In this article the analysis of penitentiary system of Spain, based on the received material by results of a visit of the working group of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine for the purpose of exchange of experience and establishing cooperation in the penitentiary sphere. Relying on the information provided by the management of governing bodies of penitentiary institutions, personnel of the polyvalent penitentiary centres, bodies of police, non-governmental organizations and on the results of own observations it is studied the structure of bodies and institutions which carry out the punishments established by court. The order of execution of punishments, connected criminals, with isolation from society is defined. It is established special peculiar features of criminal and executive policy of Spain. It is carried out the comparative and legal analysis of systems of bodies and institutions of execution of punishments of Spain and Ukraine, separate differences are defined, it is structured a chain of command by penitentiary institutions, their submission, a procedure of non-departmental control of their activity, and preventive mechanisms of violation of the rights of the convicted persons. It is defined the Types of institutions and local structural sites according to the content of the isolating regime actions which are applied. The analysis of criminogenic list of convicts, their age structure is carried out.
It is established the components of efficiency of process of performance of criminal penalty in the form of imprisonment for a certain term, the organizations of social and educational work by introduction of the correctional programmes of their behaviour consisting in implementation of influence taking into account features of mental, psychological, emotional state of everyone's of the convicted person, its educational level and requirements.
It is carried out the analysis and generally functional orientation and the main objectives of penitentiary institutions of Spain, features of ensuring protection and supervision of convicts in the polyvalent penitentiary centers. It is established efficiency and universality of functioning of the polyvalent penitentiary centers of Spain of the latest sample.
The author reasonably substantiates the expediency of introduction of separate elements of techniques of social and educational work with convicted of Spain in Ukraine, in particular the correctional programmes of behaviour of the convicts focused on specific features and needs of everyone's of the convicted person.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of adjuvant chemotherapy on survival after surgery for T3N0 colon cancer. All patients with node-negative (N0) colon cancer with tumor invasion beyond the muscularis propria (T3) treated with colectomy between 1982 and 1995 at a single institution were included. Patients were divided into two groups depending on postcolectomy treatment with or without adjuvant chemotherapy. Groups were evaluated to determine perioperative and pathologic variables that could potentially influence outcome and surveillance data to determine disease-free and overall survival. In 253 patients with T3N0 colon cancer 226 remained under observation and 27 were treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. The groups were similar (P = not significant) when compared for tumor location, size, differentiation, number of nodes harvested, and transfusion requirements. Four of the 27 patients who received chemotherapy developed a recurrence (14.8%), whereas 22 of the 226 observation patients developed a recurrence (9.7%). Disease-free survival for the chemotherapy group at 5 years was 84 per cent and for the observation group 87 per cent. Statistical analysis (Mantel-Cox) showed no significant difference between the groups on the basis of survival (P = 0.3743). We conclude that resection alone is a highly effective treatment for T3N0 colon cancer leaving limited opportunity for adjuvant chemotherapy to significantly impact survival. Adjuvant chemotherapy for T3N0 colon cancer patients should be limited to patients enrolled in clinical trials designed to identify subgroups of T3N0 colon cancer patients at a survival disadvantage or less toxic adjuvant chemotherapies.


Coxsackievirus B infections are suspected environmental triggers of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and macrophage antiviral responses may provide a link to virus-induced T1D. We previously demonstrated an important role for NADPH oxidase (NOX)–derived superoxide production during T1D pathogenesis, as NOX-deficient NOD mice (NOD.Ncf1m1J) were protected against T1D due, in part, to impaired proinflammatory TLR signaling in NOD.Ncf1m1J macrophages. Therefore, we hypothesized that loss of NOX-derived superoxide would dampen diabetogenic antiviral macrophage responses and protect from virus-induced diabetes. Upon infection with a suspected diabetogenic virus, Coxsackievirus B3 (CB3), NOD.Ncf1m1J mice remained resistant to virus-induced autoimmune diabetes. A concomitant decrease in circulating inflammatory chemokines, blunted antiviral gene signature within the pancreas, and reduced proinflammatory M1 macrophage responses were observed. Importantly, exogenous superoxide addition to CB3-infected NOD.Ncf1m1J bone marrow–derived macrophages rescued the inflammatory antiviral M1 macrophage response, revealing reduction-oxidation–dependent mechanisms of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 signaling and dsRNA viral sensors in macrophages. We report that superoxide production following CB3 infection may exacerbate pancreatic β cell destruction in T1D by influencing proinflammatory M1 macrophage responses, and mechanistically linking oxidative stress, inflammation, and diabetogenic virus infections.


Product data technology (PDT) plays an important role in the development of concurrent engineering IT environments for A/E/C. This paper presents an overview of the developed product data management information server (PROMISE) in the EU ESPRIT project ToCEE, focusing on the basic requirements and concepts for PDT from the point of view of concurrent engineering, the conceptual features of the server, the interoperability issues in a multi-server/client environment and the specific product data services for concurrent engineering support. It reflects the experiences from the first running prototype implementation of PROMISE.


The demands on library services are quickly changing in a continually updating digital age. This increases the importance of a good understanding of the needs and demands of the users. In order to sample and follow the change in user needs library organisations analyse their efforts using a series of different methods. In a recent survey distributed to all 301 European LIBER university libraries, we asked questions pertaining to methods for quality development, particularly implementation of general user surveys (GUS). Among the 127 answering libraries (42%) we analysed how library services can be developed via a user-centred approach. In general, libraries engaged in explorative methods, such as UX techniques or process mapping, displayed an increased understanding of what the users find as library strengths. On the other hand libraries using primarily reporting tools such as balanced scorecard showed little or no such effect. The library strengths most valued by users in the study were in the areas of the physical library, researcher support - especially in the area of scholarly communication - and information literacy tuition. Several answers indicate that user feedback has helped build institutional profile and image. The results also give an indication of how general user surveys can best be used. Appropriate follow-up after the survey is important in gaining usable results. The key step was the production of a written report, which resulted in a nearly 50% increased chance of obtaining changes in services. Most libraries developed their own surveys for the effort. Services most commonly changed after performing a GUS were in the areas of the physical library, followed by communication/marketing and information literacy tuition. A GUS most often leads to a number of minor service improvements rather than large strategic shifts. This work was commissioned and supported by the former LIBER Working Group on Research and Education. (Less)


Septicaemia is an important health problem in both veterinary and human medicines. This study reports on the aetiology and risks of septicaemia in dogs submitted to the Post-mortem Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia between 2006-2016. It was found that the most common point of entry of microorganisms leading to septicaemia in dogs was via the gastrointestinal tract (57%, p<0.05). Commonly isolated aetiological agents were Escherichia coli (65%), Streptococcus sp. (15%), Staphylococcus sp. (12%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (3%), Pasteurella sp. (2.5%) and Salmonella sp. (2.5%). The septicaemia was associated with risk factors which included underlying infection (60.8%), stress (36.7%), malnutrition (21.7%), tumor (7.5%) and traumatic mjury (5%). Analysis of association between age group and risk factors showed that pediatrics were very susceptible and this was closely associated with underlying viral infection. Other important risk factors included injury to the integument and malnutrition. Reasons behind these observations were subsequently discussed.


Abstract Objectives The co-stimulatory CD40L–CD40 dyad exerts a critical role in atherosclerosis by modulating leukocyte accumulation into developing atherosclerotic plaques. The requirement for cell-type specific expression of both molecules, however, remains elusive. Here, we evaluate the contribution of CD40 expressed on endothelial cells (ECs) in a mouse model of atherosclerosis. Methods and Results Atherosclerotic plaques of apolipoprotein E-deficient (Apoe −/− ) mice and humans displayed increased expression of CD40 on ECs compared with controls. To interrogate the role of CD40 on ECs in atherosclerosis, we induced EC-specific (BmxCreERT2-driven) deficiency of CD40 in Apoe −/− mice. After feeding a chow diet for 25 weeks, EC-specific deletion of CD40 (iEC-CD40) ameliorated plaque lipid deposition and lesional macrophage accumulation but increased intimal smooth muscle cell and collagen content, while atherosclerotic lesion size did not change. Leukocyte adhesion to the vessel wall was impaired in iEC-CD40-deficient mice as demonstrated by intravital microscopy. In accord, expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) in the vascular endothelium declined after deletion of CD40. In vitro, antibody-mediated inhibition of human endothelial CD40 significantly abated monocyte adhesion on ECs. Conclusion Endothelial deficiency of CD40 in mice promotes structural features associated with a stable plaque phenotype in humans and decreases leukocyte adhesion. These results suggest that endothelial-expressed CD40 contributes to inflammatory cell migration and consecutive plaque formation in atherogenesis.


The heterogeneity of carbonate rock properties triggers propagated seismic wave to get some attenuations. This mechanism allows that attenuation can be applied in hydrocarbon exploration to identify lithology, porosity, fluid content and fracture identification. Unfortunately, to measure the degree of attenuation, the sophisticated tools and advanced processing technology are required. Thus, some methods were formulated to estimate attenuation. This study is aimed to estimate and compare attenuation from wireline log interpretation by using four different methods. The study is also supported by a series of exploration wells penetrating Kujung I Formation in northwestern edge of North East Java Basin, Indonesia. The result shows that only Qs from Zhang et al method is overestimate. P-wave quality factor of Klimentos and Zhang methods and scaled quality factor (SQp and SQs) method are sensitive to identify hydrocarbon. Furthermore, lithofacies also affects estimated rock quality factor. The novelty of study is to estimate and compare the attenuation from different method and review its result and application in hydrocarbon identification, especially for carbonate reservoir in North East Java basin, Indonesia. So that, a new understanding of attenuation characteristic in carbonate reservoir contributes to discriminate pore fluid identification in hydrocarbon exploration.


