In 1986, a paper in the Lancet was the first to collate hematology, molecular findings, and clinical features of homozygous sickle cell (SS) disease in India. The paper came from the group organized by Professor Bimal Kar in Burla Medical College, Sambalpur University, in western Odisha. Although widely quoted, few readers will be aware of the history of this work that is now attached in an informal summary.


The present invention relates to the compression of color image data. A combination of hard decision pixel mapping and soft decision pixel mapping is used to jointly address both quantization distortion and compression rate while maintaining low computational complexity and compatibility with standard decoders, such as, for example, the GIF/PNG decoder.


Abstract Electronic commerce and flexible manufacturing allow personalization of initially standardized products at low cost. Will customers provide the information necessary for personalization? Assuming that a consumer can control the amount of information revealed, we analyze how her decision interacts with the pricing strategy of a monopolist who may abuse the information to obtain a larger share of total surplus. We consider two scenarios, one where consumers have different tastes but identical willingness to pay and another with high and low valuation customers. In both cases full revelation may only result if the monopolist can commit to a maximum price before consumers decide about disclosure.


Traditional theories of enzyme kinetics do not model the influences of rapidly changing and nonisotropic enzyme concentrations in real-world systems. We have modeled local enzyme concentrations in space and time following quantal release of human leukocyte elastase (HLE) from cytoplasmic granules of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN). Calculations from first principles indicate that approximately 67,000 molecules of HLE are stored in each azurophil granule at a mean concentration of 5.33 mM, which exceeds pericellular inhibitor concentrations in vivo by nearly 3 orders of magnitude. Diffusion analysis predicts obligate catalytic activity (excess of local enzyme over inhibitor concentration) that extends to 1.33 microns from the site of granule extrusion (7.8-fold larger than the mean radius of the granule), with a duration of 12.4 ms, when the pericellular concentration of alpha 1-antitrypsin equals that of normal plasma. In contrast, when PMN are bathed in alpha 1-antitrypsin concentrations found in plasma from individuals with alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, the radius and duration of obligate catalytic activity are increased 2.5-fold and 6.2-fold, respectively. These simulations agree remarkably well with our recent direct observations and provide a novel, nonoxidative mechanism by which quantum bursts of extracellular proteolytic activity occur despite proteinase inhibitors in the bathing medium. Titration of local enzyme-inhibitor concentration is the dominant determinant of the size and duration of such events. This construct provides new insights into the pathogenesis of tissue injury in alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Abstract To accurately estimate the natural wind driven ventilation potential of a specific low rise building in a densely shielded or built-up area under local wind conditions, it is necessary to have site wind frequency data, pressure coefficient data, details about the windward and leeward openings of the building and the data related to building design. This paper summarises the appropriate data and discusses how to obtain these in order to estimate the natural cross ventilation potential of such a low-rise building. While building and weather information are relatively easy to obtain, a fundamental issue is the need to determine the wind pressure coefficient. Although published data are available, these are often not sufficient to satisfy the particular needs of individual building geometries exposed to specific surrounding shielding patterns. In these instances, wind tunnel analysis remains an important tool. However, small scale models are required in order to incorporate sufficient surrounding terrain. In the past, scaling has been hampered by the need to include an array of pressure taps on each face of the scale model. By using hook type surface mounted pressure taps, as outlined in this paper, it is possible to reduce scale size. This greatly improves the ability of wind tunnel models to simulate the local environment around buildings for cross-flow analysis. Such data also has application in more complex studies involving air quality and computational fluid dynamics analysis.


We assessed the value of positron emission tomography (PET) with 2-['8Fjfluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) and 16a['8F]fluoro-17 3-estradiol (FES) in women with breast cancer for predicting response to systemic therapy. Results of FES-PET were correlated with estrogen receptor (ER)


Background: Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate aspects of construct validity, as part of the ongoing developmental process of the Knee Osteoarthritis Patient Education Questionnaire (KOPEQ 2). The subjects were patients with severe knee osteoarthritis who participated routinely in a preoperative educational intervention prior to undergoing a knee replacement operation. Construct validity was compared to an alternative measure with a comparable construct. The design used was a mixed method approach. Methods: The first step was to reduce the number of items on the first version of the KOPEQ. This was followed by a cross-sectional validation study to compare the revised KOPEQ 2 to a patient-testing protocol GOLD (interview-based), which was tailored to the same patient educational material. The KOPEQ was also correlated with the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy and the Mini-Mental State Examination score, based on a priori hypotheses. Results: Following item reduction, a relatively high internal consistency for the revised 7-item KOPEQ 2 was found, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.84 (SE: 0.036). Explanatory factor analysis showed no evidence against a one-factor model (with the first and second eigenvalue being 3.8 and 0.31, respectively). Bayesian Estimation of the correlation between KOPEQ 2 and GOLD was 0.78 (mode) (95% HPD 0.58 – 0.89). Conclusions: The KOPEQ 2 shows good psychometric properties and can provide support to health professionals by giving valid feedback on how patients experienced the applied patient education intervention while waiting for a knee replacement operation. Further studies are needed to assess the applicability of the KOPEQ 2 outside the fields of knee osteoarthritis and knee replacement.


Abstract Asthma is a chronic illness that affects 1 in 4 children, 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 10 adults. Effective control of asthma requires a good level of knowledge and self-management. Current literature supports the premise that education is a vital ingredient in self-mangement. In this paper, the author has studied the literature to determine the factors which influence asthma management to determine if education alone is the key to good control or if compliance with asthma management regimens is reliant on factors other than education.


Our limited understanding of real-life music information queries is an impediment to developing music information retrieval (MIR) systems that meet the needs of real users. This study aims to contribute to developing a theorized understanding of how people seek music information by an empirical investigation of real-life queries, in particular, focusing on the accuracy of user-provided information and users' uncertainty expressions. This study found that much of users' information is inaccurate: users made various syntactic and semantic errors in providing this information. Despite these inaccuracies and uncertainties, many queries were successful in eliciting correct answers. A theory from pragmatics is suggested as a partial explanation for the unexpected success of inaccurate queries.


New Zealand's (NZ) geographical isolation, extensive coastline and well‐characterized oceanography offer a valuable system for marine biogeographical research. Here we use mtDNA control region sequences in the abundant endemic sea‐star Patiriella regularis to test the following literature‐based predictions: that coastal upwelling disrupts north–south gene flow and promotes population differentiation (hypothesis 1); and that an invasive Tasmanian population of the species was introduced anthropogenically from southern New Zealand (hypothesis 2). We sequenced 114 samples from 22 geographical locations, including nine sites from North Island, nine from South Island, one from Stewart Island and three from Tasmania. Our analysis of these sequences revealed an abundance of shallow phylogenetic lineages within P. regularis (68 haplotypes, mean divergence 0.9%). We detected significant genetic heterogeneity between pooled samples from northern vs. southern New Zealand (FST = 0.072; P = 0.0002), consistent with the hypothesis that upwelling disrupts gene flow between these regions (hypothesis 1). However, we are currently unable to rule out the alternative hypothesis that Cook Strait represents a barrier to dispersal (North Island vs. South Island; FST = 0.031; P = 0.0467). The detection of significant spatial structure in NZ samples is consistent with restricted gene flow, and the strong structure evident in northern NZ may be facilitated by distinct ocean current systems. Four shared haplotypes and nonsignificant differentiation (FST = 0.025; P = 0.2525) between southern New Zealand and Tasmanian samples is consistent with an anthropogenic origin for the latter population (hypothesis 2).


\roCal\ is a new calculus that integrates in a uniform and simple setting first-order rewriting, $\lambda$-calculus and non-deterministic computations. This paper describes the calculus from its syntax to its basic properties in the untyped case. We show how it embeds first-order rewriting & $\lambda$-calculus. Finally we use \roCal\ to give an operational semantics to the rewrite based language \elan.


In this research, the main objective is to develop an intuitive control API in Catroid to enhance its usability as a graphical programming tool for children and study the human-mobile interaction and experience made possible with this control API. Another objective is to develop this control API in open source development method and benchmark it with the typical software development method.
It would greatly enrich user experience if Catroid can provide support for implementing intuitive control concepts to enhance its usability for children. But currently Catroid do not have control API support to develop intuitive user interaction with the application. In brief, an intuitive control API is missing in Catroid. Without such an API, the potential of Catroid as a programming tool cannot be unleashed.
This research studies the maximization programming power of Catroid and advancement of control API in Catroid into a more intuitive form. This research studies the Open Source Development Model used to develop the control API. The scope of prototype will only covers locating direction, tilting, turning, and shaking motions as the new intuitive control made possible in Catroid
The research methodology is Open Source Development Methodology (OSDM) and the Test-Driven Development Method with Extreme Programming is used for code development. The objective of OSDM is to utilize the online community who is the user and developers of Catroid to review and test source code to improve the software quality.
The intuitive control API where phone sensors are integrated will further improve the user interaction and experience both in using Catroid and its application. The intuitive control API consists of sensor variables and If-Then-Else Command Block. The If-Then-Else Command Block acts as the control and the sensor variables make the control become intuitive. Accelerometer and orientation sensor are implemented in this control API where each of the sensors contributed 3 different values acted as the sensor variables: X-Sensor Acceleration, Y-Sensor Acceleration, Z-Sensor Acceleration, Azimuth, Pitch, and Roll. These sensor variables can be assigned to or removed from any text field in the Command Blocks using the Formula Editor. The usage of the intuitive control API is simple and straight forward. When a sensor variable is assigned to one of the fields in If-Then-Else Command Blocks, the intuitive control is developed. The Command Blocks in between the If-Statement Command Block and End of If Command Block will be executed whenever the logic condition in the If-Statement is true.
Various intuitive user interactions could be developed depending on the creativity of users. The most popular intuitive user interactions are through locating direction, tilting, turning and shaking motions.
Open Source Development Method allows developers to redefine the user requirements along with the software development which reduce the risk of software failure in the end of development.


Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used successfully to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Qingre Huoxue treatment (Qingre Huoxue decoction (QRHXD)/Qingre Huoxue external preparation (QRHXEP)) is a therapeutic scheme of TCM for RA. To date, there have been few studies comparing the efficacy and safety of QRHXD and conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) for the treatment of active RA. This was investigated in a multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial involving 468 Chinese patients with active RA [disease activity score (DAS)-28 > 3.2] treated with QRHXD/QRHXEP (TCM group), methotrexate plus hydroxychloroquine [Western medicine (WM) group], or both [integrative medicine (IM) group]. Patients were followed up for 24 weeks. The primary outcome measure was the change in DAS-28 from baseline to 24 weeks. The secondary outcome measures were treatment response rate according to American College of Rheumatology 20, 50, and 70% improvement criteria (ACR-20/50/70) and the rate of treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs). The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02551575). DAS-28 decreased in all three groups after treatment (p < 0.0001); the score was lowest in the TCM group (p < 0.05), while no difference was observed between the WM and IM groups (p > 0.05). At week 24, ACR-20 response was 73.04% with TCM, 80.17% with WM, and 73.95% with IM (based on the full analysis set [FAS], p > 0.05); ACR-50 responses were 40.87, 47.93, and 51.26%, respectively, (FAS, p > 0.05); and ACR-70 responses were 20.87, 22.31, and 25.21%, respectively, (FAS, p > 0.05). Thus, treatment efficacy was similar across groups based on ACR criteria. On the other hand, the rate of TRAEs was significantly lower in the TCM group compared to the other groups (p < 0.05). Thus, QRHXD/QRHXEP was effective in alleviating the symptoms of active RA—albeit to a lesser degree than csDMARDs—with fewer side effects. Importantly, combination with QRHXD enhanced the efficacy of csDMARDs. These results provide evidence that QRHXD can be used as an adjunct to csDMARDs for the management of RA, especially in patients who experience TRAEs with standard drugs. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCTNCT025515.


A mutation in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma2 (PPARgamma2) gene with a cytosine to guanine substitution results in an exchange of proline (Pro) with alanine (Ala) in exon B (codon 12) of this gene. This polymorphism has been associated with high insulin sensitivity and low body weight, but no data have been published to date about its effect on early atherosclerosis. We investigated the relationship of the Pro(12)Ala polymorphism to early atherosclerosis, measured by the intima-media thickness (IMT). A total of 622 subjects were included, aged 40-70 yr, who were participants of the RIAD (Risk factors in Impaired glucose tolerance for Atherosclerosis and Diabetes) study and were at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Altogether, 449 of the subjects had the common genotype (Pro(12)Pro), 162 had the Pro(12)Ala genotype, and 11 the Ala(12)Ala genotype. IMT was significantly decreased in subjects with the Ala(12)Ala genotype compared with subjects with the other two genotypes. Body mass index, free fatty acid levels, and leukocyte count were lower in subjects with the Ala(12)Ala genotype compared with subjects with the Pro(12)Pro or Pro(12)Ala genotypes. In multivariate analysis, the Ala(12)Ala genotype was a significant independent determinant of IMT. Furthermore, we demonstrated specific expression of the PPARgamma2 gene in human atherosclerotic lesions as well as in cultured primary macrophages and foam cells. In conclusion, our data suggest that the Ala(12)Ala genotype of the PPARgamma2 gene may protect from early atherosclerosis in subjects at risk for diabetes.


Introduction. Widespread use of antibiotics has led to drug-resistant bacteria and reports of drug-resistant infections. A continuing medical education (CME) campaign was used to improve antibiotic use among primary care providers. Methods. The Office of CME and Professional Development at the University of Colorado School of Medicine produces a semiannual, week-long course for primary care providers. A 2-year multifaceted CME campaign consisted of course content on antibiotic use, a practice audit, and two surveys to measure perceptions of the problem of antibiotic overuse, potential barriers to achieving appropriate use, and strategies to overcome barriers. Results. The overall response rate in the 2nd part of the campaign was 68.4%. Sixty-six percent of respondents had implemented at least one strategy to reduce antibiotic overuse. The rate was significantly higher among those who had attended previous reviews (81.0%) compared with those who had attended neither (54%, ). However, there was no "dose effect" on the rate of implementing a new strategy. Conclusions. Overuse of antibiotic therapy has important public health implications. Results suggest that mixed interactive and didactic CME program was effective in increasing awareness of antibiotic overuse and strategies for reducing antibiotic administration.


Abstract Aim: To examine (1) how flexibility is defined and described in healthcare literature and (2) which interventions are used at what organisational level to influence flexibility. Background: Flexibility is necessary in healthcare for continuous adaptation to the dynamic environment. In accordance with Social Ecological Theory, it takes the combination of all organisational levels to achieve flexibility (individual, interpersonal, organisational, community, and macro-policy). However, managing this is complex. Evaluation: Using Psychinfo and Web of Science, a systematic search was performed on flexibility in health care organisations. The 19 studies that met the selection criteria were analysed from a social ecological perspective. Eight publications described flexibility as a result of interventions, but provided little information about their evidence base. Key issues: It is difficult to achieve flexibility: a pro-active attitude and capability to adapt internal processes to the changing environment. Interventions promoting flexibility in healthcare need all organisational levels, since they mutually influence each other. Conclusion: This study shows that there is too little evidence on how to create flexibility in healthcare organisations. Implications for management: Change in healthcare is continuous. Therefore, flexibility should be a permanent pro-active attitude of both managers and professionals and should take all organisational levels into account.


It is commonly accepted that the educational environment has been undergoing considerable change due to the use of the Information and Communication tools. But learning depends upon actions such as experimenting, visualizing and demonstrating through which the learner succeeds in constructing his own knowledge. Although it is not easy to achieve these actions through current ICT supported learning approaches, Role Playing Games (RPG) may well develop such capacities. The creation of an interactive computer game with RPG characteristics, about the 500th anniversary of the city of Funchal, the capital of Madeira Island, is invested with compelling educational/pedagogical implications, aiming clearly at teaching history and social relations through playing. Players interpret different characters in different settings/scenarios, experiencing adventures, meeting challenges and trying to reach multiple and simultaneous goals in the areas of education, entertainment and social integration along the first 150 years of the history of Funchal. Through this process they will live and understand all the social and historical factors of that epoch.


Zn-In-S composites were synthesized by a NaCl-assisted hydrothermal method and characterized by an X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), BET, UV-Vis absorption spectrometer and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer (ICP). The products obtained by the hydrothermal method are a single ZnIn2S4 or a composite of ZnIn2S4, ZnmIn2Sm+3, ZnS and In2S3, depending on the NaCl concentration. The samples are consisted of microspheres and sheet-like grains with a marigold-like superstructure. The grain size of the products increases and the specific surface area decreases with an increase of the NaCl concentration. Their photoactivities were evaluated by hydrogen evolution from an aqueous triethanolamine solution under visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm) irradiation. 0.50 wt% Pt was deposited on the samples for the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution by in situ photoreduction. The sample obtained in the presence of 0.20 mol L−1 NaCl exhibits the highest activity for hydrogen evolution, ca. 4 times as high as that of the sample prepared without NaCl. A possible mechanism was discussed.


The present research aimed to assess pre-service English as a foreign language teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge. A total of 76 undergraduate students enrolled in an English language teaching (ELT) program at a major state university in Turkey were recruited in the study and were asked to anonymously complete the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Scale and answered some open-ended questions. The findings revealed a highly developed knowledge of TPACK (Mean > 3.5; 81%). Gender differences were found to be significant with respect to Technological Knowledge (TK) and Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) dimensions with females proportionally having higher TPACK development. The findings of qualitative data analysis also revealed that compared with cooperating teachers, faculty members in the department used more TPACK in a classroom lesson. Thus, these findings contribute to understanding the nature and development of TPACK based instruction among pre-service English teachers, suggesting that the integration of content, pedagogy and technological knowledge into the existing teacher education paradigm and fostering technologically-rich environment for language learners will contribute to quality learning and teaching.


