Description Today's physicians are being confronted with an increasing number of challenges and opportunities as our evolving healthcare system progresses into the future. The expectation is not only to provide the best clinical care, but also to satisfy metrics, fulfill budgets, achieve high patient satisfaction levels and accomplish institutional requirements in order to be considered good providers. All these additional demands seem to be affecting not only the clinical performance of physicians but also their wellness, increasing the risk of burnout, depression and suicide.


Test and corrective management was applied in one dairy herd (130 milking cows) to control bovine leukemia virus infection. It consisted of: raising uninfected calves in order to establish a pool of uninfected replacement heifers, preventing transmission of bovine leukemia virus through transfer of blood from animal to animal and closing the herd. Regular herd testing was combined with selected changes in herd management. These procedures have been followed since January 1979. Prevalence of antibodies (as determined by gel-immunodiffusion) has declined markedly since the program was implemented.


Six studies have compared the sensitivity of the Duke criteria with that of the Beth Israel criteria for the diagnosis of infective endocarditis without attempting to distinguish between native valve and prosthetic valve cases. After reviewing clinical data from 372 cases of suspected prosthetic valve endocarditis, we selected 25 cases in which pathological confirmation of prosthetic valve endocarditis was obtained. By using the Duke criteria and then the Beth Israel criteria, we reassigned a diagnostic classification to these 25 cases on the basis of clinical parameters alone. Using the Duke criteria, we correctly classified 19 cases (76%) as definite endocarditis and rejected none, while the Beth Israel criteria correctly classified six cases as probable endocarditis (24%) and rejected five cases (20%). Similar to previous investigators who examined the diagnostic sensitivity of the Duke criteria and Beth Israel criteria, we found that the Duke criteria appear more sensitive than the Beth Israel criteria in pathologically confirmed cases of prosthetic valve endocarditis.


Frege never explicitly advocated a doctrine of types like Russell, but a naive type theory can be found in his concept-script in his 1893 Grundgesetze der Arithmetik. Frege did not endorse a semantic account of typing, unlike most type theorists who use different types for booleans, natural numbers, products, etc. His concept-script is confined to a syntactic approach where object terms are identified with closed terms but the behavior of function terms alternates between that of closed terms of a function type and open terms. My aim in this paper is to rehabilitate Frege as a key figure in the history of type theory with an exegetical account of the developments anticipated in his concept-script from the perspective of modern type theory.


The present study attempts to examine factors affecting household expenditure on sugar-added foods and beverages (SAFB) in Malaysia. The spike in sugar-related diseases and the lack of comprehensive study related to factors associated with consumption of added sugar in Malaysia are the motivations for the present study. Acquiring a better understanding of what kind people consume more or less SAFB is important for policy development. A nationally representative data with a large sample size, i.e., the Malaysian Household Expenditure Survey (HES) 2014, was used for secondary analysis. In the survey, a two-stage stratified sampling approach was adopted. The first stage was based on Enumeration Blocks (EBs), while the second stage was based on living quarters (LQs). Quantile regressions were utilised to analyse the effects of household heads' demographic and household factors on quantiles of household expenditure on SAFB. On average, the monthly household income, age of household head and expenditure on tobacco were Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 5973.63, 46 years and RM 60.81, respectively. The majority of household heads were secondary educated (57%), Bumiputera (69%), males (85%), employed (93%) and married (80%). Education, age, ethnicity, employment status, marital status and smoking behaviour were associated with expenditure on SAFB. Households headed by individuals with no formal and primary-level education spent around RM 1.02-24.6 and RM 0.73-23.68 less on all the quantiles of SAFB, respectively, compared with households headed by individuals having tertiary-level education. An additional year of age of household heads increased all the quantiles of household expenditure on SAFB by RM 0.11-0.90. Compared to non-Bumiputera households, Bumiputera households spent approximately RM 1.02-2.53 more on 0.1-0.75 quantiles of SAFB. Households with employed and married heads spent about RM 1.11-9.16 and RM 1.28-6.41 more on all the quantiles of SAFB, respectively, than their counterparts with unemployed and single heads. Household expenditure on tobacco was positively associated with 0.25-0.9 quantiles of household expenditure on SAFB (RM 0.28-1.23). In conclusion, household heads' demographic and household profiles played an important role in influencing quantiles of expenditure on SAFB. Therefore, as a nationwide policy towards reducing consumption of added sugar, intervention measures should be designed in light of these profiles.


This study was conducted to investigate the hatching parameters differences between the hatching eggs which were controlled or not for fertility at 18th day of embryo development in the hatchery unit. Hatching was conducted with hatching eggs of Atak-S commercial layers parent stocks. Four treatment groups were constituted; 1) 95% fertility, fertility control at 18th day, 2) 95% fertility, no fertility control at 18th day, 3) 75% fertility, no fertility control at 18th day and 4) 50% fertility, no fertility control at 18th day. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of fertility rate, hatching efficiency hatchability of fertile eggs and early-, middle and late period embryo mortality. Chick quality according to Pasgar score chick quality assessment differed significantly between the treatment groups. The results of the present study indicate that transferring of eggs to the hatcher without fertility control at 18th day of embryo development did not affect the hatching results, but chick quality decreased when the fertility rate decreased below 45%.


It is predicted that the development whereby universities have campuses connected to the central site by telecom links will continue until there are very few universities in the world, and perhaps only one. An exception is that some countries may try to maintain national universities for certain areas of study. The article discusses the possible consequences of such a development and the likelihood that a country would be successful in protecting its national institution.


This paper presents an output feedback controller design method for continuous time Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy systems, using a fuzzy Lyapunov function. The proposed output feedback fuzzy controller is made up of a fuzzy state feedback controller based on a fuzzy Lyapunov functions and fuzzy observer based on a common quadratic Lyapunov function. Each of the observer and controller is designed separately in a two-step procedure. It is shown that the state feedback control laws and observer gains can be obtained by solving a set of Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMI) that is numerically tractable with commercially available software. A nonlinear MIMO simulation example is given to demonstrate the advantage of the proposed method.


The relationship between Freud and Ferenczi was a very intimate one. Nevertheless--or consequently--when Ferenczi decided to undergo his own analysis, he couldn't imagine anyone other then Freud as his analyst. This remained true in spite of Freud's clearly expressed reluctance to analyse Ferenczi. The analysis stimulated very intense and passionate transference feelings in Ferenczi. In response, Freud desperately tried to cool down the situation, apparently by trying to keep things on an intellectual level. This analysis, carried out in three brief sections, was interrupted the first time by the beginning of World War I, the second time because the time planned for the analysis was over, and the final time because Freud obviously felt that it could not go further and considered it 'finished', even if not 'terminated'. It left unresolved a great part of the father-son relationship in both the transference and in the countertransference (Nemes, 1988). According to Ferenczi, Freud failed to analyse his negative transference. I would add the supposition that Freud also ignored his negative countertransference. This analytic experience certainly added to the complexity of their subsequent relationship, in spite of the warm feelings between them and the permanence of their friendship. Indications of that complexity can be found in the writings of both men.


Medical practice is animated by the intention to cure; it aims to relieve the immense variety of sufferings to which human beings are subject in virtue of the conditions of their embodied existence. My purpose here is to demonstrate how a philosophical analysis of the formal structures and kinds of human suffering provides an essential foundation for determining certain ethical dimensions of the physician's relation to his suffering patient. Can paternalism in medical practice be justified by the aim of relieving suffering? What are the scope and limits of the patient's responsibility for his suffering, and what difference does this make in the physician's response to it? How is the suffering that medical treatment itself exacts in the name of cure to be justified? Such questions can be answered only by an analysis of the sense or value of suffering in human life.


A total of 70 patients with aphasic syndromes following a cerebral stroke were treated in a neurological department, a polyclinic and at home. The main diseases which led to the brain stroke were hypertensive disease and general atherosclerosis. The aphasic disturbances were due to hemorrhagic strokes in 19 patients and ischemic-in 51 patients. Training of speech rehabilitation began from the end of the first and the beginning of the second week after the stroke. The inclusion of logopedic lessons into the general complex of restorative therapy, a continuity in conditions of a hospital and a polyclinic, a possibility of a dynamical observation of the patients, dispensarization-all these measures according to the authors' opinion are important and necessary for rehabilitation of the patients who had strokes with the aphasic syndrome.


The importance of correct citation for the development and deepening of scholarly knowledge is evident. At the same time, considering citation in assessing the quality level of a particular paper or journal can be treated differently due to citation practices, thus requiring a systematic analysis, and tracking of their development. The purpose of this article is to present the architecture of the citation landscape current state and comment on steps to avoid common pitfalls in the citation process. The authors have analyzed the most significant foreign studies on the topic, highlighted the main key aspects of the modern citation culture and new trends that can change the citation practice. A typology of citation is offered, the most prominent theories of citing authors behavior are commented, strategies of citing authors behavior and factors that determine the characteristics of citation are described, parameters of high-quality citation are analyzed, and recommendations for the implementation of successful strategies for citing authors behavior are given. The authors have also highlighted new trends in the context of citation (review of the citation context, the phenomenon of unwanted citation) that can significantly transform the citation practice. Understanding the landscape of modern citation culture by citing authors is fundamentally capable of optimizing citation standards, achieving maximum transparency and validity of the scholarly communication context.


A novel semiconductor laser formed by monolithically integrating an array of active stripes with a passive planar waveguide bearing an etched-in diffraction grating is reported. Laser emission occurs from different stripes at different, precisely predetermined, wavelengths. It is expected that this laser will find widespread application in wavelength division multiplexed networks.


