Failures in Deltaic Plain sediments have resulted in bank recession in a slowly growing bend-way of the Mississippi River near Fort Jackson, Louisiana. Hydrographic surveys dating back to the early 1930's show that failures occur at a rate of one per 12–15-year period along this bend. Each failure destroys an area about 150–200 feet wide and 1000 feet long, thus threatening the levee on the south bank of the river.

Comparison of borings made in the laded and unfailed parts of the riverbank indicates that deep-seated shear failures take place, resulting in lateral wedge-type failures initiated by progressive over-steepening of the bank slope by river erosion. Evidence of physical disturbances in the cohesive, fine-grained deltaic sediments in the unfailed bank suggests that incipient weaknesses may contribute to failures along this bend.


We consider the dynamics of an electron avalanche propagating along a dielectric surface in a channel wherein the Townsend breakdown condition does not hold. We show that when the angle θ between the electric field and the channel wall is less than some critical value θcr, the electron avalanche grows. The function θcr = θcr(E) is found by kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations for a mixture of Xe and Ne gasses.


Hierarchical TiO2 nanorod/nanoparticle composites were successfully prepared by TiCl4 modification of vertically aligned TiO2 nanorod (NR) arrays. After the hydrolysis of TiCl4 at room temperature, TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were deposited on the surface of TiO2 NRs. Morphology and structure analysis demonstrated that the TiO2 NPs were distributed around the entire surface of TiO2 NRs due to the easy permeation of TiCl4 solution between the NR space. Moreover, the high concentration of TiCl4 and long reaction time are favorable for the generation of more TiO2 NPs, which correspondingly increases the surface area of the composite to a large extent. Compared with most reported TiO2-based UV photodetectors (PDs), the present TiO2 NR/NP composite-based PDs simultaneously exhibit an extremely high response and a relatively fast response speed. The maxima of responsivity and response speed, which are 1973 A W−1 and 0.47 s (rise time) and 1.02 s (decay time), respectively, are obtained from the sample of TiO2 NR/NP-0.4 M-72 h. The fast and high photoresponses are ascribed to the large surface area provided by TiO2 NPs, the well-defined electron transport pathway offered from TiO2 NRs and the homojunction formed at the interface between them. Moreover, together with the high responsivity and the relatively fast response speed, significant UV light selectivity and a very good linear relationship between a photoresponse and the UV light intensity suggest that the present UV PDs are very competitive and highly applicable in UV light detection.


Abstract As Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) epsilon toxin (ETX) ranks as the third most potent clostridial toxin after botulinum and tetanus toxins, vaccination is necessary for creatures that can be affected by it to be safe from the effects of this toxin. Nowadays, nanostructures are good choices for carriers for biological environments. We aimed to synthesize biomimetic biodegradable nanodevices to enhance the efficiency of the ETX vaccine. For this purpose, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) copolymer loaded with purified epsilon protoxin (proETX) to create nanoparticles called nanotoxins (NTs) and then coated by RBC membrane-derived vesicles (RVs) to form epsilon nanotoxoids (RV-NTs). The resulting RV-NTs shaped smooth spherical surfaces with double-layer core/shell structure with an average particle size of 105.9 ± 35.1 nm and encapsulation efficiency of 97.5% ± 0.13%. Compared with NTs, the RV-NTs were more stable for 15 consecutive days. In addition, although both structures showed a long-term cumulative release, the release rates from RV-NTs were slower than NTs during 144 hours. According to the results of cell viability, ETX loading in PLGA and entrapment in the RBC membrane decreased the toxicity of the toxin. The presence of PLGA enhances the uptake of proETX, and the synthesized structures showed no significant lesion after injection. These results demonstrate that NTs and RV-NTs could serve as an effective vaccine platform to deliver ETX for future in vivo assays.


The intensification of ethnic and religious identity, accompanied by growing tendencies for creating new national states and escalations of regional conflicts, characterize the post-Cold War era. This article examines the growing impact of religion and the potential of religious activism as a tool for peacebuilding. A case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be accompanied by a historical-genealogical approach and analysis and deduction methods. By using those methods, I will answer the question of whether religion has a cohesive role (building of civil society) or divisive effect (accentuation of mutual differences and distancing of 'other') in the process of peacebuilding. The research results show that religious activism did positively contribute to peacebuilding but that the existent conciliatory potential is not adequately used for overcoming mutual differences and the creation of civil society, primarily due to the political and institutional framework in which it operates.


The immune system of a host functions critically in shaping the composition of the microbiota, and some microbes are involved in regulating host endocrine system and development. However, whether the immune system acts on endocrine and development by shaping the composition of the microbiota remains unclear, and few molecular players or microbes involved in this process have been identified. In the current study, we found that RNA interference of a C-type lectin (HaCTL3) in the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera suppresses ecdysone and juvenile hormone signaling, thus reducing larval body size and delaying pupation. Depletion of HaCTL3 also results in an increased abundance of Enterocuccus mundtii in the hemolymph, which may escape from the gut. Furthermore, HaCTL3 and its controlled antimicrobial peptides (attacin, lebocin, and gloverin) are involved in the clearance of E. mundtii from the hemolymph via phagocytosis or direct bactericidal activity. Injection of E. mundtii into larval hemocoel mimics HaCTL3-depleted phenotypes and suppresses ecdysone and juvenile hormone signaling. Taken together, we conclude that HaCTL3 maintains normal larval growth and development of H. armigera via suppressing the abundance of E. mundtii in the hemolymph. Our results provide the first evidence of an immune system acting on an endocrine system to modulate development via shaping the composition of microbiota in insect hemolymph. Thus, this study will deepen our understanding of the interaction between immunity and development.


This paper reports the fabrication and properties of small Nb-(a-Si)-Nb-(a-Si)-Nb Josephson tunnel junctions. The smallest junction area is about 0.3μm2. A thin a-Si film deposited by electron beam evaporation was oxidized and used for the tunnel barriers. TEM and XPS investigations indicate that the barrier layers consist of SiOx and Si. The junctions have been used for RF SQUID with an energy resolution of 1.9 × 10-28 J/Hz.


Introduction: Odontogenic malformations of teeth can be frequently encountered affecting both the primary and permanent dentition. The co-occurrence of talon cusp in a fused tooth, however, is an uncommon developmental dental aberration that necessitates a variety of prophylactic procedures to minimize potential consequences. Often, the presence of talon's cusp can result in pulpal necrosis due to its deep extension, which increases functional complexity. Methods: The present case describes the fusion of a supplemental tooth to a maxillary permanent tooth in conjunction with multiple talon's cusps on labial and palatal aspects which is an extremely rare entity and first of its kind. Results: Endodontic management followed by esthetic reconstruction of the affected tooth is considered as the standard treatment in cases of pulpal involvement of any odontogenically malformed tooth. Our case also demonstrates the establishment of an accurate diagnosis using a three-dimensional imaging modality by overcoming the challenges of periapical radiographs. Conclusion: In addition to diagnosis, practitioners should also have an in-depth understanding of the origin, prevalence, clinical and radiographic characteristics of odontogenic malformations, which AIDS in an effective treatment strategy.


Background: Atherosclerosis (AS) is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular diseases. The traditional China herb pairs such as Huanglian-Gualou, Honghua-Taoren, and Suhexiang-Bingpian showed therapeutic effects on AS by clearing heat and resolving phlegm, invigorating blood and removing blood stasis, as well as aromatic resuscitation, respectively. However, the common and specific mechanisms of these pairs against the same disease are elusive.Objective: This study aimed to explore the molecular mechanisms of 3 herb pairs treating AS by network pharmacology, molecular modeling and mechanism experiments.Methods: The components and their corresponding targets of 3 herb pairs, as well as AS-related targets, were collected from multiple databases and literature. Then the protein-protein interaction network was built to identify the key components and targets associated with AS. The pathway enrichment analysis using KEGG was carried out for analyzing the common mechanisms of 3 herb pairs against AS. Finally, the binding modes of the key components and targets were analyzed by molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation.Results: The PPI network indicated that the common targets of 3 herb pairs focused on four pathways, including regulated vascular shear stress, TNF, ARE-RAGE, and IL-17 pathways. The molecular docking analysis indicated that the key component quercetin showed highest docking score with PTGS2 in comparison to other targets. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that quercetin stably anchored to the active pocket of PTGS2 by forming hydrogen bonds with Thr175, Asn351, and Trp356.Conclusion: The molecular mechanism of Huanglian-Gualou, Honghua-Taoren, and Suhexiang-Bingpian against AS was preliminarily expounded, and we wish to provide a theoretical instruction for clinical treatment of AS.


A nonlithographic process is demonstrated for patterning Al, Cr, Cu, Ni, Ti, and W thin films, which are widely used in microelectronic and display fabrication. A projection photoablation process using 248-nm-deep ultraviolet radiation from a KrF excimer laser was used to pattern a polyimide film coated on a SiN layer deposited on glass. The photoablation-patterned polyimide film was used as a sacrificial layer in a lift-off patterning process for the metal films, which resulted in clean metal patterns with fine line-edge definition being fabricated after lift-off. This process provides a simpler and more economical patterning technique compared to conventional lithography methods, eliminating the developing and etching steps.


