Abstract Taxonomy of mitten crabs has been problematic and confusing. Eriocheir was considered to comprise four species (E. japonica, E. sinensis, E. recta, and E. leptognathus). However, recent taxonomic revision has recognized five species and three genera, Eriocheir being restricted to E. sinensis, E. japonica, and E. hepuensis, and the establishment of two genera for Neoeriocheir leptognathus and Platyeriocheir formosa. The present study analyzed the phylogeny of the species of Eriocheir, sensu lato, based on DNA sequence analysis of mitochondrial 16S rRNA, cytochrome c oxidase I, and the first internal transcribed spacer of nuclear rRNA. The results show that the three Eriocheir, sensu stricto, species are genetically similar, indicating that they have recently radiated. Eriocheir formosa is the sister taxon of these three species, with E. leptognathus the most distantly related taxon within the group. These results support the affinities of the mitten crabs, but the genetic divergence among the crabs provides no support for separating Eriocheir, s. l., to three different genera. We suggest to retain the apparently monophyletic mitten crabs in a single genus until more evidence is available.


We investigate the roles of measurement time scale and the nature of the fluorophores in the FRET states measured for calmodulin, a calcium signaling protein known to undergo pronounced conformational changes. The measured FRET distributions depend markedly on the measurement time scale (nanosecond or microsecond). Comparison of FRET distributions measured by donor fluorescence decay with FRET distributions recovered from single-molecule burst measurements binned over time scales of 90 μs to 1 ms reveals conformational averaging over the intervening time regimes. We find further that, particularly in the presence of saturating Ca(2+), the nature of the measured single-molecule FRET distribution depends markedly on the identity of the FRET pair. The results suggest interchange between conformational states on time scales of hundreds of microseconds or less. Interaction with a fluorophore such as the dye Texas Red alters both the nature of the measured FRET distributions and the dynamics of conformational interchange. The results further suggest that the fluorophore may not be merely a benign reporter of protein conformations in FRET studies, but may in fact alter the conformational landscape.


Purpose To investigate the signal intensity obtained from the vitreoretinal interface using the spectral domain 3D OCT images.

Methods Review of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) examinations; mapping of the intensity of the tomographic signal over the posterior pole using the 3D reconstruction software; Retrospective study of the signs revealed. Chi-square was used.

Results Mapping the signal intensity over the posterior pole was named as Vitreoretinal Interface Signal Topography (V.I.SI.T.); VISIT images offer views of the epicenters and retinal folds associated with epiretinal membranes, a tool to followup the progress of the disease and to investigate the direction of the tractional forces; VISIT images allow the visualization of the borders of internal limiting membrane peeling and the inner retinal defects after an ILM rhexis; VISIT images revealed white plaques at the vitreoretinal interface, which were named as saltmarshes (SAM); SAMs are reproducible, exhibit interocular symmetry, faint in older ages and they correlate with the epicenters of ERMs.

Conclusion En face VISIT images offers unique information about the vitreoretinal interface; the saltmarshes sign may indicate the areas of strong vitreoretinal adherence and strain and/or the cortex remnants after a posterior vitreous detachment.


Background Paramedics play an important role in reducing pain in patients calling an ambulance. We aimed to identify how patient factors (age, sex), clinical condition and paramedic factors (sex, role seniority) affected pain treatment and outcomes. Methods We used a cross sectional design using routine retrospective data a one-week sample of all 999 ambulance attendances in two large regional UK ambulance services for all patients aged 18 years or over where pain was identified in people requiring primary transport to hospital. Exclusion criteria patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale score below 13, or patients not attended by a paramedic. We used a multilevel design, using a regression model to investigate which factors were independently associated with administration of analgesia and reduction in pain, taking into account confounders including patient demographics and other variables. Analysis was performed with Stata. Results We collected data on 9574 patients (service 1, 2; n=3344, 6230 respectively) including 4911 (51.3%) male and 4524 (47.3%) females (1.5% missing). Initial pain score was not recorded in 42.4% (4063/9574). The multilevel model suggested that the factors associated with use of strong opiates (morphine intravenously or orally) was a pain score of 7 or above, patient age 50–64 years and suspected fractured neck of femur. Reduction in pain score of 2 or more points was significant whatever the initial pain score and associated with age 50–84 years. There was no association between use of strong opiate analgesic or reduction in pain score and sex of patient and/or sex of paramedic or crew member. Conclusion Our initial analysis showed a high level of non-recording of pain scores. There was no association between use of strong opiate analgesics or reduction in pain score of 2 points or more with patient sex or crew sex or paramedic skill level.


Previous work has shown that alterations in proteoglycan aggregates are among the first changes detected with aging, disuse, and degeneration of articular cartilage, yet the cause or causes of these alterations remain unknown. To determine if differences in link protein concentration can explain alterations in the assembly, size, and stability of articular cartilage proteoglycan aggregates, we isolated proteoglycan monomer (aggrecan) and link protein from adult bovine articular cartilage and then assembled proteoglycan aggregates from aggrecan and 0.8% hyaluronan relative to aggrecan weight, in the presence of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, and 20% concentrations of link protein relative to aggrecan weight. We determined the amount, sedimentation coefficient, and stability of the aggregates by analytical ultracentrifugation and measured their dimensions by electron microscopy with use of the monolayer technique. Increased aggregate size, as determined by ultracentrifugation, was directly correlated with an increased number of aggrecans per aggregate and with increased hyaluronan length, as determined by electron microscopy. The concentration of link protein significantly influenced aggregation: concentrations of 6–8% produced maximum aggregation, aggregate stability, and uniformity of aggrecan spacing; concentrations greater than 10% led to the formation of superaggregates (aggregates with sedimentation velocities greater than 100 S that may result from linking two or more hyaluronan filaments) but decreased aggregate stability; and concentrations of less than 4% link protein significantly decreased aggregation, the size and stability of aggregates, and the regularity of aggrecan spacing. The latter observations suggest that a decline in the concentration of link protein could decrease the organization and stability of the articular cartilage matrix.


Limulus amoebocyte lysate test (LALT) was used to detect endotoxin-like substances in the plasma of 57 patients with dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS), four patients with dengue fever and 20 control patients with other diseases. The LALT positivity rates in DHF/DSS and dengue fever patients were 43.9 and 25 per cent respectively, whereas all control patients were negative (p less than 0.0025). LALT positivity was highest on 5th and 6th days of admission with positive rates of 46 and 50 per cent respectively whereas the positive rates in those admitted on fourth and seventh days of admission were 29 and 33 per cent respectively. A follow-up in LALT positive patients showed a decline in the positive rates after admission. LALT positivity was observed in 48.8 per cent of DHF/DSS patients with shock and in 26.6 per cent of patients without shock.


The management of major lower gastrointestinal haemorrhage has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. Innovations in coaxial catheter technology have allowed the interventional radiologist to reach the small peripheral mesenteric arteries and perform superselective embolization with a variety of agents. The present large series represents the 5-year experience of this technique at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, in a patient cohort with a high number of comorbidities. Technical success was achieved in 96% of cases. The clinical symptoms of mesenteric ischaemia developed in four patients after embolization and were managed conservatively in two. The procedure-related mortality was low when compared with the published complication rates for emergency surgery, in this clinical setting.


We present a selective encoding method that reduces test data volume and test application time for scan testing of intellectual property (IP) cores. This method encodes the slices of test data that are fed to the scan chains in every clock cycle. To drive N scan chains, we use only c tester channels, where c=lceillog2(N+1)rceil+2 . In the best case, we can achieve compression by a factor of N/c using only one tester clock cycle per slice. We derive a sufficient condition on the distribution of care bits that allows us to achieve the best-case compression. We also derive a probabilistic lower bound on the compression for a given care-bit density. Unlike popular compression methods such as embedded deterministic test (EDT), the proposed approach is suitable for IP cores because it does not require structural information for fault simulation, dynamic compaction, or interleaved test generation. The on-chip decoder is small, independent of the circuit under test and the test set, and it can be shared between different circuits. We present compression results for a number of industrial circuits and compare our results to other recent compression methods targeted at IP cores.


Old reinforced concrete buildings are vulnerable to seismic actions as they were built in accordance with non-seismic code provisions and suffer from poor material quality and/or reinforcement detailing. Moreover, many buildings were constructed without even basic design code recommendations. Consequently, their structural components, in particular beam-column joints, suffer from a wide range of deficiencies. These joints may deteriorate severely under seismic actions leading to extensive damage and collapse.
The current study aims to develop an understanding of the behaviour of exterior beam-column joints with shear strength and anchorage deficiencies, and to examine a strengthening solution using post-tensioned metal strips in upgrading their performance.
A multiphase experimental programme was conducted including small and medium scale beams with inadequate lap splices loaded in tension and deficient isolated full-scale exterior beam-column joints subjected to quasi-static cyclic loading.
In the beam tests, deficient splices were investigated under different confinement conditions, namely, unconfined, internally confined by steel stirrups, and externally confined by metal strips. Test parameters included concrete cover, confinement ratios, concrete quality, and bar diameter. Providing post-tensioned external confinement had a considerable impact on the behaviour, and resulted in sizable enhancements in strength and ductility. Parametric studies were conducted to identify the parameters most influencing the contribution of external confinement to bond. A bond stress-slip model is proposed that can be used to predict and simulate the behaviour of splices strengthened by post-tensioned metal strips. This model was implemented in FE models of beams and showed good correlation with the measured response.
In the joint tests, four full scale exterior RC beam-column joints were tested under cyclic loading. The joints experienced severe cracking and damage including a shear mechanism in the panel zone. The joints failed prematurely at about 50% of their nominal flexural strength. Strengthening the joints with post-tensioned metal strips led to an improved performance, higher energy dissipation and more controlled shear failure along with moderate damage in the beam.
An enhanced ACI-based strut-and-tie joint model is proposed and verified against the current test results and results by others. The model can be used for strengthened specimens as well as unconfined exterior joints and it accounts for different beam anchorage lengths.
A quad-linear shear stress-strain model is proposed to simulate the behaviour of strengthened joints. The model was implemented in a finite element panel-zone scissors model. The scissors model was incorporated in nonlinear static and cyclic analyses. The simulated response was found to represent the joint behaviour reasonably well.
A full-scale two storey reinforced concrete framed building was designed and tested on a shaking table, in cooperation with different researchers and academic partners. The building was substandard with a multiple range of deficiencies in the joint regions and connecting elements. The bare building suffered severe damage under small seismic intensities. Upgrading the structure with schemes of post-tensioned metal strips led to a considerably enhanced performance.


