Flip Chip circuit design for highly integrated transmitter IC for CDMA handset is presented. The RF flip chip implementation uses peripheral I/O bumps pattern and internal ground bumps within the die, directly on the top metal layer. The IC transmitter is designed to deliver 8 dBm in CDMA mode in cellular band, 11 dBm in AMPS mode and 9 dBm in CDMA mode in PCS band at 90, 88, 108 mA, respectively. Results show that flip chip implementation meets or exceeds the wirebond RFIC performance.


ABSTRACT The goal of science literacy for all underlies much of today's K-12 science education (National Academies of Sciences [2016]. Science literacy: Concepts, contexts, and consequences. National Academies Press; Roberts, [2007]. Scientific literacy/science literacy. In S. K. Abell, & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (pp. 729–780). Lawrence Erlbaum). This goal assumes that the citizens of contemporary societies must be able to appreciate the relevance of and draw upon scientific knowledge and practices in a broad range of personal and social issues. Many national science education standards, which aim to promote science literacy for all, focus almost entirely on prescribing the conceptual knowledge and practices that underlie science literacy, with only little, if any, reference to the affective characteristics that need to be fostered in parallel to conceptual knowledge and skills. This position paper highlights why affect is so important for the development of science literacy by critiquing the arguments that underlie many national standards documents and by considering the crucial role affect plays in becoming and remaining a lifelong learner of science. We argue that there is a discrepancy between the science education research literature and many national science education standards in terms of the latter not acknowledging the affective domain as an important education outcome, and that this discrepancy is an obstacle to the attainment of science literacy for all.


Mediterranean countries are known for their olive oil production, which accounts for 97% of global production. Morocco is one of the largest producers of olive oil, and this industry is beneficial for the national economy. In particular, the Beni Mellal-Khenifra region is renowned for this industry, which not only produces olive oil but also generates vegetable water that have a detrimental effect on the environment, including surface and groundwater pollution, as well as emitting unpleasant odors. This study focuses on the valorization of these waste products, whether they come from pressing (traditional) or centrifugation (modern) processes, by characterizing their physicochemical composition and measuring the polyphenols. The obtained values range from 0.8 g/l to 1.17 g/l, highlighting that margines from the centrifugation (modern) process are richer in polyphenols than those from pressing (traditional). Using the solid diffusion method, we determined the sensitivity of four bacterial species to the vegetable water, namely Bacillus megaterium, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. These bacteria showed sensitivity to the margines, with Gram-positive bacteria being more sensitive. This effect is linked to the bioactive compounds present in the margines, such as polyphenols.


The article gives a comparative analysis of the green tourism development in Ukraine, the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, Australia, and Africa. Some differences and specific features of the green tourism development in different regions of the world are pointed out, and the backlog of national indicators of the world is revealed. The green tourism definition is improved, which, unlike others, is based on the theory of a green economy theory. The differences between sustainable and green t ourism are presented, as well as the scheme of connections between their subtypes (ecotourism, rural and adventure tourism). It is proposed to conduct comparative analysis in the future on the basis of a sustainable international tourism development indicator system in the following key areas: state control in the field, the economic component of social and cultural influ-ence and the impact of tourism on the environment.


The aim – to analyze the results of the early postoperative period of surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) combined with endovascular or surgical methods of myocardial revascularization.Materials and methods. For this retrospective study, a selection of medical records of adult patients (over 18 years of age) who underwent SAVR concomitant with myocardial revascularization in the period from 2018 to 2022 was carried out.Results and discussion. We selected 95 patients who were treated with SAVR with concomitant myocardial revascularization (the first group (n = 31) – a combination of SAVR and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI); the second group (n = 48) – a combination of SAVR and CABG). In patients of the first group, lesions of the main left coronary artery and the circumflex artery were recorded, respectively, by 24.85 % (p = 0.011) and by 23.7 % (p = 0.033) less often. Moreover, the patients of the first group required intraoperative use of more than two doses of blood red cell mass by 21.4 % less often (p = 0.046). In the early postoperative period, a lower level of bleeding was observed in patients of the first group compared to the second group (180 (150; 250) ml vs. 250 (200; 305) ml, p = 0.008).Conclusions. Patients who underwent PCI before SAVR were characterized by a shorter duration of surgery, cardiopulmonary bypass, and aortic cross-clamping, while no significant difference in major early postoperative complications was observed between the study groups.


ABSTRACT A wind erosion research was carried out in a wind tunnel where sediment samples acquired were studied by an artificial vision camera. These images could be enlarged for further analysis. Image analyses were mainly colorimetry, number of particles present and their size. Soil wind erodibility was analyzed with the image analyses supported by other laboratory results. Anthrosols were the most erodible soils, whereas Calcisols showed the highest resistance to the erosive action of wind. Sediment characteristics show the influence of trap height with decreasing particle size, number and darkness as transport height increases. A two-factor ANOVA for main effect height showed that there were significant differences in particle number and size for sediments trapped 0-15 cm and 40-70 cm high. Soils could be grouped by differences in particle number and size at different heights into highly erodible Anthrosols and Leptosols, non-erodible Calcisols and Arenosols, in which fine particles were already depleted by natural wind erosion. Aggregation showed a similar pattern with decreasing values from Calcisols and Leptosols to Anthrosols and finally Arenosols, where only single sand grains were observed in adhesive traps.


Cydia splendana and C. fagiglandana are two closely related chestnut feeding lepidopteran moth species. In this study, we surveyed the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia in these two species. Infection rates were 31% in C. splendana and 77% in C. fagiglandana. MLST analysis showed that these two species are infected with two quite diverse Wolbachia strains. C. splendana with Sequence Type (ST) 409 from the A-supergroup and C. fagiglandana with ST 150 from the B-supergroup. One individual of C. splendana was infected with ST 150, indicating horizontal transfer between these sister species. The mitochondrial DNA of the two Cydia species showed a significantly different mtDNA diversity, which was inversely proportional to their infection rates.


We consider Toeplitz operators with symbols that are almost periodic matrix functions of several variables. It is shown that under certain conditions on the group generated by the Fourier support of the symbol, a Toeplitz operator is Fredholm if and only if it is invertible.


Purpose: Epithelial migration is essential for healing of the ablated corneal epithelium. To reveal the mechanism which enables the corneal epithelial cells to dissociate during migration, we investigated the immunolocalization of the components of the desmosome, which is the main constituent of the intercellular junction attaching the intermediate filaments to the cell surface, desmoplakin 1, desmoglein and plakoglobin, in the corneal epithelium during wound healing in rats. Methods: Under general anesthesia with ether inhalation, Wistar rats (n = 48) underwent removal of the central corneal epithelium of one eye with a small trephine and a scalpel. After various intervals of healing (5 min; 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 48 h; 1 and 2 weeks), the animals were killed and the affected eye was excised. Cryosections of each anterior segment of the eye were fixed with cold acetone and treated with primary antibodies against desmoplakin 1, desmoglein and plakoglobin. Immunolocalization of these substances was visualized by the peroxidase-diaminobenzidine reaction. Results: A marked immunoreactivity for these desomosome components was detected at the intercellular junction in the normal corneal and conjunctival epithelium. At 6–24 h after epithelial ablation, a weak immunoreactivity for desmoplakin 1 and plakoglobin was observed in the migrating epithelium. At 48 h after epithelial ablation, a marked immunoreactivity for these desmosome components was seen again. At 6–48 h after epithelial ablation, a weak immunoreactivity for desmoglein was observed in the migrating epithelium. At 1 week after epithelial ablation, a marked immunoreactivity for this desmosome component reappeared. The regenerated epithelium gradually exhibited normal immunolocalization of the proteins. Conclusions: The desmosome components were considered to be degraded or destroyed prior to epithelial migration and reconstructed during healing of the squamous epithelium.


Inversions of 2D and 3D seismic datasets were successfully applied to study a carbonate reservoir in the Thrace basin, North-Western Turkey. Structurally, the studied field is defined by a NW-SE oriented horst block. The limestone reservoir rocks are of Eocene age. Seismic data was acquired as a high resolution 2D survey and then processed in 2D and subsequently into a pseudo 3D cube. Several wells with standard wireline logs penetrate the reservoir. This study initiated a post-stack, seismic inversion which was applied on both, 2D lines and sections from the 3D cube. It was noted that differences in impedance of the two data types mainly originate from the better imaged 3D data while 2D lines show higher noise levels. Cubes of density, acoustic and shear impedances were calculated for reservoir characterisation by pre-stack simultaneous inversion. Despite limitations to data quality the pre-stack inversion results show a good match to well data and yield high correlation coefficients with reservoir properties. The 3D density cube was transformed into a series of probability cubes and used in subsequent facies modelling. The acoustic impedance cube was utilized as a secondary variable steering the pore volume distribution in the reservoir model.


ABSTRACT The growing number of fungal infections, coupled with emerging resistance to classical antifungal agents, has led to the development of new agents, among them voriconazole. Susceptibility to voriconazole was tested by using two microdilution techniques: the reference method described in National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards document M27-A2 and a colorimetric method, Sensititre YeastOne. A total of 272 Candida isolates (132 of Candida albicans, 62 of C. parapsilosis, 33 of Candida glabrata, 21 of C. krusei, 15 of C. tropicalis, and 9 of C. lusitaniae) and two control strains (C. parapsilosis ATCC 22019 and C. krusei ATCC 6258) were tested. There was a high rate of agreement between the two methods used (97 to 100%).