Questions: What are the main floristic patterns in European beech forests? Which classification at the alliance and suballiance level is the most convincing? - Location: Europe and Asia Minor. - Methods: We applied a TWINSPAN classification to a data set of 24605 releves covering the whole range of Fagus sylvatica forests and the western part of Fagus orientalis forests. We identified 24 operational phytosociological units' (OPUs), which were used for further analysis. The position of each OPU along the soil pH and temperature gradient was evaluated using Ellenberg Indicator Values. Fidelity of species to OPUs was calculated using the phi coefficient and constancy ratio. We compared alternative alliance concepts, corresponding to groups of OPUs, in terms of number and frequency of diagnostic species. We also established formal definitions for the various alliance concepts based on comparison of the total cover of the diagnostic species groups, and evaluated alternative geographical subdivisions of beech forests. - Results: The first and second division levels of TWINSPAN followed the temperature and soil pH gradients, while lower divisions were mainly geographical. We grouped the 22 OPUs of Fagus sylvatica forests into acidophytic, meso-basiphytic and thermo-basiphytic beech forests, and separated two OPUs of F.orientalis forests. However, a solution with only two ecologically defined alliances of F.sylvatica forests (acidophytic vs basiphytic) was clearly superior with regard to number and frequency of diagnostic species. In contrast, when comparing groupings with three to six geographical alliances of basiphytic beech forests, respectively, we did not find a strongly superior solution. - Conclusions: We propose to classify F.sylvatica forests into 15 suballiances - three acidophytic and 12 basiphytic ones. Separating these two groups at alliance or order level was clearly supported by our results. Concerning the grouping of the 12 basiphytic suballiances into ecological or geographical alliances, as advocated by many authors, we failed to find an optimal solution. Therefore, we propose a multi-dimensional classification of basiphytic beech forests, including both ecological and geographical groups as equally valid concepts which may be used alternatively depending on the purpose and context of the classification.


A JOINT Committee on Terminology has been appointed by the Classical Association and several other educational bodies, to consider how far it may be possible to simplify and to unify the technical terms used in •different languages. Perhaps this may lead up to a series of coordinated school grammars, like the larger scheme of Prof. Sonnenschein. Such series have already been begun in Germany, Holland, and we believe elsewhere. A proposal has also been made for a Vacation School, in which demonstrations might be given of improved methods in •classical teaching. Time and place have yet to be arranged; but it will hardly be doubted that such a school, with free discussion and •criticism amongst a number of teachers, must be useful.


This focused volume presents a deep exploration and new interpretations of the winter paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca. 1525-1569). By applying new methodological approaches and interdisciplinary research to these masterpieces of Flemish Renaissance art, including Winter Landscape with Skaters and Bird Trap (1565) and The Census at Bethlehem (1566), both at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the book offers an enhanced understanding of the painter's relationship to his time and the extent to which his winter landscapes were meant to reflect real-life situations. After tracing how these paintings have been understood over time, the essays propose new insights into such issues as whether Bruegel depicts the plight of the local populace during winter and whether The Census at Bethlehem challenges or reaffirms central power structures. Abundantly illustrated, Bruegel's Winter Scenes is both a thorough examination and a celebration of these widely admired images.


Objective: Cystatin C has been proposed as a novel marker of renal function and as a predictor of the severity of coronary atherosclerosis and future cardiovascular events. The aim was to evaluate the possible role of chronic kidney disease and particularly CysC on the characteristics of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes (DT2). Design and method: We investigated 195 patients both sexes with DT2 aged 56.54 ± 4.17 years. Control group included 84 healthy subjects the same age. The intima-media thickness (IMT) was measured as the distance between the lumen-intima interface and the media-adventitia interface. Atherosclerotic plaque was defined as a focal structure encroaching into the arterial lumen of 0.5 mm or 50% of the surrounding IMT value. Total plaque area (TPA) was calculated as the sum of all plaque areas. GFR was estimated using the modification of diet in renal disease (MDRD) equation. Results: Patients were divided into 2 groups by CysC levels tertiles. Patients in the high CysC tertile (n = 76) had significantly higher mean carotid IMT (0.88 ± 0.12 mm vs. 0.76 ± 0.07 mm, P = 0.03), and TPA (4.69 ± 2.03 mm2 vs. 2.71 ± 0.57 mm2, P = 0.02) compared to patients in the lower tertiles (n = 119). CysC levels demonstrated significant positive correlation with the mean carotid IMT (r = 0.35, P = 0.011). In multivariate analyses adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors, the association between CysC and IMT remained significant (P = 0.037). In contrast, neither serum creatinine nor estimated GFR were associated with IMT (P = 0.17). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated a significant association of increased CysC levels with characteristics of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.


The crystal and molecular structure of pyridinium periodate [H5C5NH]+[IO 4]− (hereafter referred to as PyIO4) was re-determined by single-crystal neutron diffraction at 350, 300 and 100 K. The structures of the high-temperature paraelectric and the ferroelectric intermediate phase confirmed the x-ray results. The low-temperature ferroelectric phase at 100 K, for which x-ray results did not agree with dielectric measurements, was uniquely determined by neutron diffraction. The sequence of space groups and continuous phase transitions is Cmcm(I) 321 K→ Cmc2 1(II) 210 K→ C112 1(III). The structure of the low-temperature phase III is consistent with all physical measurements. The continuous phase transition at T2 = 210 K is not just accompanied by symmetry lowering but also by reversible twinning by pseudo-merohedry. The dipole moment of the ions of the low ferroelectric phase was calculated using the Gaussian 98 program. The theoretical value agrees well with the experimental spontaneous polarization measurements from the pyroelectric effect. The PyIO4 belongs to the order–disorder class of ferroelectrics.


. In recent years, deep learning has quickly evolved to be the go-to solution for any kind of analysis of non-linear data. One such use has been that of Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) in the field of Computer Vision. GAN models have a variety of applications for image processing, specifically, super-resolution of images. A lot of work has been done to enhance or upscale generic RGB imagery such as the ones taken from a mobile or digital camera. However, in the field of remote sensing, it presents challenges like preserving the spatial resolution of the sensor, which is affected by a wider pixel value range and relation of a pixel to ground sampling distance (GSD). From data preparation to enhancing a complete set of tiles at scale, the upsampling/downsampling requires the ratio of number pixels to the actual area in geography to be pre-served. SRGAN model has been proven to be effective for interpolating the pixels based on context. However, it was observed that the same algorithm with or without parameter tuning behaves differently based on the sensor source and target resolution. We evaluate the performance of the model from 10m to 2.5m and 2.4m to 0.6m resolution. The comparison will enable better decision making when using the enhanced images for LULC classification, segmentation, and object detection.


Ucok A, Bikmaz S. The effects of childhood trauma in patients with first-episode schizophrenia Objective: To evaluate the impact of childhood trauma on psychopathology in 57 patients with first-episode schizophrenia. Method: Psychopathology was assessed by Brief Psychiatric Research Scale (BPRS), Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) at first admission. Childhood trauma was assessed by Childhood Abuse Questionnaire and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) after discharge. Results: Frequencies of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), emotional abuse (CEA) and physical abuse (CPA) were reported by 29.8%, 40.9% and 13.6% of the patients respectively. Histories of childhood emotional neglect (CEN) and physical neglect were found in 29.5% and 20.5% of the patients respectively. The patients reporting CSA had higher SAPS scores at admission, and had more suicide attempts before admission. The patients with history of CEA had more hallucinations and delusions of mind reading at admission. CPA, CEA and mean scores of CTQ correlated with the number of siblings. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that childhood trauma may alter the presentation of schizophrenia in first admission.


The frequency is an important parameter for monitoring, control and protection of power systems. This paper describes an algorithm for frequency measurement from estimates of voltage and current phasors. The cosine of the sampling angle, the angle between phasors estimated at two consecutive sampling instants, is calculated from three and five consecutive real components of phasors. The information is then used to estimate the frequency. The algorithm was implemented on a TMS320C26 digital signal processor of a digital fault recorder, and is described in this paper. Results from tests conducted by using simulated data are also presented.


The fight against inequality and commodification of women in society has been the cornerstone of discussions on feminism. Since women have multiple identities based on gender, looks, caste, class, ethnicity and age, at any given point of time they could be oppressed by any one or various other factors. In fact, women have been pushed to lag behind men on all vital aspects of life whether it is the choice of education, or employment opportunities, health and nutrition, sexuality or even crucial decisions about their family. A corrective to this situation would be ensuring for them a right to education and gainful employment and also empowering them through selfhelp groups besides providing them enough opportunities of participation at all levels of governance.


The Albanian ophiolites form outstanding fully developed ophiolitic sections within the Eastern Mediterranean ophiolites. Generally, they are divided in eastern and the western belt, where the former shows a SSZ, the latter a MORB signature, a subdivision mainly developed in northern Albania. Contrary to the north Albanian ophiolites, little has been published about the south Albanian ophiolites. We present here the first data from the south Albanian ophiolites, including the Shpati, Vallamare, Devolli and Voskopoja Massif as well as the Morava and Shebeniku Massif. The former are interpreted as a continuation of the western belt, the latter are compared to the ophiolites of the eastern belt. The contrast between the western and the eastern ophiolites, well developed in northern Albania, is not so clearly recognizable in southern Albania. Most of the ophiolitic sections contain harzburgite together with lherzolite in the mantle segment and plag lherzolites in the ultramafic cumulate section. Troctolites are common in Devolli and Voskopoja. Pyroxenites are restricted to the Shebeniku Massif. Sheeted dikes are missing in all profiles. Only three ophiolites (Shpati, Vallamare and Voskopoja) contain a volcanic section directly overlying the ultramafic and/or mafic cumulate sequence. The first geochemical data of the Voskopoja lavas indicate an intermediate geochemistry between typical MORB and island arc tholeiites, erupted in a SSZ environment. This is documented by the enrichment of elements such as Sr, K, Rb, Ba and a small depletion ofTi. The Pindos ophiolite in Greece, a continuation of the south Albanian ophiolites, shows a SSZ genesis indicating that a geochemical variation from MORB to SSZ tholeiites exists not only between the eastern and the western belt, but also in a north-south direction, along the main axis of the ophiolites on a regional scale.


