Communicating entities in a protocol specification communicate with each other and provide services to their users. Once the behaviours of the entities (specification of the protocol) are specified they are not changed. The entities provide a fixed set of services to their users. However, different users have different requirements and their requirements change often. The requirement changes in general are small in terms of the size of the behaviour expressions of the entities. Traditional protocol synthesis techniques have given considerable attention in construction of new protocols for fixed set of services but less attention to the attractive maintenance issue of protocol to adopt new protocol requirement changes. What is desirable is a protocol synthesis method which adopts new protocol requirement changes into the behaviours of entities or protocol specifications. In this paper, we propose a protocol synthesis method which adopts the new protocol requirement changes into the protocol specification. In this way, we can use existing protocol specifications and maintain them to adopt requirement changes. We use the formal specification language LOTOS to specify requirement changes and the behaviours of entities.


Aberrant activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) occurs in many cancers and plays a critical role in tumor progression. The system that Stat3-induced Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1PR1) expression and the S1P-S1PR1 pathway reciprocally regulate Stat3 activity was considered a major positive feedback loop for persistent Stat3 activation in cancer cells and the cells of tumor microenvironment. Tumor cells expressing the ligand for the receptor programmed death-1 (PD-1), PD-L1, have been shown to increase apoptosis of antigen-specific human T-cell to evade the immune system. In this study, we determined the influence of disrupting Stat3-S1PR1 vicious cycle on tumor formation and PD-L1 expression in lung cancer. We have established mutant Kras-induced lung cancer mice model and found that Stat3 phosphorylation was elevated in tumor tissues of lung cancer. Treatment of lung cancer cells with AG490 (JAK2 inhibitor) inhibited Stat3 activation and AG490 administration to the mice decreased the numbers of lung cancer nodules, indicating that blockage of Stat3 activation could inhibit mutant Kras-induced lung cancer in mice. Similar effects were also detected by using Stat3 inhibitor, S3I-201. We found that lung cancer cells expressed more pStat3 showed higher PD-L1 expression levels than that of lower pStat3 expressing cells. Inhibition of Stat3 activation by AG490 decreased PD-L1 expression in vitro and in vivo, indicating that PD-L1 expression could be regulated by Stat3. Moreover, FTY720 (S1P antagonist) could inhibit S1PR1 expression, down-regulate Stat3 activity, pJAK1 expression and inhibit IL-6 secretion in lung cancer cell lines and causes inhibition of the mutant Kras-induced lung cancer in mice. Furthermore, FTY720 administration dose-dependently suppressed tumor PD-L1 expression in mice lung cancer tissues. Taken together, our study indicated that FTY720 could suppress mutant Kras induced-lung cancer formation via inhibiting persistent Stat3 activation and down-regulating tumor PD-L1 expression. Citation Format: Hsuan-Heng Yeh, Tsung-I Hsu, Jan-Jong Hung, Wen-Pin Su, Wu-Chou Su. FTY720 inhibits mutant Kras-induced lung cancer via disrupting Stat3-S1PR1 vicious cycle and downregulating tumor PD-L1 expression. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2968. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2968


AIM
To study the sociodemographic data of people living with HIV who visit AIDS centers.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
A multicenter open-label study was conducted, which included the retrospective model "A patient's portrait". Outpatient records and questionnaires were analyzed in 7,000 patients older than 18 years of age who had visited AIDS centers in 27 regions of Russia from 1 April to 31 July 2014 and signed their informed consent form to participate in the study.

RESULTS
There were women accounting for 49% of the study participants, including one transgender. Their mean age was 35.6 years; the median age was 34 (18-79) years. 77.4% of the women were infected sexually; 57.4% of the men were infected parenterally; the men who had sex with men accounted for 2.5% of the whole group (4.7% among the men). Only 9.8% of the respondents reported that they had used intravenous drugs in the past 6 months. 87.8% of the respondents had secondary and higher education; 68.6% of the patients (73% were male and 64% were female) were employed; 59.3% of the respondents were married or cohabited; 66.2% of the patients reported that they had had sexual contacts with one partner, 14.2% had not had sexual intercourses. 38.3% of the women and 48.8% of the men had a permanent HIV-negative sexual partner. 46% of the study participants had dependent minor children. 30% of the women had given birth to at least one child after the diagnosis of HIV infection.

CONCLUSION
People living with HIV in Russia and visiting AIDS centers do not differ in main social and demographic indicators from the Russian Federation citizens of the same age who do not have HIV. They represent an economically and socially active population and participate in demographic processes so one of the public health priorities is to maintain and improve their quality of life.


Background Transforaminal endoscopic lumbar discectomy (TELD) has well-recognized advantages and disadvantages in the literature. Some of the mentioned disadvantages are insufficient discectomy, higher recurrence rate and long learning curve (LC). The objective of this study is to describe the LC and analyze the survival rate of patients operated through TELD. Methods Retrospective study of 41 cases operated through TELD by the same surgeon from June 2013 to January 2020, with a minimum follow-up of 6 months. Demographic data and information on operative time (OT), complications, hospital stay, hernia recurrence and reoperations were collected. LC of the TELD was analyzed using a cumulative sum (CUSUM) test for parameter stability for linear regression coefficients, using the CUSUM from recursive residuals. Results Thirty-nine patients, 24 men (61.54%) and 15 women (38.46%), were included in the present cohort, and a total of 41 TELD were performed. The average OT was 96 minutes (SD =30) and the CUSUM of the recursive residuals shows learning of the TELD in the case 20. The mean OT in the first 20 cases was 114 minutes (SD =30) versus 80 minutes (SD =17) in the last 21 cases (P=0.0001). The rates of recurrent Dh were 17%, and 12% need reoperation. Conclusions We consider that the LC of TELD requires operating 20 cases to perform the procedure with a significant reduction in OT, with minimal rates of reoperation and complications.


Building on the theoretical underpinnings of Self-Determination Theory, this study seeks to identify the motivational factors influencing individuals' intention and extent of Open Source Software (OSS) adoption. Two conceptual models were proposed to examine OSS adopters' extent of adoption (based on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) and OSS non-adopters' intention of adoption (based on amotivation). The two models were empirically assessed using survey data collected from 264 OSS adopters and 212 OSS non-adopters. Results show that strategy belief amotivation is the major factor for nonadopters not to use OSS and identified regulation is the major extrinsic motivation affecting the extent of adoption by adopters. However, intrinsic motivation to accomplish and capacity beliefs amotivation do not significantly affect adoption extent and adoption intention respectively. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


In a Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology, the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation (BTFR) is expected to show significant intrinsic scatter resulting from the mass–concentration relation of dark matter halos and the baryonic-to-halo mass ratio. We study the BTFR using a sample of 118 disk galaxies (spirals and irregulars) with data of the highest quality: extended H I ?> rotation curves (tracing the outer velocity) and Spitzer photometry at 3.6 μm (tracing the stellar mass). Assuming that the stellar mass-to-light ratio ( ϒ * ?> ) is nearly constant at 3.6 μm, we find that the scatter, slope, and normalization of the BTFR systematically vary with the adopted ϒ * ?> . The observed scatter is minimized for ϒ * ≳ 0.5 ?> M ⊙ / L ⊙ ?> , corresponding to nearly maximal disks in high-surface-brightness galaxies and BTFR slopes close to ∼4. For any reasonable value of ϒ * ?> , the intrinsic scatter is ∼0.1 dex, below general ΛCDM expectations. The residuals show no correlations with galaxy structural parameters (radius or surface brightness), contrary to the predictions from some semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. These are fundamental issues for ΛCDM cosmology.


The manuscript reports the simulation of an electron gun with a view to optimizing the design of radio-frequency sources. The effects of eight parameters on the beam quality were studied and optimal choices were identified. It gives numerical beam qualities in common electrostatic triode gun, and the dependences on design parameters such as electrode geometries and bias voltages to these electrodes are shown. The electron gun is used in a number of various applications as in atomic, molecular, and surface physics. The electron optics of the electron gun was simulated and optimized using electron-beam ray-tracing simulation program SIMION 3D 7.0. An electron beam of diameter 5 mm with energy of 5 keV was assumed for simulation process. Eight design parameters were identified as variable parameters in the presence of space charge. These parameters are the gap width between the emission electrode and the anode electrode, the gap width between the emission electrode and the focusing electrode. The diameter of the anode of the electron gun, and also, diameter of the focusing electrode are studied. The applied voltage to both the emission electrode and the focusing electrode are investigated. Furthermore, the influence of space charge on the electron beam envelope through the extraction region of electron source was investigated. The space charge started to have a clear influence on the electron beam envelope at currents of 10-4 A. Beam quality was significantly improved when the applied voltage to the anode electrode was optimized and found at Vanode = + 29 k V, also, voltage applied to the emission electrode was optimized and found Vemission = - 3.6 kV, and finally voltage applied to the focusing electrode, Vfoc= - 500 V. separation distance (gap between emission electrode and) = 12 mm, the diameter of the focusing electrode = 14 mm and finally the best focused point was found at a distance of 550 mm from the end of the lens system.


The purpose of the recommender is to improve the discoverability of research outputs by providing suggestions for similar research papers both within the collection of the hosting repository and the CORE collection. Repository managers can install the recommender to advance the accessibility of other scientific papers and outreach to other scientific communities, since the CORE Recommender acts as a gate to millions of open access research papers.


Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a technology which provides a network architecture with three distinct layers that is, the application layer which is made up of SDN applications, the control layer which is made up of the controller and the data plane layer which is made up of switches. However, the exits different types of SDN architectures some of which are interconnected with the physical network. At the core of SDN, the control plane is physically and logically separated from the data plane. The controller is connected to the application layer through an interface known as the northbound interface and to the data plane through another interface known as the southbound interface. The centralized control plane uses APIs to communicate through the northbound and southbound interface with the application layer and the data plane layer respectively. By default, these APIs such as Restful and OpenFlow APIs do not implement security mechanisms like data encryption and authentication thus, this introduces new network security threats to the SDN architecture. This report presents a technique known as threat modeling in SDN. To achieve this technique, attack scenarios are created based on the OpenFlow SDN vulnerabilities. After which these vulnerabilities are defined as predicates or facts and rules, a framework known as multihost multistage vulnerability analysis (MulVAL) then takes these predicates and rules to produce a threat model known as attack graph. The attack graph is further used to performed quantitative risk analysis using a metric to depict the risks associated to the OpenFlow SDN model


This paper describes and explains the rationale behind the product model that is employed in the configuration design tool SyDeR (System Design for Reusability, [SDR98]). its name indicates, SyDeR stresses the reuse of system designs in later design projects. The field where SyDeR is applied is configuration design lbr products for which there is not a complete, fixed set of components, but rather a set of previous designs from which one can be chosen to be reused and/or adapted to the current configuration design problem. This sub-field of configuration design is of major economic importance, as e.g., the design of railway rolling stock or trucks fall into this category.


Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. is an important food crop adaptable to a broad range of agro-ecological conditions. The knowledge of the performance of the available varieties under a specific ecological condition is important to improve the production. A field experiment was carried out at the University of Ghana farm during the major and minor rainy seasons of 2015 to determine the yield performance of seven improved Ghanaian sweet potato varieties (CRI-Apomuden, CRI-Ligri, Faara, CRI-Bohye, CRI-Dadanyuie, Okumkom, Sauti) and their susceptibility to the sweet potato weevil, Cylas spp. (Coleoptera: Brentidae). Significant difference was found in the storage root yield among the varieties, with CRI-Ligri having the highest in both major (23.11 t/ha) and minor (22.49 t/ha) rainy seasons. CRI-Apomuden and CRI-Ligri scored the highest levels of infestation by sweet potato weevil in the major and minor seasons (1.94 and 2.00, 1.84 and 1.96, respectively) and yield loss (44.44 % and 42.80 %, 23.84 % and 23.87 %, respectively). While the lowest infestation levels in the major rainy season were recorded on Faara and Okumkom (1.18 and 1.31, respectively) with yield losses of 10.32 % and 9.09 %, respectively. However, in the minor rainy season, there was no significant difference among Faraa, Okumkom, CRI-Bohye and CRI-Dadanyuie in terms of infestation level and yield losses. Significant difference was found in all measured root characteristics including the shortest weevil distance, root neck length, root length, root girth and root size index. The storage root infestation had a strong negative correlation with the shortest weevil distance, a strong positive correlation with the root size index and a weak negative correlation with root neck length. In this study, Okumkom appeared to be less susceptible to sweet potato weevil infestation with relatively acceptable yield performance and therefore can be recommended for use by farmers to improve sweet potato production.


Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease starts in the first months of life often before the onset of clinical symptoms. Multiple breath washout (MBW) has been shown to detect abnormal lung function in infants and young children in the laboratory setting. In this study, we determined the feasibility of MBW in 0 to 4 year old children with CF and non-CF controls in the clinical setting of a CF center without prior experience with this technique. Methods: 14 children with CF (mean age 1.3 ± 1.0 years) and 26 age-matched non-CF controls were available for investigation. MBW was performed in sedation with chloral hydrate with sulphur hexafluoride after analysis of tidal breathing. A minimum of three washouts was performed in each child and a minimum of two measurements fulfilling quality criteria was necessary for a "successful investigation". Results: MBW was successful in 67.5 % of all children. Mean lung clearance index (LCI) was significantly higher in CF compared to non-CF controls (P=0.006). Further, the frequency of elevated LCI (z-score>1.96) was significantly increased in CF compared to controls (P=0.0003). Conclusions: We conclude that MBW is feasible and sensitive to detect abnormal lung function in infants and young children with CF in the clinical setting. Supported by the Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (82DZL00401) and the Dietmar Hopp Stiftung.


Approximately 2.5% to 3% of the children are intellectually
impaired who lack fine motor coordination abilities like eye-hand coordination,
grip strength in fingers, etc. There is a need to improve their condition for better
survival. Pranayama has been found to be very effective in the case of general
children in the development of these abilities. But there is very little study
on the application of pranayama practice for children with intellectual
impairment. In the present five mild intellectually impaired children of age
ranges 7 - 10 years practiced the pranayama for 60 days. The performance of all
children shows significant difference at 0.01 levels at 20 degree of freedom
for the "inserting pegs task" developed by Indian Medico Instruments. It indicates the pranayama in an effective way
to improve the fine motor coordination ability among children with intellectual
impairment.


Decision making algorithms, in practice, are often trained on data that exhibits a variety of biases. Decision-makers often aim to take decisions based on some ground-truth target that is assumed or expected to be unbiased, i.e., equally distributed across socially salient groups. In many practical settings, the ground-truth cannot be directly observed, and instead, we have to rely on a biased proxy measure of the ground-truth, i.e., biased labels, in the data. In addition, data is often selectively labeled, i.e., even the biased labels are only observed for a small fraction of the data that received a positive decision. To overcome label and selection biases, recent work proposes to learn stochastic, exploring decision policies via i) online training of new policies at each time-step and ii) enforcing fairness as a constraint on performance. However, the existing approach uses only labeled data, disregarding a large amount of unlabeled data, and thereby suffers from high instability and variance in the learned decision policies at different times. In this paper, we propose a novel method based on a variational autoencoder for practical fair decision-making. Our method learns an unbiased data representation leveraging both labeled and unlabeled data and uses the representations to learn a policy in an online process. Using synthetic data, we empirically validate that our method converges to the optimal (fair) policy according to the ground-truth with low variance. In real-world experiments, we further show that our training approach not only offers a more stable learning process but also yields policies with higher fairness as well as utility than previous approaches.


Soil moisture, surface temperature, and vegetation are variables that play an important role in our environment which in turn increases the demand for accurate estimation of certain geophysical parameters such as weather, flooding, and land classification. However, for accurate Land Surface Temperature (LST) estimation, remotely sensed data of key environmental forms were considered and applied in this research. The goal of this study was to apply a suitable algorithm for LST estimation from the Landsat-8 dataset that gives a great accuracy when compared with in-situ observations. Spatial and temporal Landsat-8 data were acquired which provided the analytical structure for linking specific data successfully due to fine resolutions. The data were then applied to determine brightness temperatures, vegetation cover, and surface emissivity which demonstrated the effectiveness of the Split-Window Algorithm as an optimum method for LST retrieval from satellite. The results show temperature variation over a long period of time can be used in observing varying temperature values based on terrain i.e. High temperatures in fully built up areas and low temperatures in the well-vegetated regions. Finally, accurate LST estimation is important for land classification, energy budget estimations as well as agricultural production. Keywords: Emissivity, Landsat, Land Surface Temperature, Split-Window, Vegetation


Background: paresis of the left vocal cord is one of the most frequent complications in children undergoing surgery for patent ductus arteriosus in the newborn period. Paresis of the left vocal cord (PLVC) may remain undiagnosed and can lead to an increased risk of childhood diseases such as frequent respiratory disease, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, gastro-oesophageal reflux. The aim of our study was to determine the incidence of paresis of the left vocal cord after surgical treatment of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in premature infants with birth weight less than 1500 grams. Materials and Methods: The study included all premature infants who were operated on for a PDA in the neonatal period from January 1 to December 31, 2011 in St. Petersburg. Questioning on the phone was possible in 51 patients from 101 patients who has surgical treatment in this period of time. Children who are identified complaints typical of the left vocal cord paresis (impaired breathing, hoarseness, choking) were invited to inspect a specialist for direct fiber-optic laryngoscopy. Results: In 21 of the 51 children interviewed were identified PLVC symptoms, which accounted for 41,2% of all children in the group. Parents of 11 children with the complaint, agreed to undergo direct fiber-optic laryngoscopy. In the survey, we had confirmed the diagnosis PLVC posed on the basis of a telephone survey in 11 of 11 children, that is 100%. Conclusions: We recommend doing direct fiber-optic laryngoscopy in all premature babies after surgical treatment of the flow to the start of early diagnosis and treatment of PLVC. Parents should be informed about possible complications and consequences of the operation of this complication.


Objectives: There are limited data on vertebral fractures (VFs) in South Africa (SA). Therefore a study was undertaken to compare the demographic profile, clinical risk factors and bone mineral density (BMD) in subjects aged 60 years and over with and without morphometric VFs. Patients and methods: In a descriptive case-controlled study, demographic data, clinical risk factors (CRF) and BMD were collected. Morphometric VFs were identified using the semi-quantitative Genant method. Descriptive analysis was undertaken using Student's t-test, the Mann–Whitney U-test and the chi-square test. Results: In the 197 subjects enrolled, the median age was 72.0 years (IQR 67.0–78.5 years) and morphometric VFs were identified in 41 subjects (20.8%). The prevalence of VFs increased with age, and while more common in women compared with men (23.8% vs. 13.0%), this was not significant (p 0.095). There was no difference in the prevalence of VFs between African and Indian subjects (23.4% vs. 17.4%; p 0.240), nor CRFs between subjects with and without VFs. Subjects with a VF had a significantly lower BMD at the spine (p = 0.020), but not at the neck of femur and total hip. Conclusion: This study highlights the need for adequate screening and management protocols for osteoporosis in all ethnic groups in SA.


