Introduction and objectives Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a systemic disease characterised by persistent airflow obstruction but also has significant extra-pulmonary manifestations, including effects on body mass index (BMI). Nutritional status has been implicated as a predictor of outcome. We aimed to investigate the relationship between BMI and outcomes in a representative sample of UK COPD patients. Method Patients with a coded GP diagnosis of COPD on or before 31/12/2010 and full data for 3 years or until death were identified from the Hampshire Health Record Analytical database, which collects anonymised routine clinical care data from GP and hospital computer records. Subjects were categorised as underweight, normal, overweight, obese or very obese by WHO standards. Outcomes measured were all-cause death and respiratory-cause hospitalisation and emergency department attendance rate in the following 3 years. Multivariate cox regression modelling was used to estimate hazard ratio (HR) and confidence intervals (CI) adjusted for age, gender, smoking status and FEV1%predicted. Results 10,813 patients were identified (55% male, mean (SD) age 71.07 (±10.48), FEV1%predicted 59.96% (±19.98%). 1677 deaths (15.5%) occurred during the follow-up period. Compared with individuals with a normal BMI, underweight subjects had a higher mortality risk in adjusted analysis (HR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.31–1.88). The lowest mortality rates were in overweight subjects (HR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.64–0.81) and very obese subjects had no significant difference (HR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.68–1.02, p = 0.08). The relationship between hospitalisation rate and BMI was 'U' shaped. Admission rates were highest in the underweight category where 13.3% of subjects had ≥2 admissions compared to 6.2% and 5.3% of overweight and obese subjects respectively. A similar relationship was observed between BMI and respiratory-cause emergency department attendance. 13.9% of underweight subjects had ≥2 emergency department attendances. The lowest attendance rates were observed in overweight and obese subjects where 6.5% and 5.6% of subjects had ≥2 attendances. Conclusions Underweight COPD patients have the highest death and hospitalisation rates, whilst being overweight or obese appears to have protective effects. There is potential for nutritional supplementation interventions in underweight COPD patients to improve outcomes, and further research into the protective effects of obesity is required.


The percentage of cures in operations for tumors in and about the spinal cord is given by Stursberg as 32.2 per cent. A perusal of the complete literature of the subject will readily convince anyone that this percentage will eventually be much higher. After operation patients have died from excessive loss of cerebrospinal fluid, from sepsis, from shock, from exhaustion. The errors have been only partly surgical, for the patients have been rendered more liable to succumb to them through diminished resistance caused by delay in operating. In a large number of the recorded cases, the symptoms have preceded operation by two or three years or more; and pending the trial of futile treatments, notably the mercurial, the chances of cure have been scattered to the winds. Errors in diagnosis, unavoidable during the formation of a complete symptomatology of this rare disease, have also helped to swell the list


This contribution deals with the problematic area of specialised nomenclature in school material for languages that are comparatively new as languages of instruction. It concerns grammar, although in principle the same problems arise for those who write school materials for mathematics, chemistry, physics or any other subject taught in school. The nature of this contribution, however, is not the description of a research project in the normal sense, so it is not built up around a well formulated research question. Nonetheless, a working hypothesis can be seen to underlie the discussion. It is a reasonable assumption that if a grammatical terminology is created hastily and with quick ad hoc solutions based on English or a dominant language, it may impede transparency and learning in both the short and longer term. Consequently the hypothesis is that one finds the best solutions by starting from the local culture and everyday words, discussing and evaluating their merits as grammatical terms, and only resorting to loans or foreign influence if that approach fails. The suggestions that form this hypothesis are found in (1).


Zeolitic materials with sufficiently narrow pores for shape-selective reactions are developed which do not suffer from the diffusional side effects of narrow pores, such as a high Thiele modulus, a low effectiveness factor, and pore blocking by side reactions. The diffusional limitations are remedied by the creation of mesopores through dealumination and desilylation of the zeolites by acids and complexing agents. The removal of nitrogen from N-containing aromatics takes place via a complex network of hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis and N-elimination reaction steps. To investigate the catalytic sites at which these steps take place, the kinetics of the hydrodenitrogenation of model compounds such as pyridine, piperidine, quinoline, decahydroquinoline and aniline is studied at elevated temperature and pressure in plug flow reactors. The mechanism of the formation of methanol from carbon monoxide and hydrogen at medium high pressure is studied in a plug flow reactor, as well as in a combination of a medium high pressure reactor with a surface science apparatus comprising X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry. Experiments in plug flow equipment have shown that the methanol formation is only formed over Pd and Rh catalysts when the catalyst is doped with earth alkali metals.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate the effect of two kinds of fermented food, noni juice and natto, on blood glucose and lipids in induced diabetic mice.

METHODS
Female (ICR) mice were induced into diabetes by an injection of alloxan (55 mg/kg, i. v.). After 72 hours, those mice whose fasting blood glucose levels were over 12.00 mmol/L and urine sugar was strongly positive (+ + +) were regarded as diabetical model and were randomly divided into three groups (n=10):diabetical model (DM) group, noni juice (NJ) group and natto (NT) group. Another ten normal female ICR mice were taken as normal control (NC) group. The mice in NJ and NT groups were gavaged with noni juice (25.0 ml/kg) and natto (0.6 g/kg) respectively. The other two groups were given normal saline (25.0 ml/kg). Continuous gavage administration was given for 30 days, the water-drinking volume and food-intake were recorded. After 1.5 h of the last administration, the glucose tolerance of mice was measured. Finally, the changes in glycated serum protein(GSP), insulin(Ins) and blood lipids of blood samples of mice, taken from the femoral artery, were determined.

RESULTS
Compared to the NC group, the water-drinking amount and food-intake, GSP and total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride(TG) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) in DM group were increased significantly (P<0.01), while glucose tolerance, Ins and high density lipoprotein (HDL) were decreased significantly (P<0.01). However, when it came to DM group, NJ and NT could significantly (P<0.01 or P<0.05) reduce, GSP, TG and LDL, meanwhile improve glucose tolerance, Ins and HDL (P<0. 01).

CONCLUSIONS
Both noni juice and natto could reduce the blood glucose levels in induced diabetical mice and improve blood lipids, which suggested that they may have certain application value in prevention and treatment of diabetic mellitus.


Abstract 3155 The often aggressive and unpredictable behavior of T-cell lymphoblastic malignancies continues to pose both major clinical challenges in children and adults. To discover oncogenic pathways downstream of critical genetic abnormalities that are characteristically deregulated in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), and to identify novel molecular targets for anti-leukemic agents with T-cell specificity, we carried out a genome-wide functional screen in T-ALL cell lines using a retroviral library of inducible short-hairpin RNAs (shRNAs). Among the genes that are required for the growth of T-ALL cells, we found that loss of TYK2, a JAK family tyrosine kinase, was specifically lethal in each of three T-ALL cell lines that we tested in this screen. By contrast, TYK2 knock-down did not affect the growth of cell lines from diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or multiple myeloma, indicating that TYK2 is specifically required for the growth of T-ALL cells. We confirmed by knock-down with multiple independent shRNAs that the loss of TYK2 induces apoptosis in T-ALL, whereas knock-down of other JAK proteins (JAK1, JAK2 or JAK3) had no effect. We found that the TYK2 protein is constitutively phosphorylated in many T-ALL cell lines, and that these cells are sensitive to small molecule JAK/TYK2 inhibitors, including JAK inhibitor-I, AG-490 and CEP-701. To identify upstream receptors involved in TYK2 activation, we knocked down IFNAR, IFNGR, IL10R and IL12RB, and found that loss of IFNAR1 and IFNAR2 specifically inhibit the growth of T-ALL cells, as strongly as TYK2 knock-down. In addition, targeted knock-down analysis of downstream STAT proteins revealed that loss of STAT1 also inhibits the growth of T-ALL cells, indicating that this transcription factor is involved in the TYK2 pathway and required for cell survival. In fact, STAT1 protein was constitutively phosphorylated in many T-ALL cell lines and this phosphorylation was inhibited by both TYK2 knock-down and treatment with JAK/TYK2 inhibitors. Although interferon-mediated pathways are cytostatic in many cell types, our results indicate a requirement for the IFNAR-TYK2-STAT1 pathway in promoting the growth and survival of T-ALL cells. Dependence on this pathway confers unique sensitivity of T-ALL cells to TYK2 inhibition by small molecule inhibitors, thus providing a novel therapeutic target for clinical testing in patients with this disease. Disclosures: Druker: Molecular MD: Equity Ownership.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the relationship between hypermethylation of the promoter of death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) gene and laryngeal squamous cell cancer.

METHODS
Promoter hypermethylation and mRNA expression of DAPK gene were detected by methylation-specific PCR, RT-PCR and gene sequencing.

RESULTS
Among the 58 patients with laryngeal squamous cell cancer, hypermethylation of DAPK promoter was detected in 39 cases (67.2%). There was no significant difference in hypermethylation in relation to pathological grade and clinical staging, but a highly significant difference was observed between patients with and without lymph node metastasis (N0 and N1) (P < 0.001). DAPK promoter hypermethylation was detected in tumor adjacent tissues in 6 of the 58 cases. DAPK mRNA was not expressed in all laryngeal squamous cell cancers having hypermethylation of DAPK promoter, whereas it was expressed in normal laryngeal mucosa, laryngeal squamous cell cancers without hypermethylation and tumor adjacent tissues.

CONCLUSION
Hypermethylation of DAPK promoter is associated with loss of its transcription in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. The high frequency hypermethylation of DAPK promoter illustrates its potential clinical application as tumor marker for diagnosis and prognosis.