In this paper, I review recent contributions to theories of resistance and agency in the context of anthropology of Egypt. Drawing on ethnography conducted in Egypt after the January 25th Revolution and then after the election of Mohamed Morsi as President, I analyse the mass mobilization movement in Egypt called Tamarod. Tamarod led the effort to have twenty-two million Egyptians sign a call for President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood to step down, and mobilized an estimated twelve million to come on the street for a mass demonstration on 30 June, after which Morsi was removed from power. Rather than critique the notion of Tamarod as resistance, as a dupe of the Military, or as the legitimate voice of the Egyptian people and their agency, I argue that Tamarod made visible, and rendered available for political goals, a social infrastructure of communicative channels in Egypt. More generally, the paper shows concretely, and as concomitant processes, how agency is embedded in infrastructure and how infrastructure is upended in uprisings.


Sound is an integral medium of communication in society. Despite its influence in everyday interaction, the fundamental features of sound and its impact are not commonly understood and often not considered. Advanced dissection and analysis of sound is often used to aid technology's understanding of its environment (e.g. in robotics and telecommunications). The aim of this project is to utilise sound information technology to enhance our understanding of sound and how we process it. Visualisation can provide a more accessible representation of complex sound analysis, and so it is investigated here in the context of musical performance and interactive installation. This cross-modal experience is informed by the phenomenon of synaesthesia and creative mapping to express its subjectivity by providing a user-unique experience. In addition to results and user evaluations, the paper concludes with plans for future development, focusing on the impact of the interactive installation on the user and ways in which the technology developed can be used in creative interaction with sound.


This paper describes a robotic system that uses an actively controlled glass to help patients with tremors. End-point control is proposed for the upper part of a robotic device that becomes active in response to motion changes or vibrations of its holder. The device mechanisms, hardware, software, and sensory system are all integrated, presenting a novel robotic glass design. The control system consists of two degrees of freedom proportional–integral velocity regulators for direct current motors. These regulators are designed, implemented, and tuned to keep the robotic glass stable against changes in its position. In realizing direct current motor control, it is essential to take system constraints into consideration to develop regulators that can handle the nonlinear Coulomb friction and avoid operating in the saturation zone. This is crucial when designing, tuning, and implementing regulators for real-time applications. The computer simulations of the system, which involved developing and running all the control algorithms for real-time applications, are carried out in Matlab/Simulink. The proposed designs are validated by comparing system simulations to real-time physical experiments. The recorded results confirmed the outstanding performance of the proposed experimental platform mechanisms and the accurate control tracking, which provides fast and precise control responses to meet the high requirements of a fast end-point control application.


A new surgical drain is described that uses the advantages of the Penrose and closed drainage systems. A means to clear the tubing in a noncontaminating manner is inherent in the design. A standard compressible bladder is attached to provide suction to the external tubing.


Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a powerful paradigm that has proven to be extremely useful for the task of classifying high-dimensional objects. It does not only perform well in learning linear classifiers, but also shows outstanding performance in capturing nonlinearity through the use of kernels. In principle, SVM allows us to train "scoring" classifiers i.e. classifiers that output a prediction score. However, it can also be adapted to produce probability-type outputs through the use of the Venn-Abers framework. This allows us to obtain valuable information on the labels distribution for each test object. This procedure, however, is restricted to very small data given its inherent computational complexity. We circumvent this limitation by borrowing results from the field of computational geometry. Specifically, we make use of the concept of a coreset: a small summary of data that is constructed by discretising the input space into enclosing balls, so that each ball will be represented by only one object. Our results indicate that training Venn-Abers predictors using enclosing balls provides an average acceleration of 8 times compared to the regular Venn-Abers approach while largely retaining probability calibration. These promising results imply that we can still enjoy well-calibrated probabilistic outputs for kernel SVM even in the realm of large-scale datasets.


: The examination of all persons suspected in the use narcotics (including suppliers and vendors of drugs) in Svetlogorsk (Belarus) for the presence of antibodies to HIV revealed 811 cases of HIV infection, i.e. 1% of the whole population was found to be infected by HIV. More than 90% of all HIV-infected persons were drug addicts introducing narcotic intravenously; young people aged 18 to 29 years constituted 81% (of these, 76% were males and 24% were females). The rapid spread of HIV was caused by the use of a ready-made HIV-infected drug which had been supplied for sale and could have been infected in the process of manufacture or packing.


Nike is one of the biggest company that sell shoes, clothing, and sports equipment. Nike was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports and it officially became Nike Inc. in 1971. Nike has done a variety ways in order to keep the customer remember and make purchases, one of them is through the print ads that published in Cita Cinta 09/XII. Print advertisement is one of media that full of meaning. Construction of meaning was made by the designer from any visual elements. The meaning that derived from it is contextual, which every community has its own meaning. Through social Semiotic analysis, can be known that Nike tried to deliver message about happiness and comfort in running using Nike shoes, this message was suitable for Cita Cinta's characteristics of target audience because they used European women model and English sentence to build it. Medium Angle shot also used to emphasize the meaning; so that Nike present in the same level with the audience, and there is no gap between them.


In this paper we present an artificial neural network based motion and path planning system of a wheeled mobile robot navigating among stationary and moving obstacles. The neural network is aware of its distance sensor readings and its relative position from the target. The neural network is used in this system as a controller, and it is trained using a previously proposed extension of the backpropagation through time algorithm, which uses potential fields for obstacle avoidance. The operability of this method is presented in a series of simulation results.


One of the key technologies for next generation space telescope with a large-scale reflector is a material having high specific strength, high specific stiffness, low coefficient of thermal expansion and high coefficient of thermal conductivity. Several candidates such as fused silica, beryllium, silicon carbide and carbon fiber reinforced composites have been evaluated. Pitch-based carbon fiber reinforced SiC composites were developed for the SPICA space telescope mirror to comply with such requirements. Mechanical performance such as bending stiffness, bending strength and fracture toughness was significantly improved. Evaluation procedures of thermal expansion and thermal conductivity behavior at cryogenic temperatures (as low as 4.5K) were established and excellent performance for the SPICA mirror was demonstrated.


Many systems in widespread use concentrate on the imaging of binary objects, e.g., the archival storage of text documents on microfilm or the facsimile transmission of text. Due to the imperfect nature of such systems, the binary image is unavoidably corrupted by blur and noise to form a grey-scale image. We present a technique to reverse this degradation which maps the binary object reconstruction problem into a Viterbi state-trellis. We assign states of the trellis to possible outcomes of the reconstruction estimate and search the trellis in the usual optimal fashion. Our method yields superior estimates of the original binary object over a wide range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) when compared with conventional Wiener filter (WF) estimates. For moderate blur and SNR levels, the estimates produced approach the maximum likelihood (ML) bound on estimation performance.


The 14-3-3 protein family has received considerable attention recently in the literature, because of the finding that beta and zeta isoforms interact with and activate Raf. We had previously shown that these 14-3-3 isoforms also exist as phosphorylated forms in mammalian and avian brain. The presence of this modification enhances the activity of 14-3-3 as an inhibitor of protein kinase C nearly 2-fold. In this report we show by a combination of electrospray mass spectrometry and protein microsequencing that alpha and delta are in vivo post-translationally modified forms of beta and zeta, respectively, and the site of phosphorylation, serine 185, is in a consensus sequence motif for proline-directed kinases.


This paper reviews the first 25 years of how the "One Country, Two Systems" policy, tangibly and intangibly, transformed the Hong Kong-Mainland China border from the Hong Kong side. To address the border's complexity, the author applied interdisciplinary research to obtain a holistic picture of the border, assimilating expertise from urban regeneration, ekistics, economics, geopolitics, and biology. Based on 25 years of data regarding Hong Kong's border region, such as cross-border travel mobility based on economic status and geographical boundaries, demographical changes, and land use fluctuations, it is proven that all social development is subjected to humanity's biological instinct for higher chances of survival, which is embodied by how governments limit cross-border travel freedom. It reveals genuine and engraved difficulties for the "two systems" to overcome, and disruptive institutional innovation is needed for the desired cross-border integration to transpire.


Choice trees have recently been introduced as a general structure for defining the semantics of programming languages with a wide variety of features and effects. In this article we focus on concurrent languages, and show how a codensity version of choice trees allows the semantics for such languages to be systematically transformed into compilers using equational reasoning techniques. The codensity construction is the key ingredient that enables a high-level, algebraic approach. As a case study, we calculate a compiler for a concurrent lambda calculus with channel-based communication.


Forecasts of inflation in the United States since the mid eighties have had smaller errors than in the past, but those conditional on commonly used variables cannot consistently beat the ones from univariate models. This paper shows through simple modifications to the classical monetary model that something similar occurred in those major Latin American economies that achieved their own "Great Moderation." For those countries that did not attain macroeconomic stability, inflation forecasting conditional on some variables has not changed. Allowing the parameters that determine Granger causality to change when the monetary regime does, makes possible the estimation of parsimonious inflation models for all available data (eight decades for one country and five for the others). The models so obtained ouperform others in pseudo out-of-sample forecasts for most of the period under study, except in the cases when an inflation targeting policy was successfully implemented.


In the Mediterranean rainfed systems, perennial warm-season grasses are profitable crops for the production of herbage as forage or feedstock for bioenergy purposes. During summer, when the production of cool-season crops is scarce, warm-season grasses can improve the productivity and stability of forage cropping systems. In Italy, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) can be cultivated for herbage production or as energy crop. The objective of this work was evaluating if relay intercropping with cool-season legumes could be suited to convert a mature stand of switchgrass from energy to dual, energy and forage, production, together with improving the productivity and the quality of the harvestable biomass. All these things considered, a field experiment was carried out in Central Italy, on mature stands of two switchgrass varieties, Alamo and Blackwell, overseeded with two legumes: sulla (Hedysarum coronarium L.) and crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.). The intercropping system was compared with fertilized and un-fertilized pure switchgrass stands. After two years of study, data showed that the intercropping increased the total above ground biomass (AGB) productivity. In the second year, the increase in total AGB production for switchgrass mixtures compared with the pure stands was greater for sulla, a biennial legume, than crimson clover.


