Strobilanthes crispus (L.) Bremek (Acanthaceae) leaves are used traditionally
in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia for anti-diabetic, anti-lytic, diuretic, and laxative purposes.
Herb-drug interactions may potentiate or antagonize the absorption and metabolism of drugs which
may result in potential toxicity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of juice,
hot aqueous, cold aqueous and methanol extracts of S. crispus leaves on phase I cytochrome 3A4
(CYP3A4) and Cytochrome 2E1 (CYP2E1) and phase II human liver enzyme UDP-Glucuronosyl
Transferase (UGT).

The herb-drug interactions of the leaf extracts and juice were determined by specific enzyme
activity of CYP isoforms with specific probe substrate using spectrophotometry. CYP3A4 activity
was measured for aminopyrine specific metabolite (formaldehyde) at 415 nm. CYP2E1 activity
was determined using p-nitrophenol specific metabolite (p-nitrocatechol) at 535 nm. UGT activity
was quantified through the consumption of p-nitrophenol by UGT at 405 nm.

All the S. crispus preparations showed significant inhibition of CYP3A4 activity. Only the
methanolic extract showed a significant inhibition in CYP2E1. All the S. crispus extracts showed a
significant effect on UGT activation at the higher concentration (1000 ng/ml). Only the cold aqueous
extract and the juice showed UGT inhibition at lower concentration (1 ng/ml).

S. crispus preparations showed in-vitro drug-herb interaction effects on human liver
microsomes. Therefore, there is a possibility of drug-herb interaction could occur with S. crispus
leaves through its effect on CYP3A4. Inhibition of the herb extracts on CYP2E1 could show anticarcinogenesis
effects. The potency of drugs that metabolized via UGT pathway may be affected
when co-administered with S. crispus leaf preparations.


We present our prototype solution for transmitting 100 Mb/s Ethernet data over large core (1 mm) step-index polymer optical fiber (POF), as one of the final results of the EU-funded project POF-ALL. The system is demonstrated over a record maximum distance of 275 m, largely outperforming CAT-5 systems and currently commercially available POF media converters. These results let us envision POF deployment for home networking and industrial automation and in general for all those environments in which ease of installation, rugged solution, low-cost and electromagnetic compatibility issues are requested.


A theoretical and experimental investigation of quasi-harmonic friction-induced vibration is reported. The vibration is of near-sinusoidal form and is solely governed by dynamic friction forces. However, the friction-velocity curve must be of a particular shape for the vibration to occur. The amplitude of the quasi-harmonic vibration is shown to increase with sliding velocity until oscillation ceases at some upper velocity boundary. The introduction of suitable damping will quench the vibration entirely. The vibration can exist at high sliding velocities and as a consequence may influence the operation of automatic transmissions, brakes, and clutches.


Vertical distribution of natural and man-made radionuclides in the soil profile is a decisive parameter when calculating the dose rate of gamma radiation in the air above the ground and the effective dose of external human exposure. The main purpose of this work was to determine vertical distribution of 137 Cs in soddy-podzolic sandy and sandy-loam soils in forests and grasslands in the south-western districts of the Bryansk region in the remote period after the Chernobyl accident. In 2015–2016, soil cores were sampled in 7 virgin meadows and 13 forested areas to a depth of 20 cm. The cores were cut into horizontal layers 2 cm thick. The 137 Cs activity in the samples was determined using a semiconductor gamma spectrometer. The activity concentration in samples of dry soil (n = 200) ranged from 6.35 Bq/kg to 83300 Bq/kg with an average of 4550 Bq/kg. In the meadows in three cases, the maximum activity concentration was determined in the uppermost layer. With increasing depth, the activity concentration decreased and reached a minimum in the deepest layers. A difference between the surface layer and the deepest layer was two to three orders of magnitude. The three other meadows showed a relatively uniform distribution of 137 Cs in the upper 4–6 cm, followed by a decrease in activity concentration with an increase in depth. In one meadow area, a peak of the 137 Cs activity was found at a depth of 4–6 cm. In the forest, the most typical (in 10 cases) was the presence of a pronounced maximum activity concentration of 137 Cs in the uppermost layer. The experimentally obtained values of the 137 Cs inventory in the upper 20 cm of soil at the surveyed sites ranged from 42 to 1940 kBq/m 2 . The values of 137 Cs inventory positively and statistically significantly correlated with officially established levels of 137 Cs surface ground contamination for the territory of nearby settlements. Vertical migration of 137 Cs in the soil in the surveyed areas was mainly limited to the upper 10 centimeters. The layer on average contained 94% of the total 137 Cs inventory. Less than 1% of the total 137 Cs inventory was found in the deepest soil layer sampled (18–20 cm). The obtained 137 Сs activity distributions were used to calculate kerma rate in the air at a height of 1 m above the ground at the surveyed sites. The air kerma rate ranged from 52 to 2240 nGy/h (on average, 807 nGy/h). The caesium-137 deposit in the upper 6 cm of soil determined about 95% and 90% of the air kerma rate in the forests and in meadows, respectively. Radioactive caesium, which migrated into the soil to a depth of more than 10–12 cm, gave a negligible contribution (less than 1%) to the gamma-radiation dose rate in the air. In practical terms, it indicates that the depth of soil sampling equal to 20 cm is currently quite sufficient to estimate the dose rate of gamma radiation in the air in virgin grasslands and in forests.


The radionuclides surveillance on imported can food products in Nigeria market has been investigated using High purity Germanium detector. The radioactivity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, 40K, 210Pb and 137Cs in selected brands of imported canned food products categorized into staple foodstuffs, beef and seafood were analyzed. The results obtained for staple foodstuffs shows a mean activity value of 12.33±3.68, 12.35±4.62, 51.48±15.12, 2.65±0.18 and 0.61±0.27 Bq kg-1 for 226Ra, 232Th, 40K, 210Pb and 137Cs respectively, while in beef food products, it is 14.41±4.79, 14.12±4.83, 50.44±14.80, 1.11± 0.07 and 0.32±0.20 Bq kg-1 respectively, and for seafood products it is 17.95±5.71, 16.24±5.48, 61.65±18.07, 1.17±0.13 and ND Bq kg-1 respectively. The overall results indicate that the natural radioactivity in the three categories of canned foodstuffs examined are well below the UNSCEAR and other regulatory bodies recommended permissible limits. The presence of 137Cs in some samples potent some degree of heavy metal contamination of those foodstuffs. The computed dose to essential organs and tissues indicates a highest dose level of 0.2 mSvy-1 which is well within the 1mSvy-1 recommended permissible level of the public. The calculated collective effective dose equivalent revealed that 97,463,16 of the total population are exposed to radiation from ingestion of the canned foods with adults most impacted. The total health detriment indicates radiological risk ratio of 1:2238 for infants, 1:2583 for children and 1:4238 for adults. From the estimated costdetriment, it is obvious that the economic benefits which is directly proportional to cost of purchase and importation put at about nine billion US dollars annually derived from consuming these imported canned food products is far above the health detriment.
Keywords: Radioactivity surveillance, canned food, health detriment, Nigeria


Status epilepticus (SE) is clinically defined as prolonged electrical and clinical seizure activity in which the patient does not regain consciousness to a normal alert state between repeated tonic-clonic attacks. The disorder is a neurological emergency associated with a mortality rate of 10-12% and an even greater morbidity. SE can lead to permanent pathological damage and altered physiological function in certain brain regions and induces major changes in membrane phospholipids, massive increases in arachidonic acid concentrations, diacylglycerol-mediated activation, of protein kinase C, calcium-mediated changes in calmodulin kinase II and possibly generation of free radicals that could play an essential role in the mechanism of oxidative stress involved in neural damage. SE can be characterized by a permanent change in neurotransmitter systems and oxidative stress that it is more facilitated in the brain rather than in other tissues because it contains large quantities of oxidizable lipids and metals. The role of monoamines, amino acid and oxidative stress in pilocarpine- induced SE will be investigated in hippocampus, striatum and frontal cortex of adult rats. The SE studied will be induced by pilocarpine (400mg/kg, s.c.) and the results observed were investigated during acute phase. The data obtained suggests that pilocarpine induced amino acid and oxidative stress changes in brain regions that are similar to the one verified in human temporal lobe epilepsy.


There are many contradictory data available in the literature on the trends of diagnosed congenital malformations, including those requiring emergency treatment in neonatality. An examining specialist must make use of the algorithm to determine the condition of a neonate, which allows him to qualitatively define the time of surgical treatment and to predict the further course of disease, including its postoperative course. Problems can be solved in the context of evidence-based medicine. To compare the degree and causes of the critical condition of neonatal infants with developmental malformations, the authors have developed a severity rating scale for the newborn with developmental malformations at a gestational age of 35 weeks and a body weight of more than 2 kg, treated at an intensive care unit, by using the results of clinical, laboratory, and morphological studies and estimating the scores. Infants with esophageal atresia, diaphragmatic hernia, anterior abdominal wall and intestine were used as an example to determine changes and causes of the severity of neonates before and after surgery, by taking into account their scores.


The objective of this study was to compare the block durations and haemodynamic effects associated with intrathecal levobupivacaine or bupivacaine in elderly patients undergoing transurethral prostate surgery. Eighty patients were prospectively randomised to receive plain 1.5 ml levobupivacaine 0.5% (group levobupivacaine) or 1.5 ml plain bupivacaine 0.5% (group bupivacaine) in combination with fentanyl 0.3 ml (15 μg) for spinal anaesthesia. The time to reach T10 and peak sensory block level, and to maximum motor block were significantly shorter in group bupivacaine compared to group levobupivacaine (p < 0.05). Peak sensory block level was also significantly higher in group bupivacaine. In group bupivacaine, mean arterial pressure was significantly lower than group levobupivacaine, starting from 10 min until 30 min after injection (p < 0.05). Hypotension and nausea were less common in group levobupivacaine than group bupivacaine (p < 0.05). Because of the better haemodynamic stability and fewer side‐effects associated with levobupivacaine, it may be preferred for spinal anaesthesia in elderly patients.


