OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this series was to explore a 12.5:1 fixed-dose ratio of an intravenous nalbuphine and naloxone mixture (NNM) for use in patients following gynecologic surgery.

DESIGN AND PATIENTS
Open-label, nonrandomized case series. The first series was a dose-ranging investigation for 12 patients following elective total abdominal hysterectomy or myomectomy. In this series, fentanyl was used for intraoperative analgesia, and patients were assigned to a lower NNM (2.5 mg/0.2 mg) or to a higher NNM (5 mg/0.4 mg) dose group. The second series evaluated the fixed dose of 5 mg nalbuphine/0.4 mg naloxone for four patients undergoing ambulatory gynecologic procedures. In the second series, no opioid agents were administered intraoperatively to eliminate the possibility of mu-opioid reversal by naloxone postoperatively.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Pain control was assessed using a Verbal Pain Scale (0-10). Vital signs, side effects, and adverse events were recorded to determine drug safety.

RESULTS
In the first series, there were no adverse events; however, each patient required rescue medication (either morphine or fentanyl). In the second series, two of the four patients reported a reduction in pain following drug administration and did not require any further analgesic agents in the 3-hour postoperative period. One patient had an asymptomatic lowering of heart rate after receiving the drug.

CONCLUSION
Additional research of the unique combination therapy of nalbuphine and naloxone is warranted to further determine its potential clinical efficacy and safety.


Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can regulate the expression of apoptotic factors, including caspase‑3, Bcl‑2 and Bcl‑2‑associated X protein (Bax). Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in apoptosis. N‑acetyl cysteine (NAC) has been shown to exhibit antioxidant effects in vitro. However, the effects of NAC on LPS‑induced apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and the associated mechanisms are not well characterized. The present study explored the effect of NAC on LPS‑induced apoptosis of HUVECs and determined the participation of the p38 mitogen‑activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in the process of apoptosis. Cell viability was assessed using the Cell Counting Kit‑8 (CCK‑8) assay. The expression of caspase‑3, Bax, Bcl‑2, phosphorylated (p)‑p38MAPK/total (t‑)p38MAPK and p‑endothelial e nitric oxide synthase (eNOS)/t‑eNOS proteins were determined by western blotting. The expression levels of caspase‑3, Bax and Bcl‑2 mRNA were determined using reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‑qPCR). The rate of apoptosis was determined using flow cytometry. An NO detection kit (nitric reductase method) was used to determine NO concentration. The results of CCK‑8 and flow cytometric analyses showed that pretreatment of HUVECs with NAC or p38MAPK inhibitor (SB203580) attenuated LPS‑induced decrease in cell viability and increase in cell apoptosis. RT‑qPCR and western blotting showed that LPS promoted caspase‑3 and Bax expression, but inhibited that of Bcl‑2 in HUVECs; however, these effects were attenuated by pretreatment with NAC or SB203580. LPS stimulation significantly enhanced the expression of p‑p38MAPK protein and reduced the expression of p‑eNOS protein; however, these effects were attenuated by pretreatment with NAC or SB203580. NAC pretreatment attenuated LPS‑induced inhibition of NO synthesis, which was consistent with the effects of SB203580. The results demonstrated that NAC pretreatment alleviated LPS‑induced apoptosis and inhibition of NO production in HUVECs. Furthermore, these effects were proposed to be mediated via the p38MAPK signaling pathway.


This document intends to help the reader using the cim22Grammar package regarding both implementation issues and theoretical concepts. Background information is provided in sections 2 and 3 of this text. Section 2 provides an introduction to the Common Information Model (CIM) specification, and section 3 makes an overview of the ANother Tool for Language Recognition (ANTLR) fundamentals. The present version (0.2) of this package is composed by a main file—cim22.java—, a grammar file—cim22Grammar.g—, and some MS-DOS batch files. These files are described in section 4 and support the automation of some procedures, e.g. source files compilation and CIM Schema version 2.6 parsing execution.


Tracheoinnominate artery fistula is a critical complication of tracheostomy. The most important factors influencing patient outcome are prompt diagnosis, immediate control of bleeding with a patent airway, and emergency operation with or without interruption of the innominate artery. Here, we report a case of tracheoinnominate artery fistula in a 40-year-old woman with cerebrovascular accident who was successfully managed with an aorta-axillary artery bypass.


Radiotherapy and surgery have both played prominent roles in the treatment of esophageal cancer since the beginning of the 20th century. Although the use of radiotherapy alone to treat esophageal cancer has a long history, it has not demonstrated improved outcomes compared with surgery alone. The disappointing rates of survival and local control associated with single-modality therapy and the need for effective nonsurgical management led to the development of definitive chemoradiotherapy paradigms for esophageal cancer. Adding cytotoxic chemotherapy to radiotherapy for additive or synergistic effect was described as early as 1968, and over time, treatment has shifted from single-modality therapy toward combined-modality therapy using chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This approach eventually demonstrated superior outcomes in patients with esophageal cancer when compared to radiotherapy alone. Maximum benefit of this therapy depends on the appropriate addition of surgery and the optimization of radiosensitizing chemotherapy. A burgeoning area of research has focused on improving definitive chemoradiotherapy strategies through the incorporation of newer chemotherapeutic agents and targeted biologic agents. An overview of the history of chemoradiotherapy in the treatment of esophageal cancer is presented, as well as a discussion of ongoing studies and future areas of promising research.


A comparative study of atomic chemisorption at a metal surface is performed using free- and embedded-cluster models. A newly developed implementation of the moderately-large embedded-cluster (MLEC) approach is employed to describe the coupling of a surface cluster to its crystalline environment modelled by a slab. All calculations are done in the framework of density-functional theory using the local-density approximation. The cluster calculations are performed with the accurate all-electron linear-combination-of-Gaussian-type-orbitals formalism. The electronic structure of the substrate slab model is described using a linear-combination-of-Slater-type-orbitals method. A modification of the original MLEC formalism allows its application to metal substrates. The method is used here for the first time in combination with a 'first-principles' calculational scheme for the optimization of adsorption geometries employing an extended multilayered substrate. For the examples of H and O adsorption on the Li(001) surface clusters of different sizes are examined to explore the effects of embedding and the range of applicability of the MLEC method. The most pronounced effects observed are related to the charge rearrangement induced by adsorption. It is demonstrated that embedded clusters mirror the surface polarization of the Li(001) substrate and that the unphysical polarizability of free-cluster models is quenched due to embedding.


Analysis of intracentral brain relationships, cognitive and psychopathological processes in animals by means of pharmacological modulation is an optimal method of cognition, determining the possibilities of correlation with similar processes in humans. New methods and approaches to biomodulation of psychopathologies, based on the principles of pharmaco-EEG standardization using fast Fourier-transformed brain electrograms and elements of systemic behavior, allow to identify quantitative parameters of fundamental mechanisms of neuropsychoactive agents in the cat brain.


In this study, the use of alternative acoustic sensors in human-robot communication is investigated. In particular, a Non-Audible Murmur (NAM) microphone was applied in tele-operating the Geminoid HI-1 robot in noisy environments. The current study introduces the methodology and the results of speech intelligibility subjective tests when a NAM microphone was used in comparison with using a standard microphone. The results show the advantage of using a NAM microphone when the operation takes place in adverse environmental conditions. In addition, the effect of Geminoid's lip movements on speech intelligibility is also investigated. Subjective speech intelligibility tests show that the operator's speech can be perceived with higher intelligibility scores when the operator's audio speech is perceived along with the lip movements of robots.


Terbuthylazine [N2-tert-butyl-6-chloro-N4-ethyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine] degradation pathways in agricultural soils were evaluated by following the appearance and mobility of its main transformation products: dealkylated and hydroxylated derivatives. Three experimental degradation studies in open field were performed in different hydraulic conditions: constant hydraulic head on topsoil, achieved to simulate the highest-risk situation for the aquifer, intermittent artificial precipitation to simulate a medium-risk situation; and natural precipitation to reproduce the lowest-risk condition. Concentrations of terbuthylazine transformation products derived from dealkylation and hydroxylation reactions were measured in leachates and soil samples collected during the three experiments. Desethylterbuthylazine (DET) and deethylterbuthylazine-2-hydroxide [DETH; 4-amino-6-terbutylamino-(1,3,5)-triazine-2-OH] were found to be the highest-leaching compounds and therefore can be considered as potential pollutants for aquifer contamination.


In this study, the radar returns from a target with deterministic polarization in clutter environments illuminated by fully polarized waves are taken into account. Statistical properties of the polarization ratio for radar returns are obtained on the assumption of complex Gaussian distributions with non-zero means. Probability density functions (PDFs) of the amplitude ratio and the phase difference are expressed in closed forms. Comparisons of statistical properties from simulated data to the theoretical PDFs derived on the basis of non-zero means, as well as the traditional ones. The better fitted results are presented to verify the advantage of the newly proposed polarization ratio models.


Most examples of linear friction weld process models have focused on joining two identically shaped workpieces. This article reports on the development of a 2D model, using the DEFORM finite element package, to investigate the joining of a rectangular Ti-6Al-4V workpiece to a plate of the same material. The work focuses on how this geometry affects the material flow, thermal fields and interface contaminant removal. The results showed that the material flow and thermal fields were not even across the two workpieces. This resulted in more material expulsion being required to remove the interface contaminants from the weld line when compared to joining two identically shaped workpieces. The model also showed that the flash curves away from the weld due to the rectangular upstand "burrowing" into the base plate. Understanding these critical relationships between the geometry and process outputs is crucial for further industrial implementation of the LFW process.


