Engine inlet distortion complications have plagued the turbine engine development community for decades, and engineers have developed countless methods to identify and combat the harmful effects of inlet distortion. One such type of distortion that has gained much attention in recent years is known as inlet swirl, which results in a significant flow angularity at the face of the engine. This flow angularity can affect the pressure rise and flow capacity of the fan or compressor, and subsequently affect compressor and engine performance.Previous modeling and simulation efforts to predict the effect inlet swirl can have on fan and compressor performance have made great strides, yet still leave a lot to be desired. In particular, a one-dimensional parallel compressor model called DYNTECC (Dynamic Turbine Engine Compressor Code) has been used to analyze the effects of inlet swirl on fan and performance operability of the Honeywell F109 turbofan engine. However, when compared to experimental swirl data gathered at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), the model predictions were found to be inaccurate.This paper documents work done to compare the initial predictions generated by DYNTECC to the latest set of experimental swirl data, analyze the potential shortcomings of the initial model, and modify the existing model to more accurately reflect test data. Extensive work was completed to create a methodology that can calibrate the model to existing clean inlet fan map data. In addition, an in depth study of fan/compressor stalling criteria was conducted, and the model was modified to use an alternate stalling criteria that more accurately predicted the point of stall for various swirl inlet conditions. The prediction of the fan stall pressure ratio for all inlet swirl conditions tested is within 2% of the ground test stall point at the same referred fan speed and referred mass flow.© 2015 ASME


Series of recent k-.epsilon. model modification have been carried out with the aid of DNS data to include the effect of near wall. Though these methods opened new way of turbulence modelings, newly developed turbulence models of its kind had yet shortcomings in prediction for the turbulent flows with various Reynolds numbers and various geometric conditions. As a remedy for these shortcomings, a new k-.epsilon. model proposed here by improving the dissipation rate equation and the damping function for eddy viscosity model. The new dissipation rate equation was modeled based on the energy spectrum and magnitude analysis. The damping function for eddy viscosity was also formulated on the ground of distribution of dissipation rate length scales near a wall and the DNS data. The new k-.epsilon. model was applied to the fully developed turbulent flows in a channel and a pipe with a wide range of Reynolds numbers. Prediction results showed that the present model represents properly the turbulence properties in all turbulent regions over a wide range of Reynolds numbers.


This paper introduces design contracts between control and embedded software engineers for building Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). CPS design involves a variety of disciplines mastered by teams of engineers with diverse backgrounds. Many system properties influence the design in more than one discipline. The lack of clearly defined interfaces between disciplines burdens the interaction and collaboration. We show how design contracts can facilitate interaction between 2 groups: control and software engineers. A design contract is an agreement on certain properties of the system. Every party specifies requirements and assumptions on the system and the environment. This contract is the central point of inter-domain communication and negotiation. Designs can evolve independently if all parties agree to a contract or designs can be modified iteratively in negotiation processes. The main challenge lies in the definition of a concise but sufficient contract. We discuss design contracts that specify timing and functionality, two important properties control and software engineers have to agree upon. Various design approaches have been established and implemented successfully to address timing and functionality. We formulate those approaches as design contracts and propose guidelines on how to choose, derive and employ them. Modeling and simulation support for the design contracts is discussed using an illustrative example.


ABSTRACT Guillot, B., Castelle, B., Marieu, V., Bujan, S., and Rosebery, D., 2018. UAV Monitoring of 3-year foredune partial recovery from a severe winter: Truc Vert beach, SW France. In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 276–280. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The recent development of ultra-light civil UAVs and photogrammetric techniques provides new and efficient means to remotely sense the coastal topography at high spatial and temporal resolutions along spatially extensive areas. Truc Vert, SW France, is a high-energy meso-macrotidal beach backed by a preserved high and wide coastal dune system. This coastal dune system, which had been relatively stable over the last 70 years, was severely eroded during the winter of 2013/2014 with 800-m long and up to 8-m high cuspate erosion scarps. Since then, the foredune has been slowly recovering. This 3-year period was characterized, at the early stage, by the destabilisation of the scarped dune by trough blowouts, scarp slumping and filling and seasonal beach berm dynamics. The onset of foredune recovery occurred subsequently, and was characterized by the development of a dune ramp. This ramp provided efficient conduit for beach-dune delivery/exchange of sediment by the end of the study despite the high-energy winter of 2015/2016 drove localized dune erosion. The coastal dune did not fully recover with an approximately 60% average recovery within 3 years, an overall accretion due primarily to incipient foredune formation and foredune growth in height. The timing and magnitude of the incomplete recovery sequence from the UAV surveys provide an outstanding measure of coastal dune resilience to severe storms in this region of the world.


In this paper, taking Xijingyu village of Tianjin city in China as an example, through on-site field investigations about traditional stone dwellings there, we summed up their morphological characteristics from the points of site selection, overall layout, functional organization and construction craft. During this process, we analyzed the regional living wisdom they contained. Then, we summarized the current situation of the self-construction of vernacular dwellings in Xijingyu village and discussed their self-construction mode. Finally, in view of local actual situation, we offered some appropriate and reasonable proposals for the self-construction mode of the dwellings there. We did this to help record, extract and inherit the traditional regional living wisdom for Xijingyu village, and to provide academic guidance for contemporary self-construction of dwellings. This research can also be taken as reference for the study of rural residential houses in others villages around Tianjin.


A priority in strength and power exercise might be to train with as high quality as possible for the shortest possible duration. In this context, peak power output could reflect quality. Designing an exercise session as a cluster set structure, as compared to a traditional set structure, may be a way to obtain higher peak power output in the session. But it is unknown whether that is obtainable for non-elite individuals performing loaded jump squat exercise. The aim of the present study was therefore to test the hypothesis that peak power output would be highest in a jump squat exercise session, which was structured with cluster sets, as compared to traditional sets. Ten individuals (2 women, 8 men; 26.5 ± 4.8 years, 1.81 ± 0.08 m, 90.9 ± 13.2 kg) performed two loaded jump squat exercise sessions structured with cluster sets and traditional sets, respectively. The sessions were performed on two separate days, in counterbalanced order. The position of the barbell was used to calculate derived values including peak power output. Values calculated as averages across the entire exercise sessions showed peak power output to be 178 ± 181 W, corresponding to 4.1% ± 4.9%, higher in the session with cluster set structure, as compared to the session with traditional set structure (p = 0.005). It was concluded that for non-elite individuals, peak power output was approximately 4% higher in a loaded jump squat exercise session structured with cluster sets as compared to an exercise session structured with traditional sets.


Plankton and benthos are two communities of organisms that can be used as bioindicator of aquatic environment. The purpose of this research were to determine kinds, density and diversity of plankton and benthos in Pepe river Surakarta as bioindicator. Study site was devided into 3 station as sampling location. Data sampling of identifying the type, density and calculating the value of diversity index (ID) according to Shannon Wiener for-mula. Investigations carried out measurements of environmental parameters, namely tempera-ture, pH and Dissolved Oxygen The result showed that 1) identified 20 kinds of plankton in Pepe river Surakarta namely Spirogy- ra, Eustbidentat, Pleurosigma, Oscilatoria, Euglena, Aungilospora, Gonatozygon, Dendrospora, Amoeba, Blepharisma sp, Hapalosiphon, Skeletonema, Synura, Stentor, Worochinia, Leptomitus, Peridinium, Paramecium, Volvox, Rhizosolenia, and Lyngbia with the composition and density vary between each sampling site, 2) Identified 3 kinds of benthos in Pepe river Surakarta namely Melanoides sp, Lymnaea sp and Fimbria fimbriata with the composition and density vary between each sampling site and 3 ) the Shannon Wiener Diversity Index (ID) of plankton and benthos in Pepe river Surakarta ranged from 0.98 to 1.98, showing the condition of polluted waters from mild to severe, varied between sampling sites.


American Foulbrood and European Foulbrood diseases of honeybees were examined in 725 beehives from 23 apiaries located in the South Marmara Region of Turkey. We determined that 19 apiaries were infected and the suspected clinical signs of foulbrood diseases were investigated in 102 beehives by PCR and cultural method. Broods and combs from colonies with suspected clinical symptoms of foulbrood diseases were collected and cultured for bacteriological examination. All of the specimens contaminated with bacteriae and 37 species of bacteriae were isolated such as Stapylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis, Corynebacterium jeikum, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, Bacillus spp. All of these bacteria are related to human, animal and environmental origins. In this study, Paenibacillus larvae by PCR amplifying the 973-bp region PL1 and PL2 with 1f, Melissococcus plutonius amplifying the 973bp region EFB-F and EFB-R gene were amplified. American Foulbrood causative agent Paenibacillus larvae and European Foulbrood causative agent Melissococcus plutonius were not detected in any sample examined by PCR and cultural methods. On the other hand, Paenibacillus alvei that is a seconder agent to European Foulbrood was found in two samples by cultural methods. In conclusion, the results showed that P. larvae and M. plutonius are not present in South Marmara Region. In this study, human, animal and environment originated agents were isolated.


BACKGROUND
To promote prevention and early detection of cancer, the authors conducted a three-year intervention targeting Vietnamese physicians in solo practice in California.

METHODS
Twenty subjects who had received their medical training in Vietnam were recruited into a randomized controlled trial. The intervention included computerized or manual cancer screening reminders, continuing medical education seminars, Vietnamese-language health education materials, newsletters, and oncology data-query programs. Evaluation included chart audits for eight targeted activities pre- and post-intervention.

