Mammalian development can be viewed as a series of restrictions in cell potency. As the embryo undergoes cleavage, implantation and gastrulation, cell potency is gradually restricted (with the exception of the germline) until cells commit to a particular pathway of differentiation. This process depends on the generation of heritable epigenetic states that must be perpetuated as the embryoprogresses in development. How are these epigenetic states established and maintained? In this issue of the Journal of Cellular Physiology, four articles summarize recent advances in our understanding of signaling events, cell movements and epigeneticmechanisms that control cell fate and shape the early mouse embryo. X-inactivation is a prime example of an epigenetic phenomenon that regulates early mammalian development. Twenty years ago, the realization that Xist was responsible for silencing the X-chromosome (Brown et al., 1991), opened the door to fascinating epigenetic discoveries. Today, Xinactivation research continues to generate captivating and provocative results. As highlighted in the article by S. Kalantry, recent studies, suggest that there can be X-chromosome inactivation in the absence of Xist. In addition, RNF12 has been proposed to be at the core of the long sought counting mechanism by which a cell senses the number of Xchromosomes that it harbors. The article by Trask and Mager examines the role of chromatin remodeling complexes in the establishment and maintenance of embryonic epigenetic marks. Interestingly, this field of research was greatly aided by the positional cloning of Eed (Schumacher et al., 1996), a lethal mutation that affects gastrulation and whose gene codes for a member of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2).Eedmutants have been instrumental in studies that linked PRC2 to the maintenance of chromatin modifications leading to imprinted and random X-inactivation. Since then a plethora of members of the PRC2 and other chromatin remodeling complexes have been identified inmice and the search continues for the identification of polycomb responsive elements in the genome. Sunmonu and co-workers explore the role of Fgf8, a gene required for cell movements during gastrulation that, like Eed, is essential for embryo survival (Sun et al., 1999). Fgf8 hasmultiple pleiotropic effects and is required later for brain, limb and craniofacial development. How does one gene fulfill all these roles? Fgf8 codes for eight splice variants that produce distinct protein isoforms that vary in their N-termini and receptor binding affinity. As the authors suggest, the answermay lie in the concerted action of different isoforms depending on the cellular context. How the expression of the different splice variants is controlled during development remains an exciting area of study. The article by K. Tremblay explores the cell movements and signaling events that specify the liver. Three major signaling pathways, FGF, BMP, and WNT are the main players in liver budding events inmice. However, as stressed by the author, the challenge to liver research is to linkmorphological changeswith changes in gene expression prior to and at the onset of liver induction as they occur in the embryo. Here, cell fate studies of liver precursors take center stage since they can be used to link patterns of gene expression to precursors in the endoderm or to indicate target tissues for high throughput studies that in turn will create novel avenues of research. It is increasingly being recognized that epigenetic abnormalities are the root cause of disease pathogenesis. For example, recent studies suggest that cancer is caused by pathological epigenetic changes (Berdasco and Esteller, 2010). As evidenced in this series, the early mouse embryo is a premier setting for studying the mechanisms that orchestrate and maintain the epigenetic changes that establish cell fate. As such, the study of early mouse embryogenesis has pragmatic reverberations that resonate far beyond the fundamental goal of deciphering how the mouse embryo is shaped.


Abstract This article reports findings from a one-year evaluation of a kindergarten math enrichment program. A randomized design was used to assess the impact of High 5s on children's math skills, attitudes towards math, language ability, and executive function for a sample of kindergarten students in New York City. High 5s math clubs were designed to provide small group math enrichment delivered in a game-like format. Participants included 655 kindergarten students in 24 schools. Students assigned to the High 5s group met outside of class in small groups with a trained facilitator three times per week. The High 5s program produced a positive impact on one of two measures of math skills. We find no impact of the program on other outcomes.


This invention is directed to new inhibitors of the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase having the general formula (I)
to processes for their preparation; to pharmaceutical compositions comprising them; and to their use in therapy.


Although most patients with uterine myomas are asymptomatic during pregnancy, profound enlargement of a pedunculated myoma has serious consequences. In the present case, gradual enlargement of a pedunculated myoma was observed throughout a woman's pregnancy, worsening after delivery and causing hypovolemic shock, without evidence of external or intra‐abdominal hemorrhage. Laparotomy revealed a severely edematous myoma containing a large amount of blood. It is speculated that partial occlusion had obstructed venous return, but not arterial blood flow, which caused rapid enlargement of the myoma.


The acoustic velocity, attenuation, and their pressure dependence of a bulk metallic glass Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10.0Be22.5 have been measured under pressures up to 0.5 GPa at room temperature using the pulse echo overlap method. The sample was prepared from melt by quenching into liquid nitrogen. Bulk modulus, Young's modulus, shear modulus, and Poisson's ratio were derived, other elastic properties and vibrational anharmonicity were also discussed.


The microbial ecosystem in the udders of dairy cows directly influences the flavor and quality of milk. However, to our knowledge, no published research has analyzed the complex relationship between the udder microbiome and its associated metabolism in animals with subclinical mastitis. We identified the bacterial species and measured relative population numbers in the milk of cows with subclinical Streptococcus agalactiae mastitis (GBS) and compared this information to that from the milk of healthy cows. Metabolite profiles were determined to investigate correlations between the milk microbiota and metabolic factors in healthy vs. GBS dairy cows. Six milk samples from GBS cows and six from healthy cows were subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing to identify the microbial species using a MiSeq high-throughput sequencing apparatus. The metabolites present in the milk were identified by gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Both principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis indicated that the metabolites were well-separated from each other in the milk samples from the two groups. GBS dramatically altered microbial diversity, and the GBS group had significantly fewer Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria than the CON group, with greater relative abundance of Firmicutes (p < 0.01). Several bacterial genera, such as Streptococcus, were significantly more abundant in milk from the GBS group than in milk from the CON group, and there was a tendency for greater abundance of Turicibacter (p = 0.07) and Enterococcus spp. (p = 0.07) in the GBS group. The levels of five milk metabolites were significantly higher in the GBS group than in the CON group: phenylpyruvic acid, the homogentisic acid: 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid ratio, the xanthine: guanine ratio, uridine and glycerol. Metabolic pathway analysis of the different metabolites revealed that the following were enriched in both groups: galactose metabolism; pentose and glucuronate interconversion; starch and sucrose metabolism; alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism; arginine biosynthesis; citrate cycle (TCA cycle); D-glutamine and D-glutamate metabolism; and the neomycin, kanamycin, and gentamicin biosynthesis pathways. Several typical metabolites were highly correlated with specific ruminal bacteria, such as Streptococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Lactobacillaceae and Corynebacteriaceae, demonstrating the functional correlations between the milk microbiome and associated metabolites. These findings revealed that the milk microbiota and metabolite profiles were significantly different between the two groups of cows, raising the question of whether the microbiota associated with the bovine mammary gland could be related to mammary gland health. There was also a relationship between milk quality and the presence of spoilage bacteria. Other bacterial taxa should be investigated, as related information may provide insights into how perturbations in milk metabolomics profiles relate to differences in milk synthesis between healthy cows and those with subclinical mastitis.


Two different conformational isomers of propanal, cis and gauche, are investigated by the vacuum-UV mass-analyzed threshold ionization (VUV-MATI) spectroscopy to give accurate adiabatic ionization potentials of 9.9997 +/- 0.0006 eV and 9.9516 +/- 0.0006 eV, respectively. cis-Propanal, which is the more stable conformer in the neutral state, becomes less stable in the cation compared to gauche-propanal. Vibrational structures revealed in the MATI spectra indicate that cis and gauche isomers undergo their unique structural changes upon ionization. The ionization of gauche-propanal induces a geometrical change along the conformational coordinate, suggesting that the steric effect in the ground state is diminished upon ionization. Natural bonding orbital (NBO) calculations provide the extent of hyperconjugation in each conformational isomer of propanal.


Your writing assignment for the quarter is to prepare a ten-page research article (in progress) that you would complete as a thirtyto forty-page manuscript for an article if you had time to undertake the empirical research. In its format your article (in progress) should include the following parts (more or less in this order): 1. A Statement of Your Research Question. 2. Examination of Alternative Answers to this Question Found in the Literature. 3. Your Answer or Thesis. 4. A Description of the Research Design That Will Adjudicate Among These Competing Answers.


The main objective of this paper is to examine the link between remittances and economic growth in Bangladesh based on annual time series data ranges from 1976 to 2011. Using Granger causalities under Vector Autoregression (VAR) methodology to investigate the six possible directions that might link remittances and economic growth, trade and economic growth; and inflation and economic growth, we found bi-directional causality between remittances and economic growth, uni-directional causality between inflation and economic growth and no causality between trade and economic growth. In short period using impulse response functions, shocks on remittance growth could help to explain the effects on economic growth and similarly shocks on economic growth could help to explain the remittances growth in Bangladesh.


