The conditions of networked ensemble performance were simulated in an experiment. Pairs of musicians were placed apart in isolated rooms and given a simple rhythm to clap together. A microphone was placed as close as possible to each performer's hands. Each monitored the other's sound via headphones, and a delay was introduced between the source and listener. Starting tempo, given by a recorded count-in, and delay time were varied across trials. Recordings of the trials were analyzed with a precise event detection algorithm to locate clap onsets, from which the tempo was inferred. The rate of deceleration increased with longer delays, while shorter delays ( 11.5 ms) produced a modest, but significant acceleration. The goal is to identify the region of delay time that is most conducive to maintaining a steady tempo. This will help to determine the necessary delay conditions to support networked musical performance (which may be over long distances or in adjoining rooms). Humans performed significantly better than a simple model of a memoryless instantaneous reaction.


A great effort has been made to identify and map a large set of single nucleotide polymorphisms. The goal is to determine human DNA variants that contribute most significantly to population variation in each trait. Different algorithms and software packages, such as PolyBayes and PolyPhred, have been developed to address this problem. We present strategies to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms, using chromatogram analysis and consensi of multiple aligned sequences. The algorithms were tested using HIV datasets, and the results were compared with those produced by PolyBayes and PolyPhred using the same dataset. Our algorithms produced significantly better results than these two software packages.


Liver cirrhosis is one of the most common non-neoplastic causes of mortality worldwide. Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is a major cause of liver cirrhosis in China. To find biomarkers for the diagnosis of CHB caused cirrhosis (HBC), we examined the transcriptional profiling of CHB and HBC. The leukocyte samples of CHB (n = 5) and HBC (n = 5) were analyzed by microarray. The results showed that 2128 mapped genes were differentially expressed between CHB and HBC (fold change ≥ 2.0, p < 0.05). Gene ontology (GO) analysis indicated that these 2128 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were enriched for immune response and cell formation functions mostly. Moreover, co-expression networks using the k-core algorithm were established to determine the core genes, which may play important roles in the progression of CHB to HBC. There were markedly different gene co-expression patterns in CHB and HBC. We validated the five core genes, CASP1, TGFBI, IFI30, HLA-DMA and PAG1 in CHB (n = 60) and HBC (n = 60) by quantitative RT-PCR. The expression of the five genes were consistent with microarray, and there were statistically significant co-expression patterns of TGFβ1, PAG1 and HLA-DMA mRNA (Pearson correlation coefficient >0.6). Furthermore, we constructed an mRNA panel of TGFBI, IFI30, HLA-DMA and PAG1 (TIPH HBCtest) by means of a logistic regression model, and evaluated the TIPH HBCtest for HBC diagnosis by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) analysis, which showed a higher accuracy (AUC = 0.903). This study suggested that there are particular transcriptional profiles, gene co-expression patterns and core genes in CHB and HBC. The TIPH HBC test may be useful in the diagnosis of HBC from CHB.


An estimated 290 million more couples will require modern contraception in the 1990s--a 60% increase. Many developing countries and donors strive to switch more of the burden for the rising cost of health and family planning services to the private and commercial sectors. Most family planning specialists promote the shift. Indeed research shows that in some places an equal number of people would use nominal priced contraception as would use free contraception and services. Many people often do prefer private sector services since they tend to be more accessible, dependable, and congenial than public sector services. The vigorous drive towards global privatization of and self sufficient family planning services may instead render modern methods too costly for many poor couples in developing countries. Research indicates that no one should have to pay 1% of income for contraception. Other research demonstrates that individuals tend not to pay for preventive health services, but do willingly pay for curative health services. They consider family planning services to be preventive health services, except for abortion for which they pay dearly. In many developing countries, the private sector cost for oral contraceptives ranges from 5-37% of average per gross national product capita, IUDs from 5-70%, and sterilization from 10-250%. These costs are indeed too expensive for poor couples. Yet these respective costs in developed nations vary from .1-.7%, .1-1%, and 1.7-4.7%. Moreover 50% of the population in developing countries have access to affordable contraceptives. This is especially true in Sub-Saharan Africa where the condom need is crucial to stem the AIDS pandemic. Therefore governments must be committed to universal availability of contraceptives by subsidizing private practitioners and commercial stores and providing free contraception to all in need.


IN THE 1940s, hypovolemic shock in the early postburn period was the leading cause of death after severe burn injury. Today, with our current knowledge of the massive fluid shifts and vascular changes that occur, early mortality has decreased considerably. The failure rate for adequate volume restoration is less than 5%, even for deep burns involving up to 85% of the total body skin surface. 1 The problem of nonreversible shock has now been replaced by that of generalized burn edema formation, a problem clearly less lethal but one that can result in serious morbidity. Tissue ischemia due to an increase in interstitial pressure is one complication of edema. 2 Pulmonary insufficiency, as a result of both a decrease in chest wall compliance from tissue edema and an increase in blood volume during edema mobilization, is another potential complication. Hypovolemia can be corrected and edema at least partially controlled, however,


Beyond the age of puberty involvement of the sexual glands as a complication of epidemic parotitis, particularly in the male, occurs in 18 to 35 per cent of cases. About 80 per cent of these involvements appear during the first eight days of mumps. A few cccur a considerable time after the epidemic parotitis has subsided. Little difference in the incidence of epididymo-orchitis is noted whether the patient is confined to bed or permitted to walk about during convalescence. 1 The onset is usually characterized by recurrence of fever, decided pain in and swelling of one or both testicles. In 1912 G. G. Smith 2 and in 1942 Wesselhoeft and Vose 3 recommended incision of the tunica albuginea testis to prevent pressure atrophy of the testicles and consequent loss of spermatogenic function. In the past few years several authors have tried a more conservative approach for prophylaxis and treatment of


This article presents a reading of Douglas Coupland's 2000 novel Miss Wyoming. Long before this novel was published Coupland had denounced the Generation X phenomena he had started in the early nineties, and this article examines Miss Wyoming's intertextual references to Jack Kerouac as a representative of the Beat generation, which was the previous self-labeled literary generation in North America before the Generation X of the 1990s. Taking this relationship as a point of departure, the article also explores the novel's relationship with the Bildungsroman, and it is suggested that the novel portrays communicative and emotional immaturity especially in relation to ideas of postmodernism and irony.


Guidelines on drug safety: Recent European Union draft guidelines for the safety evaluation of drugs intended for long-term use state that during drug development the safety profile of the new compound should be assessed over a period of time consistent with intended usage. This is in reasonable agreement with guidelines prepared by other regulatory authorities. Clinical drug development: Satisfactory preclinical data on a new compound are used to obtain authorization for human testing from the National Committees on Safety of Medicines. Clinical trials are performed in four phases, ranging from phase I studies performed on healthy volunteers (n=20-50) to postmarketing (phase IV) studies. The latter are of great importance as they cover large patient populations (n=2000 to >10 000) and allow detection of rare adverse drug reactions. Adverse drug reactions: Type B reactions are serious, unpredictable reactions to a drug that necessitate treatment withdrawal. Type A reactions are dose-dependent, and represent the majority of adverse reactions. They are often managed by dose reduction rather than drug withdrawal. Adverse reactions to antihypertensive agents: Examples of type B adverse reactions to antihypertensives are the cutaneous and ocular reactions to practolol, and angioneurotic oedema associated with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. Lacidipine, a second-generation calcium antagonist, is an example of a modern antihypertensive agent with a favourable safety profile. The adverse reactions associated with lacidipine are mild to moderate and of the A type, the major ones being those typical of calcium antagonists (headache, flushing and pedal oedema due to vasodilation).


Abstract Background: Synthetic drugs, although very effective, have their own side effects. Recently, herbal plants have received more attention to avoid the unpleasant effects of synthetic agents. Objective: To investigate the effects of garlic aqueous extract on contraction power of isolated atrium from male rats following administration of adrenalin. Methods: Male rats (Spirague Dawley, Albino, 200-250 gr) were divided into 7 groups as follows: Control, adrenalin, garlic extract (10 mg/kg, 20 mg/kg, and 40mg/kg), Propranolol and Propranolol plus garlic extract at a single concentration of 40 mg/kg. Later the contraction power was recorded using a physiograph set. Findings: Garlic extract at all three concentrations used in our study caused a reduction of atrial contraction power in adrenalin group. When the degree of contraction power reduction was compared between garlic extract (40mg/kg) and garlic extract plus Propranolol groups, no statistically significant difference found. Conclusion: Atrial contraction power decreased in presence of garlic aqueous extract and the degree of reduction was significant in both low and high doses, statistically.


Although the incidence of new HIV infections has plateaued or is even declining in some parts of the world HIV is spreading rapidly throughout Asia. The epidemic in Asia is about 10 years behind that in Africa but the current HIV transmission rates in some population groups in the region are as high as they were a decade ago in sub-Saharan Africa. More than half of the worlds population lives in Asia. A major epidemic of HIV in the region could therefore be enormous compared to that experienced in Africa. In 1993 more HIV infections were reported in southeast Asia than in the entire industrialized world. In 1994 the World Health Organization estimated an increase in the number of AIDS cases in Asia from 30000 to 250000. By the beginning of 1995 almost the same number of people were infected in southeast Asia as in sub-Saharan Africa. HIV is projected to continue to spread in Asia over the next few years with the future distribution and prevalence of AIDS varying widely among Asian countries. The predominant modes of viral transmission in the region are unprotected heterosexual intercourse and needle sharing. Homosexual transmission is also a factor but its influence is more difficult to measure since such sexuality is often not openly recognized. The author discusses the social cultural and economic factors which influence individual and societal vulnerability to HIV/AIDS womens status political will and government commitment to respond to the epidemic and future challenges.


OBJECTIVE
To explore novel pathogenic mutation in the mitochondrial DNA gene in diabetic pedigree.

