Author(s): Cerpa, Armando Enrique | Advisor(s): Bergero, Adriana J | Abstract: My dissertation explores the presence of the Gothic mode in two literary works connected to two periods of rupture in the Southern Cone: during the presence of Eva Peron in the Argentinean political ground, beginning in 1946, and throughout the military regime in Chile between 1973 and 1990. The novels Santa Evita, by Tomas Eloy Martinez, and Una Casa Vacia, by Carlos Cerda, each contain gothic forms of representation related to individuals who are repressed and excluded by authoritarian regimes. My analysis reveals these author's attempts to recuperate and unveil forbidden memories and seemingly buried periods of time, characterized mainly by the dissemination of terror. In Chapter One, I explore, identify and develop the main historical and theoretical approaches to Gothic representations in literature in England and the Americas. I pay particular attention to the themes of death, gothic space and the dichotomies of reason and unreason, as well as the concepts of the uncanny and the abject from a psychoanalytical standpoint. In Chapter Two, I analyze the novel Santa Evita, by Tomas Eloy Martinez, to better understand and illustrate the reasons that motivated the Argentinean government to "disappear" Eva Peron's body, and erase her image from the nation's collective memory, in addition to showing how these failed political maneuvers transformed her image into a haunting and lingering presence. In Chapter Three, I analyze the novel Una casa vacia, by Carlos Cerda, emphasizing the return of the female Gothic figure who had been subjected to torture during the military regime in Chile. In this chapter, I argue that the return of this figure, as portrayed in this novel, restitutes and conciliates a memory that has been repressed in the Chilean society during the last four and a half decades.


A very important issue in distributed systems is the management of load among system nodes. Load balancing enables a better use of the system resource capabilities and a better performance by allocating nodes that are more suitable for the execution of some tasks. This work proposes a multi-agent load balancing architecture for distributed object applications called MALBA which uses artificial neural networks and a set of policies to support the process of migrating and replicating the application objects. MALBA architecture outlines a decentralized and run-time balancing process that balances the load among nodes which execute a distributed object application.


ABSTRACT Soil represents the principal environmental reservoir of many insect-pathogenic viruses. We compared the adsorption and infectivity of one occluded and two nonoccluded viruses, Helicoverpa armigera single nucleopolyhedrovirus (HaSNPV) (Baculoviridae), Cricket paralysis virus (CrPV) (Dicistroviridae), and Invertebrate iridescent virus 6 (IIV-6) (Iridoviridae), respectively, in mixtures with a selection of soil-forming minerals. The relative infective titers of HaSNPV and CrPV were unchanged or slightly reduced in the presence of different minerals compared to their titers in the absence of the mineral. In contrast, the infective titer of IIV-6 varied according to the mineral being tested. In adsorption studies, over 98% of HaSNPV occlusion bodies were adsorbed by all the minerals, and a particularly high affinity was observed with ferric oxide, attapulgite, and kaolinite. In contrast, the adsorption of CrPV and IIV-6 differed markedly with mineral type, with low affinity to bentonites and high affinity to ferric oxide and kaolinite. We conclude that interactions between soil-forming minerals and insect viruses appear to be most important in nucleopolyhedroviruses, followed by invertebrate iridescent viruses, and least important in CrPV, which may reflect the ecology of these pathogens. Moreover, soils with a high content of iron oxides or kaolinite would likely represent highly effective reservoirs for insect-pathogenic viruses.


Based on fourth-order cumulant, a new method is proposed to estimate the frequency and 2-D arrival angles of coherent signals, which is called cumulant-based time-space smoothing (CTSS) algorithm. Firstly a time-space smoothing matrix is constructed by temporal and spatial data of two uniform parallel linear arrays, and then 3-D parameters of coherent signals can be obtained from its eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenvectors. In colored Gaussian noise, the algorithm can precisely estimate 3-D parameters of coherent signals, and doesn't need multidimensional spectrum peak search with 3-D parameters paired automatically. In addition, it can still estimate correctly 3-D parameters of signals when signals have the same one or two dimensional parameters. Computer simulation confirms its effectiveness.


Investigation into the impact of the stages of a radio call on host–caller interaction has traditionally been conducted in single host scenarios, whereby one host interacts with one caller. Further, this analysis has often been done in the context of talk radio that is designed to promote a sense of conflict in order to entertain its audience. However, what of dual or multi-host scenarios, where a number of hosts are co-participants when interacting with callers? This article considers a talkback segment within a chat-based program in which two studio-based hosts are involved in conversation with callers. It considers previous research into call sequence as applied to this scenario and reveals that rather than working to challenge the caller, the hosts work together to enable the callers to challenge the hosts but in a way that orients to sociability rather than conflict.


The orange carotenoid protein (OCP) is responsible for nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) in cyanobacteria, a defense mechanism against potentially damaging effects of excess light conditions. This soluble two‐domain protein undergoes profound conformational changes upon photoactivation, involving translocation of the ketocarotenoid inside the cavity followed by domain separation. Domain separation is a critical step in the photocycle of OCP because it exposes the N‐terminal domain (NTD) to perform quenching of the phycobilisomes. Many details regarding the mechanism and energetics of OCP domain separation remain unknown. In this work, we apply metadynamics to elucidate the protein rearrangements that lead to the active, domain‐separated, form of OCP. We find that translocation of the ketocarotenoid canthaxanthin has a profound effect on the energetic landscape and that domain separation only becomes favorable following translocation. We further explore, characterize, and validate the free energy surface (FES) using equilibrium simulations initiated from different states on the FES. Through pathway optimization methods, we characterize the most probable path to domain separation and reveal the barriers along that pathway. We find that the free energy barriers are relatively small (<5 kcal/mol), but the overall estimated kinetic rate is consistent with experimental measurements (>1 ms). Overall, our results provide detailed information on the requirement for canthaxanthin translocation to precede domain separation and an energetically feasible pathway to dissociation.


The authors have investigated the characteristics of one of the basic equations of pharmacokinetics, Bateman's equation in the function of the differences between the absorption and elimination constants.


Most bulge-dominated galaxies host black holes with masses that tightly correlate with the masses of their bulges. This may indicate that the black holes may regulate galaxy growth or vice versa, or that they may grow in lock-step. The quest to understand how, when, and where those black-holes formed motivates much of extragalactic astronomy. Here we focus on a population of galaxies with active black holes in their nuclei (active galactic nuclei or AGN), that are fully or partially hidden by dust and gas: the emission from the broad line region is either completely or partially obscured with a visual extinction of 1 or above. This limit, though not yet precise, appears to be the point at which the populations of AGN may evolve differently. We highlight the importance of finding and studying those dusty AGN at redshifts between 1 and 3, the epoch when the universe may have gone through its most dramatic changes. We emphasize the need for future large multiplexed spectroscopic instruments that can perform dedicated surveys in the optical and NIR to pin down the demographics of such objects and study their reddening properties, star-formation histories, and excitation conditions. These key studies will shed light on the role of black holes in galaxy evolution during the epoch of peak growth activity.


Cancer has been closely associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection but this is less frequent in children. Non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas represent the most frequently reported single tumor. The authors report seven cases of malignant tumors resulting from the analysis of all (n = 1321) children enrolled in the Italian Register for HIV Infection in Children. Tumors were distributed as follows: non‐Hodgkin's B‐cell lymphoma (four cases); and Kaposi's sarcoma, hepatoblastoma, acute B‐cell lymphoblastic leukemia (one case each). Hepatoblastoma had never been previously reported in HIV‐infected children. Also in the current series, non‐Hodgkin's B‐cell lymphoma is the most frequent single tumor. Five of the seven cancers belonged to the B‐cell line. All but one of the seven children have died. Specific chemotherapy was provided in three cases, with some clinical improvement. The treatment of malignancies in HIV‐infected children is hampered by increased risk of opportunistic infections often fatal even in children with apparent remission from the tumor. 68:2473‐2477, 1991.


The present work deals with a Laves phase C14 AB2 alloy, namely (TiZr)(VNiMnCrSn)2. The alloy in many ways is a good alternative to a rare earth AB5 alloy with a superior capacity reaching a value of 400 mAh/g. A drawback with this alloy is that it is difficult to activate and therefore it is desirable to develop processing techniques which would readily activate the alloy. In this study we have plasma processed the alloy so as to see if this processing would exercise a positive effect on activation. AB2 powder was therefore fed to plasma torch with 25 kW power. The powders of -325 mesh had a range of particles sizes, the finer ones were evaporated and condensed into nanoparticles less than 100 nm in size. The larger ones spheroidized and were collected in the form of two groups of powders. We have characterized all three groups of powders both chemically and the latter two in terms of electrochemical performance.