We examine empirically the impact of ethnic divisions on conflict, by using a specification based on Esteban and Ray (2011). That theory links conflict intensity to three indices of ethnic distribution: polarization, fractionalization, and the Gini-Greenberg index. The empirical analysis verifies that these distributional measures are significant correlates of conflict. These effects persist as we introduce country-specific measures of group cohesion and of the importance of public goods, and combine them with the distributional measures exactly as described by the theory. (JEL D63, D74, J15, O15, O17)


This classroom study is a qualitative integration of assessments and instruction as part of the regular classroom routine. Instructional scaffolds were specifically chosen to support the writing development of a second language learner with diagnosed learning disabilities. Instructional scaffolds selected to support the development of the subject's writing included: (1) Modeling writing through shared writing, personal journal instruction, and conferences; (2) Context embedded learning experiences that were cognitively demanding through direct teaching and instruction; (3) Activating background knowledge to provide the subject with a purpose of writing; (4) Metacognition thinking about writing. The methodology used to observe and evaluate the subject's written works included: (1) Anecdotal records taken before, during, and after the writing process; (2) One-on-one conferences that took place as part of the feedback process in writing; (3) Direct teaching of specific concepts: the alphabetic principle, story schema, writing process and independent writing; (4) Teacher-student conferences to determine the subject's understanding of the writing process. The assessments used to support the promotion of learning and development through instructional scaffolds include anecdotal records, Marie's Clay's letter and sound identification, and student independent writing partnered with teacher reflection. The results revealed that the second language learner developed significantly in his writing through scaffolded instruction showing development that ranged from early to early fluent. This study validates that English language learners with diagnosed learning disabilities need individualized support that is specially


BACKGROUND
To educate children with chronic diseases in the least restrictive environment, schools must prevent, recognize, and react appropriately to symptom exacerbations. Schools are often pushed to their limits of knowledge, resources, and comfort level. This study determined the health conditions of students for whom districts seek school physician consultation and the nature of school physician consultants' involvement.

METHODS
A retrospective record review was performed on 250 of the most recent records of school-elicited referrals from an academic center that provides physician consultation to school districts. Referrals were sent from 8 school districts in southern California (July 1996 to October 2006). Data collected were nature of student's special health need, the school physician consultant's intervention required to satisfy schools' needs, student grade level, enrollment in special education, and health-related excessive absenteeism.

RESULTS
No single chronic condition, symptom, or special health care need predominated. Six types of school physician consultant activities were used to overcome hurdles schools faced when accommodating students with special health care needs. The 3 most common were direct communication with students' own physicians (70% of students), recommending an appropriate level of school health services when this was a matter of controversy (42%), and formulating portions of students' individualized school health plans (38%).

CONCLUSIONS
A portion of students with special health care needs benefited from district referral to a school physician consultant. Whether some of these referrals can be avoided if school personnel and students' own physicians are supported and trained to communicate more effectively with one another needs to be explored.


Starting from the work of Bhupal [Bh01], we extend to the contact case the Viterbo capacity and Traynor's construction of symplectic homology. As an application we get a new proof of the Non-Squeezing Theorem of Eliashberg, Kim and Polterovich [EKP06].


Music performance anxiety (MPA) is considered non-beneficial but its debilitating aspects are not directly addressed in current questionnaires ("general MPA"). Together with general MPA, we assessed "debilitating MPA" with questions about aspects that debilitate musical performance. In addition, since musicians often experience a beneficial aspect of MPA in the form of a performance boost, we assessed this boost with additional questionnaire items. The first goal of our questionnaire survey was to investigate whether general MPA is perceived as part of the same continuum as performance boost. Our second goal was to determine which aspects of MPA may lead to a downward spiral of a musical career. The results of our questionnaire survey of 320 professional and student musicians show that general MPA does not lie at the other end of the spectrum of boost. Instead, debilitating MPA with a weak career impact was influenced by boost and performance confidence. Debilitating MPA with a strong career impact was influenced by health and mental distress. Debilitating and general MPA were related to perceived pressure, whereas boost was related to perceived support. Perceived pressure and support might be more accessible anchor points in the treatment of MPA, and in the maintenance of a stimulating level of boost.


Complementary DNA enriched in sequences hybridizing to beta-globin mRNA was prepared with viral RNA-dependent DNA polymerase and used as a probe for the presence of beta-globin mRNA in nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA from two Italian patients with beta0-thalassaemia. In both cases the beta-globin gene was present and cytoplasmic mRNAbeta was absent; however, one case appeared to transcribe mRNAbeta and to fail to process it, while the other appeared transcriptionally defective. Evidence is also presented that the low levels of hybridization usually found at high RNA/cDNAbeta ratios in beta0-thalassaemia are due to delta-globin mRNA; the melting profile of the hybrid formed has been determined and a low melting temperature relative to mRNAbeta - cDNAbeta demonstrated.


A two–state quantum system (a qubit) can carry one bit of classical information. If two bits are not encoded into two qubits separately, but only into their joint properties, entangled states result. It is shown explicitly how quantum teleportation utilizes this feature and how the randomness of the individual quantum event prohibits instantaneous communication.


The transfer of energy from ionizing radiation to matter involves a series of steps. In wide ranges of their energy spectra photons and neutrons transfer energy to an irradiated medium almost exclusively by the production of charged particles which ionize and thereby produce electrons that can ionize in turn. The examination of these processes leads to a series of intermediate quantities. One of these is kerma, which has long been employed as a measure of the energy imparted in the first of the interactions. It depends only on the fluence of uncharged particles and is therefore--unlike absorbed dose and electron fluence--insensitive to local differences of receptor geometry and composition. An analogous quantity for charged-particle fields, cema (converted energy per unit mass), is defined, which quantifies the energy imparted in terms of the interactions of charged particles, disregarding energy dissipation by secondary electrons. Cema can be expressed as an integral over the fluence of ions times their stopping power. However, complications arise when the charged particles are electrons, and when their fluence cannot be separated from that of the secondaries. The resulting difficulty can be circumvented by the definition of reduced cema. This quantity corresponds largely to the concept employed in the cavity theory of Spencer and Attix. In reduced cema not all secondary electrons but all electrons below a chosen cutoff energy, delta, are considered to be absorbed locally. When the cutoff energy is reduced, cema approaches absorbed dose and thereby becomes sensitive to highly local differences in geometry or composition. With larger values of delta, reduced cema is a useful parameter to specify the dose-generating potential of a charged-particle field 'free in air' or in vacuo. It is nearly equal to the mean absorbed dose in a sphere with radius equal to the range of electrons of energy delta. Reduced cema is a function of the fluence at the specified location at and above the chosen cutoff energy. Its definition requires a modification of restricted linear collision stopping power, L delta, and it is recommended that the definition of L delta be so changed.


Theoretical model is developed to determine the radial electric field and the fast ion loss simultaneously in stellarators, and is applied to the Wendelstein VII-A stellarator. The predicted value of the radial electric field is more closer to experiments than the purely neoclassical calculation. The loss rate, which is determined simultaneously, is in the range of experimental observations. The partition of the injection energy by the bulk heating, direct orbit loss and shine through is estimated by using the selfconsistent electric field profile. The orbit loss becomes noticeable as the injection energy increases. The influence of the neutral particles is also studied. Neutral particles enhance the negative radial electric field, and reduce the direct orbit loss by the expense of the charge exchange loss. The impact of the increased radial electric field on the neoclassical ion thermal energy loss is compared to the direct loss of fast ions. The reduction of the neoclassical loss is much smaller than th...


Highly successful industrial clusters exist outside Italy and the developed world. Sialkot, in Pakistan, is the location of a thriving surgical instrument manufacturing cluster, dominated by small business and mainly exporting to high-quality markets in Western Europe and America. Clustering has allowed small businesses to become highly specialized, and to benefit from external economies and joint action. This article describes the origins of the cluster in Sialkot's history, analyses the extent and benefits of vertical and horizontal co-operation, and indicates how external institutions have supported the growth of the surgical instruments industry.


Einstein's 1905 (Einstein 1905 Ann. Phys. 17 549) paper on Brownian motion is his most cited work, yet in terms of the scope of its application, apparently the least understood. In this brief note, I look at some examples of problems involving frictional forces that have puzzled school teachers, university lecturers and students, all of which can be understood from a proper appreciation of the relation between fluctuations and dissipation. For completeness I shall first give a simple derivation of a fluctuation-dissipation theorem, followed by three examples.


Eight lactating Holsteins cows were distributed in a 4x4 replicated Latin square in the summer for 72 days. The objective of this research was to study the effect of four levels of cationic diets on the composition and physic-chemistries parameters of milk in cows after the lactation peak. For dietary cation anion balance manipulation, different concentrations of the sodium bicarbonate were added in the diets and the following treatments were obtainned: +150, +250, +400 e +500mEq kg -1 DM. The diets did not affect fat percentage and variables, density and crioscopic indice in the milk. Milk pH increased linearly and acidity decreased cubically with increased of dietary CAB.


Introduction: Identification of passive suicidal ideas as a clinical relevant risk factor contributes to shedding light on the etiological picture of clinical depression and suicide phenomena among cancer patients. Unfortunately, in Macedonia we do not have standardized psychological techniques which will assess suicidal ideation during psycho diagnostic procedure.
Objectives: The aim of this study is twofold. The first aim is to investigate whether we can use the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), for the first time in Macedonia, translated on Macedonian language (Miloseva, 2014), item 9 in order to screen passive suicidal ideation. The second aim is to describe the nature of " better to be death thoughts or hurting own self in some way" reported with structure clinical interviews carried out in order to further asses passive suicidal thoughts of participants, cancer patients, who hade endorsed item 9 of this scale.
Material and Methods: In the frame of the UGD supported project, the data were collected from Department for maxillofacial surgery, Clinical Hospital, Stip, Macedonia, during the period 2014-2015. The final survey sample consists of 90 patients (64 % female and 36% male) aged 19-70 years. Inclusive criteria: patients were diagnosed with cancer in maxillofacial region. We applied: Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), for the first time in Macedonia, translated on Macedonian language and structured clinical interview. One week after they become familiar with the diagnose they fill up PHQ-9 scale, and after three weeks clinical interviews were carried out. Written informed consent was obtained by all study participants.
Results: First of all we checked the reliability (Cronbach`s alpha) for the PHQ-9 scale translated on Macedonian language and sample. The reliability coefficient was good (alpha> 0.85). We found that patients with diagnosed cancer who endorsed "passive suicide ideas item 9" were more likely to have suicidal thoughts which were described latter on during clinical interview. We analyzed thoughts reported by patients in the frame of modified categories of suicidality based on Walker et al. (2011). Of 52 (57.77%) of patients who endorsed item 9 with "yes", the highest percentige was in category with passive suicidal thoughts 32 (61.54%).
Conclusion: We have confirmed our expectations that we can use Macedonian translated version of PHQ-9 scale, item 9 ("Thoughts that you will be better to be dead or of hurting yourself in some way") in combination with clinical structured interview in order to asses passive suicidal ideation. Due to the limitation of this study, more studies are needed in future. There is a need of multidisciplinary work and teams between maxillofacial surgeons, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist and oncologist.