Nitrones are arguably one of the most efficient compounds with multi-functional capabilities, acting as both radical spin traps and 1,3-dipoles. In contrast to their potential synthetic versatility, the application of nitrones in synthetic polymer chemistry is still in its infancy and its true potential has yet to be fully explored. The current report thus serves as a highlight and provides an update on the current status of nitrones in macromolecular synthesis.


Recent works have shown that large models pretrained on common visual learning tasks can provide useful representations for a wide range of specialized perception problems, as well as a variety of robotic manipulation tasks. While prior work on robotic manipulation has predominantly used frozen pretrained features, we demonstrate that in robotics this approach can fail to reach optimal performance, and that fine-tuning of the full model can lead to significantly better results. Unfortunately, fine-tuning disrupts the pretrained visual representation, and causes representational drift towards the fine-tuned task thus leading to a loss of the versatility of the original model. We introduce"lossless adaptation"to address this shortcoming of classical fine-tuning. We demonstrate that appropriate placement of our parameter efficient adapters can significantly reduce the performance gap between frozen pretrained representations and full end-to-end fine-tuning without changes to the original representation and thus preserving original capabilities of the pretrained model. We perform a comprehensive investigation across three major model architectures (ViTs, NFNets, and ResNets), supervised (ImageNet-1K classification) and self-supervised pretrained weights (CLIP, BYOL, Visual MAE) in 3 task domains and 35 individual tasks, and demonstrate that our claims are strongly validated in various settings.


Genotype × environment interactions of most concern to plant breeders involve cultivar rank change across environments, i.e., crossover interaction (COI). When COIs are present, cluster strategies can be used to group environments without significant changes in cultivar ranks. Several methods for classifying environments without COI have recently been proposed. In this study, the shifted multiplicative model (SHMM) fusion method based on a building block principle is used for grouping environments which rank cultivars similarly. The SHMM fusion selects the best action by computing for each new cluster formed, a new set of distance measures with the other clusters and with the unclustered individuals. Experimental data were collected on 55 cultivars evaluated under five irrigation levels in each of two trials (10 environments). Groups of environments obtained with SHMM fusion were compared with those obtained using cluster analysis based on Euclidean distances computed from unstandardized and standardized data. The SHMM fusion formed four final clusters of environments. The final clusters grouped environments with similar irrigation levels. Conventional cluster analysis based on Euclidean distances produced final clusters with much larger percentage of COIs than SHMM fusion. Results show that SHMM fusion is a useful strategy for classifying environments without cultivar rank change


A collection of resources - both subscribed and available for free - to suport research at the Lien Centre for Social Inovation at Singapore Management University. Philanthropy


In this paper, we present a robust speech recognition based on binaural speech enhancement system as a preprocessing step. This system uses an existing dereverberation technique followed by a spatial masking-based noise removal algorithm where only signals coming from the desired directions are retained by using a threshold angle. While state-of-the art approaches fix the threshold angle heuristically over all time frames, in this paper, we propose to consider an adaptive computation where this threshold angle is first learned in several noise-only frames and then updated frame by frame. Speech recognition results in real environment show the effectiveness of the proposed speech enhancement approach.


State-space models, and the state-space representation of data, are an important tool for econometric modeling and computation. However, when applied to observed (rather than detrended) data, many such models have a mixture of stationary and non-stationary roots. While Koopman (1997) and Durbin and Koopman (2002) provide "exact" calculations for models with non-stationary roots, these have not yet been implemented in most software. Also, neither the Koopman article nor the Durbin and Koopman book address (directly) the handling of models where a unit root is shared among several series—a frequent occurrence in statespace models derived from DSGE's. This paper provides a unified framework for computing the finite and "infinite" components of the initial state variance matrix which is both flexible enough to handle mixed roots and also faster (even for purely stationary models) than standard methods. In addition, it examines some


PurposeThe purpose of this study was to describe teacher candidate perceptions of the influence of solution-focused brief coaching (SFBC) sessions on movement toward self-identified outcomes. The SFBC approach emanated from the London-based organization BRIEF: The Centre for Solution Focused Practice (BRIEF, n.d.).Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative study engaged ten participants in two SFBC sessions. In the first coaching session, participants identified a "preferred future" and described what would be happening when it came to fruition. Coaches employed SFBC elements such as the "miracle question," scaling questions, descriptions of strengths and recognition of resources already in place (Iveson et al., 2012). In the second session, following coaching, participants shared their perceptions and experiences of the SFBC process.FindingsAll participants reported movement toward desired outcomes, and their perceptions of the SFBC process revealed five themes: an increase in positive emotion, enhanced self-efficacy, value in the co-construction of their preferred future, the coaching process as a catalyst for actualizing their preferred future and adoption of a solution-focused lens in other contexts.Originality/valueThis study answers the call for additional research in three areas: it provides data from completed SFBC sessions, examines participant follow-up on progress toward their preferred futures and provides insight regarding the coaching relationship dynamic. In addition, it provides qualitative findings for the SFBC approach, which have traditionally been dominated by quantitative results.


Abstract This article aims to offer a valid answer to the question why Turkey's official stance on the Cyprus problem experienced frequent shifts - from indifference (1950) into supporting colonial rule (1954) then into Taksim, or partition (1956) and, finally, into independence (1959). Drawing upon the main assumptions of neoclassical realism, it argues that the existing systemic explanations in the scholarly literature that focus on Cold War rivalry are insufficient to grasp why there were such remarkable shifts in Turkey's Cyprus policy in the 1950s. Instead, the article will focus on the domestic dynamics to make better sense of these policy changes. Accordingly, it will first discuss the main assumptions of neoclassical realism as a sound theoretical framework. Second, it will scrutinise in detail how Turkey experienced such shifts in its Cyprus policy throughout the 1950s. Third, the article will discuss the extant literature that overwhelmingly concentrates on systemic explanations for Turkey's volte-face in Cyprus. In response, the article will offer alternative explanations by focusing on Turkey's depleting resource extraction capacity and the political leadership of Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, in order to fully understand the underlying reasons behind Turkey's shifting Cyprus policy.


Rapid dissolution of partly amorphized kaolinite in the systems kaolinite + NiCl2, kaolinite + Ni(OH)2, and kaolinite + NiCl2 + Ni(OH)2, at a temperature of 200°C and at pH between 5.3 and 7.4, leads to the precipitation of Ni-poor kaolinite, Ni-rich kaolinite and Al-Ni-serpentine. Identification of the phases was carried out using a combination of X-ray diffraction and transmission/analytical electron microscopy. Ni-bearing kaolinite shows variable morphologies in the systems studied: stacks of kaolinite with relatively small Ni contents and fine-grained curved particles of Ni-rich kaolinite dominate in the Cl-bearing system; spherical particles with a disordered structure and relatively uniform Ni contents (in the order of 0.15 atoms per formula unit (a.p.f.u.)) and platy particles of Al-Ni-serpentine characterize the products formed in the Ni(OH)2-richest systems. The presence of Ni(OH)2 in the systems (with and without Cl) favors the dissolution process as well as rapid precipitation of spherical particles, and the formation of serpentine. A difference from Mg systems studied previously is a well defined phase intermediate in composition between kaolinite and serpentine which originated in the Ni-bearing systems. Increasing Ni content is clearly reflected in the parallel increase in the b cell parameter of kaolinite. The average composition of the coexisting Al-Ni-serpentine is: (Al1.24Ti0.01Fe0.02Ni1.31) (Si1.58Al0.42)O5(OH,Cl)2.


High spatial resolution radial profiles of the perpendicular plasma rotation velocity u⊥ using a dual channel 50–75 GHz Doppler reflectometer system on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak are presented for a variety of discharge scenarios, including Ohmic, L-mode, H-mode, etc with forward and reversed magnetic field and co- and counter neutral beam injection. The reflectometers have steppable launch frequencies fo = c/λo, with selectable O- or X-mode polarization, giving tokamak edge to mid-radius coverage. Low-field-side antennae (hog-horn antenna pairs) with deliberate tilting (primarily poloidally) produce a Doppler shifted spectrum directly proportional to the perpendicular velocity fD = u⊥k⊥/2π = u⊥ 2sinθt/λo. The incident angle θt between the beam and cut-off layer normal varies with plasma shape, cut-off layer position and refraction. However, typical angles range from 5° to 27° giving a probed turbulence wavenumber, k⊥, range of 1.8–14.3 cm−1, with resulting Doppler shifts fD of up to 5 MHz. The measured perpendicular velocity is u⊥ = vE × B + vphase, which for a typical H-mode is slightly positive in the tokamak scrape-off-layer with a deep negative well across the H-mode steep pressure gradient pedestal region and then following the perpendicularly projected toroidal fluid velocity in the core, should be dominated by the E × B velocity, as the intrinsic phase velocity is predicted to be small, which may allow u⊥ to be interpreted directly as the radial electric field Er profile.


