Abstract This article analyses and develops the concept of international service based on a review of 407 articles published in high-ranking international business and service research journals. The review confirms that usage of the key concept of international service is ambiguous, and a new definition is proposed, characterising international service as a value co-creation process between two or more resource-integrating actors that do not share influential institutional arrangements because of national borders. This new definition clarifies conceptual differences between international service, international activity and intercultural (cross-cultural) service, and between international product and service. The revised definition also highlights the existence of differences other than cultural variation and how differing institutional arrangements may in part be an effect of national borders. The study advances theory development in this research domain by providing a conceptually sound definition of international service, potentially eliminating some of the conceptual confusion that has until now posed challenges for the operationalisation of key concepts in the field. The new definition can also be expected to enhance collaboration between international business and service researchers.


The new DVB-H standard allows broadcasting of audio/video content to mobile terminals. Such devices underlie severe restrictions concerning processing load and power consumption. The most computational intensive and therewith most power consuming part of such terminals is the decoding of the H.264/AVC video datastream. We present optimization strategies for software-based H.264/AVC video decoding as well as the architecture of an H.264/AVC decoding companion chip with specialized coprocessors, which targets the above mentioned restrictions .


【High-capacity video, control and situation awareness data should be transmitted efficiently to control robots properly in the ground unmanned system, which requires the technology maximizing the communication range and the data transmission throughput. This technology is connected to the OFDMA(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access)-MIMO(Multiple Input Multiple Output) transmission technology under the limited bandwidth and transmission power. In this paper, we design MIMO communication system for ground unmanned systems, and investigate the data reception performance experimentally, comparing with SISO(Single Input Single Output) system. Experiment results show that the data reception performance of MIMO is significantly improved compared to that of SISO, e.g. 4dB gain of sensitivity and 5dB of SNR at the value MPR = 1, for the mobile stations with $2{\times}2$ STBC diversity.】


ABSTRACT Background Antenatal adherence to aspirin prophylaxis is key to reducing the occurrence of a major pregnancy complication: pre-eclampsia (PE). Up to 75% of pregnant women at increased risk of pre-eclampsia do not take aspirin as prescribed. Little research has been done to understand the psychological determinants of aspirin adherence in pregnancy. This qualitative study aimed to explore barriers and facilitators to aspirin adherence in women at increased risk of PE using version 2 of Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Methods Fourteen women from the North-East of England who declared various levels of non-adherence to aspirin (0–5 of 7 prescribed tablets/week) were interviewed 4–18 months after delivery, using the TDF as a guide. Semi-structured interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. A thematic framework analysis was used. Results Women exhibited both intentional and unintentional non-adherence and faced multiple barriers at a personal and environmental level. They struggled to initiate, implement and persist in taking medication as prescribed. Women expressed inadequate knowledge about PE and aspirin; they struggled to identify as 'medication takers' and relate to the risk factors for PE as identified by the midwife. Significant barriers within the health-care environment were identified; women had difficulties obtaining medication and perceived conflict amongst health care professionals regarding medication safety. Conclusion A combination of inadequate knowledge, lack of identification with the risk factors and beliefs about consequences of taking medication were interlinked with other domains, such as environmental context and resonate with the Necessity-Concerns Framework.


This article reviews the main sources of data on the geographic composition of countries' external balance sheets, covering both international and country-specific sources. It examines the determinants of bilateral financial assets and liabilities and discusses how gravity models, traditionally used in the trade literature, have been applied to explain bilateral financial links. A new dataset is used to derive some stylized facts on how bilateral financial links look like, how they have evolved over time and how they compare with trade links. The role that cross-border financial links play in the international transmission of shocks is discussed, with reference to the 2007-2009 financial crisis.


One of the dakwa organizations which continues to grow with quite a large number of followers and spread in some parts of Indonesia is a religious school of the Indonesian Islamic Dakwa Organization (known as LDII), In West Kalimantan, especially in the city of Pontianak, the LDII is growing fast just as in the other areas. The religious activities indicate an attitude which is also exclusive, extreme and tends to blame the practice of the religious teachings outside of the congregation. The religious attitude of the LDII in Pontianak, has not led to rejection, but the spotlight and syndrome of refusal from some communities have started to emerge especially around the neighborhood of its preaching center. The purpose of this study are: 1) to describe the nature of LDII in Pontianak, 2) to describe the LDII doctrine and its application in public life in Pontianak., 3). to reveal the efforts of the government and the public in addressing the organizational activities of LDII in Pontianak The procedure used in this study was the approach of Case Study. The data sources consist of primary and secondary data sources. Data collection techniques used in case study were observation, in-depth interviews and analysis of documentation. The results of the study, as follows: (1) The LDII in the city of Pontianak has spread across several districts i.e. 11 (eleven) locations that serve as the gathering of the congregation of LDII. The places are equipped with mosques as a place of worship and boarding schools; the Government and the public are still in the process of monitoring and preventing conflict or disputes and violence between fellow Muslims or within the community; by studying the development of the Indonesian Islamic Dakwa Organization (LDII) in Pontianak, which in general is still under control, this research will be a major contribution to the government in making policies.


We propose a technique to improve the search efficiency of the bag-of-words (BoW) method for image retrieval. We introduce a notion of difficulty for the image matching problems and propose methods that reduce the amount of computations required for the feature vector-quantization task in BoW by exploiting the fact that easier queries need less computational resources. Measuring the difficulty of a query and stopping the search accordingly is formulated as a stopping problem. We introduce stopping rules that terminate the image search depending on the difficulty of each query, thereby significantly reducing the computational cost. Our experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach when it is applied to appearance-based localization problem.


Near an Antarctic coastline or sea ice edge, multiple reflection of photons between the high-albedo surface and a cloud will increase the downwelling surface insolation not only over the high-albedo surface itself but also out over the adjacent open water. This insolation enhancement is examined with a Monte Carlo radiative transfer model. The insolation enhancement extends to a typical distance of 4 km out to sea, with the most important effects being within 2 km of the coastline. The strength of the multiple reflection effect depends primarily on cloud base height and cloud optical depth and only slightly on cloud geometrical thickness. The insolation enhancement is also a function of wavelength, being larger for ultraviolet wavelengths than for the visible. This is due to a slightly greater contribution from Rayleigh scattering at the shorter wavelengths, although at ultraviolet wavelengths where ozone absorption is strong, tropospheric ozone absorption can offset the Rayleigh scattering contribution at larger cloud optical depths. On the basis of the limited range of the multiple reflection effect (2–4 km out to sea) the insolation enhancement due to the high-albedo coastline is unlikely to be a major influence on the primary productivity of all Antarctic waters; however, it may influence phytoplankton blooms near the coast and photobiological experiments carried out at coastal research stations. Also, the insolation enhancement may have significance in sea ice leads and polynyas.


Over the last few decades, several studies have been undertaken to determine the benefits and drawbacks of various copper nanoparticle synthesis processes. Copper nanoparticles have gathered considerable attention because of their remarkable optical and electrical properties. CuNPs' optical, electrical and chemical characteristics are substantially depending on their synthesis procedures. Copper is less expensive than precious metals such as gold and silver, and it also possesses strong photocatalytic and antimicrobial competencies.In this review, synthesis of copper nanoparticles by various methods such as physical, chemical and biological is elaborately illustrated and in the meantime it's also explained how different reaction variables like temperature, pressure, reaction time, and reactor properties affect the size, shape, and surface area of produced copper nanoparticles. Moreover, photocatalysis and antibacterial mechanism for copper nanoparticles are also illustrated with proper illustration. keywords: Copper, Nanoparticles, Photocatalysis, Antibacterial Activities, Morphology.


EIGHT years ago observations were made on the adrenalectomised animal which gave the impression that the adrenal cortex is in some way involved in the mechanism of biological oxidation. A detailed study of the biological oxidation was begun in the hope that this study might lead to the understanding -of the function of the interrenal system. Through several years different animal, vegetable and synthetic oxidising systems were studied [Szent-Gyorgyi, 1924, 1, 2; 1925, 1, 2; 1927, 1, 2], but no connection could be found between these and the function of the adrenal cortex. Finally the peroxidase system was examined. Evidence is presented in the present paper that the adrenal cortex is connected in some way with this oxidising mechanism.


Context: Familial isolated pituitary adenoma (FIPA) due to aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein ( AIP ) genemutationsisanautosomaldominantdiseasewithincompletepenetrance.Clinicalscreeningofapparently unaffected AIP mutation ( AIP mut) carriers could identify previously unrecognized


Traditionally, fusion of visual information for tracking has been based on explicit models for uncertainty and integration. Most of the approaches use some form of Bayesian statistics where strong models are employed. We argue that for cases where a large number of visual features are available, weak models for integration may be employed. We analyze integration by voting where two methods are proposed and evaluated: (i) response and (ii) action fusion. The methods differ in the choice of voting space: the former integrates visual information in image space and latter in velocity space. We also evaluate four weighting techniques for integration.


Ever since the news about Stanford's University Press having a catastrophic budget cut came out, I have been contemplating scholarly publishing and its purpose. Perhaps this is because the "crisis" around university presses is very similar to the rhetoric that has surrounded academic libraries since web browsers hit higher education—rhetoric that at any one time has both utopian and apocalyptic threads. As a journal editor, my interest in scholarly publishing is more than passing, although as much as I am committed to these efforts, it is not the livelihood for me that librarianship is and, as such, my stake in publishing is not a question of survival. However, as a steward of a scholarly journal, as an author of professional publications, and as an educator of information literacy and scholarly methods, I do have some thoughts I would like to share about what is happening with university presses, the impact on higher education, and on knowledge dissemination.


