Introduction There is a major planet-wide experiment under way. Anthropogenic changes to the atmosphere–biosphere system mean that all ecosystems on Earth are now affected by our activities. While outright deforestation is physically obvious, other subtler processes, such as hunting and surface fires, also affect forests in ways that are less evident to the casual observer ( cf . Estes et al . 2011; Lewis, Malhi & Phillips 2004a; Malhi & Phillips 2004). Similarly, anthropogenic atmospheric change is intensifying. By the end of the century, carbon dioxide concentrations may reach levels unprecedented for at least 20 million years (e.g. Retallack 2001) and climates may move beyond Quaternary envelopes (Meehl et al . 2007). Moreover, the rate of change in these basic ecological drivers may be unprecedented in the evolutionary span of most species on Earth today. Additionally, these atmospheric changes are coinciding with the greatest global upheaval in vegetation cover and species' distributions since at least the last mass extinction at ~65 million years ago (Ellis et al . 2011). Collectively, the evidence points to conditions with no clear past analogue. We have entered the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch dominated by human action (Crutzen 2002; Steffen et al . 2011). In this chapter we focus on the changes occurring within remaining tropical forests. Most forest vegetation carbon stocks lie within the tropics. Tropical forests store 460 billion tonnes of carbon in their biomass and soil (Pan et al . 2011), equivalent to more than half the total atmospheric stock, and annually process 40 billion tonnes (Beer et al . 2010). They have other planetary influences via the hydrological cycle, and emit aerosols and trace gases, and they are also characterised by their exceptional variety and diversity of life.


The experimental measurements of direction diagram and angle of diffraction of the ring-shaped antenna is very complicated and expensive procedure. If the antenna is placed in ionosphere (satellites, aircraft) the measurements are completely impossible. In such cases it is convenient to use antenna modelling by the help of helicon beams in solid state plasma. Helicon waves will propagate in metals and semiconductors when a magnetic field is applied. They have an exact analogy with whistler wave which is propagating in the rarefied plasma of the Earth's ionosphere. It means that the properties of ionosphere can be duplicated in magnetized semiconductors.Gaussian electromagnetic beams in magnetized solid state plasma provide the possibility for modelling the ring-shaped antenna with the dimensions much smaller (~ 20 times) than the real object. Experimental arrangement is considered. The direction diagram and angle of diffraction in this case may be measured in laboratory instead of field works.


[1] Piezometric responses to rainfall on hillslopes commonly dictate the timing of landsliding. Insight to this phenomenon can be gained by evaluating the timescales for pore pressure perturbations to propagate normal and parallel to the ground surface, and these timescales can be estimated using characteristic values of hydraulic diffusivity [Iverson, 2000]. However, Montgomery et al. [2002] employed an erroneous definition of hydraulic diffusivity, leading to flawed assessment of the piezometric response timescales identified by Iverson [2000]. This comment aims to rectify the errors of Montgomery et al. [2002] and clarify the methods used by Iverson [2000] to estimate piezometric response timescales at the CB1 field site studied by Montgomery et al.


Abstract The evidence of funerary archaeology, historical sources and poetry has been used to define a 'heroic warrior ethos' across Northern Europe during the first millennium AD. In northern Britain, burials of later prehistoric to early medieval date are limited, as are historical and literary sources. There is, however, a rich sculptural corpus, to which a newly discovered monolith with an image of a warrior can now be added. Comparative analysis reveals a materialisation of a martial ideology on carved stone monuments, probably associated with elite cemeteries, highlighting a regional expression of the warrior ethos in late Roman and post-Roman Europe.


Evoked potential (EP) signals have been widely used to quantify neurological system properties. Delay in EP signals latency may be linked to neurological injuries. For abnormal cases where noises in EP signals usually appear impulsive, a novel robust approach, covariation correlation algorithm, is proposed to estimate EP latency delay based on fractional lower order statistics (FLOS) under alpha-stable distribution noise. Firstly, the auto-covariation of reference signal and cross-covariation between reference and detected signals are computed. Secondly, correlation between these two covariations series is calculated. Finally, the estimation value of EP latency delay is obtained from location of this correlation peak Simulation studies show that the estimation precise of this novel algorithm is higher than that of correlation or covariation algorithms especially under lower mixed signal noise ratio (MSNR).


Microalgae and their metabolites have been an El Dorado since the turn of the 21st century. Many scientific works and industrial exploitations have thus been set up. These developments have often highlighted the need to intensify the processes for biomass production in photo-autotrophy and exploit all the microalgae value including ExoPolySaccharides (EPS). Indeed, the bottlenecks limiting the development of low value products from microalgae are not only linked to biology but also to biological engineering problems including harvesting, recycling of culture media, photoproduction, and biorefinery. Even respecting the so-called "Biorefinery Concept", few applications had a chance to emerge and survive on the market. Thus, exploiting EPS from microalgae for industrial applications in some low-value markets such as food is probably not a mature proposition considering the competitiveness of polysaccharides from terrestrial plants, macroalgae, and bacteria. However, it does not imply drawing a line on their uses but rather "thinking them" differently. This review provides insights into microalgae, EPS, and their exploitation. Perspectives on issues affecting the future of EPS microalgae are also addressed with a critical point of view.


In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the security of international flows, with a focus on a specific area of logistics, namely, customs logistics, understandably both as a new branch of science and as an integral, complex and multifaceted area of activity. Customs logistics includes the processes, functions and challenges of transportation, warehousing, forwarding, inventory management, management of flows/resources and other areas of activity, insofar as they are related to the legal acts implemented by customs, customs supervision, interaction between customs and business in developing secure international trade. This is an area of research and practice which is rapidly developing, is open to innovations and new ideas, is introducing smart technologies and is consolidating intellectual capital and which is closely linked to economics, management, law and other areas of research activity. The distinctive feature of logistics, including customs logistics, is the management of flows and resources in the international supply chain, regulation of logistic operations, functions and processes at the international, regional and national levels, wide geography of activities, increasingly complex interactions between entities of logistic activity, optimal use of resources, creation of added value using instruments of logistic activity, rational and effective risk management, ensuring of safety and security. The outcome of activity in customs logistics (the length of delivery of a consignment, safety and security, speedy and inexpensive completion of formalities, prompt and efficient performance of logistic operations) is determined not only by the logistic operations performed, but also, and sometimes primarily, by the nature of interaction between entities of this activity and controlling institutions (customs authorities, border guard, etc.), possibilities of cooperation and its consequences, the compatibility of information, computer and communications technologies, the efficient use of available information resources, the validity, objectivity and rationality of decisions and discretions. Changes in the activity of customs as the state institution implementing customs and international trade policy directly and significantly influence the security of the EU's economic area. The article presents one of the possible concepts of customs logistics as a new area of logistic activity, discusses guidelines for customs and business cooperation and tendencies of the implementation of the discretionary powers granted to customs officials in enhancing the security of international trade.


To find similar web pages to a query page on the Web, this paper introduces a novel link-based similarity measure, called PageSim. Contrast to SimRank, a recursive refinement of cocitation, PageSim can measure similarity between any two web pages, whereas SimRank cannot in some cases. We give some intuitions to the PageSim model, and outline the model with mathematical definitions. Finally, we give an example to illustrate its effectiveness.


ABSTRACT Objective The study aims to assess the effect of spinal mobilization and postural correction exercises in patients suffering from cervicogenic headache. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 72 patients. Patients were randomly allocated into three groups: spinal mobilization (n = 24), postural correction exercises (n = 24), and control group (n = 24). The primary outcome measure was headache impact test-6, and secondary outcomes were headache intensity, neck pain intensity, and neck pain-related disability measured at baseline, postintervention, and follow-up period. Result Comparison of baseline data (at 0 weeks) among groups showed a statistically nonsignificant difference. There was statistically significant improvement at postintervention (immediately after fourth week) in postural correction exercises group [headache disability: 14.95 ± 7.91 (p < .001); headache intensity: 2.58 ± 1.24 (p < .001); neck disability: 27.66 ± 18.71 (p < .001); neck pain: 1.91 ± 1.44 (p < .001)] and spinal mobilization group [headache disability: 13.83 ± 6.21 (p < .001); headache intensity: 2.29 ± 1.23 (p < .001); neck disability: 23.39 ± 19.51 (p < .001); neck pain: 1.72 ± 0.84 (p < .001)] as compared to the control group. The result of within-group analysis suggests that there was a statistically significant improvement in postintervention (immediately after fourth week) and follow-up (immediately after eighth week) scores as compared to baseline (at 0 weeks) scores for all outcomes in postural correction exercises [headache disability (p < .001), headache intensity (p < .001), neck disability (p < .001), neck pain (p < 0 .001)] as well as in spinal mobilization group [headache disability (p < .001), headache intensity (p < .001), neck disability (p < .001), neck pain (p < .001 for pre versus post; p = .001 for pre versus follow-up)]. There was a statistically nonsignificant difference between postintervention and follow-up scores of all the outcomes in the postural correction exercise and spinal mobilization group, which indicates that improvement in these groups was maintained during the follow-up period. Conclusion Spinal mobilization and postural correction exercises are effective in the management of cervicogenic headache.


