The advances in recent technology have lead to the development of wireless sensor nodes forming a wireless network, which over the years is used from military application to industry, household, medical etc. The deployment pattern of sensor nodes in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is always random for most of the applications. Such technique will lead to ineffective utilization of the network; for example fewer nodes are located at far distance and dense nodes are located at some reason and part of the region may be without the surveillance of any node, where the networks do consume additional energy or even may not transfer the data. The proposed work is intended to develop the optimized network by effective placement of nodes in circular and grid pattern, which we call as uniformity of nodes to be compared with random placement of nodes. Each of the nodes is in optimized positions at uniform distance with neighbors, followed by running a energy efficient routing algorithm that saves an additional energy further to provide connectivity management by connecting all the nodes. Simulation results are compared with the random placement of nodes, the residual energy of a network, lifetime of a network, energy consumption of a network shows a definite improvement for uniform network as that of with the random network.


The physical picture of the behaviour of the phase of a light wave, reflected from a metal film under surface-plasmon resonance conditions, was determined theoretically and experimentally for various values of a whole series of parameters. It was found in particular that for a p-polarised wave the dependence of the phase on the angle of incidence and on the radiation wavelength, and also on the refractive index of a medium or on the thickness of a (bio)chemical receptor layer on the metal surface, had a section with an abrupt jump-like change. The steepness of this section, i.e. the sensitivity of the phase to a change in the relevant parameter, can exceed by several orders of magnitude the steepness of the intensity resonance profile and in theory it can tend to infinity as the intensity at the reflection minimum approaches zero. This is the basis of a discussion of promising (bio)chemical sensor methods ensuring a significantly higher sensitivity and yet the same wide dynamic range as the traditional detection of an intensity minimum.


The surface structure of phosphorus-terminated GaP s 001 d - s 2 3 1 d has been studied by low-energy electron diffraction ( LEED ) , high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy ( HREELS ) , scanning tunneling microscopy ( STM ) , and synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy. HREELS spectra indicate that hydrogen is adsorbed on the surface, leading to formation of a P u H bond. The intensity of the stretching vibration of the P u H remains constant for the s 2 3 1 d surface annealed at 300–600 K, where s 2 3 1 d LEED patterns also remain. The vibration mode and patterns disappeared simultaneously upon annealing at 700 K. STM filled state images show zigzag chain structures. On the other hand, straight rows along the [ 110 ] direction are seen in the empty state images. Surface core-level shifts are found: +0.60 eV for Ga 3 d and −0.69 and +0.39 eV for P 2 p . These results can well explain a theoretical model of buckled P-dimers with hydrogen adsorbed in an alternating sequence.


The first total synthesis of eucophylline was reported in 10 steps and 10% overall yield. The naphthyridine core of eucophylline was prepared through the coupling between a strained azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-2-one and a trisubstituted benzonitrile, followed by a cyclization of the corresponding amidine. This coupling reaction was shown to proceed through a stable bicyclic chloroenamine intermediate. The azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-2-one skeleton was in turn accessible through a straightforward sequence including a free-radical three-component olefin carbo-oximation as a key step.


This paper reviews the literature on disease interaction between wild and farmed fish and recommends strategies to reduce the disease risks to both populations. Most, if not all, diseases of farmed fish originate in wild populations. The close contact between farmed and wild fish readily leads to pathogens exchange. Aquaculture creates conditions (e.g. high stocking levels) conducive to pathogen transmission and disease; hence pathogens can overspill back, resulting in high levels of challenge to wild populations. This is exemplified by sea lice infections in farmed Atlantic salmon. Stocking with hatchery reared fish or aquaculture escapees can affect disease dynamics in wild populations. Whirling disease has been spread to many wild rainbow trout populations in the US with the release of hatchery reared stock. The greatest impact of aquaculture on disease in wild populations has resulted from the movement of fish for cultivation. Examples of exotic disease introduction following movement of live fish for aquaculture with serious consequences for wild populations are reviewed. The salmon parasite, Gyrodactylus salaris, has destroyed wild salmon populations in 44 Norwegian rivers. Crayfish plague has wiped out European crayfish over much of Europe. Eels numbers have declined in Europe and infection with the swimbladder nematode Anguillicola crassus has in part been blamed. The impact of disease in farmed fish on wild populations can mitigated. Risk analysis methods need to be refined and applied to live fish movement and new aquacultural developments. Appropriate biosecurity strategies, based on risk assessments, should be developed to reduce pathogen exchange and mitigate the consequences.


The side-chain carboxyl of Asp 76 in ribonuclease T1 (RNase T1) is buried, charged, non-ion-paired, and forms three good intramolecular hydrogen bonds (2.63, 2.69, and 2.89 A) and a 2.66 A hydrogen bond to a buried, conserved water molecule. When Asp 76 was replaced by Asn, Ser, and Ala, the conformational stability of the protein decreased by 3.1, 3.2, and 3.7 kcal/mol, respectively. The stability was measured as a function of pH for wild-type RNase T1 and the D76N mutant and showed that the pH dependence below pH 3 was almost entirely due to Asp 76. The pK of Asp 76 is 0.5 in the native state and 3.7 in the denatured state. Thus, the hydrogen bonding of the carboxyl group of Asp 76 contributes more than half of the net stability of RNase T1 at pH 7. In addition, the charged carboxyl of Asp 76 stabilizes structure in the denatured states of RNase T1 that is not present in D76N, D76S, and D76A.


Abstract Studies that assess current and historical population densities accurately provide valuable information for management of wildlife species, particularly those in need of immediate conservation concern. The Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis) has experienced drastic declines throughout its range during the previous few decades. This study documents its continued decline over the past 25 years in the last known remaining population in southern Indiana. We conducted mark–recapture surveys from June 2008 to October 2008 and July 2009 to September 2009 at 35 sites. Despite a considerable increase in effort over previous surveys, we documented fewer total captures and extremely low population densities. Density was estimated at 0.06 individuals/100 m2, and catch per unit effort was 0.05 individuals/person hour throughout the entire study area. This represents not only a significant decline in numbers from the historical study, but also is well below that reported for populations throughout the species' range. Sex ratios were skewed significantly toward males (2.6 males ∶ 1 female). No subadults or larvae were found, and only two nests were located. This population consists almost exclusively of large, older-age class individuals that show limited signs of reproduction.


Bradykinin (Bk) is a potent bronchoconstrictor agent which may contribute to the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma. Recently we have shown that repeated bronchial challenge with this agonist in asthmatics produced a specific loss of responsiveness. In vitro studies suggest that this phenomenon may be due to generation of protective prostaglandins. In this study we investigated whether flurbiprofen (F) pretreatment inhibited Bk tachyphylaxis. The efficacy of F was demonstrated by the total suppression of whole blood TxB2 formation. In addition, a time-course study of the tachyphylactic response was carried out. Refractoriness in response to inhaled Bk occurred in all subjects. The mean PC20 Bk increased from 0.07 to 0.41 mg/ml with consecutive inhalation tests after placebo. Even in the presence of demonstrable cyclooxygenase inhibition, no effect of F was observed in inhibiting Bk tachyphylaxis the mean PC20 Bk still increasing from 0.10 to 0.47 mg/ml. Tachyphylaxis was still present at 6 h, but not in all subjects at 24 h. This study demonstrated that release of protective prostaglandins in the airway after Bk stimulation does not account for the loss of responsiveness following repeated exposure to Bk. At least 24 h should separate Bk inhalations to avoid tachyphylaxis. A possible mechanism of this phenomenon is discussed.


In this paper, based on adaptive genetic algorithm and grey relation degree, a new method for solving multi-objective problem is put forward. First, the best solution of every objective in the middle of the multi-objective is solved and they are looked on as referenced vector. Second, the grey relation degree between every individual and the referenced vector is solved and the grey relation degree is acted as fitness of the individual. At last, the Pareto optimal sets are solved by means of adaptive genetic algorithm. The variety of population is kept by means of adaptive probability of crossover and mutation. Simulation examples show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


APBA baseball is a sophisticated baseball simulation game. Each major league player is represented by a card, which has numbers on it that reflect his performance in a particular season. Two people play a game by rolling dice and looking on their players' cards to see what is the outcome of the roll of the dice.In this article, we use Markov chains to analyze certain aspects of this game. For example, we can tell whether one player's batting card is more valuable than another's, and we can make informed decisions about strategy in the game.


In the General Theory, Keynes remarked that the economy's state depends on expectations, and that these expectations can be subject to sudden swings. In this work, we develop a multiple equilibria behavioural business cycle model that can account for demand or supply collapses due to abrupt drops in consumer confidence, which affect both consumption propensity and investment. We show that, depending on the model parameters, four qualitatively different outcomes can emerge, characterised by the frequency of capital scarcity and/or demand crises. In the absence of policy measures, the duration of such crises can increase by orders of magnitude when parameters are varied, as a result of the ``paradox of thrift''. Our model suggests policy recommendations that prevent the economy from getting trapped in extended stretches of low output, low investment and high unemployment.