METHODS
Twenty-eight suspected mitochondrial DNA diabetic families were recruited. The gene fragment was produced by PCR, and mutation was detected by direct sequencing.

RESULTS
In one pedigree, the proband and her mother were found carrying the most common nt3243 A --> G mutation and another 16S rRNA 3205C --> T mutation. But only 3205C --> T was found in her affected brother. All the two patients were deaf and developed diabetes in early age, characterized by impaired beta cell function and low body mass index (BMI). The proband had relatively higher lactic acid concentration than normal individuals. A novel ND1 gene 3434 A --> G(TAT --> TGT) mutation was explored in another proband with deafness and her affected family members.

CONCLUSION
16SrRNA 3205C --> T mutation was found in a mitochondrial diabetes mellitus pedigree, implying its potential pathogenic role in diabetes. Another novel ND1 3434 A --> G mutation was found in another diabetic pedigree. Because this mutation causes amino acid change (Tyr --> Cys) and is co-segregated with diabetes, it may be diabetogenic.


WOMEN IN ACADEMIABOSTON-- A 1999 report that documented the plight of female researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) sparked a heated national debate about the need to improve the status of women scientists in academia. Now a new study of MIT's School of Engineering cites a host of similar barriers, leaving dean Thomas Magnanti to conclude that "MIT is not a hospitable environment" for many women.


Abstract The number of individuals partaking in veganism has increased sharply in the last decade. Therefore, it is critical to look at the implications of vegan diets for public health. Although there are multiple health benefits of a vegan diet, studies have also linked the diet with deficiencies in various micronutrients. This study focuses on vitamin B12, because of its critical role in DNA synthesis and methylation. In light of these connections, a critical review of recent scientific literature is conducted to understand the effects of a B12 deficient diet on the genome and epigenome, and whether it can give rise to cancer. It is observed that a B12 deficiency leads to increased uracil misincorporation, leading to impaired DNA synthesis and genomic instability. The deficiency also leads to global hypomethylation of DNA, a hallmark of early carcinogenesis. The findings of this study highlight the need for increased awareness among vegans to ensure adequate B12 intake through supplementation or consumption of fortified products as a preventative measure. Additionally, the biofortification of staple crops and an improved version of fermented products with increased B12 content can be developed when inadequate intake seems otherwise inevitable.


This study of educational encounters between a trainer and a trainee in vocational training for general practice investigates the quality of the encounter. The study focuses on the relation between the quality of the encounter and elements such as presence of feedback, duration, use of media, etc. A quality measure based on the Gagné and Briggs model for the design of instructional events was developed. The quality score was correlated with other elements of the encounter as reported in a log diary completed by trainees. In the log diary 45 trainees registered 314 encounters. Quality predictors included duration of the encounter, the number of media (files of patients, professional guidelines) used, the number of follow-up activities and feedback by the trainer on the performance of the trainee. Several elements were identified as contributing to the educational quality of the encounter, such as presence of media, follow-up activities and positive feedback. The trainer can easily control these elements.


Purpose: To investigate the choroidal changes that occur in hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) retinopathy using multimodal imaging including fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography and to correlate these changes with retinal findings obtained using OCT and fundus autofluorescence. Methods: In 20 patients (n = 40 eyes) with systemic lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed to have HCQ retinopathy, imaging modalities including swept-source OCT, fundus autofluorescence, fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography, and OCT angiography were used to evaluate retinal and choroidal changes associated with retinopathy. The assessments included specific findings such as presence of hyperfluorescent or hypofluorescent lesions on angiography and signal void zones on OCT angiography, their frequencies, and the correlations among the retinal and choroidal findings. These findings were also correlated with the severity of retinopathy. Retinopathy progression was defined using fundus autofluorescence and OCT and correlated with the retinal/choroidal findings. Results: Fluorescein angiography demonstrated a hyperfluorescent area, which reflects a defective retinal pigment epithelium, with multiple tiny dark spots within the area. Indocyanine green angiography showed a hypofluorescent area with dark spots, which was matched to the hypoautofluorescent area on fundus autofluorescence. Although there were no specific morphologic abnormalities in the choroid layers using en face choroidal imaging, OCT angiography demonstrated signal void areas on the choriocapillaris in the areas of the retinal pigment epithelium defect. Even after cessation of HCQ, there was progression of retinopathy in eyes with choroidal involvement, particularly on the area of choroidal findings. Conclusion: Multimodal imaging demonstrates choriocapillaris degeneration in eyes with HCQ retinopathy, particularly those with severe retinopathy. The choroidal change was associated with outer retinal toxicity of HCQ.


A 3-transformation of a link is a local change which replaces two strings that are three times half twisted around each other by two untwisted strings (and vice versa). The Nakanishi?Montesinos (NM) conjecture asserts that this 3-transformation can unknot any link. We introduce the notion of the NM-spin model, which gives a link invariant preserved by 3-transformation. We try to classify such spin models and determine the corresponding link invariant. It is proved that the dimension of the Bose?Mesner algebra generated by the spin model is ?4. For dimension 1 and 2, there is no such spin model, but for dimension 3, there exists a unique one. Its link invariant is a non-trivial specialization of the Kauffman polynomial, but does not distinguish trivial links from the others, and hence cannot disprove the NM conjecture. For dimension 4, we give a family of NM-spin models. The corresponding link invariant is identified and does not distinguish trivial links from the others. Strong regularity and triple regularity of the Bose?Mesner algebra and its fusions are studied.


We present a void clustering analysis in configuration-space using the completed Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV) extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) DR16 samples. These samples consist of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRG) combined with the high redshift tail of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) DR12 CMASS galaxies (called as LRG+CMASS sample), Emission Line Galaxies (ELG) and quasars (QSO). We build void catalogues from the three eBOSS DR16 samples using a ZOBOV-based algorithm, providing 2,814 voids, 1,801 voids and 4,347 voids in the LRG+CMASS, ELG and QSO samples, respectively, spanning the redshift range $0.6<z<2.2$. We measure the redshift space distortions (RSD) around voids using the anisotropic void-galaxy cross-correlation function and we extract the distortion parameter $\beta$. We test the methodology on realistic simulations before applying it to the data, and we investigate all our systematic errors on these mocks. We find $\beta^{\rm LRG}(z=0.74)=0.415\pm0.087$, $\beta^{\rm ELG}(z=0.85)=0.665\pm0.125$ and $\beta^{\rm QSO}(z=1.48)=0.313\pm0.134$, for the LRG+CMASS, ELG and QSO sample, respectively. The quoted errors include systematic and statistical contributions. In order to convert our measurements in terms of the growth rate $f\sigma_8$, we use consensus values of linear bias from the eBOSS DR16 companion papers~\citep{eBOSScosmo}, resulting in the following constraints: $f\sigma_8(z=0.74)=0.50\pm0.11$, $f\sigma_8(z=0.85)=0.52\pm0.10$ and $f\sigma_8(z=1.48)=0.30\pm0.13$. Our measurements are consistent with other measurements from eBOSS DR16 using conventional clustering techniques.


In 1983 Korea dramatically changed the way it managed the largest and most important group of its public enterprises, or GIEs. The reforms increased enterprise autonomy, changed managerial selection procedures, and began systematically to evaluate performance and provide incentives on the basis of the evaluation. This paper assesses the results of these reforms and suggests ways the Korean performance evaluation system might be adapted to cicumstances in other countries. A central feature of the Korean reforms is the performance evaluation system, which sets clear targets for management and provides bonuses on the basis of outcomes. The system has four essential prerequisites for success : 1) parallel reforms to increase managerial autonomy and skills, 2) reliable and timely information, 3) adequate skills to supervise and evaluate, and 4) political will. This paper suggests ways to build up and compensate for the first three requirement; there is no substitute for the fourth.


One hundred and fifteen men between the ages of fifty and ninety-three were administered six cognitive tasks: a verbal intelligence subtest, a nonverbal intelligence subtest, two tests of concrete operations, one test of formal operations, and a problem-solving task. The obtained scores were factor analyzed. Two factors were obtained, a nonverbal, performance factor and a verbal-reasoning factor. Regression analyses in which age, education, occupation, years since retirement, health status, activity level, and marital status were predictor variables performed on the factor scores obtained for each of the factors. The nonverbal performance factor was significantly predicted by age while the verbal factor was significantly predicted by education. None of the other predictors were significant. The results suggest that verbal and nonverbal abilities may be determined by different antecedents. Since different cognitive abilities may have different antecedents and since these antecedents may have different relationships to age, it is important to view adult cognitive development as multidimensional and multidirectional rather than as normative and unidirectional.


Nanosheet type fillers apart from their size and surface functional groups may have numerous attributes affecting the mechanical properties of polymeric nanocomposites. To study these, silane-functionalized graphene based fillers were synthesized by chemically grafting N-[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]diethylenetriamine (TMPT) onto graphene oxide (GO) and carboxylated GO (GOCO) using different chemistries. Their respective silanization yielded nano-fillers with amine (GOSAM) and alkoxy (GOCSAL) groups. Further, hydroiodic acid (HI) treatment led to synthesis of their reduced counterparts GRSAM and GRCSAL. The resulting TMPT-functionalized nanosheets were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) confirmed silane functionalization. A blue shift in Raman spectra indicated that during silanization with different terminal groups an inherent compressive strain has developed, while reduction with HI caused a red shift indicating a tensile strain, in these nanosheets. Polycarbonate urethane nanocomposite electrospun membranes (PCU) incorporated with these respective fillers at different loadings were analyzed. Morphology of the nanocomposite membranes was observed under SEM and membranes were characterized by static and dynamic mechanical analysis. The study indicated that the exfoliation and dispersion of graphene sheets in PCU has significantly improved due to surface functionalization while it also exhibited a novel aspect, variations in their mechanical properties in respect to the type of strain present in incorporated nanosheet fillers. The nanosheet fillers with compressive strain contributed more to the mechanical property enhancement of nanocomposite membranes, than the fillers with tensile strain. A spring and molecule model was thus proposed as possible explanation to relate inherent strain in filler to that of nanocomposite membrane mechanical properties. In vitro non-cytotoxic and hemocompatible nature of these fibroporous nanocomposite membranes provided their potential in biomedical applications.


