Adolescence is a period of life with its own particular challenges in terms of self-image and confidence, autonomy, emerging sexuality and social acceptance among others. It is also, for the majority, a time of transition from secondary education to the workplace, tertiary education or both, involving new experiences and importantly, meeting new people. Skin disease, by its visibility, can have a huge impact on quality of life (QoL) at this vulnerable age, yet there is a paucity of published evidence in this age group. In the current issue, van Geel et al. have compared the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and the Children's Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI) scores captured as part of routine data collection for a paediatric psoriasis registry. While the DLQI is validated for patients over 16 years of age and the CDLQI for those under 16 years, this registry recorded both scores in the 16-year and 17-year age group, providing valuable data to highlight the impact of psoriasis on QoL in this age group. There was very high correlation between scores for the CDLQI and DLQI (r = 0 9), confirming that both reflected well the QoL impact in each adolescent, but marked differences between the scores in some domains highlights the importance of developing an adolescent-specific QoL instrument for skin disease. In this study the DLQI had a low score for the question on 'sexual difficulties' caused by skin disease, which may reflect not that the question is irrelevant in this age group but that it has been interpreted only to mean intimate sexual relationships rather than whether the adolescents feel that their skin disease affects their sexual attractiveness. In addition, the questionnaire was completed in the presence of a parent and at this age that may well be relevant. Many domains in QoL instruments are susceptible to interpretation; in this study the question on sport scored more than twice as high in the CDLQI (mean 0 86 vs. 0 34) where swimming was mentioned specifically and the question on school/holiday in the CDLQI seemed to be identified with more than study/work (mean 0 86 vs. 0 45) in the DLQI, probably reflecting the fact that most were still in full-time education with periods of holiday. Only the CDLQI has a question about sleep, which scored highly in this group and which was identified as a major source of difficulty in adolescents during the development of the Skindex-Teen in 12–17-year-olds. That instrument and the T-QoL in 12–19-year-olds include more questions on psychological impact and self-image and may therefore be more sensitive in this age group. An important consideration is that increasing domains mean that instruments become less practical for routine clinical use. These studies highlight the benefit of using an adolescent-specific QoL score but all involved small numbers and require further validation. The age range to include for an adolescent score could be debated endlessly as children vary widely in terms of maturity so that there is also work to be done looking at the impact of skin disease at different ages within this important adolescent period.


Over the last several years, there has been an emphasis on distributed client/server computing in business as well as government. A useful means of achieving this capability is through the use of object technology. Distributed object systems offer many benefits, such as downsizing and right sizing, resulting in a trend toward small, modular, commercial or government off-the-shelf components as a means of system development. Distributed object management standards, such as the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) specification are aiding the integration process. One area of distributed object systems that has received little attention to date is security. Security is a difficult problem in traditional software systems, and adding distribution and use of object-oriented techniques just increases the complexity of the problem. The Object Management Group (OMG) is beginning to solicit proposals from vendors for handling security in a distributed object environment. This paper gives an overview of distributed object management and standards being specified by the OMG. It applies traditional security engineering analysis to CORBA and highlights some of the security function interdependencies among CORBA components.<<ETX>>


The authors describe PACNET, a packet radio network that was developed locally to provide low-duty-cycle communications between remote terminal units (RTUs), with the ability to route packets through more than one RTU and to provide for centralized control. They describe the packet switches, the protocol implementation, and the design of the RTUs. They discuss the implementation of an experimental network and its use for the monitoring and control of a rural power system.


(−)-Hydroxycitric acid (HCA), a competitive inhibitor of ATP-citrate lyase, is frequently used in dietary supplements for weight loss in humans, and is the principal acid in the rinds of Garcinia cambogia, a fruit native to Asia. NOAEL (no-observed-adverse-effect level) of G. cambogia extract was determined in the present study and examination was made of adverse effects of high-dose administration to 44 healthy volunteers who had received 4000 mg HCA. No adverse effect was noted in any subjects. NOAEL of G. cambogia extract was estimated as more than 4000 mg HCA. Sequential-high-doses administration study was condusted in subjects who had been given 3000 mg HCA daily for 10 days. Blood samples were used to obtain clinical data before and after treatment. The clinical data were essentially the same for either time. G. cambogia extract at more than 3000 mg HCA may be considered safe for healthy persons.


Cancer is commonly complicated by psychiatric comorbidity, particularly depression. However, the effects of panic on cancer treatment and cancer patients' quality of life are not well understood. To examine more closely the occurrence of panic attacks and panic disorder in cancer patients, we retrospectively reviewed charts of 106 consecutive psychosomatic consultations of inpatients with cancer at a regional cancer center. Approximately one‐fifth of the patient sample presented with panic attacks or panic disorder at the time of the consultation. We present four case examples to demonstrate the potential effect of panic on cancer patients, including requests for cancer treatment discontinuation. We report resolution of panic with benzodiazepine and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The purpose of this study is to verify the architectural
characteristics and historical changing process of Confucian
 School and Seowon Buildings in Korea, and to provide general
architectural data of those buildings with some of tables,
architectural drawings, and illustrations.
These results show that Confucian School and Seowon architecture
 are controlled by thoughts of Confucianism, and grade of ranks,
 authority, dignity are expressed in these buildings.


Bulbous bow is one of the important design factors on the design of fore-body hull form. Using the interference technique of ship waves, the bulbous bow can decrease the wave resistance of ship. Recently, the goose neck bulb is applied mainly for high speed vessels like passenger ships and ferries etc.. Also, the goose neck bulb is applied for relatively high speed merchant vessels like container ships and LNG carriers. However, existing research papers about the goose neck bulb are not enough as reference data for the design of bow hull form. In this study, numerical calculations are carried out to investigate the bow wave characteristics of a high speed ferry with a normal high nose bulb or a goose neck bulb. By comparing the pressure distributions on the hull surface and the wave systems near the bow, the features of wave resistance reduction are discussed. Also, Numerical calculations were carried out for a series of goose neck bulbs to figure out the optimum bulb size. The maximum reduction rate of pressure resistance for the fore-body is achievable up to 8% by adopting the goose neck bulb in the present calculation.


In a retrospective study of 53 pregnant women who were constitutionally thin, there was a slight excess of premature deliveries. The birth weight of the term babies was lower than expected but there was no excess of serious perinatal complications. Adipose tissue was characteristically absent in these mothers. This may explain the results and be responsible for the failure to achieve optimum foetal development.


Receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (RANKL) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) produced by osteoblasts/stromal cells are involved as positive and negative regulators in osteoclast formation. Three independent signals have been proposed to induce RANKL expression in osteoblasts/stromal cells: vitamin D receptor-, cAMP-, and gp130-mediated signals. We previously reported that intracellular calcium-elevating compounds such as ionomycin, cyclopiazonic acid, and thapsigargin induced osteoclast formation in cocultures of mouse bone marrow cells and primary osteoblasts. Increases in calcium concentration in culture medium also induced osteoclast formation in cocultures. Treatment of primary osteoblasts with these compounds or with high calcium medium stimulated the expression of both RANKL and OPG messenger RNAs (mRNAs). 1,2-Bis(o-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid)-tetra(acetoxymethyl)ester, an intracellular calcium chelator, suppressed both ionomycin-induced osteoclast formation in cocultures and expression of RANKL and OPG mRNAs in primary osteoblasts. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), an activator of protein kinase C, also stimulated osteoclast formation in these cocultures and the expression of RANKL and OPG mRNAs in primary osteoblasts. Protein kinase C inhibitors such as calphostin and staurosporin suppressed ionomycin- and PMA-induced osteoclast formation in cocultures and expression of RANKL and OPG mRNAs in primary osteoblasts. Ionomycin stimulated RANKL mRNA expression in ST2 and MC3T3-G2/PA6 cells, but not in MC3T3-E1 or NIH-3T3 cells. These effects were closely correlated with osteoclast formation in response to ionomycin in cocultures with these stromal cell lines. OPG strongly inhibited osteoclast formation induced by calcium-elevating compounds and PMA in cocultures, suggesting that RANKL expression in osteoblasts is a rate-limiting step for osteoclast induction. Forskolin, an activator of cAMP signals, also stimulated osteoclast formation in cocultures. Forskolin enhanced RANKL mRNA expression but suppressed OPG mRNA expression in primary osteoblasts. These results suggest that the calcium/protein kinase C signal in osteoblasts/stromal cells is the fourth signal for inducing RANKL mRNA expression, which, in turn, stimulates osteoclast formation.


Abstract Although research into alien species usually focuses on their negative aspects associated with their penetration into native ecosystems, their influence is much more complicated. This study investigated the pollinators of Bryonia dioica, an invasive climber in the temperate zone. Flowers of this plant in two cities in western Poland (Bydgoszcz and Poznań) were visited by 27 bee species, the most frequent ones being Apis mellifera and Andrena florea. Until recently, the latter was regarded as rare and threatened in Poland. Our results indicate that the spread of Bryonia dioica into urban areas has enabled large and stable populations of Andrena florea to flourish there. This study investigated the daily and seasonal dynamics of its activity. A positive relationship was found between the spread of Bryonia dioica and the presence of its obligatory pollinator Andrena florea. Alien plant species are thus not only an additional source of food for local pollinators but also may favour the occurrence of otherwise rare species with specific food requirements, such as A. florea.