Outlines an organizational concept that supports the functions and products required of HSAs. Emphasizes the separation of functions with "controlled stresses" designed to produce interdependence of staff sections. Points out the need for tangible products as a basis for tracking staff performance.


of and Exchange Abstract: One of the indicators created to have information about the state of an economy and to direct economic policies is the consumer confidence index. Stock market index and exchange rate are two important variables with high volatility that affect and are affected by the consumer confidence index. For this purpose, it is aimed to investigate the effect of exchange rate and stock market index on consumer confidence index in OECD countries. It cannot be said that the same level of financial stability, growth and living standards is achieved in all 37 member countries of the OECD. Therefore, in the study; capital market development level, the level of economic openness which like Turkey and the data can be accessed by selecting data from 11 OECD members, were included in the analysis. In the study covering the 2013 M01: 2020 M02 period; Bai and Ng (2004) PANIC panel unit root test, Im, Lee & Tieslau (2005) panel unit root tests with structural break, panel VAR Granger and panel VECM causality test, asymmetric Dumitrescu-Hurlin (2012) panel causality tests were used. In the analysis; In the short run, although consumer confidence significantly affects the exchange rate and stock market index; It was found that exchange rate and stock market index do not affect consumer confidence. In the long run, the existence of a causal relationship to consumer confidence from the exchange rate and stock market index has been determined. According to these results, while the change in the consumer confidence index affects the stock market index and exchange rate in the short run; On the other hand, it was found that stock market index and exchange rate have long-term effects on consumer confidence index


This study compares the safety of autonomous- and human drivers. It finds that the Waymo One autonomous service is significantly safer towards other road users than human drivers are, as measured via collision causation. The result is determined by comparing Waymo's third party liability insurance claims data with mileage- and zip-code-calibrated Swiss Re (human driver) private passenger vehicle baselines. A liability claim is a request for compensation when someone is responsible for damage to property or injury to another person, typically following a collision. Liability claims reporting and their development is designed using insurance industry best practices to assess crash causation contribution and predict future crash contributions. In over 3.8 million miles driven without a human being behind the steering wheel in rider-only (RO) mode, the Waymo Driver incurred zero bodily injury claims in comparison with the human driver baseline of 1.11 claims per million miles (cpmm). The Waymo Driver also significantly reduced property damage claims to 0.78 cpmm in comparison with the human driver baseline of 3.26 cpmm. Similarly, in a more statistically robust dataset of over 35 million miles during autonomous testing operations (TO), the Waymo Driver, together with a human autonomous specialist behind the steering wheel monitoring the automation, also significantly reduced both bodily injury and property damage cpmm compared to the human driver baselines.


Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) can be induced to differentiate to trophoblast by bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and by aggregation to form embryoid bodies (EB), but there are many differences and controversies regarding the nature of the differentiated cells. Our goals herein were to determine if BG02 cells form trophoblast-like cells (a) in the presence of BMP4-plus-basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) and (b) upon EB formation, and (c) whether the BMP4 antagonist noggin elicits direct effects on gene expression and hormone production in the cells. Transcriptome profiling of hESC incubated with BMP4/FGF-2 showed a down-regulation of pluripotency-associated genes, an up-regulation of trophoblast-associated genes, and either a down-regulation or no change in gene expression for many markers of the three embryonic germ layers. Yet, there was up-regulation of several genes associated with mesoderm, ectoderm, and endoderm, strongly suggesting that differentiation to trophoblast-like cells under the conditions used does not yield a homogeneous cell type. Several genes, heretofore unreported, were identified that are altered in hESC in response to BMP4-mediated differentiation. The production of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), progesterone, and estradiol in the differentiated cells confirmed that trophoblast-like cells were obtained. Gene expression by EB was characterized by an up-regulation of a number of genes associated with trophoblast, ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm, and the production of hCG and progesterone confirmed that trophoblast-like cells were formed. These results suggest that, in the presence of FGF-2, BG02 cells respond to BMP4 to yield trophoblast-like cells, which are also obtained upon EB formation. Thus, BMP4-mediated differentiation of hESC represents a viable cell system for studying early developmental events post-implantation; however, up-regulation of non-trophoblast genes suggests a somewhat diverse response to BMP4/FGF-2. Noggin altered the transcription of a limited number of genes but, not surprisingly, did not lead to secretion of hormones.


Oscillatory potentials (OPs) evoked by white flashing light after dark or light adaptation (WDA and WLA conditions) and those evoked by blue flashing light stimulation against a dark background (BDA condition) were recorded in 16 healthy volunteers. When blue flashing light was employed over a scotopic background, the two major OPs of this response (OP2 and OP3) appeared with a latency time that sharply coincided with the third (OP3) and fourth (OP4) components of the OPs evoked by white flashes. The results provide evidence in support of the notion that various elements of OPs represent the activities of different retinal mechanisms, of which OP3 and OP4 seem to be of rod origin.


A new strategy to measure the apex cardiogram with electronic skin technology is presented. An electronic skin apexcardiogram sensor, which can compensate the conventional electrocardiogram for cardiac diagnosis, is demonstrated through a highly sensitive and stretchable strain sensor with gold-nanoparticle composites.


2 City Clinical Hospital № 1, Cheboksary city Summary Conducted was a qualitative and quantitative assessment of blood flow in the unpaired visceral branches of the abdominal aorta with the aim of identifying the failure of blood supply at different stages of chronic gastric ulcers with the usage of standard modes of Doppler ultrasound. Studied were the parameters of blood flow in chronic gastric ulceration on the basis of a complex ultrasound investigation of 155 patients with chronic gastric ulcers.


Abstract Amaranthus retroflexus L. is a common annual weed worldwide. It can be found in a wide range of habitats and causes substantial yield reduction in many crops mainly through competition. Alternaria spp. are airborne molds that are considered to have potential for the biological control of weeds. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of spore concentration, host-plant growth stage, dew period, and temperature on the pathogenicity of three Alternaria alternata isolates against A. retroflexus. The pathogenicity of A. alternata increased with increasing spore concentration and length of dew period. A spore concentration of 107 spores ml−1 in a rapeseed oil emulsion and given a 24 h dew period caused 100% mortality of A. retroflexus plants at the four-leaf stage. Infection and mortality in older plants (>four-leaf stage) was lower. The highest levels of plant mortality were obtained at post-inoculum temperatures between 20 and 30 C. These experiments confirm the potential of A. alternata as a mycoherbicide under specific environmental conditions. Nomenclature: Alternaria alternata L.; Amaranthus retroflexus L. AMARE, redroot pigweed.


Abstract Highways and railroads have come under increasing scrutiny as potential agents of population and habitat fragmentation for many mammalian species, including grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). Using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and aerial Very High Frequency (VHF) telemetry, we evaluated the nature and extent of trans-highway movements of 42 grizzly bears along the U.S. Highway 2 (US-2) corridor in northwest Montana, USA, 1998–2001, and we related them to highway and railroad traffic volumes and other corridor attributes. We employed highway and railroad traffic counters to continuously monitor traffic volumes. We found that 52% of the sampled population crossed highways at least once during the study but that crossing frequency was negatively exponentially related to highway traffic volume. We found that grizzly bears strongly avoided areas within 500 m of the highway and that highway crossing locations were clustered at a spatial scale of 1.5 km. Most highway crossings occurred at night when highway traffic volume was lowest but when railroad traffic was highest. Highway crossing locations were flatter, closer to cover in open habitat types, and within grassland or deciduous forest vegetation types. Nighttime traffic volumes were low, averaging about 10 vehicles/hr, allowing bears to cross. However, we project that US-2 may become a significant barrier to bear movement in ∼30 years if the observed trend of increasing traffic volume continues.


The article deals with the use of public diplomacy tools for promoting the interests of the state. The main purpose of this paper is to show the public diplomacy potential possibilities to achieve policy goals in an authoritarian one-party state with a focus on the online environment. As an example, we selected the Carrefour Incident, a conflict that occurred in China during the preparations for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. The conflict broke out between the Chinese citizens, who were offended by the reaction of the Government of France towards the actions of pro-Tibetan activists during the Olympic torch relay in Paris, and the Carrefour Group in China.
The introduction provides a brief history of the development of the concept of public diplomacy in the context of Nicholas Сull's theory as well as explores several media communications models and theories that are helpful in better understanding the details of the case. Subsequently, the article presents a detailed chronology and the stages of the conflict and describes the main actors' goals and actions. The conflict was initially supported by the government via social networking sites and soft propaganda techniques, and when this goal was achieved, it was effectively pacified through Internet audience management tools. The case demonstrates approaches to implicit information management and shares some techniques to identify the critical phases of the conflict using basic media statistics. The Chinese experience is important for understanding the effectiveness of the media control policy and conflict management for state actors and non-governmental organisations. The conclusion provides a number of theoretical and practical points about the nature of this conflict and consolidating role of the Internet in it. In particular, some parts of the conclusion concern the effectiveness of Chinese "soft power" and the necessity of a term base transformation.


It has been long held that computer systems exhibit economies of scale (Grosch's law) and that their price increases with performance, but at a decreasing rate. The empirical support for this proposition has largely been based on benchmark tests of complex processor performance engaged in a sequence of mathematical computations. This paper estimates price/performance elasticities using performance data derived from benchmark testing that simulates on-line transaction processing of the type found in business environments and analyzes the data by series, rather than by arbitrary hardware classes. We find that the systems of at least two series have price/performance relationships characterized by economies of scale, constant returns to scale, and diseconomies of scale, respectively. That is, Grosch's law holds for some series and not for others. Second, there is a direct relationship between performance and the magnitude of elasticities, with high-end servers exhibiting the largest percentage increases in price for a given percentage increase in performance. A discussion of other life cycle cost and performance issues is provided to give explanation and insight into the market place presence and investment in systems that possess diseconomies of scale based on price (initial cost).


