Among the examples on how not to portray a character in tragedy, Aristotle names the female protagonist of the Iphigenia in Aulis, claiming that she is drawn in violation of the principle of consistency: begging to spare her life she is much unlike her later self. Philologists stood for Euripides, charging Aristotle with a lack of intuitive understanding. Moreover, as has been pointed out, the unaffected character of Iphigenia's behaviour could find a footing in the ample observations on human psychology Aristotle himself made elsewhere in the Ethics and Rhethoric. Certain modern scholars, however, tend to side with Aristotle. To argumentatively prove or disprove the feasibility of the change Iphigenia undergoes seems thus to be close to impossible, both psychologically and aesthetically. A thought not alien to the Poetics goes as simple as that: not all the shifts and turns, so human and so easily observed in life, should find their way into art. One supposes Aristotle all too well recognised the fact that no example would in this case prove to be free of blame, while holding that the general applicability and inherent veracity of his theory goes unimpaired by the fact that it could in principle be assailed.


In this paper, an accurate extraction approach and an effective tracking algorithm for moving objects are proposed. We first describe our extraction algorithm, which can extract objects precisely by using the mixed differences between adaptive background estimation and the two adjacent frames. Then we design a tracking algorithm, in which we use several IIR filters to predict the moving objects position and improve efficiency of the objects matching by using the moving objects temporal image and extracting results. The proposed tracking algorithm can track the objects accurately even if the objects are in the process of acceleration and have slight deformations. The efficiency of the proposed algorithms is demonstrated by several experiments given in this paper.


The paper presents a method of achieving accuracy loss of the dynamic measurement system according to change of errors on different period of the system. WNN, used to trace the accuracy loss of dynamic measurement system, traces the total precision loss during a certain period to every part of the system, and the accuracy loss of every part can be get, so retaining the accuracy and optimum design of the system is possible. Take tracing the accuracy loss of a simulated system for an example to testify the method.


Bypass grafting to the proximal or distal popliteal artery through a lateral approach is the most commum surgical technique used to treat patients with femoro-popliteal obstructive disease. We report all the patients who underwent a bypass graft to the midpopliteal artery through a posterior approach, in whom an autologous vein was not avalaiable, thus avoiding the use of a prosthetic graft implantation in to the infragenicular popliteal artery. Ten bypass grafts to the midpopliteal artery through a posterior approach were performed, for the last 6 years, in patients with critical limb ischaemia. Polytetrafluoroethylene ( PTFE ) grafts were used in all patients. With a mean follow-up of 16,1 months, the 1-year primary patency rate was 85,7 % and the 2-year primary patency rate was 66,7 %. Bypass grafting to the midpopliteal artery through a posterior approach seems to be a safe and sustainable procedure and is an alternative techinique to be considered in patients without autologus vein avalaiable, when an above-knee bypass grafting is not feasible or when a below-knee prothesis should be avoided.


Background People in Iraq have been more or less continually exposed to war for more than three decades. Studies with Iraqi participants report high prevalence rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related problems. Methods The aim of this study is to measure the prevalence of traumatic events and to screen the prevalence of PTSD symptoms among Iraqi secondary school students. Four self-report scales were administered to 403 secondary school students, aged 16–19 (61% male and 31% female). These scales were Baghdad Trauma History Screen, the Scale of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms (SPTSS), Social Support Scale, and Scale of Religious Coping. Results The results showed that 84% of participants experienced at least one traumatic event. Of these, 61% fully met the criteria for PTSD; 65% of the females and 58% of the males. PTSD symptoms were correlated with 20 positive religious coping but not with social support. Conclusions It's clear that traumatic events were speared widely among the participants and the result showed that the vast majority of participants were exposed to different types of traumatic events. In addition, many of the participants have met full PTSD criteria and others had partial PTSD.


Partial discharges are caused by various defects such as voids, shield protrusions, contaminants, advanced stages of water tree, etc and known the main cause of breakdown in insulation materials. Partial discharge (PD) location is a powerful and useful tool for the maintenance and operation of electrical power distribution cables. This paper describes the application of two digital signal-processing techniques (Linear prediction and Discrete Wavelet Transform) to partial discharge site location. These techniques have been used for both on-line and off-line PD location. Results show the effectiveness of these algorithms and by applying them to the acquired signal one obtain almost the true shape of PD signal under noisy conditions.


This mixed-method study investigated vaccine hesitancy among pregnant women living in rural western United States and their response to social media ads promoting COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Thirty pregnant or recently pregnant participants who live in rural zip codes in Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho were interviewed between November 2022 and March 2023. Interviews were transcribed and coded, while the ad ratings were analyzed using linear mixed models. The study identified five main themes related to vaccine uptake, including perceived risk of COVID, sources of health information, vaccine hesitancy, and relationships with care providers. Participants rated ads most highly that used peer-based messengers and negative outcome-based content. Ads with faith-based and elder messengers were rated significantly lower than peer messengers (p = 0.04 and 0.001, respectively). An activation message was also rated significantly less favorably than negative outcome-based content (p = 0.001). Participants preferred evidence-based information and the ability to conduct their own research on vaccine safety and efficacy rather than being told to get vaccinated. Primary concerns of vaccine-hesitant respondents included the short amount of time the vaccine had been available and perceived lack of research on its safety during pregnancy. Our findings suggests that tailored messaging using peer-based messengers and negative outcome-based content can positively impact vaccine uptake among pregnant women living in rural areas of the Western United States.


We study the structure of neutron-rich calcium isotopes in the shell model with realistic interactions. The CD-Bonn and Kuo-Brown (KB) interactions are used. As these interactions do not include the three-body force, their direct use leads to poor results. We tested whether the adjustment of the single particle energies (SPEs) would be sufficient to include the three-body correlations empirically. It turns out that the CD-Bonn interaction, after the adjustment of SPEs, gives good agreement with the experimental data for the energies and spectroscopy. For the KB interaction, both the SPEs and monopole terms require adjustments. Thus, the monopole problem is less serious for modern realistic interactions which include perturbations up to the third order. We also tested the effect of the non-central force on the shell structure. It is found that the effect of the tensor force in the CD-Bonn interaction is weaker than in the KB interaction.


A fundamental question in natural language processing is - what kind of language structure and semantics is the language model capturing? Graph formats such as knowledge graphs are easy to evaluate as they explicitly express language semantics and structure. This study evaluates the semantics encoded in the self-attention transformers by leveraging explicit knowledge graph structures. We propose novel metrics to measure the reconstruction error when providing graph path sequences from a knowledge graph and trying to reproduce/reconstruct the same from the outputs of the self-attention transformer models. The opacity of language models has an immense bearing on societal issues of trust and explainable decision outcomes. Our findings suggest that language models are models of stochastic control processes for plausible language pattern generation. However, they do not ascribe object and concept-level meaning and semantics to the learned stochastic patterns such as those described in knowledge graphs. This has significant application-level user trust implications as stochastic patterns without a strong sense of meaning cannot be trusted in high-stakes applications.


This paper deals with optimal experimental design criteria and neural networks in the aim of building experimental designs from observational data. It addresses the following three main issues: (i) the introduction of two radically different approaches, namely T-optimal designs extended to Generalized Linear Models and Evolutionary Neural Networks Design; (ii) the proposal of two algorithms, based on model selection procedures, to exploit the information of already collected data; and (iii) the comparison of the suggested methods and corresponding algorithms by means of a simulated case study in the technological field.

Results are compared by considering elements of the proposed algorithms, in terms of models and experimental design strategies. In particular, we highlight the algorithmic features, the performances of the approaches, the optimal solutions and the optimal levels of variables involved in a simulated foaming process. The optimal solutions obtained by the two proposed algorithms are very similar, nevertheless, the differences between the paths followed by the two algorithms to reach optimal values are substantial, as detailed step-by-step in the discussion. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Many natural language processing (NLP) tasks make use of massively pre-trained language models, which are computationally expensive. However, access to high computational resources added to the issue of data scarcity of African languages constitutes a real barrier to research experiments on these languages. In this work, we explore the applicability of low-compute approaches such as language adapters in the context of this low-resource double-bind. We intend to answer the following question: do language adapters allow those who are doubly bound by data and compute to practically build useful models? Through fine-tuning experiments on African languages, we evaluate their effectiveness as cost-effective approaches to low-resource African NLP. Using solely free compute resources, our results show that language adapters achieve comparable performances to massive pre-trained language models which are heavy on computational resources. This opens the door to further experimentation and exploration on full-extent of language adapters capacities.


ABSTRACT Identifying human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) control mechanisms by neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) is critical for anti-HIV-1 strategies. Recent in vivo studies on animals infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and related viruses have shown the efficacy of postinfection NAb passive immunization for viremia reduction, and one suggested mechanism is its occurrence through modulation of cellular immune responses. Here, we describe SIV control in macaques showing biphasic CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses following acute-phase NAb passive immunization. Analysis of four SIVmac239-infected rhesus macaque pairs matched with major histocompatibility complex class I haplotypes found that counterparts receiving day 7 anti-SIV polyclonal NAb infusion all suppressed viremia for up to 2 years without accumulating viral CTL escape mutations. In the first phase of primary viremia control attainment, CD8+ cells had high capacities to suppress SIVs carrying CTL escape mutations. Conversely, in the second, sustained phase of SIV control, CTL responses converged on a pattern of immunodominant CTL preservation. During this sustained phase of viral control, SIV epitope-specific CTLs showed retention of phosphorylated extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK)hi/phosphorylated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)lo subpopulations, implying their correlation with SIV control. The results suggest that virus-specific CTLs functionally boosted by acute-phase NAbs may drive robust AIDS virus control. IMPORTANCE In early HIV infection, NAb responses are lacking and CTL responses are insufficient, which leads to viral persistence. Hence, it is important to identify immune responses that can successfully control such HIV replication. Here, we show that monkeys receiving NAb passive immunization in early SIV infection strictly control viral replication for years. Passive infusion of NAbs with CTL cross-priming capacity resulted in induction of functionally boosted early CTL responses showing enhanced suppression of CTL escape mutant virus replication. Accordingly, the NAb-infused animals did not show accumulation of viral CTL escape mutations during sustained SIV control, and immunodominant CTL responses were preserved. This early functional augmentation of CTLs by NAbs provides key insights into the design of lasting and viral escape mutation-free protective immunity against HIV-1 infection.