Objective To investigate the risk factors predicting the short-term outcomes of patients with peritoneal dialysis(PD)-associated peritonitis (PDAP). Methods In this retrospective cohort study,the clinical data at baseline and 0-3 months before peritonitis onset (peritonitis-free period) were collected from end-stage renal disease patients who started PD and suffered from PDAP between January 1,2004 and March 31,2017 in Peking Union Medical College Hospital. After 4 weeks of follow-up,these patients were divided into two groups according to the clinical outcomes,namely poor outcome group and good outcome group. Characteristics at baseline and before peritonitis were compared. Risk factors associated with short-term outcomes were also analyzed. Results Totally 162 PDAP patients were enrolled,among whom 55 (34.0%) experienced adverse outcomes and 107 (66.0%) had good outcome. At baseline,the proportion of clinical atherosclerotic vascular disease was significantly higher in poor outcome group than in good outcome group (49.1% vs. 31.8%;χ2=4.639,P=0.031),whereas indicators were comparable (all P>0.05). During the peritonitis-free period,significantly higher level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) [9.3(2.2,16.3)mg/dl vs. 3.6(1.4,9.5)mg/dl,Z=-2.879,P=0.004],higher proportion of low transport type of peritoneum function (8.7% vs. 1.0%;Z=4.879,P=0.027),and lower creatinine clearance rate [56.7 (45.7,71.1) ml/(min·w·1.73 m2)vs. 61.4 (54.5,76.4) ml/(min·w·1.73 m2);Z=-2.084,P=0.037] were observed in poor outcome group. Univariate Logistic regression analysis showed the combination of clinical atherosclerotic vascular disease (OR=2.070,95%CI:1.062-4.034,P=0.033) and higher hsCRP before peritonitis (OR=1.032,95%CI:1.001-1.059,P=0.015) were the risk factors of short-term poor outcome in PDAP patients. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that,after the gender,age at peritonitis,PD duration,diabetes,and serum albumin before peritonitis were adjusted,higher hsCRP before peritonitis (OR=1.026,95%CI:1.000-1.052,P=0.046) and comorbidity of clinical atherosclerotic vascular disease (OR=2.105,95% CI:1.014-4.367,P=0.046) were the independent risk factors for the poor outcomes in PDAP patients. Conclusion Higher pre-peritonitis hsCRP and comorbidity of clinical atherosclerotic vascular disease at baseline may predict poor short-term outcomes in PDAP patients.


In this experiment we investigated the synthesis of the double mercury layer compound Hg2Ba2YCu2O8-δ (Hg-2212) at 4 GPa and 900 °C by in situ x-ray diffraction performed at the high-pressure ID30 beam line at ESRF. The chemical path observed depends on the choice of the initial mixture. If one starts from a mixture of oxides and copper, an intermediate oxide phase (a high-pressure variety) containing barium and mercury is formed (we do not know if copper is present). This intermediate phase is then converted into the final Hg-2212 product. On the other hand, Hg-2212 grows directly from a pre-reacted precursor `Ba2YCu2Oy' mixed with HgO. This in situ technique clearly shows its efficiency in identifying, in real time, a phase that would have been difficult to observe ex situ.


A number of catecholamine and non-catecholamine beta-adrenoceptor agonists, including the lipolytically selective compound BRL 37344, were compared for lipolytic activity on human and rat adipocytes. On rat adipocytes, all compounds were full agonists, BRL 37344 being the most potent. On human adipocytes, only the catecholamines were full beta-adrenoceptor agonists. The other compounds were partial agonists, with intrinsic activities declining in the order fenoterol greater than salbutamol greater than clenbuterol greater than BRL 37344. This was the case with FFA- as well as with glycerol-production. Addition of 20 microM phentolamine did not enhance BRL 37344 activity. The isoprenaline- and BRL 37344-induced lipolysis on rat white adipocytes was stereoselectively antagonized by enantiomers of alprenolol, with atypical low potencies and stereoselectivity. It was concluded that (1) human and rat adipocyte beta-adrenoceptors mediating lipolysis are not essentially different, (2) partial agonism in human adipocytes is not explained by enhanced re-esterification and (3) BRL 37344 selectively stimulates rat adipocyte lipolysis.


Purpose of reviewWe provide new viewpoints of hormonal control of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The latest treatment findings with 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs) finasteride and dutasteride, refined indications, efficacy, and safety are discussed and compared. We also discuss potential new 5-ARIs and other hormonal treatments. Recent findingsFinasteride and dutasteride have equal efficacy and safety for the treatment and prevention of progression of BPH. 5-ARIs are especially recommended for prostates greater than 40 ml and PSA greater than 1.5 ng/ml. Combination therapy is the treatment of choice in these patients, but with prostate volume greater than 58 ml or International Prostate Symptom Score of at least 20, combinations have no advantage over 5-ARI monotherapy. Updates on the recent developments on BPH therapy with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) antagonist are also reviewed and analyzed. Preclinical studies suggest that growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) antagonists effectively shrink experimentally enlarged prostates alone or in combination with LHRH antagonists. SummaryNew 5-ARIs seem to be the promising agents that need further study. Preclinical studies revealed that GHRH and LHRH antagonists both can cause a reduction in prostate volume. Recent data indicate that prostate shrinkage is induced by the direct inhibitory action of GHRH and of LHRH antagonists exerted through prostatic receptors. The adverse effects of 5ARIs encourage alternative therapy.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Introduction: Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) has been reported to synergize with N-cadherin, a cell surface marker of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), to enhance migration and invasion in breast cancer and other cancers. Recent studies from our group suggested that N-cadherin promotes castration resistance and metastasis in prostate cancer. In addition, our studies showed that antibodies against N-cadherin ectodomains blocked prostate cancer invasion and castration resistant growth. To investigate the mechanism of action of N-cadherin antibodies in prostate cancer cells, we seek to determine the contribution of the different N-cadherin domains in promoting invasion and growth in prostate cancer cells, with particular focus on interaction with FGF2.

Methods: Chimeric constructs, in which a N-cadherin domain was swapped with an E-cadherin domain, were generated and ectopically expressed in androgen dependent prostate cancer cell line LNCaP. The following combinations were made: 1/ NE: N-cadherin ectodomains linked to E-cadherin cytoplasmic domain (NE), 2/ EN: the reverse of NE, 3/ NEN: swapping N-cadherin ectodomain 4 for that of E-cadherin. Full length N-cadherin and empty vector sublines served as positive and negative controls. All cell lines were assayed for invasion and growth in androgen depleted media in combination with recombinant FGF2, FGF2 neutralizing antibody and N-cadherin antibodies.

Results: Ectopic expression of N-cadherin in N-cadherin negative cells result in a 5-fold increase of FGF2 secreted in the media. In vitro studies have shown that the addition of recombinant FGF2 enhanced invasion by 56%± 0.04 in N-cadherin positive cells while treatment with FGF2 neutralizing antibody resulted in a 65%± 0.03 reduction in invasion. Chimeric cell lines which harbor extracellular domain 4 of N-cadherin, N and NE cell lines, showed >56%± 0.11 enhanced invasion to the addition of recombinant FGF2 while EN, NEN, and control cell lines did not. Monoclonal antibodies developed against regions in the extracellular domain of N-cadherin block the response to recombinant FGF2 with 2A9 (antibody raised against extracellular domain 4) being the least responsive.

Conclusions: These studies suggest that the relationship between N-cadherin and FGF2 is involved in prostate cancer progression. Therapeutic targeting of N-cadherin with monoclonal antibodies, alone or in combination with other drugs targeting those potentially involved in downstream pathways may have significant clinical benefit. Future experiments include in vivo models where chimeric cell lines will be implanted in mice as xenografts, and will be monitored for tumor growth, local invasion, and metastasis.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3623. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3623


According to world health statistics-WHO 2010 on road traffic injuries, more than a million people were killed on the world's road each year. It is estimated that some 1.2 million people were killed and 50 million injured in traffic collision on the roads around the world each year and was the leading cause of death among school children 6-12 years of age. Presently on the Indian road there is one death every six minutes, which predicted to risk to one death every 3 minutes by 2020. Safety is the condition or the state of the safe, freedom from danger or hazard exemption for the hurt injury or loss. The term road safety is about the risk of a person is being killed or injured while using the road as a pedestrian, cyclist, motorist, or user of public transport. And the road safety practices and focusing on the strategies for the prevention. So the present study is done to assess the knowledge regarding road safety among the periurban school children at Kilachery. A descriptive research design was done in urban area of Kilachery. 100 boys were selected for the study who study in St Joseph Boys Higher Secondary School at Kilachery from 6 to 8 standard. Simple random sampling technique was used in selecting the samples. Self-structured questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge regarding road safety among selected peri-urban school children.While comparing the level of knowledge of the study participants that is inadequate knowledge is 50%, moderate knowledge is 49% & adequate knowledge is 1%.


For sustainable development of a country access to electricity in every moment is now the basic need for the current civilization. Power crisis is one of the major barriers for economic development of Bangladesh. Bangladesh lacks in fossil fuel reservation. Abundance of renewable energy sources in the form of solar energy, wind energy provides opportunities of renewable energy based hybrid energy system in the coastal areas of Bnagladesh. Energy generation by hybrid system reduces the generation cost and will help in balancing the cost of energy. Again a standalone renewable enegy incorporated hybrid energy system will reduce load demand from the grid and will be an eco-friendly energy system. This paper proposed a cost effective design of standalone solar-wind-diesel hybrid power system in a coastal area of Bangladesh. Considering different conditions for a coastal area design and simulation of the hybrid power system was performed. Detailed economic analysis and comparison with solar based and diesel based energy system clearly reveals that proposed hybrid power system was found a cost effective solution for coastal areas of bangladesh. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v2i6.830 Full Text: PDF


This paper presents an approach for gathering information about the availabilty of the parking lots using Convoltional Neural Network (CNN) for image processing running on an embedded system. By using an eflicent neural network model, we made it possible to use a very low cost embedded system compared to the ones used in previous works on this topic. This efficient model's performance is compared to one of the models that proved its accuracy in image classification competitions. In these tests, we used datasets that has thousands of different images taken from parking lots in different light and weather conditions.