We recorded social vocalizations from two sympatric species of glossophagine bats, Glossophaga soricina and G. commissarisi, using habituated captive groups that were housed in separate flight cages. Whenever possible, the species-specific vocalization types were described in the light of the social context in which they were produced. Several vocalization types within each species' repertoire had remarkable similarities to vocalization types in the other species' repertoire. Out of these, four vocalization types with interspecific acoustic similarities (approach pulses, distress calls, aggressive trills, and alert calls) were used in similar behavioral contexts in both species. Approach pulses were produced whenever a bat was flying towards an already occupied roost. Distress calls were uttered whenever a bat was attacked by conspecifics or restrained by the observer, whereas aggressive trills were produced during aggressive encounters prior to physical contact. Alert calls were uttered when bats were disturbed or when several individuals were circling the same location. The interspecific similarity of both the social context and the acoustic structure of vocalization types suggest that the potential for interspecific communication is high in G. soricina and G. commissarisi.


BACKGROUND: Several authors have hypothesized that adverse drug events (ADEs) upon switching from reference biologics to biosimilar products are related to the nocebo effect. However, a thorough and current review of the existing literature has not been conducted. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if patient and/or physician knowledge of a switch from a reference biologic product to a biosimilar product was associated with an increase in ADEs likely to be susceptible to the nocebo effect. METHODS: Studies reporting efficacy and safety outcomes of a switch from a reference product to a biosimilar product were reviewed. Biologics with FDA-approved biosimilars in the United States were considered for review, including adalimumab, bevacizumab, etanercept, and infliximab. Studies were identified by searching controlled vocabulary (e.g., MeSH terms) and keywords within MEDLINE (via PubMed) and Embase. Descriptive statistics were used to quantify subjective and objective complications in double-blinded and single-blinded or open-label studies. RESULTS: Thirty-one trials including 3,271 patients were reviewed in the full analysis. Median discontinuation rates for any reason were 14.3% (range = 0.0-33.3) in open-label studies compared with 6.95% (range = 5.2-11.0) in double-blinded studies. Discontinuation rates for ADEs were 5.6% (range = 0.0-24.2) in open-label studies versus 3.1% (range = 2.0-5.2) in double-blinded studies, suggesting the nocebo effect does affect biosimilar adoption. Subgroup analyses of antidrug antibody (ADA) development and infusion reactions were similar between infliximab open-label and double-blinded studies. Discontinuation rates for any reason, for ADEs, and for lack of efficacy were generally higher in infliximab open-label trials compared with double-blinded trials. Etanercept biosimilar discontinuation rates for any reason were similar between study designs; however, incidences of injection site reactions and discontinuation rates for ADEs were higher in double-blinded compared with open-label study designs. CONCLUSIONS: Current evidence is insufficient to confirm a biosimilar nocebo effect, although higher discontinuation rates in infliximab biosimilar open-label studies support this theory. Further studies are needed to evaluate the existence of a biosimilar nocebo effect.


Knowledge of the spatial and temporal distribution of juvenile cod is essential to closing the life cycle in population dynamic models, and it is a prerequisite for the design of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) aiming at the protection of juveniles. In this study, we use a hydrodynamic model to examine the spatial distribution of eastern Baltic cod larvae and early juveniles. The transport patterns of the larvae spawned at the three major spawning grounds in the central Baltic Sea were investigated by drift model simulations for the period 1979–2004. We analysed potential habitats for their suitability for juvenile settlement, i.e. the change from pelagic to demersal life. The results revealed a clear dependence of the probability for successful settling on wind-induced drift of larval cod, which is controlled by the local atmospheric conditions over the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, we found evidence that the final destinations of juvenile cod drift routes are affected by decadal climate variability. Application of the methodology to MPA design is discussed, e.g. identifying the overlap of areas with a high probability of successful juvenile cod settlement and regions of high fishing effort in small-meshed fisheries targeting sprat and herring.


Purpose
Building on the notes prepared for a roundtable organized by qualitative research in accounting & management (QRAM) about the paper titled "Accounting for tacit coordination: The passing of accounts and the broader case for accounting theory" (Vollmer, 2019), this paper aims to extend our understanding of "tacit coordination towards the passing of accounts" and its implications for research on accounting as a social practice.

Design/methodology/approach
Building on a selective review of previous studies of accounting "in action" and one illustrative vignette, this paper teases out specific aspects of Vollmer's argument, which is much broader and ambitious in nature. The aim is to go deeper on one issue – "tacit coordination towards the passing of accounts" and the role of (accounting) practitioners as "stewards of silence" – to encourage further work that unpacks the dynamics and tensions that occur when practitioners seek to tacitly coordinate towards the passing of accounts.

Findings
This paper shows how our understanding of the relationship between "tacit coordination" and the "passing of accounts" can be enriched by examining how (accounting) practitioners deal with pressures towards explication. To this end, this paper develops three propositions, which focus on how organizational status, organizational complexity and temporal dynamics may affect the extent to which (accounting) practitioners are able to tacitly coordinate towards the passing of accounts.

Practical implications
The three propositions presented in this paper can be used in future studies to further explore the dynamics of tacit coordination towards the passing of accounts and therefore contribute to a more fine-grained illustration of some of the ideas presented in the paper by Vollmer (2019).

Originality/value
This paper sketches the contours of an approach that has the potential to make some of the ambitious ideas presented in Vollmer's paper more actionable in future studies.


Objectives: Hydatidosis is a parasitic disease of zoonoses and the best treatment for this parasitic disease is cryosurgery. From time immemorial, many protoscolice-destroying chemicals have been used to inhibit the distribution of protoscolices within the cyst during surgery. However, the side effects of chemical compounds and medicinal plants should always be considered. Due to the antiparasitic properties of Bunium persicum (Boiss), this study was performed to evaluate and compare the effects of B. persicum (Boiss) essential oil and albendazole on protoscolices inside hydatid cyst in vitro. Materials and Methods: In this study, the essential oil used from the desired plant seeds was prepared. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was performed to determine its components. Hydatid cyst protoscolices were extracted from hydatid cyst-infected livers and exposed to B. persicum (Boiss) (2.5, 5, and 10 μg/mL) for 10, 30, 60, and 120 minutes, respectively. The viability of protoscolices was measured by the effect of plant essential oil by eosin staining. Albendazole was also used as an effective antiparasitic drug in this study. Results: The amount of essential oil protoscolices at 2.5 μg/mL in 10, 30, 60, and 120 minutes was 48.5%, 68.2%, 79.5%, and 96.1%, respectively. The antiparasitic drug albendazole showed less toxic effects at similar doses at the same intervals, but both treatment groups had a significant effect (P<0.001). The highest toxic effects of essential oil were observed at a concentration of 10 μg/mL 30 minutes after treatment. For albendazole, this effect was achieved at a dose of 10 μg/mL after 2 hours. Conclusions: The results and statistical data of this study showed that the essential oil of B. persicum (Boiss) in comparison with the antiparasitic drug albendazole has an acceptable scolicide effects in hydatidosis and can be used as an alternative to scolicide compound.


The article presents the results of the research of employees' labor motivation, who work in social welfare system. The issues of the existing personnel policy and the degree of its effectiveness are considered in order to attract highly qualified specialists to this particular working area. The study was conducted in 2016 in social service organizations, located in Belgorod region (Russia). At the preparatory stage of the research, the analysis of federal and regional law, as well as the internal documents of social service organizations, regulating the employment issues was carried out, which makes it possible to reveal the declared principles for this employment cluster. At the next stage, a questionnaire was developed to interview employees, working in social service organizations. The sample was based on the proportional selection of respondents by districts, types of organizations, gender and age. As a result, four key clusters of employee motivation were identified: (1) professional career and self-realization (only 20% of respondents have this type of labor motivation, the majority of them are young people with an experience of up to 5 years); (2) the stability of employment and the guarantee of wage (about 50% of respondents, whose professional experience is more than 10 years, work in social welfare system mainly because of low but stable wages and guaranteed social package); (3) motivation of temporary employment (15% of respondents are not focused on long-term employment in social sphere, some of them either use the current job to get the working experience, or the rest of others waits to leave for a new and more desirable place of work); (4) motivation to maintain comfort (this cluster includes about 15% of people who are going to retire soon and prefer comfortable working conditions as well as have the permanent place of work prior the retirement).


The pure biodiesel is not widely used in diesel engines due to its high viscosity leading to the fuel droplet size, poor atomization qualities and fuel penetration in the cylinder which is very vital in terms of engine performance and emissions. Therefore it is important to balance the biodiesel's high viscosity with alcohol additives and positively contribute the combustion efficiency and resulted in lower NO x emissions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance and emissions of high proportion of methanol and propanol (20% by volume) in a B30 blend and conventional diesel when operating on a direct injection diesel engine. The experiments were conducted from 1200 rpm to 2600 rpm with the intervals of 200 rpm at full load conditions for seven types' blended fuels. The results revealed that lower brake power was observed with B30M15P5 and B30M17P3 test fuels. However, an increase in brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of 31.12% and 34.01% was determined when the engine was fueled with B30M15P5 and B30M17P3, respectively. It was concluded that NO x emissions decreased up to 32.4% and 27.9% for B30M10P10 and B30M15P5, respectively at 2000 rpm in comparison with biodiesel. Keywords: Combustion, engine performance, additives, diesel engine.


The research of antiheart antibodies was carried out on 174 cardiac patients. The 40% of patients with acute myocardial infarction and the 27% with other heart diseases evidenced antimyocardial antibodies. No antipericardial antibodies were found. The immunological research seems to offer an important help in the diagnosis of the atypical postmyocardial infarction syndromes, of the recidivant myopericarditis without clinical or electrocardiographic evidence; and sometimes it may reveal subclinical myocardial infarction.