RESULTS
Before the intervention, annual physician performance rates were low for all eight activities: routine checkups (65.6%), Pap testing (13.8%), pelvic examinations (19.8%), clinical breast examinations (13.3%), mammography (6.4%), hepatitis B serologies (21.9%), hepatitis B immunizations (12.8%), and smoking cessation counseling (1.6%). After the intervention, performance rates increased significantly for smoking cessation counseling (p = 0.02), Pap testing (p = 0.004), and pelvic examinations (p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
The results demonstrate the efficacy of an intervention targeting Vietnamese primary care physicians in promoting smoking cessation counseling, Pap testing, and pelvic examinations, but not other cancer prevention activities.


Elastomeric separation of anterior teeth for the diagnosis and treatment of small proximal lesions has been described. A case report illustrates the technique.


A series resonant matrix converter (MC) based topology for high power electric vehicle (EV) battery charging is presented. The system performs DC fast charging and is capable of bidirectional power flow, for V2G (vehicle-to-grid) applications. The proposed topology can be divided into three sections: (i) a front-end 3×1 matrix converter, (ii) LrCr series resonant tank and high frequency (HF) transformer, and (iii) a single phase PWM rectifier. The matrix converter takes a three phase line frequency voltage and produces a high frequency (14.94 kHz) AC output. The resonant tank frequency is set to 13.7 kHz and helps to achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS) turn ON and low turn OFF switching losses. The secondary of the transformer is then interfaced to the EV battery bank through a PWM rectifier. The advantages of such a system include high efficiency due to soft switching operation, low VA transformer ratings due to resonant operation, and high power density due to the absence of electrolytic capacitors. A design example rated 30 kW, which charges a 500 V battery system, is presented. Analysis and simulation results demonstrate the performance of the proposed bidirectional topology. Preliminary experimental results are provided for a scaled down prototype operating at 500 W using a 15 kHz ferrite transformer.


This paper reports on how decision-makers' personal characteristics and organisational characteristics can influence the screening of immigrant professionals during the recruitment and selection process. The sample consisted of 220 decision-makers in the engineering industry working in New South Wales, Australia. The results show White/Anglo Australian decision-makers had more suitability concerns of ethnic migrant candidates during the recruitment and selection process than decision-makers of other ethnicities. However, this was moderated by organisational characteristics of size and clientele. Decision-makers in larger organisations and a diverse ethnic client base showed less suitability concerns of migrant candidates during the recruitment and selection process.


Abstract The research project undertaken for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) reported in this thesis examined research use within policy and program decision-making processes in two government agencies: WorkSafe Victoria and the Transport Accident Commission. These agencies are responsible for workplace and transport injury prevention and rehabilitation compensation in the Australian state of Victoria. This PhD research project sought to: provide a detailed understanding of the 'everyday' operating context of these agencies; identify factors that affect decision-making generally; identify factors that affect research use specifically; and inform the development of an intervention to drive and support increased research use in these agencies. This research project was designed based on the following premises: contextual factors can affect individual, organisational and external capacity for research use; there are (relatively) few studies examining research use in Australian government public health policy and program environments; there is lack of evidence of effectiveness of interventions designed to increase research use in policy environments; to enhance effectiveness, theory-guided context-specific research is needed to inform research translation intervention development. To address the research aims and questions a mixed method formative evaluation was undertaken. This included: quantitative policy document content analysis (N=128); qualitative interview (N=33); and quantitative survey (N=405). The content analyses of policy documents revealed that academic research evidence was the information type referred to least often and that internal policy and medical and clinical evidence were the information types referred to most frequently. Qualitative analysis of interview data found that the following external factors affected decision-making and research use: stakeholder feedback and action, ministerial and government input, legal feedback and action, injured persons and the media. Organisational level factors affecting policy and program decision-making identified in the qualitative analysis included: resources, competing priorities, management and staff and engagement, politics and ideology, relationships and networks. Qualitative analysis also revealed 'research push' and 'research pull' factors that affected research use. Key 'research pull' factors included: resources, access and awareness, politics and policy process, management support. Key 'research push' factors included: research communication and research relevance. Quantitative analysis of survey data showed that academic research evidence was the information type used least often to inform decision-making. Internal data and reports was the most frequently used. Analyses also revealed significant differences in use of academic research across: the two agencies studied; role focus groups; role levels; and level of education. Further analyses of survey data identified significant predictors of research use, including: skills for research use, relevance of research, internal prompts for use of research, intentions to use research in the next 12 months. These findings have led to the development of recommendations for intervention design, implementation and evaluation, particularly focused on addressing the factors identified in the interview and survey data analyses. It is recommended that the research translation intervention be implemented in two phases. First research translation structures and process are to be established. Then research translation support tools and activities are to be developed and implemented to enhance and support the established structures and processes.


This thesis deals with the problem of resolution enhancement (super resolution) of thermal images using compressed sensing methods. We solve the super resolution problem in four stages. First, we seek a sparse representation of a low-resolution image with respect to two statistically-learned overcomplete dictionaries (for high and low resolution images respectively) and then we use the coefficients of this representation to calculate the high resolution image. Then, we calculate the high resolution image using methods requiring multiple low resolution images aligned with subpixel accuracy (conventional approach). We compare the results of each method using broadly acclaimed metrics regarding reconstruction quality standards.


Drusen is a retina abnormality considered a risk factor for age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) that is one of the leading causes of blindness. It is noticed in retina images as small sized yellow spots. To evaluate therapy effectiveness ophthalmologists usually do a visual inspection what is fastidious and not reproducible. In this paper we propose an integrated methodology for correcting the non-uniform illumination and for detecting and quantifying Drusen deposits. This methodology is based on modeling the Drusen deposits with tri-dimensional functions. The results of applying this new methodology to clinical cases are also presented.


Abstract: Bioenergy crops are considered to have the potential for climate mitigation and socio-economic benefits owing to their capacity to sequester C and partially replace the consumption of fossil fuels. In this study, the effects on soil respiration of a recent conversion of arable land to high (H) and very high (VH) density short-rotation coppices (SRCs), as well as of agronomic treatments (fertilization with or without irrigation) and lane/row location, were investigated in an alluvial area in Italy. A survey of soil variability was carried out by collecting soil cores (0-60 cm depth) at 67 points to characterize surface and subsurface spatial distributions of pH, organic carbon, nitrogen and carbonates and identify comparable points for monitoring soil respiration. Soil CO2 emissions were monitored over the period April 2010-November 2011 at 27 locations covering the whole study site. The influence of land use (H-SRC, VH-SRC, corn and alfalfa) or treatments on soil respiration was evaluated considering both factors as fixed effects in a linear mixed model. Our results showed that (i) the high variability of soil properties even at small spatial scale has to be considered when selecting points for monitoring soil respiration in the field; (ii) the cumulative soil respiration over the study period at the VH-SRC was lower (1299 ± 30 g C m-2) than in croplands (1600 ±145 g C m-2) and higher along the rows than in the lanes; (iii) no significant differences in soil respiration were found between the H-SRC and corn field; (iv) two years after VH-SRC establishment, agronomic treatments did not appear to influence soil respiration; (v) land-use change affected the vertical soil organic carbon distribution and soil surface temperature, as reflected in soil respiration differences.


The reinforcing effects of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are investigated for aluminum matrix composites. The composites present a strong bonding between CNTs and the aluminum matrix using a controlled mechanical milling process, producing a network structure of aluminum atoms around CNTs. At the same time, CNTs that are dispersed during the milling process can be located inside aluminum powders, thereby providing an easy consolidation route via thermomechanical processes. A composite containing 4.5 vol% multiwalled CNTs exhibits a yield strength of 620 MPa and fracture toughness of 61 MPa·mm^1/2, the values of which are nearly 15 and seven times higher than those of the corresponding starting aluminum, respectively.


The incidence of bacteremia following various dental interventions of 280 selected patients were studied using blood culture technique with aerobic and anaerobic cultivation. The incidence of bacteremia after multiple teeth extraction was higher (51.72%) than those single tooth extraction (44%). The incidence of bacteremia after local anaesthetic injection differs according to the type of injections significantly. In scaling and root planning the use of local prophylactic solution reduced the incidence of bacteremia from 37.7% to 13.9%. Poor oral hygiene had an effect on incidence of bacteremia at different dental interventions. The role of sex and age in bacteremia was variable. Aerobic bacteria were more than anaerobic and the most common bacteria isolated were Streptococcus viridans (30.5%) and Staphylococcus aureus (19.7%).


Texas is consistently the leading state when it comes to traffic fatalities related to drunk driving. Texas leads the second highest state, California, by several hundred deaths in many years (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 1996-2018). The majority of other states (37) have implemented a system of driver checkpoints to assist police officers in identifying intoxicated drivers behind the wheel in vehicles (Governors Highway Safety Association, 2016). Texas, however, has not employed such a system. In order to reduce serious accidents and provide deterrence to driving while intoxicated (DWI) citations, the Texas Legislature should take action, and vehicle sobriety checkpoints should be implemented in Texas.
This author asserts that instigating checkpoints in Texas would reduce injury and fatality accidents by providing a system for officers to stop drunk drivers prior to being involved in accidents. The paper will also show how checkpoints provide deterrence to drunk driving by increasing visibility of DWI arrests, as well as through public notification of the checkpoints in the media. Finally, this paper will review several counter arguments to DWI checkpoints that include constitutional challenges and a history of their use by police agencies for racial profiling.


An on-demand bus is like a shared taxi that operates only when riders want to travel between the origin and destination locations. It offers many advantages over fixed-route buses, but the riders are bothered by the need to tediously enter such data as origins, destinations, and deadlines. A location recommendation system that predicts such data would help riders during the reservation process and help target potential riders when buses are idle. In this paper, a general and scalable framework for such location recommendation algorithms is presented. It is based on users' location histories and spatio-temporal correlations among the locations by combining prediction methods of the collaborative filtering algorithms, which are widely used in e-commerce, with a popular method in data mining called link propagation. Experiments on real-world data demonstrate that the accuracy of recommendations with the spatio-temporal information is better than those without.


