A pot experiment was conducted to elucidate influence of foliar application of various combinations of BR and macro-nutrients (NPK) nutrition on morphological and physiological attributes of Leymus chinensis (Trin.). The results revealed that BR and NPK nutrient mixtures altered growth, photosynthetic pigments, and osmolytes of L. chinensis (Trin.). Furthermore, analysis of various factors revealed that most effective application was the treatment of urea 1%, potassium dihydrogen phosphate 1% and BR 0.1 mg/l which proved most advantageous pertaining to plant height, fresh and dry weight, biosynthesis of chlorophyll, carotenoids, soluble sugars and proteins. Results suggested that foliar applied BR and NPK mixtures on L. chinensis improves growth and alters plant physiology.


Iodinated contrast medium (ICM) dose reduction is beneficial for decreasing potential health risk to renal-insufficiency patients in CT scanning. Due to the low-intensity vessel in ultra-low-dose-ICM CT angiography, it cannot provide clinical diagnosis of vascular diseases. Angiography reconstruction for ultra-low-dose-ICM CT can enhance vascular intensity for directly vascular diseases diagnosis. However, the angiography reconstruction is challenging since patient individual differences and vascular disease diversity. In this paper, we propose a Multiple Adversarial Learning based Angiography Reconstruction (i.e., MALAR) framework to enhance vascular intensity. Specifically, a bilateral learning mechanism is developed for mapping a relationship between source and target domains rather than the image-to-image mapping. Then, a dual correlation constraint is introduced to characterize both distribution uniformity from across-domain features and sample inconsistency within domain simultaneously. Finally, an adaptive fusion module by combining multi-scale information and long-range interactive dependency is explored to alleviate the interference of high-noise metal. Experiments are performed on CT sequences with different ICM doses. Quantitative results based on multiple metrics demonstrate the effectiveness of our MALAR on angiography reconstruction. Qualitative assessments by radiographers confirm the potential of our MALAR for the clinical diagnosis of vascular diseases.


Water and methanol associations in ionic liquids (ILs) have been studied by means of FTIR spectroscopy. Spectra at different concentrations of water or methanol in ILs were obtained by means of on-line dilution using a flow injection analysis system. Spectral features in the OH stretching region revealed that most of the water and methanol molecules tended to be isolated from each other and to interact with the anion of the IL via H bonding. By means of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy, the formation of methanol and water dimers was also detected. Multivariate curve resolution was used to recover pure spectra and concentration profiles of the different species. Methanol dimers form at concentrations higher than 0.8% (w/w) in the three studied ILs, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (emimBF4), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (bmimBF4), and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (bmimPF6). Self-association of water molecules takes place in emimBF4 and bmimBF4 at a molar ratio similar to that of methanol molecules; however, water dimers cannot be detected in bmimPF6, the most hydrophobic IL studied. No evidence was found that bigger water clusters are formed in these ILs at the studied cosolvent concentrations.


Trained humans exhibit highly agile spatial skills, enabling them to operate vehicles with complex dynamics in demanding tasks and conditions. Prior work shows that humans achieve this performance by using strategies such as satisficing, learning hierarchical task structure, and using a library of motion primitive elements. A key aspect of efficient and versatile solutions is the decomposition of a task into a sequence of smaller tasks, represented by subgoals. The present work uses properties of constrained optimal control theory to define conditions that specify candidate subgoal states and enable this decomposition. The proposed subgoal algorithm uses graph search to determine a subgoal sequence that links a series of unconstrained motion guidance elements into a constrained solution trajectory. In simulation experiments, the subgoal guidance algorithm generates paths with higher performance and less computation time than an RRT* benchmark. Examples illustrate the robustness and versatility of this approach in multiple environment types.


Based on a multi-zone spray-mixing approach, an air-fuel mixing and combustion model for a Direct Injection Diesel engine is presented. The predictions from the model show very good agreement with the experimental data for various engines under a wide range of operating conditions. Major physical processes are modeled and validated independently. The atomisation process is based on Binary Drop Division concept. Fuel droplets are considered randomly distributed in the spray. A spherico-symmetrical transient drop evaporation model is used for evaporation calculation. A 3-dimensional spray-swirl interaction is modeled on centreline velocity vector/continuum approach. Turbulent mixing is characterised considering all possible available energy sources in DI diesel engines.


Permanent atrial fibrillation necessitating oral anticoagulation may lead to deleterious consequences in patients with severe comorbidity factors. We present the case of a 68-year-old female patient with a lone permanent atrial fibrillation disclosed five years earlier, necessitating anticoagulation with coumadin and treated for a lymphoma by chemotherapy. Due to hematological consequences resulting from chemotherapy and oral anticoagulation, the patient presented with regular hemothorax and anemia. The need to suppress oral anticoagulation became obvious and the decision to treat the atrial fibrillation was discussed through a video-assisted thoracoscopic radiofrequency epicardial isolation of pulmonary veins.


While males typically compete for females, species with female biased sex ratios and/or large male investment in offspring care often exhibit reversed sex roles. Here we investigated, in a haremic fish species, the bluebanded goby, Lythrypnus dalli, the impact of male and female courtship behaviour on male reproductive success, measured as the total number of eggs in the nest and total number of developed eggs. Reproductive success was not associated with rates of male behaviour, such as parenting, approaching and courtship, but was associated with rates of female courtship. Consistent with predictions for a role-reversed reproductive strategy, only males demonstrated nest care and females exhibited high rates of courtship and intrasexual competition, such that alpha females interrupted courtship solicitations by beta females. Overall, these data are consistent with sex role reversal in L. dalliand show that the expression of male courtship behaviour does not interfere with paternal care.


A time-consuming part of the organization of empirical field research is the arrangement of appointments with individual participants. Often times part of the sample is hard to reach via phone. An online appointment system to facilitate the coordination of the annual family visits was tested within the scope of a German educational panel study in 2012. The participants had the opportunity to arrange their appointment online in accordance with their own scheduling needs. Roughly one quarter (n = 63) of our sample of 242 families, who had thus far been used to arranging their appointments by phone, chose the online appointment system instead. To evaluate its usability for field research and the strength of possible sample bias, the participants were asked to complete a short questionnaire as well. We can show that personal attitudes are more significant in explaining a choice in favor of the e-appointment system than socio-demographic characteristics. Overall, the e-appointment system does not increase sample selectivity bias in our survey, so that particularly for bigger samples, it is as capable as phone based arrangement systems in getting a hold of people who are hard to reach and retaining the same high process quality, while reducing the researcher's expenditure of time and money.


In this study, we report the cloning of the three-member LePS2 gene family of acid phosphatases via subtractive screening of a cDNA library of Pi-starved cultivated tomato cells (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. Lukullus). As members of the plant Pi-starvation response, LePS2 genes were tightly regulated in cultivated cells and tomato seedlings by Pi availability. The LePS2 enzymes which are most likely expressed in the cytoplasma could be involved in processes that are accompanied by degradation of phosphorylated organic substrates. Independently from exogenous phosphate supply LePS2 expression was detected in tomato endosperm during germination. LePS2 genes were differentially induced after infection with the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae and in the early stages of flower development. Using RT-PCR it was found that the gene LePS2B was the most abundant transcript in phosphate-depleted cells, but a reduced expression was determined in floral buds and it was not found during pathogen interaction. In this respect, it is interesting that the promoter sequences of the LePS2 genes are also divergent. LePS2 gene products may have functions in developmental processes which are restricted to distinct plant tissues or cell types.


Published results and work from this laboratory permit the characterization of the possible promutagenic lesions induced by chloroethylene oxide (CEO) and chloroacetaldehyde (CAA), both known as bifunctional alkylating metabolites of vinyl chloride (VC). The mutagenic effectiveness of CEO and CAA in Escherichia coli, when compared to their nucleophilic selectivity, suggests that the critical target site in DNA bases is not an oxygen atom, and/or that the reaction mechanism of CEO and CAA is different from a simple alkylation. CEO-mutagenicity in E. coli is recA-independent, and CEO preferentially induces GC----AT transitions; accordingly, the mutagenicity of CEO in bacteria may result mainly from a miscoding guanosine or cytosine adduct. Two observations argue against the role of 1,N6-ethenoadenine (epsilon A) and 3,N4-ethenocytosine (epsilon C) in VC-induced mutagenesis/carcinogenesis: i) the lack of detection in double-stranded DNA in vivo and in vitro; ii) the inconsistency between mutational specificity of CEO and miscoding properties of epsilon A and epsilon C. The lack of miscoding properties of 7-(2-oxoethyl)guanine (oxet-G), the major in-vivo VC-DNA adduct, suggests a minor miscoding base adduct. Several lines of evidence point to N4-(2-chlorovinyl)cytosine as one possible putative promutagenic lesion produced by VC, but this compound has yet to be identified in DNA.