Ozone, an allotropic form of oxygen, is successfully used in the treatment of different diseases for more than a hundred years. It is highly valued for various effects, such as antimicrobial, antihypoxic, analgesic, immunostimulating etc. on biological systems. These mechanisms of action supported with a lot of case reports and scientific studies allow using it in different fields of medicine. This review of literature is another attempt to summarize different modalities of ozone application in dentistry. Further studies are necessary to standardize indications and treatment protocols of this promising medical agent.


Research into the neurobiological and psychosocial mechanisms involved in fibromyalgia (FM) has progressed remarkably in recent years. Despite this, currents accounts of FM fail to capture the complex, dynamic and mutual crosstalk between neurophysiological and psychosocial domains. We conducted a comprehensive review of the existing literature in order to synthesise current knowledge on FM, explore and highlight multi-level links and pathways among different systems and build bridges between existing approaches. An extensive panel of international experts in neurophysiology and psychosocial aspects of FM discussed the collected evidence and progressively refined and conceptualized its interpretation. Fibromyalgia is a complex condition resulting from the dynamic interplay between multiple systems and processes. We provided an updated overview of the most relevant observations in FM to date as well as the potential pathways by which they exert they are related and exert their mutual influence, to produce the manifestations commonly associated with FM. This review constituted the first step towards and supported the development of a much needed model capable of integrating the main factors implicated in FM into a single, unified model that may prove valuable in understanding and managing FM.


Background : Red cell distribution width to platelet ratio (RPR) is known to be associated with a degree of liver fibrosis in patients with hepatitis B. This study aims to compare the under curve area, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value between RPR and aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI) score with degree of fibrosis. Method : This study is a retrospective study, data taken from medical records of all chronic hepatitis B patients examined by Fibroscan at Sanglah General Hospital Denpasar, Bali from January 2016 to February 2018. Results : Ninety eight patients with chronic hepatitis B, 81 patients were recovered after exclusion of patients with chronic kidney disease, malignancy, and dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF). In receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, obtained area under the ROC curve (AUC) at RPR of 0.816, and at APRI score 0.797. In RPR with cut off 0.066 the sensitivity was 76.9%, specificity 78.6%, PPV 79.5%, NPV 73.8%. While APRI score with cut off 0.85 got 69.2% sensitivity, specificity 76.2%, PPV 73.0%, and NPV 72.7%. According to Kappa test, we found kappa coefficient 0.653 (p < 0.05). Conclusion : In predicting severe liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B patients, RPR is not inferior than APRI score, and may be used as a diagnostic marker, with 65.3% conformity.


In this paper we consider the problem of shunting train units on a railway station. Train units arrive at and depart from the station ac cording to a given train schedule and in between the units may have to be stored a t the station. The assignment of arriving to departing train units (called matching) and the scheduling of the movements to realize this matching is call ed shunting. The goal is to realize the shunting using a minimal number of shun t movements. For a restricted version of this problem an ILP approach has b een presented in the literature. In this paper, we consider the general shu nting problem and derive a greedy heuristic approach and an exact solution met hod based on dynamic programming. Both methods are flexible in the sense t hat they allow the incorporation of practical planning rules and may be ext ended to cover additional requirements from practice.


Oil Price has been a benchmark governing the trade of oil and gas globally. It is fixed by producing countries or countries in a consortium through organizations such as Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) or a particular mix of crude oil such as the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or Brent. The spot price and future prices of crude oil is basically determined by demand and supply, however, some external factors can have great influence on oil price. This research work will be emphasizing on the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as an external factor other than demand and supply on the benchmarks of oil pricing between 2000 and 2020. Having analyzed the various oil price fluctuation which have been caused by several factors over the years, this research went further to identify those significant factors, weigh them and input them into a model that will generate simulated oil prices of past, present and future benchmarks with relation to demand, supply, production cost and other external factors. This model was also validated using machine learning algorithms and real data of previous yearly average oil price noting the reasons for each spot price. Significant recommendations were made on the use of this model for fixing oil price benchmarks as variables to each benchmark are numerous.


A central task in understanding the theme of the posthuman involves relating it to the concept of the human. For some, there is continuity between the concepts of the human and the posthuman. This approach can be understood in the tradition of the great chain of being. Another approach posits a conceptual, and perhaps ontological, saltus (μετάβασις εἰς ἄλλο γένος). Here, the concept of the posthuman is taken to represent a radical departure from the realm of the human. After considering Lovejoy's scheme of the great chain of being, Aristotle's view of a conceptual saltus (μετάβασις εἰς ἄλλο γένος), and their historical significance, I will suggest how we might distinguish various concepts of the posthuman from the human by applying Rudolf Carnap's approach to defining multiple concepts of space. We can thus create a linguistic convention that will assist in constructing useful conceptions of the human and posthuman – these can clarify the prospects of a posthuman future.


Person-centred planning (PCP) puts individuals with an intellectual disability at the centre of service and support planning, identifying how individuals wish to live their lives and what is needed to make that possible. PCP has been identified as having the potential to facilitate improved social inclusion and community participation. A mixed-methods approach combined quantitative analyses with qualitative case studies of individuals with severe-profound intellectual disability to assess the impact of PCP on community participation for adults with an intellectual disability at a disability service in Dublin. We conclude that PCP may provide a good basis to plan community participation and, with the right supports in place, may provide opportunities for people with complex needs to improve their community participation. Supports including familiar staff and family are critical to the success of PCP for people with complex needs, and their absence may undermine the best intentions of PCP for this population.


Dynamic optimization techniques such as dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS), power gating (PG) and thread migration are widely used in current multi-core processor platforms to boost performance, lower power and improve energy efficiency. To obtain the best optimization results, an important issue is to predict the performance of each thread quantitatively. In this paper, a separated and clustered performance predictor, called SCP, is proposed oriented to clustered multi- threading (CMT) processors. SCP model is implemented in AMD's FX-8320 processor and its accuracy is about 6% for SPEC CPU 2006 benchmark suite. To illustrate the application and effectiveness of SCP model furthermore, we propose PPEP-SCP model for power capping, which is a combination of SCP model and PPEP model. Compared to power capping strategy based on PPEP model, strategy based on PPEP-SCP performs better in terms of the performance and the difference between the actual and the target power consumption, because PPEP-SCP based strategy can perform optimization through both DVFS and PG techniques.


The purpose of this study was to find out how perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, and trust affect the behavioral intention to use shopeepay users in DKI Jakarta. This research is quantitative. The survey was conducted on 160 respondents who are or have used shopeepay. Data analysis was carried out using structural equation modeling with AMOS. The results show that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and trust variables have a significant positive influence on behavioral intention. However, this is different from perceived enjoyment which has a positive and insignificant influence on behavioral intention to use. This is different from perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment which show insignificant results if mediated by trust. Research reveals that overall trust makes the greatest contribution to behavioral intention to use, followed by perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. So the conclusion is that companies can increase behavioral intention to use through personal information data security which is the largest contributor indicator to personal information security from hacking. The limitations in the research, among others, the limited theoretical studies up to the time of data collection, the location and research objects which only focused on e-wallet users in the DKI Jakarta area, and the number of respondents who had not reached the maximum limit that should have been.


1 Abstract — The paper reviews design and implementation of a Calculus Course required for the Biomedical Competency Based Program developed as a joint project between The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and the University of Texas' Institute for Transformational Learning, from the theoretical perspective as presented in scholarly work on active learning, formative assessment, and on-line teaching. Following a four stage curriculum development process (objective, content, delivery, and assessment), and theoretical recommendations that guarantee effectiveness and efficiency of assessment in active learning, we discuss the practical recommendations on how to incorporate a strong formative assessment component to address disciplines' needs, and students' major needs. In design and implementation of this project, we used Constructivism and Stage-by-Stage Development of Mental Actions Theory recommendations.


Since the sexual revolution, the traditional family's moral authority has been the subject of an increasingly politicized debate. The family's detractors have viewed it as an arbitrary social arrangement which perpetuates injustice and legitimates violations of individual rights. Those who defend it, on the other hand, insist that it is the only possible source of human values and suggest that those outside it are somehow deficient or deviant. In this strident and polarized atmosphere, philosopher Jacob Joshua Ross offers a long-overdue assessment of the family's relation to morality, arguing that the family is not a rigid, static institution with inflexible codes of behavior, but rather a dynamic social structure from which human morality - and human nature - emerge. Ross first explores the foundations of ethical belief, maintaining that the traditional family is intimately linked to the evolution of human morality in societies throughout the world. While he accepts the relativity of moral codes, Ross defends "true" or rational morality as the minimal and universal code on which all families depend - a code which has evolved as a result of the needs and constraints of our shared humanity, and on which all societies may one day hope to agree. Ross applies this view to many of the sensitive issues confronting today's families, such as divorce and single parenthood, adoption, surrogacy, and gay marriage. He asserts that although many people, for practical reasons, feel compelled today to seek answers outside the traditional family, this does not undermine the family's moral authority. On the contrary, Ross defends the traditional conception of the family against those who perceive parentsas mere "caretakers" of children, arguing that concepts such as intergenerational loyalty, sexual exclusivity between husband and wife, and the duty to educate and nurture one's children evolve naturally from the unique relationships which develop among family members - relation