The target of the present work was the chemical, technological, and sensorial characterization of the brown polymers (foaming fractions) of freshly prepared espresso coffee. The total foaming fraction (TFF) was precipitated with ammonium sulfate from the defatted freshly prepared beverage and then subfractionated by adding 2-propanol/water to give an insoluble fraction (foaming fraction A, FFA) and a soluble fraction (foaming fraction B, FFB). The former is almost colorless, has a higher molecular weight and a lower nitrogen content, and contains mostly polysaccharides, whereas the latter has a lower molecular weight and a higher protein/melanoidin content, which results in a darker color. FFB showed greater foaming capability, but FFA contributed to the stability of the foam. FFB was further fractionated with solid-phase extraction and characterized by different analytical methods (size exclusion chromatography, UV, HPLC-DAD, 1H NMR). All of the melanoidin-rich fractions showed antioxidant properties with the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate method.


This study examined the operating characteristics of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) as a screen for "at-risk" drinking in a multi-ethnic sample of primary care patients, from a family practice center located in the southwestern United States. A probability sample of 1,333 family medicine patients, stratified by gender and racial/ethnic background (white, African-American and Mexican-American) completed the AUDIT, followed by the Alcohol Use Disorders and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule (AUDADIS) to determine ICD-10 diagnoses. Indicators of hazardous alcohol use and alcohol-related problems were included as measures of "at-risk" drinking. Despite differences in the spectrum of alcohol problems across patient subgroups, there was no evidence of gender or racial/ethnic bias in the AUDIT as indicated by Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve analysis. Excluding abstainers from the analysis and little impact on screening efficacy. In this population, the AUDIT appears to be an unbiased measure of "at-risk" drinking.


Deficiencies identified in complex audit tasks suggest room for improvement in audit judgments. I propose that aligning an auditor's focus (prevention/promotion) and mindset (concrete/abstract) in a compatible way can induce an experience of "regulatory fit" that improves judgments compared to "regulatory non-fit". Results are more complex than previously thought. I find that fit versus non-fit improves judgments, but only for auditors who are initially less engaged in the judgment task. For auditors who are initially more engaged, non-fit versus fit improves judgments. A second experiment provides converging evidence. Prior research finds strong evidence that fit improves performance versus non-fit. The possibility that non-fit could improve performance has received little attention. By conceptualizing initial task engagement and identifying it as a key moderator, my study suggests that non-fit also has value, and that assessing auditor pre-existing conditions before prescribing interventions is important for improving judgments.


Color vision in rainbow trout was studied by characterizing the spectral sensitivity of single units in three areas of visual processing: optic nerve; optic tectum; and torus semicircularis. Sensitivity to medium wavelength stimuli was a common feature of all single units examined. Additionally, long wavelength sensitivity was found in all units that were not medium wavelength-only or monophasic. Ultraviolet and short-wavelength sensitivity was common in small, juvenile trout, with ultraviolet sensitive units found in the optic nerve and torus, and short wavelength sensitivity found in the optic nerve and tectum. The shorter wavelength inputs were excitatory and, if found in the same unit, synergistic. The most common type of unit in the trout tectum and optic nerve is trichromatic, with ON inputs from the long and short cone mechanisms and an OFF input from the medium mechanism. In contrast, goldfish color vision is dominated by L and M opponent units without S input. The segregation of ultraviolet sensitivity in the torus but not in the tectum relates to functional differences of these two areas. While the tectum serves the function of wavelength discrimination, ultraviolet inputs to the torus may contribute to prey detection and orientation.


Simplicity and reliability have been kept foremost in generators recently developed for Diesel-electric switcher locomotives ranging from ten to 80 tons. New motors and control equipment have been developed at the same time. This paper deals especially with the generators, their electrical and mechanical features, and performance characteristics, both as power generators and as motors for engine starting from the locomotive battery. Operating fundamentally as self-excited generators, separate exciters have been eliminated. The simplicity of the generator windings has allowed corresponding simplicity of control circuits.


We present a switched linear system approach for modeling the complex nonlinear dynamics associated with temperature inversion occurring in thermally stratified hot water tanks. Such tanks are commonly used for thermal energy storage, particularly in low- to medium-temperature waste heat recovery applications. By separating the influence of temperature inversion from the internal heat transfer between states in the governing differential equations, we paramaterize the nonlinearity using a vector of discrete variables. This vector is then used to define the switching between a set of linear, discrete time models. The proposed switched model is validated against a reduced-order nonlinear model of the thermal energy storage and then integrated with a fuel cell model to capture the dynamics of a micro-combined heat and power system. Simulation results demonstrate the importance that temperature inversion has on the stratification dynamics which in turn has implications for control of such systems.


A brachiopod fauna from the uppermost part of the Tournaisian Tournai Formation (Belgium) contains an undetermined species of Crurithyris (Spiriferida, Ambocoeliidae), which displays numerous bored shells. About 8% of the 432 specimens with conjoined valves display single, small (≤ 1 mm) boreholes, which are smooth-sided, cylindrical or weakly conical, circular to slightly elliptical in plan view, perpendicular to the shell surface and generally complete. Of the 35 bored articulated specimens, 27 were drilled on the ventral valve. Most of the boreholes are located in the posterior half of the shell, and no case of edge-drilling has been observed. The boreholes were drilled by a predator, or possibly a parasite, which selected individuals greater than 2.5 mm long. Crurithyris sp. may have represented an attractive (in terms of energy cost) and easy target for a small-sized predator because of its thin shell and ornament of minute spines.


Abstract The quantification of maximal mean speed (MMS), maximal mean metabolic power (MMPmet), critical speed (CS) and critical metabolic power (CPmet) was conducted over full A-League (elite) and National Premier League (NPL; sub-elite) seasons. Comparisons were made between levels of soccer competition and playing positions (i. e. centre backs, full backs, central midfielders, wide midfielders and strikers). A symmetric moving average algorithm was applied to the GPS raw data using specific time windows (i. e. 1, 5, 10, 60, 300 and 600 s) and maximal values were obtained. Additionally, these maximal values were used to derive estimates of CS and CPmet. Maximal mean values, particularly during smaller time windows (i. e. 1 and 5 s), were greater in A-League match play. Only MMPmet1 was identified as being consistently different between competitions (P=<0.001–0.049) in all playing positions. Significance was only observed in CS (P=0.005) and CPmet (P=0.005) of centre backs between competitions. Centre backs were identified as the least energy demanding playing position. The present findings suggests that both maximal mean and critical analyses are suitable alternatives to common absolute distance and speed assessments of match running performance during competitive matches.


The prevalence of mental health problems in older adults is increasing globally as well as in India due to population ageing. Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA) 2017 has a rights-based approach and came into force in India in May 2018. Its provisions have significant implications for promoting mental health care and protecting the rights of persons with mental illness (PMI). Older adults with mental health problems such as dementia have a high risk for loss of mental capacity, abuse, violation of their rights, and institutionalization. This act advocates the development of specialized clinical services for the older adults in mental health care institutions. It also recognizes the rights of PMI to access a range of services required, including rehabilitation services. Several provisions of the act, such as those related to mental capacity, advance directive, nominated representative, and responsibilities of other agencies, have specific challenges related to older adults with mental illness. In this article, we present a critical appraisal of the implications of MHCA 2017 in the context of the care of the older adults with mental illness.


The TORC1 pathway is necessary for ribosomal biogenesis and initiation of protein translation. Furthermore, the differentiation of Th1 and Th17 cells requires TORC1 activity. To investigate the role of the TORC1 pathway in the differentiation of Th1 and/or Th17 cells in more detail, we compared the differentiation capacity of naïve T cells from wild type and p70S6K1 knockout mice. Expression of many of the genes associated with Th17‐cell differentiation, such as IL17a, IL17f, and IL‐23R, were reduced in p70S6K1 knockout mice. In contrast, the development of Th1, Th2, and Treg cells was unaffected in the absence of p70S6K1. Furthermore, expression of the major transcription factor in Th17‐cell differentiation, retinoic acid receptor‐related orphan receptor gamma T, remained unchanged. However, the acetylation of histone 3 at the promoters of IL17a and IL17f was reduced in the absence of p70S6K1. In accordance with the in vitro data, the kinetics, but not the development, of EAE was affected with the loss of p70S6K1 expression. Collectively, our findings suggested that both in vitro and in vivo differentiation of Th17 cells were positively regulated by p70S6K1.


Calcium channels play a central role in the regulation of intracellular calcium (Ca2+) concentration, and their function is subject to control by voltageregulated, receptor-regulated, or voltage-and receptor-regulated mechanisms. Three types of calcium channels have been described. These are the T (transient or "fast"), the N (neuronal), and the L (long lasting or "slow") channels. The L channels appear to be heterogeneous and have dilferent properties in different tissues. Intracellular calcium-ion concentration can be increased by three types of receptor mechanisms. In the heart, L channels can be phosphorylated by a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase after β1-adrenergic receptor stimulation. In vascular smooth muscle, the postjunctional α2-adrenergic receptor is coupled to a Ca2+ channel by a G protein; receptor stimulation facilitates calcium influx. This channel might be a form of L channel. A third receptor mechanism, especially active in vascular smooth muscle, is typified by the α1-adrenergic receptor that, when stimulated, will activate phospholipase C. This leads to an increase in intracellular inositol trisphosphate (IP3), which is an intracellular messenger that can induce calcium release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Thus, release of norepinephrine from sympathetic nerves in the cardiovascular system stimulates the heart and vessels to contract by increasing Ca2+; however, the mechanism by which this occurs is different, depending on whether the noradrenergic agonist interacts with β1-α2-, or α1-adrenergic receptors.