This paper outlines the various unwritten constitutions of the United States, from the Aristotelian and Godelian Constitutions to the various constitutions in and outside of the courts, to the features of distinctive constitutional regimes in the United States. One goal of this paper is simply to detail how many unwritten constitutions exist and bring some clarity to the different phenomena that might go under the heading of the unwritten constitution. A second goal is to highlight the empirical dimensions of constitutionalism in general and of American constitutionalism in particular, with particular emphasis on how the empirical and normative dimensions of constitutionalism cannot be separated. Constitutionalism is an intricate blend of law and politics rather than a means of separating law from politics. Written and unwritten constitutional politics intertwine with written and unwritten constitutional law in ways ignored by both legal and political science versions of the law/politics distinction. The third goal is to highlight some features of contemporary constitutional politics in the United States. Constitutional angst in the United States, the following pages suggest, is being fueled by changes in unwritten constitutional politics that have not yet been captured by written or unwritten constitutional law. Bringing the structure of constitutional politics back into the structure of constitutionalism promises better constitutional analysis and, perhaps, better constitutional practice.


In neighbourhoods, the number of energy generators are growing. A main reason for this being the rise in people's energy needs and the possibility of local energy production. Future scenarios involve people's choices of energy type (mostly green) as well as sharing energy among neighbours. This article investigates the use of spatial services applied to a decentralised green energy management system. Spatial services are a new type of bio-inspired services spreading geographically across dispersed devices. They are agent-based and suitable for dynamically changing scenarios. We prototyped, implemented and deployed an energy management scenario involving a peer to peer innovative energy management system and a self-adaptive system. Preliminary results show the feasibility of the envisaged scenarios. Future work include investigating advanced peer to peer scenarios as well as enhancing current spatial services with reinforcement learning.


Aspergillus species is a widespread environmental mould that can cause aspergillosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the antifungal susceptibility profile and genotypic characterization of clinical Aspergillus isolates from different provinces in Eastern China. The data included the antifungal susceptibility distributions with eight common antifungal drugs, cyp51A gene mutations of triazole-resistant A. fumigatus sensu stricto, and the genotypic relationships among the A. fumigatus sensu stricto isolates based on microsatellite typing. A. fumigatus sensu lato was the most common clinical Aspergillus species (n = 252), followed by A. flavus (n = 169), A. terreus (n = 37), A. niger (n = 29) and A. nidulans (n = 4). The modal minimum effective concentration values of micafungin and anidulafungin were lower than those of caspofungin for all Aspergillus species. The in vitro efficacy of isavuconazole was similar to that of voriconazole against most Aspergillus species. Sequencing revealed cyp51A gene mutations TR34/L98H, TR34/L98H/S297T/F495I, and TR46/Y121F/T289A in four triazole-resistant A. fumigatus sensu stricto. Phylogenetic analyses using microsatellite markers of A. fumigatus sensu stricto revealed that 211 unique genotypes clustered into two clades. The data demonstrate the diversity of clinically relevant Aspergillus species in Eastern China. Routine antifungal susceptibility testing should be performed to monitor the antifungal resistance and guide clinical therapy.


According to Zurek, decoherence is a process resulting from the interaction between a quantum system and its environment; this process singles out a preferred set of states, usually called pointer basis, that determines which observables will receive definite values. This means that decoherence leads to a sort of selection which precludes all except a small subset of the states in the Hilbert space of the system from behaving in a classical manner: environment-induced-superselection (einselection) is a consequence of the process of decoherence. The aim of this paper is to present a new approach to decoherence, different from the mainstream approach of Zurek and his collaborators. We will argue that this approach offers conceptual advantages over the traditional one when problems of foundations are considered; in particular, from the new perspective, decoherence in closed quantum systems becomes possible and the preferred basis acquires a well founded definition.


Despite the availability of safe, effective targeted therapy that controls intravascular hemolysis, the management of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) remains complicated because of disease heterogeneity and close association with BM failure syndromes. The purpose of this review is to provide a framework for individualizing treatment based on disease classification. According to the recommendations of the International PNH Interest Group, patients can be placed into one of the following 3 categories: (1) classic PNH, (2) PNH in the setting of another BM failure syndrome, or (3) subclinical PNH. The PNH clone in patients with subclinical disease is insufficiently large to produce even biochemical evidence of hemolysis, and consequently, patients who fit into this category require no PNH-specific therapy. Patients with PNH in the setting of another BM failure syndrome (usually aplastic anemia or low-risk myelodysplastic syndrome) have at least biochemical evidence of hemolysis, but typically the PNH clone is small (< 10%) so that hemolysis does not contribute significantly to the underlying anemia. In these cases, the focus of treatment is on the BM failure component of the disease. Intravascular hemolysis is the dominant feature of classic PNH, and this process is blocked by the complement inhibitor eculizumab. The thrombophilia of PNH also appears to be ameliorated by eculizumab, but the drug has no effect on the BM failure component of the disease. Low-grade extravascular hemolysis due to complement C3 opsonization develops in most patients treated with eculizumab, and in some cases is a cause for suboptimal response to treatment. Allogeneic BM transplantation can cure classic PNH, but treatment-related toxicity suggests caution for this approach to management.


In this paper, we talk about a mixture of one-parameter Lindley and inverse Weibull distributions (MLIWD). First, We introduce and discuss the MLIWD. Then, we study the main statistical properties of the proposed mixture and provide some graphs of both the density and the associated hazard rate functions. After that, we estimate the unknown parameters of the proposed mixture via two estimation methods, namely, the generalized method of moments and maximum likelihood. In addition, we compare the estimation methods via some simulation studies to determine the efficacy of the two estimation methods. Finally, we evaluate the performance and behavior of the proposed mixture with different numerical examples and real data application in survival analysis.


Compared with fluorescence imaging utilizing fluorophores whose lifetimes are in the order of nanoseconds, time-resolved fluorescence microscopy has more advantages in monitoring target fluorescence. In this work, compound DCF-MPYM, which is based on a fluorescein derivative, showed long-lived luminescence (22.11 μs in deaerated ethanol) and was used in time-resolved fluorescence imaging in living cells. Both nanosecond time-resolved transient difference absorption spectra and time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) were employed to explain the long lifetime of the compound, which is rare in pure organic fluorophores without rare earth metals and heavy atoms. A mechanism of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) that considers the long wavelength fluorescence, large Stokes shift, and long-lived triplet state of DCF-MPYM was proposed. The energy gap (ΔEST) of DCF-MPYM between the singlet and triplet state was determined to be 28.36 meV by the decay rate of DF as a function of temperature. The ΔE(ST) was small enough to allow efficient intersystem crossing (ISC) and reverse ISC, leading to efficient TADF at room temperature. The straightforward synthesis of DCF-MPYM and wide availability of its starting materials contribute to the excellent potential of the compound to replace luminescent lanthanide complexes in future time-resolved imaging technologies.


"Human computation" represents a new paradigm of applications that take advantage of people's desire to be entertained and produce useful metadata as a by-product. By creating games with a purpose, human computation has shown promise in solving a variety of problems that computer computation cannot currently resolve completely. Using the ESP game as an example, we propose a metric, called system gain, for evaluating the performance of human computation systems, and also use analysis to study the properties of the ESP game. We argue that human computation systems should be played with a strategy. To this end, we implement an optimal puzzle selection strategy (OPSA) based on our analysis to improve human computation. Using a comprehensive set of simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed OPSA approach can effectively improve the system gain of the ESP game, as long as the number of puzzles in the system is sufficiently large.


Solid-state transformers (SSTs) are an emerging technology that has been developed to improve the stability, reliability, and economic operation of distribution systems. These new transformers are composed of a medium ac voltage (MV) stage, a dc stage, and a low ac voltage (LV) stage. Passive and active dc links are used to construct the dc stage in SSTs in order to offer new functionalities, including hybrid (ac and dc) distribution, reactive power compensation, voltage/frequency regulation, power quality improvement, and distributed generation utilization. On one hand, a distribution SST has its ac stage connected to an MV level, which mandates specific power electronic converter (PEC) topologies, switching element capabilities, and filtering circuits. On the other hand, the dc-link stage has to provide isolation between the MV and LV levels, which requires the employment of isolated dc PECs. Part I of this work provides a review of SST designs and constructions (for deployment in distribution systems), in terms of the required technology, supported functionalities, and construction features.


