Expression of TET proteins in pluripotent cell types is visualised by epitope tagging of endogenous alleles. Tet1, Tet2, and Tet3 encode DNA demethylases that play critical roles during stem cell differentiation and reprogramming to pluripotency. Although all three genes are transcribed in pluripotent cells, little is known about the expression of the corresponding proteins. Here, we tagged all the endogenous Tet family alleles using CRISPR/Cas9, and characterised TET protein expression in distinct pluripotent cell culture conditions. Whereas TET1 is abundantly expressed in both naïve and primed pluripotent cells, TET2 expression is restricted to the naïve state. Moreover, TET2 is expressed heterogeneously in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) cultured in serum/leukemia inhibitory factor, with expression correlating with naïve pluripotency markers. FACS-sorting of ESCs carrying a Tet2Flag-IRES-EGFP reporter demonstrated that TET2-negative cells have lost the ability to form undifferentiated ESC colonies. We further show that TET2 binds to the transcription factor NANOG. We hypothesize that TET2 and NANOG co-localise on chromatin to regulate enhancers associated with naïve pluripotency genes.


The adipocyte-secreted protein adiponectin (APN) has several protective functions in the peripheral tissues including insulin sensitizing, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects that may benefit neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). In addition, dysregulation of cerebral insulin sensitivities and signaling activities have been implicated in AD. Emerging insights into the mechanistic roles of adiponectin and AD highlight the potential therapeutic effects for AD through insulin signaling.


This work presents a step towards utilizing incrementally-improving symbolic perception knowledge of the robot's surroundings for provably correct reactive control synthesis applied to an autonomous driving problem. Combining abstract models of motion control and information gathering, we show that assume-guarantee specifications (a subclass of Linear Temporal Logic) can be used to define and resolve traffic rules for cautious planning. We propose a novel representation called symbolic refinement tree for perception that captures the incremental knowledge about the environment and embodies the relationships between various symbolic perception inputs. The incremental knowledge is leveraged for synthesizing verified reactive plans for the robot. The case studies demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach in synthesizing control inputs even in case of partially occluded environments.


In order to make commercial and development decisions effectively and more rapidly, new appraisal and testing technologies
are needed to maximize early data collection and subsequent subsurface understanding as quickly as possible. For
Unconventional Gas and Light Tight Oil (UGLTO) projects, some of this critical data can be derived from hydraulic fracture
stimulation and inflow profiling activities.
For UGLTO projects, achieving an optimum hydraulic fracture stimulation is a continuous endeavor beginning as early as
possible; and balancing the cost of completion vs. production performance is critical as the completion/stimulation is a large
cost component of the well and heavily influences production rate/ultimate recovery. The fast paced development and
introduction of new completion technologies requires diagnostic technology that can help us understand stimulation
effectiveness, assess new completion technologies, and evaluate which zones are the most productive.
One emerging technology, fibre optic distributed sensing has the potential of providing key insights during both the
hydraulic fracturing and initial flowback. The passive nature of fibre optic sensors allows intervention-free surveillance,
which makes fibre-optic technology an effective platform for permanent sensing in producing wells. Until recently, the oil &
gas industry fibre optic sensing technology has focused mainly on temperature (DTS) profiling along the wellbore. In 2009, it
was first demonstrated how fibre optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) can also be used for downhole applications. Where
hydraulic fracture diagnostics based on DTS alone in the past sometimes yielded ambiguous results, the combination of both
acoustic and temperature sensing provides a step-change improvement in the ability to perform real-time and post-job
diagnostics & analyses of the stimulation.
The different horizontal well case studies presented in this paper will illustrate how the combination of DTS and DAS has
the potential to enhance the monitoring, assessment, and optimization of openhole and limited entry designed hydraulic
fracture stimulation treatments.


Genetic instability is a common feature in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Centrosome aberrations have been described as a possible cause of aneuploidy in many human tumors. To investigate whether centrosome aberrations correlate with cytogenetic findings in AML, we examined a set of 51 AML samples by using a centrosome-specific antibody to pericentrin. All 51 AML samples analyzed displayed numerical and structural centrosome aberrations (36.0% +/- 16.6%) as compared with peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 21 healthy volunteers (5.2% +/- 2.0%; P <.0001). In comparison to AML samples with normal chromosome count, the extent of numerical and structural centrosome aberrations was higher in samples with numerical chromosome changes (50.5% +/- 14.2% versus 34.3% +/- 12.2%; P <.0001). When the frequency of centrosome aberrations was analyzed within cytogenetically defined risk groups, we found a correlation of the extent of centrosome abnormalities to all 3 risk groups (P =.0015), defined as favorable (22.5% +/- 7.3%), intermediate (35.3% +/- 13.1%), and adverse (50.3% +/- 15.6%). These results indicate that centrosome defects may contribute to the acquisition of chromosome aberrations and thereby to the prognosis in AML.


According to the Taiwan Alzheimer's Disease Association data released in April 2012, the domestic population of dementia increased annually. Especially, the estimated aging population increased from 248.6 million in 2010 to 784.4 million in 2060, i.e., approximately four persons in 100 have dementia. Thus the dementia care for the elderly became a problem. Recently several programs and subsidy cases were initiated to develop various telemedicine services and care information systems. Accordingly, the present study provides a safety monitoring platform for nursing care service with a wearable vest incorporating accelerometer-based fall detection and message notification service for the elderly with dementia to assist managers improve the care quality in Jianan Hospital. Especially, it aggregates the RFID real-time locating service (RTLS) with GIS (geographic information system) to enhance the precision of real-time accidental detection based on a body posture angle (BPA) measure approach by replacing the existing CCTV system for security monitoring of living area in Evergreen Inn. After the safety monitoring platform was deployed, experimental results showed it can improve the care safety for dementia patients in which the number of patient fall decreased 81% than that of the conventional CCTV monitoring system.


A low-cost ( 90%), alcohol soluble surfactant-encapsulated polyoxometalate complex [(C8H17)4N]4[SiW12O40] has been synthesized and utilized as a cathode interlayer (CIL) in polymer solar cells (PSCs). A power conversion efficiency of 10.1% can be obtained for PSCs based on PTB7-Th (poly[[2,6′-4,8-di(5-ethylhexylthienyl)benzo[1,2-b;3,3-b]-dithiophene][3-fluoro-2[(2-ethylhexyl) carbonyl] thieno [3,4-b]-thiophenediyl]]):PC71BM ([6,6]-phenyl C71-butyric acidmethyl ester) due to the incorporation of [(C8H17)4N]4[SiW12O40]. Combined measurements of current density–voltage characteristics, transient photocurrent, charge carrier mobility and capacitance–voltage characteristics demonstrate that [(C8H17)4N]4[SiW12O40] can effectively increase the built-in potential, charge carrier density and mobility and accelerate the charge carrier extraction in PSCs. Most importantly, the mechanism of using [(C8H17)4N]4[SiW12O40] as the CIL is further brought to light by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) of the metal/[(C8H17)4N]4[SiW12O40] interface. The findings suggest that [(C8H17)4N]4[SiW12O40] not only decreased the work function of the metal cathodes but also was n-doped upon contact with the metals, which provide insights into the working mechanism of the CILs simultaneously improving the open circuit voltage, short circuit current and fill factor in the PSCs.


Objective: Computer-aided analysis of laryngoscopy images has potential to add objectivity to subjective evaluations. Automated classification of biomedical images is extremely challenging due to the precision required and the limited amount of annotated data available for training. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have the potential to improve image analysis and have demonstrated good performance in many settings. This study applied machine-learning technologies to laryngoscopy to determine the accuracy of computer recognition of known laryngeal lesions found in patients post-extubation. Methods: This is a proof of concept study that used a convenience sample of transnasal, flexible, distal-chip laryngoscopy images from patients post-extubation in the intensive care unit. After manually annotating images at the pixel-level, we applied a CNN-based method for analysis of granulomas and ulcerations to test potential machine-learning approaches for laryngoscopy analysis. Results: A total of 127 images from 25 patients were manually annotated for presence and shape of these lesions—100 for training, 27 for evaluating the system. There were 193 ulcerations (148 in the training set; 45 in the evaluation set) and 272 granulomas (208 in the training set; 64 in the evaluation set) identified. Time to annotate each image was approximately 3 minutes. Machine-based analysis demonstrated per-pixel sensitivity of 82.0% and 62.8% for granulomas and ulcerations respectively; specificity was 99.0% and 99.6%. Conclusion: This work demonstrates the feasibility of machine learning via CNN-based methods to add objectivity to laryngoscopy analysis, suggesting that CNN may aid in laryngoscopy analysis for other conditions in the future.


