PURPOSE
To evaluate gadolinium-enhanced T(1)-weighted excretory MR urography (EMRU) versus T(2)-weighted (HASTE) MR urography in children with upper urinary tract abnormalities.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In a prospective study 63 children, aged from 3 weeks to 15 years, underwent MR urography in a 1.5-T scanner. Before and after an intravenous injection of 0.05 mg/kg body weight of furosemide, respiratory-triggered HASTE images were obtained for T(2)-weighted MR urography. EMRU was performed subsequent to i. v. gadolinium injection with respiratory-gated, coronal 3 D-gradient-echo sequences.

RESULTS
Compared to T(2)-weighted (HASTE) MR urography, gadolinium-enhanced MR urography revealed a superior diagnostic accuracy in non-dilated collecting systems (horseshoe kidneys, ectopic kidneys, duplex systems, single ectopic ureters, ureteroceles). EMRU and T(2)-weighted (HASTE) MRU turned out to be equivalent in the assessment of obstructed but normal functioning upper urinary tracts (UPJ obstructions, megaureters). Non-functioning dilated collecting systems and multicystic dysplastic kidneys were best visualized with use of T(2)-weighted (HASTE) MR urography.

CONCLUSION
Respiratory-gated gadolinium-enhanced T(1)-weighted MRU allows accurate evaluation of most upper urinary tract abnormalities. T(2)-weighted (HASTE) MRU complements GMRU in the evaluation of non-functioning renal units and cystic disease of the kidneys.


There is need for dietary diversification which involves the use of commonly available cereals, legumes and other nutritious crops to meet nutritional needs of diabetic patients. Dietary diversification could be used to ameliorate micronutrient deficiencies by modifying the diet to include a greater diversity of nutrient - rich foods. The major aim of this study was to produce and evaluate ready-to-eat breakfast product for diabetics from African yam bean (Sphenostylis sternocarpa), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and unripe plantain (Musa paradisiaca L.) flour blends. Flours were produced from sorghum, African yam bean and unripe plantain and blended in 100:0:0, 65:30:5, 60:30:10, 55:30:15, 50:30:20 and 45:30:25 ratio of sorghum: African yam bean: unripe plantain flour, respectively. Ready-to-eat breakfast products were produced from each blend by toasting at 150°C for 5 min. The products hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic potentials and effects on hematological parameters were evaluated using rat study. The fasting blood glucose (fbg) of the rats were significantly (p5 (45:30:25) had the lowest mean fbg value of 81.63 mg/ml. The cholesterol level of rats fed sample SAUP5 (945:30:25) was reduced from 3.56 to 2.10 mg/dl, low density lipoprotein from 2.03 to 1.10 mg/dl, triglycerides from 1.03 to 0.63 mg/dl and high density lipoprotein was increased from 0.47 to 0.97 mg/dl. Liver function of rats fed sample SAUP4 (50:30:20) was reduced from 100 to 23 mg/dl, for Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), 49 to 23 mg/dl for alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and 33 to 19 mg/dl for alkaline phosphatase (ALP), respectively. Conclusion: The formulated ready-to-eat breakfast product was adequate for diabetic patients.


The author will summarize studies on the dynamics of monatomic liquids, mainly liquid metals using inelastic neutron scattering techniques. Many microscopic properties of disordered systems like liquids which are not accessible by other techniques can be investigated by properly designed neutron scattering experiments. Details of the physics of diffusion processes, that is of single-particle motion, can be revealed by incoherent quasi-elastic scattering. coherent scattering can explore relative motions or collective modes and their damping mechanism. both aspects will be illustrated with a few examples of recent experiments.


4736 Evidence suggests that effective mTHPC mediated PDT is dependent on early vascular damage. Various methods can be used to evaluate vascular changes but most have the drawback of being invasive. OCT is a novel, non-invasive imaging technique that can detect structural and functional changes (including perfusion) in superficial tissues. We used OCT to measure PDT induced changes in perfusion and compared these results with histological assessments of vascular damage and response to PDT. Materials and Methods: Nude mice bearing subcutaneous HNXOE tumors were injected with mTHPC (0.3 mg/kg) at 3 or 48 h before illumination (652 nm, 30 J/cm2, 100 mW/cm2). Sequential OCT measurements were made before and up to 24 h after PDT. Histological assessments of perfusion (Hoechst 33342 and collagen IV staining) and tissue hypoxia (EF3 staining) were made for tumors at 1 h after PDT. Separate groups of mice were used to evaluate tumor response to PDT (regrowth delay and cure). Results: OCT could visualize different structural layers of tumor and overlying skin with a maximal penetration of 2 mm. PDT with a 3 h drug-light interval (D-L) reduced perfusion of superficial tumor tissue by 60-80% within 30 minutes and for at least 3 h after illumination. PDT with a D-L of 48 h did not produce significant OCT changes. These results corresponded with histological assessments of PDT induced changes, which also showed ablation of perfused blood vessels and increased tumor hypoxia for the 3 h D-L interval only. Long term follow-up of tumor response showed that protocols that induced an early vascular response (3 h D-L) resulted in 100% cure, whereas protocols that did not produce an early vascular response (48 h D-L) resulted in rapid regrowth of most tumors. Conclusion: OCT may offer the possibility to predict response to PDT treatment, or even to adjust the light dose delivered to ensure that an adequate vascular response is achieved.


Without doubt a well-developed financial sector is related to efficient resource allocation and growth, but there is modest consensus on the direction of that link, on the notion of what is meant by "well developed", on which subset of the financial market is crucial and thus which organisational set-up provides optimal returns for both architects and market participants alike. With sluggish growth, torn down market barriers and systemic change in the EU accession countries the direction, magnitude, sustainability, institutional set-up of the finance-growth nexus (and which), becomes one of the core issues of both macroeconomic theory and practice. This paper reviews the economic theory available, provides a well structured overview of 54 empirical studies conducted since 1964, sets the stage for constructing a data base encompassing the major three segments of financial markets (stock, bond and bank credit) and provides the methodological background for combining cross-country production function and time-series approaches in order to answer the following questions: (1) What is the direction of the finance-growth nexus, (2) which segment of the financial sector drives whatever nexus there is, and (3) what are the features of a growth supportive financial architecture.


Electro.Aero has been supporting the emerging electric aviation industry for nearly a decade, including the development of chargers, electrical management systems, battery management systems and electric propulsion systems to numerous electric aircraft development projects. During that time, it was identified that the industry needed standardization, especially regarding the charging coupler, so the SAE AE-7D committee was founded by Joshua Portlock in 2018 to help standardize electric aircraft charging and energy management. The AS6968 standard for light conductive charging of electric aircraft was the first standard the committee worked on and is now approaching completion through this year. Furthermore, while the charging coupler standard was proving to be of high priority to the industry, there has also been a noticeable trend that typical airport hangars don't have sufficient electrical power to charge the growing power demands of future electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Therefore, SmartHangar technology was developed, whereby the limited grid connectivity is supplemented by solar and stationary battery energy storage systems to help deliver the peak power demands of electric aviation charging, whilst also helping airports and vertiports transition to more self-sufficient sustainable energy.


Despite their strong contribution to the overall world economic growth, gender gaps are wide in many countries in sub Saharan Africa and low representation of women in the private health sector is wider than in other sectors. While women and youth use the majority of health services both private and public, women are underrepresented as private health care providers and have limited access to financing to open their own private practices. This landscape has prompted the HNP Global Practice to take a critical look at the factors which hamper the growth of female and young private health practitioners vis a vis their male counterparts (usually older and more experienced in their profession). This assessment provides information on ways to close the gap which exists between male private service providers and female providers as well as recommends ways in which the existing gaps can be addressed. The assessment also provides the basis for further developing a strong public- private dialogue in health while providing avenues for building capacities for women to fully contribute to the development of the private health sector through the development of training module to be administered in private training schools as a pilot in Burkina Faso and Mali.


Until now, very few works have been devoted to the predictions of the flame structure resulting from the combustion of a vertical burning wall adjacent to a rectangular pool fire at the floor level. This paper describes the application of a three-dimensional model to the prediction of the aerodynamic field and the thermal structure using a finite volume method for solving the fluid dynamic equations. The model employs a two-equations, k-E turbulence model. The gas-phase: non-premixed combustion process is modeled via the conservated scalarlprescribed density function approach. It can be indicated that the merging of the diffusion flames between a vertical burning wall and a pool fire at the floor level induces a rapid broadening of the buoyant gas column. As a consequence, the flame thickness remains almost constant all along the vertical burning wall. and the buoyantly induced plume closer to the horizontal combustible surface is strongly narrowed. Predictions are shown to be in reasonable agreement with measurements and areas requiring further research are selected.


In response to David Bolt's Comment, "Blindness and the Problems of Terminology" (published in the September 2003 issue of JVIB)-wherein he describes the traditional definitions of the word blind as "neither straightforward nor respectable" and proposes the new term, "persons with a visual inhibition"-I would simply say why not let the blind decide how they would like to be identified? I can't decide if Bolt's new term would be met with hilarity or anger or both from blind individuals-and maybe that's the whole point. I can't decide. Let the blind decide for themselves. Our society certainly does that for other oppressed minority groups. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), cited several times in Bolt's Comment, states that it is "changing what it means to be blind" and I think one of the things NFB intends to do is to take the stigma away from the word blind and change society's view of blindness to one that is based on the experience and attitudes of the blind themselves. There is certainly much historical precedent for groups making this choice of terminology for themselves. Society should affirm the rights of the blind to follow that process of self-determination and let the blind lead the terminology decision-making process.


