Background: In conditions such as phantom limb pain and low back pain body image is distorted. This qualitative study investigates body image in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain (CNP), its influence on their everyday life and any changes linked to traditional cupping therapy. Methods: The study was conducted with a convenience sample of 6 patients with CNP from a larger randomised controlled trial (RCT) on cupping. The data came from body image drawings and semi-structured interviews. The latter were analysed using Mayring's content analysis techniques. Results: The patients' drawings showed apparent body image distortions with elements that were missing or deformed. The interviews showed that pain was the predominant perception, influencing patients' body perception. Patients saw their pain as beyond their control, using mostly passive strategies to cope. After cupping, patients reported less pain and improved pain perception. These changes were reflected in their drawings. Conclusion: Patients with CNP experienced apparent body image distortions, which traditional cupping therapy appeared to improve. Additional research is needed to further explore this link.


The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia has been involved since its foundation in the forecast of the conditions in which a radio link that makes use of propagation by means of ionospheric wave takes place. In the last times it gained interest also the precise forecast of the trajectory covered by a radio wave propagating into the atmosphere, specifically into the ionosphere, which can be considered, at first approximation, as an inhomogeneous medium, defined by a refraction index slowly varying in time. This work describes the theoretical bases to study a trajectory; they substantially make use of the methods of the geometrical optics. Such theoretical bases find applications in numerical methods to calculate the trajectories, as quoted in references [Bianchi, 2009].


Although the performance of a differential chaos shift keying (DCSK) system can be improved by designing appropriate channel codes, it is still a great challenge to do so for various channel models through transmitter and receiver designs, particularly with short frame length transmissions. Alternatively, to bypass the difficult task of designing a good channel code, an iterative receiver (IR) DCSK system is proposed in this paper. A soft demapper suitable for non-coherent M-ary DCSK system is presented, which can work either with or without fading amplitude information. Bit error rate (BER) performance shows its advantages over the non-IR DCSK system in different channel models. The achievable rate curves also indicate that gains relative to non-iterative DCSK system can be achieved with the iterative receiver.


Researchers have viewed constraints as a subset of reasons for not engaging in a particular behavior. This study investigates the impact of two-way interactions between age, income, and life stage (forming groups of more and less constrained respondents) on dependent variables comprising intentions held by Australian residents to travel intrastate, interstate or overseas for a vacation. A representative sample of 49,105 Australian respondents is utilized. Binary logistic regression is used to profile respondents who intend to take a domestic or an overseas holiday of more than three days duration. This paper finds that the interactions between the constraint variables of age, income and life stage are important in explaining travel preferences. Constraint groups are then formed by combining the important constraint variables. There are significant levels of vacation travel by even the most constrained groups as well as significant amounts of non-travel by the least constrained sectors of our society. Marketing insights and recommendations are provided for the most constrained travel group and the least constrained travel group.


The present study was conducted to induce mutations by UV- light in Trichoderma harzianum for tolerance of Bavistin fungicides which are commonly used to control soil born phytopathogens. The mycelium growth of T. harzianum T1, T2 was inhibited completely by 30 µg (a.i.) /ml PDA of Bavistin. Two isolates of Trichoderma harzianum T1 and T2 conidia suspensions 10 4 conidia / ml were irradiated by UV lights at 254, 320, 365nm wavelength for 10, 20, 40, 80, 160 min using UV dark room cabinet and spectrophotometer and cultured on PDA media containing 50, 60, 75, 100, and 150 µg (a.i) / ml Bavistin. A thirty one unstable mutants tolerant to Bavistin were obtained after irradiation the T. harzianum T1, T2 conidia suspension 10 4 conidia / ml by using UV dark room cabinet. While about 76975 Bavistin tolerant mutants were obtained by using UV spectrophotometer. Only twelve were stable and named (TAm1, TAm2, TAm3, TAa1, TAa2, TAa3, TAa4, TAa5, TAa6, TAa7, TAa9 and TAa11). Results daily radial growth and sporulation rate of stable mutants on fungicide culture media (Bavistin) revealed that the stable mutant TAa2 and TAa1 achevied the maximum average of (daily radial growth rate and sporulation). The stable mutants TAa1, TAa2, TAa3, TAa4, TAa5 and TAa7 which tolerates 150 µg (a.i)/ml Bavistin increased their ability to tolerate Bavistin up to 200 µg(a.i)/ml by using adaption technique.


The results of an investigation of Middle and Upper Ordovician ostracodes from southeastern Canada are reported. Sixty-two samples were collected from the Table Head and Long Point groups, western Newfoundland, the Jolliet Group, Anticosti Island, and the Trenton Group, St. Lawrence Lowlands. These yielded over 2600 moderately to well-preserved ostracodes. The Carter Collection, an existing collection of ostracodes from the Lowlands, was also examined. During the research, a series of difficulties were encountered in obtaining the faunas, interpreting their taxonomy, and understanding their paleoenvironmental implications. -- In the sections studied, Ordovician ostracodes occurred sporadically and were often rare or absent. All the collections were obtained by washing soft shales or by vibra-tool preparation of indurate limestones; selection of samples that can be readily processed is essential. Ordovician ostracode taxonomy is often confusing; many species are narrowly defined and allow little morphological variation. In this study, the taxonomy of a number of species is revised and a number of existing species are re-interpreted as synonyms. Fifty-four species representing forty genera are described and illustrated. No new species are established, because the current species are either already described in the literature, or could only be identified at the generic level because of a lack of well-preserved material. -- Although faunal composition, abundance and diversity arc directly influenced by the paleoenvironment, it is difficult to develop ostracode-based criteria for the elucidation of Ordovician paleoenvironments. Observations made during this study indicate that sea-level changes and water depth were strong controls on the nature of Ordovician ostracode faunas. In the Lourdes Formation, western Newfoundland and the Ellis Bay Formation, Anticosti Island, marked increases in faunal diversity and the rates of speciation can be directly correlated with transgressive events that increased the shelf area and the variety of niches available. Water depth, through its control of a variety of interdependent ecological factors, such as water temperature, food supply and substrate, was also an important influence on the type of ostracode community present. A series of depth-related communities are tentatively recognised. High- energy, nearshore environments tend to have a high-abundance, low-diversity fauna consisting of large, robust, smooth ostracodes; speciation rates are low and the community structure is relatively stable. Stable, open shelf, carbonate environments tend to have high-diversity faunas, consisting of a wide variety of ornamented forms such as Eurychilina subradiata and Foramenella phippsi; speciation rates are high and the community structure frequently changes. Outer shelf to shelf-slope environments tend to have a low-diversity, low-abundance fauna consisting of drepanellids such as Warthinia nodosa and smooth-elongate ostracodes like Phelobythocypris cylindrica; speciation rates are low and the community structure is stable. As depth increases and the shelf-slope transition is crossed, faunal abundance and diversity diminish rapidly and in situ ostracode faunas disappear altogether. -- Effective use of Ordovician ostracodes as biostratigraphic indicators, depends on their ability to cross facies and provincial boundaries. At present it is not possible to make more than crude correlations, because the faunas are not well enough known. A few of the species, such as Eurychilina subradiata and Tetradella quadrilirata, are wide ranging and have obvious potential for correlating Ordovician shelf sediments. Many other species cannot be used for inter- or intra-regional correlation, because they are locally endemic, occurring in some areas, but not in others.


Insulin analogues have been the object of controversy concerning their therapeutic superiority to human insulin. Perhaps, in part, because of this, insulin analogues are frequently the subject of lawsuits. The judicialization of health has been well studied, but little is known about the reasons that lead people to go to the courts to obtain access to medicines on SUS (the Brazilian National Health System). Therefore, this study aims to analyze the reasons that led people to appeal to the courts to obtain access to insulins analogues in the state of Bahia. This is a case study based on documentary sources. Between 2010 and 2013, 149 lawsuits requiring insulin analogues from the state health authority were filed in the courts. The main reasons for the appeal to the courts, cited in the cases, can be grouped into four categories: the users' lack of finances, an essential need for insulin analogue, the duty and obligation of the state to provide them and bureaucratic difficulties. People turned to the courts, mostly, because doctors who accompany their patients have shifted from the official policy, believing that insulin analogues are better than human insulins. They also recognize that the public health system does not distribute them nor does it give doctors the wherewithal to purchase them with their own resources.


We study numerically and analytically the shape of a single fluxon moving in double stacked Josephson junctions (SJJ's) for various junction parameters. We show that the fluxon in a double SJJ consists of two components, which are characterized by different Swihart velocities and Josephson penetration depths. The weight coefficients of the two components depend on the parameters of the junctions and the velocity of the fluxon. It is shown that the fluxon in SJJ's may have an unusual shape with an inverted magnetic field in the second junction when the velocity of the fluxon is approaching the lower Swihart velocity. Finally, we study the influence of fluxon shape on flux-flow current-voltage characteristics and analyze the spectrum of Cherenkov radiation for fluxon velocity above the lower Swihart velocity. An analytic expression for the wavelength of Cherenkov radiation is derived.


The relevance of the study to these problems reasoned by the fact that in economic crisis and social dynamism times the problem of professional self-determination of the individuals considered from a different point of view, because people can repeatedly change their occupational status, qualifications and enterprise team during their whole lives. In this regard, this article is dedicated tithe development of structural-functional model of students' professional mobility formation in modern conditions. The article presents the features of the regional structural and functional model of students' professional mobility formation developed by the authors, comprising the following relationship of its components: The regional social order for human resources' training, target, content-procedural, technological, monitoring and assessment-productive ones. This models based on social partnership and coordination of students' vocational training with an innovative educational environment of the region. Pedagogical conditions of students' professional mobility formation are proposed, the practical implementation of which in a particular individual institution of higher educationist related to the need to take into account regional factors: The possibilities of the institutions, the availability of companies and organizations in which the students can have practice, geographical location and regional affiliation of the city where the high school is located.


