We characterise quasivarieties and varieties of ordered algebras categorically in terms of regularity, exactness and the existence of a suitable generator. The notions of regularity and exactness need to be understood in the sense of category theory enriched over posets. We also prove that finitary varieties of ordered algebras are cocompletions of their theories under sifted colimits (again, in the enriched sense).


The purpose of this contribution is to indicate the situation of the initiatives ongoing in the nation to abolish preventative action lacking evident and solid foundations of efficacy from our health legislation. The status of the proposal for the bill, "Measures for the simplification of administrative duties related to the protection of health and other health-related actions", is illustrated, as well as the ongoing work of the "EBP (Evidence Based Prevention) subcommittee" instituted within the permanent scientific committee of the CCM. The national situation regarding two of the first interventions of rationalization activated is presented: the abolition of health controls for food workers and health controls on minors with low-risk jobs. The first data are presented of the latest monitoring of the administrative and health effects in the Veneto Region following the abolition of LISA, which occurred in 2004. A troubling evaluation is expressed on the state of the attempt to renew prevention in the nation especially regarding the sectors of veterinary medicine and job-related medicine. Further effort on the part of scientific societies is hoped for and the necessity of a strong initiative by the coordinating inter-regional prevention round-table is demonstrated. The round-table should take the initiative to discuss with the CCM a work program that involves evaluation interventions in all areas of prevention, including those relative to work-places and veterinary services. In this way, an attempt to reconstruct, from the bottom-up, a unitary vision of intervention will be possible, one that is now strongly fragmented at the level of the central government.


High-level production planning decisions are required for identifying basic courses of actions that form guidelines for control of manufacturing activities. For Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMSs), such decisions are complex since the system configuration is open and information about the current product of manufacture is often incomplete. In this work, the system configuration is cast as a virtual manufacturing structure consisting of processing stations whose task domain addresses a range of production scenarios and hence avail alternative process routings for parts. A strategy for identifying the combination of parts process routings that minimizes operating costs is outlined. Analytical functions for the strategy are developed through a combination of neural networks and the concept of similarity coefficients. Simulation experiments are conducted with search techniques that are employed to find the minimum entropy in a neural network architecture in order to obtain an optimal manufacturing schedule for flow of parts. The simulation study shows that the strategy is able to find optimum alternative routings for parts, from which the production volume matrix, process similarity coefficients and the processing required vectors are derived for use in production control. The results indicate that the strategy has potential in handling manufacturing activities in RMSs.


The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of refrigerated storage temperature on the proteolysis in cow's milk Kashkaval cheese. The Kashkaval samples were stored for 12 months at four different temperature regimes - cooled at 4,0 ± 1,0 °C, cooled at 1.0 ± 1.0 °C, superchilled at -7,5 ± 0,5 °C and frozen at -18.0 ± 1.0 °C. The proteolysis in cheese samples was evaluated by determining the non-casein nitrogen (NCN/TN), non-protein nitrogen (NPN/TN) as a percentage of total nitrogen and content of free amino groups. It was found that the storage temperature had a significant impact on the hydrolysis of cheese paracasein. Complete inhibition of the proteolysis was established only in frozen stored Kashkaval. Slight, but statistically significant (P<0,05) increase in the NCN/TN values indicating for retarded proteolysis in samples stored at -7,5 ± 0,5 °C was established. The increasing of the storage temperatures results in increased NCN/TN, NPN/TN values and free amino groups content. The highest proteolysis rate was observed at the refrigeration temperatures of 4.0 ± 1.0 °C. The samples stored at this temperature regime had the highest values of both high molecular weight protein fractions (NCN/TN) and products of deep proteolysis (NPN/TN and free amino groups).


I use a set of vector autoregressive models to forecast some of the main macroeconomic variables in a wide range of countries. The goal is to provide some insight about different forecast accuracy measures in a probabilistic forecasting framework. The countries are selected based on their available data in the International Financial Statistics (IFS) database. The target variables are GDP, CPI and exchange rate growth in yearly, quarterly and monthly frequencies. I specify the model sets by using a list of potentially relevant variables from IFS database. The results are available up to four forecast horizons and for two different classes of forecast accuracy measures: The probabilistic class which contains linear, logarithmic, quadratic, Hyvarinen and continuous ranked probability score rules, and the non-probabilistic class which contains mean absolute and mean square error measures. The results show that the forecasts are sensitive to the choice of a forecast accuracy class, in sense of Hellinger distance. However, within each class, the choice is not critical. Among different probabilistic measures, the logarithmic and quadratic rules are more reliable in practice. The results also show that the forecast power of stationary multivariate models is higher than the univariate ones, for both probabilistic and non-probabilistic accuracy measures.


PURPOSE
Cornelia de Lange syndrome is a rare disease showing characteristic facial appearance, developmental delay, growth retardation, low birth weight, skeletal formation anomaly, hirsutism and various ophthalmologic problems.

METHODS
We experienced a case of an 18-year-old female with Cornelia de Lange syndrome showing superficial keratitis with entropion, ptosis, high myopia, lacrimal cutaneous fistula and characteristic facial appearance. She was born with low birth weight, operated for cleft palate and diagnosed with ventricular septal defect. In addition, she showed psychological lag and developmental impairment.

RESULTS
We performed entropion correction surgery, administered medical therapy for superficial keratitis and prescribed glasses for her myopia.

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first case report on the successful correction of entropion with Cornelia de Lange syndrome in Korea.


Nanomaterial-based photothermal therapy has shown great potential for efficient cancer treatment. Here, we report a new hyperthermia agent, Au–silica nanowire nanohybrid (Au-SiNW nanohybrid) with tunable optical properties, for photothermal therapy. The unique feature of the synthetic method is no need of surface modification of SiNWs for the direct deposition of Au seeds, which can avoid complicated synthetic procedures and improve the reproducibility. The Au-SiNW nanohybrid can generate significant amount of heat upon irradiation in the near-infrared (NIR) region for inducing thermal cell death. Moreover, compared to reported hyperthermia nanomaterials, the new nanohybrid requires a much lower laser irradiation density of 0.3 W/cm2 for destroying cancer cells. A549 lung cancer cells were used for in vitro photothermal study. The nanohybrid showed excellent in vitro biocompatibility by using a 96-nonradioactive-cell proliferation assay. Even at a high concentration of 0.500 mg/mL nanohybrid, over 80% cells were alive. In contrast, almost all the cells were killed when NIR irradiation was applied at a concentration of 0.100 mg/mL nanohybrid. The Au-SiNW nanohybrid may become a promising hyperthermia agent.


This study was conducted to determine food security status and analyze factors that influence food security status among cocoa producing households in the Wassa Amenfi West District in Ghana. Using data from 320 randomly selected cocoa producing households, the results show that 67% of the sample households were food insecure indicating high level of food insecurity among cocoa producing households. In particular, female-headed households were found to be more food insecure than male-headed cocoa producing households. The results from a logit model showed that factors including the gender of household heads, age of households' heads, household size, years of schooling, annual cocoa output, and household non-agricultural income significantly influence food security status among cocoa producing households in Ghana. The results suggest that policies to improve cocoa productivity would be particularly useful due to the high impact this has on household food security.


In the late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian/Tithonian) dinosaur tracks occur in a variety of depositional environments from tidal flats to lacustrine as well as fluvial settings. These two stages include sites from Germany, Switzerland, France, Croatia, Spain and Portugal. They show tracks and trackways of sauropods (diplodocids, titanosaurs), theropods (megalosaurids), thyreophorans (stegosaurs) as well as those from ornithopods (camptosaurids), with a preference of sauropod/theropod assemblages (Brotnopodus Ichnofacies) in tidal flat environments. In the early Cretaceous (?Berriasian/Valanginian) dinosaur tracksites are mostly found in fluvial and lacustrine settings (Wealden Facies), they seem to be almost absent in Tethysian tidal flat settings. It includes sites in England, Northern Germany as well as Spain, the latter region is the most prolific. They yield tracks and trackways of theropods (Megalosaurids, Dromaeosaurids), ornithopods (Iguandontids) and some rare sauropods. Although a shift in more continental settings can be detected, there is no change in the diversity of dinosaurs groups represented by tracks. Whereas in the Late Jurassic there is a predominance of the Brontopodus Ichnofacies a change to a dominance of the Caririchnium Ichnofacies can be observed in the Early Cretaceous. This change is due to the appearance of new dinosaur groups as well as a change from more arid to more humid conditions and tectonics resulting in large deltaic settings in Northern Europe, Southern France and the Iberian Meseta.


RATIONALE
An objective and simple prognostic model for patients with pulmonary embolism could be helpful in guiding initial intensity of treatment.

OBJECTIVES
To develop a clinical prediction rule that accurately classifies patients with pulmonary embolism into categories of increasing risk of mortality and other adverse medical outcomes.

METHODS
We randomly allocated 15,531 inpatient discharges with pulmonary embolism from 186 Pennsylvania hospitals to derivation (67%) and internal validation (33%) samples. We derived our prediction rule using logistic regression with 30-day mortality as the primary outcome, and patient demographic and clinical data routinely available at presentation as potential predictor variables. We externally validated the rule in 221 inpatients with pulmonary embolism from Switzerland and France.

MEASUREMENTS
We compared mortality and nonfatal adverse medical outcomes across the derivation and two validation samples.

MAIN RESULTS
The prediction rule is based on 11 simple patient characteristics that were independently associated with mortality and stratifies patients with pulmonary embolism into five severity classes, with 30-day mortality rates of 0-1.6% in class I, 1.7-3.5% in class II, 3.2-7.1% in class III, 4.0-11.4% in class IV, and 10.0-24.5% in class V across the derivation and validation samples. Inpatient death and nonfatal complications were <or= 1.1% among patients in class I and <or= 1.9% among patients in class II.

