Introduction Minimal residual disease (MRD) detection in solid tumors describes isolation of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) molecules in plasma following definitive treatment of a cancer. Detection of MRD following surgical tumor excision categorizes patients as high risk for disease recurrence. Establishing an MRD approach to treating early-stage NSCLC will facilitate escalation of standard of care (SoC) treatment only in patients destined to relapse from their cancer and overcome challenges associated with conventional adjuvant drug-trial design. Here, we present data from the lung TRACERx study where patients with early-stage NSCLC underwent phylogenetic ctDNA profiling following resection. Methods Patient specific anchored-multiplex PCR (AMP) enrichment panels were generated for 78 lung TRACERx patients who underwent surgery for stage I-III NSCLC; 608 plasma samples were analyzed. Extensive patient-specific cfDNA enrichment panels targeted a median of 196 (range 72 to 482) clonal and subclonal variants detected in primary tumor tissue by multi-region exome sequencing. A novel MRD-caller controlled and estimated background sequencing error to maximize ctDNA detection at low mutant allele frequencies (MAFs). Analytical validation experiments benchmarked assay performance. Results Analytical validation of a 50-variant AMP-MRD assay demonstrated a sensitivity of 89% for mutant DNA at a MAF of 0.008% (with 25ng of DNA input into the assay), specificity was 100% experimentally and 99.9% (95% CI: 99.67 to 99.99%) modelled in-silico. 45 patients suffered relapse of their primary NSCLC; ctDNA was detected at or before clinical relapse in 37 of 45 patients. In these 37 patients the median ctDNA lead-time (time from ctDNA detection to clinical relapse) was 151 days (range 0 to 984 days) and the median time to relapse from surgery was 413 days (range 41 to 1242 days). In 10 of 10 patients who developed second primary cancers during follow-up no ctDNA was detected, reflecting specificity of the MRD assay toward the primary tumor. In 23 patients who remained relapse-free during a median of 1184 days of study follow-up, ctDNA was detected in 1 of 199 time-points analyzed. Analysis of SoC adjuvant surveillance imaging (CT, PET-CT or MRI, 220 encounters) revealed examples of MRD positive patients where SoC radiological surveillance was negative for impending relapse. Through application of large cfDNA enrichment panels targeting up to 483 variants per patient we observed dynamic changes in clonal composition and copy-number status prior to NSCLC relapse, categorized relapse as monoclonal or polyclonal and identified distinct subclonal dynamics during systemic intervention for disease recurrence. Conclusions ctDNA is an adjuvant biomarker capable of both detecting MRD following surgery and defining the clonality of relapsing disease. These data pave the way for clinical trials predicated on escalation of adjuvant standard of care in NSCLC patients who exhibit MRD positive status following surgery. Citation Format: Chris Abbosh, Alexander Frankell, Aaron Garnett, Thomas Harrison, Morgan Weichert, Abel Licon, Selvaraju Veeriah, Bob Daber, Mike Moreau, Adrian Chesh, Kevin Litchfield, Emilia Lim, Daniel Cooke, Clare Puttick, Maise Al Bakir, Fabio Gomes, Akshay Patel, Lizi Manzano, Ariana Huebner, Nicolas Carey, Joan Riley, Paula Roberts, Todd Druley, Jacqui A. Shaw, Nicholas McGranahan, Mariam Jamal-Hanjani, Nicolai Birkbak, Josh Stahl, Charles Swanton, Lung TRACERx consortium. Phylogenetic tracking and minimal residual disease detection using ctDNA in early-stage NSCLC: A lung TRACERx study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr CT023.


Microstrip bandpass filters designed with various types of transmission-line resonators are newly proposed in this study. The connected-coupling mechanisms are theoretically analyzed and then appropriately applied in the design of an all-connected-coupling basic filter for preliminary validation. With the simultaneous utilization of conventional edge-coupling and the proposed connected-coupling mechanisms, a fifth-order stopband-extended filter with half- and quarter-wave resonators is then accomplished based on resonance misalignment. After that, the newly proposed three-way resonators made possible by the proposed coupling schemes have been employed as the frequency-selective power-splitting/combing elements for design of dual-band filters and diplexers. Specifically, in the constructed dual-band filter, the three-way resonators not only serve as a power splitter/combiner, but also play the important role of resonant components among filters. As for the presented diplexer, the three-way resonator splits the signal to two channels without necessitating extra matching circuits and thereby economizes the occupied area. The proposed approaches have been validated by experimental results that are well predicted by simulations.


In May 1998 an outbreak of diarrhea epidemic was reported from the Reang migrant camps of Anandabazar Longtaria and Kashirampura. Due to lack of medical care hygiene drinking water and most importantly the absence of health-seeking behavior among the tribals the initial mortality rate was very high. It was only by June 9 1998 that the epidemic came under control. The estimated mortality rate ranged from 250-350 deaths. Experts say that the infection was bacterial (mostly E. coli). With its limited resources the Voluntary Health Association of Tripura helped in controlling the epidemic. It trained volunteers from the refugee camps in the prevention control and primary treatment of diarrhea and supplied them with oral rehydration solution packets medicines and educational materials on diarrhea control health and hygiene. The Reang migrants are in serious struggle for survival in the camps. Urgent efforts are needed to address their needs. Recommendations include the following: 1) strengthen the infrastructural support; 2) ensure a minimum balanced diet to the camp inmates; 3) provide education to the children; 4) establish a regular health care system; and 5) improve the health-seeking behavior of the camp inmates.


Background: Although not a life-threatening condition, infertility does influence various aspects of life. Based on a meta-analysis of the relevant literature, the aim of this study is to identify the psychosocial consequences of infertility in Iranian women. Methods: Comprehensive Portal of Human Sciences, Magiran, Scientific Information Database, Noormags, MEDLIB, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Medline, and ProQuest were the databases searched from inception (1999) to 2018. To maximize the comprehensiveness of the search, the reference lists of all the relevant papers identified were manually examined. The evaluation of the content was based on PRISMA guidelines, and Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software was used for data analysis. Results: Based on the analysis of 124 quantitative papers, the psychosocial consequences of infertility in women in Iran can be classified into 14 categories: psychological well-being (effect size = 3.10), adaptation to infertility (effect size = 2.71), quality of life (effect size = 1.83), depression (effect size = 1.80), anxiety (effect size = 1.72), marital relationships (effect size = 1.37), personality disorders (effect size = 1.37), violence (effect size = 1.31), social support (effect size = 0.90), self-efficacy (effect size = 0.90), coping strategies (effect size = 0.84), irrational thoughts (effect size = 0.77), somatization disorders (effect size = 0.65), and sexual dysfunction (effect size = 0.55). Conclusion: Considering the wide-ranging psychosocial consequences of infertility in women, it is necessary for treatment to account for psychological factors.


Background: At present, medical personnel use manual scheduling methods to calculate usage times of PET devices, hospital beds, operating rooms, and other treatment spaces. However, as patient treatment and recovery times are unequal and uncertain, arriving times of the scheduled/temporary patients are unexpected, examination items, beds requirements, and drugs waiting times are different, and scan-again requirements are unexpected. Manual scheduling arrangements are easy to make mistakes and put pressure on employees. With changing scheduling arrangements, it is difficult to announce the estimated time to patients and their families in real time. As a result, family members keep asking medical staff about various situations and waiting time. This makes the process unstable and exhausts the medical staff. Although previous researches proposed algorithms for specific inspections to solve the equipment resource allocation problems and calculate outpatient visit time for outpatient clinics, there is no research on improving the PET process. This paper proposes a real-time automatic scheduling and control system for PET patients with Bluetooth Beacon positioning. Results: This system can automatically schedule, estimate, and instantly update the start and end time of various tasks of PET patients during examinations, and automatically allocate beds and real-time announce schedule information, allowing the schedule being automated, instant and almost optimized. Moreover, this system promptly reminds medical staffs in each area. This can greatly reduce the work of medical staff, avoid human error, improve the safety of drugs, and provide medical staff, patients and family members to view the inspection progress and estimated waiting time in real time, reducing the number of patients and family members to query medical staff. We implemented this system in an application for the Android system to prove the feasibility of the system. We also collected time data of 200 actual patients for 2 weeks in the Department of Nuclear Medicine of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, and put these data into the implementation program for simulation and comparison. It was found that the average time difference between manual and automatic scheduling was 7.32 minutes, and it could reduce the average examination time of 82% of patients by 6.14 minutes, proving the system's correctness and efficiency. To our knowledge, this paper is the first to propose a real-time automatic scheduling and control system for PET patients.


In this paper, a new implementation of the Viterbi decoder (VD), based on a modified register-exchange (RE) method, is proposed. Conceptually, the RE method is simpler and faster than the trace-back (TB) method. However, the disadvantage of the RE method is that every bit in the memory must be read and rewritten for each bit of information decoded. The proposed implementation adopts the "pointer" concept: a pointer is assigned to each register. Instead of copying the contents of one register to another, the pointer which points to the first register is altered to point to the second register. Power-dissipation, performance, memory size, and the speed of the survivor sequence management are analyzed for both the TB method, and the proposed RE method. The analysis indicates an average power reduction of 23% for the new VD, compared to the power dissipation of the VD described in the literature for the third generation of wireless applications. The bit-error rate is 10/sup -5/ with a signal-to-noise ratio of approximately 6.3 dB for a continuous, uncontrolled encoded sequence. Moreover, the memory requirements of the new implementation are reduced by half. All the read and write operations in the survivor sequence management are executed at the data rate frequency which increases the maximum frequency.


