The Thalanga sequence is a felsic, lava-dominated, submarine volcanic succession in the Cambra-Ordovician Mount Windsor Subprovince (northern Queensland, Australia). The sequence consists of altered rhyolite lavas, syn-volcanic intrusions and volcanielastic facies (footwall), conformably overlain by a lithologically diverse unit (Favourable Horizon) containing the Thalanga massive sulphide deposit, succeeded by a volcanosedimentary facies association dominated by wealdy altered dacite lavas (hangingwall). This package is `~`400 to `~`800 m thick, has a subvertical dip due to regional deformation and youngs towards the south. Massive, Zn-Pb-Cu-rich sulphide-ore lenses (total 6 Mt) are stratiform, occur over a strike length of `~`3 km and are invariably underlain by a broad,continuous alteration zone which extends at least 300 m into the footwall.
Regional metamorphism in the Thalanga area generated upper greenschist facies (450 to 500°C; ≤3.5 kbar), foliated biotite-muscovite±chlorite assemblages. Subsequent contact metamorphism, associated with the intrusion of a voluminous, post-tectonic diorite pluton, was of similar metamorphic grade.
Six drill core cross sections (total 15 km of core) in the Thalanga mine area and one outcrop section located 5 km to the west of the deposit have been studied. Reconstruction of the facies architecture indicates that the massive sulphides f01med in a below-storm-wave-base depositional environment on top of an elevated, lava-dominated, rhyolitic volcanic centre. Effusive eruptions persisted after formation of the massive sulphide lenses but involved compositionally and texturally distinct dacite. A modern analogue for the setting of the Thalanga deposit is the P ACMANUS hydrothermal field on the crest of the dacite lava-dominated Pual Ridge in the eastern Manus back-arc basin (Papua New Guinea).
Rhyolite in the footwall alteration zone includes both genuine volcaniclastic facies and apparent elastic facies formed by domainal or multi-stage hydrothermal alteration of coherent rhyolite. A comparison of the distribution of elastic and coherent facies with the geometry of pyrite-rich, intensely altered, discordant zones in the footwall suggests that intense hydrothermal fluid flow was independent of the facies arrangement.
Alteration facies at Thalanga are texturally and mineralogically diverse and ten different facies have been defined on the basis of dominant mineral assemblages and general alteration intensity. Alteration facies representing moderate to intense hydrothermal alteration (quartz-K-feldspar, disseminated tremolite, quartz-pyrite, chlorite-pyrite, carbonate-chlorite-tremolite and phyllosilicate-rich, mottled alteration facies) are exclusive to the footwall. The mottled facies, characterised by muscovitebiotite-chlorite±pyrite assemblages, represents the bulk of the footwall alteration zone and is related to diffuse upflow of hydrothermal fluids causing destruction of primary feldspar, formation of hydrothermal phyllosilicates and precipitation of pyrite. It envelopes discordant zones of quartz-pyrite alteration facies connected to massive sulphides in the Favourable Horizon. Variations in the distribution of some alteration facies along strike suggest that parts of the hydrothermal system exp~rienced particular alteration processes. Low intensity alteration facies ( epidote, phyllosilicate, and albite alteration and hematite dusting) are common in the hangingwall dacite and probably represent the results of diagenetic alteration and low-grade sub-seafloor metamorphism.
The geochemical effects of alteration were examined using whole rock major and trace element data and electron microprobe analyses of chlorite, biotite and muscovite. Mass balance calculations show that hydrothermal alteration in the footwall is characterised by substantial gains in Fe, S and Mg and Na loss. Furthermore, most alteration facies gained Si, and K was conserved or added during hydrothermal activity. The concentrations of Ba, Rb, Sr, As and Bi vary according to qunatitative differences in major mineral phases among alteration facies (eg. abundances of barite, muscovite, alkali feldspar, plagioclase, tremolite, epidote and pyrite). Light REE were added to footwall rhyolite during hydrothermal alteration whereas heavy REE remained immobile. In general, Eu was progressively leached from the footwall with increasing intensity of hydrothermal alteration. The geochemical data and in particular the Mg-rich character of the footwall alteration zone indicate that the hydrothermal fluids at Thalanga were seawater-derived.
Several compositional features of the footwall alteration zone show systematic changes with distance from the ore defining a geochemical halo. These geochemical proximity indicators may assist in prospect- and mine-scale exploration for VHMS deposits in similar geological settings.


Abstract The Island Thunderstorm Experiment (ITEX) is a field and modeling study of the tropical thunderstorms that form regularly over Bathurst and Melville Islands north of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, during the transition season and breaks in the summer monsoon season. Such thunderstorms are of widespread occurrence in the tropics and they play an important role in tropical dynamics. ITEX is a joint project of the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre and Monash University's Centre for Dynamical Meteorology. Preliminary studies have been used to plan an intensive period of observations that was carried out from 20 November to 10 December 1988. The resulting data will provide the basis for a series of analytical and numerical studies of tropical island thunderstorms.


Background: Asthma affects 334 million people worldwide. Several genome wide association studies have been conducted to investigate the influence of genetic polymorphisms in the development of allergic diseases and asthma, but few of them have explored the X chromosome. Our goal was to perform a X wide association study for asthma. Methods: This study included a population based sample of 1,307 (705 males and 602 females) children of which 294 had asthma and 1,013 did not. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and the samples were genotyped using 2.5HumanOmni beadchip from Illumina. Replication was done in a Latino Americans cohort (GALLA II, n=3,774) and another Brazilian cohort (Pelotas, n=3,544). Statistical analyses were performed in PLINK 1.9, MACH 1.0 and Minimac2. Results: We found two SNPs associated with asthma considering P-value -6 . The most strongly associated SNP rs12007907 is located in IL1RAPL (IL1R accessory protein-like). The original findings for this SNP were replicated in the Pelotas cohort: we could replicate the association between rs12007907 and asthma in crude analysis (p Conclusion: The rs12007907 in IL1RAPL is associated with asthma in our study. It suggests a possible direct effect on asthma susceptibility and may explain differences in severe asthma frequency between women and men. Further replication is needed in population with similar minor allele frequency for rs12007907, which shall be complemented with functional data to understand the impact of this recently described gene in asthma.


Statistical language modeling plays an important role in a state-of-the-art speech recognizer. The most used language model (LM) is word -grammodel, which is based on the frequency of words and word sequences in a corpus. In various Asian languages, however, words are not delimited by whitespace, so we need to annotate sentences with word boundary information to prepare a statistically reliable large corpus. In this paper, we propose a method for building an LM directly from a raw corpus. In this method, sentences in the raw corpus are regarded as sentences annotated with stochastic word boundary information. In the experiments, we compared the predictive powers of an LM built only from a segmented coprus and an LM built from the segmented corpus and a raw corpus. The result showed that we succeeded in reducing the perplexity by 42.9% using a raw corpus by our method.


The quassinoids bruceoside-A [1], brusatol [2], and bruceolide [3] were tested for antimalarial activity in vitro against the chloroquine-resistant (Smith) isolates of Plasmodium falciparum. Compound 2 was quite active, 1 was not active, and 3 showed only a trace of activity. The fact that 15 [(E)-non-2-enoyl] bruceolide [7] synthesized from 2 was eight times less active than 2 would indicate that the requirement of a C-15 ester moiety for enhanced antimalarial activity among brusatol related quassinoids could be quite specific.


Currently, most genome assembly projects focus on contigs and scaffolds rather than assembly graphs that provide a more comprehensive representation of an assembly. Since interactive visualization of large assembly graphs remains an open problem, we developed an Assembly Graph Browser (AGB) tool that visualizes large assembly graphs, extending the functionality of previously developed visualization approaches. AGB includes a number of novel functions including repeat analysis, construction of the contracted assembly graphs (i.e., the graphs obtained by collapsing a selected set of edges), and a new approach to visualizing large assembly graphs.

Availability
http://www.github.com/almiheenko/AGB.

Supplementary information
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Thirteen T cell hybridomas and two cell lines expressing gamma delta TCR were generated from B10 and B6 CD3+CD4-CD8- splenic T cells. At least three different types of gamma-chains (V gamma 2-C gamma 1, C gamma 2, and C gamma 4) were shown to be expressed in these cells. Analysis of V delta gene segment usage in these hybridomas was performed by Northern blot hybridizations using probes specific for the V delta 1 through V delta 6 gene families and electrophoretic analysis of polymerase chain reaction amplified DNA obtained using V region-specific oligonucleotide primers for the V delta gene families as well as for V alpha 10, V alpha 4, and V alpha 11. These analyses revealed that V delta 5 gene segments are used by a high percentage of splenic gamma delta CD4-CD8- T cells (53% of the cells in our panel). Other V delta segments expressed by our panel of cells were V delta 2, V delta 4, V delta 6, and V alpha 10, indicating that the V delta repertoire expressed in the spleen is similar, but possibly not identical to the adult thymus repertoire. Sequence analysis of the V-D-J joinings of the delta-chain messages revealed substantial diversity, indicating that the delta-chain repertoire expressed in peripheral lymphoid organs uses a significant portion of the potential diversity predicted for these chains. These results demonstrate that, in spite of the low numbers of gamma delta T cells in peripheral lymphoid organs, the diversity of their TCR is extensive enough to play an important role in the immune response.


Aquaculture is becoming an important primary industry in Australia and the Asian region. Environmental concerns are raised when above ground saline ponds are introduced over fresh groundwater. The flow field can be simply modelled using series solutions for the hydraulic potential. However, extracting the advection fronts and isochrones can be much more challenging, particularly when solutions are sought using a laptop or desktop computer. We present an efficient and accurate way to calculate the advection front and the isochrones for a realistic problem. These methods use the analytic nature of the flow field solution and are an efficient and accurate alternative to the traditional methods used.