CONCLUSIONS
Our rule accurately classifies patients with pulmonary embolism into classes of increasing risk of mortality and other adverse medical outcomes. Further validation of the rule is important before its implementation as a decision aid to guide the initial management of patients with pulmonary embolism.


Two-dimensional (2D) ultrathin metal chalcogenides represent a class of promising materials for various applications thanks to attractive physicochemical properties. However, a reliable pathway for fabricating ultrathin metal chalcogenides nanosheets, regardless of the bulk crystals of their 3D counterparts, still remains a challenge. Herein, we present a versatile solution-processed template synthesis strategy, in which a single molecular-level precursor anneals to ultrathin single-crystal nanosheets with the aid of lattice-matching templates, following the Frank-van der Merwe growth mode and featuring high quality, low cost, scalability, and processability. Following this strategy, Sb2S3, MoS2, and ZnS nanosheets are successfully prepared as representatives for materials whose bulk counterparts possess 1D, 2D, and 3D crystal structures, respectively, and the growth mechanism is confirmed by crystal mode analysis. As a proof-of-concept application, MoS2 and Sb2S3 nanosheets are used for gas sensor and flexible photodetector applications, respectively, which exhibit excellent performance. The method can also be easily extended to other ultrathin nanosheets like single metals, metal oxide, metal nitride, and heterostructures.


This work investigates the multi-fractal nature of a turbulent urban atmosphere using high-resolution atmospheric data. Meteorological and concentration measurements of passive and reactive pollutants collected over a 3-year period in a sub-urban high-Reynolds number atmospheric field were analyzed. Scaling laws characterizing the self-similarity and thereby depicting the multi-fractal nature are determined by calculating the singularity spectra, where a range of Hölder exponents, h, are estimated. In doing so, the complexity of the urban atmosphere entailing different stability regimes was addressed. Using the Monin-Obukhov length (LMO) as a marker of atmospheric stability and thereby an indication of the magnitude of anisotropy, we find where and how self-similarity is manifested relative to the different regimes and we estimate corresponding appropriate scaling laws. We find that the wind speed obeys the -5/3 law suggested by Kolmogorov only when the atmosphere lies within the stable regime as defined by Monin-Obukhov theory. Specifically, when the ratio of the atmospheric boundary layer height (Hb.l) over LMO is greater than 15, and at the same time, the ratio of the height above ground of the wind measurements (z0) over LMO is higher than 3 (i.e., in stable regime), then the singularity spectra of wind speed time series indicate that the dominant Hölder exponent, hmax, coincides with Kolmogorov's second hypothesis. On the contrary under unstable regimes in the atmosphere where the anisotropy is approached, different scaling laws are estimated. In detail, when z0/LMO<0, the dominant Hölder exponent, hmax, of the singularity spectra of the wind speed time series is either negative or close to zero, which is an indication of an impulse-like singularity, that is associated with rapid changes. For the ambient temperature and air quality measurements such as of carbon monoxide and particulate matter concentrations, it was found that they obey different laws, which are related with the long-term correlation of their data fluctuation.


Eclampsia is one of the most common pregnancy complications causing high mortality and morbidity for both mother and foetus especially in developing countries. Many studies suggest that elevated homocysteine level is an important risk factor for eclampsia. The aim of this study was to explore the association between serum homocysteine with eclampsia and to establish serum homocysteine measurement as a reliable test for early detection of eclampsia. In a case control study serum homocysteine and lipid profile were measured in 52 controls (healthy uncomplicated pregnant women) and 50 eclamptic pregnant women. Serum homocysteine in eclampsia cases (10.44±4.08 μmol/L) found to be significantly increased (p < 0.001) compared to controls (7.97±3.46 μmol/L). Serum HDL-cholesterol concentration found to be significantly decreased (p < 0.001) in the cases (35.98±6.35 mg/dl) compared to controls (42.69±6.09 mg/dl). A significant negative correlation (r-.801, p < 0.01) was found between serum homocysteine and HDL-cholesterol concentration among cases. It can be concluded that elevated serum homocysteine and HDL-cholesterol deficiency were associated with eclampsia. But elevated homocysteine itself might be a factor associated with eclampsia irrespective of lipid profile status. Key Words: Homocysteine, Eclampsia. doi: 10.3329/jafmc.v5i1.2842 JAFMC Bangladesh. Vol 5, No 1 (June) 2009 pp.7-10


Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a complex disorder associated with disabling and unremitting fatigue, flu-like symptoms, muscle and joint pain, post-exertional malaise and cognitive impairments. CFS/ME is a heterogeneous illness and the cause of CFS/ME is currently unknown. Consequently, there is no biological marker to diagnose the illness, and case definitions are used to identify CFS/ME patients. CFS/ME is a multi-system disorder that has been associated with impairments in the functions of the endocrine, immune, central and autonomic nervous systems. Evidence for chronic immune dysfunction in CFS/ME has been reported by several groups, where significantly reduced Natural Killer (NK) cell cytotoxic activity has been the most predominant and consistent finding. NK cells consist of CD56brightCD16dim/- NK cells which produce immunoregulatory cytokines, and CD56dimCD16+ NK cells which induce cytotoxic lysis of target cells infected by viruses, bacteria and parasites, or cells that have been malignantly transformed. The granule secretory pathway mediates NK cell cytotoxic activity and includes contact, adhesion, activation, granule polarisation and degranulation. Cytotoxic lysis of target cells is predominantly induced by the granule secretory pathway and, as such, has been associated with the cytotoxic dysfunction reported in CFS/ME patients. The aim of this thesis was to investigate cellular and genetic components required for NK cell cytotoxic activity to identify a potential mechanism of reduced cytotoxic activity in CFS/ME patients.


Treatment of Crohn's disease (CD) is intrinsically reliant on imaging techniques, due to the preponderance of small bowel disease and its transmural pattern of inflammation. Ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are the most widely employed imaging methods and have excellent diagnostic accuracy in most instances. Some limitations persist, perhaps the most clinically relevant being the distinction between inflammatory and fibrotic strictures. In this regard, several methodologies have recently been tested in animal models and human patients, namely US strain elastography, shear wave elastography, contrast-enhanced US, magnetization transfer MRI and contrast dynamics in standard MRI. Technical advances in each of the imaging methods may expand their indications. The addition of oral contrast to abdominal US appears to substantially improve its diagnostic capabilities compared to standard US. Ionizing dose-reduction methods in CT can decrease concern about cumulative radiation exposure in CD patients and diffusion-weighted MRI may reduce the need for gadolinium contrast. Clinical indexes of disease activity and severity are also increasingly relying on imaging scores, such as the recently developed Lémann Index. In this review we summarize some of the recent advances in small bowel CD imaging and how they might affect clinical practice in the near future.


This study evaluated the effects of massed and distributed practice on the acquisition of tacts and textual behavior in typically developing children. We compared the effects of massed practice (i.e., consolidating all practice opportunities during the week into a single session) and distributed practice (i.e., distributing all practice opportunities across 4 sessions during the week) on the acquisition of textual behavior in English, tacting pictures of common nouns in Spanish, and textual behavior in Spanish using an adapted alternating treatments design embedded within a multiple probe design. We also examined correct responding during probes that (a) excluded prompts and reinforcement and (b) occurred 48 hr after training each week. The results indicated that distributed practice was the more efficient training format. Maintenance data collected up to 4 weeks after training also indicated that the participants consistently displayed higher levels of correct responding to targets that had been trained in distributed format. We discuss implications for practice and potential areas for future research.


This paper concerns a mass-spring-damper linear oscillator with endstop system. The parameter dependence of the impact oscillator is studied and the techniques of the bifurcation diagram, phase trajectory, impact map and Poincare map are applied. For the driving frequency ranges that no explicit solutions in analytical method, a complete bifurcation diagram is plotted using numerical solutions. Consequently, the phenomena of the complete, incomplete and chaotic chattering are classified as m-impact period-n motion using impact map and Poincare map. INTRODUCTION The impact oscillators arise whenever the components of a vibration system collide with rigid endstop or with each other. These oscillators widely occur in applications, such as the rattling gears [9], the vibrations of helicopter rotor blades [5], the fluctuation between the workpiece and cutting tool [4], the oscillations of the thermal expansion in pipe and tubes [7], the motion of a ship impacting against a harbor wall [14] and the motion of rigid blocks in an earthquake [8]. In references [1-3, 12-13, 15-16], researches were interested in the fundamentals of impact dynamics, particularly in the ensuing chaotic motion. Bifurcation theory was applied to investigate the stability of system behavior as parameter changed. Recently, the experimental signals of impacting system were investigated to confirm the previous results of the bifurcation diagram [10-11]. The recover ("clean") signals can be compared to the known phenomena to determine their origin. Thus, a better understanding of such an impact oscillators will benefit condition monitoring of a system. For this goal, a global and local dynamics need to be investigated. In this paper, such an approach presented in [6] will be used to determine the stability of the impact oscillator. The parameter dependence of the impact oscillator will be illustrated using bifurcation diagram in terms of numerical solutions. In particular, a careful study of the effects on the dynamics of the oscillation by varying the forcing frequency and the restitution coefficient will be made. The numerical investigation of local dynamics, such as the complete, incomplete and chaotic chattering will also be characterized using impact map and Poincare map. IMPACT OSCILLATOR The model considered here is a single degree of freedom system shown in Figure 1, where the mass is under a harmonic excitation and the motion is limited by an endstop. For simplicity, we assume the deformation during impact is negligible, the contact force resulting from impact is impulsive and the duration of the contact is much shorter than the period of the external excitation; in fact we idealize the impact as instantaneous. The equation of the motion when not impacting is mx + 2cx + kx = cosωτ, x > g (1) where x = d x / d τ , x = dx / d τ, m is mass, c is damping ratio, k is spring, ω is driving frequency and g is the endstop. The impact occurs at x(τ) = g and the velocity change is modeled as x (τ + ) = – rx (τ – ) where r is the restitution coefficient, (τ+) is the time after impact and (τ−) is the time before impact. FLOW AND MAP Equation (1) was defined in three dimensions space m k c g x(τ) pcos(ωτ) Fig. 1. Mass-spring-damper impact system. Journal of Marine Science and Technology, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2005) 90 as (x , x , τ). The solutions flow in an infinite tube as τ evolves. We now define the phase φ by φ = τ mod T where T = 2π/ω. This means we study the solution only every T seconds in τ. Thus the new phase space co9ordinate is (x , x , φ), where 0 ≤ φ ≤ T . The solution projected onto the displacement and velocity plane is called phase trajectory. For periodic solutions, a closed trajectory will formed in the phase plane, see Figures 2(a) and 2(b). There are two different kinds of mapping in the (x , x , φ) space, which are Poincare return map and impact map. 1. Poincare map Poincare return map gives two dimensions structure in plane instead of three dimensions flow in space, i.e. the solutions are projected onto a particular section φ = ψ in (x , x , φ) space, where ψ is a constant in [0, T]. Thus Poincare map is a point set determined by its displacement and velocity x (τ)φ = ψ in a section corresponding to a given constant phase φ = ψ. This definition is valid for all systems under periodic forcing function. A harmonic motion is a single point in return map, see Figure 2(d); a subharmonic motion of order n has a set of n points. In the case of the chaotic motion the map has a complex fractal structure. 2. Impact map The impact map is related to the impact process. The point set in impact map is determined by impact velocity x (τ I ) at x(τI) = g and impact phase φ = ψI, where 250 255 260 265 270 275 280 285 290 295 300 Time (s) 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3 Phase (0 to T) -4 -3 2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Velocity -4 -3 2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Velocity (a) (c) (b) (d) 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 D is pl ac em en t 4 3.9 3.8 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1 3 Im pa ct V el oc ity 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 D is pl ac em en t 6