Pharmacokinetics of cefepime was studied after single dose intravenous administration at the dose rate of 5 mg/kg body weight in calves. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein at predetermined time intervals before and after drug administration. Serum was harvested and analysed for cefepime concentration by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography. Following intravenous administration the mean serum cefepime level of 44.93 ± 5.47 µg/mL was observed at 0.033 h (2 minutes). The therapeutically effective concentration of cefepime (? 1.00 mg/mL) was maintained in serum up to 12 h. The distribution half-life (t1/2?) and elimination half-life (t1/2?) were 0.09 ± 0.01 h and 3.70 ± 0.16 h, respectively. The mean values of apparent volume of distribution [Vd(area)] and volume of distribution of drug at steady-state (Vd (ss)) were calculated to be 0.57 ± 0.03 and 0.43 ± 0.03 L/kg, respectively. The mean value of total body clearance (ClB) was 1.81 ± 0.16 mL/min/kg. The average values for area under serum drug concentration-time curve (AUC) and area under first moment of curve (AUMC) were 47.73 ± 4.05 µg h/mL and 190.3 ± 19.9 µg h2/mL. The average value of mean residence time (MRT) was 3.95 ± 0.11 h. A satisfactory intravenous dosage regimen would be 4.20 mg/kg body weight as priming dose followed by 3.78 mg/kg repeated at 12 h interval.
Keywords: Cefepime, Calves, Pharmacokinetics, Intravenous


Primordial magnetic fields will generate non-gaussian signals in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) as magnetic stresses and the temperature anisotropy they induce depend quadratically on the magnetic field. We compute a new measure of magnetic non-gaussianity, the CMB trispectrum, on large angular scales, sourced via the Sachs-Wolfe effect. The trispectra induced by magnetic energy density and by magnetic scalar anisotropic stress are found to have typical magnitudes of approximately a few times 10(-29) and 10(-19), respectively. Observational limits on CMB non-gaussianity from WMAP data allow us to conservatively set upper limits of a nG, and plausibly sub-nG, on the present value of the primordial cosmic magnetic field. This represents the tightest limit so far on the strength of primordial magnetic fields, on Mpc scales, and is better than limits from the CMB bispectrum and all modes in the CMB power spectrum. Thus, the CMB trispectrum is a new and more sensitive probe of primordial magnetic fields on large scales.


Author(s): Young, Kevin William | Advisor(s): Lieber, Richard L.; Schmid-Schonbein, Geert | Abstract: Skeletal muscle force production results from interaction between actin and myosin protein filaments in repeating units called sarcomeres. Sarcomere force is transmitted through the basement membrane via protein complexes to a network of connective tissue. Connective tissues transmit force to bone. Typically, muscles are characterized in vitro but this may be insufficient because stresses produced in isolated fibers or muscle bundles differ from whole muscle dynamics. Furthermore, comparisons between normal and diseased muscle states are impossible to make without a proper normalization factor such as sarcomere length. These limitations point to the need for obtaining data in vivo during dynamic movement in the intact muscle. Several tools are available to collect in vivo sarcomere length data, but all fall short of the necessary technical requirements for sarcomere dynamics. To address this need, this dissertation leverages optical communication technology to create new principles and tools to analyze skeletal muscle protein structure.First, this dissertation improves the sensitivity of existing laser diffraction to measure sarcomere length in fibrotic muscle. Due to an increase in connective tissue, fibrotic muscle scatters laser light and buries the needed diffraction pattern that is used to calculate sarcomere length. Polarization gating is used to filter between scattered and diffracted light to recover the signal and enable sarcomere length measurements.Second, this dissertation introduces a fundamentally new method to measure sarcomere structure termed resonant reflection spectroscopy (RRS). RRS addresses the challenge of in vivo sarcomere length data collection by illuminating sarcomeres and collecting signals through a single minimally invasive fiber optic probe. Relationships between signal and sarcomere structure are discussed theoretically and simulated in custom made computer code.Third, proof of concept is demonstrated for RRS measurements of sarcomere length. A new system, based upon optical communication technology, is built and used to measure sarcomere length in an ensemble of muscles. Validation is demonstrated by comparing sarcomere lengths measured by RRS and traditional laser diffraction. Very high agreement between the methods was achieved.Fourth, proof of feasibility is demonstrated for minimally-invasive profiling of sarcomere length in muscle during activity and movement. The proof of feasibility system combined RRS with optical frequency domain interferometry (OFDI) to enable profiling sarcomere lengths across millimeters of tissue. Sarcomere lengths are measured with nanometer resolution during passive strain, twitch and tetanic contractions. Lastly, RRS requires bandwidths and speeds that are inaccessible from commercial laser emitters, and so design rules are developed for swept-pump fiber optic parametric oscillator (FOPO) systems. A FOPO system is demonstrated with 422 nm bandwidth and 14 kHz sweep speed.Taken together, these demonstrations establish a fundamentally new ability to study movement disorders, including patients with cerebral palsy, stroke, Parkinson's disease and muscular dystrophy.


Earth's land surface temperature is considered to be very important for modeling the environment. Following the trend of increasing global population, urban areas are expanding in spatio-temporal domain. In this way it is affecting the urban climate and subsequently the global climate. Thus, scientific understanding is required to conceive the knowledge about interaction between urban land use/land cover and the atmospheric conditions prevailing in that area. In this chapter the land surface temperature estimation and urban heat island detection are perceived from remote sensing perspective. The chapter in this context highlights three major aspects, viz. the theoretical background, description about some of the common thermal sensors and widely used algorithms to retrieve surface temperature from these satellite sensors.


The purpose of this study is to apply empirically the regional income convergence for a set of six Turkic Republics of the former Soviet Union, viz. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. These countries ranked among the least developed centrally planned economies, and there are significant inter-country differences. For example, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, being oil and gas producers, had a significant growth during the last decade, but they are also transition economies in the midst of transforming their economies after decades of centrally controlled economic planning under the Soviet system. The research question analysed here is whether these Turkic Asian economies share a significant convergence experience since independence from the Soviet Union. Two kinds of convergence in these six transition economics are examined: beta convergence of incomes and sigma convergence of institutional convergence. The results demonstrate empirical evidence of beta income convergence, especially in the resource-rich republics of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, while the sigma convergence is uniformly lacking suggesting institutional divergence. Accordingly, beta convergence of incomes is rather superficial as it is not supported by evidence of institutional and policy efficiency captured by sigma convergence.


&NA; The rectus femoris muscles have been used in reconstructive surgery, although their vascular anatomy has not been examined in detail. Thus, using cadavers, we have analyzed the extramuscular vascular pattern of 40 rectus femoris muscles and the intramuscular vascular pattern in 27 of these 40 muscles by means of an injected radiopaque substance and subsequent arteriography. The arterial patterns seen, depending on their relationship to the intramuscular tendon, then were classified as follows: type la (13 muscles), type lb (3 muscles), type 2 (7 muscles), and type 3 (4 muscles). In the type la pattern, most of a muscle belly was supplied by one artery, but this was not seen in the other pattern types. We also observed an average of 2.6 musculocutaneous perforators. Therefore, in planning a free muscle transfer, the anatomic characteristics of the muscle should be kept in mind.


We have studied the effect of vitamin A deficiency on the expression of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha), hepatocyte growth factor, acidic fibroblast growth factor, and TGF-beta 1 after partial hepatectomy of vitamin A-supplemented and vitamin A-deficient rats. In addition, the expressions of epidermal growth factor receptor and retinoic acid receptors alpha (RAR alpha) and beta (RAR beta) were studied. Partial hepatectomy was performed on the animals from the vitamin A-supplemented and -deficient groups at the age of 10 weeks when the weights of the animals on the deficient diet had reached a plateau. Two animals from each group were sacrificed before the operation and also 12, 24, 48, and 72 h and 5 days after the operation. Partial hepatectomy of the vitamin A-deficient rats leads to a focal necrosis of liver followed by a rapid restoration of liver mass. Expression of the TGF-alpha and epidermal growth factor receptor was highly elevated in the livers of deficient animals after partial hepatectomy. In the vitamin A-supplemented animals, the level of epidermal growth factor receptor was down-regulated following partial hepatectomy. Proliferation of oval cells in vitamin A-deficient livers following partial hepatectomy and subsequent increase in 2.1-kilobase alpha-fetoprotein mRNA was observed, suggesting an activation of the stem cell compartment. Another unexpected result was an inverse relationship between RAR beta and RAR alpha expression, the latter becoming the major species after partial hepatectomy in animals on the vitamin A-deficient regimen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This essay reflects on the continuing controversy over the use of eminent domain by local governments to foster economic development and Professor Carol Rose's caution that privatization by itself does not guarantee success in democratic endeavors. The author examines the human element of eminent domain by discussing his experience as a member of a panel sponsored by a citizen's advocacy group in St. Louis where he presented an analysis of the Supreme Court's ruling in Kelo v. City of New London, Connecticut. This essay concludes that Kelo served a useful purpose, reminding people that the appropriate decision maker concerning the use of eminent domain by local governments is the state legislature. Further, the article suggests that rather than an absolute prohibition of eminent domain in the economic development context, state legislatures can and should place prudent limits on its use.


ABSTRACT The Chlorobaculum tepidum genome contains two paralogous genes, CT2256 and CT1232, whose products are members of the FixC dehydrogenase superfamily and have sequence similarity to geranylgeranyl reductases. Each gene was insertionally inactivated, and the resulting mutants were characterized. CT2256 encodes geranylgeranyl reductase (BchP); CT1232 is not involved in bacteriochlorophyll or chlorophyll biosynthesis.


A chiral RP-HPLC method was developed to assay the 5-(p-hydroxyphenyl)-5-Phenylhydantoin (p-HPPH) enantiomers, the major metabolite of antiepileptic drug phenytoin, in rat hepatic microsomes. A 50 mm FLC-C8 column was used as the analytical column, beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) as chiral mobile phase additive and phenobarbital as the internal standard. The detection wavelength was 250 nm. The linear range of p-HPPH enantiomers was 0.5-110 mg/L. The detection limit was 5 ng (S/N = 3). The recoveries of S- and R-p-HPPH were 93.6% +/- 2.8% and 94.7% +/- 1.8% respectively. The RSD within day and between days were less than 2%. The concentration of beta-CD played an important role in separating chiral enantiomers. When the concentration of beta-CD was between 8.8 and 13.2 mmol/L the resolution of p-HPPH enantiomers had the largest value Rs = -1.1. In this work, 8.8 mmol/L beta-CD solution (4 g beta-CD, 6 g urea, and 1.5 g ammonium acetate in 400 mL water) was selected in considering some factors such as column efficiency, solubility of beta-CD etc. Urea can increase the solubility of beta-CD. When urea: beta-CD = 1:1-1.5:1 (g/g), the solubilization of beta-CD was significant. Methanol concentration in mobile phase affected retention time, resolution of p-HPPH enantiomers and solubility of beta-CD.