There has been much recent interest in generating mid-infrared (MIR) shaped pulses, useful for various applications such as extending ultrafast coherent control studies to vibrational systems of molecules of chemical and biological interests. Although high resolution pulse shaping capabilities exist for the visible and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths [1, 2], direct phase and amplitude pulse shaping in the MIR has yet to be demonstrated. The main difficulty is the lack of appropriate materials for the usual direct methods of pulse shaping. Liquid crystal modulators absorb in the MIR; acousto-optic materials such as TeO2 and GaP, though transparent, have very low diffraction efficiency. One solution is to shape pulses in the visible or near-infrared wavelengths and transfer the shape to a pulse of another wavelength by a nonlinear optical process. There have been some recent successes in this approach[3]. However, in all these cases the shaped pulses are the result of nonlinear optical process between two pulses with similar bandwidth, and the resolution of the final pulse shape may be limited as it is a non-trivial convolution between the two input pulses. On the other hand, an OPA process pumped by a narrower spectral bandwidth pulse can effect a high fidelity transfer of a broadband pulse shape to another pulse of a different wavelength. We demonstrate this principle by generating complex high resolution shaped pulses with considerable pulse energy at NIR by a β-barium borate (BBO) based noncollinear optical parametric amplification (NOPA)[4] of visible shaped pulses [5]. We also demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, that with similar principles, a potassium niobate (KNB) based NOPA can amplify NIR shaped pulses with high fidelity and thereby obtaining MIR (3−4 µm) shaped pulses.


PURPOSE
Bifocal contact lenses were used to impose hyperopic and myopic defocus on the peripheral retina of marmosets. Eye growth and refractive state were compared with untreated animals and those treated with single-vision or multizone contact lenses from earlier studies.

METHODS
Thirty juvenile marmosets wore one of three experimental annular bifocal contact lens designs on their right eyes and a plano contact lens on the left eye as a control for 10 weeks from 70 days of age (10 marmosets/group). The experimental designs had plano center zones (1.5 or 3 mm) and +5 diopters [D] or -5 D in the periphery (referred to as +5 D/1.5 mm, +5 D/3 mm and -5 D/3 mm). We measured the central and peripheral mean spherical refractive error (MSE), vitreous chamber depth (VC), pupil diameter (PD), calculated eye growth, and myopia progression rates prior to and during treatment. The results were compared with age-matched untreated (N=25), single-vision positive (N=19), negative (N=16), and +5/-5 D multizone lens-reared marmosets (N=10).

RESULTS
At the end of treatment, animals in the -5 D/3 mm group had larger (P<0.01) and more myopic eyes (P<0.05) than animals in the +5 D/1.5 mm group. There was a dose-dependent relationship between the peripheral treatment zone area and the treatment-induced changes in eye growth and refractive state. Pretreatment ocular growth rates and baseline peripheral refraction accounted for 40% of the induced refraction and axial growth rate changes.

CONCLUSIONS
Eye growth and refractive state can be manipulated by altering peripheral retinal defocus. Imposing peripheral hyperopic defocus produces axial myopia, whereas peripheral myopic defocus produces axial hyperopia. The effects are smaller than using single-vision contact lenses that impose full-field defocus, but support the use of bifocal or multifocal contact lenses as an effective treatment for myopia control.


The new-born infant is subject occasionally to various pathologic conditions which to combat successfully requires the transfusion of blood. Among these ailments the most frequent and alarming, and perhaps most fatal, is the hemorrhagic disease of the new-born. The occurrence of this disease seems to vary in different institutions and localities. Townsend, collecting his reports from the Boston Lying-In Hospital, found that it occurred in thirty-two infants out of 5,000 births. Ritter found its occurrence in 190 cases out of 13,000 births at the lying-in hospital at Prague. Epstein, at the New York Foundling Hospital, found it in 8 per cent. of infants, while the average treatise of children's diseases gives the proportion of 1 in every 1,000 births. Clinically this disease can be divided into two classes: 1. Those cases in which hemorrhage may occur from the mucosa of the gastro-intestinal tract, the stump of the cord, and subcutaneously,


The purpose of this study is to pursue the way of human body expression for prospecting of future fashion illustration through research of the methods and meaning expressed in the works of 30 years by Antonio Lopez. The research was conducted by looking into the perception of the body between 1960s and 1980s, when Lopez worked actively, on the basis of the discourse, art and fashion for the femininity and studying the representation method and meaning of the body in his works. Lopez suggested an index of the ideal beauty of the times through the representation of the immature body like a child in the 60s, the glamorous body in the 70s and the exaggerated muscular body in the 80s by predicting the changes of the perception of femininity and ideal beauty. As the result of this research, it is found that Lopez employed the art form for the representation of the body in his works and presented the polysemous implications of the art form in the context of the body expression. In addition, he redefined sexuality by focusing on the code that confronted the conventional women`s morals by changing the representation method of the women`s pose, and depicted the other`s image such as the colored races, departing from the ideal human body based on the white women. Lastly, he deconstructed the human body in various ways, thereby enlarging the concept of the human body in the existing fashion illustration.


An operational technique designed for safe and quick retrieval of deepwater drilling risers during an imminent threat from hurricane or typhoon is developed by proposing a new drilling riser model with disjointed sections for easier and faster disconnection as against the conventional practice of retrieving the whole length of the riser which is tedious, time-consuming and has a huge risk of untimely evacuation of personnel and facilities. A theoretical method is used to model the drilling riser in freestanding disconnected mode and the resulting differential equation is solved numerically. The mechanical behavior of the drilling riser is analyzed for its survivability in freestanding disconnected mode in order to ascertain its useability when the impending typhoon is over. Parametric studies are carried out on key influencing parameters such as buoyancy can upthrust ratio, buoyancy can (BC) position, and riser thickness to arrive at an optimum condition that will ensure the survivability of the drilling riser when disconnected in freestanding mode. Fifteen parametric case studies are presented. In the first five cases, with a varying buoyancy can upthrust ratio but a fixed BC position and riser thickness, it resulted to obtaining a suitable buoyancy can upthrust ratio which is used in subsequent cases. The next six case studies gave a suitable BC position, and finally the last four cases for riser thickness. Results obtained from the fifteen cases are used to get the optimum condition for survivability of the riser in freestanding disconnected mode. A deepwater drilling riser designed in conformity to the optimum configurational conditions as presented in the analysis can survive in the face of an emergency situation such as hurricane or typhoon.


By utilizing the system of the recurrence equations, containing two parameters, the dynamics of two antagonistically interconnected populations is studied. The following areas of the system behavior are detected: the area of the stable solutions, the area of cyclic solutions occurrence, the area of the accidental change of trajectories of solutions, and the area of chaos and fractal phenomena. The new twodimensional diagram of the dynamics of the solutions change (the fractal cabbage) has been obtained. In the cross-section of this diagram for one of the equations the well-known Feigenbaum tree of doubling has been noted. Keywords—bifurcation, chaos, dynamics of populations, fractals


Objective:To examine whether health status and obesity prevalence differ by race or ethnicity and health care workforce category. Methods:Data representing US health care workers aged 20 to 64 between 1982 and 2004 were retrieved from the Integrated Health Interview Series. Trends, as well as disparities, in health status and obesity are examined by workforce category using logistic regression. Results:Self-reported health status of health care workers has declined over time and the prevalence of obesity is rising. Moreover, there is a clear social gradient across workforce categories, which is widening over time. Within workforce categories, there are significant racial disparities in health status and prevalence of obesity. Conclusions:Health of health care workers needs to be taken into account when setting policies intended to increase access to health care and create a healthy diverse workforce.


Dielectric spectroscopy covering more than 18 decades of frequency has been performed on propylene carbonate in its liquid and supercooled-liquid state. Using quasioptic submillimeter and far-infrared spectroscopy, the dielectric response was investigated up to frequencies well into the microscopic regime. We discuss the alpha process whose characteristic time scale is observed over 14 decades of frequency and the excess wing showing up at frequencies some three decades above the peak frequency. Special attention is given to the high-frequency response of the dielectric loss in the crossover regime between alpha peak and boson peak. Similar to our previous results in other glass-forming materials, we find evidence for additional processes in the crossover regime. However, significant differences concerning the spectral form at high frequencies are found. We compare our results to the susceptibilities obtained from light scattering and to the predictions of various models of the glass transition.


Background: Hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEHE) is a rare tumor and no standard treatment has been established. This study was aimed to retrospectively investigate the outcomes of different managements for HEHE patients Methods: From March 2017 to November 2019, a retrospective investigation was performed among 50 HEHE patients to summarize the outcomes of different managements. Their medical records were collected and the outcome of each management was evaluated based on radiological images. Results: For all the 50 HEHE patients, 80% were asymptomatic and 94% had multiple intrahepatic lesions. Extrahepatic metastases were detected in 54% patients and 82% patients were radiologically misdiagnosed. For 18 patients with initial observation, 16 (88.9%) of them had progressive disease (PD). For 12 patients with curative intent surgery or radiofrequency ablation (RF), 10 (83.3%) of them had recurrence. Six patients with interferon-α had results of 4 partial response (PR), one complete response (CR) and one stable disease (SD). For 6 patients with thalidomide, 4 patients had PD and 2 patients had SD. Four patients with chemotherapy had 3 PD and one SD. Five patients with targeted therapy had 2 PR (both with apatinib), 2 PD and one SD. Conclusions: HEHE patients had a high chance of PD during observation. The risk of recurrence after surgery or RF was high. Interferon-α and apatinib were the managements with tumor response (PR or CR). The encouraging result of interferon-α makes it a promising treatment for HEHE.


Acute abdominal and shoulder pain in association with a pneumoperitoneum are common signs and symptoms of perforation of a hollow viscus. We report a case that describes the development of a postcoital pneumoperitoneum in an otherwise healthy postpartum patient. The literature is discussed, and supports this case as pneumoperitoneum in association with vigorous coital activity.


