Abstract Field studies were conducted to determine if mesotrione alone or in combinations with other corn herbicides would control horseweed and other winter annual weeds associated with no-till corn. Mesotrione alone controlled horseweed 52 to 80% by 3 wk after treatment (WAT); however, by 7 WAT control diminished to between 37 to 68%, depending on mesotrione rate. Mesotrione at 0.16 kg ai/ha plus atrazine at 0.28 kg ai/ha controlled 99% of horseweed and annual bluegrass and 88% of yellow woodsorrel. Combinations of mesotrione at 0.16 kg/ha plus acetochlor at 1.79 kg ai/ha plus 1.12 kg ai/ha glyphosate (trimethylsulfonium salt of glyphosate) or 0.7 kg ai/ha paraquat provided 93% or greater control of all three weed species. Glyphosate alone also controlled all weed species 97 to 99%, while paraquat alone provided 99% control of annual bluegrass, 72% control of horseweed, and 36% control of yellow woodsorrel. Mixtures of paraquat plus acetochlor improved control of horseweed (93%) and yellow woodsorrel (73%) over control with either herbicide applied alone. Nomenclature: Acetochlor; atrazine; glyphosate-Tms (trimethylsulfonium salt); mesotrione; paraquat; annual bluegrass, Poa annua L. POAAN; horseweed, Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronq. ERICA; yellow woodsorrel, Oxalis stricta L. OXAST; corn, Zea mays L.


Purpose: to detect phosphoethanolamine (PEtn or PE) in vivo for whole-brain MRSI, overcoming challenges of B1+-inhomogeneities and CSDE at 7T. Methods: An EPSI-based B1+ robust SLOW-editing was applied to three healthy subjects. TE = 90 ms, TR = 1500 ms, and TA = 9:04 mins. Results: the editing PE signal at 3.22 ppm was clearly present, and the B1+-homogenous result/map was obtained. Conclusions: whole-brain in vivo PE-editing can be performed in around 9 minutes measurement time and is therefore clinically applicable.


Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques are used for
research of selected surface structures in several taxa of
parasites. The SEM methodology was found to be necessary in the
taxonomy of nematodes for studies of cephalic structures and
further surface features, where the study by light microscopy
produces insufficient results. Although we have relatively
large amounts of information regarding parasites of orangutans,
identification to the species level is still needed. During our
parasitological monitoring of wild and semi-wild orangutans in
North Sumatra at the site of a former rehabilitation station in
Bohorok between 1999 – 2003 we collected five ascarid specimens
from the fresh faeces of two semi-wild adult females. It is
clear that two species had been found, according to literature
concerning ascarids findings from orangutans: Ascaris
lumbricoides (Linnaeus, 1758) and A. satyri Chatin, 1877. The
first species is regarded as typically cosmopolitan parasite of
humans and findings from great apes and non-human primates are
very rare. The second species is regarded as a specialized
parasite of Bornean orang-utans (P.pygmaeus) by the author of
the original description. Our material from P. abelii is the
first finding from the native territory of distribution. In the
past all descriptions from the native territory of distribution
were based on coprological analyses only. The identification of
ascarids from Sumatran orangutans were established by using
morphometrical and metrical study by the optical microscope,
some details (anterior extremity) by SEM and based on
comparison with a redescription of A. lumbricoides from man
(Homo sapiens). Our conducted study includes a detailed
redescription of ascarids from the Sumatran orangutan and
corresponds with characteristics of morphospecies A.
lumbricoides which we evaluated as a conspecific.


This is the case report of a 15-year-old black male with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy who developed heterotopic ossification and spontaneous ankylosis of his contralateral nonoperative hip after unilateral adductor tenotomy. To the authors' knowledge, this is the only reported case of such an occurrence. The mechanism and possible risk factors are discussed as well as management of this complication.


Broadcast encryption (BE) is a cryptographic primitive that allows a broadcaster to encrypt digital content to a privileged set of users and in this way prevent revoked users from accessing the content. In BE schemes, a group of users, called traitors may leak their keys and enable an adversary to receive the content. Such malicious users can be detected through traitor tracing (TT) schemes. The ultimate goal in a content distribution system would be combining traitor tracing and broadcast encryption (resulting in a trace and revoke system) so that any receiver key found to be compromised in a tracing process would be revoked from future transmissions. In this paper, we propose a generic method to transform a broadcast encryption scheme into a trace and revoke scheme. This transformation involves the utilization of a fingerprinting code over the underlying BE transmission. While fingerprinting codes have been used for constructing traitor tracing schemes in the past, their usage has various shortcomings such as the increase of the public key size with a linear factor in the length of the code. Instead, we propose a novel way to apply fingerprinting codes that allows for efficient parameters while retaining the traceability property. Our approach is based on a new property of fingerprinting codes we introduce, called public samplability. We have instantiated our generic transformation with the BE schemes of [4, 13, 20] something that enables us to produce trace and revoke schemes with novel properties. Specifically, we show (i) a trace and revoke scheme with constant private key size and short ciphertext size, (ii) the first ID-based trace and revoke scheme, (iii) the first publicly traceable scheme with constant private key size and (iv) the first trace and revoke scheme against pirate rebroadcasting attack in the public key setting.


Body condition is an important ecological attribute that can provide a measure of the energy stored by an animal or population. Body condition is traditionally ascertained with morphometric body condition indices (BCIs), but some researchers have used various physiological and biochemical parameters as predictors of body condition. This study aimed to test reliable biochemical predictors of body condition in individuals of Neopelma pallescens (Lafresnaye, 1853), found in an Atlantic forest patch. For this purpose we examined the relationship between body condition and the concentrations of blood glucose and ketones. We also verified correlations between blood metabolite concentrations and ecological variables, including time of day, seasons, breeding periods, and ectoparasite infestation. Birds were captured with mist nets at Reserva Biologica de Guaribas, state of Paraiba, Brazil. Blood samples were analyzed with a portable glucometer. The correlation between glucose and ketones was negative. Both metabolites showed significant variations according to time of day. Glucose levels were higher in the afternoon and ketones levels were higher in the morning, suggesting a correlation with daily food intake. The BCI of non-breeding birds was negatively correlated with glucose concentrations. However, the correlation between glucose and the BCI of incubating birds was a positive. Ketone bodies did not correlate with body condition. In relation to ectoparasite infestation, only ketones showed significant results, presenting a higher concentration in infested individuals. Glucose is a good predictor of the BCI of incubating birds since it correlates positively with it. However, the lack of seasonal variations in metabolites indicates that the nutritional status of tropical birds does not change when food is abundant. Thus, we conclude that glucose and ketone bodies can predict the nutritional status of birds but in a context-dependent fashion.


The influence of biologically active substances of excretory products (EP) of house mouse adult males on reproductive function of young males was studied with the help of the dominant lethal test. Mortality of the progeny and frequency of nonpregnant females were analysed on the 6th and 8th weeks after EP exposure. Preimplantation and postimplantation mortality frequency increased significantly (P less than 0.05) at 6th and 8th weeks after 2 h EP exposure. Frequency of dominant lethals and nonpregnant females is also increased. Thus, inhibition of reproductive function of young males after EP action has been demonstrated. Possible mechanisms of the effects revealed and their importance for house mouse populations are discussed.


Formulas of gas dynamic calculation of detonation parameters in variable cross-section ducts are presented and a design detonation diagram is given. The diagram shows the detonation characteristics of super-compressed detonation and under-compressed detonation as the function of shock wave specific speed depending on the intensity of temperature of the ideal gas in a subsonic one-dimensional flow behind the shock wave propagating in a chemically active air-fuel mixture and on the ratio of geometrical expansion (convergence) of the duct. The propagation of a stationary shock-wave the static pressure of which in the output cross-section of the expanded duct is equal to atmospheric pressure is referred to as design detonation. This means that all the energy of the shock wave at the output of the duct can be converted into polytropic work function of gas expansion in a detonation engine. Otherwise, if the flow takes place in the mode of overexpansion due to the separation of the compressive shock wave inside the duct or in the case of insufficient expansion part of the shock wave energy will be lost. The total impulse equation for a geometrically expanding duct is solved by replacing the integral describing the thrust force with the average integral value of the curve of the static pressure acting on the side wall of the expanding duct. The frictional force is neglected due to its insignificant value. It is shown that the presence of an insufficiently compressed shock wave is not possible as the shock wave moving at the supersonic speed in the convergent duct will be decelerated to the sonic speed. To stabilize it additional heat should be supplied to transform the convergent duct behind the compressive shock wave into a semi-permanent cross-section duct wherein thermal crisis stabilizing the shock wave can be achieved. The minimum value of the detonation pipe diameter of 50 mm is substantiated. Below that value sharp reduction of combustion efficiency takes place. The results of the work can be used for the computation of detonation engine thermodynamic cycle parameters.


Silvia, the leading actrice of the Luigi Riccoboni company who created Marivaux' s great roles, was baptised Jeanne Rose Guyonne Benozzi in Toulouse. As this article reveals, the parish baptismal records indicate that she was born on 27th June 1701 and that the baptism was attended by the leading Toulouse aristocrats ; her godfather was Jean Mathias de Riquet, President of the Toulouse Parlement and her godmother was the wife of another member of the Parlement. This leads to questions concerning the presence of Italian actors in Toulouse at the time. We do not know whether Silvia's Venetian parents were itinerant players or whether they had been in Toulouse for some time working with Joseph Tortoriti, whose company had been expelled from Paris in 1697.


