Disruption risk has received increasing attention in the last few years, when it comes to global supply chains, the potential for disruption comes in many packages, from large-scale natural disasters and terrorist attacks to plant manufacturing fires, widespread electrical blackouts, and operational contingencies such as shipping ports too small to handle the flow of goods coming into a country. The reason is undoubtedly that, supply chain innovation over the past decade has focused on flexibility and responsiveness, with longer paths and shorter clock speeds, todaypsilas leaner, just-in-time globalized supply chains are more vulnerable than ever before to natural and man-made disasters, and there are more opportunities for disruption and a smaller margin for error if a disruption takes place. So, managing supply chain disruptions revolves around two goals: first, to thoroughly understand the potential of identified risks; and second, to increase the capacity of the supply chain - within reasonable limits - to sustain and absorb disruption without serious impact, a reality that creates greater demands on companies to keep supply chains flexible and integrate disruption risk management into every facet of supply chain operations.In this paper, we expressed out views in three steps, the first part, we delivered a framework for risks analyzing in supply chains, and second, we developed approaches on building resilient supply chains, and also gave some advices on how to build up resilient supply chains. In the third part, we provided Ericsson as a case to support our views.


This succinct, interdisciplinary introduction to critical thinking successfully dares students to question their own assumptions and to enlarge their thinking through the analysis of the most common problems associated with everyday reasoning. The text offers a unique and effective organization: Part I explains the fundamental concepts; Part II describes the most common barriers to critical thinking; Part III offers strategies for overcoming those barriers.


Epidemiologic and genetic studies suggest that cancer of the right and left sides of the bowel arise through different mechanisms. To investigate the molecular mechanisms, allelic loss of chromosome 17p, p53 mutations, and microsatellite instability were analyzed in colorectal cancer according to tumor site.


Introduction: Acute brain infarction (BI) topology determined by diffusion weighted imaging - Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score (DWI-ASPECTS) on post-treatment magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been associated with clinical outcome in internal carotid artery (ICA) or proximal middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion treated by endovascular reperfusion therapy (EVRT). Hypothesis: We hypothesize that among the same type of patients, the topology of acute BI captured by DWI ASPECTS on baseline MRI may be associated with 3 months functional outcome after EVRT. Methods: Consecutive patients with an acute BI complicating ICA or proximal MCA occlusion treated by EVRT after a baseline MRI before treatment at a single center between April 2007 and March 2013 were enrolled. Poor functional outcome was defined by modified Rankin Scale (mRS) of 3 to 6 at 3 months. We used penalized logistic regression due to the multicollinearity between DWI-ASPECTS sites to assess the relationship between each DWI-ASPECTS sites and functional outcome after adjustment for age, sex, blood pressure, DWI lesion volume and infarct side. We estimated this relationship in the full cohort of patients and according to the achievement of a complete recanalization. Results: We enrolled 206 patients [mean age 71 ± 16.5, median NIHSS 16 (IQR 10-21)]. Among them 58 (28%) had an ICA occlusion, 115 (56%) a MCA M1 occlusion and 33 (16%) a MCA M2 occlusion. Median DWI lesion volume was 13 mL (IQR 4-43), and median DWI ASPECTS score was 6 (IQR 4-8). A complete recanalization was achieved among 96 patients (47%), after a median time from onset of 237 min (IQR:185-282). The involvement of the lentiform nucleus was associated with poor functional outcome in the full cohort of patients [OR : 10; 95% CI (5-23); p Conclusions: In conclusion, the involvement of the DWI ASPECTS lentiform region on baseline MRI in patients experiencing an acute BI complicating an ICA or MCA occlusion treated by EVRT was associated with poor functional outcome, overall and despite a complete recanalization.


The problem of sharing bandwidth in a communication network has been the focus of much research aimed at guaranteeing an appropriate quality of service to users. This is particularly challenging in an environment with a great diversity of users and applications, which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to tightly constrain user attributes and requirements. This motivates shifting the burden of rate allocation from the network to the end-systems. We propose a decentralized scheme for user adaptation and study its dynamics. The proposed scheme uses congestion prices as a mechanism for providing both feedback and incentives to end-systems.


This study examines three methods which can be used to pool single-item-per-subject data collected in intensive time-series studies, to determine if method of pooling has an effect on subsequent data analysis. The methods examined were based on simple averaging, difficulty weightings of averages, and the application of the Rasch logistic model. Analyses were conducted which examined regression results obtained when the pooled scores of groups of students were regressed by day. Results indicate that the three methods of pooling do not significantly alter subsequent analysis, though the case is made that a pooling procedure based on the Rasch logistic model is the most heuristically sound.


An increase in the occurrence of latex allergy has been concurrent with the increasing use of latex gloves by laboratory and healthcare workers. In recent years nitrile gloves have been used to replace latex gloves to prevent latex allergy. Nitrile gloves offer a comparable level of protection against chemical and biological agents and are more puncture resistant. However, if manual dexterity is compromised by nitrile gloves to a greater degree than latex then this may increase the risk of sharps injuries. The Purdue pegboard test, which measures both gross and fine finger dexterity, was used to test the dexterity levels of two glove types used at HPA CEPR; Kimberly-Clark SafeSkin nitrile and latex laboratory gloves. There was a statistically significant 8.6% increase in fine finger dexterity provided by latex compared with nitrile SafeSkin laboratory gloves but no difference in gross dexterity between the glove types. There was no significant relationship between glove dexterity and age or gender. The selection of glove size was influenced by the digit length of participants. Moreover, those with longer, thinner fingers appeared to have an advantage when using nitrile SafeSkin gloves. The level of dexterity provided by latex and nitrile SafeSkin gloves for tasks on a gross dexterity level are comparable and health workers will benefit from the non-allergenic properties of nitrile. For tasks requiring fine finger dexterity nitrile SafeSkin gloves may impede dexterity. Despite this, the degree of restriction appears to have a negligible impact on safety in this study when compared with the risk of latex sensitization and subsequent allergy. In addition to glove material, working practices must also take into account glove size, fit, grip and thickness, as these factors can all influence dexterity.


At 1 a. m., April 23, 1917, I was called seven miles from town to see Mrs. W., aged 25, with her first child. Pains had begun at 4 p. m. the preceding afternoon, and at 11:30 she had a convulsion. By the time I reached her she had had four convulsions, and a fifth quickly followed. In the intervals she was delirious, tossing about the bed. Restraint was necessary to keep her on the bed at all. On hasty examination I found the cervix dilated and the head in left occipito-anterior presentation on the perineum; but the patient seemed to be unable to deliver the child, mainly because she made no intelligent effort to aid the labor pains. Being alone, except for the assistance of an excited husband and a grandmother who could not speak English, I gave the patient ether and made a forceps delivery. When the patient


Background Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) may be at an increased risk of osteoporotis (OP), but its degree has not been well-defined. Inflammatory cytokines have been implicated as the mechanistic link between immune system and bone metabolism. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) represents an essential cytokine for osteoclast function (Hofbauer, et al., 2006). Objectives To evaluate biochemical markers of bone metabolism in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and test osteoprotegerin (OPG) serum level and find out its correlation with disease activity and severity of bone loss assessed by bone mineral density (BMD). Methods Sixteen patients with PsA (12 men) were enrolled in the study, attended the out-patient clinic of Rheumatology Department at Assiut and Alazhar University Hospitals. Ten healthy age-matched volunteers were served as controls. Their age ranged (47.75±13.9) and duration of the disease was (14.0±6.72). Clinical data, biochemical markers of bone turnover, serum OPG and BMD of lumbar spine and femur were evaluated. All patients fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for PsA defined by CASPAR, 2005. Blood samples were taken in the morning after an overnight fasting period. ESR, CRP, creatinine, calcium, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and bone-specific ALP (bone ALP) were measured. Also free D-pyridinoline (f-Dpyr), a biochemical marker of bone resorption was assayed for patients and controls. Serum OPG was determined. BMD was measured at the lumbar spine and right femoral neck by (DEXA). Results PsA had higher biochemical markers of bone resorption and inflammatory activity. PsA had a significant increase in ALP (236.94±88.95) and bone ALP (25.65±7.87), but not serum or urinary calcium when compared with controls. Urinary excretion of f-Dpyr was significantly increased in PsA (14.94±4.22) and was correlated with inflammatory measures. ESR>30 mm/hour had significantly higher levels of f-Dpyr than those with ESR<30 mm/hour (P<0.024) and those with CRP >6mg/L than those with CRP <6mg/L (P<0.046). It was not positively correlated with age and duration of the disease. OPG was significantly lower in PsA compared to controls (1.84±1.15), (p<0.001) and was not positively correlated with age. BMD of the hip and femoral neck were significantly lower in PsA than controls. Osteopenia was present in women, while osteoporosis was more frequent in men. Conclusions Bone loss in patients with PsA is associated with high biochemical markers of bone resorption with inflammatory activity,and low OPG serum levels. In PsA patients, no evidence of severe osteoporosis where elevated bone ALP suggests ongoing bone formation. References Hofbauer LC, Schoppety M, Christz M, Teichmann J and Lange U (2006): Tumour necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand and OPG serum levels in PsA, Rheumatology, Advance Access publication; 45:1218–1222. Taylor WJ, Helliwell PS, Gladman DD et al. (2005): A validation of current classification criteria for the diagnosis of PsA preliminary results of the CASPAR study. Ann Rheum Dis; 64(Suppl. III):107. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3358


