Abstract. Changes of agricultural land into non-agricultural land is the main issue of increasing population and urbanization. The objective of this paper is to identify the various land resources and its changes into other Land Use Land Cover (LULC) type. LANDSAT satellite data for 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2018 years of Kailali district Nepal was acquired for supervised LULC mapping and change analysis using ENVI 5.4 software. Sentinel-2 and Google earth satellite data were used for the accuracy assessment of the LULC map. The time-series data analysis from 1990–2000–2010–2018 shows major changes in vegetation and agriculture. The changes in LULC show that settlement and bare land is continuously increasing throughout these years. The change in land use and land cover during the period of 1990–2018 shows that the settlement area is increased by 204%; and agriculture is decreased by 57%. The fluctuating behavior of vegetation, agriculture and water bodies in which the areas decrease and increase over the selected periods is due to natural calamities and migration of the local population. This shows that human influence on the land resources is accelerating and leading to a deterioration of agricultural land. Thus effective agricultural management practices and policies should be carried out at the government level for minimizing land resources degradation by the human-induced impact.


Pramipexole hydrochloride (pramipexole) is a nonergot dopamine D(2) agonist, and the S(-)enantiomer is used for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). Pramipexole possessed the highest affinity with the D(3) subtype among the D(2) receptor subfamily members (D(2), D(3), D(4)), lacking affinity with the D(1) and D(5) subtype. Pramipexole ameliorated the motor disturbances in PD animal models, induced contralateral rotational behavior reflecting post-synaptic D(2) receptor stimulation in the striatum, and showed a variety of neuroprotective effects in vitro and in vivo experimental systems. The neuroprotective effects of pramipexole seemed to be derived from several mechanisms: stimulation of D(2) autoreceptor, stimulation of D(3) receptor, inhibition of oxidative reaction and following radical production, increase of Bcl-2 protein and inhibition of apoptotic cell death, and production of neurotrophic factor. Clinical efficacy of pramipexole both in monotherapy and combined use with L-DOPA were confirmed evaluating by UPDRS (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale) II (Activities of daily living) and III (Motor), in the results of clinical studies mainly performed in USA and European countries and partly in Japan. In addition, patients initially treated with pramipexole demonstrated reduction in problematic symptoms and in loss of striatal [(123)I]2beta-carboxymethoxy-3beta-(4-idodophenyl)tropan uptake, a marker of dopamine neuron degeneration, compared with those initially treated with L-DOPA.


Convective-diffusion mass transfer rate predictions are made for both solid wall and transpiration-cooled 'law-of-the-wall' nonisothermal turbulent boundary layers (TBLs), including the mechanism of thermophoresis, i.e., small particle mass transport 'down a temperature gradient'. The present calculations are confined to low mass-loading situations but span the entire particle size range from vapor molecules to particles near the onset of inertial ('eddy') impaction. It is shown that, when Sc is much greater than 1, thermophoresis greatly increases particle deposition rates to internally cooled solid walls, but only partially offsets the appreciable reduction in deposition rates associated with dust-free gas-transpiration-cooled surfaces. Thus, efficient particle sampling from hot dusty gases can be carried out using transpiration 'shielded' probe surfaces.


Abstract Lessons Learned The combination of ramucirumab (8 mg/kg intravenous, day 1 every 2 weeks) and FOLFOX4 as first‐line treatment in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was not sufficiently tolerated. Preliminary efficacy data suggest that the combination may provide clinical benefit to patients with HCC. Dose modification and patient selection should be considered for the future development of ramucirumab plus FOLFOX chemotherapy for advanced HCC. Background The objective of this study was to investigate the safety, preliminary efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and immunogenicity of ramucirumab plus FOLFOX4 as first‐line treatment in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Patients received ramucirumab (8 mg/kg) intravenously (IV) on day 1, followed by FOLFOX4 (oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2 IV on day 1, folinic acid 200 mg/m2 IV, bolus fluorouracil [5‐FU] 400 mg/m2, and a continuous infusion of 5‐FU 600 mg/m2 over 22 hours, on days 1 and 2) every 2 weeks. The primary endpoint was to assess the safety and tolerability of the combination therapy. Results Eight patients (6 men, 2 women) were treated; all eight patients experienced at least one treatment‐emergent adverse event (TEAE) of grade ≥3. Dose‐limiting toxicities occurred in three patients (37.5%): hepatic hemorrhage (grade 4), blood bilirubin increased (grade 3), and febrile neutropenia (grade 3). Two patients discontinued study because of hepatic hemorrhage (grade 4) and blood bilirubin increase (grade 3). Six deaths occurred due to progressive disease, and no deaths due to TEAEs. Conclusion There were no unexpected safety findings with ramucirumab plus FOLFOX4 based on the known safety and toxicity of this regimen. The combination was not sufficiently tolerated in patients with advanced HCC at the specified dose and schedule.


Performance-Based Assessment for Middle and High School Physical Education is a cutting-edge book that teachers trust for assessing middle school and high school physical education students. Also a highly popular undergraduate text for courses that focus on performance-based assessment, this new third edition features significant additions, enhancements, and updates:
 • New chapters on effective management and instruction delivery, which make it appropriate for PETE instructors using the book for secondary methods courses
 • A new chapter on assessments with various instructional models, including Sport Education, Teaching Games for Understanding, Cooperative Learning, Personalized System of Instruction, and Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility
 • A new chapter on assessing dance (with sample dance units in the web resource)
 • A new sample unit on ultimate Frisbee in the chapter on invasion games
 • An expanded section on cognitive assessments, with suggestions for writing tests
 • Updated content on rubrics
 Performance-Based Assessment shows readers how to use portfolios to assess fitness, and it offers an example of a portfolio assessment for a high school fitness course. It also guides readers in using skill tests in physical education.
 Written by two authors with a combined 26 years of experience teaching physical education in public schools, the text discusses various assessment formats, helping PETE students and in-service teachers know both what to assess and how to assess it. Readers learn how to develop culminating and progressive assessments, as well as plan for continuous performance-based assessments and acquire effective teaching strategies for standards-based instruction. All content is aligned with current SHAPE America national standards and is supported by research from educational assessment giants such as Tom Guskey, Richard Stiggins, Dylan William, Robert Marzano, and James Popham.
 The book is organized into four parts, with part I introducing readers to performance-based assessment issues such as the need for change in the assessment process, how assessments can be used to enhance learning, the various assessment domains and methods, and the use of rubrics in assessments. Part II explores aspects of managing and implementing physical education lessons. In part III, readers learn about the components of performance-based assessment, and in part IV, they delve into issues affecting grading and implementing continuous performance-based assessment.
 This groundbreaking text explains the theory behind assessment and, through its numerous models, shows how to apply that theory in practice. The text is filled with practical examples, much more so than the typical assessment book. And it is supplemented by a web resource that houses forms, charts, and other material for instructors to use in their performance-based assessments.
 Class size, skill levels, and time factors can make assessments difficult―but far from impossible. The examples in the book are meant to be modified as needed, with the ideas in the book used as starting points.
 Teachers can use the material, examples, and tools in this book to create assessments that enhance student learning, providing them feedback to let them know what they have accomplished and how they can work toward goals of greater competence.


Abstract Reproducibility of research is essential for science. However, in the way modern computational biology research is done, it is easy to lose track of small, but extremely critical, details. Key details, such as the specific version of a software used or iteration of a genome can easily be lost in the shuffle or perhaps not noted at all. Much work is being done on the database and storage side of things, ensuring that there exists a space-to-store experiment-specific details, but current mechanisms for recording details are cumbersome for scientists to use. We propose a new metadata description language, named MEtaData Format for Open Reef Data (MEDFORD), in which scientists can record all details relevant to their research. Being human-readable, easily editable and templatable, MEDFORD serves as a collection point for all notes that a researcher could find relevant to their research, be it for internal use or for future replication. MEDFORD has been applied to coral research, documenting research from RNA-seq analyses to photo collections.


We have recently developed a methodology for the calculation of exchange coupling constants J in weakly interacting polynuclear metal clusters. The method is based on unrestricted and restricted second order spin-flip constricted variational density functional theory (SF-CV(2)-DFT) and is here applied to eight binuclear copper systems. Comparison of the SF-CV(2)-DFT results with experiment and with results obtained from other DFT and wave function based methods has been made. Restricted SF-CV(2)-DFT with the BH&HLYP functional yields consistently J values in excellent agreement with experiment. The results acquired from this scheme are comparable in quality to those obtained by accurate multi-reference wave function methodologies such as difference dedicated configuration interaction and the complete active space with second-order perturbation theory.


The blood supply and intranodal microvasculature in pig lymph nodes were studied by using a casting method and angiography. Arterial supply: In mandibular, subiliac, superficial inguinal and superficial popliteal lymph nodes, each nodular unit received nodal arteries mainly at the A-type hilus, and to some degree at the E-type hilus. The jejunal lymph nodes were supplied by numerous nodal arteries from networks of jejunal arteries. Each nodal artery running into the jejunal node was divided into 3 to 5 small branches. One of them penetrated into each nodular unit at the A-type hilus. The others usually branched extensively over the nodal surface, and were often distributed and wrapped around a part or all of the node. They then penetrated into the nodular units at many peripheral convex surfaces and at the A-or E -type hilus. Intranodal microcirculation of the jejunal lymph nodes: A nodal artery pene trated deeply into each nodular unit at the A-type hilus. Subsequently it was divided into many branches and ran into the trabecular trees. These smaller arteries became arterioles and capillaries in the cortex-like tissue (CT), and were distributed in the area of the CT and medulla-like tissue (MT). As the arteries entering via the E-type hilus branched into many smaller arteries within the MT, they extensively supplied the CT in the peripheral areas opposite the E -type hilus. The arteries entered from the peripheral convex surfaces supplied the CT, which occupied a conventional superficial position just underneath the cap sule, and they formed capillary networks. Postcapillary venules (PCV) formed basket-like plexuses around germinal centers. These PCV converged into sever al large branches in the areas of the cortico-medullary junctions, and left the node through the A-, or E-tYPe hilus.


