In situ superconducting thin films of Bi2-Sr2-Can-1-Cun -Oy (n=1,2) are grown epitaxially on Sr-Ti-O3 (100) and MgO (100) substrates by two-target rf magnetron sputtering under a high pressure of 0.5 Torr. During growth, film deposition materials are supplied alternately from Bi2-Sr2-Cu1.3-Oy and Ca-Cu-Oy targets to control the number of CuO2 layers. It is demonstrated that a sputtering gas pressure higher than 0.3 Torr effectively reduces the compositional deviation, which is normally caused by the resputtering effect. It is also demonstrated that alternate deposition from the two targets leads to controlled epitaxial growth with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate. As grown epitaxial films thus prepared exhibit superconductivity at a T c as high as 79 K for Bi2-Sr2-Ca-Cu2-Oy films and 8 to 11 K for Bi2-Sr2-Cu-Oy films.


Background
Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a scarring alopecia that has been reported mostly in postmenopausal women and is characterized by frontotemporal hairline. Currently, there are only a few reports about FFA in male patients.

Objective
This study sought to analyze clinical and trichoscopic features of FFA in a case series of men and to describe the main features of FFA in male patients through a review of the literature.

Methods
Male patients with clinical and trichoscopical signs of FFA, histologically confirmed, who attended to our clinic from 2014 to 2019 were included in our study. From each patient, clinical and trichoscopic data were collected.

Results
Eight men with an average age of 59 years were recruited. In five patients, serrated hairline recession (i.e., a "zig-zag" pattern) was present, while three presented with linear hairline recession. Also, the eyebrows (n=3 patients), sideburns (n=2 patients), and beard (n=2 patients) were involved. Surprisingly, in two patients, an association with lichen sclerosus (LS) was present.

Conclusion
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a serrated hairline recession pattern in male patients with FFA. A new association between FFA and LS in men was also found. Further studies need to establish the extent of this association and facilitate a better comprehension of the pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying these two diseases.


Abstract The West Midlands of England has a long history of industrial production and attendant mineral extraction. With the decline in heavy industry, the region has suffered from the effects of dereliction arising from both surface and subsurface causes. The effects of surface dereliction are evident from the hundreds of hectares of land once occupied by factories and heavy industrial and manufacturing complexes, which now lie neglected. Subsurface dereliction arises from the risk of collapses within the abandoned mineral workings causing subsidence or collapse at the surface. This risk has affected many hectares of land, both industrial and residential and is restricting efforts to redevelop and regenerate the region. A recent initiative, led by the Department of Environment and the Black Country Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton has enabled the problems associated with old limestone workings to be studied over the past six years. The techniques used to locate the mines and assess the extent and condition of the workings are outlined. There are various ways for treating the workings and removing the problem. These options are constrained by technical, financial, environmental and political considerations.


Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGM) automatically capture interstitial glucose levels every 5 minutes, 24 hours/day, allowing users to view their glucose levels in real-time and make informed decisions about how to manage diet, exercise, and medications. While CGMs are a central component in the glucose management of type 1 diabetes and insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes, less is known about the potential value of CGMs for diabetes prevention. The original Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) demonstrated that 5-7% weight loss - an outcome reliant upon healthful eating and exercise - was more effective than medication in preventing or delaying the onset of T2D; however, subsequent DPP translations have not consistently achieved the same weight loss outcomes. CGM may represent a way to reinforce and incentivize hard-to-make health behavior changes in real-time that are crucial to the more distal (and often elusive) weight loss outcome. This small (n=7) feasibility pilot examined the preliminary effectiveness and acceptability of integrating CGM in a DPP at Scripps Health, a large, non-profit, private insurance-based health system in San Diego, CA. Following a brief introduction to the CGM and target glucose ranges, DPP participants self-inserted and wore the CGM for 2 weeks. Mean time-in-range (70-140 mg/dL) improved from 70.4% to 76.4%, and time > 140 mg/dL decreased from 29.4% to 23.1% during this period. Individual change in time-in-range ranged from -9.7% to + 38.8% (M ∆ = +6.0%). Participants reported high satisfaction with the CGM, but expressed a desire for more education on blood glucose management. Given these findings, a longer-term, randomized controlled trial is planned to investigate whether a CGM-enhanced DPP leads to greater weight loss than DPP alone. This research will also further our understanding of the potential benefit of improved glycemic control for diabetes prevention even among the subset of cases who do not ultimately achieve the targeted weight loss goal. Disclosure A.L. Fortmann: None. A. Bastian: None. S.R.S. Bagsic: None. I. Loupasi: None. K. Luu: None. A.R. Hottinger: None. K.A. Barry: None. M. Ruiz: None. C. Walker: None. A. Philis-Tsimikas: Advisory Panel; Self; Lilly Diabetes, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi. Employee; Spouse/Partner; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Research Support; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dexcom, Inc., Lilly Diabetes, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi. Funding Confidence Foundation; Dexcom, Inc.


Forty-two years after the Hard Riot of May 1970, organized labor seems to have embraced the goals of a new social movement, Occupy Wall Street (OWS). Both movements have benefited from mutual association, with labor finding new vitality in its connection with a mobilized social movement. And OWS has been able to dismiss the charge that this is a counterculture movement, by connecting itself with labor. Labor helped mobilize a successful action in Wall Street on May 12, 2011, which anticipated OWS. Still, challenges remain if labor is to maintain its uneasy alliance with this anarchist-inspired movement. Labor must learn to show solidity and respect not only to the message of OWS but to the movement's nonhierarchical organizing process if the alliance to endure.


The analysis of perovskite solar cells by impedance spectroscopy has provided a rich variety of behaviors that demand adequate interpretation. Two main features have been reported: First, different impedance spectral arcs vary in combination; second, inductive loops and negative capacitance characteristics appear as an intrinsic property of the current configuration of perovskite solar cells. Here we adopt a previously developed surface polarization model based on the assumption of large electric and ionic charge accumulation at the external contact interface. Just from the equations of the model, the impedance spectroscopy response is calculated and explains the mentioned general features. The inductance element in the equivalent circuit is the result of the delay of the surface voltage and depends on the kinetic relaxation time. The model is therefore able to quantitatively describe exotic features of the perovskite solar cell and provides insight into the operation mechanisms of the device.


Continuous Improvement and Innovation (CI&I) is a business management strategy that concentrates thinking and action on the things that makes the real difference. Performance assessment is the most significant step in CI&I, as it analyses and reports on outcomes – it reveals which goals have been achieved and which are still to be achieved. Emerging aquaculture farmers are not searching for handouts; they want to compete on a commercial scale. Aquaculture can only attract investors if it becomes profitable and viable. As part of the research reported here, role-players in sharptooth catfish businesses attended focus group discussions, and were equipped to implement actions and assess their own performance. The performance assessment process was followed to monitor the action that had been taken and to report results. Mechanisms such as action monitoring and support; observation; the formulation of questions and ideas; identifying opportunities; performance assessment; and achievement stacker were applied to assess the achieved outcomes. The study led to the identification of markets and potential customers; signed orders; access to processing plants; the printing of business material (e.g., stickers); training; and the completion of new ponds. Questionnaires were sent out and completed. An experiment with earthworms and tilapia fry used as catfish feed was completed successfully. In conclusion, the outcomes of this study have revealed a need for further research that would assist small businesses in the catfish industry in growing and becoming profitable.


Abstract Twelve new species of the streptaxid snail genus Discartemon Pfeiffer, 1856 are described from southern Thailand and western Malaysia, D. afthonodontia sp. n., D. circulus sp. n., D. deprima sp. n., D. discadentus sp. n., D. discamaximus sp. n., D. expandus sp. n., D. flavacandida sp. n., D. kotanensis sp. n., and D. megalostraka sp. n. from southern Thailand, as well as D. conicus sp. n., D. epipedis sp. n. and D. triancus sp. n. from western Malaysia. All 15 previously described species are revised and commented upon based on examined material. Streptaxis paradiscus Möllendorff, 1900 is considered a junior subjective synonym of the type species D. discus (Pfeiffer, 1853). Details of the genital anatomy of twelve species, and the radula and pallial system, are provided for the first time. An identification key is provided.


A reconaissance was made to Madagascar to study waterfowl, particularly the rare Bernier's Teal Anas bernieri in the vicinity of the shallow saline Lake Bemamba. The habitat and behaviour of the teal and also of the Madagascar White-backed Duck Thalassornis leuconotus insularis are described. Estimates of numbers are given for other waterfowl, and a list of all birds seen. Two Madagascar White-backed Ducks and two Pygmy Geese Nettapus auritus were brought into captivity. Waterfowl in the area have declined in numbers and Bernier's Teal may perhaps be in danger of extinction. Lake Bemamba merits the formation of a reserve.


A wide variety of linear/nonlinear adaptive systems in continuous/discrete time can be represented by error models, thus facilitating their analysis. The solution obtained for a given error model can be applied to different systems represented by the error model. This paper presents a methodology for adjusting the parameters of a discrete-time adaptive system represented by a Type 1 Error Model, which is based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and that allows using it in on-line applications. The performance of the proposed methodology is compared with the traditional gradient and least squares methods through simulations.