Abstract:  Pediatric liver transplantations are becoming increasingly more common. Recent advances in the surgical and anesthetic management of these cases have greatly improved the survival rate. In order to successfully manage the anesthesia in these patients, one needs to have a thorough understanding of the pathophysiology of end‐stage liver disease and the subsequent anesthetic implications. It is also necessary to appreciate the stages of the surgical procedure, as each stage presents different dilemmas to the anesthesiologist. This article will review the pathophysiology of liver failure in pediatric patients and outline the particular issues related to each stage of liver transplantation, allowing for the anticipation and management of the derangements that occur during surgery.


Using a unique, national data set that indicates where students choose to send their SAT scores, the authors find that college sports success has a large impact on student application decisions. For example, a school that has a stellar year in basketball or football on average receives up to 10% more SAT scores. Certain demographic groups (males, Blacks, out-of-state students, and students who played sports in high school) are more likely to be influenced by sports success than their counterparts. The authors explore the reasons why students might be influenced by these sporting events and present evidence that attention/accessibility helps explain these findings.


Background The receptor activator of the nuclear factor-kappa B ligand (RANKL), the receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B (RANK), and the osteoprotegerin (OPG) signaling pathway play an important role in the regulation of bone remodeling and osteoclast differentiation. Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) is a relatively recent and noninvasive method providing structural information on microstructure, bone elasticity, and connectivity. However, in contrast to bone mineral density measurements, the possible association of the RANKL/RANK/OPG pathway with heel QUS has not been analyzed. Objectives The aim of this study was to assess, for the first time, the contribution of the RANKL/RANK/OPG pathway genes in the genetic background of heel QUS parameters. Methods Ten single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of RANKL (rs9594759, rs12585014, rs7988338, rs2148073), RANK (rs1805034, rs12458117, rs3018362), and OPG (rs4355801, rs3102735, rs2073618) were selected as genetic markers and genotyped using Open Array technology in 575 self-reported Caucasian individuals aged 18–25. Bone mass in the right calcaneus was estimated with QUS to obtain the broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) measurement (dB/MHz). Linear regression analyses were performed to test the possible association between the SNPs and BUA. Results Linear regression analysis of all the tested SNPs revealed no significant association with the BUA parameter after adjusting for age, gender, weight, height, physical activity, and calcium intake. The lowest p-value was observed for the rs9594759 RANKL polymorphism and heel QUS (p = .06; b* = −.075, 95% CI [−0.960, 0.028]). Conclusion Our results suggest that the polymorphism of the RANKL, RANK, and OPG genes does not make a significant genetic contribution to heel ultrasound measurements in a population of young Caucasian adults. Further studies replicating the results in independent populations are needed to support these initial findings.


Objective To assess the accuracy of anterior tooth movement using clear aligners in integrated three-dimensional digital models. Methods Cone-beam computed tomography was performed before and after treatment with clear aligners in 32 patients. Plaster casts were laser-scanned for virtual setup and aligner fabrication. Differences in predicted and achieved root and crown positions of anterior teeth were compared on superimposed maxillofacial digital images and virtual models and analyzed by Student's t-test. Results The mean discrepancies in maxillary and mandibular crown positions were 0.376 ± 0.041 mm and 0.398 ± 0.037 mm, respectively. Maxillary and mandibular root positions differed by 2.062 ± 0.128 mm and 1.941 ± 0.154 mm, respectively. Conclusions Crowns but not roots of anterior teeth can be moved to designated positions using clear aligners, because these appliances cause tooth movement by tilting motion.


A retrospective study of 133 patients with documented head trauma is presented. Computed tomography (C.T.) has replaced cerebral angiography in the evaluation of these patients at our institutions. C.T. provides a rapid noninvasive diagnosis, plus accurate localization of lesions; it also allows for the assessment of multiple lesions. The authors feel that C.T. should be the first neurological mode of investigation after plain skull radiographs. It is important to obtain good quality scans, and intravenous sedation or general anaesthesia may be required.


The transition of elite youth footballers through academy systems towards the first team is highly complex, competitive, and often unsuccessful. A myriad of factors including technical competence, physical prowess, and the development environment combine to determine youth player progression. Current research has focused on broad investigations of multiple clubs and stakeholders, providing a valuable overview of the key aspects associated with elite youth player transition. This study aimed to provide an in-depth, context-specific investigation of key stakeholders within an elite level club in the United Kingdom (UK). Seven key stakeholders including the head of the academy ( n = 1), the head of sports science ( n = 1), coaches ( n = 3), and lead sports scientists ( n = 2) were recruited. Framework analysis led to the development of a practical framework outlining the key facilitators and barriers of youth-to-first-team transition. Facilitators of transition included overcoming adversity, high-level physical prowess, exceptional technical competence, and possessing at least one elite-level attribute. Barriers to transition included a lack of opportunity, lucrative youth player contracts and a lack of development-specific coaching. In addition, the developmental environment and developing individuals within a team environment were key influences on youth-to-first-team transition. This study complements recent broad investigations of the UK and global stakeholders by corroborating many of their findings while providing transferable, context-specific accounts of applied issues related to successful transition to first-team football.


We present a 79 year old female patient with dysphagia since two years. She showed also a lack of initiation and dysphonia. In the region of the larynx an edema was found and the tongue was hypertrophied. The X-ray examination demonstrated a dilated esophagus without impairment of the passage way. Esophagoscopy showed also important edema in the hypopharynx and the entry into the esophagus. The TSH-0 was 74.45 mmu/l, the T3 0.23 and the T4 was 24 nmol/l. Scintigraphically an only cherry-stone small region with active thyroid tissue was revealed. Severe hypothyroidism responsible for secondary dysphagia was diagnosed. L-Thyroxin was administered (150 micrograms/d). There was a dramatical improvement. The signs of edema and the dysphagia decreased. The examination a half year later demonstrated a patient without any dysphagia or edema. The symptom dysphagia is defined and an interdisciplinary approach emphasized.


The background of this study was to investigate the antioxidant, cytotoxic, thrombolytic and antimicrobial activity of the petroleum ether (PE), carbon tetrachloride (CTC), chloroform (CF) and aqueous (AQ) soluble fractions of crude methanolic Zanthoxylum rhetsa root bark with two isolated quinolone alkaloids, 8-methoxy-n-methylflindersine (1) and zanthodioline (2). Structures were characterized by 1D NMR analyses. Antioxidant activity was assessed by using DPPH assay and antimicrobial activity was screened by disc diffusion method. An in vitro thrombolytic model was used to evaluate the clot lysis effect of different extracts of root bark of Z. rhetsa along with streptokinase as a positive control and distilled water as a negative control and the cytotoxic activity of different extracts of Z. rhetsa root bark was evaluated by Brine Shrimp Lethality Bioassay. AQ fraction exhibited strongest antioxidant, cytotoxic and thrombolytic activity among four fractions. The CTC and CF soluble fractions exhibited significant antioxidant, cytotoxic and thrombolytic activity. CTC and AQ fractions gave highest anti-bacterial activity against Vibrio cholera and Klebsiella pneumonia respectively. Compound 1 showed significant activity at a concentration of 100 μgm/disc against Sarcina lutea, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella paratyphi-A, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella boydii and Shigella sonnei with high antioxidant activity. The antioxidant, thrombolytic and antimicrobial activity of 8-methoxy-n-methylflindersine and zanthodioline are the first record from root bark of this plant.


Poretz and Goldstein showed that X-phenyl beta-D-glucopyranosides prevent the agglutination of concanavalin A with polysaccharides and derived inhibition constants for the process. Using their data the binding of 25 glucosides to concanavalin is now shown to be correlated with the molar refractivity of the substituents on the phenyl ring. This is interpreted to mean that it is the bulk of the substituents and not their hydrophobicity which prevents the union of concanavalin and the polysaccharide. These results are similar to those found for other haptens preventing antibody-antigen interaction.


Hagiographic sources from nineteenth-century Inner Russia and Khvārazm indicate the existence of a cluster of Muslims opposed to the state-supported Islamic institutions of the Russian Empire. Many Muslim scholars of the period did not accord the Volga-Ural region the status of an 'abode of Islam,' as they considered it to be a 'land of ignorance.' This paper examines the significance attached by Muslims of Inner Russia to the pious rhetoric of resettlement from a 'land of ignorance' to the 'abode of Islam'. I argue that the opposition to the already well-established imperial structures in the Volga-Urals resulted in the formation of a powerful migrant community near Urgench, Khvārazm, that used the Naqshbandiya-Mojaddediya Sufi networks as a stable bridge to home.


A growing number of municipalities and states are implementing household food waste diversion efforts such as curbside compost programs, though these programs present challenges for participation and implementation. While many food waste diversion programs are occurring in densely populated regions, understanding food waste management in rural regions is less studied. This research examines the food waste perceptions and current and future food waste management behaviors of residents in Vermont, one of the most rural U.S. states, through a representative telephone survey of Vermont residents ( n = 583) in 2018. The findings suggest 55% of residents support banning food waste from landfills. Furthermore, 72% of residents compost at least some of their food waste currently and more than 75% anticipate doing so in the future. Conversely, 34% of residents anticipate using the garbage or a curbside compost pickup program in the future with urban county residents, renters, and those currently using garbage most interested in curbside programs. The majority of respondents were unwilling to pay anything additional for curbside compost pickup programs. These results suggest food waste management strategies in rural regions may be different than densely populated areas, particularly for programs that may require significant investments and have limited participation given the popularity of home composting. As a result, greater investment in education and infrastructure for backyard composting may be an important component of rural food waste management.