Key words: passive; suicide ideas, depression, risk factors ; suicde.


Post-operative inferior vena cava (IVC) obstruction is reported as an uncommon complication after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). We report 6 cases after 245 OLT's in the period between March '79 and December '92. Compression or torsion of the IVC or a technical problem were underlying causes. Oligo-anuria was observed in almost all patients and was probably caused by renal vein hypertension. Doppler ultrasound has become an important tool for the diagnosis of this complication. Operative treatment was performed in almost all cases in order to correct causative factors. Thrombi above or at the level of the upper anastomosis of the IVC should be removed via the right atrium, during cardio-pulmonary bypass, in order to prevent pulmonary embolism. Thrombi in the IVC caudal to the liver can be removed by cavotomy with high positive end expiratory pressure ventilation.


Additive manufacturing has rapidly revolutionized the medical sectors since it is a versatile, cost-effective, assembly free technique with the ability to replicate geometrically complicated features. Some of the widely reported applications include the printing of scaffolds, implants, or microfluidic devices. In this study, a 3D-printed micro-perfused culture (MPC) device embedded with a nanofibrous scaffold was designed to create an integrated micro-perfused 3D cell culture environment for living cells. The addition of 3D fibrous scaffold onto the microfluidic chip was to provide a more physiologically relevant microenvironment for cell culture studies. Stereolithography was adopted in this study as this technique obviates excessive preassembly and bonding steps, which would otherwise be needed in conventional microfluidic fabrication. Huh7.5 hepatocellular carcinoma cells were used as model cells for this platform since liver cells experience similar perfused microenvironment. Preliminary cell studies revealed that gene expressions of albumin (ALB) and cytochrome P450 isoform (CYP3A7) were found to be significantly upregulated on the 3D-printed MPC device as compared to the static counterpart. Taken together, the 3D-printed MPC device is shown to be a physiologically relevant platform for the maintenance of liver cells. The device and printing technique developed in this study is highly versatile and tailorable to mimic local in vivo microenvironment needs of various tissues, which could be studied in future.


Purpose

This paper aims to develop an interpretative framework of the evolution of social impact investment (SII) in different countries. SII is a strategy of asset allocation, which combines financial profitability with a measurable social and environmental impact.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a thematic analysis of 75 documents, i.e. reports, experts' considerations, reflections on practitioners' experience, meetings' minutes, written by the SII Taskforce of the Group of Eight and the relative National Advisory Boards, the authors identify the main themes connected to the topic of SII development and recognize four main elements useful to segment the market, namely, information asymmetry, financial instruments, source of capital and market intermediation.

Findings

They map the ongoing practices in the Group of Eight's members and distinguish two speeds in the evolution of SII: on one hand, there is a group of roadrunners, which pave the way to SII and in which SII activities have being institutionalized; on the other hand, there is a wider group of chasers, where the SII infrastructures lack any systematization.

Originality/value

Although some authors provide preliminary interpretations of the SII evolution, they mainly focus on the national level and do not provide any cross-countries analysis. The findings of the present work contribute to overcome the lack of evidence characterizing the SII field and the absence of comparable and consistent data at the global level by filling the academic literature about SII, through a structured interpretative framework.


It is agreed that mantle dynamics have played a role in generating and maintaining the elevated topography of Anatolia during Neogene times. However, there is debate about the relative importance of subduction zone and asthenospheric processes. Key issues concern onset and cause of regional uplift, thickness of the lithospheric plate, and the presence/absence of temperature and/or compositional anomalies within the convecting mantle. Here, we tackle these interlinked issues by analyzing and modeling two disparate suites of observations. First, a drainage inventory of 1,844 longitudinal river profiles is assembled. This database is inverted to calculate the variation of Neogene regional uplift through time and space by minimizing the misfit between observed and calculated river profiles subject to independent calibration. Our results suggest that regional uplift commenced at 20 Ma in the east and propagated westward. Second, we have assembled a database of geochemical analyses of basaltic rocks. Two different approaches have been used to quantitatively model this database with a view to determining the depth and degree of asthenospheric melting across Anatolia. Our results suggest that melting occurs at depths as shallow as 60 km in the presence of mantle potential temperatures as high as 1400°C. There is evidence that temperatures are higher in the east, consistent with the pattern of subplate shear wave velocity anomalies. Our combined results are consistent with isostatic and admittance analyses and suggest that elevated asthenospheric temperatures beneath thinned Anatolian lithosphere have played a first‐order role in generating and maintaining regional dynamic topography and basaltic magmatism.


Abstract U.S. fair-lending law prohibits lenders from making credit determinations that disparately affect minority borrowers if those determinations are based on characteristics unrelated to creditworthiness. Using an identification under this rule, we show risk-equivalent Latinx/Black borrowers pay significantly higher interest rates on GSE-securitized and FHA-insured loans, particularly in high-minority-share neighborhoods. We estimate these rate differences cost minority borrowers over $450 million yearly. FinTech lenders' rate disparities were similar to those of non-Fintech lenders for GSE mortgages, but lower for FHA mortgages issued in 2009–2015 and for FHA refi mortgages issued in 2018–2019.


Exact analytical solutions based on Laplace transforms are derived for describing the one-dimensional space- and time-dependent advective transport of a decaying species in a layered, fractured, saturated rock system. The rock layers are parallel and horizontal and of uniform thickness. The fracture intersects normally to the rock layers and is of varying aperture across its length. The fracture network is serial in nature and of uniform thickness within each layer. Fluid movement is assumed to be exclusive to the fracture network. These solutions, which account for advection in fracture, molecular diffusion into the rock matrix, adsorption in both fracture and matrix, and radioactive decay, predict the concentrations in both fracture and rock matrix and the cumulative mass in the fracture. The solute migration domain in both fracture and rock is assumed to be semi-infinite with nonzero initial conditions. The concentration of each nuclide at the source is allowed to decay either continuously or according to some periodical fluctuations where both are subjected to either a step or band release mode. Two numerical examples related to the transport of [sup 237]Np and [sup 245]Cm in a five-layered system of fractured rock are used to verify these solutions with several well-established evaluationmore » methods of Laplace inversion integrals in the real and complex domain. In addition, with respect to the model parameters, a comparison of the analytically derived local sensitivities for the concentration and cumulative mass of [sup 237]Np in the fracture with the ones obtained through a finite difference method of approximation is also reported.« less


PURPOSE
Improved surgical techniques enable more favorable results in the management of persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous (PHPV). The purpose of our study was to evaluate the outcome of PHPV eyes managed conservatively or after surgery (with or without intraocular lens implantation).

METHODS
A total of 89 children (37 boys, 52 girls) with PHPV in one eye (mean follow-up of 6.3 +/- 5.7 years) were included. The children were subgrouped according to treatment modality. Twenty-eight (31.5%) children were managed conservatively (nonoperated). Cataract extraction combined with vitrectomy and removal of embryonic remnants was carried out in 61 eyes (68.5%). Intraocular lenses were implanted in 30 of the operated eyes (pseudophakic) and 31 eyes remained without lens (aphakic).

RESULTS
Final evaluated visual acuity in the entire group was 6/15 or better in 12.6% (11 of 87) of the eyes. A total of 11.5% (10 of 87) had a visual acuity of 6/21 to 6/60, 46.0% (40 of 87) obtained 6/90 to light perception and 26 of 87 (29.9%) had no light perception in the involved eye. The rate of no light perception was significantly lower in patients with pseudophakia (10.0%) compared to those with aphakia (43.3%) or nonoperated (37.0%) eyes (P =.009). Intraocular pressure was adequately assessed repeatedly in 72 eyes. High intraocular pressure and glaucomatous changes were observed in 7 of 31 (22.6%) patients with aphakia, 2 of 24(8.3%) patients with pseudophakia and in 2 of 17(11.8%) nonoperated eyes (P =.34). Poor cosmetic outcome was seen in 12 of 31 (38.7%) children with aphakic eyes and 5 of 30 (16.7%) children with pseudophakic eyes (P =.08). Prosthesis or cosmetic shells were needed for 8 of 31 patients with aphakia, for none of the patients with pseudophakia and for 2 of 28 of the nonoperated children (P =.003).

CONCLUSION
PHPV eyes have a potential for developing useful vision with favorable cosmetic outcome after surgery. Intraocular lens implantation may be a favorable and beneficial option for the management of children with unilateral PHPV.


Pyramidal cells are the principal excitatory neurons in the cerebral cortex and those in layer 5 (L5) form its primary output. Tufted L5 pyramidal cells present a complex morphology, with non-uniform distributions of active membrane conductances. Their dendritic tree receives thousands of synaptic inputs from local circuits as well as long range inputs from other cortical regions and thalamic nuclei. Hence, the timing of their synaptic inputs are likely to span a wide range of temporal scales, raising the question of how an individual L5 pyramidal cell combines and transforms such temporally and spatially diverse signals. The integrative properties of pyramidal neurons have been extensively studied in vitro and several models have been suggested for the computations performed by these cells. However, cortical pyramidal cells in vivo are constantly bombarded by asynchronous synaptic input, re ecting the activity of the network in which they are embedded. Little is known about how the resulting background activity interacts with nonlinear dendritic properties. I have used experimentally-constrained models of L5 pyramidal neurons to explore synaptic integration under a range of di erent conditions including those measured in vivo. The major result from this study is that background synaptic activity can profoundly alter the integrative properties of pyramidal cells, by activating a distributed NMDA receptor conductance. This distributed nonlinear conductance lowers the threshold for dendritic spikes generation, extends the spikes duration and increases the probability of additional regenerative events occurring in neighbouring branches. Simulations with mixed excitatory/inhibitory background also suggest that dendritic inhibition may be speci cally tuned to regulate this powerful re-generative mechanism. My results suggest a new role for NMDA receptors. During the network activity experienced by pyramidal neurons in vivo, the distributed NMDA conductance may enable pyramidal cells to integrate synaptic input over extended spatio-temporal scales.