Various Building Information Models (BIMs) are increasingly used for data sharing and communication purposes in real estate and construction sector. This change can be seen as part of more general development where the main target is wide integration infrastructure to handle user interaction, business process, applications and data. Besides of new achievements in BIM technologies the described general development is enabled in an interesting manner by the overall technological integration that is bringing together traditional IT, telecommunication, Internet, TV and radio technologies and entertainment business. The resultant solutions have already changed clearly our working environment, its processes and business, and, more even radical changes are likely to appear. This paper shall present a research project addressing combination of building product models with live video stream applications. The research project named '4D Live' explores hardware, middleware and software platforms for the named purpose whilst the main target is to study emerging new sector specific business processes and changes arising from these solutions. 4D Live project is producing several demonstrative solutions where building models are combined with live video stream from one or several digital video cameras: i) Live internet based 4D, ii) Augmented reality web camera, and iii) Multi-Camera studio for BIM-Human interaction.


This book describes problems in the field of performance analysis, primarily the study of storage systems and the diverse mathematical techniques that are required for solving them. Topics covered include best practices for scheduling I/O requests to a disk drive, how this problem is related to airplane boarding, and how both problems can be modeled using space-time geometry. Also provided is an explanation of how Riemann's proof of the analytic continuation and functional equation of the Riemann zeta function can be used to analyze express line queues in a minimarket. Overall, the book displays the surprising relevance of abstract mathematics that is not usually associated with applied mathematics topics. Advanced undergraduate students or graduate students with an interest in the applications of mathematics will find this book to be a useful resource. It will also be of interest to professional mathematicians who want exposureto the surprising ways that theoretical mathematics may be applied to engineering problems. To encourage further study, each chapter ends with notes pointing to various related topics that the reader may want pursue. This mathematically rigorous work was noted in the news section of the journal Nature, andin popular media such as New Scientist, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and USA Today.


Chronic ethanol consumption is associated with the development of osteoporosis. The pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays a role in the development of osteoporosis through stimulation of osteoclastic activity. We hypothesized that ethanol promotes osteoporosis, in part, by increasing IL-6 production in the bone microenvironment. Accordingly, we evaluated ethanol's effect on IL-6 production in the Saka human bone marrow stromal cell line and in the HOBIT human osteoblast-like cell line. We found that ethanol increased IL-6 protein levels in the culture supernatants from Saka, but not HOBIT, cells. In addition, we observed that ethanol increased steady-state IL-6 mRNA levels and activated an IL-6 promoter-driven reporter vector in Saka cells. We conclude that ethanol stimulates IL-6 expression in the Saka bone marrow stromal cell line by enhancing transcriptional activity of the IL-6 gene. Our findings support the contention that ethanol may contribute to the pathogenesis of osteoporosis, in part, by increasing IL-6 expression in the bone microenvironment.


Aims LV hypertrophy (LVH) is frequent after aortic valve replacement (AVR) and is often associated with comorbidities, including hypertension, obesity, renal failure and prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM). However, whether other biological mechanism(s) may participate to LVH after AVR is still unknown. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) may play a role in LVH. However, it is presently unknown whether PTH is associated with LVH in patients that have undergone an AVR. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 195 patients have been investigated at a mean of 8±3.5 years following AVR. LV function and mass were evaluated by Doppler echocardiography. The plasma levels of PTH, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD), calcium and phosphate were measured. Results There were 102 (52%) patients with LVH after AVR. In univariate analyses, PTH blood level was associated with LV mass (LVMi) and LVH. After adjustment for other risk factors, elevated PTH remained associated with LVMi (p=0.003) and LVH (p=0.02). In turn, the blood levels of 25-OHD and the renal function (GFR) were independently and inversely related to the blood level of PTH. Conclusions After AVR, the level of PTH is independently associated with LVH. In turn, the level of PTH is related with the renal function and the level of 25-OHD.


In this paper, gesture recognition algorithm with kinect sensor is proposed. the depth cue is used to locate the hand area. Based on the histograms of oriented gradient (HOG) and adaboost learning methods, the static hand algorithm is designed to recognize the predefine gesture in the hand Area. by tracking the hand trajectory by kinect, hmms is used to train and classify dynamic gesture. an intelligent interactive system based on hand gesture recognition algorithm above is presented to choose and control different programs. Experimental results demonstrate that our gesture recognition algorithm is robust and effective, and the built interactive system with more intelligence improves the convenience and nature between human-computer interaction.


Applying artificial illumination of indoor objects can in some situations be difficult, when a uniform illumination of the objects and their surroundings is required. This often comes as a result of large changes in the light intensity of natural sources of light, such as daylight. This can be regarded as a disturbance to the controlled light environment. The system presented in this paper allows for a simple, low cost solution which uses a special measurement algorithm in order to estimate the amount of ambient light falling onto an object or area. The measured amount of light emanating from controlled light sources is separated from the measured amount of light emanating from other, uncontrolled sources. The controlled light source can then be increased or decreased as desired in step with the changing surrounding light levels. This can be achieved without introducing positive feedback from the controlled light source or other instability problems due to interference between the control law and the surrounding light sources. The control structure allows the system to be integrated into a single unit with existing LED lighting products and thus does not require expensive or intrusive installation of extra photo sensors. The system is designed to operate autonomously, without user interaction at any time, aside from turning the lights on and off. The performance of the system has been verified by implementing the system and using it in both a laboratory and a real environment.


BACKGROUND
Preliminary research indicates that motivation may be a key predictor of success in brief dynamic psychotherapy, but different aspects of motivation have not been studied as predictors.

METHODS
In this study 48 out-patients were clinically evaluated before therapy with regard to different aspects of motivation. Seven motivation items modified after Sifneos were rated by several experienced judges. Forty-three patients were treated and followed up 2 and 4 years after brief dynamic psychotherapy. The predictive validity of each of the motivation items was tested by their direct correlations with long-term outcome, and their collective predictive validity was tested by use of multiple regression analyses.

RESULTS
The interrater reliability was problematic for single items, but when the average scores of 4 judges were used, adequate reliabilities on 4 items were achieved. Two items, Motivation for change and Realistic expectations, showed the best predictive validity of long-term outcome.

CONCLUSIONS
An Active engagement aspect of motivation may predict both successful and unsuccessful cases. Our data indicate that patients should be instructed about the principles and procedures of dynamic psychotherapy and they should be told why it is important for them to actively test alternative problem-solving strategies during and after therapy.


The orthonasal quality of two synthetic contexts of wine (young wine and oaked wine) spiked with six different levels of the Strecker aldehydes (isobutyraldehyde, 2-methylbutanal, 3-methylbutanal, methional and phenylacetaldehyde) was evaluated by a panel of wine experts. The aldehyde levels simulated the concentrations present in wines protected from oxidation during production and storage and after severe oxidation. Significant quality detriments were observed at concentrations of 13 µg/L of methional, 49 µg/L of phenylacetaldehyde, 17 µg/L of isobutyraldehyde, 12 µg/L of 2-methylbutanal and 24 µg/L of 3-methylbutanal. The presence of these levels of aldehyde concentrations induced the reduction of fruitiness in young wines and of woody notes in oaked wines as well as the appearance of the typical attributes that define wine oxidation. More than 75% of recently opened commercial wines contain total levels of Strecker aldehydes higher than those, however their effect is not always noticeable as they are forming inodorous adducts with SO2. Nevertheless, this content is a potential risk for the shelf life of the wine, as once SO2 is depleted, these aldehydes could release back into their odour-active forms. Thus, in order to reduce the presence of Strecker aldehydes, eight different resins were studied (two scavengers, four mixed-mode anion exchange and two pure anion exchange) in white wine at two levels of SO2. After 24-h contact, the mixed mode Strata X-A resin was able to significantly reduce aldehydes' percentages: between 11% for isobutyraldehyde and 86% for phenylacetaldehyde. On the other hand, wine colour was affected and therefore the applicability of the treatment should be further studied. However, this work can be considered a starting point to solve the technological challenge involved in the elimination of aldehydes from wine.


Nanoscale virus-like particles (VLPs), which are self-assembled from protein subunits, offer the possibility of generating hierarchically assembled functional materials such as biomimetic catalytic systems and optical metamaterials. We explore the capacity to control and tune a higher-order assembly of VLPs into ordered array materials over a wide range of ionic conditions using a combination of experimental and computational methods. The integrated methodology demonstrates that P22 VLP variants, genetically engineered to exhibit different surface charges, self-assemble into ordered arrays in the presence of PAMAM dendrimers acting as oppositely charged, macromolecular linkers. Ordered assembly occurs at an optimal ionic strength that strongly correlates with the VLP surface charge. The ordered VLP arrays exhibit the same long-range order and a similar configuration of VLP-bound dendrimers, regardless of the VLP surface charge. The experimentally validated model identifies key electrostatic and kinetic mechanisms underlying the self-assembly process and guides the modulation of dendrimer concentration as a control parameter to tune the assembly of VLPs. The integrated approach opens new design and control strategies to fabricate active functional materials via the self-assembly of engineered VLPs.