Deposit taking Savings and Credit Cooperatives form an integral part of Kenya's economy by mobilizing savings and promoting credit creation. Statistics indicate that DT-Saccos contribute up to 23% to Kenya's GDP, both directly and indirectly. However, the performance of a number of these DT-SACCOs in the western part of Kenya have shown to be reporting reduced profits indicating challenges with their financial performance. Prior studies on the performance of these SACCOs have not focused on the role of board characteristic on financial performance of these SACCOs. The purpose of this research was to examine influence of board characteristics on financial performance of deposit taking SACCOs in the country. Specifically, this study examined board accountability, corporate size and board independence and how they affect the performance. The study was anchored on the Agency theory and the Stakeholder theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey design to address the research problem. The target population consisted of 19 deposit taking Saccos licensed Saccos by SASRA and operating in


In recent years, optical metrology methods, based on spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), have gained a strong foothold for use in measuring the 2-dimensional profiles of integrated device features. While optical methods generally provide superior metrology performance compared to other metrology methods, there still remain some challenges to meet precision and accuracy requirements as integrated device geometries continue to shrink at an aggressive rate. Process engineers are employing several new techniques in order to meet device patterning requirements while maintaining manufacturing-worthy process windows. These techniques include thinning the photoresist layers and adding additional underlayer films to act as hard masks for subsequent pattern transfer steps. Thinning the photoresist layer reduces the aspect ratio of patterned grating targets, which, in turn, reduces the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of the optical profile measurement. The additional films in the process stack below the gratings increase the number of optical interfaces that must be taken into account when building the optical model for the measurement. The increased complexity of the optical model increases the likelihood that there will be cross-correlation between the underlying films and the grating profile parameters (Critical Dimension or CD, Height, and Sidewall Angle or SWA). The reduction in S/N and increase in cross-correlation often have negative impacts on the precision and overall accuracy of the reported values for the grating profile parameters. In this paper, we will discuss a methodology to overcome the issues described above. The methodology involves performing a standard SE film thickness measurement on an open pad area in close proximity to the grating target of interest. The thickness values are then fed forward to a subsequent SE measurement of the grating target. With the underlayer thickness values fixed based on the film thickness measurement, only the grating profile parameters are solved for during the grating measurement. Decoupling the underlayer film measurement from the grating measurement, greatly reduces, and even eliminates cross-correlation between parameters. Both SE measurements are completed with a total move-acquire-measurement (MAM) time that is <10 seconds per pair, and the resulting values reported for CD, Height, and SWA are more accurate when compared to reference metrology such as Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Supporting data will be presented from measurements taken on a 65nm technology node gate lithography process. Using the feed-forward process, the correlation and slope of profile parameters measured via SE compared to AFM measurements is greatly improved. Furthermore, systematic anti-correlation between resist height and SWA that was observed during simultaneous measurement of the film stack and grating is eliminated when the film measurement is decoupled and fed-forward into the grating measurement.


We consider the problem of adapting a network trained on three-channel color images to hyperspectral images with a large number of channels. We propose domain adaptors that map the input to be compatible with a network trained on large-scale color image datasets such as ImageNet, to enable learning on small hyperspectral datasets where training a network from scratch may not be effective. We investigate architectures and strategies for training adaptors and evaluate them on a benchmark consisting of multiple datasets. We find that simple schemes such as linear projection or subset selection are often the most effective, but can lead to a loss in performance in some cases. We also propose a novel multi-view adaptor where of the inputs are combined in an intermediate layer of the network in an order-invariant manner that provides further improvements. We present experiments by varying the number of training examples in the benchmark to characterize the accuracy and computational trade-offs offered by these adaptors.


In order to evaluate the entry of nucleic acid precursors into transplanted hepatomas and to examine the relationship to growth rate, the incorporation of isotope label was measured in tissue fractions. The low rate of incorporation of orotate into RNA of hepatomas in comparison with liver was confirmed and found to occur even in the most slowly growing tumors. A similar pattern was observed for the incorporation of orotate into the acid-soluble fraction. Under appropriate conditions, all the hepatomas examined were able to achieve an orotate incorporation greater that that in blood and several other tissues. Similar data were obtained 60 min after either i.p. or s.c. injections. Studies with several other molecules including dihydroorotate, uracil, uridine, thymidine, inorganic phosphate, 5-fluorouracil, and hycanthone did not show such pronounced changes in hepatomas but did suggest that uptake of these compounds is less in more rapidly growing liver tumors than in the slowly growing tumors. From the unequal incorporation of different molecules into a given tumor, from temporal studies of uptake, and from a comparative uptake study of s.c. and intrahepatic tumors, it was concluded that the vascular supply was not the sole determinant for the relative uptake of orotate in different tumor tissues. The data suggested that a transport mechanism for orotate may be impaired in hepatic neoplasia. As the regenerating liver did not show this transition, it does not appear to be an essential feature of cellular proliferation.


Abstract: The experiment BAROC (Baltic Acoustics on Rocky Outcrops) was performed in May 2002. Analysis and modelling of part of the received data are reported here, concerning transmission loss and reverberation in a shallow-water area south of Stockholm. LFM pulses were transmitted in two directions with frequency content between 500 and 5500 Hz. In both directions a clear sound channel was observed, for which the optimum propagation frequency was about 4 kHz. Strong bottom reverberation was measured. A ray-trace model has been used as forward model for inversion of bottom parameters with a genetic algorithm. The inversion results were subsequently verified with a parabolic-equation model, and they were used to assess the level of reverberation.


Research to identify a syphilis vaccine began shortly after the isolation of the first Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum (T. pallidum) strain in 1912 by Nichols and Hough and the identification of several possible animal models for the infection, with the rabbit being the best one. During the century following T. pallidum isolation, none of the numerous immunization/challenge experiments performed with preparations ranging from whole-inactivated T. pallidum cells to recombinant proteins yielded an effective vaccine, and the search for a vaccine languished. Recently, however, scientific communities have experienced a resurgence in interest in developing a syphilis vaccine due to
1. the awareness that syphilis constitutes a tremendous burden for maternal health, particularly in low- and middle-income nations;
2. the improved understanding of the immunological processes leading to pathogen clearance during natural infection and of the mechanisms this pathogen developed to persist in the host;
3. the availability of a near-complete list of T. pallidum genes encoding putative surface-exposed antigens, which represent the most likely vaccine candidates; and, last but not least,
4. the effort made to expand the knowledge on the genetic and antigenic diversity of these vaccine candidates in strains circulating worldwide.
Thus far, the most recent vaccine designs based on a subset of the pathogen's surface-exposed antigens have provided immunized rabbits with a significant but incomplete protection upon infectious challenge. Nonetheless, the outcomes of these experiments help investigators refine strategies to achieve a formulation with the highest chances of moving from preclinical experimental settings to clinical trials. This editorial focuses on a subset of the strategies currently believed to be essential for vaccine development, namely, the improvement of our still limited understanding of the genomic diversity in T. pallidum strains from diverse geographical locations through the collection and isolation of modern syphilis strains and the identification of protective epitopes in potential vaccine targets by evaluating the ability of monoclonal antibodies to bind the target antigen and facilitate pathogen clearance. The use of genetic engineering of the syphilis spirochete to identify target surface proteins with an essential or near-essential role in T. pallidum biology to target in immunization/challenge experiments is also discussed.


Phosphite (PO3; Phi), a reduced form of P, can prevent plant infection by Phytophthora spp. and thereby reduce crop loss in many agricultural commodities including citrus. Although some commercial formulations of Phi have a nutritional label as a source of P, Phi can have negative effects on plant growth. We tested the nutritional value of Phi in Carrizo citrange (CC) and Smooth Flat Seville (SFS) citrus rootstock seedlings growing in either aerated hydroponic nutrient solution or in fertigated native Candler sand soil in a greenhouse. There were four P treatments: No P; 0.5 mmol·L–1 PO4 (Pi); 0.25 mmol·L–1 PO4 + 0.25 mmol·L–1 PO3 (PPi+Phi); or 0.5 mmol·L–1 PO3 (Phi). Leaf net gas exchange was measured near the end of the experiment and after 83 days, plants were harvested, separated into leaves, stems, and roots and growth parameters were evaluated. Overall, hydroponically-grown roots were longer and thinner than sand-grown roots so hydroponically-grown plants had a lower root/shoot dry weight ratio than sand-grown plants. Growth of the two rootstocks responded in a similar way to P treatments but leaf N and chlorophyll were lower in SFS than in CC leaves. The Pi seedlings had the highest leaf P, net assimilation of CO2 (ACO2) and total growth while the No P seedlings had the highest root/shoot dry weight ratio. Growth responses, leaf N, and ACO2 of the PPi+Phi treatment were intermediate between the Pi and Phi treatments. Total plant growth was positively related to leaf P in Pi plants but growth was negatively related to leaf P in Phi plants. Phi reduced root and shoot growth even though seedlings had higher leaf P than the No P seedlings. Phi plants had comparable leaf chlorophyll and ACO2 to No P plants but leaf N was reduced by Phi. Thus, Phi was not a source of nutritionally available P for seedlings of citrus rootstocks.


Since the first description of primary adrenocortical insufficiency by Thomas Addison in 1855 several large series of patients with Addison's disease have been published. The common signs and symptoms include: weakness, hyperpigmentation, weight loss, gastrointestinal complaints, and hypotension. It is rare for patients with Addison's disease to present with musculoskeletal symptoms including flexion contractures, hyperkalaemic neuromyopathy, Guillain-Barré syndrome, migratory myalgia, sciatica-like pain, and low back pain. Myopathy has not been previously described in Addison's disease. Herein we report a patient presenting with severe hyponatraemia and myopathy which resolved after steroid replacement therapy.


Bitcoin introduced digital money without banks. It showed that functions of the financial system could be reliably executed by decentralized networks and in doing so raised the prospect of a new financial system. Almost a decade later, Bitcoin still works despite frequent predictions of its demise but the overwhelming majority of payments still use fiat currencies and the financial system is unchanged. We propose a cellular structure in which digital fiat currency issuers and transaction validators create functionally separate ledgers, decentralized but capable of cohering into a single system for moving digital money. The primary benefit of the cellular structure is that it lowers barriers to entry for payments by using trustless intermediation within the system. The larger purpose of this structure is to create an open foundation for a decentralized financial system in which competition can thrive but which cannot be captured by private interests.