This article aims to explain how an academic community can be constructed based on teaching and research. For this purpose, first of all, a definition of academic community is provided; secondly, the way in which the building of this community can be done by fostering cooperative work, reflective teaching and teacher autonomy is described. In addition, the means by which students can take more active participation in this construction by engaging in critical thinking, learner autonomy and the implementation of a curriculum as inquiry are explained. Finally, some tasks for the academic community are specified as well as its impact on the institutions and on the field of language teaching


We consider the effect of restricting the number of individual variables, as well as the number and arity of predicate letters, in languages of first-order predicate superintuitionistic logics of finite Kripke frames on the logics' algorithmic properties. By a finite frame we mean a frame with a finite set of possible worlds. The languages we consider have no constants, function symbols or the equality symbol. We show that positive fragments of many predicate superintuitionistic logics of natural classes of finite Kripke frames are not recursively enumerable—more precisely, $\varPi ^0_1$-hard—in languages with three individual variables and a single monadic predicate letter; this applies to the logics of finite frames of the predicate counterparts of propositional logics lying between the intuitionistic logic and the logic of the weak law of the excluded middle.


This paper examines how publicly provided inputs could affect income distribution. By applying the Newman-Read production function- a generalized Cobb-Douglas production function- to Hicks's idea of the determinant of factor share, such usually complex dynamics remain analytically tractable. The paper shows that whether public capital has an effect on income distribution dynamics depends on its elasticity of substitution to private capital. If the elasticity of substitution of public capital to private capital is greater than unity, then an investment in public capital increases its relative income share and, hence, decreases the private capital share. In such a case, public capital would have a positive impact on income distribution dynamics.


The optimal cross-sectional shapes of clamped–simply supported columns are presented with the compressive load given by a combination of a non-uniform distributed load and a concentrated load. The buckling load is maximized subject to constraints on the volume of the column and on the maximum stress. The non-symmetry of the boundary conditions leads to optimal shapes which depend on the direction of the distributed load, with the optimal cross-section getting larger in the direction of the distributed load. This is a major difference in the optimal design of columns with symmetrical and asymmetrical boundary conditions when subjected to distributed axial loads. The minimum cross-sectional area is not known a priori in the case of a stress constraint since this depends on the buckling load, which in turn depends on the optimum shape. This aspect is the main difference between the optimal designs of area-constrained and stress-constrained columns. An iterative method is developed to compute the optimal shapes with the analysis performed using a finite element method. Results are given for various combinations of distributed and concentrated loads and constraints. Results for optimal columns with a minimum area constraint are also given for comparison purposes.


This study rambles on those 'Bangladeshis' who made mass people of Bangladesh contemplate for a long time whether 'Bangladesh is for Bangladeshis or for Bangalis.' This statement is sufficient for hinting that current research is on Urdu-Speaking Bangladeshi minor group who were the victims of political jumbles and helplessly migrated to present territory of Bangladesh after the partition of Indian subcontinent and hold a range of fundamental cultural heterogeneities with native Bengalis. The research aimed to investigate the acculturation level, cultural adaptation strategies and factors stimulating the acculturation process of camp-dwelling Biharis. In order to reach the objectives, mixed research methodology has been followed where composite indexing of numeric values and qualitative analysis of observation, narrative interviews and KIIs have been conducted. The study reveals that due to having social, cultural and ideological conflicts, Biharis have not been able to fully assimilate with the host community. Yet, they have managed to integrate with native Bengalis as indicated by composite index value of 0.53 through cultural learning, intermarriages, social interactions, legalizing political identity, entrance to labor force etc. Because of persisting discrimination, power conflict, prejudice and lack of peoplehood, they are still on the third stage of Gordon's Model of Assimilation.
The Dhaka University Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vol. 11(1), 2022, P 16-26


Discrimination of simple visual attributes can improve significantly with practice. We have trained human observers to perform peripherally presented tasks involving the localization of short line segments and examined the specificity of the learning for the visual location, orientation, and geometric arrangement of the trained stimulus. Several weeks of training resulted in dramatic threshold reductions. The learning was specific for the orientation and location of the trained stimulus, indicating the involvement of the earliest cortical stages in the visual pathway where the orientation and location of stimuli are mapped with highest resolution. Furthermore, improvement was also specific for both the configuration of the trained stimulus and the attribute of the stimulus that was under scrutiny during training. This degree of specificity suggests that the learning cannot be achieved by cortical recruitment alone, as proposed in current models, but is likely to involve a refinement of lateral interactions within the cortex and possibly a gating of lower level changes by attentional mechanisms.


In order to analyze and process the cerebrovascular image, we research the frame characteristic of the filter's imaginary part based on the analysis of the basic character of the Gabor filter algorithm. In detecting the edge of cerebrovascular image, we introduce the imaginary part of the Gabor filter algorithm as the new image characters of cerebrovascular image, and get a better experiment result by using the analysis strategy of weighted average. At the same time, in order to accelerate the pick process, we improve the Gabor filter algorithm special condition and reduce the time-complexity of the algorithm greatly


Understanding the causal relations that drive markets is integral to both explaining past events and predicting future developments. Although there are various theories of economic causality, there has not yet been a wide adoption of machine learning–inspired causal frameworks within economics and finance. Causal networks are among the latter and provide one of the most transparent and practical models for representing the relationships between economic causes and effects that are relevant for making investment decisions. Among the various approaches to causal networks, the noisy-or model stands out because it provides the formal means to simplify the calculation of the cumulative impact of more than one cause on an effect. One of the implicit assumptions of the noisy-or model is that the causal probability values posited by model builders are completely reliable. This assumption is unrealistic, however, especially in financial applications in which beliefs about market events are generally supported by significantly less data relative to beliefs about natural phenomena. Moreover, aside from the need to evaluate the reliability of individual beliefs, portfolio managers presumably also need to assess the investment processes that produce those beliefs. To address the foregoing challenges, in this article, a formal, logic-based framework to produce robust, uncertainty-adjusted causal probability assignments within the noisy-or model is proposed. The robust noisy-or framework described provides both a technical enhancement of the basic noisy-or model and a practical solution for addressing the challenge posed by the varying quality of evidence that supports most investment decisions. TOPICS: Big data/machine learning, quantitative methods, statistical methods Key Findings ▪ Causal networks provide an efficient framework for assisting with investment decisions that are supported by both quantitative and qualitative evidence. ▪ Within the formal setting of causal networks, the noisy-or model simplifies the processing of large sets of evidence that support investment views. It does this by assuming that causes act independently of one another in terms of their ability to influence the actualization of effects. ▪ Evidence-based subjective logic is a many-valued logic that provides a way for investors to precisely account for model uncertainty, with regard to both the reliability of their individual causal probability assignments and their overall conviction in their investment process. The logic also provides the means to combine different causal probability assignments on a single belief, each driven by a distinct set of evidential support.


Data-intensive scientific applications are posing many challenges in distributed computing systems. In the scientific field, the application data are expected to double every year over the next decade and further. With this continuing data explosion, high performance computing systems are needed to store and process data efficiently, and workflow technologies are facilitated to automate these scientific applications. Scientific workflows are typically very complex. They usually have a large number of tasks and need a long time for execution. Running scientific workflow applications usually need not only high performance computing resources but also massive storage. The emergence of cloud computing technologies offers a new way to develop scientific workflow systems. Scientists can upload their data and launch their applications on the scientific cloud workflow systems from everywhere in the world via the Internet, and they only need to pay for the resources that they use for their applications. As all the data are managed in the cloud, it is easy to share data among scientists. This kind of model is very convenient for users, but remains a big challenge to the system. This paper proposes several research topics of data management in scientific cloud workflow systems, and discusses their research methodologies and state-of-the-art solutions.


The family members of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases mediate a wide variety of cellular behaviors in response to extracellular stimuli. One of the four main sub-groups, the p38 group of MAP kinases, serve as a nexus for signal transduction and play a vital role in numerous biological processes. In this review, we highlight the known characteristics and components of the p38 pathway along with the mechanism and consequences of p38 activation. We focus on the role of p38 as a signal transduction mediator and examine the evidence linking p38 to inflammation, cell cycle, cell death, development, cell differentiation, senescence and tumorigenesis in specific cell types. Upstream and downstream components of p38 are described and questions remaining to be answered are posed. Finally, we propose several directions for future research on p38.


It was a case of " cirrhose cardio-tuberculeuse d'Hutinel" (so-called in France), first ldescribed in Paris, 1893, a syndrome which usually began with tuberculosis of the pleura, with, subsequently, tuberculosis of the mediastinum, and often of the pericardium with adhesions. Later, the process extended to the liver. He therefore thought Dr. Jewesbury was right in thinking that the whole of the process was of tuberculous origin, but that the tuberculous peritonitis causing ascites was not the primary but the last event to have appeared. Dr. Jewesbury pointed out himself the history of an antecedent pleurisy. He (Dr. Pierret) believed these cases were always fatal. Dr. WALTER CARR said he always considered tubercle the most likely cause of ascites in a child, either through pressure of enlarged tuberculous glands on the portal vein, or, less probably, owing to some cirrbotic process in the liver set up directly or indirectly by tubercle. In either case the ascitic fluid would present simply the characters of an ordinary dropsical effusion and we should not expect to find tubercle bacilli in it. He inferred from Dr. Jewesbury's -remarks that the fluid in this patient did not show any indication of an inflammatory origin, such as spontaneous coagulation, &c., and that, therefore, there was no reason to suspect the ,existence of chronic peritonitis, either tuberculous or due to any other cause.