The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of humor therapy upon depression among elderly population at selected old age homes, Chennai.
OBJECTIVES:
1. To find out the prevalence of depression among elderly people in selected old homes.
2. To assess the effectiveness of humor therapy on depression among the elderly population.
3. To find out the association between the selected variables and the level of depression among elderly people.
4. To determine the level of satisfaction of humor therapy in the experimental group of elderly people.
The study utilized the true experimental research design and the study was conducted at Anandham Home for the Aged, Kallikuppam and Little Drops Home for the Aged, Paraniputhur. Sixty elderly clients were selected and randomizations of the settings were done. Out of which, 30 clients were assigned to control group and 30 clients were assigned to experimental group. The depression scores were assessed for both the control and experimental group in both before and after therapy. Humor therapy was given in the experimental group for a period of two weeks, 1hr in a day.
NULL HYPOTHESE:
Ho1: There will be no significant difference in the depression scores in elderly people before and after humor therapy in control and experimental group.
Ho2: There will be no association between the selected Demographic and clinical variables and the level of depression before and after humor therapy in the experimental and control group.
The conceptual framework for this study is based on Roy's adaptation model [1995] given by Sister Callista Roy with stimuli, adaptation mode, and behavior. An extensive review of literature and guidance by experts formed the foundations to the development of the tool. An experimental research approach was used to achieve the objectives of the study.
The investigator used a Demographic variable proforma, Clinical variable proforma, Geriatric Depression Scale and a rating scale on the level of satisfaction of the humor therapy to collect the data. The data collection tools were validated and reliability was established. After the pilot study, the data for the main study was collected. The collected data was tabulated and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY:
Prevalence of depression among elderly people:
The prevalence of depression among elderly people residing in the old age home was as follows as mild depression (46.62%) ,very depressed (18.91%) and overall as (65.53%).
Demographic variables of the geriatrics with depression:
A significant percentage of the elderly people in experimental and control were aged between 60-65 yrs (36.66%, 46.66%), females (73.3%, 66.6%), have studied up to secondary education (33.3%, 23.3%). Most of them were married in experimental group and control group (53.33%, 56.6%). Almost all of them (100%) were Hindus in the experimental group; whereas the majority of the participants in the control group were Christians (86.6%). The duration of stay in the old age home for majority of the elderly people were ≤ 1 year in experimental group (70%) and most of the elderly people in the control group (56.6%). Hypertension was the major illness present in both experimental and control group (20%, 23.3%) of the elderly people.
Level of depression of geriatrics before and after humor therapy:
Majority of geriatrics in the experimental and control group had mild depression (60%, 73.33%) and very depressed (40%, 26.66%) in the pre test. In the post test, 73.33% of the geriatrics in the experimental group has come to normal and 26.66% had mild depression. Where as in control group 70% had mild depression and 30% were very depressed. So the null hypothesis H01 is rejected.
Mean and standard deviation of level of depression of elderly people before and after humor therapy:
The depression score among experimental group in the pretest was high (M=16.33, SD=3.812) while comparing to the post test depression score (M=9.26, SD=1.712) which is high significant at p <0.001 level. Whereas in control group the depression score was almost the same (M=15.76, SD=2.639) in pretest and post test (M=15.13, SD=3.30) which is not significant (p<0.05). The study results showed that humor therapy reduced the level of depression among the geriatrics.
Association between selected demographic variable and the level of depression of elderly people:
Chi square test was done and association was tested. It was found that there was significant association between the selected variables (age, educational status, marital status and duration of stay in the old age home and medical illness) and the level of depression in both the experimental and control group. Hence the null hypothesis was rejected. There were no significant relationship between other selected variables and the level of depression, hence the null hypothesis was accepted.
Level of satisfaction of humor therapy:
The study results indicated that the geriatrics had high level of satisfaction on receiving humor therapy (86.66%).
CONCLUSION:
The findings of the study revealed that being in old age home and the feeling of loneliness were the causes of depression in the elderly people. Physical limitations and financial constraints added to their agony. Humor therapy is a non pharmacological psychosocial intervention for the treatment of depression.


Ninety-six, 14-day-old Single Comb White Leghorns (48 males and 48 females) in each of two trials were divided into three groups and grown thereafter under one of the ambient temperatures of 21, 29, or 35 C. Age at sexual maturity of males was decreased in both trials as temperature was increased. First semen was produced at 54 and and 56 days of age in Trials 1 and 2, respectively, when the ambient temperature was 35 C and 68 and 63 days at 21 C for Trials 1 and 2, respectively. Sexual maturity of females was significantly delayed at the highest ambient temperature. Semen quality was only slightly affected by the highest ambient temperature. Although egg production was seriously affected at 35 C, fertility and hatchability, except in a few instances, were only mildly affected.


With the aim of further simplifying the detection of human polyomaviruses BK (BKV) and JC (JCV), by reducing the time and the cost of the reactions, a duplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed for the simultaneous detection and identification of BKV and JCV DNA. A nested PCR was performed. In a first amplification reaction the same set of primers was used to amplify a sequence of either BKV or JCV genomes. Two sets of primers, each specific for BKV or JCV DNA, were used in a second amplification. The products of BKV and JCV DNA amplification were distinguishable on the basis of their different size. The sensitivity and the specificity of the duplex PCR was shown to be exactly comparable to that of the single PCR, not only with the BKV and the JCV plasmid but also for BKV and JCV DNA detection in clinical specimens.


Multimedia object caching, by which the same multimedia object can be adapted to diverse mobile appliances through the technique of transcoding, is an important technology for improving the scalability of web services, especially in the environment of mobile networks. In this paper, we address the problem of cache replacement for multimedia object caching by exploring the minimal access cost of caching any number of versions of a multimedia object. We first present an optimal solution for calculating the minimal access cost of caching any number of versions of the same multimedia object and its extensive analysis. The performance objective is to minimize the total access cost by considering both transmission cost and transcoding cost. Based on this optimal solution, we propose an efficient cache replacement algorithm for multimedia object caching. Finally, we evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm with a set of carefully designed simulation experiments for various performance metrics over a wide range of system parameters. The simulation results show that our algorithm outperforms comparison algorithms in terms of all the performance metrics considered.


The conserved and structured elements in viral RNA genomes interact with proteins to regulate various events in the viral life cycle and have become key targets for developing novel therapeutic approaches. We probe physical interactions between lab-evolved proteins and a viral RNA element from the HIV-1 genome. Specifically, we study the role of an arginine-rich loop in recognition of designed proteins by the viral RNA element. We report free energy calculations to quantitatively estimate the protein/RNA binding energetics, focusing on the mutations of arginine residues involved in recognition of the major groove of RNA by proteins.


With the website OurWorldInData.org economist Max Roser, University of Oxford, explains to make progress against the world's largest problems by making corresponding research and data publicly available. This discussion paper will address the question of how Our World In Data contributes to solving the challenges of climate change based on the article "CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Emissions" by Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser. This discussion paper comes to the conclusion that Ritchie and Roser are proposing less concrete solutions and instead are combining data that are already publicly available. This is not how they create new solutions, but they show clearly the need for action worldwide. The fact that most of the data shown is publicly available gives their message a particular strength: Ritchie and Roser show how clear the need for action should actually be for all political decision-makers.


We will describe the design principles by which naked nanocrystals (i.e. Those stripped of their native ligands) can be architectured into diverse 3-D mesoscale materials using block copolymers. Various polymer-architecturing paradigms will be discussed from a theor. perspective alongside exptl. results. Particular mention will be nanocrystal tethering domains that afford substantive enthalpic contribution to the free energy of co-assembly used to direct the nanocrystals into precision architectures at high vol. fractions. We will also show how those various architectures are useful in high-power energy storage applications.


The mites Tetranychus ogmophallos and Mononychellus planki are emerging pests in the peanut crop and have been causing great economic damage. The objective of this work was to evaluate the acaricide fenpyroximate in the control of T. ogmophallos and M. planki mites in the peanut crop. The experiments were carried out under laboratory and field conditions. In the laboratory, experiments were performed using peanut leaf discs placed on Petri dishes containing 2% agar-water. Adult T. ogmophallos or M. planki mites were transferred to each experimental unit and exposed to different concentrations of fenpyroximate using a Potter tower. After defining the most efficient concentrations, a field experiment was carried out in a peanut cultivation area. In this area, infestation with T. ogmophallos mites was carried out at 30 days after emergence of the peanut plants, while M. planki occurred naturally in the area. Then, fenpyroximate applications were performed with a pressurized costal sprayer. In the laboratory, fenpyroximate was efficient in controlling T. ogmophallos and M. planki at concentrations above 2.5 g a.i. 100 L -1 . Under field conditions, fenpyroximate was effective against these mites at all concentrations evaluated (10, 15, 20 and 30 g a.i. 100 L -1 ).


Recently, various methods related with the multi-touch technologies have been proposed and multi-touch interface is being applied in the field of game. Multi-touch interface overcome the limit for control of game and it can offer game of various contents to users. In this paper, we understand multi-touch interface and by implementing the game based on the multi-touch interface, we suggest the direction of design of multi-touch based interface.