Deep X–ray surveys have shown that the cosmic X–ray background (XRB) is largely due to the accretion onto supermassive black holes, integrated over the cosmic time. The Röntgensatellit (ROSAT), Chandra and XMM–Newton satellites have resolved more than 80% of the 0.1–10 keV X–ray background into discrete sources. Optical spectroscopic identifications are ca. 90% and 60% complete, for the deepest ROSAT and Chandra/XMM–Newton surveys, respectively, and show that the sources producing the bulk of the X–ray background are a mixture of obscured (type–1) and unobscured (type–2) active galactic nuclei (AGN), as predicted by the XRB population–synthesis models, following the unified AGN scenarios. The characteristic hard spectrum of the XRB can be explained if most of the AGN are heavily absorbed and, in particular, a class of highly luminous type–2 AGN, so called QSO–2s, exist. The Chandra and XMM–Newton satellites have recently detected several examples of QSO–2s. The space density of the X–ray selected AGN, as determined from ROSAT surveys, does not seem to decline as rapidly as that of optically selected QSOs; however, the statistics of the high–redshift samples is still rather poor. The new Chandra and XMM–Newton surveys at significantly fainter fluxes are starting to provide additional constraints here, but the preliminary observed redshift distribution peaks at much lower redshifts (z = 0.5−1) than the predictions based on the ROSAT data. Nevertheless, there is an indication of a decline of the space density of X–ray–selected AGN at redshifts above four.


The MADS-box genes of land plants are extensively diverged to form a superfamily and are important in various aspects of development including the specification of floral organs as homeotic selector genes. The closest relatives of land plants are the freshwater green algae charophyceans. To study the origin and evolution of land plant MADS-box genes, we characterized these genes in three charophycean green algae: the stonewort Chara globularis, the coleochaete Coleochaete scutata, and the desmid Closterium peracerosum-strigosum-littorale complex. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that MADS-box genes diverged extensively in the land plant lineage after the separation of charophyceans from land plants. The stonewort C. globularis mRNA was specifically detected in the oogonium and antheridium together with the egg and spermatozoid during their differentiation. The expression of the C. peracerosum-strigosum-littorale-complex gene increased when vegetative cells began to differentiate into gametangial cells and decreased after fertilization. These expression patterns suggest that the precursors of land plant MADS-box genes originally functioned in haploid reproductive cell differentiation and that the haploid MADS-box genes were recruited into a diploid generation during the evolution of land plants.


What exactly is incontinence and why does it occur? Normally, urine is produced by the kidneys and passes through to the bladder. The tube connected to the bladder that leads the urine to exit the body, is called the urethra. Surrounding the urethra is a ring of muscles called the urinary sphincter. These muscles contract as the bladder is filling up, and relaxes when it is time for a person to void the contents of the bladder.


In many cases, genes for commonly used genetic markers in model organisms have not been identified; therefore, it is of interest to identify the causative genes. Whole-genome sequencing was used to identify potential causative mutations for a col-4 allele of Neurospora crassa. ABSTRACT In many cases, genes for commonly used genetic markers in model organisms have not been identified; therefore, it is of interest to identify the causative genes. Whole-genome sequencing was used to identify potential causative mutations for a col-4 allele of Neurospora crassa.


A fractional measure of revise has recognized remarkable relatives amid ETS practice and asthma, pneumococcal infections and, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) stroke in the aged. Longitudinal revise are desirable earlier than any exact conclusion can be completed relating to ETS and no respiratory sickness in the aged. The latent position of ecological tobacco smolder experience as a extrapolative feature formative progress of a pre-accessible respiratory or heart ailment is an imperative new vicinity for study. The most important purpose is to nearby an updated meta-psychiatry of the epidemiological information, even though for a short time converse the tentative confirmation, and learning of smolder forbid. This entire thing aimed to construct an experience catalog most intimately correspondent to given that spousal smolder is the conventional catalog for learning ETS possessions, women connubial to a smoker having a patently elevated ETS disclosure, as considered by coniine, than women connubial to a non-smoker. Not mutually from demeanor meta-psychotherapy based on all elected approximation, supplementary analyses using the similar set of estimation, explore disparity in RR by the aspect sex, continent, periodical period, numeral of gear, learning category, numeral of confounders measured in the revision, accessibility of dose-retort fallout, whether the other half was the catalog, and analyses disqualified unattached subject matter.


The cash flow analysis is essential to examine the economic flows in the financial system. In this paper, the financial dataset at Bank Rakyat Indonesia was used, it recorded the sources of cash inflow and outflow during a particular period. The univariate time series model like the autoregressive and integrated moving average is the common approach to build the prediction based on the historical dataset. However, it is not suitable to estimate the multivariate dataset and to predict the extreme cases consisting of nonlinear pairs between independent-dependent variables. In this study, the comparison of using two types of models i.e., transfer function and artificial neural network (ANN) were investigated. The transfer function model includes the coefficient of moving average (MA) and autoregressive (AR), which allows the multivariate analysis. Furthermore, the artificial neural network allows the learning paradigm to achieve optimal prediction. The financial dataset was divided into training (70%) and testing (30%) for two types of models. According to the result, the artificial neural network model provided better prediction with achieved root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.264897 and 0.2951116 for training and testing respectively.


Intrabaraminic speciation is a topic of concern to creationists, although creationists do not have a general idea of the magnitude of the speciation problem.  To rectify that, three mammal classifications were surveyed in order to identify the number of species or genera in a typical terrestrial mammal family, assuming that the rank of family approximates the baramin.  The results of this survey indicate that most mammal families contain relatively few species, but a few families are extremely speciose.  Any creationist mechanism of speciation must therefore account for both trends: widespread lack of speciation but occasional extravagant speciation.  Likewise, baraminology methods might need to be modified to accommodate the prevalence of small or monospecific baramins.


Diamondoids are promising precursors for facile diamond synthesis using laser-induced high-pressure, high-temperature conditions. Carbon-based nanomaterials have exceptional properties that make them attractive for a variety of technological applications. Here, we report on the use of diamondoids (diamond-like, saturated hydrocarbons) as promising precursors for laser-induced high-pressure, high-temperature diamond synthesis. The lowest pressure and temperature (P-T) conditions that yielded diamond were 12 GPa (at ~2000 K) and 900 K (at ~20 GPa), respectively. This represents a substantially reduced transformation barrier compared with diamond synthesis from conventional (hydro)carbon allotropes, owing to the similarities in the structure and full sp3 hybridization of diamondoids and bulk diamond. At 20 GPa, diamondoid-to-diamond conversion occurs rapidly within <19 μs. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that once dehydrogenated, the remaining diamondoid carbon cages reconstruct themselves into diamond-like structures at high P-T. This study is the first successful mapping of the P-T conditions and onset timing of the diamondoid-to-diamond conversion and elucidates the physical and chemical factors that facilitate diamond synthesis.


Intelligent Agents are being applied in a wide range of processes and everyday applications. Their development is not new, in recent years they have had an increased attention and design in learning and as mentoring tools. In this paper we discuss the definition of what an intelligent agent is; how they are applied; how thy look like; recent implementations of agents; agents as support in learning process; their state in Latin-American countries and future developments and trends that will permit a better communication between people and agents.


Mixed-Precision Quantization~(MQ) can achieve a competitive accuracy-complexity trade-off for models. Conventional training-based search methods require time-consuming candidate training to search optimized per-layer bit-width configurations in MQ. Recently, some training-free approaches have presented various MQ proxies and significantly improve search efficiency. However, the correlation between these proxies and quantization accuracy is poorly understood. To address the gap, we first build the MQ-Bench-101, which involves different bit configurations and quantization results. Then, we observe that the existing training-free proxies perform weak correlations on the MQ-Bench-101. To efficiently seek superior proxies, we develop an automatic search of proxies framework for MQ via evolving algorithms. In particular, we devise an elaborate search space involving the existing proxies and perform an evolution search to discover the best correlated MQ proxy. We proposed a diversity-prompting selection strategy and compatibility screening protocol to avoid premature convergence and improve search efficiency. In this way, our Evolving proxies for Mixed-precision Quantization~(EMQ) framework allows the auto-generation of proxies without heavy tuning and expert knowledge. Extensive experiments on ImageNet with various ResNet and MobileNet families demonstrate that our EMQ obtains superior performance than state-of-the-art mixed-precision methods at a significantly reduced cost. The code will be released.


ABSTRACT Winter wheat is a staple food crop for most of the world's population, and the area and spatial distribution of winter wheat are key elements in estimating crop production and ensuring food security. However, winter wheat planting areas contain substantial spatial heterogeneity with mixed pixels for coarse- and moderate-resolution satellite data, leading to large errors in crop acreage estimation. This study has developed a phenology-based approach using moderate-resolution (1 km per pixel) satellite data to estimate sub-pixel planting fractions of winter wheat. Based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) observations, the unique characteristics of winter wheat with high vegetation index values at the heading stage (May) and low values at the ripening stage (June) were investigated. The differences in vegetation index between heading and ripening stages increased with the planting fraction of winter wheat, and therefore the planting fractions were estimated by comparing the NDVI differences of a given pixel with those of predetermined pure winter wheat and non-winter wheat pixels. This approach was evaluated using aerial images and agricultural statistical data in an intensive agricultural region, Shandong Province in North China. The method explained 85% and 60% of the spatial variation in municipal- and county-level statistical data, respectively. More importantly, the predetermined pure winter wheat and non-winter wheat pixels can be automatically identified using MODIS data according to their NDVI differences, which strengthens the potential to use this method at regional and global scales without any field observations as references.