Nationwide data of the emissions from waste-to-energy and coal-fired power plants arecompared. The emissions of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen chloride, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and trace elements, such as cadmium, lead and mercury are compared, both in terms of thermal energy input and electrical energy output. The results of the study have shown that emissions of sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides were lower from waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities than from coal-fired plants. Hydrogen chloride emissions are higher in WTE flue gases. Emissions of cadmium, lead and mercury from WTE and coal-fired plants are nearly the same.Copyright © 2003 by ASME


Debates on how best to educate young children have been raging over the last 100 years – more often fuelled by ideological preferences rather than empirical evidence. To some extent this is hardly surprising given the difficulty of examining pupil progress in a systematic and comparative way. However, the introduction of a new child-centred curriculum in Wales provides the opportunity to undertake just such an examination. The Foundation Phase curriculum, introduced in 2008, is designed to provide all 3- to 7-year-olds with a developmental, experiential, play-based approach to learning. Evidence from a major three-year evaluation of this intervention finds that, overall, pupil progress and wellbeing is fostered in those settings where the principles of the Foundation Phase have been most closely followed. However, the evidence also suggests that even within these contexts, progress is uneven and that some kinds of children seem to gain more from this approach than others. The 'losers' appear to be boys and those living in poverty. Drawing on the theories of Basil Bernstein, the paper explores why this may be the case and examines the relative significance of teacher dispositions, teacher-learner dynamics and the availability of resources. The paper concludes by arguing that these issues will need to be addressed if the benefits of child-centred approaches are to benefit all.


How do youth experience and understand the law? How is law regarded and communicated? Youth's legal subjectivity has received limited attention in the sociological and legal literatures, especially as it relates to crime‐reporting behaviors. Drawing on legal socialization theory and procedural justice, I show how youth, as legal subjects, described the law and how those descriptions differed by social location. Using a diverse sample, I examined narratives produced during forensic interviews following reports of sexual victimization. Rather than passive victims, youth act on, and within, institutions. In their own words, youth describe experiences with state systems that animated their understandings of law and criminal justice processes. They reveal how shared frameworks of understanding affected legal subjectivity, shaped their evaluations of the law, and influenced participation in state systems so that perhaps those most in need of legal remedy are those most unlikely to seek it.


The Manduca sexta receptor for the Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, and Cry1Ac toxins, BT-R1, has been expressed in heterologous cell culture, and its ligand binding characteristics have been determined. When transfected with the BT-R1 cDNA, insect and mammalian cell cultures produce a binding protein of approximately 195 kDa, in contrast to natural BT-R1 from M. sexia, which has an apparent molecular weight of 210 kDa. Transfection of cultured Spodoptera frugiperda cells with the BT-R1 cDNA imparts Cry1A-specific high-affinity binding activity typical of membranes prepared from larval M. sexta midguts. Competition assays with BT-R1 prepared from larval M. sexta midguts and transiently expressed in cell culture reveal virtually identical affinities for the Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, and Cry1Ac toxins, clearly demonstrating the absolute specificity of the receptor for toxins of the lepidopteran-specific Cry1A family. BT-R1 therefore remains the only M. sexta Cry1A binding protein to be purified, cloned, and functionally expressed in heterologous cell culture, and for the first time, we are able to correlate the Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, and Cry1Ac toxin sensitivities of M. sexta to the identity and ligand binding characteristics of a single midgut receptor molecule.


An object of this study is to understand the application characteristics in accordance with changes of EGR rate, applying BD20 reformed by ultrasonic energy irradiation to common-rail diesel engine. BD containing about 10% oxygen has attracted attention due to soaring crude oil prices and environmental pollution. This oxygen decreases soot by promoting combustion, but it also increases NOx. To make up for this problem, an EGR system is applied so that NOx might be decreased. In that case, engine power is lowered and exhaust gas is raised. However, the reformed fuel by ultrasonic energy irradiation is changed physically and chemically, promotes combustion, and thus solves such a problem. As the results of the experimemt, we could identify the optimum EGR rate by investigating the engine performance and the characteristics of exhaust materials in accordance with the EGR rate after ultrasonic energy irradiation to BD20 and applying it to common-rail diesel engine. The optimum EGR rate that can satisfy both engine performance and characteristics of exhaust materials was in the range of 15%.


In the two decades leading up to World War One, Germany engaged in one of the greatest naval expansions in history, which subsequently produced a lasting antagonism between Germany and Britain. During this period Germany was transformed from a strictly land-based continental military power to a highly competitive and competent sea power. Where the army was steeped in Prussian tradition, the navy was able to shape its identity as a strictly German nationalist organization. This was achieved during a time when colonial ambitions, navalism and Anglophobia were rampant within Germany. It was within this environment where the navy became the defining symbol for the German nation to achieve its "place in the sun." Manipulative actions by the nations leaders, right-wing agitation groups like the Deutscher Flottenverein (the German Navy League), and the subsequent naval arms race drove Germany to spent over one billion Reichsmark's on warships that were largely held at anchor over the course of the looming conflict. Ultimately, the expansion of the navy was sidelined by war in 1914, but its failures truly began a decade earlier with the provocation of Britain. The British response forced moderation in Germany's ship construction plans, which produced widespread criticism of the nation's leaders and further antagonism with Britain during a time where a potential alliance could have addressed common concerns about the rising power of France and Russia.


MOTIVATION
Feedback circuits are crucial network motifs, ubiquitously found in many intra- and inter-cellular regulatory networks, and also act as basic building blocks for inducing synchronized bursting behaviors in neural network dynamics. Therefore, the system-level identification of feedback circuits using time-series measurements is critical to understand the underlying regulatory mechanism of synchronized bursting behaviors.

RESULTS
Multi-Step Granger Causality Method (MSGCM) was developed to identify feedback loops embedded in biological networks using time-series experimental measurements. Based on multivariate time-series analysis, MSGCM used a modified Wald test to infer the existence of multi-step Granger causality between a pair of network nodes. A significant bi-directional multi-step Granger causality between two nodes indicated the existence of a feedback loop. This new identification method resolved the drawback of the previous non-causal impulse response component method which was only applicable to networks containing no co-regulatory forward path. MSGCM also significantly improved the ratio of correct identification of feedback loops. In this study, the MSGCM was testified using synthetic pulsed neural network models and also in vitro cultured rat neural networks using multi-electrode array. As a result, we found a large number of feedback loops in the in vitro cultured neural networks with apparent synchronized oscillation, indicating a close relationship between synchronized oscillatory bursting behavior and underlying feedback loops. The MSGCM is an efficient method to investigate feedback loops embedded in in vitro cultured neural networks. The identified feedback loop motifs are considered as an important design principle responsible for the synchronized bursting behavior in neural networks.


Abstract Fourteen species of Volutidae are recognized from the Neogene of central to southern Chile. Seven species are known from previous descriptions: Voluta triplicata, V. alta, V. domeykoana, V. obesa, V. vidali, Proscaphella taverai, and Adelomelon reconditus. A neotype is designated for Voluta alta. Proscaphella gracilior, type species of the genus Proscaphella, is considered to belong to the genus Miomelon, which places Proscaphella in synonymy with Miomelon. Most species of "Proscaphella," excluding the type species, form a separate group well distinguished from Miomelon, and for these the new genus Palaeomelon is introduced with Voluta triplicata as type species. Seven new species are reported: Palaeomelon tucapeli, Palaeomelon angoli, Adelomelon colocoloi, Adelomelon caupolicani, Miomelon lautaroi, Miomelon? pelantaroi, and Pachycymbiola? galvarinoi. Voluta triplicata, V. domeykoana, and Proscaphella taverai are included in Palaeomelon n. gen., Voluta obesa and V. alta are referred to Adelomelon, and Voluta vidali is referred to Pachycymbiola. The fossil record of the Recent volute genera Miomelon and Pachycymbiola extends back into the Miocene, Adelomelon is known from the Late Eocene, while Palaeomelon is known in Chile only from the Miocene. Species are morphologically very similar among genera, and from this it is inferred that separation of genera probably occurred in the late Paleogene.


The problem of exploration in unknown environments continues to pose a challenge for reinforcement learning algorithms, as interactions with the environment are usually expensive or limited. The technique of setting subgoals with an intrinsic shaped reward allows for the use of supplemental feedback to aid an agent in environment with sparse and delayed rewards. In fact, it can be an effective tool in directing the exploration behavior of the agent toward useful parts of the state space. In this paper, we consider problems where an agent faces an unknown task in the future and is given prior opportunities to "practice" on related tasks where the interactions are still expensive. We propose a one-step Bayes-optimal algorithm for selecting subgoal designs, along with the number of episodes and the episode length, to efficiently maximize the expected performance of an agent. We demonstrate its excellent performance on a variety of tasks and also prove an asymptotic optimality guarantee.


Relaxin-like gonad-stimulating peptide (RGP) in starfish is the only known invertebrate peptide hormone responsible for final gamete maturation, rendering it functionally analogous to gonadotropins in vertebrates. Recently, RGP was purified from the radial nerves of starfish Asterina pectinifera, which belongs to the Order Valvatida in the Class Asteroidea. A. pectinifera is an endemic Japanese species, inhabiting rocky shores from northern to southern Japanese waters. This study examined whether genetic variation or polymorphism is found in RGP. Comparing cDNA sequences of RGP in A. pectinifera from 10 local populations in Japanese waters, we found that the coding DNA sequences (CDSs) were exactly the same. This result indicated that RGP is a highly conserved peptide in A. pectinifera. Furthermore, the CDS of RGP identified in Certonardoa semiregularis, which also belongs to Order Valvatida, was completely consistent with that of A. pectinifera. Thus, this also suggested that the chemical structure of A. pectinifera RGP is conserved among starfish of the Order Valvatida beyond species.