Abstract. Measurements of climatic processes such as cold air drainage flows are problematic over mountainous areas. Observation of cold air drainage is not available in the existing observation network and it requires a special methodology. The main objective of this study was to characterize the cold air drainage over regions with a slope. A high resolution infrared camera, a meteorological station and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were used. The specific objective was to derive nocturnal cold air drainage velocity over the slope. To address these objectives, a number of infrared measurement campaigns were conducted during calm and clear sky conditions over an agricultural zone (blackcurrant farm) in Canada. Using thermal infrared images, the nocturnal surface temperature gradient were computed in hourly basis. The largest gradient magnitudes were found between 17h -20h. The cooling rates at basin area were two times higher in comparison to the magnitudes observed within slope area. The image analysis illustrated this considerable temperature gradient of the basin may be partly due to transport of cold air drainage into the basin from the slope. The results show that thermal imagery can be used to characterize and understand the microclimate related to the occurrence of radiation frost in the agricultural field. This study provided the opportunity to track the cold air drainage flow and pooling of cold air in low lying areas. The infrared analysis demonstrated that nocturnal drainage flow displayed continuous variation in terms of space and time in response to microscale slope heterogeneities. In addition, the analysis highlighted the periodic aspect for cold air drainage flow.


ABSTRACT This paper offers some insights into Twitter as a political field, based on Bourdieu's field theory. Networked publics, as agents of this field, are competing overpower by performing networked practices. To investigate this field, we focused on two networked practices: networked framing and narrating. Persian Twitter in 2017 presidential election provides a good context to analyze how such a field is constituted. Combining a social-network analytic approach with discursive and textual interpretations, we analyzed a corpus of 2,596,284 tweets. We identified three main networked publics in the retweet network: reformists, conservatives, and diaspora users. Having identified the most influential users in each community based on PageRank metric, we thoroughly investigated all of their tweets. The results show that ordinary users constituted the major population of conservative and diaspora publics. The reformist community included mostly journalists and to a lesser extent media. Findings also confirm that all networked publics used the same strategies to gain more power in the field. They produced quite the same frames and narratives to compete with each other. Moreover, the battle was more about the routine and electoral debates, not the legitimacy or entity of regime. Hence, none of the networked publics challenged the hegemonic discourse in Iran significantly.


In a first part we study the phi^{p+1}--field theory from the classical point of view. Using Butcher series we compute explicitly the perturbative expansion of the solutions and we prove that this expansion converges if the coupling constant is small enough. Then we show that we can formally recover the Heisenberg's interacting quantum field directly from this expansion. In other words we write the Heisenberg interacting field as a Butcher series.


The conjugation of carbaryl and its initial breakdown products in insects has been examined. Houseflies, blowflies and grass grubs were dosed with [3 H] carbaryl and the water-soluble metabolites examined by a combination of paper chromatographic and ionophoretic techniques. These revealed the presence of 1-naphthyl dihydrogen phosphate, 1-naphtyl hydrogen sulphate and 1-naphthyl Beta-D-glucoside in the extracts, as well as at least seven other unidentified substances, probably including the phosphate, sulphate and glucoside conjugates of oxidation products of carbaryl. The conjugation of 1-naphthol, one of the primary metabolites of carbaryl, was examined in greater detail in flies and grass grubs. Isotope dilution and paper chromatographic analyses of extracts of insects dosed with [14 C]1-naphthol revealed the presence of the phosphomonoester, sulphate, and glucoside conjugate of 1-naphthol, but phosphodiester and glucosiduronic acid conjugates could not be detected. A new metabolite of 1-naphthol was present in extracts of dosed flies. This new metabolite, and also the corresponding p-nitrophenol metabolite, was isolated form extracts of flies fed with the parent phenols and characterised as a new conjugate, the Beta-D-glucoside 6-(dihydrogen phosphate). Some of the properties of this new conjugate were determined. 1-Naphthyl Beta-D-glucoside 6-phosphate probably accounted for one of the unidentified carbaryl conjugates.


Author(s): Hamilton, Michael | Advisor(s): Martinez, Ernest | Abstract: The events leading to the development of cancer often involve a series of sequential molecular derailments. The complexities of these derailments are frequently specific not only to the type of cancer, but can also be specific to an individual tumor. However, despite these challenges, investigations characterizing the global or universal aberrations seen in human cancers have provided many effective therapeutic strategies to the combat human malignancies. The current dissertation focuses on two neglected areas of study in the cancer biology field, the study of lncRNA isoform-specific alterations and the post-translational modifications of the critically important MYC oncoprotein in cancer. In the beginning chapters of this dissertation, we explore isoform-specific alterations in a subtype of renal cell carcinomas, known as clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). ccRCC is one of the most prevalent cancers within the United States, and can be particularly difficult to treat with conventional therapies. As such, new therapeutics strategies are needed to treat ccRCC in its later stages of the disease. ccRCC has been shown to have severe aberrant RNA production and processing, lending itself as a prime candidate to explore isoform-specific alterations. Furthermore, using new computational methods, we identified previously uncharacterized events of differential transcript and usage in ccRCC implicating several novel genes in the pathology. Discovered within these transcriptomic analyses was a long non-coding RNA, referred to as HOXA Transcript Antisense RNA, Myeloid-Specific 1 (HOTAIRM1), which was found to be specifically downregulated in ccRCC and regulates key genes involved in the hypoxia pathway. In chapter 3, we investigate HOTAIRM1 further examining its function in ccRCC and its role in kidney cell differentiation and maintenance.In the last two chapters, we discuss and evaluate the effects of two disparate levels of MYC regulation. First, we discuss the complex nature of the interplay between MYC expression and numerous lncRNAs, in what is referred to as the lncRNA-MYC network. In this review, we reveal the breadth of the complexities of how MYC is regulated by lncRNAs and how MYC regulates its oncogenic function through the use of lncRNAs. Finally, with the development of innovative transgenic cell lines, expressing different mutant forms of MYC, we demonstrate that different acetylation states of MYC can have gene-selective effects and consequently alter different molecular pathways.


The Role and Structure of Organizational Law In every society, the law establishes a set of standard legal entities. In the United States, these entities include the business corporation, the cooperative corporation, the nonprofit corporation, the municipal corporation, the limited liability company, the general partnership, the limited partnership, the private trust, the charitable trust, and marriage. In important respects, the number and nature of these entities is often strikingly similar from one jurisdiction to another, but at the same time, there are conspicuous variations, even among jurisdictions with similar economies. In this essay, we focus on two questions: What are the common features shared by legal entities, and to what extent do these features require specialized legal rules? Our thesis is that the essential feature of organizational law is asset partitioning -- that is, the provision of a mechanism by which creditors of the firm obtain a priority claim in the firm's assets over individual creditors of the firm's managers or HBIs. The idea that partitioning a fixed pool of assets can reduce overall costs of credit by reducing monitoring costs is already familiar. In large part, however, the existing literature focuses on devices for asset partitioning other than organizational law (for example, security interests). Our contribution here is to demonstrate the close relationship between asset partitioning and organizational law.


Tazemetostat (EPZ-6438) is a potent, selective, orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of EZH2, the enzymatic subunit of the polycomb repressive complex 2, which is currently being evaluated in multiple phase II clinical trials for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, mesothelioma and molecularly defined solid tumors. Objective clinical responses have been observed in phase II studies of tazemetostat, including patients with B-cell lymphomas. EZH2 has been shown to play a key role in the maturation of B-cells and, consistent with this phenomenon, multiple B-cell malignancies are dependent on EZH2 for survival. In preclinical studies in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a disease arising from mantle zone cells surrounding germinal centers, treatment with EZH2 inhibitors, in in vitro and in vivo models demonstrated antiproliferative activity, suggesting EZH2 may be a promising therapeutic target for MCL. MCL is a distinct B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma characterized by the chromosomal translocation t(11;14) that leads to overexpression of cyclin D1. The disease most often presents at an advanced stage, and while initial responses occur, nearly all cases relapse or become resistant to frontline therapy and progress with poor prognosis. Novel targeted therapies are currently entering the clinic in combination with standard of care treatments, but heterogeneous response rates and durations of response show that there remains an unmet medical need in this population. The most widely used MCL treatment regimens include combinations of two or more Standard of Care (SOC) agents. In order to support potential future clinical investigations with tazemetostat we established in vitro assays to assess its combinatorial activity with 24 traditional and emerging therapies across seven MCL cell lines. All compounds were evaluated for their single agent activity in order to determine the appropriate starting doses to investigate synergy. We then looked at both a seven-day pretreatment with tazemetostat alone followed by a four-day cotreatment with combination partner as well as a seven-day cotreatment including both drugs simultaneously. Synergy status was determined via Loewe, BLISS and additional mathematical models. Robust synergy was observed with glucocorticoid receptor agonists, immunomodulatory drugs, venetoclax and a variety of B-cell receptor pathway modulators in both dosing regimens. In addition, we show that EPZ011989 (an EZH2 tool compound) induces tumor growth inhibition in a MCL xenograft model, and has combination benefit with ibrutinib. Preclinical data suggest that the sensitivity to tazemetostat as a single agent in MCL cell lines can be greatly enhanced in combination with new and emerging therapies. These combination approaches may be worthy of exploration in the clinic for the treatment of MCL. Citation Format: Tami L. Hood, Kat Cosmopoulos, Allison Drew, Kelli Armstrong, Jennifer Johnson, Smith Jesse, Alejandra Raimondi. Opportunity for therapeutic expansion in mantle cell lymphoma: Tazemetostat combination synergy status in preclinical MCL models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 808.


Our previous report focused on disaster base hospitals that mainly accept casualties and the demands on the construction and equipment required for each area. However, merely identifying locations for the triage area and each medical treatment area is insufficient. Therefore, we clarified what rooms are necessary to support medical treatment activities, the advantages and problems of each part of the facility from the viewpoint of operations, and the operation of the facility taking into account how to respond to changes during a disaster situation. Our examination considered requirements that should be implemented at the time of the institution's design. Our previous report focused on disaster base hospitals that mainly accept casualties and the demands on the construction and equipment required for each area. However, merely identifying locations for the triage area and each medical treatment area is insufficient. Therefore, we clarified what rooms are necessary to support medical treatment activities, the advantages and problems of each part of the facility from the viewpoint of operations, and the operation of the facility taking into account how to respond to changes during a disaster situation. Our examination considered requirements that should be implemented at the time of the institution's design.