In this paper we study the N-player nonzero-sum Dynkin game $(N\geq 3)$ in continuous time, which is a noncooperative game where the strategies of the players are stopping times or pure strategies. We show that the game has a Nash equilibrium point for general payoff processes.


We generalize fluctuating hydrodynamics to study the effect of fractional time derivatives on the light-scattering spectrum of a suspension in a viscoelastic solvent under an external density gradient. Viscoelasticity introduces additional memory effects into the fluctuating hydrodynamic equations, causing the time scales associated with the mesoscopic variables and those of the microscopic events to be no longer well separated. This situation is taken into account by introducing Caputo's fractional time derivative into the description. The structure factor of the suspension is calculated, and we find that its nonequilibrium correction is an odd function of the frequency. It exhibits a shift towards negative frequencies proportional to the magnitude of the imposed gradient. We consider solvents that are described by Maxwell's or power-law rheological equations of state. The fractional structure factor is compared with the nonfractional one, and it is found that the ratio of the former to the latter may be positive and up to two orders of magnitude for both types of viscoelasticity. This prediction of our model calculation suggests that this relative change might be measurable.


This volume contains a selection of papers presented at Linearity/TLLA 2018: Joint Linearity and TLLA workshops (part of FLOC 2018) held on July 7-8, 2018 in Oxford. Linearity has been a key feature in several lines of research in both theoretical and practical approaches to computer science. On the theoretical side there is much work stemming from linear logic dealing with proof technology, complexity classes and more recently quantum computation. On the practical side there is work on program analysis, expressive operational semantics for programming languages, linear programming languages, program transformation, update analysis and efficient implementation techniques. Linear logic is not only a theoretical tool to analyse the use of resources in logic and computation. It is also a corpus of tools, approaches, and methodologies (proof nets, exponential decomposition, geometry of interaction, coherent spaces, relational models, etc.) that were originally developed for the study of linear logic's syntax and semantics and are nowadays applied in several other fields.


The major global crises of the past four years – financial, fuel, food, climate – have collectively had a dramatic impact on people's lives and livelihoods. Have they also had a large impact on core ideas underlying mainstream development? Drawing on a number of Reimagining Development case studies and on a much wider literature, this article examines the impacts of the crises on lives and livelihoods and also on core development ideas. First the article sets out why the current time is a good one for reimagining. Then it highlights some of the new ideas that are emerging and some of the older ones that are making a reappearance. Finally, the article reflects on the challenges of reimagining development and processes that are important if new ideas are to make a difference.


Within recent years several investigations have reported the use of polarimetric data to map Earth terrain types and land covers. For the operational application some demands, besides the accuracy requirements, must be fulfilled. In order to make the handling of the classification easy for the common user, the algorithm has to be data set independent and the handling must be possible without a priori knowledge. The authors outline a classification based on the entropy (H)-/spl alpha/ decomposition theorem extended by the use of the first eigenvalue of the coherency matrix. Fuzzy algorithms as well as artificial neural network (ANN) strategies are applied to improve the classification accuracy and to enhance the handling. The algorithms are applied to a L-band data set of the test site Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, acquired with the DLR's airborne Experimental SAR (E-SAR) in April 1997. The classification results are discussed and compared to reference data i.e. topographic maps in the scale 1:25000 (maps 7833 and 7933) and airborne optical data acquired with a ZEISS RMK A30/23 Camera in August 1997.


Focusing on travel survey data from Germany, this paper investigates the determinants of automobile travel, with the specific aim of quantifying the effects of fuel prices and fuel economy. The analysis is predicated on the notion that car mileage is a two-stage decision process, comprising the discrete choice of whether to own a car and the continuous choice of distance traveled. To capture this process, we employ censored regression models consisting of Probit and OLS estimators, which allows us to gauge the extent to which sample selectivity may bias the results. Our elasticity estimates indicate a significant positive association between increased fuel economy and increased driving, and a significantly negative fuel-price elasticity, which ranges between − 35% and − 41%. Taken together, these results suggest that fuel taxes are likely to be a more effective policy measure in reducing emissions than fuel-efficiency standards.


- Proposed are the new types of fast training, scalable analog and digital artificial neural networks (p-networks) based on the new model of formal neuron, described in [1]. The p-network includes synapses with a plurality of weights, and devices of weight selection based on the intensity of the incoming signal. Versions of the p-networks are presented that are formed with resistance elements, such as, memristor elements. Also described are the matrix methods of training and operation for the proposed network. Training time for the new network is linearly dependent on the size of the network and the volume of data, in contrast to other models of artificial neural networks with the exponential dependence. Thus, p-network training time is dozens time faster than training time of the known networks. The obtained results can be applied in existing artificial neural networks, and in development of a neural microchip.


The paper presents a study on four adaptive sampling methods of a multi-fidelity (MF) metamodel, based on stochastic radial basis functions (RBF), for global design optimisation based on expensive CFD computer simulations and adaptive grid refinement. The MF metamodel is built as the sum of a low-fidelity-trained metamodel and an error metamodel, based on the difference between high- and low-fidelity simulations. The MF metamodel is adaptively refined using dynamic sampling criteria, based on the prediction uncertainty in combination with the objective optimum and the computational cost of high- and low-fidelity evaluations. The adaptive sampling methods are demonstrated by four analytical benchmark and two design optimisation problems, pertaining to the resistance reduction of a NACA hydrofoil and a destroyer-type vessel. The performance of the adaptive sampling methods is assessed via objective function convergence.


Purpose: To obtain quantitative, two-dimensional dose measurements of external radiotherapy beams with a computed radiography (CR) system and to derive volume correction factors for ionization chambers in small fields. Methods: A commercial Kodak ACR2000i CR system with Kodak Flexible Phosphor Screen HR storage foils was used. Suitable measurement conditions and procedures were established. Several corrections were derived, including image fading, length-scale corrections and long-term stability corrections. Dose calibration curves were obtained for cobalt, 4 MV, 8 MV and 25 MV photons, and for 10 MeV, 15 MeV and 18 MeV electrons in a water phantom. Inherent measurement inhomogeneities were studied as well as directional dependence of the response. Finally, 2D scans with ionization chambers were directly compared to CR measurements, and volume correction factors were derived. Results: Dose calibration curves (0.01 Gy to 7 Gy) were obtained for multiple photon and electron beam qualities. For each beam quality, the calibration curves can be described by a single fit equation over the whole dose range. The energy dependence of the dose response was determined. The length scale on the images was adjusted scan-by-scan, typically by 2 percent horizontally and by 3 percent vertically. The remaining inhomogeneities after the system's standard calibration procedure were corrected for. After correction, the homogeneity is on the order of a few percent. The storage foils can be rotated by up to 30 degrees without a significant effect on the measured signal. First results on the determination of volume correction factors were obtained. Conclusion: With CR, quantitative, two-dimensional dose measurements with a high spatial resolution (sub-mm) can be obtained over a large dose range. In order to make use of these advantages, several calibrations, corrections and supporting measurements are needed. This work was funded by the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) project HLT09 MetrExtRT Metrology for Radiotherapy using Complex Radiation Fields.


Non-isothermal curing kinetics of DGEBA/PLA/MTHPA compounds was modeled using Ozawa, Kissinger, Friedman autocatalytic, Friedman and Málek models, whose parameters and associate deviation are reported. Ozawa and Kissinger consider global Ea over the whole conversion, estimated as 65.0 kJ/mol with R2 0.8393 and 87.60; these low R2 are due to the several stages during curing with distinct energy needs which most likely conducted to the discrepancies that should not be ignored; nevertheless, the average Ea might be adopted for the curing understanding, whereas adding PLA subtly increases Ea. Málek's model adequately described the kinetics processes as also did isoconversional and autocatalytic Friedman models which presented R2 > 0.99. PLA's molecular chains behaved as curing impediments, and during its progress, it is hypothesized that they increase the system's swollen coils and eventually an interconnected structure that percolates the system results in (macro) gelation instead cross-linking; additionally, hydrogen bonds between PLA–DGEBA promote competitive reactions during reticulation.


Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of mortality in developing countries and infants are at particular risk. Currently, the only licensed vaccine is Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), which has variable efficacy. BCG has been shown to provide heterologous protection against unrelated pathogens and enhance immunity to other Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) vaccines when given at birth. However, only one recently published study has shown an enhanced pro-inflammatory effect of BCG among vaccinated neonates and the immunological mechanisms of this effect in infants are not known. Further studies are required if this BCG effect is to be understood. This thesis describes the differences in soluble and cellular responses to vaccine specific and non-specific heterologous antigens and EPI antibody levels between infants vaccinated with BCG at 6 weeks and those delayed until 18 weeks of age using flow cytometry, multiplex cytokine arrays and vaccine antibody assays. We found low plasma cytokine levels and little cytokine production to PPD (the BCG-recall antigen) regardless of vaccination status. However, the BCG vaccinated group had lower production of IL-10 with both Toll like receptor (TLR) agonists and unrelated pathogen stimulation when compared to their unvaccinated counterparts, and this was more prominent in females than males. This contrasts with previous studies showing enhanced pro-inflammatory responses to TLR agonists and killed pathogens following BCG vaccination. The infants received BCG Denmark in these latter studies, whereas BCG Russia was used in our study, therefore strain differences in heterologous effects of BCG may be one explanation for the discrepancy. When cellular responses were analyzed by flow cytometry low cellular responses were observed in both groups. However, we observed a significantly higher proportion of IFNγ+ CD8+ cells 1 week after vaccination compared to the unvaccinated group in response to PPD and Candida albicans stimulation. Despite their different vaccine schedules, protective antibody levels to polio, tetanus and hepatitis B vaccines were obtained by all subjects; although no boosting effect of BCG was seen in contrast to previous studies when BCG was given at birth. A tuberculin skin test (TST) was performed at 18 weeks of age as a functional measure of delayed type hypersensitivity to Mtb. Due to the influence of BCG vaccination on TST induration, the vaccinated infants had significantly higher indurations than the unvaccinated infants and this was more pronounced in males. Our findings are in contrast to a study in South Africa, but support findings from a study in Uganda, where delayed BCG vaccination significantly reduced responses to BCG compared to infants vaccinated at birth, suggesting an impact of environment (including exposure to non-tuberculous mycobacteria) in masking the immune response to BCG, differences in vaccine strains might be a major reason for differences observed in our study and the other South African studies However, two major limitations of our study are the lack of a vaccine group at birth as per the current vaccine schedule, and a postvaccination follow up for the infants vaccinated at 18 weeks to determine differences in immunity to BCG with a further delay in vaccination. In conclusion, BCG vaccination given at 6 weeks of age showed no difference in Th1 responses, but decreased IL-10 responses after TLR agonist and unrelated pathogen stimulation compared to unvaccinated infants. These effects, together with TST induration, were influenced by sex. Importantly, however, delaying vaccination did not have an effect on other EPI vaccine antibody levels, with all infants reaching protective levels by 18 weeks of age. This study provides further insight into BCG effects in infants in a West African setting.