Pattern Cutting is a series of body measurements that ultimately creates a three dimensional shape to accomodate a human body. The moist traditional method is through flat pattern cutting, which inviolves creating a block pattern that fits the human form and adapting and manipulating the block to create the desired shape, as dictated by the design. Other significant methgods of cutting include draping on the stand and tailoring.
Creative pattern making is a craft-based skill that extends tha boundaries of fashion design and traditional tailoring to inovate new spheres of body shape. Insufficient Allure features a series of clothing compositions or toiles and a series of corresponding photographs which show complex pattern cuts and loose layers of fabric constructed imaginatively and then placed onto the design to create accentuated forms. Insufficient Allure locates the role of the pattern cutter as a highly skilled craftperson within the fashion industry, one which is as significant and creative as the elevated position of the fashion designer. The exhibition provides a critical review of the pattern cutter's integral position in context to creative design.


ABSTRACT During V(D)J recombination two proteins, RAG1 and RAG2, assemble as a protein-DNA complex with the appropriate DNA targets containing recombination signal sequences (RSSs). The properties of this complex require a fairly elaborate set of protein-protein and protein-DNA contacts. Here we show that a purified derivative of RAG1, without DNA, exists predominantly as a homodimer. A RAG2 derivative alone has monomer, dimer, and larger forms. The coexpressed RAG1 and RAG2 proteins form a mixed tetramer in solution which contains two molecules of each protein. The same tetramer of RAG1 and RAG2 plus one DNA molecule is the form active in cleavage. Additionally, we show that both DNA products following cleavage can still be held together in a stable protein-DNA complex.


Marketing methods play a vital role in the efficiency of any supply-chain relationship. The relationship between buyers and sellers in the agricultural sector is dynamic and complex. While livestock and grain markets in the U.S. are generally well studied, the price setting process, buyer-seller relationships, and factors which influence the type, duration, and timing of business relationships in the market for specialty crops (SC) are less well understood. This is particularly true in the case of buyer relationships with small-scale farms. A better understanding of the dynamic relationship between small-scale SC producers and buyers is essential in achieving efficient marketing outcomes. This issue is examined from the perspective of small-scale SC growers in Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC). Using a Choice Experiment (CE) approach, this study: (1) identifies key contract characteristics and buyer attributes which are valued by VA and NC small-scale SC producers; (2) quantifies tradeoffs VA and NC small-scale SC producers are willing to make between buyer attributes and contract characteristics when establishing a new contractual relationship; and (3) determines the factors influencing these tradeoffs. Mean willingness-to-pay (WTP) of contract attributes and individual-specific WTP estimates are recovered using a mixed-logit model. Using these individual-specific estimates, a random-effects model is then used to determine factors driving producer WTP. While expressing concerns about specific aspects of contracts, growers overall were found receptive to the idea of using contracts as a viable marketing channel alternative. Substantial heterogeneity is found to exist amongst growers in their attitudes towards the structural framework of produce contracts, suggesting that growers have competing marketing interests with varying preferences towards contract structure. All four non-price contract attributes are found to have significant WTP estimates at a 95% confidence interval or higher. A combination of producer demographics, farm operation characteristics, contract perceptions, and attribute processing strategies are shown to impact the overall WTP for the selected contract attributes. Additionally, growers' preferences are found to be stable throughout the study.


Background The study was designed to assess cardiovascular risk factors flow-mediated dilatation % (FMD%) and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in NAFLD. Methods 126 NAFLD subjects and 31 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) controls were studied. Measuring carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and the flow-mediated dilatation % (FMD%) by brachial artery Doppler ultrasound were used to assess atherosclerosis. The risk of cardiac events at 10 years (ROCE 10) was estimated by the Prospective Cardiovascular Munster Study (PROCAM) score. Results 58 of 126 NAFLD have coexistent metabolic syndrome. Mean CIMT was 0.73 ± 0.041 mm among NAFLD with MS, 0.66 ± 0.016 mm among NAFLD without MS, and 0.66 ± 0.037 in controls CHB patients. FMD% in NAFLD with MS was 10.43 ± 3.134%, but was 8.56 ± 3.581% in NAFLD without MS and 17.78 ± 6.051% in controls. PROCAM score of NAFLD with MS was 46.95 ± 6.509 while in NAFLD without MS was 38.2 ± 3.738. Controls had a PROCAM score of 38.13 ± 5.755. ROCE 10 in NAFLD with MS was 13.64 ± 8.568 while NAFLD without MS was 5.55 ± 1.949. Controls have a ROCE 10 of 5.95 ± 3.973. Post hoc analysis showed CIMT was dependent upon MS while FMD% was different between all subgroups hence independent of metabolic syndrome. Conclusion The markers of endothelial dysfunction are significantly higher in patients with NAFLD than controls.


Abstracts are listed alphabetically by first author's last name. Each is preceded by the session assignment. Poster, P#,s are listed alphabetically by first author's last name. Each is preceded by the session assignment. Poster, P#, (Wednesday 8:00 – 11:00 a.m. Telus Convention Center Exhibit Hall). Plenary Session (Wednesday 1:00 – 4:45 p.m., Hyatt Imperial Ballroom 4). Pearl Memorial Lecture (Wednesday 5:00 – 6:00 p.m., Hyatt Imperial Ballroom 4). PODIUM A (Thursday 8:00 – 9:30 a.m., Hyatt Stephen AB), PODIUM B (Thursday 9:45 – 11:15 a.m., Hyatt Stephen AB), PODIUM C (Thursday 1:30 – 3:00 p.m., Hyatt Stephen AB), PODIUM D (Thursday 3:15 – 4:30 p.m., Hyatt Stephen AB). Please consult the AAPA program for abstracts of the Joint AAPA/HBA session.


Community control of social agencies already exists. The question is who from the community is to be in control. Human services agency managers are in the middle between those now in control who sponsor and fund their agencies, on the one hand, and those who are the recipients of their services, on the other. The consumer control movement proposes a radical shift in the equilibrium of power--from community patron-sponsors to community consumer-recipients. Few agency directors identify with disadvantaged groups. Moreover, their agencies typically are part of a service delivery pattern that maintains social inequities, including institutional racism, which pervade the entire society. Therefore, only a few agency heads can be expected to embrace consumer control and to view it as a step towards a more socially just distribution of the human services for which they are responsible.


Scutellarin (SCU), a flavonoid glycoside compound, has been successfully used in clinic for treatment of ischemic diseases in China. In this report, we checked the effects of SCU on endothelium dysfunction (ED) of coronary artery (CA) against myocardial ischemia reperfusion (MIR) injury in vivo. The involvement of PKG-Iα was further studied using cultured endothelial cells subjected to hypoxia reoxygenation (HR) injury in vitro. In rat MIR model, SCU (45 and 90 mg/kg, iv) significantly reduced ischemic size and restored the endothelium-dependent vasodilation of isolated CA rings. PKG inhibitor Rp-8-Br-cGMP (50 μg/kg, iv) could ameliorate the protective effects of SCU. Increase in phosphorylation of vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP), a main substrate of PKG, at Ser 239 was observed in both heart tissue and serum of SCU-treated animals. In cultured human cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (HCMECs), SCU (1 and 10 μM) dose-dependently protected cell viability and increased the mRNA and protein level of PKG-Iα against HR injury. The activity of PKG was also increased by SCU treatment. The activation of PKG–1α was then studied using targeted proteomic analysis (MRM-MS) checking the phosphorylation state of the autophosphorylation domain (aa42-94). Significant decrease in phosphorylation of PKG-Iα at Ser50, Ser72, Ser89 was induced by HR injury while SCU treatment significantly increased the phosphorylation of PKG-Iα, not only at Ser50, Ser72 and Ser89, but also at Ser44 and Thr58 (two novel phosphorylation domains). Our results demonstrate PKG-Iα might play an important role in the protective effects of SCU on ED against MIR injury.


This case report illustrates the successful treatment of a patient with skeletal Class II malocclusion and an unesthetic smile involving excessive gingival display and large buccal corridors. By applying dual buccal interradicular miniscrews, total intrusion of the maxillary dentition along with distalization was induced to improve both the occlusion and smile esthetics. In addition to the conventional cephalometric superimposition, three-dimensional superimposition was performed and evaluated to validate the treatment outcome.


A 30-year-old male was treated with antipsychotic medication because he had developed psychotic symptoms associated with schizophrenia. It became apparent that the symptoms had been present for many years, but, unfortunately, remained untreated. In the literature there is some evidence of a link between an untreated psychosis of long duration and a poor prognosis. Several early intervention programmes are based on this link. In this case report we illustrate that treatment of a psychosis that has lasted for many years can yield amazingly rapid results.


Objective Currently, the role of circ_0094343 (circPTEN) on the chemosensitivity of CRC remains to be clarified. This study aimed to investigate the role and mechanism of exosome-delivered circ_0094343 in the proliferation, glycolysis, and chemosensitivity of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. Methods Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was utilized to detect the expression level of circ_0094343, miR-766-5p, and TRIM67 (Tripartite motif-containing 67) in CRC clinical tissue samples and cells, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to observe the morphology of exosomes, and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) system to measure the diameter of exosomes. Besides, PKH67 fluorescent labeling was applied for assessing the level of exosome uptake by cells, MTT and cell clone formation assays for detecting cell proliferation and clone formation, respectively, and related kits for checking the glucose consumption, lactate production, and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) in cells. Dual-luciferase reporter (DLR) gene assay was used for verifying the targeting relationship between circ_0094343 and miR-766-5p, miR-766-5p and TRIM67, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) experiment for the interaction between circ_0094343 and miR-766-5p, and Western blot for the protein level of exosome surface antigens (HSP70, CD63) and TRIM67 in cells in exosomes and cell lysates. Results circ_0094343 was significantly downregulated in CRC tissues, chemotherapy-resistant CRC tissues, and metastatic CRC tissues. Moreover, exosomes-carried circ_0094343 played an inhibitory role in the proliferation, clone formation and glycolysis of HCT116 cells. Meanwhile, it could also improve the chemosensitivity of HCT116 cells to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), oxaliplatin (L-OHP), and doxorubicin (Dox). Additionally, circ_0094343 acted as a sponge for miR-766-5p, and miR-766-5p targeted and regulated TRIM67. In CRC tissues, miR-766-5p expression was negatively correlated with TRIM67 expression, while circ_0094343 was positively associated with TRIM67. Further, mechanistic validation also demonstrated that circ_0094343 could inhibit HCT116 cell proliferation, clone formation, glycolysis, and chemotherapy resistance via the miR-766-5p/TRIM67 axis. Conclusion circ_0094343 inhibited the proliferation, clone formation and glycolysis of CRC cells and improved their chemosensitivity to various chemotherapeutic drugs via the miR-766-5p/TRIM67 axis. This finding may provide new insights into the treatment of CRC.