We have previously shown that a nonimmunoreactive analogue of somatostatin, (D-Ala5, D-Trp8)-somatostatin, differentially inhibits pancreatic somatostatin secretion without inhibiting insulin or glucagon secretion. During normoglycemia, suppression of pancreatic somatostatin with this analogue increases glucagon and insulin secretion, suggesting that pancreatic somatostatin tonically inhibits glucagon and insulin secretion by a paracrine mechanism. In our study, we used this analogue to determine whether endogenous pancreatic somatostatin has a role in the inhibition of glucagon secretion by hyperglycemia. The experiments were performed in pentobarbital-anesthetized, laparotomized dogs. To measure the pancreatic output of somatostatin directly, pancreatic venous blood was sampled from the right lobe of the dog pancreas, and the pancreatic blood flow was measured. In the first set of experiments, glucagon secretion was suppressed by a glucose infusion (200 mg/kg bolus and 20 mg · kg−1 · min−1 i.v.) for 3 h. Plasma glucose rose from 102 ± 6 to 365 ± 34 mg/dl. Pancreatic insulin output increased 10-fold, pancreatic somatostatin output increased from 1.2 ± 0.3 to 3.0 ± 0.8 ng/min, and pancreatic glucagon output was suppressed from 1.4 ± 0.7 to 0.5 ± 0.1 ng/min. After 2 h of gtucose infusion, an infusion of the analogue (5.5 μg/min i.v.) reversed both the stimulation of somatostatin and the suppression of glucagon without significantly changing either the plasma glucose level or the pancreatic insulin output. In a second set of experiments, basal somatostatin output was suppressed by the analogue (5.5 μg/min i.v.) for 15 min before the administration of glucose. Pancreatic somatostatin output decreased from 2.6 ± 0.4 to 1.6 ± 0.3 ng/min, and pancreatic glucagon output rose from 1.2 ± 0.6 to 2.9 ± 0.9 ng/min. Glucose was then infused (200 mg/kg bolus and 20 mg · kg−1 · min−1 i.v.) in combination with the analogue. In response to glucose, somatostatin output rose, and glucagon output was suppressed back toward the original basal levels. Thus, in both sets of experiments, a reciprocal relationship between somatostatin and glucagon secretion was demonstrated regardless of whether the plasma glucose and insulin output changed. These data provide evidence that pancreatic somatostatin is a mediator of the suppression of glucagon during hyperglycemia.


An efficient
protocol for high frequency in vitro regeneration of Meizotropis pellita an endangered and endemic plant was
developed. In vitro germination of
the seeds of Patwa was achieved successfully after incubation for 10 -15 days and
plantlets up to a height of 5 -7 cm with profuse rooting
were observed after incubation for 7 weeks in hormone free MS medium. This in vitro germination totally reduced
contamination that used to occur in the explant taken from the field. Callus
induction and proliferation were observed in leaf explants after 15 -20 days of
incubation in MS medium containing 2 -4, D (9.06 μM) alone or
in combination with 2 -4, D (9.06 μM) + 2-iP (7.38 μM). Shoot
regeneration was achieved from 2 months old callus explant in MS medium
supplemented with BA (17.6 μM) + GA3 (1.0 μM). Shoot
multiplication was also achieved from cotyledonary node of M. pellita in MS medium supplemented with Kinetin + GA3 (4.6 μM + 1.0 μM) or BA
(13.2, 17.6 μM) + GA3 (1.0 μM) after 30 -45 days of incubation. IBA
(4.9 μM) was more effective in root regeneration from micro shoots. The
plantlets after acclimatization over a period of 1 month were further hardened
in a polyhouse for two months. On the basis of available literature this is the
first and significant study regarding the comparative effect of different PGRs
on in-vitro propagation of Meizotropis pellita by using different explants and their subsequent effect on rooting. This
significant study could be useful for large scale production of successfully
hardened plants and conservation of this shrub.


Objective: Different components of metabolic syndrome (MS) and risk factors can play important role in the development of cardiovascular changes. The aim of the study was to assess association of MS and its components with target organ damage (TOD) in a cross-sectional study of relatively healthy bank employers. Design and method: Out of 1,600 random sample of office workers, a group of 383 participants with at least one component of MS and without cardiovascular complications was selected (mean age 46.6 ± 9.0 years, 214 females (64.6%)). TOD was assessed by echocardiography (left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH)), carotid ultrasound, applanational tonometry (pulse wave velocity (PWV)), ankle-brachial index (ABI) by linear Doppler, and urine albumin excretion (UAE) measurements. Anthropometry, vital sign assessment, and biochemistry were performed according to standard protocols. Results: Prevalence of TOD according to number of MS components is presented in Table. Patients with the 3 and more MS components are at risk of TOD, but significant association was documented only for atherosclerotic plaques. Multiple linear regression revealed association of age with all subclinical markers of TOD. Figure. No caption available. Conclusions: MS components number accumulation is associated with acceleration of TOD signs. Carotid atherosclerosis is the most vulnerable marker associated with MS components.


An 18 year old female presented with the history of pain in abdomen, breast engorgement, swelling over both legs and breathlessness for three month. On clinical examination diagnosis of fibroadenoma breast was made. Ultrasonography of abdomen showed bilateral ovarian mass. Bilateral salpingo-ophrectomy was done and specimen was sent for histological examination. Two lobulated solid masses of tissues the larger one measuring 13×8×5 cm and smaller one measuring 10×7×5 cm in size received. Microscopic examination showed monomorphic population of discohesive, hyperchromatic small round cells had high N:C ratio, coarse chromatin, conspicuous nucleoli and scant to moderate amount of basophilic cytoplasm, lying in sheets and separated by fibrous strands and diffusely infiltrating the ovarian stroma. Fine needle aspiration from breast lump and leg swelling showed predominant population of blast cells. Myeloperoxidase was strongly positive and diagnosis of granulocytic sarcoma was confirmed.


ContentsIntroductionChapter I. Affine toric varieties § 1. Cones, lattices, and semigroups § 2. The definition of an affine toric variety § 3. Properties of toric varieties § 4. Differential forms on toric varietiesChapter II. General toric varieties § 5. Fans and their associated toric varieties § 6. Linear systems § 7. The cohomology of invertible sheaves § 8. Resolution of singularities § 9. The fundamental groupChapter III. Intersection theory § 10. The Chow ring § 11. The Riemann-Roch theorem § 12. Complex cohomologyChapter IV. The analytic theory § 13. Toroidal varieties § 14. Quasi-smooth varieties § 15. Differential forms with logarithmic polesAppendix 1. Depth and local cohomologyAppendix 2. The exterior algebraAppendix 3. DifferentialsReferences


Access to the 3D images at a reasonable frame rate is widespread now, thanks to the recent advances in low cost depth sensors as well as the efficient methods to compute 3D from 2D images. As a consequence, it is highly demanding to enhance the capability of existing computer vision applications by incorporating 3D information. Indeed, it has been demonstrated in numerous researches that the accuracy of different tasks increases by including 3D information as an additional feature. However, for the task of indoor scene analysis and segmentation, it remains several important issues, such as: (a) how the 3D information itself can be exploited? and (b) what is the best way to fuse color and 3D in an unsupervised manner? In this thesis, we address these issues and propose novel unsupervised methods for 3D image clustering and joint color and depth image segmentation. To this aim, we consider image normals as the prominent feature from 3D image and cluster them with methods based on finite statistical mixture models. We consider Bregman Soft Clustering method to ensure computationally efficient clustering. Moreover, we exploit several probability distributions from directional statistics, such as the von Mises-Fisher distribution and the Watson distribution. By combining these, we propose novel Model Based Clustering methods. We empirically validate these methods using synthetic data and then demonstrate their application for 3D/depth image analysis. Afterward, we extend these methods to segment synchronized 3D and color image, also called RGB-D image. To this aim, first we propose a statistical image generation model for RGB-D image. Then, we propose novel RGB-D segmentation method using a joint color-spatial-axial clustering and a statistical planar region merging method. Results show that, the proposed method is comparable with the state of the art methods and requires less computation time. Moreover, it opens interesting perspectives to fuse color and geometry in an unsupervised manner. We believe that the methods proposed in this thesis are equally applicable and extendable for clustering different types of data, such as speech, gene expressions, etc. Moreover, they can be used for complex tasks, such as joint image-speech data analysis


Suckling motions were investigated by recording the oral motions of normal infants suckling their mother's milk using ultrasonic tomographic images from below the mandibular foramen. The suckling motion was revealed to be a back and forth waving motion of the whole tongue, including the root of the tongue beginning from the tongue tip and extending to the epiglottis, and a peristalsis-like motion which fixes and presses the nipple and transports the emerging milk.The oral motion around the tongue was also recorded with a small video camera built into a suction bottle, and the suckling motion was simultaneously using an instruments developed to measure the suckling pressure. The suckling motion of the tongue was revealed to be a peristalsis-like motion in which the tongue closely surrounds the nipple and the center of the tongue presses the palate first with the anterior part of the tongue and subsequently with the posterior part of the tongue. Up to the age of three months, the suckling pressure waveforms are regular, and suckling occurs as frequently as 80-90 per minute with a constant suckling pressure.


Goatpox virus (GTPV) belongs to the genus Capripoxvirus, together with sheeppox virus (SPPV) and lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV). GTPV primarily affects sheep, goats and some wild ruminants. Although GTPV is only present in Africa and Asia, the recent spread of LSDV in Europe and Asia shows capripoxviruses could escape their traditional geographical regions to cause severe outbreaks in new areas. Therefore, it is crucial to develop effective source tracing of capripoxvirus infections. Earlier, conventional phylogenetic methods, based on limited samples, identified three different nucleotide sequence profiles in the G-protein-coupled chemokine receptor (GPCR) gene of GTPVs. However, this method did not differentiate GTPV strains by their geographical origins. We have sequenced the GPCR gene of additional GTPVs and analyzed them with publicly available sequences, using conventional alignment-based methods and an alignment-free approach exploiting k-mer frequencies. Using the alignment-free method, we can now classify GTPVs based on their geographical origin: African GTPVs and Asian GTPVs, which further split into Western and Central Asian (WCA) GTPVs and Eastern and Southern Asian (ESA) GTPVs. This approach will help determine the source of introduction in GTPV emergence in disease-free regions and detect the importation of additional strains in disease-endemic areas.