The prison-factory relations has been discussed by critical criminology as one of the keys to explaining the functioning of the criminal system and its selectivity. However, it has become common to critique how critical criminologies, by focusing their studies on class as a category of analysis of criminalization processes, have said little about how gender and race sustain these processes, or more specifically, did not use these categories as having centrality as well. This article, based on research carried out alongside the organs responsible for criminal execution in the Federal District, especially for prison work, aims to present what are the job opportunities offered to incarcerated women. The objective is to analyze if such opportunities, when configuring interpretation of art. 19, the sole paragraph of the LEP, contributes to another view of the system's functioning: the prison-factory-home relationship. Explaining: Considering that the Law of Criminal Execution indicates that the work must be adequate to the condition of the prisoner, in addition to criticizing this conception as a gender creator, we wonder if she and the practices based on her, when interpreting this adequacy? and especially providing work opportunities for reproductive service can help explain how the "home" is part of this social structure.


The authors define two-dimensional Minkowskian sigma models valued in hyperbolic complex Grassmann manifolds. They construct a different kind of solution using hyperbolic analytic functions. They exhibit graphs of a few explicit solutions.


Objective The current study explores the formation of an intention to use wearable fitness devices (WFDs) with wearable fitness attributes and health consciousness (HCS). Moreover, the research examines the use of WFDs with the health motivation (HMT) and intention to use WFDs. The study also exposes the moderating effect of HMT between the intention to use WFDs and the use of WFDs. Methods Five hundred and twenty-five adults participated in the current study, and data were collected from January 2021 to March 2021 through the online survey of Malaysian respondents. The cross-sectional data was analyzed using the second-generation statistical method of partial least square structural equation modeling. Results HCS is insignificantly associated with the intention to use WFDs. Perceived compatibility, perceived product value, perceived usefulness, and perceived technology accuracy significantly influence the intention to use WFDs. HMT significantly impacts the adoption of WFDs; however, the intention to use WFDs negatively but significantly influences the use of WFDs. Lastly, the association between the intention to use WFDs and the adoption of WFDs is significantly moderated by HMT. Conclusions Our study findings illuminate the significant impact of technology-level attributes of WFDs on the intention to use WFDs. However, an insignificant impact of HCS on the intention to use WFDs was reported. Our result confirms that HMT plays a significant role in the use of WFDs. Such as the moderating role of HMT is vital to transform the intention to use WFDs into the adoption of WFDs.


Advancements in data-acquisition technology have led to the increasing demand for high-precision road data for autonomous driving. Specifically, road boundaries and linear road markings, like edge and lane markings, provide fundamental guidance for various applications. Unfortunately, their extraction usually requires labor-intensive manual work, and the automatic extraction, which can be applied universally for diverse curved road types, presents a challenge. Given this context, this study proposes a method to automatically extract road boundaries and linear road markings by applying an oriented bounding box (OBB) collision-detection algorithm. The OBBs are generated from a reference line using the point cloud data's position and intensity values. By applying the OBB collision-detection algorithm, road boundaries and linear road markings can be extracted efficiently and accurately in straight and curved roads by adjusting search length and width to detect OBB collision. This study assesses horizontal position accuracy using automatically extracted and manually digitized data to verify this method. The resulting RMSE for extracted road boundaries is +4.8 cm and +5.3 cm for linear road markings, indicating that high-accuracy road boundary and road marking extraction was possible. Therefore, our results demonstrate that the automatic extraction adjusting OBB detection parameters and integrating the OBB collision-detection algorithm enables efficient and precise extraction of road boundaries and linear road markings in various curving types of roads. Finally, this enhances its practicality and simplifies the implementation of the extraction process.


AbstractThis article examines negotiations expected to be conducted during actual implementation after entry-into-force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). It analyzes the negotiations to be undertaken with regards to on-site inspection (OSI) procedures, and their unique character as post-agreement negotiations (PAN) is identified. In particular, the OSI negotiations will be conducted at the Executive Council (EC) level and will analyze whether violations of the treaty have occurred. This discussion further explores another level of negotiation that will occur during the OSI, between the inspected state and the inspection team, concerning the technical details of implementation. Our analysis demonstrates how these inspection negotiations will likely have an impact, well beyond the OSI itself, on the PAN in the EC regarding OSI, and further on PAN in policymaking organs, and thus on regime evolution.


Consumption of dams ethanol increased the posterity locomotion activity in open field test. The increase in female rats was higher then in male ones. Differences in the carboxypeptidase H and PMSF-inhibited carboxypeptidase activities between the brain regions and adrenal medulla of prenatally exposed to ethanol and intact rats were found. The changing of enzyme activities in female rats was higher then in male ones. It is possible that dams ethanol consumption induced profound changes in locomotion mediated, at least partially, by changes in the rate of proteolytic processing of neuropeptide precursors.


Clinical evidence regarding a new endovascular treatment device, flow diverter (FD), for large/giant cerebral aneurysms is introduced. Currently, three kinds of FD, Pipeline, Surpass, and FRED, are being used in our country. Pipeline: Pipeline was successfully placed in 107/108 patients (99.1%) in PUFS trial. An international study, IntrePED, collected clinical data of 793 patients with 906 aneurysms, and showed favorable clinical results with relatively low neurologic morbidity-mortality (7.4%). However, adverse events were more frequent in large, ruptured, and posterior circulation aneurysms. Ischemic stroke was the majority of complications (4.7%). On the other hand, delayed rupture of the treated aneurysm was rare (0.6%). Surpass: In a prospective, single-armed, multicenter clinical study of Surpass flow diverter, successful placement was observed in 161 of 186 aneurysms (98%), and neurologic death or any stroke within 6 months was seen in 18 patients (12%). FRED: In FRED, clinical reports regarding 29 patients with 34 aneurysms showed 100% successful placement and no complications in 26 cases (89%). A recent meta-analysis reported that FDs were used for unruptured aneurysms, particularly, of the internal carotid or vertebrobasilar artery, and fusiform, dissecting, or wide-necked saccular aneurysms, and progressive occlusion of the aneurysm during follow-up after the procedure and neurologic morbidity in 3.5% and death in 3.4% in 1483 patients with 1704 aneurysms. In conclusion, FDs are shown as relatively safe and useful devices for aneurysms with complex anatomical structures which are not treatable by coiling or clipping. A better clinical result is expected by selecting appropriate patients and careful treatment with FDs in the future.


Pandalopsis spinosior Hanamura, Kohno & Sakaji, 2000 (Decapoda: Caridea: Pandalidae) was originally described on the basis of material collected in the Urup Strait, South Kurile Islands, but there have been no subsequent records of the species since the original description. The Marine Science Museum, Fukushima Prefecture (Aquamarine Fukushima) has carried out investigations on deep-water animals in the Nemuro Strait, off Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokkaido, Japan, amongst the collections a large, commercially important pandalid shrimp routinely identified with P. coccinata Urita, 1941. Examination of the specimens from the collections, however, resulted in an unexpected identification with P. spinosior, instead of P. coccinata. In this short article, diagnostic characters of P. spinosior are reassessed, and comparison with P. coccinata is made. The validity of P. zarenkovi Ivanov & Sokolov, 2001, for which possible synonymy with P. spinosior was suggested, is maintained for the time being.


Summary Background Absent ductus venosus (ADV) is a rare condition, but it should be known that this embryonic anomaly may be detected by fetal echocardiographic or newborn ultrasound examinations. Case Report We present a baby with an ADV and an accompanying alternative porto-caval shunt between the right portal vein and inferior vena cava detected on postnatal ultrasound examination. Conclusions Variations in the fetal umbilical or porto-systemic circulations should be detected by fetal or newborn ultrasound examinations and kept in mind before common interventions such as UV catheterizations.


Schistonchus microcarpus n. sp. was recovered from the syconia of Ficus microcarpa from Shenzhen and Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, during a survey of nematode biodiversity from 2007 to 2009. It is characterised by possessing the combined characters of a short post-uterine sac (PUS) (3-11 μm or <0.4 vulval body diam. (VBD) long), excretory pore located just posterior to the head but anterior to the conus level of the stylet, prominent amphids, three pairs of subventral papillae on the male tail (one pair adcloacal, one pair halfway between cloaca and tail terminus, and one pair near tail tip), unique recurved and sickleshaped spicules with finely rounded tip with cucullus, amoeboid sperm, and rounded male tail tip with or without mucron. Schistonchus microcarpus n. sp. is morphologically differentiated from all other described species in this genus by the possession of a spicule with a cucullus on the tip. Schistonchus microcarpus n. sp. was easily differentiated from other sequenced species by the partial small subunit rRNA gene (SSU) and D3 expansion segments of the large subunit rRNA gene (LSU). Phylogenetic analysis with partial SSU sequences suggests that S. microcarpus n. sp. is in a highly supported monophyletic clade with sequenced Schistonchus species except for S. hirtus. Based upon inferences using D3 LSU sequence data, it forms a clade with an undescribed species of Schistonchus ex F. benjamini from Australia and is part of a larger clade of Schistonchus that mostly share the character of an anteriorly placed excretory pore. Sequences of partial mtDNA COI (590 bp) from males of S. microcarpus n. sp. with and without a mucronate tail tip were identical, proving that these two morphotypes are conspecific.