Abstract Insomnia is one of the most common mental disorders and the most frequent sleep disorder encountered in clinical practice, with a prevalence of about 7% in the European population. Insomnia Disorder (ID) is defined as a disturbance of sleep initiation or maintenance, followed by a feeling of non-restorative sleep and several diurnal consequences ranging from occupational and social difficulties to cognitive impairment. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is considered the first-choice therapy for this disorder because its effectiveness has been proven to be greater in the long term with fewer side effects in comparison to pharmacotherapy. Although its effectiveness has been well established, it has been reported that nearly 40% of patients do not achieve remission after treatment. This finding could be the consequence of heterogeneity of ID between patients. It has been proposed that this heterogeneity might be ascribable to indices that are not related to sleep quality and quantity, such as comorbidities, life events, and personality traits. However, several works focused on the role of sleep markers, in particular objective total sleep time, for the phenotypization of ID and treatment response. The aim of this work is to summarize the available scientific literature regarding the impact of ID subtype on CBT-I response.


Transient CVD experiments were simulated by varying continuously the deposition temperature or the initial gas flow rates (Q(MTS) or Q(H2)). Their consequences on the physicochemical properties of the coatings have been first examined. The adhesion of SiC/SiC bilayers containing these "transient interphases" (phi(Tr)) was investigated by scratch testing. For transient stages resulting from a decrease of Q(MTS) or T, free silicon can be co-deposited in proportions depending on alpha = Q(H2)/Q(MTS), T and P. This phenomenon is related to the high reactivity of the Si bearing species and is activated by high T and P and low a values. In this case, the continuous covalent bonding through the Si-rich interphases preserves the adhesion between the two SiC layers. Transient stages resulting from a decrease of Q(H2) lead first to larger and columnar SiC grains and finally to the deposition of anisotropic carbon, due to the formation of unsaturated hydrocarbons in the gas phase. The interphases with the highest carbon concentrations and thicknesses lead to delamination and local chipping of the outer SiC layer. The poor shear strength of these continuous and anisotropic layers is detrimental to the adherence of the bilayers.


Mold industry has the difficulty to employ young people as the successors of the skilled workers, because it has been regarded as a 3D-jobs(dirty, difficult, and dangerous). To overcome this situation, thus, manufacturing technologies maintained in the factory should be systemized, and engineering systems should support unskilled workers to do their jobs without any difficulty. As a research of developing the supporting system, this study proposes a decision support system that facilitates unskilled workers to easily select high quality NC-data, as well as to increase productivity. The proposed system is assumed to follow a CAM operation scenario that consists of next three steps: 1) identifying several process plans and enumerating feasible unit machining operations (UMOs) from material and part surface information, 2) creating all feasible NC-data based on UMOs using a commercial CAM system, 3) selecting the best NC data among the feasible NC data using four screening criteria, such as machining accuracy, machining allowance, cutting load, and processing time. A case study on the machining of a camera core mold is provided to demonstrate the proposed system.


Percutaneous epidural balloon neuroplasty (PEBN) can be used to perform balloon decompression combined with percutaneous epidural neuroplasty (PEN), leading to significant pain relief and functional improvement in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of PEBN and supported its relatively long-term outcomes (at least 6 months, sustained for up to 12 months). Balloon neuroplasty appears to be superior to conventional PEN. Moreover, it has been shown to be effective in patients unresponsive to conventional PEN or in those with post lumbar surgery syndrome. In addition, balloon neuroplasty achieved successful outcomes regardless of the approach used, such as retrodiscal, transforaminal, contralateral interlaminar, or caudal. Chronic lumbar radicular pain without back pain, neurogenic claudication, and minimal neuropathic component were favorable predictors of successful PEBN from a symptomatic perspective. A short duration of pain after lumbar surgery, lumbar foraminal stenosis caused primarily by degenerative disc, mild foraminal stenosis, and perineural adhesion by degenerative discs were associated with successful outcomes of PEBN from pathological aspects. Ballooning ≥ 50% of the target sites and complete contrast dispersion after ballooning seemed to be crucial for successful outcomes from a technical perspective. In addition, PEBN was effective regardless of the accompanying redundant nerve roots or a mild degree of spondylolisthesis. Studies on balloon neuroplasty have reported occasional minor and self-limiting complications; however, no PEBN-related significant complications have been reported. Given the present evidence, balloon neuroplasty appears to be a safe and effective procedure with minimal complications for the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis.


Teachers are challenged to teach for all learners in the classroom to benefit. Teachers are tasked to adjust and modify the teaching and learning essentials to meet learners' needs. The study examined the challenges and strategies of adaptive instruction in Junior High Schools in the Jirapa Municipality of the Upper West Region of Ghana. The study used pragmatists' philosophy, mixed method approach and Cross-sectional research design. Humanistic learning theory developed by Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and James F. T. Bugental in the early 1960's. Data for this study was gathered using interviews, observational protocol and questionnaires. A sample size of 80 learners, 10 headteachers and 0ne Municipal Education Training Officer were selected for the study using purposive sampling method. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis approach whilst the quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 20. The findings revealed that: teachers were unable to use adaptive instruction effectively because some had inadequate adaptive expertise; time constraint; large class size; overloaded curriculum; multi-grade teaching and poor supervision. Also, on the strategies of responding to the challenges in the classroom, majority of the teachers claimed they used mixed ability grouping; ability grouping; collaborative learning; co-operative learning; inquiring based learning; microteaching; self-directed learning and task analysis approach as adaptive instructional strategies to teaching learners with varied learning needs. Unfortunately, in observing how teachers used the foregoing strategies, it was found that many did not use mixed and ability grouping as a strategy in teaching varied learners in the classroom. Amongst the various strategies, learners rated co-operative learning as the best form of learning strategy for responding to their learning differences.


[1] Measurements of diurnal temperature variability at the ocean surface have been available primarily from satellite Sea Surface Temperature (SST) retrievals and a small number of ship-based radiometers. Since most areas are sampled from polar orbiting satellites at most twice a day, surface diurnal variability studies relied on theoretical modeling or extrapolation of results from in situ measurements at depth. The ocean surface responds very rapidly to changes in fluxes of heat and momentum, therefore diurnal variability at the ocean surface may be quite different than heating at depth. Measurements from the Marine Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (M-AERI) provide one of the few skin SST data sets augmented by ancillary measurements necessary for investigations into surface diurnal heating and cooling. This unique data set spans all major ocean basins and contains many days with diurnal warming. The timing of the peak in diurnal warming is directly related to the minimum wind speed and varies from 8:00 to 18:00 local-mean-time. Fluctuations in wind speed can result in multiple peaks in diurnal heating during a single afternoon. As wind speed increases, diurnal warming decreases (negatively correlated) and as insolation increases, diurnal warming increases (positively correlated). Changes in wind speed affect diurnal warming amplitudes very rapidly, while changes in insolation have a more gradual effect. The maximum correlation of wind speed (insolation) with changes in diurnal warming is at a time lag of 0 (50) min.


AbstractTo evaluate the effects of a fixed combination of olmesartan/amlodipine compared with olmesartan or amlodipine alone on some parameters of endothelial damage in diabetic, hypertensive patients.We enrolled 221 patients; 74 were randomized to olmesartan 20 mg, 72 to amlodipine 10 mg, and 75 to olmesartan/amlodipine fixed combination 20/5 mg for 12 months. We assessed blood pressure monthly; in addition, we also assessed at baseline, and after 6 and 12 months, the following parameters: lipoprotein (a), myeloperoxidase (MPO), isoprostanes, and paraoxonase-1 (PON-1).Blood pressure values obtained with fixed olmesartan/amlodipine combination were significantly lower than those reached with single monotherapies. There was a reduction of lipoprotein (a), and isoprostanes levels with olmesartan/amlodipine fixed combination, both compared with baseline, and with single monotherapies. On the other hand, there was an increase of PON-1 with fixed olmesartan/amlodipine combination, both compared with baseline, and with single drugs. All treatments reduced MPO compared with baseline; however, in group-to-group comparison, MPO reduction was greater with olmesartan/amlodipine fixed combination.Fixed combination of olmesartan/amlodipine was more effective than single monotherapies in reducing oxidative stress, especially in increasing PON-1, and reducing isoprostanes levels in diabetic and hypertensive patients.


A common characteristic of applied visualization is collaboration between visualization researcher and domain expert – where the vi- sualization researcher attempts to assimilate sufficient detail around data, task and requirements to design a visualization tool that is manifestly useful. We report on a method for enabling such a col- laboration that can be used throughout the design process to gather and develop requirements and continually evaluate and support iter- ative design. We do so using highly interactive web-pages that we term dynamic design documents. Applied during a four-year visual data analysis project for crime research, these documents enabled a series of data mappings to be explored by our collaborators (crime analysts) remotely – in a flexible and continuous way. We argue that they engendered a level of engagement that is qualitatively dis- tinct from more traditional methods of feedback elicitation, offered a solution to limited and intermittent contact between analyst and visualization researcher and speculate that they provided a means of partially addressing certain intractable deficiencies, such as so- cial desirability-bias, that are common to evaluation in applied data visualization.