Abstract 3195 The role of glucocorticoids in erythropoiesis is substanciated by the erythrocytosis observed in Cushing9s syndrome and failure in glucocorticoid receptor ( GR ) knockouts to respond to anaemia. Hydrocortisone, the natural GR agonist, synergizes with erythropoietin (EPO) to sustain the generation of erythroid bursts in cultures. This combined approach can be used to generate ex-vivo large numbers of erythroid cells from marginal stem cell sources [mononuclear cells (MNC) from low volume cord blood or blood donations] in liquid cultures, defined as Human Erythroid Massive Amplification (HEMA) cultures, stimulated with SCF, IL-3, EPO (GFs), estradiol (ES) and dexamethasone (DXM), a synthetic GR agonist more potent than hydrocortisone. Experiments in mice and human cells have indicated that GR activation mediates erythroid expansion by blocking terminal maturation of erythroid precursors and inducing these cells into a reversible self-replication state. By gene expression profiling, we have identified that erythroid precursors obtained in vitro with DXM express higher levels of genes controlling lipid metabolism than those obtained without DXM (see abstract by Hricik et al). Since ∼half of the human red cell mass is constituted by lipids, this over-expression suggests that the erythroid stimulating activity of GR may include its metabolic effects. Synthetic glucocorticoids are the most potent anti-inflammatory agents known but metabolic side effects limit their clinical utility. The availability of the crystal structure of GR has fostered studies to design synthetic agonists more potent than DXM and/or lacking its undesired metabolic action. These studies have identified fluticasone (FP), a potent analogue currently used in asthma treatment. More recently non-steroidal agonists, such as 67A, have been developed which lack mineralocorticoid effects. Both FP and 67A bind GR with 100-fold increased affinity compared to DXM, and function as full agonists (Ray D, manuscript in preparation). The aim of this study was to clarify whether the metabolic activity of GR contributes to its erythroid stimulating effects in vitro by comparing the efficacy of 67A, FP and DXM under HEMA conditions. MNC from 2 blood donors were cultured under HEMA conditions stimulated with GFs plus DXM (1 mM) or 67A (1, 3 or 10 nM), or FP (1, 3 and 10 nM), either alone or in combination with ES (1 mM). The cells were cultured for 17 days and the number and morphology (FACS profiling for CD36 and CD235a) of the progeny evaluated at day 7, 10, 12, 14 and 17. At day 12, the frequency of progenitor cells generated under the various conditions was also evaluated while the maturation potential of cells obtained at day 14 was evaluated in differentiation cultures stimulated with EPO and insulin. MNC generated more erythroid cells [relative fold increase (FI) with respect to GFs alone: 7- or 20-fold for 67A or FP, 10 nM each] and for longer time (maximal cell numbers were observed after 17 days of culture instead of 12) if cultured with 67A and FP, instead of DXM (relative FI with respect to GFs alone: 3-fold) (Fig. A). The effects of 67A and FP were concentration dependent and maximal effects were observed with 10 nM in both cases (not shown). Addition of ES did not increase the number of erythroid cells generated in liquid cultures and increased the number of BFU-E persisting up to day 12 only in combination with DXM (Fig. B). BFU-E from 67A- and FP-stimulated cultures generated larger and better hemoglobinized colonies than BFU-E from DXM-stimulated cultures (Fig. C), suggesting that 67A and FP were equally potent at the progenitor cell level. However, day 14 erythroid precursors from FP-stimulated cultures matured better (greater frequency of CD36 neg CD235a low cells and darker red pellet) with EPO and insulin than those generated with 67A or DXM (Fig. D and not shown). These results indicate that as predicted by the relative affinity for GR of the different compounds, 10 nM of 67A and FP induce levels of in vitro erythroid expansion greater, in terms of extent and duration of expansion and persistence of erythroid progenitor cells, than 1 mM of DXM. However, the numbers and maturation ability of erythroid precursors generated with 67A, which lacks mineralocorticoid activity, are lower than those of erythroid precursors generated with FP, suggesting that the metabolic activity of GR is an essential component of its erythroid stimulating activity. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Background HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) display anti-inflammatory properties in animal and in vitro models of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as well as initial safety and efficacy in the treatment of systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis1,2. However, most currently available HDACi display relatively little selectivity for class I (HDAC 1-3, 8) and class II (HDAC 4-7, 9, 10) HDACs. Objectives The present study aims to better characterize the different contributions of HDAC family members to the inflammatory activation of RA fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS). Methods HDAC mRNA expression in RA FLS was measured by quantitative PCR, and the activity of class I, IIa and IIb HDACs was assessed by enzymatic assays. The effects of pan-specific HDACi and selective HDAC1/2, HDAC3/6 and HDAC8 inhibitors on RA FLS gene expression was analyzed by ELISA and customized qPCR arrays. FLS were either transduced with adenoviral GFP-HDAC5 or transfected with HDAC5 siRNA, and gene expression was analyzed by qPCR array, while chemokine production was measured by ELISA. Analysis of transcription factors was performed using DNA-binding and ELISA-based assays. Results Class IIa HDAC5 mRNA expression, but not class IIa HDAC activity, is significantly and selectively reduced after RA FLS stimulation with TNFα and IL-1β. The decrease in HDAC5 levels in RA FLS, mimicked by the use of specific siRNA targeting HDAC5, leads to nuclear accumulation of IRF1 transcription factor, concomitant with the increased mRNA and protein expression of a subset of CXCL chemokines. Unlike class IIa HDACs, class I and class IIb HDACs display higher enzymatic activity upon inflammatory stimuli. Impairment of class I HDAC3 and class IIb HDAC6 activity by the use of a selective HDAC3/6 inhibitor significantly reduced by two-fold or more the expression of 80% of 84 IL-1β –inducible genes targeted by pan-specific HDACi in RA FLS. In contrast, inhibitors targeting HDAC1/2 and HDAC8 activity had little effect on gene expression. Conclusions Our results show that mRNA expression and activity of distinct HDAC members in RA FLS are regulated in a different fashion by inflammatory stimuli. Silencing of class IIa HDAC5 increases CXCL chemokine production, associated with enhanced nuclear accumulation of IRF1, while selective combined inhibition of HDAC3 and HDAC6 suppresses the expression of genes similarly downregulated by pan-specific HDACi. Our results suggest that the design of HDACi targeting specific HDACs can be used to selectively modulate inflammatory gene expression in RA References Joosten, L. A., F. Leoni, S. Meghji, and P. Mascagni. 2011. Inhibition of HDAC Activity by ITF2357 ameliorates Joint Inflammation and Prevents Cartilage and Bone Destruction in Experimental Arthritis. Mol. Med. 17: 391-396. Vojinovic J, Damjanov N, D'Urzo C, et al. Safety and efficacy of an oral histone deacetylase inhibitor in systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Arthritis Rheum 2011;63:1452–8. Acknowledgements B.S. Ferguson and T.McKinskey, University of Colorado – Denver, Denver, CO. Disclosure of Interest : None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.4360


A rescue excavation in Lod, Israel, in 1996 on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (directed by M. Avissar) led to the discovery of a Roman mosaic floor. In the southern panel of the main carpet there is an eye‐catching maritime scene, with two merchant ships surrounded by fish, a dolphin and some shells. One of the ships was damaged by a cesspit dug in the Ottoman period. The description of what is left of the damaged ship provides clues which allow a reconstruction of the original appearance of the ship. The proposed reconstruction of the damaged ship, based on the assumption that the two merchantmen in this scene are of a similar type, postulates that the ship was in great danger and experienced a 'marine trauma', which the villa owner chose to commemorate in a mosaic floor.


PURPOSE
To detect simple, pseudosimple and complex chromosome exchanges in X-ray-induced aberrations involving two distinctly painted chromosomes. Each visibly complex two-paint exchange was analysed to determine the number of breaks and chromosomes necessary to derive the pattern. In addition, the number of associated paint junctions was scored to assess the frequency of non-reciprocal exchanges.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Metaphase spreads were prepared from a human primary fibroblast cell line irradiated with 2, 4 and 6 Gy 250kV X-rays. FISH-painting was performed with distinctly labelled probes for chromosomes 1 and 2, and a pancentromeric probe.

RESULTS
From a total of 78 two-paint exchanges observed, 35 were apparently simple, with no additional counterstain chromatin, and 43 were visibly complex with two-colour painting, of which 23 contained at least one pseudosimple exchange. A detailed analysis of the number of two-paint colour junctions showed that at least 50% of the visibly complex exchange patterns involved non-reciprocal exchanges. The simple and complex exchange dose-response curves were considered to be linear and curvilinear respectively.

CONCLUSION
The frequency of non-reciprocal rejoining events within complex exchanges is consistent with an interaction model based on the free exchange of multiple break-ends. In addition, the simple and complex exchanges have distinct dose-response curves, in agreement with previous data for single-painted exchanges corrected for pseudosimples.


Background To investigate the correlation between quantitative pharmacokinetic parameters and clinicopathological prognostic biomarkers including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and MiB1 (Ki-67) in patients with breast cancer, the image histogram analysis was performed on dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI). Methods The reference region model (RRM) was used to calculate the quantitative permeability parameters, including reference region volume transfer constant (Ktrans,RR), the rate constant of tissue of interest (Kep,TOI), and the rate constant of reference region (Kep,RR). Histogram analysis was performed to compare these parameters between ER/PR/HER2/Ki-67 positive and negative groups. The performance of the histogram parameters Ktrans,RR, Kep,TOI and Kep,RR in differential diagnosis of immunohistochemistry results was conducted by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results All the histogram metrics of Kep,TOI significantly differed between ER/PR positive and negative groups (P<0.05). However, Ktrans,RR and Kep,RR did not significantly differ between ER/PR positive and negative groups (P>0.05). The 10th percentile, energy, entropy and variance of Ktrans,RR, and almost all the histogram parameters of Kep,TOI except for variance significantly differed between HER2 positive and negative groups (all P<0.05). The energy of Ktrans,RR significantly differed between Ki-67 positive and negative groups (P<0.05). The skewness and energy of Kep,TOI showed the highest AUC of 0.977 and 0.879 in differentiating ER/PR status. The energy of Ktrans,RR presented the highest AUC in the differentiation of HER2 and Ki-67. Conclusions Histogram analysis on quantitative pharmacokinetic breast parameters using DCE-MRI improves the performance in differentiation of histological phenotypes of breast cancer.