Abstract Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) variants have become popular in recent years. The main idea of these adaptive PSO variants is that they adaptively change their search behavior during the optimization process based on information gathered during the run. Adaptive PSO variants have shown to be able to solve a wide range of difficult optimization problems efficiently and effectively. In this paper we propose a Repulsive Self-adaptive Acceleration PSO (RSAPSO) variant that adaptively optimizes the velocity weights of every particle at every iteration. The velocity weights include the acceleration constants as well as the inertia weight that are responsible for the balance between exploration and exploitation. Our proposed RSAPSO variant optimizes the velocity weights that are then used to search for the optimal solution of the problem (e.g., benchmark function). We compare RSAPSO to four known adaptive PSO variants (decreasing weight PSO, time-varying acceleration coefficients PSO, guaranteed convergence PSO, and attractive and repulsive PSO) on twenty benchmark problems. The results show that RSAPSO achives better results compared to the known PSO variants on difficult optimization problems that require large numbers of function evaluations.


(Fig. 1). These countries have a heavy burden of infant and child mortality and morbidity. Deaths per year among the 83 million children under five in the more developed of these countries number 500,000 (0.6%), and among the 414 million children under five in the less developed of these countries number 20 million (4.8%).t Most of this childhood mortality is from preventable diseases. Most of the deaths are due to the lethal combination of infection occurring in a malnourished child. ~ 1


BACKGROUND
In the wake of the warning by WHO that the prevalence of dementia may have a rise of 125% in the Middle East by 2050, identification of the genetic risk factors in Arab populations is urgent.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in apolipoprotein E (ApoE), clusterin (CLU), tumor necrotic factor- α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) genes, with risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in Saudi Arabian participants.

METHOD
A total of 42 Saudi AD patients and 23 age-matched control participants were genotyped for eight SNPs: rs429358, rs7412 (ApoE); rs11136000, rs1532278(CLU); rs1800629, rs1799724(TNF-α) and rs1800796, rs1800795(IL-6), by RT-PCR using the TaqMan assay. Serum concentrations of amyloid beta peptide 1-40(Aβ1-40), amyloid beta peptide 1-42(Aβ1-42), CLU and some other biochemical markers were measured.

RESULTS
A significant increase (p=0.004) in the serum CLU level was detected in the AD group (340.4 ± 74.6) compared with control group (265.0 ± 80.9). For rs1532278 (CLU), genotype GA was significantly higher in AD patients (57.1%) than in the control participants (26.1%), [p=0.036, OR = 3.67, 95% CI (1.10-12.32)]. For rs429358 (ApoE), patients showed a significantly increased frequency of the TC genotype than controls [p = 0.008, OR = 17.5, 95% CI (2.10-145.78)]. AD patients with CC genotype for ApoE rs429358 had significantly lower levels of Aβ1-40 (p=0.04) in AD patients than controls. Carriers of genotype GG for rs1800629(TNF-α) showed significantly higher levels of serum IL-6 (p = 0.04) in AD patients.

CONCLUSION
Genetic variants in ApoE and CLU may influence susceptibility to AD among Saudi Arabian participants.


Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) development is an important undertaking for many higher education institutions in the United States. During the GTA preparation process, tensions can arise when the supervisor challenges GTAs by engaging in critical reflection and pushing them to advance their pedagogical skills beyond their comfort zone. Guided by Berry's (2008) framework of tensions, this self-study aimed to answer the research question: How do tensions that arise during GTA development contribute to the professional growth of teacher educators and GTAs in their teaching? Self-study was the research method, and the data were analyzed using the strategy of inductive analysis and creative synthesis (Patten, 2002). This self-study reports five types of tensions: telling and growth; confidence and uncertainty; safety and challenge; valuing and reconstructing experience; and planning and being responsive. The findings explain how these tensions pushed the supervisor and the GTA to reflect on teacher preparation, manage challenges, and improve teaching. While tensions place teacher educators and novice teachers in uncomfortable positions, this study shows that reflections on and articulation of tensions in collaborative dialogues can help both discover aspects of their teaching that provide opportunities for growth and lead both to transform tensions into teachable moments.


BACKGROUND
Balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) has been used as a bridge to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in high-risk patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS). Such patients are now being referred for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). We sought to study the indications and outcomes of BAV in patients with severe AS in the pre-TAVI era.

METHODS
We analyzed consecutive patients with severe AS undergoing BAV from 1990 to 2005. In these patients with no immediate surgical option, BAV was attempted to temporarily improve hemodynamics, with a goal to improve general health of the patient, and ultimately AVR.

RESULTS
A total of 99 BAVs (eight repeats, one second repeat) were performed in 90 consecutive patients. Baseline ejection fraction was ≤25% in 36 (36%) patients. The 30-day mortality rate was 17% (n = 17). Of the 99 patients, 27 (30%) underwent AVR. Average follow-up of patients with and without AVR was 55 ± 57 months and 16 ± 23 months, respectively. The 6-month and 1-year survival rates in patients who underwent AVR were 81% and 78%, respectively, versus 57% and 44% in patients who did not undergo AVR (P = 0.024).

CONCLUSION
BAV can be used successfully to clinically improve the health of some nonsurgical patients with severe symptomatic AS, and a proportion of these patients improve to a point where AVR can be performed. Bridging to TAVI will provide further options to high-risk patients who cannot be bridged to conventional AVR. The role of BAV in bridging to TAVI merits further study.


INTRODUCTION
The investigation of prognostic and predictive factors for early diagnosis of tumors, their surveillance and monitoring of the impact of therapeutic modalities using hybrid laboratory models in vitro/in vivo is an experimental approach with a significant potential. It is preconditioned by the preparation of in vivo tumor models, which may face a number of potential technical difficulties. The assessment of technical success of grafting and xenotransplantation based on the type of the tumor or cell line is important for the preparation of these models and their further use for proteomic and genomic analyses.

METHODS
Surgically harvested gastrointestinal tract tumor tissue was processed or stable cancer cell lines were cultivated; the viability was assessed, and subsequently the cells were inoculated subcutaneously to SCID mice with an individual duration of tumor growth, followed by its extraction.

RESULTS
We analysed 140 specimens of tumor tissue including 17 specimens of esophageal cancer (viability 13/successful inoculations 0), 13 tumors of the cardia (11/0), 39 gastric tumors (24/4), 47 pancreatic tumors (34/1) and 24 specimens of colorectal cancer (22/9). 3 specimens were excluded due to histological absence of the tumor (complete remission after neoadjuvant therapy in 2 cases of esophageal carcinoma, 1 case of chronic pancreatitis). We observed successful inoculation in 17 of 28 tumor cell lines.

CONCLUSION
The probability of successful grafting to the mice model in tumors of the esophagus, stomach and pancreas is significantly lower in comparison with colorectal carcinoma and cell lines generated tumors. The success rate is enhanced upon preservation of viability of the harvested tumor tissue, which depends on the sequence of clinical and laboratory algorithms with a high level of cooperation.Key words: proteomic analysis - xenotransplantation - prognostic and predictive factors - gastrointestinal tract tumors.


TiO2 is a primary photocatalytic ingredient. If incorporated into building materials, it can keep surfaces clean and significantly reduce smog-forming air pollutants. Many researchers have focused on the ability of Nano TiO2 to reduce NOx emissions or other pollutants. However, developing countries are unable to widely utilize Nano materials due to cost and technology barriers, in spite of their great need to find means for protecting structures from pollution and improve air quality. Some studies proved that micro TiO2 (commercial grade) also has photocatalytic properties. However, the effect of this inclusion on key mechanical and durability properties needs to be verified before being recommended for wide use. In this research the effect of commercial grade TiO2 powder on fresh state flow, compressive strength, shrinkage, sulfate resistance and carbonation. The results indicated that TiO2 decreased the workability as mortars became more sticky and dry with increased TiO2 content. The compressive strength was also reduced in TiO2 containing samples compared to the control samples especially at early ages .However, TiO2 powder as an additive in mortar was useful in reducing carbonation due to the filler effect. No samples in the current investigation showed signs of cracking or expansive mass loss due to sulfate exposure. It is recommended that TiO2 powder should be used as an additive to the mortar plaster to help in controlling the air pollution problem. However, some mix adjustment may be needed to counteract the loss in flow and strength due to the inclusion of TiO2 powder.


This article first describes manuscript collections in the former ISTAC, the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation in Kuala Lumpur. These are mostly Middle-Eastern collections that were commercially acquired in the 1980s and 1990s. They have been described briefly in a number of catalogues that are little known outside the ISTAC. The present article also discusses some earlier provenances of the manuscripts.A number of the ISTAC manuscripts have been described here in detail. Some of these are illustrated copies of the prayerbook Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt by al-Ǧazūlī from a variety of origins: the Maghrib, the Mashriq and India (one of which has a remarkable iconography), but the article also treats several other texts; more specifically, a collection of texts on the phenomenon of the Isnād, with a number of readers' notes, Iǧāzāt and transmission certificates. A short note on an as yet little-known manuscript of Firdawsī's Shāhnāma concludes these travel notes.


Previous work from our laboratory has shown that 14-iodo-15-hydroxy-5,8,11-eicosatrienoic acid (I-HO-A) is a potent inhibitor of iodine organification in calf thyroid slices. The present studies were performed in order to clarify the mechanism of this action. Incubation of thyroid slices with 10(-4)M I-HO-A caused a 47 and 53% decrease in PB125I formation after 30 and 60 min incubation, respectively. In a series of experiments an inverse relationship between the degree of inhibition caused by I-HO-A and total iodine content and basal iodoprotein formation was observed. Chromatographic analysis of the labeled compounds showed a significant decrease in 125I incorporation into MIT, DIT, T3 and total iodolipid. The site of the inhibitory effect of I-HO-A was then sought. TPO was measured by three different methods. When TPO was solubilized from I-HO-A treated slices, no change in enzymatic activity was observed. Moreover, the same lack of action was found when solubilized TPO was incubated with I-HO-A. The production and release of H2O2 into the incubation medium was measured by chemiluminiscence technique. In control slices the values increased during the first 10 min and reached a plateau. Pretreatment of the slices with 10(-4)M KI caused a 51% inhibition, while the same concentration of I-HO-A produced a 59% inhibition. The possibility that I-HO-A might exert its action through a putative protein inhibitor was also explored. Incubation of slices with 10(-5)M I-HO-A caused a 46% decrease in PB125I formation and addition of actinomycin D or puromycin failed to alter this effect.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This paper examines the antecedents of three types of educational beliefs about mathematics among 151 teachers predominantly working in high poverty schools. Studies across various countries have found that teachers in high poverty schools are less likely to enact instructional approaches that align with mathematics reform standards set by national and international organizations. Researchers contend that for instruction to change, educational beliefs about mathematics and teaching must change. Regression analyses indicated that mathematics-teaching experience was associated with teachers' self-efficacy for teaching mathematics at the onset of professional development and the number of mathematics college courses teachers had taken moderated their change in self-efficacy beliefs through professional development. Findings also indicated that epistemic beliefs about mathematics, which became more availing through professional development, were the strongest predictor of their mathematical knowledge for teaching. Results may inform professional development programs in promoting adaptive educational beliefs among teachers in high poverty schools.