Agostic Si−H···Li contacts (i.e. significantly less than ∼3.0 A) are not present in the solvent-free X-ray structure of [Li{Me2Si(H)N-t-Bu}]3; shorter (t-Bu)CH3···Li distances (∼2.8 A) are observed instead. The situation in solution is different. While the 1H−6Li HOESY spectrum of [Li{Me2Si(H)N-t-Bu}] in toluene at −80 °C evidently detects the same trimeric species (lacking Si−H···Li interactions, but with short (t-Bu)CH3···Li contacts), two major species with strong Si−H···Li interactions also are present. In the Li−HN−SiH3 computational model system, Si−H···Li interactions are favored energetically and result in increased Si−H distances and decreased Si−H frequencies. Agostic Si−H···metal contacts in the solid state are found in the X-ray crystal structure of [Mg2{Me2Si(H)N-t-Bu}4], where Li"+" is replaced by the more highly charged Mg"2+". The two short agostic Si−H···Mg interactions (2.2, 2.5 A) which result also are shown by the two low ν(Si−H) frequencies (2040, 1880 cm-1) in the IR spectrum (Nujol ...


High-throughput screening of samples is the strategy of choice to detect occupational exposure biomarkers, yet it requires a user-friendly apparatus that gives relatively prompt results while ensuring high degrees of selectivity, precision, accuracy and automation, particularly in the preparation process. Miniaturization has attracted much attention in analytical chemistry and has driven solvent and sample savings as easier automation, the latter thanks to the introduction on the market of the three axis autosampler. In light of the above, this contribution describes a novel user-friendly solid-phase microextraction (SPME) off- and on-line platform coupled with gas chromatography and triple quadrupole-mass spectrometry to determine urinary metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons 1- and 2-hydroxy-naphthalene, 9-hydroxy-phenanthrene, 1-hydroxy-pyrene, 3- and 9-hydroxy-benzoantracene, and 3-hydroxy-benzo[a]pyrene. In this new procedure, chromatography's sensitivity is combined with the user-friendliness of N-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-N-methyltrifluoroacetamide on-fiber SPME derivatization using direct immersion sampling; moreover, specific isotope-labelled internal standards provide quantitative accuracy. The detection limits for the seven OH-PAHs ranged from 0.25 to 4.52 ng/L. Intra-(from 2.5 to 3.0%) and inter-session (from 2.4 to 3.9%) repeatability was also evaluated. This method serves to identify suitable risk-control strategies for occupational hygiene conservation programs.


This paper presents a neurodynamic approach to bicriteria model predictive control (MPC) of nonlinear affine systems based on a goal programming formulation. Bicriteria MPC refers to finding optimal control inputs that minimizes two performance indexes corresponding to tracking errors and control efforts. The bicriteria MPC is formulated as the solution to a nonlinear optimization problem via goal programming technique and is solved by using a two-layer recurrent neural network. Simulation results are included to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


I n this research, floristic list of vascular plant specimens which are located in the main campus area of Inonu University have been compiled with stored specimen in INU herbarium and collected specimens in the field. Collection date of the specimen in the list was dated from 1986 to 2015. After the identification of the speci- mens, the total flora has been determined as 552 taxa belonging to 534 species, 320 genera and 85 families. These results are indicated that the flora of main campus area of Inonu University is the richest biodiversity when it's compared within the other campus floras in Turkey. The endemism rate of the area is 8.33% for the 46 taxa. The largest 3 families are Fabaceae (57 species), Asteraceae (46 species) and Poaceae (47 species). The largest genera are Medicago (10 species), Euphorbia (9 species), Alyssum, Astragalus and Salvia (7 species). The phytogeographical spectrum of the species is as follows: Irano-Turanian elements 134 (24.27%), Mediter- ranean elements 29 (5.25%) and Euro-Siberian elements 9 (1.63%).


This article is an attempt to open up the study of pilgrimage and tourism by concentrating on the role of travel agencies in developing Hindu pilgrimage in India. Identifying two limitations in the ongoing debate, it makes use of less-explored themes and concepts including travel menus, package tours, itineraries, day tours, circuits, and scheduling. Surveying 46 travel brochures and popular tours promoted by travel agencies in Delhi, Haridwar, and Vrindavan, it investigates how travel agencies repackage the sacred geography of Hinduism, tying it up with the broader tourist geography of India. Turning to the varied motivations of participants in day tours to pilgrimage sites, I present my analysis of the overarching developments in what I call pilgrimage-related travel. Crucially, visits to pilgrimage sites are increasingly framed as darshan tours reflecting how increased scheduling privileges darshan and donation as the principal religious act.


Summary form only given. In this paper, a new comprehensive planning methodology is proposed for implementing distribution network reinforcement. The load growth, voltage profile, distribution line loss, and reliability are considered in this procedure. A time-segmentation technique is employed to reduce the computational load. Options considered range from supporting the load growth using the traditional approach of upgrading the conventional equipment in the distribution network, through to the use of Distributed Generators (DG). The objective function is composed of the construction cost, loss cost and reliability cost. As constraints, the bus voltages and the feeder currents should be maintained within the standard level. The DG output power should not be less than a ratio of its rated power because of efficiency. A hybrid optimization method, called Modified Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization, is employed to solve this nonlinear and discrete optimization problem. A comparison is performed between the optimized solution based on planning of capacitors along with tap-changing transformer and line upgrading and when DGs are included in the optimization.


Modern society shows a very strong need to look for a "dynamic equilibrium be-tween local capital and the demand for well-being". This transition towards sus-tainability requires the beginning of a process that is able to satisfy, in every eco-nomic cycle, the demand for well-being and the replicability of the "four stocks of capital". The paper shows how the implementation of what Pearce and Turner called a "Circular Economic System" can make this possible, and highlights how new strat-egies for the adoption of a "Circular Economic Model" represent the condition for the circularity of development models. Moreover, the paper discusses how, given a radical change of strategy on a global and local level, the implementation of a circular process in rural areas to create in-dividual and collective well-being allows these areas to offer an important contri-bution to the transition.


Organic dairy farming is an expanding segment of the dairy sector where cow management differs from the conventional model in many respects. Thus, a comparative evaluation of disease and welfare status in organically and conventionally managed dairy cows is required. Assessment of milk yield, udder health and reproductive performance (RP) was done in 20 organically and 20 conventionally managed Swedish dairy herds. In accordance with earlier findings we confirmed lower milk yield in organic cows. Udder health and RP were chosen as indicators of animal health in view of their clinical relevance and the availability of appropriate data bases providing good background knowledge for further animal health assessment. No obvious differences were found in the investigations of somatic cell count (SCC) profiles or time to veterinary-treated cases of mastitis between organically and conventional managed cows. Pregnancy success at first insemination, an appropriate measurement of RP with biological interpretation and background, did not reveal any difference between management types, whereas the hazard rate-ratio (HR) of having a calving-interval was significantly lower (HR=0·71) in organically managed cows. The calving-interval is an important financial determinator in dairy production, but it is not considered an optimal indicator of biologic relevance as it partially reflects farmer decisions. In conclusion, the organically managed cows in this study did not differ from conventionally managed cows in udder health or RP, with the exception of calving interval.


A high sintering temperature is required to acquire excellent performance in the production of porcelain but results in high fuel consumption. To prepare the porcelain with outstanding performance at a lower temperature, a self-produced additive containing calcium (CaK) was added into a three-component system of kaolinite–feldspar–quartz. XRD and SEM were used to characterize the samples. The toughening mechanism and Gibbs free energy were investigated. After introducing the CaK, the bending strength of the porcelain fired at 1513 K increased from 56.32 ± 0.65 MPa to 95.31 ± 0.63 MPa, which was 21.83% higher than that of the porcelain without CaK at an optimal firing temperature of 1603 K. The main crystal phase of the sample comprised mullite and quartz in the raw materials at 1453~1603 K. The anorthite was observed at 1453 K and interlocked with needle-shaped mullite at 1513 K in the porcelain after adding CaK, which resulted in the higher bending strength. Quantitative analysis indicated that the amount of anorthite decreased at 1513 K and disappeared at 1543 K; the amount of mullite increased with temperature. The Gibbs free energy of the reaction (CaO•Al2O3•2SiO2 + 2(Al2O3•2SiO2) → 3Al2O3•2SiO2 + CaO + 4SiO2) at high temperature was negative, which suggested that the formation of mullite (3Al2O3•2SiO2) from anorthite (CaO•Al2O3•2SiO2) was possible. These findings implied that the addition of CaK contributed to the appropriate phase composition and microstructure, and the excellent performance of the porcelain at a lower temperature. In addition, the transformation between anorthite and mullite was possible in the special raw material system. The results are of interest in producing anorthite/mullite ceramics at reduced sintering temperatures and the conversion between anorthite and mullite.


The authors have treated 52 cases of septic arthritis of major joints. When aspiration contain an opaque fluid, conservative treatment with antibiotic therapy and immobilisation obtained healing in half of the patients. Surgical lavage of the joint was needed on 21 occasions with healing in 15. Synovectomy was performed in 8 cases and was indicated only at the stage of pyogenic synovitis before the development of pyogenic arthritis. When the latter stage was reached, arthrodesis was indicated. It was performed primarily on 6 occasions and secondarily once. Seven patients died. The average age was seventy years. The importance of early treatment is stressed.


Much effort has been spent in recent years on restoring uniqueness of McKean-Vlasov SDEs with non-smooth coefficients. As a typical instance, the velocity field is assumed to be bounded and measurable in its space variable and Lipschitz-continuous with respect to the distance in total variation in its measure variable, see [Jourdain, Mishura-Veretennikov]. In contrast with those works, we consider in this paper a Fokker-Planck equation driven by an infinite-dimensional noise, inspired by the diffusion models on the Wasserstein space studied in [Konarovskyi, Marx]. We prove that well-posedness of that equation holds for a drift function that might be only bounded and measurable in its measure argument, provided that a trade-off is respected between the regularity in the finite-dimensional component and the regularity in the measure argument. In this regard, we show that the higher the regularity of b with respect to its space variable is, the lower regularity we have to assume on b with respect to its measure variable in order to restore uniqueness.


