Exposures of the lower Waterford Formation, Karoo Basin, South Africa provide rare three-dimensional control to an exhumed low-gradient basin margin, which permits increased understanding of sub-seismic scale process-regime and lateral variability. The study section overlies a 500-m-thick channelized submarine slope succession and is subdivided into eight mappable parasequences clinothems. The central 40 km 2D reference profile parallel to depositional dip (i.e. west-to-east) enables characterization of the shelf-to-slope transition for two successive clinothems and the establishment of robust criteria for identifying the shelf edge at outcrop.

The two clinothems exhibit differing process responses to the gradient increase at the shelf edge rollover. The fluvial-dominated, mouth-bar clinothem of WfC 3 exhibits a 5 km dip-parallel zone of extensional growth faulting at the shelf edge with limited delivery of sediment beyond the shelf edge rollover. In contrast, WfC 4 is a wave and storm dominated shoreface-clinothem that supplied a thick upper slope turbidite succession via closely spaced gullies at the shelf edge and a large upper slope channel. This suggests that the delivery of sediment to deep-water settings is governed by parameters other than the presence and proximity of a fluvial point source, which is heavily advocated in current models for shelf construction.

It would be common practice to attribute variability between successive clinothems on a single 2D dip profile to lateral variability across the basin margin. However, two additional, sub-parallel dip profiles across depositional strike to the north and south of the reference profile indicate significant 3D variability in the nature of the clinothems. A greater supply of sediment to the upper slope in the north of the region, in the absence of a clear fluvial driver, suggests that the deltaic/shoreface system was able to transit quickly to the shelf edge and establish itself in that position for an extended period. Increasing parasequence thickness toward the north indicates greater accommodation in this area throughout the lower Waterford succession. It is therefore likely that differential subsidence across the margin controlled the position of the shelf edge and maintained a narrower shelf in the north, which would have had significant influence on sediment routing paths, diverting them to the north.
Abundant shelf-confined soft sediment deformation in successive clinothems along all three dip margin profiles is attributed to instability on the frontal slopes of inner shelf deltas, due to high rates of sediment supply. The basinward splitting and abrupt thinning of deformed packages beyond the inferred shelf edge rollover shows that the presence of soft-sediment deformation alone is not an adequate criterion with which to define the shelf edge rollover.

The significant thickness of shelf deposits without subaerial exposure indicates that the margin was subject to a relatively high subsidence rate but that the rate of sediment supply was sufficient to drive the system to the shelf edge and deliver sand to the slope without the development of incised valleys. Therefore, the lower Waterford Formation is considered a high accommodation / high supply system. This study provides a high-resolution outcrop-based dataset with three-dimensional constraints. It enables greater understanding of the controls on basin margin construction, and the sub-seismic scale processes that control the spatial and temporal variability of sediment delivery to the slope and basin floor.


Strand scission of DNA caused by bleomycin A2 (BLM-A2) and binding of the antibiotic to DNA was studied in vitro, examining the results of sucrose density gradient centrifugation and Sephadex G100 column chromatography. BLM-A2 caused strand scission of both single and double stranded DNA of E. coli or HeLa cells at the concentration of 1.6/^g/ml, but not that of ribosomal and transfer RNAs, in the presence of 1 mM 2-mercaptoethanol. When 2-mercaptoethanol was omitted, no strand scission was observed. The action of the antibiotic was inhibited by addition of 0.1mM Cu++, Co++, Zn++, and 1mM ETDA. By dialysis of the reaction mixture, after the incubation, double stranded DNA treated with BLM-A2 was partly converted to single strand and strand scission was more markedly demonstrated. Binding of 3H-BLM-A2 to DNA was observed regardless of the presence or absence of 2-mercaptoethanol and amounts of bound BLM-A2 to single stranded DNA was about twice higher than to the double stranded. Addition of Cu++, Zn++, EDTA, or phleomycin inhibited binding of BLM-A2 to DNA but that of actinomycin, mitomycin or pluramycin did not show any effect.


Although most cases of acute gastrointestinal (GI) hemorrhage either spontaneously resolve or respond to medical management and/or endoscopic treatment, there remain a significant number of patients who require emergency evaluation and treatment by the interventional radiologist. Any angiographic evaluation should begin with selective catheterization of the artery supplying the most likely site of bleeding, as determined by the available clinical, endoscopic, and imaging data. If a source of hemorrhage is identified, superselective catheterization followed by transcatheter embolization with microcoils is the most effective means of successfully controlling hemorrhage while minimizing potential complications. This is now well-recognized as a viable and safe alternative to emergency surgery. In selected situations transcatheter intra-arterial infusion of vasopressin may also be useful in controlling acute GI bleeding. One must be aware of the various side effects and potential complications associated with this treatment, however, and recognize the high rebleeding rate. In this article, we review the current role of angiography, transcatheter arterial embolization, and infusion therapy in the evaluation and management of GI hemorrhage.


In this work, the emission spectra and atomic structure of the aluminum target had been studied theoretically using Cowan code. Cowan code was used to calculate the transitions of electrons between atomic configuration interactions using the mathematical method called (Hartree-Fock). The aluminum target can give a good emission spectrum in the XUV region at 10 nm with oscillator strength of 1.82.The hydrodynamic properties of laser produced plasma (LPP) were investigated for the purpose of creating a light source working in the EUV region. Such a light source is very important for lithography (semiconductor manufacturing). The improved MEDUSA (Med103) code can calculate the plasma hydrodynamic properties (velocity, electron density, pressure, electron temperature, ion density, ion temperature and average ionization Z*). Aluminum target was considered in these calculations (Z=13). This work was done by using three laser power densities (1011, 1012 and 1013 W/cm2) with a 10 ns pulse width and 10 ps pulse width for laser wavelength (1064 nm). These laser intensities with 10 ns pulse width give high ionization stage of the Aluminum from 2.4-11 for electron range from 16.5-3000 eV.


The admission of foreign students to universities in Turkey is increasing rapidly every year. As a result of the increase in the number of students going to many countries for educational purposes in the world, international education plannings has become important in higher education programs. The problems faced by foreign students, whose numbers increase exponentially every year, in the universities and cities where they study during their stay in Turkey also increase. Students may experience difficulties in passing the courses in the programs they are studying. The main reason for this problem is primarily due to their lack of Turkish proficiency, but they may have difficulties in understanding the concepts and jargons in the course. The aim of the study is to evaluate the academic achievement levels of the foreign students who have taken the Financial Accounting course at least once in the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences of Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University. The data collected through a face-to-face questionnaire applied to the students were evaluated with the IBM SPSS 26 statistics program in terms of the students' nationality, the department they studied, the course letter grades and the duration of the exam. It has been determined that there is no statistical difference in the academic achievement levels of the Financial Accounting course in terms of the department they study and the time they study for the exam. However, it has been determined that there is a partial statistical difference between the students in terms of nationality and course letter grades. Keywords: Accountig Education, Foreign Students, Financial Accounting.


Abstract Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate safety, effectiveness, recurrence rate and 10-year survival after bronchial artery embolization (BAE) in benign and malignant etiologies. Methods: The retrospective study includes 100 BAE procedures in 88 patients. Underlying disease was classified as benign (n = 67) and malignant (n = 21) etiologies. Immediate bleeding control and procedure safety were evaluated in all patients. In 51 (58 %) patients, follow-up data with a median follow-up time of 1015 days (range, 494 to 3727 days) were acquired to assess overall survival, time-to-recurrence of bleeding and recurrence-free survival, using Kaplan-Maier estimates to compare differences between both subgroups. Results: Immediate bleeding control was achieved after 96/100 procedures (96 %), with a minor complication rate of 5.0 %. No major complications occurred. The overall survival was 74 % after 1 year and 59 % after 5 years and 10 years. There was a significant difference in survival between the malignant and benign groups (p < 0.0001). Survival was 90 %, 80 % and 76 % at 1 year, 3 years and 10 years, respectively, in the benign group and 18 % and 0 % at 1 year and 3 years, respectively in the malignant group. The median time to recurrence of bleeding and recurrence-free survival were 239 days and 94 % after 1 year and 87 % after 10 years in the benign group, compared to 66 days and 34 % after 1 year and 0 % after 3 years in the malignant group (p = 0.0107). Conclusion: BAE is a safe and highly effective treatment option in hemoptysis. However, the recurrence rate and survival are highly dependent on the underlying disease. Key Points: • BAE is a safe and highly effective treatment option in hemoptysis. • Recurrence rate and survival are strongly dependent on the underlying disease with significantly impaired results in patients with malignant diseases. • Coil embolization is an effective BAE treatment method. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned, that reinterventions can be impeded, if embolization is performed in the proximal part of bronchial arteries. Citation Format: • Syha R, Benz T, Hetzel J et al. Bronchial Artery Embolization in Hemoptysis: 10-Year Survival and Recurrence-Free Survival in Benign and Malignant Etiologies – A Retrospective Study. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2016; 188: 1061 – 1066


This book distil ls the "big picture", touching on important concepts at the cutt ing edge of computer architecture. It is delightfully written, and the authors' sense of humor is an entertaining way of learning. For example, a banking system without mutual exclusion operators is subject to being robbed by Bonnie and Clyde as each s imul taneous ly withdraws the balance of their joint account. Additional educat ional techniques include exce l len t figures, examples , and sidebars. The book is highly recommended as a text for a graduate course in computer arc h i t e c t u r e .


