Tonic brain activity substantially affects the character of subjects' responsiveness to sensory stimuli. The dynamics of background gamma-band activity in rabbit electroencephalogram was investigated in the active oddball paradigm modified for animal studies. It was shown that increase in the power and coherence of gamma activity reflects the target stimulus expectancy. Correct responses to stimuli occur at a particular level of background gamma activity, which is likely to correspond to the optimal level of sustained (tonic) attention. Decrease in the level of background gamma activity leads to omissions of responses to target stimuli, while it's excessive level results in erroneous responses to nontarget stimuli (false alarms). The observed dynamics of tonic gamma activity can be interpreted as the result of variations in the level of tonic cholinergic activation of the brain cortex.


Complicated spectrotemporal processes are associated with the generation of signal and idler output pulses on a nanosecond timescale in an injection-seeded optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The mechanisms of such spectrotemporal dynamics are revealed by numerical simulation, including innovative modeling of instantaneous-frequency profiles and frequency chirp. These simulations are in satisfactory agreement with optical-heterodyne measurements of output from a nanosecond-pulsed OPO system that is based on periodically poled KTiOPO4, pumped at 532 nm by a Nd:YAG laser and injection-seeded at a signal wavelength of ∼842 nm. Frequency chirp in narrowband signal output pulses from such an OPO system has previously been observed to depend on phase mismatch between the pump, signal, and idler waves, and also on the pump-pulse energy. Our simulations accurately predict this behavior and yield realistic estimates of the frequency chirp, optical bandwidth, and spectral purity of the signal output pulse as it evolves, including effects that are not readily observed directly. This approach provides insight into instrumental conditions that facilitate continuously tunable, single-longitudinal-mode operation of such a pulsed OPO system, with optical bandwidth as close as possible to the Fourier-transform limit.


The background of this research is the understanding of Tantrayana as a madzhab spread across Java, Sumatra and Bali. Although the origin of Tantrayana is from India, this teaching is very strong in Bali and has also succeeded in contributing to the care and preservation of nature. In addition, the environmental problems in Indonesia never end, the teachings of Tantrayana can offer solutions in environmental care. Tantrayana succeeded in making humans obedient and obedient to Together loving nature and the environment. This research offers a critical study of environmental ethics implemented in Tantrayana teachings. This study aims to analyze the form of Tantrayana teachings, describe the forms of environmental ethics contained in Tantrayana teachings and the application of environmental ethics based on Tantrayana teachings in the village of Tapak Siring, Gianyar Bali. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method using data triangulation technique. The results that have been achieved include the arrangement of the Tantrayana rituals that are still being practiced by the Balinese people, the understanding of the teachings of Tantrayana which teaches people to love and preserve nature, and the Tantrayana ceremonies that are still being implemented in Bali. Based on the results of the research that has been done, this research is able to show the concept of Tantrayana teachings that are still applied in Tapak Siring Bali and make the surrounding community highly appreciate the universe. This research also offers the development of further research in order to explore the side of Tantrayana in other areas in Indonesia, because Tantrayana is not only in Bali but also in Java and Sumatra. The other side of Tantrayana is very interesting to discuss and study further because the perspective of Tantrayana is still blurry and negative because of the difficult literary language to understand.


This paper presents the first 4-element base-station antenna that is passively scanned using low-loss RF MEMS phase shifters. The design is based on packaged RF MEMS SPDT switches, which are capable of handling Watts of RF power with high reliability. The results agree very well with simulations and show pattern scanning to 9° with a measured gain of 8.6-8.3 dB at 2 GHz. The array is capable of handling 5-10 W of power with no distortion.


Hemodynamic results after valve replacement surgery are well documented, but there are few follow-up studies on pulmonary function. Pulmonary function and hemodynamic studies were made, preoperatively, in 149 patients with predominant, mitral, aortic or combined mitral and aortic stenosis. A sequential postoperative follow-up of the pulmonary function was performed on 88 patients for as long as 125 wk after valve replacement. All patients had reduced preoperative values for forced vital capacity (FVC), single-breath carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLCO), forced expiratory volume in one second, peak expiratory flow rate, and maximal flow after exhalation of 75, 50, and 25% of FVC, and increased total airway resistance, resistance during expiration, and residual volume. The aortic group tended toward more normal values. There was significant correlation between the pulmonary function parameters and the hemodynamic data. In the early postoperative period (10 wk), deterioration of pulmonary function was significant in the aortic group and variable in the mitral and the combined groups; these responses correlated with preoperative hemodynamic and pulmonary function status. Between 10 to 125 wk, all patients showed progressive improvement, especially among those in the mitral group. Patients who died during or soon after mitral valve replacement were found to have significantly lower FVC and DLCO and significantly higher peripheral vascular resistance and cardiothoracic ratio. It is concluded that deterioration in pulmonary function is correlated to severity of cardiac dysfunction, and is reversible late after surgery, except in very advanced cases that have poor prognosis.


Objectives
Post-Transplant weight gain is associated with poor renal allograft function. Association between pattern of weight gain at different period after kidney transplantation (KTx) especially during late transplantation and renal allograft function is unclear. We aim to address to potential effect of weight changes on renal allograft function.

Methods
Seventy kidney transplant recipients from a single center were stratified into 4 groups based on weight gain (+) and/or weight loss (-) compared to weight at the time of KTx both at 1 and 6 months post-KTx (Gr1 (-, -), Gr2 (-, +), Gr3 (+ , -), Gr4 (+, +)). Decline in renal allograft function defined by dropped in eGFR from baseline eGFR at 1-month post-KTx during 24 months of follow-up in different 4 groups is examined by multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analysis.

Results
Mean ± SD age was 52.66 ± 11.97 years and 59% was male. Mean ± SD body mass index (BMI) at the time of KTx was 27.64 ± 5.64 kg/m2. Distribution of patients in 4 groups of Gr1, 2, 3, and 4 were 34, 36, 10, and 20%, respectively and mean BMI of all 4 groups at the time of KTx were not statistically significant (p 0.0981). Mean weight changes among 4 groups based on weight change both at 1- and 6-month post-KTx were summarized in the Table 1. Baseline renal allograft function with a mean eGFR of 50.86 ± 18.90 ml/min/1.73 m2 were not different among all 4 groups (Table 1). Among 70 patients, 43 patients (61%) had a decline in eGFR between 1 and 24 months post-KTx and contributed to the incidence rate of 0.056 person-months. The number of patients with dropped eGFR in Gr1, 2, 3 and 4 were 14 (58%), 14 (56%), 4 (57%), and 11 (79%) patients, respectively. Compared to Gr1, Gr2 had lower, but Gr 3 and 4 had higher the risk for declining eGFR but no statistical significance (HR(95% CI) :0.84 (0.40-1.76); 1.18 (0.39-3.60); 1.31 (0.60-2.90)). After adjusted for age, gender, race, types of KTx, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and BMI at the time of KTx, the association remains the same. (HR(95% CI) :0.78 (0.34-1.81); 1.66 (0.46-6.04); 1.32 (0.53-3.34)).

Conclusions
Weight loss at very early (1 month) post-KTx appears protective for a decline in renal allograft function during 24 months post-KTx; whereas, weight gain at later time post-KTx (6 months) after initial early weight loss was even associated with better renal allograft outcomes. Factors associated with early post-KTx weight gain may contribute to pathophysiology of poorer renal allograft function.

Funding Sources
None.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


Preliminary studies have shown that bacteriophages PR3 and PR4, originally isolated on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, resemble the lipid-containing phage PM2 in appearance. Their host range extends intergenerically to species carrying drug-resistance plasmids of the P and N compatibility groups. In this paper, the serological identity of the two isolates is established and it is concluded that they are the same virus, but with some differences in growth characteristics. They contain double-stranded DNA and are probably icosahedra (65 nm) with short (47 nm) noncontractile tails. Their sensitivity to chloroform and low buoyant density in CsCl(1.265 g/ml) indicate that they contain lipid which is probably located in the thickened inner layer of the capsid. A study is made of their adsorption efficiencies to sensitive and resistant bacteria, and it is found that, unlike most sex-specific phages, they adsorb directly to the cell surface and not to sex pili. Their host range is shown to include strains harboring a drug-resistance plasmid of the W compatibility group.


Background: Psychological distress is broadly defined as a state of emotional suffering characterized by symptoms of depression and anxiety combined by other somatic symptoms like; insomnia, headaches, and lack of energy that is likely to vary across different areas. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing the prevalence of psychological distress and its' associated factors among nurses in public hospitals, Southwest Ethiopia, 2017/18.Method: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted in public hospitals, Southwest Ethiopia from February 1st, 2018 to April 1st, 2018. The total number of nurses who fulfill the inclusion criteria were enrolled. Data was collected using the predesigned tool like Self-Reporting Questionnaire version 20 (SRQ 20). Data were entered using EPI INFO version 7 and was exported to statistical packages for social science (SPSS) version 21.0 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was employed and odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was used to assess the degree of association between variables. Variables with a P-value of less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant.Result: A total of 282 eligible nurses were enrolled in the study with mean age of 28.71 [SD ±7.047]. The prevalence of psychological distress among nurses was 78(27.7%). Predictor variables like; job title [AOR= 10.13, 95% CI (1.85, 55.41)], work experience [AOR= 4.98, 95% CI (1.59, 15.568)], interaction with staffs [AOR= .305, 95% CI (.117, .796)], fatigue [AOR= 2.54, 95% CI (1.072, 6.02)], social support [AOR= .189, 95% CI (.075, .474)], perfectionism [AOR= 5.697, 95% CI (1.449, 22.39)] and insomnia [AOR= 3.82, 95% CI (1.52, 9.579)] were found to be strong predictor variables for psychological distress.Conclusion: This study revealed that a considerable proportion of nurses had psychological distress. Therefore, strong social support, upgraded working status, and good interaction with staff should be encouraged among nurses working in the health setting to cope up with different stressors.


south central railway was formed on 2 nd october, 1996 as the 9 th zone of the Indian railways. in its forty two years of committed service and path breaking progress, south central railway has grown to a modern system of mass transportation fulfilling the aspirations of the passengers/customers and carved a niche for itself in Indian railways system. on formation of the south central railway, vijayawada division is a part of it. The vijayawada division forms a vital link in the network of Indian railways; it is the threshold to south India and connects east, south west and north. the new system is proposed which is completely computerized. the inspected person is informed through the sms about the schedule of the inspection day before. all the inspection reports, punishment reports are maintained in the database by the higher officials. The inspection information that is about the section, location, time etc are informed to the officer's inbox. proposed system is maintain all inspection details.it is free of time consuming, maintain all records efficiently. Here every officer maintain login. and every one login to their corresponding login and see their schedules and perform their inspections and then send the reports to sr.dso. suppose if any irregularities are there dso will take action on the particular members.


