PURPOSE
To report and evaluate the anatomic, clinical, and visual acuity response after intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) injection in patients with cystoid macular edema (CME) due to retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

METHODS
This study included 30 eyes of 30 patients with RP who had persistent CME at least 6 months despite medication with acetazolamide. Fifteen eyes of 15 eligible patients were treated with 0.5 mg IVR injection (treatment group). Fifteen eyes of 15 patients with the same characteristics who refused treatment were accepted as control group. The primary outcome of the study (morphologic restitution) was the complete or significant resolution of cystoid space on optic coherence tomography (OCT) without relapse or complication at 6 months. The serial changes in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central foveal thickness (CFT) were measured.

RESULTS
Thirteen eyes (86.6%) in the treatment group had significant resolution of CME at 6 months after single IVR injection. The difference between the 2 groups in BCVA was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The baseline mean +/- SD CFT for the treatment and control groups were 478 +/- 88 microm and 469 +/- 75 microm, respectively (P > 0.05). At 6 months after treatment, the mean +/- SD CFT of the treatment group improved to 272 +/- 65 microm whereas that in the control group was 480 +/- 92 microm (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
This investigation indicated that IVR may provide a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of CME secondary to RP. No adverse event was found to be associated with the treatment. Continued experience with IVR in this population will help establish its longer-term efficacy.


The γ-proteobacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) B100 synthesizes the exopolysaccharide xanthan, a commercially relevant thickening agent produced commonly by industrial scale fermentation. This work was inspired by the observation that methionine is an inhibitor of xanthan formation in growth experiments. Therefore, the global effects of methionine supplementation were characterized through cultivation experiments, genome-wide microarray hybridizations and qRT-PCR. Specific pull down of DNA-binding proteins by using the intergenic regions upstream of xanA, gumB and gumD led to the identification of six transcriptional regulators, among them the LysR-family transcriptional regulator CysB. An insertion mutant of this gene was analyzed by growth experiments, microarray experiments and qRT-PCR. Based on our experimental data, we developed a model that describes the methionine-dependent co-regulation of xanthan and sulfur-containing compounds in Xanthomonas. These data substantially contribute to better understand the impact of methionine as a compound in xanthan production media used in industrial fermentations.


Background:
 The use of post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy)/tacrolimus/mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) for GVHD prophylaxis has improved outcomes in haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplantation (haplo-HCT). PTCy is now being evaluated in matched-related (MRD) and matched-unrelated (MUD) allo-HCT. Previous studies demonstrated improved GVHD-free/relapse-free survival (GRFS) when PTCy was combined with two immunosuppressive agents and PTCy has also been associated with better relapse-free survival (RFS) as demonstrated in De Jong et al 2019, though only one immunosuppressive agent was used. Currently, there is limited published data comparing outcomes using PTCy/tacrolimus/MMF to standard MRD/MUD GVHD prophylaxis of methotrexate (MTX)/tacrolimus. The importance of studying this comparison may help to improve GVHD outcomes in MRD and MUD allo-HCT.
 Methods:
 We retrospectively analyzed adult patients at USC Norris Cancer Hospital (age ≥ 19) who received allo-HCT from 2018 to 2020. The primary end-points assessed were incidence and severity of 1-year aGVHD and cGVHD. Secondary end-points included day+100 mortality, 1-year overall survival (OS), 1-year RFS, 1-year transplant-related mortality (TRM), and 1-year GRFS, defined as grade 3-4 acute GVHD, systemic therapy-requiring chronic GVHD, relapse, or death in the 1-year post-HCT period.
 Results:
 A total of 65 adult MRD and MUD allo-HCT recipients and 53 haplo-HCT patients were reviewed. Of the MRD/MUD patients evaluated, approximately 51% (n = 33) were female and 49% (n = 32) were male. The age range was 20-69 years old (median = 46), and the most common diseases included ALL (46%), AML (31%), MDS (11%), and others (i.e. lymphoma, aplastic anemia (AA), myelofibrosis) (12%). 34% (n = 22) of patients received PTCy on D+3 and D+4 with tacrolimus/MMF/ on D+5 as GVHD prophylaxis and 66% (n = 43) of patients received MTX/tacrolimus on D+1, +3, +6, and +11 as GVHD prophylaxis. All haplo-HCT patients received standard PTCy/tacrolimus/MMF. Stem cell source was primarily PBSC except in HLH and AA patients. The PTCy group had more MUD allo-HCT (64%), degree of antigen mismatch (56%), and median age of 50.5 years compared with the MTX group at 44%, 47%, and 44 years respectively. 70% in the MTX group received MAC compared with 45% in the PTCy group. The haplo group had similar demographics to the MTX group. The mean CD34 cell doses in the PTCy, MTX, and haplo groups were 4.87, 5.36, and 7.24x106 cells/kg respectively. Incidences of total GVHD, aGVHD, and aGVHD grade 3 or 4 in the PTCy group were 55%, 50%, and 4.5% respectively compared with 65%, 35%, and 7% in the MTX group, though not significant. The haplo group had 68%, 55%, and 1.9% respectively. Incidence of total cGVHD and cGVHD requiring systemic therapy in the PTCy group was 4.5% and 0% respectively compared with 30% (p = .02) and 23% (p =.01). The haplo group had 13% and 1.9% respectively. Day+100 mortality, 1-year OS, 1-year RFS, 1-year TRM, and 1-year GRFS in the PTCy group were 0%, 80%, 60%, 0%, and 64% respectively compared with 7%, 88%, 90%, 7.3%, and 59%. The haplo group had 3.8%, 86%, 89%, 14%, and 66%. In a univariate analysis, factors significantly associated with GVHD were disease status (p = .0.12) and CD34 dose (p = 0.015) and antigen mismatch (p = 0.04) was associated with increased mortality.
 Discussion:
 Our results demonstrate improved overall and extensive cGVHD outcomes in the PTCy group and thus an improvement in 1-year GRFS. Furthermore, incidence and severity of 1-year cGVHD in this group are improved when compared with previously reported outcomes. 1-year GRFS reported in De Jong et al 2019 was 45% and 1-year GRFS reported for all groups in our study is higher at 66%, 64%, and 59% for the haplo, PTCy, and MTX groups respectively. Although this was not significant, it may be clinically meaningful given the significant improvement in extensive GVHD and improvement in all other secondary end-points except 1-year OS and RFS. Furthermore, the PTCy group had a higher percentage of mismatched antigens yet demonstrated superior outcomes. 1-year OS and RFS were superior in the MTX group however this is likely due to sample size differences. The improved extensive cGVHD and GRFS outcomes observed using PTCy/tacrolimus/MMF in the MRD/MUD setting should continue to be evaluated and currently there is an ongoing prospective, randomized study to further investigate.

 Yaghmour: Jazz: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Astellas: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Alexion: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.


Globally, contraceptive studies and their use are major challenges in the realm of public health. The ideal goal is to obtain a contraceptive method that is highly effective at minimizing unplanned pregnancies and nullifying the chance of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Abstinence is currently the only way to attain such a dualistic goal, and while effective, it may not be suitable for sexually active individuals. While there is an abundance of methodspecific information regarding the use of any one female contraceptive device, there is a paucity of resources that compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of such methods and enable an individual to optimize family planning. This paper attempts to address many of these topics by reviewing a multitude of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved contraceptive methods. This work is intentionally written towards educating medical students, educators and teachers at all levels of training with foundational knowledge regarding female contraception.


In this work, we address the problem of contextual recommendations by exploiting the concept of subspace clustering. Specifically, we pre-partition users that have rated subsets of data items similarly into clusters and we associate a context situation with each cluster. The cluster context is defined as any internally stored information that can be used to characterize the cluster members per se. Then, given a query context, we identify the clusters with the most similar context, and we use their members for making suggestions in a collaborative filtering manner.


Sentiment Analysis(SA) can be a natural language processing(NLP) task that extracts opinions from the given text and classifies them as a negative or positive. Research works in SA is mostly conducted in English. Nowadays, the web indexes and other websites related to reviews also support non-English languages. It is therefore necessary to perform SA for these languages as well. There are numerous works found in the literature for SA in other languages worldwide. However, SA for Indian languages needs exploration. In this paper, we discuss various available lexicon resources and often used SA techniques in some Indian languages. Moreover, we present the theoretical parametric evaluation of our studied techniques and we also discuss challenges, which were identified during SA in Indian Languages.


A tool based on IDL (Interactive Data Language) and DAP (Data Access Protocol) has been developed for user-friendly remote data access. A difficulty for many NASA researchers using IDL is that often the data to analyze are located remotely and are too large to transfer for local analysis. Researchers have developed a protocol for accessing remote data, DAP, which is used for both SOHO and STEREO data sets. Server-side side analysis via IDL routine is available through DAP.


Unusual presentation of Tuberculosis (TB) in anatomical locations like skeletal muscle which are atypical and not favorable for survival and multiplication of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.Commonly, muscle involvement is secondary. A direct inoculation (abdominal lymph node) or extension from underlying tubercular synovitis and osteomyelitis may involve an abdominal muscle. The case report is about a 43-year-old female who presented with an abdominal lump for past one month. There was no history of cough, weight loss, pain abdomen, recurrent vomiting, breathlessness and no history of TB or close contact with TB patient. Ultrasound (USG) and Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography (CECT) of the abdomen revealed loculated collection in right rectusabdominis muscle, and USG-guided aspiration for cytology, culture and Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (CBNAAT) confirmed tubercular abscess. The patient was managed as per National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme and responded well with antitubercular drug therapy for six months. This case throws light on to the possibility of tubercular infection in atypical anatomical locations as primary foci, especially in those areas where tuberculosis is endemic.