The study was conducted in high altitude, densely tribal populated, forest fringe areas of sub-Himalayan Terai agro-climatic zone of Jalpaiguri district of North Bengal. The study was confined in the Maynaguri and Metiali block of Jalpaiguri district, mainly focusing on the villages. A sample of 65 resource persons was fixed for collection and documentation of ethno-veterinary practices or Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) in livestock and wildlife in forest fringe areas of the district. At the end of the survey in total 105 ethno-veterinary practices used in livestock and wildlife were collected for proper documentation. Out of 105 documented ITKs, 10 ranked ethnoveterinary practices with five replications in each case were brought under validation through clinical trial using both ethno-veterinary and allopathic medicine by the 10 experimenter resource person following Farmer Participatory Research (FPR) approach. From the 10 best selected ITKs three were taken into consideration. Data collected from the respondents on several criteria were subjected to one way analysis of variance. To test the difference of mean amongst alternatives, multiple range test, i.e. Honest Significant Difference (HSD) Tukey's test was used. The study revealed that ethno-veterinary medicine comprised of indigenous ingredients was favourably accepted by the mahouts and farmers to treat Sajan in elephant, external non-specific wound in cattle and yolk-gall in cattle owing to its household availability of ingredients, least side-effect, easy availability and less cost involvement made the present medicament viable option. Through, trial this may be concluded as considering many fold beneficial criteria, ethno-veterinary practice using indigenous technique was better alternative as farmers' choice in the study area.


Thirty Strecker nickel-titanium self-expanding metallic stents were implanted in 20 patients with esophageal strictures and inoperable neoplasms in the Departments of Radiology of the University School of Medicine of Ferrara, Genoa, Novara and Rome, from March 1992 to April 1993; follow-up ranged 1 to 13 months. Thanks to the stents, esophageal strictures could be dilated, significantly reducing dysphagia and allowing the patients to return on to a solid diet. Radiological and endoscopic exams proved the efficacy of the stents in all but 2 patients in whom the tumors had invaded the stent lumen and caused obstruction. In all cases the stents were highly biocompatible and well tolerated. Neither major complications, such as perforation or bleeding, were observed, nor minor ones, such as fever or migration from the site of implant, which may occur with plastic prostheses. To conclude, self-expanding metallic stents used in clinical trials for 13 months proved an effective method in the palliative treatment of malignant esophageal strictures.


In this paper, tensile and fatigue strength of standard modulus type (As spun: AS) and high-modulus type (HM) poly-p-phenylene benzobisoxazole (PBO) fiber improved tensile modulus by heat-treatment have been investigated. The tensile tests of a monofilament were carried out at a gauge length of 12.5 mm and deformation rate of 0.5 mm/min. The fatigue tests of a monofilament were carried out to determine the S-N property at a frequency of 10 Hz with three stress ratios of 0.1, 0.5 and 0.7. It was found that the tensile strength of AS and HM fiber was well represented by a two-parameter Weibull distribution. The tensile strength of HM fiber was higher than that of AS fiber. The fatigue strength of HM fiber was higher than that of AS fiber over all fatigue lives because crystalline region in HM fiber increased by heat-treatment. In AS and HM fiber, the relation between the stress amplitude and fatigue life depended on the stress ratio. However, the relation between the maximum stress and fatigue life was independent of the stress ratio. Therefore, it was found that the maximum stress was useful to describe the fatigue lives at the different stress ratios. Additionally, in HM fiber, the factor governing fatigue fracture tended to vary from the mean stress to stress amplitude at the low stress ratio because crystalline regions increased by heat-treatment and fiber became brittleness. It was found by SEM observation that there were distinct differences between the surface image of tensile test specimen and that of fatigue test specimen, i.e., the splitting length in the fatigue test specimens was much longer than that in the tensile test specimens. Introduction In the field of polymeric fiber, PBO (Poly-p-Phenylene Benzobisoxazole) fiber has broadened its versatility and drawn the attention of customers for its properties that greatly surpass traditional fiber materials. One of the distinctive properties of this fiber, as shown in Fig. 1, is a high degree of strength and elasticity attributable to the rigid and highly linear polymer macromolecules laid out in the direction of the fiber [1]. Its versatility is expected to broaden further because its tensile strength is higher than that of carbon and aramide fibers and its tensile elastic modulus is comparable to that of carbon fibers. Currently, though, the PBO fiber is used mainly as a tension member in the axis of optic fiber cable [2] and as an adhesive tension sheet to repairing concrete beams [3]. Standard modulus type (AS) and high-modulus type (HM) of fibers with different degrees of elasticity are used widely at present. Well understood are fundamental properties of the fiber, such as relationship between the internal structure and deformation behavior [4], and its tensile strength [5]. Ambiguity remains about many of the properties of this relatively new material under specific conditions. Of the utmost


Is there a trade-off between central (working memory) load and peripheral (perceptual) processing? To address this question, participants were requested to undertake an n-back task in one of two levels of central/cognitive load (i.e., 1-back or 2-back) in the presence of a to-be-ignored story presented via headphones. Participants were told to ignore the background story, but they were given a surprise memory test of what had been said in the background story, immediately after the n-back task was completed. Memory was poorer in the high central load (2-back) condition in comparison with the low central load (1-back) condition. Hence, when people compensate for higher central load, by increasing attentional engagement, peripheral processing is constrained. Moreover, participants with high working memory capacity (WMC) - with a superior ability for attentional engagement - remembered less of the background story, but only in the low central load condition. Taken together, peripheral processing - as indexed by incidental memory of background speech - is constrained when task engagement is high.


The problem of finding a solution to the linear system $Ax = b$ with certain minimization properties arises in numerous scientific and engineering areas. In the era of big data, the stochastic optimization algorithms become increasingly significant due to their scalability for problems of unprecedented size. This paper focuses on the problem of minimizing a strongly convex function subject to linear constraints. We consider the dual formulation of this problem and adopt the stochastic coordinate descent to solve it. The proposed algorithmic framework, called fast stochastic dual coordinate descent, utilizes sampling matrices sampled from user-defined distributions to extract gradient information. Moreover, it employs Polyak's heavy ball momentum acceleration with adaptive parameters learned through iterations, overcoming the limitation of the heavy ball momentum method that it requires prior knowledge of certain parameters, such as the singular values of a matrix. With these extensions, the framework is able to recover many well-known methods in the context, including the randomized sparse Kaczmarz method, the randomized regularized Kaczmarz method, the linearized Bregman iteration, and a variant of the conjugate gradient (CG) method. We prove that, with strongly admissible objective function, the proposed method converges linearly in expectation. Numerical experiments are provided to confirm our results.


We describe a gas-chromatographic method, with electron capture detection, for determining 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylethylene glycol in human urine. High sensitivity (5 pg per injection), recovery (93-97%), and reproducibility (CV 4.3%) are obtained. By this method, the 24-h urinary excretion of the free compound, the sulfate conjugate, the glucuronide conjugate, and the total in six normal male subjects average 0.15 (SEM 0.015), 1.09 (SEM 0.10), 1.22 (SEM 0.10), and 2.34 (SEM 0.21) mg, respectively. In three young women with amenorrhea/hirsutism, administration of dexamethasone decreased the total excretion of the compound.


OBJECTIVE
This study explored and analyzed the expression of LncRNA NEAT1 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and its correlation with Th1/Th2 balance.

METHODS
We chose 97 SLE patients admitted in our hospital from Jun. 2016 to Feb. 2019 as SLE group, and randomly selected 50 healthy volunteers that underwent physical examination in our hospital during the same period as control group. We detected the expression of LncRNA NEAT1 in PBMCs of the two groups of subjects by qRT-PCR, the degree of Th1 and Th2 cells in both groups by flow cytometry, and the expression of TFN-γ and IL-4 in both groups by ELISA.

RESULTS
The relative expression of LncRNA NEAT1 in PBMCs of SLE group was higher than that of control group (P<0.05). The proportion of Th1 and the ratio of Th1/Th2 cells in PBMCs were markedly lower in the SLE group than the control group (P<0.05), while the proportion of Th2 was higher in the SLE group than the control group (P<0.05). IFN-γ level in SLE group was much lower than the control group (P<0.05), while IL-4 level was evidently higher in the SLE group than in controls (P<0.05). The expression of LncRNA NEAT1 in PBMCs of SLE group was notably negatively correlated with Th1 proportion and Th1/Th2 ratio (P<0.05), while positively correlated with Th2 proportion (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION
LncRNA NEAT1 in PBMCs of SLE patients is abnormally highly expressed, and this expression is negatively correlated with Th1/Th2 balance. These two factors may interact and jointly affect the occurrence and progression of SLE.