Background: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is widely accepted as a quantitative index of subclinical atherosclerosis in the coronary artery, and is utilized as a valuable tool for the global risk assessment of cardiovascular events in individuals at intermediate risk. However, the association between CAC and ischemic stroke has not been evaluated. Methods: CAC scores were measured in 401 consecutive first-ever acute ischemic stroke patients and in 5,420 healthy subjects who underwent detailed medical health screening. The authors randomly matched case:referent sets (1:2) for gender, age, hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. Accordingly, 290 stroke cases were matched with 580 referent controls. Results: Moderate-to-extensive CAC (CAC ≧100) was detected in 78 (26.9%) of the ischemic stroke cases and in 120 (20.7%) of the referent controls. Conditional logistic regression analysis, which was conducted to investigate the association between categorized CAC scores and ischemic stroke, and adjusted for other relevant confounders, revealed that moderate-to-extensive CAC was associated with the occurrence of ischemic stroke (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.05–2.80, compared to the subjects with no CAC). The mean ± SE of the AUC-ROC curve for Framingham risk score (FRS) plus CAC score (0.760 ± 0.018) was significantly greater than that of FRS alone (0.748 ± 0.018; p = 0.005). Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that moderate-to-extensive CAC is associated with an increased occurrence of ischemic stroke. In view of the contribution made by CAC to the risk assessment of cardiovascular diseases, the CAC score may be utilized to evaluate the risk of ischemic stroke.


Rare events in stochastic processes with heavy-tailed distributions are controlled by the big jump principle, which states that a rare large fluctuation is produced by a single event and not by an accumulation of coherent small deviations. The principle has been rigorously proved for sums of independent and identically distributed random variables and it has recently been extended to more complex stochastic processes involving Lévy distributions, such as Lévy walks and the Lévy–Lorentz gas, using an effective rate approach. We review the general rate formalism and we extend its applicability to continuous time random walks and to the Lorentz gas, both with stretched exponential distributions, further enlarging its applicability. We derive an analytic form for the probability density functions for rare events in the two models, which clarify specific properties of stretched exponentials.


Case study evaluations, using one or more qualitative methods, have been used to investigate important practical and policy questions in health care. This paper describes the features of a well designed case study and gives examples showing how qualitative methods are used in evaluations of health services and health policy.


Existing sonar systems are commonly deployed at a low duty cycle, i.e. a short transmit signal is used followed by a long listening time. As a result, the target is only illuminated during a short time resulting in only one detection opportunity per ping. When a sonar system is capable of recording meaningful data during its transmission, one may consider increasing the duty cycle by transmitting long or continuous transmit signals. This increases the illumination time of the target and thus provides more detection opportunities. This is of special interest for manoeuvring targets with an aspect-dependent target strength. As a result of the increased target illumination, it is expected that continuous sonar will improve the probability of detection, and also the tracking performance. The principle, feasibility and performance of continuous active sonar (CAS) have been evaluated at sea in 2009 using the Netherlands Interim Removable Low Frequency Active Sonar (IRLFAS) system. This experiment revealed that with a dedicated transmit signal design and processing strategy, the received signal can be separated from the transmit signal. The detection performance observed in this experiment is similar to conventional pulsed transmit signals that were used as a reference signal. This result is promising since the CAS source level was reduced by 11 dB with respect to the reference signal. Thus, the principle, feasibility and prospects for CAS have successfully been demonstrated in the IRLFAS 2009 CAS experiment


The emergences of cloud computing deals in various internet applications developers for hosting various applications which users are in need in this day to day life.the idea is cloud ontology for easy Selection, Publication and Discovery in cloud services. Query Processing Agent, Ontological Similarities.In this paper, purposal is an cloud service discovery system with ontological model, in order to solve,for example: A job site, It's not an ordinary jobsite but focusing and specializing in matching the users or clients queries related to jobs and displaying the information even by giving options of updating their information which is needed for this Job Domain. This paper implements the cloud ontology technique to make cloud service discovery system efficient for user query in job site. The aim of this paper is to determine how the CSDS with the Cloud ontology achieved better performance than the CSDS without the Cloud ontology. By consulting a Cloud ontology to reason and to rating about the relations among Cloud services, the CSDS is more successful in locating Cloud services and more likely to discover Cloud services that meet consumers" requirements.


We demonstrate nonlinear microscopy of oriented nanowires using excitation beams with binary phase modulation. A simple and intuitive optical scheme comprising a spatial light modulator gives us the possibility to control the phase across an incident Hermite-Gaussian beam of order (1,0) (HG10 mode). This technique allows us to gradually vary the spatial distribution of the longitudinal electric fields in the focal volume, as demonstrated by second-harmonic generation from vertically-aligned GaAs nanowires. These results open new opportunities for the full control of polarization in the focal volume to enhance light interaction with nanostructured materials.


We present a sparse Gauss-Newton solver for accelerated sensitivity analysis with applications to a wide range of equilibrium-constrained optimization problems. Dense Gauss-Newton solvers have shown promising convergence rates for inverse problems, but the cost of assembling and factorizing the associated matrices has so far been a major stumbling block. In this work, we show how the dense Gauss-Newton Hessian can be transformed into an equivalent sparse matrix that can be assembled and factorized much more efficiently. This leads to drastically reduced computation times for many inverse problems, which we demonstrate on a diverse set of examples. We furthermore show links between sensitivity analysis and nonlinear programming approaches based on Lagrange multipliers and prove equivalence under specific assumptions that apply for our problem setting.


Background: Pressure overload can lead to aberrant gene expression and subsequent adverse hypertrophic changes in cardiac tissue. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) play an important role in alteration of gene expression during cardiac hypertrophy. We observed that class I/IIb HDAC inhibitors, TSA and Vorinostat prevent upregulation of the sodium calcium exchanger gene, Ncx1 , in response to cardiac hypertrophy. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) demonstrates the class I HDAC, HDAC1, class IIa HDAC, HDAC5 and co-repressor, Sin3a are recruited to the Ncx1 promoter via Nkx2.5. Class IIa HDACs have very poor catalytic activity and can interact with many specific transcription factors. Thus, we hypothesized , that the class IIa, HDAC5 acts as a scaffold to recruit the class I HDAC/Sin3a complex to the Ncx1 promoter. Methods and Results: To test our hypothesis adult cardiomyocytes were treated with either vehicle (control) or class specific HDAC inhibitors: class I (Entinostat), or class IIa (dPAHA). We found that class I HDAC inhibitor, Entinostat, abrogates adrenergic stimulated upregulation of Ncx1 expression in adult cardiomyocytes to almost control levels (p Ncx1 expression (p>0.05 Student's t; n=4). Also, Entinostat inhibits Ncx1 upregulation in a transaortic constriction (TAC) model of hypertrophy. We assessed the role class IIa HDAC5 in Ncx1 regulation, by subjecting HDAC5-Knockout mice (HDAC5-KO) to TAC. We saw no induction of Ncx1 expression post-TAC (n=5). Furthermore, Co-IP and ChIP analyses show that interactions between the Sin3a/HDAC1 complex and Nkx2.5 are lost in the absence of HDAC5 expression and fail to be recruited to the Ncx1 promoter. To conclude , our data suggests the catalytic activity of HDAC5 is not essential but rather HDAC5 is a scaffold that recruits the class I HDAC1–Sin3a complex to the Ncx1 promoter. Our novel findings provide insight into possible roles of class IIa HDACs in regulation of gene expression and efficacy of HDAC inhibitors to treat cardiac pathologies.


We introduce a purely functional domain specific language, CDSL, which aims to substantially reduce the cost of producing efficient, verified file system code. Given an executable specification of a file system, the CDSL compiler generates C code and, when fully implemented, will also generate an Isabelle/HOL proof linking the specification and the C implementation. We present two operational semantics for CDSL: (1) a value semantics, well suited for verification, and (2) an update semantics, which can be mapped to efficient C code. We outline the equivalence proof between these two semantics and discuss how the type system guarantees properties like termination, correct error handling, absence of memory leaks and aliasing.


Artocarpus heterophyllus J33 (AhJ33) is an important fruit variety among A. heterophyllus in Malaysia and widely cultivated. For market purposes, the pulp is usually separated from the skin, which is usually discarded. Towards the conversion of AhJ33 fruit waste to a food product of high antioxidant potential, the specific objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of three extraction methods on the antioxidant activity of AhJ33 fruit skin, isolate and identify the major and minor antioxidant constituents of the most active extract and evaluate its stability at three storage conditions. The fruit skin including rind and rachis were separated, dried, ground and extracted via maceration, percolation and Soxhlet techniques with 70% aqueous ethanol. Antioxidant activities were evaluated by DPPH, FRAP and b-carotene assays and correlated to their phenolic and polyphenols contents which are estimated by TPC and TFC assays, respectively. The bioassay-guided isolation and identification of the major antioxidant constituents involved liquid-liquid partitioning (LLP) of the most active extract into ethyl acetate (EtOAc), dichloromethane (DCM) and aqueous (AQ) fractions followed by isolation and characterization of pure compounds via chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques, respectively. Minor antioxidant constituents of active extract were identified by TOF LCMS analyses based on total ion chromatograms (TIC) and LC-UV profiles at X 254, 280 and 310 nm assisted mostly by built-in and online databases. The stability of stored extracts was evaluated by DPPH inhibition as well as qualitative and quantitative analyses of their major antioxidant constituents by LCMS and HPLC, respectively, throughout a period of 0-6 months…


A total of 92 Zel and 92 Zel×Shal ewes, 3–5 years of age and body weight of between 35 and 45 kg were randomly allocated in to four groups in order to determine effects of late flushing and breed on lamb mortality at birth. A completely randomized design in factorial arrangement with two factors (Flushing & Breed) and two levels were used. Ewes were fed in two nutritional groups including none flushing diet (2 mcal/kg metabolizeble energy, 11.5 percent crud protein and 1.7 kg/ewe/day dry matter intake) and flushing diet (2.2 mcal/kg metabolizeble energy, 11.5 percent crud protein and 1.7 kg/ewe/day dry matter intake). The flushing continued for last six week of pregnancy. Animals were housed in pens (10 ewes/pen) and allowed free access to water. The results showed that late flushing had a significant effect on lamb mortality at birth (P<0.05). Zel breed had lower lamb mortality than Zel×Shal breed (P<0.05).


