License Plate Recognition Systems are used to determine the license plate number of a vehicle. The current system mainly uses Optical Character Recognition to recognize the number plate. There are several problems to this system. Some of them include interchanging of several letters or numbers (letter O with digit 0), difficulty in localizing the license plate, high error rate, use of different fonts in license plates etc. So a new system to recognize the license plate number using color coding of license plates is proposed in this paper. Easier localization of license plate can be done by searching for the start or stop patters of license plates. An eight segment display system along with traditional numbering with the first and last segments left for start or stop patterns is proposed in this paper. Practical applications include several areas under Internet of Things (IoT).


Obesity, a complex interplay between environmental and genetic factors and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Usage of herbs for the management of obesity in the recent times is attracting attention. A web and manual based literature survey was conducted to assess the amount of information available on the herbal products for weight management. Traditional literature, PubMed, Scopus, Google scholar databases were screened up to February 2012. The search words were "obesity", "herbal medicine/products/extracts", "medicinal plants", "traditional medicine", "Ayurvedic medicine" without narrowing/limiting searching words or elements. Publications only with abstracts/full articles and books were reviewed in the search. Based on the available literature, for many of the herbal and weight loss products, there is little published information and there have been no clinical trials or the level of evidence is limited. Our literature survey also indicated that these herbal products fall under an acceptable level of evidence or with no scientific background at all, or they have a scientific rational but not to an acceptance level. Attempts were made in the review to define the features of possible herbal weight loss product. An ideal herbal anti obesity product should reduce the weight by 10% over placebo of treatment by showing an evidence of improvement of bio markers like blood pressure, lipids and glycemia without any side effects.


Accurate spatiotemporal information on crowds is a necessity for a better management in general and for the mitigation of potential security risks. The large numbers of individuals involved and their mobility, however, make generation of this information non-trivial. This paper proposes a novel methodology to estimate and map crowd sizes using mobile Bluetooth sensors and examines to what extent this methodology represents a valuable alternative to existing traditional crowd density estimation methods. The proposed methodology is applied in a unique case study that uses Bluetooth technology for the mobile mapping of spectators of the Tour of Flanders 2011 road cycling race. The locations of nearly 16,000 cell phones of spectators along the race course were registered and detailed views of the spatiotemporal distribution of the crowd were generated. Comparison with visual head counts from camera footage delivered a detection ratio of 13.0 ± 2.3%, making it possible to estimate the crowd size. To our knowledge, this is the first study that uses mobile Bluetooth sensors to count and map a crowd over space and time.


The estimation of steatosis in a liver graft is mandatory prior to liver transplantation, as the risk of graft failure increases with the level of infiltrated fat. However, the assessment of liver steatosis before transplantation is typically based on a qualitative or semiquantitative characterization by visual inspection and palpation and histological analysis. Thus, there is an unmet need for transplantation surgeons to have access to a diagnostic tool enabling an in situ fast classification of grafts prior to extraction. In this study, we have assessed an attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopic method compatible with the requirements of an operation room for the evaluation of the lipid contents in human livers. A set of 20 human liver biopsies obtained from organs intended for transplantation were analyzed by expert pathologists, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, lipid biochemical analysis, and UPLC-ESI(+/-)TOFMS for lipidomic profiling. Comparative analysis of multisource data showed strong correlations between ATR-FTIR, clinical, and lipidomic information. Results show that ATR-FTIR captures a global picture of the lipid composition of the liver, along with information for the quantification of the triradylglycerol content in liver biopsies. Although the methodology performance needs to be further validated, results support the applicability of ATR-FTIR for the in situ determination of the grade of liver steatosis at the operation room as a fast, quantitative method, as an alternative to the qualitative and subjective pathological examination.


Background: higher medical education needs the utilization of assessment tools and didactical resources that promote logical reasoning in students. In the publication on assessment of the National Board of Medical Examiners of United States there is a whole section devoted to extended matching questions. There is no available information in Cuban scientific publications regarding the use of this modality in higher medical education. Objective: to describe the characteristics of extended matching questions as an assessment tool and a didactic resource to develop logical reasoning in medical sciences students. Methods: narrative review on extended matching questions in undergraduate and graduate medical education. A search was carried out in the data bases PubMed/Medline, PubMed Central and Google Academic using as descriptors extended matching question and extended matching item, and also with the same terms in Spanish in SciELO Cuba, SciELO Regional and in Redined, a data base of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Spain. Results: the definition, structure, requisites, attributes and applications of this modality of objective test questions in medical sciences are described. There is agreement in their usefulness for clinical subjects' assessments. They are widely used in medical sciences education, undergraduate and graduate, in Anglophone countries. An analysis of their disadvantages and advantages is carried out. Among the first, the poor or null experience of faculty and the complexity and time demanded in their construction, and among the second, mainly that they require and promote logical reasoning of the students. Quality assurance in their design is emphasized. Conclusions: extended matching questions attributes point to their usefulness as an assessment tool and as a didactic resource to promote logical reasoning in medical sciences undergraduate and graduate students. DeCS: EXAMINATION QUESTIONS; EVALUATION; EDUCATION, MEDICAL; SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES; REVIEW LITERATURE AS TOPIC.


The mid-Infrared (mid-IR) photonic integrated platform is recently drawing attention due to its foreseen potential as alternative compact solution to several challenges and limitations taking place in current mainstream technologies [1]. Improved performance is expected in a wide palette of topics such as sensing, thermal imaging, nonlinear optical devices, astronomy or secure datacom, among others [2]. Up to date, different material platforms have been considered to develop mid-IR devices with functionalities beyond the state of the art. In that framework, Si and Ge have risen as promising alternative raw materials to develop mid-IR photonic devices leveraging from the higher refractive index of Ge over Si and their compatibility with the standardized CMOS platform. Also, Si and Ge possess a wavelength transparency window up to λ = 8 µm and 14 µm respectively, in concordance with the spectral range where several substances display their main spectral absorption peaks, hence opening the route towards highly-sensitive and selective label-free chemical sensors. Additionally, none of these materials experience significant nonlinear losses at those wavelengths, as Two-Photon Absorption (TPA) and other related second-order effects are strongly reduced in the mid-IR. This last point in particular, makes SiGe approaches an interesting choice to explore novel nonlinear optical devices operating in the mid-IR range, taking advantage from the commercially available high-power and largely tunable mid-IR quantum cascade lasers. A large pool of devices using the Ge-on-Si platform have already been reported so far, including waveguides and interferometric devices [3], arrayed waveguide grating multiplexers [4], thermo-optic phase shifters [5] or supercontinuum light sources [6]. Similarly, SiGe alloys with promising nonlinear properties in the mid-IR have been reported [7], and other approaches using graded Ge concentration profiles have also been proposed to obtain low-defect SiGe layer stacks with variable vertical refractive index profiles [8, 9]. Recent advances in graded-index Ge-rich SiGe waveguides operating in the mid-IR will be presented in this work. Main experimental results from passive structures will be detailed first, obtained from an ad-hoc experimental setup that allows precise measurement of the guided mode size and its spectral evolution over a wide wavelength range, as depicted in figure 1. Then, a comprehensive study of the main design parameters that yields optimum nonlinear performance in a broadband mid-IR wavelength range (from 3 µm to 8 µm) will be reported and compared with other state of the art mid-IR integrated platforms, showing that the Ge-rich SiGe graded waveguides have a huge potential as an innovative and powerful platform for the mid IR.


The health condition in Mexico was bad around de beginning of the revolutionary period. The movement of troops led the development of epidemics like yellow fever, typhus, smallpox, and influenza that were enhance with natural disasters and hunger in whole country, from cost to cost and in the north big cities like Monterrey, Guadalajara and Saltillo. Doctor Liceaga conducted a well planned campaign against yellow fever eradicating water stagnant deposits in order to combat the vector transmission, the Aedes aegypti, mosquito with satisfactory results. The first smallpox epidemic in the XX Century in Mexico was in 1916. The Mexican physicians used the smallpox vaccine against this epidemic. An American physician named Howard Taylor Ricketts arrived to Mexico for studying the typhus transmission. Accidentally he had been infected and finally, he died from typhus. Definitively, the epidemics predominate along de revolutionary period in Mexico.


We report the successful biopsy of a right atrial fatty mass using CARTO 3‐dimensional electro‐anatomic mapping fused with cardiac MRI. Fluoroscopic guidance within the cardiac chambers lacks precision and therefore risks geographical miss of the intended target and cardiac perforation. CARTO mapping fused with cardiac MRI facilitated precise navigation of the bioptome thereby ensuring a successful biopsy of the intended tissue while minimizing the risks of inadvertent trauma to adjacent tissue. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The behavior of Aedes triseriatus (Say) fourth instars was studied in laboratory microcosms. A list of 14 larval behaviors was developed from observations of 108 larvae performing 1,836 different acts, and a time budget was developed from 88 larvae by recording the proportion of time each larva spent in the different behavioral states. Larval behavior was organized into clusters of surface and subsurface activities, linked by "dive" and "rise" behaviors. Eight behaviors formed the major activity pattern for larvae and dominated the time budget. Feeding behavior consisted of suspension feeding, feeding at the air-water interface, brushing container and leaf surfaces, and chewing leaf veins. Most (90.8%) of the time budget was devoted to feeding, and larvae spent 52.5% of their time feeding at or near the surface of the water and 37.5% brushing while submerged. When feeding at the air-water interface, larvae rotated about the axis formed by the respiratory siphon in alternating clockwise and counterclockwise directions, possibly to rest the muscles used to twist the larval body into the U-shaped posture characterizing this feeding behavior. Our studies showed that Ae. triseriatus larvae were not exclusively brushers nor bottom feeders as has been assumed for many Aedes larvae but showed great flexibility in feeding, where nearly the entire habitat was the "feeding zone."