Quartz is one of the most important industrial minerals used in glass and ceramic industries and high quality quartz are preferred. Impurities from quartz are usually removed by magnetic separation or flotation. This study is concerned to beneficiate the quartz from the quartz plant waste from Aydın-Çine region in Turkey by flotation and by ultrasonic bath treatment. The material with 94.8% Si is removed as a waste in the plant, after washing, grinding and classifying were applied. Flotation experiments showed that SiO2 content increased to 98.3% with 80% recovery after removing the -53 micrometer size fraction by desliming. When ultrasonic bath treatment is applied the SiO2 content increased from 94.8% to 99.2% after 106 micrometer (30%) was removed as a slime. Results showed that better results were obtained with ultrasounic treatment. The aim of this study is to recover the quartz from waste and to add an economic value and therefore to reduce the waste stock for the environmental concern. keywords: quartz, waste, beneficiation, ultrasonic bath treatment, flotation, impurities


The chiral colour model is based on the gauge group R = SU(3)L ⊗ SU(3)R ⊗ SU(2)L ⊗ U(1). The spontaneous breaking of the chiral colour symmetry leads to the existence of an octet of the axigluons. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Z0-decays via the virtual axigluons: Z0 → gA* → gqq̄ and Z0 → q1q̄q1A* → q1q̄q1q2q̄q2.


This paper proposes a novel approach to implement automatic business process compositions (ABPC), which are based on the Semantic Application Framework (SAF) and the Semantic Application Template (SAT). To build an e-Commerce system using SAF, three problems need solving: developing a new semantic application, converting an existing application to a semantic application, and composing a new business process with existing semantic applications. The vocabulary-oriented business logic makes requirement specifications comparable. A business composer works over a distributed techniques independent platform and matches requirement specifications in SAT with SATs of existing legacy systems to construct a new business process.


Engineering students most often do not have the opportunity to make a physical prototype of the designs they make on paper or computer. Since 2010, a Fab Lab (Fabrication Laboratory) has been established in Leuven, offering students this extra functionality. A Fab Lab is equipped with several nonconventional manufacturing machines, such as 3D printers, laser cutters, NC milling machine, etc. Many Fab Labs have emerged around the World since the concept was first introduced by Neil Gershenfeld at MIT in 2001[4,5]. In general Fab Labs are intended for the general public and for the social economy, for students and businesses. This paper presents briefly the Fab Lab experience and how it was introduced in the engineering education programs of K.U.Leuven and Group T Leuven Engineering College. The problems which occurred are described and the implementation of e-learning modules is emphasized. These e-learning modules aim at enhancing the Fab Lab users' prior knowledge of the available equipment in order to improve their designs and prototypes from a manufacturability point of view. The modules need to be used by students in engineering, architecture, or product design, as well as by high school scholars and the general public. Master students in ICT engineering were given the task to design and program a generic website enabling the creation of learning modules with multiple choice questions, movies, picture, etc. Teachers and Fab Lab staff members acted as clients for this assignment. The results of a survey among ca. 100 students on the usability, content, structure and user friendliness of the e-learning modules are listed. Finally, the impact of the elearning modules on the quality of the students' designs is assessed.


Introduction It has been reported that inhibitory control at the superficial dorsal horn (SDH) can act in a regionally distinct manner, which suggests that regionally specific subpopulations of SDH inhibitory neurons may prevent one specific neuropathic condition. Methods In an attempt to address this issue, we provide an alternative approach by integrating neuroanatomical information provided by different studies to construct a network-model of the SDH. We use Neuroids to simulate each neuron included in that model by adapting available experimental evidence. Results Simulations suggest that the maintenance of the proper level of pain sensitivity may be attributed to lamina II inhibitory neurons and, therefore, hyperalgesia may be elicited by suppression of the inhibitory tone at that lamina. In contrast, lamina III inhibitory neurons are more likely to be responsible for keeping the nociceptive pathway from the mechanoreceptive pathway, so loss of inhibitory control in that region may result in allodynia. The SDH network-model is also able to replicate non-linearities associated to pain processing, such as Aβ-fiber mediated analgesia and frequency-dependent increase of the neural response. Discussion By incorporating biophysical accuracy and newer experimental evidence, the SDH network-model may become a valuable tool for assessing the contribution of specific SDH connectivity patterns to noxious transmission in both physiological and pathological conditions.


We studied one frontal lobe tumor and multiple spinal cord tumors (one in an extramedullary location) that had been resected from a 24‐year‐old man. The frontal lobe tumor was well demarcated and non‐infiltrating, and consisted of eosinophilic, elongated fibrillary cells arranged in a fascicular pattern. A similar histology was reproduced in the spinal cord tumors, with additional areas showing standard features of ependymoma. Immunohistochemical and ultrastructural observations revealed that all the tumors were ependymal in nature with positivity for GFAP and epithelial membrane antigen and negativity for oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2, showing intra‐ and intercellular microrosettes, leading us to a diagnosis of tanycytic ependymoma for the frontal lobe tumor and tanycytic ependymoma with ordinary ependymomatous component for the spinal cord tumors. The spinal extramedullary tumor was a schwannoma. Importantly, a heterozygous truncating mutation in the NF2 gene was identified in the blood lymphocytes from the patient. It is known that multiple nervous system tumors can occur in neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2), which is caused by mutation in the NF2 gene, and that occurrence of ependymoma, including the tanycytic variant, can be associated with this genetic condition. The present case provides further information about the clinicopathology of tanycytic ependymoma with details of the immunohistochemical, ultrastructural and genetic features.


OBJECTIVE
Pinprick evoked potentials (PEPs) represent a novel tool to assess the functional integrity of mechano-nociceptive pathways with a potential toward objectifying sensory deficits and gain seen in neurological disorders. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of PEPs with respect to age, stimulation site, and skin type.

METHODS
Electroencephalographic responses evoked by two pinprick stimulation intensities (128 mN and 256 mN) applied at three sites (hand dorsum, palmar digit II, and foot dorsum) were recorded in 30 healthy individuals. Test-retest reliability was performed for the vertex negative-positive complex amplitudes, N-latencies, and pain ratings evoked by the 256mN stimulation intensity.

RESULTS
Feasibility of PEP acquisition was demonstrated across age groups, with higher proportions of evoked potentials (>85%) for the 256mN stimulation intensity. Reliability analyses, that is, Bland-Altman and intraclass correlation coefficients, revealed poor to excellent reliability upon retest depending on the stimulation sites.

CONCLUSIONS
This study highlights the reliability of PEP acquisition from cervical and lumbar segments across clinically representative age groups. Future methodological improvements might further strengthen PEP reliability in order to complement clinical neurophysiology of sensory nerve fibers by a more specific assessment of mechano-nociceptive pathways. Beyond looking at sensory deficits, PEPs may also become applicable to revealing signs of central sensitization, complementing the clinical assessment of mechanical hyperalgesia.


Different cascode circuits are investigated with regard to their suitability for low-voltage and low-current circuits. A generalized circuit representation is introduced and different cascode circuits are discussed with respect to their small-signal parameters as well as their associated dynamic output ranges. The output voltage ranges for saturation operation of the different cascode circuits are derived and the saturation operating areas are compared. A method called reference voltage and current tracking for dynamic output range improvement of cascode circuits with reference voltage or current is described. An improved regulated cascode circuit with extended dynamic output range using input tracking and level shifting technique is proposed.


Although traditional learning was a necessity for centuries and distance learning is sometimes the only way for learning for many learners, the last two decades a supplementary mode to the other modes of learning emerged, the e-learning. However, the last few years, blended learning has dominated as the only mode which combines perfectly the advantages of the other modes of learning. The role of educational content in blended learning is crucial. The key factor to success is high quality educational content, appropriate for learning and able to fulfill course educational aims and objectives. Most of the times it is not an easy task to give feedback to instructors about the online educational content.  However, some course characteristics and students' actions may reflect the quality and quantity of the educational content. This study evaluates the use of blended learning in TEI of West Macedonia with the use of structured questionnaires exposed to the learners. The learners express their attitude about how useful the blended learning is and how this blended means facilitates their studies. It proposes two variables Richness and Usefulness, taking into account statistics concerning the courses. These variables aim to help course instructors and administrators review course usage and find course weaknesses.


Background and objective: Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a membrane structural glycoprotein that acts as a key receptor in the process of SARS-CoV-2 infection, has been identified as an oncogene in some tumor types. However, few studies have explored the role of the ACE2 gene in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential relationship between ACE2 and HNSCC and explore early markers and molecular targets for the treatment of HNSCC. Methods: Integrative bioinformatics analyses were applied to uncover the potential role of ACE2 in HNSCC development and tumor-associated immunology. Results: The results showed that ACE2 was highly expressed in HNSCC and significantly correlated with clinical features such as sex. In addition, ACE2 may be a potential prognostic marker for HNSCC, as it was correlated with shorter recurrence-free survival (RFS) according to the Kaplan-Meier method. The PPI network revealed that STAT1 is the gene most closely related to ACE2 and that the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway was the most relevant pathway. Moreover, ACE2 expression was closely associated with the immune-infiltrating levels of CD8 + T cells, myeloid dendritic cells, and neutrophils. Conclusions: The viral entry molecule ACE2 plays an important role in the tumorigenesis and cancer-immune interactions of HNSCC, suggesting that it is a novel molecular target and a new immune checkpoint in the diagnosis and treatment of HNSCC.