In this article, we generate a regional mapping of space-borne carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration through a data fusion approach, including emission estimates and Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) information. NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite measures the column-averaged CO2 dry air mole fraction (XCO2) as contiguous parallelogram footprints. A major hindrance of this data set, specifically with its Level-2 observations, is missing footprints at certain time instants and the sparse sampling density in time. This article aims to generate Level-3 XCO2 maps on a regional scale for different locations worldwide through spatial interpolation of the OCO-2 retrievals. To deal with the sparse OCO-2 sampling, the cokriging-based spatial interpolation methods are suitable, which models auxiliary densely-sampled variables to predict the primary variable. In this article, a cokriging-based approach is applied using auxiliary emission data sets and the principles of the semantic kriging (SemK) method. Two global high-resolution emission data sets, the Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO2 (ODIAC) and the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), are used here. The ontology-based semantic analysis of the SemK method quantifies the interrelationships of LULC classes for analyzing the local XCO2 pattern. Validations have been carried out in different regions worldwide, where the OCO-2 and the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) measurements coexist. It is observed that the modeling of auxiliary emission data sets enhances the prediction accuracy of XCO2. This article is one of the initial attempts to generate Level-3 XCO2 mapping of OCO-2 through a data fusion approach using emission data sets.


Abstract Tephra layers form important chronostratigraphic marker horizons within the Wisconsinan loess-paleosol stratigraphy of the Palouse, Washington State. This paper details the presence of disseminated glass shards of the Trego Hot Springs tephra that has not previously been recognized within the Palouse or environs. The tephra provides additional chronological control for the regional Late Wisconsinan stratigraphy and raises the possibility of correlating the paleoclimatic proxy record contained within the Palouse to those of lake sequences in Oregon, California, and Nevada.


In order to account for sensor deficiancies, usually a multi-sensor approach is used where various sensors complement each other. However, synchronization of highly accurate Global Positioning System (GPS) and video measurements requires specialized hardware which is not straightforward to set up. This paper proposes a full simulation environment for data generation and evaluation of Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (Visual SLAM) and GPS based on free and open software. Specifically, image data is created by rendering a virtual environment where camera effects such as Motion Blur and Rolling Shutter can be added. Consequently, a ground truth camera trajectory is available and can be distorted via additive Gaussian noise to understand all parameters involved in the use of fusion algorithms such as the Kalman Filter. The proposed evaluation framework will be published as open source online at https://master.kalisz.co for free use by the research community.


This research assesses the utility and validity of using simulated radar reflectivity to detect potential changes in linear and nonlinear mesoscale convective system (MCS) occurrence in the Midwest United States between the early and late 21st century using convection‐permitting climate simulation output. These data include a control run and a pseudo‐global warming (PGW) run that is based on RCP 8.5. First, using a novel segmentation, classification, and tracking procedure, MCS tracks are extracted from observed and simulated radar reflectivity. Next, a comparison between observed and the control run MCS statistics is performed, which finds a negative summertime bias that agrees with previous work. Using a convolutional neural network to perform probabilistic predictions, the MCS dataset is further stratified into highly organized, quasi‐linear convective systems (QLCSs)—which can include bow echoes, squall lines, and line echo wave patterns—and generally less‐organized, non‐QLCS events. The morphologically stratified data reveal that the negative MCS bias in this region is largely driven by too few QLCSs. Although comparisons between the control run and a PGW run suggest that all MCS events are less common in the future (including QLCS and non‐QLCS events), these changes are not spatially significant, whereas the biases between the control run and observations are spatially significant. A discussion on the importance and challenges of simulating QLCSs in convection‐permitting climate model runs is provided. Finally, potential avenues of exploration are suggested related to the aforementioned issues.


The functions of Bessel are used extensively in the various problems of the science and the technology. A laser offers practical remote sensing technologies for measuring environmental changes on both global and local scales. We describe a computer model that was developed to simulate the performance of three-dimensional (3D) laser radars (lidars). The principle of the problem consists in interpreting information on the absorption of the laser impulse in a spectral line assigned to the chemical body that one studied. Our purpose is to estimate the vertical variation of extinction and atmospheric transmission due to aerosol particles near the air-geographical surface interface. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by computer simulation.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the relationship between the expression of chemokines and their receptors in the maternal-fetal interface and the pathogenesis of unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA).

METHODS
8-10 weeks CBA/J female mice were mated with DBA/2 and BALB/c male mice at the ratio of 2:1 to establish the model of normal pregnant mice (CBA/J × BALB/c) and URSA mice (CBA/J × DBA/2). Sixty mice were divided into 6 groups, with ten in each group. The mice in the normal unpregnancy group were executed for endometrial tissues; the mice in the embryonic implantation normal pregnancy group were executed for endometrial tissues at the sixth day of gestation; the mice in the embryonic development normal pregnancy group were executed for decidua and chorionic tissues at the fourteenth day of gestation. While, the mice in the embryonic implantation URSA group were executed for endometrial tissues at the sixth day of gestation; the mice in the pre-abortion URSA group were executed for decidua and chorionic tissues at the ninth day of gestation; the mice in the post-abortion URSA group were executed for decidua and chorionic tissues at the fourteenth day of gestation. The chemokines and their receptors in different tissues of the mice were determined by western blot, including the protein expression of stromal cell derived factor (CXCL12), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (CCL2), regulated upon activation normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) and their receptor CXCR4, CCR2, CCR5 in maternal-fetal interface.

RESULTS
(1) The protein expression of CXCL12 and CXCR4, CCL2 and CCR2, RANTES and CCR5 in endometrial tissues of the normal unpregnant group were 0.13 ± 0.04 and 0.18 ± 0.09, 0.057 ± 0.023 and 0.39 ± 0.08, 0.034 ± 0.012 and 0.22 ± 0.05, respectively. They were 0.35 ± 0.09 and 0.93 ± 0.15, 0.349 ± 0.056 and 0.91 ± 0.15, 0.336 ± 0.089 and 0.44 ± 0.05 in endometrial tissues in the embryonic implantation normal pregnancy group; and were 0.62 ± 0.15 and 1.23 ± 0.28, 0.283 ± 0.051 and 0.55 ± 0.09, 0.225 ± 0.065 and 0.35 ± 0.07 in decidua tissues in the embryonic development normal pregnancy group. The protein expression of chemokines and their receptors in endometrial tissues in the embryonic implantation normal pregnancy group and in decidua tissues in the embryonic development normal pregnancy group were higher than those in the normal unpregnancy group, with statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). Compared with the embryonic implantation normal pregnancy group, CXCL12 and CXCR4 in decidual tissues in the embryonic development normal pregnancy group were significantly higher (P < 0.05), while CCL2 and CCR2, RANTES and CCR5 were significantly lower (P < 0.05). (2) Compared with the embryonic implantation normal pregnancy group, CXCL12 and CXCR4 (0.20 ± 0.06 and 0.44 ± 0.11) in endometrial tissues in the embryonic implantation URSA group were significantly lower (P < 0.01), while CCL2 and CCR2 (0.451 ± 0.133 and 1.32 ± 0.20), RANTES and CCR5 (0.488 ± 0.137 and 0.61 ± 0.18) were higher (P < 0.05). (3) Compared with the embryonic development normal pregnancy group, CXCL12 and CXCR4 in decidual tissues of pre-abortion URSA group (0.27 ± 0.09 and 0.26 ± 0.10), post-abortion URSA group (0.25 ± 0.08 and 0.23 ± 0.08) were significantly lower (P < 0.01), while CCL2 and CCR2 (0.576 ± 0.123 and 0.92 ± 0.15 in the pre-abortion URSA group; 0.748 ± 0.112 and 1.56 ± 0.34 in the post-abortion URSA group), RANTES and CCR5 (0.294 ± 0.054 and 0.59 ± 0.18 in the pre-abortion URSA group; 0.363 ± 0.058 and 0.78 ± 0.14 in the post-abortion URSA group) were significantly higher (P < 0.05). CCL2 and CCR2, RANTES and CCR5 in decidual tissues in the post-abortion URSA group was obviously higher than those of the pre-abortion URSA group, with statistically significant difference (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The accurate expression of CXCL12, CCL2, RANTES and their receptors CXCR4, CCR2, CCR5 play important roles in the embryonic implantation and development. The lower expression of CXCL12 and CXCR4 protein and higher expression of CCL2 and CCR2, RANTES and CCR5 in decidua and chorionic tissues are closely related to the pathogenesis of URSA.


Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that some people develop after seeing or living through an event that caused or threatened serious harm or death which is usually characterized by re experiencing, avoidance and numbing, and hyper arousal. Orthopedic injury mainly caused by motor vehicle accidents is considered as one of the important factor for the development of PTSD. Objectives: The purpose of the study is to identify the prevalence of post traumatic stress disorder among patients with orthopedic injury and its association with the socio demographic variables. Methodology: Quantitative research approach-descriptive research design was adopted for the study.150 Patients who had orthopedic injury attending orthopedic outpatient department in Narayana Medical college hospital was selected by simple random sampling technique. Socio demographic variables questionnaire and Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) which has 22 items was used to collect the data. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data .Findings: Among 150 patients 45(30%) have post traumatic stress disorder and 105(70%) have absence of post traumatic stress disorder. 25(16%) were between the age group of 20-30years.Females had a higher rate of PTSD than male. 42(28%) had high score on the avoidance scale, 40(27%) had high score on the intrusion scale, and 39 (26%) had high score on the hyper arousal scale. There is a significant association between the prevalence of PTSD with the socio demographic variables like age, gender, marital status, type of accident, type of injury ,duration of injury at the level of p<0.05 level. Conclusion: The study provides an insight that PTSD is a significant disorder which develops following the injury.


