Massive MIMO (MaMI) is often promoted as a technology that will enable the use of low-quality, cheap hardware. One particular component that has been in the focus of MaMI-related research is the analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and use of very low-resolution ADCs has been proposed. However, studies about whether this strategy is justified from an energy-efficiency point of view have largely been inconclusive. In this paper, we choose system setup and models that reflect the hardware implementation reality as close as possible and perform a parametric analysis of uplink energy efficiency as a function of ADC resolution. If antenna scaling and decrease of ADC resolution are considered independently, the energy efficiency is shown to be maximized at intermediate ADC resolutions, typically in the range of 4–8 bits. Moreover, optimal ADC resolution does not decrease when more antennas are used except in some specific cases, and when it does, the decrease is approximately logarithmic in the number of antennas. In the case when antenna scaling and ADC degradation are coupled through a constant-performance constraint, it is shown that energy efficiency cannot improve with reduced bit resolution unless the power consumption of blocks other than ADCs scales down with the upscaling of antennas at a fast enough rate. Altogether it is concluded that in MaMI, intermediate ADC resolutions are optimal in energy efficiency sense, and, except in some special cases, scaling up the antennas to very large numbers does not change this conclusion.


In low-resource settings, model transfer can help to overcome a lack of labeled data for many tasks and domains. However, predicting useful transfer sources is a challenging problem, as even the most similar sources might lead to unexpected negative transfer results. Thus, ranking methods based on task and text similarity — as suggested in prior work — may not be sufficient to identify promising sources. To tackle this problem, we propose a new approach to automatically determine which and how many sources should be exploited. For this, we study the effects of model transfer on sequence labeling across various domains and tasks and show that our methods based on model similarity and support vector machines are able to predict promising sources, resulting in performance increases of up to 24 F1 points.


A RC06 paper session at 2014 XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology to facilitate the sharing of national and local data sets and promote future collaboration among participants. Papers that focus on some aspect of balancing family tand work demands are especially welcome but other family topics will be considered. Work-family balance needs particular attention especially in societies where people face extremely low fertility rate and underperformance in women in the labor force, as in Eastern Asia.


The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that thermal cycling weakens the flexural strength of porcelain. Specimens of Deguceram Gold and Vita Omega 900 were tested in four groups of 30 specimens each: in the original glazed condition versus being ground with 1000-grit, 600-grit, and 100-grit silicon carbide abrasives. Corresponding to these four types of surface treatments, four groups of 30 specimens per group received 5,000 times of thermal cycling. Flexural strength was measured using a four-point flexural test, and Weibull modulus was calculated. Within each type of surface treatment, the thermal cycling treatment did not result in any decrease in flexural strength although it caused the Weibull modulus to become smaller - except for the control and thermal-cycled groups of 600-grit surface treatment.


Strobilurins fungicides developed rapidly in the last 10 years,whose global sales in values ranked first in fungicide categories.This paper reviewed the varieties,markets,formulations and applications of strobilurins fungicides,and listed more than 10 strobilurins fungicides for selecting.Among them,azoxystrobin,pyraclostrobin and trifloxystrobin were the optimal choices.Selection must be based on the biological activities,crop diseases,cost performances,supply and other factors of different fungicides to obtain more significant achievements.


ABSTRACT Variations in proteome profiles of Escherichia coli in response to the overproduction of human leptin, a serine-rich (11.6% of total amino acids) protein, were examined by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The levels of heat shock proteins increased, while those of protein elongation factors, 30S ribosomal protein, and some enzymes involved in amino acid biosynthesis decreased, after leptin overproduction. Most notably, the levels of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of serine family amino acids significantly decreased. Based on this information, we designed a strategy to enhance the leptin productivity by manipulating the cysK gene, encoding cysteine synthase A. By coexpression of the cysK gene, we were able to increase the cell growth rate by approximately twofold. Also, the specific leptin productivity could be increased by fourfold. In addition, we found that cysK coexpression can improve the production of another serine-rich protein, interleukin-12 β chain, suggesting that this strategy may be useful for the production of other serine-rich proteins as well. The approach taken in this study should be useful in designing a strategy for improving recombinant protein production.


Iron nitroprusside (FeNP) particles have been synthesized from drop by drop (n-FeNP) and bulk mixing (BM) (b-FeNP) methods. FeNP particles obtained from both methods were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). n-FeNP particles were used in constructing modified carbon paste electrode (CPE), which has been further used for electrochemical studies. The effect of pH and electrolyte cation on the electrochemical behavior of n-FeNP modified CPE has been studied in detail. Oxidation of nitrite and reduction of peroxodisulfate reactions have been electrocatalyzed at two redox centers of n-FeNP modified CPE. Based on the electrochemical experiments conducted and Tafel plots, mechanism for both the reactions has been proposed. Both the analytes were estimated in soil and ground water samples using n-FeNP modified CPE and the results were validated with the help of standard methods.


We studied the development of visual processing in 58 children, ranging from 1 d to 12 y of age (median age 29 mo), using functional magnetic resonance imaging. All but nine children had either been sedated using chloral hydrate (n = 12) or pentobarbital (n = 28). Nine children were studied under a full halothane/N2O:O2 anesthesia. In the first postnatal month, 30% of the neonates showed a positive blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast signal, whereas, for infants between the ages of 1 mo and 1 y, 27% did so. Thirty-one percent of children between 1 and 6 y of age and 71% of children aged 6 y and above showed a positive BOLD contrast signal change to our visual stimulation paradigm.Besides the usual positive BOLD contrast signal change, we also noted that a large portion of the children measured displayed a negative BOLD contrast signal change. This negative BOLD contrast signal change was observed in 30% of children up to 1 mo of age, in 27% between 1 mo and 1 y of age, in 47% between 1 and 6 y of age, and in 14% of children 6 y and older. In the children in which we observed a negative correlating BOLD contrast signal change, the locus was more anterior and more lateral than the positive BOLD contrast signal, placing it in the secondary visual cortical area. The results indicate that when using functional magnetic resonance imaging on children, the primary visual cortical area does not respond functionally in the same manner as that of the adult until 1.5 y of age. This supports earlier clinical and electrophysiologic findings that different cortical mechanisms seem to contribute to visual perception at different times postnatally.


Authoritative and critical reviews of the latest achievements of natural and technical disciplines are published by Journal of Technical and Natural Sciences. Journal of Technical and Natural Sciences, an international peerreviewed journal, publishes both theoretical and experimental highquality documents of constant interest, previously unpublished in journals, in the field of technical and natural sciences, whose purpose is to promote theory and practice. In addition to the peerreviewed original research papers, the Editorial Board welcomes original research reports, modern surveys and communications in a broadly defined field of technical and natural sciences.


Recent 2D-to-3D human pose estimation works tend to utilize the graph structure formed by the topology of the human skeleton. However, we argue that this skeletal topology is too sparse to reflect the body structure and suffer from serious 2D-to-3D ambiguity problem. To overcome these weaknesses, we propose a novel graph convolution network architecture, Hierarchical Graph Networks (HGN). It is based on denser graph topology generated by our multi-scale graph structure building strategy, thus providing more delicate geometric information. The proposed architecture contains three sparse-to-fine representation subnetworks organized in parallel, in which multi-scale graph-structured features are processed and exchange information through a novel feature fusion strategy, leading to rich hierarchical representations. We also introduce a 3D coarse mesh constraint to further boost detail-related feature learning. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our HGN achieves the state-of-the art performance with reduced network parameters. Code is released at https://github.com/qingshi9974/BMVC2021-Hierarchical-Graph-Networks-for-3D-Human-Pose-Estimation.


Literature review and own data are given on use of L-carnitine in patients with various forms of ischemic heart disease, pulmonary embolism and dilated cardiomyopathy. Pilot clinical study of infusion form of L-carnitine had shown its positive dose-dependent inotropic effect in 33 patients with acute myocardial infarction and low left ventricular ejection fraction (<40%), compared with similar 24 patients, who haven't get any metabolic drugs


Coronary heart disease is one of the main causes of mortality rate in the world.  This disease is affected by several risk factors. People who have high or moderate risk factors for coronary heart disease should have good preventive behavior, but this also requires a good level of self-efficacy as well, so that the expected behavior can be performed. This study aimed to determine the level of community self-efficacy of coronary heart disease based on characteristic risk factors. This research used a descriptive quantitative approach. Participant consisted of 70 people in Desa Limusgede, West Java, Indonesia acquired through a non-probability technique of purposive sampling. Self-efficacy was measured using a self-efficacy questionnaire (validity value in the range of 0.484 to 0.773 and reliability value 0.862) while risk factor data were determined by age, body mass index, blood pressure, smoking behavior, diabetes mellitus, and physical activity which were referenced by Jakarta Cardiovascular Score. Data were analyzed using median and frequency distribution. The results showed that median (minimum-maximum score) of self-efficacy is 26.00 (11-41), most of the respondent (62.86%) had high self-efficacy of coronary heart disease and more than a half respondent (47.14%) had moderate and high-risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Further, almost half the respondent who had high self-efficacy also had moderate and high-risk factors for cardiovascular disease. So, the health professional must concern in activities to decrease the level of cardiovascular risk factors, such as health education, health promotion, and disease prevention.


Definition and domain related issues of 'rural marketing' need further clarification and revision. Often, rural marketing is equated with marketing by multinationals in rural India. The extant literature on rural marketing has uncritically used the same theories, models, concepts and frameworks as have been used in the mainstream marketing discipline. So far, rural marketing has not produced its own unique theories, concepts, frameworks and distinct vocabulary. As a result, rural marketing cannot claim the status of a separate subdiscipline within the broader marketing discipline. This article provides a critique of the extant work in rural marketing and its dependence on the mainstream business marketing. It is argued that rural marketing must find its own distinct perspective before theory construction can begin in the field. After reviewing the literature on marketing and economic development, it is proposed that development of rural people should be the perspective of rural marketing. In this article, an outcome based definition and domain of rural marketing is proposed and a few potential areas for theory construction work to begin in the subject are suggested.