ABSTRACT During biosynthesis of [NiFe]-hydrogenase 2 (Hyd-2) of Escherichia coli, a 15-amino-acid C-terminal peptide is cleaved from the catalytic large subunit precursor, pro-HybC. This peptide is removed only after NiFe(CN)2CO cofactor insertion by the Hyp accessory protein machinery has been completed, suggesting that it has a regulatory function during enzyme maturation. We show here that in hyp mutants that fail to synthesize and insert the NiFe cofactor, and therefore retain the peptide, the Tat (twin-arginine translocon) signal peptide on the small subunit HybO is not removed and the subunit is degraded. In a mutant lacking the large subunit, the Tat signal peptide was also not removed from pre-HybO, indicating that the mature large subunit must actively engage the small subunit to elicit Tat transport. We validated the proposed regulatory role of the C-terminal peptide in controlling enzyme assembly by genetically removing it from the precursor of HybC, which allowed assembly and Tat-dependent membrane association of a HybC-HybO heterodimer lacking the NiFe(CN)2CO cofactor. Finally, genetic transfer of the C-terminal peptide from pro-HyaB, the large subunit of Hyd-1, onto HybC did not influence its dependence on the accessory protein HybG, a HypC paralog, or the specific protease HybD. This indicates that the C-terminal peptide per se is not required for interaction with the Hyp machinery but rather suggests a role of the peptide in maintaining a conformation of the protein suitable for cofactor insertion. Together, our results demonstrate that the C-terminal peptide on the catalytic subunit controls biosynthesis, assembly, and membrane association of Hyd-2. IMPORTANCE [NiFe]-hydrogenases are multisubunit enzymes with a catalytic subunit containing a NiFe(CN)2CO cofactor. Results of previous studies suggested that after synthesis and insertion of the cofactor by the Hyp accessory proteins, this large subunit changes conformation upon proteolytic removal of a short peptide from its C terminus. We show that removal of this peptide is necessary to allow the cleavage of the Tat signal peptide from the small subunit with concomitant membrane association of the heterodimer to occur. Genetic removal of the C-terminal peptide from the large subunit allowed productive interaction with the small subunit and Tat-dependent membrane insertion of a NiFe cofactor-free enzyme. Results based on swapping of C-terminal peptides between hydrogenases suggest that this peptide governs enzyme assembly via a conformational switch.


Stem cells are basic cells of all multicellular organisms
having the potency to differentiate into wide range of adult cells. Self
renewal and totipotency are characteristic of stem cells. Though
totipotency is shown by very early embryonic stem cells, the adult stem
cells possess multipotency and differential plasticity which can be
exploited for future generation of therapeutic options. Fortunately, the
regulators of pleuripotency such as oct-4 & nanong protein are
discovered and possibility of in vitro regulation of pleuripotency of
stem cells is gaining strength. Genetic regulation of adult stem cells in
the form of Bmi-1, Notch, sonic hedgehog & wnt gene is also being
worked upon and future can be regulation of stem cell differentiation in
vitro, in vivo or both. It is the knowledge of regulators of stem cells
which has opened the therapeutic usage of stem cells in the form of
neuron regeneration, treatment of bone defect, drug testing, gene
therapy and cell based therapy in the form of muscle damage, spinal
cord injury, cancer therapy etc. Cell based therapies might become
commercial in coming years. Keywords : Stem Cell, Review, Clinical usage, Future prospects. Internet Journal of Medical Update Vol. 3 (1) 2008: pp. 22-30


We incorporated questions related to safety, effectiveness and other characteristics of systemic cancer treatment into a self-report questionnaire - the Therapy Preference Scale - that captures patients´ preferences. The authors asked 20 experts to assess content validity and an additional 20 experts, patients and community members to examine face validity and guide revisions. Key revisions included shortening the length, clarifying constructs and providing details to explain the context and trade-offs necessary to balance the risks and benefits of cancer treatment. The content validity index for the final questionnaire was 1.0, indicating that all questions were relevant. Reviewers expressed that the questionnaire would serve an important purpose. Experts, patients and community members guided revisions of the questionnaire and documented its value.


Objective: To explore the plasma chemokines expressions and related clinical implication in patients with Stanford type A aortic dissection (AD). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 65 patients with Stanford type A aortic dissection, hypertensive patients and 11 healthy subjects admitted in our department from October 2013 to December 2014, they were divided into four groups: NH-CON group (11 healthy subjects), H-AD group (29 AD patients with hypertension), NH-AD group (21 AD patients without hypertension), and H-CON group (14 hypertension patients). Four plasma samples from AD patients and 4 plasma samples from healthy subjects were collected randomly with random numbers table, and the levels of different chemokines were examined by protein array analysis. Then, plasma levels of chemokines including macrophage inflammatory protein 1β(MIP-1β), epithelial neutrophil activating peptide 78(ENA-78), interleukin 16(IL-16), interferon inducible protein 10(IP-10) and FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3(Flt-3) ligand were analyzed by luminex. Pearson analysis was used to determine the correlations between the chemokines and serum C reactive protein (CRP) levels. Results: Plasma levels of MIP-1β(34.0(29.3, 47.2) ng/L vs. 51.0(28.2, 80.7) ng/L, P<0.05) and ENA-78(110.5(59.1, 161.4) ng/L vs. 475.7(299.3, 837.3) ng/L, P<0.05) were significantly lower in H-AD group, while plasma IL-16 level was significantly higher in H-AD group(54.7(16.3, 187.8) ng/L vs. 17.5(11.9, 20.8) ng/L, P<0.05) than in H-CON group. Plasma levels of MIP-1β(48.3(26.4, 62.1) ng/L, P<0.05) were significantly lower in H-AD patients than in NH-AD patients. Plasma level of ENA-78 was significantly lower in NH-AD group than in NH-CON group (95.0(58.0, 155.0) ng/L vs. 257.7(85.2, 397.8) ng/L, P<0.05). The levels of IP-10 and Flt-3 ligand were similar among the 4 groups (all P>0.05). Pearson analysis showed that there were no correlation between MIP-1β(r(2)=0.01, P>0.05), ENA-78(r(2)=0.02, P>0.05), IL-16(r(2)=0.02, P>0.05), IP-10(r(2)=0.00, P>0.05), Flt-3 ligand(r(2)=0.02, P>0.05) and CRP levels in patients with Stanford type A aortic dissection. Conclusions: Lower plasma levels of MIP-1β and ENA-78 and higher plasma levels of IL-16 may associate with the occurrence and development of type A aortic dissection, but their concentrations are not correlated with serum CRP levels. There is no significant change on plasma levels of IP-10 and Flt-3 in the Stanford type A aortic dissection patients.


Many biological or medical data have numerous features. Feature selection is one of the data preprocessing steps that can remove the noise from data as well as save the computing time when the dataset has several hundred thousand or more features. Another goal of feature selection is improving the classification accuracy in machine learning tasks. Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (mRMR) is a well-known feature selection algorithm that selects features by calculating redundancy between features and relevance between features and class vector. mRMR adopts mutual information theory to measure redundancy and relevance. In this research, we propose a method to improve the performance of mRMR feature selection. We apply Pearson's correlation coefficient as a measure of redundancy and R-value as a measure of relevance. To compare original mRMR and the proposed method, features were selected using both of two methods from various datasets, and then we performed a classification test. The classification accuracy was used as a measure of performance comparison. In many cases, the proposed method showed higher accuracy than original mRMR.


A new EPI-based method is presented which features optimized sampling of k-space enabling the integrated acquisition of two gradient echo images. The first of these images is predominantly T1 weighted and the second is T*2 weighted. The new method combines echo sharing of sparsely acquired high spatial frequency components with the keyhole technique and half-Fourier image reconstruction. The feasibility of acquiring high spatial and temporal resolution in vivo images for perfusion mapping is demonstrated. In contrast to most current perfusion methods, which acquire the T1- and T*2-weighted images in separate acquisitions, the need for image co-registration here is obviated since both sets of images are EPI-based and are acquired within the same measurement.


ABSTRACT Geographic simulation models can be used to explore and better understand the geographical environment. Recent advances in geographic and socio-environmental research have led to a dramatic increase in the number of models used for this purpose. Some model repositories provide opportunities for users to explore and apply models, but few provide a general evaluation method for assessing the applicability and recognition of models. In this study, an academic impact evaluation method for models is proposed. Five indices are designed based on their pertinence. The analytical hierarchy process is used to calculate the index weights, and the academic impacts of models are quantified with the weighted sum method. The time range is controlled to evaluate the life-term and annual academic impacts of the models. Some models that met the evaluation criteria from different domains are then evaluated. The results show that the academic impact of a model can be quantified with the proposed method, and the major research areas that models impact are identified.


