Political liberals refuse that there are biophysical limits to human wealth accumulation. Coal fuelled the first liberal political economy — England's — for 800 years before coal smoke was legally regulated in London. The English also have an enduring love for the diverse and scenic quality of their island nation, and a long history of commons governance that predates the acts of land theft which accompanied the emergence of political liberalism. By contrast the United States is a modern liberal polity with little collective memory of commons. American political economists therefore refuse that commons can be collectively governed, or even that atmospheric pollution may be conceived as a problem of commons governance. The historically unsituated character of North American liberals — and liberalism more generally — also explains their inability adequately to describe moral connections between past, present and future generations implicated in anthropogenic climate change. The Christian account of the spiritual communion of saints remains a more powerful intergenerational narrative than political liberalism. As interpreted by Tolstoy, Gandhi and John Howard Yoder, true spiritual communion is characterised by the Christ-shaped refusal to render evil for evil. This refusal is an essential corrective to the realist and violent frame of international relations in which the international implications of climate change is conventionally conceived.


Introduction; The University Hospital of Trauma, Tirana, Albania, is the only National
referent center for trauma in Albania. As the primary care center for trauma, often operating over capacity of trauma patient, limiting access to Emergency surgical care for
non-trauma patients. For non-traumatic surgical emergencies are instructions to inform the patient selection for transfer to another institution such as a University
Hospital Center "Mother Theresa" in Tirana, Albania. Such decisions can be particularly
difficult for severely ill patients when transferring benefits are uncertain.
Material and Methods: To point out the role of surgeons in different hospital levels, for transfer, we took a qualitative analysis of cases that are transferred from a regional or
municipal hospital to the University Hospital of Trauma...
Results: Surgeons in the regional or municipal hospitals require transfer when the ability to care for the traumatized patient is limited by the lack of necessary staff or equipment, and when the needs of surgical treatment of patients or comorbid conditions are not available at the level local. Surgeons (non-primary centers) sometimes transfer patients who can be selected at home (second or third level hospitals ...) or with fatal safety progress, in order to try all treatment options or to satisfy families by thus reducing the possibility of benefiting from the treatment of other patients.
Conclusion: Decisions on the transfer of surgical patients are complex and require
good recognition of traumatized patient assessment protocols, knowledge and capacity
coordination both local and central as well as in logistics, personnel, and scientific and
professional levels.


This paper argues that white Christian churches participated in, benefited from, and promoted housing apartheid in the United States for at least thirty years, and that these actions have been significant causes of racial inequality through to the present day. Housing apartheid is defined primarily as housing policies that promoted opportunities in whites only communities and which denied and extracted opportunities from nonwhite, predominantly black communities. Blessing oppression is defined as the means by which white churches sustained and entrenched housing apartheid through the basic practices of church life whereby the minds and hearts of white Christians were put at ease as they participated in massive oppression. The paper closes with a consideration of reparations for the role white churches played in housing apartheid as a precondition for racial reconciliation within Christian churches.


Abstract This paper presents an analysis of a public health law (Ma-ternal-Pediatric HIV Prevention and Care Program) enacted by New York State in 1997 and how it strives to reduce the vertical transmission of AIDS. This policy is twofold. First, it strongly encourages voluntary HIV testing of all pregnant women. Secondly, it mandates HIV testing for all newborns. Those found to be positive are referred for medical care. This paper analyzes the State's implementation of this law to determine if it will: exert control over poor, mostly minority women; provide health care for infected woman and infants; protect public health; prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS; or sacrifice a woman's privacy. The potential benefits and shortfalls of this policy are discussed as other states may consider adopting similar legislation.


EUV photon induced surface chemistry can damage multilayer mirrors causing reflectivity loss and faster degradation. EUV photo chemistry involves complex processes including direct photon induced surface chemistry and secondary electron radiation chemistry. Current cleaning techniques include dry and wet cleaning of the contaminated mirror surface, which must be performed outside the vacuum chamber. Thus, current cleaning techniques are not desirable for the sake of the productivity. Controlling these processes at multilayer mirror surfaces under EUV conditions can be very beneficial for ASML and its partners. Our goal is to understand these processes and apply newly obtained knowledge in maintaining mirror performance and extending its lifetime. Irradiations of EUV optics with 13.5 nm EUV photons, as well as the generated secondary electrons, drive chemical reactions in the presence of molecular and atomic species, in which the properties of the surface also play an important role. Our investigation employs temperature programmed desorption, and reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy techniques in a UHV chamber to characterize the binding and chemical composition of molecular adlayers on a Ru(0001) surface. The photochemical reactions of water and deuterium water (D2O) were studied. We found that the dissociation of water on Ru is enhanced by EUV radiation, which leads to oxidation of the Ru surface. The oxidation of the Ru single crystal surface can be considered as the first step of oxidizing a Ru metal thin film, of which the next step is accumulation of oxygen and diffusion into the sub surface layers. The kinetics of oxidation is influenced by a number of factors. By comparing the reactions using water and D2O any isotope effects can be revealed. To understand the dependency on the morphology of the metal substrate, we carefully modify the surface structure by roughening the surface with the aid of ion bombardment. To mimic the polycrystalline nature of the Ru capped multilayer surface, we optimize the ion sputtering and annealing parameters to reproduce the spatial features we observe on Ru capped multilayers using AFM and STM. Furthermore, the dependence of the EUV induced reactions of water on the presence of co-adsorbed species as oxygen, hydrogen or carbon is investigated. This approach will lead to a set of reaction cross sections for EUV induced oxidation as a function of surface morphology, oxygen coverage, hydrogen coverage and carbon coverage.


ABSTRACT Three types of alpine plant species, Carex montis-everestii, Quercus aquifolioides and Stipa capillacea, along an altitudinal gradient of 3005–5025 m on the Tibetan Plateau, were chosen to test the generality of the hypothesis that foliar carbon isotope composition (δ13C) of C3 plants increases significantly with altitude and to determine climate drivers shaping its altitudinal pattern. Temperature and relative humidity showed significantly negative correlations with altitude; however, precipitation and soil water potential remained unchanged with altitude. Foliar δ13C of C. montis-everestii, Q. aquifolioides, S. capillacea alone or combined together did not significantly increase with altitude, which does not support the leading hypothesis of increased foliar δ13C with altitude. There was no difference in foliar δ13C among all three species. Multi-factor correlation analyses showed that temperature, precipitation and relative humidity alone did not affect foliar δ13C of C. montis-everestii and S. capillacea, but conferred significant effects on foliar δ13C of Q. aquifolioides.


The basic questions in the pathogenesis of inflammation in the nervous system are how inflammatory cells reach the brain, where they recognize their antigen, how the nervous system interacts with local immune regulation in the lesion, and how inflammatory cells induce irreversible tissue damage. These questions have been addressed by studying the pathogenesis of experimental models of encephalomyelitis. The minimal requirement to start brain inflammation is the presence of activated circulating T-cells directed against a brain antigen and of antigen presenting cells in meninges and perivascular spaces of the nervous system. Such a constellation, however, only results in the disease after hypersensitization, i.e. in the presence of very high numbers of circulating autoreactive T-cells. Other local and systemic immunological factors may profoundly lower the threshold for the induction of brain inflammation. They include antigen recognition on cells in the brain parenchyma (microglia, astroglia), local upregulation of MHC antigens and possibly adhesion molecules (by cytokines or as a consequence of brain injury) and the presence of additional humoral immune responses against brain antigens (autoantibodies). Focal production of cytokines by inflammatory cells as well as by resident cells of the brain plays an important role in determining the activity of the inflammatory process and in inducing effector cells and inflammatory mediators, responsible for tissue destruction. Whereas in pure T-cell mediated auto-immune encephalomyelitis these activated effector mechanisms have low selectivity and mainly induce a "bystander" damage of CNS tissue, additional presence of autoantibodies may focus the immune reaction to specific targets, thus inducing, in high sensitivity, very selective tissue destruction. The present experimental data suggest that different immunological pathways may finally lead to quite similar inflammatory demyelinating lesions. Thus, brain lesions in individual multiple sclerosis patients may develop on a quite diverse immunological background.


The purpose of this study was suggested to establish of student housing by using shipping container. The research method are a study of shipping container and characteristics of student housing by using shipping container, compared typically student housing with student housing by using shipping container. Also there are planning though a case study of various planes and survey based on the student housing city in Amsterdam, Netherland, is called Keetwonen. It is a planning for housing unit to actual build at the part of land to devise master plan The 40FT(High Cube) Shipping Container housing unit are double occupancy room with toilet and balcony. The common areas are the kitchen, laundry facilities, conference room and lounge are available on the first floor with a lightweight steel frame construction method applied for obtain substantive utilization of the space. Considering into the type and scale of site shall be planning in the form of side corridor and central corridor, which is preferable to separate the interior space into two areas by a central corridor to secure personal privacy. Also, planning such as a separate exterior panel, color and landscape design to improve the external image of the container and block the solar radiation heat influx with a pitched roof. Allow 24 college students shall live at the site of Seongnae-dong, Gangdong-gu in Seoul, Korea (site area 330.9㎡), including common facilities and a lounge with a building that has three stories above ground were established to build plans to target the actual land.


This paper presents a flexible and modular control scheme based on distributed model predictive control (DMPC) to achieve optimal operation of decentralized energy systems in smart grids. The proposed approach is used to coordinate multiple distributed energy resources (DERs) in a low voltage (LV) microgrid and therefore, allow virtual power plant (VPP) operation. A sequential and iterative DMPC formulation is shown which incorporates global grid targets along with the local comfort requirements and performance indices. The preliminary results generated by the simulation of a studied case proves the benefits of applying such a control scheme to a benchmark low voltage microgrid.


