The application of nanosized multicomponent particles often requires tailored mixing characteristics. This involves mixing on primary particle level, on cluster level, or on aggregate level. This mixing is often evaluated qualitatively in 2D, based on image analyses. This work presents an approach to utilize the cluster size in combination with the heterogeneous coordination number as a quantitative measure for the mixing of clusters of more than three primary particles within nanosized aggregates in 3D. Therefore, nanoparticle aggregates formed by differently sized clusters are simulated and evaluated with respect to cluster size and coordination number. Subsequently, a method is introduced to generate 2D projections and mimic image analysis based on transmission electron microscopy images from flame‐made nanoparticles. This also includes the evaluation of the necessary visible area for each particle to be identified in the 2D image analysis. This leads to a correlation of the 2D projections and 3D simulations including a calibration to experimental data and enables the determination of a 3D heterogeneous coordination number and cluster size from 2D image analysis.


Inexpensive and environmentally supportable corrective choices are compulsory to reinstate polluted lands so as to decrease the connected risks, make the land resource available for agricultural production, enhance food security, and scale down land tenure problems. In evolving countries with great population density and scarce funds available for environmental restoration.
Comparative study of all the important metals according to Region, Population, Public places in Delhi's Soil.


Abstract Conclusion: Elevated levels of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) in middle ear effusion may play an important role in the pathogenesis of bone conduction impairment associated with otitis media with effusion (OME). The mechanism may be related to the up-regulation of nitric oxide (NO) expression. Objectives: This study was undertaken to investigate the role of HIF-1α in the pathogenesis of sensorineural hearing loss associated with OME. Methods: One hundred and eight OME patients were divided into two groups: OME without bone conduction impairment (group 1) and OME with bone conduction impairment (group 2). The levels of HIF-1α, NO, and quinolinic acid (QUIN) in the middle ear effusion and serum of these patients were investigated. The relationship between these factors and the bone conduction threshold (BCT) differences were analyzed. Results: The levels of HIF-1α and NO concentrations in the middle ear effusion were found to be significantly higher in group 2 than in group 1 (both p < 0.05). The OME patients' BCT differences at 4000 Hz were correlated with the levels of HIF-1α and the NO concentrations in the middle ear effusion. Furthermore, the HIF-1α levels were correlated with the levels of NO but not with the levels of QUIN in the effusion.


ABSTRACT Background: Reactive balance training (RBT) has been previously found to reduce fall risk in individuals with sub-acute stroke; however, our understanding of the effects of RBT on specific balance impairments is lacking. Objective: To quantify changes in common balance reaction impairments in individuals with sub-acute stroke resulting from RBT, relative to traditional balance training, using a prospective cohort study design with a historical control group. Methods: Individuals with sub-acute stroke completed either RBT or traditional balance training as part of their routine care during physiotherapy in inpatient rehabilitation. Reactive balance control was assessed using lean-and-release perturbations pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 6-months post-intervention (follow-up). Individuals with impaired balance reactions (delayed foot-off times, slide steps, and/or a preference for stepping with the preferred limb) at the pre-intervention assessment were identified using video and force plate data. Outcome measures (foot-off times, frequency of trials with slide steps, and stepping with the preferred limb) from the RBT participants with impaired reactions were compared for each of the three assessments to the mean values for the participants with impaired reactions in the historical control group. Results: Improvements were observed in all outcome measures for the RBT participants between pre-intervention and post-intervention, and/or between post-intervention and follow-up. These improvements were generally equivalent to, if not better than, the improvements demonstrated by the historical control group. Conclusions: Findings further support the use of RBT for post-stroke inpatient rehabilitation, and provide insight into specific balance reaction impairments that are improved by RBT.


BACKGROUND
Many previous studies show that cell surface sialylation of malignant cells is enhanced compared to normal tissue. The carboxyl group of the sialic acid yields, a negative surface charge of the tumor cells. This study investigates how tumor cell growth is affected when a cationic polymer is incubated with six different tumor cell lines.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Cationic dextran (CatDex) was prepared by periodate oxidation and subsequent coupling of cationic sidegroups by reductive amination. A fluorimetric cytotoxicity assay (FMCA) was used for the cell survival assay. Six different tumor cell lines (lung, breast, ovarian, prostate, colon, urinary bladder) were seeded into 96-well microtiter plates. CatDex was added at different microM concentrations and incubated for 72 h. Additionally, CatDex was fluorescence-labeled (FITC) and the interaction with the tumor cells was studied using fluorescence microscopy. The presence of sialic acid in the different cell lines was confirmed by using a FITC-labeled sialic acid binding lectin.

RESULTS
CatDex showed a concentration-dependent growth inhibitory effect (i.e. the number of cationic side groups/dextran molecule and the molarity used). If the substitution was <20%, the growth inhibitory effect was small and difficult to reproduce. With 20-22% substitution, the growth inhibition varied between 20-95% depending on the molarity and the tumor type. Higher substitution resulted in complete cell death in all the cell lines. The fluorescent images showed intensive cell membrane interaction.

CONCLUSION
Incubation with cationic dextran caused cell death in all six tumor cell lines. Our hypothesis is that CatDex binds to the anionic sialic acid residues and causes fatal disturbances in the cell membrane. However the exact mechanism remains to be elucidated. The results may indicate a new method of general interest for intra/local/regiolocal treatment of cancer. Clinical studies to explore this concept are pending.


Self-identification of female sex in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature experienced a very zigzag course. In the middle and late of 1980's, female sex began to be paid unheardof attention to. WAN An'yi and TIE Ning, by inquiry of the lose of female sex and deduction of female's tragedies, think circumstances of female sex and female experiences, cry for female's reverting to original sex. Female consciousness shifts from enlightening speech to female lived experience. However, their thinking begins with social culture and history. in which female consciousness still is in obscure stage and independent female speech have not formed yet.


Abstract Flow synthesis offers many advantages when applied to the processing of difficult or dangerous chemical transformations. Furthermore, continuous production allows for rapid scale up of reactions without significant redevelopment of the routes. Importantly, it can also provide a versatile platform from which to build integrated multi-step transformations, delivering more advanced chemical architectures. The construction of multi-purpose micro and meso flow systems, that utilize in-line purification and diagnostic capabilities, creates a scenario of seamless connectivity between sequential steps of a longer chemical sequence. In this mini perspective, we will discuss our experience of target orientated multi-step synthesis as presented at the recent inaugural meeting of LEGOMEDIC at Namar University, Belgium.


Studying intensity and linear polarization of the solar light scattered by interplanetary dust is of interest for various reasons. This so-called zodiacal light constitutes a faint polarized glow that constitutes a changing foreground for observations of faint extended astronomical sources. Besides, analysis of its polarization provides information on properties of the dust particles, such as spatial density, morphology and complex refractive index. Previous observations, mostly from the Earth and with a resolution in the 10° range, have been used to infer that the local polarization at 90° phase angle increases with increasing solar distance. Numerical simulations suggest that, in the inner solar system, interplanetary dust particles consist of a mixture of absorbing and less absorbing materials, and that radial changes originate in a decrease of organic materials with decreasing solar distance under alteration or evaporation processes.
To improve the quality of data on zodiacal light polarimetry, Eye-Sat nanosat is being developed in the context of the JANUS CNES cubesats program for students. The project is now in phase C-D, for a piggy-back launch in 2016. Eye-Sat triple cubesat is anticipated to demonstrate the feasibility of a series of new on-board technologies. Moreover, during its one-year mission, zodiacal light intensity and polarization are to be measured, for the first time with a spatial resolution of about 1° over a wide portion of the sky and in four different wavelengths (visible to near-IR), leading to a better assessment of interplanetary dust properties.
Finally, a significant fraction of the interplanetary dust is estimated to come from comets, the most pristine objects to be found in the inner solar system. While similarities have indeed been noticed between polarimetric properties of interplanetary and cometary dust particles, the latter being currently extensively documented by the Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, further studies of interplanetary dust should provide a better insight on possible delivery of carbonaceous particles on telluric planets through dust impacts at an epoch of heavy bombardment, and thus to the early solar system evolution.
Support from CNES is warmly acknowledged.


. Use Cases are one of the most used artifacts in software requirements specifications. Although there are a lot of templates that suggests how to describe Use Cases, as well as many quality inspection techniques, there are no many techniques to deal with the complexity and the effort to produce good quality Use Cases. On top of that, Use Cases are biased towards user interaction, leaving out important domain information. Thus, it is necessary to provide techniques to incrementally describe specifications that goes beyond user interaction but which can be derived from simpler artifacts in order to make the process organized and effective. This paper proposes an approach to begin with very simple sentences (kernel sentences), following with the LEL glossary and Scenarios, in order to describe Specification Cases. The approach relies on already defined kernel sentences and suggests three procedures to reorganize the knowledge captured in kernel sentences to describe the LEL, then Scenarios and finally Use Cases. This paper also reports a preliminary evaluation that supports the applicability and usability of the approach.


