Abstract Carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 188.8.131.52) plays crucial physiological roles in many different organisms, such as in pH regulation, ion transport, and metabolic processes. CA was isolated from the European bee Apis mellifera (AmCA) spermatheca and inhibitory effects of pesticides belonging to various classes, such as carbamates, thiophosphates, and pyrethroids, were investigated herein. The inhibitory effects of methomyl, oxamyl, deltamethrin, cypermethrin, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and diazinon on AmCA were analysed. These pesticides showed effective in vitro inhibition of the enzyme, at sub-micromolar levels. The IC50 values for these pesticides ranged between of 0.0023 and 0.0385 μM. The CA inhibition mechanism with these compounds is unknown at the moment, but most of them contain ester functionalities which may be hydrolysed by the enzyme with the formation of intermediates that can either react with amino acid residues or bid to the zinc ion from the active site.


SUMMARY The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalent Bibersteinia, Mannheimia and Pasteurella serotypes, risk factors and degree of serotype co-infections in sheep and goats in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Serum was collected from 384 sheep and goats from the Tanqua-Abergelle district of Tigray region using cross-sectional random sampling. An indirect haemagglutination test was used for serotyping. Risk factors for infections were evaluated by logistic regression. Potential clustering of multiple serotypes within individual animals due to common risk factors was evaluated by redundancy analysis. Eight serotypes were identified: all studied animals were serologically positive for at least one serotype. Overall, 355 (92·45%) of the animals were infected by four or more serotypes. Of the five risk factors studied, peasant association (PA), animal species, age (serotype A1), and bodyweight (serotype T15) were significantly associated with infection, but sex was not significant. Only PA explained a significant proportion of the variation (adjusted R 2 = 0·16) in the serological responses. After the effect of PA was accounted for, T3 and T4; A7 and Pasteurella multocida A; and A7 and T10 were positively correlated for co-infection, while T4 and T10 were less likely to be found within the same animal. Diverse serotypes were circulating in the Tigray region and could be a challenge in selecting serotypes for vaccine.


With the promotion and application of high-tech in large-scale manufacturing, aerospace, machinery manufacturing, medical equipment, biotechnology enterprises, enterprises have increasingly growing demand for high-quality skilled personnel, while practical talents are in great shortage, and embarrassing situation of "no recruitable talent" is often a case. Practical education reflects the real demand of national economic development and reform. In-depth analysis of the current development status of practical education model in colleges and universities reveals practical problems such as rigid education system, lack of platform resources and detachment from practical demand. Therefore, it is necessary to build a good practical educational and cultural environment from the three levels of thought, system and teaching. Efforts should be made to improve practice teaching platform, comprehensively enhance "order-oriented" talent training, adhere to the employment-oriented, scientific and practical evaluation system as a guarantee, make comprehensive innovation in practical education model and improve teaching quality. It is necessary to build a strong inner support structure from the aspects of thought, system and teaching, to improve educational and cultural environment from thought, system, teaching, and accelerate the reconstruction of practical educational innovation practice platform. Centering on construction goal of practical teaching model and practical talent training, the practical teaching platform of colleges and universities needs to explore the construction mechanism featuring mutual convergence, mutual cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win of theoretical and social needs, comprehensively highlight practical teaching characteristics, strengthen students' practical ability to lay the foundation for their future career development; conduct "order-oriented" training in line with actual employment needs, provide new ideas and implementation programs for "order-oriented" training, strengthen "order-oriented" teaching effect; strengthen evaluation system practicality within the framework of school-enterprise cooperation.


Fibroadenoma is the most common benign breast tumor in women under 30. However, carcinoma arising in a fibroadenoma is unusual and very rare, with over 100 cases reported in the literature. Histological diagnosis is usually incidental. We report the case of a 51-year-old perimenopausal patient with a family history of a mother who died of breast cancer. She was admitted with a hard elastic mass in the upper outer quadrant of her left breast. Imaging revealed a heterogeneous nodule with ductal dilatation. A core needle biopsy with four specimens showed a fibroepithelial tumor with atypical ductal hyperplasia. Left breast-conserving surgery was performed for radical treatment. The diagnosis on the specimen was carcinoma in situ of intermediate nuclear grade and massive compact and cribriform type developed on a fibroadenoma. We present this case to raise awareness of this entity and highlight the need for histological evaluation of specific breast masses.


The need to increase mobility and remove cables in industrial environments is pushing 5G as a valuable communication system to connect traditional deterministic Ethernet-based devices. One alternative is the adoption of Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) standards over 5G Non-Public Networks (5G NPN) deployed in the company premises. This scenario presents several challenges, the most relevant being the configuration of the 5G part to provide latency, reliability and throughput balance suitable to ensure that all the TSN traffic can be delivered on time. Our research work addresses this problem from the perspective of automata learning. Our aim is to learn from the live network to build a smart controller that can dynamically predict and apply a suitable configuration of the 5G NPN to satisfy the requirements of the current TSN traffic. The article presents the main ideas of this novel approach.


Rusbult and Farrell's general model of responses to job dissatisfaction is utilized to assess reactions to declining satisfaction among public sector employees. Four general categories of response-exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect-are described and explored. Data from the "Federal Employee Attitude Survey, 1979" were examined to evaluate the predictive ability of the Rusbult and Farrell model. Consistent with their model, higher levels of employee satisfaction and greater degree of investment size encouraged tendencies toward voice and loyalty while discouraging exit and neglect. Also, higher quality job alternatives promoted exit and voice while inhibiting neglectful tendencies. Contrary to predictions, better alternatives also encouraged loyalist responding. The implications of these findings in light of increasing dissatisfaction in the federal bureaucracy are discussed.


Background: Sex differences in clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes among patients with non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction have been described in Western countries, but whether these differences exist in China is unknown. Methods: We used a 2-stage random sampling design to create a nationally representative sample of patients admitted to 151 Chinese hospitals for non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction in 2006, 2011, and 2015 and examined sex differences in clinical profiles, treatments, and in-hospital outcomes over this time. Multivariable logistic regression models adjusting for age or other potentially confounding clinical covariates were used to estimate these sex-specific differences. Results: Among 4611 patients, the proportion of women (39.8%) was unchanged between 2006 and 2015. Women were older with higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. Among patients without contraindications, women were less likely to receive treatments than men, with significant differences for aspirin in 2015 (90.3% versus 93.9%) and for invasive strategy in 2011 (28.7% versus 45.7%) and 2015 (34.0% versus 48.4%). After adjusting for age, such differences in aspirin and invasive strategy in 2015 were not significant, but the difference in invasive strategy in 2011 persisted. The sex gaps in the use of invasive strategy did not narrow. From 2006 to 2015, a significant decrease in in-hospital mortality was observed in men (from 16.9% to 8.7%), but not in women (from 11.8% to 12.0%), with significant interaction between sex and study year (P=0.023). After adjustment, in-hospital mortality in women was significantly lower than men in 2006, but not in 2011 or 2015. Conclusions: Sex differences in cardiovascular risk factors and invasive strategy after non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction were observed between 2011 and 2015 in China. Although sex gaps in in-hospital mortality were largely explained by age differences, efforts to narrow sex-related disparities in quality of care should remain a focus. Registration: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT01624883.


Background : Intravenous(IV) access is becoming an increasingly important part of health care today. The current drive for clinical effectiveness and cost-effective health care serves to increase the need for reliable vascular access. Venous access devices were developed to overcome problems associated with limited peripheral access and frequent venipuncture in patients with long-term therapy. Although the peripherally inserted central catheter(PICC) have become popular during recent years in USA, its procedure is rare in Korea. Purpose : The goal of this study was to analyze the PICC inserted patient data by IV CNS intervention. Method : A Total of 62 PICCs were inserted into 51 patients by the IV CNS during a 10-month period form November, 14, 2002, to October 2, 2002. Data was obtained retrospectively through chart review. Result : The patient population included 34(54.8%) men and 28(45.2%) women, with a mean age 50.6 years. The main indication for PICC placement was to access vein in poor peripheral venous status(40.3%). The mean served interval for PICC insertions was 16.7 days(range, days). The reasons for removal were completed therapy in 18 cases(29.0%), patient death in 13 cases(21.0%), and mechanical or functional PICC problem in 10cases(16.1%). The three PICCs removed for presumed infection, and one had only positive tip cultures(0.2%). Conclusion : PICCs are rapidly growing popularity and required an extended course of IV therapy.


Aim: To investigate image quality of respiratory triggered 3D MRCP with compressed parallel and sensing imaging in clinical setting. Study design: Cross-sectional study Duration and place of study: Study was conducted in the duration of1st July 2021 to 31st December 2021 at Department of Radiology, Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana. Methodology: Ninety patients with age between 40-70 years were enrolled. The patients got three various kinds of MRCP 3 dimensional as a protocol of their diagnosis plan. Four point scoring system was adapted for quality assessment. Results: The mean age of the patients was 66.9±8.6 years. There were almost similar number of males and females. Minimally invasive-intraductal papillarymucinous carcinoma was presented only in 2.22%. Comparison of three magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography techniques showed that signal quality, was better as longer time involved in 1st magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography case while blurring was also seen in breath holding magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography. Conclusion: Better imaging quality of ductal system is obtained through respiratory triggered 3D magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography against breath hold. Keywords: Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, 3D Imaging, Compressed Sensing, Parallel imaging


culture and political debate, yet the possible connection between this and the veritable evaporation of prize contests goes unexplored. Might it be that the slow-moving academic prize contests simply seemed antiquated and unnecessary in the fast-moving environment of revolutionary journalism? This book is deeply engaging and will be of interest to many different historians. Caradonna adds even more nuance to our increasingly complicated notions of the Enlightenment.