The purpose of this study is to contribute to solution of the defect dispute in apartment house in advance. We want to propose the improved devices in defect problems by investigating the money that exacted from the practical business of the inspection company and the money that a judge gave a decision in a civil court in 50 cases of the lawsuit to requesting the guarantee against defects and the improved schemes of the applied rate by analyzing the diagnosis money of each applied years about the term of warranty liability in 40 cases of the lawsuit separately from that. As the result, we have to reflect the defect of non construction and error construction on apartment building defects, which recognizes very important factor when we compute the defect repair warranty money and it needs to be rearranged the applied ratio in guarantee peried of housing law practically.


Although Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are known for their sharp realism in image generation, they often fail to estimate areas of the data density. This leads to low modal diversity and at times distorted generated samples. These problems essentially arise from poor estimation of the distance metric responsible for training these networks. To address these issues, we introduce an additional regularisation term which performs optimal transport in parallel within a low dimensional representation space. We demonstrate that operating in a low dimension representation of the data distribution benefits from convergence rate gains in estimating the Wasserstein distance, resulting in more stable GAN training. We empirically show that our regulariser achieves a stabilising effect which leads to higher quality of generated samples and increased mode coverage of the given data distribution. Our method achieves significant improvements on the CIFAR-10, Oxford Flowers and CUB Birds datasets over several GAN baselines both qualitatively and quantitatively.


The relationship between prisms and lenses can be an asset in the management of strabismus. Relief from diplopia in incomitant strabismus is challenging and may be complicated by large refractive errors or ill-fitting spectacles. Practical optical techniques include crossing and splitting incorporated prisms, using slab-off lenses or oblique prisms, and combining contact lenses with a spectacle correction or prisms. Spectacle frame selection and fit may induce an ocular deviation or influence an existing one. Selecting an appropriate frame, particularly if prisms will be incorporated, contributes to binocular comfort.


Rationale: Obesity is considered a relative contraindication to pancreas transplantation due to increased risks of wound-related complications. Robotic surgeries have never been applied for pancreas transplantation in obese recipients though robotic kidney transplantation did and already proved its value in reducing wound-related complications in obese recipients. Patient concerns & Diagnoses: We performed the first robotic pancreas after kidney transplantation for a 34-year-old Hispanic type 1 diabetic male with class III obesity (BMI = 41 kg/m2). Interventions: The pancreas graft was procured and benched in the standard fashion. Methylene blue was used to detect any vascular leaks. The operation was completed via two 12-mm ports (camera, laparoscopic bed-side assistance), two 8-mm ports for robotic arms, and a 7-cm epigastric incision for hand port. The portal vein and arterial Y-graft of the pancreas were anastomosed to the recipient's left external iliac vein and artery, respectively. Duodenum-bladder drainage was performed with a circular stapler. Outcomes: Duration of warm and cold ischemia was: 45 minutes and 7 hours, respectively. The patient was discharged uneventfully without wound-related complications. Excellent metabolic control was achieved with hemoglobin A1c lowering from 9% before transplantation to 4.4% on day 120. The patient remained in nondiabetic status in 1-year follow-up. Lessons: In conclusion, robotic pancreas transplantation is feasible in patients with morbid obesity.


ABSTRACT Although South Sudanese did not own private companies before the war, a good number of them have been studying business during the time of the war. Immediately after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), private companies came into existence. Roads construction companies were not exceptions. Being new in the industry, the national companies have been copying from Sudan. The Labor Act (1997) of Sudan is the main employment legislation used in South Sudan. This thesis examines the compensation methods in three companies with the aim of suggesting methods that will suit turbulent environments like South Sudan. Three different methods were tested in intervals of three months to test its sustainability in environments like South Sudan. This is an action research project. Three workshops were held every three months and an evaluation of the compensation methods were made. Structured questionnaires were used to gain the understanding of employees about the compensation method in their respective organizations, their understanding of compensation in the environment in their operation areas, relationship of their pay to what their colleagues get and their attitude towards change in pay methods should the organization opt to do so. Interviews were also conducted with senior managers and board members to get their in-depth understanding of the compensation method in the companies they manage and in particular to look at how they sustain the pay. A close look at the Labor Act (1997) of Sudan which is being used in South Sudan was done to see the relevance of some of the acts in the South Sudan context. Though some areas of weaknesses in the pay systems were identified including the areas in some cultural behaviors which hinder concentration to work, the thesis came up with three different pay methods which can be used in South Sudan. They are Team Based Pay (TBP) with another form of Specialized Team Based Pay (STBP), Shared Pay Rate (SPR) and Management Driven Pay (MDP).


Introduction and objectives Several clinical trials of vitamin D to prevent asthma exacerbation and improve asthma control have been conducted in children and adults, but a meta-analysis restricted to double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trials of this intervention is lacking. We conducted a Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of administration of vitamin D in reducing asthma exacerbations treated with systemic corticosteroids (primary outcome) and improving asthma symptom control. Methods Standard Cochrane collaboration procedures were followed. Double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trials of vitamin D in children and adults with asthma evaluating exacerbation risk and/or asthma symptom control were included. Results Seven trials involving a total of 435 children and two trials involving a total of 658 adults were included in the primary analysis. Administration of vitamin D reduced the rate of exacerbations requiring systemic corticosteroids (Rate Ratio 0.63, 95% CI: 0.45 to 0.88; 680 participants; 3 studies; high quality evidence), and decreased the risk of having at least one exacerbation requiring an emergency department visit and/or hospitalisation (Odds Ratio [OR] 0.39, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.78; number needed to treat for one additional person to experience a beneficial outcome (NNTB), 27; 963 participants; 7 studies; high quality evidence). There was no effect of vitamin D on % predicted forced expiratory volume in one second (Mean Difference [MD] 0.48, 95% CI: −0.93 to 1.89; 387 participants; 4 studies; high quality evidence) or Asthma Control Test scores (MD −0.08, 95% CI: −0.70 to 0.54; participants = 713; studies = 3; high quality evidence). Administration of vitamin D did not influence the risk of serious adverse events (OR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.54 to 1.89; 879 participants; 5 studies; moderate quality evidence). No participant in any included trial suffered a fatal asthma exacerbation. Conclusions Meta-analysis of a modest number of trials in patients with predominantly mild to moderate asthma suggests that vitamin D is likely to reduce the risk of severe asthma exacerbation and reduce health care use.


The authors have extended the Green function approach for calculation of effective elastic constants of isotropic polycrystalline material to anisotropic textured polycrystals which have an axis of symmetry. The Green function for this symmetry has been calculated and effective elastic constants are evaluated for transversely isotropic aggregate with perturbation correction up to second order over uniform strain or stress field. The closeness of averagings of Voigt or Reuss type with experimental results and the relation between perturbation calculation and bounds are discussed. This method would find important application to anisotropic materials like short fibre composites and drawn polymers.


AIM
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of submucosal tunneling and endoscopic resection (STER) for treating submucosal tumors (SMTs).

METHODS
Between August 2012 and October 2013, 21 patients with SMTs originating from the muscularis propria (MP) layer at the esophagogastric junction were treated by STER of their tumors. Key steps of the procedure include: (1) mucosal incision: a 2-cm longitudinal mucosal incision was made 5 cm proximal to the tumor; (2) submucosal tunneling: a submucosal tunnel was created 5 cm proximal to and 1 to 2 cm distal to the tumor; (3) tumor resection: the SMT was resected under direct endoscopic viewing; (4) hemostasis: while finishing the tumor resection, careful hemostasis of the MP defect and the tunnel was performed; and (5) mucosal closure: the mucosal incision site was closed by using hemostatic clips. During the operation, equipment used included a cap-fitted endoscope, an insulated-tip knife, a hook knife, hemostatic forceps, an injection needle, a snare, an endoclip, and a high-frequency generator. Carbon dioxide (CO2) insufflation was achieved by using a CO2 insufflator.

RESULTS
The median age of the patients was 46.2 years (range, 35-59 years), and the majority were male (18 male vs 3 female). Complete resection rate was 100% (21/21). Eighteen lesions were resected en bloc. Mean tumor size was 23 mm (range, 10-40 mm), and mean procedure time was 62.9 min (range, 45-90 min). Pathological diagnosis of these tumors included leiomyoma (15 out of 21) and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (6 out of 21). Full-thickness MP resection was performed in 9 of 21 patients (42.9%), with mediastinal and subcutaneous emphysema occurring in all nine. At the completion of the procedure, all patients received closure of the incision with hemoclips. One patient required percutaneous drainage. The remaining 20 patients required no further endoscopic or surgical intervention. There were no incidents of massive or delayed bleeding. The median follow-up period after the procedure was 6 mo (range, 2-14 mo). During follow-up, no patients were found to have residual or recurrent tumor or esophageal stricture.

CONCLUSION
STER is safe, effective and feasible, which provides accurate histopathologic evaluation and curative treatment for SMTs originating from the MP layer at the esophagogastric junction.


Despite the wide acceptance of the "big-leaf" upscaling strategy in evapotranspiration modeling (e.g., the Penman-Monteith model), its usefulness in simulating canopy photosynthesis may be limited by the underlying assumption of homogeneous response of carbon assimilation light-response kinetics through the canopy. While previous studies have shown that the separation of the canopy into sunlit and shaded parts (i.e., two-leaf model) is typically more effective than big-leaf models for upscaling photosynthesis from leaf to canopy, a systematic comparison between these two upscaling strategies among multiple ecosystems has not been presented. In this study, gross primary productivity was modeled using two-leaf and big-leaf upscaling approaches in the Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator for shrublands, broadleaf, and conifer forest types. When given the same leaf-level photosynthetic parameters, the big-leaf approach significantly underestimated canopy-level GPP while the two-leaf approach more closely predicted both the magnitude and day-to-day variability in eddy covariance measurements. The underestimation by the big-leaf approach is mostly caused by its exclusion of the photosynthetic contributions of shaded leaves. Tests of the model sensitivity to a foliage clumping index revealed that the contribution of shaded leaves to the total simulated productivity can be as high as 70% for highly clumped stands and seldom decreases below ∼40% for less-clumped canopies. Our results indicate that accurate upscaling of photosynthesis across a broad array of ecosystems requires an accurate description of canopy structure in ecosystem models.