The unprecedented slowdown in China during the COVID-19 period of November 2019 to April 2020 should have reduced pollution in smog-laden cities. However, moderate resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) satellite retrievals of aerosol optical depth (AOD) show a marked increase in aerosols over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BHT) region and most of Northeast and Central China, compared with the previous winter. Fine particulate (PM2.5) data from ground monitoring stations show an increase of 19.5% in Beijing during January and February 2020, and no reduction for Tianjin. In March and April 2020, a different spatial pattern emerges, with very high AOD levels observed over 50% of the Chinese mainland, and including peripheral regions in the northwest and southwest. At the same time, ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) satellite-derived NO2 concentrations fell drastically across China. The increase in PM2.5 while NO2 decreased in BTH and across China is likely due to enhanced production of secondary particulates. These are formed when reductions in NOx result in increased ozone formation, thus increasing the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere. Support for this explanation is provided by ground level air quality data showing increased volume of fine mode aerosols throughout February and March 2020, and increased levels of PM2.5, relative humidity (RH), and ozone during haze episodes in the COVID-19 lockdown period. Backward trajectories show the origin of air masses affecting industrial centers of North and East China to be local. Other contributors to increased atmospheric particulates may include inflated industrial production in peripheral regions to compensate loss in the main population and industrial centers, and low wind speeds. Satellite monitoring of the extraordinary atmospheric conditions resulting from the COVID-19 shutdown could enhance understanding of smog formation and attempts to control it.


The effect of penicillins and cephalosporins on the rate of growth of individual cells of Escherichia coli on agar was determined by measurement of cell length using photomicrographs taken at frequent intervals. When exposed to cephalexin or carbenicillin at twice the minimum inhibitory concentration cell division was inhibited but growth in length proceeded at a uniform exponential rate until abruptly terminated by lysis. The rate of growth of such filamentous cells did not differ significantly from that of normal cells grown in the absence of antibiotic. In contrast, exposure to cephaloridine and amoxycillin at twice the minimum inhibitory concentration resulted in a marked diminution in the rate of cell growth, and lysis occurred very much sooner. At concentrations greatly in excess of the minimum inhibitory concentration (greater than 100-fold) cephalexin also resulted in a diminution in the rate of cell growth and this was accompanied by earlier lysis. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to the mode of action of beta-lactam antibiotics.


The review gives data on the history of smallpox vaccination and shows the high topicality of designing the current safe vaccines against orthopoxviruses. Four generations of live smallpox, protein subunit, and DNA vaccines are considered. Analysis of the data published leads to the conclusion that it is promising to use the up-to-date generations of safe smallpox subunit or DNA vaccines for mass primary immunization with possible further revaccination with classical live vaccine.


Danfysik A/S [1] has recently designed and produced a high-performance Apple-II type insertion device for the Australian synchrotron project, with low variation of the first integrals versus gap and phase, and minimal phase error. Thanks to software assistance, and an unconventional keeper design, the total time spent on magnet mounting, shimming and extensive final magnetic testing was reduced to 5 weeks. Furthermore, in order to negate the second-order tune effect of the insertion device on the dynamic aperture of the synchrotron, ESRF-type tune shims were designed and installed. Danfysik is manufacturing and assembling one of three undulator prototypes for the TESLA FEL project at DESY. The prototype is based on a design made by DESY, but with changes implemented by Danfysik. A major part of the project is to make an industrial study that will recommend where design efforts on the next prototype generation shall be focused.


Image processing is of growing interest in computer applications. Since the size of image files are generally large and image data is usually highly redundant, using compression algorithms provide effective way of increasing communication and storages efficiency. JPEG, which is one of the most widely used image compression standards, uses Huffman or arithmetic coding for its lossless compression part. With rapid growth of the Internet, controlling access to data is of increasing importance and hence encryption is of much wider use. Adding security to the algorithm is an attractive proposal as it could reduce the overall processing cost of providing secure compressed data. A number of methods for combining encryption and compression had been proposed and various attacks on these proposals were published. This thesis reviews the known proposals for arithmetic coding encryption schemes and examines proposed attacks on such systems. We extend the attacks, introduce new ones, and finally propose efficient methods of enhancing security of these systems.


ABSTRACT Dental traumas are one of the most frequent facial traumas especially in children. Maxillary incisors are the most frequently involved teeth. Here we present, a report of a child who sustained a crown fracture with lost portion of tooth embedded in her lower lip for 6 months. The fragment was surgically retrieved and successfully reattached to the fractured 21 using acid-etch resin technique. How to cite this article: Marwaha M, Bansal K, Srivastava A, Maheshwari N. Surgical Retrieval of Tooth Fragment from Lower Lip and Reattachment after 6 Months of Trauma. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2015;8(2):145-148.


In this paper we investigate the existence of a two-tier medical system in the German acute care hospital sector using data from a survey of 483 German hospitals. The focus of our analysis lies on the impact of hospital concentration on the probability of discrimination of patients with different health insurances in regard to the access to medical services. Accounting for a possible endogeneity of market structure, we find that hospitals in highly concentrated markets are less likely to pursue any differentiation among prospective patients with different health insurances. We ascribe this finding to competitive pressure in less concentrated markets. Hospitals in competitive markets are more obliged to steal business from rival hospitals by privileging profitable patients than hospitals in highly concen-


Background: Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) initiates both innate and adaptive immune responses, which plays an important protective role in self-defense mechanisms. Excessive or inappropriate TLR4 activation causes the development of many autoimmune diseases. Dihydropyrimidinone derivatives are medicinally important molecules with diverse pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory activity. The present study focused on novel synthesized 3,4-dihydropyrimidinone derivatives and evaluated their inhibitory effects on TLR4. Methods: A series of 3,4-dihydropyrimidinone derivatives were recently synthesized and evaluated for their TLR4 inhibition activities and cytotoxic on HEK-BlueTM hTLR4 cells with the help of QUANTI-Blue assay and MTS assay. Selected compound 3 was analyzed for its molecular docking with TLR4 by using Autodock vina 1.1.2. Its effect on the TLR4 pathway related cytokines was also evaluated in THP-1 cells and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by using real-time PCR, ELISA and western blot. Results: Five compounds were synthesized and characterized for effectiveness based on 3,4-dihydropyrimidinone. Compound 3 was found to be the potent hybrid among the synthesized compounds, with high TLR4 inhibition activities and low cytotoxic activities against HEK-BlueTM hTLR4 cells. Molecular docking analysis showed that two hydrogen bonds between compound 3 and residues Asp209(TLR4) and Asp99(MD-2) mainly contribute to the TLR4 inhibition. In addition, compound 3 suppressed LPS-induced of the mRNA expression of TLR4, IP-10, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-12A, and IL-12B, the protein expression of pIRF3 and pNFκB and the secretion of IP-10, TNF-α in THP-1 cell line. Compound 3 also inhibited LPS-induced expression of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β but increased IP-10 at mRNA levels in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Conclusion: Our study reveals compound 3, a novel 3,4-dihydropyrimidinone derivative, is a potential TLR4 antagonist, which opens up new research avenues for the development of promising therapeutic agents for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.


Abstract Cocyclization of alkynes, alkenes, and carbon monoxide by transition metals (known as PausonKhand reaction when dicobalt octacarbonyl complexes are used) has been accepted as one of the most powerful tools in the synthesis of cyclopentenones. Despite significant progress in the various aspects of the reaction, we still needed new catalysts to expand the scope of the reaction further. We found rhodium (I) catalysts, e.g., RhCl(PPh3)3, trans-RhCl(CO)(PPh3)2, RhCl-(CO)(dppe), and trans-[RhCl(CO)(dppp)]2, were also effective for this transformation. The scope and the efficiencies of the reaction could be tuned and expanded by the choice of catalysts. For example, we were able to devise an enantioselective PK-type reaction and a tandem strategy employing two catalysts in one pot. These results will be presented.


Feeding of two levels of extracted rice bran (ERB) along with wheat straw was studied in 6 adult crossbred cattle. After 121 days feeding of restricted - ERB the first phase of blood sample was collected from all the animals. Subsequently the animals were shifted to ad lib. feeding of ERB and the second phase of blood sample was collected after 42 days. The blood samples were analysed for biochemical constituents like haemoglobin, glucose, protein, albumin, globulin, inorganic phosphorus, AST (GOT), ALT(GPT), ACP, ALP, cholesterol, creatinine and urea nitrogen. The mean values of the blood biochemical constituents in the same order were 11.10±0.17 and 10.41±0.16 g/100ml., 56.99±0.48 and 62.70±0.97 mg/100ml., 7.20±0.10 and 7.80±0.20g/100ml., 2.63±0.07 and 2.07±0.06g/100ml., 4.52±0.15 and 5.65±0.23g/100ml., 5.81±0.08 and 7.02±0.07 mg/100ml., 52.02±1.93 and 59.38±1.23 i.u., 20.63±0.61 and 27.99±1.34 i.u., 40.80±4.61 and 56.53±5.67 i.u., 8.03±0.72 and 11.78±0.77 i.u., 94.04±2.36 and 79.24±1.59mg/100ml., 2.00±0.17 and 1.00±0.03 mg/100ml., and 15.02±0.67 and 33.14±0.67mg/100ml. for restricted - and ad lib.-ERB fed animals respectively. All the mean values were differed significantly due to level of bran feeding.