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

Mutations of multiple tumor suppressor genes, such as PTEN and p53, have been proposed to play important roles in the development of prostate cancer. Loss of one allele of PTEN occurs in 70-80% of human primary prostate tumors and homozygous inactivation of PTEN is associated with advanced disease. Similarly, p53 is found completely lost or mutated almost exclusively in advanced human prostate cancer. Thus, selective killing of prostate cancer cells harboring mutations of PTEN and p53 may prove to be a promising strategy for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. The Warburg effect of aerobic glycolysis has now been generally accepted as a key metabolic hallmark of cancer. In this study, we investigated the molecular target leading to the Warburg effect in the growth and aggressiveness of prostate cancer cells harboring inactivation of PTEN and p53 and delineated the underlying mechanism. We identified that expression of hexokinase II (HK2), an enzyme involved in the first step of glycolysis, is preferentially elevated in human prostate cancer cells bearing mutations of both PTEN and p53 (PC3). Functional studies demonstrated that HK2 expression is crucial for the Warburg effect in PC3 cells and knockdown of HK2 inhibits tumor growth in PC3 xenograft mouse model. These novel findings prompted us to test whether 2-de-oxyglucose (2-DG), an inhibitor of HK2, could potentially suppress prostate cancer growth by targeting the Warburg effect. We found that an induction of AMPK-dependent autophagy prevents cancer cells from apoptosis upon 2-DG treatment, thereby limiting therapeutic efficacy on prostate cancer in vivo. Consistent with cell survival function of autophagy, its inhibition by chloroquine (a small molecule inhibitor of autophagy) or individual knockdown of the essential genes involved in autophagy (Atg5, Atg7, Beclin1, and ULK1) induced massive cell death when combined with 2-DG. This cell death can be rescued by overexpression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 or downregulation of pro-apoptotic protein Bax in PC3. More importantly, we demonstrated that combination of chloroquine and 2-DG could specifically kill prostate cancer cells, leaving normal prostate epithelial cells untouched. This specificity is due to the preferential induction of HK2 through the activated Rictor-AKT-mTOR pathway in cancer cells. Finally, combination of chloroquine and 2-DG caused synthetic lethality in prostate cancer cells and effectively suppressed tumor growth in PC3 xenograft mouse model. Towards therapeutic translation, we have observed that expression of HK2 by staining primary human prostate tumor samples with HK2 antibodies correlated with the stages of prostate cancer. Given our findings, we therefore propose that targeting the Warburg effect and autophagy pathways may serve as an effective and selective treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer, in particular those with PTEN and p53 mutations.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3213. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3213


The authors studied healing in digestive sutures carried out using automatic clips in the Dog. The mechanical conditions of the suture and in particular the absence of crushing are responsible for an almost perfect scar healing by first intention. The absence of ischemic necrosis remains the main factor differentiating these sutures from manual sutures where necrosis is constant, whether due to repeated trauma from forceps or ischemia due to tightening the threads, and above all, constant inclusion of the mucosa within the scar. The use of non-ischemic sutures explains undoubtedly the low incidence of fistulas, but explains, on the contrary, the large number of cases which bleed from the divided margins of the sutured or anastomosed layers; in rare cases, severe bleeding requires reoperation. These sutures are everted sutures causing a significant number of adhesions. We did not find any significant difference in the healing of inverted or everted sutures from the 15th day onwards.


Endocannabinoids are neuromodulators that act as retrograde synaptic messengers inhibiting the release of different neurotransmitters in cerebral areas such as hippocampus, cortex, and striatum. However, little is known about other roles of the endocannabinoid system in brain. In the present work we provide substantial evidence that the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) regulates neuronal differentiation both in culture and in vivo. Thus AEA, through the CB1 receptor, inhibited cortical neuron progenitor differentiation to mature neuronal phenotype. In addition, human neural stem cell differentiation and nerve growth factor-induced PC12 cell differentiation were also inhibited by cannabinoid challenge. AEA decreased PC12 neuronal-like generation via CB1-mediated inhibition of sustained extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation, which is responsible for nerve growth factor action. AEA thus inhibited TrkA-induced Rap1/B-Raf/ERK activation. Finally, immunohistochemical analyses by confocal microscopy revealed that adult neurogenesis in dentate gyrus was significantly decreased by the AEA analogue methanandamide and increased by the CB1 antagonist SR141716. These data indicate that endocannabinoids inhibit neuronal progenitor cell differentiation through attenuation of the ERK pathway and suggest that they constitute a new physiological system involved in the regulation of neurogenesis.


Retrospective life history designs are among the few practical approaches for collecting longitudinal network information from large populations, particularly in the context of relationships like sexual partnerships that cannot be measured via digital traces or documentary evidence. While all such designs afford the ability to "peer into the past" vis-à-vis the point of data collection, little is known about the impact of the specific design parameters on the time horizon over which such information is useful. In this article, we investigate the effect of two different survey designs on retrospective network imputation: (1) intervalN, where subjects are asked to provide information on all partners within the past N time units; and (2) lastK, where subjects are asked to provide information about their K most recent partners. We simulate a "ground truth" sexual partnership network using a published model of Krivitsky (2012), and we then sample this data using the two retrospective designs under various choices of N and K . We examine the accumulation of missingness as a function of time prior to interview, and we investigate the impact of this missingness on model-based imputation of the state of the network at prior time points via conditional ERGM prediction. We quantitatively show that—even setting aside problems of alter identification and informant accuracy—choice of survey design and parameters used can drastically change the amount of missingness in the dataset. These differences in missingness have a large impact on the quality of retrospective parameter estimation and network imputation, including important effects on properties related to disease transmission.


Forecast of earnings is one of the major tasks for financial statement analysts, and sales forecast is the most important step in the process of predicting earnings. Taking one large cell phone company in Taiwan as example and by the use of monthly data to fit a proper VAR model, we found that, when forecasting monthly sales, number of clients is a significant forward-looking information for financial statement analysts of the mobile industry. Compared to a model with only past sales as predicting variable, the forecasts generated by the bi-variate (monthly sales and month-end number of clients) model in this paper reduce the forecasting error by almost 30%. The evidence from the two variable VARMA model also support our hypothesis that there is a bidirectional dynamic relationship between sales and number of clients, i.e., both sales and number of clients are leading indicators of one another. The purpose of requiring listed firms to publicly announce their monthly sales before the 10th day of the following month in Taiwan is of course to provide investors and analysts with relevant information for them to make rational decision. Monthly sales numbers are relevant because users of this financial information can predict future sales based on their past history. In this paper we target on a large cell phone company in Taiwan to demonstrate that a similar timely disclosure of number of clients should also be required in additional to the monthly sales. Besides, the SEC should careful examine for all industries that whether more forward-looking information should be made available to the public.


While theories of local democracy mark political representation as highly important in determining the quality and perception of public services, little has been done to explore the empirical connection. This represents a lacuna in our understanding of how representation affects citizen wellbeing and how citizens determine their satisfaction with public services. We focus on descriptive and symbolic dimensions of representation to elucidate how representation influences citizens', and minority citizens' in particular, experience with public services. Utilizing a survey of residents of Haifa, Israel, our findings imply that beyond the descriptive makeup of municipal elected bodies, symbolic dimensions of representation might be even more important for understanding citizen satisfaction. Symbolic representation may impact satisfaction directly and through its contribution to other feelings about government. These findings expand understandings of the importance of diversity in political representation, determinants of satisfaction and how dynamics of good governance contribute to citizens' experiences.


All life on Earth seems to be made of the same chemical elements in relatively conserved proportions (stoichiometry). Whether this stoichiometry is conserved in settings that differ radically in physicochemical conditions (extreme environments) from those commonly encountered elsewhere on the planet provides insight into possible stoichiometries for putative life beyond Earth. Here, we report measurements of elemental stoichiometry for extremophile microbes from hot springs of Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Phototrophic and chemotrophic microbes were collected in locations spanning large ranges of temperature (24 °C to boiling), pH (1.6–9.6), redox (0.1–7.2 mg L−1 dissolved oxygen), and nutrient concentrations (0.01–0.25 mg L−1 NO2− , 0.7–12.9 mg L−1 NO3− , 0.01–42 mg L−1 NH4+, 0.003–1.1 mg L−1 P mostly as phosphate). Despite these extreme conditions, the microbial cells sampled had a major and trace element stoichiometry within the ranges commonly encountered for microbes living in the more moderate environments of lakes and surface oceans. The cells did have somewhat high C:P and N:P ratios that are consistent with phosphorus (P) limitation. Furthermore, chemotrophs and phototrophs had similar compositions with the exception of Mo content, which was enriched in cells derived from chemotrophic sites. Thus, despite the extraordinary physicochemical and biological diversity of YNP environments, life in these settings, in a stoichiometric sense, remains much the same as we know it elsewhere.


A class of mechanical systems with many unactuated degrees of freedom is studied. An analytical method for computing coefficients of a linear controlled system, solutions of which approximate dynamics of transverse part of coordinates of an underactuated mechanical system along a feasible motion, is proposed. The procedure is constructive and is based on a particular choice of coordinates in a vicinity of the motion. It allows explicit introduction of the so-called moving Poincaré section associated with a finite-time or periodic motion. It is shown that the coordinates admit analytical linearization of transverse part of the system dynamics prior to any controller design. If the motion is periodic, then these coordinates are used for developing feedback controllers. Necessary and sufficient conditions for exponential orbital stabilization of a cycle for underactuated mechanical systems are derived. Two illustrative examples are elaborated in details.


