The purpose of the study was to survey the project management principles and their effect on the
CDF projects success in Kenya. The specific objectives included: to identify the percentage
application of project management principles in project implementation of CDF projects in Buret
constituency; to assess the effect of application of project management principles on the project
success status of Buret CDF projects; and to establish the degree of association between the
application of project management principles, and the project success status. The research
surveyed the CDF projects in Buret constituency as a case study region. There were many
projects, which were implemented across the country, but only the community based projects
funded by the CDF programme were surveyed. The CDF programme is a government initiative,
which was established through an Act of parliament. 'the CDF Act. (Act No. 11) of 2003. The
programme is an undertaking as a means of devolving funds from a central government.
The study used the descriptive research design. Project leaders involved in education projects,
agricultural projects, health projects, and environment projects were provided with
questionnaires to fill in as a source of primary data. The questionnaires were administered by
dropping and picking from the respondents. The secondary data were obtained from CDF
reports, previous studies, journals, and other development reports. Because projects are
independently unique, the study used stratified random sampling method to obtain the desired
representation of various categories of projects. The sample consisted ofCDF projects
categorized as: Education, Health, agriculture and environmental projects.
Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, with the help of the Statistical Package
for Social Scientists (SPSS). Both measures of central tendency and dispersion were obtained
during analysis. The results obtained included information showing: the attributes of the
respondents, the details of projects used in study, the percentage application of project
management principles, and the project success status in terms of cost, quality, and time of
completion. Correlation analysis was done to establish the degree of association between
variables of the study. The results obtained were expected to benefit the CDF projects
stakeholders, future researchers, and government both in strategy implementation and project
implementation processes and as a source of literature for future researchers.


Colors and their patterns are fascinating phenotypes with great importance for fitness under natural conditions. For this reason and because pigmentation is associated with diseases, much research was devoted to study the genetics of pigmentation in animals. Considerable contribution to our understanding of color phenotypes was made by studies in domesticated animals that exhibit dazzling variation in color traits. Koi strains, the ornamental variants of the common carp, are a striking example for color variability that was selected by man during a very short period on an evolutionary timescale. Among several pigmentation genes, genetic variation in Melanocrtin receptor 1 was repeatedly associated with dark pigmentation phenotypes in numerous animals. In this study, we cloned Melanocrtin receptor 1 from the common carp. We found that alleles of the gene were not associated with the development of black color in Koi. However, the mRNA expression levels of the gene were higher during dark pigmentation development in larvae and in dark pigmented tissues of adult fish, suggesting that variation in the regulation of the gene is associated with black color in Koi. These regulatory differences are reflected in both the timing of the dark-pigmentation development and the different mode of inheritance of the two black patterns associated with them. Identifying the genetic basis of color and color patterns in Koi will promote the production of this valuable ornamental fish. Furthermore, given the rich variety of colors and patterns, Koi serves as a good model to unravel pigmentation genes and their phenotypic effects and by that to improve our understanding of the genetic basis of colors also in natural populations.


Gene expression profiling has been used extensively in multiple fields of research to compare disease and control samples, to investigate mechanisms of disease, to identify subtypes within a heterogeneous clinical phenotype and to establish responses to a specific treatment. In addition, it can also be used to determine the function of a gene, to monitor changes over time, or for discovering cell specific expression or responses. This chapter will initially explain the principles of gene expression profiling, before discussing the sources of samples, along with their advantages and limitations, and will then summarise the research to date regarding the application of gene expression profiling to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).


Introduction: Because of limited evidence, the role of ventilation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is not well understood. Effective ventilation provided during 30:2 CPR has been linked to better prognosis in small studies, but definitive evidence is lacking. Hypothesis: Prior to placement of an advanced airway, only the electrocardiogram and bioimpedance signals are recorded during CPR. This study proposes to create an automated algorithm that uses bioimpedance recordings to detect ventilation (lung inflation) during 30:2 CPR. Methods: We analyzed data from the Dallas Fort-Worth site of the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium Continuous vs. Interrupted Chest Compression Clinical Trial. Bioimpedance recordings from Physio-Control Lifepak 12 and 15 defibrillators were reviewed and analyzed from initial CPR until the time of advanced airway placement. A pause was defined as an interruption in chest compressions of 3 to 15 seconds.A ventilation waveform was defined as a single waveform with an amplitude >0.5 Ω and upstroke (inhalation) and down stroke (exhalation) intervals >0.5 s. For waveforms that overlap with chest compressions, the criteria were applied only to the exhalation or inhalation interval. Two independent clinicians reviewed and annotated the recordings using the defined criteria (inter-rater reliability score of 0.89). Those annotations were used as a gold standard for the automated algorithm. An automated electronic algorithm was developed in Matlab. We analyzed sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), percentage of correctly detected pauses with and without ventilation waveforms, respectively, and the 95% confidence intervals. Results: The electronic files of 560 patients with 7404 pauses were processed. Of these, 2375 pauses had detectable ventilation waveforms and 5029 pauses did not. The ventilation detection algorithm showed SE= 90.8% (89.5-91.9) and SP= 92.6% (91.9-93.3). Conclusions: We created a novel, automated software program that can accurately discriminate chest compression pauses with and without ventilations based on the bioimpedance signal. This method can be used to evaluate ventilation during 30:2 CPR and allow ventilation metrics to be included in analyses for future resuscitation studies.


In the automotive industry, efforts to lower the cost of manufacturing and reduce the weight of an automobile are an ongoing process. Plasma spraying of cylinder bores on engine blocks made of light cast alloys has been developed over the five years. This paper provides an overview of the actual situation of the technology for coating cylinder bores, from cast material to non-destructive testing. The aspects of both finishing using honing technology and testing are to be seen as an important part of plasma spray technology for cylinder bores. The paper discusses the results of laboratory and field tests in Europe, Japan, and the United States. This shows that the plasma spraying process is a proven and cost-effective solution for coating cylinder bores. The launch aspect is also discussed. Paper includes a German-language abstract.


Biomechanical response corridors are necessary to evaluate the performance (e.g., biofidelity) of dummies. In side impacts, while corridors are available for the mid-size male, data applicable to the small size female are not reported. Because the small female anthropometry is gaining increasing worldwide attention, this study was undertaken to develop corridors. Sled tests were conducted using post mortem human subjects at a velocity of 6.7 m/s. Three chestbands were used to compute deflection-time histories at the axilla, xyphoid process, and tenth rib levels. Triaxial accelerometers were fixed to the upper and lower spine and sacrum to record acceleration-time histories. Specimens contacted the load wall with varying initial conditions (rigid and padded; flat wall and offset) from which impact forces to the thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic regions were obtained using load cell data. Adopting signal processing and mass scaling methods, corridors were derived for forces, accelerations, and chest deflections at three levels for all initial conditions. All time history corridors were expressed as mean plus/minus one standard deviation. Effects of using gender-specific tests for the derivation of corridors are discussed. These results will assist in the assessment of anthropomorphic test devices with small female anthropometry. For the covering abstract see ITRD E141807.


The animal trypanosomiases are infections in a wide range of (domesticated) animals with any species of African trypanosome, such as Trypanosoma brucei, T. evansi, T. congolense, T. equiperdum and T. vivax. Symptoms differ between host and infective species and stage of infection and are treated with a small set of decades-old trypanocides. A complication is that not all trypanosome species are equally sensitive to all drugs and the reasons are at best partially understood. Here, we investigate whether drug transporters, mostly identified in T. b. brucei, determine the different drug sensitivities. We report that homologues of the aminopurine transporter TbAT1 and the aquaporin TbAQP2 are absent in T. congolense, while their introduction greatly sensitises this species to diamidine (pentamidine, diminazene) and melaminophenyl (melarsomine) drugs. Accumulation of these drugs in the transgenic lines was much more rapid. T. congolense is also inherently less sensitive to suramin than T. brucei, despite accumulating it faster. Expression of a proposed suramin transporter, located in T. brucei lysosomes, in T. congolense, did not alter its suramin sensitivity. We conclude that for several of the most important classes of trypanocides the presence of specific transporters, rather than drug targets, is the determining factor of drug efficacy.