The present study focused on identification of honey bee floras and their flowering times in Wondo Genet, Southern Ethiopia. Purposive sampling technique and combination of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) tools were employed to identify the major and minor honey bee floras, and their flowering times. The data were collected from 36 sampled bee keepers in four peasant associations. Descriptive statistics and other statistical parameters were used in organizing, summarizing and describing the data. The average number of traditional, transitional and moveable frame beehives was 10.51±3.80, 2.88±1.85, and 1.12±1.21, respectively. The average honey yield per harvest/colony was 5.1±0.72, 13.20 ±0.92 and 17.2±0.73 kg for traditional, transitional and moveable frame hives, respectively. Hence, there was a highly significant difference (p<0.05) in terms of yield per hive/harvest between the three types of hives. A total of 47 bee flora species belonging to 42 genera and 30 families were identified by the sample respondents. The plant species were comprised of trees (48.94%), shrubs (27.66%), fruit trees (10.64%), herbs (6.38%) and food crops (6.39%). Of the total number of bee flora plants identified in the study area, 17 (36.17%) were major honey bee flora where as 30 (63.83%) were the minor ones. The major parameters that the beekeepers used in identification of bee floras were flowers visited by honey bees. The beekeepers expressed that the frequency and number of bees visiting the flowers can help them to identify as the major and minor honey bee floras. The identified plant species bear flowers mainly from September to November and in March. The current investigation revealed that there are various plant species in the study area with different flowering times, and this will provide basic information for further researches focused on bee flora and their conservation strategies. Keywords : bee flora, flowering time, honey bee, species DOI : 10.7176/JRDM/59-01 Publication date :September 30 th 2019


Clonal Screening and Sprout Based Bioprocessing of Phenolic Phytochemicals for Functional Foods, K. Shetty, F. M. Clydesdale, and D. A. Vattem Molecular Design of Soybean Proteins for Enhanced Food Quality, N. Maruyama, E. Mae Tecson-Mendoza, Y. Maruyama, M. Adachi, and S. Utsumi Genetic Modification of Plant Starches for Food Applications, J. D. Klucinec and P. L. Keeling Genetic Modification of Plant Oils for Food Uses, A. J. Kinney Molecular Biotechnology for Nutraceutical Enrichment of Food Crops: The Case of Minerals and Vitamins, O. Paredes-Lopez and J. A. Osuna-Castro Potential Health Benefits of Soybean Isoflavonoids and Related Phenolic Antioxidants, P. McCue and K. Shetty Functional Phytochemicals from Cranberries: Their Mechanism of Action and Strategies to Improve Functionality, D. A. Vattem and K. Shetty Rosmarinic Acid Biosynthesis and Mechanism of Action, K. Shetty Bioprocessing Strategies to Enhance l-DOPA and Phenolic Antioxidants in the Fava Bean (Vicia faba), K. Shetty, R. Randhir, and P. Shetty Biochemical Markers for Antioxidant Functionality, D. A. Vattem and K. Shetty Phytochemicals and Breast Cancer Chemoprevention, S. Smith-Schneider, L. A. Roberts, and K. Shetty Phenolic Antimicrobials from Plants for Control of Bacterial Pathogens, K. Shetty and Y. T. Lin Biotechnology in Wine Industry, M. Oke, G. Paliyath, and K. H. Fisher Biotechnology of Nonnutritive Sweeteners, R. Randhir and K. Shetty Biotechnological Approaches to Improve Nutritional Quality and Shelf Life of Fruits and Vegetables, R. Grittle Pinhero and G. Paliyath Egg Yolk Antibody Farming for Passive Immunotherapy, J. Kovacs-Nolan and Y. Mine Human Gut Microflora in Health and Disease: Focus on Prebiotics, T. Casci, R. A. Rastall, and G. R. Gibson Immunomodulating Effects of Lactic Acid Bacteria, H. Risager Christensen and H. Frokiaer Enzymatic Synthesis of Oligosaccharides: Progress and Recent Trends, V. Maitin and R. A. Rastall Metabolic Engineering of Bacteria for Food Ingredients, R. Gonzalez Technologies Used for Microbial Production of Food Ingredients, A. L. Pometto III and A. Demirci Production of Carotenoids by Gene Combination in Escherichia coli, G. Sandmann Production of Amino Acids: Physiological and Genetic Approaches, R. Kramer Biotechnology of Microbial Polysaccharides in Food, I. W. Sutherland Solid-State Bioprocessing for Functional Food Ingredients and Food Waste Remediation, K. Shetty Index


The mere mention of prostate cancer strikes fear in the hearts of men. Fortunately, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is now a recognized tumor marker that can indicate but not exclude the presence of this potentially fatal disease. In this article, Drs Randrup and Baum explain the nature of PSA and the practical application of serum PSA determination. Also discussed are three PSA-based strategies for early diagnosis and guidelines for interpreting PSA values in the primary care setting.


Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease that develops as a result of autoimmune destruction of β-cells. At the present stage, it is customary to distinguish 6 stages in the development of the disease: 1) a genetic predisposition due to the presence of haplotypes of genes of the HLA system of classes I, II and III, as well as other genes associated with type 1 diabetes mellitus; 2) the impact of various environmental factors that initiate the onset of autoimmune processes, leading to the development of insulin; 3) the development of immunological disorders; 4) stage of pronounced immunological disorders; 5) the manifestation of the disease; 6) complete destruction of β-cells.


In this paper, we adopt 3D Convolutional Neural Networks to segment volumetric medical images. Although deep neural networks have been proven to be very effective on many 2D vision tasks, it is still challenging to apply them to 3D tasks due to the limited amount of annotated 3D data and limited computational resources. We propose a novel 3D-based coarse-to-fine framework to effectively and efficiently tackle these challenges. The proposed 3D-based framework outperforms the 2D counterpart to a large margin since it can leverage the rich spatial information along all three axes. We conduct experiments on two datasets which include healthy and pathological pancreases respectively, and achieve the current state-of-the-art in terms of Dice-Sørensen Coefficient (DSC). On the NIH pancreas segmentation dataset, we outperform the previous best by an average of over 2%, and the worst case is improved by 7% to reach almost 70%, which indicates the reliability of our framework in clinical applications.


We develop a new setting for the exponential principle in the context of multisort species, where indecomposable objects are generated intrinsically instead of being given in advance. Our approach uses the language of functors and natural transformations (composition operators), and we show that, somewhat surprisingly, a single axiom for the composition already suffices to guarantee validity o the ex- ponential formula. We provide various illustrations of our theory, among which are applications to the enumeration of (semi-)magic squares.


Purpose: Barriers to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) education are magnified by relative cost and course availability. E-learning has emerged as a viable solution for continuous, on-demand training and organizational learning. We assessed the hypothesis that E-learning is a viable strategy for CPR training of the general public and sought to evaluate its effects on CPR quality compared to traditional classroom-based methods. Methods: The E-learning program was specifically designed to teach basic life support skills, and consisted of 50 minutes internet lectures and simulation videos. The training session was freely available to twenty two officers in rural South Korea. The trainees were able to practice with a mannequin and an automated external defibrillator (AED) trainer at their place of employment over the course of 3 days. The control group was trained at a hospital by certified instructors using the same equipment during a 2 hour period. At the end of the course, the participant`s skills were evaluated using a checklist and a skill performance test. Results: Forty two subjects were enrolled finally with 19 and 23 belonging to the E-learning and the control groups, respectively. One E-learning trainee was excluded because he was absent from the skills test. The mean time to learn CPR and AED techniques was 29.0±24.5 minutes in the e-learning group. The mean age of the E-learning group was significantly older than that of the control group (32.4=4.0 vs. 26.0±1.5, p<0.001). However, we did not find any significant differences in their weight, height or CPR educational status. Before the education sessions, the willingness to perform CPR and their confidence in performing CPR were not significantly different among the two groups. Regarding skill performance, there were no significant differences between the groups except the volume of ventilation. The control group showed a higher volume of ventilation than the e-learning group (1,031.7±521.6 vs. 548.8±303.3, p=0.004). Conclusion: E-learning accompanied with appropriate practice can be a helpful tool for public CPR training. The demand for E-learning will increase, and this study shows that e-learning programs can be successful, yielding similar results as traditional, classroom-based training.


The kidney and its response to the antidiuretic hormone (ADH) are the principal protective mechanisms necessary to maintain a normal plasma tonicity (osmolality). Hence, determination of the response of the ADH-renal axis to an abnormal plasma tonicity is an important step to understanding water homeostasis. Determination of free water clearance is the most direct clinical method to measure the ability of the kidney to reabsorb or excrete water; it can be used as a sensitive method to study water metabolism, describing the abnormal water homeostasis in simple quantitative terms. A positive electrolyte-free water clearance denotes the excretion of excess free water. A negative electrolyte-free water clearance indicates reabsorption of excess free water. During hypertonicity, an increased concentration of ADH enhances renal reabsorption of free water. With diminished ADH secretion and normal renal function, a substantial volume of free water is cleared in response to hypotonic stimuli. A positive free water clearance > 0.4 L/day in hypertonic conditions or a negative free water clearance during hypotonicity confirms an abnormal ADH-renal axis response.


We have simulated micromagnetically the static magnetic structure and magnetic spectrum of a magnetic film with surface roughness, using a finite stripe film model. We found that the rough surface can lead to a ripple magnetic structure, which results in increasing the damping factor of the film, and that the damping factor increases with the increase of the root-mean-square roughness. For a particular film with a given rough surface, the damping factor first decreases because of a decrease of the magnetic dispersion, then increases because of the surface-roughness-induced demagnetizing effect with increasing the external field.


It has been reported that using the method of one-frequency-two-mode to drive a piezoelectric linear motor, the nature resonant effect induced by the finite boundaries can be eliminated. The structure of the piezoelectric linear motor is based on placing two piezoelectric actuators on a one-dimensional finite plate. This method uses a single driving frequency at the middle of two adjacent bending modes to drive these two piezoelectric actuators with a 90° phase difference, and a traveling wave can be generated. However, due to the driving frequency was not directly at the resonant frequency, the efficiency and traveling distance cannot be very efficient. Based on our previous studies, it shows that the driving voltage and velocity of displacement has a linear relationship, and the size and location of actuators can also influence the distance of generated traveling waves. In this paper, we report our study on using another method of two-frequency-two-mode that used two adjacent bending modes to generate traveling waves. Since the operating frequencies of the two actuators are at resonant frequencies, the efficiency can be very high. Our studied showed that the difference between native electrical impedance and mechanical impedance of the two adjacent resonant modes, the performance of the induced traveling waves can be varied significantly. Furthermore, the total distance and profile of the traveling waves can also be different. To understand this mechanism, we study the influence of the two driving frequencies with different amplitude and phase differences. Thus, the energy that falls into the two adjacent modes can be changed, and the ratio of vibrating amplitudes of these two modes can be adjusted. We demonstrate that the total traveling distance can be much enhanced by controlling the driving amplitude and phase difference between two actuators.