The fecundic life span of adult female W. bancrofti was estimated by longitudinal study of microfilaraemia in a cohort of population (7,525) in Pondicherry. The estimation was based on a deterministic model, using the rate of loss in infection. The life span of the parasite was 10.2 yr without chemotherapy, while it was reduced to 5.3 yr following diethyl-carbamazine therapy. The analysis of mean microfilarial counts in microfilaraemic persons without chemotherapy indicates that the rate of production of microfilaria by the adult female is stable at least for a period of five years.


This paper presents a modified design for a self-timed SerDes transceiver that was recently published [1]. The new architecture overcomes the main problems that arise in [1], while offering the same advantages. Resistive termination is used instead of source matching to eliminate the need for Manchester coding in [1], this resistive termination increased the data rate to be 16Gbps compared to 12Gbps in [1]. Moreover, resistive termination removed the limitation on the minimum operating frequency that existed in [1], solving a lot of problems at the slow process corners. A single ended transmission line is used instead of the differential transmission line in [1]. A calibration circuit is implemented to control the switching threshold of the detector at the receiver side to account for voltage and process variations. The SerDes transceiver is implemented for a 3mm long on-chip transmission line in 65nm TSMC CMOS technology, which is the same as [1]. The total power consumed in the Tx/Rx pair with the transmission line is 18.1mWatt, compared to 15.5mWatt in [1]. The proposed architecture have the same advantages in [1] of being self timed, eliminating the need for complex power hungry blocks such as Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) at the receiver, and being insensitive to jitter accumulated during transmission.


Globally dormitories are popular accommodation types for students. A great number of Iranian dormitories have been built with rooms either side of a central corridor as a simple, affordable building form. Highly populated shared rooms with common facilities in such buildings can produce problems in terms of personal space but also have many advantages for social interactions and better use of resources, which is a feature of sustainability. However, most of these buildings are old and need refurbishment and guidelines are needed to improve this type of dormitory. The advantages and disadvantages of shared spaces have been analysed using "Post Occupancy Evaluation" in a case study representative of more than 30 university dormitories in Iran, a country whose domestic architecture has shared and multiuse spaces. The results lead to suggestions for more efficient shared spaces for future designs and for improving the case study dorm in terms of access hierarchy and internal room arrangements.


This paper considers the scheduling of operations in a manufacturing cell that repetitively produces a family of similar parts on two or three machines served by a robot. We provide a classification scheme for scheduling problems in robotic cells. We discuss finding the robot move cycle and the part sequence that jointly minimize the production cycle time, or equivalently maximize the throughput rate. For multiple part-type problems in a two-machine cell, we provide an efficient algorithm that simultaneously optimizes the robot move and part sequencing problems. This algorithm is tested computationally. For a three-machine cell with general data and identical parts, we address an important conjecture about the optimality of repeating one-unit cycles, and show that such a procedure dominates more complicated cycles producing two units. For a three-machine cell producing multiple part-types, we prove that four out of the six potentially optimal robot move cycles for producing one unit allow efficient identification of the optimal part sequence. Several efficiently solvable special cases with practical relevance are identified, since the general problem of minimizing cycle time is intractable. Finally, we discuss ways in which a robotic cell converges to a steady state.


We propose a structural angle and main refractive indices as two key factors to understand the temperature influence on the divergence angles of the Wollaston prism. The temperature influence on the divergence angles of quartz crystal Wollaston prism is studied theoretically The results show that divergence angles decrease with increasing temperature, while the divergence angle of e-light decrease more quickly than that of o-light. The testing system is established to verify the above results, and the experimental results are in agreement well with the theoretical analysis.


Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a genetic auto-inflammatory disease characterized by spontaneous short attacks of fever, elevated acute-phase reactants, and serositis. Approximately 5%-10% of FMF patients do not respond to colchicine treatment and another 5% are intolerant to colchicine because of side effects. Recently, following the discovery of the inflammasome and recognition of the importance of interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) as the major cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of FMF, IL-1beta blockade has been suggested and tried sporadically to treat FMF, with good results. To date, case reports and small case series involving colchicine-resistant FMF patients and showing high efficacy of IL-1beta blockade have been reported. At the Israel Center for FMF at the Sheba Medical Centerthe first double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial of anakinra in FMF patients who are resistant or intolerant to colchicines is underway. In this report we discuss the mechanism of colchicine resistance in FMF patients, the data in the literature on IL1beta blockade in these patients, and the anakinra trial inclusion criteria and study protocol.


Despite recent advances in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, storage of insulin formulations at 4 °C is still necessary to minimize chemical degradation. This is problematic in tropical regions where reliable refrigeration is not ubiquitous. Some degradation byproducts are caused by disulfide shuffling of cystine that leads to covalently bonded oligomers. Consequently we examined the utility of the non-reducible cystine isostere, cystathionine, within the A-chain. Reported herein is an efficient method for forming this mimic using simple monomeric building blocks. The intra-A-chain cystathionine insulin analogue was obtained in good overall yield, chemically characterized and demonstrated to possess native binding affinity for the insulin receptor isoform B. It was also shown to possess significantly enhanced thermal stability indicating potential application to next-generation insulin analogues.


Background Little is known about retention in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care in HIV-positive women after pregnancy in the United Kingdom. We explored the association between loss to follow-up (LTFU) in the year after pregnancy, maternal place of birth and duration of UK residence, in HIV-positive women in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Methods We analyzed combined data from 2 national data sets: the National Study of HIV in Pregnancy and Childhood; and the Survey of Prevalent HIV Infections Diagnosed, including pregnancies in 2000 to 2009 in women with diagnosed HIV. Logistic regression models were fitted with robust standard errors to estimate adjusted odds ratios (AOR). Results Overall, 902 of 7211 (12.5%) women did not access HIV care in the year after pregnancy. Factors associated with LTFU included younger age, last CD4 in pregnancy of 350 cells/&mgr;L or greater and detectable HIV viral load at the end of pregnancy (all P < 0.001). On multivariable analysis, LTFU was more likely in sub-Saharan Africa-born (SSA-born) women than white UK-born women (AOR, 2.17; 95% confidence interval, 1.50–3.14; P < 0.001). The SSA-born women who had migrated to the UK during pregnancy were 3 times more likely than white UK-born women to be lost to follow-up (AOR, 3.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.94–3.23; P < 0.001). Conclusions One in 8 HIV-positive women in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland did not return for HIV care in the year after pregnancy, with SSA-born women, especially those who migrated to the United Kingdom during pregnancy, at increased risk. Although emigration is a possible explanatory factor, disengagement from care may also play a role.


Background In the developing world rheumatologists and their patients are struggling to implement treat to target therapy in established Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)which means they can hardly establish remission and low disease activity which is the mainstay of the RA treatment. The main reason is the lack of conventional synthetic and biological (c and b) DMARDs in the therapeutic armamentarium as well as their high cost which increases already difficult burden of RA. Objectives The aim of the study is to evaluate the RA treatment and treatment expenses in a group of patients with established RA in FYR of Macedonia including the availability of DMARDs. Methods We have conducted a cross-sectional study at the University Rheumatology Clinic in Skopje, including 100 patients with established RA, who fulfilled RA classification criteria from 2010. Physical examination, laboratory analyses and DAS28 were performed and all patients filled a questionnaire with 13 questions about treatment expenses and availability. Results There were 82 females and 18 males, with mean age of 59 and disease duration of 8.3 (SD 7,3) years and moderate disease activity DAS28 3,9+/-1,47 and 75% of seropositive RA (double positive 30%, Ant-CCP positive 30%, RF positive 15%) with mean CRP of 21,5 mg/L They spend from 10 to 100 Euros monthly (on average 27+/-17,6) for the cs DMARDs therapy. Almost 80% think that the cs DMARDs therapy is too expensive for them and 100% of them could not afford to pay or co-pay for b DMARDs. Most of the patients (49%) are using single cs DMARDs. Double and triple c DMARD therapy is used by 32% vs 17%, respectively. Even though it is highly effective, patients consider triple cs DMARD therapy expensive and with very low compliance because of the high costs and low tolerability. Only 2% of the patiens are using b DMARDS using rituximab, the only available biologic DMARD therapy in FYROM. Around 70% are taking low dose prednisolone. Almost 50% of the patients cannot take the cs DMARD therapy with a prescription and have to buy their DMARDS without any coverage from the insurance fund and the same percent have problems to find the c DMARDs with prescription because it is not available. Almost half of the patients have heard about the b DMARDs, most of them from their rheumatologist and 54% of them would like to receive it. The patient's reasons for taking b DMARDs are presented in Graph 1. Conclusions High expenses and low availability of c DMARDs on prescription and the urgent need for b DMARDs are adding the burden of RA in developing countries including FYROM with the increased need for full coverage for conventional DMARDs and at least partial coverage of biologic DMARDs, especially anti-TNF agents by the insurance companies. The use of biosimilars might be highly appreciated in the future. References Aletaha D, Neogi T, Silman AJ et al. 2010 Rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria: An ACR/EULAR collaborative initiative. Arthritis Rheum 2010; 9 (62):2569–2581. O'Dell JR. Therapies for active rheumatoid arthritis after methotrexate failure N Engl J Med 2013; 369:307–318. Avci AB, Feist E, Burmester GR. Biologicals in rheumatoid arthritis current and future RMD Open 2015. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Walkability is an important element for assessing urban sustainability. As the People's Republic of China (PRC) rapidly urbanizes, there are increased concerns that more of its cities have become less walkable. We aim to develop a composite walkability index to evaluate the spatiotemporal evolution of the walkability of PRC cities. We developed a comprehensive walkability index that integrates five aspects of the urban built environment: dwelling density, street connectivity, land-use mix, access to public transit, and elevation variation. Using Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chongqing, and Lanzhou as cases, we evaluated the spatiotemporal patterns and changes of walkability in the context of rapid urban expansion. All four cities expanded their urban land from 1990 to 2010, but that there was a higher expansion rate in 2000–2010 than in 1990–2000. For inner cities, Shanghai had the highest average walkability index, whereas Lanzhou held the lowest. In 2000–2010, however, the inner cities of Hangzhou, Chongqing, and Lanzhou and the entire cities of Shanghai and Chongqing increased their walkability index, whereas the inner city of Shanghai had decreased walkability. Furthermore, while inner cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou experienced decreased or stable walkability, inner cities of Lanzhou and Chongqing enjoyed moderate to high increases in walkability. The spatiotemporal changes in walkability seem to be directly associated with governmental policies at both central and local levels. The walkability index method can be widely implemented for any urban landscape because of its comprehensiveness, simplicity, and flexibility.