This article tried to assess the role of media in the former Yugoslavia inter-ethnic conflict, the 1994 Rwanda's genocide, and Ethiopia's recent interethnic conflict trends comparatively. It also addresses lessons Ethiopia can learn from the former Yugoslavia and the 1994 Rwanda. It is mainly a qualitative study. For the analysis, semi-systematic literature review, frame analysis, and discourse analysis are used. Six ethnic-based media from Amhara, Oromo, and Tigre ethnic groups of Ethiopia were taken as a sample of the study. The finding shows that victimization frames, ethnic injustice frames, moral superiority frames, anti-hero frames, 'enemy within' frames, and self-defense frames are the dominant crisis frames of the media, which created fear, sense of a clear and present danger and mobilized violent action in both Yugoslavia and Rwanda. This article reveals that these crisis frames are also framed by all selected ethnic based media in current Ethiopia; to the extent of the potential consequence as the same result as both Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Additionally, Yugoslavia and Rwanda media played the role of instigating and flaring conflict and genocide respectively. Similarly, the current manifestations and trends of Ethiopia's ethnic-based media are following the path which Yugoslavia and Rwanda media has passed. Regional state/public media and specific 'ethnic group' based private/commercial Ethiopian media are abused by 'extreme ethnic nationalists'. Based on these comparative analyses, the study identified major lessons from Yugoslavia and Rwanda which will help Ethiopia to take timely measures. Thus, structured, content-specific, aggressive and proactive interventions on ethnic-based Ethiopian media are highly needed.


Influences on viability and germination of seeds have been studied intensively for many years, particularly for the numer-ous commercially important agricultural, ornamental, and timber species. High germinating seed lots may differ substantially in field emergence when sown at the same time in the same field, and/or may differ in performance after storage in the same environment or transport to the same destination. Knowledge of the availability and abundance of viable seeds in tundra soils is important to an understanding of community processes in a stable or in a changing environment. This includes the actual recruitment from this seed bank into seedlings, juvenile and then adult population. Seed storage is very important to secure good quality seeds for planting programs whenever needed. Seed longevity, vigor and viability depend on genetic and physiological factors as well as storage conditions. The most important factors that influence storage are temperature, moisture, seed characteristics, micro-organism geographical location and storage structure. It is necessary to improve methods that increase potential seed longevity, vigor and viability in storage. Seed viability can be extended by cold or dry storage at seed moisture content below 5%


Introduction: Amorphophallus paeoniifolius and Colocasia esculenta, two aroids used as a source of food possess various medicinal properties too. The present study is aimed at the macro microscopic comparison of these two species. Methods: The fresh rhizomes of the A. paeoniifolius and C. esculenta were collected from Mettur and market respectively. Detailed macroscopy followed by anatomy and powder characters were studied in accordance to standard pharmacopoeial procedures. Results: The two rhizomes differed morphologically; A. paeoniifolius is larger and blackish brown externally while C. esculenta is lighter in colour with concentric rings of leaf scars. The rhizome transverse section also showed difference in number of cork layers (less in A. paeoniifolius). The inner cork cells contained rosette crystals in A. paeoniifolius (absent in C. esculenta). Raphide bundles of acicular crystals are present in A. paeoniifolius (prismatic crystals in C. esculenta). Starch grains both simple and compound were present in both species but the grains in C. esculenta were comparatively smaller when compared to A. paeoniifolius. Mucilage cells are seen in both rhizomes while latex tube was visible only in A. paeoniifolius. These differences were reflected in the powder microscopy of the two species. Conclusion: The outcomes of the paper provides a crisp and concise information about the detailed macro -microscopy of the two aroid medicinal plant materials.


In April of 2010 Serbia was rocked by the news that a dog whose paws had been cut off was found in the Medakovic neighborhood of Belgrade. Miraculously, the dog was still alive, but in bad condition. The news media named the dog Mila (which, aside from being a Serbian female name, can also mean "dear one" or "gentle one") and the Serbian public followed the story of Mila's plight and subsequent recovery with great interest and much comment, so much so that the event became a trigger for a moral panic of sorts. In this paper I have attempted to point out how the Serbian public, with reference to the case of Mila the dog, conceptualizes violence against animals, as well as to point out that folk classifications of living creatures – such as the one which distinguishes animals from meat (see Mullin 1999) – influence the understanding and conceptualization of violence as a phenomenon. Secondly, I have attempted to uncover which elements of the event in question caused a moral panic in Serbia, and which had inhibited the development of a serious public discussion of the issue of animal suffering. In that sense, the object of this paper is twofold – on the one hand it aims to point out why a discussion of the systematic and systemic violence against animals did not occur, and on the other, it serves to point out those elements of the event which caused the panic.
Key words: humananimal relations, the case of Mila the dog, moral panic.


In this paper, we present an approach for the design of plant layouts in stochastic environments. We consider systems where the product mix and product demand are subject to variability and where duplicates of the same department type may exist in the same facility. In contrast to a job shop layout, we allow these duplicates to be placed in non-adjacent locations on the plant floor and for flow allocation between pairs of individual departments to be made as a function of the layout and the product demand realization. We present a scenario-based procedure that iteratively solves for layout and flow allocation. We show that having duplicates of the same departments, which can be strategically located in different areas of the plant floor, can significantly reduce material handling cost while effectively hedging against fluctuations in flow patterns and volumes. We show that the effect of duplication is of the diminishing kind, with most of the cost reduction occurring with relatively few duplicates. We also show that the quality of the obtained layouts can be quite insensitive to inaccuracies in estimating demand scenario probabilities.


The Breast Cancer Advocacy Group (BCAG) is a collaborative group of 16 patient advocates that coalesced with the NCI-funded Breast Cancer SPORE five years ago. Since, BCAG has expanded to support a broad range of activities in the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) Breast Cancer Program. The DF/HCC is a comprehensive cancer center that brings together the cancer research efforts of seven institutions including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI); Brigham and Women9s Hospital (BWH); Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC); Children9s Hospital Boston (CHB); Harvard Medical School (HMS); Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH); and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The mission of the DF/HCC Breast Cancer Program is to improve survival and quality of life, and ultimately prevent the further development of breast cancer. BCAG members provide an informed patient perspective to DF/HCC investigators involved in both translational and clinical research activities, and on topics directly affecting the patient experience, such as tissue banking and consenting for clinical trials. By participating in the development and oversight of research, advocates aspire to influence the nature of questions pursued to more closely reflect patient concerns and bring treatments from the lab to the clinic in a more efficient and patient-centered manner. The group has substantial experience in partnering with clinicians and researchers to generate ideas for new directions in research. Members serve on review panels for various grant mechanisms, participate in concept discussions for new projects, provide input to improve clinical trial concepts, protocols and consent documents, serve on the Clinical Trials Committee, and collaborate with investigators on funded research and in the development of research proposals. The advocates meet monthly or more frequently if needed. They attend the weekly DF/HCC Breast Cancer Program Seminars Series, monthly research review meetings, as well as larger multi-institutional symposiums. Members of the group have participated in Department of Defense (DOD) Centers of Excellence Projects at DF/HCC, Susan G. Komen Promise Grants, and the Stand Up 2 Cancer (SU2C) grants. Members attend national meetings such as AACR, SABCS, ASCO, the National Breast Cancer Coalition Annual Advocacy Conference, as well as local educational programs. BCAG members also serve on review panels for the DOD, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Breast Cancer SPORE. Members are affiliated with several different breast cancer advocacy organizations including the National Breast Cancer Coalition, Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, Thrive Together, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Over the past five years the group has increased its visibility and presence within the DF/HCC. In addition, the BCAG has developed its own research projects and is currently working on a pilot program on how to return clinical trial results to participants. Future plans include developing new ways to enhance the group9s ability to support and improve the research enterprise. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-68. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-LB-68


Background: Psychosocial stress correlates with cardiovascular (CV) events; however, associations between physiologic measures of stressors and CVD remain incompletely understood, especially in racial/ethnic minority populations in resource-limited neighborhoods. We examined associations between chronic stress-related neural activity, measured by amygdalar 18Fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG) uptake, and aortic vascular FDG uptake (arterial inflammation measure) in a community-based cohort. Methods: Forty participants from the Washington, DC CV Health and Needs Assessment (DC-CHNA), a study of a predominantly African-American population in resource-limited urban areas and 25 healthy volunteers underwent detailed phenotyping, including 18FDG PET/CT for assessing amygdalar activity (AmygA), vascular FDG uptake, and hematopoietic (leukopoietic) tissue activity. Mediation analysis was used to test whether the link between AmygA and vascular FDG uptake was mediated by hematopoietic activity. Results: AmygA (1.11 ± 0.09 vs. 1.05 ± 0.09, p = 0.004) and vascular FDG uptake (1.63 ± 0.22 vs. 1.55 ± 0.17, p = 0.05) were greater in the DC-CHNA cohort compared to volunteers. Within the DC-CHNA cohort, AmygA associated with vascular FDG uptake after adjustment for Framingham score and body mass index (β = 0.41, p = 0.015). The AmygA and aortic vascular FDG uptake relationship was in part mediated by splenic (20.2%) and bone marrow (11.8%) activity. Conclusions: AmygA, or chronic stress-related neural activity, associates with subclinical CVD risk in a community-based cohort. This may in part be mediated by the hematopoietic system. Our findings of this hypothesis-generating study are suggestive of a potential relationship between chronic stress-related neural activity and subclinical CVD in an African American community-based population. Taken together, these findings suggest a potential mechanism by which chronic psychosocial stress, such as stressors that can be experienced in adverse social conditions, promotes greater cardiovascular risk amongst resource-limited, community-based populations most impacted by cardiovascular health disparities. However, larger prospective studies examining these findings in other racially and ethnically diverse populations are necessary to confirm and extend these findings.