Thanks to the high resolution of modern SAR satellites many persistent scatterers (PS) appear at single buildings, approximately half of them representing building facades. These groups of points often show regular patterns in the SAR images that can be related to repeating structure elements on the facades. Hence, individual buildings can now be monitored over time, either based on amplitude (for change detection) and phase information (using interferometric methods). However, patterns of point signatures are often disrupted or disappear when the imaging geometry is slightly changed. The investigation at hand provides a detailed analysis of PS patterns based on reference data obtained from a photogrammetric survey. The processing of the optical images allows to create a detailed 3D model of the respective facade, which represents the geometrical object information for SAR simulation. From the simulation results the appearance of the point patterns of natural PS in high resolution SAR data can be better understood. The approach and findings for a case study in Munich is described in detail in this paper.


The only currently validated treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is sorafenib. However, sorafenib has been mainly studied in patients with HCC developed in cirrhotic liver. Chemotherapy might be more suitable for patients with HCC in non-cirrhotic liver. We report the case of a young woman with fibrolamellar HCC in a non-cirrhotic liver, with histologically proven metastatic ganglionary relapse after surgical resection of the primary tumour. Chemotherapy with gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (GEMOX regimen) achieved a complete response without relapse five years after discontinuation of chemotherapy. This exceptional case raises the question of clinical trials specifically designed for patients with HCC in non-cirrhotic liver.


Introduction: Ginkgolide B (GB), which is an active constituent derived from Ginkgo biloba leaves, has been reported to ameliorate Alzheimer's disease (AD), ischemic stroke, as well as other neurodegenerative diseases due to its viable immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory functions. However, it has yet to be proven whether GB inhibits neuronal apoptosis in ischemic stroke. Methods: In the present research, the inhibition function of GB on neuronal apoptosis and its underpinning process(s) after cerebral ischemia were studied through transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (t-MCAO) in an in vivo rat model as well as in cultured SH-SY5Y cells subjected to oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD)/reoxygenation in vitro. The neurological score was calculated and Nissl and TUNEL staining were performed to evaluate the stroke outcome, neuronal loss, and neuronal apoptosis. Subsequently, the western blot was utilized to detect Bcl2 and p-AMPK/AMPK expression. Results: Compared to t-MCAO rats, rats receiving GB treatment showed a significant reduction of neuronal loss and apoptosis and improved neurological behavior at 72 h after MCAO. GB treatment also upregulated the expression of Bcl2 and p-AMPK. In vitro, GB suppressed the apoptosis in OGD/reoxygenation-challenged neuronal SH-SY5Y cells through AMPK activation. Conclusions: Our observations suggest that GB enhanced AMPK activation in neural cells, reducing neuronal apoptosis, thus eventually preventing ischemic stroke.


Seven Alvin dives (14 km total) and numerous deep-towed camera traverses using ANGUS and NOAA camera systems provide dense coverage of a 12-km2 portion of the eastern wall of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the TAG area (26°N lat.). These data, in conjunction with recent Soviet Mir submersible data, provide important constraints on the tectonic, magmatic, and hydrothermal history of this spreading center segment. Active hydrothermal venting occurs near the junction of the median valley floor and eastern median valley wall and appears to be tectonically controlled by the intersection of major fault zones. An east-west fault-line scarp interpreted as an accommodation zone intersects escarpments associated with 020°-trending (ridge-parallel) normal faults that bound the median valley floor. The accommodation zone permits differential extension and rotation between major crustal blocks to the north and south. On the basis of the distribution of tilted chalk beds and geochemical anomalies in sediments, this fault zone has been intermittently active for at least 5x104 yr. The accommodation zone has apparently provided a conduit of high permeability oriented at a high angle to the ridge axis. Observations and samples from areas surrounding active and inactive vent sites provide evidence for three distinct episodes for hydrothermal outflow driven by separate magmatic events. The geometry of this active system may have implications for the location of hydrothermal systems in active spreading regimes and for massive sulfide exploration in ophiolite terranes.


abstract:A white, wealthy, educated male, Victor Frankenstein spends a good portion of Mary Shelley's novel complaining about being a slave to his Creature. Victor's laments draw attention to Frankenstein's engagement with debates about race, slavery, and abolition. The novel seems to ask what a slave is and thereby challenges notions about racial difference and the ideals of cultural/intellectual superiority that support enslaving populations. Foundational studies by H. L. Malchow and others on race in Frankenstein have defined the views of Shelley's father, William Godwin, as well as the pervasive ideas of the era, to clarify the ways in which the Creature is racially coded to align with stereotypes about Blacks in particular. Using these studies as a starting point, Maisha Wester specifically examines the ways in which Shelley's text engages the anxieties born out of slave insurrections and Britain's abolition of the slave trade. To this end, she explores Shelley's depiction of the turbulence in British society arising from these issues, showing how the Creature's attacks metaphorize the insurrections that disturbed the era's notions of racial difference. Ultimately, her essay explains how Victor is, indeed, a "slave"—as are many others like him.


Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells are highly heterogeneous in their metabolism and typically experience elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the tumor microenvironment. Tumor cells survive under these chronic oxidative conditions by upregulating antioxidant systems. To investigate the heterogeneity of cellular responses to chemotherapeutic H2O2 generation in tumor and healthy tissue, we leveraged single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data to perform redox systems-level simulations of quinone-cycling β-lapachone treatment as a source of NQO1-dependent rapid superoxide and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production. Transcriptomic data from 10 HNSCC patient tumors was used to populate over 4000 single-cell antioxidant enzymatic network models of drug metabolism. The simulations reflected significant systems-level differences between the redox states of healthy and cancer cells, demonstrating in some patient samples a targetable cancer cell population or in others statistically indistinguishable effects between non-malignant and malignant cells. Subsequent multivariate analyses between healthy and malignant cellular models pointed to distinct contributors of redox responses between these phenotypes. This model framework provides a mechanistic basis for explaining mixed outcomes of NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1)-bioactivatable therapeutics despite the tumor specificity of these drugs as defined by NQO1/catalase expression and highlights the role of alternate antioxidant components in dictating drug-induced oxidative stress.


The applicability of the fluorescence techniques to identify the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in environmental samples is presented. The technique of synchronous fluorescence enabled the identification of the PAHs series containing 2–6 condensed rings in urban airborne particulate matter from Upper Silesia industrial region in Poland. The results obtained by synchronous and conventional fluorescence measurements have been confirmed by those from gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. As the air sample was taken in summer season, the main source of pollution by PAHs component seems to be transport – the exhaust gases from motor vehicles.


Abstract Despite its wide applicability, Quality Estimation (QE) of Machine Translation (MT) poses a difficult entry barrier since there are no open source tools with a graphical user interface (GUI). Here we present a tool in this direction by connecting the back-end of the QE decision-making mechanism with a web-based GUI. The interface allows the user to post requests to the QE engine and get a visual response with the results. Additionally we provide pre-trained QE models for easier launching of the app. The tool is written in Python so that it can leverage the rich natural language processing capabilities of the popular dynamic programming language, which is at the same time supported by top web-server environments.


Abstract Literature regarding the gender variant population is very limited, and what is available tends to focus on epidemiology. Within the gender variant population there is a wide array of sub-categories which deal with a range of specific issues that are even more extensive. Transsexuals, one of the sub-categories, have one of the most difficult transitions to make in order to feel confident and at peace with their selves. Transsexuals are guided in their transition by The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association's (HBIGDA) Standards of Care (SOC). Part of the process is exploring their transition through a therapeutic relationship. The therapeutic model that we offer is unique in its perspective on a non-pathologizing, culturally-based, identity formation, and strength-eliciting approach. By pairing Marcia's (1980) identity statuses with narrative family therapy, we believe that transsexuals can find their transition more explored and solidified, thereby resulting in a stronger, more established personal identity.