During the past few years, bibliometric studies were conducted on research performance at three Flemish universities : The University of Ghent, the Catholic University of Leuven, and the University of Antwerp. Longitudinal analyses of research input, publication output, and impact covering a time span of 12 years were made of hundreds of research departments. This article outlines the general methodology used during these studies, and presents the main outcomes with respect to the faculties of medicine, science, and pharmaceutical science at the three universities involved. It focuses on the reactions of the researchers working in these faculties and of the university evaluation authorities on the studies.


Nucleation has been studied in pure co-crystal and mixed co-crystal phase regions of the ternary phase diagram (TPD) in acetonitrile at 20 °C using cooling crystallization experiments. Direct nucleation of each of the co-crystal phases in this system was independently observed in regions of the TPD where each is stable. In mixed regions, regions where either a co-crystal and a coformer, or both co-crystals, are stable, the phase that initially nucleated was a function of the mass composition in that region. The relative amount of each phase nucleating could be controlled by adjusting the relative mass fraction of each component. The kinetic return to equilibrium was also observed as the systems were held over time, with the selected mass fractions always returning to the equilibrium dictated by the TPD after 24 h.


Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae Identification of Arabica Coffee(coffea arabica L.) and Robusta Coffee (Coffea robusta L.) Rhizosphere andIts Spore Multiplication in Zeolite Media. The high demand of coffee in the world led the farmers to improve coffee productivity by using inorganic fertilizers. Considering potential problems that may occured due to inorganic fertilizer use, aplication of biological fertilizer which one of them is containing Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae (VAM) could be expected to assist the growth of Arabica coffee and Robusta coffee plants in more naturally manner. This study aimed to determine the types mycorrhizal of rhizosphere coffee plants and determine the effectiveness of zeolite media and corn symbiont plant in propagation of VAM. The study began in April to August 2015. Spore isolation was done by conducting wet sieving method. Roots colonization percentages were calculated by root staining method and spores multiplication through trapping culture method. The results showed that VAM spores found in the rhizosphere arabica coffee plants are two genera VAM Acaulospora and Glomus, whereas in robusta coffee plant found three genera Acaulospora, Glomus, and Gigaspora. Mycorrhizal structures found in the rhizosphere of Arabica and Robusta coffee plants were arbuscular, vesicles, hyphae and inner spores. Corn symbionts plant and zeolite media were good combination for the propagation of VAM spores.


PurposeThis study draws upon the theory of eudaimonic motivation to develop a model that explains job performance in high-tech industry. This study aims to clarify through what mediating mechanism employees' social interaction and self-efficacy can substantially influence their job performance. At the same time, competence enhancement is examined as a moderator that influences the effects of social interaction and self-efficacy.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses developed in this study were empirically tested by collecting three-source data from a leading international business company in Taiwan's high-tech industry. The survey data of this study were first analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis for testing the hypotheses of the study. Post hoc tests were then performed using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping analysis for the purpose of double verifications.FindingsThis study finds that social interaction and self-efficacy relate to job performance via the full mediation of occupational commitment and achievement striving. Besides, the relationship between social interaction and occupational commitment is positively moderated by competence enhancement, while the relationship between self-efficacy and occupational commitment is negatively moderated by competence enhancement.Originality/valueThis work shows important findings that complement previous research on personnel performance and competence. First, this work confirms that social interaction and self-efficacy play critical roles for indirectly influencing job performance through the full mediation of occupational commitment and achievement striving among engineers in high-tech industry. Second, the moderating effects of competence enhancement on the relationships between social interaction and occupational commitment and between self-efficacy and occupational commitment are confirmed by this study.


Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular protozoan parasite of worldwide distribution. Parasites that habour a complete antigenic profile, that is necessary for the serological diagnosis of human Toxoplasma infections, are provided by in vivo culture methods only. It seems that the host immune pressure is responsible for the expression of a total antigen pattern. Thus, in most laboratories the asexual proliferative stage of the parasite, the tachyzoite, is maintained by successive intraperitoneal passages in highly susceptible animals such as mice. We would like to develop an in vitro method to provide sufficient amounts of high quality parasite antigen suitable for diagnosis of Toxoplasmosis. Using the RAPD-PCR (random amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR) technique, we were able to show that during different culture conditions (in vivo and in vitro culture) the parasites undergo no clonal selection. That means the entire parasite population changes the protein expression pattern due to the in vitro culture conditions. Based on the result described previously the work could be continued as follows. One strategy could be to simulate the host immune pressure during the in vitro cultivation of the tachyzoites. A more convinced approach may be the production of recombinant parasite antigens useful for diagnosis of a Toxoplasma infection in human adults and newborns.


Abstract CoCl2 · 6H2O/In system was found to be a new reagent for deoxygenation of various amine‐N‐oxides to the corresponding amines in good to excellent yields under sonication.


In this issue (p 336), Poretz et al report the largest published series of patients treated with intravenous (IV) antibiotics as outpatients. Their experience closely parallels that of previous reports that document the efficacy, safety, and cost savings of this form of therapy. 1-3 In each of the published series, bone and joint infections predominate, with occasional cases of endocarditis and other deep-seated infections. Long-term follow-up is not provided in the article by Poretz and co-workers, but short-term efficacy was clearly demonstrated. Factors that might affect the efficacy of antibiotic therapy in the outpatient setting, eg, antibiotic stability, patient compliance, complications of the initial infection, and superinfection, were well monitored by the authors. Another potential feature of outpatient therapy could be a tendency to delay appropriate changes in therapy or to persist in ineffective therapy because of infrequent observations of the patient. In each of the series published to date,


We show that the notions of homotopy epimorphism and homological epimorphism in the category of differential graded algebras are equivalent. As an application we obtain a characterization of acyclic maps of topological spaces in terms of induced maps of their chain algebras of based loop spaces. In the case of a universal acyclic map we obtain, for a wide class of spaces, an explicit algebraic description for these induced maps in terms of derived localization.


This thesis submitted to the University of Dhaka in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy in Education.


I. INTRODUCTION As an alternative to vegetative (mitotic) proliferation, the two different haploid cell types ( a cells and α cells) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are able to conjugate ("mate") to form diploids ( a /α cells). The mating process has supplied an experimental system with which to explore the genetic control of cell-type specification and developmental regulation in eukaryotic cells. The mating process has also allowed investigation of the biochemical basis of intercellular signaling and intracellular signal transduction because conjugation is triggered by the mutual exchange of diffusible peptide pheromones that act through cell-surface G-protein-coupled receptors. Furthermore, study of the mating process has permitted analysis of hormonal regulation of both gene transcription and cell cycle progression, events that lead to a pronounced (but transient) cellular differentiation. Since these subjects were last presented in this forum (Thorner 1981), remarkable progress has been made in understanding the molecular nature of the genes and gene products involved in controlling and mediating this developmental program. Consequently, numerous reviews of various aspects of mating in S. cerevisiae have appeared over the course of the last decade or so (Nasmyth 1982; Sprague et al. 1983a; Rine 1986; Nasmyth and Shore 1987; Cross et al. 1988; Herskowitz 1988, 1989; Marsh and Herskowitz 1988b; Yoshida et al. 1989; Fields 1990; Sprague 1990, 1991a; Blumer and Thorner 1991; Dolan and Fields 1991; Marsh et al. 1991; Rose 1991; Hirsch and Cross 1992; Lipke and Kurjan 1992; Kurjan 1992; Konopka and Fields 1992). Elsewhere in this series are summarized our current picture of...