We propose a novel small-angle measuring optical method based on the astigmatic effect of two orthogonally placed cylindrical lenses. According to the one-to-one correspondence between the laser spot shape and the angle,the angle is determined. We theoretically analyze the measuring range and demonstrate that a longer distance between the rotating axis and the optical axis leads to a smaller measuring range, but better sensitivity. Also, an associated experimental system is established and a measuring range of 0.94 mrad(cubic fit r = 0.9993) as well as a good linear range of 0.37 mrad(linear fit r=0.9994) with a resolution of 8 μrad is achieved.


Background : It is known that exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) decrease after bronchial provocation. Divergent results on the bronchodilators effect on FENO have been reported in asthma patients.

Aim: To investigate the acute effects of bronchodilation on FENO and peripheral lung function in patients with stable asthma.

Methods : FENO, FEV1, and the slope of phase III of He (SHe), and SF6 (SSF6) from a FRC+1L single-breath test (lower slope indicating less peripheral obstruction) were measured in 46 asthma patients before and 15 minutes after inhaled salbutamol (400µg via pMDI).

Results : As a whole group, no significant effect of acute bronchodilation was observed on FENO. (D=6.0±24.6%, p=0.26). FENO increased in 22 patients (Δ=15.6±11.4%; p<0.001) (NO+ group) and decreased in 24 patients (Δ=-25.8±14.5%; p<0.001) (NO- group). Baseline values were similar in the NO+ and NO- groups for FENO (p=0.94), FEV1 (p=0.91), SHe (p=0.26) and SSF6 (p=0.25).

Similar FEV1 improvements were found in both groups (15% vs 14.6%, p=0.93) In the NO+ group, neither SHe nor SSF6 decreased significantly (-18.4±34.8% p=0.146; -6.9±42.2% p=0.52), whereas in the NO-, both SHe and SSF6 decreased significantly (-20.8±40.2% p=0.007; -21.0±28.4% p=0.004).

Discussion : A large proportion of asthma patients decreased FENO. This paradoxical behaviour may be due to a more pronounced peripheral bronchodilator effect, which would amplify back-diffusion of NO and, hence, reduce FENO. Subjects increasing FENO after bronchodilation may have a predominant dilation of more central airways.

Conclusion : Specific NO behaviour after acute bronchodilation may help to identify different asthma phenotypes based on the bronchoconstriction location.


The Wage laws in Indonesia need to be ratified. Law No. 13 of 2003  concerning Indonesian labor law as fundamental. In article 90 (paragraph)  2  stated that regulates the suspension of minimum wages causing polemic until the submission of a judicial review to the Constitutional Court, with the outcome of decision No. 72/PUU/XIII/2015. This research analyzes the epistemological foundation of the Constitutional Court Decision. The verdict states that the employer has a debt to the employer for the deferral of minimum wage. This type of research is Juridical Normative, using library materials as primary material. Using the Historical Approach and the Legislative Approach. Then using the Maqashid Shariah as his analysis. It can be concluded that Constitutional Court Decision No 72/PUU/XIII/2015 is the best win-win solution. The most important epistemological foundation is jurisprudence, namely Constitutional Court Decision No. 61/PUU/XIII/2010. Based on the perfective Maqashid Shariah the ruling is appropriate, the Maslahah contained greater than the Mafsadah. And it is included in the level of Dhoruriyah and is a form of Hifdzu mall (protecting property) and Hifdzu nasfs (protecting the soul). So that this final decision both in social reason and  Maqashid test is the right decision. With the interests of each party has been accommodated, the entrepreneur can still do deferral and workers/laborers still get their rights pending, Currently, its how to application expected to the maximum in the work world.


Digital interventions have affected every business and product category. Consumers are making use of digital channels and platforms to research, explore, review and buy the routine items like grocery to speciality and high involvement products involving significant outlay such as Car.   However, it remains yet to be researched adequately by the researchers in an emerging economy context, whether the purchase of a product like car has been affected in same way as that of routine items by the digital channels. This study compares the most popular intentions-based models  namely technology acceptance model (TAM) with the decomposed theory of planned behaviour (DTPB) to predict the intentions of Indian car buyers to employ digital marketing communication while making a car buying decision. The study is of great relevance to the academicians because it provides a peep into the role of consumer's intention in shaping consumer behaviour. Not many studies have applied the intention based models in Indian passenger car market especially in technology mediated environment. The study has not only seen the application of intention-based models in a relatively unexplored category, but also puts forwards the most suitable model that could be used by the marketers to predict the usage intentions and actual usage of digital marketing communication thereafter, while taking a car buying decision. Primary data was obtained from 500 car buyers consisting of both actual and potential buyers from Delhi. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate and compare both the models in terms of overall fit, explanatory power and significance. The results of the study revealed that digital channels have transformed the car buying process and DTPB was more successful model in predicting Indian car buyers' intentions to use digital marketing communication while buying a car.


The Micromegas technology can be used to construct very powerful detectors for low background, low energy measurements. A Micromegas X-ray detector has been used to search for solar axions in the CAST experiment at CERN. The detector has an active area of 7 cm × 7 cm, a very good x-y position, and a good energy resolution. It is built using low radioactivity materials and it is capable of low energy X-ray measurements of a few hundred eV. Despite the lack of external shielding the obtained background level is below 5 × 105 counts/keV/cm2/s. The detector is being upgraded with a reduced active area Micromegas module, a focusing X-Ray telescope and shielding, which are expected to further reduce the background by about two orders of magnitude.


Autonomous vehicles will provide an exciting opportunity for drivers and passengers to disengage from the task of driving and engage in non-driving related tasks. However, little is known about how future owners of autonomous vehicles will use their vehicles and understanding this will allow car manufacturers to re-invent the journey experience. This paper presents the development of a survey as well as results with 1,378 drivers. The survey found that those who are most likely to own an autonomous vehicle prioritise leisure activities, resting and socialising. The results will lead to priorities for the design of the interior space to support non-driving related tasks.


Very few high‐resolution and directly dated terrestrial archives of the last glacial period exist for the western Mediterranean region, yet this is a key locality for recording sub‐millennial North Atlantic and Mediterranean climate change. Here, we present evidence of effective precipitation changes based on growth history and δ13C of calcite in a Mallorcan stalagmite that grew between 112 and 48 ka. Effective precipitation in Mallorca appears to have been sensitive to proximal sea surface temperature variations and at certain times, ca. 76 ka for example, changed rapidly from moist to arid conditions in only a few centuries. A sea‐level highstand during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a interrupted growth. Regrowth started promptly after this, but effective precipitation decreased markedly for much of the later part of MIS 5a, and also for shorter periods correlative with Heinrich events H8 (ca. 90 ka) and H6 (ca. 65 ka), with growth ceasing during H5 (ca. 48 ka). Arid episodes in Mallorca appear to be expressions of extremely cold periods recorded further north in Europe and occur contemporaneously with rapid decreases in Greenland temperature. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract.
 Founder parents have contributed significantly to the improvement of wheat. Beijing 8 has been used as a founder parent in developing many outstanding improved cultivars in China. The widely grown cultivars Beijing 8 and 6 additional derivatives both derived from the cross 'Bima 4 × Early Premium' in China, were characterised using seven morphological traits and 537 microsatellite markers. Phenotypic comparisons revealed that Beijing 8 was similar for certain characteristics to the widely grown cultivars Shijiazhuang 54 and Jinan 2, hinting that acceptable performance for yield components may be the basis for Beijing 8 serving as a founder parent. Simple sequence repeat analysis indicated that Bima 4 contributed more genome information to the derivatives than Early Premium. Fifty-nine unique simple sequence repeat alleles, present in Beijing 8 and absent in other cultivars, were observed. Nearly all loci were in close proximity to the positions of known genes conferring important traits. Furthermore, pedigree tracking found that the frequencies of alleles unique to Beijing 8 varied from 0 to 0.96 in its 51 descendants, suggesting that some of them underwent rigorous selection during breeding.


Clamping of the hepatic pedicle is an emergency act, limited in time and ineffective in cases of vena cava-hepatic vein reflux. The single forceps suggested are particularly well suited to the morphology of the right lobe, affected in 70% of cases of liver trauma, providing equipotential parenchymatous stereocompression. They have the advantage of being selective, complete, and reversible, and may be applied for an indefinite period. They provide rapid biliostasis and haemostasis and provide time for thorough exploration of the abdominal cavity without any risk of total hepatic ischaemia.


The paper, describing the results of prequalification reliability tests for multiple quantum-well DFB lasers, is the first reported work in which lasers, degraded to the end of life for threshold current, exhibit stable single-mode performance with side-mode suppression ratios exceeding 45 dB and unchanged dynamic performance at 2.6 Gbit/s. Lifetests of laser chips were carried out at 50 degrees C and 125 degrees C and the dynamic performance of these laser chips was measured at 0 hours and at selected times during the lifetest. The lifetest results at 50 degrees C showed a small initial change but exhibited no significant ageing after 12000 h. The median predicted change in drive current for 5 mW at 25 years was -3%, with more than 98% of the sampling demonstrating less than a 20% predicted increase. Under overstress conditions at 125 degrees C it is predicted that in excess of 90% of the sample will exhibit an increase in drive current of less than 50% in 25 years. This gives a high degree of confidence in the CW performance of the MQW DFB ridge laser. As was expected from the stable CW performance, no significant drift was observed in the dynamic performance. Devices subjected to further overstress tests at 160 degrees C exhibited a significant degradation corresponding to an end of life condition of a 50% increase in drive current. Despite this degradation, neither the side-mode suppression ratio nor the patterning were observed to change. These results give the confidence that the MQW DFB ridge-waveguide lasers will not only meet the reliability requirements of land-based and submerged links in terms of CW performance and factors crucial to 2.6 Gbit/s but they will also exhibit stable single-mode performance, and patterning, irrespective of the degree of degradation.