The aim of the study was to determine and compare the endogenous ileal excretions of nitrogen and amino acids under protein-free and peptide alimentation by the dog and rat. Two diets were prepared, one that was devoid of protein and the other containing 23% enzyme hydrolysed casein. Chromic oxide was included in the diets as an indigestible marker. A total of 10 mixed breed dogs were fed hourly either a protein-free or enzymatically hydrolysed casein diet for a total of 10 days. A faecal sample was obtained from each dog on day 9 while digesta was obtained from the terminal 20 cm of the ileum directly after euthanasia on day 10. A total of 12 8-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats received the same diets as the dogs. A faecal sample from each rat was obtained on day 7 while ileal digesta samples were obtained on day 8. The endogenous ileal excretions of most amino acids were greater in the dogs and rats that received the enzymatically hydrolysed casein diet compared with those receiving the protein free diet. Whereas the pattern of endogenous amino acid excretion was similar in the rats and dogs, the dogs excreted a significantly greater amount of nitrogen (1.91 vs. 2.27 and 1.63 vs. 4.12 g/kg dry matter intake for the protein-free and peptide alimentation method, respectively) and all amino acids except for glycine, isoleucine and leucine. Endogenous ileal amino acid excretions are higher in dogs compared to omnivorous animals such as rats and pigs but similar to the carnivorous cat.


The essays in this edited special issue aims to probe the nature and 'varieties' of capitalism that emerged and evolved in South Africa following the diamond and gold discoveries of the second half of the 19th century. Is there anything about the origins, evolution and structure of South African capitalism that is distinct or special? What are the continuities, and what the disjunctures, between the character of capitalism in South Africa before and since democratic change? Can one indeed talk about a model or models of South Africa capitalism? Are the rhythms of South Africa's capitalist development, its cycles and crises, determined by and form an inseparable part of capitalist accumulation trajectories on a global scale? Or can one argue that while some components of any national economy today will be inextricably driven by global imperatives, this exists alongside (in either mutually supportive or antagonistic ways) a set of institutions and a history that is essentially national in character. Finally, how similar or how different is contemporary South African capitalism from other models of capitalism - viewed either as stylised, theoretical constructions or in relation to comparable middle-income developing or emerging market economies. These and related themes are set out in this first essay.


Background: Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) causes serious illness in humans, especially in newborns and immunocompromised hosts. Public health requires the development of new, less toxic anti-HSV-1 drugs. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the potential anti-herpesvirus activity of natural products in an extensive library of 133 compounds by examining viral titers and the number of viral plaques. Methods: (S)-10-hydroxycamptothecin (10-HCPT) as an inhibitor against viral DNA replication in the lowest concentration ranges from a set of natural products consisting of screening 133 compounds. Each step of the viral replication cycle of HSV-1 on A549 cells was evaluated with different assays, including adsorption, penetration, time-of-addition assay, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The respective antiviral effects on HSV-1AN95 infection were assessed in vitro. Results: 10-HCPT was found to be a potent inhibitor of HSV-1 infection in the lowest concentration range from screening of a natural product library. The results showed that 10-HCPT significantly affects HSV-1 viral plaque formation inhibition, with a half maximal effective concentration (EC50) of 0.07 μM. The time of addition assay suggested that 10-HCPT had a viral inhibitory effect when added 8 hours after infection. It was further confirmed by reducing the expression of late viral genes including glycoprotein (g) and viral protein (VP) (gB, gD, gH, VP1/2, and VP16) 4 hours after infection in the 10-HCPT treatment group compared to positive controls by quantitative real-time PCR. The Western blotting results are inconsistent with other reported results. It showed that 10-HCPT did not affect gD and ICP4 during HSV-1 infection, and 10-HCPT appeared to affect other genes in the immediate-early (IE) and late (L) steps. Conclusions: 10-HCPT demonstrated anti-HSV activity on HSV-1. Their dose-dependent antiviral activity showed that specific cellular components might mediate their function rather than cytotoxicity. This survey suggests a new outlook in exploring effective treatment options for HSV-1 infections.


An enormous growth has been observed in number of passengers using railway transportation due to day to day urbanization. It results into increase in number of passenger using railway station platform; usually this users are defined as pedestrian flow at platform. During arrivals and departure of trains at urban travel station, there is very high congestion due to pedestrian flow. Pedestrian flow goes to peak level with quick variation and brings about movement of pedestrian streams and may prompt to risky pedestrian facility. The analysis of this pedestrian flow in some circumstances in point of the gravity of situation turning unfavorable, subsequently for the proficiency layout and also compelling operations, modeling of pedestrian flow for such condition is important to increase pedestrian level of service. Simulation model of pedestrian network at Nagpur railway station was developed with the help of PTV Vissim 9 and analysis was carried out. The results show that difference between field study and simulation study is 15% and 10% on passageway and ramp respectively.


Recovery of hearing in sudden deafness is said to be such that the severer the hearing loss and the longer the period from the disease onset to the start of treatment, the poorer the recovery of hearing. However, the prognosis of the so-called scaling out cases has not yet been fully studied. We have therefore studied 96 patients with severest sudden deafness who consulted us within 14 days after disease onset and who had scaling out in all the frequencies. We evaluated the extent to which recovery of hearing could be expected and whether any characteristics are seen in pathogenesis, etc. The results showed that there was no patient who experienced complete recovery, even when treatment was started as early as within 4 days. Recovery of hearing was better in low frequencies than in high frequencies. The site of the lesion was the inner ear in many cases, and some had retrocochlear lesions. Concerning pathogenesis, we think the difference in degree of lesion should be considered important, rather than there may be a substantial difference, compared to that of slight deafness.


Computerized substation siting and sizing methods utilize optimization to determine the best combination of substation sites and capacities for an expanding distribution system. An important part of the input data to such methods is the characteristics of the feeder system--its configuration, losses, and load capability. This paper describes a fast method of generating this information using dynamic programming, thereby simplifying the data requirements and setup for these programs. The method is described and the results of tests of its performance are given.


Tanzania has great potential in the sunflower oil seeds sector, which can be scaled-up as one of its key sectors for industrial development. This policy note provides an overview of the government policies and initiatives in this sector, including the Rural Livelihood Development Company (RLDC) initiative and Dodoma cluster, financing scheme as well as the monitoring and evaluation framework. It also identifies the key constraints for scaling-up the sector and the possible solutions.


Cetaceans swim by the alternate action of their epiaxial and hypaxial muscles and their propulsive movements are confined to the vertical plane. Changes in the shape and mechanical properties of vertebrae strongly affect their function during oscillatory swimming. The first objective of this study was to provide a quantitative characterization of vertebral morphology in representatives of the Delphinidae and Pontoporiidae families. A novel morphometric approach was applied, using nine vertebral measurements and three indices. The second objective was to assess the relationship between morphology and both habitat and size through regression analyses. The phylogenetic structure of the distribution of characters was also explored by estimating phylogenetic signal. No relationship was found between morphology and habitat or size, but vertebral measurements and indices showed a significant phylogenetic signal. Morphological profiles indicated that coastal and oceanic delphinid species had a conservative regionalization of the vertebral column. All delphinid species showed discoidal centra morphology, while Pontoporia blainvillei presented a spool-shaped morphology. Differences in vertebral morphology and inferred muscular architecture between P. blainvillei and delphinids could indicate distinct dynamics of vertebral movement during swimming. However, other complex and specific functional relationships and life-history traits may also be influencing vertebral morphology. The detailed study of the complex evolutionary history of lineages could bring to light other clarifying dimensions for understanding morphological evolution in odontocetes.


Hypothesis and Background: A high prevalence of downwardly sloping type 3 Aortic Arch (AA) in elderly humans with Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH) led us to hypothesize that Major Aortic Arch Branches (MAAB) acting through the AA and ascending Aorta are pivotal in subtending the heart in its anatomic position. Based on established commonality in comparative anatomy of terrestrial mammals we tested our hypothesis in the even-toed ungulate model.
Methods and Results: We observed 5 animals (2 sheep and 3 goats) at a licensed abattoir as they were being dressed, in a requested order. In vertical orientation, midline incision bisecting the entire chest and anterior abdominal wall was made and after retracting the ribs the heart was visualized. In stepwise fashion: abdominal organs, diaphragm, lungs and Vertebropericardial Ligaments (VPL) were removed; in all animals, the heart maintained its position in the thorax after the above steps. Subsequently, Sternopericardial Ligaments (SPL) were transected and the heart still maintained its position. Only after ascending aorta was severed just above the Aortic valve, did the heart lose its position and drop down to the pelvis.
Conclusion: In even-toed ungulate animal model, MAAB acting through AA and ascending aorta are pivotal in subtending the heart in its usual anatomic position. Invoking basic principles of comparative anatomy it would be safe to extrapolate that same may run true in humans. Indirect evidence of above in humans may reside in a high prevalence of downwardly sloping type 3 AA in elderly with LVH.


Marine reserves exhibit increases in targeted fish species, but long-term effects on biodiversity are poorly understood. Factors other than reserve status may affect decadal changes, including environmental change. We examined the fish fauna at the iconic Poor Knights Islands over 4 decades (1974–2016) before and after implementation of a no-take marine reserve in 1998. We document a substantial increase in commercially and recreationally targeted Chrysophrys auratus, which was virtually absent before 1994 but by 2016 had reached up to 11 fish per 500m2 (220 per hectare). There were also large changes to the fish community, including the decline of subtropical and coastal wrasses, some species with no change and others that increased significantly. Many declines occurred >20 years before the arrival of abundant C. auratus, suggesting the changes do not represent a trophic cascade. Furthermore, this normally benthic-feeding fish has adopted a mid-water foraging behaviour targeting planktivorous fish. The increase in C. auratus appears to be linked both to reserve status and catch regulations in the wider region. Overall, the data point to long-term environmental fluctuations from the late 1970s having a negative effect on the abundance of more than half the reef fish species at these islands.


Acoustic properties such as specific dynamic Young's modulus (Ed/γ), internal friction (Q-1), and acoustic conversion efficiency (ACE) of wood are important properties frequently examined using free-free flexural vibration. This study determined the suitability for making musical instrument soundboards and frameboards from four tropical wood species; namely Syzygium, Dialium, Gymnostoma, and Sindora. The results show that (Ed/γ), (Q-1), and ACE were in the range of 20.0 to 28.9 GPa, 0.0031 to 0.0085, and 3.41×107 to 10.83×107, respectively. Based on the results, Syzygium was preferred for making the frameboard of violins and guitars. The outer sapwood (outer part) of Syzygium was the most suitable for making frameboard by considering the lowest ACE and highest Q-1. Based on Ed/γ, the inner sapwood (middle part) in Dialium was the most suitable for making soundboard, but based on Q-1 and ACE, heartwood (inner part) was the most preferred for making soundboard. Gymnostoma was also preferred for making soundboard of violins and guitars (inner sapwood) because it yields the highest mean value of Q-1 and ACE. Considering ACE and Q-1, the outer sapwood in Sindora was the best for making frameboard. When considering Ed/γ and Q-1, the heartwood is the most suitable for making the frameboard of violins and guitars.