Onsite rapid detection of herbicides and herbicide residuals in environmental and biological specimens are important for agriculture, environmental concerns, food safety, and health care. The traditional method for herbicide detection requires expensive laboratory equipment and a long turnaround time. In this work, we developed a single-stripe microliter plate smartphone-based colorimetric device for rapid and low-cost in-field tests. This portable smartphone platform is capable of screening eight samples in a single-stripe microplate. The device combined the advantages of small size (50 × 100 × 160 mm3) and low cost ($10). The platform was calibrated by using two different dye solutions, i.e. methyl blue (MB) and rhodamine B, for the red and green channels. The results showed good correlation with results attained from a traditional laboratory reader. We demonstrated the application of this platform for detection of the herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in the range of 1 to 80 ppb. Spiked samples of tap water, rat serum, plasma, and human serum were tested by our device. Recoveries obtained varied from 95.6% to 105.2% for all of the spiked samples using the microplate reader and from 93.7% to 106.9% for all of the samples using the smartphone device. This work validated that the smartphone optical-sensing platform is comparable to the commercial microplate reader; it is eligible for onsite, rapid, and low-cost detection of herbicides for environmental evaluation and biological monitoring.


It is shown that two p-valued functions may be multiplexed into a complex function which has a Chrestenson spectrum. Demultiplexing in the spectral domain is simple and lends itself to parallel processing. A particular form of symmetry of the Chrestenson spectrum allows one to take advantage of the increase in information density obtained by multiplexing.


Cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles present an interesting material for various applications in biotechnology and medicine. The mechanism of CeO2 nanoparticles biological activity is supposed to be related to the presence both Ce3+ and Ce4+ ions on the surface of the nanocrystal. We studied and compared the catalytic activity of CeO2 nanoparticles synthesized by chemical and physical methods. The cerium oxide was found to demonstrate catalase-like and peroxidase activity. CeO2 nanoparticles obtained by a chemical method showed more pronounced catalytic properties. In addition, this material catalyzed the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by the enzyme horseradish peroxidase.


BACKGROUND
Optimal surgical treatment of blood-blister aneurysms (BBA) remains controversial. Some surgeons prefer clipping reconstruction while others favor primary bypass with trapping.

OBJECTIVE
To analyze of benefit of double bypass technique to surgical outcomes in patients with ruptured BBA in poor initial neurological condition (PINC).

METHODS
Retrospective analysis of clinical, radiological, and surgical data in 9 patients treated between January 2009 and December 2015. Intraoperative middle cerebral artery blood pressure (MCABP) measurement was used for selection of bypass procedure.

RESULTS
Seven patients presented with World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) score 4 or 5. No pulse pressure in the MCA after internal carotid artery (ICA) clamping was found in 3 patients, although their ACoA or PCoA were well visualized on preoperative angiograms. By contrast, only a minimal drop in MCABP following ICA clamping was detected in two cases, although their collaterals were slim/nonvisualized on imaging. Although angiographic vasospasms were not observed in our patients, two of them experienced cerebral infarction, attributable more to the mass effect and postoperative ICA thrombosis than to SAH-induced vasospasm. There were 2 premature intraoperative ruptures, but no perioperative mortality, aneurysm recurrence, or rebleeding. Five patients with WFNS SAH score 4 or 5 achieved favorable outcomes.

CONCLUSION
Early double bypass technique guided by MCABP measurement and combined with trapping (or rarely clipping) seems to be a safe method with excellent long-term outcomes in patients in PINC. This study may thus contribute to the debate on the optimal treatment strategy for BBA.


Purpose: To report posterior capsular opacification in acrylic intraocular lenses. Methods: Retrospective review of notes of patients with cataract surgery involving implantation of a hydrophilic acrylic intraocular lens (IOL) (MDR SC-60B-0UV) in at least one eye. This was done as a retrospective audit for clinical risk following adverse event reports, regarding MDR SC-60B-0UV intraocular lens, were published. Data regarding the pre- and post-operative visual acuity, ocular co-morbidity, posterior capsular thickening, Nd-YAG capsulotomy, final visual acuity, and changes in the lens clarity in both eyes were noted from the clinical notes. Results: 45 patients and 90 eyes were identified. Posterior capsular opacification (PCO) as determined by slit-lamp examination was 40% for the hydrophilic IOL (SC-60B-0UV) and 8% for the contra-lateral eye (hydrophobic IOL). In 22 eyes opacification of the SC-60-0UV IOL was observed at slit-lamp examination (44%). Conclusion: The hydrophilic acrylic IOL (SC60B-0UV) appears to have a high incidence of PCO.


We characterize superconducting antenna-coupled NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) for direct detection of THz radiation operating at a temperature of 9.0 K. At signal frequency of 2.5 THz, the measured value of the optical noise equivalent power is 2.0×10-13 W-Hz-0.5. The estimated value of the energy resolution is about 1.5 aJ. This value was confirmed in the experiment with pulsed 1.55-μm laser employed as a radiation source. The directly measured detector energy resolution is 2 aJ. The obtained risetime of pulses from the detector is 130 ps. This value was determined by the properties of the RF line. These characteristics make our detector a device-of-choice for a number of practical applications associated with detection of short THz pulses.


Liver diseases that induce nonuniform lesions often give rise to greatly varying histopathology results in needle biopsy samples from the same patient. This study examines whether gene expression analysis of such biopsies could provide a more representative picture of the overall condition of the liver. We utilized acetaminophen (APAP) as a model hepatotoxicant that gives a multifocal pattern of necrosis following toxic doses. Rats were treated with a single toxic or subtoxic dose of APAP and sacrificed 6, 24, or 48 hours after exposure. Left liver lobes were harvested, and both gene expression and histopathological analysis were performed on biopsy-sized samples. While histopathological evaluation of such small samples revealed significant sample to sample differences after toxic doses of APAP, gene expression analysis provided a very homogeneous picture and allowed clear distinction between subtoxic and toxic doses. The main biological function differentiating animals that received sub-toxic from those that had received toxic doses was an acute stress response at 6 hours and signs of energy depletion at later time points. Our results suggest that the use of genomic analysis of biopsy samples together with histopathological analysis could provide a more precise representation of the overall condition of a patient's liver than histopathological evaluation alone.


This study monitors the spatial and temporal variability of sea ambient noise (SAN) in the Cres-Lošinj archipelago from 2007 to 2009 (north-eastern Adriatic Sea, Croatia). The archipelago is an important marine habitat for many protected species, including the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) that is considered as vulnerable to disturbance from intense local vessel traffic. Systematic monthly sampling of SAN was carried out at ten predefined acoustic stations. Data on the presence, type and distance of vessels from these stations was also collected during sampling and vessels were allocated into four main classes. A sample of noise produced by a representative vessel of each vessel class was collected and the noise levels were extracted on the 1/3 octave band standard centre frequencies. All the recordings were analysed in terms of instantaneous sound pressure level (LLSP, L-weighted, 63 Hz–20 kHz, root mean square fast). The equivalent continuous sound pressure levels (LLeq) for vessel and SAN were calculated averaging the LLSP of vessel and SAN samples. Results indicate an increase of SAN levels particularly in the range of low frequencies (63 Hz–1 kHz) during the tourist season. A positive relationship was found between the spatial and temporal distribution of SAN and seasonal changes in anthropogenic pressure, in terms of vessel traffic. Potential implications for local marine life, with particular reference to bottlenose dolphins, are discussed.


Background: An assessment of hemodynamic stability is central to surgical decision-making in the management of battlefield ballistic torso trauma (BBTT). Aims: To analyse the utility of admission physiological parameters in characterising hemodynamic stability. Settings and Design: A retrospective analysis of consecutive admissions, with BBTT, to forward surgical facility in Afghanistan. Materials and Methods: The cohorts' admission physiology, need for operative intervention, and mortality data were collected retrospectively. The cohort was divided into patients requiring surgery for Life-Threatening Torso Hemorrhage (LTTH) and those not requiring immediate surgery (non-LTTH). Statistical Analysis: Parameters were compared using two sample t tests, Mann–Whitney, Fisher's exact, and Chi-square tests. Receiver operator characteristic curves were used to identify significant parameters and determine optimum cut-off values. Results: A total of 103 patients with isolated BBTT were identified: 44 in the LTTH group and 59 in the non-LTTH group. The mean New Injury Severity Score ± Standard Deviation (NISS±SD) was 28±14 and 13±12, respectively. The heart rate, systolic blood pressure (SBP), pulse pressure, shock index (SI=heart rate/SBP) and base excess were analysed. SI correlated best with the need for surgical torso hemorrhage control, P<0.05. An optimal cut-off of 0.9 was identified, producing a positive and negative predictive value of 81% and 82%, respectively. Conclusions: Shock index (SI) is a useful parameter for helping military surgeons triage BBTT, identifying patients requiring operative torso hemorrhage control. SI performance requires a normal physiological response to hypovolemia, and thus should always be considered in clinical context.


In order to improve the dual layer structure of LIPS tapes, by improving the perpendicularity of the surface layer and the longitudinal orientation of the inside layer, infrared irradiation under a perpendicular holding field was added to the "surface air-dry" stage. A tape thus obtained showed a higher playback output at both short and long wavelengths than for previous tapes with an oblique orientation over their entire thickness. The dual-layer tape had a playback output higher by 5 dB than for longitudinal tape at λ = 0.7 μm. Particles with a small aspect ratio (approximately 5) proved to be suitable for use in perpendicular tapes because of their resistance to calendering disorientation. This effect was confirmed by SQRz measurements.