Traditional approaches to reliably transmit information over an error-prone network employ either forward error correction (FEC) or retransmission techniques. In this paper, we propose some network coding schemes to reduce the number of broadcast transmissions from one sender to multiple receivers. The main idea is to allow the sender to combine and retransmit the lost packets in a certain way so that with one transmission, multiple receivers are able to recover their own lost packets. For comparison, we derive a few theoretical results on the bandwidth efficiency of the proposed network coding and traditional automatic repeat-request (ARQ) schemes. Both simulations and theoretical analysis confirm the advantages of the proposed network coding schemes over the ARQ ones.


Is there any genuine difference between organisms and artifacts? Where and how would we identify such a difference? This paper argues the difference involves the character of their individuality. Unlike an organism, an artifact's individuality is (for the most part) determined by the function that the designer selected in the artifact's production rather than the functional interdependence of its parts. In both cases, individuality is a historical property and in both cases the parts may be functionally interdependent to some extent. However, for artifacts, this interdependence is not what makes it the individual that it is. Instead, the interdependence of its parts is in the service of the functions for which the spear was designed. No such additional purpose or function exists for an organism.


This environmental and social assessment for the Ukraine Urban Infrastructure Project, which assists utilities in implementing business plans to help sustain their operations, anticipates environmental risks and outlines plans to mitigate them. The report recommends: Posting warning signs, adopting reasonable working hours, and identifying alternate routes to control traffic; providing safety fences and restricting access to protect pedestrians; covering material transporting vehicles, watering access roads and excavation zones, cleaning the site, and using protective covers and screens to reduce dust emissions, and otherwise controlling air emissions (from sewer mains); restricting noisy construction to normal working hours, and using noise suppressors for equipment; delivering all waste, including hazardous waste, to official sanitary landfills; properly maintaining vehicles and equipment, containing fuel oils and lubricants, paints, cooling agents, and solvents and controlling leaks and spills, minimizing the required number of delivery routes, and maintaining vehicles in specially designated sites to prevent soil and water contamination; regulating stockpiling to minimize soil erosion and degradation; temporarily storing topsoil material, and restoring trees and affected vegetal cover; and locating pumping stations at a sufficient distance from residential areas in adequately insulated buildings. Social risks and recommended measures comprise: preventing accidents during construction; protecting consumers rights; making the process of water pricing and payments based on water meters understandable to consumers; and waging campaigns to affect a change in consumer attitudes towards water consumption.


Grating-coupled radiation in lasers and waveguides is analyzed for trapezoidal-shaped grating teeth which includes all triangular shapes. A perturbation technique is used which involves calculating the modes in a geometry with an inhomogeneous refractive index profile in the grating region. Curves are presented for radiated power from traveling waves as a function of blazing angle, grating tooth height, refractive index, and grating period. It is shown that the ratio of power radiated into the outer media depends greatly on tooth shape and size. By judiciously selecting parameters this ratio can exceed 50:1.


We examined the enhancement effects of the double-chained cationic surfactants of n-dimethyldialkylammoniums (CH(3))(2)N(+)(C(n)H(2n+1))(2) on the permeation of anionic salicylate through excised guinea pig dorsal skin at pH 7.4. Among them, n-dimethyldidecylammonium (2C10), which seemed to form micelles, had dose-dependent enhancement effects at concentrations of more than 0.1 mM, and about a ninety-fold increase in the permeability coefficient of salicylate was observed at 2 mM. The enhancement effect of 2C10 was larger than those of single-chained cationic surfactants of n-alkyltrimethylammoniums. n-Dimethyldilaurylammonium (2C12), which seemed to form bilayer vesicles, induced about a twenty five-fold increase in the permeability coefficient. The enhancement effects of n-dimethyldialkylammoniums decreased with the increase in their alkyl chain lengths. In contrast, only slight stimulation by these cationic surfactants was observed for silicon rubber membrane permeation of salicylate. Analysis of the retention of the salicylate in the skin suggested that the double-chained cationic surfactants-induced increase in the transfer of salicylate to the skin is the main reason for the marked stimulation of the skin permeation.


Introduction. Arthroplasty in current orthopaedics is very popular for treatment of patients with gonarthrosis. But the interest in correcting osteotomies doesn't disappear as well.
Purpose. To analyze the effectiveness of treating gonarthrosis mainly affecting the knee medial part using different types of high tibial osteotomies with biomechanical axis recovery.
Materials and Methods. We considered the issues of surgical treating severe gonarthrosis with the medial knee primary involvement by performing tibial osteotomies in the proximal third and fibular osteotomies – in the distal third using the Ilizarov fixator. Treatment results analyzed in 60 patients at the age of 50-75 years (64±0.5 years) with gonarthrosis who underwent correcting subcondylar osteotomy. The absence of the knee pain was the main criterion of treatment effectiveness. Results. The achieved result maintained up to seven years.
Conclusion. The proposed technique of treatment allows recovering limb biomechanical axis and thereby normalizing the load on the medial joint. This technique is used practically throughout the world including the best European clinics.


This paper investigates the effect of material properties on the formability of sheet metals based on the Marciniak-Kuczynski model (M-K model). The hardening behavior of the material is modeled as the Hollomon model with the strain rate effect. The yield surfaces are constructed with Hosford79 yield function. The material properties considered in this study include the R-value, the strain hardening exponent, the strain rate hardening exponent, and the crystal structure of the material. The effect of the crystal structure on formability is roughly expressed as the change of the yield surface by varying the value of the exponent in Hosford79 yield function. Results show that the R-value affects neither the magnitude nor the shape of right hand side of forming limit diagrams (FLDs). Higher strain hardening exponent and higher strain rate hardening exponent improve the formability of sheet metals because they stabilize the forming processes.


Many previous studies have shown that pancreatectomy fails to deplete blood of its amylase and lipase activity. The maintenance of blood amylase and lipase activity following removal of the pancreas in the dog and in man suggests that nonpancreatic sources of these enzymes contribute significantly to the maintenance of normal blood levels. In our previous series of experiments, acute pancreatectomy did not cause the immediate disappearance of amylase and lipase from the lymph or serum. To further investigate the long-term effect of pancreatectomy on these enzymes, the present series of experiments was designed, in which hepatic and intestinal lymphatics of previously pancreatectomized dogs were cannulated and amylase and lipase levels were measured in the lymph and serum. Materials and Methods Mongrel dogs of either sex, weighing 10 to 20 kg, were subjected to laparotomy under pentobarbital sodium anesthesia. Sterile technique was utilized. Control samples of peripheral venous blood were taken


The authors report a case of a 32-year-old Thai woman with a COVID-19 infection that presented with urticaria and angioedema with a pityriasis rosea (PR)-like rash at a private hospital in Thailand. She presented at the hospital with bloody nasal discharge and diarrhea but without fever, myalgia, or any respiratory symptoms. She complained of angioedema and PR-like lesions on the third day of the treatment. Urticarial rash appeared intermittently for four weeks after all medications were discontinued, during which the patient had no fever, no respiratory symptoms, or any other symptoms. However, the RT-PCR results for COVID-19 RNA were positive during the time that the urticarial symptoms persisted. The COVID-19 RNA became negative on the fourth day after the last urticarial episode. Urticarial rash may be a clue that the inflammatory process is activated by COVID-19 virus after the treatment is completed.

Keywords: Cutaneous; Pityriasis rosea; Angioedema; Urticaria; COVID-19


Background The pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-17A is a central driver of pathology in human spondyloarthritis (SpA). IL-17A production was originally proposed to be dependent on the upstream cytokine, IL-23. Emerging preclinical and clinical evidence from SpA-related diseases suggest, however, that IL-17A and IL-23 have a partially overlapping but distinct biology. Objectives Here, we aimed to assess to what extend pathogenic IL-17A is dependent on IL-23 in SpA by selectively targeting the IL-23R in the HLA-B27/Huβ2m transgenic rat model of SpA, which we showed previously to be IL-17A-dependent. Methods HLA-B27/Huβ2m tg rats were immunized with low dose heat-inactivated M. tuberculosis/IFA. Rats were treated with a depleting anti-mouse/rat chimeric IL-23R antibody or PBS in a prophylactic (treatment initiation after immunization, before disease onset) or therapeutic (treatment initiation after disease onset) experiment. Clinical measurements included spondylitis and arthritis scores and hind paw swelling (plethysmometry). At the end of the study spleen and lymph nodes were used to assess cytokine expression, serum samples were analyzed for exposure to anti-IL23R. Results In the prophylactic treatment strategy, 58% and 67% of the rats in the control group developed spondylitis and arthritis, respectively. The average arthritis score at the end of the study was 3.9±1.1 and the average hind paw swelling was 0.35±0.09 cm3. Prophylactic treatment with anti-IL-23R completely protected the rats against the development of spondylitis as well as arthritis. In the therapeutic treatment strategy, however, anti-IL23R treatment failed to reduce the incidence or decrease the severity of experimental SpA (fig. 1). With an average increase in arthritis score after the start of treatment of 1.6±2.8 versus 2.1±2.5 and an increase in paw swelling of 0.6±0.7 versus 0.3±0.6 cm3in anti-IL23R treated versus control animals. The differential effect of IL-23R targeting in the initiation phase versus established disease could not be explained by pharmacokinetic differences as serum analyses revealed similar exposure levels. Mechanistically, the expression of presumably downstream effector cytokines such as IL-17A (p<0.05) and IL-22 (p<0.01) was reduced in the popliteal lymph nodes of rats treated prophylactically with anti-IL23R versus controls, with a similar trend in spleen. Accordingly, IL-17A production upon ex vivo re-stimulation was reduced in samples from prophylactically treated rats. In contrast, similar popliteal lymph node expression data in samples from the therapeutic experiment indicate a twofold increase in IL-17A expression and no difference in IL-22 expression in the anti-IL23R treated rats compared to controls. Conclusions IL-17A expression and production is dependent on the IL-23 axis in the initiation phase of experimental SpA but not in established disease. Accordingly, targeting of this axis with an anti-IL23R antibody completely prevented the onset of arthritis and spondylitis in HLA-B27/Huβ2m transgenic rats, but failed to reduce axial and peripheral joint inflammation in established disease. The cellular origin of IL-23-independent IL-17A production in established disease and the relevance to human SpA remains to be further investigated. Disclosure of Interest M. Van Tok: None declared, S. Na Employee of: Eli Lilly and Co, J. Taurog Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Anges, Inc, and Celgene, D. Baeten Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Pfizer, UCB, MSD, Roche, BMS, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Glenmark, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Employee of: part-time employee of UCB, L. van Duivenvoorde Grant/research support from: Abbvie, Boehringer-Ingelheim


