Recognition of overlapped speech has been a highly challenging task to date. State-of-the-art multi-channel speech separation system are becoming increasingly complex and expensive for practical applications. To this end, low-bit neural network quantization provides a powerful solution to dramatically reduce their model size. However, current quantization methods are based on uniform precision and fail to account for the varying performance sensitivity at different model components to quantization errors. In this paper, novel mixed precision DNN quantization methods are proposed by applying locally variable bit-widths to individual TCN components of a TF masking based multi-channel speech separation system. The optimal local precision settings are automatically learned using three techniques. The first two approaches utilize quantization sensitivity metrics based on either the mean square error (MSE) loss function curvature, or the KL-divergence measured between full precision and quantized separation models. The third approach is based on mixed precision neural architecture search. Experiments conducted on the LRS3-TED corpus simulated overlapped speech data suggest that the proposed mixed precision quantization techniques consistently outperform the uniform precision baseline speech separation systems of comparable bit-widths in terms of SI-SNR and PESQ scores as well as word error rate (WER) reductions up to 2.88% absolute (8% relative).


The following document is reprinted with the permission of our ACAS colleagues in the US (see their web site at http://acas.prairenet.org/). ACAS has chosen to address the role of western oil companies in Africa in order to see if activists running campaigns in the US, Africa and Europe could together develop a more robust position on oil, development, human rights and the environment. Our aim is to share analyses, strategies and tactics and to help other groups make oil a focus of their work in these four years of the US oil presidency. This issue of the Bulletin will, we hope, open a vigorous debate about oil and energy alternatives, about extractive industries and development, as well as about globalization and the looting of Africa's other resources, including biodiversity.


Background and Purpose- Most aneurysms are a focal manifestation of a systemic condition. Some reports have suggested genetic and environmental factors may play a role in pathogenesis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of intracranial aneurysms (IA) in a large cohort of patients with other systemic vessel aneurysms and dissections (OVAD) and identify potential risk factors for IA in this population. Methods- We defined OVAD as systemic vessel aneurysms, excluding aortic dissections and aneurysms. A cohort of 1.1 million patients was extracted from the population-based cohort from the Korea National Health Insurance Service, which holds almost all medical data including diagnostic codes, procedures, and personal information. Using χ2 or Fisher exact test, the prevalence of the IA concerning OVAD status was analyzed. Results- In OVAD individuals, 25.7% (261/1017) of patients had been concurrently diagnosed with IA. The odds ratios for having concurrent IA in patients with OVAD were 56.31 (95% CI, 48.821-64.949; P=0.000). OVAD patients with dyslipidemia were >7× likely to be affected by IA (adjusted odds ratio, 7.7 [95% CI, 6.59-9.01]; P=0.000). Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, old age (>60 years), and male sex had increased odds for having concurrent IA by 5.89, 3.48, 1.83, and 1.35, respectively. Subgroup analysis with socioeconomic or disability revealed that the prevalence of IA was significantly higher in all groups. Uncertainty regarding the temporal sequence of onset and lack of detail on disease severity and subtype prevented more conclusive results. Conclusions- Patients with OVAD have a higher prevalence of IA than control groups. Therefore, we may approach aneurysms as systemic disease, and further investigations about their pathophysiology must follow.


We study the Optimal Linear Arrangement (OLA) problem of Halin graphs, one of the simplest classes of non-outerplanar graphs. We present several properties of OLA of general Halin graphs. We prove a lower bound on the cost of OLA of any Halin graph, and define classes of Halin graphs for which the cost of OLA matches this lower bound. We show for these classes of Halin graphs, OLA can be computed in O(n logn), where n is the number of vertices.


The World Bank's assistance strategies showed strong client orientation and were aligned with Uganda's poverty reduction strategy. The programs were substantially effective in decentralization, public sector reform, growth and economic transformation, education, and water and sanitation. However, more could have been done to help counter the perception of increasing corruption, improve power supply, reduce transport costs, enhance agricultural productivity, and help with family planning and reproductive health. The AfDB's assistance was also relevant and aligned with the government's development goals. Its support substantially achieved its objectives for decentralization, public sector finance, growth and economic transformation, improved competitiveness, agriculture, and water and sanitation, as well as education and health. However, there were some shortcomings in the assistance provided for power and roads and in reducing corruption. This report evaluates World Bank and African Development Bank assistance to Uganda during 2001-07. The motivation to undertake a joint evaluation was the shift to a common strategic framework, the Uganda Joint Assistance Strategy (UJAS), to guide the formulation and delivery of their programs. Under a common strategic framework joint evaluation is, in principal, more cost effective than the equivalent separate evaluations, since at least some aspects of the evaluation can be done together. This also helps to reduce government transaction costs. The evaluation discusses the outcome of the support of each bank, rates each independently, noting that the two banks are of different size, capacity, and institutional setting. In addition, the two banks have programs that were not implemented jointly but in parallel, although they regularly engaged with one another as development partners. The outcome ratings for the two institutions are therefore not comparable and should not be used to imply that one institution did 'better' than the other.