The aim of this paper is the development and validation of a vibroacustic technique to welding defects detection, especially for welded thin plate structures. In welded structures subjected to dynamic cyclic loads may appear and propagate fatigue cracks due to local structural damage. These cracks may initiate due to the technological parameters used in welding process, or due to environmental operating conditions. By the means of Finite Element Method (FEM), the natural frequencies and shape modes of welded stainless steel specimens are determined. The analysis is carried out in undamaged condition as well as damaged one, after artificially induced damages. The experimental measurement of the vibroacustic response is carried out by using a condenser microphone, which is suitable for high-fidelity acoustic measurements in the frequency range of 40 – 18.000 Hz. The vibration responses of the welded specimens, in free-free conditions, are carried out using algorithms based on Fast Fourier Transform and Prony's series. The results are compared to modal parameters estimated using FE Analysis and with natural frequencies computed by Euler-Bernoulli theory.


Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neural cells have started to be used in safety/toxicity tests at the preclinical stage of drug development. As previously reported, hiPSC-derived neurons exhibit greater tolerance to excitotoxicity than those of primary cultures of rodent neurons; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. We here investigated the functions of L-glutamate (L-Glu) transporters, the most important machinery to maintain low extracellular L-Glu concentrations, in hiPSC-derived neural cells. We also clarified the contribution of respective L-Glu transporter subtypes. At 63 days in vitro (DIV), we detected neuronal circuit functions in hiPSC-derived neural cells by a microelectrode array system (MEA). At 63 DIV, exposure to 100 μM L-Glu for 24 h did not affect the viability of neural cells. 100 µM L-Glu in the medium decreased to almost 0 μM in 60 min. Pharmacological inhibition of excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1) and EAAT2 suppressed almost 100% of L-Glu decrease. In the presence of this inhibitor, 100 μM L-Glu dramatically decreased cell viability. These results suggest that in hiPSC-derived neural cells, EAAT1 and EAAT2 are the predominant L-Glu transporters, and their uptake potentials are the reasons for the tolerance of hiPSC-derived neurons to excitotoxicity.


In this communication new conception similar to the degree of assignment, the mass specific degree of assignment and a dynamic computer were introduced victimization ideas like second law of natural science, Heisenberg's theory and entropy. The result developed asserts that electronic computations do not appear to be out of the grasp of the second law of natural science. Victimization Heisenberg's theory it's finished that the mass equivalent of the energy that is blessed with in signals act wholly completely different elements of the computer cannot exceed the mass of the system. Whereas discussing quantum mechanical description main properties of algorithms and floating purpose numbers were accustomed provide a reasonable argument in favor of the wave interpretation of natural philosophy as compared with completely different interpretations of natural philosophy


The EU has evolved from a grouping of six Western European countries with stated economic objectives to a large regional organization of now 27 European countries pursuing a wide range of political, economic, social, environmental, and security objectives, while the majority of the other European countries are associated with it or aspire to join it. The EU has been promoted as the main successful case of regional integration to be emulated by other regions. However, while its integration has been quite impressive, various developments have indicated the possibility of its disintegration. The threat of disintegration from within makes it even more worrisome as it reflects the growing discontent in some of its members with the way the EU is run under the leadership of its heavyweights (France and Germany), added to the EU's unfulfilled promises of growth, prosperity, and equality for all its members. Brexit ended a taboo and showed a way out of the EU for the dissatisfied EU members that will not likely be repeated in the foreseeable future. However, there are other possible scenarios for disintegration, including the degeneration of the EU into a loose regional grouping of convenience where its members take advantage of its benefits while pursuing their own national interests and following the EU's rules only when they serve their interests. ASEAN is much younger than the EU and has not sought, in practice, the same objectives pursued by the latter, although it has targeted regional integration in Southeast Asia. There is a degree of similarity in the circumstances under which the two regional groupings were established, but there are also various differences between the two regions. In a nutshell, ASEAN is a loose organization of 10 members who work together in certain areas of common interest, while mainly focused on their national objectives. Unlike the EU, it does not operate as a power bloc and contains a number of unresolved issues, which could pit its members against each other as they have done before. Consequently, if the EU, despite 70 years of planned integration with a significant degree of success, is not immune to disintegration, then ASEAN with its still insignificant degree of integration is surely vulnerable to such a possibility, unless it seriously initiates a process to address its root causes before it is too late.


In the literature review are presented the etiology, clinical and genetic features of congenital and infantile nephrotic syndrome (NS) in children, as of isolated and with extra-renal manifestations. Congenital NS is diagnosed in children from birth to 3 months, infantile NS – from 4 to 12 months. Clinical and genetic features of hereditary variants of congenital and infantile NS in children caused by mutations of genes encoding the main components of slit diaphragm, glomerular basement membrane and the cytoskeleton of the podocyte feet are described. R. Preston et al (2019) believe that clinical phenotyping combined with targeted genetic analysis is effective in diagnosing steroid-resistant congenital and infantile NS in children. Currently, genetic testing is recommended before initiating immunosuppressive therapy and performing a biopsy of the kidney. Mutational screening of genes is shown in hereditary variants of congenital (NPHS1, NPHS2, WT1, LAMB2, PLCE1, LMX1B) and infantile (NPHS2, NPHS1, WT1, PLCE1, TRPC6, ACTN4, ADCK4, COQ2, COQ6) NS in children. The NPHS1 mutation detection rate remains high amongst non–Finnis cases of congenital NS. In international practice, with the aim of early diagnosis and treatment of steroid-resistant congenital and infantile NS in children, modern methods of mutational screening are used. Renal biopsy fades into the background. The literature review presents a modern strategy of drug and early renal replacement therapy. Recommendations for the management of Finnish-type congenital NS in children followed by many teams include daily albumin infusions, early bilateral nephrectomy, dialysis, and transplantation. The 5-years survival of patients with congenital and infantile nephrotic syndrome after kidney transplantation is more than 90 %, the survival rate of the renal allograft is more than 80 %.


We are reporting an atypical and very rare clinical case of nasal angiofibroma in a 60 year-old female who presented with recurrent epistaxis and nasal blockage. The tumour was located on the right inferior turbinate C.T scans., M.R.I. and Angiography were required as complementary studies. After trying without success a previous arterial embolization, the patient underwent surgery by Functional Endoscopic Nasal Surgery (F.E.N.S.) with removal of the mass in the right nasal fossa. The anatomopathologic result confirmed the histology of angiofibroma and the clinical evolution was satisfactory. Angiofibromas in women and in general in adults are exceptional as we have verified through a literature review.


The receptor tyrosine kinase EphA2 is over-expressed in numerous carcinomas in association with poor clinical prognosis. While pharmacologic agents that antagonize EphA2-mediated signaling could be contemplated as a therapy, a more preferred result would be to decrease tumor cell EphA2 expression while coordinately enhancing specific immune reactivity to tumor cells. We show that specific mAb triggers the internalization of EphA2, resulting in increased processing of EphA2 protein and presentation of EphA2-derived epitopes in tumor cell HLA class I complexes to CD8+ T cells (detected by IFN-γ production and CD107b translocation). Ab-enhanced CTL recognition is blocked by tumor cell co-treatment with Pseudomonas Exotoxin-A and proteasome inhibitors, but not by chloroquine, suggesting that internalized EphA2 complexes are rapidly translocated into the cytoplasm for delivery of peptides into the class I biosynthetic route. When combined with vaccines designed to augment the frequency of circulating anti-EphA2 CD8+ T cells, this agonist strategy may define an effective therapy for patients harboring EphA2+ cancers.


The emission spectrum of a dc capillary discharge in krypton with a small (≤0.1%) xenon impurity has been experimentally studied in the 115-850-nm range. It is shown that most of the radiation energy is concentrated in a narrow VUV spectral band adjacent to the 146.96-nm resonance line of xenon and belonging to the heteronuclear Xe*Kr molecule. The power of the narrow-band VUV radiation and its angular dependence have been measured. A conclusion is drawn that the appearance of the narrow-band VUV radiation represents amplified spontaneous emission caused by transillumination of the broad-band amplifying medium by a narrow-band "seed."


An important problem that arises during the data mining process in many new emerging application domains is mining data with temporal dependencies. One such application domain is activity discovery and recognition. Activity discovery and recognition is used in many real world systems, such as assisted living and security systems, and it has been vastly studied in recent years. However, the temporal features and relations which provide useful insights for activity models have not been exploited to their full potential by mining algorithms. In this paper, we propose a temporal model for discovering temporal features and relations of activity patterns from sensor data. Our algorithm is able to discover features and relations, such as the order of the activities, their usual start times and durations by using rule mining and clustering techniques. The algorithm has been validated using 4 months of data collected in a smart home.


to standards Abstract: Today, reduction of forest resources and wood-based panel production of intense pressure from environmentalists on this issue has led to new searches. At this point, various studies and researches are carried out on the subject.This research was also planned within this scope. In this study, mechanical properties of particle boards (650 kg/m 3 ) produced using urea cotton stalks and wood (% 100, 75, 50, 25, 0) for general purposes under laboratory conditions were investigated. At the same time, the results were compared with relevant standards. For production of particleboards, urea formaldehyde resin (65%) and as hardening agent ammonium chloride (33%) were used. The result showed that the mean value of bending strength, modulus of elasticity and resistance to axial withdrawal strength of the specimens, janka results ranged from 13.11 to 18.01 N/mm 2 , from 2819 to 4620.8 N/mm 2 , from 984.6 to 1089.4, from 0.55 to 0.97 N/mm 2 and from 32.2 to 54.41 N/mm 2 , respectively. In the statistical analysis, (except for 100% wood chip) it was understood that, properties of the particleboards have improved with the rising percentage of wood particles in the particleboards. In addition, it was determined that the bending resistance and the modulus of elasticity in bending, the tensile strength perpendicular to the surface and the screw holding resistance perpendicular to the surface were meet the minimum requirements required in TS-EN 310, TS EN 319 and BS


Introduction Oesophago-gastric defects which occur as a result of anastomotic leak or spontaneous/iatrogenic perforation often result in severe sepsis. Traditionally, surgery is the mainstay of treatment. However this is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality and may not always be feasible. We describe our experience of using a minimally invasive method of using an endoscopic transluminal vacuum system to treat these oesophago-gastric defects and deal with the associated mediastinal and abdominal sepsis. Method An endoscopic vacuum system is created by using an open-pore polyurethane sponge fixed by 0 Silk suture to the distal end of a 12–16 F naso-gastric tube. The sponge tip is trimmed to the desired shape and placed under endoscopic visualisation through the oesophageal defect into the cavity. The vacuum assisted system is kept in position by applying a continuous negative pressure of 125 mmHg allowing the defect cavity to collapse around the sponge. The system is changed every 48–72 h until the cavity shrinks and stable granulation tissue forms a barrier. Results Between April 2011 and December 2014, 12 patients were treated with an endoscopic transluminal vacuum system for various causes of oesophago-gastric defects after established therapeutic measures had failed or as a primary procedure. Three patients had a spontaneous defect; two patients had an iatrogenic defect; and seven patients had a postoperative oesophageal defect. In 10 of 12 cases, the endoscopic vacuum transluminal system treatment was successful. The therapy was well tolerated with minimal discomfort. Two patients died due to intractable sepsis from the original insult. The rest of the patients are alive and well with a median follow up of nine months. Conclusion The endoscopic transluminal vacuum system can be used for a wide range of oesophago-gastric defects and, in our experience, successful treatment and healing can be achieved. It provides a new and useful treatment option in the management of these challenging patients. Disclosure of interest None Declared.