This seventh revised edition of the book originally published in 1913 contains three new chapters on soils, phosphatic deposits and volcaniclastic sediments. The other chapters included in the sixth edition have also been updated and improved by the addition of new illustrations, including optical and SEM photomicrographs. The simple format of the original text has been maintained, and the aim continues to be to provide a broad introduction to the processes of sedimentation and to the petrographic characteristics of different types of sedimentary rocks. The principal market is intended to be undergraduate students taking introductory courses in sedimentology and sedimentary petrology. However, it is written at such a level as to be easily understood by sixth-form students and interested amateurs. Despite the textual revision and addition of new references, the book retains a somewhat dated feel and the very generalized treatment of many topics limits the usefulness of the book to more advanced undergraduates, research students and professional sedimentologists. Some references as recent as 1987 are included in the suggested reading lists at the end of each chapter, but the majority of references are to papers published in the 1960s and 1970s. Many important petrological features whose importance has been recognized in the past decade are not mentioned. For example, there are no illustrations or references to secondary porosity in the chapter on arenaceous deposits. Similarly, the chapter dealing with argillaceous deposits contains no micrographs or diagrams showing textural characteristics, despite advances in shale petrology facilitated by backscattered scanning electron microscopy since the early 1980s. None of the chapters attempts to integrate field and petrographic characteristics with geochemical and mineralogical data, despite the fact that the author stresses in the Preface that there is a need to teach students how to do this. The paperback edition of the book remains attractively priced and it will continue to fill a useful role as a first introduction to sedimentary rocks. However, serious undergraduate students will need to supplement the information it contains by reference to texts which offer a more specialized treatment of individual rock types. iv. "yc


A simple, fast, specific, stability-indicating, and precise reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method was developed for the determination of Cefdinir in its different dosage forms, i.e., capsules and suspensions. The method was developed and optimized by analyzing the placebo preparation, formulations, and degraded samples of the drug substance according to the International Conference on Harmonization. The proposed method can successfully separate the drug from degradation products formed under stress conditions along with pharmaceutical ingredients such as preservatives. The developed method was used successfully to determine Cefdinir in capsules and Insta-use suspensions. The developed method was found to be linear for a concentration range of 6-14 microg/mL. Average recoveries obtained with the method were 99.3 +/- 0.4 and 99.6 +/- 0.4% for Insta-use suspensions and capsules, respectively. The method was shown to be specific, precise, and robust.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the subjective well-being and its influence factors among residents living in old districts in Wuhan.

METHODS
In June, 2011, a total of 500 residents living in Shanghai Street in Wuhan were recruited as subjects for this study by two-stage stratified random sampling method. The information of demographic features, health status, spare time, family status, interpersonal relationship and social environment were collected by self-made questionnaires naming "survey of satisfaction of residents living in old districts". The results were analyzed by single-factor and multi-factors analysis method.

RESULTS
In this study, 448 samples of questionnaire were answered qualified (89.6%, 448/500). The subjects aged (51.3 ± 16.1) years old. The single-factor analysis showed that male and female influence the subjective happiness got 5.43 ± 1.66, 5.77 ± 1.65 (U = -2.32, P < 0.05);the age of 0 - 45, 46 - 59, 60 and above group got 5.12 ± 1.68, 5.47 ± 1.81, 6.29 ± 1.23, respectively (H = 43.07, P < 0.01); the unmarried, married, divorced, loss of spouse and remarriage groups got 5.18 ± 1.94, 5.74 ± 1.54, 4.00 ± 2.04, 5.68 ± 1.91, 6.63 ± 0.92, respectively (H = 17.41, P < 0.01); education background were primary school and blow, junior middle school, senior high school, bachelor degree, master degree and above got 6.30 ± 1.42, 5.55 ± 1.82, 5.90 ± 1.46, 5.07 ± 1.74, 4.75 ± 2.22 (H = 26.99, P < 0.01); monthly household income was ¥0 - 2000, ¥2001 - 4000, ¥4001 - 8000, ¥8001 - 10 000, ¥10 000 and above got 5.34 ± 1.87, 5.68 ± 1.53, 6.20 ± 1.07, 7.33 ± 0.58, 6.00 ± 0.00, respectively (H = 13.85, P < 0.01). The subjective satisfaction of social environment ranked from high to low were: city public security (56.0%, 248/448), traffic environment (44.9%, 199/448), community environment (14.9%, 66/448), housing conditions (13.8%, 61/448) and medical environment (8.2%, 36/448). Multiple regression model suggested that the determinant coefficient was 0.53(P < 0.01), with a good degree of fitting. The model showed that the factors influencing the residents' happiness were ranked: social environment (β' = 0.34), family status (β' = 0.32), health status (β' = 0.21), education background (β'(0-6) school year = 0.00, β'(7-9) school year = -0.12, β'(9-12) school year = 0.04, β'(>12) school year = -0.14), monthly household income (β' = 0.07) and marital status (β'(unmarried) = 0.00, β'(married) = 0.03, β'(divorced) = -0.03, β'(widowed) = 0.01, β'(remarried) = 0.02).

CONCLUSION
The factors that social environment, family status, health status, education background, monthly household income and marital status could influence the subjective happiness of residents living in old districts in Wuhan. A perfect social security system could improve the subjective happiness of residents in old districts in Wuhan.


We have developed a framework of the thermodynamics and hydrodynamics of chemically crosslinked gels in a binary miscible solvent. This work is an extension of a previous one on gels in a single solvent (Sekimoto K., J. Phys. II France1 (1991) 19). Introduction of a composition degree of freedom of the solvent leads to both thermodynamic chemo-mechanical coupling and kinematical cros~coupling between permeation and mutual difusion of solvent. Using an appropriate thermodynamic potential for gel in a solvent bath, we also discussed (local) equilibrium boundary conditions at the surface of a gel and at the interface between a shrunken phase domain and a swollen phase domain in a gel undergoing a volume phase transition. 1. l~~troduction.


Efforts to encourage Americans to improve their diets and to eat more nutritious foods presume that a wide variety of these foods are accessible to everyone. But for some Americans and in some communities, access to healthy foods may be limited. This report updates population estimates of indicators of spatial access to healthy and affordable foods in the United States using population data from the 2010 Census, income and vehicle avail- ability data from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey, and a 2010 directory of supermarkets. Spatial access to healthy and affordable food is proxied by measuring the distance to the nearest supermarket for the overall U.S. population and for subpopulations including households without vehicles, populations with low incomes, and populations that live in low-income areas. These updated data reflect recent changes in population characteristics, the economy, and the location of supermarkets. An estimated 9.7 percent of the total population, or 29.7 million people, live in low-income areas more than 1 mile from a supermarket. However, most households that are far from a supermarket have vehicles: only 1.8 percent of all households (2.1 million households) live more than 1 mile from a super- market and do not have a vehicle. Estimated distance to the nearest three supermarkets is an indicator of the choices available to consumers and the level of competition among stores. Estimates show that half of the U.S. population lives within 2 miles of three supermarkets.


For years both marketing and advertising professionals are trying to find the best way to offer a product to the target group. In order to reach this goal there were many experiments held. The main motivation for these experiments was to get an idea about the consumers and their preferences. Consumer attitudes towards a product can be affected by strategic communication sources. Especially in advertising using strategic communication helps advertising practitioners a lot. Because before offering a product to the target group their preferences, the weak and strong sides, cultural identity, etc. should be known well. Then advertising shows itself. The easiest way to reach consumers is to understand them. And a strategy shows how to do it. Strategies are for guiding and in communication they illuminate the message. They make it clear for the audience. The effecting and guiding side of strategies makes them important. For decades experiments on definition and application of strategies in communication and advertising areas gained importance. For that purpose this study deals both with the theoretical frames and some case studies to show how strategic communication is implemented


Title of Dissertation: STRUCTURAL EVOLUTION OF AFRICAN CICHLID GENOMES Matthew A. Conte, Doctor of Philosophy, 2018 Dissertation directed by: Professor Thomas D. Kocher, Department of Biology An unanswered question in biology is how the evolution of genome structure supports or accompanies diversification and speciation on different time scales. African cichlid fishes are a well-documented system ideal for studying rapid evolution, due to their phenotypic diversity and high number of speciation events over the last several million years. I generated two de novo genome assemblies of the riverine cichlid Oreochromis niloticus (tilapia) and the Lake Malawi cichlid Metriaclima zebra using high-coverage long-read sequencing data and anchored the assemblies to chromosomes using several genetic and physical maps, to produce two high-quality anchored references. By comparing these chromosome-scale assemblies to integrated recombination, transcriptome, and resequencing data of multiple genera and species, I identified and characterized many large novel genome rearrangement events. These rearrangements included multiple novel sex-determination inversions, several metacentric-acrocentric karyotype differences via centromere assembly and placement, and wide regions of suppressed recombination in generaand specieslevel crosses of Lake Malawi cichlids. Karyotype evolution in cichlids was further analyzed with long-read sequencing, specifically revealing the complex structure and content of a highly repetitive supernumerary chromosome present in some but not all individuals of a population across a wide range of eukaryotes, including many cichlid species. These supernumerary "B" chromosomes are shown to be limited to female Lake Malawi cichlids and have a unique evolutionary history with B chromosomes present in Lake Victorian cichlids male and females. This work reveals how structural genomic changes impact a rapidly evolving clade, while providing high-quality resources for the community, a context for previous genetic studies, and a robust platform for future genome research in cichlids. STRUCTURAL EVOLUTION OF AFRICAN CICHLID GENOMES


The study addresses two separate but related issues in connection with people's real-life moral decisions and judgements. First, the notion of moral orientation is examined in terms of its consistency across varying contexts, its relation to gender and to gender role. Secondly, a new aspect of moral reasoning is explored--the influence on moral decision-making of considering the consequences of an action. Fifty-eight undergraduate students were asked to discuss two personal and two impersonal real-life moral dilemmas. The results reveal a significant interaction between gender role and type of dilemma. However, moral orientation was not consistent across various dilemmas and gender was not related to any particular orientation. Also the results indicate a significant difference between the reasoning of consequences of personal-antisocial conflicts and impersonal-antisocial conflicts. These findings suggest that different moral orientations may be embedded in life experience and connect with an individual's sense of his or her moral identity in real-life situations.