A biomarker is an entity that measures a normal or pathological process, or the response to an intervention. A biomarker must measure exclusively and be sufficiently sensitive to the process of interest. Alternatively, a biomarker may give clues regarding the underlying pathology of the condition and be a useful research or specialist tool. If a biomarker is to be of practical benefit then it must also be economical and practical to use. This article will consider chemical moieties as biomarkers, although in principle physical markers (e.g., bladder wall thickness) could also be defined as such.


When goods are substitutes (complements), we find a clear price (output) ranking across five duopoly markets, namely Cournot, Bertrand, Cournot-Stackelberg, Bertrand-Stackelberg, and joint profit maximization. We explain these rankings in terms of levels of conjectural variation.


A feasibility study to examine the use of coupons for measuring the polarized potential of a pipe. This study was a 15-month effort (1992-1993) with the objective being to provide proof of concept for the ability of coupons installed near the pipe surface to estimate the polarized potential of the pipe without interruption of the cathodic protection system. The incentive for performing this project was to provide an additional means of evaluating the polarized potential of a pipeline in areas where interruption of all current to the pipeline is difficult or impossible to perform.


Introduction: Arrhythmias are not uncommon after Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) surgery. There is increasing evidence that Magnesium, the important intracellular cation plays a crucial role in preventing and terminating cardiac arrhythmias. Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish the role of peroperative use of intravenous Magnesium in reducing the incidence of per and postoperative arrhythmias in CABG surgery. Materials and methods: A total sixty (Group-I 30 and Group-II 30) patients of both sexes and different ages undergoing conventional CABG surgery under general anesthesia in CMH Dhaka from January 2009 to December 2011 were selected randomly. After induction, Group-I received 2 gm of Magnesium in 100 ml normal saline intravenously over a period of 30 minutes and Group-II received no Magnesium. Parameters recorded per and postoperatively were- aortic cross clamp time, Cardio Pulmonary Bypass (CPB) time, total surgery time, Heart Rate (HR), Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP), Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) and blood sample were collected on arrival to Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) and after 6, 12, and 24 hours. Results were expressed as mean ± SD (Standard Deviation) or in frequencies (percentage) as applicable. The results were analyzed by Student's 't' test. Results: Magnesium levels were significantly (p<0.05) low in Group-II patients than that of Group-I. In Group-II patients, the fluctuations of HR, SBP and DBP were significantly (p<0.05) more than that of Group-I. In Group-I patients incidence of arrhythmias were significantly (p<0.05) less than that of Group-II. Conclusion: Low serum Magnesium levels are a frequent finding after conventional CABG surgery. This acute loss of Magnesium has been suggested as an etiology of many per and postoperative arrhythmias. This study revealed that peroperative administration of Magnesium provided a significant reduction in arrhythmias per and postoperatively. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jafmc.v9i1.18739 Journal of Armed Forces Medical College Bangladesh Vol.9(1) 2013: 105-114


Background and Objectives Having a COVID-19 vaccination, getting tested, and self-isolating if symptomatic are some of the most important mitigation strategies for preventing the spread of COVID-19. This study aimed to investigate whether demographic factors are associated with mothers' willingness to vaccinate their 4-year-old children against COVID-19 if a suitable vaccine becomes available or to get tested and self-isolate if they themselves have COVID-19 symptoms and whether the willingness could be influenced by the Greater Sydney lockdown 2021. Methods A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted between 24th February and 26th October 2021. Questions from the NSW Adult Population Health Survey and from previously published studies were used to assess family demographics, mothers' willingness to vaccinate their young children, and willingness to get tested and self-isolate if symptomatic. The survey involved 604 mothers of children aged 4 years who participated in an existing trial in Sydney, Australia. Results Mothers were more willing to vaccinate their children when the child's father had a tertiary education or higher, with an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of 2.60 (95% CI 1.67–4.04). Mothers who were older than 30 years or who completed the survey during the lockdown were more willing to get tested if symptomatic, with AOR 2.50 (95% CI 1.17–5.36) and AOR 3.36 (95% CI 1.41–8.02), respectively. Mothers who were married or had de-facto partners were more willing to self-isolate if symptomatic [AOR 17.15 (95% CI 3.56–82.65)]. Conclusion Fathers' educational level, mothers' age, and marital status were associated with mothers' willingness to vaccinate their young children if a suitable vaccine were available, to get tested, and self-isolate if symptomatic respectively. The promotion of mitigation strategies for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic needs to take into account specific family demographics.


Sponges (Porifera) represent one of the most basally branching animal clades with key relevance for evolutionary studies, stem cell biology, and development. Despite a long history of sponges as experimental model systems, however, functional molecular studies are still very difficult to perform in these animals. Here, we report the establishment of transgenic technology as a basic and versatile experimental tool for sponge research. We demonstrate that slice explants of the demosponge Suberites domuncula regenerate functional sponge tissue and can be cultured for extended periods of time, providing easy experimental access under controlled conditions. We further show that an engineered expression construct driving the enhanced green fluorescence protein (egfp) gene under control of the Suberites domuncula β-actin locus can be transfected into such tissue cultures, and that faithfully spliced transcripts are produced from such transfected DNA. Finally, by combining fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) with quantitative PCR, we validate that transfected cells can be specifically reisolated from tissue based on their fluorescence. Although the number of detected enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-expressing cells is still limited, our approach represents the first successful introduction and expression of exogenous DNA in a sponge. These results represent a significant advance for the use of transgenic technology in a cornerstone phylum, for instance for the use in lineage tracing experiments.


In order to investigate the length of cracks developed by stress corrosion and cyclic fatigue and the time to failure under cyclic loading in compression, the equations proposed by Costin et al. is estimated from the results of creep and fatigue tests for OGINO tuff, KIMACHI sandstone and AKIYOSHI marble. Under the fatigue tests at cyclic frequency of 1 Hz, the ratio of the length of crack due to stress corrosion to the total one increases with increasing upper stress ratio. The length of crack due to cyclic fatigue is proportional to the exponent of cyclic frequency of stress, and the time to failure is affected by it. Also, in case that the length of crack due to stress corrosion occupies the most part of the total crack length, the increase in the time to failure is smaller with decreasing frequency. The time up to failure is longer as the stress amplitude decreases, but below a given ratio of stress amplitude, it is smaller with decreasing the ratio of stress amplitude. Also, the ratio of stress amplitude, at which the time to failure takes a maximum value, and the length of crack due to cyclic fatigue are smaller as the ration of stress amplitude decreases.


【This study was conducted to investigate the functional composition and antioxidant activity of Cirsium and Carduus genera based on different parts. Leaves of Cirsium setidens Nakai contained 23.66% protein and seeds of Carduus crispus L contained 25.30% lipid. Extraction yields of Cirsium and Carduus genera were higher in leaves than in any other parts of the plants. Total phenolics and total flavonoid content were abundant in extracts of leaves, steam and root of C. japonicum var. ussuriense, and the flower extract of C. setidens Nakai. Silymarin was not found in extracts of Cirsium and Carduus genera. Acacetin was identified in leaf or flower extracts of C. setidens Nakai, or in leaf and steam extracts of C. pendulum Fisch ex DC. Apigenin was identified in the flower extracts of Cirsium and Carduus genera and constituted 7.16 mg/g in C. japonicum var. ussuriense. Cynarin was present at 5.55 mg/g in the seed extract of C. setidens Nakai, and narirutin represented 19.56 mg/g and, 4.18 mg/g of the seed extracts of C. pendulum Fisch ex DC and, Carduus crispus L, respectively. 2,2-Diphenyl-1-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenger activity was higher in flower extracts of C. setidens Nakai than in the other genera. Photochemiluminescence activity was 2.3 nmol in leaves and flower extracts of C. setidens Nakai and flower extract of Carduus crispus L. Flowers and seeds of C. setidens Nakai shoe potential as new functional materials.】


* Abbreviations:
 CVD — : cardiovascular disease
 NHLBI — : National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

A new expert panel report1 released by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics2 recommends universal screening of 9- to 11-year-old children with a nonfasting lipid panel and targeted screening of 2- to 8-year-old and 12- to 16-year-old children with 2 fasting lipid profiles. These guidelines were developed in parallel with adult guidelines due out later this year, using what are described as "state-of-the art principles of evidence-based medicine."3 The process is designed with the laudable intentions of improving transparency, keeping recommendations closely tied to the evidence, and indicating where evidence is strong and where guidelines are based on expert opinion. However, we believe that the high evidence grades for the extremely aggressive pediatric lipid recommendations are inaccurate and unjustified and that the conflicts of interest reported by panel members are too substantial to ignore. In short, these guidelines provide evidence that the NHLBI's new "evidence-based" guideline process did not achieve its goals.