We describe a new implementation of an adaptive multi-tissue tetrahedral mesh generator targeting anatomic modeling of Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) for surgical simulations. Our method, initially constructs an adaptive Body-Centered Cubic (BCC) mesh of high quality elements. Then, it deforms the mesh surfaces to their corresponding physical image boundaries, hence, improving the mesh fidelity and smoothness. Our deformation scheme, which builds upon the ITK toolkit, is based on the concept of energy minimization, and relies on a multi-material point-based registration. It uses non-connectivity patterns to implicitly control the number of the extracted feature points needed for the registration, and thus, adjusts the trade-off between the achieved mesh fidelity and the deformation speed. While many medical imaging applications require robust mesh generation, there are few codes available to the public. We compare our implementation with two similar open-source image-to-mesh conversion codes: (1) Cleaver from US, and (2) CGAL from EU. Our evaluation is based on five isotropic/anisotropic segmented images, and relies on metrics like geometric & topologic fidelity, mesh quality, gradation and smoothness. The implementation we describe is opensource and it will be available within: (i) the 3D Slicer package for visualization and image analysis from Harvard Medical School, and (ii) an interactive simulator for neurosurgical procedures involving vasculature using SOFA, a framework for real-time medical simulation developed by INRIA. c © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of the 23rd International Meshing Roundtable (IMR23).


The rise of the world wide web has its janus face. While it is no longer possible to live without it, the internet also causes social issues. One will be examined here is how law can cope with the acceleration amount of fake news. The spread of fake news via the Internet in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic has increasingly resulted in criminalization. One enforcement policy is based on Article 28(1) of Electronic Information and Technology Law 11/2008. The article focused on measuring fake news in light of economic loss, which to some degree, also affected fair business competition. This study was conducted based on two primary considerations. First, the nature of criminal law should be used as the last resort (ultimum remedium) in tackling social issues. Second, and still related to the previous, the damage control of the spread of fake news. In that regard, a doctrinal legal approach was deployed to analyze the formulation and implementation of Article 28(1) of the 11/2008 Law in tackling the fake news phenomenon. This study found that there are ambiguities in interpretation, which affect the law's implementation. To cope with such a problem, the government consists of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Chief of Public Prosecutor, and Chief of State Police enact Joint Decree to provide the guidelines on the application of Article 28(1); the policy should be considered as temporary instead of a permanent solution. This study suggested that in the long run, there is a need to amend Article 28(1).


Many countries are facing the problem of food wastage due to a lack of proper processing, preservation, and storage space and/or methods, which can be very effectively addressed using food drying techniques. The current work discusses the design and development of a novel convective drying system which predicts both the drying and the shrinkage characteristics of any food material simultaneously at different drying air velocities and temperatures. In the present work, the shrinkage characteristics of a cylindrical shaped Elephant Foot Yam (EFY) food sample is determined by a non-intrusive imaging method. The top and side view images of the EFY sample at drying air velocities of 2, 4, and 6 m/s and at air temperatures of 313, 323, and 333 K are captured and processed using an in-house image processing code. The shrinkage characteristics reveal the nature of the transient variation of the bulk volume and the bulk density of the EFY with its moisture content. Suitable correlations developed for the bulk volume of the EFY suggests that it varies quadratically with moisture content, whereas the bulk density varies exponentially with moisture content for all drying conditions. It was also found that the developed methodology can predict the transient volume of the drying EFY sample with an accuracy of more than 70 % (case of 2 m/s and 313 K) to 95% (case of 6 m/s and 333 K) for different cases of air velocities and temperature.


Who would be a soothsayer? In tales of yore Cassandra was fated to be ignored, her warnings spurned, before eventually being put to death. Prophecy is always a dangerous business. In 1991 Reg Hindley, an English geographer, proclaimed 'The Death of the Irish Language'. He was following a long, if not exactly glorious, tradition in his declaration of doom. The demise of the Irish language has been much prophesied over the past hundred years and yet the language has managed to stumble on, sometimes with an energising burst of verve and vigour such as was seen with the explosion of the Innti generation on to the poetic scene, or post-Hindley, with the burst of creativity occasioned by the establishment in 1996 of the first Irish-language television station, Teilifis na Gaeilge , now known as TG4. The continued growth and success of Gaelscoileanna , Irish-language medium primary schools, situated in the main in urban centres outside the traditional Gaeltachtai (official Irish-speaking areas), might also be mentioned in this context. In a further rebuttal to Hindley's view, more recent linguistic scholarship into language death would dispute that Irish be included in the astonishing and alarming number of world languages already moribund or in imminent danger of extinction. Writing in 1997, the linguist James McCloskey stated that contrary to all the harbingers of doom, Irish, according to the criteria established in the latest linguistic studies, was in the 10 per cent of world languages considered to be 'safe': 'there is little chance that Irish will become moribund (at least in the technical sense) in the next hundred years.


BACKGROUND: In spite of screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), transfusion-associated hepatitis B virus (TAHBV) infection remains a serious public health problem due to transmission of HBV in window period and occult HBV infection. To avoid TAHBV infection, some health-care facilities have started Hepatitis B core antibody test along with HBsAg, but this leads to a lot of potential donor rejection who are not HBV infected. Our aim is to find a new protocol of donor screening to prevent TAHBV without compromising blood availability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 88 HBsAg-negative anti-HBc total positive blood donors were included in this study. All samples were also tested for anti-HBs by enzyme immunoassay and for the presence of HBV-DNA viral load by real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: A total of 88 HBsAg negative and anti-HBc, total positive blood donors were tested for anti-HBs and HBV-DNA (Qn.). Among them, 76 donors (86.4%) (males 73 and females 3) were found to be positive for anti-HBs, while rest 12 (13.6%) showed no detectable antibody against HBsAg. HBV-DNA was found to be positive in 4 (7.7%) donor samples among 52 (60%) who have anti-HBs level <100 mIU/ml, while 36 (40%) donor samples were found to have >100 mIU/ml anti-HBs antibody with no detectable HBV-DNA. CONCLUSION: HBV-DNA should be implemented as a screening test of the blood donors to prevent TAHBV infection without potential donor rejection.


Entrepreneurship is vital in solving the challenges involved in the employment of college students in China. The two viewpoints on the relationship between employment and entrepreneurship are the refugee effect and the entrepreneurial effect. However, the micro-mechanism of this association is yet to be comprehensively discussed. Based on the refugee effect and entrepreneurial effect, along with the entrepreneurial values as the mediating mechanism and the entrepreneurial environment as the moderating variable, this study establishes a theoretical model exploring the impact of employment pressure on necessity entrepreneurship and opportunity entrepreneurship of college students. Moreover, it selected 14 universities covering the eastern, central, and western regions of China. A total of 1,187 college students were surveyed anonymously using a standardized questionnaire. Then, SPSS 24.0 and Mplus 7.0 were employed to process and analyze the data, and the Structural Equation Modeling was established to test the hypothesis. The results demonstrated that employment pressure had a significant positive impact on college students' necessity for entrepreneurship. Also, employment pressure indirectly affected necessity entrepreneurship and opportunity entrepreneurship through the mediating effect of entrepreneurial values. The entrepreneurial environment (a) positively moderated the relationship between employment pressure, necessity entrepreneurship, and opportunity entrepreneurship and (b) moderated the mediating effect of entrepreneurial values. That is, in a favorable entrepreneurial environment, entrepreneurial values have a stronger mediating effect. Starting from cognitive psychology, this study explored the micro-psychological mechanism of individual employment pressure that has influenced entrepreneurial motivation. It has enriched the existing literature on the entrepreneurship theory of college students, underlining that the hypothesis on refugee effect and entrepreneurial effect is also applicable at the micro-level. On top of that, it has provided a practical reference for the employment and entrepreneurship of current Chinese college students.


Suicide is a significant public health issue and a major cause of death throughout the world. According to WHO it accounts for almost 2% of deaths worldwide. The etiology of suicidal behavior is complex but the results of many studies suggest that genetic determinants are of significant importance. In our study,- we have analyzed selected SNPs polymorphisms in the DRD2 and ANKK1 genes in patients with alcohol dependence syndrome (169 Caucasian subjects) including a subgroup of individuals (n = 61) who have experienced at least one suicide attempt. The aim of the study was to verify if various haplotypes of selected genes, comprising Taq1A, Taq1B, and Taq1D single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), play any role in the development of alcohol dependence and suicidal behavior. The control group comprised 157 unrelated individuals matched for ethnicity, gender,- and age and included no individuals with mental disorders. All subjects were recruited in the North West region of Poland. The study showed that alcohol dependent subjects with a history of at least one suicidal attempt were characterized by a significantly higher frequency of the T-G-A2 haplotype when compared to individuals in whom alcohol dependence was not associated with suicidal behavior (p = 0.006). It appears that studies based on identifying correlation between SNPs is the future for research on genetic risk factors that contribute to the development of alcohol addiction and other associated disorders. To sum up, there is a necessity to perform further research to explain dependencies between the dopaminergic system, alcohol use disorders and suicidal behavior.


Central America is a region susceptible to natural disasters and climate change. We reviewed the literature on the main atmospheric and oceanographic forces and climate modulators affecting Central America, for different spatial and time scales. We also reviewed the reported correlation between climate variability, natural hazards and climate change aspects (in the past and future). In addition, we examined the current state of seasonal prediction systems being applied to the region. At inter-annual scales, El Niño/Southern Oscillation is the main climate modulator; however, other indices such as the Tropical North Atlantic, Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation, have shown a correlation with precipitation anomalies in the region. Current seasonal forecast systems in the region have shown a constant development, including incorporation of different approaches ranging from statistical to dynamical downscaling, improving prediction of variables such as precipitation. Many studies have revealed the need of including –in addition to the climatic information– socio-economic variables to assess the impact of natural disasters and climate change in the region. These studies highlight the importance of socio-economic and human life losses associated with the impacts caused by natural hazards for organizations and governments. Rev. Biol. Trop. 66(Suppl. 1): S153-S175. Epub 2018 April 01.