Optical phenomena that are only observable in optically anisotropic materials are generally ignored in the computer graphics. However, such optical effects are not restricted to exotic materials and can also be observed with common translucent objects when optical anisotropy is induced, e.g. via mechanical stress. Furthermore accurate prediction and reproduction of those optical effects has important practical applications. We provide a short but complete analysis of the relevant electromagnetic theory of light propagation in optically anisotropic media and derive the full set of formulations required to render birefringent materials. We then present a novel method for spectral integration of refraction and reflection in an anisotropic slab. Our approach allows fast and robust rendering of birefringence‐induced iridescence in a physically faithful manner and is applicable to both real‐time and offline rendering.


The operation performance of membrane nitrification bioreactor to treat ammonia-containing wastewater as well as the capabilities of separation and filtration of polypropylene membrane modules were tested. The removal efficiency of ammonia was kept higher than 95% when the hydraulic retention time was set at 1 day, the influent concentration was increased up to 80 mmol (NH4+ -N) x L(-1) and the volume loading rate was increased up to 1.12 kg (NH4+ -N) x m(-3) x d(-1). The biomass in the reactor was accumulated from 5 g x L(-1) to 10 g x L(-1) within 50 days, which indicated that polypropylene membrane modules were efficient in retaining biomass. The biomass attached to the membrane also contributed to the conversion of ammonia and nitrite. When the hydraulic pressure was lower than 80cm, the increase of hydraulic pressure improved the permeation of membrane. However, when the hydraulic pressure was beyond 80cm, the increase of hydraulic pressure did not significantly improve the permeation of membrane. The permeate flux was the highest 2.51 (L x m (-2) x h(-1)) but the resistance was the lowest (2.63 x 10(-5)) m(-1) when the hydraulic pressure was about 20 cm. The results showed that the membrane nitrification bioreactor could be run normally without extra energy input.


We will offer a method to improve energy efficient consumption for processing queries on the Internet of Things. We focused on an energy efficient hierarchical clustering index tree such that we can facilitate time-correlated region queries in the I.o.T (Internet of Things). We try to improve clustering and make a change on its proposed index tree. We try to do this by optimizing the query processing. We improve clustering to increase the accuracy of the Internet of Things and prevent the network from disconnecting. In the article that we have chosen, there is a heterogeneous cluster which means there exists a large data difference in the two ends of a cluster. Also, it often happens that the same information is sent to the base station by two overlapping clusters; therefore, we save energy by eliminating duplicated data.


Automatic speech recognition, which works well on recordings captured with mid- or far-field microphones, is essential for a natural verbal communication between humans and machines. While a great deal of research effort has addressed one of the two distortions frequently encountered in mid- and far-field sound capture, namely non-stationary noise and reverberation, much less work has undertaken to jointly combat both kinds of distortions. In our view, however, this joint approach is essential in order to further reduce catastrophic effects of noise and reverberation that are encountered as soon as the microphone is more than a few centimeters from the speaker's mouth. We propose here to integrate an estimate of the reverberation obtained by multi-step linear prediction into a particle filter framework that tracks and removes non-stationary additive distortions. Evaluations on actual recordings with different speaker to microphone distances demonstrate that techniques combating either non-stationary noise or reverberation can be combined for good effect.


Over the past century, we have made great strides in reducing rates of disease and enhancing people's general health. Public health measures such as sanitation, improved hygiene, and vaccines; reduced hazards in the workplace; new drugs and clinical procedures; and, more recently, a growing understanding of the human genome have each played a role in extending the duration and raising the quality of human life. But research conducted over the past few decades shows us that this progress, much of which was based on investigating one causative factor at a time—often, through a single discipline or by a narrow range of practitioners—can only go so far. Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment examines a number of well-described gene-environment interactions, reviews the state of the science in researching such interactions, and recommends priorities not only for research itself but also for its workforce, resource, and infrastructural needs.


We report on the pioneering discovery of Devonian fish remains in the Paraná Basin, which represents the southernmost record of fishes from that period in mainland South America. The material comes from an outcrop at the lower portion of the São Domingos Formation, within Sequence C of the Paraná-Apucarana sub-basin in Tibagi, State of Paraná. Marine invertebrates are abundant in the same strata. The dark colored fish remains were collected in situ and represent natural moulds of partially articulated shark fin rays (radials). No elements such as teeth or prismatic cartilage have been preserved with the fins rays. This can be attributed to the dissolution of calcium-phosphatic minerals at the early stages of fossilization due to diagenetic processes possibly linked to strong negative taphonomic bias. This may have contributed to the fact that fishes remained elusive in the Devonian strata of this basin, despite substantial geological work done in the Paraná State in recent decades. In addition, the scarcity of fish fossils may be explained by the fact that the Devonian rock deposits in this basin originated in a vertebrate impoverished, cold marine environment of the Malvinokaffric Realm, as previously suspected.


Data2Text Studio is a platform for automated text generation from structured data. It is equipped with a Semi-HMMs model to extract high-quality templates and corresponding trigger conditions from parallel data automatically, which improves the interactivity and interpretability of the generated text. In addition, several easy-to-use tools are provided for developers to edit templates of pre-trained models, and APIs are released for developers to call the pre-trained model to generate texts in third-party applications. We conduct experiments on RotoWire datasets for template extraction and text generation. The results show that our model achieves improvements on both tasks.


letters musl be no longer than 400 words and must inc lude a word coonl. Ailletlers are subject to edit· ing, Proofs will not normally be supplied . There should be no more than 4 autho rs per feller. Each author should provide current qualifications and positi on . Cont act telephone and facsimile nu mber s should be suppl ied. Letters f rom a , Ingle author may be submitted bye-mai l (ampcoOmagna.com.au).but must include full details of pos tal address and telephone number. There stlould be no more than 5 referenceS . The reiereree list should not include anything tha t has not been published or accepted for pubbcatcn. Reference det ails must be complele. including: names and inilials for up to 4 authors. or 3 authors. et al. if there are mo re than 4: places and dates for confer· enCeS and publishers, places and year 01publication for l heir proceedings: publishers . places. year 01 publicalion and page numbers for monographs: volume numbers and page numbers for journal articles . Letters


A computer simulation model for a liquid desiccant and PV/T system was examined in this thesis. The model was calibrated using data from an experimental system installed in Orlando, Florida, developed by the the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in conjunction with several other companies. The experimental system uses a warm-air cross-flow absorber/regenerator and a 11.2kW PV/T array that provides hot air to regenerate the desiccant. The data gathered from the experimental system was used to validate the accuracy of the PV/T array temperatures, along with the effectiveness of the desiccant and regenerator in the simulation model. An expanded simulation model uses a previously validated model for a cross-flow absorber and cooling tower, along with the newly modeled regenerator and PV/T system. The combined system was modeled for various absorber, regenerator, tank, and PV/T sizes to determine appropriate component sizing to meet a given ventilation load. The simulations were used for seven different locations, including: Orlando, Houston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Phoenix, Guam, and Honolulu. Performance characteristics were examined, along with the potential energy savings of using a PV/T-desiccant system for dehumidification instead of standard air-conditioning. Results of the simulations show that the largest amount of absorption achieved is at high flow rates at lower PV/T outlet temperature set-points. However, the highest PV percentage (ratio of PV panels to thermal collector modules) provides the most energy savings, because less fan and pump energy are required and more electrical energy is being generated. Temperature set-points above 40℃ were found to be acceptable for regeneration, which also allows for a higher air flow rate than would be permitted at higher regeneration temperatures. Meeting the full latent load at the ASHRAE minimum outdoor air ventilation rate was shown to not be possible for most multi-story office buildings, because the PV/T array sizes required are typically too large for the building roof . However, operating a PV/T-desiccant system to meet a 50% load allow for much smaller array sizes, even at higher PV percentages. When meeting the half load, climates in the very hot-humid zone 1A and hot-humid zone 2A achieved savings of 22-49% when compared to using standard air-conditioning to meet the latent load. More energy is obviously saved when the PV/T-desiccant provides more dehumidification than the standard air-conditioner.


