The surface processes are dynamic and act at multiple spatio-temporal scales and contain embedded hierarchies to generate complex landscapes.  It is, therefore, necessary to understand the linkages or ‘connections’ of landscapes across various scales and levels to gain insights on their interactions and feedbacks in association with such processes. Recently, there has been a surge in the application of the concept of connectivity to the multitude of geomorphic systems with varying scales, objectives, and field of study. A large number of review articles and special issues published in the last few years is a testament to the utility of this concept. It, therefore, implies that the connectivity concept could be a way forward to understand the earth’s surface processes and dynamics and their associations with the landforms. This work presents a ‘connectivity framework’ by establishing (a) the interrelationship and interdependencies among its types (sediment connectivity, hydrological connectivity, landscape connectivity), components (structural and functional connectivity), and dimensions (spatial and temporal), (b) the inherent feedback among various components under a process-response framework and under varying terrain characteristics, and (c) its utility in different geomorphic systems at variable scales and physical settings.

In a geomorphic system, connectivity accounts for static and dynamic properties of the landscape, and therefore, establishes structural and functional frameworks of the landscapes and process-response systems. This concept is applicable at all spatial and temporal scales and can be used to understand evolutionary pathways of landscapes and their dynamics. Further, the connectivity approach has the potential to be applied extensively to the hydro-geomorphic systems to understand their complexity as well as for designing effective management practices for river systems and wetlands, water resources for agriculture, and for assessment of ecological flows in rivers. It can also be aligned to a multitude of problems from river basin management to hazard and risk assessment to wetland management and restoration. We, therefore, argue that the connectivity concept is emergent as well as a fundamental property of landscapes and the connectivity framework presents a robust tool to understand the surface processes and dynamics.


An anthology of medieval texts on art. It includes descriptions of lost monuments, theoretical and technical texts which reveal intentions of artists and patrons, liturgical texts which describe the use of medieval artifacts, and other texts which reflect the tastes of the literate public. First published in 1971.


The article aims to explain international relations and conflict resolution in combination with the neorealist and neo-Gramscian notions of the hegemony during the 1990s. In the first part, it focuses on neorealist hegemony theories. The Hegemonic Stability Theory (HST) is tested for viability as an explanatory tool of the Cold-War world politics and conflict resolution. Because of the limitations of neorealist hegemony theories, the neo-Gramscian hegemony and related concepts such as historic bloc, passive revolution, civil society and war of position/war of movement are elaborated. Later, the Coxian approach to international relations and world order is explained as a critical theory. Finally, the article attempts to establish a model of structural conflict analysis and resolution.


Opioids are widely used for the treatment of patients with chronic pain; yet, the increase in their abuse, misuse, and diversion is an ongoing focus of regulatory, governmental, and legal scrutiny. As a consequence, clinicians are faced with numerous challenges in an effort to use opioids in appropriate patients with pain while minimizing the potential for opioid abuse, misuse, and diversion. Policies and programs such as state prescription monitoring programs, which have been in existence for decades, are but one attempt to address some of the issues regarding the prescribing of opioids. Another is a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for opioids under consideration by the US Food and Drug Administration. At the clinical level, a universal precautions and risk management package that includes risk assessment and patient monitoring is a recommended approach. This approach can also include the use of abuse-deterrent and abuse-resistant formulations designed to reduce the nonmedical use of opioids. Several of these opioid formulations have been approved or should soon be on the market for use in the United States; however, their role and other questions regarding their use remain unanswered. The authors offer their clinical perspective on several of these key questions.


ABSTRACT An ethnobotanical study was conducted in the Daksum Forest of Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir State of India to document the traditional knowledge of its population, using semi-structured interviews and group conversation with 52 informants. One hundred and eight plant species, with a predominance of Asteraceae and Rosaceae, along with their detailed uses were documented. About 51 of the species were being used to treat various diseases, 65 as fruits and vegetables, and 21 for religious and other rituals.