In this paper, we analyze the effect of different degrees of node cooperation on the performance of routing protocols for delay tolerant networks. We first present an accurate analytical characterization of the performance of epidemic and two-hops routing in terms of expected packet delivery rate under the standard assumption of fully cooperative node behavior. This characterization is itself an interesting result, since it requires accurately approximating the distribution of the packet delivery delay. We then use the results derived in the first part of the paper to analytically characterize epidemic routing protocol performance in presence of different degrees of node cooperation. We also performed extensive simulations for a broader set of routing protocols and cooperation scenarios. The results of our simulations show that, while epidemic routing provides the better PDR performance under all investigated degrees of network cooperation, binary SW routing can achieve comparable performance, with the potential of significantly reducing message overhead. Binary SW routing shows also the better resilience to lower node cooperation levels amongst the considered routing protocols. Finally, our results suggest that even a modest level of node cooperation is sufficient to achieve 3-4-fold performance improvement with respect to the most pessimistic scenario in which all potential forwarders drop messages.


Abstract Pseudococcus saccharicola Takahashi was collected on Guana Island, and nearby Beef Island and Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). The records are the first in the Western Hemisphere for this potentially important Old World pest of sugarcane and certain other graminoid crops. Host plants on Guana were Chloris barbata Sw. (swollen fingergrass), C. radiata (L.) (radiate fingergrass), Cynodon dactylon L. (bermudagrass), and Saccharum officinarum L. (sugarcane). A probable mealybug predator associated with colonies of P. saccharicola on all three islands was the hyperaspidine coccinellid Hyperaspis scutifera (Mulsant), previously recorded in the West Indies only from the Leeward Antilles (Curaçao). Both the mealybug and lady beetle are considered adventive in the BVI. Diagnoses and illustrations of both species are provided to facilitate their recognition. Hyperaspis sanctaeritae Dobzhansky, 1941, described from Arizona, USA, is proposed (by N.J.V.) as a junior synonym of H. scutifera (Mulsant 1850).


Indoor localization is very important to enable Internet-of-things (IoT) applications. Visible light communication (VLC)-based indoor localization approaches enjoy many advantages, such as utilization of existing ubiquitous lighting infrastructure, high location and orientation accuracy, and no interruption to RF -based devices. However, existing VLC-based localization methods lack a real-time backward channel from the device to landmarks and necessitate computation at the device, which make them unsuitable for real-time tracking of small IoT devices. In this paper, we propose and prototype a retroreflector-based visible light localization system (RETRO), that establishes an almost zero-delay backward channel using a retroreflector to reflect light back to its source. RETRO localizes passive IoT devices without requiring computation and heavy sensing (e.g., camera) at the devices. Multiple photodiodes (i.e., landmarks) are mounted on any single unmodified light source to sense the retroreflected optical signal (i.e., location signature). We theoretically derive a closed-form expression for the reflected optical power related to the location and orientation of the retroreflector, and validate the theory by experiments. The characterization of received optical power is applied to a received signal strength indicator and trilateration based localization algorithm. Extensive experiments demonstrate centimeter-level location accuracy and single-digit angular error.


Recent years have witnessed a vast technological progress in the area of Quality of Service (QoS), mainly due to the emergence of multimedia networking and computing. QoS measurement and analysis have long been of interest to the networking research community. The major goals of this thesis are of two fold: Firstly, to investigate the effect of the QoS parameters on the overall QoS experienced by wireless networks. Secondly, to utilise the results in developing efficient mechanisms for intrusive and non-intrusive assessments of the performance of wireless ad hoc networks as well as the measurement of the available QoS for audio and videoconferencing applications over the IEEE 802.11 standard. To evaluate the network performance and the overall QoS of multimedia applications, new fuzzy logic and distance measure assessment approaches were developed taking into account the QoS parameters requirements of each application. The developed approaches essentially include measuring the main QoS parameters (delay, jitter and packet loss) and use them as input to the measurement systems, which combine them and produce an output that represents the instantaneous QoS. The devised approaches showed how the QoS can be measured without a need for complicated analytical mathematical models.In this study, several techniques were devised for estimating QoS. Firstly, a probe-based assessment method (active technique) was developed. In this method, special artificial monitoring packets were injected into the network. The overall QoS and its parameters were estimated by collecting statistics from these packets. It was possible to make reasonable inferences about the delay, throughput, packet losses and the overall average QoS using different probe rates. This technique showed some limitations for measuring the jitter. In addition, the rate of the monitoring packets played an essential role in the precision, level of resolution of estimated results and negatively impacted the network performance. Secondly, to overcome some of the drawbacks of the probing-based method, a new assessment technique was, subsequently, devised based on passive monitoring standard sampling methods. Unlike the active technique, the new method has the advantage of not adding an extra load to the network. In addition, it is not like the typical passive methods, which require the transfer and calculations of the whole captured data. Generally, all sampling schemes provided satisfactory measures of the overall QoS and its parameters and produced very acceptable bias and Relative Standard Error (RSE) result. Systematic sampling provided the most accurate estimates compared to the stratified and random approaches. In addition, after sample fraction of 2%, the estimated overall QoS bias from the actual QoS became constant and equal to -0.5% and RSE was less than 0.005 using both fuzzy and distance assessment systems. Thirdly, in order to overcome some negative aspects of inaccuracy and biasness caused by sampling techniques, a new scheme was proposed to correct these results to be closer to the actual traffic measurements. The new approach does not disturb the network performance (as in active methods), neither depends on the whole traffic (as in passive methods), nor bias the actual results (as in the standard sampling technique). Similarly, systematic sampling showed the best performance. Sample fractions, using the systematic sampling, greater than 2% gave an overall estimated QoS identical to the actual QoS because the obtained relative error was nearly constant and approximately close to zero using both assessment systems. The measured QoS can be used to optimise the received quality of the multimedia services along with the changing network conditions and to manage the utilisation of the network available resources especially for ad hoc networks. Overall, the findings of this study contribute to a method for drawing a realistic picture of the wireless multimedia networks QoS and provide a firm basis and useful insights on how to effectively design future QoS solutions.


The article discusses the possibility of application of parametric modeling system SolidWorks for solving of geometric modeling problems in graphics disciplines. The examples illustrate various aspects of graphic works.


Geophysical (tilt, seismic tremor and gravity signals), geochemical (crater SO2flux) and infrared satellite measurements are presented and discussed to track the temporal evolution of the lava fountain episode occurring at Mt Etna volcano on 10 April 2011. The multi‐disciplinary approach provides insight into a gas‐rich magma source trapped in a shallow storage zone inside the volcano edifice. This generated the fast ascending gas‐magma dispersed flow feeding the lava fountain and causing the depressurization of a deeper magma storage. Satellite thermal data allowed estimation of the amount of erupted lava, which, summed to the tephra volume, yielded a total volume of erupted products of about 1 × 106 m3. Thanks to the daylight occurrence of this eruptive episode, the SO2 emission rate was also estimated, showing a degassing cycle reaching a peak of 15,000 Mg d−1 with a mean daily value of ∼5,700 Mg d−1. The SO2 data from the previous fountain episode on 17–18 February to 10 April 2011, yielded a cumulative degassed magma volume of about ∼10.5 × 106 m3, indicating a ratio of roughly 10:1 between degassed and erupted volumes. This volumetric balance, differently from those previously estimated during different styles of volcanic activities with long‐term (years) recharging periods and middle‐term (weeks to months) effusive eruptions, points toward the predominant role played by the gas phase in generating and driving this lava fountain episode.


Sentinel lymph node biopsies (SLNB) were investigated in 8 cases (6 squamous cell carcinomas, 2 melanomas) of vulvar malignancy. The sentinel node was detected by patent blue dye injection (1 case), pre operative lymphoscintigraphy with intra-operative gamma hand-held probe (2 cases), and combined techniques (5 cases). The procedure was successful in all cases but one (1 invasive squamous cell carcinoma) in which there was medial groin recurrence at 6 months. Nodal invasion was observed in only one case and was confined to the sentinel node. No specific morbidity related to the SLNB procedure occurred. SLNB appears to be a feasible and promising technique, however, requiring further evaluation before being considered as a reliable method to spare inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy in early-stage patients free of sentinel node metastasis, or to be substituted in screening elderly clinically node-negative females.


Protein crystallization is crucial for biology, but the steps involved are complex and demanding in terms of external factors and internal structure. To save on experimental costs and time, the tendency of proteins to crystallize can be initially determined and screened by modeling. As a result, this study created a new pipeline aimed at using protein sequence to predict protein crystallization propensity in the protein material production stage, purification stage and production of crystal stage. The newly created pipeline proposed a new feature selection method, which involves combining Chi-square (${\chi }^{2}$) and recursive feature elimination together with the 12 selected features, followed by a linear discriminant analysisfor dimensionality reduction and finally, a support vector machine algorithm with hyperparameter tuning and 10-fold cross-validation is used to train the model and test the results. This new pipeline has been tested on three different datasets, and the accuracy rates are higher than the existing pipelines. In conclusion, our model provides a new solution to predict multistage protein crystallization propensity which is a big challenge in computational biology.