The guidelines we examine here are related to lipid screening, but similar concerns apply to screening children for hypertension discussed in the same NHLBI report.1 Many of our concerns are discussed in Chapter 3 of this report, which was omitted from the supplement published in Pediatrics 2 and appears to have been ignored by the subcommittee that drafted the lipid screening recommendations. Two recent commentaries in JAMA complement our concerns as to the wisdom and appropriateness of these pediatric lipid screening guidelines.4,5

The NHLBI screening recommendations are overly aggressive. The 2- to 8-year-old and 12- to 16-year-old children for whom the panel strongly recommends 2 fasting lipid panels are those who have diabetes, hypertension, or a BMI above the 95th percentile; who smoke cigarettes; who have a parent with a total …

Address correspondence to Thomas B. Newman, MD, MPH, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCSF Box 0560, San Francisco, CA 94143. E-mail: newman{at}epi.ucsf.edu


Background: QOL (Quality of life) and Disability have been considered inevitable components of schizophrenia from the Biopsychosocial point of view. Studies from over the world have reported significantly lower levels of QOL and higher levels of disability in schizophrenia; but there are equivocal results revealing differences in levels of disability and QOL between genders in schizophrenia. Aim: To find out the difference in the levels of QOL and disability in both the genders in schizophrenia remission. Materials and Methods: This is cross-sectional study. Sixty patients who gave consent for their participation in the study and satisfying the criterion of remission of schizophrenia, in the age group of 18-60 years, were selected. A purposive sampling technique was used. There were 34 males and 26 females in the study sample. WHO-QOL-BREF ( World Health Organization, Quality of life BREF) and WHO-DAS (World Health Organization-Disability Assessment Schedule) were administered. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in the levels of QOL and disability between the genders. Higher scores of WHO-QOL-BREF were seen in the male group, and higher scores of WHO-DAS were seen in the female group. Conclusion: Male group had better QOL, and the female group had higher disability.


Abstract:Although the curriculum drives an educational program and is essential to students' learning, minimal research documents the impact of whiteness in the curriculum development process for Black women K–12 art educators. This narrative inquiry aimed to explore how Black women who teach art in elementary and secondary school feel about their curriculum. For many educators, the school district provides their curriculum without input or knowledge of the students' cultural backgrounds. The promotion of whiteness deters a diverse and inclusive learning environment. Through a Black feminist perspective, I critically expose, analyze, and identify Black women K–12 art educator's curricular experiences. In their narratives, I reveal the reality of how race influences who writes the curriculum and who is the target audience of learners. I interviewed 21 Black women who expressed their lived experience as K–12 art educators. Based on the findings of this study, the participants identify their challenges to create a diversified curriculum that mirrors the students in their classroom. The study encourages administrators, curriculum developers, and the field of art education to address the influence of race and gender on Black women's experiences.


Osteomyelitis of mandible as a delayed adverse event following radiation therapy has been widely reported; however, osteomyelitis of the cervical spine has rarely been reported. In this study, we reported our experience with a case of cervical spine osteomyelitis and epidural abscess after concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for hypopharyngeal carcinoma. The case involved a 68-year old man who underwent radical CCRT after a diagnosis of stage IVb, T4bN2cM0 posterior hypopharyngeal wall carcinoma. At 7 months after completing the initial therapy, the patient complained of severe pain in the neck and both shoulders and reduced muscular strength in the extremities. A large defect was found on the mucosa of posterior hypopharyngeal wall. On cervical magnetic resonance imaging, cervical spine osteomyelitis and an epidural abscess were observed. Because antimicrobial therapy was not effective, hyperbaric oxygen therapy was administered. Abscess reduction and improvement of the mucosal defect were observed. Because cervical spine complications after CCRT can be fatal upon worsening, adequate attention must be given.


ARMA (Autoregressive moving averagemodel)is a linear prediction model using to predict the short-term value. This paper analyzes the concept and features of ARMA, and then uses it to predict the sea wave signals. From the experimental results, the prediction is quiet effective.


Formation of DNA proviruses was studied in chronic and acute cellular infections caused by RNA viruses. Some general considerations on the nature of reverse syntheses in eukaryotic cells are discussed.


INTRODUCTION
Recent studies associate Escherichia coli with symptomatic infections at vaginal level, mainly associated to changes in the normal flora taken place by a series of factors characteristic of the host. To recognize their colonization frequency and these factors, it becomes important due to their association with perinatal complications, besides considering this colonization like the critical step preceding urinary tract infection.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the frequency of colonization of Escherichia coli in 519 female patients, the role of the bacterium in the vaginal ecology likes probable cause of clinical manifestations and to recognize the associate's factors of risk with its vaginal colonization.

METHODS
519 women were studied: 350 symptomatic and 169 asymptomatic. Vaginal swab specimens were inoculated onto the routine mediums. Associations of Escherichia coli with various risk factors were examined by using odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals, and statistical significance was assessed by the Chi statistic or Fischer's exact test.

RESULTS
Overall Escherichia coli was isolated from 95 (18.3%) of the women. Factors that were significantly associated with vaginal carriage of E. coli were the age extreme groups, the climacteric, and the bad genital habits.

CONCLUSIONS
The highest frequency of vaginal colonization for Escherichia coli was presented in the population groups where there is hormonal deficiency, mainly of estrogens of the type estradiol. The vaginal colonization for E. coli doesn't associate to sexual behavior. Although E. coli doesn't produce defined symptoms at vaginal level, the relatively low carriage rate indicates that this organism should not be considered as part of the normal indigenous vaginal flora and that it should take into account due to the perinatal complication it is associated.


Significance CD24+CD133+ liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs) express higher levels of the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and possess self-renewal and tumor growth properties. iNOS is associated with more aggressive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), leading to the upregulation of Notch1 signaling. The activation of Notch1 by iNOS/NO is dependent on cGMP/PKG-mediated activation of TACE and upregulation of iRhom-2. The expression of iNOS, CD24, and CD133 correlates with the expression of activated TACE and Notch signaling in more aggressive human HCC. These findings have implications for understanding how LCSCs are regulated in the setting of chronic inflammation, where signals to upregulate iNOS are often present. Targeting iNOS could have therapeutic benefit in HCC. The inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is associated with more aggressive solid tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Notch signaling in cancer stem cells promotes cancer progression and requires Notch cleavage by ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) proteases. We hypothesized that iNOS/NO promotes Notch1 activation through TACE/ADAM17 activation in liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs), leading to a more aggressive cancer phenotype. Expression of the stem cell markers CD24 and CD133 in the tumors of patients with HCC was associated with greater iNOS expression and worse outcomes. The expression of iNOS in CD24+CD133+ LCSCs, but not CD24−CD133− LCSCs, promoted Notch1 signaling and stemness characteristics in vitro and in vivo, as well as accelerating HCC initiation and tumor formation in the mouse xenograft tumor model. iNOS/NO led to Notch1 signaling through a pathway involving the soluble guanylyl cyclase/cGMP/PKG-dependent activation of TACE/ADAM17 and up-regulation of iRhom2 in LCSCs. In patients with HCC, higher TACE/ADAM17 expression and Notch1 activation correlated with poor prognosis. These findings link iNOS to Notch1 signaling in CD24+CD133+ LCSCs through the activation of TACE/ADAM17 and identify a mechanism for how iNOS contributes to progression of CD24+CD133+ HCC.


Erythema multiforme is an acute self-limited, usually mild, and often relapsing mucocutaneous syndrome. This disease is usually related to acute infections, most often a recurrent herpes simplex viral infection or other infectious agents such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection has been reported to be a cause of bullous erythema multiforme in children and Stevens-Johnson syndrome in young adults. To our knowledge, there has been no report of typical erythema multiforme associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in adults. We report a case of erythema multiforme associated with acute infection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in a 30-year-old woman.


Objective: Waiting to look young is not a new idea; the search for effective treatments prolonging youthfulness has been going on over many decades. Many scientific evidences have been suggestive of intensive or prolonged mind and body therapies (MBT) improving overall wellness and have anti-aging effects. However, the genetic basis of MBT-induced anti-aging and youthfulness are largely unknown. It is also known that aging adversely affects hematopoiesis in human through controlling compromised hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC's). In this paper, we focus on evaluating changes in the expression levels of a critical panel of genes that regulates aging in PBMNC's isolated from participants from MBT program. Design: Here, we have investigated the effects of a short intensive MBT program on aging related gene expression changes in the peripheral blood stem cells using affymetrix DNA microarray platform. A total of 108 people selected form many ethnicities were enrolled in the study; 38 men and 70 women (aged 18 - 90) randomly assigned for the study. PBMNC's were collected from the volunteers before and after the completion of the MBT program and evaluated for meditation by examining gene expression patterns in peripheral blood stem cells. Results: Critical pathways known to regulate aging process such as pro-inflammatory TNF alpha/NF-kB, IL-12 signaling pathway, hypoxic HIF-1-alpha, key regulator of programmed cell death, C-MYC, and P38 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) signaling pathway found to be dysregulated in the cohorts compared to subjects prior to MBT program. Furthermore, GATA-2 and Bmi1, key regulators of hemtopoiesis and adult stem cells numbers, went up in the mediated group. Additionally, key pro-inflammatory mediators IFN? and STAT-2 went down in the mediated group. Conclusion: MBT augments critical genes in PMBC which upregulate hematopoiesis and stem cell numbers and also controls genes that regulate age-related complications.


Objective: To establish a efficient craft of isolation and purification lentinan.Methods: Using series of craft,including ultrafiltration,precipitation with ethylalcohol,DEAE-acaellulose column chromatographi,SephadexG-200 column chromatographiy and so on.Conclusion: The purificating rate of LNTⅠb was 95.55%,and it is proved that LNTⅠb is a kind of glycoprotein.


Population: 13 781 respondents from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS; n = 6780; 21–54 years old, noninstitutionalised individuals) and the Mental Health Supplement of the Ontario Health Survey (OHS; n = 7001; 19–64 years old; province-wide survey), categorised into three groups based on lifetime alcohol consumption: alcohol abstainers, moderate drinkers, and problem drinkers. Abstainers reported never drinking more than 12 drinks in any one year, problem drinkers had received a DSM-III-R diagnosis of alcohol abuse, dependence or a subthreshold diagnosis of ''hazardous alcohol use'', and all other respondents were categorised as moderate drinkers. The NCS study defined ''hazardous alcohol use'' as 5– 11 drinks per day at least three times a week, 12–19 drinks per day at least once a month, or .20 drinks per day at least once a month. The OHS study defined ''hazardous alcohol use'' as 5–7 drinks per day at least three times a week, 8–11 drinks per day at least once a week, or .12 drinks per day at least once a month.