In 2011, there was widespread condemnation and public outrage when Californian mother Kerry Campbell reported injecting her eight-year-old daughter with botulinum toxin to increase her chance of becoming a successful beauty pageant queen. In the UK, there was further controversy following the antics of Sarah Budge, known as the human Barbie doll, who presented her seven-year-old daughter with a voucher for surgical breast augmentation to be used when she reached 16 years of age. Sarah also admitted that her 17-year-old daughter was already having botulinum toxin injections. There is clear consensus in society that these events are not acceptable, and it is a ethical and moral challenge for aesthetic practitioners when a young person seeks and often insists on having botulinum toxin injections when there is no clinical evidence of facial ageing. This paper will discuss prevention (primary prophylaxis) versus correction (secondary prophylaxis) of facial wrinkles and tackle the question 'how young is too you...


STUDY DESIGN
We measured concentrations of specific molecules reflecting matrix synthesis and degradation in normal and scoliotic intervertebral discs and endplates.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this work was to quantitate markers of matrix turnover in normal versus adolescent idiopathic scoliotic intervertebral discs and cartilaginous endplates.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA
Changes in the intervertebral disc and endplate composition have been implicated as possible etiologic factors in the pathogenesis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. To better understand this process, it is important to compare the turnover of matrix components in scoliotic and normal intervertebral disc and endplate tissues. This comparison may help to improve our understanding of the role that disc and endplate tissues may play in the induction and/or progression of idiopathic scoliosis.

METHODS
Fifteen scoliotic and 17 normal intervertebral discs and endplates were analyzed for their water, collagen, proteoglycan, and protein content. In addition, newly synthesized aggrecan and collagen Types I and II were measured. Percent total denatured collagen was also determined.

RESULTS
The total collagen content was significantly lower in the scoliotic anulus and endplate regions, whereas glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content was significantly lower in the scoliotic endplates and nucleus regions. Conversely, total protein content was significantly higher in scoliotic endplates and elevated in scoliotic nucleus regions. Water content was significantly lower in the scoliotic anulus and endplate regions. When comparing the concave and convex regions of scoliotic endplates, there was no significant difference in concentration of any matrix component. The major difference in the synthetic marker levels relates to the synthesis of Type II collagen, which was higher in the nucleus, anulus, and endplate regions of scoliotic discs than in the corresponding regions of normal tissues. By contrast, the percent total denatured collagen was significantly elevated in the nucleus of normal tissues compared with the scoliotic ones.

CONCLUSIONS
The higher collagen Type II synthetic levels and increased total protein content with no matrix turnover suggest that scoliotic changes are due to an altered and ineffective synthetic response to a pathologic mechanical environment.


In this paper, we extend the localized error correction code introduced by L. A. Bassalygo and coworkers from Hamming space to projective space. For constant dimensional localized error correction codes in projective space, we have a lower bound and an upper bound of the capacity, which are asymptotically tight when z <; x ≤ [( n-z)/2], where x, z, and n are dimensions of codewords, error configurations, and the ground space, respectively. We determine the capacity of nonconstant dimensional localized error correction codes when z <; [( n)/3].


I study a much discussed and highly policy relevant question: what, if anything, should the government do about informal production? In a simple capital accumulation model of informal firm growth and potential formalization, I show analytically that optimal penalties depend on the productivity level: the least productive firms should be left alone, the more productive ones should always face positive penalties, which increase in the productivity level. This holds for two different government objectives, i.e. maximizing formal sector tax revenue, and speeding up formalization, respectively, where the latter objective results in higher average penalties. This theoretical result provides a direct policy advice in an area where some countries may have followed such a policy, without a rigorous foundation, whereas other countries have simply let all informal firms be, independent of productivity or size. The result is in line with an emerging consensus about distinct types of informal entrepreneurs. JEL classification: E26, H26, K42, O17


Focusing on the author's research aspects, the intelligent optimization algorithm and advanced control methods of the diesel engine's air path have been proposed in this work. In addition, the simulation platform and the HIL test platform are established for research activities on engine optimization and control. In this thesis, it presents an intelligent transient calibration method using the chaos-enhanced accelerated particle swarm optimization (CAPSO) algorithm. It is a model-based optimization approach. The test results show that the proposed method could locate the global optimal results of the controller parameters within good speed under various working conditions. The engine dynamic response is improved and a measurable drop of engine fuel consumption is acquired. The model predictive control (MPC) is selected for the controllers of DLEGR and VGT in the air-path of a diesel engine. Two MPC-based controllers are developed in this work, they are categorized into linear MPC and nonlinear MPC. Compared with conventional PIO controller, the MPC-based controllers show better reference trajectory tracking performance. Besides, an improvement of the engine fuel economy is obtained. The HIL test indicates the two controllers could be implemented on the real engine.


The paper explains about the experimental study on strength properties of concrete with steel scrap. Steel scrap can be used as fibre which is collected from the lathe industries. Concrete with steel scrap used in construction industry reduces the disposal problem which is generated from lathe industries and dumping of these scraps contaminates the soil and groundwater, which creates a harmful effect to the environment. In addition, to get sustainable development and environmental benefits, lathe scrap with concrete is likely to be used. Test like compressive strength test were conducted and analyse the impact of steel scrap in concrete for 7 days and 28 days were carried out to find out the strength of concrete with steel scrap. Lathe scarps are the dumping materials which are collected from workshops and other steel lathe industries at lowest cost. The effect of steel scrap are similar to the steel fibre but they don't have any regular shape and size. The dimension varies with nature. Scraps considered in this work are 0.5mm thickness. The concrete reinforced with steel scrap naturally which could be used in the construction of structures in zone III seismic areas. Keywords-Properties, Concrete, Lathe scrap, Steel Scrap, Environmental


A multiclass and multiresidue method for simultaneously screening and confirming veterinary drugs, mycotoxins, and pesticides in bovine milk was developed and validated with ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography–hybrid quadrupole–linear ion trap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Qtrap-MS). A total of 209 targeted contaminants were effectively extracted using an optimized QuEChERS method. Quantitative and qualitative confirmation were achieved simultaneously by multiple reaction monitoring–information-dependent acquisition–enhanced product ion (MRM-IDA-EPI) scan mode. The validation results exhibited a good sensitivity with the LOQs of 0.05–5 μg/kg, which was satisfactory for their MRLs in China or EU. The recoveries of in-house spiked samples were in the range of 51.20–129.76% with relative standard deviations (RSD) between replicates (n = 3) 0.82% and 19.76%. The test results of 140 milk samples from supermarkets and dairy farms in China showed that cloxacillin, aflatoxin M1, acetamiprid, and fipronil sulfone were found with lower concentrations. Combined with the residue results from the literature, penicillin G and cloxacillin (beta-lactams), enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin (fluoroquinolones), and sulfamerazine (sulfonamides) were more frequently detected in different countries and need to receive more attention regarding their monitoring and control.


Author(s): Olshansky, Kristine | Advisor(s): Stanish, Charles S | Abstract: The research reported here focuses on the social mechanisms underlying the widespread distribution of obsidian in prehistoric sites of the Southern Caucasus in general, and Armenia in particular, during the Neolithic period, ca. 6000 – 5300 cal. BCE. This work challenges the assumption that the acquisition and exchange of obsidian, a raw material ubiquitous in the Southern Caucasus, requires little explanation. It is widely held that obsidian is easily available throughout the Armenian Highlands, as well as in Anatolia, thus obsidian sourcing can offer very little information on contact and exchange during the Neolithic. Prior research on obsidian sourcing has focused on the identification of the sources used at a given site. These earlier studies generally concluded that while many Neolithic settlements of the Southern Caucasus, and those located in the Ararat plain of Armenia specifically, relied on multiple sources for raw material procurement, most had a greater preference (over 60%) for the obsidian source located at the least travel distance from the settlement. These data support a least-cost model of procurement. The present work employed portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF) to analyze a statistically significant sample (854 out of ca. 11000 or about 8 %) of obsidian artifacts excavated from the site of Masis Blur in the Ararat Plain. In contrast to earlier works, these data indicate a pattern of source utilization substantially more complex than presently theorized. We find that the residents of Masis Blur utilized at least nine sources. These sources remained surprisingly constant throughout the occupational history of the site. We discovered that acquisition was not driven by a single factor and that a simple least-cost model does not sufficiently explain the obsidian acquisition pattern observed at Masis Blur. The Neolithic inhabitants of Masis Blur obtained obsidian through both direct and indirect means. In short, this work provides insight into the strategies of obsidian procurement which in turn allows us to draw larger conclusions of socio-economic networking in the Neolithic of Armenia and beyond.


Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) has been applied to enzyme immunoassay for the detection of C-reactive protein (CRP). The immunocomplexes of the sandwich type with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) labeling were constructed at the microspots of an anti-CRP IgG antibody fabricated on a hydrophobic glass substrate by capillary microspoting. In the presence of ferrocenemethanol (FcOH) as an electron mediator and hydrogen peroxide as a substrate of HRP, the oxidized form of FcOH (Fc + OH) was generated at localized areas corresponding to the microspot of immunocomplexes by an enzymatic reaction of captured antibodies with HRP label. The reduction current of Fc + OH was detected with a microelectrode at 0.05 V vs . Ag/AgCl and mapped by scanning the microelectrode to view SECM images of the spots for CRP. An amperometric determination of CRP was also performed using the microelectrode positioned at 10 µ m above the microspots. Relationships between the reduction current in SECM images and the concentration of CRP, were obtained in the range of 0.1 ng/ml to 100 ng/ml. A system for multi-samples measurements has been developed using amperometric determination and antibody array chips.