The behavioral reactivity in an "open-field" test and plasma cortisol levels were studied in 72 pigs from 12 litters fed for 3 wk one of three diets with different levels of tryptophan: deficient (.14%), adequate (.23%), or excess (.32%). "Open-field" tests were performed three times: 5 d (day W + 5), 23 d (day W + 23) and 45 d (day W + 45) after weaning. The exploration time and the number of grunts provided an adequate measure of the individual emotional reactivity at day W + 5. Significant correlations were obtained between exploration time and the number of grunts at each time (r = -.83 at day W + 5; r = -.46 at day W + 23; r = -.71 at day W + 45). The distinction between animals remained (P less than .05) in terms of exploration time at both 23 and 45 d after weaning. At day W + 23, exploration time was lower in the group fed the adequate diet than in the two other groups. This effect was maintained subsequently after feeding all pigs the same adequate diet (day W + 45). In 36 pigs slaughtered at day W + 23, brain TRP concentration was higher with the excess dietary TRP than with deficient or adequate levels. Conversely, other plasma amino acids (particularly threonine) accumulated only in the brains of pigs fed the deficient diet. Plasma cortisol level assayed at weaning (W) and 2 wk later increased with age and was higher in 16-h fasted (day W + 15) than in 3-h fasted (day W + 17) pigs. Correlations were observed within litters in the fasting state, between the cortisol level and behavioral traits measured at day W + 23 (r = .70 for number of grunts, r = -.60 for exploration time). Dietary TRP did not affect the plasma cortisol level irrespective of the nutritional state after weaning. However, an interaction was noted between plasma cortisol and TRP status (P less than .05). Although dietary TRP induced large variations in brain amino acids and 5-hydroxyindole concentrations, changes in behavioral and cortisol responses were relatively minor.


OBJECTIVE
To study the distribution characteristics and the targeting feature of polyethylene glycol (PEG) modified 5-fluorouracil magnetic albumin microspheres (5-FU-MAMS) and 5-FU-MAMS in major organs of colorectal neoplasm nude mice under magnetic field, and to provide experimental evidence for targeting therapy.

METHODS
Eighteen mice were equally divided into PEG-5-FU-MAMS group(n=6), 5-FU-MAMS group(n=6), and 5-FU group(n=6). The colorectal neoplasm was exposed in the magnetic field of 3000 GS for 30 minutes. Three types of 5-FU were injected through the vena caudalis at the dose of 8 mg/kg. Thirty minutes later, the animals were immediately sacrificed after blood draw from the fossa orbitalis. The concentration of 5-FU in different organs including liver, lung, and tumor tissue were determined by the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

RESULTS
The 5-FU concentrations in colorectal cancer tissue, liver, lung, and blood were(73.3±3.2), (22.1±2.7), (26.3±2.8), and(1.6±0.6) mg/L in the PEG-5-FU-MAMS group, and were(55.9±5.4), (46.3±8.2), (39.4±5.4), and(1.7±0.4) mg/L in the 5-FU-MAMS group. The 5-FU concentration in colorectal neoplasm was higher in the PEG-5-FU-MAMS group than that in the 5-FU-MAMS group(P<0.01), while the concentration was lower in the liver and the lung than that in the 5-FU-MAMS group(all P<0.01). There were no significant difference of 5-FU concentration in the blood sample(P>0.05).

CONCLUSION
Both PEG-5-FU-MAMS and 5-FU-MAMS show significant magnetic targeting to the colorectal neoplasm, and passive target capacity of PEG-5-FU-MAMS to liver and the lung. PEG modification can decrease passive target capacity and the active target capacity can be enhanced, which efficiently reduces the toxicity of chemotherapeutic agents to important organs, and therefore provides a new initiative targeting chemotherapy for cancer.


We present an interpretable machine learning model to predict accurately the complex rippling deformations of multiwalled carbon nanotubes made of millions of atoms. Atomistic-physics-based models are accurate but computationally prohibitive for such large systems. To overcome this bottleneck, we have developed a machine learning model that comprises a novel dimensionality reduction technique and a deep neural network-based learning in the reduced dimension. The proposed nonlinear dimensionality reduction technique extends the functional principal component analysis to satisfy the constraint of deformation. Its novelty lies in designing a function space that satisfies the constraint exactly, which is crucial for efficient dimensionality reduction. Owing to the dimensionality reduction and several other strategies adopted in the present paper, learning through deep neural networks is remarkably accurate. The proposed model accurately matches an atomistic-physics-based model whereas being orders of magnitude faster. It extracts universally dominant patterns of deformation in an unsupervised manner. These patterns are comprehensible and explain how the model predicts yielding interpretability. The proposed model can form a basis for an exploration of machine learning toward the mechanics of one- and two-dimensional materials.


The names of six persons are mentioned as the authors of Heike-Monogatari (the story of the Taira clan), in Heike-kanmonroku (a book of oral traditions by blind men), and it is among others a noticeable fact that four persons of them are found to be Shinsei's sons. By this fact, it can be conjectured that Shinsei's posterity much concerned in the process of creation of Heike-monogatari.Apart from the problem of authors, we can never overlook an active roll played by Shinsei and his posterity in the fields of literature, performing arts and thought of the times from the Heian period down to the Kamakura period, exerting a great influence on the culture of the Middle Ages.Shinsei's name as a layman was Michinori FUJIWARA. He was born to the Confucian family and was a man of talent with extensive learning. Though he was held in high esteem by Sadaijin (the second Cabinet minis ter) Yorinaga FUJIWARA, he was not contented with his position, and after being promoted to the rank of Shonagon (the third councillor of State), renounced the world in the 3rd year of Koji. Even after his retirement into religion, he continued to wait on the retired Emperor Toba, and abused his authority, after the Hogen revolt (1156), serving close to the Emperor Goshirakawa.Therefore, he earned the dislike of Nobuyori FUJIWARA, Yoshimoto MINAMOTO and so forth, and on the run from Kyoto at the time of the Heiji revolt, he met his end. Honchoseiki (a voluminous book on history) and Hossoruirin (a voluminous book on law) are rated highly among his chief literary works. He was also an authority on Chinese classics and poems and owned a large library. He was famous for his thorough knowledge of performing arts, such as singing, dancing, instrumental music and the like.In Sonpibunmyaku (a big genealogical record), we can find out Shinsei's 15 sons and 5 daughters. Five of his sons were court nobles and 10 were Buddhist priests. The eldest son, Toshinori (1122-1167) was a famous writer, who published Kanjuhisho (a book on ancient practices and usages). The second son, Sadanori was a poet, who called himself Ben-no-nyudo after his retirement into religion, and his son, called Gedatsu-Shonin (saint) after becoming a priest, was living in Kasagi and was a writer excellent in preaching. The fourth son, Shigenori (1135-1187) was a man of refined taste, who loved cherry-blossoms very much and was, therefore, called Sakuramachi (the street of cherry-blossoms)-chunagon (the second councillor of state). He was a well-known poet and wrote Kara-monogatari (a narrative literature translated from a Chinese source) and gave it to the public. Most of his sons, like Joken (the chief priest of Daigoji-temple), were the priests of high virtue.One of Shinsei's daughters, Kogo-no-tsubone (a court lady) won the Emperor Takakura's favor. The fifth son, Naganori was also a poet, who was one of the attendants close to the ex-Emperor Goshirakawa. Joken (1124-?), one of the said ten priests, was a thoughtful wise man and enjoyed the confidence of the ex-Emperor Goshirakawa and Kiyomori TAIRA as well. He was said to be an excellent poet ranked next to Shigenori. Choken (1126-1203) was most famous for his skillful preaching and advocacy. His son, Seikaku succeeded his father and handed down Aguiryu (way) of advocacy to the Kamakura period. Other sons, too, were regarded as priests of high virtue of the day.


The present study makes a comprehensive attempt to estimate the dimension of losses occurring during the pre and post harvest stages of paddy crop. For the purpose, required primary data were collected from 120 paddy growing farmers of various farm size categories from Ludhiana and Ferozepur districts. The results of the study based on farmers' perceptions revealed that the individual production loss due to incidence of pests (rice stem borer, leaf folder and plant hoppers), diseases (bacterial leaf blight, sheath blight and false smut) and weeds (Echinochloa crusgalli) was less than 5 per cent of the total production with more severity of pests. The losses due to biotic stresses in case of paddy increased with an increase in farm size, except on marginal farms, the loss per acre being a minimum of 6.07 per cent on small and 8.94 per cent on large farm category. The total magnitudes of crop losses due to biotic stresses were 8.68 per cent over actual and 7.99 per cent over normal production. The loss due to major pests, diseases and weeds was low due to the efficient crop management by the farmers as well as varietal characteristics and timely application of weedicides/pesticides/fungicides. Both early and late harvesting of paddy was reported as harmful resulting in higher yield loss. The post harvesting losses such as transportation, handling and rodents attack in case of stored grains was found to be negligible. Total post harvest losses were calculated as 3.674 kg per quintal on medium farm category which were lowest while on marginal farm category these came out to be 6.023 kg per quintal which were highest on all the farm categories. The total post harvest losses in paddy crop worked out to be 4.43 kg per quintal and 122.38 kg per acre with major loss due to decline in weight as revealed by the sample respondents. The transportation losses were minimal due to the mechanized transport facility of tractor- trolley available with each sample respondent. The major policy issues suggested were; check on prices of various inputs used in paddy cultivation along with further subsidization to decrease cost of production, rejuvenation of govt. extension agencies for curtailing the dependence of farmers on private input dealers for expert advice to solve farm related problems and timeliness and supervision of paddy harvesting as a key to lower the harvesting losses in case of paddy crop.


The dissemination of the activity is performed from radionuclide sources prepared in a sequence of dilutions and weighing methods. In this process, the activity of the source can be estimated statistically from the deposited mass and the activity concentration of the master solution. After preparation, the activity is obtained from absolute or relative measurement methods. However, the methods of activity determinations used may not fulfill the necessary independence of the conventional statistical approach due to the presence of possible correlations between activities that arise with the use of the same standardized sources or with the same method of quantity measurements. In this paper, Bayesian estimates for the relative deviation of activities and their uncertainty were obtained in order to evaluate the performance of the main sources' preparation method. The estimate result (0.55 ± 0.27) % for a data set of radionuclide standardization performed between 2017 and 2018 at LNMRI, although close to zero, shows one should investigate possible effects affecting the preparation and measurement of the sources. This Bayesian estimate was validated by monte carlo simulation method.