In the previous utilization of natural resources in forestry as an economic
 activity, timber exploitation was always the dominant part, and the
 utilization of other forest products was partly neglected. Nowadays, non-wood
 forest products (NWFPs) occupy an increasingly significant position in the
 forestry sector in numerous countries, so that the revenue from their
 utilization approaches the returns realized by the classical production of
 timber products. The research performed in Vojvodina, on the sample of six
 enterprises dealing with NWFP purchase, processing and sale was aimed at the
 analysis of their market activities to create the image of the market of this
 group of products. After the study data were analyzed by dynamic statistical
 methods, the changes in the activities on purchase, the domestic sales and
 export sales between 2004 and 2010 were presented and future projects were
 visualized. The research in the form of questionnaire included the quantities
 of purchased raw materials, the scope of production and sales, both in the
 domestic, and in foreign markets, as well as the prices of final products.
 Some species of medicinal plants were purchased on the territories of Croatia
 and Macedonia, and the purchasing network in the domestic market was
 remarkably wide and it included predominantly: Nis, Svrljig, Coka, Apatin,
 Pancevo, Ruma, Boljevac, Kanjiža, etc. The most significant growth was
 realised in the purchase of a mixture of medicinal plants. Also significant
 are the purchased quantities of mint, which on average increased by 7.9 t and
 rose hip by 5.5 t per year. During the study period, the domestic sale of all
 species of herbal teas and medicinal plants increased significantly, while
 spices and honey were subject to a fluctuation in sales quantity. Average
 algebraic deviation of the original final NWFP sale value from the arithmetic
 mean accounts for 3.48%. With the significance level of 95%, it is estimated
 that the sale in 2012 will range between 3049.19 and 3343.95 t, under the
 condition that the sale continues its quadratic trend. Based on the quadratic
 trend, and with the significance level of 95%, it can be foreseen that the
 value of export in 2012 will range from 133.01 to 250.07 t. As for the time
 interval from 2004 to 2010, the average export amounted to 260.07 t, which
 encompassed primarily medicinal and aromatic plants, spices and honey. During
 the study period, export decreased on average by 7.03% (20.75 t per year).


eptospirosis is worldwide zoonosis and considered as re emerging disease. Besides economic losses caused by leptospira to animal pro- duction, its zoonotic character makes it an important public health problem. Seroepidemiological study was conducted by MAT randomly according to season, region and district wise of Andhra Pradesh. A total of 2320 serum samples randomly from apparently healthy ani- mals of cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs and dogs and 258 serum samples from clinically suspected cases of both animals and humans were subjected for MAT. Overall seropositivity of 20 percent in appar- ently healthy animals, cattle, sheep, goat and dogs was found to be 19.1% 18.67%, 14.63%, 36.84% and 15.15% respectively. Similarly seropositivity in clinically suspected cases (33.37%) of cattle (28.94%) sheep (21.69%) pigs (50.0%) dogs (31.43%) and humans (61.76%) respectively. High seroprevalence in coastal regions (23.09%) followed by Rayalseema (17.49%) and Telangana (16.30%) was observed. High seropositivity was recorded during north east mansoon (28.29%) followed by south west mansoon (21.45%) and lowest in summer (7.26%).


Resistance to Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a reality worldwide, and its diagnosis continues to be difficult and time consuming. To face this challenge, the World Health Organization has recommended the use of rapid molecular tests. We evaluated the routine use (once a week) of a line probe assay (Genotype MTBDRplus) for early diagnosis of resistance and for assessment of the main related risk factors over 2 years. A total of 170 samples were tested: 15 (8.8%) were resistant, and multidrug resistance was detected in 10 (5.9%). The sensitivity profile took 3 weeks (2 weeks for culture and 1 week for rapid testing). Previous treatment for tuberculosis and the persistence of positive acid-fast smears after 4 months of supervised treatment were the major risk factors observed. The use of molecular tests enabled early diagnosis of drug-resistant bacilli and led to appropriate treatment of the disease. This information has the potential to interrupt the transmission chain of resistant M. tuberculosis.


Aim The study aimed to collect retrospective data to investigate the association between elevated glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU, including in-hospital mortality and 90-day mortality. Methods This is an observational retrospective study using electronic health records of patients with diabetes admitted to the ICU with COVID-19 across the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in Central PA Hospitals. Our retrospective analysis was performed on patients admitted to the ICU between May 1st, 2021, to May 1st, 2022. The HbA1c level obtained within three months before their admission was evaluated and stratified to show their association with clinical outcomes, including in-hospital mortality and 90-day mortality. Additionally, the need for insulin drip and ICU and hospital length of stay were compared among these patients. Results We analyzed 384 patients, which were distributed in three groups. The majority of the patients (183 patients or 47.66%) had an HbA1c below 7%, 113 patients (29.43%) had an HbA1c between 7-9%, and 88 patients (22.92%) had an HbA1c above 9%. The group with an HbA1c<7% had a mortality rate of 54.1% during the hospital stay, with a median stay of 13 days. The patients with an HbA1c between 7-9% had a higher mortality rate of 65.49% with a median stay of 12 days. The patients with HbA1c>9% had a mortality rate of 43.18% with a median stay of 11.5 days. Conclusion This retrospective study found that there was no linear association between higher HbA1c levels and a higher risk of mortality during hospitalization. The 90-day mortality rate was not statistically different among the three HbA1c groups. The need for insulin drip was higher in patients with higher HbA1c levels. The majority of patients in all three groups were classified as low-risk based on their BMI, and there were no significant differences in the distribution of patients across BMI categories in the HbA1c groups.


Gifted adolescents are one of the vulnerable groups of people that have not received much attention from nursing researchers. Psychologically, gifted adolescents are vulnerable to experience problems related to their characteristics, such as socio-emotional, psychological, and academic problems that may indicate a low level of subjective well-being. These special groups of adolescents have received little attention from nurses either in the management of nursing interventions or as research subjects. This study aimed to explore the essence of intellectually gifted adolescents in maintaining their subjective well-being. This study employed a qualitative method with a descriptive phenomenological research design. The population was the intellectually gifted adolescents who had participated in the national or international academic competitions and were aged 15 to 18 years old. The participants were ten adolescents recruited using a snowball sampling technique. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi's method. The results revealed four themes: (1) making achievements as a source of happiness, (2) achieving the dream for the future with the blessings of parents, (3) working hard to make achievements, and (4) surviving when experiencing various problems. The results indicated that the difficulties experienced by gifted adolescents were incomparable to the feelings of happiness they had felt. Gifted adolescents also reported life satisfaction in general. Nurses can play their roles by providing promotive and preventive interventions, particularly for the mental health of gifted adolescents.

Keywords: Intellectual gift, life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being


Wireless all-IP multimedia communications systems promise a wide range of services with different quality of service (QoS) requirements and diverse ranges of supported bit rates. This implies that the nature of input traffic load at the base station is expected to vary significantly in time. When radio channels are shared by the existing mixed services (say for example real-time and non-real time services), packet scheduler and channel assignment faces a number of parallel input data pipes which are varied in terms of bit rate. The weights, assigned to different involved aspects in the packet scheduling process, outlines the strategy in terms of importance given to different aspects of packet scheduling. Schedulers with fixed weighting parameters are unable to cope with variable traffic load and radio channel conditions efficiently. The weights assigned to specific traffic or radio channel conditions, might not be suitable for others. In this paper, we propose an optimization and automation algorithm for selection and adaptation of packet scheduling weights. It is shown that the proposed algorithm is capable of improving different aspects involved in a successful QoS provisioning, such as fairness, stability, delivered delay, bit rate and throughput, simultaneously.


In elderly people with mobility limitations, abnormalities in posture and gait contrib‐ ute to the greater decline of physical motor function. The aim of the review article was to determine the comprehensive physical motor function assessment. Muscle function was assessed with the grip strength. Gait function was assessed with walking time tests conducted at a normal pace. Balance function was assessed with one‐legged standing time. The 6‐min walking distance test (6MD) was performed in a 10‐m, straight corridor. Walking efficiency during the 6MD trials was measured using the Cosmed K4b2 (Rome, Italy), an indirect calorimetry system specifically designed to measure energy expendi‐ ture in nonlaboratory settings. The center of pressure was recorded using a balance board (Wii; Nintendo Co., Ltd., Kyoto, Japan). A vibratory stimulus was applied alternately to two muscles by fixing two vibrators from the vibration device onto the participant's gastrocnemius and lumbar multifidus muscle. These findings show that an assessment affecting postural control under proprioceptive stimulation might be a good indicator of elderly people. Also, the objective assessment of walking efficiency might be important for identifying the risk of external activity limitation or functional limitations among the late elderly.


Case report on a 59-year-old woman who was affected by a Candida septicaemia after several abdominal interventions. After therapy with amphotericin B and 5-flurocytosine the disappearance of a central retinal metastasis is documented. Beside these drugs, clotrimazole, miconazole, econazole, and some combinations with amphotericin B are more recent possibilities.


In this paper we present OSS Factory (Open Source Software Factory), an ecosystem aligning software demands, undergraduation Computing students qualification and Open Software practices in a collaborating relation, dedicated to produce open software applications to cope with market demands, using students codification potential. A contest among students attending software engineering courses (or volunteers), guided by professors and coordinated by a central entity is the force to move OSS Factory. To validate the elements and interaction proposed, experiments applying the structure described in the paper have been performed, and positive results were achieved.


Confidence intervals are a popular way to visualize and analyze data distributions. Unlike p-values, they can convey information both about statistical significance as well as effect size. However, very little work exists on applying confidence intervals to multivariate data. In this paper we define confidence intervals for multivariate data that extend the one-dimensional definition in a natural way. In our definition every variable is associated with its own confidence interval as usual, but a data vector can be outside of a few of these, and still be considered to be within the confidence area. We analyze the problem and show that the resulting confidence areas retain the good qualities of their one-dimensional counterparts: they are informative and easy to interpret. Furthermore, we show that the problem of finding multivariate confidence intervals is hard, but provide efficient approximate algorithms to solve the problem.