Abstract Climate change is forcing large scale structural changes in agrarian sectors in the developing world by adversely affecting water resources and threatening the viability of future agriculture. In the most drought affected regions, farmers must explore alternative skills for themselves and their children when faced with unsustainable livelihoods. In this paper, a stylized decision model of skill acquisition is developed in which farmers face the risk of an irreversible loss of groundwater due to climate change. Findings indicate that the risk of groundwater loss promotes higher efforts towards skill acquisition, in general, but skill seeker's own learning capabilities play an important role in determining the eventual outcome. Additionally, groundwater resources are depleted to fund skill acquisition through education, but when rate of skill depreciation is large or differences between skilled wages and agricultural income are small, groundwater depletion is delayed. A non-linear relationship between skill acquisition and groundwater sustainability emerges.


In this paper we describe a new method that is applicable to mitigating both multipath interference and adjacent channel interference (ACI) in aeronautical telemetry applications using ARTM Tier-1 waveforms. The proposed method uses a linear equalizer that is derived using Kalman filtering theory, which has been used for channel equalization for high-speed communication systems. We illustrate the proposed method with numerical examples obtained from simulations that show the bit error rate performance (BER) for different modulation schemes.


In recent years there has been an abundance of empirical work examining price setting behavior at the micro level. First generation models with price setting rigidities were generally at odds with much of the micro price data. A second generation of models, with fixed costs of price adjustment and idiosyncratic shocks, have attempted to rectify this shortcoming. Using a model that matches a large set of microeconomic facts we find significant nonneutrality. We decompose the nonneutrality and find that state-dependence plays an important part in the responses of output and inflation to a monetary shock. We also examine how aggregating firm behavior can generate .at hazards. Lastly we find that the steady state statistic developed by Alvarez, Le Bihan, and Lippi (2016) is an imperfect guide to characterizing nonneutrality in our model.


At a time when growing populations are taxing the earth's resources as never before, natural resource managers and users are discovering the power of geospatial technologies. These evolving technologies, once expensive and exclusive to domains of researchers and scientists, are now the choice of local, state, and national resource managers around the globe. This research presents the results of a preliminary survey of benefits and limitations of geospatial technologies for natural resources applications in the state of Florida. The survey was sent to users and producers of relevant geospatial technologies applicable to natural resource management. Results from 134 respondents show that 98% of the organizations surveyed still conduct field surveys for data collection, monitoring, and inventories, while 88% of those organizations develop maps to summarize and visualize their data. Approximately 87% of the surveyed organizations use one or many types of geospatial technologies to collect, visualize, integrate, or interpret their information about natural resources with the most common technologies being aerial imagery, geographic information systems, and global positioning systems, followed by topographic maps and satellite imagery. However, there were also some available technologies in which their capabilities were little known or appreciated by these organizations such as terrestrial light detection and ranging and integrated mapping technology. These results will serve as a source of information regarding how geospatial technologies are used in Florida and their current real or perceived limitations. The study is also important for educational institutions and producers to provide appropriate training for basic technologies and to encourage users to integrate the latest and cost-effective geospatial technologies efficiently.


We report the synthesis and characterization of a pH-sensitive fluorescence switch based on a conformationally-locked green fluorescent protein (GFP) chromophore. The chromophore differs from difluoroboryl-locked parent by the addition of a titratable alcohol group on the imidazolinone ring. The chromophore is fluorescent at pH ≤ 5, but becomes non-fluorescent at higher pH, where the substituent is ionized. We use a quantum chemical model to show that the mechanism of the fluorescence turn-off is electronically analogous to photochemical meta effects in aryl-containing systems.


The equilibrium-theory equations for an exchange process in a fixed column are reduced to ∂u∂x+∂v∂y=0,u−rv+(r−1)uv=0. For r < 1, the solution for general entry conditions must become discontinuous. These solutions are obtained, and closer approximations to the kinetic-theory solutions are found near the discontinuities by a method of singular perturbations. These are still not sufficiently satisfactory. Satisfactory approximations are obtained by improving the solutions away from the discontinuity by a method of non-singular perturbations, followed by a more refined discussion of the singular perturbations near the discontinuity. The results obtained all agree with those obtained by completely different methods in part IV. (The methods here used are first steps towards the development and use of similar techniques in cases where analytical solutions of the more nearly complete equations, such as the kinetic-theory equations for ion exchange, cannot be found.)


Purpose: In the overall context of global overheating (belittling it as "climate change"), hydrogen H2 is the core of the solution to be sought. Although this is recognized in professional circles and now even by most politicians, progress towards the global hydrogen economy is still small and progress is too slow.Design/methodology/approach: The goal was to find out why the implementation towards the acceptance and implementation of H2 in the application, mainly in Germany, is progressing much too slowly. Germany stands here as an example for most industrialized countries.Findings: Most people have understood that anthropogenic global overheating can only be solved by new technologies (which cost money, time and behavioral changes) in production and application. Hydrogen H2 seems to be an essential part of the desired solution. Nevertheless, the state, economy and society are slowing down, or at least hurdles are being built up that contribute to a slowdown in implementation.Affected countries: The situation described here, which is largely based on Germany, should be relatively easy to transfer to most EU countries because the situation there is comparable or at least similar. Research/Future/Practical Implications: Yes, there are various hurdles to introducing hydrogen H2. Responsible ministers and heads of government may not want too many changes too quickly themselves, the economy sees it as an immense cost factor (not to mention technical changes) and private individuals act according to their own motivation factors. Finally, it can be assumed that the possibility of making money using H2 applications can be the fastest accelerator in the introduction of H2. This can then be achieved using simple "out-of-the-box" solutions.Originality/value: Currently there are practically no scientific books on the use or rejection of e-mobility. Therefore, only current surveys, market quantities and obvious behaviors of users and challenges can be described here.


Vector mesons are key probes of the hot and dense state of strongly interacting matter produced in heavy ion collisions. Their dileptonic decay channel is particularly suitable for these studies, since dileptons have negligible final state interactions in hadronic matter. In particular, strangeness production can be studied through the measurement of muon pairs coming from the decay of ϕ mesons. The ALICE apparatus at the LHC can access vector mesons produced at forward rapidity (2.5 < y < 4) through their decays in muon pairs. We present results on vector meson production in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at = 2.76 TeV. The ϕ meson production cross section is measured in pp collisions. In Pb-Pb collisions, a measurement of the ϕ/(ρ + ω) ratio and of the 0 nuclear modification factor as a function of the collision centrality is obtained.


Cervical ectopic prostatic tissue and vaginal tubulosquamous polyp are rare lesions which exhibit variable, and often focal, immunohistochemical expression with traditional prostatic markers [prostate-specific antigen and prostatic acid phosphatase (PSAP)]. These lesions are thought to arise from periurethral Skene's glands, the female equivalent of prostatic glands in the male. Adenoid basal carcinoma is a rare and indolent cervical neoplasm. Expression of the prostatic marker NKX3.1 in ectopic prostatic tissue and tubulosquamous polyp has been reported but no studies have examined immunoreactivity with this marker in adenoid basal carcinoma. We stained 19 cases [adenoid basal carcinoma (n=6), cervical ectopic prostatic tissue (n=11), and vaginal tubulosquamous polyp (n=3); 1 case contained both adenoid basal carcinoma and ectopic prostatic tissue] with NKX3.1. In all cases, the glandular component of these lesions exhibited diffuse nuclear immunoreactivity while normal endocervical glands were negative. Prostate-specific antigen was positive in 4 of 9 and 0 of 3 cases of ectopic prostatic tissue and tubulosquamous polyp, respectively, while PSAP was positive in 3 of 4 and 2 of 2 cases of ectopic prostatic tissue and tubulosquamous polyp respectively; 3 of 5 cases of adenoid basal carcinoma tested were focally positive with PSAP and all 5 were negative with prostate-specific antigen. While the specificity of NKX3.1 should be investigated in future studies, positivity with this marker may be useful in diagnosing these uncommon lesions. NKX3.1 appears a more sensitive marker of ectopic prostatic tissue and tubulosquamous polyp than traditional prostatic markers and positive staining provides further support that these lesions exhibit "prostatic" differentiation and are of Skene's gland origin. NKX3.1 and PSAP positivity in adenoid basal carcinoma raises the possibility of an association with benign glandular lesions exhibiting prostatic differentiation and we critically discuss the possible association.


An experimental investigation was undertaken to determine the effects of moisture on the mechanical properties of vinylester resins (510A and 8084). The resins were exposed to seawater at 40°C and humid air at 50°C until the moisture content equilibrated. Both resins absorbed small amounts of moisture. Mechanical testing of both resins at dry and saturated conditions revealed very brittle behavior under tension and shear loading. The 8084 resin is more ductile than 510A at dry and saturated conditions. Moisture absorption was found to only slightly influence the mechanical response of these resins. Dry shear test specimens failed at quite low shear stresses in a resolved tensile mode and displayed sensitivity to the stress concentration in the Iosipescu shear specimen. Moisture absorption slightly enhanced ductility and reduced notch sensitivity which resulted in increased shear strength. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 53:2413–2421, 2013. ©2013 Society of Plastics Engineers


1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition reactions of ethyl 2-hydropolyfluoroalk-2-enoates (1) with some nitrones were described. The reaction of 3,4-dihydroisoquinoline N-oxide (2) with 1 took place readily in methylene chloride at room temperature to give the corresponding 5-fluoroalkylisoxazolidines regioselectively as a mixture of two diastereoisomers (trans and cis) in high yields, while longer reaction time and higher temperature were needed in the case of non-cyclic nitrones. Under similar conditions the reaction of quinoline N-oxide (14) with 1 did not give the expected adducts and a ring-opening product was obtained.