The petrography and geochemistry of marine magnesian calcite cements recovered from the sea floor on the lower-thermocline lower slope of Little Bahama Bank address three issues concerning inorganic carbonates: (1) crystal habit of marine magnesian calcite cements, (2) cation composition of marine precipitates, and (3) origins of cathodoluminescence in calcite. Bladed and blocky limpid spar cements formed contemporaneously within the same intraparticle pore, as shown by banded cathodoluminescence traced without interruption through both cement habits. Bladed and blocky cements exhibit a positively covariant linear relationship for Mg and Sr, having low proximal (early formed) compositions and high distal (late formed) compositions. Linear covariance of Mg and Sr is interpreted to indicate that the concentrations of these cations were controlled by kinetic effects as they formed, with early precipitation occurring more rapidly than later precipitation. Precipitation rates apparently did not affect cement habit. Limpid, isopachous, bladed spar cements, the distal third of which are brightly cathodoluminescent, have a wide range of Mg and Sr compositions, which is almost completely spanned by both distal cathodoluminescent and proximal noncathodoluminescent parts of cements occurring within the same pore. Mg and Sr do not have a linear relationship. These cements are interpreted to have recrystallized in deep, cool sea water. During recrystallization, magnesium was lost, and in some cases, manganese, the principal cathodoluminescence excitor, was presumably gained.


Urban stormwater runoff is a major source of contaminants to receiving water bodies. In addition, impervious areas generate large runoff volumes from large rainfall events, which could result in downstream flooding. A two-cell rain garden area was designed and constructed to route the stormwater runoff generated from the parking lot of a research station in Dallas, TX. The runoff volume caused flooding in a community gardens project adjacent to the poorly drained parking lot. The rain garden is designed to route the flow around the community garden and remove potential contaminants found in the runoff, which eventually drains into the municipal stormwater network. Native and adapted ornamental vegetation was selected to increase biodiversity and nutrient removal from the rain garden. Inflow, outflow and storage volumes are monitored and water samples are collected on event basis and analyzed for nitrate-nitrogen (NO3), total phosphorus (Total P) and sediments. The design, construction and monitoring systems in the bioretention area will be presented in this paper.


We report on temperature sensors based on regenerated fiber Bragg gratings (RFBGs) for measurements up to 1100. The annealing process required to regenerate such gratings makes the optical fiber too delicate, thus making an adequate packaging necessary. Prior to the grating regeneration the optical fiber is protected with a ceramic tube which in turn is shielded with a thick metal casing. We have performed a thorough characterization of the thermo-optical response of both packaged and unpackaged RFBG sensors placing especial attention on possible residual hysteresis after several temperature cycling tests. The response and recovery times of packaged sensors were found to be, respectively, ~9 s and ~ 22 s.


Abstract In this paper, effective method for implementation of comb filter on FPGA platform has been proposed . This work is intended for hearing aid to be used for people suffering from sensorineural hearing loss . The algorithmic implementation on FPGA is intricate during the design process . Here we propose effective and simplified approach for implementation of comb filter with 512 coefficients using Spartan - 6 FPGA for dichotic presentation . The design of comb filter uses spectral splitting based on auditory critical bandwidths . Magnitude response of these filters are optimized for low perceived spectral distortion having high stop band attenuation and low pass band ripples . This method was evaluated by performing listening tests experimentation on hearing impaired people having different degree of sensorineural hearing loss . The speech material used consists of fifteen vowel consonants vowel syllables . The performances of the listening test have been analyzed with qualitative assessment, response time, recognition score and information transmission analysis . Results indicate significant reduction of response time, improvement in recognition score and transmission of all consonantal features . The latency was analyzed and found to be 8x10 -3 seconds ( average ) , noticeable to subjects . Keywords : Sensorineural Hearing Loss, Comb filter, FPGA, Dichotic Presentation, Latency Cite this Article Chopade JJ, Futane NP, Kharate GK. Effective FPGA Implementation of Comb Filters to Improve Perception of Sensorineural Hearing Impaired. Current Trends in Signal Processing. 2017; 7(3): 15–29p.


The development of a multimodal surgical simulation is a very complex and challenging task. A typical surgical simulation involves several components such as physics engine, visual engine, haptic rendering etc. Since different modalities and user interactions introduce real-time constraints, the software framework has to optimize both the hardware and software resources to achieve high performance. In this work, we introduce a resource management tool that was built into our Software Framework for Multimodal Interactive Simulations (SoFMIS™) [1] to adaptively manage computational resources at run-time for varying loads. We present several benchmark test results to validate and demonstrate the capabilities of the resource management tool. Our results show that our framework successfully utilized the hardware resources and improved the performance of the overall simulation under varying computational load.


Simplex genetic algorithm (Simplex-GA) is the fusion between the simplex multi-direction searches consisting in Nelder-Mead Simplex Method (NMSM), i.e., MDS-NMSM, and the evolutionary mechanism of genetic algorithm, i.e., selecting the superior and eliminating the inferior. One of important differences in evolution algorithms is that each evolution algorithm has its own especial reproduce operators. The reproduce operator of simplex-GA consists of an extremum mutation operator and directional reproduce operators. The extremum mutation operator is designed for the best individual, while the directional reproduce operators are devised for all individuals except the best individual and based on the multi-direction search of NMSM. The direction reproduce operators have four main features. (1)The first is that the directional reproduce operators are the combination of deterministic search and random search. (2)The second is that the directional reproduce operators search for new individuals according to a new mode from point-search, line-search to planesearch or solid-search; the point-search is a deterministic search, while line-search, plane-search and solid-search are random searches; deterministic search is prior to random search. (3)The third is that directional reproduce operators are embedded into multi-direction search of Nelder-Mead Simplex Method. Based on above three points, simplex is a primary element of simplex-GA. In this paper, we only discuss two extreme cases: low dimension simplex-GA (LD-Simplex-GA), where the dimensionality of simplex is small, and high dimension simplex-GA (HD-SimplexGA), where the dimensionality of simplex is big. The elaborately selected eight test functions with 500-1500 dimensions are used to verify the performances of LD-simplex-GA and HD-Simplex-GA, and experiment results confirm that both LD-Simplex-GA and HD-Simplex-GA have the excellent capacity of optimizing the functions with large scale variants.


Introduction: Exposure to several substances during the hypothalamic sexual differentiation can interfere with the pattern of nervous system development of offspring, inducing permanent changes in the reproduction neuroendocrine control.  Fipronil, an insecticide blocker chloride channel associated with the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and widely used in various crops, has been listed as a problabe endocrine disruptor. Studies have demonstrated that this compound can affect the thyroid, reproductive parameters and the central nervous system. Objective: This study evaluated the effects of perinatal exposure to fipronil and its late repercussion on sexual behavior in adult male rats. Methods: Pregnant rats were exposed to fipronil (0.03; 0.3 or 3 mg/kg) on 15-21 gestacional days and on 1-7 postnatal days, by gavage. At adult life, males were evaluated for the pattern of sexual preference, male, female sexual behavior after castration and hormone replacement. Results: The animals of the treated groups showed no pattern of sexual preference in terms of the total number of visits to areas of male or female. Similarly, the animals after perinatal exposure to fipronil showed no statistically significant difference in the male and female sexual behavior test. Discussion: It is known that in addition of testosterone/estradiol, the brain masculinization process involves a number of active transmitters and their receptors. Activation of GABAA receptors in the hypothalamus of neonatal males is an important step in this process. In this way, substances capable of blocking this receptor as the insecticide fipronil may impair the masculinization of the hypothalamus. Conclusion: As in the present study was not observed behavioral changes in the evaluated parameters, it is suggested that even after perinatal exposure to fipronil, the hypothalamus was completely masculinized well as defeminized because the animals did not show female behavior in the presence of a male.


In this report, we present our findings from benchmarking experiments for information extraction on historical handwritten marriage records Esposalles from IEHHR - ICDAR 2017 robust reading competition. The information extraction is modeled as semantic labeling of the sequence across 2 set of labels. This can be achieved by sequentially or jointly applying handwritten text recognition (HTR) and named entity recognition (NER). We deploy a pipeline approach where first we use state-of-the-art HTR and use its output as input for NER. We show that given low resource setup and simple structure of the records, high performance of HTR ensures overall high performance. We explore the various configurations of conditional random fields and neural networks to benchmark NER on given certain noisy input. The best model on 10-fold cross-validation as well as blind test data uses n-gram features with bidirectional long short-term memory.


There is no any unique approach to the understanding of the notion "culture-specific vocabulary". The main techniques used for its translation include transcription, transliteration, loan-translation and mixed methods. The article contains a lot of examples.


The aim of this report is to identify lessons for organisations that promote cross-border cooperation initiatives for innovation and for those interested in taking part in them. The study analyses how the organisations with a medium-term track record in the New Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarre cross-border cluster grouping behave in terms of cross-border cooperation and innovation. This analysis is based on a survey carried out among the Klusteuro organisations (network of cross-border clusters in the New Aquitaine, the Basque Country and Navarre Euroregion). The study examines the importance given by these organisations to the barriers that can inhibit or facilitate cross-border cooperation (barriers to cross-border cooperation in innovation), in order to investigate how Klusteuro contributes to overcoming them. This analysis also identifies the type of innovation usually carried out by these organisations to understand the role played by the cluster in the development of different types of innovations. Finally, a series of lessons are drawn on the value that participation of a cross-border cluster or other initiatives that promote cross-border cooperation can bring to the partners involved.