Polyethylene glycol is commonly used in fermentation as an anti-foam for preventing the rise of foam to the top plate of the bioreactor, which increases contamination risk. However, its potential toxicity to growth of various microorganisms is not well understood at the species and strain level. Hence, the objective of this study was to understand the impact of different concentrations of polyethylene glycol at the 1, 5 and 10 g/L level on the aerobic growth of Escherichia coli DH5α and Bacillus subtilis NRS-762 in LB Lennox medium in shake flasks. Experiment results revealed that polyethylene glycol (PEG) (molecular weight ∼8000 Da), at all concentrations tested, did not affect biomass formation and metabolism in E. coli DH5α at 37 °C. This came about through the observation of similar maximal optical density obtained during growth of E. coli DH5α under differing concentrations of PEG. Furthermore, the anti-foam did not affect the pH profile. On the other hand, PEG did exhibit some toxicity towards the growth of B. subtilis NRS-762 in LB Lennox medium. Specifically, maximal optical density obtained decline with higher exposure to PEG in a concentration dependent manner, up to a threshold concentration of 5 g/L. For example, maximal optical density obtained in B. subtilis NRS-762 without addition of PEG was 4.4, but the value obtained with 1 g/L of the anti-foam decreased to 4.1 and a further 3.8 on exposure to 5 g/L and 10 g/L PEG. pH variation in culture broth, however, told a different story, where the profiles for exposure to PEG at all concentrations coincide with each other and was similar to the one without exposure to the anti-foam; thereby, suggesting that metabolic processes in B. subtilis NRS-762 were not significantly affected by exposure to PEG. Collectively, PEG anti-foam exerted species-specific toxicity effect on biomass formation, and possibly metabolism. The latter may not be sufficiently significant to affect the types of metabolites secreted by the bacterium, and thus, be detected by measurement of pH of culture broth. E. coli DH5α was better able to cope with PEG at all concentrations compared to B. subtilis NRS-762, which showed dose-dependent toxicity effect on biomass formation. Highlights Polyethylene glycol (molecular weight ∼ 8000 Da) did not affect aerobic growth of Escherichia coli DH5α at 37 °C in LB medium at all concentrations tested: 0, 1, 5, 10 g/L. Growth curves of the bacterium at different concentrations of polyethylene glycol (PEG) coincided with each other. Similar pH profiles were also obtained for E. coli DH5α growth in LB medium with different PEG concentrations. However, PEG exerted toxicity effect on Bacillus subtilis NRS-762 during growth in LB medium at 30 °C, with reduction of biomass formation in a dose dependent manner. Similar to the case for E. coli DH5α. pH profiles of B. subtilis NRS-762 coincided with each other irrespective of the concentrations of PEG used.


Although research on polymer hydrogel electrolytes has achieved great progress, their practical application is restricted due to their vulnerability and non-recyclability problems caused by covalent cross-linking effects. Herein, we report a ferric ion cross-linked supramolecular PAA hydrogel electrolyte (KCl–Fe3+/PAA), in which the ionic bond and hydrogen bond endow the KCl–Fe3+/PAA hydrogel electrolyte with favorable self-healing ability and easy-recyclability. In addition, considering the eco-friendly and cost effective properties of both ferric ion and polyacrylic acid, there would be great potential for this KCl–Fe3+/PAA hydrogel electrolyte to be broadly applied. Meanwhile, the hydrogel electrolyte maintained good mechanical performance (extensibility > 700%, and stress > 400 kPa) and excellent conductivity (0.09 S cm−1), which completely satisfy the demands of flexible supercapacitors. After being assembled with graphene foam supported polypyrrole electrodes, the electrochemical performance of this flexible supercapacitor is comparable to that of its liquid electrolyte counterpart.


This study implemented a meta-analysis of current NEE prediction studies. Overall, the topic is interesting and the methodology is innovative, as few researchers in past studies have used R2 or other accuracy metrics to compare models of different studies. Although the number of available models is not large, some of the findings of this study have adding-values and implications at the cross-study (different focus, data, models) level. This manuscript is of interest to BG readers (especially researchers using machine learning to predict NEE). The following issues should be clarified before acceptance.


This study aimed at investigating the Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions of critical pedagogy values in teaching English with an emphasis on gender and teaching experience. For that end, a 33-item Likert-type questionnaire was developed. The researcher-made instrument was administered to 102 EFL teachers teaching English in language schools in Qom, Iran. The internal consistency of the instrument was calculated through using Cronbach Alpha. It showed a high reliability (α=.88). The data was subjected to non-parametric Mann Whitney U test to check any potential significant difference between the levels of CP perceptions in the male and female EFL teachers. The results revealed that there was not a significant difference between genders in all items except item1 (p=.021), item18 (p=.017), item19 (p=.008), item 20 (p=.004), item28 (p=.000) and item 31 (p=.03) since the p value for these items was less than .05 (Pallant, 2005). The Kruskal Wallis test was also run to investigate if there were any differences in CP perceptions across four levels of language teaching experience. The test statistics revealed no statistically significant difference in levels of CP perception across four groups of EFL teachers in all items except item 18 (p=.034), 19(p=.025), 31(p=.01) and 32(p=.027) which were significant since the p value for them was less than .05 (Pallant, 2005). Then, the results of the study are discussed and some implications are presented.


investigate the impact of plasma membrane (PM) integrity on bacterial replication in different functional populations of human primary macrophages. that IFN- γ enhanced bacterial replication in macrophage colony-stimulating factor–differentiated macrophages than in granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor–differentiated macrophages. We show that permissiveness in the of macrophages to bacterial is the of differential ability to PM integrity. electron single-cell into the extracellular milieu. Thus, in addition to bacterial dissemination, necrotic cells provide first a niche for bacterial replication. Our results are relevant to understanding the environment of M. tuberculosis replication in the host.


A conservative eutherian mammal (the hedgehog, Paraechinus hypomelas) was tested on delayed alternation performance and spatial reversal learning before and after ablations of the prefrontal cortex. The anatomical results show that the cortical focus of the projections of the medial dorsal nucleus, the prefrontal cortex, does not include the neocortex on the dorsal convexity of the hedgehog's frontal lobe but, instead, the perirhinal and pregenual neocortex immediately surrounding the frontal convexity. The behavioral results show that normal performance of hedgehogs on these two behavioral tests depends upon the integrity of their prefrontal cortex, but not on the integrity of their frontal convexity or olfactory bulbs. The similarity in the results obtained from prefrontal hedgehogs and a divergent variety of other species with prefrontal ablations indicates that the role of the prefrontal system in the abilities measured by these two tests is at least as old as Eutheria and, thus, probably imposed persistent constraints on subsequent evolutionary modifications of the prefrontal system.


Background and Objectives In the Robot Assisted Surgery for High Risk Endometrial Cancer (RASHEC) trial, patients with high-risk endometrial cancer were randomly assigned to robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery (RALS) or laparotomy for pelvic and infrarenal para-aortic lymph node dissection. We here report on self-reported lower limb lymphedema (LLL), lymphocyst formation, ascites, and long-term serious adverse events 12 months after surgery. Patients and methods Patients were enrolled between 2013 and 2016, and 96 patients were included in the per protocol analysis, evenly distributed between RALS and laparotomy. Self-reported LLL was recorded using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire for endometrial cancer—EN24, assessed before and 12 months after surgery. Computed tomography was assessed at baseline, 3, and 12 months. Medical charts were reviewed for serious adverse events and hospital admissions 31 to 365 days after surgery. Results At 12 months after laparotomy and RALS, 61% and 50% patients, respectively, reported LLL (p = 0.31). In univariate analysis, the mean score of LLL at 12 months was significantly higher for laparotomy than for RALS (p < 0.05) and for those without abdominal drainage (p = 0.02), but was not independently associated with LLL in the multivariate analysis. Imaging showed no significant difference in lymphocyst formation or ascites between surgical modalities. No difference was found in serious adverse events and admissions to hospital for any reason. There was no agreement between lymphocyst formation or ascites and self-reported LLL. Conclusion Follow-up 1 year after comprehensive surgical staging for high-risk endometrial cancer showed no differences in self-reported LLL, findings on imaging, or SAE between laparotomy and robot-assisted surgery.


Drought conditions pose significant challenges to sustainable agriculture and food security. Identifying microbial strains that can mitigate drought effects is crucial to enhance crop resilience and productivity. This study presents a comprehensive comparison of several machine learning models, including Random Forest, Decision Tree, XGBoost, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Artificial Neural Network (ANN), to predict optimal microbial strains for this purpose. Models were assessed on multiple metrics, such as accuracy, standard deviation of results, gains, total computation time, and training time per 1000 rows of data. Notably, the Gradient Boosted Trees model outperformed others in accuracy but required extensive computational resources. This underscores the balance between accuracy and computational efficiency in machine learning applications. Leveraging machine learning for selecting microbial strains signifies a leap beyond traditional methods, offering improved efficiency and efficacy. These insights hold profound implications for agriculture, especially concerning drought mitigation, thus furthering the cause of sustainable agriculture and ensuring food security.


The role and the importance of diffuse scattering in urban radio propagation is evaluated using a new, simple analytical scattering model and a ray tracing tool. The scattering model is arranged so that the main parameters, having a precise physical meaning, can be easily tuned using classical measurement or simulation results reported in the literature. A basic urban topology has been considered and the impact of diffuse scattering on narrowband as well as wideband propagation parameters has been investigated. Although the scattering parameters have been underestimated (with respect to literature data) in order for the evaluation to be more conservative, the scattering contribution has shown to be very important for both received power and channel dispersion in a variety of cases.


A predictive model of the drag coefficient for a revolving wing at low Reynolds number is suggested. Unlike the previous model (Wang et al 2016 J. Fluid Mech. 800 688–719), the present model includes a viscous drag on the wing from laminar boundary layer theory and thus predicts the drag force more accurately at low angles of attack and low Reynolds numbers. Also, in determining the model constants, we consider the attack angle of π/4 at which the resultant force on the wing is assumed to be perpendicular to the wing chord. The present aerodynamic model more accurately predicts drag forces of four different revolving wings than the existing ones.