ABSTRACT A 2-year-old boy presented with left periorbital edema, proptosis, hyperglobus and esotropia. Imaging revealed an inferotemporal orbital mass with adjacent bony erosion. Histological evaluation of an orbital biopsy revealed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (B-ALL/BLL). The patient was subsequently treated with chemotherapy. Although orbital involvement in acute myelogenous leukemia has been well-described, orbital manifestations of B-ALL/BLL are uncommon, with only a limited number of previous reports in the literature.


This study aimed to develop a regression equation to predict physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) using accelerometry. Children aged 11–13 years were recruited and randomly assigned to validation (n = 54) and cross-validation (n = 25) groups. The doubly labelled water (DLW) technique was used to assess energy expenditure and accelerometers were worn by participants across the same period. A preliminary equation was developed using stepwise multiple regression analysis with sex, height, weight, body mass index, fat-free mass, fat mass and counts per minute (CPM) as independent variables. Goodness-of-fit statistics were used to select the best prediction variables. The PRESS (predicted residual error sum of squares) statistical method was used to validate the final prediction equation. The preliminary equation was cross-validated on an independent group and no significant (p > 0.05) difference was observed in the PAEE estimated from the two methods. Independent variables of the final prediction equation (PAEE = [0.001CPM] − 0.112) accounted for 70.6% of the variance. The new equation developed to predict PAEE from accelerometry was found to be valid for use in Sri Lankan children.


A three-pot preparation of (S)-N-protected homoserine γ-lactones is presented. Conversion of N-protected L-aspartic acid to an oxazolidinone is followed by selective reduction/acid-catalyzed cyclization to deliver the lactones. Microwave irradiation proved valuable for improving the latter reaction steps in some cases.


Multiple star test objects were placed so as to record the entire field covered on a 35 X 43-cm (14 X 17-in.) film and radiographed to determine the apparent shape of the focal spot and the directions in which degradation is maximum and minimum. It was found that geometric unsharpness decreases along lines radiating outward from the center of the anode shadow. The small focal spots used in magnification may be anticipated to behave in a similar fashion. It was also shown experimentally that truly lateral resolution is approximately constant over the field. A theoretical explanation for this finding is offered.


The physical interpretation which Price [1950] attached to the solutions of the pre-Maxwell equations is examined and the validity of linear circuit analogies to the problem of geomagnetic induction is questioned. If induced earth currents are solely diffusive, then geomagnetic induction data should be explicable in terms of near-field scattering theory. However, if the earth's inductive response comprises also a convective current mode similar to a linear circuit, then a more general formulation of the induction problem would be required. It is shown that the internal night-time Sq field can be attributed more easily to transient induction effects than to the global linear circuits proposed by Ashour and Price [1965].


The Kazdağ Massif exposes a metamorphic dome in the Biga Peninsula of northwest Turkey. An extensional origin has been proposed for the dome, limited on both flanks by detachments and/or shear zones. The northern flank is bounded by the extensional Alakeçi Shear Zone (ASZ), whose P-T-t path is still poorly known. We therefore focus on its metamorphic conditions and related temporal history to precise its tectono-metamorphic evolution. The local tectonostratigraphy in structurally ascending order comprises: (i) the high-grade metamorphic core rocks of the Kazdaǧ Massif (gneisses and micaschists intercalated with amphibolites and marbles); (ii) the two kilometer-thick ASZ; (iii) the overlaying unmetamorphosed pre-Cenomanian accretionary Çetmi mélange; and (iv) Neogene sedimentary and volcanic cover rocks. ASZ mylonites were derived from both the core rocks and the mélange lithologies. From the north to the south the mylonitic fabrics in the ASZ depict a top-to-the N-NNE shearing, parallel to the NNE-plunging stretching lineation and NNW-dipping mylonitic foliation. This geometry implies normal sense movement i.e. north-side down-dip extensional displacement along this flank of the Kazdaǧ Massif. The northward transition from ductile to brittle-ductile regime through the ASZ shows that the deformation occurred at decreasing temperatures and degree of metamorphism. The paragenesis in equilibrium within the mylonitic gneisses and schists contains Qtz + Fs + Ms + Bt + Grt ± St ± Sill, with late retrogressive chlorite after biotite and garnet. Four samples of ASZ rocks yielded pressures between 6.9–5.7 kbar and temperatures between 706–587°C. Three samples from the mylonitic rocks supplied in situ isochron 36Ar/40Ar mica ages between 31.2–24.2 Ma, which we interpret to date the cooling of the mylonites following the P-T decrease across the ASZ. The metamorphic and structural results support the extensional character of the ASZ, and sketch transition from sillimanite core gneisses in the deeper structural levels to chlorite schists towards the top of the shear zone. These new data allow to precise the peak P-T conditions and the temporal evolution in the northern flank of the Kazdaǧ Massif, where Late Oligocene extensional exhumation was assisted by NNE-directed ductile-brittle ASZ, which had operated from amphibolite to greenschist facies. At the regional scale, this tectono-metamorphic pattern is similar to those observed on other places of the north Aegean domain.


Transanal irrigation (TAI) is safe and effective treatment for constipation and faecal incontinence, but it should not be carried out before less invasive options have been tried. A thorough patient assessment and consideration of their preferences and tolerance should determine suitability and system choice. The range of available TAI equipment can be overwhelming. Therefore, to aid health professionals, this article presents a summary of the latest available devices on the market, as well as guidance on how to select a suitable device. TAI devices can be categorised into low-or high-volume; cones, catheters or balloon inflating devices; manual, electric pump or gravity-fed systems; and bed systems. Determining whether a low or high volume of water is required is a good starting point for device selection. Nurses should be aware of available devices and select one most suitable for a patient, as well as adequately train them in its usage and provide follow-up support. Nurses should communicate the potential improvement to quality of life TAI can offer and encourage adherence to avoid premature discontinuation.


Water-glycerol solutions confined in 21 Å pores of the silica matrix MCM-41 C10 have been studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS). The results suggest a micro-phase separation caused by the confinement. Likely the water molecules coordinate to the hydroxyl surface groups of the pores, leaving most of the glycerol molecules in the centre of the pores. This makes the dynamics of glycerol almost concentration independent up to water concentrations of about 85 wt%. However, at higher water concentrations no substantial clustering of glycerol molecules should occur and the glass transition related dynamics exhibit an anomalous behaviour. Instead of a common plasticization effect of water, as for the corresponding bulk solutions (when no ice is formed), it is evident that water acts as an anti-plasticizer in the confinement at high water concentrations. We propose that the increased water concentration slows down the glass transition related dynamics in the deeply supercooled regime due to that a rigid hydrogen bonded network structure of water molecules is formed at low temperatures and low glycerol concentrations. This is in contrast to the situation in a homogenously mixed bulk solution of a high solute concentration where the water molecules will be less hydrogen bonded, and therefore are typically more mobile than the surrounding solute molecules. An almost complete hydrogen bonded network of water molecules may, even in confinements, be sufficiently rigid to slow down the relaxation of embedded solute molecules. It can also be expressed the other way around, i.e. small amounts of glycerol act as a plasticizer for water, due to its breaking up of the nearly tetrahedral network structure. From the here observed concentration dependent behaviour of the deeply supercooled bulk and confined solutions it seems, furthermore, evident that the Tg value of bulk water cannot be estimated from extrapolations of aqueous solutions.


Fifty-nine obese and normal-weight children, aged 8-12 years were compared on two dimensions of "externality," previously examined in obese adults. Significant sex difference indicated that boys generally ate more than girls and held more internal locus of control expectancies. However, obese and normal-weight children were not differentiated by their performance on either a food-related or three nonfood-related measures of external-cue responsiveness, nor by their locus of control expectancies. Furthermore, the various measures were neither strongly nor consistently intercorrelated, providing little support for the notion of a single underlying dimension of "externality." The contribution of physiological, sensory, cognitive-motivational, and sociocultural parameters to the regulation of eating behavior was discussed.


Score-based generative models provide state-of-the-art quality for image and audio synthesis. Sampling from these models is performed iteratively, typically employing a discretized series of noise levels and a predefined scheme. In this note, we first overview three common sampling schemes for models trained with denoising score matching. Next, we focus on one of them, consistent annealed sampling, and study its hyper-parameter boundaries. We then highlight a possible formulation of such hyper-parameter that explicitly considers those boundaries and facilitates tuning when using few or a variable number of steps. Finally, we highlight some connections of the formulation with other sampling schemes.


By varying the cooking conditions, several series of kraft pulps having different brightness levels, i.e. different light absorption coefficients (k), were prepared. A clear correlation between the residual alkali concentration in the black liquor and the k-value was found. The darkening of the pulp (increasing k) was shown to be, in part, due to a higher content of calcium ions that increased lignin redeposition onto the fibers during the cook. Moreover, the production of a bright unbleached pulp (with low k-value) appeared to be beneficial for subsequent TCF-bleaching with hydrogen peroxide.


Since the beginning of its history, mankind has adopted behaviors related to obtaining and processing food. All actions taken within the scope of eating, gave rise to permanent habits, transforming into customs. This is how culinary culture was formed, encompassing food and drink norms. Today we are balancing between the customs of our ancestors and trends calling for nutritional innovation. In a way, today's society is breaking with old culinary traditions. However, changing living conditions reactivate the desire to return to what was original. A special role in this direction is played by the New Media, which are the carrier of popularization of widely understood culinary. In connection with the apparent interest in traditional cuisine, the main objective of this paper was to explain what kind of nutritional norms today's trends lead to, and to emphasize the relationship between food and popular culture. The analysis and interpretation of source literature, as well as materials published on the Internet, were used to achieve these goals. The methods used made it possible to point out the direction of contemporary culinary habits. Moreover, they justified the significance of the media in the practice of old food traditions.