A previous Doppler-lidar observation near a sea-breeze front revealed that small-scale vertical vortices, similar to dust devils, have a preferred direction of rotation, which suggests that their rotation was affected by meso-scale vertical vorticity associated with the front. In contrast, planetary vorticity is believed to have a negligible effect on dust devils. This paper investigates the effects of ambient rotation on dust devils by means of a large eddy simulation, which yielded the following findings: when the ambient rotation is as small as the earth's rotation, only a tiny asymmetry is found in the occurrences of vertical vortices of different signs; as the ambient rotation is increased, it significantly affects the rotational direction of the vortices, and the magnitude of their vertical vorticity attains a maximum for an ambient vorticity of about 10-3 s-1; a further increase in the ambient rotation changes the structure of convection in the convective mixed layer and suppresses horizontal convergence, so that vertical vorticity of the vortices is reduced.


Vitamin D receptor (VDR) controls the expression of numerous genes through the conformational change caused by binding 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. Helix 12 in the ligand-binding domain (LBD) is key to regulating VDR activation. The structures of apo VDR-LBD and the VDR-LBD/antagonist complex are unclear. Here, we reveal their unprecedented structures in solution using a hybrid method combining small-angle X-ray scattering and molecular dynamics simulations. In apo rat VDR-LBD, helix 12 is partially unraveled, and it is positioned around the canonical active position and fluctuates. Helix 11 greatly bends toward the outside at Q396, creating a kink. In the rat VDR-LBD/antagonist complex, helix 12 does not generate the activation function 2 surface, and loop 11-12 is remarkably flexible compared to that in the apo rat VDR-LBD. On the basis of these structural insights, we propose a "folding-door model" to describe the mechanism of agonism/antagonism of VDR-LBD.


Costs for installation and maintenance of protective structures are increasing while alpine hazards progressively threaten alpine communities, infrastructure and economics. Thus, reliable process‐based anticipation and early warning strategies offer a cost‐effective and smart solution for alpine societies in the near future. However, only few comprehensive pre‐failure observations of alpine rock slopes have been reported so far. This paper demonstrates pre‐failure observations of a rapidly deforming rock mass (potentially 260,000 m3) at the Hochvogel (Allgäu Alps, 2,592 m a.s.l.) and a geotechnical monitoring and warning concept. This is implemented in the complementary multi‐method approach of the AlpSenseBench project and the basis for an effective and reliable early warning system. Since 2014, overall displacement rates in the range of 2 to 10 mm/month in the main decametre deep fracture are observed. It is expected that predictive acceleration patterns will appear in the final pre‐failure stage. A detailed knowledge of multiple anticipative signals in correlation with accelerating rock slope deformations will contribute to an advance in accuracy and reliability of rock slide early warning.


Supervision of a health system presupposes keeping an attentive eye on the health situation of populations, so as to understand health, illness and healthcare as indissociable manifestations of human existence. Taking this point of view, this article examines health practices from the basis of some of their processes of communication. These are markedly professional-centered in their logic, with their emphasis on scientific, vertical and authoritarian discourse, predominantly in the spaces of the Unified Health System (SUS). In the territory, the process of communication is determinant. As a result of social interaction in daily life, the communication process reterritorializes the elements of the social totality: people, companies, institutions are re-dimensioned in the logic. It is a characteristic space for activities that aim for a more horizontal and democratic flow of communication.


Experiments have been conducted to study the local heat (mass) transfer distributions in a two-pass test model of internal turbine blade cooling passages, with 60 ribs on the leading and trailing walls. For radial outward flow in the first pass, rotation did not significantly increase the local nor the overall heat (mass) transfer between consecutive ribs on the trailing wall. Rotation-induced Coriolis force lowered the relative overall heat (mass) transfer on the leading wall less in the rib-roughened channel than in a smooth channel. When the rotation number was high, there were twin peaks in the local heat (mass) transfer distribution between ribs on the leading wall. For radial inward flow in the second pass, the sharp turn reduced the difference between the heat (mass) transfer.on the leading wall and that on the trailing wall.


The present situation is characterized with serious threats to society and individuals from terrorism and organized crime. That demands to provide law enforcement institutions personnel with corresponding law, knowledge and skills useful in purpose to prevent society from crime. At same time ignorance knowledge and skills of simplest crime intelligence methods can to get into trouble all sorts of law enforcement representatives. In that connection certain educational institutions task is, to make innovations in education of law enforcement institutions personnel with purpose to give them knowledge and skills corresponded to introduced new investigative and crime intelligence activities. Some such methods were put into practice of Police Academy of Latvia show that successful obtaining of knowledge and skills in crime intelligence area needs implementation of police institution's personnel.


технологий. что из рудного Abstract . The main problem of ferroalloy production in Russia is the avai-lability of ore raw materials in domestic factories. Only a few types of alloys are produced from our own raw materials (such as ferrosili-con and vanadium alloys). Most ferroalloys are either imported from abroad or smelted from imported raw materials. The difficult situa-tion in domestic ferroalloy production is associated with raw material import dependence. Despite the presence of its own large mineral resources base, although not quite high-quality in accordance with world standards. Domestic ferroalloy raw materials have a low content of leading elements (manganese, chromium ores), a high content of phosphorus (manganese, niobium ores) and sulfur (manganese ores). This requires a conduction of physical and chemical studies and the creation of a number of new alternative technologies. The work shows that it is possible to create new processes and combinations of different types of ferroalloys from non-traditional domestic ore raw materials based on deep physicochemical and technological studies. They are not in-ferior in terms of their technical and economic indicators of products obtained from imported materials. To successfully solve the problem of providing the ferroalloy industry with domestic ore raw materials, it is necessary to combine the research of geology, enrichment and metallurgy.


Odontoma is classified as neoplasm but its clinical presentation resembles hamartomatous growth. They are the most common type of odontogenic tumors with limited growth potential and low recurrence rate. Compound and complex odontomas are the most commonly recognized types which are seldomly associated with complications. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment is key to successful management. In order to make dental professionals aware of this odontogenic tumor that frequently affects young age group; two cases of compound composite odontoma are reported along with a brief discussion on odontomas.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the agreement between two methods of measuring gastric pH in critically ill patients (multiple band litmus paper-tested aspirations versus a meter-read probe located in the tip of a nasogastric tube) and to compare nurse satisfaction with both methods of measuring pH.

DESIGN
Prospective, correlational, nonprobability sample.

SETTING
Mid-Atlantic, semirural Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

SUBJECTS
39 male, surgical, critical care patients, who were nasogastrically intubated in the operating room and received nothing by mouth. NURSES: Twenty-seven registered nurses on the medical-surgical intensive care staff.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Differences in pH units as determined by two methods of measurement and nurse satisfaction scores.

INSTRUMENTATION
Litmus paper-tested aspirations versus a meter-read probe located in the tip of the nasogastric tube, measured every 2 hours for 48 hours. A nurse satisfaction assessment form for both measurement methods at entry, 6 months, and 12 months.

RESULTS
All measures of association, Pearson's r (0.79), the concordance coefficient (0.74), and eta (0.88), were high. The concordance coefficient measures indicated sufficient agreement between the two methods at the initial and 24 hour measurement times (Cb) = 0.97, 0.97, and 0.94), but not at 48 hours. The meter method indicated prophylaxis was needed when the paper did not, more often than did the paper method (9.3% vs 5.2%). A significant difference between methods was found only at the last reading at 48 hours (z = -2.24, p < .0249). MANOVA revealed that nurses' preference for the meter method was significant (F = 139.48, df = 1.18) and increased over time (F = 4.77, df = 2,36).

CONCLUSIONS
The gastric probe method of measuring pH is an accurate substitution up to 48 hours for the litmus-paper aspiration method in the postoperative patient who is receiving nothing by mouth. Nurses prefer the gastric probe method of measuring pH over the litmus-paper method because they judge it to be safer, faster, and more accurate.


Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a new paradigm for building intelligent industrial control systems, and how to establish a secure channel in IIoT for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication is a critical problem because the devices in IIoT suffer from various attacks and may leak confidential information. Traditional authenticated and confidential channel establishment (ACCE) protocols neither apply for resource-constrained IIoT devices nor satisfy leakage resilience. In this paper, we introduce a new security notion: historical data based multi-factor ACCE (HMACCE) to address this issue and propose two HMACCE protocols. Our HMACCE protocols use three authentication factors, i.e., a symmetric secret key, historical data, and a set of secret tags associated with the historical data, to establish a secure communication channel between the client and the server. The key idea is to use the secret key managed by an IIoT edge device to quickly verify the relationship between the historical data and its associated tags stored on the server. Our HMACCE has the following remarkable features. First, it is lightweight and tailored for resource-constrained IIoT devices. Second, it is bounded historical tag leakage resilience, which means that if a small portion of the secret tags is leaked to an adversary, it will not affect its security with an overwhelming probability. Moreover, as a security enhancement service, our HMACCE can be easily integrated with legacy IIoT devices by running simple authenticated key exchange protocols.