This study aims to investigate the implementation of Global Positioning System (GPS) among the cement transporters and its impact to business performance. Due to the lack of knowledge and awareness, the use of GPS technology was limited to monitor the speed limit, navigation and update the delivery location. Whereas, the actual capability of GPS technology can be extended towards Planning and Scheduling, Geo-fencing, Fleet management and maintenance, Safety management, Reporting, Auto alert as well as interface to other MRP software to support the business performance. The research employed a mixed method of a qualitative and quantitative to gather the primary data. In employing this mix method, the research was split into two phases. Phase 1 was started with the qualitative method which involves in-depth interview with selected transporters to investigate the issue and the resulting themes. Saturation model was employed to determine the actual number of respondents required in qualitative method. The result of Phase 1 was then used to formulate a questionnaire for large survey among the cement transporters. In order to comply with the research ethics, the research selected the respondents for this study from those who are having knowledge in the implementation of GPS in their organizations which includes the owner of the organization or the operation manager in the organization. The findings from this research provided adequate evidence of limited usage of GPS application among the cement transporters due to the lack of knowledge in utilizing GPS potential. This study also found that restriction in cost has also become the obstacle to explore the potential benefit of GPS technology. This preliminary study has set a foundation into future research in understanding GPS technology potential to a greater extent in the organization.


A survey canvassing self-reported workplace stress levels and personal/workplace demographics was conducted among a sample of Australian nurses. Stress ratings and demographics were cross-sectionally analysed. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of survey responses suggest that excessive workload is the likely dominant predictor of workplace stress. Personal and workplace demographics are shown to be relatively unimportant in comparison with workload-related factors. Regular exercise habit was shown to be correlated with reduced workplace stress ratings. The findings support a previously unreported view that nurses are unlikely to bring their personal stress with them to the workplace--rather the workload characteristics of the workplace itself are the principle stress determinants.


Library is one of the facilities which provides information, knowledge resource, and acts as an academic helper for readers to get the information. The huge number of books which library has, usually make readers find the books with difficulty. Universitas Multimedia Nusantara uses the Senayan Library Management System (SLiMS) as the library catalogue. SLiMS has many features which help readers, but there is still no recommendation feature to help the readers finding the books which are relevant to the specific book that readers choose. The application has been developed using Vector Space Model to represent the document in vector model. The recommendation in this application is based on the similarity of the books description. Based on the testing phase using one-language sample of the relevant books, the F-Measure value gained is 55% using 0.1 as cosine similarity threshold. The books description and variety of languages affect the F-Measure value gained.
Index Terms—Book Recommendation, Porter Stemmer, SLiMS Universitas Multimedia Nusantara, TF-IDF, Vector Space Model


Abstract The protected site Dealurile Clujului-Est is located in the Transylvanian Depression subunit known as Somes Plateau, in the northern part of Cluj-Napoca. The presence of a plateau units characterized by an alternation of valley corridors and interfluves was able to dictate the existence of a variety of types of landscapes. Along with relief, which is characterized by altitude, slope, exposition and dynamic geomorphologic processes, the land use has been taken into account. The last three centuries Dealurile Clujului suffered a considerable human impact, despite seeming insignificant anthropogenic pressures and villages with low prevalence. Therefore we can say that the natural landscapes (characterized by state of climax or biostazie) are often insignificant compared to the spatial expansion of the territorial unit analyzed. The landscape is characterized by a rural lifestyle, clearly expressed, with forest vegetation positioned at higher parts of that territory, followed by traditional crops, the vast pasture and meadow, with the dominant category of small and very small villages, located along the valleys and the river origins. By applying the criteria mentioned and GIS techniques, we distinguished 14 types of landscapes and related subtypes, both natural and built.


Self-supervised video denoising has seen decent progress through the use of blind spot networks. However, under their blind spot constraints, previous self-supervised video denoising methods suffer from significant information loss and texture destruction in either the whole reference frame or neighbor frames, due to their inadequate consideration of the receptive field. Moreover, the limited number of available neighbor frames in previous methods leads to the discarding of distant temporal information. Nonetheless, simply adopting existing recurrent frameworks does not work, since they easily break the constraints on the receptive field imposed by self-supervision. In this paper, we propose RDRF for selfsupervised video denoising, which not only fully exploits both the reference and neighbor frames with a denser receptive field, but also better leverages the temporal information from both local and distant neighbor features. First, towards a comprehensive utilization of information from both reference and neighbor frames, RDRF realizes a denser receptive field by taking more neighbor pixels along the spatial and temporal dimensions. Second, it features a self-supervised recurrent video denoising framework, which concurrently integrates distant and near-neighbor temporal features. This enables long-term bidirectional information aggregation, while mitigating error accumulation in the plain recurrent framework. Our method exhibits superior performance on both synthetic and real video denoising datasets. Codes will be available at https://github.com/Wang-XIaoDingdd/RDRF.


The article aims to evaluate the existence of a coevolution between internationalization strategies and innovative performance within information and communication technology (ICT) companies located in the northeast of Brazil. In order to achieve this objective, a conceptual model was derived from the literature review contemplating the vision that internationalization and innovation within companies happen in an evolutionary and dynamic way. Methodologically, the study is characterized by being qualitative, using the technique of multiple cases. The studied companies (IVIA, IFACTORY, CPQI and GREENMILE) presented changes in both internal and external competences. Thus, a main conclusion has been that the studied companies presented a process of coevolution between innovation and internationalization strategies. In terms of business strategies, it can be verified that the presence of these two processes, guarantees the development and growth of companies in the global market.


Computational resource discovery is of great importance in grid environments. Existing approaches do not consider the characteristics of application resource requirements. We propose, Resource Category Tree (RCT), which organizes computational resources based on their characteristics represented by primary attributes (PA). RCT adopts a structure of AVL tree, with each node representing a specific range of PA values. Though RCT adopts a hierarchical structure, it does not require nodes in higher levels maintain more information than those in lower levels, which makes RCT highly scalable. RCT is featured by self-organization, load-aware self-adaptation and fault tolerance. Based on RCT, commonly used queries, such as range queries and multi-attribute queries, are well supported. We conduct performance evaluations through comprehensive simulations.


Purpose: To investigate the expression of α-Gal or unidentified non-Gal antigens in pig corneal endothelial cells and keratocytes, we performed the qualitative and quantitative analysis by using mass spectrometry. Methods: The N-glycans from common adult pig corneal endothelial cells and keratocytes cultured in vitro were directly analyzed by using mass spectrometric approaches. In addition, immunochemical staining was added to confirm the non-Gal antigen expression in pig corneal cells. Results: Totally, 34 of the sialylated N-glycans from pig corneal endothelial cells and 27 from pig keratocytes were identified and observed to contain nonhuman sialic acid, NeuGc as well as NeuAc. In addition, we were able to detect 25 of α-galactosylated N-glycan structures (22.2% of total) from the pig corneal endothelial cells and 18 of that (17.5% of total) from the pig keratocytes by using mass spectrometric approaches. On immunofluorescent staining, the expression of sialylated glycans was also observed. Conclusions: As well as α-Gal epitopes, several promising non-Gal antigens were widely expressed on both pig corneal endothelial cells and keratocytes. The detailed structural information of the α-Gal and non-Gal epitopes would be a tremendous value to develop a new strategy for the successful corneal xenotransplantation in future.


Cell–matrix and cell–cell adhesion are recognized physiological determinants of cell growth and survival. In epithelial and endothelial cell systems, oncogenic transformation has in several cases been shown to confer resistance to apoptosis upon depriving cells of substrate adhesion. We examined the effects of oncogenic transformation in adherent versus adhesion- deprived primary embryonic fibroblasts. Whereas untransformed early passage fibroblasts undergo cell cycle arrest, their Myc/Ras- or E1A/Ras-transformed counterparts rapidly enter apoptosis when placed into suspension. This phenomenon also occurs upon incubation with a soluble, RGD-containing integrin ligand and is blocked by a peptide antagonist to ICE family proteases or by aggregation of cells plated at high density. Loss of wild-type p53 modulates the kinetics but does not abrogate this death pathway. Transformation with activated Src rather than Ras rendered fibroblasts selectively resistant to adhesion-dependent apoptosis, an effect likely related to Src's role in integrin signaling, while simultaneously sensitizing the cells to radiation-induced apoptosis. Thus cell adhesion events regulate transformation-selective apoptosis in fibroblasts and provide potentially important targets for understanding and interfering with tumor cell viability.


Men's risk behavior during a 3-month period prior to parole revocation was assessed. Frequent alcohol use was higher among men who had more children, were homeless, or had a history of alcohol and other drug abuse treatment. The use of drugs was greater among men who were younger or had a history of sexually transmitted infection (STI). The use of hard drugs was higher among men who had history of injection drug use. Unprotected vaginal or anal sex was increased among men who were younger, single, or had a history of STIs. Sex with a high-risk partner was greater among men who were older, used hard drugs, or had a history of STIs. Findings highlight the importance of developing risk-reduction programs for men on parole.


Aims No direct method has yet been developed to measure real-time plasma nitric oxide (NO) concentration in humans. In this study, we evaluated a new method for measuring plasma NO concentration in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and in normal controls using a catheter-type sensor. Methods and results We simultaneously measured average peak velocity (APV) of the coronary artery flow and change in plasma NO concentration using the NO sensor placed in the great cardiac vein of 10 DCM patients and 10 control subjects. These evaluations were performed in response to sequential intracoronary infusions of acetylcholine (ACh, 10−8–10−6 M), NG-monomethyl-l-arginine (l-NMMA, 200 µmol) and co-infusion of ACh and l-NMMA. The change in plasma NO concentration in DCM patients was significantly impaired compared with the control group (P < 0.01). Pretreatment with l-NMMA completely suppressed the ACh-induced NO concentration, whereas APV in the left anterior descending coronary artery was partially suppressed in both groups. Plasma NO concentration reached its peak value later than the maximum APV following the injection of ACh (10−6 M) in both groups. Conclusion The catheter-type NO sensor could be applied to clinically evaluate the endothelial function (i.e. reduced endothelium-derived NO bioavailability) in patients with cardiovascular diseases.