The conventional CCPU(Cable Covering Protective Unit) modeling methods which are used by Type 99 and Type 92 in EMTP simulation are firstly discussed in this paper, and then some problems of them are also investigated. Modeling method using Type 99 causes unstable characteristic at initial transient of CCPU operation. Time delay has also effect on the output of CCPU modeling. So, in this paper, a new modeling method for CCPU is designed by DBM(Data Base Module) of EMTP. The characteristic of Type 92 is used for the new modeling method. The reliability of this one is proved by comparing simulation with measured data. Specially, at initial transient, the waveform of the new method shows more stable result than that of conventional method using Type 99. Also, the peak value is similar to measured data.


In thermophotovoltaics (TPV) an emitter is heated up to a high temperature and emits infrared light. Above bandgap photons can then be converted into power by photovoltaic cells at room temperature. One of the main disadvantages of TPV is the need for a highly perfect selective emitter or filter to achieve high conversion efficiency. Thermophotonics overcomes this through the use of a heated light-emitting diode as an extremely selective emitter. To achieve net conversion of heat to electricity with thermophotonics, a LED with high electroluminescence efficiency is required. As the initial step to demonstrate this concept, a GaInP/GaAs double heterostructure was optically pumped with energy higher than bandgap at room temperature. An external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 96% was measured for an undoped planar sample on a transparent substrate using light extraction schemes. This EQE is close to achieving the cooling from the lattice. The results agree well with independent thermal measurements on planar samples. The low surface recombination velocity implies that the sample quality is excellent. However, not all samples with that feature will meet device-quality level. The excellent device performance also relies on processing techniques and design.


Segmental small and large bowel transit time of 25 healthy volunteers have been studied, as a control group, by means of radio-opaque markers prepared and administered according to an original method. The same study has been subsequently carried out on 37 patients suffering for chronic non organic constipation. The resulting data, though poorly homogeneous, may however, be plotted in 8 classes; each class groups subjects presenting very similar segmental transit time whose changes are less than 4 hours. The first class gathers the 8.1% of the cases, presenting in increased small bowel transit time; the patients of the second class (5.4%) has resulted affected by "right colon constipation syndrome"; another 5.4% of patients, plotted in the third class have shown a permanence time of the markers in the transverse colon of about 190 hours, while the 10.8% fourth class and the 16.2% fifth class have presented a 97 and 150 hours' one respectively. The patients of the sixth class (21.6%) have shown long lasting permanence of markers in the left colon and in the rectum. The 13.5% of cases, gathered in seventh class, has shown an increased transit time through the whole colon, while at last the eight class (19.0% of patients) has resulted affected by dischezia. The described method has thus revealed useful in the study of bowel segmental transit time from a topographic diagnostic point of view.


BACKGROUND: In the United States, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is most prevalent among adults born from 1945 through 1965, and approximately 50% to 75% of infected adults are unaware of their infection. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of birth-cohort screening. DESIGN: Cost-effectiveness simulation. DATA SOURCES: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, U.S. Census, Medicare reimbursement schedule, and published sources.TARGET POPULATION: Adults born from 1945 through 1965 with 1 or more visits to a primary care provider annually.TIME HORIZON: Lifetime.PERSPECTIVE: Societal, health care.INTERVENTION: One-time antibody test of 1945-1965 birth cohort.OUTCOME MEASURES: Numbers of cases that were identified and treated and that achieved a sustained viral response; liver disease and death from HCV; medical and productivity costs; quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs); incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). RESULTS OF BASE-CASE ANALYSIS: Compared with the status quo, birth-cohort screening identified 808,580 additional cases of chronic HCV infection at a screening cost of $2874 per case identified. Assuming that birth-cohort screening was followed by pegylated interferon and ribavirin (PEG-IFNþR) for treated patients, screening increased QALYs by 348,800 and costs by $5.5 billion, for an ICER of $15,700 per QALY gained. Assuming that birth-cohort screening was followed by direct-acting antiviral plus PEG-IFNþR treatment for treated patients, screening increased QALYs by 532,200 and costs by $19.0 billion, for an ICER of $35,700 per QALY saved. RESULTS OF SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS: The ICER of birth-cohort screening was most sensitive to sustained viral response of antiviral therapy, the cost of therapy, the discount rate, and the QALY losses assigned to disease states. LIMITATION: Empirical data on screening and direct-acting antiviral treatment in realworld clinical settings are scarce. CONCLUSION: Birthcohort screening for HCV in primary care settings was cost-effective. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Division of Viral Hepatitis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Comment ''Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing. . .after they have exhausted all other possibilities.''


Data of 306 Caucasian American, 284 Asian American, and 259 Latino/a American college students were analyzed in this study to test a modified version of Lent and Brown's (2006, 2008) satisfaction model in the academic context. In addition to the full set of variables hypothesized in the original model, the modified academic satisfaction model also included independent and interdependent self-construals to represent one's cultural orientations. Comparisons between the hypothesized model and 2 alternative models showed that direct paths from extraversion and emotional stability added significantly to the predictions of academic satisfaction and life satisfaction for all 3 racial/ethnic groups while those from independent and interdependent self-construals also had the same effects for Latino/a American students. The hypothesized model offered excellent fit to the data of all 3 racial/ethnic groups. Consistent with theoretical prediction, academic supports, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, or goal progress formed pathways that mediated the relations of personality traits and self-construals to academic satisfaction or life satisfaction across 3 groups. Although full measurement equivalence (configural invariance and metric invariance) was observed, 4 structural paths and 16 indirect effects differed significantly by race/ethnicity. Most of these differences in structural paths and indirect effects occurred between Caucasian Americans and Asian Americans. On balance, findings of the study provided evidence for the cross-racial/ethnic validity of the modified academic satisfaction model while identifying racial/ethnic differences that might have useful clinical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record


Used banknotes and coins obtained from dillerent occupation groups and beggars and also unused ob-tained from Central Bank were examined bacteriolog-ically. Saprophitic or pathogenic bacteria on those mo-ney were examined. Growing bacteria on cultures made from obtained money were respectively Ba-cilles sp., Enterococcus, Pneumococcus, S. epider-midis, E.coli, S.aureus, Enterobacter sp., other sto-phylococci sp. Klebsiella and Proteus. Statistical differences of observed microorganisms on, used and unused money were determined. It was observed that the amount of microorgan-isms grew on money in circulation were significant-ly higher than those were not yet in us. Some pre-cautions were proposed in respect of public health.


Experimental and numerical investigations have been conducted to study the effect of electrode position in a 10.92 cm i.d. cylindrical flow channel on the electrohydrodynamically (EHD) enhanced flow boiling. The experiments were conducted for tube-side boiling of HFC-134a at dc voltage from 0 to 8 kV, liquid mass flux from 0 to 500 kg/m2s, inlet quality from 0 to 50%, and 3 vertical electrode positions within the tube (0 mm and 2.73 mm from centreline). Numerical simulation of electrical field profiles was conducted by finite element methods for various flow regimes. The results show that the heat transfer was enhanced up to 160% by EHD forces while only 20% pressure drop increase was observed. The results also show that the EHD heat transfer enhancement increases with increasing applied voltage and decreases with increasing mass flux. The effects of electrode vertical position on the EHD heat transfer enhancement will be discussed in detail based on numerical results.


[1] After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, hydrocarbons were released into the Gulf of Mexico. These hydrocarbons were found to have formed large subsurface horizontal intrusions. Socolofsky et al. studied the dynamics of the formation of these intrusions, looking at observations from the Deepwater Horizon blowout, and adapted relationships developed from lab experiments to describe the mechanisms underlying the formation of the intrusions. The authors found that the intrusions form from density stratification of multiphase plumes containing dissolved gas and oil as well as small liquid drops. They developed a method for estimating intrusion elevation and found that their estimates agreed well with observations that the intrusions were primarily between 800 and 1200 meters in depth. The models could help researchers studying the fate of subsurface oil and gas. (Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL047174, 2011)


Abstract: Cefovecin is a third-generation cephalosporin antibiotic with an efficacy of 2 wk following a single injection in domestic dogs and cats. A high degree of plasma protein binding to cefovecin has been proposed as one of the mechanisms responsible for the long elimination half-life, but protein binding has not been evaluated extensively in nondomestic species. In this study, a review of the current literature was conducted, and pharmacokinetic data were compiled for species in which cefovecin has been evaluated thus far. Additionally, in vitro cefovecin protein binding was evaluated in plasma from 22 nondomestic species representing a broad range of taxa. Animals of the order Carnivora demonstrated protein-binding levels of >98%, which is supportive of the long elimination half-life seen in related species. Protein binding was highly variable in Artiodactyl and Perissodactyl species, with dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and barasingha (Rucervus duvaucelii) displaying high protein binding (99.12% to >99%), but not gazelles (Eudorcas thomsonii) or equids (91.76–92.70%). Cefovecin was not highly bound in any reptiles or birds, corresponding to short half-lives reported for these taxa. These results suggest that a high percentage of plasma protein binding in vitro may predict in which species cefovecin may exhibit a long half-life and duration of action in vivo. These findings may aid in selecting species for cefovecin pharmacokinetic research and for empirical treatment of infections caused by susceptible bacteria.