In this paper, I offer a partial picture of my conceptual location as a US black feminist, professional philosopher and, by doing so, illustrate one of the ways Africana philosophy is being shaped and engaged. I offer a portrait of my conceptual location by identifying a value shared by some 'anti-theory' black feminists and some Africana professional philosophers in the US that ultimately recommends a consistent engagement in black feminist/philosophical praxis.


We studied the effects of alpha- and beta-adrenergic antagonists on lung fluid and protein exchange in anesthetized sheep. alpha-Adrenergic blockade with 2 mg/kg phentolamine caused a transient and small decrease in lung lymph flow (Qlym), which was associated with a decrease in mean pulmonary arterial pressure (Ppa); but the steady-state Qlym and mean left atrial pressure were not different from base-line values. In contrast, beta-adrenergic blockade with propranolol (2 mg/kg) caused an increase in Qlym from a base-line value of 7.7 +/- 2.2 ml/h to a steady-state value of 10.6 +/-2.3 ml/h within 2 h (P less than 0.05), which was not associated with a change in Ppa. The increase in Qlym persisted for the 4-h duration of the study. The 39% increase in Qlym after propranolol was associated with a 50% increase in transvascular protein clearance (CL), whereas in control animals the 100% increase in Qlym after left atrial hypertension was associated with only a 36% increase in CL, indicating increased transvascular transport of proteins after propranolol. The transient decrease in Qlym after phentolamine may be due to the short-lasting decreased in pulmonary microvascular pressure and vascular surface area. However, the long-lasting increases in Qlym and CL after propranolol may be due to an increase in vascular surface area and to an increase in endothelial permeability of proteins. The results suggests that beta-adrenergic receptors regulate the transendothelial transport of fluid and proteins.


While studies have identified associations between cyber and in-person dating abuse, most research has relied on cross-sectional data, limiting the ability to determine temporality. This study tested the longitudinal associations between cyber and physical and psychological forms of in-person dating abuse. Data were from an ongoing longitudinal study following a group of high school students originally recruited in Southeast Texas, US, into their young adulthood. Three waves of data (Waves 4–6) were used, with each wave collected one year apart. At Wave 4, participants' age ranged from 16 years to 20 years (mean = 18.1, median = 18.0, SD = .78). The analytical sample consisted of 879 adolescents/young adults (59% female, 41% male; 32% Hispanics, 28% Black, 29% White, and 11% other) who completed the dating abuse questions. Cross-lagged panel analysis showed that dating abuse victimization and perpetration were predictive of subsequent dating abuse of the same type. Cyber dating abuse perpetration was found to predict subsequent physical dating abuse perpetration as well as physical dating abuse victimization, but not vice versa. Further, cyber dating abuse perpetration predicted psychological dating abuse victimization, but not vice versa. Cyber dating abuse victimization was not significantly associated with either physical or psychological dating abuse temporally. Overall, findings suggest that cyber dating abuse perpetration may be a risk marker for both physical and psychological forms of in-person dating abuse. Interventions may benefit from targeting cyber dating abuse perpetration as means to prevent in-person dating abuse.


Introduction Renal transplantation is the preferred treatment for most patients with end-stage renal disease. Postoperative vascular complications that significantly affect graft loss include renal artery stenosis and thrombosis. Many arterial anastomoses have been used at various transplant centers. Haberal described corner saving renal artery anastomosis in 2003. In this study, we have presented the long term outcomes of 459 renal transplant recipients to undergo our corner-saving renal artery anastomosis technique. Materials and Methods Our transplant team has performed 2646 procedures since 1975. After December 2003, we began using the corner-saving technique. When performing the corner-saving technique, before suturing, the posterior wall of the renal artery is spatulated approximately 2 to 3 mm. Then a 7-0 Prolene running suture is made beginning 3 mm ahead of the middle of the posterior walls of the renal artery and the external iliac artery, finishing at the anterior walls of the renal and external iliac arteries.). After the last stitch, both ends of the suture material are pulled to decrease the excess, and the posterior walls of the renal and external iliac arteries are approximated tightly. Then, 1 retraction suture is placed at the anterior corner of the external iliac and renal arteries. The remaining wall is sewn with the same suture. Results 324 of the patients were male and 135 of the patients were female. Overall mean age of 31.3±8.9 years (range, 7–66 years); 339 of the patients were living donor kidney transplantation and 120 of the patients were deceased donor kidney transplantation. No renal artery thrombosis developed in any of our patients. In 2 patients iliac artery dissection occurred, and treated with surgical procedure. In 4 patient (0.8%), a renal arterial stenosis was noted at the follow up period. All of them were treated with interventional radiologic procedures. 32 patients passed away during the follow up period (Patient survival: 93%). All deaths occurred 1 year after transplant and all of them had normal renal functions. Conclusion With its low complication rates, we believe that the corner-saving suture technique is a safe and easy means of performing a renal arterial anastomosis that will decrease the rate of vascular complications. Spatulating the posterior wall of the renal artery provides a wider anastomosis.


Nanomedicine, acting as the magic bullet, is capable of combining immunotherapy with other treatments to reverse a cold tumor (immune depletion) into a hot tumor. However, how to comprehensively inhibit the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) remains a major challenge for immunotherapy to achieve the maximum benefits. Thus, a strategy that can simultaneously increase the recruitment of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and comprehensively reprogram the immunosuppressive TME is still urgently needed. Herein, a thermal-sensitive nitric oxide (NO) donor S-nitrosothiols (SNO)-pendant copolymer (poly(acrylamide-co-acrylonitrile-co-vinylimidazole)-SNO copolymer, PAAV-SNO) with upper critical solution temperature (UCST) was synthesized and employed to fabricate an erythrocyte membrane-camouflaged nanobullet for codelivery of NIR II photothermal agent IR1061 and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO-1) inhibitor 1-methyl-tryptophan (1-MT). This multifunctional nanobullet possessed long circulation in vivo, enhanced accumulation at the tumor site, and therapeutics-controlled release by NIR II laser, thereby it could avoid unspecific drug leakage while enhancing biosecurity. More importantly, the immunogenic cell death (ICD) induced by local hyperthermia from photothermal therapy (PTT) could be conducive for the increased recruitment of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) at the tumor site. Furthermore, through interfering in the IDO-1 activity by 1-MT and normalizing the tumor vessels by in situ generated NO, the immunosuppressive TME was comprehensively reprogrammed toward an immunostimulatory phenotype, achieving the excellent therapeutic efficacy against both primary breast cancer and metastases. Collectively, this multifunctional nanobullet described in this study developed an effective and promising strategy to comprehensively reprogram suppressive TME and treat "immune cold" tumors.


Learning is a unique process for each learner, affected by many instructional and learning factors. Exploring the process of learning is an ongoing expedition, never ending and challenging as well. It is learnt that no individual, particular strategy, method or approach is appropriate for helping intellectually disabled students in learning or achieving all competencies including Learning Science. Every disability, however mild or moderate, imposes on the individual certain functional limitations. Technology helps to mitigate such limitations thus promoting learning. An accessible assistive technology permit either no or minimal adaptation by students with disabilities in the use of technology in the academic settings. The techniques of accessibility are based on recent technologies and design strategies to allow more flexible use of content and easier implementation of dynamic methods and models in instruction. Technology oriented learning environment employing Accessible Technology ensures educational equity by providing access and equitable learning opportunity through personalized and differentiated instruction which can accommodate each learner's needs and preferences.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate whether homocysteine is linked to atherothrombotic (AT) events in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODS
Analysis of homocysteine (Hcy) levels was carried out in 235 consecutive RA patients. They were followed-up for 6.5 years or until death, with analysis of AT risk factors and the type and length of DMARD and corticosteroid treatment. The disease history before inclusion was collected. Six categories of AT events were defined. In addition, the diagnosis of the patients at follow-up was co-analyzed with the nationwide population-based Swedish Inpatient Register and Death Register to certify all events.

RESULTS
The Hcy level was found to be higher in males (p<0.05) and increased with age (p<0.001). Patients with folic acid supplementation had significantly lower levels, while those on corticosteroids had higher levels. High Hcy levels predicted AT events (n=48) during a 6.5-year follow-up adjusted for age and male sex in a logistic regression analysis.

CONCLUSION
In this study, RA patients on folic acid had lower Hcy levels. High Hcy levels (in addition to age, sex and diabetes) predicted AT event prospectively.


The Open Society Institute ( OSI) is a private operating and grant-making foundation that serves as the hub of the Soros foundations network, a group of autonomous national foundations around the world. OSI and the network implement a range of initiatives that aim to promote open societies by shaping national and international policies with knowledge and expertise. The OSI provides an excellent case study of the strategies of transnational activism of private philanthropy. It is an institutional mechanism for the international diffusion of expertise and 'best practices' to post communist countries and other democratizing nations. This paper avoids assumptions that civil society is an entirely separate and distinguishable domain from states and emergent forms of transnational authority. Focusing on the 'soft' ideational and normative policy transfer undermines notions of clear cut boundaries between an independent philanthropic body in civil society and highlights the intermeshing and mutual engagement that comes with networks, coalitions, joint funding, partnerships and common policy dialogues.


Phospene image generation is an important step in development of the visual prostheses. Because, according to clinical studies, the patients see the small light spots called phospene when use visual prosthesis. In the literature, few studies have been published on this subject, and ever increasing need to better understand the perceptual and physiological aspects of prosthetic vision have emerged. The image processing algorithms are very important in generation of the phospene image that allows simulating the prosthetic vision systems. In this study, a prosthetic vision simulator algorithm, generates the phospene image by processing the visual inputs for various electrode configuration, has been developed. Algorithm uses 2D Gaussion function to model the phospene spots and considers phospene interaction between electrodes. The results of the algorithm have been presented and study has been concluded.