Abstract : The report presents theoretical considerations on the adsorption and friction behavior of soils under high vacuum and extreme temperature conditions. It includes an extensive literature survey, particularly in the fields of surface chemistry and physics, adsorption, and friction. The importance of using clean, reproducible surfaces for surface studies is demonstrated. The necessity of clean ultrahigh vacuum test conditions for producing and maintaining clean surfaces is emphasized. The relationship between atomic forces and surface energy and the friction and adhesion between solid surfaces is discussed. A theoretical relationship between adsorption energy and the temperature and pressure required to remove adsorbed layers is derived. The frictional behavior of quartz is considered in detail. It is concluded that significant increases in the coefficient of friction, and thereby the shear strength, of particular mineral systems will result if adsorbed contaminants are removed. However, in the absence of a mechanism for producing a large contact area, significant cohesion will not develop.


Objective: The objective of this study was to analyse the dispensing patterns of vitamins (Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) group A11) over a one-year period in a group of community pharmacies in South Africa. Design and setting: A retrospective drug utilisation study was conducted on community pharmacy electronic dispensing records in South Africa recorded in 2013. Outcome measures: All products for ATC subgroup A11 were extracted and analysed. Results: A total of 164 233 vitamin products were dispensed to 84 805 patients (62.64% female patients). Males received on average 2.09 (SD = 2.63) vitamin products per year, compared to 1.84 (SD = 2.13) products for females. Ergocalciferol (A11CC01) was the most often dispensed (37.48% of all vitamin products), followed by plain Vitamin B-complex products (A11EA00) accounting for 32.77%. Ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) is only available on prescription (50 000 IU tablets or 50 000 IU/ml oily drops) in South Africa. Tablets were the preferred dosage form (62.84% of products). Most injections were for Vitamin B1 or Vitamin B combination products. Conclusion: Ergocalciferol and injectable vitamins have recently been rescheduled to prescription-only; it is probable that this has impacted on the usage of these products. It is important to monitor future vitamin supplementation behaviour in community pharmacies since pharmacies are selling many of these products and pharmacists can, by counselling patients, determine the reasons for the use of these products. Furthermore, should dietitians and nutritionists choose to work with this captive audience, supplementation patterns can be monitored to develop and implement appropriate awareness campaigns. Further studies to explore these baseline results are recommended.


Buchi Emecheta (1944–2017) was a Nigerian writer, born in Lagos to a seamstress mother and a railway worker father. Emecheta's early ambition was to get an education, like her brother Adolphus. Orphaned early in life, a scholarship to a coveted high school gave her the opportunity she wanted. Married at sixteen to Sylvester Onwordi, she joined him in London in 1962. Their marriage soon ended because of Onwordi's physical and mental abuse. By the age of twenty two, she was a single mother with five children. Her first novel, In the Ditch, published in 1972, chronicled the struggles of Adah, who represented Emecheta's own alter ego, in raising children in the slums of London. Overall, Emecheta published over twenty books, which frequently centered on a black woman's experience. Many of her novels revisit the same themes and draw inspiration from her life. There is perhaps no other African writer in whose works their own biography is centered as much as it is in hers. Her work illuminates her life while her life informs her work. Her life and fiction feed one another to the extent that her novels are often referred to as "fictionalized" accounts of her life. Although Emecheta was a symbol of the modern African woman, she rejected being called a feminist. If she were to be called a feminist, it had to be "feminist with a small letter 'f'." A term she would have accepted for herself as well as for her strong female characters would have been Obioma Nnaemeka's "nego-feminism," a feminism of Africa, of negotiation, and a no ego feminism.


We deal in this paper with the concept of genetic regulation network. The genes expression observed through the bio-array imaging allows the geneticist to obtain the intergenic interaction matrix W of the network. The interaction graph G associated to W presents in general interesting features like connected components, gardens of Eden, positive and negative circuits (or loops), and minimal components having 1 positive and 1 negative loop called regulons. Depending on parameters values like the connectivity coefficient K(W) and the mean inhibition weight I( W), the genetic regulation network can present several dynamical behaviours (fixed configuration, limit cycle of configurations) called attractors, when the observation time increases. We give some examples of such genetic regulation networks and analyse their dynamical properties and their biological


The abundance of small enterprises in developing countries has led to debates regarding the role that of entrepreneurial skill in business performance. Analyses of the skills and characteristics important for success can inform entrepreneurship training programs or educational curricula designed to increase the number of successful entrepreneurs. We addressed these issues in the context of Indonesia, a low-middle-income country in which almost half of workers are self-employed. After developing a conceptual framework linking fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and educational attainment, we estimated the effect of these different types of intelligence on the profit and value of non-farm-household businesses. We found that fluid intelligence had sizeable and positive returns on business. On the other hand, crystallized intelligence had a positive and large effect only in sectors that required intense concentration or computers. Some heterogeneous effects regarding business size were also found. Our results were robust when we controlled for possible selection into non- farm entrepreneurship.


Motivated by previous success of using non-parametric methods to recognize objects, e.g., NBNN [2], we extend it to recognize actions using skeletons. Each 3D action is presented by a sequence of 3D poses. Similar to NBNN, our proposed Spatio-Temporal-NBNN applies stage-to-class distance to classify actions. However, ST-NBNN takes the spatio-temporal structure of 3D actions into consideration and relaxes the Naive Bayes assumption of NBNN. Specifically, ST-NBNN adopts bilinear classifiers [19] to identify both key temporal stages as well as spatial joints for action classification. Although only using a linear classifier, experiments on three benchmark datasets show that by combining the strength of both non-parametric and parametric models, ST-NBNN can achieve competitive performance compared with state-of-the-art results using sophisticated models such as deep learning. Moreover, by identifying key skeleton joints and temporal stages for each action class, our ST-NBNN can capture the essential spatio-temporal patterns that play key roles of recognizing actions, which is not always achievable by using end-to-end models.


In the United States, auditors are required to examine clients' financial statements in compliance with generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) and provide an audit opinion to assure investors that the statements are free of material misstatements. Since investors must trust the auditor in order for them to gain assurance from the audit report, we reason based on prior literature that the current process of regulation is based on a trust framework. However, given the current crisis in confidence resulting from recent accounting scandals, we argue that an institutional system based on trust must be rethought. In this paper, we propose an alternative framework for auditing that would meet investors' needs to reduce or even eliminate information risk while transforming this trust framework. In this model, the need for a traditional financial statement audit leading to an audit opinion would be eliminated since regulators could require that public companies purchase insurance from insurance companies to indemnify their financial statements against material misstatement. The insurance company would hire an auditor to act as an underwriter to assess the risk of material misstatements in the financial statements. The auditor, in the capacity of underwriter, would assess the risk to determine the amount of the insurance coverage and premium. We believe that the proposed model will allow the SEC and the stock markets to more effectively accomplish their goal of eliminating or significantly reducing investors' information risk, while restoring investors' confidence and trust in financial reporting.


Managing decisions of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) can be challenging because of different clinical presentations and prognosis. A 31-year-old woman with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1, including a suspicious pNET, was assessed with Ga-DOTATOC and F-FDG PET. A high Ga-DOTATOC uptake was visualized in the entire pNET, whereas a high F-FDG PET uptake was present only in the upper part of the tumor. After surgery, pathology confirmed the pNET with a double component: an upper grade 2 with a Ki67 of 11% with the high F-FDG PET uptake, and a lower grade 1 with a Ki67 of 2%. Combined Ga-DOTATOC/F-FDG PET predicts the grade in heterogeneous pNETs.


To evaluate the value of left ventricular radial strain (LVRS) and left ventricular circumferential strain (LVCS) in discriminating between hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and hypertensive heart disease (HHD) by using cardiac magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT). HCM patients presented higher values of LVRS and LVCS when compared with HHD patients. And both LVRS and LVCS correlated obviously with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in HCM patients. Furthermore, the combination of strain with LGE can significantly improve the diagnostic ability for differentiation HCM from HHD (AUC: 0.86; sensitivity: 86.9 %; specificity: 76.3 %).


In the existing reinforcement learning (RL)-based neural architecture search (NAS) methods for a generative adversarial network (GAN), both the generator and the discriminator architecture are usually treated as the search objects. In this article, we take a different perspective to propose an approach by treating the generator as the search objective and the discriminator as the judge to evaluate the performance of the generator architecture. Consequently, we can convert this NAS problem to a GAN-style problem, similar to using a controller to generate sequential data via reinforcement learning in a sequence GAN, except that the controller in our methods generates serialized data information of architecture. Furthermore, we adopt an RL-based distributed search method to update the controller parameters $\theta$. Generally, the reward value is calculated after the whole architecture searched, but as another novelty in this article, we employ the reward shaping method to judge the intermediate reward and assign it to every cell in the architecture to encourage the diversity and the integrity of all cells. The main contribution of this article is to provide a novel performance estimation mechanism, which could speed up the efficiency of architecture search, and improve the searching results with specific supplementary strategies. Crucially, this estimation mechanism can be applied to most RL-based NAS methods for the GAN. The experiments demonstrate that our methods achieve satisfactory results against our design objectives.