AIMS
To examine the immune consequences of chronic alcoholism in man, in relation to the known association between alcoholism and raised incidence and severity of infections.

METHODS
In 36 alcoholics without liver disease, at the point of commencing withdrawal from alcohol, the following measures of immune competence were measured: the immunophenotypes of cells, acute phase proteins, the endotoxin-neutralizing capacity (ENC) of the serum, titers of anti-lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antibodies, and ex vivo cytokine inducibility in T cells and monocytes (TNFalpha, IL1beta, IL1RA, IL4, IL6, IL8, IL10 and IL12). The results were compared to those from healthy volunteers (day controls). Measures were repeated after 8-13 days of abstinence.

RESULTS
LPS-binding protein (LBP) and soluble CD14 (sCD14) were significantly increased in patients' sera at the outset of withdrawal, whereas reduced titers of anti-LPS IgG (P = 0.012) and a reduced ENC (P = 0.001) were measured. Only ENC rapidly returned to normal values after withdrawal therapy. Cytokine induction with phorbol ester showed no significant alterations in patients' T cells. Patients' monocytes, however, responded to LPS stimulation with enhanced IL1beta-, but reduced TNFalpha- and IL12-production (P = 0.004, P = 0.0042 and P = 0.001, respectively). While IL1- and TNFalpha-responses normalized after the withdrawal period, impairment of the IL12 response persisted throughout the observation period of 2 weeks.

CONCLUSIONS
Alcoholism results in a prolonged LPS-mediated hypoinflammatory conditioning of the innate but not the adaptive immune system, which is not reversed immediately after withdrawal. This alcohol-induced status of the immune system predisposes to infections and sepsis by blunting initial response to the pathogens.


The earliest forms of life would likely have a protocellular form, with a membrane encapsulating some form of linear charged polymer. These polymers could have enzymatic as well as genetic properties. We can simulate plausible prebiotic conditions in the laboratory to test hypotheses related to this concept. In earlier work we have shown that mononucleotides organized within a multilamellar lipid matrix can produce oligomers in the anhydrous phase of dehydrationrehydration cycles [1]. If mononucleotides are in solution at millimolar concentrations, then oligomers resembling RNA are synthesized and exist in a steady state with their monomers [2]. We have used conventional and novel techniques to demonstrate that secondary structures stabilized by hydrogen bonds may be present in the condensation products produced in dehydrationrehydration cycles that simulate hydrothermal fields that were present on the early Earth. Gel electrophoresis data corroborates the presence of 200-base pair length RNA fragments in products of Hydration-Dehydration experiments. Furthermore, hypochromicity measurements demonstrate a degree of hypochromicity found in single RNA strand of known sequence, as well as results that indicate this is true also for a sample of complementary strands of RNA. Analysis of ionic current signatures of known RNA hairpin molecule as measured using a nanopore detector indicate a significant variability in pattern, different from the signatures produced by DNA hairpin molecules. This informs how we may interpret nanopore data gathered from prebiotic simulations.


Protein kinase C (PKC) is a family of kinases involved in the transduction of cellular signals that promote lipid hydrolysis. PKC plays a pivotal role in mediating cellular responses to extracellular stimuli involved in proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Comparative analysis of the PKC-α,β,ε isozymes of 200 recently sequenced microbial genomes was carried out using variety of bioinformatics tools. Diversity and evolution of PKC was determined by sequence alignment. The ser/thr protein kinases of Streptomyces coelicolor A3 (2), is the only bacteria to show sequence alignment score greater than 30% with all the three PKC isotypes in the sequence alignment. S.coelicolor is the subject of our interest because it is notable for the production of pharmaceutically useful compounds including anti-tumor agents, immunosupressants and over two-thirds of all natural antibiotics currently available. The comparative analysis of three human isotypes of PKC and Serine/ threonine protein kinase of S.coelicolor was carried out and possible mechanism of action of PKC was derived. Our analysis indicates that Serine/ threonine protein kinase from S. coelicolor can be a good candidate for potent anti-tumor agent. The presence of three representative isotypes of the PKC super family in this organism helps us to understand the mechanism of PKC from evolutionary perspective.


In this paper, the cost of quality model developed by Chiadamrong [4] was considered and modified and extended. The new model is then used to develop a simulation model for two processing stations in a manufacturing system. Using real life data from the industry and through simulation works, the model was tested with a set of managerial quality control decision scenarios which are commonly practiced in real life industry. The results show that some of the managerial quality control decision scenarios have significant impact on cost of quality.


A simple expression is established for the velocity of a sphere that rolls without slipping on a plane surface that is horizontal or inclined, rigid or non-rigid and in arbitrary motion in its own plane. The expression is integrated to determine the motion in various special cases, in particular the case of a rigid, horizontal disc rotating with a variable angular velocity around its fixed axis. In this case the equation of motion is seen to have a 'quasi-electrodynamic' interpretation resembling that of a charged particle in a variable, uniform (axis-symmetric) magnetic field. The resulting motions deviate from earlier results. For the motion on horizontal and inclined discs rotating with constant angular velocity, earlier results are recovered.


Plants possess innate immune systems to prevent most potential infections. The ancient and conserved innate immune responses are triggered by microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) and play important roles in broad-spectrum defenses. However, successful bacterial pathogens evolved type III virulence effectors to suppress MAMP-mediated immunity. To survive, plants further developed highly specific resistance (R) genes to trigger gene-for-gene-mediated immunity and turn the virulent pathogens into avirulent ones. We summarize here the very recent advances in this dynamic coevolution of plant-bacterium interaction.


Background:Trophoblast migration into maternal decidua is essential for normal pregnancy. It occurs in a defined time window, is spatially highly restricted, and is aberrant in some pathological pregnancies, but the control mechanisms are as yet ill-defined. At the periphery of the placenta, chorionic villi make contact with decidua to form specialised anchoring sites that feed interstitially migrating cytotrophoblast into the placental bed.Results:Explants of first trimester mesenchymal villi on collagen type I developed cytotrophoblast outgrowths from the villous tips. However, in medium changed daily, cells did not progress to a migratory phenotype, remaining instead as a contiguous multi-layered sheet. This suggested the need for another migration stimulus. To test the possibility that this might arise from mesenchymal cells, serum-free conditioned medium from first trimester placental fibroblasts was added to explant cultures. Cytotrophoblasts were stimulated to migrate in streams across the gel. Affinity depletion of Insulin-like growth factor from fibroblast medium reduced streaming activity, while the addition of exogenous IGF-I (10 ng/ml) to serum-free medium produced a streaming phenotype. IGF receptor type 1 (IGFR1) was present on cells in the columns, and streaming could be inhibited by antibody to this receptor. IGF-II and activin, known stimulators of cytotrophoblast migration, were also active in this model.Conclusions:These data suggest a paracrine interaction between villous mesenchyme and the cytotrophoblast in anchoring sites that stimulates trophoblast infiltration of decidua. Such a signal would be self-limiting since it diminishes with distance from the placenta. This is a novel mechanism in placental development


Work on information retrieval has shown that language model smoothing leads to more accurate estimation of document models and hence is crucial for achieving good retrieval performance. Several smoothing methods have been proposed in the literature, using either semantic or positional information. In this paper, we propose a unified proximity-based framework to smooth language models, leveraging semantic and positional information simultaneously in combination. The key idea is to project terms to positions where they originally do not exist (i.e., zero count), which is actually a word count propagation process. We achieve this projection through two proximity-based density functions indicating semantic association and positional adjacency. We balance the effects of semantic and positional smoothing, and score a document based on the smoothed language model. Experiments on four standard TREC test collections show that our smoothing model is effective for information retrieval and generally performs better than the state of the art.


Marrow adipose tissue (MAT) is an endocrine organ with the potential to influence skeletal remodeling and hematopoiesis. Pathologic MAT expansion has been studied in the context of severe metabolic challenge, including caloric restriction, high fat diet feeding, and leptin deficiency. However, the rapid change in peripheral fat and glucose metabolism associated with these models impedes our ability to examine which metabolic parameters precede or coincide with MAT expansion. Microfibril-associated glycoprotein-1 (MAGP1) is a matricellular protein that influences cellular processes by tethering signaling molecules to extracellular matrix structures. MAGP1-deficient (Mfap2−/−) mice display a progressive excess adiposity phenotype, which precedes insulin resistance and occurs without changes in caloric intake or ambulation. Mfap2−/− mice were, therefore, used as a model to associate parameters of metabolic disease, bone remodeling, and hematopoiesis with MAT expansion. Marrow adiposity was normal in Mfap2−/− mice until 6 months of age; however, by 10 months, marrow fat volume had increased fivefold relative to wild-type control at the same age. Increased gonadal fat pad mass and hyperglycemia were detectable in Mfap2−/− mice by 2 months, but peaked by 6 months. The development of insulin resistance coincided with MAT expansion. Longitudinal characterization of bone mass demonstrated a disconnection in MAT volume and bone volume. Specifically, Mfap2−/− mice had reduced trabecular bone volume by 2 months, but this phenotype did not progress with age or MAT expansion. Interestingly, MAT expansion in the 10-month-old Mfap2−/− mice was associated with modest alterations in basal hematopoiesis, including a shift from granulopoiesis to B lymphopoiesis. Together, these findings indicate MAT expansion is coincident with insulin resistance, but not excess peripheral adiposity or hyperglycemia in Mfap2−/− mice; and substantial MAT accumulation does not necessitate a proportional decrease in either bone mass or bone marrow cellularity.


