The motivation for this research is to move in the direction of improved algorithms for the remote sensing of rainfall, which are crucial for meso- and large-scale circulation studies and climate applications through better determinations of precipitation type and latent heating profiles. Toward this end a comparison between two independent techniques, designed to classify precipitation type from 1) a disdrometer and 2) a 915-MHz wind profiler, is presented, based on simultaneous measurements collected at the same site during the Intensive Observing Period of the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere Response Experiment. Disdrometer-derived quantities such as differences in drop size distribution parameters, particularly the intercept parameter N0 and rainfall rate, were used to classify rainfall as stratiform or convective. At the same time, profiler-derived quantities, namely, Doppler velocity, equivalent reflectivity, and spectral width, from Doppler spectra were used to classify precipitation type in four categories: shallow convective, deep convective, mixed convective‐stratiform, and stratiform. Overall agreement between the two algorithms is found to be reasonable. Given the disdrometer stratiform classification, the mean profile of reflectivity shows a distinct bright band and associated large vertical gradient in Doppler velocity, both indicators of stratiform rain. For the disdrometer convective classification the mean profile of reflectivity lacks a bright band, while the vertical gradient in Doppler velocity below the melting level is opposite to the stratiform case. Given the profiler classifications, in the order shallow‐deep‐mixed‐stratiform, the composite raindrop spectra for a rainfall rate of 5 mm h 21 show an increase in D0, the median volume diameter, consistent with the dominant microphysical processes responsible for drop formation. Nevertheless, the intercomparison does reveal some limitations in the classification methodology utilizing the disdrometer or profiler algorithms in isolation. In particular, 1) the disdrometer stratiform classification includes individual cases in which the vertical profiles appear convective, but these usually occur at times when the disdrometer classification is highly variable; 2) the profiler classification scheme also appears to classify precipitation too frequently as stratiform by including cases that have small vertical Doppler velocity gradients at the melting level but no bright band; and 3) the profiler classification scheme includes a category of mixed (stratiform‐convective) precipitation that has some features in common with deep convection (e.g., enhanced spectral width above the melting level) but other features in common with stratiform precipitation (e.g., well-developed melting layer signature). Comparison of the profiler-derived vertical structure with disdrometer-determined rain rates reveals that almost all cases of rain rates greater than 10 mm h 21 are convective. For rain rates less than 5 mm h21 all four profiler-determined precipitation classes are well represented.


The use of plants in treatment of burns, dermatophytes, and infectious diseases is common in traditional medicine of Iran. Based on ethno pharmacological and taxonomic information, antibacterial activities of methanol extracts of some medicinal plants of Iran were determined by In Vitro bioassays using agar diffusion-method against standard strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. fluorescens, Bacillus subtilis, B. cereus and B. pumilis at 20 mg/ml. From 180 plant species of 72 families, 78 species (43.3%) in 42 families (58.3%) showed antibacterial activities against B. cereus (88.4%), B. subtilis (39.7%), B. pumilis (37.1%), P. fluorescens (37.1%) and P. aeruginos (10.2%). The most active plant families were Apiaceae, Compositae and Labiatae with 9, 8 and 7 active plant species respectively. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the active plants were determined using two fold serial dilutions. Most active plant against Bacilli was Myrtus communis L. with MIC of 1.87 mg/ml. For Pseudomonas species, Dianthus caryophyllus L. and Terminalia chebula (Gaertner) Retz. were more active with the MIC of 0.46 mg/ml for P. fluorescens and of 1.87 mg/ml for P. aeruginosa respectively.


Background: Androgen receptor (AR) signaling is critical for prostate development and homeostasis as well as for the initiation and progression of prostate cancer (PCa). Indeed, the clinical development of second-generation AR antagonists, including enzalutamide, has confirmed that AR remains a key oncogene in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Furthermore, response to enzalutamide is temporary and incremental, and PCa cells that develop resistance to AR-targeted therapy usually maintain AR expression. Therefore, with the hypothesis that AR protein is still active even during castration- and enzalutamide-resistant states, we employed the proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) strategy to build compounds that targeted the AR through proteasomal degradation. We developed an optimized functional molecule, ARD-61, that targets enzalutamide-resistant and AR splice variant (including AR-V7, which lacks the ligand binding domain) overexpressing cells in vitro and in vivo. Methods/Results: To characterize ARD-61, we performed western blotting, qRT-PCR, growth assays, xenograft studies, as well as proteomic and RNA-sequencing analyses. Additionally, to investigate the sensitivity of AR splice variants to ARD-61, we created CRISPR-Cas9 mediated stable AR-V7 overexpression in LNCaP cells. ARD-61 functions to rapidly and specifically degrade AR protein, and thus decreases downstream AR signaling in a wide variety (e.g. enzalutamide sensitive, AR-mutated, enzalutamide resistant) of AR-positive cell lines and tumor xenografts. Enzalutamide-sensitive and -resistant cell lines were similarly sensitive to ARD-61 in vivo and in vitro. CRISPR-induced endogenous overexpression of AR-V7 had no effect on the sensitivity of cells to ARD-61 or enzalutamide. Conclusions: Our data reveal the necessity of full-length AR in all Pca stages. Despite continued AR-antagonization, enzalutamide-resistant cell lines require full-length AR for sustained survival. Further, AR-variant overexpression, previously shown to promote resistance to AR-targeted therapies, still required AR protein with an intact ligand-binding domain to maintain growth in our models. Our data illustrate the importance of continued targeting of AR in advanced Pca, as well as demonstrate the efficacy of ARD-61. Ultimately, through its clinical translation, we anticipate the development of ARD-61 to be a therapeutic advance for patients with the metastatic CRPC. Citation Format: Steven Kregel, Chao Wang, Xin Han, Lanbo Xiao, Ester Fernandez-Salas, Pushpinder Bawa, Brooke L. McCollum, Kari Wilder-Romans, Ingrid J. Apel, Xuhong Cao, Corey Speers, Shaomeng Wang, Arul M. Chinnaiyan. Androgen receptor degraders overcome common resistance mechanisms developed during prostate cancer treatment [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 5679.


The evolution of segregation distortion is governed by the interplay of selection at different levels. Despite their systematic advantage at the gamete level, none of the well‐known segregation distorters spreads to fixation since they induce severe negative fitness effects at the individual level. In a deme‐structured population, selection at the population level also plays a role. By means of a population genetical model, we analyse the various factors that determine the success of a segregation distorter in a metapopulation. Our focus is on the question of how the success of a distorter allele is affected by its segregation ratio and its fitness effects at the individual level. The analysis reveals that distorter alleles with high segregation ratios are the best invaders and reach the highest frequencies within single demes. However, the productivity of a deme harbouring a distorter with a high segregation ratio may be significantly reduced. As a consequence, an efficient distorter will be underrepresented in the migrant pool and, moreover, it may increase the probability of deme extinction. In other words, efficient distorters with high segregation ratios may well succumb to their own success. Therefore, distorters with intermediate segregation ratios may reach the highest frequency in the metapopulation as a result of the opposing forces of gamete, individual and group selection. We discuss the implications of this conclusion for the t complex of the house mouse.


A pot experiment was conducted to study the regulation effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the interactions between Echinochloa crus-galli var. mitis L. and Oryza sativa L. under enhanced N supply (4.0 g N x m(-2) x a(-1)). The results showed that under monoculture condition, the AMF colonization on E. crus-galli increased but that on O. sativa decreased. In the treatments with and without AMF inoculation, upland rice biomass and its P and N uptake increased by 42.35% and 13.48%, 4.07% and 2.55%, and 30.35% and 62.09%, respectively, and barnyard grass biomass and its P and N uptake increased by 20.24% and 15.65%, 3.88% and 4.06%, and 15.10% and 30.35%, respectively. Under mixed cropping, the AMF colonization on E. crus-galli increased but that on O. sativa had little change. In the treatments with and without AMF inoculation, the biomass ratio of O. sativa to E. crus-galli decreased, but N uptake ratio changed a little. The P uptake ratio of O. sativa to E. crus-galli increased in treatment without AMF inoculation but decreased in treatment with AMF inoculation. It was suggested that AMF tended to enhance the competition of E. crus-galli to O. sativa under enhanced N supply.


We have studied the electrical properties of a fluorene-containing copolymer which is currently being developed for state-of-the-art blue polymer LEDs. This copolymer is made up of three functional groups which are nominally the hole-conducting, electron conducting and emissive regions. Using a combination of current/voltage, time-of-flight and dark injection transient versus temperature measurements, the injection and transport properties of the material have been investigated. Hole injection from polystyrene sulphonate doped polyethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT:PSS) into the polymer is found to be consistent with an ohmic contact. Hole transport within the fluorene copolymer is found to possess a mobility that is two orders of magnitude lower than that for previously studied polymers containing the copolymer constituents. Using the equations for trap-free space-charge limited current, predicted J/V characteristics have been obtained from the mobility values derived using the time-of-flight technique. We discuss both the reduced hole mobility of the copolymer, and the discrepancies between the measured and predicted J/V characteristics, in terms of variations in both the trap and transport site densities and their energetic and spatial distributions.


An iterative least square method is presented for estimating the solution to the lidar equation. The method requires knowledge of the backscatter values at a boundary point for all channels and a priori defined relationships between backscatter, extinction, and mass-fraction concentration for all scattering components. The lidar equation is formulated in vector form, and a solution is computed using an iterative least square technique. The solution is stable for signals with extremely low signal-to-noise ratios and for signals at ranges far beyond the boundary point. The solution can be applied to lidar signals with an arbitrary number of wavelengths and scattering components.