The physical and mental health of women antenatally and postnatally has been described as fundamentally important to the development of children and the family. Exercise was proposed as a strategy to support maternal mental health, such as postnatal depression with an emphasis on structured and supervised activities. However, a recent systematic review by Saligheh et al (2017) revealed inconsistencies in the evidence base and could not confirm that exercise reduced symptoms of postnatal depression. This study aims to analyse the current evidence base to determine what outcomes should be measured to evaluate the benefits of exercise to maternal mental health. The research concludes that using a quantitative methodological approach, predominantly using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Score as a primary outcome measure, does not appear to capture the effects of exercise on postnatal depression and anxiety. Further research using a qualitative approach is recommended to identify outcomes that should be measured to demonstrate the benefits of exercise to maternal mental health.


Spammers are continually looking to circumvent counter-measures seeking to slow them down. An immense amount of time and money is currently devoted to hiding spam, but not enough is devoted to effectively preventing it. One approach for preventing spam is to force the spammer's machine to solve a computational problem of varying difficulty before granting access. The idea is that suspicious or problematic requests are given difficult problems to solve while legitimate requests are allowed through with minimal computation. Unfortunately, most systems that employ this model waste the computing resources being used, as they are directed towards solving cryptographic problems that provide no societal benefit. While systems such as reCAPTCHA and FoldIt have allowed users to contribute solutions to useful problems interactively, an analogous solution for non-interactive proofof-work does not exist. Towards this end, this paper describes MetaCAPTCHA and reBOINC, an infrastructure for supporting useful proof-of-work that is integrated into a web spam throttling service. The infrastructure dynamically issues CAPTCHAs and proof-of-work puzzles while ensuring that malicious users solve challenging puzzles. Additionally, it provides a framework that enables the computational resources of spammers to be redirected towards meaningful research. To validate the efficacy of our approach, prototype implementations based on OpenCV and BOINC are described that demonstrate the ability to harvest spammer's resources for beneficial purposes.


We report the case of a 68 year-old woman who underwent surgical treatment for xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis. Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis is a rare, chronic, inflammatory lesion of the kidney. It is most frequently seen in middle-aged women. Because of its clinical and radiological similarities to other renal lesions it can be difficult to establish a preoperative diagnosis. Nephrectomy is needed in most patients.


Cadmium sulfide (CdS) quantum dots (QDs) were homogeneously embedded into chitosan (CTS), denoted as CdS@CTS, via an in situ hydrothermal method. The intact structure of the synthesized materials was preserved using freeze-drying. The materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution TEM, scanning TEM, dispersive energy X-ray (EDX) for elemental analysis and mapping, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, thermogravimetric analysis, UV–vis spectroscopy, and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The synthesis procedure offered CdS QDs of 1–7 nm (average particle size of 3.2 nm). The functional groups of CTS modulate the in situ growth of CdS QDs and prevent the agglomeration of CdS QDs, offering homogenous distribution inside CTS. CdS@CTS QDs can also be used for naked-eye detection of heavy metals with high selectivity toward copper (Cu2+) ions. The mechanism of interactions between Cu2+ ions and CdS@CTS QDs were further studied.


The ferrite body is the origin of crack and corrosion initiation of steels. Distribution and density of ferrite in seven steel ingots were examined by light optical microscopy and computational modeling, in the study, to explore the correlation of ferrite formation to chemical composition and the mushy zone temperature in ingot forming. The central segregation phenomenon in ferrite distribution was observed in all the examined steel specimens, except 0Cr17Ni4Cu4Nb stainless steel. No significant difference was found in the distribution and density of ferrite among zones of the surface, ½ radius, and core in neither the risers nor tails of 0Cr17Ni4Cu4Nb ingots. Additionally, fewer ferrites were found in 0Cr17Ni4Cu4Nb compared to other examined steels. The difference of ferrite formation in 0Cr17Ni4Cu4Nb elicited a debate on the traditional models explicating ferrite formation. Considering the compelling advantages in mechanical strength, plasticity, and corrosion resistance, further investigation on the unusual ferrite formation in 0Cr17Ni4Cu4Nb would help understand the mechanism to improve steel quality. In summary, we observed that ferrite formation in steel was correlated with the mushy zone temperature. The advantages of 0Crl7Ni4Cu4Nb in corrosion resistance and mechanical stability could be the result of fewer ferrites being formed and distributed in a scattered manner in the microstructure of the steel.


Background: The social class distribution of the common mental disorders (mostly anxiety and/ or depression) has been in doubt until recently. This paper reviews the evidence of associations between the prevalence of the common mental disorders in adults of working age and markers of socio-economic disadvantage. Methods: Work is reviewed which brings together major population surveys from the last 25 years, together with work trawling for all European population studies. Data from more recent studies is examined, analysed and discussed. Because of differences in methods, instruments and analyses, little can be compared precsiely, but internal associations can be examined. Findings: People of lower socio-economic status, however measured, are disadvantaged, and this includes higher frequencies of the conditions now called the 'common mental disorders' (mostly non-psychotic depression and anxiety, either separately or together). In European and similar developed populations, relatively high frequencies are associated with poor education, material disadvantage and unemployment. Conclusion: The large contribution of the common mental disorders to morbidity and disability, and the social consequences in working age adults would justify substantial priority being given to addressing mental health inequalities, and deprivation in general, within national and European social and economic policy.


Multi-core and highly connected architectures have become ubiquitous, and this has brought renewed interest in language-based approaches to the exploitation of parallelism. Since its inception, logic programming has been recognized as a programming paradigm with great potential for automated exploitation of parallelism. The comprehensive survey of the first twenty years of research in parallel logic programming, published in 2001, has served since as a fundamental reference to researchers and developers. The contents are quite valid today, but at the same time the field has continued evolving at a fast pace in the years that have followed. Many of these achievements and ongoing research have been driven by the rapid pace of technological innovation, that has led to advances such as very large clusters, the wide diffusion of multi-core processors, the game-changing role of general-purpose graphic processing units, and the ubiquitous adoption of cloud computing. This has been paralleled by significant advances within logic programming, such as tabling, more powerful static analysis and verification, the rapid growth of Answer Set Programming, and in general, more mature implementations and systems. This survey provides a review of the research in parallel logic programming covering the period since 2001, thus providing a natural continuation of the previous survey. In order to keep the survey self-contained, it restricts its attention to parallelization of the major logic programming languages (Prolog, Datalog, Answer Set Programming) and with an emphasis on automated parallelization and preservation of the sequential observable semantics of such languages. The goal of the survey is to serve not only as a reference for researchers and developers of logic programming systems but also as engaging reading for anyone interested in logic and as a useful source for researchers in parallel systems outside logic programming.


Current urbanization trends are leading to heightened demand of smarter technologies to facilitate a variety of applications in intelligent transportation systems. Automated crowdsensing constitutes a strong base for ITS applications by providing novel and rich data streams regarding congestion tracking and real-time navigation. Along with these well-leveraged data streams, drivers and passengers tend to report traffic information to social media platforms. Despite their abundance, the use of social media data in ITS has gained more and more attention as of now. In this article, we develop an automated Natural Language Processing (NLP)-based framework to empower and complement traffic reporting solutions by text mining social media, extracting desired information, and generating alerts and warning for drivers. We employ the fine-tuned Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers classification model to filer and classify data. Then, we apply the Question-Answering model to extract necessary information characterizing the reported incident such as its location, occurrence time, and nature of the incidents. Afterwards, we convert the collected information into alerts to be integrated into personal navigation assistants. Finally, we compare the recently posted incident reports from both official authorities and social media in order to provide more complete incident pictures and suggest some open research directions.


Taking the triangle areas as independent variables in the theory of Regge calculus can lead to ambiguities in the edge lengths, which can be interpreted as discontinuities in the metric. We construct solutions to area Regge calculus using a triangulated lattice and find that on a spacelike or timelike hypersurface no such discontinuity can arise. On a null hypersurface however, we can have such a situation and the resulting metric can be interpreted as a so-called refractive wave.


The Scythris fuscoaenea species-group of Scythrididae, exclusively confined to Europe, is defined and reviewed. It includes the following species: fuscoaenea (Haworth, 1828), parafuscoaenea sp. n., vartianae Kasy, 1962, tenuivittella (Stainton, 1867), vittella (O. G. Costa, 1836), dissimilella (Herrich-Schaffer, 1855), derrai sp. n. and traugotti sp. n. Scythris parafuscoaenea sp. n. is closely related to fuscoaenea and is found in Spain and France. The other two new species are hitherto only recorded from isolated localities, A. derrai sp. n. from Sardinia and A.traugotti sp. n. from southern Spain. Male and female genitalia of all species are illustrated.