Interactions between plants and fungal pathogens usually lead to the induction of different host defense mechanisms. Some of these mechanisms are the reinforcement of the plant cell wall by suberin, lignin and wall bound-phenolics, the accumulation of pathogenesis-related proteins, and the production of phytoalexins that could be toxic to the pathogen. Yet in susceptible plants, these mechanisms are not effective to produce resistance and disease develops. Dutch elm disease (DED) is a pandemic tree disease that killed millions of elm trees, especially in North America and Europe. The molecular bases of this disease are still poorly understood. With the objective of identifying genes involved in the interaction between the susceptible Ulmus americana L. and the pathogen Ophiostoma novo-ulmi Brasier, an in vitro system was developed using callus cultures inoculated with budding cells of the fungus. In order to validate the use of this system for genomic analyses of the interaction, a histopathological analysis was carried out using light and electron microscopy. Fungal colonization of the callus tissue and reactions of callus cells to the presence of the pathogen were observed at 4, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours postinoculation (hpi). The fungus was seen in its hyphal form by 48 hpi in all parts of the callus. Histochemical tests showed the importance of host reactions such as the accumulation of phenols, lignin, and suberin. The percentage of suberized cells was 4.6 times higher at 96 hpi in infected calli than in mock-inoculated control calli. A cDNA library using suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) was constructed from infected elm callus tissue harvested at 72 hpi. A total of 535 expressed sequence tags were generated through partial sequencing and submitted to Genbank. These were grouped into 314 unisequences, the majority corresponding to elm genes identified during the interaction. Fifty-three unisequences representing genes involved in different pathways associated with plant defense were selected by differential screening and considered upregulated in the infected tissues. The expression profiles in mock and infected elm callus cultures of a subset of 18 elm genes were analyzed in more detail by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. These confirmed upregulation and constitutive expression of selected genes during the infection process. This study provides, for the first time, a genome-wide resource for the elm, and furthermore identifies molecular mechanisms likely involved during the interaction between U. americana and the DED pathogen.


Swenson U. & Munzinger J. 2010. — Revision of Pycnandra subgenus Sebertia (Sapotaceae) and a generic key to the family in New Caledonia. Adansonia, sér. 3, 32 (2) : 239-249. ABSTRACT The satellite genus Sebertia (Sapotaceae, Chrysophylloideae) in New Caledonia is here recognized as Pycnandra subgenus Sebertia, a group comprising only two species. Pycnandra canaliculata is described and illustrated as new from the south part of Grande Terre where it occurs in maquis vegetation and humid forest on ultramafic soils, often along watercourses. This species is well known among many biologists but misidentified until now as Sebertia gatopensis, a synonym of P. blanchonii that resides in northwest Grande Terre. In New Caledonia, Pycnandra is the only sapotaceous genus with flowers that lack staminodes and Pycnandra subgenus Sebertia is characterized by small white flowers and fruits lacking stylar remnants. The fruits are characteristic with a scale-like epidermis that is translucent and peels off in P. acuminata versus brown and persistent in P. canaliculata. Using field data and applying IUCN criteria, we assess the preliminary threat as Least Concern (LC) for P. acuminata and Vulnerable (VU) for P. canaliculata.


Recent advances in Reinforcement Learning (RL) have led to many exciting applications. These advancements have been driven by improvements in both algorithms and engineering, which have resulted in faster training of RL agents. We present marl-jax, a multi-agent reinforcement learning software package for training and evaluating social generalization of the agents. The package is designed for training a population of agents in multi-agent environments and evaluating their ability to generalize to diverse background agents. It is built on top of DeepMind's JAX ecosystem~\cite{deepmind2020jax} and leverages the RL ecosystem developed by DeepMind. Our framework marl-jax is capable of working in cooperative and competitive, simultaneous-acting environments with multiple agents. The package offers an intuitive and user-friendly command-line interface for training a population and evaluating its generalization capabilities. In conclusion, marl-jax provides a valuable resource for researchers interested in exploring social generalization in the context of MARL. The open-source code for marl-jax is available at: \href{https://github.com/kinalmehta/marl-jax}{https://github.com/kinalmehta/marl-jax}


To simulate the posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) in the rabbit, 1 IU hyaluronidase and/or 0.2 ml of perfluoropropane gas was intravitreally injected. Ophthalmoscopic, light microscopic examination prepared by cryotechnique, electron microscopic examination, and electroretinogram were done on the 3rd and 28th postoperative days. As a result, the eyes undergone simultaneous intravitreal injection of 1 IU hyaluronidase and 0.2 ml perfluoropropane gas showed membranous structure split from the internal limiting membrane of the superior retina in 3 days after injection. The eyes also demonstrated membranous structure separated from the superior retina after 28 days, simulating vitreous detachment. On the contrary, neither agent alone induced vitreous detachment. No toxic retinal changes associated with simultaneous intravitreal injection of 1 IU hyaluronidase and 0.2 ml perfluoropropane gas were observed. Therefore, with a future support by histologic examination other than cryotechnique and by immunohistochemical analysis, the simultaneous intravitreal injection of perfluoropropane gas and hyaluronidase would be a promising method to induce vitreous detachment in non-vitrectomized eye.


Life for a foot soldier frequently involves marching while wearing a uniform, boots, and interceptor body armor vest (IBA) and also carrying a backpack and rifle. Additionally, soldiers may traverse various terrains from smooth to rough, from vegetated to barren, from steep inclines to varying angles of cross slopes. The study presented here is new and unique. It determines the lateral stability of a person walking along a cross slope using a formula which is based on the inverted pendulum. Those who participated in this study walked along cross-slopes (0, 5 or 10 degrees) while wearing backpacks loaded at various levels (low, middle or high). The final results of this particular investigation, however, indicate that neither load position nor cross-slope angle produced significant effects for lateral stability within an alpha of 0.05 for the participants accustomed to backpacking.


In our previous studies, we proposed ImTCP, an inline network measurement technique that can obtain available bandwidth information of the network path between sender and receiver hosts continuously and in an inline fashion. We also introduced ImTCP-bg, a background TCP data transfer mechanism based on the measurement results of ImTCP. In the present paper, we report implementation issues of the proposed mechanisms on a FreeBSD system and evaluate them on an experiment network and in the actual Internet. We investigate the performance through the extensive experiments and verify that ImTCP can measure well the available bandwidth of the network path, independent of the degree of its change, and that ImTCP-bg can utilize the available bandwidth well, without degrading the performance of competing traffic. From these experiment results, we confirm the effectiveness of our concept, which is the inline network measurement technique, in an actual network.


Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most important human pathogens that cause a variety of infections in community and hospital settings. This organism displays high levels of resistance to β-lactam antibiotics and this principally occurs due to the production of β-lactamase and the penicillin binding protein PBP2a encoded by mecA gene. Furthermore, additional mechanisms, such as auxiliary factors, significantly contribute to β-lactam resistance. However, the function of most of these factors is still unknown.
Recently, in our laboratory, the novel auxiliary factor gene blrA was initially identified by transposon mutagenesis in the community-acquired MRSA strain JE2. Next, the transposon mutation was transduced to the community-acquired MRSA strain MW2, resulting in the formation of a transposon mutant for blrA (blrA::ermB), denoted as MW2A. Initially, our results suggested that MW2A is more susceptible to oxacillin than the MW2 wild-type. Then, we performed the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) method for the β-lactam antibiotics: oxacillin, cefoxitin, cephradine, ceftazidime, cefaclor and imipenem. MW2A exhibited a two-fold reduction for all tested β-lactam antibiotics compared to the MRSA wild-type strain MW2. Additionally, no phenotypical changes were observed after performing PBP2a latex agglutination test and phage spot assay. Finally, using DeepTMHMM we show that BlrA is likely to act intracellularly, which is typical of auxiliary factors.
In this study, we show that BlrA is clearly involved in β-lactam resistance, but does not affect the expression of the gene mecA or the structure of the wall teichoic acids. Furthermore, we propose that that BlrA acts as an auxiliary factor and is activated in response to antimicrobial stress.


A greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate efficacy of poultry egg shell powder, snail shell powder or dried-leaf powders of moringa and Citrus aurantium solely or in combination with furadan at half doses each in comparison with furadan at the recommended dose on growth of C. aurantium infected with M. incognita under greenhouse conditions (31±3 C◦). Results indicated that all tested materials significantly ameliorated plant growth criteria and diminished nematode parameters. It was clear that the concomitant treatments showed the maximum results in the increments of plant growth characters of C. aurantium and in suppressing the root-knot nematode M. incognita criteria. Of the single treatments, poultry egg shell powder at dose of 5 g/ plant achieved the maximum increase percentage and ranked first in diminishing number of nematode galls (75.7%), females (79.2%), and eggmasses (78.9%), followed by Citrus aurantium dried-leaf powder application in this respect . Among the integrated applications, treatment containing half doses of poultry egg shell powder plus furadan {½(Poultry egg shell powder + furadan)} was superior to that of C. aurantium dried leave power plus furadan at their half doses { ½ ( C. aurantium + furadan)} treatment in improving tested plant growth parameters and overwhelmed other integrated application in this study in suppressing numbers of nematode galls, females and eggmasses comparing to nematode


The dilemma is real and profound: most countries have a property tax, but few of their citizens like the tax. The property tax is the tax everyone loves to hate. Countries can seldom live with the tax as initially designed, yet neither can they live without the tax at all. Thus, this chapter focuses on the reform of an existing system of property taxation rather than on the creation of an optimal property tax. Leaders seldom have the opportunity to design a property tax with a blank slate. There is usually already some sort of system of taxing land and buildings, with a variety of established special interests and a political, social, and historical context. The challenge is to make an existing property tax less taxing.


AbstractA Bayesian hidden Markov model (HMM) for climate downscaling of multisite daily precipitation is presented. A generalized linear model (GLM) component allows exogenous variables to directly influence the distributional characteristics of precipitation at each site over time, while the Markovian transitions between discrete states represent seasonality and subseasonal weather variability. Model performance is evaluated for station networks of summer rainfall over the Punjab region in northern India and Pakistan and the upper Yangtze River basin in south-central China. The model captures seasonality and the marginal daily distributions well in both regions. Extremes are reproduced relatively well in the Punjab region, but underestimated for the Yangtze. In terms of interannual variability, the combined GLM–HMM with spatiotemporal averages of observed rainfall as a predictor is shown to exhibit skill (in terms of reduced RMSE) at the station level, particularly for the Punjab region. The skill is lar...