In modern facility agriculture, to improve the quality and efficiency of transplanting, the application of transplanting robots based on visual processing is becoming more and more widespread. In order to reduce the damage to plants during the transplanting process and reduce the damage rate of plant stems, leaves and substrates, a transplanting method based on Kinect visual processing combined with an inclined transplanting manipulator was proposed. In the research, the Kinect visual processing was used to obtain and process the seedling height information and leaf edge information, and the working coordinate system of the transplanting manipulator was established and applied to plan the obstacle avoidance path. Combined with the oblique manipulator, the obstacle avoidance transplanting method was proposed. Through the structural design and force analysis of the seedling transplanting device, the key parameters that affect the transplanting quality were obtained, and the optimal transplanting performance parameters were obtained through experiments. In the experiment, with the aid of the Kinect vision processing system, the designed obstacle avoidance transplanting manipulator had a leaf damage degree of 4.70%, a stem bending rate of 16.67%, substrate integrity of 83.45% and a transplanting quality parameter of 87.36%. The time for a single seedling transplanting was (8.32±0.40) s. The experiment result proves that the obstacle avoidance transplanting method based on Kinect visual processing can effectively reduce the damage to seedlings when ensuring the transplanting efficiency.


For the determination of the Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element | 𝑉 𝑐𝑏 | from inclusive data a precise knowledge of the semileptonic 𝑏 → 𝑐 decay rate is necessary. Since this observable has a bad convergence behavior when the heavy quark masses are expressed in the on-shell or MS scheme the latest determinations have been obtained in the so called kinetic mass scheme. The relation between the different schemes needs to be known to high precision as well. In this proceedings we present our recent calculations which push the precision of both ingredients to O( 𝛼 3 𝑠 ) . The results can be used to improve the inclusive determination of | 𝑉 𝑐𝑏 | .


Uncertain system parameter identification and self-adaptive synchronization of a class time-delay chaotic systems were proposed. Based on the Lyapunov-krasovskii extensive functional theory, lag synchronization controller and adaptive law of parameters were designed respectively. The simulation with system showed that system synchronization was satisfied and the unknown parameters could be estimated ideally. Experiment results also indicated that this scheme had universality and feasibility in actual applications.


The inferring of insignificant and repetitive features in the d ataset can bring about poor expectations and misclassification process. Subsequently, selecting applicable feature subsets can help decrease the computational cost of feature measurement, accelerate learning process and enhance model interpretability. Feature selection is an issue of worldwide computing optimization in machine learning in which subsets of relevant features are chosen to acknowledge powerful learning models. Rough sets Method in classification has demonstrated wasteful in its failure to deliver accurate and precise classification results about the large e-mail dataset while it likewise expends a ton of computational resources. In this study, we present GRF- Genetics Rough Filter-a hybrid of Genetic Algorithm-Rough set feature selection technique is developed to optimize the Rough set classification parameters, the prediction accuracy and computation time. Spam assassin dataset was used to validate the performance of the proposed system. GRF showed remarkable improvements over Neural Network, Rough Set and SVM methods in terms of classification accuracy.


New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) are a global concern since they are spreading at an unprecedented rate. Despite their commerce still being limited compared to traditional illicit drugs, the identification of NPS in seizures may represent a challenge because of the variety of possible structures. In this study we report the successful application of molecular networking (MN) to identify unexpected fentanyl analogs in two seizures. The samples were extracted with 1 mL of methanol and analyzed with an untargeted data-dependent acquisition approach by LC–HRMS. The obtained data were examined using the MN workflow within the Global Natural Product Search (GNPS). A job was submitted to GNPS by including both seizures and standard mixtures containing synthetic cannabinoids and fentanyls raw files; spectra obtained from standards were used to establish representative networks for both molecular classes. All synthetic cannabinoids in the mixture were linked together resulting in a molecular network despite their different fragmentation spectra. Looking at fentanyls, all the molecules with the typical 188.143 and 105.070 fragments were combined in a representative network. By exploiting the standard networks two unexpected fentanyls were found in the analyzed seizures and were putatively annotated as para-fluorofuranylfentanyl and (iso)butyrylfentanyl. The identity of these two fentanyl analogs was confirmed by NMR analysis. Other m/z ratios in the seizures were compatible with fentanyl derivatives; however, they appeared to be minor constituents, probably impurities or synthetic byproducts. The latter might be of interest for investigations of common fingerprints among different seizures.


With the advance of wireless technology in recent years, issues of mobile (m-) business transformation become more important for researchers and practitioners. Subsequent to e-business transformation, mobile technology creates another opportunity of innovation inside and outside businesses. However, there is still limited information for m-business transformation. Hence, this study investigates the phenomenon by answering the questions: 'Why do businesses transform into m-businesses?' And 'What are the possible challenges during the process of m-transformation?' This study uses a multiple case study method, and reports the consolidated results of 17 interviews with 6 Australian organisations depicted as a framework, and aims at identifying the factors that influence the motivations for m-transformation, as well as the possible challenges during the process. The findings of this study can provide more understanding of the phenomenon, and further form the basis for a successful m-business transformation.


To the Editor. —Physicians are accustomed to advising patients with peptic ulcer disease to abstain from cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. A new caveat needs to be added to the standard list. Report of a Case. —A 32-year-old man developed severe epigastric pain associated with nausea and vomiting. A roentgenogram of the upper gastrointestinal tract demonstrated a duodenal ulcer. He was treated with meperidine, promethazine, ranitidine, and sucralfate. Vomiting ceased, and the patient was discharged. He continued to have pain but no further vomiting until eight days after discharge, when he returned to the hospital because of severe vomiting. The patient stated that he had been complying with his medical regimen as prescribed. However, he had begun using nicotine gum to help him abstain from cigarette smoking. On two occasions during the 24 hours that preceded his return to the hospital, vomiting followed soon after chewing the nicotine


During the cancerous transformation of normal hepatocytes into hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the enzyme catalyzing the first rate-limiting step of glycolysis, namely the glucokinase (GCK), is replaced by the higher affinity isoenzyme, hexokinase 2 (HK2). The transcriptomic analysis of HCC tumors shows that highest expression level of HK2 in tumor lesions is inversely correlated to GCK expression, and is associated to poor prognosis for patient survival. To further explore functional consequences of the GCK-to-HK2 isoenzyme switch occurring during carcinogenesis, HK2 was knocked-out in the HCC cell line Huh7 and replaced by GCK, to generate the Huh7-GCK+/HK2− cell line. HK2 knockdown and GCK expression rewired central carbon metabolism, stimulated mitochondrial respiration and restored essential metabolic functions of normal hepatocytes such as lipogenesis, VLDL secretion, glycogen storage. It also reactivated innate immune responses and sensitivity to natural killer cells, showing that consequences of the HK switch extend beyond metabolic reprogramming.


Eye gaze can be a rich source of information to identify particular interests of human users. Eye gaze tracking has been largely used in different research areas in the last years, as for exa mple in psychology, visual system design and to leverage the user interaction with computer systems. In this paper, we present an IR-based gaze tracking framework that can be easily coupled to common user applications and allows for real-time gaze estimation. Compared to other gaze tracking systems, our system uses only affordable consumer-grade hardware and still achieves fair accuracy. To evaluate the usability of our gaze tr acking system, we performed a user study with persons of different genders and ethnicities.


A method for determination of the enzymatic activity of penicillinamidas (PA) based on spectrophotometric estimation of the stained product amount produced in hydrolysis of 4-phenylacetamido-2-nitrobenzoic acid (PANBA) catalyzed by the enzyme is proposed. Some physico-chemical properties of the substrate and the stained product were studied. The kinetic parameters of the PANABA enzymatic hydrolysis were determined. Catalytic activity of some enzyme products of PA of different purity levels was studied comparatively in reactions of PANBA and benzylpenicillin hydrolysis.


Abstract Despite the fact that economic concerns are the main driver of the EU integration process, integration does carry a substantial social dimension. Yet, it remains an open question whether this social dimension 'only' supports the market or whether goals such as social justice, solidarity and employment conditions are independent of or even work against goals of market efficiency. To address this question the paper presents an original dataset on all 346 binding EU social policy acts adopted since the Union's founding. In a descriptive approach, I contrast instruments and dynamics in areas and subfields connected more closely to the common market with those more directly constituting a social dimension in its own right. On this basis, I argue that the shape of EU social policy has substantially changed, strengthening its market-supporting dimension while weakening policy focused on its social dimension. The paper opens up for discussion possible political dynamics driving these patterns.


Motivation. Uncertainty plays a major role in decision making and problem solving tasks in naturalistic environments and has received much interest across research disciplines. Research Approach. This poster provides a multi-disciplinary review of uncertainty. Findings/Design. Across disciplines, a view of uncertainty as an affective experience and as a resource that is managed and not always reduced has emerged. A framework rooted in group communication theory and emotion regulation is presented that outlines this process. Research limitations/Implications. Implications of this framework suggest that emotion regulation may be as important as the cognitive work performed by experts. However, these implications are in need of validation in applied contexts. Originality/Value. To date, there has been little cross-fertilization of ideas between the NDM and group communication communities of practice even though they investigate similar phenomenon. Take away message. Understanding complex phenomenon such as macrocognition in teams can be advanced by considering multi-disciplinary perspectives.