Demyelination in MS disrupts nerve signals and contributes to axon degeneration. While remyelination promises to restore lost function, it remains unclear whether remyelination will prevent axonal loss. Inflammatory demyelination is accompanied by significant neuronal loss in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mouse model and evidence for remyelination in this model is complicated by ongoing inflammation, degeneration and possible remyelination. Demonstrating the functional significance of remyelination necessitates selectively altering the timing of remyelination relative to inflammation and degeneration. We demonstrate accelerated remyelination after EAE induction by direct lineage analysis and hypothesize that newly formed myelin remains stable at the height of inflammation due in part to the absence of MOG expression in immature myelin. Oligodendroglial-specific genetic ablation of the M1 muscarinic receptor, a potent negative regulator of oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination, results in accelerated remyelination, preventing axonal loss and improving functional recovery. Together our findings demonstrate that accelerated remyelination supports axonal integrity and neuronal function after inflammatory demyelination. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18246.001


The research work presented in this thesis introduces novel approaches for both visual
region of interest extraction and visual feature extraction for use in audio-visual
automatic speech recognition. In particular, the speaker's movement that occurs
during speech is used to isolate the mouth region in video sequences and motionbased
features obtained from this region are used to provide new visual features for
audio-visual automatic speech recognition. The mouth region extraction approach
proposed in this work is shown to give superior performance compared with existing
colour-based lip segmentation methods. The new features are obtained from three
separate representations of motion in the region of interest, namely the difference in
luminance between successive images, block matching based motion vectors and
optical flow. The new visual features are found to improve visual-only and audiovisual
speech recognition performance when compared with the commonly-used
appearance feature-based methods.
In addition, a novel approach is proposed for visual feature extraction from either the
discrete cosine transform or discrete wavelet transform representations of the mouth
region of the speaker. In this work, the image transform is explored from a new
viewpoint of data discrimination; in contrast to the more conventional data
preservation viewpoint. The main findings of this work are that audio-visual
automatic speech recognition systems using the new features extracted from the
frequency bands selected according to their discriminatory abilities generally
outperform those using features designed for data preservation.
To establish the noise robustness of the new features proposed in this work, their
performance has been studied in presence of a range of different types of noise and at
various signal-to-noise ratios. In these experiments, the audio-visual automatic speech
recognition systems based on the new approaches were found to give superior
performance both to audio-visual systems using appearance based features and to
audio-only speech recognition systems.


Background: Patient requests for tests, treatments, or referrals occur frequently during primary care visits and pose challenges for clinicians to address, but little is known about patient characteristics that may predict requests. Objective: To identify patient characteristics associated with a higher rate of patient requests during primary care visits. Design, Setting, and Sample: Cross-sectional analyses of data from 1141 adult patients attending 1319 visits with 56 primary care physicians (including 45 resident and 11 faculty physicians) in an academic family medicine practice. Measurements: Postvisit patient surveys including measures of patient requests for tests, prescriptions, and referrals; sociodemographics; mental and physical health status; symptom bother or worry (3-item scale; range, 3 to 15; Cronbach's α = 0.83); global life satisfaction; medical skepticism; and Five Factor Model personality traits. Results: Patients made 1 or more requests in 867 visits (65.7%). In multivariate analyses of the within-visit request count, the following patient variables were statistically significantly associated with a higher rate of requests: age in years (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.01 [95% CI, 1.00 to 1.01]), increased symptom bother or worry (IRR, 1.06 [95% CI, 1.03 to 1.08]), a more extroverted personality (IRR, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.03 to 1.08]), greater life satisfaction (IRR, 1.01 [95% CI, 1.00 to 1.02]), and any prior encounter with the visit physician (IRR, 1.17 [95% CI, 1.04 to 1.32]). Conclusions: Primary care physicians should expect a greater frequency of requests from older patients, patients with greater symptoms bother or worry, more extroverted patients, patients with greater global life satisfaction, and patients with whom they have had prior visits.


In this paper, two recent advances in silicon ring resonator biosensors are presented. First, we address the problem that due to the high index contrast, small deviations from perfect symmetry lift the degeneracy of the normal resonator mode. This severely deteriorates the quality of the output signal. To address this, we discuss an integrated interferometric approach to give access to the unsplit, high-quality normal modes of the microring resonator. Second, we demonstrate how digital microfluidics can be used for effective fluid delivery to nanophotonic microring resonator sensors fully constructed in SOI.


This study, which is prepared by Policy Department A at the request of the ECON
Committee, addresses the implications and economic impact of several scenarios
of the UK leaving the EU in relation to financial services, ranging from a 'hard Brexit'
without any arrangements concerning financial services to the current state of affairs
under the terms of a full EU membership. Special focus is put on a peculiar
variation of 'hard Brexit', which are the third-country regimes in the current EU
secondary legal framework that allow partial access to the EU single market based
on 'equivalence' on the basis of decisions by the European Commission or national
authorities. The study presents these regimes and the extent to which they were
already used in the past. The economic analysis looks at three variations of 'hard
Brexit' (one, in which the access to the single market is closed, one with partial
access based on equivalence and one, in which the City of London is transformed
into an 'offshore financial centre') and at the scenario, in which the UK joins the
EEA. The economic assessment is based on the current state of affairs in relation
to the interwovenness of financial services in the EU28 including a closer look at
the importance of UK-based clearing of Euro denominated trades.


Epilepsy is a rigorous transmission of electrical impulses across neurons of the brain and reported more prevalent in lower-income countries. A systematic literature review has been performed to implicate the impact of environmental variables on the occurrence of epilepsy using the following keywords: Epilepsy or environmental risk factors or seizures. More than 500 genes have been reported to involve in epilepsy potentially. Moreover, family history with neurological disorders, sleep apnea, depression, alcohol, stress, diet, gestational period of mother, and social involvement are among the risk factors which can reliably predict onset and severity of the disease. Hence, minimizing these factors along with recommended therapies, counseling, and awareness could be a miracle in the life of epileptic patients and can improve societies.


Due to weaknesses in circuit synthesis methods used in todaypsilas CAD tools, the opportunities created by modern microelectronic technology cannot effectively be exploited. This paper considers major issues and requirements of circuit synthesis for the nano CMOS technologies, and discusses our new information-driven circuit synthesis technology that satisfies these requirements. It focuses on an adequate technology library modelling for information-driven circuit synthesis. The new circuit synthesis technology considerably differs from all other known synthesis methods and overcomes their main weaknesses. The experimental results demonstrate that it is able to produce very fast, compact and low-power circuits.


tion' and probably the authors forgot that elektron means amber in Greek. Only occasionally the terminology becomes more complex. Some of the descriptions are outmoded with diagrams of triodes or double triodes, no longer used in EEG instrumentation for many years. On page 27, for example, in the section of 'tubes' (valves) and transistors, most of the page is devoted to valves and very little is said about transistors and their properties. The discussion on 'time constant' is confusing because it is based on indications from the knobs of a single commercial EEG apparatus rather than emphasizing time values. On page 36 the authors state: 'the use of 1 Hertz is a satisfactory compromise for the great majority of recordings and gives a time constant of about 012 seconds'. Of course this is a common practice in many of the poorly informed EEG Departments in the USA and it is one of the main causes of failure to recognize the location of rapidly expanding intracerebral lesions with such a short time constant! It is refreshing however to see that the two authors encourage the utilization not only of bipolar but also ofmonopolar (common reference) techniques. There is a large amount of illustration of EEG features, some with sixteen channels and others with eight channels equipment and many of the figures are useful in a teaching book of this kind. The very brief chapter on 'troubleshooting' is puzzling and Appendices 1, 2 and 3 represent, like most of this book, the practice of two centres in Florida, expressed in somewhat dogmatic simplicity to their own technologists.


One-year-old seedlings of Cinnamomum camphora were planted with four densities: 1, 2, 4, and 8 seedlings per bag(density I, II, III and IV). The effect of the planting density on the growth and weight distribution pattern of these seedlings were studied. The results showed that the mean ground diameter decreased with an increase of the density. The mean seedling height was in the order of III IV II I density for C. camphora seedlings. The dry weight of roots, stems, branches, and leaves and the total tree dry weight of C. camphora seedlings decreased with increasing density. The dry weight of individual organs decreased in the order of roots leaves stems branches in density I and roots stems leaves branches in other density plantings. The root-shoot ratio of seedlings in all density treatments was 1.


Research in the field of citizenship, civil society, and social movements in relation to larger democratic summits has either focused on radical confrontational elements of activism, broad public demonstrations, or the professional non-governmental organizations. In this article, I label the types of activist groups involved in and around the COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen (2009). My proposition is that such a categorization may help to refine the general debate through more nuanced distinctions and accurate definitions and provide a better understanding of why the creative elements seem to take a central role in today's activist landscape. I develop these typological conceptual representations based on an understanding of civil society as a mediating catalyst. By presenting six versions of citizenship participation based on an analysis of diverse ends and means, I identify how each of them has their own specific logic about the democratic challenges surrounding the summit. This analysis leads me to address the question of whether an attempt to bridge the gap between the official system and the active citizen through a distinction between antagonistic and negotiation-friendly forms of activism is fruitful. In conclusion, the creative activist is revealed as a mediating figure in civil society pointing towards a new definition of 'facilitating citizenship'.


A parallel study on histamine concentration and morphology of biopsy from gastric mucosa, was carried out with 60 patients with duodenal ulcer, prior to and post stimulation with pentagastrin--6 micrograms/kg. Histamine was spectrofluorimetrically determined. The functional-morphological changes that developed were followed up on 15, 30 and 60 min after the stimulation. They were a functional character and were due to disturbed microcirculation of the gastric mucosa: edema, venous stasis and leukopedesis. The latter were progressively increased within the course of 1 hour after the stimulation. The histamine-mobilizing effect of pentagastrin was manifested with a short-term decrease, followed by a considerable increase of histamine content in gastric mucosa of the patients with duodenal ulcer.