The chief reserve substance in Drosophila is glycogen. This forms dense deposits in the cells of the fat body and the haltere knobs. It is distributed throughout the indirect flight muscles as minute granules in the meshwork of sarcoplasm that fills the space between the fibrils and the sarcosomes. Somewhat larger masses lie along the surface of the fibre bundles and around their insertions. There is a large deposit in the proventriculus and small amounts in the cells of the mid-gut. The visible deposits of fat are much smaller and are confined to the fat body and the mid-gut cells. During starvation, glycogen and fat are consumed concurrently. At the time of death (2-3 days) glycogen has disappeared completely, save in the thoracic muscles; only minute droplets of fat remain in the fat body. In the insect which has flown to exhaustion (4-5 hr. in the mature fly) there is no apparent reduction in the stored fat. Glycogen is greatly reduced in all the deposits, but has disappeared completely only in the flight muscles and the proventriculus. 'Exhaustion' of the flying insect supervenes when the glycogen can no longer be mobilized rapidly enough to meet the metabolic demands of the flight muscles. Flight can be resumed for a brief period after the exhausted fly has rested; and the duration of flight increases with the duration of rest. By observing the duration of flight after giving a measured quantity of sugar to the exhausted insect it is shown that 1 µg. of glucose will maintain D. melanogaster in flight for an average of 6.3 min. The efficiency of substances as sources of energy for flight has been compared by giving them to the exhausted fly. Glucose will restore the capacity for continuous flight within 30-45 sec. of the commencement of feeding. Fructose, maltose, sucrose, etc., require a little longer. Galactose, xylose, etc., will allow repeated brief flights but will not support uninterrupted flight. Mannitol, glycerol, etc., merely increase the duration of flight after a standard period of rest. Lactose, sorbose, etc., have no effect. Glycine and alanine actually diminish the capacity for flight. It is suggested that the apparent failure of fats, etc., to support flight in Drosophila is due to the comparatively slow rate of their metabolism. It is suggested that the deposits of glycogen in the haltere knob may serve to increase the inertia of the haltere and so its efficiency as a gyroscopic sense organ.


An online system of the underground neutrino detector, Super-Kamiokande is scheduled to be upgraded in 2008 together with front-end electronics. This detector consists of 50 000 tons of pure water equipped with about 13 000 photo-multipliers (PMTs) to detect Cherenkov light. The new online system is required to accept the dataflow of up to 800 MB/s from the front-end electronics and process them for the offline analysis. We will utilize a Gigabit Ethernet network and parallel data processing to handle this large amount of flow. In the new data acquisition scheme, we will not use a hardware event-trigger but read out every hit data from the front-end electronics and process them by the online farm. Therefore, there is no threshold of the number of PMT hits and the detector will become more sensitive to important cosmic-ray events such as relic neutrino from supernova and low energy solar neutrino. In addition to that, a dead-timeless system is desirable for the continuous measurement 365 days a year. In this paper, the detailed design of the upgraded online system and testing activities using prototypes will be described.


Conditions related to the elevated levels of cathepsin B [184.108.40.206], cathepsin H [126.96.36.199] and cathepsin L [188.8.131.52] in various cancerous, rheumatoid arthritis and tissue degenerative disorders motivate the design, synthesis and evaluation of compounds as cathepsin B, H and L inhibitors. In the present work we report the synthesis and analysis of 36 different compounds belonging to 4 related series as cathepsin B, H and L inhibitors. After a preliminary screening of the synthesized compounds as inhibitors to the hydrolysis of endogenous protein substrates at pH 5.0, their inhibitory effects were evaluated on cathepsins B, H and L. Kinetic studies were carried out to determine the inhibition constants. It was found that the compounds belonging to different classes affected the enzyme activity significantly, and the activity was greatly affected by the presence of substituents. Maximum inhibition was caused by 2b and 2g in the cases of cathepsin B and cathepsin L, and 4d in the case of cathepsin H, where Ki values of the order of 10−8 M, 10−9 M and 10−6 M, respectively, were obtained. The results are correlated with the docking results.


Aim: Sarcopenia, defined as the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass, has recently been considered to involve a decline in muscle strength. It has been reported that the age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass leads to a decline in daily living activities of elderly subjects, which leads to difficulties in maintaining their quality of life. It has also been reported that if nutrient intake is unbalanced, muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance declines, and therefore it is important to maintain chewing ability to keep a balanced nutrient intake. The relationship between chewing ability and sarcopenia has not been previously reported. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between chewing ability and sarcopenia in addition to known sarcopenia related factors. Methods: We examined 752 subjects aged from 65 to 85 years old (average 73.0 ± 5.1), who lived in the Itabashi ward of Tokyo, and attended a comprehensive geriatric health examination for early detection and early care of geriatric syndrome. Our research was designed to examine the prevalence of elderly subjects with sarcopenia, as well as the relationship between chewing ability and sarcopenia. We performed regression analysis


OBJECTIVE
To determine the relationship between healthy lifestyle behaviours of mothers and obesity in their pre-school children.

METHODS
The cross-sectional study was performed in a district of Istanbul, Turkey, between April and June 2011, and comprised children aged 4-6 years attending public pre-schools and their mothers.. Data was obtained using a questionnaire and Healthy Lifestyle Behaviours Scale-II. Number Cruncher Statistical System 2007 was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS
Of the 531 children in the study, 246(46.3%) were girls. Overall prevalence of overweight was 136(25.6%), obesity 77(14.5%)Overweight mothers were 126(23.7%), and obese mothers were 31(5.8%). The mothers of obese children obtained lower scores in the physical activity (p<0.05) and nutrition (p=0.001) subscales, and their total score was also lower (p<0.05)..

CONCLUSIONS
Lifestyle behaviours of mothers, especially with respect to nutrition and physical activity, may influence obesity among preschool children. Strategies should be developed to improve the physical activity and eating habits of mothers.


Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) is an important regulator of gene expression in cells of the immune system. One such gene, tumor necrosis factor, is induced by bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in macrophages, and this induction has been shown to be mediated in part by NF-kappa B activation in murine macrophages. In this study, immunochemical analysis was used to follow LPS activation of the NF-kappa B 50-kDa subunit in the RAW264 macrophage-like cell line. The recombinant NF-kappa B 50-kDa subunit was used as an immunogen to produce a rabbit antiserum, which was then affinity-purified using a portion of the NF-kappa B 50-kDa subunit that does not have homology to other members of the c-rel gene family. Untreated macrophages had little NF-kappa B in the nucleus as detected by Western immunoblotting. The protein was predominantly localized in the cytoplasmic fraction. Interestingly, NF-kappa B was found as the 50-kDa mature protein and 105-kDa precursor. After LPS treatment, there was a rapid nuclear translocation of NF-kappa B as detected by immunoblot analysis. There was also a rapid decrease in the amount of the cytoplasmic 105-kDa protein. This may indicate that the 105-kDa protein is a reservoir for the 50-kDa protein and that one of the actions of LPS is to increase the rate of 105-kDa precursor processing.


This study aims at presenting the ground-structure interaction for plates involved in the tramway railroad. This analytical modelling allows us to take into account the vibration of several finite plates lying on a stratified ground. The plates interact with each other via the ground. The ground behaviour, in response to the plate vibration, is described thanks to Navier equations, the one of the flexural plates with the Kirchhoff-Loves equation. The plate vibrations are decomposed in modal series of the flexural plate modes. The ground vibrational field is classically decomposed with the Helmholtz potentials and transformed in the Fourier domain. This leads to the calculation of ground cross-modal impedances representing the influence of the underlying ground on each plate mode. Moreover since several plates are considered, these impedances take into account the interaction between the plates due to the propagation in the underlying ground. This allows us to explain the vibrational plate behaviour of a single plate and its effects on the ground free surface at a characteristic distance and to compare with the case where a companion plate is lying parallel and close to the first. Moreover, this modelling allows us to calculate the stress field under both plates and especially below the second one representing building foundations. The calculation of the stress field under the plates can be useful for who wants to proceed to vibration calculation in buildings, using finit element modelling or SEA method (Statistical Energy Analysis), since mechanical injected powers can be easily deduced.


We propose to augment MRXCAT with left-ventricular anatomies and function, representing realistic population statistics, to enable design and validation of CMR imaging and inference approaches. A variational autoencoder is deployed to identify parametric anatomical representations from a cohort of healthy and diseased anatomies to allow for the generation of new synthetic anatomies. Cardiac function is simulated using a biophysical model also incorporating local tissue defects. The resulting ventricular tissue masks are enriched with background information from XCAT. Synthetic MR images are generated using MRXCAT, making available paired data of CMR images and (patho)physiological parameters including ground-truth ventricular strains and displacements.


The paper discusses evidence that common assumptions in the analysis of hydrological time series (homogeneous variability in random fluctuations about a constant mean value) may not be appropriate for some South American drainage basins. Relatively rapid changes have occurred, and are occurring, as a consequence of replacing mature forest by short crops and urban development. Some research claims to have detected non-linear trends in streamflow in rivers draining the south-eastern part of the sub-continent, together with decadal fluctuations and interannual peaks at ENSO timescales. The paper discusses the implications of such changes for hydrological practices now in widespread and largely unquestioned use.


We report 2 cases of successful angioplasty of anomalous right coronary arteries originating above the sinotubular line at the junction of the right and left sinus of Valsalva. The use of Amplatz left guiding catheters provided optimal support for performing angioplasty.


There are two main theories as to how humans reason deductively. Mental logic theory states that humans reason through the application of formal reasoning schemas of the kind encountered in formal logic. Mental model theory states that humans reason through the construction, combination, and elimination of models compatible with the given information, and inspection of the models that remain. I propose that there exists a natural compromise between these two competing theories of reasoning.