Computer aided simulation of dispersion theory based on the experimental data by zone circulating flow injection analysis (ZCFIA) is described. Using a multi-step peristaltic pump, a set of damped curves were obtained under conditions of laminar flow and various revolution speeds of the pump. By analyzing these curves with computer aided simulation, a great deal of information concerning the dispersion theory were acquired. Quantitative correlations among residence time, flow rate, length and inner diameter of tube, sample volume and dispersion coefficient were obtained by evaluating constants Ks and exponents μ's for each qualitative formulation. Six conclusions suitable for the various conditions involved were obtained. It can be thought that these conclusions play an important role in the FIA theory and experiments.


A deltoid muscle-pedicled bone graft was used to treat avascular necrosis of the humeral head. Eighteen months later there was evidence of clinical improvement of the joint function, and plain x-rays and tomography showed signs of graft fusion in the recipient bed with reorganization of the formerly necrotic bone matrix in the humeral head.


ABSTRACT A relatively high mutation rate is probably a major factor in the evolutionary success of retroviruses, because it generates the genetic diversity that helps them to cope with changes in the environment. When using recombinant retroviruses as vectors for gene transfer and gene therapy, it is important to consider the implications of this biological characteristic. Until now, the mutation rate has been studied by using noneukaryotic genes as reporters. Here we report point mutations in the human glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (hG6PD) gene transferred by Moloney murine leukemia virus-based vectors into murine bone marrow cells and NIH 3T3 murine fibroblasts. After bone marrow transplantation, we observed an hG6PD with abnormal electrophoretic mobility for 2 out of 34 mice. Next, we studied this phenomenon quantitatively and found 1 electrophoretically abnormal hG6PD variant among 93 independently isolated NIH 3T3 clones, from which we estimate a mutation rate of 1.4 × 10−5 per base pair per replication cycle. Mutations in the transferred gene can thus contribute to the impairment of the effectiveness of retrovirus-mediated gene transfer.


Studies have shown that our modern electrical lighting environment reduces naturally occurring seasonal variations in sleep–wake rhythms, such as longer sleep during the winter versus summer. However, less is known about how timing and duration of sleep were affected by the seasons in the premodern era, before the invention of electrical lighting. The Swedish researcher Olof Hiorter collected and documented geophysical data every hour during wakefulness in Uppsala, Sweden, between December 1746 and November 1747. In this way, his bed and rise times could be approximated. The data revealed that Hiorter's rise times occurred around 1 hr before sunrise in winter versus 1 hr after sunrise in summer. No such association was observed between the time of sunset and Hiorter's bedtimes. Finally, the time in bed was about 3.5–4 hr shorter in summer compared to winter. This 273‐year‐old case report suggests that time in bed and rise times of people from the premodern era exhibited seasonal variations.


Ethylenebis(triphenylphosphine)platinum is used as a trap for the P2-containing molecule W(CO)5(P2), which is eliminated at room temperature from a niobium-complexed diphosphaazide ligand. The rate of W(CO)5(P2) elimination is unaffected by the presence of the platinum species. Attempts to generate and trap free P2 with the platinum ethylene complex were hindered by the direct reaction between the platinum starting material and the P2 generator, (Mes*NPP)Nb(N[Np]Ar)3. In this case, reductive cleavage of the P-P bond in the diphosphaazide ligand is induced by platinum coordination, resulting in the formation of a trimetallic system with two bridging, three-coordinate phosphorus atoms.


==> Q: P11648L7: 'Line shape parameters (airand self-broadening coefficients, temperature dependence of the air-broadening coeffient, and air-shift coefficients) were added using the corresponding information available in MIPAS-OLD for the 11 m spectral range of HNO3 (Rothman et al., 20012).' How have these parameters been determined for the lines which are not present in MIPAS-OLD but in MIPAS_2015 and could C5598


Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), virus culture and antigen detection assays are useful for early detection of vertically transmitted human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1) infection in infants under 12 months of age. Sixty‐four children born to HIV‐1‐seropositive mothers were evaluated. Thirteen children (20.3%) were repeatedly positive by PCR analysis. There was 100% concordance between the results obtained from PCR and culture assays. Measurement of p24 antigen in serum was, in contrast, a less sensitive marker of HIV infection: only 5/13 infants had positive p24 antigen results. We have investigated the relationship among the HIV‐1 biological phenotype, replicative capacity of viral isolates, HIV RNA copy number in plasma, p24 antigenaemia, CD4 T lymphocyte counts and the clinical status in 13 HIV‐infected infants. Six out of 13 HIV‐1 isolates from these patients were classified as rapid/high and seven as slow/low. We have found a significantly positive correlation between the replication rate of HIV isolates and their capacity to induce syncytia in vitro. The HIV‐1 isolates with rapid/high and syncytium‐inducing phenotype, and isolates with slow/low and non‐syncytium‐inducing phenotype were obtained from infants who had HIV‐1 RNA copy number ml−1 plasma values of 27654–83520 and 1342–34321, respectively. Levels of HIV‐1 RNA were measured in sequential plasma samples from three HIV‐infected infants and their biological properties determined in vitro. Our findings indicate that infants who carried viruses with more cytophatic biological phenotype and who had higher viral RNA copy numbers in blood were more likely to have lower CD4+ T cell counts and more likely to develop full‐blown AIDS.


General introduction. Based on their morphological and physicochemical characteristics, the Toroviridae were initially proposed to constitute a new family of enveloped RNA viruses (Horzinek & Weiss, 1984; Horzinek et al., 1987). However, recent analysis of the genetic information and replication strategy of the prototype Berne virus (BEV) (Snijder et al., 1988, 1990a, c) has revealed that toroviruses are not unique: they are clearly related to the Coronaviridae and, more distantly, to the arteriviruses (den Boon et al., 1991b). This information has led to the reclassification of the toroviruses as a new genus in the coronavirus family (Pringle, 1992) and to the introduction of the unofficial term 'coronavirus-like superfamily' to indicate the evolutionary ties between the three virus groups mentioned above. The history of torovirus research not only illustrates the taxonomic consequences present-day molecular analysis may have; the BEV genome has also turned out to be a showcase for the two driving forces in RNA virus evolution: divergence from a common ancestor and RNA recombination (Snijder et al., 1991a).


Up until relatively recently there have been few alternatives to hotels for business or leisure travellers seeking longer‐term accommodation in the UK. While serviced apartments are well established in the USA and the Far East, the UK sector is in an embryonic stage. The current supply is dominated by higher‐end accommodation, with corporates providing the core area of demand. However experience in other countries suggests that the scale and profile of the market may be considerably broader. This paper details the current profile of the serviced apartment sector in the UK, focusing on London in particular, drawing on an interview survey with "new entrants" to the market. It also considers the factors influencing the potential supply of new units and the future drivers of demand. The paper concludes with a summary of the challenges and opportunities that may emerge in the UK serviced apartment sector over the coming years.


A 200-word or less factual summary of most significant information. If document includes a significant bi bliography or literature survey, mention it here) This is the twentieth issue of a quarterly publication providing information on the technical work of the National Bureau of Standards Center for Electronics and Electrical Engineering. This issue of the CEEE Technical Progress Bulletin covers the third quarter of calendar year 1987. Abstracts are provided by technical area for both published papers and papers approved by NBS for publication.


ABSTRACT Non-renewable chemical products are still the most used for wood protection, however, they have negative aspects. Several problems associated with the extensive use of these substances have been reported, such as intoxication of animals and plants, and environmental contamination. This has led to a search for alternative methods of control that cause less impact on the environment. In this context, the use of natural products extracted from different plants can be an alternative to this industrial activity. The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of andiroba, copaiba and jatropha oils, either pure or enriched with iodine (I2), to improve the biological resistance of Pinus elliottii wood to wood-decay fungi causing brown, white and soft rot. The andiroba and copaiba oils came from the state of Pará and the jatropha oil came from Paraíba. Thus, we performed resistance tests to accelerated decay (brown and white rot fungi) and soft rot tests in the laboratory. We used pure natural oils and those enriched with sublimated iodine in assessing efficiency. In turn, we evaluated the effects of volatilization and leaching on the efficiency of solutions against decaying fungi. Pure andiroba and jatropha oils were the least efficient in controlling the Trametes versicolor fungus in the accelerated decay biological assay. Moreover, the wood treated with pure copaiba oil (normal situation) was classified as non-resistant for controlling Postia placenta fungus. In the soft rot test, we observed that there was a tendency to improve the wood resistance (normal situation) with an increase in the iodine concentration (I2).


The marine subsurface environment is considered the potentially largest ecosystem on Earth, harboring one-tenth of all living biota (Whitman et al., 1998) and comprising diverse microbial components (Inagaki et al., 2003, 2006; Teske, 2006; Inagaki and Nakagawa, 2008). In deep marine sediments, the discrimination of life is significantly more difficult than in surface sediments and terrestrial soils because buried cells generally have extremely low metabolic activities (D'Hondt et al., 2002, 2004), and a highly consolidated sediment matrix produces auto-fluorescence from diatomaceous spicules and other mineral particles (Kallmeyer et al., 2008). The cell abundance in marine subsurface sediments has conventionally been evaluated by acridine orange direct count (AODC; Cragg et al., 1995; Parkes et al., 2000) down to 1613 meters below the seafloor (mbsf) (Roussel et al., 2008). Since the cell-derived AO signals often fade out in a short exposure time, recognizing and counting cells require special training. Hence, such efforts to enumerate AO-stained cells from the subseafloor on photographic images have been difficult, and a verification of counts by other methods has been impossible. In addition, providing mean statistical values from low biomass sedimentary habitats has been complicated by physical and time limitations, yet these habitats are considered critical for understanding the Earth's biosphere close to the limits of habitable zones (Hoehler, 2004; D'Hondt et al., 2007).