BACKGROUND
Common reasons for orbital defects are midfacial traumas or defects following tumor resection within the sinu-orbital region. In these cases, reconstruction of the medial or inferior orbital wall often is required. Common materials for orbital reconstruction, such as titanium-mesh, are used where epithelialisation problems are frequently encountered.

METHODS
Three patients with extended resection of malignomas of the medial and inferior orbit wall were reconstructed with a myofascial transposition flap from the suprabrow region.

RESULTS
Orbital tumor infiltration was present in 11 of the 54 patients treated from 1997 to 2003 for tumors of the nasal region. In three cases, tumor extension to the medial and caudal orbital wall required extensive tissue resection, including the periorbit. In these cases, we created a new horizontal fascial flap from the suprabrow-region which stabilized the bulbus by fixation to the lateral maxilla. Follow-up 12 months after surgery showed good epithelialisation of the reconstructed region without functional deficits.

CONCLUSION
This previously undescribed fascial suprabrow-flap constitutes a valuable method in the reconstruction of large combined defects of the medial and caudal orbit wall profiting particularly from the autologous material used.


New concept of interposer in FPGA system will be introduced. The interposer includes a lot of TSVs for the high speed signals. Technology requirements and manufacturing process to support multi-gigabit or tens-of-gigabit per second SerDes application will be presented. The interposer needs to be accurately modeled over the high frequency by considering all those requirements before design optimization. An interposer test vehicle was fabricated for measurement and verification. The measurement technique using vector network analyzer including de-embedding process will be introduced. At the same time, TSV high frequency modeling methodology will be disclosed. Both broadband s-parameter model and RLC lumped model based on physical structures were generated. The interposer could be a passive component or an active component with circuit. The passive interposer has an advantage in a certain area and the active interposer also has its own. The depletion area in silicon substrate will be considered as well to increase the level of accuracy. The routing metal loss in under bump metallurgy (UBM) layer should be analyzed also. Finally, full channel analysis has been done. It includes optimized interposer model on top of package substrate and printed circuit board. Each proposed interposer structure enables high performance signaling and great visibility in both passive and active interposer.


To make domestic services like maids and nannies less expensive, thereby increasing the legal market for companies offering such services, tax deduction has been on the right-wing feminist/political agenda in Sweden for almost fifteen years. On the 1st of July 2007, after a successful lobby campaign, such a reform was implemented. This paper, based on interviews with actors involved in promoting the reform, describes how the law permitting tax deduction finally passed and how the market for domestic services developed the years before and after the reform. The protagonists' arguments for the importance of tax deduction for the survival and expansion of the market are also described. Their main arguments were: a) that the tax deduction would encourage people to buy these services from legal companies instead of using illegal workers, b) that many unemployed could be offered a legal job in the sector, and c) that the equality between men and women in work life would increase when women got rid of some of their family responsibilities. Our analysis shows that by framing the question differently in different situations, the reform protagonists managed to avoid some of the conflicts regarding gender equality, working conditions, competence, immigration/ethnicity and social class inherent in their arguments. These value conflicts are outlined in the papers final section. By integrating sociological theories on intersectionality with theories on the organization of markets, we analyze the value conflicts and also discuss why the reform antagonists (left-wing politicians, feminists and parts of the trade unions) failed to organize their resistance.


The Steam Permeameter Cell is a laboratory-scale pressure vessel used to perform high pressure, high temperature testing on well cement slurries. Initial sizing of the concentric, two chamber vessel was based on design by rule concepts in the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section VIII Division 1. However, based on the complex transient loading expected during the specified testing protocol, additional engineering design and analysis was performed to understand the effects of thermal gradients on the overall strength and fatigue performance of the vessel. The objective of the engineering assessment was to show compliance with design margins in the Code when non-listed materials are utilized in the construction.
 Using detailed analytical modeling of transient, thermo-mechanical loading, the assessment demonstrated that the test vessel was safe to operate based on engineering judgement and established best practices in vessel design by analysis. Furthermore, several design modifications were identified to improve functionality and overall performance of the vessel. The Steam Permeameter Cell design had sufficient static capacity to contain the maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP) of 3,500 psig at a design temperature of 700°F, and fatigue capacity to withstand the intended test protocol over the service life.


The potential effect of the 1991 Local Government Code on the Philippine Family Planning Program (PFPP) and the consequent complete devolution of certain basic services to the Local Government Units (LGUs) is analyzed. The Technical Secretariat (TS) started its operations in august 1990. Sitios or settlements make up a barangay and a number of barangays comprise a municipality or town in a province or district in a city. The University of the Philippine Population Institute estimates that each barangay has between 80 to 120-150 women of reproductive age. There are also a total of some 74600 potential village-based volunteers. The annual increase of the population is about 1.3 million and in 1992 the country had a little over 63 million people. Considering 15% of them as married women of reproductive age (MCRAs) there will be about 9.5 million MCRAs plus about 6.1 million adolescents or a total target population of 15.7 million women of reproductive age (WRA). The principles of safe motherhood and child survival call for providing quality maternal and child health/family planning service to as many WRAs as possible each year besides freedom of choice and referral. The information education and communication activities are of particular importance. LGUs will determine the role of the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the PFPP from 1992 onward. The concerned organizations the devolved line agencies of government the NGOs the commercial sector social marketing agencies and TS/PFPP are responsible for planning and managing the program to assist the LGUs in developing their own programs.


Semantic segmentation is an emerging field in the computer vision community where one can segment and label an object all at once. In this paper, we propose a semantic segmentation algorithm that takes into account both the hyperspectral images and the LiDAR data. In our segmentation framework, we propose a new energy function that is composed of two terms: a unary energy term and a pairwise energy term. The unary energy term provides the segmentation maps for the hyperspectral data as well as for the LiDAR data which is explained with Fisher Vectors. The pairwise spatial term uses both the UTM coordinates as well as the LiDAR data. Finally, the system is solved with graph-cuts. We report the effect of the parameters in energy minimization and show that the best results are achieved with an SVM-MRF classifier among the several classifiers.


The Rb-Sr dating of sphalerite is a powerful method for evaluating the timing of large-scale crustal fluid flow events and testing hydrological models. The Mississippi Valley-type Zn-Pb deposit at Blendevale, Western Australia, is the largest of several such deposits situated on the northern margin of the Canning basin on the Lennard shelf. It is hosted by the reefal facies of the Devonian (Frasnian) Pillara Limestone, flanked to the south by the Fitzroy trough, a deep half-graben. Rb-Sr isotope analysis of six sphalerites and their fluid inclusion leachares form an isochron indicating an age of 357 + or - 3 Ma (( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) 0 = 0.7129 + or - 2), in good agreement with the average age, 355 + or - 14 Ma, of the leachate-sphalerite pairs and an isochron consisting of a sphalerite sample, its leachate, and associated host carbonate (362 + or - 12 Ma). This age renders as untenable a recently proposed model calling for basinal brine expulsion in response to a hydrocarbon generation event triggered by eustatic sea-level drop in the late Carboniferous. Instead, mineralization occurring only 30 to 50 m.y. after initiation of extension of the associated Fitzroy trough is consistent with models of episodic basin dewatering from overpressured zones.


Priapism is a urological emergency that results in a penile or clitoral engorgement, having several triggers by the use of medications, including psychiatric drugs, such as antipsychotics and antidepressants. The most common priapism presentation is the ischemic type that can result in the fibrosis of corporus cavernosus, with a significant risk of persistent erectile dysfunction. It is believed that, in the case of antipsychotic use, priapism is mediated by an imbalance in alpha-1-adrenergic blocking, with large variation affinity for alpha-1-adrenergic receptors among antipsychotics. This case report contributes to the study of this rare but severe side effect. Priapism can limit both treatment adherence and the reproductive future of our patients. We describe a case report of a patient with a delusional hypochondriac syndrome who had multiple priapism episodes using clozapine 50 mg/daily. In conclusion, we make brief comments on priapism management, a hard clinical dilemma.


We examined some of the physiological reasons that may underlie past and expected future migrations of red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) by evaluating the effects of high temperatures on photosynthesis and respiration of trees growing on Whiteface Mountain, NY. At temperatures of 35-40 degrees C, the trees exhibited a zero or negative carbon balance. Higher temperatures resulted in cellular disorganization and death. Temperatures around 30 degrees C resulted in reduced CO(2) uptake, a condition that could decrease future reproductive output and competitive stature. We conclude that thermal intolerance explains, at least in part, the absence of red spruce at low elevations and latitudes where temperatures of >/= 30 degrees C occur. We suggest that the thermosensitivity of this species is important with respect to global climate trends and migration patterns.


Ectopic pregnancy is abnormal implantation site of ovum. Incidence of ectopic pregnancy is 1.5–2%.Itis mostly commonly related with rise of age. Cervical ectopic pregnancy is one case in 2500 or one case in 1000 pregnancy. Cervix is uncommon site for pregnancy. Treatment of ectopic pregnancy is dividing to conservative and surgical. Conservative treatments are Methotrexate or inject KCL in fetus heart. Surgical treatment is D&C or tymponad in cervix or balloon in it or uterine artery embolization and finally hysterectomy. Here we present the cervical ectopic pregnancy that present with retard of menstruation. She is a 37 years old woman Gravida2, live child1, Gestational age was 4weeks,s–HCG level was 800IU, transvaginal sonography showed no fetal pole and no fetal heart rate and no yolk sac in gestational age6weeks. She had done multiple sonography and in the last sonography, the yolk sac in cervix was seen and s -HCG rise from 58850 to 83332. Her past surgical history had shown myomectomy several years ago. At first we decided to inject Methotrexate in gestational sac but s – HCG titter raised, then she undergone D&C and cervical artery ligation to prevent vaginal bleeding was done. Dilatation and curettage successfully had done and s-HCG decrease to 12800.


