The article presents the results of the survey assessing the satisfaction level of small and medium businesses of the Sverdlovsk region with the factors of the institutional environment created in the area. Modern economics identifies four economic benefits of entrepreneurship development: job generation; productivity growth; innovation and economic growth. Governments, however, can exert either a positive or a negative influence on the extent to which in practice these benefits materialize. The positive result of Government policy is the investment appeal of the territory. We suppose, that the investment appeal of the territory depends on the correlation of the indicator of satisfaction and objective parameters of the institutional environment. Data for the subjective view was the survey of the satisfaction level of small and medium businesses of the Sverdlovsk region with the factors of the institutional environment at the year 2015 (more than 1000 respondents in 72 territories). Data for the objective view was Reports of the Heads of Sverdlovsk region municipalities about the efficiency in the municipal management, made public in 2015. The results of the research allow to develop a series of recommendations to improve the institutional environment for small and medium businesses. The basis for the selection of priority measures to improve the satisfaction of entrepreneurs is the correlation of the indicator of satisfaction and objective parameters of the institutional environment. The recommendations of the paper can be used by State and Municipal Governments in the policy of the increase of territory investment appeal. The scientific results of the research can become the base for further investigations of the correlation between subjective and objective factors of territorial development.


A conference is a team meeting which is undertaken by nursing staff at every shift change. The conference is conducted before (pre-conference) or after (post-conference) handover. The implementation of this conference has an impact on student skills in reporting plans and results of nursing care during shift changes. This study seeks to acquire an overview of the implementation of pre-conference and post-conference practices by nursing students in clinical practice. This research is a literature review study with five articles. Article ratings are measured using the JBI (The Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools) format. The literature review was conducted using one database (Google Scholar) for previous studies published in the last 10 years (2010–2020). Of the five articles included in this study, one concluded the discussion pre-conference badly, two concluded the pre-conference was not optimal, and two articles concluded the pre-conference processes were acceptable. For the results obtained in post-conference research, one article did not explain explicitly about the implementation of the post-conference procedures, one concluded that the implementation of the post-conference was not optimal, one concluded that the implementation of the post-conference was quite optimal, and two articles concluded that the post-conference procedures were quite good. It is hoped that the results of this literature review can provide education and information for students, science, educational institutions related to the implementation of the method conference. Nursing students are advised to hold conferences accordingly with standard operating procedures (SOP) for good implementation results


The fractional quadric-cubic coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation is concerned, and vector symmetric and antisymmetric soliton solutions are obtained by the square operator method. The relationship between the Lévy index and the amplitudes of vector symmetric and antisymmetric solitons is investigated. Two components of vector symmetric and antisymmetric solitons show a positive and negative trend with the Lévy index, respectively. The stability intervals of these solitons and the propagation constants at the maximum and minimum instability growth rates are studied. Results indicate that vector symmetric solitons are more stable and have better interference resistance than vector antisymmetric solitons.


A randomly ascertained sample of males with the surname "Sykes" was typed with four Y-chromosome microsatellites. Almost half the sample shared the same Y-chromosome haplotype, which has not been observed in control samples either from the same geographic region or from the United Kingdom as a whole. This points to a single surname founder for extant Sykes males, even though written sources had predicted multiple origins. The distribution of other Sykes Y-chromosome haplotypes were not significantly different from those in controls and may be accounted for by the historical accumulation of nonpaternity during the past 700 years, in which case the average rate estimate is 1.3%/generation. If this pattern is reproduced with other surnames, it may have important forensic and genealogical applications.


The viscoelastic analogue to the Newtonian Orr amplification mechanism is examined using linear theory. A weak, two-dimensional Gaussian vortex is superposed onto a uniform viscoelastic shear flow. Whilst in the Newtonian solution the spanwise vorticity perturbations are simply advected, the viscoelastic behaviour is markedly different. When the polymer relaxation rate is much slower than the rate of deformation by the shear, the vortex splits into a new pair of co-rotating but counter-propagating vortices. Furthermore, the disturbance exhibits a significant amplification in its spanwise vorticity as it is tilted forward by the shear. Asymptotic solutions for an Oldroyd-B fluid in the limits of high and low elasticity isolate and explain these two effects. The splitting of the vortex is a manifestation of vorticity wave propagation along the tensioned mean-flow streamlines, while the spanwise vorticity growth is driven by the amplification of a polymer torque perturbation. The analysis explicitly demonstrates that the polymer torque amplifies as the disturbance becomes aligned with the shear. This behaviour is opposite to the Orr mechanism for energy amplification in Newtonian flows, and is therefore labelled a 'reverse-Orr' mechanism. Numerical evaluations of vortex evolutions using the more realistic FENE-P model, which takes into account the finite extensibility of the polymer chains, show the same qualitative behaviour. However, a new form of stress perturbation is established in regions where the polymer is significantly stretched, and results in an earlier onset of decay.


Pressure differential systems have the purpose of maintaining tenable conditions in protected spaces for different types of building safe places, like escape routes, firefighting access routes, lobbies, stairwells and refuge areas. The aim of pressure differential systems is to establish airflow paths from protected spaces at high pressure to spaces at lower or ambient pressure, preventing the spread of toxic gas released during a fire. This strategy ought to be supported by a detailed design of the necessary air supply, considering also the cycle of opening and closing doors during the egress phase. The paper deals with the design of a simple pressure differential system intended to be used in a building as a pressurized smokeproof enclosure. Specifically, experimental tests and numerical modelling are conducted with the objective of characterizing the pressure evolution in a small compartment under different conditions and through a cycle of door opening. Experimental tests are conducted in a simple 3-m side cubic enclosure with two doors and no vent openings. While a centrifugal fan blows constant airflow inside the structure, the pressure trend in time is recorded during steady state and transient conditions; additionally, the velocity of the airflow across the doors has been measured by means of an anemometer. Numerical CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations are carried out to reproduce the same smokeproof enclosure configuration (both geometrical and boundary conditions) using the fire dynamics simulator (FDS). Furthermore, specific attention is paid to the modelling of the leakage across the doors, directly inserted in the model through a localized HVAC (heating and venting air conditioning) advanced leakage function. Comparisons between experimental tests and numerical simulations are provided. Once the model was correctly calibrated, other geometrical and mechanical configurations have been studied, looking for convenient and efficient positions of the fan in order to fulfill the requirements of the pressure differential, airflow velocity and door handle force. The paper highlights some fundamental aspects on the pressurization and depressurization during steady state and transient phases, trying to identify if there are airflow profiles typical of some geometrical configurations.


Prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome is widely available, but the determination of which patients should undergo prenatal diagnosis is changing. With the recent acceptance of first-trimester and integrated screening as a part of routine clinical practice, there are now a variety of accepted screening protocols for Down syndrome and other aneuploidies. These choices can be confusing both to both patients and providers. The following discussion is meant to outline the various options in prenatal screening, and their individual advantages and disadvantages.


In our recent Current Issues article and blog post on the value of a college degree, we showed that the economic benefits of a bachelor's degree still far outweigh the costs. However, this does not mean that college is a good investment for everyone. Our work, like the work of many others who come to a similar conclusion, is based in large part on the empirical observation that the average wages of college graduates are significantly higher than the average wages of those with only a high school diploma. However, not all college students come from Lake Wobegon, where "all of the children are above average." In this post, we show that a good number of college graduates earn wages that are not materially different from those of the typical worker with just a high school diploma. This suggests that, at least from an economic perspective, college may not pay off for a significant number of people.


This study has developed on Virtues Project program, which enhances parent communication abilities. The purpose of this study is to verify the improvement on parent communication skills after taking a program. To obtain effective children educational direction, we have offered assistance to the parents that understanding the importance of the parental instruction, improvement of the relationship between parents and children. To enhance the parent communication ability, this program is consisted of five virtue strategies, structured activity programs and various self-examination for attending parents to the program rather than listening the lecture. This program is consists of six session with two hours each session for six weeks. I have studied 26 subjects and they were divided into experiment group and control group. According to this study, this program works on improving parent communication skills. Namely, experiment group showed significant enhancement of communication abilities compared to that of control group.


We introduce a traffic demand aware cost model for the creation of overlay routing networks. We investigate the effects on the created network topologies when the traffic demand between nodes is considered. The resulting network topologies often differ dramatically from topologies formed when traffic demand between nodes is not weighed. We found that the global network characteristics were changed as well as individual node placement in the topology. Our results clearly show that the overlay network topology is adapted to reflect the underlying traffic demand distribution. We conclude that overlay network topologies formed using a traffic demand aware cost model are better suited to carry the traffic demand between nodes.


Junior doctors are often the "first line" doctors called to attend to patients in cardiac arrest. We performed an anonymous questionnaire study from October 2008 to December 2008 to assess the knowledge, attitude and skill of cardiopulmonary resuscitation among junior doctors in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia and Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II. Out of the 100 questionnaire forms sent out, 70 were returned completed. The majority (85.8%) stated that they were not confident of managing a resuscitation case. There was a statistically significant (p<0.001) association between duration of clinical practice and confidence level. Up to 77.1% said that BLS should be re-certified every two years.