The common phenomenon that the non-viral vectors have much lower transfection efficiency in vivo than in vitro greatly restricts its further developments and applications. Possible reasons are lacking targeting ability, elimination by the reticuloendothelial system (RES) and insufficient nuclear transport. Here, a novel flexible and deformable polymer Fe@PEI-R12 (tLyp-1-NLS) is reported for shortening the gap between in vitro and in vivo gene transfection efficiency. The amorphous network structure Fe@PEI with deformation ability acquired by coordination cross-linking of Fe3+ and low molecular weight polyethylenimine (LMW-PEI) constructs the core and serves as the gene reservoir, and it can squeeze out through RES filter holes when trapped in the spleen. The bifunctional peptide R12 provided tumor targeting and enhanced nuclear delivery ability. Additionally, the Fe3+ from Fe@PEI-R12 could trigger endogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) decomposition to produce O2, thereby reducing the adverse effects of tumor hypoxia. It is demonstrated that the Fe@PEI-R12/pDNA complexes could pass through membrane filters, subsequently achieving long circulation time, and Fe@PEI-R12 had a tendency to accumulate in tumor tissue and mediated pGL3-Control expression. Therefore, the multifunctional nanoplatform has the potential for effective in vivo gene delivery.


There are opportunities for prevention in the practice of general psychiatry that are often overlooked by the psychiatrist. The author discusses three groups that lend themselves to preventive efforts--the hospitalized mentally ill parent, children of depressed parents, and children of divorce. He also enumerates aspects of intervention that may result in opportunities for prevention. The application of research findings to individual situations may often result in change and improve the practice of psychiatry.


NASA flight controllers have always worked in a very demanding environment, but the International Space Station (ISS) poses even more challenges than prior missions. A recent NASA/Ames survey by Parke and Orasanu of NASA/Johnson flight controllers uncovered concerns about communications problems between American personnel and their international counterparts. To better understand these problems, we interviewed 14 senior and 12 junior ISS flight controllers at NASA/Johnson about leadership and cultural challenges they face and strategies for addressing these challenges. The qualitative interview data were coded and tabulated. Here we present quantitative analyses testing for differences between junior and senior controllers. Based on nonparametric statistical tests comparing responses across groups, the senior controllers were significantly more aware of the impact of working in dispersed teams, the context of constant change, and the upcoming multilateral challenges, while junior controllers were more aware of language and cultural issues. We consider our findings in light of other studies of controllers and other known differences between senior and junior controllers. For example, the fact that senior controllers had their formative early experience controlling pre-ISS short-duration Shuttle missions seems to have both positive and negative aspects, which are supported by our data. Our findings may also reflect gender differences, but we cannot unconfound this effect in our data because all the senior respondents were males. Many of the junior-senior differences are not only due to elapsed time on the job, but also due to a cohort effect. The findings of this study should be used for training curricula tailored differently for junior and senior controllers.


The three-point bending behavior of sandwich beams made up of jute epoxy skins and piecewise linear functionally graded (FG) rubber core reinforced with fly ash filler is investigated. This work studies the influence of the parameters such as weight fraction of fly ash, core to thickness ratio, and orientation of jute on specific bending modulus and strength. The load displacement response of the sandwich is traced to evaluate the specific modulus and strength. FG core samples are prepared by using conventional casting technique and sandwich by hand layup. Presence of gradation is quantified experimentally. Results of bending test indicate that specific modulus and strength are primarily governed by filler content and core to sandwich thickness ratio. FG sandwiches with different gradation configurations (uniform, linear, and piecewise linear) are modeled using finite element analysis (ANSYS 5.4) to evaluate specific strength which is subsequently compared with the experimental results and the best gradation configuration is presented. POLYM. COMPOS., 32:1541-1551, 2011. (C) 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers


The Syrian war and the subsequent emergence and spread of the Islamic State (ISIS) have transformed the Levant in ways one could not have imagined prior to 2011. As the numbers of dead and of refugees and internally displaced kept climbing, and as families were torn apart and neighborhoods were turned into war zones, economies slumped and regional economic ties broke down. The shock of these events, henceforth referred to as the Levant conflict or war, has changed the region in profound ways, yet there are no systematic evaluations of its economic impact. Our objective was to address this gap and quantify both the direct and indirect economic effects of the war on the countries in the greater Levant--Turkey, the Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Arab Republic of Egypt. It is important to note that the analysis in our paper does not factor in several types of costs. The authors do not assess the cost of delivering basic services to refugees in receiving countries; these costs could be substantial for Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. The costs of replenishing depleted human and physical capital in Syria will also be sizable. The authors also ignore important dynamic investment-growth links that may amplify the effects discussed here.


SYN proxy is a firewall's solution to protect against SYN flooding. It plays well under the low rate of attacks, but stumbles under heavy loads. In this paper, a novel approach based on SYN proxy is introduced, its design explained, and its performance evaluated. In this approach, the hash table is used to save half-connection states under light loads, and SYN cookie used under heavy loads. A bitmap is introduced into buckets of the hash table, which speedups of the lookup under SYN Flooding. Bucket length of the hash table is limited to a predefined value, thereby the performance degradation is prevented. A firewall implementing our proposal is tested, which shows that good performance is achieved.


Summary Desmoplastic melanoma is an uncommon variant of melanoma which presents significant challenges to the clinician and histopathologist. In particular, many cases show a bland 'fibroblastic' appearance, mimicking scar and a range of other benign proliferations. This diagnosis can be particularly problematic in small biopsy specimens, a difficulty exacerbated by an immunoprofile which is typically negative for a number of conventional melanocytic markers. The clinical and histological features of desmoplastic melanoma are reviewed, as are the differential diagnoses and some newer techniques which may contribute to assessment of these lesions. In recent years it has become clear that subclassification of desmoplastic melanoma into pure and mixed variants has clinical significance and it is suggested that this classification be employed in routine practice.


Event cameras are motion-activated sensors that capture pixel-level illumination changes instead of the intensity image with a fixed frame rate. Compared with the standard cameras, it can provide reliable visual perception during high-speed motions and in high dynamic range scenarios. However, event cameras output only a little information or even noise when the relative motion between the camera and the scene is limited, such as in a still state. While standard cameras can provide rich perception information in most scenarios, especially in good lighting conditions. These two cameras are exactly complementary. In this paper, we proposed a robust, high-accurate, and real-time optimization-based monocular event-based visual-inertial odometry (VIO) method with event-corner features, line-based event features, and point-based image features. The proposed method offers to leverage the point-based features in the nature scene and line-based features in the human-made scene to provide more additional structure or constraints information through well-design feature management. Experiments in the public benchmark datasets show that our method can achieve superior performance compared with the state-of-the-art image-based or event-based VIO. Finally, we used our method to demonstrate an onboard closed-loop autonomous quadrotor flight and large-scale outdoor experiments. Videos of the evaluations are presented on our project website: https://b23.tv/OE3QM6j


Objective: To describe the working conditions and aspects related with food consumption amongst manual workers in sugar-cane crops intending to contribute to developing public policies towards workers' health surveillance and delivering comprehensive services. Methods: Direct observation at the work field in upstate São Paulo and a semistructured questionnaire were conducted with a group of forty sugar-cane migrant workers who came from Ceará state to work as hand harvesters in São Paulo state, over 15 days during the 2007/2008 crop season. Socio-demographic data, water consumption, food consumption and cultural habits, hydroelectrolyte reposition, work pauses, body pains and duration of working days were registered. Results: Workers ingested 5 to 10 liters of water/day and the dilution of electrolytes replacement was below the adequate recommendations. Food consumptions during the crop season did not ensure food and nutritional security. Food consumption was monotonous, conserved and consumed at inadequate temperature, and incompatible with cultural habits, implying reduction and wastage of food. Workers reported pains and cramps during the work day. Pauses for resting were insufficient. Payment by results, the working process and payment practices were taken as determinants of a wide range of precarious conditions to which these workers were subjected. The hand harvesting of sugar-cane is extenuating and the payment by results may be a grievance for health as it implies reducing the work resting pauses. Food consumption and adequate hydration could minimize the working wear and pains during the job.


Purpose: A well appearing 65-year-old white female presented with a 5-year history of elevated liver transaminases. Her previous medical history was significant for breast cancer and mastectomy. The patient had a father who had been diagnosed with alcoholic liver cirrhosis and subsequently died due to complications of hepatic failure. She was an admitted alcoholic, but had abstained from drinking for 4 months prior to presentation. Her review of systems was negative and physical examination was unremarkable. Liver function tests were 5 times normal. Other labs and a CT-scan done several months earlier were interpreted as normal. Further workup included studies for viral and autoimmune hepatitis, alpha 1 anti-trypsin and iron studies. The significant results were a positive HCVAB, positive anti-smooth muscle antibody, and elevated iron saturation and ferritin of 3000. The hepatitis C genotype was determined to be 1b with a viral count of 900 000 copies. Genetic studies for hemochromatosis were done and revealed that the patient was homozygous for the H63D mutation which in the reviewed literature is not reported to lead to clinical hemochromatosis. The anti smooth muscle antibody titer was 1:40. The patient underwent liver biopsy which revealed moderate bridging fibrosis and 3 iron staining. The biopsy result was consistent with chronic hepatitis C infection and significant hemochromatosis. With consideration of the multiple factors contributing to this patient's liver disease the decision to treat her hepatitis C with interferon therapy and ribaviran was made. Her hemochromatosis was treated by phlebotomy.This case presents a patient with a complicated clinical picture and a rare genetic disorder. Clinically manifested hemochromatosis in a woman with the homozygous H63D mutation is extremely rare and this may be the first reported case. The combination of hepatitis C and hemochromatosis portends a worse prognosis of liver disease. The decision to treat her hepatitis C in spite of positive autoimmune markers was done with this in mind and the understanding that the autoimmune features were likely secondary to the liver inflammation and not the primary disorder. The patient is responding well to therapy.