Photoinduced discharge curve (PIDC), which represents the photoconductor surface potential as a function of the input exposure, is a critical parameter in xerographic processes. In general, the PIDC defines a suitable exposure energy to achieve the surface potential of photoconductor for different operating conditions. In order to reach the same surface potential, one can increase the exposure energy or to increase the incident light of flux. Two experimental methods were used to measure the PIDC of organic photoconductor drum. One method is to fix the exposure spot size and changed exposure energy. Another method is to fix the flux of incident light by changing spot size and exposure energy.


The paper focuses on the fundamental aspects of the fluid mechanics of unconstrained gas–liquid plumes relevant to Ladle Metallurgy Practice. A mathematical model previously proposed by the authors is justified by comparison with Eulerian–Lagrangian models. Further, a unified analytical framework is proposed to describe the fluid dynamic and similarity characteristics of two-phase plumes. Despite the apparent complexity of the system, the analysis demonstrates that the plume cross-sectional area, void fraction and gas and liquid velocities can be quantified in terms of two parameters: a dimensionless gas flow rate and the normalized axial height. The analysis clarifies the proper form of the Froude number similarity which is important for process design and scale-up.


Abstract Objective. To investigate the association between orthodontic treatment need (OTN) and caries experience (CE). Subjects and methods. Using a stratified sampling method, 748 subjects (355 females, 393 males; mean ± standard deviation age 15.11 ± 2.23 years) were examined. The Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI), DMFT, simple (DMFT > 0) and severe CE (DMFT > 8) were recorded. Socio-economic status (SES) was assessed by recording parental education, mother's employment status, and household size. Results. Higher (but not statistically significant) CE was observed in subjects with OTN (DAI > 30). The association between DAI and DMFT scores was not significant (rho = 0.05). Mean DMFT score did not vary significantly between the SES and OTN subgroups. In children with a household size >6 persons (n = 85), OTN was associated with higher CE and a higher prevalence of severe CE compared with those without OTN. In this group, when DAI treatment need grade increased, severe CE prevalence also increased from 10.8% to 50%. Similarly, in those with OTN and household size >6 persons, the odds of observing subjects with severe CE was 4.6 times higher (95% confidence interval 1.45–14.55) compared to those without OTN. Conclusions. Associations were observed between OTN and CE and also between the prevalence of severe CE and the severity of malocclusion in children with a household size >6 persons. The current findings suggest that the relationship between caries experience and malocclusion should be assessed in a wider context of SES and background factors.


Glaxo Laboratories Ltd. have recently introduced a vaccine giving protection against diphtheria, tetanus and poliomyelitis and for convenience it has been named Dip./ l'et./pol./vaccine. It is complementary to Glaxo's four-in-one vaccine Combining protection against poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus and Whooping cough (' Quadrilin ') and it is expected that the new vaccine will be required for reinforcing at School entry the immunization already established with Quadrilin.


U.S. science lobbyists coined the phrase "innovation deficit" last year to help make an economic argument for increasing federal funding of basic research, namely, that the current spending levels are too low for the United States to remain a global leader in innovation. Given political and budget realities, erasing this "deficit" anytime soon will take a minor miracle. But the phrase seems to be catching on, despite the fact that a one-time surge of funds could create its own problems. The chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee used it three times in her opening remarks at a hearing last spring on how to spur U.S. innovation by boosting science budgets. Lawmakers have also embraced its logic in pending legislation to pump up the budget of the National Institutes of Health.


BACKGROUND
The measure of sputum eosinophil counts is a useful tool in the investigation of occupational asthma (OA), but processing sputum is time consuming. Measuring the fractional concentration of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) may be an alternative in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to assess the respective changes of sputum eosinophil counts and FENO following exposure to occupational agents in the routine practice of two tertiary centers in North America and Europe.

METHODS
Workers undergoing specific inhalation challenges (SICs) for possible OA in tertiary clinics in both Canada and Belgium were enrolled. Sputum cell counts and FENO were collected at the end of the control day and at 7 and 24 h after exposure to the offending agent.

RESULTS
Forty-one subjects had a negative SIC; 26 subjects had OA proven by a positive SIC. In subjects with positive SIC, there was a significant increase in sputum eosinophils at 7 h (9.0 [9.9]%) and 24 h (11.9 [14.9]%) after exposure compared with the baseline (2.8 [4.2]%), whereas there was a significant increase in FENO only 24 h after exposure (26.0 [30.5] ppb) compared with the baseline (16.6 [18.5] ppb). A 2.2% change in sputum eosinophil counts achieved a much higher sensitivity and positive predictive value than a 10-ppb change in FENO with similar specificity and negative predictive value for predicting a 20% decrease in FEV(1) during SICs.

CONCLUSIONS
Sputum eosinophil counts constitute a more reliable tool than FENO to discriminate positive and negative SICs.


Using mixed analytical and numerical methods we investigate the development of singularities in the heat flow for corotational harmonic maps from the d-dimensional sphere to itself for 3 � d � 6. By gluing together shrinking and expanding asymptotically self-similar solutions we construct global weak solutions which are smooth everywhere except for a sequence of times T1 < T2 < ���< Tk < 1 at which there occurs the type I blow-up at one of the poles of the sphere. We show that in the generic case the continuation beyond blow-up is unique, the topological degree of the map changes by one at each blow-up time Ti, and eventually the solution comes to rest at the zero energy constant map.


Minimally modified gravity theories are modifications of general relativity with two local gravitational degrees of freedom in four dimensions. Their construction relies on the breaking of 4D diffeomorphism invariance keeping however the symmetry under 3D diffeomorphisms. Here, we construct these theories from the Hamiltonian point of view. We start with the phase space of general relativity in the ADM formalism. Then, we find the conditions that the Hamiltonian must satisfy for the theory to propagate (up to) two local gravitational degrees of freedom with the assumptions that the lapse and the shift are not dynamical, and that the theory remains invariant under 3D diffeomorphisms. This construction enables us to recover the well-known "cuscuton" class of scalar-tensor theories in the unitary gauge. We also exhibit a new class of interesting theories, that we dub f(ℋ) theories, where the usual Hamiltonian constraint ℋ of general relativity is replaced by f(ℋ) where f is an arbitrary function.


Systems involving continuous analysis of speech require that the variations in the input speech signal level be kept to a minimum. This can be achieved by means of a voice operated gain adjustment device (VOGAD). This paper describes the VOGAD which was developed for use with CEERI Vocoder. In its present state, the VOGAD can keep the output level constant within ± 2 dB when the input level varies by ± 20 dB.An additional feature of the VOGAD is its ability to keep the gain at a low value during the pauses in speech. This helps to keep the background noise in between the spoken words at a minimum level.


Male menopause, also referred to as late-onset hypogonadism or andropause, is a clinical syndrome characterized by sexual dysfunction, depressive disorder, and insomnia secondary to a testosterone deficiency in older men. Lespedeza cuneata, which belongs to the Fabaceae family, possesses several biological properties, including antiinflammatory, anti-oxidant, and antidiabetic effects. We investigated the inhibitory effect of standardized L. cuneata extract (LCE) on andropause symptoms in vivo. LCE administration significantly increased serum levels of total testosterone without any effects on serum estrogen levels. Additionally, LCE significantly increased serum 17-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 13 protein levels and reduced levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), a protein that blocks free testosterone movement into the cytosol. LCE significantly upregulated the expression of cAMP response element binding protein and androgen receptor (AR), which functions as a transcription factor to stimulate spermatogenesis-associated genes and results in increased numbers of AR-positive cells, such as Leydig and Sertoli cells in the testis. To summarize, LCE administration increases serum testosterone, reduces SHBG levels and upregulates AR expression. Therefore, LCE may be useful as alternative therapy for andropause in older men.


In practice a MOSFET is anti-parallel with a diode. In the paper there is a method how to build its model. The model applies for the MOSFET works as a power switch. The model consists of two capacitors, a voltage-controlled switch and a diode. There is an example for the model building. The circuits including the model are simulated. The results prove that the electrical data of model equals basically its actual data. The model can help electrical engineers design circuits which uses MOSFET as a power switch. The model built only need the data of its manual. The merit is very suitable for electrical engineers.


Background Wide variation of opioid prescribing persists despite attempts to quantify number of opioids utilized postoperatively. We aim to prospectively determine number of opioids used after common surgery procedures to guide future prescribing. Methods A prospective observational trial was performed of opioids prescribed and used postoperatively. Patients filled out pre- and postoperative surveys, and number of opioids utilized was captured at postoperative visit. Results One-hundred-and-thirteen patients met inclusion. Median opioids prescribed exceeded number of opioids taken for all procedures. Median number of opioids taken postoperatively was fewer than 10 for all categories of procedures: simple skin/soft tissue 2 (IQR 1-4), complex skin/soft tissue 1.5 (IQR 0-14), simple laparoscopy 1 (IQR 0-20) and complex laparoscopy 4 (IQR 0-20), laparotomy 0 (IQR 0-26), and open inguinal hernia 2 (IQR 0-2). Nearly 80% of patients had leftover opioids, and 31% planned to keep them. There was little difference between preoperative and postoperative level of satisfaction with a pain control regimen. Discussion Postoperatively, patients utilize opioids less frequently than prescribed and often keep leftover pills. Patient pain control satisfaction is unrelated to number of opioids prescribed and taken postoperatively.


OBJECTIVE
To use neutron activation analysis to study a new type of cariostatic material, fluoride varnish, in terms of its anti-caries mechanism and its release in vitro.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty enamel specimens were measured for baseline fluoride content using neutron activation analysis. The enamel specimens were then fluoridated with 1.5% sodium fluoride varnish for 24 hours, and their enamel fluoride content was measured again with neutron activation analysis.