Purpose To determine the various haptoglobin genotypes and their influence on the clinico-laboratory manifestations among young Nigerian sickle cell anemia (SCA) patients. Patients and Methods A total of 101 SCA patients and 64 controls were studied. SCA was diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Haptoglobin genotype was determined by PCR followed by agarose gel electrophoresis. The patients' laboratory and clinical parameters were differentiated by haptoglobin genotypes. Results The Hp1 and Hp2 alleles frequencies were 0.62 and 0.38 in the patients and 0.73 and 0.27 in the controls, respectively, and these did not differ significantly (p>0.05). The haptoglobin genotype distribution among the patients and controls were Hp1-1, 43 (42.6%); Hp2-1, 40 (39.6%); Hp2-2, 18 (17.8%) and Hp1-1, 35 (54.7%); Hp2-1, 24 (37.5%); Hp2-2, 5 (7.8%), respectively, with no difference between the two groups (P>0.05). No significant difference was found in the clinical events and laboratory parameters of the patients when partitioned according to the various haptoglobin genotypes (P> 0.05). Conclusion This study found that haptoglobin gene polymorphism does not have a significant influence on the clinico-laboratory manifestations among SCA patients.


Genomic DNA of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa is largely devoid of methylation. Methylation at the 5 position of cytosine is heavy in certain areas of the genome, however. Overall, approximately 1.5% of the cytosines in N. crassa DNA are methylated (Russell et al. 1987; Foss et al. 1993; Selker et al. 1993b), but in certain regions, nearly 100% of the cytosines are methylated (Selker and Stevens 1985; Selker et al. 1993a). The total number of such methylated patches in the N. crassa genome is probably in the hundreds, based on the total amount of methylation (1.5%); the size and density of the two best-characterized, natural, methylated patches (1.6 kb for ζ–η, Selker et al. 1993b; and ~2 kb for ψ–63, B. Margolin and E. Selker, unpubl.); and the size of the genome (~4 × 10 7 bp, Orbach et al. 1988b). Genetic analyses have revealed that mutations in a number of genes can reduce the level of DNA methylation in Neurospora (Foss et al. 1993; Roberts and Selker 1995; H. Foss and E. Selker, unpubl.), and one mutant apparently lacks all DNA methylation in vegetative tissue ( dim-2, for d efective i n m ethylation; Foss et al. 1993). The cytosine residues that are methylated in Neurospora are not present exclusively, or even predominantly, in CpG dinucleotides (Bull and Wootton 1984; Selker and Stevens 1985; Selker et al. 1993a). This is unlike the situation in higher eukaryotes and some other fungi that have been studied (Selker 1993). Non-CpG methylation cannot be propagated...


The Caribbean region, like other resource-limited areas, lacks many of the diagnostic and treatment modalities taken for granted in richer areas of the world. The Caribbean Guidelines for the Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents Infected With the Human Immunodeficiency Virus provides guidelines for the region for preventing and treating more than 20 opportunistic diseases reflecting the variable availability of diagnostic and treatment resources. Elements of diagnosis and prevention of tuberculosis, Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia, and other common opportunistic conditions in this resource-limited setting were discussed by Jonathan E. Kaplan, MD, at the first CHART Caribbean Conference on the Clinical Management of HIV/AIDS in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in June 2004.


In this pathbreaking study, Patricia Bonomi argues that religion was as instrumental as either politics or the economy in shaping early American life and values. Looking at the middle and southern colonies as well as at Puritan New England, Bonomi finds an abundance of religious vitality through the colonial years among clergy and churchgoers of diverse religious background. The book also explores the tightening relationship between religion and politics and illuminates the vital role religion played in the American Revolution. A perennial backlist title first published in 1986, this updated edition includes a new preface on research in the field on African Americans, Indians, women, the Great Awakening, and Atlantic history and how these impact her interpretations.


Abstract This paper contributes to debates regarding the normative justification of basic income (BI) via a critical reevaluation of Philippe Van Parijs' 'real-libertarian' theory. Van Parijs' work constitutes the most ambitious attempt within the literature to ground a justification of BI within a systematic normative framework. In this paper I argue that key elements of his framework should form part of any progressive justification of BI. Specifically, his linking of the principle of 'real freedom for all' with the policy mechanism of the 'highest sustainable basic income.' I take issue with Van Parijs' treatment of compensation for unequal internal endowments based on the criterion of 'undominated diversity' and I reject the 'external resources' approach to justifying the funding of a substantial BI, including Van Parijs' 'jobs as assets' argument. I introduce the concept of 'total social productivity' as a means of understanding the production and reproduction of society in a manner that anchors the justification of BI in a commitment to a 'deep form of social reciprocity.' Finally, I suggest that BI be framed as a 'pragmatic-utopian reform.'


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Acquired resistance to the DNA topoisomerase II (topo II)-targeting agent, etoposide (VP-16) has been shown previously in this lab to be associated with decreased levels of topo II mRNA and protein in a K562 clone, K/VP.5. Utilizing exon junctional Taqman hydrolysis probes, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) revealed ∼2-fold decrease in topo IIα mRNA expression in K/VP.5 compared to parental K562 cells when probes were downstream of exon 19. However, use of probes upstream of exon 19 revealed a small but statistically significant increase in topo IIα mRNA in K/VP.5 compared to K562 cells. In contrast, expression of topo IIs mRNA was reduced in K/VP.5 compared to K562 cells in all 5' and 3' regions of the gene queried. RNA stability studies using the RNA polymerase II inhibitor DRB and 4 qPCR probes, regionally targeted to 3' and 5' domains, revealed similar topo IIα mRNA half-lives in K562 cells (6.55 hr [extreme 3' probe] to 7.96 hr [extreme 5' probe]) but a statistically significant increase in topo IIα mRNA half-lives in K/VP.5 cells (7.21 hr [extreme 3' probe] to 11.86 hr [extreme 5' probe (p=0.034)]). The differential RNA decay rate in K/VP.5 cells suggested alterations in exo- or endo-nuclease expression/function in resistant cells and/or alternative splicing events generating transcripts of different size and stability characteristics. Experiments using Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends (3'-RACE) were consistent with loss of ∼3 kb of the total 5.8 kb topo IIα in K/VP.5 cells. PCR products derived from this truncated transcript were sequenced, revealing that the 5' splice site of intron 19 is suppressed, resulting in the retention of ∼300 nt of intronic sequence in the mature mRNA, and the use of an alternative polyadenylation site. The retained portion of intron 19 contains an in-frame stop codon, as well as the consensus AAUAAA hexamer of the poly(A) signal. As a result of alternative 3' end processing, exons 20-35 of the topo IIα gene are not included in the truncated transcript. Since the codon corresponding to the topo IIα active site tyrosine is contained in Exon 20 (Tyr 705), translation of the alternatively spliced transcript likely produces a non-functional protein. Surprisingly, the truncated transcript is also present in K562 cells, albeit at a greatly reduced level compared to K/VP.5, suggesting that alternative polyadenylation is a normal mechanism to regulate topo IIα expression. Taken together results indicate that posttranscriptional alterations in topo IIα may account, in part, for acquired resistance to VP-16, and potentially for regulation of topo II expression that may dictate intrinsic chemosensitivity as well.

Citation Format: Lucas D. Serdar, Ragu Kanagasabai, Jack C. Yalowich. Alternative RNA processing leads to decreased DNA topoisomerase IIα in etoposide (VP-16) resistant human leukemia K562 cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 786. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-786


BACKGROUND
More than 300,000 people die each year of cardiac arrest. Studies have shown that raising vascular pressures during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can improve survival and that vascular pressures can be raised by increasing intrathoracic pressure.

METHODS
To produce periodic increases in intrathoracic pressure, we developed a pneumatically cycled circumferential thoracic vest system and compared the results of the use of this system in CPR (vest CPR) with those of manual CPR. In phase 1 of the study, aortic and right-atrial pressures were measured during both vest CPR (60 inflations per minute) and manual CPR in 15 patients in whom a mean (+/- SD) of 42 +/- 16 minutes of initial manual CPR had been unsuccessful. Vest CPR was also carried out on 14 other patients in whom pressure measurements were not made. In phase 2 of the study, short-term survival was assessed in 34 additional patients randomly assigned to undergo vest CPR (17 patients) or continued manual CPR (17 patients) after initial manual CPR (duration, 11 +/- 4 minutes) had been unsuccessful.

RESULTS
In phase 1 of the study, vest CPR increased the peak aortic pressure from 78 +/- 26 mm Hg to 138 +/- 28 mm Hg (P < 0.001) and the coronary perfusion pressure from 15 +/- 8 mm Hg to 23 +/- 11 mm Hg (P < 0.003). Despite prolonged unsuccessful manual CPR, spontaneous circulation returned with vest CPR in 4 of the 29 patients. In phase 2 of the study, spontaneous circulation returned in 8 of the 17 patients who underwent vest CPR as compared with only 3 of the 17 patients who received continued manual CPR (P = 0.14). More patients in the vest-CPR group than in the manual-CPR group were alive 6 hours after attempted resuscitation (6 of 17 vs. 1 of 17) and 24 hours after attempted resuscitation (3 of 17 vs. 1 of 17), but none survived to leave the hospital.

CONCLUSIONS
In this preliminary study, vest CPR, despite its late application, successfully increased aortic pressure and coronary perfusion pressure, and there was an insignificant trend toward a greater likelihood of the return of spontaneous circulation with vest CPR than with continued manual CPR. The effect of vest CPR on survival, however, is currently unknown and will require further study.