A fully distributed algorithm is presented, which when executed by each robot, collectively allows multiple autonomous mobile robots to travel through a discrete traffic network composed of passage segments, intersections, and terminals, all of which are of only finite capacity. Each robot may establish dynamically its own route not known to others. Treating passage segments, intersections and terminals as shared, discrete resources, the algorithm guarantees ordered traffic flow in a discrete network such that (i) finite capacity constrains of passage segments and terminals are always enforced; (ii) no collision occurs at any intersection; (iii) deadlocks are detected and resolved. The system operates under the model of Distributed Robotic Systems (DRS), assuming no centralized mechanism, synchronized clock, shared memory or ground support. Interrobot communication is only required among spatially adjacent robotic units. The algorithm is implementable with today's technology.


ackground: Sarcoidosis is a chronic idiopathic disorder characterized by the formation of noncaseating granulomas. Multiple organs may be involved, including the skin, lung, lymphatic systems, liver, spleen and eyes. On average, 25% of sarcoidosis cases have cutaneous involvement. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of cutaneous sarcoidosis and the involvement of systemic organs according to clinical types of skin lesions. Methods: A total of 32 patients diagnosed by histologic examination at Hospital from 2001 to 2009 with cutaneous sarcoidosis were enrolled in this study. The clinical features were obtained by reviewing medical records, clinical photographs and radiological images. Results: The male to female ratio was 1 : 3 and 78.2% of patients were in their fifth to seventh decades. The most common cutaenous lesions were nodules (56.3%), especially the subcutaneous type (21.9%). The most frequently involved organ type was intrathoracic (71.9%), followed by the peripheral lymph nodes (25%), spleen (6.3%), and eyes (6.3%). Most patients with subcutaneous nodules, erythema nodosa, lupus pernio and discoid lupus-like plaques showed systemic involvement, whereas most patients with nodules or papules did not show systemic involvement. Of particular note, patients with subcutaneous nodules and lupus pernio showed more frequent involvement of the peripheral lymph nodes, spleen and intrathoracic region. Conclusion: In this study, patients with subcutaneous nodules and plaques showed more frequent systemic involvement, while most patients with nodules or papules showed no systemic involvement. (Korean J Dermatol 2010; 48(4):290∼295)


Dust cycle is one of the most important in the Martian climate system. Martian dust, consisting mainly of mineral particles, lifts from the surface by winds and dust devils. Being active radiation, dust with water clouds is involved in the heating and cooling of different atmospheric layers, absorbing, scattering and re-radiating solar radiation in the thermal infrared. Furthermore, the dust particles are condensation nuclei for the formation of water and CO2 ice clouds.
We will present results of long-term observations of the Martian atmosphere by solar occultation technics in the near-IR range. SPICAM spectrometer on board the Mars Express spacecraft has been working on the orbit of Mars since January 2004. During the four Martian years 800 solar occultations have been performed. SPICAM spectral range allows simultaneous observations of 1.43 μm CO2 band for the atmospheric density, the 1.38 μm absorption band of water vapor to get the H2O density, and the distribution of aerosols with altitude measuring the opacity of the atmosphere in the spectral range from 1 to 1.7 μm. In the experiment, aerosol extinction profiles have been obtained at altitudes from 0 to 90 km with a vertical resolution of 2 to 10 km depending on distance to limb. We also consider their seasonal and latitudinal variations. Retrieved values of effective radius vary from 0.1 to 1.5 μm.
Special attention was paid to the summer in the northern hemisphere, where the water vapor supersaturation in the middle atmosphere has been recently discovered (up to the values of S = p/psat ~ 3–5) [1]. Simultaneous analysis of aerosol extinction in the UV and IR range at different altitudes during this period has enabled the first direct detection of a bimodal distribution of Martian dust particles with characteristic radius of 0.04–0.07 μm and 0.7–0.8 μm. The number density of small fraction varies from 103 cm-3 at 10 km to 10cm-3 at 40 km. The concentrations and the effective radius of the particles correspond to the Aitken particles in the Earth's atmosphere. Unfortunately, the spectrometer cannot determine the nature of the particles, so dust and ice particles were considered. Such concentration of small particles in the presence of a large fraction should be unstable to coagulation process, The coagulation time for obtained bimodal di stribution varies from 1 to 50 days, which requires a source of particles. If it is not the condensation phase, the particles lift from the surface. The sedimentation time varies from 100 to 1000 days (for particles 0.1 microns and 0.01 microns, respectively) at 20 km and 10 to 100 days at 40 km, and these particles may be transported by Hadley cell from the northern to the southern hemisphere in the observed period of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.


Action of maleic hydrazide (MH) as an antimitotic agent in axillary bud tissues of Nicotiana tabacum L. was confirmed in a study with foliar applications. Upper axillary meristems on topped and MHtreated plants were more severely affected than those in middle and lower stalk positions. These observations may explain the late season growth of suckers on the lower portions of treated field-grown plants. Cell divisions were not observed in the tunica-corpus region of meristems of upper buds taken 1 day after topping and MH treatment, but an occasional division figure was found in the provascular strands and in the leaf primordia. The tunica-corpus had lost most of its layered organization 4 days after treatment and all of it after 7 days. Also, after 7 days, cell walls were thickened, and many cells of the meristem had condensed material in a metaphasal position. Little or no necrosis was evident 15 days after treatment, but regeneration of tissues was not evident, thus indicating the effectiveness of MH as a sucker-controlling agent. Size of cells and nuclei in the tunica-corpus region in meristems of primary bud tissues did not differ between MH-treated and untreated plants. However, the diameter of the meristematic dome and the height of the meristematic region above the rib meristem were significantly less in MH-treated than in untreated tissues. Changes in these two parameters also indicated that MH treatment controlled growth by inhibiting cell division.


A sign change in the Higgs couplings to fermions and massive gauge bosons is still allowed in the framework of two-Higgs doublet models (2HDM). In this work we discuss the possible sign changes in the Higgs couplings to fermions and gauge bosons, while reviewing the status of the 8-parameter CP-conserving 2HDM after the Large Hadron Collider 8 TeV run.


Dominated by an Insects totalitarian regime, the staff of a smart restaurant organizes a plot to knock down the established order.


In this research we investigate the ecologization process of automotive market. It is a replacement of internal combustion engine (ICE) working on oil derivatives with hybrid or electric vehicles and automobiles on methane, hydrogen or biofuel. Growing demand for alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) should trigger technology and infrastructure development, alternative energy elaboration and more environment- friendly means of hydrogen production. Besides, AFVs expansion should be an incentive to decrease hydrocarbons dependence in automotive industry, to diminish anthropogenic influence on environment, as well as to generate eco-friendly lifestyle and driving habits. In Russia's climate and economic conditions, expansion of methane fuel automobiles maybe a priority. At an initial stage it will insignificantly reduce greenhouse gas emission, but later on will lower particulate matters emissions and raise public awareness of AFVs.


Helicopter parenting among parents of young adults has risen in the last few decades, especially in middle-class families, and is identified as a risk factor for offspring's maladaptive adjustment. Using actor–partner interdependence modeling, this study investigated why mothers and fathers use helicopter parenting. More specifically, the study investigated how mothers' and fathers' characteristics (prevention focus, promotion focus, interpersonal regret, and self-regret) work together to predict their helicopter parenting. Questionnaires were collected from 96 families (mother, father, and young adults). The results revealed that higher levels of maternal and paternal prevention focus were related to higher levels helicopter parenting by mothers and fathers, respectively. In addition, higher levels of paternal interpersonal regret were associated with lower levels of helicopter parenting by fathers. Maternal prevention focus, promotion focus, and interpersonal regret were (indirectly) associated with paternal helicopter parenting. The results indicate that parental prevention and promotion focus may play a role in the etiology of helicopter parenting and may therefore be taken into account when addressing such parenting behavior. Further research is needed to deepen our understanding of the processes that shape the tendency to helicopter parent.


Following an outbreak of group B beta-hemolytic streptococcal neonatal infection (GBS), a prevalence survey of GBS colonization was performed on 238 infants. No important differences were noted in the prevalence of colonization when the infants were grouped according to age. Follow-up of 24 colonized babies for three months disclosed that most had persistence of GBS at the rectum and pharynx. Local umbilical cord care with triple dye (TD) or hexachlorophene skin cleanser was compared with untreated controls with respect to rates of GBS colonization. At birth the colonization rates of the three groups were similar. The rate of acquisition of colonization with GBS was 1.0% in the TD group, 6.3% in the hexachlorophene group, and 8.3% in the control group. Triple dye was much more effective than no specific cord care or hexachlorophene in preventing acquisition of GBS colonization.


Background & objectives: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Much attention has been given to nutritional supplements that can alter intestinal flora as factors preventing colon cancer. Research has shown that lactic acid bacteria in foods are potentially capable of inducing apoptosis. In this regard, the most focus has been on Lactobacillus genus. This study, investigated the cytotoxic effect of metabolites of isolated strain from Azerbaijan traditional cheeses on HCT116 colorectal cancer cells . Methods: In this cross-sectional study, after collecting samples of traditional "Lighvan" and "jug" cheeses in the region of Azerbaijan, MRS medium was used for isolation of lactobacilli. The isolates were identified by biochemical and molecular approaches after primary confirmation. The metabolites were produced in MRS broth, and their supernatants were separated. The inhibitory effect of the supernatants of the isolates on HCT116 cancer cells was studied and their effects were evaluated by microscopy and MTT assay. Results: In this study, three isolates of "Lighvan" and sixteen isolates of "jug" cheeses were obtained. The results of anticancer activity showed that the supernatants of the isolates CT2 and JT1 had a significant anticancer effect on HCT116 cancer cells (p˂0.05) .Identification of the isolates CT2 and JT1 showed 99% and 96% similarity with Lactobacillus brevis, respectively. Conclusion: Lactobacilli in Azerbaijan traditional dairy products have a significant value in terms of anticancer properties.