Genetic studies through molecular markers proved important to find out the genetic diversity of canola. In this study, 50 lines of canola were used to find the polymorphism using 15 SSR primers and investigated the genetic diversity, PIC values, frequency-based genetic distance, and allelic frequencies. Mean gene diversity, frequency-based genetic distance, and PIC values were 0.8777, 0.233 and 0.8666, respectively for the canola lines. A good range of genetic diversity was found among studied canola lines with value 85.91% polymorphism. Maximum and minimum genetic distances among 50 lines were 1 and 0.26, respectively. Accessions ACC-26068, ACC-24241, ACC-24244, ACC-24233, ACC-24423 and ACC-24224 have maximum genetic distance. Accessions ACC-24879 and ACC-24169 had minimum genetic distance i.e., 0.26. Dendrogram based on genetic distances showed four main clusters that were further dividing into several sub-clusters. The primers utilized in the present study, were valuable to identify different accessions of canola to find the variability present. This variability will be helpful to initiate the breeding program with their molecular genetic basis.


The growing number of musculoskeletal disorders in industry could be addressed by the use of collaborative robots, which allow the joint manipulation of objects by both a robot and a person. Efficiently designing these robots requires to assess the ergonomic benefit they offer. Despite the advances in human biomechanics and digital human model (DHM) simulation tools, the existing software for ergonomic analyses remain ill-adapted for collaborative robots design, because of both the DHM animation techniques and the biomechanic criteria that are measured. This paper presents a generic tool for performing detailed ergonomic assessments of activities including collaborative robots. The proposed method relies on an evaluation carried out within a digital world, using a DHM to simulate the worker. The evaluation of the robot-worker system can thus easily be performed throughout the whole design process. Multiple ergonomic indicators are defined in order to exhaustively estimate the different biomechanical demands which occur during manual activities. In order to simplify their interpretation, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to extract relevant indicators which best summarize the overall ergonomic performance of the considered activity, as well as identify the robot parameters which mainly affect this performance. In this purpose, multiple virtual human simulations of the activity-in which the DHM interacting with the collaborative robot is animated with an optimization-based whole-body controller-are run to measure all the ergonomic indicators for varying human and robot features. The relevant indicators resulting from this analysis can then be used to easily compare different robots, or to automatically optimize certain design parameters of a robot. The whole method is applied to the optimization of a robot morphology for assisting a drilling gesture. The sensitivity analysis is performed on 28 ergonomic indicators with 8 different human and robot parameters, resulting in a total of 8000 simulations. This analysis enables to reduce the number of ergonomic indicators to consider in the optimization from 28 to only 3, hence facilitating the convergence of the optimization: robots performing well on all 3 ergonomic objectives are produced with an evolutionary algorithm in about 150 generations. The comparison of the situations without assistance and with near-optimal robots shows some lack of transparency in the robots, but a comparatively significant improvements in the force-related ergonomic indicators. This result demonstrates the benefit of the optimized robots and thereby confirms the relevance of the proposed approach to provide robot designers with interesting preliminary designs to be further worked on.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of glycine on regulation of the hepatic toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling pathway by metabolic endotoxemia in a rat model of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

METHODS
The NASH rat model was generated by feeding the animals a high-sucrose, high-fat for diet for 12 weeks. We then measured alterations in levels of LPS, TNFα, IL-6, ALT, TG in plasma, and TNFα, and IL-6 in liver. We performed hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and immunohistochemical staining to document pathological changes. Expression of TLR4 and IRS-1 in liver was measured by Western Blot and RT-PCR.

RESULTS
Compared with control animals, levels of LPS, TNFα, IL-6 in plasma and the levels of TNFα, IL-6 in liver tissues gradually increased. Pathological changes and expression of TLR4 in liver were significantly increased compared with control. mRNA and protein levels of TLR4 and IRS-1 in livers were also upregulated. With concomitant treatment with glycine, endotoxin levels decreased, and TNFα and IL-6 levels in plasma and liver were significantly decreased compared to NASH rats. Pathological changes in liver and immunohistological expression of TLR4 in liver tissues were significantly improved compared to NASH rats. mRNA and protein levels of TLR4 were significantly downregulated while mRNA and protein levels of IRS-1 in liver were markedly upregulated. Progression of NASH appeared to be slowed or limited.

CONCLUSION
These data suggest that hepatic TLR4 signaling pathway is activated in the NASH rat, and oral glycine may reduce the risk of endotoxemia and inflammation of the liver.


New palaeontologic, sedimentologic, and Sr isotope data allow to reconstruct a high‐resolution chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework of the continental‐marine transition at the Miocene–Pliocene boundary in the Sorbas Basin (Betic Cordillera, South‐eastern Spain). The presence of Reticulofenestra zancleana, Ceratolithus acutus, and R. pseudoumbilicus in a marine horizon sharply overlying the continental deposits of the Zorreras Member indicates that the Messinian salinity crisis ended in the Sorbas Basin synchronously with the other Mediterranean basins at the base of the Zanclean, within the MNN12a biozone. Our results suggest that the Zanclean flooding turned the Sorbas Basin into a shallow bay with limited exchange with the main Mediterranean basin, probably through narrow seaways connecting also the Almeria, Nijar, and Vera basins. Our results do not confirm previous hypotheses envisaging an older age for the return to fully marine conditions in the Sorbas Basin and is in a good agreement with the reconstructions suggesting that the Zorreras Mb. continental deposits are the local time‐equivalent of the latest Messinian Lago‐Mare phase during the last stage of the salinity crisis.


159 Injection of Fluid Through into the Epidural Space Prior to Epidural Catheter Insertion: A Meta-Analysis Abstract Type: Meta Analysis/Review of the Li Jamie D. Murphy, M.D.; Brandon M. Togioka, M.D.; Sarah Wyhs, M.D.; Gillian R. Isaac, M.D.,Ph.D.; Christopher L. Wu, M.D. The Johns Hopkins University and School of MedicineType: Meta Analysis/Review of the Li Jamie D. Murphy, M.D.; Brandon M. Togioka, M.D.; Sarah Wyhs, M.D.; Gillian R. Isaac, M.D.,Ph.D.; Christopher L. Wu, M.D. The Johns Hopkins University and School of Medicine Background: Fluid is commonly injected into the epidural space following identification of the epidural space as some clinicians believe that expansion of the epidural space may result in fewer complications (e.g., accidental vascular catheter insertion, paresthesias) or greater ease in epidural catheter insertion. However, the overall efficacy of fluid injection into the epidural space following identification of the epidural space is unclear. We have performed a meta-analysis to further examine this issue. Methods: Systematic literature searches of PubMed and EMBASE databases were conducted using terms related to local anesthetic, saline, and epidural. Only randomized controlled trials comparing injection of fluid (i.e., saline or local anesthetic) to no injection into the epidural space after identification of the epidural space were included for analysis. Meta-analysis was performed using the Review Manager 4.2.10. Results: 5 articles met all inclusion criteria. There were a total of 528 subjects for the fluid group and 420 for the no fluid group. We found fluid injection into the epidural space (vs. no fluid injection) was associated with a reduced risk of venous cannulation [(RR) = 0.54, 95% (CI): 0.35, 0.84; p = 0.0006] but there was no difference between the groups with regard to transient paresthesias [RR = 0.84, 95%CI: 0.40, 1.74; p = 0.63] or ease of epidural catheter placement [RR = 0.97, 95%CI: 0.90, 1.05; p = 0.50]. Conclusions: Injection of fluid into the epidural space following identification of the epidural space may result in a lower risk of venous cannulation but without a decrease in transient paresthesias or improved ease of catheter placement. Further examination with larger RCT is warranted as the overall number of subjects is relatively small. Evron S et al. Predistention of the epidural space before catheter insertion reduces the incidence of intravascular epidural catheter insertion. Anesth Anal. 2007 Aug;105(2):460-4. Cesur M et al. Administration of local anesthetic through the epidural needle before catheter insertion improves the quality of anesthesia and reduces catheter-related complications. Anesth Analg. 2005 Nov;101(5):1501-5. Gadalla F et al. Injecting saline through the epidural needle decreases the iv epidural catheter placement rate during combined spinal-epidural labour analgesia. Can J Anaesth 2003;50:382-5. Tseng CH et al. Prior epidural injection of 10 ml normal saline reduces the incidence of inadvertant venous puncture in epidural catheterization. Acta Anaes Sin 1995;33:27-30. Geernaert K et al. Does epidural injection of physiological saline facilitate the advancement of catheters? Eur J Anaes 1993;10:349-51. Scott DA, Beilby DS. Epidural catheter insertion: the the effect of saline prior to threading in non-obstetric patients. Anaesth Inten Care 1993;21:284-7. Rolbin SH et al. Fluid through the epidural needle does not reduce complications of epidural catheter insertion.Can J


Iron(III) porphyrazines containing peripheral 2,5-dimethyl-, 2-methyl-5-phenyl-, and 2,3,5-triphenyl-1H-pyrrol-1-yl substituents were synthesized and subjected to physicochemical characterization. This was accomplished by high-resolution mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance (as diamagnetic Fe(II) derivatives), HPLC purity analysis, and UV-Vis spectroscopy, accompanied by the solvation study in dichloromethane and pyridine. X-ray structure analysis was performed for a single crystal of the previously obtained 2,5-diphenyl-substituted derivative of porphyrazine complex (5d). The octahedral geometries of iron cation, present in the porphyrazine core, influenced the packing mode of molecules in the crystals. Mössbauer studies, performed for solid samples of iron porphyrazines, indicated that low-spin reduced iron states might occupy low- or high-symmetry binding sites. It was found that the hyperfine parameters and the subsequent contribution of the iron cations depend on the number of phenyl groups surrounding the pyrrolyl moiety. For iron(II) porphyrazine 2,3,5-triphenylpyrrol-1-yl substituents (5b), a high-spin ferrous state fraction was observed. Temperature-dependent measurements showed that the freed rotation of the peripheral porphyrazine ligands and the increased flexibility of the macrocycle ring result in the Fe2+ ion being stabilized in a diamagnetic state at a binding site of high symmetry at room temperature in the solid state. This process is most probably stimulated by the range of collective motions of the polymeric ribbons consisting of iron(II) porphyrazines observed in the X-ray.