High intensity electromagnetic radiation has been demonstrated to be a source of computer upsets in commercially available digital flight control systems. In this paper we present an analysis of one consequence of an electromagnetic disturbance: the flipping of bits in a computer word. Specifically, we analyze the closed-loop stability of a digital linear state feedback control law when the electromagnetic radiation causes the gain vector to be corrupted by bit errors in its floating-point representation. As an example, we analyze a stabilizing controller for the longitudinal dynamics of the AFTI/F-16 aircraft.


cussions of Color and Style are not less admirable. But it is useless to select and discriminate, for open this little book where you will you will find this same mature, judicial utterance, made with all the evidence il view. There is pleasure and profit in the result for the advanced musician, because he will thereby find his best thought clarified and confirmed. For those who have studied less long and deeply, the pleasure is rather that of revelation.


In this paper,by using the bifurcation method to analyze the relative distance between the stable manifold and the unstable manifold after the homoclinic orbit of the unperturbed system is perturbed to break,the author studies the existing problem of limit cycles of a class of planar cubic systems,and gives the existence conditions of limit cycles.


The reactions of experimental animals and of human beings to stimulation with the galvanic current have been investigated since early in the nineteenth century. Not only the reactions of normal subjects, but the reactions of animals and human beings with all types of experimentally produced and spontaneous lesions have been the subject of numerous investigations. Experiments on the latter group were carried out in an attempt to establish galvanic stimulation as a clinical procedure which might replace, or at least serve as an adjunct to, performance of the caloric and the rotation test for vestibular function. Nystagmus, postural reactions, such as turning and rotation of the head, subjective vertigo and a tendency to fall have all been observed as a result of galvanic stimulation of the ears. The nystagmus has received more attention than the other reactions, because of an attempt of the investigators to correlate the galvanic reaction with


Chile pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an increasingly important vegetable and spice crop. Among the most devastating chile pepper–infecting viruses, especially in tropical and subtropical regions, are members of the whitefly transmitted Begomovirus, which cause pepper yellow leaf curl (PYLC). An effective PYLC management strategy is the development of resistant cultivars. However, genetic recombination, acquisition of extra DNA components, and synergistic interactions among different begomoviruses have resulted in the rapid emergence of new viruses that can infect new hosts, cause new disease symptoms, and overcome host resistance. In this project, 98 Capsicum entries comprising breeding lines, open pollinated varieties, genebank accessions, and wild species were screened for resistance to strains of Pepper yellow leaf curl Thailand virus (PepYLCThV). We used a randomized complete block design with three replications and 10 plants per replication in field net-houses at two locations (Khon Kaen and Kamphaeng Saen, Thailand) using augmented inoculation by viruliferous whiteflies. Scoring was done at ≈60, 90, and 120 days after inoculation using a standardized 6-point scale (1 = no symptoms to 6 = very severe symptoms), and the average of the scores of 10 plants within each replication was used for analysis. Although no entry was immune to the disease, the breeding line 9852-123 was highly resistant. Several accessions and lines were moderately resistant at both locations, although a high level of variability within these entries was observed. Overall, the disease severity at the Khon Kaen location was greater compared with Kamphaeng Saen, highlighting the importance of multilocation testing for disease resistance. The resistant entry identified here can be used to study gene action and to move resistance genes into well-adapted germplasm.


In order to provide a more reliable situational awareness of scintillation impacts on users of space‐based communication/navigation systems, L‐band scintillation measurements from GPS satellites are ingested, in real time, to the Scintillation Network Decision Aid (SCINDA) model. SCINDA is a real‐time, data‐driven communication outage forecast and alert system developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory at Hanscom Air Force Base and made operational through a joint effort between the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy. UHF and L‐band scintillation parameters are measured, modeled, and propagated in time to provide a regional specification of the scintillation environment in an effort to mitigate the impacts on the satellite communications (SATCOM) community. In an effort to provide UHF SATCOM users with a more consistent estimation of scintillation impacts on their systems, GPS sensors, measuring S4 at L‐band frequency, are now used as a supplement to the stationary UHF links dramatically increasing the regional coverage at each individual station, particularly those located outside the anomaly crest. Three‐dimensional representations of GPS observed plumes are mapped to the ground from the location of a selected satellite, producing a "scintillation specification map detailing "outage" regions on the globe. In this paper we present results from a validation study of the GPS proxy model and demonstrate its usefulness as an adjunct to the SCINDA model in producing the most accurate and reliable nowcast and forecast scintillation specification products available to UHF SATCOM users.


This research is part of an ULTRA NSF-US Forest service research grant addressing urban ecosystem metabolism in Syracuse, New York. This project explores local stakeholders' perceptions of green infrastructure (GI) and ecosystems services from both positive and detracting perspectives. Focus groups were used to elicit responses for a thematic analysis. Respondents displayed confusion about what ecosystems services are, as well as what GI is. Implementation barriers include costs (who pays), what the benefits are, unanticipated impacts, and scale of implementation.


This study presents a descriptive, transversal research with non-experimental design on the diagnosis of the transparency of public institutions of higher education (IPES) in the Northwest of Mexico. The aim is to identify under the focus of the Federal law of transparency and access to government public information (LFTAIPG), the existence of significant differences between the transparency of the IPES and the type of subsystem to which they belong; to achieve this we worked with a sample of 21 universities and technological. In the gathering of data was used a template of 39 items whose reliability was determined through the Cronbach alpha, obtaining a 0.953 index. The results obtained indicate that the level of transparency, on average, of the Web pages of the IPES is very low and there are statistically significant differences in the transparency of the Web pages of universities and technological. JEL: H83, I28


medical friends with whom 1. have discussed the subject have had a similar explerience. The subjects of addiction to this group of drugs are often braiin-workers and people of high intellectual grade. In. additioni, I have very strong grounds for beliceving ihat Velronal addiction-, like other formiis of drug addiction, is relatively commiioni amongst the pleasule-seeking class of the nigiht-club typ)e. I have on several occasionis seeni dangerous nervous symptoms, such as ataxy, aniiarthria, diplopia, ete., result fromii the daily use of tlle 1drug in tlherapeutic doses. Some 6f these cases were quoted in Ilmy paper, alnd others have observed many similar cases. I am fully aware that persons sllffering from active irmenltal disease can ofteni tolerate large doses of hyipnotic drugs over relatively lonig p)eriods, alnd that it may be necessary and advisable in such cases to iise the barbitonie 'giollp of drugs daily over lonig peliods, pr-ovided that the patient is under close miedical observation. This may exl)lain the wide discrepaney between the experience of Sir Mauiice Craig and myself. 1 stated in my recent papler (whlicli unfortulnately Sir Maurice Craig has not read) that


Central airway obstruction refers to the occlusion of more than 50% of the trachea, main stem bronchi, or lobar bronchus. It can potentially become a life-threatening condition. Pulmonary hamartomas (PH) are rare tumors with an incidence of 0.25%, constituting about 8% of all benign lung neoplasms. Only 10% of PH occur endobronchially, while the remaining appear peripherally. We present the case of a women with an endobronchial hamartoma that required emergent resection by bronchoscopy. This is 44-year-old woman, with a history of an endobronchial mass on the right main stem bronchus (RMSB) without histopathological diagnosis or surgical management. She presented with a history of chronic cough and expectoration. Upon admission, a chest X-ray was performed, showing opacities of the right lung and amputations of the RMSB. Bronchoscopy was performed and a tumor-like mass that occludes the RMSB was found, with valve effect causing intermittent occlusion. In anesthetic induction, she presents severe airway obstruction and cardiorespiratory arrest. During resuscitation maneuvers, the lesion that was obstructing the light is seen and resection was performed with electrocautery and cryotherapy probes. Histopathological report described an endobronchial chondromesenchymal hamartoma, with no signs of malignancy. The control X-ray showed adequate re-expansion of the right lung. In conclusion, although endobronchial hamartoma has a low incidence and has a slow growth rate, it can manifest as severe airway obstruction. To achieve a complete resection of an endobronchial lesion, both rigid and/or flexible bronchoscopy plus multimodal interventions are recommended.


Objective: to determine the relationship between pain severity and kinesiophobia in patients with chronic neck pain.
Study Design: Cross-sectional analytical study
Place and Duration of Study: Pakistan Society of Rehabilitation of Disabled, Arif Memorial Hospital, Rashid Latif Medical Institute and Jinnah Hospital, from Aug 2020 to Jan 2021.
Methodology: One hundred seventy subjects with neck pain for more than three months were included in the study. Tampa scale was used to measure kinesiophobia, and the Numeric Pain Rating scale was used to assess the pain severity.
Results: Out 0f 170 subjects, 83(48.8%) were males and 87(51.2%) were females with a mean age of 31.31 ±4.062 years. A significant association was found between kinesiophobia, pain severity and chronic neck pain with 0.01 p-value. The crammer phi value was 0.418, which showed a strong association.
Conclusion: High levels of kinesiobhobia and pain belief should be considered in patients with chronic neck pain as these are both associated with each other.