Given its favourable employment incentives and ability to target the working poor, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has become the primary antipoverty programme at both the federal and state levels. However, when evaluating the effect of EITC programmes on income and poverty, governments generally calculate the effect using simple accounting, where the value of the state or federal EITC benefit is added to a person's income. These calculations omit the behavioural incentives created by the existence of these programmes, the corresponding effect on labour supply and hours worked, and therefore the actual effect on income and poverty. This article simulates the full effect of an expansion of the New York State EITC benefit on employment, hours worked, income, poverty and programme expenditures. These results are then compared to those omitting labour supply effects. Relative to estimates excluding labour supply effects, the preferred behavioural results show that an expansion of the New York State EITC increases employment by an additional 14 244 persons, labour earnings by an additional $95.8 million, family income by an additional $84.5 million, decreases poverty by an additional 56 576 persons and increases costs to the State by $29.7 million.


Despite the rich literature addressing entrepreneurial business models and processes, the sources of entrepreneurial value creation are still under debate. Recent studies focus on the value creation processes applied by technology entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, and transformational entrepreneurs; however, the business models behind some of these conceptual labels are rather simplistic and confusing. To provide a clear analysis and classification of the sources of entrepreneurial value creation, this study starts with a presentation of the value-related processes, which define modern business models. Using this theoretical approach, the paper develops a criticism of the existing models and then identifies and describes three major sources of entrepreneurial value creation, using the primary data collected from 34 successful start-ups: innovative, relational and circumstantial entrepreneurship; and the root processes which support their exploitation: innovation, marketing, and respectively market research and reactivity.


Understanding the double layer at the electrode-electrolyte interface is of fundamental importance to electrochemistry, and also lays the basis for rational design of energy storage and conversion technologies. The prevailing Gouy-Chapman-Stern (GCS) model and its many derivatives invariably picture the double layer as a serial connection of a compact layer and a diffuse layer. We unravel that these models based on the serial connection tacitly prescribe a zero potential gradient at the solution-side boundary. This assumption is generally invalidated under dynamical conditions, resulting in an incorrect expression for the double-layer impedance. Amendment of this deficiency gives out a revised analytical expression for the double-layer impedance at the potential of zero charge with new features. Specifically, the contribution of the compact layer now shows frequency dispersion. The deviation between the original and amended models is greater when the double layer is confined in narrower space. This work changes our basic understanding of double layer model and its impedance response.


With the development of social media and online forums, users have grown accustomed to expressing their agreement and disagreement via short texts. Elements that reveal the user's stance or subjectivity thus becomes an important resource in identifying the user's position on a given topic. In the current study, we observe comments of an online bulletin board in Taiwan for how people express their stance when responding to other people's post in Chinese. A lexicon is built based on linguistic analysis and annotation of the data. We performed binary classification task using these linguistic features and was able to reach an average of 71 percent accuracy. A linguistic analysis on the confusion caused in the classification task is done for future work on better accuracy for such task.


The proposed research is driven by an existing need to develop a master programme in enterprise system engineering (ESE) to the Arab Universities. The main objective of the project is to ensure the development of a top-notch curriculum that comprises the latest technology and teaching methods while integrating the local labour market needs of the target countries. To achieve that, a labour market analysis in the ESE domain is conducted in this proposed research. The study is divided into two main parts, one is qualitative to uncover several issues in the labour markets of the target Arab countries relevant to ESE and the second part is quantitative designed to measure the skill gaps prevalent in those countries to which the master programme is exported. Besides the business problem calling for this research, its importance is leveraged by the strong evidence in the literature showing that supply and demand skills rarely match. This research is expected to explore and measure potential gaps between employment and education in ESE, a point that is crucial for more efficient education and employment in the Arab countries.


Nanomaterials (NMs) have been widely used in the biomedical field. To explore the biological effects of graphene as one of the most widely used NMs, we studied the adsorption behavior and induced conformational changes of proteins representing different secondary structures on graphene: β-strands (WW domain), mixed α/β structure (BBA protein), and α-helices (λ-repressor). Our results indicate these model proteins were adsorbed onto the graphene surface quickly and tightly, however, varied degrees of conformational changes were observed. During the adsorption process, we found the β motif is a stiffer structural unit than the α-helix. Moreover, the level of conformational changes of the proteins is related not only to their sequence and structural properties but also to their orientation. Overall, from the different levels of intermolecular interaction, the protein adsorption was driven by van der Waals, hydrophobic and π–π stacking interactions. Our work suggests that classical molecular dynamics simulations and MM-GBSA calculations can provide useful information about the dynamics and energetics of the adsorption of proteins onto graphene. We believe that these findings will help us to further understand the adsorption of proteins on hydrophobic carbon nanomaterials at the atomic level.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether some nuclear features analyzed by morphometry and cytology may be useful in characterizing differently correlated endocervical atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance (AGUS) subgroups.

STUDY DESIGN
Fifty-four endocervical AGUS smears were subclassified into four subgroups on the basis of their different correlation: not otherwise specified subgroup (NOSs), tamoxifen (Ts), human papillomavirus infection (HPVs) and laser therapy (LTs). Area and shape of the atypical nuclei detected were morphometrically measured. The smears were then cytologically reviewed, and the shape and grade of expression of hyperchomasia in AGUS nuclei were analyzed.

RESULTS
AGUS cases due to T therapy showed the largest nuclear area (148.845 micron 2; P < .0000) and the greatest anisonucleosis objectively measured by morphometry. HPVs had the shape that most differed from perfectly circular (15.341 versus 14.1) and showed the highest grade of expression of nuclear density. LTs and NOSs were less well characterized than the other subgroups.

CONCLUSION
Analysis of nuclear features by morphometry and cytology was useful in characterizing the AGUS subgroups Ts and HPVs.


Volume-related effects are an important consideration in clinical radiotherapy. The early rationale for the need to consider treatment volume has become clouded by the lack of clarity and a misinterpretation of some early clinical findings. In particular, there is a need to separate our understanding of biologically iso-effective radiation responses from the clinical concept of normal tissue tolerance, as they relate to changes in treatment volume. Animal data, including those for large animals, are reviewed. These animal studies indicate the need for caution in extrapolating retrospective clinical data to new treatment situations, since the conclusions reached may have been dictated by dogma and not by careful consideration of different factors that may have been involved. These include anatomical and physiological factors, and variations in the dose distribution pattern to a specific organ or tissue. These biological factors could limit the general applicability of simple approaches based on mathematical models to the volume effect relationship in radiotherapy.


The principle of respect for autonomy is increasingly under siege as a valuable component of healthcare ethics. Its critics charge that it has been elevated to a position out of proportion to its contribution, so that the individual's wishes and rights have come to dominate healthcare decisionmaking, while obligations and responsibilities are ignored or devalued. If we are to salvage respect for autonomy we must find a way to reconnect the individual and the community, rights and responsibilities, in the way we think about, discuss, and make healthcare decisions.


Splanchnic metabolism of O2, glucose, and lactate was studied in five normal men during rest while breathing air, 10.4% O2 [arterial O2 partial pressure (PaO2) = 34.8 Torr], and in four men breathing 7.6% O2 (PaO2 = 27.0 Torr). Despite reduction in arterial O2 content to 10.7 ml/100 ml, splanchnic O2 uptake (VO2) and arteriovenous O2 difference remained constant through a fall in hepatic venous O2 content to 7.3 ml/100 ml. Hepatic release of glucose and uptake of lactate were unaffected by either moderate or severe hypoxemia. In five other men hepatic extraction efficiency, removal rate, and clearance of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) (radioenzymatic assay) were determined, while air and 10.27% O2 were breathed, and while NE was infused over widely ranging rates (constant in a given subject). Over arterial concentrations of 1.8-17 ng/ml for NE and 0.03-0.3 ng/ml for E, splanchnic removal was closely related to arterial concentration and was unaffected by hypoxemia. NE extraction efficiency rose from 60 (control) to 94% (during infusion in normoxia and hypoxemia); E extraction efficiency remained constant at 85% under all conditions. Hepatic clearances of both NE (556-824 ml/min) and E (630-804 ml/min) were unaffected by hypoxemia. The only observed deficiency in hepatic function was a significant decrease in extraction of indocyanine green in all 10 subjects at both levels of hypoxemia.


Economic profitability of Nile tilapia production in Kenya was analysed using a model that simulated individual fish growth and took fish population dynamics in the pond into account. The results suggest that the currently practiced mixed-sex tilapia culture is economically unsustainable. It is suggested that research and extension efforts be geared towards developing monosex Nile tilapia production systems. Nile tilapia culture with African catfish predation should be viewed as an intermediate step towards all-male Nile tilapia culture. This will allow accumulation of both physical and human capital to support all-male tilapia culture. Under all-male culture, economic returns are high enough to justify investment in Nile tilapia culture using borrowed capital. However, the success of monosex culture will depend on the availability and affordability of quality fingerlings and low-cost fish feeds. The results have a wide application in Sub-Saharan Africa where mixed-sex Nile tilapia culture is common.


Beamforming techniques utilizing only partial channel state information (CSI) has gained popularity over other communication strategies requiring perfect CSI thanks to their lower feedback requirements. The amount of feedback in beamforming based communication systems can be further reduced through selective feedback techniques in which only the users with channels good enough are allowed to feed back by means of a decentralized feedback policy. In this paper, we prove that thresholding at the receiver is the rate-wise optimal decentralized feedback policy for feedback limited systems with prescribed feedback constraints. This result is highly adaptable due to its distribution independent nature, provides an analytical justification for the use of threshold feedback policies in practical systems, and reinforces previous work analyzing threshold feedback policies as a selective feedback technique without proving its optimality. It is robust to selfish unilateral deviations. Finally, it reduces the search for rate-wise optimal feedback policies subject to feedback constraints from function spaces to a finite dimensional Euclidean space.