In order to understand the characteristics and interrelationship of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in interstitial water and overlying water of a landscape river in Suzhou, the characteristics of DOM in interstitial water and overlying water of landscape river sediments in the urban area of Suzhou from July to September after the 2020 flood season were analyzed using the UV-Vis absorption spectrum, high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC), and fluorescence spectrum combined with the fluorescence region integration method. The results showed that the relative molecular weight of DOM in both the interstitial water and the overlying water was about 1000, and the relative molecular weight tended to increase in the same way over time. Both interstitial water and overlying water had the highest DOM of protein-like content, with a mass fraction that reached 68%-79%. By contrast, the content of humus-like substances was lower, with a mass fraction accounting for approximately 21%-32%, and both were dominated by low-excitation tryptophan. From July to September, a large increase in DOM levels appeared in the interstitial water, followed by a gradual increase in DOM levels in overlying water. These increases might have come from the deposition of algae on the river bottom after summer outbreaks, likely followed by cleavage and release into the interstitial and overlying water. The fluorescence indices (FI) of the interstitial water and overlying water differed more in July and then increased and decreased following the same trend; however, both were greater than 1.2. The authigenic indicator BIX indicator values were all greater than 0.8 and tended toward 1. The humification index (HIX) values were all less than 4; moreover, the interstitial water and overlying water became smaller in the same trend. The same positive correlation was present between the six fluorescent components of DOM (P<0.05), with a significant correlation between low-excitation tyrosine, α254, and HIX. The relationship between interstitial water and DOM in the overlying water in the Suzhou landscape river was closely related, and the interstitial water may be a potential source of DOM in overlying water.


We present a consumer video browsing system that enables use of multiple alternative summaries in a simple and effective user interface suitable for consumer electronics platforms. We present a news and talk video segmentation and summary generation technique for this platform. We use face detection on consumer video, and use simple face features such as face count, size, and x-location to classify video segments. More specifically, we cluster 1-face segments using face sizes and x-locations. We observe that different scenes such as anchorperson, outdoor correspondent, weather report, etc. form separate clusters. We then apply temporal morphological filtering on the label streams to obtain alternative summary streams for smooth summaries and effective browsing through stories. We also apply our technique to talk show video to generate separate summaries of monologue segments and guest interviews.


This randomized clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a specially designed dental storybook in reducing dental anxiety among children. Eighty-eight children (6–8 years old) were randomly divided into two groups: the intervention group (received the storybook) and the control group (did not receive the storybook). Three dental visits (screening, examination and cleaning, and treatment) were provided for each child. Anxiety was assessed following each visit using the Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) and the Venham clinical anxiety scale (VCAS). The behavior was assessed using the Frankl's Behavior Rating Scale (FBRS). The intervention group showed significantly lower anxiety and more cooperative behavior during treatment than the control group (p < 0.0001). The intervention group showed a significant decrease in anxiety scores and more cooperative behavior across time according to the CFSS-DS (p = 0.001) and Frankl behavior scale OR = 3.22, 95% CI 1.18–8.76. Multivariate models found that using the storybook was a significant independent factor in reducing anxiety and improving behavior after controlling for sex, previous visits, family income, and mother's education. In conclusion, the dental storybook can decrease children's dental anxiety and improve their behavior during dental treatment.


The present study characterizes the effects of resveratrol (Res) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. ARPE-19 cells were treated with CoCl2, a hypoxia mimetic agent. CoCl2 treatment increased protein levels of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and CXC-chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4), and secretion of VEGF. To confirm the effects of Res on VEGF secretion, the human umbilical vein endothelial cell tube formation assay was performed with conditioned medium from Res-treated ARPE-19 cells. The well-known antioxidant Res effectively blocked these effects and reduced phosphorylation of nuclear factor (NF)-κB, an upstream activator of CXCR4. Furthermore, Res also suppressed VEGF secretion induced by SDF-1, a ligand of CXCR4. Conditioned medium from Res-treated ARPE-19 cells clearly suppressed tube formation compared with hypoxia-treated conditioned medium. The results demonstrated that Res inhibited the hypoxia mimetic CoCl2-induced expression of VEGF in ARPE-19 cells. Res suppressed CXCR4 expression through decreased phosphorylation of NF-κB, resulting in downregulation of VEGF secretion.


Venturi-principle atomizers, which rely on compressed air to aerosolize medications, are commonly used in clinical practice to apply topical anesthetics and vasoconstrictors to the mucous membranes of the nose and throat. Unfortunately, the mechanism by which these devices operate leads to aspiration of external contaminants back into the device at the end of the spray cycle. This "flaw" in design may make Venturi-principle atomizers unsafe for clinical practice because of the risk of patient cross-infection. This article reviews the mechanism of action of Venturi-principle atomizers, presents the scientific literature regarding their potential for cross-infection of patients, and discusses alternative device options.