Bringing high performance telecommunications systems to rural and suburban areas is a matter of strategic importance for their economic growth. Mobile communications technologies now make it possible to offer solutions appropriate to rural telecommunications requirements, on very favourable cost terms. This paper compares the available technologies, in terms of the functionalities they offer and their cost effectiveness, ISN before comprehensively analysing the 'CT2/CAI cordless technology', and describing the Tangara/RD system designed for subscriber radio access networks in rural and suburban areas.


The live working inspection device of poor insulators on DC transmission line was developed, and the distributed voltage along insulators on ±500kV DC transmission line was inspected. The results show that the potential distribution of insulator string on DC transmission line is the same with on AC transmission line, which is with U distribution, and affected more with the performances of single insulator. The inspection device can meet the requirements of live working inspection under ±500kV DC transmission line. The research has the important meaning for reducing the outage duration of DC transmission line and improving safe and stable operation of power grid.


The gymnast is faced with the necessity to land This means that complex movements must be transformed to a controlled, stable and safe landing position. The largest part of the energy is absorbed by negative dynamic work of the leg extensors. However, the human body is not well suited to deal with the high impact forces acting in the first 20 to 40 ms after touch-down Hence a synergistic system is needed that reduces the initial peak forces without negative effects on the remaining landing phase. 0 Soft mats do not solve the problem They aFe constructed for large surface type landings. As soon as the gymnast performs a controlled landing, the soft mat is excessively compressed and fixates the feet This can cause serious injuries such as torsional fractures. The construction of good landing mats requires experience and research effort. Prototypes are tested mechanically and ' in real life ' by gymnasts Points that deserve attention include the force - deformation curve, frictional characteristics, properties of the various layers of the sandwich and stability of the edges. A wedge-shaped insert resulted in the best corner and edge stabilization. The FIG uses standards and procedures that were adopted by other Standardizing Committees. A 20 kg mass instrumented with an accelerometer slides down a 0,8m rod. The acceleration-time data is then used to compute the decelerating force, the indention of the mat and the height of rebound Based on available mats standards were set. The authors present data to support the notion, that the norms are not consistent nor valid. The viscoelastic properties of the foams create a velocity dependency that cannot be neglected. Friction of the testing apparatus is only accounted for in the height dropped - not the rebound The procedures for standardization and the absolute norms should be reconsidered and brought ' up to date ' The total energy of the testing procedure is too low. The rebound height is specific to the test conditions and of little value for the assessment. The force-displacement curve could give a better indication of the mat's spectrum There is no reason to limit the penetration - provided that the mat does not ' bottom out ' or the feet are fwed in a narrow hole Landing mats should absorb the initial peak force. This requires large deformation. To avoid foot fixation a force distributing layer near the top of the mat is needed that guarantees the necessary surface elasticity


ABSTRACT Along with the increasingly frequent economic exchanges between China and the Belt and Road countries (BRCs), bilateral and multilateral financial integration within the region has become a current trend. This article quantifies the level of cooperative potential by designing an index based on the investment demand in China and the financing needs of the BRCs. Using this index, this article analyzes the distribution of the financial cooperative potential among the BRCs and uncovers its influencing factors. The statistical findings are that countries with higher financial cooperative potential have closer economic ties with China. These countries are mostly low-income or middle-income countries with a shortage of infrastructure investment, while their economic development is stable. The research results provide guidance for the overseas strategic layout of the Chinese financial institutions. More funds should be injected into China's trade and investment counterparts that have stable economic growth and a strong demand for infrastructure investment, such as countries in Northeast, Central, and Southeast Asia.


Why Benchmark Highly effective Supply Chain management will have a direct and substantial impact on your cost of doing business. Every dollar of savings achieved by your purchasing organization goes directly to the bottom line in lower costs for your members. Effective Supply Chain processes also allow operating organizations and other internal clients to concentrate on their core businesses by providing materials and services when needed at the lowest total cost. The Supply Chain organization is also a key contributor to two initiatives common to Senior Management: Sustainability--through products purchased, packaging and recycling, and Diversity--by providing business opportunities across the spectrum of suppliers. Benchmarking is the window that enables organizations to improve Supply Chain performance through comparison to their peers. The purpose of this article is to help you open the window. Most companies participate in benchmarking studies as a way to stay competitive. The purpose of benchmarking is to improve business processes by assessing performance relative to other organizations using a common set of metrics, identifying top performing companies and adopting best practices. Really great companies that benchmark are almost religious in their belief that it is important to know who is best at something and to find out what "best practices" they employ to help them achieve their success. They also believe that benchmarking is an ongoing process designed to improve performance through continuous improvement efforts. The utility industry continues to go through enormous change at a pace unsurpassed in its storied history. Pressure to reduce cost while at the same time promoting energy conservation and environmental responsibility has never been greater. Mergers and acquisitions have dramatically changed the industry landscape. Each is driven by expectations of savings and lower costs that can be achieved through economies of scale that may or may not be achievable. Organizations change, people change positions, and processes change all in the name of cost savings and synergies. But how does an organization know, before its too late, that it is meeting expectations? Now more than ever before it is absolutely vital for organizations to know what is important to measure, how they have performed against those measures in the past and what the goals are for measuring performance in the future. Benchmarking is the best way to get this information. Being too busy to benchmark is not an excuse because in today's highly competitive business environment "ignorance is not bliss." Organizations must know how they stack up against their peers or competitors in order to continue to meet stakeholders' expectations. Make no mistake, best-in-class companies benchmark as an ongoing process designed to improve performance and achieve continuous improvement. Done properly, benchmarking can produce several valuable benefits, not the least of which are: * Providing a company/industry snapshot for comparison of performance * Identifying best practices * Identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) * Setting organizational goals * Setting employee goals and objectives * Developing support for business cases and regulatory oversight, and * Assessing progress/improvement over time How To Select The Right Benchmarking Study Selecting the right benchmarking study and benchmarking partners can be difficult. Keep in mind that participating in a study should drive your company down the road to creating better business practices, streamlining processes and building a more competitive organization. There are several questions to consider when selecting a study, such as: 1. Does the study address all the areas of importance to your company? Unless you are starting a new study where you and your partners can agree on every metric, you will likely join a study where there are some sections that are not important to you. …


Thin-film graphite and graphene are promising materials for nanoelectomechanical systems (NEMS) resonators, for sensors and signal processing applications. The high in-plane stiffness, low mass density and electrical conductivity of graphene are key properties to obtain NEMS resonators with high natural frequencies, sensitivities and tunability. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) onto a copper catalyst is the most widely-used method to obtain large-scale graphene. However this requires transfer to a desired substrate which adds complexity and can cause wrinkling and polymer contamination. As an alternative, plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) has been used to deposit nanographene and nanographite films directly onto insulating substrates, such as SiO2. Such films have graphitic domains ~10 nm in diameter. In this work, we fabricate electrostatically actuated MEMS resonators from nanographite, establishing this as a route towards integration of nanographene/graphite using CMOS-compatible fabrication. To fabricate our devices, 300 nm thick nanographite is deposited by PECVD onto 6-inch silicon wafers with 200 nm SiO2 layer. Methane is the carbon precursor with hydrogen diluent in ratio 60:75 sccm and material characterisation is performed using Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The film is patterned via optical lithography into 10 ?m wide doubly-clamped and cantilever beams and etched using O2 based reactive ion etching. E-beam evaporated nickel pads are used as contacts, then the device is released by isotropically etching the underlying SiO2 using HF vapour. The nanographite is under a relatively high compressive stress which causes buckling of the doubly-clamped beam. However, we over-etch the SiO2 to achieve a ~30 ?m undercut of the beam anchors. The stress gradient in the film creates an upward deflection of the anchors and imparts an effective tension to the suspended beam. Finite element simulation has been undertaken to take account of the added 'length' which is added to the beam. We then model the fundamental mode of vibration as a beam under tension. To measure the resonant frequency of the resonators, we apply DC bias plus a time varying AC voltage, between the beam and substrate, causing a varying force at the frequency of the AC voltage. The velocity of the beam is measured using laser Doppler vibrometry and becomes large at mechanical resonance. Natural frequency of vibration has been measured for a large number of devices: 257 kHz for 150 ?m beams, 420 kHz for 100 ?m, 595 kHz 75 ?m beams and 15 kHz for 100 ?m cantilevers. Quality factors have been calculated from a fitted Lorentzian curve and at ambient pressure are 20 and 1300 at 30 mTorr. Application of increasing DC Bias (up to 50 V maximum) enables tuning of the natural frequency by electrostatic spring softening, with an average tunability of 1.19 kHz per volt across this range.


The white organic light emitting device (OLED) with single-structure using a polymer blend as the light emitting layer is fabricated.Heat treatment is used to control the ratio between the intensities of main electroluminescent spectral peaks.The electroluminescent spectrum of our device is quite similar to that of white inorganic LED produced by Nichia Corporation after being annealed,and its turn-on voltage can be decreased by 1 V.