Stem apices of 78 sugarcane varieties were examined microscopically to determine the precise date of flower initiation during the 1967 and 1969 flowering periods at Gurabo Substation, P.R. A stage method for measuring floral initiation was developed and adopted. It was found that flower initiation or the formation of flower primordial is not simultaneous among all varieties of sugarcane. Initiation time was found to vary from September 1 to September 30. The model day-length for floral initiation in Puerto Rico (latitude 18° N.) appears to be 12 hours, 7 to 17 minutes. Both time of initiation and speed of inflorescence growth and development was found to be related to the time of flowering. The time required for the development and elongation of inflorescences was from 7 to 10 weeks in 90 percent of the varieties. The time of initiation in respective varieties is fairly constant from one year to the next. This indicates that flower initiation in sugarcane is determined primarily by photoperiod. However, as indicated in these studies, both low temperature and moisture stress were regarded as important factors in delaying the time of flower initiation. Moisture stress during 1967 appeared to be the predominant factor causing significant delay in the time of tassel emergence among the majority of varieties studied.


West Nile fever/encephalitis (WNF) is an infectious disease affecting horses, birds and humans, with a cycle involving birds as natural reservoirs and mosquitoes as transmission vectors. It is a notifiable disease, re-emerging in Europe. In Spain, it first appeared in horses in the south (Andalusia) in 2010, where outbreaks occur every year since. However, in 2014, an outbreak was declared in horses in central Spain, approximately 200 km away from the closest foci in Andalusia. Before that, evidence of West Nile virus (WNV) circulation in central Spain had been obtained only from wildlife, but never in horses. The purpose of this work was to perform a serosurvey to retrospectively detect West Nile virus infections in asymptomatic horses in central Spain from 2011 to 2013, that is before the occurrence of the first outbreaks in the area. For that, serum samples from 369 horses, collected between September 2011 and November 2013 in central Spain, were analysed by ELISA (blocking and IgM) and confirmed by virus neutralization, proving its specificity using parallel titration with another flavivirus (Usutu virus). As a result, 10 of 369 horse serum samples analysed gave positive results by competitive ELISA, 5 of which were confirmed as positive to WNV by virus neutralization (seropositivity rate: 1.35%). One of these WNV seropositive samples was IgM-positive. Chronologically, the first positive samples, including the IgM-positive, corresponded to sera collected in 2012 in Madrid province. From these results, we concluded that WNV circulated in asymptomatic equine populations of central Spain at least since 2012, before the first disease outbreak reported in this area.


Many qualitative research methods inadvertently examine the client's perspective through the lens of researcher- or counsellor-derived constructs and categories, thereby blurring practitioner and client perspectives. This article provides a step-by-step guide for conducting multivariate concept-mapping (MVCM), a mixed-methods research design that can be used to provide more trustworthy accounts of the client's experience. Until there is a greater accumulation of counselling research using methods that allow clients to categorize the content they provide, this article can serve as an impetus for counsellors to carefully scrutinize the categorization-based research on the client's perspective that they use to inform their practice.


Medieval exegetes contributed distinguished commentaries on the Book of Job that had far-reaching influence. When, in 1554, Calvin ascended the pulpit in Geneva to deliver a series of sermons on Job, his listeners heard not only the Genevan Reformer but echoes of that medieval tradition. In Job's story Calvin saw a God whose providence held sovereign sway over nature, history, and Satan. Having undertaken these sermons, however, Calvin soon confronted Job's question: Why do the righteous suffer? Calvin did not answer Job alone. He turned to both medieval Joban commentaries and Scotist-nominalist categories to resolve this book's central issue of divine justice. But we will see that despite all these resources the exegetical difficulties posed by the text itself forced Calvin to realize that his central hermeneutical device brought with it implications with which he was ultimately uncomfortable. That device was double justice.


Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze the intersection of research on impact investing and its closely related financial vehicles.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores 196 articles collected from Scopus and Web of Science using bibliometric and content analysis methodologies.

Findings
Despite a growing academic interest in impact investing, scholars generally investigate impact investing as a social phenomenon, using the specific financial mechanism of social impact bonds. This perspective potentially deflates the complex nature of impact investing, which actually combines both social and financial targets and uses a plurality of financial vehicles to reach its goals.

Practical implications
The emerging themes identified will provide both academics and practitioners additional tools to further the debate on impact investing and the understanding of its potential and limits according to the different financial forms it takes. This review should pave the way for a discussion about the boundaries of the social impact sector itself.

Social implications
Despite the strong international commitment toward impact investing, tensions still exist. A comprehensive overview on the relevant aspects not yet thoroughly investigated will foster the growth of impact investments.

Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first holistic overview of impact investing, that jointly examines both literature on impact investing and literature on the correlated financial products used in the industry. The result is a comprehensive report of what is known about impact investing in its different financial forms, opening up new pathways for future studies.


: In the era of sustainability, utilization of livestock wastes as soil amendment to provide micronutrients for crops is very economical and sustainable. It is well understood that livestock wastes are comparable, if not better, nutrient sources for crops as chemical fertilizers. However, the large concentrated volumes of animal manure produced from livestock operations and the limited amount of available nearby agricultural land areas necessitated the need for volume reduction of these animal wastes. Composting of these animal manures is a viable option for biomass and pathogenic reduction in the environment. Nevertheless, composting also increases the potential loss of available nutrients for crop production as well as unwanted emission of anthropogenic air pollutants due to the loss of ammonia and other compounds via volatilization. In this study, we examine the emission of ammonia and nitrous oxide from swine manure windrows to evaluate the benefit of biomass reduction in conjunction with the potential loss of available nutrients. The feedstock for the windrows was obtained from swine farm in Kentucky where swine manure was mixed with wood shaving as absorbent material. Static flux chambers along with photoacoustic gas analyzer were used to monitor ammonia and nitrous oxide concentrations during the composting process. The results show that ammonia and nitrous oxide fluxes were quite high during the initial composting process and after the turning of each compost pile. Over the period of roughly three months of composting, the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) decreased by about 90%. Although composting of animal waste is quite beneficial for biomass reduction, composting may not be economically feasible from an agronomical point of view due to time, nutrient loss (N loss), and potential environmental pollution (ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions). Therefore, additional studies are needed to assess and validate the economics and environmental impact of animal (swine) manure composting (e.g., crop yield or impact on climate change).


A 12-year-old girl developed itchy lesions with minimal exudation over the toes of both feet of 4 months' duration. There was no history of atopy but she noticed aggravation during summer. She had used leather, plastic and canvas footwear, along with socks. She specifically complained of exacerbations following use of the socks. A dimethylglyoxime (DMG) spot test for nickel (3) and a KOH (20%) mount of skin scraping were both negative. After the dermatitis subsided, she was patch tested with a shoe series (Chemotechnique Diagnostics AB, Malmo, Sweden) and topical medicaments. 1 week later, she was patch tested with a textile dyes and resins ·series (Chemotechnique Diagnostics AB). All these readings were made at 2 and 3 days (Table 1). She was also patch tested with the materials of all her footwear, including socks, readings (2) being made at 4 and 5 days (Table 1). 2 healthy volunteers patch tested with pieces of sock showed no reaction.


Information and communication technology (ICT) is one of the most important driving forces promoting economic growth in the economy. However, one puzzling question concerns the efficient and effective impact of ICT on educational outputs and outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of the paper is to discuss and review some previous research studies on development of the information society and its impact on educational outputs/outcomes at regional level. Respectively, a definition, measurements and the empirical application of the efficiency and effectiveness of the ICT at the regional (NUTS 2) level in the EU is considered (based on 2007–2011 average data). The research findings suggest that a wide range of NUTS 2 regions is characterized by a relatively low efficiency rate of transforming information society progress into educational outputs/outcomes, particularly in Eastern and Southern Europe.


Background: Globally, more than 40% of all underfive child deaths occur during the neonatal period. Neonatal mortality in Nepal is 33 per 1,000 live births, eight times that of developed regions. So there is an urgent need for neonatal care to prevent these deaths, in order to achieve the fourth Millennium Development Goal by 2015. Objective: The objective of this article was to review the major challenges in improving neonatal health in Nepal and to identify possible keys to achieving Millennium Development Goal 4. Methodology: Key literature searches were conducted of electronic databases and relevant web-sites. Furthermore, personal contact with the local population in Nepal and hand searching of key journals was performed. Results: In Nepal, there exist harmful cultural practices during pregnancy and after childbirth. Under utilization of basic maternal and neonatal healthcare, limited health infrastructure with a shortage of trained health care professionals, poverty, illiteracy, women's low status in the society and political instability are major challenges facing neonatal health in Nepal. Conclusions: In order to improve neonatal health in Nepal, it is imperative to focus on biomedical, nursing and social interventions, in addition to family centred care. Health promotion regarding the practices to be adopted during pregnancy and after childbirth, improving health infrastructure and integrating skilled delivery personnel into local health services are important measures. Longer-term solutions could include: improving mother's nutrition and women's position in society, increasing the proportions of girls attending school, as well as involving men in neonatal health matters.


In this paper we derive the probability distributions of the number of molecules and of the lifetime of a molecule in a stochastic rth-order system by direct evaluation of probabilities, avoiding the use of differential-difference equations. Maximum likelihood estimation of the rate constant is based on an observation of the level of the system at time t > 0. We find the asymptotic solution of the likelihood equation for a large initial number of molecules. By comparison with the numerical solution of the likelihood equation, the asymptotic estimator is shown to be a satisfactory approximation for second order reactions which are far from completion.


BACKGROUND: We recently developed partDSA, a multivariate method that, similarly to CART, utilizes loss functions to select and partition predictor variables to build a tree-like regression model for a given outcome. However, unlike CART, partDSA permits both 'and' and 'or' conjunctions of predictors, elucidating interactions between variables as well as their independent contributions. partDSA thus permits tremendous flexibility in the construction of predictive models and has been shown to supersede CART in both prediction accuracy and stability. METHODS: With right-censored outcomes, partDSA currently builds estimators via either the Inverse Probability Censoring Weighted (IPCW) or Brier Score weighting schemes; see Lostritto, Strawderman and Molinaro (2012), where it is shown in numerous simulations that both proposed adaptations for partDSA perform as well, and often considerably better, than two competing tree-based methods. RESULTS: We show the power of the partDSA algorithm in deriving survival risk groups for glioma patient based on genomic markers. CONCLUSIONS: As the resulting models take the form of a decision tree, partDSA provides an ideal foundation for developing a clinician-friendly tool for accurate risk prediction and stratification. SECONDARY CATEGORY: Epidemiology & Cancer Control.