A kind of negotiation policy is proposed for the allocation problem solved by agent-based system in distributed manufacturing environment, in which subtasks in the same task have in-tree precedence constraints and flexible routes. With the formulation of the problem and that of combinatorial auction solution, the design, the procedure and the implementation of combinatorial auction are given. The final part of the paper gives numerical test to demonstrate the policy to be feasible and efficient.


Mutations in citizenship are crystallized in an ever-shifting landscape shaped by the flows of markets, technologies, and populations. We are moving beyond the citizenship-versus-statelessness model. First, the elements of citizenship (rights, entitlements, etc.) are becoming disarticulated from each other, and becoming re-articulated with universalizing criteria of neoliberalism and human rights. Such 'global assemblages' define zones of political entitlements and claims. Second, the space of the 'assemblage', rather than the national terrain, becomes the site for political mobilizations by diverse groups in motion. Three contrasting configurations are presented. In the EU zone, unregulated markets and migrant flows challenge liberal citizenship. In Asian zones, foreigners who display self-enterprising savoire faire gain rights and benefits of citizenship. In camps of the disenfranchised or displaced, sheer survival becomes the ground for political claims. Thus, particular constellations shape specific problems and resolutions to questions of contemporary living, further disarticulating and deterritorializing aspects of citizenship.


Carbol fuchsin and Malachite green dyes are extensively used in textile dyeing, paper, printing and other industries. Textile effluent released from industries is a complex mixture of many polluting substances including dyes and must be treated before discharged into environment because of their recalcitrant nature and potential toxicity to animals and humans. Biological treatment offers a cheaper and environment friendly alternative to dye decolorization and wastewater reutilization in industrial process. In the present studies bacteria were isolated from textile effluent and dyes decolorization assay were performed in the basal nutrient medium. The most efficient bacterial isolate was used for further optimization studies. The morphological and biochemical studies revealed the isolated organism as Enterococcus spp. The strain showed 100% and 92% decolorization of the Malachite green and Carbol fuchsin (0.02g/L) respectively within 24 h. The optimum pH and temperature for the decolorization was 7.0 and 370C respectively. Phytotoxicity study demonstrated no toxicity of the biodegraded product. The results suggest that the isolated Enterococcus spp. can be a useful tool to treat waste water containing dyes


The NASA In-Space Propulsion program is funding development work for solar sails to enhance future scientific opportunities. Key to this effort are scientific solar sail roadmap missions identified by peer review. The two near-term missions of interest are L1 Diamond and Solar Polar Imager. Additionally, the New Millennium Program is sponsoring the Space Technology 9 (ST9) demonstration mission. Solar sails are one of five technologies competing for the ST9 flight demonstration. Two candidate solar sail missions have been identified for a potential ST9 flight. All the roadmap missions and candidate flight demonstration missions face various GN&C challenges. A variety of efforts are underway to address these challenges. These include control actuator design and testing, low thrust optimization studies, attitude control system design and modeling, control-structure interaction studies, trajectory control design, and solar radiation pressure model development. Here we survey the various efforts underway and identify a few of specific recent interest and focus.


For many working in old European theatres, like the few remaining Victorian theatres in the UK, the understage space is nicknamed 'Hell'. It is a term that is becoming less common as understage spaces fall into disuse and is absent in theatres without an understage at all. The space beneath the stage has always been important technologically and scenographically, but its less well-documented associations with an infernal underworld have a cultural resonance that reaches far beyond the history of the Victorian wood stage. This article explores the idea of the understage as a space that, even when it is not present, has an important aesthetic role in the theatre with cultural and historical precedents to be found in ancient Greek, medieval and Elizabethan theatres as well as Japanese Kabuki. In theatre, 'Hell' is the space that sits between the materiality of a technical theatre history and the experience of scenography. It is a persistent theatrical reminder that whatever is shown to an audience is also masking something. This article explores the history of the origin of this space and how the acceptance and rejection of its presence have shaped and influenced theatre theory and performance for centuries.


Security protocols are prescribed sequences of interactions between entities designed to provide various security services across distributed systems. Security protocols are often wrong due to the extremely subtle properties they are supposed to ensure. Deciding whether or not a security protocol assures secrecy is one of the main challenge in this area. In this paper we survey the most important decidability and complexity results regarding the secrecy problem for various classes of security protocols, such as bounded protocols, finite-sessions protocols, normal protocols, and tagged protocols. All the results are developed under the same formalism. Several flawed statements claimed in the literature are corrected. Simplified proofs and reductions, as well as extensions of some known results, are also provided.


Large carnivore conservation in Sweden relies on land sharing in multi-use landscapes as carnivore populations mainly occur outside protected areas. Prevention of carnivore attacks on domestic animals is prioritised to mitigate potential carnivore impacts, and to mitigate conflicts between stakeholders over carnivore conservation. Interventions intended to prevent carnivore attacks on domestic animals can only be effective if implemented, and mitigation of social conflicts depends on stakeholders support. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to an increased understanding of the effects that the provision, promotion, and implementation of interventions intended to prevent attacks of large carnivores on domestic animals may have on impact and conflict mitigation across stakeholder groups. A review of scientific literature reveals limited scientific evidence of intervention effectiveness to reduce the risk of large carnivore attacks on livestock. Keeping livestock in enclosures, using livestock guarding dogs or deterrents, or removing carnivores, can reduce the risk and severity of carnivore attacks, but the scientific evidence does not allow generalised assumptions about their effectiveness. Focus group interviews with owners of hunting dogs, pet dogs, sheep, reindeer, and transhumance livestock, combined with a web-based survey to the owner groups and the public, provides understanding of the end-user perspective. For animal owners, the intention to use interventions is influenced by the perceived subjective norms and by experienced worry for carnivore attacks. Beliefs about intervention effectiveness can be important for acceptance of specific interventions but should be considered a prerequisite rather than a guarantee for animal owners' acceptance. These beliefs are weighed against the implications that interventions imply, such as time consumption, money, or compromised animal welfare. Suitable interventions can aid animal owners' coping and reduce worry, but more controversial interventions may stir social conflicts. Provision and promotion of interventions can generate frustration if animal owners are unable to cope with intervention implications, or are presented with interventions appraised as irrelevant or norm incongruent. From a carnivore conservation and management perspective, humility as well as an ability to understand and acknowledge the experiences, concerns, and emotions of individuals is of vital importance to facilitate development of social trust and empathetic dialogue in the future.


Acitretin is an older, oral, non-immunosuppressive medication for the treatment of psoriasis. Tofacitinib is an oral Janus kinase inhibitor that has been studied for use in psoriasis. Each offers efficacy in certain settings and patient types but carries substantial safety risks. Semin Cutan Med Surg 35(supp4):S65-S66.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) on pathogenesis of pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) and to confirm the derivation of IL-6 and relationship between IL-6 and growth of placenta and fetus.

METHODS
Pregnant women without infection and uterine contraction are divided into two groups: (1) PIH group (n = 57), (2) Normal pregnancy group (n = 15), reverse transcription-polymerase chain rection (RT-PCR) is used to detect IL-6 mRNA expression in leucocyto of peripheral blood and in placenta; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is used to detect IL-6 level of peripheral blood and amniotic fluid.

RESULTS
(1) The level of IL-6 and its mRNA in peripheral blood has a increasing trend as PIH degree. In moderate and severe PIH, IL-6 and its mRNA level are significantly higher than that of normal pregnancy. In each degree of PIH, IL-6 mRNA expression in placeata is significantly lower than that of normal pregnancy. In moderate and severe PIH, IL-6 level in amniotic fluid is significantly lower than that in normal pregnancy (P < 0.001). (2) In moderate and severe PIH, IL-6 level has high correlation to the IL-6 mRNA in peripheral blood (r = 0.67, P < 0.01). The IL-6 level in amniotic fluid has significant correlation to IL-6 mRNA in placenta (r = 0.79, P < 0.01). IL-6 and its mRNA in peripheral blood has no high correlation to IL-6 in amniotic fluid. (3) In severe PIH, the IL-6 mRNA in placenta and IL-6 level in amniotic fluid in the group of pregnancy with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) are both lower than that of the group without IUGR (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
In PIH, the immune activity is rising, the IL-6 is overproduced by activated immune cells and it may involve in immune respond of organism and damage of vasicular endothelium. Decrease of IL-6 mRNA in placenta and IL-6 in amniotic fluid showes that the capability of production and transport of IL-6 decline in placenta of PIH patient, and these result in ischemia of placenta trophoblast and disturbance of the growth and development of placenta and fetus.


Bay leaves are widely used as flavouring in Indonesian cuisine, either in the form of fresh ones or after naturally dried, known as curing process. The research was conducted to determine the profile of components of the Indonesian cured bay leaves and to determine the preference of its flavour extracted by simultaneous distillation-extraction method. A randomized block design experiment was performed examining three levels of curing time, namely 0, 2 and 4 days. The effects of curing on the change of weight, moisture content, colour, and components profile of the bay leaves were evaluated. The flavour components from all samples were isolated by simultaneous distillation-extraction method. The hedonic scale scoring was used to evaluate the preference of the flavour of the extract. It was found that the curing process substantially reduced the weight and moisture content, as well as the colour of the leaves. A total of 27, 33 and 23 compounds were resulted from flavour extract of 0, 2, 4 days cured bay leaves, respectively. The flavour extracts from 0 and 2 days cured bay leaves showed no difference in the preference test.


The Celtic Otherworld of medieval Irish, Welsh and French Arthurian literature is popularly invoked as a fantastical setting for the supernatural adventures of medieval heroes and bold knights-errant: a place of unearthly beauty and enchanting music, fey and dangerous for the unwary traveller. This is the fabulous realm of Faerie, the land under the hollow hills, of disappearing islands like Ys or Lyonesse, populated by a host of magical beings - fairies, elves and water spirits. According to descriptions in early Irish literature, the Celtic Otherworld is a place of untold beauty and pleasure, where there is no age, no sickness and no death.