Two "new" virus infections, Marburg and Lassa fever, now constitute diseases of public health importance in several countries of Africa, especially West Africa. Lassa fever has an insidious onset, is initially difficult to diagnose, has "nonspecific" clinical symptoms which have been confused with yellow fever and typhoid, shows evidence of persistent infection, is tremendously contagious, has a high mortality rate, and in particular exhibits unusual nosocomial propensity. It has also been shown to be the cause of premature births and spontaneous abortions in pregnant women. The virus is transmitted by the respiratory route and by direct contact with contaminated materials. Persistent complement-fixing antibodies have been demonstrated in patients recovered from the disease. The causative agent, a member of the arenavirus group, is known to be enzootic in rodents, especially Mastomys natalensis.


This paper investigates motor vibrations due to reluctance forces. Forcing frequencies caused by motor design, part geometries, and errors in assembly are tabulated for several popular pole/slot ratios. Motor torque and translational force fluctuations are found to exhibit a rich set of shapes and frequencies, especially when multiple defects occur simultaneously. Two analysis methods are employed: the FEA approach and the Convolution Method. Both techniques predict similar frequency spectra. The Convolution Method, is faster, easier to implement, and more intuitive, but less accurate.


Globally, EDs face new challenges as the world's population ages. Visits from older people are predicted to rise for the next 20 years. This practical and accessible book provides essential guidance on assessing the ED care of older patients - and improving it. It assists ED teams to implement changes tailored to their unique environments, providing guidance across all settings regardless of size, location or resources. Experience- and evidence-based elements combine to guide best practices for older patient flow, staff and patient satisfaction, and improving patient health outcomes. The book features proven ideas for creating a geriatric ED such as specific staff training, modifying job roles, implementing new care processes, and adapting physical spaces. An invaluable resource for practising ED clinicians, leaders, administrators, educators, and system change leaders.


Abstract Limited research has examined the impact of visual communication on the web and none has explored how wired visual constructions influence an organization's credibility. This research tested a model of visual credibility through simulated web pages for two types of non-profit organizations. Contrary to previous work, a structured, symmetrical design was not uniformly seen as more credible than an organic, asymmetrical design. Further, regardless of the issue, photographs and bright, warm colors were found to confer credibility to an organization. Credibility gained through visual representations was found to engender intended participation in the non-profit organization - particularly among those who had already received positive information about the organization.


The best way to approach professional ethics, whether in the finance profession or elsewhere, is from the perspective of virtue-ethics theory. This theory places particular emphasis on the character and motivations of an individual professional and on the organizational community in which the individual acts. This article extends and clarifies the central argument of an earlier article on financial ethics. Several real-world examples illustrate the role of virtue ethics in professionalism.


This study reports a method for the quantification of alkali and alkaline earth metallic (AAEM) species in bioslurry fuels. The so-called evaporation–ashing–digestion–ion chromatography (IC) method consists of four steps, including evaporation that converts bioslurry into solid-like residue, ashing that converts the residue into ash, acid digestion that dissolves the ash into a solution, and IC analysis that quantifies the AAEM species in the solution. The novelty of the method is the combination of the evaporation step with the existing ashing–digestion–IC method that is developed for solid fuels but not suitable for bioslurry fuels. The evaporation step consists of multi-steps of slow heating and holding at various segment temperatures corresponding to the boiling points of the major compounds in bio-oil, resulting in progressive evaporation of bio-oil vapors with little carry-over of biochar particles. The method has been successfully applied for quantifying AAEM species in bioslurry fuels with various biochar loading levels (5–20 wt %), with small relative standard errors (within ±3%) and low limitations of quantification (0.4–3.0 ppm). It also overcomes the biochar incomplete oxidation issue associated with the microwave–digestion-based methods, which considerably underestimate the concentrations of AAEM species in bioslurry fuels.


the introduction of data networks within an aircraft has created several service opportunities for the air carriers. Using the available Internet connectivity, the carriers could offer services like Video-on-Demand (VoD), Voice-over-IP (VoIP), and gaming-on-demand within the aircraft. One of the major road blocks in implementing any of these services is the additional hardware and software requirements. Each service requires dedicated hardware resources to run appropriate software components. It is not possible to accommodate every hardware component within the aircraft due to space, power, and ventilation restrictions. Also, it is economically not viable to install and maintain hardware components for every aircraft. One solution is to use cloud computing. C loud computing is a recent innovation that is helping the computing industry in distributed computing. Cloud computing allows the organizations to consolidate several hardware resources into one physical device. The Cloud computing concept helps organizations in reducing the overall power consumption and maintenance costs. The cloud computing concept could be extended to the Aircraft Data Network environment with every aircraft subscribing to the cloud resources to run their non-miss ioncritical applications. In this paper, the authors explore the possibility of using cloud services for Aircraft Data Networks. The authors evaluate the performance issues involved with the aircraft mobility and dynamic resource transfer between servers when the aircraft's pointof-attachment changes. The authors predict that using cloud computing concepts would encourage many carriers to offer new services within the aircraft.


Objectives: To describe a case of pulmonary infiltrates and eosinophilia (PIE syndrome) probably caused by ciprofloxacin. Materials and methods: A 64-year-old woman was admitted to our department with suspected hospital-acquired pneumonia and treated with antibiotics. She had no symptoms but had peripheral eosinophilia. She had recently been given ciprofloxacin for a urinary tract infection. Results: The patient spontaneously improved after exhaustive negative investigations. Conclusion: We concluded that this patient had PIE syndrome probably caused by ciprofloxacin.


Background: Preliminary studies suggested that anti-Tr antibodies identify patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) and Hodgkin disease (HD). Objective: To extend the clinical–immunologic analysis to 28 patients with anti-Tr antibodies. Methods: Anti-Tr antibodies were detected by immunohistochemistry. A competitive inhibition assay was used to ascertain if anti-Tr antibodies of different sera identify common epitopes. Anti-Tr immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclass distribution was determined by immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies against human IgG isotypes. Tr immunoreactivity was analyzed in tumor sections using biotinylated anti-Tr IgG. Results: Median age of the 28 patients was 61 years (range 14 to 75 years) and 22 were male. A cerebellar syndrome was present in 27 patients and a possible limbic encephalitis in one. HD was diagnosed in 25 patients. No tumor was found in three patients; the autopsy of one of them disclosed severe loss of Purkinje cells without inflammatory infiltrates. Anti-Tr antibodies spontaneously disappeared in all patients without tumor and in 10/10 patients after successful HD treatment. Anti-Tr antibodies were absent in the serum but positive in the CSF of two patients. All positive anti-Tr sera inhibited the immunoreactivity of biotinylated anti-Tr IgG. The predominant isotypes of anti-Tr were IgG1 and IgG3. Only 1 out of the 15 HD samples studied presented anti-Tr positivity that was localized in some Reed-Sternberg cells. Conclusions: This study confirms the strong association between anti-Tr antibodies and PCD associated with HD. Anti-Tr antibodies from different patients recognize similar epitopes. Unlike other antineuronal antibodies, anti-Tr antibodies can be detected in the CSF but not in the serum and may spontaneously disappear during the follow-up, and Tr immunoreactivity is usually lacking in the tumor.


Providing care to clients who come from different countries is a challenge for the American health care providers as they traverse the issues of cultural health beliefs and practices and language and knowledge deficits. It is just as difficult for the clients as they face new cultural customs, language barriers, and unfamiliar health care systems and medical management plans. Both parties face acculturation and adherence challenges. This article intends to address these issues as they pertain to clients of Mexican origin and to identify key points to be considered by providers when working with this population.


This is the second part of a two-part edited presentation of Sylvia Townsend Warner's unfinished sequel to her 1948 novel The Corner That Held Them. The first part was published in the Sylvia Townsend Warner Journal 2020:1, pp. 8–38. Part 2 continues to describe the early stages of a pilgrimage from England to Jerusalem.