Since East European countries joined the EU, the import of both dairy and beef cows from these countries increased considerably. Based on the identification and registration system it turned out that in the period from May until December 2007 about 200 cows per month were imported from Romania. These animals were either slaughtered immediately or in autumn. In autumn, cysts were noticed both in slaughtered cows during meat inspection and in deceased animals (originated from Romania) during postmortem investigation performed by the Animal Health Service. Because cysts were strongly reminiscent of Echinococcus granulosus hydatid cysts, samples were sent to the authorized laboratory (National Reference Laboratory of Parasitology), where the reintroduction of this potentially zoonotic parasitic infection has been confirmed. The risks of reintroduction of E. granulosus in the Netherlands are described.


The aim of Design Centering is to minimize or even eliminate the undesirable effect of manufacturing process variations by changing the designable parameter values. The Centers of Gravity (COG) algorithm is a yield optimization algorithm that was originally developed on a heuristic basis for discrete component circuits. In this contribution, the generalized COG algorithm which can be applied to integrated circuits is presented.


In contemporary public international law, it is increasingly common that in many countries of the world and Europe, political representatives of the peoples are calling for an inalienable right to the external self-determination of the peoples involving secession to try to achieve their independence and autonomy, forming their national states to the detriment of already existing countries in which they are currently living. However, this may cause destabilization and wars in many complex multiethnic states and the European Union. Therefore, the Aland Islands and Quebec cases are extremely important for today's understanding of the exercise of the right to self-determination of the people in contemporary public international law, in particular as the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the domestic courts invoke them as precedents to address all future cases of reference to the right of the people to external self-determination involving secession. Based on those cases, it has developed that the issue of secession is the question of the internal legal order of each sovereign country, which should deal with this issue through its constitutional legal order, and contemporary public international law should deal with its consequences. In connection with this, it is necessary to investigate and offer answers that will highlight possible abuses of the right to self-determination of all peoples as a collective human right in contemporary public international law. Such unlawful conduct may result in adverse legal consequences, in particular, the violation of basic principles of public international law, including the principles of territoriality and sovereignty of the states, the distortion of world peace and order, economic progress, the rule of law and the pursuit of basic human rights and freedoms, as well as other collective human rights, which may ultimately be the cause of provocation and lead to international and civil wars.


The study aims to investigate the impact of energy consumption, population size, economic growth, urbanization, industrialization and poverty on environmental degradation in Malaysia by using the data for the period of 1995-2017. Data was gathered from different sources such as Global Economy, World Bank and Index Mundi. Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test is used to check the stationarity of the data. While Auto Regressive Distributive Lag model (ARDL) to analyze the results. The study finds a positive impact of energy consumption on environmental degradation in short as well as in long run. Population, industrialization and poverty positively contribute in environment degradation while urbanization negatively contributes in environmental degradation in long run. Economic growth positively contributes in environmental degradation in short run only. The study suggests government to produce energy by using renewable sources that have less contributions in environmental degradation. This study provides guideline to the policy making authorities that they should enhance their emphasis towards energy consumption and environmental degradation.


The initial distribution and subsequent clearance of aerosol from a hand-operated nasal pump spray has been assessed from gamma camera scans in ten normal subjects, following labelling of placebo sprays with 99Tcm labelled Teflon particles (mean diameter 2 micron). Aerosol was concentrated chiefly in the anterior part of the nose, but the area of deposition varied between subjects. No particles reached the lungs. A mean 56% of the dose was retained at the initial site of deposition 30 minutes after administration, while the remaining 44% of the dose had cleared to the nasopharynx. The initial partitioning of nasal pump sprays between ciliated and non-ciliated zones is relevant both for effective topical therapy of the nasal cavity, and for possible systemic drug delivery by the intranasal route.


Propensities for different amino acids within a protein site change in the course of evolution, so that an amino acid deleterious in a particular species may be acceptable at the same site in a different species. Here, we study the amino acid-changing variants in human mitochondrial genes, and analyze their occurrence in non-human species. We show that substitutions giving rise to such variants tend to occur in lineages closely related to human more frequently than in more distantly related lineages, indicating that a human variant is more likely to be deleterious in more distant species. Unexpectedly, substitutions giving rise to amino acids that correspond to alleles pathogenic in humans also more frequently occur in more closely related lineages. Therefore, a pathogenic variant still tends to be more acceptable in human mitochondria than a variant that may only be fit after a substantial perturbation of the protein structure.


Herein we describe the development and application of a bioorthogonal fluorogenic chelate linker that can be used for facile creation of labeled imaging agents. The chelate linker is based on the trans-cyclooctene(TCO)-tetrazine(Tz) chemistry platform and incorporates deferoxamine (DFO) as a (89)Zr PET tracer and a BODIPY fluorophore for multimodal imaging. The rapid (<3 min) ligation between mAb-TCO and Tz-BODIPY-DFO chelator is monitored using fluorescence and allows for determination of labeling completion. Utilizing BODIPY as the linker between mAb and DFO facilitates in chelator quantification using spectrophotometry, allowing for an alternative to traditional methods (mass and isotope dilution assay). Radiolabeling with (89)Zr to form (89)Zr-DFO-BODIPY-trastuzumab was found to be quantitative after incubation at room temperature for 1 h (1.5 mCi/mg specific activity). The cell binding assay using HER2+ (BT474) and HER2- (BT20) cell lines showed significant binding to (89)Zr-DFO-BODIPY-trastuzumab (6.45 ± 1.87% in BT474 versus 1.47 ± 0.39% in BT20). In vivo PET imaging of mice bearing BT20 or BT474 xenografts with (89)Zr-DFO-BODIPY-trastuzumab showed high tumor conspicuity, and biodistribution confirmed excellent, specific probe uptake of 237.3 ± 14.5% ID/g in BT474 xenografts compared to low, nonspecific probe uptake in BT20 xenografts (16.4 ± 5.6% ID/g) 96 h p.i. . Ex vivo fluorescence (465ex/520em) of selected tissues confirmed superb target localization and persistence of the fluorescence of (89)Zr-DFO-BODIPY-trastuzumab. The described platform is universally adaptable for simple antibody labeling.


Inhibitory monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were used to determine the contribution of epitope-specific cytochrome P-450 isozymes in rat liver microsomes to hydroxylation of the esophageal carcinogen methyl-n-amylnitrosamine. These P-450-catalyzed reactions form 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-hydroxymethyl-n-amylnitrosamine, formaldehyde (demethylation), and pentaldehyde (depentylation). With uninduced microsomes from male rats, MAb 1-68-11 inhibited 4-hydroxylation by 73% and demethylation by 46%. This indicated the major contribution of constitutive male-specific P-450 IIC11 to the metabolism. Inhibition studies with MAbs 2-66-3 and 1-91-3 indicated that P-450 IIB1 contributed 19% and IIE1 35% to demethylation. With uninduced microsomes from females, MAb 1-68-11 produced similar inhibitions to those in male rats, indicating that female-specific P-450 IIC12 (which is closely related to IIC11) also catalyzed 4-hydroxylation and demethylation. With microsomes from 3-methylcholanthrene-induced male rats, P-450 IA1 and/or IA2 were responsible for 60% of 3-hydroxylation and 40% of depentylation. With microsomes from phenobarbital-treated rats, P-450 IIB1 and IIB2 catalyzed all 6 reactions but especially 4-hydroxylation and depentylation, which were 50-75% inhibited by MAb 2-66-3. Microsomes from Aroclor-induced males behaved as if they were induced by both 3-methylcholanthrene and phenobarbital. After treatment with isoniazid (a P-450 IIE1 inducer), inhibition by MAb 1-91-3 indicated a 45% contribution of P-450 IIE1 to demethylation, and both P-450 IIE1 and IIB1 (or IIB2) appear to have been induced. A major finding with uninduced microsomes was the high specificity of MAb 1-68-11 for inhibiting 4-hydroxylation, indicating that P-450 IIC11 and IIC12 catalyzed most of this omega-1-hydroxylation. In microsomes from induced rats, the MAb inhibitions showed the role of the induced P-450 IA1 (or IA2), IIB1 (or IIB2), and IIE1 in methyl-n-amylnitrosamine hydroxylation at different positions, as well as the presence of P-450 IIC11. This study illustrates the usefulness of inhibitory MAbs for defining the contribution of individual P-450s to position-specific metabolism.


The effects of particle size on erosion magnitude and erosion profiles are investigated experimentally in a submerged slurry jet impingement facility. The slurries were diluted to avoid concentration effects on the flow field and the resulting erosion. The experiments are performed with particle sizes of 25, 75, 150, 300, and 600 μm. Experimental results demonstrate different erosion severity and pattern for the various particle sizes. It is critical to have a reliable and accurate tool to predict erosion for different particle sizes. Previously, a comprehensive CFD-based procedure to predict erosion for various particle sizes was proposed by investigators at the Erosion/Corrosion Research Center (E/CRC). A feature of this procedure is that it can account for particle size in more detail than previous methods. In this study, the computational procedure is applied to conditions of the present experimental data. Particle impact parameters are extracted to explain the effect of particle size on the resulting erosion. The predicted results are compared with data which demonstrate possible shortcomings of the available CFD based techniques for predicting solid particle erosion. The results indicate that with proper use of grid spacing near the wall, the CFD-based erosion calculation method with existing erosion models can predict the trend of the experimental data, though improvements are still needed to the models to accurately account for particle size effects.