A high-strength neodymium laser glass (SNLG) based on an alumoborophosphate composition is developed and synthesised; its physicochemical, spectral, luminescent, and lasing characteristics are studied. It is found that the chemical stability and thermal resistance of the new glass are considerably higher than the corresponding characteristics of known neodymium-doped phosphate laser glasses. Investigations of lasing upon longitudinal diode pumping showed that, due to the higher thermal resistance, the new glass allows one to obtain output powers twice as high as those of industrial GLS22 glass.


Many measurement problems can be formulated as follows: a certain linear relationship between two variables is to be estimated by using pairs of input and output data; the value of an unknown input variable is then estimated, given an observation of the corresponding output variable. This problem is often referred to as inverse regression or discrimination.

In this paper, we formulate a general Bayesian calibration and measurement model for this problem, in which prior information is assumed to be available on the relationship parameters, the possible values of the unknown input, and the output observation error. Simplified and easily interpreted formulae for estimating the posterior mean and variance of the input are then developed using the methods of credibility theory, a linearized Bayesian analysis developed originally for insurance estimation problems. A numerical example of the calibration of a calorimeter to measure nuclear material is given.


'Switch and Deliver' is a research project directed to design and develop tools/techniques and procedures to aid operators in handling Multiple Operator Multiple UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) environments. It aims to identify what information and which tools and layouts will decrease switch-costs and improve overall mission performance. Nevertheless, most tools/techniques can be generalized to any Multiple Operator Multiple Video feed (MOMV) environments, where control of multiple video sources, task switching and/or coordination with other operators are necessary for mission success. In this paper we describe a study conducted on proficient operators, examining three display layouts. It aims to examine how the operating interface facilitates handoffs and video feed switching among operators. Experimental methodology and findings are discussed.


TFPR1 is a novel peptide vaccine adjuvant we recently discovered. To define the structural basis and optimize its application as an adjuvant, we designed three different truncated fragments that have removed dominant B epitopes on TFPR1, and evaluated their capacity to activate bone marrow-derived dendritic cells and their adjuvanticity. Results demonstrated that the integrity of an α-β-α sandwich conformation is essential for TFPR1 to maintain its immunologic activity and adjuvanticity. We obtained a functional truncated fragment TFPR-ta ranging from 40–168 aa of triflin that has similar adjuvanticity as TFPR1 but with 2-log fold lower immunogenicity. These results demonstrated a novel approach to evaluate and improve the activity of protein-based vaccine adjuvant.


Background: Synovial chondromatosis is a benign, relatively rare condition arising from synovial membrane of joints. It usually affects middle aged individuals arising in large joints. The treatment is surgical by removal of the loose bodies and hyperactive synovium. This case report documents this rare synovial pathology in the hip joint and its management by open synovectomy and loose body excision.
Case Report: A thirty one year old female presented with the complaint of insidiously increasing swelling in the right groin with pain and progressively increasing restriction of movements at right hip. After clinical and radiological examination the patient was diagnosed as stage three synovial chondromatosis of hip and was managed by open synovectomy with loose body excision. The histopathology of the excised specimens confirmed the diagnosis.
Conclusion: Surgical management is most often required in patients with symptomatic and progressive disease as in this case. Loose body excision and complete synovectomy offers reliable cure in young patients where replacement arthroplasty can be considered later on.

Keywords: Hip joint, Synovium, Chondromatosis, Arthritis, Synovectomy


Wait and Spies have calculated the transient step-function response of a conducting permeable sphere using the harmonic response and integral transformations. The result is given as a series of exponential functions instead of the higher functions used earlier (Wait, 1951). The exponential series solution can be obtained in another way by separating the time and spatial variables.


We read the article by Wiegand et al. describing a case of massive acetaminophen ingestion treated with intravenous N-acetylcystein and continuous venovenous hemodialfiltration (CVVHDF) with much interest. We believe that CVVHDF holds promise for extracorporal drug elimination after massive overdose, especially in hypotensive patients not eligible for hemodialysis. However, we would like to address several points in the reported pharmacokinetic analysis. First, the authors did not provide the reader with CVVHDF adjustments, most importantly blood flow and dialysate flow and dilution measures. This makes it impossible to assess how the authors calculated the reported dialysis clearance. How many dialysate acetaminophen concentrations were measured? Second, we believe that total body clearance (CLTotal) cannot be calculated from the data presented since terminal half-life of elimination (t1/2,el), both during and after CVVHDF, is unknown. What the authors report as ''half-life'' was not the t1/2,el but an apparent half-life, likely estimated using linear pharmacokinetics during CVVHDF (although not stated by the authors). Consequently, the use of Equation 1 was not appropriate since it is derived and used for description of elimination using first-order pharmacokinetics after complete absorption and distribution has occurred.


In this paper, a new terminal sliding mode tracking control scheme is developed for a class of nonminimum phase systems with uncertainties. It is shown that, unlike conventional linear or terminal sliding mode controls, the Lyapunov stability theory in this paper is used to determine the upper and the lower bounds of the control signal and its derivative. A dynamic control signal can then be designed, subject to the bounded conditions, to drive the terminal sliding variable to converge to zero, and, on the terminal sliding mode surface, the tracking error is guaranteed to converge to zero in a finite time. A simulation example is presented in support of the proposed robust tracking control scheme.


Background Safety management system (SMS) can be considered as a key concept in the success of high level of occupational health and safety in the industrial enterprises. However establishing an SMS may only formally lead to excessive bureaucracy, window coupling and additional costs, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. The paper concentrates on the analysis of relationships between the key elements in safety management and finding solutions to enhance safety level in different types of the industrial companies. Methods Safety auditing by the MISHA method was used as the main tool to study the current safety level in the manufacturing companies. Additionally, qualitative data from safety interviews were studied and interpreted. During the study in 2014, 24 safety interviews were conducted in 16 Estonian manufacturing companies. The investigated enterprises were first divided into two groups: OHSAS 18001-certified and OHSAS 18001 non-certified. But the latter proved to have a significant difference in the safety level based on its affiliation: corporated enterprises showed better results in the safety activities than locally owned companies. Results The study showed that the implementation of OHSAS 18001 will not automatically ensure high safety activities in the company. However, holding an OHSAS 18001 certification creates a basis for the systematic work in the area of safety management, hazards identification and prevention, and promotes strong improvement process put in use. The novelty of the paper lies in the conceptual model of the safety management system, that provides the key elements in formal, real and combined safety using qualitative and quantitative processing of audit results. Conclusions The research revealed that OHSAS 18001 certification contributes strongly to formal safety elements. However – its contribution to the real safety elements was partial, e.g., to such elements as top management commitment to the safety policy, dissemination of safety policy and resources. For many real safety elements strong demands from corporations influence safety activities more than requirements derived from OHSAS 18001 standard, for example suggestions for improvements; general communication procedures; promotion, rewards and career planning and safety knowledge among supervisors, line managers and top managers. Concerning combined elements, many of them – such as workplace hazards analysis, assessments of working environment, evaluation of safety training needs are dependent on OHSAS 18001 certification.


In this paper we propose an algorithm for aligning three-dimensional objects when represented as density maps, motivated by applications in cryogenic electron microscopy. The algorithm is based on minimizing the 1-Wasserstein distance between the density maps after a rigid transformation. The induced loss function enjoys a more benign landscape than its Euclidean counterpart and Bayesian optimization is employed for computation. Numerical experiments show improved accuracy and efficiency over existing algorithms on the alignment of real protein molecules. In the context of aligning heterogeneous pairs, we illustrate a potential need for new distance functions.


Disasters change individuals and the social structure. Two categories are essential to study disasters: time and space. To these, we should add risk that is a cultural object resulting from interpretation. Its representations are subjective and they stem from the socio-cultural framework of reference. In the article, we will apply  to the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy the four risk-related issues emerging by the interplay between the degree of knowledge (certain/uncertain) and that of consent (contested/complete) as in Douglas and Wildavsky.  We will describe the four types of problems about the evaluation of the consequences concerning this health risk and we will consider the role of institutions. Since disasters disrupt the regularity and predictability of everyday life, the temporal dimension individuals experience is flattened onto the present. Our conclusions reflect on the possibility to counteract this and on available tools to foresee when constructing a future after a disaster.


The difficulty in achieving good quality community mental health care for homeless people has received increasing attention during the last few years. Less consideration has been given to the provision of inpatient care. By comparing data collected before and after its inception, we examined the impact of a specialist community mental health team for homeless people on 'no fixed abode' admissions in Birmingham. Although the team was successfully involved in the admission and discharge process in a substantial proportion of cases, many admissions still took place out of hours and involved the police, while discharge was often against medical advice and occurred without follow-up. These findings and their implications for the provision of homeless services are discussed.


As the development of Internet, it is more and more difficult to detect anomaly promptly and precisely. In this paper, we proposed an anomaly detection algorithm based on the predicting of multi-level wavelet detail signals synchronously. Firstly, process the time series of traffic with non-decimated Haar wavelet transform and produce detail signals. Secondly, predict the detail signals of wavelet transform and get the residual ratio series, which can expose the anomaly more obviously than original signal. Finally, based on principal of "3σ" of normal distribution, abrupt changes can be detected. Along with the arriving of traffic data, this algorithm detects anomaly on several time-scales recursively without delay. So this algorithm can detect traffic anomaly more precisely and promptly. Analysis and experiments reveal that this algorithm can detect anomalies effectively.


In some circumstances it is impossible to exploit resonance crossings to identify the modal properties of rotor disks. In these cases, the identification process must rely on nonsynchronous vibrations and becomes challenging for two reasons. First, the signals are weak (compared to the levels measured during resonance crossings) and random, thus an averaging procedure is necessary. Second, the dynamical system is time-variant due to the variation of the rotor speed. This paper presents a modal identification procedure formulated in the framework of the time-frequency analysis. A region of the time-frequency plane is stretched to map the system into a fictitious LTI system. Then, the PSD of the response is computed by an averaging procedure. Finally, the modal properties are estimated through an output-only modal identification algorithm. The procedure is applied to simulated and experimental data regarding a bladed disk of a steam turbine.