This paper presents a novel multi-functional balun filter designed at 10 GHz in rectangular waveguide technology. The balun filter is realized using the modified coupling matrix of the coupled resonator-based band-pass filter. The balun filter integrates the functionality of balun and band-pass filter within a single filtering component, thus enabling system miniaturization (due to functional integration). In-addition, it enhances the system performance by eliminating additional insertion loss and imbalance loss arising from the balun. For the proof of the concept, a 4th order waveguide balun filter is designed, fabricated and tested at a center frequency of 10 GHz with 350 MHz bandwidth. The measured peak insertion loss is 0.25 dB and rejection is better than 40 dB at ± 650 MHz offset. The amplitude imbalance is within 0.2 dB and the phase imbalance is within 1.25 degrees over the entire bandwidth. The proposed design methodology is scalable to higher order balun filters.


Chromatin assembly factor CAF-1 facilitates the formation of nucleosomes on newly replicated DNA in vitro. However, the role of CAF-1 in development is poorly understood because mutants are not available in most multicellular model organisms. Biochemical evidence suggests that FASCIATA1, FASCIATA2 and MSI1 form CAF-1 in Arabidopsis thaliana. Because fasciata mutants are viable, CAF-1 is not essential for cell division in plants. Arabidopsis CAF-1 mutants have defects in shoot apical meristems; in addition, CAF-1 is required to establish seedling architecture, leaf size and trichome differentiation. CAF-1 is needed to restrict branching of trichomes on rosette leaves. Increased trichome branching in CAF-1 mutants is not strictly correlated with increased nuclear DNA content. In addition, fas2 glabra3 double mutants show an additive genetic interaction, demonstrating that CAF-1 acts genetically parallel to the GLABRA3-containing, endoreduplication-coupled trichome branching pathway. However, CAF-1 is often needed to restrict endoreduplication, because seedlings of most CAF-1 mutants have increased ploidy. Notably, in the Landsberg erecta background, loss of CAF-1 does not affect ploidy, demonstrating that loss of CAF-1 can be compensated in some Arabidopsis accessions. These results reveal that the functions of FAS1, FAS2 and MSI1 are not restricted to meristems, but are also needed to control genome replication at multiple steps of development.


For those to whom Buffy the Vampire Slayer seems a quaint pop-cultural parenthesis andtherefore have never taken the time to watch an episode, Buffy, a rather unassuming girlwho displays a knack for repartee and is possessed of natural beauty, is a Vampire Slayer.Slayer,the: one chosen in every generation to do battle against the forces of evil.Uncannily enough, she is in love with a vampire: Angel. Angel is a broody creature ofthe night that has been cursed by gypsies and is thereby in possession of a soul. MayorWilkins, despite being responsible for the 'hellmouth' at Sunnydale and planning anapocalypse in which his ascension transforms him into a demonic serpent, is obsessedwith hygiene and Middle American virtues. Glorificus, the ruler of a hell-dimension whohas been locked-out of her demesne, is beguiling the time in Sunnydale as an uber-con -sumer who goes on shopping sprees. Are there any religious elements discernible amidstthe show's almost paradoxical mayhem? How does divine import creep into the subtext ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer?


A new congestion control protocol is presented, analyzed and experimentally evaluated. It consists of the standard inner-loop ACK-clock and a novel outer-loop adjusting the window size based on congestion signaling from the network. The aim of the new protocol is to maintain the efficiency and fairness properties of TCP, but with significantly smaller bottleneck queues and thereby it takes the sharing with real-time traffic into account. Stability properties of the protocol is proved using a recent fluid-flow traffic model. Experimental comparisons with New Reno and Vegas illustrate the advantages of the new protocol with respect to throughput, delay, utilization, and fairness.


This article considers the IEEE 802.11b standard for high-performance wireless Ethernet and a proposed extension that provides for 22 Mb/s transmission. The IEEE 802.11 sets standards for wireless Ethernet or wireless local area networks. The article describes the history of the IEEE 802.11 standards and the market opportunities in the wireless Ethernet field. The article gives a brief description of the media access control layer and then presents details about the physical layer methods, including coding descriptions and performance evaluations. The article also discusses the role and limitations of spread spectrum communications in wireless Ethernet.


The cDNA for human squalene monooxygenase, a key enzyme in the committed pathway for cholesterol biosynthesis, was amplified from a human liver cDNA library and cloned, and the protein was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. Kinetic analysis of the purified enzyme revealed an apparent K(m) for squalene of 7.7 microM and an apparent k(cat) of 1.1 min(-1). For FAD the apparent K(m) is 0.3 microM, consistent with a loosely bound flavin. The apparent K(m) for NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase, the requisite electron transfer partner, is 14 nM. The amount of reductase needed for maximal activity is about threefold less than the amount of squalene monooxygenase present in the assay; thus, electron transfer to the monooxygenase is not likely to be rate limiting. Previous reports have implicated inhibition of this enzyme as the cause of a peripheral demyelination seen in weanling rats fed a diet containing tellurium. As no data were available for humans, the ability of a number of tellurium and related elemental compounds to inhibit the recombinant human enzyme was examined. Tellurite, tellurium dioxide, selenite, and selenium dioxide were inhibitory; the tellurium compounds were more potent than the selenium compounds, as indicated by their IC(50) values (17 and 37 microM, respectively). Kinetic analysis of the inhibition by tellurite suggests multiple sites of interaction with the enzyme in a noncompetitive manner with respect to squalene.


Fantastic images of the exotic pervade many early German films which resort to constructions of "Oriental" scenes. Stereotypical representations of China, India, Babylon, and Egypt dominate the Kinoscreens of Weimar Germany. These films were produced in the UFA studios outside Berlin by directors such as Ernst Lubitsch (Sumurum/ One Arabian Night, 1920; Das Weib des Pharaos/The Love of Pharaoas 1922) and John May (Das Indische Grabmal/ The Indian Tomb, 1921). Yet, where recent observers resist the use of a postcolonial perspective it becomes difficult to assess the cinematographic exoticism of postWWI Germany.This essay, therefore, offers both a discussion of Edward Said"s "Orientalism"and a psychoanalytical thesis on the concealment and supposed healing of post-1918 Germany"s national narcissistic wounds by emphasizing Eurocentric difference in its filmic representations of the Orient. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Special Issue: 1 (2011) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2011.24 | http://cinej.pitt.edu


The physiopathology of delirium has still not been characterized in depth, although this entity can be defined as a functional brain disorder provoked by one or multiple organic causes that display a common clinical syndrome. Certain specific brain regions that are involved in delirium have been identified, such as the prefrontal cortex, the thalamus and the basal ganglia, especially in the nondominant hemisphere. Functional changes occur in a large number of neurotransmitters: the most frequent and best characterized are a reduction of cholinergic function and an increase in dopaminergic and gabaergic function, although alterations in almost all neurotransmitter systems (serotoninergic, noradrenergic, glutaminergic, histaminergic) have been found. Inflammation also seems to play an important role, at least in some types of delirium. Delirium in the elderly typically has a multifactorial etiology, with several simultaneous or sequential causes. Numerous risk factors have been described, both predisposing individuals to delirium and triggering this syndrome. Knowledge of these factors and their interactions is of great clinical importance and consequently etiologic diagnosis should be based on a multifactorial model.


[1] Previous studies have suggested that key aspects of the Southern Ocean are affected by elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, which strengthen surface winds over much of the Southern Ocean, may increase flow rates in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), induce a temperature disparity between the northern and central Southern Ocean, and affect the strength of the meridional ocean circulation (MOC). But GHGs are not the only set of compounds arising from human activity that can trigger these changes. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to such ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) as chlorofluorocarbons, whose production and use were heavily regulated by the 1987 Montreal Protocol, results in similar changes. Using an atmosphere-ocean coupled general circulation model that allows for detailed calculations of stratospheric chemistry, Sigmond et al. simulated past and future changes for the Southern Ocean due to both GHGs and ODSs. Their model calculations suggest that ODSs, which peaked in concentration in 1995, will be the dominant driver of changes in ACC until the second quarter of the 21st century, at which point the monotonically increasing GHG levels will take over. Further, they found that the peak impact of ODSs on ACC will occur a few decades after their peak concentration. The authors suggest that future research needs to take into account the effects of ozone depletion—something not ordinarily done in investigations of Southern Ocean behavior. (Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL047120, 2011)


Atom probe tomography studies on highly Mg-doped homoepitaxial GaN (0001) layers with concentrations of 5 × 1019 cm−3 and 1 × 1020 cm−3 were performed. Mg cluster formation was observed only in the higher doped sample whereas in the lower doped sample the Mg distribution was homogeneous. CL measurements have shown that the emission normally attributed to stacking faults was only present in the lower doped layers (with Mg concentration of ∼5 × 1019 cm−3 or less), but absent in the higher doped layer, where Mg clusters were detected. Mg clusters are proposed to produce a screening effect, thereby destroying the exciton binding on the SFs and thus rendering them optically inactive.


This study was designed to look at the relationships between parental child-rearing behavior and personality traits and run-away behavior of youths. For the purpose, this study compared 156 youth from the juvenile correctional systems, and 146 youths from high-schools. The additional focus was to find personality differences between runway youths and non-runway youths, and the effects of parental child-rearing behavior.
 The findings were as follows;
 First, high caring and low overprotection, among parental child-rearing behavior, was found to have effects upon adolescents with positive personality factors, whereas parental low caring and high overprotection effected upon negative personality factors among youths.
 Second, in relationship between runaway behavior and personality factors, it was found that youths with positive meaning in personality factors turned out to be less likely to run away from home, whereas those with negative meaning in 16PF were more likely to run away.
 Lastly, adolescents in high caring and low overprotection state with parents, proved to have high scores in personality factors, and low probability in runaway behavior.