The objective of this work was to analyze price aggregation and disaggregation in commercialized animals searching for "Programa Carne Angus" benefits in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data from 40,698 carcasses with Angus cattle racial pattern, slaughtered in a meat industry that performs the "Programa Carne Angus "certification, during the 2014 year were analyzed. The aggregated value was calculated by the difference between the negotiated base price for the lot and the final price obtained by animal after the certification process. The disaggregation was calculated based on the factors preventing the animals from being included in the certification program. The results show that the major disqualifying factor in males with the racial pattern was carcass fatness, and for females was the dentition, which disqualified 34.3 and 12.7% respectively. Value breakdown from 7,177 disqualified animals due to lack of finishing, or advanced dentition, reached R$ 1,213,528.00, or US$ 369,077.86 (US$ 51.43 per head), an amount that is no paid on from the industry to rural producers.Keywords: Aberdeen Angus, beef cattle dentition, beef cattle meat chain, fatness carcass, quality meat.


Against the background of the media commercialization reform since the 1990s in China and drawing on the case of »X-Change« (2006-2019), Wei Dong investigates the affective meaning-making mechanism in the multimodal text of Chinese reality TV. The focus lies on the ways in which emotions are appropriated and disciplined by regimes of power and identity, and the ways in which affect - in this case primarily kuqing (bitter emotions) communicated by the material and the body - have the potential to challenge or exceed existing relations of power in the mediascape. Wei Dong shows how Chinese reality TV provides a historical and theoretical opportunity for understanding the affective structures of contemporary China in the dynamic process of fracture and integration.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of leukocyte platelet-rich fibrin (L-PRF) on immediate implant stability and recovery. A total of 60 immediate implants were evaluated. After the extraction, using split-mouth design, test sockets were coated with L-PRF (L-PRF+) and control sockets were not (L-PRF-). All the implants were followed for 12 months. Results showed a statistically significant difference between the stability of L-PRF+ and L-PRF- implants at 1 week and at 1 month. Mean marginal bone resorption was higher in the control group at 1 year.


In this study, we compared adolescents' actual (expert assessed) front crawl swimming skills to their self-assessment in two conditions: in standard swimming (wearing a swimsuit and goggles) and in a simulated risk scenario (swimming in plain clothes without goggles). We postulated that education focused on water competencies is fundamental in preventing drownings. Experts evaluated the skills of 21 female and 21 male adolescents in both standard and challenging conditions. All were low-skilled swimmers aged 14–15 years. Participants were asked to self-assess their skills before and after each trial. Boys and girls covered the same distance in both trials. Their self-assessment did not change regardless of the difficulty of the conditions. Girls assessed themselves more accurately than boys. However, boys who underestimated their skills showed greater ability to utilise the experience gained from performing the task for a more accurate self-assessment. In conclusion, adolescents should be educated in total water competencies, and not merely in swimming skills. For girls, "water readiness" is thought to broaden their ability to adapt their swimming skills to nonstandard conditions. Aquatic education for boys should focus on developing self-reflection in order to create a long-lasting responsibility using their own swimming skills.


The purpose of this paper is to present a least square method whereby the elevation factor is determined by fitting a polynomial to the gravity profile. The method is applicable to stations located along a straight line as well as those located at random over an area.


The simulation of complex multi-physics phenomena often relies on System of Solvers (SoS), which we define here as a set of interdependent solvers where the output of an upstream solver is the input of downstream solvers. Performing Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) analyses in SoS is challenging as they generally feature a large number of uncertain input parameters so that classical UQ methods, such as spectral expansions or Gaussian process models, are affected by the curse of dimensionality. In this work, we develop an original mathematical framework, based on Gaussian Process (GP) models, to construct a global surrogate model of the uncertain directed SoS, (i.e. merely featuring one-way dependences between solvers). The key ideas of the proposed approach are i) to determine a local GP model for each solver constituting the SoS and, ii) to define the prediction as the composition of the individual GP models constituting a system of GP models (SoGP). We further propose different adaptive sampling strategies for the construction of the SoGP. These strategies are based on the decomposition of the SoGP prediction variance into individual contributions of the constitutive GP models and on extensions of the Maximum Mean Square Predictive Error criterion to system of GP models. The performance of the SoGP framework is then assessed on several SoS involving different numbers of solvers and structures of input dependencies. The results show that the SoGP framework is very flexible and can handle different types of SoS, with a significantly reduced construction cost (measured by the number of training samples) compared to the direct GP model approximation of the SoS.


We study the folding of small proteins inside confining potentials. Proteins are described using an effective potential model that contains the Ramachandran angles as degrees of freedom and does not need any a priori information about the native state. Hydrogen bonds, dipole-dipole-, and hydrophobic interactions are taken explicitly into account. An interesting feature displayed by this potential is the presence of metastable intermediates between the unfolded and native states. We consider different types of confining potentials to describe proteins folding inside cages with repulsive or attractive walls. Using the Wang-Landau algorithm, we determine the density of states and analyze in detail the thermodynamical properties of the confined proteins for different sizes of the cages. We show that confinement dramatically reduces the phase space available to the protein and that the presence of intermediate states can be controlled by varying the properties of the confining potential. Cages with strongly attractive walls destabilize the intermediate states and lead to a two-state folding into a configuration that is less stable than the native structure. However, cages with slightly attractive walls enhance the stability of native structure and induce a folding process, which occurs through intermediate configurations.


In work the extended fuzzy attribute grammar above frame structure of text of a technical specification which allows to automate process of construction models of software based on technical specification is considered.


Simultaneous multithreading architectures have been defined previously with fully shared execution resources. When one thread in such an architecture experiences a very long-latency operation, such as a load miss, the thread will eventually stall, potentially holding resources which other threads could be using to make forward progress. This paper shows that in many cases it is better to free the resources associated with a stalled thread rather than keep that thread ready to immediately begin execution upon return of the loaded data. Several possible architectures are examined, and some simple solutions are shown to be very effective, achieving speedups close to 6.0 in some cases, and averaging 15% speedup with four threads and over 100% speedup with two threads running. Response times are cut in half for several workloads in open system experiments.


In this paper, a description of the ADAS development platform in DESERVE project framework is presented. This work is framed within the Sub Project 2 (Development platform) of DESERVE project, and it is divided in 6 different and complementary lines of work. Most of the functions described in the tools and development systems, perception layer and the platform system architecture show the modularity and scalability of our proposal. Moreover, based on vehicle modelling, driver behaviour and intention, a first approach for arbitration and control strategies, which can anticipate the priorities on the control in emergency situations, is described. Furthermore, some simulations will allow the virtual testing for the future implementation in demonstrators. The presented work is the core of DESERVE project, and it is developed in parallel with Driver behaviour and HMI activities (SP3). This work presents some of the achievements in SP2, mainly the application platform integration in one of the demonstrators, along with the arbitration and sharing control, based on intelligent techniques (Fuzzy logic). Simulation shows the feasibility of proposal. This approach will be tested, integrated and validated in a real vehicle in the next stages of the project.


The mangroves of the North Pacific of Costa Rica are among the most altered coastal ecosystems in the country. Scientific information about their physiology, ecology, structure, and geochemistry is limited. This study analyzed the structural complexity and species composition of Potrero Grande and Santa Elena mangrove forests. Two visits were carried out to each mangrove between May and June 2012. The Point-Centered Quarter Method was used to determine forest structure. Mangrove species, height, diameter at breast height, and canopy density were noted at multiple points along transects. Associated fauna and cover of epiphytic macroalgae were recorded when present. Interstitial water salinity was determined at each point. Basal area, dominance, importance value, and density were calculated for each mangrove species and complexity index for the forests. Rhizophora racemosa had the highest relative dominance and importance value at both sites. Santa Elena had the highest complexity index (CI=26.9), this could be due to the high density found. Potrero Grande mangrove is one of the best developed mangrove forests on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, given its structural characteristics (relatively tall trees and high tree trunk diameters) and species composition. While Pelliciera rhizophorae was known to have reached its northern limit at the Potrero Grande mangrove; this study extends its distribution further north for the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Unlike Potrero Grande, Santa Elena is not adjacent to a marine protected area, resulting in uncontrolled extraction and tourism activities within Santa Elena Bay. The creation of a marine protected area in Santa Elena Bay is recommended to provide enhanced protection to this ecosystem. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (Suppl. 4): 33-41. Epub 2014 Diciembre 01.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Introduction Although screening methods for prostate cancer (PCa) have substantially improved, the outcome for patients with advanced PCa remains poor. The elucidation of the molecular mechanism that drives the progression from a slow-growing, organ-confined tumor to a highly invasive and castration-resistant cancer (CRPC) is therefore important. Although a causal correlation between inflammation and PCa has not been established, literature suggests that inflammation might play an important role in its onset and progression. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of inflammation on progression of PCa. We have evaluated the effect of IFN-γ and TNF-α on proliferation, migration, and invasion of PCa cells, and potentially identified the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects. Materials and Methods The CA-HPV-10 and PC3 cell-lines were stimulated with 300U/ml of IFN-γ or TNF-α. Relative gene expressions were quantified by RT-PCR. Protein quantification was performed by HPLC or ELISA. Functionality of cells was tested using: acridine orange (viability), WST-1 (proliferation), Tscratch (migration) and the Chemicon Cell Invasion Assay (invasion). Results IFN-γ induced de-novo expression of both IDO1 and IDO2 genes in CA-HPV-10 and their over expression in PC3. TNF-α induced over-expression of MMP9, TNF- ≤ and IL-6 in CA-HPV-10, and of 7 genes in PC3 (MMP9, IDO1 and IDO2, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1α and ROS1). IFN-γ and TNF- ≤ do neither induce apoptosis nor affect the proliferation of both cell-lines. TNF-α significantly increases migraton of metastatic cells (p<0.001) and markedly affects the invasiveness of both CA-HPV-10 and PC3 (increase of 32% and 51%, respectively), whereas IFN-γ has no or little effect. Discussion IFN-γ induces IDO1 and IDO2, whose roles in modulating immune tolerance have been extensively investigated. Conversely, IFN-γ does not affect other mechanism of cancer progression, such as cell migration and invasion. TNF-α, on the other hand, induces stable over-expression of MMP9 in localized cancer, and of 6 other genes in metastatic cells. MMP9 plays an important role in proliferation, migration and invasion and its elevated levels have been reported in many tumors. These notions could explain our findings showing that TNF-α enhances PCa cell migration and invasion. Furthermore TNF-α enhances the ability of cancer cells to actively maintain a pro-inflammatory microenvironment, due to the over-production of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1α. High levels of these cytokines in patients with advanced PCa have been hypothesized to play an important role in the onset of a CRPC. In conclusion, IFN-γ and TNF-α favor cancer progression by enhancing its malignant features in distinct ways. IFN-γ favors tumor immune-escape by inducing over-expression of IDO1 and IDO2, while TNF-α enhances PCa cell migration and invasion, sustains the active maintenance of a pro-inflammatory microenvironment and favors the onset of a CRPC.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4278. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-4278