One of the key developments in biology during the past decade has been the completion of the sequencing of a number of key organisms, ranging from organisms with short genomes, such as various bacteria, to important model organisms such as Drosophila Melanogaster, and of course the human genome. As of February 2001, the complete genome sequences have been available for 4 eukaryotes, 9 archaea, 32 bacteria, over 600 viruses, and over 200 organelles (NCBI, 2001). The "draft" human sequence publicly available now spans over 90% of the genome, and finishing of the genome should be completed shortly. The large amount of available genomic sequence presents unprecedented opportunities for biological discovery and at the same time new challenges for the computational sciences. In particular, it has become apparent that comparative analyses of the genomes will play a central role in the development of computational methods for biological discovery. The principle of comparative analysis has long been a leitmotif in experimental biology, but the related computational challenge of largescale comparative analysis leads to many interesting algorithmic challenges that remain at the forefront of computational biology research.


Four different types of trypanorhynch postlarvae were found attached to the stomach mucosa, external stomach wall or free in the body cavity of two marine fishes from Madeira, namely blackscabbard fish, Aphanopus carbo and oceanic horse mackerel, Trachurus picturatus. Morphological features shown by SEM indicated that the postlarvae belonged to the species Tentacularia coryphaenae, Sphyriocephalus tergestinus, Nybelinia lingualis and possibly N. yamaguitii. Prevalence [mean intensity (range)] of T. coryphaenae, S. tergestinus and Nybelinia spp. in A. carbo (n = 135) was 12.6% [1.65 +/- 1.27(1-6)], 5.9% [1.57 +/- 0.79 (1-3)] and 2.2% [1.33 +/- 0.58 (1-2)] respectively. The prevalence of T. coryphaenae and S. tergestinus showed some seasonality, with a rise in prevalence of T. coryphaenae corresponding to a decrease in prevalence of S. tergestinus. However these differences were not significant. In T. picturatus (n = 304) only N. lingualis was found at a prevalence of 9.6%. Both S. tergestinus and N. lingualis were recovered only from the stomach mucosa or external stomach wall, while T. coryphaenae was observed either attached to the stomach mucosa or free in the visceral cavity of the fish. The paper presents the first scanning electron micrographs (SEM) of Sphyriocephalus tergestinus and a new geographical record of N. lingualis in T. picturatus.


Democracy used to be a word that international legal commentators preferred to avoid. At least by the second half of the present century, this was not because too few governments identified themselves as democratic. It was rather because too many did so. The world's most repressive regimes joined their more representative counterparts in claiming a title that had become synonymous with praiseworthy and justified politics. In some cases modifying adjectives were used ('one-party democracy', 'people's democracy', etc.); in other cases the appropriation was unmodified. Either way, observers found normative inferences difficult to draw, for democracy appeared to mean everything, and therefore nothing. What put an end to the commentators' reticence was, of course, the demise of communism and the turn in all regions of the world to multi-party electoral politics. For many, these events confirmed both that democracy was the foundation of political legitimacy, and that repressive regimes, whatever they chose to call themselves, lacked that legitimacy. Influential international legal scholars felt able to declare that a 'right of democratic governance' was now 'emerging',1 and that international law was, or at any rate should now be, beginning to take in the lessons of 'liberal internationalism'.^


AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 18-22, 2009; Denver, CO

Cholangiocarcinoma is a highly malignant neoplasm that is usually fatal. Many chemotherapeutic agents have been used to treat this tumor with variable and marginal success; one of these agents is Gemcitabine (GMC). Tamoxifen (TMX), another cancer chemotherapeutic agent has been shown to induce apoptosis of cholangiocarcinoma cells and inhibit tumorigenesis of cholangiocarcinoma in nude mice. We hypothesize that the combination of TMX and GMC will be more effective in inducing apoptosis than either agent alone. GMC induces apoptosis of wild-type sk-cha-1 human cholangiocarcinoma cells, in a dose dependant manner. When cells are treated for 24 hours with GMC maximal apoptosis is achieved at 5 \#956;M [2.2±0.4 fold increase over control (n=5, mean±SE, p<0.05)]. Half maximal effect was observed at approximately 1 \#956;M GMC. GMC concentrations of 2.5-5 \#956;M are similar to concentrations observed in patients taking this agent (J. Sep. Sci. 2007, 30, 1811-1820). Our group has previously produced and characterized cholangiocarcinoma cells with low and high Fas expression and demonstrated that TMX induces apoptosis through a Fas-related mechanism (Am J Path. 1999 Jul; 155:193-203). In low Fas expressing cells¸which are resistant to TMX-induced apoptosis, GMC stimulates apoptosis dose dependently similar to wild-type cells. In high Fas expressing cells TMX (10 \#956;M) induces apoptosis 1.8±0.4 fold and GMC (5 \#956;M) 2.9± 0.2 fold. The combination of 10 \#956;M TMX and 5 \#956;M GMC induced apoptosis to a greater degree (3.8±0.1 fold), [n=3, mean±SE, p<0.05] than either drug alone. GMC and TMX induce apoptosis in Fas-independent and Fas-dependant manners, respectively. The near additive effect of the two agents is therefore not unexpected and this combination may be an effective therapy in patients with cholangiocarcinoma.

Citation Information: In: Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res; 2009 Apr 18-22; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2009. Abstract nr 5114.


ABSTRACT Since the 2008 crisis, radical right populist (RRP) party positions on European integration have hardened and/or increased in salience. But do their supporters align with them on this? And what role does Euroscepticism play in driving support for these parties? Using data from the 'euandi' voting advice application, we examine how close over 8000 RRP supporters in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Belgium were in 2014 to their parties on European integration and, for comparison, immigration. We find that, while they closely aligned on immigration, which remains a stronger predictor of support, they did not on European integration. We conclude, firstly, that increased salience of this issue does not necessarily lead to stronger linkages between parties and voters and that the consequences of positional congruence depend on salience congruence. Secondly, our findings suggest that RRP parties enjoy flexibility on European integration and can shift positions if necessary.


The association between self-audible bruits and ipsilateral high jugular bulbs was demonstrated in five patients, emphasizing the benign nature of the condition. Symptoms included a unilateral pulsatile "whooshing" that was eliminated by gentle pressure on the neck or extreme head rotation to the symptomatic side and was enhanced by conditions that increased cardiac output. The bruits were not audible to examiners. On the basis of one patient with an intracranial tumor, it is proposed that raised intracranial pressure alone, in the absence of a jugular bulb abnormality, is an insufficient explanation for a venous self-audible bruit.


Wikibase -- which is the software underlying Wikidata -- is a powerful platform for knowledge graph creation and management. However, it has been developed with a crowd-sourced knowledge graph creation scenario in mind, which in particular means that it has not been designed for use case scenarios in which a tightly controlled high-quality schema, in the form of an ontology, is to be imposed, and indeed, independently developed ontologies do not necessarily map seamlessly to the Wikibase approach. In this paper, we provide the key ingredients needed in order to combine traditional ontology modeling with use of the Wikibase platform, namely a set of \emph{axiom} patterns that bridge the paradigm gap, together with usage instructions and a worked example for historical data.


Computational Intelligence (CI) is a new development paradigm of intelligent systems which has resulted from a synergy between fuzzy sets, artificial neural networks, evolutionary computation, machine learning, etc., broadening computer science, physics, economics, engineering, mathematics, statistics. It is imperative to know why these tools can be potentially relevant and effective to economic and financial modeling. This paper presents, after a synergic new paradigm of intelligent systems, as a practical case study the fuzzy and temporal properties of knowledge formalism embedded in an Intelligent Control System (ICS), based on FT-algorithm. We are not dealing high with level reasoning methods, because we think that real-time problems can only be solved by rather low-level reasoning. Most of the overall run-time of fuzzy expert systems is used in the match phase. To achieve a fast reasoning the number of fuzzy set operations must be reduced. For this, we use a fuzzy compiled structure of knowledge, like Rete, because it is required for real-time responses. Solving the match-time predictability problem would allow us to built much more powerful reasoning techniques.


on payment of half a crown. He urged the farm labourers of his day to refrain from the eating and drinking marathons with which they used to celebrate harvest home. But his admonitory voice and pen could not go on for ever, and he died on Christmas Eve, 1808, leaving his son. Thomas Lovell Beddoes, then aged 5, in the care of Davies Giddy. Samuel Taylor Coleridge remarked of his departure that " more has been taken out of my life by this than any other event." Coleridge should have known. He was himself a victim of the opium habit, one of the very scourges which, with scrofula, phthisis. and catarrh, the Pneumatic Institute had been founded to eliminate.


Theobroma cacao (chocolate tree) is currently under serious threat from thread blight disease (TBD), which has been attributed to the causal agent Marasmiellus scandens in other regions of the world. TBD in Ghana has similar symptomology but variable signs. This study sought to determine whether TBD in Ghana was caused by a single agent and whether Marasmiellus scandens was a significant agent of TBD. Forty-eight isolates were collected from eight geographical locations in Ghana for morphological and molecular characterization. Disease signs occurred as vegetative rhizomorphs or hyphal aggregates, which were classified into five morphotypes: A, abundant thin, black, "horse hair"-type rhizomorphs; B, scattered brown rhizomorphs; C, whitish to brownish-white; D, faint cream or dull white; and E, aggregates of shiny or silky white hyphae. Sequencing and analyses of three loci-the internal transcribed spacer region of the nuclear ribosomal repeat, nuclear large subunit, and mitochondrial small subunit-detected four species, all members of the Marasmiaceae, causing TBD-like disease. These were identified as Marasmius crinis-equi (morphotype A), Marasmius tenuissimus (morphotypes B and C), Marasmiellus palmivorus (morphotype E), and Marasmiellus scandens (morphotype D). Marasmius tenuissimus, the most frequently isolated TBD fungus in this study, is primarily an Asian fungus and not previously associated with diseases of cacao. Marasmiellus palmivorus, the second most frequently isolated fungus, is a pan-tropical pathogen with a broad host range; this is the first report of the fungus causing TBD on cacao. Marasmius crinis-equi also has a broad pan-tropical distribution and host range and causes thread blight on several tropical tree crops. Surprisingly, Marasmiellus scandens, the most frequently cited agent of TBD in cacao, made up only 8% of the isolates.