Real and reactive power flows on a transmission line interact inherently. This situation degrades power flow controller performance when independent real and reactive power flow regulation is required. In this study, a quasi multi-pulse interline power flow controller (IPFC), consisting of eight six-pulse voltage source converters (VSC) switched at the fundamental frequency is proposed to control real and reactive power flows dynamically on a transmission line in response to a sequence of set-point changes formed by unit-step reference values. It is shown that the proposed hybrid fuzzy-PI commanded IPFC shows better decoupling performance than the parameter optimized PI controllers with analytically calculated feed-forward gains for decoupling. Comparative simulation studies are carried out on a 4-machine 4-bus test power system through a number of case studies. While only the fuzzy inference of the proposed control scheme has been modeled in MATLAB, the power system, converter power circuit, control and calculation blocks have been simulated in PSCAD/EMTDC by interfacing these two packages on-line.


This paper focuses on the analysis of splitter/ combiner microstrip sections where each branch is loaded with a complementary split ring resonator (CSRR). The distance between CSRRs is high, and hence, their coupling can be neglected. If the structure exhibits perfect symmetry with regard to the axial plane, a single transmission zero (notch) at the fundamental resonance of the CSRR, arises. Conversely, two notches (i.e., frequency splitting) appear if symmetry is disrupted, and their positions are determined not only by the characteristics of the CSRRs but also by the length of the splitter/combiner sections. A model that includes lumped elements (accounting for the CSRR-loaded line sections) and distributed components (corresponding to the transmission lines) is proposed and used to infer the position of the transmission zeros. Frequency splitting is useful for the implementation of differential sensors and comparators based on symmetry disruption. Using the model, the length of the splitter/combiner sections necessary to optimize the sensitivity of the structures as sensing elements is determined. Parameter extraction and comparison with electromagnetic simulations and measurements in several symmetric and asymmetric structures is used to validate the model. Finally, a prototype device sensor/comparator based on the proposed CSRR-loaded splitter/combiner microstrip sections is presented.


The loosely coupled nature of Service-oriented Architectures raises the question how information for access control can be managed in an efficient way. Several specifications for Web Services exist to describe security requirements and to facilitate a provision of identity information. However, the integration of different standards regarding the expression of identity information in policies, claims and assertions comes along with an increased complexity. In order to identify and address the problems occurring with the combined use of standards as XACML, SAML and WS-Trust, we designed and implemented an architecture for identity- and attribute-based access control in decentralized environments. Our implementation provides an automated generation of access control policies in a format called XACML, a way to communicate required user attributes as claims across different domains based on the standards WS-Trust and WS-Policy, and a consistent mapping of retrieved attribute assertions to the XACML attributes in the access control policy.


The identirication or indi v idual dimeth y l naphth:li encs which have very closely ly ing electronic tr:lll sitions could hc well distingui shed hy using;1 new techniquc second deriv, lti ve synchronous exc itati on fluorescence spectroscopy (S DSETS). It c, ln he treated dS a generdl analyti c: ti method ror the identiricat ion or any ,wo molecul es . which h,lve very closely ly ing electronic transit ions. A commerci all y obta ined dimethy lilli xture is '11l: ti yl.cd and it s sign i ficant componcnt molecu le., cou ld bc identiried.


While unemployment in the EU is above 10%, the job vacancy rate also remains high around 1.5%. This suggests considerable unmet demand for skills, which is in the focus of the EU employment promotion policies. This paper studies the special role that schooled ICT experts in firms - an intangible input often neglected and difficult to measure – play for productivity. The effects are investigated both in isolation and in conjunction with the impact of ICT maturity on microdata in six European countries (UK, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland) for the period 2001-2009. We find that increases in the proportion of ICT-intensive human capital boosts productivity. This seems to confirm the case in favour of recruitment of highly skilled ICT employees. However, the gains vary across countries and industries, suggesting that the channels through which the effects operate are narrower for ICT-intensive human capital than for skilled human capital in general. Our findings provide an important message to the EU employment policy debate that currently revolves around the skill mismatch in general and the unmet demand for ICT skills in particular.


Fiscal sustainability is required to attain and maintain the
 long-run steady-state growth in emerging markets, to create fiscal space
 for rural and urban poverty, to safeguard financial stability, and to
 achieve the overall Millennium Development Goals. This can be done by
 providing financial support and by encouraging further research in this
 area. This book analyses the issues in the context of international
 experience and its implications for Egypt. It touches on issues of
 fiscal deficit and public debt sustainability, debt management,
 efficiency and equity of social expenditure, and public investment, the
 will and power to achieve civil service reform, and transparency and
 equitability of the budgetary process. It fills a gap in
 research.


Access to genomic cancer risk assessment (GCRA) is standard of care in most developed countries, but is not readily available in Latin America. Following needs assessment, a dissemination and implementation intervention, including clinical training and application of in expensive genomic tools, was used to develop a model for vertical integration of GCRA among underserved populations in Latin America. A roundtable forum with 15 Latin American physicians representing Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Peru was conducted to assess the state of GCRA services and barriers to implementation in these countries. The roundtable was conducted in Spanish, moderated by bilingual cancer genetics clinicians, recorded, transcribed, translated and thematically analyzed. Roundtable findings indicated a need for a multi-level approach with GCRA training, cost-effective genomic testing, and an evidence-based foundation to support the development of policy, infrastructure and resources to implement and sustain GCRA services in Latin America. The City of Hope Intensive Course and Clinical Cancer Genomics Community of Practice (CCGCoP), an NCI R25-E multi-modal training and practice support program, was piloted to address in part the need for clinicians with GCRA skills as part of infrastructure development. A common prospective registry protocol was implemented via the Cancer Genomics Community Research Network (CCGCRN), and disruptive technologies (next generation sequencing and other rapidly evolving genomic tools) enabled inexpensive BRCA testing tools to be introduced to support GCRA services. Site assessments and clinical proctoring demonstrated successful initiation of GCRA services and has revealed barriers to follow up care. Thus, innovative pairing of disruptive technologies and multimodal training tools have the potential to accelerate implementation of genomic cancer risk assessment and prevention for underserved populations. Citation Format: Jeffrey Weitzel. A global perspective on clinical cancer genomics. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr IA02.


Botswana's Okavango Delta is a World Heritage Site and biodiverse wilderness. In 2016–2018, following arrival of the annual flood of rainwater from Angola's highlands, and using continuous oxygen logging, we documented profound aquatic hypoxia that persisted for 3.5 to 5 months in the river channel. Within these periods, dissolved oxygen rarely exceeded 3 mg/L and dropped below 0.5 mg/L for up to two weeks at a time. Although these dissolved oxygen levels are low enough to qualify parts of the Delta as a dead zone, the region is a biodiversity hotspot, raising the question of how fish survive. In association with the hypoxia, histological samples, collected from native Oreochromis andersonii (threespot tilapia), Coptodon rendalli (redbreast tilapia), and Oreochromis macrochir (greenhead tilapia), exhibited widespread hepatic and splenic inflammation with marked granulocyte infiltration, melanomacrophage aggregates, and ceroid and hemosiderin accumulations. It is likely that direct tissue hypoxia and polycythemia-related iron deposition caused this pathology. We propose that Okavango cichlids respond to extended natural hypoxia by increasing erythrocyte production, but with significant health costs. Our findings highlight seasonal hypoxia as an important recurring stressor, which may limit fishery resilience in the Okavango as concurrent human impacts rise. Moreover, they illustrate how fish might respond to hypoxia elsewhere in the world, where dead zones are becoming more common.


Two Ca2(+)-dependent membrane-binding proteins with apparent molecular weights of 70000 (calelectrin70) and 32000 (calelectrin32) were isolated from bovine liver using phenyl-Sepharose affinity chromatography followed by diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-cellulose and Ultrogel AcA44 chromatographies. Limited proteolysis and immunological analyses indicated that calelectrin32 was not a digested product from calelectrin70. Both calelectrins bound to phosphatidylserine and to calmodulin in a Ca2(+)-dependent manner. Circular dichroism studies showed that the apparent alpha-helical contents of calelectrin70 and calelectrin32 were 25 and 40%, respectively and they underwent Ca2(+)-dependent conformational changes. When the calelectrins were incubated with a brain microtubule preparation, they were phosphorylated by endogenous kinase(s) and phosphorylation occurred on serine residues. Moreover, calelectrin70 showed an inhibitory action on endogenous kinase activity in the presence of Ca2+.


It has been argued that during the Great Recession, wealth losses were more concentrated for college-educated Black and Hispanic families than for White and Asian college-educated families and their non-college-educated Black and Hispanic peers. This article explores the extent to which the homeownership experience for families who purchased homes between 2004 and 2008 is a potentially important factor in explaining this finding. During the housing boom, the increase in homeownership for Blacks and Hispanics was very similar, but the second group had a smaller decline. Despite these differences, the Great Recession was far more destructive for these minorities regardless of income. Logit regressions show that underwriting standards and loan structure explain a significant amount of the non-White?White gap in foreclosures. However, geographic concentration was most significant in explaining the gap for Hispanic borrowers. Despite accounting for these factors, sizable gaps in the likelihood of foreclosure remain between Blacks and Hispanics relative to Whites.