In this paper, we study spacelike dual biharmonic curves. We characterize spacelike dual biharmonic curves in terms of their curvature and torsion in the Lorentzian dual Heisenberg group 3 3 Heis D . We give necessary and sufficient conditions for spacelike dual biharmonic curves in the Lorentzian dual Heisenberg group 3 3 Heis D . Therefore, we prove that all spacelike dual biharmonic curves are spacelike dual helix. Moreover, we give their explicit parametrizations of spacelike dual biharmonic curves. Finally, we illustrate our main results in Figs. 1 and 2.


In 1991. the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology initiated a project on the Short-tailed Albatross Diomedea albatrus at a new nesting site on Tori-shima, one of the Izu Islands. The project involved the initiation of a new nesting colony using decoys and vocal lures. A new observation system using video camera that transmits live to our office 600km far from Tori-shima, was established at the site in 1997. The system uses a satellite portable phone developed by NTT DoCoMo Inc. The camera established near the colony can be controlled for zoom and change of view, by a personal computer in the office. Two cameras, each at a different location were used; one beside the nesting spot of the first pair that colonized the site, the other above the decoys where all birds could be observed. Based on the 394 hours observations through satellite portable phone in three breeding seasons of 1997-1998, 1998-1999, 1999-2000, one pair of Short-tailed Albatross was found to incubate single egg for 65 days for three breeding seasons. Just after an egg was laid, the male started incubating. The pairs exchanged incubation duties 4 or 5 times, with the longest period between nest exchange being 24 days. In total incubation periods, male stayed on the nest longer than female. These breeding activities resembled other species of albatrosses such as Laysan Albatross D. immutabilis, Black-footed Albatross D. nigripes. This satellite portable phone system is the most useful in the observation of endangered species on isolated islands where it is difficult for researchers to live and where the nesting colony is readily disturbed by humans.


In this article, a general framework for enhancing the physical layer security (PLS) in the Internet of Things (IoT) systems via channel feedback is established. To be specific, first, we study the compound wiretap channel (WTC) with feedback, which can be viewed as an ideal model for enhancing the PLS in the downlink transmission of IoT systems via feedback. A novel feedback strategy is proposed and a corresponding lower bound on the secrecy capacity is constructed for this ideal model. Next, we generalize the ideal model (i.e., the compound WTC with feedback) by considering channel states and feedback delay, and this generalized model is called the finite state compound WTC with delayed feedback. The lower bounds on the secrecy capacities of this generalized model with or without delayed channel output feedback are provided, and they are constructed according to variations of the previously proposed feedback scheme for the ideal model. Finally, from a Gaussian fading example, we show that the delayed channel output feedback enhances the achievable secrecy rate of the finite state compound WTC with only delayed state feedback, which implies that feedback helps to enhance the PLS in the downlink transmission of the IoT systems.


The chapter discusses multilingualism in the European context and transnational communication strategies in order to accommodate the challenges of multilingualism. In the introduction, concepts defining multilingualism, transnationalism and communication strategies will be discussed and clarified. The appearance of different communication strategies, including lingua francas, like English as a lingua franca, Regional Languages of Communication (ReLan), Lingua Receptiva (LaRa) and Code Switching (CS) will be discussed in the framework of three multilingual states in the European context, i.e. the historical Hapsburg Empire, Switzerland and the European Union. We will compare multilingualism and the transnational communication strategies in these cases and draw some conclusions on historical developments of multilingualism and transnational communication strategies in Europe as well.


ABSTRACT Beyond socioeconomic circumstance, residential location decisions are also predicated on many housing, transportation, and accessibility characteristics. Consequently, greater insight is needed on how these myriad characteristics are valued by individuals and connected to their neighbourhood preference to inform planners and decision makers concerned with urban growth patterns. Unfortunately, forecasting methods commonly lack the specificity needed to recognize how residential environment preferences influence future housing, land use, and transportation decisions. Often, these policy instruments rely exclusively on a set of observed socioeconomic characteristics to measure heterogeneity in revealed location decisions. Using stated preference data collected in Portland, Oregon, this study employed structural equation modelling techniques to examine the influence of these socioeconomic measures and latent constructs of rated single-family dwelling and non-automotive access importance on stated neighbourhood preference. Our study's findings suggest the importance placed on certain bundles of housing, transportation, and accessibility attributes, and not socioeconomic circumstance, directly affected neighbourhood preference.


Large scale of fires spreading could occur in urban areas where are consisted of dense wooden buildings. Although it's urgent need to minimize the fire spreading risks, historical buildings are also precious for preserving area's characteristics. Kanazawa is one of historical cities and has a lot of historical building in its central area. This study estimates fire spreading risks in those historical area and evaluates effectiveness of the disaster prevention projects by the Kanazawa municipality. As the result of the study, it is found the risks are still remain after the projects. We propose some methodologies for minimizing the risks.


The expansion of the American community college has not been matched by the rapid, or even consistent, progress of all entering students toward postsecondary credentials. Instead, a significant proportion of students enrolled in community colleges appear "stuck" on the road to completion. This lack of progress is due to the complex ways in which social and educational inequalities affect specific students and the institutions of higher education designated to serve them. As a result, policymakers and practitioners face significant challenges in their efforts to promote academic momentum. In the first part of this literature review, the sources of these challenges are located in student characteristics as well as in state and institutional practices and policies. It is argued that there exists an interaction of sorts between the actions of community colleges and the attributes of their students. Acknowledging the myriad complexities in efforts to improve the progress of all two-year students toward goal or degree completion, the second part of this paper examines empirical research to identify opportunities for improvement.


Wireless sensor networks are commonly used to remotely and automatically monitor environments. One of the main challenges in wireless sensor networks is to use the limited available energy as efficiently as possible, to ensure longevity of the network. For such networks to survive their intended deployment period no energy may be wasted on inconsequential actions. As communication is one of the most energy-consuming tasks a sensor mote can perform, we propose a set of techniques that allow a base station to form an accurate environmental state estimation from a selected subset of measurements. In this thesis we present a novel methodology that combines three forms of intelligence. The sensor mote and base station both maintain a neural network-based predictor of the environmental state, which the sensor mote uses as input for different controllers (both handmade and based on Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes) that determine the actions performed by the sensor mote. Armed with the prediction mechanism, a model of the environment, the controller executed by the sensor mote, and the reported measurements, the base station performs computations akin to those commonly used with Hidden Markov Models to form an accurate environmental state estimation. We apply our techniques to real world data sets and reduce the required number of report operations by over 90% whilst incurring only minimal accuracy penalties.


The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effects of miconazole on myelin sheaths following cerebral white matter damage (WMD) in premature infant rats. Sprague Dawley rats (3-days-old) were randomly divided into four groups (n=30 each) as follows: Sham surgery group, WMD model group, 10 mg/kg/day treatment group and 40 mg/kg/day treatment group. A cerebral white matter lesion model was created by ligating the right common carotid artery for 80 min. Treatment groups were administered with 10 or 40 mg/kg miconazole at 4–8 days following birth (early treatment group) or 5–11 days following birth (late treatment group). Rats in the model group received the same concentration of dimethylsulfoxide. Myelin basic protein (MBP) immunohistochemical staining and western blotting were used to detect the expression of cerebral white matter-specific MBP, and changes in myelin structure were observed using transmission electron microscopy. No swelling or necrosis was observed in the corpus callosum of the sham group rats, whereas rats in the model group demonstrated edema, loose structure, fiber disorder, inflammatory gliocytes and selective white matter lesions. Following treatment with miconazole, MBP expression in the corpus callosum was significantly higher compared with the model group. Furthermore, in the model group, myelin sheaths in the corpus callosum were loose with small vacuoles, there was a marked decrease in thickness and structural damage was observed. Conversely, a marked improvement in myelination was observed in the treatment group. The results of the present study suggest that miconazole is able to promote formation of the myelin sheath to ameliorate premature cerebral white matter lesions caused by ischemia or hypoxia in rats.


The purpose of this study was to determine the level of internal control at PT Arori Jaya and provided recommendation to the weaknesses found. The method used is the method of interview, check list, observation, and documentation study. The results of the evaluation system sale information found weaknesses of each control, where there are weaknesses that allow the potential risks that may occur as well as the recommendations as necessary remedial action. The conclusion is based on the evaluation results have been obtained on credit sales information system controls at the company, still need improvement. With the internal control system of better information, it is expected the company to ensure protecting data and information from every threat that may arise. Keywords: evaluation, credit sales information system


Absorption of visible and infrared radiation by gratings due to the resonant excitation of surface waves is a well-known phenomenon. In this paper, we study the resonant absorption of terahertz (THz) radiation due to the excitation of surface phonon polaritons on a grating ruled on a GaAs substrate. We report the design and fabrication of such a grating. Reflectivity measurements clearly show the excitation of surface phonon polariton. Numerical simulations indicate that the radiative properties depend critically on the surface profile. We finally discuss potential applications to THz thermal emission.


Plastic become a serious problem for the environment because of their nature which is difficult to degrade by microoganism. So there needs to be a solution to overcome this and scientists have found several ways to reduce this problem and one of them is using bioplastic. The development of bioplastics from organic materials has been largely done from starchy materials. The selection of rubber cassava is due to the abundance and lack of use of rubbery cassava itself. Therefore in this study was conducted to study the manufacture of bioplastic from rubbery cassava tuber starch. This bioplastic is made from starch for several reasons, among others, plastics made from starch / biomass will more easily decompose by nature and the abundant amount and the lack of utilization of rubbery cassava. The raw material in the manufacture of bioplastik is rubbery cassava starch. This research was done by isolating the rubbery cassava starch to get the starch. Then mixing with aquadets, chitosan, acetic acid, and glycerol with starch (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 gram) and glycerol (2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ml). After obtaining the plastic film layer is tested to its charatelistic such as tensile strength test, elongation test, biodegradation test and statistical test to strengthen the data obtained. From the research that has been done, the mechanical properties of plastics for elongation test showed that the composition: 7 grams of starch, 4 ml glycerol, with elongation of 32% and then the loop obtained 35% elongation with the same composition, tensile strength test obtained composition: 7 grams of starch, 2 ml glycerol, with a tensile strength of 1.85094 MPa and then the repeating obtained tensile strength 1.70609 MPa with the same composition, while for biodegradation test found 100% degradable plastic for 10-11 days with a composition of 9 grams of starch, 4 ml glycerol.