We combine two theoretical concepts, Voronoi ordering and surface optimization formulation, to form a system for automatic video object segmentation in support of the MPEG-4 standard. Voronoi ordering is a means of projecting the object shape onto the image space; the surface optimization formulation provides a fitness measure for object boundaries in the video sequence. By simultaneously maintaining an invariant Voronoi ordering and maximizing the surface optimization metric, we can automatically extract video object planes. This paper outlines the theoretical aspects of Voronoi ordering and the formulation of video object segmentation as a surface optimization problem. Results from a direct implementation of this theory are shown for three MPEG-4 test sequences (container, coastguard and hallmonitor).


To numerically study biomass gasification in a three-dimensional bubbling fluidized bed, a CFD-DEM (computational fluid dynamics – discrete element method) model with heat transfer and homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reactions is implemented. An ideal reactor model is used for the air-steam bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) gasification reactor assuming perfectly mixed solids and plug flow. A validated computational particle fluid dynamics (CPFD) model has been applied to investigate the sensitivity analysis of mesh grids as well as to find the optimum number of grids. The result shows that 7452 grid cells are the optimal number of cells for the existence BFB gasifier. The effects of key process operating parameters such as steam to biomass ratio (SB), as well as temperature shows that by enhancing the SB ratio or reactor temperature, gas yields increase. H2 and CO2 concentrations promote by increasing the steam to biomass ratio while CO and CH4 production drop. The optimal value of SB for the gasification process can be found in the range of 0.3 to 1.


Social media experience a rapid rise in recent years and steep into almost every aspect of people's lives by altering their lifestyles and creating an impact on their wellbeing. The purpose of the present study is to examine the influence of SNSs on life satisfaction among university students by first exploring what are the key gratifications which motivates them to engage in SNSs and then focusing on the psychological outcomes including social overload and social benefit from using SNSs that affects life satisfaction among the university students.,Theory of social influence and uses and gratifications theory were used in this study to examine the motivations for using SNSs, and the impact of psychological outcomes associated with SNSs usage, i.e. social benefit and social overload on life satisfaction among university students of Pakistan. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling is used to analyze the data.,The outcomes indicate that the need for maintaining interpersonal interconnectivity, entertainment value and social enhancement value derives the students' participation in social networking sites through which they encounter social benefit and social overload. The presence of social benefit enhances life satisfaction while social overload results in decreasing life satisfaction of students. Using social networking sites influences life satisfaction in the presence of social overload and social benefit while there is no direct influence of social networking sites on life satisfaction was evidenced.,The present study investigated the needs that drive the use of social media through the lens of UGT & Social influence approach. The other potential determinants of social media usage intention should be analyzed by employing variables of the other models.In this study social media was examined as a general platform used by the university students of Pakistan. In future researches the driving needs should be examined in the context of specific social networking sites.,The presented findings embraces the implications for the authorities of higher education institutions and policy makers as it provides the useful insights about student 2019s motivations and participation behavior in SNSs which would help in developing strategies for desirable results.,Educational institutions can utilize the research findings by incorporating social media tools in the academic system, student's interaction with their mentors will lead towards enhanced involvement of students and intellectual skills along with upgraded academic performance which will positively influence life satisfaction of the students.,The scarcity of findings was observed in the local environment specifically in the context of SNSs usage and well-being of the higher education students. This study addresses the motivational factors of SNSs usage and their psychological outcomes simultaneously and focused on the investigation of social media usage drivers and its outcomes among the university students of Pakistan.


In this paper we present an approach for automatically deriving test input data from Design by Contract specifications. Preconditions of a method under test (MUT) require specific object states of the input parameters. In this paper we present IntiSa, a novel approach, which calculates test input values to be used with mock objects. The calculated values do not only satisfy the precondition of the method under test, but are guaranteed to be states that could be reached through method calls on the object as well. This property is not supported by previous work, such as random or pure SMT based approaches, and genetic algorithm. But it is important since it reduces false positive test cases. Based on the idea of bounded-model checking, IntiSa encodes possible state space changes of method calls for all parameters of the MUT. This model is then verified against an adopted precondition of the MUT. Besides a detailed discussion of the IntiSa approach we present results obtained by applying our technique to two case studies, one of them a real world application provided by our industry partner. First results show, that IntiSa is twice as fast as random ingenerating primitive and non-primitive test input that satisfies the precondition of the method under test.


Nanocrystalline ZnS films have been grown on glass substrates by close spaced evaporation at various deposition rates, with a constant substrate temperature of 300 °C. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies revealed that nearly stoichiometric ZnS layers were grown at deposition rates in the range 20–30 Å s−1. The x-ray diffraction data confirmed the cubic structure of ZnS films for all the deposition rates. The surface morphological studies were made using an atomic force microscope, which indicated a rough surface and that the roughness increases with the deposition rate. The optical analysis showed that the layers grown at a deposition rate of 30 Å s−1 exhibited the highest optical transmittance of 82%. The optical band gap of the films varied in the range 3.63–3.54 eV with the change in the deposition rate. The effect of the rate of deposition on the photoluminescence characteristics was also studied, which showed an increase in luminescence intensity with the decrease in the particle size. The electrical properties of the layers were highly influenced by the deposition rate. The temperature dependence of electrical conductivity was measured and the activation energies were also evaluated.


Britayev, T.A. and Mekhova, E.S. 2014. Do symbiotic polychaetes migrate from host to host? Memoirs of Museum Victoria 71: 21–25. It is generally considered that symbiotic animals colonise their hosts during their early stages of development. The main goal of the present study was to assess whether post-settled stages (juvenile and adult) of the symbiotic polychaete Paradyte crinoidicola are able to colonise their host comatulid crinoids. We also considered possible motives for symbiont migrations based on the intraspecific traumatism, size and sex structure data, and distribution pattern of P. crinoidicola. To this end, field sampling and experiments with depopulated hosts of the comatulid crinoid Himerometra robustipinna were carried out. The infestation prevalence was 62%, each infested host harbored from 1 to 7 polychaetes, and multiple infestations with 2 or 3 polychaetes per host were common. Mean intensity was 2.1 specimens per host. The dispersion coefficient was 1.7, greater than 1, indicating the tendency to contagious distribution pattern. Male/female ratio in P. crinoidicola was very close to the expected 1:1 ratio. About 33 % of P. crinoidicola had a traumatised posterior ends, and 31% damaged and regenerated parapodia, elytra and cirri, likely attributable to intra-specific fighting. In the field experiments depopulated crinoids were rapidly colonised by symbionts. The infestation characteristics of recolonised hosts didn't differ significantly to that of the control. Mean length of polychaetes and the ratio of small polychaetes to large polychaetes were similar in the experimental series and in the control, indicating a colonisation of crinoids not only by settling larvae, but predominately by migrating post-settled juveniles and adults. The male/female ratio deviated significantly in favor of males in the experimental series, suggesting that males more than females actively migrate among hosts. Intraspecific competition and searching for mating partners are proposed as causes for host swapping in P. crinoidicola.


Granular sludge is a promising biotechnology to treat sewage contaminated with pharmaceuticals due to its increased toxicity resistance. In this context, this study evaluated the potential of Ca2+ as a granulation precursor and how pharmaceutical compounds (loratadine, prednisone, fluconazole, fenofibrate, betamethasone, 17α-ethinyl estradiol, and ketoprofen) affect granulation. Continuous and intermittent dosages of Ca2+ in the presence and absence of pharmaceuticals were evaluated. The results showed that intermittent addition of Ca2+ reduces the time for anaerobic sludge granulation, and pharmaceuticals presence did not impair granulation. 10% of the granules presented mean diameters greater than 2.11 mm within 93 days with intermittent Ca2+ dosage in the pharmaceuticals' presence. In contrast, no granules higher than 2.0 mm were observed with no precursor addition. The pharmaceuticals' toxicity may have created a stress condition for the microbial community, contributing to more EPS production and a greater potential for granulation. It was also verified that pharmaceuticals' presence did not decrease organic matter, total alkalinity, and volatile fatty acids removals. The 16S rRNA gene analysis revealed taxa resistance to recalcitrant compounds when pharmaceuticals were added. Besides, the efficiency of a granular sludge bioreactor (EGSB) was evaluated for pharmaceuticals removal, and betamethasone, fenofibrate, and prednisone were effectively removed.


Lawrence Gostin has done a splendid job as editor of this book. The concept was based on the 1988 World AIDS Day Conference "Hospitals, Health Care Professionals, and AIDS." The core material is presented in 16 chapters divided among eight sections, along with an introductory chapter by Everet Koop and an afterword by Jonathan Mann. The editor has selected recognized experts in health law, ethics, and clinical research to contribute to this multiauthored work, which addresses the impact of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome on health care professionals, persons with AIDS, hospital administrators, and the health care system. The preface is lengthy, 10 pages, but well written and provides a thoughtprovoking synopsis of the book. Excluding the first and last chapters, the text is also well written, informative, and succinct. The tone of the book is forceful and compelling, mixed with compassion and advocacy for the person with AIDS. Controversial issues


Abstract This article reports the views of recent graduates of a competency based, blended learning teacher education programme for specialist resource teachers of children with learning and behaviour difficulties in New Zealand. Identifying and developing the competencies needed by teachers in the field of special needs education is important in ensuring that these specialists are well prepared to meet the needs of students and schools. Participants completed an online questionnaire survey responding to two questions, the extent to which the 51 competencies addressed in the programme were important to their professional work, and the extent to which the programme had enabled them to develop these competencies. Results indicated that programme competencies were perceived by participants to be of high importance to their work in the field of learning and behaviour difficulties, and that they considered themselves to have been well enabled to develop these competencies. Based on these findings, implications for teacher educators are discussed, limitations of the research study are identified and recommendations for future research made.