Inspired by the uniqueness and ubiquity of thioesters in nature, much attention has been paid to thioester functionalized materials, yielding applications ranging from responsive polymers to bioconjugates and (bio)degradable polymers. This review focuses on various applications of thioesters in polymer science, covering the synthesis and polymerisation of thioester containing monomers, thioester generation via polymerization processes or the presence of thioesters in chain ends, such as initiators or chain transfer agents. Examples of post-polymerization modifications with various compounds (e.g. thiols, azides, amines and cysteine containing peptides) to enable modification via pathways such as ligation, amidation or exchange reactions are also presented.


This paper documents the modes of organization of the budget process in ten CEEC and examines the relationship between these institutional settings and fiscal performance. Using detailed information on the budget institutions in these countries, the national budget processes are classified according to their coordination and conflict resolution properties. Empirical results show that budget procedures that are conducive to reducing collective action problems have been associated with more fiscal discipline. JEL Classification: D70, E60, H61, P20, P30


Objective To assess the risk of mortality associated with hypertension and microalbuminuria in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Design A prospective study. Setting Intensive care units in three Italian general hospitals. Patients In total 309 consecutive patients (including 97 women) aged 66.6 ± 12.5 years, admitted to hospital for acute myocardial infarction. Main outcome measures Albumin excretion rate measured by radioimmunoassay of 24 h urine samples, on the first and third days after admission to hospital. In-hospital mortality rate among the patients stratified according to their history of hypertension and albumin excretion rate. Results Of the patients, 147 had histories of hypertension. Forty-four per cent of the normotensive and 43% of the hypertensive subjects had icroalbuminuria on the first day. On the third day the percentages were 25 and 29%, respectively. Twenty-two patients died before discharge from hospital. Patients were divided into four groups according to whether they had microalbuminuria or not and likewise for hypertension. Mortality rate among the subjects with hypertension and microalbuminuria combined was greater than those among the other three groups (P < 0.0001 on the first and third days). The relative hazard ratio was 11.7 on the first day, and 15.6 on the third day. In a multivariate Cox's model hypertension and microalbuminuria combined had a greater predictive power for mortality than either variable alone. Killip class, age, and creatinine kinases MB level were other significant predictors of death. Conclusions These results show that the combination of hypertension and microalbuminuria is associated with a greater risk of in-hospital mortality among subjects with acute myocardial infarction, independently of degree of heart failure and other possible confounders.


Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 383 is an English collection of Anglo-Saxon legal texts produced in the late eleventh century or early years of the twelfth century, possibly at or for St. Paul's cathedral, London. This article focuses in particular on the scribal strategies and mise-en-page of the rubrics and emendations made to the manuscript by a scribal hand of the first half of the twelfth century. Developments in the concept and technology of the book were used by the scribes who emended and updated the manuscript to facilitate and direct (potential and actual) readers' interactions with the legal texts and allow intellectual interests in the continued role of Anglo-Saxon law into the twelfth century to be discerned.


ABSTRACT Listeriolysin O (LLO), an hly-encoded cytolysin of Listeria monocytogenes, plays an essential role in the entry of L. monocytogenes into the host cell cytoplasm. L. monocytogenes-infected macrophages produce various proinflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-1α (IL-1α), that contribute to the host immune response. In this study, we have examined IL-1α production in macrophages infected with wild-type L. monocytogenes or a nonescaping mutant strain deficient for LLO (Δhly). Expression of IL-1α mRNA and accumulation of pro-IL-1α in the cytoplasm were induced by both strains. In contrast, the secretion of the mature form of IL-1α from infected macrophages was observed in infection with wild-type L. monocytogenes but not with the Δhly mutant. A recovery of the ability to induce IL-1α secretion was shown in a mutant strain complemented with the hly gene. The Toll-like receptor (TLR)/MyD88 signaling pathway was exclusively required for the expression of pro-IL-1α, independently of LLO-mediated cytoplasmic entry of L. monocytogenes. The LLO-dependent secretion of mature IL-1α was abolished by addition of calcium chelators, and only LLO-producing L. monocytogenes strains were able to induce elevation of the intracellular calcium level in infected macrophages. A calcium-dependent protease, calpain, was implicated in the maturation and secretion of IL-1α induced by LLO-producing L. monocytogenes strains based on the effect of calpain inhibitor. Functional activation of calpain was detected in macrophages infected with LLO-producing L. monocytogenes strains but not with a mutant strain lacking LLO. These results clearly indicated that LLO-mediated cytoplasmic entry of bacteria could induce the activation of intracellular calcium signaling, which is essential for maturation and secretion of IL-1α in macrophages during L. monocytogenes infection through activation of a calcium-dependent calpain protease. In addition, recombinant LLO, when added to macrophages infected with the Δhly strain, could induce calcium influx and IL-1α secretion at doses exhibiting cytolytic activity, suggesting that LLO produced by intracellular L. monocytogenes may be implicated in induction of calcium influx through pore formation.


Several studies have shown that gingivitis is common in children and adolescents. Introduction of orthodontic devices may exacerbate the gingival inflammation. Orthodontically induced gingival hyperplasia in adolescents, its etiology, and treatment alternatives are discussed. Three instances in which laser therapy was used are described.


The considerable difficulties associated with cross-border environmental management are compounded when polluters are unlicensed micro-enterprises such as auto repair shops and traditional brick kilns; such "informal sector" firms are virtually impossible to regulate in the conventional manner. This paper describes an example of an innovative and promising approach to the problem: the Ciudad Juarez Brickmakers' Project, a private-sector-led, binational initiative aimed at abating highly polluting emissions from Ciudad Juarez's approximately 350 informal brick kilns. We draw three lessons from the Project's history. First, private-sector-led cross-border initiatives can work indeed they may be more effective than public sector initiatives but they require strong public sector support. Second, necessary conditions for effective environmental management in the informal sector include enlisting the cooperation of local unions and political organizations, relying upon peer monitoring among informal firms, and providing inducements to offset compliance costs. Ineffective strategies include promoting too-advanced and therefore inappropriate technologies and intervening in informal markets. And finally, the history of the Brickmakers' Project suggests that, in volatile developing economies, even well designed voluntary market-based environmental initiatives in the informal sector are bound to be fragile.


This paper proposes a statistical model-based speech dereverberation approach that can cancel the late reverberation of a reverberant speech signal captured by distant microphones without prior knowledge of the room impulse responses. With this approach, the generative model of the captured signal is composed of a source process, which is assumed to be a Gaussian process with a time-varying variance, and an observation process modeled by a delayed linear prediction (DLP). The optimization objective for the dereverberation problem is derived to be the sum of the squared prediction errors normalized by the source variances; hence, this approach is referred to as variance-normalized delayed linear prediction (NDLP). Inheriting the characteristic of DLP, NDLP can robustly estimate an inverse system for late reverberation in the presence of noise without greatly distorting a direct speech signal. In addition, owing to the use of variance normalization, NDLP allows us to improve the dereverberation result especially with relatively short (of the order of a few seconds) observations. Furthermore, NDLP can be implemented in a computationally efficient manner in the time-frequency domain. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach in comparison with two existing approaches.


The article is devoted to the problems of ensuring efficient management of the agro-industrial complex (AIC) in the region and a systematic analysis of economic processes in crisis situations. The authors discuss the anti-crisis management system involving the formulation of necessary solutions aimed at supporting the subjects of the AIC in economic equilibrium, based on having an effective monitoring mechanism. This management system ensures a rapid response to sudden changes in economic factors and offers a set of alternative solutions to determine the strategy and tactics of the AIC development. The monitoring concept of anti-crisis management is justified, based on the organization of a powerful monitoring mechanism, enabling timely, necessary and sufficient analysis of the processes and patterns of managing socio-economic processes. At the same time, a special role is given to interaction between design and expert assessments of the factors of crisis situations, making it possible to characterize the degree of influence of a crisis change in the conditions of the external environment on the economy of the subjects and the whole AIC in general.


To the Editor.— The article by Schor et al (236:941,1976) ended with some unusual comments. Agreed that it is extremely "disturbing" to find an error rate of 10% of acute myocardial infarctions undiagnosed, remedial actions should include consideration of hospitalization of more suspected cases, even if this "transfers the increased false-positive rate to the holding ward." Certainly that is the purpose of a holding ward, and statistics notwithstanding, the primary reason for observation is to prevent harm to a patient. Even "if a procedure of delay is instituted" and more patients go to the ward rather than the coronary care unit, they are at least in the hospital (where acute management can be readily instituted if needed) rather than at home. The suggestion that patients denied admission should "return within a month for a checkup" seems to be an inappropriate suggestion; follow-up at two or three days to identify any


Adoption of agroforestry systems (AFS) for yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hil.) production contributes to improvement of soil quality due to intense litterfall input. This study aimed (i) to quantify the litterfall input and its nutrients, as well as soil fertility attributes in yerba mate AFS (ii) to discriminate which soil fertility attributes and litterfall nutrients enabled differentiation of yerba mate AFS and (iii) to verify relations between the soil fertility attributes and nutrients supplied. Six yerba mate AFS were studied in three different soils in the Center-South region of Parana State, Brazil. The canonical discriminant analysis was applied to the soil fertility attributes, for the 0-5, 5-10, 10-20 and 20-40 cm soil layers; and for the nutrients annual input. The study of the relation between the nutrient input and nutrients soil content was carried out through the canonical correlation analysis. Litterfall input varied from 7132 to 9402 kg ha-1 year-1, and showed an important source of nutrients. Copper and aluminum soil content were the variables responsible for differentiating AFS, by canonical discriminant analysis. There was strait relation between calcium, magnesium, copper, manganese and zinc input and these nutrients content in the soil in yerba mate AFS.

 Key words: Ilex paraguariensis St. Hill., discriminant analysis, variable charge soils.