Background A single co-administered dose of ivermectin (IVM) plus diethylcarbamazine (DEC) plus albendazole (ALB), or triple-drug therapy, was recently found to be more effective for clearing microfilariae (Mf) than standard DEC plus ALB currently used for mass drug administration programs for lymphatic filariasis (LF) outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Triple-drug therapy has not been previously tested in LF-uninfected individuals from Africa. This study evaluated the pharmacokinetics (PK), safety, and efficacy of triple-drug therapy in people with and without Wuchereria bancrofti infection in West Africa. Methods In this open-label cohort study, treatment-naïve microfilaremic (>50 mf/mL, n = 32) and uninfected (circulating filarial antigen negative, n = 24) adults residing in Agboville district, Côte d'Ivoire, were treated with a single dose of IVM plus DEC plus ALB, and evaluated for adverse events (AEs) until 7 days post treatment. Drug levels were assessed by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Persons responsible for assessing AEs were blinded to participants' infection status. Findings There was no difference in AUC0-inf or Cmax between LF-infected and uninfected participants (P>0.05 for all comparisons). All subjects experienced mild AEs; 28% and 25% of infected and uninfected participants experienced grade 2 AEs, respectively. There were no severe or serious adverse events. Only fever (16 of 32 versus 4 of 24, P<0.001) and scrotal pain/swelling in males (6 of 20 versus 0 of 12, P = 0.025) were more frequent in infected than uninfected participants. All LF positive participants were amicrofilaremic at 7 days post-treatment and 27 of 31 (87%) remained amicrofilaremic 12 months after treatment. Conclusions Moderate to heavy W. bancrofti infection did not affect PK parameters for IVM, DEC or ALB following a single co-administered dose of these drugs compared to uninfected individuals. The drugs were well tolerated. This study confirmed the efficacy of the triple-drug therapy for clearing W. bancrofti Mf and has added important information to support the use of this regimen in LF elimination programs in areas of Africa without co-endemic onchocerciasis or loiasis. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02845713.


Bisphosphonates are widely used both in the multidisciplinary management of bone metastases, especially osteolytic lesions from solid tumors or multiple myeloma, and of osteoporosis.Aseptic osteonecrosis, especially of the jaw, is among the well-known, although uncommon, side effects of bisphosphonates. Osteonecrosis of other bones has been very rarely reported with the use of bisphosphonates.We describe a rare case of osteonecrosis of the distal femur associated with the use of bisphosphonates in a 74 years old female patient with metastatic breast cancer.


Processors execute the full dynamic instruction stream to arrive at the final output of a program, yet there exist shorter instruction streams that produce the same overall effect. We propose creating a shorter but otherwise equivalent version of the original program by removing ineffectual computation and computation related to highly-predictable control flow. The shortened program is run concurrently with the full program on a chip multiprocessor or simultaneous multithreaded processor, with two key advantages:1) Improved single-program performance. The shorter program speculatively runs ahead of the full program and supplies the full program with control and data flow outcomes. The full program executes efficiently due to the communicated outcomes, at the same time validating the speculative, shorter program. The two programs combined run faster than the original program alone. Detailed simulations of an example implementation show an average improvement of 7% for the SPEC95 integer benchmarks.2) Fault tolerance. The shorter program is a subset of the full program and this partial-redundancy is transparently leveraged for detecting and recovering from transient hardware faults.


Fluorescent vital staining and rRNA-targeted in situ hybridization were used to investigate the physiological activity and microbial population structures of two types of activated sludge: fresh returned sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant and MITI-standard sludge (a microbial source in a biodegradation test, Modified MITI Test). The ratio of esterase-active bacteria, as determined by double-staining with 4', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and 6-carboxyfluorescein diacetate (6CFDA), was 60-80% to total bacterial number in both types of activated sludge; both ratios being much higher than those of the colony forming bacteria. Microbial population structures in both types of activated sludge were determined by 2-hydroxy-3-naphthoic acid-2'-phenylanilide phosphate (HNPP) and Fast Red TR in situ hybridization (HNPP-FISH). Approximately 50% of the DAPI-stained bacteria was detected by HNPP-FISH in wastewater treatment plant sludge and 40% in the MITI-standard sludge. The bacterial community structure in wastewater treatment plant sludge was dominated by the Flavobacterium-Cytophaga group. Characteristic coccoid cells, which fluoresced bright yellow under UV excitation after DAPI-staining, were dominant in the MITI-standard sludge.


The process of teaching learning molecular biology and bioinformatics in IFSULDEMINAS - Campus Machado has limitations regarding the tools used. Through non- directive interviews with students and teachers who study the discipline of molecular biology there is the difficulty in learning the content by the students and also the challenge for teachers to make the subject that is more playful rather abstract and better understanding by the student . Faced with the problem a literature search on the areas of education and biology education was undertaken to try to consider these reflections in the solution to be developed. From the survey, a web content system was developed for molecular biology and bioinformatics routines transcribing gene sequences and queries to the database using the NCBI BLAST tool, through the .NET Bio library. The system has access controls and the contents are divided into modules. The creation of a web system to support the teaching of molecular biology and genetics seeks to contribute to the learning of the contents of these disciplines showing up as a complement to traditional expository approach.


It is reported on 168 cases with pathologic alterations on the columna vertebralis that were operated from the ventral approach. After listing the indications of various operations (lumbarscoliosis, spondylolisthesis, tumorosteolysis, spondylitis, traumatic alterations, kyphosis, degenerative changes, spondyloepiphyseodesis) it is reported on the results.


Is the concept of strategic planning falling out of fashion in the 21 st century business model or has the how and when of planning become increasingly complex? Strategic planning as a management tool though adopted by many organizations, has not yielded similar outcome. This necessitates further enquiry on causes of discrepancies. The operationalization and institutionalization of strategy during the implementation stage has been conceptualized as a possible mediator in this study. The constant increase in demand for and access to higher education has led to a need for sustainable competitive advantage addressing all university stakeholder. Results indicate that implementation is a significant intervener between planning and performance of universities as partial mediator. The study recommends that all personnel be involved in strategy from formulation to enhance their understanding and participation in implementation. It suggests a longitudinal study to establish patterns at transition from formulation to implementation for further research. Key words; Implementation, Institutionalization, Operationalization, Accredited universities, Planning process


Schottky diode X-/ γ-ray detectors based on semi-insulating Cl-doped CdTe crystals have been developed and investigated. Both the Schottky and Ohmic contacts were formed by vacuum deposition of Ni electrodes on the opposite faces of (111) oriented CdTe crystals pretreated by Ar ion bombardment with different conditions. Record-low leakage current in the fabricated Ni/CdTe/Ni structure at high voltages (~5 nA at 300 K for the area of 10 mm2 at bias voltage of 1500 V) was achieved. The charge transport mechanisms in the detectors are interpreted on the basis of known theoretical models. The developed detectors have shown the record-high energy resolution in the measured spectra of 137Cs (0.42% FWHM). From a comparison of the spectra taken with the detector irradiated from the Schottky contact side and from the opposite side with an Ohmic contact, the concentration of uncompensated impurities (defects) in the CdTe crystals has been determined. The obtained value has been found to be close to the optimal one determined from the calculation results.


When the concept of multiculturalism was introduced to the Swedish national curriculum in the 1990's, a new democratic vision was added to the educational agenda: the school as a creator of a multicultural society. Based on a conceptual analysis of Swedish national curricula from 1962 until today, this study outlines how the concept of culture is subordinated to references of an "objective time", being divided into parts of its own temporalities. The study shows that elements referring to the past are more prominent in the concept of culture than elements referring to either the present or the future. The past is through its main concept 'cultural heritage' seen as a unified greatness of great importance; meanwhile a sincere complexity is apparent in the conceptualisation of the present. Conceptualisations of the future in relation to culture are mainly expressed through the ambition of shaping a multicultural society. A denial of the complexity of culture is made through both the singularity of cultural heritage and also of a clearly defined future. Based on this analysis, this article contends that the singularity of the past could be a potential obstacle to future multiplicity, and thereby – a multicultural society. (Less)


We report a rare case of Wilson Disease with neurologic features in a 31-years-old man. This disease consists of a disturbance of copper metabolism secondary to a mutation in the gene responsible for encoding the tissue transporter and the enzyme that incorporates the excess element into bile, generating toxic accumulation in the liver, cornea, and central nervous system. According to his wife, the patient had been undergoing treatment for an unspecified mood disorder. The clinical picture was characterized by depressive mood, anhedonia, and anxiety and for that, he was using Fluoxetine 40mg daily with good clinical response. He had his first seizure episode on December 3, 2021. He progressed with dysarthria, ataxic gait, dystonia of the right-hand flexor muscles, and intermittent urinary incontinence. Marked worsening was observed after diagnosis of COVID19 on February, 2022. At the clinical evaluation on March 24th, the presence of risorius muscle dystonia (risus sardonicus), resting tremor, and Kayser Fleischer rings at slit-lamp examination was also noted. Cerebrospinal fluid exam without abnormalities. Imaging workup revealed signaled alteration in bilateral putamen, midbrain, and pons. Laboratory tests revealed mild impairment of liver function and abdominal ultrasound with no evident abnormalities. Specific tests confirmed the diagnosis (serum copper and 24-hours urine copper levels elevated and reduced serum ceruloplasmin). This case report represents the importance of a detailed neurological clinical evaluation and association of findings with imaging and laboratory workup. It is a rare disease whose epidemiology in Brazil lacks data and complementary tests have reduced specificity. Early diagnosis and treatment have an impact on the neurological prognosis.


We examine the relationship between concentration and price dispersion using variation induced by a merger in the Canadian mortgage market. Since interest rates are determined through a search and negotiation process, consolidation eliminates a potential negotiation part- ner, weakening consumers bargaining positions. We combine reduced-form techniques to es- timate the mergers distributional impact, with a structural model to measure market power across consumers with different search costs. Our results show that competition benefits only consumers at the bottom and middle of the transaction price distribution. Estimates from a search and negotiation model attribute these differences to the presence of large search frictions.