In this paper, we obtain optimal time hypercontractivity bounds for the free product extension of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semigroup acting on the Clifford algebra. Our approach is based on a central limit theorem for free products of spin matrix algebras with mixed commutation/anticommutation relations. With another use of Speicher's central limit theorem, we may also obtain the same bounds for free products of q-deformed von Neumann algebras interpolating between the fermonic and bosonic frameworks. This generalizes the work of Nelson, Gross, Carlen/Lieb and Biane. Our main application yields hypercontractivity bounds for the free Poisson semigroup acting on the group algebra of the free group Fn, uniformly in the number of generators.


Background: PMMA considered the most commonly used for complete dentures. It absorbs a small amount of water which exerts significant effect on its properties. Effect of water on dimensional changes and transverse strength of filler reinforced PMMA were investigated in this study.
Materials and methods: Different types of fillers were used: Kevlar (6%), glass fibers (5%) by weight in mat and unidirectional forms, zirconium oxide particles (5%) were used, which was added to acrylic resin. The dimensional changes: after processing, drying, and immersion in water for one month were measured. Transverse strength was measured for three periods (after deflasking, after two days, and after one month in water).
Results: least dimensional changes was observed in samples with Kevlar unidirectional, they cause about 75.18% reduction in shrinkage, while with glass unidirectional cause 48.33%. A significant reduction in shrinkage was observed with Kevlar and glass reinforced samples in mat form. The addition of Kevlar unidirectional into acrylic resin caused an increase in transverse strength of about (18.5%) after deflasking, and (14%) after one month in water, the decrease in strength in this group after one month in water was about 12.9% when compared to that after deflasking. The transverse strength of samples with zirconia results in slight decreased in strength but was non significant.
Conclusion: The presence of fibers decreases the dimensional changes, and fiber form had an effect on it. The transverse strength of PMMA was increased by the presence of fibers. The strength decreased with water immersion, but fiber reinforced samples remain of higher strength.


This paper represents parallel notch, H-shape slot loaded single layer patch antenna in X, and Ku bands for wideband applications. The design has made on low-cost material of Rogers R03003 substrate having dielectric constant of 3.0 with thickness of 1.6.0 mm. The proposed scheme and probe feeding technique provide designed antenna to operate in two different frequencies range in X and Ku band (10.60 GHz to 15.91 GHz). The antenna resonates at 11.37 GHz for X band and another three resonates at 12.13 GHz, 13.14 GHz and 14.66 GHz for Ku band with maximum gain of 9.20 dBi respectively. The simulation results have been obtained 40.01% impedance bandwidth with return loss (-10 dB) or . The proposed antenna is simple in structure compared to the regular single layer patch antennas. It is highly suitable for satellite and RADAR communications system. Designing and simulation of this antenna have been done by IE3D software version 12.0, which is based on MOM method.


The reluctance of student designers to engage in sketching during the early stages of their processes is an increasing phenomenon, observed on a continual basis within higher education, and one with marked effects on design quality. An investigation into the causes and symptoms of sketch inhibition identifies social, personal and skill-set shortfalls among students together with a favouring of digital tools. A lack of understanding of the functions and benefits of sketching together with an assumption that design sketching is intuitive and requires no tuition have led to its neglect. An anatomy of sketching and its particular qualities is presented, concluding with the issues that higher education needs to address. These include a greater awareness of digital and manual tools and design-specific research types, together with the need for a revised pedagogy for design sketching.


Alternaria species are common in nature ( soil, air, plants, animals, etc ) and can saprophytic, endophytic and pathogenic especially in plants. Now, it is difficult to solution all taxonomical problems only by morphological-colonial methods of mentioned genus without molecular studies. According to the current publications, Alternaria complex has 9 genera and 23 sections. Number of species is more than 275. The purpose of this study is to document the Alternaria species isolated from Turkey with their  subtrates and/or habitat. This checklist reviews approximately 132 published findings and presents a list of Alternaria species. According to the present publications, 30 Alternaria species have been recorded with various subtrates/habitats in Turkey. Among these species, Alternaria alternata and Alternaria citri species are the most common species reported from Turkey. The other species are A. arborescens, A. botrytis, A . brassicicola , A. burnsii, A. cichorii, A. Chlamydospora, A. cheiranthi , A. consortialis [ Ulocladium consortiale ] , A. cookei, A. dianthi, A. ethzedia, A. humicola, A. humicola, A. infectoria [ Lewia infectoria ] , A. longipes, A . mali , A. phragmospora [ Embellisia phragmospora ], A. petroselini, A. pluriseptata, A. radicina, A. raphani, A. saponariae, A. solani, A. tenuis [ Alternaria alternata ], A.  tenuissima, A. triticicola and A. zinniae. The oldest literature is belong to the year of 1948. This study presents information about reported of Alternaria species from Turkey in journals covered by Web of Science Database and the other journals, books, proceedings, etc. When we use " Alternaria " as the key word in Thomson-Reuters Web of Science Database in our search between the January 01, 1900 and May 20, 2015; there are 8669 publications and 7345 full texts  publications on this subject. 8669 publications contain the following disciplines (top 3): Plant Sciences: 2642, Agriculture: 1686, Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology: 699. These results indicated that there have been many scientific studies about Alternaria genus which were increased during the recent years. 2342 publications are done between the years of 2010-2014 and 225 publications were between the December 16, 2014-May 20, 2015.


In the theory of discrete-time dynamical systems, one studies the limiting behaviour of processes defined by iterating a fixed function f over a given space. A much-studied case involves piecewise affine functions on R^n. Blondel et al. (2001) studied the decidability of questions such as mortality for such functions with rational coefficients. Mortality means that every trajectory includes a 0; if the iteration is seen as a loop while (x \ne 0) x := f(x), mortality means that the loop is guaranteed to terminate.

Blondel et al. proved that the problems are undecidable when the dimension n of the state space is at least two. They assume that the variables range over the rationals; this is an essential assumption. From a program analysis (and discrete Computability) viewpoint, it would be more interesting to consider integer-valued variables.

This paper establishes (un)decidability results for the integer setting. We show that also over integers, undecidability (moreover, Pi^0_2 completeness) begins at two dimensions. We further investigate the effect of several restrictions on the iterated functions. Specifically, we consider bounding the size of the partition defining f, and restricting the coefficients of the linear components. In the decidable cases, we give complexity results. The complexity is PTIME for affine functions, but for piecewise-affine ones it is PSPACE-complete. The undecidability proofs use some variants of the Collatz problem, which may be of independent interest.


Resource management in Fog computing is very complicated as it engages significant number of diverse and resource constraint Fog nodes to meet computational demand of IoT-enabled systems in distributed manner. Its integration with Cloud triggers further difficulties in combined resource management. Different sensing frequency of IoT devices, distributed application structure and their coordination also influence resource management in Fog computing environment. For advancement of Fog and its resource management, the necessity of extensive research in beyond question. To develop and evaluate different ideas and resource management policies, empirical analysis on Fog environment is the key. Since Fog computing environment incorporates IoT devices, Fog nodes and Cloud datacenters along with huge amount of IoT-data and distributed applications, real-world implementation of Fog environment for research will be very costly. Moreover, modification of any entity in real-world Fog environment will be tedious. In this circumstance, simulation of Fog computing environment can be very helpful. Simulation toolkits not only provide frameworks to design customized experiment environment but also assist in repeatable evaluation. In this chapter we focus on delivering a tutorial on iFogSim toolkit for modelling and simulating Fog computing environments. We believe this chapter will offer researchers a simplified way to apply iFogSim in their research works.


ABSTRACT Streptococcus agalactiae (group B streptococcus [GBS]) is a Gram-positive bacterium found in the female rectovaginal tract and is capable of producing severe disease in susceptible hosts, including newborns and pregnant women. The vaginal tract is considered a major reservoir for GBS, and maternal vaginal colonization poses a significant risk to the newborn; however, little is known about the specific bacterial factors that promote GBS colonization and persistence in the female reproductive tract. We have developed in vitro models of GBS interaction with the human female cervicovaginal tract using human vaginal and cervical epithelial cell lines. Analysis of isogenic mutant GBS strains deficient in cell surface organelles such as pili and serine-rich repeat (Srr) proteins shows that these factors contribute to host cell attachment. As Srr proteins are heavily glycosylated, we confirmed that carbohydrate moieties contribute to the effective interaction of Srr-1 with vaginal epithelial cells. Antibody inhibition assays identified keratin 4 as a possible host receptor for Srr-1. Our findings were further substantiated in an in vivo mouse model of GBS vaginal colonization, where mice inoculated with an Srr-1-deficient mutant exhibited decreased GBS vaginal persistence compared to those inoculated with the wild-type (WT) parental strain. Furthermore, competition experiments in mice showed that WT GBS exhibited a significant survival advantage over the ΔpilA or Δsrr-1 mutant in the vaginal tract. Our results suggest that these GBS surface proteins contribute to vaginal colonization and may offer new insights into the mechanisms of vaginal niche establishment.


Trans survivors of sexual assault have called for the development and implementation of training for care providers. To answer this call, we developed and evaluated an innovative e-learning curriculum for forensic nurses working across Ontario, Canada, on the provision of trans-affirming care. The e-learning curriculum, developed in Storyline 360 by Articulate, was launched in August 2019. The competence of nurses (N=65) completing the curriculum improved significantly from pre- to post-training across all content domains (Initial assessment, Medical care, Forensic examination, and Discharge and referral). This e-learning curriculum could be of utility in training forensic nurses worldwide.