The spine is the most common cause of chronic back pain. It can cause significant loss of function or disruption in activity of daily living and is extremely common in the elderly. Of the various causes of spinal pain, facet joint syndrome is often a diagnosis of exclusion, as it is difficult to differentiate the latter from pain secondary to degenerative disk disease or spinal stenosis because of overlapping clinical features and poor correlation between the clinical presentation and the imaging abnormalities. Further, localizing the source of pain is challenging as facet joint disease may not be limited to only 1 joint. Pain arising from the facet joints can be attributed to segmental instability, synovitis, synovial entrapment, trauma, meniscoid impingement, chondromalacia, and osteoarthritis. Facet joint injection is performed under fluoroscopy or computed tomography guidance, which facilitates accurate needle placement while reducing potential injury to the surrounding vital structures. Indications of facet joint injection include clinical suspicion of facet joint syndrome, chronic pain not relieved by trial of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and physiotherapy, patients with confirmed facet joint syndrome, presence of adjacent segment deterioration after spinal fusion or persistent low back pain after a stable posterolateral fusion, and patients in whom oral or systemic drug therapy have to be withdrawn because of adverse effect or have exceeded the maximum tolerable dose. Given the high success rate and low complications, image-guided facet injection is deemed safer and more effective compared with conventional "blind" injections.


Leaf senescence represents the final stage of leaf growth and development, and its onset and progression are strictly regulated. However, the underlying regulatory mechanisms remain largely unknown. In this study we found that WRKY42 was highly induced during leaf senescence. Loss-of-function wrky42 mutants showed delayed leaf senescence while overexpression of WRKY42 accelerated senescence. Transcriptome analysis revealed 2,721 differentially expressed genes between wild type and WRKY42-overexpressing plants, including those whose encoded proteins are involved in salicylic acid (SA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) synthesis as well as several senescence-associated genes (SAGs). Moreover, WRKY42 activated the transcription of Isochorismate Synthase 1 (ICS1), Respiratory burst oxidase homolog F (RbohF) and a few SAG genes. Consistently, expression of these genes were reduced in wrky42 mutants but markedly increased in transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing WRKY42. Both in vitro electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) and in vivo chromatin immunoprecipitation and dual-luciferase assays demonstrated that WRKY42 directly bound to the promoters of ICS1, RbohF as well as a few SAGs to activate their expression. Genetic analysis further showed that mutations of ICS1 and RbohF suppressed the early senescence phenotype evoked by WRKY42 overexpression. Thus, we have identified WRKY42 as a novel transcription factor positively regulating leaf senescence by directly activating the transcription of ICS1, RbohF and SAGs, without seed yield penalty.


The nephridia of Thamnodrilus, Hoplochaetella, and Lampito are provided with multiple funnels. In Tham - nodrilus all (from 28 to 34 on one nephridium) are large and functional; in Hoplochaetella one is large and functional, while the other 18 to 24 are small and complete, but are arrested in development in that they have solid necks with no canals in them; finally, in Lampito, there is one functional funnel with one to three solid masses of embryonic cells representing mere vestiges of other funnels. The nephridia of these three genera, therefore, form a graded series showing multiple funnels, which are all complete and functional in one case, but show a progressive degeneration of all except one in the other two cases. Just as the body of the embryonic nephridial cord in Eutyphoeus proliferates to form several meronephridia, similarly in the three genera enumerated above the funnel-rudiment proliferates to form several funnels. In the expressive language of Stephenson (3), we might say that the funnels in these genera 'have been caught in the act of dividing up'.


The requirements for engineers/physicists and the need for specialists in small countries causes differences in educational programmes and problems with accreditation. These problems are discussed for the example of Estonia. The structure of biomedical engineering and medical physics education and possibilities of professional accreditation as a chartered engineer or a euro-engineer in this area are reported. The Estonian society for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics is the main body providing accreditation of specialists.


This paper shows a number of historical information about the Prophet Muḥammad's relationship with Jews and Christians, in which such information performs the humanistic attitudes of him who upholds human values and tolerance, respects diversity, and ensures the freedom of belief and religious worship. The Prophet Muḥammad never imposed anybody to become a Muslim at that time, he also allowed Christians doing their ritual activity inside the mosque. This paper also describes the context of the Prophet Muḥammad order to burn a mosque in Madīna. This paperr ejects some views of the orientalists, like Robert Spencer who wrote a book entitled The Truth about Muḥammad: The Founder of the Most Intolerant Religion in the World . This paper is the result of sīra Nabawīya 's study,whose data are derived from some canonical Ḥadīth and other historical resources. DOI: 10.15408/ref.v13i3.905


In literature many techniques were recommended to preserve the privacy of understanding contents by means of access control. In literature previous works have focussed on privacy of understanding contents in addition to get involved with control, while less focus is created towards privilege control in addition to identity privacy. We provide a privilege control technique that's semi-anonymous for dealing the issues of understanding privacy but additionally privacy of user identity inside the existed plan of access control. This privilege control method decentralizes central authority to limit leakage of identity and therefore gains semi-anonymity combined with the plans tolerant against authority compromise.  It permit cloud servers to deal with user access legal rights missing of knowing their identity information combined with the recommended plan's able to defend user privacy against every single authority and here partial particulars are revealed.


Innumerate, illiterate, and overwhelmed, today's computing professionals ('Johnny') are torn between system design and program coding. Computing professionals must know vastly more now than they needed to know 40 years ago (1960s), but even then the field often distinguished between programmers and systems analysts. Meanwhile, Johnny must know too much to be at the same time a skilled programmer and a skilled system engineer. That is why he's overwhelmed. But Johnny's problem goes deeper. If he wants to be a professional programmer, he must learn on the job. Programmers have few trade courses to select from, many fewer than those available to carpenters, plumbers, and electricians. Further, very few professional courses will assist Johnny if he wants to become a straightforward, generalist, humanist, system engineer. Specialists such as computer system engineers and software engineers appear to dominate the field. No wonder Johnny has a problem. Let's move to give him the proper training to become whichever he wants to be: programmer or system engineer.


It has been previously suggested that antral pH governs the density of antral G- and D-cells. Therefore, we investigated the effect of acid neutralization by an antacid (magaldrat; in vivo neutralization capacity of 144 mval/day) and the effect of suppression of gastric acid secretion by an H2-receptor blocker (oxmetidine, 400 mg/day) on the density of both cell types in healthy volunteers and duodenal ulcer patients. Four weeks after antacid treatment antral G-cell density decreased significantly in both groups, while antral D-cells decreased only in volunteers. Basal serum gastrin was not altered, whereas the integrated postprandial serum gastrin response and antral gastrin concentration was significantly reduced in volunteers but not in ulcer patients. None of the parameters investigated was changed by oxmetidine treatment. Considering the short-lasting effect on acid neutralization induced by the antacid dosage used in this study and the inability of oxmetidine treatment to influence volume densities and secretory activities of antral G- and D-cells it is concluded that mechanisms other than a change of antral pH may account for the results obtained during antacid treatment.


Nanoporous materials are promising as the next generation of absorbents for gas storage and separation with ultrahigh capacity and selectivity. The recent advent of data-driven approaches in materials modeling provides alternative routes to tailor nanoporous materials for customized applications. Typically, a data-driven model requires a large amount of training data that cannot be generated solely by experimental methods or molecular simulations. In this work, we propose an efficient implementation of classical density functional theory with a graphic processing unit (GPU) for the fast yet accurate prediction of gas adsorption isotherms in nanoporous materials. In comparison to serial computing with the central processing unit, the massively parallelized GPU implementation reduces the computational cost by more than two orders of magnitude. The proposed algorithm renders new opportunities not only for the efficient screening of a large materials database for gas adsorption but it may also serve as an important stepping stone toward the inverse design of nanoporous materials tailored to desired applications.


The use of Cephalosporium eichhorniae 152 (ATCC 38255) (reclassified as Acremonium alabamense; see Addendum in Proof), a thermophilic, acidophilic, amylolytic fungus, for the conversion of potato processing wastes into microbial protein for use as animal feed was studied. The fungus was not inhibited by α-solanine or β-2-chaconine, antimicrobial compounds in potatoes, or by morpholine or cyclohexylamine (additives to steam used in the peeling process) at levels likely to be encountered in this substrate. Mixed effluent from holding tanks at a potato-processing plant contained about 109 bacteria per ml and inhibited fungal growth. The fungus grew well on fresh potato wastes containing up to 5% total carbohydrate and utilized both starch and protein at 45°C and pH 3.75. On potato homogenate medium containing 2% carbohydrate (about 14% fresh potato) supplemented with monoammonium phosphate (0.506 g/liter) and ferric iron (0.1 g/liter), with pH control (at 3.75) and additional nitrogen supplied by the automatic addition of ammonium hydroxide, typical yields were 0.61 g (dry weight) of product and 0.3 g of crude protein per g of carbohydrate supplied. An aerobic, spore-forming bacterium, related to Bacillus brevis, commonly contaminated nonsterilized batch cultures but was destroyed by heating for 15 min at 100°C.


Objective: To study the alterations of p16 gene and its expression in insulinoma and to correlate the findings with clinicopathological characteristics. Methods: Expression of p16 protein was detected in 72 insulinomas and 49 para-tumoral or normal pancreatic tissues by immunohistochemical staining. Genomic DNA was isolated from 32 tumor tissue and 17 paired pancreatic tissues and bisulfite-modified. Promoter methylation status of p16 gene was detected in 32 tumor tissue and 17 paired pancreatic tissues by methylation specific PCR. The findings were correlated with the clinicopathological features. Results: There were 30 males and 42 females in all 72 patients, aged (46.5±14.0) years. Loss or reduced expression of p16 protein was found in 42 of 72 insulinomas (58.3%) while loss or reduced expression of p16 was seen in only 34.7% (17/49) of para-tumoral or normal pancreatic tissues (χ²=6.52, P=0.011). Promoter methylation of p16 gene was found in 13 of 32 insulinomas (40.6%) and only 2 of 17 (11.8%) para-tumoral tissues (χ²=4.35, P=0.037). The expression of p16 protein in insulinoma was not associated with clinicopathological features such as gender, age, tumor size and tumor grade. Conclusions: Loss or reduced expression of p16 protein was found in insulinomas, and associated with p16 gene promoter methylation.