Transcription factors are proteins that bind at promoter and enhancer sites to regulate gene expression. In this thesis, I used NMR spectroscopy and other methods to investigate the structural and biophysical basis of DNA binding by two eukaryotic transcription factors that are crucial in the development of lymphocytes, Pax5 and Ets1. In chapter 2, I describe how the two subdomains comprising the bipartite DNA-binding Paired domain of Pax5 cooperate to mediate transcriptional regulation. The N-terminal subdomain recognizes DNA sequences in a highly specific manner, whereas the C-terminal subdomain shows little sequence discrimination. The more rigid C-terminal subdomain binds DNA primarily though non-specific electrostatic interactions. In contrast, association with specific DNAs by the dynamic N-terminal subdomain involves relatively large and compensating changes in enthalpy and entropy that point to structural rearrangements upon binding. I propose that the distinct behaviors of the subdomains allow the Pax5 protein to rapidly scan non-specific genomic DNA while retaining specificity for functional regulatory sites. In chapter 3, I expand our understanding of the structural and thermodynamic basis of Ets1 autoinhibition. Previously it was reported that an intrinsically disordered serine-rich region (SRR) interacts transiently with the adjacent ETS domain to attenuate DNA binding. Although forming a dynamic fuzzy complex, I was able to use NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography to provide a detailed mechanism for this inhibitory interaction. In particular, I exploited a trans peptide system to show that the SRR uses a combination of electrostatic and hydrophobic-driven interactions to sterically block the ETS domain DNA-binding interface. I also show how phosphorylation of the SRR strengthens its association with the ETS domain. Altogether, these results explain how the activity of Ets1 is regulated at the level of DNA binding through post-translational modifications that impinge upon the SRR.


Computational Discovery Desktop (CDD) is an application-independent middleware that aids researchers in the daily interaction with distributed HPC resources. It provides computational project management at personal, research group, and inter-institutional collaboration levels. The CDD framework seamlessly integrates typical operations, including multi-user access to the project data, application deployment, input preparation, job scheduling, state gathering, data archival, etc. into the daily work of the researcher by offering a common interface to the frequently performed tasks. The implemented scheduling options support an extensive logic for job dependencies and submitting and cancelling a job at specific time and condition. The job state monitor ascertains the job progress and includes the ability to terminate the job if a predefined condition is met, e.g. the job is too slow due to system issues. The interface can easily be expanded to include additional operations. The users are free to choose the desired level of integration of their day-to-day operations into the CDD framework based on their individual habits and experience of interaction with HPC resources. CDD relies on a relational MySQL database back-end. It uses cron utility to perform the scheduled off-line tasks and to create periodic reports about job and project states. CDD uses XML format to manage the input files and to store the post-processed metadata. It comes with an extensive set of command-line tools for interaction with the user, which are written in Perl to simplify modification and to avoid compilation. CDD employs Globus Toolkit to conduct the certificate-based authentication and data transfer. Currently configured applications include NAMD, Amber, GROMACS, LAMMPS, and NWChem. The applications were tested on NCSA Blue Waters and TACC Stampede.


The chemical composition of sea water and freshwater influences to a great extent the speciation of heavy metals. In river water (which mostly is turbid) large proportion of metals is bound to organic and inorganic particulate matter. Other factors which influence speciation are: pH, hardness, and dissolved organic matter (Salomon's and Forstner, 1984). Large amounts of dissolved organic complexes and particulate matter with heavy metals are transported great distances to end up in the sediments of the estuaries. Some metals, such as Cd, can be released from their organic complexes by increasing Cl (chlorine) concentrations, which form chloride complexes (Elbay-Poulichet et al. 1987). Metal in the aquatic environment are bioaccumulated by organisms either passively from water or by facilitated uptake. Essential metals are maintained by binding to organic molecules at a variety of biochemical sites where they function mainly as catalysts to induce or enhance enzymatic activity (Regan, 1993). Essential metals at high concentrations can have sub lethal toxicity effects to some organisms or lethal consequences to others. Also, metals at deficient concentrations can have again.


This paper presents results of the interviews conducted in Kyiv, Odessa and L'viv within framework
of the project 'Tracking Global HIV/AIDS Initiatives and their Impact on Health Systems: Ukraine'.
The School of Public Health of the National University of «Kyiv-Mohyla Academy» in cooperation
with School of Social Work launched the research project in partnership with the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The Open Society Institute
(OSI) financed the study in Ukraine, together with comparable studies in Kyrgyzstan and Zambia. This
paper discusses issues on HIV-service accessibility from the point of view of clients, providers of services,
as well as local stakeholders and NGO representatives. The obstacles to obtaining HIV-services are
defined and explored.


Sri Lanka experienced severe droughts and floods during the recent years which resulted much crop losses in the paddy production. Effective rainfall periods for the major paddy producing seasons, Maha and Yala seasons are determined according to the crop calendar of the Districts. Here, the impact of rainfall on the paddy production is analysed for each Districts of Sri Lanka during the period from 1961 to 1980. Significant correlation coefficients reveal the clear effect of rainfall on the paddy production, especially in harvest acreage in the Wet and Dry zones. The regions in the Wet Zone have significant positive relationship in the Southwest monsoon season and the Dry Zone in the second intermonsoon and Northeast monsoon seasons as their principal cropping seasons. The Maha rain effects on the sown extent and harvest acreage not only in the same Maha season, but also in the subsequent Yala season sometimes. The excess rainfall amount does not increase the paddy acreage and causes floods even in the drier parts of the country, indicating a negative relationship between rainfall and sown or harvest acreage. Therefore, we can recognize four types of relationships between rainfall and paddy production: (1) significant positive relationship, (2) significant negative relationship, (3) no significant relationship and (4) others, for instance, there is a significant positive relationship below certain critical values and no relationship above the values.


ReadHowYouWant publishes a wide variety of best selling books in Large Print and Super Large Print formats in partnership with leading publishers. EasyRead books are available in 11pt and 13pt. type. EasyRead Large books are available in 16pt, 16pt Bold, and 18pt Bold type. EasyRead Super Large books are available in 20pt. Bold and 24pt. Bold Type. You choose the format that is right for you. Today, the incongruity is that you're asked to process more information, particularly email, than is humanly possible. Each day you multitask your way through an avalanche of disorganized, unstructured information. It's a stressful world filled with uncertainty and interruptions. That said, I have some very good news. Just when you need it most, along comes The Hamster Revolution with four highly effective strategies for simplifying the management of information.To find more titles in your Large Print or Super Large Print format, Search in Books using EasyRead and the size of the font that makes reading easier and more enjoyable for you.


Background: The AIB1 is a steroid receptor coactivator that promotes the transcriptional activity of nuclear receptors such as estrogen receptor. It is overexpressed at the mRNA level in up to 60% of primary breast carcinomas. Methods: In situ hybridization to examine AIB1 mRNA expression was performed in 113 breast carcinomas in the Catholic university of Korea, from Jan. 2004 to Dec. 2008. We investigated the prognostic significance of AIB1 and the correlation of immunohistochemical staining results of estrogen receptor(ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and Her2/neu. Results: AIB1 mRNA overexpression showed in 55 of 113 (48.7%) breast carcinomas. AIB1 mRNA expression was significantly associated with T stage (P=0.002), but not associated with age, lymph node metastasis, histologic type and histologic grade. High expression of AIB1 mRNA was inversely correlated with expression of ER (P=0.011, R=-0.241) and not significantly associated, but also adversely related, with expression of PR (P=0.101, R=-0.157). AIB1 mRNA overexpression was associated with positivity of Her2/neu (P=0.001, R= 0.311). Survival and recurrent free analysis did not reveal significant association with AIB1 expression. Conclusion: AIB1 mRNA overexpression could be involved in breast cancer by mechanism not totally dependent on steroid receptor cofactor, and may involved other estrogen independent growth pathway such as Her2/neu expression. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-03-08.


Silence has been a recurring focus of rhetorical criticism. This essay examines the role of tactical silence in political contestations, particularly during protests. To do so, it explores local debates about K-12 education policy that took place at school board meetings in Golden, Colorado between 2013 and 2015. The analysis centers on two particular school board meetings during which a social resistance organization, Jeffco Students for Change (JSFC), exposed the analog between imposed silence and chosen silence in order to reappropriate the silencing power of the Jefferson County Board of Education (JBOE) and make claims at political agency. I offer seven characteristics of tactical silence in politics that are apparent as the students use silence to challenge the board's authority.


Abstract This paper seeks to provide an improved understanding of the origins of democracy. It begins by developing a theoretical model to demonstrate how exogenous economic conditions can influence the incentives to establish democratic institutions. The model predicts that democratic institutions will expand where they mitigate important time‐inconsistency problems and, therefore, encourage investment. Exogenous conditions determine the magnitude of those time‐inconsistency problems and, hence, the likelihood of democracy. A comparison of ancient Greek city‐states suggests that the conditions under which democracy first emerged support the model. Other potential applications are discussed.