PURPOSE
Inverse-geometry computed tomography (IGCT) could have great potential in medical applications and security inspections, and has been actively investigated in recent years. In this work, we explore a special architecture of IGCT in a stationary configuration: symmetric-geometry computed tomography (SGCT), where the X-ray source and detector are linearly distributed in a symmetric design. A direct filtered-backprojection (FBP) type algorithm is developed to analytically reconstruct images from the SGCT projections.

METHODS
In our proposed SGCT system, a big number of X-ray source points equally distributed along a straight-line trajectory will sequentially fire in an ultra-fast manner in one side, and an equispaced detector whose total length is comparable to that of the source will continuously collect data in the opposite side, as the object to be scanned moves into the imaging plane. We firstly present the overall design of SGCT. An FBP-type reconstruction algorithm is then derived for this unique imaging configuration. With finite length of X-ray source and detector arrays, projection data from one segment of SGCT scan is insufficient for an exact reconstruction. As a result, in practical applications, dual-SGCT scan whose detector segments are placed perpendicular to each other, is of particular interest and is proposed. Two segments of SGCT together can make sure that the passing rays cover at least 180 degrees for each and every point if carefully designed. In general, however, there exists a data redundancy problem for a dual-SGCT. So a weighting strategy is developed to maximize the use of projection data collected while avoid image artifacts. In addition, we further extend the fan-beam SGCT to cone beam and obtain a Feldkamp-Davis-Kress type reconstruction algorithm. Finally, we conduct a set of experimental studies both in simulation and on a prototype SGCT system and validate our proposed methods.

RESULTS
A simulation study using the Shepp-Logan head phantom confirms that CT images can be exactly reconstructed from dual-SGCT scan and that our proposed weighting strategy is able to handle the data redundancy properly. Compared with the rebinning-to-parallel-beam method using the forward projection of an abdominal CT data set, our proposed method is seen to be less sensitive to data truncation. Our algorithm can achieve 10.64 lp/cm of spatial resolution at 50% MTF point, higher than that of the rebinning method which can only reach at 9.42 lp/cm even with extremely fine interpolation. Real experiments of a cylindrical object on a prototype SGCT further prove the effectiveness and practicability of the direct FBP method proposed, with similar level of noise performance to rebinning algorithm.

CONCLUSIONS
A new concept of SGCT with linearly distributed source and detector is investigated in this work, in which spinning of sources and detectors is no long needed during data acquisition, simplifying its system design, development and manufacturing. A direct FBP-type algorithm is developed for analytical reconstruction from SGCT projection data. Numerical and real experiments validate our method and show that exact CT image can be reconstructed from dual-SGCT scan, where data redundancy problem can be solved by our proposed weighting function.


The natural history of fads of fashions, a particular type of social change, is told as a succession of chronological stages, each characterized by the interaction among producers, distributors, and consumers. The process is thus: discovery of the potential fad, promotion by the discoverers and/or original consumers, labeling, dissemination, eventual loss of exclusiveness and uniqueness, death by displacement.


BackgroundTyphoid fever and Helicobacter pylori infection increases the secretion of gastric acid that leads to gastric carcinoma. In this research, we have tried to investigate the prevalence of typhoid and H. pylori in Faisalabad, Pakistan.MethodIn the present study, we collected the laboratory reports from different hospital of Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (Chicago, IL), version 25 was used for data processing.ResultOur results demonstrated that H. pylori was most frequent in male at the age of 41–50-year-old and typhoid in female having 21-30 age.ConclusionConclusively, mostly female in typhoid and male in H. pylori were infected. People having 21-30 age were greatly infected by typhoid. The patients owing the 41-50 age were more susceptible for H. pylori infections. By comparing the co-infection rate, we found that typhoid is most common in over all age group than H. pylori.


This article develops a multi-factor econometric model of the term structure of interest-rate swap yields. The model accommodates the possibility of counterparty default, and any differences in the liquidities of the Treasury and Swap markets. By parameterizing a model of swap rates directly, the authors are able to compute model-based estimates of the defaultable zero-coupon bond rates implicit in the swap market without having to specify a priori the dependence of these rates on default hazard or recovery rates. The time series analysis of spreads between zero-coupon swap and treasury yields reveals that both credit and liquidity factors were important sources of variation in swap spreads over the past decade. Copyright 1997 by American Finance Association.


Whisker-shaped nickel phyllosilicate (NiPS) was synthesized using rod-like nickel-based metal–organic frameworks as the hard templates, and highly efficient flame retardant and wear resistant EP composites were prepared by synergizing with microencapsulated ammonium polyphosphate (MFAPP). The research results indicated that at a total addition amount of 8 wt% and a mass ratio of 2 : 5 for NiPS to MFAPP, the limiting oxygen index of the EP composite was 28.2%, which achieved the V-0 rating in the UL-94 standard. Meanwhile, the peak of heat release rate and total heat release was reduced by 33.9% and 22%, respectively, compared with pure EP. The synergistic system of NiPS and MFAPP promoted the formation of high-quality char layer, preventing the diffusion of heat, oxygen, and combustible gases effectively during combustion of the EP composite. Dry friction test showed that the wear rate of the EP composite was 0.847 × 10−5 mm3 N−1 m−1, which was 87.9% lower than pure EP, indicating a significant improvement in wear resistance. This study provided a promising method for the preparation of high performance epoxy composites with excellent flame retardancy and wear resistance.


Abstract. Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS), 3-D modeling and its Web visualization are the three key steps needed to perform storage and grant-free and wide access to cultural heritage, as highlighted in many recent examples. The goal of this study is to set up 3-D Web resources for "virtually" visiting the exterior of the Abbaye de l'Epau, an old French abbey which has both a rich history and delicate architecture. The virtuality is considered in two ways: the flowing navigation in a virtual reality environment around the abbey and a game activity using augmented reality. First of all, the data acquisition consists in GPS and tacheometry survey, terrestrial laser scanning and photography acquisition. After data pre-processing, the meshed and textured 3-D model is generated using 3-D Reshaper commercial software. The virtual reality visit and augmented reality animation are then created using Unity software. This work shows the interest of such tools in bringing out the regional cultural heritage and making it attractive to the public.


During observation campaigns of the Galactic Bulge region, BeppoSAX detected a total of 21 new X-ray bursters in about 6 years of operation. These sources are mostly transient and often feature a hard X-ray spectrum, extending up to ~ 200 keV. A hard spectrum is generally found in weak, relatively short outbursts. On the other hand two sources, SAX J1747.0-2853 and SAX J1750.8-2900, have been seen with soft X-ray transient behaviour. In both low/hard and high/soft state, a thermal component is observed at energies below \~10 keV and the spectra are compatible with the same model consisting of a blackbody or disk blackbody plus a hard or Comptonized component. Light curves are characterized by either weak, short flares or longer, high luminosity eruptions with exponential decay.


Ethylene glycol is a common cause of poisoning and death in pets by being converted to more toxic metabolites responsible of many toxic effects, mainly renal damage. The present paper describes an atypical case of ethylene glycol poisoning in a dog due to consumption of small amounts of antifreeze solution over a long period of time, and resulting a renal failure.


This work examines the feasibility of applying thermoelectric generators as power sources for implantable applications. Thermoelectric design principles, manufacturing methods and novel materials are foundational aspects of the work.Rapid advancements in the field of biomedical engineering has led to the vast number of implantable medical devices developed within the last few decades. As implantable medical devices provide more functionality, sufficient energy storage while maintaining compactness becomes challenging. The lifetime of implanted medical devices will often be much shorter than the expected lifespan of patients, adding risks and costs to the patient in the form of additional surgical procedures. A perpetual power source that extends the longevity of implantable devices still remains elusive. This presents opportunities for solid-state thermal energy harvesting with thermoelectric energy generators (TEGs) that scavenge waste heat, the most abundant source of energy from the body.Thermoelectric energy generators (TEGs) provide solid-state energy by converting temperature differences into usable electricity. Since the fat in the human body provides thermal insulation, the largest temperature differences (typically 1-5 K) are found in the highest fat regions of the body. Bioheat transfer modeling shows that the optimal placement of TEGs for energy generation is in the abdomen under high convective conditions. Based on average 100 µW (at 1 V) input power requirements of implantable medical devices, thermoelectric and heat transfer design theories suggest a need for high aspect ratio thermoelectric elements in high density arrays to take advantage of the low temperature differences in the fat layer.In order to maximize power output, traditional thermoelectric device designs must be abandoned and a planar TEG device design is proposed as an effective and scalable method for implantable medical applications. Dispenser printing was then shown as a scalable and repeatable manufacturing method for depositing thick-film thermoelectric materials in the fabrication of planar TEGs. The use of printed fabrication methods led to the development and synthesis of novel printable composite thermoelectric materials. The thermoelectric properties of the printed thermoelectric materials were analyzed and carefully characterized as a function of temperature. The maximum dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) at 302K for an n-type Bi2Te3-epoxy composite was 0.18 when cured at 250°C, while the ZT of a p-type Sb2Te3-epoxy composite cured at 350°C was 0.34.A 50-couple TEG prototype with 5 mm x 640 µm x 90 µm printed element dimensions was fabricated on a polyimide substrate with evaporated metal contacts. The prototype device produced a power output of 10.5 µW at 61.3 µA and 171.6 mV for a temperature difference of 20K resulting in a device areal power density of 75 µW/cm2. The results of the work are promising and alternative methods to improve the performance of future devices are proposed. While the initial focus of this work was specific to the field of biomedical devices, the technologies that have been developed are applicable to other fields involving energy harvesting. The prospective impact of this work ultimately paves the path towards the advanced healthcare system of the future based on integrated autonomous wireless systems for the needs of aging in place or aging at home technologies.