To examine the intracellular localization of neutral sphingomyelinase 1 (nSMase 1), a rabbit polyclonal antibody was raised against a recombinant form of the enzyme expressed in E. coli. It has been reported that, in rat liver or in ascites hepatoma AH7974, high activity of neutral sphingomyelinase (SMase) is found at the plasma membrane, with a lesser but significant amount in nucleus and cytoplasm. The biochemical properties, dithiothreitol requirement and high salt concentration dependency, of cloned and expressed nSMase 1 resemble those of previously described nuclear neutral SMase of AH7974. The present study was therefore focused on the nuclear localization of this enzyme. Western blotting of subcellular fractions using anti-rat nSMase 1 antibody revealed most nSMase 1 to be associated with the nuclei and some with microsomes, but not with plasma membranes. Consistently, neutral SMase activity in nuclear extract was immunoprecipitated by the antibody, while that of plasma membranes was not. The results indicate that nSMase 1 mainly resides in the nucleus and may thus differ from neutral SMase in plasma membrane. On gel-filtration column chromatography of nuclear extract, the profile of neutral SMase activity corresponded well with immunoreactive protein bands on western blotting, suggesting that a large part of nuclear neutral SMase may be nSMase 1. Removal of the nuclear envelope by treatment with Triton X-100 did not significantly decrease the amount of nuclear nSMase 1, and western blotting of subnuclear fractions (i.e. nuclear envelope, chromatin, and nuclear matrix) revealed nSMase 1 signal exclusively in the nuclear matrix. Immunocytochemistry with AH7974, as well as rat fibroblast cell line 3Y1, demonstrated nSMase 1 to be localized mainly in the nucleus, with some in the cytoplasm. Moreover, immuno-electron microscopy clearly showed the signal of nSMase 1 to be more dense in the nucleus than in the cytoplasm of AH7974.


The fast depletion of conventional energy resources and the issue of global warming have encouraged researchers worldwide to come up with the best energy solution. Renewable energy resources such as wind and solar energy have been widely adopted as an alternative source of energy. In this work, an integrated solar and wind energy system were implemented aiming to produce the maximum possible output power from the available renewable energy resources such as solar irradiance and wind energy. The proposed system comprised two solar modules and horizontally rotating wind blades. An energy storage system plus a charge controller were also used aiming to improve the overall energy conversion efficiency. The results showed that this system demonstrated superior performance compared with the solar modules and wind system when they had worked individually. The proposed system was generating an average energy of 61.729 Wh daily. Therefore, it was estimated that the system can generate an annual output power of about 207.4 kWh. During the conducted experiments, the solar panels worked as the main source of the generated energy while the wind system acted as a secondary source of energy during the solar absent times. Moreover, the safety factor was calculated to be within the limits of 2 that shows the proposed system can work according to the industrial safety limits of Malaysia. 


The stereochemical course of the reaction catalyzed by a copper amine oxidase from Arthrobacter globiformis has been investigated using 2-phenylethylamine stereospecifically deuterium-labeled at the C1 position. Measurements of deuterium content in the product, phenylacetaldehyde, by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed stereospecific abstraction of the pro-S hydrogen during the enzymatic oxidation, as predicted from the structure modeling for the enzyme-bound substrate.


The technology that multilayer hybrid circuits use dielectric layer to insulate stacked conduct has been applied many years, but it is limited by the layers and product yield. This paper introduces a newly dielectric paste of Heraeus, recommend several material systems for multilayer hybrid application. Provide comprehensive data based on experiment in migration stability, laser trimming, adhesion, wire bonding reliability and compatibility. This technology would meet hybrid company demands necessary in multilayer hybrid design, manufacturing process, and product reliability. There is a great benefit for existing thick film technology in both commercial and reliability products application.


To promote cloud computing from current pay-per-request model to truly pay-per-use, tenants are crying for automatic tools to auto-estimate the amount of resources for MapReduce jobs. Such tools call for accurately quantifying the relationship among workload, resources and completion time. Various prediction models have been proposed. However, none of these models takes virtual machines' (VMs) performance variance during a job's execution into consideration, leading to underestimate the required resources and exceed the job's deadline. To address this problem, we propose a multi-view deep learning model to capture real-time performance variance and automatically scale out the cloud cluster whenever necessary. We implement MarVeLScaler, a prototype system including two useful modules, namely, Scale Estimator and Scale Controller. Scale Estimator preliminarily estimates the required cluster size for a MapReduce job with given a concrete workload and deadline. During the runtime, Scale Controller adjusts the scale of the cluster according to its real-time running status to guarantee the job finished on time. We evaluate the performance of MarVeLScaler based on Hadoop in Alibaba Cloud. Experiments show that MarVeLScaler can provide 98.4 percent accuracy of prediction in determining initial cluster size, and save 30.8 percent of expense while still guaranteeing similar performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods.


Due to the rapid increase in population, land cover has changed in Benin. Because of this, the management approach adopted by most developing countries in Africa for biodiversity conservation was the development of protected areas. But these areas were located where poverty and insufficient employment opportunities determined the population's needs and activities hence, protected areas' vulnerability increased. This study focused on land cover change evaluation inside the W Biosphere Reserve (WBR) in Benin during these last decades. For this purpose, three maps, taken in 1989, 2000 and 2013 were interpreted using the software Arc Gis 10.1. Dynamic area proportion values were calculated and transition matrices were elaborated. Results showed that land cover has changed considerably and these changes were mostly observed in the periphery of the hunting zone where settlements, farms and fallows were noticed and in high proportions in 2013 than in 1989 and 2000. Concerning natural vegetations, the savannahs increased from 1989 to 2000 and were the most represented land cover type in 2013 while dense forests, gallery forests and woodlands decreased in the same period. Our results highlights, the necessity to study the dynamics in floristic composition of the area in order to assess change in floristic composition and to redefine with actors the best management practices which will allow the protected areas to assume their main role of biodiversity conservation. Keywords: Land cover, Maps, Dynamics, Change, Benin Republic


Holter electrocardiography was used to study the circadian rhythm of heart rate in 50 centenarians living in Tokyo and in Aichi prefecture. As a control group, 50 healthy subjects aged under 65 years old underwent medical check-ups including Holter electrocardiography at Keio Health Consulting Center. Harmonic analysis was used to approximate the 24-h time-series data on the RR intervals to a summation of three cosine waves with 24-h, 12-h and 8-h periods. The power of each period was adjusted for the goodness of the curve-fit, and the powers of the centenarians were compared with those of the controls. Then all the subjects were classified by k-means cluster analysis into k groups based on the power of the period, and patterns of heart rate rhythms were then identified. The power of the 24-h period in centenarians (32.7 +/- 16.0%) was significantly lower than that in controls (45.8 +/- 17.8%). Although there were no significant differences in the powers of the 12-h and 8-h periods, the power of the 8-h period in centenarians (7.0 +/- 8.4%) was slightly higher than that in controls (4.2 +/- 3.3%). Advances or delays in acrophase (acrophasal shift) were more common in centenarians than in controls. Five patterns of heart rate rhythms were identified: 24-h period dominant (n = 58). 24-h + 12-h period (n = 15), 12-h period dominant (n = 7), 8-h period augmented (n = 7), and low curve-fitting (n = 13). Both the 8-h period augmented pattern and the low curve-fitting pattern were more common in centenarians than in controls. Both the 24-h period dominant pattern and the 24-h + 12-h period pattern were less common in centenarians than in controls. These data indicate that the circadian rhythm of heart rate changes with aging.


We report on the experimental study of the visible and
ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence emission in a (1% molar) Thulium (Tm+3)-doped
Zirconium fluoride glass sample. From red at 650 nm, blue (453 & 480 nm) and UV
at 365 & 284 nm, have been observed under excitation of a Nd:YAG laser at
1.064 μm. The responsible up-conversion mechanisms are investigated based on
experimental data. The related problem of photo-degradation associated with
formation of color centers is also addressed.


This paper introduces an anti-jamming technology for satellite communication that can cancel terrestrial jammers. In this paper, we first consider the Conjugate Gradient Method (CGM) as the first adaptive algorithm. Using this method, the attainment of the depth of the nulls and the rate of convergence are shown to be excellent. We also introduce a second novel adaptive algorithm, the hardware complexity of which for real-time implementation remains within the capacity of an off-the-shelf serial processor. A simulator based on the proposed adaptive algorithms is then illustrated to verify the performance of an adaptive system designed for implementation on a geostationary satellite. Finally, we demonstrate a hardware implementation of the adaptive system for canceling terrestrial jammers. Detailed hardware descriptions of an implemented adaptive system - such as the antenna array module, the beamforming module, and the controller module - are illustrated, along with the results of the performance obtained in laboratory tests.


Image generation (IG) computers for networked simulation and training systems require additional capabilities beyond those IG's employs in traditional forms of realtime simulation. The specific characteristics associated with the networking and tactical training nature of ground and near-ground vehicle training applications are reviewed. The IG implications discussed include computational loading, scene management, advanced graphics techniques, databases, interoperability, interfaces, and required support calculations. It is recommended that an industry standard benchmark to specify, evaluate, and verify the performance of this type of image generator is established.<<ETX>>


The objective: to study the features of pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum period, fetal status and newborns in patients with a history of chronic salpingo-оophoritis.Materials and methods. Conducted a retrospective study of 150 birth histories and neonatal development maps. All patients were divided into two groups. The main group includes 100 patients with chronic salpingo-оophoritis, for which they received anti-inflammatory treatment from 1 to 3 times before pregnancy. The control group included 50 pregnant women who did not suffer from chronic salpingo-оophoritis.Results. Our analysis of pregnancy, childbirth, fetal and neonatal status in women with chronic salpingo-оophoritis indicates that such patients have a complicated obstetric and gynecological and somatic history, which forms an unfavorable basic condition of organs and systems, imperfect adaptation to pregnancy, high risk of failure of adaptive reactions. The result is a violation of the formation and development of the mother-placenta-fetus system and, as a consequence, a high level of complications during pregnancy, childbirth and perinatal pathology.Conclusion. Patients suffering from chronic salpingo-oophoritis should be considered at high risk of possible complications during pregnancy and childbirth. This category of women needs quality preconception training and careful monitoring during pregnancy.


