individual values, needs and interests in what the students would like their future careers to look like. The latter two findings perhaps indicate that Vietnamese students at an international university are more influenced by Western values and expectations of 'career' than their counterparts who study at domestic universities.


The diameter of a major coronary artery, the ramus interventricularis ventralis (RFV), was measured in dogs with arrested hearts perfused by an extracorporeal circulation. The resting diastolic diameter was 1.78 ± 0.07 mm (mean ± SE) at a diastolic pressure of 74.2 ± 3.4 mm Hg. Bilateral supramaximal stimulation of fibers leaving the cranial pole of the stellate ganglion decreased the diameter by 71.2 ± 8.9 jun, i.e., 4.0 ± 0.5% of the resting diameter. Stimulation of the left stellate ganglion contributed 59.8 ± 5.7% of the maximum response; that of the right contributed 40.3 ± 5.5%. Stimulation of the thoracic ganglia (T2-4) resulted in a 1.2 ± 0.4% decrease in coronary vessel diameter. RIV failed to respond to bilateral caudal cervical ganglion stimulation. After iv administration of phentolamine, 1-2 mg/kg, no response to sympathetic stimulation could be elicited. Therefore, it appears that a-receptors are activated by the release of the sympathetic neurotransmitter to sympathetic stimulation and that /9-receptors are not involved in the response of RIV to sympathetic stimulation. Ore Res 44: 459-467, 1979


Machiavelli is legitimately considered one of the pioneers of empirical methodology. His works are based on the knowledge of history, acquaintance with contemporary political events, and rich personal experience. This article's intention, however, is to demonstrate that the purely empirical reading of Machiavelli's methodology is not sufficient. I find in his thought numerous theoretically advanced features which transgress the narrow empirical framework: its fundamental concepts are quite abstract and help construct a vast theoretical system; facts and events are subject to refined analytical speculations; countless generalizations lead to far-reaching predictions and extrapolations; some of them are aprioristic assumptions immune from empirical limitations; some conclusions are based on hypothetical models and thought experiments. The Florentine's methodology is a complex combination of empirical and theoretical knowledge but there are indications that the creative theoretical analyses inspired him more than dry facts.


Definitive criteria for distinguishing gastroliths from sedimentary clasts are lacking for many depositional settings, and many reported occurrences of gastroliths either cannot be verified or have been refuted. We discuss four occurrences of gastrolith-like stones (category 6 exoliths) not found within skeletal remains from the Upper Triassic Bull Run Formation of northern Virginia, USA. Despite their lack of obvious skeletal association, the most parsimonious explanation for several characteristics of these stones is their prolonged residence in the gastric mills of large animals. These characteristics include 1) typical gastrolith microscopic surface texture, 2) evidence of pervasive surface wear on many of these stones that has secondarily removed variable amounts of thick weathering rinds typically found on these stones, and 3) a width/length-ratio modal peak for these stones that is more strongly developed than in any population of fluvial or fanglomerate stones of any age found in this region. When taken together, these properties of the stones can be explained most parsimoniously by animal ingestion and gastric-mill abrasion. The size of these stones indicates the animals that swallowed them were large, and the best candidate is a prosauropod dinosaur, possibly an ancestor of the Early Jurassic gastrolith-producing prosauropod Massospondylus or Ammosaurus. Skeletal evidence for Upper Triassic prosauropods is lacking in the Newark Supergroup basins; footprints (Agrestipus hottoni and Eubrontes isp.) from the Bull Run Formation in the Culpeper basin previously ascribed to prosauropods are now known to be underprints (Brachychirotherium parvum) of an aetosaur and underprints (Kayentapus minor) of a ceratosaur. The absence of prosauropod skeletal remains or footprints in all but the uppermost (upper Rhaetian) Triassic rocks of the Newark Supergroup is puzzling because prosauropod remains are abundant elsewhere in the world in Upper Triassic (Carnian, Norian, and lower Rhaetian) continental strata. The apparent scarcity of prosauropods in Upper Triassic strata of the Newark Supergroup is interpreted as an artifact of ecological partitioning, created by the habitat range and dietary preferences of phytosaurs and by the preservational biases at that time within the lithofacies of the Newark Supergroup basins.


On a daily basis, the majority of those with high-level spinal cord injury have autonomic dysreflexia, which describes a life-threatening episode of transient extreme hypertension (i.e., as high as 300 mm Hg) as many as 90% of people living with this condition. Unfortunately, ejaculation is a major initiating factor for autonomic dysreflexia, which discourages sexual activity. In order to obtain a sperm specimen, or for initial assessment of fertility, penile vibrostimulation is clinically performed. Nifedipine, a selective calcium channel blocker, is the most commonly prescribed pharmaceutical for a priori management of autonomic dysreflexia secondary to ejaculation or other causes; however, it is limited because of its potential exacerbation of low resting pressure, which also affects this population. The present study examined the effect of a short-acting selective α1 antagonist (prazosin) on autonomic dysreflexia severity using a randomized placebo trial during medically supervised penile vibrostimulation in six males with cervical spinal cord injury. Beat-by-beat blood pressure and heart rate were recorded throughout penile vibrostimulation during placebo and prazosin-treated days. The increase in systolic blood pressure was mitigated during vibrostimulation in subjects administered prazosin as compared with those administered placebo (+140±19 mm Hg vs. +96±14 mmHg; p<0.05). On average, the peak in systolic blood pressure was 46 mm Hg lower during penile vibrostimulation when patients were administered prazosin (p<0.05), whereas resting blood pressure was not affected. Prazosin appears to be effective at reducing the severity of autonomic dysreflexia during sexual stimulation in patients with spinal cord injury, without exacerbating resting hypotension in high-level spinal cord injury.


This paper investigated the design and the characterization of a photonic delay line based on passive cascaded silicon-on-insulator (SOI) microrings. We considered the compromise of group delay, bandwidth and insertion loss. A 3-stage double channel side-coupled integrated spaced sequence of resonator (SCISSOR) device was optimized by shifting the resonance of each microring and fabricated with electron beam lithography and dry etching. The group delay was measured to be 17 ps for non-return-to-zero signals at different bit rates and the bandwidth of 78 GHz was achieved. The experiment result agreed well with our simulation.