 References J. R. Philip, Travel Times From Buried and Surface Infiltration Point Sources, Water Resources Research 20 (7) 990--994, 1984. doi:10.1029/WR020i007p00990 W. L. Powers, D. Kirkham, G. Snowden, Orthonormal Function Tables and the Seepage of Steady Rain through Soil Bedding, Journal of Geophysical Research 72 (24) 6225--6237, 1967. doi:10.1029/JZ072i024p06225 W. W. Read, Hillside Seepage and the Steady Water Table I: Theory, Advances in Water Resources 19 (2) (1996) 63--73. doi:10.1016/0309-1708(95)00034-8 W. W. Read, Hillside Seepage and the Steady Water Table II: Applications, Advances in Water Resources 19 (2) (1996) 75--81. doi:10.1016/0309-1708(95)00035-6


The Pamir orogen in Central Asia has formed by the amalgamation of several Gondwana-derived terranes and their accretion to the southern Eurasian margin in the Mesozoic. Later on, the crust of the Pamir orogen was strongly deformed and uplifted as a result of the Cenozoic India-Asia collision. The deformation of the Pamir orogen, which resulted in shortening, crustal thickening and exhumation of deep crustal rocks within the gneiss domes of the Central and Southern Pamir makes the area an ideal site for studying the India-Asia collision and its paleogeographic and climatic effects. To account for today’s 70-km-thick crust of the Pamir orogen and more than 400 km of convergence accommodated in the Pamir, pre- and syn-collisional processes have been proposed including, continental subduction, delamination, extrusion and oroclinal bending of the Pamir arc. However, testing these models requires constraints on the pre-collisional state of the Pamir lithosphere and its tectono-magmatic evolution. During most of the Cretaceous, the southern Pamir terrane was a site of a widespread arc-related magmatism, which resulted in the formation of many plutons and a volcanic suite of intermediate to acidic composition, whereas the central Pamir terrane lacked any sign of magmatic activity. However, in the late Cretaceous to early Paleogene (78 – 61 Ma) a less widespread magmatic activity in the western part of the Central Pamir resulted in the formation of the Bartang mafic to intermediate volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. We report here the geochemical and Sr-Nd isotopic features of the late Cretaceous – early Paleogene Bartang volcanics. This volcanic suite bears geochemical and radiogenic isotope features that differ from the arc-related southern Pamir igneous rocks. Mafic basalts that comprise the lowest portion of the section exhibit MORB-like pattern with slightly depleted light rare earth elements (LREE) and large ion lithophile elements (LILE). Further up in the section this pattern shifts towards an arc-related pattern with enriched LREE and LILE. The 87Sr/86Sri isotope ratios are lower (0.705335 – 0.706693) than those from the southern Pamir igneous rocks (0.706915 – 0.711105) and epsilon Nd values exhibit ratios close to mantle domain, ranging between -0.7 and -2.7, with the lower part of the section showing less negative values then the upper. In contrast to the Bartang volcanics, the southern Pamir igneous rocks exhibit more negative epsilon Nd values (from -4.7 to -13). The relatively low initial 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios and slightly negative epsilon Nd values of the Bartang volcanic rocks together with the trace elements pattern that shifts from MORB-like to arc-related indicate mixing of two magmas derived from depleted and enriched mantle sources, with the latter inheriting the arc-related pattern from the subduction stage. Alternatively, the arc-related pattern could be derived through contamination of the primary magma by the crustal material. These features, compared to the southern Pamir arc-related igneous rocks, also indicate that the tectonic setting in the Pamir changed during the late Cretaceous from a continental arc to a within-plate extensional setting.


The aim of this contribution is to determine the lower limit of the electron number density,the Debye temperature and the specific heat of solid grains present in the protoplanetary grains around beta Pictoris. The calculation has been performed using the Salpeter criterion,slightly modified a couple of years ago. The results obtained are physically reasonable and could be helpful in determining the chemical composition of solid particles in this system.


ABSTRACT. In a cross‐sectional survey of hepatitis B immune status, 458 consecutive children below the age of 12 years were studied. 37.3% of these children were positive for one of the three markers, HBsAg, anti‐HBs or anti‐HBc. 15.5% were positive for two and 1.3% were positive for all three. 10.9% were positive for HBsAg, 27.8% for anti‐HBc and 19.6% for anti‐HB2. The males showed a higher HBsAg carrier rate than the females, 13.5% and 6.8% respectively. This difference was significant (p<0.05). This study confirmed that the Singaporeans were exposed to hepatitis B virus infection from very early in life and in order to prevent the infection, immunisation should be considered in early childhood.


Many activities related to cybercrime operations do not require much secrecy, such as developing websites or translating texts. This research provides indications that many users of a popular public internet marketing forum have connections to cybercrime. It does so by investigating the involvement in cybercrime of a population of users interested in internet marketing, both at a micro and macro scale. The research starts with a case study of three users confirmed to be involved in cybercrime and their use of the public forum. It provides a first glimpse that some business with cybercrime connections is being conducted in the clear. The study then pans out to investigate the forum population's ties with cybercrime by finding crossover users, that is, users from the public forum who also comment on cybercrime forums. The cybercrime forums on which they discuss are analyzed and the crossover users' strength of participation is reported. Also, to assess if they represent a sub-group of the forum population, their posting behavior on the public forum is compared with that of non-crossover users. This blend of analyses shows that (i) a minimum of 7.2% of the public forum population are crossover users that have ties with cybercrime forums; (ii) their participation in cybercrime forums is limited; and (iii) their posting behavior is relatively indistinguishable from that of non-crossover users. This is the first study to formally quantify how users of an internet marketing public forum, a space for informal exchanges, have ties to cybercrime activities. We conclude that crossover users are a substantial part of the population in the public forum, and even though they have thus far been overlooked, their aggregate effect in the ecosystem must be considered. This study opens new research questions on cybercrime participation that should consider online spaces beyond their cybercrime branding.


Measurements of the propagation frequency of magnetic islands in JET are compared with diamagnetic drift frequencies, in view of a possible diagnostic application to the determination of markers for the safety factor profile. Statistical analysis is performed for a database including many well-diagnosed plasma discharges. Propagation in the plasma frame, i.e. with subtracted E  ×  B Doppler shift, results to be in the ion diamagnetic drift direction, with values ranging from 0.8 (for islands at the q  =  2 resonant surface) to 1.8 (for more internal islands) times the ion diamagnetic drift frequency. The diagnostic potential of the assumption of island propagation at exactly the ion diamagnetic frequency is scrutinised. Rational-q locations obtained on the basis of this assumption are compared with the ones measured by equilibrium reconstruction including motional Stark effect measurements as constraints. Systematic shifts and standard deviations are determined for islands with (poloidal, toroidal) periodicity indexes of (2, 1), (3, 2), (4, 3) and (5, 3) and possible diagnostic applications are indicated.


BACKGROUND/AIM
This study aimed to create a predictive tool for estimating the remaining lifespan of patients after whole-brain irradiation (WBI) for cerebral metastases from bladder cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In 34 of these patients clinical parameters were analyzed for survival including age at start of WBI, gender, Karnofsky score, number of cerebral metastases and involvement of extra-cranial sites of metastasis.

RESULTS
Involvement of extra-cranial sites (14%) and Karnofsky score (9%) showed the greatest difference regarding 6-month survival and were considered for the tool. Points were assigned based on the following: no involvement of extra-cranial sites=1 point, involvement of extra-cranial sites=0 points, Karnofsky score ≥70=1 point, Karnofsky score ≤60=0 points. Patients' scores were 0, 1 or 2 points with 6-month survival rates of 13%, 27% and 50%, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Based on two clinical parameters, a tool was developed that may help estimate the lifespan of patients irradiated for cerebral metastases from bladder cancer.


The study reports on the practices of illegal file sharing in Sweden during the period 2007-2012. More than 1.000 posts in response to the question "You guys who download stuff illegally, don't you ever feel guilty?" where analyzed with regard to the respondents' expressed senses of guilt, whether file sharing was right or wrong, if they buy media, together with dimensions of stakeholders and media genres. Preliminary results suggest that no changes in feelings of guilt were detected during the time period. However, more posts report to now buy media, while at there at the same time seem to be an increase in posts expressing file sharing, despite its current illegal status, is a right thing to do. A qualitative analysis is needed to further understand the complexity of current changes in file sharers justifications for what content to acquire through illegal file sharing, what they choose to pay for – and why.


We prove blow-up in finite time for radially symmetric solutions to the pseudo-relativistic Hartree-Fock equation with negative energy. The non-linear Hartree-Fock equation is commonly used in the physics literature to describe the dynamics of white dwarfs. We extend thereby recent results by Fröhlich and Lenzmann, who established in [3, 4] blow-up for solutions to the pseudo-relativistic Hartree equation. As key ingredient for handling the exchange term we use the conservation of the expectation of the square of the angular momentum operator.


The analysis of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma represents a rapidly advancing field in medicine. cfDNA consists predominantly of nucleosome-protected DNA shed into the bloodstream by cells undergoing apoptosis. We performed whole-genome sequencing of plasma DNA and identified two discrete regions at transcription start sites (TSSs) where nucleosome occupancy results in different read depth coverage patterns for expressed and silent genes. By employing machine learning for gene classification, we found that the plasma DNA read depth patterns from healthy donors reflected the expression signature of hematopoietic cells. In patients with cancer having metastatic disease, we were able to classify expressed cancer driver genes in regions with somatic copy number gains with high accuracy. We were able to determine the expressed isoform of genes with several TSSs, as confirmed by RNA-seq analysis of the matching primary tumor. Our analyses provide functional information about cells releasing their DNA into the circulation.