This study compared the calibration models generated by combinations of different mathematical and preprocessing treatments as well as regression algorithms to optimize the analysis of gelatinization properties of rice flour by using near-infrared spectroscopy, in comparison with conventional techniques of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and rapid viscosity analysis (RVA). A total of 220 milled rice flours were used for model construction. A model generated by the modified partial least squares regression (MPLS) with mathematical treatment "2, 8, 8, 2" (second-order derivative computed based on eight data points, and eight and two data points in the second smoothing, respectively) and detrend preprocessing was identified as the best for simultaneously measuring onset temperature (To), peak temperature (Tp), and conclusion temperature (Tc) of DSC. MPLS/"2, 8, 8, 2"/weighted multiplicative scattering correction preprocessing was identified as the best for RVA properties. The results indicated that n...


Aging and history in glassy polymer films are investigated in the frame of solvent-induced glass transition. By decreasing the pressure of a solvent vapour surrounding a polymer film, the film goes from the rubbery swollen state to the glassy dry state. Gravimetry experiments in a pressure-controlled chamber were performed to analyse aging behaviour for different kinds of solvent vapour pressure cycles.Results are utterly different from those obtained with equivalent temperature cycles: no marked memory effect can be shown; very important hysteresis at small activity as well as complex behaviour of the melting time according to the quench amplitude have been observed. This behaviour may be related to the coupled evolution of two variables, the free volume and the solvent fraction.


The histopathological diagnosis of melanomas with no demonstrable pigment is difficult. Such tumors are to be differentiated from anaplastic carcinomas, especially of the squamous and ad- eno types, and from sarcomas showing marked anaplasia or spindle cells. In a previous report from this laboratory (1), a colorimetric method for determination of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa) oxidase activity in pigmented tissues was described, and it was suggested that a study of the enzymic oxidation of dopa might be of value in human melanomas. It is the purpose of this paper to present (a) an improved assay procedure and (b) studies of dopa oxidase activity in mel- anotic and amelanotic types of human melanoma tissue, other malignant tumors, and non-neo- plastic tissues. MATERIALS AND METHODS


A factor capable of effecting passive transfer in vivo of delayed hypersensitivity to tuberculin to recipients that are tuberculin negative was isolated from the dialyzate of disrupted leukocytes of tuberculin-positive individuals. After this factor was incubated with cultures of peripheral leukocytes from tuberculin-negative individuals, the addition of purified protein derivative of tubercle bacilli resulted in leukocyte stimulation similar to that observed after addition of purified protein derivative to leukocytes from tuberculin-positive individuals.


Nearly all plant families, represented across most major biomes, absorb water directly through their leaves. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as foliar water uptake. Recent studies have suggested that foliar water uptake provides a significant water subsidy that can influence both plant water and carbon balance across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Despite this, our mechanistic understanding of when, where, how, and to what end water is absorbed through leaf surfaces remains limited. We first review the evidence for the biophysical conditions necessary for foliar water uptake to occur, focusing on the plant and atmospheric water potentials necessary to create a gradient for water flow. We then consider the different pathways for uptake, as well as the potential fates of the water once inside the leaf. Given that one fate of water from foliar uptake is to increase leaf water potentials and contribute to the demands of transpiration, we also provide a quantitative synthesis of observed rates of change in leaf water potential and total fluxes of water into the leaf. Finally, we identify critical research themes that should be addressed to effectively incorporate foliar water uptake into traditional frameworks of plant water movement.


This study uses forecasting approach based on key driving forces and their interactions in order to identify important driving forces affecting the future of academic libraries in Iran.  The study is a combination of literature review, experts' opinions and cross impact analysis. In order to analyze the data, SPSS and MicMac applications were used. This is an applied study and the study population consisted of a group of stakeholders with dynamic roles in the future of academic libraries or those with clear pictures regarding the current trends in academic libraries worldwide. Experts were selected using purposeful sampling and included faculty members and researchers in the field of information science and scientometrics, as well as managers and librarians of academic libraries. After literature review, 70 driving forces were identified and categorized in 9 categories. The interaction between these driving forces was evaluated by experts selected from the study population. After evaluating direct and indirect interactions between these forces using MicMac software, 13 key driving forces were identified. The findings of this study indicated that driving forces of "systemic and creative thinking of library management", "consistency between library managers expertise with information and scientometrics fields", "development of strategic plans for libraries", "welcoming of changes by the employees", "place as one of the bases of educational system", "electronic publishing", "preparation of curriculum books", " online citation resources", "nature of information and access methods", "development of information and communication technologies", "knowledge management in library planning", "electronic content creation", and "documents management", had the largest effects on future of academic libraries. Also the findings of this study indicated that driving forces of "systemic and creative thinking of library management" and "consistency between library managers' expertise with information and scientometrics fields" had the highest frequency related to being in a suitable situation with average of 1.92 and total of 25 positive scores. Key driving forces of "Development of strategic plans for libraries" and "welcoming of changes by the employees" with the average of 0.69 and total of 9 positive scores had the next places and had the largest effects on future of academic libraries. The analysis of the results indicates two facts regarding academic libraries. The first fact is that, through a small amount of effort, academic libraries are able to retain their traditional position in educational institutes. The second fact is that distancing the general process of academic libraries from critical and undesirable results, requires four main activities including "development of strategic plans for libraries", "using employees who are enthusiastic regarding change", "compatibility between managers' specialties and information science and scientometrics" and "systemic thoughts and creativity of library managers". The results of this study can be used for decision making and planning of higher education managers and authorities. Identifying the driving forces and their interactions can be used for decision making and planning for the future of academic libraries.


INTRODUCTION. About 75% of patients with Crohn's disease (CD) required surgery due to the complications of CD. Surgical treatment does not cure this disease. The question of appropriate therapy for the prevention of postoperative reccurence of CD remains open until now. The purpose of this study was to compare immunosuppressive and biological therapy as a postoperative preventive therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS. 91 patients with CD who underwent surgery in the A.N. Ryzhykh State Scientific Center for Coloproctology of the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation from 2010 to 2017 were included in the study. Patients who had inflammation in the remaining areas of the intestine in the outcome of surgical treatment were excludedfrom the study. After surgery, patients were randomized into 3 groups. In the first group preventive therapy was carried out with azathioprine, in the second group with adalimumab, in the third group, patients received combination therapy with azathioprine and adalimumab. Clinical, endoscopical and laboratory assessment of disease activity was conducted at 3, 6 and 12 month after the surgery. RESULTS. During one year of preventive therapy with azathioprine, adalimumab, or a combination of this medications, relapse occurred in 17 patients (17/83, 20%). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in any of the stages of evaluation. CONCLUSION: The data obtained in the study allow to conclude that the frequency of relapses of CD on postoperative preventive therapy does not depend on the specific drug, as well as on demographic and anamnestic parameters.


Norman Vieira and Leonard Gross provide an in-depth analysis of the political and legal framework surrounding the confirmation process for Supreme Court nominees. President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court met with a fierce opposition that was apparent in his confirmation hearings, which were different in many ways from those of any previous nominee. This behind-the-scenes view of the politics and personalities involved in the Bork confirmation controversy provides a framework for future debates regarding the confirmation process. To help establish that framework, Vieira and Gross examine the similarities as well as the differences between the Bork confirmation battle and other confirmation proceedings for Supreme Court nominees.


UNLABELLED
In order to avoid other antibiotics which interfere with plasma and CSF level determination of a given antibiotic the authors use a chemical method of established specificity. 15 patients presenting with purulent meningitis were given a standard daily dose of metampicillin and divided into 3 groups of 5. On days 2, 4 and 6 after onset of disease plasma and CSF specimens were taken at respectively 1, 2 or 4 hours following metampicillin I.V. injection according to patient group. All patients were cured between days 7 and 21 of therapy. Tolerance was good.

RESULTS
--there was no correlation between dose injected and plasma level of drug,--CSF distribution of metampicillin was good and stayed identical throughout the disease period,--peak CSF drug level was delayed as compared to plasma level, occurring more than 4 hours after I.V. injection of metampicillin.


Kuzmin-Oseledets formulations of compressible Euler equations case are considered. Exact results and physical interpretations are given. One such exact result for the compressible barotropic case is the potential helicity Lagrange invariant. In recognition of the fundamental physical implications of this Lagrange invariant clarified here, this invariant is shown to hold for compressible non-barotropic cases as well upon using a stronger gauge condition. Symmetry restoration taking place at the Lagrangian level in the Kuzmin-Oseledets formulation is pointed out. The KuzminOseledets formulation in the compressible barotropic case is shown to admit an exact solution that physically describes a density wave on a steady irrotational flow with the Kuzmin-Oseledets velocity q growing monotonically with it and hence specifying some information about the fluid impulse that is needed to set up the flow in question. Permanent Address: University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, 32816-1364


Because sex chromosomes, by definition, carry genes that determine sex, mutations that alter their structural and functional stability can have immediate consequences for the individual by reducing fertility, but also for a species by altering the sex ratio. Moreover, the sex‐specific segregation patterns of heteromorphic sex chromosomes make them havens for selfish genetic elements that not only create suboptimal sex ratios but can also foster sexual antagonism. Compensatory mutations to mitigate antagonism or return sex ratios to a Fisherian optimum can create hybrid incompatibility and establish reproductive barriers leading to species divergence. The destabilizing influence of these selfish elements is often manifest within populations as copy number variants (CNVs) in satellite repeats and transposable elements (TE) or as CNVs involving sex‐determining genes, or genes essential to fertility and sex chromosome dosage compensation. This review catalogs several examples of well‐studied sex chromosome CNVs in Drosophilids and mammals that underlie instances of meiotic drive, hybrid incompatibility and disruptions to sex differentiation and sex chromosome dosage compensation. While it is difficult to pinpoint a direct cause/effect relationship between these sex chromosome CNVs and speciation, it is easy to see how their effects in creating imbalances between the sexes, and the compensatory mutations to restore balance, can lead to lineage splitting and species formation.