Despite recent advances in efficiency, current methodologies for space structure control design still engage significant human resources for engineering development and routine maintenance. The adaptive neural control (ANC) program is part of an effort to develop neural network based controllers capable of self-optimization, on-line adaptation and autonomous fault detection and control recovery. This development in addition supports the long-term space exploration objectives for which autonomous spacecraft involving self-reliant control systems are a necessity. The ANC program comprises two phases. The first, basic phase focused on the development of efficient and completely autonomous neural network feedforward control for the case of broadband disturbances. Algorithms were developed that work with no prior modeling information about the system to be controlled and adapt to changing conditions, while minimizing or eliminating the introduction of extraneous training signals. The algorithms were demonstrated experimentally on an optical structure testbed at Harris. The second phase of the program demonstrated a more complex neural controller on the advanced space structures technology research experiments (ASTREX) test facility at the Air Force Research Laboratory capable of the fault-tolerant adaptive control of multiple sensors and actuators. This system used six actuation channels of the existing ACESA struts on the ASTREX structure to simultaneously cancel three independent tonal disturbances in the 10-15 Hz band, measured at non-collocated sensors on the secondary tower of the structure. The system demonstrated impressive fault-recovery performance, maintaining good cancellation performance with successive actuators disabled. Cancellation of individual tones was between 25 and 55 dB, with over 27 dB attenuation realized root mean square. The algorithm required very low computational throughput, operating at a sample rate of 1/20 Hz. The results of the ANC program show that adaptive cancellation systems can reduce vibrations in precision structures without prior modeling information and can adapt successfully to certain failures in actuators or sensors, optimally reconfiguring themselves without human intervention. These capabilities should significantly reduce the expense of designing and maintaining vibration control systems for spacecraft.


Pakistan is a densely populated country with major rural urban disparity in healthcare delivery. Use of Information Technology to improve the efficiency of existing healthcare services of Pakistan in the form of Telemedicine has proved its role beyond any doubts. Its advantages include better utilization of healthcare resources, early intervention, provision of expert advice at remote sites and distance education. Telemedicine/E-Health training center at Holy Family Hospital has played the pioneering role in implementation of National Telemedicine initiatives and enhancing Human Resources component in the field by structured Training programs. Another initiative at the center is establishment of Virtual Trainer Lab (VTL) to improve Minimal Access Surgery (MAS) skills of the Post Graduate Trainees and young surgeons. MAS is an emerging technique in surgery which reduces post operative complications and has a better patient outcome. Shifting from traditional OPEN SURGERY to MAS needs training and orientation to this new technology. Training of these skills in operation theaters is not safe for patients. VTL is equipped with advance training tools like box trainers, virtual realty simulators and full procedural simulators to train young surgeons in those skills without harming the patient. This Lab is a way to fast and safe skill acquisition in controlled environment.


Hemodialysis patients are exposed to large volumes of water in the form of dialysate. Contaminants from the dialysate may cross the dialyzer membrane into the blood and have the potential to compromise the adequacy of dialysis. Several chemicals found commonly in drinking water have long been known to be toxic to hemodialysis patients. More recently, it has become apparent that even low levels of bacterial products in dialysate may adversely impact dialysis adequacy through their ability to stimulate an inflammatory response. Minimum levels of water and dialysate quality have been recommended to protect patients from chemical and microbiologic contaminants. Complying with these recommendations requires an appropriately designed water purification and distribution system, combined with a surveillance program designed to maintain dialysate quality. Semin Nephrol 25:102-111 © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Background: Obesity is a challenging health problem in gynecologic surgery. Laparoscopic has the potential advantages than abdominal hysterectomy of being quicker, efficient with low estimated blood loss. Aim of the work: To compare the safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic and abdominal hysterectomy for benign conditions in obese patients. Patients and methods: Sixty patients were submitted to history taking, clinical examination, Lab investigations, abdominal ultrasound and biopsy for suspicious pathology. Patients divided into two equal groups. The first for total laparoscopic hysterectomy and the second for trans-abdominal hysterectomy. Patients were followed-up for six months after surgery. Data collected include operative time, amount of blood loss, complications and duration of hospital stay. Results: BMI was significantly higher among open when compared to laparoscopic group [43.69±3.86 vs 34.5±4.02 respectively], and low parity and low cesarean deliveries were significantly increased in laparoscopic group. The highest indication of hysterectomy in laparoscopic group was adenomyosis [43.3%] followed by fibroid [30.0%], while in open group, the most common indication was fibroid [53.3%] followed by adenomyosis [26.7%]. Operative time showed significant decrease in laparoscopic when compared to open hysterectomy groups [56.23±21.5 vs 78.87±8.22 minutes respectively] and blood loss was significantly decreased among laparoscopic group. Finally, the length of hospital stay was significantly decreased in laparoscopic when compared to open groups [the median was 10 versus 24 hours respectively]. Conclusion: Laparoscopic hysterectomy is superior to abdominal hysterectomy in obese females with benign conditions in terms of safety and efficacy.


In the design of power amplifiers, it is necessary to model the transistor behaviour at high compression levels and accurately predict load-pull power and efficiency contours as well as harmonics. For this purpose, nonlinear behavioural model approaches have been successfully used, like Cardiff model. In this paper, a systematic study is presented on the complexity required for the Cardiff model to achieve a given precision when targeting different load-pull contour design requirements for a GaN HFET. The study has been performed through simulation and measurements and is aimed at providing a systematic approach to aid in the extraction of accurate and efficient Cardiff behavioural models.


Code Review Automation can reduce human efforts during code review by automatically providing valuable information to reviewers. Nevertheless, it is a challenge to automate the process for large-scale companies, such as Samsung Electronics, due to their complexity: various development environments, frequent review requests, huge size of software, and diverse process among the teams. In this work, we show how we automated the code review process for those intricate environments, and share some lessons learned during two years of operation. Our unified code review automation system, Code Review Bot, is designed to process review requests holistically regardless of such environments, and checks various quality-assurance items such as potential defects in the code, coding style, test coverage, and open source license violations. Some key findings include: 1) about 60% of issues found by Code Review Bot were reviewed and fixed in advance of product releases, 2) more than 70% of developers gave positive feedback about the system, 3) developers rapidly and actively responded to reviews, and 4) the automation did not much affect the amount or the frequency of human code reviews compared to the internal policy to encourage code review activities. Our findings provide practical evidence that automating code review helps assure software quality.


Blood pressure (BP)-lowering therapy improves left ventricular (LV) parameters of hypertensive target-organ damage in stage II hypertension, but whether there is a drug-class difference in echocardiographic parameters in stage I hypertension patients is less often studied. In the PREVER treatment study, where individuals with stage I hypertension were randomized for treatment with diuretics (chlorthalidone/amiloride) or losartan, 110 participants accepted to participate in a sub-study, where two-dimensional echocardiograms were performed at baseline and after 18 months of antihypertensive treatment. As in the general study, systolic BP reduction was similar with diuretics or with losartan. Echocardiographic parameters showed small but significant changes in both treatment groups, with a favorable LV remodeling with antihypertensive treatment for 18 months when target blood pressure was achieved either with chlorthalidone/amiloride or with losartan as the initial treatment strategy. In conclusion, even in stage I hypertension, blood pressure reduction is associated with improvement in echocardiographic parameters, either with diuretics or losartan as first-drug regimens.


Data Mining plays a key role in Crime Analysis. There are many different algorithms mentioned in previous research papers, among them are the virtual identifier, pruning strategy, support vector machines, and apriori algorithms. VID is to find relation between record and vid. The apriori algorithm helps the fuzzy association rules algorithm and it takes around six hundred seconds to detect a mail bomb attack. In this research paper, we identified Crime mapping analysis based on KNN (K – Nearest Neighbor) and ANN (Artificial Neural Network) algorithms to simplify this process. Crime Mapping is conducted and Funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). Evidence based research helps in analyzing the crimes. We calculate the crime rate based on the previous data using data mining techniques. Crime Analysis uses quantitative and qualitative data in combination with analytic techniques in resolving the cases. For public safety purposes, the crime mapping is an essential research area to concentrate on. We can identity the most frequently crime occurring zones with the help of data mining techniques. In Crime Analysis Mapping, we follow the following steps in order to reduce the crime rate: 1) Collect crime data 2) Group data 3) Clustering 4) Forecasting the data. Crime Analysis with crime mapping helps in understanding the concepts and practice of Crime Analysis in assisting police and helps in reduction and prevention of crimes and crime disorders.


The indications and contraindications for use of intrasynovial steroid therapy are discussed. When properly used, the intrasynovial injection of steroids is a valuable method of treatment.


Several UN Member States that have contributed military members to UN peacekeeping operations have failed to hold them accountable for alleged criminal misconduct. The Secretary-General has proposed to secure criminal accountability through naming and shaming troop contributing Countries. Though already a compromise, uncertainty remains as to whether the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, composed of all the troop contributing Countries, will approve of this policy.