Vision-Language Pretraining (VLP) has demonstrated remarkable capabilities in learning visual representations from textual descriptions of images without annotations. Yet, effective VLP demands large-scale image-text pairs, a resource that suffers scarcity in the medical domain. Moreover, conventional VLP is limited to 2D images while medical images encompass diverse modalities, often in 3D, making the learning process more challenging. To address these challenges, we present Generative Text-Guided 3D Vision-Language Pretraining for Unified Medical Image Segmentation (GTGM), a framework that extends of VLP to 3D medical images without relying on paired textual descriptions. Specifically, GTGM utilizes large language models (LLM) to generate medical-style text from 3D medical images. This synthetic text is then used to supervise 3D visual representation learning. Furthermore, a negative-free contrastive learning objective strategy is introduced to cultivate consistent visual representations between augmented 3D medical image patches, which effectively mitigates the biases associated with strict positive-negative sample pairings. We evaluate GTGM on three imaging modalities - Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and electron microscopy (EM) over 13 datasets. GTGM's superior performance across various medical image segmentation tasks underscores its effectiveness and versatility, by enabling VLP extension into 3D medical imagery while bypassing the need for paired text.


ABSTRACT Chupacabrachelys complexus, n. gen. n. sp., is an unusual bothremydid pleurodire of the tribe Taphrosphyini found in the Campanian Aguja Formation in the Big Bend region of West Texas. The type example is one of the most complete bothremydid specimens known. Its skull and lower jaw are very narrow, triangular, and dorsoventrally compressed, with the coronoid process posterior to midlength of the jaw. The orbits are elongate anteroposteiorly with narrow extensions along the maxilla-prefrontal sutures, and rugose maxillary projections at the anterolateral corners of orbits. Its reduced temporal emargination, weak posteroventral flange on the squamosal, weak lateral extension of the squamosal along the quadrate suture, and posteroventral knob on opisthotic suggest affinity with Taphrosphyini. The shell has six neurals and a nuchal with sharp midline embayment, and is nearly identical to those of Chedighaii and Bothremys. Chupacabrachelys provides additional evidence for the dramatic evolutionary radiation of bothremydid turtles in tropical paralic environments during Late Cretaceous time.


An injection model of preclinical stages of Alzheimer's disease has been reproduced in rats. It was accompanied by the decrease in the latent period of conditioned reflex avoidance, increasing levels of endogenous b-amyloid peptide 1-40 and activation of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1b, TNF-a, IL-6, IL-10) in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and blood serum of experimental animals. We belive that changes identified at the biochemical level are prerequisite to modulate neuronal functions in rats induced by Ab40_Human administration. The toxic effect of exogenous b-amyloid 1-40 homoaggregates caused intense response of the cytokine system, while its liposomal form caused the soft information signal to the activation of innate immunity.


Abstract The Threshold Planning Quantity (TPQ) is the minimum quantity of any hazardous substance stored or processed at an industry that can pose a defined level of risk up to a certain distance from the industrial premises should an accidental release occur. These are recommended by the concerned government departments of the respective countries. Often, concerned regulatory authorities focus on simple screening tools to prescribe TPQs of hazardous chemicals rather than on more detailed technical aspects. This is illustrated with the help of TPQs presently administered in India, which are followed based on Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazard regulations of the United Kingdom. In this paper, the risk ranking matrix (RRM) approach is described to evaluate the recommended TPQs and prescribe these for some extremely hazardous chemicals (EHS) commonly used in industries. The RRM presented here is unique in the sense that various acceptable risk criteria are reviewed to appropriately rank the risk potential and provide suitability criteria in terms of individual risk factors and geosoci-etal risk factors (GSRF). Based on this concept, an attempt has been made to develop a risk-based model to determine the TPQs of various EHS (acrolein, ammonia, chlorine, hydrogen fluoride, and phosgene).


CSIL Market Research The mattress market in China, now in its second edition, provides data about mattress market size, historical trends in mattress production, consumption, imports and exports and mattress market forecasts up to 2017. The study has been carried out involving direct interviews with sector firms and distributors operating on the Chinese market. The Chinese mattress market is analyzed with a global overview (comparing the leading markets for mattress consumption) and with data on local major demand determinants (population, urbanization, investments in construction sectors and wealth). Chinese consumers' trends and preferences are also provided. Mattress production is reported by segment (foam mattresses, latex mattresses, spring mattresses, mattresses in other materials) and localization (mattress production by region and province). Mattress imports and exports are broken down by country and geographical area of origin/destination. The research is enriched by an in-depth analysis of the competitive system in terms of company dimension, manufacturing locations and product breakdown. Figures on production and estimates on market shares of the top mattress manufacturers operating in China are also available (total mattress production, production capacity and exports). Companies active in different segments (foam mattresses, latex mattresses, spring mattresses, mattresses in other materials) and price ranges (super premium, premium and mass markets) are identified. Short company profiles of the top Chinese and foreign mattress manufactures operating in China are also included. Data on the distribution system are also provided, with sales breakdown by distribution channels. Short profiles of the leading furniture chains and retailers are available. Additional statistics on demographics features (per capita disposable income, households consumption and expenditure and projected population in most growing cities in 2020), construction sectors (residential and hospitality segments) and a focus on the luxury segment are reported. About 140 addresses of key operators (both manufacturers and retailers) are included with company's addresses, website, email contact and product portfolio.


Introduction and demarcation of the inquiry on SGEIs; 2-. The notion of services of general economic interest and its relation to public economic service in the Italian system; 3-. The progressive definition of minimum competition rules for SGEIs: comparative profiles between national regulation and Europe inspired principles; 4-. SGEIs: competitiveness, proportionality and balance within the framework of EU principles. 5-. National regulations on local public services of economic interest: the difficult implementation of EU principles in Italy; 6-. Management models: from the bureaucratic model to the functional model


Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) vesicles with (1000 folds) or without transmembrane Ca2+ gradient have been prepared. Different fluorescence probes (DPH, TMA-DPH and n-AS), were used to determine the effect of transmembrane Ca2+ gradient on the lipid fluidity both in outer and inner layer of Ca(2+)-ATPase-containing SR vesicles. The results showed that transmembrane Ca2+ gradient could significantly decrease the fluidity of the inner layer of SR membrane, while no obvious change was monitored in the outer layer. This may be deduced that Ca(2+)-ATPase might be modulated mainly by the transmembrane Ca2+ gradient-mediated alteration of physical state of phospholipid in the inner layer of SR membrane.


The alveolar epithelium consists of two cell types, alveolar type I (AT1) and alveolar type II (AT2) cells. We have recently shown that 7-day-old cultures of AT2 cells grown on a type I collagen/fibronectin matrix develop phenotypic characteristics of AT1 cells, display a distinct connexin profile, and coordinate mechanically induced intercellular Ca(2+) changes via gap junctions (25). In this study, we cultured AT2 cells for 7 days on matrix supplemented with laminin-5 and/or in the presence of keratinocyte growth factor. Under these conditions, cultured AT2 cells display AT2 type morphology, express the AT2-specific marker surfactant protein C, and do not express AT1-specific cell marker aquaporin 5, all consistent with maintenance of AT2 phenotype. These AT2-like cells also coordinate mechanically induced intercellular Ca(2+) signaling, but, unlike AT1-like cells, do so by using extracellular nucleotide triphosphate release. Additionally, cultured cells that retain AT2 cell-specific markers express connexin profiles different from cultured cells with AT1 characteristics. The parallel changes in intercellular Ca(2+) signaling with cell differentiation suggest that cell signaling mechanisms are an intrinsic component of lung alveolar cell phenotype. Because lung epithelial injury is accompanied by extracellular matrix and growth factor changes, followed by extensive cell division, differentiation, and migration of AT2 progenitor cells, we suggest that similar changes may be vital to the lung recovery and repair process in vivo.


The expression of HLA class I and II antigens was studied in 41 patients with gastric cancer and in 2 normal stomachs. The normal gastric epithelia were diffusely stained for class I antigens. No staining was observed for class II. In gastric cancer an overall reduction in staining was observed, which was related to the degree of tumor penetration through the gastric wall. In tumors which penetrated the mucosa and submucosa only, 80-90% of tumor cells were stained for class I, as well as the normal areas surrounding the tumor. On the other hand, in tumors which penetrated through the organ to the fat, only 10-20% of cells were stained. Staining for class II was observed in only 12 cases, all of them advanced, with penetration to muscle or fat. No staining was observed in the normal areas surrounding the tumor. The importance of HLA antigens in immune surveillance is discussed.


For each simple symplectic triple system over the real numbers, the standard enveloping Lie algebra and the algebra of inner derivations of the triple provide a reductive pair related to a semi-Riemannian homogeneous manifold. It is proved that this is an Einstein manifold.


Metal halide perovskites have been in the limelight in recent years due to their enormous potential for use in optoelectronic devices, owing to their unique combination of properties, such as high absorption coefficient, long charge‐carrier diffusion lengths, and high defect tolerance. Perovskite‐based solar cells and light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) have achieved remarkable breakthroughs in a comparatively short amount of time. As of writing, a certified power conversion efficiency of 22.7% and an external quantum efficiency of over 10% have been achieved for perovskite solar cells and LEDs, respectively. Interfaces and defects have a critical influence on the properties and operational stability of metal halide perovskite optoelectronic devices. Therefore, interface and defect engineering are crucial to control the behavior of the charge carriers and to grow high quality, defect‐free perovskite crystals. Herein, a comprehensive review of various strategies that attempt to modify the interfacial characteristics, control the crystal growth, and understand the defect physics in metal halide perovskites, for both solar cell and LED applications, is presented. Lastly, based on the latest advances and breakthroughs, perspectives and possible directions forward in a bid to transcend what has already been achieved in this vast field of metal halide perovskite optoelectronic devices are discussed.