Awareness and use of Open Educational Resources (OER) has grown at all levels of education. Higher education researchers actively study OER but K-12 OER research indicates limited published results. To address this gap, this study examined articles meeting defined criteria and analyzed the results. Findings include cohesion of author-supplied keywords and ten primary categories of focus. From 38 articles studied, a variety of research methods were represented. Analysis showed Professional and Applied Sciences were overwhelmingly represented with the majority of articles within the discipline of Education and its fields with Humanities a distant second category of publication. The equal distribution between open and closed access journals may reflect changes to past scholarly publication practices. Citation analysis revealed divergences and reinforces the nascent quality of this topic. Future K-12 OER research that studies the complex change from resource scarcity to resource flexibility and digital abundance is needed.


Nanofibrous scaffold of carbon nanotubes/polyurethane composite (MWNT/PU) with aligned topography was fabricated by electrospinning for endothelium cells growth. The diameter of the generated fiber was around 300 nm-500 nm. Experimental results indicated that the nanofibrous scaffold of MWNT/PU exhibited promotional influence on the cell proliferation. It was also observed that the scaffold possessed an advantage of supporting ECs migrating and aggregating along the axis of the aligned nanofibers, which is one of the important functions in the process of endothelium regeneration. It was also demonstrated that the endothelial cells growing on the scaffold expressed non-thrombogenic phenotype with low tissue factor released. These results indicated the favorable interactions between ECs and the nanofibrous scaffold of MWNT/PU, implying that the aligned nanofibrous scaffold has a promising potential for vascular engineering.


This authoritative edition was originally published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a unique selection from the full range of Swift's fifty-year career - prose, poetry, and letters - to give the essence of his work and thinking. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) is best known as the author of Gulliver's Travels, which alone would have secured his place in the history of English literature. But in addition to this classic fictional satire, Swift wrote numerous works concerning politics, religion, and Ireland, some savage (such as A Modest Proposal), others humorous, and all suffused with his tremendous wit, inventiveness, and vigour. This anthology includes satirical works such as A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the Books, political pamphlets, pieces for the popular press, poems, and a generous selection from Swift's correspondence. Presented chronologically, the anthology offers a new and clearer awareness of the unity as well as the complexity of Swift's vision, and the powerful bonds between disparate pieces. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.


An electron accelerator system has been developed for use in industrial, as well as possible medical, applications. Based on our experiences achieved during prototype system development and various electron beam acceleration tests, we have built a stable and compact system for sales purposes. We have integrated a self-developed accelerating cavity, an E-gun pulse driver, a radio-frequency (RF) power system, a vacuum system, a cooling system, etc. into a frame with a size of 1800 × 1000 × 1500 mm3. The accelerating structure is a side-coupled standing-wave type operating in the π/2 mode (tuned to~3 GHz). The RF power is provided by using a magnetron driven by a solid-state modulator. The electron gun is a triode type with a dispenser cathode (diameter of 11 mm). The system is capable of delivering a maximum 900-W average electron beam power with tight focusing at the target. Until now, we have performed various electron beam tests and X-ray beam tests after having built the system, have completed the beam assessment for commercializations, and have been preparing full-fledged sales activity. This article reports on our system development processes and on some of our early test results for commercializations.


I. The Enigma of Zheng He. The Chinese Tributary System and the Purpose of Zheng He's Voyages. Traditional Chinese Interpretations of Zheng He's Career. Zheng He's Voyages and Western Imperial Expansion. Zheng He's Voyages and the Course of Chinese History. Historical Problems in the Interpretation of Zheng He's Career. II. Zheng He's Early Life and His Patron Emperor Yongle. The Fall of the Yuan and the Rise of Zhu Yuanzhang to 1368. The Reign of Emperor Hongwu, 1368-1398. Civil War, 1398-1402. Yongle's Reign as Emperor, 1402-1424. III. China and the Asian Maritime World in the Time of Zheng He. The Purpose of Zheng He's Voyages. Patterns of Trade in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. The Malay-Indonesian World in the Hongwu Era. Southern India and Ceylon in the Time of Zheng He. IV. Sailing to India: Zheng He's First, Second and Third Voyages. The First Voyage, 1405-1407. The Second Voyage, 1407-1409. The Third Voyage, 1409-1411. V. Sailing to Africa: Zheng He's Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Voyages. The Fourth Voyage, 1412/14-1415. The Fifth Voyage, 1417-1419. The Sixth Voyage, 1421-1422. The Last Years of the Yongle Reign, 1422-1424. VI. The Ships and Men of Zheng He's Fleets. Dimensions and Displacements of the Treasure Ships. Masts and Sails. Shipbuilding Notices in the Taizong Shilu. Shipbuilding Costs. Numbers of Ships in Each of the Voyages. Personnel. VII. Zheng He's Career after 1424 and His Final Voyage. Ming China in the Hongxi (1424-25) and Xuande (1425-35) Reigns. Zheng He's Career from 1424 to 1430. Zheng He's Inscriptions at Liujiagang and Changle. Zheng He's Seventh and Final Voyage, 1431-1433. VIII. The Legacy of Zheng He. Appendix. Translations of Primary Sources. Zheng He's Biography in Mingshi 304.2b-4b. Zheng He's 1431 Inscriptions. Glossary. Note on Sources. Index.


Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) are increasingly used in aerospace applications which demand lightweight and stability at elevated temperatures. This paper discusses a method of fabricating a novel carbon nanotube (CNT)/phenolic nanocomposite and using it as a thermal protection layer (TPL) to improve the performance of CFRP. Hybrid composites of different volume fractions of TPL and bonding interfaces were evaluated. The presence of TPLs in the hybrid composites resulted in as much as a 17% decrease of through-thickness thermal conductivity. Residual flexural strength and modulus after a flame torch test were 39% and 70% respectively of the initial value, a substantial improvement over 11% and 21% of a control sample. We also discuss the effects of TPLs on the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and protection mechanisms. This research could lead to scalable manufacturing of CFRPs with enhanced performance characteristic at elevated temperatures for aerospace applications.


Background: Transient ischemic attacks (TIA) indicate an increased risk of stroke, one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. In order to prevent stroke, our knowledge of diagnosis, demographics, risk factors, investigations, and treatment of patients with TIA needs to be improved.Aims: The aims of this thesis were to validate data and diagnoses in the Riksstroke TIA module (Riksstroke-TIA), to clarify the role of atrial fibrillation (AF) in TIA and the extent of oral anticoagulant (OAC) treatment in patients with AF, to assess characteristics, risk factors, and secondary preventive treatment in TIA patients with a history of stroke in comparison to those without, and evaluate the degree of carotid imaging and determinants for its non-use in patients with TIA.Methods: Paper I was based on a study sample of 180 patients from 6 different hospitals, extracted from the cohort of patients registered in Riksstroke-TIA between 1/7/2011 to 30/6/2012 (n=7825). Medical files were retrieved from each hospital. Paper II – IV were based on data from patients registered in Riksstroke-TIA between 1/7/2011 to 30/6/2013 (n=15064). For comparison, data on patients with ischemic stroke (IS) registered in Riksstroke during the corresponding period of time were included in paper II – IV (n=44416).ResultsPaper I: Two independent assessors agreed on a likely or possible diagnosis of TIA in 77% (137/180), in 3% (5/180) on a diagnosis of IS, and in 2% (3/180) that a diagnosis of TIA was unlikely. The quality of documentation was fair.Paper II: AF was present in 19% (2779/14980) of patients with TIA compared to 30% (13258/44173) in those with IS. Proportions of AF increased markedly with age. At discharge, 64% (1778/2771) of patients with TIA and AF and 50% (5502/10899) of patients with IS and AF were treated with OACs.Paper III: Patients with TIA and a history of stroke were older, more likely to be male, and they had higher proportions of AF, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus than those without a history of stroke. In TIA patients with prior stroke aged ≥85 years, AF was present in 41% (300/724) compared to 30% (604/2028) in those without prior stroke. At discharge, levels of OAC treatment in TIA patients with AF and prior stroke were lower than in those without prior stroke.Paper IV: Carotid imaging was performed in 70% (10545/15023) of patients with TIA. Determinants for its non-use were age ≥85 years, age 74-84 years, female sex, AF, a history of stroke, and care at a non-university hospital. There were substantial regional variations regarding proportions of carotid imaging, especially in the very elderly.Conclusions: There was interobserver agreement on TIA diagnoses in a majority of cases. More systematic documentation aided by a guide or checklist might improve diagnostic certainty. Data registered in Riksstroke-TIA was valid and suited for scientific evaluation. AF was a common but insufficiently treated risk factor in TIA. Certain patient groups appeared neglected with regard to carotid imaging and secondary preventive treatment, namely the very elderly, women, those with AF, and a history of stroke. Opportunities of secondary prevention were likely missed in a substantial number of patients. (Less)


Background: Tubercular mastitis is a great masquerader and is an extremely rare entity as extra-pulmonary tuberculosis even in endemic countries like India and incidence accounts for 4% of breast lesions. Case report: We report a case of primary TB of breast in a elderly female presenting as diffuse upper left breast lump with indurated and ulcerated overlying skin along with retraction of nipple. Clinically suspicion was of abscess and duct ectasia. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of breast lump with touch imprint smears was done. FNAC showed epithelioid cell granulomas, Langhans type of giant cells with the presence of acid-fast bacilli on Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) stains. Conclusion: FNAC diagnosis of tubercular mastitis is a useful tool for the proper management and treatment of patient thus avoiding unnecessary surgery.