As result of a floristic inventory, three new records were obtained for the flora of Mexico City, Mexico, all of them from Milpa Alta municipality and another one from Magdalena Contreras municipality, and additional information is provided. The Meliaceae family is recorded for the first time from the Mexico basin, and it is represented by Cedrela dugesii S. Watson. On the other hand, Chusquea bilimekii E. Fourn (Poaceae) and Arceuthobium abietis-religiosae Heil (Viscaceae) are recorded for the first time in Mexico City. The habitat of each species is described and distribution map in Mexico City is included. These three species are really rare in Mexico City and their local protection is a priority.


Folate, act as an one-carbon units donator or acceptor, participate in numerous biochemical reactions. Because mammals can9t synthesize folic acid de novo, obtain from diet or from microbial breakdown in the gut is essential. Pathological study revealed that tumor cell expressing high level of folate receptors (FR) comparing to normal tissue. Therefore, exploring the application of folate-related physiological properties as an anticancer strategy arose worldwide interesting. Previous studies in lung cancer revealed a positive correlation in folate receptors overexpression and efficacy of antifolate chemotherapy. Here we describe prolong Alimta treatment would prompt lung cancer cell9s malignancy. Cultivation of lung cancer CL1-0, CL1-5, and A549 in low dose Alimta (15-30 ng/mL) for 2-3 weeks would dramatically cause cell morphology change . Compare to control cell with round and flat epithelial like morphology, low dose Alimta treated cells showed mesenchymal to amoeboid phenotype. Further examination of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers showed the expression level of N-cadherin, matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) increased. Associated with morphology and EMT marker changed, cell migration and invasion ability of those Alimta treated cells were 3 folds higher than control cells. Besides, evaluated drug sensitivity by sulforhodamine B (SRB) method showed that those alimta treated cells were more resistant to gefitinib. These prominent events provoked our interesting to investigate the mechanism involving in the oncogenic effect induced by low dose Alimta treatment. While examing EMT-related transcription factors, both Slug and SOX-9 expression increased significantly. These evidences indicated that the folate metabolism defect induced metastasis could through the SOX-9 and Slug mechanism. Citation Format: Chun-Te Ho, Tsan-Zon Liu, Yu-Ting Chou, Shih-Hsin Hsiao, Jun-Jen Liu. Folate metabolism defect induce invasion and Gefinitib resistance in lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4970. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4970 Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 because the presenter was unable to attend.


OBJECTIVE
Federal law prohibits a physician from referring Medicare patients for procedures or services to health care entities in which the physician has a financial relationship. This law has exceptions which enable physicians to self-refer under certain conditions. This study evaluates the effects of self-referral on use rates of surgical pathology services performed in conjunction with prostate biopsies and whether such changes are linked to urologist self-referral arrangements.

DATA AND SAMPLE
A targeted market area case study design was employed to identify the sample from Medicare claims data. The sample included male beneficiaries who resided in geographically dispersed counties; were continuously enrolled in Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) during 2005-2007; and who met the criteria to be a potential candidate to undergo a prostate biopsy.

OUTCOMES
Prostate biopsy procedures per 1000 male Medicare beneficiaries in each county; counts of surgical pathology specimens (jars) associated with prostate biopsy procedures per 1000 male Medicare beneficiaries in each county.

FINDINGS
Regression analysis shows the self-referral share (percentage) of total utilization was associated with significant increases in the use rate of prostate surgical pathology specimens (p<.01). The use rate of prostate surgical pathology specimens (jars) would be 41.5 units higher in a county where the self-referral share of total utilization was 50% compared to a county with no self-referral (share equals 0%).

CONCLUSIONS
The findings show that urologist self-referral of prostate surgical pathology services results in increased utilization and higher Medicare spending. The results suggest that exceptions in federal and state self-referral prohibitions need to be reevaluated.


As a main tracking detector for the International Linear Collider, the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is required to have good momentum resolution. High granularity readout would need a large number of complicated and expensive flash-ADCs. To achieve the desired packing density of the TPC readout electronics one needs to have at least an order of magnitude more compact solution than any existing one. We study an alternative method of the TPC data readout, which is based on a charge-to-time conversion technique and a multihit Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC). In our Proof-of-Principle experiment, we use the ASDQ circuit and a commercial multihit TDC. The possible use of TDC based readout electronics was demonstrated with an ultraviolet laser test setup. TDC based readout electronics might be an alternative solution for the new precise TPC. Inherently low data transfer would reduce cabling, thus simplifying the TPC end plate construction, weight and decrease the radiation length(X/sub 0/) of the TPC end plate.


5-Caffeoylquinic acid (5-CQA) is generally referred to as chlorogenic acid and exhibits various biological activities such as antioxidant activity and porcine pancreas α-amylase inhibitory activities. 5-CQA may be useful as an antioxidant for food and to prevent diabetes and obesity. The degradation of 5-CQA and caffeic acid (CA) in an aqueous solution at 37 °C and pH 5.0-9.0 was studied. The degradation of 5-CQA and CA, demonstrating time and pH dependence (i.e., the rate constant, k, was higher at higher pH), was satisfactorily described by the Weibull equation. The stability of 5-CQA at pH 7.4 and 9.0 was improved by adding (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and ascorbic acid (AA). Moreover, the degradation of 5-CQA in the presence of EGCG or AA could be described by the Weibull equation. The k value in the presence of EGCG or AA was dependent on their concentration.


In recent years, open access models of publishing have transcended traditional modes thus enabling freer access to research. This paper takes a trans-regional approach to examining open access publishing in the Asia and Oceania region focussing on three institutions– Charles Darwin University in Australia, University of Hong Kong, and University of Malaya in Malaysia – reflecting on how each is rising, in its own individual way, to meet the range of challenges that its research communities are facing. Specifically, it focuses on open access and institutional repository development, and traces their development at each of the aforementioned institutions. The study is based on interviews conducted with staff involved with the development of each repository, and the open access collection in particular, at each of the three institutions. The findings reveal that each of the three institutions is at a different stage of development, with the University of Hong Kong repository ranked at the top within Asia; each has used a slightly different approach toward open access, and used different software to develop their repository. The authors collate the overall experiences of each institution in open access publishing and repository development, and highlight the successes and failures that each has experienced in reaching the level that they are at today. A series of guidelines, which will be of value to institutions in the region at various levels of development, are presented.


Introduction The prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) type SCCmec IV or V is increasing in Taiwan. It has been suggested that the surface protein SasX is responsible for their transmission. However, the sasX gene was not detected in our SCCmec IV or V isolates. Since sasX was originally found in S. epidermidis and believed to be transferred to S. aureus by a prophage, studies were conducted to detect and type this prophage in our clinical isolates. Materials and Methods A total of 1192 MRSA isolates collected from 2006 to 2014 were examined. Multiplex PCRs were performed to determine SCCmec, sasX, and prophage types. Results The prevalence of SCCmec IV and V isolates was increased in recent years (from 2006 to 2014). The sasX gene was present in most SCCmec III isolates but was absent in SCCmec IV or V isolates. The Sa5 prophage was found only in SCCmec IV and SCCmec V (or Vt) isolates, and the Sa6 prophage was mainly present in SCCmec III isolates. MRSA isolates harboring prophage combinations Sa1, Sa2, and Sa3; Sa2 and Sa3; Sa2, Sa3, and Sa7; or Sa2 and Sa7 were mainly of SCCmec II, and those that harbored prophage combinations Sa3 and Sa6; Sa3, Sa6, and Sa7; or Sa3 and Sa7 were mostly of SCCmec III. The numbers of SCCmec II isolates containing prophages Sa2, Sa3, and Sa7 and those of SCCmec III isolates containing prophages Sa3 and Sa6 or Sa3, Sa6, and Sa7 were decreased from 2010 to 2014. The number of SCCmec IV isolates with prophage Sa3 or prophages Sa3 and Sa5 was decreased, but that of those with prophage Sa6 or prophages Sa2 and Sa3 was increased from 2010 to 2014. Conclusion The sasX gene was found to play no role in clonal selection of MRSA. The finding that different SCCmec types of MRSA harbored different types of prophages suggests that these prophages may affect the survival and clonal expansion of certain types of MRSA.


The main medical and engineering parameters of the unit are described, and its specific features as a tool for diagnosis of mammary gland diseases are considered. The following systems are described: for voltage switching in the main circuit, for the control and stabilization of the X-ray tube anode voltage, and the device for limiting the exposure time. The mathematical description of the dynamic properties of a closed system to control the anode voltage is proposed.


Compression volumes oscillometry allows to measure different parameters of the central and peripheral blood circulation. For an estimation of accuracy of this method in definition of linear and volume indicators of a system hemodynamics, as referential technology, the expert doppler-echocardiography was applied. The method has shown acceptable accuracy in measurement of stroke volume (±15 %), with consistent displacement (±1,96 standard deviations) at an estimation of dependence of a difference of measurements in two ways in Bland — Altman plot. The high correlation has been revealed between oscillometric peak speed in a humeral artery and doppler peak speed in aorta (р < 0,001; r = 0,85). Similar correlation was observed between aortic Doppler- spectrum integral and the peak speed of an arterial blood-groove (р < 0,001; r = 0,68).