Marine animals provide us a wide variety of structurally unique,biologically significant substances for human being's benefits.Sponges,bryozoans,and ascidians are among the most promising groups.The compounds with antimicrobial and antitumor activity have been frequently found in marine mollusks.Ruditapes philippinarum,belonging to Ruditapes,Veneridae,Bivalvia,is frequently taken as tasty seafood and also a traditional medicine in the Far East for its nutrients and bioactivities for treating internal fever,infections and tumescence. So far no report is available on the antitumor effect of proteoglycan extract from R.philippinarum both in vitro and in vivo.In this study,we studied the antitumor activities of purified extract from R.philippinarum flesh using tumor-bearing mice and cell lines. Two proteoglycans(PG1,PG2)were purified from hot water extract of R.philippinarum.PG1 was a single Mw 20000 proteoglycan,containing 70.09% of polysaccharide and 15.4% of protein.PG2 contained 82.53% of polysaccharide and 7.26% of protein.The inhibition ratio for SMMC-7721 cells of PG1 at concentration of 200μg/ml was 73.30%,and increasing concentration did not enhance the inhibitory effect obviously.PG2 inhibited SMMC-7721 cells proliferation in a dose-dependent manner,and it achieved the same inhibitory effect at concentration of over 500μg/ml as PG1 achieved at 200μg/ml.PG1 did not inhibit the growth of human hepatocyte cell HL-7702 when tested in the same concentrations shown to be cytotoxic towards tumor cells.PG1 exhibited antitumor activity against Sarcoma 180 in KM mice at the dosage of 125—500mg/kg with an inhibition ratio of 24.74%—42.27%,and could enhance the immune function of tumor-bearing mice.The authors believed that the antitumor effect of PG1 is probably host-mediated and cytocidal.


recombinant adenoviral vector containing ungenoma adenoviral which were deleted open delectura sections E1 and / or E3, but maintains a sufficient sequence for the adenoviral vector is capable of replicating in vitro, also containing said vector is a therapeutic gene or a sequence of DNA of interest regulated by ubiquitous promoters and / or tissue specific promoters encoding therapeutic proteins that are useful in the treatment of fibrosis.


The egg production and laying rhythms in the fruit fly were examined in constant darkness a photoperiod of LD 12:12 and after switching from photoperiodic conditions to darkness. The flys were adult F1 heterozygotes (Brazzaville x Libreville); they were examined at 9 14 and 19 hours and classified according to the terminology of King. In alternating light and dark there was a rhythm in egg production with decreasing numbers of immature and increasing numbers of mature eggs during the photoperiod. Flies reared in total darkness kept their egg production rhythm for at least 5 days but lost their rhythm of oviposition which ordinarily took place at the beginning of darkness. Removal of an egg-laying substrate also resulted in egg retention. Therefore vitellogenesis has an endogenous circadian rhythm while oviposition is dependent on light conditions.


Choosing a proper Region of Interest (ROI) for Remote Photoplethysmography (rPPG) is essential and a challenging first step, and it has a direct effect on the accuracy and reliability of the overall heart rate (HR) algorithm. Non-skin areas have no contribution to the HR information; however, few works have tackled the issue of non-skin pixels included in the ROI. First, this paper considers improving the quality of the rPPG signal by filtering out non-skin pixels included within the ROI. The feasibility of employing skin segmentation for ROI definition is demonstrated. Then, this technique is compared with our previous real-time rPPG-based method. Moreover, we explore the effect of extracting the HR from three ROIs using signal fusion. Second, we give a comprehensive account of the examined methods in our algorithm for face detection, face tracking, skin detection, and blind signal separation. Finally, we compare our rPPG measurements with ground truth values obtained from a commercial pulse oximeter. Based on the simulation results, the proposed algorrithm significantly improves the quality of the rPPG technique.


Both cell proliferation and apoptosis (programmed cell death) are supposed to play a role in restenosis after angioplasty. We studied these processes in smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and macrophages 1, 4, and 12 weeks after balloon angioplasty or Palmaz-Schatz stent implantation in rabbit iliac arteries. Proliferating cells were visualized by immunostaining with antibodies directed against proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Apoptotic cells were detected using the TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick and labeling) technique, propidium iodide staining, and transmission electron microscopy. At all time points, the neointimal cross-sectional area of the arteries was twofold to fourfold greater after stent implantation than after balloon angioplasty. The total number of neointimal cells was similar 1 and 12 weeks after both interventions. The neointimal cell density, however, decreased by 58% between the 1st and the 12th week after stent implantation compared with a 20% decrease after balloon angioplasty (P < .01). Stent implantation induced more cell proliferation but also more apoptosis in the media than balloon angioplasty after 1 and 4 weeks. In addition, stent implantation caused more macrophage accumulation and apoptosis in the neointima, but cell proliferation rates did not differ significantly in comparison with balloon angioplasty. The higher rate of apoptosis in the neointima 1 week after stent implantation compared with balloon angioplasty is due to an increased rate of SMC and macrophage death. Macrophage accumulation and apoptosis in the early phase after stent implantation appear to play a role in extracellular matrix secretion, which increases neointima formation after 4 and 12 weeks compared with balloon angioplasty in this model.


Distributed optical fiber sensors are an increasingly utilized method of gathering distributed strain and temperature data. However, the large amount of data they generate present a challenge that limits their use in real-time, in-situ applications. This letter describes a parallel and pipelined computing architecture that accelerates the signal-processing speed of sub-terahertz fiber sensor (sub-THz-fs) arrays, maintaining high spatial resolution while allowing for expanded use for real-time sensing and control applications. The computing architecture described was successfully implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) chip. The signal processing for the entire array takes only 12 system clock cycles. In addition, this design removes the necessity of storing any raw or intermediate data.


The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between monetary indicators and bank credit distribution, including inflation, interest rate, and exchange rate in seven ASEAN countries namely Brunei, Indonesia, Philippine, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This study applied a quantitative approach by engaging multiple regression analysis with panel data using cross-section data from 2012 to 2018. The data in this research was secondary data which gathered from the World Bank website. The findings of this study showed that inflation and interest rate had a negative influence on bank credit distribution, while the exchange rate had a positive effect on bank credit distribution. The study's result also showed that variable inflation, interest rate, and the exchange rate had a simultaneous effect on bank credit distribution in seven ASEAN countries. These results suggest that for the policy makers in each ASEAN country should be able to consider a lending regulation.


To assess the immunological function of toluene exposed group, the proportions of T lymphocyte, B lymphocyte, CD4 cell, CD8 cell, the ratio of CD4 to CD8(CD4/CD8) in peripheral blood were measured on twenty-one toluene exposed workers and twelve healthy workers who did not have previous history of toluene exposure. In addition, to evaluate the present status of toluene exposure, urinary hippuric acid concenturations were measured in exposed group. The mean concenturation of urinary hippuric acid was 2.84 g/creatinine g in exposed group. The proportions of T lymphocyte, B lymphocyte, CD8 cell and CD4/CD8 of exposed group were slightly lower than non-exposed group except the proportion of CD4 cell which was similar in both groups. But these differences were not statistically different in both groups. The proportions of T lymphocyte and CD4 cell were significantly correlated with the length of duration in exposed group(P


abstract PZ and SH spectra (0.5 to 20 + Hz) of 26 events (0.9 ≦ M ≦ 4.1) in the January 15, 1973, earthquake sequence on the San Andreas fault near Bear Valley have been obtained from seismograms written at a three-component short-period ( T o = 1 sec) station (Δ = 12 to 18 km) located 4 km west of the San Andreas fault trace in the Gabilan Range. For each of the larger events ( M ≧ 3.3), the observed SH spectrum has greater high-frequency to low-frequency content than the observed PZ spectrum. For the smaller events, the observed SH and PZ spectra are similar. At high frequencies ( ƒ ⪞ 10 Hz), the observed SH -displacement spectra decrease more rapidly with frequency than do the observed PZ displacement spectra—indicating more attenuation for SH than for PZ for these propagation paths. For any reasonable propagation-path correction, SH source displacement spectra corner frequencies are systematically larger than PZ source displacement corner frequencies for these events. Ratios of spectra of large-to-small events in the sequence imply an equivalent total path Q α of 175 to 250 and an equivalent total path Q β of 100 to 150 for these paths.


Non-insulin-dependent diabetics with early manifestation of the disease (NIDDM) who were registered by an epidemiological cross-sectional study 1979 in the Erfurt district were pursued prospectively and 47 of the 58 patients underwent a re-examination five years later. The changes of therapy performed (7 new administrations of insulin, 9 change from diet to normal food) as well as the metabolic development of the patients under epidemiological aspect prove the heterogeneity of NIDDM and the doubtfulness of hitherto existing MODY-criteria. The oGTT performed in 37 patients 9 times resulted in a full remission and in 4 cases in an IGT. Including the 10 insulinized patients 34 diabetics (72.3%) had remained manifest. In contrast to the initially different degree of post-load hyperglycaemia in patients with and without remission the behaviour of the insulin secretion did not show any significant differences in the course and between the groups of patients. Young non-insulin-dependent diabetics are mainly among a representative target population type-II-diabetics with early onset. In contrast to this type-I-diabetics with a long insulin-free initial phase go into the background. In our population real MODY-cases are apparently extraordinarily rare.


Herein, we present the process of developing the first Hungarian Dependency TreeBank. First, short references are made to dependency grammars we considered important in the development of our Treebank. Second, mention is made of existing dependency corpora for other languages. Third, we present the steps of converting the Szeged Treebank into dependency-tree format: from the originally phrase-structured treebank, we produced dependency trees by automatic conversion, checked and corrected them thereby creating the first manually annotated dependency corpus for Hungarian. We also go into detail about the two major sets of problems, i.e. coordination and predicative nouns and adjectives. Fourth, we give statistics on the treebank: by now, we have completed the annotation of business news, newspaper articles, legal texts and texts in informatics, at the same time, we are planning to convert the entire corpus into dependency tree format. Finally, we give some hints on the applicability of the system: the present database may be utilized ― among others ― in information extraction and machine translation as well.


By use of differential display in combination with cDNA cloning approach, we isolated a novel rat gene designated as Spergen-3, which has an open reading frame of 2055-length nucleotides encoding a protein of 685 amino acids. Spergen-3 gene is composed of 15 exons and mapped on chromosome 5q36, and its mouse counterpart, which shares 85.5% identity to rat Spergen-3 at the amino acid level, is mapped on chromosome 4E1. Spergen-3 encodes a 75-kDa soluble protein bearing putative 2 EF-hand motifs, proline-repeat, and a putative nuclear localization signal. Of the 2 EF-hand motifs in Spergen-3, the second one seems to match the consensus sequence. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that the expression of Spergen-3 is developmentally up-regulated and that it is exclusively expressed in testis. In situ hybridization revealed that Spergen-3 mRNA was exclusively expressed in haploid spermatids, but its signal was weak or undetectable in spermatogonia, spermatocytes, and Sertoli cells as well as in interstitial cells. We interpreted these data as a potential role of Spergen-3, a new member of EF-hand family, in differentiation of haploid spermatids in testis.