Our paper focuses on the analysis of the the role of risk management in sustainable hotel chain policy. We tackle the issue of risk evaluation and prevention in hotel industry as a factor of enhancing its entrepreneurial value. Our empirical value-added is based on its own novel survey based on a case study of a chosen company. We evaluate the problem areas of risk management and make suggestions for the hotel optimization procedures based on our results and findings. Furthremore, we compare the outcomes of our research with those of the the studies conducted by the renown foreign companies and focusing on payment discipline and risk management. Our results demonstrate that in order to optimize the cash flow in hotel operations, it is advisable to provide a balanced business mix and improvement of strategic internal processes. Moreover, it appears that for the optimal application of the risk management it is important that a new or updated strategic analysis is conducted annually within the business entity according to the development of both the external and internal environment. Furthremore, financial and payment risks need to be integrated into the formulation of strategic goals so as to identify which of them can put the strategy and its strategic goals at stake.


Abstract To define the liquidus and solidus of the system CaCO3-MgCO, rotating multi-anvil experiments were performed at 6 GPa in the temperature range 1300 to 1800 °C under anhydrous conditions. Additionally, experiments under hydrous conditions were performed in the Mg-rich part of the phase diagram. To determine the melting point of the end-member magnesite at 6 GPa falling sphere/body experiments were performed. The run products were analyzed using electron microprobe, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Some of the run products were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Previous studies report tremendous quenching problems in melting experiments of carbonates, as the primary grown carbonates could not be distinguished from the quenched melt. With the help of rotating multi-anvil experiments the primary grown crystals could be separated from the melt phase and the compositions of both phases could be analyzed by electron microprobe. Compared with the results of static experiments the corresponding phase diagram under anhydrous conditions is significantly different. The anhydrous melting point of MgCO3 at 6 GPa could be located between 1750 and 1800 °C. Under hydrous conditions liquidus and solidus moved to lower temperatures compared to anhydrous conditions and the melting point of hydrous MgCO3 at 6 GPa is located between 1700 and 1750 °C.


In several conditions of a line length identification experiment, the subjects' decision making strategies were systematically biased against the responses on the edges of the stimulus range. When the range and number of the stimuli were small, the bias caused the percentage of correct responses to be highest in the center and lowest on the extremes of the range. Two general classes of decision rules that would explain these results are considered. The first class assumes that subjects intend to adopt an optimal decision rule, but systematically misrepresent one or more parameters of the decision making context. The second class assumes that subjects use a different measure of performance than the one assumed by the experimenter: instead of maximizing the chances of a correct response, the subject attempts to minimize the expected size of the response error (a "fidelity criterion"). In a second experiment, extended experience and feedback did not diminish the bias effect, but explicitly penalizingall response errors equally, regardless oftheir size, did reduce or eliminate it in some subjects. Both results favor the fidelitycriterion over the optimal rule.


This paper presents a unified framework to (i) locate the ball, (ii) predict the pose, and (iii) segment the instance mask of players in team sports scenes. Those problems are of high interest in automated sports analytics, production, and broadcast. A common practice is to individually solve each problem by exploiting universal state-of-the-art models, \eg, Panoptic-DeepLab for player segmentation. In addition to the increased complexity resulting from the multiplication of single-task models, the use of the off-the-shelf models also impedes the performance due to the complexity and specificity of the team sports scenes, such as strong occlusion and motion blur. To circumvent those limitations, our paper proposes to train a single model that simultaneously predicts the ball and the player mask and pose by combining the part intensity fields and the spatial embeddings principles. Part intensity fields provide the ball and player location, as well as player joints location. Spatial embeddings are then exploited to associate player instance pixels to their respective player center, but also to group player joints into skeletons. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model on the DeepSport basketball dataset, achieving comparable performance to the SoA models addressing each individual task separately.


Trait loss is a pervasive phenomenon in evolution, yet the underlying molecular causes have been identified in only a handful of cases. Most of these involve loss-of-function mutations in one or more trait-specific genes. Parasitoid insects are fatty acid auxotrophs: they lost the ability to convert dietary sugars into fatty acids, a trait that is ubiquitous among non-parasitoid animals and is enabled by a highly conserved set of genes. Earlier research suggests that lack of lipogenesis is caused by changes in gene regulation, rather than gene decay. We compared transcriptome-wide responses to sugar-feeding in the non-lipogenic parasitoid species Nasonia vitripennis and the lipogenic Drosophila melanogaster. Both species adjusted their metabolism within four hours after feeding, but there was little overlap at the gene level between the responses of the two species. Even at the pathway-level, there were sharp differences between the expression profiles of the two species, especially in carbohydrate and lipid metabolic pathways. Several genes coding for key enzymes in acetyl-CoA metabolism, such as malonyl-CoA decarboxylase (MCD) and HMG-CoA synthase differed in expression between the two species. Their combined action likely blocks lipogenesis in the parasitoid species. Network analysis indicates most genes involved in these pathways to be highly connected, which suggest they have pleiotropic effects and could explain the absence of gene degradation. Our results indicate that modification of expression levels of only a few non-connected genes, such as MCD, is sufficient to enable complete loss of lipogenesis in N. vitripennis.


We report the results of the first laser beacon experiment at the astronomical site of La Palma (Canary Islands). A continuous wave low power laser (a few hundreds of mW) system has been set up. The laser, tuned on the sodium D2 line at 589 nm, is launched close to zenith angle. The emission of the mesospheric sodium layer is observed from a telescope located 160 meters away from the laser. The layer is therefore resolved in altitude and the different features of its dynamics are investigated.


A preliminary CAD system to design the inner and outer shape of crown prosthesis was developed using the data of 7 abutment and molar measured in the previous paper. The gingival and marginal line in the abutment tooth could be recognized more certainly by the "GIN-MAGN" program, and the three dimensional data of tooth crown above the gingival line could be output and saved. To prepare the data base of the occlusal surface of tooth crown, the data of tooth crown above the gingival line of 7 molar were also output by the "GIN-M" program. The data around the toothneck were excluded with an arbitrary height above the gingival line in order to connect smoothly with the margin line of the abutment tooth. The tooth crown data were set up on the abutment data by means of the program "AB-CR-E". In the present system, even though the occlusal condition with the antagonistic tooth could not be taken into account, the CAD procedure to set up a tooth crown with an arbitrary size on the arbitrary position of abutment tooth could be accomplished, and the toothneck data of crown were connected with the margin of abutment tooth.


Tumor antigen-specific T cell clones represent a useful tool in tumor immunology; however, their long-term culture is limited. To generate an immortalized cytotoxic T cell clone against the human tumor antigen mucin, we exposed a previously generated T cell culture to Herpesvirus saimiri. We obtained an immortalized human CD4+ T cell clone, termed SITAM. Clonality of these cells was shown by analysis of the alpha/beta-T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire. Cytolytic activity was demonstrated against several mucin-expressing tumor cell lines and could not be detected against non-mucin-expressing cells. SITAM cells maintained their features stably for 2 years. Furthermore, growth of the tumor cell line Capan-2 in NOD/SCID mice was inhibited when SITAM cells were coinjected subcutaneously with tumor cells. SITAM cells provide an unlimited source of clonal T cells for analysis of tumor recognition and may be of help in TCR-targeted immunotherapy.


Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignancies in men with high death rate worldwide. Paclitaxel (Taxol) is a widely used anticancer agent. Despite recent improvements in clinical application and research, development of drug resistance limits the efficacy of the Taxol-based chemotherapy. Previous studies revealed that the long noncoding RNA DANCR positively regulated progression of prostate cancer. However, the precise roles of DANCR in the Taxol sensitivity of PCa and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we report that the expressions of DANCR were significantly upregulated and miR-33b-5p were downregulated in prostate tumor specimens and cells as well as the Taxol-resistant prostate cancer cell line (PC3-TXR). Silencing DANCR or overexpressing miR-33b-5p effectively enhanced the Taxol sensitivity of PCa cells. Bioinformatics analysis, RNA pull-down assay, and luciferase assay consistently illustrated that DANCR was associated with miR-33b-5p, leading to downregulation of miR-33b-5p in PCa. Interestingly, glucose metabolism of PC3-TXR cells was remarkedly elevated. The glucose uptake, extracellular acidification rate (ECAR), and glycolysis speed-limiting enzyme expressions were significantly promoted in PC3-TXR cells. We further identified the glucose metabolism enzyme; LDHA was a direct target of miR-33b-5p in PCa cells. LDHA restoration attenuated miR-33b-5p-mediated PTX sensitization. Finally, the rescue of miR-33b-5p in DANCR-overexpressing PC3-TXR cells successfully overrode the DANCR-promoted Taxol resistance. In summary, this study uncovered biological roles and molecular mechanisms of the DANCR-promoted chemoresistance, contributing to the development of noncoding RNA-based therapeutic strategies against drug-resistant prostate cancer.


The development of a closed-loop artificial pancreas to regulate the blood glucose concentration of individuals with type 1 diabetes has been a focused area of research for over 50 years, with rapid progress during the past decade. The daily control challenges faced by someone with type 1 diabetes include asymmetric objectives and risks, and one-sided manipulated input action with frequent relatively fast disturbances. The major automation steps toward a closed-loop artificial pancreas include (i) monitoring and overnight alarms for hypoglycemia (low blood glucose); (ii) overnight low glucose suspend (LGS) systems to prevent hypoglycemia; and (iii) fully closed-loop systems that adjust insulin (and perhaps glucagon) to maintain desired blood glucose levels day and night. We focus on the steps that we used to develop and test a probabilistic, risk-based, model predictive control strategy for a fully closed-loop artificial pancreas. We complete the paper by discussing ramifications of lessons learned for chemical process systems applications.