Mutations in RNA-binding proteins localized in ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules, such as hnRNP A1 and TDP-43, promote aberrant protein aggregations, which are pathological hallmarks in neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Protein posttranslational modifications (PTMs) are known to regulate RNP granules. In this study, we investigate the function of PARylation, an important PTM involved in DNA damage repair and cell death, in RNP-related neurodegeneration. We reveal that PARylation levels are a major regulator of the dynamic assembly-disassembly of RNP granules, and the disease-related RNPs such as hnRNP A1 and TDP-43 can both be PARylated and bind to PARylated proteins. We further identify the PARylation site of hnRNP A1 at K298, which controls the cytoplasmic translocation of hnRNP A1 in response to stress, as well as the PAR-binding motif (PBM) of hnRNP A1, which is required for the delivery and association of hnRNP A1 to stress granules. Moreover, we show that PAR not only dramatically enhances the liquid-liquid phase separation of hnRNP A1, but also promotes the co-phase separation of hnRNP A1 and TDP-43 in vitro and their interaction in vivo. Finally, we establish that both genetic and pharmacological inhibition of PARP mitigates hnRNP A1 and TDP-43-mediated neurotoxicity in cell and Drosophila models of ALS. Together, our findings indicate a novel and crucial role of PARylation in regulating the assembly and the dynamics of RNP granules, and dysregulation of PARylation may contribute to ALS disease pathogenesis.


Saltstone is the waste treatment and disposal concept for low-level defense waste at the Savannah River Plant. The waste is a sodium salt solution which has about 230 ..mu..CiL in addition to the hazardous characteristics of corrosivity and metal toxicity (Cr/sup +6/ > 100 ppM). Two EPA test procedures are routinely used at SRP to evaluate metal toxicity of wastes and wasteforms. 1) the Extraction Procedure (EP); and 2) the Toxicity Characterization Leaching Procedure (TCLP). The EP test is required by SCDHEC and EPA. The TCLP is used to evaluate the effect of increased surface area on metal leaching from the various SRP wasteforms. EP and TCLP test results are presented for two types of wasteforms, a cement-based saltstone and for a slag-based saltstone. The slag saltstone chemically stabilizes and also physically entraps the chromium. For waste solutions with low to intermediate metal concentrations (up to 5000 ppM), the TCLP extracts typically have lower metal values than the EP extracts. This is attributed to the faster neutralization of the acetic acid by the crushed TCLP sample. Crushing increases surface area and consequently releases more alkalinity from the wasteform matrix and the wasteform pore solution. Metal concentrations in the EP andmore » TCLP extracts are proportional to the concentrations of metals in the pore solution for both the cement or slag-based wasteforms. The pore solution concentrations for cement wasteforms are directly related to the soluble metal concentration in the waste. The metal concentration in the slag wasteform pore solutions are significantly lower than the waste because these metals are reduced lower valences and precipitated as insoluble solid phases. 3 refs., 3 figs., 5 tabs.« less


Abstract Two Dutch studies formed the foundation and the best available evidence for the practice of youth medical gender transition. We demonstrate that this work is methodologically flawed and should have never been used in medical settings as justification to scale this "innovative clinical practice." Three methodological biases undermine the research: (1) subject selection assured that only the most successful cases were included in the results; (2) the finding that "resolution of gender dysphoria" was due to the reversal of the questionnaire employed; (3) concomitant psychotherapy made it impossible to separate the effects of this intervention from those of hormones and surgery. We discuss the significant risk of harm that the Dutch research exposed, as well as the lack of applicability of the Dutch protocol to the currently escalating incidence of adolescent-onset, non-binary, psychiatrically challenged youth, who are preponderantly natal females. "Spin" problems—the tendency to present weak or negative results as certain and positive—continue to plague reports that originate from clinics that are actively administering hormonal and surgical interventions to youth. It is time for gender medicine to pay attention to the published objective systematic reviews and to the outcome uncertainties and definable potential harms to these vulnerable youth.


Objectives: The first artificial cerebrospinal fluids (ACSFs), Elliot's solutions A and B, were first reported in 1949.
In 1974, we developed an ACSF, ACSF trial product No. 1, and have safely used and developed this ACSF since
then (No.1 to No.19). In parallel with this, after performing basic experiments and clinical trials, we obtained marketing
approval for a commercially available ACSF (ARTCEREB) from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare
in 2008. We now present the results of those basic experiments and clinical studies, including the phase II and III trials
on ARTCEREB, with special reference to its safety and efficacy.
Methods: The composition and properties of ARTCEREB are as the same as human CSF, excluding the Clconcentration.
Experiments with rats: the significance of bicarbonate in ACSF, and the influence and cytotoxicity
of ARTCEREB, lactated Ringer's solution, and normal saline were assessed in cultured brain cells derived from rat
fetuses by examining mitochondrial activity and morphological changes. In rats with brain injury, we examined the
influence of these three irrigation and perfusion fluids on edema, vascular permeability, and mitochondrial activity.
Clinical trials: we performed the phase II and III clinical trials on 157 patients in 17 institutions from 2002 through 2005.
Results: Experiments with rats: the morphological changes observed in the ARTCEREB-treated group were
less than in the other two groups. Mitochondrial activity was higher in the ARTCEREB group than observed for the
other two solutions. Mitochondrial activity in the ARTCEREB, lactated Ringer's solution, and normal saline groups
was approximately10%, 50%, and 70%, respectively, lower than observed in intact cultured brain cells. There was
a significant reduction of edema and vascular permeability at the injured site in the ARTCEREB group compared to
the other two groups. Mitochondrial activity was significantly higher in the ARTCEREB group than in the other two
groups, indicating the lower cytotoxicity of ARTCEREB. Clinical trials: the only adverse effects associated with the use
of ARTCEREB were a slightly increased temperature in two patients and decreased alkaline phosphatase activity in
two patients, indicating the safety and efficacy of ARTCEREB.
Conclusions: In the present study, basic experiments on cultured brain cells derived from rat fetuses and in the
injured rat brain, combined with phase II and III clinical trials demonstrated the safety and efficacy of ARTCEREB


Abstract Fasting Ramadan, in which Muslims abstain from specific habits and behaviors from dawn to sunset, is one of the five Pillars of Islam. While there are several exemptions from fasting, many Muslim patients with acute or chronic medical conditions still choose to fast, which may adversely affect their health if not addressed properly. Some patients may not be well educated about the effects of some medical treatments and procedures on the validity of their fast, which can unnecessarily lead to suboptimal management of their conditions or treatment nonadherence. Since spirituality, religiosity, and personal beliefs affect patients' health behaviors and adherence to treatments, health-care providers need to learn how fasting Ramadan can affect the health of their Muslim patients, especially those with chronic medical conditions, and how to help them achieve safe fasting. This article aims to provide an overview of the main topics that primary care physicians may need to know in order to improve their cultural competence when caring for their fasting Muslim patients.


Extends the current exception to prohibitions against commerce in lottery material (allowing such commerce within a State with respect to a State-conducted lottery) to include the exportation of lottery material to a foreign country for use in a lottery authorized by such country.


Witnesses are routinely interviewed as part of police investigations in order to obtain a description of the offender. This description can take the form of a verbal, written statement or a visual statement that can consist of a facial composite. This thesis investigated the construction of facial composites and explored a variety of techniques aimed at improving the accuracy of the likeness produced.

A survey of E-FIT operators in the UK was used to identify a variety of techniques which had the potential to affect the accuracy of the composite produced. The three most promising techniques were the use of an initial interview prior to composite construction, working through a list of facial descriptors with the witness prior to construction and instructing the witness to image the face of the offender during construction. The utility of these techniques was tested in two experiments conducted using trained police personnel. The results of these experiments showed that neither prior interviewing or use of facial descriptors appeared to affect the accuracy of the composites produced but that composites produced by witnesses instructed to image were identified less often than when no such instruction was employed.

The negative effect of imaging during composite construction was explored in two further experiments by separating the instruction to image from seeing a facial composite, which revealed that imaging a face negatively affected recognition performance but that seeing a composite of a face had no effect on recognition. The results are considered in light of previous psychological research and theory and their potential impact on police procedures.


The following is a preliminary report of an experiment which the author has been conducting since 1929, intended to throw light on the nature of the dominance observed in certain well-marked breed characteristics in domestic poultry. The experiment is not yet completed. Consequently, while there are some results which scarcely admit of doubt, there are others on which I should not choose at present to speak with confidence. The resolution of questions at present doubtful, as well as the full confirmation of conclusions which may already fairly be drawn, will require, and should be possible in, two further years' experimentation. The present paper is therefore confined to those factors for which the situation seems to be already elucidated. I propose to defer discussion of the four factors responsible for feathered feet, pile or " dominant white " plumage, rose comb, and black internal pigment, and to give detailed data at present only for the three factors responsible for crest, polydactyly, and barred plumage.


Some methods to determine the local weight distribution of binary linear codes are presented. Two approaches are studied: A computational approach and a theoretical approach. For the computational approach, an algorithm for computing the local weight distribution of codes using the automorphism group of the codes is devised. In this algorithm, a code is considered the set of cosets of a subcode, and the set of cosets is partitioned into equivalence classes. Thus, only the weight distributions of zero neighbors for each representative coset of equivalence classes are computed. For the theoretical approach, relations between the local weight distribution of a code, its extended code, and its even weight subcode are studied. As a result, the local weight distributions of some of the extended primitive Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghen (BCH) codes, Reed-Muller codes, primitive BCH codes, punctured Reed-Muller codes, and even weight subcodes of primitive BCH codes and punctured Reed-Muller codes are determined


The research presented in this thesis focuses on boundary layer separation and, more specifically, on the related physical mechanisms, such as laminar to turbulent transition, with a vision towards effective separation control. The work is divided in three parts, each corresponding to a different separation scenario. The supporting data is experimental, obtained by means of particle image velocimetry. The first and major part regards the phenomenon of laminar separation bubbles. The spatial and temporal response characteristics of a flat plate laminar separation bubble to impulsive forcing are first investigated in order to shed light on the processes of flapping and bursting. The impulsive disturbance is introduced twodimensionally with a dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator. The disturbance develops into a wave packet that causes rapid shrinkage of the bubble in both upstream and downstream directions. This is followed by bubble bursting, during which the bubble elongates significantly, while vortex shedding strength in the aft portion of the bubble is reduced. Duration of the recovery of the bubble to its unperturbed state is independent of the forcing amplitude. At the same time, linear stability analysis shows that the growth rate and the frequency of the most unstable mode decreases for increasing forcing amplitude. Throughout recovery, growth rates are directly proportional to the shape factor, indicating that bursting and flapping mechanisms are driven by altered stability characteristics due to variations in incoming disturbances. It is found that the stability of the flow changes only when disturbances interact with the shear layer breakdown and reattachment processes, supporting the notion of a closed feedback loop.