The protective effect of estrogen replacement on ascending urinary-tract infection (UTI) is controversial. We designed a study using an experimental model of UTI in which surgically menopausal mice were supplemented with estrogen and the susceptibility to UTI was evaluated after experimental Escherichia coli infection. The mean rate of E. coli infection in the group not treated with estrogen was 2 x 10(4) cfu/g of renal tissue, compared with 9 x 10(8) cfu/g (P<.001) in the estrogen-treated group. Surprisingly, despite the hypothesis that estrogen would protect mice from infection, estrogen treatment significantly increased the susceptibility of the mice to ascending UTI.


Results and conclusions of research into gradual retirement. At the Mid-term conference in Norway, in June 2013 the research team presented the current situation of I-age regarding data collection and data analysis. Students presented an up-to-date poster about the research.


Sudden cardiac arrest is a devastating manifestation of coronary artery disease and a leading cause of death in the western world. Early and effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation is essential for return of spontaneous circulation. If manual compression is ongoing and return of spontaneous circulation has not been achieved, the prognosis is poor, and the logistics of performing cardiac catheterization are forbidding. With the advent of mechanical chest compression, however, this clinical scenario has become much more complex. Coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention, although still cumbersome, has been established as feasible with ongoing mechanical chest compression. This article discusses the strengths and pitfalls of mechanical cardiopulmonary resuscitation, our experience, and current evidence behind activation of the catheterization laboratory with ongoing mechanical chest compression. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


PURPOSE
To provide percentage depth-dose (PDD) data along the central axis for dosimetry calculations in small-animal radiation biology experiments performed in cabinet irradiators. The PDDs are provided as a function of source-to-surface distance (SSD), field size and animal size.

METHODS
The X-ray tube designs for four biological cabinet irradiators, the RS2000, RT250, MultiRad350 and XRAD320, were simulated using the BEAMnrc Monte Carlo code to generate 160, 200, 250 and 320 kVp photon beams, respectively. The 320 kVp beam was simulated with two filtrations: a soft F1 aluminium filter and a hard F2 thoraeus filter made of aluminium, tin and copper. Beams were collimated into circular fields with diameters of 0.5 - 10 cm at SSDs of 10 - 60 cm. Monte Carlo dose calculations in 1 - 5-cm diameter homogeneous (soft tissue) small-animal phantoms as well as in heterogeneous phantoms with 3-mm diameter cylindrical lung and bone inserts (rib and cortical bone) were performed using DOSXYZnrc. The calculated depth doses in three test-cases were estimated by applying SSD, field size and animal size correction factors to a reference case (40 cm SSD, 1 cm field and 5 cm animal size) and these results were compared with the specifically simulated (i.e., expected) doses to assess the accuracy of this method. Dosimetry for two test-case scenarios of 160 and 250 kVp beams (representative of end-user beam qualities) was also performed, whereby the simulated PDDs at two different depths were compared with the results based on the interpolation from reference data.

RESULTS
The depth doses for three test-cases calculated at 200, 320 kVp F1 and 320 kVp F2, with half value layers (HVL) ranging from ∼0.6 mm to 3.6 mm Cu, agreed well with the expected doses, yielding dose differences of 1.2, 0.1 and 1.0%, respectively. The two end-user test-cases for 160 and 250 kVp beams with respective HVLs of ∼0.8 and 1.8 mm Cu yielded dose differences of 1.4 and 3.2% between the simulated and the interpolated PDDs. The dose increase at the bone-tissue proximal interface ranged from 1.2 to 2.5 times the dose in soft tissue for rib and 1.3 to 3.7 times for cortical bone. The dose drop-off at 1-cm depth beyond the bone ranged from 1.3 - 6.0% for rib and 3.2 - 11.7% for cortical bone. No drastic dose perturbations occurred in the presence of lung, with lung-tissue interface dose of >99% of soft tissue dose and <3% dose increase at 1-cm depth beyond lung.