In the modern world, structural constructs of the social space of objective socialization are changing. Its main feature is the determining potential of social maturity of individuals in the conditions of instability, uncertainty, capable of mastering a really important meaning in determining the effective position of a person, the abilities and opportunities in relation to the realization of objective tasks, to overcome existing contradictions, to be a real active member of modern society. In the article, the author reveals the content and features of the concepts of "professional socialization of the individual", "professional socialization of the future teacher-pedagogue". Under socialization, the process of the inclusion of a person growing into society through the assimilation and reproduction of the personality of social experience historically accumulated by humanity culture, is meant. Under the professional socialization of the individual we understand the process of its adaptation to the conditions and characteristics of professional formation. Under the professional socialization of the future teacher-pedagogue, we mean mastering the socio-professional experience in a purposeful, specialized organization, which manifests itself  as a set of all educational influences. Pedagogical activity is characterized by a focus on others, orientation on social norms. Therefore, the professional socialization of the teacher has its own specificity, which manifests itself primarily in reducing self-actualization and increasing prosociality.


The surface of vulcanized ethylene propylene diene terpolymers (EPDM) was modified by Ar and N2, microwave generated plasma in order to improve adhesion properties. Surface modification was characterized by universal attenuated total reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (UATR/FT-IR), because it presented lower interference of ingredients of EPDM formulation when compared with other techniques used for the attenuated total reflectance (ATR) to different crystals (ATR/KRS-5 and ATR/Ge). Oxygenated groups were introduced on the surface after treatments which were formed when the activated surface was exposed to the plasma gas. In treatments with nitrogen, oxygen groups and probable nitrogen groups were formed on the surface and could be identified by FT-IR. Reduction in the measurement of the contact angle and an increase in the work of adhesion and in the peel strength (EPDM X Polyurethane (PU)) were observed after the treatment resulted in the improvement of the adhesion properties of the modified surface.


RFID technology suffers from a recurring issue: the reader-to-reader collision. Numerous protocols have been proposed to attempt to reduce them, but, remaining reading errors still heavily impact the performances and fairness of dense RFID deployments. This paper introduces a new Distributed Efficient & Fair Anticollision for RFID (DEFAR) protocol. It reduces both monochannel and multichannel collisions as well as interference by a factor of almost 90% in comparison with the best state of the art protocols. The fairness of the medium access among the readers is improved to a 99% level. Such improvements are achieved applying a TDMA-based "serverless" approach and assigning different priorities to readers depending on their behavior over precedent rounds. A distributed reservation phase is organized between readers with at least one winning reader afterwards. Then, multiple reading phases occur within a single frame in order to obtain fast coverage and high throughput. The use of different reader priorities based on reading behaviors of previous frames also contributes to improve both fairness and efficiency. Simulation results show the robustness of the proposed solution in terms of different metrics such collision avoidance, fairness and coverage and in comparison with a centralized literature solution.


Recent pharmacotherapeutic advances in the treatment of hypertension have included the development of sustained-release (SR) dosage formulations, providing patients with the convenience of once daily administration. A one year retrospective analysis was undertaken to determine the economic utility of providing prescription coverage for the SR formulation of verapamil, a calcium channel antagonist, under the state of Florida's Medicaid programme. Data for this analysis were derived from the state of Florida's Medicaid computer archive. The study population consisted of 274 ambulatory beneficiaries diagnosed with hypertension and prescribed either the SR or immediate-release (IR) formulation of verapamil. Multivariate regression analysis was used to discern the incremental influence of selected demographic characteristics, utilisation of medical services prior to diagnosis for hypertension and prescribed formulation of verapamil on health care expenditures one year post-diagnosis. Patients prescribed the SR formulation of verapamil achieved a significant (P < or = 0.05) increase in the Medication Possession Ratio (MPR), an index of compliance, (0.87 +/- 0.13) relative to patients prescribed the IR formulation (0.56 +/- 0.10). Results indicate that receipt of verapamil in an SR formulation was associated with a significant (P < or = 0.05) decrease in aggregate health care expenditures of $110.14 over the one year study period. Receipt of the SR formulation was associated with an increase in expenditures for antihypertensive therapy ($117.83, p < or = 0.05) and a decrease in financial commitments for physician ($50.42, p < or = 0.05), hospital ($153.61, p < or = 0.05) and laboratory ($23.94, p < or = 0.05) services.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


In the last years, technological innovations and changing economic and regulatory environments have resulted in a great interest for Distributed Generation (DG). DG concept covers local power generation at distribution level by using renewable or non-conventional generators. Distributed Energy Resources (DER) range from CHP (combined heat and power) systems based on Stirling engines, fuel cells and microturbines, to renewables like solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, wind energy conversion systems (WECS) and small scale hydroelectric generation. The use of biofuels and application of various storage technologies are also considered part of DG. In this paper, the state of the art of DG technologies and strategies - focusing on solar PV, wind and fuel cells - are analysed, benefits and drawbacks are discussed, future R&D prospects are presented.


The participation of women in development programmes is well documented in the last two decades in the developed world. In the developing countries, however, such studies are still very scanty and fragmented as the roles of women in development efforts are hardly acknowledged. This paper examines the participatory role of women in community development in the rural areas, using Ilaje in Ondo State, as an example. Based on a random sampling of 130 women selected from ten (10) communities in Ilaje local government area of Ondo State, Nigeria, the paper attributes the low participation of women in community development efforts to poor level of education and lack of role modeling among the women folk. The findings reveal that there is a significant relationship between the educational status of rural women and their participation in community development. To ensure effective participation in community development, the paper recommended that women in the rural areas should be given the necessary education in order to enhance their effectiveness in community development projects. They should also be given the right encouragement, moral and material supports because in the absence of these supports, any programmes being embarked upon would yield minimal impact. Keywords : Empowerment, community development, participation, women's education.


Capillary filtration in the experimentally irradiated small intestine of the cat was studied by measuring the capillary filtration coefficient (CFC). Segments of the small intestine were exposed to X rays of 15, 20, or 25 Gy and studied during the acute gastrointestinal radiation syndrome (4th day) and later (1 and 4 months). On the 4th day CFC had decreased to less than 60% of the original value. Increasing doses resulted in decreasing CFC. One month after irradiation CFC increased, but not to normal levels. After 4 months no further improvement was observed. With the higher doses a secondary decrease in CFC appeared, which might indicate a late effect of irradiation on capillary function.


presentation of the book is perfect. It was hard not to notice the care the authors had given to the diagrams and plots, a rare quality of books these days. The book contains in-text exercises to help the student's understanding of the subject, and 'further readings' at the end of each chapter provide a good source of references and a skeletal guide to the history of the subject. The book most certainly fills a gap in the literature on optical quantum computing and is a must-have book for anybody who is interested in this burgeoning field of research.


In this paper, a special recurrent neural network (RNN), i.e., the Zhang
 neural network (ZNN), is presented and investigated for online time-varying
 nonlinear optimization (OTVNO). Compared with the research work done
 previously by others, this paper analyzes continuous-time and discrete-time
 ZNN models theoretically via rigorous proof. Theoretical results show that
 the residual errors of the continuous-time ZNN model possesses a global
 exponential convergence property and that the maximal steady-state residual
 errors of any method designed intrinsically for solving the static
 optimization problem and employed for the online solution of OTVNO is O(τ),
 where τ denotes the sampling gap. In the presence of noises, the residual
 errors of the continuous-time ZNN model can be arbitrarily small for
 constant noises and random noises. Moreover, an optimal sampling gap formula
 is proposed for discrete-time ZNN model in the noisy environments. Finally,
 computer-simulation results further substantiate the performance analyses of
 ZNN models exploited for online time-varying nonlinear optimization.


This paper describes a project to record specialised oral histories of key individuals involved with Australia's principal scientific research organisation, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The oral histories are intended to complement official governance documents in a larger project to write a history of CSIRO. Oral histories typically include perspectives on family backgrounds and childhood, professional training and career histories. Of particular interest in these interviews is the involvement of interviewees in the management of CSIRO and their reflections on the place of CSIRO in the Australian and international scientific environments. The interviews were conducted mainly by two of the authors (Spurling and Healy), both of whom were well known to the interviewees because they were themselves senior managers in CSIRO and familiar with the topics discussed. These histories are intended to illuminate important personal factors that have influenced decision-making in CSIRO. Also covered are plans to use other collections of interview materials in the CSIRO History Project (CHP), including those conducted by CSIRO historian Boris Schedvin, the Australian Academy of Science and the National Library of Australia. Details are provided of preparations for interviews, recording and transcription and preparation of materials for public access through CSIROpedia.


Criminalizing membership of terrorist organizations raises serious freedom of association and freedom of speech/expression concerns. Governments in the United States of America (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (U.K.) have a long history of restricting organizations which express dissent, especially at times when they perceive national security to be subject to acute threat. Until the mid-twentieth century, both jurisdictions regarded proscription as the appropriate means of tackling organizations committed to using violence to achieve their goals. Thereafter, the approaches of these two jurisdictions to proscription diverged. This paper analyzes these approaches to tackling terrorist organizations by comparing their proscription offenses, the mechanisms for listing organizations, and whether adequate safeguards for freedom of association and freedom of speech/expression are provided in both jurisdictions. It also evaluates the effectiveness of such proscription regimes as a response to the threat posed by "networked" terrorist organizations which actively adapt to the efforts by governments to drive them out of existence.