Deep metric learning algorithms have been utilized to learn discriminative and generalizable models which are effective for classifying unseen classes. In this paper, a novel noise tolerant deep metric learning algorithm is proposed. The proposed method, termed as Density Aware Metric Learning, enforces the model to learn embeddings that are pulled towards the most dense region of the clusters for each class. It is achieved by iteratively shifting the estimate of the center towards the dense region of the cluster thereby leading to faster convergence and higher generalizability. In addition to this, the approach is robust to noisy samples in the training data, often present as outliers. Detailed experiments and analysis on two challenging cross-modal face recognition databases and two popular object recognition databases exhibit the efficacy of the proposed approach. It has superior convergence, requires lesser training time, and yields better accuracies than several popular deep metric learning methods.


AIM OF THE STUDY
To analyze changes of the cephalic index (CI) values in patients with sagittal synostosis operated on in the Department of Surgery of Children and Adolescents of the Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study group consisted of 14 consecutive cases (11 boys and 3 girls). In 8 patients younger than 3 months of age (1st subgroup) the modified reversed-pi technique (craniotomy in the shape of the reversed Greek π letter) was utilized. In 6 older infants and in patients with severe head deformity - the radical cranial vault reconstructions were performed (2nd subgroup). The statistical analysis of the preoperative (preop) and postoperative (postop) cephalic index (CI) values was done.

RESULTS
For the entire study group the preop CI values ranged from 61 to 77 (mean 68.14, median 68.5) and postop CIs from 73 to 89 (mean 77.64, median 76). In the 1st subgroup the preop CIs ranged from 63 to 77 (mean 69.625, median 69) whereas the postop CIs from 69 to 89 (mean 78.125, median 76.5). In the 2nd subgroup the preop CI values ranged from 61 to 72 (mean 66.1667, median 66) and postop from 73 to 81 (mean 77, median 77). All the differences were statistically significant.

CONCLUSION
The values of cephalic index increased after both types of procedures. It signifies the correction of dolichocephaly in both subgroups of the patients. However, because of the small number of operated children, further studies are necessary.


When processing Fe-Pd ferromagnetic shape memory thin films, selection of the desired phases and their transformation temperatures constitutes one of the largest challenges from an application point of view. In the present contribution we demonstrate that irradiation with 1.8 MeV Kr(+) ions is the method of choice to achieve this goal: Single crystalline Fe(7)Pd(3) thin films that are grown with molecular beam epitaxy on MgO (001) substrates and subsequently irradiated with ions reveal a phase transformation along the whole phase transformation path ranging from fcc austenite to bcc martensite. While for 10(14) ions/cm(2) a fcc-fct phase transformation is observed, increasing the fluence to 5 × 10(14) ions/cm(2) and 5 × 10(15) ions/cm(2) leads to a phase transformation to the bcc phase. Pole figure measurements reveal an orientation relationship for the fcc-bcc phase transformation according to Nishiyama and Wassermann.


An eight chip InGrid module has been tested as readout of a prototype time projection chamber. The construction of the modules as well as first preliminary results are presented. The InGrids, a Micromegas like amplification structure with a pixel ASIC, have been produced on wafer-level in a photolithographic process. For the measurements a newly developed readout system based on the Scalable Readout System was used.


To enhance the generalization capacity of a distribution learning method, we propose to use a fuzzy Bayesian framework based on Bayes rules. The precision of the learning results is increased and the prediction quality is enhanced. The distribution learning method uses the information contained in the simulations and the knowledge of the measurements to learn a relation function. The fuzzy bayesian clustering (FBC) algorithm is a preprocessing technique that divides the whole learning space into subspaces where the generalization is better than the generalization into the whole space. We apply the FBC to a prediction tool of a third generation (3G) cellular radio network and results show that the generalization capacity is enhanced compared to classical clustering algorithms. Unobserved configuration can then be predicted with enhanced accuracy.


The type of reproduction which developed in Russia is a consequence of spatial and territorial distribution of human resources. Numerous researches show that the processes connected with spatial changes of economy of regions of Russia most often have exclusively uneven character, essential disproportions in the level of social and economic development of large city agglomerations and other regional educations are a consequence of that. In large city agglomerations the considerable part of labor and financial resources of the state which act as some kind of kernel of concentration of production, developments of scientific and technical progress and innovations concentrates. As a rule, concentration of the high qualified manpower allows to note strengthening of impact of the creative human capital on results of economic development of these territories. At the same time in average and small city agglomerations there is a number of the problems caused by a reallocation of human resources. So, reduction of number of the qualified manpower reduces possibilities of production growth on an innovative basis that, eventually, can lead to reduction of modern productions. Partial replacement of human resources in these educations exists due to inflow of the population from rural territories, but, as a rule, there is a need of time for their training and adaptation to new conditions that doesn't allow to fill the creative human capital lost as a result of movement. Therefore regional governing bodies faces a problem of formation of own points of economic growth which conform to the following requirements: existence of effective management and administrative, industrial, financial, information infrastructure, development of innovative and intellectual potential, formation of the favorable enterprise environment and investment climate. Now this condition practically doesn't find the realization in the majority of regions of the country in connection with weak horizontal communication of units of agglomerations with such capital.


John Shelton Reed's maps of the South and Dixie in 1970s and 1980s indicated the shrinking boundaries of these two vernacular regions. This study revisits the South and Dixie. Using electronic telephone directories, this study collected all business names with "Southern" and "Dixie" in all the cities in the US. A univariate local indicator of spatial association (LISA) analysis was used to identify the clusters of high and low values of normalized values of the terms. These analyses helped identify the current core regions of Dixie land and the South. The results indicate that "the South" and "Dixie" boundary erosion is noticeable. The study identified a previously unnoticed island of "Dixie" in Utah. Southern and Dixie identities are stronger in non-metropolitan counties compared to metropolitan and micropolitan counties. Southern and Dixie identities are eroding gradually: while the erosion of southern identity is very slow, the erosion of Dixie identity seems to be faster. Overall, it may be more appropriate to refer "Dixieland" as "Dixie islands" today, but the South is still the South.


Relaxation to equilibrium in the random energy model is investigated with the use of the master equation within the assumption that transition state between any two energy levels has the same energy. Relaxation of physical quantities of the model after drastic decrease of temperature is a two-stage process when final temperature is lower than the temperature of freezing transition. At the first stage there occurs a logarithmic relaxation of the extensive part of energy to equilibrium (in the thermodynamic limit) value. The second stage is connected with the freezing transition.


Multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli can contaminate food meat during processing and cause human infection. Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of the antimicrobial resistance were conducted for 45 multidrug-resistant E. coli isolates from 208 samples of beef carcasses. The mechanisms of resistance were evaluated using polymerase chain reaction and sequencing methods, and the clonal relationship among isolates was evaluated using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Different variants of bla, tet, flo, dfrA, and aadA genes were detected in most of the strains resistant to β-lactam, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, sulfonamides, and aminoglycosides, respectively. Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli was found in 42.2% of the 45 E. coli isolates and the most commonly detected ESBL genotypes were CTX-M group 1 and 9. Class 1 integrons with nine different arrangements of gene cassettes were present in 28 of 45 E. coli isolates. Twenty-nine PFGE groups and 24 MLST types were identified in their clonal structure. This study revealed that E. coli isolates from beef contained high diversity of antimicrobial resistance genes, integrons, and genotypes. These results highlighted the role of beef meat as a potential source for multidrug-resistant E. coli strains and the need for controlling beef safety.


Despite an overall decrease in perioperative morbidity and mortality, evidence of some degree of central nervous system dysfunction associated with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery—with or without cardiopulmonary bypass— has steadily mounted. From preoperative studies of CABG patients, it is apparent that over 50% of patients who present for cardiac surgery have evidence of either extracranial or intracranial atherosclerotic disease. Patient-specific factors thus have a fundamental impact on the risks of a brain injury developing after CABG surgery. Cerebral embolization and/or ischemic hypoperfusion are the most likely etiologic mechanisms for perioperative brain injury associated with cardiac surgery, and these factors are closely interrelated. Various monitoring techniques can decrease risk of intraoperative cerebral embolization and hypoperfusion and are associated with improved outcomes. Ultrasound guided aortic instrumentation (epiaortic scanning) can markedly decrease atheroembolic load and risk of stroke. Unrecognized sources of microgaseous emboli, including air entrainment from surgical purse string sutures and perfusionist interventions, can be identified and reduced by transcranial Doppler monitoring. Cerebral hypoperfusion from unrecognized cerebral venous obstruction, inadequate mean arterial pressure, or from hypocapnic cerebral alkalosis can be identified by multimodality neuromonitoring using regional cerebral oxygen saturation and transcranial Doppler. Overall patient outcomes can be improved, and hospital length of stay shortened, by applied neuromonitoring techniques.


The transport of Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) is likely due to an interplay between self-generated and extrinsic magnetic turbulence. In particular, close to their sources and close to the Galactic disk, CR diffusion is likely enhanced by the large CR currents that drive the streaming instability. We investigate the onset of the resonant and non-resonant streaming instabilities and their influence on CR transport by performing self-consistent hybrid particle-in-cell simulations. On Galactic scales, we study how the self-generated diffusion coefficient is expected to vary from the disk to the halo, which might be crucial for both CR confinement and for providing sub-grid models in models of galaxy evolution that include CR physics.


Visually impaired people are neglected from many modern communication and interaction procedures. Assistive technologies such as text-to-speech and braille displays are the most commonly used means of connecting such visually impaired people with mobile phones and other smart devices. Both these solutions face usability issues, thus this study focused on developing a user friendly wearable solution called the 'Braille-Band' with haptic technology while preserving affordability. The 'BrailleBand' enables passive reading using the Braille language. Connectivity between the BrailleBand and the smart device (phone) is established using Bluetooth protocol. It consists of six nodes in three bands worn on the arm to map the braille alphabet, which are actuated to give the sense of touch corresponding to the characters. Three mobile applications were developed for training the visually impaired and to integrate existing smart mobile applications such as navigation and short message service (SMS) with the device BrailleBand. The adaptability, usability and efficiency of reading was tested on a sample of blind users which reflected progressive results. Even though, the reading accuracy depends on the time duration between the characters (character gap) an average Character Transfer Rate of 0.4375 characters per second can be achieved with a character gap of 1000 ms.