The human gut microbiota composition plays an important role in human health. Long-term diet intervention may shape human gut microbiome. Therefore, many studies focus on discovering links between long-term diets and gut microbiota composition. This study aimed to incorporate the phylogenetic relationships between the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) into the diet-microbe association analysis, using a Bayesian hierarchical negative binomial (NB) model. We regularized the dispersion parameter of the negative binomial distribution by assuming a mean-dispersion association. A simulation study showed that, if over-dispersion is present in the microbiome data, our approach performed better in terms of mean squared error (MSE) of the slope-estimates compared to the standard NB regression model or a Bayesian hierarchical NB model without including the phylogenetic relationships. Data of the Healthy Life in an Urban Setting (HELIUS) study showed that for some phylogenetic families the (posterior) variances of the slope-estimates were decreasing when including the phylogenetic relationships into the analyses. In contrast, when OTUs of the same family were not similarly affected by the food item, some bias was introduced, leading to larger (posterior) variances of the slope-estimates. Overall, the Bayesian hierarchical NB model, with a dependency between the mean and dispersion parameters, proved to be a robust method for analyzing diet-microbe associations.


Abstract 4256 Background Imatinib resistance in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients is correlated with mutations in BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase domain in about half of the cases. Additional mechanisms related to imatinib resistance are under investigation. As TP53 gene is an important tumor suppressor that triggers apoptosis in response to DNA damage, its inactivation is responsible for chemotherapy resistance in cancer. Its role in cellular response to targeted biological treatment is currently unresolved. Inactivation of p53 by deletion and/or mutation in the TP53 gene is observed in CML patients during progression to accelerated phase (AP) and blast crisis (BC). It was suggested that BCR-ABL inhibition by imatinib induce the p53 response and therefore p53 inactivation may play role in resistance to targeted treatment (Wendel et al., 2006; Yamamoto et al., 2008). On the other hand, imatinib-induced p53 independent pro-apoptotic mechanism was described recently (Liu et al., 2009). Aim We investigated the relationship between imatinib resistance and abnormalities in the TP53 gene and additional genomic changes. Methods RNA and genomic DNA were isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of CML patients that either fail to achieve or lost the major cytogenetic response (MCyR). TP53 mutational status was examined using functional analysis of separated alleles in yeast (FASAY). In defined cases direct sequencing of genomic DNA was used. Genomic changes were detected by conventional metaphase cytogenetics and CGH microarrays 4×44K (Agilent). Copy number analyses were performed using MEV software. Results FASAY analysis to detect functional state of TP53 gene was performed in 16 imatinib-resistant CML patients and in one Ph+ B-ALL patient. Six of these patients were negative for BCR-ABL mutations. Four patients were examined at the time of blast crisis (two patients with myeloid BC and two patients with lymphoid BC). All examined patients carried functional TP53 gene. As FASAY is based on RNA analysis, it is not able to detect some mutations leading to nonsense-mediated RNA decay; therefore, in six patients without BCR-ABL mutation, direct sequencing of TP53 gene from genomic DNA was performed. Also by this approach no TP53 mutation was detected. Alterations of the p53 pathway were found in only 2 patients, both in lymphoid BC: one patient without BCR-ABL mutation had +8 and the deletion of TP53 locus accompanied by i(17p). Second patient with BCR-ABL mutation T315I carried heterozygous deletion of 9p with biallelic loss of 9p21. In this locus two important tumor suppressor genes CDKN2A and CDKN2B are localized. CDKN2A alternative transcript contains an alternate open reading frame (ARF) that functions as a stabilizer of the tumor suppressor protein p53. In other two patients in chronic phase that did not reach MCyR and had no BCR-ABL mutations additional genomic changes potentially connected to imatinib resistance were found: 1) +der(16) coupled with amplification of 16(p11-q12), where ABCC11 and ABCC12 genes are localized. The proteins encoded by these genes are members of the superfamily of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters responsible for multidrug resistance. 2) del(3)(p13p21), involving locus 3p14 where multiple tumor suppressors are localized (e.g. FHIT, ADAMTS9, LRIG1). Chromosomal region 3p14 was shown to be often deleted in different types of human cancers. Conclusions Imatinib resistance in CML patients is probably not associated with TP53 inactivation. Alterations of the p53 pathway occur within transformation to more advanced stages, what is in concordance with previous findings. Genomic aberrations potentially influencing response to imatinib treatment may be found in some patients. Larger patients9 cohorts are required to identify relevant recurrent genomic aberrations involved in imatinib resistance. This work was supported with grants NR9858-4/2008 and NR9305-3/2007 provided by IGA MH CR of Czech Republic, and MSM0021622430 provided by MEYS of Czech Republic Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Human exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) is often measured by personal exposimeters. However, available portable devices are compromised by the presence of the human body and have large measurement uncertainties. The aim of this study was to compare measurement results of a newly developed prototype of a multi-band body-worn distributed-exposimeter (BWDM) with two commercially available personal exposimeters (EXPOM and EME SPY 200). The BWDM prototype has been developed for simultaneous measurement of the incident power density in 11 frequency bands (LTE 800 and 2600 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, DECT, Wi-Fi 2 GHz and 5 GHz, including uplink and downlink bands). The BWDM consists of 22 textile antennas integrated in a garment, distributed in an optimal way on the front and back of the human torso as well as right and left hips. For all frequency bands, antenna pairs are placed on diametrically opposite locations on body, for minimizing body-shielding. Since 2016, field measurements are being conducted in various indoor and outdoor microenvironments in Belgium, Spain, France, Netherlands and Switzerland. In each country, a trained research assistant is using the BWDM in parallel with EXPOM and EME SPY 200 exposimeters by walking along pre-defined measurement routes, comparing different characteristic microenvironments such as urban, suburban and rural areas, public transport infrastructure, and public areas such as universities, parks and shopping centres. In a first step of data analysis, the results of the measurement in Switzerland from November and December 2016 will be used to compare the measurements of the three different exposimeters. The results of the device comparisons will enable a better understanding and interpretation of existing epidemiological research results, as well as improved risk assessment and communication strategies.


The distribution of daily rainfall amounts were modeled to the gamma and exponential distribution functions. Historical rainfall data from fourteen stations covering the vegetative zones of the country were fitted, by month to the two functions to estimate the parameters of the models. The gamma model yielded a better fit to the observed data. Using the parameters derived, rainfall data were stochastically simulated and compared with the observed data employing the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. The gamma model generally reproduced the distribution of the observed data better than the exponential model except at two stations where they practically produced equally profitable results. This outcome was however not replicated at the other stations in the same vegetative zones as the two stations. JARD Vol. 3 2004: pp. 61-74


. This research analyses the impact of urban design on the vitality of public space. For the above, it explores the experience of inhabitants throughout indicators. This analysis allows us to identify relations between urban design and the perception of people inhabiting the place; identifying elements that favour or diminish the vitality of urban public spaces. As a case study, the Biobio Riverside Park, in Concepción, Chile, was selected. Based on its condition of being an attractive project, well located and designed; however, absent from activities and appropriation. The article researches bibliographically about some aspects of urban design, which modify the perception of inhabitants concerning the urban environment. Subsequently, several authors are analysed to identify the main urban design criteria considered for the development of an appropriate public space. With this background a methodological tool is constructed, to evaluate the perception of the inhabitants in relation to various urban design factors. Its application is done through surveys and planimetric analysis in the field. Finally, the survey and planimetry data were analysed simultaneously, in order to recognize the main elements of urban design, conditioning the vitality of the riverside park. Among the main results, security, accessibility, and diversity of activities emerge as the most influential urban design factors in the vitality of public space. Simultaneously, a clear difference between the participants' perception is identified, depending on the proximity of their residence to the case study. This implies that both the sense of appropriation, as well as the sense of security and the attractiveness of the urban landscape, are determining aspects of perception, to promote the vitality of public space.


An Input validation can be a critical issue. Typically, a little attention is paid to it in a web development project, because overenthusiastic validation can tend to cause failures in the software, and can also break the security upon web applications such as an unauthorized access to data. Now, it is estimated the web application vulnerabilities (such as XSS or SQL injection) for more than two thirds of the reported web security vulnerabilities. In this paper, we start with a case study of the bypassing data validation and security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection and then go on to discuss the merits of a number of common data validation techniques. We also review the different solutions to date to provide data validation techniques in ecommerce applications. From this analysis, a new data validation service which is based upon semantic web Technologies, has been designed and implemented to prevent the web security vulnerabilities at the application level and to secure the web system even if the input validation modules are bypassed. Our semantic architecture consists of the following components: RDFa annotation for elements of web pages, interceptor, RDF extractor, RDF parser, and data validator. The experimental results of the pilot study indicate that the proposed data validation service might provide a detection, and prevention of some web application attacks.