In this paper, the authors, based on a case study of the Polish healthcare IT system being deployed to the cloud, show the possibilities for limiting the computing resources consumption of rarely used services. The architecture of today's developed application systems is often based on the architectural style of microservices, where individual groups of services are deployed independently of each other. This is also the case with the system under discussion. Most often, the nature of the workload of each group of services is different, which creates some challenges but also provides opportunities to make optimizations in the consumption of computing resources, thus lowering the environmental footprint and at the same time gaining measurable financial benefits. Unlike other scaling methods, such as those based on MDP and reinforcement learning in particular, which focus on system load prediction, in this paper, the authors propose a reactive approach in which any, even unpredictable, change in system load may result in a change (autoscaling) in the number of instances of computing processes so as to adapt the system to the current demand for computing resources as soon as possible. The authors' main motivation for undertaking the study is to observe the growing interest in implementing FaaS technology in systems deployed to production in many fields, but with relatively little adoption in the healthcare field. Thus, as part of the research conducted here, the authors propose a solution for infrequently used services enabling the so-called scale-to-zero feature using the FaaS model implemented by the Fission tool. This solution is at the same time compatible with the cloud-agnostic approach which in turn helps avoid so-called cloud computing vendor lock-in. Using the example of the system in question, quantitative experimental results showing the savings achieved are presented, proving the justification for this novel implementation in the field of healthcare IT systems.


The findings of Jarvie and Simpson (Ann Clin Biochem 1986; 23: 76-84) correspond to our own findings on the use of the ToxiLab® system). We are in complete accord that urine is the specimen of choice, and that the detection of metabolite patterns is useful when identifying only one drug. However, we would point out that this 'advantage' becomes a problem when two or more drugs are taken since the resultant chromatogram becomes very complex. Nicotine and its metabolites are encountered particularly often in our experience (and that of Jarvie and Simpson) and this in itself can cause interpretative difficulties. We would also point out that interpretation is difficult even with specimens containing a single drug-s-excluding the presence of a drug is probably easier than identifying absolutely that the drug is present. The detection of benzodiazepines is disappointing; this is particularly important since benzodiazepines are the commonest agents taken in overdose. Because of the experience required for interpretation of the chromatograms this would not be an appropriate method for emergency analysis, and it is difficult to envisage how experience can be developed in a small laboratory where only an occasional request is made, even taking into account the initial training, subsequent workshops and proficiency tests provided by the makers. The system is expensive; however, the advantages of ease of use and the possibility of quick answers can be of considerable benefit in some situations. Nevertheless, the disadvantages above must be borne in mind. D R PLEDGER, J O'DONNELL Department of Biochemistry, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow G4 OSF


Nowadays, the conventional biochemical methods used to differentiate and characterize rice types, biochemical properties, authentication, and contamination issues are difficult to implement due to the high cost of reagents, time requirement and environmental issues. Actually, the success of agri-food technology is directly related to the quality of analysis of experimental data acquired by sensors or techniques such as the infrared-spectroscopy. To overcome these technical limitations, a rapid and non-destructive methodology for discrimination and classification of rice has been investigated. Near-infrared spectroscopy is considered as fast, clean, and non-destructive analytical tools and its spectra present significant biomolecular information that must be analysed by sophisticated methodologies. Machine learning plays an important role in the analysis of the spectral data being used several methods such as Partial Least Squares, Principal Component Analysis, Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis, Support Vector Machine, Artificial Neuronal Network, among others which can successfully be applied for food classification and discrimination as well as in terms of authentication and contamination issues. The quality control of rice is extremely important at every stage of production, beginning with estimation of raw agricultural materials and monitoring their quality during storage, estimating food quality during the production process and of the final products as well as the determination of their authenticity and the detection of adulterants.


Cash flow from operations (CFO) is an important component in the statement of cash flows. It is viewed by the Financial Accounting
Standards Board and many users of the financial statements as a good
indicator of whether a company will be in financial distress (i.e.
bankruptcy). Previous studies have explored the bankruptcy predictive
ability of CFO to show that the above view is only based on intuition and
not empirical study. Therefore, overreliance on CFO rather than
traditional financial ratios will lead creditors and investors to make
wrong decisions.
The purpose of this study is to reexamine previous researchers'
findings that although CFO can serve as an indicator of whether a firm
will be bankrupt, it does not predict bankruptcy as well as traditional
financial ratios. In addition, CFO does not even have marginal predictive
ability when included in a prediction model containing traditional
financial ratios. Compared to previous research, this study uses the most
recent data. It focuses only on three major industries: manufacturing,
wholesaling, and retailing industries.
A sample of 36 bankrupt companies and 36 nonbankrupt companies
is analyzed using Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test and Multiple Discriminant
Analysis (MDA). The results indicate that CFO variables - CFO, CFO/CL
(Current Liabilities), and CFO/TL (Total Liabilities) are statistically
significant different between bankrupt and nonbankrupt firms for the
first and the second year prior to bankruptcy. CFO variables can serve
as a predictor of whether a firm will be bankrupt; however, their
predictive ability is mediocre. They do not predict bankruptcy as
accurately as traditional financial ratios. In fact, their predictive
ability with respect to bankruptcy is much worse than that of the
financial ratios. This study also finds that CFO variables contribute
little or no significant marginal predictive value when used together
with traditional financial ratios for the first and second years prior to
bankruptcy. In other words, this study strongly substantiates the
findings of previous research.


A convincing observation of neutrino-less double beta decay (0vDBD) relies on the possibility of operating high-energy resolution detectors in background-free conditions. Scintillating cryogenic calorimeters are one of the most promising tools to fulfill the requirements for a next-generation experiment. Several steps have been taken to demonstrate the maturity of this technique, starting form the successful experience of CUPID-0. The CUPID-0 experiment collected almost 10 kg y of exposure, running 26 Zn82Se crystals during two years of continuous detector operation. The complete rejection of the dominant α background was demonstrated, measuring the lowest counting rate in the region of interest for this technique. Furthermore, the most stringent limit on the 82Se 0vDBD was established. In this contribution we present the final results of CUPID-0 phase-I, including a detailed model of the background and the measurement of the 2vDBD half-life.


Symmetry conditions are derived for the amplitude and phase response of vestigial-sideband (VSB) filters. A design technique, based on Szentirmai's frequency transformation, is described for the realization of filters which automatically satisfy these symmetry relations. The synthesis can be carried out with either the s or the z (transformed frequency) variable. It is shown that for sharply selective VSB filters the delay distortion exhibits an even symmetry around the carrier frequency. The equalization of loss and phase distortions can thus be easily carried out in the baseband. A typical design problem is described and solved to illustrate the effectiveness of the suggested synthesis technique.