This work presents the results of studies on the interactions of soils of varied lithology, occurring in the Suprś1 River valley, with selected kinds of pollutions. There were applied the farming and municipal wastes as well as petroleum products. Determinations of heavy metals such as: lead, zinc, copper and nickel were carried out. It was stated that the valley bottom, covered mainly by organic soils, is a good insulating horizon. The upland, covered by prevailed cohesive soils, could be also classified as an area with a high ability to retain pollution. The fluvioglacial terrace, overlain by cohesiveless soils, has the lowest insulating characteristics. The occurrence of surface soil cover increases the insulating ability of the studied area.


Group communication is inherently a social activity. However, existing protocols for group key establishment often fail to consider important social dynamics. This paper examines the human requirements for wireless group key establishment. We identify seven social and situational factors which impact group formation. Using these factors, we examine the requirements of four common classes of group communications. Each scenario imposes a unique set of requirements on wireless group key establishment.


The high response of our isolate of Streptomyces griseoviridus was exploited to provoke the synthesis of new viridogrisein homologues by adding various amino acids to the culture medium in an attempt to replace the alanine, sarcosine, leucine and phenylsarcosine moieties of virdogrisein. Among the amino acids added, L- and DL-alpha-amino-n-butyric acid and L-methionine gave new TLC spots which we named neoviridogriseins I and III and neoviridogrisein VII, respectively. The structures of neoviridogriseins I and III were elucidated: In both compounds, the alanine moiety of viridogrisein is replaced by a L-alpha-amino-n-butyric acid residue; furthermore, in neoviridogrisein I, the allo-hydroxy-D-proline is replaced by D-proline.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the structural performance of nail joints subjected to different moisture contents (MC). In this study, the nail withdrawal and the single shear tests were conducted. The nails were inserted into sugi and larch specimens in the parallel or perpendicular to the grain directions before MC control. As a result, the nail withdrawal resistance increased with decreasing MC when MC was lower than 30%, and did not exhibit the similar trend when MC was higher than 30%. The nail withdrawal energy per unit length of sugi specimens decreased with increasing MC when MC was lower than 30%, and did not show such a trend when MC was higher than 30%. However, larch specimens did not show the tendency as sugi ones. The yield strength of single shear tests slightly increased as MC decreased in the parallel to the grain direction, but did not show the similar trend in the perpendicular to the grain direction. The correlation between initial stiffness and MC was found to be poor in both parallel and perpendicular to the grain directions.


Basic physics and current technologies of magneto-optical recording are reviewed. The development owes much to the discovery of amorphous rare earth-transition metal (RE-TM) films, which exhibit quite uniform magnetic and optical properties in the scale of practical interest. The RE-TM films also exhibit a wide variety of thermomagnetic properties on adjusting their composition, which resulted in the recent development of high-density recording using multilayer films. In amorphous RE-TM films it is possible to record thermomagnetically marks some several tens of nanometres in size. In order to readout such small recorded marks, further development of new readout techniques is necessary.


TGF-β1 is known to inhibit muscle regeneration after muscle injury. However, it is unknown if high systemic levels of TGF-β can affect the muscle regeneration process. In the present study, we demonstrated the effect of a CCl4 intra-peritoneal injection and losartan (an angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist) on skeletal muscle (gastrocnemius muscle) injury and regeneration. Male C57BL/6 mice were grouped randomly as follows: control (n = 7), CCl4-treatment group (n = 7), and CCl4 + losartan treatment group (n = 7). After CCl4 treatment for a 16-week period, the animals were sacrificed and analyzed. The expression of dystrophin significantly decreased in the muscle tissues of the control group, as compared with that of the CCl4 + losartan group (p < 0.01). p(phospho)-Smad2/3 expression significantly increased in the muscles of the control group compared to that in the CCl4 + losartan group (p < 0.01). The expressions of Pax7, MyoD, and myogenin increased in skeletal muscles of the CCl4 + losartan group compared to the corresponding levels in the control group (p < 0.01). We hypothesize that systemically elevated TGF-β1 as a result of CCl4-induced liver injury causes skeletal muscle injury, while losartan promotes muscle repair from injury via blockade of TGF-β1 signaling.


With significant advances in network interfaces, I/O bus, and processor architecture of end node, innovative approaches are required to achieve high network bandwidth by fully utilizing available system resources. The issues related can be summarized into two: (i) Utilizing I/O bus bandwidth for high bandwidth network connection and (ii) Utilizing multiple cores for high packet processing throughput. In this paper, we conduct several experiments on a multi-core system with 10 GigE and multi-port 1 GigE network interfaces. We aim to show the impact of system configurations on the network performance and compare the performance of two different network interfaces. The experimental results show that, with the proper interrupt affinity configurations, the multi-port 1 GigE can achieve comparable bandwidth to 10 GigE. The peak bandwidth achieved by the multi-port 1 GigE is 6.7 Gbps, which is more than 80% of the theoretical maximum I/O bus bandwidth on the experimental system. We, however, also show that the multi-port 1 GigE can consume much more processor resource than 10 GigE. More importantly, we reveal that processing the packets on many cores can result in more resource consumption without much benefit. This can be because of locking overhead between softirqs running on different cores and lower cache efficiency. We show that the more tuning on the configuration cannot overcome this side effect.


This study tested the hypothesis that the decline in pulsatile release of luteinizing hormone (LH), resulting from steroid negative feedback, is greater in animals fed a low, compared with a high, plane of nutrition. Two-year-old cows were ovariectomized and six days later were fed diets to provide 1.5 x maintenance requirements (n = 6, supplemented) or 0.5 x maintenance requirements (n = 6, restricted) (Round 1). Pulsatile release of LH was measured over a 14-h period on the fifth day of feeding these diets (Day 1); at 6 h, all animals were treated with an intravaginal insert containing 1.38 g progesterone, which remained in place until the end of Day 3. Pulsatile release of LH was again measured for 14 h on Day 3; at 6 h, all animals were injected intramuscularly with oestradiol benzoate (ODB; 1 mg per 500 kg live weight). Three days later, this protocol was repeated, in a cross-over design, with cows that were previously restricted now being supplemented and those cows previously supplemented, now restricted (Round 2). Plasma concentrations of progesterone after intravaginal progesterone treatment were 1.01 ng mL(-1) higher in restricted cows compared with supplemented cows (P < 0.001) and were also higher in Round 1 than in Round 2 and on Day 1 than on Day 3 (P < 0.001). Plasma concentrations of oestradiol following injection with ODB did not differ between supplemented and restricted cows (P > 0.1). Dietary intake did not affect mean concentrations of LH, pulse frequency or amplitude during the 6-h period before steroid treatment or the change in these variables following steroid treatment; however, the slope of the decline in concentrations of LH following progesterone treatment was significantly more negative in cows fed restricted diets compared with those fed supplemented diets. In Round 2, mean concentrations of LH were higher preceding, and decreased more following, progesterone treatment compared with the decrease after ODB treatment. In conclusion, acute dietary restriction resulted in a more rapid decline in the release of LH following treatment with intravaginal progesterone, and was associated with higher concentrations of progesterone in plasma.


This descriptive report details primarily qualitative information on behavioral health capabilities, utilization, and referral rates for a Stryker Brigade Combat Team deployed to Afghanistan for 9 months from 2012 to 2013. Limited quantitative data on standardized risk assessments throughout the deployment cycle are presented. Initial data on the postdeployment care at an embedded behavioral health clinic are also provided, with referral data comparing pre- and postdeployment periods. Lessons learned for providing brigade-level behavioral health services during combat deployments are discussed, including consultation with the rear detachment, utilization of telehealth assets, and distributing the network of care throughout the battlespace.


Supply networks rely increasingly on dynamic information flow between organisations. Providing intelligent automated collaboration requires learning capability i.e. an agent should be capable of adapting behaviour as conditions change. This paper proposes a scalable multi-agent system which uses case-based reasoning as a framework for part of its intelligence. Agents operate at two levels: an inter-enterprise level and a product/logistics level. Tests with a simulated system for buyer side operations show that such a buyer agent is capable of learning the best supplier and of adapting if supply conditions change e.g. if average delivery times deteriorate or a new supplier enters the market.


Strips of periosteum from the zygoma were used to reconstruct very extensive lateral canthal and temporal eyelid defects in 11 patients. The strips were reflected nasally, sutured to residual tarsal stumps, and covered anteriorly with myocutaneous flaps. After a minimum follow up of one year, cosmesis was excellent in five patients, satisfactory in five, and poor in one. Minor complications related to this procedure included ectropion and low lateral contour (one patient each), blunting of the lateral canthal angle (three patients), eyelid notching and dehiscence (one patient each), and symblepharon formation (one patient). However, only one patient had a complication that was significant enough to require a second surgery. This technique allows for one-stage reconstruction, an open palpebral fissure, and the ability to reconstruct extensive loss of the temporal portion of two adjacent eyelids when sharing techniques are not possible.


Obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have reached pandemic proportions worldwide, and considerable research efforts have been dedicated to investigating disease pathology and therapeutic options. The two hallmark features of T2DM, insulin resistance and pancreatic dysfunction, have been studied extensively by using various animal models. Despite the knowledge acquired from such models, particularly mechanistic discoveries that sometimes mimic human T2DM mechanisms or pathways, many details of human T2DM pathogenesis remain unknown, therapeutic options remain limited, and a cure has eluded research. Emerging human data have raised concern regarding inter-species differences at many levels (e.g. in gene regulation, pancreatic cytoarchitecture, glucose transport, and insulin secretion regulation), and the subsequent impact of these differences on the clinical translation of animal research findings. Therefore, it is important to recognise and address the translational gap between basic animal-based research and the clinical advances needed to prevent and treat T2DM. The purpose of this report is to identify some limitations of T2DM animal research, and to propose how greater human relevance and applicability of hypothesis-driven basic T2DM research could be achieved through the use of human-based data acquisition at various biological levels. This report addresses how in vitro, in vivo and in silico technologies could be used to investigate particular aspects of human glucose regulation. We do not propose that T2DM animal research has been without value in the identification of mechanisms, pathways, or potential targets for therapies, nor do we claim that human-based methods can provide all the answers. We recognise that the ultimate goal of T2DM animal research is to identify ways to advance the prevention, recognition and treatment of T2DM in humans, but postulate that this is where the use of animal models falls short, despite decades of effort. The best way to achieve this goal is by prioritising human-centred research.


Invariant inference algorithms such as interpolation-based inference and IC3/PDR show that it is feasible, in practice, to find inductive invariants for many interesting systems, but non-trivial upper bounds on the computational complexity of such algorithms are scarce, and limited to simple syntactic forms of invariants. In this paper we achieve invariant inference algorithms, in the domain of propositional transition systems, with provable upper bounds on the number of SAT calls. We do this by building on the monotone theory, developed by Bshouty for exact learning Boolean formulas. We prove results for two invariant inference frameworks: (i) model-based interpolation, where we show an algorithm that, under certain conditions about reachability, efficiently infers invariants when they have both short CNF and DNF representations (transcending previous results about monotone invariants); and (ii) abstract interpretation in a domain based on the monotone theory that was previously studied in relation to property-directed reachability, where we propose an efficient implementation of the best abstract transformer, leading to overall complexity bounds on the number of SAT calls. These results build on a novel procedure for computing least monotone overapproximations.


In series double quantum dot with finite bias, strong current suppression by spin-selection rule is expected. Before the current becomes zero starting from a certain initial condition, the transient current flows through the system. We theoretically argue this excess current, under which condition, becomes a simple fraction of charge quantum after being integrated in time. We also propose a scheme to detect this excess current by periodically modulating bias and present the evidence of the fractional excess charge e/3.


Diarrhea is the world's biggest cause of death for children under five years old. According to UNICEF records, every second toddler dies of diarrhea. Diarrhea is often considered a trivial disease, but according to World Health Oraganization records, diarrhea kills 2 million children in the world every year. This descriptive study used a retrospective approach and utilizes data from diarrhea case reports and medical records of diarrhea patients at RSUD Kota Kendari. The research was conducted in October 2022, and the population were all children under five years old who suffered from diarrhea and had been treated at RSUD Kota Kendari. Then the data is presented in the form of tables or graphs. The results showed that diarrhea was more common in males than females. 46 cases (51.69%) were males, and 43 (48.31%) were females. The highest case of diarrhea was found in children aged 1-4 years, with 51 cases (57.30%), and the highest increase of cases occurred in August with 21 cases. More boys were hospitalized than girls. Weather can cause diarrhea. Based on the data, the highest diarrhea rate occurred in October, when the dry season peaked and the availability of clean water was low. Based on the surveyed data, children were more susceptible to diarrhea because they were still in their infancy. Therefore their immunity was still low, and their awareness of the importance of paying attention and maintaining personal hygiene was minimal.
Keywords: Diarrhea, Children, Environmental Health


A new method is introduced to perform enhancement of speech degraded by acoustic noise using the psychoacoustic property of masking. The goal of this algorithm is to preserve the natural quality of the noise while keeping the speech perceptually intact. Distortion masking principles based on prior work of Gustafsson are used to derive a hybrid gain function comprising a function minimizing speech distortion and another minimizing noise distortion. The system is implemented in floating-point software and was tested against several existing algorithms. In a forced choice listening test, the new system was preferred over the Enhanced Variable Rate Codec (EVRC) noise suppression algorithm in 88% of the cases. Informal listening tests showed preferable speech quality than Gustafsson's algorithm. As a front end to a vocoder, the new system was preferred over the other two by all the test subjects. Ideas on future work in speech enhancement are also explored. Thesis Supervisor: Thomas F. Quatieri Title: Senior Staff, MIT Lincoln Laboratory


The volume of documents currently being published demands great effort in order to devise alternative indexing techniques for them; undertaking this process manually is a very slow process. In this research project, automatic indexing criteria that have been used most frequently since the 1950s have been identified. The work was divided into two main stages: (1) identification of the automatic indexing criteria found in the literature and, (2) a proposal for a set of ideal criteria for the automatic indexing process.


This paper was proposed 900 V Power MOSFET with ESD protection circuits using zener diodes. And we were carried out and analyzed its electrical characteristics. As a result of designing 900 V power MOSFET, we obtained 1,000 V breakdown voltage, 3.49 V threshold voltage and 0.249 Ω·cm2. And we designed ESD circuits using 2 series zener diode and 4 series zener diodes. After analyzing electrical characteristics, we obtained 26 V forward voltage drop and 47 V breakdown voltage. Therefore, This devices can enoughly use power module, SMPS and Automotive.


First-principles calculations of electron tunneling transport in Ni and Co break junctions reveal strong dependence of the conductance on the magnetization direction, an effect known as tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR). The origin of this phenomenon stems from resonant states localized in the electrodes near the junction break. The energy and broadening of these states is strongly affected by the magnetization orientation due to spin-orbit coupling, causing TAMR to be sensitive to bias voltage on a scale of a few mV. Our results bear a resemblance to recent experimental data and suggest that TAMR driven by resonant states is a general phenomenon typical for magnetic broken contacts and other experimental geometries where a magnetic tip is used to probe electron transport.


Purpose This study assessed the reliability and accuracy of auditory-perceptual voice evaluations by experienced clinicians via telepractice platforms. Method Voice samples from 20 individuals were recorded after transmission via telepractice platforms. Twenty experienced clinicians (10 speech-language pathologists, 10 laryngologists) evaluated the samples for dysphonia percepts (overall severity, roughness, breathiness, and strain) using a modified Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice. Reliability was calculated as the mean of squared differences between repeated ratings (intrarater agreement), and between individual and group mean ratings (interrater agreement). Repeated measures analyses of variance were constructed to measure effects of transmission condition (e.g., original recording, WebEx, Zoom), dysphonia percept, and their interaction on intrarater agreement, interrater agreement, and average ratings. Significant effects were evaluated with post hoc Tukey's tests. Results There were significant effects of transmission condition, percept, and their interaction on average ratings, and a significant effect of percept on interrater agreement. Post hoc testing revealed statistically, but not clinically, significant differences in average roughness ratings across transmission conditions, and significant differences in interrater agreement for several percepts. Overall severity had the highest agreement and strain had the lowest. Conclusion Telepractice transmission does not substantially reduce reliability or accuracy of auditory-perceptual voice evaluations by experienced clinicians.


: The rapid development of aquaculture, its intensification, and the occurrence of fish health problems on farms push to develop alternative methods to antibiotics and chemotherapy for controlling fish diseases. Probiotics may provide a potential alternative method to protect fish from opportunistic and pathologic bacteria and promote a balanced environment. In this work, we have assessed the in vitro probiotic properties of twenty one bacteria from aquatic and fish origin, for their application in aquaculture. Selection was based on their antimicrobial activity (Bacteriocin) against fish pathogens and their in vitro safety assessment. This includes the evaluation of their haemolytic, proteolytic and mucinolytic activities, bile salt deconjugation ability and antibiotic susceptibility. Twelve of the twenty one bacteria isolated from several showed strong antibacterial activity against several pathogenic species such as Lactococcus garvieae , Vibrio anguillarum , Vibrio harveyi , Aeromonas hydrophila and Aeromonas salmonicida , and were taxonomically identified by partial 16S rDNA gene sequencing. The cell-free culture supernatants from cultures of these twelve strains were treated with proteinase K (10 mg/ml; 37ºC, 1h) and submitted to heat treatment (100ºC, 10 min), which showed that eleven strains exert extracellular antimicrobial activity against fish pathogens due to the production and secretion of thermo-stable antimicrobial peptides (i.e., Bacteriocins). The tested strains showed a great heterogeneity respect to their safety and antibiotic susceptibility.


Novel Bi2WO6/BiOBr composite photocatalysts were prepared by a one-pot EG-assisted solvothermal process in the presence of reactable ionic liquid 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([C16mim]Br). Multiple techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL), photocurrent and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were applied to investigate the structures, morphology and photocatalytic properties of as-prepared samples. Compared with bare Bi2WO6 and BiOBr, the Bi2WO6/BiOBr composites exhibited significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity for rhodamine B (RhB) degradation under visible light irradiation. The 50 at% Bi2WO6/BiOBr showed the highest photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation, which was about 26.6 times and 1.8 times than that of the bare Bi2WO6 and BiOBr, respectively. The Bi2WO6/BiOBr composites also exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity for bisphenol A (BPA) and methylene blue (MB) degradation under visible light irradiation. The results of PL, photocurrent and EIS indicated that Bi2WO6 and BiOBr could combine well to form a heterojunction structure which facilitated electron–hole separation, and led to the increasing photocatalytic activity. On the basis of the experimental results and estimated energy band positions, the mechanism of enhanced photocatalytic activity was proposed.