Two experiments were designed to determine the superovulatory response of Angus donors treated with a single injection of Folltropin®-V diluted in a slow release formulation (SRF; Bioniche Animal Health Inc., Belleville, Ontario, Canada). Experiment 1 was designed to compare superovulatory response in Angus donor cows (n = 29 per group) treated with a single i.m. injection of Folltropin®-V diluted in SRF with cows treated using the traditional twice-daily i.m. injection treatment schedule. On Day 0, all cows received 5 mg of estradiol-17β plus 50 mg of progesterone and a Cue-Mate® (Bioniche Animal Health). On Day 4, cows were superstimulated with 400 mg of NIH-FSH-P1 Folltropin®-V in twice-daily decreasing doses over 4 days or in a single i.m. injection in the neck. The single injection was prepared by diluting the Folltropin®-V lyophilized powder in 1 mL of saline for injection and mixed with 9 mL of the SRF in the syringe immediately before administration. In the am and pm of Day 6, all cows received PGF2 and Cue-Mates® were removed in the pm. In the am of Day 8, cows received 12.5 mg of porcine LH (Lutropin®-V; Bioniche Animal Health) and were inseminated 12 and 24 h later. Ova/embryos were collected nonsurgically on Day 15 and evaluated following IETS recommendations. Means were compared between groups by t-test Mean (±SEM) number of ova/embryos and transferable embryos were 13.7 ± 2.1 and 7.1 ± 1.3 v. 12.3 ± 1.5 and 5.3 ± 0.8 for donors treated with the single v. twice-daily injections, respectively (P > 0.4). Experiment 2 was designed to confirm the results of Experiment 1 and to compare the effect of different dosages of Folltropin®-V on embryo production in Angus cows. Cows (n = 23) were superstimulated by 6 treatment protocols (2 × 3 factorial) in a crossover design (i.e. all cows received the 6 treatments and all treatments were represented on each collection day). Cows received the same treatments as cows in Experiment 1 except that the dosages of Folltropin®-V used were 200, 300, or 400 mg. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) revealed a significant effect of dosage of Folltropin®-V on embryo production, but there was no effect of treatment (i.e. single v. twice-daily injections; P > 0.2), nor was there a treatment by dosage interaction (P > 0.7). Mean (± SEM) number of ova/embryos and transferable embryos were 10.3 ± 0.9 and 5.4 ± 0.6 v. 11.3 ± 0.6 and 5.6 ± 0.5 for donors treated with the single or twice-daily injections, respectively (P > 0.2). Furthermore, the mean number of ova/embryos and transferable embryos were higher in cows treated with 400 mg (13.9 ± 1.1 and 6.5 ± 0.7) and 300 mg (12.0 ± 1.0 and 6.1 ± 0.7) of Folltropin®-V than those treated with 200 mg (6.6 ± 0.7 and 4.0 ± 0.5). In summary, superstimulation of Angus donor cows with a single i.m. injection of Folltropin®-V diluted in an SRF resulted in comparable embryo production to the traditional twice-daily i.m. administration of Folltropin®-V over 4 days. Although response did not differ between 300 and 400 mg, results suggest that 300 mg of Folltropin®-V given i.m. by a single or twice-daily injections is the most appropriate dose for Angus donor cows.


The book discusses the scientific basis for sustainable development of the industry of dairy farming in the Omsk region. The mechanism of the sustainable development, explored the cluster functioning of the industry examined the future of dairy farming. The book is intended for managers and specialists of government, local government, the leaders of agricultural organizations, researchers, teachers and students of economic specialties and areas of training


Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is emerging as a major health problem worldwide. NAFLD is a continuum of disease ranging from mild liver steatosis to severe steatohepatitis, which will ultimately lead to end-stage liver disease with high morbidity and mortality rates. This disorder is considered as a silent liver disease. The metabolic syndrome and its components are accounted as the major risk factors for the progression of NAFLD to NASH and cirrhosis. Liver transplantation is considered as an appropriate treatment for the end-stage disease. For the last two decades, NASH has been the most common reason for liver transplantation, especially in the developed countries; however, the outcome of post-transplantation in these patients is of a great concern. The recurrent NASH and NAFLD seem to be the usual issues in LT. Steatosis appears in more than 80% of LTs; however, re-transplantation caused by steatohepatitis is rare. Recently, several risk factors of the recurrent NAFLD, including age, donor steatosis, metabolic syndrome, and immunosuppressant agents, have been introduced. Among the metabolic syndrome components, obesity seriously has negative effects on the outcomes of post-liver transplantation in patients. Unfortunately, there is no standard medicine to prevent or treat the recurrent NAFLD; however, it seems that weight loss and lifestyle modification play critical roles in controlling or inhibiting the recurrent NAFLD or NASH.


Neutrophil influx into the lung is an important event in the pathogenesis of acute lung injury in gram-negative sepsis. We hypothesized that administration of a monoclonal antibody to intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1, CD54), a molecule mediating neutrophil adhesion to endothelial cells, would decrease neutrophil sequestration and transmigration in the lung and attenuate lung injury in Escherichia coli sepsis. Sepsis was induced in 12 baboons primed with heat-killed E. coli (1 x 10(9) CFU/kg) 12 h before infusion of live bacteria (1 x 10(10) CFU/kg). Six animals received monoclonal antibody to CD54 (1 mg/kg) intravenously at the time of live E. coli infusion. After 48 h or when blood pressure could not be maintained, tissues were harvested and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were obtained. Median survival time was decreased in anti-CD54-treated animals. This group also had decreased mean arterial pressure, increased metabolic acidosis, and decreased urine output. Measures of lung injury including gas exchange, lung lavage protein and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), lung thiobarbituric acid-reactive species, and lung histology, including alveolar neutrophil volumes, were unaffected by treatment. The effect of anti-CD54 on neutrophil influx into tissues as measured by myeloperoxidase was organ specific. These data show that monoclonal antibody to CD54 does not ameliorate acute lung injury in E. coli sepsis, and septic primates given anti-CD54 have worsened metabolic parameters and decreased survival.


Porous magnetic supraparticles (p-MSPs) with surface area up to 285.4 m(2) g(-1) have been fabricated by a one-step etching method, which is 4 times greater than the unetched counterpart. They exhibit significantly better biodegradability than their counterpart in both mimicked physiological buffer solution and the cellular environment of HeLa cells.


The potential of Waqaf that comes from the donation of the Community, or so-called Waqaf of money. This type of Waqaf opens great opportunities for investment business creation, whose results can be exploited in the fields of religion, education, and social services. Waqaf cash in Indonesia has not been fully socialized and has not been handled professionally. The synergy of Waqaf and sharia banking is still less united, because when sharia and waqaf banking work together it will produce a remarkable multiplier effect. From the above context, the issues studied are formulated as follows; First, what is the role of cash waqaf in Sharia Banking? Second, how is cash waqaf effect on investment? Third, how is the strategy of developing cash waqaf in Sharia Banking? The research method used is descriptive qualitative method, while the data collection procedure using bibliography, Documentation Method, Observation Method. The researcher concludes that the implementation of cash waqaf in the Islamic Banking system is still not optimal because the regulation on cash waqaf indicates that the Sharia Banking still cannot manage the cash waqaf fund is only limited to the institution in receiving Waqaf fund. While the cash waqaf securities in Investments, indicate that cash waqaf can affect the development of Investment if the cash waqaf is invested in the right field so as to increase the expected profit level. Due to the huge potentials, it is necessary to formulate several strategies to improve the development of cash waqaf especially in Sharia Banking.


This retrospective study aimed to use preoperative and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) factors to assess and reveal risk factors of early recurrence (ER) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We enrolled 141 patients with primary HCC who had undergone surgical resection. The assessment of the CEUS scan includes (a) the maximum diameter of the lesion, (b) the tumor echogenicity of gray-scale ultrasound (US), (c) the morphology of the tumor, (d) the margin of the tumor, (e) the peripheral hypoechoic halo, (f) tumor necrosis, (g) nutritional arteries shown by tumors, (h) ultrasonography for diagnosis of cirrhosis, and (i) the timer on the US screen displayed the time elapsed from the saline flush and was used to determine time to washout. According to the degree of the phase, the washout rate is divided into four grades, namely, levels 1 to 4. ER is defined as the time between resection and recurrence within 12 months after surgery. Risk factors for ER HCC were analyzed. Predictors of ER on a univariate logistic regression analysis in CEUS are size, washout rate, morphology, center necrosis, and feeding artery appearing in the tumor. Multivariate analysis results indicated that feeding artery, microvascular invasion (MVI), and washout rate were independent risk factors for ER. The relative high risk of ER for washout rate 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 29.3%, 43.2%, 53.1%, and 71.4%, respectively. The appropriateness of hepatectomy in the treatment of single lesion HCC should be carefully considered when the washout rate was 4.


Chromatin remodeling and transcription regulation are tightly controlled under physiological conditions. It has been suggested that altered chromatin modulation and transcription dysfunction may play a role in the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease (HD). Increased histone methylation, a well established mechanism of gene silencing, results in transcriptional repression. ERG-associated protein with SET domain (ESET), a histone H3 (K9) methyltransferase, mediates histone methylation. We show that ESET expression is markedly increased in HD patients and in transgenic R6/2 HD mice. Similarly, the protein level of trimethylated histone H3 (K9) was also elevated in HD patients and in R6/2 mice. We further demonstrate that both specificity protein 1 (Sp1) and specificity protein 3 (Sp3) act as transcriptional activators of the ESET promoter in neurons and that mithramycin, a clinically approved guanosine–cytosine-rich DNA binding antitumor antibiotic, interferes with the DNA binding of these Sp family transcription factors, suppressing basal ESET promoter activity in a dose dependent manner. The combined pharmacological treatment with mithramycin and cystamine down-regulates ESET gene expression and reduces hypertrimethylation of histone H3 (K9). This polytherapy significantly ameliorated the behavioral and neuropathological phenotype in the R6/2 mice and extended survival over 40%, well beyond any existing reported treatment in HD mice. Our data suggest that modulation of gene silencing mechanisms, through regulation of the ESET gene is important to neuronal survival and, as such, may be a promising treatment in HD patients.