The 3D SketchMaker project has developed two prototypes for a gestural 3D sketching system to be used in the earliest phases of the design process. The goal of this ongoing research is to provide architects, and other designers involved in object conception, with a 3D gestural instrument that takes advantage of new virtual reality resources and is more natural than using the mouse, less difficult than learning complex software and less abstract than manipulating 2D entities on orthogonal projections. The system was conceived to assist or replace the first 2D drawing steps in the design process, generating rough 3D sketches that can be refined later using any 3D package. It is, in essence, a 3D modelling system directed to do sketching with hand movements and gestures in a virtual reality environment.


The environment that surrounds us is very complex. Understanding and interpreting it is a very hard task. This paper proposes an approach allowing simple form recognition with a camera by using a probabilistic approach called Bayesian Programming. The main goal is to recognize several type of elemental features composing an image, such as local orientation of a contour, or corners. The Bayesian Program for feature recognition is presented and the learning stage explained. One approach has been validated through experiments.


Arid and semi-arid regions have limited arable land and water resources. As a result, production of grain and forage is often insufficient to fulfil the requirements of lactating animals. The absence of grassland has led to the dominance of grains based diets imported from overseas. This has an ecological impact due to the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from land change activities. In addition, the prices of these grains are increasing. Therefore, the objectives of this thesis were to evaluate the nutritional and ecological aspects of the dairy farming systems and feeding strategies dominant under semi-arid environmental conditions in Jordan, and to evaluate how dairy production systems will respond to future changes in feed items and feed prices. The framework of the ecological, nutritional and economic assessment of dairy farming system consisted of several steps: 1) data on dairy development and its drivers in three countries in the Middle East were collected and analysed, 2) the nutritional and ecological analysis is based on nine dairy farms of different farm size and management schemes. Feed, milk and fecal samples as well as data on estimated dry matter intake (eDMI), animal performance, herd structure were collected and analysed, 3) feed samples (traditional feed collected from farms and food industry by-products collected from food manufactories (n=69)), fecal samples (n=108) and milk samples (n=78) were collected from the farms and analysed for their chemical composition. All feed and food by-product samples were analysed for their metabolisable energy (ME) contents and organic matter digestibility (mOMD) in vitro according to Hohenheim-Feed-Test. Furthermore, fecal nitrogen concentration was determined to estimate in vivo organic matter digestibility (eOMD). Based on the farmer's estimate of DMI and the analysed composition of the feed ingredients, ME and nutrient intakes were compared to recommended standard values for adequate supply of ME, utilizable crude protein (uCP), rumen undegradable crude protein (RUCP), phosphorus (P), and calcium (Ca). 4) greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) were calculated using the Technology Impact Policy Impact Calculation model (TIPI-CAL) complemented with a partial Life Cycle Assessment model for estimating GHG emissions of milk production at the farm gate, the results are converted to CO2 equivalents (CO2 eq.). The model takes into account CH4, N2O, and CO2 gases emitted directly and indirectly. 5) to investigate what could be the ecological and economic consequence of using alternative feed resources, four feeding scenarios (AD: Actual diet, feeding diets that are typically used by dairy farmers; ID: Improved diet based on actual feedstuffs used on the farm; AB: Diet including few available by-products; DL: Diet with no limitation for feeds availability). The scenarios were developed and evaluated for their nutritional, economic and ecological impacts using different optimization and calculation models. All scenarios fulfilled the animal's nutrients and energy requirement. Results of the nutritional and ecological evaluation revealed that average daily energy corrected milk yield (ECM) was 19 kg/d and ranged between 11 and 27 kg. Diet evaluation showed that the mean of ME intake of all farms was 184 MJ/d with range between 115 and 225 MJ/d in low and high yielding cows, respectively. Intake of RUCP was lower than the requirements, which ranged between 19 and 137 g/d in six farms. On the other hand, it was higher (32 and 93 g/d) in two farms, and matched the requirements in one farm. P intake was higher than the requirements in all farms (mean oversupply= 19g/d) and ranged between 3 and 30 g/d. Milk nitrogen efficiency (milk N/intake N) varied between 19% in low producing animals and 28% in high producing animals, with mean of 24% in all farms. Total (CO2 eq.) emission ranged between 0.90 and 1.80 kg CO2 eq./ kg ECM milk. Where the enteric and manure CH4 gas comprised (52%) the highest proportion of CO2 eq. emissions. Followed by the indirect emissions of N2O and CO2 gases which comprised 28% from total CO2 eq. emissions. Emissions per cow were significantly driven by the level of milk production (r2=0.93) and by the level of eDMI (r2=0.88), while the total emissions were not influenced by diet composition. A different of 16 kg ECM/d in milk yield, 85 g/d in milk nitrogen and mitigation of 900 g CO2 eq./kg in ECM milk observed between low and high yielding animals. The status-quo analysis of three typical farm types showed that cost of milk production is 21% lower in the small scale farm type compared to large scale farm type. Model application of alternative feeding scenarios revealed that the cost of milk production in the large scale farm can be reduced by 6 US-$/ 100 kg ECM when applying the DL scenario compared to the actual scenario. Similarly, when applying the DL scenario (high inclusion of food by-products in the diet), GHGs emissions (in CO2 eq.) were reduced by 15% and was driven by lower concentrate feeding of 70% in the diet compared to the actual feeding scenario. Overall, a total mitigation of CO2 eq. emission between 70 and 290 g/kg ECM produced is achievable. Alternative feeding management scenarios need to be considered for future developments of dairy farming systems. These include the development of low input concentrate feeding systems which insure profitability and reduce ecological impacts of farming systems.


The mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is not simply to maintain its current position with the International Space Station and other space exploration endeavors, but to build a permanent outpost on the Moon and then travel on to explore ever more distant terrains. The Constellation Program will oversee the development of the crew capsule, launch vehicles, and other systems needed to achieve this mission. From this initiative will come two new launch vehicles: the Ares I and Ares V. The Ares I will be a human-rated vehicle, which will be used for crew transport; the Ares V, a cargo transport vehicle, will be the largest launch vehicle ever built. The Ares Projects team at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama is assigned with developing these two new vehicles. The Ares I vehicle will have an inline, two-stage rocket configuration. The first stage will provide the thrust or propulsion component for the Ares rocket systems through the first two minutes of the mission. The First Stage Team is tasked with developing the propulsion system necessary to liftoff from the Earth and loft the entire Ares vehicle stack toward low-Earth orbit. Building on the legacy of the Space Shuttle and other NASA space exploration initiatives, the propulsion for the Ares I First Stage will be a Shuttle-derived reusable solid rocket motor. Progress to date by the First Stage Team has been robust and on schedule. This paper provides an update on the design and development of the Ares First Stage Propulsion system. The presentation provides an overview of the information presented in the paper.


We propose an algorithm for area optimisation of sequential circuits through redundancy removal. The algorithm finds compatible redundancies by implying values over nets in the circuit. The potentially exponential cost of state space traversal is avoided and the redundancies found can all be removed at once. The optimised circuit is a safe delayed replacement of the original circuit. The algorithm computes a set of compatible sequential redundancies and simplifies the circuit by propagating them through the circuit. We demonstrate the efficacy of the algorithm even for large circuits through experimental results on benchmark circuits.


A new approach for the classification of the cosmic web is presented. In extension of the previous work of Hahn et al. and Forero-Romero et al., the new algorithm is based on the analysis of the velocity shear tensor rather than the gravitational tidal tensor. The procedure consists of the construction of the shear tensor at each (grid) point in space and the evaluation of its three eigenvectors. A given point is classified to be either a void, sheet, filament or a knot according to the number of eigenvalues above a certain threshold, 0, 1, 2 or 3, respectively. The threshold is treated as a free parameter that defines the web. The algorithm has been applied to a dark matter only simulation of a box of side length 64 h−1 Mpc and N = 10243 particles within the framework of the 5-year Wilkinson and Microwave Anisotropy Probe/Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model. The resulting velocity-based cosmic web resolves structures down to ≲0.1 h−1 Mpc scales, as opposed to the ≈1 h−1 Mpc scale of the tidal-based web. The underdense regions are made of extended voids bisected by planar sheets, whose density is also below the mean. The overdense regions are vastly dominated by the linear filaments and knots. The resolution achieved by the velocity-based cosmic web provides a platform for studying the formation of haloes and galaxies within the framework of the cosmic web.


Previous research documents a significant increase in vocabulary size and speed of word recognition in monolinguals throughout the 2 nd year of life. Moreover, there is a relation between these measures across English- and Spanish-speaking monolinguals, such that children with larger vocabularies demonstrate faster word recognition than children with smaller vocabularies (Hurtado, Marchman, & Fernald, 2007; Fernald, Perfors, & Marchman, 2006). What's more, this relation becomes more robust from 18 to 24 months (Fernald, Marchman, & Weisleder, 2013). However, few studies have examined the development of speed in word processing in young bilinguals and whether improvements in word processing are related to vocabulary growth in both languages (Marchman, Fernald, & Hurtado, 2011). The present investigation compares the developmental changes in spoken word processing and vocabulary growth between monolingual English, Spanish, and bilingual English-Spanish learners during the 2 nd year.