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

Background: Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death and the most commonly diagnosed cancer in males in the US. Very limited therapeutic modalities are available for treatment of androgen refractory advanced stage prostate carcinomas. Therefore, understanding the molecular basis of the disease and development of newer strategies for prevention and treatment of prostate cancer is urgently needed. An important signaling pathway that is known to operate in most types of cancer, including prostate cancer, is the aberrant β-catenin signaling. Inappropriate β-catenin/Wnt signaling leads to the accumulation of β-catenin in the nucleus where it functions as a co-transcription factor to transcribe proto-oncogenes. In addition, β-catenin has also been shown to cross-talk and modulate the transcription activity of other factors including estrogen and androgen receptors. Therefore, strategies to regulate this specific signaling pathway using synthetic or natural agents can be developed as a novel therapeutic modality for the treatment of prostate cancer. Ormeloxifene is a synthetic, non-steroidal triphenyl ethylene compound that has been widely used as an oral contraceptive and has demonstrated promising results in the inhibition of breast cancer. Herein, we have investigated the effect of ormeloxifene on prostate cancer cell growth and its effect on β-catenin transcription activity. Methods: The effect of ormeloxifene on cell proliferation, anchorage dependent colony formation, anchorage independent growth, cell motility, and invasion of prostate cancer cells were determined using standard techniques. β-catenin/T cell factor (TCF) transcription activity was measured by luciferase reporter assays using reporter constructs Topflash or Fopflash and pRL-TK (Renilla luciferase). Luciferase activities were assayed using Dual Glo reagent. The expression and subcellular localization of proteins was determined by immunoblotting and confocal microscopy. Results: Ormeloxifene demonstrated inhibition of cell proliferation in all the four (LNCaP, C4-2, PC3 and DU145) prostate cell lines in a dose dependent manner. In addition, ormeloxifene also effectively suppressed clonogenic, cell motility and invasive characteristics of C4-2 androgen-refractory prostate cancer cells. Repression of these cellular phenotypes was correlated with attenuation of β-catenin/TCF4 trasncriptional activity. The inhibition of the β-catenin/TCF4 signaling was also reflected in the decreased expression of c-Myc, a downstream target of the β-catenin/TCF4 signaling pathway upon ormeloxifene treatment. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that ormeloxifene effectively inhibits tumorigenic characteristics of prostate cancer cells via intervention/attenuation of β-catenin/TCF4 signaling pathway. It may therefore be a novel therapeutic modality for the treatment and management of prostate cancer.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3806. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3806


Abstract Self-regulated learning, strangely enough, though having swept educational psychology's literature like a tidal wave and also, compared to other constructs such as metacognition and learning strategies, has remained rather uncharted in language education literature and L2 research. Hence, among the main purposes of the current study was to form a link, even tenuous, between the two fields by developing a questionnaire in English and Persian to measure self-regulated language learning capacity and behaviour of Iranian EFL learners. The development of the inventory was guided by two pilots (412 participants), content validation by expert judgment, cognitive interviews, expert review of the items, translation quality checks and factorial validation by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Drawing on the literature of educational psychology and the results of EFA (exploratory factor analysis), thirteen sub-scales with 41 items were yielded in the study: intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, locus of control orientation (attribution), attitude, organisation, memory strategies, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, planning and goal setting, concentration and sustained attention, effort regulation, regulation of environment, and help seeking. In addition, some linguistic criteria were used as benchmark to simplify the items. The words comprising the items of the English version of the questionnaire are within the 2 000 most frequent words of the BNC and COCA corpora, which increases the readability of the questionnaire for lower-level language learners. The results show that the inventory enjoys satisfactory psychometric properties and construct validity.


Cladosporium fulvum (syn. Passalora fulva) is a biotrophic fungal pathogen that causes leaf mould of tomato (Solanum esculentum). Chapter 1 is a "pathogen profile" describing the biology of the pathogen. During growth in the leaf apoplast, the intercellular space surrounding the mesophyll cells, the fungus secretes effector proteins that are thought to play a role in disease establishment. Eight of these effectors have been characterized in detail. For most of these effectors, cognate C. fulvum (Cf) resistance loci have been identified in tomato that mediate an immune response upon recognition of (the activity of) the cognate effector. In chapter 2, a targeted proteomics approach to investigate the role of these effector proteins and to identify possible in planta targets is described. C. fulvum proteins were expressed as recombinant fusion proteins carrying various affinity–tags at either their C– or N–terminus. Although these fusion proteins were correctly expressed and secreted into the leaf apoplast, detection of affinity–tagged C. fulvum proteins failed and affinity–purification did not result in the recovery of these proteins. However, when using C. fulvum effector protein–specific antibodies, specific signals were obtained for the different proteins. It was therefore concluded that the stability of the in planta expressed recombinant fusion proteins is insufficient, which resulted in removal of the affinity–tag from the fusion proteins, irrespective of C– or N–terminal fusion or the nature of the affinity–tag. Similar observations were made when the fusion proteins were expressed in other Solanaceous species, but not when expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana. Previous studies have demonstrated that Avr4 binds to chitin present in fungal cell walls, and that this binding by Avr4 can protect these cell walls against hydrolysis by plant chitinases. In chapter 3 it is described that Avr4–expression in Arabidopsis results in increased virulence of several fungal pathogens with exposed chitin in their cell walls, whereas the virulence of a bacterium and an oomycete remained unaltered. Heterologous expression of Avr4 in tomato increased the virulence of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Tomato GeneChip analysis was used to demonstrate that Avr4–expression in tomato results in the induced expression of only a handful of genes. Finally, silencing of the Avr4 gene in C. fulvum decreased fungal virulence on tomato. In conclusion, chapter 3 is the first report on the intrinsic function of a fungal avirulence protein that displays self-defense activity which is required for full pathogen virulence. In chapter 4, a study on the intrinsic biological function of Avr2 is presented. The Avr2 effector interacts with the apoplastic tomato cysteine protease Rcr3, which is required for Cf–2–mediated immunity. In this chapter it is demonstrated that Avr2 is a genuine virulence factor of C. fulvum. Heterologous expression of Avr2 in Arabidopsis resulted in enhanced susceptibility towards a number of extracellular fungal pathogens that include Botrytis cinerea and Verticillium dahliae, and microarray analysis of unchallenged Arabidopsis plants showed that Avr2 expression triggered a global transcription profile that is reminiscent of pathogen challenge. Cysteine protease activity profiling revealed that Avr2 inhibits multiple extracellular Arabidopsis cysteine proteases. In tomato, Avr2 expression resulted in enhanced susceptibility not only towards natural Avr2–defective C. fulvum strains, but also towards Botrytis cinerea and Verticillium dahliae. Cysteine protease activity profiling in tomato revealed that Avr2 inhibits multiple extracellular cysteine proteases including Rcr3 and its close relative PIP1. Finally, silencing of the Avr2 gene in C. fulvum significantly compromised fungal virulence on tomato. This all shows that Avr2 is a genuine virulence factor of C. fulvum that inhibits several cysteine proteases required for plant basal defense in tomato. Chapter 5 describes the discovery and characterization of a novel effector protein of C. fulvum, Ecp6. To discover novel C. fulvum effectors that might play a role in virulence, two–dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D–PAGE) was used to visualize proteins secreted during C. fulvum–tomato interactions. Three novel C. fulvum proteins were identified; CfPhiA, Ecp6, and Ecp7. CfPhiA shows homology to proteins found on fungal sporogenous cells called phialides, while Ecp6 contains lysine motifs (LysM domains), which are recognized as carbohydrate–binding modules. Finally, Ecp7 encodes a small, cysteine–rich protein with no homology to known proteins. Heterologous expression of Ecp6 significantly increased the virulence of the vascular pathogen Fusarium oxysporum on tomato. Furthermore, by RNAi–mediated gene silencing it was demonstrated that Ecp6 is instrumental for C. fulvum virulence on tomato. Hardly any allelic variation was observed in the Ecp6 coding region of a worldwide collection of C. fulvum strains. Although none of the C. fulvum effectors identified so far have obvious orthologs in other organisms, conserved Ecp6 orthologs were identified in various fungal species. Homology based modelling suggests that the LysM domains of C. fulvum Ecp6 may be involved in chitin binding. Chapter 6 presents global transcriptional profiling study to compare transcriptional changes in tomato during compatible and incompatible interactions with the foliar pathogenic fungus Cladosporium fulvum and the soil–borne vascular pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae. Although both pathogens colonize different host tissues, they display significant commonalities in their infection strategies as they both penetrate natural openings and grow strictly extracellular without the formation of haustoria. Furthermore, in incompatible interactions with both pathogens resistance is conveyed by extracellular transmembrane receptors that belong to the class of receptor–like proteins. For each of the two pathogens, the transcriptomes of the compatible and incompatible interaction largely overlapped. However, the C. fulvum–induced transcriptomes showed little overlap with the V. dahliae–induced transcriptomes, as most genes were uniquely regulated by one of the two pathogens. This also applied to both incompatible interactions, despite defense activation by the same type of resistance protein. Remarkably, of the relatively small subset of genes that was regulated by both pathogens a large portion showed an inverse regulation; induced by one pathogen and repressed by the other. With pathway reconstruction, interacting networks of tomato genes implicated in photorespiration, hypoxia and glycoxylate metabolism were identified that were repressed upon infection with C. fulvum and induced by V. dahliae. Similarly, auxin signaling was differentially affected by the two pathogens. In chapter 7, the general discussion, the implications are of the data that are presented in this thesis are discussed for the use of C. fulvum as a model, and for fungal pathogens in general. Furthermore, the use of heterologous expression systems to study fungal effectors is briefly discussed. In several of the chapters presented in this thesis, the use of microarrays has been instrumental to investigate the biology of C. fulvum and the role of specific effectors secreted by the pathogen. Therefore, an overview of the currently available in silico tools for reconstruction of cellular pathways based on plant gene expression datasets is presented.