I (Budd) was working in Tanzania from 1970-1975 as the head of the research department of the Institute for Adult Education at the University of Dar-es-Salaam. I was part of a community of young researchers, both Tanzanian and expatriates, who had been attracted to work in Tanzania because of the vision of the late President Julius K Nyerere. Mwalimu (teacher) Nyerere was an engaging intellectual as well as the leader of the Independence movement. He had a vision for building Tanzania from an African political framework. His political philosophy was called Ujamaa, a Kiswahili word related to familyhood. His vision was often referred to as African socialism. Among the principles of this approach was the call to build on the knowledge and skills of ordinary women and men. The Tanzanian approach was one of the earliest examples of participatory development. As he said at times, "Poor people do not use money for a weapon, they use ideas and leadership". Over a period of time, we began, as an informal network of researchers, to find that the epistemological tools that we had been trained with, positivist, quantitative, and survey research methods, did not fit well with the Tanzanian emphasis on participatory development. Our research methods, developed in the seats of colonial power, centralized meaning making and the naming of the world. Researchers sitting in the capital city of Dar-es-Salaam were thinking up research topics, gathering data in large-scale field survey, only to make meaning of the subsequent findings based on the logical imagination in the minds of the researchers. Over a period of several years, many of us evolved an approach to research that we believed fit the vision, political aspirations, and reality of the Tanzanian context more adequately. We were encouraged in this work by a visit in 1971 of Paulo Freire who spoke to us about his approach to research that he called thematic investigation. His sophisticated theoretical approach to conscientization and the call to both read and write the world were very similar to the vision and practice that Nyerere was calling for. We called this way of working; participatory research. We first published a series of articles on participatory research in the journal of the International Council of Adult Education, Convergence in 1975 (Hall, 1975).


Generating numbers has become an almost inevitable task associated with studies of the morphology of the nervous system. Numbers serve a desire for clarity and objectivity in the presentation of results and are a prerequisite for the statistical evaluation of experimental outcomes. Clarity, objectivity, and statistics make demands on the quality of the numbers that are not met by many methods. This review provides a refresher of problems associated with generating numbers that describe the nervous system in terms of the volumes, surfaces, lengths, and numbers of its components. An important aim is to provide comprehensible descriptions of the methods that address these problems. Collectively known as design‐based stereology, these methods share two features critical to their application. First, they are firmly based in mathematics and its proofs. Second and critically underemphasized, an understanding of their mathematical background is not necessary for their informed and productive application. Understanding and applying estimators of volume, surface, length or number does not require more of an organizational mastermind than an immunohistochemical protocol. And when it comes to calculations, square roots are the gravest challenges to overcome. Sampling strategies that are combined with stereological probes are efficient and allow a rational assessment if the numbers that have been generated are "good enough." Much may be unfamiliar, but very little is difficult. These methods can no longer be scapegoats for discrepant results but faithfully produce numbers on the material that is assessed. They also faithfully reflect problems that associated with the histological material and the anatomically informed decisions needed to generate numbers that are not only valid in theory. It is within reach to generate practically useful numbers that must integrate with qualitative knowledge to understand the function of neural systems.


Introduction : We have developed a self-management programme 'SPACE for COPD' and as part of it's wider evaluation a nested qualitative study was conducted exploring patient's perspectives of self-management before and after completing the programme.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with participants randomised to 'SPACE for COPD' prior to starting SPACE and 6 weeks later. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis was performed supported by NVivo(Version 8). A third researcher analysed a sub-group of interviews to ensure agreement over themes.

Results: Four main themes describe patient's beliefs and expectations prior to starting 'SPACE for COPD' - role of self-management, barriers to exercise, facilitators to exercise, role of healthcare professionals. Patients had differing perspectives of self-management and were focussed on maintaining current activity levels. All desired more knowledge about COPD.

Analysis of follow-up interviews identified themes - changing perceptions, the impact of SPACE for COPD, barriers to exercise, facilitators to exercise, the manual as a motivator . The experience of using SPACE was positive and many described the motivating effect of the manual. Education was an important component of the intervention and self-management skills were demonstrated. At baseline patients anticipating positive results had been encouraged to initiate exercise and at follow-up when positive results had been observed, this further reinforced exercise behaviour. Barriers to exercise identified at baseline remained at follow-up.

Conclusion: ' SPACE for COPD' has enabled patients to learn more about their condition and become more active.


The cross-dressed heroine was a popular convention in early modern drama.1 In his book Gender in Play on the Shakespearean Stage, Michael Shapiro lists nearly eighty texts that include the character type.2 Women dress as men in plays to help lovers or to follow them, to avoid rape, scandal or death, (although it can also be an expeditious means to pursue death, as in Beaumont and Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy), to freely travel the countryside, and, as is the case of Moll Cutpurse in Dekker and Middleton's The Roaring Girl, simply by choice. Women in male disguise in early modern dramas, when encountered by other female characters, can also signify the representation of a same-sex attraction. Roughly thirty plays in 1580-1660 use cross-dressing to construct scenarios of female homoerotic desire. However, not all cross-dressed heroines evoke a female-female erotic tension, and not all female homoerotics issue from disguised female characters. Why then is the disguised heroine such a common plot element in plays that evoke female same-sex desire? What benefit does she offer, or what use is the convention to early modern playwrights? And, how do these plays signify their homoerotic constructions?


Asphalt binder aging accelerates cracking of flexible pavement. Quantifying the extent of binder aging allows the formulation and selection of appropriate binders for flexible pavement applications. Asphalt binder aging depends on climatic exposure, asphalt concrete field-surface density, and binder chemistry. The aim of this work was to select a laboratory-aging protocol to represent realistic field aging in Illinois. Binders were extracted from field cores aged from eight to 31 years. Extracted binders were tested for rheology and chemical characteristics. Small- and large-strain rheological parameters were determined. In addition, chemical functional groups and molecular weight distribution of extracted binders were evaluated. Effects of aging across pavement depth were also investigated. Double pressure-aging vessel (PAV) was identified as a suitable laboratory long-term aging protocol to represent eight to 12 years of aging for flexible pavements in Illinois. Thresholds were proposed for selected small- and large-strain rheological parameters representing realistic field aging. These thresholds may be used for binder selection and procurement to ensure the binder's long-term performance. Furthermore, chemical analysis on extracted binders showed that only specific carbonyl functional groups are affected by field aging.


Little or no attention has been paid to the seeds produced by the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) unknown that it contains valuable oil which has potential industrial application in the production of soap, cosmetics, paints, glazing putty. Not much is known about the method of processing of the seeds from which the oil is derived. In this article, the processing stages for the seeds are presented and discussed. Possible problems that could be encountered during processing and the solutions are offered. It is anticipated that the added value of rubber seed processing would help raise and diversify sources of income for rubber tree farmers with a view to alleviating poverty in Nigeria.

 Key words: Rubber seed, milled seeds, processing stages, extraction, Nigeria.


By critically assessing the probable nature and extent of the Mortimer work at Craigievar an unrecognised aspect of this much-praised but inadequately analysed structure emerges. Comparison with certain other castles reveals a kinship with a limited but specific group. It also suggests that the concept of the Mortimer laird, when he commenced his work in the 1580s, was a deliberate statement of his Catholic faith. This was radically differentfrom that of the Protestant Forbes laird who acquired the unfinished building in 1610, and by 1626 had effectively removed or concealed the unwanted symbolism. Mortimer's personal stamp can be deduced and it can be asserted that hisfinished house would have been, externally at least, of deliberately less exaltedform.


The purpose of this study was to investigate Visitors' satisfaction at Eco-Agriculture/Organic Food Expo held in Uljin in 2005. The questionnaire survey with 1,120 participants was conducted at the venue for three times from July 22nd to August 15th, 2005. The evaluation considered Expo facilities and services, and motives of visit along with demographics of 1,080 valid samples. Evaluation results indicate overall satisfaction level of Expo participation was positive and 63.6% of the respondents showed intention of revisit and/or future visit to agricultural events. Expo facilities and service represented higher satisfaction level, however cost factors such as food and beverage, souvenirs and entrance fee had lower performance levels. The study outcome can help local governments and/or organizers host hallmark tourist events in planning and managing.


The article provides the review of literature on the issue of neurotoxic complications of chemotherapy in children. The data search was carried out in the PubMed, CyberLeninka, RSCI databases and others. There are many works devoted to studying the distribution, structure, and clinical features of chemo-induced neurological disorders in modern literature. In general, analysis of literature has shown that the incidence of neurotoxic complications varies widely depending on the research methods and used chemo-ther-apeutic drugs. Manifestations of chemotherapy-induced neurological disorders are quite diverse and accompanied by the central and peripheral nervous system damage. However, it has been shown that the platinum-based drugs have effective ototoxic effect with the damage of the auditory nerve. The Vincristine often causes peripheral polyneuropathy. Methotrexate and Ifosfamide cause metabolic encephalopathy. Cytarabine's neurotoxicity is the damage of the cerebellum. The addition of neurological symptoms leads to decrease in the quality of life of patients. Some studies present the results of study of the causes and pathogenetic manifestations of neurotoxic reactions, changes in the genome associated with the development of specific toxic effects are identified. Despite the fact that many pathogenetic mechanisms of chemotherapy-induced neurotoxic complications have been revealed, the significance of laboratory predictors for prognosing and early assessment of these complications has not been essentially established yet, thus, there is the need for further study of this topic.