Volatility smile arising from the Black-Scholes model is a long studied subject in option pricing theory. By analysing higher order derivatives of the model, I hope to put another perspective to the problem. Accoridng to a study on the American S&P 500 future options, about 90% of the risks of holding an option in five days can be removed by using higher order derivatives of Black-Scholes. The objective of this thesis is to investigate whether or not the price changes of Swedish OMX-index options follow the Taylor expansion of Black-Scholes. The method used here is to compare the observed option price changes after five holding days with the price changes predicted by first, second and third order Taylor serie.
The findings and conclusions of this study can be summarised as follow: 1. The mean of prediction errors increases as higher order derivatives are used to predict the price changes, suggesting that the OMX-index options do not follow Taylor expansion of Black-Scholes. 2. As the standard deviation of the prediction errors is decreasing when orders of derivatives in use increase, I conclude that there is additional information in the second and third order derivatives of Black-Scholes. 3. Increasing maturity leads to better predictions, suggesting that the Black-Scholes differential equation is better at describing the movement of long maturity options.


Salinity is a critical abiotic factor for all living organisms. The ability to adapt to different salinity environments determines an organism's survival and ecological niches. Litoditis marina is a euryhaline marine nematode widely distributed in coastal ecosystems all over the world, although numerous genes involved in its salinity response have been reported, the adaptive mechanisms underlying its euryhalinity remain unexplored. Here, we utilized worms which have been acclimated to either low salinity or high salinity conditions and evaluated their basal gene expression at both transcriptomic and proteomic levels. We found that several conserved regulators, including osmolytes biosynthesis genes, transthyretin-like family genes, V-type H+-transporting ATPase and potassium channel genes, were involved in both short-term salinity stress response and long-term acclimation processes. In addition, we identified genes related to cell volume regulation, such as actin regulatory genes, Rho family small GTPases and diverse ion transporters, might contribute to hyposaline acclimation, while the glycerol biosynthesis genes gpdh-1 and gpdh-2 accompanied hypersaline acclimation in L. marina. Furthermore, gpdh-2 might play an essential role in transgenerational inheritance of osmotic stress protection in L. marina as in its relative nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Hereby, this study paves the way for further in-depth exploration on adaptive mechanisms underlying euryhalinity, and may also contribute to the studies of healthy ecosystems in the context of global climate change.


This research aims at preparing designs for school uniforms for adolescence and working on enriching the beauty and the functional value and handle the idea of dissatisfaction to go to school because of the uniform and that is why they are bored especially teenagers who wears the same uniform frequently throughout the school year. It keeps them in a specific pattern and the lack of adaptation to modern styles for outdoor clothes that affect his frame of mind.
 So , (15)school uniform designs were made and each one has (4) models (summer uniform for girls-winter uniform for girls-summer uniform for boys-winter uniform for boys) the four models matches with each others in a single design
An evaluation form for suggested designs has been set according to three axes that achieve ( the elements and the bases - the functional aspect – the beauty and creative aspect for the design) . Also, an evaluation form for measuring consumers opinions has been set (school administration – students) . The study has been reached to: 1. The best designs according to specialist professors are (5,7,11) quality factor 100%. 2. Designs(5,7,11) record the highest quality factor 100% for consumers from ( school administration-students) Out of that, it has become that there is an agreement scientifically (specialist professors) and practically consumers opinions (school administration-students) as the best designs and this clarifies that those designs have achieved the beauty, creative and functional required aspects for the uniform efficiently.  The research has presented a group of advices and suggestions the most important is: A changeable uniform according to fashion that help students going to school with the feeling of satisfaction of what they are wearing beautifully and functionally and encourage them to go to school.


The goal of the study. Evaluating of the effectiveness of treatment of men with a diagnosis «Seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp» by the system using of retinol palmitate. Material and methods. 36 patients every day for 2 months received overnight per os 200000 ME of retinol palmitate, and in the comparison group (39 people) antiseborrheic shampoos have been used. The dynamics of severity of skin oiliness, pruritis, erythema, peeling, infiltration, excoriations has been evaluated in points. Before and after the treatment a histological and morphometric study of biopsy material from the affected areas has been carried.The terms of relapses have been set. Results. Retinol palmitate treatment efficiency - 91.7%, antiseborrheic shampoos - 84.6%. Along with the regression of symptoms of the disease in both groups after retinol palmitate treatment significantly declined oiliness of skin; the sizes of sebaceous glands acini and the presence of differentiated sebocytes, the squares of lymphocytic-macrophage clusters in the dermis, the number of keratinocytes with vacuolated cytoplasm have been reduced. Relapses of the disease during a year occured more rare - in 21 patients out of 32 (in the comparison group- in 25 out of 31) and at a later date (in the first 3 months in 2 patients out of 32, in comparison group in 10 out of 31). Identified effects were due to the action of retinol palmitate on the morphogenesis of the sebaceous glands.


A core pathophysiologic feature underlying many respiratory diseases is multiciliated cell dysfunction, leading to inadequate mucociliary clearance. Due to the prevalence and highly variable etiology of mucociliary dysfunction in respiratory diseases, it is critical to understand the mechanisms controlling multiciliogenesis that may be targeted to restore functional mucociliary clearance. Multicilin, in a complex with E2F4, is necessary and sufficient to drive multiciliogenesis in airway epithelia, however this does not apply to all cell types, nor does it occur evenly across all cells in the same cell population. In this study we further investigated how co-factors regulate the ability of Multicilin to drive multiciliogenesis. Combining data in mouse embryonic fibroblasts and human bronchial epithelial cells, we identify RBL2 as a repressor of the transcriptional activity of Multicilin. Knockdown of RBL2 in submerged cultures or phosphorylation of RBL2 in response to apical air exposure, in the presence of Multicilin, allows multiciliogenesis to progress. These data demonstrate a dynamic interaction between RBL2 and Multicilin that regulates the capacity of cells to differentiate and multiciliate. Identification of this mechanism has important implications for facilitating MCC differentiation in diseases with impaired mucociliary clearance.


Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of acute illnesses with unfavorable outcomes. This cohort study aimed at constructing prediction models for one-year survival in adult AKI patients based on prognostic nutritional index (PNI), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil percentage-to-albumin ratio (NPAR), or neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), respectively. In total, 6050 patients from Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) were involved. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was utilized to screen possible covariates. The samples were randomly divided into the training set and the testing set at a ratio of 7.5 : 2.5, and the prediction models were constructed in the training set by random forest. The prediction values of the models were measured via sensitivity, specificity, negative prediction value (NPV), positive prediction value (PPV), area under the curve (AUC), and accuracy. We found that NLR (OR = 1.261, 95% CI: 1.145–1.388), PLR (OR = 1.295, 95% CI: 1.152–1.445), and NPAR (OR = 1.476, 95% CI: 1.261–1.726) were associated with an increased risk, while PNI (OR = 0.035, 95% CI: 0.020–0.059) was associated with a decreased risk of one-year mortality in AKI patients. The AUC was 0.964 (95% CI: 0.959–0.969) in the training set based on PNI, age, gender, length of stay (LOS) in hospital, platelets (PLT), ethnicity, LOS in ICU, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate, glucose, AKI stage, atrial fibrillation (AF), vasopressor, renal replacement therapy (RRT), and mechanical ventilation. The testing set was applied as the internal validation of the model with an AUC of 0.778 (95% CI: 0.754–0.801). In conclusion, PNI accompanied by age, gender, ethnicity, SBP, DBP, heart rate, PLT, glucose, AF, RRT, mechanical ventilation, vasopressor, AKI stage, LOS in ICU, and LOS in hospital exhibited a good predictive value for one-year mortality of AKI patients.


Introduction: Respiratory Syncytial virus (RSV) is the most frequently identified viral agent in children with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). No data are available to date about RSV genotypes circulating in Tunisia. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the genetic variability of the glycoprotein G (GPG) gene in RSV strains prevalent in Tunisia. Methods: Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) were collected from hospitalized infants and neonates with LRTI. All specimens were screened for RSV by Direct Immunofluorescence Assay (DIFA). To understand the evolution and origin of these strains, a phylogenetic analysis was conducted. Randomly selected positive samples were subjected to reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplifying the second hyper-variable region (2nd HVR) of the G gene of RSV. Results: Among a total of 427 samples collected between 2016 and 2017, 156 (36.5%) were positive for RSV by DIFA. Analysis of 21 randomly selected RSV strains revealed that Group A RSV (66.7%) predominated during the study as compared to group B RSV (33.3%). The phylogenetic analysis showed that 92.9% of the RSV-A sequences possessed a 72-nucleotide (nt) duplication in the 2ndHVR of the G gene and clustered ON1 genotype, while 7.1% clustered NA1 genotype. Concerning Tunisian RSV group B strains, all sequences contained a 60-nt insertion in the 2ndHVR and clustered genotype BA10. Conclusion: Since viruses continuously evolve, continued surveillance of RSV strains circulating worldwide is required to aid in the development of reliable diagnostics and future RSV therapeutics or vaccines.