Outside a few affluent countries with adequate vaccination and screening coverage, cervical cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women in many countries. Currently, a major problem is that a substantial proportion of patients are already at an advanced cancer stage when diagnosed. There is increasing evidence that indicates the involvement of translationally controlled tumor protein 1 (TPT1) overexpression in cancer development, but little is known about its implication in cervical cancer. We assessed the levels of TPT1 in surgical tissue and sera of patients with cervicitis, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia III, and cervical cancer, as well as in normal and cancerous cervical cell lines. Gene sets, pathways, and functional protein interactions associated with TPT1 were identified using the TCGA data cohort of cervical cancer. We found that the TPT1 expression was significantly increased in cervical cancer tissue compared to all nonmalignant cervical tissues, including samples of cervicitis, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia III, and normal controls. Serum level of TPT1 was also increased in cervical cancer patients compared to healthy subjects. Furthermore, elevated TPT1 expression was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and a low differentiation degree of the cancer. In the cancerous tissues and cell lines, selective markers of PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway over-activation, apoptosis repression, and EMT were detected, and their interaction with TPT1 was supported by biometrics analyses. Our results, for the first time, demonstrate a strong correlation of upregulated TPT1 expression with cervical cancer progression, suggesting that TPT1 might provide a potential biomarker for cervical cancer progression.


AIM
To elucidate risk factors contributing to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among patients with sustained viral response (SVR) after interferon (IFN) treatment and to examine whether HCV-RNA still remained in the liver of SVR patients who developed HCC.

METHODS
Two-hundred and sixty-six patients, who achieved SVR, were enrolled in this study. We retrospectively reviewed clinical, viral and histological features of the patients, and examined whether the development of HCC depends on several clinical variables using Kaplan-Meier Method. RT-PCR was used to seek HCV-RNA in 3 out of 7 patients in whom liver tissue was available for molecular analysis.

RESULTS
Among the enrolled 266 patients with SVR, HCC developed in 7 patients (7/266; 2.6%). We failed to detect HCV-RNA both in cancer and non-cancerous liver tissue in all three patients. The cumulative incidence for HCC was significantly different depending on hepatic fibrosis (F3-4) (P = 0.0028), hepatic steatosis (Grade 2-3) (P = 0.0002) and age (> or = 55) (P = 0.021) at the pre-interferon treatment.

CONCLUSION
The current study demonstrated that age, hepatic fibrosis, and hepatic steatosis at pre-interferon treatment might be risk factors for developing HCC after SVR.


SIR—With regard to the case report 'Awareness in children: another two cases' (1) I would suggest that this case report might be more suitably entitled 'Predictably inadequate anesthesia for children: another two cases'. In case 1 'approximately 1.5% isoflurane' was administered in oxygen ⁄ air, supplemented by fentanyl 3 lgÆkg. Fentanyl in this dose provides analgesia but not hypnosis– a fact that was well demonstrated by the absence of pain but the presence of recall. The MAC for isoflurane in a child is 1.6 (2), but one MAC is just that – the 'minimal anesthetic concentration'. In fact examination of the original paper by Cameron et al. indicates that the MAC in an individual patient might vary at least between 1.5% and 1.7%. Administering only one MAC of an agent surely introduces the danger that some patients might have recall. Would it not be more sensible to administer at least 1.5 MAC at times when there is a powerful surgical stimulus? In case two, anesthesia was induced with 3.6 mgÆkg of thiopental combined with fentanyl 3 lgÆkg. The lesson again is that fentanyl in this dose may produce analgesia – it does not induce sleep! Jonmarker demonstrated in1987 (3) that 5–6 mgÆkg of thiopental was the effective dose to induce anesthesia in a child. I am not at all surprised that this 8 year old remembered his intubation. A further dose of 1.5 mgÆkg which was administered still would barely represent the correct induction dose and would not provide any retrograde amnesia – as is well demonstrated by this case report. Awareness is certainly a problem of concern in children just as in adults. However, this problem is compounded when practitioners ignore the scientific basis of our specialty, administer inadequate anesthesia and then label the outcome 'awareness'. Yours truly, David J . Steward University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada (email: firstname.lastname@example.com)


This study was conducted to determine the effects of high pressure interposed ventilations during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Cardiac output was measured by a modified indicator dilution technique in eight anesthetized, intubated mongrel dogs. Positive pressure ventilations (12/min, 80% O2) were interposed after every five chest compressions (performed at 62/min) by a mechanical chest compressor (Thumper). On repeated trials in the same animal, ventilation pressures from 10–50 cm of H2O were tested in randomized sequence, while the technique of chest compression was held constant. Arterial blood gases immediately after resuscitation were monitored. Increasing ventilation pressure had surprisingly little effect on cardiac output during CPR, although blood gases were profoundly altered. For ventilation pressures of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 cm of H2O, producing mean tidal volumes 23, 38, 61, 83, and 94 ml/kg; cardiac output remained nearly constant, averaging 21,25,23,26, and 24 ml/minμkg. Corresponding mean postresuscitation pH was 7.24, 7.41, 7.51, 7.56, and 7.53; Pco2 was 41, 26, 18, 16, and 15 torr. The postresuscitation arterial oxygen tension was greater than 100 torr at all ventilation pressures except 10 cm of H2O. Interposed ventilations of pressure and volume more than adequate to prevent acidosis during CPR did not impair artificial cardiac output. If anything, cardiac output was slightly improved by more forceful ventilation.


The business case for diversity is really a technological one. Like the Hubble telescope uses multiple lenses to acquire an understanding of the universe that no one lens can achieve alone, the business case suggests that diversity (however defined) provides multiple perspectives that help organizations better understand an increasingly complex and heterogeneous marketplace. If the prevailing argument for diversity is indeed technology-driven, the present paper suggests that looking at diversity through the lens of the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3) might provide insights that could improve both the acceptance of diversity in the organization and its impact on organizational performance.


The effect of placing a dielectric slab over a 90\deg corrugated feed horn is investigated. The feed horn is normally a circular waveguide with concentric grooves in the aperture plane. Here we simulate the 90\deg feed horn with a two-dimensional configuration which is a parallel-plate waveguidewith adjacent notches. The equivalence principle and modal analysis are used to formulate integral equations which are solved numerically by the method of moments. Numerical results for the input admittance are obtained with and without the corrugation and with and without the dielectric slab cover.


To increase the food production and productivity one of the basic need is increased adoption of location specific technologies by farmers. For this, farmers need to be educated and should be convinced well. Interactive video conferencing through satellite is an effective means of transferring the latest technologies to farmers. Farmers can directly interact with experts from remote villages and collect latest information. Without any distortion, the message can reach the farmers in remote and rural area. One such initiative of Indian Space Research Organization is establishment of Village Resource Centres which are located in different remote villages. The study was done in Karnataka state of India to find out the effectiveness of interactive video conferencing in disseminating the technologies to the farmers. Two hundred farmers who attended the programme regularly were selected randomly for the study. Personal interview and individual case studies were conducted to know the effectiveness of interactive two way audio video conference and the results were encouraging. Interactive video conferencing had helped farmers to increase their knowledge on various agricultural technologies and made adoption of technologies easier. This proved to help farmers in seasonal planning and risk mitigation. It also resulted in increasing the confidence level of farmers as a whole. Technology transfer to farmers through this modern method of communication can empower the rural farmers in developing countries, enhance ecological and livelihood security and accelerate human development and quality of life.


Though haemodynamic changes underpin the pathophysiology of chronic liver disease, there are currently no robust non-invasive methods available for their assessment. I propose 'caval subtraction' phase contrast MRI (PCMRI) a novel method to measure total liver blood flow (TLBF) and hepatic arterial (HA) flow using PCMRI measurements of caval and portal venous (PV) flow. I validate this method at 9.4T and 3.0T to demonstrate: agreement between preclinical PCMRI and invasive transit-time ultrasound (TTUS) and fluorescent microsphere measurements of flow parameters; good consistency between clinical caval subtraction PCMRI and independent direct PCMRI measurements; encouraging correlations between PCMRI and invasive ICG clearance in patients; and good seven-day reproducibility of PCMRI derived haemodynamic parameters in normal volunteers. Using dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI on a 3.0T system, I demonstrate improved seven-day reproducibility using dual input single compartment pharmacokinetic modelling with a novel method for obtaining physiological vascular input function delays, correction of arterial input functions using PCMRI aortic flow and use of PCMRI estimations of TLBF to correct DCE MRI quantification. I also implement arterial spin labelling (ASL) at 9.4T and demonstrate a tendency for ASL to underestimate PCMRI hepatic parenchymal perfusion. Using bile-duct ligated (BDL) rats to study cirrhosis, I demonstrate that these have reduced TLBF and HA fraction at baseline, impaired HA regulation and buffer response, cirrhotic cardiomyopathy, and a failure to match hepatic circulatory demands with increased liver:body mass ratio. Acute-on-chronic liver failure (simulated using endotoxaemia) demonstrates reductions in TLBF, HA flow, absence of normal sepsis-induced hepatic hyperaemia and blunted cardiac systolic response. Studies in cirrhotic patients demonstrate increased TLBF and HA flow in higher risk portal hypertensive patients; that HA flow, HA fraction and cardiac output are important correlative parameters with hepatic venous pressure gradient and that caval subtraction PCMRI has potential in evaluating treatments for portal hypertension.


Flywheel energy storage can store large amounts of kinetic energy in its rotating parts, but its inertia restricts the rate of power exchange. On the other hand, there is supercapacitor with the ability of exchanging large amounts of instantaneous power. Therefore, the combination of these two systems can significantly improve the dynamic response of conventional flywheel energy storage. This paper proposes a novel design for this combined system in which supercapacitors are located inside the rotating disk. Therefore, supercapacitors can significantly improve the dynamic performance of the flywheel energy storage with trivial effects on its size and weight. Moreover, the ability of rotating supercapacitors to store electrical as well as kinetic energy increases the energy storage capacity of the proposed flywheel energy storage. This developed system with its improved performance can be widely employed instead of the conventional flywheel energy storage in various applications. In this paper, the proposed structures with built-in rotating supercapacitors are mechanically analyzed by CATIA and ABAQUS. In addition, the developed flywheel energy storage, which is equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous machine and its modified indirect vector controller, is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink under various conditions.