Millimeter-wave imaging systems in the frequency range of 70–140 GHz have been developed for diagnostics of magnetically confined plasmas. The 70 GHz imaging system successfully measures time evolutions of both radial and axial profiles of line density and electron cyclotron emission (ECE) in a tandem mirror. The imaging system is being installed in Large Helical Device (LHD) at the National Institute for Fusion Science. In order to cover the frequency range of the second harmonic ECE on LHD, a new detector using monolithic microwave integrated circuit technology has been designed and fabricated. The detector consists of the integration of a receiving antenna, a down-converting mixer diode, and an intermediate frequency amplifier on a GaAs substrate chip. The heterodyne response up to 10 GHz was confirmed at 70–140 GHz. The optical system consisting of an ellipsoidal mirror and a flat mirror was designed by using a ray-tracing code and evaluated experimentally at 140 GHz.


State mandated firefighter training is both highly structured and physically challenging. Firefighting is typically performed in harsh environments, necessitating personal protective equipment (PPE) which adds weight, restricts mobility, and decreases metabolic heat removal. For the most part, firefighter training is highly controlled and repetitive in nature, with each trainee performing required training exercises numerous times under close supervision. One such skill involves crawling, which is a physically intensive activity that firefighters utilize during training exercises, indoor fire suppression, and search and rescue activities. The ability to have firefighters crawl nearly identical, closely observed, routes is not easily accomplished for many fire departments. This pilot study observed trainees participating in a fire department training school using a unique crawling apparatus in their curriculum. Young, healthy male firefighter trainees (N=10) participated in a crawling exercise conducted in a modified commercial semi-trailer that was configured with varying crawling paths and fitted with infra-red cameras. Trainees crawled in full turnout gear while wearing forced air respirators to complete the course. Dependent variables included heart rate, compressed air usage, and time to complete the course. Incorporating such observations and measures into firefighting training curriculums has the potential to provide instantaneous feedback to trainees on their performance, potential areas of improvement, and facilitates the comparison of their physiological performance to the demands of the crawling task.


A selected series of 3312 patients (1720 female, 1592 male) with contact dermatitis was patch tested over 9 years (January 1974 to December 1982) (!).Computerised results were analysed and showed: (i) Contact dermatitis is commoner in females, except for occupational dermatitis. (ii) Allergic (66.5%) is much more frequent than irritant contact dermatitis (31.2% ). However, in our 9-year study, the latter appears to be increasing. (iii) The occupational groups most susceptible to allergic and irritant dermatitis are housewives, construction workers, hospital and health workers, iron and steel workers, and hairdressers. There are no marked differences in incidence of allergic and irritant dermatitis in these groups except that irritant dermatitis prevails in housewives and allergic dermatitis in construction workers. (iv) 80% of non-occupational allergic dermatitis is caused by clothing and accessories (31.21% by metal fixtures), drugs (27.95%, especially antibiotics), and cosmetics (21.03%, especially perfumes). (v) The most common allergen was potassium bichromate, even though it has been diminishing. The second commonest was nickel sulphate, and sensitization is constantly on the increase. Sensitivity to the para group and balsam of Peru remained stationary. Sensitization to ethylenediamine steadily increased. (vi) The metals and para-group allergens are most often responsible for occupational allergic contact dermatitis. Balsam of Peru, ethylenediamine and neomycin, as well as nickel and cobalt salts were the most frequent causes of non-occupations! dermatitis. (vii) The findings showed substantial agreement with other reports (2~6), except that nickel, p-phenylenediamine, balsam of Peru, and neomycin were less frequent in our study.


Cancer cell processes and tumor microenvironment play key roles in metastasis, which is the primary cause of death from lung cancer. We utilized self-assembled monolayers terminated with different functional groups (–CH3, –OH, –COOH, –NH2, –SH) to explore their effects on the metastatic behavior of human lung cancer cells (SPC-A-1) in vitro. Cell adhesion was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining; rhodamine–phalloidin was further used to directly label microfilaments. Viability/cytotoxicity staining and lactate dehydrogenase assays were performed to determine cell toxicity, and apoptosis was investigated by flow cytometry. Transwell assays were used to analyze the relationship between cell migration and surface chemistry. Gene expression associated with metastatic behavior was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. Our results demonstrated that –NH2 and –COOH groups promote cell adhesion and spreading. Although the –OH group did not affect cell survival and mobility, –CH3 and –SH groups were toxic to SPC-A-1 cells after 24 h of incubation. Furthermore, the –SH group inhibited cell migration and increased gene expression of E-cadherin. The addition of the –SH group has a potential application in new biomaterials or drugs for lung cancer metastasis therapy.


This paper explores how a focus on understanding divisibility rules can be used to help deepen students' understanding of multiplication and division with whole numbers. It is based on research with seven Year 7-8 teachers who were observed teaching a group of students a rule for divisibility by nine. As part of the lesson, students were shown a way of proving why the divisibility rule for nine works, using materials grouped in tens and hundreds. After the lesson, students' understanding of multiplication and division was considerably deepened.


We show that there exist c.e. bounded Turing degrees a, b such that 0 < a < 0′, and that for any c.e. bounded Turing degree x, we have b ∨ x = 0′ if and only if x ≥ a. The result gives an unexpected definability theorem in the structure of bounded Turing reducibility.


The system of equations comprising the Mohr-Coulomb yield condition and the stress equilibrium equations may be studied independently of the flow law. This system of equations is hyperbolic. Accordingly, to solve the aforementioned system of equations, it is reasonable to apply the method of characteristics. In the special case of plasticity theory for materials whose yield criterion does not depend on the average stress, two methods are used to construct an orthogonal net of characteristics and to determine the stress field: the R-S method and Mikhlin's coordinate method. In the case of the Mohr-Coulomb yield condition, the angle between the characteristic directions depends on the internal friction angle. Therefore, the above-mentioned methods should be generalised in accordance with this property of characteristics. Purpose. In the case of Plasticity theory for materials whose yield strength does not depend on the average stress, to calculate the stress filed, Mikhlin's coordinate method is widely used. The purpose of this study is to generalise this method for the equation system consisting of the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion and the pressure equilibrium equations. Methods. The geometrical properties of the characteristics of the equations' system consisting of the Mohr-Coulomb yield condition and the equilibrium equations are used to introduce the generalised Mikhlin coordinates. Results. It's been pointed out that solving equation system consisting of the Mohr-Coulomb yield condition and equilibrium equation comes to solving equation of telegraphy and to subsequent integration. Practical Significance. The developed method of system of equations' solution, consisting of the Mohr-Coulomb yield condition and equilibrium equation enables obtaining high precision solutions at insignificant computer time expenditures.


A 34-year old right-handed man was suffering from recurrent cerebro-vascular insults. CT-scans revealed several subcortical lacunar infarcts, and leukoaraïosis. Arteriography of the left and the right carotid arteries was performed respectively on the 4th and the 9th year of the disease, and did not elicit significant extracranial and intracranial vascular lesions. There were no arguments in favor of infectious, inflammatory, or auto-immune vascular diseases. The patient had tardive hypertension and dementia, and died at the age of 44. Pathological findings, limited to the brain and cervical spinal cord, revealed numerous ischemic lacunar infarcts. Histological lesions were consistent with the diagnosis of arteriosclerotic leukoencephalopathy. There were oedema, palor, and loss of myelin in the white matter, and nonspecific diffuse arteriosclerotic lesions that were particularly pronounced in the intimal part of the arterial wall. No inflammatory process nor amyloid deposits were found. Despite the onset of the disease in a young adult and the late occurrence of hypertension, our case report shares most of the pathological features of the Binswanger's type of arteriosclerotic encephalopathy.


Background The International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form (IKDC SKF) is a patient-reported knee-specific outcome measure that has been shown to be a reliable, valid, and responsive measure for patients with a variety of knee conditions. Further testing is required to compare the reliability and responsiveness of the IKDC SKF to other commonly used patient-reported outcome measures for patients with articular cartilage lesions. Hypothesis The IKDC SKF has equal or better levels of reliability and responsiveness than the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), modified Cincinnati Knee Rating System (CKRS), and the Short Form 36 in patients with articular cartilage lesions. Study Design Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2. Methods Reliability was assessed by administering the 4 patient-reported outcome measures to 17 individuals who had undergone articular cartilage surgery 5 years before participation in this study. Responsiveness was determined by administering the 4 patient-reported outcome measures to 51 individuals with diagnosed focal articular cartilage defects who were scheduled to undergo surgical treatment. In both groups, the outcome measures were administered at baseline and at 6 and 12 months' follow-up. Participants also provided a global rating of change in comparison to baseline at the 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Results Test-retest reliability coefficients were 0.91 and 0.93 for the IKDC SKF at the 6- and 12-month follow-ups, respectively. The effect sizes and standardized response means were large (>0.80) at 6 months after surgery for the WOMAC pain, physical function, and total scores and 12 months after surgery for the IKDC SKF; WOMAC pain, physical function, and total; and CKRS scores. Six months after surgery, significant differences between those who were improved compared with those who were unchanged or worse were found only for the IKDC SKF. Twelve months after surgery, significant differences between the improved and unchanged groups were found for all of the knee-specific patient-reported outcome measures. Finally, the IKDC SKF, WOMAC, and CKRS scores were able to differentiate between individuals who perceived themselves to be improved versus not improved and the minimum clinically important difference for the IKDC SKF was 6.3 at 6 months and 16.7 at 12 months. Conclusion The reliability and responsiveness of the IKDC SKF is comparable with other commonly used patient-reported outcome measures for patients with articular cartilage lesions. The IKDC SKF is a suitable alternative to other commonly used knee-specific instruments for measuring symptoms, daily function, and level of symptom-free sports activity in patients undergoing articular cartilage surgery.