A dual-clock MASH (multi-stage noise shaping) delta-sigma modulator (DSM) is proposed for high performance analog-digital converter. This employs a DSM using a frequency modulated intermediate signal (FMDSM) for the last stage. The sampling clock frequency for the last stage can be increased due to the features of the FMDSM. It is shown that this can increase the SNR beyond the conventional MASH DSMs.


Many applications for detection of objects such as video analysis require that candidate objects be observed over a range of perspectives in 3 dimensional space. As a result we must have a robust model and detection process for these objects in order to accurately detect them through a range of geometric transformations. In order to keep our detection process computationally efficient, we use a compact multiresolution model to represent the range of geometric transformations possible in the object to be detected. Additionally, we form an integrated likelihood ratio detection statistic to optimize the detection performance over the entire space of targets being examined. To demonstrate the performance of this algorithm we apply our results to a compressed video sequence and show the improvement of our integrated three dimensional model as a function of model order.


With the enormous range of laboratory investigations available from a modern haematology laboratory it is not surprising that a clinician may at times feel 'at sea' when finding a way through the diagnostic process. It is hoped that this 'haematological map' will help the busy clinician.


In the optimal configuration design of piezoelectric smart structures, it is favorable to use actuation elements with certain predefined geometries from the viewpoint of manufacturability of fragile piezoelectric ceramics in practical applications. However, preserving the exact shape of these embedded actuators and tracking their dynamic motions presents a more challenging research task than merely allowing them to take arbitrary shapes. This paper proposes an integrated topology optimization method for the systematic design of compliant smart structures with embedded movable PZT (lead zirconate titanate) actuators. Compared with most existing studies, which either optimize positions/sizes of the actuators in a given host structure or design the host structure with pre-determined actuator locations, the proposed method simultaneously optimizes the positions of the movable PZT actuators and the topology of the host structure, typically a compliant mechanism for amplifying the small strain stroke. A combined topological description model is employed in the optimization, where the level set model is used to track the movements of the PZT actuators and the independent point-wise density interpolation (iPDI) approach is utilized to search for the optimal topology of the host structure. Furthermore, we define an integral-type constraint function to prevent overlaps between the PZT actuators and between the actuators and the external boundaries of the design domain. Such a constraint provides a unified and explicit mathematical statement of the non-overlap condition for any number of arbitrarily shaped embedded actuators. Several numerical examples are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed optimization method.


An analytical study was done on the species diversity and species evenness of some organisms in Usumani river and Imo rivers ( at Owerrinta and Uzuaku) in Abia State , Nigeria.The study area was surveyed to establish sampling points downstream and plankton net of 80µM mesh and 18cm diameter was used to collect the Planktons for wet microscopy (at X 40) to establish available microscopic organisms. Organisms were identified on the basis of acceptable scientific procedures: using indexed invertebrates and non flowering plants. Shannon Weinner's diversity index(H), and Pileos's evenness index (J) or Equitability, were adopted in establishing the diversity and evenness of the species respectively. Results of the study show that the highest diversity index of 2.0312 and equitability (evenness) index of 0.8471 were recorded at Usumani river . At Imo river Uzuaku, diversity index of 0.6560 and equitability of 0.4076 were recorded. In addition, Imo river Owerrinta had diversity index of 0.7407 and equitability of 0.4134.


Expert systems (ES), which are a branch of artificial intelligence, has been widely used in different applications, including medical consultation and more recently in rehabilitation for assessment and intervention. The development and validation of an expert system for memory rehabilitation (ES-MR) is reported here. Through a web-based platform, ES-MR can provide experts with better decision making in providing intervention for persons with brain injuries, stroke, and dementia. The application and possible commercial production of a simultaneously developed version for "non-expert" users is proposed. This is especially useful for providing remote assistance to persons with permanent memory impairment when they reach a plateau of cognitive training and demand a prosthetic system to enhance memory for day-to-day independence. The potential use of ES-MR as a cognitive aid in conjunction with WAP mobile phones, Bluetooth technology, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) is suggested as an avenue for future study.


Placental mesenchymal dysplasia (PMD) is a rare condition characterised by placental enlargement, oedematous villi and multiple anechoic cysts. Hepatic mesenchymal hamartoma (HMH) is a benign proliferation of mesenchymal tissue, commonly seen in infants below the age of 2. We report the case of a 28 years old female who was noted to have a fetus with a well‐circumscribed cyst on the liver, suggestive of HMH and a large, thickened placenta, with multiple anechoic cysts, consistent with PMD during the third trimester. There were no other structural abnormalities and at 38 weeks she underwent an induction of labour with normal vaginal delivery of a live female infant. While the aetiology is poorly understood, the increased incidence of HMH with PMD and the morphological similarities of the changes seen in both the placenta and liver, suggests a possible common developmental mechanism. There are only 12 other cases of this concurrent pathology in the literature and only one of these had resulted in a term delivery, and ours is the second one to date.


ObjectivesAs physicians are being trained to adapt their practices to the needs and experience of patients, initiatives to standardize care have been gaining momentum. The resulting conflict can be addressed through a practice-based learning and improvement (PBL) program that develops competency in using treatment guidelines as decision aids and incorporating patient-specific information into treatment recommendations. This article describes and tests a program that is consistent with the ACGME's multilevel competency-based approach, targets students at four levels of training, and features progressive learning objectives and assessments.MethodsThe program was pilot-tested with 22 paid volunteer psychiatric residents and fellows. They were introduced to a schizophrenia treatment guideline and reviewed six case vignettes of varying complexity. PBL assessments were based on how treatment recommendations were influenced by clinical and patient-specific factors. The task permitted separate assessments of learning objectives all four training levels.ResultsAmong the key findings at each level, most participants found the treatment guideline helpful in making treatment decisions. Recommendations were influenced by guideline-based assessment criteria and other clinical features. They were also influenced by patients' perceptions of their illness, patient-based progress assessments, and complications such as stressors and coping patterns. Recommendations were strongly influenced by incongruence between clinical facts and patient experience.ConclusionPractical understanding of how patient experience joins with clinical knowledge can enhance the use of treatment guidelines as decision tools and enable clinicians to appreciate more fully how and why patients' perceptions of their illness should influence treatment recommendations. This PBL program can assist training facilities in preparing students to cope with contradictory demands to both standardize and adapt their practice. The program can be modified to accommodate various disorders and a range of clinical factors and patient-specific complications.


An explicit Bargmann symmetry constraint is computed and its associated binary nonlinearization of Lax pairs is carried out for the super NLS-MKdV hierarchy. Under the obtained symmetry constraint, the n-th flow of the super NLS-MKdV hierarchy is decomposed into two super finite-dimensional integrable Hamiltonian systems, defined over the super-symmetry manifold R4N|2N with the corresponding dynamical variables x and tn. The integrals of motion required for Liouville integrability are explicitly given.


The nuclear magnetic resonance in dimethylphenols were observed. The dependences of the chemical shifts for the methyl, hydroxyl and ring protons on solvent and concentration were measured and several clear differences were observed among the spectra of the isomers. The phenols with one or two ortho methyl groups showed peculiar behaviors which may be ascribed to the interaction between the hydroxyl group and the ortho proton or ortho methyl protons. The evidience of the steric hindrance of the ortho methyl group to form an intermolecular hydrogen bond is also shown in the present measurements.


This volume presents a wide-reaching overview of contemporary research and scholarship on women's engagement in a range of combat sports across the world. Including chapters on boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts, and various other fighting disciplines, the collection provides readers with a comprehensive analysis of the current significance of women's involvement in these sports, as well as charting many of the problems and opportunities they face in establishing and developing careers within them. With contributions drawing from anthropology, phenomenology, philosophy, sociology, and sport psychology, this book will appeal to readers interested in the development of women's sport; the relationship between sport and gender; and the wider, contemporary social significance of combat sports around the world.


We give an approximation scheme for separated continuous linear programming problems. Such problems arise as fluid relaxations of multiclass queueing networks and are used to find approximate solutions to complex job shop scheduling problems. In a network with linear flow costs and linear, per-unit-time holding costs, our algorithm finds a drainage of the network that, for given constants e > 0 and I´ > 0, has total cost (1 + e)OPT + I´, where OPT is the cost of the minimum cost drainage. The complexity of our algorithm is polynomial in the size of the input network, 1/e, and log(1/I´). The fluid relaxation is a continuous problem. While the problem is known to have a piecewise constant solution, it is not known to have a polynomially sized solution. We introduce a natural discretization of polynomial size and prove that this discretization produces a solution with low cost. This is the first polynomial time algorithm with a provable approximation guarantee for fluid relaxations.


Purpose: The expanding number of targeted therapeutics for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) necessitates real-time tumor genotyping, yet tissue biopsies are difficult to perform serially and often yield inadequate DNA for next-generation sequencing (NGS). We evaluated the feasibility of using cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) NGS as a complement or alternative to tissue NGS. Experimental Design: A total of 112 plasma samples obtained from a consecutive study of 102 prospectively enrolled patients with advanced NSCLC were subjected to ultra-deep sequencing of up to 70 genes and matched with tissue samples, when possible. Results: We detected 275 alterations in 45 genes, and at least one alteration in the ctDNA for 86 of 102 patients (84%), with EGFR variants being most common. ctDNA NGS detected 50 driver and 12 resistance mutations, and mutations in 22 additional genes for which experimental therapies, including clinical trials, are available. Although ctDNA NGS was completed for 102 consecutive patients, tissue sequencing was only successful for 50 patients (49%). Actionable EGFR mutations were detected in 24 tissue and 19 ctDNA samples, yielding concordance of 79%, with a shorter time interval between tissue and blood collection associated with increased concordance (P = 0.038). ctDNA sequencing identified eight patients harboring a resistance mutation who developed progressive disease while on targeted therapy, and for whom tissue sequencing was not possible. Conclusions: Therapeutically targetable driver and resistance mutations can be detected by ctDNA NGS, even when tissue is unavailable, thus allowing more accurate diagnosis, improved patient management, and serial sampling to monitor disease progression and clonal evolution. Clin Cancer Res; 22(23); 5772–82. ©2016 AACR.