A Māori-Pasifika dance crew called Torotoro was formed in 2000 to help create a song and dance show called Mika HAKA.[1] The dancers were in their teenage years and early twenties. The show sought to amplify, for British stages, the burlesque performance of takataapui (gay Māori) identity, through which Mika (then aged 38) had carved out a unique niche for himself in the UK fringe festival circuit. I was his international collaborator, supporting creation, development and touring of Mika HAKA. On the surface, Mika HAKA was a flirtatious, sexualised, glamorous and just-about family-friendly reworking of the concert party show format that is the core of touristic renderings of Māori culture. At the same time, it integrated hip-hop and other contemporary pop references. This reflected Mika's commitment to the juxtaposition of Māori-Pasifika performance with aesthetics and forms circulating globally as an expression of the complexities of (his) urban Māori identity.

[1] Mika HAKA debuted 25 January 2001 at the Maidment Theatre, Auckland (New Zealand). Its international premiere was 1August 2002 at Dance Base – National Centre for Dance, Edinburgh (Scotland). The production toured widely in New Zealand, and in 2003 visited Adelaide (Australia), and revisited Edinburgh.


BACKGROUND
Sickness absence costs the UK economy around £20 billion per year. This study aims to assess the cost-effectiveness of interventions to return employees with musculoskeletal disorders to work, one of the major causes of long-term sickness absence, using a mathematical model.

METHODS
A Markov model was developed to assess the cost-effectiveness of three interventions: a workplace intervention; a physical activity and education intervention and a physical activity, education and workplace visit intervention. Extensive sensitivity analyses were undertaken to assess the impact of uncertainties upon the model results.

RESULTS
All interventions assessed are estimated to have a cost per quality-adjusted life year gained below £3000 compared with usual care within the UK from a National Health Service (NHS) or societal perspective. Moreover, any intervention which returns at least an additional 3% of employees to work and costs less than an additional £3000 per employee, is likely to be considered economically attractive compared with usual care, relative to other interventions routinely funded by the NHS.

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first economic evaluation in this area which extrapolates data beyond trial follow-up and synthesizes evidence from numerous sources. This sort of modelling approach should be considered for informing other public health policy decisions.


: The effect of a constant magnetic field during the crystallization of a hypereutectic aluminum alloy on its structure in the solid state investigated. It is shown that the superposition of the magnetic field positively affects the structure of the alloy. A uniform distribution of the doped phases and eutectic in the volume of the alloy is observed. The phase of primary silicon significantly changes the size and the shape. It is established that the influence of an external magnetic field reduces the dimensions of the shrinkage defects. In general, the effect of an external magnetic field on the structure of the alloy leads to an improvement in the operational properties. The obtained measurement results showed more stable hardness values over the cross section of the sample in comparison with the alloy that was not processed.


Brachydactyly type A1 (BDA1) is an autosomal dominant inherited disease characterized by the shortness/absence of the middle phalanges, which can be induced by mutations in the Indian hedgehog gene (IHH). Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease characterized by joint destruction, synovitis, and the presence of autoantibodies. In this study, the proband was diagnosed with both BDA1 and RA. We performed whole-exome sequencing in a four-generation Chinese family to investigate their inherited causal mutation to BDA1. A novel in-frame insertion variant in IHH: NM_002,181.4: c.383_415dup/p.(R128_H138dup) was identified in the BDA1 pedigree. This insertion of 11 amino acids was located in the highly conserved amino-terminal signaling domain of IHH and co-segregated with the disease status. This adds one to the total number of different IHH mutations found to cause BDA1. Moreover, we found a potential causal germline variant in CRY1 for a molecular biomarker of RA (i.e., a high level of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide). Collectively, we identified novel variants in IHH for inherited BDA1, which highlights the important role of this gene in phalange development.


Background: Mitochondrial biogenesis is a complex process, and its regulation is not well known. Results: cAMP-induced mitochondrial biogenesis through a decrease in the cellular phosphate potential is due to an increase in the glutathione redox status. Conclusion: Mitochondrial biogenesis is tightly linked to glutathione redox status. Significance: This is the first evidence for a glutathione redox control of a transcription factor involved in mitochondrial biogenesis. Cell fate and proliferation are tightly linked to the regulation of the mitochondrial energy metabolism. Hence, mitochondrial biogenesis regulation, a complex process that requires a tight coordination in the expression of the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, has a major impact on cell fate and is of high importance. Here, we studied the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis through a nutrient-sensing pathway, the Ras-cAMP pathway. Activation of this pathway induces a decrease in the cellular phosphate potential that alleviates the redox pressure on the mitochondrial respiratory chain. One of the cellular consequences of this modulation of cellular phosphate potential is an increase in the cellular glutathione redox state. The redox state of the glutathione disulfide-glutathione couple is a well known important indicator of the cellular redox environment, which is itself tightly linked to mitochondrial activity, mitochondria being the main cellular producer of reactive oxygen species. The master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis in yeast (i.e. the transcriptional co-activator Hap4p) is positively regulated by the cellular glutathione redox state. Using a strain that is unable to modulate its glutathione redox state (Δglr1), we pinpoint a positive feedback loop between this redox state and the control of mitochondrial biogenesis. This is the first time that control of mitochondrial biogenesis through glutathione redox state has been shown.


We consider the problem of supervised classification, such that the features that the network extracts match an unseen set of semantic attributes, without any additional supervision. For example, when learning to classify images of birds into species, we would like to observe the emergence of features that zoologists use to classify birds. We propose training a neural network with discrete top-level activations, which is followed by a multi-layered perceptron (MLP) and a parallel decision tree. We present a theoretical analysis as well as a practical method for learning in the intersection of two hypothesis classes. Since realworld features are often sparse, a randomized sparsity regularization is also applied. Our results on multiple benchmarks show an improved ability to extract a set of features that are highly correlated with the set of unseen attributes.


Foreign investment has become a striking measure of economic development in both developed and developing countries. Foreign investment was introduced in 1991 under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Now the developing countries, including India, are witnessing changes in the composition of capital flows in their economies because of the expansion and integration of the world equity market. The flow of foreign capital is playing a significant role in the development of Indian stock markets. Since Indian capital market is vast and hence attract investors as their investment destination. FDI and FII thus have become instruments of international economic integration and stimulation. The flow of FDI and FII is increasingly seen as an important cause of stock market volatility. This state of affairs has propelled researchers to study the extent of relation between foreign capital flows and stock market volatility. In this context, an attempt is made to study the impact of FDI and FII flow on Indian Stock market (BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty). The study covers the time horizon of 10 years from 2005-06 to 2014-15.


Accurate predictions of the failure progression of structural materials is critical for preventing failure-induced accidents. Despite considerable mechanics modeling-based efforts, accurate prediction remains a challenging task in real-world environments due to unexpected damage factors and defect evolutions. Here, we report a novel method for predicting material failure characteristics that uniquely combines nondestructive X-ray computed tomography (X-CT), persistent homology (PH), and deep multimodal learning (DML). The combined method exploits the microstructural defect state at the time of material examination as an input, and outputs the failure-related properties. Our method is demonstrated to be effective using two types of fracture datasets (tensile and fatigue datasets) with ferritic low alloy steel as a representative structural material. The method achieves a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.09 in predicting the local strain with the tensile dataset and an MAE of 0.14 in predicting the fracture progress with the fatigue dataset. These high accuracies are mainly due to PH processing of the X-CT images, which transforms complex and noisy three-dimensional X-CT images into compact two-dimensional persistence diagrams that preserve key topological features such as the internal void size, density, and distribution. The combined PH and DML processing of 3D X-CT data is our unique approach enabling reliable failure predictions at the time of material examination based on void topology progressions, and the method can be extended to various nondestructive failure tests for practical use.


In this paper, we present muon spin rotation (mu SR) and susceptibility measurements on single crystals of isoelectronically doped URu2-xTxSi2 (T = Fe, Os) for doping levels up to 50%. Zero field (ZF) μ SR measurements show long-lived oscillations demonstrating that an antiferromagnetic state exists down to low doping levels for both Os and Fe dopants. The measurements further show an increase in the internal field with doping for both Fe and Os. Comparison of the local moment-hybridization crossover temperature from susceptibility measurements and our magnetic transition temperature shows that changes in hybridization, rather than solely chemical pressure, are important in driving the evolution of magnetic order with doping.


We describe our experiments on a real-time system design, focusing on design alternatives such as scheduling jitter, sensor-to-output latency, intertask communication schemes and the system utilization. The prime objective of these experiments was to evaluate a real-time design produced using the period calibration method (Gerber et al., 1995) and thus identify the limitations of the method. We chose a computerized numerical control (CNC) machine as our target real-time system and built a realistic controller and a plant simulator. Our results were extracted from a controlled series of more than a hundred test controllers obtained by varying four test variables. This study unveils many interesting facts: average sensor-to-output latency is one of the most dominating factors in determining control quality; the effect of scheduling jitter appears only when the average sensor-to-output latency is sufficiently small; and loop processing periods are another dominating factor of performance. Based on these results, we propose a new communication scheme and a new objective function for the period calibration method.


In this paper, we analyze the differences of the same categories household's and car ownership's preferences among three metropolitan areas which have difference in population density and the level of transportation service. For this analysis, we apply a same integrated land use-transport model to these areas considering 8 household types. As a result, the same categories household's and car ownership preference and action are different among metropolitan areas that are different from the population distribution and size and the level of transportation service.