Data on the prehistoric biota of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen) are scarce. We report on the first extinct vertebrate ever recorded from this western Indian Ocean island group. An exceptionally preserved adult specimen of Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus was found in a calcite flowstone in Hoq Cave on the NE coast of Socotra Island. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating on bone fragments estimates the fossil at ca. 7600–7400 cal a BP (radiocarbon age 6669 ± 70 14C a BP) corresponding to an early Holocene wet period in southern Arabia and the Horn of Africa. Morphometric analysis of the skull compared to Recent specimens from the neighbouring mainlands finds the fossil morphologically most similar to Egyptian (Nile Valley and Libyan Desert), not to East African or Middle Eastern populations. The species is currently absent from the Horn of Africa (Somalia and Eastern Ethiopia). Although potentially a stray individual, we also discuss the palaeoenvironmental implications under the hypothetical scenario that the fruit bat is a remnant of an extinct resident population. If so, the extinction of an important pollinator and seed disperser may have impacted the Socotran terrestrial ecosystems.


Abstract: σ‐Receptors are nonopioid, nondopaminergic receptors that bind with high affinity several antipsychotic drugs and appear to be involved in regulation of posture and movement. The second messenger system coupled to these receptors is still unknown. Recently, an inhibitory effect of various σ‐compounds on carbachol‐stimulated phosphoinositide metabolism has been reported. We have investigated the effect of six σ‐compounds on carbachol‐ and norepinephrine‐stimulated 3H‐inositol phosphate accumulation in rat cerebral cortex slices. All compounds tested had a dose‐dependent inhibitory effect on both systems, although their order of potency differed between neurotransmitters. Pentazocine and 1,3‐di‐o‐tolylguanidine were the most potent inhibitors of carbachol‐stimulated phosphoinositide turnover (IC50= 31.5 and 45.7 μM, respectively), while haloperidol showed the greatest potency on the norepinephrine‐coupled system (IC50= 3.5 μM). In the presence of IC50 concentrations of these inhibitors, the dose‐response curves for the agonists were shifted to the right and the EC50 values were significantly increased. σ‐Compounds also inhibited the binding of [3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate to muscarinic receptors and of [3H]prazosin to α1‐adrenoceptors in cortical membranes. In the presence of IC50 concentration (11 μM) of 1,3‐di‐o‐tolylguanidine, no differences were found in the maximal number of muscarinic binding sites, whereas the dissociation constant increased approximately fivefold, indicating a decrease of the radioligand's affinity for the receptor. These results indicate that σ‐compounds, at micromolar concentrations, inhibit muscarinic and α1‐adrenergic receptor‐coupled phosphoinositide metabolism, probably through an interaction with the neurotransmitter recognition sites.


ABSTRACT Objectives: To identify the percentage of ovarian cancers with positive peritoneal cytology and to correlate the positive cytology with the prognostic factors. Methods: This retrospective, cross-sectional study, evaluated the data of surgical specimens of malignant ovarian tumors, received in the Department of Pathology, Dow University of Health Sciences over a period of three years. The peritoneal cytology was correlated with these prognostic parameters: the size of the tumor, stage, capsular invasion, omental, and lymph node metastasis. Results: Eighty malignant ovarian tumors were diagnosed. Serous carcinoma was the most common ovarian tumor, diagnosed in 24(30.0%) cases, followed by endometrioid carcinoma in 17(21.25%) and Granulosa cell tumor in 11 (13.75%) cases. The mean age of the patients was 41.91 years (range 7-71 years). The mean size of the tumors was 10.03 cm (SD 5.62 cm). The ovarian capsular invasion was present in 27(33.75%) tumors. Peritoneal cytology was positive in 10/24 cases, with a detection rate of 41.66%. Omentum was involved in 12/34(35.29%) cases. Lymph node dissection was performed in three cases, two were reported as positive for metastasis. Peritoneal cytology significantly correlated with the tumor size (p=0.045), and with ovarian capsular invasion (p=0.054) and omental metastasis (p=0.052). Most of the tumors were staged as FIGO stage IA. Conclusion: Peritoneal cytology correlates with the tumor size, stage, and omental metastasis of the malignant ovarian tumors. It should be routinely performed at the time of surgery for the optimal staging of the patients.


The control of complex systems is an ongoing challenge of complexity research. Recent advances using concepts of structural control deduce a wide range of control related properties from the network representation of complex systems. Here, we examine the controllability of complex systems for which the timescale of the dynamics we control and the timescale of changes in the network are comparable. We provide both analytical and computational tools to study controllability based on temporal network characteristics. We apply these results to investigate the controllable subnetwork using a single input, present analytical results for a generic class of temporal network models, and preform measurements using data collected from a real system. Depending upon the density of the interactions compared to the timescale of the dynamics, we witness a phase transition describing the sudden emergence of a giant controllable subspace spanning a finite fraction of the network. We also study the role of temporal patterns and network topology in real data making use of various randomization procedures, finding that the overall activity and the degree distribution of the underlying network are the main features influencing controllability.


Abstract Introduction: Despite the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy for pain management in patients with osteoarthritis (OA), personal biases in the selection, administration, and continuation of pharmacotherapy challenge the proper management of symptoms and the effectiveness of the therapy. This study was conducted to carry out an in-depth examination of the experiences of patients with OA about their use of pharmacotherapy for the OA pain management and the existing challenges. Materials and Methods: The present qualitative study was conducted on 17 patients with OA, 5 of their family members and 8 healthcare personnel using a conventional content analysis approach. Data were collected through 35 interviews, which were unstructured at first but became semi-structured later on. Data collection continued until data saturation and analyzed simultaneously. The criteria used to determine the rigor of the study included the credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability of the data. Results: The analysis of the data revealed 3 main categories and 8 subcategories. The main categories including preference for non-pharmacological modalities, preference for symptomatic slow-acting drugs for osteoarthritis (SySADOAs) and preference for vitamins and minerals. Conclusion: Briefing the patients on the therapeutic goals, participating them in the clinical decision-making process, modifying drug administration patterns through prescribing the minimum effective dosage and substituting alternative therapies whenever possible, consistently monitoring the therapeutic responses and any unexpected complications and use of complementary treatments, makes up strategies that can help improve OA pain management.


Invisible settlements make discrimination in the workplace invisible. Now the norm in employment discrimination litigation, these settlements resolve actions through private contractual agreements with confidentiality clauses that prohibit the plaintiff and her attorney from revealing not only the payment amount, but even the existence of and the facts surrounding the underlying claim. The court record indicates only that the action was dismissed by stipulation, for which no judicial approval is required. Successful outcomes for discrimination victims are shielded from judicial and public attention, lending credence to claims that discrimination in the workplace largely has been eradicated. Invisibility defeats the intent of the discrimination statutes, skews empirical studies of discrimination litigation, which inform the public debate about the prevalence of bias, and hampers lawyers' ability to counsel and negotiate on behalf of discrimination claimants. The roots of invisibility can be traced to an increasingly privatized model of statutory enforcement, which ignores the deterrence function of public resolutions. Increased transparency could be achieved by any of the following means. First, the EEOC, which requires a public record of settlements in litigation that it brings, could follow the lead of the United States Department of Labor, which by regulation insists on agency or judicial approval of settlements under the worker protection statutes that it administers. Second, the civil rights bar could take a stand against secrecy, as the personal injury bar has done, and gain agreement from clients in advance to reject settlements that require confidentiality. Finally, at the very least, the courts could require submission of the specific terms of stipulated dismissals, without party identification, so that aggregate data about the nature and extent of settlements in civil rights litigation could be publicly available.


A network of coupled chaotic oscillators can switch spontaneously to a state of collective synchronization at some critical coupling strength. We show that for a locally coupled network of units with coexisting quiescence and chaotic spiking states, set slightly below the critical coupling value, the collective excitable or bistable states of synchronization arise in response to a stimulus applied to a single node. We provide an explanation of this behavior and show that it is due to a combination of the dynamical properties of a single node and the coupling topology. By the use of entropy as a collective indicator, we present a new method for controlling the transient synchronization.