Cymbidium is one of the most important genera of flowering plants in the Orchidaceae family, and comprises a wide variety of beautiful and colorful species. Among these, only a few species possess floral scents and flavors. In order to increase the availability of a new Cymbidum hybrid, "Sunny Bell", this study investigated the volatile floral scents. Volatiles of the floral organs of the new Cymbidium hybrid, "Sunny Bell", at the full-flowering stage were characterized with headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) analysis. A divinylbenzene-carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane (DVB-CAR-PDMS) fiber gave the best extraction for volatile components. Twenty-three components were identified as the main volatiles for the floral organs of the new Cymbidium hybrid, "Sunny Bell" at the full-flowering stage; twelve compounds in the column, sixteen compounds in the labellum, eleven compounds in the sepals, and nine compounds in the petals were identified. Terpenes are the major source of floral scents in this plant. As a result of GC-MS analysis, the most abundant compound was linalool (69–80%) followed by α-pinene (3–27%), 4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (5–18%), eucalyptol (6–16%), and 2,6-dimethylnonane (2–16%). The main components were identified as monoterpenes in the petals and sepals, and as monoterpenes and aliphatics in the column and labellum. The results of this study provide a basis for breeding Cymbidium cultivars which exhibit desirable floral scents.


We report a facile approach for the fabrication of Fe(0)-encapsulated nanoparticles via Fe(0)-mediated RAFT miniemulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA). The polymerization demonstrated good control/livingness: linear kinetic plots, linear increased molecular weights, narrow molecular weight distributions and high chain end fidelity as characterized by size exclusion chromatography, NMR and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Crosslinked uniform PMMA nanoparticles (about 130 nm of diameter) with encapsulated Fe(0) were obtained and fully characterized by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering measurements. This work provides a facile and alternative approach for the fabrication of magnetic polymeric nanoparticles.


Objective Review usage and outcome of cases where STAN fetal monitoring was used at University Hospital of Wales over 6 months (June–November 2009). Background STAN monitoring was introduced in our unit in 2006. Local guideline for its usage is available. Training in its usage is regularly conducted in the unit. Methods Paper files were hand searched for all cases where STAN monitoring was used during the study period. SPSS used for analysis. Results STAN monitoring used in 43 cases (2% of deliveries). 77% were primip. STAN monitoring was used in high risk cases as post date induction of labour (44% of cases), medical problem (14%), intrauterine growth restriction (2%), cardiotocograph abnormalities (44%). Other indications were prolonged rupture of membranes, previous Caesarean section (CS), thick meconeum. Outcome 33% had spontaneous vaginal delivery, 35% had instrumental delivery and 32% delivered by CS. 29% of these CS was for fetal distress and 71% for failure to progress. The background CS rate in the unit is 22%. There was one case of metabolic acidosis; delivery occurred within 30 min of significant STAN event. Three cases admitted to SCBU (special care baby unit): one for fetal academia and low Apgar score (discharged after 1 day), one for thick meconeum aspiration (discharged after 3 days) and last one for congenital anomaly. None required follow up. Conclusion STAN usage in the unit was appropriate. Larger cohort is required to assess reduction of intervention and fetal academia.


Introduction: miRNA expression has been correlated with prostate cancer aggressive and recurrence. However, the role of miRNA-related gene variants in prostate cancer aggressiveness and recurrence has not been adequately studied. In this study, we evaluated the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in miRNA-related genes and prostate cancer aggressiveness and recurrence. Methods: We conducted a two-stage (discovery and replication) analysis of 136 miRNA-related gene variants (in 18 genes) in aggressive and non-aggressive prostate cancer cases. A discovery dataset of 437 aggressive and 603 non-aggressive cases was derived from a historical cohort of prostate cancer cases treated at the Moffitt Cancer Center from 1987 to 2003. A replication set of 659 aggressive and 492 non-aggressive cases was derived from existing genome-wide association data from Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS). In both datasets, patients with a Gleason score > 7 or stage > III were considered to have aggressive disease and all other patients were categorized as non-aggressive. Associations between SNPs and aggressive disease were evaluated using unconditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). We also evaluated the associations between SNPs and recurrence-free survival using Cox regression models to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95%CI among 245 recurrent and 979 non-recurrent cases. We calculated q-values to estimate false discovery rates in the analysis of recurrence. Results: For the analysis of aggressiveness, ten SNPs in seven genes (EIF2C2 [rs7009635, rs2280833 and rs13276958], FMR1 [rs28282], GEMIN4 [rs2291779], LIN28B [rs1149280], PIWIL1 [rs1106042], RAN [rs14035] and XPO5 [rs7752811, rs7748977] were significantly associated with aggressive prostate cancer in the discovery dataset. Five of the 10 significant SNPs had data available in the replication dataset, but none of them was statistical significant in this dataset. For the analysis of recurrence, a total of 13 SNPs in seven genes were associated with recurrence-free survival (P-values Conclusion: Findings from this study suggest that variants in miRNA-related genes may influence prostate cancer recurrence, but not aggressiveness. Further studies are warranted to confirm these findings. Citation Format: Ernest K. Amankwah, Hui-Yi Lin, Hyun Park, Selina Radlein, Julio Pow-Sang, Ardeshir Hakam, Ya-Yu Tsai, Jong Y. Park. miRNA-related gene variants and prostate cancer aggressiveness and recurrence. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2558. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2558


Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men and is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. The risk factor for prostate cancer includes both genetic and epigenetic modifications. Growing evidence suggests that epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation affect gene expression in tissue-specific manner. The most frequent epigenetic alteration observed in human prostate cancer is hypermethylation of gluthathione-S-transferase-pi class (GSTP1) in the promoter region which causes loss or its decrease expression. Inactivation of GSTP1 renders prostate epithelial cells vulnerable to oxidative DNA damage from both oxidants and electrophile carcinogens to acquire relevant genetic alteration and neoplastic transformation. Extensive observations suggest that reactive oxygen species may cause accumulated DNA damage which might contribute to increased incidence of prostate cancer. However, the role of GSTP1 and its correlation with DNA damage has not been studied. Based on the assumption that DNA damage is prevalent in cancer cells compared to nontumorous tissue, we took a panel of 24 human prostate specimens obtained after surgery which comprised of matched primary tumor and adjacent nontumorous (benign) prostate tissues. Oxidative DNA damage was measured by 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels through highly sensitive and quantitative ELISA assay. GSTP1 methylation was determined by methyl-specific PCR and 5-methylcytosine estimation was performed by HPLC analysis. The 8-OHdG levels were higher in cancer specimen compared to their benign counterparts. The 8-OHdG levels in DNA of prostate cancer tissues ranged from 0.151 to 0.616ng/μg DNA, whereas the levels in benign tissue range from 0.149 to 0.318ng/μg DNA, respectively. The increase in 8-OHdG levels correlate with GSTP1 methylation which was higher in cancer specimens compared to the benign counterparts. Furthermore, levels of 5-methylcytosine were higher in tumor specimens compared to benign tissue. Taken together, our studies suggest that there is a link between GSTP1 methylation and DNA damage which correlates to epigenetic modification in prostate cancer. Our results are in agreement with the prediction that positive relationship occur between GSTP1 inactivation and DNA damage in prostate cancer. Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010 because the presenter was unable to attend. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4903.


Refractories are mineral and chemical based materials, with high heat resistance
properties. Refractory manufacturing typically uses clay as the main raw material.
The study aims to investigate six unexplored Nigerian clay based on the suitability of
their chemical, physical, mechanical and thermal properties as refractories. Six clay
deposit locations in Nigeria were selected namely Kpata, Riyom, Gombe, Aloji,
Barkin-lade and Quan'pan. The samples were obtained through a two meters depth
excavation method. Experimental specimens were produced from these samples
through dry-pressing methods followed by firing at 900-1200°C. All specimens were
tested to identify the chemical, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of
ASTM standards. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis
show that all specimens contain alumino-silicates as the dominant composition, with
10% loss on ignition. Through the Archimedes test, the percentage of porosity is
found in the range of 20-30%, with bulk densities about 1.7-2.3g/cm3. Cold crushing
strength (CCS) and modulus of rupture (MOR) give readings of 15-59 MPa and 6.2-
9MPa respectively. Meanwhile, the analysis on thermal properties found specimens
having thermal shock resistance on a 20-30 scale cycle, pyrometric cone equivalence
(PCE) at a temperature range of 1500-1700°C and thermal conductivity at a range of
0.01-0.9W/m.K. The overall experiment results are within the range of ASTM
standards and this illustrates that all of the clay is potentially a refractory material.


As it is known, there have been frequent and widely spread conflicts in African continent. Notably, as compared to other regions, East Africa has a focus of international attention for the last two decades that demand UN and other regional organizations intervention in a number of times. In connection with this crisis, both UN and AU (IGAD in some instance with AU) repeatedly declared their preparedness to cooperate for the maintenance of peace and security in the region. However, the modes of cooperation have never been very clear for long time. The UN Charter refers to regional organizations as a whole, without due regards to the specific challenges. Accordingly, it is very crucial to address these big challenges at a time when UN, AU and IGAD cooperation have become extremely necessary. Generally, this book will exposes the legal lacuna in reference to Chapter VIII of UN Charter in particular and the major challenges on the existing modes of cooperation – that proposed by Secretary General Boutros Boutros Gali, in general.


Taking into account sphericity is one of the most relevant questions of interest for gravity researchers today. It’s especially important in data analysis of regional surveys and satellite missions.

Modern satellite missions are characterized by high accuracy of measurements, as well as a high degree of detail, which makes it possible to construct detailed grid density models of Earth and Moon, however, when automating this process, the following problems arise:

- long duration of the inversion process;

- need for a large amount of RAM when using standard approaches to solving the linear inverse problem of gravity prospecting for grid models;

- high sensitivity of gravity inversion algorithms to the upper cells;

The first problem can be solved by inverting of gravity in the spectral domain using the fast Fourier transform. In this case, the time complexity of the inversion algorithms is reduced by times, which significantly accelerates the selection of the model.