Providing multimedia services with quality of service (QoS) guarantees in next generation wireless cellular networks poses great challenges due to the scarce radio bandwidth. Therefore, effective management of the limited radio resources is important to enhance the network performance. In this paper, we propose a dynamic bandwidth adaptation framework to provide an acceptable trade-off between new call blocking and handoff call dropping probabilities in cellular-based multimedia wireless networks. The proposed framework is designed to take advantage of the adaptive bandwidth allocation (ABA) algorithm with new calls in order to enhance the system utilization and blocking probability of new calls. The performance of our framework is compared to a framework previously proposed in N. Nasser, (2005). Simulation results show that our QoS adaptive multimedia service framework outperforms the previous framework in terms of new call blocking probability, handoff call dropping probability, and bandwidth utilization


Background: Constipation among children is a common problem. There are two different types of constipation among children as follows: organic and functional. Functional constipation is caused by a low fiber diet and behavioral problems. Parents should have enough awareness about childhood constipation to manage it effectively. The present study aimes to assess the awareness of parents about the causes of constipation among their children in Saudi Arabia. Methods: The study was cross-sectional and conducted on parents through an electronic questionnaire between the period from January to April. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences IBM version 22 was used to analyze the collected data. Results: The current study included 366 parents with a dominant age range of 18-35 years old (45.6%). More than 50% of parents knew the causes of children's constipation, and the most reported reason was decreased water intake (91.5%). There were 3% and 1.4% of parents who had poor and the best attitude, respectively. There were 1.4%, and 11.5% of parents with poor and the best behavior, respectively. The mean of knowledge was significantly affected by sex (p = 0.0001), nationality (p = 0.009), and the number of children (p = 0.0001). The attitude wasn't affected by any demographics, whereas the behavior was affected significantly by sex only (p = 0.0001). Conclusion: There was a moderate level of parents' knowledge about the cause of constipation among children and poor attitude with good behavior.


It has been observed that deep learning architectures tend to make erroneous decisions with high reliability for particularly designed adversarial instances. In this work, we show that the perturbation analysis of these architectures provides a framework for generating adversarial instances by convex programming which, for classification tasks, is able to recover variants of existing non-adaptive adversarial methods. The proposed framework can be used for the design of adversarial noise under various desirable constraints and different types of networks. Moreover, this framework is capable of explaining various existing adversarial methods and can be used to derive new algorithms as well. We make use of these results to obtain novel algorithms. The experiments show the competitive performance of the obtained solutions, in terms of fooling ratio, when benchmarked with well-known adversarial methods1.


Distributed model management systems (DMMSs) are decision support systems with a focus on managing decision models throughout the modeling lifecycle and across the extended enterprise. The advent and proliferation of web services and semantic web technologies offers the possibilities of sharing and reusing models in a distributed setting. This paper presents the design and implementation of a semantic web-based DMMS. Key lessons learned, technical and organizational issues encountered are summarized and directions for future research have been outlined. From a technical perspective, future research will need to explore the viability of tools specifically designed to facilitate the semantic annotation of models, specify and validate SA-SMML, and extend the white-box approach presented in this paper to other model types not amenable to structured modeling. From an organizational perspective, further research is needed in the areas of adoption issues and business models that would ensure the sustainable support for of such systems in the service enterprise.


In this paper, the RF characteristics of the flexible Kapton-based substrate are investigated by using the microstrip ring resonator in order to characterize the relative permittivity (εr) and loss tangent (tanδ) of the substrate at Ultra Wide Band (UWB) range. A compact notch filter using the approach of phase cancellation between two signal paths is also reported here. The passive notch filter is designed onto a Rogers4003-based substrate to test its performance. The integrated silicon chip is then reported on a grounded area of filter and connected to the output of this later by wire-bonding forming an SIP (System In Package) approach. The complete design is fully simulated using HFSS simulation tools, featuring high rejection at the central frequency and very low insertion loss far from the notch frequency.


This paper presents a predictive vehicle stability control (VSC) strategy that distributes the drive/braking torques to each wheel of the vehicle based on the optimal exploitation of the available traction capability for each tire. To this end, tire saturation levels are defined as the deficiency of a tire to generate a force that linearly increases with the relevant slip quantities. These saturation levels are then used to set up an optimization objective for a torque distribution problem within a novel cascade control structure that exploits the natural time scale separation of the slower lateral handling dynamics of the vehicle from the relatively faster rotational dynamics of the wheel/tire.The envisaged application of the proposed vehicle stability strategy is for vehicles with advanced and emerging pure electric, hybrid electric or hydraulic hybrid power trains featuring independent wheel drives. The developed predictive control strategy is evaluated for, a two-axle truck featuring such an independent drive system and subjected to a transient handling maneuver.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Extremum seeking control was originally proposed for adaptive optimization of static systems and later extended to Hammerstein and Wiener systems. More recently, stability and convergence results were presented also for general type dynamic systems with a focus on the local behavior around the optimum and under assumptions of relatively slow gradient estimation and control. In this paper we derive properties characterizing any stationary solution of the extremum seeking control scheme, i.e., we do not restrict ourselves to solutions close to optimum and allow for any frequency in the sinusoidal perturbation based gradient estimation scheme. By considering the linear properties around a stationary solution of the system, we show that stationary solutions are characterized by either a zero gradient or a phase lag condition. The former condition is satisfied at the optimum only for systems in which the zero gradient at the optimum is due to a static nonlinearity. The phase lag condition is shown to be satisfied close to the optimum for low frequency excitations, but can also be satisfied at solutions arbitrarily far from the optimum. The results imply that the extremum seeking control scheme applied to general type dynamic systems can have multiple stable stationary solutions of which some are sub-optimal and potentially far removed from the optimum. For illustration we consider extremum seeking control of a tubular bioreactor, displaying a maximum yield, and show that the closed-loop has two saddle-node bifurcations resulting in a total of three possible stationary solutions for some perturbation frequencies. A stable sub-optimal solution, with a yield less than 10% of the optimal yield, exists even with relatively slow gradient estimation.


It has become commonplace to argue that migration is intimately linked to questions of security. Typically, the literature on the securitisation of migration approaches it as a 'top-down' process, where various political, societal and security elites present migration as an existential threat to fundamental values of society and/or the state. The implication is that the elites' decision to securitise is a rational one, often aimed, among others, at promoting their own political legitimacy, attracting resources and legitimising exceptional responses. The aim of this chapter is to question the rationality of elite action by highlighting the unintended consequences and hidden costs associated with securitisation. The chapter distances itself from normative calls for the desecuritisation of migration, as those, for instance, made by advocates of a human security approach. Instead, it offers a pragmatic account of how securitisation serves only short-term needs, while harming in the long-term other interests, including of those that supported the security discourse in the first place. The chapter investigates the fallacy of securitising migration, revealing that as a policy option it is more costly than often assumed.


Background: Osteogenesis imperfecta is a collagen mutation-related disease characterized by bone fragility and other extraskeletal manifestations. Intramedullary fixation for deformity correction or fracture is the standard care. Elongating rods are designed to accommodate growth, with the aim of preventing additional operations and/or complications associated with nonelongating rods. Although elongating rods have been in use for many years, estimates of the clinical outcomes vary. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to synthesize the literature on outcomes of elongating rods and nonelongating rods. Meta-analysis was used to compare the complication rates and reoperation rates. Methods: We conducted the literature search, systematic review, and meta-analysis in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Comparative cohort studies and large case series detailing complication rates and reoperation rates of elongating and nonelongating rods were included. Random effect models were used to summarize the complication rates and reoperation rates of intramedullary rod procedures. Results: A total of 397 studies were identified and 24 studies were included in the final cohort. Compared with rates from nonelongating rods, osteogenesis imperfecta Patients using elongating rods had a complication rate of 61% and a reoperation rate of 78%. Reoperation rates dropped with succeeding generations of elongating rods. Pooling data from 600 patients, we identified a 9% complication rate per rod per follow up year and 5% reoperation rate per rod and per follow up year in the cohort of elongating rod fixation. The Bailey-Dubow rod had the highest complication rate per rod per follow up year (12%), largely because of its T piece relate problems. The most popular fixator Fassier-Duval rod had a complication rate per rod per follow up year of 9%. About 68% of complications were mechanical-biological related. Conclusion: Pooling data from published literature demonstrates the advantage of elongating rods over nonelongating rods. However, as high as 9% complication rate per rod per follow up year was associated with elongating fixation. Notably, most complications are both mechanical and biological related. Level of Evidence: Level III.


A study is made of the way that the spectrum function of random, spatially homogeneous, dispersive waves varies slowly with time owing to weak nonlinear interactions between the waves. A continuous representation is used throughout and the slow variation is obtained with the aid of the multiple time scale method of nonlinear mechanics. It is shown that provided the dispersion equation satisfies a fairly general requirement (the non-existence of 'double resonance'), a closed integro-differential equation for the energy spectrum function can be obtained which describes asymptotically the transfer of energy between wave numbers on a time scale ϵ-2 times a characteristic period of the waves, where the parameter ϵ measures the relative order of the nonlinear terms. The equation is derived without imposing restrictions on the probability distribution of the waves, and in particular it is not found necessary to assume that the distribution is Gaussian. Nevertheless, the result is the same as if the distribution were Gaussian to zero order in ϵ and this is true for arbitrary initial probability distributions. For a conservative system where total energy is conserved, the equation simplifies to a form previously derived by Litvak (1960), according to which transfer of energy takes place between resonant triads of wave numbers if they exist.