Nowadays, companies need to develop methodologies and technologies that will enable them to manage their vast amount of data moving across operational procedures and that come from many sources, in order to make immediate decisions. Event Processing, which is a new area of Information Technology, seeks to solve the problem of managing information from heterogeneous sources and contribute to decision making. Τhis thesis aims to analyse this technology and whether it is an effective response to these specific needs of a company. We also investigate how this technology can be combined with Expert Systems and whether it can eventually be applied to typical problems of decision making. The structure of the thesis can be divided into two main sections. The first section presents the Event Processing and how it can be implemented through Event Driven Architecture (EDA). We then present key features of Expert Systems in order to result in a hybrid architecture that combines the EDA architecture with that of Expert Systems. In the second section we analyse how an event processing technology can be implemented through Drools, which is an open source platform from Jboss. We also present two typical case studies relating to fraud detection and managing stocks.


OBJECTIVES: To analyse the profile and quality of antibacterials (ABs) prescription in a primary care (PC) district during 1994 and 1995. DESIGN: A longitudinal, descriptive and retrospective study. SETTING: PC doctors from the PC district Bahia de Cadiz (Cadiz). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The prescriptions for ABs belonging to the following groups were studied: JO1 (systemic antibiotics), JO3 (systemic chemotherapy drugs), GO4A (antiseptics and drugs for urinary infection) and RO5C1 (expectorants, with mucolytic drugs included with anti-infection ones). The unit of measurement was the daily defined dose (DDD). DDD per 1,000 inhabitants per day (DID) and the DDD percentage of each AB versus the total were used as quantitative indicators. The qualitative indicators were: origins of use of ABs in PC and %DDD of non-justified associations (NJA) (RO5C1 group). CONCLUSIONS: The prescription profile of ABs in the area is similar to, and somewhat more favorable than, that described in the literature for similar areas. In the reconverted network there was a more rational prescription than in the non-reconverted network for the two years of the study. In both types of network a light improvement in the indicators studied was observed from 1994 to 1995.


In many real-life mechanical tasks, it is diicult or even impossible to use humans: Some environments are too dangerous for a human being: for example, when we manipulate objects in space, inside a radioactive part of a nuclear reactor, in a dangerous chemical environment, or even in a potentially dangerous environment such as handling viruses that cause deadly diseases. In other environments, there is no danger to the human operator, but there is a signiicant risk of contamination of the object: e.g., in handling microchips, lunar samples, etc. In all these cases, reasonably simple mechanical tasks can be done by an automatic mechanical hand-arm. However, there is a limit on the complexity of the tasks that automatic devices can do. For more complicated tasks, for which we cannot use a completely automated system, we must use telemanipu-lators, i.e., devices in which a mechanical hand-arm copies the movements of a human operator. The main goal of the telemanipulator is to reproduce the operator's movements as accurately as possible. A human hand is a very exible instrument. In mechanical terms, we can say that it has many degrees of freedom: we can move and rotate the hand itself, the arm, each nger, parts of each nger, etc. Thus, to reproduce its movements accurately, the manipulator also has to have many degrees of freedom. At present, the best of widely available hand-arm manipulators, the Utah/MIT hand, has 22 degrees of freedom. It is still slightly less than a human hand, because, e.g., it only has 4 ngers and not 5. However, it can perform many important tasks that a human hand can do. This hand was not designed for telemanipula-tion only. It has many other applications: e.g., it can even twist itself into the positions that would have been impossible for a human hand. Both in the Hollywood movies and in the self-made movies that researchers show at robotic conferences, telemanipulation works perfectly well: a robotic hand exactly reproduces the operator's movements. This is indeed happening in many application areas, but this reproduction accuracy is extremely diicult to achieve. If we simply measure the pressure, etc., applied by the operator's arm, and send exactly proportional control signal to the electric motors that control diierent degrees of freedom of the robotic arm, we get a behavior that is often drastically diier-ent from what the operator did. For example, the operator's rm grip on the …


We present a novel switch design of a large scale multicast packet switch which is features a modular switch architecture and a distributed resource allocation algorithm. The switch inputs and outputs are grouped into small modules called input shared blocks (ISBs) and output shared blocks (OSBs). Input link sharing and output link sharing are cooperated intelligently so that no speedup is necessary in the central switch fabric (ATMCSF). Cell delivery is based on link reservation in every ISB. We propose a dual round robin dynamic link reservation (DRRDLR) algorithm to achieve a fast and fair link resource allocation among ISBs. DRRDLR is a distributed algorithm in a way that an ISB can dynamically increase/decrease its link reservation for a specific OSB according to its local available information. The arbitration complexity is O(1). The switch performance is evaluated through simulations for an 256/spl times/256 switch. It is demonstrated that the proposed switch can achieve a comparable performance to the output queued switch under any traffic pattern. Moreover, our switch design eliminates the N times speedup needed in the OQ switch.


This Report is a collection of papers presented at the "Workshop on Natural Language for Interaction with Data Bases" held at IIASA in Laxenburg, Austria from January 10 to 14, 1977.

The papers describe the research and results in attempting to produce a viable, useful, and flexible interface to various systems in Europe (acronymically AQL, PLIDIS, USL, DONAU, DILOS, KAIFAS, etc.) and in North America (OWL, INGRES, and LIFER). Most of these interfaces present to the user the feeling of working in an environment of relatively free and forgiving syntax. This is in marked contrast to the rather rigid syntax required by most commercial data base systems in their natural (mostly English) query languages. In addition there are discussions of the categorization of the semantic relationships within some natural languages as an aid to both understanding and knowledge representation.


Sm: In the Journal of June 29, Professor Andrew comments on our article "Selection of Medical Students -A Burning Question" (May 18). This, as we said, was written primarily in relation to the selection of medical students at the University of Melbourne, which has certainly not been characterized by "already formidable research" as you say in your editorial. You were concerned that our paper as presented was too long. It was preceded and somewhat prejudged, not only by your editorial, but also by Professor Andrew's much longer paper "by invitation", It is of passing interest that the only relative correspondence was from two Deans of medical schools, the general tenor of which, like that of your editorial, suggested that this difficult matter is one for the experts directly involved, and not for amateurs of the practising profession. We are not altogether dunces, and stand by the expressed view that some broader criteria of selecting medical students should be given a trial. The formula we suggested was admittedly an Aunt Sally to provoke some activity in this direction. Whilst not advocating the acceptance of failed matriculants-"charming fools"-we do not agree with Professor Andrew that intelligence is the be all and end all in this. Even if it were, the present method of assessment, which he argues is the best yet, is no true measure of this, especially where the large mass on either side of some selection mark is concerned. Other factors are important, moral fibre counts in other places than "boy scout camps". We would refer the Professor to the story of "a horse and buggy doctor", one Edward Jenner. Your readers may be interested to know that despite the small response in the Journal, where of course this subject has so often been aired before, we have had strong indication of a very widespread interest in this subject, not only amongst the profession which delivers health care, but also among the consumers. So they should be interested, for it is too important a matter to be confined to "the practical duty" of a few academics who have no time to attend an interview of applicants for a course which costs the public many thousands dollars per student. Much of the Professor's letter, which again was not "kept short", was quite pointless, particularly the section on logistics. He might have spent a few more minutes reading what we had said. Though we cannot admire advocacy of the status quo, it is reassuring to know that there is no smug satisfaction with the present system, Though Professor Andrew commences by pointing out the obvious complexity of this problem, he goes on to indulge in its over-simplification. It is not a question of "charming fools" or "scientific louts". Many factors are involved, and we do not suggest that recognition of these can be by any "simple way". His observation that general practice, as we know it, is doomed is an interesting side issue. Is it? Many would agree that if standards are to prevail and patients are to get the best, their first point of contact must remain a good doctor, not a felsher or a committee of paramedics.


To examine the role and interrelations of areas of the medial hypothalamus in the control of release of ACTH, we stimulated electrically (20-sec train, 200-microamperemeter amplitude at 100 Hz) 695 sites in the hypothalamus of 91 cats anesthetized with chloralose-urethane. Changes in ACTH were measured by RIA. Responses of arterial pressure could not account for changes of release of ACTH. Several ACTH-active areas were defined. The anatomical relations of these areas with known nuclei and pathways then were considered. Two ACTH facilitatory areas and one ACTH inhibitory area were identified in the lateral aspect of the medial hypothalamus. The dorsal facilitatory area appears to be an extension of the lateral division of the dorsolongitudinal fasciculus and to extend medially to join the Fields of Forel, the ventral tegmental area of Tsai, and the parvocellular, paraventricular, and periventricular nuclei. The ACTH inhibitory area appears to be an extension of portions of the central tegmental tract and to extend medially to the posterior hypothalamic area and the dorsal hypothalamic area and ventrally toward the basal hypothalamus. The ventral ACTH facilitatory area appears to be coincident with the medial forebrain bundle and to extend anteroventrally and medially through the supraoptic decussation to the suprachiasmatic, ventromedial, dorsomedial, periventricular, infundibular, and premammillary nuclei. Stimulation of the median eminence led to increased release of ACTH. The results suggest that ascending pathways from the lower brainstem mediating control of ACTH project to discrete areas of the hypothalamus and then converge on the medial basal hypothalamus.


The words "lineament," "linear," and "lineation" have become increasingly popular since the advent of spacecraft and high-altitude aircraft images. With the increased usage has come a concomitant relaxation in the definitions of these terms, until the literature now is overwhelmed with conflicting and equivocal meanings. The need for clarification of these terms is clear. We propose a return to more fundamental conceptual definitions, based on original usage. We define the word "lineament" in an essentially geomorphological sense, on the basis of the usage introduced by Hobbs: A lineament is a mappable, simple or composite linear feature of a surface, whose parts are aligned in a rectilinear or slightly curvilinear relationship and which differs distinctly from the patterns of adjacent features and presumably reflects a subsurface phenomenon. The word "linear" is restricted to its original adjectival sense to avoid the increasingly popular but grammatically and conceptually incorrect nominative use. The word "lineation" is restored to its fundamental petrographic meaning: lineation is the one-dimensional structural alignment of internal components of a rock, is imposed by external agents, and cannot be depicted as an individual feature on a map. In addition, we suggest usages of "line" and "alignment" to refer to nongeologic features and (or) questionable features that do not fit proposed criteria and where definitional restrictions or implications may be a problem.