The purpose of this study was to contribute to the corporate governance literature by establishing the relationship between board characteristics and corporate performance within the nonlife insurance firms in Zimbabwe. The study sought to provide some insights on corporate governance since the phenomenon is relatively an emerging discipline in Zimbabwe. The paper sought to complement other corporate governance studies that were conducted in other environments by producing evidence on the phenomenon from a developing country context. A quantitative research approach was adopted and respondents were selected through a stratified random sampling. The results of the study confirm that board characteristics (board composition, diversity, and size) exhibit a statistically significant positive predictive relationship with the performance of non-life insurance firms measured by gross premium written and customer retention. However, CEO/Chairman duality showed a negative relationship with business performance. Non-life insurance companies need to be cognizant of board characteristics in order to improve their performance. Moreover , the findings in this research has practical relevance for the selection process of directors as it highlights the importance of having a sizeable number of board members as well as an appropriate mix of competences and qualifications on the board. Although corporate governance is has been extensively researched, there is limited study in this area from a developing country like Zimbabwe with relatively less developed capital markets. It would be wrong to assume that the findings found in other countries can apply here because the conditions are different.


We suggest the utilization of the modeling field theory (MFT) to deal with the combinatorial complexity problem of language modeling in cognitive robotics. In new simulations we extend our previous MFT model of language to deal with the scaling up of the robotic agent's action repertoire. Simulations are divided into two stages. First agents learn to classify 112 different actions inspired by an alphabet system (the semaphore flag signaling system). In the second stage, agents also learn a lexical item to name each action. At this stage the agents will start to describe the action as a "word" comprised of three letters (consonant - vowel - consonant). The results of the simulations demonstrate that: (i) agents are able to acquire a complex set of actions by building sensorimotor concept-models; (ii) agents are able to learn a lexicon to describe these objects/actions through a process of cultural learning; and (iii) agents learn actions as basic gestures in order to generate composite actions


BACKGROUND
Healthy children's gait support patterns play a critical role in their development and overall well-being. Therefore, in order to develop a correct gait, it is necessary to constantly update knowledge.

OBJECTIVE
To identify differences in gait support among children in neighbouring countries.

METHODS
44 healthy children from Poland and Lithuania (4-11 years old) participated in the study. The spatiotemporal and plantar pressure parameters of 88 neutrally aligned feet were analysed and compared.

RESULTS
Statistically significant differences between stance, single-limb support, double support, swing duration, cadence, and velocity, max. force and pressure in the forefoot, as well as in the times of occurrence of max. forces in all three zones. Defined that age is related (p< 0.05) to cadence (R= 0.32), swing phase (R= 0.53), max. force under the midfoot (R= 0.35) and the heel (R= 0.47), max. pressure under the forefoot (R=-0.52), midfoot (R=-0.63) and heel (R=-0.47).

CONCLUSION
The results can help caregivers, as well as clinicians and researchers, understand how gait mechanics change with development and the growth course of the children of that country. Also, the results are important for the analysis and comparison of children's gait, as control reference data from the same country.


Stellate cells and immune cells are both active participants in the pathogenesis of liver disease. Interactions between these two populations are important determinants of disease outcome. Kupffer cells, neutrophils, and lymphocytes all have the potential to influence stellate cells. They produce a host of humoral mediators, including oxidants, nitric oxide, cytokines, eicosanoids, and proteinases, which can affect stellate cell proliferation, gene expression, and contractility. One important feature of stellate cell-immune cell interactions is that they are bidirectional. Not only do stellate cells receive signals from leukocytes, but they also elaborate signals that target leukocytes. Specifically, stellate cells can promote leukocyte chemotaxis and adherence, and they may also influence leukocyte activation by producing regulatory cytokines. Studies in culture provide an important background for understanding the effects of specific mediators on stellate cells and immune cells. Experiments in vivo offer an important adjunct, but often lead to confounding effects that limit interpretation. Both types of studies are required to develop a better understanding of the complex interplay between stellate cells and leukocytes.


In this paper, a method for reducing computation memory required by Lyapunov' s direct method has been presented. This requirement gets critical when the direct method is applied to transient stability studies of large-scale power systems containing more than 100 generators. Firstly, the system equations, the Lyapunov function, and the linear equations associated with the calculation of the stable equilibrium state, have been formulated in such way that the extreme sparcity of the network admittance matrix could be taken advantage of. Secondly, the programming techniques such as optimally ordered triangular factorization and efficient storage scheme of sparse matrices have been introduced. Lastly, the effectiveness of the method has been investigated with the 107-generator and 363-bus power system represented by the detail generator model including automatic voltage regulators ard power system stabilizers.


Germ-line transcripts of the immunoglobulin (Ig) and T cell receptor loci are thought to be involved in the control of V gene rearrangement by rendering these loci accessible to the recombinases. We have analyzed the transcriptional activity of germ-line K alleles in two bone marrow-derived Abelson-murine leukemia virus transformed pre-B cells: 300-19, a null cell line, and P8 a mu-producing line. We found a novel germ-line JK transcript starting immediately upstream of JK1 and spliced to CK. The potential role of this transcript in the opening of the Ig K locus as well as in the ordered usage of JK segments is discussed.


PRESAGETM (Heuris Pharma LLC, Skillman, NJ) is a three-dimensional polyurethane dosimeter containing a leuco dye that generates a color change when irradiated. The dosimeter is solid and does not require a container to maintain its shape. The dosimeter is transparent before irradiation and the maximum absorbance of the leuco dye occurs at 633 nm which is compatible with the OCT-OPUSTM laser CT scanner (MGS Research, Inc., Madison, CT). The purpose of this study was to investigate the response of PRESAGETM to proton beam radiotherapy.


Research on the mobility and residential patterns of immigrants within receiving countries is abundant. The selective nature of movers and the location of immigrants are issues that have received special attention. Most studies are premised on the supposition that immigrants move only once. However, for a number of immigrants, internal migration is a dynamic process in which more than one movement is involved. This article extends the literature by disaggregating immigrants according to their number of internal migrations. We use data from a new and rich retrospective survey to examine the determinants of migration trajectories and the effects of the location choices of immigrants. We elaborate a set of indicators to assess the importance of the spatial assimilation theory and other main theoretical frameworks. This article concentrates on Spain, a recent main migratory destination in Europe and worldwide. Results reveal the existence of significant differences between one-time and multiple movers. The selective nature of multiple movers is explained in part by the spatial assimilation paradigm. Further results show that both one-time and multiple movers tend to reside outside ethnic concentrations as a result of their mobility experience within Spain. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In this paper we introduce a new general approximation method for set covering problems, based on the combination of randomized rounding of the (near-) optimal solution of the linear programming (LP) relaxation, leading to a partial integer solution and the application of a well-behaved approximation algorithm to complete this solution. If the value of the solution returned by the latter can be bounded in a suitable way, as is the case for the most relevant generalizations of bin packing, the method leads to improved approximation guarantees, along with a proof of tighter integrality gaps for the LP relaxation. For $d$-dimensional vector packing, we obtain a polynomial-time randomized algorithm with asymptotic approximation guarantee arbitrarily close to $\ln d + 1$. For $d=2$, this value is $1.693\dots$; i.e., we break the natural 2 "barrier" for this case. Moreover, for small values of $d$ this is a notable improvement over the previously known $O(\ln d)$ guarantee by Chekuri and Khanna [SIAM J. Comput., 33 (2004), pp. 837-851]. For two-dimensional bin packing with and without rotations, we obtain polynomial-time randomized algorithms with asymptotic approximation guarantee $1.525\dots$, improving upon previous algorithms with asymptotic performance guarantees arbitrarily close to 2 by Jansen and van Stee [On strip packing with rotations, in Proceedings of the 37th Annual ACM Symposium on the Theory of Computing, 2005, pp. 755-761] for the problem with rotations and $1.691\ldots$ by Caprara [Math. Oper. Res., 33 (2008), pp. 203-215] for the problem without rotations. The previously unknown key property used in our proofs follows from a retrospective analysis of the implications of the landmark bin packing approximation scheme by Fernandez de la Vega and Lueker [Combinatorica, 1 (1981), pp. 349-355]. We prove that their approximation scheme is "subset oblivious," which leads to numerous applications.


PURPOSE
To analyze the safety of the remodeling technique compared with the safety of the standard treatment with coils for endovascular treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysms in a large multicenter series of patients as part of the Analysis of Treatment by Endovascular Approach of Nonruptured Aneurysms (ATENA) study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The medical ethics committee approved the ATENA study, and all patients gave informed consent for participation in the study. The ATENA study was performed in 27 institutions. For each patient group, we recorded aneurysm characteristics, rate of adverse events related to the treatment, and patient outcome.

RESULTS
In this study, 547 patients (383 women, 164 men; mean age, 51.0 years +/- 11.1 [standard deviation]; range, 22-83 years) with 572 aneurysms were included; 325 patients were treated with coils alone and 222 patients were treated with the remodeling technique. The overall rate of adverse events related to the treatment-regardless of whether the adverse events led to clinical consequences-was 10.8% (35 of 325) for treatment with coils alone and 11.7% (26 of 222) for the remodeling technique. Thromboembolic events, intraoperative rupture, and device-related problems were encountered in 20 (6.2%), seven (2.2%), and eight (2.5%) of 325 patients in the standard treatment group and in 12 (5.4%), seven (3.2%), and seven (3.2%) of 222 patients in the remodeling technique group, respectively. The morbidity and mortality rates did not differ significantly between groups: 2.2% (seven of 325) and 0.9% (three of 325) in the standard treatment group and 2.3% (five of 222) and 1.4% (three of 222) in the remodeling technique group, respectively.

CONCLUSION
The remodeling technique was associated with a similar rate of adverse events and morbidity and mortality combined compared with the standard treatment with coils, and, thus, the remodeling technique is as safe as the standard treatment with coils.