Penicillium chrysogenum utilizes phenylacetic acid as a side chain precursor in penicillin G biosynthesis. During industrial production of penicillin G, phenylacetic acid is fed in small amounts to the medium to avoid toxic side effects. Phenylacetic acid is taken up from the medium and intracellularly coupled to 6-aminopenicillanic acid. To enter the fungal cell, phenylacetic acid has to pass the plasma membrane. The process via which phenylacetic acid crosses the plasma membrane was studied in mycelia and liposomes. Uptake of phenylacetic acid by mycelium was nonsaturable, and the initial velocity increased logarithmically with decreasing external pH. Studies with liposomes demonstrated a rapid passive flux of the protonated species through liposomal membranes. These results indicate that phenylacetic acid passes the plasma membrane via passive diffusion of the protonated species. The rate of phenylacetic acid uptake at an external concentration of 3 mM is at least 200-fold higher than the penicillin production rate in the Panlabs P2 strain. In this strain, uptake of phenylacetic acid is not the rate-limiting step in penicillin G biosynthesis.


Objective: To evaluate a possible association between wrist and periodontal destruction in rheumatoid arthritis, and between periodontal destruction, dry mouth, and labial salivary gland biopsy and the contribution of genetic factors (the shared epitope (SE) and IL1B (+3954) or TNFA (−238 or −308) gene polymorphisms). Methods: 147 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were enrolled. Periodontal damage was defined according to the Hugoson and Jordan criteria on panoramic dental x rays. Typing for the SE and cytokine polymorphisms was undertaken by enzyme linked oligosorbent assay. Odds ratios (OR), relative risk (RR), and χ2 values were calculated to quantify associations. Results: An association was observed between wrist and periodontal bone destruction (χ2 = 11.82; p<0.001): 63 patients had both wrist and periodontal destruction, 31 had wrist destruction alone, 20 had periodontal destruction alone, and 33 had no destruction at either site. An association was seen between a positive labial salivary gland biopsy and periodontal bone destruction (RR = 2.73 (95% CI, 1.35 to 5.51), p<0.01, n = 41) or wrist bone destruction (RR = 4.52 (1.96 to 10.45), p<0.001, n = 41). The SE was associated with wrist bone destruction (OR = 2.5 (1.16 to 5.42), p<0.05) and periodontal bone destruction (OR = 2.2 (1.04 to 4.84), p<0.05). No association was found between the selected cytokine polymorphisms and bone destruction. Conclusions: A strong association was found between wrist and periodontal bone destruction. The destruction risk was further increased in patients with sicca syndrome. The SE appears to be a severity genetic marker for both wrist and periodontal bone destruction.


To characterize differences in regional cAMP production in the cardiac conduction system, 18 rats were anesthetized with pentobarbital (65 mg/kg IP) and randomized into a control (n = 9) and a stimulated group (n = 9). The stimulated group received aminophylline (20 mg/kg SC) and isoproterenol (16 micrograms/kg SC). The concentration of cAMP in freeze-dried, micro dissected pieces (1-3 micrograms) of cardiac tissue was measured using a new microanalytical method. The cAMP contents in right atrium, atrioventricular node, His bundle, and left ventricle (fmol/microgram dry weight, mean +/- SE) were 38.9 +/- 2.5, 39.0 +/- 4.3, 46.4 +/- 6.1, and 41.4 +/- 3.3 in controls and 72.9 +/- 6.7, 86.1 +/- 2.9, 115.0 +/- 11.5, and 79.5 +/- 7.3 in the stimulated group, respectively. Basal cAMP levels were similar throughout the heart, whereas isoproterenol increased cAMP levels in all regions (p < 0.01). Furthermore, cAMP levels in His bundle, after isoproterenol, were higher than in any other region (p < 0.05). These results demonstrate that: (a) cAMP can be measured in discrete portions of the cardiac conduction system; (b) there are significant regional differences of beta-adrenergic control in the cardiac conduction system; and (c) cAMP production after beta-adrenergic stimulation was lower than expected in the AV nodal region, based on previously described beta-adrenoceptor density measurements.


A 54-year-old man suddenly felt a strike on his chest while mowing with a machine. At first he had no symptoms except for wound pain, but several hours later, he suffered from high fever with chilliness. The chest roentgenogram showed a foreign body localized within the cardiac shadow. The echocardiogram revealed that the metallic fragment was embedded in the inferior wall of the left ventricle. It appeared that the fragment entered the left ventricular cavity through his anterior chest wall, the right ventricular outflow tract and the ventricular septum. At the operation, the location of the foreign body was again confirmed by the intraoperative echocardiography and the fragment was successfully removed through a left ventricular incision under cardiopulmonary bypass. The postoperative course was uneventful and the case was reported with a review of the literature.


Provided are a method whereby a terminal transmits an acknowledgement/not-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) with a primary cell and a secondary cell aggregated, and a device for supporting the method. The method comprises: receiving data by a downlink subframe of a secondary cell; and transmitting an ACK/NACK for the data by an uplink subframe of a primary cell, wherein: the time interval between the downlink subframe and the uplink subframe is determined by a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) timing or a second HARQ timing; the first HARQ timing is an HARQ timing which is applied when the primary cell is used alone; and the second HARQ timing is an HARQ timing which is additional to the first HARQ timing.


Lower leg ulceration is a condition which is generally associated with the older population; however, medical conditions and social circumstances can place some clients at increased risk. This case study looks at the treatment of a patient undergoing drug rehabilitation whose leg ulceration developed as a direct result of his previous intravenous habit. It demonstrates that with correct assessment and management mixed aetiology ulceration can be successfully treated.


Aim. To evaluate and ground the use of ultraviolet air recirculator in the saline microclimatic ward "Sylvin-Universal". Materials and methods. Hygienic and microbiological assessment of internal environment in the saline microclimatic ward "Sylvin-Universal" with conventional operating mode and in process of work of ultraviolet bactericidal air recirculator was carried out. Results. Ultraviolet bactericidal irradiation did not change physical properties of internal environment in the sylvinite ward. Conclusions. The conducted studies permit to recommend application of ultraviolet irradiator before each course of sylvinite therapy for the purpose of air disinfection.


The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of clay as an amendment to decrease the mobility and plant availability of potentially toxic elements (PTEs). Kaolinite and vermiculite were added at a 9% application rate to a contaminated garden soil from Kutná Hora. Half of the original soil was acidified by the addition of HNO3, to observe the effect of the pH on the adsorption of the PTEs. The samples were analysed four times over an eight-week period to evaluate the effect of the clay additions on the As, Cd, Pb and Zn plant availability and different fractions of the BCR sequential extraction. The results indicate that the PTEs were mainly bound by ion/cation exchange on the edges of the clay minerals and onto the Fe/Mn oxides and organic fractions in the soils. The significance (P < 0.05) of the pH was observed for the plant availability of the PTE, especially on the As and Cd. A comparison of the vermiculite in the form of chunks and as powder displayed the most statistically significant results, where the vermiculite powder significantly decreased the plant availability of the As, Cd and Pb, while the opposite effect was observed for the Zn.


Ethnography has been used to research various people and topics online, primarily using netnography and digital ethnography. Researchers and businesses employ digital ethnographic methods to access an assortment of social media platforms in order to learn about social media users. Researchers seek to understand relationships between social media users and organizations from both academic and practitioner perspectives. These organizations run the gamut from for-profit businesses, to nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and government agencies. The specific focus here is on social media research as it relates to businesses. Organizations make use of social media in a variety of ways, but chiefly to market to clients and to gather information on followers; the latter of which, in turn, helps them understand their target markets. While this social media data is both quantitative and qualitative in nature, the emphasis here centers on qualitative data, particularly the ways businesses interact with social media users.
 While some firms mainly use older forms of one-way marketing that solely focus on disseminating information, other firms increasingly seek ways to interact with customers and co-create products with clients. Additionally, social media users are creating their own communities, formed due to a shared interest in a brand. Companies strive to learn more about their customers through these groups.
 Influencers also play a role in the relationship between organizations and social media users by linking their own followerships to products and brands. In turn, influencers develop their own relationships with organizations through sponsorships, thus becoming brands themselves. Influencers risk losing their followerships when followers perceive them as no longer accessible or authentic. This change in perception can occur for a variety of reasons, including when followers believe that an influencer has prioritized brand alignment over building connections with followers. Due to multiple relationships with different brands and their followers, influencers must negotiate the ambiguity and evolving nature of their role.
 As social media and digital spaces develop, so must the tools used by anthropologists. Anthropologists should remain open to incorporating hallmarks of ethnographic research such as fieldnotes, participant observation, and focus groups in new ways and alongside tools from other disciplines, including market and UX (user experience) research. The divide between practitioners and academics is blurring. Anthropologists can solve client issues while contributing their voices to larger anthropological and societal discussions.


Summary

1
Many parasites of medical and veterinary importance infect via free-living stages that undergo a period of development in the environment before seeking a host. Frequently, considerable variation is observed in the development rates of these stages, such that some individuals may be considered to occupy distinct subpopulations, similar to a plant's seed bank. Under certain conditions, these subpopulations may act as a reservoir for the parasite, buffering it from the impact of management strategies and reducing control success.

2
We assessed the impact of intraspecific variation in development rates on parasite control by developing a population dynamic model of the ectoparasite Argulus coregoni, a major parasite of Finnish fish farms. We divided argulid eggs into two subpopulations: an exposed class with fast hatching rates and an 'egg bank' with slower hatching rates. We then assessed the success of a number of potential control strategies under a range of egg bank hatching regimes.

3
The predicted seasonal dynamics of the various life-cycle stages matched well those observed in Finnish fish farms. Simulations showed that the long-term growth rate of the argulid population tends to be reduced by the presence of a slow-hatching egg bank, unless the egg bank affords some protection in the form of reduced egg mortality.