The aim of this study was to investigate macroscopic wound healing after palatal surgery at three different ages A total of 37 Beagle dogs was used, divided into three experimental groups, a sham group and a control group. Palatal surgery was performed at the age of 6, 16 or 25 weeks respectively The animals of the sham group and the control group were studied from the age of 6 weeks on. All animals were studied longitudinally over a period of six weeks. The three experimental groups were compared mutually and the youngest experimental group was compared with the sham group and the control group. Clinically, the wound healing in the medial region was complete after two weeks in all animals In the denuded areas the wound healing continued for the youngest experimental group for 2 to 3 weeks after the operation and for the two older age groups for 4 to 5 weeks after the operation. The wound contraction in the denuded areas, recorded as the increasing approximation of opposite tattoo points, was larger in the two older age groups than in the youngest one and was restricted mainly to the first week after the operation. This effect seemed to be permanent because no compensating increase in distance was found later on. It was concluded that shortly after the operation wound contraction was mainly responsible for the reduction of the surface area of the denuded bone, but later on epithelial cell proliferation was the predominant factor.


Background Treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has changed over the past decade. Early diagnosis and prompt agressive treatment based on treat to target strategy, as well as complementary ultrasound have been adopted and proven to improve patient clinical and radiological outcomes in clinical trials. Objectives The aim of this study was to compare radiographic progression of early RA patients starting their first DMARD 10 years ago vs more recently in daily clinical practice. Methods We reviewed the medical records of consecutive patients with symptom of 3 years duration who fulfilled the 1987 ACR classification criteria or the 2010 ACR/EULAR classification criteria in a single center retrospectively. In the first cohort (2000s), 70 patients (55.3±13.3y.o, Female 77%) who were diagnosed with RA during 2003–2005 were included. in the second cohort (2010s), 71 patients (54.5±17.3y.o,Female90%) who were diagnosed with RA during 2013–2015 were included. Radiographs of hands were assessed at baseline and one year after according to the van der Heijde modified Sharp score (range 0–280) without clinical information and chronological orders of radiographs in the individual patients. Results Mean changes in radiographic joint damage for joint space narrowing score, erosion score, total radiographic score were higher in 2000s than 2010s (0.92±2.70 vs 0.28±1.86; p=0.010, 0.54±1.35 vs 0.35±0.99; p=0.390, 1.45±3.54 vs 0.68±2.55; p=0.015, respectively). Radiographic progression defined as total radiographic score >0 and >5 were 31.4% vs 22.5% and 8.6% vs 8.5% between 2000s and 2010s (p=0.230 and p=0.970, respectively). Methotrexate (MTX) was frequently used for initial treatment in 2010s than 2000s (86% vs55%, p≤0.001), and initial dose and maximum dose of MTX were higher in 2010s than 2000s (9.13±2.09 mg/week vs 4.67±1.54 mg/week; p≤0.001 and 12.04±3.73 mg/week vs 8.13±1.88 mg/week; p≤0.001, respectively). The mean duration from symptom onset to diagnosis was earlier in 2010s than 2000s (5.75±5.04 months vs 7.85.±6.85 months, p=0.001). CRP at baseline and 1 year after were lower in 2010s than in 2000s (2.74±1.90 mg/dL vs 3.35±3.94 mg/dl; p=0.001 and 0.60±1.19 mg/dL vs 1.20±1.99 mg/dl; p=0.03 respectively). There were no significant differences in sex, age, positive rate of RF and ACPA, the Sharp score at baseline, steroid use, and biological agents use between two cohorts. Conclusions In recent 10 years, early diagnosis with complementary ultrasound and appropriate MTX use based on treat to target strategy led to prevent joint destruction of RA patients in daily clinical practice. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) for patients with advanced solid tumors is on the trajectory of becoming standard of care through incorporation into clinical practice, professional society guidelines, availability of an FDA-approved assay, and a national coverage determination from Medicare. For hematologic malignancies, the clinical utility of CGP can be diagnostic, prognostic, or predictive depending on the type of malignancy. Molecular testing has been standard of care for many years for hematologic malignancies, and payer coverage of the CGP approach must now be considered to keep pace with advances in the field of hematology-oncology. Based on American Medical Association CPT coding definitions, molecular testing for hematologic malignancies is categorized as testing for individual genes and gene panels of 5–50 genes or >50 genes. Our review of payer coverage policies from the Policy Reporter database in October 2018 demonstrated that payer coverage for >50 genes in hematologic malignancies is limited. As an example of coverage limitations, a recently updated Medicare Local Coverage Determination limits coverage to 50 genes or less. Coverage decisions such as these are being made during a time of increasing demand for an expanded approach. Data from the Foundation Medicine, Inc. database shows that as of April 2018, over 3,600 patients with AML, MDS, and MPN have undergone clinical testing with FoundationOne Heme, a CGP assay for hematologic malignancies. In an analysis of over 1,300 AML cases tested with FoundationOne Heme, 62% had an alteration that is included in the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines), and 91% had a clinically relevant alteration identified that could inform diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment selection. In an analysis of over 1,300 MDS cases tested, 70% had at least one clinically relevant alteration identified. In an analysis of over 200 MPN cases tested, 48% were triple negative for CALR, JAK2, and MPL, and of those triple negative cases, 55% had another clinically relevant alteration. These data demonstrate that FoundationOne Heme is a clinically important assay for patients with hematologic malignancies including AML, MDS, and MPN, and stakeholders within the system must now come together to further refine the clinical utility, improve payer coverage, and ensure patient access to this impactful testing as the field advances.


What are the economic consequences of college noncompletion? Given escalating student debt, is "some college" still worth it? This article applies augmented inverse probability weighting to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to estimate the causal effect of college noncompletion on income and financial hardship. Although noncompletion yields higher income than never attending college, it also increases financial hardship among more-disadvantaged groups through the mechanism of student debt. However, noncompleters of most groups would have had greater income and experienced less financial hardship had they graduated. Such contradictions complicate equalization and reproduction theories of higher education because higher education appears to have both equalizing (in the case of completion) and reproductive (in the case of noncompletion) effects. I argue this ambiguity is substantively meaningful, suggesting future research should examine whether the production of ambiguity constitutes a key social function of higher education.


Mobile edge computing (MEC) is an emerging paradigm that mobile devices can offload the computation-intensive or latency-critical tasks to the nearby MEC servers, so as to save energy and extend battery life. Unlike the cloud server, MEC server is a small-scale data center deployed at a wireless access point, thus it is highly sensitive to both radio and computing resource. In this paper, we consider an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing Access (OFDMA) based multi-user and multi-MEC-server system, where the task offloading strategies and wireless resources allocation are jointly investigated. Aiming at minimizing the total energy consumption, we propose the joint offloading and resource allocation strategy for latency- critical applications. Through the bi-level optimization approach, the original NP-hard problem is decoupled into the lower-level problem seeking for the allocation of power and subcarrier and the upper-level task offloading problem. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves excellent performance in energy saving and successful offloading probability (SOP) in comparison with conventional schemes.


The phytogeography of Rodhos is briefly sketched. The flora of Rodhos holds a dual position having affinities with the S Aegean islands as well as with the E Aegean islands and SW Anatolia. The present distribution of species on Rodhos corresponds with the palaeogeographic history of the area. Differentiation has apparently taken place in several taxa since the separation of Rodhos from the S Aegean islands and SW Anatolia, which is shown by the occurrence of many allopatric taxa. The occurrence of many local variants without taxonomic rank shows that this process of speciation is still not complete. Areas of ophiolithic rock are shown to influence the species composition, since many species avoid or are more or less restricted to these areas. Many taxa of the ultrabasic areas show at least a slight morphological distinction from non-serpentine populations of the same species, and some are distinctive enough to recognise at species rank. Both these areas of ophiolithic rock and the limestone cliffs have apparently provided refugia for taxa with formerly wider distributions.


Akkadian, an ancient Semitic language from Mesopotamia written in the cuneiform script, wasemployed as a diplomatic lingua franca between the major powers of the Late Bronze Age.Akkadian from Egypt defines the language of the Akkadian texts that originated in Egypt. Thesewere probably written by Egyptian scribes. On various linguistic levels ranging from phonology tomorpho-syntax, Akkadian from Egypt differs from contemporary varieties of Akkadian. In severalcases, these differences can be analyzed as probably representing interferences with Egyptian, thenative language of the scribes. Rather than as an Akkadian dialect, Akkadian from Egypt canthus be characterized as an interlanguage, that is, as an attempt by non-native speakers tocommunicate in a foreign language that they have learned more or less successfully. This is also thereason behind the instability of the system, rule changes, and adjustments.


Objective To explore whether regional brain volume and white matter microstructure at term-equivalent age (TEA) are associated with development at 2 years of age in children born moderate–late preterm (MLPT). Study design A cohort of MLPT infants had brain MRI at approximately TEA (38–44 weeks' postmenstrual age) and had a developmental assessment (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development and Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment) at 2 years' corrected age. Relationships between cortical grey matter and white matter volumes and 2-year developmental outcomes were explored using voxel-based morphometry. Relationships between diffusion tensor measures of white matter microstructure (fractional anisotropy (FA) and axial (AD), radial (RD) and mean (MD) diffusivities) and 2-year developmental outcomes were explored using tract-based spatial statistics. Results 189 MLPT children had data from at least one MRI modality (volumetric or diffusion) and data for at least one developmental domain. Larger cortical grey and white matter volumes in many brain regions, and higher FA and lower AD, RD and MD in several major white matter regions, were associated with better cognitive and language scores. There was little evidence that cortical grey matter and white matter volumes and white matter microstructure were associated with motor and behavioural outcomes. Conclusions Regional cortical grey matter and white matter volumes and white matter microstructure are associated with cognitive and language development at 2 years of age in MLPT children. Thus, early alterations to brain volumes and microstructure may contribute to some of the developmental deficits described in MLPT children.