The transient high-frequency noise response of two-dimensional MoS2 under abrupt large signal switching field conditions is studied by means of an ensemble Monte Carlo simulator. Low-to-high and high-to-low transitions are analyzed at low (77 K) and room temperature, considering several underlying substrates. The incorporation of stochastic individual scattering events allows capturing the transient collective phonon–electron coupling, which is shown to be responsible for the appearance of an oscillatory behavior in the average velocity and energy at low temperature in the case of MoS2 on SiO2, hBN, and Al2O3. Activation and deactivation of surface polar phonon emissions in the low-to-high field switching process yield the appearance of a relevant peak in the power spectral density of velocity fluctuations in the THz range. The results show the important influence of the substrate type in the noise behavior of MoS2 at very high frequencies, which is critical for the design of future FET devices based on 2D TMD technology.


INTRODUCTION
To highlight recent advances in the management of osteoporotic compression fractures of the spine.

METHODS
A MEDLINE search was conducted from January 1975 to October 2001. Keywords included osteoporotic compression fractures, osteoporosis and spine fractures.

RESULTS
Osteoporotic fractures of the spine often cause significant morbidity to the elderly individual. Diagnosis requires a detailed history and physical examination and investigations are usually required to exclude other causes of back pain. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is often helpful in excluding other causes of pathologic fracture but may not be confirmatory. Conservative treatment was the traditional approach, but newer percutaneous treatments, such as vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty, are safe and simple day surgery procedures which allow for rapid recovery of symptoms and prevention of increasing spinal deformity. Neurological deficit as a result of spinal canal compromise from retropulsed fragments, though relatively uncommon, is well recognised as a cause of significant morbidity and is a major indication for open spinal surgery. Various spinal approaches including anterior or posterior decompression combined with a variety of stabilisation techniques have been reported in the literature. Rehabilitation is often required to improve physical function.

CONCLUSIONS
Osteoporotic fractures of the spine are a common cause of morbidity in the elderly. Patients who have persistent pain despite conservative treatment require investigation to exclude other pathological causes of fracture. Percutaneous vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are new techniques that offer much promise in the treatment of these elderly patients. Open surgery may still be required where there is significant neurologic compromise.


The rigorous microscopic theory of equilibrium crystal shapes has made enormous progress during the last decade. We review here the main results which have been obtained, both in two and higher dimensions. In particular, we describe how the phenomenological Wulff and Winterbottom constructions can be derived from the microscopic description provided by the equilibrium statistical mechanics of lattice gases. We focus on the main conceptual issues and describe the central ideas of the existing approaches.


Reducing office buildings' energy consumption can contribute significantly towards carbon reduction commitments since it represents ∼40% of total energy consumption. Major components of this are lighting, electrical equipment, heating, and central cooling systems. Solid evidence demonstrates that individual occupants' behaviors impact these energy consumption components. In this work, we propose the methodology of using virtual choreographies to identify and prioritize behavior-change interventions for office users based on the potential impact of specific behaviors on energy consumption. We studied the energy-related office behaviors of individuals by combining three sources of data: direct observations, electricity meters, and computer logs. Data show that there are behaviors with significant consumption impact but with little potential for behavioral change, while other behaviors have substantial potential for lowering energy consumption via behavioral change.


Bullous pemphigoid has been reported to be induced or precipitated by systemic therapy with several drugs, including penicillamine, captopril, frusemide and ampicillin. We report an African male patient with sarcoidosis who was prescribed chloroquine for progressive dyspnoea. After 3 months he developed generalized pruritus which evolved into a widespread bullous eruption with acral targetoid lesions resembling erythema multiforme. The histological and immunofluorescence findings were diagnostic of bullous pemphigoid. The atypical clinical features of this case resemble the phenotype that has been noted in previous reports of drug‐induced bullous pemphigoid.


It is reported on a rare case of cervical pregnancy as a dangerous form of ectopic pregnancy. Etiology of this case is described only hypothetically like in literature. Clinical diagnosis always is difficult and was made seldom prior to operation. By ultrasonics cervical pregnancy diagnosis is possible if it is considered. On the other hand even that can mislead as cases from literature and our case show. For prognosis the same principles are applicable as with any other ectopic pregnancy--it must be finished definitely a certain number of pregnancies carried to term can be found in literature. Mortality has been reduced by the generally improved operation conditions. Primary hysterectomy has proven therapy of choice. Conserving uterus after ligature or embolisation of the internal iliac artery seems to be justified only in exceptional cases. In early pregnancy up to the 8th gestational week vacuum extraction or curettage can be tried.


Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has emerged as a novel treatment modality for spinal metastases. Due to advances in radiation delivery technologies, it is now possible to deliver ablative doses to spinal metastases safely and effectively, and in particular high-dose re-irradiation. Data from the literature has demonstrated high rates of pain and local control with SBRT for spinal metastases, which is an active area of clinical investigation. Although there are potential therapeutic gains with spine SBRT, toxicities rarely seen with conventional radiotherapy, such as radiation-induced myelopathy and vertebral fractures, have been observed after SBRT in a small percentage of patients. Prospective clinical trials are required to define the role of SBRT in the management of spinal metastasis and to determine the appropriateness of using SBRT in various clinical settings. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the current state of spine SBRT practice.


Nonpathogenic rhizobacteria can induce a systemic resistance in plants that is phenotypically similar to pathogen-induced systemic acquired resistance (SAR). Rhizobacteria-mediated induced systemic resistance (ISR) has been demonstrated against fungi, bacteria, and viruses in Arabidopsis, bean, carnation, cucumber, radish, tobacco, and tomato under conditions in which the inducing bacteria and the challenging pathogen remained spatially separated. Bacterial strains differ in their ability to induce resistance in different plant species, and plants show variation in the expression of ISR upon induction by specific bacterial strains. Bacterial determinants of ISR include lipopolysaccharides, siderophores, and salicylic acid (SA). Whereas some of the rhizobacteria induce resistance through the SA-dependent SAR pathway, others do not and require jasmonic acid and ethylene perception by the plant for ISR to develop. No consistent host plant alterations are associated with the induced state, but upon challenge inoculation, resistance responses are accelerated and enhanced. ISR is effective under field conditions and offers a natural mechanism for biological control of plant disease.


The period of 1000 days of life plays an important role in determining the quality of children's growth and development. Accessibility of quality health services through the MCH handbook is an important strategy for improving maternal and child health. The purpose of this review is to present an overview of the use and usefulness of the possession of a specific MCH handbook on maternal, infant and child outcomes, as well as the potential for further research development. The method of systematic study and study search through the ProQuest, EBSCOhost, and Scopus databases, with the keywords maternal and child health handbook, home based record, mother, newborn, infant, and child, published from January 2008 to October 2018. Furthermore, filtering of articles and data abstraction. A total of 56 articles on the use of the MCH handbook that met the eligibility/inclusion criteria were screened, and 16 articles were selected for a systematic review. The variety of existing studies, has proven the benefits, functions, and effectiveness of the MCH handbook on the health of mothers, infants, and children. The categories of use and use of MCH handbook are integrated with home-based records, namely as an effective tool to facilitate improvement in health-seeking behavior; continuous care; health communication, information and education; as well as home based health records. In order to fill the gap, further research can be directed at evaluating especially premature babies/LBW as part of a population of newborns with high risk. The use of digital technology in improving the implementation of interventions and the accessibility of MCH handbook is also important to be developed.


Can the Egyptian dialect be a poetic language? Should it be taught at school? Can it convey literary serious/tragic contents? Moustapha Safouan thinks so, and he also thinks that such a linguistic revolution is necessary in Egypt to boost a democratic process to deprive the dictators of the fake legitimacy they gain from using Modern Standard Arabic instead of the vernacular linguistic variety. His translation of Shakespeare's Othello into Egyptian dialect, in 1998, is his way to put words into action. This paper presents Safouan's translation, a provocation and a successful challenge, and the debate it aroused. Language, writing devices, musicality of the translation and the spontaneous reaction of Egyptian native speakers are investigated to demonstrate that there are quite a few points in which Safouan succeeds in conveying sublime intellectual/aesthetic pleasure. Safouan's Othello shows that the Egyptian dialect can be a poetic language and therefore it might one day turn into a weapon in the hands of the people against the powerful ruling élites, as Safouan wishes. Summary


! The combined orthodontic and prosthodontic treatment of a patient with a severe peridontitis is introduced. The cooperation between ortho-dontist and prosthodontist is discussed and the prosthodontic result, using all ceramic restorations is shown.


A mobile manipulator is a mobile platform with a mounted serial manipulator. A Mobile Manipulator is a system subject to its kinematic restrictions and the degrees of freedom of the manipulator arm mounted on it. These systems combine the advantages of mobile platforms and robotic arms, and reduce their disadvantages. For example, a mobile manipulator has larger working space when it has a mobile platform, as it offers more functionality during operation. For the previously mentioned in this work will be shown the implementation in the robotic simulation software Webots, a mobile manipulator that allows to determine its operation in a virtual environment


Nowadays, the global population of electric vehicles (EVs) is rapidly increasing with a perspective to reach 200 million by 2030, according to IEA. Such a massive penetration of EVs leads to challenges for the power grids due to consumption peaks caused by simultaneous charging of large EV fleets. The current study proposes a tractable convex optimization model with L1-regularization for coordinated EV charging, which alleviates the EV battery degradation and allows for the use of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. With the use of this model, the EV hosting capacity of a real suburban area is assessed for three charging cases - unmanaged charging, coordinated charging, and charging with the use of V2G.