Background: Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is endemic in Latin America. Thirty percent of infected individuals develop chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC), an inflammatory dilated cardiomyopathy that is the most important clinical consequence of T. cruzi infection, while the others remain asymptomatic (ASY). IFN-γ and IFN-γ-producing Th1-type T cells are increased in peripheral blood and CCC myocardium as compared to ASY patients, while the Th1-antagonizing cytokine IL-10 is more expressed in ASY patients. Importantly IFN-γ-producing Th1-type T cells are the most frequent cytokine-producing T cell subset in CCC myocardium, while expression of Th1-antagonizing cytokines IL-10 and IL-4 is unaltered. The control of IFN-γ production by Th1-type T cells may be a key event for progression toward CCC. A genetic component to disease progression was suggested by the familial aggregation of cases and the association of gene polymorphisms with CCC development. We here investigate the role of gene polymorphisms (SNPs) in several genes involved in the control of IFN-γ production and Th1 T cell differentiation in CCC development. Methods: We studied a Brazilian population including 315 CCC cases and 118 ASY subjects. We assessed 35 Tag SNPs designed to represent all the genetic information contained in the IL12B, IL10, IFNG, and IL4 genes. Results: We found 2 IL12 SNPs (rs2546893, rs919766) and a trend of association for a IL10 SNP (rs3024496) to be significantly associated with the ASY group. these associations were confirmed by multivariate analysis and allele tests. The rs919766C, 12rs2546893G, and rs3024496C alleles were associated to an increase risk to CCC development. Conclusions: Our data show that novel polymorphisms affecting IL12B and IL10, but not IFNG or IL4 genes play a role in genetic susceptibility to CCC development. This might indicate that the increased Th1 differentiation and IFN-γ production associated with CCC is genetically controlled.


This article is based on narrative research that focuses on corporeal experience during coma and during the rehabilitation process. Seventeen participants from different areas of Israel who had been in various kinds of coma states reveal what the corporeal experience of coma is. The participants are divided into three types of narrative protagonists—"dead-alive," "rational," and "emissaries." Each of the participants redefined the boundaries of the body, especially in cases when they spoke of experiences they did not understand as corporeal, for example, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, or experiences of being between the earthly and unearthly. Their struggle to find suitable words to tell their coma stories emphasizes these boundaries between experiencing and telling, which crossed the normative discursive border of the medical establishment and illustrates the ambiguous nature of human existence.


Abstract Objective: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the association between childhood obesity and modifiable population-level risk factors, after accounting for deprivation. Design: A review of the literature identified population-level risk factors including a healthy childcare setting, the local food environment, accessible open space, community safety and crime. Data for these risk factors were then identified and matched by each of the twenty-two local government areas in Wales to each child that had data on height and weight in the Wales Childhood Measurement Programme (CMP) (2012–2017). Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify associations with childhood obesity. Setting: The current study was undertaken in Wales, UK, where approximately one in eight 4–5-year-olds are classified as obese. Participants: All participants were children aged 4 or 5 years who attend school, measured as part of the CMP, between 2012 and 2017 (n 129 893, mean age 5·0 (sd 0·4) years). Results: After adjusting for deprivation, small but statistically significant associations were found between childhood obesity and percentage of land available as accessible open space OR 0·981 (95 % CI: 0·973, 0·989) P < 0·001) and density of fast food outlets OR 1·002 (95 % CI 1·001, 1·004, P = 0·001). No other population-level risk factors were associated with childhood obesity. Conclusions: The current study indicates that, even after accounting for deprivation, risk factors such as the density of fast food outlets and access to green space should be considered when tackling childhood obesity as a public health issue.


Based on prior research on the relationship between personality and safety behavior, we construct a moderated mediation model that tests the effects of each of the Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism) on the safety behavior of gold miners in Ghana. The model included safety competency as a mediator between the five personality traits and safety behavior. Management commitment to safety was used as a moderator to test the strength of the mediation of safety competency. Data was collected from 344 individuals employed across six large-scale gold mining companies in Ghana using a questionnaire survey. Amos 26 was used to conduct confirmatory factor analysis. The hypotheses were tested using Hayes PROCESS macros models 4 and 7 on SPSS 26. Findings show that openness and extraversion have an insignificant direct influence on safety behavior. Neuroticism negatively affects safety behavior. In contrast, conscientiousness and agreeableness positively affect safety behavior. Mediation analysis revealed that safety competency partially mediates the relationships between (1) conscientiousness and safety behavior and (2) agreeableness and safety behavior. The relationship between extraversion and safety behavior is fully mediated by safety competency. Additionally, we discovered that management safety commitment has a significant conditional indirect effect (Index of moderated mediation = 0.168 95% CI = [0.122;0.222]) on the relationship between conscientiousness and safety behavior through safety competency. Management safety commitment also significantly moderated (Index of moderated mediation = 0.075 95% CI = [0.021;0.120]) the relationship between agreeableness and safety behavior through safety competency.


To explore new phosphors with long-wavelength visible emission, a series of Ba2(1-x)Mg1-y(PO4)2:xEu2+,yMn2+ (BMP:xEu2+,yMn2+, 0.2% ≤ x ≤ 5%, 0 ≤ y ≤ 15%) samples were prepared by the solid-state reaction method, and their photoluminescence properties were investigated. When the Eu2+ is single-doped into the BMP matrix, the orange-yellow emission is gained, which is attributed to the Eu2+ 4f7-4f65d1 transition; its excitation spectrum includes a broad wavelength region from 240 to 450 nm. By introducing Mn2+ into the BMP:2.2%Eu2+, a red-shift of the Eu2+ emission band was observed owing to the mixing of the Eu2+ and Mn2+ emissions. The energy transfer from Eu2+ to Mn2+ has been interpreted by using the decay curves. By investigating the thermally stable luminescence of the typical BMP:2.2%Eu2+ and BMP:2.2%Eu2+,10%Mn2+ phosphors, it has been found that the former thermal stability is superior to the latter one. In sum, the above spectral features reveal that the BMP:xEu2+,yMn2+ phosphors could be promising candidates for LEDs application.


Objective: To compare the rates of cognitive and functional decline in African American patients diagnosed at baseline with vascular dementia (VaD) (n = 79), AD (n = 113), or stroke without dementia (SWD) (n = 56) and followed for up to 7 years with annual neuropsychological and other examinations. Methods: Study patients were diagnosed using established criteria for dementia and were administered cognitive screening, functional screening, and neuropsychological measures. Baseline dementia severity was rated using the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale. Random effects modeling was used to examine rates of decline and to compare the rates of decline in the three groups. Results: Both patients with VaD and those with AD showed significant cognitive and functional decline during follow-up; patients with VaD declined at a slower rate than patients with AD; and patients diagnosed with SWD at baseline did not show cognitive or functional decline during follow-up. Conclusions: Patients with VaD decline at a slower rate than patients with AD. Patients who do not meet criteria for dementia soon after stroke may not be at high risk for developing dementia. Future studies are needed to follow VaD patients with longitudinal, specialized MR protocols, concurrent neuropsychological examinations, and neuropathologic examination to determine possible neuroimaging predictors of progressive cognitive and functional decline and to assess the contribution of Alzheimer's pathology to decline in patients diagnosed with VaD.


Finding a clear signature of topological superconductivity in transport experiments remains an outstanding challenge. In this work, we propose exploiting the unique properties of three-dimensional topological insulator nanowires to generate a normal-superconductor junction in the single-mode regime where an exactly quantized 2e2/h zero-bias conductance can be observed over a wide range of realistic system parameters. This is achieved by inducing superconductivity in half of the wire, which can be tuned at will from trivial to topological with a parallel magnetic field, while a perpendicular field is used to gap out the normal part, except for two spatially separated chiral channels. The combination of chiral mode transport and perfect Andreev reflection makes the measurement robust to moderate disorder, and the quantization of conductance survives to much higher temperatures than in tunnel junction experiments. Our proposal may be understood as a variant of a Majorana interferometer which is easily realizable in experiments.


Deep Learning (DL) has achieved automatic and objective assessment of surgical skills. However, DL models are data-hungry and restricted to their training domain. This prevents them from transitioning to new tasks where data is limited. Hence, domain adaptation is crucial to implement DL in real life. Here, we propose a meta-learning model, A-VBANet, that can deliver domain-agnostic surgical skill classification via one-shot learning. We develop the A-VBANet on five laparoscopic and robotic surgical simulators. Additionally, we test it on operating room (OR) videos of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Our model successfully adapts with accuracies up to 99.5% in one-shot and 99.9% in few-shot settings for simulated tasks and 89.7% for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. For the first time, we provide a domain-agnostic procedure for video-based assessment of surgical skills. A significant implication of this approach is that it allows the use of data from surgical simulators to assess performance in the operating room.


Different hypotheses have been tested about the fractionation and bioavailability of rare earth elements (REE) in mangrove ecosystems. Rare earth elements and bioavailability in the mangrove ecosystem have been of significant concern and are recognized globally as emerging pollutants. Bioavailability and fractionation of rare earth elements were assessed in Jazan and AlWajah mangrove ecosystems. Comparisons between rare earth elements, multi-elemental ratios, geo-accumulation index (Igeo), and bio-concentration factor (BCF) for the two mangroves and the influence of sediment grain size types on concentrations of rare earth elements were carried out. A substantial difference in mean concentrations (mg/kg) of REE (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu) was established, except for mean concentrations of Eu, Gd, Tb, Tm, and Lu. In addition, concentrations of REEs were higher in the Jazan mangrove ecosystem. However, REE composition in the two mangroves was dominated by the lighter REE (LREE and MREE), and formed the major contribution to the total sum of REE at 10.2–78.4%, which was greater than the HREE contribution of 11.3–12.9%. The Post Archean Australian Shale (PAAS) normalized values revealed that lighter REE (LREE and MREE) were steadily enriched above heavy REE. More so, low and negative values of R(H/M) were recorded in the Al Wajah mangrove, indicating higher HREE depletion there. The values of BCF for REEs were less than 1 for all the REEs determined; the recorded BCF for Lu (0.33) and Tm (0.32) were the highest, while the lowest BCF recorded was for Nd (0.09). There is a need for periodic monitoring of REE concentrations in the mangroves to keep track of the sources of this metal contamination and develop conservation and control strategies for these important ecosystems.