We consider conformal actions of the finite group

 G
 G

 on a closed Riemann surface

 S
 S

, as well as algebraic actions of

 G
 G

 on smooth, complete, algebraic curves over an arbitrary, algebraically closed field. There are several notions of equivalence of actions, the most studied of which is topological equivalence, because of its close relationship to the branch locus of moduli space. A second important equivalence relation is that induced by representation of

 G
 G

 on spaces of holomorphic

 q
 q

-differentials. The notion of topological equivalence does not work well in positive characteristic. We shall discuss an alternative to topological equivalence, which we dub equisymmetry, that may be applied in all characteristics. The relation is induced by families of curves with

 G
 G

-action, and it works well with rotation constants and

 q
 q

-differentials, which are also defined in positive characteristic. After giving an overview of the various equivalence relations (conformal/algebraic, topological,

 q
 q

-differentials, rotation constants, equisymmetry) we focus on the interconnections among rotation constants,

 q
 q

-differentials, and equisymmetry.


Background

Firearms are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Few studies exist to investigate the impact of pre-hospital transportation methods on trauma patient outcomes.
Methods

Patients with firearm injuries were identified using an institutional trauma registry (2008 to 2017). Data on patient demographics, hospital transportation, treatments, and outcomes was collected and analyzed. Patient characteristics between Emergency Medical Services (EMS) vs. police transport groups were compared using Kruskal-Wallis, chi-square, or Fisher's exact tests as appropriate.
Results

Of 224 patients identified, 147 (66%) were transported by EMS and 77 (34%) were transported by police. There was no significant difference in patient demographics between groups. Most patients were male (94.2%) and African American (69.2%), with a mean age of 27.1 years. 84.4% of patients suffered from an externally-inflicted gunshot wound, while 9.4% of patients had inflicted the wound themselves. Handguns were the weapon most commonly used. There was no significant difference in in-hospital treatments or mortality between patients transported by EMS vs. police. 44.1% of patients underwent surgery, and 34.8% required specialist consultation. The mean hospital length of stay for all patients was 1 day, and 27.7% of all patients expired during admission.
Conclusions

There is no difference in hospital treatment or mortality between firearm victims transported by EMS vs. police.


A novel and simple broadband antenna array loaded with high impedance surface is proposed in this letter. The unit cell is composed of a main radiating patch and a pair of EBG arrays placed symmetrically at the two radiating edges of the main radiating patch. The main radiating patch is responsible for the original TM10 mode while the electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) arrays is for another resonant mode characterized as quasi-TM20 mode. Thus, wideband performance is obtained due to the combination of the two generated resonant modes. And on this basis, by adding symmetrical mushroom structures at the other two edges of the main radiating patch, the impedance bandwidth and sidelobe suppression are improved. The current distributions on the all metal patches are almost uniform, therefore high gains can be obtained during the whole operating bandwidth. The antenna array is formed by $4\times 4$ unit cells and the prototype is fabricated to validate the design. The measured results show that the impedance bandwidth is broadened from 11.1 to 15.6 GHz with the peak-gain reaching as high as 18.8dBi. Besides, the proposed antenna is easy fabrication with low profile which provides great convenience in the actual beam and point-to-point communication applications.


This paper discusses the optical and electrical characteristics of the RayCan RC32 laser diode, with a vertical cavity that emits at a wavelength of 1550 nm, as a function of various operating regimes. The possibility of using laser diodes with a vertical cavity in fiber-optic interferometric phase sensors is considered. An experimental method of obtaining the coherence function of a laser diode with a vertical cavity is also used to obtain the dependences of the variation of the central wavelength of the radiation and the width of the spectral components when the laser is directly modulated in current at various frequencies and with various inverse duty cycles.


Potatoes is considered one of the most important of Egyptian exports, although this crop has a comparative advantage in the domestic production, but its exports has some reduction in the last years to the foreign markets. the problem of this study and the objective are concerned with the circumstances the foreign demand on the Egyptian potatoes, especially the British and German markets. The study estimated Almost Ideal demand system (AIDS), according to seemingly unrelated regression procedure, also the assumptions of adding up, homogeneity, symmetry, and negativity, were included as restrictions in the system. The Data of the study covered the period (1985-2003). Results of the study indicated an increase in quantities exported and the domestic resource costs of potatoes, and also a decrease trend in the real price export of potatoes, while the other variables hold constant and insignificantly statistics. The results of the AIDS model in the British market showed Holland, France, and Spain are the most competitive market to the Egyptian market in England imports of potatoes especially the France market. The results of the AIDS model in the German market showed France, Holland, and Denmark are the most competitive market to the Egyptian market in Germany imports of potatoes especially the France market. Finally, the study recommended by integrated strategy starting from special potatoes production for exporting, and creating new international markets in the world.


This volume sets out the IMF's By-Laws, which are adopted under the authority of, and are intended to be complementary to, the IMF's Articles of Agreement, which are considered to prevail in the event of any conflict. The By-Laws cover a number of topics, including the size and composition of the IMF's Board of Governors and Executive Board, applications for IMF membership, IMF quotas, voting rights, staff regulations, and the IMF's Special Drawing Rights.


Human nature is greedy to follow less effort heuristics in seeking of scientific literature. Despite of manual literature investigation, web robots are vital tools that provide vision to gigantic passageway of WWW (World Wide Web) knowledge for information seekers. The reputation and implication of web robots need not be introduced further. Optimal searching approach requires efficient response and reliable services with limited time to quest large array of worldwide information. The list of search engines is too vast with varying index size and performance characteristics. This study evaluates performance metrics like (1) response time, (2) load, (3) page download time, (4) health status, (5) down time, (6) uptime and (7) reliability for popular search engines (AOL, Ask, AltaVista, Alltheweb, Aliweb) starting with initial alphabetic 'A' so called 5A's Web Robots. These 5A's crawlers have not been evaluated with such technical characteristics before. This paper evaluates selected web robots under practical estimation of technical factors with maximum capacity of seven effective performance metrics. We used two web bench marking tools (Mange Engine Application Manager and Web Application Testing WAPT 6.0) under active probing techniques to obtain experimental results as this approach has active literature support. Finally, this study concludes new and beneficial results for researchers.


I open by thanking Terence Keel both for inviting me to participate in this dialogue and for so effectively framing two distinct stances on how to understand the role of race in human genetics research today. This discussion is important to critical assessments of racial thinking—its depth and breadth in contemporary societies—but also to encouraging a correct understanding of genes and risk factors related to disease more broadly. For the sake of debate, I first elaborate on the position I have taken in critiquing social constructivist claims about race, then offer my thoughts on how an attention to Neanderthals provides a broader understanding of racial thinking as it pertains to the question of variation within a species.


A program is in progress at PSI to study radiation damage in first wall materials of future fusion reactors. The program uses mainly the Proton IRradiation EXperiment (PIREX) at the PSI 590 MeV ring accelerator. However, other radiation sources have been considered such as spallation neutron sources. An important aspect of this program is that of dosimetry and its relation to spallation impurity production. The neutron or proton fluence and the atomic displacement (dpa) was determined from the 22Na reaction rate measured in an aluminum detector. Neutron spectra, calculated by the HETC code, were used in the evaluation procedure. The concentration of transmutational elements was measured by means of the total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) method using synchrotron radiation as the primary X-ray source.


In this contribution two novel techniques for particle characterisation in dispersed, multiphase flows will be discussed: the time-shift technique and the rainbow technique using femtosecond laser pulses. Both methods are rather new and each offers some very distinct advantages for specific applications. The purpose of this contribution is to briefly outline the physical working principles of each technique and to outline their specific features. This information is meant to stimulate use of these techniques for hitherto inaccessible applications and measurement quantities.


The data acquisition and intelligent sensing network plays an important role in a robot teleoperation system. It is composed of sensing, controlling, computing, information processing, network communication, artificial intelligence and many other technologies. Compared with the traditional method, great changes have taken place in the design and production of intelligent sensors and actuators. Its future development direction is networking with intelligent interfaces. The article introduces the theory and application of field bus-based data acquisition and intelligent sensing technology in robot teleoperation system. It also discusses several key problems and corresponding solutions in this issue.


Sequential recommendation has become an attractive topic in recommender systems. Existing sequential recommendation methods, including the methods based on the state-of-the-art self-attention mechanism, usually employ deterministic neural networks to represent user preferences as fixed-points in the latent feature spaces. However, the fixed-point vector lacks the ability to capture the uncertainty and dynamics of user preferences that are prevalent in recommender systems. In this paper, we propose a new Variational Self-Attention Network (VSAN), which introduces a variational autoencoder (VAE) into the self-attention network to capture latent user preferences. Specifically, we represent the obtained self-attention vector as density via variational inference, whose variance well characterizes the uncertainty of user preferences. Furthermore, we employ self-attention networks to learn the inference process and generative process of VAE, which well captures long-range and local dependencies. Finally, we evaluate our proposed method VSAN with two public real-world datasets. Our experimental results show the effectiveness of our model compared to the state-of-the-art approaches.


&NA; In a prospective study of more than 4,000 consecutive patients who underwent any cardiovascular procedure requiring sternotomy incision in a 650‐bed tertiary care hospital, a gradual increase in deep sternal infections from 0.8% in 1995 to 2.1% in 1999 was noted. By using a Plan‐Do‐Check‐Act process improvement model, several interventions to decrease the infection rate were planned and implemented based on hypotheses generated from the characteristics of infected patients. These interventions included chlorhexidine preoperative shower, discontinuation of shaving, administration of antibiotics in the holding area, segregation of instruments, and implementation of an insulin protocol. Findings included a decrease in deep sternal and leg infections after implementation of these interventions. Deep sternal infection rates decreased from 2.1% to 1.5% and leg infection rates, from 1.93% to 0.47%. Results were not statistically significant but were clinically relevant. Furthermore, a total of $200,000 was achieved in cost savings in 1 year.