This paper presents a deadbeat predictive current control methodology to reduce the circulating currents in a modular multilevel converter (MMC) when it operates as a rail power conditioner (RPC) in a conventional railway system-based V/V connection. For this purpose, a half-bridge MMC based on half-bridge submodules, operating as an RPC is explained, and the total system is denominated as a simplified rail power conditioner (SRPC). The SRPC in this study is used to compensate harmonics, reactive power, and the negative sequence component of currents. This paper explains the SRPC system architecture, the key control algorithms, and the deadbeat predictive current control methodology. Mathematical analysis, based on the MMC equivalent circuit, is described and the reference equations are presented. Moreover, simulation results of the deadbeat predictive current control methodology are compared with the results of the conventional proportional-integral (PI) controller. This comparison is to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. Simulation results of the SRPC show reduced circulating currents in the MMC phases when using the predictive control approach, besides accomplishing power quality improvement at the three-phase power grid side.


Abstract Background: Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a biomarker increasingly used for the assessment of systemic inflammation. We aimed to evaluate suPAR for the assessment of inflammatory activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in remission. Methods: In our cross-sectional study we measured plasma suPAR and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as well as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in 120 RA patients at various stages of disease activity and 29 healthy age-matched controls. Results: suPAR, CRP and ESR values were higher in RA patients compared to healthy individuals. When suPAR levels were analyzed according to DAS28 scores of RA patients, suPAR level in the subgroup with DAS28≤2.6 was lower than in the subgroup with DAS28>2.6, but still higher than in controls [4.45 (3.33–5.56) ng/mL vs. 3.66 (3.10–4.67) ng/mL vs. 2.80 (2.06–3.42) ng/mL, p<0.0001, median (interquartile range)]. In contrast, CRP and ESR values were comparable in the subgroup with DAS28≤2.6 and in healthy individuals. We further analyzed the correlation between the number of tender and/or swollen joints and suPAR levels in RA patients in remission. suPAR values were significantly higher in patients with four tender and/or swollen joints than in patients with 2–3 or 0–1 tender and/or swollen joints. Conclusions: While CRP and ESR values indicate remission of the chronic inflammatory process in RA, suPAR values are still elevated compared to healthy individuals. suPAR might be particularly valuable in the recognition of inflammatory activity in patients who are in remission according to DAS28 scores but have symptoms of tender and/or swollen joints.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Human medulloblastomas are molecularly classified into four major subgroups. Among them, the MYC-subgroup, the most aggressive and the least curable is characterized by amplification or overexpression of the c-MYC gene. While mouse models for the human SHH-subgroup have advanced the development of targeted treatments for this subgroup, the absence of a preclinical model for the MYC-subgroup has severely limited our understanding of its biology and treatment. We have now generated the first mouse model of MYC-subgroup medulloblastoma that faithfully recapitulate the transcriptome, histopathology, and clinical behavior of the human disease. This mouse model was generated by orthotopic transplantation of percoll-purified Myc-transduced cerebellar cells from postnatal day 6-7 Trp53-deficient mice into the cortices or the cerebellum of immunocompromised recipient animals. While >2 x 105 cells from the mouse SHH-tumors are required to induce a tumor, 100 MYC-tumor cells were sufficient, suggesting that most MYC-tumor cells are tumor initiating cells. MYC-tumors can be passaged indefinitely as neurospheres that express markers associated with stem cells, including Prom1, Lgr5, Oct4, Nanog, and Sox2 and induce secondary medulloblastomas with similar characteristics as the primary tumors, after orthotopic transplant into the cortices of recipient mice. This novel medulloblastoma model should significantly advance our efforts to develop new therapeutic modalities and to determine the origin of this deadly childhood cancer.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1434. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1434


Cyclocarya paliurus (Batal) Iljinskaja is a multiple function tree species, but its main utilization is for the harvesting of its leaves as materials for tea production and recently as ingredients for the food industry. In this study aqueous extracts of C. paliurus leaves collected from 21 natural populations were evaluated for their phytochemical content and antioxidant activity. The content of water-soluble polysaccharide, total flavonoid and total polyphenol varied from 66.05 to 153.32 mg/g, 9.01 to 19.65 mg/g and 20.80 to 52.69 mg/g, respectively. Quercetin-3-O-glucuronide, aemferol-3-O-glucuronide and 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid were the major phenolic components in aqueous extracts of C. paliurus leaves. Both redundancy analysis and Pearson's correlation analysis indicated that water-soluble polysaccharide, total polyphenol, total flavonoid, quercetin-3-O-glucuronide, 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid and 4-O-caffeoylquinic acid were significantly correlated with antioxidant activity, but total polyphenol showed the greatest contribution to antioxidant capacity. The antioxidant activity of the 21 populations was classified into six distinct groups based on the squared Euclidean distance. These results would provide a theoretical basis for obtaining the greatest yield of targeted antioxidant phytochemicals of C. paliurus leaves for tea and food ingredient production.


A new electrode structure enabling low overpotentials for the oxidation of water, based on three-dimensional arrays of CoOOH nanowires, is presented. The electrocatalytic activities of pure and M-modified cobalt oxyhydroxides (M = Ni or Mn) nanowires have been investigated in detail for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in an alkaline environment. The pure, Ni-, and Mn-modified nanowires, with preferentially exposed low-index surfaces, were fabricated directly on stainless steel mesh current collectors using an inexpensive and scalable chemical synthesis procedure. The unique electrode structure ensures excellent substrate–catalyst electrical contact and increases the surface area accessible to the electrolyte. The OER activity of CoOOH nanowires is shown to be significantly improved through incorporation of Ni. Specifically, optimal OER activity is obtained for CoOOH nanowires with 9.7% surface Ni content, which corresponds to four-times greater current density compared to pure CoOOH. In contrast, Mn modification of the CoOOH nanowires did not improve the OER activity. Tafel analysis suggests Ni incorporation leads to change in the OER rate-determining step based on an observed decrease in the Tafel slope. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy reveals that Ni incorporation improves the ability of the catalysts to stabilize surface intermediates, whereas Mn incorporation impedes intermediate stabilization. This study provides new insights regarding the influence of transition metal impurities on the OER activity of CoOOH and provides a clear strategy for the optimization of CoOOH-based OER catalysts in alkaline electrolytes.


Abstract A method has been developed using commonly available data for estimating the number of tablets or hard shell capsules that can be filled into bottles. The single unit volumes of conventional pharmaceutical biconvex tablets and capsules can be calculated from simple geometric relationships, which then can be used to determine the packing fraction of the units in bottles. The packing fractions of capsules and tablets studied in this work ranged from 0.53 to 0.63 and 0.56 to 0.62, respectively, and were dependent on bottle size and shape. This method can be used to assess a variety of packaging configurations computationally during drug product development.


Industrial use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has a surprisingly long history. The first practical refrigeration system was built in 1873; the first commercial liquefaction plant was built in 1917. Over time two applications have been developed that are relevant to the current paper. The first involves storage of LNG to handle peak demand in pipeline systems, the process is identified as "peak shaving". A second application is the transport of hydrocarbon fuel where gas pipelines are unavailable.Paper published with permission.Compilation Copyright © 2018 ASME


1. A study has been made of the respiratory movements of three species of freshwater fish. The time course of pressure changes in the buccal and opercular cavities was recorded and movements of the mouth and operculum plotted from cine films taken simultaneously. 2. Opening and closing of the mouth precede respectively abduction and adduction of the operculum by about one-fifth of a cycle. 3. The most prominent part of the buccal pressure curve is a positive pressure associated with mouth closing. The size of a negative pressure as the mouth opens is small in the trout but may be relatively large in the tench. 4. Abduction of the operculum produces a marked negative pressure in the opercular cavity of all three species and there is a slight positive pressure during its adduction. 5. The respiratory system is divided into a buccal and two opercular cavities and the concept of gill resistances separating them is introduced. 6. The respiratory cycle is made up of four phases which succeed one another. These are: phase (1) opercular suction pump predominant; phase (2) transition with a reduction in differential pressure between the buccal and opercular cavities; phase (3) buccal pressure pump predominant; and phase (4) transition with reversal of differential pressure. 7. With the exception of phase (4), which occupies only about one-tenth of a cycle, the pressure in the buccal cavity exceeds that in the opercular cavity throughout the cycle. It is therefore concluded that water will flow across the gills for almost the entire cycle but may reverse for this brief period. The quantitative relationship between the pressures and the volume of water flowing across the gills during different parts of the cycle will depend upon the properties of the gill resistances.


This study analyzed the wisdom values contained in Sundanese proverb that relates to anti-hoax values. This study was conducted to bring backcharacter and philosophy of Sundanese community which contained in the Sundanese proverb, in order not to be forgotten and still applied in everyday life. The source of the data that collected in this study is derived from Babasan and PribahasaSunda Book. The method used in this study is a qualitative method with semiotic analysis approach of Roland Barthes. The purpose of this study is to analyze and describe anti-hoax values that contain in Sundanese proverb. The result shows that the proverb of Sundanese containsanti-hoax values. Those values arevalues of accuracy in reading Information and values of honesty.