Source characteristics of the May 7, 1986 Andreanof Islands earthquake (51.412°N, 174.830°W, NEIC) are investigated from WWSSN, GDSN and IDA records. First motions from over 60 stations determine one steeply dipping nodal plane. We constrained this nodal plane and inverted long-period surface waves at a period of T=256 sec and determined the second nodal plane to be dip 18°, rake 116°, and strike 257°. This shallowly dipping thrust mechanism is consistent with plate motions in this region. Seismic moment from surface-wave inversion is 1.3×10^(28) dyne-cm corresponding to M_w=8.0. Amplitudes of body and surface waves from short-period instruments yield magnitudes of equation image and M_s=7.7. The teleseismic average P-wave moment rate spectrum from 17 short- and intermediate-period instruments is slightly lower than that of an average M_w=8.0 subduction-zone event. We constrained the fault plane as determined above to deconvolve the first 90 secs of the long-period body wave at 11 teleseismic stations to determine the source time function and the spatial distribution of moment release. The source time function consists of 4 moment-releasing episodes which have a total moment release of 9.4×10^(27) dyne-cm. The fault ruptured bilaterally with the largest moment releasing subevent occurring between 30-45 sec. This subevent nucleates approximately 75-90 km west of the determined epicenter. This region corresponds to the epicentral area of the 1957 Great Aleutian earthquake which is one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history.


This paper introduces a sequential filtering technique to obtain the ocean bottom acoustic properties with the noise field of a ship of opportunity. It filters the ratio between pressure p and vertical particle velocity Vz (or pressure gradient pg), both measured by a vector sensor, to estimate the environmental properties. This technique models the inverse problem as a random walk for the environmental time/spatial evolution, by formulating the environmental parameters in a recursive state-space form. It assumes the environmental parameters as the summation of previous stage parameters with a noise variance term for each state, and estimates their values along the source ship track by sequentially filtering recorded ship noise data. Numerical tests were carried out for the South East Elba environment. The preliminary results demonstrates this technique can effectively resolve most geoacoustic parameters.


Background: At autopsy, 20%–40% of chronic multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions are labeled "slowly expanding" and feature myelin phagocytosis at the lesion edge. As pathological lesion classification relies on a single, terminal time point, the rate of lesion expansion cannot be directly measured. Objective: To study long-term volume changes in individual MS lesions. Methods: Volumes of individual lesions on proton density magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquired between 1992 and 2015 were measured in 22 individuals (one lesion per person). After correction for acquisition protocol, a mixed model evaluated lesion volume changes. Results: The mean (standard deviation) lesion volume at baseline was 142 (82) mL, falling to 74 (51) mL after 16 (3) years. All lesions shrank over time. Change in lesion volume did not correlate with change in supratentorial brain volume (p = 0.33). In simulations, the results could be explained by a process of slow radial expansion superimposed on substantially more rapid resorption of damaged tissue. Conclusion: We noted sustained radiological contraction of MS lesions, a surprising result given that fresh myelin breakdown products within chronic active lesions are observed relatively frequently at autopsy. Therefore, the primary pathological process in chronic lesions, even those described as "slowly expanding," is likely to be tissue loss.


The aim of present work was to investigate CYP2С9 polymorphism in the south of Ukraine in TB-patients and comparing with the same data of control group by the example of Odessa region. Gene CYP2С9 polymorphism was studied with the help of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and endonuclease analysis. The blood samples were obtained from patients with new cases of pulmonary TB from Odessa regional antituberculous dispensary and healthy donors in Odessa district station of blood transfusion in the year 2010-12. According to genotype of CYP2C9 of 55 TB-patients, 67,3% persons were the carriers of homozygote wild gene CYP2C9*1/*1, 21,8 and 3,6% heterozygote genes CYP2C9*1/*2 and CYP2C9*1/*3. Only 7,2% individuals belonged to carriers of slow metabolizers genotype CYP2C9*2/*2, *2/*3, *3/*3. In general, the mutated alleles CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 in TB-males were observed by 1,8 times more frequently than among healthy donors of the same gender. TB-patients older than 30 years more frequently had mutated allele CYP2C9*2, almost by 3 times than individuals from control group.


Abstract As dementia is widely under-detected, a predictive model using electronic health records (EHR) could provide a method for early screening to implement preventive strategies. There is limited research on using EHR to identify persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (RD). In a data-driven approach, we used all ICD-9 diagnosis and CPT procedure codes from statewide inpatient, ambulatory surgery, and Medicare records, in addition to age at baseline and gender, to detect AD/RD from the Cache County Study on Memory in Aging (1995–2009). After removing participants diagnosed with dementia at baseline (n=335), 3882 (82%) Cache County Study participants could be linked to inpatient, ambulatory surgery, and/or Medicare EHR records; 484 (12.5%) of these 3882 had incident all-cause dementia, with 308 (7.9%) having AD/AD comorbid with RD; and 176 (4.5%) having RD without AD. We removed participant's ICD-9 codes occurring after first AD/RD diagnoses. EHR features (~2000) along with gold-standard diagnoses as class labels were then used to train and detect AD and/or RD using a Gradient Boosting Trees machine learning algorithm. Models evaluated with nested cross-validation yielded AUCs of 0.70 for all-cause dementia, 0.69 for AD/AD comorbid with RD, and 0.67 for RD without AD. Key factors detecting AD/RD included age at enrollment, cardiovascular, metabolic, and kidney disease, and sleep disturbances, with feature importance varying by record type and time frame prior to dementia onset. Our findings suggest that a patient's health status up to 12 years prior may be useful in identifying individuals at-risk for dementia development.


Copper (Cu)/6H-SiC Schottky rectifiers were analyzed in detail for the first time. The barrier height of the as-deposited Cu contact on the 6H-SiC(0001) Si-face was determined to be 1.26 eV by internal photoemission spectroscopy. To obtain thermally stable electrical properties, the as-deposited Cu contacts were annealed. Cu/6H-SiC Schottky rectifiers had good electrical properties with the ideality factor below 1.1 even after thermal annealing at 500°C. However, the electrical properties of annealed Cu contacts over 500°C were deteriorated, which is caused by the formation of copper silicides at the Cu/6H-SiC interface.


In this paper, a novel compact structure design for minimizing the chip area cost is proposed. The improvement in sensitivity and temperature drift for silicon piezoresistive force sensor is evaluated. The sensitivity improvement can be obtained by adding a long flexible cantilever, and locating stress-sensitive element at a high stressed area close to the bottom surface of the lower cantilever. An ultra-thin Si film beneath interconnect layer can be obtained by a STI (shallow trench isolation) protection etch process. The simulation results show relative saturation drain current change of MOSFETs can achieve up to about 0.87% at 10g acceleration and the temperature fluctuations only 0.918 and 0.972 °C when it is exposed to −45 and 150 °C atmospheric temperatures, respectively.


The notion of the student experience has risen in prominence in response to changing student cohorts, reforms to the higher education system and broader societal and technological trends. Indeed, contemporary notions of the student experience extend well beyond the traditional focus on curriculum, assessment and pedagogy to include the extracurricular activities of students and how universities respond to help students manage their external commitments. Yet, while the term is frequently used, definitions remain elusive. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to deconstruct the student experience by considering the various factors that influence the experience of students in the higher education system. Based on a review of the wideranging literature in the field, this article presents a conceptual framework of dimensions that impact on the student experience. The identified dimensions include: institutional factors, student factors, sectoral factors and external factors, each encapsulating a variety of dimensions. The objective of the article is to provide educators in tourism, hospitality and related fields with a contemporary understanding of the key debates and themes related to the student experience in the higher education field.


Our study is based on 20 direct stores of E-Life Mall in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. After having interviews with 5 store managers of E-Life Mall, we come up with 3 input and 3 output efficiency indices, and apply Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to evaluate the performance efficiency of individual store, we also make use of Tobit regression analysis to investigate the effect of all input and output variables on Global Technical Efficiency (TE), Pure Technical Efficiency (PTE), and Scale Efficiency (SE) obtained by DEA. According to the result of our analysis, the improvement rate of store space is largest among on all input and output vables. On the other hand, in output efficiency, refrigerator turnover and each input factor has significant influence on TE, PTE, and SE.


We report a systematic comparative study on dibenzo[b,def]chrysene (angular) and dibenzo[def,mno] chrysene (compact) polyaromatic hydrocarbons and their bis-triisopropylsilylethynyl (TIPS)-functionalized and perhalogenated (F, Cl) counterparts. We used density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT to quantify the effects of morphology and chemical modifications on the electronic, optical, and transport properties. In particular, we compared electron affinity, ionization energy, fundamental gap, optical absorption, exciton binding energy, and reorganization energies for holes and electrons. For both TIPS-functionalization and halogen substitutions, we found larger electron affinities (nearly tripled with perchlorination). Ionization energies are found to be reduced for TIPS-functionalization (by ∼5%) and enhanced following halogen substitution (up to 17%). In both compact and angular dibenzochrysenes, the above trends reflect in a general reduction of the fundamental gap (up to 22%) following chemical modification. The effect of perhalogenation and TIPS-functionalization is always to increase molecular reorganization energies for both holes and electrons. Concerning the optical properties, we observe a redshift of the optical onset in all cases; for TIPS-functionalized molecules, in particular, we additionally found a remarkable enhancement of the absorption in the visible region.