CONCLUSIONS
The developed dose estimation method can be used to translate the measured dose at a point to dose at any depth in small-animal phantoms, making it feasible for pre-clinical calculation of dose distributions in animals irradiated with cabinet-style irradiators. The dosimetric impact of bone must be accurately quantified as dramatic dose perturbations at and beyond the bone interfaces can occur due to the relative importance of the photoelectric effect at kilovoltage energies. These results will help improve dosimetric accuracy in pre-clinical experiments. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


We present an interactive version of an evidence-driven state-merging (EDSM) algorithm for learning variants of finite state automata. Learning these automata often amounts to recovering or reverse engineering the model generating the data despite noisy, incomplete, or imperfectly sampled data sources rather than optimizing a purely numeric target function. Domain expertise and human knowledge about the target domain can guide this process, and typically is captured in parameter settings. Often, domain expertise is subconscious and not expressed explicitly. Directly interacting with the learning algorithm makes it easier to utilize this knowledge effectively.


This study was to conduct a surveillance of Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) infection in mixed Thai native chickens. Samples were submitted from 30 mixed Thai native chicken flocks, 15 birds per flock, aged between 1 and 4 months without MG vaccination in the area of Nakornpathom province during the September 2005 - October 2006 period. Each bird was bled for MG serology by a serum plate agglutination (SPA) test and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test kits and swabbed for MG antigen detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. Results revealed that the positive reactors detected by the SPA test, ELISA and PCR procedure were 7, 8 and 6 flocks, respectively. There were 5 flocks that were detected to have positive reactors in all tests. The percentage of positive results depending on age: 1 month, 1-2 months, 2-3 months and 3-4 months tested by SPA, ELISA and PCR was 18.2-40%, 16.7-40% and 18.2- 40%, respectively. This study found that the older the flock the higher the number of positive reactors was found. MG DNA was determined in birds older than 1 month. In addition, respiratory clinical signs were probably observed in the MG infected flocks.


Pressures of a five-hole probe were measured for a full range of yaw and pitch angles and complete pressure coefficient maps were obtained. Based on these maps, various features of five-hole probe pressures were revealed and new five-hole probe calibration coefficients were devised. The new calibration coefficients show non-diverging characteristics for any flow direction and one-to-one correspondence for a wide range of flow angles. These calibration coefficients expand the valid flow angle range of five-hole probe calibration by .+-.10 degrees and complement a critical defect of five-hole probe zone-division calibration method which has not been known yet. Moreover new non-diverging calibration coefficients have advantages in nulling methods, too.


Various clinical manifestations, complex pathogenesis and different virus serotypes in diverse area make us difficult to predict course of disease, even the child admitted in early. Prognostic factors are very important to predict cases progressing to become DSS. Dengue shock syndrome
 (DSS) occurs in 15.53% of Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) patients with 7.81% mortality rate. Aim: To explore the prognostic factors of shock in hospitalized DHF children regarding the new 2011 WHO dengue virus infection classification guideline. This was a retrospective study using
 medical records of children age below 18 years old with WHO fulfilled grade 1 and 2 DHF diagnosis from January 2013–December 2016 in Child Health Department of Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Jakarta. Independent variables were sex, age, nutritional status, secondary dengue infection,
 leucopenia, abdominal tenderness, gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatomegaly and plasma leakage. Shock was dependent variable. Multivariate analysis was done by using logistic regresion analysis. There were 98 DHF subjects, 5 subjects became DSS during hospitalization. DSS subject characteristics
 were age of >5 years old, female, malnutrition, abdominal tenderness, hemoconcentration ≥20%, secondary dengue infection, leucocyte ≥5.000 mm3 and thrombocyte <50.000 mm3. Multivaryate analysis showed malnutrition and hepatomegaly were prognosis factors of
 DSS. Malnutrition and hepatomegaly were prognotic factors of dengue shock syndrome. Clinicians should be more aware with these factors when managed hospitalized DHF patients.