The yield of fermentation process, bioethanol, is one of the important product obtained from renewable energy sources. Yeasts are commonly used in ethanol production due to their high ethanol tolerance, high ethanol productivity, and their ability to ferment different kinds of simple sugars. Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast species is the most commonly used in industrial ethanol production. Therefore, isolation and identification of new yeast strains with high fermentation capacity is very important for the bioethanol industry. The aim of this study was isolation of novel and industrially applicable yeast species that can be used in bioethanol production. Yeast strains were isolated from the Dalaman, Altınbaş and Kıvırcık sarı dilim melon varieties that are unique to Kırkağaç district of Manisa province. The fermentation ability of yeast strains was evaluated and the selected yeast strains were identified by PCR-RFLP analysis of 26S and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA gene regions. Sequence analysis of the 26S rDNA-D1/D2 gene region was used for molecular identification of yeast strains. The phylogenetic analysis of identified yeast strains was carried out using the MEGA XI phylogenetic analysis tool. It was determined that 14 of the 53 yeast strains isolated were able to ferment glucose and sucrose, and four of them were able to ferment lactose. The yeast strains having the fermentation capacity were identified as Pichia kluyverii, Lachancea thermotolerans, Pichia kudriavzevii, Saccharomyces cf. cerevisiae/paradoxus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These yeast strains have the potential to be used in the bioethanol industry after other physiological and biochemical tests are complete


Background Clinical pathways including the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) construct the documentation of care in ways that can have benefits and consequences. In New Zealand unique cultural goals related to the care of patients and their families were added to the LCP, and research into their use is underway. Aims As part of an investigation into the utility, comprehensiveness and cultural appropriateness of the cultural goals, the aim was to examine the content of cultural care documentation to ascertain documentation practices. Methods A retrospective chart audit of 100 LCP documents, with 25 each from home care, aged residential care, hospital and hospice, and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders including clinical staff and managers. Results A number of patterns emerged including: very high rates (99% of 1360 entries) of the goals being recorded as 'achieved', even when one of the goals related to family needs and the family was not present; minimal documentation of cultural needs; and minimal variance documentation. In addition a further pattern related the use of the yes or no format in version 11 (rather than achieved or variance in version 12). A variance was documented only 1% of the time, however when the yes or no format was used, goals were documented as not met 20% of the time. Conclusions Ticking the box, or in this case, documenting an 'A' for achieved provides little information or evidence that the cultural goals have been addressed in an appropriate and comprehensive manner. In addition, the variance-reporting format appears to be misunderstood when documenting the care of patients who are unconscious, or families who are not present. The constraints placed on writing a holistic patient story potentially impede the meeting of cultural needs based on beliefs and values.


Cloud-based digital transformation is having a profound impact on new and incumbent information technology service providers. In transitioning from traditional to cloud-based service provision, some IT service providers are experiencing substantial difficulties in realizing effective business models. Taking the perspective of 20 large business model mature and small and medium enterprise born-on-the-cloud multinational IT service providers, this focus group study contributes to the dearth of research examining the broader impact of cloud computing on IT service providers' business model. The study provides two core insights. First, using the STOF business model framework, the paper provides a vivid contextual understanding of the nuanced impact of cloud computing along four core business model domains: service, technological, organisational and financial. Second, the study identifies a number of salient challenges which are impacting IT service providers' efforts to effectively leverage the benefits of cloud-based digital transformation.


Squamous cell carcinoma involving the parotid gland is an aggressive and rapidly advancing lesion which if not recognized and treated early will result in a high morbidity and mortality. We reviewed 30 patients with squamous cell carcinoma involving the parotid gland. Twenty-four patients had had previous epidermoid skin lesions in an area known to drain to the parotid gland and three resulted from direct extension into the gland from an overlying skin carcinoma, whereas only three were primary lesions of the gland. Patients who presented with involvement of the gland more than 4 months after excision of the skin lesion had a poor prognosis. Patients with epidermoid skin cancer in areas with a propensity to secondarily involve the parotid gland must be closely followed after treatment of the primary skin lesion.


Objective Minimally invasive image-guided cochlear implantation (CI) utilizes a patient-customized microstereotactic frame to access the cochlea via a single drill-pass. We investigate the average force and trauma associated with the insertion of lateral wall CI electrodes using this technique. Study Design Assessment using cadaveric temporal bones. Setting Laboratory setup. Subjects and Methods Microstereotactic frames for 6 fresh cadaveric temporal bones were built using CT scans to determine an optimal drill path following which drilling was performed. CI electrodes were inserted using surgical forceps to manually advance the CI electrode array, via the drilled tunnel, into the cochlea. Forces were recorded using a 6-axis load sensor placed under the temporal bone during the insertion of lateral wall electrode arrays (2 each of Nucleus CI422, MED-EL standard, and modified MED-EL electrodes with stiffeners). Tissue histology was performed by microdissection of the otic capsule and apical photo documentation of electrode position and intracochlear tissue. Results After drilling, CT scanning demonstrated successful access to cochlea in all 6 bones. Average insertion forces ranged from 0.009 to 0.078 N. Peak forces were in the range of 0.056 to 0.469 N. Tissue histology showed complete scala tympani insertion in 5 specimens and scala vestibuli insertion in the remaining specimen with depth of insertion ranging from 360° to 600°. No intracochlear trauma was identified. Conclusion The use of lateral wall electrodes with the minimally invasive image-guided CI approach was associated with insertion forces comparable to traditional CI surgery. Deep insertions were obtained without identifiable trauma.


Introduction Spoken registers differ from written registers in several fundamental ways. The most obvious, of course, is that they are produced in the spoken mode. This difference also entails less opportunity for planning what you are going to say, and no possibility of editing or revision. A speaker can say something again in speech, but he cannot erase the original utterance. In addition, there are differences in the typical communicative functions of many spoken registers when compared to written registers. Many previous studies in linguistics have focused on the ideational function of language: how speakers use language to communicate ideas and information. Language is intimately connected to ideational functions: it is nearly impossible to communicate a new idea without using language. Ideational functions are also important for the description of registers. For example, in Chapter 5 we show how many written registers have the primary purpose of communicating new information. However, in everyday speech, speakers are often more concerned about conveying their own feelings and attitudes than describing or explaining factual information. In addition, spoken registers are usually interactive; most of the time when we talk, we are using language to communicate with a specific person – the interlocutor – who responds directly to us. In this case, we use language to support and develop the relationship with our interlocutor. These uses of language – the interpersonal functions – are fundamentally important in most spoken registers.


Laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) has been used to print 0.6 mm × 0.5 mm polymer light-emitting diode (PLED) pixels with poly[2-methoxy, 5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV) as the light-emitting polymer. The donor substrate used in the LIFT process is covered by a sacrificial triazene polymer (TP) release layer on top of which the aluminium cathode and functional MEH-PPV layers are deposited. To enhance electron injection into the MEH-PPV layer, a thin poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) layer on the Al cathode or a blend of MEH-PPV and PEO was used. These donor substrates have been transferred onto both plain indium tin oxide (ITO) and bilayer ITO/PEDOT:PSS (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) blend) receiver substrates to create the PLED pixels. For comparison, devices were fabricated in a conventional manner on ITO substrates coated with a PEDOT:PSS hole-transporting layer. Compared to multilayer devices without PEO, devices with ITO/PEDOT:PSS/MEH-PPV:PEO blend/Al architecture show a 100 fold increase of luminous efficiency (LE) reaching a maximum of 0.45 cd/A for the blend at a brightness of 400 cd/m(2). A similar increase is obtained for the polymer light-emitting diode (PLED) pixels deposited by the LIFT process, although the maximum luminous efficiency only reaches 0.05 cd/A for MEH-PPV:PEO blend, which we have attributed to the fact that LIFT transfer was carried out in an ambient atmosphere. For all devices, we confirm a strong increase in device performance and stability when using a PEDOT:PSS film on the ITO anode. For PLEDs produced by LIFT, we show that a 25 nm thick PEDOT:PSS layer on the ITO receiver substrate considerably reduces the laser fluence required for pixel transfer from 250 mJ/cm(2) without the layer to only 80 mJ/cm(2) with the layer.


This guide is intended to help students taking online courses at UMB to use services and access resources at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HS/HSL) from a distance.


The present work investigates the electronic conduction of reduced graphene oxide flakes and the coupling between flakes through a combined SECM (scanning electrochemical microscopy), AFM, and SEM analysis. Images of individual and interconnected flakes directly reveal the signature of the contact resistance between flakes in a noncontact and substrate-independent way. Quantitative evaluation of the parameters is achieved with the support of numerical simulations to interpret the experimental results. The interflakes contact resistance importantly impacts the transport of electrons, which can be anticipated as a key parameter in r-GO-based materials used in fuel cells, lithium batteries, supercapacitors, and organic electronic devices.


Scriveners, who committed themselves to official and private petition writing in the Ottoman Empire, took on an important task in the social life as well. They usually became the subject of 19th century Orientalist painters as they were mobile and worked in crowded environments that people had an easy access to. The scriveners were depicted near mosques, coffee houses or ports. In the respect, Danish artist Martinus Rorbye's painting named "A Turkish Notary Drawing Up a Marriage Contract in front of the Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque Tophane, Constantinople" is one of the first and pioneer examples of them. In the first part of the article, brief information about the scriveners is given. Then it is written about the places that they worked as Tophane and Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque. In the second part of article, the life and art of Martinus Rorbye is discussed by considering the scriveners in the Orientalist painting. Then the main painting of this article is explained and comparisoned with the other some scrivener paintings. Rorbye has some similarities to Orientalist painters. But also Rorbye differs from other Orientalist painters of the time due to his subject selection, composition layout, and use of figures and colours. In addition to these, he was one of the pioneer Orientalist painters as E.Delacroix. At the end of the article, Rorbye and his painting are interpreted and emphasized of the importance, pioneering role and the place in the art history. For this article, it is used national and international libraries and archives, English, Danish and Turkish sources.


Motion estimation is one of the most important techniques for model-based image coding. Accurate and robust estimation of motion is required in lots of application fields, such as detection, recognition, tracking of moving objects, and face-to-face visual communication. These communication systems require very accurate motion estimation of moving objects, especially the human head. In the paper, the authors present a new motion estimation method the human head using a 3-D shape model and 3-layer neural network for model-based image coding. After the existing methods of 2-D motion estimation are reviewed, the authors propose a method of 3-D motion estimation using a neural network and 3-D shape model. The neural network consists of three layers. Input layer represents 2-D motion vectors of feature points, while output layer represents 3-D motion parameters.