The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary and illustrative diagrams and flow charts. This book is a supplementary aid to coursework preparation and particularly to revision for examinations and coursework. It does not present model answers to be slavishly imitated but, rather, examples to help the student understand the topic and see how it might be approached. The examinee's objective is to accumulate in the time allowed as many marks as possible, a goal that needs to be broken down into three stages: namely, planning, execution and review. These days law examinations can take different forms, including seen questions, open book exams and so on. To take account of this, the book includes essay answers that are closer to more fully researched pieces than to the answers in a traditional unseen examination.


Objectives To describe the long-term efficacy and types of adverse events (AEs) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with etanercept in a daily clinical setting in Belgium. Methods A prospective, multi-center, open-label, observational study in patients with active RA, who have previously failed 2 disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD's), one of which being methotrexate (MTX). Patients were treated with etanercept 25 mg subcutaneously twice a week or 50 mg OW, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ-DI) was completed, swollen joint count was made, and adverse events (AEs) occurring during the previous period were registered. Results Demographics and disease characteristics of 1596 patients are listed in table 1. 1596 patients were treated with etanercept, representing a total of 4461 Patient-Years. Patients were followed for at least 1 year and a maximum of 5.5 years. 730 patients discontinued treatment. The main reason (out of 6) for discontinuation was non-response (primary and secondary, at the discretion of the treating physician) (n=276). The other 2 main reasons are safety (n=227) and loss to follow-up (n=95). 878 (56.87%) patients reported adverse events of which 788 events were related to the treatment. 246 (15.93%) patients reported a serious adverse event (death, life-threatening, hospitalization, persistent disability, congenital anomaly or birth defect, pregnancy, overdose, abuse or new malignancy) of which 226 events are considered to be related to the treatment. Safety outcomes are listed in Table 2. Infections were the most frequent AE's. Injection site reactions were uncommon (n=46). No cases of tuberculosis were reported. Efficacy was evaluated by measuring number of joints with active synovitis and HAQ-DI. At baseline, the mean number of joints with active synovitis was 15.1±7.6. At month 6, the mean number of joints with active synovitis decreased to 4.0±5.4. At month 78, the mean number of joints with synovitis further decreased to 1.6±2.7. This represents a statistically significant decrease at both time points from baseline. At baseline, the mean HAQ-DI-score (/60) was 31.2±9.5. At month 6, the mean HAQ- DI score decreased to 15.9±11.3. At month 78, the HAQ-DI-score was 10.4±9.4. This represents a statistically significant decrease at both time points from baseline. Table 1. Patient characteristics Age (mean ± SD) 56.9±12.9 Gender (female%) 73 Exposure to ETC (mean ± SD) 2.9±2.2 Exposure to MTX (mean ± SD) 3.9±4.6 Table 2. Safety outcomes Total PY 4461 AE, rate/100PY 53.9 Infections, rate/100PY 13.4 SAE, rate/100PY 9.1 Serious Infections, rate/100PY 1.6 Injection site reactions, rate/100PY 1.2 Neoplasms, rate/100 PY 1.9 Conclusions This very first report with results from 1596 patients treated with etanercept in Belgium confirms the safety and efficacy profile in rheumatoid arthritis when used in daily clinical practice. No new safety signals were detected. Disclosure of Interest C. Boone Employee of: Pfizer


Laser-tissue interaction is a multi-physics phenomenon not yet mathematically describable and computationally predictable. It is a challenge to model the laser-tissue interaction for real time laser Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) simulation which requires the laser-tissue interaction model to be computationally efficient and accurate. Under the consideration and enforcement of the thermodynamic first law and treating the laser-tissue interaction as a gray-box, utilizing the sensitivity analysis of some key parameters that will affect the laser intensity on the tissue surface with respect to the tissue vaporization rate, a phenomenological model of laser-tissue interaction is developed. The developed laser-tissue interaction model has been implemented for a laser BPH simulator and achieves real time performance (more than 30 frames per second). The model agrees well with the available experimental data.


This study tests the hypothesis derived from Omoto and Snyder's context-and-process model that sense of community is an independent predictor of volunteering among young-old adults. A secondary analysis was carried out on data from the U.S. Survey of Midlife Development using respondents 60-74 years old (N = 653). Controlling for demographic factors and human, social, and cultural capital variables, a logistic regression model indicated that as sense of community increased, the likelihood of volunteering increased. Among the control variables, working 40 or more hr per week (relative to not working) and being divorced, separated, or widowed (relative to being married) were associated with lower rates of volunteering. The likelihood of volunteering increased as education, organizational ties, church attendance, and generative concern increased. Efforts to retain young-old adult volunteers should emphasize how the organization's activities reflect humanitarian values, provide opportunities to show a concern for the community, and benefit community members.


On 11 December 2017, the government of British Columbia in western Canada announced a final decision that had far-reaching consequences, in particular for farmers and First Nations communities of the Peace Region: the construction of the third hydroelectric power plant called Site C on the Peace River will continue. Since its initiation about 40 years ago, the project has been accompanied by controversial debates within the local population that led to the Canadian federal court of justice. Drawing from my fieldwork during the last three months before the final decision, this article explores the voices of people who were involved in the fight against the Site C dam.


In this research an Ethernet-based lotto betting machine is developed, tested and deployed as an embedded web-client in a network. The device's hardware mainly comprises a microcontroller, an Ethernet network interface shield, a keypad for input and an LCD screen output. The web-client sends requests to a remote Windows-Apache-MySQL-PHP (WAMP) server using PHP scripts. The Apache webserver serves the requests by querying the MySQL database where user identification, player-tokens and winning number records  are stored and sends bet receipt SMS messages directly to users. To access the system a player enters a pre-purchased token number that allows them several chances via keypad. The remote server checks the token for authenticity, allows the user to enter a  6-digit number  and registers the number in the database.  It then  sends a bet acknowledgement SMS while the LCD displays system transaction messages. This system eliminates the use of paper in betting slips, receipts and associated spoilt paper.  It also  replaces most human processes with inherent machine speed-up and continuous service availability.  The system also  reduces customer loitering and queuing, consequently eliminating crowding and associated environmental hazards.  The system  therefore  potentially  exhibits some positive sustainable environmental impact.


We showed that the equations (3), (4), (5) and (6), used in the paper Total and fractional densities of states from caloric relations by S. F. Chekmarev and S. V. Krivov, Phys. Rev. E 57 2445 (1998), are incorrect, the data, presented in the paper by lines on Figs. 1, (3a) and (3b), are not correct, the data presented by the symbols on Figs. 3(a) and 3(b) in the paper are made manually (false), all conclusions made in the paper have no sense, the assertion in the paper that the molecular dynamics simulations sample the potential energy surface not uniformly, but according to the fractional densities of state for the isomers is incorrect. We showed also that the total and fractional densities of states obtained in the paper from caloric relations are not equal to that of microcanonical ensemble of clusters, the ensemble of clusters used in the paper does not represent the microcanonical ensemble of clusters.


(Received March 15, 2014; revised version January 15, 2015; in nal form February 10, 2015) The pressure dependence of the Raman frequencies for the ν21 mode is studied by using the volume data at room temperature close to the transitions among the phases of III, IV and V in cyclohexane. By determining the pressure dependence of the mode Gruneisen parameter γT in the phases and taking the average values, the Raman frequencies of those modes associated with the phase transitions are predicted through the volume data in cyclohexane. Our predicted Raman frequencies agree with those observed experimentally in this organic molecule. The Raman frequencies of the other modes can be calculated in cyclohexane and also in some molecular crystals using the method given here.


In some Wireless Sensor Network applications the sensor nodes share the same sensing activity, which means that for a considerable number of applications, not all nodes are required to perform sensing tasks during the network lifetime. Sleep-scheduling approaches can be applied in this scenario, enabling that some nodes turn off their radios, saving energy and bandwidth, as long as there are enough nodes to ensure the required Quality of Service (QoS) of the network. This paper presents a new adaptive approach for QoS and energy management in IEEE 802.15.4 networks, entitled Skip Game. This approach targets a trade-off between increasing the network lifetime and maintaining the QoS of the network, aiming a greater number of nodes to participate in the monitoring application. In order to evaluate the proposed approach, we performed some experiments using the OMNeT++ simulator tool under the MiXiM framework. The results show that the Skip Game outperforms both the traditional Gur Game and Gureen Game approaches in terms of QoS provision and network lifetime.


Climate change-induced frequent cyclones are pumping saline seawater into the Sundarbans. Fani, Amphan, Bulbul, and Yaas were the major cyclones that hit the region during 2019–2021. This study represents the changes in the soil parameters, mangrove biodiversity and zonation due to the cyclone surges in the Indian Sundarbans between 2017 and 2021. Increasing tidal water salinity (parts per thousand) trends in both pre-monsoon (21 to 33) and post-monsoon (14 to 19) seasons have been observed between 2017 and 2021. A 46% reduction in the soil organic blue carbon pool is observed due to a 31% increase in soil salinity. Soil organic blue carbon has been calculated by both wet digestion and the elemental analyzer method, which are linearly correlated with each other. A reduction in the available nitrogen (30%) and available phosphorous (33%) in the mangrove soil has also been observed. Salinity-sensitive mangroves, such as Xylocarpus granatum, Xylocarpus moluccensis, Rhizophora mucronata, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, and Bruguiera cylindrica, have seen local extinction in the sampled population. An increasing trend in relative density of salinity resilient, Avicennia marina, Suaeda maritima, Aegiceras corniculatum and a decreasing trend of true mangrove (Ceriops decandra) has been observed, in response to salinity rise in surface water as well as soil. As is evident from Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) and the Abundance/Frequency ratio (A/F), the mangrove zonation observed in response to tidal gradient has also changed, becoming more homogeneous with a dominance of A. marina. These findings indicate that cyclone, climate change-induced sea level rise can adversely impact Sustainable Development Goal 13 (climate action), by decreasing organic soil blue carbon sink and Sustainable Development Goal 14 (life below water), by local extinction of salinity sensitive mangroves.