This article analyses the current situation of transnational higher education (TNE) in China by conducting a comprehensive documentary analysis. It first situates the phenomenon in global transnational mobility in higher education and then explores the diverse motivations of importing and exporting countries taking China and the UK as linked examples. The documentary analysis carried out for this research suggests that China has stated aims to promote TNE as a public good, whereas UK motivations for transnational education are ostensibly more driven by financial reasons. The article also identifies three features of the current situation in China: first showing that the distribution of the TNE in China is imbalanced; second, partner institutions are based in 21 economically developed countries or regions; third, the prominent cooperative arrangements are strongly focused in particular disciplines. The article argues that these features have led to unfair competition in some areas. Therefore, it appears that there are some inconsistencies and tensions between the stated aims of Chinese TNE policy and the way in which TNE is spreading and developing in practice.


Fraction and decimal magnitude processing are crucial for mathematic achievement. Previous neuroimaging results showed that fraction and decimal processing activated both overlapping and distinct neural substrates, but temporal dissociations between fraction and decimal processing remained unknown. This event-related potential (ERP) study explored differences in neural activities between magnitude processing of fractions and decimals, by examining the notation effect (fraction vs. decimal) and distance effect (far vs. close) on early components of P1/N1, P2 and N2. Results showed that decimals elicited larger N1 and smaller P1 than fractions at the parietal region. Fractions demonstrated the significant distance effect on fronto-central P2 while decimals showed the distance effect on left anterior N2. ERP results reflect distinct processing of identification and semantic access stages between fractions and decimals. Identification is located at the visual-related region with enhanced perception acuity and identification efficiency for decimals. Semantic access activates the fronto-central region associated with elaborative magnitude manipulation for fractions, while semantic access reflects automatic phonological retrieval for decimals. Our findings disintegrate the magnitude processing of fractions and decimals from identification to magnitude processing. It reveals that temporal discrepancies between fraction and decimal magnitude processing appear as early as post-stimulus 100 ms.


High-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements have been performed on single-crystal samples of Bi2.2Sr1.8CaCu2O8+x at 300 K. It was shown that the symmetry of crystals is lower than orthorhombic. In the vicinity of the odd 00l (l=2n+1) reciprocal-lattice points, incommensurate satellites corresponding to a modulation wavevector q=-0.021b*+0.01c* with strong asymmetry of superlattice intensities were observed. Asymmetrical arrangements of incommensurate S peaks with the modulation wavevectors q1=-0.225b*+0.061c* and q2=0.193b*+0.078c* were also observed. The results obtained are discussed.


Current data and scientific predictions about the consequences of climate change are accurate in suggesting disaster. Since 2019, climate change has become a threat to human health, and major consequences on health and health systems are already observed. Climate change is a central concern for the nursing discipline, even though nursing theorists' understanding of the environment has led to problematic gaps that impact the current context. Today, nursing discipline is facing new challenges. Nurses are strategically placed to respond to the impacts of climate change through their practice, research, and training in developing, implementing, and sustaining innovation towards climate change mitigation and adaptation. It is urgent for them to adapt their practice to this reality to become agents of change.


Background: The study evaluates the long-term results of surgery for anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) with special attention on the left ventricular (LV) function and mitral regurgitation. Methods: Twenty-one children underwent surgery for ALCAPA over 23 years (1987-2010). All patients underwent establishment of a two-coronary system, by direct reimplantation (n = 13) or by intrapulmonary tunnel technique (n = 8), with concomitant mitral valve repair in one. The follow-up echocardiograms were evaluated to assess LV function and mitral regurgitation. Results: Five patients died. The age of the nonsurvivors was lower, 4.2 ± 1.3 versus 22.7 ± 29.4 months, P = .04. All nonsurvivors had moderate or severe mitral regurgitation preoperatively and higher LV diameter z score than the survivors: 11.8 (9-14.6) versus 4.6 (1.9-13.1), P = .01. At last follow-up, all survivors were asymptomatic; the diastolic LV diameter was normal, with z scores: 0.3 (0.1-1.9) versus 7 (1.9-14.6) preoperatively, P = .001, as was the LV ejection fraction: 66% (61%-78%) versus 38% (16%-70%) preoperatively, P = .001. Fifteen patients had moderate or severe mitral regurgitation at initial presentation and it eventually regressed to insignificant in all survivors (P = .001). No subsequent interventions on the coronary arteries or the mitral valve were needed. Four patients with intrapulmonary tunnel had mild suprapulmonary obstruction with Doppler peak gradients between 20 and 30 mm Hg. Conclusions: In our experience, establishment of a two-coronary circulation without mitral valve repair leads to normalization of LV dimension and systolic function and to improvement of mitral regurgitation in the surviving patients. Mortality is related to low age and to the associated higher degree of LV dysfunction.


Forest rehabilitation activities have been initiated on degraded peatland at several sites in Southeast Asia. In order to achieve rehabilitation efficiently and on the largest possible scale, cost‐effective, transferable methods need to be established. One potential method, which has previously proven successful in both temperate and neotropical forest ecosystems, is the construction of artificial bird perches outside the forest edge. These provide resting perches for frugivorous birds, encouraging them to fly out of the forest, thus increasing seed dispersal and subsequent seedling recruitment into the degraded area. This method was trialled for the first time in degraded tropical peat swamp forest in Indonesia. The results show that the perches were used by frugivorous birds, leading to a significant increase in seed dispersal; however, seedling recruitment was not increased. The frugivorous birds using the perches were degraded zone species and dispersed mainly tree species from the degraded area. Furthermore, while some seeds of forest‐area tree species were dispersed, largely only the degraded area tree species survived to seedling stage. Neither seasonality nor distance from forest edge proved to be significant factors influencing seed dispersal or seedling recruitment, the latter highlighting that seeds were principally being dispersed from within the degraded area rather than from the forest. Although artificial perches did increase seed dispersal, their use as an actual restoration tool in the process of forest regeneration on degraded tropical peatland is limited. Furthermore, when the cost‐ and effort‐to‐area factors are considered, this method is shown to be inefficient.


The present study was aimed to increase the solubility of the poorly water soluble drug benfotiamine using hydrophilic polymers (PVP K-30 and HPMC E4). Solid dispersions were prepared by kneading method. Phase solubility study, in-vitro dissolution of pure drug, physical mixtures and solid dispersions were carried out. PVP and HPMC were found to be effective in increasing the dissolution of Benfotiamine in solid dispersions when compared to pure drug. FT-IR, differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffractometry studies were carried out in order to characterize the drug and solid dispersion. To conclude that, the prepared solid dispersion of PVP-30 may to effectively used for the enhancement of solubility of poorly water soluble drugs such as benfotiamine.


Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)%%%%Glioblastoma is the most aggressive type of brain cancer with very poor prognosis. Due to the lack of understanding of underlying mechanisms, there are no anti-invasive clinical therapeutics available. SRC terminal kinase (SRC) is a tumorigenic protein that is highly expressed in glioblastoma samples. SRC inhibitor kinase 1 (SRCIN1), also known as p140Cap is a negative regulator of SRC. Silencing SRCIN1 results in increased tumor invasion. Our lab has discovered two novel scaffolding proteins Spinophilin (Spn) and neurabin (Nrb) that bind to SRCIN1. They may play a role in regulating SRCIN1 activity, as well as its downstream effects that ultimately decrease SRC's tumorigenic activity. Spn and Nrb are two scaffolding proteins that are heavily expressed in the central nervous system. Spn knockout mice develop more tumors, indicating that Spn acts as a tumor suppressor protein, although the mechanisms of Spn's anti-tumor properties are not well understood. Spn and Nrb are PP1 targeting proteins that target PP1 to other substrates, resulting in dephosphorylation and alteration of function. We found that PP1 increases Spn association with SRCIN1, but decreases Nrb association with SRCIN1, indicating that the two proteins might have opposite effects to balance the activity of p140Cap. We also found that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) phosphorylates and regulates the association of these scaffolding proteins with the tumor suppressor protein, p140Cap. Understanding these mechanisms provides insight into new therapeutic targets that may ultimately decrease SRC activity and its tumorigenic and invasive properties.


Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the ubiquitous coccidia
Toxoplasma gondii. Rodents play an important role in maintaining
its life cycle, as they are one of the main diet sources for felids
(wild and domestic), the unique definitive hosts. However, reports of
toxoplasmosis in porcupines (Rodentia Order) are uncommon, with gaps
concerning its pathophysiology. South America is the continent with the
greatest genetic diversity of rodents and T. gondii. A
free-ranging hairy dwarf porcupine was admitted to a wildlife rescue
center with a history of trauma. During rehabilitation, the animal
presented neurological symptoms (sporadic episodes of hind limbs
paresis) and died five months later. The main findings during necropsy
were brain congestion and severe incisor overgrowth associated with
maxillary perforation. The histopathological exam showed moderate
encephalitis, with variable-sized round cysts, positive for PAS stain
and immunohistochemistry for T. gondii. Additionally, two cysts
were observed in the medulla of the adrenal gland. Molecular techniques
were performed to characterize the parasite load by qPCR (Cq=30) and the
genotype by PCR-RFLP with 11 markers, which revealed a new genotype.
This case adds to the body of knowledge in comparative pathology of
Neotropical Rodentia and reports a new genotype circulating in South
America.


Band structure characteristics, such as band gap and band dispersion, are fundamental properties of materials. Temperature can affect them because of lattice expansion and phonon-induced atomic vibrations. Here, we apply the recently developed electron-phonon renormalization method to study the temperature effect on the band structures of thermoelectric (TE) filled skutterudites BaCo4Sb12, BaFe4Sb12, and YbFe4Sb12 from first-principles. The results reveal that the band gap in BaCo4Sb12 drops slower with temperature compared with our previous study on CoSb3, where it considerably reduces from 0 K to 800 K for BaFe4Sb12 (∼0.222 eV) and YbFe4Sb12 (∼0.201 eV). Furthermore, the band dispersions near the band edges at the Γ-point in the three systems at high temperatures are similar to those at 0 K, and the electron energies have small linewidths, whereas the linewidths for energies near the Fermi level are large. The different phenomena are due to the different phonon vibration-induced electronic structure disorders, reflecting the strength of electron-phonon coupling. Band renormalization would further affect the TE properties of these filled skutterudites. Our work provides a deeper understanding of the temperature-dependent band structure in skutterudites.