Biology is driven by two strategies of research. The first, using functional studies at the molecule-to-organism transitions, utilizes the principle that for every problem in biology, there is an organism ideal for its solution. The second, comparative and evolutionary in orientation, consists of thorough studies of every biological aspect of a given taxonomic group of species and follows the principle inverse to the first that for every organism, there is a problem to the solution for which it is ideally suited. The two approaches are complementary and of increased connectivity to each other. In passing from the traditional, intensely focused reductionist approach of 20th century biology to a more synthetic and authentically holistic phase, new emphasis will be placed on the major transitions between levels of biological organizations and onto processes of multilevel evolution by which they have been achieved.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are known to be multidrug resistance proteins that efflux various compounds out of cells including chemotherapeutic agents. A number of clinical trials have been conducted targeting ABCB1: however, none showed beneficial effects. The pleiotropic bioactive lipid mediator sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), which is generated by sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) inside breast cancer cells and exerts its functions by binding to its specific cell surface G-protein coupled receptors (S1PR1-5) after being exported, is now known as a key regulatory molecule in breast cancer progression. We have previously demonstrated that ABCC1 and ABCG2, but not ABCB1 export S1P out of MCF7 human breast cancer cells. We hypothesized that ABCC1 expression in the presence of S1P produced by activated SphK1 in human breast cancer is associated with poor prognosis.

We demonstrate the role of ABCC1 and SphK1/ S1P axis in breast cancer progression utilizing ABC transporter transduced breast cancer cell lines for in vitro and in vivo study. For clinical study, we analyze the expression of ABC transporters and S1P signaling factors utilizing a tissue microarray constructed from 276 breast cancer samples.

Overexpression of ABCC1 in breast cancer cell lines export more S1P. ABCC1 overexpression but not ABCB1 enhance proliferation and cell migration, and promote angiogenesis (AG) and lymph angiogenesis (LAG). MK571 which is inhibitor of ABCC1 suppress them. Overexpression of ABCC1 also aggravate tumor grow and contribute poor survival in syngeneic and xenograft mice model. In the clinical study, ABCC1 expression was associated with significantly shorter disease free survival (DFS) while ABCB1 was not. pSphK1 high expression group had significantly shorter DFS. Most of the patients expressed S1PR1; however, there were no significant differences in prognosis. Patients with tumors expressing both pSphK1 and ABCC1 had significantly shorter DFS, while patients expressing both ABCB1 and pSphK1 did not.

These translational findings suggest that inside-out signaling of S1P via ABCC1 may play a significant role in the course of human breast cancer progression.

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Health (R01CA160688 to K.T and R01CA61774 to S.S). M.N. is a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellow.

Citation Format: Akimitsu Yamada, Masayuki Nagahashi, Tomoyoshi Aoyagi, Wei C. Huang, Krista P. Terracina, Jeremy C. Allegood, Santiago Lima, Sheldon Milstien, Sarah Spiegel, Kumiko Kida, Takashi Ishikawa, Itaru Endo, Kazuaki Takabe. Activated SphK1 and export of S1P via ABCC1 shorten disease free survival in breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1890. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1890


A low alloy steel containing 0.10C, 0.25Si, 0.87Mn, 0.56Cr, 0.47Ni, 0.21Mo, 0.023S and 0.01P (mass %) was reduced by cold rolling to 1.6 mm in thickness and recrystallised at 700C for 24, 72 and 120 h to get ferrite grains of 8, 21.5 and 32.5 μm respectively along with a random distribution of some spheroidal carbide particles and a few inclusions. Tensile specimens prepared from these sheets were cathodically charged in 1 N NaOH, 0.1 N H 2 SO 4 and 1.4 N H 2 SO 4 solutions for periods varying from 2 to 24 h, with the current density of 50 mA/cm 2 . Tensile tests were carried out with the cross-head velocity of 1.2 mm/min and fracture surfaces were examined in SEM. It has been found that not only the charging time in an electrolyte but also the electrolyte itself exert influences on the tensile properties and fracture characteristics of the steel. Increase in ferrite grain size has enhanced toughening as well as embrittling (beyond a certain limit of hydrogen content) of the steel under the charging conditions, and no remarkable damage effect of hydrogen has ever been noted at grain boundaries. Influence of ferrite grain size on tensile properties and fracture characteristics appears to be due to the change in hydrogen concentration inside the grains as the grain boundary area per unit volume changes with grain size since the hydrogen trap density at grain boundaries follows a certain ratio to the hydrogen concentration inside grains. Charging with 1.4 N H 2 SO 4 solution embrittles the steel even with a low hydrogen content by causing an irreversible damage and ferrite grain size seems to have little effect on this.


This paper discusses some economic problems faced by the Eastern European nations in light of recent Latin American experiences. The paper first argues that in spite of some important cultural, political and institutional differences, there are indeed some similarities between Eastern European and Latin American economic problems. The discussion concentrates on four specific areas: (1) monetary overhang and repressed inflation; (2) fiscal imbalances and inflationary pressures; (3) deindexation and inflationary inertia; and (4) the use of the exchange rate as a nominal anchor. It is argued that in Chile the reliance on a price jump to solve the money overhang problem of 1973 created high inflationary expectations, increasing the degree of inertia of inflation. It is also pointed out that the Latin American experience tells a serious cautionary tale regarding the use of nominal exchange rate anchors. More often than not these types of policies have resulted in overvaluation, losses in international competitiveness and eventual external sector crises. A comparison of the Chilean and Mexican stabilization programs suggest that the use of exchange rate anchors will be more effective (and more credible) if the fixing of the exchange rate is accompanied by other policies geared at breaking inertia. Among these policies the most important one is the abandonment of wage rate indexation practices.


Inherited predisposition to disease is often linked to reduced activity of a disease associated gene product. Thus, quantitation of the influence of inherited variants on gene function can potentially be used to predict the disease relevance of these variants. While many disease genes have been extensively characterized at the functional level, few assays based on functional properties of the encoded proteins have been established for the purpose of predicting the contribution of rare inherited variants to disease. Much of the difficulty in establishing predictive functional assays stems from the technical complexity of the assays. However, perhaps the most challenging aspect of functional assay development for clinical testing purposes is the absolute requirement for validation of the sensitivity and specificity of the assays and the determination of positive predictive values (PPVs) and negative predictive values (NPVs) of the assays relative to a "gold standard" measure of disease predisposition. In this commentary, we provide examples of some of the functional assays under development for several cancer predisposition genes (BRCA1, BRCA2, CDKN2A, and mismatch repair [MMR] genes MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2) and present a detailed review of the issues associated with functional assay development. We conclude that validation is paramount for all assays that will be used for clinical interpretation of inherited variants of any gene, but note that in certain circumstances information derived from incompletely validated assays may be valuable for classification of variants for clinical purposes when used to supplement data derived from other sources. Hum Mutat 29(11), 1314–1326, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In this work, we evaluate adversarial robustness in the context of transfer learning from a source trained on CIFAR 100 to a target network trained on CIFAR 10. Specifically, we study the effects of using robust optimisation in the source and target networks. This allows us to identify transfer learning strategies under which adversarial defences are successfully retained, in addition to revealing potential vulnerabilities. We study the extent to which features learnt by a fast gradient sign method (FGSM) and its iterative alternative (PGD) can preserve their defence properties against black and white-box attacks under three different transfer learning strategies. We find that using PGD examples during training on the source task leads to more general robust features that are easier to transfer. Furthermore, under successful transfer, it achieves 5.2% more accuracy against white-box PGD attacks than suitable baselines. Overall, our empirical evaluations give insights on how well adversarial robustness under transfer learning can generalise.


The launch of GRACE satellites has provided a new avenue for studying the terrestrial water storage anomalies (TWSA) with unprecedented accuracy. However, the coarse spatial resolution greatly limits its application in hydrology researches on local scales. To overcome this limitation, this study develops a machine learning-based fusion model to obtain high-resolution (0.25°) groundwater level anomalies (GWLA) by integrating GRACE observations in the North China Plain. Specifically, the fusion model consists of three modules, namely the downscaling module, the data fusion module, and the prediction module, respectively. In terms of the downscaling module, the GRACE-Noah model outperforms traditional data-driven models (multiple linear regression and gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT)) with the correlation coefficient (CC) values from 0.24 to 0.78. With respect to the data fusion module, the groundwater level from 12 monitoring wells is incorporated with climate variables (precipitation, runoff, and evapotranspiration) using the GBDT algorithm, achieving satisfactory performance (mean values: CC: 0.97, RMSE: 1.10 m, and MAE: 0.87 m). By merging the downscaled TWSA and fused groundwater level based on the GBDT algorithm, the prediction module can predict the water level in specified pixels. The predicted groundwater level is validated against 6 in-situ groundwater level data sets in the study area. Compare to the downscaling module, there is a significant improvement in terms of CC metrics, on average, from 0.43 to 0.71. This study provides a feasible and accurate fusion model for downscaling GRACE observations and predicting groundwater level with improved accuracy.


Clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocols typically include multiple acquisitions of the same region of interest under different contrast settings. This paper presents an efficient algorithm to jointly reconstruct a set of undersampled images with different contrasts. The proposed method has faster reconstruction time and better quality as measured by the normalized root-mean-square error (RMSE) compared to the existing methods consisting of multi-contrast Fast Composite Splitting Algorithm (FCSA-MT), Multiple measurement vectors FOCal Underdetermined System Solver (M-FOCUSS), and total variation regularized compressed sensing (SparseMRI). To efficiently solve the £2, 1-regularized optimization problem, our proposed algorithm adopts the Split Bregman (SB) technique to divide the problem into sub-problems. We efficiently compute a closed-form solution to each of the sub-problems by implementing a 3D spatial gradient operator as element-wise multiplication in k-space. As demonstrated by the in vivo results, the proposed algorithm (SB-L21) offers 2x, 32x, and 66x faster reconstruction with lower RMSE averaged across all contrasts and slices compared to FCSA-MT, M-FOCUSS, and SparseMRI, respectively.