4
Sensitivity analysis showed that the key stages of the parasite's life cycle are those that relate to the on-fish juvenile mortality and development rates. The next most sensitive parameters relate to the number of viable eggs at the start of the year, such as female fecundity and overwinter egg survival. We showed that current control approaches that target these stages could prove highly effective at suppressing the argulid population. However, long-term control was greatly reduced in both cases as the proportion of eggs entering the egg bank increased. This was especially true if mortality of the egg bank was lower than that of the exposed eggs.

5
Synthesis and applications. Understanding the factors affecting parasite persistence is vital for the development of effective long-term control. We have shown that inherent heterogeneity within a parasite population may have a substantial impact on its long-term growth rate, and can be an important mechanism reducing the effectiveness of targeted control strategies in the field.


The Cenozoic Malaysian basins are (1) located in the interior of semicratonic continental crust (Malay basin, its satellite basins, and the Penyu basin); (2) located in marginal belts of semicratonic continental crust (small, faulted depressions in the Strait of Melaka and onshore Peninsular Malaysia); (3) straddling collisional plate boundaries (Sarawak and NW Sabah basins); (4) associated with a microcontinent (Sandakan, Labuk Bay, Malawali and Tidung basins, and the circular basins of Sabah). The basin development shows the following pattern. Rifting, thermal subsidence and modification by transtensional and/or transpressional wrench faulting are the tectonic processes that operate on depressions underlain by continental crust. The crust could belong to large plates or represent a microcontinent. The basins may develop as (a) aulacogens atop a mantle-plume dome (Malay and Penyu), or (b) pullaparts where wrench faulting is the main reactivator of basement fractures. The onshore Tertiary basins of Peninsular Malaysia and the Strait of Melaka are of this type. Inverted structures are the rule, as are reversals of slip sense on the wrench faults. (c) At collisional plate boundaries, large depressions are initially formed by active subsidence of the basin floor in the subduction trench. The growing accretionary prism on the landward side of the trench wall enhances the basin depth. After subduction ceases, isostatic adjustments depresses the basin further, increasing its holding capacity. (d) The NE Sabah and Tidung basins originated as rifts in the breakup of the East Sabah microcontinent. (e) The origin and development of the circular basins of Sabah are unresolved issues. Their main features include the predominantly extensional character shown by their structures, rounded planimetric outline, and kink-like geographical distribution of which the ends are in Sandakan Bay and at Cowie Harbour.


Gram-negative bacteria use the mechanism of acylated homoserine lactone (AHL) mediated quorum-sensing to regulate gene expression in response to population density. The present work aimed to detect signal molecule production and its influence on the production of food spoilage phenotypes such as exoenzyme (lipases and proteases) synthesis and biofilm formation in Pseudomonas psychrophila PSPF19, isolated from freshwater fish stored in refrigerated conditions. The C4-HSL signaling molecule produced by the isolate induced exoenzyme production by twofold and increased attachment and biofilm formation. Further, studies on the effect of a synthetic quorum sensing inhibitor, furanone C-30 on protease and lipase production and biofilm formation, revealed that it inhibited exoenzyme production and bacterial attachment. This study adds to our understanding that quorum sensing plays a role in the low temperature spoilage of foods by psychrotrophic Pseudomonads and quorum sensing inhibitors such as furanones can be developed as new intervention techniques and food preservatives.


The cDNAs for two of the subunits of the receptor with high affinity for IgE have been isolated and sequenced. That for the IgE-binding alpha subunit predicts a polypeptide with a single transmembrane segment. The predicted extracellular amino terminal portion, comprised of 180 residues, is homologous to the corresponding region of Fc gamma receptors and contains two truncated immunoglobulin-like domains. The cDNA for beta predicts a peptide with four transmembrane segments, but its sequence is unrelated to known proteins. Experiments to isolate the cDNA for the gamma subunit have begun; when completed, cotransfection of the three genes will be attempted to get expression, a process that has not so far been successful for the individual subunits. Such expression will permit further analysis of the receptor's function and ultimately may provide information on how best to intervene clinically in the activation of mast cells and basophils.


Enterolith is a rare cause of afferent loop obstruction following Billroth II gastrectomy. We report a case of acute afferent loop syndrome (ALS) due to a huge enterolith, necessitating prompt surgery. The clinical pattern may mimic acute cholangitis and/or pancreatitis. Delayed diagnosis may result in severe complications such as bowel ischemia or perforation. Only 14 reported cases of enterolith causing afferent loop obstruction were found in the English literature.


The value of estrogen and progesterone receptor (ER and PgR, respectively) determinations in predicting the recurrence-free survival (RFS) has been evaluated in a group of 807 node negative breast cancer patients. All of these patients are enrolled in the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (DBCG) 77-1a and 82-a protocols for low risk patients, and none of them have received systemic adjuvant therapy. At a median observation time of 50 months and in an evaluation of the total patient population as an entity, ER+ patients had only a marginally significant (P = 0.07) longer RFS than ER- patients while PgR+ patients experienced a significant advantage (P = 0.02). Among patients subgrouped according to menopausal status, both ER and PgR statuses were found to be significant prognostic factors for predicting RFS in the premenopausal women (less than 50 years) but not in peri- or postmenopausal women. Using Cox's multivariate analysis, nuclear pleomorphy was found to be the only significant prognostic variable, while the value of PgR status as a prognostic factor approached significance (P = 0.065). Although knowledge of ER status did not significantly improve distinction between patients with good and poor prognoses in the relatively small subgroup of premenopausal patients (n = 120) when PgR status was known, ER+PgR- patients have a lower risk of recurrence or death than ER-PgR- patients. Using a log-likelihood model, significant and distinct cut-off limits for the definition of receptor positivity were found for premenopausal patients: these were 5 fmol/mg cytosol protein for ER and 10 fmol/mg cytosol protein for PgR. These cut-off levels may reflect the ability of the ligand binding assay method used to discriminate between tissues with and without receptor proteins. Qualitative assessment of receptor status was as valuable as quantitative expression of receptor concentrations in predicting the RFS of the natural course of the disease among node negative premenopausal patients.


'Principles of judicial and quasi-judicial independence are fundamental to all democracies and yet, the notion of independence is still elusive. What is judicial and quasi-judicial independence and why is it important? From whom and what are the judiciary and other adjudicators to be independent? Is the expansion of the judiciary's power a threat to judicial independence? Are courts inevitably political institutions? Are there sociological pre-conditions needed to secure judicial independence in modern legal systems where the court's 'law making' role is increasingly important? Equally relevant is the question as to what extent principles of judicial independence apply to quasi-judicial bodies such as tribunals, regulatory and policy-making agencies, advisory committees, enforcement bodies and other administrative decision-makers. In other words, to what extent should these bodies be independent from the branches of government that have created them or from the industry they are charged to regulate and, if so, how should the appropriate degree of independence be determined? It is the purpose of this book, as of the Groningen international conference that preceded it, to bring eminent judges and scholars to revisit the concepts of judicial and quasi-judicial independence, to discuss the threats and challenges that perhaps call for different safeguards or solutions and to thereby reflect on the distinctive nature of courts as well as administrative decision-makers and our commitment to adjudicative independence.'


Simulation has proved to be a valuable tool for estimating security prices for which simple closed form solutions do not exist. In this paper we present two direct methods, a pathwise method and a likelihood ratio method, for estimating derivatives of security prices using simulation. With the direct methods, the information from a single simulation can be used to estimate multiple derivatives along with a security's price. The main advantage of the direct methods over resimulation is increased computational speed. Another advantage is that the direct methods give unbiased estimates of derivatives, whereas the estimates obtained by resimulation are biased. Computational results are given for both direct methods, and comparisons are made to the standard method of resimulation to estimate derivatives. The methods are illustrated for a path independent model (European options), a path dependent model (Asian options), and a model with multiple state variables (options with stochastic volatility).


Purpose
To evaluate signal transduction and early apoptosis protein levels in subretinal fluid collected during scleral buckling surgery for macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). Our aim was to assess both their relation with RRD features and their influence on the posttreatment outcome.

Methods
Thirty-three eyes of 33 RRD patients scheduled for scleral buckle surgery were enrolled in the study. Undiluted subretinal fluid samples were collected during surgery and analyzed via magnetic bead-based immunoassay. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic evaluation at baseline and at each follow-up visit (months 1, 3, and 6). Moreover, both at baseline and at the postsurgery month 6 visit, the patients were tested by means of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in order to evaluate the average ganglion cell-inner plexiform complex thickness, as well as the photoreceptor inner segment/outer segment junction status.

Results
Patients' clinical features (retinal detachment size, detachment duration, and occurrence of proliferative vitreoretinopathy) were associated with several early apoptotic factors (caspase-8, caspase-9, and B-cell lymphoma 2 [Bcl-2]-associated death promoter [BAD]). Furthermore, both early apoptosis factors (caspase-8, Bcl-2, and p53) and signal-transduction proteins (ERK 1/2) were found to influence the postsurgery month 3 OCT characteristics.

Conclusions
Signal-transduction proteins and early apoptosis proteins are associated with different clinical features and postsurgery outcomes.


A hybrid drug delivery system coloaded with different drugs for synergistic drug delivery was developed. Alginate/calcium carbonate (CaCO3) hybrid microparticles (MPs) were fabricated via a facile coprecipitation method under mild conditions without using any organic solvent and surfactant. Due to the incorporation of negatively charged alginate chains onto the surface, the obtained hybrid MPs with spherical morphology showed good colloidal stability in an aqueous solution. An antitumor drug (doxorubicin, DOX) and a drug resistance reversal agent (verapamil, VP) were coloaded in the hybrid MPs simultaneously to obtain dual-drug-loaded MPs (DOX/VP/MP). Due to the presence of inorganic CaCO3 (∼54 wt%), the drugs could be loaded in the hybrid MPs with high encapsulation efficiency and the drug release could be effectively sustained. The cell growth inhibition of the drug-loaded MPs was evaluated in HeLa cells. An in vitro study showed DOX/VP/MP exhibited higher cell growth inhibition as compared with DOX monodrug-loaded MPs (DOX/MP). These results suggest the hybrid MPs can potentially be used as a synergistic drug delivery platform for cancer chemotherapy.