CoFe 2O4 Magnetic Nano Particles (MNPs) were synthesized by an efficient method in aqueous medium with the particle sizes of about 20-50 nm. Then, a hybrid nanocomposite of polyaniline (PANI)-CoFe 2O4 MNPs has been electrodeposited directly on a stainless steel wire by the potentiostatic method. Microscopic images of electrodeposited PANI and PANI-CoFe 2O4 nanocomposite coatings were obtained by scanning electron microscope. The scanning electron microscopic images of polyaniline and its nanocomposite pointed out the influence of CoFe 2O4 nanoparticles in the electrodeposition of polyaniline. Dispersion of CoFe 2O4 nanoparticles in electrolyte solution during the electrodeposition, creates a nanocomposite with a more surface area than pure polyaniline.


Gang-rtpping technology that uses a movable (floating) outer blade to eliminate unusable edgings is described. including new tenn1nology for identifying preferred and rn1nirnally acceptable strtp Widths. Because of the large amount of salvage required to achieve total yields. floating blade gang ripping is not recommended for boards With crook. With crook removed by crosscutting to shorter. straight pieces. fixed arbor and floating blade procedures gave similar yield results. The yields from several hundred straight boards were also similar to those for the boards With crook removed. No.1 Common had more yield in the longest lengths than did No.2 Common. but the amount of No.2 Common lengths had been shown earlier to be more than sufficient to meet the needs of the furniture and cabinet industrtes.


Protein kinases (PKs) play a key role in regulating cellular processes. Kinase dysfunction can lead to disease, thus kinases are important targets for drug design and a fundamental class of pharmacological targets for anti-cancer therapy. Among protein kinases, B-Raf and c-Src are remarkably interesting as anticancer drug targets because of their important role in cancer onset (B-Raf) and progression (c-Src). This thesis is mainly focused on the characterization of the molecular mechanism at the basis of the regulation and inhibition of these remarkable PKs. By using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and molecular dynamics simulations (MD) we have studied in great details their activation dynamics, their inhibition and the effect of clinically-relevant oncogenic mutations on their structure and dynamics. C-Scr was the first viral oncogenic protein discovered, is involved in metastasis and is mutated in 50% of colon, liver, lung, breast and pancreas tumours. Upon phosphorylation, various conserved structural elements, including the activation loop, switch from an inactive to an active form able to bind ATP and phosphorylate a substrate in a cellular signalling process leading to cell replication. In this thesis, we will discuss how phosphorylation drastically changes the dynamics of the C-lobe in c-Src by NMR analysis, a phenomenon not easily accessible by static crystallographic studies. The second part of the thesis will be focused on B-Raf, a protein serine/threonine kinase. B-Raf kinase is a key target for the treatment of melanoma, since a single mutation (V600E) is found in more than 50% of all malignant melanomas. Despite their importance, the molecular mechanisms explaining the increased kinase activity in this mutant remains elusive. As kinase activity is often tightly regulated by one or more conformational transitions between an active and an inactive state, which are difficult to be observed experimentally, molecular dynamics simulations are often useful to interpret the experimental results. In this project, we will examine the mechanism by which the V600E mutation enhances the activity of the B-Raf monomer. We will also employ a combination of MD techniques with NMR experiments to fully map the effects of the mutation on the conformational landscape of B-Raf. An understanding at the atomic level of the mechanisms leading to their activation and inhibition is an extremely important goal in anti-cancer drug discovery. A better understanding of these proteins' mechanisms might lead to more potent and less toxic drugs. Finally, I report on the studies of a much small domain often associated with PKs in regulatory pathways: the WW domain. By using a combination of MD simulations and NMR, we have characterized the effect of a pathogenic mutation on its folding landscape.


Clinical and hemodynamic studies were conducted in 6 women and 2 men with beta-thalassemia/hemoglobin E disease. All except one had splenectomy. The patients were hospitalized in the state of congestive heart failure. The systemic blood pressure was low or normal. The electrocardiograms revealed normal sinus rhythm in all, right axis deviation in some, right atrial enlargement in the majority and repolarization abnormalities in some. The echocardiograms were sensitive to detect the right heart abnormalities and pericardial effusion. Cardiac catheterization disclosed moderate to marked hypoxemia. All patients except one had pulmonary hypertension. Some had left ventricular dysfunction. From this study. It is concluded that right heart involvement secondary to diffuse pulmonary thromboembolic disease is a major complication of beta-thalassemia/hemoglobin E disease.


A fabrication process has been developed for making free‐standing gratings of silicon nitride. These structures are critical components of an atom interferometer, which uses four gratings as coherent beam splitters of atom waves. The quality of gratings necessary for an interferometer is considerably higher than is needed to demonstrate the diffraction of atoms. In particular, the gratings must be phase coherent over their entire area. This implies that the grating lines must be straight to the order of their linewidth over the full extent of the grating. In addition, the open fraction of the grating structure is more critical for an interferometer. In this paper the development of new fabrication techniques that were used to make free‐standing gratings with periods as small as 100 nm and support structure open fractions as high as 0.8 were reported on. To achieve depth‐to‐linewidth ratios greater than 4:1 with grating periods as small as 100 nm a selective, highly directional reactive ion etching (RIE) p...


ABSTRACT Enterococcus faecium is an important nosocomial pathogen, causing a substantial health burden due to high resistance to antibiotics and its ability to colonize the gastrointestinal tract. Here, we present the draft genome of vancomycin-susceptible, ampicillin-intermediate strain D344RRF, a rifampicin/fusidic acid-resistant and commonly used laboratory strain, which is useful in studying the transfer of antibiotic resistance.


Increasing evidences have shown that B-cell translocation gene 3 (BTG3) inhibits metastasis of multiple cancer cells. However, the role of BTG3 in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its possible mechanism have not yet been reported. In our study, we evaluated BTG3 expression in several CRC cell lines. Then, pcDNA3.1-BTG3 was transfected into SW480 cells. We found that BTG3 was upregulated in SW480 cells after overexpression plasmid transfection. BTG3 overexpression significantly inhibited cell growth and decreased PCNA (proliferating cell nuclear antigen) and Ki67 levels. BTG3 overexpression markedly downregulated Cyclin D1 and Cyclin E1 levels, whereas elevated p27. Overexpression of BTG3 arrested the cell cycle at G1 phase, which was abrogated by p27 silencing. Furthermore, migration, invasion and EMT of SW480 cells were significantly suppressed by BTG3 overexpression. Further investigations showed the inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. We then used GSK3β specific inhibitor SB-216763 to activate the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. We found that Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway activation reversed the effect of BTG3 overexpression on cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, invasion and EMT. In conclusion, BTG3 overexpression inhibited cell growth, induced cell cycle arrest and suppressed the metastasis of SW480 cells via the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. BTG3 may be considered as a therapeutic target in CRC treatment.


Visitor expectations continually evolve as new forms of technology mediate ever more personalized interactions, not only within the museum, but also virtually around the physical environment. Designing visitor journey experiences that support visitor heterogeneity are complex. Consequently, it is difficult for museum management and collection managers to respond effectively in their design of heritage experiences. Understanding human behavior at scale is challenging, often explored in other disciplines by simulating generic process models and scenarios. Creating experiences for cultural heritage persona remains a challenge because no clear methodology currently exists. This paper proposes a methodological framework supporting museum and collection managers in their design and simulation of heritage experiences. Clear classification of visitors and journeys is undertaken at the outset. Journey mapping is used as a modeling primitive for both agent and system dynamic modeling.


The colonization mechanisms of enteropathogenic Aeromonas strains are poorly characterized, but recent studies indicate that some filamentous structures are intestinal adhesins. This study describes the purification and characterization of a long, flexible pilus from a gastroenteritis-associated strain of Aeromonas veronii biovar sobria. SDS-PAGE analysis (various conditions) of pili preparations yielded a pilin protein band of approximately 21 kDa. Its N-terminal amino acid sequence was unambiguous and homologous with those of type IV pilins. Immunogold electron microscopy with rabbit antisera produced against this pilin protein (SFP) decorated single pili and rope-like bundles of pili on the bacterial surface. These were seen more frequently on strains grown at 22 degrees C compared with 37 degrees C and in liquid rather than on solid medium. SFP was not detected on any of 104 strains of Aeromonas (different species and sources) from our culture collection, although morphologically similar structures were seen on a number of these strains. This finding and differences among other published amino acid sequences show that Aeromonas type IV pili are antigenically diverse. Bundle-forming type IV 'class B' pili are important in the virulence of other enteropathogenic bacteria. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the Aeromonas SFP, however, showed closer homology to the type IV 'class A' pilins. Studies are in progress to investigate the role of SFP in Aeromonas virulence.