[Purpose] The aim of this study was to examine the effects of upper limb robot-assisted therapy in the rehabilitation of stroke patients. [Subjects and Methods] Fifteen stroke patients with no visual or cognitive problems were enrolled. All subjects received robot-assisted therapy and comprehensive rehabilitation therapy for 30 minutes each. The experimental group received a conventional therapy and an additional half hour per weekday of robot therapy. The patients participated in a total of 20 sessions, each lasting 60 minutes (conventional therapy 30 min, robot-assisted therapy 30 min), which were held 5 days a week for 4 weeks. [Result] The patients showed a significant difference in smoothness and reach error of the point to point test, circle size and independence of the circle in the circle test, and hold deviation of the playback static test between before and after the intervention. On the other hand, no significant difference was observed in the displacement of the round dynamic test. The patients also showed significant improvement in the Fugl-Meyer Assessment and Modified Barthel Index after the intervention. [Conclusion] These kinematic factors can provide good information when analyzing the upper limb function of stroke patients in robot-assisted therapy. Nevertheless, further research on technology-based kinematic information will be necessary.


The designed organic ligands bis-(1H-tetrazol-5-ylmethyl)-amine (H3L1) and bis-(1H-tetrazol-5-ylethyl)-amine (H3L2) have been successfully prepared and their coordination features have been explored. By the reaction of H3L1 and H3L2 with different zinc/cadmium salts, two 0D complexes, Cd2(HL1)2(H2O)4·2H2O (4) and Cd(HL2)(H2O)3 (8), and seven new coordination polymers, [Zn(HL1)(H2O)]n (1), [Zn(HL1)]n (2), [Cd3(HL1)2Cl2]n (3), {[Cd2(HL1)2]·H2O}n (5), [Zn(HL2)]n (6), [Zn2(HL2)N3Cl]n (7) and [Cd2(H2L2)(NO3)(OH)(H2O)2]n (9) have been synthesized. All the compounds were fully characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, powder X-ray diffraction and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Complex 4 exhibits a dinuclear structure, whereas 8 represents a mononuclear structure. In addition, 4 and 8 are further assembled to form three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) supramolecular frameworks by hydrogen-bonding interactions, respectively. Complexes 1, 2, 6, 7 and 9 possess a 2D layered structure, and the 2D frameworks of complexes 1, 2 and 6 can be rationalized to be four-connected {44·62} topological sql networks with the dinuclear units, while 9 shows a two-dimensional six-connected {36·46·53} topological hxl network containing a [Cd4(OH)2(H2O)2(NO3)2] cluster. Complex 3 bearing the 3D framework can be rationalized to be a new {318·418·59} topological net with the stoichiometry (10-c). Complex 5 features the 3D topological tcj/hc structure of {36·46·53}{36·48·54·68·72} with the stoichiometry (6-c)(8-c). Both complexes 3 and 5 contain 1D channels with an accessible solvent volume of 38.8% and 12.1%, respectively. Obviously, structural differences among those complexes are attributable to various coordination modes and flexible configurations of ligands, the different metal ions, pH values, temperature and counter anions, etc. Furthermore, the fluorescence emission and fluorescence lifetime of 1–9 have been investigated.


BACKGROUND Discharge planning is becoming an important part of the management of childhood asthma in hospital. Readmission to hospital, although often inevitable, might represent a failure of the opportunity for intervention presented by a brief period of supervised care in hospital. AIM To examine the impact of a structured, nurse-led discharge package for children admitted to hospital with acute asthma on readmission to hospital, reattendance at the accident and emergency (A&E) department, and general practitioner consultations for asthma. METHODS A structured nurse-led discharge package, consisting of a 20 minute patient education programme and self management plan for children with asthma was developed on the wards of a busy children's hospital. A randomised controlled trial was conducted involving 160 children aged 2–16 years admitted for asthma over a 12 month period. Readmission and A&E reattendance's over the six months after discharge from hospital were obtained from the hospital computerised information system and general practitioner consultations from practice records. RESULTS Children in the intervention group were significantly less likely to be readmitted to hospital in the next six months than those in the control group (12 of 80 v30 of 80 patients), and significantly less likely to attend the A&E department (6 of 80 v 31 of 80). Significantly fewer children in the intervention group had visits to their general practitioner for problematic asthma (31 of 78v 72 of 77 for whom data were available). CONCLUSION By delivering the simplest form of education and support during a child's stay in hospital, readmissions over a six month period were reduced. The programme was designed to be suitable for administration by nursing staff on the children's wards after a brief period of training.


outcomes (behavioral beliefs), beliefs about the normative expectations of others and motivation to comply with these expectations (normative beliefs), and beliefs about the presence of factors that may facilitate or impede performance of the behavior and the perceived power of these factors (control beliefs). In their respective aggregates, behavioral beliefs produce a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the behavior; normative beliefs result in perceived social pressure or subjective norm; and control beliefs give rise to perceived behavioral control. In combination, attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perception of behavioral control lead to the formation of a behavioral intention. As a general rule, the more favorable the attitude and subjective norm, and the greater the perceived control, the stronger should be the person's intention to perform the behavior in question. Finally, given a sufficient degree of actual control over the behavior, people are expected to carry out their intentions when the opportunity arises. Intention is thus assumed to be the immediate antecedent of behavior. However, because many behaviors pose difficulties of execution that may limit volitional control, it is useful to consider perceived behavioral control in addition to intention. To the extent that perceived behavioral control is veridical, it can serve as a proxy for actual control and contribute to the prediction of the behavior in question. The following figure is a schematic representation of the theory.


Metal chelate absorption is deemed as a promising method of NO removal in FGD system, but the difficulty in the regeneration of the absorption solution hinders its further development. An original method with microbial reduction is proposed in this paper. With the adding of Psudomonas sp. DN-1, which was newly isolated from wastewater treatment plant, FeII (EDTA) NO will be reduced to the environmentally benign gaseous product of N2, and thus FeII (EDTA) was regenerated simultaneously. The effects of the types and amount of carbon source, FeII (EDTA) NO concentration, pH, temperature and the biomass inoculation on bio-reduction efficiency were investigated. The results showed that the microorganism exhibited good performance on bio-reduction of FeII (EDTA) NO with the carbon sources of glucose. 250 mg x L(-1) glucose was enough for microorganism to reduce 6.50 mmol x L(-1) FeII (EDTA) NO completely. The rate of FeII (EDTA) NO reduction did not increase with adding a larger amount of carbon source. The bio-reduction could be achieved efficiently among the temperature range of 40 - 45 degrees C and a pH range of 6.9 - 7.2. The bio-reduction rate increased with the increasing of biomass inoculation. When FeII (EDTA) NO concentration is less than 11.8 mmol x L(-1), the reduction rate increased as the concentration increases, while the concentration is over 11.8 mmol x L(-1), the reduction rate keeps constant.


The objective of this paper is to obtain energy output and performance ratio of 5 MW grid-connected PV plant. The plant is located near the city of Kupang in the southeast of Indonesia. The location belongs to dry tropical climate with 28o C average daily temperature and 67% and 87% average sunshine index during the rainy and hot season respectively. Daily solar irradiation varies from 5.52 to 6.38 kWh/m2. The plant uses 21,840 poly-crystalline 230 W modules configured as 1,040 array strings, and each array consists of 21 series-connected modules. The array is ground-mounted, fixed-tilted at 15o and facing north. Maximum output is 5,023.2 kW. Conversion to AC is done by 250-unit inverter of 20 kW. Grid connection is via 10-unit of 630 KVA transformers. PVSyst simulation is fed with synthetic meteorological data which yielded annual energy of 7,476 MWh that varies monthly from 526 to 770 MWh, with an average of 623 MWh. Average annual yields are 4.08 kWh/kWp/day. Variation of tilt angles from 10o to 20o has small effects on energy output. Monthly performance ratio varies from 80% to 86% and average at 82%. Low-performance ratio is shown during May to August period which is likely caused by the high ambient temperature that affects the output of the solar module. PV loss due to temperature is the highest losses component at 11.2%.


Tumor invasion defines the transition between tissue-restricted carcinomas, related to good outcome as optimal surgery becomes possible, and metastatic tumors associated with poor prognosis and a dramatic decrease in survival. In endometrial cancer, myometrial infiltration represents a determinant parameter highly valuable in prognosis. To date, the identification of proteins involved in endometrial carcinoma invasion has been essentially conducted by immunohistochemical methods, without a global perception on the invasive front. Laser microdissection presents nowadays limitations to the profound spatiotemporal regulation from both the tumor and the surrounding stroma occurring at the invasive front. In this work, we attempted an alternative proteomic approach to characterize specific components of the tumor invasive front or its reactive stroma, by comparing the invasive area of an endometrial carcinoma with the noninvasive superficial tumor area and normal tissue from the same patients. This strategy led us to identify proteins involved in cellular morphology, assembly and movement, differentially expressed at the invasive front, as well as pathways like cell-to-cell signaling and interaction and a modulated response to oxidative stress as events related to endometrial carcinoma invasion. In conclusion, we could identify new players of myometrial infiltration by applying a subtractive proteomic approach to the endometrial carcinoma invasion front.