Light duty vehicles represent a notable target of regulation in the United States due to their environmental, safety, and economic externalities. Fuel economy regulation represents one of the more prominent attempts to limit the environmental externalities of passenger vehicles entering the U.S. fleet, but focus intently on technology improvements rather than encouraging the sale of more fuel-efficient vehicle segments. More precisely, the current fuel economy standards, which will be phased in between 2012 and 2025, reflect an approach that is explicitly intended to be neutral with regard to the size and types of vehicles sold, with the stringency of the standard scaled to vehicle footprint, or the area between the four wheels. In light of this size-neutral approach to fuel economy regulation, as well as a lack of precedent in the automotive literature, the author examined the extent to which shifts in demand for different light duty vehicle segments can impact fleet-wide LDV fuel demand. Shifts in the demand for LDV segments have occurred in recent decades, with the market share of conventional passenger cars decreasing from more than 80 percent in the early 1980s to just over half today, replaced largely by sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and crossover utility vehicles (CUVs). Though many factors influenced this transition away from conventional passenger cars, available literature suggests that misalignment between fuel economy policy and prevailing market conditions, combined with some protectionist tax policies for the domestic auto industry, were the main culprits. Moreover, a fleet model analysis suggests that the impact in terms of fleet-wide fuel consumption was not trivial, with vehicles sold between 1985 and 2010 consuming, over their entire useful life, over 100 billion gallons of petroleum more than if 1985 LDV market segments have prevailed over that period. This historical analysis provided motivation and justification for exploring the potential for shifts between segments in the LDV market to influence LDV petroleum demand over the next several decades, in order to illustrate the potential missed opportunities of implementing fuel economy regulations that do not encourage the sale of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle segments. Using a spreadsheet-based accounting model of the vehicle fleet, the author's analysis suggests that plausible shifts in the market shares of different LDV segments could increase or decrease LDV petroleum demand by up to seven percent, relative to a reference case provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (which, in itself, suggests a modest decrease in the demand for SUVs and CUVS through 2040).


China has been undergoing significant social and economic structural changes since launching its policy of economic reform and opening up in 1978. This has involved a transformation from a centrally planned economy, where there is no role for the market, to a market-oriented economy in which market principles play a major role. During the last four decades, great achievements have been made in terms of economic growth and social well-being. To name a few indicators: the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country increased from USD 189.65 billion in 1980 to USD 10.866 trillion in 2015, positioning China as the second largest economy in the world, with an average annual growth rate over 10%. Meanwhile, poverty levels have greatly improved. The poverty headcount ratio at USD 1.90 a day (2011 PPP) has decreased dramatically, from 42.15% in 1981 to 10.68% in 2013. The rapid economic growth, combined with the reform of the Hukou registration system, has also accelerated the migration flow from rural areas to urban areas. The population living in urban China in 2015 reached 763 million, making the urbanisation level of 55.61%, almost three times that in 1980.

With the rapid growth of the urban population, the welfare-based public housing provision system founded in the central planning era could no longer meet the increasing housing demand of urban residents. Thus, in 1994, comprehensive housing reforms were implemented, aiming to privatize the public housing sector and promote a housing allocation system based on market principles. The milestone of housing reform occurred in 1998, when the government completely suspended the traditional housing allocation system, making the housing market the only way to access housing services (Wang et al. 2012). The emergence of the private urban housing market spurred both housing transactions and prices. In 1998, the housing area traded on the market was approximately 108 million square metres on an average transaction price of 1854 yuan/m2. These two figures were nearly ten and three times higher in 2014, soaring to 1.05 billion square metres and 5933 yuan/m2, respectively.

At the regional level, rapid economic development has been accompanied by increasing inequality. Soon after the launch of the economic reforms, some coastal regions, Guangdong and Zhejiang in Eastern China, for example, grew quickly, due to the influx of foreign direct investment (FDI), advanced technologies and equipment, and favourable policies of the central government. The 'core' position of these regions in the national economy was further enhanced through a self-reinforcing process (Anderson 2012, p.127), shaping a core-periphery economic structure in China. In 1980, the regional gross product of Eastern China accounted for 43.69% of total GDP in China, while in 2014 this ratio increased to 51.16%, reflecting the polarization of economic activities.

Reflecting the distribution of economic activities, the inequality in the cost of housing between regions is also striking. In 2014, the average sale price in 35 main cities in mainland China was approximately 8599 yuan/m2, with the standard error also high, at 4651 yuan/m2, making the coefficient of variance 0.54, thus indicating a high degree of heterogeneity across this city-level housing market. The left panel of Figure 1.1 shows the spatial distribution of average house prices. It is apparent that the prices in the coastal cities of Eastern China are generally greater than the prices of inland cities. However, the picture of house price dynamics is a little different. From 2002 to 2014, the rapid growth in house prices, on average 11.38% per year, seems to be anational phenomenon and there is very little variance between the annual growth rates in different cities; the coefficient of variance is only 0.18, much lower than that of the house price level. Perhaps the most prominent spatial pattern of house price growth rate is that the northeastern cities experienced the lowest price appreciation during the period 2002-2014.

This dissertation is fundamentally concerned with the spatial patterns of house prices and their dynamics across cities in China. Although literature on the Chinese housing market has been emerging in recent years, little is known about the spatial interaction of regional housing markets. The following four chapters will be dedicated to responding to questions concerning the emerging market: Why is there a core-periphery structure in the distribution of interurban house prices? To what extent are the house price developments across cities similar? How do house price dynamics in one city affect the house price changes in other cities?

The investigation of the spatial dimension of the Chinese housing market has been always hampered by the quality of the data, especially when analysing house price dynamics. This situation has inspired the pursuit of research to construct house price indexes that reflect the house price changes as accurately as possible. In line with a key theme of this study, particular a


An estimated 1–3% of individuals within the United States are diagnosed with mental retardation (MR), yet the cause is unknown in nearly 50% of the patients. While several environmental, genetic and combined teratogenetic etiologies have been identified, many causative genes remain to be identified. Furthermore, the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying MR are known for very few of these genes. Males have a much higher incidence of MR implicating genes on the X‐chromosome. We have recently identified a novel gene, SIZN1, on the X‐chromosome and showed that it functions in modulating the BMP signaling pathway. Furthermore, we have shown this gene is necessary for basal forebrain cholinergic neuron (BFCN) specific gene expression. Given that cognitive function is impaired when BFCNs are lost or functionally disrupted, we undertook a screen of cognitively impaired males for SIZN1 mutations. We report on four different sequence variants in SIZN1 in 11 individuals with nonsyndromic X‐linked mental retardation(XLMR). Our data implicate SIZN1 as a candidate gene for XLMR and/or as a neurocognitive functional modifier. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The principal difficulty with reviewing an innovative book is avoiding effusive accolades unlikely to be believed by the reader. But the fact is that Infectious Disease in Emergency Medicine , by Brillman and Quenzer, is unlike any other book available in infectious disease, emergency medicine, or primary care. It bridges the gap between the exigencies of the emergency department and classic texts of infectious disease. "the 'reflexes' needed in acute management" The book's 951 pages are divided into three parts: "Principles of Infectious Disease," or, gathering the data and initially treating the patient; "Clinical Syndromes and Differential Diagnosis," a review of specific clinical situations and associated infections; and "Infections by Organ System," a reference section devoted to etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of specific infectious entities and structured much like classical texts of infectious disease. The first two parts of the book distinguish it from other texts with lists and tables that


The elaiophores of Trichocentrum cavendishianum (Bateman) M.W. Chase & N.H. Williams, Oncidium loefgrenii Cogn., and Gomesa recurva R. Br. display considerable morphological and anatomical diversity. Oil secretion by flowers of T. cavendishianum and O. loefgrenii can be related to the presence of saddle-like, labellar elaiophores and the labellar callus, respectively, whereas, in G. recurva, although oil is present, no obvious structure appears to be involved in its secretion. In the first two species, the secretory tissue consists of palisade-like cells, whereas, in G. recurva, these cells are oval. Many Oncidiinae are thought to mimic members of the Malpighiaceae, and the elaiophores of that family also contain palisade-like cells that may indicate evolutionary convergence. As oils accumulate below the elaiophore cuticle, that of T. cavendishianum becomes distended, whereas that of the other two species does not. Full discharge of oil from the elaiophores of T. cavendishianum probably occurs only after the cuticle is ruptured by a visiting insect, and this may contribute towards pollinator selection. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 155, 135–148.


Sweden is among the countries with the highest share of single households in Europe, but not all are truly partnerless. We examine the potential vulnerability of individuals in living-apart-together relationships at age 30 and above, analyzing data from the Swedish GGS. We apply multinomial logistic regression. The results show that individuals engaging in LAT occupy an intermediate position in terms of socioeconomic resources (homeownership and economic situation), being less advantaged than co-residents but better-off than singles, especially men. We find no association between ill-health and living in a LAT arrangement. Having previous family experiences (unions with or without children) is positively associated with LAT, but childhood family composition does not matter. The majority of LAT individuals claim to be constrained to living-apart-together rather than LAT being their preferred alternative. Women and the elderly (aged 70+) are, however, more likely to engage in LAT by choice and appreciate their non-residential partnerships.


Background: This study aimed to investigate associations between self-reported sleep duration and general and abdominal obesity in Korean adults stratified according to gender and age. Methods: Data from 41,805 adults, 18–110 years of age, collected by the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) in 2007 and 2015, were analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for obesity and abdominal obesity by sleep duration after controlling for sociodemographic and lifestyle variables. Results: Among individuals 30–49 years of age, there was an increased AOR for obesity only for sleep duration ≤ 5 hour/day compared with sleep duration 6 to 8 hour/day, both in men (OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.02–1.54) and women (OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.29–1.90), after controlling for covariates. Regarding women, there was increased AOR for abdominal obesity for sleep duration ≤ 5 hour/day (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.18–1.78) and ≥ 9 hour/day (OR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.09–1.76) compared with sleep duration 6 to 8 hour/day. However, for elderly individuals (≥ 65 years), there was a negative association between sleep duration ≤ 5 hour/day and obesity, but not with abdominal obesity, in both men and women. Conclusion: This study demonstrated a significant association between sleep duration and obesity, which varied according to gender and age.


Three antiviral hetarylhydrazones showed a depression of 3H-uridine incorporation into RNA of FL cells as a consequence of inhibition of uridine transport into the cells. By eliminating the action of the compounds on transport processes with the prelabelling method, only one compound showed a nearly 50% reduction of cellular RNA synthesis during the whole incubation period, whereas the other two compounds had no influence during the first 6 hr. Under prelabelling conditions all three compounds completely inhibited the synthesis of Mengo virus RNA. One compound did not affect cellular DNA synthesis, but presumably depressed thymidine transport into the cells.