A longitudinal study of employment patterns and turnover of clinical laboratory personnel in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area was conducted for the years 1970, 1980, and 1990. Laboratory staffing patterns for the years studied showed a general plateau in numbers and categories of personnel between 1980 and 1990, following a doubling in those numbers between 1970 and 1980. In 1990, for a geographic area of 2.2 million people, a total of 2,500 laboratory personnel were employed in 31 major laboratories. Fifty-six percent were medical technologists (clinical laboratory scientists), 6% cytotechnologists and histologic technicians, 23% laboratory technicians, 9% phlebotomists, and 7% in "other" categories. The ratio of full- to part-time employees was approximately 3 to 1. Between 1970 and 1990, annual turnover rates for all laboratory personnel declined from 20% to 15%. In 1990, the personnel group experiencing the lowest turnover was in cytotechnology (4%) and the rate for medical technologists was 9%. The turnover for laboratory technicians was 17%, and the rate for histologic technicians was 19%. Highest turnover occurred among phlebotomists (36%) and "others" (39%). While the numbers of laboratory personnel employed leveled off between 1980 and 1990, numbers of new graduate technologists and technicians decreased by approximately one-half. Personnel shortages in laboratory science can therefore be expected to continue.


The technical feasibility is described of substantially reducing the noise levels of existing JT8D powered aircraft by retrofitting the existing fleet with quieter refan engines and new acoustically treated nacelles. No major technical problems exist that preclude the development and installation of refanned engines on aircraft currently powered by the JT8D engine. The refan concept is technically feasible and provides calculated noise reductions of from 7 to 8 EPNdb for the B727-200 aircraft and from 10 to 12 EPNdb for the DC-9-32 aircraft at the FAR Part 36 measuring stations. These noise levels are lower than both the FAR Part 36 noise standards and the noise levels of the wide-body DC-10-10. Corresponding reductions in the 90 EPNdb footprint area are estimated to vary from about 70 percent for the DC-9 to about 80 percent for the B727.


In learning Arabic, students often make language errors influenced by their first language interference in learning the target language. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze language errors to minimize students' language errors and to know the material that needs in-depth study. This research talks about the common errors in the nominal sentence structure in scientific research. This research aims to know the types of common linguistic errors in the formation of sentence structure patterns in nominal sentence among students of the Arabic Language Education Department. The research method used is library research, meaning that the data collection derives from a summary of scientific research, and the technique used to analyze data is error analysis. The research results show that the common mistakes in sentence structure patterns were found in several student thesis abstracts, including the suitability of mubtada+khabar in its type, the interference of mother tongue in learning the target language, and the specificity of mubtada'. The results of this study serve as reflection and reference for teachers to explain the jumlah ismiyah material.


A recent case of ignition of a bismuth-subgallate pack during routine tonsillectomy prompted this investigation of local oxygen levels. Similar conditions were reproduced in the laboratory to determine their influence on the flammability of materials commonly used to aid in haemostasis. Cotton tonsil packs soaked in saline, adrenalin, or adrenalin and bismuth were compared. During spontaneous ventilation through an age-appropriate uncuffed endotracheal tube, an air leak rarely occurred. However, when assisted ventilation was used, an airway leak produced an elevated oxygen concentration in 8 of 10 children. This was associated with increased combustibility of the packs, regardless of solution mixture. The addition of bismuth further increased combustibility. Partially saturated packs appeared to be more combustible than fully saturated packs.


Maillard model systems were prepared by using asparagine and glutamine as amino acids and glucose and fructose as reducing sugars. Acrylamide is the toxic compound that is produced during Maillard reaction among amino acids and sugars. So, in the current study, various mitigation strategies were utilized in these model systems to reduce the toxic effects of acrylamide. These mitigation strategies include vacuum treatment, application of calcium chloride as a cation and utilization of pectin. Afterward, acrylamide concentration was determined in these model systems by Gas Chromatography-mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) technique and progressive decrease was observed in acrylamide content by using different treatments. Maximum acrylamide concentration was observed in control i.e., 22.37±1.9 μg/g while minimum concentration (3.51±0.5 μg/g) was recorded in pectin-treated model system. Data pertaining to utilization of model system for acrylamide analysis by GC/MS indicated that model systems affected the acrylamide concentration momentously. Maximum acrylamide concentration (11.33±8.3 μg/g) was observed in GlucoseAsparagine model system, whilst minimum concentration (9.63±8.1 μg/g) was examined in FructoseGlutamine model system. Consequently, pectin as a hydrocolloid reduced the higher content of acrylamide in comparison with vacuum treatment and calcium chloride.


Rain removal plays an important role in the restoration of degraded images. Recently, data-driven methods have achieved remarkable success. However, these approaches neglect that the appearance of rain is often accompanied by low light conditions, which will further degrade the image quality. Therefore, it is very indispensable to jointly remove the rain and enhance the light for real-world rain image restoration. In this paper, we aim to address this problem from two aspects. First, we proposed a novel entangled network, namely EMNet, which can remove the rain and enhance illumination in one go. Specifically, two encoder-decoder networks interact complementary information through entanglement structure, and parallel rain removal and illumination enhancement. Considering that the encoder-decoder structure is unreliable in preserving spatial details, we employ a detail recovery network to restore the desired fine texture. Second, we present a new synthetic dataset, namely DarkRain, to boost the development of rain image restoration algorithms in practical scenarios. DarkRain not only contains different degrees of rain, but also considers different lighting conditions, and more realistically simulates the rainfall in the real world. EMNet is extensively evaluated on the proposed benchmark and achieves state-of-the-art results. In addition, after a simple transformation, our method outshines existing methods in both rain removal and low-light image enhancement. The source code and dataset will be made publicly available later.


ABSTRACT Why do adults seem to struggle more than children in learning a second language, despite being better at a range of other cognitive skills? The source of L1-L2 differences in language learning is one of the most debated topics in the study of language. One hypothesis is that L1-L2 differences are primarily experience-based, with language learning abilities themselves showing a high degree of plasticity. Hudson-Kam (2018) recently presented findings that seem to go against this hypothesis: in five studies, adults failed to show better learning in a more infant-like environment. In this article, I offer a theoretical and empirical critique of these findings and outline some open questions for investigating experience-based explanations for L1-L2 differences. In short, the main critique has to do with how we define what infant-like (or child-like) learning is and how we identify which aspects of children's experience facilitate which aspects of language learning.


In the past decade, there has been an increasing level of distress over the perceived lack of ethics exhibited by members of the accounting profession. This distress has resulted in a call for a greater emphasis on ethics coverage as part of a college-level accounting education. However, one could argue that the various organizations that are leading these calls, and the academic institutions which are charged with implementing this enhanced ethical education, often suffer from ethical failings of their own. The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree to which these organizations "practice what they preach." Recent history is rife with examples of ethical shortcomings on the part of accounting professionals; Enron, Worldcom, and Tyco come to mind as examples which have received extensive media coverage. The resultant public concern over ethics in accounting has led several governmental and professional bodies to mandate or promote codes of ethical conduct. The Congress of the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and other bodies have all made public pronouncements which explicitly insist upon the importance of ethical behavior. Similarly, many education-related organizations (i.e., universities and accrediting bodies) have taken the position that education in ethics is an essential part of any college-level education. Finally, although the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which formulates generally accepted accounting practices for commercial firms in the United States, has not made an explicit statement regarding the importance of ethics, the standards which they promulgate are the measure of what is and is not adequate financial disclosure. Since a failure to follow generally accepted accounting principles is usually thought of as misleading and hence, an ethical violation, it could be argued that the FASB is, in fact, charged with "codifying" ethical behavior as far as financial disclosure is concerned. All of the organizations mentioned above can be criticized, to some extent, for ethical failings of their own. Political bodies, such as the Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission, can often be accused of bowing to special interests and entities which enforce codes of ethics (whether the AICPA in accounting or the American Bar Association in the legal profession or the AMA in the medical profession) are often justly accused of turning a blind eye to all but the most egregious behavior of their members. The FASB, while ostensibly independent, is also subject to pressures in its standard setting process. Finally, the educational establishment has exhibited ethical shortcomings of its own. These problems run from well-publicized institution-wide problems in discrimination and college athletics down to the individual class and faculty member who engages in less-than-ethical behaviors. The paper will examine the recent ethical failings in business and the resultant calls for greater ethical behavior on the part of the accounting profession. A brief summary of some of the literature related to ethical education and development will then be presented. After this, the behaviors of the various regulatory, standard setting and educational institutions will be examined to determine the extent to which their individual behaviors coincide with their stated positions on ethical behavior and the degree to which these behaviors match the standards that we are encouraged to teach to our students.


Shifts between the alternate stable states of sea urchin barren grounds and kelp forests correspond to sea urchin density. In the Aleutian Archipelago, green sea urchins Strongylocentrotus polyacanthus are the dominant herbivores that graze kelp forests. Sea urchin recruitment is an important driver that influences sea urchin density, particularly in the absence of top-down control from a keystone predator such as the sea otter Enhydra lutris. To understand how the biological community may influence patterns of sea urchin recruitment, we compared sea urchin recruit (size ≤20 mm) densities with biomass of other benthic organisms in both barren ground and kelp forest habitats at 9 islands across the Aleutian Archipelago. Patterns of biological community structure between the 2 habitats did not explain patterns of sea urchin recruits; however, the same 10 specific taxa were found to correlate with sea urchin recruits in each habitat. Taxa that showed strong positive correlations included Codium, Constantinea, Schizymenia, and hydrozoans, while strong negative correlations were observed with Pachyarthron and Pugettia. Weak positive correlations were observed with Alcyonidium and ascidiaceans in both habitats, while weak variable relationships were detected with Polysiphonia and Corallina between habitats. The observed species-specific relationships may be due to small sea urchin displacement by larger conspecifics, larval responses to settlement cues, post-settlement survival via biogenic refugia, or potentially predation. These potential species-specific interactions were apparent, regardless of habitat, and it can be inferred that they would be preserved in the presence or absence of keystone predation.