There have been negative tendencies for the formation of public health to be preserved in the past decade. The most important tendency is for the worse physical development and health of children and adolescents. The 2002 All-Russian medical examination of children has provided support for the negative tendencies in the health status of children - the proportion of healthy children during the above period had reduced from 45.5% to 33.9%. The incidence of endocrine, digestive, and locomotor diseases, congenital malformations, and mental disorders has particularly increased. It should be said that the health status of the general population and primarily children is determined by the influence of a number of factors, including sociohygienic living conditions (up to 25-40%), man-made environmental pollution (above 25%), intraschool environmental factors (21-27%), and health care quality (up to 25%). School-age children account for about 70% of the pediatric population. It is in this age group that shows the greatest rise in morbidity. In recent years, the Principal Public Sanitary Inspector of the Russian Federation has published 5 regulations on various aspects of sanitary-and-epidemiological well-being in children. A number of regions of the country take actions on the creation of proper conditions for the upbringing, education, and health-improvement of children. The present-day educational system is characterized by a great diversity of curriculums. At the same time, only one curriculum and one educational technology have a sanitary-and-epidemiological conclusion on health safety. Adolescents with risky forms of sexual behavior have increased in number. This in combination with underhygienic measures leads to the spread of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases among them. For children's sanitary-and-epidemiological well-being in the Russian Federation, it is expedient: 1) to complete the development of the adverse influence of environmental factors on the health status of children, which envisages the implementation of measures to improve their habitat (ambient air, portable water), intraschool environment, and living conditions in the families, socially poor ones in particularly, nutritional pattern, and lifestyle in children and adolescents; and 2) to introduce prophylactic syllabi at school in order to form healthy life style skills, a conscious attitude to the health status of theirs and those around them, etc. in children and adolescents.


The chapters in this volume, which come from the Fourth Woodbrooke-Mingana Symposium, cover aspects of Christian life in and around Baghdad in the early centuries of 'Abbasid rule. The authors explore both broad themes, such as the place of monasteries in Muslim cultural life, accusations of Islam as crypto-idolatry, and Muslim responses to Christian apologetic arguments, and also specific topics, such as a Nestorian's explanation of the Incarnation, a Jacobite's purpose in composing his guide to moral improvement, and the development of Christian legends about the caliph al-Ma'mun. The volume illustrates the vigour of Iraqi Christian life in 'Abbasid times, and helps show that relations between Christians and Muslims, although strained at times, were often beneficial to followers of both faiths.


Forty-eight consecutive patients (53 hips) were treated for moderate or severe slips of the upper femoral epiphysis between 1974 and 1984; 46 patients (96%) returned for clinical and radiological assessment at a mean of five years after operation. Twenty-three patients (23 hips) underwent a Dunn's open reduction and 25 patients (30 hips) were treated by epiphysiodesis and surgical osteoplasty as advocated by Heyman and Herndon. The results of the two methods of treatment are compared. Analysis revealed that 11 hips with moderate slip (30 degrees to 50 degrees) treated by the Heyman-Herndon procedure did significantly better than the 18 hips with severe slip (greater than 50 degrees) treated by the same method. Furthermore, when these hips with severe slip were compared to the hips treated by Dunn's open reduction, all of which were displaced greater than 50 degrees, the latter fared significantly better. The authors conclude that the Heyman-Herndon procedure gave consistently good results for moderate slips, but Dunn's open reduction gave better results for hips with severe slips.


A Capacitive Micro-machined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) with hexagonal membrane is constructed to work as a transmitter and compared to a CMUT with circular membrane. In this paper, three desirable combination of circular and hexagon are analyzed to select the dimensions for hexagonal shaped CMUT. Capacitive Micro-machined Ultrasonic Transducer (CMUT) is a micro constructed transducer used both as transmitter for generating ultrasonic waves and as receiver to modulate the electrical capacitance of the capacitive transducer. It can be fabricated with many geometries especially circular, square, rectangular, and hexagon. Circular CMUTs offers optimum performance in terms of deflection with DC, deflection of biased membrane with AC bias, resonant frequency, capacitance and deflection along frequency but for array formation the wafer area is wasted. A CMUT with hexagonal membrane gives an ultrasonic signal of constant amplitude with less deflection of membrane within the cavity and the outside environment. Stationary analysis is carried out with electro-mechanics for discussing the capacitance change of CMUT. The collapse or pull in voltage of hexagon CMUT is found to be high and increases the bandwidth of CMUT. The absolute percent difference of resonant frequency is observed to be 2.3 % with dimensions selected from the COH configuration of the CMUT


We report here the expression of recombinant human prokallikrein and kallikrein in engineered Chinese hamster ovary cells transfected with a human genomic gene encoding preprokallikrein. At high expression levels, recombinant prokallikrein, an inactive proenzyme form, is predominantly secreted into the culture medium. Upon chromatographic separations, the inactive prokallikrein as well as the mature kallikrein after thermolysin activation of the proenzyme can be prepared to apparent purity. Both prokallikrein and kallikrein can be further separated into two distinct high- and low-molecular-weight isoforms. Kallikrein preparations are fully active in standard kallikrein activity assays such as esterase activity and kinin release from kininogen. Both kallikrein and prokallikrein display multiple molecular forms with differences in both molecular sizes and charges. The structural differences in high- and low-molecular-weight kallikreins or prokallikreins were found to be due to glycosylation, with the high-molecular-weight species glycosylated at three Asn-linked sites and the low-molecular-weight species at two of the three Asn-linked sites. The multiply charged kallikrein isoforms are derived from different numbers of sialic acids attached at the detected Asn-linked carbohydrates. In comparison with kallikrein, prokallikrein appears to show a significant decrease in the magnitude of near uv-circular dichroism bands, suggesting a change in local conformation. This conformational change correlates with the loss of activity in proenzyme due to the presence of propeptide.


Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is considered a safe technique, but not without complications, though the vast majority are minor complications. We describe a rare case of splenic injury after ESWL. A 33-year-old male presented to the emergency department (ED) after three weeks experiencing severe intermittent left-sided flank pain that he contributed to a previous motor vehicle accident. Then computerized tomography (CT) revealed a left renal stone. ESWL was performed after three weeks. After being discharged home, he returned the same day to the ED with persistent, worsening abdominal pain, hypotension, and multiple syncopes. CT demonstrated the presence of active contrast extravasation from the spleen likely due to active bleeding. Initial resuscitation was with intravenous fluids and blood products. The following day, the embolization of the splenic artery was done. The patient was discharged home after nine days of conservative management. After one month, he had shortness of breath due to a large left-sided pleural effusion and lung collapse managed with thoracocentesis and thoracoscopic surgery. Subsequent follow-up reveals much improvement and successful conservative management. Splenic injury is a rare complication of ESWL, and all of the 11 reported cases in the literature were managed with splenectomy. Our case is unique in being successfully managed conservatively.


There are 3 requirements for an interpretation of the results of a target health-related quality-oflife (HRQOL) (or any other) measurement instrument: (1) availability of an independent standard or standards, (2) standards that are interpretable (ie, we must have an intuitive sense of the value we place on different scores or levels in that standard), and (3) standards that are moderately to highly correlated with the target instrument.


Kant's remark about the impossibility of there ever being a Newton of a blade of grass has often been interpreted as a misguided pre-emptive strike against Darwin and evolutionary theories in general. This chapter aims to re-evaluate this claim in the context of Kant's account of organic generation and argue that, contrary to what is usually thought, it does leave room for the possibility of evolution. To do so, I examine Kant's theory of generation and draw its implications for biological heredity, species diversity, and the role played by environmental factors in organic development. On this basis, I suggest that, first, evolution is a possible albeit far-fetched hypothesis for Kant, and second, Darwin's theory of natural selection would have turned a far-fetched possibility into a plausible candidate. As I go on to argue, however, despite its explanatory success, the Darwinian account would not have disposed of the need for teleology. This is why Darwin could never have been a Newton of a blade of grass.


This study analyzes the relationship between the pessimistic tone in earnings announcements and CSR disclosures interacted by CEO busyness. This study used 191 observations from 74 firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) database from 2016–2019. Grounded in signaling theory, we hypothesize that a pessimistic tone in earning announcements will increase CSR disclosure. We also hypothesize that busy CEOs strengthen this relationship. We use the ordinary least squares to analyze and answer our hypotheses. This study showed that the use of a pessimistic tone in the income statement in the discussion report and management analysis (MD&A) is related positively and significantly to CSR disclosure. This study also found that busy CEOs strengthen those relationships. Our implication is that CSR disclosure in our sample is only measured based on the information presented in the sustainability report. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the relationship between the pessimistic tone in earning announcements and CSR disclosures interacted by CEO busyness. In addition, this study provides insight into current performance disclosure practices in MD&A reports and CSR reports that managers can use to safeguard the firm's reputation.


Fetuin, alpha 2HS-glycoprotein (alpha 2HS), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and albumin have been shown to be present in some regions of the neocortex in two early stages of development of the cow brain using PAP immunocytochemistry. In the pre-cortical plate stage fibres of the primordial plexiform layer stained positively for fetuin. No staining was seen for albumin but plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were positive for alpha 2HS and AFP. In the early cortical plate stage the strongest fetuin positive staining was seen in the earliest formed cells of the plate. alpha 2HS staining was much less intense but similar in distribution. The possible role of fetuin, or related glycoproteins, in cortical plate differentiation is discussed. Staining for AFP and for albumin was seen mainly in the ventricular zone and marginal zone fibres, and had a similar distribution and intensity for both proteins. Plasma and CSF stained for all four proteins. Tests showed some cross-reactivity between fetuin and anti-alpha 2HS and, to a much lesser extent, between antisera to AFP and albumin and antigens denatured by fixation.


Abstract Objective: Accidental exposure to hydrochloric acid (HCl) is associated with acute lung injury in humans, development of long-term chronic airway obstruction, and fibrosis. However, the mechanisms responsible for the progression to pulmonary fibrosis remain unclear. We utilized a mouse model of progressive lung injury from a single exposure to HCl to investigate the effects of HCl on the lower respiratory tract. Materials and methods: HCl (0.05–0.3 N) or saline was injected intratracheally into male C57Bl/6J mice. At 1, 4, 10 and 30 days post instillation, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung tissues were collected and examined for multiple outcomes. Results and discussion: We observed an early inflammatory response and a late mild inflammation present even at 30 d post HCl exposure. Mice treated with HCl exhibited higher total leukocyte and protein levels in the BALF compared to the vehicle group. This was characterized by increased number of neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes as well as pro-inflammatory cytokines during the first 4 d of injury. The late inflammatory response exhibited a predominant presence of mononuclear cells, increased permeability to protein, and higher levels of the pro-fibrotic mediator TGFβ. Pro-fibrotic protein biomarkers, phosphorylated ERK, and HSP90, were also overexpressed at 10 and 30 d following HCl exposure. In vivo lung function measurements demonstrated lung dysfunction and chronic lung injury associated with increased lung hydroxyproline content and increased expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. The acute inflammation and severity of fibrosis increased in HCl-concentration dependent manner. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the initial inflammatory response and pro-fibrotic biomarker upregulation may be linked to the progression of pulmonary fibrosis and airway dysfunction and may represent valuable therapeutic targets.