Background In patients with non‐ST‐segment elevation acute coronary syndromes, inhibition of platelet aggregation (IPA) with a potent P2Y12 inhibitor, ticagrelor, was inferior to tirofiban infusion at 2 hours, indicating that glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors are still needed. Ticagrelor and eptifibatide bolus only may maximally inhibit platelet aggregation and decrease bleeding, but IPA with ticagrelor and eptifibatide bolus versus 2‐hour infusion is unknown. Methods and Results A total of 70 P2Y12‐naïve patients, with high‐risk non‐ST‐segment elevation acute coronary syndromes, were randomized to ticagrelor and eptifibatide bolus (group 1) versus ticagrelor and eptifibatide bolus with 2‐hour infusion (group 2). Levels of IPA with ADP, thrombin receptor‐activating peptide, collagen, and high on‐treatment platelet reactivity were measured by light transmission aggregometry at baseline and at 2, 6, and 24 hours after percutaneous coronary intervention in both groups. The primary end point, IPA with ADP 20 μmol/L at 2 hours, was 99.59±0.43% in group 1 versus 99.88±1.0% in group 2 (P<0.001 for noninferiority). High on‐treatment platelet reactivity with ADP was zero at 2, 6, and 24 hours in both groups. IPA levels with ADP, thrombin receptor‐activating peptide, and collagen were significantly higher at 2 and 6 hours than at 24 hours in both groups. Periprocedural myocardial infarction was not significantly different between the groups. Hemoglobin level was significantly less at 24 hours versus baseline in group 2 (13.35±1.8 versus 12.38±1.8 g/dL, respectively; P<0.01). Conclusions Ticagrelor and eptifibatide bolus maximally inhibited platelet aggregation at 2 hours, which was associated with no significant hemoglobin drop after percutaneous coronary intervention. This obviates the need for eptifibatide 2‐hour infusion and might decrease bleeding complications. Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01919723.


ABSTRACT China's foremost national goal is to become a major space power by 2030. Consequently, President Xi Jinping has made the launch of the BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) and promotion of a "BDS global network" a national priority. BDS represents a frontier technology of the "fourth industrial revolution" which ushered in the digital age. Using BeiDou as a case study, this paper attempts to analyze the structural features of China's frontier technology strategy and its impact on China's global influence. Significantly, BDS has both military and civilian applications, which is a prominent feature of today's cutting edge technologies. Therefore, a focus on BDS will deepen our understanding of how China is exploring these new types of dual-purpose technologies to expand its global reach. The paper argues that by dramatically restructuring its decision-making process under Xi Jinping, China has been able to adopt a state-led national strategy for using BeiDou domestically, while expanding its global reach through a market-driven approach. This strategy has facilitated the penetration of Chinese BDS applications into the economies and societies of many developing (and some developed) countries.


We report the utility of an enzymatic point of care system for estimation of plasma creatinine concentration in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury. Multiple measurements were obtained from a heterogenous population admitted to a multi‐disciplinary intensive care unit. The acute kidney injury network guidelines were used to identify and stratify patients based on the creatinine concentration. Central laboratory values were used as comparators to assess the precision and bias of the system. Overall, point of care measurements correlated well with central pathology results (R2 = 0.991, p < 0.001), although there tended to be a small negative bias in patients with acute kidney injury (3 μmol.l−1). The accuracy of point of care measurement is within clinically acceptable limits and given the much shorter turn around time can be used to identify and monitor patients with acute kidney injury in the critical care environment.


Creating a future for elephants and people is a highly complex and dynamic challenge, involving social, behavioral, and ecological dimensions as well as multiple actors with various interests. To foster learning from human–elephant conflict (HEC) management projects and share best practices, a study was conducted to review the management of conflicts between elephants and humans in 12 African countries by qualitative expert interviews. Based on this information, a HEC management framework was developed in a two-tiered process. In the first phase, the theory of the framework was developed. In a second phase, the theoretical framework was validated and adjusted through stakeholder participation in two southern African projects (in Mozambique and Malawi). This holistic approach considers environmental as well as social, political, cultural, and economic factors directly or indirectly affecting interactions between people and wildlife. The framework integrates six interlinked strategies to guide managers and conservation practitioners to address HWC drivers and mitigate their impact. A legal environment and spatial planning form the basis of the framework. Social strategies, including meaningful stakeholder engagement and design of appropriate institutional structures and processes are considered the heart of the framework. Technical and financial strategies represent its arms and hands. At the top, monitoring steers all processes, provides feedback for adjustment, and informs decisions. The integration and coordination of these six strategies has great potential as a guiding route to human–wildlife coexistence in Africa and elsewhere.


We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of positive solutions for a class of sublinear Dirichlet quasilinear elliptic systems.


In Australia most coastal villages, towns and suburbs started as camping areas, fishing shacks and/or holiday houses, all with basic, self-contained, infrastructure. As the intensity of development increased, so did the demand for more conventional "permanent" infrastructure. The assumption behind this evolution was that the properties the infrastructure was servicing were going to exist for a long time into the future. Shoreline recession due to sediment imbalances, but more recently also associated with the likely impacts of climate change, places permanent styled coastal development and infrastructure at risk. The problem of managing such a situation is exacerbated by the still poorly defined climate future and hence the uncertainty as to when the infrastructure, and the development it serves, will be impacted. Given this uncertainty, a novel way of approaching the problem is to accept the potentially temporary nature of the real estate and hence adoptive an adaptive philosophy of disposable infrastructure and relocatable buildings. The challenge is to provide an acceptable standard of building and infrastructure in areas that may come under threat in the future, but to facilitate the implementation of progressive withdrawal as shoreline recession occurs. This calls for an innovative approach to infrastructure and building design.


In this paper, we propose a novel dualband fractal-shaped microstrip antenna for RFID applications. In fact, this fractal antenna was designed to cover the frequency of ISM Bands (2.45GHz and 5.80GHz). On the other hand, in the present fractal antenna, an electromagnetic coupling system is used for feeding. Also, the perturbation is set at an appropriate location in the patch element to excite circular polarization radiation. The simulations results show that the proposed antenna is compact, planar, simple and low-cost. So it is suitable to use for RFID as the reader antenna.


Purpose – The ability to communicate with society is one of the key skills by which our students can help enhance knowledge and understanding of different subjects within the general population. Unfortunately, up until recently few subject areas have provided tailored training for their students in the art of communicating with different audiences, especially a non-specialist one. This review paper aims to discuss the rationale for incorporating defined communication skills training (CST) into higher education courses, focusing on medicine, other healthcare professions and science. In addition the review aims to identify example methodologies used for the training and assessment of communication skills.

Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken for this review has been to: identify and review national, subject specific and individual drivers for why higher education should be including CST in their courses and programmes; evaluate some of the published approaches and innovations used to introduce CST into higher education courses; and finally, assess the factors that curriculum designers should consider when incorporating CST into their programmes or modules.

Findings – The review shows that there are a number of important drivers for including CST in higher education curricula, especially training which is directed to communicating with non-specialist audiences. The paper identifies a number of varied approaches for integrating training into existing and emerging HE courses and modules, aimed at developing both oral and written communication skills.

Originality/value – The paper demonstrates the need for CST in undergraduate courses and acts as a challenge to others to devise strategies to ensure their students are ready and able to communicate with society in the twenty-first century.


Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is detected in all lung cancer patients and the serum samples as potential source are often used as a potential source for early diagnosis. In this study, we used the proteomic approaches combining 2-DE, 2-D DIGE and mass spectrometry to identify the potential serum biomarkers in NSCLC serum samples, and compare the result to normal serum samples. The haptoglobin alpha 2 subunit (HAP2) is one of the proteins we are interested in and showed the overexpression level in NSCLC serum amongst the NSCLC subtypes. The identity of HAP2 was confirmed by LC-MS/MS and NH2-terminal amino acid sequencing analyses, while the high expression level of HAP2 in NSCLC serum samples was validated using co-immunoprecipitation and western blotting. Interestingly, the high expression of HAP2 has specificity in human serum samples, but nonspecific expression in lung cancer tissues and is not observed in lung cancer cell lines except HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cell line. This indicates that HAP2 is not produced from lung tissues and/or cells, but may be secreted from the liver. In addition, HAP2 isoforms and its post-translational modifications (PTMs) could be detected by various staining methods such as phosphoprotein, glycoprotein stains and FITC-labeled lectins stain. The different carbohydrate specificities of HAP2 isoforms in NSCLC serum samples, especially sialyl Lewis x, was observed and may correlate to the development or metastasis of lung cancer. We suggest that HAP2 may become a potentially useful serum biomarker for early diagnostic and therapeutic applications.


The speed control of a SRM (switched reluctance motor) needs the accurate position and speed data of the rotor. This information is provided by a shaft encoder or a resolver. In some cases, high temperature, dust, and EMI may cause difficulties in maintaining the satisfactory position detection performance. The elimination of the position and speed sensor has gained wide attention. In this paper a new algorithm for the estimation of the rotor position and speed is proposed for the SRM drives. A nonlinear adaptive observer on the basis of the adaptive control theory is used to estimate the rotor speed and position. The stability of the adaptive observer is proved by the Lyapunov stability theorem. The adaptive observer estimates the rotor speed and position using the phase current and the estimated current. This algorithm was implemented with a DSP (digital signal processor) TMS320C31. Experimental results prove that the observer is able to estimate the speed and position.