Transcription of the mitochondrial genome results in polycistronic precursors, which are processed mainly by the release of tRNAs interspersed between rRNAs and mRNAs. In many metazoan mitochondrial genomes some tRNA genes overlap with downstream genes; in the case of human mitochondria the genes for tRNATyr and tRNACys overlap by one nucleotide. It has previously been shown that processing of the common precursor releases an incomplete tRNATyr lacking the 3′-adenosine. The 3′-terminal adenosine has to be added before addition of the CCA end and subsequent aminoacylation. We show that the mitochondrial poly(A) polymerase (mtPAP) is responsible for this A addition. In vitro, a tRNATyr lacking the discriminator is a substrate for mtPAP. In vivo, an altered mtPAP protein level affected tRNATyr maturation, as shown by sequencing the 3′ ends of mitochondrial tRNAs. Complete repair could be reconstituted in vitro with three enzymes: mtPAP frequently added more than one A to the 3′ end of the truncated tRNA, and either the mitochondrial deadenylase PDE12 or the endonuclease RNase Z trimmed the oligo(A) tail to a single A before CCA addition. An enzyme machinery that evolved primarily for other purposes thus allows to tolerate the frequent evolutionary occurrence of gene overlaps.


High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) sets the scene for economic video transmission and storage, but its inherent computational complexity calls for efficient parallelization techniques. This paper introduces and compares three different parallelization strategies for HEVC encoding on multi-computer systems: 1) spatial parallelization scheme, where input video frames are divided into slices and distributed among available computers; 2) temporal parallelization scheme, where input video is distributed among computers in groups of consecutive frames; 3) spatio-temporal parallelization scheme that combines the proposed spatial and temporal approaches. All these three schemes were benchmarked as part of the practical Kvazaar open-source HEVC encoder. Our experimental results on 2–5 computer configurations show that using the spatial scheme gives 1.65×–2.90× speedup at the cost of 4.16%–13.09% bitrate loss over a single-computer setup. The respective speedup with temporal parallelization is 1.86×–3.26× without any coding overhead. The spatio-temporal scheme with 2 slices was shown to offer the best load-balancing with 1.81×–3.55× speedups and a constant coding loss of 4.16%.


We present an algorithm for tests generation tools based on symbolic execution. The algorithm is supposed to help in situations, when a tool is repeatedly failing to cover some code by tests. The algorithm then provides the tool a necessary condition strongly narrowing space of program paths, which must be checked for reaching the uncovered code. We also discuss integration of the algorithm into the tools and we provide experimental results showing a potential of the algorithm to be valuable in the tools, when properly implemented there.


In this work we explore an auxiliary loss useful for reinforcement learning in environments where strong performing agents are required to be able to navigate a spatial environment. The auxiliary loss proposed is to minimize the classification error of a neural network classifier that predicts whether or not a pair of states sampled from the agents current episode trajectory are in order. The classifier takes as input a pair of states as well as the agent's memory. The motivation for this auxiliary loss is that there is a strong correlation with which of a pair of states is more recent in the agents episode trajectory and which of the two states is spatially closer to the agent. Our hypothesis is that learning features to answer this question encourages the agent to learn and internalize in memory representations of states that facilitate spatial reasoning. We tested this auxiliary loss on a navigation task in a gridworld and achieved 9.6% increase in accumulative episode reward compared to a strong baseline approach.


OBJECTIVES
To quantify inequalities in rates of unintentional injury-related hospitalizations between Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children.

METHODS
We used linked hospital and mortality data to construct a retrospective whole-of-population birth cohort including 1,124,717 children born in the state of New South Wales, Australia, between July 1, 2000 and December 31, 2012. We adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of first injury hospitalization for geographic clustering and individual- and area-level factors.

RESULTS
Aboriginal children were 1.6 times more likely than were non-Aboriginal children to be hospitalized for an unintentional injury. The largest inequalities were for poisoning (HR = 2.7; 95% CI = 2.4, 3.0) and injuries stemming from exposure to fire, flames, heat, and hot substances (HR = 2.4; 95% CI = 2.1, 2.7). Adjustment reduced the inequality for all unintentional injury overall (HR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.3, 1.4) and within leading injury mechanisms.

CONCLUSIONS
Australian Aboriginal children suffer a disproportionately high burden of unintentional injury.


This paper examines the probability distribution of the channel idle time in mobile public telephony systems: personal communication systems (PCS) and private mobile radio (PMR). Results are used to predict the time available for data transmission on channels dynamically assigned to voice and data, which usually prioritize voice with preemption. The probability of having to interrupt a data block because the channel is preempted by voice is analytically derived. Several strategies can be used to include the most suitable data block first in silence gaps. Different policies should depend on statistical properties of the gap for a specific system to achieve optimal performance.


Recurring bibliographies are by-products of the MEDLARS system which are prepared by the National Library of Medicine in collaboration with nonprofit scientific and professional societies and institutions and government agencies that represent a specialty area of biomedical research or practice. The sponsor generally assumes responsibility for the costs of publication and distribution. At present MEDLARS has a planned capacity of fifty such recurring bibliographies. The subject parameters and format are defined by the representatives of the sponsoring organization and the NLM Search, MeSH, and Index staffs. As citations are regularly put into the MEDLARS store, each one that qualifies for a recurring bibliography is identified and tagged by the computer with the number assigned to the pertinent RB. The MEDLARS store is searched for citations for a particular recurring bibliography according to the schedule specified by the sponsoring organization, and the output is printed from a GRACE tape.


Drawing upon earlier studies of reforms and institutional changes in higher education, the purpose of this paper is to trace how the understanding of accountability has changed over the past twenty years and how it is understood to have impacted on higher education institutions. We do so by reviewing more than 350 papers and by asking three questions: Who answers to whom? For what are they answering? And how to assess those accountability arrangements? With these three questions as guides, our results indicate that higher education institutions have been undergoing processes of what we term accountabilization. These results contribute to the scholarship on higher education governance by conceptualizing the processes of accountabilization.


'The objective of this project is to determine how environmental contaminants, namely hydrocarbons, can act as hormones or anti-hormones (i.e., environmental hormones) in different species present in aquatic ecosystems. Species of particular focus are those which can serve as sentinel species (e.g., amphibians) and, thus, provide early warning signals for more widespread impacts on an ecosystem and its wildlife and human inhabitants. This reports the progress of 1.5 years of a three-year grant awarded to the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research (CBR). A growing body of evidence suggests that chemicals in the environment can disrupt the endocrine system of animals (i.e., wildlife and humans) and adversely impact the development of these species. Because of the multitude of known endocrine-disrupting chemicals and the numerous industrial and government sectors producing these chemicals, almost every federal agency has initiated research on the endocrine effects of chemicals relevant to their operations. This study represents the Department of Energy (DOE) Basic Energy Sciences'' only research on the impacts of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The activities employed by this project to determine these impacts include development of biotechnology screens (in vitro), animal screens (in vivo), and other analyses of aquatic ecosystem biomarkers of exposure. The results from this study can elucidate how chemicals in the environment, including those from DOE activities, can signal (and alter) the development of a number of species in aquatic ecosystems. These signals can have detrimental impacts not only on an organismal level, but also on community, population, and entire ecosystem levels, including humans.'


Abstact Is Asia Gaining in Global Gravity? China and India as Aspiring Great Powers. According to common wisdom, the economic rise of Asia will bring about a colossal shift in the global distribution of wealth and of power, with the East being on the receiving end of both. In Asia, this is naturally seen as favourable, while some Western countries are concerned – especially the United States. The governments and think tanks of the apprehensive countries argue either for containment or for better integration of the Asian giants into the system of global governance. This article argues that the uninterrupted economic growth of India and China cannot be taken for granted, as long reform agendas still have to be tackled. Furthermore, the rise of these nations will not automatically spur military confl icts between the established powers or produce international security risks in general, as simplistic realist perspectives suggest. Rather, challenges resulting from the ascent of the Asian giants will be more economic in nature, as the development trajectories of China and India are capital and energy intensive, and therefore, only to a limited extent, economically, socially and ecologically sustainable.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore North Korean immigrant elementary students' cognitive and affective characteristics related to science education. A total of 68 North Korean immigrant students enrolled in 3 to 6 grades and 133 South Korean students in 4 and 6 grades in 3 South Korean elementary schools participated in the study. A short version of Group Assessment of Logical Thinking(GALT) was used to investigate the students' levels of logical thinking, and the Enjoyment of Science Lessons Scale(ESLS) of the Test of Science Related Attitudes(TOSRA) was administrated to examine their attitudes towards science lessons. The statistical analysis of data revealed that the level of logical thinking of the North Korean immigrant elementary students was very low and that this was also the case for the South Korean students. Especially, the mean score of logical thinking of the North Korean immigrant 6 graders was much lower when compared with that of the South Korean counterparts. For both the North Korean immigrant students and South Korean students, the enjoyment of science lessons decreased as they progressed through higher grades. This decreasing trend, however, turned out to be more serious in the South Korean elementary students. Based on these results, suggestions were presented to help successful science learning of North Korean immigrant elementary students. Key words : north Korean immigrant student, elementary student, cognitive characteristic, affective characteristic, elementary science education     !


In 2018, a new « Classification of Periodontal and Peri-implant Diseases and Conditions » was adopted by the American Academy of Periodontology and the European Federation of Periodontology. Numerous studies in recent years have improved the understanding of periodontal diseases and their risk factors, leading to an update of the 1999 classification. Among the major changes is the development of a classification of periodontitis into different stages and grades and the notion of periodontal health, an essential prerequisite for orthodontic treatment. Based on the analysis of the 24 published articles, this work provides explanations regarding the main changes that orthodontists may face. The classification of Chicago precisely defines periodontal health and proposes a new system for characterizing periodontitis in stages and grades. It then becomes a valuable aid for the orthodontist in risk detection and periodontal screening. The knowledge of this new classification is essential for reliable communication between dentists, periodontists and orthodontists, in order to guarantee the success of orthodontic treatment.