Partial differential equations (PDEs) see widespread use in sciences and engineering to describe simulation of physical processes as scalar and vector fields interacting and coevolving over time. Due to the computationally expensive nature of their standard solution methods, neural PDE surrogates have become an active research topic to accelerate these simulations. However, current methods do not explicitly take into account the relationship between different fields and their internal components, which are often correlated. Viewing the time evolution of such correlated fields through the lens of multivector fields allows us to overcome these limitations. Multivector fields consist of scalar, vector, as well as higher-order components, such as bivectors and trivectors. Their algebraic properties, such as multiplication, addition and other arithmetic operations can be described by Clifford algebras. To our knowledge, this paper presents the first usage of such multivector representations together with Clifford convolutions and Clifford Fourier transforms in the context of deep learning. The resulting Clifford neural layers are universally applicable and will find direct use in the areas of fluid dynamics, weather forecasting, and the modeling of physical systems in general. We empirically evaluate the benefit of Clifford neural layers by replacing convolution and Fourier operations in common neural PDE surrogates by their Clifford counterparts on 2D Navier-Stokes and weather modeling tasks, as well as 3D Maxwell equations. For similar parameter count, Clifford neural layers consistently improve generalization capabilities of the tested neural PDE surrogates. Source code for our PyTorch implementation is available at https://microsoft.github.io/cliffordlayers/.


Background Medication errors of health team members can seriously compromise patient health. The aim of this study was to determine the cause for refusing to Report Medication Errors from the Perspective of Nurses in Inpatient Wards
 Materials : In this descriptive study, 120 employed nurses in hospital wards were selected through random sampling method and data were collected by a questionnaire consists of three areas of fear from the consequences of reporting, management factors and reporting process and then they were analyzed by SPSS software.
 Results: The obtained results showed that 45/83% of the under study units had medication errors in which the nurses had reported the 76/36 % of them. Among the studied factors, the scope of fear from reporting consequences had the maximum score 4/56 ± 0 /41 and the lowest score 1 / 63 ± 0 /41 was attributed to the reporting process scope. In the scope of fear from reporting consequences, the greatest part of score was related with fear of being blamed by the authorities (4 / 42 ± 0 / 6) and in the scope of management factors, it was related with the lack of positive feedback from the authorities after the reporting (3 / 92 ± 0 / 5).
 Conclusion: Fear of reporting consequences is considered as the most important cause of not-reporting of medication errors. As the reporting of medication errors can improve the patient safety, so nurse managers must have a positive reaction toward the medication error reported by nurses.


CS09-03 Mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 are associated with an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers. Reduced BRCA1 expression due to promoter methylation may contribute to breast cancer progression. BRCA1 has been implicated in DNA damage repair, cell cycle checkpoint control and transcriptional regulation. The specific suppression of breast and ovarian carcinogenesis by the pleiotropic BRCA1 tumor suppressor has been hypothesized to be due to its regulation of estrogen receptor α (ERα) and the progesterone receptors (PRs), which play important roles in breast development. However, how the ER and PRs contribute to BRCA1-mediated carcinogenesis remains unclear. We show that Brca1/p53-defective mammary glands of nulliparous miceaccumulate lateral branches and undergo extensive alveologenesis, a phenotype only seen during pregnancy in normal mice. Progesterone receptors (PRs), but not estrogen receptors are over-expressed in the mammary epithelial cells (MECs) of conditional Brca1/p53,but not p53 knockout mice; therefore, progesterone is a potent mitogen for Brca1/p53-defective MECs specifically. PR is stabilized in Brca1/p53-defective MECs. Treatment with anti-progesterone, mifepristone, prevents tumorigenesis in mice carrying mutated Brca1/p53 alleles, indicating a critical role of PR in Brca1-mediated tumorigenesis. These findings uncover a tissue-specific function of BRCA1 and implicate anti-progesterone in breast cancer prevention, especially in BRCA1 carriers. [A. J. P. and Y. L. contributed equally to this work.]


Introduction.
The use of ozone, intra or periarticular, for knee and hip joint osteoarthritis (KO / HO) is clearly justified by its anti-inflammatory and antioxidants properties, that should diminish the arthritic episodes of this disease [1]. Several papers have proved the safety and efficacy of this treatment for KO [2-12], comparable to other classical treatments (steroids or hyaluronic acid (HA)) [13-14]. However, there is no paper about HO yet.

Study design.
This work is based on two open prospective studies started in February 2002 and stopped in February 2010, one group for each joint. Recruitment criteria for both groups were:
- Kellgren & Lawrence KO classification: any
- One/bilateral
- No previous joint trauma
- No rheumatic disorder
- No previous surgery (but arthroscopic meniscectomy)
- NSAIDs for at least two months
- Promise to abandon any anti-inflammatory drugs during ozone treatment
- Informed consent

Clinical evaluation for KO was done using WOMAC questionnaire, pre-treatment and 1, 3, 6, 12 months after treatment. In case of HO, we used VAS for evaluation instead.

Clinical data.
All patients have, at least, 12 months follow-up. For KO, we have complied 199 patients (225 knees). There are two missing cases, not compiled, due to death at the 1 year revision. Age of sample ranged from 51 to 89 during the treatment. WOMAC pre-treatment was:
-Pain 13.3
-Stiffness 5.6
-Function 46.2

Other data compiled, were: age, gender, BMI, Kellgren & Lawrence radiological scale (I to IV) and relapses (time free of symptoms). For HO, we have compiled 126 patients (133 hips). There are no missing cases at one year follow-up. Age ranged from 49 to 83. EVA pre-treatment was 7,33. Other data compiled, were: age, gender, BMI, use of imaging, Kellgren & Lawrence radiological scale (I to IV) and relapses (time free of symptoms).

Ozone technique.
All patients got one intarticular injection of ozone, once a week; in case of associated tendinitis or bursitis, a second or third injection was done together the intrarticular one. Injections were performed under strict asepsy. For the knee, we used a 27G x 30 mm needle with a syliconized syringe and a supero-lateral approach and. Ozone dose for intraticular injection was 15 mL at 20 mcg/mL.[15-16] Paratendon injection was performed with 5 mL at 20 mcg/mL. We always did a minimun of three intrarticular injections. Patients that did not improve were classified as failure. For the rest of the patients, the average number of injections was 4,8 (range 3 to 7). For the hip, we used a 25G x 90 mm needle with a syliconized syringe and a lateral approach. Ozone dose for intraticular injection was 5-10 mL at 20 mcg/mL.[15-16] Paratendon injection was performed with 5 mL at 20 mcg/mL. 45 patients were injected with imaging guide due to severe obesity. In these patients we used a 22G x 205 mm needle. We always did a minimun of three intrarticular injections. Patients that did not improve were classified as failure. For the rest of the patients, the average number of injections was 5 (range 3 to 10).

Results.
From 225 knees, 44 (19.5% - the "bad result" group) did almost not improve at all; other rescue treatments were offered. The rest (80.5%) achieved a significant improvement, increasing WOMAC index over 25% of their basal level. The clinical improvement was obtained during the treatment or the first three months after treatment. WOMAC global improvement was 48%, including both groups. Relapses over the "good result" group have been of 8% at 1 year revision, and are statistically related just with Kellgren & Lawrence classification. We registered no side effect that needed further treatment. From 133 hips, 80% improved at least 2 points in VAS and 73% improved at least 3 points. The one month follow-up VAS score was 3,3 (improvement of 55%). From the patients that improved, 25% had a relapse at 1 year visit, and are statistically related just with Kellgren & Lawrence classification. The use of imaging support did not improved the results. We registered no side effect that needed further treatment.

Discussion.
Results for KO are similar to Moretti's paper [12] and similar to the ones published for HA papers [15]. These last papers are almost always referred to 6 month follow-up. Comparing our results with HA papers at one year follow-up, they are clearly better. Longer term results for HA are even worse. This study has flaws due to its design, but similar design has been used for reporting results about drugs, HA or surgery, so comparison can be done. For HO, the results are even better that the one published for steroids or HA injections [16-17]. We agree with the publication about the use of imaging [18].

Conclusion.
Ozone treatment in KO improves clinical outcomes over 25% of its base level in more than 80% of the patients. Relapse rate is 8% and is related with advanced osteoarthritis (Kellgren & LAwrence grades III-IV); minimal time free of symptoms is almost one year. The similarity with Moretti's results in a double blind clinical trial strength the indication for ozone in patients with KO. No paper has been published yet about HA, but comparing the results with steroids or HA injections, this treatment option is promising.