The article discusses the criteria that should be used by researchers who include individuals among the ranks of historically significant people and dedicate biographical articles to them in encyclopedias, monographs and doctoral research. It is shown that in the history of domestic clinical medicine, prominent physicians with equivalent standing in the second half of the 19th century – E.E. Eiсhwald (Saint Petersburg), K.M. Pavlinov and M.P. Cherinov (Moscow), N.A. Vinogradov (Kazan) and F.F. Mering (Kiev) – have not received equal coverage in historical medical literature. Six criteria are considered and any of them can be taken as a basis for a discussion on the historic performance of the individual. The author believes that the first criterion is an outstanding scientific contribution (for example, in the case of G.I. Sokolsky and V.A. Basov). The second criterion is the creation of a large scientific school (e.g., A.Y. Kozhevnikov – the creator of the largest school of neurologists – falls into the "Hall of Fame", regardless of his other merits). The third criterion is exceptional medical fame (as is the case with G.A. Zakharyin or Mering). The fourth criterion is outstanding pedagogical activities (a classic example being Moscow University Professor F.I. Inozemtsev). The fifth criterion is performing especially significant scientific-social activities (e.g., Military Medical Academy Professor V.A. Manassein's creation of the journal "Vrach" ("Doctor"), to which every third doctor in Russia subscribed by the beginning of the 20th century). The sixth criterion is outstanding manifestations of humanistic principles in medicine (from F.P. Haass to F.G. Yanovsky) or medical heroism (e.g., O.O. Mochutkovsky or I.A. Deminsky) or high civic position (V.P. Serbsky could serve as example). In many cases, several criteria may be applied to one and the same historical person.


Prevalence surveys have been part of the Danish infection control programme since 1974. Nationwide surveys were carried out in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1991 and 1999. The results indicate a net reduction of approximately 25%, mainly due to a reduction of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in medical patients. Results from the nationwide surveys are validated by results of occasional independent surveys performed in regions or single hospitals. The reduction coincides with preventive programmes focused on catheter policy and UTI. We conclude that the prevalence survey is an important part of our strategic programme for infection control in hospitals.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify the main characteristics of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) practice in health care services Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses a case study approach focusing on three health care organisations in Sweden using the BSC. The focus is upon different management levels in a hierarchical branch in each organisation. Findings - The paper concludes that the BSC is used as a tool for improving internal capabilities and supporting organisational development. More specifically, the BSC is used as a tool by management and employees in discussions, information dissemination, knowledge creation, follow-up and reporting processes. Instead of using the BSC as a tool to implement and communicate strategy formulated by management it is used as a tool for opening up the organisation and providing a foundation for an improvement dialogue, which consequently increases the demands on management. Research limitations/implications - The paper contributes to changing the focus in existing research away from the design and construction of the BSC towards its use in managerial work. Practical implications - The paper emphasises important aspects in using the BSC in a health care context that will help managers in improving performance measurements. Originality/value - The paper shows that the use of the BSC includes several aspects, such as the purpose of the system, implementation process, actions taken and the expected contribution.


Abstract: Lean construction principles are not yet well known to the Egyptian construction industry. Introducing lean principles is often reported to be faced with considerable resistance to change. In this research, the authors follow the action research methodology to apply some lean construction tools on an ongoing construction operation in Giza, Egypt. The operation at hand is the manufacturing and installation of steel fences and gates in a new residential complex. The operation involves material procurement, off site manufacturing, off-site finishing, transportation, installation and on-site finishing activities. The investigated sample includes four steel workshops, two painting workshops, and an on-site installation crew. The lean construction tool applied is value stream mapping. The main challenges faced by this operation are costumer's demand fluctuation and a resisting crafts-men culture. The customer demand unforeseeable fluctuations (1) affect the subcontractors' ability to order large quantities of materials from the suppliers with sufficient lead-time; (2) results in an unstable cash flow to the subcontractors; and (3) generates an unbalanced workload distribution among the on-site and off-site crews. The supervisors of the workshops and on-site crews attempted to adopt some operation plans that according to their experience is best suited for mass production. These plans incorporated many wastes and needed significant modifications to respond in time to the fluctuation of the customer's demands. Hence, value stream mapping is investigated as a possible solution to the aforementioned challenges. The authors succeeded to change and improve the operations of some participants, cutting the response time to customer demands by half in some cases. However, the authors failed with other participants, mainly because the crafts-men and their supervisors showed a significant resistance to change their operations design. This paper describes the lean construction initiatives, their results, and the main barriers and potentials identified through this research project.


Background: Although the possible occurrence of typical dermatoses during pregnancy is well recognized, little is known about the influence of pregnancy on the clinical evolution and prognosis of different pre-existing chronic dermatological disorders. Summary: In this study a comprehensive search of the available literature and reviews has been undertaken in order to collect and analyze articles reporting pre-existing chronic skin disorders in pregnant women and report current knowledge on their particular clinical and therapeutic aspects.


Introduction. At present, the patterns of changes in the levels of biomarkers and the relationship of changes in their values with the pathogenesis of diseases caused by the impact of adverse factors of labour activity are not sufficiently studied. The most unresolved issues are the choice of informative laboratory indicators and diagnostic test systems in investigating the impact of physical factors on the working environment (vibration and physical overload) neurohumoral regulation: pituitary-adrenal pituitary-thyroid, pituitary-gonadal system and hormonal indicators of carbohydrate metabolism. The aim of the study was to determine diagnostic hormonal markers and integral indices to identify early changes in the neurohumoral status in the body of workers under the influence of working environment factors. Materials and methods. 330 workers of mining and machine-building enterprises were examined. Of these, 128 people with vibration disease, 45 people - with lumbosacral radiculopathy, combined pathology (vibration disease and lumbosacral radiculopathy) was detected in 60 persons. The preclinical stage (initial signs of diseases) was noted in 97 workers. Laboratory studies included hormones and integral indices of the pituitary-adrenal, pituitary-thyroid, pituitary-gonadal system, carbohydrate metabolism. To select the diagnostic significance of laboratory biomarkers, diagnostic sensitivity, prenosological value, pathognomonicity, direction, severity, and selectivity of changes in biomarker levels were evaluated. Results. The combined effect of vibration and physical overload on the body of workers was found to have a unidirectional and systemic impact on the levels of hormones of the pituitary-adrenal, pituitary-thyroid and pituitary-gonadal systems, increases insulin resistance. The severity of changes in neurohumoral regulation indicators depends on the nature and severity of the occupational neurological disease. The highest diagnostic sensitivity (Df = 72–74%) in vibration disease and its combination with lumbosacral radiculopathy was obtained for pituitary-gonadal hormones and indicators of insulin resistance. The lowest values of Dh are typical for the hormones of the pituitary-thyroid system (no more than 14%). To identify early changes in neurohumoral regulation in the body under the influence of vibration and physical exertion, it is most informative to determine the concentration of total testosterone, luteinizing hormone and insulin, as well as the integral pituitary-adrenal index, insulin resistance indices. To identify hidden disorders of the pituitary-thyroid system, the definition of the essential thyroid index can be used. Discussion. The results obtained allowed us to assess the nature of changes in the levels of hormones of the pituitary-adrenal, pituitary-thyroid and pituitary-gonadal systems and carbohydrate metabolism and to propose informative laboratory biomarkers reflecting early changes in neurohumoral regulation under the influence of physical factors of the working environment. Conclusions. To identify early changes in neurohumoral regulation in the body of workers under the influence of vibration and physical exertion, the most informative is the determination of the concentration of total testosterone, luteinizing hormone and insulin, the integral pituitary-adrenal index, and insulin resistance indices. To identify hidden disorders of the pituitary-thyroid system, the definition of the integral thyroid index can be used. Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.


Graph neural networks (GNNs) have achieved remarkable success in various real-world applications. However, recent studies highlight the vulnerability of GNNs to malicious perturbations. Previous adversaries primarily focus on graph modifications or node injections to existing graphs, yielding promising results but with notable limitations. Graph modification attack~(GMA) requires manipulation of the original graph, which is often impractical, while graph injection attack~(GIA) necessitates training a surrogate model in the black-box setting, leading to significant performance degradation due to divergence between the surrogate architecture and the actual victim model. Furthermore, most methods concentrate on a single attack goal and lack a generalizable adversary to develop distinct attack strategies for diverse goals, thus limiting precise control over victim model behavior in real-world scenarios. To address these issues, we present a gradient-free generalizable adversary that injects a single malicious node to manipulate the classification result of a target node in the black-box evasion setting. We propose Gradient-free Generalizable Single Node Injection Attack, namely G$^2$-SNIA, a reinforcement learning framework employing Proximal Policy Optimization. By directly querying the victim model, G$^2$-SNIA learns patterns from exploration to achieve diverse attack goals with extremely limited attack budgets. Through comprehensive experiments over three acknowledged benchmark datasets and four prominent GNNs in the most challenging and realistic scenario, we demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed G$^2$-SNIA over the existing state-of-the-art baselines. Moreover, by comparing G$^2$-SNIA with multiple white-box evasion baselines, we confirm its capacity to generate solutions comparable to those of the best adversaries.


X‐ray diffraction from single crystals of polyacrylonitrile shows that the diffuse nature of the nonequatorial scattering maxima cannot be accounted for by crystal size. The theory of paracrystals may be used to set both an upper and a lower limit to the amount of lattice distortion and yields a plausible explanation for the absence or extreme weakness of higher‐order reflections. Finally, it is shown why the diffuse maxima cannot be used directly in measuring lattice parameters and the method which must be used to obtain a more definite crystal structure for polyacrylonitrile is indicated.