Background: Menarche is the appearance of menstruation or the first time in young women who is a new experience that is biological and psychological in order to achieve maturity and perfection as a woman. This study aims to obtain a description of the relationship of knowledge level with the level of anxiety in Facing Menarche in young women aged 10 to 12 years in SDN Bantulan, Yogyakarta. Method: The research design is descriptive correlation cross-sectional. Respondents numbered 67 girls, using nonprobability sampling. Result: The results showed that there was a correlation between the level of knowledge with the level of anxiety in the face of Menarche in adolescent girls aged 10 to 12 years in SDN Bantulan, Yogyakarta. The study recommends the need for the provision of health education on menstruation or menstruation to young women as a preparation for the preparation of menarche so as to minimize the level of anxiety in young women. Keywords: Level of Knowledge, Level of Anxiety, Menarche


3 cases of leukemia after solid tumor and 2 cases of solid tumors after leukemia were reported. The features of leukemia after solid tumor and the relationship between the solid tumor and leukemia, as well as the possible pathogenetic factors of the secondary malignancies were discussed.


Given the recent popularity of cannabidiol (CBD) use and the emergence of Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC), the prevalence and concentration of these and other cannabinoids was investigated in 2,000 regulated and 4,000 non-regulated specimens from workplace drug testing. All specimens were screened using LC-MS-MS for the presence of 7-hydroxy-CBD (7-OH-CBD) and ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (Δ9-THC-COOH), with a cutoff of 2 ng/mL. Specimens screening positive by LC-MS-MS were analyzed by immunoassay at 20, 50 and 100 ng/mL cutoffs, and by an LC-MS-MS confirmation method for 11 cannabinoids and metabolites with a 1 ng/mL cutoff. Using a 1 ng/mL cutoff, 98 (4.9%) regulated and 331 (8.3%) non-regulated specimens were positive for Δ9-THC-COOH. Of these, 64% had concentrations below 15 ng/mL. Similarly, 59 (3.0%) regulated and 162 (4.2%) non-regulated specimens were positive for 7-OH-CBD (n=210), CBD (n=120) and/or 7-carboxy-cannabidiol (CBD-COOH, n=120). The median concentrations of 7-OH-CBD, CBD and CBD-COOH in those 221 specimens were 6.3, 1.1 and 1.2 ng/mL, respectively. Δ8-Tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (Δ8-THC-COOH) was identified in 76 (1.3%) specimens. Parent Δ8-THC is a minor cannabinoid in marijuana, which appears to account for the typically low Δ8-THC-COOH concentrations (median 3.4 ng/mL) in most positive specimens. However, elevated concentrations suggested use of Δ8-THC-containing products in some cases (range 1.0-415 ng/mL). Although 93% agreement was observed between confirmatory LC-MS-MS (15 ng/mL cutoff) and immunoassay (50 ng/mL cutoff), a false negative specimen (66 ng/mL Δ9-THC-COOH) was identified.


Introduction - Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the SARS Corona Virus 2 (SARSCOV 2), which was discovered in 2019 at a wet market in Wuhan, China. Healthcare workers' psychological health has been significantly impacted by the coronavirus disease. During epidemics, health care workers (HCWs) are commonly the very first point of contact and are vulnerable to infectious diseases. The aim of the study to measure the psychological effect of Covid-19 amongst healthcare workers in Bhopal city.
Materials and methods- A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted amongst health care workers of Bhopal city, who were working in government and private hospitals between April 2021 to May 2021. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale - 21(DASS-21) Items was used to conduct the survey Data analysis was done using SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 22.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Ill., USA). ANOVA test was used to determine to find any significant difference comparing psychological variable between the groups of health care workers. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results- 350 responses were received in total. Health care workers were categorised as doctors, dentists and nurses. Among the respondents 20.9% participants were males and 79.1% were females. It was noted that dentists reported significantly more psychological distress than doctors and nurses. At baseline (n=350), overall mean depression, anxiety and stress of the doctor, dentist and nurses were 20.69±7.55, 29.83±8.34 and 12.86±4.69 respectively, which was significant at p=0.00*.
Conclusion – Health care workers experienced poor psychological health due to pandemic, indicating they may be at risk for greater psychological distress. The results of this study stress the greater need of research in psychological field to facilitate capacity building among healthcare workers.


Implementing systems based on Machine Learning to detect fraud and other Non-Technical Losses (NTL) is challenging: the data available is biased, and the algorithms currently used are black-boxes that cannot be either easily trusted or understood by stakeholders. This work explains our human-in-the-loop approach to mitigate these problems in a real system that uses a supervised model to detect Non-Technical Losses (NTL) for an international utility company from Spain. This approach exploits human knowledge (e.g. from the data scientists or the company's stakeholders) and the information provided by explanatory methods to guide the system during the training process. This simple, efficient method that can be easily implemented in other industrial projects is tested in a real dataset and the results show that the derived prediction model is better in terms of accuracy, interpretability, robustness and flexibility.


The mechanism of Adenovirus (Ad) and Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector-mediated gene transduction in murine tracheae has not been fully understood. Excised tracheae from mice were exposed to either Ad vector (Ad-CMV-LacZ) or AAV vector (AAV-CMV-LacZ) for 1 hour. LacZ gene expression in tracheal epithelial cells was detected by X-gal staining. Only patch distributions of LacZ expressing cells were observed. The percentage of LacZ expressing cells to total cells was less than 1% with either vector. Ad-mediated LacZ transduction was increased by mechanical damage using forceps. AAV-mediated gene transduction in tracheal epithelial cells was also increased by mechanical damage. Furthermore, this increased expression of vector LacZ by damaged epithelial cells was not affected by pretreatment with anti-ICAM-1 mAb or platelet-activating factor receptor antagonist. Although the Ad and AAV vectors were inefficient in transferring genetic material to murine trachea ex vivo, our results suggest that mechanical damage can enhance their transduction efficiency.


Abstract A model of the ventilated thermocline consisting of three adiabatic layers surmounted by a mixed layer of finite thickness is presented. The mixed-layer depth density increase continuously northward, and these attributes of the mixed layer are specified. The effect of the mixed layer on the thermocline circulation is explicitly calculated. The mixed-layer thickness and its variation play a significant role in shifting the trajectories of the streamlines westward. The shadow zones enlarge more rapidly south of the outcrop lines. The finite mixed-layer depth and its increase northward produce shadow zones in each of the adiabatic layers of the thermocline. The augmentation of the ventilation rate, i.e., the rate at which fluid enters the thermocline from the mixed layer in excess of the Ekman pumping is directly proportional to the northward gradient of the mixed-layer potential vorticity. The enhancement is greatest in regions where the circulation is surface-intensified i.e., above the eastern sh...


To the Editor: Ihave read the article ''Effectiveness of Clinical Guidelines for Deep Vein Thrombosis Prophylaxis in Reducing the Incidence of Venous Thromboembolism in Critically Ill Children After Trauma'' authored by Hanson et al. Although I applaud the authors and investigators in taking an initiative in developing the guidelines and implementing them, I have reservation regarding the interpretation of their results because of the following reasons:


Abstract In 2018, the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda revoked the right to marry for same-sex couples. In a judgment that reconceives the relationship between sexual orientation and religious freedoms, the Bermuda Supreme Court and Court of Appeal found this revocation to be unconstitutional. I explore the political and legal context in which same-sex marriage was granted and then revoked in Bermuda. I also consider the Bermuda Courts' judgments in light of the subsequent judgment of the United Kingdom's Supreme Court in Steinfeld, among others. While there was an assumption from both the Bermuda and United Kingdom Governments that the revocation provision was compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, I argue that this underestimates the significance of the distinction between declining to recognise a right to same-sex marriage and revoking a right that has already been exercised. While the European Court of Human Rights has not yet found the absence of same-sex marriage to be a violation of Article 12 of the Convention, I argue that the revocation of a right to marry between same-sex couples that had been recognised in accordance with national law changes the terrain on which the Convention arguments would be made.


Preface. Acknowledgements. Chapter 1. Success, Strategy and Understanding. What is success? Success comes from strong strategy. What does a strong marketing strategy look like? What is this 'market' into which we're trying to gain insight? The importance of market understanding. Chapter 2. The difficulty of gaining insight. Market complexity is making it harder to create market insight. Market turbulence is making it harder to create market insight. The frequency of failure. The failure of data analytics. Chapter 3. How Well Do You Understand Your Business Environment? The importance of self awareness. Test your understanding. Scanning mechanism. Chapter 4. What Does Market Insight Look Like? When is an insight not an insight? A taxonomy of market insight. The end in mind. Chapter 5. What Do Real Managers Do to Understand the Environment? Scanning is generally ad hoc, informal and unsystematic. Scanning is embedded and hard to manage. Scanning is typically under-resourced, unmeasured and unrewarded. There are four major behavioural clusters of business environment scanning. Chapter 6. Understanding and Assessing the Complexity and Turbulence of a market. What is a market? Understanding market complexity. A process for evaluating market complexity. Understanding and evaluating market turbulence. Combining the assessments of market complexity and market turbulence. Chapter 7. What is the best way to understand the business environment? Strengths and weaknesses of Analysts. Strengths and weaknesses of Categorists. Strengths and weaknesses of Monitors. Strengths and weaknesses of Viewers. The best way depends on the market. Chapter 8. Putting it together - how firms create insight. Developing scanning capability to make sense of the business environment. From information to insight. Chapter 9. From Insight to Value. Starting point: what market insight do we have? What does our market insight imply? Does it make sense to act on our insight? How can we ensure that our market insight is acted upon? The causes of non-implementation. Resolving inadvertent non-implementation. References. Index of figures. Index of Tables. Index.