As a compound channel is characterized by a deep main channel flanked by relatively shallow floodplains, the interaction between the faster fluid velocity in the main channel and the slower moving flow on the floodplains causes shear stress at their interface, which significantly distorts flow and boundary shear stress patterns. The distortion implies that the flow field in rivers is non-homogeneously turbulent, and that lateral transport of fluid momentum and suspended sediment are influenced by the characteristics of flow in rivers. The nature of the mechanism of lateral transport needs to be understood for the design of engineering schemes that rely upon realistic flow. Furthermore, the flow in rivers is also almost turbulent. This means that the fluid motion is highly random, unsteady, and 3-dimensional. Thus, the flow cannot be properly predicted by using approximate analytical solutions to the governing equations of motion. With the complexity of the problem, the solution of turbulence is simplified with mathematical equations. The newly developed Large Eddy Simulation 2DH FLOWER SD 1 model was used to solve the turbulence problem. The successive over-relaxation method was employed to solve the numerical computation based on finite difference discretization. The model was applied to compound channels with smooth roughness. Some organized large eddies were observed in the boundary between the main channel and flood channel. At this boundary the transverse velocity profile exhibited a steep gradient, which induced significant mass and momentum exchange, acted as a source of vorticity, and generated high Reynolds stresses.


A new video-speed, current-mode, CMOS, sample-and-hold circuit has been developed. It operates with a supply voltage as low as 1.5 V and a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 57 dB and 54 dB at clock frequencies of 20 MHz and 30 MHz. It consists of current mirror circuits with an analog switch and a capacitor placed in differential form to achieve high accuracy without being affected by the switch feed-through error. Voltages at the input and the output terminals of the current mirror circuit are kept constant to obtain precise current matching. The circuit was fabricated using 0.6 µm MOS devices with normal threshold voltages (Vth) of +07 V (NMOS) and -0.7 V (PMOS).


Conflicts between indigenous and local communities, on the one hand, and national protected area administrations on the other are pervasive. A better understanding of these park-people conflicts would assist in suitable policy changes to constructively address them while concurrently pursuing conservation and livelihood goals. We interviewed 601 people living inside or along the borders of fifteen Colombian NPAs to identify five main categories of park-people conflicts. Based on interviews with 128 community leaders and 76 institutional-level respondents -mainly park officers- we discuss the five principal factors underlying the identified conflicts and present a conflict framework relating the dominant sources to the most prominent conflict manifestations. Finally, we detail five strategies toward conflict prevention. While simultaneous interventions at multiple levels would be ideal or preferred, our analysis suggests that the incidence of park-people conflicts in Colombia can be substantially lowered through (i) making the environmental legislative body more socially inclusive; and (ii) adequately empowering NPA administrations. We expect our findings to be valuable for managing conflict contexts in protected areas in other tropical countries. Further research is necessary to determine the most effective interventions for both conflict resolution and meeting conservation goals.


Thailand has experienced economic and social transformation over a relatively short period of time and its experiences may offer salutary lessons for many other developing countries. However, the characteristics of Thailand's transformation to modernity encourage us to consider new frameworks for analysing and understanding development and social change. This paper presents a distinctive concept of wellbeing that can provide valuable new insights into development and social change for the social sciences and for policy makers. A social definition of wellbeing argues against a focus on 'the individual' and requires us to comprehend the profound interdependence of the person and their society. The definition does not equate wellbeing with a narrow conception of happiness, nor can it be indicated simply by wealth. It is a practical definition in that it can be operationalised for empirical research and by focusing on wellbeing as resulting from the interplay of needs met; freedoms to act, and satisfactions in achieving goals, the approach yields new interpretations of development problems. The paper describes the research methodology that has been developed from this definition and summarises some of the results from two years of field-study in rural and urban communities in the Northeast and South of Thailand. In this paper we highlight the significance of a person's primary location of residence not only for the wellbeing that the person is able to experience but also that they are able to conceive of. The paper concludes by recognising the clashes between different


This thesis has studied the low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma as a potential technological application for the degradation of waste oils. The study has been approached initially by investigating the degradation of oil in gas phase only, in order to understand the gas chemistry and elucidate the plasma-chemical degradation mechanism. Gaseous odourless kerosene and dodecane have been used as simulants to waste oil and their plasma-chemical degradation has been studied using a BaTiO3 packed bed plasma reactor and a gliding arc discharge reactor. Kerosene showed similar degradation behaviour to dodecane and the latter one was chosen as a surrogate to allow quantitative analysis. The dodecane plasma degradation efficiency and the distribution of end-gaseous products have been studied under these two reactors in different gas compositions. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to identify intermediate excited species and calculate the rotational and vibrational temperature profiles. Differences in the dodecane degradation gas chemistry between the packed bed and the gliding arc plasma are discussed and postulated mechanisms are presented for each condition. Gliding arc discharge demonstrates higher degradation efficiency and it will be used mainly for the plasma-liquid treatment. The plasma-liquid dodecane treatment is firstly studied using argon dielectric barrier discharge. The effect of different reactor configuration, humidity and temperature to the discharge characteristics and degradation efficiency will be discussed. The study of the liquid dodecane degradation is extended by using the gliding arc discharge. Using N2 and Ar in both dry and humid conditions for the batch treatment of dodecane, the degradation efficiency, gas chemistry and liquid chemistry are discussed and correlated to the gas chemistry observed during the plasma treatment of gaseous dodecane under the same conditions, in order to gain an overall understanding of the plasma-liquid clean-up process.Finally, the gliding arc plasma treatment of liquid dodecane is studied using the recycling method and shows a significant improvement to the degradation efficiency.


Population growth in the Jakarta city that continues to rise each year, this has resulted in environmental pollution, especially pollution of the Ciliwung river continues to grow. Nowadays various attempts have been made in terms of prevention of pollution of the river Ciliwung. One of the efforts to control pollution in the river Ciliwung is monitoring the quality of water in rivers and creeks Ciliwung. This monitoring is done in real-time and online, where the water quality data sent to data centers and analyzed  into information that can be displayed at any time and anywhere through the Internet. If there are pollutants that enter the river so heavilly polluted in certain time, the government or the authorities that manages the river can take action to control pollution. To support online monitoring system running well required database management system (DBMS) for storing water quality data at any time and integrated well. Keywords : river pollution, water quality monitoring online, Ciliwung river, design database.


Objective : Malaria(瘧疾) is a disease that`s main symptom is paroxysm - a cyclical occurrence of sudden coldness followed by rigor and then fever. Since the introduction of the cause and mechanism of malaria(瘧疾) in the "Suwen(素問)", including Cold malaria(寒瘧), Warm malaria(溫瘧), Heat malaria(癉瘧) and Wind malaria(風瘧), there has been over 20 different kinds of malaria, each of which are introduced in multiple medical texts. Method : Through comparison between "Suwen(素問)" and other medical texts, the categories, causes and mechanisms of malaria can be analysed and organized to overview the whole feature of it. Results & Conclusion : External pathogens of malaria(瘧疾) are wind(風), cold(寒), summerheat (暑), dampness(濕), miasmic toxin(瘴), pestilence(疫), ghost(鬼). Internal pathogens of malaria(瘧疾) are dietary irregularities(飮食不節), overexertion and fatigue(勞倦), phlegm(痰), seven emotion(七情). Malaria can be categorized into four groups according to the pathological mechanism that leads to paroxysm. They are latency of disease(伏氣), external contraction(外感), internal damage(內傷), and combination of disease(合病). Malaria-Paroxysm(瘧疾發作) occurs when the three following factors collide strongly : defense qi(衛氣), latent qi(伏邪) and external pathogen(新邪). When collision of the three factors takes place in the interior(裏), the body experiences chills. When it takes place in the exterior(表), the body experiences fever. The cyclical occurrence of Malaria-Paroxysm follows the circulation of defense qi.


As virtuous leadership appears to be under severe pressure in all areas of life, it is the aim of this article to determine whether this biblical axiom holds suitable and valuable guidelines to counter contemporary leadership traps and assist leaders not to succumb to ambitious leadership cravings. The article determines whether the biblical axiom, the first shall be last and the last shall be first (Mt 20:15–16), holds the capacity to invert the corrupt pressure-cooker drives for both religious and secular leadership ambitions. It examines the biblical and ethical wisdom of this teaching as well as the authoritative relevance it holds for leadership formation and practice. It determines whether a biblically infused value system still contains the moral capacity that contributes to the observance of resonant and ethical leadership capable of reversing pervasive situations of corrupt and incompetent leadership. In addition, the article contemplates the Christian weight of this biblical axiom to place those who are last, first in the service of leadership. In the same vein, it examines some of the 'leadership traps' experienced by persons who occupy lay, clerical, professional and secular positions. It endeavours to offer reflective biblical, moral and spiritual solutions that arise from the spirituality offered by Matthew 20:16 to current leadership demises. Contribution: The theme of the Leadership conference where this article was presented was the biblical verse: 'The first shall be last and the last shall be first' (Mt 20:15–16). The article focuses directly on the implications of the biblical axiom and relate, as well as, translate it to leadership difficulties as experienced today.


2-Chloroethylamine hydrochloride and 3-chloropropylamine hydrochloride were converted with diphenyl ditelluride and sodium borohydride to primary amines containing the tellurium atom. Reaction of tellurium amines with thiophosgene gave the corresponding isothiocyanates, which in turn were transformed with nitroxyl amines to thioureas bearing both a nitroxyl moiety and a tellurium atom. Fungicidal activity of tellurium nitroxides was tested. 1-(2,2,6,6-Tetramethyl-1-oxyl-4-piperidinyl)-3-(3-(phenyltellanyl)propyl) thiourea showed high fungistatic activity against Fusarium culmorum and Phytophtora cactorum.