Ten new highly oxidized monomeric (1-8) and dimeric guaianolides (9 and 10), along with two known guaianolide derivatives (11 and 12), were isolated from the aerial parts of Chrysanthemum indicum using a bioassay-guided fractionation procedure. The new compounds were characterized by the basic analysis of the spectroscopic data obtained, and the absolute configurations were determined by both empirical approaches and ECD calculations. Inhibitory effects of 1-12 on nitric oxide production were investigated in lipopolysaccaride (LPS)-mediated RAW 264.7 cells, and most of them (1-8 and 11) displayed IC50 values in the range 1.4-9.7 μM. Moreover, a mechanistic study revealed that the potential anti-inflammatory activity of compound 1 appears to be mediated via suppression of an LPS-induced NF-κB pathway and down-regulation of MAPK activation.


Let G be a finite group of odd order. The symmetric genus G is the minimum genus of any Riemann surface on which G acts faithfully. Suppose G acts on a Riemann surface X of genus g ³ 2. If |G| > 8(g - 1), then |G| = K(g-1), where K is 15, 21/2, 9 or 33/4. We call these four types of groups LO1-groups through LO4-groups, respectively. We determine the characteristics of LO1-groups and LO2-groups and show that there are infinite families of each type. We also show that there are exactly ten odd order groups with genus between 2 and 26 inclusive. Finally, if G is an odd order group with symmetric genus of the form p+1 for an odd prime p or 2k + 1, for some positive integer k, then G is a metacyclic group with certain properties. We determine that, in the range between 26 and 200, most of the numbers of either of these forms are not the genus of an odd order group.


Sequences of hepatitis B virus (HBV) precore regions from 7 patients with HBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) dual infection and 2 with HBV, HCV, and hepatitis D virus (HDV) triple infection were analyzed. Two patients, 1 with only acute HBV infection and 1 with only chronic HBV infection, were also included for comparison. All patients had antibodies against HBV e antigen (anti-HBe) except 1 with chronic hepatitis B and C. No precore stop mutation at codon 28 (TGG to TAG mutation) was found in 21 cloned sequences from the 7 patients with HBV and HCV infection, nor in 11 cloned sequences from 2 patients with HBV, HCV, and HDV infection. However, mutations in other positions of the precore region were observed in 2 patients with hepatitis B and C. In both cases, precore sequences with mutations in different positions were obtained from the same serum sample. No mutations were observed in other positions of the precore region in the 2 patients with hepatitis B, C, and D. The presence of anti-HBe in these patients was probably due to the low level of HBV replication and not to the presence of the precore stop mutant.


School climate plays a critical role in nurturing PYD and safe, positive schools (Lindstrom-Johnson et al., 2011). The purpose of this study was to gauge high school decision-makers' awareness, beliefs, and program ideas regarding school climate, bullying, and PYD. Participants included athletic directors, school counsellors, and safe-schools officials from three West Virginia counties representing five high schools. Nine staff participated in the hour-long semi-structured interviews, producing nearly 200 transcribed pages. Participants were typically white (n = 8) and male (n = 7), and their students were estimated to be mostly white (typically over 90%). Two pilot interviews were conducted and member check procedures were utilized after the analysis (Patton, 2014). Interviews were transcribed verbatim by one of the coders, and proof read against the audio recording by the second coder. Open codes were identified independently before reaching consensus, then arranged thematically by the two coders and primary investigator (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). Results described Students, Programs, and Bullying in their schools. Participants believed that it was very difficult to label students as belong to a single clique because students are involved in many groups and have friends in other groups—there are rarely/few 'Jocks' who only participate in sport. That said, students who participate in sport are highly influential (along with 'High-Academics'). Participants described formal programs and informal factors (e.g., peer mentoring, positive environment, etc.). Frequency of bullying, attitudes towards it, and who is involved were also described. The discussion will address how the results affect the implementation of PYD programs in Northern-West Virginia schools.Acknowledgments: Funding for this study was provided by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and from the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences at WVU.


Extrudate swell exerts a significant impact on the shape and dimensional accuracy of extruded products. It is one of the important factors to be considered when designing the extrusion die and controlling the quality of products. The die swell ratio (B) is used to evaluate the degree of extrudate swell. In this article, comparative experiments were performed in order to simulate and observe in a precise fashion the extrudate swell behavior of carboxymethyl cellulose solution at a microscale by means of a visualization device. We chose micro dies capillaries where the inner diameter was in the range of 0.1–0.5 mm. The effects of capillary geometry, entrance velocity, and shear rate (shear stress) on extrudate swell were investigated. The results indicated that shear rate (shear stress) increases and the value of B is enhanced with decreasing capillary diameter under the same capillary entrance velocity. At different entrance velocities, the die swell behavior from 0.3- to 0.5-mm-diameter capillaries was similar to that of conventional ones, and the value of B increased with increasing shear rate. Additionally, the extrudate swell from the 0.2-mm-diameter capillaries revealed a decline, whereas that from the 0.1-mm-diameter capillaries first diminished and then increased concomitantly with rising shear rate. We expect that this was due to wall slip that occurred analytically in our micro channel.


The present study tested the effect of a bacterial lactone N-(3-oxododecanoyl)-homoserine lactone (C12-HSL) on the cytoskeletal and transcriptional genes and proteins in prostate adenocarcinoma (PA) cells (DU145 and LNCaP) and prostate small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (SCNC) PC3 cells including their cellular viability and apoptosis. Our data indicate that cell migration and colony formation were affected in the presence of C12-HSL. C12-HSL induced apoptosis and altered viability of both PA and SCNC cells in a concentration dependent manner as measured by fluorescence and chemiluminescence assays. Compared to PCa cells, noncancerous prostate epithelial cells (RWPE1) were resistant to modification by C12-HSL. Further, the viability of PC3 cells in 3D matrix was suppressed by C12-HSL treatment as detected using calcein AM fluorescence in situ. C12-HSL treatment induced cytoskeletal associated protein expression of vinculin and RhoC, which may have implications in cancer cell motility, adhesion, and metastasis. IQGAP protein expression was reduced in DU145 and RWPE1 cells in the presence of C12-HSL. C12-HSL decreased STAT3 phosphorylation in DU145 cells but increased STAT1 protein phosphorylation in PC3 and LNCaP cells. Overall, these studies indicate that C12-HSL can trigger changes in transcription factors and cytoskeletal proteins and thereby modulate growth and migration properties of PCa cells.


BACKGROUND
Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (PI) is a rare but important condition in which widespread air sacs are found in the submucosa, and subserosa of the bowel wall. Although it has several etiologies, children receiving chemotherapy are at risk for PI. Preferred imaging tools for the diagnosis are abdominal direct radiography and computed tomography. In patients with PI, rupture of intramural air sacs is the source of benign pneumoperitoneum, causing free air without true intestinal perforation. Intestinal perforation or obstruction are indications for surgical intervention.

CASE
Here, we present a 4-year-old patient diagnosed with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML), who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) from a matched sibling donor (MSD) and developed PI after HSCT. The patient was consulted to the pediatric surgery department, and her oral feeding was stopped. Broad spectrum antibiotics (teicoplanin, metronidazol and vancomycin) were initiated. Her fever increased during the 24-hour monitoring, there was no stool passage, CRP ( > 25 mg/dL, normal value < 1 mg/dL) and abdominal distension increased and there was prolonged neutropenia and radiologic investigations could not rule out intestinal perforation, so the patient underwent exploratory laparotomy. No intestinal perforation was found. There was no sign in the intestinal wall and numerous gas-filled cysts of various sizes.

CONCLUSIONS
PI is an uncommon complication, and direct radiography/computed tomography scans are very helpful in making the diagnosis in suspicious cases. PI, should be kept in mind, especially in transplanted or relapsed leukemia patients receiving intensive chemotherapy.


In this research we investigate the role of information-based trading in affecting asset returns. Our premise is that in a dynamic market asset prices are continually adjusting to new information. This evolution dictates that the process by which asset prices become informationally efficient cannot be separated from the process generating asset returns. Using the structure of a sequential trade market microstructure model, we derive an explicit measure of the probability of information-based trading for an individual stock, and we estimate this measure using high-frequency data for NYSE-listed stocks for the period 1983-1998. The resulting estimates are a time-series of individual stock probabilities of information-based trading for a very large cross section of stocks. We investigate whether these information probabilities affect asset returns by incorporating our estimates into a Fama-French [1992] asset pricing framework. Our main result is that information does affect asset prices: stocks with higher probabilities of information-based trading require higher rates of return. Indeed, we find that a difference of 10 percentage points in the probability of information-based trading between two stocks leads to a difference in their expected returns of 2.5% per year. We interpret our results as providing strong support for the premise that information affects asset pricing fundamentals.


Using Hartree–Fock SCF wavefunctions, the linear and quadratic electric nuclear shielding tensors for the diatomic molecules H2, N2, CO and HF have been calculated by a finite-field method. These tensors have also been computed from equations relating them to dipole moment and polarizability derivatives. The two methods give reasonable agreement depending on the quality of the basis set used. A study of the basis set dependence of the computed components ϕHx, xz and ϕFx, xz of the shielding tensor for HF, giving the electric field at the H and F nuclei in the x direction perpendicular to the internuclear axis and proportional to the product FxFz of the electric field strengths applied parallel and perpendicular to the axis, revealed that large basis sets are apparently necessary for reasonable accuracy.