Localized models of abnormal formation pressure (geopressure) are important economic and safety tools frequently used for well planning and drilling operations. Simplified computer-based procedures have been developed that permit these models to be developed more rapidly and with greater accuracy. These techniques are broadly applicable to basins throughout the world where abnormal formation pressures occur. An example from the Attaka field of East Kalimantan, southeast Asia, shows how geopressure models are developed. Using petrophysical and engineering data, empirical correlations between observed pressure and petrophysical logs can be created by computer-assisted data-fitting techniques. These correlations serve as the basis for models of the geopressure. By performing repeated analyses on wells at various locations, contour maps on the top of abnormal geopressure can be created. Methods that are simple in their development and application make the task of geopressure estimation less formidable to the geologist and petroleum engineer. Further, more accurate estimates can significantly improve drilling speeds while reducing the incidence of stuck pipe, kicks, and blowouts. In general, geopressure estimates are used in all phases of drilling operations: To develop mud plans and specify equipment ratings, to assist in the recognition of geopressured formations and determination of mud weights, and tomore » improve predictions at offset locations and geologically comparable areas.« less


We inquired whether the type of diabetic glomerulosclerosis, diffuse or nodular, is of value as an alternative to microalbuminuria in predicting later progression of renal disease. To answer this question, we conducted a retrospective cohort study in eleven Japanese non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients with normo- to microalbuminuria. Nodular diabetic glomerulosclerosis was found in six patients, and diffuse diabetic glomerulosclerosis in five patients. The mean follow-up period was 41.5 months (range 12-65). Three patients developed persistent proteinuria and one developed chronic renal failure. Mean level of serum creatinine in all patients was elevated from 0.97 +/- 0.23 mg/dl (SD) to 1.10 +/- 0.37 mg/dl (P = 0.098). The rate of increase in serum creatinine was 0.068 +/- 0.115 mg/dl/year in nodular diabetic glomerulosclerosis, and 0.023 +/- 0.069 mg/dl/year in a diffuse one. No difference was found between these two types of diabetic glomerulosclerosis (P = 0.445). We conclude that in normo- to microalbuminuria diabetic nephropathy the type of diabetic glomerulosclerosis, diffuse or nodular, is not necessarily an alternative to microalbuminuria in predicting its later progression in Japanese non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients.


This study examines whether there are gender differences in personal traits and decision making patterns among Chinese private entrepreneurs. Data from a 2004 national-wide survey of 3012 private firms in China show that there is no gender difference in education level between women entrepreneurs and their male counterparts, however, women entrepreneurs have smaller family size and work longer hours in their firms than male entrepreneurs. Consistent with what was found in the developed countries firms owned by Chinese women entrepreneurs are significantly smaller in term of the numbers of employees, revenue and profit. Moreover, women entrepreneurs in China are more likely to make important decisions together with their major managers compared to their male counterparts.


American higher education is unique in its size and diversity and in its openness to all who gain a high school diploma. This essay describes current trends in enrollments and finance in American colleges and universities, noting recent changes in the demography of the student body that have kept enrollments constant, despite dwindling traditional college-age cohorts. The sources of the unique characteristics of American higher education lie in its peculiar historical origins and development, especially in the central state authority's and the academic guilds' weakness, the college president's relative strength, and various markets' influence on an institution that elsewhere has been largely shielded from market forces. The discussion then turns to the functional relationships among some key structural characteristics which give rise to important, if generally unrecognized, contributions of mass higher education to American society.


Phenol determination is an important step of its monitoring to prevent water contamination. Herein, a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) is modified with electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGO) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme (HRP/ERGO/GCE). Then, the modified electrode (HRP/ERGO/GCE) has been used for the biosensing of phenol. Using HRP, phenol is oxidized into electroactive o-quinone, which can be electrochemically reduced to catechol. The electrochemical responses obtained in the reduction of o-quinone to catechol are directly related to the phenol concentration. Also, the selectivity of phenol enzymatic oxidation is significantly increased when HRP is used to fabricate the biosensor. In order to enhance the electrochemical responses, ERGO is employed to fabricate the biosensor. The results indicate that the o-quinone/catechol redox couple is adsorbed on the HRP/ERGO/GCE surface and leads to the enhancement of the responses and the sensitivity of the biosensor to determine the phenol concentration. The voltammetric responses of the biosensor, during preparation under specified conditions, are also examined. Using differential pulse voltammetry, a wide linear range of 3.0–100.0 μM and a low detection limit of 2.19 μM are obtained for phenol determination at the HRP/ERGO/GCE surface. Finally, the proposed biosensor has been satisfactorily used to determine the phenol concentration in a tap water sample.


Plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can form complex symbiotic networks based on functional trait selection, contributing to the maintenance of ecosystem biodiversity and stability. However, the selectivity of host plants on AMF and the characteristics of plant-AMF networks remain unclear in Tibetan alpine meadows. In this study, we studied the AMF communities in 69 root samples from 23 plant species in a Tibetan alpine meadow using Illumina-MiSeq sequencing of the 18S rRNA gene. The results showed a significant positive correlation between the phylogenetic distances of plant species and the taxonomic dissimilarity of their AMF community. The plant-AMF network was characterized by high connectance, high nestedness, anti-modularity, and anti-specialization, and the phylogenetic signal from plants was stronger than that from AMF. The high connected and nested plant-AMF network potentially promoted the interdependence and stability of the plant-AMF symbioses in Tibetan alpine meadows. This study emphasizes that plant phylogeny and plant-AMF networks play an important role in the coevolution of host plants and their mycorrhizal partners and enhance our understanding of the interactions between aboveground and belowground communities.


Concurrently, group membership management in IP multicast and anycast can be abused in order to launch denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. The root of the problem is that routers cannot determine if a given host is authorized to join group. We propose a solution for Ipv6-based on group cryptographically generated addresses (G-CGA). These addresses have characteristics of statistical uniqueness and cryptographic verifiability that lend themselves to severely limiting certain classes of DoS attacks. Our scheme is fully distributed and does not require any trusted third party or pre-established security association between the routers and the hosts. This is not only a huge gain in terms of scalability, reliability and overhead, but also in terms of privacy.


This paper presents an exploratory study of lean manufacturing implementation in Malaysian automotive industries. A questionnaire survey is used to explore the extent of lean manufacturing implementation. This paper also examines the drivers and barriers that influence the implementation of lean ma nufacturing. The survey was performed on sixty Malaysian automotive components manufacturing firms. The respondents were chosen from those who are directly involved with lean manufacturing practices such as production and quality personnel. The findings show that most of the respondent firms are classified as in-transition towards lean manufacturing practice. These in-transition firms have moderate mean values for each of the five lean manufacturing practice categories. It is also found that these firms spend more attentions and resources in internal areas such as firms' operation and management, compared to external relationships with suppliers and customers. These firms believe that the factors that drive the implementation of lean manufacturing are the desire to focus on customers and to achieve the organisation's continuous improvement. The results from this survey also revealed the main barriers that prevent or delay the lean implementation. The main barriers to implement lean manufacturing system are the lack of understanding lean concepts and shop floor employees' attitude.