ABSTRACT Spheroids are widely used in vitro 3D multicellular model systems that mimic complex physiological microenvironments of tissues. As different cell types vary in deformability and adhesion, the choice of (heterogeneous) cell composition will define overall spheroid mechanics, including their viscoelasticity and effective surface tension. These mechanical parameters directly influence cell sorting and possibly cell invasion into the extracellular matrix. Spheroid models therefore provide fundamental insights in the relation between cellular mechanics and important physiological processes, such as tissue formation, embryonic tissue remodeling, and cancer metastasis. In this review, we first summarize and compare current biophysical tools that probe mechanics of spheroids either from the outside or from within, then relate spheroid mechanics to cell mechanics and cell-cell adhesion, and subsequently discuss the role of spheroid mechanics alongside surrounding microenvironment parameters in (cancer) cell migration. We conclude by pointing out the research gaps and drawing the attention to novel techniques that could shed more light on the biophysical characterization of spheroids in the framework of tissue remodeling and cancer metastasis. Graphical Abstract


The purpose of the research is to explore the socio cultural and educational factors that have an impact on students' English language proficiency of secondary school students of Lahore District, Pakistan. A mixed method analysis has been used to justify this research and a total quantity of a hundred and twenty students from Urdu and English medium students participated in this survey. The results suggest that the commonplace distinction inside the practice of language between the scholars and the parents acts as one of the most important consciousness points in this report. The end result once more showed widespread ratio adjustments among the mom of Urdu medium colleges" college students and the moms of the English medium schools" college students where the proportion of surprisingly educated moms of English medium schools students is greater than that of the urdu medium colleges students moms. The third answer of this study shows the result as both sides being equal. The fourth answer indicates a different analysis of children living in higher families and minor families. The Fifth and Sixth answer is about the occupation of the mother and father of each medium faculties students. This study is the evaluation and analysis of the socio cultural and educational factors which affect the student's English learning process. The researcher particularly recommends that both the parents and the lecturer's involvement are equally critical from all perspective. It is most vital that the mother and father communicate to their Kids. Approximately their research at college and encourage them and inspire them to head further beforehand. It is maximum important to keep in mind that the students are right here to study however the vintage and modern way of lesson need to be improvised that allows you to make the instructions a greater interesting one. It also further discusses some of the solutions and recommendations as the report progresses. Based on the outcomes attained, recommendation is provided at the end of the researcht.


Considering the daily increasing changes in clinical training approaches, the necessity of using new evaluation methods in proportion with these approaches is also becoming more and more obvious for measuring all of the cognitive, emotional and psychomotor dimensions of students. The present study was designed and conducted for reviewing the effect of objective structured clinical examination method on the clinical skills of nursing students. In this quasi-experimental study, 48 nursing students have participated that were randomly assigned to two groups of intervention and control. The intervention group students were evaluated at the end of educational period of their clinical skills and principles course using objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). The OSCE included five core skills in this course: assessing and fulfilling patients' basic needs, dressing up, injectable drug therapy, noninjectable drug therapy, infection control. The control group students were evaluated using the routine method. Both groups of students were followed up in the next semester and were compared in terms of learning enhancement in these five skills. Evaluation of procedures was based on valid and reliable check-lists made by the researcher. Results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square, independent and paired T tests). The mean score of the final evaluation in the intervention group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P= 0.000). Final evaluation scores of the intervention group students showed a better performance than their previous semester (P= 0.000), while the final evaluation scores of the control group students showed a lack of progress in their skills (P<0.05). It seems that this evaluation method also is a support for students' learning and resulted in improvement of clinical skills among them. Accordingly, it is recommended that nursing education centers apply this method to assess students' clinical skills in conjunction with other methods, to help promote their learning.


Abstract Disentangling trophic interactions among species is important for elucidating mechanisms underlying ecosystem functioning and services. Carabid beetles are an important guild of predators that may regulate pest populations in arable landscapes, but their generalist feeding behavior hinders predictions about their actual contribution to pest control. In order to assess carabids' potential for pest control, we simultaneously analyzed the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of a community of 45 co-occurring species in wheat and oilseed rape fields. With the expectation to identify distinct trophic groups based on the mean and the variance of carabid isotopic signatures, we observed a high degree of overlap in trophic positions between species. However, we also observed that species could be successfully categorized into two groups according to whether or not their carbon signatures varied independently from variations in the crop baseline. We interpret these results as differential primary resource uptake or by differential mobility aptitude in foraging. Accordingly, we propose that the isotopic signal can inform us on the presence/absence of links between generalist predators and cultivated plants through the trophic networks they belong to, and consequently on their potential role as pest natural enemies. We therefore suggest the complementarity of stable isotope analysis for obtaining a time-integrated assessment of carabid trophic behavior that may be combined with more direct molecular diet analysis allowing the simultaneous quantification of specific trophic links within agricultural landscapes.


A new communications tool-the hand-held satellite telephone-will be available to business people before the turn of the century. At about the same time, affordable, basic telephony-through fixed-site satellite telephones-will be available for the first time to millions of citizens of developing economies. Globalstar will usher in both. Globalstar is a low-Earth-orbiting (LEO) satellite-based digital telecommunications system that will offer wireless telephone and other telecommunications services worldwide beginning in 1999. Globalstar will provide low-cost, high quality telephony and other digital telecommunications services such as data transmission, paging, facsimile and position location to areas currently under served or not served by existing wireline and cellular telecommunications systems. (8 pages)


Vermiform appendix has diverse anatomical positions, lengths, and conditions of mesoappendix. Knowing the exact anatomical position of vermiform appendix is important in view of surgeons for on-time diagnosis and management of acute appendicitis. The aim of present study is determination of these characteristics of vermiform appendix among Iranian population. The present study was conducted on 200 bodies, selected from the dead bodies that had been referred to local bureau of legal medicine, Zenjan province, Iran, for medicolegal autopsy since 21 Mar 2010 to 21 Mar 2011. According to the results, the anatomical positions of the appendix were pelvic, subcecal, retroileal, retrocecal, ectopic, and preileal in 55.8%, 19%, 12.5%, 7%, 4.2%, and 1.5% of the bodies, respectively. The mean length of vermiform appendix was 91.2 mm and 80.3 mm in men and women, respectively. Mesoappendix was complete in 79.5% of the bodies. No association was found between sex and anatomical position of vermiform appendix. Anterior anatomical position was the most common position for vermiform appendix. It is inconsistent with most related reports from western countries. It might be possible that some factors, such as race, geographical changes, and dietary habits, play roles in determining the position of vermiform appendix.


Contemporary social science tends to suffer from too many misplaced attempts at mathematical or game‐theoretical formulation, and much effort is wasted in either propounding such formulations, or in showing their inanity. Jon Elster does not entirely escape this himself, but Logic and Society is truly remarkable in pointing the way to some possibly very relevant formalizations. These are particularly to be found in the chapter on 'contradictions of society'. There Elster attempts to delineate the properties of certain self‐frustrating predicaments of action, and to relate them as well to Hegelian‐Marxist conceptions of contradiction. It may be, however, that the relevance of this analysis is restricted to societies whose form of life has become atomistic, and whose members thus function in an individual‐calculative way in many spheres of life. But even so, formalizations of the kind Elster provides would be useful in defining one kind of historically evolved society among others.


A quantitative analysis of the total concentrations of Al and Na in
the Antarctic ice sheet during the past 340 kyr was performed
by applying the acid digestion method to the Dome Fuji ice core. Atmospheric
fluxes of mineral and sea-salt aerosol to Dome Fuji were calculated from the
total concentration. The average fluxes of mineral aerosol to Dome Fuji in the
periods of glacial maximum, 18.6 ± 10.1 mg·m–2·yr–1, were larger
than the value in the interglacial periods, 3.77 ± 2.20 mg·m–2·yr–1.
Conversely, the fluxes of sea-salt have no significant difference between the
average value of glacial maximum, 130 ± 55 mg·m–2·yr–1,
and that of interglacial, 111 ± 54 mg·m–2·yr–1. The
results obtained in this study suggest that the variation of mineral aerosol
flux in Dome Fuji, together with climate change, was much larger than that of
sea-salt aerosol flux. This result may have occurred because the variety in
the intensity of the source and transport during the glacial-interglacial
cycle is more significant for mineral aerosol than that for sea-salt aerosol.


John McKiernan-González's Fevered Measures delivers a well-researched account of public health initiatives by the United States and Mexico following the U.S.Mexico War (1846–48) up to World War II. Fevered Measures calls our attention to a series of case studies along the Texas-Mexican border while prioritizing the ever changing medical and political frameworks U.S. and Mexican officials used to treat the threat of epidemic disease to their respective nations. McKiernanGonzález argues that medical borders drawn by public health officials crossed political borders to protect American citizens. Moreover, the constant movement of American medical officers across state and international borders suggests that medical borders were not only different, but shaped the definitions of U.S. citizenship by designating those that belonged and those that were threats to the general polity. This study yields to an understanding of intersecting medical, political, and diplomatic initiatives that formulated interpretations of citizenship, race, civil liberties, public health, and national security. McKiernan-González begins his analytical narrative with a case study following the U.S.-Mexico War. Early in the military campaign, occupying troops from the United States suffered numerous losses due to disease, exposing a military reality that lead to the shaping of diplomatic proceedings in Mexico. Although Mexican officials wanted American troops out of their country immediately, the reality of the fevers during the summer of 1847 delayed troop evacuation and representatives from both countries agreed to an exit strategy that would help the Americans avoid the sickly season in lowland Mexico. This early example sets the tone for the book as it demonstrates that public health concerns were intimately tied to policy and, at times, superseded political and diplomatic agendas. However, the role of public health and policy moved beyond the battlefield and McKiernanGonzález shifts the focus to military quarantines in South Texas and concludes that U.S. medical officials medically separated and segregated "Mexican Texas" from the rest of the state (21). The intersecting agendas of public health, local autonomy, and citizenship came to a head at the turn of the twentieth century as labor demands and migration due to revolution demanded a stricter and harsher treatment of epidemic threats posed by Mexican migrants. Fevered Measures yields a detailed understanding of policy and practice along the border, especially during periods of intense conflict. During the Mexican Revolution public health initiatives grew more complex as Mexican refugees and laborers sought shelter and work in American border communities. Many migrants lived in poorly developed dwellings that U.S. public health officials viewed as vectors for disease, especially typhus. As a result, working-class Mexican sections of