This paper describes a structured tool demonstration, a hybrid evaluation technique that combines elements from experiments, case studies and technology demonstrations. Developers of program understanding tools were invited to bring their tools to a common location to participate in a scenario with a common subject system. Working simultaneously the tool teams were given reverse engineering tasks and maintenance tasks to complete on an unfamiliar subject system. Observers were assigned to each team to find out how useful the observed program comprehension tool would be in an industrial setting. The demonstration was followed by a workshop panel where the development teams and the observers presented their results and findings from this experience.


We construct an algorithm for United States retirees that computes individualized tax-efficient annual withdrawals from IRAs/401(k)s, Roth IRAs/Roth 401(k)s, and taxable accounts. Our algorithm applies a new approach that generates an individualized strategy that results in consistent improvements over non-individualized withdrawal strategies currently advocated by financial institutions and academics. Among other results, we quantifiably demonstrate why retirees should avoid, not seek, dividend producing stocks in their taxable accounts. Our model, which can work to optimize either portfolio longevity or the bequest to an heir, accommodates many salient tax code features, including dividends, different taxable lots, conversions, and required minimum distributions.


Nowadays, the social importance of the railway transportation is accepted without any doubt, and the levels of comfort and operation quality associated to railways are continuously increasing. The travel times that could be considered allowable in the past century are now obsolete and in order to reduce time "losses", traffic speeds larger than 300 km/h are being asked for. In order to analyse properly the behaviour of the different layers that make up the railway track structure, the Centro de Estudios y Experimentación de Obras Públicas (CEDEX) of the Ministerio de Fomento, Spain, has built a large facility (5 x 4 x 21 m) for true scale testing where, by means of several dynamic actuators, the passage of high speed railway traffic can be reproduced, and its long term effect on the track materials can be studied. This paper describes the facility from a structural standpoint, including the self-controlled actuators and the instrumentation that has been laid out prior to the test being carried out. Finally, the most relevant results, than can be obtained in dynamic tests, are shown.


Abstract : Firefighters are tasked with conducting search and rescue operations at incidents ranging from minor smoke conditions to multi-agency disasters. In each instance, a rapid risk assessment must be conducted based on preliminary dispatch information. Small lightweight man portable robots are a natural fit for gaining improved situational awareness, yet few have been employed for this application. The problems encountered in using wireless robots in urban environments are among the primary reasons. This thesis focuses on the wireless link between the robot and the firefighter employing it. The work presented is useful for policy makers in allocating public safety spectrum, firefighters in pre-planning responses, and engineers for designing relevant control systems. While the arguments rest on a technical footing of test data and models, the paper is written primarily for a non-technical audience. A technology acceptance model is developed for employing robots wirelessly. Test data is presented showing the debilitating effects of interference from employing multiple robots concurrently. Models are applied to predict signal loss in tunnels and urban environments, and results indicate an optimal frequency range exists between 500 MHz and 1 GHz. A case is presented to allocate spectrum in this range using a priority access protocol.


In recent years, emerging evidences indicate that epigenetic alteration in the promoter region or the 5' untranslated region of genes is one of the most common molecular events associated with human malignancies1. To analyze methylation patterns in human malignancies, large numbers of samples are needed. Most of the human issues, however, are in the archived form of formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded (FFPE)blocks. Currently, methylation specific PCR or methylation sequencing requires the usage of DNA samples extracted only from fresh or frozen tissue. DNA extracted from FFPE tissues is of poor quality largely due to containing DNA-DNA and DNA-protein cross-links that survive the DNA extraction process. These cross-links interfere with bisulfite deamination of cytosine, and produce inconsistent, and sometimes, outright false positive results. As a result, there are only sporadic reports of epigenetic analysis of FFPE samples thus far. This greatly limits the usefulness of these samples for epigenetic analysis. A new method that eliminates these cross-links is needed for analyzing the methylation patterns of these samples. In this report, we generate a new method that has significant improvement on reducing the false positive or false negative rate of sodium bisulfite deamination.

In this study, we retrieve modifiable genomic DNA by incorporating trypsin digestion, cross-linking reduction, protein striping and DNA denaturing into a four-step process (figure 1a). In the first step, the microdissected FFPE samples are treated with 0.25% trypsin at 37°C for 30 minutes to digest DNA associated proteins and to reduce the complexity of DNA-proteins complex. This process is followed by incubating the sample with lysis buffer (80 mM Tris/HCl pH 6.8, 10 % Mercaptoethanol, 200 mM NaCl, 2 % SDS) in boiling condition for 30 minutes. This step intends to denature protein, to reduce DNA-protein cross-linking, and to remove proteins from genome DNA. The samples are then treated with phenol/chloroform to remove the reduced/dissociated proteins. The DNA is subsequently purified through ammonia acetate/ethanol precipitation.

Figure 1

Trypsin and reduction protocol for formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded samples

In order to validate this methodology, we fixed fresh PC-3 cells with formalin and subsequently created a paraffin block containing these PC-3 cells. Five microns thin sections of PC-3 cell block were sliced onto glass slides. The DNA from these sections was extracted using trypsin/reduction protocol. An aliquot of fresh PC-3 cells from the same batch of culture was used as controls to determine the status of gene methylation. The DNA was treated with sodium bisulfite. Methylation PCRs were performed on each DNA preparation using degenerative methylation primers specific for MT1e, MT1h and SOX4. The PCR products from each preparation were ligated into TA cloning vector, and transformed into E.coli. Five colonies from each preparation were analyzed for CpG island methylation status. To evaluate the accuracy of this method, we used the methylation sequencing results from fresh prepared PC-3 cell samples as the standard. When there is a complete concordance between FFPE and fresh samples, the accuracy of the method reaches 100%, and the error rate is 0%. Vice versa, when there is no concordance between FFPE cells and fresh samples, the accuracy will be 0%, and error rate will be 100%. As shown in Table 1, the overall accuracy for trypsin/reduction method is 99.3% for MT1e, 99.4% for MT1h and 100% for SOX4. Trypsin/reduction has only 4 errors in total. To investigate the utility of this method in analyzing methylation status of genes of archived tissues, we selected five samples of FFPE tissues with relatively long storage time (10 to 20 years) and their matched frozen counterpart. Subsequently, we performed methylation PCR and methylation sequencing on these samples as described above. The results from FFPE samples were then compared with those from matched frozen tissues to evaluate the accuracy of the methylation analysis. As shown in table 1, the accuracy rate of cytosine deamination ranges from 97% to 100% for the CpG islands of these 3 genes, appears not to be affected by long storage time. As a result, the trypsin/reduction method presented in the study appears reproducible and reliable for analyzing FFPE archived tissues. In order to compare our method with the existing Heat/alkaline2 and Heat/proteinase K3 methods, we extracted DNA from the FFPE PC3 cell blocks using these methods, and performed methylation analysis on MT1e and MT1h genes. As shown in table 2, the overall error rate of heat/alkaline is 3%, while heat/proteinase K is 9.5%, significantly higher than that of trypsin/reduction method (0.6%, p=0.003 versus heat/alkaline, p=1.7 × 10−12 versus heat/proteinase K). Furthermore, trypsin/reduction method appears to accurately analyze the methylation status of FFPE tissues with long storage time, making this method highly useful in analyzing archived clinical samples.

Table 1

Utility of trypsin and reduction method in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues

Table 2

Detail error rate of methodology


British military personnel are frequently exposed to high altitude (HA) (>1500m). Operations in Afghanistan have occurred at altitudes of up to 3000m and there remains the possibility of rapid deployment of non-acclimatised troops to HA areas. British military personnel also deploy to HA frequently on Adventurous Training (AT) and there are numerous expeditions every year to the Greater Ranges. As such, there remains a reasonable likelihood of the development of high altitude illness (HAI) with potentially life-threatening consequences. This article aims to provide an overview of the adaptive (acclimatisation) and pathological (acute HAI) responses to HA exposure, with particular reference to military deployments.


Composites based on natural fiber reinforcement have generated wide research and engineering interest in the last few decades. This is mostly due to their high specific strength, low cost, low density, light weight and biodegradability and has earned a special category of green composite. In this study, wood dust reinforced composite were processed with 2wt%, 4wt%, 6wt%, 8wt%,10wt%, 12 wt.% and 14wt%. The tensile, impact, stress and strain tests were performed at different wt% to study the mechanical behavior of the composite. The result of the study showed that the mechanical properties decrease considerable up to 16.7 wt% wood dust contents. However, above 16.7 wt% there was no significant change to the overall mechanical properties of the composite, therefore yielding an advantage of cost saving. Keywords: Composites; Polyvinylchloride; Mechanical Properties; Wood dust


During the late 1950s, trade unions came to be vital actors in the solidarity movements of the Global South, especially in pan-African initiatives. The case of the Union g (cid:2) en (cid:2) erale des travailleurs alg (cid:2) eriens (UGTA) is particularly illustrative of this development. Algeria's long and brutal independence struggle was champ-ioned throughout the Afro-Asian bloc, and the UGTA became an important auxiliary in the bloc's campaigns to secure that end. In this essay, the case of Algeria and the UGTA serves as a prism through which to study how some of the most powerful Western trade union federations of the day—especially the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)—responded to the "subaltern" internationalisms engendered by decolonization and the "spirit of Bandung," whether in the guise of positive neutrality or the project for pan-African unity. In this way, this essay sheds new light on the nature and role of labor internationalism in the context of the global Cold War. The case of Algeria is emblematic of the ways in which decolonization and the "spirit of Bandung" came to challenge traditional understandings of labor interna-tionalism, whether as an identity or a practice. What is more, the case of Algeria allows us to reconceptualize AFL-CIO attitudes and designs vis-(cid:3) a-vis the decolo-nizing world. In highlighting American weakness when confronted by non-Western agency, this essay argues that the polarized view of the federation as an anticommunist crusader with an imperialist agenda is flawed.