The aim of this work is to recover wastes by uniaxial pressing and injection moulding. A previous morphological, chemical and mineralogical identifications of different waste disposal batches guaranteed its reproducibility and revealed that in some cases they should be suitable to be treated by those conformation processes. Different tests regarding the chemical and structural evolution with temperature were performed with uniaxial pressed samples, which revealed that in all the cases there are formation of mullite and glassy phases. The presence of these phases contributes to a good physical and chemical behaviour of the fired parts. Moreover, the tests performed in a plastograph equipment to evaluate the rheological characteristics of different mixtures of waste powders with a commercial binder (function of temperature and applied load) show a good performance of these feedstocks to be injected. The typical thickness of injected products were less than 4.8 mm. After injection moulding or uniaxial pressing followed by sintering the final products present density and porosity values close to the theoretical ones. The Weibull modulus obtained with waste products is in the range of those of technical ceramics. These wastes have chemical and structural characteristics after firing that are interesting to the manufacturing of different ceramic products. © 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.


We present an elementary account of mathematical cosmology through a series of important unsolved problems. We introduce the fundamental notion of a cosmology and focus on the issue of singularities as a theme unifying many current, seemingly unrelated trends of this subject. We discuss problems associated with the definition and asymptotic structure of the notion of cosmological solution and also problems related to the qualification of approximations and to the ranges of validity of given cosmologies.


A heuristic particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed to solve the problem of test point selection with unreliable test. Firstly, a heuristic function is established to value the capability of test point detection, coverage and reliance. Then based on the heuristic function and least test cost principle, a fitness function of unreliable test is created. Lastly, the method for test point selection using improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is presented. Comparing with other method of test point selection, the results show that the method is easy to find the global optimal test point in large-scale system. It can also minimize test cost on requirement of testability targets.


Concentrations of 5-androstene-3 beta, 17 beta-diol (androstenediol), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) and DHA sulphate (DHAS) were measured in endometrium and plasma from normal premenopausal and perimenopausal women (average ages 37 and 48 years respectively) at different stages of the menstrual cycle. Plasma levels did not vary with the stage of the cycle for any of the three steroids. Mean plasma levels of androstenediol ranged between 2.03 and 2.92 nmol/l for premenopausal women and 1.38 and 1.58 nmol/l for perimenopausal women while mean concentrations of DHA were 20.80-36.41 nmol/l (premenopausal women) and 13.87-19.07 nmol/l (perimenopausal women). The values for DHAS were more variable and ranged between 3.20 and 4.56 and 2.94 and 4.25 mumol/l for pre- and perimenopausal women respectively. In premenopausal women endometrial tissue concentrations of androstenediol and DHA increased three to fourfold in the secretory phase while no increase was observed in DHAS. There was a similar increase in androstenediol but not DHA or DHAS during the secretory phase for perimenopausal women. A significant positive correlation was found for tissue androstenediol and DHA in both groups of women but the relationship between DHAS and the other androgens was significant only for perimenopausal women. We suggest that the increase in androstenediol and DHA concentrations could be due to an increase in a receptor or binding protein, possibly progesterone dependent, present in secretory phase endometrium.


We performed iodine L edge XAFS measurements on blue-black amylose-iodine complex to obtain information about the electronic and geometrical structures of polyiodide chain included in amylose helix. Measurements were also carried out on crystalline -cyclodextrin-iodine complex (-cyclodextrin)2Cd0.5I5.27H2O, in which the polyiodide chain is known to consist of I5- unit. It was found that the XANES spectra of these complexes have similar line shapes except for some minor differences, indicating that there are close similarities in the nature of polyiodide chains in these complexes. Besides their similarity, difference in the intensity of the peak at the L1 absorption edge was observed. Its implication for the electronic and geometrical structures is also discussed.


Abstract Aims Deep learning (DL) has emerged in recent years as an effective technique in automated ECG analysis. Methods and results A retrospective, observational study was designed to assess the feasibility of detecting induced coronary artery occlusion in human subjects earlier than experienced cardiologists using a DL algorithm. A deep convolutional neural network was trained using data from the STAFF III database. The task was to classify ECG samples as showing acute coronary artery occlusion, or no occlusion. Occluded samples were recorded after 60 s of balloon occlusion of a single coronary artery. For the first iteration of the experiment, non-occluded samples were taken from ECGs recorded in a restroom prior to entering theatres. For the second iteration of the experiment, non-occluded samples were taken in the theatre prior to balloon inflation. Results were obtained using a cross-validation approach. In the first iteration of the experiment, the DL model achieved an F1 score of 0.814, which was higher than any of three reviewing cardiologists or STEMI criteria. In the second iteration of the experiment, the DL model achieved an F1 score of 0.533, which is akin to the performance of a random chance classifier. Conclusion The dataset was too small for the second model to achieve meaningful performance, despite the use of transfer learning. However, 'data leakage' during the first iteration of the experiment led to falsely high results. This study highlights the risk of DL models leveraging data leaks to produce spurious results.


Fish scales have been extensively reported as waste material that takes a lot of time to degrade, causing environmental pollution. This work has been substantiated to summarize a sequence of chemical processes (demineralization, deproteinization, and deacetylation) used for the extraction of useful product like chitosan from fish scale ( Labeo rohita) . The obtained chitosan have been efficiently characterized by SEM, FTIR, XRD, TGA, XRF, and proximate analysis. The small particle size (3.3748 µm) and the high surface area (4.046 m 2 /g) of the produced cost-effective chitosan (0.26 USD/g) have justified its applicability as an antimicrobial filler. The degree of deacetylation have been reported to be 52.11% along with a high capacity of water binding (160%) and fat binding (457%), indicating its biodegradable nature. The individual effect of the essential parameters like deacetylation time, deacetylation temperature, and amount of NaOH added, influencing the yield percent have been studied using the central composite design approach of response surface methodology. The maximum yield percent have been reported to be 29.63% for the optimized conditions of 4.48% of NaOH content, 6.624 hr deacetylation time, and 58.2°C deacetylation temperature.


Aberrant expression, function, and mutation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and their signaling partners, G proteins, have been well documented in many forms of cancer. These cell surface receptors and their endogenous ligands are implicated in all aspects of cancer including proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis. Adhesion GPCRs (aGPCRs) form the second largest family of GPCRs, most of which are orphan receptors with unknown physiological functions. This is mainly due to our limited insight into their structure, natural ligands, signaling pathways, and tissue expression profiles. Nevertheless, recent studies show that aGPCRs play important roles in cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix and cell-cell communication, processes that are dysregulated in cancer. Emerging evidence suggests that aGPCRs are implicated in migration, proliferation, and survival of tumor cells. We here review the role of aGPCRs in the five most common types of cancer (lung, breast, colorectal, prostate, and gastric) and emphasize the importance of further translational studies in this field.


A method to measure the loss and the power-transfer ratio of directional couplers is presented. It is based on the Fabry-Perot resonances from end-facet reflections. The dependence of the accuracy of the measurements on the facet tilts is described. For low facet misalignments, an uncertainty <0.3 dB in the loss measurements and power-transfer-ratio measurement errors <1% are obtained. For arbitrary facet tilts the errors depend on the extinction ratios. Experimental measurements are reported to verify the method, and its application to multimode interference couplers is shown.


In 2514 patients with myocardial infarction (1961 male and 823 female) hospitalized between 1991 and 1997 right ventricle myocardial infarction was diagnosed based on of V3R-V5R electrocardiographic leads tracing in 147 patients aged 35-86 (105 male and 42 female), which means 5.4% of treated patients. Only one case of isolated right ventricle infarction was observed. In other cases it coexisted with left ventricle infarction--most often with inferior myocardial infarction (118 cases, which means 10.7% cases with this localization). Streptokinase was administered to 64 patients with right ventricle infarction, which means 43.5% treated. 10 patients, including 5 female, deceased during the hospitalization, hospital mortality was 6.8%. Cardiogenic shock was the reason of death in all cases. The frequency of concomitant chronic diseases (hypertension, congestive heart failure, diabetes mellitus) and hyperlipidaemia (hypercholesterolaemia and/or hypertriglyceridaemia), as well as arrhythmia and conduction disturbances, in patients with right ventricle myocardial infarction did not differ from the ones estimated in people with left ventricle infarction. According to the analysis of our own material (the most numerous group of patients as juxtaposed to ones observed by other authors) inferior myocardial infarction is most commonly accompanied by right ventricle infarction. Low hospital mortality in these patients is connected with fibrinolytic therapy. The performance of V3R-V5R electrocardiographic leads tracing is indispensable in patients with acute myocardial infarction. The diagnosis of right ventricle infarction is highly important because of the specific treatment of these patients.