OBJECTIVE
Studies of birth patterns in anorexia nervosa have shown relative increases between March and August, while studies in Bulimia Nervosa (BN) have been negative. Since there are no studies using representative, nonclinical samples, we looked for seasonal birth patterns in women with BN and in those who ever endorsed bingeing or purging.

METHOD
A national, representative sample of 3,006 adult women completed structured telephone interviews including screenings for bulimia nervosa (BN) and questions about month, date, and year of birth. Season of birth was calculated using traditional definitions. Differences across season of birth between subjects with (n = 85) and without BN (n = 2,898), those with (n = 749) and without bingeing (n = 2,229), and those with (n = 267) and without any purging (n = 2,715) were compared using chi-square analyses.

RESULTS
There were significant differences across season of birth between subjects: (1) with and without BN (p = 0.033); (2) with and without bingeing (p = 0.034), and; (3) with and without purging (p = 0.001). Fall had the highest relative number of births for all categories, while spring had the lowest.

DISCUSSION
In a national representative study of nontreatment seeking subjects significant differences in season of birth were found for subjects with lifetime histories of BN, binge eating and purging. © 2011 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2012).


The condition of "deteriorating learning spirit" for most students in the Pancasila and Citizenship Education (PPKn) study program in Padang City currently makes us worry about the quality of graduates, moreover they will face challenges in various symptoms of "moral decline" among students like low ethics immoral behavior, promiscuity, violence, pornography, fights, and so on. This study aims to reveal how strong PPKn students are committed to their future, focusing on the influence of future expectations as PPKn teachers on learning motivation. This study (2018) used a quantitative approach with a cross sectional survey. After testing the instrument, then with and with the questionnaire, 217 samples (43.5%) were conducted with the pre-survey stage. The results of data processing show that the highest achievement of the ideal score is "the basis of" selection of study programs/professions "is 77.03% (sufficient), while the lowest indicator is" expected implications "of 58.31% (less). 50% (enough). These findings can be interpreted as stronger future expectations / student ideals, the stronger the motivation to learn.


My experiences with the ratification ofthe Strategic Anus Reduction Treaty, the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, and the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty have led me to conclude that presenting technical issues early in the process greatly reduces their politicization during the ratification end game. This chapter summarizes the important issues that will be raised during the debate on ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. It uses a compact question and answer fonnat to cover the following topics: 1. Nuclear Proliferation, n. Nuclear Arms Control, III. Warhead Reliability and Yield for National Security, IV. Warhead Safety, V. Verification, and VI. The Verification-Compliance process. Each section begins with a statement of conclusions, fol lowed by a set of relevant questions and answers.


Introduction: There is a growing concern with the dwindling academic workforce especially in medicine. Academic internships refer to a hybrid internship during which an intern spends a period of time (typically 3–6 months) in academic/research endeavours. These may serve as initial research experience for junior doctors. However, the merits of this programme have not been assessed to date. Methods: Studies on integrated academic internships by junior doctors (ie, interns) were included in the present review. The identified articles were grouped into themes. For each article, the methodological approach (and subsequent implemented methods) was noted. The articles were also critically appraised for methodological soundness (both at the study-level, and the outcome-level). Results: A total of 1621 publication titles were identified and screened, of which 8 publications were included in the final review. The major themes of the identified publications are: overview of the academic internship programme, evaluation of a programme's experience and outcomes, and other miscellaneous publications. Discussion: The studies to date have only reported on "soft outcomes", but overall, interns and supervisors alike appear to be satisfied with the programme. Whether the programme increases the likelihood of future academic careers is difficult to establish at this juncture. The academic internship posts appear to be competitive, which reflect their popularity among graduating medical students.


Everything has a price. Generally, price is the amount of money charged for a product or service. More specifically, price is the sum of all the values that the Consumer surrenders to acquire the benefit of having a product. Does this benefit meet the Consumer's expectation? Or could this expectation be  shrouded in the perception where anti-competition (monopoly) is involved? Price is critical to both the Consumer and Producer because price must not only be reasonable and valuable to the Consumer, it must be fair to the Producer, at all times. This paper shall therefore attempt to examine the process of finding the right pricing strategy, otherwise known as price mechanism, against the backdrop of anti-competition and consumer protection law. Keywords : Price, anti-competition, consumer protection, law


Goal orientation is a construct that has been used to explain individuals' focus in achievement situations. Three subcomponents of this construct have been linked to a number of training-related processes and outcomes. Those higher on avoid performance goal orientation withdraw from situations in which they may appear incompetent to others. Those higher on prove performance goal orientation approach situations in which they can demonstrate their competence to others. Finally, those high on learning goal orientation approach situations in which they can continually grow and master new skills. Prior research has consistently found that effective learning strategies and outcomes are positively associated with learning goal orientation and negatively associated with avoid goal orientation. However, the findings with respect to prove goal orientation have been mixed. One possible reason for this is that the effect of prove goal orientation may be dependent on one's concurrent level of learning goal orientation. The present study investigated this notion using participants from an understudied population: unemployed adults. Specifically, data were collected from 188 unemployed females who participated in a training program designed to enhance basic work competencies necessary for most entry-level jobs. Results indicated that those higher on avoid performance goal orientation put forth less effort in voluntary practice activities took longer to complete the training program and learned less than those lower on avoid performance goal orientation. Additionally, prove performance goal orientation interacted with learning goal orientation to predict the amount of time spent practicing and learning. Theoretical and practical implications for training needs analysis, development, and assessment will be discussed.


Learning to control robots directly based on images is a primary challenge in robotics. However, many existing reinforcement learning approaches require iteratively obtaining millions of robot samples to learn a policy, which can take significant time. In this paper, we focus on learning a realistic world model capturing the dynamics of scene changes conditioned on robot actions. Our dreaming model can emulate samples equivalent to a sequence of images from the actual environment, technically by learning an action-conditioned future representation/scene regressor. This allows the agent to learn action policies (i.e., visuomotor policies) by interacting with the dreaming model rather than the real-world. We experimentally confirm that our dreaming model enables robot learning of policies that transfer to the real-world.


Objective: This study aimed to investigate the potenital effect of an Ayurvedic herbo-mineral formulation in a rat model of testosterone propionate-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods: Male Wistar rats weighing 180-250 g were used. The selected animals were divided into six groups where each group consisted of six animals. Experimentally BPH was developed by subcutaneous administration of testosterone propionate (3 mg/kg) dissolved in corn oil for 28 days. The tested herbo-mineral formulation was administered orally for 28 consecutive days at 90 mg/kg, once or twice daily in different groups. On 29 th day, Blood samples were collected to evaluate different parameters like blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine, serum total protein, serum total cholesterol, serum albumin, serum globulin and serum A/G ratio. Prostate glands were dissected out for different prostatic parameters and histopathological examination. Results: The herbo-mineral formulation showed significant effect on urine output and different prostatic parameters. Significant changes in urine volume, prostate weight, prostate weight index, prostate length and prostate width were observed. In addition, positive effects on different biochemical parameters like BUN, serum creatinine, serum total protein, etc were recorded. The used formulation, at both dose levels, also showed significant reversal in histology of prostate glands when compared with disease control group. On the other hand, no side effects were observed according to the administered herbo-mineral formulation. Conclusion: The findings of this study concludes that Herbo-mineral formulation has promising effect on testosterone propionate-induced BPH in male wistar rats. © 2014 GESDAV


Common polymorphisms in DNA repair genes may affect an individual9s capacity to repair damaged DNA. Although many former studies have reported an association between several types of cancers and DNA repair polymorphism, the association with endometrial cancer (EC) risk has not been investigated fully, especially in Asian population. To examine the association between DNA repair polymorphisms and postmenopausal EC risk, we conducted a case-control study with 91 EC cases (59 endometrioid adenocarcinoma and 32 other types of carcinoma) and 261 non-cancer female controls from database of Hospital based Epidemiologic Research Program at Aichi Cancer Center. We examined 16 coding SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism) of 12 DNA repair genes (OGG1, MUTYH, XRCC1, APE1, ADPRT, XPA, XPC, XPD, ERCC1, RAD23B, XPG, ERCC6) by TaqMan Methods. We surveyed lifestyle/environmental information by self-administered questionnaire. Impact of each SNPs on EC risk was evaluated by multivariate unconditional logistic regression models. Further, we examined the gene-gene interaction. We observed significant association between EC risk and rs1799782 (C>T, Arg194Trp) of XRCC1 [CT: Odds ratio (OR) = 1.74, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.99-3.04, TT: OR = 2.76, 95% CI = 1.23-6.16; trend p = 0.007]; rs25487 (G>A, Arg399Gln) of XRCC1 [GA: OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.39-1.12, AA: OR = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.02-1.16; trend p = 0.019]; rs1136410 (T>C, Val762Ala) of ADPRT [TC: OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 0.84-2.64, CC: OR = 1.92, 95% CI = 0.88-4.18; trend p = 0.076]; and rs17655 (G>C, Asp1104His) of XPG [GC: OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.39-1.21, CC: OR = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.26-1.12; trend p = 0.082]. Although both XRCC1 and ADPRT involve in base excision repair, gene-gene interaction of these polymorphisms were not significant; the interaction p between rs1799782 and rs25487 was 0.687; that between rs25487 and rs1136410 was 0.328. In conclusion, we found significant association between EC risk among postmenopausal Japanese women and DNA repair polymorphisms. Gene-gene interactions between XRCC1 and ADPRT were not significant. These results suggests that DNA repair polymorphisms might be associated with etiology of EC. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5618. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5618


Laser light has unique properties that enable transmission of high amounts of energy to a narrowly defined site. Biological effects may be thermal, chemical, or mechanical. Medical procedures involve mainly thermal tissue destruction by coagulation (> 60 degrees C) or ablation (> 300 degrees C). The effect is governed by tissue optical and thermal properties and laser variables; contact/non-contact, focus, output power (W), and exposure time (s). The laser medium governs the wavelength emitted. The carbon dioxide (CO2) laser light (10600 nm) requires transmission through articulating arms with mirrors, whereas neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) (1064 nm), and argon (488/515 nm) light can be transmitted through flexible quartz fibres. CO2 lasers are used mainly for high precision tissue ablation; Nd:YAG lasers can coagulate or vaporise larger tissue areas and argon laser applications involve vascular destruction, based on selective absorption by haemoglobin. Research has shifted towards a fundamental understanding of the interactions of light with biological tissue to allow treatment planning and to optimise laser procedures. Applications such as interstitial laser coagulation for local destruction of solid tumours deserve further exploration in general surgery.