The potential use of amino acids by ruminal microorganisms converting them into microbial protein for ruminants makes it challenging to supplement these nutrients in an accessible form in animals' diets. Several strategies to protect amino acids from ruminal degradation were reported, producing amino acids available for the protein used in the intestine called "bypass." The intercalation of biomolecules in clay mineral minerals has gained notoriety due to its ability to support, protect, transport, physicochemical properties and non-toxicity. This study aimed to investigate the incorporation of L-lysine (Lys), L-methionine (Met), and L-tryptophan (Trp) amino acids in the clay minerals sepiolite (Sep) and Veegum® (Veg) using the adsorption method. The characterization techniques of X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy indicated the presence of biomolecules in the inorganic matrices. Elemental and thermal analyzes monitored the percentages of incorporated amino acids. They showed better incorporation capacities for Veg, such as Met-Veg < Lys-Veg < Trp-Veg and Lys-Sep < Met-Sep < Trp-Sep for sepiolite, except for the incorporation of Met. Matrices provide a promising alternative for planning the administration of biomolecules, using essential amino acids as models, and may offer an alternative to improve functional diet strategies.


The paper studies the role of information in cross-market trading by using Shanghai/Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect Program as a novel laboratory. With a complete history of daily stock-level holdings of all international (northbound) investors, we find that weekly changes in northbound shareholdings (CNS) have a cross-sectional predictive power for A-share returns. A long-short strategy based on CNS earns an excess return of 0.45% per week. We present evidence that northbound investors are well informed about firm fundamentals, especially for firms with higher global exposure. Besides, private information is incorporated into CNS by mainland insiders who take advantage of regulatory arbitrage by \homemade" foreign trading. Attention-induced Copycats further confirm the informativeness of international participants in China. Our findings suggest the value of information possessed by newly introduced investors as well as the importance of international cooperative regulation during market liberalization.


Depending on the nature of the actual physical system and the purpose of the simulation, the definitions of modeling and simulation will vary. Simulation is a technique that involves setting up a model of a real simulation and performing experiments on the model. This paper deals with simulating and modeling electromagnetic fields in Macsyma environment. Computers have traditionally been used to solve scientific problems that could be expressed in terms of numbers. The programming languages FORTRAN, C, C* or JAVA assist scientists in dealing with numeric problems. This approach to problem solving works well, when a problem can easily expressed in terms of calculations with numbers. But there are some problems which can be expressed best in symbolic terms, or can only be expressed that way. Such solutions are very useful for interpretation of results. In this work; Maxwell's equations, Laplace equations, Wave equations, and Rectangular waveguides will be examined in several coordinate systems.


Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays an important role in lung cell proliferation. Dimerization of EGFR family members and other receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) act as a vital controller for lung cell life cycle signals. Mutations in the kinase domain of EGFR may disorder the signaling networks and lead to cancer. Drug resistance occurs in several generations of EGFR drugs due to genetic mutations, and there is a very less understanding about the mechanism of EGFR-mutated drug resistance. In this work, we investigate the mechanism of wild type EGFR protein and its drug-sensitive and drug-resistant mutations. We performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for the 10-ns EGFR-drug mutant complex and investigated the structures' geometrical properties. With features extracted by alpha shape modeling, different geometrical properties, such as matching rates of atom solid angles at interaction sites and centroid distances between interfacial atoms, were calculated to characterize the binding intensity. Wilcoxon rank sum test was applied to reveal the differences between mutations based on extracted properties. We have developed a framework that explains the drug resistance mechanism based on geometrical properties and binding free energy. Results revealed that drug-sensitive mutants have tighter interactions with corresponding RTK in the complex for all protein-drug systems, while drug-resistant mutants are bound looser. The extracted geometrical properties of the drug mutant complex help understand the drug response mechanism at atomic level.


To establish the role of co-overexpression of bcl-2 and c-myc protooncogenes in uterine cervix carcinogenesis, we examined 138 tissue samples of low grade cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL), high grade SIL, portio vaginalis uteri (PVU) carcinoma in situ and PVU invasive carcinoma, stage IA-IIA (study group) and 36 samples without SIL or malignancy (control group). The expression of bcl-2 and c-myc was detected immunohistochemically using a monoclonal antibody. Fisher's exact test (P<0.05) was used to assess statistical significance. Overexpression of bcl-2 was found to increase in direct relation to the grade of the cervical lesions. High sensitivity was of great diagnostic significance for the detection of these types of changes in the uterine cervix. On the basis of high predictive values it can be said that in patients with bcl-2 overexpression there is a great possibility that they have premalignant or malignant changes in the uterine cervix. Co-overexpression of bcl-2 and c-myc oncogenes was found only in patients with PVU invasive carcinoma (6/26-23.0%). Statistically significant difference was not found in the frequency of co-overexpression in patients with PVU invasive carcinoma in relation to the control group (Fisher's test; P=0.064). The method's sensitivity of determining these oncogenes with the aim of detecting PVU invasive carcinoma was 23%, while specificity was 72.2%. On the basis of high predictive values (100%), speaking in statistical terms, it can be concluded that all patients with co-overexpression of bcl-2 and c-myc oncogenes will have PVU invasive carcinoma. We confirmed in our research that co-overexpression of bcl-2 and c-myc oncogenes was increased only in PVU invasive carcinoma. However, a more extensive series of samples and additional tests are required to establish the prognostic significance of bcl-2 and c-myc co-overexpression in cervical carcinogenesis.


BACKGROUND
Topical anaesthetics are important to provide pain control at dental injection.

AIM
The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of the intraoral topical anaesthetics lidocaine 20% patch (DentiPatch) and lidocaine 5% gel.

DESIGN
The randomized unblinded cross-over study included 31 patients (ten boys, 21 girls) aged 13.5 +/- 2.5 years. Application of lidocaine patch or gel was randomly used at first and second visit in the upper premolar region. Heart rate was measured before and at each needle insertion after 2.5, 5, and 15 min and at injection after 15 min. Discomfort and pain were expressed in visual analogue scales (VAS). Paired t-test and Mann-Whitney U-test were used for statistic analyses.

RESULTS
Heart rate at buccal injection decreased more when the patch was used (P = 0.0149). Heart rate was lower at the second visit (P = 0.0287). Patients expressed less discomfort when the patch was used on both buccal (P = 0.0150) and palatal (P = 0.0391) site. Boys had lower heart rate and VAS pain scale ratings than girls.

CONCLUSIONS
Good pain control can reduce the patients' anxiety level--expressed in heart rate--at the second appointment. The patch and gel seem to provide similar pain reduction at needle stick and injection of local anaesthetics.


Synthetic ligands capable of recognizing the specific DNA sequences inside human mitochondria and modulating gene transcription are in increasing demand because of the surge in evidence linking mitochondrial genome and diseases. In the work described herein, we created a new type of mitochondria-specific synthetic ligand, termed MITO-PIPs, by conjugating a mitochondria-penetrating peptide with pyrrole-imidazole polyamides (PIPs). The designed MITO-PIPs showed specific localization inside mitochondria in HeLa cells and recognized the target DNA in a sequence-specific manner. Furthermore, MITO-PIPs that inhibit the binding of mitochondrial transcription factor A to the light-strand promoter (LSP) also triggered targeted transcriptional suppression. The tunability of PIPs' properties suggests the potential of the MITO-PIPs as potent modulators of not only mitochondrial gene transcription but also its DNA mutations.


Objective. To study the main causes of maternal mortality and to determine the role of obstetrical pathologies based on the findings of pathoanatomical autopsies. Materials and methods. The study included 42 autopsy findings, we studied medical documentation, autopsy records of deceased pregnant and parturient women. The most common causes of mortality (n = 29), according to the latest revision of ICD-10, were analyzed in detail. The general clinical and morphological examination was performed. Results. In Moscow, more than half of cases in the structure of maternal mortality refer to obstetrical pathologies. The most significant role belongs to preeclampsia and eclampsia (28.6%), they are in most cases characterised by an atypical clinical course and a specific pathomorphological picture. The second place is taken by massive pulmonary embolism (9.5%), the third place belongs to maternal shock during labour (7%) and the fourth place is shared by intrapartum infection (obstetrical sepsis), complications associated with obstetrical operative intervention and procedures, postpartum cerebral venous thrombosis, amniotic fluid embolism, postpartum cardiomyopathy (4.8%). Conclusion. The leading position in the structure of maternal mortality due to obstetrical causes belongs to preeclampsia and eclampsia. This pathology requires a complex approach to diagnosis and treatment, and postmortem verification of diagnosis should be confirmed by morphological examination with the use of immunohistochemical reactions. Key words: maternal mortality, obstetric pathology, preeclampsia and eclampsia, pulmonary embolism, maternal shock, obstetrical sepsis


Chemical signals play an important role in Microcebus murinus Miller, 1777 social communication, a representative species of prosimians. It presents the major and vomeronasal olfactory systems and uses mainly urine for chemical marking. I studied the effect of females' urine on the behavior of 14 males in 3 group conditions: intact, vomeronasalectomized (VNx) and bulbectomized (Bx). Stimuli presented were pro-estrus female's urine, post-estrus female's urine, distilled water and female's presence. The groups were submitted to two phases: familiarization in the cage (3 days), and experimental stage (4 days) when each stimulus was presented for 30 min once a day. Results showed that intact males could discriminate different chemical stimuli; VNx males continued to discriminate stimuli using the major olfactory system but not as efficiently as intact animals; Bx animals did not perform any olfactory discrimination. The reduction in olfactory discrimination by VNx and Bx males may have been due to a central action of bulb activity.