Deep learning models have shown great promise in various healthcare applications. However, most models are developed and validated on small-scale datasets, as collecting high-quality (gold-standard) labels for health applications is often costly and time-consuming. As a result, these models may suffer from overfitting and not generalize well to unseen data. At the same time, an extensive amount of data with imprecise labels (silver-standard) is starting to be generally available, as collected from inexpensive wearables like accelerometers and electrocardiography sensors. These currently underutilized datasets and labels can be leveraged to produce more accurate clinical models. In this work, we propose UDAMA, a novel model with two key components: Unsupervised Domain Adaptation and Multi-discriminator Adversarial training, which leverage noisy data from source domain (the silver-standard dataset) to improve gold-standard modeling. We validate our framework on the challenging task of predicting lab-measured maximal oxygen consumption (VO$_{2}$max), the benchmark metric of cardio-respiratory fitness, using free-living wearable sensor data from two cohort studies as inputs. Our experiments show that the proposed framework achieves the best performance of corr = 0.665 $\pm$ 0.04, paving the way for accurate fitness estimation at scale.


Janet Townsend is a Research Fellow in Geography at the University of Durham. Her interest in NGOs came from women pioneer settlers in Latin American rainforests, when Mexican respondents proved to see NGOs as the best prospective outside help. Emma Mawdsley lectures at Birkbeck College, University of London. In addition to her NGO research, she is working on the environmental beliefs and behaviours of India's middle classes. Gina Porter is working with Emma Mawdsley and Janet Townsend on a joint study of NGO–state relations in Ghana and India. Her other current research focuses on market access, market institutions, and related urban food-supply issues in Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia.


Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is a dominantly inherited familial cancer syndrome caused by germline mutations in the VHL tumor-suppressor gene. Central nervous system (CNS) and retinal hemangioblastomas are highly vascular tumors that are hallmarks of the disease. These tumors overexpress vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and represent a potential target for anti-angiogenic drugs. We observed, after 3 to 4 months of treatment, secondary paradoxical polycythemia in 3 VHL patients with CNS or retinal hemangioblastomas treated by the anti-VEGF receptor SU5416. Hematocrit was normal before the beginning of the trial, and no progression of hemangioblastomas was observed. Polycythemia vera and all known causes of secondary polycythemia were also ruled out. Polycythemia has never been reported in current SU5416 trials for advanced malignancies and could express a specific action on red blood cell precursors occurring only in the absence of a functional VHL gene. These findings could also affect the inclusion of VHL patients with pre-existing polycythemia in future anti-VEGF receptor trials.


A degumming step in the production of edible oils is disclosed. Vegetable oils from which hydratable phosphatides have preferably been eliminated by a previous aqueous degumming process, are freed from non-hydratable phosphatides by an enzymatic treatment, so that they may be physically refined. The main characteristic of the invention is the use of phospholipase from an Aspergillus strain. The process is gentle, economical and environment-friendly.


Staying active, including walking is promoted as being beneficial for patients with low back pain (LBP). The abdominal muscles appear to influence the stability of the spine and their activity has been shown to change when patients have LBP. Walking with Nordic walking poles has been shown to influence forces on the lower limbs, but little research has investigated the effect on the trunk muscles. Aim: to study the effect of walking using Nordic walking poles on abdominal muscle activity and lower limb forces. Method 15 healthy subjects gave informed consent (5 males. 10 females, age 21.06 yrs.(±88), height 174.45cms (±11.1), weight 71.44 kg (±15.2)). Following a period of walking training with Nordic walking poles data was obtained during a period of walking for internal IO) and external oblique (EO) using surface electromyography activity and vertical lower limb forces (Newtons, (N)) with (WP) and without Nordic walking poles (NP). SEMG data was normalised to maximum voluntary contraction. Results There were significant increases in IO (p=0.02, NP 31.94 (±39.9) WP 53.05 (±40.61)), EO (p=0.02, NP 46.45, (±30.9), WP 87.93 ± (±60.5)) and vertical forces with poles (p=0.008, NP871.6 (±237.00)N, WP 968.33, (±210.8) N). Discussion Using Nordic walking poles significantly increases activity of IO and EO, which may be of value in the rehabilitation of some patients with LBP. Vertical forces increased when walking with poles which is contrary to previous research. This may be due to the data collection setting of a research laboratory or the subjects being novice walkers.


We introduce a class of high level Petri nets, called reconfigurable nets, that can dynamically modify their own structure by rewriting some of their components. Boundedness of a reconfigurable net can be decided by constructing its coverability tree. Moreover such a net can be simulated by a self-modifying Petri net. The class of reconfigurable nets thus provide a subclass of self-modifying Petri nets for which boundedness can be decided. Delayed dynamic changes within workflow systems in the sense of [7] can then be handled in an extension of van der Aalst's workflow nets [2]. For this class (the reconfigurable workflow nets), a notion of soundness has been defined that can also be verified using the coverability tree construction.


We propose a physical scheme for generating a two-atom cluster state through the simultaneous interaction of two two-level atoms with a single-mode cavity field prepared initially in an odd-coherent state under a large-detuned limit. The influence of the dissipation constant, the intensity of the field and the imperfect manipulation on the preparation scheme are investigated. It is shown that when the intensity of the cavity is large enough, the influence of the cavity decay is efficiently suppressed. The possible error in the implementation of the cluster state is negligible when the time difference between two atoms crossing the cavity axis is small. It is suggested that the scheme can be realized by current technologies.


Proportions and total numbers of peripheral blood T and B lymphocytes as well as their activity measured in the leukocyte migration inhibition test were estimated in 47 patients with acute or chronic glomerulonephritis and in 30 individuals serving as a control group. The obtained results indicated that glomerulonephritis was associated with altered proportions of peripheral blood lymphocytes. In acute glomerulonephritis high B lymphocyte levels were found while chronic proliferative glomerulonephritis was characterized by high proportions and high absolute levels of T lymphocytes. Few months observation of T: B lymphocyte proportions during the disease indicated that exacerbation of the disease was associated with lowered proportions of T lymphocytes. Moreover, it was shown that cell mediated hypersensitivity to GBM antigens was detectable in 80% patients with glomerulonephritis and was absent from patients with pyelonephritis. The latter results indicate participation of cell-mediated hypersensitivity in pathomechanisms of glomerulonephritis in most of the patients.


AIMS
The purposes of this study were to describe how persons with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) accept their disease and what sense of coherence they have, in order to determine whether a person's acceptance of the disease is related to his or her sense of coherence. Whether acceptance of the disease and sense of coherence are related to the disease duration, complications of the disease, metabolic control and demographic data would also be determined.

DESIGN
One hundred and seven, randomly selected, insulin-dependent, diabetic subjects (47 men and 60 women) participated in the study. The Acceptance of Disability Scale Modified (ADM scale), the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC scale), a study-specific questionnaire and the patients records were used to collect the data.

BACKGROUND
IDDM implies a major change in way of life. Ingrained procedures and patterns of behaviour must be adapted to the disease and its treatment.

RESULTS
The results of the present study show that educational level seems to be an important factor for how well a person accepts the disease and the sense of coherence. Persons with higher scores on the ADM and the SOC scales had higher levels of education. Moreover, they also had a better metabolic control. Individuals with a poor metabolic control had more disease-related complications. A significant correlation between the ADM and the SOC scores was found, indicating that persons with a high degree of acceptance of the IDDM also had a high coping capability.

CONCLUSIONS
It is important to individualize the care of subjects with IDDM and to identify the persons with low acceptance of their disease and a low sense of coherence.


The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of men's violence against pregnant women and whether it is influenced by women's attitude. A cross-sectional study was carried out in a hospital in northern state of Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 1,200 postnatal women aged 18 years and above who had been admitted to the hospital were recruited in the study. Universal sampling was performed, and participants were interviewed face-to-face by using a validated Malay version of WHO Women's Health and Life Experiences Questionnaire. The main outcome measures in the study were emotional, physical or sexual violence. The study results showed that more than one third of women (35.9%; confidence interval [CI] = [0.33, 0.39]) had experienced any type of violence during pregnancy with the commonest was psychological violence (29.8%; CI = [0.27, 0.32]) followed by physical (12.9%; CI = [0.11, 0.15]) and sexual violence (9.8%; CI = [0.08, 0.12]). Women who were drug users, had an exposure to violence during childhood, had higher parity, and had inadequate antenatal care were at greater risk. Agree that husband is justified to hit his wife in certain conditions and agree that women has a right to refuse sex in certain conditions were among violence-supporting attitudes. It can be concluded that men's violence against pregnant women is extremely prevalent. Sensitive assessment, attitude modification, and intervention (primary, secondary, and tertiary) are of great value in combating men's violence against pregnant women.


ABSTRACT Mitochondria possess an outer membrane (OMM) and an inner membrane (IMM), which folds into invaginations called cristae. Lipid composition, membrane potential, and proteins in the IMM influence organization of cristae. Here we show an essential role of the OMM protein Sam50 in the maintenance of the structure of cristae. Sam50 is a part of the sorting and assembly machinery (SAM) necessary for the assembly of β-barrel proteins in the OMM. We provide evidence that the SAM components exist in a large protein complex together with the IMM proteins mitofilin and CHCHD3, which we term the mitochondrial intermembrane space bridging (MIB) complex. Interactions between OMM and IMM components of the MIB complex are crucial for the preservation of cristae. After destabilization of the MIB complex, we observed deficiency in the assembly of respiratory chain complexes. Long-term depletion of Sam50 influences the amounts of proteins from all large respiratory complexes that contain mitochondrially encoded subunits, pointing to a connection between the structural integrity of cristae, assembly of respiratory complexes, and/or the maintenance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).