In this paper, we develop a theory about the relationship between Ginvariant/equivariant functions and deep neural networks for finite group G. Especially, for a given G-invariant/equivariant function, we construct its universal approximator by deep neural network whose layers equipG-actions and each affine transformations are G-equivariant/invariant. Due to representation theory, we can show that this approximator has far fewer free parameters than usual models.


The objective of this work is to study the relation between the variations of the plasmatic aminogram, and the nutritional state of the patient with chronic kidney failure on hemodialysis. We studied 79 patients with chronic kidney failure undergoing hemodialysis treatment, with and evolution of 46 +/- 37 months. They were subjected to a dietary questionnaire, and anthropometric study after dialysis (body mass index, triceps skin fold, muscular circumference of the arm), and determination of the levels of serum amino acids after a pre-dialysis nocturnal fast half way through the week, and finally a record is made of the number of times each patient was hospitalized in the 6 months prior to the study. In the amino acids with a pyruvate origin, there is a significant reduction of alanine (p: 0.002), serine (p: 0.004), and methionine (p: 0.001), and a significant increase of glycine, cystathionine, and cystine (p: 0.0001), with the Glycine/Serine coefficient being elevated (p: 0.001). All amino acids with a ketoglutarate origin are increased significantly (p < 0.007), except glutamine which is decreased (p: 0.0009), and arginine which does not show any significant differences. The essential amino acids are decreased in relation to the non-essential ones (p: 0.0001), although if they are compared with the normal values, only threonine is decreased (p: 0.001). Of the rest, histidine, isoleucine (p: 0.0001) and phenylalanine (p: 0.001) are significantly increased. The tyrosine/phenylalanine coefficient is decreased (p: 0.001). The daily ingestion of protein is correlated negatively with alanine, proline, hydroxyproline, and aspartic acid. The anthropometric parameters are correlated positively with the branched amino acids, alanine and proline. Finally, the number of hospital admissions in the last 6 months, is correlated positively with valine, leucine, phenylalanine, and glutamic acid. In conclusion, we consider that the increase of the glycine/serine, phenylalanine/serine and non essential/essential coefficients, is related to alterations of the metabolism, intrinsic to the condition of uremia, while the alterations of the levels of branched amino acids is related to the nutritional condition of the patients.


This paper presents a case study for determining the optimal structure of the run-to-run control algorithm for thin film processes. Specifically, the expected process disturbance characteristics are used to determine the nature of the control strategy. Two examples of thin film processes are considered $(i) one involving a simple one-step deposition, and (ii) the other involving two deposition steps, with feedback only possible at the end of both the steps. This paper shows that a unified control structure is capable of handling multiple process types, which traditionally have used different controllers (in terms of their structure), especially in the presence of process shifts and drifts. Furthermore, the paper will also touch upon how the choice of the controller structure depends on the number of context dependent free parameters in the model


Objectives: Mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke needs to be performed in the shortest possible workflow time and have a high recanalization rate. The steep learning curve for this procedure is essential for comprehensive as well as low-volume stroke centers, wherein the annual number of mechanical thrombectomy cases is less than 10. We retrospectively evaluated the workflow times and successful recanalization rates of three types of devices for mechanical thrombectomy: the Merci retriever, the Penumbra System, and the stent retriever. We concomitantly assessed the learning curves for each device in this procedure. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 19 patients who were transferred to our stroke center and underwent mechanical thrombectomy between February 2012 and August 2014. Time intervals between the placement of a guiding catheter and recanalization or final angiography (guide to revascularization time; GRT) were calculated from time-stamped images during the procedure. Results: Three cases were treated with the Merci retriever, 11 with the Penumbra system, and five with the stent retriever. There was a significantly higher successful recanalization rate [as indicated by the Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (TICI) scale grade 2B or 3] between the three devices (0% in the Merci retriever group, 36.3% in the Penumbra system group, and 100% in the stent retriever group; p = 0.009). The median GRT was 66, 81, and 22 min for the Merci retriever, the Penumbra system, and the stent retriever, respectively; a statistically significant difference was noted between these groups (p = 0.016). Conclusions: The use of the stent retriever in mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke seems suitable in low-volume stroke centers given its high success rate and use.


Digital image processing is an exciting and rapidly evolving technology that has become available for orthodontic purposes because of the constantly increasing speed and power of desktop computers, their peripherals and storage systems. This paper describes the typical hardware and some of the technical features and limitations of digital image processing in general. A critical review of its major applications in the field of orthodontics (i.e. growth and surgical prediction) reveals that the accuracy of the digital techniques is less than ideal, although image manipulation is faster and easter. Given the scientific limitations of contemporary digital image software, its major strength rather lies in its ability to improve patient communication.


Despite vast research has been carried out and a great number of approaches are available to assess the economic security of enterprises, currently a range of security-related issues are yet beyond the research agenda, thus triggering a need for their thorough investigation and interpretation, in particular this refers to a contradictedness concept underpinned by the inverse relationship between its level (state) and a management decision which can be effective subject to certain economic indicators. The purpose of this study is to develop theoretical and methodological approaches to assess the enterprise economic security with due regard to management decisions effectiveness. To attain the research objectives, the following research methods have been employed: generalization – to draw conclusions from a primary sources content analysis, analysis and synthesis – to provide deeper understanding of the key research categories along with specifying the economic security indicators. The study suggests an ambivalent approach to the perception of management decisions. Using the example of a decision made as to the implementation of an investment project, it is demonstrated that, in contrast to the existing approaches (in which it is viewed as an anti-crisis measure and a tool to boost the level of economic security), in fact, the project may be effective from the position of enhancing the key economic indicators, however it will fail from the perspective of increasing the level of economic security. In this context, the indicators of the investment project economic efficiency have been updated with a focus towards enhancing the enterprise economic security. The study presents an algorithm to test the investment feasibility together with evaluating its impact on the level and the state of the enterprise economic security. The authors also provide a classification of effects from management decisions aimed at increasing the level of economic security. In addition to the above, a chain modeling algorithm is proposed to assess the state of economic security taking into account the rate of change in reaching by security indicators (and its individual elements) their liminal values. The use of this algorithm allows to predict the effects of multiple alternatives in management decision-making on the state of the enterprise economic security. An improved brute force methodological approach applied to investing in processes (projects) to ensure the enterprise economic security provides for a more balanced approach when making appropriate management decisions. The proposals made have important practical implications since they expand the management analytics capabilities and allow to consider the effects from management decisions on the enterprise economic security.


Background Conducting non-therapeutic research is ethically challenging because participation conveys risks and burden and no health benefit. In this paper, we report the positive experiences of a diverse group of healthy and ill children (6–18 years) who participated in non-therapeutic research studies and discuss whether these positive experiences can justifiably be viewed as benefits. Methods We used semistructured interviews from an earlier study about children's experiences in clinical research and did a secondary analysis on the positive experiences of the children in the non-therapeutic studies (N=30). Interviews were analysed using 'thematic' analysis. Results The interviewed children most frequently mentioned as positive experiences of non-therapeutic research participation helping others and the gratification that comes with it, possible health benefits in the future, having fun and new/increased knowledge about the human body, hospitals and doing research. Less frequently mentioned were getting a present, not having to go to school and getting extra attention from healthcare staff. Conclusions Our study shows that children participating in non-therapeutic research have various positive experiences while taking part. We argue that some of these justifiably could be taken into the risk–benefit analysis in certain situations or maybe even as a standard part of this analysis. This may help to increase the number of (crucial) non-therapeutic studies with children.


The Bahja Rima cluster consists of multiple fields which primarily target tight Cambro-Ordovician and Carboniforous-Permian oil sandstone reservoirs at the South Oman Salt basin petroleum system. The hydraulic propped fracturing has been the preferred practice of enhancing the well production performance at oil producers, with over 50 hydraulic fracturing works completed at this cluster in the last couple years from none. The well candidates are both from newly drilled wells and existing wells (NFA, No Further Activity) in which some of them are located within the perimeter of highly depleted pressure areas that need further strategy to maintain reservoir drive to flow the hydrocarbon.
 At the reservoir scale study, it is determined to infill drilled numbers of water injector wells also some conversion injector wells. The same formation waters from the produced layer, presumably as the most compatible water source, were utilized as injection water. Throughout time however, the injectivity index was substantially dropped along with incremental injection pressure due to various issues including self-scaling from single source water at different pressure and temperature exposure. Throughout collaboration of multi-companies and multi-disciplines function, from Reservoir Engineering, Geologist, Petrophysicist, Production Technology and Frac Completion Specialist, it is determined hydraulic propped fracturing as the most economic method of improving the injectivity index hence impacting nearby producer wells production. Several specific boundary and criteria need to be investigated however, in order to properly deploy hydraulic fracturing on injector well candidate, this to include well integrity aspect, frac fluids and source water compatibility, optimum frac penetration, understanding of frac orientation towards water flood aerial sweeping, understanding of frac height towards water injection vertical sweeping effectiveness.
 This paper describes the lesson learnt from fracturing design execution perspective and review of post fracture well injectivity performance in this cluster from 5 injector wells fracturing works performed in 2022 & 2023, and other offset producers well fracturing. The study results were summarized as best practice and recommendation moving forward for future injector wells fracturing on existing wells and also as drilling and completion strategy for new wells


Data deduplication is a simple, dictionary based compression method that became very popular in storage archiving and backup. It has the advantage of direct, random access to any piece ("chunk") of a file in one table lookup; that's not the case with differential file compression, the other common storage archival method. The compression efficiency (chunk matching) of deduplication improves for smaller chunk sizes, however the sequence of hashes replacing the deduplicated object (file) increases significantly. Within the sequence of chunks that an object is decomposed, sub-sequences of adjacent chunks tend to repeat. We exploit this insight first in an online scheme used to reduce the amount of hash metadata generated. With each newly created entry in the chunk repository we add a "chronological" pointer linking this entry with the next new entry, in time order. When the hashes produced by the chunker follow the chronological pointers we encode them as a "sequence of hashes" by specifying the first hash in the sequence and the length of the sequence. The shrinkage is orders of magnitude smaller than what a customary compression algorithm (gzip) achieves and has a significant impact on the overall deduplication efficiency when relatively small chunks are used. A second scheme is also introduced that optimizes the chunk sizes by joining repeated sub-sequences of small chunks into new "super chunks" with the constraint to achieve practically the same matching performance. We employ suffix arrays to find these repeating subsequences and to determine a new encoding that covers the original sequence. As a result, fewer chunks are used to represent a file, reducing fragmentation i.e. the number of disk accesses needed to reconstruct the file, and requiring fewer entries in the chunk dictionary and fewer hashes to encode a file. As the experimental results show, this method provides over 10 time reduction in fragmentation and over 5 times reduction in the number of entries in repository while achieving similar or slightly better overall deduplication ratios.