A study on the topography and51 the environmental aspects of the irrational occupations of the urban grounds of the Commune of Kisenso with Kinshasa was undertaken in order to determine the constructible zones on the basis of principle of the ekistics one. With this intention, it laid down two objectives: establishment of level lines on the whole of the surface of the Commune and the determination of the constructible zones. The results obtained make it possible to conclude that: the Commune of Kisenso is built on a hill whose altitudes lie between 325-450 Mr. the proportions of the slopes are variable:0-2 %; 2-4 %; 4-8 %; 8-12 %; 12-15 %.The establishment of the plan of the slopes made it possible to deduce the constructible zones from Kisenso with 40.70% and the unconstructible zones to 59.30%. Their surfaces rise respectively to 659.517334 ha and 962.122670 ha.However, the absence of induced adjustment of the free compartmental occupations of the constructible and marginal zones. The current number of the pieces of the Commune of Kisenso occupied freely is 2168. However, in accordance with the ekistics standards, Kisenso should contain 393 pieces. Thus, the uncontrolled extension of occupations of the grounds of the Commune causes erosions, floods, stranding which constitute recurring calamities at each rain season.


The mechanisms whereby protein ions are released from nanodroplets at the liquid-gas interface have continued to be controversial since electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry was widely applied in biomolecular structure analysis in solution. Several viable pathways have been proposed and verified for single-domain proteins. However, the ESI mechanism of multi-domain proteins with more complicated and flexible structures remains unclear. Herein, dumbbell-shaped calmodulin was chosen as a multi-domain protein model to perform molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the structural evolution during the ESI process. For [Ca4CAM], the protein followed the classical charge residue model. As the inter-domain electrostatic repulsion increased, the droplet was found to split into two sub-droplets, while stronger-repulsive apo-calmodulin unfolded during the early evaporation stage. We designated this novel ESI mechanism as the domain repulsion model, which provides new mechanistic insights into further exploration of proteins containing more domains. Our results suggest that greater attention should be paid to the effect of domain-domain interactions on structure retention during liquid-gas interface transfer when mass spectrometry is used as the developing technique in gas phase structural biology.


BACKGROUND Many trauma care providers often disregard the abdominal clinical examination in the presence of extra-abdominal distracting injuries and mandate abdominal computed tomographic scan in these patients. Ignoring the clinical examination may incur undue expense and radiation exposure. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of abdominal clinical examination in patients with distracting injuries. METHODS During a 1-year period, all awake and alert blunt trauma patients with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 14 or 15 were entered into a prospective study. Abdominal clinical examination was performed and documented prospectively on all patients. Abdominal clinical examination included four-quadrant anterior abdominal palpation, flank palpation, lower thoracic palpation, pelvis examination, and palpation of the thoracolumbar spine. Following examination documentation, all patients underwent computed tomographic scan of the abdomen and pelvis with intravenous contrast. RESULTS A total of 803 patients were enrolled: 451 patients had distracting injuries, and 352 patients did not. Of the 352 patients without distracting injuries, 19 (5.4%) had intra-abdominal injuries, of whom 2 (10.5%) had negative clinical examination result. Of the 451 patients with distracting injuries, 48 (10.6%) were diagnosed with intra-abdominal injury, of whom 5 (10.4%) had negative clinical examination result. All five missed injuries in patients with distracting injuries were solid organ injuries, none of which required surgical intervention or blood transfusion. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of abdominal examination for patients with distracting injuries were 90.0% and 97.0%, respectively. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of abdominal examination for surgically significant and transfusion-requiring injuries were both 100%. CONCLUSION Distracting injuries do not seem to diminish the efficacy of clinical abdominal examination for the diagnosis of clinically significant abdominal injury. These data suggest that clinical examination of the abdomen is valid in awake and alert blunt trauma patients, regardless of the presence of other injuries. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Diagnostic study, level III.


ABSTRACT In most common-law jurisdictions world-wide, an offender's remorse is a well-settled mitigating factor in sentencing, with judges obliged to take it into account when formulating an offender's sentence. However, the importance of remorse in sentencing is matched by its mystery. Given remorse's central role in the moral drama of the criminal justice process, it is crucial to investigate how remorse is evaluated, and also to understand the limitations of those evaluations. The present article seeks to contribute to that effort by exploring what is involved in judges coming to know — and claiming to know — that 'this offender is remorseful'. Drawing on in-depth original interviews with 20 magistrates and judges in New South Wales, Australia, we explore how judges themselves understand their own ways of knowing about remorse. We then look at two basic scenes of offender remorse: remorse in the courtroom and remorse outside the courtroom. Many judges want to see remorse in the courtroom, and are often confident that they know it when they see it. But, at the same time, as we shall see, many judges also want evidence of the offender's remorse outside the courtroom.


OBJECTIVE
Reductions in substance involvement into adulthood are thought to represent a normative maturing out of substance use. However, patterns and predictors of maturing out of alcohol and cannabis co-use remain largely unstudied. Therefore, the current study tested developmental trajectories of alcohol and cannabis use from late adolescence into adulthood and whether late adolescent personality traits predicted trajectory class membership.

METHODS
Data come from a longitudinal study of family history of alcohol disorder (N = 458). Age bands were created to model trajectories of drinking quantity, negative alcohol consequences, and cannabis use frequency from late adolescence (age 18-22) to young adulthood (age 23-28) and adulthood (age 29-36). Participants reported on their sensation seeking, conscientiousness, and neuroticism during late adolescence and their typical drinking quantity, negative alcohol consequences, and cannabis use frequency at each age band.

RESULTS
Three trajectory classes were derived from an initial Parallel Process Growth Mixture Model: (1) low-risk maturing out of alcohol-only use, (2) high-risk maturing out of co-use, and (3) high-risk switchers who increased their cannabis use into adulthood. Late adolescent sensation seeking was associated with higher odds of being in both co-use trajectories, whereas a lack of conscientiousness was associated with higher odds of being a co-use switcher.

CONCLUSIONS
We identified heterogeneity in trajectories of co-use, which suggests that a lack of maturing out of alcohol involvement may be accompanied by increased cannabis use. Moreover, late adolescent personality traits may predispose individuals toward riskier developmental trajectories of substance use into adulthood.


Caves are one of the potential natural shelters of overwintering mosquitoes. The aim of this study was to explore the diversity, seasonal abundance, gender ratio and the vector status of mosquito imagoes collected from 19 caves if the Bakony-Balaton Region, Hungary, based on data of a monograph covering nearly 30 years of sample collections. Culex pipiens pipiens and Culiseta annulata were the most abundant trogloxene mosquitoes; Anopheles maculipennis, Anopheles messeae, Culex hortensis, Culex pipiens molestus and Culex territans were also collected in caves from July to April. The total mosquito number showed an approximately continuous increasing trend from July to November and a decreasing trend from December to April. Most of the mosquito specimens were collected in autumn and winter. Culex pipiens pipiens individuals were present in the caves from August to April. Male mosquitoes were collected only in the second half of the year, while female individuals – both in the first and the second half of the year. Both the relative abundance of males and females exhibited an increasing trend between August and November. The infected Culex pipiens pipiens mosquitoes, which start their diapause in the autumn, can be the potential vectors of the West Nile virus during the next year. It can be concluded that caves are important habitats of mosquitoes that are vectors of non-human pathogens in Hungary.


Fraud poses a significant threat to the Internet. 1.5% of all online advertisements attempt to spread malware. This lowers the willingness to view or handle advertisements, which will severely affect the structure of the web and its viability. It may also destabilize online commerce. In addition, the Internet is increasingly becoming a weapon for political targets by malicious organizations and governments. This book will examine these and related topics, such as smart phone based web security. This book describes the basic threats to the Internet (loss of trust, loss of advertising revenue, loss of security) and how they are related. It also discusses the primary countermeasures and how to implement them.


Although scholars in the first two generations of humanism wrote the histories drawing heavily on ancient Roman sources, Petrarca was the first humanist historian to focuses on the history of ancient Roma. Because he was also the earliest to approach ancient Romans as historically conditioned human beings, he was able to see the achievements of the Romans in historical perspective. At the same time he was unable to separate mythology from history and acknowledged the effect of divine and diabolical forces on the course of human events.


The trajectories of diffusion processes are continuous but non-differentiable, and each occurs with vanishing probability. This introduces a gap between theory, where path probabilities are used in many contexts, and experiment, where only events with non-zero probability are measurable. Here we bridge this gap by considering the probability of diffusive trajectories to remain within a tube of small but finite radius around a smooth path. This probability can be measured in experiment, via the rate at which trajectories exit the tube for the first time, thereby establishing a link between path probabilities and physical observables. Considering $N$-dimensional overdamped Langevin dynamics, we show that the tube probability can be obtained theoretically from the solution of the Fokker-Planck equation. Expressing the resulting exit rate as a functional of the path and ordering it as a power series in the tube radius, we identify the zeroth-order term as the Onsager-Machlup stochastic action, thereby elevating it from a mathematical construct to a physical observable. The higher-order terms reveal, for the first time, the form of the finite-radius contributions which account for fluctuations around the path. To demonstrate the experimental relevance of this action functional for tubes, we numerically sample trajectories of Brownian motion in a double-well potential, compute their exit rate, and show an excellent agreement with our analytical results. Our work shows that smooth tubes are surrogates for non-differentiable diffusive trajectories, and provide a direct way of comparing theoretical results on single trajectories, such as path-wise definitions of irreversibility, to measurement.


The authors describe a case of a focal splenic infarction with a hypervascular appearance on selective splenic arteriography. This appearance of splenic in farction has never before been reported. Angiographers should be aware of this unusual presentation of splenic infarction when they encounter an unexplained focal hypervascular area.