Non-pathological conjunctival specimens (240) were used for evaluation of Langerhans cell (LC) numbers per square millimeter. Of the 240, 60 were taken from each of four age groups (1-20 years, 21-40 years, 41-60 years, 61 years and older). In each group, 20 came from the bulbar conjunctiva (lateral superior), 20 from the fornix region (central superior), and 20 from the palpebral conjunctiva (central inferior). Quantitative analysis was carried out with the Langerhans-specific anti-CD1a antibody using APAAP method. Additionally, 40 conjunctival specimens were stained with the Tü 36 (all HLA/DR Ag) and the Tü 39 (all HLA/DR, -/DP Ag). A basic decline in the density of LC cells corresponding to advancing age of the tissue donors was found in all three regions studied (< or = 20 years: 4.4 LC/mm2; > 60 years: 1.2 LC/mm2). The largest number of LC (4.7 LC/mm2) was found in the palpebral conjunctiva (central inferior); 3.1 LC/mm2 were found in the fornix (central superior) and 1.0 LC/mm2 in the bulbar conjunctiva (lateral superior). As an antigen-presenting cell, the LC plays an important role in immune reactions in the area of the superficial ocular epithelium. The data gained here can serve as a basis for studies of pathological tissue since, as is known from dermatological research, firm relationships exist between specific inflammatory or tumorous diseases and LC density in the affected organs. Moreover, a direct connection is to be assumed between the success of transplantation and LC density in allogenic conjunctival grafts.


It is often necessary to compose a team consisting of experts with diverse competencies to accomplish complex tasks. However, for its proper functioning, it is also preferable that a team be socially cohesive. A team recommendation system, which facilitates the search for potential team members, can be of great help both for (a) individuals who need to seek out collaborators and for (b) managers who need to build a team for some specific tasks. Such a decision support system that readily helps summarize multiple metrics indicating a team (and its members) quality, and possibly rank the teams in a personalized manner according to the end users' preferences, thus serves as a tool to cope with what would otherwise be an information avalanche. In this work, we present Social Web Application for Team Recommendation, a general‐purpose framework to compose various information retrieval and social graph mining and visualization subsystems together to build a composite team recommendation system, and instantiate it for a case study of academic teams.


Geostatistical simulations, which can reproduce the spatial variability of a variable, are particularly helpful in estimating the uncertainty associated with the combination of different sources of variability. Acoustic surveys offer an example of such complex situations, where different data (e.g. acoustic backscatter, fish length, and fish age) must be combined to estimate abundance and its associated uncertainty. In this paper, the uncertainty of Scottish herring acoustic-survey estimates is investigated using these techniques. A specific multivariate, geostatistical model is used to describe the structural relationships, which includes highly skewed distributions of the acoustic-backscatter data and incorporates relationships between depth, mean length, and proportions-at-age. Conditional simulations, i.e. geostatistical simulations that honour the data values known at the data points, are used to generate multiple realizations of acoustic backscatter, mean length, and proportions-at-age. These are combined to produce multiple realizations of herring density over the sampled domain. Multiple realizations of total abundance and abundance-at-age are then provided. The uncertainty is assessed using basic statistics to track the significant variations of these values over the period 1989–2005. Higher coefficients of variation (CVs) are found on average for extreme ages (ages 1, 2i, 8, and 9+); otherwise, CVs are mostly around 12% for abundance-at-age and around 10% for total abundance.


To achieve the benefits that composite restorations can provide, it is incumbent on dentists to understand the importance of proper finishing and polishing techniques and how to incorporate them appropriately into everyday practice. A smooth surface finish is clinically necessary because the presence of surface irregularities from poor finishing and polishing can lead to staining, plaque retention, gingival irritation, recurrent caries, abrasiveness, wear kinetics, and tactile perception by the patient. However, finishing and polishing procedures for direct composite restorations are technique- and material-sensitive. This article describes the proper composite material placement considerations, as well as finishing and polishing techniques and materials, for providing highly esthetic, long-lasting restorations. By incorporating such protocol into their everyday practices, dentists can increase the long-term esthetic and plaque-resistant predictability of direct composite restorations.


Purpose: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is the leading malignancy of biliary system showing refractory chemoresistance to current first-line drugs. Growing epidemiological evidences have established that the incidence of GBC exhibits significant gender predominance with females 2-3 fold higher than males, suggesting estrogen/estrogen receptors (ERs) signaling might be a critical driver of tumorigenesis in gallbladder. This study aims to evaluate the antitumor activity of tamoxifen (TAM), a major agent of hormonal therapy for breast cancer, in preclinical GBC model.  Experimental

Design: The antitumor activity of TAM alone or with cisplatin was examined using cell viability, apoptosis and in vivo models.

Results: Increased ERɑ expression was found in GBC tissues and predicted poor clinical outcomes. TAM was showed effective against a variety of GBC cell lines. Mechanical investigations revealed that TAM enabled potent reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by reduced nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2(Nrf2) expression and its target genes, leading to the activation of Adenosine Monophosphate Activated Protein Kinase (AMPK), which subsequently induced impaired glycolysis and survival advantages. Moreover, the inhibitory effect of TAM for GBC cells was remarkably attenuated by N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) and AMPK inhibitor, suggesting ROS/AMPK axis was required for TAM tumor-suppressive function. Notably, TAM was demonstrated to sensitize GBC cells to cisplatin (CDDP) both in vitro and in vivo. In agreement with these findings, elimination of estrogens by ovariectomy in nude mice prevented CDDP resistance.

Conclusions: These results provide basis for TAM-mediated chemosensitivity for GBC and shed novel light on the potential application of endocrine therapy for patients with GBC.

Funding Statement: This work was supported by National Science Foundation of China (81472240,81272748 and 81072011),Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (16411952700, 10411955400, and 09411960800), Program for Outstanding Academic Leader of Shanghai (2016, JW)

Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval Statement: The collection and analysis of patient samples were approved by the Ethical Committee of Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and written informed consent was obtained from all patients. All methods and experiments were carried out in accordance with the approved guidelines and regulations.

Animal maintenance and experimental procedures were strictly performed following the guidelines of the Animal Care and Use Committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and approved by IACUC committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University


The school and the institutions of the local community play a complementary role on how the educational system currently works, as well as on its desired transformation. In light of the changes that the pandemic imposes on a structural and regulatory level, it is necessary to reorient reflection and research also on pedagogical models that can facilitate a transformation process already underway before the pandemic and that the current situation brings to the fore. One way could be to favor the contamination between formal knowledge and the repertoire of knowledge and educational practices spread throughout the territory. In this mutual contamination, the role of digital technologies and educational media appears crucial, which will be explored in this contribution by defining, through a taxonomic model, some scenarios on the possible educational initiatives that arise from the alliance between school and territory. These scenarios, in addition to offering solutions to address the risks posed by the pandemic situation, represent an opportunity to innovate the educational system.


In this article, I attempt to answer the famous analyses of Benjamin Constant and Isaiah Berlin that the Classical Athenian Democracy had no conception of negative, individual, freedom. I do this by excavating an Athenian democratic concept of individual liberty from Classical Athenian texts. I go on to show that, whilst this has notable links to the later neo-Classical idea of freedom (excavated by the work of Quentin Skinner and Philip Pettit), there are also a number of important differences. This means that we should perhaps stop arguing over whether there are one, or two, or three, concepts of freedom, but investigate instead (and, then, apply, in contemporary political philosophy) different historical uses of the word `'liberty' (as here), though these, interestingly, might well contain a similar basic meaning (of non-interference).


To the Editor.— We recently encountered a case of paradoxical embolism that may be of interest to readers ofThe Journal. Report of a Case.— A 72-year-old woman was admitted because of upper abdominal pain of two weeks' duration and oliguria of a few days' duration. She was afebrile and normotensive. Both of the patient's lungs were congested, but her heart and abdomen were unremarkable. The laboratory examination disclosed the following values: hemoglobin, 9.5 g/dL; BUN, 86 mg/dL; serum creatinine, 10 mg/dL; and a moderate amount of hematuria and proteinuria. The clinical diagnosis was nephrotic syndrome. Her central venous pressure ranged from 17 to 25 mm H2O. On the second hospital day, while she was prepared for hemodialysis, cardiac arrest developed, and she was successfully resuscitated by closed-chest cardiac massage. She died two hours later. An autopsy showed the microscopic form of periarteritis nodosa of viscera with the


A theoretical analysis of the mechanics of tubular and detubularised bowel bladders is presented. The results are compared with clinical findings following bladder substitution with the tubular ileocaecal and the detubularised urethral Kock reservoir. The theoretical results are consistent with clinical observations showing that detubularisation increases reservoir capacity substantially, delays the onset and reduces the amplitude of the pressure rise produced by contractions. These findings account for the markedly improved nocturnal continence (80 versus 17% at 2 years), the longer voiding intervals (4 versus 2.5 h at 1 year) and the predisposition to urinary retention (25 versus 0% at 1 year) with detubularised bladder substitution. A simple equation is derived to calculate the capacities of both near-spherical and cylindrical reservoirs. The capacity of the U pouch is calculated to be less than that of the W-shaped, S-shaped and Kock reservoirs. Altering the shape of a reservoir from spherical to ellipsoid is calculated to have only a slight effect on its mechanical characteristics. Consequently the essence of detubularisation is to create a reservoir with high capacity, while shape is of secondary importance.