This paper develops stochastic consentability of linear multiagent systems with time delays and multiplicative noises. First, the stochastic stability for stochastic differential delay equations driven by multiplicative noises is examined, and the existence of the positive definite solution for a class of generalized algebraic Riccati equations (GAREs) is established. Then, sufficient conditions are deduced for the mean square and almost sure consentability and stabilization based on the developed stochastic stability and GAREs. Consensus protocols are designed for linear multiagent systems with undirected and leader-following topologies. It is revealed that multiagent consentability depends on certain characterizing system parameters, including linear system dynamics, communication graph, channel uncertainties, and time delay of the deterministic term. It is shown that a second-order integrator multiagent system is unconditionally mean square and almost surely consentable for any given noise intensities and time delay, and that the mean square and almost sure consensus can be achieved by carefully choosing the control gain according to certain explicit conditions.


In this study, autogenous shrinkage strain and prediction models of concrete specimens were compared with strength level and development rate. Also, concrete autogeneous shrinkage under various curing conditions was investigated. The results showed that autogeneous shrinkage increased as concrete strength increased. However, when the concrete strength was almost identical, the initial autogeneous shrinkage of OPC was larger than BFS, but the final autogeneous shrinkage of BFS was larger than OPC. Early wet curing reduced autogeneous shrinkage strain. Especially, when the early wet curing was applied for more than 24 hours, final autogeneous shrinkage was significantly reduced. The results showed that the existing EC2 models do not reflect concrete properties properly. Therefore, the revised model was proposed to better predict autogeneous shrinkage.


Background—Critical limb ischemia due to peripheral arterial occlusive disease is associated with a severely increased morbidity and mortality. There is no effective pharmacological therapy available. Injection of autologous bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BM-MNC) is a promising therapeutic option in patients with critical limb ischemia, but double-blind, randomized trials are lacking. Methods and Results—Forty patients with critical limb ischemia were included in a multicenter, phase II, double-blind, randomized-start trial to receive either intraarterial administration of BM-MNC or placebo followed by active treatment with BM-MNC (open label) after 3 months. Intraarterial administration of BM-MNC did not significantly increase ankle-brachial index and, thus, the trial missed its primary end point. However, cell therapy was associated with significantly improved ulcer healing (ulcer area, 3.2±4.7 cm2 to 1.89±3.5 cm2 [P=0.014] versus placebo, 2.92±3.5 cm2 to 2.89±4.1 cm2 [P=0.5]) and reduced rest pain (5.2±1.8 to 2.2±1.3 [P=0.009] versus placebo, 4.5±2.4 to 3.9±2.6 [P=0.3]) within 3 months. Limb salvage and amputation-free survival rates did not differ between the groups.Repeated BM-MNC administration and higher BM-MNC numbers and functionality were the only independent predictors of improved ulcer healing. Ulcer healing induced by repeated BM-MNC administration significantly correlated with limb salvage (r=0.8; P<0.001). Conclusions—Intraarterial administration of BM-MNC is safe and feasible and accelerates wound healing in patients without extensive gangrene and impending amputation. These exploratory findings of this pilot trial need to be confirmed in a larger randomized trial in patients with critical limb ischemia and stable ulcers. Clinical Trial Registration—URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00282646.


POEMS syndrome is a rare clonal plasma cell disorder without standard treatment. Based on the efficacy and low toxicity of a combination of melphalan and dexamethasone (MDex) for light chain amyloidosis, we conducted a prospective study of MDex treatment for patients with newly diagnosed POEMS syndrome. Thirty-one patients (19 men) were enrolled and the median age at the time of diagnosis was 44 years (range, 32-68 years). All patients received 12 cycles of MDex treatment. Twenty-five patients (80.6%) achieved hematologic response including 12 (38.7%) complete remission and 13 (41.9%) partial remission. Of all 31 patients, the neurologic response rate was 100%, assessed by overall neuropathy limitation scale (ONLS). The initial neurologic response was observed in 24 patients (77.4%) at 3 months after treatment and the median time to maximal neurologic response was 12 months (range, 3-15 months). Moreover, MDex substantially improved the level of serum vascular endothelial growth factor and relieved organomegaly, extravascular volume overload, and pulmonary hypertension. Only 6 patients (19.3%) suffered from grade 3 adverse events during treatment. All patients are alive and free of neurologic relapse after the median follow-up time of 21 months. Therefore, MDex is an effective and well-tolerated treatment option for patients with newly diagnosed POEMS syndrome.


Neurological, endocrine, and pharmacological influences on the normal and ischaemic myocardium are the main topics of the third volume in this series. The coverage is wide. We have the ionic basis of contractility, relaxation, and cardiac failure, by Winifred Naylor; clinical and epidemiological chapters on the aorta and on coronary bypass surgery for angina, by Desmond Julian; and a review of what has been achieved and what can hope to be achieved in the prevention of ischaemic heart disease, by Zdenek Fejfar. Thus there is something for all. On the whole the balance is well struck, and the text will be of interest to practising cardiologists as well as to students working at a more fundamental level seeking broader-based information on the subject. In other sections we find chapters on catecholamines, prostaglandins, insulin, myocardial blood flow, the contractile basis of heart failure, the electrophysiological basis of arrhythmias, and the mechanisms and actions of antiarrhythmic drugs, the assessment of left ventricular function of non-invasive techniques, the vulnerable ischaemic myocardium and its metabolism (by the editor himself), a review of sudden death, betablockade in hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia. The chapters vary from good to excellent. It is a pity that one or two of them suffer from a diffuseness and prolixity which contrast with the editor's own disciplined style. In general, however, this is sound, readable, up-to-date stuff, well produced in lap size with an adequate index. It should be widely read. C M OAKLEY


The course of pulmonary tuberculosis in 34 women aged over 70 and in 30 women aged 35-55 years as controls was analysed. Tuberculosis in the elderly women was detected more frequently and with rather severe forms of the disease when compared to the control group, thus making them a serious epidemic hazard. It proved possible to conduct treatment of practically all these patients with 4 tuberculostatics. Streptomycin was the least tolerated drug. X-ray pictures in 25 per cent of the cases indicated the presence of the middle-lobe syndrome. Besides, all these subjects were excretors of tubercle bacilli. The similar X-ray picture was seen in nobody in the control group. Though extensive changes in the lungs of the elderly women were found later, the course of their management was similar to that of the control group; all the patients displayed no sputum mycobacteria.


Abstract Motivation The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted an impressive, worldwide response by the academic community. In order to support text mining approaches as well as data description, linking and harmonization in the context of COVID-19, we have developed an ontology representing major novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) entities. The ontology has a strong scope on chemical entities suited for drug repurposing, as this is a major target of ongoing COVID-19 therapeutic development. Results The ontology comprises 2270 classes of concepts and 38 987 axioms (2622 logical axioms and 2434 declaration axioms). It depicts the roles of molecular and cellular entities in virus-host interactions and in the virus life cycle, as well as a wide spectrum of medical and epidemiological concepts linked to COVID-19. The performance of the ontology has been tested on Medline and the COVID-19 corpus provided by the Allen Institute. Availabilityand implementation COVID-19 Ontology is released under a Creative Commons 4.0 License and shared via https://github.com/covid-19-ontology/covid-19. The ontology is also deposited in BioPortal at https://bioportal.bioontology.org/ontologies/COVID-19. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


This study was conducted in Northern Oman to assess the physical and chemical characteristics of 40 thermal springs distributed in Al Hajar Mountains in northern Oman. Physical measurements of water samples were carried out in two main seasons in Oman (winter and summer 2019). Studied springs were classified into three groups based on water temperature, four groups based on water pH values and two groups based on conductivity. Ten thermal alkaline springs that originated in Ophiolite (Samail Napp) were dominated by high pH (> 11), elevated concentration of Cland Na+ ions, relatively low temperature and discharge ratio. Other springs in the Hajar Super Group massif recorded high concentrations of Ca+ and SO4 ions controlled by rock dominance, geochemistry processes, and mineralization. There was only one spring which has brackish water with very high conductivity (5500 μs/cm) and Total Dissolved Solids and it is not suitable for irrigation purposes because of the high abundance of Na+, Cl−, and Ca2+ ions. Keywords—Alkaline springs, geothermal, Hajar Super Group, Northern Oman, ophiolite.


A new scenario for energy distribution, security and shareability is presented that assumes the availability of quantum information heat engines and a thermal bath. It is based on the convertibility between entropy and work in the presence of a thermal reservoir. Our approach to the informational content of physical systems that are distributed between users is complementary to the conventional perspective of quantum communication. The latter places the value on the unpredictable content of the transmitted quantum states, while our interest focuses on their certainty. Some well-known results in quantum communication are reused in this context. Particularly, we describe a way to securely distribute quantum states to be used for unlocking energy from thermal sources. We also consider some multi-partite entangled and classically correlated states for a collaborative multi-user sharing of work extraction possibilities. Besides, the relation between the communication and work extraction capabilities is analyzed and written as an equation.