PURPOSE
To assess the safety and efficacy of vinorelbine in patients with AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma (KS).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
From December 1994 to May 1997, within the Italian Cooperative Group on AIDS and Tumors, we enrolled 36 patients with AIDS-related KS who experienced disease progression after one or more regimens of systemic chemotherapy. Patients were treated with vinorelbine 30 mg/m(2) every 2 weeks by intravenous bolus.

RESULTS
Of 35 assessable patients, three (9%) had a clinical complete response and 12 (34%) had a partial remission, for an overall objective response rate of 43% (95% confidence interval, 26% to 61%). For the 15 patients with objective responses, the median duration of response from the beginning of therapy until the development of progression was 176 days, whereas the median progression-free survival and the median survival durations for 35 assessable patients were 151 days and 216 days, respectively. Vinorelbine also induced responses in patients who had become resistant to regimens that included other vinca alkaloids. Overall, vinorelbine was well tolerated. Toxicity, including neurologic toxicity, was mild and reversible. Neutropenia was the most frequent dose-limiting toxicity.

CONCLUSION
Vinorelbine is safe and effective in the treatment of patients with advanced KS who have been previously treated with one or more chemotherapy regimens.


Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is a highly prevalent condition associated with substantial clinical and economic burden. Value-based payment reform requires detailed understanding of care utilization. However, previous analyses of OA care have limitations, such as constraining analysis to a single year or to surgical patients. We aimed to more comprehensively characterize health services utilization and payment for hip and knee OA through a 3-year longitudinal analysis, including both operative and non-operative services, using Medicare claims data. Methods We utilized Medicare Standard Analytic Files available from PearlDiver, Inc. The target population for analysis was patients with osteoarthritis in the hip, knee, or both, identified by ICD-9 diagnosis codes. Patients were limited to those whose 1) first instance of hip or knee OA diagnosis in the payer dataset occurred between 2008 and 2011 and 2) who were continuously active in the payer dataset for one year prior to and three years following diagnosis. Results Payments for relevant hip and knee OA services were highest during the first year after diagnosis, representing 55.6%, 65.3%, and 51.2% of total payments for patients with knee, hip, or knee and hip OA, respectively. Payments and utilization of services in the second and third treatment years were lower, and similar to the year prior to OA diagnosis. Service-level analysis revealed that total payments were driven by utilization of high-intensity services like surgery, which accounted for 57.7%, 60.6%, and 63.6% of payments in the first year for knee, hip, and knee and hip OA patients, respectively. High utilization of Medical Services like physician-administered medications, arthrocentesis, and physical therapy drove high payments as well, especially later in treatment. Conclusion Hip and knee OA treatment intensity is highest in the year immediately following a new diagnosis and decreases considerably in the second- and third-years following diagnosis across all relevant service categories. This analysis supports the identification of specific, time-sensitive opportunities to transform hip and knee OA care and payment models to optimize patient-centered outcomes while controlling costs across the episode of care.


Heavy truck manufacturers in automotive applications extensively use the SAE J1939 protocol definition. In this paper we demonstrates two simple methods for analysing worstcase scenarios on a J1939 CAN-bus. The first method can be used for quick estimation of bandwith requirements while the second method illustrates how maximum message delivery time (response time) can be calculated.


The availability of linguistic databases for a variety of languages and a variety of linguistic levels is enabling for a number of areas of research. Within writing system and literacy research, databases of orthographic information per se as well as a variety of forms of phonological information at least, and potentially morphological, syntactic and semantic information may all be useful. The papers within this special issue address a range of databases for different languages and with a range of different types of information. They talk about both the development and uses of such databases.


Although intracranial obliteration or detachable balloon occlusion of the proximal artery has been recommended for treatment of unruptured aneurysms of the cavernous sinus, carotid artery ligation continues to be used by many neurosurgeons. This study compares the long term outcome after carotid ligation with that following conservative treatment. Nine of 13 patients treated by common carotid ligation improved, two were unchanged but two patients subsequently needed internal carotid ligation (mean FU 8.2 years). Ten patients were managed conservatively. Three improved, six were unchanged and one patient died following intracranial haemorrhage (mean FU 6.9 years). The authors conclude that carotid ligation remains an acceptable method for treating these difficult lesions.


The relationships between game theory and quantum mechanics let us propose certain quantization relationships through which we could describe and understand not only quantum but also classical, evolutionary and the biological systems that were described before through the replicator dynamics. Quantum mechanics could be used to explain more correctly biological and economical processes and even it could encloses theories like games and evolutionary dynamics. This could make quantum mechanics a more general theory that we had thought. Although both systems analyzed are described through two apparently different theories (quan-tum mechanics and game theory) it is shown that both systems are analogous and thus exactly equivalents. So, we can take some concepts and definitions from quantum mechanics and physics for the best understanding of the behavior of economics and biology. Also, we could maybe understand nature like a game in where its players compete for a common welfare and the equilibrium of the system that they are members.


B virus (Macacine herpesvirus 1) occurs naturally in macaques and can cause lethal zoonotic infections in humans. Detection of B virus (BV) antibodies in macaques is essential for the development of SPF breeding colonies and for diagnosing infection in macaques that are involved in human exposures. Traditionally, BV infections are monitored for presence of antibodies by ELISA (a screening assay) and western blot analysis (WBA; a confirmatory test). Both tests use lysates of infected cells as antigens. Because WBA often fails to confirm the presence of low-titer serum antibodies detected by ELISA, we examined a recombinant-based ELISA as a potential alternative confirmatory test. We compared a high-throughput ELISA using 384-well plates for simultaneous antibody screening against 4 BV-related, recombinant proteins with the standard ELISA and WBA. The recombinant ELISA results confirmed more ELISA-positive sera than did WBA. The superiority of the recombinant ELISA over WBA was particularly prominent for sera with low (<500 ELISA units) antibody titers. Among low-titer sera, the relative sensitivity of the recombinant ELISA ranged from 36.7% to 45.0% as compared with 3.3% to 10.0% for WBA. In addition, the screening and confirmatory assays can be run simultaneously, providing results more rapidly. We conclude that the recombinant ELISA is an effective replacement for WBA as a confirmatory assay for the evaluation of macaque serum antibodies to BV.


The experiment was designed to know the prevalence of the the role of location against gastrointestinal nematodosis on cattle at west Madura, 271 fecal samples of Madura cattle were takenrandomly according to the age of cattle (> 12 months of age) from four locations; coastal area (105), cattle traffic area (38), mountain range area (77) and hinterland area (51). In the experiment the floatation technique(MgSO method) was used. The results showed that prevalences study of worm infestation given high significant (p< 0,01), among cattle traffic area (71,05%), were the highest, afterward coastal area (70.47%), mountain range area (58,44%) and finally hinterland area (17,35%).


In integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing industries, wafer grinding is an important step because it improves wafer flatness and thickness. The diamond-grinding wheel used for grinding the wafers is expensive. Inevitably, the diamond-grinding wheel wears gradually during the grinding process, and the wafer surface is contaminated by grinding chips. Consequently, the fraction of defectives gradually becomes significant. In this situation, cost reduction is important for silicon wafer suppliers in the global market. Therefore, it is essential to monitor the grinding wheel in order to reduce the manufacturing cost and minimize the fraction of defectives. In this paper, we consider the grinding-wheel replacement problem in IC factories with the aim of determining the optimal replacement time for the grinding wheels. In order to maintain high wafer process quality and minimize the production cost, we propose a tool condition monitoring procedure for assessing the true capability at each time period of the grinding process and then find the optimal time for tool replacement. The procedure can be used practically for the silicon wafer manufacturing industry.


The Scintillating Fiber Telescope for Energetic Radiation (SIFTER) is a large-area instrument concept for high-energy (E>10 MeV) gamma-ray astronomy. It takes advantage of the technology of fine (/spl sim/1 mm/sup 2/) plastic scintillating fibers in the context of a pair tracker/calorimeter telescope. In our on-going SIFTER research, we have developed a small test apparatus, consisting of 12 fiber planes, each with a potential active area of 10 cm/spl times/10 cm covered with a thin tantalum foil converter. This apparatus was tested in July, 1998 with high-energy photons (/spl sim/0.5-1.6 GeV) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory Hall B tagged gamma-ray facility. We report on results of the beam test, concentrating on comparisons with detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the instrument performance, including track reconstruction, angular resolution and detection efficiency.


Pollen and AMS 14 C analyses of bottom sediments from the upper nine meters of the Lake Kotokel' section were carried out. The regional climate and landscape dynamics during the Late Glacial and Holocene has been reconstructed with an average time resolution of ~120 years. It is shown that the climatic conditions in the Kotokel' basin during Termination I (~15.5–11 ka) were characterized by short drastic changes resulting in the reorganization of landscapes and vegetation. Five short (400–1200 years) intervals have been recognized: 15.5–14.7, 14.7–14.3, 14.3–13.2, 13.2–12.5, and 12.5–11.3 ka. In the early Holocene (~11 ka), the climate became less continental and stayed such till ~7 ka. Later on, it again became more continental, which led to a significant decrease in average annual precipitation and winter temperatures and an increase in average summer temperatures. The pollen record from Lake Kotokel' agrees with the general climatic trend for the Northern Hemisphere. The amplitude of vegetation and climatic variations during the Late Glacial is best expressed as compared with the previous regional pollen records. This is probably because the ecosystem of the small lake localized deep inside the continent, at the boundary of two large ecotones (forest and steppe), is highly sensitive to moisture deficit. The new dated detailed pollen record from the Lake Kotokel' bottom sediments might be regarded as a key section for the reconstruction of variations in regional vegetation and climatic dynamics for the last 15–15.5 kyr. The results obtained refined the kind of changes in regional vegetation, and the reliable age model permitted intra- and interregional correlations of environmental changes. © 2011, V.S. Sobolev IGM, Siberian Branch of the RAS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


D/H isotope-substitution effects on the Jahn–Teller (J–T) distortion of cation radicals of partially deuteriated benzenes; benzene-d5, benzene-1,2,4,5-d4, benzene-1,4-d2, and benzene-1,3,5-d3, were investigated by electron spin resonance (EPR) using frozen haloalkanes and porous silicas as matrices. Quantum-chemical calculations using the density functional theory (DFT) method were also performed. The way of distortion of the cation radicals of selectively deuteriated benzenes is unique relative to the deuteriation sites in all the matrices used. The ground state of the distorted cation is 2B2g of D2h symmetry, regardless of the way of isotope labeling. The undeuteriated C–H bonds occupy the specific positions in the distorted form where the higher spin density appears, in agreement with the result of theoretical calculations. The role of the matrix to stabilize the distorted form is also discussed.


The effect of different doses of prostaglandin E2 on renin secretion in isolated perfused rat kidney has been studied. The infusion of 5 ng/ml of prostaglandin E2 produced a significant rise on renin secretion compared with control group. A dosage increase of prostaglandin E2 (10 and 50 ng/ml) produced an increase in the released renin. From this a correlation between doses and responses can be obtained. The perfusion pressure was slightly--but significantly--modified with the highest dose of prostaglandin (50 ng/ml). The possible pathways of action are dicussed.


Epitaxial diamond films on non-mirror polished silicon substrate was achieved using hot filament chemical vapor deposition method with one flat horizontal filament. The orientation relationship of epitaxial diamond films on silicon substrate has been investigated by cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. We found one excellent epitaxial configuration and according to the experimental result we suggest a corresponding model. The lattice misfit is only 0.1-2.8% related to our model and the analysis of 60° type interface dislocation also supports this model.


Wireless communication has expanded its horizon in almost every aspect of human lives and its consequence is rapid surge in the demand of spectral resource. Electromagnetic spectrum is a gift of nature and such spectrum bands cannot be increased beyond certain limit. Presently, spectrum is licensed by government agencies to the interested parties by accepting a license fee. At the time of allocation, it is assumed that the licensed party will be utilizing the spectrum up-to its full potential i.e. 100% of the time. Hence the frequency bands to be utilized by the primary user are decided a-priori irrespective of its dynamic utilization status. On the other side with the advent of technologies like IoT, wearable consumer electronics and smartphones etc. applications are becoming bandwidth hungry and the number of connected devices are increasing drastically. Gardner technology research, a premier IoT research company claims that in the year 2015, 4.9 billion devices were connected to the internet and by 2020 this figure will reach to 20.8 billion. Hence with such an exponential increase in the number of connected devices, we will soon be facing scarcity of the electromagnetic spectrum in near future. Cognitive Radio is an innovative technology with unprecedented level of intelligence and capability to enhance the system capacity as well as spectrum agility of wireless communication systems. It mitigates the problem of spectrum scarcity with the aid of opportunistic access of spectrum. This work is dedicated towards developing hardware efficient and reconfigurable spectrum sensing architectures as well as techniques from VLSI design and implementation perspectives. We propose enhancements to the widely used energy detector design which helps in reducing the overall hardware resources (like adders and multipliers) consumed by 46% and alleviates the memory footprint by more than 95%. Further the conventional energy detector design is extended for wide band sensing applications without compromising on detector performance. We also present reconfigurable VLSI architectures for cyclostationary spectrum sensor which aids in sensing OFDM signals constructed with a variety of sub-carrier lengths. We suggested a novel selective sampling based reconfigurable cyclostationary spectrum sensor which reduces the memory requirement by 99% and other resources by 33%. To evaluate the performance of these architectures, extensive computer simulations are carried out and detector architectures are implemented on an FPGA platform to verify the timing and functionality. Such verification has been carried out by feeding real-world RF signals captured from standard-RF SDR front-ends. Finally, ASIC syntheses and post-layout simulations of these architectures in 90 and 65 nm-CMOS technologies are carried out and its implementation results are compared with the stateof-the-art.