Model checking is a modern, efficient approach to gaining confidence of the correctness of complex systems. It outperforms conventional testing methods especially in cases where a high degree of confidence in the correctness of the system is required, or when the test runs of the system are difficult to reproduce accurately. In model checking the system is verified against a specification that is expressed in a formal specification language. The main challenges are that the process requires quite a lot of training, experience, and computing power. Recent developments in the field of model checking address all of these issues. Safety properties are a subset of formal specifications that are simpler to verify than formal specifications in the general case. Additionally, safety properties can be used to improve conventional testing methods by observing the behaviour of the system at runtime and reporting the detected violations of the safety properties, which are more expressive than the properties used with conventional testing. In model checking, recognising and separately verifying safety properties can give faster verification times than just processing all properties without a specialised algorithm for safety properties. One of the problems related to model checking is creating specifications that are meaningful to both humans and to model checking tools. One specification language that focuses on this problem is the IEEE 1850 standard Property Specification Language (PSL). It is not as widely supported by academic model checking tools as linear temporal logic (LTL) or computation tree logic (CTL), but it has many features that make writing specifications easier for engineers. This work describes a method for verifying PSL safety properties by converting them to transducers, a variant of symbolic finite automata. The semantics in the most current proposal for the revised PSL standard is reviewed, and additional operators are introduced for formula rewriting. The main contributions of this work are the PSL translation and its proof of correctness with respect to the presented semantics, and a prototype implementation of an algorithm for model checking PSL safety properties. The implementation is built on top of the NuSMV model checker, a modern, opensource tool that previously had little support for PSL. Experiment results are presented to show the feasibility of the implemented approach.


The way hospital doctors work needs to be transformed, to repair the types of failure of care revealed by a series of reports over the past few years, the Royal College of Physicians has said.

It calls for barriers between hospital and community care to be abolished. The idea that hospitals are there to provide a brief period of acute care before discharging cured patients back to the community is no longer valid, particularly in the case of frail, elderly patients and those with dementia, says a new report from the college's Future Hospital Commission.1

It calls for seamless care without physical or professional barriers, delivered wherever is best for the patient, not the medical team. Care should come to the …


DNA sequences encoding the hormone-binding domains of several steroid hormone receptors were fused in frame to the MyoD gene. When the gene for this chimeric protein was expressed in NIH 3T3 or 10T1/2 fibroblasts, these cells displayed hormone-dependent induction of myogenesis. Our experiments focused on cell lines expressing estrogen receptor-MyoD chimeras. Induction of these lines in the presence of estradiol and an inhibitor of protein synthesis, cycloheximide, resulted in the activation of the endogenous myogenin gene but did not activate the muscle-specific creatine kinase or cardiac alpha-actin gene. This result suggests that MyoD is not a "direct" activator of these downstream myogenic genes but must first activate myogenin as an intermediary. Once muscle is induced by estrogen receptor-MyoD the muscle phenotype is very stable and does not need the continued presence of estradiol for its maintenance.


We present full-dimensional potential energy surfaces (PESs) for hydrated chloride based on the sum of ab initio (H(2)O)Cl(-), (H(2)O)(2), and (H(2)O)(3) potentials. The PESs are shown to predict minima and corresponding harmonic frequencies accurately on the basis of comparisons with previous and new ab initio calculations for (H(2)O)(2)Cl(-), (H(2)O)(3)Cl(-), and (H(2)O)(4)Cl(-). An estimate of the effect of the 3-body water interaction is made using a simple 3-body water potential that was recently fit to tens of thousands of ab initio 3-body energies. Anharmonic, coupled vibrational calculations are presented for these clusters, using the "local monomer model" for the high frequency intramolecular modes. This model is tested against previous "exact" calculations for (H(2)O)Cl(-). Radial distribution functions at 0 K obtained from quantum zero-point wave functions are also presented for the (H(2)O)(2)Cl(-) and (H(2)O)(3)Cl(-) clusters.


The existing investigations on piezoelectric materials containing an elliptic hole or a crack mainly focus on remote uniform tensile loads. In order to have a better understanding for the fracture behavior of piezoelectric materials under different loading conditions, theoretical and numerical solutions are presented for an elliptic hole or a crack in transversely isotropic piezoelectric materials subjected to uniform internal pressure and remote electro-mechanical loads. On the basis of the complex variable approach, analytical solutions of the elastic and electric fields inside and outside the defect are derived by satisfying permeable electric boundary condition at the surface of the elliptical hole. As an example of PZT-4 ceramics, numerical results of electro-elastic fields inside and outside the crack under various electric boundary conditions and electro-mechanical loads are given, and graphs of the electro-elastic fields in the vicinity of the crack tip are presented. The non-singular term is compared to the asymptotic one in the figures. It is shown that the dielectric constant of the air in the crack has no effect on the electric displacement component perpendicular to the crack, and the stresses in the piezoelectric material depend on the material properties and the mechanical loads on the crack surface and at infinity, but not on the electric loads at infinity. The figures obtained are strikingly similar to the available results. Unlike the existing work, the existence of electric fields inside an elliptic hole or a crack is considered, and the piezoelectric solid is subjected to complicated electro-mechanical loads.


Background Bone destruction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains a main concern in the clinical practice where the destructed joints may lead to impaired normal functional activity of patients. Antibodies against citrullinated proteins (ACPA) and high levels of Receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) have been linked to altered bone metabolism in RA including more osteoclastic activity predicting more severe course of RA and more joints erosion. Objectives To investigate ACPA in RA patients in relation to serum RANKL and disease activity in Rheumatoid arthritis. Methods Sera of 40 patients diagnosed as RA according to EULAR/ACR 2010 divided into two equal groups of 20 ACPA positive and 20 ACPA negative patient's group where RANKL was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbant assays (ELISA) and Results were correlated with disease activity using DAS28-CRP score. Results RANKL concentration was significantly higher in ACPA positive RA patients as compared to ACPA negative RA patients and Higher RANKL concentration was associated with higher disease activity measured using the DAS-CRP 28. Conclusions ACPA positive RA patients are associated with increased levels of RANKL and high disease activity in relation to ACPA negative patients. References Hensvold, Aase Haj, Joshua, Vijay, Saevarsdottir, Saedis, Larkin, Michaela, Israelsson, Lena, Qureshi, Ferhan, et al; Autoantibodies To Citrullinated Proteins Associate With Bone Destruction Marker and Are Modulated By First Anti Rheumatic Treatment In Early Rheumatoid Arthritis. [abstract]. Arthritis Rheum 2013;65 Suppl 10:1327 DOI: 10.1002/art.2013.65.issue-s10. Syversen SW, Gaarder PI, Goll GL, Ødegård S, Haavardsholm EA, Mowinckel P, et al. High anti-CCP levels and an algorithm of four variables predict radiographic progression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: results from a 10-year longitudinal study. Ann Rheum Dis 2007. Aletaha D, Neogi T, Silman AJ, et al. Rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria: an American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism collaborative initiative. Ann Rheum Dis 2010;69:1580-8. Geusens, P. P., Landewé, R. B. M., Garnero, P., et al. The ratio of circulating osteoprotegerin to RANKL in early rheumatoid arthritis predicts later joint destruction. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 54: 1772–1777. doi: 10.1002/art.21896. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my professors supervising my research for their support during every step working through this research and my father prof of rheumatology for his support in the medical field and his encouargment. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Abstract. Photos are an effective tool for recording ongoing disaster situations or damages after hazards. The emergence of smartphones has revolutionary influences on the use of photos. Even the general public can take photos, report any disaster situations they observe via mobile network, and share photos in social media because nearly everyone has a smartphone. These photos may provide valuable information about the disaster in reality. In addition to visual inspection, effectively and efficiently taking advantage of the available photos remains an interesting challenge. From a 3D perspective, we propose a synchronized approach for integrating the visualization and manipulation of photos and 3D geographic information system (GIS) data. The photos provide newly acquired disaster situations, while the 3D GIS data provide a realistic and comprehensive reference and links to other domain data to analyze damages from different viewpoints effectively. The key idea is to restore the position and orientation when the photo is taken in the system and synchronize the visualization of both types of data with a dual-window interface. If common feature points between the photos and 3D GIS data can be found, the damage assessment can be even more accurate. This approach will be extremely useful when before-and-after situations are compared. With the awareness of environment changes and willingness of participation from citizens increase, the proposed approach presents a new direction by highlighting the use of photos for improved decision making in disaster management.