ABSTRACT The hydrodynamic diameters of native rotavirus particles, bovine RF and simian SA11 strains, were determined by quasielastic light scattering. By using this method and agarose gel electrophoresis, the Ca2+ dissociation constant, KCa, governing the transition from triple-layer particles (TLPs) to double-layer particles (DLPs), was shown to increase, at constant pH, as the temperature and/or the ionic strength of the incubation medium increased. We report the novel observation that, under physiological conditions, KCa values for both RF and SA11 rotaviruses were well above the intracytoplasmic Ca2+ concentrations of various cells, which may explain why TLP uncoating takes place within vesicles (possibly endosomes) during the entry process. A correlation between TLP uncoating and cell membrane permeabilization was found, as shown by the release of carboxyfluorescein (CF) from CF-loaded intestinal brush-border membrane vesicles. Conditions stabilizing the virion in the TLP form inhibited CF release, whereas conditions favoring the TLP-to-DLP transformation activated this process. We conclude that membrane permeabilization must be preceded by the loss of the outer-capsid proteins from trypsinized TLP and that physiological ionic strength is required for permeabilization to take place. Finally, the paper develops an alternative explanation for the mechanism of rotavirus entry, compatible with the Ca2+-dependent endocytic pathway. We propose that there must be an iterative process involving tight coupling in time between the lowering of endosomal Ca2+ concentration, virion decapsidation, and membrane permeabilization, which would cause the transcriptionally active DLPs to enter the cytoplasm of cells.


Since the demise of the Bretton Woods monetary order the IMS has been deprived of common rules. The dollar has kept its dominant international currency status within a patchwork of exchange rate regimes that the countries have chosen, depending on the opening of their financial systems. The IMS has de facto become a semi-dollar standard. It has become largely dysfunctional since the spread of financial globalization in the 1990's. It has nurtured the financial crisis in fostering current account balance disequilibria and the subsequent explosion of dollar reserves. Henceforth Asian countries, primarily China, have become paramount holders of US assets. The financial crisis has brought about new prospects to this legacy. China has become the cornerstone of Asian integration in transforming its growth regime. Weaving tight trade links with the emerging market world, China has launched the process leading to Yuan convertibility. Decoupling with the dollar and building loose mechanisms of monetary cooperation in East Asia will become twin goals of foreign monetary policy. Developing an area of common monetary interests in the most dynamic region of the world might change the balance of power in a way that pushed reforms in international monetary governance.


Large capital inflows are often followed by credit and investment booms, inflation, real exchange rate misalignments, current account imbalances and financial sector weaknesses culminating in financial crisis and long-term output losses. While India has received large capital flows since 1993-94, macroeconomic price and financial stability has been maintained in a high growth environment. What explains this desirable outcome? This paper assesses external sector and monetary management policies and finds the outcome can be attributed to judicious use of a menu of options such as management of the capital account; restrictions on access of financial intermediaries to external borrowings vis-a-vis non-financial corporate entities; flexibility in exchange rate movements with capacity to intervene in times of excessive volatility; building up of reserves; strengthening of the financial sector; pre-emptive tightening of norms in sectors with high credit growth; and refinements in the institutional framework for monetary policy. As a result of this approach, growth in monetary/credit aggregates was contained amid growth in the real economy, structural transformation and financial deepening. Inflation was contained even as growth accelerated; financial stability was maintained even as the global economic environment experienced a series of financial crises. The impossible trinity was achieved by maintaining an open but managed capital account and a flexible exchange rate with management of volatility. Rather than relying on a single instrument, many instruments were used in coordination since the Reserve Bank's jurisdiction over both monetary policy and the regulation of financial institutions permitted the use of various policy instruments. Key lessons from the Indian experience are that monetary policy needs to move away from price stability/inflation targeting objective, central banks need multiple instruments and capital account management has to be countercyclical.


Statistical downscaling (SD) derives localized information from larger-scale numerical models. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have learning and generalization abilities that can enhance the downscaling of gridded data (Part I of this study experimented with 2-m temperature). In this research, we adapt a semantic-segmentation CNN, called UNet, to the downscaling of daily precipitation in western North America, from the low resolution (LR) of 0.25° to the high resolution (HR) of 4-km grid spacings. We select LR precipitation, HR precipitation climatology, and elevation as inputs; train UNet over the subset of the south- and central-western United States using Parameter–Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) data from 2015 to 2018, and test it independently in all available domains from 2018 to 2019. We proposed an improved version of UNet, which we call Nest-UNet, by adding deep-layer aggregation and nested skip connections. Both the original UNet and Nest-UNet show generalization ability across different regions and outperform the SD baseline (bias-correction spatial disaggregation), with lower downscaling error and more accurate fine-grained textures. Nest-UNet also shares the highest amount of information with station observations and PRISM, indicating good ability to reduce the uncertainty of HR downscaling targets.


Stem cell factor (SCF) is the pleiotropic ligand for the tyrosine kinase receptor, c-kit. Ligand and receptor are usually expressed in different cell types, and binding of SCF to c-kit promotes cell proliferation, differentiation, and recruitment of progenitor cells in various biologic systems. However, the localization of these two molecules in cells of the oral cavity has not been systematically examined. We investigated the expression of SCF and c-kit in human dental pulp (HDP) cells as well as in human gingival fibroblasts (HGF). Both alternatively spliced isoforms of SCF were detected (through reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) in RNA obtained from the two cell types. Western analysis established that both cell types express SCF and/or c-kit, whereas flow cytometry demonstrated distinct cell populations expressing only the ligand (SCF), only the receptor (c-kit), or co-expressing the two. HDP cultures showed higher soluble SCF (sSCF) production associated with faster cell growth, as compared with HGF cultures. In both cell types, however, sSCF levels appeared to increase as a result of in vitro aging and/or differentiation.


A novel multiplexing scheme based on a low-coherence reflectometry (LCR) is proposed for a sensing array (in parallel) of self-interfering long-period fiber gratings (SI-LPGs). Each SI-LPG sensor consists of an LPG and a section of fiber with a highly reflective end (mirror). The spectral information of each LPG is sensitive to some parameters of the surrounding measurand and can be reconstructed from the corresponding subreflectograms (obtained by the LCR) through a fast Fourier transformation. The sensing signals of multiple SI-LPG sensors can be multiplexed if the length of the fiber section in each sensor is set to a different value. Experiments of measuring the surrounding temperature at different sensors are demonstrated to show the good performance of our multiplexing system.


Abstract Aldolase and fructose 1,6-diphosphatase were found to inhibit phosphofructokinase. The inhibition appears to be due to the depletion of fructose-1,6-P2, the substrate of both enzymes. Inhibition of phosphofructokinase by aldolase, at pH 6.9, occurred at a much faster rate (t1/2 = 15 s) than that at pH 8.2 (t1/2 = 3 min). At pH 6.9 the inhibition can be reversed by allosteric activators, whereas at pH 8.2 only fructose-1,6-P2 reversed the inhibition by aldolase. Phosphosfructokinase activity appears to be dependent on fructose-1,6-P2. This ligand can modify the activity of phosphofructokinase by its reversal of enzyme inhibition at the allosteric site. In addition, its presence at the catalytic site appears to be essential for enzymatic activity.


Background: Several studies undertaken in hospital-based specialty clinics have reported an association between hypertension and hypothyroidism. This work examines the association between these two common disorders in postmenopausal women seen within a primary care office setting. Methods: Seven hundred seven postmenopausal women aged 50 years and older were studied using a cross-sectional design. Data on thyroid status, hypertension and risk factors, and patient demographics were collected from the office medical record. Results: Overall, 45.4 percent of the population studied had hypertension and 10.9 percent had hypothyroidism. Compared with normotensive women, hypertensive women were significantly older (66.4 years versus 63.0 years, P < 0.0001) and had a higher body mass index (29.2 kg/m2 versus 26.2 kg/m2, P < 0.0001). Hypertension was significantly associated with diabetes mellitus and the use of NSAIDs (odds ratios [ORs] = 1.77 and 2.63, respectively). We did not find a significant association between hypertension and hypothyroidism (OR 1.04,95 percent confidence interval 0.64 to 1.76). Conclusions: In this population of postmenopausal women we did not find hypertension to be associated with hypothyroidism.


The application of the weakest-link or failure-unit model to electromigration failure is discussed in relation to a simple model that should describe the early failures in fine-line, as-patterned aluminium reasonably well. The earliest failures are expected to be due to the presence of at least one polygranular cluster longer than some critical (Blech) length, while the next earliest are assumed to arise from linked shorter clusters. Using a simple model of the microstructure, the probability density function for the number of each of these types of failure-unit is determined as a function of the linewidth. For this simple model the overall failure distribution may be calculated essentially exactly using the Theory of Runs; consequently we can compare these exact results with some common approximations. It is demonstrated through Jensen's inequality that a common approximate method is in fact a rigorous upper bound for the failure distribution. The model exhibits the expected increase in median-time-to-failure and deviation-in-time-to-failure values with decreasing linewidth when forcing a lognormal distribution. Although this would suggest an eventual decrease in reliability with scale reduction, the exact results show that this is not the case.


Research on offending behavior rehabilitation suggests that offenders would gain the maximum benefit from programs that reflect the individual needs of different types of offender. Multivariate theories of offending behavior are thus required to inform individualized rehabilitation. The aim of the current study was to construct a multivariate model for the prolific offense of assault. Qualitative methodology was used to construct a descriptive model of assault for 25 adult assault offenders. The model incorporated the development of violent behavior, types of anger, violence motivation, and the assault offense. The model consisted of 14 categories, 10 of which allowed for individual differences in behavior. A total of 35 participant transcripts were then coded through the model where the individual differences occurred. Five main offense types were found. The characteristics of the types of assault offense gave indications for how rehabilitation may be targeted for each group.