A group of 78 young employees in service and non-service professions reported 848 task related interactions at work over 1 week using a variant of the Rochester Interaction Record which measured emotion work requirements, emotional dissonance, and deviance. Multi-level analyses showed that dissonance was more likely in interactions with customers, whereas deviance, that is, the violation of display rules by acting out one's felt emotion, was more likely in co-worker interactions. Well-being in the interaction was lower (a) for interactions with emotion work requirements, (b) for dissonance, even after controlling for felt negative emotions, and (c) for deviance. Negative emotion displayed partially mediated the relationship between deviance and well-being. Regarding the relationship of more stable job related attitudes, psychosomatic complaints, and aggregated scores of social interactions, fewer effects were found than in questionnaire studies, which may be due to the fact that only interactions that lasted at least 10 minutes were assessed, as is customary in research with this instrument. Among the effects found, however, many involved proportions rather than frequency of interactions, which raises the possibility of balancing and legitimizing effects of non-stressful interactions.


Leigh Shaw-Taylor and Sir E.A. Wrigley recently published new estimates for the male occupational structure of England and Wales. Their pre-census figures are based on parish register data, but before Rose's Act of 1812, parish registers offer occupational information only in a sample of parishes, and are virtually silent about employments before 1690. This paper examines how the gaps in the parish register data can be filled using a data source which offer more universal coverage and goes back much further in time: probate records. It demonstrates how an, at first sight, critical deficiency of probate data, namely their severe bias towards capital-intensive and/or relatively well-paying occupations, can be overcome by using parish register data for calibration.


Contemporary Western approaches to protecting children and families have come under increasing scrutiny by the broad community, politicians, professionals and service users as a result of perceived system failings. In an environment of unrelenting media attention, policy makers and practitioners have critically reflected on system issues and practice, and placed increased emphasis on delivering better outcomes for children and families. Alberta's embracing of Outcomes Based Service Delivery reforms is an example of reshaping the ways in which families and children receive assistance to improve their safety and wellbeing. In this article, I outline and critically analyse the complex issues faced in child welfare, and identify some key reform opportunities and strategies that exist to refashion and improve the ways we can protect children and better help families and communities.


We perform quantum key distribution (QKD) over a single fibre in the presence of four classical channels in a C-band dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) configuration using a commercial QKD system. The classical channels are used for key distillation and 1 Gbps encrypted communication, rendering the entire system independent of any other communication channel than a single dedicated fibre. We successfully distil secret keys over fibre spans of up to 50 km. The separation between the quantum channel at 1551.72 nm and the nearest classical channel is only 200 GHz, while the classical channels are all separated by 100 GHz. In addition to that, we discuss possible improvements and alternative configurations, e.g. whether it is advantageous to choose the quantum channel at 1310 nm or to opt for a pure C-band (1530–1565 nm) configuration. SANGOUARD, Nicolas, et al. Quantum repeaters with entangled coherent states. Journal of the Optical Society of America. B, 2010, vol. 27, no. 6, p. A137-A145 DOI : 10.1364/JOSAB.27.00A137


Non-autoregressive (NAR) models generate all the tokens of a sequence in parallel, resulting in faster generation speed compared to their autoregressive (AR) counterparts but at the cost of lower accuracy. Different techniques including knowledge distillation and source-target alignment have been proposed to bridge the gap between AR and NAR models in various tasks such as neural machine translation (NMT), automatic speech recognition (ASR), and text to speech (TTS). With the help of those techniques, NAR models can catch up with the accuracy of AR models in some tasks but not in some others. In this work, we conduct a study to understand the difficulty of NAR sequence generation and try to answer: (1) Why NAR models can catch up with AR models in some tasks but not all? (2) Why techniques like knowledge distillation and source-target alignment can help NAR models. Since the main difference between AR and NAR models is that NAR models do not use dependency among target tokens while AR models do, intuitively the difficulty of NAR sequence generation heavily depends on the strongness of dependency among target tokens. To quantify such dependency, we propose an analysis model called CoMMA to characterize the difficulty of different NAR sequence generation tasks. We have several interesting findings: 1) Among the NMT, ASR and TTS tasks, ASR has the most target-token dependency while TTS has the least. 2) Knowledge distillation reduces the target-token dependency in target sequence and thus improves the accuracy of NAR models. 3) Source-target alignment constraint encourages dependency of a target token on source tokens and thus eases the training of NAR models.


We describe a reaction time study in which listeners detected word or nonword syllable targets (e.g. zoo, trel) in sequences consisting of the target plus a consonant or syllable residue (trelsh, trelshek). The pattern of responses differed from an earlier word-spotting study with the same material, in which words were always harder to find if only a consonant residue remained. The earlier results should thus not be viewed in terms of syllabic parsing, but in terms of a universal role for syllables in speech perception; words which are accidentally present in spoken input (e.g. sell in self) can be rejected when they leave a residue of the input which could not itself be a word.


The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of social media in creating an attractive employer brand for any organization. It investigates one of the social media Glassdoor, which is an online employer branding platform, where employees put their reviews which are both positive and negative. Analysis of these reviews can generate a lot of insights into employer branding.,The data was collected as 1,243 reviews from Glassdoor, an online crowdsourced employer branding platform for 40 top-rated employers across four different sectors, namely, Pharma, IT, retail and FMCG. Text and sentimental analyses were done using SAS visual analytical for these reviews.,Ten themes were generated from the text analytics which is nothing but the employer value propositions (EVPs), and they were social, interest, development and economic value as given by Berthon et al. (2005) and also others, such as work–life, management and brand value emerged. Social value came as a significant EVP followed by interest value and work–life values.,This research is providing only ways to show that crowdsourced data can also be used to understand the mindset of employees regarding an employer's image but is not providing any idea regarding how to generate the right employee value proposition.,The research has shown that employers can use crowdsourced employer branding insights to see where they stand in the employer's attractiveness spectrum. They can use innovative data analytics techniques, such as visualization for text and sentimental analysis to create employer branding intelligence strategies.


This study is Research & Development which contains three phases (explorative, model design, and try-out). The research aims to develop a teaching material which integrates Javanese local wisdom for the students of secondary school in Semarang. Phase 1 (the explorative study) consists of two parts: book review and needs analysis (questionnaire and interview). The results of the first phase show that the existing three books do not include aspects of local wisdom. While the needs analysis show that the respondents agreed to integrate aspects of local wisdom with the benefits as follows: (a) supporting the learning process, (b) making the students understand the materials more easily, (c) enhancing the understanding of local cultures and character education. In phase 2 and phase 3 (model design and try-out in three schools), the findings indicate that integrating local wisdom, i.e. a traditional song "menthog-menthog" can enliven the classroom atmosphere. In addition, based on the respondent perception, the integration of local wisdom would enrich the knowledge of local cultures as well as help the students understand ELT texts.


Drilling through overburden shale often presents operational challenges, particularly when drilling high-angle wells. Chemical imbalance between the shale and the drilling fluid can lead to time-dependent wellbore instability resulting in stuck pipe; cavings; and, under extreme circumstances, loss of the well. This study provides a unique workflow combining a suite of laboratory measurements to evaluate rock-fluid interaction between shale and drilling fluids. The testing suite includes X-ray diffraction (XRD) for mineralogical composition; tight rock analysis (TRA) for fluid saturations and petrophysical properties; mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) for pore throat radius analysis, pore water composition and water activity (aw) that is measured at ambient and elevated pressure using a new test system (patent pending); pressure penetration and membrane efficiency tests to evaluate pressure transmission through shale when exposed to drilling fluids; and modified thick-walled cylinder (mTWC) tests for screening potential adverse effects of drilling fluid on rock strength. Test results show how water activity measurements using synthetic brines can vary significantly from measurements made directly from the rock and under in-situ stress conditions. Water activity measurements made under stress correlate well with clay content and pore throat radius. From mTWC tests, the imbalance of aw can generate shale swelling and strength reduction. The pressure transmission tests show how the drilling fluids can plug the pores and reduce the pressure transmission rate to the formation. These data are instrumental in providing mitigating measures to avoid instability problems during drilling through overburden shales.

 Drilling high-angle development wells in shale can pose many operational risks requiring optimization of casing points, knowledge of safe mud weight profiles, and selection of the drilling fluid to counter rock-fluid interaction. Often the mud weight needs to be high enough to prevent shear collapse but low enough to not induce weak-bedding-plane failure (mechanical tensile failure) in the overburden. To determine the drilling window and optimum drilling mud weight for the well design, basic well logs and drilling reports are not enough to solve the problem alone; core measurements and advanced sonic are key ingredients to the wellbore stability model and subsequent predictions. Laboratory tests address both mechanical behavior through plane of weakness testing and modeling coupled with anisotropic characterization (Xi et al., 2020; Shaver et al., 2020) and evaluation of chemical shale interaction with drilling fluids to determine the effects of drilling time-dependent instability. This paper provides a novel laboratory testing approach to characterize shale time-dependent behavior to optimize drilling fluids used for shale formations.


Firms struggle to meet dynamically changing customers' needs. One challenge is to navigate a complex search space to find resources needed for innovations that meet customers' needs. Another challenge is to acquire the resources at lower costs than revenue opportunities to yield profitability. Digital platforms promise to address these challenges better than the market by providing search matching capabilities and modular, reusable resources. We examine whether platforms improve innovation performance and profitability of firms better than the market, as assumed. Using agent-based modeling and simulation, we find that firms perform better in the market when environmental complexity is low. As environmental complexity increases, firms start to perform better on the platform than in the market, specifically when the platform owner remarkably invests in search matching and modularity capabilities. The study advances our understanding of the environmental conditions under which platforms could be superior or inferior to the market.