Background: The Datex-Ohmeda S/5 Entropy Module (Datex-Ohmeda Division, Instrumentarium Corp., Helsinki, Finland), using time-frequency balanced Spectral Entropy, is a novel tool for monitoring the hypnotic state during anesthesia. The Entropy Module produces two values, State Entropy (SE) and Response Entropy (RE), and in adults, it has been shown to measure reliably the hypnotic effects of various drugs. In children, Spectral Entropy has been only preliminary studied. The authors' aim was to study Spectral Entropy as a marker of hypnotic state during general anesthesia in infants and children. Methods: Twenty infants (aged 1 month-1 yr) and 40 children (aged 1–15 yr) were anesthetized for surgery using standardized sevoflurane-nitrous oxide-based anesthesia. The relationships between SE, RE, or Bispectral Index (BIS) and (1) a modified Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation Scale, (2) non-steady state end-tidal concentration of sevoflurane, (3) steady state end-tidal concentration of sevoflurane, and (4) hemodynamic values were calculated using prediction probability, nonlinear regression, and correlation coefficients, as appropriate. The performances of SE, RE, and BIS were compared. Results: The prediction probability values (± SEM) of SE, RE, and BIS versus the modified Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation Scale in the induction phase were 0.83 ± 0.06, 0.88 ± 0.06, and 0.87 ± 0.08 for children and 0.76 ± 0.08,0.79 ± 0.08, and 0.73 ± 0.10 for infants; values in the emergence phase were 0.68 ± 0.05, 0.74 ± 0.04, and 0.64 ± 0.05 for children and 0.64 ± 0.07, 0.69 ± 0.06, and 0.72 ± 0.06 for infants, respectively. SE, RE, and BIS values were inversely proportionally related to the end-tidal concentration of sevoflurane for children, but for infants, the correlation was much less clear. No significant correlations were found between SE, RE, or BIS values and the hemodynamic values. Conclusions: Spectral Entropy may be a useful tool for measuring the level of hypnosis in anesthetized children and seems to perform as well as BIS. In infants, the clinical usefulness of both these electroencephalogram-derived methods must be evaluated in further controlled studies.


The Transformer structures have been widely used in computer vision and have recently made an impact in the area of medical image registration. However, the use of Transformer in most registration networks is straightforward. These networks often merely use the attention mechanism to boost the feature learning as the segmentation networks do, but do not sufficiently design to be adapted for the registration task. In this paper, we propose a novel motion decomposition Transformer (ModeT) to explicitly model multiple motion modalities by fully exploiting the intrinsic capability of the Transformer structure for deformation estimation. The proposed ModeT naturally transforms the multi-head neighborhood attention relationship into the multi-coordinate relationship to model multiple motion modes. Then the competitive weighting module (CWM) fuses multiple deformation sub-fields to generate the resulting deformation field. Extensive experiments on two public brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets show that our method outperforms current state-of-the-art registration networks and Transformers, demonstrating the potential of our ModeT for the challenging non-rigid deformation estimation problem. The benchmarks and our code are publicly available at https://github.com/ZAX130/SmileCode.


In the last three decades, a number of Asian thinkers supportive of, or opposed to, authoritarian rule have developed culture-based theories of democracy that challenge, or buttress, a liberal, "Western" understanding of democratic rule. The most famous expression was the "Asian values" discourse of government-linked intellectuals in Singapore and Malaysia, but there has also been a "political Confucianist" critique of "Western democracy" in China as well as claims that only "Thai-style democracy" is appropriate in Thailand. Less well known is a pro-democratic stance in Asia rooted in the region's major religious traditions. These apparently contradictory discourses have been dialectically related in the post–Cold War era: authoritarian rulers reacted to universalist claims about democracy with assertions of cultural particularism which, in turn, triggered a reaction by Asian democrats who pointed to the liberal character of world religions practiced in the region. While the civilizational critique of "Western" democracy (the origins of which can be traced to Imperial Germany and Meiji Japan) has contributed to democratic decline in the region, there has also been push back by offering an interpretation based on East Asia's major religious traditions to show that "Asian values" are not incompatible with democracy.


This study determined the entrepreneurial and technical capability of Carlos Hilado Memorial State College in relation to productivity, basis for the formulation of Resource Generation Development Plan. The researcher- made questionnaire was based from the Entrepreneurial Capability Indicator Questionnaire 2005 conducted to 150 CHMSC faculty members of the four campuses. Descriptive Method was used to determine the profile and responses on entrepreneurial and technical capability of the college.T-test and ANOVA were used as inferential statistical tools. Entrepreneurial and technical capability of the faculty members was to a moderate extent. Productivity capability was low extent. No significant differences were noted in the level of perception of faculty members in terms of Entrepreneurial, Technical and Productivity Capability when grouped according to different variables. The acquisition, utilization and production aspects be allocated to capital investment for sustainable programs and projects developed by the faculty members. The faculty members have to formulate one project proposal per semester for the resource generation development plan of the college. Keywords - Entrepreneurial, Technical and Productivity Capability,Resource Generation Development Plan


Male asses usually consist of two classes, social bachelors and solitary, territorial males. However, our observations of the Tibetan wild ass (Equus kiang) suggested a third class may exist. Unexpectedly, unidentified males were often found courting females within another male's territory. To test our hypothesis that a new social class existed, we compared 12 social behaviours among three putative groups. The third male-type spent less time herding and demonstrating flehmen, while spending more time retreating, trotting and in proximity of females, where they were more likely to engage in courtship and urine-marking. Based on increased time spent among females within other territories, the most courtship events, and minimal time invested in each courtship, they appear to employ 'sneaky' mating tactics. We discuss whether these 'transient' males are demonstrating an adaptive alternative mating strategy, or whether these behaviours result from a discrete developmental stage of bachelors unready to challenge a rival.


This paper presents a compact multi-channel CMOS active multiplier in a single chip which output generates the three different signals from V-to G-band frequencies. A meandered marchand balun and active power divider enable to minimize the overall chip size and achieve the wideband operation. The active power divider provides a wideband gain response as well as a constant gain variation according to the different load impedances. Therefore, the chip can provide independent output sources from 52 to 252 GHz with a Ka-band input signal in 40-nm CMOS technology. The proposed chip has achieved maximum output power of 2 dBm with 3-dB bandwidth of about 20% (52~66 GHz and 106~132 GHz). The peak output power at 208~252GHz is -4 dBm and the 3-dB bandwidth is 32 GHz. The chip consumes 275 mW (all paths turn on) with an area of only 1.17 mm2 including bonding pads. This is the first demonstration of a multi-channel active multiplier operating up to G-band with a compact chip size.


Spontaneous reporting of ADRs enhances detection of serious, unexpected and unusual ADRs. Healthcare professionals play an integral role in the success of safety surveillance of drugs. This study aimed to investigate knowledge, practice and factors affecting ADR reporting among clinicians. Cross sectional study was carried out among clinicians of a tertiary care centre irrespective of their gender, specialization and experience. A validated selfadministered questionnaire was distributed among clinicians to assess the knowledge, practice and factors influencing ADR reporting. The 42 clinicians participated in the study comprised more than 50% males, had a mean age 36+8 years and represented a multi-ethnic population of varying clinical experience. With regard to ADR reporting, majority of the clinicians correctly identified which of the ADRs had to be reported and the individuals who can report ADRs. Very few clinicians had reported ADRs to the Pharmacovigilance Centre. The common factor discouraging reporting of ADR was not knowing how to report ADRs (71%). A majority of the clinicians were willing to undergo training on this aspect. The study revealed under-reporting of ADRs, and the willingness of clinicians to be trained in ADR reporting thus contributing to Pharmacovigilance program


In this paper we present a high-quality, image-space approach to illustration that preserves continuous tone by probabilistically distributing primitives while maintaining interactive rates. Our method allows for frame-to-frame coherence by matching movements of primitives with changes in the input image. It can be used to create a variety of drawing styles by varying the primitive type or direction. We show that our approach is able to both preserve tone and (depending on the drawing style) high-frequency detail. Finally, while our algorithm requires only an image as input, additional 3D information enables the creation of a larger variety of drawing styles.


Management of forming muslim behaviorn according to Islamic education studies is accrued;n first, concept , that educations should looked forward to the second nHuman Values, physically or non, body, soul, desire, hearth and mind. Second, from side of environment education should being conducted by all part around students, either, societies, state or its institution. Third, implementing, that implementing education of faith, education of science, educations of practice, education of moral and social education. forth, education should being strongly conducted to make the peoples felt closely to the Quran and remembering syahadah that the peoples promised to their God before, through knowledge and culture, learning, education, andn ta'dib (morality)


OBJECTIVE
To document the fetal outcome in cases with pathologic Doppler findings in the fetal ductus venosus.

METHODS
The outcome of 12 fetuses with reduced velocities in the ductus venosus during atrial contraction was analyzed retrospectively and compared with that of a group of 57 fetuses with normal flow velocities in the umbilical artery and in the fetal ductus venosus.

RESULTS
The perinatal mortality was higher in the group with pathologic Doppler findings. There was no significant difference of pH (7.20 vs. 7.24) and Apgar scores (7.57 vs. 8.36) of survivors between the two groups. All 12 fetuses showed increased retrograde velocities in the inferior vena cava. Seven fetuses showed umbilical vein pulsations.

CONCLUSIONS
The diagnosis of altered velocities in the ductus venosus may influence prenatal decisions. Therefore Doppler examinations of the fetal ductus venosus should be performed in high-risk pregnancies.


Aim Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common bacterial infection in children. Much controversy exists over the level of investigation required for UTI, looking for evidence of scarring and vesicoureteric reflux (VUR). In the Northern Region we follow local guidelines which involve imaging, prophylaxis and prolonged follow-up for all those with first UTI under 1 year of age. This places a heavy burden on NHS resources. NICE produced new guidelines in 2007 which results in fewer investigations being recommended in a more targeted fashion. Our aim is to identify how many episodes of VUR we would have missed had we been following NICE guidelines. Methods A retrospective study in a large district general hospital from January 1998 - April 2008, looking at all children <1 year of age who had an MCUG investigation for UTI. Notes for all with abnormal scans were reviewed to determine if they met the criteria for scan under NICE. We could then identify patients with VUR who would have been missed if we followed NICE. Results Over a period of 10 years, 368 MCUGs were done for UTI in children under 1 year, of these, 73 (19.8%) were reported abnormal. Applying NICE guidelines retrospectively, 15 of these 73 would have been recommended by NICE, 58 were therefore performed in our study that went against the NICE guidelines, all of which were abnormal to some degree. Most showed evidence of grade I or II VUR but 9 showed evidence of grade III or VI reflux. Conclusion In rationalising investigation of UTI according to NICE guidelines we would have missed 58 children with a diagnosis of VUR. Many of these have grade I or II reflux, the clinical significance of which is unclear. However there are 9 children in our cohort with Grade III or IV VUR who would have been missed. Controversy continues to remain as to whether or not the presence of primary VUR predicts renal scarring and damage but some paediatric nephrologists continue to believe there to be a causative effect between the two.