Dr. Sacks is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto teaching leadership and positive psychology at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Robin also serves as the Director of Research for the Engineering Leadership Project at the Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering which aims to identify how engineers lead in the workplace.


Experimental data of velocity fields in a water tunnel at moderate Reynolds numbers have been used to check the notion of extended self-similarity and generalized extended self- similarity. Experimental evidence is shown that the self-scaling behavior of structure functions at moderate Reynolds number (λ ≈ 10) is the same as the one expected for fully developed turbulence.


Two types of classifier reduplications in Mandarin. Linguistic Research 39(1): 185-211. Reduplication is a word formation process, which has been widely attested across languages. Mandarin is a language that shows extensive range of reduplication across different categories such as a classifier. However, despite its widespread use of classifier reduplication, the syntax of reduplicated classifiers has not been well understood in the current literature. This paper addresses the syntax of reduplicated classifiers by focusing on the two issues: (i) the category of a reduplicated classifier, and (ii) the syntactic derivation of classifier reduplication. As for issue (i), we propose that classifier reduplication creates two different syntactic categories, namely D(eterminer) and A(djective), building on novel empirical evidence not provided in the previous studies. Regarding issue (ii), building on head movement analysis of Travis (2003) on reduplication, we propose that a CL head undergoes head movement which results in the proposed categorial status of reduplication, i.e., D and A. This paper not only contributes to the understanding of syntax of classifier reduplication in Mandarin, but also provides support for the current view that reduplication can be motivated by syntax (Basciano and Melloni 2017; Kimper 2008; Travis 2003). (Nanyang Institute of


ABSTRACT Social stimulation is a valuable aspect of therapeutic activities at long-term care facilities, designed to decrease social isolation, maintain or stimulate mental abilities, and increase awareness of the external environment. A study was undertaken at two such facilities to compare the effectiveness of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) with Non-Animal Therapy (NAT) at providing social stimulation, that is, at providing opportunities for patients to engage in social interaction and to initiate social behaviors. While studies have indicated that AAT can improve resident outlook or affect, few have directly studied the social behaviors that might lead to such improvements, or the role the animals themselves might play. We observed 33 patients, both alert and semi- to non-alert, during regular recreational therapy sessions. Most patients were women (29 vs. four men), and geriatric (in their 70's and 80's). Non-Animal Therapies included Arts and Crafts and Snack Bingo, while AAT involved animals from local animal shelters being brought by volunteers to group sessions. Social behaviors naturally divided into Brief Conversations, Long Conversations, and Touch. We determined frequencies and rates of the behaviors, who initiated the behaviors and whether the behaviors were directed at other people or at the animals. Overall, during AAT residents were involved in as much or more conversation with others, including the animals, as residents in Non-Animal Therapy, and were more likely to initiate and participate in longer conversations. The finding that different kinds of therapies seem to encourage different kinds of conversation might be an important consideration when investigating health benefits. The most dramatic differences between therapy types were found in rates of touch: touching the animals during AAT added significantly to resident engagement in, and initiation of, this behavior. Since touch is considered an important part of social stimulation and therapy, the enhancement of this social behavior by the animals is an important, and perhaps undervalued, effect.


A stable microbial consortium capable of cellulose hydrolysis under initial aerobic conditions has been enriched in a continuous flow system. Anaerobic conditions were created and maintained within the flow system using only microbial metabolism. A DGGE community profile of samples taken throughout the enrichment process indicates that the community stabilized upon entry into the continuous flow system, and maintained function and members throughout. The effect of flow rate on cellulose degradation and end product production was assessed. The cellulose degradation rate was found to be notably faster at a flow rate of 0.1 ml/min (D 0.75/hr) than a flow rate of 0.2 ml/min (D1.50/hr). Furthermore, an ethanol to acetate ratio nearly 8 times higher than previously reported values in the literature was also observed at 0.1 ml/min (D0.75/hr). With reduced flow rate and high ethanol to acetate ratios, the enriched community may be well suited for consolidate bioprocessing.


Along with the development of science and technology, kids are spoiled by the ease of existing facilities and it causes the limited movement of the kids. The pattern of the kids' life isdrastically changed. Kids used to be active and now they are passive or lazy to move, so it causes the declining physical abilities. This study discusses the motoric ability of the fourth graders. The research objective is to determine the motoric ability of fourth graders from the elementary schools in the Group VIII, Depok, Sleman in the academic year of 2014/2015.
This study was a descriptive research with survey method and it employed test and measurement techniques. The instrument of this study was based on TemuHartana's research (2008) which included: stand on one leg, long jump without a start, throwing and catching a tennis ball, zig-zag running, and 40 yards sprint. The samples were the fourth graders of SD N Depok 2, SD N Depok 1, and SD N Mustokorejo with the total of 81 students. The data analysis technique in this research was descriptive quantitative with percentages.
The results of this study indicate that the motoric ability of fourth grade students in elementary schools Group VIII, Depok, Sleman is in some categories. 4 students or at 4.94% are included in the category of excellent, 24 students or at 29.63% belong to the category of good, 29 students or at 35.80% are in the category of moderate, 15 students or at 18.52% belong to the category of poor, and 9 students or at 11.11% are in the category of very poor.
Keywords: motoric ability, students, elementary school


Nowadays, the world is dealing with a crisis between the limits of nature and the ambitions of mankind. The climate change issue that been mentioned globally is caused by uncontrollable greenhouse gases emissions from anthropogenic activities. This life cycle assessment study on electricity generation from palm oil mill effluent is important to measure the impacts from the activities to the environment because palm oil effluent is harmful to environment due to high BOD and COD content. Along the process of anaerobic digestion and electricity generation through biogas CHP, a lot of energy (electricity, heat, steam), raw materials and water been used to get a complete product. So, these inputs will contribute to the many categories of environmental impacts. Then, a life cycle assessment is required to perform an impact assessment for this process. The functional unit is production of 1 MWh of electricity produced. This study was modeled by using openLCA Software to develop with addition of Ecoinvent 2.2 Database to reveal the impact of the processes involves towards environment as well as to compare their impact with electricity generation from fossil fuel alternatives. From the study done, it proves that cogenerating electricity from biogas produced by anaerobic digestion by using palm oil mill effluent can lead to significant reduction in most impacts compared to fossil fuel alternatives. This study also includes sensitivity analysis of feedstock used and type of digestate storage.


Dever's meticulous research pieces together details of Sibbes's life and relationships in Cambridge and London long assumed to be lost. Contrary to the portrait from nonconformist hagiography, the resulting evidence demonstrates that Sibbes was never deprived of his fellowship at St. John's College nor his lectureship at Holy Trinity in Cambridge. Though many associates opted for nonconformity and even separation, Sibbes steadfastly chose to work within the bounds of the Church of England. But it is Dever's grasp of the controversies surrounding discussions of Calvin and the English Calvinists that makes this study significant for more than just a small circle of academic historians. Dever reveals the theological and historical inaccuracies upon which the so-called discrepancies between Calvin and the English Calvinists are based. Sibbes, at least, is shown to be a Calvinist that Calvin would recognize. With this careful study the real Richard Sibbes comes into view, raising not a few eyebrows in the process.


Critical scholarship has elevated the problem of gender bias in data sets used to train virtual assistants (VAs). Most work has focused on explicit biases in language, especially against women, girls, femme-identifying people, and genderqueer folk; implicit associations through word embeddings; and limited models of gender and masculinities, especially toxic masculinities, conflation of sex and gender, and a sex/gender binary framing of the masculine as diametric to the feminine. Yet, we must also interrogate how masculinities are "coded" into language and the assumption of "male" as the linguistic default: implicit masculine biases. To this end, we examined two natural language processing (NLP) data sets. We found that when gendered language was present, so were gender biases and especially masculine biases. Moreover, these biases related in nuanced ways to the NLP context. We offer a new dictionary called AVA that covers ambiguous associations between gendered language and the language of VAs.


Over the past 30 years detecting damage in a structure from changes in global dynamic parameters has received considerable attention from the civil, aerospace and mechanical engineering communities. The basis for this approach to damage detection is that changes in the structure's physical properties (i.e., boundary conditions, stiffness, mass and/or damping) will, in turn, alter the dynamic characteristics (i.e., resonant frequencies, modal damping and mode shapes) of the structure. Changes in properties such as the flexibility or stiffness matrices derived from measured modal properties and changes in mode shape curvature have shown promise for locating structural damage. However, to date there has not been a study reported in the technical literature that directly compares these various methods. The experimental results reported in this paper and the results of a numerical study reported in an accompanying paper attempt to fill this void in the study of damage detection methods. Five methods for damage assessment that have been reported in the technical literature are summarized and compared using experimental modal data from an undamaged and damaged bridge. For the most severe damage case investigated, all methods can accurately locate the damage. The methods show varying levels of success when applied to less severe damage cases. This paper concludes by summarizing some areas of the damage identification process that require further study.