Low numbers of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have so far limited the establishment of CTC-derived xenografts (CDXs) to improve our understanding of tumor progression, drug resistance mechanisms, and their biological properties. We report the establishment and the phenotypic and molecular characterization of one NSCLC CDX. Blood samples (30 ml) were drawn from 49 NSCLC patients with advanced metastatic disease. CTCs were enriched by RosetteSep, embedded in matrigel, and implanted in the interscapular aspect of NSG mouse (Nod/Scid-IL2Rγ-/-). Mice were followed-up for one year according to ethical regulations. CDX tumours and CDX derived cell lines were phenotypically and molecularly characterized by immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, CGHarray, exome sequencing and transcriptome gene expression. CTCs from one NSCLC patient with 750 CTCs detected by CellSearch gave rise to a tumor 5 months after initial murine injection. Histological analysis confirmed the human origin of the tumor and the presence of a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma consistent with the patient9s biopsy. Tumor was positive for EpCAM, EMA, CK8;18, and Ki67, and negative for vimentin. A fraction of cells (25%) from freshly dissociated tumors exhibited ALDH activity. CGH from CDX tumors at passage 1 and 2 shows multiple gene rearrangement, revealing a high degree of genomic instability. Transcriptome analysis of ALDH positive and negative cells is ongoing and should help of identifying a cancer stem cell gene expression signature. Whole-exome sequencing of CDX tumor is ongoing and will be compared to data obtained from single CTCs from the patient. A cell line established in vitro from the CDX model grows in 3D clusters and is tumorigenic in mice. Interestingly, this cell line is positive for cytokeratins, EpCAM, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, vimentin, and expresses multiple cancer stem cell markers including CD166, CD24, CD133 and, ALDH activity. The cell line is hypotetraploid (about 70 chromosomes) and its CGH profile was similar to that of the CDX tumour, revealing a high level of genome instability. By investigating DNA replication process in this cell line, we found that it exhibits a spontaneous enhanced DNA damage signaling associated to an accumulation of DNA double strand breaks mainly in S phase strongly suggesting that the CDX-derived cell line displays hallmarks on replication stress that could explain, at least partially, the genomic instability in the cells. We report a low success rate in the establishment of NSCLC CDX (2%). However one NSCLC CDX model harboring cancer stem cell properties and deficiency of DNA replication maintenance was established. Ongoing work to identify a cancer stem cell signature and characteristics replication stress markers in this CDX model will be presented. This NSCLC CDX model will be useful to test drugs targeting these alterations in vivo and improve our knowledge of drug resistance. Citation Format: Vincent Faugeroux, Olivier Deas, Judith Michels, Jean Gabriel Judde, Stefano Cairo, Philippe Vielh, Virginie Marty, Fanny Billiot, Maud Ngocamus, Benjamin Besse, Patricia Kannouche, Francoise Farace. Establishment and characterization of circulating tumor cell-derived xenografts in non-small cell lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2256.


This article extends the debate on the shift in water security governance in the Nile Basin countries. Water as an object of analysis was previously embedded in a depoliticized governance framework now faces politicization in the context of food, energy and climate change. In considering land-water-security nexus, population and climate variations drive Middle East and North Africa (MENA) policies for the return of the state primacy in water governance. As Egypt and Sudan maintain their dynamics of hegemony in Nile Basin countries, Gulf States however are deploying proxy water diplomacy through investment in agricultural farmlands in Nile Basin countries. Increasing number of actors alter water access and security across formal and informal domains. The Nile Basin Cooperative Agreement (CFA) remains contested between upstream and downstream riparian states as being uncoordinated water management and development policies. Incorporating market and local users beyond the state gets politicized in securing water security. In view of this, this article hence suggests that power relations are not static, but subject to the changing circumstances. Egypt's water security would be more sustainable when it engages CFA countries in a joint coordination and development projects.


We observe that the mapping between an image's representation in one model to its representation in another can be learned surprisingly well with just a linear layer, even across diverse models. Building on this observation, we propose $\textit{text-to-concept}$, where features from a fixed pretrained model are aligned linearly to the CLIP space, so that text embeddings from CLIP's text encoder become directly comparable to the aligned features. With text-to-concept, we convert fixed off-the-shelf vision encoders to surprisingly strong zero-shot classifiers for free, with accuracy at times even surpassing that of CLIP, despite being much smaller models and trained on a small fraction of the data compared to CLIP. We show other immediate use-cases of text-to-concept, like building concept bottleneck models with no concept supervision, diagnosing distribution shifts in terms of human concepts, and retrieving images satisfying a set of text-based constraints. Lastly, we demonstrate the feasibility of $\textit{concept-to-text}$, where vectors in a model's feature space are decoded by first aligning to the CLIP before being fed to a GPT-based generative model. Our work suggests existing deep models, with presumably diverse architectures and training, represent input samples relatively similarly, and a two-way communication across model representation spaces and to humans (through language) is viable.


Respiratory disorders in infants and children are challenging problems for every clinician involved in the management of these patients. This book summarises recent advances in paediatric pulmonology. The scholarly contributions of the distinguished contributors represent a careful and comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge in pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment.


In this work, the results of the examinations of the effect of the mold material and mold technology on the microstructure and properties of the casts parts of ductile cast iron have been presented. Four different self-hardening molding sands based on fresh silica sand from Grudzen Las, with organic binders (no-bake process), were used to prepare molds for tested castings. A novelty is the use of molding sand with a two-component binder: furfuryl resin-polycaprolactone PCL biomaterial. The molds were poured with ductile iron according to standard PN-EN 1563:2018-10. The microstructure of the experimental castings was examined on metallographic cross-sections with PN-EN ISO 945-1:2019-09 standard. Observations were made in the area at the casting/mold boundary and in a zone approximately 10 mm from the surface of the casting with a light microscope. The tensile test at room temperature was conducted according to standard PN-EN ISO 6892-1:2016-09. Circular cross-section test pieces, machined from samples taken from castings, were used. In the present experiment, it was stated that interactions between the mold material of different compositions and liquid cast iron at the stage of casting solidification led to some evolution of casting's microstructure in the superficial layer, such as a pearlite rim observed for acidic mold sand, a ferritic rim for alkaline sand, and graphite spheroids degeneration, especially spectacular for the acidic mold with polycaprolactone (PCL) addition. These microstructural effects may point to the interference of the direct chemical interactions between liquid alloy and the components released from the mold sand, such as sulfur and oxygen. Particularly noteworthy is the observation that the use of molding sand with furfuryl resin with the addition of biodegradable PCL material does not lead to an unfavorable modification of the mechanical properties in the casting. The samples taken from Casting No. 2, made on the acidic molding sand with the participation of biodegradable material, had an average strength of 672 MPa, the highest average strength UTS-among all tested molding sands. However, the elongation after fracture was 48% lower compared to the reference samples from Casting No. 1 from the sand without the addition of PCL.