In order to improve the electrical channel designs with FPC board, a novel FPC structure is proposed in this work. The new transmission line structure not only shows the merit of precise impedance control of FPC board but also avoids the common-mode issue which arises from the meshed ground. Moreover, the new transmission line structure is compatible with the traditional FPC manufacturing process and can be manufactured without extra cost. This proposed structure was validated with 3D EM simulation and experiment, and assured of the feasibility and practiced in mass production to implement PCI-Express signals on FPC successfully.


Successful and accurate analysis and interpretation of metagenomic data is dependent upon the efficient extraction of high-quality, high molecular weight (HMW) community DNA. However, environmental mat samples often pose difficulties to obtaining large concentrations of high-quality, HMW DNA. Hypersaline microbial mats contain high amounts of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS)1 and salts that may inhibit downstream applications of extracted DNA. Direct and harsh methods are often used in DNA extraction from refractory samples. These methods are typically used because the EPS in mats, an adhesive matrix, binds DNA during direct lysis. As a result of harsher extraction methods, DNA becomes fragmented into small sizes. The DNA thus becomes inappropriate for large-insert vector cloning. In order to circumvent these limitations, we report an improved methodology to extract HMW DNA of good quality and quantity from hypersaline microbial mats. We employed an indirect method involving the separation of microbial cells from the background mat matrix through blending and differential centrifugation. A combination of mechanical and chemical procedures was used to extract and purify DNA from the extracted microbial cells. Our protocol yields approximately 2 μg of HMW DNA (35-50 kb) per gram of mat sample, with an A(260/280) ratio of 1.6. Furthermore, amplification of 16S rRNA genes suggests that the protocol is able to minimize or eliminate any inhibitory effects of contaminants. Our results provide an appropriate methodology for the extraction of HMW DNA from microbial mats for functional metagenomic studies and may be applicable to other environmental samples from which DNA extraction is challenging.


In this paper, I investigate the respective economic returns to capital and inherent ability by studying the recovery of fishermen in Aceh, Indonesia, from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Since the natural disaster wiped out almost all existing differentials in productive physical capital among fishermen, the subsequent random assignment of aid boats generates a natural experiment. Using panel data from fishing households, I first examine whether the transfer of physical capital increases overall productivity. Second, I investigate whether fishermen who were relatively more productive pre-tsunami retain their productive edge ex-post. Focusing on the sample of fishermen who lost their pre-tsunami boats, I find that the impact of aid boat length on fishing revenue is positive but diminishes over time. In contrast, I find that the impact of pre-tsunami productivity on fishing revenue increases. These results suggest that (i) returns to inherent ability, measured by pre-tsunami productivity, are more important than returns to physical capital in the long run, and (ii) the redistributive effects of boat aid on productivity are small and temporary.


Microarray gene expressions provide an insight into genomic biomarkers that aid in identifying cancerous cells and normal cells. In this study, functionally related genes are identified by partitioning gene data. Clustering is an unsupervised learning technique that partition gene data into groups based on the similarity between their expression profiles. This identifies functionally related genes. In this study, a hybrid framework is designed that uses adaptive pillar clustering algorithm and genetic algorithm. A first step towards, the proposed work is the utilization of clustering technique by adaptive pillar clustering algorithm that finds cluster centroids. The centroids and its clustering elements are calculated by average mean of pairwise inner distance. The output of adaptive pillar clustering algorithm results in number of clusters which is given as input to genetic algorithm. The microarray gene expression data set considered as input is given to adaptive pillar clustering algorithm that partitions gene data into given number of clusters so that the intra-cluster similarity is maximized and inter cluster similarity is minimized. Then for each combination of clustered gene expression, the optimum cluster is found out using genetic algorithm. The genetic algorithm initializes the population with set of clusters obtained from adaptive pillar clustering algorithm. Best chromosomes with maximum fitness are selected from the selection pool to perform genetic operations like crossover and mutation. The genetic algorithm is used to search optimum clusters based on its designed fitness function. The fitness function designed minimizes the intra cluster distance and maximizes the fitness value by tailoring a parameter that includes the weightage for diseased genes. The performance of adaptive pillar algorithm was compared with existing techniques such as k-means and pillar k-means algorithm. The clusters obtained from adaptive pillar clustering algorithm achieve a maximum cluster gain of 894.84, 812.4 and 756 for leukemia, lung and thyroid gene expression data, respectively. Further, the optimal cluster obtained by hybrid framework achieves cluster accuracy of 81.3, 80.2 and 78.2 for leukemia, lung and thyroid gene expression data respectively.


OBJECTIVE
Classical Hodgkin lymphoma shows a peak incidence at 15-35 years, and a second peak in elderly patients; however, pathological characteristics of elderly patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma have not been analyzed enough.

METHODS
In a total of 154 patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma, we analyzed the clinicopathological characteristics of classical Hodgkin lymphoma patients aged ≥ 40 years old, with special reference to the incidence, histopathology and outcome of patients with composite classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

RESULTS
Of 154 patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma, 50 (32%) were ≥ 40 years old. The 5-year progression-free and overall survival rates were 59 and 86%, respectively. Thirty-eight patients (76%) had non-composite classical Hodgkin lymphoma, 10 patients (20%) had composite (6 simultaneous and 4 consecutive) classical Hodgkin lymphoma and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and 2 patients (4%) had methotrexate-associated classical Hodgkin lymphoma. Of 10 patients with composite classical Hodgkin lymphoma, composite lymphomas were detected throughout the staging procedure of the upper gastrointestinal tract or bone marrow in 4 patients. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that the composite lymphomas of 4, 1 and 5 patients were related, unrelated and of unknown correlation status, respectively. The treatments after the diagnosis of a classical Hodgkin lymphoma component varied, and three patients died of lymphoma.

CONCLUSIONS
We found that the incidence of composite classical Hodgkin lymphoma in patients ≥ 40 years old was 20%. Correct diagnosis and optimal treatment for patients with composite classical Hodgkin lymphoma and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma is highly important in this patient population.


From the age of about 60, many people begin to experience difficulties with tasks that require the use of prospective memory and begin to have trouble finding words and names. Worried that these symptoms may be indicative of the onset of Alzheimer's disease, many of them fill in online self-tests or consult their family doctor. In the vast majority of cases, symptoms like these indicate completely natural age-related forgetfulness. Physicians should encourage a socially active lifestyle to slow down further decline. In cases of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the physician should be aware of patients who deny or trivialise memory problems, especially if these problems have repercussions for performance in professions such as that of airline pilots or medical practitioners. In the absence of formal annual performance checks, ageing physicians should keep a close watch on themselves and on their colleagues.


The economic literature has found hard evidence on the great significance of general and specific human capital to participate in the labour market, get an employment and have a career success characterised by higher wages and more options of getting an upward labour mobility through promotions or better jobs in other firms. Recently, additional factors integrated in the concept of social participation have emerged as key determinants on the labour market success. These factors consider the components that create benefit from the interactions and cooperation within and among the different groups composing a community. Thus, individuals will invest in social capital whether its benefit overcomes its cost, similar to the investments decisions made with other productive factors such as human capital. This article contributes to the increasing literature about social capital and its economic effects in Spain by analysing some aspects related to the labour market from a micro-econometric approach, which overcomes some drawbacks associated with the analysis of social capital from an aggregated perspective. In particular, this paper analyses to what extent the social participation (considered as a relational good), and other aspects of the social capital, increase the probability of participating in the labour market, taking into account different employment status. To the extent possible, this analysis will be focused from a human capital approach since the social participation's effect will be examined grouping individuals according to their educational level. Data used corresponds to the Living Condition Survey (INE), and the methodological approach consists in performing discrete choice models to explain the labour market status, including as regressors different measures of social participation.


To investigate students' self‐monitoring practice and effects of educational level and task importance on self‐monitoring, 510 students, varying in educational level from elementary through graduate school, reported the self‐monitoring strategies they employed in three learning situations with different levels of task importance. The study identified six self‐monitoring strategies used by students but found a low involvement in self‐monitoring at all educational levels. It was found that older students used more complex self‐monitoring strategies more frequently than younger students. The study also showed that students' self‐monitoring increased with task importance. The self‐monitoring deficiencies that students experienced in difficult learning tasks were attributed to the lack of a system of self‐monitoring. Educational applications of teaching self‐monitoring strategies and developing self‐monitoring systems for difficult learning tasks were discussed.


A novel approach to the generation of an optical frequency comb with a widely tunable center wavelength and comb spacing based on an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The OEO is implemented using a polarization modulator (PolM), a phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PS-FBG), and a photodetector (PD). The PolM is a special phase modulator that supports phase modulation along the two principal axes with opposite modulation indexes. The joint operation of the PolM, the PS-FBG, and the PD corresponds to a frequency-tunable microwave photonic bandpass filter. When the output from the PD is fed back to the PolM, the OEO starts to oscillate and the oscillation frequency can be tuned by tuning the center frequency of the microwave photonic bandpass filter through tuning the optical wavelength. The optical comb is then generated by tapping part of the optical signal from the PolM and sending it to a second PolM. The joint operation of the two PolMs generates an optical comb with the comb spacing tunable by tuning the center frequency of the microwave photonic filter. Through introducing a second wavelength into the OEO, a duplicated optical comb at the second wavelength is generated. An experiment is performed. An optical frequency comb with tunable frequency spacing from 6.6 to 15.3 GHz and a tunable center wavelength from 1500 to 1580 nm is generated.