This case study analyses the relationship between European news agencies and the state. On the basis of interviews, official documents and secondary sources, we examine recent developments in the relationship with the state in a sample of four countries – Finland, France, Poland and Spain – representing different kinds of media systems. While the evolution of this relationship has been different and unique in each country, they are all bound by the competition rules of the European Union, and the challenges that the agencies face are similar. In general, European news agencies are struggling to keep their basic news services profitable. We argue that in the age of fake news and disinformation the social and democratic value of these news services is much greater than their economic value to their owners. From the democracy perspective, these services can be understood as a public good, and therefore the subsidising of content with a high information value can be in the public interest if certain preconditions are met. At the same time, safeguarding the editorial, and in particular the structural, independence of the agencies from political control is essential.


ABSTRACT Financial risk modelling frequently uses the assumption of a normal distribution when considering the return series which is inefficient if the data is not normally distributed or if it exhibits extreme tails. Estimation of tail dependence between financial assets plays a vital role in various aspects of financial risk modelling including portfolio theory and hedging amongst applications. Extreme Value Theory (EVT) provides well established methods for considering univariate and multivariate tail distributions which are useful for forecasting financial risk or modelling the tail dependence of risky assets. The empirical analysis in this article uses nonparametric measures based on bivariate EVT to investigate asymptotic dependence and estimate the degree of tail dependence of the ASX-All Ordinaries daily returns with four other international markets, viz., the S&P-500, Nikkei-225, DAX-30 and Heng-Seng for both extreme right and left tails of the return distribution. It is investigated whether the asymptotic dependence between these markets is related to the heteroscedasticity present in the logarithmic return series using GARCH filters. The empirical evidence shows that the asymptotic extreme tail dependence between stock markets does not necessarily exist and rather can be associated with the heteroscedasticity present in the financial time series of the various stock markets.


Two combination chemotherapy programs, ACOMLA (doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, methotrexate and leucovorin rescue, and cytarabine) and CHOP-B (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone, and bleomycin), were evaluated in 29 prospective randomized patients with advanced diffuse histiocytic lymphoma. A complete response was achieved in 13 of the 15 patients (87%) treated with CHOP-B and in nine of the 14 patients (64%) treated with ACOMLA. The overall complete response rate was 75%. Two patients treated with ACOMLA and none of the CHOP-B-treated patients have relapsed. Median followup is 32 months for ACOMLA patients and 26 months for CHOP-B patients. Actuarial freedom from relapse at 2 years is 49.9% for ACOMLA and 93.3% for CHOP-B (P = 0.04). Toxicity was substantial, with eight nonfatal episodes of sepsis and three drug-related deaths. There have been no central nervous system relapses. Although patients treated with CHOP-B have a better response rate, the small numbers of patients treated to date preclude definitive conclusions.


Flooding can result in the temporary or permanent displacement of affected populations from their homes. This displacement is not only an important factor determining health and social impacts, but it also has bearing on the monitoring of such impacts. We present descriptive analyses of data from the 2007 floods of Kingston‐upon‐Hull, UK, which quantify the frequency, timing and duration of household displacements. Very high proportions (59%) of flooded households were displaced, though many displacements did not begin until several months after flooding. Twelve per cent of displaced households remained out of their homes for longer than a year, a further 5% for more than 2 years. These figures suggest that linkages between a flood incident, flood impacts and then recovery might not always follow a neat linear progression, which has important implications for epidemiological research design as well as flood risk management plans. This is the first reported investigation on population displacement after the flood event in the UK.


Ceramics (Pbo " o B~, lol [ (Mn,,, W'/,)vTi l-yJO, for y = 0.05, 0. 10 and 0. 15 arc studied by means of xray, SEM and dielectnc measu rements. All specimens are found to have single phase wi th perovskite t) pe tetragonal structure. The effect ofTi-site modilicdllon wi th Mn and W is discussed lI1 the light of slI ucturaI and dielectric properti es. Results show that the phase transition has di ffusive character and c1iffusivity parameter increases with increase in the val ue of y.


The purpose of this study was to determine the factor that affecting labor productivity in Malaysia. The variables consists motivation, management support, supervision and technological are stated as independent variables for this study. The finding showed that only three variables have significant relationship which are motivation, supervision and technological. Thus, these variables consider the factors that affecting labor productivity in Malaysia. Meanwhile, one variable that showed negative relationship is management support which considers not the factors that affecting labor productivity in Malaysia. 150 sets of questionnaires were distributed randomly. The result of the study presented in this research agrees that motivation, supervision and technological are the factors that affecting labor productivity. This study can be seen as a foreword to a more detailed study to be carrying by future research on the issue of labor productivity in Malaysia.


Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of morbidity and mortality in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Cardiac arrhythmias are prevalent in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD), however, dialysis treatment per se can be considered as an arrhythmogenic stimulus. Uremic patients are characterized by a "pro-arrhythmic substrate" because of the high prevalence of ischemic heart disease, left ventricular hypertrophy, and autonomic neuropathy. The incidence of hypothermia in HD patient is unknown. The severity of hypothermia correlated to cardiac arrhythmias. Here, we report a 50-year-old Saudi lady known case of long-standing diabetes mellitus with diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy, ESRD on HD, coronary artery disease developed transient third-degree heart block secondary to iatrogenic hypothermia during HD session, which was completely resolved after adjusting temperature of dialysis machine. To the best of our knowledge, the association of third-degree atrioventricular block and hypothermia induced by HD session has not been previously reported.


Individuals of diverse ethnic backgrounds often have beliefs about health, disease and treatment which vary significantly from American scientific medical practice. Cultural and subcultural health beliefs also vary among blacks, Hispanics and Asians. Individual differences within cultural groups may be influenced by length of time in the United States, age and social economic status. Social work activities which can improve health care services to ethnic minorities are identified.