Background and objective It remains difficult to characterize pain in knee joints with osteoarthritis solely by radiographic findings. We sought to understand how advanced machine learning methods such as deep neural networks can be used to analyze MRI scans and predict bilateral knee pain. Methods We developed a deep learning framework to associate information from MRI slices taken from the left and right knees of subjects from the Osteoarthritis Initiative with bilateral knee pain. Model training was performed by first extracting features from two-dimensional (2D) sagittal intermediate-weighted turbo spin echo slices. The extracted features from the 2D slices were subsequently combined to directly associate using a fused deep neural network with the output of interest as a binary classification problem. Results The deep learning model resulted in predicting bilateral knee pain on test data with 70.1% mean accuracy, 51.3% mean sensitivity, and 81.6% mean specificity. Systematic analysis of the predictions on the test data revealed that the model performance was consistent across subjects of various Kellgren-Lawrence grades. Conclusion The study demonstrates a proof of principle that a machine learning approach can be applied to associate MR images with bilateral knee pain.


Objective: To obtain the association between the erythrocyte indices and the stages of CKD. Material & Methods: This is a systematic review study conducted by searching for articles through PubMed, Proquest, and Google Scholar. Publication year are from 2010 to 2020. Results: There are 10 articles analyzed. There were 3 articles that showed a significant association and 2 articles that showed no significant association between erythrocyte indices and stages of CKD. Other article that used anemia morphology to represent the erythrocyte indices showed the normocytic normochromic as the largest percentage. 4 out of 5 articles with CKD patients who were known to be undergoing hemodialysis showed a significant difference in erythrocyte indices. Conclusion: There is association between the erythrocyte indices and stages of CKD.


Hospital-acquired infections occur in 5 to 10% of admitted patients in hospital. It is one of the main reasons for death of many hospitalized patients especially in developing countries. Therefore, finding ways to control these infections should be a priority and certainly the first step in achieving this goal. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of hospital-acquired infections and related factors in Mousavi Hospital in Zanjan, Iran.
The demographic data and data about the kind of infection, admission, duration and the ward of admission were reviewed. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS version 16.0. Among 34102 admitted patients from 21st March 2013 to 21st March 2014 in Mousavi hospital in Zanjan, Iran, 206 (0.6%) patients, 141 (68.4%) male and 65 (31.6%) female, met the criteria of hospital-acquired infections. The highest frequency was in the burn ward with 82 (20.55%) patients. The most common type of infections were surgical site infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, sepsis and eye infection respectively. There was a significant correlation between the type of hospital-acquired infections and hospital wards (P=0.0001).
The rate of hospital-acquired infections in this study is lower than other studies, which can be due to an effective way of infection control with continuous surveillance and health education for hospital staffs. However, poor diagnostic methods and failure in the reporting system of infections should be considered.


BACKGROUND
The period of early childhood, defined as three to five years of age, is an important and distinct stage in childhood development. Changes in dietary patterns and composition of diets are exposing children in developing countries to over-nutrition as well as under-nutrition.

OBJECTIVE
To describe the nutritional status, dietary patterns, and socio-economic conditions of three to five-year-old children living in rural Jamaica.

SAMPLE
A convenience sample of 142 children was recruited over a three-year period.

MEASUREMENTS
Height and weight measurements were collected. Household dietary patterns and socio-economic indicators were available from a small group (n = 6) of parents.

RESULTS
Children experiencing both under-nutrition and over-nutrition were identified. Nine percent (n = 13) could be classified as moderately to severely under-nourished, and 6.9% (n = 10) classified as overweight. Frying was a common cooking method, and fruits and vegetables were eaten often.

CONCLUSIONS
Economic and political changes may place children in developing countries at risk for over-nutrition as well as under-nutrition. The school setting may be an important place to address nutritional issues. This analysis describes the nutritional status of a sample of three to five-year-old children living in rural Jamaica and provides suggestions for future research.


The diffusion of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) in two vinyl alcohol/vinyl butyral (VA/VBu) copolymers (11- and 19-wt. % VA) was studied at low vapor activities using Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy. MEK has the ability to interact through hydrogen bonding to sites in the polymer and was chosen to study the effect of penetrant - polymer solvation on molecular diffusion. The assumption of local equilibrium was verified by examining the time-evolved concentrations of hydrogen-bound and free MEK determined from the carbonyl (C = O) stretching bands. A mathematical model that accounted explicitly for solvation during the e diffusion process was developed. Solvation hindered the diffusion of MEK in the VA/VBu copolymer by factors of 2.0 (11-wt. % VA) and 2.6 (19-wt. % VA). After separating solvation from diffusion, true diffusion coefficients of MEK were compared to those of methylene chloride (CH 2 Cl 2 ), a noninteracting penetrant of similar size to MEK. Within experimental error, true diffusion coefficients for MEK were the same as those for CH 2 Cl 2 over the concentration range studied.


To date, there are no scales measuring work–home interaction which are adapted for the Eastern European population. Owing to the significantly different sociocultural contexts and geopolitical history between Western and Eastern populations, despite the massive contemporary East–West migration, a more culturally appropriate scale is needed to ensure valid and reliable measurement of the construct. This article presents the adaptation of the Survey Work–Home Interaction—NijmeGen (SWING) for the Romanian population. The results show that SWING can successfully measure work–home interaction for this population. Gender equivalence is also discussed.


This thesis describes an electromagnetic characteristic of open ended coaxial and optical fibre techniques for moisture content measurement in maize kernel based on reflectivity measurements. Both analytical and numerical methods were employed to calculate the reflectivity of the sensors. The former utilized the admittance model whilst the latter was implemented using Finite Element Method (FEM). The admittance model is an analytical equation based on integral equation for electric field at aperture. Computation of reflectivity using FEM is based on the solutions of a set of partial differential electric field equations. The FEM modelling was implemented using COMSOL Multiphysics version 3.5 software. Permittivity values required as inputs to admittance and FEM that were obtained from dielectric mixture model. The measurement setups for open ended coaxial technique consist of Agilent Professional Network Analyzer (PNA-L N5230A) in microwave frequency range between 1 GHz and 5 GHz. The calibration was performed using a full one-port calibration technique. The optical fibre technique reflectivity measurement was realized using Ocean Optic Spectrometer (USB4000) with an operating wavelength between 230 nm and 800 nm.
In this work, the open ended coaxial technique involves both magnitude and phase whilst the optical fibre only provides the reflectivity value (magnitude only) The FEM results showed better agreement with measured data than the admittance model for both sensors. The effect of mesh was studied thoroughly and was found that the maximum relative errors for FEM with 4454 number of elements were 0.0093 and
 0.0861 for magnitude and phase respectively.
 Calibration equations have been established to determine moisture content in maize based on reflectivity measurements using both open ended and optical fibre sensors. The actual moisture content was found from standard oven drying method. The mean percentage errors of the calibration equations were found to be less than 4.32 % and 4.02 % for magnitude and phase of reflection coefficient respectively. While for optical fibre sensor, it was found that the mean percentage error are 12.23 % and 9.16 % for 300 nm and 800 nm respectively. The empirical models have been developed to predict permittivity of maize based on measured reflection coefficient of sensors. The mean percentage errors were found to be less than 10 % when compared to commercial values. Enhanced accuracy of prediction of permittivity was obtained by introducing an objective function to determine unknown parameters of the mixture model.


Previous studies have applied the Work Sampling (WS) technique in different job sites to determine how workers employ their time in relation to a taxonomy of various work activities. However, no other significant contribution has been discussed for including location information of the work activities. This study added a geographic location to each random WS observation for a more comprehensive work efficiency analysis. In this paper, an implementation analysis was presented based on the findings from a case study. The research process followed four steps: (1) clarifying the categories of the activities; (2) deciding the confidence interval; (3) collecting and extracting data; and (4) analyzing the data. For adding location data to the technique, the authors used the geographic coordinates provided by smartwatches used by the research team connected to two Global Navigations Satellite Systems (GNSS), and the coordinates obtained from photos taken for each observation. Each observation made contained the following information: (1) photo; (2) timestamp; (3) trade observed; (4) work category; and (5) geographic coordinates, consequently, workspace category. This paper presents as the main contribution an adaption of the WS technique, named Location-based Work Sampling (LBWS), which can provide a better understanding of the ongoing activities' behavior.


Recently, a set of conditions has been developed under which a sequence is uniquely specified by the phase or samples of the phase of its Fourier transform. These conditions are distinctly different from the minimum or maximum phase requirement and are applicable to both one-dimensional and multi-dimensional sequences. Under the specified conditions, several numerical algorithms have been developed to reconstruct a sequence from its phase. In this paper, we review the recent theoretical results pertaining to the phase-only reconstruction problem and we discuss in detail two iterative numerical algorithms for performing the reconstruction.


For testing high-voltage rectifiers and capacitor charging systems a power frequency source has been developed using readily available components in a series resonant circuit. The inductors are modified ignition transformers as used for oil or gas burners. The appropriate number of transformers is selected for the output required and tuned to resonate at 50 Hz with a separate bank of capacitors. Sustained voltages up to 100 kV RMS have been generated. Compared with single new transformers the cost is about 20% for 50 kV and 30% for 100 kV assemblies. The costs are those items which cannot readily be constructed in a nonspecialised laboratory workshop. The equipment is easily carried and assembled by one person. With rectifiers the system has been used successfully to supply up to 10 mA for charging capacitors to 50 kV. Extension to higher voltages is possible, the limit being set by the stray capacitance of the assembly.


I FRENCH EB. The alimentary and gcnito-urinary systems. In : MACIEOD J , ed. C l i n i ~ l rsaminurion. 5th edn. Ncw YorkChurchill Livingstone, 1979: 21 1 . 2. CARTER DC. The acute abdomen. In: SHEARMAN DJC, FINLAYSOU NDC, eds. Diseases o f rhe gastroin~e.~tinol rracl nnd livcr. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1982: 372. 3. DOBB CJ. Diarrhoea in the critically ill patient. EuirORlAL REVIEW. Intmsive Cure Medicine 1986: 12: 113-5. 4. WILSOU JAP. Gastrointestinal dysfunction in the critically 111: nutritional implications. Comprehensfve Therapy 1985; 11: 45-53, 5. LC~THFR RW. Enteral nutrition of the critically ill palienl. Zeirschrift,fiir Casrroenlcrologie 1985; 23 (Suppl.): 90-3 6. HARDING RAIN$ AJ. RITCHIE HD. comps. Bailey and Love's sliorr pruc'fise of surpry. 18th cdn. London: H.K. Lewis, 1981: 1053.