The onset and progression of numerous serious diseases (e.g. various types of malignancies, neurodegenerative diseases, and cardiac diseases) are, on a molecular level, associated with protein modifications and misfolding. Current methods for the detection of misfolded proteins are not able to detect the whole misfolded subproteome and, moreover, are rather laborious and time consuming. Herein, we report on a novel simple method for the detection of misfolded proteins employing a sur-face plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor and Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) that recognizes and traps misfolded proteins in a nucleotide-dependent manner. We use this method for the detection of misfolded proteins in blood plasma of patients with various subtypes of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and healthy donors. Our results reveal significantly elevated levels of misfolded proteins in the two stages of MDS that are most affected by oxidative stress: the low-risk (RARS) and intermediate-risk (RCMD) patients. This approach can be extended to a variety of diseases and provides unique insights into the thus far unexplored area of blood proteome.


The intent of the present task was to dovetail the urine protein with the noodles depiction. The proteinuria is a condition caused due to high level of protein in urine. The kidney diseases cause the leakage of protein in urine. Large amount of protein cannot be easily passed through healthy kidney because the kidney filters are sensitive and damaged easily. Proteinuria is caused due to factors include; obesity, age over 65, family history of kidney disease and preeclampsia. The treatment of proteinuria depends on the identification of disease. The level of protein in blood is high it leads to a leakage of protein from blood cells. Noodles are mostly eaten by peoples lived in foreign countries due to rich source of nutrition. Noodles consist of different shapes like long, spiral, twisted, oval, round, stretched, rolled and extruded. Noodles are sometimes different in shape like tubes, string, or shells or cut into pieces. It is concluded from the present study that most noodle depicted males and females do not have protein present in their urine.


In the process of optimisation of radiological protection in long-term radioactive waste management, design options for disposal facilities are assessed from the viewpoint of practical reduction in radiation dose to as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA). In this paper, a probabilistic approach is introduced to evaluate differences in dose distributions between alternative facility designs using the Bayesian inference technique. It is demonstrated by a series of parametric calculations for hypothetic disposal system designs that an additional dose from an disposal facility could be sufficiently reduced from the viewpoint of dose reduction under the ALARA principle if the design option for a disposal facility whose 95th percentile of dose distribution is lower than the target dose of 0.1 mSv/y is provided. Reducing uncertainties of the distribution of dose from disposal options is also an important aspect for the practical reduction in radiation dose to which members of the public are exposed.


Rapamycin potently inhibits downstream signaling from the target of rapamycin (TOR) proteins. These evolutionarily conserved protein kinases coordinate the balance between protein synthesis and protein degradation in response to nutrient quality and quantity. The TOR proteins regulate (i) the initiation and elongation phases of translation, (ii) ribosome biosynthesis, (iii) amino acid import, (iv) the transcription of numerous enzymes involved in multiple metabolic pathways, and (v) autophagy. Intriguingly, recent studies have also suggested that TOR signaling plays a critical role in brain development, learning, and memory formation.


The Dassflow software is designed to solve the bidimensional Shallow Water equations used for the numerical modeling of river hydraulics flows. It was written to carry out variational data assimilation experiments. Based on a finite volume discretization of the Shallow Water equations, the code is written in Fortran 90. The adjoint code necessary to compute the partial derivatives of a cost function of the state variables w.r.t. the control variables of the model was developed using the automatic differentiation tool Tapenade. We present the considered equations, the theoretical bases of variational data assimilation, the numerical scheme used for solving the equations as well as the implementation of the adjoint code. Finally, we present twin experiments of data assimilation performed with Dassflow.


Histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations were made on four female horses aged 9-12 years with pulmonary granular cell tumours (GCTs). The tumours, which were multiple, of varying size, firm and off-white in colour, surrounded the bronchi and bronchioles. Metastatic lesions were not detected. The tumour cells had abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm filled with prominent coarse eosinophilic granules. Immunohistochemically, these tumour cells reacted uniformly with vimentin and S100 antibodies. Most were immunolabelled by antibodies against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), myelin basic protein (MBP) and protein gene product 9.5 (PGP9.5), and a few cells were positive with Leu7 antibody. However, the tumour cells did not react with antibodies against neurofilament protein (NF), cytokeratin (CK), chromogranin, alpha1 antichymotrypsin (AACT), myoglobin, desmin, alpha-actin or alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA). These immunohistochemical properties of tumour cells support the hypothesis that equine pulmonary GCTs are derived from Schwann cells of the peripheral nervous system in peribronchial and peribronchiolar tissues. GFAP, MBP, Leu7 and PGP9.5 antibodies should help to distinguish equine granular cell tumours from other tumours.


Elderly cats develop age-related behavioral and neuropathological changes that ultimately lead to cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS). These neuropathologies share similarities to those seen in the brains of humans with Alzheimer's disease (AD), including the extracellular accumulation of ß-amyloid (Aβ) and intraneuronal deposits of hyperphosphorylated tau, which are considered to be the two major hallmarks of AD. The present study assessed the presence and distribution of Aβ and tau hyperphosphorylation within the cat brain (n = 55 cats), and how the distribution of these proteins changes with age and the presence of CDS. For this, immunohistochemistry was performed on seven brain regions from cats of various ages, with and without CDS (n = 10 with CDS). Cats accumulate both intracytoplasmic and extracellular deposits of Aβ, as well as intranuclear and intracytoplasmic hyperphosphorylated tau deposits. Large extracellular aggregates of Aβ were found in elderly cats, mainly in the cortical brain areas, with occasional hippocampal aggregates. This may suggest that these aggregates start in cortical areas and later progress to the hippocampus. While Aβ senile plaques in people with AD have a dense core, extracellular Aβ deposits in cats exhibited a diffuse pattern, similar to the early stages of plaque pathogenesis. Intraneuronal Aβ deposits were also observed, occurring predominantly in cortical brain regions of younger cats, while older cats had few to no intraneuronal Aβ deposits, especially when extracellular aggregates were abundant. Intracytoplasmic hyperphosphorylated tau was found within neurons in the brains of elderly cats, particularly in those with CDS. Due to their ultrastructural features, these deposits are considered to be pre-tangles, which are an early stage of the neurofibrillary tangles seen in AD. The largest numbers of pre-tangles are found mainly in the cerebral cortex of elderly cats, whereas lower numbers were found in other regions (i.e., entorhinal cortex and hippocampus). For the first time, intranuclear tau was found in both phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated states within neurons in the cat brain. The highest numbers of intranuclear deposits were found in the cortex of younger cats, and this tended to decrease with age. In contrast, elderly cats with pre-tangles had only occasional or no nuclear labelling.


Although radiation effects have been extensively studied, the biological effects of low-dose radiation (LDR) are controversial. This study investigates LDR-induced alterations in locomotive behavior and gene expression profiles of Drosophila melanogaster. We measured locomotive behavior using larval pupation height and the rapid iterative negative geotaxis (RING) assay after exposure to 0.1 Gy γ-radiation (dose rate of 16.7 mGy/h). We also observed chronic LDR effects on development (pupation and eclosion rates) and longevity (life span). To identify chronic LDR effects on gene expression, we performed whole-genome expression analysis using gene-expression microarrays, and confirmed the results using quantitative real-time PCR. The pupation height of the LDR-treated group at the first larval instar was significantly higher (∼2-fold increase in PHI value, P < 0.05). The locomotive behavior of LDR-treated male flies (∼3 − 5 weeks of age) was significantly increased by 7.7%, 29% and 138%, respectively (P < 0.01), but pupation and eclosion rates and life spans were not significantly altered. Genome-wide expression analysis identified 344 genes that were differentially expressed in irradiated larvae compared with in control larvae. We identified several genes belonging to larval behavior functional groups such as locomotion (1.1%), oxidation reduction (8.0%), and genes involved in conventional functional groups modulated by irradiation such as defense response (4.9%), and sensory and perception (2.5%). Four candidate genes were confirmed as differentially expressed genes in irradiated larvae using qRT-PCR (>2-fold change). These data suggest that LDR stimulates locomotion-related genes, and these genes can be used as potential markers for LDR.


Federated Learning (FL) has emerged as a potentially powerful privacy-preserving machine learning method-ology, since it avoids exchanging data between participants, but instead exchanges model parameters. FL has traditionally been applied to image, voice and similar data, but recently it has started to draw attention from domains including financial services where the data is predominantly tabular. However, the work on tabular data has not yet considered potential attacks, in particular attacks using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), which have been successfully applied to FL for non-tabular data. This paper is the first to explore leakage of private data in Federated Learning systems that process tabular data. We design a Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)-based attack model which can be deployed on a malicious client to reconstruct data and its properties from other participants. As a side-effect of considering tabular data, we are able to statistically assess the efficacy of the attack (without relying on human observation such as done for FL for images). We implement our attack model in a recently developed generic FL software framework for tabular data processing. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed attack model, thus suggesting that further research is required to counter GAN-based privacy attacks.