In this study, we propose a new type of slow light photonic crystal waveguide structure to achieve wideband slow light with low dispersion. The waveguide is based on a triangular lattice ellipse-hole photonic crystal imposed simply by a selective altering of the locations of the holes adjacent to the line defect. Under a constant group index criterion of ±10% variation, when group indices are nearly constants of 54, 69, and 80, their corresponding bandwidths of the flat band reach 12.7, 10.0, and 8.6 nm around 1550 nm, respectively. A nearly constant large group index-bandwidth product of 0.44 is achieved for all cases. Low dispersion slow light propagation is confirmed by studying the relative temporal pulse-width spreading with the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method.


Masonry infills are normally considered as non-structural elements and their stiffness contributions are generally ignored in practice, such an approach can lead to an unsafe design. The masonry infill walls though constructed as secondary elements behaves as a constituent part of the structural system and determine the overall behaviour of the structure especially when it is subjected to seismic loads. In this paper seismic analysis has been performed using Equivalent Lateral Force Method for different reinforced concrete (RC) frame building models that include bare frame, infilled frame and open first storey frame. The results of bare frame, infilled frame and open first storey frame are discussed and conclusions are made. In modelling the masonry infill panels the Equivalent diagonal Strut method is used and the software ETABS is used for the analysis of all the frame models.


Mobile technologies are spreading our daily lives by the help of social media applications. Teenagers and young adults are among the highest percentage of smartphone and social media application users. As an apparent result colleges and higher education institutions are facing an increasing pressure to limit and control students' smartphone and social network use as these practices are accepted to be distracting. On the other hand, academicians are also tending to spend more time with their mobile devices and use social networks. At the brink of a connected World with the 'internet of things', it seems things will get tougher to leave these devices out of classrooms. Although the idea of using such applications for the good of education is being discussed for some time now, research on using such tools and technologies for undergraduate architecture students is far from being extensive. Besides, existing data and insights are postulant to become irrelevant with an unusual pace. By the help of a survey data this paper tries to pin undergraduate architecture students' smartphone and social network practice and discuss their possible consideration for educational purposes. Initial findings give clues about some of the web 2.0 tools can help students enhance their design activities.


The paper evaluates the intensity of peritoneal adhesions induced by talc administration on Wistar rats, alone and in association with different other substances. The comparative study was performed on 40 rats, separated in 5 groups: group A was injected intraperitoneally with talc, group B with talc and streptokinase, group C with talc and heparin, group D with talc and dexamethasone and group E with talc and dextran. The adherence syndrome was evaluated after 3 weeks, scoring 5 parameters: number, density, strength, vascularization, topography and granulomas. The sum of these 5 parameters was defined as the adherence score. The best results in preventing adhesion formation are obtained with the intraperitoneal administration of dextran and streptokinase.


We give a bound on the sizes of two sets of vertices at a given minimum distance (a separated pair of subgraphs) in a graph in terms of polynomials and the spectrum of the graph. We find properties of the polynomial optimizing the bound. Explicit bounds on the number of vertices at maximal distance and distance two from a given vertex, and on the size of two equally large sets at maximal distance are given, and we find graphs for which the bounds are tight.


Discusses two adaptive digital techniques for audio noise cancellation. The first technique, adaptive predictive deconvolution, uses an adaptive linear predictor to estimate and cancel (time) correlated noise components on an audio signal. The second technique, adaptive filtering, employs two audio signal inputs, the first having the desired audio signal along with noise and the second sensing principally the noise. The second, noise signal is adaptively filtered and subtracted from the first signal cancelling noise components common to the two inputs. A stand-alone digital signal processor has been developed to carry out these two noise cancellation techniques. This automatic digital audio processor, ADAP, carries out these processes in real time with up to a 256th order digital filter.


Recent data suggest that chemokines could be essential players in breast carcinogenesis. We previously showed that the CXC chemokine CXCL8 (interleukin-8) was overexpressed in estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha)-negative breast cell lines. Analysis of CXCL8 chromosomal location showed that several CXC chemokines (CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL3, CXCL4, CXCL4V1, CXCL5, CXCL6, CXCL7, and CXCL8) were localized in the same narrow region (360 kb in size) of chromosome 4. We thus hypothesized that they could belong to the same cluster. Quantification of these chemokines in breast tumors showed that samples expressing high CXCL8 also produced elevated levels of CXCL1, CXCL3, and CXCL5, and displayed low content of ERalpha. CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL3, CXCL5, and CXCL8 were co-regulated both in tumors and in breast cancer cell lines. CXCL5 and CXCL8 were mainly produced by epithelial cells, whereas CXCL1, CXCL2, and CXCL3 had a high expression in blood cells. The overexpression of these chemokines in tumor cells was not the result of gene amplification, but rather of an enhanced gene transcription. Our data suggest that high CXCL8 expression in tumors is mainly correlated to activating protein-1 (AP-1) pathway and to a minor extent to NF-kappaB pathway. Interestingly, CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL3, CXCL5, CXCL6, and CXCL8 chemokines were present at higher levels in metastases when compared with grade I and III biopsies. High levels of CXCL8, CXCL1, and CXCL3 accounted for a shorter relapse-free survival of ERalpha-positive patients treated with tamoxifen. In summary, we present evidences that multiple CXC chemokines are co-expressed in CXCL8-positive breast tumors. In addition, these chemokines could account for the higher aggressiveness of these types of tumors.


Olecranon bursitis is relatively common. One third of episodes are septic. Most of the remainder are non-septic, with occasional rheumatological causes. Trauma can cause both septic and non-septic olecranon bursitis. Clinical features are helpful in separating septic from non-septic olecranon bursitis, but there may be local erythema in both. Aspiration should be carried out in all cases, and if the presence of infection is still in doubt, microscopy, Gram staining, and culture of the aspirate will resolve the issue. Septic olecranon bursitis should be treated by aspiration, which may need to be repeated, and a long course of antibiotics. Some cases will need admission, and a few will need surgical treatment. Non-septic olecranon bursitis can be managed with aspiration alone. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs probably hasten symptomatic improvement. Intrabursal corticosteroids produce a rapid resolution but concern remains over their long term local effects. Recovery from septic olecranon bursitis can take months.