In patients with type 1 neurofibromatosis (NF1), there is an increased susceptibility to tumor development in the central nervous system due to the loss of neurofibromin, an inactivator of the protooncogene Ras. NF1 has a broad clinical spectrum,which includes spinal tumors. Although the most common intramedullary tumor of the spinal cord in adults is ependymoma, few patients with NF1 accompanied by spinal ependymoma have been reported to date, and the localization of the tumors is cervical and thoracic in these cases. In this study, we report the case of a patient with NF1 presenting to our clinic with low back pain and gait disturbance. The patient had an intradural extramedullary ependymoma at the L2-3 vertebra level. This report is the first case of NF1 with spinal ependymoma localized in the lumbar region.


We investigate the potential in using of using a graphics processor unit (GPU) for Monte-Carlo (MC)-based radiation dose calculations. The percent depth dose (PDD) of photons in a medium with known absorption and scattering coefficients is computed using a MC simulation running on both a standard CPU and a GPU. We demonstrate that the GPU's capability for massive parallel processing provides a significant acceleration in the MC calculation, and offers a significant advantage for distributed stochastic simulations on a single computer. Harnessing this potential of GPUs will help in the early adoption of MC for routine planning in a clinical environment.


This letter addresses the problem of the nonunitary joint block diagonalization of a given set of complex matrices whose potential applications stem from the blind separation of convolutive mixtures of sources and from the array processing. The proposed algorithm is based on the algebraic optimization of a least-mean-square criterion. One of its advantage is that a pre-whitening stage is no more compulsorily required when this algorithm is applied in the blind source separation context. Computer simulations are provided in order to illustrate its behavior in three cases: when exact block-diagonal matrices are built, then when they are progressively perturbed by an additive Gaussian noise and, finally, in the context of blind separation of convolutive mixtures of temporally correlated sources with estimated correlation matrices. A comparison with a classical orthogonal joint block diagonalization algorithm is also performed, and a new performance index is introduced to measure the performance of the separation.


Of 858 pregnant women studied in matched rectal, urethral and urine cultured specimens, 186 (22%) were found to be colonized by group B streptococci (GBS). GBS were detected significantly more often in rectal specimens (159) than in urethral specimens (108) or in urine specimens (64). This is supporting evidence for the gastrointestinal tract as the main habitat of GBS. Of 1786 women whose urine was sampled at delivery, GBS were isolated from 128 (7%), in 22 of whom (1% of the total) GBS were present in quantities greater than or equal to 10(4) colony forming units (cfu)/ml urine. Neonates born to women with greater than or equal to 10(4) cfu GBS/ml urine were apparently at greater risk for neonatal infection, as they were more commonly and more heavily colonized than were the newborns of women with lower quantities of GBS in urine, or if positive urethral or rectal specimens were considered. The incidence of preterm delivery or obstetric infection was not higher among women in whom GBS were isolated in specimens from any of the 3 sites; foetal distress was more common among their children, but not neonatal respiratory or infectious diseases of which the incidence was low and difficult to assess statistically.


This experimental study provides striking examples of the complex flow and turbulence structure resulting from blade-wake and wake-wake interactions in a multi-stage turbomachine. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed within the entire 2 nd stage of a two-stage turbomachine. The experiments are performed in a facility that allows unobstructed view of the entire flow field, facilitated using transparent rotor and stator and a fluid that has the same optical index of refraction as the blades. This paper contains data on the phase-averaged flow structure including velocity, vorticity and strain-rate, as well as the turbulent kinetic energy and shear stress, at mid span, for several orientation of the rotor relative to the stator. Two different test setups with different blade geometries are used in order to highlight and elucidate complex phenomena involved, as well as to demonstrate that some of the interactions are characteristic to turbomachines and can be found in a variety of geometries. The first part of the paper deals with the interaction of a 2 nd -stage rotor with the wakes of both the rotor and the stator of the 1 st stage. Even before interacting with the blade, localized regions with concentrated mean vorticity and elevated turbulence levels form at the intersection of the rotor and stator wakes of the 1 st stage. These phenomena persist even after being ingested by the rotor blade of the 2 nd stage. As the wake segment of the 1 st -stage rotor blade arrives to the 2 nd stage, the rotor blades become submerged in its elevated turbulence levels, and separate the region with negative vorticity that travels along the pressure side of the blade, from the region with positive vorticity that remains on the suction side. The 1 st -stage stator wake is chopped-off by the blades. Due to difference in mean lateral velocity, the stator wake segment on the pressure side is advected faster than the segment on the suction side (in the absolute frame of reference), creating discontinuities in the stator wake trajectory. The nonuniformities in phase-averaged velocity distributions generated by the wakes of the 1 st stage persist while passing through the 2 nd -stage rotor. The combined effects of the 1 st -stage blade rows cause 10-12 deg variations of flow angle along the pressure side of the blade. Thus, in spite of the large gap between the 1 st and 2 nd rotors (compared to typical rotor-stator spacings in axial compressors), 6.5 rotor axial chords, the wake-blade interactions are substantial. The second part focuses on the flow structure at the intersection of the wakes generated by a rotor and a stator located upstream of it. In both test setups the rotor wake is sheared by the nonuniformities in the axial velocity distributions, which are a direct result of the discontinuities in the trajectories of the stator wake. This shearing creates a kink in the trajectory of the rotor wake, a quadruple structure in the distribution of strain, regions with concentrated vorticity, high turbulence levels and high shear stresses, the latter with a complex structure that resembles the mean strain. Although the hot spots diffuse as they are advected downstream, they still have elevated turbulence levels compared to the local levels around them. In fact, every region of wake intersection has an elevated turbulence level.


Many big building fires happened in the past involved burning furniture foam. In some places such as Hong Kong, foams treated with fire retardant additives are only required to test their ignitability under a small flame. It was proposed earlier that the behaviour of furniture foam in flashover fires should be assessed more extensively by a cone calorimeter under high radiative heat fluxes. In this paper, this screening approach is further studied using five samples, including three different pillow foams, one mattress foam and one expensive fire-safe sofa foam. Both thermal and smoke aspects were studied in a cone calorimeter under heat fluxes of 20 kWm-2, 30 kWm-2, 50 kWm-2 and 70 kWm-2. It was observed that all the foam samples were burnt under heat fluxes above 30 kWm-2. Only one pillow foam sample was not ignited under a low incident heat flux of 20 kWm-2, but it morphed into a mixture of solid and liquid. Under heat fluxes above 30 kWm-2, the fire-safe foam burnt vigorously; the burning showed no differences from foam without fire retardant. The fire-safe foam even released more smoke and toxic gases with higher carbon monoxide concentration. From the above cone calorimeter test, foams commonly used in the market can only withstand small match fires to delay ignition time. Foam products should be protected by additional provisions, such as an external cover, to protect them against big fires.


Increasing human populations are creating challenges in food production and water management. Improving resource management with advances in technology is needed to meet these challenges. Swift Wet ® is a protein enhanced surfactant created by the Advanced BioCatalytics Corporation of Irvine, California. The liquid concentrate had been tested in various bench tests with successful results that merited a field level experiment that is presented in this article. It was shown to enhance the yield of an alfalfa crop in a sandy loam soil by 27.9% and 81.6% in test fields versus their respective control fields. Although there are several ways to improve the experiment further, the results of this study are encouraging. They support a conclusion that, in a sandy loam soil type, Swift Wet® can significantly improve yields of alfalfa.


Lignin, a type of abundant and low-cost biomass, is successfully utilized as a carbon precursor to prepare carbon nanosheets (CNSs) by freeze-casting of a lignin aqueous dispersion followed by direct carbonization without any activating treatment. The size and specific area of the obtained lignin-derived CNSs can be manipulated by controlling the concentrations of lignin aqueous dispersions, which in turn influences the graphitization degree of the CNSs as confirmed by wide angle X-ray scattering analysis and Raman spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study indicates that the CNSs contain ∼11–16 at% oxygen heteroatoms, which contribute to additional pseudocapacitance. The three-electrode supercapacitors based on optimized CNSs show a high capacitance of 281 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1current density and good cycling stability in H2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. The study provides a simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly method for preparation of CNSs from various water-soluble biomass carbon precursors.


1,2-Bis(N-benzoyl-N-methylamino)benzene (2) forms centrosymmetric hydrate crystals (2·xH2O) and non-centrosymmetric anhydrous crystals. Dehydration of this hydrate (30 min at 140 °C) resulted in the formation of chiral crystals (i.e. a physical racemate of the conglomerate crystals) as verified using solid-state circular dichroism and powder X-ray diffraction. Subsequent attrition-enhanced deracemization, also known as Viedma ripening, was used to obtain homochiral crystals of 2 within 5 h.


A study has been conducted to investigate the feasibility of using the multilevel substructuring method to perform parametric analysis for MEMS devices. The feasibility study was conducted on a CMOS micromachined thermistor gas sensor. Two multilevel substructuring methods were used, mainly the cumulative and nested superelements methods. The interface problem was found to increase rapidly with the increase in the number of superelements for the cumulative technique. On the other hand, the nested superelements technique was found to provide an almost fixed and much more reduced interface problem. The results show that, for the same number of reduced elements, the nested superelements method provides a better speedup factor (2.36-4.61) compared to the cumulative method. In the current study, two strategies were used to deal with the nonlinear thermal analysis of the microheater. In the first strategy the substructuring was only limited to the linear portions of the model. In the second strategy the substructuring was extended to include portions of the model with a reduced nonlinearity. The second strategy increased the computational savings by a percentage of 20%, compared to the first strategy with a reasonable loss of accuracy of only about 3%.