From the viewpoint of adaptability, we classify software systems as being nonreflexive, introspective and adaptive. Introducing a simple example of LL(1) languages for expressions, we present its nonreflexive and adaptive implementation using Haskell functional language. Multiple metalevel concept is an essential demand for a systematic language approach, to build up adaptable software systems dynamically, i.e. to evolve them. A feedback reflection loop from data to code through metalevel data is the basic implementation requirement and the proposition for semi-automatic evolution of software systems. In this sense, practical experiment introduced in this paper is related to the base level of language, but it illustrates the ability for extensions primarily in horizontal but also in vertical direction of an adaptive system.


The investigated amounts according to microalgae for stable supply of artificial seed of the hard clam, Meretrix petechialis and also observed the effect according to the repower of the microalgae after the specified period starvation. The stage of specimen used in the test was the D-shaped larva. The microalgae was Chaetoceros calcitrans, Isochrysis galbana and Nannochloris oculata. When the mixture of Chaetoceros calcitrans, Isochrysis galbana and Nannochloris oculata or alone C. calcitrans as food was supplied with 3,000-5,000 cells/ind., it turned to be the most effective. When the food was provided after starvation for some period, the shell length of D-shaped larva was grown to over at fourth day from the initial feeding. The survival rate tended to be lower, the longer the starvation period.


Abstract Drought monitoring and forecasting play a vital role in making drought mitigation policies. In previous research, several drought monitoring tools based on the probabilistic models have been developed for precise and accurate inferences of drought severity and its effects. However, the risk of inaccurate determination of drought classes always exists in probabilistic models. The aim of this paper is to reconnaissance the advantage of the weighted Markov chain (WMC) model to accommodate the erroneous drought classes in the monthly classifications of drought. It was assumed that to increase the precision in drought prediction, the role of standardised self-correlation coefficients as weight may incorporate to establish and restructure the accurate probabilities of risk for incoming expected drought classes in the WMC framework. Consequently, the current research is based on the experimental findings of seventeen meteorological stations located in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. In this study, the standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) at a 1-month time scale based drought monitoring approach is applied to quantify the historical classification of drought conditions. The exploratory analysis shows that the proportion of each drought class varies from zone to zone. However, a high proportion of near-normal drought classes has been observed in all the stations. For the prediction of future drought classes, transition probability matrices have been computed using R statistical software. Our findings show that the probability of occurrences of near-normal is very high. Overall, the results associated with this study show that the WMC method for drought forecasting is sufficiently flexible to incorporate the change of drought conditions; it may change both the transition probability matrix and the autocorrelation structure.


Seismological data plays a crucial role in timely slope failure hazard assessments. However, identifying rockfall waveforms from seismic data poses challenges due to their high variability across different events and stations. To address this, we propose RockNet, a deep-learning-based multitask model capable of detecting both rockfall and earthquake events at both the single-station and local seismic network levels. RockNet consists of two submodels: the single-station model, which computes waveform masks for earthquake and rockfall signals and performs earthquake $P$ and $S$ phase picking simultaneously on single-station seismograms, and the association model, which determines the occurrences of local seismic events by aggregating hidden feature maps from the trained single-station model across all stations. Since the rockfall data is relatively scarce and may not be sufficient to train a deep-learning model effectively, we augment the dataset with abundant nonrockfall data and add additional tasks to promote shared interpretability and robustness. RockNet is trained and tested on a local dataset collected from the Luhu tribe in Miaoli, Taiwan, achieving macro F1-scores of 0.983 and 0.990 for the single-station model and the association model, respectively. Furthermore, we evaluate RockNet on an independent dataset collected from the Super-Sauze unstable slope region in France, and it demonstrates good generalization performance in discriminating earthquake, rockfall, and noise with a macro F1-score of 0.927. This study highlights the potential of deep learning in leveraging diverse types of inputs for seismic signal detection even with limited training data.


In this research, modeling was performed to optimize the grid of the front surface of a solar cell with the passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) structure by considering the recombination characteristics. The front surface recombination velocity can be reduced in two main ways. The first method is to reduce the emitter Auger recombination by lowering the surface doping concentration during emitter formation, and the second method is to reduce the recombination that occurs at the surface when the electrode and the silicon are in contact, which is called metal-induced recombination and is represented by J 0.metal . Because J 0.metal increases in proportion to the area of the front electrode, minimizing the finger width and number by optimizing the electrode design is important. Therefore, the front electrode grid should be designed considering the emitter characteristics, J 0.metal , according to the number of fingers and the resistance. In this research, the front grid of the solar cell was optimized via modeling using equations to calculate the number of fingers and the resistance. According to the finger width, the number of busbars, the sheet resistance, the aspect ratio, and the number of fingers corresponding to the maximum efficiency were identified. As a result, this modeling enabled us to optimize the front grid to the desired conditions, and we found that an increase in the number of busbars plays an important role in improving the efficiency of solar cells. In addition, the efficiency change with increasing number of busbars can be seen to be affected by the width of the finger and the resolution of the printed finger rather than the aspect ratio.


We examined trends in caller queries on tobacco, mammography, Pap tests, and clinical trials to the NCI-sponsored Cancer Information Service (CIS) of Ohio via its toll free telephone number (1-800-4-CANCER) during 1986-1991. Calls on NCI-approved clinical trials and treatment protocols tripled during the study period (from 6% in 1986 to 20% in 1991, p < 0.01) primarily due to counselor-initiated (proactive) recommendations and actions. Calls on breast cancer showed a significant increase whereas calls on respiratory system cancers showed a decline over the time period. There was also a dramatic increase in calls on mammography, reflecting the impact of national and local promotion of breast screening. Queries on tobacco use and Pap tests declined, perhaps due to a perceived saturation effect of public education on these two topics. Our results support the use of CIS as a technology transfer system.


Results of using temporary prostheses in 58 patients with different injuries of blood vessels are analyzed. Most often tubular materials were used for the prostheses. The authors consider that temporary prostheses must be used only in cases of a real threat of irreversible ischemia of extremities and when specialized angiosurgical aid is not possible within 4-6 hours and more.


PurposeThe authors investigate the use and potential of a theoretical combination of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) and the Theory of Didactic Situation (TDS) to support Lesson Study (LS) in upper secondary mathematics.Design/methodology/approachCase study performed by university researchers, based on theoretical analysis and case studies based on documents and observation from lesson studies.FindingsEven within a project lasting just about three years, teachers (with no preliminary experience of lesson study) engaged in lesson design based on the combination of theoretical perspectives from TDS and RME in ways that confirm the potential of that combination to enrich and focus teachers' professional development within the framework of LS . It is not clear to what extent the intensive and continued engagement of university researchers has been or would be essential for similar and longitudinal realizations of these potentials.Practical implicationsAs current European frameworks seek to engage researchers and teachers in collaboration and exchange across countries, networking of major paradigms of research (like TDS and RME) and uses of them as supports for teachers' inquiry (like demonstrated in this paper) is of considerable institutional interest and potential impact on schools.Social implicationsTeachers' Inquiry in Mathematics Education (TIME) is a prerequisite for the development of Inquiry Based Mathematics Education, which in turn is required in many countries across the world, with the aim of fostering critical and competent citizens.Originality/valueThis combination of (major) mathematics education theories to support and enrich LS has not previously been investigated. While several aspects of adapting to LS Western contexts have been investigated in the past, including the inclusion of perspectives and tools from academic research, the role of university researchers is also quite open. While authors do not offer a systematic study of this role, authors examine how this role may involve development of new practical combinations of different, complementary theoretical tools, which indeed hold potential to support lesson study in a European context.


This paper is concerned with regionalist architecture, much in vogue during the 1970s-80s, but which now seems to have lost currency. Yet, in the present globalisation context, it is important to reconsider it because as contact between societies is increasing, finding uniqueness beyond homogeneity and predictability within one's own society and immediate surroundings assumes greater meaning. Taking the case of Bangladesh, the development of regionalist architecture here through recent eras is discussed. Expatriate architects, such as Louis Kahn, when working in Bangladesh attempted to create architecture through regional inspiration, which motivated a genre of local architects. The architect Bashirul Haq's work has a distinct regional flavour, which is why it has been chosen to discuss his work in this paper. As a case study, the PRISM Fish Farm, a rural institutional building designed by Bashirul Haq is reviewed. The main intention is to examine underneath the apparent regionalist veneer to understand to what extent the building relates to local culture, social ethos, climate, environment and economy. Despite shortcomings in some respects, this building stands as a remarkable example of regionalist architecture.