Businesses have sought out new solutions to provide support and improve customer satisfaction as more products and services have become interconnected digitally. There is an inherent need for businesses to provide or outsource fast, efficient and knowledgeable support to remain competitive. Support solutions are also advancing with technologies, including use of social media, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and remote device connectivity to better support customers. Customer support operators are trained to utilise these technologies to provide better customer outreach and support for clients in remote areas. Interconnectivity of products and support systems provide businesses with potential international clients to expand their product market and business scale. This paper reports the possible AI applications in customer support, done in collaboration with the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) program between Birmingham City University and a company that handles customer service systems for businesses outsourcing customer support across a wide variety of business sectors. This study explored several approaches to accurately predict customers' intent using both labelled and unlabelled textual data. While some approaches showed promise in specific datasets, the search for a single, universally applicable approach continues. The development of separate pipelines for intent detection and discovery has led to improved accuracy rates in detecting known intents, while further work is required to improve the accuracy of intent discovery for unknown intents.


High-harmonic generation (HHG) in condensed-matter systems is both a source of fundamental insight into quantum electron motion and a promising candidate to realize compact ultraviolet and ultrafast light sources [1-3]. Here we argue that the large light intensity required for this phenomenon to occur can be reached by exploiting localized plasmons in conducting nanostructures. In particular, we demonstrate that doped graphene nanostructures combine a strong plasmonic near-field enhancement and a pronounced intrinsic nonlinearity that result in efficient broadband HHG within a single material platform [4]. We extract this conclusion from time-domain simulations using two complementary nonperturbative approaches based on atomistic one-electron density matrix and massless Dirac-fermion Bloch-equation pictures, where the latter treatment is supplemented by a classical electromagnetic description of the self-consistent field produced by the illuminated nanostructure. High harmonics are predicted to be emitted with unprecedentedly large intensity by tuning the incident light to the localized plasmons of ribbons and finite islands. In contrast to atomic systems, we observe no cutoff in harmonic order, while a comparison of the predicted HHG from graphene to that observed in solid-state systems suggests that the HHG yields measured in semiconductors can be produced by graphene plasmons using 3-4 orders of magnitude lower pulse fluence. Our results support the strong potential of nanostructured graphene as a robust, electrically-tunable platform for HHG.

[1] S. Ghimire et al., "Observation of High-Order Harmonic Generation in a Bulk Crystal," Nat. Phys. 7, 138 (2011).
[2] O. Schubert et al., "Sub-Cycle Control of Terahertz High-Harmonic Generation by Dynamical Bloch Oscillations," Nat. Photon. 8, 119 (2014).
[3] T. T. Luu et al., "Extreme Ultraviolet High-Harmonic Spectroscopy of Solids," Nature 521, 498 (2015).
[4] J. D. Cox, A. Marini, and F. J. Garcia de Abajo, "Plasmon-Assisted High-Harmonic Generation in Graphene," Nat. Commun. 8, 14380 (2017).


The over and under-expression of certain proteins in extracellular vesicles has been observed in many physiological and pathological conditions; however, a simple method to sort vesicles based on contrast in protein content is yet to be developed. We herein present a non-affinity-based method for rapid and inexpensive isolation of lipid vesicles based on their membrane protein content. Based on a composition-specific thermophysical property change of vesicles at different protein contents, an acoustic property change that enabled an acoustophoretic separation was observed. This change was demonstrated in a thermally-modulated acoustofluidic device in the form of a shift in vesicle migration from the nodal plane to antinodal plane at a specific temperature known as the acoustic contrast temperature (TΦ). Using phosphatidylcholine vesicles containing the membrane proteins gramicidin D, alamethicin, and melittin at molar contents ranging from 0.001% to 10%, we observed that increasing the membrane protein content brought about conformational changes in the membrane which afforded the vesicles distinctive acoustic properties. Then by establishing an acoustic contrast temperature window, vesicles with same protein but different molar content were successfully separated. The efficiency of the separation was studied for various vesicle mixtures and a separation efficiency as high as 97% was accomplished. In order to confirm the technique's applicability for biological samples, sheep red blood cells with various melittin peptide contents similarly demonstrated the depressing effects of melittin on membrane bending modulus and depressed the TΦ of the cells. This method holds promise for myriad applications in the biomedical field, especially in bioanalytical research.


A cone beam micro-CT has previously been utilized along with a pressure-tracking respiration sensor to acquire prospectively gated images of both wild-type mice and various adult murine disease models. While the pressure applied to the abdomen of the subject by this sensor is small and is generally without physiological effect, certain disease models of interest, as well as very young animals, are prone to atelectasis with added pressure, or they generate too weak a respiration signal with this method to achieve optimal prospective gating. In this work we present a new fibre-optic displacement sensor which monitors respiratory motion of a subject without requiring physical contact. The sensor outputs an analogue signal which can be used for prospective respiration gating in micro-CT imaging. The device was characterized and compared against a pneumatic air chamber pressure sensor for the imaging of adult wild-type mice. The resulting images were found to be of similar quality with respect to physiological motion blur; the quality of the respiration signal trace obtained using the non-contact sensor was comparable to that of the pressure sensor and was superior for gating purposes due to its better signal-to-noise ratio. The non-contact sensor was then used to acquire in-vivo micro-CT images of a murine model for congenital diaphragmatic hernia and of 11-day-old mouse pups. In both cases, quality CT images were successfully acquired using this new respiration sensor. Despite the presence of beam hardening artefacts arising from the presence of a fibre-optic cable in the imaging field, we believe this new technique for respiration monitoring and gating presents an opportunity for in-vivo imaging of disease models which were previously considered too delicate for established animal handling methods.


Many decisions require trade-offs between sensory evidence and internal preferences. Potential neural substrates include the frontal eye field (FEF) and caudate nucleus, but their distinct roles are not understood. Previously we showed that monkeys' decisions on a direction-discrimination task with asymmetric rewards reflected a biased accumulate-to-bound decision process (Fan et al., 2018) that was affected by caudate microstimulation (Doi et al., 2020). Here we compared single-neuron activity in FEF and caudate to each other and to accumulate-to-bound model predictions derived from behavior. Task-dependent neural modulations were similar in both regions. However, choice-selective neurons in FEF, but not caudate, encoded behaviorally derived biases in the accumulation process. Baseline activity in both regions was sensitive to reward context, but this sensitivity was not reliably associated with behavioral biases. These results imply distinct contributions of FEF and caudate neurons to reward-biased decision-making and put experimental constraints on the neural implementation of accumulation-to-bound-like computations.


In recent years, time-lapse (4D) seismic (4DS) data have been widely used for reservoir monitoring to provide relevant information on dynamic changes occurring during production. In complex reservoirs, multiple seismic monitor surveys are usually available. Updating reservoir models with these data can be very beneficial to improve the field's management. In the quantitative integration of 4DS data into the data assimilation (DA) process, it is crucial to define how to deal with more than one seismic monitor. In this work, we continue a series of investigations about seismic DA procedures and expand on them by analyzing ways to assimilate more than one seismic monitor. More specifically, we evaluate different ways of using production data and two monitor surveys (M3 and M5) to calibrate the dynamic models of a real Brazilian reservoir using the ensemble smoother with multiple data assimilation (ES-MDA) method. We performed the following experiments: (1) sequential assimilation of M3 and M5 with parts of well history divided according to the seismic acquisition dates; (2) assimilation of M3 with the entire well history and subsequent assimilation of M5; (3) assimilation of well and M3 data; and (4) assimilation of well and M5 data. For comparison purposes, we also assimilated only well data. From the results, we observed that well and 4DS data misfits were reduced when assimilating both monitors, compared to the cases where only a single monitor (any of them) was used with production data. This conclusion is also true in the comparison with results obtained when only assimilating well data. This indicates that both seismic monitors are important data to be quantitatively considered in DA. In this particular field, using a previous DA run to solely assimilate the newly available monitor (Case 2) delivered better models and long-term forecasts. Therefore, this would be our recommendation. This study highlights the importance of several 4DS acquisitions for reservoir monitoring and management and shows the challenges of their application in seismic DA for better life cycle field applications.


Like the Gospel of the same name, the First Letter of John uses the language of faith (πιστεύω κτλ.) extensively. The letter is aimed at encouraging faith (3:23). A key expression within the encouragement of faith is the reference to "our faith" that overcomes the world (5:4). This faith is often understood in primarily cognitive terms, arguing that correct propositional belief overcomes the world. While this reflects an important component of the language of faith in 1 John, it misses another significant aspect. The language of faith within the letter is not only geared toward a correct cognitive response, for the language of faith also contributes to exhorting the audience to right action. The expression ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν (5:4) functions to sum up both the call to right cognitive belief and right action, for it is enduring in both that overcomes the world.


Nitrogen fertilization (N), in appropriate dose and moment, can favor yield and quality of oat grains. However, its overuse may result in plant lodging, which can be minimized by using growth regulators. With this in mind, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of applying ethyl-trinexapac and nitrogen doses on the accumulation of macro and micronutrients in white oat (IPR Afrodite; Avena sativa L.), grown in different environments in the state of Parana (Londrina and Maua da Serra). The field experimental design used was randomized blocks in split-plots, with four replicates. Treatments consisted of four N doses (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha -1 ) and the application or not of growth regulator. The data were subjected to analysis of variance with means comparison by the F test, and regression for the nitrogen doses (p<0.05). For Londrina conditions, applying growth regulator increased the iron content (+29%), and using nitrogen fertilization increased the phosphorus maximum content in the grains when subjected to a 60.65 kg ha -1  dose. In Maua da Serra, applying growth regulator increased potassium content (+63%), and decreased phosphorus (-20%) and nitrogen (-8%) contents in the grains. The results demonstrate the importance of studies on adequate management practices, aiming to improve the mineral composition of white oat grains.