LiF-UF 4 is a key binary system for molten fl uoride reactor technology, which has not been scrutinized as thor- oughly as the closely related LiF-ThF 4 system. The phase diagram equilibria in the system LiF-UF 4 are explored in this work with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The short-range ordering in the molten salt solution is moreover surveyed with Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure spectroscopy (EXAFS) and interpreted using a combination of standard fi tting of the EXAFS data and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations with a Polarizable Ion Model (PIM) potential. The density, excess molar volume, thermal expansion, heat capacity, and enthalpy of mixing are extracted from the MD simulations across a range of temper- aturesandcompositions;thebehaviorisnon-ideal,withreasonablygoodagreementwiththeexperimentaldata. Also calculated is the distribution of heteropolyanions in the liquid solution, and modelled using the quasi-chemical formalism in the quadruplet approximation taking into account the existence of the single-shell complexes [UF 7 ] 3 − , [UF 8 ] 4 − , and the dimeric species [U 2 F 14 ] 6 − . Subjecting the optimization of the excess Gibbs energy parameters of the liquid solution to the constraints of the phase diagram data and local structure of the melt as derived from the EXAFS and coupled MD simulations, a CALPHAD-type assessment is proposed, linking structural and thermodynamic properties, with a rigorous physical description of the melt.


Purpose: The speech intelligibility index (SII) represents the contribution of audible speech information within given frequency bands to speech intelligibility. Generally, speech intelligibility performance depends on the gender of the speaker. The purpose of this study was to compare how a speaker's gender affects band-importance functions (BIFs) and absolute transfer functions (ATFs), which are important components of the SII. Methods: This study consisted of 78 subjects. The SII data for male speakers was obtained from a previous study. The SII data for female speakers was obtained using the same procedure as the previous study. Hearing-In-Noise Test sentences were used as stimuli. Intelligibility scores were measured in 42 filters at 5 signal-to-noise ratios. The BIFs and ATFs were derived using a nonlinear optimization procedure, and then the BIFs and ATFs of the different genders were compared. Results: The BIF and ATF of different genders have different characteristics. In the case of the BIF, the gap between the different genders ranged between 0.2% (1,170 Hz) and 4.0% (8,500 Hz) depending on the frequency band. In the case of the ATF, the female speakers' ATF was steeper than the male speakers' ATF. Conclusion: The results of the current study indicate that gender can be an important factor for predicting intelligibility. Female speakers' speech seems particularly more intelligible than male speakers' speech when measured at the same audibility levels in Korean SII modeling.


. Measurements of column averaged, dry air mole fraction of CO 2 (termed XCO 2 ) from the Orbiting Carbon Obersvatory-2 (OCO-2) contain systematic errors and regional scale biases; often induced by forward model error or nonlinearity in the retrieval. Operationally, these biases are corrected for by a multiple linear regression model fit to co-retrieved variables that are highly correlate with XCO 2 error. The operational bias correction is fit in tandem with a hand-tuned quality filter which 15 limits error variance and reduces the regime of interaction between state variables and error to one that is largely linear. While the operational correction and filter are successful in reducing biases in retrievals, they do not allow for throughput or correction of data in which biases become nonlinear in predictors or features. In this paper, we demonstrate a clear improvement in the reduction of error variance over the operational method using a robust data driven, non-linear method. We further illustrate how the operational quality filter can be relaxed when used in conjunction with a non-linear bias correction, 20 which allows for an increase of sounding throughput by 16% while maintaining the residual error of the operational correction. The method can readily be applied to future ACOS algorithm updates, OCO-2's companion instrument OCO-3, and to other retrieved atmospheric state variables of interest.


A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile and coccoid-, ovoid- or rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated SSKS-13T, was isolated from sediment sampled at the junction between the ocean and a freshwater spring at Jeju island, Republic of Korea. Strain SSKS-13T grew optimally at 37 °C and in the presence of 2.0 % (w/v) NaCl. A neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain SSKS-13T fell within the clade comprising the type strains of Altererythrobacter species, clustering with the type strains of Altererythrobacter lauratis, Altererythrobacter palmitatis and Altererythrobacter buctensis having 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 97.2-97.6 %. Strain SSKS-13T exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of less than 97.0 % to the type strains of the other recognized species. Strain SSKS-13T contained Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone and C18 : 1 ω7c as the major fatty acid. The major polar lipids detected in strain SSKS-13T were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and sphingoglycolipid. The DNA G+C content of strain SSKS-13T was 64.6 mol%. The mean DNA-DNA relatedness values of strain SSKS-13T with the type strains of A. lauratis, A. palmitatis and A. buctensis were 11.7-25.3 %. Differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic and genetic data, proved that strain SSKS-13T is distinct from recognized Altererythrobacter species. On the basis of the data presented here, strain SSKS-13T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Altererythrobacter, for which the name Altererythrobacter aquimixticola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SSKS-13T (=KACC 19863T=KCTC 62900T=NBRC 113545T).


The combination of TiO₂ and chitosan is known to allow the achievement of implantable devices which combines the mechanical properties of TiO₂, with the presence of chitosan, which ensures antibacterial properties combined with an in-situ drug-delivery of biomolecules physisorbed and/or covalently linked to chitosan. In this study, 5-aminofluorescein (5-AF), a derivative of fluorescein containing a primary amino group, has been used as model molecule to simulate a drug. This dye is characterized by low cost and low toxicity, and due to its high molar absorptivity it can easily be detected by means of absorption and emission spectroscopies. The combination of 5-AF and maleic anhydride (MA) with TiO₂-chitosan materials has generated a range of novel hybrid materials tailored to applications in localized stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems. Maleic anhydride has been used as pH sensitive spacer for the covalent functionalization of the TiO₂-chitosan hybrid with MA as linker molecule. This functionalization allowed to obtain a pH-sensitive hybrid material. The efficiency of the functionalization has been verified by means of different physico-chemical characterization techniques. The behaviour of the functionalized materials is related to different parameters, among which the ratio between physisorbed/coordinated and chemisorbed 5-AF and the matrix degradation. Moreover, delivery tests in simulated body solutions at different pH have been performed showing a pH-sensitive drug delivery behaviour and indicating that the release of 5-AF is favoured at basic pH.


Choices Together is a programme for Looked After Young People (LAYP) in years 10 and 11, designed to introduce the concept of higher education. Choices Together has run since 2006/7 and this is the third year it has been run under the banner of the Raising Aspirations Partnership, a joint programme of widening participation activity directly funded and delivered by Newcastle University, Northumbria University and the University of Sunderland. The Partnership has recently expanded to include both Durham University and Teesside University, becoming the North East Raising Aspiration Partnership as part of the National Networks for Collaborative Outreach funded by the HEFCE to work with students, teachers, parents and carers to support the progression of disadvantaged young people into higher education. The aim of the Choices Together programme of activities is not only to raise the aspirations/knowledge of LAYP and their carers about university, but also to raise the awareness amongst university admissions officers and staff more broadly about the needs and real-life circumstances of LAYP.
In 2014 the Choices Together programme ran for seven weeks with a welcome event at Newcastle University and a celebration event at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland. In the intervening weeks the students attended four sessions at the three partner universities. Parents/carers were sent an information sheet in advance of the programme and there was a group of 30 regular student attendees, with 10 who came intermittently and 15 who dropped out. In addition there were up to 50 carers, parents and local authority advisers in attendance at the welcome and celebration events. These figures are good relative to other years. Six student ambassadors were provided with training and supported all the events.
This is a report of the evaluation that was carried out as part of a Catherine Cookson Foundation funded research project looking at the progression of LAYP to higher education in the north-east of England.


Recently, several Space-Time Memory based networks have shown that the object cues (e.g. video frames as well as the segmented object masks) from the past frames are useful for segmenting objects in the current frame. However, these methods exploit the information from the memory by global-to-global matching between the current and past frames, which lead to mismatching to similar objects and high computational complexity. To address these problems, we propose a novel local-to-local matching solution for semi-supervised VOS, namely Regional Memory Network (RMNet). In RMNet, the precise regional memory is constructed by memorizing local regions where the target objects appear in the past frames. For the current query frame, the query regions are tracked and predicted based on the optical flow estimated from the previous frame. The proposed local-to-local matching effectively alleviates the ambiguity of similar objects in both memory and query frames, which allows the information to be passed from the regional memory to the query region efficiently and effectively. Experimental results indicate that the proposed RM-Net performs favorably against state-of-the-art methods on the DAVIS and YouTube-VOS datasets.


The dynamics of the acceleration of a short electron bunch in a strong plasma wave excited by a laser pulse in a plasma channel is studied both analytically and numerically in slab geometry. In our simulations, a fully nonlinear, relativistic hydrodynamic description for the plasma wave is combined with particle-in-cell methods for the description of the bunch. Collective self-interactions within the bunch are fully taken into account. The existence of adiabatic invariants of motion is shown to have important implications for the final beam quality. Similar to the one-dimensional case, the natural evolution of the bunch is shown to lead, under proper initial conditions, to a minimum in the relative energy spread.