The genus Texoreddellia (Zygentoma; Nicoletiidae) is an important component of the cave-adapted fauna of Texas and northern Mexico. Specimens are often found in caves in central Texas. They are less common in western Texas and Coahuila, Mexico. We describe a new species, Texoreddellia chihuahuensis n. sp., from Chihuahua, Mexico, greatly expanding the range for the genus. The new species is found in an isolated karstic zone, far removed from the other cave forming areas inhabited by Texoreddellia spp. Phyletic analyses show the species to be the most basal and earliest to diverge within the genus. When compared to a calibrated molecular clock of the 16S rRNA for nicoleiids, its sequence supports a divergence of roughly 20 mya. Such a date is congruent with the geological origins of the Rio Grande and the Pecos River. Structural deformations coupled with long term erosion and downcutting through major river basins may have contributed in forming biological barriers that influenced speciation and isolation, especially between the western and eastern species of Texoreddellia.


A retropharyngeal abscess rarely occurs in the neonate. We report a neonate without apparent trauma who presented with a left neck mass and respiratory distress at the fourth day of age. A lateral neck X-ray revealed a widened retropharyngeal space. A neck computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a space-occupying lesion with air content in the left retropharyngeal area, although direct laryngoscopy, endoscopy, and a pharyngoesophagogram did not demonstrate the presence of any fistula tract. Due to the high index of suspicion for an aero-digestive tract fistula, diluted contrast medium was injected into the cyst while performing a CT-guided aspiration, and opacification was found in the oropharynx, thus a branchial-cleft sinus appeared to be most likely. The follow-up neck CT scan revealed no evidence of any recurrence. We suggest that CT-guided aspiration and cystography are useful for the diagnosis and treatment of some neonatal neck cystic lesions.


Background & objectives: The pandemic of SARS-COV-2 began in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and has caused more than 101 million cases worldwide. Diagnostic technologies possessing sensitivity and specificity equivalent to real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) assays are needed to ramp up testing capacity in most countries. Newer platforms need to be technically less demanding, require minimum equipment and reduce turn-around time for reporting results. The objective of this study was to exploit loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 and evaluate its performance by comparison with rRT-PCR. Methods: Reverse-transcription LAMP (RT-LAMP) assay primers were designed to detect envelop (E) and nucleocapsid (N) genes of SARS-CoV-2. Positive control RNA was prepared by in vitro transcription of E and N genes clones. RT-LAMP amplification reactions were incubated at 65°C for 30 min. Results were recorded visually. RT-LAMP results were evaluated by comparing the results obtained with a commercial rRT-PCR kit. Results: The RT-LAMP assay for E and N genes was carried out in separate tubes. RT-LAMP detected about 40 copies of SARS-CoV-2 RNA per reaction. A total of 253 throat swabs were tested using the RT-LAMP assay. The overall diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the LAMP assay were 98.46 and 100 per cent, respectively, as compared to the rRT-PCR. Interpretation & conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 RT-LAMP assay was designed, standardized and evaluated. The assay showed diagnostic sensitivity and specificity equivalent to rRT-PCR assays. The assay will be useful to increase testing capacity for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the country.


This paper proposes a method to generate diverse robot facial expressions and facial gestures in order to help long-term HRI. First, nine basic dynamics for diverse robot facial expressions are determined based on the dynamics of human facial expressions and principles of animation for even identical emotions. In the second stage, facial actions are added to express facial gestures such as sniffling or wailing loudly corresponding to sadness, laughing aloud or smiling corresponding to happiness, etc. To evaluate the effectiveness of our approach, we compared the facial expressions of the developed robot when the proposed method is used or not. The results of the survey showed that the proposed method can help robots generate more realistic facial expressions.


Pattern analysis tasks on sequences of discrete symbols are important for pattern discovery in bioinformatics, text analysis, speech processing, and handwritten character recognition. Discrete symbols may correspond to amino acids or nucleotides in biological sequence analysis, characters in text analysis, and codebook indices in processing of speech and handwritten character data. The main issues in kernel methods based approaches to pattern analysis tasks on discrete symbol sequences are related to defining a measure of similarity between sequences of discrete symbols, and handling the varying length nature of sequences. We present a review of methods to design dynamic kernels for sequences of discrete symbols. We then present a review of approaches to classification and clustering of sequences of discrete symbols using the dynamic kernel based methods. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-3604-0.ch004


Abstract Objective: To evaluate the provision of free school meals in Trinidad and Tobago in relation to children's social and nutritional status. Design and methods: Cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of 66 government schools, including children in the admissions classes (aged 4 to 7 years) and classes for 'rising nines' (aged 7–10 years). Data included questionnaire details of free school meals and children's social background, and measurements of children's heights, weights and skinfold thicknesses. Results: Of 6731 eligible children, data were analysed for 5688 (85%). There were 2386 (42%) children receiving free meals provided at school. At different schools the proportion of all children receiving free meals ranged from 20% to 100%, P < 0.001. Receipt of free meals was associated with larger family size (one child, 32% received free meals; ≥6 children, 63%), lower paternal educational attainment (primary, 52% free; university, 30%), father's employment (employed, 39% free meals; unemployed <12 months, 59%) as well as maternal education and employment and household amenities. After adjusting for age, sex and ethnic group, children who received free meals were shorter (mean difference in height standard deviation score (SDS) –0.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) –0.17 to –0.06), lighter (body mass index SDS –0.21, –0.28 to –0.14) and thinner (subscapular skinfold SDS –0.13, –0.18 to –0.09). Conclusions: Free school meals were widely available, with some targeting of provision to children with less favourable social and nutritional status. Greater universality would reduce inequity, but more stringent targeting and reduction of school-level variation would increase efficiency.


The circadian rhythmicity of plasma PRL has been studied in some neurological diseases in which hypothalamic involvement or abnormalities of brain neurotransmitters has been postulated. 11 patients with Steinert's myotonic dystrophy, 7 with cluster headache and 10 with Huntington's chorea have been studied. By the mean cosinor procedure, a significant circadian rhythm of plasma PRL has been observed both in Steinert's disease and in cluster headache, whereas a circadian periodicity is not detectable in Huntington's chorea, a degenerative disorder affecting the basal ganglia, the hypothalamus and many other areas of the CNS.


We design a deep-learning algorithm for the discovery and identification of the continuous group of symmetries present in a labeled dataset. We use fully connected neural networks to model the symmetry transformations and the corresponding generators. The constructed loss functions ensure that the applied transformations are symmetries and the corresponding set of generators forms a closed (sub)algebra. Our procedure is validated with several examples illustrating different types of conserved quantities preserved by symmetry. In the process of deriving the full set of symmetries, we analyze the complete subgroup structure of the rotation groups SO(2), SO(3), and SO(4), and of the Lorentz group SO(1,3) . Other examples include squeeze mapping, piecewise discontinuous labels, and SO(10), demonstrating that our method is completely general, with many possible applications in physics and data science. Our study also opens the door for using a machine learning approach in the mathematical study of Lie groups and their properties.


A complex, polygenic resistance to Plum pox virus (PPV) was previously described in a wild peach-related species, Prunus davidiana clone P1908. In the current study, an analysis of quantitative trait loci (QTL) was performed on an F2 population comprising 99 individuals obtained by selfing the F1 individual #40 of an interspecific cross between susceptible nectarine cv. Summergrand and the resistant P. davidiana clone P1908. Six QTL were identified using both parametric and non-parametric methods of detection, individually explaining 5–28% of the phenotypic variance. The total phenotypic variation explained ranged from 29 to 58%. Alignment of the genetic map of the F2 cross with the P. davidiana parent map showed consistency of QTL over generations, with three of the six QTL co-localizing at the 1-LOD interval and another one at the 2-LOD interval. Two of the QTL were mapped onto linkage group one, where resistance to PPV was previously mapped in apricot. Development and mapping of new microsatellite markers linked to candidate genes revealed a striking co-localization of three of the detected QTL with gene copies coding for eukaryotic translation initiation factors eIF4E and eIF(iso)4G. As co-localization of one QTL with candidate gene eIF(iso)4E was previously reported in the F1 population, the results reported here strongly reinforce the idea that components of the eukaryotic translation initiation complex are correlated with resistance to PPV in P. davidiana P1908.


Induction of homosynaptic long term depression (LTD) in the CA1 field of the hippocampus is thought to require activation of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors, an elevation of postsynaptic Ca2+ levels, and a subsequent increase in phosphatase activity. To investigate the spatial and temporal changes in protein phosphatase activity following LTD induction, we determined the in situ phosphorylation state of a pre- (GAP-43/B-50) and postsynaptic (RC3) protein kinase C substrate during N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-dependent LTD in the CA1 field of rat hippocampal slices. We show that LTD is associated with a transient (<30 min) and D-AP5-sensitive reduction in GAP-43/B-50 and RC3 phosphorylation and that LTD is prevented by the phosphatase inhibitors okadaic acid and cyclosporin A. Our data provide strong evidence for a transient increase in pre- and postsynaptic phosphatase activity during LTD. Since the in situ phosphorylation of the calmodulin-binding proteins GAP-43/B-50 and RC3 changes during both LTD and long term potentiation, these proteins may form part of the link between the Ca2+ signal and Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent processes implicated in long term potentiation and LTD.


Ni nanoplatelets were prepared through the reduction reaction with hydrazine by the sonochemistry method. The obtained Ni nanoplatelets are single-phased Ni and have a face-centred cubic crystal structure. The lattice constant is slightly larger than the corresponding bulk value. The Ni nanoplatelets are plate-like in shape and have an average diameter of 100 nm and an average thickness of 10 nm. An oxidation layer is found on the nanoplatelet surface and this serves to prevent further oxidation. The surface oxidation layer leads to the reduction of the saturation magnetization of the Ni nanoplatelets compared with the bulk value. Magnetic hysteresis loops along different directions deviating from the nanoplatelet plane are obviously different, indicating that the easy-axis is in the in-plane direction and the magnetization reversal is incoherent mode. The micromagnetic simulation results for an array composed of 36 Ni nanoplatelets are in agreement with the measured data.