Young pigs (1, 6, 18, or 26 days of age) were exposed to an aerosol of a nonpathogenic strain of Escherichia coli and then held for a 3-hour clearance period in either a thermoneutral (32 C environmental temperature at 1 or 6 days of age, 24 C at 18 or 26 days of age) or a cold (6 C) environment. Pigs were then killed and pulmonary bacterial clearance was determined. There appeared to be an age dependent improvement in the capability of the pig to clear its lungs of the bacterial load. Cold appeared to inhibit pulmonary bacterial clearance, but this inhibitory effect became progressively less as the pigs became older. In a supplementary experiment conducted to assess the effect of age-within-litter (2 and 14 days of age) on pulmonary bacterial clearance, it was confirmed that young pigs were less able to clear nonpathogenic E coli from the lungs.


SUMMARY Judaism teaches that the wisdom to resolve current issues can be found in ancient texts. While there are many references in the written and oral law pertaining to disability, these are not well known and, being taken out of context, are at risk of misinterpretation. This article draws on Halacha, the ancient Jewish law which literally means "the way on which one goes," to demonstrate that the principles of Judaism and rules for daily living have the potential to empower people with disabilities. It argues that Jewish spirituality involves the recognition of the role of Hashem in the way we live our lives and involves adherence to ethical standards, the most important of which is "choose life." Because all lives are of infinite value, all must be treated with dignity and respect. Yet Judaism as practiced in Australia and elsewhere has often excluded people with disabilities or simply ignored our need for inclusion.


ABSTRACT: A total of 132 healthy male subjects from Haripur, Abbottabad and Nathiagali were tested for their lung volumes and flow rates. The spirometric values from Haripur and Abbottabad are comparable to other studies carried out in Pakistan. It was found that there were no significant differences in FEV 1 and FEV 1 /FVC% of the subjects but the FVC of the subjects from Nathiagali was found to be significantly higher than the lowlanders. Moreover, the rate of decline in the lung volumes and especially the flow rates of the subjects from Nathiagali was higher than the lowlanders. Further insight in the problem is suggested.


Identifying the role of the melanocortin system in regulating energy homeostasis has relied on both genetic and pharmacological studies. The key findings included 1) that the coat color phenotype in the lethal yellow (A(Y)/a) mouse is due to antagonism of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) by the agouti gene product; 2) the MC3R and MC4R are expressed in CNS centers involved in energy homeostasis, and 3) the combined results of pharmacological studies showing that agouti is an antagonist of the MC4R and transgenic studies showing that inhibition or loss of the MC4R recapitulate the lethal yellow phenotype. Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), MC3R, and MC4R knockouts are obese and are now being used to further analyze melanocortin receptor function. The obesity phenotype observed in the MC3R and MC4R knockouts (KO) differ markedly. MC4RKO mice are hyperphagic, do not regulate pathways that increase energy expenditure (diet-induced thermogenesis) and physical activity in response to hyperphagia, and can develop type 2 diabetes. In contrast, MC3R deficient mice are not hyperphagic, have a normal metabolic response to increased energy consumption, and do not develop diabetes. The mechanism underlying the increased adiposity in the MC3R knockout remains unclear, but might be related to changes in nutrient partitioning or physical activity.


Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) can be derived selectively in culture from multiple organs, an omnipresence we have recently suggested to be explained by the perivascular location of native MSC ancestors within intact tissues (Crisan et al. 2008, in press). We have now analyzed the ability of MSC extracted pro- or retrospectively from different human tissues to support hematopoiesis. MSC were either classically derived in primary cultures of umbilical cord blood (UCB) lineage-depleted mononuclear cells (n=3) or enzymatically dissociated adult adipose tissue (n=3), or grown as CD146+ NG2+ CD34-CD56- CD45- pericytes (n=2) purified by flow cytometry from fetal skeletal muscle and cultured over the long term. In both settings, identical MSC were obtained that maintained a stable CD146+ CD90+ CD73+ CD105+ CD34- CD45- surface phenotype and could differentiate into skeletal muscle, fat, bone and cartilage. CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors (n=3) immunoselected from term UCB were seeded (5×10e 3 cells/cm 2 in triplicate) onto confluent irradiated layers of MSC derived from UCB, adipose tissue or fetal muscle pericytes (MSCu, MSCa and MSCmp, respectively) or, as a control, MS5 bone marrow stromal cells that allow the proliferation of very primitive human progenitor cells. All studies were approved by the relevant institutional regulatory board. The cells were cocultured for 5 weeks in a classical long-term culture-initiating cell assay in a complete medium (MyeloCult H5100, Stem Cell Technologies) containing hydrocortisone but no added cytokine. Wells were scored daily for the presence of cobblestone areas (CA) and half of the medium was replaced every week. Eventually, trypsinized cells from each well were characterized by flow cytometry for the expression of hematopoietic cell markers and assayed for CFC potential. After 14 days of incubation, colonies grown in semi-solid medium were scored as derived from colony forming units (CFU)-granulocyte, erythroid, macrophage, megakaryocyte (GEMM) and as high-proliferative-potential colony precursors (HPPC), the most primitive hematopoietic cell so far identified in a clonogenic assay in vitro. Within the CD45+ gate, all trypsinized cultures contained comparable percentages of CD34+lin- cells (MSCu: 51±9%; MSCa: 58±14%; MSCmp: 61±19%; MS5: 59±18%), the most immature hematopoietic cell compartment maintained during the long-term coculture. MSCu and MSCmp supported a similar cell proliferation during the whole culture while on MSCa, CA formed very rapidly and consistently but eventually decreased over the long-term culture. Interestingly, MSCu and MSCmp supported the development of the highest numbers of HPPC and of CFU giving rise to the largest GEMM colonies, as compared to MSCa that gave the same results as the control MS5 cell line. In summary, all MSCs tested were able to support hematopoiesis and CA formation, albeit with differences in growth kinetics and morphology of the colonies. Herein we show for the first time that purified human perivascular cells exhibit robust hematopoiesis support in vitro, in addition to multilineage mesodermal developmental potential. In conclusion, we demonstrate that MSC from novel sources distinct from the bone marrow are able to support hematopoiesis. These results further sustain the identity, beyond acronyms, between marrow stromal cells, long known for their support of hematopoiesis, and mesenchymal stem cells that gained more recent credit in the field of regenerative medicine because of their multilineage differentiation potential.


Answers to questions about good teaching in environmental education can be expressed in different selective traditions. Questions as to what should be included in good teaching tend to be addressed by both teachers and researchers on an ideological basis. This qualitative study uses a pragmatist approach, and aims to make an empirical contribution to the debate. Rather than telling teachers what they should teach, this interview study involved listening to ten upper secondary school teachers in Sweden, and their arguments concerning their long‐term teaching purposes. Why should students learn particular things? The teachers' answers revealed habits and frequently used the same arguments. These arguments recurrently dealt with what teachers particularly cared about, and five objects of responsibility were identified in the interviews. These objects of responsibility constitute the starting points of teachers' actions and can be seen as personal anchor points within a selective tradition. These points of departure remind the teachers of their teaching aims and objectives, and at the same time, keep them within a tradition. While they help the teachers in their everyday practice, they could just as easily be seen as tacit obstacles to efforts to change environmental education into Education for Sustainable Development. The results are also relevant for science education in general. Issues identified in the study include how the same scientific knowledge could be used for different purposes in education, and the different personal anchor points for long‐term purposes of teaching based on teachers' own ideas of good teaching. These results can be important in developing a reflection tool for teachers, which in turn can help them to reflect more deeply about how they might change their teaching practices.


The scarcity of water is a growing problem worldwide. The increasing use of water in industrial, urban, and agricultural applications together with the continuous increase in population require the proposal of efficient solutions. In the case of agricultural use, it is necessary to not only maximize the economic benefits, but also to establish optimal water-saving crop planning, especially for water-deficient regions. Due to the multi-objective nature of these problems, the decision-making process is complex. Fortunately, the increase in computational resources available in recent years has allowed researchers to develop efficient computational algorithms to deal with real and complex optimization problems, including agricultural ones. In particular, multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) are known for their ability to optimize several objective functions simultaneously to provide a representative set of the Pareto front, which is a set of problem solutions representing a trade-off between the best values of each of the objectives. This article proposes solving a multi-objective crop planning problem using two Pareto-based MOEAs. Results obtained when solving this problem using real data collected from a large number of greenhouses in Spain to show the advantages of using these multi-objective approaches.


: This article examines the implications of long-term encampment and exile for the meaning of Palestinian identity amongst refugees. It shows how the conditions of Palestinian camps in Jordan function as a key marker of social difference between refugees of the camps and the city. Whereas camp refugees see the hardships of camp life as conditions to be confronted, urban refugees take them as constitutive features of a socially distinct refugee. As I argue, the distinctions between camp and city refugees illustrate how the refugee category and the humanitarian camp exceed the ideology and function of humanitarianism. They demonstrate how, in protracted refugee situations, the refugee label and the historical context of the camp can become socially significant and contested features of identity. people are on their own. It's not like this in the camp. Yanee (I mean), here rawabbit (connections) are stronger.