In this paper, we consider a multiple reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted system using positioning information (PI) to explore the potential of Doppler effect mitigation and spectral efficiency (SE) enhancement in high-speed communications (HSC) in the presence of hardware impairments (HWI). In particular, we first present a general multi-RIS-assisted system model for HSC with HWI. Then, based on PI, different phase shift optimization strategies are designed and compared for maximizing SE, eliminating Doppler spread, and maintaining a very low delay spread. Moreover, we compare the performance of different numbers of RISs with HWI in terms of SE and delay spread. Finally, we extend our channel model from line-of-sight to the Rician channel to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our proposed scheme. Numerical results reveal that the HWI of RISs increases the delay spread, but has no impact on Doppler shift and spread. Additionally, the multiple RIS system not only suffers a more severe delay spread, but is limited in SE due to the HWI. When the number of RISs increases from 2 to 16, the range of average spectral efficiency and delay spread are from 4 to 4.6 Bit/s/Hz and from 0.7 μs to 2.5 μs, respectively. In contrast to conventional RIS-assisted systems that require channel estimation, the proposed PI-based RIS system offers simplicity without compromising effectiveness and robustness in both SE enhancement and Doppler mitigation.


The aim of this work is to characterize banana tree residues and use it in pulping and combustion processes. The soda-anthraquinone pulping of the banana tree residues can be simulated by polynomial models, and then predict the pulp properties (yield, Kappa number, viscosity and brightness) as a function of operating variables (temperature 160 to 180°C, time 40 to 60 min and soda concentration 7.5 to 12.5%) with errors less than 20%. Operating under optimal conditions (160°C, 40 min and 7.5% soda), a pulp with 39.23% yield, 28.59 Kappa number, 48.25% brightness, 1149 ml/g viscosity, 48.0 Nm/g tensile index, 3.80 kN/g burst index and 4.83 mNm2/g tear index was obtained. On the other hand, heating values (17751 kJ/kg), the flame temperature (1300 to 2400°C) and dew point temperature (48 to 54°C), of the different values of excess air used (10 to 50%)  in combustion of the banana tree residues were determined and compared with other non-wood lignocellulosic materials. As a consequence, the price of energy obtained by combustion of these residues (3.38 10-6 €/kJ) was less than the price of coal (25.94 10-6 €/kJ) and much lower than those of fluid fossil fuels (>37.67 10-6 €/kJ).

 Key words: Banana tree residues, pulp, paper, combustion.


In this article, we explore the relationship between the legal historical method and the constitutionally transformative approach to the study of the South African private law. For this purpose, we provide an analysis of the decision in Oppelt v Head: Health, Department of Health Provincial Administration: Western Cape 2016 (1) SA 325 (CC). In that case the claimant suffered a spinal injury during a rugby match and claimed damages on the basis of various omissions of medical professionals who failed to treat him timeously. These omissions lead to the claimant becoming quadriplegic. A legal historical analysis is conducted on the Aquilian liability for omissions and how the law related to omissions has developed in modern South African law. Thereafter the transformative constitutional approach to the South African private law – and more specifically the South African law of delict – is taken up. We conclude by considering the omissions in the Oppelt case, not only in the sense of conduct, but also in the sense that the Supreme Court of Appeal omitted to consider relevant constitutional considerations and the Constitutional Court omitted to thoroughly grapple with the common-law principles related to the case.


The evolution of cancer cells is believed to be dependent on genetic or epigenetic alterations. However, this concept has recently been challenged by another mode of nucleotide alteration, RNA editing, which is frequently up-regulated in cancer. RNA editing is a biochemical process in which either Adenosine or Cytosine is deaminated by a group of RNA editing enzymes including ADAR (Adenosine deaminase; RNA specific) or APOBEC3B (Apolipoprotein B mRNA Editing Enzyme Catalytic Subunit 3B). The result of RNA editing is usually adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) or cytidine to uridine (C-to-U) transition, which can affect protein coding, RNA stability, splicing and microRNA-target interactions. The functional impact of these alterations is largely unclear and is a subject of extensive research. In the present review, we will specifically focus on the influence of ADARs on carcinogenesis via the regulation of microRNA processing and functioning. This follows a brief review of the current knowledge of properties of ADAR enzyme, RNA editing, and microRNA processing.


The treatment of spinal disfunctions in the occipito-cervical and cervical area poses a serious challenge and requires a non-typical biomechanical support with implants. The difficulty consists in simultaneous fixation of occiput and cervical vertebrae to the carrying rod. The orthopaedic wire, hooks and occipital screws that were used previously have been replaced with an anchor. An installation of the anchor in a bone involves turning it by 90° in a formerly prepared seat. The installation is intraoperatively easy, controlled by the surgeon in its biomechanical aspect, and reduces the need for frequent X-ray diagnostics. The firmness of anchor stabilization depends on the bone quality, the manner of its installation, and is higher than with other implants. Biomechanical and clinical examinations have confirmed the acceptability of the O·C·A·M method and extended the possibilities of support in the pathologies of the occipito-cervical area.


The age patterning of white and nonwhite suicide rates reveals a marked and consistent divergence: white suicide rates increase with age; however, nonwhite suicide rates peak in youthful years and decline during middle and older ages. Six explanatory hypotheses are proposed to account for the divergence: 1) differential life expectancy; 2) deviant burnout; 3) screening out of the violence-prone; 4) role and status of the elderly; 5) traditional values; and 6) age-specific motives. Discussion and analysis of the proposed hypotheses indicate that they do operate in the direction of reducing the suicide rates of elderly nonwhites, thereby contributing to the observed age discrepancy in white and nonwhite suicide rates.


Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the eighth most common tumor in the world. In the United States, approximately 30,000 new cases of HNSCC are reported each year and 8,000 related deaths. HNSCC of the oral cavity is highly metastatic and has a recurrence rate of 20%-50%, with a dismal 5-year survival rate of ∼50%. There continues to be no consistent means for early detection or a reliable biomarker for the disease. This has contributed to the lack of improvement in the mortality rates of the disease, despite advances in delivery of treatment and surgical reconstruction. In a proteomic study seeking possible biomarkers for HNSCC, AHSG was detected at elevated serum levels. AHSG is a cell surface glycoprotein that is known to be synthesized by hepatocytes and found in most body fluids including serum. AHSG is also a negative acute phase function protein, which makes the results from the proteomic study, elevated levels of AHSG, intriguing. Our lab has recently shown that the lack of AHSG reduces tumor incidence and prolongs tumor latency. We now show that some HNSCC cell lines synthesize and secrete AHSG at both the message and protein levels. This is important as most cells acquire AHSG through uptake from serum. To our knowledge, this is the first report of AHSG synthesis and expression in HNSCC cell lines. We are currently depleting AHSG expression in these HNSCC cell lines in order to evaluate the effects of AHSG on the growth and metastatic properties (invasiveness and motility) in vitro and in vivo. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-15. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-LB-15


Depositional environments, facies distribution, and provenance analyses of Upper Jurassic through lowermost Upper Cretaceous strata in western Wyoming, eastern Idaho, and northeastern Utah suggest that episodic tectonic activity along the Paris-Willard thrust system strongly influenced deposition during early development of the Wyoming-Idaho-Utah thrust belt and associated foreland basin. Synorogenic conglomerates present at various stratigraphic levels in these strata reveal periods of rapid uplift. In general, the synorogenic units contain proximal cobble-boulder conglomerates (braided stream) which grade downslope into distal pebble conglomerates and coarse-grained sandstones (meandering stream). Periods of relative tectonic quiescence and/or less rapid uplift and eros on are represented by interbedded finer grained fluvial, lacustrine, and marine deposits. During the Late Jurassic, erosion of incipient highlands prior to thrusting resulted in eastward progradation of beach/barrier sandstones represented by the Stump Formation. Initial intensive thrusting followed in the latest Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous, with the newly formed highlands shedding proximal braided stream cobble-boulder conglomerates and more distal meandering stream pebble conglomerates and sandstones of the Ephraim Formation into the subsiding foreland basin. Continued subsidence coupled with a decrease in clastic input due to subdued uplift, resulted in establishment of extensive lacustrine systems and deposition of the Peterson Limestone. Renewed movement on the Paris-Willard thrust system then gave rise to the proximal conglomerates and distal sandstones and muds ones of the Bechler Formation. The overlying lacustrine Draney Limestone and marginal lacustrine Smoot Formation represent another period of continued basin subsidence with little or no uplift. The Wayan and laterally equivalent Bear River Formations represent, respectively, near-source fluvial and shallow beach-marine deposition following Smoot/Draney accumulation. Wayan strata were deposited on a meandering stream flood plain and are indicative of slow uplift and erosion in the source area. Bear River strata consist of a beach sandstone unit underlain and overlain by transgressive marine shales. Alternate deposition of transgressive and regressive facies resulted from either eustatic changes in sea level or differential uplift and erosion of the Paris-Willard highlands. End_Page 1354------------------------------ Bear River marine shales grade upward into marine shales of the Aspen Formation, deposited when the Mowry sea transgressed across the thrust belt region. Lack of significant tectonic activity during this time is suggested by the paucity of sand in the Aspen Formation. Aspen strata pass upward through marginal marine strata into a thick sequence of meandering stream deposits of the Frontier Formation that were derived from erosion of subdued Paris-Willard highlands. Subsequent transgression of the Greenhorn sea westward covered the entire region, producing extensive Frontier marginal marine sandstones and marine shales. Renewed intensive uplift in the source area caused rapid eastward progradation of the Greenhorn sea shoreline and concurrently deposited cobble conglomerates in northeastern Utah. Coarse detritus was deposited in eastward-flowing braided streams near the source area (northeastern Utah) and in meandering stream channels farther eastward (western Wyoming). The Niobrara sea subsequently covered much of the region, and synorogenic sedime tation related to the Paris-Willard thrust system was thus completed. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1355------------