This article deals with an iconic figure in children's literature: the Countess of Segur (1799-1874), whose career began at the age of 56, in the context of the French Second Empire hostile to women's artistic production. At the crossroads of the sociology of literature and gender studies, this article aims to understand the symbolic and material dimensions of the Countess writing practices. This article reveals the structural obstacles encountered by the Countess as well as how she subjectively addressed them. From this case study, the article analyzes the social determinants of a female destiny in literature.


Tularemia is a fatal human disease caused by Francisella tularensis, a Gram-negative encapsulated coccobacillus bacterium. Due to its low infectious dose, ease of aerosolized transmission, and lethal effects, the CDC lists F. tularensis as a Category A pathogen, the highest level for a potential biothreat agent. Previous vaccine studies have been conducted with live attenuated, inactivated, and subunit vaccines, which have achieved partial or full protection from F. tularensis live vaccine strain (LVS) challenge, but no vaccine has been approved for human use. We demonstrate the improved efficacy of a multi-antigen subunit vaccine by using Tobacco Mosaic virus (TMV) as an antigen carrier for the F. tularensis SchuS4 proteins DnaK, OmpA, SucB and Tul4 (DOST). The magnitude and quality of immune responses were compared after mice were immunized by subcutaneous or intranasal routes of administration with a TMV-DOST mixture, with or without four different adjuvants. Immune responses varied in magnitude and isotype profile, by antigen, by route of administration, and by protection in an F. tularensis LVS challenge model of disease. Interestingly, our analysis demonstrates an overwhelming IgG2 response to SucB after intranasal dosing, as well as a robust cellular response, which may account for the improved two-dose survival imparted by the tetravalent vaccine, compared to a previous study that tested efficacy of TMV-DOT. Our study provides evidence that potent humoral, cellular and mucosal immunity can be achieved by optimal antigen combination, delivery, adjuvant and appropriate route of administration, to improve vaccine potency and provide protection from pathogen challenge.


Currently, digital avatars can be created manually using human images as reference. Systems such as Bitmoji are excellent producers of detailed avatar designs, with hundreds of choices for customization. A supervised learning model could be trained to generate avatars automatically, but the hundreds of possible options create difficulty in securing non-noisy data to train a model. As a solution, we train a model to produce avatars from human images using tag-based annotations. This method provides better annotator agreement, leading to less noisy data and higher quality model predictions. Our contribution is an application of tag-based annotation to train a model for avatar face creation. We design tags for 3 different facial facial features offered by Bitmoji, and train a model using tag-based annotation to predict the nose.


This lesson treats of Anselm's argument in the form of a scholastic quaestio. The question of the anselmian argument is then divided in three articles, which are three main issues discussed within the argument's tradition until our-days. The first article asks if Anselm's argument is a direct deduction of existence as a perfection of divine essence. Against a common place about that argument, this lesson's justified answer is: no. The second article asks if Anselm's argument is an a priori argument. Against a big stream of interpretation, this lesson's justified answer is: no. Finally, the third article asks if the anselmian argument offers the possibility of constructing a double argument in favor of divine dualism. Certainly against any Anselm's expectation, this lesson admits very seriously that possibility.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the diagnostic values of GerdQ questionnaire, 24-h pH monitoring and 24-h impedance-pH monitoring for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and to analyze the reflux patterns of Barrett's esophagus (BE), reflux esophagitis (RE) and non-erosive disease (NERD).

METHODS
From June 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010, 205 GERD patients were included according to the Montreal consensus. All were surveyed by a GerdQ questionnaire and underwent 24-h impedance-pH monitoring. The diagnostic sensitivities of GerdQ, 24-h pH-DeM and 24-h IMP-pH were compared and the reflux pattern of BE, RE and NERD analyzed.

RESULTS
A total of 205 GERD patients including 10 BE, 28 RE and 167 NERD were recruited. (1) The diagnostic rate of 24-h IMP-pH was 74.1%. It was significantly higher than that of GerdQ (51.7%) and 24-h pH-DeM (29.2%). (2) The diagnostic sensitivities of GerdQ and 24-h pH-DeM for BE and RE were higher than that for NERD. But there were no significant differences of 24-h IMP-pH for three types of GERD (70.0%, 82.1% and 73.1%). (3) There were positive correlations among the scores of GerdQ, pH-DeM scores and acid scores in IMP-pH (r = 0.242, P = 0.000; r = 0.182, P = 0.009 and r = 0.632, P = 0.000). (4) Added diagnostic values of IMP-pH were 58.5% and 74.5% respectively in patients who would have been missed by GerdQ and pH-DeM. (5) The detection rate and score of acid reflux in RE patients were higher than that of NERD [53.6% vs 23.4%, P < 0.05; 45.6 (35.0 - 67.5) vs 23.1 (9.3 - 35.0), P < 0.05]. But gas score and separate acid reflux were lower than that in NERD [17 (0 - 194) vs 30 (0 - 500), P < 0.05; 57.4% vs 28.6%, P < 0.05].

CONCLUSIONS
Acid reflux plays an important role in RE. The value of GerdQ and 24-h pH-DeM and 24-h IMP-pH monitoring were similar for the diagnosis of RE. Weak acid may be more important for BE and NERD patients than separate acid reflux. And 24-h IMP-pH monitoring has a distinct advantage in diagnosing these two types.


Undoubtedly one of the most significant developments to affect marketing worldwide in the 21st century has been the development of the Internet. As a communication tool the Internet is emerging as a new challenge to mass media advertising. As a result advertising agencies need to readdress their techniques, services and agency structure. Additionally, the shape and form of the traditional advertising agency will need to change along with the adoption and usage of this new interactive media channel. Agencies are now being forced to consider broadening their service offerings to clients. Apart from widening their service offerings, advertising agencies are being driven to invest in building and sustaining valuable client relationships to establish client loyalty, with profit and a healthy bottom-line being the ultimate objectives. Bush, Bush and Harris (1998) point out however, that whilst a growing number of companies are interested in developing an online presence, significant confusion remains about what this new medium will offer stakeholders in the advertising industry. The study undertaken in this thesis explores the relationship between two influential stakeholders in the advertising industry - advertising agencies and their clients. To explore this relationship, the study modified Parasuraman, Zeithamal and Berry's (1988) SERVQUAL model to explore whether gaps exist between agency-client expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. The SERVQUAL model, which was designed for measuring gaps between service expectations and perceptions, was adapted for use in the business-to-business environment (B2B). In the marketing literature there is little evidence of B2B research in relation to agency-client relationships, nor has there been significant scholarly work exploring the effect of the introduction of the Internet as a promotional tool on the agency-client relationship. The research undertaken in this study aims to respond to this gap in the marketing literature by addressing the broad research question: &quotHow will the introduction of the Internet as a promotional tool impact agency-client relationships?" Undertaking a review of agency-client expectations of the value of the Internet will ascertain whether gaps exist between agency and client expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. The discovery of gaps in the agency-client relationship in relation to Internet perceptions will indicate potential opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed by advertising agencies interested in extending their advertising services to embrace the Internet as a promotional tool. A major assumption in this inquiry was that gaps would exist between agency and client perceptions of Internet value. In particular, that advertising agencies would perceive the Internet to be a more valuable promotional tool than their clients. This assumption was informed from mass media and industry press, which indicated that advertising agencies were embracing new advertising creative in website design and strategic marketing activities using interactive media such as newsgroups and email to reach customers. However, the research of Bush et al. (1998) and Ducoffe (1996) suggests that little is known about the value of these Internet-based activities. Such thinking raises questions, such as: are advertisers feeling compelled to jump on the Internet bandwagon because of its popularity, or are businesses' desires to use Internet advertising a manifestation of Internet hype? To begin to answer these questions advertising industry stakeholders need to identify whether gaps do exist between agency and client perceptions of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. The existence of such gaps could lead to tension in the agency-client relationship, which may ultimately mean a loss of client accounts for the advertising agency. Identifying and remedying such gaps could therefore aid in ensuring long-term and profitable working relationships with the agency's clients. To undertake this advertising industry research and respond to the research questions in this study an international advertising agency network, made up of 206 offices in 90 countries and a selection of their clients, were recruited to participate in the study. A two stage survey method approach was adopted because it was a time-efficient and affordable method for collecting detailed information from a dispersed network of professionals. The survey tool was a web-based questionnaire which was firstly submitted to a selection of advertising agencies within the international agency network. On completion of the questionnaire, agencies were asked to provide contact details for their top three billing clients. The second stage of the survey research involved the submission of a client questionnaire to the client contacts provided by the advertising agency. Both questionnaires used a modified SERVQUAL multi-item scale to measure service expectations. Discrete agency and client questions were also included in the respective questionnaires to situate the SERVQUAL analysis within the context of Internet usage, value perceptions and organisational characteristics (e.g. agency size, advertising spend, experience in using interactive media). The major finding of this study is that within the international advertising agency network there were no significant gaps in agency-client expectations concerning the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. Whilst several statistical analyses were undertaken, including bivariate and multivariate techniques such as Pearson's Chi-Square cross-tabulations, independent t-tests and ANOVAs, no statistically significant results are reported. In fact, it was found that advertising agencies and clients have similar expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool. Gaps actually exist in relation to the clients who use the Internet as a promotional tool and agencies who supply Internet advertising services. Many agencies within this international agency network were found to be actively using the Internet, but their Internet advertising functions were not being provided by their traditional advertising agency. Descriptive analyses reported in the findings from this research study indicate that advertising agencies in this international network need to better understand their clients' Internet promotion needs. This will ensure the establishment of healthy, profitable and long-term agency-client relationships in the future. The research findings from this study offer advertising agencies worldwide insight into client expectations of the Internet, as well as other agency services. Furthermore, the findings reported contribute to the current small body of research in relation to B2B relationships in the advertising industry. The groundwork is set for future analysis of agency-client relationships in the advertising industry. In summary, while gaps between agency and client expectations of the value of the Internet as a promotional tool were expected, this research study found that agency and client expectations are quite similar. Analysis did reveal that one important factor, which influences the agency-client relationship, relates to the provision of Internet advertising services. Specifically, when an agency is not responsible for developing and maintaining clients' Internet advertising, these clients are utilising services from external providers of Internet services. These new stakeholders, who provide specialist services (i.e. graphic design houses, Internet advertising specialists and client's in-house Internet services), are changing the competitive environment of advertising services in the industry. Another interesting discovery, specific to the sample population, was that one third of agencies within the study did not provide Internet advertising services to current clients. However, these agencies have clients that use Internet advertising. On the one hand, this finding indicates that opportunities exist for these agencies to extend their service portfolio to embrace Internet advertising. However, it also raises an important question: that is, have these agencies created greater competition by not providing a full service communication portfolio for clients? These factors, and other methodological issues will inform directions for future research to explain the influential role of the Internet within the agency-client relationship in the advertising industry.