A new sustainable and best value procurement initiative suitable for use in developing countries has been developed.  The procurement system, the Performance Information Procurement System (PIPS) was developed in the United States (US), and has been tested in Botswana and recently in India.  PIPS not only stabilizes the procurement system, it transfers the risk and control to contractors who must act in the best interest of the client.  The transparency, accountability, and risk management orientation of the PIPS structure disengages relationships, inaccurate expectations, and bureaucratic and political actions.  The strength of PIPS includes minimizing the need for professionals representing the client to make decisions, direct, and control contractors.  PIPS has been tested for 20 years in the US, with 98% performance on over 600 projects.  Recent tests outside of construction reveal that the efficiency of PIPS can minimize up to 50% of the procurement transaction costs. We hypothesized that paradigm shift from the low-bid or price-based procurement to the best value procurement through the application of PIPS technology is a potential panacea capable of extricating corruption, collusion, fraud, bid rigging, ethical violations and negative headlines from developing countries' procurement environment rather than advancing measures that only scratches the problems on the surface. We infer that a adoption of a new initiative in best value procurement using PIPS technology can revolutionize the procurement environment in Nigeria in particular and the developing countries as a whole. Keywords : Best value, public project procurement, Performance Information Procurement System (PIPS), sustainable consumption, developing countries, Nigeria.


Glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an incretin hormone constantly secreted from the intestine at low basal levels in the fasted state; plasma concentrations rise rapidly after nutrient ingestion. Upon release, GLP-1 exerts insulinotropic effects via a G protein-coupled receptor, stimulation of adenylyl cyclase, and cAMP generation. Although primarily involved in glucose homeostasis, GLP-1 can induce diuresis and natriuresis when administered in pharmacological doses in humans and rodents. However, whether endogenous GLP-1 plays a role in regulating renal function remains an open question. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that blockade of GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) signaling at baseline influences renal salt and water handling. To this end, the GLP-1R antagonist exendin-9 (100 μg·kg(-1)·min(-1)) or vehicle was administered intravenously to overnight-fasted male Wistar rats for 30 min. This treatment reduced urinary cAMP excretion and renal cortical PKA activity, demonstrating blockade of renal GLP-1R signaling. Exendin-9-infused-rats exhibited reduced glomerular filtration rate, lithium clearance, urinary volume flow, and sodium excretion compared with vehicle-infused controls. Exendin-9 infusion also reduced renal cortical Na(+)/H(+) exchanger isotope 3 (NHE3) phosphorylation at serine 552 (NHE3pS552), a PKA consensus site that correlates with reduced transport activity. Collectively, these results provide novel evidence that GLP-1 is a physiologically relevant natriuretic factor that contributes to sodium balance, in part via tonic modulation of NHE3 activity in the proximal tubule.


Absrracr-We present in this correspondence a numerical approach to the problem of minimizing the fractional out-of-band power for a class of digital constant envelope modulated signals known as MSKtype signals. The present optimization procedure is much'more manageable than a recently suggested analytical one while achieving the same results.


Although Audiovisual Translation has received considerable attention in recent years, evidence suggests that there is a paucity of empirical research carried out on the topic of ideological constraints in audiovisual translation from English into Arabic. This is despite the fact that subtitling and dubbing Western animation into Arabic has been on the increase ever since television sets entered Arab homes; which is why several authority figures are calling for tighter control and moral screening of what is aired on television sets, in particular that which is aimed at children. This study aims to add some understanding of the problems facing practitioners in the dubbing industry, such as the reasons for their alleged reality distortion and how these problems are dealt with by the dubbing agencies. This is achieved by exploring the extent ideological norms, as well as other agents, shape the outcome of dubbed English animations/films when rendered into Arabic by manipulation, subversion and/or appropriation. Fifty-two dubbed episodes of The Simpsons were selected for this study. The Simpsons was chosen due to its universal appeal and influence. It addresses many sensitive issues, such as sex, drugs, religion, politics, racial and gender stereotypes, with a bluntness and boldness rarely seen before, and goes beyond passive entertainment and school education. Therefore, it is looked at with suspicion and vigilance in the Arab World. The contrastive analysis of the English and Arabic versions of The Simpsons yielded interesting results; it established that the translation process is marred by many intrinsic and extrinsic factors either exercised by the translator or imposed upon him. Ideological and socio-cultural factors are the chief culprits in the case of translating The Simpsons into Arabic.


Engineering analyses conducted to assess image data quality are described and results are presented for the Landsat-4 Multispectral Scanner (MSS) and Thematic Mapper (TM). Also, coincident data from the two sensors are compared. Macroscopic studies addressed trends and characteristics of full frames of data, while ¿microscopic¿ studies assessed differences between individual detector responses. Raw data, radiometrically corrected data, and fully corrected data were analyzed, as well as special calibration data. The Landsat-4 MSS was found to produce data of high quality, comparable to previous Landsats, except for a low-level coherent noise effect which is unique to the current sensor. Radiometric relationships between Landsat-2 and -3 MSS's and the Landsat-4 MSS were established through empirical analysis of simultaneously acquired data. The TM was found to produce image data of very good spatial resolution and overall good radiometric data quality, showing improvements over MSS. Radiometric equalization of detector responses was found to be close to the theoretical limit of quantization error, except for two relatively low-amplitude artifacts. One is a difference in response that depends on the direction of mirror scan. This produces scan-angle effects superimposed on scene-related effects. The second is a tendency for level shifts to occur between mirror scans at random times but with correlations between detector responses. Two forms or patterns of level shift were identified, corresponding to four system noise states. Preliminary correction models and/or procedures have been developed and recommended for further evaluation.


SummaryBrain tumor formation and growth is accompanied by the proliferation and infiltration of blood capillaries. The phenotypes of endothelial cells that make up capillaries are known to differ not only in the tissues in which endothelial cells are located but also as a result of the microenvironment to which they are exposed. For this reason, primary cultures of brain endothelial cells were isolated from human brain tumors removed by surgery and compared with cells from normal tissue. The primary confluent monolayers that grew out of isolated capillary fragments consisted of closely associated, elongated, fusiform-shaped cells. But brain tumor-derived endothelial cells in culture exhibited significantly less expression of endothelial-specific Factor VIII-related antigen compared with cells isolated from normal tissue. Cultured cells that exhibited binding of Ulex europaeus lectin were shown to take up Dil-Ac-Ldl and formed continuous monolayers that were joined together by tight junctions. The cells also exhibited characteristics of the cells of the brain microvasculature in vitro as seen by the presence of large numbers of mitochondria and few pinocytotic vesicles and by the absence of Weibel-Palade bodies within the cells. The expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, E-Selectin, and the tight junction associated protein ZO-1 but not intercellular adhesion molecule-1 was demonstrated by immunohistological staining or reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction methodologies. Comparative studies of these endothelial cells with endothelial cells from normal tissue will be useful for determining and understanding how the blood-brain barrier differs and functions in tumor and healthy tissues and may lead to strategies for brain tumor therapeutic approaches.


A case of multiple endocrine neoplasia type I (MEN I) consisting of Cushing's disease, primary hyperparathyroidism, and insulin‐glucagonoma is described. This condition was treated successfully by transsphenoidal pituitary adenomectomy, subtotal parathyroidectomy, and enucleation of pancreatic tumors. Histologic features showed a basophilic adenoma in the pituitary, chief cell hyperplasia in the parathyroid, and islet cell adenomas in the pancreas. The rarity of multiple endocrine hyperfunctioning states and the pathophysiology created by the combination of these three diseases in this patient are of interest.


Shallow submarine hydrothermal vents along Hellenic Volcanic Arc transfer significant quantities of particles enriched in basic metals . Fluids collected by scuba diving from two shallow hydrothermal venting areas on Kos Island in the Aegean Sea in East Mediterranean. Samples were filtrated and membrane filters leached with a mixture of acids. Chemical analysis performed in suspended particles for Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Ca, Ba, Sr, Li, Al and Si. The suspended particulate matter (SPM) flux varied from 0.93 to 8.64 mg/l and between 0.21 and 20.94 mg/l in two sites. Metal/Al ratios also vary significantly within a short distance. The pH of hydrothermal waters was from 5.50 to 5.95 in Kephalos Bay and from 6.09 to 6.53 in Bros Thermi suggesting gases CO 2 and H 2 S may control pH values. Particles were dominated by Fe, Ca, Si and Al and strongly enriched in Mn, Cu, Pb and Ba. Three geochemical groups were identified being associated with distinct hydrothermal processes concerning sulphide minerals, carbonate substrate and deeper Al-Silicate rock basement.


Using nationally representative panel data on 7,766 individuals (22,878 observations), we investigate the association between several well-being indicators (depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness) and the general tendency to follow official recommendations regarding selfprotection against COVID-19, in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden over the course of four data collection waves. Employing a flexible specification that allows the correlation to be non-monotonic, we find a U-shaped relationship, in which transitions to low and high levels of psychological well-being are associated with higher overall compliance, while transitions to medium levels of psychological well-being are associated with less compliance. Moreover, anxiety, stress, and loneliness levels at baseline also have a U-shaped effect on following the recommendations later (i.e., recommendations are followed best by those with lowest and highest levels of anxiety, stress, and loneliness at baseline, while following the recommendations is lowest for those with moderate levels of these variables). These U shapes are in contrast to previous studies which report monotonic relationships between various measures of mental health and compliance, or ambiguous results. Additionally, we observe a U-shaped correlation between the well-being indicators and a number of specific behaviours (including washing hands and mask wearing). Importantly, most of these specific behaviours play a role in the general tendency to follow recommendations. Finally, we uncover the role of gender composition effects in some of our results. While variations in depression and stress are negatively correlated with variations in overall compliance for males, the association is positive for females. The relation in the full sample (composed of males and females) will reflect first the negative slope for males and then the positive slope for females, explaining the U shape.