The behaviour of reflection and transmission factors for linearly polarized irradiation passage through inhomogeneous multilayered bigyrotropic structure in external magnetic field is investigated. The changes of width, amplitude and position of the basic maximum on spectral curve of transmission factor and subordinate lobe on spectral curve of reflection factor are obtained. It is shown that the effects of basic maximum width and amplitude changes are even on the polarization sign (left- or right-hand circular), whereas the effect of basic maximum position shift on transmission factor curve is different for the signs for the indicated two polarizations.


A survey was conducted in Wisconsin (WI) and Michigan (MI) to quantify the proportion of farms that use a single diet for all lactating cows and to better understand the reasons for current grouping strategies and the limitations to grouping for better nutritional management. A questionnaire was mailed to all WI dairy farmers with ≥200 lactating cows (971 farms) and to a random sample of grade-A MI dairy farmers (800 farms) of varying herd sizes. The survey return rate was 20% in WI (196 farms) and 26% in MI (211 farms; 59 of them had ≥200 lactating cows). Feeding 2 or more different diets to lactating cows was predominant: 63% in WI (124 farms, all ≥200 lactating cows), 76% in MI farms with ≥200 lactating cows (45 farms), and 28% in MI farms with <200 lactating cows (43 farms). Farmers feeding more than 1 diet used 1 or more of the following criteria for grouping lactating cows: stage of lactation, milk production, or body condition score. Overall for both states, 52% of the farms (211 from 407 farms) feeding more than 1 diet grouped cows according to their nutritional needs. However, a notable population of farms fed the same diet to all lactating cows: 37% in WI (72 farms), 24% in MI (14 farms) for herds of ≥200 lactating cows, and 72% in MI for herds of <200 lactating cows (109 MI farms). "Desire to keep it simple" and "milk drops when cows are moved to a different group" were identified as main constraints to having more groups within a farm for nutritional purposes. Farm facilities and labor were also limiting factors to grouping in farms with herd sizes of <200 lactating cows.


ABSTRACT Candida glabrata, the second most frequent cause of candidiasis after Candida albicans, is an emerging human fungal pathogen that is intrinsically drug tolerant. Currently, studies of C. glabrata genes involved in drug tolerance are limited. Ada2, a component serving as a transcription adaptor of the Spt-Ada-Gcn5 acetyltransferase (SAGA) complex, is required for antifungal drug tolerance and virulence in C. albicans. However, its roles in C. glabrata remain elusive. In this study, we found that ada2 mutants demonstrated severe growth defects at 40°C but only mild defects at 37°C or 25°C. In addition, C. glabrata ada2 mutants exhibited pleiotropic phenotypes, including susceptibility to three classes of antifungal drugs (i.e., azoles, echinocandins, and polyenes) and cell wall-perturbing agents but resistance to the endoplasmic reticulum stressor tunicamycin. According to RNA sequence analysis, the expression of 43 genes was downregulated and the expression of 442 genes was upregulated in the ada2 mutant compared to their expression in the wild type. C. glabrata ADA2, along with its downstream target ERG6, controls antifungal drug tolerance and cell wall integrity. Surprisingly, ada2 mutants were hypervirulent in a murine model of systemic infection, possibly due to the upregulation of multiple adhesin-like genes, increased agar invasion, and overstimulation of murine tumor necrosis factor alpha production.


Single-crystal samples of triglycine sulphate in the form of capacitors with electrodes applied perpendicular to the ferroelectric axis were studied using an electrical charge/discharge method to investigate their dielectric properties. Experiments at room temperature on freshly prepared capacitors yielded well defined relaxation times with corresponding relaxation frequencies, fr, in the audio-frequency range. The relaxation frequencies were found to change with temperature below the Curie temperature according to the equation fr=fr0 exp(- Delta u/kT) and the average value of the activation energy, Delta u, was found to be 0.509+or-0.013 eV. The magnitude of the currents, and the total charge associated with each charge and corresponding discharge decreased in a pronounced manner as the samples aged. Samples with only a few domains showed much smaller current and charge than those having more domains. Consequently, the polarisation process could be attributed to the dynamics of the free domain walls.


AIM
To test ex vivo the efficiency of laser-activated irrigation in removing dentine debris from the apical part of the root canal and to visualize in vitro the fluid dynamics during the activation of the irrigant by laser, using high-speed imaging at a relevant timescale.

METHODOLOGY
Root canals with a standardized groove in one canal wall filled with dentine debris were irrigated with syringe irrigation, ultrasonically or laser-activated irrigation (LAI) using 2% sodium hypochlorite as irrigant. The quantity of dentine debris after irrigation was determined. Visualization of the fluid dynamics during activation was achieved using a high-speed camera and a glass model.

RESULTS
Laser-activated irrigation was significantly more effective in removing dentine debris from the apical part of the root canal than passive ultrasonic irrigation or hand irrigation when the irrigant was activated for 20 s.

CONCLUSIONS
The in vitro recordings suggest that streaming, caused by the collapse of the laser-induced bubble, is the main cleaning mechanism of LAI.


In property insurance, a contract often provides the policyholder with protection against damages to the insured properties that arise from a variety of perils. We propose a multivariate framework for pricing property insurance contracts with multiperil coverage in a longitudinal context. Specifically, a two‐part model is employed to accommodate the excess of 0s and heavy tails in the insurance loss cost, and a Gaussian copula with a structured correlation is used to capture the dependence within and between perils, as well as their interaction. Using the government property insurance data from the state of Wisconsin in the USA, we show that the multiperil claim model has important implications in both experience rating and risk margin analysis.


Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) are a promising technology to secure low-cost devices. A PUF is a function whose values depend on the physical characteristics of the underlying hardware: the same PUF implemented on two identical integrated circuits will return different values. Thus, a PUF can be used as a unique fingerprint identifying one specific physical device among (apparently) identical copies that run the same firmware on the same hardware. PUFs, however, are tricky to implement, and a number of attacks have been reported in the literature, often due to wrong assumptions about the provided security guarantees and/or the attacker model. In this paper, we present the first mechanized symbolic model for PUFs that allows for precisely reasoning about their security with respect to a variegate set of attackers. We consider mutual authentication protocols based on different kinds of PUFs and model attackers that are able to access PUF values stored on servers, abuse the PUF APIs, model the PUF behavior and exploit error correction data to reproduce the PUF values. We prove security properties and we formally specify the capabilities required by the attacker to break them. Our analysis points out various subtleties, and allows for a systematic comparison between different PUF-based protocols. The mechanized models are easily extensible and can be automatically checked with the Tamarin prover.


We studied theoretically the hysteresis behavior of ferroelectric thin films. The anomalous ferroelectric response is discussed by use of a bilayer model. Electrical conductivities of the films have been taken into account. To model the effects of the inhomogeneity of polarization and permittivity across the interface, the film is assumed to possess a secondary dielectric∕ferroelectric phase (a dead or passive layer) with asymmetric conductivity. This configuration is found to produce large shifting (along the field axis) and deformation of the measured hysteresis loop. This is a manifestation of the asymmetric conductivity of the material. Theoretical calculation based on this model shows that the observed phenomena of shifted and skewed hysteresis loop in ferroelectric thin films can be explained in this way.


Abstract. Recent literature suggests that dialogic forms of risk communication are more effective to build stakeholders' hazard-related social capacities. In spite of the high theoretical expectations, there is a lack of univocal empirical evidence on the relevance of these effects. This is mainly due to the methodological limitations of the existing evaluation approaches. In our paper we aim at eliciting the contribution of participatory river revitalisation projects on stakeholders' social capacity building by triangulating the findings of three evaluation studies that were based on different approaches: a field-experimental, a qualitative long-term ex-post and a cross-sectional household survey approach. The results revealed that social learning and avoiding the loss of trust were more relevant benefits of participatory flood management than acceptance building. The results suggest that stakeholder involvements should be more explicitly designed as tools for long-term social learning.


A complete caterpillar is a caterpillar in which each internal vertex is a quasi-pendent vertex. In this paper, in the class of all complete caterpillars on n vertices and diameter d, the caterpillar attaining the largest Laplacian index is determined. In addition, it is proved that this caterpillar also attains the largest adjacency index.


During the late 1990s a series of negative events occurred in the United Kingdom (UK) related to biotechnology. These events signaled potential risks associated with biotech foods and crops and were highly reported. According to the trust asymmetry hypothesis, such events ought to cause public trust in risk managers of biotechnology to decline rapidly and rebound more slowly. We find, based on data taken from the Eurobarometer surveys conducted in 1996, 1999 and 2002, that public trust in risk managers did decline from 1996 to 1999. However, the level of trust rebounded sharply between 1999 and 2002. Canonical discriminant analysis of public trust is used to reveal possible explanatory factors in this response. We find that whether people trust or distrust risk managers depends significantly on the amount of objective knowledge they have. We argue that knowledge of science might moderate the trust asymmetry effect.