General interstate warfare, that characterized so many twentieth century conflicts is increasingly becoming obsolete, except for some rare cases. Indeed, the nature of warfare has greatly shifted into something new, and perhaps into something even more dangerous for international security with the development and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the emergence of extremist groups, the access and use of WMD by terrorists, and the small deterrent effect of current military establishments towards these groups. The new warfare that has emerged is perhaps the most difficult type to respond to given its secrecy, its non‐territorial base, its "nihilist" characteristic, and the extraordinary dedication of its adherents to achieve their goals. New security requirements are urgently needed at this point and the essence of the response to this new warfare today lies in international cooperation, since the new opponents to the current world order are building a global organized presence.


Whole-genome sequencing of bacterial isolates is increasingly being used to predict antibacterial susceptibility and resistance. Mason and coauthors describe the phenotypic susceptibility interpretations of more than 1,300 Staphylococcus aureus isolates tested against a dozen antistaphylococcal agents, and they compared these findings to susceptibility predictions made by analyzing whole-genome sequence data (J Clin Microbiol 56:e01815-17, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.01815-17). ABSTRACT Whole-genome sequencing of bacterial isolates is increasingly being used to predict antibacterial susceptibility and resistance. Mason and coauthors describe the phenotypic susceptibility interpretations of more than 1,300 Staphylococcus aureus isolates tested against a dozen antistaphylococcal agents, and they compared these findings to susceptibility predictions made by analyzing whole-genome sequence data (J Clin Microbiol 56:e01815-17, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.01815-17). The genotype-phenotype susceptibility interpretations correlated in 96.3% (2,720/2,825) of resistant findings and 98.8% (11,504/11,639) of susceptible findings. This work by Mason and colleagues is helping to lower the barriers to using whole-genome sequencing of S. aureus in clinical microbiology practice.


This thesis research has examined what male social workers believe to be the causes of domestic violence and, more importantly, what they believe causes non-violence between partners. The research was a qualitative study of interviews with men, mostly social workers, who worked with both perpetrators and victims of domestic violence. The aims of the research are to provide some answers as to why, despite the attention given to domestic violence and the provision of DV treatment programs by social workers and counsellors, in both public and private sectors, the problem remains intractable.

Twenty men who worked in the area of domestic violence were interviewed, individually, with a series of twenty five questions. Two leaders of a local men's group were also interviewed. The main discussion topics for all these men were their views on the causes of domestic violence and then, more positively, what they felt were the reasons why most men, including themselves, were physically non-violent.

Investigating what these men feel causes domestic violence and nonviolence may provide an insight into what brings most men in our society to be physically non-violent to their partners. Hopefully, this information can be used to implement factors into families and society to work towards non-violence.

The interviewees' definitions of domestic violence were discussed, and what causes it. What causes non-violence, and scripting was positioned by them as the major factor in both. Within traditional Western male scripting lies males' sense of entitlement to privileged positions in their families and society. A question about violence surfaced. What is the purpose of violence? For the purpose of this research violence is defined as person or persons insisting on getting what they want, as a result of their claim to have the right to have it.

Male entitlement to privileges was identified by five of the men as being problematical and a central cause of domestic violence. The other fifteen interviewees, as well as the two men from the men's groups, accepted but appeared to discount the issue on varying levels. Whilst five men saw the existence of male privilege as a significant problem that needs changing, ten of the others saw the existence of it, but defined it as normal, and therefore by implication, believe it will be maintained, or that it can not be changed.

One of the underpinning dynamics revealed in this research is that the issue of male privilege is apparent to some and invisible to others, in the context of domestic violence this is going to be a problem.

In dealing with domestic violence we have to not simply invest in putting more social workers in the DV area; they need to be properly and adequately trained, and adequately committed to a treatment model which foregrounds male privilege [and does not present men as victims.] We need public investment in DV counselling, training and accreditation. We need to address the issue of male privilege in the whole of society and to focus on creating equality of power in relationships between men and women.


Protein fining treatments clarify wine and reduce astringency. Five plant protein preparations (two whole wheat glutens, two hydrolyzed wheat glutens, and one preparation from white lupin, Lupinus alba) were studied to evaluate their suitability as wine fining agents with regard to their capacity to precipitate condensed tannins. Fining of two wines and a model wine with these proteins showed that precipitation always occurred, although the level of precipitation was low. The hydrolyzed wheat glutens and the white lupin preparation were the most selective, precipitating highly polymerized and highly galloylated tannins, as did gelatin. Initial results showed that plant proteins can be used as fining agents in enology.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Epidemiological features of childhood hematological neoplastic diseases (CHND) in resource-poor countries (RPC) that differentiate them from those of affluent countries (AC) include ∼10-fold decreased (DCR) incidence (INC) (x10−5) of common acute lymphoblastic leukemia (c-ALL) subtype, >5-fold increased (ICR) INC of B-ALL subtype/Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), and 20-60-fold ICR INC of chloroleukemia, as well as absence of peak ALL INC among under-5 year olds in RPC (Nigerian data) as compared to AC. To assess lifestyle influences on CHND in an African city, patients (pts) receiving care for CHND at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria (IBN) between 9/1982 and 12/1984 underwent routine laboratory assessment and immunophenotypic cell studies, using standard international reagents and indirect fluorescent microscopy. Spatial distribution of cases and disease INC in locales of the city (LC), one of Africa's largest indigenous cities (population 1-2 million), was determined and correlated with lifestyle indices of inhabitants. LC were: central area (75%) lacking in sanitary infrastructure and inhabited by poor illiterate peasant farmers and petty traders (annual income [AI] $10,000). In zone 1, BL INC: 1.81-3.62 or >9-fold, AML/AMML± chloroma (CA), INC: 0.41-0.82 or >2-fold, and ALL INC: 0.25-0.50 or 0.3 compared to zone 2+3. BL INC: 0 in zone 3. In zone 1, time-space clustering (TSC) occurred13 times in 35 BL pts, 4 times in 9 AML/AMML±CA pts, but none in ALL. No TSC of BL or AML/AMML±CA, but 3 of ALL in 9 pts occurred in zones 2+3. Conclusion: CHND in IBN is reminiscent of the experiments of Ludwik Gross: following underfeeding of AK mice, a delay in the onset and a reduction in the rate of virus-induced leukemia occurred. Thymectomy inhibited or considerably delayed the development of lymphatic leukemia, and frequently caused the myelogenous forms to appear later in life, often in the form of chloroleukemia. At least, two other hypothetical models have been proposed to explain the pathogenesis of childhood leukemias, including "abnormal immune response to common infection(s)" (Greaves), and "population mixing" (Kinle). There are probably many causes of CHND. Given the high-risk of calorie-malnutrition in zone 1, and the associated risk of maternal and fetal malnutrition causing thymo-lymphatic deficiency, CHND pattern in zone 1 may be Nature's manifestation of the outcome of Gross's experiments, while other models may be relevant for the observation in zones 2+3 of IBN and other RPC. CHND studies in RPC with appropriate technology and reagents could unveil potentials for universal control and prevention of CHND.

Citation Format: Christopher K.O. Williams. Epidemiology of childhood leukemia/lymphoma in resource-poor countries: Nature's manifestation of Ludwik Gross's experiments on environmental influence on animal leukemogenesis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5028. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-5028


This paper highlights investigations into several aspects of the field of economic assessment of human resource management strategies and worker organizational behaviors, both classic and recent. We present the reader with both an historical overview and a review of conceptual and practical developments in this field. It is important to emphasize the influence of the early studies since later financial assessment models were built on the earlier paradigms. The basic thrust of this effort is to encourage the greater employment by managers of quantitative models that allow decision makers to generate all the factors needed to estimate real financial gains and/or losses before any intervention strategy is implemented in the workplace. As indicated, the use of these quantitative models to estimate the net financial gains of using particular intervention strategies or the value of certain types of worker behaviors, can ultimately save companies from making gross tactical errors and, more positively, can assist management in promoting the organization's long-term economic goals with all the incumbent rewards.


. Precipitation is one of the most important parameters to consider while analyzing risks from natural weather threats like floods and droughts. To prevent significant infrastructural and financial damage and loss, a good analysis of data and its visual presentation must be enabled. This also requires a reliable source of precipitation data for the region of interest. It is important to interpret and visualize the data obtained from meteorological stations to make an assessment, a forecast, or issue a warning. This paper describes the development of an Android application that enables visualization and analysis of average annual precipitation data for the period from 1946 to 2019, in the territory of the Republic of Serbia. Necessary precipitation data were acquired on the request from the official weather monitoring service for the Republic of Serbia (RHMSS).


The rapid development of the internet and multimedia technology in recent years has continued to push foreign language education in the direction of modern education. Multimodal education is becoming more and more important in the field of English education as an advanced educational concept in the field of language education. As a result, many English teachers have begun to emphasize the use of multimodal teaching theory in their classrooms. This paper investigates a multimodal model that incorporates text and image features, based on multimodal discourse theory, systemic functional linguistics theory, and foreign language teaching theory. This paper develops a multimodal model that can search for images and texts from various perspectives. We use an image feature bias term in the log-bilinear natural language model to influence the probability of predicting the next word based on the context, resulting in a multimodal model. The experimental results show that the proposed model, as an image-text relationship evaluation index system, has a slower search speed than other models but better search accuracy.