The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) project is a new generation multi-component instrument, to be built at 4410 meters of altitude in the Sichuan province of China, with the aim to study with unprecedented sensitivity the spec trum, the composition and the anisotropy of cosmic rays in the energy range between 10$^{12}$ and 10$^{18}$ eV, as well as to act simultaneously as a wide aperture (one stereoradiant), continuously-operated gamma ray telescope in the energy range between 10$^{11}$ and $10^{15}$ eV. The experiment will be able of continuously surveying the TeV sky for steady and transient sources from 100 GeV to 1 PeV, t hus opening for the first time the 100-1000 TeV range to the direct observations of the high energy cosmic ray sources. In addition, the different observables (electronic, muonic and Cherenkov/fluorescence components) that will be measured in LHAASO will allow to investigate origin, acceleration and propagation of the radiation through a measurement of energy spec trum, elemental composition and anisotropy with unprecedented resolution. The remarkable sensitivity of LHAASO in cosmic rays physics and gamma astronomy would play a key-role in the comprehensive general program to explore the High Energy Universe. LHAASO will allow important studies of fundamental physics (such as indirect dark matter search, Lorentz invariance violation, quantum gravity) and solar and heliospheric physics. In this document we introduce the concept of LHAASO and the main science goals, providing an overview of the project.


In this paper, we present a reusable quartz master fabricated by electron-beam lithography and the results of the preliminary test of injection molding using the reusable quartz master. Since patterned structures of photoresist can be easily damaged by demolding process of nickel stamper and master, a master with photoresist cannot be reused in stamper fabrication process. In this work, we have made it possible of the repeated use of master by directly patterning on quartz in nickel stamper fabrication process. We have developed a 100nm-pit sized reusable quartz master with intaglio carving patterns of finer sizes than those of DVD (400nm) and blue-ray disc (200nm). In the preliminary test of the injection molding, we have found optimum injection molding conditions using polypropylene.


Different fractions of Ni, Zn, Cu and Pb were determined in metal-spiked forest soils derived from four parent materials using three extractants (H2O, CaCl2 and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)). It is important to determine how parent materials and soil properties affect the retention of these metals in order to predict their behavior and act accordingly in the event of accidental spillage, for example. The extraction of fractions was not sequential (before carrying out the extractions, the soil samples were divided into three parts), so the CaCl2 fraction also included the H2O one, and the DTPA fraction contained the other two. With the results, we developed models to predict the extraction of each fraction employing the physicochemical characteristics of the soil (e.g., pH, organic matter content and texture values) and the amount of metal added. The objective of this work was to determine how the properties of the soil would influence the fractioning of the metals considered, and through these characteristics create models to predict the behavior of each metal fraction. We found correlations between the different fractions of Ni and Zn, suggesting that there are soil properties that condition the retention of both metals. Pb and Cu showed different behavior than Zn or Ni, since the proportions extracted by H2O and CaCl2 were much lower. Regarding the DTPA fraction, unlike the case of Ni or Zn, the extraction of Cu and Pb was more homogeneous; they did not show great variation in different soils, even when considering the results of extraction in limestone soils. This may be due to the fact that the soil properties do not exert an important effect on their availability, or these two metals are considerably sensitive to the effect of pH, and no differences were observed because the extraction of the DTPA fraction was conducted with a buffered solution. For each fraction of metal used, we obtained a model with R2 always greater than 0.65. Considering these results, we can conclude that it is possible to predict Zn, Ni, Cu and Pb availability in soils developed on different parent materials. This can be achieved by identifying some basic soil characteristics and applying the developed equations.


This paper studies the cyclical properties of real GDP, house prices, credit, and nominal liquid financial assets in 17 EU countries, by applying several methods to extract cycles. The estimates confirm earlier findings of large medium-term cycles in credit volumes and house prices. GDP appears to be subject to fluctuations at both business-cycle and medium-term frequencies, and GDP fluctuations at medium-term frequencies are strongly correlated with cycles in credit and house prices. Cycles in equity prices and long-term interest rates are considerably shorter than those in credit and house prices and have little in common with the latter. Credit and house price cycles are weakly synchronous across countries and their volatilities vary widely – these differences may be related to the structural properties of housing and mortgage markets. Finally, DSGE models can replicate the volatility of cycles in house and equity prices, but not the persistence of house price cycles. JEL Classification: C32, E32, E44


The natural (intrinsic) ageing of the skin is enhanced by environmental factors (extrinsic ageing). One of the most important exogenous factors is the solar UV exposure, which results in photo-aging. Besides this, epidemiological and experimental data show a rapid increase in the incidence of human skin cancers, which is also in relation to the increased sunlight exposure of the skin. In the background of these processes there are cell biological effects, photochemical reactions, membrane receptor changes, lipid- and protein modifications, DNA-damage induced by UV. The qualities and quantities of them are wavelength dependent. The UVB photons are absorbed mostly by the DNA of the epidermal keratinocytes, therefore this spectrum is more relevant for photocarcinogenesis. The effect of UVA-irradiation is mainly manifested in the induction of free radicals, which have not only DNA-damaging, but also immunomodulating effect, which also can influence on tumour development. Furthermore, the free radicals cause dermal connective tissue damage as well via activating transcription factors, inducing matrix metalloproteinases, diminishing the procollagen I and fibrillin-1 synthesis. These processes are augmented by mitochondrial DNA mutations, protein oxidation, apoptosis induction. Therefore the enzymes neutralising free radicals and antioxidant molecules, respectively, have an important role in the defence mechanisms. In the therapy of photo-aging the local retinoids lived up to expectations, but the clinical effectiveness of antioxidant vitamins is lower than expected. The most important factor in the prevention of the photo-aging and photocarcinogenesis is the sun protection at present.


The decisions by Ortho Pharmaceutical in 1985 to suspend manufacture and sale of the Lippes Loop IUD and by G.D. Searle and Co. to suspend sales of the copper 7 and copper T 200 IUDs in the US have virtually eliminated the IUD as a potential contraceptive method for American women. The only remaining IUD on the US market is the little used Progestasert hormone-releasing IUD, which accounted for only 3% of the US market at the time of Searle's decision. The decisions were made as a direct result of the liability insurance crisis and the high cost of lawsuits in the US. The US legal system, unlike those of many countries, permits individuals who believe they have been injured by actions, inactions, or products of individuals, companies, or governmental organizations to sue. The number of such lawsuits rose by 680% in US federal courts between 1974-84, and the average damages awarded now exceed US $1 million. The phenomenon of joint responsibility, in which the plaintiff can sue all parties who can be defined as having had responsibility for the alleged injury, is particularly worrisome for industry. In practice this often means that plaintiffs concentrate their efforts on the party able to pay the greatest amount in damages. As the volume of lawsuits and damages awarded have skyrocketed, so has the cost of liability insurance. Some insurance companies simply refuse to insure high risk ventures at any price. Causes of the insurance crisis in the US are multiple, but one important factor is the new unwillingness of much of the public to accept any risks in return for benefits such as control of fertility. The Lippes loop has been the object of about 200 lawsuits and the Searle IUDs of about 800, 400 of which have been dismissed or settled out of court. Of those going to court, Searle won 9 and lost 2. Legal fees in 4 recent cases won by Searle exceeded $1.5 million. Alza Corp., manufacturer of the Progestasert, is now making the device available to all physicians requesting it, but Alza urges physicians to obtain informed consent and includes a 7-page pamphlet with each device. Each unit costs $84 compared to the $25 or so for copper IUDs, and each must be replaced annually. Many satisfied users and family planning personnel in the US are dismayed by the disappearance of an effective method from the market. Although there is no objective reason for the termination of IUD use in the US to affect the availability of IUDs in other countries, the continued distribution of IUDs elsewhere has aroused suspicion. The International Planned Parenthood Federation, Family Health International, other family planning organizations, and the US Agency for International Development have examined the records of the IUD and have reiterated their conviction that the method is safe and effective for appropriately selected users. They emphasize that the IUD has the unqualified approval of the US Food and Drug Administration.


The theory of diffusion is one of the standard methods on the explanation of the quality of dissemination of innovations, expansion of ideas and thoughts in the area of culture. The present research is an attempt to respond to this question: Is it possible to disseminate the Islamic Revolution values and ideals through the window of Abrahamic Hajj into the world of Islam? If yes, how will be the rate and form of this dissemination? The researcher could achieve the following results in a precise and academic method. In this study, Hajj has been noticed as the route, channel and an instrument to disseminate the Islamic Revolution values, so the route of dissemination is the main topic of the study and other cases have been noticed due to their close relationships with the route of dissemination. Though this route is facing serious practical obstacles, there are potentials for the diffusion of Islamic Revolution values which are the very capacities of Hajj in different dimensions and levels, the most important of which include: epistemological capacities, potential information capacities, capacities to deepen the collective integrity of the Muslims, political, economic as well as cultural capacities. Of course in the route of dissemination, there are basic obstacles and challenges including epistemological, political, economic, cultural, and religious obstacles, as well as psychological war.


Plant species vary widely in their average leaf lifespan (LL) and specific leaf area (SLA, leaf area per dry mass). The negative LL-SLA relationship commonly seen among species represents an important evolutionary trade-off, with higher SLA indicating greater potential for fast growth (higher rate of return on a given investment), but longer LL indicating a longer duration of the revenue stream from that investment. We investigated how these leaf-economic traits related to aggregate properties of the plant crown. Across 14 Australian sclerophyll shrub species, those with long LL accumulated more leaf mass and leaf area per unit ground area. Light attenuation through their canopies was more severe. Leaf accumulation and light attenuation were more weakly related to SLA than to LL. The greater accumulation of foliage in species with longer LL and lower SLA may counterbalance their generally lower photosynthetic rates and light-capture areas per gram of leaf.