Colouration and patterning are widespread amongst organisms. Regarding avian eggs, colouration (reflectances) has been previously measured using spectrometers whereas spottiness has been determined using human-based scoring methods or by applying global thresholding over the luminance channel on photographs. However, the availability of powerful computers and digital image-processing algorithms and software offers new possibilities to develop systematised, automatable, and accurate methods to characterise visual information in eggs. Here, we provide a computing infrastructure (library of functions and a graphical user interface) for eggshell colouration and spottiness analysis called SpotEgg, which runs over MATLAB. Compared to previous methods, our method offers four novelties for eggshell visual analysis. First, we have developed a standardised non-human biased method to determine spottiness. Spottiness determination is based on four parameters that allow direct comparisons between studies and may improve results when relating colouration and patterning to pigment extraction. Second, researcher time devoted to routine tasks is remarkably reduced thanks to the incorporation of image-processing techniques that automatically detect the colour reference chart and egg-like shapes in the scene. Third, SpotEgg reduces the errors in colour estimation through the eggshell that are created by the different angles of view subtended from different parts of the eggshell and the optical centre of the camera. Fourth, SpotEgg runs automatic Fractal Dimension analysis (a measure of how the details in a pattern change with the scale at which this pattern is measured) of the spots pattern in case researchers want to relate other measurements with this special spatial pattern. Finally, although initially conceived for eggshell analysis, SpotEgg can also be applied in images containing objects different from eggs as feathers, frogs, insects, etc., since it allows the user to manually draw any region to be analysed making this tool useful not only for oologist but also for other evolutionary biologists.


BACKGROUND
Chronic exposure to hyperbaric hyperoxia and venous gas microembolism have been shown to contribute to the long term health effects of diving, especially diver's lung function. Factors related to special diving equipment may add to these effects. This study was conducted to evaluate possible additional hazards for respiratory function of divers employing closed and semi-closed diving apparatus.

METHODS
We analyzed soda-lime dust found in the air-intake loop of a closed-circuit oxygen rebreathing diving apparatus which had passed through the filter screen of the diving apparatus's soda-lime cartridge. The geometrical characteristics were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. The amount of dust that passed through the screen during a normal dive profile was measured by an artificial airflow through a filter membrane. After dives by subjects using these devices, the pH-value of water condensate in the air-intake hose was measured.

RESULTS
There was a relevant amount of residual soda-lime dust found in the air-intake loop. The dust particles showed diameters down to 1 micron and a rounded structure. The total amount of dust averaged 9.6 mg.m-3 of breathing mixture. During diving, the mean pH-value of condensate in the hose is estimated at 8.87 (+/- 0.12).

CONCLUSION
There is a relevant exposure to soda-lime dust in divers using closed-circuit rebreathing apparatus. This occupational exposure may contribute to chronic airway inflammation and subsequent development of small airway disease in divers.


BACKGROUND Pemphigus is a group of rare, life-threatening autoimmune bullous diseases of the skin and mucosa which result in intraepidermal blistering. Associated autoimmune conditions and the extensive mucocutaneous detachment impair the quality of life. Immunosuppressive treatment adds to the morbidity in patients. We wanted to assess the clinical presentation of pemphigus among the study subjects along with the outcome of pemphigus patients with the extent of the disease and results of pus culture. METHODS Retrospective analysis of case records of patients with pemphigus in a tertiary care hospital during a period of 3 years was done in 2015. Demographic data, clinical findings, underlying medical disorders, details of deaths, investigation reports and treatment details were recorded. RESULTS Common age group affected was 51-60 years (31.5 %) among a total of 54 pemphigus patients. There were 26 males and 28 (51. 9 %) females and in majority of the patients (44.4 %) duration was less than 6 months. Out of 47 patients, oral mucosal involvement was grade 1 in 20 (37 %) cases, grade 2 in 12 (22.2 %) and in 15 (27.8 %) patients it was grade 3.Histopathological examination showed suprabasal cleft in 82.1 %, subcorneal blister in 5.7 %, acantholytic cells in 48.6 % and row of tombstone appearance in 9.4 %. Out of 36 patients, DIF test reported intercellular IgG in 65 % and C3 in 50 % .Diabetes was found in 14 (25.9 %), candidiasis in 12 (22.2 %), thyroid disease in 6 (11.1 %) and hypertension in 3 patients. Three patients died. Among 10 patients with more than 30 % body surface area involvement, 1 (10 %) patient died. Two (13 %) deaths occurred among 15 patients in whom pus C&S was positive. CONCLUSIONS Pemphigus patients were of slightly higher (51 - 70 years) age group and the 3 patients died were females. Autoimmune disorders like diabetes and thyroid disorders were found among many patients and their family members. Infection could be an important cause of death, but no statistically significant association was found in the present study. KEYWORDS Pemphigus, Steroids, Comorbidity, Deaths


Cryptographic constant-time programming is an established coding discipline used in cryptography to secure programs against timing attacks. Most, if not all, cryptography library try to adhere to this coding style. The C programming language is oftentimes considered a portable assembly, and is hence used by a great number of cryptography libraries. However, what is executed by the hardware is actual assembly, not C. One can thus wonder whether security properties are preserved through compilation as even formally verified compilers only ensure preservation of observable behaviors. We present in this paper how to derive a natural framework to prove preservation of cryptographic constant-time security from simulation based proofs of compiler correctness. We also give insights on how this could be adapted to CompCert.


Aragonite-type calcium carbonate was synthesized from calcined scallop shell using carbonates of orthorohombic structure (such as SrCO3) as seeds, by bubbling CO2 at ambient temperature. The products were examined by FTIR, SEM, EPMA, and XRD. The addition of SrCO3 increased aragonite content in the products, but BaCO3 and PbCO3 did not play the role of seed crystals due to the difference of their lattice parameters to those of aragonite, whereas lattice parameters of SrCO3 are the most similar to them. With increasing SrCO3 -addition, formation of aragonite was accelerated to a limit in the amount. Light calcium carbonate rich in aragonite was formed in agglegates consisting of needle-like crystals with large specific surface areas.


INTRODUCTION: Approximately 10% of all adult onset asthma cases are related to occupation. It is estimated that 5% of subjects exposed to high molecular weight agents and up to 10% of subjects exposed to low molecular weight agents develop asthma. In addition, repeated exposure is found to be associated with the development of persistent asthma. A fertilizer factory is a major chemical unit known to emit various gases which have the potential to cause occupational asthma. While preventive measures are not so optimum in most of the units in Pakistan, it was suggested that exposed workforce of a fertilizer factory could have higher asthma prevalence. AIM: To find out whether there is a higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms in the working and/or nearby residential population exposed to various gases and chemicals of the fertilizer factory which is located at the northern edge of Multan city. STUDY DESIGN: This is a cross sectional questionnaire based survey carried out in the employees and residents of the fertilizer factory located at the northern edge of Multan city. Questionnaire contained various asthma symptoms and was derived from ISAAC study questionnaire. RESULTS: Questionnaire on respiratory symptoms was circulated among 550 persons working and/or living in the factory. Four hundred and eighty nine (88.9%) people returned the questionnaire. Sixty six percent were males. Mean age was 38.02+12.33 years. Mean duration of job/residence in the fertilizer company was 17.25+10.97 years. The most prevalent symptom was allergic rhinitis/sneezing, in 54.80% (268/489) followed by breathlessness experienced by 51.73% (253/489). Other common symptoms included frequent dry cough in 33.53%, wheezing 17.79% and nocturnal shortness of breath/cough in 16.35% of the study population. Around 38.24% (187/489) cases were already known to have allergy/asthma, while 37.01% (181/489) cases had a doctor's advice or prescription for allergy/asthma. All these symptoms had significantly higher prevalence among those workers who lived within the residential compound of the factory as compared to those living outside the factory. In former, the most prevalent symptom was shortness of breath experienced by 162/261 (62.06%) persons as compared to 91/228 (39.91%) in those living outside the factory. CONCLUSION: This study has provided evidence of significantly higher prevalence of asthma/rhinitis related symptoms among workers as well as non workers living in the residential compound of the fertilizer factory. It indicates that measures should be taken to identify the causative agents, reduce the exposure and to relocate people who have developed asthma. Stringent health safety measures should be adopted at the work site and appropriate measures taken to control the emission and environmental pollutants emitted by the fertilizer plants.


Flanged joints on large diameter flanges can prove problematic to seal successfully with many factors contributing to ensuring a successful operation. One such factor is stud bolt loading contributing to stress and deflection of the flanged joint. This investigation involves the use of finite element analysis (F.E.A) to predict levels of stress and deflection of a particular flanged joint when the stud bolts are tightened and flange pressurised. The level of stud bolt force selected must ensure the joint is sufficiently tight to avoid leakage. However, the force must not be excessive causing damage. The flanged joint is located on the channel head of a shell and tube heat exchanger. For the purposes of this project, the educational version of ANSYS 5.5 was used thus a number of critical assumptions were made to operate within the restrictions of the software. As a comparative check of the F.E.A method, a conventional method termed the target load bolt-up method was employed. The analysis results using both methods, when interpreted, indicated the flange was not excessively stressed. Field monitoring by observation of the flanged joint for signs of leakage and other detrimental effects indicates the stud bolt load selected is acceptable.


The effect of single and chronic administration of hydrocortisone on the thymus proteinase activity in the alkaline pH range was studied on rats. The presence in the thymus of the glucocorticoid-sensitive alkaline proteinase system induced by hydrocortisone was shown. A decrease of the activity of the system in the adrenalectomized animals was found. The possible relationship between the thymolytic effects of hydrocortisone and the increased activity of the alkaline proteinase systems of the thymus is concluded.