Nine yeast species belonging to genera Candida, Cryptococcus, Phaffomyces, Rhodotorula and Wickerhamomyces, and one species of Aureobasidium genus were isolated from the cloaca of migratory birds. Candida glabrata and C. inconspicua were the species most frequently isolated and Wickerhamomyces sylviae, which has recently been described as a new species isolated from bird cloaca, was again found. The majority of isolates showed the ability to grow up to 40 °C and/or at pH 3.0, two environmental conditions typical of the digestive tract of birds. The phylogenetic analysis of the D1/D2 domain of 26S rRNA gene placed the cultures of Phaffomyces in a new lineage that differed from the closest species, P. opuntiae, by 13 nucleotide substitutions. The new species was able to grow at 40 °C and at pH 2.5, which suggests a possible adaptation to the bird cloaca. Moreover, the ability to grow in the presence of digitonin at pH 3.7 and the assimilation of ethyl acetate indicates a potential cactophilic origin. For the first time, the presence of yeasts belonging to the Phaffomyces clade in Europe and also in non-cactus environments is reported. The new species is formally described as P. usticensis sp. nov. (PYCC 6346(T) = CBS 12958(T)).


Introducing a WDM dimension on the top of a TDM PON system is a natural evolution to increase the capacity of an optical access network, and this can also offer additional flexibility options. Several hybrid WDM/TDM PON architectures can be designed, each with a different degree of flexibility, going from fully static, over partially flexible to fully flexible architectures. The more flexible architectures, however, are either more expensive, experience a higher power loss or are less secure. A question that arises is if a fully flexible architecture is really needed, or if a partially flexible architecture already can serve several flexibility advantages, like energy efficiency, network migration and network extensibility. An important assessment parameter is the number of needed wavelengths at a certain network load. For a fully flexible architecture, it is clear that the number of needed wavelengths can be optimally minimized, but how big is the gain of a fully flexible architecture compared to a partially flexible one, and what is the minimum degree of flexibility required to have a significant advantage of the offered flexibility. In this paper we evaluate through simulation different architectural options for a hybrid WDM/TDM PON, in terms of flexibility. For this purpose, we use an underlined well-suited medium access control (MAC) protocol that exploits the offered flexibility in terms of dynamic wavelength allocation.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most well-known neurodegenerative diseases and explains 50–60% of dementia in patients. The prevalence rate of AD is positively correlated with age and AD affects ≥40% of those over 85 years old. The major AD therapeutics available on the market are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, such as tacrine and donepezil. New therapeutic agents that can block the disease-inducing mechanisms are essential. Diverse efforts have been made to discover anti-AD agents from natural sources. In this review article, we describe some representative terpenoids such as ginsenosides, gingkolides, and canabinoids as potential anti-AD agents. These compounds exhibit promising in vitro and in vivo biological activities, but are still waiting clinical trials. Additionally, we also discuss some terpenoids including cornel iridoid glycoside, oleanolic acid, tenuifolin, cryptotanshinone, and ursolic acid, which are under investigation for their in vitro and in vivo animal studies.


I have to explain the double name which this note appears with. Luciano Bosio left us in January 1997, without having the opportunity to publish the first part of an imposing work on a source he loved and frequented, and on which we had worked together. It was a sort of trilogy of the description of Italy as represented in the Tabula Peutingeriana (Roman Italy in the description of the Tabula Peutingeriana should have the title been); a trilogy formed by a volume on the morphological characters, a second one on the anthropic distribution (settlements of different consistency) and finally a third one on the road network, which should have been the most important in consideration of the purpose of the itinerarium pictum. As a moral inheritance of the commitment started with my master of Topography, I have resumed that work, starting from those morphological aspects that characterise our peninsula the most, in particular, in this case, the hydrography. In this note the Padus's tributarys and Adige, Brenta, Livenza and Tagliamento will be considered specifically. Following the indications registered in the Tabula, these will be compared with the information which can be gathered from other sources, both literary and archaeological ones.


When somebody gets hold of a book he or she tries first to infer from the title of that book what it is likely to be about. Thus, in the case at hand, it would be fair to assume that the book is an introductory course on special as well as general relativity. Therefore, to begin with, we have to mention what this book is really about. In spite of its title it is a book exclusively on special relativity. Then one is tempted to ask why yet another book on special relativity must have been written in view of the many already existing ones. In a sense, however, Laurent's book is one of a new generation in that it admits from the very outset that special relativity is by now well established in physics and, in particular, that it is no longer necessary to justify it from the insufficiencies of Newtonian mechanics. Therefore, the author treats special relativity in a very straightforward and adequate way, i.e. purely geometrically. Accordingly, it is expected that the reader is familiar with vector calculus at least in three-dimensional Euclidean space. The book consists of 18 chapters and is divided into three main parts. In the first main part headed `Principles. Basic Applications' ten chapters take turns in being aimed predominantly at either physics or mathematics. The first two chapters are devoted to the assumptions behind special relativity. While, for instance, the principle of maximal proper time is put at the very beginning, the resolution of the famous twin paradox comes out almost automatically. As one of the consequences of these assumptions the Lorentz transformation is derived from the constancy of the velocity of light. Except for the Michelson--Morley and the Hafele--Keating experiments as well as the Doppler shift and aberration, the experimental verification of the theory remains beyond the scope of the book. In a wider sense, however, chapter 9 on particle kinematics is highly valuable for an understanding of particle physics experiments. From a deeper point of view also chapter 10 is very informative in that it discusses the gedanken experiments on the rotating wheel and how to fit a car into a garage. All in all, in this first main part, forming about one half of the book, nearly all issues which usually belong to relativistic kinematics and dynamics are treated in a geometrical language. In the second main part headed `Tensors' tensor algebra and analysis are developed with regard to electrodynamics. Accordingly, spacetime volumes with and without metric and Gauss's law are discussed. Apart from an introductory motivation from the point of view of physics, the five chapters of this part are predominantly mathematical. One can get the feeling that more is done than would be necessary for special relativity. On the other hand, this pays off at the last when the reader wants to use this book as a preparatory reading for general relativity. The third main part is devoted to `Electrodynamics' with and without sources. The last three chapters of the book start with the scalar wave equation and end up with its solution by Lienard--Wiechert potentials, the geometric interpretation of which leads back to the light cone first discussed in chapter 6. The book is written in an elegant style which, at least as far as mathematics is concerned, could cause some difficulties for the novice but which, on the other hand, has the advantage that the reader is directly brought up to the original literature. All those who want to become acquainted with special relativity without the need of being convinced of its validity beforehand will find Laurent's book particularly useful. By emphasizing the geometric aspects of the theory the reader will get a deeper understanding of the characteristic traits of special relativity and its generalization to general relativity.


The influenza virus circulates yearly and causes global epidemics. Influenza infection affects all age groups and causes mild to severe illness, and young infants are at particular risk for serious disease. The most effective measure to prevent influenza disease is vaccination; however, no vaccine is licensed for use in infants younger than 6 months old. Thus, there is a crucial need for other preventive strategies in this high-risk age group. Influenza vaccination during pregnancy protects both the mothers and the young infants against influenza infection. Vaccination during pregnancy boosts the maternal antibodies and increases the transfer of immunoglobulin G from the mother to the fetus through the placenta, which confers protection against infection in infants too young to be vaccinated. Data from clinical trials and observational studies did not demonstrate adverse effects to the mother, the fetus, or the infant after maternal influenza vaccination. We present the current data on the effectiveness and safety of influenza vaccination during pregnancy in preventing disease in the young infant.


Objectives The Marie Curie Cancer Care Delivering Choice Programme (DCP) aims to help palliative patients be cared for in their place of choice. In this study, new palliative care services delivered in two counties in England included end-of-life care coordination centres, an out-of-hours telephone line and discharge in-reach nurses. The study aimed to investigate the impact of DCP on place of death and hospital usage (emergency department (ED) and admissions). Methods Retrospective cohort of all eligible palliative patients who died over a 6-month period in two counties (n=3594). Participants were those who died of conditions considered to be eligible for end-of-life care, as defined by the Public Health England National End of Life Care Intelligence Network. The sample included people who did and did not access DCP services. DCP service, hospital admission and ED use data, demographic and death data were collected on all eligible participants. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results After adjusting for potential confounders, those using Delivering Choice were at least 30% less likely to die in hospital or have an emergency hospital admission or ED visit in the last 30 or 7 days of life than those who did not. Conclusions Recipients of DCP services were less likely to die in or use hospital services. Those considering new ways of providing end-of-life care could explore the possibility of adopting similar services and evaluating the outcomes from patient, carer and system perspectives.