Background and objectives Many cytokines are involved in the pathogenesis of chronic rheumatic diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To estimate the role of cytokines in these diseases is intriguing considering the fact that they act together within complex cytokine networks. Although various cell types produce cytokines, monocytes are considered as their principal source. Nevertheless, how functions of monocytes are altered in the course of different rheumatic diseases and how cytokines influence these alterations remained largely unknown. Materials and methods The global gene-expression profiling has been utilised for development and analyses of SLE and RA profiles (Affymetrix HG-arrays). To decipher the alterations in SLE and RA in more details, cytokine-specific signatures were developed following monocytes stimulation in vitro by tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), IFNα2a and interferon γ (IFNγ). Ingenuity pathway analysis were utilised for identifying the molecular pathways and cytokine networks within SLE and RA profiles. Whole-genome rVISTA was applied for the promoter analyses of these profiles. Results Monocytes from SLE and RA patients revealed diseases-specific gene-expression profiles. Ingenuity pathway analysis of SLE and RA profiles identified cytokines as essential players in shaping profiles from diseases and the alterations within IFNα/IFNγ (IFNs) and TNFα signalling pathways. To decipher the SLE and RA profiles in more details, TNFα−, IFNα2a− and IFNγ−reference signatures were generated in vitro. Comparisons between disease-specific and the in vitro-generated reference signatures showed that the SLE profile was predominantly driven by IFNs, while the RA profile was primarily influenced by TNFα. The IFN-imprints in SLE was characterised by an activation of the transcription factor STAT1. Interestingly, the activation of STAT1 was found to be silenced by TNFα in patients with RA. However, the IFN-imprints were also identified in RA and the TNFα-imprint was evident in SLE. It was obvious that the responses to the same cytokines in SLE and RA were qualitatively and quantitatively different. Conclusions Altogether, this study has demonstrated that monocytes from RA and SLE patients exhibit disease-dependent gene-expression profiles, which can be molecularly dissected when compared to in vitro-generated cytokine-signatures. The IFNs- and TNFα-imprints were identified to be disease-dependent and principally they reflected the interplay of cytokines within various inflammatory milieus. The results from this study suggest that estimating the imprints of cytokines in rheumatic diseases would be indispensible for an improvement of diagnosis, proper selection of particular cytokine target(s) for therapeutic intervention and for following up and predicting the response to anticytokine drug(s).


The principles on which can be based computer model of process of training are formulated. Are considered: 1) the unicomponent model, which is recognizing that educational information consists of equal elements; 2) the multicomponent model, which is considering that knowledge is assimilate with a various strength, and on lesson weak knowledge becomes strong; 3) the generalized multicomponent model which considers change of working capacity of the pupil and various complexity of studied elements of a training material. Typical results of imitating modeling of learning process are presented in article.


Controlled induction motor drives without mechanical speed sensors at the motor shaft have the attractions of low cost and high reliability. To replace the sensor, information on the rotor speed is extracted from measured stator currents and from voltages at motor terminals. Vector-controlled drives require estimating the magnitude and spatial orientation of the fundamental magnetic flux waves in the stator or in the rotor. Open-loop estimators or closed-loop observers are used for this purpose. They differ with respect to accuracy, robustness, and sensitivity against model parameter variations. Dynamic performance and steady-state speed accuracy around zero speed range are achieved by signal injection, exploiting the anisotropic properties of the machine. The overview in this paper uses signal flow graphs of complex space vector quantities to provide an insightful description of the systems used in sensorless control of induction motors.


Aims. We performed a comprehensive analysis of a sample of 20 starburst galaxies that show a substantial population of very young massive stars, most of them classified as Wolf-Rayet galaxies. Methods. In this paper, the last in the series, we analyze the global properties of our galaxy sample using multiwavelength data extracted from our own observations (Hα fluxes, B and H-band magnitudes) and from the literature, which include X-ray, FUV, FIR, and radio (both H i spectral line and 1.4 GHz radio-continuum) measurements. Results. The agreement between our Hα-based star-formation rates (Sfr) and those provided by indicators at other wavelengths is remarkable, but we consider that the new Hα-based calibration provided by Calzetti et al. (2007, ApJ, 666, 870) should be preferred to older calibrations. The FUV-based Sfr provides a powerful tool for analyzing the star-formation activity on both global and local scales independently to the Hα emission. We provide empirical relationships between the ionized gas mass, neutral gas mass, dust mass, stellar mass, and dynamical mass with the B-luminosity. Although all mass estimations increase with increasing luminosity, we find important deviations to the general trend in some objects, which seem to be the consequence of their particular evolutionary histories. The analysis of the mass-to-light ratios give similar results. We investigate the mass-metallicity relations and conclude that both the nature and the star-formation history are needed to understand the relationships between both properties. The majority of the galaxies follow a Schmidt-Kennicutt scaling law of star-formation that agrees with that reported in individual star-forming regions within M 51 but not with that found in normal spiral galaxies. Dwarf galaxies seem to be forming stars more efficiently than the outskirts of spiral galaxies. We find a relation between the reddening coefficient and the warm dust mass indicating that the extinction is mainly internal to the galaxies. The comparison with the closed-box model also indicates that the environment has strongly affected their evolution. Conclusions. Considering all multiwavelength data, we found that 17 up to 20 galaxies are clearly interacting or merging with lowluminosity dwarf objects or H i clouds. The remaining three galaxies (Mkn 5, SBS 1054+364, and SBS 1415+437) show considerable divergences of some properties when comparing with similar objects. Many of the interacting/merging features are only detected when deep optical spectroscopy and a detailed multiwavelength analysis, including H i observations, are obtained. We conclude that interactions do play a fundamental role in the triggering mechanism of the strong star-formation activity observed in dwarf starburst galaxies.


In the year 2000, the German government passed the most ambitious tax reform in postwar German history aiming at a significant tax relief for households. An important aim of this tax reform was to improve work incentives and, thereby, foster employment. Drawing on data of the German Socio Economic Panel (SOEP), we analyze the work incentive and employment effects of this reform on the basis of a behavioral microsimulation model. We find that the significant reduction of marginal tax rates implied by the tax reform results in a substantial increase in labor supply, a slight reduction of market wages and an increase in employment of about 130 thousand people (full-time equivalents).


Previous studies have shown that students learn mathematics better when they are engaged in creative reasoning, but that students in regular teaching mainly undertake imitative reasoning. It is therefore important to develop and examine didactical designs that support creative reasoning. These studies examine a didactic design where students work in pairs solving a complex task supported by dynamic software. The studies show that dynamic software supports creative reasoning by providing timely feedback closely connected to the students' activities.


Anodizing technique was applied to prepare insulated metal substrates (IMS) for BGA packaging. "Ideal" IMS used anodic film of aluminum as the insulating layer instead of epoxy, which led to higher thermal conductivity. But the thermal shock resistance of IMS is poor because of the great difference of thermal expansion coefficient between aluminum and its anodic film. In this study, different anodizing processes of aluminum were analyzed. The parameters, which can affect the thermal shock resistance of IMS, especially the surface temperature of Al substrate, were studied. The anodic film obtained with the optimized parameters of anodizing process had excellent performance, such as the resistivity was over 1013Ω·cm, the breakdown voltage was higher than 600V, and the most important thing was that it could resist thermal shocks between room temperature and 300°C. Then BGA packaging was successfully performed based on this IMS.


For centuries folklore has found its home in our conscience. These stories are inherited to us through generations yet tangled with various interpretations from present reality. Based on above understanding of folklores I attempt to interpret longings and desires embodied in these stories to understand the minds of Russians. To achieve this I have introduced two methods of interpretation. First method is structural analysis--using unchanging variable. Second method is psychological analysis--using "Selbstverwirklichung" introduced by Freud and Jung. By applying these two methods, I have discovered embodiment of self-fulfillment in minds of Russians. Main importances were placed in characteristics such as these: kindness, humbleness, wisdom, courage, diligence, and perseverance throughout its culture. These may be prevailing characteristics in any human conscience, however, Russian folklore in particular exhibits these traits with frequency and extent. Thus this can also be interpreted as what distinguishes Russian folklore from the rest. Furthermore, introducing both analytical methodology used to draw visible traits in conclusion is also an achievement on its own.


Pulp and paper mills generate various quantities of energy-rich biomass as wastes, depending on technological level, pulp and paper grades and wood quality. These wastes are produced in all stages of the process: wood preparation, pulp and paper manufacture, chemical recovery, recycled paper processing, waste water treatment. Energy recovery from wastes of different origin has become a generally accepted alternative to their disposal. Pulp and paper industry expresses an interest in adapting and integrating advanced biomass energy conversion technologies into its mill operations. Industrial adoption of these new technologies has the potential for higher efficiency, lower capital cost, and safer operation than conventional operations that burn fossil fuels for energy. Incineration with energy recovery has the advantage of hygienic disposal, volume reduction, and the recovery of thermal energy by means of steam or super heated water that can be used for heating and power generation. The paper reviews the current state and tendencies in using as a fuel of solid wastes generated in pulp and paper mills. A description of biomass-derived wastes regarding their opportunity to be used for energy recovery is presented. The heating properties of wood wastes, rejects from recycled paper processing, paper sludge, and low-quality recovered paper grades are discussed. Some aspects of emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) are also presented.