The MVDR beamformer has been shown to improve active sonar image quality compared to conventional methods. Unfortunately, it is also significantly more computationally expensive because a spatial covariance matrix must be estimated and inverted for each image pixel. We target this challenge by altering and mapping the MVDR beamformer to a GPU, and suggest three different solutions depending on the system size. For systems with relatively few channels, we suggest arithmetic optimizations for the estimation step, and show how a GPU can be used to yield image creation rates of more than 1 Mpx/s. For larger systems we show that frequency domain processing is preferable, as this promotes high processing rates at a negligible reduction in image quality. These GPU implementations consistently reduced the runtime by 2 orders of magnitude compared to our reference C implementation. For even larger systems we suggest employing the LCA beamformer. It does not calculate a weightset, but merely computes the beamformer...


We challenge the conventional view that the majority of MgII/Lyman limit absorbers are extended halos of galaxies comprised of ``clouds'' with near-unity covering factor. The gaseous disks of spiral galaxies are known to extend to large radii and likely contribute a significant cross-section for absorption. We perform a Monte-Carlo survey of QSO fields in which the model galaxies have MgII absorbing ``clouds'' in a spherical halo or in a randomly oriented disk. For both geometries, models that recover the observed properties of MgII absorbers have only a 70-80% covering factor. Therefore, regardless of absorber geometry, a survey of randomly selected QSO fields should yield a non-negligible number of non-absorbing galaxies at small impact parameters. Very few have been observed (Steidel (1995)). However, selection effects are important, and once the observational procedures are applied to our model fields we find that this result is expected. Since both spherical halo and disk models can be made consistent with survey results, we present tests for discerning the geometric distribution of absorbing gas from Hubble Space Telescope images and high resolution spectra.


Black carbon is a product of incomplete combustion and is associated with a number of adverse health outcomes in epidemiologic studies. To date, anatomic studies investigating the pathogenic mechanisms of black carbon in humans have confirmed black carbon particles accumulate in the lung and in the placenta of pregnant women, and are excreted in urine. In this feasibility study, the presence of black carbon particles was demonstrated in post-mortem spleen, myocardium, and hilar lymph node samples obtained from three de-identified sources. A protocol validated for extraction of chemically inert particles from fish tissue was utilized to extract black carbon particles from human tissue. Visual examination and micro-Raman scattering spectroscopy were used to identify recovered black carbon particles. Recovered particles ranged from 2 to 45 m in greatest dimension. The highest concentrations of black carbon particles were recovered from hilar lymph nodes, followed by the myocardium, with lowest concentrations recovered from the spleen. Particles extracted from the spleen were, on average, larger than particles extracted from the heart or hilar lymph nodes. These findings confirm black carbon particles accumulate in human extrapulmonary organs. Based on the size and concentrations of recovered particles, it is suggested that black carbon particles are transported to extrapulmonary sites via the lymphatic system. Furthermore, the noted concentration differentials suggest reduced black carbon particle clearance from the myocardium compared with the spleen.


Non-destructive testing (NDT) is the process of non-invasive material examination. Within this field, ultrasonic inspection is one method of examination used to detect flaws in structural and functional industrial components, to assess their structural integrity and fitness for service. Conventional NDT ultrasonic array techniques transmit on multiple elements in parallel, according to a focal law, which facilitates beam steering, focussing and scanning within the test component. Received signals are then ?stacked? to generate images of the test component.With the advent of affordable high speed computing, novel data acquisition techniques based on sequential transmission are now able to be developed, which allow images to be generated using advanced signal processing and image reconstruction algorithms. One such data acquisition technique known as Full Matrix Capture (FMC), has received considerable research attention in recent years, largely because it allows fully focused images of test components to be generated.This project provides an improved understanding of the FMC technique and associated signal processing algorithms. It achieves this through the development of novel inspection techniques and signal processing algorithms. Collectively algorithms developed within this work were termed Sequential Phased Array (SPA). Initially comparisons were made between conventional ultrasonic techniques and the SPA algorithms in terms of image quality and speed of inspection. A novel approach was then suggested to facilitate inspection through dual-layered media, separated by a refractive interface using the SPA algorithms. The use of sparse arrays to enhance the speed of inspection using the SPA algorithms was also investigated, and the trade-off between speed of inspection against image degradation was addressed. Finally a novel approach to calibration of a FMC based system was developed, in order to provide uniform image sensitivity during inspection.


Lythrum salicaria L. (Lythraceae) known as purple loosestrife used for its beneficial health effects against as many human diseases such as diarrhea, hemorrhoid, eczema internally and/ or externally. The effects of the different extracting methods on the total phenolic (TP) and total flavonoid (TF) contents of Lythrum salicaria L. extracts were investigated. Dried leaf and flower of L. salicaria were extracted with three different methods (percolation method, ultrasonic assisted extraction and polyphenol fraction). The antioxidant activities of extracts were investigated by different methods, i.e. 1,1-diphenyl2-picryl hydrazyl radical (DPPH), nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activities as well as reducing power using standard methods. Phenol and flavonoid contents were also determined as gallic acid and quercetin equivalents, respectively. Extracts exhibited good antioxidant activity in all test models. In general, flower showed better activity than leaf extracts. Ultrasonic extract of flower showed the best activity in scavenging of hydrogen peroxide but polyphenol fraction was the more potent one in other tests. Its higher phenolic and flavonoid contents could be responsible for its antioxidant activity.


Aim: To investigate the outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC), mortality, antimicrobial resistance and associated risk factors in the neonatal intensive care unit. Method: Eighteen blood culture samples from neonates and twenty swab samples from different neonatal intensive care unit surfaces were collected. The VITEK 2 was used to confirm the isolates and generate the antibiogram. PCR was used to identify blaNDM. Results: Eighteen samples tested positive for BCC, and 10/18 (55.5%) of the neonates died. 13/18 (72%) of the neonates had late-onset neonatal sepsis, and 10/18 (55%) had low birth weight. Resistance to minocycline and chloramphenicol was 100%, 72.2% to meropenem; 72.2% NDM gene was found in neonates and was 20% from the environment. Conclusion: Outbreak of NDM-producing BCC resulting in high neonatal mortality in NICU.


SOX2 has been viewed as a critical oncoprotein in osteosarcoma. Emerging evidence show that inducing the degradation of transcription factors such as SOX2 is a promising strategy to make them druggable. Here, we show that neogambogic acid (NGA), an active ingredients in garcinia, significantly inhibited the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells with ubiquitin proteasome-mediated degradation of SOX2 in vitro and in vivo. We further identified USP9x as a bona fide deubiquitinase for SOX2 and NGA directly interacts with USP9x in cells. Moreover, knockdown of USP9x inhibited the proliferation and colony formation of osteosarcoma cells, which could be rescued by overexpression of SOX2. Consistent with this, knockdown of USP9x inhibited the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells in a xenograft mouse model. Collectively, we identify USP9x as the first deubiquitinating enzyme for controlling the stability of SOX2 and USP9x is a direct target for NGA. We propose that targeting the USP9x/SOX2 axis represents a novel strategy for the therapeutic of osteosarcoma and other SOX2 related cancers.


Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) is a useful method which completes the results obtained from several traditional thermal analysis techniques such as Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and thermal elastic analysis (TMA).  Dynamic constants such as storage and loss modulus depend on temperature and supply valuable information about interfacial bonding between filler and polymeric matrix of a fibrous composite material. In the meanwhile, the glass transition temperature is defined as the point at which the specific volume versus temperature curve changes abruptly slope, marking the region between rubbery polymer and glassy polymer nature. Thus, the behavior of unidirectional fibrous composites was investigated at this region. Further, an examination of the glass transition temperature, which evidently constitutes an upper limit for the structurally important glassy region through the loss factor, was performed by its consideration as a combination of glass transition temperature of matrix and interphase. In the current article, the authors focus on epoxy unidirectional fibrous composites reinforced with long fibers and examine the above mentioned   properties at the glass transition region. In this context, a concentric three – phase cylindrical model was taken into account. In particular, the overall material was assumed to consist of three distinct phases with the intermediate phase developed between matrix and fibers, named interphase, to have variable properties depending on those of main phases and the mode of preparation of the composite. The theoretical results of the present work constitute an extension of a previous work by the authors, on the dynamic properties of unidirectional short fiber composites and indeed may be considered as basic ones.


It is now well recognised that the next generation of distributed systems will be distributed multimedia systems. Central to multimedia systems is quality of service, which defines the non-functional requirements on the system. In this paper we investigate how stochastic process algebra can be used in order to determine the quality of service properties of distributed multimedia systems. We use a simple multimedia stream as our basic example. We describe it in the Stochastic Process Algebra PEPA and then we analyse whether the stream satisfies a set of quality of service parameters: throughput, end-to-end latency, jitter and error rates.


The type specimens (all current categories) of sixty-nine names in Fulgoromorpha, Cicadomorpha and Sternorrhyncha housed in this Museum are listed. In order to assist future research, two lists are added: 1. of specimens labeled as types of names not found in the bibliography, and probably not published, and 2. of specimens labeled as types but not included in the original publications, published thereafter or not.


This paper proposes the use of near infrared (900 to 1700 nm) transmitted light imaging with a hyperspectral camera to obtain watermarks from prints. Specifically, we show that principal component analysis applied to the hyperspectral image cube collected in the near infrared was able to separate the watermark from text printed in carbon black ink on both sides of a page from the Blaue Atlas Maior of 1662. The resulting principal component image of the watermark was compared with an image obtained using a low-energy x-ray source and a phosphor plate. Low-energy x-radiography is becoming the gold standard for imaging watermarks, replacing beta radiography. The watermark obtained by transmitted near infrared hyperspectral imaging was found to possess many of the key features of the watermark revealed by the phosphor plate radiography. The method proposed here offers an additional way to extract watermarks from works of art on paper.