Considering the dynamic control process of thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) and adjustement behavior of consumers, as well as heat transfer through neighborhood, the main purpose of this paper is to derive a total model for simulating and analyzing the dynamic behavior of hydraulic heating system with the control of TRVs in multi-family building, based on state space model of room dynamic performance. This is done by treating building and the heating system as complete entities. First of all the dynamic models for rooms, radiators and TRVs are derived. Then the suggested models are formulated as a whole system. Multizone model for the simulation of building thermal performance is complicated and will be more difficult when considering dynamic process of radiators and TRVs, Thus the heat transfer between neighboring rooms is simplified by using explicit difference approximately. Finally, Detailed simulation of an actual building is given to verify the component models and their interactions. The experimental measured neighbor rooms temperature, outdoor temperature and supply temperature are used as input to the model, and the calculated results are compared with the measured air temperature and return water temperature. The agreement between simulant and measured data is quite good.


The affinity levels of sterols in the sensitive and resistant cultures of C. albicans for polyenic antibiotics were studied comparatively. The affinity level was determined by liberation of potassium under the effect of the antibiotic participating in interaction with the sterol. The protective effect of the sterol suspended in solution and included into the composition of the liposomes from egg lecithin was studied. It was found that the sterols of the resistant cultures of C. albicans had the same (or even somewhat higher) affinity to amphotericin B as those from the sensitive cultures. The data indicate that resistance of the strains studied is not based on the loss of the sterol capacity for binding polyenic antibiotics.


To investigate the sensitivity of slip inversions to station distribution and choice of empirical Green's function (EGF), we examine three microearthquakes that occurred within the high-density LArge-n Seismic Survey in Oklahoma (LASSO) nodal seismic array. The LASSO array's dense distribution of 1825 geophones provides an exceptional level of spatial and azimuthal coverage, allowing for more accurate inversions of slip than are possible with typical station distributions. The highly accurate slip inversions, in turn, allow for the exploration of the sensitivity of slip inversions to station distribution and parameter choices. We examine the effects of these choices using three well-recorded strike-slip microearthquakes (ML 1.7, 2.3, and 2.7) using an EGF method. From this analysis and the systematic testing of varied network arrangements, we find that station distributions that have uniform coverage of azimuth and distance can retrieve the overall pattern of slip, but the estimated amplitude of slip can vary by 30% for high-slip regions due to small variations in station location. In addition, we find that the distance range that accurately resolves the overall pattern of slip is the one that contains the takeoff angles of 45°–65°. Concerning azimuthal coverage, a network with >270° performs similarly to having complete coverage. The choice of EGF can shift the location of resolved areas of slip and their amplitude, depending on its similarity in location and radiation pattern to the target earthquake.


Combining third party software components to customer-individual application systems requires first, standardized specification techniques for describing the technical as well as the business-related aspects of the services provided and required by the corresponding software components and second, automated compatibility tests in order to identify components fulfilling demands specified by component requestors. Adequate techniques for the specification of component services are consolidated in a multilayered specification framework, where formal notations are preferred in order to enable the execution of automated compatibility tests. These tests are a prerequisite for the existence of component markets where third party software components are traded and components that fulfil the specified demands are identified. This paper presents an algorithm for the layer of the specification framework where coordination aspects of a software component are described. On this layer an extension of the object constraint language (OCL) by temporal operators is used to specify the succession relationships between the services of related software components. Thereby the connections to other layers are tagged and existing tests are integrated.


Introduction: Myofascial Trigger Points (MTrPs) are one of the common causes of musculoskeletal pain. Many of people are suffer pain of this syndrome. This syndrome is a complex process that involves the interaction of biochemical factors, histological change, nociceptors and the neurons of both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Recent studies of MTrPs have focused on the role of biochemical markers such as neuropeptides and inflammatory mediators, etc. Our main aim in the present article was to review studies regarding the biochemical and histological changes related to myofascial pain. Method: A comprehensive search was performed of databases Science Direct, Google Scholar and PubMed using OR AND between the selected keywords: myofascial pain, MTrP, prostaglandins, calcitonin gene related peptide, tumor necrosis factor, inflammation mediators and microdialysis in articles published between 1996 to 2016. Result: Eighty-five articles were initially obtained from the search of the electronic sources. Sixteen articles were selected after reading and classifying materials and articles based on the inclusion criteria. Conclusion: The process of inflammation and its involvement in muscle pain and cytokines secreted by inflammatory cells and muscle tissue leads to increased inflammation and pain. Interaction among mediators, muscle tissue and neurons of the spinal cord lead to persistent pain and change pain type. This pathophysiologic process in trigger points may suggest useful and effective ways of providing better treatment for people experiencing myofascial pain.


The effects of constant and varying temperatures from 18 oC to 35 oC and diet on longevity of Bracon hebetor (Say, 1836) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) were investigated. Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller, 1879) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) larvae were used as host. Adults were provided with one of the three food types: host larvae, honey solution (50%) or host larvae+honey solution. Temperature had a significant effect on the longevity of female and male parasitoids. The longest longevity of both sexes occured when adults reared at 18 oC. Increasing the temperature from 18 oC to 35 oC decreased the longevity. Adults reared at fluctuating temperatures lived considerably shorter than those reared at 18 oC and 25 oC, but longer than at 35 oC. Longevity also was significantly affected by diet in both sex of parasitoid. Honey feeding to adult parasitoids increased their longevity. They lived the longest at 18 oC and the shortest at 35 oC. Females fed with all food types in different temperatures lived longer than males.


This prospective clinical trial summary provides the background and rationale for evaluating optimal radiation dose for definitive concurrent chemo-radiation for inoperable esophageal carcinoma. We designed the multi-center clinical trial comparing the efficacy of high dose group (60 Gy/30F) with low dose group (50 Gy/25F) concurrent with weekly chemotherapy using 3D-CRT or IMRT technology for esophageal carcinoma. The primary outcome is local/ regional progression-free survival, and secondary outcomes include Overall survival; local control rate; patterns of treatment failure; toxicity; radiation-related advent events.


We show that conditioned eyelid responses develop when the unconditioned stimulus is electrical stimulation of the dorsal accessory nucleus of the inferior olive. When compared to conditioning using a standard unconditioned stimulus (air puff), the conditioning produced in this manner appears quite normal: the responses develop at a similar rate, are of comparable magnitude and topography, and demonstrate a steep interstimulus interval function; and response topography varies according to the interstimulus interval. These data indicate that activation of neurons in the dorsal accessory olive is a sufficient condition for a stimulus to be an effective unconditioned stimulus. Previous experiments indicate the dorsal accessory olive is necessary in that lesions have effects functionally equivalent to removal of the unconditioned stimulus. These data indicate that the dorsal accessory olive forms a portion of the pathway conveying information about the occurrence of an unconditioned stimulus to sites of synaptic plasticity responsible for conditioning.


College students use different channels of communication to stay in contact with friends and family as well as coworkers and classmates. The channels of communication vary between intimate, such as text messaging, and professional, such as email. This study examines the channels of communication that a medium-sized southern university's school of communication students use to communicate in their different networks. To determine the methods of communication, the students were surveyed on their social media usage and interactions with the School of Communication. Students also participated in a focus group discussion to elaborate on the survey results. A comparison of the data shows that students prefer to use social media and other informal methods to communicate with their family and peers but would prefer to use more professional methods to communicate with professors and other faculty.


Recent work shows that peers affect student achievement, but the mechanisms are not well understood. I show that peer behavior is an important mechanism, perhaps more so than ability, by exploiting exogenous timing in diagnosis/treatment of ADD among peers that improves peer behavior while holding peer achievement constant. Improvements in peer behavior increase student achievement. Moreover, resources mitigate the negative effects of peer behavior. These findings imply that the optimal response in the presence of peer effects is not necessarily to reorganize classrooms. Rather, existing institutions can modify peer effects by improving behavior and/or mitigating the impact of poor behavior.


Histological examination of hearts from 422 Japanese lacertids Takydromus tachydromoides collected at Hanno, Saitama-ken, Honshu, from 1965 to 1967, demonstrated the presence of Plasmodium sasai Telford and Ball, 1969 in 85% of first-year lizards and 92% of those older than 1 yr. Prevalence in 1966-1967, estimated by examination of blood films alone was < 1%, and no infections were detected in 1965 by this method. Prevalence differed only slightly or not at all between years, seasons, host age group, or host sex. Infection occurred immediately after hatching from August into October in each year. In the cohort hatched in 1965, prevalence had reached 100% by November, declined slightly following hibernation, but reached 100% by May. Phanerozoites were present in every month, but encysted chronozoites were found most often in March, following hibernation. Erythroid cells that contained 2->20 uninucleate parasites were sequestered within capillaries of the heart in newly infected juvenile lizards. Vectors apparently were infected from adult lizards with chronic, low level, predominantly gametocytic infections in late summer and fall and transmitted P. sasai to at least 80% of the hatchling cohort, beginning within the first few days of life, producing parasitemias at barely detectable levels. Some transmission may have occurred in late spring but probably to no more than 15% of the host population.