Considerable concerns relating to the duration of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 have been raised, with evidence of antibody titres declining rapidly after infection and reports of reinfection. Here we monitored antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) for up to six months after infection. While antibody titres were maintained, half of the cohort's neutralising responses had returned to background. However, encouragingly in a selected subset of 13 participants, 12 had detectable RBD-specific memory B cells and these generally increased out to 6 months. Furthermore, we were able to generate monoclonal antibodies with SARS-CoV-2 neutralising capacity from these memory B cells. Overall our study suggests that the loss of neutralising antibodies in plasma may be countered by the maintenance of neutralising capacity in the memory B cell repertoire.


Lung cancer is still the deadliest cancer in men and women worldwide. This high mortality is related to diagnosis in advanced stages, when curative treatment is no longer an option. Large randomized controlled trials have shown that lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose computed tomography (CT) can detect lung cancers at earlier stages and reduce lung cancer-specific mortality. The recent publication of the significant reduction of cancer-related mortality by 26% in the Dutch-Belgian NELSON LCS trial has increased the likelihood that implementation of LCS in Europe will move forward. Radiologists are important stakeholders in numerous aspects of the LCS pathway. Their role goes beyond nodule detection and nodule management. Being part of a multidisciplinary team, radiologists are key players in numerous aspects of implementation of a high quality LCS program. In this non-systematic review we discuss the multifaceted role of radiologists in LCS.


Aim: To assess incidence of allergic disorders and respiratory infections in 5-6 years old population of Georgia. Methods The cross sectional study using specially developed parent questionnaire was conducted in Georgia. At all 1530 parent of 5-6 years children were interviewed, 1499 questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS program. Results: From 1499 children 32 % were 5 years old and 68% 6 years old. The 54 % live in urban, 35 % in rural area and 11% in high mountains. The study revealed that 2,3 % of children have respiratory viral infections 7-8 times per year, 19,9 – 3-5 times, 53,4 %-1-2 times and 24,2 % became ill very rarely. The study show statistically significant difference between the viral infection frequency in rural and urban area (Pearson Chi-Square=33.895a df=6Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)= ,000). There was not significant difference in morbidity according to family income, size and education. Morbidity is statistically significantly higher in boys and in children attending kindergarten and primary school in comparison with non-organized children (Pearson Chi-Square14,985a Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)=,002). The frequency of chronic diseases reported by parents is 4,1 %, from those 47 % are allergic disorders (asthma, rhinitis, atopic dermatitis). The most parents associate the asthma exacerbation with viral infections. The 42 % of children with asthma and rhinitis were vaccinated with seasonal influenza vaccine. Exacerbation of allergy was significantly less in vaccinated children. Conclusion: Incidence of allergic disorders among children is raising. Viral infections are risk factors for asthma exacerbation. Vaccination against seasonal influenza should be encouraged.


This was a preliminary study conducted to examine the relationship between psycho graphic factors (i.e., personal value, risk attitude, and trust) and the purchase of life insurance among Alor Setar city folks.A non-probability convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from early February to mid-March 2015.A sample comprising 108 respondents were subjected
to binary logistic regression analysis. The major finding of this study showed that risk attitude has a significant and negative relationship with the purchase of life insurance.Respondents in Alor Setar who are more likely to involve in risky behaviours or activities tend not to buy life insurance.Risk taking individuals do not behave like risk averse individuals who tend to seek protection by buying life insurance as a method to cover their personal risks.Meanwhile, personal value and trust were found to have no significant
relationship with the purchase of life insurance among respondents in Alor Setar.It is recommended that a comprehensive study covering wider areas
with larger sample sizes be included in future studies to obtain more reliable results that would enable the generalisation of findings


Glomerulonephritis with organized microtubular monoclonal immunoglobulin deposits (GOMMID) and glomerulonephritis related to type I cryoglobulin are well-known but rare complications of B cell derived chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. In these disorders, monoclonal Ig have never been studied at the molecular level. We conducted a pathological and molecular analysis in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, glomerulonephritis and a single circulating monoclonal Ig. Unusual IgG1kappa kidney deposits were observed. The heavy and light chain variable region sequences of that cryoprecipitating monoclonal Ig were characterized. Light microscopy revealed glomerulonephritis typical of cryoglobulinaemia, with neutrophil and macrophage infiltration, endocapillary hyperplasia and few protein thrombi. Electron microscopic study clearly evidenced numerous subepithelial mixed granular and organized deposits with a unique microtubular organization, reminiscent of the GOMMID. The Ig molecule sequence revealed alterations of charge and hydrophobicity potentially promoting a crystal-like aggregation and the aggregation of microtubules. This description suggests that common mechanisms are involved in various forms of precipitation and/or deposition of complete Ig molecules, with a variable extent of organization and with a possible overlap between pathological patterns of either glomerulonephritis with microtubular deposits or type I cryoglobulinic glomerulonephritis.


We present a case of stenoses in the right coronary artery with a previously deployed stent showing gross protrusion into the aorta. Despite difficulty in cannulation of a guiding catheter into the coronary artery, percutaneous intervention was accomplished using a novel technique to engage the protruding stent. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


For the harmonic signal extraction from chaotic interference, a harmonic signal extraction method is proposed based on synchrosqueezed wavelet transform (SWT). First, the mixed signal of chaotic signal, harmonic signal, and noise is decomposed into a series of intrinsic mode-type functions by synchrosqueezed wavelet transform (SWT) then the instantaneous frequency of intrinsic mode-type functions is analyzed by using of Hilbert transform, and the harmonic extraction is realized. In experiments of harmonic signal extraction, the Duffing and Lorenz chaotic signals are selected as interference signal, and the mixed signal of chaotic signal and harmonic signal is added by Gauss white noises of different intensities. The experimental results show that when the white noise intensity is in a certain range, the extracting harmonic signals measured by the proposed SWT method have higher precision, the harmonic signal extraction effect is obviously superior to the classical empirical mode decomposition method.


Abstract Background: The number of elderly people is increasing worldwide, and elevated body mass index is a common problem that occur with elderly people, which can be directly or indirectly affected by level of physical activity and gender. So, it is essential to study the effect of both physical activity and gender on body mass index in elderly people. Material and methods: A cross-sectional, observational study was conducted on 120 elderly Jordanian people who live in Amman (62 women; 58 men) and evaluated for body mass index. Those participants were 40 elderly persons who attended the gym at least twice a week for the last 2 years, and 80 elderly who were home resident or physically inactive. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data about personal, social, health and life-style information including the daily activities and the anthropometric measurements for the study participants. Results: The results of this study showed that as elderly people become physically inactive, their body mass index will increase to become as overweight or obese. The results of this study also showed that body mass index of 30 and more was associated with gender, with majority of female elderly (50%) having body mass index of 30 or more. Conclusion: Physical activity should be maintained by both genders in order to prevent obesity, primarily in women as they are more likely to become obese that men. Furthermore, body mass index should not exceed 30 in elderly. Physical activity is essential in order to obtain healthy weight.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To explore contact with and knowledge regarding chest drain management among nurses.

BACKGROUND
Chest drains are commonly used in both adult and paediatric settings, for example, for cardiothoracic patients or postspinal surgery, where they are inserted intra-operatively to drain excess fluid. Despite a large number of children requiring chest drain insertion annually, current literature suggests that many nurses have reduced contact with chest drains and a knowledge deficit regarding their management. Furthermore, the literature is limited in relation to chest drain management in the paediatric patient. Mismanagement of chest drains can have devastating consequences for patients.

DESIGN
A standardised descriptive survey approach was employed.

METHODS
The sample consisted of 121 critical care and ward nurses from a large urban paediatric hospital, who cared for chest drains on a regular basis. Data were collected using a 37-item questionnaire, adapted from a study in the adult setting. Statistical analysis was performed using spss V15.

RESULTS
The findings demonstrate that increased exposure to caring for children with chest drains is synonymous with a greater perception of knowledge levels in this area of practice. While critical care nurses looked after children with chest drains more frequently than ward nurses, there was no difference in the knowledge assessment section of the questionnaire. This research identified where knowledge deficits exist.

CONCLUSIONS
This study identified the key areas where overall uncertainties existed leading to a decreased knowledge perception. Nurses are engaging with methods of knowledge acquisition; however, those who have less contact with chest drains require regular updates.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Addressing misconceptions about chest drain management is imperative. Providing up to date guidelines in clinical areas will improve chest drain management. Strategic educational initiatives are in place to ensure identified knowledge deficits are addressed and a complete revision of chest drain guidelines has been undertaken.


Recombinant inbred lines (RILs) can serve as powerful tools for genetic mapping. Recently, members of the Complex Trait Consortium proposed the development of a large panel of eight-way RILs in the mouse, derived from eight genetically diverse parental strains. Such a panel would be a valuable community resource. The use of such eight-way RILs will require a detailed understanding of the relationship between alleles at linked loci on an RI chromosome. We extend the work of Haldane and Waddington on two-way RILs and describe the map expansion, clustering of breakpoints, and other features of the genomes of multiple-strain RILs as a function of the level of crossover interference in meiosis.


Commercialization is often viewed as an avenue to improve household food security due to its comparative advantages over subsistence production. However, there are arguments for and against smallholder commercialization as a pathway for ensuring household food security. This paper sought to identify factors that influence household food security for Kenyan rural smallholder households, and in particular, determine if household commercialization as defined by household participation in input (fertilizer and seed) and crop output markets affects food security position. Results showed that household commercialization was associated with a reduced risk of being in the chronically food poor and oscillator groups compared to the food non-poor group. Hence, market participation can play a significant role in reducing food poverty, thus ensuring food security. This suggests that facilitating the expansion of market participation by smallholder farmers can be critical in helping households transition out of food poverty. This will entail enabling access to affordable production inputs, suitable to small scale farmers, thus ensuring that farmers are not trapped in low productivity–low return farming activities that lead to food insecurity. The use of productivity enhancing inputs will improve the ability of smallholder farmers to produce sufficient marketable surplus. Also, it will be important to strengthen efforts geared toward creating market linkages for the various agricultural enterprises. Moreover, innovations that enhance households' access to land, education, savings and employment can be instrumental in raising their ability to produce food and access it from the market, ensuring food security.