Medical image classification is one of the fundamental research topics in the domain of computer-aided diagnosis. Although existing classification models of the natural image can produce promising results using deep convolutional neural networks in some cases, it is difficult to guarantee that these models can generate promising performance for medical images. To bridge such a gap, we propose a novel medical image classification method for brain tumors in this paper, termed as Discrimination Oriented Network (DONet). Inspired by the attention learning mechanism of the human brain, we first propose two categories of attention learning modules, i.e., the Cascaded Attention Learning (CAL) and the Dual Attention Learning (DAL), which can learn the discrimination information in both the spatial-wise and the channel-wise dimensions in a fine-grained manner. By the CAL and the DAL, the attention information of different dimensions is calculated in a series manner (for cascaded) and a parallel manner (for dual), respectively. To demonstrate the superiority of our proposed modules, we implement the CAL and the DAL on the Deep Residual Network (ResNet) for brain tumor classification. Compared with the ResNet, experimental results show that the DONet has a significant improvement in accuracy. Moreover, compared with state-of-the-art classification methods, the DONet can also achieve better performance.


The city of Lhokseumawe, which is one of the cities that has a topography such as a bay and a very busy area as the center of government, business, and services, has also experienced congestion. In 2012, the Lhokseumawe City Government has started planning to build a 7.6 Kilometer Lhokseumawe City Ring Road, starting from Sp.Kandang – Pusong and Sp. Lestari – Loskala. The ring road construction is along the shores of Ujong Blang Beach and KP3, where Ujong Blang Beach and KP3 since 1998 until now continue to experience abrasion. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of abrasion speed of Ujong Blang Beach and KP3 Beach and risk factors other than abrasion for an optimal risk-based management model approach to the Lhokseumawe City Ring Road as coastal infrastructure that is prone to abrasion and other risks. The method used to determine the abrasion rate is based on Landsat ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper) satellite data for a period of 25 years (1995 – 2020) which is analyzed by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System. The results showed that the magnitude of the abrasion speed of Ujong Blang Beach and KP3 Beach was -2.11 m/year and the farthest accretion occurred on the coast on transect 83 with an accretion distance of 111.34 m or around 4.45. Meanwhile, other factors were sea waves. with a period range of 2.33-10.25 s with an average of 4.57 s. Furthermore, the height of the coastal topography ranges from 0.00-8.60 m with an average of 4.30 m and the coastal slope observed at 8 observation locations obtained a coastal slope range of 2.90-4.47% with an average slope of 3,76%. The optimum risk-based management carried out by the ring road manager is the ALARP-principles approach to control very high to high risk (ALARP Zone), namely by building a preventive building in the form of a conventional type of breakwater with minimal handling costs to mitigate a greater impact on the environment. Damage to the Lhokseumawe City Ring Road if the risk occurs during the life of the road plan.


Syringomas are benign adnexal tumors derived from the intraepidermal portion of eccrine sweat ducts. Clinically, they usually appear as small yellow or skin-colored papules ranging from 1-3 mm in diameter on the lower eyelids. The condition of eruptive syringomas is a clinically distinct, uncommon variant of syringomas. This entity was first recognized by Darier and Jacquet in 1887. Since the initial description, less than 100 cases have been reported to date. Although eruptive syringomas can develop on various sites of the body, instances of widespread involvement, known as generalized eruptive syringoma, are rare. In this paper, we present a case of generalized eruptive syringoma on a 26-year-woman. She exhibited multiple, eruptive asymptomatic papules, symmetrically distributed on the face, scalp, upper and lower extremities, chest, and abdomen.


We report the development of an iron-catalyzed method for the selective oxyfunctionalization of benzylic C(sp(3))-H bonds in aliphatic amine substrates. This transformation is selective for benzylic C-H bonds that are remote (i.e., at least three carbons) from the amine functional group. High site selectivity is achieved by in situ protonation of the amine with trifluoroacetic acid, which deactivates more traditionally reactive C-H sites that are α to nitrogen. The scope and synthetic utility of this method are demonstrated via the synthesis and derivatization of a variety of amine-containing, biologically active molecules.


One of the challenges of tailored antiangiogenic therapy is the ability to adequately monitor the angiogenic activity of a malignancy in response to treatment. The α(v)β(3) integrin, highly overexpressed on newly formed tumor vessels, has been successfully used as a target for Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-functionalized nanoparticle contrast agents. In the present study, an RGD-functionalized nanocarrier was used to image ongoing angiogenesis in two different xenograft tumor models with varying intensities of angiogenesis (LS174T > EW7). To that end, iron oxide nanocrystals were included in the core of the nanoparticles to provide contrast for T(2)*-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), whereas the fluorophore Cy7 was attached to the surface to enable near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging. The mouse tumor models were used to test the potential of the nanoparticle probe in combination with dual modality imaging for in vivo detection of tumor angiogenesis. Pre-contrast and post-contrast images (4 hours) were acquired at a 9.4-T MRI system and revealed significant differences in the nanoparticle accumulation patterns between the two tumor models. In the case of the highly vascularized LS174T tumors, the accumulation was more confined to the periphery of the tumors, where angiogenesis is predominantly occurring. NIRF imaging revealed significant differences in accumulation kinetics between the models. In conclusion, this technology can serve as an in vivo biomarker for antiangiogenesis treatment and angiogenesis phenotyping.


An analogue input shaper (AIS) is proposed as a means for stably increasing the displayable impedance range of haptic interfaces. Usually, high-frequency inputs can occur during collisions with very stiff virtual objects and induce instabilities. The proposed AIS is basically a nonlinear low-pass filter and acts as a frequency-dependent dissipative element, which can eliminate unwanted high-frequency inputs to haptic interfaces. The proposed AIS is not placed in the power stage but in the signal stage, so that the AIS can be designed independent of motor parameters and does not affect transparency in free motion. In addition, two linear half-wave rectifiers are incorporated into the AIS to allow for a fast decrease of impedance and no negative input to the haptic interface when a haptic pointer leaves a virtual object. Through virtual wall experiments using two different haptic interfaces, the effectiveness of the proposed AIS is shown.


Corynebacterium glutamicum is an important industrial strain for amino acids and a key model organism for human pathogens. The study of C. glutamicum oxidoreductases, such as mycoredoxin 1 (Mrx1), dithiol-disulfide isomerase DsbA, and DsbA-like Mrx1, is helpful for understanding the survival, pathogenic infection, and stress resistance of its homologous species. However, the action mode and enzymatic function of C. glutamicum NCgl0018 preserving the Cys-Pro-Phe-Cys motif, annotated as a putative DsbA, have remained enigmatic. Here, we report that the NCgl0018-deleted strain increased sensitivity to various oxidative stresses. The ncgl0018 expression was induced in the stress-responsive extracytoplasmic function-sigma (ECF-σ) factor SigH- and organic peroxide- and antibiotic-sensing regulator (OasR)-dependent manner by stress. NCgl0018 reduced S-mycothiolated mixed disulfides and intramolecular disulfides via a monothiol-disulfide mechanism preferentially linking the mycothiol/mycothione reductase/NADPH electron pathway. Site-directed mutagenesis confirmed Cys107 was the resolving Cys residue, while Cys104 was the nucleophilic cysteine that was oxidized to a sulfenic acid and then could form an intramolecular disulfide bond with Cys107 or a mixed disulfide with mycothiol under stress. Biochemical analyses indicated that NCgl0018 lacked oxidase properties like the classical DsbA. Further, enzymatic rates and substrate preferences of NCgl0018 were highly similar to those of DsbA-like Mrx1. Collectively, our study presented the first evidence that NCgl0018 protected against stresses by functioning as a novel DsbA-like Mrx1 but not DsbA and Mrx1.


Abstract To provide information for high-intensity interval training (HIIT) load, we compared the temporal variables of VO2 response at, and after, a time sustained at the exercise intensity corresponding to VO2max (Tlim) in different exercise modes. Forty-five trained male swimmers (11), rowers (13), runners (10) and cyclists (11) completed an incremental protocol to determine the velocity (vVO2max) or power (wVO2max) at VO2max and a square wave exercise from rest to 100% of vVO2max/wVO2max. The temporal variables of VO2 response were examined using a breath-by-breath gas analyzer. VO2 responses were not different between exercise modes, except for the percentage of VO2max at 50% of Tlim, which was ~6% higher in rowing compared to cycling (97.70±2.90 vs 92.40±5.69%, p=0.013). During the recovery period, both swimmers and rowers evidenced higher percentages of VO2max compared to cyclists at 30 s (65.1±10.4 and 65.7±5.6 vs 52.7±5.6%) and 60 s (41.7±10.8 and 38.4±5.4 vs 30.4±1.8%) time periods, all for p<0.01. Furthermore, swimmers presented higher time values to reach 50% VO2max compared to runners and cyclists (51.1±15.6 vs 38.1±6.7 and 33.8±4.7%; p<0.001). When training at 100% of VO2max intensity, fixed intervals for HIIT could be set freely. However, recovery periods based on time or intensity are exercise-mode dependent.