To examine the modulation of fetal systolic time intervals of the ovine fetus in relation to fetal maturation, heart rate, respiratory activity, and circadian rhythm, studies were carried out on 13 fetal-maternal sheep preparations. The data obtained showed that there was a significant correlation between the ejection time (ET) and the RR intervals of the electrocardiogram. The pre-ejection period (PEP) and PEP/ET increased in relation to the fetal maturation (38 ms and 0.25 at 120 days to 52 ms and 0.33 at 145 days of gestation, respectively). When the circadian rhythmicity was analyzed, a relative tachycardia was in evidence during the 21- to 03-h period but systolic time intervals remained unchanged. Except for some tachycardia and cardiac rhythm variability, respiratory activity also had no influence on the systolic time intervals.


Abstract Lattari, E, Andrade, ML, Filho, AS, Moura, AM, Neto, GM, Silva, JG, Rocha, NB, Yuan, T-F, Arias-Carrión, O, and Machado, S. Can transcranial direct current stimulation improve the resistance strength and decrease the rating perceived scale in recreational weight-training experience? J Strength Cond Res 30(12): 3381–3387, 2016—The goal of this study was to evaluate the acute efficacy of anodic transcranial direct current stimulation on the total volume of repetitions and perceived exertion in recreationally trained individuals in strength. The sample consisted of 10 participants trained in exercise against resistance for at least 3 months. Participants underwent elbow flexion exercise at barbell with a specific load of 10 repetition maximum (10RM), responded immediately after the OMNI-RES scale, and were stimulated for 20 minutes with a tDSC protocol (2 mA), depending on randomization. After applying the tDSC, subjects were again subjected to perform elbow flexion with 10RM load and, soon after, again responded to OMNI-RES scale. All subjects underwent the 3 experimental conditions of the study, c-tDSC, a-tDSC, and sham-tDSC, which were randomized. A range of 48–72 hours was allowed between each assessment visit. An interaction to condition and time (F = 52.395; p ⩽ 0.001) has shown that repetitions completed after anodic condition were higher compared with the other conditions in the postsession. In relation to perceived exertion, verified by OMNI-RES scale, 2-way analysis of variance for repeated measures showed an interaction between condition and time (F = 28.445; p ⩽ 0.001), where the perceived exertion was decreased after the a-tDSC condition and increased after the c-tDSC condition. In strict terms of performance, it seems to be beneficial to attend a session of 20 minutes a-tDSC, when strength training practitioners can no longer support high-volume training and have increased responses in the perceived exertion.


In Natural Language and Possible Minds: How Language Uncovers the Cognitive Landscape of Nature Prakash Mondal attempts to demonstrate that language can reveal the hidden logical texture of diverse types of mentality in non-humans, contrary to popular belief. The widely held assumption in mainstream cognitive science is that language being humanly unique introduces an anthropomorphic bias in investigations into the nature of other possible minds. This book turns this around by formulating a lattice of mental structures distilled from linguistic structures constituting the cognitive building blocks of an ensemble of biological entities/beings. This turns out to have surprising consequences for machine cognition as well. Challenging mainstream views, this book will appeal to cognitive scientists, philosophers of mind, linguists and also cognitive ethologists.


In the diverse religious traditions of the Middle East and South Asia, devotees often protect themselves in daily life through amulets. Particular significance is attributed to the powers of jewels and gems, as well as to the virtues of fabulous stones and concretions. The meaning of such stones in terms of colour and symbolism is interpreted by local experts, who frequently refer to mythological narratives. Some of these stones are thought to have magic qualities in warding off, for instance, the 'evil eye' or the malevolent powers of ghosts and demons. Others are supposed to transmit good luck, to avert misfortune or to energize the person who carries them around his neck or on a ring.


A method for exploring photon-number entangled states with weak nonlinearities is described. We show that it is possible to create and detect such entanglement at various scales, ranging from microscopic to macroscopic systems. In the present architecture, we suggest that the maximal phase shift induced in the process of interaction between photons is proportional to photon numbers. Also, in the absence of decoherence we analyze maximum error probability and show its feasibility with current technology.


The 2009 SIGMA assessment of the civil services in the new EU member states, which joined the EU in 2004, revealed that only the Lithuanian civil service achieved a high degree of fit with the European principles of public administration. The article seeks to determine main reasons behind this favourable assessment of Lithuania. Compared to other countries of Eastern and Central Europe, the development of the Lithuanian civil service was marked by relative continuity and consistency. In addition, the article presents two main alternatives for further developing the Lithuanian civil service: a stabilisation and consolidation of the Lithuanian civil service as well as its moderate managerial reform. To implement these alternatives, the article outlines a number of short-term and medium-term recommendations for Lithuanian decision-makers.


BACKGROUND
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) enterocolitis presenting in the form of pancolitis or involving the small and large intestines in an immunocompetent patient is rarely encountered, and CMV enterocolitis presenting with a serious complication, such as toxic megacolon, in an immunocompetent adult has only been reported on a few occasions.

CASE SUMMARY
We describe the case of a 70-year-old male with no history of inflammatory bowel disease or immunodeficiency who presented with toxic megacolon and subsequently developed massive hemorrhage as a complication of CMV ileo-pancolitis. The patient was referred to our institute for abdominal pain and distension. Abdominal X-ray showed marked dilatation of ileum and whole colon without air-fluid level, and sigmoidoscopy with biopsy failed to reveal any specific finding. After 7 d of conservative treatment, massive hematochezia developed, and he was diagnosed to have CMV enterocolitis by colonoscopy with biopsy. Although the diagnosis of CMV enterocolitis was delayed, the patient was treated successfully by repeat colonoscopic decompression and antiviral therapy with intravenous ganciclovir.

CONCLUSION
This report cautions that CMV-induced colitis should be considered as a possible differential diagnosis in a patient with intractable symptoms of enterocolitis or megacolon of unknown cause, even when the patient is non-immunocompromised.


Background: Psoriatic disease is a multifactorial inflammatory condition spanning from skin and nail psoriasis (Pso) to spine and joint involvement characterizing psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Monozygotic twins provide a model to investigate genetic, early life environmental exposure and stochastic influences to complex diseases, mainly mediated by epigenetics. Methods: We performed a genome-wide DNA methylation study on whole blood of monozygotic twins from 7 pairs discordant for Pso/PsA using the Infinium Methylation EPIC array (Illumina). MeDiP—qPCR was used to confirm specific signals. Data were replicated in an independent cohort of seven patients with Pso/PsA and 3 healthy controls. Transcriptomic profiling was performed by RNAsequence on the same 7 monozygotic twin pairs. Results: We identified 2,564 differentially methylated positions between psoriatic disease and controls, corresponding to 1,703 genes, 59% within gene bodies. There were 19 regions with at least two DMPs within 1 kb of distance and significant within-pair Δβ-values (p < 0.005), among them SNX25, BRG1 and SMAD3 genes, all involved in TGF-β signaling pathway, were identified. Co-expression analyses on transcriptome data identified IL-6/JAK/STAT3 and TNF-α pathways as important signaling axes involved in the disease, and they also suggested an altered glucose metabolism in patients' immune cells, characteristic of pro-inflammatory T lymphocytes. Conclusion: The study suggests the presence of an epigenetic signature in affected individuals, pointing to genes involved in immunological and inflammatory responses. This result is also supported by transcriptome data, that altogether suggest a higher activation state of the immune system, that could promote the disease status.


The Antarctic Ice Sheet is made up of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and the much larger East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS). Previous numerical models have focussed on ice flow in WAIS, since the size of the EAIS has precluded studies at a resolution adequate to identify complex flow features. The equations describing ice flow are highly non-linear, making this a computationally intensive problem. We use a staggered grid to overcome numerical instability and a sparse packing scheme to take account of the irregular boundary of Antarctica. We have developed a highly efficient parallel thermally-coupled ice flow model of the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet at a resolution of 20km and present performance results obtained on a commodity cluster of workstations. Our initial results show areas of East Antarctica at pressure melting point that may be characterised by fast ice flow.


The pulsar jet is significant in explaining how the Vela pulsar's rotational energy is transported outward to the rest of the SNR, since direct radiation from the pulsar only accounts for a small percentage of the total power. Our previous ROSAT observations presented the first evidence that the pulsar is driving a narrow, collimated, and remarkably symmetrical jet into the SNR (Markwardt, C. and Oegelman, H., 1995, Nature, 375, p. 40) which we interpret to be from a 'cocoon' of hot gas surrounding the jet itself. We obtained an ASCA exposure of the jet in order to determine whether the spectrum is thermal or power-law continuum. The jet cocoon is detected with ASCA at approximately 2-3 x 10(exp -3) ct/s. The X-ray spectrum of the jet is remarkably similar to the surrounding supernova remnant spectrum and extends to X-ray energies of at least 7 keV, with a total flux of approximately 2 x 10(exp -13) erg/s sq cm sq arcmin. The only strong emission line is from He-like Neon at approx. 0.9 keV; otherwise the spectrum is quite smooth. The spectrum cannot be fit by any one standard plasma emission model, so we used models with two-components. The lower energy component is thermal and has a temperature of 0.29 +/- 0.03 keV; the higher energy portion can either be fit by a thermal component of temperature approx. 4 keV or a power law with photon index approx. 2.0. If the observed spectrum is of a 'traditional' jet cocoon, then we estimate the speed of the jet to be at least 800 km/s, depending on the angle of inclination of the jet axis to our line of sight. The mechanical power driving the jet is greater than or equal to 10(exp 36) erg/s which is comparable to the pulsar's spin-down luminosity of 7 x 10(exp 36) erg/s. and the mass flow rate at the head is greater than or equal to 10(exp -6) solar radius/yr. We conclude that the jet must be entraining material all along its length in order to generate such a large mass flow rate.