RESULTS
The baseline fluoride content in the enamel specimens was 161.7 micrograms/g; after fluoridation, the fluoride content in the enamel specimens increased to 277.8 micrograms/g, or about 1.7 times.

CONCLUSION
It is evident that this sodium fluoride varnish can significantly increase enamel fluoride content. The neutron activation analysis is a good method for fluoride measurement in vitro.


Contribution to carbon neutrality is one of the most important challenges for the automotive industry. Though CO2 emission has been reduced through electrification, internal combustion engines equipped in vehicles such as Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) are still necessary for the foreseeable future, and continuous efforts to improve fuel economy are demanded. To improve powertrain thermal efficiency, direct-injection turbocharged gasoline engines have been widely utilized in recent years. Super lean-burn combustion engine has been being researched as the next generation of turbocharged gasoline engines. It is known that an increase of the boost pressure causes deposit formation, which decrease the turbocharger efficiency, in the turbocharger compressor housing. To avoid the efficiency loss due to deposit, air temperature at compressor outlet has to be limited low. In this paper, the methodology was constructed to predict compressor efficiency loss, based on the mechanism of turbocharger deposit formation in gasoline engines.Test procedure to reproduce compressor deposit in turbocharger unit test equipment was developed. The correlation between the temperature of compressor housing inner surface and the rate of compressor efficiency loss was clarified. In addition, the correlation between the location where deposit was formed and the compressor efficiency loss was also investigated. As opposed to steady-state operation such as engine dyno tests, vehicle operations in actual markets are transient, and the boost pressure of turbocharger and its outlet air temperature can vary widely. Due to the thermal capacity of compressor housing, the temperature of housing changes after the outlet air temperature changes with certain time delay. The temperature model considering this delay has been developed and enabled to estimate the deposit formation, turbocharger efficiency loss and engine performance deterioration in transient conditions.


Background: Correct endotracheal tube suction is one of the effective methods to prevent ventilator-associated infection. Many studies have reported that normal saline and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in the trachea lead the translocation of bacteria to lower levels and increase the risk of pneumonia. Objectives: The present study sought to examine the effect of tracheal suction with NAC on the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Methods: This single-blind randomized clinical trial study was conducted on 60 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Khatam Al-Anbia Hospital in Zahedan, Iran, in 2020. The patients were selected using the convenience sampling method and assigned into two intervention and control groups by permutation block randomization. Before the intervention, the patients were evaluated using the Modified Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (MCPIS), and the patients with scores < 5 on this scale were included in the study. Suctioning tracheal secretions in the intervention group was performed by pouring 2 cc of NAC into the tracheal tube during suction. The same suction procedure was performed for the patients in the control group by pouring 2 cc of normal saline into the tracheal tube in a standard way. The intervention was conducted for five days. After the intervention, the MCPIS scale was administered once more for the two groups. The collected data were analyzed using the independent samples t-test and chi-square test with SPSS software (version 25). Results: The independent samples t-test showed no significant difference between the intervention and control groups regarding the incidence of pneumonia (P = 0.31). Conclusions: Despite the effect of NAC on the incidence rate of pneumonia in patients under mechanical ventilation, there was no significant difference between NAC and normal saline in reducing the incidence of pneumonia. However, since NAC leads to no specific complication in patients, it can be safely used in the suction of tracheal lobule secretions in patients under ventilators. In this regard, further studies should examine the use of NAC for suctioning during tracheal tube obstruction by secretions.


Recent research on the infant and young child suggests that the maturation of cognitive abilities and biologicaly based temperamental dispositions plays an important role in early psychological development. The enhancement of the cognitive competence of retrieval memory displayed during the end of the first year is a prerequisite for the universal fears of infancy, and the capacities for empathy and inference appear to be necessary for the development of standards on aggression. The temperamental disposition to display inhibition and distress to the unfamiliar appears to be a stable and significant characteristic of children in the second year of life.


Abstract The functional location of carotenoids in the photosynthetic apparatus of -crtB and -pys transformants of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus PCC7942 was studied and compared with a control strain -pFP 1-3. These transformants overproduce carotenoids due to the insertion of an additional foreign phytoene synthase gene. A higher carotenoid content was found for -crtB and -pys transformants both in whole cells and isolated membranes; the -crtB transformant was also enriched with chlorophyll. 77-K fluorescence emission and excitation spectra of the phycobilin-free membranes were examined for a possible location of overproduced carotenoids in pigment-protein complexes in situ. A similar ratio of the amplitudes of fluorescence bands at 716 and 695 nm emitted by photosystems I and II, found for the three strains, indicates that the stoichiometry between photosystems of the transformants was not changed. Overproduced carotenoids are not located in the core antenna of photosys tem I, since 77-K fluorescence excitation spectra for photosystem I of isolated membranes from the studied strains do not differ in the region of carotenoid absorption. When illuminated with light of the same intensity but different quality, absorbed preferentially by either carotenoids, chlorophylls or phycobilins, respectively, oxygen evolution was found always higher in the transformants -crtB and -pys than in -pFP 1-3 control cells. Identical kinetics of fluorescence induction of all strains under carotenoid excitation did not reveal a higher activity of photosystem II in cells enriched with carotenoids. It is suggested that overproduced carotenoids of the transformants are not involved in photosynthetic light-harvesting; rather they may serve to protect the cells and its membranes against photodestruction.


Abstract To investigate the substitution of Ti4+ for Si4+ on tetrahedral sites in clinopyroxene, a series of Ti- bearing clinopyroxene compositions was synthesized in the system CaO-MgO-SiO2-TiO2 (CMST) at pressures from 1 atm to 2 GPa and temperatures from 800 to 1200 °C. Along the join CaMgSi2O6(diopside)-CaMgTiSiO6, clinopyroxene crystallizes, depending on coexisting phases, as binary solid solutions (diopside-CaMgTiSiO6) or ternary solid solutions (diopside-CaMgTiSiO6- enstatite). The solubility of Ti increases with increasing temperature, whereas it decreases with increasing pressure. The binary clinopyroxene has an invariant composition (CaMgSi2O6)93(CaMgTiSiO6)7 (mol%) corresponding to a Ti content of 2.6 wt% at 1000 °C and 1 atm. Magnesium substitutes in the M2 site in ternary clinopyroxene and its solubility mainly increases with increasing temperature. The substitution of Si4+ by the larger Ti4+ cation on tetrahedral sites causes a linear increase hi a, b, c, β, and V by 0.0020 Å, 0.0012 Å, 0.0016 Å, 0.01°, and 0.28 Å3 per mol% CaMgTiSiO6, respectively.


The authors used the Simpson-Angus Neurological Rating Scale and the Simpson Abbreviated Dyskinesia Rating Scale to evaluate 132 psychiatric inpatients for the presence of parkinsonism-like symptoms and tardive dyskinesia, respectively. Ninety-four percent of these patients had been on a stable drug regimen for a minimum of 2 weeks before assessment; 91% were being treated with neuroleptics, 42% with antiparkinson agents, and 7% with tricyclic antidepressants. Tardive dyskinesia and parkinsonism-like symptoms coexisted in 17.4% of the 132 patients. Such coexistence poses a therapeutic dilemma for the clinician because drug treatment of improve one neurological condition may exacerbate the other.


Objective(s): Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the primary cause of anovulatory infertility in women, may change the gene expression profile of cumulus cells. In human ART (assisted reproductive technology), gene expression profiling in cumulus cells, a non-invasive method, may be used to identify the most competent oocytes. We aim to identify key genes according to the network-based data and assess the suitability of these genes as markers to predict oocyte competence and PCOS diagnosis. Materials and Methods: The GSE34526 microarray dataset was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The function and pathway enrichment analysis for DEGs were analyzed. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis and candidate gene screening were conducted. A two-layer network consisting of mRNA and lncRNA was constructed. Expression levels of hub genes were verified using quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). Results: A total of 2721 DEGs were retained. The PPI network of selected genes associated with the biological process of "cell communication" was analyzed, and the first 10 key genes were determined by degree. Additionally, 2 hub genes and 2 hub lncRNAs, including STAT3, RHOA, GAS5, and LINC01116, were selected from the lncRNA-mRNA network. Finally, expression levels of STAT3, RHOA, GAS5, and LINC01116 were significantly increased in the cumulus cells of PCOS patients compared to the control group (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in expression between the pregnant and non-pregnant groups. Conclusion: STAT3, RHOA, GAS5, and LINC01116 may serve as possible diagnostic markers for PCOS. However, further studies on a larger population are needed to validate this finding.


Writers on Corporatism Agree about Little but are nevertheless strikingly united in one belief, that America has failed to develop strong corporatist institutions. The two most important collections published in recent years, for instance, both contain papers explaining this supposed American uniqueness. Yet the notion that corporatism is conspicious by its absence is odd. It is indeed true that the United States has failed to develop one particularly ambitious form of corporatism — the organization of capital and labour into central institutions designed to achieve agreed national aims. The essence of corporatism consists, however, of something less than this grand social scheme. It resides in what Offe calls 'the attribution of public status to interest groups'. Endowing private bodies with public duties and public powers involves crossing a constitutional Rubicon. Behind lie the landscapes of liberal polities, with their open political struggle and comparatively clear separation of government from civil society. Beyond the Rubicon lie the features in Schmitter's famous description of corporatism — compulsion, hierarchy, monopoly. But these are contingent, not necessary, features. The quintessence of corporatism consists in the effort to endow private interests with sovereign authority. In so doing it challenges the great aim of a liberal polity — the separation of economic from political power — imposing in its place the 'devolution of public policymaking and enforcement on organised private interests'.