Age hardening of bitumen is one of the key factors determining the lifetime of an asphalt pavement. When the bitumen is excessively aged, the asphalt mixture will become brittle and its ability of supporting traffic-induced stresses and strains may significantly reduce, which can easily cause some cracking damage to the bound layer of a pavement. As bitumen is always in contact with mineral fillers in asphalt mixtures, the mechanisms of oxidative ageing of binders are significantly influenced by the physical and chemical interaction between fillers and the bitumen.
For a long while, attempts to solve the ageing problem of asphalt binder by various methods, including polymer modification, nano-particle enhancement or functional improvement have been undertaken. Hydrated lime is one of many potential additives used in bitumen to improve the performance of asphalt mixtures. Hydrated lime in hot mix asphalt creates multiple benefits. A considerable amount of information exists in the literature on hydrated lime's ability to control water sensitivity and its well-accepted ability as an anti-stripping agent to inhibit moisture damage. However, recent studies have shown that lime acts as an active filler and anti-oxidant. These properties create multiple benefits for pavements. Although the majority of research on the use of hydrated lime in asphalt mixtures has been carried out in the USA, the beneficial effects of hydrated lime have also been reported worldwide especially in Europe. In the UK, the use of hydrated lime only started in the early 2000's and still needs a lot of research into its effect on the traditionally used asphalt materials in the UK pavement industry.
This research primarily focuses on an in-depth investigation of bitumen ageing mechanisms and evaluation. Furthermore, this research aims to investigate the advantages of using hydrated lime to mitigate ageing in bitumen mastics and asphalts mixtures as a whole.

The full project has been broken down into three parts. The first is a pure bitumen study, the second is a mastic level ageing study and the third is a mixture level ageing investigation. The bitumen ageing study investigated the effect of different ageing methods and parameters on bitumen ageing. In addition, this study focused on the mechanisms and factors affecting bitumen ageing and attempted to develop a better understanding of ageing evaluation methods with different perspectives; basic properties, mechanical and rheological behaviour using a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and finally a chemical approach with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR).
The second level is the mastics level, which investigated the effect of different fillers on bitumen-filler mastic ageing. Particular attention was paid to study the benefits of using hydrated lime on ageing mitigating in the mastic phase. Furthermore, a detailed study at the mastic level was conducted to investigate the effect of hydrated lime on stiffening and ageing mitigation of bitumen mastics. Different means to evaluate this effect were implemented involving both physical and chemical properties. The evaluation testing was aimed at developing a better understanding of hydrated lime anti-oxidant effects on ageing mitigation. Moreover, special attention was paid to the interactions between hydrated lime and bitumen which affects the ageing of bitumen mastics.
The third level was the mixture ageing level. In this study, the effect of hydrated lime replacement of the natural aggregate fillers was investigated. This effect on the asphalt mixtures was investigated by different tests on their mechanical properties such as indirect tensile stiffness modulus (ITSM), indirect tensile strength (ITS) and their fracture properties using the semi-circular bending (SCB) test. Furthermore, the effect of ageing on the recovered bitumen was evaluated.
The results and conclusions from the performed studies indicate that hydrated lime slows down bitumen ageing more than granite and limestone fillers. This effect depends mainly on the bitumen type and filler concentration. In addition, the research showed that hydrated lime interacts differently with the different bitumens used in this study. This interaction affects stiffening and ageing properties of mastics and mixtures. Furthermore, results show that different ageing indices used in this project correlated well with each other and also with chemical changes.
The detailed results from the FTIR tests on recovered fillers and bitumen from the mastics, showed the ability of hydrated lime to adsorb some of the bitumen components such as carboxylic acid products. This mechanism reduces the formation of ageing products and consequently reduces the age hardening of mastics and asphalt mixtures. Unlike hydrated lime, granite filler does not exhibit this ability to react with bitumen.


Embedded Systems (ES) are increasingly being used in critical applications, where Security, Privacy and Dependability (SPD) attributes are essential. The pSHIELD research project, funded in the framework of the European ARTEMIS program, introduces some innovative approaches to address SPD issues for ES. In this paper, after an introduction to the scope of the pSHIELD project, we describe a case study application to the monitoring of freight trains transporting hazardous materials. The application uses heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) to measure environmental parameters like temperature, vibrations and transmit them to the security control center. The sensors are integrated by means of an appropriate middleware and data is elaborated by a specfically developed application. We report the architecture and the results achieved by testing the application and some of its relevant SPD functionalities, including data criptography, in a real railway environment.


ABSTRACT Recently, multiband metamaterial absorbers have gained considerable attention from research and development communities due to their applications in filtering, stealth, and sensing. However, these multiband absorbers are mostly comprised of multilayered metamaterial structures that make them bulky and expensive. In this paper, we investigated a novel multiband absorber made of a single layer of the tree-shaped fractal. The proposed fractal-based metamaterial absorber (FMA) shows the polarization- and angular-sensitive features of the absorption. Furthermore, it is observed that absorptivity is attained due to electric and magnetic resonance. The proposed multiband absorber would be useful for filtering, polarization- and angle-sensing, and shielding. Furthermore, the simulation results are verified by experiments.