Solvothermal reaction of 5,5'-(pyridine-2,6-diylbis(oxy))diisophthalic acid (H4L) with europium(III) or terbium(III) nitrates in acetonitrile-water (1:1) at 120 °C gave rise to isostructural 2D coordination polymers, [Ln(HL)(H2O)3]∞ (NIIC-1-Eu and NIIC-1-Tb), the layers of which are composed by eight-coordinated lanthanide(III) ions interconnected by triply deprotonated ligands HL3-. The layers are packed in the crystal without any specific intermolecular interactions between them, allowing the facile preparation of stable water suspensions, in which NIIC-1-Tb exhibited top-performing sensing properties through luminescence quenching effect with exceptionally low detection limits towards Fe3+ (LOD 8.62 nM), ofloxacin (OFX) antibiotic (LOD 3.91 nM) and cotton phytotoxicant gossypol (LOD 2.27 nM). In addition to low detection limit and high selectivity, NIIC-1-Tb features fast sensing response (within 60-90 seconds), making it superior to other MOF-based sensors for metal cations and organic toxicants. The photoluminescence quantum yield of NIIC-1-Tb was 93%, one of the highest among lanthanide MOFs. Mixed-metal coordination polymers NIIC-1-EuxTb1-x demonstrated efficient photoluminescence, the color of which could be modulated by the excitation wavelength and time delay for emission monitoring (within 1 millisecond). Furthermore, an original 2D QR-coding scheme was designed for anti-counterfeiting labeling of goods based on unique and tunable emission spectra of NIIC-1-Ln coordination polymers.


Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most important diseases of durum, spring and winter wheat in Canada. Growers rely on an integrated strategy to manage the disease, including fungicide application at the current recommendation of early to 50% anthesis (BBCH61-65). This study evaluated the effect of fungicide-application timing and seeding rates of durum wheat on FHB. Field trials were carried out from 2016 to 2018 at three locations in Saskatchewan. Eight treatments of metconazole fungicide 'Caramba®' were applied to durum seeded at 75 and 400 seeds m-2. The fungicide treatments consisted of a nontreated check, a treated check, and applications at BBCH59, BBCH61, BBCH65, BBCH69, BBCH73 and a dual application treatment (BBCH61 followed by BBCH73). FHB index, proportion of Fusarium-damaged kernels (%FDK), deoxynivalenol (DON), grain protein content (GPC; %), and yield were evaluated. Seeding rates influenced all parameters. The high seeding rate had a higher yield and FHB index, but lower DON and GPC than the lower seeding rate. All fungicide treatments resulted in lower FHB index, DON, and %FDK than the nontreated check. Under FHB conducive conditions, all anthesis applications from BBCH61 to BBCH69 had a similar effect on FHB index, %FDK, DON, and yield, whereas in years with low disease severity, the application at BBCH65 had lower FHB index, %FDK and DON relative to other single applications. The dual application (BBCH61+73) treatment resulted in similar FHB index levels, %FDK, and DON content as the BBCH65 application at all site-years. Our results indicate that the window of fungicide application can be extended to the end of flowering when FHB risk is high.


King Vidor's The Crowd and Harold Lloyd's Speedy, both released in 1928 during the late silent film era, explore paradoxical themes of one's individualism and anonymity in modern New York City. Both films convey the changing lifestyles and values of a rapidly urbanizing nation, and highlight the struggle of twentieth century subjects to achieve their individualistic goals within mass society. The Crowd provides a naturalist perspective of life in New York City, where its protagonist, Johnny Sims, cannot transcend his circumstances. Conversely, Speedy offers an optimistic depiction of the city and all the opportunities it has to offer. In this essay, I examine three types of space that reflect the conflicting themes in both visual texts. These spaces are public, institutional, and domestic. Public spaces are open or transitional areas. Open areas can be used for leisure, such as amusement parks, or for movement, such as sidewalks and city streets. Urban sidewalks and streets additionally constitute transitional areas, though closed forms of public transportation, such as buses and street railways, also fall under this category. Institutional spaces are enclosed buildings or stationary areas that primarily function for corporate and civic industries. Domestic spaces are areas related to one's home, though in The Crowd and Speedy, these are often the most uninhabited areas. The two films demonstrate domesticity as a cultural ideal that eventually erodes in an urban setting, subsequently dismantling domestic spaces into attenuated areas. The three types of space present the paradoxical conditions that the modern subject must negotiate living in mass society.


A continuing education course presented by the Tennessee Dental Hygienists' Association for one (1) credit hour to meet Tennessee requirements for a course on chemical dependency. To earn credit, the article must be read and the test that follows be scored at 80% or better to be accepted to meet state requirements for the continuing education credit. A certificate of credit will be mailed within two (2) weeks of completing the online course and should be placed in an official file for verification of earning the credit(s) or d downloaded to CE Broker.


Importance Despite progress against tobacco sales to minors, retailers continue to violate state and federal laws and supply adolescent smokers with tobacco products. Government-sanctioned surveys underestimate the extent of the problem, and retailer associations use these data to block stricter enforcement policies. Objectives To assess the validity of the US federal retailer violation rate (RVR) as an estimate of the proportion of retailers that sell tobacco to minors and to investigate what proportion always or almost always sells vs refuses to sell cigarettes to minors. Design, Setting, and Participants This survey study was conducted October 6, 2012, to September 8, 2013; data were analyzed between September 28, 2017, and March 21, 2018. The setting was a suburban county adjacent to Denver, Colorado. Participants were a systematically selected, population-based cluster sample of retailers that stock cigarettes for sale. Retailers were masked to the survey. Main Outcomes and Measures Each retailer was visited 6 times by supervised minors who attempted to purchase cigarettes at each visit. The main outcome was whether cigarettes were sold. Other measures included whether government-issued photo identification (ID) was requested as required by law, how ID was examined, and what the demographic characteristics of study minors and clerks were. Results The sample of 201 retailers (44.8% of the 449 listed population) included convenience stores (n = 77), liquor stores (n = 63), grocery stores/supermarkets (n = 33), pharmacies (n = 17), tobacco stores (n = 7), and stand-alone gas stations (n = 4). Bars, clubs, and adult establishments were excluded. A total of 1181 purchase attempts were analyzed; 25 (2.1%) were excluded for missing data. The mean RVR across 6 rounds of checks was 18.0% (95% CI, 14.7%-21.2%) and ranged from 13.7% to 28.0% per round. Most retailers (54.7% [110 of 201]) violated at least once in 6 visits, 26.4% (53 of 201) violated at least twice, and 11.9% (24 of 201) violated half or more times. How retailers examined proof of age largely determined whether violations occurred. Conclusions and Relevance The proportion of retailers that sold cigarettes to a minor at least once in 6 attempts was 3 times higher than the mean RVR based on a single inspection per retailer. Larger replication studies are needed. Enforcement protocols should reflect the fact that each retailer does not respond consistently when adolescents try to buy tobacco products, and many retailers are not properly validating ID that shows proof of age.


This paper is dedicated to the design and implementation of adaptive embedded systems. Different synthesis methodologies are presented and discussed. Applying such methodologies the synthesis of circuits with support for modifiability and extensibility can be done. The paper describes: 1) specification of control algorithms for adaptive embedded systems and formal conversion of the specification to synthesizable VHDL code; 2) a model that is called a hierarchical finite state machine, which provides support for modularity, hierarchy, and recursion; 3) VHDL templates enabling the circuit to be synthesized in commercial CAD systems; and 4) the results of experiments.


Mammalian oocytes undergo an asymmetrical first meiotic division, extruding half of their chromosomes in a small polar body to preserve maternal resources for embryonic development. To divide asymmetrically, mammalian oocytes relocate chromosomes from the center of the cell to the cortex, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Here, we show that upon the elevation of intracellular cAMP level, mouse oocytes produced two daughter cells with similar sizes. This symmetrical cell division could be rescued by the inhibition of PKA, a cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Live cell imaging revealed that a symmetrically localized cleavage furrow resulted in symmetrical cell division. Detailed analyses demonstrated that symmetrically localized cleavage furrows were caused by the inappropriate central positioning of chromosome clusters at anaphase onset, indicating that chromosome cluster migration was impaired. Notably, high intracellular cAMP reduced myosin II activity, and the microinjection of phospho-myosin II antibody into the oocytes impeded chromosome migration and promoted symmetrical cell division. Our results support the hypothesis that cAMP plays a role in regulating asymmetrical cell division by modulating myosin II activity during mouse oocyte meiosis I, providing a novel insight into the regulation of female gamete formation in mammals.


The developed in-flex system completed the wiring work with the plug-in connection. To maintain electrical and mechanical stability, and an insulation between the conductors was strengthened by forming a partition. Moreover, the error according to a bad connection was prevented by separating the inlet from the outlet of the electric trace and thus the quick construction become possible. The metal reinforcing material was added outside the upper case and lower case. The fire-resistance efficiency was maximized in order to minimize a damage by the fire. As to the developed system, we found that it takes shorter time to complete installation than the rigid steel conduit wiring work, and that about 25 % of construction cost was saved because the labor costs decrease due to the shorter construction period of time.