The traditional standard stochastic system models, such as the AR (Autoregressive), MA (Moving average) and ARMA (Autoregressive moving average) models, usually assume the Gaussian property for the fluctuation distribution. These models assume also the linear regression function for the time series of system input and output, and the well-known least squares method is applied based only on the linear correlation data. In the actual sound environment system, however, the stochastic process exhibits various non-Gaussian distributions, and there potentially exist various nonlinear correlations in addition to the linear correlation between input and output time series. Consequently, often the system input and output relationship in the actual phenomenon cannot be represented by a simple model such as the AR, MA and ARMA models. In this study, a prediction method of output response probability for sound environment system is derived by introducing a correction method for simplified standard system models. More precisely, a parameter-linear regression model is adopted as a simplified standard system model for the input and output relationship. Furthermore, a correction method for the simplified standard system model is proposed by introducing the stochastic regression and fuzzy inference. The proposed method is applied to the actual data in a sound environmnet system, and the practical usefulness is verified.


Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare disease that occurs in ~0.2% of all neoplasms among men. The risk of developing MBC is higher in men with a BRCA2 genetic mutation (7%). The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between c.2808_2811del ACAA (p.Ala938Profs) BRCA2 mutation in MBC and clinicopathological factors. A 75-year-old patient was admitted to the Genetic Outpatient Clinic with a diagnosis of right breast cancer and with a family history of cancer (two daughters who were diagnosed with breast cancer at ages 46 and 38 years). Postoperative histopathological examination revealed tumor type pT2 N1a Mx, NST NG-3 G-3, Ki-67 (75%), HER2 (+), ER (+++), PR (+++), invasive carcinoma and luminal B subtype. The complete coding sequences of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes were analyzed for genomic DNA material using next generation sequencing on the Ion Torrent platform. The c.2808_2811delACAA (p.Ala938Profs) mutation was observed in the BRCA2 gene. The presence of the c.2808_2811delACAA (p.Ala938Profs) mutation in the BRCA2 gene was confirmed using the Sanger method. The same BRCA2 gene mutation was reported in one of the patient's daughters. The detected mutation causes the frameshift mutation, resulting in the creation of an additional translation termination codon and the synthesis of an abnormal protein. This mutation was associated with a later age of disease, a higher histological degree, a higher mitotic index, a positive steroid receptor status and the luminal B subtype HER2- breast cancer.


A poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoro-ethylene) piezoelectric polymer is blended with nano particles of titanium oxide phthalocyanine to bridge photoconductive and piezoelectric effects. In this study, a system is examined by in situ synchrotron x-ray to test a three-way piezo-phototronic soft-material design. The sample is heated for in situ phase transformation characterization. The semi-crystalline poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoro-ethylene) polymer gradually transforms to an amorphous structure. A complementary piezoelectric experiment before and after the heating experiment shows that the piezoelectric performance is proportional to the phase ratio. Secondly, the system is examined to test its phototronic effect. Piezoelectric responses are measured by controlling the light illumination. The positive and negative controls of light illumination which validate this newly-designed system can be modulated by a three-way piezo-phototronic effect. In-situ synchrotron x-ray diffraction experiments are employed to measure the microstructure evolution as a function of applied voltage up to 800 V. We then turned off both the light and the applied voltage to examine the kinetic behavior of the system. There is orientation-dependent anisotropic relaxation. We compared the lattice-strain evolutions. Piezo-phototronic creep is found in the (110), but not the (310) planes.


The advent of deregulation combined with new opportunities opened by advances in telecommunications technologies has significantly changed the paradigm of telecommunications services, leading to a dramatic increase in the number and type of services that telecommunication companies can offer. Building new advanced multimedia telecommunications services in a distributed and heterogeneous environment is very difficult, unless there is a methodology to support the entire service development process in a structured and systematic manner, and assist and constrain service designers and developers by setting out goals and providing specific means to achieve these goals. Therefore, in this paper, after a brief presentation of a proposed service creation methodology, its service design phase is examined in detail focusing on the essential activities and artifacts. In this process, the exploitation of important service engineering techniques and UML modelling principles is especially considered. Finally, alternative and complementary approaches for service design are highlighted and a validation attempt is briefly outlined. Key-Words: Service design, new telecommunications services, service engineering, service creation, UML.


Romania is often seen as being a special case, where democracy has particularly shallow roots. However, on closer inspection, it emerges that there have by all means been liberal tendencies in Romania's history. Over the past 200 years, Romania has moved with the flow of events in Europe – from the introduction of the constitutional monarchy in the 19th century to the mass democracy of the 20th. Free elections were still being held in Romania in 1937, when dictatorships dominated in most of the other states of central-eastern Europe. After that, the fate of the country was determined by various dictators. However, the democratic tradition has not been lost. Over the past ten years, democracy in Romania has experienced a notable upturn and has defied all attempts to quell it.


Rapid technological progress has enabled a wide range of flexible displays for computing devices, but the user experience--which we're only beginning to understand--will be the key driver for successful designs.


RATIONALE
The [3+3]-cyclocondensation reactions of chiral (1R,2R)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane with aromatic or aliphatic bis-aldehydes to form trianglimine macrocycles were reported a decade ago and were believed to proceed through a stepwise mechanistic pathway; however, no intermediates were ever isolated or detected and characterized.

METHODS
We investigated the mechanism of the [3+3]-cyclocondensation reaction using a selection of dialdehyde starting materials using real-time electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

RESULTS
We observed up to a maximum of 16 reaction intermediates along the reaction pathway, more than for any other multistep reaction reported. We also probed the dynamic reversibility of trianglimines using selected small dynamic combinatorial libraries and showed that trianglimine formation is indeed fully reversible.

CONCLUSIONS
This study represents a significant contribution towards understanding the mechanism of trianglimine formation and its potential applicability can be extended to include other cascade reactions.


The main cause of death in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is cardiovascular disease, and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) has been found to be one of the specific risk factors in the pathogenic process in recent years. TMAO is derived from intestinal bacterial metabolism of dietary choline, carnitine and other substances and subsequently catalyzed by flavin monooxygenase enzymes in the liver. The changes of intestinal bacteria in ESRD patients have contributed to the accumulation of gut-derived uremic toxins such as TMAO, indoxyl sulfate and indole-3-acetic acid. While elevated TMAO concentration accelerates atherosclerosis through mechanisms such as inflammation, increased scavenger receptor expression, and inhibition of reverse cholesterol transport. In this review, this research introduces the biological function, metabolic processes of TMAO and mechanisms by which TMAO promotes the progression of cardiovascular disease in ESRD patients and summarizes current interventions that may be used to reverse gut microbiota disturbances, such as activated carbon, fecal microbial transplantation, dietary improvement, probiotic and probiotic introduction. It also focuses on exploring intervention targets to reduce the gut-derived uremic toxin TMAO in order to explore the possibility of more cardiovascular disease treatments for ESRD patients.


Purpose — to study the effi cacy and safety of transesophageal atrial stimulation in combination with intravenous administration of amiodarone in comparison with pharmacological or device cardioversion in patients with typical atrial fl utter (AF). Material and methods. 129 patients with a typical paroxysmal or persistent AF were examined. The average patients age was 57.87 ± 7.43 years. The eff ectiveness and safety of pharmacological cardioversion with amiodarone iv, electrical cardioversion, transesophageal atrial stimulation, combined, if necessary, with intravenous amiodarone were compared. Conclusion. Statistically signifi cant diff erences were not found in the frequency of sinus rhythm achievement for diff erent types of a typical AF classical conservative treatment. The amiodarone addition during transesophageal atrial stimulation leads to a signifi cant increasing in the effi cacy in comparison with pharmacological cardioversion (p = 0.0380).


Checkpoints are widely used to improve the performance of computer systems and programs in the presence of failures, and significantly reduce the cost of restarting a program each time that it fails. Application level checkpointing has been proposed for programs which may execute on platforms which are prone to failures, and also to reduce the execution time of programs which are prone to internal failures. Thus we propose a mathematical model to estimate the average execution time of a program that operates in the presence of dependability failures, without and with application level checkpointing, and use it to estimate the optimum interval in number of instructions executed between successive checkpoints. Specific emphasis is given on programs with loops, whereas the results are illustrated through simulation. Keywords—software reliability, roll-back recovery, applicationlevel checkpoints, optimum checkpoints, program loops


ABSTRACT Promoting parent involvement in adolescent residential substance use treatment is an evidence-based principle, yet engaging parents is challenging. Parent SMART (Substance Misuse among Adolescents in Residential Treatment) is a technology-assisted intervention that was designed to engage parents of adolescents in residential SU treatment during the post-discharge transition period. A prior pilot randomized controlled trial (n = 61 parent-adolescent dyads) established Parent SMART's feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness in reducing adolescent substance use and substance-related problems across both a short- (i.e., short-term) and long- (i.e., long-term residential) term care facility. The current secondary analysis extends this prior work by examining whether Parent SMART was associated with improvements in putative mediators of change: parental monitoring and parent-adolescent communication. Multi-modal assessment consisting of participant-report questionnaires and a behavioral interaction task evaluated parenting processes over the 24 weeks following discharge. Generalized linear mixed models showed no significant time by condition interactions on the participant-report questionnaires, but found significant interactions on all five scales of the behavioral interaction task. Supplemental analyses by long-term residential facility detected additional interaction effects favoring Parent SMART on the participant-report questionnaires. Plotting of the interaction effects indicated that Parent SMART was associated with improvements in parenting processes, whereas TAU was associated with relatively stable or worsening parenting scores. Parent SMART demonstrated preliminary effectiveness in improving key parenting processes among adolescents discharged from long-term residential substance use treatment. Parent SMART warrants further testing in a fully powered trial that evaluates parental monitoring and parent-adolescent communication as mediators of change.