This paper is concerned with the application of extreme value theory (EVT) to daily stock market closing prices on the Jamaican Stock Exchange to determine whether or not stock market returns follow a heavy-tail stable distribution. Our empirical result does not reject a heavy tail stable distribution for returns. It also establishes that the Jamaican Stock Exchange return index has a significantly fatter tail than returns from industrial markets.


Future space applications will demand for architectures with High Performance Computing (HPC) capabilities. In this scope, on-board computer designers will have to select between different technologies and designs, the most reliable and most efficient ones in terms of performance and power consumption. In this paper, we investigate the behavior of an Image Reconstruction Algorithm on high performance multi-core CPUs and many-core GPUs. It turns out that SAR applications can profit much more from the architecture and the capabilities of many-core GPUs than from modern multi-core CPUs. We give some remarks on how these types of HPC components can be integrated on future space-based on-board computing platforms. Throughout the paper, we illustrate by comparison the advantages and disadvantages of using GPUs over CPUs for SAR Applications. Other than this, we explain the programming and parallelization paradigms applied to the SAR application to increase its performance and efficiency on CPUs and GPUs respectively.


In1 this paper we presents a customized approach to rapid prototyping based on a new chip design. The chip is named FLYSIG2 and adapts the prototyping architecture to the target architecture and the application domain in view. The chip architecture is scalable according to the requirements of arithmetic operators and interconnection flexibility. The prototyping chip is configurable in terms of operator functionality and operator interconnection. A FLYSIG prototyping chip with 720 add / sub operators has been already been designed and a smaller version is just running through the fab. The design process of FLYSIG based rapid prototyping is supported by tools providing automated scheduling, performance analysis and code generation. The FLYSIG prototyping approach is illustrated by an example of reasonable complexity, i.e. a nested loop convolution algorithm which could be prototyped with the FLYSIG approach easily.


Traumatic brain injury (TB1) rehabilitation is a costly process. In past years it came under increasing scrutiny resulting from lack of hard data supporting its efficacy, as well as outright fraud and abuses in the head-injury rehabilitation industry. Nonetheless, appropriate TBI rehabilitation holds promise for improving the functional outcomes of brain injury survivors and can also reduce future expenditures. This article reviews the empirical literature regarding TBI rehabilitation outcome, with particular emphasis on studies that have examined the cost efficiency of rehabilitation. Specific implications and recommendations are offered for neuropsychologists who practice within the context of TBI rehabilitation.


The American Health Level Seven (HL7) Reference Information Model (RIM) consists of six back-bone classes that have different specialized attributes. Furthermore, for the purpose of enforcing the semantic expression, there are some specific mandatory vocabulary domains have been defined for representing the content values of some attributes. In the light of the fact that it is a duplicated effort on spending a lot of time and human cost to develop and modify Clinical Information Systems (CIS) for most hospitals due to the variety of workflows. This study attempts to design and develop sharing RIM-based components of the CIS for the different business processes. Therefore, the CIS contains data of a consistent format and type. The programmers can do transactions with the RIM-based clinical repository by the sharing RIM-based components. And when developing functions of the CIS, the sharing components also can be adopted in the system. These components not only satisfy physicians' needs in using a CIS but also reduce the time of developing new components of a system. All in all, this study provides a new viewpoint that integrating the data and functions with the business processes, it is an easy and flexible approach to build a new CIS. Keywords—HL7, Reference Information Model (RIM), web service, process management.


Probably the oldest method known for removing the hair from animal skins is to allow the fresh skins to remain for a day or two in a warm, damp place. In this process called "sweating," bacteria decompose the cells of the Malpighian layer and thus loosen the hair. Because of the difficulties of controlling the process and the constant danger of the destruction of valuable leather-making proteins, this procedure has been largely replaced by safer methods. For many years, saturated lime water has been the most widely used depilatory. As lime solutions are reused, they become more effective in loosening the hair. This has been attributed to the presence in the used liquors of ammonia, amines, and other protein decomposition products as well as bacteria and enzymes, although it is difficult to conceive of bacteria or enzymes being active at pH values above 12. In very old lime liquors, hide collagen is attacked. The increasing demand for more rapid processing and conservation of skin collagen has led to the extensive use of "sharpening agents." Such chemicals as sodium sulfide, sodium sulfhydrate, arsenic disulfide, and various amines used in conjunction with lime, reduce the time required to loosen the hair from weeks to days. Within the last few years, some tanners have resorted to the use of sulfides sufficiently strong to dissolve the hair. This is referred to as "hair pulping" or "burning." The use of these processes has many disadvantages, not the least of which is the disposal of the used liquors. A less drastic, more rapid method of removing the hair is badly needed by the leather industry. As early as 1910 (Rohm, 1910, 1913), enzyme preparations were suggested for unhairing. Since that time, numerous attempts have been made to utilize enzymes for unhairing animal hides and skins in industry. However, except for some reported use in Europe at the present time, the process has not been commercially acceptable, probably due among other things to the requirement that the hides must first be treated with an alkali and the alkali then neutralized before the enzymes become effective. Green (1952) has reviewed


Data-partitioning of IPTV video streams is a way of providing graceful quality degradation in a form that will work in good and difficult wireless channel conditions, as experienced by mobile devices. This paper's proposal is to combine redundant slice protection along with an adaptive channel coding scheme that is also proposed in the paper. Adaptive channel coding is achieved by retransmission when necessary of additional redundant data to reconstruct corrupted packets. In the proposal, outright packet loss is provided for by a form of redundant slice protection. The paper finds that it is preferable: not to simply protect only the highest priority packets; that a moderate quantization level should be employed; and that video quality is differentiated by content type. It is important also to configure the partitioning correctly to remove inter-partition dependencies when possible.


Abstract : The overall goal of this proposal is to develop sequence specific DNA binding compounds which are targeted by triplex DNA formation to the promoters of genes which play an important role in the malignant phenotype of breast carcinoma cells. Our proposal was based largely on our extensive experience with the transcriptional inhibitory effects of G-C specific DNA binding drugs such as mithramycin. All of the test systems and reagents necessary for the proposed experiments were available at the beginning of the funding period, which has allowed us to make substantial progress during the past year. In addition, we have made several unexpected observations which have substantially enhanced the likelihood that this approach will be successful. During the first year of funding of this grant we have established the animal models which we proposed in the original application, we have demonstrated that nebullarine substituted TFO's have markedly increased binding affinity, we have shown that murine targeted acridine-oliognucleotide conjugates have very little, if any, toxicity, and we have been able to demonstrate markedly enhanced antitumor effects of neu- targeted TFO's delivered by liposomes. This progress has encouraged us to push forward with the clinical applications of this work. We are quite confident that within the next year of funding we will be prepared to embark on clinical trials of triplex forming agents in breast cancer.


The article analyzes the role of bronchial and pulmonary anatomy in formation if occupational diseases--chronic bronchitis and pneumoconiosis. Those diseases in over 78% of the examinees appear on the background of various anomalies of bronchial and pulmonary structure. In this case congenital anomalies commonly coincide with abnormal segmentary division of bronchi and extend down to the terminal parts of airways. Over 70% of the patients demonstrate tracheobronchial dyskinesia being an important cause of the diseases' fast progressing.


Treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF) with left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction and severe aortic stenosis (AS) is challenging, yet transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has emerged as a suitable treatment option in such patients. We compared the periprocedural outcomes of TAVR in patients with an ejection fraction (EF) of ≤20% (VLEF group) to patients with an EF > 20% to ≤40% (LEF group). We included patients with severe AS and reduced LV ejection fraction (LVEF ≤ 40%) who underwent TAVR at four centers within Northwell Health between January 2016 and December 2020. Over 2000 consecutive patients were analyzed, of which 355 patients met the inclusion criteria. The primary composite endpoint was in-hospital mortality, moderate or greater paravalvular (PVL), stroke, conversion to open surgery, aortic valve re-intervention, and/or need for PPM. Secondary endpoints were length of stay, NYHA classification at 1 month and 1 year, mortality at 1 month and 1 year, mean valve gradient at 1 month, KCCQ score at 1 month, and ≥ moderate PVL at 1 month. There was no difference in the primary composite endpoint between the two groups (23.6% for VLEF vs. 25.3% for LEF, p = 0.29). During TAVR placement, 40% of patients in the VLEF group required ≥1 vasopressors for hypotension lasting ≥30 min vs. only 21% of patients in the LEF group (p < 0.01). Intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) use during procedure was greater in the VLEF group (9% vs. 1%, p < 0.01)—all placed post TAVR. Emergency ECMO use was higher in the VLEF group as well (5% vs. 0%). Total length of stay was significantly different between the two groups as well (6 days vs. 3 days, p < 0.01). Both groups had a change in LVEF of ~10%. One-year outcomes were similar between the groups. All-cause mortality at 1 year was not significantly different at 1 year (13% for VLEF vs. 11% for LEF), and KCC scores were also similar (77.54 vs. 74.97). Mean aortic valve gradients were also similar (12 mmHg vs. 11 mmHg, p = 0.48). Our study suggests that patients with EF ≤ 20% can safely have TAVR with similar periprocedural outcomes compared to patients with EF > 20% to ≤40% despite higher rates of vasopressor and mechanical support.


Applications (to July 1973) of the Glauber approximation to elastic and inelastic collisions of charged particles with neutral atoms are critically reviewed in an attempt to assess the utility of the Glauber approximation in the atomic collisions domain. Various alternative derivations of the Glauber amplitude formula, both for potential scattering and for composite collisions, also are described and compared. A number of possible problems for future research are listed.