We have evaluated a vortex-assisted emulsification microextraction (VAEME) procedure followed by in-syringe ultrasound-assisted back-microextraction for the determination of nine haloacetic acids in waters of different nature, using high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. The optimized method requires 600 μL of isopropyl ether as an extractant solvent and 5 mL of the water sample containing: Na2SO4 (45%, w/v) and a low pH value (<0.5). After emulsification assisted by vortex for 5 min, the droplet is separated from the water sample after centrifugation (5 min, 3500 rpm) using a syringe. This droplet is then back-microextracted in the syringe by mixing it with a low volume (50 μL) of an aqueous solution of (NH4)2SO4 (0.2 M), to ensure compatibility with the HPLC mobile phase. After 5 min of sonication, the aqueous solution containing HAAs is directly injected into the chromatograph. The method is characterized by (a) average relative recoveries of 77.7–89.0%, depending on the spiked level, (b) average enrichment factors of ∼10 for the VAEME and of ∼21 for the overall method, (c) precisions of the overall method (expressed as relative standard deviations) between 5 and 23%, and (d) average extraction efficiencies of ∼88% for the VAEME method.


Quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) perovskites are promising for the realization of spectrally stable pure red perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) with a single iodide component, because they avoid the halide separation that red three-dimensional perovskites of mixed halides have faced. However, the distribution of high-order phases in solution-processed quasi-2D perovskite films causes the spectral shift away from the pure red region. Here, we introduced a simple approach of adding excessive ligand combinations to redistribute the phase distribution of quasi-2D perovskite and to inhibit the high-order phase. Appropriate excess organic ligands will not affect charge injection but will keep the efficient energy funneling and passivate the defect. The narrowed phase distribution reduced the band tail state and restrained reverse charge transfer, resulting in enhanced radiation recombination. We obtained efficient and spectrally stable pure red PeLEDs at 638 nm (approaching the Rec. 2020 specification) with a peak EQE of 11.8% and maximum luminance of 1688 cd/cm2. This study provides guidance for future developments of highly efficient pure red PeLEDs.


The study aims at verifying no generation of electrical power induced noise voltage on telecommunications lineside cable by analyzing the practical findings of noise voltage produced at the telecommunication lines in the vicinity of electrified high-speed railways like KTX, while proposing to make the current standard measurement circuit along with its measuring conditions revised in compliance with international ITU-T recommendations by identifiably finding out the present problems in balance level measuring instruments as well as their errors in the measurement method now applicable by local telecommunications companies and the Radio Research Laboratory.


In a total group of 385 cases of colonic cancer, there was evidence of associated diverticulitis in 42 cases. Of these, 92% of the patients were over 60 years of age. In 45% of the cases the coexisting lesions were located in the sigmoid colon. It is suggested that cancer of the colon contributes to the development of diverticulosis and diverticulitis; this is confirmed by the finding of 52.8% of the total group of diverticulosis (98 cases) complicated by diverticulitis. Signs of diverticulitis may mask the presence of cancer, and the diagnosis of associated lesions is sometimes difficult. The patient's history and repeated radiographic studies play an important role in the detection of associated cancer. The final diagnosis is confirmed by pathologic examination.


The use of batch means is a well known technique for estimating the variance of point estimators computed from simulation experiments. The batch means variance estimator is simply the (appropriately scaled) sample variance of the estimator computed on subsets of consecutive observations. For the method to be practical, a good choice of batch length is necessary. We propose a method to estimate the optimal batch length using only the observed data. In contrast to results which model the unknown underlying dependence structure in terms of a few unknown parameters (e.g., autoregression), the method is completely model free. The proposed algorithm makes use of previous asymptotic results giving the order of batch length as a function of the simulation length in order to calibrate an empirical estimate of batch length for a shorter simulation length. We describe the algorithm, present three numerical studies which demonstatrates its eecacy, and discuss large sample consistency.


Glacially deformed sediments have been studied intensely since the 1970's (van der Meer and
Menzies, 2011), and with this, the use of micromorphology as a component technique (Menzies and
Maltman, 1992; van der Meer, 1993; Menzies, 2000; Phillips and Auton, 2000; van der Wateren,
2000; Carr, 2001; Khatwa and Tulaczyk, 2001; van der Meer et al., 2003; Larsen et al., 2004; Menzies
et al., 2006; Hiemstra, 2007; van der Meer and Menzies, 2011). Initially micromorphology was
applied to differentiate between types of tills (van der Meer, 1987). However, it was realised that
this was not possible and the majority of studies have since focused on subglacial conditions and its
affect on glacier or ice sheet behaviour (van der Meer et al., 2003, Menzies et al., 2006). Until now
micromorphology has generally consisted of creating an inventory of what microstructures exist and
trying to comprehend where they occur and in what sub‐environments of the glacial system they
form (McCaroll and Rijsdijk, 2003; van der Meer and Menzies, 2011). This descriptive technique is
dated and although it is not assumed that all microstructures are known, the next stage of scientific
development is towards interpretation and quantification (van der Meer and Menzies, 2011; Phillips
et al., 2011). The recent introduction of a new microstructural mapping method has aided this
method by determining a chronology of events that have lead to the development of the
microstructures seen in thin section (Phillips et al., 2011).


The UK referendum on EU membership resulted in a vote to leave the bloc. The UK and EU are currently in limbo whilst the withdrawing Member State prepares to trigger Article 50 and formally notify its intent to depart. The financial, legal and economic implications are expected to be wide-ranging although the process of unpicking the interlinkages across different policy areas has not yet begun. In the case of Cohesion Policy, the negotiation of an end date for eligibility and the extent to which the established regulatory procedures around N+3 and programme closure will be applied to the departing UK will be crucial, not only in determining the exact financial 'hit' to UK regions of Brexit but also in terms of implications for programming on the ground. Regulatory specificities mean that the withdrawal process could be characterised by regions who voted to leave the EU still spending their EU allocations and required to comply with EU law long after UK withdrawal.


The large-scale increase of multicast state is the major factor preventing the wide application of multicast when there are a large number of multicast groups in the network. As a new technology of reducing forwarding states of multicast state, aggregated multicast aims to enable the multicast groups that can be integrated in the network to share one distribution tree, which reduces the number of multicast trees, thus leading to the reduction of forwarding states and improvement of network performance. A modified genetic algorithm is proposed in this paper to optimize aggregated multicast problem. Simulation results indicate that network performance is improved greatly when applying this algorithm. Keywords - Aggregated multicast, minimal set cover, genetic algorithm, fusion operator.


A general quantum field theory is considered in which the fields are assumed to be operator‐valued tempered distributions. The system of fields may include any number of boson fields and fermion fields. A theorem which relates certain complex Lorentz transformations to the TCP transformation is stated and proved. With reference to this theorem, duality conditions are considered, and it is shown that such conditions hold under various physically reasonable assumptions about the fields. Extensions of the algebras of field operators are discussed with reference to the duality conditions. Local internal symmetries are discussed, and it is shown that these commute with the Poincare group and with the TCP transformation.


Seed-borne Microdochium nivale adversely affected seed imbibition and germination to a greater extent at low temperatures (5°C) and low soil water potentials ( -1 MPa). Post-emergent seedling blight severity was related to rate of seedling emergence. and adversely affected first leaf lengths.
 In vitro base temperatures for growth of M. nivale var. majus isolates were lower than for M. nivale var. nivale isolates, however var. majus isolates had a faster growth rate, Microdochium nivale DNA from seed-borne infection, in seeds and seedlings, was not substantially increased at growth stage (GS) 01 or GS 10 at low temperatures or reduced soil water contents.
 Timing, duration and harshness of freezing significantly affected seedling blight severity from seed-borne M. nivale infection. Pre-emergent exposure to -5°C more severely reduced final emergence than exposure to 0 °C. Post-emergent freezing had less severe effects on seedling blight severity. Carboxin + thiram seed treatment increased final emergence and reduced seedling blight severity under conditions involving exposure to freezing temperatures.
 Seed-borne M. nivale caused foot rot disease, even in the absence of seedling blight symptoms. Seedling blight severity adversely affected subsequent plant growth and was related to the extent of stem colonisation. Carboxin + thiram seed treatment reduced foot rot disease incidence and stem colonisation from seed-borne M. nivale in pot trials and increased plant productivity.
 Soil water content and soil temperature between drilling and 30 days post-drilling, had significant effects on plant emergence from M. nivale diseased and pathogen-free seeds in field trials. Poor emergence occurred from seedlots with high seed-borne. M. nivale infection in all three years of field trials and also in one year for a seedlot with low seed-borne M. nivale infection and low seed vigour.
 Fungicide seed treatments provided robust control of M. nivale seedling blight under a range of seedbed conditions. Soil water content and soil temperature at drilling and up to 30 days after drilling were important determinants of emergence from treated seeds. Carboxin + thiram was the most effective seed treatment under all seed bed conditions.


With the expansion and advancement in agricultural and chemical industries, various toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, zinc, copper, arsenic etc. are continuously released into the environment. Intake of sources contaminated with such toxic metals leads to various health issues. Keeping the serious effects of these toxic metal ions in view, various organic-inorganic nanomaterials based sensors have been exploited for their detection via optical, electrochemical and colorimetric approaches. Since a chemical sensor works on the principle of interaction between the sensing layer and the analytes, a sensor material with large surface area is required to enable the largest possible interaction with the target molecules and hence the sensitivity of the chemical sensor. However, commonly employed materials such as metal oxides and conducting polymers tend to feature relatively low surface areas, and hence resulting in low sensitivity of the sensor. Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) nanostructures are another category of organic-inorganic materials endowed with large surface area, ultra-high and tunable porosity, post-synthesis modification features, readily available active sites, catalytic activity, and chemical/thermal stability. These properties provide high sensitivity to the MOF based sensors due to the adsorption of large number of target analytes. The current review article focuses on MOFs based optical and electrochemical sensors for the detection of heavy metals.