Over the past ten years, several studies have outlined the importance of high blood viscosity as a pathogenetic factor in ischemic cerebrovascular diseases. Clinical studies have demonstrated that a high blood viscosity due to an elevated hematocrit (greater than 46%) increases the risk of cerebral infarction. Furthermore, in patients with high hematocrit, the cerebral blood flow seems to be lower than in controls and, by removing 200-250 ml of blood by venesection, the cerebral blood flow can be normalized. Several authors have therefore proposed that venesection may be used as a preventive measure in patients at risk for cerebral ischemia with high hematocrit. In addition, studies on experimental brain ischemia have shown that hemodilution reduces the size of the infarction. Therefore, hemodilution has been proposed as an effective measure in the treatment of acute cerebral ischemia. In conclusion, it seems that high blood viscosity is a risk factor in cerebral ischemia although its pathogenetic mechanisms and clinical importance are not yet completely clarified.


This paper presents a parametric analysis of the outward flow reaction type turbine known as a Z-Blade turbine for low-head low-flow conditions. By applying the principles of mass conservation, momentum and energy, a nomogram was designed to investigate the theoretical performance characteristics. Based on the parametric analysis and the governing equations and experimental results, attempts have been made to prove that the mass flow rate, angular speed, centrifugal head, power output and efficiency respond dynamically to the water head, radius of the rotor, size of the PVC pipes and the nozzle exit area. A turbine with a 1" pipe diameter gives a higher performance compared to a 1/2" pipe diameter, and certainly the performances of both pipe sizes are improved when the supplied potential energy is increased. This innovative turbine has a maximum rotational speed at an optimum turbine diameter at 0.6m, accompanied by a point where there is a sudden reduction in the water flow rate, where previously the increment in the water flow rate was very high. This can shows from the outcome nomogram with 1" pipe diameter can perform 350 rpm speed with 1.48 L/sec water flow. The Z-Blade turbine has been examined and has shown good potential to be used for low-head (3m, 4m and 5m) and low-flow (less than 2.5 L/sec) conditions.


Aim of research: to study the comparative effectiveness of new polycompositive of hemostatic implant on in vivo model of liver parenchymal bleeding. Material and methods. Experimental studies were performed using the developed polycompositive hemostatic implant (CPM) from cellulose derivatives. Main components of implant include: natrium carboxymethylcellulose, oxidized cellulose, nanocellulose and bonded calcium ions. In vivo experiments were conducted in both sexes white 24 utbred rats weighing 196.5 ± 2.8 grams. The animals were divided into two groups: the comparative group (n = 24) with an application of polycomposite hemostatic implant and main group (n = 24) with medical gauze. The hemostatic materials were used in equal weight 30 mg. All surgical procedures on animals were performed under general inhalation anesthesia in model of liver parenchymal bleeding. Results. Thus, hemostasis was reached within 34.0 ± 2.5 seconds in the main group with CPM, in the comparative group with medical gauze — 142.2±7.7 seconds. Repeated bleeding was observed in 11 (45.8%) cases of the comparative group and in the main group — 2 (8.3%) cases. Biodegradation of the hemostatic implant and regenerative processes in the liver parenchyma were registered on the 14 day, especially in the injured area that indicates the restoration of liver tissue. In the comparative group on the 30th day, the preservation of medical gauze structure was revealed without degradation signs. Findings. According to our research data, a polycompositive hemostatic implant adheres tightly to the liver tissue, stops bleeding without its recurrence. In histological studies conducted in the dynamics of wound healing of the liver it was found that the implant does not cause a severe inflammatory reaction and biodegradation occurs after 14 days.


The market demands for higher pin counts and more chips functionality poses challenges in conventional wire bonding. However, the novel insulated Cu wire technology enables fine and ultra fine pitch wire bonding as the insulator coating on the bare wire prevents wires shorting problem. This paper present study on the stitch bonding process optimization and its challenges for the insulated Cu wire with the diameter of 20 urn. Insulated Cu stitch bond samples showed 37 % lowe: stitc~ pull s~rength than that of bare Cu. The crosssectioned insulated Cu stitch bond shows that there are insulation residue between the Cu stitch and the Au plated substrate, potentially resulting low.er stitch pull p~rformance. H~wever, after isothermal aging at 225 DC up to 78 hours, the stitch pull results for Insulated Cu WIfe passed the Industry reliability standard, without any lifted bond. A detailed comparison study was performed for the Insulated Cu and the bare Cu stitch bonding. 1st International Conference on Science and Engineering of Materials (ICoSEM 2013) Page 69


Objective To measure the perceptions of military staff of the impact of wearing military uniform on the therapeutic relationship with mental health clients. Method A brief questionnaire was distributed to all military clinicians in Departments of Community Mental Health to measure their attitudes. Results There was a 67.9% (n=70) response rate regarding the impact of uniform on the therapeutic relationship. 20% of responses were positive, 31% negative, 37% mixed and 12% gave no answer. Conclusion There was no clear pre-existing literature on this issue. Overall, the wearing of uniform appeared to be perceived positively positive. There is a need to assess clients' points of view in future studies.


The main aim of this paper is to conduct the convergence analysis of the gradient descent for two-layer physics-informed neural networks (PINNs). Here, the loss function involves derivatives of neural network outputs with respect to its inputs, so the interaction between the trainable parameters is more complicated compared with simple regression and classification tasks. We first develop the positive definiteness of Gram matrices and prove that the gradient flow finds the global optima of the empirical loss under over-parameterization. Then, we demonstrate that the standard gradient descent converges to the global optima of the loss with proper choices of learning rates. The framework of our analysis works for various categories of PDEs (e.g., linear second-order PDEs) and common types of network initialization (Le-cunUniform etc.). Our theoretical results do not need a very strict hypothesis for training samples and have a looser requirement on the network width compared with some previous works.


The mouse genome contains a retrovirus-like sequence, designated VL30, which is expressed at high levels in transformed cells and which can be induced by exogenously supplied epidermal growth factor (EGF). Binding of EGF to the EGF receptor produces changes in intracellular calcium levels and phospholipase activity which indirectly lead to activation of protein kinase C. We treated AKR-2B cells, Swiss 3T3 cells, and the 3T3 variants NR6 (EGF receptorless) and TNR9 (phorbol ester nonresponsive) with various phorbol ester tumor promoters and with the synthetic diacylglycerol sn-1,2-dioctanoylglycerol. Tumor-promoting phorbol esters (e.g. 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate (TPA] increased the level of VL30 expression. Stimulation with either TPA or EGF produced a similar time course of VL30 expression. TPA induced VL30 expression in the EGF-receptorless NR6 cell line, indicating that neither EGF ligand-receptor binding nor phosphorylation of the EGF receptor was required for induction of VL30 expression. Protein synthesis was not required for the TPA-mediated increase in VL30 expression, as pretreatment with cycloheximide did not block or reduce the TPA effect. VL30 expression was also stimulated by treatment with sn-1,2-dioctanoylglycerol, an analog of a probable endogenous activator of protein kinase C. These results suggest that activation of protein kinase C plays a direct role in regulating VL30 expression.


Solar heat helps harvest humidity Atmospheric humidity and droplets constitute a huge freshwater resource, especially at the low relative humidity (RH) levels typical of arid environments. Water can be adsorbed by microporous materials such as zeolites, but often, making these materials release the water requires too much energy to be practical. Kim et al. used a metal-organic framework (MOF) material that has a steep increase in water uptake over a narrow RH range to harvest water, using only ambient sunlight to heat the material. They obtained 2.8 liters of water per kilogram of MOF daily at 20% RH. Science, this issue p. 430 Efficient extraction is enabled by a steep increase in water uptake within a narrow range of relative humidity. Atmospheric water is a resource equivalent to ~10% of all fresh water in lakes on Earth. However, an efficient process for capturing and delivering water from air, especially at low humidity levels (down to 20%), has not been developed. We report the design and demonstration of a device based on a porous metal-organic framework {MOF-801, [Zr6O4(OH)4(fumarate)6]} that captures water from the atmosphere at ambient conditions by using low-grade heat from natural sunlight at a flux of less than 1 sun (1 kilowatt per square meter). This device is capable of harvesting 2.8 liters of water per kilogram of MOF daily at relative humidity levels as low as 20% and requires no additional input of energy.


Title: The Twofold Rhythm of Duration in Opera. The Musical Dramaturgy of the Car Radio Opera "Cleansing of the Soul through Fun and Games".
This thesis focuses on musical dramaturgy in operas with a story. I believe my own music is better when I write operas than instrumental music. The question is why? The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between story and music and see how it affects the composing process. The point of departure of the study is the rhythm of duration (or continuous course) since story and music proceed side by side in time.
The artistic activity as such is made use of methodically to develop theories and tools. For this thesis I have written an opera specifically for the car radio and the opera is used to exemplify the discussion. Theoretically the genesis of this opera is understood as a creative act rather than one of causality or teleology. Beat analysis is a tool to uncover the interaction between story and music. Second-order melody gives
examples of formal thinking in rhythms of duration. The music can prolong any moment of the action in a drama. The aria, the most important element of opera brings out, when the action comes to a halt, a decisive statement of affect, which makes real presence possible. The composer has to indulge
in the timing of the rhythms of duration. In culminations, previously introduced music is combined resulting in a complex dramatic climax. The rhythmical continuity creates multi-layered patterns of waves that hold the piece together, even when the contrasts of the drama are reflected in the music. The twofold rhythm of duration in opera means that story and music implicate each other mutually, but only at specific beats. The articulation of contrasts in musical drama has influenced and developed my own personal, originally instrumental, concept of form.