Background: While aromatase inhibitors are effective for ER/PR positive breast cancer, resistance frequently develops. EXE is a steroidal AI and has a weak hormone-like activity. Long-term EXE treatment up-regulated amphiregulin-mediated EGFR activation and EXE resistance could result from ER-EGFR cross-talk. In cell culture and animal studies, acquired resistance to EXE was significantly delayed with intermittent use, associated with decreased production of amphiregulin. For first line therapy in MBC, EXE had a median progression free survival (PFS) of 10 mos. As second and third line therapies, PFS decreased to 4.7 mos and 2 mos, respectively. After ≥ 2 of prior endocrine therapy, PFS to EXE ranged between 3.4 mos to 3.7 mos. The rationale for this study was that after long-term estrogen deprivation clinically equivalent to long-term exposure to AI, estrogen may induce apoptosis. With intermittent EXE use, we hope to delay the acquired AI resistance. Methods: Aims were to: 1) assess the PFS and 2) compete response (CR), partial response (PR) and clinical benefit rate [CBR=CR +PR + Stable disease (SD)≥ 6 mos], assessment of toxicity, compliance with medication adherence, and quality of life with assessment of bone health. The study included: 1) ER/PR positive MBC in first, second line/third line hormonal therapy, and one prior chemotherapy for MBC with no prior EXE allowed. EXE was given 25 mg daily × 14 days then 7 days off treatment, each 21-day cycle, imaging was done after every three cycles. Correlatives with estradiol level were drawn at day 1 and day 15 in each cycle. Results: From June 2008 to 2012 we enrolled 33 MBC patients ER/PR positive MBC with a median age of 60 yrs (42–79). At this cut off data date, 2 were inevaluable due to incidental colon cancer and change in treatment choice. 17 patients received treatment as first line (52%), 10 as second or third line hormonal therapy (30%), and 6 who received chemotherapy for MBC (18%). Median PFS and (95% CI) was 6.2 mos (1.9–12.2), 4.2 mos (2.1–10.1), and 3.2 mos (2.1-NR), respectively. For first line patients, there were 3 PRs and 4 with SD>6 mos for a CBR of 7/14 (50%). For second/third line, there were 3 with SD>6 mos for a CBR of 3/9(33%), no response seen in the prior chemotherapy group. The major metastatic sites included bone, liver, lung. 4 patients were Her2+ (13%). Adverse effects including hot flashes (62%), insomnia (31%), nausea (24%), bone pain (17%), fatigue (41%), joint pain (31%) were observed. Median number of cycles delivered is 6 (2–24) for first line, 5.5 (1–15) for second/third line, and 5 (2–9) for prior chemotherapy. Correlatives and QOL assessments are ongoing. Conclusions: Compared to the standard continuous EXE, PFS and CBR is inferior in the intermittent EXE as first line therapy, as second and third line therapy, the median PFS was 4.2 comparable to reported 3.7 mos with the CBR was 33% to 31.5% observed in the EFFECT trial. Interestingly, hot-flash rate was much higher at 62% compared to 11.2% in the EFFECT trial. Arthralgia is comparable at 31%. Patients who already received chemotherapy do not appear to respond favorably to intermittent hormonal therapy. Full response data with correlatives regarding the estradiol levels will be presented. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-14-08.


Low-frequency distributed acoustic sensing (LF-DAS) is one of the promising diagnostic techniques to detect and characterize hydraulic fractures. LF-DAS signals can capture fracture hits and the strain field around the hydraulic fracture. However, the interpretation of field LF-DAS data and the relationship between fluid allocation and production can be challenging due to the complexity of the underground conditions. This study develops a fracture propagation model to simulate the hydraulic fracturing process. The modelling results are analyzed to examine patterns and trends observed in actual field DAS data.
 The fracture propagation model, coupled with the flow and geomechanical computations, is implemented in the MATLAB Reservoir Simulation Toolbox (MRST). The flow and geomechanical calculations are discretized by the finite volume and virtual element methods, respectively. The hydraulic fracture is set to propagate along a prescribed path with a specified propagation or activation criterion. The accuracy of our model is validated against the KGD analytical solutions for the leak-off-viscosity and storage-viscosity dominated regimes.
 The simulated stress and strain features are consistent with those interpreted from field DAS signals. Several case studies are presented to demonstrate the modelling approach's utility and examine fracture interference, closure, and stress shadowing effects. The modelling work facilitates interpreting field measurement data by investigating characteristics of fracture hits from adjacent wells. The modelling method provides insights into fracture interference and its implications on optimal designs during hydraulic fracturing stimulation.


Drawing upon a narrative study investigating the personal experience of 20 non-resident mothers in the UK, the paper discusses how the atypical nature of their situation poses a potential threat to women's identity at both the personal and the social level. It is argued that more constructive adjustment is linked to women's ability to maintain a positive view of themselves as a 'good' mother in spite of their non-resident status and that providing opportunities for women to 'tell their story' may be helpful in this respect. In addition to the cathartic effect of openly sharing an atypical mothering experience and defending against negative social judgements, exploring narratives can open up space, creating opportunities for new meanings and possibilities to emerge.


In this paper are described the immunological and molecular procedures that have allowed the identification and the nucleotide sequence characterization of recombinant cDNA coding for factor XII of human coagulation and have suggested the possible identification of other cDNA clones as coding for factor VII of human coagulation.


In canine experimental models of femoral arterial and venous thrombosis, the feasibility of thrombus imaging with 99Tcm-labelled monoclonal antibody SZ-51 to an α-granule membrane protein (GMP-140) on the surface of activated platelets was investigated. Both the arterial and venous thrombi were clearly discernible at 2 to 8 h after injection of 99Tcm-SZ-51. The suitable imaging time was 4 to 6 h. These results were confirmed by ex vivo images of thrombosed arteries and veins followed by killing the dogs at 8 h postinjection of 99Tcm-SZ-51. Quantitative imaging analysis showed that the ratios between the thrombus and the opposite vessel were increased strikingly over time. The ratios of thrombus to blood or surrounding muscle were 57.09 ± 12.24 and 177.46 ± 9.00 for arterial thrombi and 6.43 ± 4.70 and 83.22 ± 68.98 for venous thrombi at the time of death. Radiolabelled antibody was cleared from the blood with T1/2α of 16.25 ± 13.39 min and T1/2β of 7.28 ± 1.15 h. These results show that it is feasible to detect noninvasively thrombus formation in vivo using 99Tcm-labelled monoclonal antibody SZ-51.


A dialogue policy module is an essential part of task-completion dialogue systems. Re-cently, increasing interest has focused on reinforcement learning (RL)-based dialogue policy. Its favorable performance and wise action decisions rely on an accurate estimation of action values. The overestimation problem is a widely known issue of RL since its estimate of the maximum action value is larger than the ground truth, which results in an unstable learning process and suboptimal policy. This problem is detrimental to RL-based dialogue policy learning. To mitigate this problem, this paper proposes a dynamic partial average estimator ( DPAV ) of the ground truth maximum action value. DPAV calculates the partial average between the predicted maximum action value and minimum action value, where the weights are dynamically adaptive and problem-dependent. We incorporate DPAV into a deep Q-network as the dialogue policy and. Our method can achieve better or comparable results compared to top baselines on three dialogue datasets of different domains with a lower computational load . In addition, we also theoretically prove the convergence and derive the upper and lower bounds of the bias compared with those of other methods.


In the oil and gas, CO2 sequestration, H2 subsurface storage, and geothermal energy sectors, subsurface pH measurements are critical for monitoring the geochemical conditions and structural integrity of wellbore systems. Real-time pH measurements in these conditions are vital for detecting and predicting corrosion deterioration of wellbore components that may jeopardize the safety and continued operation of wellbore systems. The viability of TiO2-coated optical fibers has previously been demonstrated as an effective sensor design for continuous distributed pH monitoring at elevated temperatures and ambient pressures. However, real wellbore conditions contain high pressures and the effects of high pressures on sensor results and the sensing layer have not been well studied. As TiO2 has been established in the literature as being stable at temperatures and pressures substantially higher than those expected in typical wellbore conditions, it makes for a promising sensing material for applications requiring high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) conditions. In this study, a sol-gel deposition method is used to coat the optical fiber sensors with TiO2 sensing layer. The sensor performance was measured using optical transmission measurements at various pH and using optical backscatter reflectometry for distributed pH sensing demonstration in wellbore-relevant pressures (up to 1000 psi) and temperatures (~80 °C). The TiO2 sensing layer was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and full spectrum UV-Vis-NIR transmission data for a planar substrate. The TiO2-coated optical fiber sensor is tested for any pressure-derived effects and the viability of this sensor design for real-time in-situ wellbore pH monitoring is discussed.


The research method used in this research is the normative juridical method, carried out as an effort to obtain the necessary data regarding the problem. The data used are secondary data consisting of primary, secondary and tertiary legal materials. The data was collected by means of library research by studying the literature related to the sale and purchase of land, contract law, laws and regulations regarding bankruptcy and legal protection for buyers


Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENTKL), is an aggressive hematological malignancy with poor prognosis. Early detection of tumors at initial diagnosis or during routine surveillance is important for improving survival outcomes. Molecular profiling of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a promising noninvasive tool for monitoring disease status. Here, we assessed the gene mutation spectrum of plasma ctDNA in ENKTL by cancer personalized profiling sequencing (CAPP-Seq). We found that the most frequently mutated genes were MGA (33.3%), TP53 (30%), ASXL3 (28.3%), DDX3X (25%), BCORL1 (25%), TRAF3 (21.7%), NOTCH3 (21.7%), STAT5B (21.7%), EP300 (21.7%), APC (20%), ATM (18.3%), TNFRSF14 (16.7%), KMT2D (16.7%), EZH2 (16.7%) and SETD2 (16.7%). The mutation frequencies of MGA and TP53 were significantly higher in stage III-IV, and mutations in MGA, TP53, and NOTCH3, et al were significantly correlated with the metabolic tumor burden of the patients. Compared with tumor tissue DNA, ctDNA profiling showed good concordance. Serial ctDNA analysis showed that treatment with chemotherapy could decrease the number and mutation allele frequency of genes. Compared with PET/CT, ctDNA has more advantages for tracking residual disease in patients. In addition, we also found that mutated MGA, TP53, SETD2, and APC predicted poor prognosis in patients. Collectively, our results provide evidence that ctDNA may serve as a novel precision medicine biomarker in ENKTL.


of oratorical conventions to epistles). Harvey identifies eight 'oral patterns' for attention (chiasmus, inversion, alternation, inclusion, ring-composition, word-chain, refrain, and concentric symmetry). Each of the seven undisputed Pauline letters is thoroughly surveyed with respect to these patterns. Breadth of coverage is achieved by a certain narrowing of focus: the interest is largely formal, concerned especially with various forms of bracketing and concentric patterning. Thus, despite the title, there is little interest in specifically acoustic phenomena such as euphony; but with as much as Harvey