Abstract Although a great deal is known about the interaction between water and rhyolitic glasses and melts at temperatures above the glass transition, the nature of this interaction at lower temperatures is much more obscure. Comparisons between high- and low-temperature diffusion studies suggest that several factors play important roles under lower-temperature conditions that are not significant at higher temperatures. Water concentrations in rhyolitic glasses hydrated at low temperatures are significantly greater than in those hydrated at high temperatures and low pressures. Surface concentrations, which equilibrate quickly with the surrounding environment at high temperature, change far more slowly as temperature decreases, and may not equilibrate at room temperature for hundreds or thousands of years. Temperature extrapolations of high- and low-temperature diffusion data are not consistent, suggesting that a change in mechanism occurs. These differences may be due to the inability of "self-stress," caused by the in-diffusing species, to relax at lower temperature. Preliminary calculations suggest that the level of stress caused by glass-water interaction may be greater than the tensile strength of the glass. On a microstuctural scale, extrapolations of high-temperature Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) data to lower temperatures suggests that there should be little or no hydroxyl present in glasses hydrated at low temperature. Comparisons of low-temperature hydration results among SiO2, obsidian, and albite compositions show distinct differences, and features are present in the spectra that do not occur at high temperature. Analysis of H2O and D2O diffusion also suggest that mechanistic differences occur between low- and high-temperature diffusive processes.


539 Multiple myeloma represents a generally incurable plasma cell disorder that arises from the dysregulated growth and survival of differentiated plasma cells. Recently, preclinical evidence has been accumulating that multiple myeloma cells are highly sensitive to the CDK inhibitor flavopiridol, leading to Phase II trials of flavopiridol in myeloma and related malignancies. Because flavopiridol induces apoptosis through the mitochondrial dysfunction, the notion that blockade of Bcl-2, which is present at relatively high levels in myeloma cells, might amplify this process appears plausible. To address this issue, interactions between the flavopiridol and the small molecule Bcl-2 antagonist HA14-1 were examined in human multiple myeloma cells. Whereas individual treatment of U266 myeloma cells with 10 μM HA14-1 or 100 nM flavopiridol had little effect, exposure to flavopiridol (6 hr) followed by HA14-1 (18 hr) resulted in a striking increase in apoptosis, accompanied by mitochondrial damage (cytochrome c and Smac/DIABLO release; loss of ΔΨm), activation of caspases-9, -8, and –3, as well as diminished clonogenic survival. Similar findings were noted in other myeloma cell lines (e.g., MM.1S) as well as those resistant to dexamethasone (MM.1R). Combined exposure to flavopiridol and HA14-1 triggered a marked increase in ROS generation; moreover, the anti-oxidant L-N-acetylcysteine attenuated this event and apoptosis. The lethality of flavopiridol/HA14-1 was associated with down-regulation of Mcl-1, Bcl-xL, Bid cleavage, mitochondrial translocation of Bax, and diminished association of Bcl-2 with Bax and Bak. Flavopiridol/HA14-1-treated cells also exhibited a marked activation of JNK, a modest activation of p38 MAPK, and down-regulation of cyclin D1. Finally, in contrast to dexamethasone, flavopiridol/HA14-1-induced lethality was unaffected by exogenous IL-6. Together, these findings indicate that flavopiridol and HA14-1 cooperate to trigger oxidant injury, mitochondrial dysfunction, caspase activation, and apoptosis in human multiple myeloma cells, and suggest that this approach may warrant further evaluation as an anti-myeloma strategy.


This study examined effects of accentuated eccentric loading (AEL) on barbell and trap bar loaded countermovement jumps (LCMJ). Twenty-one subjects (16 male, 5 female; Age: 23.5 ± 1.8 years; Body mass: 81.4 ± 10.6 kg; Height: 176.9 ± 7.2 cm; Training age: 7.1 ± 2.6 years) participated in this study. Upon establishing one repetition maximum and baseline jumping conditions, three experimental loading sessions were completed in random order. Barbell and trap bar LCMJ were performed with a spectrum of fixed loads from 20-50 kg during control conditions and with additional AEL loads of 10, 20, or 30 kg for experimental conditions. According to coefficients of variation (<10%), jump height, modified reactive strength index (mRSI), force, impulse, and duration measures were considered reliable across conditions. Mixed effect models analyzed effects of AEL against fixed loading in trap bar and barbell LCMJ (p < 0.05). Compared to the control condition, AEL produced negligible reductions in jump height during barbell LCMJ and small reductions during trap bar LCMJ. Modified reactive strength indexes were reduced by AEL during barbell LCMJ but not trap bar LCMJ. Average braking forces were greater in AEL conditions, while propulsive impulse was lower in the AEL conditions. The barbell LCMJ with AEL resulted in longer propulsive durations and unchanged braking durations, while propulsive and braking durations were lower during trap bar LCMJ with AEL compared to control conditions. This investigation revealed that use of AEL increases eccentric braking forces but decreases propulsive phase outputs, which subsequently may result in negligible to small acute decreases in LCMJ height. Implementing AEL during LCMJ may be an effective strategy to improve deceleration / eccentric abilities. Future research should explore longitudinal power and deceleration adaptations, while concomitantly improving acutely altered movement mechanics from AEL.


This paper presents estimates of short-term and long-term equilibrium rates of unemployment. Estimates of equilibrium rates of unemployment in the literature often produce results that closely follow actual unemployment rates. This paper, in contrast, shows that in the past twenty years equilibrium rates may well have been substantially lower than actual unemployment rates in many European countries. This result indicates a considerable period of rather low wage flexibility and strong persistence.


ABSTRACT A 31-year-old female presented to the clinic with a 2 year history of proptosis of the right eye. She was diagnosed with cavernous hemangioma during her initial ophthalmologic consult and was advised monitoring. However, after a considerable increase in proptosis, she underwent an excision biopsy of the right orbital mass. A diagnosis of Rosai Dorfman disease was made after the histopathology report revealed a fibrosclerotic tissue with histiocytic proliferation showing emperipolesis that is mixed with numerous small lymphocytes and plasma cells. Rosai Dorfman disease is a rare disease presenting with lymphadenopathy and sinus histiocytosis. Orbital involvement can be the principal manifestation with proptosis as the most common presentation. Resection of the orbital lesion helped in the resolution of the mild ophthalmic symptoms but since the disease has other systemic associations, a complete systemic workup should be done to monitor recurrence.


Introduction Hepatitis C is the third most common risk factor for liver diseases in the UK. Updated estimates suggest that around 216,000 individuals are chronically infected with hepatitis C. Treatment with combination of pegylated Interferon and ribavarin is well established. Specialist viral hepatitis nurses working collabaratively with clinicians play a major role in delivering excellent clinical outcomes. Methods Evaluate the safety and clinical effectiveness of chronic hepatitis C treatment that was led by the specialist viral hepatitis nurses under the supervision of gastroenterologists. Data was obtained from a prospectively maintained hepatitis C database over a 5-year period from September 2008 to date. A retrospective analysis of the database was carried out looking at the treatment outcomes. Patients with liver transplant and/or co-infection with hepatitis B or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were excluded. The dedicated viral hepatitis specialist nurses closely followed up all patients. Results A large database of 437 patients who underwent treatment was analysed. There were 128 (29.2%) females and 309 (70.7%) males ranging between 23–84yrs old (mean age of 42). Majority of patients were treated with combination therapy of pegylated interferon α2a and ribavarin whilst a small proportion (28) have received (triple therapy) protease inhibitors. The total number of patients who achieved sustained virologic response (SVR) at the end of treatment were 264 (60.41%). 196 (74.42%) of those were genotype 3a, 57 (21.60%) were genotype 1a/1b and 11 (4.17%) were genotype 2b/2a. 43 (9.84%) were considered non-responders. 49 (11.21%) patients were unable to complete treatment due to critical physical or mental illness with 12 of those (24.50%) have achieved SVR. Patients' feedback for this nurse-led service has been very positive. Conclusion Specialist nurse-led and clinicians supported hepatitis C service has delivered a high quality of care. Our dedicated specialist nurses working closely with clinicians have achieved high successful treatment rates in such a large cohort of patients. Disclosure of Interest None Declared.


Through an investigation of glottalisation in several languages of North America, this article examines the role of perception in the grammatical distribution of segments. Specifically, we consider the hypothesis that perceptual factors on the timing of glottalisation in consonants determine the arrangement of such consonants phonologically. Our conclusion is in the negative. In the cases we study, the distribution of glottalisation appears to be governed by syllable structure, not by glottal timing. We interpret the patterns presented as evidence for a modular theory of phonetics and phonology rather than a theory where properties of articulator timing are directly referenced by phonological constraints. Patterns of glottalisation result from the interaction of phonological submodules that are largely independent of each other, though properties of particular modules may be influenced by phonetic factors.


The participation of acrosin in mammalian sperm penetration through the zona pellucida has been amply debated. In this paper we report the immunolocalization—by silver enhanced immunogold technique using ACRO‐8C10 monoclonal antibody to human acrosin—of proacrosin/acrosin on ejaculated rabbit spermatozoa incubated in vitro in a capacitating medium and on spermatozoa recovered from the perivitelline space. After incubation in a capacitating medium, four different patterns were observed: (1) no labeling on acrosome intact spermatozoa; (2) labeling on the rim of the head; (3) labeling on the whole acrosome area; and (4) no labeling on acrosome reacted spermatozoa. At the start of incubation, spermatozoa with pattern 1 were the most abundant, whereas at the end of the 32 h incubation period, patterns 2 and 3 were the most frequent. On the other hand, 625 perivitelline spermatozoa were recovered from 17 fertilized rabbit eggs, of which 26% were labeled with the anti‐acrosin monoclonal antibody ACRO‐8C10 in two different areas: (1) only on the equatorial region; and (2) only on the postacrosomal area. These results are consistent with the idea that proacrosin/acrosin remains associated to the acrosome reacted spermatozoa for long periods of time, and that proacrosin/acrosin associated to perivitelline spermatozoa could be responsible for the second penetration of fresh rabbit eggs by perivitelline spermatozoa. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Non-native earthworms can cause abrupt changes in forest ecosystems by altering soil properties and depleting or redistributing soil carbon (C) stocks. The forests of Northern Maine are often perceived as having winters that are too harsh to support earthworm populations and that earthworms are restricted to more southerly regions. In this study, we report the discovery of European earthworms at two research sites in Northern Maine. At one site, earthworms were only found across a portion of the forest, and the median organic (O) horizon C stock in the area with earthworms was 34% less than that of areas without earthworms. At a second site, earthworms were found across the entire 60-ha forest and the median O horizon C stock was 39% less than that of a similar forest without earthworms. Consistent with reports from other regions, areas with earthworms had no or minimal eluvial (E) horizons, while earthworm-free locations always had E horizons. Earthworm presence was always associated with a topsoil (A) horizon, reflecting mechanical mixing and organic matter processing by earthworms. This is one of the first reports of non-native earthworm presence in Northern Maine forests and monitoring changes in soil C will be important for determining rates of C sequestration in these forests. Warmer winter temperatures, particularly winter minimums, and greater annual precipitation will likely increase the success of new earthworm introductions across Northern Maine forests. Management actions that limit the transport of earthworms into earthworm-free areas should be carefully evaluated to minimize the potential for new introductions.