Objective: The goal of this investigation was to evaluate circulating and skeletal muscle inflammatory biomarkers between maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) and demographic-matched control subjects (CON) before and after ingestion of a protein-rich meal. Design and Methods: CON (n = 8; 50 ± 2 years; 31 ± 1 kg/m2) and MHD patients (n = 8; 56 ± 5 years; 32 ± 2 kg/m2) underwent a basal blood draw and muscle biopsy and serial blood draws after the ingestion of a mixed meal on a nondialysis day. Plasma advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and markers of oxidation were assessed via liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry before and after the meal (+240 min). Circulating inflammatory cytokines and soluble receptors for AGE (sRAGE) isoforms (endogenous secretory RAGEs and cleaved RAGEs) were determined before and after the meal (+240 min). Basal muscle was probed for inflammatory cytokines and protein expression of related signaling components (RAGE, Toll-like receptor 4, oligosaccharyltransferase subunit 48, TIR-domain–containing adapter-inducing interferon-β, total IκBα, and pIκBα). Results: Basal circulating AGEs were 7- to 343-fold higher (P < .001) in MHD than those in CON, but only MG-H1 increased in CON after the meal (P < .001). There was a group effect (MHD > CON) for total sRAGEs (P = .02) and endogenous secretory RAGEs (P < .001) and a trend for cleaved RAGEs (P=.09), with no meal effect. In addition, there was a group effect (MHD < CON; P < .05) for circulating fractalkine, interleukin (IL)10, IL17A, and IL1β and a trend (P < .10) for IL6 and macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha, whereas tumor necrosis factor alpha was higher in MHD (P < .001). In muscle, Toll-like receptor 4 (P = .03), TIR-domain–containing adapter-inducing interferon-β (P = .002), and oligosaccharyltransferase subunit 48 (P = .02) expression was lower in MHD than that in CON, whereas IL6 was higher (P = .01) and IL8 (P = .08) tended to be higher in MHD. Conclusion: Overall, MHD exhibited an exaggerated, circulating, and skeletal muscle inflammatory biomarker environment, and the meal did not appreciably affect the inflammatory status.


This paper uses data from a firm with team production to investigate the association between workers' productivity, risk aversion and preferred bonus scheme (team or individual). Standard economics make a strong prediction in this case. Workers persistently producing above the team average should vote for an individual bonus. The only concern that may moderate this preference is risk aversion. The economic model predicts the case at hand fairly well. Relative work place productivity is strongly associated with a preference for individual bonuses, and risk aversion is associated with a preference for a team bonus. There is, however, one noticeable exception to this pattern: a substantial fraction of low performers prefer an individual bonus. I argue there are two types of other regarding concerns that can explain why under-performers prefer a payment system that reduces their income; distributional fairness and social emotions.


This thesis focuses on the twenty-first century Gothic. Drawing on the construct ofmetamodernism, Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker's proposed term for thecultural paradigm of the twenty-first century, I investigate the ways that the contemporaryGothic has shifted in its engagement with history.
The Gothic has always problematized how the past is depicted and the accuracy orauthenticity of the historical record. In the later decades of the previous century, the Gothicfound an affinity with postmodernism in its preoccupation with cultural anxieties, fragmentedsubjectivity, and unreliable history. With the waning of postmodernism and the contemporaryinclination towards authenticity and realism, the Gothic has taken in these concerns as well,particularly in its engagement with history and the past. This shift is manifested in a number ofcontemporary Gothic novels, which I examine in my thesis. My primary texts are Gould's Book ofFish (2001) by Richard Flanagan, The Historian (2005) by Elizabeth Kostova, Monsters ofTempleton (2008) by Lauren Groff, The Accursed (2013) by Joyce Carol Oates, The Incarnations(2014) by Susan Barker, The Night Ocean (2017) by Paul La Farge, and finally, Melmoth (2018) bySarah Perry. These novels show a strong concern about history and ethics. In its changingdepiction of the past, the metamodern Gothic helps us to understand the genre's versatility – thatit supports historicity, hope, and progress.


A Hawthorne effect found in election studies is that pre-election survey participation increases voter turnout. Using the Swedish National Election Studies, Granberg and Holmberg (1992) showed evidence in support of this effect. However, their findings have been criticized and more recent studies have failed to find any treatment effect of pre-election survey participation (cf. Mann 2005). This study re-examines an updated version of Granberg and Holmberg's time-series cumulative data file covering eight additional election studies (for a total of 14 election studies from 1960 to 2010). These studies have an experimental component, since half of the sample was randomly assigned to be interviewed before the election and the other half after the election. By comparing validated turnout in the pre-election sample with the post-election sample, it is possible to estimate the causal effect of survey participation on voter turnout. The results show that participating in the pre-election survey indeed has a significant and positive effect on voter turnout. Moreover, this article evaluates whether the treatment effect is unevenly distributed in the population. Results show that citizens with a low propensity to vote are more affected by taking part in election studies than citizens with a high propensity to vote. The study also estimates the long-term effects of survey participation. Results show that participating in an election survey can have significant effects on voter turnout several years later.


This paper presents the results of investigation of a nuclear reactor pressure vessel steel 15Kh2MFA of two strength levels under cyclic loading. The mechanism of microcrack formation on the surface and in the bulk of 15Kh2MFA steel under cyclic deformation was investigated. Analysis of the specimen surfaces has shown that microcracks are caused by cyclic sliding in grains most favourably oriented with respect to the direction of the maximum shear stresses. Transmission electron microscope investigations show that microcracks in the material inside the grains are formed mainly along the band-type dislocation structure parallel to the dislocation subboundary. During cyclic deformation, the dislocation density on the subboundaries increases, in the local areas the dislocation density becomes limiting and it reaches the plasticity limit and causes microcrack formation. The interrelation of the average length of microcracks and their surface density with the energy density of inelastic deformation has been found.


We present an all-fiber, polarized, core-pumped heat-resistant thulium-doped master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system. The laser operated at a wavelength of 1926.7 nm with a spectral linewidth of less than 70 pm. For a repetition rate of 100 kHz, a maximum average power of 750 mW with a slope efficiency of 48.8% and pulse duration of 41 ns was achieved. Even without active cooling, no observable thermal effects occurred when the laser was operated at room temperature. To the best of our knowledge, this core-pumped heat-resistant MOPA configuration is the first reported in the 2 μm region. (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)


Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is a form of divergent beam electron diffraction in which electrons scattered from a solid specimen mounted in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) form a 'Kikuchi pattern' containing a network of lines representing Bragg reflections from crystal planes. EBSD has come to full fruition in the last few years, as a result of …


Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is an ubiquitous stochastic method, used to draw random samples from arbitrary probability distributions, such as the ones encountered in Bayesian inference. MCMC often requires forbiddingly long runtimes to give a representative sample in problems with high dimensions and large-scale data. Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have proven to be a suitable platform for MCMC acceleration due to their ability to support massive parallelism. This paper introduces an automated method, which minimizes the floating point precision of the most computationally intensive part of an FPGA-mapped MCMC sampler, while keeping the precision-related bias in the output within a user-specified tolerance. The method is based on an efficient bias estimator, proposed here, which is able to estimate the bias in the output with only few random samples. The optimization process involves FPGA pre-runs, which estimate the bias and choose the optimized precision. This precision is then used to reconfigure the FPGA for the final, long MCMC run, allowing for higher sampling throughputs. The process requires no user intervention. The method is tested on two Bayesian inference case studies: Mixture models and neural network regression. The achieved speedups over double-precision FPGA designs were 3.5x-5x (including the optimization overhead). Comparisons with a sequential CPU and a GPGPU showed speedups of 223x-446x and 16x-18x respectively.


Introduction: Health improvement for the tribal and their delivery system cannot be the same because of cultural pattern, lifestyle and health seeking behavior of tribal population. Maternal and child health care practices observed to be poor among particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) in India. Methods: Focus Group Discussions (FDS) were conducted among ever married women aged 15-49 years. Areas explored included disclosure of pregnancy status, access barriers, perceptions about existing maternal and child health (MCH) services and influencing factors for utilization of traditional health care facilities. Content and thematic analysis was used to identify common responses and ideas. Results: Twelve FDGs were undertaken by trained investigators one in each village. Participants were identified through the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) residing in the same village. It was observed that few women are disclosing their pregnancy status to their family members after first trimester; women have many wrong perceptions about safe delivery and abortions. Due to lack of transport facilities and poverty they felt seeking health care was difficult and costly. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that Baiga is one of the PVTGs residing in dense forest in central India have low awareness and underutilization of MCH services.


Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a human autosomal recessive disorder characterized by a pleiotropic of phenotypes including obesity, renal abnormalities, mental retardation, retinal pigmentary dystrophy, polydactyly and hypogenitalism. Hypertension is also common in BBS patients, except BBS2. Consistent with this, we previously demonstrated that obese Bbs2 knockout mice are normotensive while obese Bbs4 null mice are hypertensive. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of hypertension in BBS remain poorly defined. Using BBS mice, we tested whether abnormalities in the brain renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to the increased arterial pressure in BBS. Using real time PCR, we found that mRNA expression of RAS components were differentially altered in Bbs2
 -/-
 and Bbs4
 -/-
 mice. Compared to wild type controls, the hypertensive Bbs4
 -/-
 mice exhibited significantly (P<0.05) elevated expression of renin (160%), angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE, 185%), angiotensin type 1a receptor (AT1aR, 143%) and AT1bR (244%) in the brain. Notably, while the expression of ACE was increased (154%) in the brain of the normotensive Bbs2
 -/-
 mice, the expression of renin, AT1aR and AT1bR were significantly (P<0.05) decreased by 56%, 60% and 36%, respectively, relative to controls. Next, we examined the functional consequences of the elevated brain RAS components in Bbs4
 -/-
 mice. Consistent with our previous findings, radiotelemetric mean arterial pressure was significantly (P<0.05) elevated in the obese Bbs4
 -/-
 mice (114±3 mmHg) relative to wild type controls (101±1 mmHg). Moreover, Bbs4
 -/-
 mice exhibited an exaggerated decrease in arterial pressure in response to intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of losartan (AT1 receptor antagonist). Indeed, ICV losartan (10 g) decreased mean arterial pressure by 24±7 mmHg in Bbs4
 -/-
 mice vs. 5±10 mmHg in wild type controls (P<0.05). Our data indicate that overactivity of the brain RAS may account for the high blood pressure associated with BBS. This study provides a novel molecular mechanism for the hypertension associated with BBS.