For any real Lie algebra of dimension 3, 4 or 5 and any nilpotent algebra of dimension 6 an integrable Hamiltonian system with polynomial coefficients is found on its coalgebra. These systems are constructed using Sadetov's method for constructing complete commutative families of polynomials on a Lie coalgebra. Bibliography: 17 titles.


The unique cumulative nature of human culture has often been explained by high-fidelity copying mechanisms found only in human social learning. However, transmission chain experiments in human and non-human primates suggest that cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) might not necessarily depend on high-fidelity copying after all. In this study we test whether CCE is possible even with a non-copying task. We performed transmission chain experiments in Guinea baboons and human children where individuals observed and produced visual patterns composed of four squares on touch screen devices. In order to be rewarded, participants had to avoid touching squares that were touched by a previous participant. In other words, they were rewarded for innovation rather than copying. Results nevertheless exhibited three fundamental properties of CCE: an increase over generations in task performance, the emergence of systematic structure and the presence of lineage specificity. However, CCE arose from different mechanisms across species: children, unlike baboons, converged in behaviour over generations by copying specific patterns but in a different location, thus introducing alternative copying mechanisms into the non-copying task. We conclude that CCE can result from mechanisms with varying degrees of fidelity in transmission and thus that high-fidelity copying is not the key to the build-up of CCE.


This is a performance as research project that examines the problematic heteronormative society promoted in Hollywood films and delicately pulls through film as a means of manipulation and propaganda with particular connections to WWII. Spoken in both German and English, this highly visual performance employs humor with a dark underscore, to address representations of gender and cultural identity in different movie genres, using a variety of ridiculous props, costumes, make up, fake moustaches and camera trickery.


Abstract A numerical model of the planetary boundary layer, based on the Eulerian conservation equation, is used for two- and three-dimensional simulations of wind, temperature, specific humidity and pollutant concentration within the boundary layer surrounding urban areas. The variations of the terrain are included in the simulations. Two- and three-dimensional simulations of the thermal structure and pollutant concentrations are highly correlated. The simulated urban heat island and vertical thermal structure compare realistically with observations. The temperature changes caused by radiatively active pollutants are generally smaller than effects induced by other urbanization factors. During daytime, the presence of radiatively active pollutants resulted in increased vertical stability and higher concentrations near the surface when compared with radiatively inactive pollutants.


Radium therapeutics has for some time been in need of an instrument for making rapid and yet sufficiently correct measurements of the intensity of (J and y rays from the radioactive preparation or applicator in question on shorter distances (0-5 em.), as well as on greater ones (5-25 em.). Most of the methods used in this kind of work are based on taking the time required for a certain constant quantity of electricity to be absorbed from a conductor on account of the ionization of the surrounding gas. The time determinations thus required make radium measurements very timewasting, expecially those of interest to the medical man, because of their variations within very great limits. In the following pages a compensator is described which is being used at the Radium Home in Stockholm and which has proved rather useful on account of its great rapidity in taking measurements. The principle on which this method is based is exceedingly simple and has already been made use of in some other form by WILSON and MAKOWER 1 and others.


Morphological characteristics for identification of the leafhopper genus Watara Dworakowska are described and a key to all known species is provided. One new species, Watara longiprocessa sp. n., is added and one previously described species recorded from Thailand for the first time, Watara cordata Zhang Yang, 2011 rec. n., is illustrated.


Purpose
The aim of this paper is to gain knowledge in podcast mining as an additional source for Web-based horizon scanning (HS). The paper presents theoretical insights on the potential of podcast mining by exploring topics, which may be relevant in the future, and by reflecting the results against a background of HS approaches. The study provides a preliminary overview by presenting an exemplary list of podcast shows for further research.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses an exploratory quantitative content analysis, which was conducted on the basis of 30 topics deemed to be relevant in the future and which were identified in the field of applied science. Based on these topics, podcasts and episodes were identified which address future-oriented topics and were discussed in terms of range of content.

Findings
The findings indicate that future-oriented topics are addressed in podcasts. However, differences in dynamics and range of content of the podcasts concerned highlight the necessity of identifying a list of suitable podcasts according to the specific scanning focus and the dynamics of each future-oriented topics.

Originality/value
While a growing number of podcast studies have already noted the importance of podcasts as a key medium, for example, educational processes and media sciences, no detailed explanation of podcast mining as a tool for the purposes of HS has been published. The review therefore makes an original contribution to this field, highlighting areas where future research is needed.


Background Real-world data on the severity of discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) are scarce, limiting our understanding of the clinical course of this chronic disease that disproportionately affects minorities. Objectives To assess the clinical burden and unmet need by disease severity in DLE patients. Methods Data were drawn from a 2013 multinational survey of clinical practice that included 101 dermatologists across the US and EU (France, Germany, Italy, Spain & UK). Dermatologists completed the patient record (PRFs) for their next five consulting patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus. The present analyses were a subset of patients with DLE, categorized by dermatologists into two groups based on their severity at the current visit: 1) mild, and 2) moderate/severe. The two groups were compared in bivariate analyses, using Mann-Whitney-U tests and Fisher's exact tests. Results Final analyses included 315 DLE patients; 72% were female; mean age at diagnosis=39.7 years; mean disease duration=4.4 years. At diagnosis, 74% of DLE patients had moderate-to-severe DLE, and 10% had joints affected; at the current visit, the corresponding proportions were 27% and 11%. Among DLE patients currently presenting as moderate-to-severe, achieving remission was less common (14% vs. 60% among mild DLE patients; p≤0.0001). Patients moderate-to-severe during the present visit were more likely to be currently flaring (18% vs. 4%; p≤0.0001) or have flared in the last 12 months (37% vs. 16%; p=0.0001). Finally, dermatologist satisfaction with the level of control from treatment was also significantly lower amongst currently moderate/severe DLE patients (39% satisfied vs. 91% mild; p≤0.0001), with dermatologists reporting that better control can be achieved in over a quarter of moderate/severe DLE patients (27% vs. 3% mild; p≤0.0001). Conclusions Across regions and despite an average of 4 years since diagnosis, a sizeable proportion of DLE patients (nearly one-third) in clinical care were moderate-to-severe at their current visit, indicating persistence, relapse or worsening. Results suggest an unmet need for better disease control. This study contributes to the scant literature on DLE by informing our understanding of the disease in real-world settings of clinical care, and may help development of appropriate new interventions amongst those not currently controlled under standard therapies. Acknowledgement These analyses were supported by Biogen. Disclosure of Interest B. Hoskin Employee of: Adelphi Real World, S. Lobosco Employee of: Adelphi Real World, D. Bell Employee of: Adelphi Real World, A. Kao Employee of: Employee at Biogen at the time of the research, S. Hall Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen, S.-Y. Chen Shareholder of: Biogen, Employee of: Biogen


We challenge the classical belief that products of degenerate quadratic forms must remain degenerate and we show that this fails in general, e.g. over tensor triangulated categories with duality. This opens new ways of constructing non-degenerate quadratic forms and hence classes in Witt groups. In addition, we encapsulate in a Leibniz-type formula the behavior of the product with respect to the symmetric cone construction. We illustrate these ideas by computing the total Witt group of regular projective spaces.


Abstract Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a highly successful treatment for severe congenital immunodeficiencies. However, some studies have suggested that children may experience cognitive difficulties following HSCT. This large scale study assessed cognitive and behavioural function for the cohort of children treated by HSCT at one centre between 1979 - 2003 to determine the frequency and severity of problems and to identify risk factors. 105 patients were assessed on standardized measures of cognitive and emotional and behavioural function together with a control group of unaffected siblings. The average IQ for the cohort was 85 (95 percent confidence interval 81 - 90), significantly lower than both the population average of 100 (p<0.001) and unaffected siblings. Multivariate analysis indicated that the underlying genetic defect, diagnosis of ADA deficient severe combined immunodeficiency and consanguinity were associated with worse outcome, but that age at transplant and chemotherapy conditioning were not. Children treated by HSCT for severe immunodeficiency have an increased risk of long term cognitive difficulties and associated emotional and behavioural difficulties. The specific genetic diagnosis, consanguinity and severe clinical course are associated with poor outcome. Long term follow up of these patients should include screening to identify and manage these problems more effectively. From bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org by guest on June 12, 2013. For personal use only.


The risk of fomite-mediated transmission in the clinic is substantially increasing amid the recent COVID-19 pandemic as personal protective equipment (PPE) of hospital workers is easily contaminated by direct contact with infected patients. In this context, it is crucial to devise a means to reduce such transmission. Herein, we report an antimicrobial, antiviral, and antibiofouling trifunctional polymer that can be easily coated onto the surface of medical protective clothing to effectively prevent pathogen contamination on the PPE. The coating layer is formed on the surfaces of PPE by the simple spray coating of an aqueous solution of the trifunctional polymer, poly(dodecyl methacrylate (DMA)–poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA)–quaternary ammonium (QA)). To establish an optimal ratio of antifouling and antimicrobial functional groups, we performed antifouling, antibacterial, and antiviral tests using four different ratios of the polymers. Antifouling and bactericidal results were assessed using Staphylococcus aureus, a typical pathogenic bacterium that induces an upper respiratory infection. Regardless of the molar ratio, polymer-coated PPE surfaces showed considerable antiadhesion (∼65–75%) and antibacterial (∼75–87%) efficacies soon after being in contact with pathogens and maintained their capability for at least 24 h, which is sufficient for disposable PPEs. Further antiviral tests using coronaviruses showed favorable results with PPE coated at two specific ratios (3.5:6:0.5 and 3.5:5.5:1) of poly(DMA-PEGMA-QA). Moreover, biocompatibility assessments using the two most effective polymer ratios showed no recognizable local or systemic inflammatory responses in mice, suggesting the potential of this polymer for immediate use in the field.