Coumarin or anti-vitamin K oral anticoagulants have been used in anticoagulation therapy for more than 50 years. Well-designed studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of these drugs in the primary and secondary prevention of venous thromboembolic disease (VTD). Because of greater life expectancy and the increase in the indications for oral anticoagulation therapy (OAT), more and more patients are receiving this type of treatment. In Spain, approximately 1% of the population receives OAT. The mechanism of action of coumarin anticoagulants is based on inhibition of the interconversion of vitamin K and its 2,3-epoxide (vitamin K epoxide, which modulates gamma-carboxylation of the glutamic acid residues in the N-terminal regions of vitamin-K-dependent factors, namely, II, VII, IX, X, protein C, protein S and protein Z). Due to the lack of gamma-carboxylation, these factors lose their procoagulant activity. Major hemorrhagic complications of OAT in VTD after 3-6 months of treatment, with an INR of 2-3, occur in nearly 2% of patients. The hemorrhagic complications of OAT are related to the intensity of anticoagulation, patient characteristics, the concomitant use of drugs that interfere with hemostasis, and treatment duration. The risk of VTD recurrence after 3-6 months of OAT is high and can be more than 10% in patients with idiopathic thromboembolism or irreversible risk factors such as thrombophilia, cancer and other situations conferring permanent risk. The risk of recurrence is more frequent in men, in patients with thrombophilia especially in antithrombin deficiency, and in patients with cancer, residual venous obstruction, or elevated D dimer.


Introduction The team-based learning (TBL) instructional strategy promotes learning and retention, enhances student engagement, allows for a deeper understanding of foundational and applied concepts, and helps students' develop lifelong learning skills. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) TBL was created for first-year medical students in the Neuroscience 1 course at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. Methods The module covered the pathophysiology of ANS-related diseases and therapeutic agents that impact ANS function. By the conclusion of the module, students were able to diagnose different disease processes of the ANS, identify potential complications, and formulate appropriate management strategies. Four faculty members used backward design to create the ANS TBL. The preparatory assignment included reviewing content from previous didactic lectures and consolidating key information in provided tables. Key concepts were evaluated with readiness assurance tests. All application exercises adhered to the 4 S's. Results Over the course of 2 years, the class averages for the individual readiness assurance test were 79.8% and 87.6%. The class averages for the team readiness assurance test and application exercises were similar across both years. Course evaluations revealed that students found the TBL relevant and valuable. Discussion Similar TBL modules available on MedEdPORTAL are not integrated to include different aspects of the basic and clinical sciences. This ANS TBL was used to help students integrate several essential concepts, including neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, and clinical neurology. Students were very enthusiastic and engaged throughout the ANS TBL as it contained relevant case-based scenarios with questions that were meaningful for clinical practice.


The wireless mesh network (WMN) has recently emerged as a promising technology for distributed wireless networking. In multi-radio multi-channel heterogeneous WMNs, load balancing can avoid congestion thus to improve the overall performance. A cross-layer cognitive routing protocol with load balance which using RACIM, a new metric, to choose qualified routing paths is presented. RACIM can evaluate the link quality and load status by incorporating the cross-layer cognitive information, such as channel bandwidth, the rate of transmission bit error (BER) and the frequency of channel etc. In order to share cognitive information between layers, we add a new type of ICMP message. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed protocol.


High-resolution imaging is a powerful technique in theranostics and staging of tumors. Dual-modal imaging using lanthanide hybrid nanoparticles as probes has been attracting increasing attention due to their specific and intrinsic physical properties. The present work reports a novel water-soluble micelle of an amphiphilic block copolymer with diketone pendants chelating gadolinium (Gd3+) and europium (Eu3+) cations as a dual probe for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluorescence imaging for clinical detection. The Gd3+ and Eu3+ hybrid micelles have homogeneous size distribution and hydrodynamic diameters tunable between 80 and 220 nm. The macromolecular diketone ligand enhances the relaxation rate of Gd3+ and sensitizes Eu3+ luminescence efficiently. Further sensitized by the co-doped Gd3+, the Eu3+ complex exhibits a long-lived emission with a large Stokes shift. A strong red light at a wavelength of 614 nm is observed with an excitation in the range of 350 and 405 nm. Cellular uptake experiments reveal excellent biocompatibility and rapid uptake of the nanoparticles by MCF-7 cells. The robust dual-modal probes are promising in applications for early diagnosis of tumors, presurgical planning, and intraoperative fluorescence-guided surgery.


This experimental paper deals with the development of a hybrid biological reactor for the treatment of a synthetic oilfield produced water under an increase in total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration. To comply with strengthening regulations concerning produced water discharge and peculiar produced water compositions, a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) consisting in a combination of free activated sludge and moving biofilm supports was compared to a fixed bed hybrid biological reactor (FBHBR) consisting in a combination of free activated sludge and a fixed biofilm support. After a 216 days experimental period, the MBBR and the FBHBR were efficient to treat a synthetic produced water with chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate above 90% under an increase in TDS concentrations from 1.5 to 20 g·L−1. Ecotoxicity measurements on freshwater and marine microorganisms revealed an absence of toxicity on treated waters. A decrease in bacterial diversity indices with respect to the inoculum was observed in both bioreactors. This suggests that the increase in TDS concentrations caused the predominance of a low number of bacterial species.


Case study methodology was used to investigate the tobacco industry's strategies to fight local tobacco control efforts in Duluth, Minn. The industry opposed the clean indoor air ordinance indirectly through allies and front groups and directly in a referendum. Health groups failed to win a strong ordinance because they framed it as a youth issue rather than a workplace issue and failed to engage the industry's economic claims. Opponents' overexploitation of weaknesses in the ordinance allowed health advocates to construct a stronger version. Health advocates should assume that the tobacco industry will oppose all local tobacco control measures indirectly, directly, or both. Clean indoor air ordinances should be framed as workplace safety issues.


We analyze the input-output behavior of residual networks from a dynamical system point of view by disentangling the residual dynamics from the output activities before the classification stage. For a network with simple skip connections between every successive layer, and for logistic activation function, and shared weights between layers, we show analytically that there is a cooperation and competition dynamics between residuals corresponding to each input dimension. Interpreting these kind of networks as nonlinear filters, the steady state value of the residuals in the case of attractor networks are indicative of the common features between different input dimensions that the network has observed during training, and has encoded in those components. In cases where residuals do not converge to an attractor state, their internal dynamics are separable for each input class, and the network can reliably approximate the output. We bring analytical and empirical evidence that residual networks classify inputs based on the integration of the transient dynamics of the residuals, and will show how the network responds to input perturbations. We compare the network dynamics for a ResNet and a Multi-Layer Perceptron and show that the internal dynamics, and the noise evolution are fundamentally different in these networks, and ResNets are more robust to noisy inputs. Based on these findings, we also develop a new method to adjust the depth for residual networks during training. As it turns out, after pruning the depth of a ResNet using this algorithm, the network is still capable of classifying inputs with a high accuracy.


Collective communications are an indispensable part of distributed training. Running a topology-aware collective algorithm is crucial for optimizing communication performance by minimizing congestion. Today such algorithms only exist for a small set of simple topologies, limiting the topologies employed in training clusters and handling irregular topologies due to network failures. In this paper, we propose TACOS, an automated topology-aware collective synthesizer for arbitrary input network topologies. TACOS synthesized 3.73x faster All-Reduce algorithm over baselines, and synthesized collective algorithms for 512-NPU system in just 6.1 minutes.


Background: A few national cruciate ligament (CL) registers have been initiated with operative surveillance and outcome monitoring. No nationwide study describing CL injury has ever been done. Purpose: To study the incidence and characteristics of patients diagnosed with cruciate ligament injury in Sweden. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Data for all patients with a diagnosed CL injury between 2001 and 2009 were identified from the National Swedish Patient Register. Risk analysis and specific incidences were calculated according to age, sex, geographic region, and surgery. Results: A total number of 56,659 patients with CL injury were included in the study, and the overall incidence of CL injury in Sweden was 78 per 100,000 persons. Sixty percent of the patients were male. The mean age was 32 years (range, 1-98 years), and 50% of the cohort was younger than 30 years. There was an increased rate of injury among female patients younger than 20 years as compared with male patients in that age group. Among patients with CL injury, 36% underwent reconstructive surgery, with one-third of these performed within 1 year after injury. Among patients who underwent surgery, 59% were male; the mean age was 27 years (range, 5-89 years). Conclusion: This study defines the incidence of CL injury and also demonstrates sex differences in which men were more likely to sustain a CL injury, although female patients were injured at an earlier age. The findings in this study corroborate the results from recent surgical registers. Clinical Relevance: No data have hitherto been published including all patients with CL injury, treated both surgically and nonsurgically. Such baseline epidemiologic data are crucial to be able to validate and judge the generalizability of results from procedure registers and clinical studies.


The segetal vegetation of Kocaeli province (Turkey) was found by using the Braun-Blanquet's method in this study. The study was carried out between 2003-2004, and a total of 222 cereal fields (wheat, oats, barley and corn) were searched. The aim of this study is analizing the segetal vegetation and classifying as associations in the cereal fields in Kocaeli Province. We have defined four associations in the result of this study. One of them is new for the scientific world, the four associations: 1. Hordeeto-Sisymbrietum orientalis 2. Onopordetum acanthii 3. Sclerochloa dura-Coronopus squamatus 4. Rumici conglomerati-Legousietum speculi -veneris ass. nov.