While detailed descriptions exist on the fine structural characteristics of double fertilization in sexual angiosperms, few studies have described fertilization in apomictic species. The results of this study with buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link syn=Cenchrus ciliaris L.) show that differences exist between the early fertilization events in sexual and apomictic (aposporous) female gametophytes. In unpollinated sexual female gametophytes, the egg cell did not show signs of parthenogenetic activity. In contrast, autonomous egg embryony was observed in unpollinated aposporous female gametophytes. Compared with the sexual genotype, degeneration of the synergids in the aposporous female gametophyte was precocious and rapid. During the first 4 h after pollination, the chalazal end of the sexually functional egg cell remained covered by the plasma membrane. In the aposporous embryo sac, a cell wall covered the plasma membrane of the egg cell several hours before penetration of the pollen tube into the female gametophyte.


The problem of ambiguities inherent in the manifold of any linear array structure is investigated. Ambiguities, which can be classified into trivial and nontrivial, depending on the ease of their identification, arise when an array cannot distinguish between two different sets of directional sources. Initially, the new concept of an ambiguous generator set is introduced; it represents/generates an infinite number of ambiguous sets of directions. Then, by uniformly/nonuniformly partitioning the array manifold curve of a linear array, different ambiguous generator sets ran be calculated, and as a direct result, a sufficient condition for the presence of ambiguities is obtained. The theoretical aspects of the investigation are followed by the proposal of an innovative approach that calculates not only all such ambiguities existing in a linear array of arbitrary geometry but the rank of ambiguity in each case as well. The main results presented in the paper are supported by a number of representative examples.


BACKGROUND
Primary treatment of choice for advanced germ cell tumors is 3 to 4 cycles of combination bleomycin-etoposide-cisplatin (BEP) chemotherapy. Although most patients treated for advanced germ cell tumors (GCT) will be cured, approximately 30% will fail to achieve a durable complete response (CR). Thrombocytosis has been found to be related with significantly shorter survival in many cancers. However, its role in testicular cancer patients has not been studied previously. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between thrombocytosis and chemotherapy response in patients with metastatic testicular cancer.

METHODS
Records of 113 patients with advanced stage testicular cancer were reviewed. Treatment outcomes were classified as complete clinical response (cCR), partial clinical response (pCR), complete pathological response (cPR) and treatment failure and the relationship with thrombocytosis was investigated. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with treatment failure.

RESULTS
Totally 103 patients met the eligibility criteria. Thrombocytosis was detected in 26 (25.2%) patients. Treatment failure was observed in 14 (53.8%) and 28 (36.4%) of the patients in the thrombocytosis and non-thrombocytosis groups respectively (P=0.037). Thrombocytosis and IGCCCG high-risk group are found as independent prognostic factors for treatment failure in multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSIONS
Thrombocytosis is seen in 25% of patients with testicular GCT and it is found to be associated with poorer chemotherapy response in metastatic patients. It can be used to predict the response to chemotherapy.


Photonic crystal enhanced fluorescence (PCEF) has been demonstrated as an effective means for amplifying the excitation provided to surface-bound fluorescent molecules while simultaneously enhancing fluorescence emission collection efficiency. Optimal coupling of a fluorophore-exciting light source to the PC occurs with the use of collimated plane waves, as utilized in a special-purpose fluorescence microscope specifically designed for coupling with PCEF surfaces. However, PCEF surfaces are also capable of coupling light from focused sources, such as those used in commercially available confocal laser scanners, but with a reduction in the obtainable enhancement factor. Using computer simulations and experimental measurements, we describe the interaction between the resonant bandwidth of a PCEF device surface and the optical design of the detection instrumentation that is used to provide fluorescence excitation. We show that highly collimated illumination is required for achieving the greatest PCEF enhancement factors, but at the expense of poor tolerance to nonuniformities in resonant wavelength across the PCEF surface. To overcome this limitation, we demonstrate a fixed wavelength/multiple incident angle scanning detection system that is capable of measuring every pixel in a PCEF fluorescence image under conditions that optimize resonant excitation efficiency.


A consistently-split linearized block implicit (LBI) scheme for the unsteady ensemble-averaged Navier-Stokes equations is used as an iterative means of obtaining steady solutions. Techniques for treating both "physical" boundary conditions which define the flow problem and also intermediate boundary conditions required by the split solution algo-rithm are described. It is demonstrated that large [0(1)] time steps can be used to accelerate convergence and that rapid convergence ( ~ s 80 noniterative time steps) can be obtained for three-dimensional turbulent subsonic flow, with viscous sublayer resolution. Solutions for both laminar and turbulent flow in a strongly curved three-dimensional rectangular duct and a two-dimensional channel of the same curvature are presented, together with mesh refinement and experimental comparisons.


A mission of chemical plume tracing (CPT) in near-shore and ocean environments is to navigate an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to find a chemical plume, to trace the plume to its source, and to declare the source location. It is necessary to recognize the declared odor source by using a visual system. Color images, which were taken in near-shore ocean environments when the source was declared, are very vague due to dim illumination conditions and fluid advection effects. This paper presents an iterative fuzzy segmentation (IFS) algorithm for extracting color components of the chemical plume and the odor source for visual confirmation of the correct declared odor source. The proposed approach might be of general interest in image processing and computer vision.


Ethylene oxide gas (EO gas) adsorbed onto sterilized objects was quantitated in an effort to take a safety measure against residual EO gas following its use in sterilization. We measured residual amounts of EO gas adsorbed onto laboratory wares, small medical tools and appliances just after post-sterilization airation to examine whether they were rendered entirely free from EO gas by the process. The results led us to arrive at the following conclusions: 1. EO gas was recognized to remain on sterilized objects even after allowing them to stand for about 16 hours following airation. 2. The amount of residual EO gas was smaller on metallic products and larger on rubber products (notably rubber gloves). An exceedingly high concentration of EO gas was noted to remain on a tooth-brush, among other plastic materials. These facts seem to indicate that the amount of residual EO gas is closely related to the texture and shape of materials to be sterilized. 3. As regards the potential toxicity of residual EO gas. However, their sensitivity was proved to be questionable, judgment on a result being subject to considerable individual variations. 4. Nevertheless, it is incontestable that these devices can at least provide a rough estimate of unavailing since monitoring by direct measurement of residual EO gas is virtually infeasible from a practical point of view.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:The distal dural ring (DDR) represents the anatomic border between the extradural and intradural internal carotid arteries (ICAs). The purpose of this study was to examine whether 3D-MR cisternography and MR angiography (MRA) fusion images can identify the boundary between the CSF and the cavernous sinus, which might represent the DDR. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Thirty-six consecutive patients with 39 ICA aneurysms were examined with use of MR fusion images with 3D-cisternography and MRA on a 1.5T unit. Two neuroradiologists evaluated the configuration of the carotid cave and the location of the aneurysms on fusion images and classified them as intradural, transdural, and extradural aneurysms. RESULTS:The borderline between the CSF and the cavernous sinus was visualized on fusion images in all patients. The carotid cave configuration in 72 ICAs was classified as having no dent (n = 31), a shallow dent (n = 27), and a deep dent (n = 14). The MR fusion images led to the classification of 39 ICA aneurysms as 21 intradural, 6 transdural, and 12 extradural. The interobserver agreement of MR fusion images was excellent (κ = 0.80). CONCLUSIONS:Fusion images with 3D-cisternography and MRA yielded clear visualization of the boundary between the suprasellar cistern and cavernous sinus indicating the DDR. This imaging technique may provide additional information in consideration of a treatment option for paraclinoid aneurysms.


Magnesium is an essential transmembrane and intracellular modulator of the electrical activity of cardiac cells. This review provides an up‐to‐date consideration of the cellular and clinical electrophysiological role of magnesium. This ubiquitous element seems to be important from both the theoretical and clinical point of view, because magnesium salts (MgSO4, MgCl2) administered intravenously are particularly effective in those arrhythmias in which the mechanism involves early or delayed afterdepolarization‐induced triggered activity. The authors share the view that I. V. magnesium is the drug of choice in "torsade de pointes" ventricular tachycardia accompanying acquired long QT/QTU syndrome. It is a complementary therapeutic agent in digitalis‐induced tachycardias. Further studies are needed to elucidate magnesium's mode of action and efficacy in other types of clinical tachyarrhythmias.


This study determines gender differences in the generation logic for green purchasing intention within the framework of bounded morality and bounded self-interest and determines the causes of the attitude–behavior gap from a new perspective. Empirical analysis of 977 sample data points is used to test the influencing mechanism of gender heterogeneity on green purchasing intention through altruistic values (ALVs) and egoistic values (EGVs). Meanwhile, the moderated mediation effects are also analyzed. The results show that gender heterogeneity negatively affects ALVs and positively affects EGVs for women as the reference group. The mediation effect of ALVs and EGVs is significant, and there are significant gender differences in the formation of values and green purchasing intention. As expected, women demonstrate higher levels of proenvironmental intention than men. Media exposure (ME) significantly moderates the mediation models. It negatively moderates the mediation effect of ALVs and positively moderates the mediation effect of EGVs. The results reveal the complex formation mechanism for green purchasing intention. It can conclude that the gender differences in terms of green purchasing, the different guiding roles of dual values, and the moderated mechanism of ME are key elements in accurate guidance of green consumption and the effective modification of the attitude–behavior gap.