Aims/Background: To prevent diabetic complications, strict glucose control and frequent monitoring of blood glucose levels with invasive methods are necessary. We considered monitoring of diabetes-related biomarkers in tears may be the possible methods for diabetes monitoring methods. Many studies about tear glucose levels have been reported and tear glucose levels correlate with blood glucose levels. This time, we focused on glycoalbumin (GA) levels, which reflect an average of blood glucose levels over the preceding 2 weeks, and studied the correlation between GA levels in blood and tears. Methods: We recruited 100 diabetic subjects and collected blood and tear samples. GA levels in blood were measured by an enzymatic method, and GA levels in tears were measured by Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Results: The GA levels in tears of 99 out of 100 samples were appropriately measured by LC-MS/MS. GA levels in blood and tears were significantly correlated (P Conclusions: GA in tears was the first measured diabetes-related biomarker. GA levels in tears were strongly correlated with those in blood, considering various factors. As GA value is a ratio, GA levels in tears were not thought to be influenced by dilution or concentration of tears and showed strong correlation with those in blood. From the above, GA in tears could be a diabetes-related biomarker that can be measured noninvasively. In the future, we plan to optimize measurement conditions, develop measurement equipment and verify the effectiveness and usefulness of this diabetes monitoring method. Disclosure M. Aihara: None. N. Kubota: None. T. Kadowaki: Research Support; Self; Astellas Pharma Inc., Daiichi Sankyo, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, MSD Corporation, Novartis Pharma K.K., Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sanofi, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Speaker's Bureau; Self; Abbott, Astellas Pharma Inc., AstraZeneca K.K., Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cosmic Corporation, Daiichi Sankyo, Eli Lilly Japan K.K., FUJIFILM, Kowa Company, Ltd., Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd., Medscape Education, Medtronic, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, MSD Corporation, NIPRO Medical Corporation, Novartis Pharma K.K., Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sanofi, Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Terumo Medical Corporation. Other Relationship; Self; Asahi Mutual Life Insurance.


Fragmentation processes are part of a broad class of models describing the evolution of a system of particles which split apart at random. These models are widely used in biology, materials science and nuclear physics, and their asymptotic behaviour at large times is interesting both mathematically and practically. The spine decomposition is a key tool in its study. In this work, we consider the class of compensated fragmentations, or homogeneous growth-fragmentations, recently defined by Bertoin. We give a complete spine decomposition of these processes in terms of a Levy process with immigration, and apply our result to study the asymptotic properties of the derivative martingale.


Several areas of science have used Digital Image Processing techniques to extract information, one of these areas of application is Medicine. Radiologists currently use 3D software for the exploitation of digital content in medical images. The method currently used for organ segmentation is manual and may not be effective for exploring the content present in the images, since manual segmentation of organs requires time and may not produce effective results. This work aims to present three techniques developed for automatic segmentation of the liver from medical images. This organ was selected because of the complexity to create a technique for segmentation of all organs of the human anatomy using the techniques of Digital Image Processing, such as: image smoothing, image segmentation and morphological operations. According to the results of the experiments performed, the three techniques proposed had a good rate of liver segmentation.


A novel method to encapsulate MoSi2B healing particles was explored via in situ shell formation in yttria-stabilised zirconia thermal barrier coatings (YSZ-BCs). The shell formation was analysed for MoSi2B healing particles alloyed with 2, 6 and 12 wt% Al. According to oxidation kinetics study at 1100˚C using thermogravimetry, MoSi2B-12 wt% Al particles formed exclusive alumina formation via selective oxidation of Al due to the more homogeneous distribution of Mo(Si1-x,Alx)2 among the particles. A more exclusive alumina formation was also favoured by oxidation in lower pO2 using CO/CO2 (ratio of 4.2, pO2 of 9.1x10-14 atm) compared to oxidation in pure Argon. The shell formation of the Al-alloyed MoSi2B particles inside YSZ matrix composite was also studied. However, oxidation of composite containing MoSi2B-12 wt% Al in the CO/CO2 resulted in simultaneous oxidation of Al and Si with mixed silica-alumina was formed. This suggests zirconia matrix may play a role in oxidising the particles by partial reduction of YSZ. Nevertheless, shell showed protection for particles even after microcapsule stability test at 1100˚C in laboratory air for 100 hours. Crack-gap filling experiment was conducted for composites containing pre-encapsulated and in situ encapsulated MoSi2B-6 wt% Al particles. Healing treatment was done with exposing the composites at 1100 ˚C for 1, 4 and 16 hours in laboratory air. However, the crack-gap was filled with silica without any significant difference.


The Raya-Kobo valley is characterized by good groundwater resources potential (excess of 198 Mm3) located in northern Ethiopia. The total area of the valley is approximated to be 3510 Km2. Despite this potential of groundwater, the area has been suffering from droughts. Establishment and expansion of cooperative societies, small business enterprises and irrigation farming were given priority as interventions to address the food security problem in the valley. These interventions were designed and implemented in the last several years by the regional governments administrating the Raya-Kobo valley, and groundwater is used as a source of water for irrigation farming for more than nine to ten years. Nevertheless, food insecurity is still a major problem in the area. The present study has been conducted to investigate the extent of contribution of the groundwater based intervention in the elimination food insecurity. The study was conducted by collecting, analyzing and interpreting all the existing relevant data of the study area. Groundwater potential was compiled from the author's previous works and recently conducted research works. The impact of the groundwater based irrigation on food security issues was assessed using informal and formal interviews and focus group discussions. Limited area coverage of the irrigated land and the long time taken for the extension works in those drilled productive wells are the major limitations in the Kobo valley that makes the groundwater based irrigation unable to release the farmers of the area from the food insecurity. In Raya valley, besides to these problems, absence of responsible office, failure of pump, and the long time taken for pump maintenance are also the major factors. In Raya-Kobo valley food security is highly related to the availability of water. Irrigating the whole potential irrigable area, increasing and sustaining availability of groundwater and management of the irrigation scheme are vital to eradicate food insecurity from Raya-Kobo valley.


In this paper a multi-sensor collision avoidance system is presented for automotive applications. For obstacle detection and tracking, millimeter wave (MMW) radar and a far infrared (FIR) camera are chosen in order to provide object lists to the sensors' trackers respectively. The algorithm for track management, data association, filtering and prediction for both sensors is also presented, focusing on Kalman filtering. Thus, an interacting multiple model (IMM) filter is designed for coping with all possible modes in which a car may be. Finally, a distributed fusion architecture using a central track file for the objects' tracks is adopted and described analytically. The results of the work will be used, among others, in the European co-funded project "EUCLIDE".


The loess deposits in the vicinity of Natchez, Mississippi, have received much attention from geologists over the years, and are well known to paleontologists as the source of an abundant and varied terrestrial snail fauna (Shimek, 1902; Vestal, 1942; Russell, 1955; Snowden and Priddy, 1968; Kolb, 1976). With the exception of the casts and molds of roots, well-preserved plant remains from the southern loess are essentially unknown. The purpose of our note is to describe a rare occurrence of fossil seeds from loess deposits near Natchez, and to comment on the mode of preservation of the seeds.


Additive manufacturing (AM) has become an increasingly powerful technique for fabricating complex three-dimensional micro-architectures for a wide variety of applications. Despite the multitude of AM techniques that support single material printing at progressively higher throughput, larger build size, and finer spatial resolution, multi-material printing of interlaced structures with one of the materials being a filled composite has not been demonstrated. This work aims to demonstrate the technical feasibility of fabricating such heterogeneous structures using a custom-built multi-material digital light processing (MMDLP) 3D printer. The printer was equipped with two resin dispensers and an air-jet that enable fast exchange between the resins—one of which was filled with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) up to 0.25%. The inclusion of CNTs reduced the cure depth of the resins, but significantly lowered the critical exposure required to initiate the photopolymerization. This information was successfully used to select appropriate process parameters for printing complex CNT-filled multi-material structures.


This paper studies the performance of the frequency-domain algorithms (FDAs) for low-frequency ultra-wideband synthetic aperture radar (UWB SAR) data processing. First, a generalized theoretical derivation of the FDAs is presented from the viewpoint of SAR signal processing. The derivation not only provides a deeper understanding to the imaging principle of the extended Omega-K algorithm (EOKA), but also makes it compatible and comparable with the other FDAs. Second, the performance comparison on different FDAs is made based on theoretical analysis, simulation and experimental data. The comparison results show that the Omega-K algorithm (ωKA) has the highest imaging precision in the ideal case (i.e, no motion error), but its application is limited by the poor ability of compensating motion errors. In contrast, the EOKA and nonlinear chirp scaling algorithm (NCSA) have excellent performance on dealing with the motion error, but they can only be applied under specific preconditions. Besides, as cetner frequency gets lower, the fractional bandwidth and integration angle get larger, the imaging precision of NCSA greatly decreases, while the ωKA and EOKA still keep high precision.


Discrete, small, roundish lesions of localized porous bone can be occasionally seen in the craniofacial skeleton. Such lesions are rarely mentioned and only occur as an incidental discovery being assigned to plenty of diagnoses. As an example, such multiple small lesions of the facial skeleton in a well-preserved skeleton of a 40-60 year old male of the Hunno-Sarmatian Period from Kazakhstan, are discussed. Some of the lesions were examined by digital microscopy, plain radiography, and plain and polarizing microscopy. Considering possible differential diagnoses of vascular, traumatic, inflammatory/reactive, metabolic, and neoplastic entities, as well as developmental conditions, its microscopic characteristics point to a fibro-osseous process. This paper intends to open a discussion on the diagnosis of such lesions, which have been relatively neglected in previous research.