The new photometric assay described by Fickenscher et al. (Thromb. Haemostas. 65 (1991) 535-540) for the determination of factor XIII facilitates the diagnosis of factor XIII deficiency. In spite of easy handling, this test should be used critically. Patients with hyperfibrinogenaemia showed factor XIII activities of less than 20%, whereas with an optimized assay we found normal factor XIII values. Also, the use of a fixed period of incubation for the analysis is questionable, because the period of constant reaction rate occurs earlier and is shorter with high factor XIII activities and later and longer with low factor XIII activities. A linear relation between factor XIII activity and signal only exists up to 80% of activity. In some plasma samples from patients with hyperfibrinogenaemia the factor XIII determination actually shows decreased values for factor XIII. During the reaction, a fibrin clot is formed. The resulting turbidity simulates an increase in absorbance so that NADH consumption is apparently decreased. In six patients with hyperfibrinogenaemia (8.1-9.4 g/l), a factor XIII activity of 26 U/l or less was determined. Using 50 microliters instead of 100 microliters sample volume, 50% (3/6) of the patients showed a normal factor XIII activities (80-96 U/l), whereas 50% (3/6) values of 6-15 U/l were found. In our modified assay we measured normal factor XIII activities (72-151 U/l) in all 6 patients. The procedure is optimized by reducing the sample volume from 100 microliters to 50 microliters.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The causal link between high‐risk human papillomavirus (hr‐HPV) infection and cervical, anogenital, and some oropharyngeal malignancies has been established by both molecular and epidemiological data. The association between HPV and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains controversial, as is the true prevalence of HPV infection in ESCC. The wide range in reported rates reflects variability in the primary literature, with some larger scale case–control studies suggesting the infection rates range from 0% to 78%. Interactions between HPV and the Barrett's metaplasia–dysplasia–carcinoma sequence have been explored, and these studies have shown some conflicting data. Overall, systematic reviews have reported the prevalence of HPV‐positive DNA in esophageal adenocarcinoma patients of between 13% and 35%. Postulated reasons for discrepancies in HPV prevalence rates in esophageal cancer include variations in testing methodology and assay sensitivities; technical issues, including the lack of a gold‐standard primer; types of specimens utilized (fresh‐frozen versus formalin‐fixed tissue); geographical variation; cross‐contamination; and small sample sizes. Thus, efforts must be undertaken to (1) standardize HPV testing, ideally in a central laboratory and utilizing tests that detect viral transcriptional activity; (2) avoid cross‐contamination; and (3) recruit large numbers of patients to accurately ascertain HPV rates in esophageal malignancy.


We consider the problem of learning the underlying structure of a general discrete pairwise Markov network. Existing approaches that rely on empirical risk minimization may perform poorly in settings with noisy or scarce data. To overcome these limitations, we propose a computationally efficient and robust learning method for this problem with near-optimal sample complexities. Our approach builds upon distributionally robust optimization (DRO) and maximum conditional log-likelihood. The proposed DRO estimator minimizes the worst-case risk over an ambiguity set of adversarial distributions within bounded transport cost or f-divergence of the empirical data distribution. We show that the primal minimax learning problem can be efficiently solved by leverag-ing sufficient statistics and greedy maximization in the ostensibly intractable dual formulation. Based on DRO's approximation to Lipschitz and variance regularization, we derive near-optimal sample complexities match-ing existing results. Extensive empirical evi-dence with different corruption models cor-roborates the effectiveness of the proposed methods.


Design and installation has been completed for a state-of-the-art radiolysis/hydrolysis test loop system. The system is used to evaluate the effects of gamma radiolysis and acid hydrolysis on the stability and performance of solvent extraction process solvents. The test loop is comprised of two main sections; the solvent irradiation and hydrolysis loop and the solvent reconditioning loop. In the solvent irradiation and hydrolysis loop, aqueous and organic phases are mixed and circulated through a gamma irradiator until the desired absorbed dose is achieved. Irradiation of the mixed phases is more representative of actual conditions in a solvent extraction process. Additionally, the contact of the organic phase with the aqueous phase will subject the solvent components to hydrolysis. This hydrolysis can be accelerated by controlling the system at an elevated temperature. At defined intervals, the organic from the irradiation/hydrolysis loop will be transferred to the solvent reconditioning loop where the solvent is contacted with scrub, strip, and solvent wash solutions which simulate process flowsheet conditions. These two processes are repeated until the total desired dose is achieved. Since all viable solvent extraction components in an advanced fuel cycle must exhibit high radiolytic and hydrolytic stability, this test loop is not limitedmore » to any one solvent system but is applicable to all systems of interest. Also, the test loop is not limited to testing of process flowsheets. It is also a valuable tool in support of fundamental research on newly identified extractants/modifiers and the impact of gamma radiation on their stability in a dynamic environment. The investigation of the radiolysis of a TBP/n-dodecane process solvent in contact with aqueous nitric acid has been performed. These studies were intended to confirm/optimize the operability of the test loop system. Additionally, these data are directly applicable to numerous other solvent extraction processes containing TBP that are being developed to support advanced aqueous separations processes. Initial experimental results are consistent with existing literature reports regarding TBP/n-dodecane radiolysis. Additionally, the gamma dose rate has been characterized within the test loop and analytical methods have been developed for the characterization and quantification of radiolytic degradation products.« less


Cases of children presenting with limb or joint pain are relatively common and are due mainly to benign conditions. Early diagnosis will help reduce unnecessary invasive investigations so, although a relatively rare condition, benign acute childhood myositis (BACM), which presents with acute lower limb pain and an isolated rise in creatine kinase, should be considered. BACM is characterised by an infiltration of viruses into calf muscle fibres, which may cause a subsequent inflammatory response leading to calf-muscle pain. Symptomatic and supportive management, along with explanation and reassurance, is all that is required in managing this condition. This article discusses the management of a 10-year-old boy with a classical presentation of BACM, alongside differentials and management for clinician consideration.


PURPOSE
Systemic inflammation and immune response are associated with tumors'prognosis. However, there is little information about inflammatory indexes in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). In this study, we aimed to determine the prognostic significance of inflammation indexes such as neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and Glasgow prognostic score (GPS) in GIST patients.

METHODS
Forty-five patients diagnosed with GIST between 2003 and 2018 were included in the study. The effects of NLR, SII, PNI and GPS on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) estimated based on clinicopathological and laboratory data were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis.

RESULTS
The optimal cut-off values for NLR, SII and PNI were 2.54, 940, and 37.5, respectively. Low SII and higher PNI values were associated with longer PFS (p=0.041, p=0.018, respectively). In terms of OS, patients with high NLR, high SII and low PNI had a shorter lifespan. In multivariate analysis, only SII was found to be independent prognostic factor.

CONCLUSION
In cases with GIST, SII may predict recurrence and survival.


Domestic violence remains a social problem across the EU Member States. Following the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU has adopted a series of measures which will affect women experiencing this form of intimate violence. This paper examines these measures to assess their potential benefits for women who experience domestic violence. Tackling domestic violence has been explicitly linked to the EU's mandate on gender equality, but measures have been adopted under a variety of competence bases and their impact may be limited by EU's supranational status and the private nature of domestic violence. However, the paper identifies opportunities for the EU in further enhancing the protection and support for women experiencing domestic violence, and contributing to the EU's wider aim of achieving gender equality.


Primal infon logic (PIL), introduced by Gurevich and Neeman in 2009, is a logic for authorization in distributed systems. It is a variant of the (and, implies)-fragment of intuitionistic modal logic. It presents many interesting technical challenges -- one of them is to determine the complexity of the derivability problem. Previously, some restrictions of propositional PIL were proved to have a linear time algorithm, and some extensions have been proved to be PSPACE-complete. In this paper, we provide an O(N^3) algorithm for derivability in propositional PIL. The solution involves an interesting interplay between the sequent calculus formulation (to prove the subformula property) and the natural deduction formulation of the logic (based on which we provide an algorithm for the derivability problem).


Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule regulating diverse biological processes in all living organisms. A major physiological function of NO is executed via protein S-nitrosylation, a redox-based posttranslational modification by covalently adding a NO molecule to a reactive cysteine thiol of a target protein. S-nitrosylation is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism modulating multiple aspects of cellular signaling. During the past decade, significant progress has been made in functional characterization of S-nitrosylated proteins in plants. Emerging evidence indicates that protein S-nitrosylation is ubiquitously involved in the regulation of plant development and stress responses. Here we review current understanding on the regulatory mechanisms of protein S-nitrosylation in various biological processes in plants and highlight key challenges in this field.


Novel ultrathin dual-functional metalenses are proposed, fabricated, tested, and verified in the microwave regime for the first time. The significance is that their anomalous transmission efficiency almost reaches the theoretical limit of 25%, showing a remarkable improvement compared with earlier ultrathin metasurface designs with less than 5% coupling efficiency. The planar metalens proposed empowers significant reduction in thickness, versatile focusing behavior, and high transmission efficiency simultaneously.


In the title compound, C15H13N3O4, the two substituted benzene rings form a dihedral angle of 5.0 (3)°. In the crystal, intermolecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link molecules into chains along the b axis.


This paper aims at highlighting the urban EFL teachers' motivation in Indonesia viewed from Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and Herzberg's motivational hygiene theory to fill a notable gap in the teacher motivation literature. Library research is used to review how motivation is essential in English teaching and learning process. The issue: teachers' motivation, conceptualized as job commitment and satisfaction and its relationship to teacher competency will be critically addressed. Commitment and satisfaction to teaching reflects the teachers' motivation as it is theorized that teachers to be committed and satisfied to their job based on the five levels given by Maslow's theory and Herzberg's motivational hygiene as the teachers' motivation affect the teachers' performance in the teaching and learning process. Teachers should be given the motivational factors that will positively influence their performance and productivity which will enhance quality assurance in the educational system. It can be concluded that teachers' motivation is a crucial factor which directly influences the teachers' performance, the level of student motivation and achievement in the target language concerned.