This study investigates the construct of Teacher Language Awareness (TLA) in a group of preservice mainstream K-12 teachers who are developing skills to work with English Language Learners (ELLs) in United States (US) public school contexts. Specifically, the study seeks to explore how preservice teachers' participation in directed university coursework about second language (L2) instruction affects the development of TLA. Participants in this quasi-experimental study (N=116) derive from two groups: one group enrolled in a course that adopted an incidental approach to the development of TLA, and the other enrolled in a course that adopted an deliberate approach. The study established a descriptive baseline for the participants' TLA via pretest tasks in the Analyst and Teacher Domains. Participants' degree of TLA before directed coursework was low, based on their pretest scores on Analyst and Teacher Domain tasks, as well as analysis of written reflections. Yet, participants from the deliberate group who received treatment in the form of an explicit approach to the development of TLA exhibited a significant improvement in the Analyst Domain over those enrolled in the incidental TLA course. Neither group demonstrated significant improvement in the Teacher Domain. Focus group interviews were conducted with participants from both groups to determine how their attitudes, perceptions, and experiences might have influenced their TLA development during the semester. The results suggest that deliberate approaches to developing knowledge about language (KAL) are necessary for K-12 mainstream teachers. Results also suggest that teacher educators may need to adopt an explicit approach to developing TLA in L2 methods classes in order to help PSTs integrate TLA as a critical component of their pedagogical content knowledge.


Abstract Flaviviridae are an important family of viruses, responsible for widely spread diseases such as dengue and West Nile fever and hepatitis C. Despite the severity of the related diseases, no effective antiviral treatments for infection are available. Following our discovery of adenosine-hindered analogs as potent antiflaviviridae agents, we have continued our investigation on guanosine and inosine derivatives, which were evaluated for activity against BVDV, YFV, DENV, and WNV viruses in cell-based assays. The present study allowed us to identify some newer features that led to improve the antiviral potency (down to the µM range) and to selectively inhibit BVDV and YFV viruses. The molecular modeling results were consistent with the hypothesis that test analogs act as RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) inhibitors by interacting with a surface allosteric binding pocket.


BACKGROUND
Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been shown to be of prognostic significance in a variety of tumors. Not only T-cell, but also B-cell infiltration is commonly associated with improved survival.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We assessed the density of tumor-infiltrating B-cells, as well as that of plasma cells, in 210 adenocarcinomas of the esophagogastric junction through immunohistochemical analysis using antibodies against CD20 and CD138.

RESULTS
No correlation between density of B-cells or plasma cells and various clinicopathologic features could be established. High density of tumor-infiltrating B-cells, as well as plasma cells, showed significantly better overall survival (OS) compared to patients with no infiltrates (p=0.047 and p=0.022, respectively). Cox proportional hazard analysis could verify B-cell infiltration as an independent prognostic factor (hazard ratio (HR)=0.683; 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.517-0.901; p=0.007).

CONCLUSION
Plasma cell and B-cell infiltration correlates with prolonged OS and might identify a patient subset with favorable disease course.


The notion of the mechanism of power is analyzed in Suzanne Collin's trilogy The Hunger Games in this paper. The author takes an analytical approach to how power is exercised, a measure that contributes in the establishment of a theory of power relations that impact people's lives, mindset, politics, and even the economy. According to Collins, power is the core, if not the elixir of life, on which the authoritarian regime led by President Snow's existence is premised. The paper goes on to explain why it is important to retain power in place in order to keep the government in power. The novel's power mechanism works on a lot of different levels. Divide and rule is the first and most significant dividing tactic, aimed at eliminating any possible unity among people who may use that unity to revolt against the totalitarian regime.


In this paper we investigate the positive and normative consequences of child-labour restrictions for economic aggregates and welfare. We argue that even though the laissez-faire equilibrium may be inefficient, there are usually better policies to cure these inefficiencies than the imposition of a child-labour ban. Given this finding, we investigate the potential political-economic reasons behind the emergence and persistence of child-labour legislation. Our investigation is based on a structural dynamic general equilibrium model that provides a coherent and uniform framework for our analysis.


This article analyses religious claims in the workplace arising from tensions related to religious diversity in the Netherlands. On the basis of interviews with leaders in the religious, political and public sectors, we look at the perception of such tensions and discuss the feasibility of accommodating them. Our study distinguishes between the individual cluster (private and public sectors) and the collective cluster. In the former our respondents argue that individual religious employees in the private sector are not under pressure; rather, there is strong support for these individuals to act in accordance with their religious beliefs. When it concerns public employment, however, religious civil servants do seem to be under pressure in the Netherlands; secular respondents argue that civil servants are part of the state apparatus and therefore have no right to make direct or indirect distinctions on the basis of their personal beliefs. In the collective cluster, we found that associational freedoms for religious organizations and faith-based organizations have also come under secularist pressure; non-discrimination is often invoked as the supreme principle, trumping associational autonomy. These observations suggest a shift in the Dutch tradition of governing religious diversity and portend its significant impact on the position of religious employees in the Netherlands.


The viscosity of SiO2–Na2O–NaF melts was measured by using a rotating crucible viscometer developed by the authors. The basicity (= in mol%) of the melts was 0.67, 0.82, and 1.00. The concentrations of NaF were 5, 10, and 15 mol%. As a result, the viscosity of the melts showed a good Arrhenius type linearity in any melts. It was found that the sample loss occurred in highly basic composition region due to a prolonged measurement at high temperature. The viscosity of the melts decreased with increasing the concentration of NaF, and the composition dependence is similar to that for SiO2–CaO–CaF2 melts. Viscosity decreasing ability of NaF is higher than that of Na2O within the composition region investigated in this study. Transitions of activation energy of viscous flow are different between Na2O addition and NaF addition. This implies that the mechanism of enhancement of fluidity is different between Na2O and NaF.


Riordan, Erin C.; Montalvo, Arlee M.; Beyers, Jan L. 2018. Using species distribution models with climate change scenarios to aid ecological restoration decisionmaking for southern California shrublands. Res. Rep. PSW-RP-270. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 130 p. Sourcing appropriate plant material for restoration within the heterogeneous landscape of southern California is a nuanced task further complicated by climate change. We generated species distribution models (SDMs) that may be useful tools for incorporating climate change scenarios into ecological restoration decisionmaking for southern California scrub and shrubland habitats. We modeled regional patterns of suitable habitat under baseline (1951–1980) and midcentury (2040–2069) climate conditions for 44 focal plant taxa under five future climate scenarios. Projected changes in habitat suitability varied across taxa and climate scenarios. Future climate scenarios with the most extreme directional changes in precipitation (increase or decrease) resulted in the greatest projected loss of suitable habitat for most taxa. The majority of plant taxa we modeled had a high degree of stable future habitat suitability, with 31 taxa projected to have ≥75 percent of baseline suitable habitat maintaining suitability midcentury under at least three future climate scenarios. Infraspecific differences in projected midcentury suitable habitat highlight the importance of considering varieties and subspecies when applying modeling results to conservation and natural resource management decisionmaking. While we did not explicitly model plant communities, multitaxon suitability overlays revealed patterns for alluvial scrub, coastal sage scrub, mixed chaparral-sage scrub, and low-elevation chaparral vegetation groups that were less readily apparent in individual taxon maps. We discuss caveats regarding SDMs and suggest that they could be used as part of an integrated toolset for successful application.


Clinically, over-activation of upper trapezius (UT) muscular activity is a common cause of symptoms in computer users. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between trapezius muscular activity and typing speed with and without taping. Twelve participants performed a typing task for 15 min with and without taping on the UT muscle. Electromyography (EMG) of the muscular activity of UT and lower trapezius (LT) was recorded. With or without taping, there was a significantly positive correlation (r = 0.40, p = 0.04) between typing speed and UT/LT. Additionally, UT and UT/LT ratios were lower with taping than without taping (difference = 5.2% and 26.9%). The LT ratio was higher with taping than without taping (difference = 5.8%). Taping can alter the muscular activity of the trapezius during typing and may have the potential to be applied in computer users to prevent over-activation of UT muscular activity. Practitioner Summary: The effect of taping was tested on typing speed and trapezius muscular activity. With or without taping, typing speed was correlated with trapezius activity. The muscle activity of the trapezius, however, was lower with taping than without taping. Thus, taping has the potential to prevent over-activation of UT muscular activity during typing.


The concentration of trace metals in groundwater is still not within the usual standards established by the national and international monitoring authorities. This study aims to evaluate the sources and distribution of trace metals in the shallow aquifer water of the Ganges River basin in the Bangladesh area. A total of 40 groundwater samples were collected and investigated for 11 trace elements and some selected water parameters followed by sophisticated methods. The results presented that three metals, viz. Fe, Mn, and Pb crossed the limit of WHO standard in most of the samples (70-100%), representing severe human health hazards. Besides, the samples are slightly acidic to basic and highly mineralized by divalent cations and bicarbonate because total hardness was found very high. To assess factors affecting the trace metal loads in groundwater samples and determine their possible sources and mobility, multivariate statistical techniques, including Pearson's correlation coefficient, principal components analysis, and dendrogram cluster analysis are performed. Results revealed that sources of trace elements were identified to be geologic and little from human activities, i.e., application of agrochemicals, excess water mining, and industrial wastewater. It was recognized that the elevated concentration of trace elements in samples was caused by geogenic factors rather than manmade activities. Groundwater in this area poses a large threat due to high levels of trace metals, without any purification, it is essential to avoid this water for drinking. It advised that the groundwater quality should be constantly monitored for sustainable water quality management in the study zone.