Previous work on teasing has examined the surface features of teasing interactions and has suggested that responses to teases are generally serious and are so because of the negative characterisations which are inherent in teases. The present study uses an inferential/strategic model for examining the social organisation of teases. Based on this analysis, it is argued that tease responses are formulated on the basis of the recipient's interpretation of the teaser's goal. It is claimed that tease recipients attempt to interpret the teaser's goal based on multiple clues to meaning. This interpretation then informs the type of response the recipient is likely to make: serious, humorous, or mixed. An analysis of teasing episodes revealed that there are three sources for clues to meaning: background knowledge, communciation content, and paralinguistic cues. This analysis attempts to provide a more encompassing explanation for the social organisation of teases.


Solvothermal synthesis appears to be an interesting route for preparing nitrides such as gallium nitride and aluminium nitride, using ammonia as solvent. A nitriding additive is used to perform the reaction and, in the case of gallium nitride, is encapsulated by melt gallium. The syntheses are performed in the temperature range 400–800°C and in the pressure range 100–200 MPa. The synthesized powders are characterized by x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Finely divided gallium nitride GaN and aluminium nitride AlN, both with wurtzite-type structure, can be obtained by this route.


Outlines the main findings of a study of a process in a major organization (involved in the servicing of capital equipment) which seeks to predict customer demand for service calls and match these against engineering resources. The process is called the engineer availability process (EAP) and has been examined in two geographical areas of the host company. Among the findings is that, no matter what means are used to predict demand, there is always a need for a flexible revision of supply. This revision can be met between formal and informal clustering of engineers. The former delivers a consistent output of jobs per day across a clustered team whereas with informal clustering, the distribution across teams is less consistent and puts greater pressure on individual teams to match supply and demand.


Near Misses in Neuroanesthesia is an attempt to bridge the gap that exists between theoretical knowledge as it is found in traditional textbooks and the not-so-easily definable informal exchange of professional information that exists in every anesthesia practice. Such a book has long been overdue in the subspecialty of neuroanesthesia, which has seen a number of excellent comprehensive textbooks published in recent years, but none that has taken a case-based approach. Near Misses in Neuroanesthesia exploits this approach, which is now being recognized as a valuable training tool in any medical specialty. The book consists of 50 chapters, each presenting a difficult clinical situation that trainees or practicing neuroanesthesiologists might find themselves in. In each, a short, but vivid, description of the lifelike neuroanesthesia case is followed by a solution and a brief discussion. This is done using an algorithmic approach to analyzing and solving the problem, thus conveying the realistic environment of the operating room, with its lack of time and limited data about a patient's condition. Some of the described situations are frequently encountered in neuroanesthesia practice; others are rare and could be seen in other anesthetic subspecialties. However, discussion of them is still relevant to neuroanesthesia practice because the nature of neurosurgical conditions, patient positioning, and neurosurgical procedure itself often makes it difficult to recognize and treat many anesthetic complications. The chapters are loosely arranged into four large parts: Airway, Cardiac, Miscellaneous, and Electrophysiological Events, with the last part being particularly useful. Although most neuroanesthesia textbooks describe the theoretical foundations and use of electrophysiological monitoring in neurosurgery, this is usually done outside the context of the clinically relevant anesthetic situation. This book, by rendering it relevant to the real needs of neuruoanesthesiologists, makes a fine effort to advance the understanding of this very important, but often poorly understood, topic. Another big plus of this book is the language used by the authors in the description of various cases. In contrast to the often dry, formal textbook language, the authors adopt an informal and sometimes humorous approach. They have no qualms about using the professional specialized lingo spoken by anesthesiologists in their everyday work. Such an approach makes the book easily readable for professionals in the field, thus facilitating learning. Obviously, no book can substitute for years of actual personal experience, but this practical and timely book goes a long way toward facilitating the process of maturation into an experienced


This paper concerns the hedging effectiveness of the SET50 index futures traded in the Thailand Futures Exchange during January 2008 to December 2009. We measure the level of hedging effectiveness based on the concept of the mean -variance criterion with th e inclusion of liquidity and transaction costs. In particular, we construct cost -adjusted mean variance frontiers of the investment universe including the stocks in the SET50 index, TDEX and the SET50 index futures. The results show that the liquidity cost associated with trading the futures is relatively small, while the transaction cost is relatively large compared to those associated with trading stocks. However, when portfolio managers are allowed to use the futures to manage their portfolios, both ex-ante and ex-post Sharpe ratios of the cost -adjusted mean-variance frontiers are significantly higher than those when portfolio managers are not allowed to use the futures. It also enables portfolio managers who are required to invest a certain minimum amount in stocks to achieve a lower global minimum variance. The improvement in the cost -and-risk-adjusted return, however, depends also on the ability to forecast the market trend of portfolio managers .


The incidence of fever among infants in the village of Idete in the Morogoro region of Tanzania was analysed in relation to densities of Plasmodium falciparum parasites in the peripheral blood. Parasite densities in both fever cases and in asymptomatic infants, were compared and a Bayesian non-parametric mixture decomposition algorithm was used to estimate the proportion of fevers attributable to malaria and hence the incidence of clinical malaria. Age group-specific densities of peripheral parasitaemia showed little seasonality, but the clinical malaria incidence showed a clear peak in the wet season in children aged less than 9 months. Estimates of the parasitaemia-specific incidence of clinical malaria were used to quantify apparent tolerance of parasites, and indicated that clinical episodes occurred on average at lower parasite densities during the wet season than in the dry season. These patterns could reflect differences in levels of anti-toxic immunity, but the nature of the seasonal differences supports the alternative explanation that the variation in apparent tolerance may be an effect of changes in the ratio of peripheral parasite densities to the sequestered mass.


Minister of State with responsibility for Disability, Older People, Equality & Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch recently (Oct 1 2014) launched the report of the second wave of the Intellectual Disability Supplement to The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA) 'Advancing Years, Different Challenges: Wave 2 IDs-TILDA, Findings on the ageing of people with an intellectual disability'.The report highlights the complex and unique health and social challenges facing people with ID in Ireland. Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences in Trinity and Principal Investigator of IDS-TILDA, Professor Mary McCarron said: "This is the first time in history we have ever had a population of people with an intellectual disability who have reached old age and this is something that we should celebrate. However, there are a number of very serious health concerns that we need to better understand in this population. Unless we can address some of these challenges older people with ID are likely to live a poor quality of life as they grow older and ageing in poor health is an empty prize." Read more here.


A bias against disconfirmatory evidence (BADE) is a cognitive bias associated with delusions in schizophrenia. Previous studies reporting an association between reduced evidence integration and delusions used a single measure of delusion severity, typically to form patient groups. In the current study we perform an exploratory analysis to investigate whether BADE is specific to delusions or extends to other symptoms of psychosis. To address this, we used constrained principal component analysis (CPCA) on four merged BADE studies on schizophrenia to explore the component structure in the BADE task measures that is predictable from symptoms. A component reflecting evidence integration emerged, and was predicted by delusions as expected, but also by thought disorder. This provides novel methodology for cognitive neuropsychiatric investigations into the underpinnings of the symptoms of schizophrenia by enabling investigators to consider a range of symptoms alongside the one that is the target of their investigation.


In this paper, we deal with the problem of two-dimensional electromagnetic linear inverse scattering from dielectric and magnetic anomalies buried in a half-space. First, the formulation of the exact model of the electromagnetic scattering is given. Then, the problem is faced under a simplified model thus arising a linear inverse problem that is solved by resorting to the well assessed singular value decomposition tool. The reliability of the solution procedure is tested with synthetic data achieved by a finite-difference time-domain code. While the presented linear inverse scattering algorithm is able to detect and localize the targets with a good accuracy, it is not able to identify the electromagnetic nature of the targets in terms or dielectric or magnetic properties.


This double-blind study tested the effects of pulsating electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy sessions on the changes in peripheral cardiovascular function in a group of aging adults after 12 weeks of treatment. Each therapy session involved 15 min of exposure to low-frequency PEMF with asymmetrical waveforms emitted by the Impulser™ Pro mattress. The treatment was provided 5 days per week for a total of 60 sessions. Resting blood pressure and arterial stiffness index were determined for peripheral cardiovascular function. Fifty-four older men and women (mean age 59.8 ± 3.5 yrs) completed the entire protocol involving either the PEMF or a sham treatment. The results include statistically significant reductions in systolic and pulse blood pressure, while no significant difference in diastolic pressure or the index of arterial stiffness was observed. These findings suggest that the PEMF treatment might be linked to improvements in peripheral resistance or circulation.


The utilization of L-proline as carbon or nitrogen source for the growth of Escherichia coli K12 requires the activities of an L-proline porter (PP-I) and a bifunctional L-proline dehydrogenase-delta1-pyrroline carboxylate dehydrogenase. PP-I is inactivated by mutations at putP and the bifunctional dehydrogenase is encoded in the adjacent locus, putA, at 22 min on the chromosome map. Two additional loci, proP (at 92 min) and proT (at 82 min), have also been implicated in L-proline transport. We have studied four ColE1/E. coli K12 hybrid plasmids from the plasmid bank prepared by Clarke and Carbon. Each of these plasmids was shown previously to complement an L-proline transport defect in E. coli. Genetic complementation analysis and biochemical assays of L-proline transport and L-proline dehydrogenase activity show that three of these hybrid plasmids bear the putPA region of the E. coli chromosome (plasmids pLC4-45, pLC10-29, and pLC43-41). The fourth plasmid, pLC35-38, specifically enhances the L-proline transport activity of its host bacteria but not their L-proline dehydrogenase activity. It probably encodes putP. We have used these plasmids in an E. coli minicell system to identify the putA and putP gene products.