ABSTRACT In the present study, we report that ubiquitin-mediated degradation of dMyc, the Drosophila homologue of the human c-myc proto-oncogene, is regulated in vitro and in vivo by members of the casein kinase 1 (CK1) family and by glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β). Using Drosophila S2 cells, we demonstrate that CK1α promotes dMyc ubiquitination and degradation with a mechanism similar to the one mediated by GSK3β in vertebrates. Mutation of ck1α or -ε or sgg/gsk3β in Drosophila wing imaginal discs results in the accumulation of dMyc protein, suggesting a physiological role for these kinases in vivo. Analysis of the dMyc amino acid sequence reveals the presence of conserved domains containing potential phosphorylation sites for mitogen kinases, GSK3β, and members of the CK1 family. We demonstrate that mutations of specific residues within these phosphorylation domains regulate dMyc protein stability and confer resistance to degradation by CK1α and GSK3β kinases. Expression of the dMyc mutants in the compound eye of the adult fly results in a visible defect that is attributed to the effect of dMyc on growth, cell death, and inhibition of ommatidial differentiation.


An active line of research has considered games played on networks in which payoffs depend on both a player's individual decision and also the decisions of his or her neighbors. Such games have been used to model issues including the formation of opinions (in which people wish to express views consistent with those of their friends) and technology adoption (in which people or firms seek compatibility with their network neighbors).
 A basic question that has remained largely open in this area is to consider games where the strategies available to the players come from a fixed, discrete set, and where players may have different intrinsic preferences among the possible strategies. It is natural to model the tension among these different preferences by positing a distance function on the strategy set that determines a notion of "similarity" among strategies; a player's payoff is determined by the distance from her chosen strategy to her preferred strategy and to the strategies chosen by her network neighbors. Even when there are only two strategies available, this framework already leads to natural open questions about a version of the classical Battle of the Sexes problem played on a graph; such questions generalize issues in the study of network coordination games.
 We develop a set of techniques for analyzing this class of games, which we refer to as discrete preference games. We parametrize the games by the relative extent to which a player takes into account the effect of her preferred strategy and the effect of her neighbors' strategies, allowing us to interpolate between network coordination games and unilateral decision-making. When these two effects are balanced, we show that the price of stability is equal to 1 for any discrete preference game in which the distance function on the strategies is a tree metric; as a special case, this includes the Battle of the Sexes on a graph. We also show that trees essentially form the maximal family of metrics for which the price of stability is 1, and produce a collection of metrics on which the price of stability converges to an asymptotically tight bound of 2.


Abstract Backgrounds: Infectious complication is an important cause of poor outcome of lung transplantation (LT). Infections with Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) are problematic, because of limited therapeutic option due to increasing resistance to antibiotics. However, there are few studies on A. baumannii infection in lung transplant recipients. Thus, we aimed to investigate epidemiology and risk factors for infection with A. baumannii in lung transplant recipients. Methods: Lung transplant recipients ≥18 years of age in a university hospital were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study. Risk factors for infection with multidrug resistant A. baumannii and 90-day mortality were analysed. Results: Fifty-one of 96 lung transplant recipients experienced A. baumannii infection. Infected patients had a significantly higher 90-day mortality rate than uninfected (19.6% vs. 2.2%, p = .009). High blood urea nitrogen (BUN) before transplantation (odds ratio [OR] 1.16; p = .008), long duration of surgery (OR 1.16; p = .029) and hypoalbuminemia before transplantation (OR 4.01; p = .037) were independent risk factors for infection with multidrug resistant A. baumannii. On multivariate analysis, severe thrombocytopenia (OR 28.69; p = .005), high serum creatinine (OR 1.48; p = .042) and infection with multidrug resistant A. baumannii (OR 22.58; p = .031) were independent risk factors for 90-day mortality. Conclusions: Prolonged surgery, high BUN and hypoalbuminemia before LT were significant risk factors for infection with multidrug resistant A. baumannii. Severe thrombocytopenia, high serum creatinine and infection with multidrug resistant A. baumannii infection were independent risk factors for 90-day mortality.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Background: Altered expression of microRNA (miRNA) is strongly implicated in human malignancies. miRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that regulate translations of messenger RNAs of various genes. Similar to encoding genes, tumor suppressive miRNAs are silenced with DNA methylation. The miR-34b/c is direct transcriptional targets of p53 and has been reported to be down-regulated in human malignancies. Unlike other malignant tumors, mutation of TP53 gene is rare in malignant pleural mesotheliomas (MPMs). In our previous study, aberrant methylations of miR-34b/c were frequent in MPMs (−100%), resulting in the slicing of their expression. Ectopic expression of miR-34b/c by transit or stable plasmid transfection, that promoted physiological expression level of miR-34b/c, could inhibit the proliferation and invasion of MPM cells. In this study, we investigate the anti proliferative effect of adenoviral gene transfer of miR-34b/c on MPM cells to aim development of miR-34b/c gene therapy.

Methods: We examined three MPM cell lines (H28, H290, and H2052) and a lung cancer cell line (H125). Three adenovirus vectors expressing miR-34b/c (Ad-miR-34b/c), p53 (Ad-p53) and luciferase (Ad-Luc) driven by CMV promoter were generated by homologous recombination and were infected to cell lines above. Expression of miR-34b/c was determined by quantitative PCR. Protein expression, cell proliferation, and cell cycle were analyzed by western blotting, MTS assay, and flow cytometry, respectively.

Results: TP53 was wild-type and miR-34b/c was methylated in all three MPM cell lines, while TP53 was mutated and miR-34b/c was unmethylated in H125. After Ad-p53 transfer, p53 and p21 were up-regulated in all four cell lines. Of note, Ad-p53 transfer increased expression of miR-34b/c in H125 but not in all three MPM cell lines, resulting in a decrease of the cell viability in H125 but not in MPM cell lines. The expression of miR-34b and 34c were highly un-regulated after Ad-miR-34b/c transfer in all three MPM cell lines (100 to 2000 fold), that were much higher than physiological level. In addition, the cell viability was also decreased after Ad-miR-34b/c transfer compared with that after Ad-Luc transfer (P < 0.01) in MPM cell lines. Ad-miR-34b/c transfer promoted the strong down-regulation of Bcl-2 protein expression in MPM cell lines and caused an increase in the sub-G0-G1 DNA content, compared with that in cell lines infected with Ad-Luc, indicating the induction of apoptosis. In contrast, Ad-p53 transfer did not induce a drastic change in the sub-G0-G1 DNA content in MPM cell lines.

Conclusion: Current study suggests that the adenoviral gene therapy of miR-34b/c, but not TP53, inhibits the cell proliferation of MPM cells by induction of apoptosis, indicating the possibility of miR-34b/c gene therapy in MPMs.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4944. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4944


Background
Recent studies indicated that rat and mouse Muller cells can be induced and differentiated into photoreceptor-like cells in vitro, but it is not known whether this also happens to adult pig Muller cells nowadays.

Objective
This study was to test whether adult pig Muller cells can be differentiated to the retinal photoreceptors (the primary transmission neurons of the retina) in vitro.

Methods
Muller cells were isolated from the neural retina of adult pig eyes and cultured and passaged.The 3rd and 4th generation of cells were themonolayerly cultured, and the cells forced to form spheres in suspension in altra-low adherent dishes for 2-3 days first and then reseeded in normal adherent plates, and both of them were cultured in a specifically formulated medium to induce the differentiation of retinal photoreceptor.The cells was verified by immunocytochemistry.Cell morphology and immunofluorescence staining were utilized to measure the efficacy of the differentiation.

Results
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation of Muller cells expressed glutamate synthetase (GS), a specific maker of Muller cells.Inaddition, the 3rd generation of cells also expressed glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and another specific maker of Muller cells.Three visual fields under fluorescence-microscope were randomly chosen to calculate the average positive ratio of rhodopsin, a specific marker of mature photoreceptors.The photoreceptor differentiation ratios of the 2nd generation of cells for monolayer culture only and with additional sphere suspension culture were (27.99±6.53(% and (16.54±3.40)%, respectively.With passages, the number of rhodopsin positive cells gradually decreased, and the intensity of rhodopsin expression gradually weakened.The directed rhodopsin positive ratios of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation of cells from sphere formation were (56.23±7.32)%, (36.26±8.55)% and (12.68±3.18)%, respectively.Although the rhodopsin expression was weakened over passages, the differentiated cells were more slender and elongated.There was no statistic ally significant difference between different groups (F=2.618, P=0.099).

Conclusions
Adult pig Muller cells can be differentiated into retinal photoreceptors in vitro.The morphology of the differentiated cells appears moreslender and elongates if the sphere-induced differentiation method is used and/or the directed differentiation time is further extended.

Key words:
Retina; Muller cells; Stem cells; Neurosphere; Cell differentiation; Photoreceptors; Pig


This paper analyzes the style adopted by the newspapers that are written in the Igbo language, with the Ozisa newspaper as a case study. Ozisa is, in the main, a quarterly church newspaper. We attempt the analysis of its style from the points of view of its layout, sentence types, punctuation marks employed, choice of words, use of figurative expression, etc. All these are categorized and discussed under the graphetic, grammatical, lexical, and semantic levels (See Salawu, 2004). The aim is basically to contribute in improving on the readership of Ozisa; more so as available materials show that many Igbo people now prefer the English language to the Igbo language (Eme, 2004; Okodo, 2006). The analysis concludes that the style of Ozisa is generally good, but there is still room for an improvement.