Synsepalum dulcificum, is a kind of berries, when eaten causes sour foods
 subsequently consumed to taste sweet. An efficient and low cost purification
 method to extract this protein needs to be developed. The pure miraculin is needed
 for characterization and identification of its function prior to commercialization.
 The potential use of the various parts of miracle fruit as well as the useful
 components could be extracted also needs to be explored to provide data of the
 importance of this fruit in economic point of view.
 The physico-chemical properties of miracle fruit including percentage weight and
 nutritional elements (ash, crude protein, fat, total dietary fiber, carbohydrate,
 vitamin A and vitamin C) of miracle fruit were determined to give a full
 understanding of miracle fruit. Content of total anthocyanin in skin was
 determined using the pH-differential method. Content of phenolic in seed, skin and
 pulp was determined by using Folin-Ciocalteau colorimetric method. Antioxidant
 activity in seed, skin and pulp was analysed by DPPH free radical scavenging
 method. Study found that vitamin C content (40.1 mg/100 g FW) and total
 phenolic content (625.57 mg GAE/100 g FW) in miracle fruit flesh are very high
 and they together contribute to the high antioxidant activity of miracle fruit. At the
 same time, the sugar content is relatively low (5.6 g/100 g FW) in miracle fruit,
 making it become a healthy food, especially for the patients of diabetes and obesity,
 when considering its potential pharmaceutical benefits.
 Seed oil of miracle fruit was extracted from fine powder seed of miracle fruit using
 Soxhlet Extractor with petroleum ether. Triacylglycerol profile was determined by
 HPLC, fatty acid composition was determined by GC analysis after methyl esterification, thermal behavior was determined by Differential Scanning
 Calorimetry. Triacylglycerol profile and free fatty acid composition showed that
 the fatty acid in seed oil of miracle fruit was similar to the one of palm oil.
 Miraculin is a sweet-inducing active protein that comes from miracle fruit and
 shows many benefits to human. However, optimization of efficient purification
 method of miraculin from miracle fruit has not been reported in the literature.
 Immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) with nickel-NTA was
 employed for miraculin purification from the extract of the pulp with optimization.
 The effect of extraction buffer on the amount of the extracted total protein was
 evaluated. This study demonstrated IMAC could be applied as one step process for
 purification of miraculin. The preferred conditions for high performance of IMAC
 with nickel-NTA were obtained with the use of crude extract at pH 7, Tri-HCl
 buffer at pH 7, and 300 mM imidazole with pH 8 used as elution buffer upon. The
 effect of optimizing crude extract was more important than optimizing the binding
 buffer. In elution stage, the effect of imidazole was more important than acetic
 acid. The IMAC charging with nickel was successfully used to purify miraculin
 from S. dulcificum with the yield and purity of 80.3% and 97.5%, respectively.
 To reduce the purification cost, the possibility of using reverse micelle extraction
 (RME) for miraculin purification was also explored. Results from this study have
 demonstrated that reverse micelle formed by AOT/isooctane system can be applied
 as simple, convenient and low-cost process for the purification of miraculin from
 miracle fruit. Different effects for forward extraction and backward stripping were
 examined. Crude at pH 8 as the aqueous phase and 100 mM AOT/isooctane as the
 solvent phase during forward extraction; 0.5 M NaCl solution at pH 11, without
 isopropanol, as the aqueous phase during backward stripping were the optimal
 conditions to purify miraculin by the RME system. The maximum purification
 factor, purity and total purified miraculin obtained by RME were 1.63, 94.78% and
 41.52 µg/mL, respectively.


The article introduces in the scholar circulation for the first time the Latin inscriptions of a baroque church of the 18th century situated in the village of Navaria near Lviv (architect: Bernard Meretin, paintings by Antonio Tavelli). In addition to the text and translation, a general overview and classification of inscriptions is given. The publication of the epitaph is provided with a detailed epigraphic and philological commentary. It is shown that the text combines elements of an individual and family epitaph, as well as a foundation inscription. The composition and style of the text are analyzed. The characteristic features of epigrammatical writing (parallel and antithetical organization, a tendency towards analyticism, economy of expression, asyndeton) are revealed and the connection between the text and the epigrammatic tradition at the level of composition and in terms of following ancient genre models is shown. The elements characteristic of the cenotaph type of epitaph and dedicatory epigram are revealed. The inscriptions of the paintings (except for the Saints' labels) are mainly direct quotes or paraphrases of biblical texts and early Christian authors. They are published with translation and sources, but without discussion.


Objectives The tumor suppressor p53 plays a crucial role in the development of osteosarcoma. The primary objective of this study is to develop and optimize lipid based nanoparticle formulations that can carry siRNA and effectively silence mutant p53 in 318–1, a murine osteosarcoma cell line. Methods The nanoparticles were composed of a mixture of two lipids (cholesterol and DOTAP) and either PLGA or PLGA-PEG and prepared by using an EmulsiFlex-B3 high pressure homogenizer. A series of studies that include using different nanoparticles, different amount of siRNAs, cell numbers, incubation time, transfection media volume, and storage temperature was performed to optimize the gene silencing efficiency. Key findings Replacement of lipids by PLGA or PLGA-PEG decreased the particle size and overall cytotoxicity. Among all lipid-polymer nanoformulations, nanoparticles with 10% PLGA showed highest mutant p53 knockdown efficiency while maintaining higher cell viability when a nanoparticle to siRNA ratio equal to 6.8:0.66 and 75 nM siRNA was used. With long term storage the mutant p53 knockdown efficiency decreased to a greater extent. Conclusions This study warrants a future evaluation of this formulation for gene silencing efficiency of mutant p53 in tissue culture and animal models for the treatment of osteosarcoma.


As a result of the steadily increasing activities related to marine technology in Arctic regions, Det Norske Veritas has launched an ice load monitoring project to gather knowledge of the ice conditions and prevailing ice-induced actions in the region. The intention of the following thesis is to study different aspects related to design of ice-going vessels, in particular the design scenario where a vessel impacts an ice ridge. The introductory part of the thesis gives an overview of important aspects related to sea ice, including different types of ice features and their physical and mechanical properties. The microstructure of pure ice and formation mechanisms of sea ice are briefly described, and mechanical properties such as elasticity and compressive strength are discussed. Further, a study of existing models for estimation of ice-induced loading on ships is carried out, with focus on local hull plating pressure and global loading due to ice ridge impact. A comparative study of design rules developed by Det Norske Veritas and the International Association of Classification Societies is conducted, and important differences between the two separate rules are identified. The subdivision of class notations is described, and differences in definition of design loads and corresponding requirements are presented. A general conclusion is that the rules developed by Det Norske Veritas are more specific when it comes to governing design scenarios, while rules set forth by the International Association of Classification Societies are more universal in terms of vessel type and prevailing ice conditions. Two separate finite element models based on coastguard vessel KV Svalbard are developed, including a simplified beam element model and a detailed shell element model. Quasi-static and dynamic response analyses for ice ridge impact loading are carried out, where the duration of the load pulse is varied systematically from 0.25~s to 2.0~s. The simplified finite element model is seen to give larger overall maximum response compared with the detailed model, but the difference decreases as the pulse duration is increased. It is observed that quasi-static response is overall larger than dynamic response for both finite element models within the defined pulse duration range. However, the ratio of maximum dynamic to maximum quasi-static response is seen to be positively correlated with the load pulse duration, and a close-to-linear relationship is observed. A study of different parameter variations is performed in order to investigate the importance of various pulse shapes, mass models, damping models and solution methods. Variations are only performed using the simplified beam model. It can be concluded that the shape of the load pulse is of minor importance for dynamic response when the pulse duration is short. However, the pulse shape becomes increasingly important for longer load pulses. An opposite trend is observed when varying the mass model, where a negligible difference in dynamic response is seen for longer load pulses. The difference increases somewhat for shorter load pulses, but can be considered unimportant for dynamic response within the investigated duration interval. It is further observed that the choice of damping model is of significant importance compared with other investigated parameters, and the difference in predicted response remains constant within the investigated pulse duration interval. The choice of solution method is however unimportant for analysis using the simplified beam model. In order to verify the applicability of the finite element models, full scale sea trial measurements of global motions from KV Svalbard are analysed and compared with finite element results. Difference between measured and calculated response during ice ridge impact is seen to be significant, where the calculated maximum response is close to 4 times larger than the maximum measured response. Iterative modifications of the load pulse shape are performed in order to reproduce the measured response history following ice ridge impact, and quite strong agreement is obtained between measured and calculated response.


A chemical vapor deposition process is introduced to prepare silicon (Si)–graphene composite anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Highly ordered crystalline Si particles are deposited onto graphene sheets by using a liquid chlorosilane as Si source. The Si–graphene composite exhibits high utilization of Si in charge–discharge processes. The capacity retention of 90 % after 500 full cycles and an average Coulombic efficiency in excess of 99.5 % are achieved in half cells. Moreover, atomic layer deposition (ALD) Al2O3 coating is directly applied on the Si-graphene electrode, which greatly suppresses the side reactions between the electrode and electrolyte, resulting in the enhancement in initial Coulombic efficiency and reversible capacity. Finally, a 3.6 V full cell device is demonstrated, which works very well by combining a Si-graphene anode with a Li-excess layer-structured composite Li1.2Ni0.2Mn0.6O2 cathode. This approach is very promising for realizing a high-energy lithium-ion battery.