Large-scale hybrid networks that include wireless, wired, and satellite-based communications are becoming common in both military and commercial situations. This paper describes a scalable simulation environment that effectively utilizes parallel execution to reduce the simulation time of detailed high-fidelity models of large communication networks. The paper also presents a set of case studies that evaluate the performance of large wireless networks with thousands of nodes and compares the impact of different lower layer protocols on the performance of typical applications.


Compositional generalization is a basic mechanism in human language learning, which current neural networks struggle with. A recently proposed Disentangled sequence-to-sequence model (Dangle) shows promising generalization capability by learning specialized encodings for each decoding step. We introduce two key modifications to this model which encourage more disentangled representations and improve its compute and memory efficiency, allowing us to tackle compositional generalization in a more realistic setting. Specifically, instead of adaptively re-encoding source keys and values at each time step, we disentangle their representations and only re-encode keys periodically, at some interval. Our new architecture leads to better generalization performance across existing tasks and datasets, and a new machine translation benchmark which we create by detecting naturally occurring compositional patterns in relation to a training set. We show this methodology better emulates real-world requirements than artificial challenges.


A little competition is a good thing and severe competition
is a blessing. Thank God for competition.
—Jacob Kindleberger
Germany-borned United States mill owner
Oral surgery and dentistry are highly competitive
fields. Competition among private practices in
Ukraine is intensifying. Moreover, according to
the 2016 data, 3,734 private dental/stomatological
clinics (offices) were registered in this country.1,2
And this despite the fact that the first private clinics
in modern Ukraine start to appear only in 1991, the
year of independence after the collapse of the Soviet
Union. That is, we can assume that the market of
private clinics for 25 years in Ukraine has grown by
phenomenal 3,734 percent. At the same time, there is
a tendency towards a decrease in the number of state
stomatological policlinics what is also a part of the
field`s evolution.1,2
The interesting thing we should understand is
that some of private clinics and their owners can
compete not only in the treatment process, but also
as manufacturers and sellers of the products for
dentistry/oral surgery.
Previously, only a CE marking (CE abbreviation
of Conformité Européenne [in French] mean
European Conformity) and a dealer's office were
required to operate in the EU market, but now,
due to the reformatting of the legislation, it is
necessary to have an authorized representative.
Such companies` sectors as U-Represent3
 can help
Ukrainian manufacturers in uncomplicated and
inexpensive way to reach European Union and
Switzerland markets. The services of U-Represent
are: 1) Pre-audit document review, 2) conformation
of documents, 3) archive and storage location, 4)
products registration in European database on
medical devices (EUDAMED), 5) post-market
surveillance monitoring, etc.3
Thus, with authorized representatives, who
are doctors with PhD and certified ISO (ie, the
International Organization for Standardization)
professionals, your dental business and
manufacturing can hold a strong position not only
on domestic market but also to take a share in the
growing European and Switzerland marketplaces.


Background Oleuropein is the major glycoside component in olives and is well known to have several beneficial effects on human health [1]. However, the mechanisms associated with its potential pharmacological properties are not clear yet. Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) exhibit an age-dependent reduction in osteogenesis and an increased propensity toward adipocyte differentiation. This switch has been associated with different bone disorders characterized by reduced bone formation and increased bone marrow fat accumulation [2,3]. Connexin 43 (Cx43) is an integral membrane protein that forms gap junction channels (GJs) and it is implicated in multiple cellular functions including cellular differentiation and control of bone and cartilage remodelling. Objectives The aim of this study was to test if oleuropein could act as an adipogenic suppressor in order to promote cartilage and bone regeneration through a Cx43-dependent mechanism. Methods Human mesenchymal stem cells were obtained from bone marrow donors. Cells were grown in α-minimum essential medium (MEM) and differentiation was initiated before achieving confluence with specific differentiation media in the presence of different concentrations of oleuropein. Adipogenesis and osteogenesis was held in culture chambers for 21 days; chondrogenesis was performed as a micromass culture for 30 days. Cellular differentiation was evaluated using histological stains: Oil Red O for adipogenesis; Alizarin Red for osteogenesis; Toluidine Blue and Safranin O/Fast Green for chondrogenesis. Scrape loading assays and lucifer yellow were used to study the cellular communication through gap junction (GJ) and hemichannels formed by Cx43. Western-blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays were performed to study the levels of Cx43 protein. Results hMSCs treated with oleuropein showed a two-folded decrease in adipogenic differentiation, while osteogenesis was significantly increased. Micromasses cultured in chondrogenic medium using 10 μM of oleuropein showed a more intense toluidine blue and Safranin O stain, suggesting an increase in chondrogenesis. Real-Time qPCR, western blot analysis and scrape loading assays showed changes in the levels of Cx43 and dye transference through GJ channels when the hMSCs were grown in the presence of oleuropein. Conclusions Our results suggest that oleuropein via Cx43 and GJ intercellular communication increases the propensity towards osteogenesis and chondrogenesis, reducing adipocyte differentiation. Our preliminary assay indicates that oleuropein may represent a potential therapeutic target for cartilage and bone age-related disorders such as osteoarthritis in order to promote cartilage and bone regeneration. References Barbaro B et al. Int J Mol Sci (2014). 15 (10): 18508–18524. Lee-Huang S et al. Open Conf Proc J (2013). 4: 113–124. Santiago-Mora R et al. Osteoporos Int (2011). 22: 675–684. Disclosure of Interest None declared


While language Models store a massive amount of world knowledge implicitly in their parameters, even very large models often fail to encode information about rare entities and events, while incurring huge computational costs. Recently, retrieval-augmented models, such as REALM, RAG, and RETRO, have incorporated world knowledge into language generation by leveraging an external non-parametric index and have demonstrated impressive performance with constrained model sizes. However, these methods are restricted to retrieving only textual knowledge, neglecting the ubiquitous amount of knowledge in other modalities like images – much of which contains information not covered by any text. To address this limitation, we propose the first Multimodal Retrieval-Augmented Transformer (MuRAG), which accesses an external non-parametric multimodal memory to augment language generation. MuRAG is pre-trained with a mixture of large-scale image-text and text-only corpora using a joint contrastive and generative loss. We perform experiments on two different datasets that require retrieving and reasoning over both images and text to answer a given query: WebQA, and MultimodalQA. Our results show that MuRAG achieves state-of-the-art accuracy, outperforming existing models by 10-20% absolute on both datasets and under both distractor and full-wiki settings.


AIM
To investigate the performance of magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging (ME-NBI) in the diagnosis of early gastric cancer (EGC).

METHODS
Systematic literature searches were conducted until February 2014 in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Ovid, Scopus and the Cochrane Library databases by two independent reviewers. Meta-analysis was performed to calculate the pooled sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio and to construct a summary receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Subgroup analyses were performed based on the morphology type of lesions, diagnostic standard, the size of lesions, type of assessment, country and sample size to explore possible sources of heterogeneity. A Deeks' asymmetry test was used to evaluate the publication bias.

RESULTS
Fourteen studies enrolling 2171 patients were included. The pooled sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio for ME-NBI diagnosis of EGC were 0.86 (95%CI: 0.83-0.89), 0.96 (95%CI: 0.95-0.97) and 102.75 (95%CI: 48.14-219.32), respectively, with the area under ROC curve being 0.9623. Among the 14 studies, six also evaluated the diagnostic value of conventional white-light imaging, with a sensitivity of 0.57 (95%CI: 0.50-0.64) and a specificity of 0.79 (95%CI: 0.76-0.81). When using "VS" (vessel plus surface) ME-NBI diagnostic systems in gastric lesions of depressed macroscopic type, the pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.64 (95%CI: 0.52-0.75) and 0.96 (95%CI: 0.95-0.98). For the lesions with a diameter less than 10 mm, the sensitivity and specificity were 0.74 (95%CI: 0.65-0.82) and 0.98 (95%CI: 0.97-0.98).

CONCLUSION
ME-NBI is a promising endoscopic tool in the diagnosis of early gastric cancer and might be helpful in further target biopsy.


Nutrition is very important to all living organisms and human beings obtained range of nutrition from different resources. Despite this fact, marine natural resources provide unique nutrition to human society. Based on that reason, the present study was conducted to analysis nutritional profile of brown seaweed Lobophora variegata (J.V. Lamouroux) Womersley ex. Oliveira collected from the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere, Tamil Nadu, India. The proximate composition (moisture, ash, protein, lipid, carbohydrate, and dietary fiber, mineral, amino acid , fatty acid and antioxidant activity (2-dipheny- 1 – picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and Reducing power assays) of L.veriegata. The result indicated that the maximum concentration of protein (34.09 ± 0.95 mg/100g), carbohydrate (28.81 ± 0.07 mg/100g) and total dietary fiber (2.53 ± 0.037 mg/100g) soluble fiber (1.28 ± 0.07 mg/100g) and insoluble fiber (1.50 ± 0.07 mg/100g) recorded in the brown algae L. variegata. The mineral content of L. variegata exhibits high amount of minerals, such as Magnesium (1712.6 ± 16.75 mg/100g DW), Phosphorus (1477.3 ± 4.49 mg/100g DW), Potassium (1078.3 ± 6.23 mg/100g), Sodium (916.6 ± 4.47 mg/100g), Iron (913.6 ± 4.49 mg/100g DW), Zinc (813.6 ± 12.47 mg/100g) and Copper (427.3 ± 5.24 mg/100g DW). Fatty acid profile of docosahexaenoic acid (5.89 ± 0.021mg) and palmitic methyl ester (5.33 ±0.09 mg) were predominantly found in L. variegata. Finally the amino acids are essential (12.43±0.04 mg/g) and non essential (16.99±0.05 mg/g) respectively. DPPH scavenging of Ic50 (175.41µg /ml,) and reducing powder (186.26µg /ml) respectively. According to the current findings, brown seaweed, L. variegata, appears to be a viable marine natural resource for generating innovative nutraceutical and antioxidant products.