Mesiodens is the most commonly occurring supernumerary tooth between the two maxillary central incisors. Mesiodens can be inverted, impacted, or placed buccally or palatally between the two maxillary central incisors. It mostly occurs unilaterally and rarely occurs bilaterally. We describe a rare occurrence of such a bilateral inverted mesiodens extended near the anterior nasal spine, evaluated by cone-beam computed tomography.


Crowd-based markets are gaining in prominence as providers of goods and services (Airbnb, Uber), sources of employment (TaskRabbit, Mechanical Turk), and sources of capital (Kickstarter, IndieGogo). Although these markets have an open and egalitarian premise, multiple studies have found evidence of racial discrimination. This paper provides an overview of the existing research in the racial discrimination of crowd-based markets and examines their measurement choices, recommendations to reduce discrimination, and the ethical values embedded in the anti-discrimination suggestions. Based on the survey of the current literature, this analysis suggests new research avenues and highlights automation as the most promising new avenue to reduce racial discrimination in the crowd.


Finite-state transducers (FSTs) are finite-state machines (FSMs) that map strings in a source domain into strings in a target domain. While there are many reports in the literature of evolving FSMs, there has been much less work on evolving FSTs. In particular, the fitness functions required for evolving FSTs are generally different from those used for FSMs. In this paper, three string distance-based fitness functions are evaluated, in order of increasing computational complexity: string equality, Hamming distance, and edit distance. The fitness-distance correlation (FDC) and evolutionary performance of each fitness function is analyzed when used within a random mutation hill-climber (RMHC). Edit distance has the strongest FDC and also provides the best evolutionary performance, in that it is more likely to find the target FST within a given number of fitness function evaluations. Edit distance is also the most expensive to compute, but in most cases this extra computation is more than justified by its performance. The RMHC was compared with the best known heuristic method for learning FSTs, the onward subsequential transducer inference algorithm (OSTIA). On noise-free data, the RMHC performs best on problems with sparse training sets and small target machines. The RMHC and OSTIA offer similar performance for large target machines and denser data sets. When noise-corrupted data is used for training, the RMHC still performs well, while OSTIA performs poorly given even small amounts of noise. The RMHC is also shown to outperform a genetic algorithm. Hence, for certain classes of FST induction problem, the RMHC presented in this paper offers the best performance of any known algorithm


The effects of interleukin-8 (IL-8) on bovine mammary functions such as milk protein secretion and the blood-milk barrier during mammary involution were evaluated. Following the final milking, recombinant bovine (rb) IL-8 (5 or 25 microg) and a saline placebo were individually infused into the left- and right-front teat cisterns of 6 cows, respectively. Three cows without treatment at the final milking were also used as controls. Mammary secretions and blood were collected at -24, 0, 10, 24, 72, 168, 336, and 720 h after infusion. In the mammary glands infused with 25 microg of rbIL-8, the increases in somatic cell counts and in the concentrations of serum albumin, IgG1 and IgG2, and the decreases in the concentrations of alpha- and beta-casein and beta-lactoglobulin were greater than in the control glands. In the mammary glands infused with 5 microg of rbIL-8, compared to the glands infused with 25 microg of rbIL-8, these changes were moderate. These results indicate that rbIL-8 impairs the integrity of the blood-milk barrier and suppresses milk-specific protein secretions. In the cows infused with 25 microg of rbIL-8, the rectal temperature and serum haptoglobin level were transiently elevated after the infusion, showing that intramammary infusion of rbIL-8 could elicit systemic inflammation.


The Hippo pathway plays an important role in developmental biology, mediating organ size by controlling cell proliferation through the activity of a core kinase cassette. Multiple upstream events activate the pathway, but how each controls this core kinase cassette is not fully understood. Activation of the core kinase cassette begins with phosphorylation of the kinase MST1/2 (also known as STK3/4). Here, using a combination of in vitro biochemistry and cell-based assays, including chemically induced dimerization and single-molecule pulldown, we revealed that increasing the proximity of adjacent kinase domains, rather than formation of a specific protein assembly, is sufficient to trigger autophosphorylation. We validate this mechanism in cells and demonstrate that multiple events associated with the active pathway, including SARAH domain–mediated homodimerization, membrane recruitment, and complex formation with the effector protein SAV1, each increase the kinase domain proximity and autophosphorylation of MST2. Together, our results reveal that multiple and distinct upstream signals each utilize the same common molecular mechanism to stimulate MST2 autophosphorylation. This mechanism is likely conserved among MST2 homologs. Our work also highlights potential differences in Hippo signal propagation between each activating event owing to differences in the dynamics and regulation of each protein ensemble that triggers MST2 autophosphorylation and possible redundancy in activation.


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterised by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction as well as restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour and interests. Early detection and early intervention programmes improve functional outcomes. Family physicians should screen for ASD opportunistically when children attend clinics for acute issues and during scheduled well-child assessments. Early warning signs of ASD include the lack of social gestures at 12 months, using no meaningful single words at 18 months, and having no interest in other children or no spontaneous two-word phrases at 24 months. Children with suspected ASD should be referred to appropriate specialist centres as early as possible for multidisciplinary assessment and diagnosis.


The object of this dissertation is to identify effective techniques for powerline communication using the low voltage (240V) domestic mains electricity supply in the sub 150 kHz frequency range as defined by the European CENELEC standard, concentrating on narrowband techniques suitable for low data rate telemetry applications. In order to conduct a comparison of communications techniques a model of the channel is invaluable. However a survey of the existing literature reveals that the presently available Knowledge of the channel characteristics and impairments of the low voltage mains is limited. In particular there is no widely accepted quantitative model of the mains as a narrowband communications link. The study consisted of four main phases. First, a new piece of equipment, the 'Channel Probe', was developed to perform channel soundings of the mains. The second phase was largely experimental; empirical channel sounding results were collected using the Channel Probe. In the third phase a model was defined to fit the empirical results and a quantitative simulation was constructed based on this model. Lastly, communications techniques were studied using this simulation. This document presents the key impairments introduced by the channel, and proposes a novel narrowband channel model. Quantitative values for these phenomena are identified and justified against the measured results. The simulation that was constructed in accordance with this channel model is entirely novel, and is used to study suitable modulation schemes, receiver structures and algorithms. Original performance results from this simulation are presented, and a novel low complexity narrowband communication scheme is presented which has significant advantages over existing commercially available systems.


Few can have forgotten their encounters with the book of Joshua. Perhaps years ago, the derring-do of Joshua, the great military leader, will have entranced the young Sunday School pupil as the account of the utter ruin of the walls of Jericho was recounted and choruses sung and enacted, cele brating the victory. At other times the comfort of the words, 'Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged' will have become a very personal message in the midst of trouble and diffi culty. Then there may well have been an occasion when 'as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD' has been a real challenge. And time would fail to tell of encounters with the stories about Rahab and the spies, the examples of Caleb and Joshua (and even the daughters of Zelophehad), of Ai and Achan, of the sun standing still, of giants .... Here is the stuff of great sermons and exciting Bible studies! However, there are dark corners in this book too and lists of unpronounceable names and localities, detailed instruc tions to ancient people that seem to have little relevance today. Nevertheless, even this is part of the inspired Scrip hIre of which Paul could say 'it is profitable'. Thus the following studies are designed to follow familiar paths as well as explore 'spiritually' dust-filled and cobweb strewn cupboards. And it is hoped that, as a result, the old will become fresh and shimmer once again with excitement and that the new and neglected will reveal unexpected and price less treasures.


Glanders and melioidosis are severe infectious diseases of people and animals. The causative agents of these infections refer to the potential agents of bioterrorism of group B. In this work the possibility of use of flagellin-based primers for the identification of B. mallei and B. pseudomallei and for diagnosis of experimental glanders and melioidosis was studied. The obtained results permit to make a conclusion that PCR using the developed primers may be recommended for the incorporation in the scheme of laboratory diagnosis of glanders and melioidosis both for the identification of clean cultures and in experimental clinical material.


Problems arising when diagnosing biopsy material from the upper gastrointestinal tract are encountered in particular with changes that might minic a carcinoma. In the squamous epithelium of the oesophagus, such problem lesions are viral infections, regenerative changes in reflux disease, and pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia in subepithelial lesion. In Barrett's mucosa, regenerative changes are often overdiagnosed as low grade dysplasia, and will-differentiated adenocarcinomas underdiagnosed as high grade dysplasia. In the stomach, the regenerative mucosa at the margins of erosions and ulcers--in particular in the case of NSAID/ASA-induced lesions--is the most common cause of the wrong diagnosis of carcinoma. Such misdiagnoses can usually be avoided by taking careful account of the endoscopic findings. In the case of doubt, a second pathological opinion, an extensive endoscopy/biopsy follow-up examination (after treatment), or a diagnostic endoscopic mucosectomy, is to be recommended.


Results of studies of the electronic structure of carbon-containing porous materials derived by tolylene-diisocyanate (TDI) carbonization in a matrix of Al2O3 are presented in this paper. It has been established that products of TDI carbonization are fine spherical clusters (with their sizes of about 10 nm) that reveal a strong bonding with the matrix. The shapes of X-ray emission CKα and OKα bands are different for volume and surface parts of the materials. Our study reveals different electronic structures of the materials in volume and surface parts. It has been established that the shape of the X-ray emission CKα band of the volume part of products of carbonization of TDI in the Al2O3 matrix corresponds to that of mixture of the bands of fullerene C60 and graphite, but the shape of the band of the surface part resembles that of the CKα band of graphite. The shape of the X-ray emission OKα band of the volume part of the products of TDI carbonization resembles that of the band of γ-Al2O3, while that of the surface part corresponds to the shape of the OKα band of Al(OH)3.