A 40-year-old man complaining of abdominal distention was referred to our hospital. Computed tomography of the abdomen demonstrated a very large abdominal mass with fat and calcification. The size of the mass rapidly increased from 30cm to 40cm over two weeks. The tumor was removed and diagnosed by pathological examination to be a retroperitoneal mature cystic teratoma that contained a 40-cm long, mature intestinal tract-like cyst, together with bone marrow and fat. The rapid growth of the tumor may have been caused by an increased secretion in the cyst.


In this paper a new binary sequence family with 2n + 1 cyclically distinct sequences each having length 2n - 1 is presented for an even integer n. The correlation distribution of the family is fully determined. The family has six-valued
correlation distribution and its maximum correlation magnitude equals 1 + 2n2+1.


Despite unprecedented successes with immune checkpoint blockade in advanced cancers, these agents provide durable clinical benefit in only a subset of patients. In addition, the clinical management of patients receiving immune checkpoint blockade remains quite challenging due to the unpredictable and kinetically heterogeneous responses which can manifest as late responses, pseudoprogression, or hyperprogression in subsets of patients. The dynamics and heterogeneity of programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1, aka B7-H1) expression confound its use as a predictive biomarker in cancer immunotherapy, but blood-based biomarkers have the potential to predict responders and detect mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy. We previously reported that Bim (BH3-only protein) is a downstream signaling molecule of the PD-1 pathway, and that Bim levels in circulating tumor-reactive T-cells reflected patient responses to anti-PD-1 therapy in melanoma. We also discovered the existence of soluble PD-L1 (sPD-L1) in the plasma of cancer patients and showed a correlation of sPD-L1 with cancer stages in renal cell carcinoma and with prognosis in metastatic melanoma. Here we evaluated the frequency of tumor-reactive T cells with Bim expression along with effector memory profile and sPD-L1 as biomarkers of response in a new cohort of patients with metastatic melanoma and lung cancer undergoing anti-PD-1 therapy. We recruited 100 cancer patients treated with anti-PD-1 therapy who had peripheral blood collected at baseline and at each subsequent radiographic tumor evaluation. Frequencies of Bim+ and effector memory CD8+ T cells were measured by flow cytometry in gated tumor-reactive CD11a high PD1+ CD8+ T cells. We also measured levels of sPD-L1 in plasma at baseline and serially during treatment with ELISA. Baseline T cell markers and sPD-L1 levels and their percent changes in patients who had a radiographic response were compared to those who had progressive disease (PD). We found that patients with objective response after 4 cycles of anti-PD-1 therapy had higher frequency of Bim+ CD8+ T cells at baseline compared to patients with PD (mean 43% vs. 30%, P=0.0484). The frequencies of Bim+ T cells decreased significantly after the first 3 months of treatment in responders compared with progressors (mean -16% vs. + 40% P=0.0111). The frequency of effector memory CD8+ T cells also dramatically increased in responders in 3-6 months after anti-PD-1 therapy (mean 89% vs. 9.56%, p=0.002). High baseline sPD-L1 was associated with progression on anti-PD-1 therapy (mean 2.8 ng/mL vs. 0.7 ng/mL, p=0.07) or development of immune-related toxicities and the levels increased by 12 weeks in patients progressing on therapy. Conclusion: Measurements of T cell biomarkers (Bim and effector memory) and sPD-L1 levels provide a new noninvasive way to predict and monitor patient responses to anti-PD-1 monotherapy in melanoma and lung cancers. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference. Citation Format: Roxana S. Dronca, Aaron Mansfield, Xin Liu, Susan Harrington, Elizabeth Enninga, Svetomir Markovic, Lisa Kottschade, Rob Mcwilliams, Matthew Block, Wendy Nevala, Michael Thompson, Haidong Dong. Blood-based T cell biomarkers and soluble PD-L1 predict responses and immune-related toxicity to PD-1 blockade in melanoma and lung cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2017 Oct 1-4; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2018;6(9 Suppl):Abstract nr A38.


Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal, autosomal dominant, genetic disorder characterized by cell death of medium-sized spiny neurons (MSNs) in the striatum. Striatal cell death has been traditionally attributed to excessive excitatory inputs, or more recently to disrupted balance of excitatory, inhibitory, and modulatory signaling. Therefore, understanding of altered synaptic signaling at striatal inputs is essential for the development and design of HD treatments. MSNs receive excitatory glutamatergic projections from the cortex and thalamus. HD induced functional changes in corticostriatal projections have been studied extensively in mouse models. However, although thalamic atrophy is correlated with cognitive impairments in HD patients and the centromedian-parafascicular (CMPf) nuclear complex (the primary origin of thalamostriatal projections) undergoes a 55% neuronal loss in HD patients, functional alterations of thalamostriatal projections have not been electrophysiology investigated. An adeno-associated virus (AAV) expressing channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) under the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type II alpha subunit (CaMKIIa) promoter was injected into the CMPf or the sensorimotor cortex of HD model mice to allow for selective activation of thalamostriatal or corticostriatal projections respectively. Pharmacological and holding potential manipulations were used to isolate AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated currents. In the symptomatic R6/2 fragment mouse model, thalamostriatal synapses displayed increased decay times of both AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated currents, alterations in glutamate reuptake, and increased probability of glutamate release. These findings suggest functional evidence consistent with early degeneration of thalamostriatal projections observed in the Q140 mouse model previously published. These effects were more prominent at synapses between thalamic inputs and direct pathway projecting MSNs rather than indirect pathway projecting MSNs. Corticostriatal synapses showed much more discrete changes than thalamostriatal. The differences in kinetics of AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated currents were contrasting, changes in glutamate reuptake were smaller than those at thalamostriatal projections, and no change in the probability of glutamate release was detected. No significant changes were observed in presymptomatic or symptomatic YAC128 full length mouse models. Perhaps, a more severe and later disease state should be examined in this slowly progressing HD model.


Polysaccharides are considered to be highly stable, nontoxic, hydrophilic, biodegradable, and biocompatible, coupled with the diverse chemical functions they contain, making them promising biomaterials for the development of nutrient delivery systems. In this study, we prepared zein-Mesona chinensis polysaccharide (MCP) nanoparticles by antisolvent precipitation. Zien and MCP self-assembly formed smooth spherical nanoparticles (Z-M NPs) under hydrophobic, hydrogen bonding, and electrostatic interactions. Results showed that MCP concentration (0% to 0.2%), pH (3 to 7), and addition sequence have a great effect on the particle size (165 to 463 nm), potential (-18.46 to -38.6 mV), and rheological properties of Z-M NPs. Moreover, Z-M NPs had good redispersibility and favorable encapsulation efficiency (92.8%) for quercetin. Compared with free quercetin, quercetin-loaded Z-M NPs significantly downregulated the expression of NO, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in RAW264.7 induced by lipopolysaccharide, which resulted in higher in vitro anti-inflammatory activity. Therefore, Z-M NPs have the potential to be applied to encapsulate hydrophobic natural phytochemicals as food-based functional biomaterials.


This self-directed learning module addresses rehabilitation issues in the child with brain damage. It is a section of the chapter on pediatric rehabilitation for the Self-Directed Medical Knowledge Program Study Guide for practitioners and trainees in physical medicine and rehabilitation. In addition to the motor manifestations, intellectual, social, and emotional impairment are addressed. Problems vary with developmental stage. Emphasis is on the etiology, severity, and combination of deficits in order to develop a plan of management, including physical, occupational, and speech therapy, recreational and social milieu, and family and community resources.


The plasma potassium level is normally maintained within narrow limits by multiple mechanisms. This article reviews the mechanisms that regulate potassium homeostasis and describes the important role that the circadian clock exerts on these processes.


This paper explores the objective of increased competition and considers whether different types of competition are likely to lead to desirable market outcomes. Potential sources of market failure, and hence inefficiency, are examined. The paper then considers what type and degree of regulation may be necessary if the forces of unrestrained competition cannot be expected to achieve desirable outcomes. A number of different options, ranging from minimal regulation to central pricing schedules, are then discussed. Consideration is given to whether openness in costing and/or pricing is necessary and desirable in both short and long term. The paper raises a number of practical problems which may be faced and suggests ways in which incentives can be created to mimic the characteristics of a competitive market.


Abstract. Methods of UV/VIS absorption spectroscopy to determine the constituents in the Earth's atmosphere from measurements of scattered light are often based on the Beer-Lambert law, like e.g. Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS). While the Beer-Lambert law is strictly valid for a single light path only, the relation between the optical depth and the concentration of any absorber can be approximated as linear also for scattered light observations at a single wavelength if the absorption is weak. If the light path distribution is approximated not to vary with wavelength, also linearity between the optical depth and the product of the cross-section and the concentration of an absorber can be assumed. These assumptions are widely made for DOAS applications for scattered light observations. For medium and strong absorption of scattered light (e.g. along very long light-paths like in limb geometry) the relation between the optical depth and the concentration of an absorber is no longer linear. In addition, for broad wavelength intervals the differences in the travelled light-paths at different wavelengths become important, especially in the UV, where the probability for scattering increases strongly with decreasing wavelength. However, the DOAS method can be extended to cases with medium to strong absorptions and for broader wavelength intervals by the so called air mass factor modified (or extended) DOAS and the weighting function modified DOAS. These approaches take into account the wavelength dependency of the slant column densities (SCDs), but also require a priori knowledge for the air mass factor or the weighting function from radiative transfer modelling. We describe an approach that considers the fitting results obtained from DOAS, the SCDs, as a function of wavelength and vertical optical depth and expands this function into a Taylor series of both quantities. The Taylor coefficients are then applied as additional fitting parameters in the DOAS analysis. Thus the variability of the SCD in the fit window is determined by the retrieval itself. This new approach provides a description of the SCD the exactness of which depends on the order of the Taylor expansion, and is independent from any assumptions or a priori knowledge of the considered absorbers. In case studies of simulated and measured spectra in the UV range (332–357 nm), we demonstrate the improvement by this approach for the retrieval of vertical profiles of BrO from the SCIAMACHY limb observations. The results for BrO obtained from the simulated spectra are closer to the true profiles, when applying the new method for the SCDs of ozone, than when the standard DOAS approach is used. For the measured spectra the agreement with validation measurements is also improved significantly, especially for cases with strong ozone absorption. While the focus of this article is on the improvement of the BrO profile retrieval from the SCIAMACHY limb measurements, the novel approach may be applied to a wide range of DOAS retrievals.