Abstract Mining business actors have an obligation to maintain the sustainability of the surrounding environment, both in the physical and the social environment. Coal mining extraction activities are closely related to the exploration and exploitation of natural resources. This activity is in contact with the interests of the surrounding community, in particular with the negative impact caused. Mining companies in Indonesia are bound by the Mineral and Coal Mining Act no. 4 of 2009 to carry out community development and empowerment. Under the law, the companies are required to implement Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Through the implementation of CSR is expected the company can provide a positive change for the survival of communities around the mining area. PT BARA is one of mining companies that had been implementing CSR since 1983. As a state-owned company PT. BARA has various binding regulations in the implementation of CSR. The regulation comes from the central government as well as the local government in which PT. BARA does its mining business. Every year PT BARA releases an enormous amount of CSR funds, but the surrounding community is still in a state of poverty. It turns out that the problem does not stop on poverty at all. The community becomes very dependent on the company's assistance. The purpose of the CSR program is to develop and empower the community has not been able to achieve the goal. This dependence is caused by various reasons such as CSR policies of companies as well as government and CSR implementation on society.


The aim of this article paper is to offer a Latin-American perspective on the field of post-colonial studies. Following the modernity/coloniality/de-coloniality approach it is possible to recognize how the complicity between modernity and rationality has worked to homogenize knowledge throughout this part of the world. Such an approach makes it possible to reflect on how this process towards homogeneity has been resisted, as seen in the current indigenous struggles against extractive development policies. These struggles show that the various critiques of development need to be articulated and renewed in order to account for processes such as these, incorporating multiple scales perspectives and knowledge produced from the epistemic colonial difference. The critique of managerialism also needs further developments to account for the new roles of management in contexts of open conflict. It is defended that the re-consideration of Marxist Theory of Dependency could enrich the way we understand global capitalism and that at least part of OS could be liberated from the hegemony of management, opening possibilities for multiple interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogues.


The present work had as objective investigate the viability of treating, through processes anaerobic substances surfactants, mineral oil and sewage sludge. For all the treatments the concentrations of organic matter were analyzed (COD) influent and effluent. The experimental system was monitored for 150 days. The volume and composition of the produced biogas were daily quantificated. Removals of filtered COD average were verified from 82% to the 18 days and for raw COD around 76% for the six treatments to the 100 dias.de operation. The methane production observed during the experimental period demonstrated that the different concentrations of present surfactants in the system were not shown toxicant enough to inhibit the methanogenic bacterias.


We derive extrinsic GJMS operators and $Q$-curvatures associated to a submanifold of a conformal manifold. The operators are conformally covariant scalar differential operators on the submanifold with leading part a power of the Laplacian in the induced metric. Upon realizing the conformal manifold as the conformal infinity of an asymptotically Poincar\'e--Einstein space and the submanifold as the boundary of an asymptotically minimal submanifold thereof, these operators arise as obstructions to smooth extension as eigenfunctions of the Laplacian of the induced metric on the minimal submanifold. We derive explicit formulas for the operators of orders 2 and 4. We prove factorization formulas when the original submanifold is a minimal submanifold of an Einstein manifold. We also show how to reformulate the construction in terms of the ambient metric for the conformal manifold, and use this to prove that the operators defined by the factorization formulas are conformally invariant for all orders in all dimensions.


Like mountains on top of mountains, the highlands of Ethiopia rise 1 500 m above a plateau that already lies at 2 500 m above sea level and comprises 80% of the landmass of Africa above 3 000 m; better known as the 'roof of Africa'. The Bale Mountains on the southern highlands are characterized by numerous spectacular volcanic peaks, beautiful alpine lakes and unspoiled mountain streams. A large proportion of these mountains are protected in the 2 500 km2 Bale Mountains National Park some 400 km south of Addis Ababa.


The magnetic tunnel junction with a structure of IrMn/CoFe/AlO x /CoFe is deposited by magnetron sputtering and annealed at different temperatures in a magnetic field of parallel to the orienting field. Vibrating sample magnetometer is used to record the magnetic hysteresis loop at room temperature, and scanning probe microscope is used to record the interface morphology. The influence of annealing on thermal stability of the magnetic tunnel junction is investigated by holding the film in its negative saturation field. After annealing, the exchange bias increases due to the enhancement of unidirectional anisotropy of antiferromagnetic layer. The recoil loop of the pinned ferromagnetic layer shifts towards the positive field, and the exchange bias field decreases monotonically, with the film held in a negative saturation field, whereas annealing reduces the reduction speed of H ex .


Abstract : The Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel (ODCSPER), is charged with managing the Army's military strength levels and forecasting future strength levels for planning purposes. ODCSPER is reformulating its Enlisted Loss Inventory Model (ELIM), which projects losses of first-term enlisted personnel. These projections in turn are passed to a program which is designed to maintain the Army's strength as closely as possible to prescribed levels. These projections are based on characteristic groups, a set of sub-groups of recruits who are similar in terms of sex, education level, term of service and mental category; the presumption has been that attrition rates ought to be different between groups. However in recent years ELIM projections have been unsatisfactory. This study used Classification and Regression Tree methodology (CART) to generate improved c-groups for predicting not only first-term attrition but also early-term behavior and re-enlistment. The most important variables by which to create these groups turn out to be race and gender. Generally white women have the lowest term completion and re-enlistment rates; those for non-white women and white men are similar; and those for non-white men are the highest.


This article describes how the management and organization of the South African 2010 FIFA World Cup stadium program shaped the current legacy of an oversupply of overdesigned and underutilized stadiums. The article identifies seven key factors that explain the differences between expected benefits and the actual legacy. Identification of these factors contributes to the increasing academic interest in explaining the poor legacy outcomes of mega-events. In conclusion, we recommend that future host country governments defragment their stadium programs by establishing a World Cup Delivery Authority (WCDA), with responsibility for the leadership and coordination of the stadium program.


Hypoxia and endothelin-1 (ET-1) are associated with constriction of pulmonary vasculature both in vivo and in vitro. However, the role of hypoxia and ET-1 in the vascular remodelling during the development of pulmonary hypertension is unclear. This study demonstrated that ET-1 (0.1 nmol/L to 100 nmol/L) increased the [3H] thymidine uptake in a dose-dependent manner in cultured bovine pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMC), which was enhanced by exposing PASMC to hypoxia (2% O2, 93% N2, 5% CO2). BQ123, the specific antagonist of endothelin receptor subtype A, eliminated the ET-1 medicated proliferation of PASMC and the cooperative effect of hypoxia. Some dilatory drugs could inhibit the mitogenic effect of ET-1. We also observed that hypoxia significantly increased [3H]thymidine uptake in PASMC without ET-1 and BQ123 could inhibit this effect. Radioimmunoassay suggested that there was an autocrine of ET-1 in cultured PASMC which was enhanced by hypoxia significantly.


One of the major issues in the computational mechanics is to take into account the geometrical complexity. To overcome this difficulty and to avoid the expensive mesh generation, geometrically unfitted methods, i.e. the numerical methods using the simple computational meshes that do not fit the boundary of the domain, and/or the internal interfaces, have been widely developed. In the present work, we investigate the performances of an unfitted method called $\phi$-FEM that converges optimally and uses classical finite element spaces so that it can be easily implemented using general FEM libraries. The main idea is to take into account the geometry thanks to a level set function describing the boundary or the interface. Up to now, the $\phi$-FEM approach has been proposed, tested and substantiated mathematically only in some simplest settings: Poisson equation with Dirichlet/Neumann/Robin boundary conditions. Our goal here is to demonstrate its applicability to some more sophisticated governing equations arising in the computational mechanics. We consider the linear elasticity equations accompanied by either pure Dirichlet boundary conditions or by the mixed ones (Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions co-existing on parts of the boundary), an interface problem (linear elasticity with material coefficients abruptly changing over an internal interface), a model of elastic structures with cracks, and finally the heat equation. In all these settings, we derive an appropriate variant of $\phi$-FEM and then illustrate it by numerical tests on manufactured solutions. We also compare the accuracy and efficiency of $\phi$-FEM with those of the standard fitted FEM on the meshes of similar size, revealing the substantial gains that can be achieved by $\phi$-FEM in both the accuracy and the computational time.