Background Previous studies have shown that routinely completed free text emergency department (ED) medical records contain limited information necessary for injury surveillance. We instituted an injury documentation sheet into our ED records to evaluate impact on documentation rates. Methods The pretest/post-test study design used ICD9 codes to identify bicycle-related injuries. A standardized data collection tool was utilized to review these charts. Time periods before and after institution of a standardized documentation sheet were reviewed. Period 1 was January until December 2004. Period 2 was January until June 2005. Data were entered into Epistat and Z scores were used for comparison. Results Initial review (n = 667) revealed mean age of patient 8.6 years with 46% African American and 67% male. Helmet usage was documented in 49% of charts (81 were wearing helmets, 245 were not wearing helmets). Mechanism of injury was documented as bike alone in 587, bike vs car 13 and bike vs stationary object 64. After implementation of an injury data sheet: n = 205; mean age was 9.24 with 51% African American and 43% male. Helmet use was documented in 77% of cases (26 wearing helmets; 132 not wearing). Mechanism was documented as bike alone 180; bike vs car 96 and bike vs stationary object 20. Helmet use was much more frequently documented after the initiation of an injury documentation reminder sheet (z = 6.97; p < .001 95% CI 20.2, 35.8). Conclusion Documentation is improved with the use of standard injury documentation prompts. Routine use of reminders vastly improves documentation rates.


This Costa Rica Decree creates a National Council for the Elderly, composed of representatives of various government and nongovernment agencies, to act as an advisory and coordinating body of the Executive with respect to the definition and execution of an integral national policy for the elderly. The functions of the Council are the following: 1) to formulate and propose to the ministers and President specific policies, strategies, and programs for the elderly; 2) to coordinate the work of institutions that carry out related functions; 3) to promote training, rehabilitation, and any other kind of program possible for respective institutions; 4) to analyze periodically the evaluation of activities executed by public and private institutions; 5) to request from organizations dedicated to giving attention to the elderly information required to achieve the Council's objectives; and 6) to request technical and financial support from state institutions with respect to anything related to programs for the elderly.


Possible effects of "El Niño" Southern Oscillation (ENSO) components "El Niño"and "La Niña" on populations of southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina L., are considered in this study. Information on pup weaning mass, collected at King George Island, South Shetland Islands, over a ten-year period (1985–94) was analysed with respect to the occurrence of ENSO and recent research in feeding ecology of this population in the Bellinghausen Sea. Weaning mass of elephant seals was found to be higher during "La Niña" and a lower during "El Niño". Differences in weaning mass between sexes varied in different proportions during El Niño and La Niña. The teleconnection between tropical Pacific anomalies and the Bellinghausen Sea deserves further research, and our results suggest a way to study this phenomenon using data of elephant seal pups weaning mass as indicators of changes in food availability.


The Neolithic settlement of Alsonyek reached its greatest extent during the Late Neolithic Lengyel period. Nearly 9000 features, including postholes associated with 122 houses, pits and pit complexes, and c. 2300 burials, could be assigned to it. The traces of Lengyel settlement and burials were found over the entire excavated area, with an estimated extent of some 80 ha. The burials uncovered mostly form part of groups of graves, actually being small cemeteries within the various parts of the settlement. Apart from the grave groups, several solitary or scattered graves were also found. Other large Lengyel burial grounds or large Lengyel settlements with numerous burials are known in Transdanubia, but the enormous number of graves at Alsonyek is unprecedented within the Lengyel cultural complex as a whole, and provides exciting opportunities for varied archaeological and bioarchaeological investigations. The discovery of 122 surface-level, timber-framed houses at a single site is also unique for the area and the Lengyel period as a whole. These buildings help to build a better understanding of the architecture and lifestyle of the Lengyel population, which is a fairly new strand in the settlement archaeology of the Lengyel culture in Hungary and beyond. This and the sheer size of the site make Alsonyek exceptionally significant. Altogether 217 radiocarbon results are presented for the Lengyel phase. For the purpose of analysis subsites 5603, 11 and 10B have been modelled separately. The modelled estimates are precise enough that it is possible to estimate robustly the timing of activity across the site. The modelling suggests that burial activity in subsite 5603 probably began in 4790-4740 cal BC (68% probability) and that it began at a similar time, 4795-4745 cal BC (68% probability), in subsite 11. An intensive period of burial began slightly later, in 4715-4690 cal BC (68% probability), on subsite 10B. At this time settlement was established across a wide area, in subsite 11 from 4745-4690 cal BC (68% probability), on subsite 5603 from 4745-4665 cal BC (68% probability), and on subsite 10B from 4720-4700 cal BC (68% probability). After a brief episode of intense occupation, lasting at most a few decades, settlement and then burial ended on the northernmost subsite 10B, in the 4700s or 4690s cal BC (68% probability) and 4695-4670 cal BC (68% probability) respectively. Settlement also ended before burial on subsite 11, but endured for much longer. The settlement here ended in 4670-4620 cal BC (37% probability) or 4610-4565 cal BC (31% probability) and burial in 4585-4515 cal BC (68% probability). Both settlement and burial endured longest on sub-site 5603, although here the end of burial preceded the end of settlement by well over a century. Burial ended here in 4515-4465 cal BC (68% probability), and settlement ended in 4345-4245 cal BC (68% probability).


. ABSTRACT The prototypical meaning of the Basque word buru is 'head'. As is the case in many other languages, the word for head is polysemous not only because it refers to this body part but also because it can be used in several other con-texts ( buru as mind, reflexive pronoun, self…). Although dictionaries deal with these meanings separately, I propose that all these senses form an organised lexical network with three main nodes of extended meanings. These three nodes are structured and bound to the prototypical buru by means of three different metonymies: WHOLE FOR PART , ENTITY FOR LOCATION , AND PART FOR WHOLE . These three metonymies conform the conceptual basis for the rest of the semantic extensions in buru , which are obtained with the help of other cognitive devices such as metaphor and compositional polysemy.


A large percentage of current drugs target G-protein-coupled receptors, which couple to well-known signaling pathways involving cAMP or calcium. G-proteins themselves may subserve a second messenger function. Here, we review the role of tubulin and microtubules in directly mediating effects of heterotrimeric G-proteins on neuronal outgrowth, shape and differentiation. G-protein-tubulin interactions appear to be regulated by neurotransmitter activity, and, in turn, regulate the location of Gα in membrane microdomains (such as lipid rafts) or the cytosol. Tubulin binds with nanomolar affinity to Gsα, Giα1 and Gqα (but not other Gα subunits) as well as Gβ1γ2 subunits. Gα subunits destabilize microtubules by stimulating tubulin's GTPase, while Gβγ subunits promote microtubule stability. The same region on Gsα that binds adenylyl cyclase and Gβγ also interacts with tubulin, suggesting that cytoskeletal proteins are novel Gα effectors. Additionally, intracellular Giα-GDP, in concert with other GTPase proteins and Gβγ, regulates the position of the mitotic spindle in mitosis. Thus, G-protein activation modulates cell growth and differentiation by directly altering microtubule stability. Further studies are needed to fully establish a structural mechanism of this interaction and its role in synaptic plasticity.


Scholars have not regarded Somalia as a place of relevance to thinking about nuclear security. This article gives four reasons why this perspective is not well founded. First, as the state strengthens it needs an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear security regime for the control of nuclear materials. Second, it has unsecured uranium reserves that could be smuggled abroad. Third, those unsecured uranium reserves could be accessed by terrorists for use in a ' dirty ' bomb. Fourth, there is evidence of past ' ecoma fi a ' intent and planning, and possible success, in dumping radioactive waste on land in Somalia or in its territorial waters. The article proposes an innovative system of uranium ore fi ngerprinting, covert sensors, mobile phone reporting and surveying and evaluation capabilities that would address all four issues. The proposed system would include a low-cost method for turning any smart phone into a radiation detector to crowdsource reporting of possible nuclear materials, plus aerial and underwater drones with low cost radiation sensors.


OBJECTIVE
We sought to assess reproductive fitness differences between mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid haplogroups at high altitude.

STUDY DESIGN
This study considers differences in outcomes of conception, birth weight, and neonatal mortality rates for 62 women classified according to haplogroups (B or non-B).

RESULTS
The number of low-weight births (<2500 g) for the non-B group was significant (P =.019). Mothers in the non-B group reported more spontaneous abortions (P =.171) and stillbirths (P =.301). The difference in conceptions per woman between groups was significant (P =.036). However, no difference in infants alive at 1 month of age was evident. Neonatal death was significant (P =.017). The odds of an unsuccessful outcome among mothers in the B group was compared with mothers in the non-B group and was significant (P =.029). The chance of an adverse outcome, that is, fetal or infant death before 1 month, for mothers in the B group was between 11.1% and 88.7% lower than for mothers in the non-B group.

CONCLUSIONS
The neonatal mortality rate for the non-B group was significantly elevated relative to the B group. The molecular basis for these observations is not clear.


Oral lesions in a typical case of pemphigus vulgaris were investigated electron microscopically. The region of the basement membrane shows only minor changes. The basal cells have normal hemidesmosomes whereas the desmosomes disappear. Acantholytic cells sometimes reveal remnants of desmosomes. The tonofilaments show perinuclear centralization. The findings seem to indicate that the immunopathological process affects the cellular walls and thus separates existing desmosomal contacts and at the same time inhibits new desmosome formation.