The yrast bands of the even-even dysprosium isotopes 164–174Dy are calculated up to high angular momentum 34ħ based on the projected shell model. Our calculations are in good agreement with the experiments quantitatively. They predict that an energy minimum of the first 2+ state in these isotopes exists around the neutron mid-shell N = 104, implying the maximum collectivity in 66170Dy104, however, the energy ratio R4 = E(4+1)/E(2+1) reaches a saturation at N = 102. Meanwhile, the back-bending plots of these yrast bands are examined carefully. It is found that the sharpness of the back-bending has a gradual shift along the dysprosium isotopic chain, namely, the slope of the back-bending becomes steeper as the neutron number increases except for an irregularity of a decreasing dip angle in the double mid-shell nucleus 170Dy. We suggest that 170Dy undergoes a dual alignment with midshell high-j protons and neutrons aligning simultaneously at spin I ≈ 16ħ, which probably results in the distinctive back-bending behavior.


Assumptions regarding eye morphology are implicit in iris recognition algorithms. The cornea is assumed to have little to no effect on the view of the iris texture when the eye gaze is non-frontal, the iris is assumed flat, and the eye is assumed to be imaged via an orthographic projection. If these assumptions hold, affine transformations may be used to rectify non-frontally posed images to a frontal view and the rubber sheet model may be accurately used to normalize the iris annulus to a rectangular image. This paper examines how iris recognition performance degrades when the first two assumptions are violated. Using a computer renderable eye model, a data set is created varying the presence of the cornea and a parameterized non-planarity of the iris shape across a large range of eye gaze angles. Matching scores are created using a commercial matcher. When comparing the relative impact of each assumption violation, it is observed that iris non-planarity presents a more significant problem than corneal refractive distortion with regard to iris recognition accuracy in non-frontal images.


Temporal rhythms in travel and activity patterns are analysed thanks to a seven-day travel diary collected on 707 individuals in the city of Ghent (Belgium) in 2008. Our analysis confirms the large level of intrapersonal variability whether for daily trips, home-based tours, time use and activity sequence. However our analysis goes further by studying this variability along various time periods within the week. Moreover, we show that the systematic day-to-day variability has an extremely low share in intrapersonal variability. The influence of socio-demographic characteristics on intrapersonal variability is weak, whether for daily trips, tours, time use and activity sequence. Repetitive activity-travel behaviour is then detected, through attributes of activity at trip destination, travel mode, trip arrival time and destination location. The picture is at the same time one of diversity and of specificity in activity-travel across the week. People tend to concentrate their weekly activity-travel patterns on few combinations of attributes, despite a large dispersion. Our results on core stops are somewhat encouraging by showing some kind of concentration of activity patterns on a few "anchor" points.


A 20-year-old woman presented with erythema and swelling on her face, which had progressively increased during the previous 4 months. There were erythematous, infiltrated, tiny scaled plaques on the forehead, nasal area, cheeks, chin and perioral area, which gave the patient a leonine appearance (Fig. 1). There was no lymphadenopathy or hepatomegaly. Results of radiography of the chest and hands, electrocardiography, echocardiography, ocular examination, complete blood cell count, biochemical tests, syphilis serology tests and tuberculin skin test were negative or within normal limits. Tests for serum angiotensin-converting enzyme cannot be carried out in our hospital.