Cluster analysis is one of the most important functions of data mining. Expectation Maximization (EM) method is an important technology based on model clustering method. The expectation maximization algorithm is analyzed in this research and applied to Adaptive Testing System, in which logistic function in item response theory serves as a model, and the combination of methods of marginal maximum likelihood estimation (MMLE) and the EM algorithm are used to estimate the difficulty parameter estimation of single-parameter logistic function. This effort achieves good results.


Background. Class switch DNA recombination (CSR) from IgM to IgG and IgA is central to immunity against pathogens and requires the activation of B cells by CD4 + T cells through CD40 ligand (CD40L) and cytokines, including IL-4 and IL-10. Viruses evade protective IgG and IgA responses through a number of strategies, including production of soluble proteins that suppress T cell-dependent (TD) class switching in bystander B cells. HIV-1 is thought to impair antigen-specific IgG and IgA production by inducing progressive depletion of CD4 + T cells. Although important, this mechanism is not sufficient to explain the intrinsically poor response of B cells from viremic patients to CD4 + T cell help. This prompted us to explore the B cell-modulating activity of negative factor (Nef), an early HIV-1 protein implicated in immunosuppression. Nef is released in the extracellular environment by infected cells and might perturb the function of bystander B cells by targeting them through its N-terminal myristoylated domain. Methods. Tonsillar tissue sections from healthy donors and lymph nodal tissue sections from 10 HIV-1-infected patients were analyzed for IgD, p24, and Nef expression by immunohistochemistry. Nef expression was also analyzed in IgD + B cells purified from healthy donors and exposed to a recombinant myristoylated or non-myristoylated Nef protein. These IgD+ B cells as well as an IgD + B cell line expressing a wild-type Nef transgene or a mutant Nef transgene lacking the myristoylated domain were utilized in CSR assays after further exposure to CD40L, IL-4 and IL-10. CSR and signaling were studied as described 1 , 2 , 3 . Results. We found that HIV-1-infected lymphoid follicles express large amounts of Nef. This viral protein penetrates in bystander B cells both in vivo and in vitro and interferes with the initiation of CSR by CD40L and cytokines without down-regulating CD40 and cytokine receptor expression on B cells. Rather, Nef up-regulates inhibitor of NF-κ B (Iκ B) and suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) proteins, including SOCS1 and SOCS3, in B cells. These powerful inhibitory proteins attenuate the transcriptional activation of germline Ig gene promoters by blocking CD40 and cytokine receptor signaling through NF-κ B and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT), respectively. In addition, Nef hampers the up-regulation of key components of the CSR machinery, such as activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), and blocks the induction of IgG, IgA and IgE secretion by CD40L and cytokines. Under similar conditions, Nef spares B cell survival, B cell proliferation as well as B cell signaling through mitogen-activated protein kinase p38 and B cell-specific activation protein (BSAP or Pax5). Conclusions. Our findings suggest that HIV-1 inhibits IgG and IgA production not only by impairing CD4 + T cells, but also by turning on powerful CSR inhibitory pathways in bystander B cells through Nef. We propose that Nef-blocking agents might improve protective antibody responses to pathogens and vaccines in HIV-1-infected patients.


The birth of the Peruvian republican iconography is intimately related to the Independence Declaration in 1821, moment from which different symbols to the colonial ones are required to be diffused in the collective imaginary in order to transmit diametrically different messages. To achieve this objective, the governmental authorities as well as private initiatives make use of diverse disciplines and mass media. Though to the date the initial iconography is maintained, this has been reinforced through the history with new necessary contributions due to a variety of political joints through which the country has gone through in its almost 200 years of republican life, always searching to achieve cohesion and national identity.


Objective: Little is known about the neuropsychological factors on quitting smoking. The pregnancy period is a natural process in which women are encouraged to quit smoking. This study aimed to compare trait and behavioural impulsivity and planning ability among pregnant women who continue smoking, quit smoking and never smoke. Method: Twenty-seven pregnant women who continue smoking, 15 pregnant women who quit smoking and 28 pregnant women who never smoke and 18 non-pregnant women completed psychometric cognitive tests and psychiatric rating scales. Decision making, planning, response inhibition and trait impulsivity were evaluated with Iowa Gambling Task, Tower of London Task, Stroop Task and Barratt Impulsivity Scale, respectively. The severity of physical addiction to nicotine was assessed with Fagerstrom Scale. Results: The non-planning impulsivity was higher in pregnant women who quit smoking rather than smoker, never smoke pregnant control and non-pregnant group (p=0.010). The logistic regression results revealed that non-planning impulsivity was a significant independent contributor to quitting smoking. The percentage of the variance explained by non-planning impulsivity in quitting smoking was 10%. Pregnant women who never smoke showed better performance on TOL rather than smoker group (p=0.021). Although statistically non-significant, motor and attentional impulsivity in never smoke group was lower than that in the ever been smoker group. Discussion: This study revealed that the nonplanning impulsivity was statistically higher in pregnant women who quit smoking rather than smoker group. Increased non-planning impulsivity was found to be a significant factor that contributes to quit smoking.


Background Research has revealed that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic infections are important contributors to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in populations. In Egypt, the true prevalence of infections is veiled due to the low number of screening tests. The aim of this study was to determine the SARS-CoV-2 PCR positivity rate as well the seroprevalence of the SARS-CoV-2 antibodies before the ultimate development of a second wave of the epidemic in Cairo, Egypt. Methods Our study was carried out between May 5 and the end of October 2020. It included all patients requiring admission to Ain Shams University hospitals. An interview questionnaire was used to collect demographic and clinical data. Laboratory tests for all participants included RT-PCR and total antibody assay for SARS-CoV-2. Results A total of 4,313 subjects were enrolled in our study, with females representing 56% of the sample. Adults and middle-aged individuals represented around 60% of the study sample. The positivity rate of SARS-CoV-2 PCR was 3.84% (95% CI 3.29–4.48), and the SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence was 29.82% (95% CI: 28.16–31.51). Males showed a higher risk for getting the COVID-19 infection, while middle-age group had significantly higher antibody seroprevalence rates. Conclusion SARS-CoV-2 infection imposes a high burden on the community as detected by high seroprevalence rates.


The serine protease, subtilisin BPN', was engineered to cleave proteins after tribasic sequences in a manner that resembles the substrate specificity of furin, one of the mammalian subtilisin homologs that processes prohormones. As a starting point we used a double mutant of subtilisin BPN' (N62D/ G166D) that showed substantial preference for cleaving after sequences having consecutive dibasic residues (namely, at the P1 and P2 substrate positions) [Ballinger et al. (1995) Biochemistry 34, 13312-13319]. Additional specificity for basic residues was engineered at the P4 position by introducing subtilisin-to-furin substitutions at three hydrophobic residues that composed the S4 subsite (Y104, I107, and L126). Initial attempts to incorporate a Y104D or I107E mutation or the Y104D/I107E double mutation into the dibasic specific enzyme failed to generate the processed enzyme. The problem was traced to the inability of the mutant prosubtilisins to process themselves and fold correctly. Replacing the natural processing site sequence (AHAY) with a good furin substrate sequence (RHKR) resulted in expression of the triple subtilisin mutant (N62D/Y104D/G166D) we call "furilisin". Furilisin hydrolyzes synthetic tribasic substrates (succinyl-RAKR-pNA or succinyl-KAKR-pNA) with high catalytic efficiency (kcat/K(m) > 3 x 10(5) M-1 s-1) and discriminates in favor of Arg versus Ala at the P4 position by a factor of 360. The overall specificity change versus the wild-type enzyme was dramatic. For example, succinyl-RAKR-pNA was cleaved approximately 60000 times faster than succinyl-AAPF-pNA, a good substrate for wild-type subtilisin. Similarly, furilisin was inhibited (K1* = 29 nM) by a variant of the turkey ovomucoid third domain inhibitor that contained an engineered furin substrate site (RCKR decreases) [Lu et al. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 14583-14585] and not by one having a good wild-type subtilisin substrate sequence (ACTL decreases). Interestingly, the extreme changes in substrate specificity resulted from substantial synergy between the engineered subsites. These studies provide a basic example of how to manipulate substrate specificity in a modular fashion, thereby creating an engineered-enzyme that may be useful as a protein processing tool.


Background: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a 12 weeks interval training with high and moderate intensity on PGC-1α of skeletal muscle in type 2 diabetic male rats. Methods: 40 male rats were divided into two groups: High fat diet (HFD) (n=32) and standard diet (C) (n=8) for 10 weeks. After inducing type2 diabetes via STZ, 8 diabetic rats (D) and 8 rats in group C rats sacrificed and the remaining 24 Rats were randomly assigned to three groups of diabetic control (DC), moderate intensity interval training (MIIT) and high intensity interval training (HIIT).The MIIT protocol includes 13 bouts of 4-minute activity with equivalent intensity of 60-65% vo2max and the HIIT protocol includes 10 bouts of 4-minute activity with equivalent intensity of 85-90% vo2max with 2 minute active rest periods that was applied for 12 weeks, 5 sessions per week. Western Blot method was used to measure PGC-1α protein levels. Results: The results showed that PGC-1α protein levels were significantly lower in the D group compared to the HC group. In contrast, the HIIT protocol resulted in an increase in protein levels of PGC-1α compared to DC2 group. While MICT had no significant effect on protein levels of PGC-1α (P <0.05). Also, there was no significant difference between the two training groups (P<0.05). Conclusion: It seems that the intensity of interval training plays an important role in the regulation of skeletal muscle PGC-1α and possibly mitochondria biogenesis in type 2 diabetic rats.