Transient receptorpotential (TRP) channels form a large family of plasma membrane cation channels. Mammalian members of the "short" TRP family (TRP channel (TRPC) 1–7 are Ca2+-permeant, non-selective cation channels that are widely expressed in various cell types, including neurons. TRPC activity is linked through unknown mechanisms to G-protein-coupled receptors or receptor tyrosine kinases that activate phospholipase C. To investigate the properties and function of TRPC4 in neuronally derived cells, we transiently expressed mouse TRPC4 and histamine H1 receptor in mouse adrenal chromaffin cells and PC12 cells. Histamine, but not thapsigargin, stimulated Mn2+ influx in transfected cells. In the whole-cell patch clamp mode, histamine triggered a transient current in TRPC4-expressing cells. No current was evoked by perfusion with inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. When exocytosis was monitored with the capacitance detection technique, the magnitude of the membrane capacitance increase (ΔC m ) on application of histamine in H1 receptor/TRPC4-expressing chromaffin cells was comparable with that triggered by a train of depolarizing pulses. Our results indicate that TRPC4 channels behave as receptor, but not store-operated, channels in neuronally derived cells. TRPC4 channels can provide sufficient Ca2+ influx to trigger a robust secretory response in voltage-clamped neurosecretory cells. Similar mechanisms may modulate exocytosis in other neuronal systems.


The United States healthcare system currently faces an economic challenge related to frequent hospital readmission rates. As such, hospitals have begun implementing strategies to reduce readmission rates for specific medical conditions such as congestive heart failure, which had a 30-day readmission rate of 23.2% in 2014. Patient education and frequent monitoring of symptoms have since allowed patients to work together with doctors and nurses to take charge of their healthcare management. Due to heart failure clinics and the rise of telemedicine and telemonitoring, heart failure readmission rates have since decreased.


Background: Signalling of angiotensin II via angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1) promotes cardiac and renal fibrosis, but its role in lung fibrosis is little understood. Using a rat bleomycin (BLM) induced model of pulmonary fibrosis, we examined the expression of AT1 in the lung and the effect of an AT1 antagonist on pulmonary fibrosis. Methods: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were given 0.3 mg/kg BLM intratracheally. Two days earlier they had received 10 mg/kg/day of the AT1 antagonist candesartan cilexetil mixed in the drinking water. AT1 expression in the lungs was examined by immunohistochemistry and immunoblot methods. The effect of the AT1 antagonist on pulmonary fibrosis was studied by analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, histopathology, and hydroxyproline assay. Results: Immunohistochemical studies showed overexpression of AT1 in inflammatory immune cells, alveolar type II cells, and fibroblasts. A quantitative assay for AT1 showed that AT1 expression was significantly upregulated in cells from BAL fluid after day 3 and in the lung homogenates after day 21. Candesartan cilexetil significantly inhibited the increase in total protein and albumin, as well as the increase in total cells and neutrophils in BAL fluid. On day 21 candesartan cilexetil also ameliorated morphological changes and an increased amount of hydroxyproline in lung homogenates. In addition, BLM increased the expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 in BAL fluid on day 7; this increase was significantly reduced by candesartan cilexetil. Conclusion: AT1 expression is upregulated in fibrotic lungs. Angiotensin II promotes lung fibrosis via AT1 and, presumably, in part via TGF-β1.


The purpose of this research was to establish the incidence and to compare the efficiency of two products used for the hormonal stimulation of ovarian hypotrophy. Gynaecological investigations were performed in 2 farms. The animals with ovarian hypotrophy (ovaries smaller than normal and with a slippery surface) were divided in 2 equal groups depending on the protocol applied: Progesterone (Prid Delta, CEVA) and Progesterone (Dehydroxyprogesterone 10%, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca). In case of group 1 the treatment was performed with Prid Delta (CEVA), vaginal use, 1.55 g of progesterone/animal for 7 days. For the animals of group 2 the treatment was performed with Dehydroxyprogesterone, subcutaneous injection, 1.5 g of dehydroxyprogesterone/ animal for 7 days. For each group were observed: the estrous signals, the interval of estrous apparition, the number of gestation obtained after the first artificial insemination.


We investigated the effects of chronic treatment with arotinolol, a beta-blocker with weak alpha-blocking potency, on hemodynamics and plasma levels of catecholamines and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) at rest and during stress in spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. At rest, arotinolol treatment decreased mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac index (CI) and heart rate (HR), with no changes in total peripheral resistance index or regional hemodynamics in SHR. Acute stress caused more remarkable hemodynamic changes in SHR. During stress, arotinolol decreased MAP, CI and HR, and reduced myocardial and skeletal muscle flow and splanchnic, renal, cerebral and cutaneous vascular resistance in SHR. Arotinolol's effects were much less in WKY. Stress also increased the plasma catecholamine and ANP levels in SHR. Arotinolol raised these hormones in both strains at rest and in SHR during stress. Thus, arotinolol treatment exerted greater suppressive effects on the resting and stressed hemodynamics in SHR, with associated increases in the plasma catecholamine and ANP levels.


The prosody of a sentence (utterance) when it appears in a discourse context differs substantially from when it is uttered in isolation. This paper addresses why paragraph is a discourse unit and discourse prosody is an intrinsic part of naturally occurring speech. Higher level discourse information treats sentences, phrases and their lower level units as sub-units and layers over them; and realized in patterns of global prosody. A perception based multi-phrase discourse prosody hierarchy and a parallel multi-phrase associative template were proposed to test discourse prosodic modulations. Results from quantitative modeling of speech data show that output discourse prosody can be derived through multiple layers of higher level modulations. The seemingly random occurrence of lower level prosodic units such as intonation variations is, in fact, systematic. In summary, abundant traces of global prosody can be recovered from the speech signal and accounted for; their patterns could help facilitate better understanding of spoken language processing.


beta(2)-Microglobulin (beta(2)m)-associated human CD1b proteins present lipid and glycolipid antigens, which are loaded on CD1b in endosomal compartments. In contrast, the related MHC class I molecules acquire antigenic peptides in the endoplasmic reticulum. Here, we investigated the biogenesis of CD1b before beta(2)m binding in comparison to MHC class I. In beta(2)m-deficient FO-1 cells, we found CD1b heavy chains (HC) complexed with the chaperones calnexin and calreticulin, while MHC class I HC associated only with calnexin. Despite this difference, both CD1b HC and MHC class I HC were degraded when the chaperone interactions were prevented by the glucosidase inhibitor castanospermine. The degradation of both molecules included the proteasome and mannosidases. Chaperone-unassociated CD1b could be rescued from degradation by supplementing FO-1 cells with beta(2)m. Finally, prevention of chaperone interaction significantly reduced neoexpression of CD1b upon differentiation of monocytes to dendritic cells, underlining the importance of chaperones for proper expression of CD1b under physiological conditions.


: Objective: The aim of our study was to find out the treatment outcomes of TB patients who were registered under DOTS program in a tertiary care hospital Lahore. Study Design: A descriptive case study. Place and Duration : This study was conducted at TB DOTS clinic, Services hospital Lahore for the duration of seven months starting from April, 2020 to October, 2020. Methodology: In our present study we include 75 TB patients. We gathered all the data by mean of structured proforma in which demographic details of patients were registered along with information regarding site of TB, treatment outcomes and success of outcome. Patients were labeled as Cured who completed six months therapy with the result of negative sputum microscopy for Acid Fast Bacillus (AFB). Patients were labeled as Treatment Completed who completed six months therapy with the results of no sputum microscopy for AFB. SPSS version 20 was used for the analysis of data. Results: In our present study we include 75 TB patients in which 61.3% patients were females and 38.7% patients were male. 65.3% patients were belonged to urban area. According to results of our study a healthy finding were observed that normal treatment resulted in complete treatment group as 65.3% of patients followed by 21.3% of cured ones and treatment failure was observed very low as 2.7 percent. Conclusion: At the end of study, we conclude that most of TB patients who were registered under DOTS program were having successful treatment outcome. It is suggested that patients with unsuccessful treatment outcomes should be followed up for health education as well as treatment respectively.


Objective: To compare the results of calretinin stain with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain for diagnosis of Hirschsprung's disease.

Materials and Methods: A prospective double-blind diagnostic study was done. Hirschsprung's patients who underwent transanal endorectal pull through (TERPT) surgery between February 2015 and February 2017 were included. The pulled-through specimens were sampled at the ganglionic, transitional, and aganglionic zones. Each specimen was stained with calretinin and H&E. Agreement and kappa analysis were done.

Results: Fifty-one Hirschsprung's patients (153 specimens) were included for analysis. There were 37 males (72.5%) and 14 females (27.5%) with a median age at surgery of four months. Thirty-one specimens showed a negative stain for calretinin (aganglionic bowel) and 33 specimens showed no ganglion cells in the H&E stain. One hundred twenty-two specimens in calretinin stain were consistently positive with ganglionic bowel and 120 specimens in the H&E stain showed ganglion cells. Agreement and Cohen's kappa coefficient were 97.4% and 0.921 (95% confidence interval 0.845 to 0.997), respectively. Disconcordance was found in four specimens. Three out of four were in the transitional zone. One was in the aganglionic zone, which has no muscular layer attached. (Thirty-six specimens had no muscular layer.)

Conclusion: Calretinin stain was found to be comparable with the H&E stain and could be used for diagnosis of Hirschsprung's disease. In rectal suction biopsy specimen in which the muscular layer was not included, both calretinin and H&E can be used.