The Bandung Regency Archives and Libraries Service is one of the regional public libraries of Bandung Regency which has service innovations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bandung Regency Archives and Library Service provides a mobile user interface service named i-Sabilulungan. The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of the i-Sabilulungan application as a service innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Bandung Regency Archives and Library Service. The research method used in this research is descriptive qualitative research method with data collection techniques through observation and interviews. In this study, the informants were librarians managing the i-Sabilulungan mobile application. The results of this study reveal that i-Sabilulungan as a library service innovation for the Bandung Regency Archives and Libraries Service has fulfilled an important element in the application of the mobile user interface application. The i-Sabilulungan application has fulfilled 10 elements of the application of the mobile user interface application which consists of several elements including connectivity, simplicity, directional, informative, interactivity, user friendliness, comprehensiveness (completeness), continuity (sustainable), personalization (personalization) and internal elements (internal).


In this paper, we describe a novel method to create the complete 3D model of the object on uncalibrated images. First, we match the points both detected by multi-scale Harris corner detection algorithm and line detection technique. Second, we perform a projected reconstruction based on factorization using Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). After that, we are able to upgrade from projective to Euclidean structure and then eliminate the ambiguity in Euclidean reconstruction. Finally, we use 3D registration algorithm based on common points to build the whole 3D model of the object. Sufficient experiments proved the validity and efficiency of the method.


Big Data applications are becoming more complex and expe-riencing frequent changes and updates. In practice, manual optimization of complex big data jobs is time-consuming and error-prone. Maintenance and management of evolving big data applications is a challenging task as well. We demon-strate HDM, Hierarchically Distributed Data Matrix, as a big data processing framework with built-in data ow op-timizations and integrated maintenance of data provenance information that supports the management of continuously evolving big data applications. In HDM, the data ow of jobs are automatically optimized based on the functional DAG representation to improve the performance during ex-ecution. Additionally, comprehensive meta-data related to explanation, execution and dependency updates of HDM ap-plications are stored and maintained in order to facilitate the debugging, monitoring, tracing and reproducing of HDM jobs and programs.


This research aims to reveal the misconceptions of prospective primary school teachers on the fundamental physics concepts such as force, frictional force, work, conservation of energy, mechanical energy, kinetic energy, potential energy, energy stored in springs on the topic of "Force and Motion" and to assess the misconceptions based on ontological view. In order to reveal the prospective primary school teachers' misconceptions, a two-tired "Concept Test on the Topic of Force and Motion" has been developed and used which consists of 17 items. The Cronbach's alpha value of the concept test was found to be 0.71. The study group of the research was 35 prospective primary school teachers at a foundation university (30 female and 5 male students) who were sophomore at primary school teacher education program. This research is characterized as a descriptive study. In the study, the misconceptions were assessed according to ontological categories, thus the reasons that lead these misconceptions were revealed based on ontology. Knowing the causes of misconceptions is very important for science education. Misconceptions can only be removed by planning and applying enough teaching methods focusing on causes of students' misconception. Therefore, identifying students' misconceptions based on ontological categories are very important because they facilitate revealing the causes of misconceptions. In the research, students' misconceptions related to the topic of force and motion were identified and discussed according to ontological categories. Analysis of concept test items revealed that the teacher candidates had 301 misconceptions that can be placed to upper categories, and 150 misconceptions that can be placed to the lateral categories and suggestions were provided based on the results of study.


A single 3 kb segment of double-stranded (dsRNA) was present in three of 30 Brazilian isolates of Cryphonectria cubensis. These dsRNA-containing isolates showed morphological characteristics suggestive of hypovirulence and were significantly less virulent than dsRNA-free isolates. One isolate, however, with morphological characteristics suggestive of hypovirulence, showed reduced virulence, but was free from dsRNA. Conversion of virulent isolates with normal morphology to a morphology associated with hypovirulence was achieved by pairing hypovirulent and virulent isolates of the same vegetative compatibility group (VCG). This suggests that dsRNA can be transmitted to isolates of the same vegetative compatibility group by hyphal anastomosis. Converted isolates exhibited the same hypovirulence-associated traits as those of the original dsRNA-containing hypovirulent isolates. These studies suggest that a single 3 kb segment of dsRNA alters both morphology and virulence by conferring hypovirulence on the pathogen; the first such report for Brazilian isolates of C. cubensis.


This study was planned to investigate the effect of ischemic dysfunction of the free wall of the right ventricle on right and left ventricular performance in the presence of a normally contracting interventricular septum. The experiments were performed in 6 anesthetized dogs in which echocardiogram, electrocardiogram, aortic blood pressure and left and right ventricular pressure were recorded. In the dog, the contractility of the septum is not affected by the occlusion of the right coronary artery which does not perfuse this part of the myocardium. Complete occlusion of the major individual ventricular branches and partial occlusion of the main right coronary artery did not impair right ventricular performance. Only complete occlusion of the main artery affected right and left ventricular function as revealed by echocardiogram. Reduced output by the ischemic right ventricle caused a reduction in left ventricular diastolic and systolic dimensions and in left ventricular developed pressure without any effect on left ventricular end-diastolic pressure.


The literature data on the photochemical reactions of phenyl azide under different conditions are reviewed. Its photoinitiated autocatalytic chain decomposition reaction is examined in detail. Questions relating to the structure and properties of intermediates formed during photolysis of aryl azides and the mechanism of formation of azo compounds are discussed. The existing information on photoinitiated chain reactions of alkyl and aryl azides is briefly considered. The bibliography includes 93 references.


The syndrome of auto-erotic asphyxia (AEA) involves the deliberate induction of cerebral hypoxia to produce or enhance sexual excitement. This sexual practice is normally only discovered when death results from the act because these individuals rarely seek professional advice. The practice of AEA in the living case presented here was initially misinterpreted as parasuicidal behaviour. This type of sexual behaviour should always be considered a differential for parasuicidal activity involving asphyxia. Aetiology, treatment and the need for health professionals to be aware of this syndrome are discussed.


: On the basis of the literature the necessity of using not only DMF and maximal protective or sensitizing effects, but also the affinity and the range of the pharmacological action of radiation modifiers is argued. The affinity is worth while to expressed as ED50 (the dose that produces a half of the maximal effect), and the range of the pharmacological action as a therapeutic index K = LD50/ED50.


A method of predicting the burnout conditions for flow of boiling water in vertical round ducts is presented. The analysis predicts that the burnout conditions are independent of the L/d-ratio and the inlet temperature, and that the burnout steam quality decreases with increasing surface heat flux and increasing mass velocity. It was also found that the burnout steam quality at low pressures increases with the pressure and reaches a maximum at approximately 70 kg/cm/sup 2/, and thereafter decreases with a further increase of the pressure. The theoretical result compares very well with experimental data from different sources. (auth)


Abstract Left atrial wall dissection is a rare entity with controversial management approaches. We report the case of an 85‐year‐old woman with a mitral bioprosthetic admitted for heart failure. Diagnosis of atrial septum dissection, severe aortic stenosis, and paravalvular mitral regurgitation was established. A percutaneous approach provided clinical improvements.


A-DNA oligomers pack in a slanted fashion with the terminal base pairs abutting into the minor groove of neighboring molecules unlike the other forms of DNA which pack by vertically stacking one over the other into helical columns. To explain the differences in packing we have advanced a hypothesis that the orientation of the sugar-phosphate backbone is different in A-DNA from that in the other forms of DNA, mainly due to the differences in the sugar puckering.


A considerable diversity of histological constitution is to be found in the apices of seed plants, and these again differ notably from those of eusporangiate and leptosporangiate ferns. Yet, in their growth and morphogenetic activity, the vegetative apices of all classes of vascular plants have much in common, i.e. they give rise to a vasculated axis with regularly disposed lateral members. Comparative investigations of apices by strictly anatomical methods have definite limits which are soon reached. In the present investigation the aim was to see if, when the same experimental treatments are applied to very differently constituted apices, closely comparable or divergent organographic developments ensue. When the shoot apex in selected eusporangiate and leptosporangiate ferns and in species of Primula was isolated by vertical incisions from the lateral organs and tissues, with concomitant severing of the incipient vascular tissue or procambium, the apex continued to grow and gave rise to a short vasculated leafy shoot in which the normal anatomical pattern was soon reconstituted. Relevant data for Dryopteris aristata have appeared in earlier volumes of these Transactions. Comparable data for eusporangiate and other leptosporangiate ferns are now described and illustrated. In Primula, in and just above the region of the incisions, the vascular tissue of the new axial growth was in the form of an uninterrupted 'cylinder', conforming in outline with the triangular or rectangular contour of the isolated plug. The experimental materials have afforded clear evidence of a basipetal development of vascular tissue from pith cells, strands of the new vascular system eventually becoming conjoined with those of the parent shoot. In the leaf-bearing region of the new shoot the vascular cylinder was interrupted by leaf gaps as in the normal development in Primula and in ferns. A prevascular ring, with foliar gaps in the regions of leaf insertion, is present at the shoot apex in Primula, this being comparable with the arrangements in ferns such as Dryopteris. When all the very young leaf promordia were successively removed, the shoot was found to have an uninterrupted ring of vascular tissue, as in equivalent experiments with Dryopteris and other ferns. The experimental data so far obtained thus show that when the same treatments are applied to very differently constituted apices, closely comparable results are obtained. The implications of this finding are discussed in relation to (i) the importance of the cellular constitution of apices in organogenesis, (ii) the the diversity of apical constitution in vascular plants at large, (iii) the apex as a self-determining region, (iv) the inception and subsequent development of the vascular system in different classes of plants, and (v) the relative contributions of axis and leaves to the vascular system.