This study compares pandemic experiences of Missouri's 115 counties based on rurality and sociodemographic characteristics during the 1918–20 influenza and 2020–21 COVID-19 pandemics. The state's counties and overall population distribution have remained relatively stable over the last century, which enables identification of long-lasting pandemic attributes. Sociodemographic data available at the county level for both time periods were taken from U.S. census data and used to create clusters of similar counties. Counties were also grouped by rural status (RSU), including fully (100%) rural, semirural (1–49% living in urban areas), and urban (>50% of the population living in urban areas). Deaths from 1918 through 1920 were collated from the Missouri Digital Heritage database and COVID-19 cases and deaths were downloaded from the Missouri COVID-19 dashboard. Results from sociodemographic analyses indicate that, during both time periods, average farm value, proportion White, and literacy were the most important determinants of sociodemographic clusters. Furthermore, the Urban/Central and Southeastern regions experienced higher mortality during both pandemics than did the North and South. Analyses comparing county groups by rurality indicated that throughout the 1918–20 influenza pandemic, urban counties had the highest and rural had the lowest mortality rates. Early in the 2020–21 COVID-19 pandemic, urban counties saw the most extensive epidemic spread and highest mortality, but as the epidemic progressed, cumulative mortality became highest in semirural counties. Additional results highlight the greater effects both pandemics had on county groups with lower rates of education and a lower proportion of Whites in the population. This was especially true for the far southeastern counties of Missouri ("the Bootheel") during the COVID-19 pandemic. These results indicate that rural-urban and socioeconomic differences in health outcomes are long-standing problems that continue to be of significant importance, even though the overall quality of health care is substantially better in the 21st century.


E-mail: email@example.com The Habilitation Centre Vestfold Hospital Trust and Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine Norwegian University of Science and Technology She shares the first authorship with Arani Mahendran and has re-analysed all data from Mahendran's first draft after the birth cohort was extended to 2010, interpreted the data, planned and implemented the survey of treatment routines in Norwegian habilitation centres and revised Mahendran's first draft of the article. Anne Elisabeth Ross Raftemo, specialist in paediatrics, senior consultant and PhD fellow. The author has completed the ICMJE form and declares no conflicts of interest.


Short-time Fourier transform of speech signal has two components: magnitude spectrum and phase spectrum. In this paper, relative importance of short-time magnitude and phase spectra on speech perception is investigated. Human perception experiments are conducted to measure intelligibility of speech tokens synthesized either from magnitude spectrum or phase spectrum. It is traditionally believed that magnitude spectrum plays a dominant role for shorter windows (20-30 ms); while phase spectrum is more important for longer windows (128-3500 ms). It is shown in this paper that even for shorter windows, phase spectrum can contribute to speech intelligibility as much as the magnitude spectrum if the shape of the window function is properly selected.


During the last five years Earth has seen all-time records concerning the intensity, frequency, and damages of natural disasters. The real estate sector is increasingly considered to be one of the main sources of climate change: buildings are responsible for more than 40% of the final energy consumption, for 40% of total waste, for more than 16% of global fresh water demand, for 40% of raw material demand, and for 25% of lumbering. Facing a growing number of scientific evidence real estate actors cannot ignore their key role any more. Even though a general euphoric mood can be perceived in the branch, astonishingly, an all-embracing orientation towards sustainability and fast establishment of ecological measures has not yet taken place in practice. One of the main barriers is the uncertainty of professional real estate market participants concerning the effects of sustainability measures on the profitability of their real estate projects. While it is mostly acknowledged that it is possible to realize a reduction of a buildingis operating costs through ecological measures, the tenantsi reluctance to pay a price premium for igreeni space that exceeds their own energy cost savings is seen as a major hurdle. Even if some studies show a growing willingness of consumers to purchase igreeni products, this trend has not fully reached the real estate markets yet. Following a neuroeconomic approach this paper tries to give an insight into tenantse decision-making regarding Ngreeni real estate products and to identify ways to foster the demand for sustainable buildings.


For many immigrants to the United States, between 1892 and 1924, admission was contingent upon a medical inspection at an immigration centre, such as the one located at Ellis Island in the harbour of New York City. Much like passing through customs or security at airports today, these medical inspections were dreaded by immigrant travellers, and United States Government and Public Health Service (PHS) publications show that these medical inspections were escalating in intensity and emphasis during the early twentieth-century. The purpose of the PHS inspections becomes especially evident when looking at the gender considerations, or lack thereof, which arose during medical inspections at Ellis Island. A gender analysis of the PHS medical inspections, examined through the use of oral histories and photographs, provides a window into understanding the primary concern of the United States Public Health Service.


Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) are artificial neural network models that show significant advantages in terms of power and energy when realizing deep learning applications. However, the data-intensive nature of machine learning applications imposes a challenging problem to neural network implementations in terms of latency, energy efficiency and memory bottleneck. Therefore, we introduce a scalable deep SNN to address the problem of latency and energy efficiency. We integrate a Computing-In-Memory (CIM) architecture built with a fabricated memristor crossbar array to reduce the memory bandwidth in vector-matrix multiplication, a key operation in deep learning. By applying an inter-spike interval (ISI) encoding scheme to the input signals, we demonstrate the spatiotemporal information processing capability of our designed architecture. The memristor crossbar array has an enhanced heat dissipation layer that reduces the resistance variation of the memristors by ~30%. We further develop a time-to-first-spike (TTFS) method to classify the outputs. The designed circuits and architecture can achieve very high accuracies with both digit recognition and the MNIST dataset. Our architecture can classify handwritten digits while consuming merely 2.9mW of power with an inference speed of 2μs/image. Only 2.51pJ of energy per synaptic connection makes it suitable to apply in deep learning accelerators.


SUUCIANALISMY: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF "MASTERING
VOCABULARY BEFORE TEACHING" A CASE
STUDY IN INTENSIVE ENGLISH COURSE OF
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE DEVELOPMENT
CENTER
The English teaching as foreign language in Indonesia was done through
decades by using Grammar-Translation method. The objective, the content and the
evaluation of the teaching were mostly dominated by structure and reading. Rote
learning is one of the basic principles of Grammar-Translation method. The main
characteristic of rote learning is listed bilingual vocabulary memorization. According
to some theorist, rote learning only provides students superficial and short-term
learning words. So, it is considered less effective for improving students vocabulary
acquisition in order to build their communicative skill.
In contrary, the Language and Culture Development Center of Syekh Nurjati
State Institute uses the rote learning to be used by students in intensive English
course. This situation is necessary to be questioned since the development of
language teaching has a very significant development in producing both new and
modern methods, techniques and strategies for teaching vocabulary.
The research is mainly conducted by qualitative methodology research. It aims
to investigate the implementation of the concept of 'Mastering Vocabulary Before
Teaching' by rote vocabulary learning in the intensive English Course program of
Language and Culture Development Center (PBB) of Syekh Nurjati State Institute for
Islamic Studies Cirebon.
The researcher found that the students feel difficult to memorize the
vocabulary. Not only they feel difficult, but also the students did not interest to do the
memorization. In other side, because the rote learning only contribute superficial
vocabulary understanding, thus, rote learning does not significantly help the students
to reach the goal of the implementation of "Mastering Vocabulary before Teaching".
Further, here are some problems in the vocabulary selection that affect
strongly to the effectiveness of the vocabulary learning. The problems contribute
negatively to the students motivation to meorize the vocabulary.
The vocabulary enrichment and evaluation in classroom are employed to
help the students' memorization. There are various techniques used by the lecturers
for the vocabulary enrichment activities and evaluation. The research found it helps
the students vocabulary learning.
The researcher found that the rote learning did not help the students to
acquire vocabulary significantly. The students only recognize words not to master the
vocabulary. And because the rote learning is projected as the obligatory task so the
students have low appreciation and motivation to memorize the vocabulary.


The field of Radiology and Nuclear medicine has advanced from era of X-rays to today's modern imaging techniques, most of which use the ionizing radiation. With the benefits of better diagnosis and treatment, it has caused manifold increase in radiation exposure to the patients and the radiology and nuclear medicine personnel. Many studies done till date have clearly documented the harmful effects of ionizing radiation from radiation exposure, especially cancer. This is more important in paediatric population as their tissues are more radiosensitive, and they have more years to live. Diagnostic and therapeutic radiological procedures including nuclear medicine are integral part of modern medical practices, exposing both patients and medical staff to ionizing radiation. Without proper protective measures, this radiation causes many negative health effects. Hence, proper knowledge and awareness regarding the radiation hazards and radiation protection is mandatory for health professionals, especially the nuclear medicine and radiology professionals. International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) has recommended two basic principles of radiation protection, justification of the practice and optimization of protection.