Stochastic flow simulation methods based on the polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) are developed and verified to quantify the propagation of a geometric uncertainty of a quasi-one dimensional flow in a supersonic wind tunnel. The effect of uncertainty in the area of diffuser throat, i.e. second throat, on the wind tunnel starting problem is focused on, where a slight change in the area can cause a large jump of the shock wave resulting in a breakdown of the supersonic test conditions. Two major numerical techniques in our intrusive PCE are the multi-wavelet (MW) basis and the multi-element (ME) PCE, in order to properly deal with discontinuous responses of output variables, which are caused by the shock wave and its jump at started/unstarted mode change. Single-element spectral PCE using Legendre basis and the Haar-wavelet are also included as special cases of the MW, and the methods are all compared with Monte-Carlo Simulations (MCS) executed by the deterministic code. Response surfaces of the pressure by the employed PCEs qualitatively agree with the result of MCS except the spectral PCE. Furthermore, from quantitative evaluations by the probability density function (PDF) of the output on a rather complicated response surface with several discontinuities, the ME-PCE best agrees with the MCS at much lower computation costs.


The problem central to sparse recovery and compressive sensing is that of \emph{stable sparse recovery}: we want a distribution $\math cal{A}$ of matrices $A \in \R^{m \times n}$ such that, for any $x \in \R^n$ and with probability $1 - \delta &gt, 2/3$ over $A \in \math cal{A}$, there is an algorithm to recover $\hat{x}$ from $Ax$ with\begin{align} \norm{p}{\hat{x} - x} \leq C \min_{k\text{-sparse } x'} \norm{p}{x - x'}\end{align}for some constant $C &gt, 1$ and norm $p$. The measurement complexity of this problem is well understood for constant $C &gt, 1$. However, in a variety of applications it is important to obtain $C = 1+\eps$ for a small $\eps &gt, 0$, and this complexity is not well understood. We resolve the dependence on $\eps$ in the number of measurements required of a $k$-sparse recovery algorithm, up to polylogarithmic factors for the central cases of $p=1$ and $p=2$. Namely, we give new algorithms and lower bounds that show the number of measurements required is $k/\eps^{p/2} \textrm{polylog}(n)$. For $p=2$, our bound of $\frac{1}{\eps}k\log (n/k)$ is tight up to \emph{constant} factors. We also give matching bounds when the output is required to be $k$-sparse, in which case we achieve $k/\eps^p \textrm{polylog}(n)$. This shows the distinction between the complexity of sparse and non-sparse outputs is fundamental.


Previously, we discovered that in glucose-limited yeast colonies, metabolic constraints drive cells into groups exhibiting gluconeogenic and glycolytic metabolic states. Here, threshold amounts of trehalose - a limiting, produced resource, controls the emergence and self-organization of the cells exhibiting the glycolytic state, by acting as a carbon source to fuel these metabolic demands (Varahan et al., 2019). We now discover that the plasticity of use of a non-limiting resource, aspartate, controls both resource production and the emergence of heterogeneous cell states, based on differential cellular metabolic budgeting. In gluconeogenic cells, aspartate provides carbon for trehalose production, while in glycolytic cells using trehalose for carbon, aspartate supplies nitrogen to drive nucleotide synthesis. This metabolic plasticity of aspartate enables carbon-nitrogen budgeting, thereby driving the biochemical self-organization of distinct cell states. Through this organization, cells in each state exhibit true division of labor, providing bet-hedging and growth/survival advantages for the whole community.


Abstract : Combat casualties are specifically at risk of adverse effects resulting from the use of RBCs of increased storage age. A large multicenter randomized controlled trial in 30 Canadian centers of 2500 critically ill patients called the Age of Blood Evaluation (ABLE) trial has been funded. In this trial of critically ill patients, which includes patients with traumatic injuries, study groups will be randomized to either RBCs of less than 8 days storage time or standard RBC storage time (mean 21 days). The primary outcome of this trial is 90 day mortality. Secondary outcomes include severity of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, serious thrombotic events and nosocomial infections, and ICU and hospital length of stay. Prospective clinical studies investigating the mechanisms and clinical outcomes associated with increased or decreased RBC storage age in critically ill patients including traumatic injury have not been performed. The ABLE study presents a unique and probably one - time opportunity to investigate mechanisms in the context of clinical outcomes for well - characterized study groups. This study is designed to determine specific mechanisms of adverse effects related to the RBC storage age in transfused critically ill patients enrolled in the ABLE study. This ancillary study will specifically determine if the RBC unit storage time affects patient's immune function, inflammation, coagulation, microparticle concentrations and michrochimerism.


The aim of the current study was to reveal attitudes towards child sexual abuse and investigate predictors of such attitudes. A random sample of the Norwegian adult population (n = 296), active Christians (n = 125) and prisoners convicted of child sexual abuse (n = 36) were included in the study. The results show that women were more negative towards child sexual abuse than men, and the prisoners had more accepting attitudes than the other samples. Predictors of attitudes differed across the samples. Empathy and normlessness were the best predictors of attitudes among the random sample of adults and the active Christians. The largest predictor of attitudes among the prisoners was their view of women. The implications of the results for prevention strategies are discussed.


This study was designed to investigate a previously unidentified potential mechanism for mutation induction as well as to clarify a biological consequence of micronuclei with mutation induction as measured by trifluorothymidine (TFT) resistance in mouse L5178Y cells using four aneugens: colcemid, diethylstilbestrol, griseofulvin and vinblastine. All four compounds induced micronuclei which appeared in the first cell cycle after treatment. More than 85% of the micronuclei induced by each compound stained positive for the presence of kinetochores implying that the micronuclei contained whole chromosomes. However, these same compounds were unable to induce TFT resistance under three different treatment regimes. We concluded that these compounds, under conditions where they induce primarily kinetochore positive micronuclei, were not able to induce mutations. Thus, the induction of micronuclei containing whole chromosomes harboring a selectable gene is not an early event leading to mutations in these cells.


Multiple tasks have been used to demonstrate the relation between numbers and space. The classic interpretation of these directional spatial–numerical associations (d-SNAs) is that they are the product of a mental number line (MNL), in which numerical magnitude is intrinsically associated with spatial position. The alternative account is that d-SNAs reflect task demands, such as explicit numerical judgements and/or categorical responses. In the novel "Where was The Number?" task, no explicit numerical judgements were made. Participants were simply required to reproduce the location of a numeral within a rectangular space. Using a between-subject design, we found that numbers, but not letters, biased participants' responses along the horizontal dimension, such that larger numbers were placed more rightward than smaller numbers, even when participants completed a concurrent verbal working memory task. These findings are consistent with the MNL account, such that numbers specifically are inherently left-to-right oriented in Western participants.


The Mini-Plate 2 (MP-2) irradiation test is a fueled experiment designed for irradiation in multiple test locations in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). MP-2 is considered a non-instrumented drop-in test where small aluminum-clad fuel plate samples are cooled directly by the ATR Primary Coolant System (PCS) water. The MP-2 fuel plate experiment will be irradiated in several different irradiation locations of the ATR. This fueled experiment contains aluminum-clad fuel mini plates consisting of monolithic U-Mo. Four different types of fuel plates were analyzed. A thermal analysis has been performed on the MP-2 experiment to be irradiated in the ATR at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). A new technique for calculating Departure from Nucleate Boiling Ratio (DNBR) and Flow Instability Ratio (FIR) using the commercial finite element and heat transfer code ABAQUS is demonstrated. This new technique calculates DNBR for the fuel plate surfaces and FIR for all water components for each finite element surface and node. Pressure drop data is fed into the calculations in order to geometrically calculate the water saturation temperature.
 Results from the DNBR and FIR calculations are displayed with the ABAQUS post processor named Viewer. By calculating these parameters at each location in the finite element model, conservatism is replaced with accuracy. This allows for a greater margin for the thermal hydraulic safety parameters.


A physical route is proposed to obtain highly crystalline graphene sheets with minimal oxygen content similar to the precursor graphite. The functional graphene sheets obtained from graphite oxide by low temperature thermal exfoliation are annealed at high temperature (1900 °C) in a vacuum (10−6 torr). The D band intensity in Raman spectroscopy is reduced significantly, while the G band intensity is recovered, similar to the level of precursor graphite. No appreciable oxygen content is observed from X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and an electrical conductivity of ∼56 500 S m−1 is obtained, comparable to 100 900 S m−1 of the precursor graphite.


Sakata generalized the Berlekamp--Massey algorithm to n dimensions in~1988. The Berlekamp--Massey--Sakata (BMS) algorithm can be used for finding a Grbner basis of a 0-dimensional ideal of relations verified by a table. We investigate this problem usingö linear algebra techniques, with motivations such as accelerating change of basis algorithms (FGLM) or improving their complexity. We first define and characterize multidimensional linear recursive sequences for 0-dimensional ideals. Under genericity assumptions, we propose a randomized preprocessing of the table that corresponds to performing a linear change of coordinates on the polynomials associated with the linear recurrences. This technique then essentially reduces our problem to using the efficient 1-dimensional Berlekamp--Massey (BM) algorithm. However, the number of probes to the table in this scheme may be elevated. We thus consider the table in the black-box model: we assume probing the table is expensive and we minimize the number of probes to the table in our complexity model. We produce an FGLM-like algorithm for finding the relations in the table, which lets us use linear algebra techniques. Under some additional assumptions, we make this algorithm adaptive and reduce further the number of table probes. This number can be estimated by counting the number of distinct elements in a multi-Hankel matrix (a multivariate generalization of Hankel matrices); we can relate this quantity with the geometry of the final staircase. Hence, in favorable cases such as convex ones, the complexity is essentially linear in the size of the output. Finally, when using the LEX ordering, we can make use of fast structured linear algebra similarly to the Hankel interpretation of Berlekamp--Massey.