An electric power system is a complex network consisting of a large number of power generators and consumers interconnected by transmission and distribution lines. One remarkable thing about the electric grid is that there has to be a continuous balance between the amount of electricity generated and consumed at all times. Maintaining this balance is critical for the stable operation of the grid and this task is achieved in the long term, short term and real-time by operating a three-tier wholesale electricity market consisting of the capacity market, the energy market and the ancillary services market respectively. For a demand resource to participate in the energy and the capacity markets, it needs to be able to reduce the power consumption ondemand, whereas to participate in the ancillary services market, the power consumption of the demand resource needs to be varied continuously following the regulation signal sent by the grid operator. This act of changing the demand to help maintain energy balance is called demand response (DR). The dissertation presents novel algorithms and tools to enable residential buildings to participate as demand resources on such markets to provide DR. Residential sector consumes 37% of the total U.S. electricity consumption and a recent consumer survey showed that 88% of consumers are either eager or supportive of advanced technologies for energy efficiency, including demand response. This indicates that residential sector is a very good target for DR. Two broad solutions for residential DR are presented. The first is a set of efficient algorithms that intelligently controls the customers' heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) devices for providing DR services to the grid. The second solution is an extensible residential demand response simulation framework that can help evaluate and experiment with different residential demand response algorithms. One of the algorithms presented in this dissertation is to reduce the aggregated demand of a set of HVACs during a DR event while respecting the customers' comfort requirements. The algorithm is shown to be efficient, simple to implement and is proven to be optimal. The second algorithm helps provide the regulation DR while honoring customer comfort requirements. The algorithm is efficient, simple to implement and is shown to perform well in a range of real-world situations. A case study is presented estimating the monetary benefit that can be obtained by implementing the algorithm in a cluster of 100 typical homes and shows promising result. Finally, the dissertation presents the design of a python-based object-oriented residential DR simulation framework which is easy to extend as needed. The framework supports simulation of thermal dynamics of a residential building and supports house hold appliances such as HVAC, water heater, clothes washer/dryer and dish washer. A case study showing the application of the simulation framework for various DR implementation is presented, which shows that the simulation framework performs well and can be a useful tool for future research in residential DR. Algorithms and Simulation Framework for Residential Demand Response


The staggered-grid Fourier pseudospectral time domain (PSTD) methods have proved to be efficient and accurate in seismic modeling, but less efforts have been extended to electromagnetic wave. In this paper, we apply the staggered-grid Fourier PSTD method in the simulation of three-dimensional electromagnetic wavefields in dispersive soils. The soil is considered as an M-th order Debye medium with additional static conductivity and a complex frequency shift perfectly matched layer (CFS-PML) is also presented to absorb the spurious reflections caused by truncated boundaries. In order to accelerate the simulation, we port the algorithm to GPU based on CUFFT, by which we need not to care much about the allocation and mapping of the global memory to the shared one in thread blocks. With GPU's inner data parallelism, we illustrate the efficacy of GPU in accelerating the simulation by achieving magnitude of speedup at no extra cost. We also validate the effect of CFS-PML and our approach to simulate the dispersive Debye medium.


A 63-year-old woman had abnormal shadows on a chest radiograph taken on a medical examination during treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. The chest radiograph showed linear and reticular shadows and ground glass opacities in the bibasilar lung fields. Though we considered rheumatoid arthritis due to joint disorder and a positive reaction for serum anti-CCP antibody, there were no bone lesions or articular narrowing on radiographs of the fingers. We diagnosed antisynthetase syndrome after we obtained a positive reaction for serum anti-PL-7 antibody. Antisynthetase syndrome demonstrates findings similar to those of rheumatoid arthritis, and this disease should be taken into consideration if chest computed tomography demonstrates consolidation with predominant patchy and irregular bronchovascular bundle thickening with a subpleural distribution.


In a sequential clinical trial whose stopping rule depends on the primary endpoint, inference on secondary endpoints is an important long-standing problem. Ignoring the possibility of early stopping based on the primary endpoint may result in substantial bias. To address this problem, a commonly used approach is to develop bias correction by estimating the bias in the case of bivariate normal outcomes and appealing to joint asymptotic normality of the statistics associated with the primary and secondary endpoints. We propose herein a new approach that uses resampling and a novel ordering scheme in the sample space of sequential statistics observed up to a stopping time. This approach is shown to provide accurate inference in complex clinical trials, including time-sequential trials with survival endpoints and covariates. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.


For the Wind Energy Conversion System, when the sensors and the actuators are error, according to multi-time scale of wind speed, two-frequency-loop model is established for WECS based on the nonlinear mechanical model. According to the two-frequency-loop model, PI static optimal control is used in the low-frequency-loop, while by using a reduced order fault observer to detect the state of fault and the state of the system at the same time, then adopt a optimal fault-tolerant control, and then maximize the efficiency of captured wind energy, as well as the system work well when the sensors and the actuators are error. Simulation results demonstrate that when the sensors and the actuators are error, the feasibility of two-frequency-loop control based on the optimal fault-tolerant control is effective.


This study evaluated the effects of feeding varying levels of dietary DL-methionine (MET) supplementation on breast meat (BM) quality of broilers of different sex. The 1-day-old, sexed chicks (Ross 708, 1552) were randomly allocated into four groups (each with 4 replicates) and were raised with diets supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1, or 2 g MET/kg of feed to a common weight (2.72 kg). Color, pH, drip loss (DL), water-holding capacity, moisture uptake, cooking yield (CY), texture, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and lipid oxidation (LO) were determined using BM samples harvested 24 h postmortem. The male BM had higher redness, TAC, firmness, and toughness but lower yellowness (p < 0.01) than the female BM. In both sexes, birds fed 0.5 g/kg MET had lower DL (p < 0.01) than those fed 1 and 2 g/kg MET. For storage up to 3 days, MET suppressed LO in cooked BM (p < 0.01) and suppression increased as MET increased. CY for 1 and 2 g/kg MET were higher (p < 0.01; 79.04 and 78.60%, respectively) than CY for 0 and 0.5 g/kg MET (66.18 and 68.03%, respectively). These results suggest that MET supplementation at 1 g/kg or higher for broilers can improve oxidative stability, muscle functionality, and breast meat CY.


There is evidence that low back pain may originate from a peridural membrane (PDM) at the inferior and medial aspect of neural foramen of the lumbar spine. The objective of this investigation was to determine if this membrane contains neural elements suggestive of sensory innervation with nociceptive function. Spines of four embalmed and three non‐embalmed human cadavers were dissected using a sagittal approach to the neural foramen. Seventeen samples of the peridural membrane overlying the neural foramen were collected for immunohistochemistry (IHC) examination by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Chromagin tagged antibodies to protein gene product 9.5 (PGP9.5) and S‐100, and fluorescent antibodies to substance P and calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) were used to label neural structures in tissue sections cut from paraffin embedded blocks. This approach allows good visualization of all neural elements, small sensory, and nociceptive nerve fibers in particular. Neural elements were found in all samples. Marked presence of small nerve fibers was observed in 12 of 15 samples. IHC and TEM evaluation revealed myelinated as well as unmyelinated fibers in the peridural membrane. CGRP and substance P immunoreactive fibers indicative of nociceptive function were abundant. These findings confirm and expand evidence that the peridural membrane in human is well innervated and contains sensory nociceptive nerve fibers suggestive of a nociceptive function of the membrane. Anat Rec, 299:484–491, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


: The most sensitive Arabic text available online is the digital Holy Quran. This sacred Islamic religious book is recited by all Muslims world-wide including non-Arabs as part of their worship needs. Thus, it should be protected from any kind of tampering to keep its invaluable meaning intact. Different characteristics of Arabic letters like the vowels ( ), Kashida (extended letters), and other symbols in the Holy Quran must be secured from alterations. The cover text of the Quran and its watermarked text are different due to the low values of the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Embedding Ratio (ER). A watermarking technique with enhanced attributes must, therefore, be designed for the Quran's text using Arabic vowels with kashida. The gap addressed by this paper is to improve the security of Arabic text in the Holy Quran by using vowels with kashida. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the Quran text watermarking scheme based on a reversing technique. The methodology consists of four phases: The first phase is a pre-processing followed by the second phase-the embedding process phase—which will hide the data after the vowels. That is, if the secret bit is "1", then the kashida is inserted; however, the kashida is not inserted if the bit is "0". The third phase is the extraction process and the last phase is to evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme by using PSNR (for the imperceptibility) and ER (for the capacity). The experimental results show that the proposed method of imperceptibility insertion is also optimized with the help of a reversing algorithm. The proposed strategy obtains a 90.5% capacity. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm attained 66.1% which is referred to as imperceptibility.


Objectives UK ERAS pathways are well established but length of stay (LOS) is still longer than for international exemplar sites. This survey asked staff what they felt were the issues that needed to be addressed in order to reduce LOS further. Methods Attendees at a multi-disciplinary meeting (Enhanced Recovery in Orthopaedic Surgery Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, 20/01/15) were surveyed. Results 58 respondents from 23 hospitals in England, Scotland and Ireland were made up of nurses (27), physiotherapists (18), anaesthetists (7), occupational therapists (3), surgeons (2) and a pharmacist. 54 respondents had two or more years experience working in ERAS. The staff surveyed thought that the most important factors in order to achieve a short LOS within their own hospitals were: When the respondents were asked which issues they felt they needed to improve within their own hospitals to shorten current LOS, 35 thought that better post-operative analgesia was required and 29 thought better pre-operative patient education and expectation management were required. There were three other major themes: One respondent commented Sometimes people can have severe pain but achieve goals and go home early. Conclusion Experienced ERAS staff cited pre-operative patient education and post-operative analgesia most frequently as key factors in achieving a short LOS, but as a group also identified these two steps as the ones most needing to be improved. Managing the side effects of anaesthesia, improving physiotherapy access, and greater social and community support post-discharge were also deemed important.


In this paper, a mathematical model for vehicle-occupant frontal crash is developed. The developed model is represented as a double-spring-mass-damper system, whereby the front mass and the rear mass represent the vehicle chassis and the occupant, respectively. The springs and dampers in the model are nonlinear piecewise functions of displacements and velocities respectively. More specifically, a genetic algorithm (GA) approach is proposed for estimating the parameters of vehicle front structure and restraint system. Finally, it is shown that the obtained model can accurately reproduce the real crash test data taken from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The maximum dynamic crash of the vehicle model is 0.05% less than that in the real crash test. The displacement of the occupant is 0.09% larger than that from the crash test. Improvement of the model accuracy is also observed from the time at maximum displacement and the rebound velocities for both the vehicle and occupant.