1. Forty-eight paralytic dislocations of the hip have been studied and twenty-seven operations for correction of valgus deformity of the femoral neck have been done. 2. The differing features of dislocations occurring in poliomyelitis, cerebral palsy and meningomyelocoele are considered in relation to management after operation. 3. Early recognition of subluxation is essential to a successful varus osteotomy. An angle of 105 degrees rather than the 120 degrees previously recommended is advisable for children under the age of five. 4. Redislocation is most likely to occur in meningomyelocoele in which muscular imbalance is greatest, and in later cases where the acetabulum has become shallow by growth without the femoral head within it. It has not occurred as a late complication after weight bearing has been established, from a recurrence of valgus deformity.


This thesis describes the conceptualization, design, and implementation of a tool which simulates the activity of spray painting, intended to augment the training of industrial spray painters at John Deere. Spray painting is a difficult task, and current methods of training do not result in the desired level of trainee expertise and performance. Through close cooperation with stakeholders at John Deere, a virtual reality-based simulation tool has been created, which provides a realistic recreation of the spray painting experience--particularly the feedback offered by the behavior and visual appearance of paint sprayed onto a surface. This paper discusses the motivation, intent, structure, and technical details which define and direct that simulation. A number of technologies were used in this simulation, and a number of algorithms developed, in order to provide an accurate and effective reproduction of the spray painting experience. These include the use of a physical paint spray gun, the software modeling of various system components and their interactions with each other, the creation of several different tools and features for feedback and review, and the detailed simulation of both the behavior and the visual appearance of wet paint applied to a surface, in accordance with the specific attributes of the paint. These features provide feedback similar to—and in some cases greater than—the feedback available during the actual paint spraying process, allowing a trainee to develop the skills necessary to ensure proper paint application without incurring the monetary, material, and environmental costs associated with physical painting.


At the Castle Creek study area a superbly exposed continental-slope channel-complex set of the Isaac Formation termed ICC1 crops out. ICC1 is 220 m thick and exposed over 5 km parallel to bedding and consists of four vertically stacked channel complexes—lower channel complex (LC), and three upper channel complexes (termed UC1–UC3). Based on differences in lithological and textural makeup, and stratal trends, two styles of channel fill and stacking pattern are recognized—disorganized stack of bottom-up channel fills (LC, UC1, and UC2), and organized lateral-offset stack of laterally accreting channel fills (UC3). Bottom-up channel fills show an upward and axis-to-margin fining and thinning, and were filled by poorly sorted, density-stratified flows. In contrast, channel fills of UC3 exhibit negligible upward and lateral fining and thinning and were filled by flows enriched in coarse and very coarse sand and were only negligibly stratified in their lower part. Accordingly, the lower, depositionally important part of the flow had a plug-like density profile with limited overspill that caused circulation patterns in channel bends to resemble those in rivers. Notably, the grain-size makeup of late-stage channel fills of UC3 indicates a change in the makeup of the sediment supply, namely grain size and sorting. Note that this systematic upward change in sediment texture and channel type is observed in most (5 of 8) Isaac slope channel-complex sets at the Castle Creek study area. These changes reflect a change from hinterland- to shelf-dominated sediment supply interpreted to be associated with a long-term rise of relative sea level that progressively expanded continental-shelf accommodation and retention of coarse relict and palimpsest sediment. During short-term relative sea-level falls this increasingly voluminous source of coarse, moderately well-sorted siliciclastic and minor carbonate sediment eventually came to dominate the supply of coarse sediment to the shelf edge, and in turn, controlled the character of turbidity currents that remobilized sediment farther down the continental slope and possibly onto the basin floor.


Fatal nontraumatic splenic rupture is documented in two patients, one with classical hemophilia and the other with the Kasabach-Merritt syndrome. Splenic rupture was due to multiple hemangioma-like lesions in both patients. These lesions apparently were acquired, possibly as a result of infection and disordered coagulation. The mechanism of rupture of the lesions could not be determined. The rarity of nontraumatic splenic rupture in these two syndromes probably explains why splenectomy was not done in either patient even though, in retrospect, evidence for subcapsular splenic hemorrhage was present for 2 and 17 days before death from rupture of the splenic capsule, respectively. Although splenectomy is more hazardous in patients with impaired coagulation, the situation also is more urgent in such patients since exsanguination occurs so rapidly following splenic capsular rupture (20 minutes and 90 minutes, respectively, in the present two patients). Patients with impaired coagulation who develop evidence of subcapsular splenic hemorrhage should be evaluated quickly and definitively, using splenic angiography if appropriate. Once subcapsular splenic hemorrhage has been confirmed, splenectomy should be seriously considered.


Project Air Schools complements other initiatives such as NSW School-Link between NSW Health and the NSW Department of Education to recognise the unique opportunity that schools provide for early intervention and prevention of mental illness among young people. Education staff have established relationships with students and are therefore in a pivotal position to notice changes in students' behaviour and provide appropriate action to support young people. To achieve this, the education environment needs to be equipped with appropriate knowledge and skills to identify and respond to young people with emerging personality disorder symptoms and challenging behaviours including self-harm. This guide was therefore designed with the motto: "For any teacher, anywhere". It is hoped that any person working in the education system engaging in regular communication with young people experiencing mental health difficulties will find this guide useful when they require extra support and information. This includes teachers, support teachers, year advisors, deputy principals, principals, school counsellors and psychologists. Project Air Strategy for Schools aims to provide education staff with information and tools to work effectively with young people that are experiencing a personality disorder or are presenting with emerging symptoms by offering an evidence-based approach that promotes early intervention within the school environment. This guide seeks to align with existing policies and resources. Most importantly, this guide has been designed to do just what its name suggests: to guide staff when they are feeling as though they need extra support, information, and specific tips for responding.


The objective of the present study was to produce a generic monoclonal antibody for immunoassay of residues of benzodiazepine drugs in swine tissues. Clonazepam was used to synthesize a hapten that was coupled to bovine serum albumin as an immunogen for the production of monoclonal antibody. Results showed that the obtained monoclonal antibody was able to recognize five benzodiazepine drugs simultaneously (clonazepam, flunitrazepam nitrazepam, diazepam, and oxazepam). The cross-reactivities were in the range of 24–100% and the limits of detection were in the range of 0.2–1.5 ng mL−1 depending on the drug. Then a competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed to determine the residues of five benzodiazepines in swine tissues (muscle, liver and kidney). The recoveries of five analytes from the fortified blank samples were in the range of 74.5–96.5% with coefficients of variation lower than 16.7%. Therefore, this immunoassay could be used as a rapid and simple method for the screening of residues of five benzodiazepine drugs in animal-derived foods.


The manipulation of rumen function through the removal of the ciliate protozoa has not resulted in consistent changes in ruminant production. Current research findings are discussed with particular emphasis given to the role of protozoa in fibre digestion in the rumen and the availability of protein for intestinal digestion. Dietary conditions under which positive responses to defaunation can be expected are identified.


Adaptive bit allocation for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)-based systems are critical for avoiding performance degradation due to additional bit allocations when channel conditions are bad. In this paper, we present two novel bit-loading algorithms for OFDM-based systems with target bit rate and fixed energy constraints. The proposed algorithms converge to the same bit allocation as the optimal discrete bit-filling and bit-removal algorithms. The proposed algorithms can approach a near-optimal bit allocation with less computational steps by using a water-filling solution at the initial bit allocation step, and then a multiple-bit loading procedure to satisfy the target bit rate. The proposed algorithms were evaluated by comparing with bit-filling and bit-removal algorithms through numerical analysis. Numerical results demonstrate the computational efficiency, fast convergence and optimality of the proposed algorithms.


This study confirms the effect of lowering manganese (Mn) content of sour service line pipe steels on improving the resistance to hydrogen induced blister cracking (HI BC), following which thermo-mechanical control process (TMCP) is considered as an effective tool to strengthen and toughen the low manganese steels. The HIBC is preventable when the Mn content is less than 0.4mass"/, even for the steels containing an order higher sulfur than latest ordinary steels for sour service. After confirming the effect of lowering Mn, the Mn content is estimated to obtain the required strength for line pipe steels. Presupposing ordinary rolling facilities available for the TMCP. 0,5 mass"/o of Mn is necessary to strengthen a steel microalloyed with Nb and Ti. Applying heavy reduction (600/•) and rapid coo]ing (80'C/s) to the 0.5Mn-Nb-Ti steel refines the microstructure and consequently improves simu[taneously both yield strength and Charpy transition temperature. As a result of studying the TM CP variables to achieve such grain-refinement, necessary TMCP conditions to obtain the better strength-transition temperature balance are the rolling finish temperature higher than the Ar3 transformation temperature of the steel, the heavy reduction which accumulates equivalent strain of more than 0.9 at 850'C, and the rapid cooling rate of more than 60'C/s.