The P1B-type heavy metal ATPases (HMAs) are diverse in terms of tissue distribution, subcellular localization, and metal specificity. Functional studies of HMAs have shown that these transporters can be divided into two subgroups based on their metal-substrate specificity: a copper (Cu)/silver (Ag) group and a zinc (Zn)/cobalt (Co)/cadmium (Cd)/lead (Pb) group. Studies on Arabidopsis thaliana and metal hyperaccumulator plants indicate that HMAs play an important role in the translocation or detoxification of Zn and Cd in plants. Rice possesses nine HMA genes, of which OsHMA1–OsHMA3 belong to the Zn/Co/Cd/Pb subgroup. OsHMA2 plays an important role in root-to-shoot translocation of Zn and Cd, and participates in Zn and Cd transport to developing seeds in rice. OsHMA3 transports Cd and plays a role in the sequestration of Cd into vacuoles in root cells. Modification of the expression of these genes might be an effective approach for reducing the Cd concentration in rice grains.


Transthyretin (TTR) is an essential transporter of a thyroid hormone and a holo-retinol binding protein, found abundantly in human plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. In addition, this protein is infamous for its amyloidogenic propensity, causing various amyloidoses in humans, such as senile systemic amyloidosis, familial amyloid polyneuropathy, and familial amyloid cardiomyopathy. It has been known for over two decades that decreased stability of the native tetrameric conformation of TTR is the main cause of these diseases. Yet, mechanistic details on the amyloidogenic transformation of TTR were not clear until recent multidisciplinary investigations on various structural states of TTR. In this review, we discuss recent advancements in the structural understanding of TTR misfolding and amyloidosis processes. Special emphasis has been laid on the observations of novel structural features in various amyloidogenic species of TTR. In addition, proteolysis-induced fragmentation of TTR, a recently proposed mechanism facilitating TTR amyloidosis, has been discussed in light of its structural consequences and relevance to acknowledge the amyloidogenicity of TTR.


1. Erythropoiesis in birds is stimulated by bleeding and environmental hypoxia and is suppressed by induced polycythemia, indicating that the physiologic response is similar to that in mammals. 2. This response is mediated through a humoral factor which stimulates erythropoiesis of birds but not of mammals. Similarly, the erythropoietin of mammals does not stimulate the erythropoiesis of birds. 3. Although both the erythropoiesis stimulating factor of birds and of mammals appear to require an intact protein structure for biological activity, the erythropoietin of birds differs from that of mammals in that it is not destroyed by sialidase and does not lose its activity when reacted with antibody to human urinary erythropoietin.


The sustainable development of the region depends on many factors that affect the economic situation, investment attractiveness and prospects for the development of the social sphere. It is impossible to achieve positive changes in this direction without the widespread use of digital infrastructure, which is a powerful driver for the dynamic growth of the economy. Information and communication technologies can significantly speed up business processes involving interdepartmental interaction within the framework of state information systems. The creation of new information services allows the population to solve many problems remotely, without personal contact with the relevant organizations. The year 2020 has shown the need and the possibility of introducing elements of digitalization in various spheres of life in the shortest possible time, which did not seem to be a priority and important before. The effectiveness and quality of such solutions turned out to be so high that it allowed us to solve the tasks with the highest efficiency, in the shortest possible time and with a significant reduction in the use of human resources. The development of digital technologies creates a comfortable environment for large, medium and small businesses, as well as for solving urgent problems of the region's population.


Research has shown that thickness plays a major role in the retroreflective performance of thermoplastic pavement markings, especially on newly seal coated roadway surfaces. Therefore, accurate thickness measurement by inspectors on striping jobsites is necessary to ensure adequate thickness is being achieved. This report presents the results of a statistical analysis comparing two thickness measurement methods for thermoplastic pavement markings that are commonly used by Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) inspectors. These two methods are: 1) measure thickness of thermoplastic pavement marking sample with a standard laboratory caliper; and 2) measure thickness of thermoplastic pavement marking sample with a needlepoint micrometer. The main difference between the two measurement methods is the accuracy of the instrument. The needlepoint micrometer allows for accurate measurement to the top of the binder material, while it is very difficult to get a measurement to the top of the binder material with a caliper. Therefore, caliper measurements are often made to the top of the drop-on beads. Current TxDOT policy states that thermoplastic thickness be specified and measured to the top of the binder material. However, many TxDOT field inspectors still use calipers to make thickness measurements. Therefore, it was deemed important to quantify the differences in the two measurement methods. Forty-seven thermoplastic pavement marking samples of varying thickness were taken from striping jobsites statewide and used in the analysis. The results show that the caliper measured an average of 20.5 mils (0.0205 in.) and 16.7 mils (0.0167 in.) thicker than the needlepoint micrometer for large and small bead samples, respectively. As such, the researchers recommend that needlepoint micrometers be used for all thermoplastic thickness inspection performed by TxDOT. Further findings and recommendations are made in the report.


Comparative modelling is the modern technique in Bioinformatics. With the increase in information about genome sequences, we need to use computational techniques to handle this huge amount of data. A key goal of structural biology is to predict the three dimensional structure from the sequence, a quest that has not yet been realized. In addition, protein modeling is the only way to obtain structural information if experimental techniques fail. Many proteins are simply too large for NMR analysis and cannot be crystallized for X-ray diffraction. This book describes the antifungal metabolites function, then the homology modeling using modeler, validation of these predicted models using different techniques like Ramachandran plots, Qmean plots. These models are also submitted in protein database and were assigned with accession numbers. Future investigations are also explained in this book which will help in understanding the worth of this technique.


This book represents the summation of Murdoch's work as a philosopher. It surveys the development of Western philosophy, from Plato to Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein, and takes issue with new trends such as structuralism, arguing the case for a moral view in metaphysical argument. Iris Murdoch has written a number of short philosophical works including "The Fire and the Sun" and "Sartre: Romantic Rationalist".


The present application relates to a neutral layer composition. The present application can provide a neutral layer composition capable of forming a neutral layer, which can be effectively applied inthe formation of a polymeric film comprising a vertically aligned self-assembled block copolymer.


Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in open-ended text generation tasks. However, the inherent open-ended nature of these tasks implies that there is always room for improvement in the quality of model responses. To address this challenge, various approaches have been proposed to enhance the performance of LLMs. There has been a growing focus on enabling LLMs to self-improve their response quality, thereby reducing the reliance on extensive human annotation efforts for collecting diverse and high-quality training data. Recently, prompting-based methods have been widely explored among self-improvement methods owing to their effectiveness, efficiency, and convenience. However, those methods usually require explicitly and thoroughly written rubrics as inputs to LLMs. It is expensive and challenging to manually derive and provide all necessary rubrics with a real-world complex goal for improvement (e.g., being more helpful and less harmful). To this end, we propose an ImPlicit Self-ImprovemenT (PIT) framework that implicitly learns the improvement goal from human preference data. PIT only requires preference data that are used to train reward models without extra human efforts. Specifically, we reformulate the training objective of reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) -- instead of maximizing response quality for a given input, we maximize the quality gap of the response conditioned on a reference response. In this way, PIT is implicitly trained with the improvement goal of better aligning with human preferences. Experiments on two real-world datasets and one synthetic dataset show that our method significantly outperforms prompting-based methods.


Intermetallic compound Dy 6 Ni 2.43 Sn 0.5 was prepared by arc melting and annealing at 873 K. It was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, differential thermal analysis, and electron probe microanalysis. The crystal structure of low temperature Dy 6 Ni 2.43 Sn 0.5 phase belongs to the orthorhombic Ho 6 Co 2 Ga structure type (space group Immm , a = 0.93116(1) nm, b = 0.94993(1) nm, c = 0.98947(1) nm). Crystal structure refinements showed the deviation from the ideal 6:2:1 stoichiometry corresponding to the formula Dy 6 Ni 2.43 Sn 0.5 . It exhibits a sequence of magnetic phase transitions; antiferromagnetic ordering sets in at 60 K, while further order-order magnetic phase transitions take place at lower temperatures.