The dbl oncogene, generated by the truncation of the amino-terminal portion of the proto-oncogene sequence, encodes a guanine-nucleotide-releasing factor. The transforming activity of this oncogene has never been demonstrated in vivo or in vitro except in the NIH 3T3 mouse fibroblast cell line. The expression of the proto-dbl transcript is confined to tissues and tumors of neuroectodermal derivation. Therefore, to study the transforming activity of the dbl oncogene in vivo, we have generated transgenic mice that express this oncogene in neuroepithelial tissues. Mice carrying the dbl oncogene did not develop a tumor. Successively, to establish whether dbl interacts with the tumor suppressor gene p53 in tumorigenesis, we have used a p53 deficient mouse strain. The results reported here indicate that dbl is capable of causing tumor formation in vivo when its expression is driven in an appropriate cellular and genetic environment.


Aim: The frequent occurrence of psoriasis with gastrointestinal system diseases indicates that psoriasis may also be associated with IBS. We aimed to evaluate the frequency of irritable bowel syndrome in patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Material and Methods: Study included 111 patients with psoriasis, and 214 healthy volunteers. The presence of IBS in the psoriasis and control groups was evaluated according to the Rome III diagnostic criteria (Recurrent abdominal pain or discomfort at least 3 days/month in the last 3 months associated with two or more of the following: Improvement with defecation, onset associated with a change in frequency of stool, onset associated with a change in form (appearance) of stool). The participants were also asked about the presence of findings supporting the diagnosis of IBS. The participants were asked about the frequency of defecation, and the stool type was evaluated according to the Bristol stool form scale Results: 41 (36.9%) patients in the psoriasis group and 27 (12.6%) controls were detected to have IBS( p< 0.001). Passage of mucus, abdominal distension, and straining were found more frequently in the psoriasis group than in the control group (p = 0.023, 0.001, and 0.001, respectively). The mean defecation frequency per week was significantly higher in the psoriasis group than in the control group (p = 0.000). The mean value for the Bristol stool scale was 4.12 ± 1.13 for the psoriasis group and 3.72 ± 1.16 for the control group (p = 0.003). Conclusion: The increased frequency of IBS and the findings supporting the diagnosis of IBS in these patients suggest that they have a tendency to develop IBS. The indication of a higher frequency of IBS in patients with psoriatic arthritis is another important outcome of the present study.


In Uganda, upgrading smallholder agriculture is a necessary step to achieve the interlinked sustainable development goals of hunger eradication, poverty reduction and land degradation neutrality. However, targeting the right restoration practices and estimate their cost-benefit at the national scale is difficult given the highly contextual nature of restoration practices and the diversity of small-scale interventions to be adopted. By analysing the context-specific outcomes of 82 successful case studies on different sustainable land and water management (SLWM) in Uganda, we estimated that out-scaling of existing successful practices to 75% of agricultural land would require a one-time investment of US$ 4.4 billion from smallholders. Our results show that, besides the many social and environmental benefit commonly associated to SLWM, a wide outscale of SLWM could generate US$ 4.7 billion every year, once the practices are fully operational. Our context-specific estimates highlight the profitability of investing in smallholder farming to achieve the sustainable development goals in Uganda, with geographical differences coming from specific social-ecological conditions. This study can guide sustainable intensification development by targeting the most suitable SLWM practices and plan for adequate financial support from government, investors and international development aids to smallholder farming.


Crop yield is a result of the interaction between plant genetic traits, soil properties, agrotechnology and climatic regimes. Low yield tend to be formed in regions where it is limited to the extent of water availability, heat stress and the short duration of the grain filling period. High temperature and drought stress are projected to reduce crop yields and threaten food security. The article presents the results of studies on the effectiveness of treatment of spring barley crops with modern growth-regulating drugs on the background of mineral fertilizers, carried out in different weather and climatic conditions in 2013–2017 yrs on the Southern chernozem in the conditions of Steppe of Ukraine. It was studied the influence of weather and climatic conditions, varietal characteristics of spring barley and nutrition variants on the formation of grain yield. It was determined that the cultivation of spring barley, the introduction of pre-sowing cultivation of mineral fertilizer at a dose of N30P30 (background) and the use of crop foliar fertilizing at the beginning of the phase of stooling and earing by the complex organo-mineral fertilizer Escort bio created favorable conditions for the growth and development of plants of the studied varieties, which in turn had a positive effect on grain yield. Thus, according to this variant of nutrition, on average, during the years of research, it was formed the yield of 3.25–3.61 t ha grains depending on the studied variety. Results of researches showed that weather conditions during the years of research significantly influenced on the productivity of spring barley varieties. In 2016 the amount of precipitation was the highest (174.0 mm), the temperature during vegetation of spring barley was +14.9 °C. In 2013 the amount of precipitation was the lowest (67.4 mm), the temperature was +18.5 °C. The lowest crop yield was formed in 2013, and the highest yield was formed in 2016. Studies showed that the influence of weather factors in various interfacial periods of growth and development of spring barley was significant enough for the manifestation of signs of yield and its elements and is more dependent on rainfall.


While the mathematics, physics, and technology behind magnetic resonance (MR) and fluorescence image formation are distinctively different, the two modalities have significant complementary features to impart strong preclinical and clinical application synergies. Traditionally, hybrid MR and fluorescence imaging implied the use of a system where optical and MR signals can be concurrently acquired. In this case, the common geometry allows for the superposition of fluorescence images of cellular and subcellular processes onto anatomical and functional MR images. More recently, a different hybrid imaging paradigm is strongly evolving by utilizing hybrid MR-fluorescence nanoparticles. This approach offers a second paradigm of hybrid visualization where the common underlying contrast enables the coregistration of MR and fluorescence images acquired under different geometries. We review herein progress with the evolving field of multimodality MR and fluorescence imaging and discuss how these strategies offer a highly promising outlook in established and in novel preclinical and clinical applications.


In this paper, we report a self-balancing robot wheelchair which has the capability of keeping upright posture regardless of the terrain inclination in terms of the three dimensional balancing motion. It has the mobility of five degrees of freedom, where pitching, yawing, and forward motions are generated by the two-wheeled inverted pendulum mechanism and the rolling and vertical motions are implemented by the movement of the tilting mechanism. Several design considerations are suggested for the sliding type vehicle body, wheel actuator module, tilting actuator module, power and control system, and the riding module.


The investigation of electron impact ionization by the electron-electron (e,2e) coincidence technique has been restricted to the nonrelativistic energy region (typically 10 eV to 10 keV). The authors report on an (e,2e) experiment using a 500 keV electron beam impinging upon thin-foil targets. Absolute triply differential cross sections and angular distributions for K-shell ionization of silver and gold were measured, showing appreciable discrepancies compared with theoretical predictions.


Digital contact tracing/notification was initially hailed as a promising strategy to combat SARS-CoV-2, but in most jurisdictions it did not live up to its promise. To avert a given transmission event, both parties must have adopted the tech, it must detect the contact, the primary case must be promptly diagnosed, notifications must be triggered, and the secondary case must change their behavior to avoid the focal tertiary transmission event. Achieving a 26% reduction in R(t) requires 80% success rates at each of these six points of failure. Here we review the six failure rates experienced by a variety of digital contact tracing/notification schemes, including Singapore's TraceTogether, India's Aarogya Setu, and leading implementations of the Google Apple Exposure Notification system. This leads to a number of recommendations, e.g. that tracing/notification apps be multi-functional and integrated with testing, manual contact tracing, and the gathering of critical scientific data, and that the narrative be framed in terms of user autonomy rather than user privacy.


Background: To maintain glucose control in T1DM is especially difficult in children that have unpredictable amounts of physical activity and broad eating patterns. Advances in diabetes technology include Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion (CSII) and patch/tubeless micropumps are newer options available. Patch pumps are free of tubing, small and lightweight. We aimed to report the initial clinical effect of an insulin micropump therapy in a cohort of children with T1DM.
 Method: We studied pediatric patients (5-years old) , converting from multiple daily injections of insulin (MDI) to Roche Accu-chek Solo tubeless micropump system. Nine children (5 female/4 male) were followed during 1 and 3 months. All patients used Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) and data was collected to learn time spent in hypoglycemia, normoglycemia and hyperglycemia, as well the glucose variability.
 Results: Data from this small cohort showed that basal insulin infusion rates at baseline and 3 months were similar (7.7U to 7.6U) and insulin bolus requirements reduced from 14.3U to 12.7U, respectively. Based on CGM analysis the table below shows the % of time spent at different glycemia values (mean/SD) , as well its variability. HbA1c was 7.3% at baseline and 7.4% after 3 months, and there were no emergency room admissions due to severe hypoglycemia.
 Conclusion: The initial results of this new insulin micropump therapy in children showed an improvement on glucose control and variability, without increasing hypoglycemia. Additional studies are necessary to demonstrate the medium and long-term effect of this new device in this population.

 L. Rista: Advisory Panel; Roche Diabetes Care. Speaker's Bureau; AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk. A. Flores: Speaker's Bureau; Novo Nordisk, Roche Diabetes Care, Sanofi. M. Rivers: Employee; Roche Diabetes Care. C. Vulcano: Employee; Roche Diabetes Care. E. Repetto: Employee; Roche Diabetes Care.