This paper deals with sustainable development policies in the French South-Eastern Alps region (Digne-les-Bains). It aims to delineate the influence of communication and mediation practices which are used to implement such principles in a largely reluctant area. This approach combines the point of views of two sciences, media and communication on the one hand, geography , on the other hand


While SOAP/XML is perceived as the appropriate interoperability level for Web-services, companies compete to provide workflow-based tools for Web-service integration. This paper presents the design and implementation of a prototype workflow management system for building new Web-services from a workflow of existing Web-services. This enables the creation of multiple layers of value-added service providers and provides fast service creation, customisation and deployment. The system caters for multiple workflow paradigms, provides an extensible language for workflow specification and emphasises encapsulation and tight constraints on workflow execution. To expose a workflow of Web-services as a Web-service, several design steps have been required including the deployment as a Web-service of the generic workflow engine and a generalisation of the Visitor Pattern to concurrent visitors.


Simulation on the heating scenarios in experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST) was performed by using a full wave code TORIC. The locations of resonance layers for these heating schemes are predicted and the simulations for different schemes in ICRF experiments in EAST, for example, ion heating (both fundamental and harmonic frequency) or electron heating (by direct fast waves or by mode conversion waves), on-axis or off-axis heating, and high-field-side (HFS) launching or low-field-side (LFS) launching, etc, were conducted. For the on-axis minority ion heating of 3He in D(3He) plasma, the impacts of both density and temperature on heating were discussed in the EAST parameter ranges.


The angiographic anatomy of the portal venous system in 50 dead, neonatal Labrador/Retriever type puppies is described. Angiography was performed by the injection of radioopaque contrast media through a catheter placed within the umbilical vein. In 49 pups the ductus venosus was a straight vessel arising from the left main portal vein and terminating in an ampulla into which the left hepatic and left phrenic veins entered prior to the ampulla entering the caudal vena cava. The diameter of the ductus venosus was significantly narrower (P<0.001) in pups born alive (n=10) when compared to stillborn individuals (n=39). No discreet narrowing of the ductus venosus indicating a sphincter was found, with closure appearing to be uniform along the vessel's length. A well-developed, patent portal venous system was present in the majority of individuals. One pup showed variation from the others studied having a vascular connection between the portal sinus and the vena cava within the liver. This may represent a normal variant of the ductus venosus, or may be an anatomical abnormality leading to the development of an intrahepatic portosystemic shunt. If this was an intrahepatic shunt, no concurrent ductus venosus was present.


: In this thesis study and analysis of stresses, strain and displacement, inflicted on area drum of brake system. Each material used aluminium 356, cast iron and composite material Kevlar has been shown through the analysis of stresses, strain and displacement, said more metals Al Kevlar which commonly used in industry drum for brake system. And during vehicle deceleration due to braking there is friction between the lining surface and the brake drum or disc. In this process the kinetic energy of vehicle is turned into thermal energy that raises temperature of the components. Brakes operate most effectively when they are applied in a manner so that wheels do nolock completely but continue to roll without slipping on the surface of road In this paper of the best configuration that considers the true conditions of use, without passing the safety limits, models and formulations are presented with respect to the brake system, considering different braking condition and kinds of brake In this thesis, braking system is designed and modelled using Pro/Engineer and CATIA. The present used material is Cast Iron. In this project it is replaced with aluminium alloy composite reinforced with coconut ash and composite material Kevlar. The composite materials are more considerable due to their less weight and high strength. Structural and thermal analysis is done on the braking system to determine the stresses and heat transfer rate. Also wear analysis is done for coconut ash composites and found lower


Recent growing interests in the urban heat island phenomenon originate from the
consequences from improper design planning, increased urbanization and deterioration in
the outdoor environment. This phenomenon invites understanding of the basic theories in
modifying urban thermal environment by integrating the key microclimate components of the
dynamic outdoor thermal cycle (wind velocity, humidity, temperature and radiation) in the
whole design process. Such approach has been demonstrated in the use of vegetations and
plant canopies in the fields of urban and landscape planning, architectural design and
environmental engineering. In addition, good plant canopy arrangements and design
approach had been shown to promote latent-heat evaporation and solar shading in
significant way. These approaches, incorporated into the design process, could provide an
equilibrium cycle in mitigating urban heat island. However, despite these and existing
architectural planning and landscape design principles, many planting schemes are poorly
constructed. Therefore, such schemes can be improved through understanding and
implementation of effective urban thermal environment design theories and guidelines. This
paper will describe the importance of investigating the impact of comprehensive
relationships between plant canopy design parameter for thermal comfort and outdoor
thermal environment.


In the first part of publication the authors make a profound review of history of development and qualities of Intra Uterine Devices/IUD's/. There are reflected the first steps dated from the ancient times to come to modern IUD's (Multiload, Copper T. Slimline). In Table 1 and 2 (on W.A.A. van Os) are represented single cases (pregnancy, expulsion and extracted IUD's) related to the modern intrauterine devices: MLCu 250 and MLCu 375 for the periods of 1, 3 and 5 years. In the second part the authors represent their scientific and practical results which has been obtained at the Bulgarian Family Planning and Sexual Health Association and the Ob./Gyn. Department of Medical University-Sofia. A retrospective research has been conducted on 406 women who delivered between 18 and 42 years of age and to which MLCu 375 have been inserted. The so analyzed and presented results show very good qualities of MLCu 375 IUD. The cases' frequency corresponds to the one announced by the world leading practice of contraception.


283 Abstract This paper investigates the effects of integral controller, fuzzy controller,HVDC on an interconnected two area power system in a deregulated environment. The system is simulated using Matlab-Simulink along with controllers. The frequency deviation responses are studied using Matlab-simulink. Robustness of the controller is thus checked and we get a new proposed system with better results i.e. lesser deviation for reliable and quality power supply.


Neurons and glia in the vertebrate central nervous system arise in temporally distinct, albeit overlapping, phases. Neurons are generated first followed by astrocytes and oligodendrocytes from common progenitor cells. Increasing evidence indicates that axon-derived signals spatiotemporally modulate oligodendrocyte maturation and myelin formation. Our previous observations demonstrate that F3/contactin is a functional ligand of Notch during oligodendrocyte maturation, revealing the existence of another group of Notch ligands. Here, we establish that NB-3, a member of the F3/contactin family, acts as a novel Notch ligand to participate in oligodendrocyte generation. NB-3 triggers nuclear translocation of the Notch intracellular domain and promotes oligodendrogliogenesis from progenitor cells and differentiation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells via Deltex1. In primary oligodendrocytes, NB-3 increases myelin-associated glycoprotein transcripts. Thus, the NB-3/Notch signaling pathway may prove to be a molecular handle to treat demyelinating diseases.


The objective of this study was to evaluate to what extent social media platforms are effective on the marketing performances of food companies. Facebook was the most effective platform in terms of some performance criteria such as time-saving, easy access to customers, customer feedback, brand awareness, marketing costs, order taking frequency, and sales amount. The most effective platforms after Facebook in terms of marketing performance are Instagram and Twitter, respectively. Marketing costs and product sales are factors that affect the attitude of food companies towards social media platforms.


"Carbon offsetting"in forestry-related projects is widely regarded as the ideal solution to the three challenges of   the  21st Century:  climate change, biodiversity conservation  andsocio-economic development. At the same time, there is scepticism about the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and  Forest  Degradation (REDD)  proposal  particularly because of   the  weak  governance and institutional capacities in many developing countries, which could jeopardize the delivery of benefits at the local level. One major problem is that most people have little knowledge on the causes and consequences of the climate change. This is partly because the information  is largely scattered among scientific journals, and obscured by jargon and sophisticated  mathematical  models. Consequently, REDD+ is beyond thereach of  manyof the people affected by REDD+. This  paper examines the efforts and the capacity of  the local governments and other development  agents in explaining the REDD + issues and its impacts on the local people, especially customary communities. The research shows that lack of  policy communication and promotion, as well as consultations with the affected groups arethe main contributing factors to latent and manifest conflicts. In turn, this conflicth as proven that NGOs,  district governments and scientists have not been successful intermediaries. Thus, in the future policy communication on REDD+ should beaimed at improved network formation (i.e. between farmer groups with business partners and NGOs  and other related actors), learning, negotiation and relationship building (i.e. between members of farmer groups,  not only withtheir leaders within the farmer groups but also with governmental and business sectors). Policy communication should also create a  new  configuration of   support  and  services in  form  of   advocacy, empowerment and management skills and technical skills for conserving their natural resources, for adaptation to climate change and building more equitable governance and transparency at local level.


We introduce a simple tree growth process that gives rise
to a new two-parameter family of discrete fragmentation trees that
extends Ford's alpha model to multifurcating trees and includes the
trees obtained by uniform sampling from Duquesne and Le Gall's
stable continuum random tree. We call these new trees the
alpha-gamma trees. In this thesis, we obtain their splitting rules,
dislocation measures both in ranked order and in sized-biased order,
and we study their limiting behaviour. We further extend the
underlying exchangeable fragmentation processes of such trees into
partly exchangeable fragmentation processes by weakening the
exchangeability. We obtain the integral representations for the
measures associated with partly exchangeable fragmentation processes
and subordinator of the tagged fragments. We also embed the trees
associated with such processes into continuum random trees and study
their limiting behaviour. In the end, we generate a three-parameter
family of partly exchangeable trees which contains the family of the
alpha-gamma
trees and another important two-parameter family based on Poisson-Dirichlet distributions.