In this paper, the design method for a circularly polarized one-bit electronically scanned reflectarray antenna working at 100 GHz based on liquid crystal (LC) is proposed. The phase shifting element supporting circular polarization is first designed and investigated. Under the control of the driving voltage, the reflection phase of the array element can be switched between 0 and 180 degrees with the change of the LC molecules' state. Consequently, a circularly polarized beam scanning reflectarray is realized by the phase shifting elements periodically arranged on a plane and illuminated by a feeding horn antenna. Numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the reflectarray antenna's performance. Results show that, with the one-bit phase shifting resolution, the antenna achieves the beam scanning range from -30 degrees to -10 degrees while the gain reaches up to more than 20 dB and the axial ratio keeps less than 3 dB.


Modern semi-crystalline polymers based on olefin chemistry are receiving a lot of attention due to their low cost of manufacture and the ability to tailor properties by controlling polymer morphology. A common technique to visualize polymer morphology is transmission electron microscopy (TEM), with the use of appropriate contrast-enhancing heavy metal stains. One of the difficulties in obtaining a TEM image is the need to prepare an ultra-thin section. Alternative approaches that do not rely on sectioning, such as AFM and SEM imaging of a prepared block face, have shown some promise for gross morphology characterization (μm-scale) but in most cases lacked the detail that can be observed by TEM.


The stress intensity factor (KI) equations for a surface crack in ASME Section XI, Appendix A are based on non-dimensional coefficients (Gi) that allow for the calculation of stress intensity factors for a cubic varying stress field. Currently, the coefficients are in tabular format for the case of a surface crack in a flat plate geometry. The tabular form makes the computation of KI tedious when determination of KI for various crack sizes is pursued and a flat plate geometry is conservative when applied to a cylindrical geometry.In this paper, closed-form equations are developed based on tabular data from API 579 (2007 Edition) [1] for circumferential cracks on the ID surface of cylinders. The closed-form equations provide G0 and G1 coefficients while G2 through G4 are obtained using a weight function representation for the KI solutions for a surface crack. These equations permit the calculation of the Gi coefficients without the need to perform tabular interpolation. The equations are complete up to a fourth order polynomial representation of applied stress, so that the procedures in Appendix A have been expanded. The fourth-order representation for stress will allow for more accurate fitting of highly non-linear stress distributions, such as those depicting high thermal gradients and weld residual stress fields.It is expected that the equations developed in this paper will be added to the Appendix A procedures. With the inclusion of equations to represent Gi, the procedures of Appendix A for the determination of KI can be performed more efficiently without the conservatism of using flat plate solutions. This is especially useful in performing flaw growth calculations where repetitive calculations are required in the computations of crack size versus time.The equations are relatively simple in format so that the KI computations can be performed by either spreadsheet analysis or by simple computer programming. The format of the equations is generic in that KI solutions for other geometries can be added to Appendix A relatively easily.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


This study described the genetic structure of Nigerian breeds of sheep and goats at haemoglobin (Hb) locus level. Animals used for the study comprised 100 each of Red Sokoto and West African Dwarf (WAD) goats, and 400 sheep comprising 100 per breed of Balami, Yankasa, Uda and WAD with 50 animals per sex within breed. Five milliliters of blood was obtained from each animal by jugular venipuncture and dispensed into sample bottles containing Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic Acid and analyzed using cellulose acetate paper electrophoresis. Genotypic frequencies were then estimated. Goats showed Hb AA, AB and BB genotypic frequencies of 0.485, 0.430 and 0.085, respectively while sheep had only the Hb AA genotype. Red Sokoto goats had Hb AA, AB, BB frequencies of 0.490, 0.430 and 0.080, respectively while the WAD goats had corresponding values of 0.480, 0.430 and 0.090. Genotypic frequencies were similar in both sexes of sheep and goats indicating that there was no effect of sex on Hb frequency. It is concluded that Hb polymorphism in goats is defined by the expression of three genotypes (2 homozygotes, Hb AA, Hb BB, and 1 heterozygote Hb AB), while in sheep there was no polymorphism at the Hb locus; only the Hb AA was exhibited.


This article argues that New Granadian and Colombian leaders examined models of material and intellectual progress in the United States and in their neighboring countries within the hemisphere. For many Spanish-Americans, the material progress already achieved by the United States and the North Atlantic overall was an idealized end, and they looked at some U.S. institutions as potential templates. As for the means to meet such an idealized end, influential people in New Granada and Colombia found among their neighboring countries a more pragmatic set of experiences that would help them foster progress in their own right. Over the second half of the nineteenth century, and more actively when turning into the twentieth, some Colombian leaders sought to follow the example of countries such as Argentina, one of the front-runners of Latin American contemporary progress.


An eight-session interdisciplinary laboratory curriculum has been designed using a suite of analytical chemistry techniques to study biomaterials derived from an inexpensive source such as the tomato fruit. A logical progression of research-inspired laboratory modules serves to "tour" the macroscopic characteristics of the fruit and the submicroscopic properties of its constituent cuticular biopolymers by atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV-visible, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods at increasingly detailed molecular levels. The modular curriculum can be tailored for specialty undergraduate courses or summer high school workshops. By applying analytical tools to investigate biopolymers, making connections between molecular and microscale structure, and linking both structural regimes to the functional properties of natural polymers, groundwork is established for further student investigations at the interface of chemistry with biology or chemical engineering.


21 species of Pauropoda are reported from the U.S.A. They belong to 4 genera in Pauropodidae and 1 genus in Eurypauropodidae. 6 species new to science are described and figured: Allopauropus quadrimaculatus, Stylopauropus corrugatus, S. crassimanus, S. pocahontas, S. fraternus and Eurypauropus washingtonensis. One of these species, Stylopauropus corrugatus, has some peculiar features not earlier observed in the genus and a new subgenus, Propepauropus, is proposed for it. Pauropods are reported for the first time from Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia. New species are reported from Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, Ohio, Massachusetts and New York. The ranges of the species are incompletely known but almost half of the species occur also outside the Nearctic.


A key strategy for advancing a Magnet® recognized (American Nurses Credentialing Center, Sliver Spring, MD) culture of excellence is ongoing staff development. The Magnet Recognition Program® requires that there should be evidence in recognized organizations of the development, dissemination and enculturation of the 14 Forces of Magnetism. Magnet Force 14, Professional Development sets an expectation that organization's value personal and professional growth, including orientation, career development, formal education and continuing education. Magnet Force 11, Nurses as Teachers expects that nurses be involved in educational activities. Implementation of Magnet Force 8, Consultation and Resources requires that adequate human resources and knowledgeable experts be available to consult and serve as mentors. Houston Methodist Hospital (HMH) has been designated as a Magnet facility since 2002. As the hospital prepared for its fourth Magnet re-designation, a knowledge deficit and learning need was identified resulting not only from the influx of new employees, many of whom had not worked in a Magnet designated organization, but also from the routine preparation that occurs during re-designation. In addition to these learning needs, there was a concern that adding a significant number of new employees could potentially influence the organization's culture. This article will address the resources and strategies used to engage adult learners in becoming knowledgeable and vested in the Magnet program and their role and responsibilities in this environment to advance a culture of excellence, as defined by the full expression of the 14 Forces of Magnetism.


A time-of-arrival (ToA)-based ranging scheme using an ultra-wideband (UWB) radio link is proposed. This ranging scheme implements a search algorithm for the detection of a direct path signal in the presence of dense multipath, utilizing generalized maximum-likelihood (GML) estimation. Models for critical parameters in the algorithm are based on statistical analysis of propagation data and the algorithm is tested on another independent set of propagation measurements. The proposed UWB ranging system uses a correlator and a parallel sampler with a high-speed measurement capability in each transceiver to accomplish two-way ranging between them in the absence of a common clock.


This paper concerns the analysis of how uncertainty propagates through large computational models like finite element models. If a model is expensive to run, a Monte Carlo approach based on sampling over the possible model inputs will not be feasible, because the large number of model runs will be prohibitively expensive. Fortunately, an alternative to Monte Carlo is available in the form of the established Bayesian algorithm discussed here; this algorithm can provide information about uncertainty with many less model runs than Monte Carlo requires. The algorithm also provides information regarding sensitivity to the inputs i.e. the extent to which input uncertainties are responsible for output uncertainty. After describing the basic principles of the Bayesian approach, it is illustrated via two case studies: the first concerns a finite element model of a human heart valve and the second, an airship model incorporating fluid structure interaction.


Introduction: Dialectics The most damaging yet most common error in discussions of Brecht's theory has been to see it as fixed and unchanging, and to view it therefore as either dogmatic, communist-inspired abstraction or revered holy writ. Behind these views lie different perceptions of Marxism and the rights and wrongs of political art. Brecht began to think through the ideas with which he is most commonly associated in the late 1920s and early 1930s. His emphasis and terminology changed in these years, as well as subsequently, and many see in his later remarks and essays (especially A Short Organum for the Theatre , 1948) a belated acceptance of the conventions of realism and the realities of emotional experience suppressed by the supposed sterile intellectualism of his earlier years. In this way Brecht has often come to be admired as a great writer, particularly in the West, in spite of his theory: as at once reconciled with his own youthful hedonism and with the forms and verities of an art above theory and politics. In fact, this is simply to read Brecht in terms of one favoured aesthetic ideology rather than another, and to compromise his art and ideas as much, though in another direction, as a protective state socialism ever did. If we are to approach his ideas more constructively, we need to understand how they emerged and changed in particular artistic and social circumstances, and see them, moreover, as belonging with clusters of related terms and concepts in what was a developing self-critical aesthetic and theatre practice.