Imports of fresh peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons into the United States from Mexico declined in 1999. Imports from other regions of the world increased, with imports from European countries almost double in such commodities as tomatoes and peppers what they were in 1996. In Europe and Israel, essentially all of these crops are produced in greenhouses, and increasing returns through the 1997/98 season led to further increases in production. Productivity in European greenhouses is nearly three-fold, and in some cases ten-fold, compared with Florida field production. Product quality is generally much higher from greenhouse versus field-produced vegetables. Competitive cost structures for greenhouse production and greater product quality have allowed producers from Holland and, more recently, Spain to increase their presence in U.S. markets, creating greater demand by consumers for their produce.


Acetylation of histone proteins contributes to the regulation of gene expression by alteration of chromatin structure. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) act as modulators of gene expression by deacetyla...


ABSTRACT Background: In an article published in International Journal of the Addictions in 1989, Nick Piazza and his coauthors described "telescoping," an accelerated progression through "landmark symptoms" of alcoholism, among a sample of recovering women. Objectives: The aim of this critical analysis is to apply a feminist philosophy of science to examine the origins of the framework of telescoping research and its implications for contemporary scientific inquiry. Methods: A feminist philosophy of science framework is outlined and applied to key source publications of telescoping literature drawn from international and United States-based peer-reviewed journals published beginning in 1952. Results: A feminist philosophy of science framework identifies gender bias in telescoping research in three ways. First, gender bias was present in the early conventions that laid the groundwork for telescoping research. Second, a "masculine" framework was present in the methodology guiding telescoping research. Third, gender bias was present in the interpretation of results as evidenced by biased comparative language. Conclusions: Telescoping research contributed to early evidence of critical sex and gender differences helping to usher in women's substance abuse research more broadly. However, it also utilized a "masculine" framework that perpetuated gender bias and limited generative, novel research that can arise from women-focused research and practice. A feminist philosophy of science identifies gender bias in telescoping research and provides an alternative, more productive approach for substance abuse researchers and clinicians.


Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency on the planet. It relies on strong cryptography and peer-to-peer network. Bitcoin is gaining more and more popularity in criminal society. That is why Bitcoin is often used as money laundering tool or payment method for illegal products and services. In this paper we explore various methods for Bitcoin users deanonimization, which is an important task in anti-money laundering process and cybercrime investigation.


Stochastic motion of particles in a highly unstable potential generates a number of diverging trajectories leading to undefined statistical moments of the particle position. This makes experiments challenging and breaks down a standard statistical analysis of unstable mechanical processes and their applications. A newly proposed approach takes advantage of the local characteristics of the most probable particle motion instead of the divergent averages. We experimentally verify its theoretical predictions for a Brownian particle moving near an inflection in a highly unstable cubic optical potential. The most likely position of the particle atypically shifts against the force, despite the trajectories diverging in the opposite direction. The local uncertainty around the most likely position saturates even for strong diffusion and enables well-resolved position detection. Remarkably, the measured particle distribution quickly converges to a quasistationary one with the same atypical shift for different initial particle positions. The demonstrated experimental confirmation of the theoretical predictions approves the utility of local characteristics for highly unstable systems which can be exploited in thermodynamic processes to uncover energetics of unstable systems.


This research aimed to develop core habits for employees working in industrial business by using research and development method. The sample studied were 30 employees selected by purposive sampling. The instruments applied in the study included activity arrangement manual for core habit development constructed by researcher and questionnaire to follow up employee's core habits. The statistics used for data analysis were mean, standard deviation and t-test. The results were as follows: 1. Seven significance core habits for employees working in industrial business were found as 1) responsibility, 2) diligence and endurance to hard work, 3) desire to learn and continue self- practice, 4) awareness of what to do and not to do, 5) recognition of work priorities, 6) creativity, and punctuality. 2. Regarding the development of 7 core habits implemented according to activity arrangement manual for core habit development, it was found that the scores of employees' core habit evaluation before and after participating the activities were statistically different with a level of .01 significance as the scores after activity participation were higher than the scores before activity participation. Furthermore, it was found that the employees participating the activities were satisfied with the activity participation at high level. 3. With respect to the follow up and evaluation of employees' core habits after activity participation for 3 month time, it was found that all 7 core habits evaluated by the employees themselves and his/her colleagues as well as his/her supervisor were still at high level.


We describe the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) spelling check system in the shared task. Our system contains three components: a word segmentation based language model to generate correction candidates; a statistical machine translation model to provide correction candidates and a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier to rerank the candidates provided by the previous two components. The experimental results show that the kbest language model and the statistical machine translation model could generate almost all the correction candidates, while the precision is very low. However, using the SVM classifier to rerank the candidates, we could obtain higher precision with a little recall dropping. To address the low resource problem of the Chinese spelling check, we generate 2 million artificial training data by simply replacing the character in the provided training sentence with the character in the confusion set.


This research aims to analyze the effect of bank scale and Loan to Deposit Ratio toward profitability within the credit risk as moderating variable in banking companies that listed on 2014-2018 Indonesia Stock Exchange. The population of this research include of banking companies that has listed on 2014-2018 Indonesia Stock Exchange. The sampling technique used purposive sam-pling, in order to obtain 28 companies within 5 years of observations to 140 observations. The data analysis used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The data analysis technique was done by residual test. The results of this research showed that bank scale has posi-tive and significant influence on profitability, loan to deposit ratio has no influence on profitabil-ity, the risk of bank is unable to moderate the effect of bank scale on profitability and the risk of bank is unable to moderate the effect of loan to deposit ratio on profitability. The scale of bank and loan to deposit ratio can explain the profitability of 27.3% while the other 72.7% was ex-plained by other variables outside of study. It is recommended for companies to increase supervi-sion of asset management, thus the scale of bank will be better and maintain the balance of LDR based on Indonesian Bank regulation number 15/ 7/ PBI / 2013 Article 10 of 78-92% with the aim of increasing profitability.


Abstract 2593 The bone marrow microenvironment regulates a variety of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) functions, including their recruitment into the marrow following transplantation. However, an insufficient understanding of the biology of the hematopoietic microenvironment reflects gaps in our knowledge of fundamental stem cell biology and remains an obstacle to an optimal therapeutic approach. While the involvement of hyaluronan (HA), one of the major components of the bone marrow ECM, in normal cell and tumor biology is generally appreciated, little is known of how HA contributes to the regulation of the hematopoietic microenvironment. In this study we investigated whether HA contributes to the recruitment of circulating HSCs into marrow. Stimulation of bone marrow cells with HA induced production of chemokines including SDF-1, MIP-1a, MIP-1b, IL-8, eotaxin, CXCL16, RANTES, LIX and MCP-1. HA-induced conditioned media containing these chemokines enhanced SDF-1-mediated HSC transmigration in vitro, whereas HA alone had no effect, suggesting that endogenous HA participates in the recruitment of HSC indirectly, via regulation of the production of chemokines. We next tested the relevance of this finding in vivo. Since HA synthase 2 knockout mice are embryonically lethal, we developed an alternative in vivo model that allows deprivation of HA. Mice were lethally irradiated to eliminate HSCs and to degrade endogenous HA, and injected with 4-MU, an HA synthase inhibitor, to prevent de novo synthesis of HA. Pre-treated mice were transplanted with HSCs, and after 24 hours the bone marrow was assayed by competitive reconstitution. This assay demonstrated that the number of HSCs which migrated into the marrow of mice pretreated with 4MU was significantly lower as compared to control. To further understand the role of endogenous HA in bone marrow microenvironment we used compound mutant mice in which Has1 and Has3, two genes encoding hyaluronan synthase, were knocked out (Has1-/-;Has3-/-). The number of hematopoietic progenitors (HPs) circulating in peripheral blood was significantly increased in the double knockout (dKO) mice as compared to the wild type (WT) mice. This increase in the number of circulating HP was further enhanced in triple Has knockout mice (Prx1-Cre;Has2flox/flox;Has1-/-;Has3-/-). This correlated with the higher number of hematopoietic progenitors in spleens of Has1-/-;Has3-/- double KO mice and Prx1-Cre;Has2flox/flox;Has1-/-;Has3-/- triple KO mice as compared to the WT mice. In summary, our data indicate that low levels of HA correlate with re-distribution of HSCs and HPs from bone marrow into peripheral blood and spleen. This suggests that HA associated with the hematopoietic microenvironment is important for recruitment and retention of HSCs and HPs, confirming that HA plays a critical regulatory role in the hematopoietic microenvironment. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Muslim preaching has been central in forming public opinion, building grassroots organizations, and developing leadership cadres for the wider Islamist agenda. Based on in-depth field research in Egypt, Patrick Gaffney focuses on the preacher and the sermon as the single most important medium for propounding the message of Islam. He draws on social history, political commentary, and theological sources to reveal the subtle connections between religious rhetoric and political dissent. Many of the sermons discussed were given during the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and Gaffney attempts to describe this militant movement and to compare it with official Islam. Finally, Gaffney presents examples of the sermons, so readers can better understand the full range of contemporary Islamic expression.


One-day-old specific-pathogen-free White Leghorn chicks were inoculated orally with Salmonella enteritidis phage type 4 to study adhesion and invasion of the ceca by immunohistochemistry. Positive staining bacilli were associated with the epithelial surface and were present in the lumen of the cecal crypts. They were observed in the interstitial tissue and in the cytoplasm of macrophage-like cells in the lamina propria. A granulomatous nodule containing positive staining bacilli was present in the submucosa of the cecum of one bird at 14 d after inoculation.