We present Large Binocular Telescope spectrophotometric observations of five low-redshift (z<0.070) compact star-forming galaxies (CSFGs) with extremely high emission-line ratios O32 = [OIII]5007/[OII]3727, ranging from 23 to 43. Galaxies with such high O32 are thought to be promising candidates for leaking large amounts of Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation and, at high redshifts, for contributing to the reionization of the Universe. The equivalent widths EW(Hbeta) of the Hbeta emission line in the studied galaxies are very high, ~350-520A, indicating very young ages for the star formation bursts, <3 Myr. All galaxies are characterized by low oxygen abundances 12+logO/H = 7.46 - 7.79 and low masses Mstar~10^6-10^7 Msun, much lower than the Mstar for known low-redshift LyC leaking galaxies, but probably more typical of the hypothetical population of low-luminosity dwarf LyC leakers at high redshifts. A broad Halpha emission line is detected in the spectra of all CSFGs, possibly related to expansion motions of supernova remnants. Such rapid ionized gas motions would facilitate the escape of the resonant Ly$\alpha$ emission from the galaxy. We show that high O32 may not be a sufficient condition for LyC leakage and propose new diagnostics based on the HeI 3889/6678 and 7065/6678 emission-line flux ratios. Using these diagnostics we find that three CSFGs in our sample are likely to have density-bounded HII regions and are thus leaking large amounts of LyC radiation. The amount of leaking LyC radiation is probably much lower in the other two CSFGs.


Poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) is an enzyme primarily activated in response to DNA damage and modifies proteins by a process known as PARylation. PARP-1 has a major role in DNA damage repair and participates in several cellular processes, including regulation of chromatin structure, transcriptional machinery, RNA processing, and energy metabolism 1-3 PARP-1 participates in a nuclear–mitochondrial crosstalk that is critical for the maintenance of mitochondrial health.4,5 Studies in experimental models indicate that PARP-1 overactivation is associated with cell death in neurologic disorders due to ischemia, neuroinflammation, and neurodegeneration.5-11 PARP-1 overactivation triggers a unique form of programmed cell death known as parthanatos (PARP-1–dependent cell death). One neurodegenerative disorder associated with PARP-1 overactivation is Parkinson disease (PD). A pivotal study showed that recombinant α-synuclein (α-Syn) fibrils promote neuronal death both in vitro and in vivo via activation of PARP-1, and that PARylation accelerates α-Syn fibrillization converting α-Syn fibrils to a more toxic strain, thus establishing a feedforward pathogenic loop.12 There is evidence of PARP-1 activation in the substantia nigra, which may contribute to the pathogenesis of PD and constitute a therapeutic target for disease modification.10,13 This is potentially relevant as PARP-1 inhibitors are currently being used clinically as synergizing agents in the treatment of cancer.3,14 There are comprehensive reviews on the role of PARP-1 in disease.8-11,15 A brief review of the effects of PARP-1 functions may thus be relevant to neurologists (see the figure).


The quantum scattering by smooth bodies is considered for small and large values of $kd$, with $k$ the wavenumber and $d$ the scale of the body. In both regimes, we prove that the forward scattering exceeds the backscattering. For high $k$, we need to assume that the body is strictly convex.


. We analyze the use of strong static electric and magnetic fields for controlling two intense laser-atom processes: laser-assisted x-ray-atom scattering and high- order harmonic generation. We find that x-rays scattered from atoms in the presence of both a strong laser field and a strong static electric field can be boosted in energy many-fold by absorption of energy from the laser field. The spectrum of scattered x-ray intensity vs. the number of laser photons absorbed exhibits a rich plateau structure, whose key features may be understood using a classical analysis. We find also that the intensities of high-order harmonics can be increased by orders of magnitude in the presence of strong static magnetic or parallel electric and magnetic fields and also that the static electric field can introduce additional plateaus and cutoffs. The maximum values of the harmonic intensity correspond to values of magnetic field for which the return time of the ionized electron wave packet to the atomic core under the influence of the laser field (and the static electric field, if present) is an integer multiple of the classical cyclotron period.


Background and aims High frequency 10 kHz paresthesia-independent spinal cord stimulation (10kHzSCS) has demonstrated statistical and clinical superiority over traditional, low-frequency paresthesia-based SCS in relief of chronic back and leg pain. The purpose of this study is to assess the ability of percent pulse dosing (%PD=alternating 10kHzSCS ON and OFF times) to reduce device recharge time while maintaining efficacy. Methods Permanently-implanted subjects successfully using 10kHzSCS at 100%PD to treat back pain with or without leg pain for >3 months were enrolled. After a 1-week baseline period of documenting their pain using a 0–10 numerical rating scale (NRS) using 100%PD, all subjects were reprogrammed to 14%PD for 7–10 days. If subjects preferred 14%PD to 100%PD, they were programmed to 3%PD; otherwise, they were programmed to 50%PD; subjects used this program for 7–10 days. After these initial%PD evaluations, each subject entered a 3-month uncontrolled observational period where the subject was requested but not limited to use their most preferred%PD program. At the end of 3 months, the subject completed a 7-day NRS diary and indicated a final%PD program preference. Results 6/15 subjects preferred 3%PD, 3/15 preferred 14%PD, 3/15 preferred 50%PD, and 3/15 preferred 100%PD. Average daily charge durations: 3%PD=8.6±0.5 min, 14%PD=14±7 min, 50%PD=33±3.3 min, 100%PD=38.6±6.5 min. Average back pain scores: 3%PD=1.8±1.4, 14%PD=2.0±1.7, 50%PD=4.1±0.7, 100%PD=1.7±1.4, all P>0.1 from 100%PD. Conclusions In this study, 80% of 10kHzSCS responders maintained efficacy and reduced device charging times approximately 64% using <100%PD. These trends suggest that 10kHzSCS therapy may be successfully employed with device charging times approximately 30% shorter than traditional SCS.


AbstractThe goal of this article is to show, through a case study of a convert from Islam to Catholicism in the seventeenth century, how multi-faceted and complex the phenomenon of conversion is, where political, social, and religious factors are intertwined. The article recounts the conversion story of Mohammed el-Attaz, later known as Baldassarre Loyola (1631-1667). Son of the king of Fez (Morocco) of the Saʿadian dynasty, Mohammed was captured on his way to Mecca by the Knights of Malta; he converted to Christianity, went to Italy, became a Jesuit, and spent some years of his life converting Muslims in Italian port cities. The story of Baldassarre Loyola is unique for many reasons. First, this is the only known case of a Muslim prince joining the Society of Jesus. Second, we have an extraordinary range of sources: more than 200 letters written by Baldassarre, Christian and Muslim first-hand sources, an unpublished Autobiography, and a 600-page unpublished Life written by Baldassarre's spiritual director, the Jesuit Domenico Brunacci. Additionally, a sacred drama on Baldassarre's story (El gran principe de Fez) was composed by Calderon de la Barca and performed in Jesuit colleges in Europe as well as overseas. This case study of a man between two worlds—struggling for a new identity but always linked to his ancient roots—illuminates, through the phenomenon of conversion, the tormented, rich, and fascinating relationship between Islam and Christianity on the eve of modernity.


Online trading involves investment activity which takes place over the Internet and it does not require physical inclusion of the broker. An investor has to register with an online trading portal like ICICI direct.com, motilaloswal.com and sharekhan.com and many companies like that and investor gets into an agreement with the firm to trade in different securities according to the terms and conditions given on the agreement. As the servers of the online trading portal are connected all the time to the stock exchanges and designated banks the order processing is done in real time and investors can also have updates on the trading. They can also check the status of their orders either through e-mail or through the interface that it cannot be accessed by a third party.


In the past few years we have unfortunately had several reminders of the ability of a particular type of ocean wave—a tsunami—to devastate coastal areas. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, in particular, was one of the largest natural disasters of past decades in terms of the number of people killed. The name of this phenomenon, tsunami, is possibly the only term that has entered the physics lexicon from Japanese. We use Japanese and Western sources to document historical tsunami in Europe and Japan, the birth of the scientific understanding of tsunami, and how the Japanese term came to be adopted in English.


A novel PEG200 lauric acid diester was synthesized high yield by direct esterification using polyethylene glycol and lauric acid respectively was presented in this work. The product of PEG200 lauric acid diester was characterized by a fourier transform infrared spectrometer(FTIR). The effects of catalyst, reaction time, reaction temperature and molar ratio on the reaction were discussed. The optimum synthetic condition of PEG200 lauric acid diester: esynthesis is based on protection of N2 and the ressure is 0.08Mpa. Using mass fraction 0.45% in p-toluene sulphonic acid as catalyst, molar ratio of polyethylene glycol and oleic acid 1:1.95, reaction temperature about 130-140°C, and reaction time 9-10h. The results of testing of diester products showed that the yield of PEG200 lauric acid diester is 98.2%.And this article reviewed the effect of concentration on viscosity. The characteristic curve of Viscosity-Concentration showed the viscosity increased with increase of the concentration which brought about the increase of particle size. Especially focusing on the maximum viscosity appeard on 80% because of the phenomenon of reverse micelles. Then the viscosity decreased with increase of the concentration.


To reduce the potential risk of airborne infectious diseases during an outbreak or to detect a chemical/biological release by a terrorist, it is essential to place appropriate chemical/biological sensors in commercial airliner cabins. This investigation studied sensor responses along the length of a fully occupied twin-aisle cabin with 210 seats by using a validated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program. The results revealed that seating arrangements can make cross sectional airflow pattern considerably asymmetrical. The trends of longitudinal contaminant transport in the business and economy classes were similar. The presence of galleys greatly affected the longitudinal transport of contaminants in a particular cabin section. The effects due to galleys is significantly reduced using a multiport sampling system. Multiport sampling systems also reduce the number of contaminant identification sensors required in a cabin considerably.