Background and aim : Around the world the proportion of the population of 60 years and over (elderly) grows very fast compared to other age groups. It is estimated that the growth of elderly proportion from 2000 to 2025 to be doubled across the globe. Health problems that affect elderly individuals are: cronic disease; mental disorder; geriatric syndrome; disability as measured by assessment concept of ADL (activity daily living) . The purpose of this study was to develop the activity daily living concept in elderly based on geriatric syndrome, diseases and age in the context of screening and referral of elderly. Method : The study design was exploratory descriptive study. Subjects were elderly chosen as a sample comprising elderly visiting the elderly clinic of Balongsari primary health center and elderly receiving home visits or palliative home care. The sample size was 200. Sampling technique was purposive sampling. Results : The results of multivariate analysis with logistic regression found that geriatric syndrome, diseases, and age that significantly affected the activity daily living in elderly (ADL) were visual impairment (p = 0.024), incontinence (p = 0.000) and age (p = 0.001). Conclusion : Diagnostic parameters for the identification of elderly activity daily living were age, incontinence, visual impairment, hearing loss, dementia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, central obesity, anemia and depression. Scoring for early detection of high risk elderly using a priority issue with scoring techniques showed that the high risks were urinary incontinence, visual impairment and dementia. Moderate risks were diabetes mellitus, hypertension, central obesity and depression. Low risks were hearing loss and anemia


Cochlear implant (CI) users with a prelingual onset of hearing loss show poor sensitivity to interaural time differences (ITDs), an important cue for sound localization and speech reception in noise. Similarly, neural ITD sensitivity in the inferior colliculus (IC) of neonatally-deafened animals is degraded compared with animals deafened as adults. Here, we show that chronic bilateral CI stimulation during development can partly reverse the effect of early-onset deafness on ITD sensitivity. The prevalence of ITD sensitive neurons was restored to the level of adult-deaf (AD) rabbits in the early-deaf rabbits of both sexes that received chronic stimulation and behavioral training with wearable bilateral sound processors during development. We also found a partial improvement in neural ITD sensitivity in the early-deaf and stimulated rabbits compared with unstimulated rabbits. In contrast, chronic CI stimulation did not improve temporal coding in early-deaf rabbits. The present study is the first report showing functional restoration of ITD sensitivity with CI stimulation in single neurons and highlights the importance of auditory experience during development on the maturation of binaural circuitry. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Although cochlear implants (CI) are highly successful in providing speech reception in quiet for many profoundly deaf people, CI users still face difficulty in noisy everyday environment. This is partly because of their poor sensitivity to differences in the timing of sounds arriving at the two ears [interaural time differences (ITDs)], which help to identify where the sound is coming from. This problem is especially acute in those who lost hearing early in life. Here, we present the first report that sensitivity of auditory neurons to ITDs is restored by CI stimulation during development in an animal model of neonatal deafness. These findings highlight the importance of providing early binaural auditory experience with CIs in deaf children.


Italy Abstract The paper focuses on the definition, calibration and testing of a simulation model that is able to represent multimodal choice behaviours for electric vehicles. Taking into account the interchange between public transport and electric private mobility, the model estimates the parking demand at the Park & Ride sites equipped with charging stations. The model is based on a data-driven approach, in which mainly Floating Car Data and open data of public transport have derived the explanatory variables. Specifically, a machine learning method (Random Forest) has been used to calibrate and test the model in the real case of the metropolitan area of Rome (Italy). We first perform a stability analysis, letting the parameters of the model vary. We then carry out a sensitivity analysis on the variables that can affect the user propensity to adopt the Park & Ride. Finally, we profile and test an incentive policy to boost the choice of Park & Ride. Results suggest that the model succeeds in simulating Park & Ride by electric vehicles and, therefore, it can be extremely valuable for planning financial support to the multimodal travel choice and forecasting vehicle-to-grid Italy Abstract The paper focuses on the definition, calibration and testing of a simulation model that is able to represent multimodal choice behaviours for electric vehicles. Taking into account the interchange between public transport and electric private mobility, the model estimates the parking demand at the Park & Ride sites equipped with charging stations. The model is based on a data-driven approach, in which mainly Floating Car Data and open data of public transport have derived the explanatory variables. Specifically, a machine learning method (Random Forest) has been used to calibrate and test the model in the real case of the metropolitan area of Rome (Italy). We first perform a stability analysis, letting the parameters of the model vary. We then carry out a sensitivity analysis on the variables that can affect the user propensity to adopt the Park & Ride. Finally, we profile and test an incentive policy to boost the choice of Park & Ride. Results suggest that the model succeeds in simulating Park & Ride by electric vehicles and, therefore, it can be extremely valuable for planning financial support to the multimodal travel choice and forecasting vehicle-to-grid


Monogenetic disorders such as Cystic Fibrosis (CF) may be treated by supplementation with the functional active protein or by administration of a vector encoding the desired gene product. However, current therapeutic efforts with DNA-based or viral vectors remain largely unsuccessful in treating this fatal disease. As an alternative approach we propose messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)- based transcript transfer, which offers several benefits: it excludes the risk of any insertion of nucleic acid, which may come along with mutations and random integration. Immunological side effects can be successfully suppressed by using modified nucleotides, concomitantly increasing the stability of mRNA in vivo. Administration of mRNA into the murine lung is performed by using an intratracheal spray applicator, which nebulizes the mRNA solution. All mRNA used is modified to mimic endogenous mRNA. Nanoparticles may facilitate the resorption of the administered mRNA into the lung epithelium. We could already demonstrate that the substitution of Surfactant Protein B (SP-B) by intratracheal administration of SP-B encoding mRNA lead to a healthy status of transgenic SP-B mice (Kormann et al. Nat Biotech 2011; 29: 154-157). Here we establish the substitution of CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) in a murine gut-corrected CF model by administration of CFTR-encoding, modified mRNA. Inflammatory responses, lung function, electrophysiological as well as histological parameters will be measured. Our preliminary results demonstrate the potential of using chemically modified CFTR mRNA as a viable treatment for CF. This novel technique is currently optimized in our group.


Sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) is an independent risk factor for various cardiovascular diseases. Electrocardiogram (ECG) features such as the RR, PR, QT, QTc, Tpe intervals and the Tpe/QT, Tpe/QTc ratios are used to predict and study cardiovascular diseases. It is not clear whether regular patterns of PR and Tpe-related features across sleep stages exist in SAHSs or healthy controls nor whether sleep stages affect the short- and long-range influences of respiratory events on ECG indices. We enrolled 36 healthy controls and 35 patients with SAHS in our study and analyzed the abovementioned ECG features. In the healthy controls, a significant regularity existed in these indices across sleep stages, which were weakened or disturbed in the patient group, especially the Tpe-related features. The differences between the patients and healthy controls were generally consistent across all sleep stages: patients had smaller RR, PR, QT and Tpe/QTc values, but larger QTc, Tpe and Tpe/QT values. After filtering the short-range influence of respiratory events, the differences in most features remained highly significant, except the QT interval. In the patient group, respiratory events decreased RR and PR intervals in most sleep stages and increased the Tpe-related features' values in deep sleep stages. These results may aid in the study of the relationships among SAHS, sleep disorders and cardiovascular diseases.


CONTENTS Introduction §1. Equations with continuous right-hand side 1.1. Some definitions and notation 1.2. Peano's theorem 1.3. Kneser's theorem 1.4. Continuous dependence on initial data 1.5. Joint continuity 1.6. Continuation of solutions 1.7. Picard's theorem 1.8. Some sufficient conditions for the existence of solutions 1.9. Some sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of solutions 1.10. Compactness method §2. Linear equations 2.1. Some definitions and examples 2.2. Continuous dependence on initial data 2.3. Time analyticity of solutions 2.4. Linear equations in sequence spaces 2.5. Linear equations and semigroups of linear operators §3. Equations with smooth right-hand side §4. Linear representations of non-linear equations 4.1. Transition from non-linear equations to linear ones 4.2. Representations of homomorphisms of algebras of continuous and differentiable functions 4.3. Transition from linear equations to non-linear ones References


Brassica crop is ranked 2 nd most important oil seed crop in Pakistan and rich source of oil and protein. The lowest level of erucic acid and glucosinolates are the preferred characters of Brassica oil crop. In addition, its meal has 38-40% protein content which has complete profile of amino acid like lysin, methonin and cystin. Mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi Kalt. (Homoptera: Aphididae) is the limiting factor of qualitative and quantitative losses by attacking and hurting the leaves and pods in growing area of Pakistan and also develop resistance to some synthetic insecticides. Biopesticides are target specific, retard insect growth, metabolic process and has no adverse toxicity to mammals. Present study was planned for comparative efficacy of three biopesticides ( Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Bacillus thuringiensis ) in vitro with five concentrations and three replications of each insecticide. The complete randomize design was used. All biopesticides were use at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25% concentration. The percent mortality at highest concentration of B . bassiana , M . anisopliae and B. thuringiensis was 78%, 83% and 73%, respectively after three days of application. Among the biopesticides M . anisopliae was found most effective against mustard aphid followed by B . bassiana and B. thuringiensis . M . anisopliae could be used as potential candidate for integrated pest management against mustard aphid after field efficacy.


Coronavirus originated pandemic disease also called Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spread all over the world causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) called SARS-CoV-2 poses a difficult challenge to scientists, researchers, and practitioners to discover effective drugs for prevention and treatment. By using a huge amount of clinical data obtained from many SARS-CoV2 infected people, clinicians are trying to gather accurate evidence for effective treatment and also developing a suitable vaccine system for the prevention of spread of infection for many more people. With no proven therapies which can treat and prevent SARS-CoV-2 is developed until now, there is an opportunity for new researchers in virology to make such an attempt at this crucial time. In this regard, currently, two strategies are active. The first kind of strategy is on developing completely new molecules to prevent and treat this disease, or the second strategy is on testing the effectiveness of already available antivirals and antimalarials for possible potential recovery and prevention. This is done by testing several antivirals (Remdesivir, Favipiravir, etc) and antimalarials (Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine, etc) for their potential therapies. Studies show that the most promising therapy is the use of antiviral Remdesivir. Remdesivir has shown the potential ability to exhibit vitro activity to control COVID-19. The drug is currently being tested by ongoing randomized trials. Until a widely accepted drug reaches the global market, different antiviral treatment strategies are used under urgent investigation. In this article, we review the latest research developments related to the systematic treatments for COVID-19 reported from various research labs of different countries. The article also provides a summary of various clinical research experience, intermediate results, and treatment guidance to combat the novel coronavirus epidemic based on pharmacotherapeutic analysis, along with insights to the attempts on vaccine development across the world in order to curb the COVID pandemic.