Abstract. Urban forests can provide vital environmental and social functions if appropriately planned and managed. Tree inventory and tree dimensions are an important part of evaluating and monitoring the growth, size and health condition of urban trees. Accordingly, crown diameter (cd), height (h) and diameter at breast height (dbh) are significant biometric descriptors of tree size and bulk.When making decisions regarding urban environments it is important to be able to properly estimate these descriptors which are also needed to evaluate for example the so-called zones of upheaval (i.e., areas of interaction between roots and hard surfaces) and soil volume needs for planting trees in urban areas as well as for estimating their growth, control of diseases and preservation requirements.In line with the above, the scope of this contribution is that of assessing the relationship (via direct field measurements and regression analysis) that exists between the dbh of a given tree species relative to its h and cd. This information can be of assistance when substantiating tree measurements determined via existing mobile mapping technology systems.One hundred and three mature Norfolk Island pine trees (Araucaria heterophilla) located along a tourist shoreline of the Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) were selected for this work. Their h, cd and dbh were individually measured, processed, and mapped in terms of their coordinate locations (i.e., latitude and longitude). Tree data was captured via field surveys using a diameter tape for dbh, and a laser range finder for measuring tree h and cd. A GNSS enabled digital camera was used to collect pictorial information and location description.For the case study investigated here, the regression models of h=F(dbh) and cd=F(dbh) reasonably validated (R2=0.928 and R2=0.899 respectively) the Australian standard estimates of h and cd of ornamental trees based on their dbh, thus making these estimates easier to determine via simplified mathematical functions. This is because the dbh is easier to be measured accurately in the field as compared to h and cd, and it can also provide information regarding the biomass, volume and carbon storage of trees.


Introduction/Background Fortuitous cases of invasive tubal carcinoma in BRCA patients have been reported at the time of risk reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO). We performed a systematic review of the literature to determine the incidence of microinvasive tubal carcinoma in BRCA or high-risk patients undergoing RRSO, and evaluated treatment outcomes, recurrence and overall survival. Methodology The systematic review of the literature was done using OVID, EMBASE, Medline and PubMed with keywords selected by an expert medical librarian. Two independent reviewers performed study selection, data extraction, data analysis and quality assessment. Data was extracted,recorded in a database, and synthesized using tables. Quality was assessed using an index for non-randomized studies (MINORS). Statistical analysis was done with SAS. Results Among 2314 studies, 35 met inclusion criteria and were retained for qualitative analysis; 27 were used for quantitative analysis. A total of 6425 patients underwent RRSO between 1990 and 2019; 2963 were BRCA1 and 1605 BRCA2. Among these, 86 patients had occult tubal carcinoma. The pooled incidence of occult tubal carcinoma after RRSO in BRCA mutated or high-risk women was 1.34%, occurring at a median age of 54 years (range 42.4–67). After a median follow-up of 47.5 months, 13 recurrences and 27 cases of post-RRSO peritoneal cancer were reported. BRCA1, older age, previous breast cancer and extensive sampling of the fimbriated end were more often associated with occult malignancy. Additionally, we report a case of a 57 year old BRCA2+ patient with microinvasive tubal carcinoma found at prophylactic surgery. Despite chemotherapy and complete interval debulking, she recurred after 33 months with diffuse carcinomatosis, treated with second line calyx/carboplatin and olaparib maintenance. After 16 months, she developed acute myeloid leukaemia and died from this secondary malignancy. Conclusion Despite early diagnosis and aggressive chemotherapy, microinvasive tubal carcinoma found at the time of RRSO can recur and result in poor outcomes Disclosure Nothing to disclose


The computational distribution of sequential decoding for discrete memoryless multiple-access channels is examined. It is shown that all possible collections of incorrect paths in the code tree may be described by bipartite graphs. Using this fact and a new decoding metric it is proved that the number of computations in the first incorrect subtree is a Paretean random variable, and that the parameter of the Pareto distribution is estimated similarly to the parameter for systems of information transmission with one source.


Introduction Ultra-fast track anaesthesia aims at immediate extubation of cardiac surgical patients at the end of the operation. This study compares the effect of ultrafast track anesthesia versus continued postoperative mechanical ventilation on the intensive care unit length of stay. Methods Fifty-two elective adult patients were randomly allocated into ultrafast track anaesthesia and conventional groups by computer-generated random numbers. Redo operations, pre-operative intubation, uncontrolled diabetes, shock/left ventricular ejection fraction < 45%, pulmonary artery systolic pressure >55mmHg, creatinine clearance -1, haemodynamic instability, or those with concerns of postoperative bleeding were excluded. Pre- and intra-operative management was similar and Logistic EuroSCORE II was calculated for all. Intra-operatively, haemodynamic parameters, urine output, oxygen saturation, arterial blood gas analysis, 5-lead electrocardiogram, operative bypass- and cross-clamp time, and opioid consumption were collected. Postoperatively, patients were compared during their intensive care unit stay. Data were analysed by χ²/Fischer exact, unpaired student's t-test, univariate two-group repeated measures with post hoc Dunnett's test, and Mann-Whitney U tests as appropriate. p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results Patients were comparable regarding their peri-operative characteristics and EuroSCORE. The intensive care unit stay was shorter in the ultrafast track anaesthesia group [57.4 (18.6) vs. 95 (33.6) h. p < 0.001], without increasing postoperative renal, respiratory complications rate or reopening rate. Conclusions In this single center study, ultrafast track anaesthesia decreased intensive care unit stay without increasing the rate of post-operative complications.


Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate (Anti-NMDA) receptor encephalitis is an acute autoimmune neurological disorder that can be triggered by virus, H1N1/tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis and polio vaccines or by presence of a tumor. The association between anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis and Japanese encephalitis vaccination was examined and a general protocol of phylogenetic method which details the steps and code and an example of its utility is provided. The approach used here is potentially useful for analyzing the relationship between vaccines and diseases.


Ceftolozane/tazobactam is an antibacterial approved at 1.5 g (1g/0.5 g) every 8 hours (q8h); higher doses may provide additional benefits in difficult‐to‐treat infections. We conducted a phase I trial in healthy adults evaluating safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of 3 g (2 g/1 g) ceftolozane/tazobactam administered q8h for 10 days. Sixteen participants were randomized (2:1:1) to 3 g ceftolozane/tazobactam, 1.5 g ceftolozane/tazobactam, or placebo. Participants underwent regular safety and plasma drug level assessments, with a follow‐up safety visit 7 days after completion. No adverse events (AEs) were reported with placebo; 75% of participants in the 1.5‐g and 50% in the 3‐g arm experienced AEs. AE types were similar between the ceftolozane/tazobactam groups; all AEs were mild. No participants experienced clinically meaningful laboratory assessment or electrocardiogram abnormalities. Both ceftolozane and tazobactam exhibited dose‐proportional pharmacokinetics without accumulation and without substantial differences in clearance and volume of distribution between groups. In the 3‐g group, mean ceftolozane parameters were: peak concentration 104 μg/mL (day 1), 112 μg/mL (day 10); half‐life 3 hours (day 10); area under the concentration‐time curve (AUC(0‐t)) 272 μg·h/mL (day 1), 300μg·h/mL (day 10). Mean tazobactam parameters were: peak concentration 28 μg/mL (day 1), 26 μg/mL (day 10); half‐life 1 hour (day 10); AUC(0‐t) 47μg·h/mL (day 1), 41μg·h/mL (day 10). Administration of 3 g ceftolozane/tazobactam q8h for 10 days was safe and well tolerated in healthy volunteers.


This paper describes discretized PID control and robust stabilization for continuous plants on an integer grid. Although all control systems are currently realized using discretized signals, the analysis and design of discrete-time and discrete-value (digital) control systems has not been elucidated. In this paper, a designing problem of such nonlinear discrete-time control systems based on the PID algorithm is presented in a frequency domain. In the design procedure, a modified Nichols diagram and parameter specifications are applied. Numerical examples are provided to verify the validity of the designing method.


Clinical guidelines, which increasingly build upon impartial analysis of evidence from well-designed studies, have become highly credible sources of information about what forms of care are effective. Consequently, they are attractive as foundations for performance incentives. Unfortunately, they are often complex, and frequently it is infeasible to gather the information required to assess compliance with guidelines at reasonable cost. I discuss the problems in implementing evidence-based guidelines and steps that could be taken to make them more useful as a basis for performance measurement.


Event detection has become an important research issue in the decision making process of dynamic systems where one should be able to comprehend the situation in order to make an appropriate decision for future development. And machine intelligence is required to provide a solution for automated event detection. In this paper we propose a hybrid fuzzy logic system that has been used for detecting event, the fuzzy event detector is a linguistic model, which synthesizes complex relations between process variables and process events incorporating experts' knowledge about the process operation. This kind of detection allows the anticipation of appropriate control actions, which depend upon the selected membership functions used to characterize the process under scrutiny. Simulation experiment shows the feasibility and validity of the proposed method.