A method of manufacturing a lithium-ion secondary battery includes an electrolytic solution making step of making an electrolytic solution by mixing at least an organic solvent and an electrolytic salt together, an electrode insertion step of inserting an anode and a cathode into an outer case, and a liquid injection step of injecting the electrolytic solution into the outer case; wherein the electrolytic solution making step or the liquid injection step adds a compound having an alkyl group with a carbon number of 10 or greater and an epoxy, vinyl, or silanol group at a terminal to the electrolytic solution.


Building a socially intelligent agent involves many challenges, one of which is to track the agent's mental state transition and teach the agent to make rational decisions guided by its utility like a human. Towards this end, we propose to incorporate a mental state parser and utility model into dialogue agents. The hybrid mental state parser extracts information from both the dialogue and event observations and maintains a graphical representation of the agent's mind; Meanwhile, the utility model is a ranking model that learns human preferences from a crowd-sourced social commonsense dataset, Social IQA. Empirical results show that the proposed model attains state-of-the-art performance on the dialogue/action/emotion prediction task in the fantasy text-adventure game dataset, LIGHT. We also show example cases to demonstrate: (i) how the proposed mental state parser can assist agent's decision by grounding on the context like locations and objects, and (ii) how the utility model can help the agent make reasonable decisions in a dilemma. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first work that builds a socially intelligent agent by incorporating a hybrid mental state parser for both discrete events and continuous dialogues parsing and human-like utility modeling.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Tumor suppressor PTEN controls genomic stability and inhibits tumorigenesis. It is well established that the N-terminal phosphatase domain of PTEN dephosphorylates lipid PIP3 to PIP2, which antagonizes PI3K/AKT signaling. However, the C-terminal function of PTEN is much less defined. Here we describe a knock-in mouse model of a nonsense mutation that results in deletion of the entire Pten C-terminal region, referred to as PtenΔC. Mice heterozygous for PtenΔC develop multiple spontaneous tumors, including cancers of different origins and B cell lymphoma. We found that heterozygous deletion of the Pten C-terminal domain also causes genomic instability and common fragile site rearrangement. We found that Pten C terminal disruption induces p53 and its downstream targets, causing cell death by apoptosis. Simultaneous depletion of p53 promotes metastasis of thyroid cancer without influencing initiation of tumors, suggesting that p53 mainly suppresses tumor progression but not tumor initiation. This is the first evidence that PTEN and p53 plays distinct roles at different stages of tumor development. Our data highlight the essential role of the PTEN C-terminus in the maintenance of genomic stability and suppression of tumorigenesis. Finally, our work reveals a network of PTEN and p53 that controls cellular responses to environmental stresses.

Citation Format: Wen H. Shen, Yuxin P. Yin. C-terminal PTEN is essential for maintenance of genomic stability and tumor suppression. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-24. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-LB-24


Frontal behavioral changes may be the presenting features of single-photon emission tomography (presenilin-1 [PS-1]) mutations, the most common cause of familial Alzheimer's disease (AD). The authors describe a PS-1 (M233L) mutation with the features of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and review the literature. PS-1 mutations may produce FTD-like phenotypes with the neuropathology of AD. Some PS-1 mutations have additional Pick's bodies, a neuropathological marker of FTD, and a report of a PS-1 (G183V) mutation found Pick's bodies without amyloid plaques. The patient and the literature suggest that PS-1 mutations result in an overlapping continuum of the clinical and neuropathological features of AD and FTD. In PS-1 mutations, the expression of AD or FTD may depend on the degree of loss of function of the PS-1 gene and the resultant τ pathophysiology.


In order to deeply explore the hidden value of big data and promote the process improvement and decision-making level of complex product manufacturing enterprises, the construction of big data analysis service platform for complex product manufacturing was studied. On the basis of the requirement analyzing of complex products, we set up a service-oriented manufacturing big data access platform architecture, and introduced the key technologies of the platform, elaborated the platform function. The platform has implemented the big data access, pre-processing, storage and analysis, especially provided distributed computing engines, algorithmic artifacts, visual artifacts, and visual analysis tools in complex product manufacturing. It supports the rapid construction of complex product big data analysis applications in form of service assembly.


In this letter, a novel dual-mode index modulation aided orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DM-OFDM) scheme called subcarrier-interactive (SI-) DM-OFDM is proposed. In the SIDM-OFDM, each subcarrier pair conveys the same QAM modulated symbols to achieve a diversity gain. At the receiver, a low complexity (LC) signal detection algorithm is proposed, i.e., SIDM-OFDM-LC, where each subcarrier interacts with other subcarriers in the same subblock as complementary and non-complementary states to improve BER performance. Moreover, Euclidean distance (ED) of the received signal and channel-noise matrix (CNM) based signal detection algorithms are employed for demodulation, namely SIDM-OFDM-ED and SIDM-OFDM-CNM, respectively. Simulation results confirm that the SIDM-OFDM with the proposed three signal detection algorithms achieves a significantly better BER performance than the existing DM-OFDM scheme at the same spectral efficiency. Also, it is revealed that the SIDM-OFDM-LC reduces the signal detection cost compared to the other two proposed detectors.


Introduction Despite efforts to increase the participation of marginalized students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), neurodivergent students have remained underrepresented and underserved in STEM graduate programs. This qualitative study aims to increase understanding of the experiences of neurodivergent graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in STEM. In this analysis, we consider how common graduate school experiences interface with the invisibility of neurological diversity, thus contributing to a set of unique challenges experienced by neurodivergent students. Materials and methods In this qualitative study, 10 focus group sessions were conducted to examine the experiences of 18 students who identify as neurodivergent in graduate STEM programs at a large, research-intensive (R1) university. We used thematic analysis of the transcripts from these focus groups to identify three overarching themes within the data. Results The findings are presented through a novel model for understanding neurodivergent graduate STEM student experiences. The findings suggest that students who identify as neurodivergent feel pressure to conform to perceived neurotypical norms to avoid negative perceptions. They also may self-silence to maintain stability within the advisor-advisee relationship. The stigma associated with disability labels contributes a heavy cognitive and emotional load as students work to mask neurodiversity-related traits, navigate decisions about disclosure of their neurodivergence, and ultimately, experience significant mental health challenges and burnout. Despite these many challenges, the neurodivergent graduate students in this study perceived aspects of their neurodivergence as a strength. Discussion The findings may have implications for current and future graduate students, for graduate advisors who may or may not be aware of their students' neurodivergence, and for program administrators who influence policies that impact the wellbeing and productivity of neurodivergent students.


In this paper, we develop an intelligent system to approach dynamical optimisation problems emerging in control of complex systems. In particular our proposal is to exploit the adaptivity of an artificial life (alife) environment in order to achieve "not control rules but autonomous structures able to dynamically adapt and to generate optimised-control rules". The basic features of the proposed approach are: no intensive modelling (continuous learning directly from measurements) and capability to follow the system evolution (adaptation to environmental changes). The suggested methodology has been tested on an energy regulation problem deriving from a classical testbed in dynamical systems experimentations: the Chua's circuit. We supposed not to know the system dynamics and to be able to act only on a subset of control parameters, letting the others vary in time in a random discrete way. We let the optimisation process searching for the new best value of performance, whenever a drop due to changes in fitness landscape occurred. We present the most important results showing the effectiveness of the proposed approach in adapting to environmental non-stationary changes by recovering the optimal value of process performance.


Multi-task learning (MTL) has achieved success over a wide range of problems, where the goal is to improve the performance of a primary task using a set of relevant auxiliary tasks. However, when the usefulness of the auxiliary tasks w.r.t. the primary task is not known a priori, the success of MTL models depends on the correct choice of these auxiliary tasks and also a balanced mixing ratio of these tasks during alternate training. These two problems could be resolved via manual intuition or hyper-parameter tuning over all combinatorial task choices, but this introduces inductive bias or is not scalable when the number of candidate auxiliary tasks is very large. To address these issues, we present AutoSeM, a two-stage MTL pipeline, where the first stage automatically selects the most useful auxiliary tasks via a Beta-Bernoulli multi-armed bandit with Thompson Sampling, and the second stage learns the training mixing ratio of these selected auxiliary tasks via a Gaussian Process based Bayesian optimization framework. We conduct several MTL experiments on the GLUE language understanding tasks, and show that our AutoSeM framework can successfully find relevant auxiliary tasks and automatically learn their mixing ratio, achieving significant performance boosts on several primary tasks. Finally, we present ablations for each stage of AutoSeM and analyze the learned auxiliary task choices.


THE DISK-SHAPED, or ring, cataract is a rare form of congenital cataract that has been reported relatively few times. Judging from a review of the literature, the hereditary tendency has been reported in only 1 family. In July 1944 a 10 year old girl (Nadine L.) with congenital disk-shaped cataracts was brought to the eye clinic of Stanford University Hospital for examination and treatment. Her history led to the study of a most interesting family, consisting of 59 persons, of whom 16 have the same congenital anomaly. In addition to the cataract, all the affected members examined showed symmetric dislocation of the lens. No other local or systemic anomalies were found. This family is not related to any other with congenital cataract, and, so far as I can trace the familial history, there were no known cases of this condition prior to the ones reported herein. There was no history


Smoothing algorithms for state-space models, i.e., fixed-interval smoothing, fixed-lag smoothing, and two-filter formula for smoothing, are examined using real examples. For linear and Gaussian state-space models, it is observed that similar posterior distributions can be obtained by properly defining the inverse filter. In the case of linear non-Gaussian state-space models, it is shown that Gaussian-sum smoothing is possible even for relatively high dimensional state-space model with Gaussian-mixture noise inputs by properly setting the inverse filter. The two-filter formula is also applicable for particle filter, but better results are obtained with fixed lag smoothing or with the average of forward and backward fixed lag smoothers.