At least one metal present invention relates to a supported metal catalyst suitable for the direct preparation of hydrogen and oxygen to hydrogen peroxide, the catalyst is selected from the group consisting based on palladium, platinum, ruthenium, rhodium, iridium, osmium, holmium and gold group M . The present invention also relates to a method of preparing the supported catalyst, the method sequentially comprising: based on the at least one one metal impregnation solution is selected from the group M or more salts of the steps on the carrier, and reduction steps, wherein wherein: after the reduction step, the catalyst is treated with an acid aqueous solution a containing bromine and bromide ions. Characterized in that the catalyst is a metal particle aggregates or crystals of 0.1-20μm, preferably 0.1-10μm. Preferred carrier bimetallic catalyst, e.g. Pd-Pt, Au-Pt, Pd-Ho, and Pd-Au.


Lactoferricin B (LF-B) is a peptide derived from acid-pepsin digestion of bovine lactoferrin, which has antimicrobial properties. In order to assess the antimicrobial spectrum of LF-B and its possible in vivo uses, the minimum inhibitory and microbicidal concentrations of pure lactoferricin B were determined for a range of bacterial species and under varying conditions of growth including growth phase and size of the inoculum, pH and ionic strength of the medium. Lactoferricin B was bactericidal against a wide range of bacteria and Candida albicans. Proteus spp., Pseudomonas cepacia and Serratia spp. were resistant. The bactericidal activity of LF-B was inhibited by increasing ionic strength and bacterial inoculum and at acid pH. The activity of lactoferricin B was completely inhibited by the addition of 5% whole cow's milk and was reduced in the presence of increasing concentrations of mucin. These results indicate the potential of LF-B to reduce the numbers of organisms in a simple medium, but raise doubts about its role in vivo because of its sensitivity to changes in physical variables. It may be that lactoferricin exerts a transient antimicrobial effect at mucosal surfaces.


Fractures around wrist joint are common complication happening after fall on an outstretched hand. It is more common in female, and mostly in age above 55 years. Different methods of treatment has been established such as surgical and conservative management, each mode of treatment has its own complication such as, pain, stiffness, swelling, deformity, infection. Non operative treatment include splinting or casting with or without reduction, operative treatment includes percutaneous k-wiring, external fixator for complex fracture or fracture with open wound, open fixation with volar or dorsal plate. Still there is controversy that what method is better in getting the good functional outcome, minimizing the duration of cast immobilization, early fixation, and early start of rehabilitation. All of them play part in better functional outcome. In the past manipulation and fixation without opening the fracture site has been the choice of treatment, comparatively in recent advances fixation with plate through anterior approach is a preferred option because it has less complication rate, plays better role in early range of movement. The information was retrieved from reliable search engines e.g. PubMed, Medline, Google scholar and others, through original research papers and reviews from2003 to 2019. Purpose of this study is to know which method of management has better outcome and its role in early rehabilitation.


The paper presents key findings of a study on recognition of prior learning (RPL) within adult education in Denmark. In 2007, a major reform extended the possibilities of RPL in adult education. Although some institutions have a relatively high level of RPL activity, the study reveals comprehensive barriers to using RPL across all education areas. The most important barrier is lack of awareness, and institutions responsible for RPL to some extent fail to inform the public about RPL. But there are also a range of other barriers, for instance that many representatives of educational institutions find it difficult to connect skills development at enterprises with RPL in the formal education system. Another important finding is that RPL is primarily used to give access to an institution's own programs rather than other kinds of application. In addition to this, educational institutions find it difficult to see RPL as a profitable activity. Furthermore, there is resistance among some teachers to the principles of RPL. These findings indicate a range of challenges to strengthening the spread of RPL.


Context. The detection of exoplanets by direct imaging is an active research topic in astronomy. Even with the coupling of an extreme adaptive-optics system with a coronagraph, it remains challenging due to the very high contrast between the host star and the exoplanets.
Aims. The purpose of this paper is to describe a method, named PACO, dedicated to source detection from angular differential imaging data. Given the complexity of the fluctuations of the background in the datasets, involving spatially variant correlations, we aim to show the potential of a processing method that learns the statistical model of the background from the data.
Methods. In contrast to existing approaches, the proposed method accounts for spatial correlations in the data. Those correlations and the average stellar speckles are learned locally and jointly to estimate the flux of the (potential) exoplanets. By preventing from subtracting images including the stellar speckles residuals, the photometry is intrinsically preserved. A nonstationary multi-variate Gaussian model of the background is learned. The decision in favor of the presence or the absence of an exoplanet is performed by a binary hypothesis test.
Results. The statistical accuracy of the model is assessed using VLT/SPHERE-IRDIS datasets. It is shown to capture the nonstationarity in the data so that a unique threshold can be applied to the detection maps to obtain consistent detection performance at all angular separations. This statistical model makes it possible to directly assess the false alarm rate, probability of detection, photometric and astrometric accuracies without resorting to Monte-Carlo methods.
Conclusions. PACO offers appealing characteristics: it is parameter-free and photometrically unbiased. The statistical performance in terms of detection capability, photometric and astrometric accuracies can be straightforwardly assessed. A fast approximate version of the method is also described that can be used to process large amounts of data from exoplanets search surveys.


Summary form only given. In previous work, we introduced the alternative pasts algorithm that delays the assignment of values to variables until their usage. Whenever a variable is used, the algorithm chooses one of its past values that is consistent with some possible execution. The alternative pasts algorithm can be seen as belonging to a class of algorithms that shadow the execution and choose at any point to modify the values of some of the variables. We build on this work and extend it in two directions. First we show a more powerful shadowing algorithm that can delay not only writes but also reads and other kinds of instructions, at most until a relevant control decision is taken, which is the longest possible delay for algorithms of this class. We prove that this algorithm inherits the ability of the alternative pasts algorithm to generate significantly different interleavings, which are guaranteed to execute differently. In addition, we show a new use for the two algorithms, namely alternative replay. Unlike regular replay, where the execution of the program is reproduced, alternative replay is an execution that did not happen before but could have happened. For example, if a bug did not materialize, alternative replay can be used to show the user alternative execution in which the impact of the bug can be observed.


The dative case in Vafsi appears in three structures: (a) the case of the experiencer in sensory verbs, (b) the case of the indirect object (IO), and (c) the case of the object of the preposition /da/ (to), or the preposition /az/ (to), or the enclitic /-o/ (to), or the object of the postposition /rā/ (for). In Vafsi, as in many other Indo-European languages, sensory verbs necessitate the emergence of quirky subjects which have the experiencer function and are dative case marked. In order to analyze the dative case marking in Vafsi using optimality theory, this article uses the faithfulness constraint of faith-lex and the markedness constraint hierarchy of *ERG>>*DAT>>*ACC>>*NOM. Vafsi always allocates the dative case to the IO of the ditransitive verbs. This phenomenon is illustrated by use of an optimality theory (OT) tableau. Some Vafsi ditransitive verbs dative case mark the IOs using adpositions. If so, Vafsi differential adpositional case marking (DACM) will rule, as the IOs are objects of adposition (OAs) simultaneously.


This article describes an architecture for Information Extraction systems on the web, based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and especially geared toward the exploration of information about crime. The main feature of the architecture is its NLP module, which is based on the Semantic Inferential Model. We demonstrate the feasibility of the architecture through the implementation thereof to provide input for a collaborative web-based system of registering crimes called WikiCrimes.


Since the diagnostic accuracy of conventional examinations for malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is limited, a number of studies have investigated the utility of pleural vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the diagnosis of MPE. The present meta-analysis aimed to determine the overall accuracy of a VEGF test in the diagnosis of MPE. A systematic review of studies published in English was conducted and the data concerning the accuracy of pleural VEGF assays in the diagnosis of MPE were pooled with random effects models. The overall test performance was summarized using receiver operating characteristic curves. Ten studies, based on 1,025 patients, met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis and the summary estimates for VEGF in the diagnosis of MPE were: sensitivity 0.75 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.72-0.79], specificity 0.72 (95% CI, 0.68-0.76), positive likelihood ratio 2.94 (95% CI, 1.97-4.41), negative likelihood ratio 0.38 (95% CI, 0.27-0.51) and diagnostic odds ratio 9.05 (95% CI, 4.60-17.80). The summary receiver operating characteristic curve indicated that the maximum joint sensitivity and specificity was 0.75; the area under the curve was 0.82. Our findings suggest that the determination of pleural VEGF may improve the accuracy of MPE diagnosis, while the results of VEGF assays should be interpreted in parallel with conventional test results and other clinical findings.


This paper proposes a new systematic approach to the noise-figure (NF) sensitivity analysis of MMIC low-noise amplifiers (LNA) regarding device structure parameters such as gate-recess variation for the first time. A full-monolithic uniplanar two-stage LNA with an extremely low NF of 2.8 dB at 50 GHz is fabricated and analyzed using this new method. A comparative study reveals that the gate recess variation in the fabricated HEMTs causes no substantial NF variation in the MMIC-LNAs.<<ETX>>


The current 3D hype creates a lot of interest in 3D. People go to 3D movies, but are we ready to use 3D in our homes, in our offices, in our communication? Are we ready to deliver real 3D to a general public and use interactive 3D in a meaningful way to enjoy, learn, communicate? The CARARE project is realising this for the moment in the domain of monuments and archaeology, so that real 3D of archaeological sites and European monuments will be available to the general public by 2012. There are several aspects to this endeavour. First of all is the technical aspect of flawlessly delivering 3D content over all platforms and operating systems, without installing software. We have currently a working solution in PDF, but HTML5 will probably be the future. Secondly, there is still little knowledge on how to create 3D learning objects, 3D tourist information or 3D scholarly communication. We are still in a prototype phase when it comes to integrate 3D objects in physical or virtual museums. Nevertheless, Europeana has a tremendous potential as a multi-facetted virtual museum. Finally, 3D has a large potential to act as a hub of information, linking to related 2D imagery, texts, video, sound. We describe how to create such rich, explorable 3D objects that can be used intuitively by the generic Europeana user and what metadata is needed to support the semantic linking.