ABSTRACT
Image is something that is abstract because it relates to beliefs, ideas and impressions obtained from a particular object either directly felt, through the five senses or obtain information from a source. As explained by Roesady, an image is a set of beliefs, ideas, and a person's impression of a particular object. The image of the Riyadhuttafsir boarding school is inseparable from the perception of students, alumni and the community who perceive according to their observations that this boarding school has a positive image. This response (acceptance) directly from students, alumni, and the community in the pesantren environment is in accordance with the results of interviews and observations in the field by researchers who explain that their perception of the Riyadhuttafsir boarding school is an experience of objects namely the Riyadhuttafsir boarding school which only studies the interpretation of science, or relationships obtained by summarizing information and interpreting messages from students, alumni or the community about the existence of the Riyadhuttafsir boarding school in Pagentongan, Bogor. Based on preliminary observations by researchers, what was felt by the community about the teaching and study of Tafsir in the Riyadhuttafsir Islamic Boarding School also confirmed what had been conveyed by the alumni of the boarding school. That the Riyadhuttafsir Islamic Boarding School succeeded in proving its work as a traditional Islamic boarding school which specifically studied interpretation in the Bogor Pagentongan region. Furthermore, the uniqueness of the hut from the existence of the hut is what makes the writer interested to explore and explore further about the perceptions, interests and image of the Riyadhuttafsir boarding school among students and alumni, as well as figures and communities around the boarding school will be the specialty of teaching methodology in Islamic boarding schools. Riyadhuttafsir is timelessly eroded by the changing times. In accordance with the above research title, problem formulation and research objectives, this study uses a qualitative research design. In this study the approach used is a qualitative approach that is displayed as it is. According to Bogdan and Taylor, as quoted by Lexi Moleong, qualitative research is a research procedure that produces descriptive data in the form of written or oral words from people and the observed behavior.
Keywords: boarding school, image, interest, perception, student


This study investigates the group consensus problem for heterogeneous multi-agent systems composed of discrete-time first- and second-order agents. Two kinds of distributed group consensus protocols are proposed based on the information of the agent itself and its neighbours. Model transformation is introduced and some sufficient conditions are derived for heterogeneous multi-agent systems with directed communication topology to reach group consensus by utilising the matrix theory and the graph theory. Finally, simulation examples are given to validate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.


This study looks at the relationships among land use; the mobility of disabled and elderly recipients of public home healthcare; the mobility of their homecare workers; and how much care those homecare workers provide. The findings are based on nearly 1,300 survey responses from clients and homecare workers in the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program in Contra Costa County, California, a publicly funded program for individuals with disabilities who have low incomes. The homecare workers I surveyed belong to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The qualitative data and descriptive statistics paint a portrait of both populations' transportation habits and challenges. Regression analyses, controlling for variables such as car ownership, disability level, gender, age, and race, tested the interactions between the variables of interest in six hypotheses. The results are complex and occasionally conflicting, yet patterns appear. For example, the IHSS clients have car-use rates far lower than average, with only 10% driving themselves when they leave home, and almost half live alone; these facts, combined with their low incomes and disabilities, mean that IHSS clients are sensitive to how much transportation assistance they receive in terms of how often they leave home and what destinations they are able to reach. They also respond to land use characteristics, especially when measured at the neighborhood scale, with those living in higher density and accessibility areas generally experiencing greater mobility. The homecare workers similarly have low incomes and use alternative modes of transportation more often than do Contra Costa commuters on average. Unlike their clients, homecare workers living in higher density and accessibility areas generally experienced increased travel challenges. But living closer to their clients was associated with being able to provide more effective care, as was having an easier commute measured by other variables. The more care provided, the greater mobility their clients experienced. The populations of care recipients and professional homecare workers are growing as, among other trends, the proportion of senior citizens increases and families disperse across the country or world. Understanding mobility barriers as well as ways to facilitate efficient and effective care provision becomes all the more important. This study describes transportation problems that IHSS clients and caregivers encounter and points to certain possible responses, in particular expanding the transportation assistance that caregivers are able to provide.


We describe a March 2020 co-occurrence of Legionnaires' disease (LD) and coronavirus disease in France. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 co-infections were identified in 7 of 49 patients from LD case notifications. Most were elderly men with underlying conditions who had contracted severe pneumonia, illustrating the relevance of co-infection screening.


Objective: Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP), which is a fatal disorder inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion, is characterized by systemic accumulation of polymerized transthyretin (TTR) in the peripheral nerves and systemic organs. Liver transplantation has become an accepted treatment of this disorder because it stops the major production of amyloidogenic TTR. However, improved survival of transplant patients compared with that of nontransplant patients has not been sufficiently demonstrated. This study investigated whether transplantation improved the long-term outcome of patients by comparing the survival of patients who had transplantations with that of patients who had not had transplantations. Methods: Eighty consecutive patients with FAP Val30Met who visited Kumamoto University Hospital between January 1990 and December 2010 were studied. The transplant group consisted of 37 patients who had a partial hepatic graft via living donor transplantation in Japan or who underwent liver transplantation in Sweden, Australia, or the United States. The nontransplant group consisted of 43 patients with FAP. Survival was evaluated by using Kaplan-Meier analysis, and the difference in survival was examined via the log-rank test. Results: The transplant group had prolonged survival (p < 0.001) compared with the nontransplant group. The estimated probability of survival at 10 years was 56.1% for the nontransplant group vs 100% for the transplant group. Conclusion: Liver transplantation should be considered as an effective treatment in clinical management of patients with FAP Val30Met. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class III evidence that liver transplantation prolongs survival in patients with FAP Val30Met.


Abstract We present a summary of our recent results on the electrical and mechanical properties of fibers made from poly(2,5-dimethoxy-p-phenylene vinylene), PDMPV and poly(2,5-thienylene vinylene), PTV, using the precursor polymer methodology, and from polyaniline, PANI, using the method of processing as polyblends with poly-(p-phenylene terephthalamide), PPTA, from sulfuric acid. The solubility of both PANI and PPTA in H2SO4 presents a unique opportunity for co-dissolving and blending PANI and PPTA to exploit the excellent mechanical properties of PPTA and the electrical conductivity of PANI; we summarize the electrical and mechanical properties of such composite fibers. For PDMPV and PTV fibers, we find a strong correlation between the conductivity and the tensile strength (and/or modulus), and we show from basic theoretical concepts that this relationship is an intrinsic feature of conducting polymers.


Ring spinning is the dominant system of manufacturing high-quality yarns in the textile industry. Spinning parameters affect the spinning tension distribution and consequently the temperatures of the ring/traveler system. Excessive traveler heat will limit the spindle speed and the efficiency of yarn production. This study modeled the effect of the traveler weight, yarn count, twist level and spindle speed on the temperatures of the traveler and ring during ring spinning. The finite element method was used to model the temperatures of the ring and the traveler for different spinning parameters. The experimental ring temperature and maximum traveler temperature from the validated model were recorded based on the experimental design. The results show that spindle speed, traveler weight and yarn count had a statistically significant effect on the temperatures of the traveler and the ring, with the spindle speed having the strongest effect. The twist level of yarn, within the range examined, had no statistically significant influence on the traveler and ring temperatures. For a given spindle speed, the traveler weight and yarn count have a significant effect on the maximum temperature of the traveler, and the temperature change is more pronounced at a higher spindle speed.


Orally administrated diosgenin, a steroidal saponin found in several plants including Dioscorea villosa, recovers skin thickness reduced in ovariectomized mice, and plays an important role in the treatment of hyperlipidemia. Thus, diosgenin is an active element of cosmeceutical and dietary supplements. However, we have already elucidated that the skin distribution and absolute oral bioavailability of diosgenin is very low. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of diosgenin-cyclodextrin (CD) complexes in improving the skin concentration of diosgenin. The formation of the CD complex was indicated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies. Oral administration of the diosgenin/β-CD complex resulted in a significant enhancement in terms of the skin distribution of diosgenin, maximum plasma level (C(max)), area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC), and absolute oral bioavailability over those of the drug alone. These results suggest that the inclusion complex of diosgenin/β-CD can be used to improve low skin content of diosgenin.


Using dimensional and theoretical analysis together with available experimental data, it has been shown how flow conditions and stream bed slope affect the beginning of sediment transport. The dimensional analysis shows that, in general, the Shields parameter is a function of the stream slope and the Reynolds number. The traditional Shields diagram is a special case of this relationship for a zero of near zero slope. The theoretical treatment is an adaptation of work from earlier authors, which is used in conjunction with dimensional analysis to show the interdependence of flow conditions and forces contributing to the critical point of particle motion. Additional experiments are recommended.


The fuel tank systems of fixed wing and rotary wing aircrafts require the self-sealing and crash-worthiness for their survivability. For these requirements; the flexible composite fuel tank is generally used. In this study, the performance of the flexible composite fuel tank is investigated. The FE simulation includes the drop test of a fuel tank using MSC.DYTRAN. MSC.DYTRAN can provide the fluid-structure modeling of these test from Euler and Lagrange grids. Using MSC.DYTRAN, the finite element modeling of the test cube of the flexible fuel tank and its FE simulation are performed for various environments. The simulation results can show if the test cube satisfies the performance.