To reduce the memory used, it is necessary to memorize the gravity spectrum for only one cell for each pair of coordinates depth - latitude, since cells with at the same depth and latitude have the same gravitational effects, shifted by the step of cells in the grid model.

Finally, to increase the sensitivity of the inversion algorithms to deep cells, you can use the variable parameter of the gradient descent step (learning rate in machine learning), depending on the depth as an exponential or any other function, in combination with regularization.

The proposed approach was applied to the data of the GRAIL mission, and as a result, a density model of the Moon was constrained with the following grid steps: 0.5o in latitude, 0.7o (pi / 512) in longitude and 10 km in depth.

The fitted model was used to estimate the possible parameters of the sources of lunar mascons. It stands to mention the differences in the geometry of the mascon sources, which can be divided into two groups: isometric sources and sources with channels ascending to the surface, through which, probably, lunar basalts entered the surface.

The proposed approach allows constrain density models of celestial bodies fast enough using a personal computer (less than an hour for a model with the parameters mentioned above), and also takes into account the weak sensitivity of standard inversion algorithms to deep cells.


Diurnal variation in petiole specific hydraulic conductivity and simultaneous measurements of leaf water potential were recorded in red maple, tulip tree and fox grape. Petiole specific conductivity was determined from in situ measurements of water flow into the distal (leaf-bearing) end of an attached petiole as a function of applied hydrostatic pressure and petiole dimensions. The hydraulic properties of the petiole dominated the measurements, indicating that this technique can be used for rapid estimates of petiole hydraulic conductivity. There was a significant decrease in petiole specific conductivity associated with increasingly more negative leaf water potentials in maple and tulip tree, but not in grape. Petiole specific conductivity increased during the afternoon while the plant was actively transpiring and the xylem sap was under tension. The recovery of petiole conductivity during the afternoon suggests that hydraulic conductivity reflects a dynamic balance between a loss of hydraulic conductivity with increasing water stress, and its restoration as tension within the xylem decreases. Three experimental manipulations were applied to red maple and tulip tree to examine the sensitivity of diurnal changes in petiole conductivity to various physiological perturbations. Both phloem girdling and application of HgCl2 to the transpiration stream resulted in a marked decrease in the degree to which petiole specific conductivity recovered as xylem tension relaxed during the afternoon. Delivery of a surfactant to the xylem, however, did not significantly alter the relation between leaf water potential and petiole hydraulic conductivity.


SummaryThis project has been supported in part by funds from the Division of Research Grants and Fellowships of the U. S. Public Health Service and by research grants from Indiana University Graduate School administered by Doctor R. T. Hill.Castrated male mice grew at a slower rate than their normal controls, while the spayed females grew faster than their normal controls. The removal of the gonads reduced the sex difference in body weight. Those animals bearing grafts of ovaries also grew at a faster rate than their normal controls, the difference being significant at the 1% point. Although their growth curve approximated that of the spayed animals, at no time did it exceed it. The growth curve assumed by the weights of the grafted female mice did not parallel that of either the normal males or the castrated males. The differences in the body weight of the grafted females compared with the normal males and the castrated males were significant at the 1% level, the males being heavier in both cases.


Religious radicalization has emerged as a tangible threat in the Post-Soviet Union global milieu. The term used as radicalization has mainly been attributed towards Islamic fundamentalism, linked with brewing militancy in the Muslim countries. Afghanistan and Pakistan have been serious victims of violence initiated by religious zealots, especially after the eventful day of 11 September when Al-Qaeda affiliated militants carried out terrorist attacks on American mainland. The US responded with the invasion of Afghanistan, removing the Taliban Regime from Kabul and initiating a global hunt against its once allies during Afghan Jihad. During the American led war against Muslim militants, Afghanistan was yet again thrown in endemic violence, while neighboring Pakistan that once hosted Jihadists from all over the world for resistance against the Red Army also faced serious security challenges. The radicalization process in Pakistan has been a direct outcome of violence in Afghanistan where Jihadi forces, once trained, equipped and sustained by the US now started fighting with its mentor. Islamabad faced serious challenge from militancy but initiated a well deliberated as well as executed strategy to not only defeat the terrorism but de-radicalize the society also. Pakistan had relatively better gains in its de-radicalization drive and the strategy employed during the process can be adopted by other effected nations as well.


Because of the high total digestible nutrient content and digestibility of the dry matter (DM), wet grain silage may be an alternative to maximize animal performance. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition, ruminal degradability and aerobic stability of wet corn grain silage (pure corn grain silage and raw soybean-, sunflower- or urea-enriched silages). Plastic barrels with capacity of 200 kg were used as experimental silos, which remained closed for nine months. The experimental design was completely randomized with four replications. After opening the silos, the chemical-bromatological composition and the quality of silages were determined. The addition of soybean or sunflower increased the crude protein content (CP) in 48.2% on average, and the neutral detergent fiber content in 60%, but decreased the starch content when compared to pure wet maize silage. Moreover, additions decreased the effective DM and CP degradability. Addition of urea decreased by 30% DM losses and improved the chemical composition and aerobic stability of the silage. In general, additives improved the chemical composition without affecting the silage conservation quality.


Diverse human pressures are degrading coastal forests with profound implications on invertebrate biodiversity. Butterfly species are key ecosystem indicators and their distribution may become a campaign tool towards conservation of specific habitats. However, a baseline survey of Dakatcha butterflies is long overdue, necessitating this study at A Rocha Dakatcha Nature Reserve (ARDNR) in Kilifi County. The objective was to identify Dakatcha butterfly species, their distribution, threats to the forest and conservation measures by the community in 2019. The modified pollard walk method was used to collect butterfly species from 21 transects from which the Shannon index of diversity, Margalef 's species richness index and evenness index were calculated. A total of 125 butterflies from five distinct vegetation types were captured and identified to represent 42 species and 25 genera from the documented 5 butterfly families in Kenya. Questionnaires were administered to twenty-nine community members on threats and conservation activities in ARDNR. The exercise confirmed that main threats to ARDNR butterfly habitat are agriculture, charcoal production from Diospyros corni and Dobera glabra and timber extraction from Manilkara mochisia, Brachystegia spiciformis, Thespesia danis and Brachylaena huillensis trees. The targeted deforestation of key tree species providing a suitable microclimate and an array of nectar sources to all threaten butterfly existence in the forest. Fortunately, there are five main stakeholders implementing diverse conservation projects including promotion of energy-saving jikos and beekeeping. In conclusion this study confirms existence of all five families of Kenyan butterflies in ARDNR. The presence of 13 butterfly species in the regenerating forest patch further affirming the importance of practical all-inclusive forest management and that community awareness enhances diversification of livelihood activities alongside sustainable forest utilization.


Motivation: Complex patterns of protein phosphorylation mediate many cellular processes. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is a powerful tool for identifying these post-translational modifications. In high-throughput experiments, mass spectrometry database search engines, such as MASCOT provide a ranked list of peptide identifications based on hundreds of thousands of MS/MS spectra obtained in a mass spectrometry experiment. These search results are not in themselves sufficient for confident assignment of phosphorylation sites as identification of characteristic mass differences requires time-consuming manual assessment of the spectra by an experienced analyst. The time required for manual assessment has previously rendered high-throughput confident assignment of phosphorylation sites challenging. Results: We have developed a knowledge base of criteria, which replicate expert assessment, allowing more than half of cases to be automatically validated and site assignments verified with a high degree of confidence. This was assessed by comparing automated spectral interpretation with careful manual examination of the assignments for 501 peptides above the 1% false discovery rate (FDR) threshold corresponding to 259 putative phosphorylation sites in 74 proteins of the Trypanosoma brucei proteome. Despite this stringent approach, we are able to validate 80 of the 91 phosphorylation sites (88%) positively identified by manual examination of the spectra used for the MASCOT searches with a FDR < 15%. Conclusions:High-throughput computational analysis can provide a viable second stage validation of primary mass spectrometry database search results. Such validation gives rapid access to a systems level overview of protein phosphorylation in the experiment under investigation. Availability: A GPL licensed software implementation in Perl for analysis and spectrum annotation is available in the supplementary material and a web server can be assessed online at http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/prophossi Contact: email@example.com Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Introduction: Lower-extremity arterial disease (LEAD) is a major health problem worldwide. Chronic limb-threatening ischaemia (CLTI) is the most severe manifestation of LEAD. Open or endovascular recanalization is recommended for most patients with CLTI. The aim of this thesis has been to investigate the impact of comorbidities, medications, gender, preoperative symptoms, and revascularized arterial segment on outcome after revascularization in terms of amputation or death and to investigate whether it is possible to make a correct preoperative assessment of infrapopliteal lesions in CLTI patients using the TransAtlantic Inter-society Consensus (TASC) II classification on magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). Methods: All patients who were revascularized for intermittent claudication (IC, n = 6,272) and CLTI (n = 10,617) from May 2008 to May 2013 in Sweden were assembled in a database. Patients were identified using the Swedvasc register and the data was complemented with mandatory national healthcare registers. In addition, medical records of 1,366 patients were reviewed to safeguard accuracy on ipsilateral amputation. Descriptive statistics, Cox regression models with hazard ratios (HRs), and Kaplan-Meier curves were used in Papers I‒III. In Paper IV, 68 preoperative MRAs and perioperative digital subtraction angiographies (DSAs) were evaluated using the infrapopliteal TASC II criteria. Visual grading characteristics (VGC) analysis and Krippendorff's α were used for analysis of differences and agreement between modalities and observers. Results: CLTI patients had different preoperative comorbidities than IC patients. The risk of amputation following revascularization for CLTI was particularly high during the first 6 months. Mortality was high in all revascularized LEAD patients. Renal insufficiency, diabetes, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, male gender and presence of tissue loss, were found to be independently associated with increased risk of amputation after revascularization for CLTI. Conversely, medication with low-dose acetylsalicylic acid and statins were associated with improved limb salvage and survival. No systematic difference was detected between MRA and DSA in grading of infrapopliteal lesions. Agreement between observers in preoperative assessment of infrapopliteal TASC II class was poor, mainly due to a variable choice of intended target vessel between observers. A suggested novel infrapopliteal aggregated lesion severity score (IALSS), based on evaluation of all four infrapopliteal arteries, had better interobserver agreement. Conclusions: CLTI and IC affects different patient populations. Mortality is substantial in both. Amputation rate is particularly high in the first 6 months following revascularization for CLTI and associated with well-defined risk factors, most markedly renal insufficiency, diabetes, and tissue loss. Statins and platelet inhibitors should be considered for all patients with LEAD. Infrapopliteal TASC II grading can be done using MRA, but the required choice of a target vessel is a concern. An alternative score, independent of intended target vessel, may provide a more reproducible tool for assessment of infrapopliteal disease severity.