Lymphomas represent malignant lymphoproliferative diseases and they are generally classified as Hodgkin's (HL) or non-Hodgkin malignant lymphomas (NHML). Head and neck lymphomas represent one of the most common sites of extranodal lymphomas, second after the gastrointestinal tract. Waldeyer's ring structures include the palatine tonsils, the nasopharyngeal lymphatic tissue, and the lingual tonsil. We investigated 38 patients with malignant lymphoma with ages ranging from 21 to 95 years, all localized in the Waldeyer's ring. Good knowledge of the clinical characteristics of these lymphomas and the methods to establish the differential diagnosis are essential for a correct therapy of the disease.


Neurons preferentially activated by learning have been ascribed the unique potential to encode memory. However, it remains unclear which genetically-defined cell types are recruited as part of such an ensemble, or what role discrete subpopulations play in behavior. Here we show that fear conditioning activates a heterogeneous neural ensemble in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), comprised to a large degree of GABAergic interneurons immunoreactive for somatostatin (SST-INs). Using an intersectional genetic approach, we demonstrate that fear learning-activated SST-INs exhibit distinct circuit properties, are preferentially reactivated during memory retrieval, and mediate the expression of defensive freezing. We further show that a rewarding experience, morphine treatment, activates an orthogonal SST-IN population that exerts opposing control over fear. These results outline an important role for discrete GABAergic ensembles in fear memory encoding, and point to an unappreciated capacity for functional specialization among SST-INs.


This paper aims at analyzing the FDI spillover effect in accordance to the industrial forward and backward linkages effect during the entire (1990~2008) and recent (2001~2008) periods. The System Generalized Method of Moment has been utilized in order to solve the endogeneity issue. As a result, spillover effect within the industry has been diminishing recently consequently leading to the presence of backward linkage effect but no forward linkage effect. According to the system GMM result, the backward linkage effect in the manufacturing and services sector has increased more recently. Also, the backward linkage effect in the service sector is increasing further than that of the manufacturing sector. The analysis concludes that it is meaningful to note the importance of attracting FDI to the service sector as it results in greater spillover effect than in other sectors.


In this article, we present the optimization of the production methanol from glycerol and its integration in the production of biodiesel from algae. We propose a limited superstructure where the glycerol from biodiesel is first reformed for which steam reforming and autoreforming are evaluated. The gas obtained is cleaned up and its composition is adjusted in terms of the ratio CO/H2 using three possible alternatives (bypass, PSA and water gas shift). Next, the removal of CO2 is performed by means of PSA and the syngas is fed to the methanol synthesis reactor and the products obtained are separated. This synthesis is coupled with the production of biodiesel from algae using heterogeneous catalyzed reaction based on previous results. The optimization of the system is formulated as a Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) that is solved for the simultaneous optimization and heat integration of the production of biodiesel with recycle of methanol followed by water integration. The best process involves the use of autoreforming for a production cost of $0.66 gal−1, 3.65 MJ/gal of energy consumption and water consumption of 0.79 gal/gal. The integrated process is $0.2 gal−1 more expensive than the one that directly uses methanol but reduces in more than half the dependency of the process on fossil fuels. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 32: 891–901, 2013


Mistakes are often an inevitable part of training; Learning from Mistakes in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy encourages the trainee to pinpoint potential errors at the earliest possible stage in training, helping them to make fast progress towards becoming competent REBT practitioners.

Windy Dryden and Michael Neenan have compiled 111 of the most common errors, explaining what has gone wrong and how to put it right, and have divided them into eight accessible parts:

 general mistakes
 assessment mistakes
 goal-setting mistakes
 disputing mistakes
 homework mistakes
 mistakes in dealing with client doubts and misconceptions
 working through mistakes
 self-maintenance.

Learning from Mistakes in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy is an indispensable guide for anyone embarking on a career in the REBT field.


We present a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo technique for estimating the astrophysical parameters of gravitational radiation signals from a neutron star in laser interferometer data. This computational algorithm can estimate up to six unknown parameters of the target, including the rotation frequency and frequency derivative, using reparametrization, delayed rejection and simulated annealing. We highlight how a simple extension of the method, distributed over multiple computer processors, will allow for a search over a narrow frequency band. The ultimate goal of this research is to search for sources at known locations, but uncertain spin parameters; an example would be SN1987A.


INTRODUCTION: A correct diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is important because treatment is highly expensive and has severe side effects. The assays for the detection of antibodies against HCV (anti-HCV) have undergone several changes, and third-generation tests have been widely used due to their increased sensitivity and specificity. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to compare two commercially available, automated third-generation chemiluminescence tests for the detection of anti-HCV antibodies. METHODS: We analyzed 67 samples from the serum databank from the Laboratorio Central de Saude Publica do Estado da Bahia (LACEN-BA). The reagents examined were the O O automated ARCHITECT anti-HCV assay (Abbott Diagnostics, Wiesbaden, Germany) and Elecsys anti-HCV assay (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland) tests and the confirmatory Recombinant Immunoblot Assay (RIBA) test (Chiron RIBA VHC 3.0 SIA, Chiron Corporation, Emeryville, CA, USA). RESULTS: The Architect anti-HCV assay indicated 18 positive samples, whereas 39 were negative and ten were indeterminate. The Elecsys anti-HCV assay indicated 47 negative and 20 positive samples and no indeterminate samples. Of the ten indeterminate samples indicated by the Architect anti-HCV assay, five were negative by the RIBA test and five were indeterminate. All indeterminate samples indicated by the RIBA test were reactive against the c33 protein. CONCLUSION: The agreement between the two tests (62 samples) was 91.9%. The Elecsys anti-HCV assay appears to be less sensitive than the Architect anti-HCV, particularly for the detection of the c33 protein shown by the RIBA test. In addition, the Architect anti-HCV assay indicated more indeterminate results out of the negative samples confirmed by the RIBA test, which suggests a lower specificity than the Elecsys anti-HCV assay..


Abstract Lipopolysaccharide-induced (LPS) inflammation is used as model to understand the role of inflammation in brain diseases. However, no studies have assessed the ability of peripheral low-level chronic LPS to induce neutrophil activation in the brain. Subclinical levels of LPS were injected intraperitoneally into mice to investigate impacts on neutrophil frequency and activation. Neutrophil activation, as measured by CD11b expression, peaked in the periphery after 4 weeks of weekly injections. Neutrophil frequency and activation increased in the periphery 4–12 hours and 4–8 hours after the fourth and final injection, respectively. Increased levels of G-CSF, TNFa, IL-6, and CXCL2 were observed in the plasma along with increased neutrophil elastase, a marker of neutrophil extracellular traps, peaking 4 hours following the final injection. Neutrophils and neutrophil activation were increased in the brain of LPS injected mice when compared to saline-injected mice 4 hours and 4–8 hours after the final injection, respectively. These results indicate that subclinical levels of peripheral LPS induces neutrophil activation in the periphery and brain. This model of chronic low-level systemic inflammation could be used to understand how neutrophils may act as mediators of the periphery-brain axis of inflammation with age and/or in mouse models of neurodegenerative or neuroinflammatory disease.


Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice. Pulmonary veins are a major source of ectopic activities initiating the arrhythmia and the fibrillatory conduction, associating multiple wavelets and high frequency functional reentries called "rotors". AF is responsible for atrial electrophysiological, contractile and structural remodelling, shortening the wavelength, accelerating AF cycle length and sustaining the arrhythmia. A better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for this arrhythmia led to new therapeutic approaches, including ablation, and could eventually lead to the development of new anti-arrhythmic drug agents.


Talbot's bands can be observed in one of the diffraction orders of a grating spectrometer with a partially phase-shifted input beam. This experiment has long been considered as a curiosity. Here, we look at it from a new perspective: we discuss the Talbot band experiment as a combination of two kinds of dispersion, refractive and diffractive. This may be of interest for various tasks of temporal optical signal processing such as dispersion management and the shaping of ps/fs-pulses. For this purpose, we demonstrate the use of micromachined optical elements to alter the performance of the classical Talbot band setup. A theoretical description and experimental results are presented.


Species status assessments are used to inform U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decision making for Endangered Species Act (ESA) classification decisions, recovery planning, and more. The large number of species that require assessment and uncertainty in the data available impede the process of assigning and completing the assessments, which makes creating a multiyear work plan extremely difficult. An optimized triaging system that maximizes the use of the best available information while managing the complex ESA workload and meeting deadlines is necessary. We used a structured decision-making framework to approach the problem with the goal of creating a prioritization tool that would be effective at scheduling assessments, given the best information available and priorities of the USFWS. We collected data on the species awaiting assessment and developed a value function that incorporates existing deadlines, taxonomic uncertainty, controversy of the species, and population and habitat data availability and quality. We used a constrained linear optimization algorithm to maximize the value function and ensure that workload capacity was not exceeded. A comparison of model scenarios indicates that imposed deadlines impact the model more than capacity constraints. Additionally, differential weighting of the metrics significantly affected the outcome of the model. In the future, elicitation of metric weights should be done routinely before the model is run for use in official planning to ensure alignment with current USFWS priorities. Output from this optimization can be used to inform a five-year work plan, allocate resources, and discuss workforce decisions. History: This paper has been accepted for the Decision Analysis Special Issue on Decision Analysis to Further Environmental Sustainability. Funding: This work was funded via an inter-agency agreement between the USFWS and the USGS and subsequently by a Research Work Order contract between the USGS and the University of Florida [Grant G21AC00016].