Walter Jakob Gehring [3] discovered the homeobox [4] , a DNA segment found in a specific cluster of genes [5] that determine the body plan of animals, plants, and fungi. Gehring identified the homeobox [4] in 1983, with the help of colleagues while isolating the Antennapedia ( Antp ) gene in fruit flies ( Drosophila [6] ) at the University of Basel [7] in Basel, Switzerland. Hox genes [8] , a family of genes [5] that contain the homeobox [4] sequence, determine the head-to-tail (anterior-posterior) body axis of both vertebrates and invertebrates. Gehring also identified the homeobox [4] -containing Pax-6 gene as the master control gene in eye development of Drosophila [9] , the same gene that, when mutated or absent in humans [10] , leads to aniridia, or lack of the iris, in humans [10] . Gehring's work with the homeobox [4] suggested to biologists that widely different species share a similar and evolutionarily conserved genetic pathway that controls the development of overall body plans, from fruit flies to humans [10] . Gehring was born on 20 March 1939 in Zurich, Switzerland, to Marcelle Rembann and Jakob Gehring. Jakob Gehring was the chief engineer in turbine construction for the oceanliner Normandie. Gehring was the second child in the family and was younger than his sister by three years. Gehring later said that he and his sister got along very well and frequently competed against one another while growing up. When Gehring was a boy, his uncle sent him a cardboard box filled with pupae. The following spring, butterflies emerged from the pupae. Gehring stated that the event shaped his interest in animals and their development.


The current paper presents a continuation of an earlier research and purposes to enhance the performances of the studied system. While the double fuzzy PI (DFPI) control was applied only on the DC capacitor bus in a previous work it is applied here also on the output current of shunt active power filter (SAPF). The nonlinear load disrupts the electrical distribution system by the generation of harmonics, which requires an efficient SAPF intervention to minimize the effects of harmonics on the network and provide electrical energy conforms to international standards. The design and simulation of this work were performed under MATLAB/Simulink environment. The carried-out simulation results demonstrate a satisfactory regulation both for the output current of the SAPF and the DC bus voltage. Furthermore the power quality is improved since a near-unity power factor and very low rates of imbalance of both source voltages and currents are obtained.


In this work, we introduce an innovative Phase-Change Memory (PCM) based on a TiTe and Ge2Sb2Te5(GST) bi-layer stack that presents low resistance variability since the out-of-fabrication in 4 kb array. It allows creating reliably an intermixed system right from the first programming in the active volume of the device. TiTe/GST PCM exhibits higher speed, lower variability of intermediate resistance states and lower drift compared to standard GST. An endurance of more than 108 cycles can be achieved and we found a reduced cycle-to-cycle variability even after endurance stress. Such new TiTe/GST stack, based on our results, demonstrates to be a valuable candidate for PCM targeting Storage Class Memory applications.


The aim of the paper is to test stability and biophysical properties of hydrophilic and lipophilic emulsions with selected vegetable seed oils: Limnanthes alba, Prunus amygdalus dulcis, Cannabis sativa, Rosa rubiginosa and Hellianthus annuus. Biophysical properties of emulsions are investigated in vivo using non-invasive instrumental methods (corneometry, tewametry and pH) in a group of 12 healthy women volunteers. Their stability profiles (colour, phase separation and centrifugation) under various temperatures (9, 25, 37 and 57 °C) and storage time (24 hours, 2, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days) were monitored. The moisturising activities of the emulsions supplemented with various oils were comparable. The lipophilic emulsions showed a better ability to improve the condition of the skin barrier due to formation of a surface lipid film. The tested formulations regulated the pH of the skin towards neutral values. Lipophilic emulsions showed earlier phase separation and changes in colour. The greatest resistance to thermal stress during storage was observed for the emulsion bases. Emulsions containing oils, except for those with rosehip and hempseed oils, were stable up to the temperature of 37 °C. The studied emulsion systems are excellent vehicles of vegetable oils and exhibit relatively good stability, benefiting the natural properties of skin.


Humans are currently living in a way that profoundly affects the planet, and the lives of future generations. Our value system promotes economic gain over environmental health. We are taking more than we are giving back, stretching beyond the limits of sustainability. Earth cannot sustain the current human lifestyle under these conditions. This is paired with the fact that the current system of education focuses on producing economically productive individuals instead of environmentally and socially aware persons who carefully consider the impacts of their actions. This study examines the capacity for "ecological living" to use outdoor education as a tool for changing the present human way of life. Thirty three ecological farms responded to a questionnaire examining the importance each placed on current vs. alternative values. The respondents also answered questions displaying the relationship between life on their farms and the key components of outdoor education. Results show a positive opportunity exists for using ecological farms and the ecological lifestyle to promote a change in way of life. The results also exhibit a high level of connection between the ideals of outdoor education and the activities that are part of life on an ecological farm. This suggests that by specifically tailoring ecological farms to be educational institutions, a further change in way of life could be expanded. The ecological lifestyle shows potential to educate people in greater awareness of others and the environment, thereby decreasing the human impact on earth and creating an opportunity for future generations.


We believe that a more rigorous method of specification and validation can be achieved by first developing a {\it specification architecture} whose high-level semantics are based on object oriented concepts. This architecture promotes the construction of new functionality in a formal manner using rigorous notions of composition and inheritance. An object oriented approach will also facilitate incremental approaches to validation and verification. We present our first steps towards producing such an architecture for the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), which is specified and validated using a formal object oriented language based on LOTOS. The method by which the formal model is derived from the informal understanding of the requirements is examined. Validation based on meta-analysis of the problem structure is elucidated.


Jaravallen is the name of a beach ridge along the south and south-west coasts of Scania in the southern part of Sweden. Large amounts of flinttool preforms, particularly for square-sectioned Neolithic axes, have been found on three sites along this beach ridge. The several thousand preforms represent tool types from the Early Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. The three sites have not been given much attention in recent archaeological research. With a basis in a discussion of action, technology, ritual and the continuity of place, these three sites are analysed and interpreted as representing traditions involving repeated actions over a long period of time. The production and deposition of the preforms are seen as an investment for the future. Anders Ho gberg, Malmo Kulturmi jlo malmo Heri tage, Box 406, SE-201 24 Malmo, Sweden


Based on the analysis of the experience of foreign and Russian learning management systems built in accordance with the requirements of the Bologna Declaration, the technology of building individually adaptable curriculum of high school students on a particular specialty or direction is conserned. This technology is being developed on the basis of expertise marks and requirements of state standard of the third generation. With the help of experts (employers, graduates of previous years, teachers) a list of subjects is determined, as well as weight in credits and reporting form of each discipline, the sequence of study subjects of a special pattern of the curriculum. Formed on the basis of a special pattern of the curriculum, a student with the help of a specialist (tutor), defi nes an individual study plan for the fi rst and subsequent years of study. Built in such a way, the educational process allows the institute to take into account the wishes of consumers of educational services, to reduce the time, cost to build a study plan of the student.


To the Editor: Schroth et all correctly remind us that in herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) antiviral therapy must be initiated early if we hope to prevent devastating neurologic damage. They reported superiority of MRI over CT in making early diagnosis, but made no comment about the utility of EEG, and no mention of EEG findings was made in their three case reporta. Whitley et a12 reported that EEG is the most useful neurodiagnostic aid in 113 patients with biopsy-proven H S E EEG localization for brain biopsy was found in 81% of cases versus 50% of cases with a localized lesion found on isotope scan and 59% of focal lesions found by CT. Whitley et al concluded, "our dependence on CT scans will delay diagnosis and subsequent institution of treatment."* A comparison of early EEG abnormality and MRI needs to be studied.


While the world is preoccupied with the Middle East, what inroads is China making into Latin America? In China Engages Latin America, experts from three continents provide local answers to this global question.


The segmentation, seen as the association of a partition with an image, is a difficult task. It can be decomposed in two steps: at first, a family of contours associated with a series of nested partitions (or hierarchy) is created and organized, then pertinent contours are extracted. A coarser partition is obtained by merging adjacent regions of a finer partition. The strength of a contour is then measured by the level of the hierarchy for which its two adjacent regions merge. We present an automatic segmentation strategy using a wide range of stochastic watershed hierarchies. For a given set of homogeneous images, our approach selects automatically the best hierarchy and cut level to perform image simplification given an evaluation score. Experimental results illustrate the advantages of our approach on several real-life images datasets.


The presence of Neisseria meningitidis in the vagina has not been well documented. This is probably due to the rare occurrence of this organism in this anatomic site. Neisseria meningitidis , when present in humans, can usually be recovered from the blood, cerebrospinal fluid, the nasopharynx, and petechiae of the skin. 1,2 Murray 3 reported the isolation of this organism from the male urogenital tract in 1939. The present recovery of N meningitidis represents, in addition to a rare isolate, the possibility that the meningococcus was the etiologic agent in a case of vaginitis. Meningococci may be recovered from man in the absence of disease but have been proven to be responsible for serious illnesses such as meningococcal meningitis, bacterial endocarditis, and meningococcemia, to name a few. The association of this organism with vaginitis had not been reported. Report of a Case A 5-year-old Negro girl was brought by her mother


Abstract Human operators of advanced technology systems, such as nuclear power, command and control, and deepwater oil drilling, must be able to evaluate and respond to a wide array of operational anomalies. Unfortunately, these circumstances are often complex and ambiguous, complicating decision-making tasks. One common decision-making error, called confirmation bias, occurs when decision makers prematurely focus on one explanation instead of systematically considering all plausible alternative explanations that could equally well account for an operational anomaly. The Delphi display is designed to counteract decision makers' tendencies toward confirmation bias and to encourage them to consider all plausible explanations, including high-risk explanations they might otherwise overlook. An initial Delphi display prototype was designed to help identify the underlying cause of operational anomalies in the complex, high-consequence technology of deepwater drilling. This prototype decision aid incorporates major indicators related to operational anomalies and presents corresponding plausible explanations for a given combination of indicators, ranging from high-risk system-critical explanations to lower-risk but still significant events. The Delphi display incorporates several innovative features to help decision makers detect and monitor operational anomalies and view the relationships among indicators and their associated plausible explanations. Preliminary evaluations of an early prototype Delphi display for detecting kicks in deepwater oil drilling operations have been promising. Moreover, the methodology used to design and develop the Delphi display can be readily generalized to numerous other operational contexts that require humans to make system-critical decisions. To illustrate, an initial Delphi display design for nuclear power plant control is described.