A 6-month-old female entire, mixed breed dog was presented for evaluation of a 3-week history of neck stiffness and pain on opening the mouth. Radiographs and subsequent CT were performed, as well as a further CT at a 3-month follow-up. The images revealed multiple osseous abnormalities characterised by severe periosteal reactions affecting the head, cervical vertebrae and the proximal thoracic limbs. Histopathological analysis was compatible with a severe case of extensive craniomandibular osteopathy (CMO). To the authors' knowledge, a diffuse periosteal reaction effecting the cervical vertebrae, associated with CMO, has not been previously reported. Furthermore, it demonstrates that despite the novel distribution of the disease, clinical improvement is possible with conservative management, with partial resolution of excessive bone proliferation, improvement in the ability to flex and extend the neck, as well as a marked improvement in temporomandibular function.


Interest in radiation protection issues has recently grown within the medical profession. Several investigators have examined the radiation exposure of orthopaedic surgeons using X-rays during trauma surgery, and found that doses received are within acceptable limits. These studies however, have been performed over short time-periods or have been confined to single procedures only. In this paper, we report the results of monitoring of the total exposure across all procedures of a group of orthopaedic surgeons over a 4-month period. Doses received were all below the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommended limits. While these results are reassuring, they do not represent grounds for complacency. Continued vigilance will be essential as work practices continue to change. In orthopaedics, in contrast with other specialties, the limiting dose is that to the hands. In view of this finding, extremity dosimetry for surgeons regularly using X-rays in theatre should be considered.


Preparing highly charged ions (HCIs) in a cold and strongly localized state is of particular interest for frequency metrology and tests of possible spatial and temporal variations of the fine structure constant. Our versatile preparation technique is based on the generic modular combination of a pulsed ion source with a cryogenic linear Paul trap. Both instruments are connected by a compact beamline with deceleration and precooling properties. We present its design and commissioning experiments regarding these two functionalities. A pulsed buncher tube allows for the deceleration and longitudinal phase-space compression of the ion pulses. External injection of slow HCIs, specifically Ar(13+), into the linear Paul trap and their subsequent retrapping in the absence of sympathetic cooling is demonstrated. The latter proved to be a necessary prerequisite for the multi-pass stopping of HCIs in continuously laser-cooled Be(+) Coulomb crystals.


This study analyzes a small island residents' impact on development of marine tourism perception and support attitude to new island tourism development and investigates tourism dependence on residents' impact perception and attitude toward support its moderating effect. This study took residents living on Jibei Island in Taiwan's Penghu Islands archipelago as the subjects, using the convenience sampling method of questionnaires, and collected a total of 279 valid questionnaires. After statistical analysis, this study has the following findings. Residents perceived that tourism development has brought about the impact of traffic congestion, marine pollution, coastal landscape damage, destruction of coral reefs, but increased employment opportunities. And in the factors of "negative impact to living conditions", "negative impact to marine environment", "improved infrastructure", and "positive economic impact" significantly influence residents support attitude towards tourism development. The residents of depend on the tourism, will affect their perception on the impact of marine tourism and tourism development support attitude. The results of this study not only provide reference to island countries in the development of marine tourism, but also offer specific directions and recommendations for future research. Original Research Article Chang and Huang; AJEE, 5(2): 1-14, 2017; Article no.AJEE.38298 2


We conducted a paleomagnetic study on the Early Permian volcanic and sedimentary rocks, and the Neoproterozoic mafic dikes in the Yili Block, NW China. Magnetite and hematite were proven to be the principal magnetic remanence carriers. Demagnetizations revealed stable characteristic remanence magnetizations with a sole reversed magnetic polarity. The magnetic remanence of only the Early Permian strata turned out to be primary based on positive fold tests; meanwhile, the magnetic remanence age of the mafic dikes is ambiguous. Accordingly, the first Early Permian paleomagnetic pole for the Yili Block is calculated at λ = 81.5°N, φ = 256.5°E, N = 11, and A95 = 10.9°. Comparisons of this new pole with published ones from the Yili, Tarim, and South Junggar blocks provide new quantitative constraints on late Paleozoic kinematic evolution of the SW Central Asian Orogenic Belt: (1) Between the Yili and Tarim blocks, significant relative movement took place along major strike‐slip faults during the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian (580 ± 290 km) and the Early to Late Permian (585 ± 340 km), and the displacement rate increased from the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian (~19.3 ± 9.7 mm/yr) to the Early to Late Permian (~29.3 ± 17.0 mm/yr); (2) a significant relative rotation of 28.3° ± 18.3° in the Late Permian, and a lateral displacement of 630 ± 295 km after the Late Permian occurred between the Yili and South Junggar blocks. The significant strike‐slip movements played an important role in the formation of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and should be considered with great attention in tectonic and paleogeographic reconstructions.


Background & Objectives: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most prevalent form of acute leukemias in adults; unfortunately it carries very poor prognosis. Over the past decade marvelous advances were achieved in understanding pathophysiology of AML and this was reflected in management of AML patients. Nevertheless the standard anthracycline based induction regimens remained the cornerstone for treatment of AML; however their effectiveness is limited by their well known cardiotoxicity. To our knowledge this is the first study that investigated anthracycline versus non-anthracycline induction regimens in patients with AML. Methods: 90AML patients were enrolled in the study; they were retrospectively recruited from AML patients who were admitted at South Egypt Cancer Institute (SECI) from 2000-2010. Demographic, clinical, hematologic and data concerning treatment and therapeutic response were collected from hospital records of patients. Results: Analysis of the collected data showed lower median age of the study participants compared to other studies, FAB M2, M3, M4, followed by M1 were the commonest FAB subtypes among the study patients. Survival analysis showed longer overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) in those treated with anthracycline induction regimens compared with the non-anthracycline treated group. Also, higher incidence of relapse was observed in the non-anthracycline group. Conclusion: Anthracycline based induction regimens are still more effective than non-anthracycline regimens for treatment of AML, however the search for safer drugs than anthracyclines is still mandatory.


Salmonella typhimurium is a Gram-negative zoonotic bacterium which causes a wide range of illnesses to both humans and animals. The aim of this research is to study the pathogenicity of S. typhimurium in vivo. A total of 40 adult white BALB/c mice were divided into 5 groups (8 animals each). Four groups were orally dosed by viable S. typhimurium (1 X 109 cfu/ml) suspended in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) by a stomach tube, while the fifth group was given PBS orally only (control group). Four mice were killed at 7, 12, 24, 48 hours after giving the infective dose plus one mouse from the control group. In addition, sera were collected after 2 weeks from animals of each group to detect the titer of antibodies. The viability of S. typhimurium was checked by culturing on SS agar after mice death. Slides were prepared for histopathological examination (to assess the lesions) and immuno-histochemistry (to detect cytotoxic T cells in the affected organs). The results included bacterial isolation from duodenum, jejunum, ileum and liver which were positive from the infected groups. Histopathological examination showed hepatic granulomatous lesions with severe infiltration of mononuclear cells (MNCs) in the liver parenchyma and within small intestine. Finally, to detect cytotoxic T cells in the slides, immunohistochemistry showed presence of CD8 T cells in the hepatic cells. Titers of antibodies were measured by ELISA where IgG antibodies were detected. The conclusion of this study could be summarized by addressing the severity of infection after 12 hours of oral dosing in the stomach while severe lesions were seen in the liver after 48 hours of oral administration.


This article focuses on the X is so NP-construction in American English, as exemplified by "Holding grudges is so last century" (SOAP, As the World Turns, 2002). Drawing on the Corpus of American Soap Operas (Davies 2011-), the aim of this study is to provide an account of the distributional pattern of noun phrase modification with so, including preferences in modified noun phrase (NP) types and concomitant differences in the meaning of so. The analyses reveal that, in line with subjectification theory on intensification (Athanasiadou 2007), so is expanding its functional range from intensification to emphasis. The findings suggest a near-complementary distribution of these meanings, with intensifying so ('very') dominating in affirmative sentences (especially with object pronouns and names; "It's so Star Trek"; SOAP, Days of Our Lives, 2004), and emphatic so ('definitely') in negated utterances (especially with pre-modified NPs, such as "It is so not a date"; SOAP, One Life to Live, 2007). Furthermore, intensifying uses of so are restricted to NPs that exhibit adjective-like characteristics and invite metonymic referencing (Gonzálvez-García 2014). So is attested almost exclusively with the copula be, which might hint at restrictions at work in this construction. With respect to the distribution of GenX so across the character groups, the scriptwriters attributed most utterances to (younger) women, in terms of both token frequency and dispersion within the group. This paper shows that the observations pertaining to language variation and change made for adjective intensification ("so good") also apply to NP intensification ("so 2020").


Parents of disabled children often face the question whether or not to keep the child at home or to place them. The choice between the two alternatives resides with the parents and various factors influence their decision. Several researchers have identified these factors, which include child-related parameters, family and parental attitudes, the influence of the social environment, and the external assistance provided to the family. In a pilot study, we attempted to isolate the main factors involved in the parental decision either to keep the child at home or place the child by examining a sample comprised of 50 parents of children suffering severe intellectual disability studying in a special education school and 48 parents of adults with intellectual disability working in sheltered workshops. Each parent filled out a questionnaire used in a study in the United States and results of the research indicated parental-related factors as the dominant factors that delayed the placement of their child in residential care; guilt feelings were the main factor.