Full-duplex (FD) transmission is a promising technique for fifth generation (5G) wireless communications, enabling significant spectral efficiency (SE) improvement over existing half-duplex (HD) systems. However, FD transmission consumes higher power than HD transmission, especially for millimetre wave band. Therefore, energy efficiency (EE) for FD systems is a critical yet inadequately addressed issue. This thesis addresses the critical EE challenges and demonstrates promising solutions for implementing FD systems, as detailed in the following contributions. In the first contribution, a comprehensive EE analysis of the FD and HD amplify-and-forward (AF) relay-assisted 60 GHz dual-hop indoor wireless systems is presented. An opportunistic relay mode selection scheme is developed, where FD relay with different self-interference (SIC) techniques or HD relay is opportunistically selected. Together with transmission power adaptation, EE is maximised with given channel gains. A counter-intuitive finding is shown that, with a relatively loose maximum transmission power constraint, FD relay with two-stage SIC is preferable to both FD relay with one-stage SIC and HD relay, resulting in a higher optimised EE. A full range of power consumption sources are considered to rationalise the analysis. The effects of imperfect SIC at relay, drain efficiency and static circuit power on EE are investigated. Simulation results verify the theoretical analysis. In the second contribution, EE oriented resource allocation for FD decode-of-forward (DF) relay-assisted 60 GHz multiuser systems is investigated. In contrast to the existing SE oriented designs, the proposed scheme maximises EE for FD relay systems under cross-layer constraints, addressing the typical problems at 60 GHz. A low-complexity EE-orientated resource allocation algorithm is proposed, by which the transmission power allocation, subcarrier allocation and throughput assignment are performed jointly across multiple users. Simulation results verify the analytical results and confirm that the FD relay systems with the proposed algorithm achieve a higher EE than the FD relay systems with SE oriented approaches, while offering a comparable SE. In addition, a much lower throughput outage probability is guaranteed by the proposed resource allocation algorithm, showing its robustness against channel estimation errors. In the third contribution, it is noticed that in wireless power transfer (WPT)-aided relay systems, the SE of the source-relay link plays a dominant role in the system SE due to limited transmission power at the WPT-aided relay. A novel asymmetric protocol for WPT-aided FD DF relay systems is proposed in multiuser scenario, where the time slot durations of the two hops are designed to be uneven, to enhance the degree of freedom and hence the system SE. A corresponding dynamic resource allocation algorithm is developed by jointly optimising the time slot durations, subcarriers and transmission power at the source and the relay. Simulation results con rm that, compared to the symmetric WPT-aided FD relay (Sym-WPT-FR) and the time-switching based WPT-aided FD relay (TS-WPT-FR) systems in the literature, the proposed asymmetric WPT-aided FD relay system achieves up to twice the SE and higher robustness against the relay's location and the number of users. In the final contribution, to strike the balance between high SE and low power consumption, a hybrid duplexing strategy is developed for distributed antennas (DAs) systems, where antennas are capable of working in hybrid FD, HD, and sleeping modes. To maximise the system EE with low complexity, activation/deactivation of transmit/receive chain is first performed, by a proposed channel-gain-based DA clustering algorithm, which highlights the characteristics of distributed deployment of antennas. Based on the DAs' con figuration, a novel distributed hybrid duplexing (D-HD)-based and EE oriented algorithm is proposed to further optimise the downlink beamformer and the uplink transmission power. To rationalise the system model, self-interference at DAs, co-channel interference from uplink users to downlink users, and multiuser interference in both uplink and downlink are taken into account. Simulation results confirm that the proposed system provides significant EE and SE enhancements over the colocated FD MIMO system, showing the advantages in alleviating high path loss as well as in cutting the carbon footprint. Compared to the sole-FD DA system, the proposed system shows much higher EE with marginal loss in SE. Also, the SIC operation in the proposed system is much more simplified compared to the two benchmarks.


Natural language understanding can be divided into five hierarchical levels, each level related to other levels. Background knowledge consists of all level's units and their usage in the real language environment. Co-occurence information of any two units of the same level can be provided by background knowledge. This paper discusses the usage of background knowledge in automatic Chinese word segmentation, and text understanding based on semantic relationships.<<ETX>>


Abstract Since the discovery of metal chalcogenide complexes (MCCs) as capping ligands for colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) in 2009, the chemistry of inorganic ligands for NCs has provided a new paradigm for surface design of nanomaterials. Various inorganic anions including MCCs, metal-free chalcogenides, oxoanions/oxometallates, and halides/pseudohalides/halometallates have been employed to replace the original long-chain organic ligands on NCs. This ligand exchange can also be achieved through a two-step route using ligands stripping agents like HBF4. This review outlines recent advances in inorganically-capped colloidal NCs and details the ligand exchange process for NCs using MCCs and metal-free chalcogenides. The binding affinities of ligands to NC surface have been rationalized in terms of Pearson's hard and soft acids and bases (HSAB) principle. We also demonstrate that inorganic ligands broaden the functionality of NCs by tailoring their electro-optical properties or generating new inorganic phases through chemical reactions between nanomaterials and their surface ligands. Especially promising are the electronic, optoelectronic, and thermoelectric applications of solution-processed, inorganically-capped colloidal NCs, which substantially outperform their organically-capped couterparts.


In this paper, an enhanced efficient approach for speeding up the evolution process for finding minimum supports, membership functions and fuzzy association rules is proposed by utilizing clustering techniques. All the chromosomes use the requirement satisfaction derived only from the representative chromosomes in the clusters and from their own suitability of membership functions to calculate the fitness values. The evaluation cost can thus be greatly reduced due to the cluster-based time-saving process. The final best minimum supports and membership functions in all the populations are then gathered together for mining fuzzy association rules. Experimental results also show the efficiency of the proposed approach.


OF THESIS EFFECTS OF IN UTERO NICOTINE EXPOSURE ON IMMUNE CELL DISPOSITION AFTER P. AERUGINOSA LUNG INFECTION Current smoking cessation guidelines recommend nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to assist pregnant smokers to quit, but this is without strong evidence for effectiveness and safety. Nicotine, the main addictive component of tobacco, is known to exert physiological effects by binding to its receptor, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). Recent studies have identified the presence of nAChRs in non-neuronal cells, and in macrophages, functional alteration upon stimulation with nicotine has been documented. To understand the impact of in utero nicotine exposure on various immune cell disposition and function, we designed preliminary studies using an in vivo model of P. aeruginosa infection. In this model, pregnant mice were exposed to nicotine and after weaning, offspring were infected intra-tracheally and humanely killed 5 days later. Nicotine-exposed mice had a greater weight reduction post-infection. This was accompanied by a decreased number of neutrophil, resident macrophages, and B lymphocytes in the lungs, while the number of B lymphocytes in the lymph nodes were greater than that of the control group. In the lung lavage fluids, IL-6, MCP-1, and TNFα concentrations were elevated in nicotine-exposed mice. In an in vitro system using bone marrow-derived macrophages, a significantly reduced production of IFNγ was observed in nicotine-exposed mice when cells were stimulated with LPS. To characterize and compare gene expression in macrophages isolated from neonates developmentally exposed to nicotine, we designed a clinical study to recruit pregnant mothers who 1) did not smoke during pregnancy, 2) smoked throughout pregnancy, or 3) used NRT during pregnancy. We found that successful RNA isolation can be achieved from neonatal tracheal aspirate samples and cell number and reagent volumes were important determinants of acceptable RNA quality and quantity. Together, these preliminary findings demonstrate a possible alteration in immune response as a result of in utero nicotine exposure and sets a groundwork for future studies in identifying mechanisms underlying the impact of developmental nicotine exposure.


Deep neural networks have demonstrated impressive accuracy in supervised learning tasks. However, their lack of transparency makes it hard for humans to trust their results, especially in safe-critic domains such as healthcare. To address this issue, recent explanation-guided learning approaches proposed to align the gradient-based attention map to image regions annotated by human experts, thereby obtaining an intrinsically human-centered model. However, the attention map these methods are based on may fail to causally attribute the model predictions, thus compromising their validity for alignment. To address this issue, we propose a novel human-centered framework based on counterfactual generation. In particular, we utilize the counterfactual generation's ability for causal attribution to introduce a novel loss called the CounterFactual Alignment (CF-Align) loss. This loss guarantees that the features attributed by the counterfactual generation for the classifier align with the human annotations. To optimize the proposed loss that entails a counterfactual generation with an implicit function form, we leverage the implicit function theorem for backpropagation. Our method is architecture-agnostic and, therefore can be applied to any neural network. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on a lung cancer diagnosis dataset, showcasing faithful alignment to humans.


PurposeThe purpose of study is to investigate effectiveness of pattern technique in relation to the use of anthropometric references for drafting women's basic bodice patterns by assessing characteristics of pattern formation, quantification of wearing ease on the transverse plan and actual ease distribution on body forms.Design/methodology/approachThree pattern drafting techniques were analyzed, which have different frequency of using direct body measurements for pattern formulation. Ease quantification and wearing ease distribution were evaluated on the two different body forms: a young female body and a heavy woman body. Women's basic bodice patterns were drafted with YUKA CAD and virtually draped on the two body forms with CLO 3D. Rapidform was used to evaluate garment appearance. Areal ease and its distribution were assessed. A deviation map was used for wrinkle analysis.FindingsCompared to the pattern formation derived from few anthropometric references, patterns using sufficient anthropometric references provided overall better fit for the different body forms. Ease distribution without considering body arcs was found to be a cause of garment fit problems. Patterns with little or no ease caused transverse fine wrinkles and skewed side seams. Pattern techniques those used linear equations caused problems on the bust because the formulation could not reflect bust protrusions in relation to the body torso shape differences.Originality/valueThis study revealed characteristics of pattern formulae and linear equations in relation to anthropometric references and body shapes. The findings may be effective in developing algorithm of the customized pattern formation in the industry.


Suppose that A is a finite direct product of commutative rings. We show from first principles that a Gröbner basis for an ideal of A[x1,…,xn] can be easily obtained by 'joining' Gröbner bases of the projected ideals with coefficients in the factors of A (which can themselves be obtained in parallel). Similarly for strong Gröbner bases. This gives an elementary method of constructing a (strong) Gröbner basis when the Chinese Remainder Theorem applies to the coefficient ring and we know how to compute (strong) Gröbner bases in each factor.