In this work, radiation performance of an antipodal Vivaldi antenna is enhanced using a broadband metasurface lens structure in 1-6 GHz bandwidth. Radiation pattern for the new antenna is more directive due to electromagnetic properties of the metasurface lens. In order to create such a lens, electrically responsive unit cells with high effective permittivity values are utilized. Unit cell dimensions are adjusted to display no resonant behaviour in the designated bandwidth. Overall lens structure is etched over the same substrate containing the antipodal Vivaldi antenna resulting in a compact and low profile design. Far-field radiation patterns indicate a more directive beam is radiated from the modified antenna with metasurface lens. Measurement and simulation results show that directivity is increased considerably without affecting the efficiency characteristics of the antenna due to the inclusion of the metasurface lens.


Sixty years after the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was passed, collective action appears moribund. Current analysis burying and praising the NLRA has focused primarily on the changed economic realities of the product and labor markets. Yet there is another story to be told involving a comparable transformation of the legal culture. Relying in part on empirical analysis of court decisions, I argue that changes in federal workplace law over the past thirty years have undermined the concept of group action-in particular collective bargaining-as a preferred means of regulating the employment relationship. These changes are the product of leading institutional actors that share general legal responsibility for regulating the workplace: the federal courts of appeals, the Supreme Court, and the Congress. To be sure, the diminished legal role for group action in labor relations is in part a function of the diminished power of unions in an economy increasingly subject to global competition and rapid technological change. I want to suggest, however, that changes in the legal status of group action may be cause as well as effect. When the actions of the legislative and judicial branches of government indicate that collective bargaining has become an anachronistic means of promoting employee interests, one inevitable consequence is a loss of legitimacy for unions as the enablers of group action. This loss of legitimacy encourages the business community and the general public to erode and belittle the role of unions, thus making it more difficult for unions to adjust to new economic realities. Accordingly, a proper appreciation for how the legal system has devalued group action may assist in understanding the steady decline of collective bargaining in the American workplace. Part I examines how group action has been diminished by Congress and the federal courts over the past thirty years. It briefly summarizes the goals of the NLRA, goals that Congress meant to be achieved through collective action in the workplace. It then describes how Congress since 1963 has enacted a series of workplace regulatory statutes that have effectively subordinated the role of group action by making individual rights preeminent. Finally, Part I demonstrates that in a legal world where group action is the exception, both the Supreme Court and the courts of appeals have thwarted the original legislative commitment to collective bargaining when interpreting the NLRA. Part II raises questions about the subversion of a legislative scheme that has not been revised by Congress for nearly half a century. It discusses different factors that may have led the courts to turn away from vigorous enforcement of the NLRA's core idea. In this context, Part II also probes the extent to which judicial disrespect for collective bargaining may be a natural consequence of the statutory aging process.


This article illustrates the path of the College of Education at Towson University to successfully integrate technology within coursework and thereby meet national technology standards. This discussion includes details about specific required instructional technology courses and a faculty development project that supports the ongoing use of technology throughout the teacher education program. A mentor/protege faculty development model has been employed to assist university and school faculty to gain needed skills and abilities to integrate technology in teaching. A majority of the full-time university faculty has participated in this faculty development with technology process. As an outcome, teacher education students are experiencing widespread use of technology throughout the curriculum, including their internships within partner schools.


Traditionally, transfer functions have been manually designed for each operation in a program. Recently, however, there has been growing interest in computing transfer functions, motivated by the desire to reason about sequences of operations that constitute basic blocks. This paper focuses on deriving transfer functions for intervals — possibly the most widely used numeric domain — and shows how they can be computed from Boolean formulae which are derived through bit-blasting. This approach is entirely automatic, avoids complicated elimination algorithms, and provides a systematic way of handling wrap-arounds (integer overflows and underflows) which arise in machine arithmetic.


The role of intestinal cells in copper homeostasis and storage has not been studied. Homeostasis is regulated by absorption, excretion, and storage. Copper is excreted via the bile, and it has been assumed that the increased excretion into the gastrointestinal tract when diets are high in copper was due to biliary copper. It seemed possible that some of the absorbed copper is sequestered in the intestinal cells. To test this hypothesis we measured the copper content of mucosal epithelial cells isolated from stool samples of 8 young men when consuming their usual diets and after 129 days of supplementation with 7 mg/day copper. The mean copper content of the cells, expressed as mg copper per gram of cell protein, was 0.78 versus 1.65 mg/g (SEM 0.19) (P < 0.02) when the usual and copper-supplemented diets, respectively, were consumed. In contrast to the copper content of plasma and urine, copper in intestinal cells increased significantly when intake was high. It is likely that copper was sequestered by these cells following absorption and did not get into systemic circulation. Thus, the amount of endogenous copper in stools is probably a combination of biliary copper excretion and copper sequestered in exfoliated intestinal epithelial cells. This suggests that retention of copper by the intestinal cells increases when dietary copper is high and plays a role in copper homeostasis. J. Trace Elem. Exp. Med. 16:105–108, 2003. Published 2003 Wiley–Liss, Inc.


In practice, differentially private data releases are designed to support a variety of applications. A data release is fit for use if it meets target accuracy requirements for each application. In this paper, we consider the problem of answering linear queries under differential privacy subject to per-query accuracy constraints. Existing practical frameworks like the matrix mechanism do not provide such fine-grained control (they optimize
 total
 error, which allows some query answers to be more accurate than necessary, at the expense of other queries that become no longer useful). Thus, we design a fitness-for-use strategy that adds privacy-preserving Gaussian noise to query answers. The covariance structure of the noise is optimized to meet the fine-grained accuracy requirements while minimizing the cost to privacy.


Objective. A neonatal intensive care unit is a working environment at high incidence of stressful events and the incidence of neuropsychological disorders in physicians working in these units is high. To date no reliable data are available on cerebral function monitoring. We therefore investigated whether there is a change in concentrations of S100B protein, an established marker of brain distress, in biological fluids (blood, urine) of physicians on duty in a NICU during day and night duty shifts.Design and Setting. We conducted an observational study in which each case served as control. Participants. Seven physicians out of a total of 10 on duty at the tertiary referral centre for NICUs of the Giannina Gaslini Children's University Hospital (25 beds with a transport service for neonatal emergencies) were admitted to the study. Intervention. Clinical evaluation, standard laboratory monitoring parameters and blood cortisol levels were determined at eight time-points.Main Outcome Measures. S100B measurements in blood and urine were assessed, using an immunoluminometric assay, at eight predetermined time points (every 4 hours) during day (8 a.m-8 p.m.) and night (8 p.m.-8 a.m.) 12-hour shifts.Results. During working hours clinical and laboratory parameters were within normal ranges. S100B levels in urine and blood varied significantly from the protein levels measured at the beginning of each shift, peaking at the end of both day and night time points (p<0.001).Conclusions. Increased longitudinal blood and urine S100B concentrations measured in physicians during NICU duty could suggest brain distress in the subjects under examination at a time when standard monitoring procedures are silent.


Within a phase-field model that couples a nonconserved order parameter to the temperature field, we study the crystal growth velocity υ in a supercooled liquid as a function of the undercooling Δ. The velocity shows critical behavior in Δ depending on a the ratio p of effective diffusion constants and on δ, which measures the coupling between the order parameter and the temperature field. As Δ becomes smaller, there is a transition from steady-state growth to a diffusive regime. At the phase boundary, υ remains nonzero for p>pc; otherwise, it vanishes as (Δ - Δc)ν with ν = 1 for p<pc, ν = 1/2 for p = pc, and ν = 1/3 for p = pc and δ = δc, which corresponds to a critical point (Δc, pc, δc) in the (Δ, p, δ) parameter space. Typical experimental systems have p<pc; however, if impurity concentration gradients dominate over temperature variations, p is much larger and δ may be tuned by varying the overall impurity concentration.


Objectives: This study sought to determine explicitly whether postsurgical facial nerve outcomes for patients with a cystic component to a vestibular schwannoma were significantly different from those with a solid tumor. Design: Seventy patients who underwent translabyrinthine surgery for a cystic vestibular schwannoma between May 1981 and the present, and who had complete records in our database, were identified. These were compared with a group of patients with solid tumors matched to the study group on the following parameters: House-Brackmann grade at presentation, tumor size, surgical approach, age. Setting: Regional tertiary referral center. Participants: Adult patients with vestibular schwannomas. Main Outcome Measures: House-Brackmann score 2 years following surgery. Results: No significant difference was found between the two groups. Conclusions: The perceived difference in outcomes between cystic and solid vestibular schwannomas cannot be demonstrated when confounding factors such as tumor size are taken into account.


During 2012-2013, four field trials were conducted in Louisiana evaluating the efficacy of the neonicotinoid insecticides thiamethoxam (Cruiser) and imidaclorpid (Gaucho) applied as seed treatments and in-furrow applied as Centric or Platinum and Admire Pro, respectively, relative to an in-furrow application of aldicarb (Temik) and nontreated seed. Thrips counts were collected by sampling 5 or 10 whole plants from each plot at the two and four true leaf growth stage in each test and count the number of thrips present. Damage ratings (1-5) were also conducted and yields taken. In 2012, the thrips populations were composed of approximately 50:50 western flower:tobacco thrips and all of the treatments provided thrips control relative to the non-treated but seed treatments appeared to provide shorter residual control. Both neonicotinoid in-furrow treatments appeared to provide activity similar to aldicarb. In 2013, the thrips population was predominantly tobacco thrips and treatments consisting of thiamethoxam performed poorly while the in-furrow applications of imidacloprid appeared as effective as aldicarb. There is evidence that some tobacco thrips in the Mid-south may be resistant to thiamethoxam.