Heminasal agenesis is a rare congenital malformation often associated with deformities of the eyes and lacrimal system, midface, and proboscis lateralis. Reconstruction is especially challenging because of missing lining, cartilage, and skin. We present a case of heminasal agenesis in a 5-year-old girl with concomitant hypertelorism, coloboma of the eyelids, and maxillary hypoplasia. The patient underwent facial bipartition for hypertelorism correction and cantilever bone graft. A forehead flap was designed using an anaplastic model from the patient's twin sister. Cartilage harvested from the conchal bowl and rib provided alar and dorsal support. Reconstructive goals, timing, and options are discussed.


The design and performance of higher order mode (HOM) dampers for the SPEAR 2 RF system is presented. The SPEAR beam had experienced occasional periods of instability due to transverse oscillations which were driven by HOMs in the RF cavities. A substantial fraction of this RF energy was coupled out of the cavity into the waveguide connecting the cavity to the klystron. This waveguide was modified by adding a stub of smaller cross section, terminated by a ferrite tile load, to the system. Design considerations of the load, and its effect on HOMs and beam stability will be discussed.


Objective: The potential association of rheumatoid factor (RF) and lipoprotein (Lp)(a) levels, as well as with the likelihood of type 2 diabetes and hypertension, needs exploring. Methods: Cross-sectional associations were sought in this unselected and population-based 1539-adult cohort (age 58.8±10.6 years). RF was assayed nephelometrically. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used for covariates of RF positivity and for the latter's association with diabetes and hypertension. Results: RF-positive individuals were older, fewer current smokers, had significantly lower fasting triglycerides (by 13%), higher fibrinogen, and tended to higher sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels. Whereas, women had a similar risk profile irrespective of RF status, RF-positive men had significantly higher Lp(a). In contrast to Lp(a) being positively correlated with SHBG in RF-negative subjects (r=0.08; p=0.007), an inverse correlation existed in seropositive individuals (r=-0.32, p=0.011), suggesting the interplay of an immune complex. In regression analyses, RF positivity was associated with Lp(a) in men but not in women, [OR 1.53 (1.19; 1.96)], independent of age, SHBG, and C-reactive protein (CRP). RF positivity was further associated with diabetes [OR 1.98 (95% CI 1.11; 3.52)] in the whole sample, additively to waist circumference and CRIP major determinants of diabetes. RF-positive subjects were not significantly associated independently with hypertension. Conclusion: Autoimmune activation linked to Lp(a) is mediated by the autoantibody RF in contributing to the development of type 2 diabetes.


Current driven ideal MHD instability with (m,n)=(1,1) becomes unstable in a current carrying toroidal heliotron plasma at zero pressure, where m(n) is the poloidal (toroidal) mode number. This result is consistent with the cylindrical plasma approximation under the stellarator expansion. For finite beta current carrying plasmas of Heliotron E with two t=1 resonant surfaces or with a highly peaked profile, the current driven m=1 internal kink mode destabilized at the inner t=1 surface is gradually changed into the pressure driven m=1 interchange mode localized at the outer t=1 surface with an increase of pressure, where t is the total rotational transform. The growth rate is first increased, then decreased with the increase of pressure, which is correlated with the formation of a magnetic well. In the hollow current case of the Large Helical Device (LHD), there is no purely current driven instability and a specific hollow current profile has a tendency to stabilize the pressure driven interchange modes compared with the currentless case. It is shown that a combination of a positive hollow current with a negative peaked current is particularly favourable to the MHD stability of LHD


It is widely accepted that the elderly are more vulnerable to trauma than other groups. We examined our records of more than 6,000 accident cases, 312 over 65 years of age, and found that not only were older people more likely to sustain more serious injury in any given accident, but that the risk of life was significantly greater for a given injury severity. The mortality rate for all grades of injury rose from approximately 1% in the age group less than 20 years old to almost 11% in the age group more than 70. As none of the existing injury scales take age into account when predicting the outcome, it is suggested that such scales should be weighted to reflect more accurately the likely outcome or injury in the elderly.


This paper revisits the economic consequences of land fragmentation, taking seriously concerns regarding the exogeneity of fragmentation, its measurement and the importance of considering impacts in terms of welfare metrics. Using data that are well-suited to addressing these issues, the analysis finds that land fragmentation reduces food insecurity. This result is robust to how fragmentation is measured and to how exogeneity concerns are addressed. Further, the paper finds that land fragmentation mitigates the adverse effects of low rainfall on food security. This is because households with diverse parcel characteristics can grow a greater variety of crop types.


– ARIMA models have been extensively examined in the context of the real estate market. The purpose of this paper is to examine issues relating to their application in a forecasting context. Specifically, the paper seeks to examine whether in‐sample measures of best‐fit and also past forecasting accuracy bear any relation to future forecasting performance., – The forecasting performance of alternative ARIMA specifications are compared over rolling estimation and forecasting windows. The forecasting accuracy of the alternative specifications is compared with specific attention placed on the accuracy of the respective specification that in‐sample provides the best fitting model., – The results highlight the limitations in using the conventional approach to identifying the best‐specified ARIMA model in sample, when the purpose of the analysis is to provide forecasts. The results show that while ARIMA models can be useful in anticipating broad market trends, there are substantial differences in the forecasts obtained using alternative specifications. The use of conventional measures of best‐fit provide little indication as to future forecasting ability, nor does the forecasting performance of a specification in previous periods., – ARIMA modelling has frequently been highlighted as a useful forecasting approach. This paper illustrates that care needs to be paid in their use in a forecasting context and full appreciation of the strengths and limitations of the ARIMA approach.


Fluorescent atomically precise Ag38(11-azido-2-ol-undecane-thiolate)24 nanoclusters are easily prepared using sodium ascorbate as a "green" reducer and are extensively characterized by way of elemental analyses, ATR-FTIR, XRD, SAXS, UV-vis, fluorescence spectroscopies, and theoretical modeling. The fluorescence and the atomically determined stoichiometry and structure, the facile and environmentally green synthesis, together with the novel presence of terminal azido groups in the ligands which opens the way to "click"-binding a wide set of molecular species, make Ag38(11-azido-2-ol-undecane-thiolate)24 nanoclusters uniquely appealing systems for biosensing, recognition and functionalization in biomedicine applications and in catalysis.


Google company often surprises us with their new services ; one such service is "Google circles". The main concept of this service is the possibility to organize friends and (for example) co-workers in circles in order to share information more efficiently or just to stay in touch with one another. The main idea of this paper is to analyze how such circles are formed by using business intelligence capabilities ; it is strongly believed (assumed) that people in a circle have (share) similar habits. This paper analyzes how business intelligence (i.e. analytical processing) can be used to analyze sales data based on the circle membership.


Cellulase is composed of more than one distinctive enzymes which can degrade cellulose and is produced by a wide variety of fungal and bacterial species and the enzyme is transported across the cell membrane to the outside environment. The product of cellulose degradation is known to form glucose and important monomer highly used in food industry for producing various commercial products including alcohol. The problem lies in converting lipid rich cellulose source or cellulose from plants with a higher quantity of unsaturated fatty acids. This problem has created a need of finding bacteria capable of cellulose digestion without the inhibitory effects of lipids and poly-unsaturated fatty acids. To solve this problem, bacterial specie was isolated from a soil rich in oil, since it was collected from a petrol pump with little trace of vegetative cover. Also, due to lack of oxygen there was a chance of acclimatization of the bacteria and developing itself as an anaerobe. The cellulomonas medium was optimized by using different amino acids, Carbon sources, and Nitrogen sources. Extracted crude cellulase was subjected to change in pH, incubation temperature and metal ion supplementation and was inferred that Cysteine proved to be the best amino acid supplement followed by maltose being a good carbon supplement and ammonium chloride for nitrogen. At 60 ˚C and pH 7.15 the crude cellulase yielded higher glucose. Also a supplementation of Cobalt and Manganse enhanced the cellulase production enlightening the way that it may be used in traces for any metabolic pathway feeding the cellulase production. The colonies producing the crude cellulase had been tested on Whatman No.1 filter paper and have been found to grow colonied utilizing the filter paper as substrate. This infers the ability of the bacterium to produce cellulase and decay cellulose even at stressful conditions. The enhanced cellulase has negligible effect of poly-unsaturated fatty acids and capable of cellulose digestion from a diverse source.


A new technique is proposed for making phase diffraction gratings for integrated optics. The ion-exchange technique in glass is used, the grating is obtained by performing the ion exchange through a periodic mask photolithographically printed in aluminium. The required modulation of the index of refraction is obtained by introducing consecutively two different ions, Ag + and K+, inside the glass slide. The opto-geometric parameters of the phase diffraction grating are theoretically determined to obtain good wavelength demultiplexing properties at lambda1 = 0.6328 µm and lambda2 = 0.5145 µm. An experiment is performed where an incident light beam with two wavelengths, lambda1 and lambda2, is directed on the grating with an angle of incidence such that all the diffracted energy is transferred to the first order of diffraction for lambda1 and to the zeroth order for lambda2. The same device could easily be designed for wavelengths of interest in telecommunications systems


Understanding Risk (UR) Boulder was a 2 day event in October 2015 that convened over 120 experts, practitioners, and community members to discuss challenges we face in building resilience to climate change and natural hazards in the region. Events included 12 thematic sessions on topics ranging from flood security to citizen science, keynote presentations, and Ignite Talks from some of Colorado`s leading thinkers on these issues, and a TechChallenge that awarded over 20,000 US dollars to local tech innovators working on resilience. These proceedings capture the discussions from this event.