This study was done with the aim of searching whether the sport had an effect on education or not. The search involves 179 students studying at Karamanoglu Mehmetbey University in 2011-2012 education year. Graded quintet Likert type questionnaire was used as a measuring means. In the first part of the questionnaire demographic features and in the second part a questionnaire was used which was developed by Aksoy and adapted by a researcher. SPSS 16.0 programme was used to measure all tests. Alpha coefficient was checked and found as %85 for reliability. Frequency analysis, t-test analysis were used for measuring students' answers given and cross-tabulation was done for some questions. According to the results of this study students who do sport are more successful in education, have more advanced mental abilities and effect social development positively. When the effect of sport to the education was investigated, it was understood that there was a meaningful difference between girls and boys participants.


Pulse-labeling of vesicular stomatitis virus-infected HeLa and BHK cells with [3H]uridine throughout the infectious cycle demonstrated two peaks of uridine incorporation into virus-specific RNA molecules. By separating total RNA synthesis into replication and transcription products, we showed that replication occurs over a shorter period of time in one peak synthesis. The biphasic nature of uridine incorporation is in part due to a general membrane phenomenon of reduced metabolite transport during vesicular stomatis virus infection and in part due to the apparent uncoupling of replication and transcription. A change in the ratio of newly synthesized plus and minus strands of the genome length (42S) RNA was found as the infection proceeded. Early in the infection, plus-stranded 42S RNA comprised 40% of the total genome length RNA synthesis, whereas late in infection, only 15 to 20% of the 42S RNA synthesized was complementary to the virion minus strand. Our data suggest that the rate of synthesis of plus-stranded 42S RNA was constant throughout the infection. The rate of virus release was determined by monitoring the uptake of [3H]uridine into released virus particles. Virus maturation and release are closely associated with the assembly of 42S RNA-containing nucleocapsids.


Research Question: This study investigates gender differences in job satisfaction among employees in Serbia. Motivation: The main goal of the research is examine and providing evidence the existence and scope of the paradox of gender job satisfaction. In his paper, Clark (1997)proves that women have greater job satisfaction than men. The author suggests that, in general, the higher satisfaction of women at work may be a consequence of lower job expectations as a result of the worse position in the labor market that women have had in the past. Idea:The starting point of this research is the assumption that employed women are on average more satisfied than men, despite the inferior position they occupy in the labor market. Data:The research was conducted among 468 employees in six privately owned IT and publishing companies and one state-owned company (The Pension and Disability Insurance Fund of the Republic of Serbia).The structured questionnaire was used and distributed during January 2021. Tools: The questionnaire has two parts. The first part pertains to the respondents' demographic information such as gender, age, level of education, the sectoral structure of the company in which they are employed, management positions and years of work experience. The second part of the questionnaire referred to questions related to job satisfaction, ie it contained 8 questions in accordance with the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire(Clark, 1997), which measured the degree of satisfaction with aspects of job including general satisfaction with current job. Findings: The results research show the women are more dissatisfied with their job compared to men, despite the fact that the distinction in job satisfaction between women and men is statistically insignificant. Finding that women on the average more dissatisfaction with their jobs than man appears to be contradictory to the most of studies report that women more satisfaction with their jobs than men. Accordingly, the idea of the gender-job satisfaction paradox in conditions of high levels of gender inequality that characterizes the labor market in Serbia cannot be confirmed and accepted as a universal phenomenon.Contribution: The paper adds existing knowledge about the job-gender paradox. Evidence that there are no differences in job satisfaction between female and male employees suggests that gender discrepancies is becoming less significant.


New resources have recently been emerging for educators to implement systems thinking (ST) in chemistry education, including a proposed set of ST skills. While these efforts aim to make ST implementation easier, little is known about how to assess these skills in a chemistry context. In this study, we investigated ST skills employed by students who constructed system maps of a topic related to climate change. Eighteen undergraduate chemistry students from first- to third-year participated in this study. We designed and implemented a ST intervention to capture how students engaged with three ST tasks, performed individually and collaboratively. In our analysis, we focused on 11 ST skills that aligned with five characteristics proposed in a recent study. We found that participants demonstrated most of these ST skills when engaging with the ST tasks, with nuances. Participants' system maps: (1) lacked concepts and connections at the submicroscopic level, (2) included multiple types of connections but few circular loops and causal connections, (3) lacked causal reasoning, although participants did predict how their system maps changed over time, (4) demonstrated the breadth of connections but did not describe human connections to the underlying chemistry of climate change topics. These findings identify aspects of ST where chemistry educators need to place emphasis when teaching ST skills to chemistry students and when guiding learning activities and other assessments. Using our findings, we created an adaptable ST rubric for the chemistry community as a tool for assessing ST skills.


This work presents RepoGraph, an integrated semantic code exploration web tool that combines information extraction, knowledge graphs, and deep learning models. It offers new capabilities for software developers (from academia and industry) to represent and query Python repositories. Unlike existing tools, RepoGraph not only provides a novel search interface powered by deep learning techniques but also exposes the underlying features and representations of repositories to users. Additionally, it offers several interactive visualizations. We also introduce RepoPyOnto, a new ontology that captures the features of Python code repositories and is used by RepoGraph for representing the captured knowledge. Finally, we successfully evaluate RepoGraph against several criteria, including function summarization performance, the correctness and relevance of search results, as well as the processing time for constructing graphs of various sizes.


Abstract Our study focuses on the Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) from the Sierra Nevada Natural Space (southern Spain), where sarcoptic mange is an endemic disease and animals are affected by a highly seasonal environment. Our aim was to distinguish between disease and environmental influences on seasonal variation in body weight, hematology, and serum biochemistry in Iberian ibex. We sampled 136 chemically immobilized male ibexes. The single effect of mange influenced hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, leukocytes, band neutrophils, monocytes, cholesterol, urea, creatine, and aspartate aminotransferase. Both mange and the period of the year also affected values of mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, neutrophils, glucose, and serum proteins. Scabietic animals showed a marked reduction in body weight (21.4 kg on average), which was more pronounced in winter. These results reveal that 1) infested animals are anemic, 2) secondary infections likely occur, and 3) sarcoptic mange is catabolic.


Knowledge creation by technology-based enterprises is increasingly becoming internationalized. In numerous technology-based companies attempt to position their R&D centers in places where markets are rapidly growing or new technologies are actively developed. Then what are key factors in R&D internationalization of developing countries? How do those factors result in such diversified patterns of internationalization? Are they, in fact, related to the rapid growth of IT technologies in Korea? One of objectives of this study is to define the nature of Korea's R&D internationalization, which has been making rapid progress recently. With this objective, we examined the cases of research projects conducted jointly with major international R&D institutes, and inducement of foreign R&D centers, analyzing the pattern of cooperative activities. The targets of case study were international joint research projects conducted during the period from 1998 through 2000, under sponsorship of MIC (Ministry of Information and Communication). We also conducted survey on motives of multinational corporations which have recently established R&D centers in Korea. For the research, we made reference to documents relating R&D activities in IT industry published by government agencies and research administration bodies, as well as relevant articles. Due to the nature of R&D activities in IT industry, which limits the usefulness of documents in identifying their distinctive features, we also interviewed with key researchers engaging in the projects. Motives, objectives and issues were surveyed through structural interviews, and industrial, technological features were identified through non-structural interviews


Lactoferrin is a protein, primarily found in milk that has attracted the interest of the food industries due to its health properties. Nevertheless, the instability of lactoferrin has limited its commercial application. Recent studies have focused on encapsulation to enhance the stability of lactoferrin. However, the molecular insights underlying the changes of structural properties of lactoferrin and the interaction with protectants remain poorly understood. Computational approaches have proven useful in understanding the structural properties of molecules and the key binding with other constituents. In this review, comprehensive information on the structure and function of lactoferrin and the binding with various molecules for food purposes are reviewed, with a special emphasis on the use of molecular dynamics simulations. The results demonstrate the application of modeling and simulations to determine key residues of lactoferrin responsible for its stability and interactions with other biomolecular components under various conditions, which are also associated with its functional benefits. These have also been extended into the potential creation of enhanced lactoferrin for commercial purposes. This review provides valuable strategies in designing novel nutraceuticals for food science practitioners and those who have interests in acquiring familiarity with the application of computational modeling for food and health purposes.


Deformulation of medicines is of undeniable importance, since it can be utilized both to unravel the chemical composition of the excipients integrating a pharmaceutical formulation of a specific medicine and as an important tool to conduct morphometric studies of the formulation under study. Such strategy may be utilized in analytical studies aiming at quantifying the components of reference drugs, or in the identification of putative counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Deformulation makes use of physicochemical analysis tools to characterize, from the chemical point of view, the components integrating medicine pharmaceutical formulations and from the physical point of view, the morphological part of the pharmaceutical formulation. The techniques of computer tomography (SkyScan 1174 - Bruker microCT) and X-ray fluorescence analyses (using an X-ray source with W-anode from Hammatsu Photonics and Silicon Drift detector from Amptek) were successfully used in performing a process of deformulation of a solid pharmaceutical formulation of tablets, utilized herein as a model medicine for controlled drug release. The analytical methods used in this work, proved their effectiveness for the main goal of this study, which aimed to characterize a pharmaceutical formulation via its deconstruction.