This paper contains a review of genetic factors in depressive affects. A large number of research findings have been reported for this purpose, the most important of these being the twin study. Monozygotic and dizygotic twins have been differentiated. It has been found that monozygotic twins have a higher concordance rate for affective illness than do dizygotic twins. Moreover, bipolar and unipolar illnesses were found in the relatives of unipolar patients only. Thus affective illness in the first degree of relatives of bipolar patients was more than 30%. Genetic transmission was also found in linkage relationship. Chromosomal studies have also been reported. Phenotypic variations have also been found to be responsible for affective illness. In conclusion, a better clinical, biochemical, and therapeutic investigation has been suggested for better understanding of genetic factors in affective illness.


Abstract:A rare account of Jewish women's spiritualist activity is preserved in R. Aaron Mendel Hakohen's Haneshamah vehakadish (1921), an early-twentieth-century Hebrew religious treatise on the soul and the afterlife. The anonymous women depicted in it held regular séances in the company of their families in their Cairo home, in which they utilized a planchette, a popular spirit communication device, in order to contact the departed. This article presents and analyzes Hakohen's account, considering his role as a literary intermediary relating the women's communication with the dead, the activities of the Cairo circle in comparison to broader spiritualist practice, and the place of spiritualist doctrine within Hakohen's theology of the afterlife. A full translation of the account into English is presented in the .


The paper discussed a Verification and Validation (V&V) type of simulator for Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) which is adopted by Digital Control System (DCS), but DCS simulation is an important part of the V&V type of simulator. The paper proposed a structural scheme and simulation methods about the DCS simulation, and then analyzed control principle and control strategy simulation about DCS Simulation. In order to confirm the validity of this scheme, the simulation experiment about DCS is carried out with a full-scope simulation model of nuclear power plants. The experimental results show that the proposal of DCS simulation is correct and proves practical. The content of the paper can provide some technology service of verification and design in DCS, and also can provide some reference for the simulation technology about other process industry control system.


We present a new approach to developing hybrid feedback policies for the control of systems with nonholonomic constraints. We extend the idea of sequential composition and use it to to switch between controllers in a state based manner, resulting in a globally convergent, pure feedback policy. Individual controllers in the palette are inspired by variable constraint control. We solve a vision guided unicycle navigation problem and verify the result through simulation and experiment. This technical report presents a detailed description of results published in [10].


In this work the peculiarities of phase formation of the cement stone at presence of nanostructured modifier of the silica composition were identified using the method of x-ray diffraction and raster electronic microscopy. Also the character of influence of modifier on the structure formation of the cement stone was defined. Polydisperse modifier with the presence of a highly active colloidal component, on the one hand, acts as a pozzolanic component, and on the other hand – as a submicron filler.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Dormancy in seeds of Cuscuta (Convolvulaceae, tribe Cuscuteae) is due to a water-impermeable seed coat (physical dormancy). In nondormant seeds of several species of this family, bulges adjacent to the micropyle have been identified as the initial route of water entry into seeds (water gap). However, there are claims that water enters seeds of Cuscuta spp. via the entire seed coat. Although several studies have been done on seed coat anatomy of Cuscuta, none has identified and/or characterized the morphology/anatomy of a water gap. Thus, the primary aim of this research was to identify and describe the morphology and anatomy of the water gap in seeds of Cuscuta australis. It was also determined if sensitivity cycling to dormancy-breaking treatments occurs in seeds of this species.

METHODS
Light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, tissue-sectioning and dye-tracking and blocking experiments were used to investigate the morphology and anatomy of the water gap. Treatments simulating natural conditions were used to break seed dormancy. Storage of seeds at different temperatures was tested for their effect on sensitivity to dormancy-breaking treatment.

KEY RESULTS
Dormancy-breaking treatments caused the tightly closed hilar fissure to open. Staining was observed in cells below the hilum area but not in those below the seed coat away from the hilum. Sensitivity to dormancy-breaking treatment was induced by storing seeds dry and reduced by storing them wet.

CONCLUSIONS
Whereas bulges adjacent to the micropyle act as the water gap in other species of Convolvulaceae with physical dormancy, the hilar fissure serves this function in Cuscuta. Cuscuta australis can cycle between insensitivity <--> sensitivity to dormancy-breaking treatments.


Building on reciprocity theory, the current study explores whether wine tourists feel a need to buy wine at tasting rooms due to a perceived need to reciprocate for services received. In this research, wine and souvenirs bought fully or partly out of the desire to repay hospitality and services received are identified as gratuity purchasing. Specifically, the study investigates the role of gratitude and obligation in wine tourist purchasing behavior. The results indicate that the higher visitor feelings of gratitude and obligation while at a winery, the bigger the expenditures. In addition, the research examines the effect of visitor group size on purchasing. It appears that visitors who travel to wineries in smaller groups experience higher levels of gratitude and obligation than visitors of larger groups. Consequently, visitors who come to wineries in smaller groups tend to spend more money on wine and/or souvenirs than larger groups. Managerial implications are discussed.


This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of pheromone trap modification on the catch of male Plodia Interpunctella. Laboratory experiments were conducted comparing pairs of different trap designs, each having different modifications, to determine the effect on moths catches Moths catch of standard funnel trap compared with a sticky delta trap was not significantly different (p>0.05). Delta trap modified with windows cut (12cm long x 7cm height) on the sides panel of trap proved to significantly caught more moths than the funnel trap (p<0.05). Changing a lure position within the modified delta trap from a suspended position to one directly on the sticky surface significantly increased moth catches (p<0.05). When the same two lure positions were compared in terms of the time elapsed between moths entering and eventually being trapped, it was found that trap with lure on the sticky surface caught moths more quickly than the other lure position (p<0.05). In the comparison of three traps heights, a modified delta trap placed on the cage floor proved to significantly catch more moths than the other two traps height. The results presented here recommended modified delta trap for use in the field.


The Maori of New Zealand have been identified as a high-risk population for slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE). This study assessed whether the burden of disease from SCFE in the American Territory of American Samoa is similar to that identified in the Maori. This was a retrospective review of children from American Samoa treated for SCFE at a tertiary care pediatric hospital between 2005-2014. Demographic, clinical, and radiographic information was collected. All patients were followed for at least one year after surgery and prophylactically pinned hips were not included. Data for determining incidence was obtained from the United States Census Bureau. Between 2005-2014, 55 American Samoan youth were treated for 73 SCFE. The incidence in the "at-risk" population 5-14 years of age was 53.1 per 100,000. Patients had a mean BMI of 29.5 (19.4-46.4) and mean weight of 76.7 kg (45.9-139 kg). Southwick angle was a mean 40.6°+/- 20.4° (6-83°). Overall, 82.2% of hips were treated with in-situ cannulated screw fixation. At a minimum one-year after initial surgery, 22 hips (30.1%) required major surgery including intertrochanteric osteotomy, osteochondroplasty, or total hip replacement. The incidence of SCFE in American Samoa is extremely high, 53.1 per 100,000 of "at-risk" population 5-14 years old. The mean weight and BMI in SCFE patients from American Samoa is substantially higher than previously published reports. Furthermore, morbidity from SCFE in this population is substantial with 30.1% requiring major surgery either at the time of physeal stabilization or in subsequent years.


Experimental and numerical investigations of the off-design performance of a simple channel-wedge diffuser in a small centrifugal compressor are presented. Surge and choke conditions as well as design point are considered using somewhat limited range of experimental data and also supplementary 3D CFD results. Some critical meanline design parameters' behavior is investigated numerically, to render the basis for improved modelings in the meanline performance prediction.Copyright © 2002 by ASME


The enteropathogenic role of cytotoxic necrotizing factor (CNF)-producing Escherichia coli was investigated by searching cnf genes among 2074 isolates from 200 children with and 200 without acute diarrhea in Brazil. Fourteen (7%) cases versus 10 (5%) control children carried at least one cnf positive isolate (P = 0.50) and most isolates expressed CNF type 1. DNA sequences of virulence factors of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) were detected in 78.6% of CNF1-producing isolates. Besides not being associated with human acute diarrhea, the CNF1-producing isolates here identified may represent potential ExPEC transitorily composing the normal intestinal flora.


The PD-1:PD-L1 axis is a major immune regulatory pathway that blunts T cell activation in the tumor microenvironment. We recently identified that PD-1 is also upregulated on ovarian mouse tumor-infiltrating myeloid dendritic cells (TIDCs) that exhibit an immune suppressive phenotype. Extending those observations in this study, we now report that PD-1 is also expressed on human myeloid TIDCs of ovarian cancer patients, on which it suppresses the expression of co-stimulatory molecules (CD40 and CD80) as well as production of inflammatory cytokines. Mechanistic studies revealed that PD-1 on TIDCs is associated with Src homology domain-containing phosphatase-2 (SHP-2) and that PD-1-mediated blockade of NFkB-dependent cytokine release is SHP-2 dependent. PD-1 also inhibits NFkB-mediated antigen presentation which appears, however, to be independent of SHP-2. Thus, suppression of NFkB is critical in mediating PD-1-induced paralysis of ovarian tumor-associated immune TIDCs and is mediated through multiple signaling circuits that are both SHP-2 dependent and independent.


The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and its impact on education has been a topic of growing concern in recent years. The new generation AI systems such as chatbots have become more accessible on the Internet and stronger in terms of capabilities. The use of chatbots, particularly ChatGPT, for generating academic essays at schools and colleges has sparked fears among scholars. This study aims to explore the originality of contents produced by one of the most popular AI chatbots, ChatGPT. To this end, two popular plagiarism detection tools were used to evaluate the originality of 50 essays generated by ChatGPT on various topics. Our results manifest that ChatGPT has a great potential to generate sophisticated text outputs without being well caught by the plagiarism check software. In other words, ChatGPT can create content on many topics with high originality as if they were written by someone. These findings align with the recent concerns about students using chatbots for an easy shortcut to success with minimal or no effort. Moreover, ChatGPT was asked to verify if the essays were generated by itself, as an additional measure of plagiarism check, and it showed superior performance compared to the traditional plagiarism-detection tools. The paper discusses the need for institutions to consider appropriate measures to mitigate potential plagiarism issues and advise on the ongoing debate surrounding the impact of AI technology on education. Further implications are discussed in the paper.