The multi-point Monin–Obukhov similarity (MMO) was recently proposed (Tong & Nguyen, J. Atmos. Sci., vol. 72, 2015, pp. 4337–4348) to address the issue of incomplete similarity in the framework of the original Monin–Obukhov similarity theory (MOST). MMO hypothesizes the following: (1) The surface-layer turbulence, defined to consist of eddies that are entirely inside the surface layer, has complete similarity, which however can only be represented by multi-point statistics, requiring a horizontal characteristic length scale (absent in MOST). (2) The Obukhov length $L$ is also the characteristic horizontal length scale; therefore, all surface-layer multi-point statistics, non-dimensionalized using the surface-layer parameters, depend only on the height and separations between the points, non-dimensionalized using $L$ . However, similar to MOST, MMO was also proposed as a hypothesis based on phenomenology. In this work we derive MMO analytically for the case of the horizontal Fourier transforms of the velocity and potential temperature fluctuations, which are equivalent to the two-point horizontal differences of these variables, using the spectral forms of the Navier–Stokes and the potential temperature equations. We show that, for the large-scale motions (wavenumber $k<1/z$ ) in a convective surface layer, the solution is uniformly valid with respect to $z$ (i.e. as $z$ decreases from $z>-L$ to $z<-L$ ), where $z$ is the height from the surface. However, for $z<-L$ the solution is not uniformly valid with respective to $k$ as it increases from $k<-1/L$ to $k>-1/L$ , resulting in a singular perturbation problem, which we analyse using the method of matched asymptotic expansions. We show that (1) $-L$ is the characteristic horizontal length scale, and (2) the Fourier transforms satisfy MMO with the non-dimensional wavenumber $-kL$ as the independent similarity variable. Two scaling ranges, the convective range and the dynamic range, discovered for $z\ll -L$ in Tong & Nguyen (2015) are obtained. We derive the leading-order spectral scaling exponents for the two scaling ranges and the corrections to the scaling ranges for finite ratios of the length scales. The analysis also reveals the dominant dynamics in each scaling range. The analytical derivations of the characteristic horizontal length scale ( $L$ ) and the validity of MMO for the case of two-point horizontal separations provide strong support to MMO for general multi-point velocity and temperature differences.


Abstract : The fuelwood harvesting computer program (FHP) is written in FORTRAN 60 and designed to select a collection of harvest units and systems from among alternatives to satisfy specified energy requirements at a lowest cost per million Btu's as recovered in a boiler, or thousand pounds of H2O evaporative capacity kiln drying. Computed energy costs are used as a criterion of economic viability. Sensitivities of energy cost and fuel requirements to changes in moisture content are computed and provided in the printed output. Keywords: Wood/bark fuel, harvesting, economics, computer program. (Author)


We discuss in detail the influence that the statistical properties of the pump source have on maser and laser dynamics. We derive a general master equation for the radiation field that is valid for a wide range of different pump mechanisms. If the pump noise is eliminated, we find that the photon number noise in a micromaser and a laser can be significantly reduced below the shot-noise level. In contrast, the phase fluctuations for both maser and laser are unaffected by the noise contribution of the pump.


Previous research has found a consistent, positive relationship between age and commitment to work and the job. However, it is not clear if it is age per se or correlates of age, such as job tenure or length of service within the firm, that account for observed gains in work commitment over the life cycle. This question is examined here through a multivariate analysis of data from a large, representative probability sample of the U.S. work force. Within a multivariate framework, age has little independent effect on work commitment. Job satisfaction and occupational prestige do, however. The findings of this study are related to recent speculation about the decline of the "work ethic" among younger workers in the United States and to recent retirement trends.


We tackle the problem of discovering novel classes in an image collection given labelled examples of other classes. This setting is similar to semi-supervised learning, but significantly harder because there are no labelled examples for the new classes. The challenge, then, is to leverage the information contained in the labelled images in order to learn a general-purpose clustering model and use the latter to identify the new classes in the unlabelled data. In this work we address this problem by combining three ideas: (1) we suggest that the common approach of bootstrapping an image representation using the labeled data only introduces an unwanted bias, and that this can be avoided by using self-supervised learning to train the representation from scratch on the union of labelled and unlabelled data; (2) we use rank statistics to transfer the model's knowledge of the labelled classes to the problem of clustering the unlabelled images; and, (3) we train the data representation by optimizing a joint objective function on the labelled and unlabelled subsets of the data, improving both the supervised classification of the labelled data, and the clustering of the unlabelled data. We evaluate our approach on standard classification benchmarks and outperform current methods for novel category discovery by a significant margin.


Exposure to stress alters hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity; however, it is unclear exactly how or where within the HPA pathway these changes occur. Dissecting these mechanisms requires tools to reliably probe HPA function, particularly the adrenal component, with temporal precision. We previously demonstrated magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) technology to remotely trigger adrenal hormone release by activating thermally sensitive ion channels. Here, we applied adrenal magnetothermal stimulation to probe stress-induced HPA axis changes. MNP and control nanoparticles were injected into the adrenal glands of outbred rats subjected to a tone-shock conditioning/extinction/recall paradigm. We measured MNP-triggered adrenal release before and after conditioning through physiologic (heart rate) and serum (epinephrine, corticosterone) markers. Aversive conditioning altered adrenal function, reducing corticosterone and blunting heart rate increases post-conditioning. MNP-based organ stimulation provides a novel approach to probing the function of HPA and other neuro-endocrine axes and could help elucidate changes across stress and disease models.


Hierarchically ordered macroporous polymer and carbon monoliths with walls containing face-centered cubic or 2D-hexagonal mesopores were synthesized via a facile dual-templating technique using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) colloidal crystals and amphiphilic triblock copolymer surfactants as templates. A nanocasting step using a silica mold was not required. The as-synthesized nanoporous structures contain both ordered macropores and mesopores, originating from the colloidal crystal and surfactants, respectively. The mesostructures could be conveniently controlled by tuning the concentration of the copolymer surfactant. Starting from the PMMA template, only four major processing stages (precursor infiltration, solvent removal, thermal curing and carbonization) were involved to prepare the bimodal porous carbon materials. A two-step thermal curing method was utilized to improve the robustness of the products. On the basis of nanoindentation measurements, the carbon products were mechanically more stable than hierarchically porous carbon monoliths synthesized by nanocasting, and the product with the cubic mesopore structure was even more stable than 3D-ordered macroporous carbon lacking any templated mesopores in the wall skeleton. Compared with conventional nanocasting strategies, the current method avoids the use of hazardous hydrofluoric acid that is required to remove a silica template, and therefore the synthetic procedure is more environmentally benign.


Although Third Way community programmes produce practice opportunities that appear familiar to community development workers, they also produce a play of power that is significant in the delivery of some crucial neoliberal shifts in governance and subject constitution. This paper juxtaposes current theorizing of how power works within advanced liberal polities with stories of local practice in urban and community renewal sites. The argument is that practice stories are often positioned in relation to a narrow spectrum of power relations, and this obscures the ways we are currently governed or exercise power in relation to ourselves and each other. A narrow gaze may point to successful outcomes of an immediate kind, yet contribute to wider agendas that more broadly undermine local people and processes. The question posed by the paper is not whether to engage in renewal activities, but rather how to interrogate the power dynamics of such engagements in the stories we tell of practice.