The central idea of supervised classification in chemoinformatics is to design a classifying algorithm that accurately assigns a new molecule to one of a set of predefined classes. Tipping has devised a classifying scheme, the Relevance Vector Machine (RVM), which is in terms of sparsity equivalent to the Support Vector Machine (SVM). However, unlike SVM classifiers, the RVM classifiers are probabilistic in nature, which is crucial in the field of decision making and risk taking. In this work, we investigate the performance of RVM binary classifiers on classifying a subset of the MDDR data set, a standard molecular benchmark data set, into active and inactive compounds. Additionally, we present results that compare the performance of SVM and RVM binary classifiers.


The binding of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) to bovine serum albumin (BSA), and to large BSA fragments obtained after proteolytic hydrolysis, was investigated in order to study the structure of these fragments in relation to the albumin structure itself, and to get information about the PLP binding sites on albumin. From absorbance and circular dichroism spectra, combined with peptide mapping of the tryptic digests of the reduced PLP-protein complexes, it could be concluded that the primary binding site is localized with the NH2-terminal part of the albumin molecule. The COOH-terminal part contains one or more secondary sites. It appeared that in albumin and in the largest NH2-terminal fragment, the environment of the primary binding site is rather apolar in character. However, in the smallest NH2-terminal fragment this site is more exposed to the solvent. This suggests that the part of the peptide chain which is not common in both fragments has a stabilizing effect on the structure around the primary binding site.


The author has been for a longer time making excerpts from church hymns used in Roman Catholic priests' prayers (breviaries) and liturgy, as well as in church songs. The excerpted material relates to (artistic) designations of Mother of God, Christ, Holy Ghost, and the Saints (cf. footnotes in the article). In this way, the article describes the names of persons in the Holy Trinity. The collection is of use as philological documentation, for historical research in European and Polish piety, and as help for preachers, religious instructors, and Christian literary authors.


A convenient one-pot transketalization reaction of bicyclic ketal compound was obtained by using NaI-AcCl in ketone, and a regioselective aldol condensation of bicyclic ketal compound was also made by using NaI-TMSCl in acetonitrile.


. Background: Tooth mobility is a common problem in dentistry and usually occurs due to periodontitis. Mobile tooth can often be treated using dental splinting to avoid extraction. Fiber-reinforced composite is widely used to splint tooth, but it is difficult to be placed neatly and interferes mastication. Nowadays, fiber-reinforced splint is placed using silicone palatal index and planned using wax-up methods. Objective: To illustrate the features and clinical applications of splinting fiber-reinforced composite using silicone palatal index. Case Report: An elderly female with significant bone loss on the maxillary central incisor on left side was treated. A die cast was shaped and contoured using wax-up method to adjust a good occlusion with the opposite tooth. The silicone palatal index was made using clear polyvinyl siloxane above the wax-up. A fiber-reinforced splint was placed on the palatal surface of the maxillary anterior teeth from 11 to 23 using silicone palatal index. Results: The silicone palatal index ensured predictable final contour and the position of fiber splint. This method provided promising results to achieve good occlusion and masticatory comfort. Conclusion: Silicone palatal index represents a useful tool for fiber-reinforced splint on maxillary teeth in periodontally compromised patients. Planned occlusion are necessary to reduce trauma occlusion and risk of breakage.


Nutrition in early life has permanent consequences affecting development and later-life health. In this study we investigated the potential of monosaccharides in the post-weaning diet to program adult metabolic health. Female and male C57BL/6JRccHsd mice were time-mated and fed a low-fat diet ad libitum. Litters were culled to six pups per nest and randomly assigned to foster dams. Mice were weaned onto one of three experimental diets containing 32 energy% as glucose (GLU), fructose (FRU) or an equimolar mixture of glucose and galactose (GAL). At six weeks of age, all mice received the same high-fat diet (HFD). Food intake, body weight, and body composition were measured biweekly. Whole-body metabolism was analysed towards the end of the post-weaning diet and during the last stretch of the high-fat feeding period in GLU and FRU mice. Additionally, an oral glucose tolerance test and a fasting-refeeding challenge as an indicator of metabolic flexibility were performed. At the end of the post-weaning intervention period, no significant differences were found in body weight or lean mass across all dietary groups, and in 24-hour energy expenditure and substrate oxidation between GLU and FRU. At week 15, cumulative food intake, body weight, and fat mass were significantly lower in GAL females compared to GLU females. Glucose tolerance in all groups, and energy expenditure, fuel utilization, and metabolic flexibility between GLU and FRU did not reveal programmed differences in metabolic phenotype. None of the parameters studied indicated long-lasting effects in males. This study provides evidence of the potential of galactose in the post-weaning diet to program a reduction in food intake resulting in lower fat mass during adulthood. Our findings highlight the relevance of carbohydrates as a dietary intervention target for future clinical studies in the field of metabolic programming. Acknowledgements :  Financially supported by NWO-Applied and Technical Sciences grant 13509


Tumor volume is accepted to be a significant prognostic factor for cancers arising in the head and neck regions. There were few studies on laryngeal tumor volume calculations. The purposes of this study were (1) to describe and adapt the relevant methods of computed tomography and stereology to estimate laryngeal tumor volume measured by the Cavalieri method; (2) to examine the possible correlation between tumor size and the number of involved neck lymph nodes in patients with laryngeal malignancies; and (3) to investigate if there is left-right asymmetry for this correlation and the number of involved lymph nodes in bilateral laryngeal malignancies. Fifty-two patients with bilateral laryngeal cancer only from a total of 137 patients with laryngeal cancer who underwent neck dissection during the study period were included in the study. In all cases, neck dissection was part of the treatment of laryngeal cancer. The Cavalieri estimator was used to estimate the tumor volumes on computed tomographic images. The tumor volume increased with the number of involved lymph nodes in the bilateral laryngeal malignancies in both the right and left neck regions. In addition, the volume of the primary lesion and the number of lymph node metastases in the cancer cells in the right neck region were well correlated in patients with laryngeal cancer but not the number of lymph node metastases in the left neck region. Correct, unbiased, reliable volume measurements for staging and therapeutic decision making of laryngeal cancers via the Cavalieri method may be possible.


BACKGROUND
Aiming to evaluate the acquisition of skills on Medical Ethics among medical students from Marilia Medical School, some of them from the small group learning-teaching method, others from traditional teaching method.

METHODS
A prospective analytical study was done based on the application of questionnaires about general themes on Ethics, at two different times.

RESULTS
There weren't significant differences on the skills' acquisition between the two methods. Students from late graduation years showed a significantly better performance than those from early years. The themes that presented worse results were medical secret, legal responsible consent, patient autonomy, medical prescription, medical handbook and corporative feeling in the presence of medical mistake.

CONCLUSION
The most important difference between the groups was not the pedagogical pattern but the exposition time to the theme. PBL gives the chance to distribute the theme in different situations accelerating the acquisition of knowledge in Medical Ethics. It was realized that a revitalization on Medical Ethics teaching is necessary at our institution, aiming a better integration with the socio-economical situation in our country.


Abstract. We constrain the Holocene development of the active Bleis
Marscha rock glacier (Err–Julier area, eastern Swiss Alps) with 15
cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages ( 10 Be, 36 Cl), horizontal surface
creep rate quantification by correlating two orthophotos from 2003 and 2012,
and finite element modeling. We used the latter to separate the control on
surface movement exerted by topography and material properties. Bleis
Marscha is a stack of three overriding lobes whose formation phases are
separated by time gaps expressed morphologically as over-steepened terrain
steps and kinematically as a sharp downslope decrease in surface movement. The
three discrete formation phases appear to be correlated to major Holocene
climate shifts: Early Holocene low-elevation lobes ( ∼8.9 –8.0 ka, after the Younger Dryas), Middle Holocene lobe ( ∼5.2 –4.8 ka, after the Middle Holocene warm period), and Late Holocene
high-elevation lobes (active since ∼2.8  ka, intermittently
coexisting with oscillating Bleis Marscha cirque glacierets). The formation
phases appear to be controlled in the source area by the climate-sensitive
accumulation of an ice-debris mixture in proportions susceptible to rock
glacier creep. The ongoing cohesive movement of the older generations requires
ice at a depth which is possibly as old as its Early–Middle Holocene debris
mantle. Permafrost degradation is attenuated by "thermal filtering" of the
coarse debris boulder mantle and implies that the dynamics of the Bleis
Marscha lobes that once formed persisted over millennia are less sensitive
to climate. The cosmogenic radionuclide inventories of boulders on a moving
rock glacier ideally record time since deposition on the rock glacier root
but are stochastically altered by boulder instabilities and erosional
processes. This work contributes to deciphering the long-term development
and the past to quasi-present climate sensitivity of rock glaciers.


This paper reports on the current status of the PMA-209, Air Combat Electronics (CNS/ATM) team activities. The team has completed the development of the Functional Requirements Documents that convert civil documents prepared by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other Civil Aviation Authorities plans to implement air traffic architecture to meet this need. Our team is taking advantage of emerging technologies in communications, navigation, and surveillance to improve air traffic management. The CNS/ATM requirements for voice, data link, navigation, and surveillance are being met by integration into legacy and new USN/USMC platforms. This paper discuss the issues and program status of the current CNS/ATM efforts for the P-3C, EA-6B, F/A-18 E/F and other platforms; CNS/ATM as it applies to network centric warfare utilizing a digital cockpit for precision strike, common operational picture, improved situational awareness and operational effectiveness. Multiple data links that are required for joint and coalition operations such as Link 16, Mode 5 and CLIP discussed.


An eighteen year old male presented with hemoptysis and superior vena caval syndrome. History and clinical examination revealed a testicular mass which was previously diagnosed as hematocele. Chest x-ray showed a four cm diameter shadow and several smaller shadows. Histological examination of the testicular mass established it as immature teratoma with choriocarcinoma-like lesion (CCLL)--a rare association in testicular tumours. Focal positivity for betaHCG was noted in the testicular tumour. Guided aspiration of the lung showed features of a metastatic non seminomatous germ cell tumour.