The metal hyperaccumulating plant Thlaspi caerulescens is effective in depleting plant-available metals from the soil. We hypothesized that this reduction of toxic metals in the rhizosphere of T. caerulescens would increase the growth of less metal-tolerant plants with their roots permitted to intermingle and develop coincident rhizospheres. The extent of rhizosphere interaction between T. caerulescens and a coplanted nonaccumulator species, Thlaspi arvense, was controlled using barriers. Two media with elevated concentrations of water-extractable Zn were prepared by enriching one soil with zinc oxide (ZnO) or zinc sulfide (ZnS). The shoot mass of T. arvense was increased by 30% when its roots were permitted to intermingle with those of T. caerulescens in the ZnO treatment. The concomitant 2-3-fold reduction in shoot Zn concentration in T. arvense confirmed that its improved growth was associated with reduced uptake and phytotoxicity of Zn. Thlaspi arvense also showed increased growth and reduced metal uptake when cocropped with T. caerulescens in the ZnS treatment. We conclude that the strong Zn accumulation by T. caerulescens might enhance the establishment and development of surrounding less-tolerant species on soils that are naturally- or anthropogenically-enriched with metals.


To produce high performance antithrombus elastomers, a series of new fluorine-containing segmented poly(urethane-urea)s was synthesized from 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluorohexamethylene diisocyanate (1) and α-hydro-ω-hydroxypoly(oxyalkylene)s (5a, b and 6) or fluorinated dioxa-1,10-decanediols (3 and 4) (as the soft segments) via the prepolymers (7) which subsequently were reacted with various diamines including a fluorinated aliphatic diamine (2) as chain-extenders. High-molecular-weight polymers were obtained in high yields with 5a and nonfluorinated diamines. Spectroscopic analysis of the prepolymers and the chain-extended polymers indicated their structures to be highly ordered. Stress-strain curves of films cast from a DMF solution indicated the polymers to be typical elastomers with tensile strength as much as 600–700 kg/cm2.


A load-balancing scheme has a significant effect on the performance of the multi-path routing protocol, especially in an ad hoc network environment. In order to analyze the effect on the distribution of input traffic among multiple paths in AODV-MP (Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector Routing with Multi-Path), first of all, we give the essence of the AODV-MP, and then we design and realize a load-balancing algorithm based on AODV-MP made up of independent nodes, which source node distributes packets reasonably in the several paths according to the load state of the network. Finally we will employ OPNET to simulate the Multi-path routing protocol with load-balancing algorithm. Results of the simulation show that the load-balancing protocol can alleviate the congestion, decrease the end-to-end delay and increase the packet delivery ratio and throughput, thus the performance of multi-path routing protocol can be improved consequently.


Context: Chronic endometritis is a condition observed in 3-10% of women with abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). Diagnosis depends upon the histological detection of plasma cells within the inflammatory infiltrate in the endometrium. Plasma cells on H and E may be obscured by a mononuclear infiltrate, plasmacytoid stromal cells, abundant stromal mitosis, a pronounced predecidual reaction, menstrual features or secondary changes due to exogenous progesterone treatment prior to biopsy. Aims: The objective of this study was to determine utility of syndecan-1 in diagnosis of chronic endometritis in patients with AUB, and to see if any of the secondary histologic features in endometrial biopsy, correlated with the presence of plasma cells on immunohistochemistry (IHC). Materials and Methods: Fifty endometrial biopsies with a clinical diagnosis of AUB were taken. Endometrium in proliferative phase, secretory phase, endometrial polyps, and disordered proliferative endometrium were studied for the presence of plasma cells. IHC was done using syndecan-1. The secondary histologic features of chronic endometritis like gland architectural irregularity, spindled stroma, stromal edema and hemorrhage with the presence of plasma cells was statistically analysed. Values of P < 0.05 were considered as significant. Results: Plasma cells were seen in 11 (69%) of DPE, 8 (66%) of PEB, and 1 (7%) of normal proliferative endometrium and in 2 (40%) of secretory endometrium. Presence of stromal breakdown showed a significant association with plasma cells (P = 0.02) whereas gland architecture irregularity (P = 0.28), stromal edema (P = 0.71) and spindled stromal (P = 0.72) did not show a significant association. Conclusions: Plasma cells were significantly present in AUB patients. Syndecan-1 maybe helpful in unusual cases, where chronic endometritis is suspected as the cause of clinically significant ongoing abnormal bleeding.


BackgroundAutophagy degraded and recycled cytoplasmic components to maintain cellular homeostasis under stress conditions, which was recognized as double-edged sword in oncogenesis and novel target in cancer treatment. However, comprehensive analysis of the relationship between autophagy regulation and immunity has not been reported yet. MethodsUnsupervised consensus clustering algorithm was used to identify autophagy regulation patterns. LASSO cox regression algorithm was used to build a scoring system (ATGscore) to represent the individual autophagy regulation pattern. Then integrated analysis of autophagy regulation patterns and ATGscore was performed.ResultsWe have successful depicted five autophagy regulation patterns and established a scoring system (ATGscore) to represent it, which was shown to be significantly correlated with TIME infiltration, immune phenotypes, molecular subtypes, and genetic variation, etc. in 1165 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. Moreover, ATGscore was an independent prognostic factor and potent predictor for clinical response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting immunotherapy. ConclusionUnderstanding the molecular characteristics of autophagy regulation patterns in HNSCC could help us to depict the underlying mechanism of tumour immunity and lay a solid foundation on combination of autophagy targeting therapies and immunotherapies for clinical application in HNSCC.


Introduction Physical activity is beneficial to men with prostate cancer, but there remain barriers to fulfilling the potential of National Health Service trusts to support men with prostate cancer to be physically active. This article describes protocols for two pilot studies, each conducted in a different setting, designed to assess the potential of a behavioural intervention to affect patients' motivation to exercise. The intervention is theory based and inspired by recent empirical observations. Methods and analysis The intervention consists of a 10 min talk, delivered to patients by a man with a history of prostate cancer treatment and a good experience of exercise, as part of their standard care. This talk either takes place in a preradical prostatectomy seminar (study one), or a post-treatment seminar designed to assist patients in adjusting to life after treatment (study two). Outcomes will be compared between patients attending the existing seminar format, and patients attending the novel seminar format. The two primary outcomes are: (1) differences in self-reported physical activity before and 90 days after the seminar and (2) the likelihood of the patient seeing an in-house exercise physiotherapist in those 90 days. Data on quality of life, fatigue and exercise behavioural regulations will also be captured at the same time points. Ethics and dissemination These two projects have been approved by internal clinical audit committees due to their focus on service improvement. Findings from these pilot studies will be presented at oncology meetings and submitted for publication in academic journals.


This paper presents an innovative method for digital refocusing of different point in space after capturing and also extracts all-in-focus image. The proposed method extracts all-in-focus image using Michelson contrast formula hence, it helps in calculating the coordinates of the 3D object location. With light field integral camera setup the scene to capture the objects precisely positioned in a measurable distance from the camera therefore, it helps in refocusing process to return the original location where the object is focused; else it will be blurred with less contrast. The highest contrast values at different points in space can return the focused points where the objects are initially positioned as a result; all-in-focus image can also be obtained. Detailed experiments are conducted to demonstrate the credibility of proposed method with results.


: This paper first defines the circumstances , main bodies and objects of scientific achievements transformation , then from the different sides of transformation circumstances, namely the current condition of present systems, intellectual property right systems and rights and interests protection rules of law, agency service systems and venture investment systems analyzes the reasons of the obstacles of scientific achievements transformation. After that, based on the effects of transformation circumstances on scientific achievements transformation, this paper puts forward the solutions of improving the transformation rate of scientific achievements.


In patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), the local immune response influences the clinical course. An in-depth analysis of the invasive margin of human CRC liver metastases revealed a distinct immunological microenvironment. Within this microenvironment, two distinct subsets of myeloid cells induce an influx of T cells into the invasive margin via CXCL9/CXCL10. CCL5 is produced by these T cells and stimulates pro-tumoral effects via CCR5, creating an exploitive loop. CCR5 was found on macrophages, lymphocytes and on the vast majority of tumor cells. Inhibition of CCR5 in patient-derived functional in vitro organotypic culture models showed a promising macrophage repolarization with anti-tumoral effects. These effects are mediated by activation of an antiviral program in macrophages, leading to interferon and reactive oxygen species production and subsequent selective tumor cell death. These anti-tumoral effects were confirmed in a phase I trial with a CCR5 antagonist in 14 patients with liver metastases of advanced refractory CRC. Treatment with the oral CCR5 Inhibitor was very well tolerated and objective responses were seen, especially in combination with previously ineffective chemotherapy. Biopsies revealed mitigation of tumor-promoting inflammation within the tumor tissue, confirming the validity of the explant model and highlighting the feasbility of this approach. It furthermore shows the proof-of-concept for macrophage repolarization in cancer patients. Citation Format: Niels Halama, Inka Zoernig, Anna Berthel, Christoph Kahlert, Fee Klupp, Meggy Suarez-Carmona, Karsten Brand, Juergen Krauss, Felix Lasitschka, Alexis Ulrich, Juergen Weitz, Martin Schneider, Markus Buechler, Laurence Zitvogel, Thomas Herrmann, Axel Benner, Christina Kunz, Stephan Luecke, Christoph Springfeld, Christine S. Falk, Dirk Jaeger. CCR5 inhibition: macrophage repolarization therapy for colorectal cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3021. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-3021


A device (104) for controlling a clock signal generator comprises a processing system configured to form a control quantity at least partly on the basis of reception moments of data frames belonging to a given flow, the reception moments being time values based on a clock signal prevailing at a receiver. The processing system controls the clock signal generator with the control quantity so as to achieve synchronization between the clock signal and another clock signal in accordance of which the data frames have been transmitted. In order to identify data frames belonging to the relevant flow, the processing system checks whether pre-determined bits of a received data frame constitute a bit pattern that occurs when the data frame belongs to the relevant flow. Therefore, the reception moments of data frames belonging to the relevant flow are obtainable without deep inspection of the received data frames.