teristics of speech. Speech consists of variations in air pressure that result from physical disturbances of air molecules caused by the flow of air out of the lungs. This airflow makes the air molecules alternately crowd together and move apart (oscillate), creating increases and decreases, respectively, in air pressure. The resulting sound wave transmits these changes in pressure from speaker to hearer. Sound waves can be described in terms of physical properties such as cycle, period, frequency, and amplitude. These concepts are most easily illustrated when considering a simple wave corresponding to a pure tone. A cycle is a sequence of one increase and one decrease in air pressure. A period is the amount of time (expressed in seconds or milliseconds) that one cycle takes. Frequency is the number of cycles in one second, expressed in hertz (Hz). An increase in frequency usually results in an increase in perceived pitch. Amplitude refers to the magnitude of vibrations, with larger vibrations resulting in greater peaks of pressure (greater amplitude), which usually result in an increase in perceived loudness. Unlike pure tones, which rarely occur in the environment, speech sounds are complex waves with combinations of different frequencies and amplitudes. However, as first stated by the French mathematician Fourier (1768–1830), any complex wave can be described as a combination of simple waves. A complex wave has a regular rate of repetition, known as the fundamental frequency (F0). Changes in F0 give rise to differences in perceived pitch, whereas changes in the number of constituent simple waves and their amplitude relations result in perceived differences in timbre or quality. Fourier's theorem enables us to describe speech sounds in terms of the frequency and amplitude of each of its constituent simple waves. Such a description is known as the spectrum of a sound. A spectrum is visually displayed as a plot of frequency vs. amplitude, with frequency represented from low to high along the horizontal axis and amplitude from low to high along the vertical axis. The usual energy source for speech is the airstream generated by the lungs. This steady flow of air is converted into brief puffs of air by the vibrating vocal folds, two muscular folds housed in the larynx. The dominant way of conceptualizing the process of speech production is in terms of the source-filter theory, according to which the acoustic characteristics of speech can be understood as a result of a source component and a filter component. The source component is determined by the rate of vocal fold vibration, which in turn is affected by a number of factors, including the rate of airflow and the mass and stiffness of the vocal folds. The rate of vocal fold vibration directly determines the F0 of the waveform. The mean F0 for adult women is approximately 220 Hz, and approximately 130 Hz for adult men. "In addition to their role as properties of individual speech sounds, F0 and amplitude also signal emphasis, stress, and intonation." For speech, the source component itself has a complex waveform, and its spectrum will typically show the highest energy at the lowest frequencies and a number of higher frequency components that


BACKGROUND
The detection of psychosocial distress is a significant communication problem in Southern Europe and other countries. Work in this area is hampered by a lack of data. Because not much is known about training aimed at improving the recognition of psychosocial disorders in cancer patients, we developed a basic course model for medical oncology professionals.

METHODS
A specific educational and experiential model (12 hours divided into 2 modules) involving formal teaching (ie, journal articles, large-group presentations), practice in small groups (ie, small-group exercises and role playing), and discussion in large groups was developed with the aim of improving the ability of oncologists to detect emotional disturbances in cancer patients (ie, depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorders).

RESULTS
A total of 30 oncologists from 3 Southern European countries (Italy, Portugal, and Spain) participated in the workshop. The training course was well accepted by most participants who expressed general satisfaction and a positive subjective perception of the utility of the course for clinical practice. Of the total participants, 28 physicians (93.3%) thought that had they been exposed to this material sooner, they would have incorporated the techniques received in the workshop into their practices; 2 participants stated they would likely have done so. Half of the doctors (n = 15) believed that their clinical communication techniques were improved by participating in the workshop, and the remaining half thought that their abilities to communicate with cancer patients had improved.

CONCLUSIONS
This model is a feasible approach for oncologists and is easily applicable to various oncology settings. Further studies will demonstrate the effectiveness of this method for improving oncologists skills in recognizing emotional disorders in their patients with cancer.


Abstract A real-time scheduling algorithm called distributed arrival time control (DATC) has recently been developed for real-time scheduling of manufacturing systems. This algorithm uses feedback from distributed simulation to iteratively adjust schedules in real time to improve global performance. Therefore, the overall performance of DATC depends on the quality of service (QoS) provided by the computing and communication system. There is a need to develop effective performance models for systematically designing the computing and communication architecture in such applications. In this work we formulate an analytical model based on queuing theory to predict the network latency for a given workload and computing/communication architecture. Experimental data from a DATC implementation on a network of Windows NT workstations are used to determine the range of validity of the queuing model. The model is used to predict the latency of various platforms such as cluster of workstations, parallel computer, and reconfigurable computers.


The authors report a retrospective study of 10 cases of gastric and small bowel bezoars. There was one gastric trichobezoar diagnosed by an abdominal mass and 9 small bowel obstruction due to phytobezoars. All patients underwent surgery: the gastric trichobezoar was removed through a gastrotomy; small bowel bezoars were treated either by enterotomy (n = 3), fragmentation (n = 5) or bowel resection (n = 1). Non operative treatment is efficient in gastric phytobezoars. Surgery is advisable for trichobezoars and small bowel bezoars. Prevention is main and patients who have gastric surgery must be alarmed from consumption of cactus in our country Tunisia.


OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to evaluate visualization methods for specific tasks performed with personal healthcare e-record systems for lay adults and older patients. We investigated common visualization methods for data entry and follow-up of personal and clinical information for self-control of blood coagulation functions.

METHODS
Twenty-five old (72.2 +/- 5.5 years) and 25 young (30.4 +/- 4.9 years) participants completed tasks based on common scenarios, on experimental Web sites with hidden tracking programs. Functional parameters (time, accuracy), subjective parameters (preference, satisfaction), and physiological parameters (heart rate, skin temperature, sweat, respiratory rate, and muscle tension) monitored with miniature sensors were used.

RESULTS
Total time for data entry and information follow-up were significantly longer for older compared with younger participants, with no significant differences in accuracy (errors), in stress-related physiological parameters, in preferences, or in satisfaction between age group. The Menu display was the significantly preferred configuration for data entry in both age groups, based on functional, physiological, and subjective criteria (p < 0.05, Duncan test). The Calendar configuration was significantly preferred for mixed tasks of follow-up and information retrieval, in both age groups, based on functional, physiological, and subjective criteria (p < 0.05, Duncan test).

CONCLUSIONS
Our study supports equal capabilities of old and young people to use interactive healthcare systems for management of chronic diseases and further encourages using physiological, functional, and subjective methods for evaluating personal healthcare records.


Every profession should remember its beginnings, the origins of its ideals and the difficulties and circumstances of their forging. Patty Campbell traces the lives and careers of two early pioneers of young adult librarianship, Mabel Williams and Margaret Edwards. The first section draws upon an interview with Mabel Williams conducted by Mary K. Chelton in 1975, in which Williams talks candidly about her career and how young adult library services became a reality in the first half of the 20th century. The second section consists of an essay entitled "Reconsidering Margaret Edwards: The Relevance of The Fair Garden for the Nineties." Sections of this essay were originally published in the Wilson Library Bulletin in June 1994, but the entire essay appears here for the first time. In the essay, Campbell evaluates The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts, first published in 1969, against a backdrop of changing times and changing ideas in librarianship. An important and interesting work for academics and professionals in YA librarianship, this book presents a coherent look at the past, present, and future of the field.


Case-chaos methodology is a proposed alternative to case-control studies that simulates controls by randomly reshuffling the exposures of cases. We evaluated the method using data on outbreaks in Sweden. We identified 5 case-control studies from foodborne illness outbreaks that occurred between 2005 and 2012. Using case-chaos methodology, we calculated odds ratios 1,000 times for each exposure. We used the median as the point estimate and the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles as the confidence interval. We compared case-chaos matched odds ratios with their respective case-control odds ratios in terms of statistical significance. Using Spearman's correlation, we estimated the correlation between matched odds ratios and the proportion of cases exposed to each exposure and quantified the relationship between the 2 using a normal linear mixed model. Each case-control study identified an outbreak vehicle (odds ratios = 4.9-45). Case-chaos methodology identified the outbreak vehicle 3 out of 5 times. It identified significant associations in 22 of 113 exposures that were not associated with outcome and 5 of 18 exposures that were significantly associated with outcome. Log matched odds ratios correlated with their respective proportion of cases exposed (Spearman ρ = 0.91) and increased significantly with the proportion of cases exposed (b = 0.054). Case-chaos methodology missed the outbreak source 2 of 5 times and identified spurious associations between a number of exposures and outcome. Measures of association correlated with the proportion of cases exposed. We recommended against using case-chaos analysis during outbreak investigations.


The goal of Open Access Data, Statistics and Education Resources is provide links to business - accounting, economics, energy, finance, healthcare - related data that is freely available.


OBJECTIVES
Beta-propeller protein-associated neurodegeneration (BPAN) is a rare X-linked dominant neurodegenerative disease, which is characterized by iron accumulation in the basal ganglia. BPAN is associated with pathogenic variation in WDR45, which has been reported almost exclusively in females most probably due to male lethality in the hemizygous state.

METHODS
Whole exome sequencing (WES) and targeted deep sequencing were performed for a male with a clinical diagnosis of BPAN at the age of 37.

RESULTS
The novel frameshift variant in WDR45 detected by WES was further analyzed with targeted resequencing to detect a mosaicism level of 85.5% in the blood sample of the proband.

DISCUSSION
Although the main role of WDR45 remains elusive, recent studies show that WDR45 may contribute to neurodegeneration through defects in autophagy, iron storage and ferritin metabolism, mitochondria organization, and endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis. The extend of spatiotemporal haploinsufficiency of WDR45 frameshifting variants caused by mosaicism in males may lead to variable clinical severity, which may be hard to elaborate clinically. Promising genetic analysis strategies using targeted deep sequencing may help determine the clinical outcome of somatic mosaicism in neurological disorders including BPAN. Additionally, we suggest that deep sequencing should be conducted in cerebrospinal fluid samples to provide more reliable results in terms of reflecting the mosaicism level in the brain for future studies.