Caron, J., Rancourt, G. T., Bélec, C., Tremblay, N. and Parent, L.-É. 2014. Nitrogen budget for fertilized carrot cropping systems in a Quebec organic soil. Can. J. Soil Sci. 94: 139-148. After reclamation, organic soils tend to shift from net N immobilization to net N mineralization. The N amounts mineralized annually can be sufficient to cover the N needs of the crop, reducing the need for supplemental N fertilization. The objective of this study was to assess N budgets and to infer the apparent N mineralization in fertilized and unfertilized carrot (Daucus carota L.) crops in an organic soil in southwestern Quebec. Five pre-plant N fertilization treatments (0, 25, 50, 75, and a split 25+25 kg N ha-1) were applied over a 3-yr period to non-irrigated carrots. Crop yield and plant and soil N contents were measured. Apparent net N mineralization was an important source of N, averaging 117 kg N ha-1 yr-1. Crop yield was not affected by the N fertilization rate, by splitting of the fertilizer application or by the previous year's crop. Increasing the N fertilizer rate increased the soil nitrate content below the root zone (~40 cm below the surface), enhancing the risk of nitrate leaching. Thus, because soil N mineralization was sufficient for the carrots' requirements in this organic soil, supplemental N fertilization was found to be unnecessary and could exacerbate the environmental risk of nitrate leaching.


Actinic cheilitis is a potentially premalignant condition involving predominantly the vermilion of the lower lip. The aim of the current paper was to review the clinical presentation of actinic cheilitis and demonstrate the development of management plans using a series of cases. These are designed to provide immediate treatment where required but also to address the medium and long-term requirements of the patient. The authors suggest that the clinical examination of lips and the assessment of actinic cheilitis and other lip pathology become a regular part of the routine soft tissue examination undertaken as a part of the periodic examination of dental patients. Early recognition of actinic cheilitis can allow the development of strategies for individual patients that prevent progression. These are based on past sun exposure, future lifestyle changes and the daily use of emollient sunscreens, broad-brimmed hats and avoidance of sun exposure during the middle of the day. This is a service that is not undertaken as a matter of routine in general medical practice as patients are not seen with the regularity of dental patients and generally not under the ideal examination conditions available in the dental surgery.


An improved general method for the preparation of methyl esters of polyene antibiotics is discussed. Using this method methyl esters of pimaricin, nystatin, eurocidin, hamycin, hamycins A and B, aureofungin, partricins A and B, candimycin, candicidin, and amphotericin B have been prepared and their physical properties are reported. The biological activities of hamycins A and B and their methyl esters are also described.


This study aims to show the role of administrative slack through its dimensions (job inflation, job laziness, and low productivity) in expanding the hidden economy. A problem that impedes the effective performance of the state's administrative apparatus, and to achieve the study's goal, the results of the essential previous research in this field were reviewed. Then a questionnaire form was designed for this purpose. (104) questionnaires were distributed to the administrative staff in the office of Salah al-Din Governorate, which was also completed. The use of a number of statistical methods, and the study came out to many conclusions, the most important of which were: the absence of teamwork methods, poor performance concerning control operations in the organization in question, and the prevalence of the phenomenon of negligence in the field of work. The results of the study showed the citizens' dissatisfaction with the organization's performance and the weakness of the performance evaluation processes. Also, the results revealed that the administration cannot achieve future development programs for the employees. The most important recommendations reached by the study were to work on finding a department concerned with following up on citizens' complaints, knowing the deficiencies and removing the obstacles facing the administration and following up Performance through the KPLS program), the performance evaluation system and the intensification of development courses that help find future leaders.


There is an increasing interest in the tribology community for developing high-performance
composite coatings to meet severe tribological conditions in advanced mechanical systems
which require high operating temperature and long life. In the present work, powder
preplacement and tungsten inert gas (TIG) torch melting techniques have been employed to
generate titanium carbide (TiC)-based composite coatings containing hexagonal boron nitride
(hBN) or Ni–P coated hBN (Ni–P-hBN) lubricant additive. The effects of preplaced powder
composition on the cross-sectional microstructures and surface hardnesses of the developed
coatings were analysed. Furthermore, the friction and wear behaviours of the composite
coatings at 600°C were evaluated using a Ducom ball-on-disc wear test rig. The results indicate
that the TIG-melted surface containing TiC and Ni–P-hBN powder mixtures exhibits optimum
properties combining good control of microstructures and uniformly distributed hardness as well
as excellent tribological properties due to the enhanced wettability action of Ni–P encapsulated
hBN particles.


Many scientific fields routinely generate huge datasets. In many cases, these datasets are not static but rapidly grow in size. Handling these types of datasets, as well as allowing sophisticated queries necessitates efficient distributed database systems that allow geographically dispersed users to access resources and to use machines simultaneously in anytime and anywhere. In this paper we present the architecture, implementation and performance analysis of a scalable, distributed database system built on multicore systems. The system architecture makes use of software partitioning of the database based on data clustering with deterministic annealing, termed the SQMD (Single Query Multiple Database) mechanism, a web service interface and multicore server technologies. The system allows uniform access to concurrently distributed databases over multicore servers, using the SQMD mechanism based on the publish/subscribe paradigm. We highlight the scalability of our software and hardware architecture by applying it to a database of 17 million chemical structures. In addition to simple identifier based retrieval, we will present performance results for shape similarity queries, which is extremely, time intensive with traditional architectures.


Proteomic studies aim to identify, quantify and characterise the full complement of proteins in a cell or organism under a defined set of conditions, and are important to our understanding of cellular mechanisms. However, such studies represent a major analytical challenge. A typical proteome analysis involves enzyme-mediated digestion of complex protein mixtures to yield an even more complex mixture of peptides. Combined reverse-phase liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry is then traditionally utilised to ascertain sequence information from the characteristic peptide sequences. Analytical data derived for the peptides are employed as search terms in database searching of protein sequences derived from gene sequences. The extreme complexity of the peptide mixtures analysed means that additional novel approaches are required to fully interrogate the vast number of tandem mass spectra generated, assigning peptide identity and thereby helping to address demanding biological questions. The research reported here aims to further our understanding of both gas phase peptide/peptide fragment ion structure and peptide fragmentation behaviour using a combination of tandem mass spectrometry and ion mobility measurement.To facilitate the determination of peptide ion collision cross section, a novel standard, QCAL-IM, produced using the QconCAT strategy, has been developed to enable calibration of drift time in Travelling Wave Ion Mobility instruments. The standard facilitates empirical determination of the rotationally averaged collision cross section of any peptide/peptide fragment ion that lies within the calibration range encompassed. QCAL-IM was subsequently utilised to determine the collision cross section of a range of peptide ions produced by Lys-C and Lys-N proteolysis of ?standard? proteins. Data produced allowed the effect upon gas phase ion conformation through changing the location of the basic residue lysine within a peptide sequence to be assessed.The fragmentation behaviour of peptide ions produced by a variety of digestion regimes during both collision-induced dissociation (CID) and electron transfer dissociation (ETD) has also been extensively studied. The proteases trypsin and Lys-C are those typically utilised during proteomic studies and peptides produced by each have either the basic residues arginine or lysine at their carboxy-terminus. Secondary enzymatic treatment with the exoprotease carboxypeptidase B cleaves these basic residues from the C-terminus. Tandem mass spectrometric analysis of both tryptic/Lys-C peptides and their CBPB truncated analogue highlights that the dominant fragment ion series observed during both CID and ETD is determined, at least in part, by the location of such basic residues.Finally, studies were undertaken to investigate the factors which may promote/inhibit scrambling of peptide fragment ion sequence, which has recently been shown to take place during CID. The effect of modifying the gas phase basicity of the N-terminal amino acid residue is studied through a combination of derivatisation and synthesis of alternative peptide sequences. Increasing the gas phase basicity is shown to inhibit the observed sequence scrambling while promoting concomitant rearrangement/retention of a carboxyl oxygen at the C-terminus to give enhanced formation of bn+H2O product ion species.


This Article focuses both on the changes that have been made to the legal framework governing post-separation parenting of children in Australia, as well as the processes and discourses via which these matters have been dealt with and debated. Alone among comparable common law jurisdictions such as Canada, the United States, and England, Australia's family law legislation, and the significant changes made to it in the past fifteen years, can be seen to have been particularly responsive to the lobbying of fathers' rights groups. It will be suggested that changes to the legislative framework that governs family law in Australia have taken place, at best, without any clear rationale or need and perhaps more problematically, have at times flown in the face of, rather than been undertaken by reference to, the evidence-based research about post-separation parenting practices and what we know about children's welfare or best interests, the paramount consideration that underpins decision-making in this field. The purpose of this discussion is to attempt to posit some possible explanations for this distinctive path of Australian family law "reform".


Social Costs Benefits Analysis is a technique which can be used to find the real value of the Special Economic Zones. Under Warr Peter G enclave model had been not included environment cost, land acquisition cost and government revenue lost due to incentives given for the promotion and development of Special Economic Zones in the country. Earning foreign exchange is one of the main objectives for setting up Special Economic Zones in the country, but under existing model foreign exchange earnings are not included as social benefits for the performance evaluation of Special Economic Zones. Hence the researcher made an adaptive model for determine the real value of Special Economic Zones in the country. As per the adaptive model researcher included foreign exchange earnings, wage receipts, rent receipts, price paid for locally purchased inputs and public utilities, the tax receipts and tax payments , net profit accruing to local shareholders , the infrastructure cost of the zones and operational cost, expenditure incurred for acquisition of land and the environment cost.