This study examined the effects of college students' family structures on the separation-individuation process. Family structure groups investigated were (1) intact; (2) divorced, mother-custody, no remarriage; and (3) divorced, mother-custody, remarried. The components of the separation-individuation process examined were attachment to parents, conflictual independence, internal self-awareness, ego identity, and self-esteem. Results indicated that adolescents from intact families perceived themselves as having more conflictual independence from and more positive emotional relationships with their fathers than did those from divorced or remarried families. The groups did not differ in ego identity or self-awareness. Both attachment and conflictual independence from fathers were related to self-esteem. Conflictual independence from mothers was also related to self-esteem, while attachment to mothers was not. Ego identity was related to self-esteem, but self-awareness was not. The discussion addresses both clinical and future research implications.


Regional climate models (RCMs) primarily represent physical components of the climate system, omitting vegetation dynamics, ecosystem biogeochemistry and their associated feedbacks. To account for such feedbacks, we implemented a novel plant individual-based vegetation dynamics-ecosystem biogeochemistry scheme within the RCA3 RCM. Variations in leaf area index (LAI) of seven plant functional type (PFTs) in response to physical forcing and evolving vegetation state feed back to climate via adjustments in surface energy fluxes and surface properties. In an ERA-40-driven simulation over Europe, the model reproduces the recent past climate with comparable accuracy to the standard RCM. Large-scale patterns of LAI, net primary production and vegetation composition were comparable with observations, although winter LAI was systematically overestimated compared to satellite estimates. Analysis of the ERA-40 simulation and an A1B climate-change simulation revealed considerable covariation among dynamic variables of the physical climate and vegetation. At a Mediterranean site, periodic soil water limitation led to fluctuations in leaf cover and a likely positive feedback to near-surface temperature. At an alpine site, rising temperatures led to forest advance onto tundra areas, reducing albedo and effecting a likely positive feedback on temperature. Climate—vegetation coupling was less pronounced but still apparent at intermediate temperate and boreal sites.


The prevalence and seasonality of animal health problems encountered in Sokoto Gudali cattle over a 10 year period (1988- 1998) is reported. Out of a total of 304 cases observed, Streptothricosis accounted for (15.1%), Gastroenteritis, 37 (14.5%), Pinkeye 14 (13.5%), Helminthosis 37 (12.2%) traumatic injury 37 (12.2%) Recumbency 21 (6.9%), Retained placenta 14 (4.6%) Footrot 8 (2.6%) and Abscesses 7 (2.3%). Notable among the conditions that showed remarkable seasonality in prevalence are streptothricosis, footrot, pinkeye, heartwater, helminthosis and trypanosomosis which occurred during the rainy season, while cases of gastroenteritis, foot and mouth disease, pneumonia, abscesses and recumbency occurred during the dry season. This study gins an indication of some of the common animal health problems usually encountered under a semi-intensive cattle production system and the need for effective animal health care. Keywords: Health problems, seasonality, prevalence, Sokoto Gudali.


Sicily is the second region of Italy, after Sardinia, for the extension of natural formations of Quercus suber (L.). Cork forests, more or less degraded whose quality status is lacking because of the frequent fires, excessive grazing and lack of adequate cultural care, are present in all the provinces, certainly among all the causes the main one is the absence of planning. From this premise surfaces the need to know and govern in a congruous way this study case of a Sicilian wooded area through the drafting of Forest Management Plans, aiming at the restoration of efficiency, functionality and, in particular, of the sustainable production of cork from oak woods. The present paper describes the results of the preparatory studies carried out to lay the foundation of a Forest Management Plan for the Tardara forest


Large-time asymptotic properties of solutions to a class of semilinear stochastic wave equations with damping in a bounded domain are considered. First an energy inequality and the exponential bound for a linear stochastic equation are established. Under appropriate conditions, the existence theorem for a unique global solution is given. Next the questions of bounded solutions and the exponential stability of an equilibrium solution, in mean-square and the almost sure sense, are studied. Then, under some sufficient conditions, the existence of a unique invariant measure is proved. Two examples are presented to illustrate some applications of the theorems.


The objective of this study was to find out whether there was a difference in results from students who were taught analytical exposition text writing through the Guided Writing Technique (GWT) and other students who were taught using a standard way of teaching writing. The English writing skills of the second grade students in a high school in Banda Aceh were unsatisfactory; therefore, it was suggested that a specific treatment or learning process was needed. The study focused on assessment of students being taught to write analytical exposition texts. To achieve the goal of the study, a true experimental design with an experimental group (EG) with 29 students, and a control group (CG) with 28 students was used. The instrument of this study was tests. The data was analyzed through statistics. From the findings of the study, the writing ability of both groups after the treatments was different according to the results from a t-test. These result showed that the t-test was 11.26, whilst the result from the t-table at a level of significance 5% (α=0.05) was 2.0211. So, t-test was higher than t-table (11.26>2.0211). In conclusion, the results from this study showed that there was a significant improvement in skills for writing analytical exposition texts from the EG students taught using the GWT whilst the CG taught by a standard teaching technique for writing did not show such improvement.


The aim of this study is to identify the impact of adopting e-banking on branches operations strategy during the period 1999 to 2008, 15 local banks in Jordan were surveyed by using 3 questionnaires, one was directed to account operations officer, another to tellers and last one to branches managers. Annual reports and banks websites were revised to identify the changes in performance indicators and e-banking adoption. The study revealed that; branches are still the main channels of conducting banking transactions, and e-banking is working in parallel with branches. This paper is the first paper reports this issue in developing economies. KeywordsE-banking, Branches, Operations Strategy, Jordan.


Introduction The aim was to examine the effect of a sedative or analgesic supplement to periprostatic nerve blockage (PNB) on pain reduction during probe insertion and needle penetration in patients undergoing transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided prostate biopsy. We also investigated the effects of this procedure on the positive response rate in re-biopsy. Material and methods One hundred TRUS-guided prostate biopsy patients due to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels higher than 2.5 ng/ml and/or abnormal rectal examination findings were evaluated. Group 1 (PNB) was given periprostatic lidocaine injection before the procedure. Group 2 (analgesic) was given tramadol and PNB. Group 3 (sedative) was given midazolam and PNB. Group 4 (control) was not given any anaesthesia or analgesics. Pain scores were assessed during probe insertion and needle penetration by a visual analogue scale. Results During probe insertion, the mean pain score of the sedative group was lower than that of the control, analgesic and PNB groups (p < 0.001, p = 0.009, and p < 0.001, respectively). During needle penetration, the mean pain score of the control group was higher than that of the other groups (p < 0.001). The rate of positive response to re-biopsy was found to be 56% in the control group and between 92% and 100% in the other three groups (p < 0.001). Conclusion According to our results, it can be concluded that midazolam, given supplementary to PNB, contributes as an effective and safe alternative for pain control during both probe insertion and penetration of the biopsy needle into the prostate capsule; however, tramadol supplement does not provide any additional contributions.


Hard and super hard coatings of Zr-Ti-Si-N of from 2.8 μm to 3.5 μm thickness were fabricated using a vacuum arc source with high frequency stimulation. The samples were annealed in vacuum and in air at 1200 °C. It was found that films with a high Zr and Ti content were thermally stable up to 1180 °C. At the same time, a thin oxide layer of 180 nm to 240 nm was found on the surfaces, which protected the sample from destruction. Below 1000 °C annealing temperature in vacuum, changing of phase composition is determined by appearing of siliconitride crystallites (s-Si 3 N 4 ) with hexagonal crystalline lattice and by formation of ZrO 2 oxide crystallites. Size of grains of a substitution solid solution (Zr, Ti)N varied from (10 – 12) nm to 25 nm, but Ti concentration in the solid solution increased. In the process of annealing, hardness of the best series of samples increased from (39.6 ±1.4) GPa to 53.6 GPa, which seemed to indicate that a spinodal segregation along grain interfaces was finished. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.19.2.4429