Purpose: Spine stereotactic body radiotherapy requires very conformal dose distributions and precise delivery. Prior to treatment, a KV cone-beam CT (KV-CBCT) is registered to the planning CT to provide image-guided positional corrections, which depend on selection of the region of interest (ROI) because of imperfect patient positioning and anatomical deformation. Our objective is to determine the dosimetric impact of ROI selections. Methods: Twelve patients were selected for this study with the treatment regions varied from C-spine to T-spine. For each patient, the KV-CBCT was registered to the planning CT three times using distinct ROIs: one encompassing the entire patient, a large ROI containing large bony anatomy, and a small target-focused ROI. Each registered CBCT volume, saved as an aligned dataset, was then sent to the planning system. The treated plan was applied to each dataset and dose was recalculated. The tumor dose coverage (percentage of target volume receiving prescription dose), maximum point dose to 0.03 cc of the spinal cord, and dose to 10% of the spinal cord volume (V10) for each alignment were compared to the original plan. Results: The average magnitude of tumor coverage deviation was 3.9%±5.8% with external contour, 1.5%±1.1% with large ROI, 1.3%±1.1% with small ROI.more » Spinal cord V10 deviation from plan was 6.6%±6.6% with external contour, 3.5%±3.1% with large ROI, and 1.2%±1.0% with small ROI. Spinal cord max point dose deviation from plan was: 12.2%±13.3% with external contour, 8.5%±8.4% with large ROI, and 3.7%±2.8% with small ROI. Conclusion: A small ROI focused on the target results in the smallest deviation from planned dose to target and cord although rotations at large distances from the targets were observed. It is recommended that image fusion during CBCT focus narrowly on the target volume to minimize dosimetric error. Improvement in patient setups may further reduce residual errors.« less


Tumor type guides clinical treatment decisions in cancer, but histology-based diagnosis remains challenging. Genomic alterations are highly diagnostic of tumor type, and tumor type classifiers trained on genomic features have been explored, but the most accurate methods are not clinically feasible, relying on features derived from whole genome sequencing (WGS), or predicting across limited cancer types. We use genomic features from a dataset of 39,787 solid tumors sequenced using a clinical targeted cancer gene panel to develop Genome-Derived-Diagnosis Ensemble (GDD-ENS): a hyperparameter ensemble for classifying tumor type using deep neural networks. GDD-ENS achieves 93% accuracy for high-confidence predictions across 38 cancer types, rivalling performance of WGS-based methods. GDD-ENS can also guide diagnoses on rare type and cancers of unknown primary, and incorporate patient-specific clinical information for improved predictions. Overall, integrating GDD-ENS into prospective clinical sequencing workflows has enabled clinically-relevant tumor type predictions to guide treatment decisions in real time.


Objectives: To better understand within-group variability in positive parenting practices among low-income Black families, the present study, grounded in a multidimensional comparative framework, examined (a) patterns of positive parenting practices among U.S.-born African American parents and Black Caribbean immigrant parents and (b) the extent to which these patterns related to parents' daily family social support, parents' social sensitivities, and children's social-emotional outcomes. Method: A person-oriented approach was employed with data from 524 African American and Black Caribbean immigrant parents (mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts/uncles) of preschool-aged children in Head Start. Results: Multistage hierarchical cluster analysis revealed that although the best solution for both ethnic groups was a 5-profile solution, the particular profiles that emerged across the 2 groups were distinct. Further, different parenting practices were salient among the 'high positive parenting' profiles and 'low positive parenting' for African Americans and Caribbean immigrants. In addition, demographic factors (education, gender, and marital status) differentially related to patterns of positive parenting across the 2 ethnic groups, and these patterns of parenting were associated with children's social emotional development and parenting resources in meaningful ways. Conclusions: Findings underscore the importance of conducting within-group studies that examine variability across ethnocultural groups identified as belonging to the same racial group. Indeed, there was variation in the manifestations of positive parenting within and across the ethnic groups included in this study (i.e., African Americans and Caribbean immigrants) that can inform future research and practice.


By using male and female Chinese hamsters heterozygous for reciprocal translocation, T(2;10) 3Idr and T(1;2)9Idr, features of metaphase II cells were observed, and the difference in frequency of each class of cells derived from quadrivalents was investigated. The result showed no difference between sexes in the segregation ratio of chromosomes from the quadrivalents in either strain. In four-day embryos from crosses between normal animals and translocation heterozygotes in both strains, the incidence of embryos with unbalanced chromosomes was significantly higher in the group from crosses between females heterozygous for the translocation and normal males than in the group from heterozygous males and normal females. These results suggest that in males unbalanced gametes are selectively eliminated during the period between the formation of gametes and fertilization.


Osteosarcoma (OS), as the most frequent primary malignancy of bone, is characterized by the presence of malignant mesenchymal cells. In the current study, our aim was to explore the possible effects Fos‐like antigen‐1 (FOSL1) had on the silencing regarding OS cell proliferation, invasion, and migration through the activation of the extracellular‐signal‐regulated kinase (ERK)/activator protein‐1 (AP‐1) signaling pathway. After the collection of OS on top of already having the adjacent normal tissue samples, the protein positive expression rate of FOSL1 was then measured by implementing the use of immunohistochemistry and discovered that FOSL1 was robustly expressed in OS. Later, to better grasp the impact FOSL1 projects on OS and its underlying mechanism, we determined the OS related genes as well as the ERK/AP‐1 signaling pathway related genes expression by using a reverse‐transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot assay techniques. The results of the aforementioned two experiments revealed that the FOSL1 depletion had downregulated the expression of OS related genes by simultaneously downregulating the ERK/AP‐1 signaling pathway. Moreover, cell proliferation, cycle, apoptosis, invasion, and migration of FOS1 were all tested by using a cell counting kit‐8 assay, flow cytometry, Transwell assay, and scratch test, and these results presented that silencing of the FOSL1 gene inhibited OS cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. Our findings revealed a novel mechanism by which FOSL1 depletion played a significantly negative role in the OS progression through the regulation of the ERK/AP‐1 signaling pathway. Functional suppression of FOSL1 might be a future therapeutic strategy regarding OS.


Indication for operation in morbid obesity is a body mass index greater than 40 kg/m2. Various operative procedures such as vertical banded gastroplasty and gastric bypass are used for therapy. Since 1994 the laparoscopic performed gastric banding is an alternative to conventional techniques. The mortality rate of this technique is below 1%, summarizing data from the literature of 905 patients the complication rate ranged to 24%. These results are comparable to conventional operations. Regarding the weight loss the results are comparable to the vertical banded gastroplasty. 80% of the patients loss 60% of their excess weight at 12 months. The rate of conversion to open procedure is low and ranges to 2.4%. Especially in obese patients the laparoscopic approach offers the well known advantages of endoscopic procedures. Open questions are the long-term effects and complications of laparoscopic gastric banding.


OBJECTIVE
To objectively assess the results of rhinoplasty in feminizing the facial profiles of male-to-female transsexual patients undergoing gender reassignment.

METHODS
Twelve patients underwent nasal feminization as part of male-to-female gender reassignment. Global assessments of facial profile were performed, and nasofrontal, nasolabial, and supratip angles and the Goode ratio were objectively measured. Postoperative and long-term patient satisfaction was assessed.

RESULTS
The surgical procedures created more feminine nasal profiles in all patients. The mean +/- SD nasofrontal angle changed from 141.6 degrees +/- 6.0 degrees to 150.5 degrees +/- 5.5 degrees (P < .001). The nasolabial angle changed from 107.4 degrees +/- 14.3 degrees to 115.2 degrees +/- 11.7 degrees (P < .001), and the supratip angle from 1.7 degrees +/- 4.9 degrees to 12.8 degrees +/- 5.8 degrees (P < .001). The Goode ratio did not change significantly, remaining on average around 1.64 +/- 0.15. In 4 cases, spreader grafts were used to reconstruct the nasal valve, and no cases of valve insufficiency occurred.

CONCLUSIONS
Rhinoplasty is effective in achieving feminine facial profiles in patients undergoing male-to-female gender reassignment. This requires reducing the overall nasal size and changing nasal angles to those more reminiscent of the female form. Because of the extensive resections often required to modify the nasal form, it is important to pay particular attention to preserving function, which may require concomitant nasal valve reconstruction.


Carbon dioxide (CO2) production is a more desirable indicator of soil carbon (C) dynamics than CO2 flux at the soil-air interface, which is significantly influenced by the gas-transport condition of the soil. Production of CO2 can be computed from CO2 concentrations if high-temporal measurements are made. Our objective was to design, implement, and test an automated CO2 measurement system that requires low maintenance but provides high-temporal resolution of CO2 concentrations in soil. The CO2 sensors were located at different soil depths from 10 to 60 cm, with and without roots, to measure the effect of corn (Zea mays, L.) root activities on CO2 concentrations over time. A direct comparison indicates that soil CO2 measured with the automated measurement system represents CO2 of soil surrounding the sensor. Computed CO2 production was highest in the soils above 20 cm. A peak of soil CO2 concentration occurred after each of the major rain events. The amplitude of the peaks decreased with depth. Differences between the CO2 concentrations in the root and root-excluded soils were small between rainfall events and large at and after rain. Soil CO2 concentration showed diurnal variations at the 10-, 20-, and 40-cm depths, whereas it was hardly detectable at the 60-cm depth. The automated CO2 measurement system is a useful tool for gaining knowledge of CO2 production in soils over time and across depth and of contributions from roots and bulk soil to total CO2 production in soils.


This paper studies the use of braiding fluid particles to quantify the amount of mixing within a fluid flow. We analyze the pros and cons of braid methods by considering the motion of three or more fluid particles in a coherent vortex structure. The relative motions of the particles, as seen in a space–time diagram, produce a braid pattern, which is correlated with mixing and measured by the braiding factor. The flow we consider is a Gaussian vortex within a rotating strain field that generates cat's eyes in the vortex. We also consider a modified version of this strain field that contains a resonance frequency effect that produces multiple sets of cat's eyes at different radii. As the thickness of the cat's eyes increases, they interact with one another and produce complex Lagrangian motion in the flow that increases the braiding of particles, hence implying more mixing within the vortex. It is found that calculating the braiding factor using only three fluid particles gives useful information about the flow, but only if all three particles lie in the same region of the flow, i.e. this gives good local information. We find that we only require one of the three particles to trace a chaotic path to give an exponentially growing braiding factor. i.e. a non-zero 'braiding exponent'. A modified braiding exponent is also introduced which removes the spurious effects caused by the rotation of the fluid. This analysis is extended to a more global approach by using multiple fluid particles that span larger regions of the fluid. Using these global results, we compare the braiding within a viscously spreading Gaussian vortex in the above strain fields, where the flow is determined both kinematically and dynamically. We show that the dynamic feedback of the strain field onto the flow field reduces the overall amount of braiding of the fluid particles.