Non-Hermitian physics is responsible for many of the counter-intuitive effects observed in optics research opening up new possibilities in sensing, polarization control and measurement. A hallmark of non-Hermitian matrices is the possibility of non-orthogonal eigenvectors resulting in coupling between modes. The advantages of propagation mode coupling have been little explored in magneto-optical filters and other devices based on birefringence. Magneto-optical filters select for ultra-narrow transmission regions by passing light through an atomic medium in the presence of a magnetic field. Passive filter designs have traditionally been limited by Doppler broadening of thermal vapors. Even for filter designs incorporating a pump laser, transmissions are typically less than 15\% for sub-Doppler features. Here we exploit our understanding of non-Hermitian physics to induce non-orthogonal propagation modes in a vapor and realize better magneto-optical filters. We construct two new filter designs with ENBWs and maximum transmissions of 181~MHz, 42\% and 140~MHz, 17\% which are the highest figure of merit and first sub-100~MHz FWHM passive filters recorded respectively. This work opens up a range of new filter applications including metrological devices for use outside a lab setting and commends filtering as a new candidate for deeper exploration of non-Hermitian physics such as exceptional points of degeneracy.


We consider the initial boundary value problem for a homogeneous time-fractional diffusion equation with an initial condition v(x) and a homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition in a bounded convex polygonal domain Ω. We study two semidiscrete approximation schemes, i.e., the Galerkin finite element method (FEM) and lumped mass Galerkin FEM, using piecewise linear functions. We establish almost optimal with respect to the data regularity error estimates, including the cases of smooth and nonsmooth initial data, i.e., v ∈ H2(Ω) ∩ H1 0 (Ω) and v ∈ L2(Ω). For the lumped mass method, the optimal L2-norm error estimate is valid only under an additional assumption on the mesh, which in two dimensions is known to be satisfied for symmetric meshes. Finally, we present some numerical results that give insight into the reliability of the theoretical study.


AIM
In the short term, intensive treatment focusing on restoring weight for anorexia nervosa can remediate many symptoms. However, there is a high level of relapse after discharge. This paper examines interventions developed to bridge the transition from intensive to less intensive forms of treatment for adult anorexia nervosa.

METHOD
We undertook a systematic review of the literature on interventions aimed at providing transition support. The Template for Intervention Description and Replication was used to describe components of the transition interventions. Patient's drop-out rates, weight, eating disorder psychopathology and mood data were extracted at end of treatment and follow-up to describe preliminary efficacy.

RESULTS
Fourteen studies were selected: nine used psychological interventions delivered through face-to-face talking therapy or guided self-help, three examined the use of fluoxetine and two assessed stepped-care approaches. Transition support was delivered to patients in 11 studies, to patients and carers in two studies, and carers alone in another study.

CONCLUSIONS
There was a great heterogeneity in the content and structure of the transition interventions evaluated. Overall, drop-out rates were lower for psychological support than pharmacological interventions or stepped-care approaches. Changes in eating disorder outcomes and mood were small to moderate throughout for studies that included a comparison group.


Seven Tales of the Pendulum is a kind of 'biography' of a unique physical system. We all think we know everything about the pendulum. It is indeed the elementary example in countless textbooks; it is so simple and familiar; it is such an old topic. If this is your opinion, or if you think that the movement of the pendulum is dull and boring, then you should read the book of Gregory Baker; it will come as a surprise. Inside, you will read about the various avatars of the pendulum in science, comprehending how, down the years, the complexity of the notion of pendulum behaviour developed and deepened, from regularity in classical physics to chaotic motion, and eventually to the probabilistic attitude in quantum physics. You will learn why the pendulum has often been a key element in the history of human intelligence development, and how the concept of the pendulum in science uncovered routes for novel breakthroughs. Using everything but dry mathematics, Baker uses narrative and figures well to give a vivid review of the physics of the pendulum in the general context of human culture. This is a captivating book, and you will surprise yourself when you ask, 'what will be written on the next page?'.


Fitness refers to the good health of athletes, then, it is necessary for every athlete to duty the importance of management and agreement in the training of muscle groups then everything related to the substratum and muscle balance and evaluate it by using the Pilates way to identify its elements and secrets so as to raise the substratum of the athlete and rehabilitation of distortions and deviations, creating healthy habits, and spreading fitness awareness among athletes through working to improve strength, lengthening and muscular balance of the shoulders. Thus, the researcher used the experimental approach by using the experimental design with one suitable group of the research, while, the sample of the research that made up of (12) athletes, that has been chosen by the researcher by using the intentional method for those who are suffering from the aberration of the shoulder fall. The researcher made sure to applied the Pilates exercises by using repeat contraction that aims to improve muscle balance, strength and flexibility of the sample of the research, with (8) weeks and consists of (24) Training modules, (3) modules a week, the most important conclusion in the research is that the using of Pilates contribute to reduce and rehabilitation the aberration of the shoulder fall, if the essential strength of the shoulder girdle muscles that assist in developing the muscular balance, it can be concluded that these exercises agreed with the aberration of shoulder fall and muscle balance.


An important problem in shape analysis is to match configurations of points in space after filtering out some geometrical transformation. In this paper we introduce hierarchical models for such tasks, in which the points in the configurations are either unlabelled or have at most a partial labelling constraining the matching, and in which some points may only appear in one of the configurations. We derive procedures for simultaneous inference about the matching and the transformation, using a Bayesian approach. Our hierarchical model is based on a Poisson process for hidden true point locations; this leads to considerable mathematical simplification and efficiency of implementation of EM and Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms. We find a novel use for classical distributions from directional statistics in a conditionally conjugate specification for the case where the geometrical transformation includes an unknown rotation. Throughout, we focus on the case of affine or rigid motion transformations. Under a broad parametric family of loss functions, an optimal Bayesian point estimate of the matching matrix can be constructed that depends only on a single parameter of the family. Our methods are illustrated by two applications from bioinformatics. The first problem is of matching protein gels in two dimensions, and the second consists of aligning active sites of proteins in three dimensions. In the latter case, we also use information related to the grouping of the amino acids, as an example of a more general capability of our methodology to include partial labelling information. We discuss some open problems and suggest directions for future work. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.


In six cases, fine needle aspiration (FNA) directed at prostatic lesions produced specimens containing megakaryocytes or ganglion cells, which are sources of potential diagnostic error in the interpretation of aspirates of the prostate gland. In three cases, apparent accidental penetration of the tip of the transrectal FNA biopsy needle into the ischium instead of the prostate resulted in the aspiration of megakaryocytes and other bone marrow elements; the megakaryocytes mimicked anaplastic cancer. Three additional FNAs of the prostate produced specimens containing a small number of ganglion cells mimicking well-differentiated adenocarcinoma; the accompanying strands of wavy neural tissue served as a clue to the ganglionic origin of these potentially misleading cells. The paucity of "atypical" cells and the sparsity or absence of prostatic epithelium in the aspirates were additional clues to the cytologist that the findings represented an anatomic misplacement of the FNA biopsy needle tip, rather than a prostatic cancer.


Scratch behavior in neat and talc-filled high crystallinity polypropylene (PP) copolymers containing various additives is investigated using a cosntant load scratch test and two types of indentation tests (Rockwell and Shore D). The talcfilled PP copolymer exhibits high scratch visibilityand scratch depth. The addition of a nucleating agent or lubricant improves the scratch resistance of the talc-filled PP copolymer. Differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are used to characterize crystallinity morphology and scratch mechanisms in PP systems. It is found that the scratch resistance of the PP copolymer systems investigated, in terms of scratch depth and scratch visibility, depends mainly on the fracture features generated during the scratch process. The influences of talc, nucleating agent and lubricant on the scratch behavior of PP are discussed.


Optically active isoindolinones are synthesized by asymmetric intramolecular azaMichael reactions using cinchoninium phase-transfer organocatalysts. The resulting compounds are useful intermediates for the synthesis and development of benzazepine-receptor antagonists.