Summary: Combination therapy with mexiletine and quinidine has been shown to enhance antiarrhythmic efficacy. To assess further the underlying electrophysiological mechanism, the effect of therapeutic concentrations of mexiletine and quinidine, and of their combination, on action potential duration (at the level of 90% repolarization, APD90), effective refractory (ERP), and the relationship between these two parameters (ERP-APD90) was determined in 21 in vivo canine hearts. The frequency dependence of these effects was assessed over a range of paced steady-state cycle lengths from 250–600 ms. A modified contact electrode technique allowed measurements of both APD90 and ERP simultaneously and at the same ventricular site. In the drug-free state, both APD90 and ERP shortened linearly with shorter cycle lengths, maintaining a constant relationship (ERP–APD90 difference = −9 ± 2 ms) at all cycle lengths. Quinidine prolonged APD90 by a near constant amount of 11 ± 1 ms over the entire range of cycle lengths, while mexiletine tended to shorten it. Both mexiletine and quinidine increased ERP and ERP-APD90 in a rate-dependent fashion, the effect increasing with shorter cycle lengths. When used in combination, mexiletine attenuated the lengthening effect of quinidine on APD90 but augmented the rate-dependent increase in ERP, thereby producing greater postrepolarization refractoriness than either drug alone. This effect may explain the clinically favorable antiarrhythmic efficacy of mexiletine and quinidine combination therapy.


Charge/discharge cycles of lithium cell with microporous carbon electrode under potentiodynamic control have been modelled. Predictions of the models with variable and constant diffusion coefficient neglecting the electric field inside the particle (CPM, DFM) are compared to the predictions of the models with variable and constant diffusion coefficient in which electrostatic interaction inside the particles of carbon electrode (CPME, DFME) is taken into account. There is observed a considerable difference between both. Electrostatic interactions of lithium ions with each other and the charge distributed inside the particle promote intercalation during the discharge of the cell and deintercalation during the charge. The dependance of the effect of hysteresis during the cycling of the cell on the rate of change of the applied voltage is studied. The larger is the speed of change of the applied voltage the more effective is hysteresis. We have also obtained concentration profiles at different stages of charge/discharge process.


Over the last 15 years, Solar Systems has developed a dense array receiver PV technology for 500X concentrator reflective dish applications. This concentrator PV technology has been successfully deployed at six different locations in Australia, counting for about 1 MWp of installed peak power. A new Multijunction III-V receiver to replace the current silicon Point-Contact solar cells has recently been developed. The new receiver technology is based on high-efficiency (> 32%) Concentrator Ultra Triple Junction (CUTJ) solar cells from Spectrolab, resulting in system power and energy performance improvement of more than 50% compared to the silicon cells. The 0.235 m2 concentrator PV receiver, designed for continuous 500X operation, is composed of 64 dense array modules, and made of series and parallel-connected solar cells, totaling approximately 1,500 cells. The individual dense array modules have been tested under high intensity pulsed light, as well as with concentrated sunlight at the Solar Systems research facility and at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's High Flux Solar Furnace. The efficiency of the dense array modules ranges from 30% to 36% at 500X (50 W/cm2, AM1.5D low AOD, 21°C). The temperature coefficients for power, voltage and current, as well as the influence of Air Mass on the cell responsivity, were measured. The reliability of the dense array multijunction III-V modules has been studied with accelerated aging tests, such as thermal cycling, damp heat and high-temperature soak, and with real-life high-intensity exposure. The first 33-kWp multijunction III-V receiver was recently installed in a Solar Systems dish and tested in real-life 500X concentrated sunlight conditions. Receiver efficiencies of 30.3% and 29.0% were measured at Standard Operating Conditions and Normal Operating Conditions respectively.


Background The best management for rare epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) remains uncertain. The literature indicates that response to usual treatment could differ in certain subgroups such as exon 20 insertion/duplication (E20ID), other single uncommon mutation (OSUM), and EGFR complex mutation (ECM). Methods In this observational, regional, multi-center, retrospective study, we gathered data on uncommon EGFR mutations in NSCLC from 2007 to 2021. We analyzed patient characteristics, prognostic factors and treatment outcomes [objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS)]. Results Among 119 patients with an uncommon EGFR mutant, 34 harbored E20ID, 23 ECM, and 62 OSUM. There were significantly more non-smokers in E20ID. Female gender and performance status <2 were associated with a better prognosis. Among the 97 metastatic patients with available data for 1st line treatment, median estimated OS was 21 months (95% CI: 18–31 months), with better non-significant OS for ECM. Median estimated PFS was 7 months (95% CI: 4–9 months). We found significant differences in ORR, DCR and PFS favoring 1st line chemotherapy for E20ID, whereas the outcomes for OSUM and ECM were more favorable for tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) (mainly 2nd and 3rd generation). Conclusions There were variations in treatment outcomes among subgroups in our cohort. Exon 20 insertions showed better ORR and PFS with 1st line chemotherapy compared to TKI. Conversely, other rare EGFR mutations including ECM had better ORR and PFS with TKI than chemotherapy. There was no significant difference in OS among treatment groups overall or within rare mutation subgroups.


PURPOSE
Medical schools are expected to promote compassionate care among learners. Assessment is a key way to communicate values to learners but can also create a hidden curriculum. Assessing compassionate care is challenging; however, not assessing it can communicate to students that such care is not valued. The purpose of this study was to explore how current assessment strategies promote or suppress the idea that caring behaviors are valued learning objectives.

METHOD
Data sources were third-year course documents; interviews of 9 faculty, conducted between December 2015 and February 2016; and focus groups with 13 third-year medical students and an interview with 1 third-year medical student, conducted between February and June 2016. The stated intentions of third-year assessments were compared with the behaviors rewarded through the assessment process and the messages students received about what is valued in medical school.

RESULTS
Syllabi did not include caring as a learning outcome. Participants recognized assessment as a key influence on student focus. Faculty perspectives varied on the role of medical schools in assessing students' caring and compassion. Students prioritized studying for assessments but described learning about caring and compassion from interactions such as meaningful patient encounters and both positive and negative role models that were not captured in assessments.

CONCLUSIONS
Faculty members expressed concern about not assessing caring and compassion but acknowledged the difficulty in doing so. While students admitted that assessments influenced their studying, their reported experiences revealed that the idea "assessment drives learning" did not capture the complexity of their learning.


The ability to guarantee safety and progress for all vehicles is vital to the success of the autonomous vehicle industry. We present a framework for the distributed control of autonomous vehicles that is safe and guarantees progress for all agents. In this paper, we first introduce a new game paradigm which we term the quasi-simultaneous discrete-time game. We then define an Agent Protocol agents must use to make decisions in this quasi-simultaneous discrete-time game setting. According to the protocol, agents first select an intended action and then each agent determines whether it can take its intended action or not, given its proposed intention and the intentions of nearby agents. The protocol so defined will ensure safety under all traffic conditions and liveness for all agents under "sparse" traffic conditions. These guarantees, however, are predicated on the premise that all agents are operating with the aforementioned protocol. We provide proofs of correctness of the protocol and validate our results in simulation.


Surgical site infection (SSI) is the most frequent nosocomial infection among surgical patients, accounting for 1/3 of all such infections. The objective of this study was to clarify the incidence and risk factors for developing surgical site infection (SSI) and part of the various microorganisms in the etiological decoding of SSI in Obstetrics and Gynecology in Bulgaria for the 2000-2009 period. Risk assessment for SSI was based solely on wound classification, whether the surgical site was clean, clean contaminated, contaminated, or dirty/infected. Aerobic gram-positive cocci are leading causative pathogens of SSI nosocomial infections, including S. aureus, Enterococcus spp. and coagulase-negative staphylococci (S. epidermidis). Escherichia coli is one of the most frequent causes of many common bacterial infections, including SSI.


The 1,3-dimethylcyclopentenyl carbenium ion (C7H11(+)) was reproducibly prepared on zeolite HZSM-5 using a pulse-quench reactor, and then each of a number of bases was coadsorbed into the catalyst channels to either compete with the cation for protonation or to possibly react with it as a nucleophile. For seven bases with proton affinities (PA) between 142 and 212.1 kcal/mol, there was no reaction with C7H11(+). Coadsorption of smaller amounts of dimethylacetamide (PA = 217 kcal/mol) also produced no reaction, but with a higher loading, a proton was transferred from the carbenium ion to the base to leave 1,3-dimethylcyclopenta-1,3-diene in the zeolite as a neutral olefin. Deprotonation was the primary reaction with coadsorption of either pyridine (PA = 222 kcal/mol) or trimethylphosphine (PA = 229.2 kcal/mol). The estimated experimental deprotonation enthalpy for C7H11(+), approximately 217 kcal/mol in the zeolite, is in excellent agreement with MP4/6-311G gas-phase value of 215.6 kcal/mol. Coadsorption of either NH3 (PA = 204.0 kcal/mol) or PH3 (PA = 188 kcal/mol) does not deprotonate the carbenium ion, but these species do react as nucleophiles to form onium ion derivatives of C7H11(+). Analogous onium complexes with pyridine or trimethylphosphine formed in lower yields due to steric constraints in the zeolite channels. The essential experimental observations were all predicted and explained by density functional calculations (B3LYP/6-311G) and extensions of our recently developed theory of carbenium ion stability in zeolites. In addition, we report theoretical geometries for several complexes which contain unusual C-H- - -X hydrogen bonds.


Human transitional cell carcinomas of the bladder frequently reveal chromosomal abnormalities that span a range between chromosome 9p12 and 9qter, even at early stages of bladder carcinogenesis. Because the gene that encodes an actin-regulatory protein, gelsolin, is localized in chromosome 9q33, we examined the expression of gelsolin in a number of human bladder cancer cell lines and tissues. In all 6 cell lines and in 14 of the 18 tumor tissues (77.8%), gelsolin expression was undetectable or extremely low in comparison with its expression in normal bladder epithelial cells. Furthermore, upon the introduction of the exogenous human or mouse authentic gelsolin cDNA into a human bladder cancer cell line, UMUC-2, gelsolin transfectants of UMUC-2 greatly reduced the colony-forming ability and the tumorigenicity in vivo. These results suggest that gelsolin plays a key role as a tumor suppressor in human urinary bladder carcinogenesis.