This paper demonstrates the fabrication of a membrane permeated by a silicon dioxide nanocapillary array for manipulating highly charged ions at the nanoscale. The fabrication method involves (i) the formation of pores at the nanoscale on lithographically patterned, n-type silicon using photo-assisted electrochemical etching, followed by (ii) thermal oxidation, (iii) bulk silicon back etching and (iv) oxide etching using silicon micromachining technology. The electrochemical etching parameters were chosen to form arrays of straight pores with a diameter of about 250 nm, a length of 30 µm and interpore distances of 1 and 1.4 µm. The back side of the pore arrays was etched in potassium hydroxide and tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide. Finally, the inside of the pores was thermally oxidized to yield SiO2 capillary arrays. The present method could allow the fabrication of capillaries with further smaller dimensions by increasing the thermally grown oxide thickness.


Calcium ion-dependent reactivation of O2 evolution activity has been investigated in Hydrilla verticillata thylakoid preparations. Washing the thylakoids in calcium-free buffer or calcium-free buffer containing 1.5 M NaCl or 1.5 M NaCl plus 20% methanol, reversibly inhibited O2 evolution activity. The activity was restored on addition of calcium as calcium chloride and partially by strontium chloride. Immobilization of thylakoids with glutaraldehyde (GA) arrested the loss in O2 evolution activity caused by calcium-free high salt washing. However, calcium sensitivity was discernible in GA immobilized thylakoids subjected to calcium-free high salt washing. Since glutaraldehyde checks the loss of extrinsic thylakoid polypeptides due to washing, it is assumed that the calcium ion has regulatory functions in the photosynthetic electron transport, besides its interaction with thylakoid proteins.


Text-guided image inpainting (TGII) aims to restore missing regions based on a given text in a damaged image. Existing methods are based on a strong vision encoder and a cross-modal fusion model to integrate cross-modal features. However, these methods allocate most of the computation to visual encoding, while light computation on modeling modality interactions. Moreover, they take cross-modal fusion for depth features, which ignores a fine-grained alignment between text and image. Recently, vision-language pre-trained models (VLPM), encapsulating rich cross-modal alignment knowledge, have advanced in most multimodal tasks. In this work, we propose a novel model for TGII by improving cross-modal alignment (CMA). CMA model consists of a VLPM as a vision-language encoder, an image generator and global-local discriminators. To explore cross-modal alignment knowledge for image restoration, we introduce cross-modal alignment distillation and in-sample distribution distillation. In addition, we employ adversarial training to enhance the model to fill the missing region in complicated structures effectively. Experiments are conducted on two popular vision-language datasets. Results show that our model achieves state-of-the-art performance compared with other strong competitors.


We read the paper by Parmar et al. (1) with concern. There are several issues which either appear incorrect or very unlikely. 1. Discrepancies between the numbers of cases in the text and tables. Text of results states there were 752 incident stroke events arising from 80 308 pyrs giving a crude incidence rate of 9·4 per 1000 pyrs. Table 2, however, states there were 410 events in ARCOS; 45 events in Russia and 675 in the Rotterdam dataset. The total from the table is therefore 410 + 45 + 674 = 1130 not 752 as reported in the text. This gives a crude incidence rate of 14·1 per 1000 pyrs. Either way, the crude incidence rates indicate an extremely high-risk population for a primary prevention study 2. Incorrect calculation of QStroke scores – variables used. We are concerned that the QStroke score has not been calculated correctly. The information in table 2 overlooks three variables which are required for calculation of the score (valvular heart disease, cholesterol/HDL ratio, and deprivation). The table also includes a variable which is not part of the QStroke score (LVH) 3. Incorrect application of QStroke scores to incorrect age ranges: figure 1 looks decidedly odd for QStroke as it shows that stroke risk hardly changes with age in men. The QStroke score only works for patients aged 25–84 years (2), and it is incorrect to apply it to patients aged 85–95 years as indicated in figure 1. The QStroke score has fractional polynomial values for age and age interactions so this could lead to strange values outside the modeled age range. 4. Discrimination. The text of the results (1) initially comments that QStroke outperformed both Framingham and the Riskometer based on all the metrics on each individual dataset based on the information in table 3. The authors then comment on the metrics for the combined dataset. The ROC value for fiveyear QStroke in men was 80·6 for Russian cohort and 66·1 for Rotterdam. It is therefore extremely unlikely that the ROC value for QStroke in men in the combined dataset dropped to only 59·7 when the majority of the person years of the combined dataset is based on the Rotterdam dataset. If QStroke performed better in each cohort (as they state), then how could it perform so much worse when combined? We think this is most likely to be an error. It is also unclear how the QStroke score could be legitimately applied to the ARCOS cohort since that only consisted of cases of stroke and only had one-year of follow-up. We would be grateful if you could review this article closely perhaps with a statistician. We would also like to request that original data so that we can verify the results.


Ever since Justice Lewis Powell's opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke made diversity in higher education a constitutionally acceptable rationale for affirmative action programs, the diversity rationale has received vehement criticism from across the ideological spectrum. Critics on the right argue that diversity efforts lead to "less meritorious" applicants being selected. Critics on the left charge that diversity is mere "subterfuge." On the diversity rationale's legitimacy, then, there is precious little diversity of thought. In particular, prominent scholars and jurists have cast doubt on the diversity rationale's empirical foundations, claiming that it rests on an implausible and unsupported hypothesis. To assess the diversity rationale, we conduct an empirical study of student-run law reviews. Over the past several decades, many leading law reviews have implemented diversity policies for selecting editors. We investigate whether citations to articles that a law review publishes change after it adopts a diversity policy. Using a dataset of nearly 13,000 articles published over a sixty-year period, we find that law reviews that adopt diversity policies see median citations to their volumes increase by roughly 23% in the ensuing five years. In addition to exploring the effect


Electrical field stimulation was used to activate enteric neurons in the guinea pig ileum in order to determine the involvement of intramural cholinergic motor neurons in the control of mucosal sodium and chloride transport. Rectangular, bipolar stimulus pulses evoked a tetrodotoxin-sensitive biphasic increase in short-circuit current (Isc) that was due to an increase in active chloride secretion without any effect on active sodium absorption. During activation of enteric neurons, atropine, in concentrations of 5 X 10(-8) M or higher, reversibly abolished the rapid phase of the Isc and reduced the maximum sustained response to 40-50% of control values. Atropine reduced chloride secretion evoked by electrical stimulation and had no effect on sodium fluxes. Basal rates of sodium and chloride transport and tissue conductances were not altered by atropine. When muscarinic receptors were maximally stimulated with 10(-5) M carbachol, activation of enteric nerves increased Isc to 46% of control values. Bethanechol and eserine increased base-line Isc, and this effect was blocked by atropine but not by tetrodotoxin. The increase in Isc evoked by bethanechol was due to an increase in active chloride secretion. These results show that acetylcholine released by activation of enteric cholinergic motor neurons acts as muscarinic receptors on enterocytes to stimulate chloride secretion.


Breastfeeding places beneficial orthopedic forces on the jaws, similar to the forces of Functional Jaw Orthopedics--the newest form of orthodontics. To date most breastfeeding benefits have been attributed to the content of mother's milk. The true orthopedic benefits of breastfeeding, suckling, deserve more definitive attention and research. Breastfeeding is early preventive Functional Jaw Orthopedics because breastfeeding forces impact the jaws during a very rapid period of infant jaw growth. Breast suckling aids proper development of the jaws which form the gateway to the human airway. Bottle, pacifier and digit sucking deform jaws and airways. Forward forces of suckling clearly oppose the backward forces of sucking. Dentists who understand the positive impact of forward orthopedic forces on the jaws should support and advocate exclusive breastfeeding for about 6 months.


This essay proposes and rediscovers the passionate interrelation between nursing and biopedagogy. It makes the permanent presence of learning from life evident in nursing as an art from its historical roots. From the ontological femininity that gave it meaning, nursing represents itself as rhythmic and sequentially interwoven to biopedagogy, and both, as units, integrated to a whole which constitutes a quantum leap 5 which in turn transforms complexity into simplicity and vice versa; therefore, creativity becomes complex. The sources that nurture and keep the intricacies of nursing and biopedagogy proposed here emerge from the powerful kotodama 6 of Florence Nightingale, insigne modern nursing founder.


Circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) employs superconducting microwave resonators as quantum buses. In circuit QED with semiconductor quantum-dot-based qubits, increasing the resonator impedance is desirable as it enhances the coupling to the typically small charge dipole moment of these qubits. However, the gate electrodes necessary to form quantum dots in the vicinity of a resonator inadvertently lead to a parasitic port through which microwave photons can leak, thereby reducing the quality factor of the resonator. This is particularly the case for high-impedance resonators, as the ratio of their total capacitance over the parasitic port capacitance is smaller, leading to larger microwave leakage than for 50 $\Omega$ resonators. Here, we introduce a novel implementation of on-chip filters to suppress the microwave leakage. The filters comprise a high-kinetic-inductance nanowire inductor and a thin film capacitor. The filter has a small footprint and can be placed close to the resonator, confining microwaves to a small area of the chip. The inductance and capacitance of the filter elements can be varied over a wider range of values than their typical spiral inductor and interdigitated capacitor counterparts. We demonstrate that the total linewidth of a 6.4 GHz and $\sim 3 \text{ k}\Omega$ resonator can be improved down to 540 kHz using these filters.