SOME FIGURES: Terminal renal failure (TRF) is a major public health problem in France in view of its increasing incidence (110 pmi/year), prevalence (700 pmi) and the costs of treatments supplied. In France, more than 6,500 new patients started treatment for TRF in 2001; around 42,000 patients with renal failure have been treated. The mean cost of treatment per patient is estimated to be of 350 KF per annum for dialysis, 450 KF for transplantation the first year and 50 KF per annum thereafter. Hence, more than 10 billion francs are spent every year on treating TRF, i.e., 1.5% of the Health Scheme. However, these costs do not include expensive treatments (erythropoietin), transport or hospitalisation. RECENT TENDENCIES: Our information system concerning TRF is fragmented and not coordinated. Identification of the cases is incomplete, their declaration is not always systematic and the quality control of the data has not been formalized. Nonetheless, major tendencies can be identified. The notable facts of the last 10 years are an aging TRF population and an increase in associated comorbidity. The diseases leading to TRF are changing. Vascular nephropathies predominate; ischemic renal diseases have become the first cause of TRF in elderly patients. The incidence of type 2 diabetes is increasing and strangely in the French overseas territories. Glomerular nephropathies are the third cause of TRF, particularly in the young. However, compared with other causes, their prevalence is decreasing. INSUFFICIENCIES: The morbidity and mortality with dialysis is dominated by cardiac and vascular causes. Renal transplantation has stagnated; the waiting lists increase and donations are insufficient. Conversely, transplantation survival is progressing. In a second part, we will examine the elements of health strategy necessary to adapt the supply of care and the organization of preventive measures.


Background: First in human studies of Z-endoxifen hydrochloride (E), the active metabolite of tamoxifen (T), are underway in metastatic breast cancer (BC). Previous data have demonstrated the superiority of aromatase inhibitors (AI9s) over T in estrogen receptor (ER) + BC. Using an in vivo aromatase expressing model (MCF7/AC1), we compared the antitumor activity of E with T and Letrozole (L), as well as the antitumor activity and global gene expression changes of E with T in an L-resistant model. Methods: MCF7/AC1 tumors were stimulated with androstenedione. Once tumor size reached 300 mm 3 , mice (30/group) were randomly assigned to one of five treatment groups: control (daily, po), T (500 μg/day, sc), endoxifen 25 mg/kg/day p.o.(LDE) endoxifen 75 mg/kg/day p.o. (HDE) or letrozole, 10 μg/day s.c for 4 weeks. Tumors were harvested from control, T, and E groups while the L group continued treatment until the development of resistance defined as an increase in tumor volume of at least 300% from day 1. Mice with L-resistant tumors were randomly assigned to T (n=4) or E (n=5) for 4 weeks and then sacrificed. Gene expression in L-resistant tumors was quantified using Affymetrix U133+2 and changes in gene expression profiles [comparing T and E with L-resistant (n=3)] were analyzed. Genes identified as significantly different were confirmed by real-time RT-PCR assays. Results: At the 4 week time point, both doses of E and L resulted in greater anti-tumor activity than control (Wilcoxon rank sum test: all p PGR ) and amphiregulin ( AREG ) that were significantly down-regulated in the E group [PGR (−6.2 fold, p=0.000008) and AREG (−3.2 fold, p=.0006) but unchanged or up-regulated in the T group (PGR unchanged and AREG +9.2 fold p=0.00002). These findings were confirmed by RT-PCR. Conclusions: Using the MCF7/AC1 model previously used to show the superiority of AI9s over T, HDE demonstrated similar antitumor activity to L and was superior to T. In cells resistant to L, E was superior to T and gene expression changes demonstrate that E down-regulates while T activates estrogen regulated genes. These findings support the ongoing development of E for the treatment of ER+ BC. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr PD01-06.


The thesis studies of use position of the probability theory and statistics at solve of questions technology processes. The thesis represents the most prevailing methods and suggests methods of developing laws of function distribution of new random variables.


Hierarchical BiVO4 microspheres assembled by nanosheets were synthesized by hydrothermal process under microwave irradiation. The morphology and compositional characteristics of the BiVO4 architectures were investigated by SEM, TEM, and XRD. The possible formation mechanism for the architectures was discussed. UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra indicated the BiVO4 hierarchical microspheres had absorption in both UV and vis light areas. The specific surface area and porosity of the BiVO4 architectures were investigated by using nitrogen adsorption and desorption isotherms. Because of the narrow bandgap and the novel micro‐/nanostructure, the BiVO4 architectures show a more excellent photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation than the BiVO4 solid microspheres and P25. Several possible reasons for the higher photocatalytic activity have been taken into consideration, namely, high specific surface area, hierarchical mesoporous structure, and quantum size effect. In addition, the photocatalyst is stable during the reaction and can be used repeatedly.


Vehicles are indispensable in modern life. The capability of monitoring them over a long range can play significant roles in many surveillance applications. However, due to high mobility of vehicles, tracking them is difficult and we need to utilize a large network of cameras and reason on discrete sets of observations made from non-overlapping cameras. In this paper, we introduce enabling techniques for such a surveillance need. Specifically, we build explicit 3D models and use them for vehicle signature extraction and matching. The algorithm uses a single active shape model (ASM) for all consumer vehicles. After detecting presence of a vehicle, \eg, by background subtraction, our algorithm then reconstructs a texture mapped 3D model. 3D car models enable us to monitor vehicles in many novel ways otherwise impossible. Two use cases are provided.


An important percentage of schizophrenic patients does not respond or responds partially to treatment. The concept of schizophrenia resistance has changed over the years, moving from a dichotomous model into a continuous one. Although clozapine is the only antipsychotic with proved efficacy for these patients, beneficial effects have been observed with other drugs. Other antipsychotics, their combination, anticonvulsants, lithium, glycine site agonists, antidepressants and benzodiazepines are also used in the treatment of refractory patients with diverse results. In this article, evidence of the efficacy of these drugs and other types of treatment on schizophrenic- resistant patients is reviewed, and a psychopharmacological treatment strategy is proposed.


Optical Character Recognition (OCR) has achieved its state-of-the-art performance with the use of Deep Learning for character recognition. Deep Learning techniques need large amount of data along with ground truth. Out of the available data, small portion of it has to be used for validation purpose as well. Preparing ground truth for historical documents is expensive and hence availability of data is of utmost concern. Jenckel et al. jenckel came up with an idea of using all the available data for training the OCR model and for the purpose of validation, they generated the input image from Softmax layer of the OCR model; using the decoder setup which can be used to compare with the original input image to validate the OCR model. In this paper, we have explored the possibilities of using Generative Adversial Networks (GANs) gan for generating the image directly from the text obtained from OCR model instead of using the Softmax layer which is not always accessible for all the Deep Learning based OCR models. Using text directly to generate the input image back gives us the advantage to use this pipeline for any OCR models even whose Softmax layer is not accessible. In the results section, we have shown that the current state of using GANs for unsupervised OCR model evaluation.


'There is always a puzzle when family mythology and social history collide. Stories are told and retold. One's sense of self shifts. These new works deal with that slippage - where image, idea and medium begin to collapse. Half-formed identities emerge, ghosts seeking reparation. They occupy spaces which are tenuous, overgrown and full of rain'.Wallace's new paintings are concerned with the poetic rather than narrative. To this end the artist has referenced the work of Belfast poets Sinead Morrisey and Medbh McGuckian. The title of the solo exhibition (held at the Fenderesky Gallery, Belfast) is inspired by Morrisey's poem 'Through the Square Window' which won the T. S. Eliot prize in 2013. As in Morissey's work, Wallace's paintings deal with maternal dreaming and dread. The imagery is often haunted by the figure of a child – but that figure is unnatural or distorted. The paintings are full of local history, landscape and custom. It is important to the artist that the work has a fully realized sense of place. So for example a painting such as 'Burning the Whin' is informed by the tradition of burning gorse across the Belfast mountains to control its propagation. Wallace has also stated that these works are 'full of weather' – rain in particular.


Purpose:To assess the activity and toxicity of lenalidomide for patients with advanced hepatocellular cancer (HCC) previously treated with sorafenib. Materials and Methods:Patients with advanced HCC who progressed on or were intolerant to sorafenib were eligible. Patients received lenalidomide 25 mg orally for 1 to 21 days in a 28-day cycle until disease progression or unacceptable toxicities. Results:Forty patients were enrolled and were classified according to the Child-Pugh score: 19 were Child-Pugh A, 16 patients were Child-Pugh B, and 5 were Child-Pugh C. Seventeen patients had extrahepatic disease. Grade 4 neutropenia occurred in 1 of 40 patients (2.5%). Grade 3 fatigue (n=3) and rash (n=4) were the most common nonhematologic toxicities attributable to lenalidomide. Six of 40 patients (15%) had a partial response. Two patients (5%) have not progressed at 36 and 32 months. The median progression-free survival was 3.6 months and the median overall survival was 7.6 months. Conclusions:Lenalidomide can be administered to patients with advanced HCC and hepatic dysfunction. Promising, and in a small percentage of patients, durable activity has been demonstrated. Investigations are needed to explore the mechanism of action of lenalidomide in HCC.


We measured the room temperature far-infrared reflectivity and Raman scattering spectra of single crystals. The frequencies of infrared active modes are obtained by Kramers - Kronig analysis of reflectivity data. The assignation of the observed modes is given according to the lattice dynamical calculation based on the valence shell model. According to the factor group analysis of the space group, which assumes the existence of the and chains, the 15 and 7 modes can be expected in both ir and Raman scattering spectra from the (001) plane. Only eight Raman and six infrared modes of symmetry are clearly seen. In the case of symmetry, three modes are observed both in the Raman and in the ir reflectivity spectra. The frequencies of these ir and Raman modes differ significantly. Because of this, we concluded that the space group of the crystal structure cannot be (non-centrosymmetric), but the space group which includes the mutual exclusion between Raman and infrared activity (centrosymmetric space group). We have shown that the appropriate space group is Pmmn, for which we found our experimental spectra in complete agreement with factor-group analysis. This means that V atoms are indistinguishable in the unit cell and in a mixed-valence state.