. In the present paper, fi rstly, we review our previous works on uncertainty quanti fi cation (UQ) of reactor physics parameters. This consists of (1) development of numerical tools based on the depletion perturbation theory (DPT), (2) linearity of reactor physics parameters to nuclear data, (3) UQ of decay heat and its reduction, and (4) correlation between decay heat and b -delayed neutrons emission. Secondly, we show results of extensive calculations about UQ on decay heat with several different numerical conditions by the DPT-based capability of a reactor physics code system CBZ.


The episode of financial crisis convulsed by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers was triggered by the prevailing unconfirmed rumors from CNBC. The "rumor come true" effect of capital market reflects the importance of investor beliefs. More importantly, it raises the dispute over media responsibility – whether exaggeration in media coverage would influence investors' trading therefore financial assets pricing. This paper empirically analyzes media's effects on capital market and finds that the media coverage would cause larger divergence of opinion among the traders and then create stock market bubbles. In addition, this paper, by analyzing the retail transactions through a microstructure research method, finds transaction form individual trader would amplify the bubbles effect of media. This paper makes it possible to investigate the influence of media coverage on transactions the time interval of which is subdivided through a specific empirical research method. This research will help to better understand the characteristics of the mechanisms of China market and price formation process as well as to improve the stock market efficiency.


The media are widely acknowledged as important in sex and relationship education, but they are usually associated with 'bad' effects on young people in contrast to the 'good' knowledge represented by more informational and educational formats. In this paper we look at sex advice giving in newspapers, magazines and television in the UK, in sex advice books and in online spaces for sexual learning. We examine some of the limitations of the information provided, consider the challenges for sex advice in the contemporary context, and outline some of the opportunities for academics, researchers, therapists, sex educators and activists to contribute productively to sex advice giving and sexual learning more generally.


PURPOSE
To assure that tumor motion is within the radiation field during high-dose and high-precision radiosurgery, real-time imaging and surrogate monitoring are employed. These methods are useful in providing real-time tumor/surrogate motion but no future information is available. In order to anticipate future tumor/surrogate motion and track target location precisely, an algorithm is developed and investigated for estimating surrogate motion multiple-steps ahead.

METHODS
The study utilized a one-dimensional surrogate motion signal divided into three components: (a) training component containing the primary data including the first frame to the beginning of the input subsequence; (b) input subsequence component of the surrogate signal used as input to the prediction algorithm: (c) output subsequence component is the remaining signal used as the known output of the prediction algorithm for validation. The prediction algorithm consists of three major steps: (1) extracting subsequences from training component which best-match the input subsequence according to given criterion; (2) calculating weighting factors from these best-matched subsequence; (3) collecting the proceeding parts of the subsequences and combining them together with assigned weighting factors to form output. The prediction algorithm was examined for several patients, and its performance is assessed based on the correlation between prediction and known output.

RESULTS
Respiratory motion data was collected for 20 patients using the RPM system. The output subsequence is the last 50 samples (∼2 seconds) of a surrogate signal, and the input subsequence was 100 (∼3 seconds) frames prior to the output subsequence. Based on the analysis of correlation coefficient between predicted and known output subsequence, the average correlation is 0.9644±0.0394 and 0.9789±0.0239 for equal-weighting and relative-weighting strategies, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Preliminary results indicate that the prediction algorithm is effective in estimating surrogate motion multiple-steps in advance. Relative-weighting method shows better prediction accuracy than equal-weighting method. More parameters of this algorithm are under investigation.


Introduction. Circulating tumor DNA analysis has the potential to transform the clinical management of patients with breast cancer. We assessed the accuracy of ultra-high sensitivity ctDNA testing in patients with advanced breast cancer. Methods. From a prospective tissue collection study, we identified 25 patients with a contemporaneous metastatic tissue biopsy and plasma for ctDNA testing. Tumour DNA from the metastatic tissue biopsy was sequenced with a validated clinical hybrid capture panel, while plasma cell free DNA was sequenced with AVENIO ctDNA technology – a molecular barcoded duplex sequencing based on CAPPseq technology. Sample collection is on-going and results from the full concordance series will be presented at the conference. Results. Circulating tumour DNA was detectable in 87% (20/23) of patients, with at least one variant from tissue sequencing identified in plasma. There was overall high agreement between tissue and plasma sequencing. The sensitivity of plasma testing for variants identified in tumour, positive percent agreement, was 75% (24/32). Plasma testing revealed a diversity of sub-clonal mutations including polyclonal ESR1, polyclonal FGFR2 and FGFR3 mutations, rare KRAS mutations, and TSC1 and MSH2 inactivating mutations. Conclusions. Circulating tumour DNA testing with molecular barcoded duplex sequencing offers high sensitivity for tumour variant detection. The extent of sub-clonal resistance mutations identified emphasises the genetic diversity of advanced breast cancer. Citation Format: Garcia-Murillas I, Proszek P, Fribbens C, Yuan L, Bye H, Hubank M, Jiang J, Yuang S, Palma J, Johnston S, Ring A, Turner N. Circulating tumor DNA analysis with ultra-high sensitivity sequencing in metastatic breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-02-17.


African performances and tradition form important parts of literature in Africa. In fact, even in this 21 st century, which is characterized by audio and digital recordings, the bulk of African performances are still not recorded. African performance, as generally known, is dependent on the performer(s) and audience. The audience, until recently, played an active role in traditional African performances. This was at a time when the performer(s) and the audience held the same belief and cultural system. In whichever way the performance manifested itself; in dance, music, drama, oral poetry recitals or folktales, the performers and the audience mostly merged as one and saw the performance as a communal activity and, therefore, did all there was to ensure its success. But recent developments, beginning with Euro-Christian advent, have served to distraught a once active audience into a modern passive one. The advent of the foreigners who introduced beliefs and cultural systems new to the African, has served to disrupt the African performance which had always been the main form of entertainment, education and moral edification. Sad to say, as a result of this, African performances in its original rendition, have now metamorphosed into western classical performances. This trend cannot be reversed easily; however, it can be adapted to boost active participation in African performances. This paper examines those beliefs and cultural systems which have shattered the very foundations of African performances. The researchers therefore evaluated and analyzed these challenges through interview, case study and content analysis approaches of the qualitative research method. Most importantly, the paper focuses on the blending of both the European and African cultures for a positive change. It concludes that despite the changing nature of the performances, African performances still retains its taste and her audiences are still alive, hence, with the case study of the "Odiiche Dance". It is also the recommendation of the researchers that African-centered courses be taught throughout the educational levels in such a way as to refute the thinking that only the uncivilized persons participate in African traditional performances.


In order to monitor loosened state and deformational fault for transformer winding, the monitoring method based on vibration and reactance information is proposed in this paper. Theoretical models of winding deformational state with vibration and reactance information are established and calculated. Multi-information monitoring model is established, which include vibration and reactance information monitoring method. Multi-information integrated monitoring strategy is proposed. The CEEMD-energy entropy transformation method is proposed to extract vibration feature information, and reactance feature information is extracted by reactance identification method. Aiming at a 500kVA, 35kV transformer prototype, experiment of short circuit current impact is carried on, three types of deformational windings including radial extend in middle position, axial stretching loosened and coil folding in end position are developed. Monitoring experiment on loosened state winding after multi-short circuit current impacts and three types of deformational fault windings are carried on. The monitoring results are consistent with the actual deformational state of transformer windings. Loosened state and deformational fault of windings can be monitored by proposed monitoring method based on vibration and reactance information effectively, which provide basis for multi-information monitoring.


Visual symptoms after coronary angiography are rarely encountered and mostly related to contrast induced transient cortical blindness or retinal artery occlusions. We report an intriguing case of a 50-year-old woman, who presented with vision deterioration in her right eye 12 h after coronary angiography for cardiac palpitation. Fundoscopy and optical coherence tomography scan revealed an isolated parafoveal cotton wool spot in her right eye that has totally resolved 6 weeks after initial presentation. This is the first case report of this rare post coronary angiography complication.


Objective: Systemic inflammatory response syndrome and hemodilution during cardiopulmonary bypass are important factors in morbidity and mortality. Extracorporeal circulatory systems were modified to reduce this problem and the minimal extracorporeal circulatory system (MECC) was developed. Our study aimed to compare the MECC and conventional extracorporeal circulatory systems in patients who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted retrospectively on patients who underwent isolated CABG surgery in our clinic between September 1, 2013-December 31, 2018. The patients were divided into those in whom the MECC system (Group 1) and the conventional extracorporeal circulatory system (Group 2) were used. Results: The study was performed on a total of 140 CABG patients, 71 of which were performed with MECC (Group 1) and 69, with the conventional extracorporeal circulatory system (Group 2). Group 1 had higher mean age, ASA, and New York Heart Association values, and an increased rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (p<0.05 for


We have investigated the hydrogen distribution within multilayered Mo/V (110) and (001) artificial superlattices. The hydrogen concentration, determined by the nuclear resonance reaction, is found to decrease with decreasing layer thickness. The decrease is attributed to an interface region with reduced hydrogen content. The extension of this interface region is found to be two monolayers in Mo/V (110), compared to the previously reported three monolayers in Mo/V (001) superlattices. In the (110) oriented samples the relative amount of H in the interface region decreases with increasing average H content (H/V - 0.5). This effect is shown to be related to the orientation of the hydrogen planes with respect to the boundaries implied by the Mo/V interfaces. The hydrogen induced volume change, obtained by conventional x-ray diffraction (XRD) and reciprocal space mapping, is found to be smaller for the (110) samples than for the (001) oriented samples at room temperature.


We have studied Stark localization of the minibands in coupled quantum wells by considering the effect of an external electric field, applied along the growth axis, on a multiple-quantum well system which is identical to the effect of the ladder-like increment in the potential energy. The mixing feature of the Stark ladders is explained by using an analysis of the spatial probability distribution of the carrier. We have found that at intermediate ladder values a certain degree of delocalization of the carrier wave functions exists and finally at large ladder values the Stark-ladder states become localized within individual wells and a combined band structure occurs.