JOHN BRAITHWAITE AND VALERIE BRAITHWAITE, The Politics of Legalism: Rules versus Standards in Nursing-Home Regulation In few areas of business regulation has there been a greater preoccupation with reliability (consistency) than for US nursing-home inspection. Industry, consumer-advocates, legislators, lawyers and scientists have all advanced strategies for improving the consistency of regulatory decisions. These have failed. The Australian nursing-home inspection process is evaluated as an alternative in which vagueness, subjectivity, neglect of standardized protocols and rejection of random sampling delivers high reliability. Based on observations of 103 nursing-home inspections in these two countries, it is hypothesized that a regulatory process based on dialogue about resident-centred outcomes conduces to more reliability than recourse to authoritative interpretations of the meaning of words in rules. Reliability in judging compliance with laws is least likely to be achieved when reliability is our central policy objective because pursuit of reliability for a part of the law tends to increase the unreliability of a whole body of law. Consistency is a function not of the precision of legal texts but of the interplay between text and enforcement context. The interplay found to deliver consistent nursing-home regulation is simple standards, few in number, assessed in terms of outcomes found to matter subjectively to residents, where that assessment is informed by a rich regulatory dialogue. STEVE TOMBS, Law, Resistance and Reform: 'Regulatang' Safety Crimes in the UK Safety crimes are likely to be regulated less effectively than some crimes of the powerful. This article focuses upon recent trends in occupational safety regulation in the UK and indicates that, despite the persistence (and some recent exacerbation) of regulatory ineffectiveness in this area, there are also signs of the criminalization of safety offences. The nature, and context, of any criminalization is outlined, and the potentially progressive nature of deterrent and interventionist regulatory strategies are considered. The article concludes by arguing that law, at national and international levels, is one important site of struggles for safer workplaces. JOEL C. BAKAN AND MICHAEL SMITH, Rights , Nationalism and Social Movements in Canadian Constitutional Politics Strategies involving rights discourse are necessarily shaped by dominant ideologies of rights. This not only limits the utility of such strategies in advancing progressive goals, but also creates risks of negative political consequences. These points are discussed in relation to the rights strategies of two social movement organizations, the Native Women's Association of Canada (rrvvAC) and the National Action Committee on the Status of


Rotavirus is the major cause of gastroenteritis in children and the main cause of hospital acquired-infection in paediatric unit. We report the epidemiology of gastroenteritis in our hospital during five consecutive years. Rotavirus was involved in 13% of the patients. Seasonal peaks were observed in January and 45.8% of the patients were less than 6 month old. The rotavirus infection was hospital-acquired in 1/3 of the cases. During the winter period, the incidence of rotavirus nosocomial infection was 4.4%.


Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) consist of a continuum of disorders that are increasing in prevalence (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). This study used the variables of parenting stress and autism symptom severity to try to predict parent satisfaction with their child's classroom and educational team. Participants in this study were 97 parents/guardians of children with ASD who completed a series of surveys including: a demographics form, a scale to measure autism severity, a parenting stress scale, and a survey measuring the parent's satisfaction with their child's classroom and education team. In this study, autism symptom severity and parent stress when combined were not significant predictors of parent satisfaction with their child's classroom or his or her education team. There was a small correlation between parent stress and parent satisfaction with their child's classroom. It is possible that this study was limited by the low scores on the autism symptom severity measure, suggesting that either the tool did not adequately measure autism symptom severity or the sample included parents of children who had less severe presentation of autism than in other studies. The study supported a link between autism symptom severity and parent stress. Consideration of different aspects of the education of a child with an ASD is needed in order to improve the education of one of the most rapidly growing disability groups in schools.


Here, we reported two cases of lymph node recurrence after endoscopic mucosal resection of esophageal cancer. Case 1: A patient was a 49-year-old man. Endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) was performed to the 0-IIc type esophageal cancer in October 2005. The pathological findings were moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, pT1b-SM3, ly0, and v0. Therefore, additional therapy of definitive chemoradiation was conducted. However, he complained a difficulty in swallowing in June 2007 and computed tomography (CT) revealed a lymph node measuring 4 cm in diameter at the right side of cardia ( #1). Therefore, a radical operation to the lymph node recurrence was performed in August 2007. Pathological findings revealed metastases of cancer were not only in #1 LN but also in #8a. Unfortunately, the patient died on the 37th day after the operation due to a respiratory failure and anastomotic leakage. Case 2: A patient was a 68-year-old man. EMR was performed to the 0-IIa type esophageal cancer in August 2006. The pathological findings were poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, pT1a-MM, ly0, v0. Therefore, adjuvant chemotherapy was added. However, in February 2009, a follow-up CT showed a metastatic lymph node measuring 2 cm in diameter at the right side of cardia (#1) and a radical operation was performed in June 2009. Pathological findings revealed the metastatic lymph nodes were at the right side of cardia (#1) and middle thoracic paraesophagus (#108).


This research explores the level of correlation between electronic journal usage and ISI Impact Factors that may justify Impact Factors to be used as a collection management tool. The study utilised ISI's Journal Use Report and Journal Citation Reports to gather data in the areas of History, Linguistics, Political Science, Environmental Science, Mathematics, Physics (Applied), Economics, Information Science & Library Science, Management and Law. A slight positive correlation was found for several disciplines with two disciplines displaying a small negative correlation. The study concluded that the levels of correlation were not significant enough to enable ISI Impact Factors to be used in isolation as an effective collection management decision-making tool. Several issues were identified as possible factors in the level of correlation found: articles downloaded and not used, the limited number of titles subscribed to by VUW, the lack of New Zealand and Australasian titles, the interdisciplinary nature or limited focus of some titles and the research and teaching focus of VUW. The study concludes that Impact Factors may be of use as an evaluation tool for academic libraries, but that they should be used in combination with a number of other factors discussed. A number of areas for further research are also identified.


Abstract This work aimed to evaluate the effect of heat treatment on the physical properties of wood from Buchenavia sp. The heat treatments were carried out at temperatures of 180 °C and 200 °C for 2 h. Apparent density (AD), basic density (BD), porosity (Ф), mass loss, longitudinal (LS), radial (RS), tangential (TS) and volumetric (VS) shrinkages and anisotropic factor (AF) were determined. The lowest values of basic density (0.67 g cm-3), apparent density (0.77 gcm-3), and porosity (43.3%) were observed for the wood treated at a temperature of 200 °C. Mass losses increased with increasing temperature and the highest values were observed under the condition of 200 °C (9.3%). The LS and AF was not affected by heat treatments. The mean values for RS (3.1%), TS (5.1%), and VS (9.1%) were reduced after the performance of heat treatments at temperatures of 180°C and 200°C, which did not differ from each other. The thermal treatments were able to reduce the dimensional instability of Buchenavia sp. Thermal treatments enhance the use of less prestigious Amazonian woods in the civil construction market.


In the past, the decision to apply countermeasures following nuclear accidents has been based primarily on their
effectiveness in averting dose to man. However, particularly in recent years since the Chernobyl accident in 1986, it has been realised that other factors also need to be considered. These include the reasons and justification for introducing the countermeasure, the time scale over which they will be used, their effectiveness and their practicability. Practicability includes factors such as technical limitations and capacity, exposure during implementation, potential environmental impacts, economic implications and acceptability (both social and ethical) as well as a number of site specific issues. These criteria have been used to evaluate a range of commonly used countermeasures and a spreadsheet information system has been prepared by the members of an IUR Action Group. The system highlights factors to be taken into consideration in making a decision on the implementation of countermeasures.


The crude methanolic extracts of the sponge Sigmadocia pumila collected from kanyakumari region were tested for antibacterial activity using the agar well diffusion method. The extracts were tested against Gram positive and Gram negative organisms. The antifungal activity was examined using Sigmadocia pumila against various fungal strains such Trichoderma viride, Fuzarium spp, Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus flavis. Hence it is assumed that the sponge exhibited high antimicrobial activity.


Abstract Computational fluid dynamics can be used to analyze the flow pattern and the anatomical predisposition of the airway collapse in patient-specific simulations of sleep apnea patients. Especially the nasal geometry is a major challenge, because of the complex structures and high calculation effort. Due to this limitations the nasal cavity is often excluded. To investigate the influence of the exclusion of the nasal geometry on the flow in the pharynx, four digital models were created. One, which includes the complete nasal structure, and three simplified models, neglecting the nasal geometry using different cutting planes. Airflow simulations using the k-ε turbulence model are performed with an inlet flow rate of 10 l/min. The results show a good agreement of the average velocities. Deviations of the velocity and pressure values occur particularly in the region of the oropharynx and indicate that the type of simplification has a significant influence on the pressure distribution.


The Coulomb blockade eect in a mesoscopic double-barrier p{i{n junction is reported. The electron and hole injection into the central QW of a p{n junction is achieved via resonant tunneling. We present a theoretical model that describes the device operation. When the device is biased with a constant voltage source the model predicts the observation of Coulomb staircase in the current{voltage characteristics. When an additional square wave modulation signal is applied, turnstile operation is achieved. The experimental evidence for Coulomb staircase eect and turnstile operation is presented. ? 2000 Elsevier


As computer networks become an integral part of the radiology practice, it is appropriate to raise concerns regarding their security. The purpose of this article is to present an overview of computer network security risks and preventive strategies as they pertain to the radiology enterprise. A number of technologies are available that provide strong deterrence against attacks on networks and networked computer systems in the radiology enterprise. While effective, these technologies must be supplemented with vigilant user and system management.