Abstract This paper deals with the research of an intermetallic layer of SAC305 solder balls soldered from three directions of the heat flow in the ball-attach process for BGA package. From the point of view of the heat flow direction, the samples were soldered by infrared heating. The heat sources were placed on the top, bottom and both lateral sides of the BGA package. After the solder balls-attach process, a metallographic cross-section was performed, followed by selective etching to visualize the relief of the intermetallic layer. Images of the interfacial between the solder and solder pad were taken from the created samples, followed by measurement of the average thickness and root mean square roughness of the intermetallic layer. The results showed changes in the intermetallic layer. The largest thickness of the intermetallic layer was observed on samples soldered from the top and both sides. Soldering with the bottom infrared heater resulted to the smallest thickness of the intermetallic layer. The same trend was in the roughness of the IMC layer. The greatest roughness was found for samples soldered by the top and both side heaters. The top soldered samples exhibit the smallest roughness.


The recent emergence of OpenFlow, in the field of networks' control, marks a major evolution in networking. Indeed, Openflow comes up with a centralized control plane (real or virtual) and a remote control of the data plan, which enable network's evolution with unprecedented rapidity. This evolution, come, however, with new challenges and open issues. The data path portion still resides on networking devices, while high-level routing decisions are moved to a separate remote server, which may impact the QoS of the supported services. Particularly, there is a need to guarantee at least the QoS that was formally provided using older and classical distributed protocols. This paper focuses on an improvement of the traditional OpenFlow controllers by providing QoS Routing support for Videoconferencing over OpenFlow networks. The simulation results under Mininet clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


The genus Lavandula is known for its different uses in traditional medicine. This study is interested in the chemical composition of Lavandulapedunculata subsp.atlantica (Braun‐Blanq.) Romo as well as evaluating its antibacterial potential against multi‐resistant strains. The analysis of Lavandulaatlantica essential oil (LAEO) allows the identification of 47 components representing 93.6 % of all identified. The main constituent of LAEO was camphor (50.4 %), followed by fenchone (14.1 %) and camphene (5.6 %). The antibacterial assays revealed that LAEO was active against all the studied bacteria. A preliminary study of the relationship between certain terpenoids and antibacterial activity was also carried out in order to note the compound(s) that are responsible for LAEO's antibacterial activity. This study showed that the activity of the essential oil may be due to the presence of certain minor compounds such as carvone, considering the presence of the synergistic effect between the essential oil.


In this paper will be described an analysis of control problems and technical lifetime modeling of continuous casting device crystallizers. A full exploitation of continuous casting equipment (CCE) advantages can only be achieved through a control system that minimizes all undesirable effects on the technological process. Some of the undesirable effects influencing the CCE process effectiveness are the failures and service interruptions. The failures and service interruptions are caused by a number of factors, impacts and processes that effect and run directly on the equipment in its individual parts during its operation.


From what has been explained above, it can be concluded that the recipient is responsible for the damage that occurred in the Indonesian diplomatic representative building that occurred in Yemen due to the impact of the bomb launched by the Saudi Arabian state on April 20, 2015 which resulted in damage the Indonesian Embassy building in Yemen, but apart from that the diplomatic representative building has been protected under articles 22, 29, 30 and 31 of the Wina Conference in 1961, there is also state responsibility or responsibility of states governing what has happened in the country of Yemen in articles 12 and 13.


After the isolation of pituitary growth hormone (GH) in 1957, this form of GH, always in limited supply, was the only drug available for the treatment of GH deficiency. In 1985, recombinant GH became available, and the modalities of GH therapies changed dramatically as the supply was unlimited. New indications for GH in pediatrics and adult medicine were developed. Treatment was daily. Now in 2021 long‐acting GH (LAGH) became available the world over making GH therapy more patient‐friendly and even showing slightly greater efficacy than daily GH therapy. We are now entering a new era of LAGH therapy for pediatric and adult use with new formulations of GH, which will predictably be the preferred form of GH therapy for years to come increasing adherence to GH therapy and possibly even efficacy, that is, better growth rate. The continued availability of new safety data will further solidify the use of LAGH in clinical medicine.


BACKGROUND
Hospitalization for the older trauma patient is an opportunity to assess polypharmacy. We hypothesized that medication regimen complexity (RxCS) and pain medication prescriptions (PRxs) would increase in older home-going patients admitted for a fall.

METHODS
We retrospectively chart reviewed patients ≥45 years old admitted for a fall at a level 1 trauma center who were discharged home with full medication documentation. RxCS was compared pre-admission and post-discharge with Wilcoxon signed-rank tests; opioid and non-opioid PRxs were compared with Fisher's exact test, α = .05.

RESULTS
103 patients met inclusion criteria; 58% were ≥65 years old. RxCS (9 [.5-13] to 11 [4.5-15], P < .01) increased on discharge. Opioid PRx rates increased significantly in all age groups. Non-opioid PRx rates increased significantly for patients <65 but not for patients ≥65.

CONCLUSIONS
Admission for a fall was associated with increases in RxCS, while PRx changes were age-dependent. Providers should recognize that admissions for older patients who fall after trauma are underutilized opportunities to address polypharmacy in high-risk patients.


Abstract Assessment of the status of iodine prophylaxis was studied in 5,523 schoolchildren randomly selected in all cantons in Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation (BHF). According to the iodine content of household salt samples, all cantons of BHF were divided into two groups: Group A: 95.5% of the salt used is produced in the Tuzla plant, in which the salt is iodized at 5-15 mg Kl/kg salt, and 4.5% of the salt used is produced in the Pag plant, in which the salt is iodized at 20-30 mg Kl/kg of salt, and Group B: 19.9% of the salt used is produced in the Tuzla plant and 80.1% in the Pag plant. In Group A the amount of iodine in salt was significantly lower than in Group B (11.4 mg/kg vs 18.9 mg/kg, P <0.001). In Group A the prevalence of goiter was significantly higher than in Group B (32.6% vs 19.7%, P <0.001). The highest prevalence of goiter was in Bosnian Podrinje Canton (51.2%) and Central Bosnian Canton (42.6%) while the lowest was in West Herzegovina Canton (12.9%). Significantly higher concentrations of urinary iodine were found in Group B than in Group A (82.6 μg/1 vs 75.2 μg/1, P <0.001). In Group A the percentage of urine samples below 50 μg/1 iodine was significantly higher than in Group B (35.6% vs 26.9%, P <0.001), but there was no difference in the percentage of urine samples with iodine values less than 100 μg/1 (70.7 μg/1 vs 68.25 μg/1, P >0.05). We conclude that FBH is an iodine deficient area and that the improvement of iodine prophylaxis is urgently required, primarily by increasing salt iodine content to 20-30 mg/kg, in order to eradicate endemic goiter.


The analysis of the Nahanni earthquakes of October 5, 1985 ( MS 6.6), and December 23, 1985 ( MS 6.9), will have important implications for the assessment of seismic hazards in intraplate environments. To maximize the information available to seismic engineers, broadband data recorded teleseismically are analyzed jointly with strong-motion data recorded in the near field. The time-domain analysis of teleseismic data yields the source mechanisms, depths, and complexities of rupture of each earthquake. Both earthquakes occurred as shallow thrusts with centroid depths (6 to 7 km) and shallowly dipping fault planes that correspond well with the aftershock distributions obtained from a local survey run by the Canadian Geological Survey. The shallow nodal plane for the October 5 earthquake dips 30° to the WSW, while the shallow nodal planes of the subevents for the December 23 earthquake dip an average of 23° to the WSW. The October 5 earthquake has an impulsive initial rupture, followed by a weak subevent of longer duration but smaller moment release. The December 23 earthquake exhibits more complexity, being comprised of three subevents of similar size. The subevent delays derived from the teleseismic analysis are used to help interpret arrivals in records of ground velocity recorded in the near field of the December 23 earthquake. The rupture geometries inferred from the joint near- and far-field analysis suggest that the rupture processes were unusually complicated and that the 2 g peak that occurs late in one of the near-field records could be a localized phenomenon. Spectral analyses of the teleseismic P waves yield the following source parameters for the October 5 and December 23 earthquakes, respectively: the seismic moments are 1.2 and 1.8 × 1026 dyne-cm, the radiated energies are 1.8 and 2.8 × 1021 dyne-cm, and the dynamic stress drops are 65 and 50 bar. The acceleration source spectra of both earthquakes exhibit an intermediate slope (| u α (ω) | ∝ω) from 0.03 to 0.3 Hz, suggesting that the earthquakes represent the failure of asperities. Extrapolating the teleseismic P -wave spectra to estimate the near-field S -wave spectra yields good fits to the acceleration spectra from two strong motion records, but underestimates the spectra from a third strong motion record with the strongest, but possibly localized, accelerations .


For use on E-Ink displays, a typeface is required to convey information. Whether that information be stories to data, legibility of the information is important. E-ink Displays require a difference in typeface usage due to their lack of color as well as low-resolution capabilities in comparison to modern day displays. We developed two typefaces to assess the quality of legibility for use on E-ink displays in an educational or business environment, using the typeface Arial as a standard. Legibility is measured in terms of how many correct words the subject reads aloud and the time taken to initially speak. Time is not used to assess reading speeds, but to establish difficulty in legibility. Three different font sizes are used to determine any lower bound thresholds on legibility that exist within the typeface. These methods allow for a font to be developed and used with E-ink displays for clear communication.


A general methodology is proposed for the synthesis of practically-implementable nonlinear output feedback controllers for spatially-homogeneous particulate processes modeled by population balance equations. Initially, a nonlinear model reduction procedure based on a combination of the method of weighted residuals and the concept of approximate inertial manifold is presented for the construction of low-order ordinary differential equation (ODE) systems that accurately reproduce the dominant dynamics of the particulate process. These ODE systems are then used for the synthesis of nonlinear low-order output feedback controllers that enforce exponential stability in the closed-loop system and achieve particle-size distributions with desired characteristics. Precise closed-loop stability conditions are given and controller implementation issues are discussed. The proposed nonlinear control method is successfully applied to a continuous crystallizer and is shown to outperform a proportional-integral controller and cope effectively with model uncertainty and measurement delays.