In 12 patients with active ulcerative colitis (UC) the rectal epithelial cells were analyzed for HLA-DR antigens by an immunohistochemical technique. The clinical, rectoscopic, and histologic stages were also determined. The investigations were carried out at the beginning of the study and 2 weeks and 3 months later. The rectal epithelial cells were HLA-DR-positive in all patients at the first two examinations. After 3 months five patients had changed to an HLA-DR-negative stage, whereas the other seven patients remained HLA-DR-positive. Closer analyses showed that expression/nonexpression of HLA-DR antigens on rectal epithelial cells of patients with UC could not be predicted from the clinical, rectoscopic, or histologic findings. HLA-DR expression is normally restricted to immunocompetent cells. The presence of HLA-DR antigens on epithelial cells may be a consequence of immunological reactions. Whether HLA-DR-positive cells have a specific function is unknown.


When a plane moving shock wave encounters an inclined wall, it is reflected by the wall. In these reflection problems, four different types of reflection have been observed in previous shock tube experiments. Namely, they are regular reflection, single-Mach, complex-Mach, and double-Mach reflections. However, in regard to these reflections, there are many questions which are not yet resolved. In the present study, the reflection phenomena of the shock waves have been investigated experimentally over a wide range of incident shock Mach numbers and wedge angles using air or chlorofluoro-carbon (Freon-12), as a working gas. In the experiment using Freon-12, a new type of reflection which cannot be classified into any one of the above four types has been observed. The domains where these five types of reflection can occur and the transition boundaries from one type of reflection to another have been discussed.


Introduction: Children with ADHD often present to pediatric endocrinologists due to growth concerns. Growth hormone stimulation testing (GHST) may be utilized as part of the workup. We evaluate whether children with ADHD and short stature or growth failure are more likely to fail GHST compared to children without ADHD. Methods: We retrospectively studied children who underwent GHST as part of evaluation for short stature and/or growth failure and had an intact pituitary over a 16-year period (2002–2018). We performed univariate and logistic regression analyses with stratification by age. Results: We included 260 children; 78 children had ADHD and were older, mean age (±SD) 12.2 (±2.6) years versus children without ADHD, mean age (±SD) 10.4 (±3.8) years. The population was largely Caucasian, and boys outnumbered the girls. Of the children with ADHD, only 9 were not medically treated. There was no difference in z-scores for height, weight, and BMI, or mid-parental height between the two groups. We found that children with ADHD were more likely to fail GHST than children without ADHD across the peak GH cut-offs of 10, 7, and 5 ng/mL (p = 0.003, p = 0.023, and p = 0.046 accordingly). The same trend persisted after regression analysis with adjustment for sex and stratification by age, and effect was more robust in the older group. Discussion: The result shows higher likelihood of lower GH peaks in response to GHST in children with ADHD and short stature or impaired linear growth. Future work should evaluate possible mechanistic explanation and the role of psycho-stimulant medications.


Preventing obesity is a high priority for Australian governments. While individuals have a responsibility to manage their own diet and weight, governments also have a role to play. Governments can enable individual health promoting behaviours through a range of means including: the physical environment (for example, by providing access to cycle paths that are safe), economic incentives (for example, by imposing taxes on unhealthy foods), policies (for example, by funding health services that help people lose weight), and social-cultural factors (for example, advertising campaigns designed to change attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, values and norms of the societal or cultural group). This paper considers the evidence regarding economic incentives in the form of targeted taxes and subsidies on food and beverages.


This volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series contains the general invited lectures, topical invited lectures and progress reports presented at the 26th Summer School and International Symposium on the Physics of Ionized Gases – SPIG 2012. The conference was held in Zrenjanin, Serbia, from 27–31 August. The SPIG conference has a 52 year long tradition. The structure of the papers in this volume cover the following sections: atomic collision processes, particle and laser beam interactions with solids, low temperature plasmas and general plasmas. As these four topics often overlap and merge in numerous fundamental studies and, more importantly applications, SPIG in general serves as a venue for exchanging ideas in the related fields. We hope that this volume will be an important source of information about progress in plasma physics and will be useful, first of all, for students, but also for plasma physics scientists. The Editors would like to thank the invited speakers for their participation at SPIG 2012 and for their efforts writing contributions for this volume. We also express our gratitude to the members of Scientific and Organizing committees for their efforts in organizing this SPIG. Especially we would like to thank the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Republic of Serbia, Provincial Secretariat for Science and Techonological Development, Province of Vojvodina, Institute Français de Serbie and Biser Zrenjanin for financial support as well as the European Physical Society (EPS) for supporting the award for the best poster of a young scientist and American Elements, USA. Milorad Kuraica Zoran Mijatovic October 2012 Editors


This dissertation is an examination of the changes in Hong Kong cinema since the handover from British rule to the Peoples Republic of China in 1997, charting the development of new generic conventions in Hong Kong cinema from independent productions through to mainstream studio pictures. From Fruit Chan's low budget Handover Trilogy, through to the internationally acclaimed Infernal Affairs trilogy and beyond, this study follows the path of the social and political concerns that surrounded the handover as they have permeated through mainstream Hong Kong cinema. Using Andrew Lau & Alan Mak's Infernal Affairs trilogy as a case study, this dissertation proposes the existence of "handover cinema" as a new genre, explicitly shaped by the unique social, political and economic circumstances experienced in Hong Kong over the last two decades. With textual analysis of the Infernal Affairs trilogy supported by socio-political texts such as Ackbar Abass's Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance (1997) this dissertation identifies the fundamental points of departure from pre-1997 productions, framing Infernal Affairs as a key text within "handover cinema". Following the genres development, and the increasingly political nature of commercial cinema in post-handover Hong Kong, this study explores "handover cinema" as an indicator of the fragile relationship between Hong Kong and China. Emphasising the divergence between the political and the social transformation of the region, "handover cinema" is positioned as both a representation of, and a component in, the development of Hong Kong over the last decade.


Abstract The TRIPS Agreement, which specifies minimum levels of intellectual property protection for countries in the WTO, has increased levels of patent protection around the world. Using variation across countries in the timing of patent laws and the severity of disease, we test the hypothesis that increased patent protection results in greater drug development effort. We find that patent protection in wealthy countries is associated with increases in R&D effort. However, the introduction of patents in developing countries has not been followed by greater R&D investment in the diseases that are most prevalent there.


Brain metastases can effectively be treated with surgical resection and adjuvant stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT). Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) has been used to non-invasively map the motor cortex prior to surgery of motor eloquent brain lesions. To date, few studies have reported the integration of such motor maps into radiotherapy planning. The hippocampus has been identified as an additional critical structure of radiation-induced deficits. The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility of selective dose reduction to both the nTMS-based motor cortex and the hippocampi in SRT of motor-eloquent brain metastases. Patients with motor-eloquent brain metastases undergoing surgical resection and adjuvant SRT between 07/2014 and 12/2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The radiotherapy treatment plans were retrieved from the treatment planning system ("original" plan). For each case, two intensity-modulated treatment plans were created: the "motor" plan aimed to reduce the dose to the motor cortex, the "motor & hipp" plan additionally reduce the dose to the hippocampus. The optimized plans were compared with the "original" plan regarding plan quality, planning target volume (PTV) coverage, and sparing of organs at risk (OAR). 69 plans were analyzed, all of which were clinically acceptable with no significant differences for PTV coverage. All OAR were protected according to standard protocols. Sparing of the nTMS motor map was feasible: mean dose 9.66 ± 5.97 Gy (original) to 6.32 ± 3.60 Gy (motor) and 6.49 ± 3.78 Gy (motor & hipp), p<0.001. In the "motor & hipp" plan, dose to the ipsilateral hippocampi could be significantly reduced (max 1.78 ± 1.44 Gy vs 2.49 ± 1.87 Gy in "original", p = 0.003; mean 1.01 ± 0.92 Gy vs. 1.32 ± 1.07 Gy in "original", p = 0.007). The study confirms the results from previous studies that inclusion of nTMS motor information into radiotherapy treatment planning is possible with a relatively straightforward workflow and can achieve reduced doses to the nTMS-defined motor area without compromising PTV coverage. Furthermore, we demonstrate the feasibility of selective dose reduction to the hippocampus at the same time. The clinical significance of these optimized plans yet remains to be determined. However, with no apparent disadvantages these optimized plans call for further and broader exploration.


Background Effective implementation of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) guidelines has effectively reduced sepsis mortality. The effects of hospital level and ownership on compliance with the SSC guideline 1-hour bundle (Cssc-1h) are unclear. We designed this study to identify the differences in Cssc-1h between secondary and tertiary hospitals, public hospitals, and private hospitals. Methods In this survey, 1,420 hospitals were enrolled, including 864 public tertiary hospitals, 482 public secondary hospitals, 34 private tertiary hospitals, 40 private secondary hospitals. The data were collected between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2018. The outcomes were adherence to the SSC guidelines (2018 update). Monitoring indicators include 1-hour bundle and its sub-indicators (measure lactate level and remeasure lactate level if initial lactate is >2 mmol/L, obtain blood cultures before administering antibiotics, administer broad-spectrum antibiotics, begin rapid administration of 30 mL/kg crystalloid for hypotension or lactate ≥4 mmol/L, apply vasopressor if hypotension is present during or after fluid resuscitation to maintain a mean arterial pressure ≥65 mmHg). Every monitoring indicator was stratified by the median, which is defined as 1 if greater than or equal to the median, and 0 if not. Results Cssc-1h in tertiary hospitals was significantly higher than in secondary hospitals (P<0.05). However, there were no statistical differences in Cssc-1h in public hospitals and private hospitals. Conclusions Cssc-1h in tertiary hospitals was significantly better than that in secondary hospitals. There is an urgent need to improve Cssc-1h in secondary hospitals. The increase in private hospitals will not reduce Cssc-1h.