Implementing automated emotion recognition on mobile devices could provide an accessible diagnostic and therapeutic tool for those who struggle to recognize emotion, including children with developmental behavioral conditions such as autism. Although recent advances have been made in building more accurate emotion classifiers, existing models are too computationally expensive to be deployed on mobile devices. In this study, we optimized and profiled various machine learning models designed for inference on edge devices and were able to match previous state of the art results for emotion recognition on children. Our best model, a MobileNet-V2 network pre-trained on ImageNet, achieved 65.11% balanced accuracy and 64.19% F1-score on CAFE, while achieving a 45-millisecond inference latency on a Motorola Moto G6 phone. This balanced accuracy is only 1.79% less than the current state of the art for CAFE, which used a model that contains 26.62x more parameters and was unable to run on the Moto G6, even when fully optimized. This work validates that with specialized design and optimization techniques, machine learning models can become lightweight enough for deployment on mobile devices and still achieve high accuracies on difficult image classification tasks. Keywords—edge computing, autism spectrum disorder, mobile health, computer vision


Flyback switch mode power supplies have been widely used in low-power applications, such as DC/DC converters, solar micro-inverters and LED drivers. However, flyback converters have several problems related to the volume of the output capacitor as well as high output voltage noise; this is produced by the discontinuous output current. Consequently, interleaved operation with parallel connection on the secondary side can reduce the output current ripple compared with the single-phase flyback converter. Nevertheless, besides the output capacitor, the interleaved operation is unsuitable for transformers if it is desired to obtain light weight and compact performance. To address this problem, the interleaved flyback converter with integrated transformer has been proposed for achieving miniaturization of the output capacitor and transformers. There are mainly two types of the proposed flyback converter with integrated transformer: Parallel and Series types. These two types are categorized based on the connection on the primary side. Nevertheless, quantitative comparison of the volume and power loss has not been analyzed yet. Moreover, the design method of the integrated transformer also has not been conducted with clarity. Hence, in this paper, in order to provide a guide for the design of an interleaved flyback converter for achieving high power density, we analyze the quantitative volume and power losses of the integrated transformer and the input capacitor. Finally, this paper shows some experimental results that validate the appropriateness of the design method for the integrated transformer.


Personalization and sophistication using new ICTs is the path adopted by industries intending to enter Smart Cities. This work seeks to provide a system dynamics model for forecasting the impact of innovations in auto repair workshops (part of the Automotive Aftermarket) in the Ecuadorian automotive industry. The model was used for simulating three scenarios: i) auto repair shops without innovations, ii) with innovations, and iii) with innovations, launch scale and budget increase. The goal is to prove that production performance caused and managed by increasing action that arises around the market demand and supported by business strategies based on ICTs and innovation that lead to decrease congestion, costs, delays, and unnecessary mobilizations resulting in a high value-added experience for customers as one way more to get a Smart City.


Background Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important domain in evaluation of health status of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and other connective tissue disorders (CTDs). It has been shown that HRQoL is lower in SLE and other CTDs compared to general population, but comparative data on HRQoL profiles in various CTDs in Russian patients is limited. Objectives We aimed to determine HRQoL in Russian SLE patients and to compare HRQoL profiles with other CTDs patients. Methods We used SF-36 to measure HRQoL in 129 SLE, 18 SSc, 12 PM/DM, and 25 SV patients. SF-36 scales were used to construct disease-specific HRQoL profile. ANOVA was performed to compare profiles, Spearman correlation and linear regression were used to find out determinants of SF-36 physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) component summary scores, p-values <0.05 regarded significant. Results SLE patients had the following demographic and clinical features (M (SD)): age 35.67 (14.50); females 88.4%; disease duration (DD) 7.06 (6.68) years; activity scores SLAM 14.32 (6.79); SLEDAI-2K 8.76 (6.53); 91.5% received corticosteroids, 27.8% cytotoxic medications; damage by SLICC/ACR index 1.57 (1.55), 42 patients (32.6%) had no damage. SSc patients: age 48.67 (14.21); females 94.4%; DD 9.94 (10.43) years; 50% received corticosteroids. SV patients included 6 polyartereitis nodosum (24%), 12 Henoch-Shönlein vasculitis (48%), 2 Takayasu arteritis (8%), 3 Wegener's granulomatosis (12%) and 2 Churg-Strauss syndrome (8%) patients. Among PM/DM patients 9 (75%) were female, age 55.25 (12.12) years, DD 1.6 (1.91) years, all on corticosteroids. Results for profiling of HRQoL according to SF-36 scales of Physical Functioning (PF), Role-Physical Functioning (RP), Bodily pain (BP), General Health (GH), Vitality (VT), Social Functioning (SF), Role-Emotional (RE), Mental Health (MH) are shown in the table. Conclusions HRQoL is lower in SLE and other CTDs compared to general population. HQRoL profiles are different in CTD patients. Those differences are important considerations when evaluating patients in routine practice and clinical trials. A restricted set of demographical and clinical parameters is responsible for HRQoL determinants. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


In this study, samples of polypore mushroom Laetiporus conifericola were collected from Pennsylvania, USA. The antimicrobial activity (AMA) of ethanolic, methanolic, and water extracts of this fungus were tested in vitro by the agar diffusion test against some selected clinically important microorganisms. These microorganisms included three Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus 5W1941, S. epidermidis 85W1940, and Bacillus cereus 85W1815), three Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli 85W1860, Salmonella typhimurium 85W1956, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 85W1903), and one fungus (Candida albicans). These extracts demonstrated varying degrees of inhibition against all of the test pathogenic microorganisms except C. albicans. Methanolic and ethanolic extracts of L. conifericola were very effective against S. aureus, while the aqueous extract was the least effective. All tested extracts were effective against S. epidermidis, methanolic extract produced the best zone of inhibition followed by the aqueous extract while ethanolic extract had the least zone of inhibition. B. cereus and P. aeruginosa were highly susceptible to ethanol extract. In addition, the growth of E. coli was best inhibited by the aqueous extract, followed by the methanolic and ethanolic extracts, respectively. The aqueous and methanolic extracts were most effective against S. typhimurium; however, this bacterium was not susceptible to ethanolic extract. The significance of these findings is discussed.


An approach for the design of 2-D FIR digital filters with complex coefficients is presented. In this approach, the error measure is formulated as a quadratic function and the filter coefficients are obtained by solving a set of linear equations. The proposed approach is more efficient than the eigenfilter approach regarding the amount of computation and design time. Moreover, the proposed approach leads to smaller least-squares errors. Design examples are included to illustrate the advantages of the approach.


An important point in good governance is essentially the provision of excellent service to people who have citizenship rights that must be provided by the government. Globalization has encouraged paradigm changes in government in carrying out its distributive function to the community. As much as developed countries have done, public encouragement accompanied by public participation in all governance processes leads the country to "virtual" spaces with sufficient coverage to facilitate its citizens to participate in all national and state affairs, the autonomy space given to the region is able to make local governments self-reliant, innovative, and creative in providing services to the community. The research conducted in Integrated Licensing Service Agency of Malang Regency shows that the satisfaction of the society is good enough to the service product given, if it is categorized the assessment from public perception of the service given is A (very good). To achieve that, of course, the integrated licensing agency of Malang regency through a long way to reach it starting from building a mutual commitment to change the more autonomous institution in carrying out the service function to the society.


Post-filtering with a Gaussian filter is commonly used to reduce noise in positron emission tomography (PET) images. However, its non-selective smoothing obscures the edges of lesions or organs. We compared the performance of a newly developed anisotropic diffusion filter called "Statistical Transfer with Optimizing Noise and Edge Sensing" (STONES) with that of the Gaussian filter for small lesions on PET images. We selected seven PET/computed tomography (CT) image slices of the lungs from three patients with multiple lung metastases. For each slice, the lesion detection rates by two physicians (A and B) were compared for Gaussian- and STONES-filtered PET images. The maximum standardized uptake (SUVmax) values of the detected lesions were also compared for non-, Gaussian-, and STONES-filtered images. Physician A detected 19 lesions in the Gaussian-filtered images and 23 lesions in the STONES-filtered images, while Physician B detected 14 lesions in the Gaussian-filtered images and 19 lesions in the STONES-filtered images. SUVmax for the STONES-filtered images was significantly higher and closer to that of the non-filtered images compared to those for the Gaussian-filtered images. STONES improved the detection rate and increased SUVmax in comparison with Gaussian filter. Thus, it should be more advantageous for the detection of small lesions with PET.


Background: Beyond programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), no other biomarkers for immunotherapy are used in daily practice. We previously created EPSILoN (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS), smoking, liver metastases, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)) score, a clinical/biochemical prognostic score, in 154 patients treated with second/further-line immunotherapy. This study's aim was to validate EPSILoN score in a different population group. Methods: 193 patients were included at National Cancer Institute of Milan (second-line immunotherapy, 61%; further-line immunotherapy, 39%). Clinical/laboratory parameters such as neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and lactate dehydrogenase levels were collected. Kaplan–Meier and Cox hazard methods were used for survival analysis. Results: Overall median progression-free survival and median overall survival were 2.3 and 7.6 months, respectively. Multivariate analyses for Progression-Free Survival (PFS) identified heavy smokers (hazard ratio (HR) 0.71, p = 0.036) and baseline LDH < 400 mg/dL (HR 0.66, p = 0.026) as independent positive factors and liver metastases (HR 1.48, p = 0.04) and NLR ≥ 4 (HR 1.49, p = 0.029) as negative prognostic factors. These five factors were included in the EPSILoN score which was able to stratify patients in three different prognostic groups, high, intermediate and low, with PFS of 6.0, 3.8 and 1.9 months, respectively (HR 1.94, p < 0.001); high, intermediate and low prognostic groups had overall survival (OS) of 24.5, 8.9 and 3.4 months, respectively (HR 2.40, p < 0.001). Conclusions: EPSILoN, combining five baseline clinical/blood parameters (ECOG PS, smoking, liver metastases, LDH, NLR), may help to identify advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (aNSCLC) patients who most likely benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).