We introduce the learned simultaneous iterative reconstruction technique (SIRT) for tomographic reconstruction. The learned SIRT algorithm is a deep learning based reconstruction method combining model knowledge with a learned component. The algorithm is trained by mapping raw measured data to the reconstruction results over several iterations. The Learned SIRT algorithm is applied to a cone beam geometry on a circular orbit, a challenging problem for learned methods due to its 3D geometry and its inherent inability to completely capture the patient anatomy. A comparison of 2D reconstructions is shown, where the learned SIRT approach produces reconstructions with superior peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM), compared to FBP, SIRT and U-net post-processing and similar PSNR and SSIM compared to the learned primal dual algorithm. Similar results are shown for cone beam geometry reconstructions of a 3D Shepp Logan phantom, where we obtain between 9.9 and 28.1 dB improvement over FBP with a substantial improvement in SSIM. Finally we show that our algorithm scales to clinically relevant problems, and performs well when applied to measurements of a physical phantom.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the clinical effect of riboflavin sodium phosphate on prevention of radiotherapy related esophagitis (RRE).

METHODS
This retrospective study involved 55 patients with middle and advanced esophageal cancer who were divided into an experimental group of 28 and a control group of 27 patients. Those in the experimental group were treated with riboflavin sodium phosphate combined with conventional symptomatic treatment during radiotherapy; while patients in control group received the latter alone. The incidence and degree of RRE were compared after radiotherapy.

RESULTS
The incidences of RRE in experimental and control group were 53.5% and 81.4%, respectively (p<0.05); the incidence of stages III and IV RRE in the experimental group was 17.8%, while in the control group it was 44.4% (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION
Riboflavin sodium phosphate could significantly prevent RRE and reduce the incidence of stage III and IV disease. These results were worthy of further confirmation by randomized controlled trials.


The prime objective of the current demonstration activity was to demonstrate farmers and agricultural extension personnel improved enset fermenter then to collect feedback on the performance of the technology showcased. The research was undertaken in Toke Kutaye and Dire Enchini districts involving 45 farmers in the two districts with 98 percent women participation. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis in which narration, explanation and simple descriptive statistics were applied. The result revealed that the variation in duration of fermentation was not statistically significant between the kocho fermentation methods of local and improved device. In the contrary the mean difference of kocho yield using fermentation methods of local and demonstrated device is significant at 5% significant level Furthermore FGDs were held among farmers, development agents, and woreda experts. They positively rated the device as compared to the traditional enset fermenting method and some farmers wondered if they could access the device. On the basis of the results, then it was concluded that the technology demonstrated was of improvement that can render a viable solution to an unaddressed problem faced by women farmers for years. Therefore, the technology would be recommended for wider promotion in pre scaling up/out form in other enset culture areas of Ethiopia.


The timing properties of asynchronous circuits can be summarized using cyclic graphs that capture max-delay constraints between signal transitions. There are many results on the timing analysis problem, but they all make various simplifying assumptions on the connectivity properties of the underlying timing graph. Most results provide approximate timing characteristics, with a few providing exact results on the circuit's timing behavior. In this article, we provide results that exactly characterize the timing properties for a more general class of max-delay constraints. We show that the circuit can be partitioned into regions with different periodicities, and provide an efficient algorithm to compute all the periods of the system.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background. Controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) are noninvasive surrogates for hepatic steatosis and fibrosis, respectively, and could help identify extended criteria donors in liver transplantation (LT). We aimed to determine the accuracy of CAP/LSM in deceased donors along with post-LT changes. Methods. Accuracy of preprocurement CAP/LSM to grade/stage steatosis/fibrosis was determined using liver biopsy as reference. Transplant outcomes, including primary nonfunction (PNF) and early allograft dysfunction, were recorded. Recipients underwent CAP/LSM as outpatients. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve and regression models were constructed to analyze data. Results. We prospectively evaluated 160 allografts (138 transplanted). Same-probe paired baseline/post-LT CAP was 231 dB/m (181–277)/225 (187–261) (P = 0.61), and LSM 7.6 kPa (6.3–10.8)/5.9 (4.6–8.7) (P = 0.002), respectively. CAP reading was affected by BMI and LSM by ALT, race and bilirubin. Although CAP did not correlate with steatosis from frozen sections (ρ = 0.08, P = 0.47), it correlated with steatosis from permanent sections (ρ = 0.32, P < 0.001) and with oil red O histomorphometry (ρ = 0.35, P = 0.001). CAP identified moderate-to-severe steatosis with an areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve curve of 0.79 (0.66–0.91), for a negative predictive value of 100% at a cutoff value of 230 dB/m. LSM correlated with fibrosis staging (ρ = 0.22, P = 0.007) and it identified discarded allografts with advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis. Patients with no to minimal fibrosis had an LSM of 7.6 (6–10.1) kPa. Conclusions. Our results are proof-of-concept of the utility of CAP/LSM during organ procurement. Establishing the precise role of these noninvasive tools in the organ allocation process mandates confirmatory studies.


We consider the problem of segmenting a large population of customers into non-overlapping groups with similar preferences, using diverse preference observations such as purchases, ratings, clicks, etc. over subsets of items. We focus on the setting where the universe of items is large (ranging from thousands to millions) and unstructured (lacking well-defined attributes) and each customer provides observations for only a few items. These data characteristics limit the applicability of existing techniques in marketing and machine learning. To overcome these limitations, we propose a model-based projection technique, which transforms the diverse set of observations into a more comparable scale and deals with missing data by projecting the transformed data onto a low-dimensional space. We then cluster the projected data to obtain the customer segments. Theoretically, we derive precise necessary and sufficient conditions that guarantee asymptotic recovery of the true customer segments. Empirically, we demonstrate the speed and performance of our method in two real-world case studies: (a) 84% improvement in the accuracy of new movie recommendations on the MovieLens data set and (b) 6% improvement in the performance of similar item recommendations algorithm on an offline dataset at eBay. We show that our method outperforms standard latent-class and demographic-based techniques.


Esters are volatile and pleasantly smelling compounds, commonly used as food additives. Using Ti(OBu)4-catalyzed acyl exchange, we demonstrate a scent transmutation experiment, in which two fragrant esters swap their acyl and alkoxy substituents and are, during the course of a reactive distillation, quantitatively converted into two different esters with distinct fragrance properties. We view this simple and appealing experiment as highly suitable for instructional use, since it can be used to teach the concepts of chemical equilibrium, distillation, transesterification, dynamic combinatorial chemistry, and the industrially relevant process of reactive distillation.


Populational studies involve single individual DNA extraction in order to grant further genotyping data. In the case of some parasitic nematodes, the reduced dimensions and high individual number per infestation makes individual genotyping a difficult task. Aiming the development of a protocol we performed adjustments in available methods in order to acquire the best gain in purity and concentration of genomic DNA. Single specimens were digested in Worm Lysis Buffer and submitted to PCR amplification as a concept test. It was possible to obtain good amount and concentration of DNA from individuals. Quality was sufficient to grant subsequent ITS1 sequencing.


New capability for observing conditions in the upper atmosphere comes with the implementation of global ultraviolet (UV) imaging from geosynchronous orbit. Observed by the NASA GOLD mission, the emissions of atomic oxygen (OI) and molecular nitrogen (N2) in the 133–168-nm range can be used to characterize the behavior of these major constituents of the thermosphere. Observations in the ultraviolet from the first 200 days of 2019 indicate that the oxygen emission at 135.6 nm varies much differently than the broader Lyman-Birge-Hopfield (LBH) emission of N2. This is determined from monitoring the average instrument response from two roughly 1000 km2 areas, well separated from one another, at the same time of each day. Variations in the GOLD response to UV emissions in the monitored regions are determined, both in absolute terms and relative to a running 7-day average of GOLD measurements. We find that variations in N2 emissions in the two separate regions are significantly correlated, while oxygen emissions, observed in the same fixed geographic regions at the same universal time each day, exhibit a much lower correlation, and exhibit no correlation with the N2 emissions in the same regions. This indicates that oxygen densities in the airglow-originating altitude range of 150–200 km vary independently from the variations in nitrogen, which are so well correlated across the dayside to suggest a direct connection to variation in solar extreme-UV flux. The relation of the atomic oxygen variations to solar and geomagnetic activity is also shown to be low, suggesting the existence of a regional source that modifies the production of atomic oxygen in the thermosphere.


Recent literature indicates there has been an absence of top management involvement in the development of customer service policies and integration of these policies into the organizational decision making process. This paper discusses the importance of integrating customer service activities into the decision making process of today's manufacturing organizations and thus enhancing development of an organization's competitive advantage. Just‐in‐time systems and new technologies (product, process and information) provide the mechanisms for integration of the various activities across the supply chain. Porter's value system concept is presented as the framework for integrating a firm's activities within the supply chain and improving their performance.