The integration of multiple signalling pathways that co-ordinate T cell metabolism and transcriptional reprogramming is required to drive T cell differentiation and proliferation. One key T cell signalling module is mediated by extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) which are activated in response to antigen receptor engagement. The activity of ERKs is often used to report antigen receptor occupancy but the full details of how ERKs control T cell activation is not understood. Accordingly, we have used mass spectrometry to explore how ERK signalling pathways control antigen receptor driven proteome restructuring in CD8 + T cells to gain insights about the biological processes controlled by ERKs in primary lymphocytes. Quantitative analysis of >8000 proteins identified only 900 ERK regulated proteins in activated CD8+ T cells. The data identify both positive and negative regulatory roles for ERKs during T cell activation and reveal that ERK signalling primarily controls the repertoire of transcription factors, cytokines and cytokine receptors expressed by activated T cells. The ERKs thus drive the transcriptional reprogramming of activated T cells and the ability of T cells to communicate with external immune cues.


We analyze the process of democratization in a polity with groups that are divided along ethnic as well as economic lines. We show that: (i) the presence of ethnic minorities, in general, makes peaceful democratic transitions less likely; (ii) minorities suffer from discriminatory policies less in democracies with intermediate levels of income inequality; and (iii) in new democracies with low levels of income inequality, politics is divided along ethnic lines, and at greater levels of inequality economic cleavages predominate.


Substantial evidence suggests that spontaneous thrombolytic activity of blood is an effective mechanism for protection against tissue damage that is the consequence of lasting arterial occlusion. Despite the generally held belief that coronary artery disease and stroke are preventable, a promising avenue of prevention, namely the identification and prophylactic treatment of those at risk of inefficient spontaneous thrombolysis, has been neglected. This is mainly due to the lack of physiologically relevant test. A recently described technique allows the measurement of spontaneous thrombolysis, that is, lysis of an autologous platelet-rich thrombus in the absence of added plasminogen activators. Early results suggest that this test may have significant clinical potential both in identifying those at risk from fatal thrombotic event and in finding new therapeutic avenues of improving spontaneous thrombolytic activity.


The innovative responses of vocational psychology and career counseling to the important questions raised by people living in information societies will continue the disciplines' tradition of helping individuals link their lives to the economic context. The questions pertaining to perspectives, paradigms, and practices arise mainly from the increasing dominance of ''jobless work,'' which moves people from project to project and from one culture to another culture. These recurring transitions mean that individuals cannot maintain their employment, so they must maintain their employability and actively manage their careers through adaptability, intentionality, life-long learning, and autobiographical reasoning. The emerging practice of career counseling seems to take the general form of constructing career through small stories, deconstructing and reconstructing the small stories into a large story, and co-constructing intention and action to begin the next episode in that large story.


Study is devoted to investigation of painful syndrome in patients with chronic pancreatitis in presence and absence of diabetes mellitus. It was found that in spite of comparable quantity of structural changes in pancreatic tissue the sense of pain is les s prominent in chronic pancreatitis with diabetes mellitus, and it's intensity inverse correlates with HbA1c level.


Variocele has a negative effect on the spermatogenesis which is most often revealed at the time of puberty. The authors have found that among 1541 patients with varicocele 44 suffered from fertility disorders. The spermatogenesis went back to normal after operation in 40 cases out of 58. It improved in 17 cases and remained identical in 1 case. The operation did not cause any complications. Fertility was tested in the 44 patients with fertility disorders. The disturbance was found to be reversible in many cases. The authors believe that there is a definite pathophysiological connection between varicocele and the spermatogenesis disorders. The quality of the sperm improves in 75.6% of the cases after the operation. However pregnancy only occurs in 8% of the cases. Bernadis procedure is considered the most efficient for the treatment of this disorder.


In the present article synthesis and evaluation for antibacterial activity of a new series of (5-aryl-1,3,4oxadiazol-2-yl) (pyridin-2-yl) methanol derivatives were described. The compounds were characterized by IR, NMR, and mass spectroscopy. All the synthesized compounds were screened for their antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC14990, Bacillus cereusPTCC1050, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922. The broth macrodilution and agar welldiffusion methods were used for determination of inhibition zoom(IZ) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) during preliminary evaluation of antimicrobial activity. All of the synthesized compounds exhibited promising antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis.


The Antarctic Circumpolar Current, or ACC, is the strongest ocean current on our planet.
It extends from the sea surface to the bottom of the ocean, and encircles Antarctica.
It is vital for Earth's health because it keeps Antarctica cool and frozen. It is also changing
as the world's climate warms. Scientists like us are studying the current to find out how it
might affect the future of Antarctica's ice sheets, and the world's sea levels.


Recent promising effort for spectral reconstruction (SR) focuses on learning a complicated mapping through using a deeper and wider convolutional neural networks (C- NNs). Nevertheless, most CNN-based SR algorithms neglect to explore the camera spectral sensitivity (CSS) prior and interdependencies among intermediate features, thus limiting the representation ability of the network and performance of SR. To conquer these issues, we propose a novel adaptive weighted attention network (AWAN) for SR, whose backbone is stacked with multiple dual residual attention blocks (DRAB) decorating with long and short skip connections to form the dual residual learning. Concretely, we investigate an adaptive weighted channel attention (AWCA) module to reallocate channel-wise feature responses via integrating correlations between channels. Furthermore, a patch-level second-order non-local (PSNL) module is developed to capture long-range spatial contextual information by second-order non-local operations for more powerful feature representations. Based on the fact that the recovered RGB images can be projected by the reconstructed hyperspectral image (HSI) and the given CSS function, we incorporate the discrepancies of the RGB images and HSIs as a finer constraint for more accurate reconstruction. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed AWAN network in terms of quantitative comparison and perceptual quality over other state-of-the-art SR methods. In the NTIRE 2020 Spectral Reconstruction Challenge, our entries obtain the 1st ranking on the "Clean" track and the 3rd place on the "'Real World" track. Codes are available at https://github.com/Deep-imagelab/AWAN.


In this work, we introduce a new set of invariants associated to the linear strands of a minimal free resolution of a $\mathbb{Z}$ -graded ideal $I\subseteq R=\Bbbk [x_{1},\ldots ,x_{n}]$ . We also prove that these invariants satisfy some properties analogous to those of Lyubeznik numbers of local rings. In particular, they satisfy a consecutiveness property that we prove first for the Lyubeznik table. For the case of squarefree monomial ideals, we get more insight into the relation between Lyubeznik numbers and the linear strands of their associated Alexander dual ideals. Finally, we prove that Lyubeznik numbers of Stanley–Reisner rings are not only an algebraic invariant but also a topological invariant, meaning that they depend on the homeomorphic class of the geometric realization of the associated simplicial complex and the characteristic of the base field.


To the Editor.The article by Susan Galandiuk et al., "Absorbable, Delayed-Release Antibiotic Beads Reduce Surgical Wound Infection" (The American Surgeon, 63:831835, September 1997), shows great promise as a new drug delivery system for the treatment of contaminated surgical procedures. The action of the antibiotic-containing delayed-release polyglycolic acid (PGA) beads increased the effectiveness of amikacin and minocycline against organisms where they are not normally the antibiotic of choice. f3-Lactam antibiotics exhibit time-dependent bacterial killing and are best administered in a continuous infusion. Aminoglycosides display concentration-dependent killing and can be maximized using large single daily doses. The PGA beads give both a continuous release and a high local antibiotic concentration. In essence, the antibiotic-PGA beads offer the best of both worlds with a minimum of systemic adverse effects. Physical compatibility of the antibiotics and vehicle may limit the usefulness of PGA delivery and needs exploration. This method of drug delivery reduces systemic absorption and, therefore, adverse effects. Antineoplastic-containing PGA beads could provide local chemotherapy after tumor resection in patients with localized carcinoma without the adverse effects so common with cancer chemotherapy. Using a nonantigenic vehicle may provide better results in wound healing. The future of antibiotic treatment of contaminated surgical procedures should improve pending development of this novel drug delivery system and incorporation of a wider variety of medications in PGA beads. Whether using antibioticor antineoplastic-containing absorbable beads, patient care will improve by generating higher tissue concentrations and reducing systemic adverse drug reactions. Paul Matuschka, Pharm.D. VA Medical Center Louisville, KY 40206-1499


Contingent reinforcement procedures such as those used in this study appear to be a practical and effective means of reducing uncooperative child behavior during dental treatment. The cost of the equipment is modest and, as the equipment can be operated by means of a foot pedal, contingent reinforcement procedures can be implemented without interfering with ongoing activities.


Abstract We present the set-up of a molecular beam Fourier transform microwave spectrometer in the range from 26.6 to 40 GHz. As a test we investigated the deuterium hyperfine structure of deutero-acetonitrile, DCH2CN. It is also shown, that the spectrometer can be used to measure highly resolved rotational spectra of van der Waals complexes.


Literature establishes safe limits on the exposure of the eyes to ultraviolet radiation, for the range of 180-400 nm, including spectrally weighted and the total ultraviolet radiant exposure. Most standards for sunglasses protection only require ultraviolet protection in the spectral range of 280-380 nm to ensure the limits for effective spectrally weighted radiant exposure. Calculations of these limits were performed for 27 Brazilian state capitals, and they led to a change in the upper UVA limit to 400 nm on the 2013 review of the Brazilian standard. Moreover, because the sunlight irradiance in Brazil is quite high, integration over the 280- to 400-nm range yields an ultraviolet radiant exposure that is an average of 49% greater than that for the 280- to 380-nm range. These conclusions suggest revision on the standards.