In the process of deflagration of energetic materials, strong electromagnetic radiation is generated, which causes the surrounding electronic equipment to fail to work normally. To solve this problem, it is necessary to clarify the mechanism of electromagnetic radiation generated by energetic materials. The mechanism of plasma changed by the deflagration of energetic materials is an important topic in the aerospace and geophysics fields. The academic community holds two main viewpoints on the mechanism of electromagnetic radiation generated by energetic materials: one is that the solid material is squeezed and deformed during the deflagration of energetic materials, and the charges of different polarities rub in space to form effective electric dipoles, which eventually generate electromagnetic radiation. Another view is that the deflagration of energetic materials causes the temperature of the medium to rise sharply, and bremsstrahlung is formed during the compression and diffusion of the high-temperature wave front, resulting in the generation of electromagnetic radiation. This paper, based on theoretical analysis and experimental data, holds the view that electromagnetic radiation is generated by the high-temperature thermal effect. It studies the relationship between temperature and electromagnetic radiation and obtains quantitative analysis conclusions.


A human posture recognition system based on a memory-based approach is studied. Human body images extracted by depth data are labeled and stored in a database together with compressed feature values consist of higher-order local correlation values and outline diameters. The compressed features are used to speed up the database search in a hierarchical manner. The system can classify human body postures into 6 categories in the experiment. The system was robust against change of humans and light condition.


Electron transporting layers facilitating electron extraction and suppressing hole recombination at the cathode are crucial components in any thin-film solar cell geometry, including that of metal–halide perovskite solar cells. Amorphous tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) deposited by spin coating was explored as an electron transport material for perovskite solar cells, achieving power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to ~14%. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) measurements revealed that the extraction of photogenerated electrons is facilitated due to proper alignment of bandgap energies. Steady-state photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) verified efficient charge transport from perovskite absorber film to thin Ta2O5 layer. Our findings suggest that tantalum oxide as an n-type semiconductor with a calculated carrier density of ~7 × 1018/cm3 in amorphous Ta2O5 films, is a potentially competitive candidate for an electron transport material in perovskite solar cells.


The resurgence and spread of antimalarial drug resistance is one of the causes of the worldwide increase of malaria. In Colombia, uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria has been treated with a combination of amodiaquine (AQ) and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP) since 2000. The efficacy of these two antimalarials was evaluated after the implementation of the new malaria treatment scheme. In the municipalities of El Charco and Tumaco (Nariño) on the Pacific Coast region, the standard PAHO protocol was used to evaluate antimalarial efficacy in areas of low to moderate malaria transmission. Patients were randomly allocated to treatment regime in two cities of Nariño, El Charco (n = 48) and Tumaco (n = 50). After 14 days none of El Charco patients presented therapeutic failure to either antimalarial. However, in Tumaco after 28 days, 12 of 24 (95% CI: 30.6-69.4) patients presented AQ treatment failure while 4 of 26 (95% CI: 5.1-33.1) patients had SP treatment failure. The high level of AQ treatment failure in Tumaco was unexpected because it had been introduced only recently as an antimalarial treatment in Colombia. The results suggest that the use of the current dose of AQ in combination with SP will be therapeutically useful for less time than expected. Use of combined therapies is a key strategy to delay antimalarial resistance. Unfortunately, its success depends on the efficacy of antimalarial drugs individually.


Particle trajectories guided by the wave function are well-defined through Bohmian mechanics, which is a causal interpretation of quantum mechanics. Periodic and chaotic behaviours could be exhibited from the certain classical integrable systems that have been shown within this framework. In this study, we developed Mathematica programs to plot the Bohmian trajectories and Lyapunov exponents. These programs serve as computer experiments for numerical generation and illustration of the results. We show that the behaviours of commensurate two-dimensional harmonic oscillator systems are dependent on ratios of frequency.


Following the development of switching technology, circuit-switch based voice communication system used for power dispatching communication shall evolve towards soft-switch system, the security issues of which must be resolved firstly. On the base of P2DRR model, the power system brought forward the security scheme of the secondary system. It gives out four measures to ensure the security of the soft-switch network after analyzing the defects and faults in constructing power soft-switch system using MPLS VPN technology. According to different isolation requirements between soft-switch network and other power operation systems, it gives a isolation project by using security isolation device, Session Border Control, edge communications agent.


Peat harvesting in an important industry in northern Europe and in North America. In Canada peat is harvested to be used as a horticulture substrate. The harvesting is generally done by vacuuming the thin dried upper layer of peat found below the acrotelm, after removing the latter and draining the water. Drained water is typically routed to settling basins prior to being released in neighbouring natural water courses. This communication summarizes our research efforts to develop tools to optimize settling pond design and minimize suspended sediment loads and to provide the industry with means to assess the health of aquatic ecosystems that receive the drained water.

Current settling pond designs are based on simple rules of thumb (e.g. 25 m3/ha of harvested peatland). In our study, a hydraulic model was used to test different basin configurations (basins with and without weirs at the outlet, basins in series, basins equipped with a geotextile curtain). It was found that while the trapping efficiency was not significantly improved by adding a second basin compared to a single one, adding a geotextile curtain improved the trapping of coarser sediments. Our results moreover showed that fine sediments deposited during low flow periods, in the downstream end of the basins, could be easily resuspended during and after rainfall events, thus showing the importance of frequent maintenance. There are also some strong indications that wind erosion could be a major source of sediments in the drainage water.

Different indicators of stream ecosystem health were compared to quantify the impact of peat harvesting on the receiving water bodies. They included 1) using fish abundance and species richness; 2) quantifying sediment deposition and its organic content; 3) determining ionic composition of effluents and receiving waters; and 4) developing a water quality index (WQI) based on multiple physico-chemical measurements (ammonia, conductivity, pH and suspended sediment concentrations). The developed WQI was shown to be the most promising indicator of ecosystem health and allows for a simple classification of water quality downstream of the confluence between the drain outlet and the receiving stream.


Mutual information can be used to determine appropriate input signals and input transformations for a black-box model that represents a virtual sensor. Mutual information is a measure of the strength of the input-output relationship, and can be computed without any assumptions about the linearity of the input-output process. The power of the method is demonstrated with an incompressible flow process. Results using mutual information clearly show that all three input signals are necessary to capture the input-output mapping. In addition, nonlinear transformations, such as raising each input to a power, can be evaluated by checking the corresponding mutual information. Results show that raising two of the inputs to the exponent 1/2 gives the highest mutual information, which is consistent with the governing equation.


Two groups of cattle, one previously exposed to Babesia bigemina and one not, were challenged with Babesia bovis. The group previously infected with Babesia bigemina was only mildly affected upon challenge with B. bovis, whereas four of five of the other group were severely affected. Immunoblotting studies performed in both homologous and heterologous systems showed that there were polypeptides of similar molecular weight in both species, but species-specific polypeptides were demonstrated only in B. bovis by the homologous B. bovis reaction. B. bovis antisera reacted avidly with B. bigemina-infected erythrocytes in fluorescent-antibody assays. In contrast, B. bigemina antisera did not cross-react with B. bovis-infected erythrocytes. Two groups of splenectomized calves were immunized with an enriched antigen fraction of B. bigemina. A third group was immunized by infection with B. bigemina and treatment with a drug. One of the groups of calves immunized with the antigenic fraction of B. bigemina, the group immunized by infection with B. bigemina, and a control group were challenged with B. bovis. All control calves died, whereas 50% of the calves immunized by infection with B. bigemina and 75% of the animals immunized with the B. bigemina antigen survived. The second group immunized with the B. bigemina antigen and a control group were challenged with B. bigemina. All control animals died by day 6, whereas 50% of the vaccinates survived, the deaths occurring on days 8 and 11. The nature of the probable protective mechanism is discussed.


— In this research, by developing a learning support system for medical services, we will establish an approach that supports medical profession novices to improve proficiency understanding patient-centered medical services. Using an ontology in this paper, as a first step of the project, we organized a learning model which promotes reflective learning of the case-method for medical service education. As an implementation of the learning model, we established a learning environment that support learners to reflect on their thinking process in their experiences by a learning strategy which consists of three case-writing phases: the description phase, the cognitive conflict phase, and the knowledge building phase.


Background and Purpose— Prediabetes is a known risk factor for vascular diseases; however, its differential contribution to mortality risk from various vascular disease subtypes is not known. Methods— The subjects of the National Health Insurance Service in Korea (2002–2013) nationwide cohort were stratified into normal glucose tolerance (fasting glucose <100 mg/dL), impaired fasting glucose (IFG) stage 1 (100–109 mg/dL), IFG stage 2 (110–125 mg/dL), and diabetes mellitus groups based on the fasting glucose level. A Cox regression analysis with counting process formulation was used to assess the mortality risk for vascular disease and its subtypes—ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke, and hemorrhagic stroke. Results— When adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index, IFG stage 2, but not stage 1, was associated with significantly higher all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18–1.34) and vascular disease mortality (HR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.08–1.49) compared with normal glucose tolerance. Among the vascular disease subtypes, mortality from ischemic stroke was significantly higher (HR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.18–2.18) in subjects with IFG stage 2 but not from ischemic heart disease and hemorrhagic stroke. The ischemic stroke mortality associated with IFG stage 2 remained significantly high when adjusted other modifiable vascular disease risk factors (HR, 1.51; 95% CI: 1.10–2.09) and medical treatments (HR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.19–2.57). Conclusions— Higher IFG degree (fasting glucose, 110–125 mg/dL) was associated with increased all-cause and vascular disease mortality. The increased vascular disease mortality in IFG stage 2 was attributable to ischemic stroke, but not ischemic heart disease or hemorrhagic stroke in Korean adults.