Background In applying 2010 criteria to patients with early inflammatory arthritis, the weighting of serology in the criteria is such that the majority of ACPA positive arthritis patients are classified as RA. A significant proportion of patients with UA have persistent disease1,2. Differences between ACPA negative(-) and ACPA positive(+) patients suggest their disease pathogenesis is divergent. Objectives Compare UA and ACPA- RA, and determine clinical and/or ultrasound (US) features predictive of progression to RA. Methods DMARD-naïve patients with UA or RA (2010 criteria) with outcomes available at 6 months were selected from the Leeds Early inflammatory arthritis cohort (recruitment since 2010). Steroid within the preceding 4 weeks was an exclusion. Patients with UA were categorised as palindromic, oligo- or polyarthritis according to intermittent or persistent joint tenderness and/or swelling and involvement of <4 or ≥4 joints respectively. Results ACPA negativity was observed in 33/37 UA patients and 35/108 RA patients. Baseline characteristics are shown in the table: n(%) or median(IQR), unless otherwise stated. Symptom duration was longer in UA patients, potentially due to a trend towards lower disease activity and lower HAQ in this group. At 6 months, 70% and 89% of patients with UA and ACPA- RA respectively were receiving any DMARD (p=0.08). There were no statistically significant differences (UA vs ACPA- RA) in; median(IQR) DAS44 1.7(1.3-2.4) vs 2.2(1.7-2.7), improvement in DAS44 from baseline 0.7(-0.1-1.3) vs 0.8(0.1-1.7) or HAQ 0.4(0.1-0.8) vs 0.8(0.3-1.0). In patients with UA, 7(19%), 19(51%) and 11(30%) were categorised as palindromic, oligo- and polyarthritis respectively at baseline. Over 6 months, 5/19(26%) of patients with oligoarthritis progressed to polyarthritis, only 1 of these patients(5%) fulfilled 2010 criteria when applied cumulatively. Whereas 3/7(43%) palindromic and 4/11(36%) polyarthritis patients progressed to RA (p=0.02 for comparison between oligoarthritis and palindromic/polyarthritis combined). Of palindromic UA 2 patients had subclinical synovitis on US, both of whom progressed to RA (1 patient was ACPA+). Baseline US findings were not significantly associated with progression to RA or need for DMARD over 6 months amongst oligoarthritis or UA patients overall. Conclusions Clinically important levels of disease activity and disability exist in patients with UA. Differences in clinical phenotype of patients with UA may be predictive of disease progression. References Krabben A, et al. ARD 2012;71(2):238-41. van der Helm-van Mil A, Huizinga TW. ARD 2012;71:1596-8. Disclosure of Interest S. Horton: None Declared, R. Wakefield: None Declared, A. L. Tan: None Declared, J. Freeston: None Declared, M. Buch Consultant for: Abbot, Pfizer, Roche, Chugai, BMS, UCB, P. Emery Consultant for: Abbot, Pfizer, Roche, Chugai, BMS, UCB, MSD


Diphenyl and methyl phenyl sulfones and sulfoxides and dibenzothiophene sulfone were treated at 460 °C with water, 15% aqueous formic acid, and 15% aqueous sodium formate. Thermal comparisons were run in cyclohexane, and for those compounds and conditions that resulted in fast conversion after 7 min at 460 °C, also at lower temperatures. Sulfoxides are highly reactive, sulfones less so. Reactivity is greatest in 15% aqueous sodium formate followed by formic acid for the sulfones; this reactivity order is inverted for the sulfoxides. In all of the aqueous media, ionic reactions dominate. The sulfoxides are mainly deoxygenated to the corresponding sulfides, while C−S bond cleavage is more important for the sulfones. Product slates are identified and analyzed, and reaction pathways are suggested for the transformations found.


The authors discuss the problem of mapping algorithms for real-time processing of digital video signals onto a fixed configuration of identical programmable video signal processors. Due to the periodic nature of the algorithms and the small periods that are involved, successive executions of the algorithm have to be interleaved in time. The resulting scheduling problem is mathematically modeled and examined. The authors present a novel solution approach that is based on a divide-and-conquer strategy using phase assignment as the central part. This approach has been implemented and it gives good results for industrially significant video applications. Specifically, the proposed approach has been implemented in only 1300 lines of C and has been applied to a number of problem instances, whose signal flow graphs originate from industrially relevant algorithms, including contour enhancement and progressive scan, noise reduction, 4:3 to 16:9 screen format conversion, and a very elaborate progressive scan algorithm.<<ETX>>


The authors elaborated the prognosis of requirements of oral antidiabetics (PAD) in the CSR, based on the estimate of the number of diabetics, using the method of demographic projection and the estimate of the number of diabetics treated by this therapy. The respective numbers of diabetics are circulated for five-year age-groups, separately for men and women. The need of PAD is derived from the mean daily dose per diabetic patient treated with PAD, separately for biguanides and derivatives of sulphonyl urea. The prognosis respects the basic factors which influence the need of PAD, i.e. the development of the diabetic population, incl. the evolution of its structure, and the development of the attitude to PAD therapy. The application of various assumptions on the future development leads various to variants of the prognosis. Comparison with the actual development is important for evaluation of applied therapeutic methods and for planning purposes. The results of the prognosis indicate that in 1995 the need of PAD in the CSR will vary between 140 and 190% of the consumption in 1980, however, as a result of an uneven development the annual increment could be as high as 19% or there could be a slight drop.


A new stereoelectronic theory for the cleavage of the tetrahedral intermediate (hemiorthoamide) in the hydrolysis of amides is presented. In this new theory, the precise conformation of the tetrahedral intermediate controls the nature of the hydrolysis products. It is postulated that the breakdown of the tetrahedral intermediate depends upon the orientation of the lone pair orbitals of the heteroatoms. Specific cleavage of a carbon–oxygen or a carbon–nitrogen bond in any conformer is allowed only if the other heteroatoms (oxygen and nitrogen) each have an orbital oriented antiperiplanar to the leaving O-alkyl or N-alkyl group. Experimentally, a study of the basic hydrolysis of a variety of N,N-dialkylated imidate salts having either a syn or an anti conformation demonstrates clearly that there is a stereoelectronic control in the cleavage of the hemiorthoamide.


Background: Evidence suggests that there are clinical features associated with a less favorable prognosis among patients with HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer (MBC) such as metastases to non-bone sites, including liver and lung, and negative progesterone receptor (PgR-) status. The objective of this study was to compare baseline characteristics and outcomes between those with and without these clinical factors among a cohort of HR+/HER2- MBC patients treated with a CDK4&6 inhibitor (CDK4&6i). Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of the Flatiron Health electronic health records-derived database for US patients diagnosed with MBC between 1/1/2011 and 9/30/2017. The study included a random sample of patients with HR+/HER2- MBC who were treated with a CDK4&6i on or after 6/30/2016. Baseline variables, including demographics, comorbidities, and sites of metastasis, were recorded at start of the first CDK4&6i containing line of therapy in the metastatic setting on or after this date. Dates of real-world progression were abstracted from patient charts. Descriptive statistics and appropriate statistical tests were used to compare baseline characteristics between patients with or without select clinical factors associated with unfavorable outcomes. In patients who received a CDK4&6i-based therapy, Kaplan–Meier methods and univariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess real-world progression free survival (rwPFS) by line from start of line to the date of first progression or death within line (unadjusted for treatment and other potential confounders). Results: 518 patients were included in this study. Median age at metastatic diagnosis was 66y (IQR; 59-73y); 99% female and 11.4% had PgR- status. At baseline, 20.5%, 46.3%% and 65.8% of patients had liver, visceral (defined as liver and/or lung), and non-bone only metastases, respectively. Among a total of 207 patients who received a CDK4&6i as initial therapy in the metastatic setting, 69.1% received it in combination with an aromatase inhibitor, 29.5% received it in combination with fulvestrant, and 1.4% as monotherapy. Within the same group, 58 had disease progression or died during first line (1L); median rwPFS measured from start of 1L was not reached (95% CI: 10.7 months, NA). Univariable analyses revealed the presence of liver metastases was associated with a higher risk of progression or death compared to no liver metastases (HR: 2.04, 95% CI: 1.13 - 3.68). Having non bone-only metastases was associated with a higher risk of progression or death compared to having bone-only metastases (HR: 2.23, 95% CI: 1.20 – 4.15). Univariable analyses did not reveal any statistically significant differences in first-line rwPFS by PgR status or presence of visceral metastases. Results from other lines of therapy are forthcoming. Conclusion: In a real world data set, and consistent with prior prospective data, presence of liver and non-bone only metastases were associated with a higher risk of progression among patients with HR+/HER2- MBC receiving initial therapy with a CDK4&6i. The heterogeneity of prognoses among this population reinforces the need to consider these clinical features in treatment decisions for optimal patient outcomes. Citation Format: Saverno KR, Carter GC, Li L, Battiato LA, Huang Y-J, Smyth EN, Price GL, Sheffield KM, Baxi SS, Kuk D, Seidman AD. Influence of prognostic factors on outcomes among metastatic breast cancer patients treated with CDK4&6 inhibitors in routine clinical practice [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-08-38.


Face synthesis has been a fascinating yet challenging problem in computer vision and machine learning. Its main research effort is to design algorithms to generate photo-realistic face images via given semantic domain. It has been a crucial prepossessing step of main-stream face recognition approaches and an excellent test of AI ability to use complicated probability distributions. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of typical face synthesis works that involve traditional methods as well as advanced deep learning approaches. Particularly, Generative Adversarial Net (GAN) is highlighted to generate photo-realistic and identity preserving results. Furthermore, the public available databases and evaluation metrics are introduced in details. We end the review with discussing unsolved difficulties and promising directions for future research.


Manado, the capital city of North Sulawesi, is a unique region in Indonesia because of its religion. We collected peripheral blood samples from 63 individuals on antiretroviral therapy. The amplification of viral genomic fragments, viral subtyping, detection of HIV drug resistance-associated mutations (DRAMs), and phylogenetic analyses were performed. Viral subtyping revealed that the most prevalent HIV type 1 (HIV-1) subtype/circulating recombinant form (CRF) was CRF01_AE (84.1%), followed by subtype B (6.8%) and recombinants between CRF01_AE and CRF02_AG (4.5%). Although no major DRAMs were present in protease genes, they were detected in reverse transcriptase (RT) genes. Nine of 38 samples (23.7%) had major DRAMs against nucleoside RT inhibitors (NRTIs) and/or non-NRTIs. The results of phylogenetic analyses indicated that CRF01_AE in North Sulawesi is related to that in Bali. Therefore, Bali may play an important role in circulating CRF01_AE in North Sulawesi.