Results from recent research studies examining the direct effect of local health department obesity prevention efforts on county-level variations in obesity are inconclusive. Local health departments' inability to decrease the prevalence of obesity within their jurisdiction with existing public health resources will likely persist as a result of organizational inefficiencies and limited funding available to provide obesity risk reduction programs and services to communities most adversely affected by the epidemic. To broaden their impact despite these barriers, local health departments would do well to identify other strategies that improve their ability to deliver obesity prevention programs to diverse communities, such as using partnerships with community-based organizations that have relevant obesity prevention expertise.This dissertation comprises two studies that examine the role of local health department organizational characteristics and area-level factors on the presence of local health department community-based partnerships and the effect of these partnerships on the percentage point change in county-level obesity prevalence. Multiple waves of data from the National Profile Survey of Local Health Departments, U.S. Census Bureau, and the obesity prevalence data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression and ordinary least squares regression modeling. Additionally, key informant interviews (n=4) with stakeholders from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health complemented the secondary data analysesResults indicated that local health departments are providing a substantial amount of obesity prevention programs through partnerships with other organizations in the local public health system. The probability of partnering to provide obesity prevention programs increased with the size of the population served. The benefit of local health department community-based partnerships for decreasing the county-level prevalence of obesity was not confirmed. Local health departments experience barriers to the formation of community-based partnerships, including the administrative burden associated with the processing of formal contracts.Findings suggest that local health departments are interested in improving their obesity prevention efforts and value partnerships with community-based organizations. However there are other important agencies that local health departments must partner with for policy adoption and advocacy activities. Local health departments within larger jurisdictions can benefit from the economies of scale and improve their population-based obesity prevention programs. Results suggest that future obesity risk reduction research should continue assessing the benefits achieved from local health department partnerships with community-based organizations.


Objectives To analyse whether reported fatigue, one of the most challenging manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), may bias the assessment of disease activity in SLE according to the Physician Global Assessment (PGA). Methods Patients from the Lupus BioBank of the upper Rhein database, a cross-sectional multicentre collection of detailed clinical and biological data from patients with SLE, were included. Patients had to fulfil the 1997 American College of Rheumatology criteria for SLE and the PGA (0–3 scale) at the time of inclusion had to be available. Fatigue was assessed according to the Fatigue Scale for Motor and Cognitive Functions. Univariate and multivariate regression models were built to determine which variables were associated with the PGA. Results A total of 350 patients (89% female; median age: 42 years, IQR: 34–52) were included. The median Safety of Estrogens in Lupus Erythematosus National Assessment-Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SELENA-SLEDAI) score was 4 (IQR: 2–6). Of these 350 patients, 257 (73%) reported significant fatigue. The PGA (p=0.004) but not the SELENA-SLEDAI (p=0.43) was significantly associated with fatigue. Both fatigue and SELENA-SLEDAI were independently associated with the PGA in two different multivariate models. Conclusion Fatigue is independently associated with disease activity assessed using the PGA but not the SLEDAI. These findings highlight the fact that the PGA should capture only objectively active disease manifestations in order to improve its reliability.


Modern Lightweight robots are constructed to be collaborative, which often results in a low structural stiffness compared to conventional rigid robots. Therefore, the controller must be able to handle the dynamic oscillatory effect mainly due to the intrinsic joint elasticity. Singular perturbation theory makes it possible to decompose the flexible joint dynamics into fast and slow subsystems. This model separation provides additional features to incorporate future knowledge of the jointlevel dynamical behavior within the controller design using the Model Predictive Control (MPC) technique. In this study, different architectures are considered that combine the method of Singular Perturbation and MPC. For Singular Perturbation, the parameters that influence the validity of using this technique to control a flexible-joint robot are investigated. Furthermore, limits on the input constraints for the future trajectory are considered with MPC. The position control performance and robustness against external forces of each architecture are validated experimentally for a flexible joint robot. The experimental validation shows superior performance in practice for the presented MPC framework, especially respecting the actuator torque limits.


Demand side management can add flexibility to a district heating (DH) system by balancing the customer's hourly fluctuating heat demand. The aim of this study is to analyze how different demand side management control strategies, implemented into different customer segments, impact DH production. A city scale heat demand model is constructed from the hourly heat consumption data of different customer segments. This model is used to build several demand side management scenarios to examine the effect of them on both, the heat producer, and the customers. The simulations are run for three different-sized DH systems, representing typical DH systems in Finland, in order to understand how the demand side management implementations affect the production. The findings imply that the demand side management strategy must be built individually for each specific DH system; the changing consumption profiles of different customer segments should be taken into consideration. The results show that the value of demand side management for a DH companies remains low (less than 2% in cost savings), having an effect mostly upon the medium loads without any significant decrease in annual peak heat loads. Also, the findings reflect that the DH pricing models should be developed to make demand side management more attractive to DH customers.


In the last years many efforts were made to push the trend to highly automated driving from a highway function to urban areas (urban chauffeur functions). With this, new challenges came into focus. One of these challenges is the positioning of the ego car to get lane accurate driving in cities. Due to multipath signal propagation, reflections and even blackouts, a single GPS solution will not be sufficient to face the challenges for a high precise localization and driving. Differential GPS systems (DGPS) combined with inertial measurement units (IMU) are a step forward on this, but currently they are expensive and at longer blackouts the system will fail [8] either. For this reason, further methods were proposed and are under research until today. One big research field is the landmark based localization and derivatives of it. In this paper we introduce a precise localization system that uses series vehicle sensors. We show, that with the use of a set of multiple cameras known from surround view systems, standard GPS equipment and the car Odometry sensors, localization problems inside urban areas could be solved. To estimate the position, lanes Information that have been detected by a set of wide angle cameras mounted around the car are used. These cameras are able to detect and measure the relative position of lane segment markings, arrow markings, pedestrian crossings and stop lines. The information is combined with enhanced data based on open street map (OSM). Thereby a landmark based estimation could be established. Furthermore, the Information and signals from the car sensors and antennas like Odometry and GPS are used for an improved position update and estimation. All Information are finally merged with a particle filter. The main goal of this system is to combine all Information the car could provide by its serial hardware in a cost-effective method for a stable and precise localization in challenging surroundings. The potential performance of the system is evaluated with different driving tests.


Abstract. Debris-covered glaciers are a common feature of the
mountain cryosphere in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. A better
understanding of these glaciers is necessary to reduce the uncertainties in
regional water resource variability and to anticipate potential cryospheric
risks. In this study, we quantified the seasonal thinning and surface mass
balance patterns of two neighbouring debris-covered glaciers (23K Glacier and
24K Glacier) in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau with four unpiloted aerial
vehicle surveys and in situ measurements. We observed that the thinning of 23K
Glacier was ∼2–7 times greater than that of the 24K Glacier for
annual and cold periods. The surface velocity of the 24K Glacier is higher than
that of the 23K Glacier (∼5–6 times) for all periods. In contrast
with the thinning patterns, the surface mass balance patterns of the two
glaciers closely agree across the different periods. We found that the
surface mass balance distribution strongly correlated with the spatial
distribution of debris thickness for both glaciers. Ice cliffs and
supraglacial ponds are prevalent on the surface of these glaciers
(∼4.4–7.2±0.5 %) and enhance melt overall
(enhancement factor: ∼2.5) but do not control the surface
mass balance pattern of either glacier. This comparison study of two
neighbouring glaciers confirms the significance of both glacier dynamics and
debris thickness in controlling thinning and melt for the different
debris-covered glaciers of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau in the context
of climate change.


Background: Microbiotas play critical roles in human health, yet in most cases scientists lack standardized and reproducible methods. To date, stool sample preservation remains a source of technological bias in metagenomic sequencing, despite newly developed storage solutions. Studying those biases will help in identifying the appropriate stool preservation approach to promote the implementation of standard operating procedure and improve comparability across multiple microbiome studies. Results: Here, we conducted a comparative study of 10 storage methods for human stool over a 15-day period of storage at fluctuating temperatures. We first compared the performance of each stabilizer with observed bacterial composition variation within the same specimen. Then, we identified the nature of the observed variations to determine which bacterial populations were more impacted by the stabilizer. We found that DNA stabilizers display various stabilizing efficacies and affect the recovered bacterial profiles. Furthermore, our results showed that the bias associated with the stabilizers can be linked to the phenotypical characteristics of the bacterial populations present in the studied samples. Conclusions: Although newly developed storage solutions have improved our capacity to stabilize stool microbial content over time, they are nevertheless not devoid of biases. We therefore recommend considering the nature of these technological biases before claiming whether some microbes are beneficial or even deleterious to human health.