Background The psychological pressure on soldiers during World War I (WWI) and other military conflicts has resulted in many reported cases of psychogenic gait as well as other movement disorders. In this paper, psychogenic movement disorders captured in the WWI film footage "War Neuroses" is reanalyzed. Methods Two movement disorders specialists re-examined film images of 21 WWI patients with various and presumed psychogenic manifestations, pre- and post treatment. The film was recorded by Arthur Hurst, a general physician with an interest in neurology. Results All 21 subjects were males, and all presented with symptoms relating to war trauma or a psychological stressor (e.g., being buried, shrapnel wounds, concussion, or trench fever). The most common presenting feature was a gait disorder, either pure or mixed with another movement disorder (15), followed by retrograde amnesia (2), abnormal postures (pure dystonia) (1), facial spasm (1), head tremor (1), "hyperthyroidism-hyperadrenalism" (1). Nineteen patients received treatment, and the treatment was identified in nine cases. In most cases, treatment was short and patients improved almost immediately. Occupational therapy was the most common treatment. Other effective methods were hypnosis (1), relaxation (1), passive movements (2), and probable "persuasion and re-education" (6). Discussion The high success rate in treating psychogenic disorders in Hurst's film would be considered impressive by modern standards, and has raised doubt in recent years as to whether parts of the film were staged and/or acted.


This Editorial Comment introduces the Agora: Military Activities in the EEZ featured in the March 2010 issue of the Chinese Journal of International Law and sketches the debate on the topic. It also highlights some arguments on pivotal issues, including (1) whether the existing framework of Part V of the LOS Convention, as a result of the existence of Article 59 on residual rights, favours the finding of a security interest of the coastal States to which others acting in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) must pay due regard; and (2) whether the need to ensure the safety of the freedom of navigation favours the existence of the right to conduct "pure" oceanographic sea lane mapping by other States in the EEZ of a coastal State that is not prejudicial to the security interest of the coastal State.


Our understanding of longitudinal patterns of adolescent smoking development and the determinants of these patterns is limited. The present study evaluated adolescent smoking trajectories and characterized these trajectories with social, psychological, and behavioral factors in a cohort of adolescents assessed annually from grades 9 to 12. Complete data (smoking practices, novelty seeking, academic performance, substance use, peer smoking, physical activity and sports participation, and tobacco ad receptivity) were available on 968 participants; data were analyzed using latent class growth modeling. Four adolescent smoking trajectories emerged: never smokers, experimenters, earlier/faster smoking adopters, and later/slower smoking adopters. Early adopters were characterized by their high novelty seeking personality, depressive symptoms, poorer academic performance, and receptivity to tobacco advertising, as well as their exposure to other smokers, and use of other substances. Later adopters were characterized quite similarly to the early adopters, although they tended to perform better in school and to be more involved in sports. Experimenters also shared many of these same risk characteristics but to a lesser degree. Overall, never smokers were the most conventional in their profile. These data suggest that there is significant heterogeneity in the timing, rate, and intensity of smoking progression. Adolescent smoking prevention and intervention programs will need to consider this heterogeneity and tailor or enhance attention to risk and protective factors depending on the subpopulation.


The mathematical description of hemodialysis (HD) includes two parts: 1) explanation of the exchange between patient's blood and dialysate fluid across a semipermeable membrane of the dialyzer, and 2) characterization of the solute removal from the patient. The solute transport across the dialyzer membrane depends on the difference in hydrostatic pressure and solute concentration gradients between both sides of the membrane and also on the permeability of the membrane to the solute. The local equations for solute and fluid transport through the membrane are based on a phenomenological (thermodynamic) description according to the Staverman-Kedem-Katchalsky-Spiegler approach (Staverman, 1951; Kedem & Katchalsky, 1958; Katchalsky & Curran, 1965; Spiegler & Kedem, 1966). The two compartment model describes the functioning of the patient – dialyzer system, assuming that body fluid is divided into two parts: one directly (extracellular compartment) and one indirectly (intracellular compartment) accessible for dialysis (Schneditz & Daugirdas, 2001). The one compartment model of the solute distribution volume assumes that the solute is distributed in a single, homogenous pool. Solute kinetic modeling is based on a set of ordinary differential equations describing the changes of solute mass, concentration and distribution volume in body compartments and in the dialyzer. Using solute kinetic modeling one is able to evaluate dialysis efficiency. The question concerning dialysis dosing has been debated and remains controversial since the beginning of the dialysis treatment era. Between 1976 and 1981, the National Cooperative Dialysis Study (NCDS) was performed in the United States to establish objective, quantitative criteria for the adequate dose of dialysis (Gotch & Sargent, 1985; Sargent & Gotch, 1989; Locatelli et al., 2005). The primary analysis showed that morbidity was less at lower levels of time average urea concentration. The secondary 'mechanistic' analysis of the NCDS data done by Gotch and Sargent launched the issue of urea KT/V (Gotch & Sargent, 1985). Single-pool KT/V overestimates the removed amount of urea because of the postdialysis urea rebound, i.e., a fast postdialysis increase in urea concentration in plasma, which is a compartmental effect; therefore, the equilibrated KT/V (eqKT/V), estimated by the Daugirdas formula, was introduced to clinical practice (Daugirdas et al., 2001). Equilibrated KT/V values can be also calculated using an alternative equation by Daugirdas and


Dementia is one of the most feared illnesses that has a growing year-to-year negative global impact, having a health and social care cost higher than cancer, stroke and chronic heart disease, taken together. Without the availability of a cure, nor a standardised clinical test, the utilisation of machine learning methods to identify individuals that are at risk of developing dementia could bring a new step towards proactive intervention. This study's goal is to carry out a precursor analysis leading to building classification models with enhanced capabilities for differentiating diagnoses of CN (Cognitively Normal), MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) and Dementia. The predictive modelling approach we propose is based on the ReliefF method combined with statistical permutation tests for feature selection, and on model training, tuning, and testing based on algorithms such as Random Forests, Support Vector Machines, Gaussian Processes, Stochastic Gradient Boosting, and eXtreme Gradient Boosting. Stability of model performances were studied in computationally intensive Monte Carlo simulations. The results consistently show that our models accurately detect dementia, and also mild cognitive impairment patients by only using the inclusion of baseline measurements as predictors, thus illustrating the importance of baseline measurements. The best results issued from Monte Carlo were achieved by eXtreme Gradient Boosting optimised models, with an accuracy of 0.88 (SD 0.02), a sensitivity of 0.93 (SD 0.02) and a specificity of 0.94 (SD 0.01) for dementia, and a sensitivity of 0.86 (SD 0.02) and a specificity of 0.9 (SD 0.02) for mild cognitive impairment. These results support in particular future developments for a risk-based method that can identify an individual's risk of developing dementia.


Biodegradation is the process by which chemicals both natural and xenobiotics are metabolized by microorganisms. Most naturally occurring chemical compounds are biodegradable while xenobiotic may be biodegradable, persistent or recalcitrant. Xenobiotic chemicals, because they are manmade and have developed recently, are present in the environment for comparatively shorter periods of time from its geological presence. This in turn means that the microbial communities present in these environments may not have evolved specific mechanisms for their degradation. Morpholine, a known xenobiotics micropollutant initially believes to be recalcitrant but later prove to be biodegradable by specific set of bacterium species most likely Mycobacterium and Pseudomonas sp in particular. However, the metabolic pathways involved in the successful biodegradation of morpholine stand challenging to establish because of its extreme water solubility and the lack of any chromophore group in morpholine which does not allow easy extraction process. Consequently, no tool for direct estimation of intermediates or metabolites of morpholine has been well reported and only indirect strategies have been developed like presence of microbial growth on intermediates, chemical/analytical assay for intermediate and ammonia measurements to elucidate the degradation pathway for zero pollution environment. In this present study degradation pathway has been ascertained by some selected bacterial isolate for their capacity to degrade morpholine. Based on the said analysis of culture filtrate, it has been revealed that the isolate namely Halobacillus utilizes glycolic route of the metabolic degradation pathway of morpholine and supports the fact that in presence of morpholine, one of two branches of morpholine biodegradation pathway namely ethanolamine and glycolate was was induced while the other branch was inhibited. Whatever the degradation pathway of morpholine exhibited by bacteria, ammonia is the end product of degradation which would be biochemically utilized by isolate.


Data compression techniques allow data size to be reduced prior to data transmission and involve decompression upon transfer. This study shows for the first time that license plate (LP) detection can be accomplished without full decompression of the encoded data. Therefore, by determining in advance which images are required for LP recognition, computational costs of the system can be reduced. The proposed approach is realized on High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) based compressed video sequences. Two methods are provided that generate images from HEVC attributes. Fully decoded pixel domain images are also generated for comparative purposes from the same encoded data. The YOLO V3 Tiny Object Detector is used in order to detect LPs in the generated images. EnglishLP, a public dataset, is used to interpret the findings in terms of speed and precision and for comparison with previous studies. An additional contribution of the paper is that a new compressed domain LP database has been created and made publicly available, comprising images captured by a commercial license plate recognition system. Using at least two-orders-of-magnitude less amount of data, the proposed compressed domain LP detector achieved similar precision and recall values to those of the state-of-the-art LP detection schemes tested on both datasets. Moreover, the proposed method results in more than 30% saving in inference time. The results suggest that the proposed method can be utilized for rapid video archive searching applications.


The optical filaments found in many cooling flows in galaxy clusters consist of low-density (∼10 3 cm −3 ) cool (∼10 3 K) gas surrounded by significant amounts of cosmic-ray and magnetic field energy. Their spectra show anomalously strong low-ionization and molecular emission lines when compared with Galactic molecular clouds exposed to ionizing radiation such as the Orion complex. Previous studies have shown that the spectra cannot be produced by O-star photoionization. Here, we calculate the physical conditions in dusty gas that is well shielded from external sources of ionizing photons and is energized either by cosmic rays or dissipative magnetohydrodynamics waves. Strong molecular hydrogen lines, with relative intensities similar to those observed, are produced. Selection effects introduced by the microphysics produce a correlation between the H2 line upper level energy and the population temperature. These selection effects allow a purely collisional gas to produce H2 emission that masquerades as starlight-pumped H2 but with intensities that are far stronger. This physics may find application to any environment where a broad range of gas densities or heating rates occur.