Members of the MOAG/SERF protein family have been attributed a neuropathologic significance because of their ability to enhance the proteotoxic polymerization of amyloidogenic proteins such as alpha-Synuclein (aSyn). However, the cellular function remains unknown. Here, we identify SERF1a as an RNA-organizing protein i) with no structural homology to canonical RNA-binding proteins, ii) with an RNA-chaperoning activity which favours the incorporation of RNA into nucleoli and liquid-like artificial RNA-organelles, and iii) with a high degree of conformational disorder in the RNA-bound state. We demonstrate that this type of structural fuzziness determines an undifferentiated interaction of SERF1a with aSyn and RNA. Both molecules bind to one identical, positively charged site of SERF1a by an analogous electrostatic binding mode, with similar binding affinities, and without any observable disorder-to-order transition. The absence of primary or secondary structure discriminants results in SERF1a being unable to distinguish between nucleic acid and amyloidogenic protein, leading the pro-amyloid aSyn:SERF1a interaction to prevail under conditions of cellular stress. We suggest that structural fuzziness of SERF1a accounts for an adverse gain-of-interaction which favours toxic binding to aSyn at the expense of non-toxic RNA binding, therefore promoting a functionally distorted and pathogenic process. Our results provide a direct link between structural disorder, amyloid aggregation and the malfunctioning of RNA-associated cellular processes, three hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases.


This theorethical article outlines the development of family life education in Hungary. In the early 20th century, as a result of civic initiatives, this specific educational area as an independent professional and scientific field was organized in the United States and Western Europe. In Hungary, however, much like other Central and Eastern European states, institutional education became available much later. A government decree issued in the early seventies draws attention to the fact that "the biological, health, ethical, moral knowledge necessary for harmonious, desirable human relations is not sufficiently widespread among the general public, especially among young people, to create a well-balanced family life and to achieve a broad range of modern family planning. Therefore, measures should be taken to prepare for family life in all forms of public education and in the dissemination of information to the general public" (Mihalec et al 2011, 90) Komlósi points out, however, that despite the first governmental initiative on family life education, for decades there has been no significant change in practice. (Komlósi 1995) " In Hungarian secondary education, the pedagogical knowledge that can be chosen as subject matter for graduation examinations in pedagogical vocational secondary schools includes a growing proportion of topics related to education for family life.


In this paper we present a multi-attribute negotiation mechanism for electronic commerce which is based on a multicriteria model using reference points. According to the model, the buyer must specify an aspiration point that expresses his desired values on the attributes and a reservation point that represents the minimal values required. The negotiation mechanism uses an English reverse auction protocol and leads the negotiation to the buyer's aspiration point by providing a direct control on the bidding process. Keywords


The emergence and development of a coherent and defined community composting sector, as with the commercial composting sector, is relatively new. There is some anecdotal and funding support evidence for the growth in, and diversity of, community composting, but there is very little comprehensive data that draws together the activities of the sector as a whole. This paper starts to address that gap by presenting a summary from a national survey on the nature of the community composting sector and shows that it comprises groups and organisations involved in a diverse range of activities. It also presents findings from participatory workshops with community composting groups and their stakeholders exploring the extent to which projects contribute to individual and community change.


BACKGROUND
Prior studies associating acute kidney injury (AKI) with more rapid subsequent loss of kidney function had methodological limitations, including inadequate control for differences between patients who had AKI and those who did not.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether AKI is independently associated with subsequent kidney function trajectory among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

DESIGN
Multicenter prospective cohort study.

SETTING
United States.

PARTICIPANTS
Patients with CKD (n = 3150).

MEASUREMENTS
Hospitalized AKI was defined by a 50% or greater increase in inpatient serum creatinine (SCr) level from nadir to peak. Kidney function trajectory was assessed using estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) based on SCr level (eGFRcr) or cystatin C level (eGFRcys) measured at annual study visits.

RESULTS
During a median follow-up of 3.9 years, 433 participants had at least 1 AKI episode. Most episodes (92%) had stage 1 or 2 severity. There were decreases in eGFRcr (-2.30 [95% CI, -3.70 to -0.86] mL/min/1.73 m2) and eGFRcys (-3.61 [CI, -6.39 to -0.82] mL/min/1.73 m2) after AKI. However, in fully adjusted models, the decreases were attenuated to -0.38 (CI, -1.35 to 0.59) mL/min/1.73 m2 for eGFRcr and -0.15 (CI, -2.16 to 1.86) mL/min/1.73 m2 for eGFRcys, and the CI bounds included the possibility of no effect. Estimates of changes in eGFR slope after AKI determined by either SCr level (0.04 [CI, -0.30 to 0.38] mL/min/1.73 m2 per year) or cystatin C level (-0.56 [CI, -1.28 to 0.17] mL/min/1.73 m2 per year) also had CI bounds that included the possibility of no effect.

LIMITATIONS
Few cases of severe AKI, no adjudication of AKI cause, and lack of information about nephrotoxic exposures after hospital discharge.

CONCLUSION
After pre-AKI eGFR, proteinuria, and other covariables were accounted for, the association between mild to moderate AKI and worsening subsequent kidney function in patients with CKD was small.

PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health.


: With the availability of Robert N. Bellah's original draft of his first published essay on civil religion, it is possible to gain new insight into the development of this key concept in the sociology of religion, political sociology, and related fields. Discussion begins with a comparison of the ways in which the two versions of the essay present the concept of civil religion. The draft provides a broad and insightful discussion of the nature of American religion before focusing specifically on civil religion, while the published essay begins almost immediately with illustrations of the civil religion, leaving the broader analysis of religion in Twentieth century America largely implicit, but providing more detail on the deep connections of the civil religion to American historical experience. Emphasis is then given to the Weberian as well as Durkheimian qualities of Bellah's concept of civil religion. Among these qualities is the attention in each of Bellah's discussions to the "discontents" of American civil religious beliefs and commitments. The various analyses of such discontents in several of Bellah's writings on civil religion are briefly summarized.


Networking drugs Nanogels are defined as tiny, spherical, semi permeable polymer networks with interior vol umes that can encapsulate molecules of various sizes and are highly soluble drug delivery systems (DDSs) [1]. With these unique properties, the drug release from nanogels can be controlled by either the molecular weight of entrapped mole cules and network density, or the charges of the drug and the network. Entrapped drugs can dif fuse out of nanogels as a result of network deg radation, changes in pH, temperature and ionic strength, or substitution by other molecules. For charged hydrogels, however, drug release kinetics become more complicated. We have extensively studied cationic nanogels as DDSs for negatively charged oligonucleotides, and 5  triphosphates of cytotoxic or antiviral nucle oside analogs (NAs) [2,3]. They formed neutral 'core–shell' complexes that could deliver labile drugs with high efficacy, and demonstrated enhanced activity in pre clinical models. The surface of nanogel DDSs can be decorated by targeting molecules (e.g., folate, peptides or anti bodies) to enhance drug transport through bio logical barriers or accumulation in tumors [2–4]. Despite the many advantages of nanogel DDSs, they also have certain limitations, including fast release of small molecules, potential toxicity of cationic carriers and oral administration.


In order to solve the nonlinear equation system arising when solving magnetic fields with the finite element method, very often the Newton-Raphson method is applied. Sometimes it is advantageous or necessary to apply relaxation factors in order to improve the convergence. In this paper reasons and workarounds for the convergence problem are discussed.


Kinetics of phosphate adsorption by Ca/Cr layered double hydroxide (LDH) in a batch reactor was investigated in this study. The kinetic experiments indicated that the sorption of phosphate from the synthetic feed solution by the synthesised LDH was very fast, with over 98% removal being achieved within 5 min of contact. Kinetic modeling of the sorption process to different kinetic models (pseudo first order, pseudo second order, Elovich and intraparticle diffusion) showed that the pseudo-second order model best described the process. Studies of effect of hydrochemistry on the sorption process such as initial solution pH, ionic strength and organic load contamination interference, indicated nominal effect on the amount of phosphate removed by the LDH. Overall, the study indicated that chemisorption and precipitation are active contributory mechanisms to the sorption of phosphate by Ca/Cr LDH from solution.

 Key words: Adsorption kinetics, chemisorption, layered double hydroxide, phosphate removal, precipitation.


While Internet and network technology have been growing rapidly, cyber attack incidents also increase accordingly. The increasing occurrence of network attacks is an important problem to network services. In this paper, we present a network based Intrusion Detection and Prevention System DPS), which can efficiently detect many well-known attack types and can immediately prevent the network system from network attacks. Our approach is simple and efficient and can be used with several machine learning algorithms. We actually implement the IDPS using different machine learning algorithms and test in an online network environment. The experimental results show that our IDPS can distinguish normal network activities from main attack types (Probe and Denial of Service) with high accuracy of detection rate in a few seconds and automatically prevent the victim's computer network from the attacks. In addition, we apply a well-known machine learning technique called C4.5 Decision Tree in our approach to consider unknown or new network attack types. Surprisingly, the supervised Decision Tree technique can work very well, when experiencing with untrained or unknown network attack types.


The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of McDonald's brand image towards customer loyalty with customer satisfaction as a mediator by using descriptive and Partial Least Square (PLS) analyses. The results show that three hyphotheses are accepted which mean that there is a positive impact of strength of brand association towards customer loyalty, there is a positive impact of strength of brand association towards customer satisfaction, and there is a positive impact of customer satisfaction towards customer loyalty.