This article offers a cultural analysis of the practice of "acting white" in a society where the distinction between black and white is vague and primarily symbolic and where the hegemonic discourse denies the existence of ethnic inequality and encourages ethnic integration. In the Israeli context, acting white or passing (in Hebrew, hishtaknezut or "Ashkenazification") refers to mimicking the habitus of the dominant (European) ethnic group. Based on qualitative research, we argue that hishtaknezut is the cultural script offered by Israeli society in response to both the national discourse of the "ingathering of the exiles" and the neoliberal demand for identities devoid of ethnic markers as a precondition for economic mobility. However, the concept of hishtaknezut functions as a shaming interpellation highlighting both the act of mimicry and its inherent failure. Passing as "white" in Israel entails a twofold sense of shame, over both one's ethnic origin and the concealment of that origin by mimicking another group. This practice carries with it an individual, apolitical stigma that reaffirms the neoliberal, non-ethnic perception of Israeli society. The prevalence of Ashkenazification, along with its signification of imperfection, attests to the perpetuation of the ethnic order in Israel, which relies on an Orientalist discourse that distinguishes between "worthy" social positions and "unworthy" ones from which one must escape to achieve social privileges.


Design guidelines/standards and subsequent project design criteria generally stipulate that Decision Sight Distance (DSD) be provided at freeway exit terminals. In most such guidelines the DSD is to be measured to a low point on the highway at the bullnose. However, achieving DSD for exit ramps is not always realistic. Vertical and horizontal curves, the presence of retaining walls, cut slopes and other structures and fixtures present challenges that may require major design modifications (and therefore costs). This paper examines the theoretical foundation used to derive the DSD, and reflects, from a safety perspective, on whether the DSD, as defined in current design standards is appropriate and considers the implications of deviating from those standards. The paper covers a literature review of relevant design guidelines and reviews human factor parameters used to derive the DSD and positive guidance principles. The paper also examines the concept of nominal and substantive safety, which is fundamental to the topic of "departure from standards". On that basis, the paper concludes whether the DSD to an exit ramp, as currently defined, is truly relevant in all cases to driver's decision--making process. Improvements and modifications to the current DSD requirements are recommended.


ed posters was displayed; this showed antibody labelling of the nuclear region in neurones from HD brains but no staining in control tissue. The interpretation of these preliminary findings is unclear. Outside the genetic aspects, evidence was presented that besides the familiar caudate hypometabolism seen on positron emission tomograph (PET) scanning, there is general hypometabolism in the resting HD brain that spares the cerebellum. Immunocytochemical studies on postmortem HD brains have previously suggested that striatal output GABA/ enkephalin neurones of the 'indirect' pathway to the lateral globus pallidus (presumed to bear largely D2 dopamine receptors on their cell bodies) are lost earlier and to a more severe degree than GABA/substance P neurones of the 'direct' pathway to medial globus pallidus (D1). However, PET scans using "C-raclopride and "C-SCH 23390 as ligands for DI and D2 receptors respectively suggest a parallel 40 to 50% loss of both receptors, in both rigid and choreic subjects. The session on neurochemistry stressed that the absolute and relative degrees of loss of enkephalin immunoreactivity from the lateral pallidum and substantia nigra reticulata seemed to be the same whether one looks at the brains of the rigid versus choreic, or young versus old, subjects. New neurochemical studies examined the distribution of cannabinoid, 5HT1D,and substance P receptor and glutamate receptor subunit binding, and concentrations of synaptophysin and protein kinase c in normal persons, and their pattern of loss in HD basal ganglia. There was much speculation on the search for effective treatment(s) for the disease. We are now leaving the rather unsatisfactory era of symptomatic treatment to concentrate on neuroprotective (slowing progression or delaying onset), preventive (halting progression or preventing onset), or genetic therapy. Chase (NIH) gave a rather gloomy picture of the results from pilot trials with putative neuroprotective agents such as baclofen (anti-glutaminergic) and tocopherol (anti-oxidant) and outlined newer agents such as antagonists of NMDA, AMPA, and glycine and calcium channel blockers. Isaacson (Belmont) provided an overview of the potential for neural transplantation in HD, citing animal work showing that cells from the fetal lateral ganglionic process differentiated into striatal cells when transplanted and that only this cell type had a beneficial effect in a (excitotoxic) primate model. Additional postulated candidates for implantation include the use of genetically engineered cells producing growth factors or neurotransmitters or both and the possibility of masking major histocompatibility antigens to allow transgenic grafts. It was generally agreed that some cell source other than freshly aborted human tissue ultimately needs to be found, and that much more animal experimentation needs to be done, particularly when a transgenic model for HD becomes available. Whatever therapeutic candidate one chooses, the methodology of clinical trials is going to be crucial, particularly as it may be critical to detect not just clinical improvement but also slowed progression. Longitudinal data for most complementary investigations in HD are scanty, but there is useful clinical follow up data from the Venezuelan pedigree, from the baclofen study, and from an additional group of 78 patients followed by Shoulson et al at Rochester, NY, for a mean of 3-4 years, who generated data presented at this meeting. Plans are well advanced for a collaborative multicentre longitudinal clinical study of the natural history of large cohorts ofHD subjects both in the United States and in Europe as a necessary prelude to any study of any potentially disease modifying treatment. The scientific sessions of the workshop ran, for the most part, concurrently with the meetings of the International Huntington Association. The joint session on the second day provided the opportunity for both sides to express their thoughts on some of the ethical 1040


Background: Approximately 120 cases of posterior sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) dislocation have been documented in the medical literature since it was first described in 1824 by Sir Astley Cooper, a statistic which underlies its relative rarity. It is associated with high energy trauma, and although it may present innocently enough, it is a potentially life threatening injury. Case and Results: We describe a case in which there was no clinical evidence of complication, although CT imaging revealed complete obstruction of the brachiocephalic vein and impingement of the aorta. This required open reduction and a novel fixation technique was employed. The reduction was stable at 8 month follow up appointment as evidenced by CT scan. Conclusions: We acknowledge that this type of complication is well recognised but emphasise that it should not be managed complacently. A high index of suspicion is required to determine the presence of serious complications in this type of injury, which may manifest insidiously.


The zonally symmetric inertial instability of oceanic near-equatorial flows is studied through high-resolution numerical simulations. In homogeneous upper layers, the instability of surface-confined westward currents implies potentially fast downward mixing of momentum with a predictable final equilibrium. With increasing Reynolds number, latitudinal scales along the surface associated with the instability become ever smaller and initially the motions are ever more concentrated underneath the surface. The results suggest that even if the upper layer is stratified, it may still be necessary to include the full Coriolis force in the dynamics rather than use the traditional $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ -plane approximation.


Abstract Temperature control is important for the steel making process. Knowledge of the amount of thermal energy stored in the ladle allows for better predictions of the steel temperature during the process. This has a potential to improve the quality of the steel. In this work, we present a mathematical model of the heat transfer within a ladle during the production process. The model can be used to compute the current, and also the future, thermal status of the ladle. The model is simple and can be solved efficiently. We also present results from numerical simulations intended to illustrate the model.


(The tribe Phaseoleae s.l. (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae) in the municipality of Caetité, Bahia State, Brazil). Phaseoleae s.l. comprises the largest tribe of subfamily Papilionoideae in number of genera, with 89 genera and 1,567 species. Regional taxonomic studies of the tribe are only occasional in Brazil and rare in Northeastern Brazil, including Bahia, the region's most species-rich state. In this context, the present study had as its objective to carry out a taxonomic study of the species of Phaseoleae s.l. occurring in Caetité (BA), a conservation priority region for the Caatinga vegetation. For this purpose, we made field expeditions and visited to the HUNEBCollection Caetité and HUEFS Herbaria. A total of 25 species and 15 genera were recorded, accounting for 23% of the species registered for Bahia. Caetité stands out as one of the main centers of floristic richness of Phaseoleae s.l. in the semi-arid region of Bahia state. Leaflet shape, inflorescence type and the coloration of the petals and seeds are the most useful characters for identification.


Author(s): Zhao, Luning | Advisor(s): Neuscamman, Eric W | Abstract: Accurate modeling of electronic excited states is one of the most important and challenging problems in electronic structure theory. This thesis focuses on a recently developed excited state variational principle and its applications in gas and condensed phase. In contrast to the widely used excited states method such as linear response (LR) and many-body perturbation theory (MBPT), which find excited states by perturbing around the ground state wave function or a zeroth order particle-hole excitation picture, the new excited state variational principle directly targets excited states with the full flexibility of an approximate wave function ansatz. Due to its non-perturbative nature, this method offers balanced and systematically improvable descriptions to excited states. We will also discuss the efficient implementation of the new excited state variational principle through variational Monte Carlo and the Linear Method optimization algorithm.The new excited state variational principle is applied to predict both the excitation energies of low lying excited states in small molecules and optical gaps in solids. In molecules, the new method yields order-of-magnitude of improvements over the state-of-art excited state methods based on LR theory in double excitations. In solids, not only is the new method demonstrated to be more accurate than the commonly used MBPT method, but it could also be used to analyze and provide insights into MBPT. In order to further extend the method's applicability, we introduce a modified optimization method that addresses a fatal memory bottleneck in the original algorithm. With only minor lose in accuracy, the modified algorithm reduces the required memory per parallel process from tens of gigabytes to hundreds of megabytes. With the aid of the new optimization method, we show that the new excited state variational principle could systematically converge the excitation energy in a strongly correlated, Mott-insulating hydrogen ring with respect to increasing flexibility in the wave function ansatzes.