Hospital restructuring has had a dramatic impact on social work practice and field education. In a qualitative focus group study of nine educational coordinators responsible for educational programs in teaching hospitals with 25 to 100 social workers each, four main themes emerged: (1) difficulty managing field education when the actual change experienced in restructuring hospitals was far less progressive and systemic than the hospital missions espoused; (2) a struggle to maintain stable student programs when change was unpredictable; (3) the importance of support, reciprocity, and advocacy from the university; and (4) the need to be creative in delivering the educational program while undergoing organizational change.


The Bergslagen region in south central Sweden is known for its diversity and quantity of ores. This study focuses on a tiny BIF (Banded Iron Formation) and its surrounding rocks in the southern part of Dalarna.

The fieldwork was carried out in an area close to the town of Ludvika. The BIF occurs from an area approximately one kilometre south of the lake Vasman trending for about 17 km in a NNE direction. In this area, supracrustal volcanic rocks and associated metasediments dominate. The BIF forms part of these metasediments, which also include dolomitic limestone, quartzite and meta-argillites.

The BIF was deposited in a local basin, where layers of iron oxides, silica oxides and carbonates accumulated. It seems logical that layers of volcanic material were added interrupting the BIF sedimentation during local eruptions. The present occurrence of BIF is classified to be of the Algoma type. Its deposition differs from other known localities in Sweden especially in its close relation to carbonate sedimentation.

The BIF and associated rocks show signs of strong hydrothermal overprinting. This is indicated i.e. by the splitting of originally alkali-intermediate volcanic rocks into Na- and K-enriched ones. Furthermore, elements like fluorine, phosphorus, sulphur and magnesium have been added to the ore and its country rocks. This is suggested by the occurrence of minerals like fluorite, apatite, pyrite and bornite as well as minerals rich in magnesium such as chlorite and cordierite. Today these minerals occur interspersed in the BIF and its country rocks.


First discovered in maize by Barbara McClintock in the 1940s, transposable elements (TEs) are DNA sequences that in some cases have the ability to move along chromosomes or "transpose" in the genome. This revolutionary finding was initially met with resistance by the scientific community and viewed by some as heretical. A large body of knowledge has accumulated over the last 60 years on the biology of TEs. Indeed, it is now known that TEs can generate genomic instability and reconfigure gene expression networks both in the germline and somatic cells. This review highlights recent findings on the role of TEs in health and diseases of the CNS, which were presented at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience meeting. The work of the speakers in this symposium shows that TEs are expressed and active in the brain, challenging the dogma that neuronal genomes are static and revealing that they are susceptible to somatic genomic alterations. These new findings on TE expression and function in the CNS have major implications for understanding the neuroplasticity of the brain, which could hypothetically have a role in shaping individual behavior and contribute to vulnerability to disease.


.. Objectives: The aim of our study is to observe the pain difference as experienced by the pediatric patient when administered different preparations of propofol utilizing the verbal rating scale. Study Design: Prospective double-blind randomized control trial. Setting: A large tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Period: 6 months from June 2016 to November 2016. Material & Methods: The final patient population included in the study was n= 180 and were divided into six groups. These patients received general anesthesia and underwent surgery. Patients in Group A received 2ml of normal saline and a mixture of propofol and normal saline after waiting for half a minute. Group B patients received 0.5mg/kg Lidocaine followed by normal saline after waiting for half a minute. Group C received 2ml of normal saline followed by a mixture of propofol and Lidocaine after half a minute. Group D received 0.2mg/kg of Ketamine followed by a mixture of normal saline and propofol. Group E patients received 2ml of normal saline followed by a mixture of propofol and Ketamine half a minute later. And finally, patients belonging to group F received 2ml of normal saline followed by a mixture of propofol M/LCT and normal saline half a minute later respectively. Results: The gender, age, body weight and ASA grade of all the pediatric patients were similar having a P value of >0.05. The incidence rate of propofol injection pain in the groups were found to be Group A= 76.66%, Group B= 66.66%, Group C= 50%, Group D= 60%, Group E= 63.33%, Group F= 60% respectively. The incidence rate for adverse events was significantly lower in all the groups as compared to Group A that is the normal saline and propofol group having a p-value of less than 0.01. And the incidence rate of adverse events was lower in Groups C, D, E, and F were significantly lower than Group B having a p-value of less than 0.05. All the experimental groups had significantly lower scores of the VRS scale as compared to the control group (Group A) and the intergroup differences were found to be statistically significant having a p-value of less than 0.01. Conclusion: In our study, we found that the injection pain of propofol administration in the pediatric population was significantly reduced when using M/LCT pre-injection, 0.5mg/kg lidocaine or 0.2mg/kg of Ketamine. Another good combination is mixing 180mg propofol with 40mg of lidocaine or mixing propofol with 16mg of Ketamine.


Neuroactive steroids are potent and efficacious modulators of GABAA receptor activity and are potent sedatives and anesthetics. These positive modulators of GABAA receptors both potentiate the actions of GABA at the receptor and, at higher concentrations, directly gate the channel. The contribution of direct gating to the cellular and behavioral effects of neuroactive steroids is considered of little significance because it has been generally found that concentrations well above those needed for anesthesia are required to gate channels. By studying solitary glutamatergic neurons devoid of synaptic GABA input, we show that direct gating occurs and significantly alters membrane excitability at concentrations ≤100 nm. We propose that the relevance of direct gating has been overlooked partly because of the extremely slow kinetics of receptor activation and deactivation. We show that slow deactivation of directly gated currents does not result from an inherently tight ligand-receptor interaction because the slow deactivation is markedly accelerated by γ-cyclodextrin application. We hypothesize that steroids access the relevant GABAA receptor site from a non-aqueous reservoir, likely the plasma membrane, and that it is slow reservoir accumulation and departure that accounts for the slow kinetics of receptor gating by neuroactive steroids.


In this paper we seek to understand and model the global spread of social media. How does social media spread from location to location across the globe? Can we model this spread and predict where social media will be popular in the future? Toward answering these questions, we develop a probabilistic model that synthesizes two conflicting hypotheses about the nature of online information spread: (i) the spatial influence model, which asserts that social media spreads to locations that are close by; and (ii) the community affinity influence model, which asserts that social media spreads between locations that are culturally connected, even if they are distant. Based on the geospatial footprint of 755 million geo-tagged hashtags spread through Twitter, we evaluate these models at predicting locations that will adopt hashtags in the future. We find that distance is the single most important explanation of future hashtag adoption since hashtags are fundamentally local. We also find that community affinities (like culture, language, and common interests) enhance the quality of purely spatial models, indicating the necessity of incorporating non-spatial features into models of global social media spread.


The high percentage (20%) of new cases with grade 2 disabilities, and a low treatment regularity of 47% indicated problems in case detection and case holding in Urban Yangon. The fact that Urban Health Centers (UHCs) were not involved in leprosy control programme might have had an adverse influence. To compare the effectiveness of two methods of integration (full and partial) of urban leprosy services in terms of early case detection and regularity of treatment this study was conducted, in an urban area. Two townships with similar leprosy prevalence, staff infrastructure, socio-economic status, transport, communication and working capacity of the Township Medical Officers (TMOs) were chosen for this intervention study: UHC-A(Thingangyun) for full integration and UHC-B(Tamwe) for partial integration and the remaining 14 townships as non-integrated areas served by the Central Special Skin Clinic (CSSC). This study has shown that it was possible to fully integrate Leprosy Control Programme (LCP) into the Urban Health Centres [Basic Health Services (BHS)] in Urban Yangon. Case detection could be improved by active case finding such as contact examination and school examination conducted by the personnel of UHCs. Treatment regularity was found to be directly proportional to prompt defaulter retrieval action and the motivational level of the TMO and peripheral BHS workers. There were more complaints from patients (8.1%) treated at UHC-A when compared to CSSC (6.7%). Among defaulters there were more adults than children, more males than females and more PB than MB patients.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the impact of feeding mode on neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with congenital heart defects.

DESIGN
A retrospective cohort study of 208 children with congenital heart disease (CHD), who had surgery from 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2016 at Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, US.

SETTINGS
University Hospital, Developmental Outcome Clinic.

OUTCOMES MEASURES
Standardized cognitive scores were assessed with Capute Scales and motor development with Revised Gesell Developmental Schedules. We analyzed anthropometrics, mode of feeding, surgical complexity, syndrome, and gender as predictors of developmental outcomes at four time points: hospital discharge, and 6, 12, and 24 months of age.

RESULTS
Mode of feeding is associated with neurodevelopmental outcome in children with CHD. Children on enteral feeding tubes had significantly lower developmental quotient (DQ) scores in cognition, communication, and motor function at 12 and 24 months compared to orally fed children. There were greater proportions of developmental delays (DQ < 70) in enteral tube fed children at the 6, 12, and 24 months visits. Further, there was a strong association between presence of enteral feeding tube, syndrome, and developmental outcome. Greater surgical complexity, weight gain and ethnicity were not associated with the developmental outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that the presence of an enteral feeding tube following corrective congenital heart surgery are at increased risk of neurodevelopmental delays at 12 and 24 months.


The large body of new statistical data that became available after the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification permits a re-examination of Italy's economic growth. Up-to-date estimates and re-interpretations of Italy's gdp from 1861 to 2011—at both the national and regional levels—in the light of institutional and technological changes within an international context find that Italy's economic growth was substantial early in the twentieth century but slackened considerably since the 1990s, despite successes in long-term performance. Analysis suggests that the country is on the road to irreversible decline. Part of the problem lies in the failure of the southern regions to converge economically with the more highly developed central and northern regions.