The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 epidemic a public health emergency of international concern on March 11th, 2020, and the pandemic is rapidly spreading worldwide. COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which enters human target cells via angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). We used a number of bioinformatics tools to computationally characterize ACE2 by determining its cell-specific expression in trachea, lung, and small intestine, derive its putative functions, and predict transcriptional regulation. The small intestine expressed higher levels of ACE2 than any other organ. The large intestine, kidney and testis showed moderate signals, whereas the signal was weak in the lung. Single cell RNA-Seq data from trachea indicated positive signals along the respiratory tract in key protective cell types including club, goblet, proliferating, and ciliary epithelial cells; while in lung the ratio of ACE2-expressing cells was low in all cell types (<2.6%), but was highest in vascular endothelial and goblet cells. Gene ontology analysis suggested that, besides its classical role in renin-angiotensin system, ACE2 may be functionally associated with angiogenesis/blood vessel morphogenesis. Using a novel tool for the prediction of transcription factor binding sites we identified several putative binding sites within two tissue-specific promoters of the ACE2 gene. Our results also confirmed that age and gender play no significant role in the regulation of ACE2 mRNA expression in the lung. IMPORTANCE Vaccines and new medicines are urgently needed to prevent spread of COVID-19 pandemic, reduce the symptoms, shorten the duration of disease, prevent virus spread in the body, and most importantly to save lives. One of the key drug targets could be angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is a crucial receptor for the corona virus (SARS-CoV-2). It is known that SARS coronavirus infections lead to worse outcome in the elderly and in males. Therefore, one aim of the present study was to investigate whether age or sex could contribute to the regulation of ACE2 expression. We also decided to explore the transcriptional regulation of ACE2 gene expression. Since data on ACE2 distribution is still conflicting, we aimed to get a more comprehensive view of the cell types expressing the receptor of SARS-CoV-2. Finally, we studied the coexpression of ACE2 with other genes and explored its putative functions using gene ontology enrichment analysis.


We summarize the renormalization-group properties of transverse-momentum dependent (TMD) parton distribution functions (PDF)s arguing that in the li ght-cone gauge the overlapping ultraviolet and rapidity divergences cannot be solely controlle d by (dimensional) regularization, but necessitate their renormalization. In doing so, we show that at the one-loop order this additional divergence entails an anomalous dimension which can be attributed to a cusp in the gauge contour at light-cone infinity. Then, we present a recent analys is of TMD PDFs which incorporates in the gauge links the Pauli term ∼ F μν [γμ, γν]. This generalized treatment of gauge invariance is shown to be justified, in the sense that it does not modify th e behavior of the leading-twist contribution, though it contributes to the anomalous dimension of that of twist-three. An important consequence of the inclusion of the spin-dependent Pauli term is the appearance of a constant phase—the same for the leading twist-two and subleading distribution functions—that ensues from the interaction of the Pauli term in the transverse gauge link with the gauge field accompanying the fermion. Remarkably, this phase has opposite sign for the Drell-Yan process as compared to the semi-inclusive DIS.


Our system is based on computer animation tools, employed in the context of architectural synthesis. The pipeline of the tool consists of "time" and space design constraints of boundaries / objects affecting a given architectural design, with an output of alternative designs. The alternative designs vary from the original according to their temporal and/or spatial distance from the original object on the animation time-line. Specific tools [shape driven curves, speed and time-line functions,parent child relationships, boolean operations, arrays, lattices etc.] empower the designer with the ability to transform his original idea in almost every way the designer likes in a completely visual, interactive and straightforward manner. The solutions sets change according to time, speed, location, configuration of the objects and/or the constraints and rules the designer/user configures. Previous work on our tool stemmed from the rule based structure of shape grammars, but has evolved to a tool where the designer does not have to define a rule set beforehand but does so as his idea evolves during design. The animation tools used are form independent (that is the designer can use any twoorthreedimensional form) and can represent structural decisions in a given design. The independence from form makes the tool suitable for almost every kind of architectural design, be it experimental, real or conventional while the ability to represent structural decisions and relations of parts in a design implicitly help the designer/user acquire a clear picture of each design and solution set. Finally the possibility of a structured graph representing each solution is discussed, where the designer can evaluate the merit of an individual solution in terms of conforming to the initial core idea or where alternative spatial configurations evolve in a different structure from the original design.


Politics and war are in constant tension. A realm happens to be dominated by the former or by the latter, but sometimes – especially when we think of a country – it is quite diffcult to say which. The question is, however, whether the modern state – like a war – is justifed in judging anything as fair or unfair, legitimate or illegitimate. What could become the criterion for this assessment? Do human rights so? Respecting diversity and yielding to the needs of specifc social groups? Listening to the voice of citizens in a state, or to the citizens able to listen to each other? Probably, so. One can also consider whether a country is just meeting the fve conditions which Paul Vladimiri used in judging the war. As fair, legal or legitimate should be regarded either a person (persona), or on object (res), or the cause (causa), or spirit (anima), or an authority (auctoritas). All of them exist at the crossroads of relations between, respectively, the state and citizens, the state and the system. Both explaining these terms and referring them to the question at hand (that of justice) are necessary to ask about the possibility of an outside intervention, also.