Depression is the commonly reported disorder and conventional medicine is being used to treat depression. Most of the population in developing countries relies on alternative medicine. In an attempt to avoid side effects of allopathic medicine, people have been resorting to popular traditional herbal medicines to treat depressive disorders. This review provides an overview of the current knowledge state regarding a variety of natural plant products commonly used in depression. Herbal medicines discussed that have been used in traditional system of medicine to treat mild to moderate depression states include the popular Scutellaria laterifolia, Paeonia lactiflora, Ginkgo biloba, Mimosa pudica, Hordeum vulgare, Rosarinus officinalis, Panax ginseng, Melissa officinalis, Lobelia inflate and Hypericum perforatum.


To design the engineering structures properly, some relevant information is required main part of which can only be obtained from modeling them. Physical modeling, if carried out carefully, can present such valuable information in connection with structural behaviors that may implement to calibrate the numerical modeling or to verify the designing assumptions. In geotechnical problems however, the physical modeling, due to their inherent complexity and dependency to many factors, are of great importance and may submit very useful and crucial data. In this paper, a new physical model capable for studying the behavior of strip footings on reinforced soil under monotonic and cyclic loadings is presented. The design criteria and specification of different parts of the model are explained and discussed. In order to control the ability and accuracy of the model, regarding the responses of strip footings subjected to different static and cyclic loadings, the results of 1 ، ريبكريما يتعنص هاگشناد ، تسيز طيحم و نارمع يسدنهم هدکشناد يپ و کاخ يسدنهم هتشر يرتكد يوجشناد Email:firstname.lastname@example.com 2 اد ، ريبكريما يتعنص هاگشناد ، تسيز طيحم و نارمع يسدنهم هدكشناد رايشن yahoo.com 53@ mirh Email: some tests have been compared with other empirical and theoretical data. The consistency between the results shows the reliability of the developed model.


Abstract Because of the large home range requirements of wide-ranging carnivores, protected areas are often too small to maintain large populations. Consequently these carnivores regularly move outside protected areas, where they are likely to be exposed to anthropogenic mortality. We used data from 15 packs of radio-collared African wild dogs Lycaon pictus to examine the level of anthropogenic mortality African wild dogs experience around Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, and tried to determine whether the buffer zone outside the Park acts as an 'ecological trap'. Over time, study packs moved their territories closer to or beyond the Park border. With the movement of territories into the buffer zone outside the Park, African wild dogs experienced an increasing level of anthropogenic mortality. Although larger litters were born outside the Park, mortality exceeded natality. Densities of the African wild dog in the study area were low and territories for given pack sizes were smaller outside the Park. Hence, the movement of packs outside the Park does not appear to be density related and the buffer zone is therefore unlikely to function as a classic sink. Favourable ecological conditions indicate that the buffer zone outside the Park is likely to serve as an ecological trap, with fitness-enhancing factors attracting African wild dogs outside the Park, where they are incapable of perceiving the higher mortality risk associated with mostly indirect anthropogenic causes. As far as we know this is one of the first studies describing an ecological trap for mammals.


The present paper offers an analysis of the TAM semantics of the HĨ and the HA gram(matical construction)s in Tjwao within the cognitive and grammaticalizationbased model of dynamic maps and streams. The authors show that, albeit similar, the ranges of meanings of the two grams differ. The grams share the senses of experiential present perfect, definite past, stative and non-stative present. However, the senses of narrative remote past and pluperfect are typical of HĨ, while the senses of inclusive and resultative present perfect are only compatible with HA. When used as presents, HA is limited to affirmative contexts, whereas HĨ is restricted to negative contexts. The authors additionally demonstrate that the polysemy of each gram can be mapped by means of two sub-paths of the resultative path, i.e. the anterior and simultaneous paths. The two grams may therefore be located on the same stream on which HĨ occupies a more advanced position than HA, being thus a chronologically earlier construction. This grammaticalization-based entanglement of HĨ and HA is consistent with the situation found in other Khoe languages


Remains of fossil hominins from temperate regions of the Old World are rare across both time and space, but such specimens are necessary for understanding basic issues in human evolution including linkages between their adaptations and early migration patterns. We report here the remarkable circumstances surrounding the discovery of the first fossil hominin calvaria from Turkey. The specimen was found in the Denizli province of western Turkey and recovered from within a solid block of travertine stone as it was being sawed into tile-sized slabs for the commercial natural stone building market. The new specimen fills an important geographical and temporal gap and displays several anatomical features that are shared with other Middle Pleistocene hominins from both Africa and Asia attributed to Homo erectus. It also preserves an unusual pathology on the endocranial surface of the frontal bone that is consistent with a diagnosis of Leptomeningitis tuberculosa (TB), and this evidence represents the most ancient example of this disease known for a fossil human. TB is exacerbated in dark-skinned peoples living in northern latitudes by a vitamin D deficiency because of reduced levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Evidence for TB in the new specimen supports the thesis that reduced UVR was one of the many climatic variables presenting an adaptive challenge to ancient hominins during their migration into the temperate regions of Europe and Asia.


Evolutionary rescue of populations depends on their ability to produce phenotypic variation that is heritable and adaptive. DNA mutations are the best understood mechanisms to create phenotypic variation, but other, less well-studied mechanisms exist. Marine benthic foundation species provide opportunities to study these mechanisms because many are dominated by isogenic stands produced through asexual reproduction. For example, Caribbean acroporid corals are long lived and reproduce asexually via breakage of branches. Fragmentation is often the dominant mode of local population maintenance. Thus, large genets with many ramets (colonies) are common. Here, we observed phenotypic variation in stress response within genets following the coral bleaching events in 2014-and 2015 caused by high water temperatures. This was not due to genetic variation in their symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium 'fitti') because each genet of this coral species typically harbors a single strain of S. 'fitti'. Characterization of the microbiome via 16S tag sequencing did not provide evidence for a central role of microbiome variation in determining bleaching response. Instead, epigenetic changes were significantly correlated with the host's genetic background, the position of the sampled polyps within the colonies (e.g. branch versus base of colony), and differences in the colonies' condition during the bleaching event. We conclude that microenvironmental differences in growing conditions led to long-term changes in the way the ramets methylated their genomes contributing to, but not fully explaining, the differential bleaching response. This research provides novel data to understanding intra-genet variability in stress phenotypes of sessile marine species.


Sparse reward remains a valuable and challenging problem in multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL). This paper addresses this issue from a new perspective, i.e., lazy agents. We empirically illustrate how lazy agents damage learning from both exploration and exploitation. Then, we propose a novel MARL framework called Lazy Agents Avoidance through Influencing External States (LAIES). Firstly, we examine the causes and types of lazy agents in MARL using a causal graph of the interaction between agents and their environment. Then, we mathematically define the concept of fully lazy agents and teams by calculating the causal effect of their actions on external states using the do-calculus process. Based on definitions, we provide two intrinsic rewards to motivate agents, i.e., individual dili-gence intrinsic motivation (IDI) and collaborative diligence intrinsic motivation (CDI). IDI and CDI employ counterfactual reasoning based on the external states transition model (ESTM) we developed. Empirical results demonstrate that our proposed method achieves state-of-the-art performance on various tasks, including the sparse-reward version of StarCraft multi-agent challenge (SMAC) and Google Research Football (GRF). Our code is open-source and available at https: //github.com/liuboyin/LAIES .


The modified Bessel function of the first kind, In(x), where X is a real quantity, is of widespread application, but it is of particular interest to electrical engineers, since the current and voltage for a traveling wave on an electric line can be expressed as a series of these functions.


An analysis of the stability of a packed-bed reactor is presented subject to a model including axial and radial gradients in the interparticle field and gradients plus reaction in the intraparticle field. The stability of the entire reactor is characterized in terms of various stable and unstable conditions inside the porous particles. Simplifications in the mathematical model are shown to be invalid in many situations.


Introduction: Regular practice of physical activity is important to prevent and treat psychobiological dysfunctions and improve the quality of life. Insufficient levels of exercise have been considered a risk factor for diseases, mainly cardiovascular disorders. The evidences about the levels of physical activity in college students are inconsistent, especially in physical education undergraduate programs. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the level of physical activity in Physical Education college students of the Universidade Federal da Paraiba, considering gender, undergraduate program (degree or bachelor) and term time. Method: The study design is transversal, and 159 subjects answered the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), short version. Results: Most of the college students were classified as active and very actives (77.4%) and, only 22.7% were insufficiently actives. It was observed a significant association between the level of physical activity and the term time (p=0.001), with a linear and progressive trend to towards an increase in the number of inactive/insufficiently active students. There was not significant association (p=0.088) between the level of physical activity and the first or second half of the undergraduate program. College's Bachelor students of were more active than college's Licentiate students, however, without significant association (p=0.181). In the difference between genders, women have higher levels of physical activity than men, but without significant association (p=0.797). Conclusion: The results show that students of physical education present appropriate levels of physical activity and students of the last term time are less active than first term time students.


AnthropologyA middle ground may be emerging in a long-running dispute about human origins. One camp holds that our earliest ancestors arose in Africa and spread around the world more than 1 million years ago; modern humans then arose in many different regions. The other argues that modern humans arose in Africa and swept around the globe 100,000 years ago, completely replacing existing human populations on other continents. This Out-of-Africa view has been the favored contender, but new genetic data imply that some modern populations may have arisen in Asia and migrated back into Africa.


This research presents a design of a game controller interface based on visual processing. Mechanical and electrical interfaces of a video game can be replaced with a camera input. Tests were performed for a car simulation game. The game player operates a mock wheel with coloured markings on it to the camera. The controller software identifies the markings using colour recognition techniques and translates the mock wheel movements into commands for the car simulation game. Mock wheel eliminate the mechanical interfaces used in a steering wheel giving the user the flexibility to choose a comfortable place for seating. Simulations were carried out successfully to interface wheel to the game controller