The authors describe a method of analysis of random signals containing non-Gaussian features such as pulses or oscillatory bursts; the method involves detecting a pulse locating it in time and classifying it in height and then averaging the signal over a fixed time interval centred on the pulse and over many occurrences of pulses in each class. They show that the technique retains information which is lost in the usual two-point correlation function measurements: this information is that contained in the non-random phase relationships between different Fourier modes, which are necessarily entailed by the non-Gaussian distribution. They also show that in suitable cases the technique allows the direct detection of some kinds of non-linear effect. They illustrate the method with examples from fluctuation measurements in magnetically confined plasmas.


Abstract The possibility of rainfall enhancement by asphalt ground coatings is analysed by means of observations of natural cloud formations over the small flat island of Anegada. Anegada is comparable in size to the contemplated artificial asphalt coatings and probably produces smaller effective differential heating. A case study using the Woods Hole instrumented aircraft data is made on a day in which the Anegada cloud street produced rain. Heated island theory is used to estimate the "equivalent heat mountain" and updraft associated with the island warming. These results are compared with the aircraft temperature and moisture cross sections and cloud maps made from time-lapse photographs. The study indicates that the asphalt coating method is sufficiently promising to warrant intensified investigation, for which specific means are suggested.


Abstract Whole-culture extracts of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner strains were assayed against larval and adult Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura), an important invasive pest of many thin-skinned soft fruit crops in North America. Of the 22 serovars tested versus larval D. suzukii, strains of Bacillus thuringiensis var. thuringiensis, kurstaki, thompsoni, bolivia, and pakistani caused high (75 to 100%) first-instar mortalities. Pupal mortality, measured as a failure of adults to emerge, varied with serovar. The first D. suzukii instar was the most susceptible of the three larval instars to B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki HD-1. Larval D. suzukii are shielded from crop treatments, as they develop under the skin of infested fruit, and adults would be a more vulnerable target for an efficacious strain of B. thuringiensis. Only one of the 21 B. thuringiensis serovars, var. thuringiensis, prepared as oral suspensions in sucrose for adult D. suzukii ingestion resulted in significant, albeit low mortality within 7 d. It is not a candidate for use in pest management, as it produces β-exotoxin that is toxic to vertebrates.


Fine-grained sentiment analysis is receiving increasing attention in recent years. Extracting opinion target expressions (OTE) in reviews is often an important step in fine-grained, aspect-based sentiment analysis. Retrieving this information from user-generated text, however, can be difficult. Customer reviews, for instance, are prone to contain misspelled words and are difficult to process due to their domain-specific language. In this work, we investigate whether character-level models can improve the performance for the identification of opinion target expressions. We integrate information about the character structure of a word into a sequence labeling system using character-level word embeddings and show their positive impact on the system's performance. Specifically, we obtain an increase by 3.3 points F1-score with respect to our baseline model. In further experiments, we reveal encoded character patterns of the learned embeddings and give a nuanced view of the performance differences of both models.


ABSTRACT The Deatnu River, located in Northern Scandinavia in the heart of Sápmi, is often regarded as one of the finest salmon rivers in Europe. In the 1751 Strömstad Peace Accord, the Deatnu river was made into an international boundary, becoming one of the oldest political borders in Europe. Since 1873, salmon fishing in the Deatnu River has been regulated by bilateral agreements negotiated between Norway and Finland. The most recent agreement was reached in 2017, in spite of a very strong, uniform opposition of the local population, Sámi and non–Sámi alike. This article considers the nature, effects and objectives of the 2017 Deatnu Agreement in the context of an international boundary. I suggest that the 2017 Deatnu Agreement is a figurative wall erected by the states of Norway and Finland in the context of the post–Westphalian order. The 'post–Westphalian order' is characterized by the erection of walls to define nation–state boundaries. Drawing on Elizabeth Strakosch' analysis of policy as a key strategy of settle colonialism and Lorenzo Veracini's concept of transfer, the article considers how this figurative wall is intended to target the Sámi people and how it is an emblem of Nordic settler colonialism.


&NA; Since the introduction of condylar knee designs, total knee arthroplasty has become a remarkably successful and durable procedure. Improvements in instrumentation systems, fixation, and patellar resurfacing have been widely applied and have made total knee arthroplasty a reproducible procedure. The appropriate role for the posterior cruciate ligament in total knee arthroplasty, however, continues to be debated. Proponents of both cruciate substitution and cruciate retention can point to excellent clinical and radiographic results in the literature with knee designs of both types. Recent research findings in the areas of biomechanics, histology, and gait analysis, combined with refinements in intraoperative technique, have further sharpened the focus of the posterior cruciate ligament debate.


Learning Communities, a growing initiative at Iowa State University, aid freshmen in the transition to college life as students live in the same residence hall and attend a common block of classes. By combining learning communities with the concept of student-centered active learning, students will gain control of and adjust more quickly to their new environment, experience increased achievement, and persist in the program. First year computer engineering students involved in the learning community participated in two new courses during the 1999/2000 academic year. The new courses were framed within the context of active learning to better prepare students for continuation in computer engineering by increasing their skills in group work and providing essential life-long learning skills. Students completed their freshman year with a greater awareness of complete, engineering, knowledge and skills for successful teamwork, and experience a quicker and more satisfying acclimation to the university and college life. The goal of project SUCCESS is 'to provide every student interested in Computer Engineering an opportunity, to succeed Iowa State University and to prepare him or her for their future careers." Engineering students take an academically challenging program of study beginning with rigorous courses in calculus, chemistry, and physics during their freshman year. While these courses are essential for providing a foundation upon which all engineering programs are based, many students find the courses difficult and elect not to continue their study of engineering. Project SUCCESS is an effort to help students survive the demands placed upon them as freshmen by providing a collaborative environment in which they will learn to seek assistance from and provide support to peers.


Overhunting of mammals may negatively affect plant populations though in-direct impacts on mammal-plant interactions such as herbivory. In this pa-per, we examined how hunting of terrestrial mammals impacts the survival of seedlings and juveniles of the palm Astrocaryum gratum. To determine A. gratum seedling survivorship patterns, an experiment with seedlings in 25 × 250-m plots exclosures and different levels of mammal species presence was conducted: all mammals, only Tayassu peccari potentially a major seedling predator and no animals excluded. More than 50,600 non-adults were measured for 27 months. We replicated these treatments in three forest categories: 1) no hunting, with an intact mammal community, 2) a lightly hunted region and 3) a heavily hunted area. Seedling survivorship under natural non-experimental conditions was highest in the heavily hunted (S(T) = 0.72), lower in moderate and lowest in unhunted forests. Experiments revealed that T. peccari was the main agent of palm seedling mortality and the most important factor deter-mining seedling and juvenile survivorship, for example they caused the 84.61% deaths of the seedlings in unhunted forests. Thus, T. peccari feeding habits can influence forest dynamics and forest structure. T. peccari was also susceptible to hunting pressure and as the main seed and seedling predator in the system, its extinction should affect the survivorship and distribution of


The thermal performance of the roof is one of the most important factors for a comfortable environment. As 50% of the thermal loads received by a building come from the roof, this research seeks to find the roofing system that opposes the transmission of heat during the hottest days and promotes indoor thermal comfort. In this regard, this paper presents an experimental study carried out on four (04) testing cells constructed on a reduced scale and submitted to climatic external conditions. Three (03) cells were used to test passive cooling strategies through the roof, namely: the cool roof, ventilated roof and a roof with inverted earth pots. The fourth cell that served as cell-reference, for its part, a conventional roof. The experimentation concerned the types of roofs most used in residential buildings in Biskra, Algeria. The measurements process was effectuated in an exposed field during the month of July, prevailing the metrological data of the hot and arid climate. The obtained results show that the use of the cool-roof technique makes it possible to record the lowest internal temperatures in comparison with the other systems. Thus, the reflective coating technique is capable of reducing the internal temperature from 3.33 °C to 4.80 °C, also the internal and external surface temperature of the roofs from 5.31 °C to 10.18 °C, respectively. These experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the "cool roof" technique as an innovative and efficient solution that contributes to the achievement of the comfort conditions in a hot and arid climate by eliminating heat gains through the roof.


Borrowing through domestic currency bonds has not insulated emerging market economies (EMEs) from the financial shock unleashed by Covid-19; EME local currency bond spreads spiked amid sharp currency depreciations and capital outflows.

Portfolio investors face amplified losses as local currency spreads and exchange rates move in lockstep; their revised portfolio allocations in turn strengthen this correlation.

EMEs with monetary policy frameworks that are equipped to address the feedback loop between exchange rate depreciation and capital outflows stand a better chance of weathering the financial fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

To counter large stock adjustments in domestic bond markets, EME central banks may need to expand their toolkit to take on a "dealer of last resort" role; a number of them are already moving in this direction.


This paper presents the innovations in the practical work of the Data Structures subject carried out in the last five years, including a transition period and a first year of implantation of the European Higher Education Area. The practical coursework is inspired by a project-based methodology and from 2008/2009 additional laboratory sessions are included in the subject schedule. We will present the academic results and ratios of the mentioned time period which imply a significant improvement on students' performance.