In this study, insulin therapy was initiated at onset of disease in patients whose fasting blood glucose was more than 250 mg/dl. All enrolled subjects were treated with human premixed insulin (30/70) administered subcutaneously twice daily before breakfast and before dinner. A total of 113 subjects entered the study fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Good glycaemic control was achieved in a few days. The dosage requirement of insulin came down gradually after control was achieved as manifest by hypoglycaemia--leading to withdrawal of insulin. Some of them were managed with diet and exercise alone. Others required small doses of oral antidiabetic agents (OAD). There were no cases of secondary failure to OADs. Ten cases are on average duration of follow-up of 10 years. Two cases are under good control with diet and exercise alone, seven on treatment with oral hypoglycemic agents and one of them requiring insulin to maintain HbAlc below 7%. Thus insulin therapy at onset provides an opportunity to correct all the underlying pathogenic mechanisms, i.e., glucotoxicity, lipotoxicity and prevents beta cell apoptosis and suppresses inflammation, leading to beta cell protection. Such timely intervention provides long term benefits, laying the foundation for the concept of beta cell preservation rather that only replacing beta cell function. Hence we propose that all patients with type 2 diabetes should be offered insulin therapy at the onset of their diabetes for a period of 2-4 weeks.


This research paper discusses the issue of embroidery and its role in culture. In this research we tried to look at the national aspects and demonstrate the techniques in embroidery. The aim of this research is to investigate the national treasure relating to the embroidery and find the methodology to teach to the young generation, to the students of art specialties as well as the make contribution to the development of art science. The embroidery is a type of art, which places a special emphasis on the beauty of the tissue and enriches it. The masterpiece of the minds, which has been depicted in the masterpiece of the artistic imagination of the talented people of our nation for centuries. The embroidery was used for many purposes: to express different political or spiritual ideas to remember personality or public events, to show status, to narrate history or to promote the beauty of the natural world. The magnificent patterns were continuously reproduced, replicated, and reproduced. The tradition of celestialism, accompanied by maturity, with its elegance, elegance and elegance, contributed to the welfare of our people, and uplifted its physical and spiritual life.


INTRODUCTION
Prostatic urethral lifts (PUL) provide improvement in urinary symptoms for men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The aim of this study is to determine operative factors associated with improvement in urinary symptoms after PUL in men with bothersome BPH.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Men with BPH undergoing PUL at a single, tertiary center were identified from 2019 to 2022. Inclusion criteria included documented prostate volume as well as preoperative and postoperative cystoscopic images of the prostatic urethra. Multivariate regression modeling was performed to determine the predictive factors-including prostate volume, number of implants, and degree of unobstructed prostatic urethral channel-for improvement in International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) after PUL.

RESULTS
Of the 47 men, the distribution of prostate volume was 1 patient with < 30 grams, 33 patients with 30-79 grams, five patients with 80-100 grams, and six patients with > 100 grams. The mean number of implants used was six implants. The mean preoperative and postoperative IPSS were 23 and 14, respectively. The mean (standard error (SE)) change and percent change in IPSS score following PUL was 14 and 60%, respectively. The mean percent improvement in prostatic urethral channel after anterior clip placements was 67%. On multivariate analysis, larger prostate volume was associated with greater change in IPPS follow surgery (p = 0.0091) while number of implants and percent of prostatic urethral opening were not associated with change in IPSS (p = 0.3094 and p = 0.2249, respectively).

CONCLUSION
Men with larger prostates are associated with greater improvement in urinary symptom after PUL regardless of number of implants utilized and degree of prostatic urethral channel opening after prostatic implants.


Central banks that lack credibility often tie their exchange rate to that of a more credible partner in order to "import" credibility. We show in a small open economy model that a central bank that displays "limited credibility" can deliver significant improvements to a social welfare function that contains no role for exchange rate stabilization by maximizing an objective function that places weight on exchange rate stabilization, and thus the central bank with limited credibility will peg their currency to that of a more credible partner. As the central bank's credibility improves it will place less weight on exchange rate stabilization in its objective function and thus loosen the peg. When the central bank is perfectly credible its objective function and the social welfare function are identical; it places no weight on exchange rate stabilization and allows the currency to freely float. Empirical results using a panel of both developed and developing countries show that as central banks become more independent they tend to allow more currency flexibility.


The author examines the role of the churches both in the developments leading to Emancipation in 1838 and in church and society afterwards. He clearly indicates the various attitudes taken toward Africans and Creoles by the different churches, some opting to be one with the Africans, developing an indigenous leadership (for example, Baptists), and others preferring to be more identified with the white planter's society (Anglicans and Roman Catholics) . While this work brings new understandings to the historical development of Jamaica in the nineteenth century and engages the ongoing debate about the role of religion in the several riots, strikes, and rebellions by Africans and Creoles, perhaps its most interesting contribution to mission history is its detailed study of the Africanization of Christianity in Jamaica. It describes well not only the experience of the recently arrived blacks and their longing for and remembrances of their home in Africa, but also the religious experience and structure that they brought along with them. These in turn were blended with the Christianity which was being preached to them, but which was not always understood. The book is enriched by photographs, a significant bibliography, and a useful index.


【In the present work, the measurement method of residual stresses in thermal barrier coatings(TBCs) which are received the thermal shock is performed numerically. For this, the internal residual stresses are predicted by commercial FEM software ABAQUS because the hole drilling strain gage method measures residual stresses only near the surface of a material. As the results of this study, the residual stresses are linearly increased when the surface temperatures are over $1,200^{\circ}C$ . It is also found that the values of residual stress are increased as the coating thickness is thin.】


This paper addresses the problem of decomposing a numerical semigroup into $m$-irreducible numerical semigroups. The problem originally stated in algebraic terms is translated, introducing the so-called Kunz-coordinates, to resolve a series of several discrete optimization problems. First, we prove that finding a minimal $m$-irreducible decomposition is equivalent to solve a multiobjective linear integer problem. Then, we restate that problem as the problem of finding all the optimal solutions of a finite number of single objective integer linear problems plus a set covering problem. Finally, we prove that there is a suitable transformation that reduces the original problem to find an optimal solution of a compact integer linear problem. This result ensures a polynomial time algorithm for each given multiplicity $m$. We have implemented the different algorithms and have performed some computational experiments to show the efficiency of our methodology.


The Influence of the Type of Viscoelastic Substances on the Level of Intraocular Pressure after Phacoemulsification The aim of study was to asses the influence of the type of viscoelastic substances on the level of intraocular pressure (IOP) after cataract surgery and intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. In the study group of 100 patients Viscoat was used at 32 operated eyes, Provisc at 14 eyes and Duovisc in 54 eyes during phacoemulsification and IOL implantation. IOP was measured before surgery, one day after surgery and one week after surgery. Mean IOP level 1. day postoperatively was 24.94 mmHg in the Viscoat group of eyes, 24.65 mmHg in the Provisc group and 21.09 mmHg in the Duovisc group. The type of viscoelastic substance used during the surgery significantly influenced the level of IOP in the first postoperative day. The level of IOP was significantly lower in the Duovisc group comparing to Viscoat and Provisc. The level of IOP did not differ significantly between the Viscoat and Provisc group. One week after surgery the level of IOP was not significantly different between all types of viscoelastic device. Duovisc was the most profitable viscoleastic substance in the point of view of the course of phacoemulsification, IOL implantation and postoperative level of IOP.


This paper explores semi-supervised anomaly detection, a more practical setting for anomaly detection where a small additional set of labeled samples are provided. We propose a new KL-divergence based objective function for semi-supervised anomaly detection, and show that two factors: the mutual information between the data and latent representations, and the entropy of latent representations, constitute an integral objective function for anomaly detection. To resolve the contradiction in simultaneously optimizing the two factors, we propose a novel encoder-decoder-encoder structure, with the first encoder focusing on optimizing the mutual information and the second encoder focusing on optimizing the entropy. The two encoders are enforced to share similar encoding with a consistent constraint on their latent representations. Extensive experiments have revealed that the proposed method significantly outperforms several state-of-the-arts on multiple benchmark datasets, including medical diagnosis and several classic anomaly detection benchmarks.


The image recognition method was proposed to quantify non-adhesion grain boundaries which were considered as a factor of coke strength besides pores, and the correlation between coke strength and the amount of defects evaluated by the method was investigated in comparison with the one by the marking method. Coke with low-quality coal was fractured by a diametral-compression test, and the fracture crosssections were observed by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and a 3D laser scanning microscope (LSM). The marking method and image recognition method were applied to SEM and LSM images, respectively. As a result, the fracture strength measured by the diametral-compression test was linearly decreased with an increase in blending ratio of low-quality coal. In the marking method, most non-adhesion grain boundaries were not detected up to 50% in the blending ratio, and the boundaries increased sharply from 50 to 100% in the blending ratio. On the other hand, in the recognition method, the defects which were composed of both pores and non-adhesion grain boundaries, increased linearly with the blending ratio, and the amount of defects corresponded to coke strength. Therefore, the image recognition method is expected as the quantification technique of defects decreasing coke strength.


In RNA structural biology and bioinformatics an access to correct RNA secondary structure and its proper representation is of crucial importance. This is true especially in the field of secondary and 3D RNA structure prediction. Here, we introduce RNApdbee-a new tool that allows to extract RNA secondary structure from the pdb file, and presents it in both textual and graphical form. RNApdbee supports processing of knotted and unknotted structures of large RNAs, also within protein complexes. The method works not only for first but also for high order pseudoknots, and gives an information about canonical and non-canonical base pairs. A combination of these features is unique among existing applications for RNA structure analysis. Additionally, a function of converting between the text notations, i.e. BPSEQ, CT and extended dot-bracket, is provided. In order to facilitate a more comprehensive study, the webserver integrates the functionality of RNAView, MC-Annotate and 3DNA/DSSR, being the most common tools used for automated identification and classification of RNA base pairs. RNApdbee is implemented as a publicly available webserver with an intuitive interface and can be freely accessed at http://rnapdbee.cs.put.poznan.pl/.