In high-energy physics experiments, front-end (FE) digitization modules are usually driven by a common clock. At the front-end electronics and digitization modules of the detector, a precise timing reference must be established in order to make a useful timing measurement. It would be very useful for the front-end digitization system to include a feature of redundant timing crosschecking. The inspiration for the timing crosschecking scheme came from the long-abandoned analog mean-timer schemes. In this scheme, several Front-end modules are connected together through a cable set with taps connected to the digitization modules. Pulses are driven from every FE module alternately without overlapping. The arrival times of pulses sent from FE modules are digitized at the timing crosschecking module. The mean times will change as temperature changes, but the difference between the two FE modules is canceled mathematically. This feature enables the easy achievement of good timing precision without the need for complex hardware.


Rett syndrome (RTT) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by mutations or deletions in Methyl-CpG-binding Protein 2 (MeCP2), a brain-enriched transcriptional regulator. MeCP2 is highly expressed during neuronal maturation and its deficiency results in impaired dendritic morphogenesis and reduced dendritic spine numbers in developing neurons. However, whether MeCP2 deficiency impacts the integration of new neurons has not been directly assessed. In this study, we developed a modified rabies virus-mediated monosynaptic retrograde tracing method to interrogate presynaptic integration of MeCP2-deficient new neurons born in the adult hippocampus, a region with lifelong neurogenesis and plasticity. We found that selective deletion of MeCP2 in adult-born new neurons impaired their long-range connectivity to the cortex, whereas their connectivity within the local hippocampal circuits or with subcortical regions was not significantly affected. We further showed that knockdown of MeCP2 in primary hippocampal neurons also resulted in reduced network integration. Interestingly, (1-3) insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), a small peptide under clinical trial testing for RTT, rescued neuronal integration deficits of MeCP2-deficient neurons in vitro but not in vivo. In addition, (1-3) IGF-1 treatment corrected aberrant excitability and network synchrony of MeCP2-deficient hippocampal neurons. Our results indicate that MeCP2 is essential for immature neurons to establish appropriate network connectivity.


Iris registration aims at processing many iris images which collected from the same person, these images are different in pupil size, texture and so on. The study in this research field is very valuable. In this paper we have proposed that apply curve fitting technology in iris registration. First, the Harris corner detection has been employed to check the feature of iris images, followed we have combined the local jet and LBP approach to obtain some potential matching points between iris images, then according to the ratio of the Euclidean-distance from the matched points to the center of each pupil we have drawn the plot. Finally we have done the curve fitting, using the curves to estimate transform model and acquired the iris registration images. The experimental results have shown that our method is more accurate and more close to source image than traditional method which found in current literature.


Eighteen months after the occurrence of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, Philadelphia (Ph1) chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia developed in a 69-year-old woman. The coexistence of the two disorders was characterized by an initial reduction of paraproteinemia at the time that leukemia occurred, a long-lasting remission of the two disorders, and a final parallel increase of paraproteins and WBCs. Since leukemia occurred 15 months after the interruption of melphalan therapy, the potential mutagenic role of chemotherapy was considered irrelevant. Therefore, Waldenström's macroglobulinemia might favor the occurrence of chronic myeloid leukemia.


We show that the representation cost of fully connected neural networks with homogeneous nonlinearities - which describes the implicit bias in function space of networks with $L_2$-regularization or with losses such as the cross-entropy - converges as the depth of the network goes to infinity to a notion of rank over nonlinear functions. We then inquire under which conditions the global minima of the loss recover the `true' rank of the data: we show that for too large depths the global minimum will be approximately rank 1 (underestimating the rank); we then argue that there is a range of depths which grows with the number of datapoints where the true rank is recovered. Finally, we discuss the effect of the rank of a classifier on the topology of the resulting class boundaries and show that autoencoders with optimal nonlinear rank are naturally denoising.


Effective climate adaptation in sub-Saharan African agriculture will require coordination across multiple scales of governance. Decision-makers from local to national scales will be tasked with planning under conditions of high uncertainty, often with minimal data. Participatory scenario planning is a method for devising adaptation strategies under high uncertainty, and we hypothesized that it could also be used for identifying systemic, inclusive, and transformative adaptation options at the community scale, and for highlighting opportunities for cross-scalar collaboration. We conducted scenario exercises with two communities in southeastern Nigeria that have experienced increasing flooding and other challenges linked to climate variability. Both communities identified drivers of change that intersect with climate, as well as community-scale actions that would improve adaptation to a range of future scenarios. We found evidence that scenario exercises can stimulate communities to develop transformative approaches to climate adaptation that seek to reduce climate risk by creating new systems and processes. We also found that community-identified priorities for strategic action highlight how larger-scale interventions could coordinate with communities to adapt more effectively. Participatory scenario planning is therefore a potentially important tool for adaptation planning in regions in which future conditions are highly uncertain.


The creative economy has received little attention from the academic community, despite its economic and cultural importance. This article seeks to contribute to the literature on the subject focusing on the animation industry, specifically the TV animation production, because recently the country produced success animations series on cable TV broadcasted not only in Brazil but also in several countries. This paper analyzes how the national producers built competitive advantages that allowed succeeding in their productions in a market dominated by international studios. To achieve this aim we conducted an exploratory descriptive research analyzing three producers (Flamma, TV PinGuim and 2DLab) that display your product in the Discovery Kids channel that focus on preschool shows. We interviewed all producers (in a total of six, two from each producer), plus a representative of the animation industry for the cinema. Besides the interviews, we used secondary data, collected primarily in the media (newspapers, magazines and internet). The study revealed the convergence of two sources of competitive advantage. The first related to internal factors to producing studied (technical knowledge and business vision) and the second source connected to environmental factors created by the industry production chain (creation of new TV channels, interest from international partners and funding for the production).


The longtime application of oral contraceptives is assumed to elevate serum prolactin levels under non-stimulated conditions. We therefore examined whether oral contraceptives also will augment prolactin secretion after stimulation, e.g. by thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH). After TRH stimulation the time sequence of secretion both of prolactin (HPRL) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) was determined. Three groups of women were tested in a non-randomized study: group 1 without any hormonal medication (= controls), group 2 taking an oral contraceptives containing cyproterone acetate, group 3 using an oral contraceptive containing d-norgestrel. HPRL secretion was similar in all three groups, the same held true for TSH. A possible correlation between the secretion of HPRL and TSH was examined in the control group. No such correlation was found. The secretion patterns of both hormones also were different. In addition, the basic levels of both HPRL and TSH did not seem to influence the response after stimulation.


A more accurate method of DC processing data to distinguish the anomalous body is important for the prediction and detection of potential risk such as goaf and water inrush. In this paper, we have performed a DC data processing process, which relies on the theory of aggregation-area(C-A). We investigate the apparent resistant and apparent resistant isograms cumulative area as a function to search the threshold as the boundary value. Comparisons of the conventional data processing method to physical simulation that the C-A identified the higher resistance anomalous body better than the lower resistance because its sensitivity. Scoped the higher resistance area almost identical with the physical model, while the lower approach the nearest boundary. The results are in good agreement with the physical model, validating C-A multifractal theory as an effective way for DC accurate interpretation.


Intravital imaging of leukocyte-endothelial interactions offers valuable insights into immune-mediated disease in live animals. The study of acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and other respiratory pathologies in vivo is difficult due to the limited accessibility and inherent motion artifacts of the lungs. Nonetheless, various approaches have been developed to overcome these challenges. This protocol describes a method for intravital fluorescence microscopy to study real-time leukocyte-endothelial interactions in the pulmonary microcirculation in an experimental model of ALI. An in vivo lung imaging system and 3-D printed intravital microscopy platform are used to secure the anesthetized mouse and stabilize the lung while minimizing confounding lung injury. Following preparation, widefield fluorescence microscopy is used to study leukocyte adhesion, leukocyte rolling, and capillary function. While the protocol presented here focuses on imaging in an acute model of inflammatory lung disease, it may also be adapted to study other pathological and physiological processes in the lung.


Growing populations, socio-economic development, the pollution of rivers, and the withdrawal of fresh water are all signs of increasing water scarcity, and with 85% of global use, agriculture is the biggest freshwater user. The water footprint (WF) and virtual water (VW) are concepts used recently for freshwater resources assessment. The WF reflects how much, when and where the water was used whereas VW reveals the volume of water embedded in goods when traded. The first goal of this research is to determine the WF per ton and the WF of production (Mm3/yr) of wheat, barley, rice, and maize in Iraq. The second goal is estimating the quantities of the 4 main cereal crops imported into Iraq and assessing the impact on reducing WF and land savings for 10 years from 2007 to 2016. The results showed that the WF per ton was 1736, 1769, 3694, 2238 m3/ton and the WF of production was 5271, 1475, 997, 820 Mm3/yr for wheat, barley, rice, and maize, respectively. The median total VW imported was 4408 Mm3/yr, the largest volume was 3478 Mm3/yr from wheat, and Iraq saved about 2676 Mm3 of irrigated water and 1,239,539 M ha of land by importing crops every year during 2007–2016. The study revealed the significance of better irrigation management methods to decrease the WF through a selection of crops that need less water and cultivation in rain-fed areas, as well as the use of cereal import to conserve scarce water resources, which is crucial both in terms of water resource management and preservation of the environment. The results of this research could be used as a guideline for better water management practices in Iraq and can provide helpful data for both stakeholders and policymakers.


In the field of electrochemical biosensing, transition metal complexes achieved a significant importance as hybridization indicators or electroactive markers of DNA. Their incorporation in electro-chemical DNA biosensors enables to offer a promising perspective in understanding of the biological activity of some chemical compounds. In this context, the development of innovative configurations of electrochemical DNA biosensors applied to life sciences during the last years were reviewed in the present article. In the first part, a brief introduction of nanomaterial based electrochemical DNA biosensors is given. In the second part, the complexes of transition metals with biological interest and their applications in electrochemical DNA biosensors are being described.