In this article, pictures model are used in education. Digital image restoration by graying the image using effects, Motion Blurred Image, animation and image deterioration patterns that can be controlled according to the conditions we created with. Random disturbances through the Scilab and Mathlab program. Images that are blurred or deteriorated by using Inverse and Weiner Filtering to compare the return of the image to return to the original image using the time and efficiency of the original. It is a measure.


This paper describes the rationale and design of an XML-TEI encoded corpora compatible analysis platform for text mining called TXM. The design of this platform is based on a synthesis of the best available algorithms in existing textometry software. It also relies on identifying the most relevant open-source technologies for processing textual resources encoded in XML and Unicode, for efficient full-text search on annotated corpora and for statistical data analysis. The architecture is based on a Java toolbox articulating a full-text search engine component with a statistical computing environment and with an original import environment able to process a large variety of data sources, including XML-TEI, and to apply embedded NLP tools to them. The platform is distributed as an open-source Eclipse project for developers and in the form of two demonstrator applications for end users: a standard application to install on a workstation and an online web application framework.


On 23 September 2017, a Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) unanimously fixed the course of the maritime boundary between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire and, thus, ended a long-standing dispute between the two West African neighbours. In addition to maritime delimitation, the legal reasoning and conclusions drawn in the judgment – especially in view of the Special Chamber's Provisional Measures Order of 25 April 2017 – are significant, in that they shed light on states' rights and obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in respect of undelimited maritime areas, and also on the potential to respond meaningfully to unilateral resource-related activities in disputed waters through recourse to provisional measures of protection. The present article examines the key aspects of the Special Chamber's ruling and highlights some issues of practical significance for the future conduct of unilateral petroleum activities in disputed maritime areas.


We described the case of otitis media tuberculosa at the patient suffered from lung tuberculosis. Because of rare appearance and nonspecific running OMT is difficult to diagnose and correct treatment. At the described case fast and exact diagnosis maid possible, successfully ended, treatment.


The recent sensitive issue of climate change is due to the extensive amount of carbon emission through the consumption of fossil fuel as the primary option for energy demand. Due to the negative impact of green house effect, the alternative and renewable energy options have received significant attention global scale. The two branched approach of renewable energy projects including the reduction in the global greenhouse gas emissions and encouragement to the development of alternate green energy options like wind energy. Wind energy has become one of most acceptable solution among the different renewable energy resources because of the application of power electronic based controllers that allows the wind energy conversion system (WECS) to generate quality electric power irrespective of variable wind profile. The continuous flow of quality power from WECS to grid is insured for wider range of wind speed. Doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) used in WECS having power electronic converter which requires very small friction of power in comparison to the total generation capacity. This paper brings out the analysis of a DFIG system in terms of its stator and rotor currents and real and reactive power balance when the machine is operating with varying wind velocity conditions. Various possible maximum power point tracking techniques are listed in the paper. The suitable Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique has also been suggested to harness maximum available power for a given wind velocity to ensure the continuous power flow from WECS to the power grid.


Abstract This essay discusses rules and semantic clauses relating to Substitution—Leibniz's law in the conjunctive-implicational form $s\dot{ = }t \wedge A\left( s \right) \to A\left( t \right)$—as these are put forward in Priest's books In Contradiction and An Introduction to Non-Classical Logic: From If to Is. The stated rules and clauses are shown to be too weak in some cases and too strong in others. New ones are presented and shown to be correct. Justification for the various rules is probed and it is argued that Substitution ought to fail.


The impacts of physical activities (PAs) on psychological and physical health consequences have been examined in both nonclinical and clinical contexts. Although PAs' influences on physical consequences are regularly beneficial, the psychological positive impacts are less well-understood. This study investigates the effects of PA on physical consequences (i.e., physical self-esteem) and psychological and cognitive consequences (i.e., quality of life and learning experience). PA has been found to improve quality of life (QOL), learning experience (LP), and physical self-esteem. Mixed findings from prior studies suggested that the relationship between these variables might be direct or indirect. Data were collected via a self-administrated questionnaire from 510 higher education students in different Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) universities. The collected data were analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM) and the SmartPLS 4 program. The SEM results show that PAs directly help in enhancing the student learning experience. The results support the mediating role of student physical self-esteem and quality of life in the relationship between physical activities and learning experience. Several theoretical and practical implications were elaborated on and discussed, along with limitations and further research opportunities.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss stigma and insensitive communication surrounding mental illness discourse amongst adolescents in the Polokwane Local Municipality against the background of a Foucauldian lens.

Design/methodology/approach
The literature reviewed included a discussion of perspectives on stigma and insensitive communication, contextualisation of the dual health–belief system in South Africa and the Foucauldian governmentality theoretical perspective. The methodology was based on a Foucauldian orientation and Geertz' interpretivism. The methods followed to analyse the discourse were Foucauldian discourse analysis (FDA), coupled with Geertz' "thick description." The data were collected from six focus group discussions, which consisted of a total of 36 informants.

Findings
The findings indicated the dominance of the biomedicine discourse, neoliberal rationalisations for self-care and the policy of deinstitutionalisation.

Practical implications
The implications for practice using an FDA approach combined with an interpretivist stance exposes the actions, institutions, possibilities for action whilst understanding core beliefs in a complex dual health and religious belief setting. The addition of Geertz's interpretivism adds a cultural flare and insight, which adds to the depth of the analysis.

Originality/value
The complexity of beliefs, experiences and health choices calls for culturally sensitive discourse about mental illness and also highlights how discourse about individual conduct and self-care is embedded in the discourse used by adolescents.


Although explicit rules can be used to hypothesise an inter-island colonization sequence from a molecular phylogeny, and statistical methods can be used to assist in partitioning historical factors from current selective factors, this latter process has limited efficacy where there are a limited number of islands. Studying numerous populations within small, but heterogenous, islands allows a better understanding of the factors causing geographic variation. Three main approaches have been used to study within-island geographic variation using lizards on Canarian and Lesser Antillean archipelagos: (i) matrix correspondence tests and their partial regression/correlation extensions on morphological and molecular data; (ii) identification of within island patterns of morphological geographic variation paralleled on independent islands; and (iii) large scale field experiments on selection. These studies reveal that, even on small islands, 'island populations' may not be homogeneous in morphology, or molecular phylogeny, and that natural selection for current ecological conditions appears to be a primary force influencing morphological population differentiation, irrespective of phylogenetic history.


Objectives To rate severity of lesions of extracranial and coronary arteries, depending on the bone mineral density (BMD) among men with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods 111 men aged 50-75 years [60 (55; 65) years old] with verified CHD were examined. By dual-energy absorptiometry at the femoral neck and lumbar spine BMD and the index T-criterion were measured. All patients were given coronary angiography (CAG) and quantification of coronary calcium using multislice computed tomography. Calcium index was determined by the Agatston method. Options for the defeat coronary arteries (CA) of one-, two-, and three-vessel and combination with the defeat of the trunk of the left CA (TrLCA) were evaluated. The intima-media thickness (IMT) was investigated according to duplex scanning of the extracranial arteries. Hemodynamically was significant narrowing of more than 50% of the diameter of the artery. Depending on the values of the T-criterion, patients were divided into 2 groups: I - with osteopenic syndrome (90 patients), aged 61 (55; 65) years old; II - with normal BMD (21 patients), aged 59 (55; 65) years old. According to the CAG isolated group of patients with severe lesions (stenosis of three CA and/or TrLCA) – type A and with stenosis of 1 or 2 CA - type B. Results Osteopenic syndrome among men with CHD was detected in 81,1% of cases. IMT more than 1,0 mm identify 75,5% in group I and 66,7% in group II, p>0,05. Stenosis of more than 50% were detected at 56,7% in the 1st group and 38,1% of patients in group II, p>0,05. The marked negative correlation is between IMT and T-criterion of femur (r= -0,21; p=0,0299), and BMD of proximal femur (r= -0,2; p=0,0348). A significant positive correlation is between the number of diseased coronary arteries and IMT (r=0,3; p=0,0017). The values of total calcium score totaled 613,8 (256,8; 1097), 152.8 (0; 702,4), respectively, in groups I and II, with significant differences between groups I and II (p=0,0043). Indicator calcium score was significantly correlated with the number of diseased coronary arteries (r=0,24; p=0,0134). Severe coronary lesions (type A) was detected with 58 patients in group I (64,4%), 11 - in group II (52,4%), p>0,05. The values of total calcium score in type B among patients with normal BMD were significantly lower in comparison with a group of osteopenic syndrome and amounted to 0 (0; 152,8) and 768 (122,8; 1129,5), respectively (p=0,0041). Conclusions Reduced bone mineral density among men correlates with atherosclerotic lesions of the extracranial arteries and is associated with calcification of the coronary arteries, which confirms the relationship between the osteopenic syndrome, atherosclerosis and vascular calcification with males. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Non-perturbative solutions to the quantum-field theory is a topic of current and broad interest, especially for the heavy ion and laser physics communities, since they investigate particle production in the presence of strong external fields. We have sol ved a non-perturbative QED + external field problem of an electron in a strong transverse c onfining potential using Hamiltonian light-front quantum field theory in a basis function represe ntation. The invariant mass spectra and the anomalous magnetic moment of the lowest state for this tw o-scale system are also evaluated. With this method the perturbative QED results are also repro duced with a good accuracy. We also discuss the extension of the method to other problems as well .


Methodologies for the synthesis of novel isomeric dideoxynucleosides with unsaturation in the carbohydrate moiety have been developed. An example of the synthesis (Isod4A) is presented. Antiviral studies are in progress.