The invention relates to an adaptive hydraulic pressure generator (10) for systems in which the mechanical force producing energy varies significantly, especially for wave energy systems. The pressure generator comprises at least two fluid chambers (11, 12; 201, 202; 301, 302, 303; 401, 402, 403) with a piston surface/displacement surface (A1y, A1a, A2y, A2a), which piston surface/displacement surface and fluid chamber are arranged to reciprocate with respect to one another, whereby the piston surface/displacement surface (A1y, A1a, A2y, A2a) acts on the fluid in the chamber (11, 12; 201, 202; 301, 302, 303; 401, 402, 403) by means of the said mutual reciprocating movement. The pressure generator is arranged to produce a pressure exceeding a certain threshold pressure in the fluid supplied to the application. The pressure generator (10) is equipped with a control system (18) which is arranged to connect the chambers to each other and/or to different pressure ducts in such a way that the effective area (Aeff) of the piston/displacement surfaces (A1y, A1a, A2y, A2a) changes in accordance with the changes in the driving force exerted on the piston/displacement surfaces (A1y, A1a, A2y, A2a) and/or the body forming the fluid chamber in such a way that the pressure produced-by the-pressure generator in the fluid supplied to the application exceeds the threshold pressure.


ABSTRACT Background In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Higher education institutions have a role in raising awareness and building skills among future professionals for implementing the SDGs. This review describes how the SDGs have been integrated into higher education globally. Objectives Determine how have the SDGs been integrated into higher education globally. Describe the differences in the integration of the SDGs in higher education across high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods Following a scoping review methodology, we searched Medline, Web of Science, Global Health, and Educational Resources Information Center, as well as websites of key institutions including universities, identifying peer-reviewed articles and grey literature published between September 2015 and December 2021. Results We identified 20 articles and 38 grey literature sources. Since 2018, the number of publications about the topic has been increasing. The SDGs were most frequently included in bachelor-level education and disciplines such as engineering and technology; humanities and social sciences; business, administration, and economics. Methods of integrating the SDGs into higher education included workshops, courses, lectures, and other means. Workshops and courses were the most frequent. The methods of integration varied in high-income countries compared to low- and middle-income countries. High-income countries seemed to follow a more academic approach to the SDGs while low- and middle-income countries integrate the SDGs with the aim to solve real-world problems. Conclusion This study provides examples of progress in integrating the SDGs into higher education. Such progress has been skewed to high-income countries, bachelor-level initiatives, and certain disciplines. To advance the integration of the SDGs, lessons learned from universities globally should be shared broadly, equitable partnerships formed, and students engaged, while simultaneously increasing funding for these processes.


Do the controls of breathing differ with age? Pulmonary ventilation was measured by body plethysmograph and pressure transducer. After birth, breathing was irregular (pneumotaxic); steadiness from breath to breath was gained at 3 days; extraction of oxygen from the inspired air became more uniform after 10 days. In pO2 20–40 mm Hg only infants survived a half hour; ventilation did not usually increase, and often decreased. Hyperventilation even in 40 mm Hg was not sustained for many minutes in the newborn, but by 6 days was large and enduring. Heartbeats decreased in frequency during severe hypoxia. Oxygen consumption decreased 75% during hypoxia that allowed survival of infants; it sometimes recovered only slowly after hypoxia ended. Tolerance of infants to low oxygen thus consisted in ability to utilize some oxygen at low pressures and to dispense with some oxygen. Some factor other than pCO2 or pO2, possibly centrogenic, often controlled ventilation in infancy. Low oxygen maximally accelerated the breathing at an age when endurance of hypoxia remained.

Submitted on May 12, 1960


Abstract In this study, numerical simulation of hydrothermal behaviour of ethylene glycol based CuO nanofluid in a semi-annulus with a magnetic source is investigated. The non-dimensional governing equations are discretized by radial basis functions in spatial derivatives, and by backward-Euler in temporal derivatives. The effects of dimensionless parameters Hartmann number, Rayleigh number, magnetic number, Eckert number and solid volume fraction are presented both in terms of streamlines, isotherms and vorticity contours, and average Nusselt number through the heated wall. The results show that augmentation in magnetic number accelerates the convective heat transfer at a small Rayleigh number, and at a larger heated inner circle. Convective heat transfer is inhibited with the rise of Hartmann number, and with the increase in Eckert number while it is enhanced with the increase in concentration of nanoparticles and Rayleigh number.


Epidermoid cysts represent 0.2-1% of all intracranial tumours. Extremely rare they are found in the pineal region. We present four patients with epidermoid cysts located in the pineal region observed and operated by the senior author (S.G.) during a period of twenty years and review of the literature.


Abstract This is a paper delivered by Dr. Barbara Silverstone for the 1999 Ellsworth Stanton Lecture in Gerontological Social Work, a lecture funded by the James N. Jarvie Commonweal Service, New York City. In it Dr. Silverstone argues that our profession and schools of social work have "become out of sync with an aging society." The case for an infusion of knowledge about aging and older people throughout school of social work curricula and for "a close review" of the practi-cum is made. Equally important is an intensive program of education of practice, and the strategy of clinical professorships, as in medical schools is recommended.


provisional) Background In humans, serotonin has typically been investigated as a neurotransmitter. However, serotonin also functions as a hormone across animal phyla, including those lacking an organized central nervous system. This hormonal action allows serotonin to have physiological consequences in systems outside the central nervous system. Fluctuations in estrogen levels over the lifespan and during ovarian cycles cause predictable changes in serotonin systems in female mammals. Discussion We hypothesize that some of the physiological effects attributed to estrogen may be a consequence of estrogen-related changes in serotonin efficacy and receptor distribution. Here, we integrate data from endocrinology, molecular biology, neuroscience, and epidemiology to propose that serotonin may mediate the effects of estrogen. In the central nervous system, estrogen influences pain transmission, headache, dizziness, nausea, and depression, all of which are known to be a consequence of serotonergic signaling. Outside of the central nervous system, estrogen produces changes in bone density, vascular function, and immune cell self-recognition and activation that are consistent with serotonin's effects. For breast cancer risk, our hypothesis predicts heretofore unexplained observations of the opposing effects of obesity preand post-menopause and the increase following treatment with hormone replacement therapy using medroxyprogesterone. Summary Serotonergic mediation of estrogen has important clinical implications and warrants further evaluation.


The case area under study from geographical point of view is located in 35 15 to 33 30 and E from 48 30 to 47 00 and involve parts of Lorestan north western and Kermanshah south western parts which extends partly to Alashtar , Noorabad, Harsin and Kermanshah. This climatically and mountainous area has a cold and rainy climate. The highest part in the peak is the Gareen mountain in Alashtar with the height of 3500 meters. The volcanic rocks in the north west of Noorabad are in the district of Zagross within Sanandaj and sirjsn. The above mentioned Ophiolite is a main part into of Kermanshah Ophiolite. The high Zagross is divided into three parts which includes: limestone Bistoon, Bakhtaran Ophiolite and Radiolarits. The rocks of this complex from lower to upper layers include Peridutits, Gabro layers, Isotop Gabroes, alittle Plagiogeranite, Daik, Bazalt, Andesite and some other rocks. The Petrogeraphic studies revealed that the primary inorganic was analyzed into secondary inorganic Ophiolite such as Iron Oxidation and Colorite. As well, the organics in there rocks include Calco pyroxene, Bornits, Malacits, Azorits and metal Oxidation. Analysis of some of the Geogemical samples in some areas showed a considerable amount of TI, Mn, and Cu. In reality, the basic purpose of this research is about the Cu inorganic volcanic rocks (Andesite and Bazalte). The Anomaly areas are more related which heterogonous of (Colorite, Epidote, seresite and Propelitic). However, the results of the Ophiolite volcanic showed that these rocks include Cu Anomaly. The cases under study in Basalt, Andesite, Riolite, Tracits and Dasits related to calcalcalen were in volcanic areas with economical Kansares of metal elements such as Mn, Cu, V, Ti, Co, Cr along witch Alteramafic and mafic rocks. Since a big part of Ophiolite is composed of these rocks making Kansares of these elements in these Ophiolites is not avoidable the accomplishment of focal analysis of minerals by means of Microprobe started. This is because such Tasks can help in recognizing minerals compositional Zoning, Frequency of secondary elements which are rare as well as determining the kind of environment.


The design of a self tuning Static Var Compensator (SVC) based on pole placement method is presented. In order to maintain good damping characteristics when there is a drastic change in system operating condition, the gain settings are adapted in real time based on the continuously measured system inputs and outputs. The new self tuning proportional integral derivative (PID) control can provide better damping characteristics than a fixed gain PID control SVC over a wide range of operating conditions. Digital simulation of a two machine system following a three phase fault under different loading conditions is performed to demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the developed controller. Simulation results are presented at the end of the paper.


Through the analysis and comparison of shortcomings and advantages of existing technologies on object modeling in 3D applications,we propose a new modeling method for virtual scene based on multi-view image sequence to model irregular objects efficiently in 3D application.In 3D scene,this method can get better visual effect by tracking the viewer's real-time perspective position and projecting the photos from different perspectives dynamically.The philosophy of design,the steps of development and some other relevant topics are discussed in details,and the validity of the algorithm is analyzed.The results demonstrate that this method represents more superiority on simulating irregular objects by applying it to the modeling of virtual museum.