Aim: This paper is focused on the techniques of fermentation, separation and purification of (S)-2- methyl-1,4,5, 6-tetrahydropyrimidine-4 carboxylic acid generated by Halomonas elogate 1A01717.
Methods: This study take Halomonas elogate 1A01717 to ferment to produce a total of 97.05 Kg fermented liquid, and carry out purification process including ceramic membrane microfiltration, electrodialysis desalination, diatomaceous earth filter, upper column, crude extraction and refining.
Results: Three experimental processes are stable, getting total Ectoine 634.7 g, total yield: 45.17%. The yield of 6.04 g/L is calculated according to material coefficient 70%, 35 L of 50 L fermentation canned. Finally, the products getting in the three tests quality conforms to the standard.
Conclusion: This process can be used for a large-scale production and purification of ectoine after further optimization and adjustment.


In this paper, the design method of a multirate digital filter to handle high frequency resonant modes in hard disk drives (HDDs) or other mechanical actuators is proposed. Instead of using many notch filters, one low-pass filter will handle multiple mechanical resonance modes. The proposed multirate digital filter has robust resonance cancellation capability with comparable or even lower phase loss than using notch filters. The proposed scheme can well handle the high frequency mechanical resonances in the sense of robustness to variations of resonance frequencies and simplicity to implement in practice. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by application to a real HDD servo system.


The negative impact of global financial crisis to the economi growth of east java is imployment added. Existing condition of eksport import in east java is positive growth, but the challege of the effect lapindo and the port of Tanjung Perak is overload. See the problem overall to impact of economic growth of east java, the solution is use of optimalization the port of Tanjung Wangi Banyuwangi. Keyword: Global Financial Crisis, Lapindo, Economic Growth, Port Tanjung Wangi.


An association between viral infection, particularly the human papillomavirus, and the development of esophageal carcinoma (EC) has been reported. However, reports concerning the relationship between herpes simplex virus (HSV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) with EC are few. There are geographic variations in infection rates. This study was aimed to determine the co-incidence of infection of the two viruses' with esophageal carcinoma and the differentiation of cancer tissues and lymphocytes infiltration in the tumor stroma of the high-incidence area of Shantou China. To determine the association between viral infection (HSV and EBV) and EC, we applied in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 164 esophageal carcinoma surgical specimens from the high-incidence area of Shantou China. HSV DNA and HSVI, II protein expression were found in 52 (31.7%) of the 164 tumors; EBV EBER and LMP-1 proteins were identified in only 10 (6.1%) carcinoma specimens by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. In histopathology analysis, the positive cases of HSV appeared to be more predominant in well and moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinomas, and the positive cases of EBV were found in poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas or undifferentiated carcinomas with intense lymphoid infiltration. Our results confirm the involvement of HSV and EBV in esophageal carcinomas and the relationship between HSV and EBV infection and esophageal carcinoma cell differentiation with lymphocyte infiltration in the tumor stroma. However, the two herpes viruses, HSV and EBV, particularly the human HSV may be one of the etiological factors in development of this malignancy among the high-incidence population of Shantou China.


Walking is a mode of travel used by billions of people daily. Facilities that promote walking such as crosswalks often involve sharing space with conflicting vehicular traffic. These areas are not immune to receiving pedestrians that either do not obey or do not understand today's pedestrian signals, which are used to communicate periods of safe crossing. Therefore, improving comprehension would subsequently improve safety and crash rates. The Traditional Pedestrian Signal in the United States displays an illuminated man and a hand to indicate a cautionary-crossing period, a transition period, and a crossing-prohibited period. This signal type was evaluated and compared to a relatively new Experimental Pedestrian Signal. The Experimental Pedestrian Signal presented in this paper utilized the figure of a walking man changing only by the colors green, yellow, and red. Both signals were analyzed to identify the phases that best communicated the intended action. Video files depicting a Traditional and Experimental Signal were administered with a questionnaire to test the comprehension of rural and suburban participants. The results indicated that the Experimental Pedestrian Signal was not better understood than the current Traditional Signal, although a vast majority of participants preferred the Experimental Signal. The lowest comprehension occurred during the transition phase for both pedestrian signal types. The results also suggest that the interpretation of the yellow color varies by location and may invoke mixed responses if incorporated in pedestrian signals. A more appropriate solution may be to combine both symbolic and color cues into future pedestrian signals.


We introduce a new large-scale dataset that links the assessment of image quality issues to two practical vision tasks: image captioning and visual question answering. First, we identify for 39,181 images taken by people who are blind whether each is sufficient quality to recognize the content as well as what quality flaws are observed from six options. These labels serve as a critical foundation for us to make the following contributions: (1) a new problem and algorithms for deciding whether an image is insufficient quality to recognize the content and so not captionable, (2) a new problem and algorithms for deciding which of six quality flaws an image contains, (3) a new problem and algorithms for deciding whether a visual question is unanswerable due to unrecognizable content versus the content of interest being missing from the field of view, and (4) a novel application of more efficiently creating a large-scale image captioning dataset by automatically deciding whether an image is insufficient quality and so should not be captioned. We publicly-share our datasets and code to facilitate future extensions of this work: https://vizwiz.org.


Flow structures in lattice cooling channels are investigated experimentally by measuring three-dimensional velocity components over entire duct. The lattice cooling structure is formed by crossing two sets of parallel inclined ribs. Heat transfer is enhanced when coolant flows through the narrow sub-channels between the ribs. According to the past literature, longitudinal vortex structures are formed inside the sub-channels due to interactions between crossing flows. In this study, three-dimensional velocity field measurement is performed using MRI scanner to clarify the flow mechanism. The rib inclination angle is varied from 30 to 60 degrees. Reynolds number is set at approximately 8,000 based on the whole duct inlet hydraulic diameter and bulk velocity. Working fluid is 0.015mol/L copper sulfate aqueous solution.
 Measured results show that coolants in the upper and lower sub-channels interact not only at the both ends of the duct, but also at diamond-shaped openings formed by opposite sub-channels. The exchange of momentum between the upper and lower sub-channels occurs at the openings, leading to sustained longitudinal vortex in each sub-channel as mentioned in the literature. When the ribs are arranged with obtuse angle, a large vortex spreads across the contact surface, while the vortex structure independently stays in each sub-channel for acute rib angle.
 The measured velocity fields are compared with numerically-simulated ones using a RANS solver. Overall flow pattern is captured, but flow interaction between the upper and lower sub-channels is underestimated.


A new medium, called novobiocin-brilliant green-glucose (NBG) agar, was developed for the isolation of Salmonella spp. and evaluated against other conventionally used media including bismuth sulfite, xylose-lysine decarboxylase, brilliant green-sulfa, hektoen enteric, and salmonella-shigella agars. NBG had recovery rates comparable to the other enteric media tested with pure cultures as well as with naturally contaminated amphibian and reptile waters and fecal specimens. However, NBG, hektoen enteric, and salmonella-shigella agars failed to differentiate Salmonella typhi from a fecal specimen even after enrichment in selenite F. Although Citrobacter freundii could grow and resembled salmonellae on NBG, at no time was the recovery of Salmonella spp. colonies jeopardized by the presence of C. freundii in either seeded or naturally contaminated samples. Confirmation rates of typical colonies from NBG agar also compared favorably to the other media tested; however, bismuth sulfite, although selective, was found to have varied differential characteristics for Salmonella spp. As a result, many more colonies had to be picked, which caused bismuth sulfite agar to have the lowest confirmation rate of the media tested. The distinct advantage that NBG agar offers over the conventional method tested, including bismuth sulfite, is the consistent differential reaction of all Salmonella subgroups including biochemically atypical strains. The medium is inexpensive, easy to prepare, and can be stored for at least 2 weeks at 4 degrees C without loss of selective or differential properties.


Traditional level-set-based methods of tracking contours suffered from occlusion and fusion. In this paper, the proposed method introduces dynamic incident detection to find and handle occlusion and fusion. Color histogram of the hue component in HSV color space is used to identify the objects re-entering after occlusion. On the other hand, object features including the size and the motion pattern are utilized to remove the fake regions that are fused with the object region. Besides, a comprehensive foreground extraction (CFE) method based on the combination of background subtraction and Local Binary Pattern (LBP) is proposed. It is fast and robust. Our method is Experiments show that the proposed approach outperforms previous methods on both speed and subjective quality.


The increase in dermatophytoses and the fact that some patients do not respond well to therapy make it necessary to find new antifungal agents. As part of our ongoing studies on medicinal plants from Iran, we studied antidermatophytic activities of Ferula latisecta essential oil, which had shown considerable antifungal activity in preliminary antimicrobial screening. Antifungal activity was evaluated by determination of MIC values using the agar dilution method on type strains of Candida albicans and dermatophytes. The composition of the oil was characterized by GC and GC/MS analyses. The essential oil was rich in polysulfides (75.2%) and exhibited good activity against Trichophyton rubrum and T. verrucosom for about three weeks, with a MIC value 96 μg/mL. The oil showed antifungal activity, especially against dermatophytes, and the activity is probably related to the sulfur-containing components of the oil. This study has identified that the polysulfides-rich essential oil of Ferula latisecta fruits has activity against a range of human pathogenic dermatophytes, justifying future clinical trials to validate its use as a therapeutic alternative for dermatophytosis.