The aim of this study is to identify the factors that influence academic performance among University of Malaya Pre-Academic of Islamic Studies Students. The study also examines the differences between various factors among them. Those factors are intrinsic value, self-efficacy, test anxiety, cognitive strategy and resource management strategy. The study uses a survey method that make use of a questionnaire as an instrument. The samples consist of 110 second semester up to fourth semester students from University of Malaya Pre-Academic of Islamic Studies Students. Pearson correlation, multiple regression analysis and t test are used in this study to investigate the influence of those factors. The result of multiple regression analysis indicated that all factors except for the test anxiety factor are not significantly related in influencing the academic performance.


Background and Objective(s): 30–50% of individuals with myelomeningocele will develop a dislocated hip by skeletal maturity. Previously, reduction was recommended for all children with a hip at risk, but there is no long-term functional evidence to support this. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of hip status on functional outcomes in a cohort of adult patients with myelomeningocele. Study Design: A prospective cohort study was completed. Study Participants & Setting: Patients were recruited over a 12month period at a tertiary care rehabilitation hospital in an urban setting. All enrolled patients had a diagnosis of myelomeningocele and were >18 years. Only 1 eligible patient seen within that time frame was excluded for lack of complete data collection. Materials/Methods: Neurologic level of involvement, functional mobility scale (FMS), and history of hip surgery were obtained from chart review and patient interview. Clinical examination included hip range of motion and leg length discrepancy (LLD). Reimer's migration percentage was calculated from a current AP pelvic radiograph. All subjects completed the VR-12 and the NIH PROMIS outcomes measures for pain interference and physical function. Chi square, Pearson Correlation Coefficients and linear regression models were applied to evaluate the influence of hip status on outcomes. Results: 31 patients were included, of which 20 had bilaterally located hips, 5 had a unilateral subluxation or dislocation and 6 had bilaterally subluxated or dislocated hips. There were 17 women and 14 men with an average age of 31 years (range 19–49). 8 thoracic, 9 lumbar and 14 sacral level patients participated. In univariate analysis, patients with bilaterally located hips performed better in lower extremity function scores than those with unilateral subluxation/dislocation (36.7 vs 26.0, p=0.03) but performed worse in pain interference than those with bilateral subluxation/dislocation (52.0 vs 43.3, p=0.03). After controlling for neurologic level, there was no statistically significant difference in the VR-12 mental (p=0.32) or physical component summary (p=0.32) scores, nor was there any difference in the PROMIS lower extremity function (p=0.26) or pain interference scores (p=0.33) between groups. Decreased extension and abduction were both indirectly correlated with VR-12 mental component score (p=0.0038, p=0.0032). LLD was not associated with any outcome measure. Conclusions/Significance: Long term outcomes are not associated with hip status in adult patients with myelomeningocele. Functional outcomes are more closely correlated with neurologic level and hip range of motion. In fact, the discordant outcomes noted in univariate analysis are likely reflective of neurologic level of involvement rather than hip status. These results suggest efforts to keep myelomeningocele hips reduced are likely without functional benefit and should be avoided. However, efforts should be made to maintain functional motion with contracture release as needed.


1. In appropriate subcutaneous and intravenous doses prostigmine methylsulfate is inhibitory to the tonus and contractions of the stomach in unanesthetized dogs. 2. When inactive doses of morphine are given following subliminal doses of prostigmine methylsulfate, a typical morphine-like effect is seen in the stomach of unanesthetized dogs. This is followed by a rise in the tonus and by rhythmical activity increased above the normal level. 3. Individually inactive doses of morphine and prostigmine methylsulfate combined in one injection produce a typical morphine-like effect on the stomach. 4. These results indicate that the effect of morphine on the stomach resembles that of a cholinergic drug and that it is potentiated by prostigmine. 5. Using the dog, we cannot confirm the reports of Veach, et al. , and of Hamilton and Curtis, that prostigmine methylsulfate reverses the action of atropine in the human stomach.


DeepRobust is a PyTorch platform for generating adversarial examples and building robust machine learning models for different data domains. Users can easily evaluate the attack performance against different defense methods with DeepRobust and get performance analyzing visualization. In this paper, we introduce the functions of DeepRobust with detailed instructions. We believe that DeepRobust is a useful tool to measure deep learning model robustness and to find the suitable countermeasures against adversarial attacks. The platform is kept updated and can be found at https://github.com/DSE-MSU/DeepRobust. More details of instruction can be found in the documentation at https://deeprobust.readthedocs.io/en/latest/.


Classification of mental retardation Mental retardation (MR) can be classified within approximate IQ ranges assuming a population mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Mild MR is defined as being within the IQ range 50 to 70 (-2-0 to -3-3 SD), moderate MR within the IQ range 35 to 50 (-3 3 to -4 3 SD), severe MR within the IQ range 20 to 35 (-4-3 to -5-3 SD) and profound MR within the IQ range 0 to 20 (less than -5*3 SD).' A simplification of this classification into two large groups is often used; severe mental retardation (SMR), which includes the profound, severe, and moderate categories, and mild mental retardation (MMR).2 SMR has an estimated incidence of just less than 4 per 1000 live births.3-5 The MMR group comprises some 2 to 3% of the population but many of these persons, especially at the top end of this IQ range, will make satisfactory adjustments and not be regarded as abnormal.6 The estimates of the fraction of genetically determined handicap contributing to SMR range from 0-257 to 0-52.3 In addition, a large idiopathic fraction (between 0-127 and 0-514) exists and this component almost certainly contains unrecognised genetic disease. Even for MMR, traditionally considered to represent the lower end of the multifactorial distribution of intelligence, pathological causes have been delineated which include genetic conditions.6 8


Newton's method plays a central role in the development of numerical techniques for optimization. In fact, most of the current practical methods for optimization can be viewed as variations on Newton's method. It is therefore important to understand Newton's method as an algorithm in its own right and as a key introduction to the most recent ideas in this area. One of the aims of this expository paper is to present and analyze two main approaches to Newton's method for unconstrained minimization: the line search approach and the trust region approach. The other aim is to present some of the recent developments in the optimization field which are related to Newton's method. In particular, we explore several variations on Newton's method which are appropriate for large scale problems, and we also show how quasi-Newton methods can be derived quite naturally from Newton's method.


Abstract The contribution is a follow-up on the overview published in ERCL 2008, 45 and covers the latest developments from 2007 through the first half of 2010. The law with respect to prudential supervision has changed little; there are, however, changes underway as a reaction to the financial crisis (see section I). More importantly, however, contract law developed considerably. Important new legislation has been adopted in the area of commercial banking, while the Market in Financial Instruments Directive of 2004 (MiFID) and its transposition were at the centre of the last report. New legislation has now been adopted in the other two important sectors of banking business and thus the series of second generation of banking law directives is complete. In the area of bank loans, harmonisation has changed considerably with the new EU Consumer Credit Directive of 2008. In the area of the payment business, changes have been even more drastic, as virtually all payment instruments have now been harmonised with the new EU Payments Systems Directive of late 2007, and this not only for the consumer area. This directive now covers: credit transfers, credit and debit cards, and direct debits. The importance of the new material makes it necessary to concentrate on these two measures mainly (sections II and III) and to add only two short sections on important developments under the MiFID (section IV) and on some general considerations concerning the overall picture now reached in European Banking Contract Law (section V).


This paper will describe some recent results in spin glasses with an emphasis on the spin glass phase transition in vector spin glasses.


The operation of high-speed divide-by-two circuit (binary counter) composed of selectively doped heterostructure logic gates is reported for the first time. These field-effect transistor circuits utilize the enhanced transport properties of high-mobility electrons confined near a heterojunction interface in a selectively doped AlGaAs/GaAs structure. The dividers are based on a Type-D flip-flop composed of six direct-coupled NOR-gates having 1-µm gate lengths and 4-µm source-drain spacings. They are fabricated by conventional optical contact lithography on a four-layer Al.3Ga.7As/GaAs structure grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. Successful operation is demonstrated at 5.9 GHz at 77 K for 1.3-V bias and 30-mW total power dissipation (including output buffers) and 3.7 GHz at 300 K for 1.4-V bias and 19-mW total power dissipation. Total power dissipation values as low as 3.9 mW at 0.65-V bias were also obtained for 2.85-GHz operation at 300 K. These preliminary results illustrate the promise of SDHT logic for ultrahigh-speed low-power applications.


In this work we investigated the geometric phases of a qubit-oscillator system beyond the conventional rotating-wave approximation. We find that in the limiting of weak coupling the results coincide with that obtained under rotating-wave approximation while there exists an increasing difference with the increase of coupling constant. It was shown that the geometric phase is symmetric with respect to the sign of the detuning of the quantized field from the one-photon resonance under the conventional rotating-wave approximation while a red-blue detuning asymmetry occurs beyond the conventional rotating-wave approximation.


Migration is a global phenomenon caused not only by economic factor but many others like social, political, cultural, environment, health, education and so on. The inflow of migrant in Malaysia is increase days by days. In Kelantan, an Immigrant Department of Malaysia reported that the total number of registration foreign workers is about 13 360 people. Most of them became labour in primary, secondary, and tertiary economic sector in Malaysia. This research is conducted to study the factors of migration among foreign workers in Kelantan. The researcher just focuses on unskilled and semi-skilled labours. Factors examined include lack of job in their origin country, higher wages, lured by friends or relatives and labour demand. A total of 60 questionnaires were distributed to the respondent in Kota Bharu. Data collected was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 18.0. Findings show there are a relationship between decisions to migrate with the variables factor; lack of job, higher wages, lured by friend/relatives, and labour demand. Discussion on findings, discussion, conclusion, and limitation of study are also included in the report.