Keywords: Megacolon, Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), Calretinin, Rectal suction biopsy (RSB), Full thickness biopsy


We introduce the communication problem QNDISJ, short for Quantum (Unique) Non-Disjointness, and study its complexity under different modes of communication complexity. The main motivation for the problem is that it is a candidate for the separation of the quantum communication complexity classes QMA and QCMA. The problem generalizes the Vector-in-Subspace and Non-Disjointness problems. We give tight bounds for the QMA, quantum, randomized communication complexities of the problem. We show polynomially related upper and lower bounds for the MA complexity. We also show an upper bound for QCMA protocols, and show that the bound is tight for a natural class of QCMA protocols for the problem. The latter lower bound is based on a geometric lemma, that states that every subset of the n-dimensional sphere of measure 2^-p must contain an ortho-normal set of points of size Omega(n/p).

We also study a "small-spaces" version of the problem, and give upper and lower bounds for its randomized complexity that show that the QNDISJ problem is harder than Non-disjointness for randomized protocols. Interestingly, for quantum modes the complexity depends only on the dimension of the smaller space, whereas for classical modes the dimension of the larger space matters.


Background: Diabetes distress is underrecognized and associated with poor outcomes. This study tested whether a 12-month collaborative, goal-setting, and behavioral telehealth intervention reduced diabetes distress levels. Methods: This is a secondary analysis of the Healthy Outcomes through Patient Empowerment (HOPE) study that included individuals (N = 225) with uncontrolled diabetes and depression living at least 20 miles from a Veteran's Affairs medical center. Participants were randomized to HOPE (intervention) or Enhanced Usual Care (EUC) with education. We evaluated diabetes distress levels as measured by the Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) Questionnaire and its four subscales (emotional, diabetes management, social, and treatment distress) at baseline, 6, and 12 months. Results: Between-group analysis revealed greater improvements in HOPE versus EUC for: 6-month PAID total score (p = 0.04), emotional (p = 0.03), and social (p = 0.04) subscales; 12-month PAID total score (p = 0.07) and emotional subscale (p = 0.07). Within-group comparisons showed larger effect sizes for HOPE compared with EUC: 12-month PAID total scores (0.82 vs. 0.54), 6-month emotional burden (0.54 vs. 0.31), and 6-month (0.32 vs. 0.08) and 12-month (0.41 vs. 0.12) social burdens. Repeated-measures analysis evaluating treatment group and time trended toward improvement in PAID overall for HOPE compared with EUC participants, but was not statistically significant (β = 6.96; SE = 4.35; p = 0.13). Discussion: Clinically meaningful reductions in PAID overall and the emotional and social subscales were observed in HOPE compared with EUC participants. Conclusion: Further evaluation of diabetes telehealth interventions that include other facets related to diabetes distress, including treatment, diabetes management, social, and emotional burdens, is warranted. Clinical Trial Number. NCT01572389; Clinical Trial Registry. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01572389.


The study investigates the outcome of acupuncture for chronic neck pain in a cohort of patients referred to an NHS chronic pain clinic. One hundred and seventy two patients were selected for acupuncture over a period of 6.5 years. Treatment was given by a single acupuncturist and consisted of a course of needle acupuncture for an average of seven sessions per patient. Treatment outcome was measured by an oral rating scale of improvement at the end of treatment and at follow up six months and one year after treatment. Nineteen patients were withdrawn from treatment for various reasons, two for adverse events. One hundred and fifty three patients were evaluated, of whom 68% had a successful outcome from acupuncture, reporting an improvement in pain of at least 50%. The success rate was higher in patients with a short duration of pain: 85% in patients with pain for up to three months and 78% with pain for up to six months. Long-term follow up showed that 49% of the patients who completed treatment had maintained the benefit after six months, and 40% at one year. The results indicate that acupuncture can be an effective treatment for selected patients with chronic neck pain.


Author(s): Adam, Catherine; Ikeda, Karli; Huynh, Sandy; Krishnakumar, Javadevi; Fey, Jim; Bauer, Diane; Anwar, Sanna; Chovatia, Mansi; Shapiro, Nicole; Harmon-Smith, Miranda | Abstract: I. AN OVERVIEW OF THE LIBRARY SUPPORT PROCESS USED AT THE JOINT GENOME INSTITUTE PRODUCTION GENOMICS FACILITY Cathe Adam, Karli Ikeda, Sandy Huynh, Jayadevi Krishnakumar, Jim Fey, Diane Bauer, Sanna Anwar, Mansi Chovatia, Nicole Shapiro, Miranda Harmon-SmithLibrary support is the first step in production sequencing at the Joint Genome Institute s (JGI) Production Genomics Facility (PGF). The goal of library support is to generate 384 well glycerol stock plates of each library for a given project. These plates are then passed on to the Sequencing Prep group for Rolling Circle Amplification. Transformation stocks of the 3, 8, and 40kb libraries for a given project are received into library support from cloning technology. The stocks are stored at -80oC until plated. Libraries are plated according to priority. The colonies produced from a plating event are then picked using robotic colony pickers and are inoculated into 384-well destination plates containing LB/glycerol + antibiotic. The destination plates are grown overnight and visualized on a Spectramax Optical Density reader to identify wells without growth. Wells containing no growth are aspirated and replaced with colony growth from a "fix source" plate generated from the same library. The destination plates are then sealed and stored at -80oC until sent to the Sequencing Prep area for Rolling Circle Amplification (RCA). This poster will elaborate on these steps in the library support process and detail further the project tracking and management, plating and picking procedures and the instruments that are utilized throughout these steps.


We have previously demonstrated that the C-terminal part of Rpn11, a deubiquitinating enzyme in the lid of the proteasome, is essential for maintaining a correct cell cycle and normal mitochondrial morphology and function. The two roles are apparently unlinked as the mitochondrial role is mapped to the Carboxy-terminus, whereas the catalytic deubiquitinating activity is found within the N-terminal region. The mitochondrial defects are observed in rpn11-m1 (originally termed mpr1-1), a mutation that generates Rpn11 lacking the last 31 amino acids. No mitochondrial phenotypes are recorded for mutations in the MPN+/JAMM motif. In the present study, we investigated the participation of the last 31 amino acids of the Rpn11 protein by analysis of intragenic revertants and site-specific mutants. We identified a putative alpha-helix necessary for the maintenance of a correct cell cycle and determined that a very short region at the C-terminus of Rpn11 is essential for the maintenance of tubular mitochondrial morphology. Furthermore, we show that expression of the C-terminal part of Rpn11 is able to complement in trans all of the rpn11-m1 mitochondrial phenotypes. Finally, we investigate the mechanisms by which Rpn11 controls the mitochondrial shape and show that Rpn11 may regulate the mitochondrial fission and tubulation processes.


TO THE EDITOR: I hope that Pignone and colleagues (1) have countered the groundswell fostered by Lieberman and associates (2, 3) for screening colonoscopy in asymptomatic, average-risk adults. The latter studies demonstrated that six cases of colon cancer may have been missed by one-time stool card analysis and sigmoidoscopy in 3196 patients. However, widespread media coverage ignored the 10 serious complications of screening, which included a cerebrovascular accident and a myocardial infarction. At least one of the three deaths within 30 days of colonoscopy was probably the eventual result of a procedure complication. Lieberman and associates' study sample excluded patients with heart and lung disease, and experienced endoscopists performed all colonoscopies. To take this morbidity and mortality rate and expand it to a large sample being evaluated by less experienced endoscopists could be catastrophic. Colonoscopy has become a household word since Today show anchor Katie Couric underwent the procedure on national television. The death of her husband, a 42-year-old man with no risk factors for colon cancer, was tragic. However, by undergoing this procedure at age 42, without symptoms or risk factors, to demonstrate its safety and acceptability, Ms. Couric may have sent the wrong message. Private insurers are now following Medicare's lead in covering colonoscopy to screen for colon cancer in asymptomatic, average-risk adults. The expense of these procedures, combined with the resulting increase in use of pathologic services and follow-up procedures for trivial polyps, not to mention the expense of treating complications, can only begin to be calculated. Indeed, Pandora's box may contain a colonoscope.


We propose a performance estimation technique for a multi-core segmented bus platform, SegBus. The technique enables us to assess the performance aspects of any specific application on a particular platform configuration, modeled in Unified Modeling Language (UML). We present methods to transform Packet Synchronous Data Flow (PSDF) and Platform Specific Model (PSM) models of the application into Extensible Markup Language (XML) schemes using modeling tool and how the generated XML schemes can be utilized by the emulator program to get the execution results. The technique facilitates us to estimate performance aspects of application mapped on a number of different platform configurations during the early stages of the design process.


The Data Acquisition Backbone Core (DABC) is a general purpose software framework designed for the implementation of a wide-range of data acquisition systems – from various small detector test beds to high performance systems. DABC consists of a compact data-flow kernel and a number of plug-ins for various functional components like data inputs, device drivers, user functional modules and applications. DABC provides configurable components for implementing event building over fast networks like InfiniBand or Gigabit Ethernet. A generic Java GUI provides the dynamic control and visualization of control parameters and commands, provided by DIM servers. A first set of application plug-ins has been implemented to use DABC as event builder for the front-end components of the GSI standard DAQ system MBS (Multi Branch System). Another application covers the connection to DAQ readout chains from detector front-end boards (N-XYTER) linked to read-out controller boards (ROC) over UDP into DABC for event building, archiving and data serving. This was applied for data taking in the September 2008 test beamtime for the CBM experiment at GSI. DABC version 1.0 is released and available from the website.


A case of idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) is presented. The patient had been symptomatic and had documented peripheral blood eosinophilia for 9 years. The patients having only pulmonary involvement, seem to have a good prognosis and hence must be considered as a separate subgroup of HES.