ABSTRACT The Nuclear Notebook is researched and written by Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a research associate with the project. The Nuclear Notebook column has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1987. This issue examines the status of the US nuclear arsenal. The US nuclear arsenal remained roughly unchanged in the last year, with the Defense Department maintaining an estimated stockpile of approximately 3,800 warheads. Of these, only 1,750 warheads are deployed, while approximately 2,050 are held in reserve. Additionally, approximately 2,000 retired warheads are awaiting dismantlement, giving a total inventory of approximately 5,800 nuclear warheads. Of the approximately 1,750 warheads that are deployed, 400 are on land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, roughly 900 are on submarine-launched ballistic missiles, 300 are at bomber bases in the United States, and 150 tactical bombs are at European bases.


By use of a two-stage decision-model, the effect of family structure on household response to natural hazard warnings is examined for a sample of 429 Mobile, Alabama residents interviewed after Hurricane Frederic in 1979. The basic hypothesis that is examined is that the manner in which residents decide to evacuate differs depending on the structural characteristics of the household. Results show that the complete nuclear family-father, mother, and children—appears to respond much more like relatively isolated groups, relying on their own interpretation of warning information, in contrast to what may be Jabelled as incomplete nuclear families—married couples without children and single residents living alone–who rely on their prior perceptions of risk and their social contacts with other significant persons.


The accuracy of interval estimation systems is usually measured using interval lengths for given covering probabilities. The confidence intervals are the intervals of a fixed width if the length of the interval is determined, i.e., not random, and tends to zero for a given covering probability. We consider two important directions of statistical analysis -sequential interval estimation with confidence intervals of fixed width and sequential point estimation with asymptotically minimum risk. Two statistical models are used to describe the basis problems of sequential interval estimation by confidence intervals of a fixed width and point estimation. A review of data on nonparametric sequential estimation is carried out and new original results obtained by the authors are presented. Sequential analysis is characterized by the fact that the moment of termination of observations (stopping time) is random and is determined depending on the values of the observed data and on the adopted measure of optimality of the constructed statistical estimate. Therefore, to solve the asymptotic problems of sequential estimation, the methods of summation of random variables are used. To prove the asymptotic consistency of the confidence intervals of a fixed width, we used a method based on application of limit theorems for randomly stopped random processes. General conditions of the consistency and efficiency of sequential interval estimation of a wide class of functionals of an unknown distribution function are obtained and verified by sequential interval estimation of an unknown probability density of asymptotically uncorrelated and linear processes. Conditions of the regularity are specified that provide the property of being an estimate with an asymptotically minimum risk for a wide class of estimates and loss functions. Those conditions are verified by sequential point estimation of an unknown distribution function.


Increasingly, life-and-death medical decisions are being made by executives and other nonphysicians whose primary responsibility in their institution is for the bottom line. Mr. Hage reminds us that along with that decision-making power comes responsibility for the lives of those affected.


Cluster analysis is the name given to a diverse collection of techniques that can be used to classify objects (e.g. individuals, quadrats, species etc). While Kohonen's Self-Organizing Feature Map (SOFM) or Self-Organizing Map (SOM) networks have been successfully applied as a classification tool to various problem domains, including speech recognition, image data compression, image or character recognition, robot control and medical diagnosis, its potential as a robust substitute for clustering analysis remains relatively unresearched. SOM networks combine competitive learning with dimensionality reduction by smoothing the clusters with respect to an a priori grid and provide a powerful tool for data visualization. In this paper, SOM is used for creating a toroidal mapping of two-dimensional lattice to perform cluster analysis on results of a chemical analysis of wines produced in the same region in Italy but derived from three different cultivators, referred to as the "wine recognition data" located in the University of California-Irvine database. The results are encouraging and it is believed that SOM would make an appealing and powerful decision-support system tool for clustering tasks and for data visualization. Keywords—Artificial Neural Networks, Cluster Analysis, Kohonen Maps, Wine Recognition.


Objective: Idiopathic intracranial internal carotid artery dissection presenting with ischemia is a rare brain disease. We herein report two cases that we recently encountered. Case Presentations: Case 1: A 16-year-old male. He had the onset with consciousness disturbance and left hemiparesis. Cerebral infarction of the right basal ganglia and dissection of the right internal carotid artery at the terminal portion (C1-2) were detected. The symptoms were transient and antithrombotic therapy was carried out. The symptoms were exacerbated after five days and stent placement was performed at the site of the dissection. The symptoms were alleviated after the procedure, and the condition improved to modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0 three months after the onset. Case 2: A 43-year-old female. She had the onset with weakness of the right upper extremity and dysarthria. Left cerebral infarction and dissection of the left internal carotid artery at C1-2 portion were detected. Since the symptoms were mild, antithrombotic therapy was carried out, and she was discharged with mRS 0. Conclusion: Since the clinical course of this disease varies among patients, an appropriate therapeutic strategy must be selected according to the condition of each patient.


Investigations were made of the action of ACTH and LH-RH on a number of behavioural paradigms and the possible involvement of neurotransmitters or opiates by pretreatment of receptor blockers in rats and mice. ACTH delayed the extinction of active avoidance behaviour. Atropine and haloperidol blocked this action, whereas phenoxybenzamine and propranolol were ineffective. LH-RH or a highly potent analogue of LH-RH (D-Trp6-LH-RH) decreased the rate of disappearance of dopamine in the hypothalamus following alpha-methyl- paratyrosine inhibition of catecholamine synthesis, and blocked the accumulation of serotonin following MAO inhibition. LH-RH or the analogue attenuated the consolidation of passive avoidance learning. Apomorphine-induced cage-climbing was also inhibited by the LH-RH analogue, but this action was not influenced by naloxone. Open-field activity (ambulation, rearing and grooming) was decreased by the analogue peptide. Naloxone blocked the action on ambulation and rearing, but was ineffective on grooming. The LH-RH analogue caused a dose-dependent increase in cataleptogenic activity. This action could not be blocked with naloxone. The LH-RH analogue suppressed picrotoxin-induced seizures. Naloxone restored the situation to the control level. The data suggested that the effects of some neurohormones are mediated by transmitters or endogenous opiates, and that both peptide-transmitter and peptide-peptide interactions have to be considered in the action of neurohormones.


This paper presents a proposal of a general model for telecommunication networks based on distributing sets of sub-networks (or sub-network classes) into layers, according to functional affinity criteria. Based on the definition of some rules for the utilization of the communication services among sub-networks, a telecommunication network is modeled as a directed acyclic graph, where each node represents a sub-network or a sub-network class, and an edge indicates a functional dependence among sub-networks. The proposed model has several applications in the integrated management of telecommunication networks and, specially, in the correlation of the alarms generated in these networks.


Evidence-based treatments for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are comprised of components that identify therapist behavior necessary to implement the treatment with integrity. Some components are shared across approaches from diverse theoretical backgrounds. One component included in several interventions that has not been researched in isolation is turn taking, or the manner in which the therapist facilitates back-and-forth interaction with the child. The current study used an alternating treatments design to examine the efficacy of four types of turn taking. Six children, ages 30 to 39 months, received behavioral treatment while therapists systematically varied the nature of the turn taking component. Children's responses were behaviorally scored to examine differences based on turn condition. Consistent patterns of behavior were found across children. Results suggest that the optimal type of turn is dependent on developmental level and target skill. Implications for treatment of ASD and future research directions are discussed.


Artificial stock market simulation based on agent is an important means to study financial market. Based on the assumption that the investors are composed of a main fund, small trend and contrarian investors characterized by four parameters, we simulate and research a kind of financial phenomenon with the characteristics of pyramid schemes. Our simulation results and theoretical analysis reveal the relationships between the rate of return of the main fund and the proportion of the trend investors in all small investors, the small investors' parameters of taking profit and stopping loss, the order size of the main fund and the strategies adopted by the main fund. Our work are helpful to explain the financial phenomenon with the characteristics of pyramid schemes in financial markets, design trading rules for regulators and develop trading strategies for investors.


UNTIL recent years, moniliasis of the genitalia was regarded largely as a complication of diabetes or of pregnancy. In these instances, moniliasis has been familiar as vulvovaginitis in women, and, in the case of diabetic men, usually as intertriginous dermatitis of the genitocrural folds and surrounding areas. At times, also, in male diabetics, balanoposthitis has been encountered, attributable properly to invasion by Candida albicans as a result of circumstances in the skin and urine which enhance the growth of the yeast-like pathogen. The introduction of broad-spectrum antibiotics heralded an upsurge in reports of monilial infections. Increasingly among nondiabetic and nonpregnant patients, it was asserted, monilial infection manifested itself in mucocutaneous and systemic forms. The ascendency of C. albicans was accounted for by the cataclysmic upset in biologic balance of the micro-organismal flora of the body and the suppression of antagonistic bacterial species, leaving the yeast-like forms to flourish rampant.


We present a succinct yet powerful interface library to the SQLite database system. The single file, serverless approach of SQLite along with the natural integration of relational data within Prolog, render the library a useful addition to the existing database libraries in modern open-source engines. We detail the architecture and predicates of the library and provide example deployment scenarios. Finally, this paper discusses the strengths of the system and highlights possible extensions.