A smart contract is a set of computer code that works on a blockchain and creates set of rules that are agreed upon by all the entities involved in the contract. It means that when a milestone of a contract is reached and the payments are made, it is registered in the blockchain so that neither party can manipulate the truth or validity or registration. All of these provide additional security, transparency and efficiency. In the higher education sector, although there are blockchain studies that are focusing mainly on the originality of documents and information, studies involving smart contracts are less common. In this study, a blockchain and smart contracts-based platform is presented as scholarship management model in order to create and store contracts between students and the Credit and Hostels Institution (CHI) in Turkey. Then it is confirmed on the Higher Education Information System of Turkey that the student fulfills the continuation requirements at the end of the academic year and automatically authorizes the scholarship. The proposed scholarship management model involves many parties and processes, provides transparency and document integrity, and the most importantly, provides authorization of those who are entitled to receive a scholarship by automated rules.


We present a formalism to study adiabatic pumping through a superconductor-normal-superconductor weak link. At zero temperature, the pumped charge is related to the Berry phase accumulated, in a pumping cycle, by the Andreev bound states. We analyze in detail the case when the normal region is short compared to the superconducting coherence length. The pumped charge turns out to be an even function of the superconducting phase difference. Hence, it can be distinguished from the charge transferred due to the standard Josephson effect.


Cancer in childhood shows considerable differences from the disease in adults, particularly as regards the low incidence of carcinoma. Epithelial tumours of the alimentary tract are uncommon but may occur in the mouth, pharynx, salivary glands, and colon with only occasional examples at other sites. The incidence of childhood tumours varies with age, geographical, ethnic, and genetic factors. Much of the material in the present paper has been taken from the Manchester University Children's Tumour Registry (CTR) which is a population-based registry started at the end of 1953 (Marsden and Steward, 1968) and includes about 1 million children under 15 years of age living in the area shown in figure 1.


Culture is a concept that is claimed these days as the last authority for appeal in most discussions on human affairs and as the ultimate cause of important differences among people: [C]ulture is the sole source of the validity of a moral right or rule 1 Only culture seems to be conclusive for almost all of what men are and what they do. Culture is what we collectively create but, at the same time, what we are determined by; we are our own masters and at the same time slaves of our own creations. The culture that is so decisive today, however, is not a universal culture common to everyone but the concrete culture of each society 2 here and now. Thus the culture that is concretely relevant to us today is plural. Pluralism in the present understanding may not necessarily trouble Christians, but the relativism that accompanies it does. More alarming, however, is cultural determinism that seriously discourages Christian efforts for evangelism and, especially, foreign mission.


Ad exchanges are emerging Internet markets where advertisers may purchase display ad placements, in real time and based on specific viewer information, directly from publishers via a simple auction mechanism. Advertisers join these markets with a prespecified budget and participate in multiple second-price auctions over the length of a campaign. This paper studies the competitive landscape that arises in ad exchanges and the implications for publishers' decisions. The presence of budgets introduces dynamic interactions among advertisers that need to be taken into account when attempting to characterize the bidding landscape or the impact of changes in the auction design. To this end, we introduce the notion of a fluid mean-field equilibrium FMFE that is behaviorally appealing and computationally tractable, and in some important cases, it yields a closed-form characterization. We establish that an FMFE approximates well the rational behavior of advertisers in these markets. We then show how this framework may be used to provide sharp prescriptions for key auction design decisions that publishers face in these markets. In particular, we show that ignoring budgets, a common practice in this literature, can result in significant profit losses for the publisher when setting the reserve price.

This paper was accepted by Dimitris Bertsimas, optimization.


Amorphous GaAsP (a-GaAsP) films have been prepared by radiofrequency sputtering in argon. The composition in the deposited films was altered by varying the number of phosphorus pieces added to a crystalline GaAs target. The local structure and bonding configurations in the films have been investigated using extended X-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) techniques. EXAFS spectra have been recorded at the K edges of each constituent element, and this has allowed the authors to construct a reasonably detailed picture of the local structure in the a-GaAsP films. The results of optical absorption and infrared measurements are also reported and are found to correlate well with the EXAFS measurements.


This paper presents a study on ferroresonance occurring in a high voltage 400 kV transmission grid due to energization of power transformer under no-load conditions. The system scenarios analyzed in the present paper are considered as critical for development and modernization plans as currently announced by the national grid operator in Poland. The PSCAD simulation model was developed and applied for several study cases of a system with double-circuit arrangement of a transmission line. It is shown that the ferroresonant oscillations can be initiated by two-phase switching operation of a line circuit breaker. The impact of the double-circuit length on the ferroresonance mode and severity is demonstrated with the use of the Poincaré map analysis and Short Time Fourier Transform. It is demonstrated that the length of the transmission line that is mutually coupled in the double-circuit arrangement has a significant impact on the ferroresonance occurrence and on its mode. As the ferroresonance can pose severe threat to the power system components due to the severe overvoltage and overcurrent oscillations, the analysis presented in this paper demonstrates the necessity of the ferroresonance analyses for any re-designed transmission system.


Although minimal model analysis of frequently sampled iv glucose tolerance tests (FSIGTs) to measure insulin sensitivity is well recognized, application has been limited by the need for endogenous insulin secretion. In the present study we determined whether use of exogenous insulin could permit minimal model assessment of insulin sensitivity (SI) to be extended to diabetic subjects. Normal volunteers had separate FSIGT assessments supplemented with both tolbutamide and insulin to accelerate glucose disappearance, while diabetics had a FSIGT supplemented only with insulin. There was a strong and highly significant correlation between the two assessments in normal subjects (r = 0.87; P less than 0.001), and the rank order of SI generally was maintained with the two assessments over a 3-fold range of SI; however, insulin-determined SI was 16% lower (3.4 +/- 0.4 vs. 4.1 +/- 0.4 x 10(-4) min/microU.microL; P less than 0.01). Diabetic subjects had markedly lower insulin sensitivity than controls (SI = 0.61 +/- 0.16; P less than 0.0001). Across all subjects, the level of fasting serum glucose was correlated inversely with both insulin sensitivity (r = -0.62; P less than 0.05) and acute insulin responses (r = -0.72; P less than 0.02); however, insulin sensitivity in diabetic subjects with little insulin secretion (0.6 +/- 0.2) was comparable to insulin sensitivity in diabetic subjects with near-normal responses (0.6 +/- 0.3). In subjects with fasting hyperglycemia, there were significant correlations between insulin sensitivity and body mass index, percent fat mass, and waist/hip ratio (all P less than 0.03). Among all female subjects, there was also a strong correlation between insulin sensitivity and upper body obesity, as measured by waist/hip ratio (r = -0.68; P less than 0.02). Model parameters also permitted glucose uptake to be estimated in diabetic vs. normal subjects at comparable hyperglycemia (11.1 mmol/L). Total glucose uptake was decreased in diabetic subjects (5.2 +/- 0.8 vs. 12.7 +/- 1.7 mg/min.kg in normals; P less than 0.001), insulin-dependent glucose uptake was diminished to a greater extent (1.3 +/- 0.4 vs. 6.2 +/- 1.2) than noninsulin-independent glucose uptake (3.9 +/- 0.5 vs. 6.4 +/- 0.9; both P less than 0.02). Administration of insulin permits minimal model FSIGT analysis to be applied to diabetic as well as normal subjects, yielding information about both insulin- and noninsulin-mediated glucose uptake as well as insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion.


Objective. We examined disparities in periodontal disease in U.S. adults according to age, sex, race/ethnicity, country of birth, education, income, and poverty-income ratio within and between the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III, 1988–1994) and NHANES 1999–2004. Methods. We assessed disparities and changes therein using prevalence differences and ratios, as well as the Symmetrized Theil Index (STI). While these measures document disparities between pairs of population subgroups, and changes in relative disparities between surveys, the STI is a summary measure of health disparities that also tracks between-group disparities relative to the total population. Results. Prevalence differences and ratios for the prevalence of periodontitis, the mean pocket depth (PD), and the mean clinical attachment loss (CAL) suggest that periodontal disease significantly decreased between NHANES III and NHANES 1999–2004 (p<0.01). However, the STI for the prevalence of periodontitis suggests that disparities significantly increased within categories of race/ethnicity, country of birth, and education in NHANES 1999–2004 compared with NHANES III. These findings were corroborated for mean PD and mean CAL (p<0.001): the overall STI significantly increased for mean PD from 4.53% in NHANES III to 11.02% in NHANES 1999–2004 and for mean CAL for teeth with CAL >0 from 31.73% in NHANES III to 43.36% in NHANES 1999–2004. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that inequalities in periodontal disease significantly decreased between NHANES III and NHANES 1999–2004 in the total population and across selected characteristics of the population. However, these inequalities increased within groups of the population in NHANES 1999–2004 compared with NHANES III. These findings call attention to the absolute and relative differences not only between population groups across surveys, but also within population groups within and between surveys.


Laser scanning is a fast-developing technology, which collects millions of points and creates a framework within a few minutes, generating a 'point cloud' of the structure. Laser scanning is a quite new but rapidly evolving technology that has been reviewed. this research study has used most modern models of laser scanners and their accompanying software that are capable of accurate capture and alignment of point clouds. Consequently, the laser scans have precisely captured the current geometry of each structure, which is irregular in many cases due to inherently complex geometry, anomalies during the original construction, aging, deterioration, and structural damage. As both the exterior and interior of the structure have been scanned, the point cloud became a digital 3D image of the historical building, which can be virtually toured from inside and outside. A 4-story public building was scanned using a 3D laser scanner to determine the architectural and structural drawings of the response to an earthquake. The application of passive control using a damper with the laser scanner has been modelled in this study. The results corroborate that this technique provides the best outcomes for reducing seismic damage collapses.