Conventional maximum power point tracker (MPPT) uses fixed step size perturbation in order to track the maximum power point (MPP), therefore the tracking efficiency has decreased due to steady state oscillations around the MPP. Recently, many techniques have been developed proposing new approaches in the field of variable step size MPPT to overcome the shortcoming of the fixed step size techniques. These approaches update the controlling parameters adaptively using a convenient scaling factor (N) to pick the MPP. However most of them need some prior analysis in order to design the appropriate value of N, which control the hall performance of the variable step size tracker. In this paper, a new approach has proposed to design N. this approach has been develop based on the overall small signal model of the PV system around the MPP. Therefore using linear control techniques the bounded value of the scaling factor has been calculated. The validity and the feasibility of the proposed analysis have been verified using MATLAB SIMULINK toolbox, and also experimental using digital signal processor (DSP).


Two-dimensional (2D) dose comparisons are widely performed by using a gamma evaluation with patient-specific intensity modulated radiation therapy quality assurance (IMRT QA) or dose delivery quality assurance (DQA). In this way, a pass/fail determination is made for a particular treatment plan. When gamma evaluation results are close to the failure criterion, the pass/fail decision may change applying a small shift to the center of the 2D dose distribution. In this study, we quantitatively evaluated the meaning of such a small relative shift in a 2D dose distribution comparison. In addition, we propose the use of a small shift for a pass/fail criterion in gamma analysis, where the concept of isocenter optimal matching (IOM) is applied to IMRT QA of 20 patients. Gamma evaluations were performed to compare two dose distributions, one with and the other without IOM. In-house software was developed in C++ in order to find IOM values including both translational and rotational shifts. Upon gamma evaluation failure, further investigation was initiated using IOM. In this way, three groups were categorized: group 1 for 'pass' on gamma evaluation, group 21 for 'fail' on the gamma evaluation and 'pass' on the gamma the evaluation with IOM, and group 22 for 'fail' on the both gamma evaluations and the IOM calculation. IOM results revealed that some failures could be considered as a 'pass'. In group 21, 88.98% (fail) of the averaged gamma pass rate changed to 90.45% (pass) when IOM was applied. On average, a ratio of γ ≥ 1 was reduced by 11.06% in 20 patients. We propose that gamma evaluations that do not pass with a rate of 85% to 90% may be augmented with IOM to reveal a potential pass result.


Drug induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS) is a rare but potentially life-threatening adverse drug reaction particularly associated with anticonvulsant drugs. We describe the case of a patient who suffered from DIHS caused by anticonvulsant. Our experience suggests glucocorticoids (GC) may be of benefit to children with severe DIHS.


Bonus point systems are a popular tournament design feature in some sports. We consider a bonus point system for the Australian Football League (AFL). In this paper, we utilise league points as a measure of team strength in a prediction model and choose the allocation of points to maximise prediction accuracy. For AFL data extending over seasons 1997-2008, we determine a bonus points system that does a better job at revealing strong teams than the current allocation of league points. We conclude that there is considerable scope for the introduction bonus points to improve tournament design in the AFL.


Methods A 43-year-old African American male presented with a 3-month history of painless enlargement of his right testicle. On physical exam, a firm, 5 cm mass was palpated in the right testis. The patient underwent a right radical orchiectomy. Results The specimen submitted to pathology was a 9 3 8 3 6.5 cm mass, with almost complete replacement of testicular parenchyma. Final results revealed the tumor to be a primary testicular lymphoma. An ultrasound of the opposite testis was performed, which was normal. Bone marrow aspiration and biopsy were also negative for disease. CT chest/abdomen/pelvis and MRI brain following the radical orchiectomy showed no evidence of disease. This patient is currently being treated with Cytoxan, vincristine, Adriamycin, and prednisone (CHOP chemotherapy), along with Rituxan, given that the tumor was strongly CD20 positive. He is also receiving intrathecal methotrexate prophylactically, and plans are for testicular radiation therapy when chemotherapy is completed. Conclusions Testicular lymphoma is exceedingly rare in a person of this age. It comprises approximately 5% of all testicular neoplasms and is the most common primary testicular neoplasm in men over the age of 60. Patients typically present with painless testicular enlargement. At presentation, two-thirds of cases are confined to the testis alone. It is the most common bilateral testicular neoplasm, involving the contralateral testis in approximately 20%. Other sites of spread include the CNS, skin, and Waldeyer's ring. The majority are diffuse large B-cell lymphomas. Initial staging should include ultrasound of the contralateral testis, and if a mass is seen it should be assumed to be lymphoma. CT chest/abdomen/pelvis, MRI brain, bone marrow aspirate/biopsy, and diagnostic LP also must be performed. Testicular lymphoma is associated with a poor prognosis and early distant spread. Median survival reported in most series is less than 1 year, with less than 20% of patients surviving 5 years. Treatment is with combination chemotherapy and radiation to the involved testis if resection is not performed. Given the propensity for early spread of this disease, radiation therapy should be given to the contralateral testis, and CNS prophylaxis should also be considered.


In this article we consider authentication at the physical layer, in which the authenticator aims at distinguishing a legitimate supplicant from an attacker on the basis of the characteristics of a set of parallel wireless channels, which are affected by time-varying fading. Moreover, the attacker's channel has a spatial correlation with the supplicant's one. In this setting, we assess and compare the performance achieved by different approaches under different channel conditions. We first consider the use of two different statistical decision methods, and we prove that using a large number of references (in the form of channel estimates) affected by different levels of time-varying fading is not beneficial from a security point of view. We then consider classification methods based on machine learning. In order to face the worst case scenario of an authenticator provided with no forged messages during training, we consider one-class classifiers. When instead the training set includes some forged messages, we resort to more conventional binary classifiers, considering the cases in which such messages are either labelled or not. For the latter case, we exploit clustering algorithms to label the training set. The performance of both nearest neighbor (NN) and support vector machine (SVM) classification techniques is evaluated. Through numerical examples, we show that under the same probability of false alarm, one-class classification (OCC) algorithms achieve the lowest probability of missed detection when a small spatial correlation exists between the main channel and the adversary one, while statistical methods are advantageous when the spatial correlation between the two channels is large.


The internal model is an important piece of the control system of an autonomous driving vehicle. In order for the model to deliver accurate predictions, a valid model structure and well chosen parameters are needed. Model parameters can be highly fluctuating or complex to predict, especially when looking into tyre ground surface interaction models. Instead of predicting parameter values beforehand, they could be estimated and updated in real-time. Fluctuation or incorrectness can be adjusted while driving. However, this uncertainty in parameter value must be accounted for when applying control. Solving this problem by regarding the uncertainty in parameters of the internal vehicle model as a POMDP has been researched in this paper. The research question being: is it worthwhile to use the POMDP approach for online parameter estimation of autonomous passenger vehicles? To answer this multiple sub-questions have been composed. We start off looking into: what is the most suitable vehicle model? Different vehicle models and tyre models were compared. Literature showed the bicycle model in combination with the linearized tyre model to be most suitable for autonomous passenger vehicles. The next question is: What is the most promising algorithm? Using literature, suitable algorithms for solving this POMDP have been found and compared. From three compelling algorithms, the one best fitting the autonomous driving criteria was chosen. Knowing the model and the algorithm for the simulation the next question became: Does the algorithm perform on a vehicle model? To answer this question, the simulation has been implemented in MATLAB and performance has been tested. The results showed significant increase in parameter estimation performance. Within 2 timesteps the estimate had converged correctly. The next question is: Does the algorithm perform within realistic bounds? To answer this question, the same simulation as before has been used, but now with saturation on the steering input. This showed parameter estimation performance increase compared to the original trajectory, but not as overwhelming as without saturation. The next question is: Does the algorithm suffer from high noise? To answer this question, the same simulation has been used, but now with different levels of noise. The results showed parameter estimation performance significantly affected by increasing noise. The final sub-question is: Does the algorithm suit increasing model complexity? To answer this question, the amount of parameters have been increased in the simulation and there has been looked into the large matrices that accompany the algorithm. Results showed that increasing the complexity has a significant effect on the size of the simulation and algorithm matrices. In conclusion, from all of these experiments arose some very interesting results. This produced a useful insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the POMDP algorithm performing on a passenger vehicle, answering the research question. This also led to various recommendations for future research. Interesting would be altering the belief filter to enhance performance on bounded steering input and increased sensor noise.


ABSTRACT We examined if language proficiency modulates performance in tasks that measure executive control in older Telugu-English bilinguals (n = 50, mean age = 57.15 years). We administered numerical Stroop task, Attention Network Task, Dimensional Change Card Sorting task, and stop-signal task that are known to tap into different aspects of executive functioning on healthy aging Telugu-English bilinguals. Second language (English) proficiency was calculated as a cumulative score that considered both subjective and objective measures of L2 fluency and use. Bilinguals were divided into two groups based on the cumulative score and compared on each task. We did not find any effect of language proficiency on any of the executive control measures. The additional Bayesian analysis also supported these findings. Therefore, the results do not support the claim that bilingual language proficiency modulates executive control, at least in the elderly population. We discuss the results with regard to the issue of bilingual advantage in executive control and the role of age and language use.


— In the baseband time delay (TD) elements used for delay compensation in discrete-time beamformers, phase interpolator (PI) plays a crucial role as the resolution of the PI defines the delay resolution of the TD. In this paper, we present a process and temperature invariant high-resolution and highly linear low-power PI. The proposed PI uses current integration which generates an adaptable constant slope-and-swing ramp signal to achieve low power. By switched-capacitor bias generation, the PI linearity is enhanced with 0.2 LSB DNL and 0.3 LSB INL, respectively. The 7-bit PI is realized in 65nm CMOS technology can generate the full range delay with a resolution of 8psec with the input of 1GHz. The PI consumes a power of 345 µ W and occupies an active area of 0.021 mm 2 .