Objective. To estimate costs of illness in a cross-sectional cohort of patients with gout attending an outpatient rheumatology clinic, and to evaluate which factors contribute to higher costs. Methods. Altogether, 126 patients with gout were clinically assessed. They completed a series of questionnaires. Health resource use was collected using a self-report questionnaire that was cross-checked with the electronic patient file. Productivity loss was assessed by the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire, addressing absenteeism and presenteeism. Resource use and productivity loss were valued by real costs, and annual costs per patient were calculated. Factors contributing to incurring costs above the median were explored using logistic univariable and multivariable regression analysis. Results. Mean (median) annual direct costs of gout were €5647 (€1148) per patient. Total costs increased to €6914 (€1279) or €10,894 (€1840) per patient per year when adding cost for absenteeism or both absenteeism and presenteeism, respectively. Factors independently associated with high direct and high indirect costs were a positive history of cardiovascular disease, functional limitations, and female sex. In addition, pain, gout concerns, and unmet gout treatment needs were associated with high direct costs. Conclusion. The direct and indirect costs-of-illness of gout are primarily associated with cardiovascular disease, functional limitations, and female sex.


Endometrial cancer (EC) is one of the most frequent female malignancies. Because of a characteristic symptom, vaginal bleeding, EC is often diagnosed in an early stage. Despite that, some EC cases present an atypical course with rapid progression and poor prognosis. There have been multiple studies conducted on molecular profiling of EC in order to improve diagnostics and introduce personalized treatment. Chemokines—a protein family that contributes to inflammatory processes that may promote carcinogenesis—constitute an area of interest. Some chemokines and their receptors present alterations in expression in tumor microenvironment. CXCL12, which binds the receptors CXCR4 and CXCR7, is known for its impact on neoplastic cell proliferation, neovascularization and promotion of epidermal–mesenchymal transition. The CCL2–CCR2 axis additionally plays a pivotal role in EC with mutations in the LKB1 gene and activates tumor-associated macrophages. CCL20 and CCR6 are influenced by the RANK/RANKL pathway and alter the function of lymphocytes and dendritic cells. Another axis, CXCL10–CXCR3, affects the function of NK-cells and, interestingly, presents different roles in various types of tumors. This review article consists of analysis of studies that included the roles of the aforementioned chemokines in EC pathogenesis. Alterations in chemokine expression are described, and possible applications of drugs targeting chemokines are reviewed.


Introduction Figures for the UK's HIV treatment cascade are among the best worldwide with over 95% retention once in care, however guidelines and service models are changing. We examine perspectives on each stage of the cascade among four generations of patients. Methods In-depth interviews with 48 HIV-positive adults from two clinics. Participants were purposively selected from the four 'HIV generations', based on ART development – those diagnosed pre-1996, 1997–2005, 2006–2012, and since 2013. Framework was used to analyse the data. Results Diagnosis - Participants from the pre-treatment era were diagnosed on the development of AIDS-defining symptoms, or following a partner's diagnosis. Late diagnoses more recently were because patients underestimated their own risk or failures of healthcare professionals to spot indicator conditions. Linkage with care - Earlier generations sometimes disengaged with care for a period following diagnosis, dismayed by limited treatment options. In contrast, those diagnosed since 2005 linked to care promptly and felt they received appropriate medical attention. Retention in care - Across the generations, once linked to care participants were committed to attending appointments and taking medications. Occasional lapses were explained by external issues such as drug misuse or household disruption, rather than their relationship with the clinic. Some reported concern at the recently reduced frequency of appointments, and the increasing role of primary care. Viral suppression among those on ART - Most participants on ART had undetectable viral load and good adherence. Actual or anticipated co-morbidities worried them more than HIV, however, wider discussions about NHS cost-cutting have raised patient anxiety about accessing the 'best' treatments. Conclusion The high standard of UK's HIV treatment cascade reflects strong relationships between patients and staff, which service changes could undermine. Being sensitive to how patients experience different stages of decision-making and the wider influences on their behaviour is vital towards sustaining high retention along the cascade. Disclosure of interest statement This study is funded by a grant from the Imperial NIHR BRC and the Imperial Healthcare Charity. No pharmaceutical grants were received in the development of this study.


Automated character recognition is one of the most vital components which enable a data processor to distinguish letters and digits possibly using contextual data. Various attempts at resolving this problem using different selections of classifiers and features have been established and still the problem remains challenging. In the proposed work, we suggest and evaluate a classic Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for the identification of online Telugu characters. The network comprises of 4 layers, one with 5 X 5 and remaining with 3 X 3 kernels and ReLU, softmax activation functions, followed by max pooling and two dense layers. The final layer has 168 outputs, matching to the classes considered: vowels, consonants. To train and estimate the CNN, we preowned 45,133 images written by many telugu writers. A qualified analysis proved the efficiency of the proposed CNN against previous methods in an interesting dataset. On test dataset, the classification technique provided 92.4% accuracy. The conclusion is improved than some recently proposed literature used for the identification of online handwritten Telugu characters.


Abstract Purpose Clinical trials using fetal retinal pigment epithelium (fRPE), human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived RPE, or human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived RPE for cell-based therapy for degenerative retinal diseases have been carried out. We investigated the culture-induced changes in passaged fRPE, hESC-RPE, and hiPSC-RPE cells and explored the differentiation and maturation effect of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on cells for manufacturing and screening high-quality RPE cells for clinical transplantation. Methods RPE cell lines were set up and the culture-induced changes in subsequent passages caused by manipulating plating density, dissociation method, and repeated passaging were studied by a microscope, real-time quantitative PCR, western blot, and immunofluorescent assays. Gene and protein expression and functional characteristics of RPE cells incubated with ATRA were evaluated. Results Compared with fRPE, hESC-RPE, and hiPSC-RPE showed decreased gene and protein expression of RPE markers. RPE cells underwent mesenchymal changes showing increased expression of mesenchymal markers including a-SMA, N-cadherin, fibronectin and decreased expression of RPE markers including RPE65, E-cadherin, and ZO-1, as a subsequence of low plating density, inappropriate dissociated method, and repeated passaging. RPE cells treated by ATRA showed increased expression of RPE markers and increased expression of negative complement regulatory proteins (CRPs) and increased transepithelial resistance as well. Conclusions Differences in protein and gene expression among three RPE types exist. ATRA can increase RPE markers, CRPs gene expression in fRPE, and stem cell-derived RPE. These can be used to guide the standard of screening RPE cells for clinical translational cell therapy.


In expanding their market to the global level with clear and consistent global brand images across nations, marketers are ever confronting the issue of how to deal with different cultural values. Cultural value is identified as an influential factor on brand image and is widely accepted as one of the crucial concepts in understanding consumer consumption value, which determines choices of consuming everyday products and services. Most firms endeavoring to establish and maintain consistent global brand images, however, adopt a standardized brand image strategy that usually does not consider individual target markets" characteristics, including the concepts of cultural value and consumption value. This study developed a conceptual framework which incorporated cultural value not only as a direct antecedent of brand image, but also as an indirect antecedent of brand image through consumption value, and empirically tested it using the category of apparel. Following this framework, this study hypothesized the differences in brand image, cultural value, and consumption value between the U.S. and South Korea. Data were gathered through surveying university students residing in the San Francisco and Seoul metropolitan areas using a convenience sampling method. A total of 329 completed questionnaires were used in factor analysis, discriminant analysis, and structural equation modeling. The results provide insights into standardized brand image strategies and suggest some implementable tools that might prove effective in both countries. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The three-dimensional crystal structure of charge stabilised polystyrene latex in deionised water was investigated by small-angle neutron diffraction. Crystallisation with a grain size of approximately 1 × 1 cm2 was observed when the sample was flowed gently in to a 2 mm path cell. Bragg scattering peaks arising from the structure were observed under rotation about three perpendicular axes of the sample. The diffraction patterns indicate clearly that there is a cubic close packed structure with a 110 axis perpendicular to the cell wall. Rotations in small steps show large changes and indicate that the crystal is well oriented and has three-dimensional order. The crystal orientation was controlled by the meniscus and direction of flow when filling the cell.


The effect of ohmic contacts on the buffer leakage of GaN transistors is presented. The buffer leakage for AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistors and GaN MESFETs grown on the same underlying buffer was observed to be different. Controlled experiments show that the increased buffer leakage is due to the nature of the alloyed ohmic contacts and can be minimized if they are screened by the Si doping or by the two-dimensional electron gas.


In this paper, the problem of active vibration control of multi-degree-of-freedom structures is considered. ANFIS Controller and PID Controller are designed to suppress structural vibrations against earthquakes under the non-linear soil-structure interaction. The advantage of the ANFIS Controller and PID Controller approach is the ability to handle the non-linear behavior of the system. Non-linear behavior of the soil is modeled in the dynamics of the structural system with non-linear hysteric restoring forces. The ANFIS Controller and PID Controller are designed for getting the maximum response reduction under different types of earthquake excitations. A structural system was simulated against the ground motion of the destructive Gadha earthquake (Mw = 6.9) in Jabalpur, India on 21 May 1997. At the end of the study the time history of the storey displacements and accelerations and the frequency responses of both the uncontrolled and the ANFIS Controller and PID Controller based controlled structures are presented. These results show that the proposed ANFIS Controller and PID Controller have great potential in active structural control. In another situation two MR dampers were used as multiple control devices and a scaled five-story building model was selected as an example structure. A clipped-optimal control algorithm was compared with the proposed ANFIS Controller and PID Controller. After numerical simulation, it has been verified that the ANFIS Controller and PID Controller can present better control performance compared to the clipped-optimal control algorithm in reducing both displacement and acceleration responses. Also in this paper, conventional (MR Damper), PID controllers and ANFIS+PID controllers, respectively denoted by PID controllers and ANFIS+PID controllers, are designed to suppress vibrations of a three - story building against earthquake. The structural system is simulated against the ground accelerations of the Gadha-Jabalpur earthquake in India on May 21th, 1997; the Northridge earthquake in USA on January 17th, 1994 and the Kobe earthquake in Japan on January 16th, 1995. The control effects of PID controllers and ANFIS+PID controllers are compared via the time history of the story displacements of the structure.