Argulus spp. are branchiuran crustaceans with a direct life cycle, therefore current aquaculture practice with a high density of potential hosts provides ideal conditions
for effective transmission of this obligate ectoparasite. Chemicals are usually used to treat parasite infestation of fishes. However chemical treatments result in side-effects
including environmental pollution, parasite resistance, alteration of zooplankton ecosystem, changes in certain hematological parameters and contamination of host
organs. Thus there is a need for alternative measures to control parasitic diseases in the aquaculture industry. To date, there are no studies reported on biological control of
fish lice, in particular the use of Thai silver barb (TSB) (Pontius gonionotus) to control Argulus population. In this study, the effectiveness of abiotic and biotic control methods for an ectoparasite infestation was examined. Therefore, an abiotic study was designed firstly to examine the effect of water current on parasite abundance and incidence of the fish lice, Argulus sp. among captive goldfish (Carassius auratus). Secondly, in a biotic
study, the effectiveness of using TSB to reduce the parasite number was investigated and thirdly, to compare both the abiotic and biotic control methods in their effectiveness to
reduce parasite number. The mean abundance and incidence of the ectoparasite, Argulus sp., on goldfish was measured. In the abiotic study goldfish infected with Argulus sp.
was mixed with other susceptible goldfish hosts and kept in tanks with fast flowing or stagnant water. There was no difference in the parasite mean abundance and incidence between fast flowing and stagnant water. Thai Silver Barb which is a predator of the Argulus was introduced to the parasite infected goldfish for the biotic study. The mean
parasite abundance was significantly lowered (P<0.05) after introducing the predator TSB into the tanks. Combination of both control methods did not further improve the effectiveness in reducing Argulus population. Hence this study showed that utilizing this method of biotic control among goldfish is definitely a future control solution.
This study also showed that water current seemed to reduce Argulus transmission and population. The predator effect of TSB was lessened by the fast flowing current. The major finding in this study indicated that TSB was a very effective biological control where with only two TSBs, 96% of Argulus was removed in less than 24 hours. The number of TSB used in the biotic control did not affect the predator efficiency. It is suggested that the biological control tested in this study can be used to reduce Argulus population among goldfish in aquaculture settings.


The prosperity of massive open online courses provides fodder for plentiful research efforts on adaptive learning. However, current open-access educational datasets are still far from sufficient to meet the need for various topics of adaptive learning. Existing released datasets often cover only small-scale data, lack fine-grained knowledge concepts. They are even difficult to curate and supplement due to platform limitations. In this work, we construct MOOCCubeX, a large, knowledge-centered repository consisting of 4,216 courses, 230,263 videos, 358,265 exercises, 637,572 fine-grained concepts and over 296 million behavioral data of 3,330,294 students, for supporting the research topics on adaptive learning in MOOCs. Licensed by XuetangX, one of the largest MOOC websites in China, we obtain abundant and diverse course resources and student behavioral data and are permitted to make subsequent periodic updates. We propose a framework to accomplish data processing, weakly supervised fine-grained concept graph mining, and data curation to improve usability and richness. Based on the fine-grained concepts, we re-organize the data from the knowledge perspective and acquire more external learning resources from the web. Our repository is now available at https://github.com/THU-KEG/MOOCCubeX.


The paper demonstrates the importance of healthy lifestyle in the prevention and control of diseases. The description is given of the main methods and organizational technologies used in developed countries to ensure the effective performance of general practitioners on the introduction of healthy lifestyle. The concrete examples from WHO documents, USA and Australian organizations and also some recommendations for the healthcare system of Russia are provided.


In order to achieve objective data to eventually measure the dexterity of hands, we examined 210 hands in 105 persons. These persons were divided into two groups: one group of people with jobs demanding unusual dexterity (musicians, typists, etc.), and another group with average occupational demands on the hand. As expected, we found that hand length and breadth and wrist circumference are always greater in the dominant hand of any individual. The thumb and small finger are always longer in the dominant hand. Joints' active range of motion are significantly higher in individuals whose occupations were particularly demanding.


The COVID-19 pandemic has covered almost all countries involving more then 16 million people, and more then 600 000 of whom have died. Although the lungs are most often damaged, proteinuria is observed in 44% and hematuria in 27% of cases, and acute kidney injury (AKI) develops in 5%. Moreover, among patients requiring mechanical ventilation, 52% develop AKI within 24 hours after intubation and switched to renal replacement therapy (RRT). In this coronavirus infection, many toxic substances are accumulated in the blood, leading to the "cytokine storm". The main injuries occur in the vascular endothelium, leading to the vessels porosity and there is an exit of not only of the fluid, but also of endotoxins into the interstitial space. In this case, toxic damage occurs in the kidneys of both the glomerular apparatus and the tubular epithelium with significant disorders of their functions requiring RRT, and despite this, mortality rate reaches 30-70%. The predisposing factors are diabetes and arterial hypertension, as well as previous chronic liver and kidney diseases, which is accompanied by higher mortality rate. There is still no specific antiviral therapy. The drugs used often have a number of side effects, including hepato- and nephrotoxicity, which makes them dangerous, given that the kidneys are also the target organ for COVID-19 infection. Considering the accumulation of cytokines, in particular of IL-6, its specific inhibitors, such as tocilizumab, are used; however, this is also associated with a number of side effects in many patients. Therefore, most of them need RRT in terminal renal failure. The most common treatment tactics for AKI is RRT using mainly various hemofiltration methods. However, not all toxic products are removed, and the mortality rate remains quite high. Therefore, the use of plasma exchange with replacement of the removed plasma with freshly frozen donor plasma is the most pathogenetically justified. In plasma exchange, there is a more effective decrease in the levels of C-reactive protein and IL-6 than using tocilizumab. In our earlier studies, plasma exchange in AKI caused by other conditions (sepsis etc.) enabled us to reduce mortality from 73.33% to 31.03%. After all, it is to be considered that changes in the kidney parenchyma remain for a long time after the formal recovery and often turn into a chronic form and even lead to the so-called delayed mortality. The earlier studies of AKI, caused by other reasons, show that the mortality rate during the first ear to be 23% after the discharge from medical institutions, and during the second year it increased by 7.6%, that in total with the hospital mortality rate is 65.7%. These findings can be easily extrapolated to the current situation with COVID-19 and they once again prove plasma exchange to be advisable to perform at the first signs of impaired renal function in order to avoid a critical degree of their damage and to prevent the following complications.


The stiffness tensors of a laminated composite may be expressed as a linear function of material invariants and lamination parameters. Owing to the nature of orienting unidirectional laminae ply by ply, lamination parameters, which are trigonometric functions of the ply orientation, are interrelated. In optimization studies, lamination parameters are often treated as independent design variables constrained by inequality relationships to feasible regions that depend on their values. The relationships between parameters enclose a convex feasible region of lamination parameters which is generally unknown. The convexity properties allow the efficient optimization of laminated composite structures where lamination parameters are used as design variables. Herein, a two-level method is presented to determine the feasible regions of lamination parameters where potential ply orientations are a predefined finite set. At the first level, the feasible region of the in-plane, coupling and out-of-plane lamination parameters is determined separately using convex hulls. At the second level, a nonlinear algebraic identity is used to relate the in-plane, coupling and out-of-plane lamination parameters to each other. This general approach yields all constraints on the feasible regions of lamination parameters for a predefined set of ply orientations.


Abstract A new menthane-type monoterpenoid, illigerate E (1), as well as two known ones, (1R*,3R*,4S*,6R*)-6,8-dihydroxymenthol (2) and cis-4-hydroxy-5-(1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl)-2-methyl-2-cyclohexene-1-one (3), were isolated from fermented Illigera aromatica with Clonostachys rogersoniana 828H2. Their structures were identified by HRESIMS and 1D/2D NMR spectra. Their inhibitory effects of NO production in RAW 264.7 macrophages were estimated.


The article describes both types of Russian venture funds and forms of the state participation in venture investment. Besides, the article mentions the scheme of regional venture fund creation in Ural district, principles of its participants` interaction and some management issues. Moreover, we can see here the fund's development which includes market, technological, integration and investment components.


In this study, It is conducted for novice drivers about driving behavior and psychological characteristics analysis to reduce traffic accident risk and provide the basic data of education program development. Therefore, this study classified by the category-specific characteristics and hazard prediction through survey of the novice driver and unpredictable behavior and psychological characteristics were studied. The novice and general characteristics and driving behavior with vehicle simulators, comparison and analysis of the novice driver traffic safety education basic research direction based on the statistical results. Prediction the results of this study, the Hazard of the driver, speeding, traffic violation, information providing omission, abrupt change, the number of accidents in all areas novice driver is high compared to the general driver. In addition, Novice driver showed a statistically significant level of Hazard compared to the general driver target novice drivers and the general ability to predict Hazard of violation, abrupt change, and a number of traffic accidents were omitted level of speeding and other information providing level drivers all showed similar results. Vehicle simulator. The experimental results showed that novice drivers compared to drivers poorly overall driving performance. It showed a notable difference in the number of collisions, especially novice drivers compared to drivers in complex road traffic conditions due to a lack of driving experience and learning ability are considered.