Given the authority accorded to Hilary of Poitiers by ecumenical councils of the 1st millennium, it is of interest to determine his teaching about the disputed question of the eternal relation of the Son and the Holy Spirit. The question is complex, partly because it is one that Hilary in most cases touches upon only indirectly, when arguing for the divinity of the Son, and partly because the meaning of the relevant passages, even on the level of Latin syntax, is often hard to determine, and a matter of disagreement between different translators or editors. Y. Congar and A. E. Siecienski, in their surveys of the discussions of the inter-trinitarian relations of the Son and the Holy Spirit in the patristic age do not examine all these textual difficulties, nor do they discuss the Opus Historicum, which contains a highly relevant passage on this subject. The present article attempts to throw light on the question by examining the key texts and suggesting answers to the problems of translation and interpretation that they present. It concludes that Hilary's position is substantially identical to that which would later be agreed by the Greek and Latin churches at the council of Florence, and enshrined in the decree Laetentur caeli.


We report observations of a new quasistatic nonequilibrium phenomenon in the density of electronic states (DOS) of a superconductor. Tunneling measurements of the DOS of ultrathin Al films, at the spin paramagnetically limited parallel magnetic field transition, reveal a strongly hysteretic DOS spectrum. We show that the hysteresis can be characterized as a quasistatic state memory effect in which the state of a film (normal or superconducting) is determined by its state prior to entering the hysteretic region. We also show that state memory can lead to the onset of superconductivity with increasing temperature, i.e., reentrance.


Traditional algorithms of machine learning implemented in cognitive architectures demonstrate lack of autonomous exploration in an unknown environment. However, the latter is one of the most distinctive attributes of cognitive behaviour. The paper proposes an approach of self-reinforcement cognitive learning combining unsupervised goal acquisition, active Markov-based goal attaining and spatial-semantic hierarchical representation within an open-ended system architecture. The novelty of the method consists in division of goals into the classes of parameter goal, invariant goal and context goal. The system exhibits incremental learning in such a manner as to allow effective transferable representation of high-level concepts.


Omnidirectional inductive wireless charging system of a mobile is studied. Instead of using conventional planar coils printed on circuit boards, 3D Molded Interconnect Device (3D-MID) coils are used. The receiver is a single piece that has 3 elliptic inductors pointing in 3 different directions of the space. A half meter cubic box with 4 planar emitting inductors on 4 sides is used to transmit power at 6.78 MHz to the receiver inside the cube, regardless to the position and orientation of the receiver. Measurement results show that the 3D-MD receiver can get a power of 1.4 W at 7.9% efficiency on most of the positions inside the box. When the receiver is at the central position and also in the corners of the box, there is little variation of the transferred power when the receiver turns 360°, which means that it is almost insensitive to angular misalignment. However, when the receiver moves from the center towards the corners, there is a drop or an increase of power, which means that there is a lack of uniformity of the power which transferred near the corners. Ways to improve this point are discussed. However, our conclusion is that 3D-MID technology is an interesting technology for replacing the planar coils used in conventional WPT receivers. Keywords—Molded Interconnect Device MID, Wireless Power Transfer WPT, Omnidirectional, Inductance, 3D coils


Abstract : Although respirators and filters are designed to prevent the spread of pathogenic aerosols, a stockpile shortage is anticipated during the next flu pandemic. Contact transfer and reaerosolization are also concerns. An option to address these potential problems is to decontaminate used respirators/filters for reuse. In this research a droplet/aerosol loading chamber was built and used in decontamination testing to proved a fair comparison of the performance of different decontamination techniques, including antimicrobial chemical agents, microwave irradiation and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, which were incorporated into filtration systems and tested. The inactivation efficacy of dialdehyde cellulose and starch filters s biocidal filters was investigated. In sufficiently humid conditions both media showed higher removal efficiency and better disinfection capability at lower pressure drop than conventional media. In microwave-assisted filtration systems temperature (T) was found to be a key factor. Relative humidity (RH) was another pivotal parameter at warm-to-hot-water temperatures but became insignificant above 90 C. An examination of the effect of T and RH on UV inactivation revealed that absorption of UV by water and shielding of viruses inside aggregates suppressed inactivation. Varying the spray medium showed that artificial saliva (AS) and beef serum extract (BE) produce a protective effect against UV compared to deionized (DI) water, that RH was not a factor in stability of MS2 coli phage sprayed in AS or BE, and that infectious MS2 particles in DI water displayed a volume-based size distribution but in AS and in BE the size dependence was of a lower order. Whereas AS and BE enhanced stability, adding salts had the opposite effect.


A non-axial centerpiece based on 1,3-disubstituted adamantane was designed, and three new guests were prepared. In the structure of the heterotritopic guests, the central adamantane site was combined with two terminal butyl or 1-adamantyl sites. The new central binding motif displayed an extraordinarily high affinity towards CB8 (Ka = (5.3 ± 0.3) × 1012 M−1 in water) to allow formation of quaternary assemblies with geometries which are dependent on the nature of macrocycles. Based on the individual binding strengths, the replacement of CB7 by CB8 led to inverse arrangements of the quaternary assemblies; i.e., β-CD is capped at the central site by two CB7 units, while the CB8 prefers the central site to be capped with two β-CD units.


ONC206, a dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) antagonist and imipridone, is a chemically modified derivative of ONC201. Recently, ONC206 and other imipridones were identified as activators of the mitochondrial protease ClpP, inducing downstream pathways that allow them to selectively target cancer cells. Clinical trials showed that ONC201, the first in class imipridone, was well tolerated and exhibited tumor regression in some solid tumors. Our goal was to evaluate the effect of ONC206 on cell proliferation and tumor growth in ovarian cancer cell lines and in a transgenic mouse model of high grade serous ovarian cancer (KpB model). ONC206 was more potent than ONC201 in inhibiting cell proliferation, as evidenced by a 10-fold decrease in IC50 for the SKOV3 and OVCAR5 cell lines. This was accompanied by the results that ONC206 significantly inhibited cellular proliferation, induced cell cycle G1 arrest and apoptosis, caused cellular stress, and inhibited adhesion and invasion in vitro. Treatment of obese and non-obese KpB mice with ONC206 elevated Bip and ClpP expression and reduced KI67, BCL-XL and DRD2 expression in the ovarian tumors. Our findings demonstrate that ONC206 has anti-tumorigenic effects in ovarian cancer as previously demonstrated by ONC201 but appears to be as well tolerated and more potent. Thus, ONC206 deserves further evaluation in clinical trials.


INTRODUCTION
The aim of this study is to evaluate intra and inter-observatory variability in the sonography measurement of bladder volume.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We have evaluated 138 patients (128 men and 10 women) affected by lower urinary tract symptoms with a mean age of 64 years (range 36-75) between December 2000 and June 2001. Sonography measurement of bladder volume was obtained at the end of a pressure/flow study with the double lumen catheter in situ. Measurement of bladder volume was performed by the same operator in 113 patients by calculating the transverse, longitudinal and anterior-posterior diameter; each measurement was repeated three times. In the remaining 25 patients examination was performed by three different operators for every patients, with a single evaluation for each operator. The real volume was measured by emptying the bladder using the urethral catheter.

RESULTS
The real bladder volume in the intra and inter-observatory group was 240 +/- 130 and 145 +/- 97, respectively. First, second and third measurement in the intra-observatory group were 229 +/- 113, 231 +/- 112, 234 +/- 127, respectively. On the other hand, first, second and third measurement in the inter-observatory group were 131 +/- 73, 129 +/- 66, 143 +/- 94, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Looking at our results, it is clear that there is no significant difference between every single measurement in the intra and inter-observatory group. In addition, the estimation of bladder volume by ultrasound was quite similar to the real volume. We conclude that ultrasound is a precise, non invasive and highly reproducible technique to calculate the bladder volume.


Over the last years ransomware attacks have been widely spreading over the Internet, indiscriminately targeting home users as well as corporates and public agencies. Several approaches have been proposed to analyze and detect ransomware intrusions in literature, moving from combined heuristics, behavior analysis, sandbox-based solutions and machine learning techniques to function calls monitoring. Our approach differs from the above by shifting the focus from removing the problem to mitigating damages, to ensure data availability despite malware attacks. The aim is not to detect new ransomware samples, but simply to protect integrity and availability of private data. In other words, we interfere with ransomware usual behavior, intercepting I/O request packets and denying operations on user's valuable data.


In addition, we modeled the CHEK2 *1100delC breast cancer risk estimates by age by using the more stable interaction estimates for age and CHEK2 *1100delC from the case-only analysis (Data Supplement). Cumulative risks were calculated on the basis of estimated relative breast cancer risks for CHEK2 *1100delC carriers by using United Kingdom breast cancer incidences from 1992 to 2010 and the ratio of ER-positive and ER-negative breast tumors from the BCAC database (Data Supplement). Carrier frequency estimates by country were derived by using a modi fi cation of the empirical Bayes approach proposed by Clayton and Kaldor 22 for mapping disease incidence rates (Data Supplement).


How do we learn an object detector that is invariant to occlusions and deformations? Our current solution is to use a data-driven strategy – collect large-scale datasets which have object instances under different conditions. The hope is that the final classifier can use these examples to learn invariances. But is it really possible to see all the occlusions in a dataset? We argue that like categories, occlusions and object deformations also follow a long-tail. Some occlusions and deformations are so rare that they hardly happen, yet we want to learn a model invariant to such occurrences. In this paper, we propose an alternative solution. We propose to learn an adversarial network that generates examples with occlusions and deformations. The goal of the adversary is to generate examples that are difficult for the object detector to classify. In our framework both the original detector and adversary are learned in a joint manner. Our experimental results indicate a 2.3% mAP boost on VOC07 and a 2.6% mAP boost on VOC2012 object detection challenge compared to the Fast-RCNN pipeline.