An alphabetically arranged guide to the philosophy of science. While philosophy of science has always been an integral part of philosophy, since the beginning of the twentieth century it has developed its own structure and its fair share of technical vocabulary and problems. Philosophy of Science A-Z gives concise, accurate and illuminating accounts of key positions, concepts, arguments and figures in the philosophy of science. It aids understanding of current debates, explains their historical development and connects them with broader philosophical issues. It presupposes little prior knowledge of philosophy of science and is equally useful to the beginner, the more advanced student and the general reader. Readers will find in it illuminating explanations, careful analysis, relevant examples, open problems and, last but not least, precise arguments. Philosophy of science is a flourishing discipline and Philosophy of Science A to Z is a practical and imaginative way into and through it.


Most current multiplayer 3D games can only be played on a single dedicated platform (a particular computer, console, or cell phone), requiring specifically designed content and communication over a predefined network. Below we show how, by using signal processing techniques such as multiresolution representation and scalable coding for all the components of a 3D graphics object (geometry, texture, and animation), we enable online dynamic content adaptation, and thus delivery of the same content over heterogeneous networks to terminals with very different profiles, and its rendering on them. We present quantitative results demonstrating how the best displayed quality versus computational complexity versus bandwidth tradeoffs have been achieved, given the distributed resources available over the end-to-end content delivery chain. Additionally, we use state-of-the-art, standardised content representation and compression formats (MPEG-4 AFX, JPEG 2000, XML), enabling deployment over existing infrastructure, while keeping hooks to well-established practices in the game industry.


Which methodology is most appropriate for educational research is a question for which many experts have provided often antithetical ideas and approaches. The mixed-methods approach has only recently appeared in the field of educational research as an alternative to the dichotomous vision that contrasts quantitative and qualitative methods. This paper will explore mixed-methods designs in an attempt to provide a framework that can facilitate its use in teaching and educational research.


With the development of XLPE cables and associated accessories up to 500 kV voltage level, XLPE Cable Systems are becoming the main back bone of the Power Distribution and Transmission system. The basic requirement of power cable is that it shall withstand the electrical, thermal, mechanical and environmental stresses imposed on it during its expected life of 25 to 35 years. Generally the development of cable for EHV applications is achieved through increased stress design, which demands very stringent quality requirements during production of cables and development of accessories. Since different designs are available for cables and accessories, it is essential to carry out long duration test to establish their compatibility and reliability. IEC 62067 for extra High voltage Cable accessories have incorporated the pre-qualification tests to check the long term reliability of the cable system in service before installation. This paper highlights the details of Pre qualification test on 220 KV Cable system conducted at CPRI for the first time in India.


The Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) aboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F-16 satellite measures the Earth-emitted radiation at frequencies from 19 to 183 GHz. Compared with the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I), SSMIS has similar imaging channels except for two at 85.5 GHz replaced by the 91.655-GHz frequency. After the Naval Research Laboratory calibration of SSMIS imager channels, the temperature data record can be utilized operationally to derive both atmospheric and surface parameters. In this paper, several products are developed from the SSM/I heritage algorithms, including total precipitable water (TPW), cloud liquid water path (LWP), snow cover, sea ice cover, rain rate, and land surface temperature (LST). Some new products are also derived from the SSMIS, such as land emissivity. The retrieved products from F-15 SSM/I and F-16 SSMIS are intercompared to quantify the mean bias and standard deviation. It is found that because of both the relatively small mean bias and standard deviation, the F-16 SSMIS products, such as TPW, cloud LWP, snow, and sea ice, may replace the SSM/I products for operational use. However, discrepancies remain in the global rainfall estimates, LST, and land emissivity produced by each sensor. This is likely due to the imperfect F-16 SSM/I-like channels to F-15 SSM/I channels' linear mapping, particularly for 91.655-GHz channels, whose frequency is shifted from 85.5 GHz in SSM/I.


The overall objectives of the Jisc funded HIKE (Huddersfield, Intota, KB+ Evaluation) project were twofold:

1. To investigate and evaluate the possibility of integrating data flows between KB+ and local knowledge bases at Huddersfield and the Serials Solutions knowledgebase behind Intota

2. To evaluate the suitability and potential of Intota as a replacement to the traditional LMS in the UK market and make recommendations for further enhancements to Serials Solutions.

The project built upon the work carried out by Huddersfield in both Phase I of the KB+ project, the TERMS project and as an early adopter of Summon.

The project used regular reports via a project blog using appropriate tags as well as targeted tweets to engage the community using the #jiscHIKE hashtag.

The project also worked closely with the KB+ Community and Technical Advisory Boards, the Serials Solutions Advisory Board and the UK Serials Solutions User Group.


We report 2 insulin-treated pregnancies in a mother with hyperglycemia resulting from a glucokinase gene mutation. The inheritance of a glucokinase mutation in 1 child reduced his intrauterine growth (birth weight less than first percentile) by reducing fetal insulin secretion. We discuss the implications for obstetric management of patients with glucokinase mutations.


In this paper, an integrated double buck-boost (IDBB) converter is proposed as a high-power-factor offline power supply for power-LED lamps. The IDBB converter features just one controlled switch and two inductors and is able to supply a solid-state lamp from the mains, providing high power factor and good efficiency. In this paper, the IDBB converter is analyzed, and a design methodology is proposed. It is demonstrated that, with a careful design of the converter, the filter capacitances can be made small enough so that film capacitors may be used. In this way, the converter mean time between failures can be made as high as that of the solid-state lamp. A design example for a 70-W converter supplied from a 230 V/50 Hz mains for street lighting applications is shown. Finally, experimental results from a laboratory prototype are also presented.


A 52-year-old male was scheduled for right upper lobectomy due to lung cancer. The patient was diagnosed as having stable idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) based on preoperative lung biopsy, physical examination and laboratory data. He received prophylactic steroids to prevent an acute exacerbation of IIP. However, he fell into severe hypoxia 5 days after operation, and died of respiratory failure 43 days after operation. It must be born in mind that the patients with IIP may suffer exacerbation even if their lungs have been diagnosed as in stable stage. Prophylactic use of steroids may cause a deterioration in IIP due to delayed healing and infection.


Raman and ESR measurements were used to study the atomic bonding and defect concentrations. Features are identified in the Raman spectra which can be attributed to configurations containing Si-Si, Si-As and As-As bonds. Features due to all three of these configurations were found to simultaneously exist, thus excluding a chemically ordered model of the bonding. However, the composition dependences of the features do not follow exactly a'randorn bonding model either. The H bonding configurations were reflected in features at -2000 cm-1 in the Raman spectra. It was found that the H bonding changed dramatically in the As doping to 5% As alloying region. The ESR measurements indicated a low level of singljf occupied defect states in all the samples studied.


Why are art-science dialogues important, and how should they take place? How do our everyday culture and institutional constructs define and delimit such possibilities? Why do contemporary art lovers still presume they are immune to and from scientific knowledge? How should a visitor of a media art event make sense of the machine work? Algorithmic Art: Shuffling Space & Time (AA) directed these questions to technical experts, artists, art lovers, and the public through a series of themed discussions and a six-hundred-square-meter indoor playground of machines and computational installations. AA also sought to key in on the question of survival. What mark has the struggling existence of the twenty-year-old School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong left to Hong Kong's (media) art history? The school remains the only pedagogic research center in Hong Kong where conceptual issues of new media art creation and how to "live" in an age of big data are interrogated through scholarship and practice.


The goal of this study was the development, quimiometric analysis, physical-chemical, microbiological, nutritional, and sensory evaluation of gluten-free granolas containing quinoa, amaranth and linseed. Gluten fractions were not detected in the granola formulations prepared. The crude protein and total lipids contents ranged from 86.72 to 97.49 and 97.84 to 134.03 g kg of food, respectively. The polyunsaturated/saturated and n-6: n-3 fatty acid ratios were 3:1. Calcium was the major mineral and the contents of trace minerals copper, iron, magnesium, manganese and zinc were over 10% of the dietary reference intake values. The granola color tended to light brown. The absence of Bacillus cereus, thermotolerant coliforms, coagulase positive staphylococcus, and Salmonella sp. ensured the product safety. All the granola formulations had good sensory acceptance and high purchase intent. The gluten-free granola formulations had good physicalchemical, sensory and nutritional quality. The use of chemometric analysis enabled to distinguish the samples with respect to their fatty acid composition, minerals content and sensory aspects.


Extreme learning machine (ELM), proposed by Huang et al., has been regarded as a fast learning machine for single hidden layer neural networks. ELM randomly selects the input weights and biases and directly calculates the output weights rather than searching and using iterative methods as traditional algorithms do, which produces the smallest norm and thus obtains the minimum training error. However, some limitations of stochastic choice of hidden layer output matrix will lower to some extend the learning rate and the robustness property of the calculations. This paper proposes a modified ELM algorithm which properly selects the input weights and biases before training the output weights of single-hidden layer feedforward neural networks with Sigmoidal activation function, and proves mathematically the hidden layer output matrix maintains full column rank which improves the speed of training output weights. The experimental results of both regression and classification problems show good performance of our improved ELM algorithm.