We have isolated the four separate segments of chicken DNA which contain sequence homology to beta tubulin. With the exception of a fifth region of DNA which appears to contain only a 5' fragment of a beta gene, these four cloned sequences represent all of the beta tubulin encoding DNA in the chicken. Each gene is very similar in structure, containing three or four small intervening sequences clustered in the 5' portion of the coding region. Using RNAs prepared from a variety of cell lines and tissues, we have found five different mRNAs which carry beta tubulin sequences, two of which are encoded by the same gene. Three of these mRNAs are unexpectedly long (between 3500 and 4000 bases). However, these large mRNAs do give authentic beta tubulin translation products. Overall, we conclude that each of the four beta tubulin genes is a functional gene which is expressed in a specific program during differentiation. These data strongly suggest that four beta tubulins are necessary for proper microtubule function in vertebrates.


This study presents an intelligent approach based on software agents capable of conducting and coordination trains in stretches of single railway track, aiming to optimizing the utilization of railway and reduce environment impacts. In the Brazilian rail modal, due to the low duplication of tracks, trains that journey on single railways should accomplish required halts, in order to wait for other trains to use the crossing loop safely. The technological evolution resulted on the appearance of new railway traffic system control. However, systems that rely on software agents are not well explored yet. Therefore, this study elaborated a Intelligent System capable of simulating railway environment using agent drivers and agents with a highest level in managing the railway tracks. The behaviour of agents was based on specialized rules of conduction and his proactivity is based in obtain a sage driving with informations of position and time limit to the end of journey. The coordination between them occurs through message exchanges, always aiming to avoid halts during the journey. Results have shown an strong average reduction of 22.5% in journey time and 25.5% in fuel consumption when compared to journeys using the traditional method of conduction. The reduction, not only on the journey time, but also on the fuel consumption, entails on the decrease of CO2 emission. c © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Peer-review under responsibility of KES International.


The population imbalance between nuclear singlet states and triplet states of strongly coupled spin-1/2 pairs, also known as nuclear singlet order, is well protected against several common relaxation mechanisms. We study the nuclear singlet relaxation of 13C pairs in aqueous solutions of 1,2-13C2 squarate over a range of pH values. The 13C singlet order is accessed by introducing 18O nuclei in order to break the chemical equivalence. The squarate dianion is in chemical equilibrium with hydrogen-squarate (SqH-) and squaric acid (SqH2) characterized by the dissociation constants pK1 = 1.5 and pK2 = 3.4. Surprisingly, we observe a striking increase in the singlet decay time constants TS when the pH of the solution exceeds ∼10, which is far above the acid-base equilibrium points. We derive general rate expressions for chemical-exchange-induced nuclear singlet relaxation and provide a qualitative explanation of the TS behavior of the squarate dianion. We identify a kinetic contribution to the singlet relaxation rate constant, which explicitly depends on kinetic rate constants. Qualitative agreement is achieved between the theory and the experimental data. This study shows that infrequent chemical events may have a strong effect on the relaxation of nuclear singlet order.


835 Editorial—Oppenheimer The insula lies beneath the fronto-parietal operculum, and the superior temporal plane and is the area of cortex that overlies the claustrum.1 Using stimulation techniques in the cat, monkey, and dog insulae, Kaada elicited progressive shallowness of respiratory movements, finally ceasing altogether in expiration.2 Apnea persisted for 25-30 seconds while insular stimulation continued and then normal respiratory activity resumed. In the monkey this effect was noted even when the insula was surgically isolated, indicating that it was unlikely to be due to stimulation of fibers of passage; a cortical origin was also suggested as this response was abolished by anesthetizing the insula with procainamide. More recently much interest has focused on the role of the insula in cardiovascular regulation particularly regarding cardiac rhythm and contractility. Prolonged stimulation of the insula in rats results in cardiac structural changes and lethal cardiac arrhythmias.3 There is recent evidence that left insular damage may contribute to the increased cardiac morbidity and mortality seen in patients on long-term follow-up after stroke.4 Insular regions involved in cardiovascular regulation are lateralized with parasympathetic and baroreceptor regulatory control focused more in the left caudal insula in the rat, or left anterior insula in the human, and sympathetic cardiovascular mechanisms more concentrated in the right insula.5,6 However the functional separation is not absolute, and there are insulo-insular reciprocal connections linking both cardiovascular zones.7 Convergence of nociceptive and baroreceptor inputs onto insular cells in the monkey and rat indicate further an integrative action for the insula.8,9 This is heightened by a consideration of anatomical connectivity, showing that the insula receives reciprocal connections from other brain areas involved in memory, cognitive, sensorimotor, and emotional functions.10,11 Emerging from these studies is the concept that the insular cortex functions with other brain areas including the anterior cingulate and pre-frontal cortices to integrate interoceptive and exteroceptive perception, with cognitive, memory, and emotional engrams adapting autonomic patterning to produce a response appropriate to the environmental circumstance. This is a complex role, and it is hardly surprising that these paired structures show compartmentalized lateralization of function and that the nature of this may vary temporally as well as spatially according to the nature of the eliciting stimuli.12 EDITORIAL


AdaptiSPECT is a pre-clinical adaptive SPECT imaging system under final development at the Center for Gamma-ray Imaging. The system incorporates multiple adaptive features: an adaptive aperture, 16 detectors mounted on translational stages, and the ability to switch between a non-multiplexed and a multiplexed imaging configuration. In this paper, we review the design of AdaptiSPECT and its adaptive features. We then describe the on-going integration of the imaging system.


Abstract Rosa damascena Mill. (Damask rose) is a famous traditional flower that is widely appreciated for its valuable essential oil and high-quality fragrance used in the perfume and cosmetics industries. Rose oil contains more than 300 volatile constituents, and the main constituents geraniol, linalool, nerol, and citronellol determine the essential oil quality. In the present study, we reported the cloning and characterization of three rose monoterpene synthase genes related to rose oil quality. The genes encoding geranyl diphosphate synthase (GDPS) designated as RdGDP (accession No. MN650820), geraniol synthase (GES) as RdGES (accession No. MN639696), and linalool synthase (LIS) as RdLIS (accession No. MN639697) and involved in the monoterpene synthases pathways were successfully cloned from R. damascena and their expression profiles in different flower developmental stages were determined by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The deduced RdGDP, RdGES, and RdLIS proteins contain 383, 603, and 562 amino acids, and the corresponding size of their open-reading frames is 1152, 1812, and 1689 bp, respectively. Expression analysis revealed that these genes demonstrated persistent expressions from the budding to the full opening stages of R. damascena flower development, and the expression levels of RdLIS were lower than that of RdGDP and RdGES. These results suggest that the GDP and GES can regulate the biosynthesis of floral scents in Damask rose flowers. The cloning of rose genes, including RdGDP, RdGES, and RdLIS, could have far-reaching implications for improving the quality of R. damascena essential oils through metabolic engineering.


A working group of the IEEE PES Electrical Machinery Committee completed the task of comparing the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards for electrical machinery with the corresponding International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards. For the synchronous generator standards, a summary of this work was presented at a panel session in Munich, Germany in July, 1997. Since then a working group has been formed in the Synchronous Machinery Sub-Committee of the IEEE PES Electrical Machinery Committee to revise the ANSI C50 series of standards. This paper summarizes that comparison and provide a status of the efforts to revise the C50 series of standards.


This paper analyzes the reflection of intense ultrashort pulses from a plane metal or semiconductor surface and the penetration of these pulses into the medium when the pulse length is shorter than the electron relaxation time. Light pulses of this sort can penetrate into metals or semiconductors even if spectral components of the field lie below the plasma frequency. They then propagate without absorption.


Messenger RNA (mRNA) is the fundamental information transfer system in the cell.  Tracking single mRNA from transcription to degradation with fluorescent probes provides spatiotemporal information in cells about how the genetic information is transferred from DNA to proteins.  The traditional single mRNA imaging approach utilizes RNA hairpins (e.g. MS2) and tethered fluorescent protein as a probe.  As an exciting alternative, RNA aptamers: small-molecule fluorophores (SFs) systems have emerged as novel single mRNA imaging probes since 2019, exhibiting several advantages including fluorogenic ability and minimal perturbation.  This review summarizes all reported RNA aptamers: SFs systems for single mRNA imaging in living cells so far.  It also discusses the challenges and provides prospects for single mRNA imaging applications.  This review is expected to inspire researchers to develop RNA aptamers: SFs systems for studying gene expression at single-molecule resolution in cells.


A case of isolated tricuspid insufficiency is reported. The lesion, that at surgery resulted to be an anterior valve leaflet detachment, was well tolerated for a long time. After 23 years from the trauma the patient was successfully treated by surgical correction. The clinical features, compared to the 33 cases reported in the literature, demonstrated that the clinical course was more dramatic in patients with papillary muscle rupture than in those where the lesion was located on the chordae tendineae and/or the valves. The physical findings are characteristic but not specific of the traumatic type of tricuspidal insufficiency. However, when these symptoms are found in a patient where a trauma has previously occurred, the correct diagnosis should consider this possibility. The ECG usually shows incomplete bundle branch block, and the chest roentgenogram reveals cardiomegaly. Furthermore, the blood pressure levels in the right chambers are nearly normal. Surgery is often indicated and seems to give very good results. Our patient markedly improved after surgical treatment. Electrocardiographic and vectorcardiographic evidence of right atrial and ventricular hypertrophy was reduced as well as the roentgenographic pattern.