Evolution of small-vacancy clusters in bcc Fe is simulated using a multiscale approach coupling an atomistic activation-relaxation method for sampling transition-state pathways with environment-dependent reaction coordinate calculations and a kinetic Monte Carlo simulation to reach time scales on the order of ~10⁴ s. Under vacancy-supersaturated condition, di- and trivacancy clusters form and grow by coalescence (Ostwald ripening). For cluster size greater than four we find a transition temperature of 150 °C for accelerated cluster growth, as observed in positron annihilation spectroscopy experiments. Implications for the mechanism of stage-IV radiation-damage-recovery kinetics are discussed.


We propose a model for structuring knowledge in vague and continuous domains where similarity plays a role in coming up with plausible inferences. The model consists of two levels, one of which is an inference network with nodes representing concepts and links representing roles connecting concepts, and the other is a microfeature-based replica of the first level. Based on the interaction between the concept nodes and microfeature nodes in the model, inferences are facilitated and knowledge not explicitly encoded in a system can be deduced via mixed similarity matching and rule application. The model is able to take account of many important desiderata of plausible reasoning and produces sensible conclusions accordingly. Examples are presented to illustrate the utility of the model in structuring knowledge to enable useful inferences to be carried out in several domains. >


PURPOSE
Investigate and quantify the effect of dose and LET on the RBE of protons, helium and carbon ions.

METHODS
High throughput, high accuracy experimental setups were custom designed to investigate the Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) dependence on the dose and Linear Energy Transfer (LET) values for proton, helium and carbon ion beams. The experiment was conducted at the HIT facility in collaboration with the DKFZ in Heidelberg/Germany. Clonogenic assays of two human lung cancer cell lines, H460 and H1437, were investigated in this study. γH2AX foci staining on the H460 cell line was also undertaken to facilitate the study of differential DNA double-strand break induction and repair between low-design available at the HIT facility. Specific points along the Bragg curve corresponding to well-defined doses and LET values were chosen by appropriate selection of the pre-absorber thicknesses. With a setup design for horizontal beam lines we were able to minimize ion scattering in the cell plate, resulting in narrower energy spectra and hence LET distributions in the Bragg peak and in the distal falloff regions, compared to the earlier experiments.

RESULTS
Approximately 16,000 samples of cancer cells were irradiated during 23 hours of beam time. The preliminary results of the survival curves for both cell lines show a distinct dependence on LET for a given dose with decreased survival fractions at increasing LET values, encountered at the Bragg peak and in the distal falloff.

CONCLUSION
Our preliminary findings are indicative of the importance of novel variable-RBE models for proton therapy and provide insight into the RBE of heavy ions for possible future heavy ion therapy facilities in the US. Funding support: SINF 2015/16.


ABSTR4CT.- Current knowledge of the taxonomic and geographic composition of Madagascar's resident avifauna is reviewed, with particular emphasis on forest birds. Distribution patterns in the avifauna do not match those of the botanical communities, and especially the domains of floristic endemism in the Eastern Region. The tolerance of the endemic forest avifauna to habitat degradation is proportional to its degree of taxonomic endemism. The 21 species belonging to the two endemic families and the two endemic subfamilies are clearly the most sensitive to forest degradation. The members of these higher taxonomic groups could serve as useful biological indicators of Madagascar's forest habitats.


Phylogenetic relationships of Iranian Acanthodactylus species were investigated using 1407 bp of mitochondrial DNA including 606 bp of cytochrome b and 801 bp of NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4). Analyses done with maximum parsimony, maximum-likelihood, and Bayesian inference included 67 specimens from 27 geographically distinct localities in Iran. Our molecular results proposed three clear and geographically isolated clades by their phylogenetic positions and genetic differences. These three major clades are: (1) A. micropholis+ A. grandis+ A. khamirensis; (2) A. blanfordi+ A. schmidti+ Acanthodactylus sp1; (3) A. nilsoni+ A. boskianus + Acanthodactylus sp2. The phylogenetic analyses of the genus did not group A. grandis with the remaining species of the A. boskianus group and clustered it along with A. khamirensis within the A. micropholis group. In addition, phylogenetic results revealed a monophyletic status for A. schmidti and A. micropholis groups. Molecular clock approach indicated that the most recent divergence event splits A. micropholis from A. khamirensis about 2 MYA and results of dispersal-vicariance analyses showed that this diversification occurred by dispersal event rather than vicariance. Results of Reconstruct Ancestral State in Phylogenies (RASP) showed that Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) of A. micropholis, A. blanfordi and A. sp1 originated in eastern Iran. The first diversification of the genus in Iran most likely occurred between 8.5-9 MYA corresponding with the hypothesis that the genus has entered Iran long after the complete uplifting of the Zagros Mts. (10-12 MYA) which limited its dispersal only to the Persian Gulf shores and western slopes of the Zagros Mts.


Background and purpose: With the emergence of linear accelerators in radiotherapy, it becomes necessary to accurately select new dosing regimens. The purpose of this study was to assess the morphological changes of spermatogenesis after radiation exposure. Materials and methods: Male Wistar rats (n = 40) were subjected to targeted ionizing radiation on a pulsed electron accelerator "NOVAC-11" with doses of 2, 8 and 12 Gy. Spermatogenesis was assessed a week later using light microscopy and immunohistochemical method (antibodies to Ki-67, Bcl-2, p53, Caspase 3). Results: A decrease in the number of normal germ cells was seen in all experimental groups, while radioresistant Sertoli and Leydig cells were barely affected. The most serious damage to the tubules and germ cells was observed in 8 and 12 Gy irradiation groups. IHC analysis of testes after irradiation showed a shift in the proliferative-apoptotic balance toward apoptosis of germ cells: a decrease in the expression levels of Ki-67 and Bcl-2, an increase in p53-positive and caspase 3-positive cells by the end of the experiment. Conclusion: Dose-dependent progressive pathomorphological changes in histoarchitectonics of the testes are traced, and a decrease in the number of germ cells is seen on the seventh day after irradiation with a pulsed electron accelerator "NOVAC-11".


The real challenge in pattern recognition tasks and machine learning processes is to train a discriminator using labeled data and use it to distinguish between future data points as accurate as possible. However, most of the problems in the real world have numerous data. Therefore assigning labels to every data points in these problems are a cumbersome or even impossible matter. Semi-supervised learning is one approach to overcome these types of problems. It uses only a small set of labeled with the company of huge remain and unlabeled data to train the discriminator. In semi-supervised learning, it is very essential that which data is labeled and depend on position of data it effectiveness changes. In this paper, we proposed an evolutionary approach called Artificial Immune System (AIS) to determine which data is better to be labeled to get the high quality data. The experimental results represent the effectiveness of this algorithm in finding these data points.


Objective: To analyze the changes in land-use and vegetation (LUV), from 1985 to 2014, in the sites in northern Mexico where 16 pine trees listed in the NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 are collected.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Based on consultations in botanical collections, a georeferenced database of the species under study was developed. A point coverage was created to which LUV vector information from Series I (1985) and VI (2014) was added. Subsequently, LUV class changes were identified during the evaluation period through spatial analysis and geoprocessing.
Results: A total of 2,242 georeferenced records of pine species were obtained. Fifty percent of the pine records consulted in collections with Series I information belong to other non-primary forest categories of LUV, while with Series VI information with this condition rose to 58.7%. Consequently, in the study period major changes occurred in the conversion of primary forests to agricultural lands, pasture, secondary vegetation in coniferous and oak forests, and mainly urban areas.
Limitations/Implications: The availability of larger-scale cartographic material limited the generation of a risk analysis study about the changes and threats to forest conservation.
Findings/Conclusions: The number of collection sites registered in coniferous forest, scrubland, and primary oak forest in Series I —which are now agricultural lands, water bodies, pastures, and urban areas— was significantly lower than in Series VI.


Persistent drooling in a neurologically impaired patient is often multifactorial and various treatment modalities have been employed to overcome this distressing condition. This study analysed the outcome after bilateral submandibular duct transposition and simultaneous sublingual gland excision in 20 patients with persistent drooling treated between January 1989 and July 1994. Twelve were male and eight were female and were aged 5 years to 40 years. The outcome was considered much better/excellent in 11 cases (55%), better/good in eight cases (40%), no significant improvement in one case (5%) and none were considered worse after the procedure, in the 'early' postoperative period. Long-term results, judged by an 18-point questionnaire sent to the carers after an average duration of 3.2 years post-operatively, were available for 19 patients. In all, 16 carers (84%) felt the drooling had significantly reduced, and three carers (16%) felt that there was no improvement. The three patients who were considered not to have improved were all found to have made a 'good' improvement in the early post-operative period. The morbidity associated with the procedure was of a mild and transient nature and there was a complete absence of ranula formation in our series. The procedure was well accepted by the carers, who were also willing to recommend the procedure to others with a similar problem.


The objectives of this thesis are, by using an abductive methodology and from international regime and agenda-setting theoretical perspectives, to first define the European Union's Northern Dimension (ND) initiative as an international regime, secondly, to categorize the various formation stages of the policy regime and to identify future challenges. The thesis concludes with the following policy implications for the formulation of the future ND policy: 1) All nation states covered by the ND policy should be included as equal parties in formulating and implementing the policy; 2) the organizational structure of the initiative, hereunder the linkages between institutional levels has to be made clearer; 3) some of the positive experiences from the organizational structure of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership and the Northern Dimension Partnership for Health and Social well-being could be utilized. Thus, copying the partnership structure to the other issue areas identified under the Northern Dimension, and focusing attention on concrete projects to implement and raising adequate funding for these projects and finally; 4) these new partnerships should be regarded as regional expressions of the four common spaces between the Russian Federation and the European Union.