We report a case of a 59-year-old woman who presented with gross hematuria due to development of a pseudoaneurysm that was diagnosed using Doppler ultrasonography 16 days after retroperitoneoscopic partial nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma. Hematuria resolved after the patient was treated with selective angioembolization of the pseudoaneurysm. There has been no recurrence of the pseudoaneurysm for 28 months after the procedure.


Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) drives apoptosis selectively in cancer cells by clustering death receptors (DR4 and DR5). While it has excellent in vitro selectivity and toxicity, the TRAIL protein has a very low circulation half-life in vivo, which has hampered clinical development. Here, we developed core-cross-linked micelles that present multiple copies of a TRAIL-mimicking peptide at its surface. These micelles successfully induce apoptosis in a colon cancer cell line (COLO205) via DR4/5 clustering. Micelles with a peptide density of 15% (roughly 1 peptide/45 nm2) displayed the strongest activity with an IC50 value of 0.8 μM (relative to peptide), demonstrating that the precise spatial arrangement of ligands imparted by a protein such as a TRAIL may not be necessary for DR4/5/signaling and that a statistical network of monomeric ligands may suffice. As micelles have long circulation half-lives, we propose that this could provide a potential alternative drug to TRAIL and stimulate the use of micelles in other membrane receptor clustering networks.


The composite of cement base matrix filled with LDPE/PET/Styrofoam plastic waste as aggregates has been successfully synthesized through a conventional mixing process. The highest density and lowest water absorbability of the composite are 2.06 g/cm3 and 6.02% respectively. SEM results show the distribution of sand aggregates were distributed evenly within the matrix. The PET has shown the tendency to form a spherical morphology. It is probably caused by the high adhesiveness of PET that induces the surface tension between PET and LDPE. The highest compressive strength value of the composite is 18.8 MPa.


We present microscopic results on the giant tunneling magnetoresistance that arises from the nanoscale coexistence of ferromagnetic metallic (FMM) and antiferromagnetic insulating (AFI) clusters in a disordered two-dimensional electron system with competing double exchange and superexchange interactions. Our Monte Carlo study allows us to map out the different field regimes in magnetotransport and correlate it with the evolution of spatial structures. At coexistence, the isotropic O(3) model shows signs of slow relaxation, and has a high density of low-energy metastable states, but no genuine glassiness. However, in the presence of weak magnetic anisotropy, and below a field-dependent irreversibility temperature Tirr, the response on field cooling (FC) differs distinctly from that on zero field cooling (ZFC). We map out the phase diagram of this "phase coexistence glass", highlight how its response differs from that of a standard spin glass, and compare our results with data on the manganites.


A new approach for the learning process of multilayer perceptron neural networks using the recursive least squares (RLS) type algorithm is proposed. This method minimizes the global sum of the square of the errors between the actual and the desired output values iteratively. The weights in the network are updated upon the arrival of a new training sample and by solving a system of normal equations recursively. To determine the desired target in the hidden layers an analog of the back-propagation strategy used in the conventional learning algorithms is developed. This permits the application of the learning procedure to all the layers. Simulation results on the 4-b parity checker and multiplexer networks were obtained which indicate significant reduction in the total number of iterations when compared with those of the conventional and accelerated back-propagation algorithms. >


This commentary explains the reasons for the extensive variations in pneumococcal penicillin resistance based on a literature review of pneumococcal penicillin-binding proteins, the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of beta-lactams, the risk factors associated with mortality, laboratory issues and challenges, including identification, susceptibility testing, and clinical reporting, and the management of invasive and noninvasive Streptococcus pneumoniae infections.


Problems associated with census enumeration in Latin America are explored using examples from Guatemala and Mexico. Particular attention is paid to problems concerning differences between boundaries of local administrative areas. The author stresses the need for improving the quality of the data collected rather than focusing on improving techniques of data analysis. (ANNOTATION)


After the New Left: U.S. Cultural Radicalism and the Central America Solidarity Movement, 1979-1992 examines how the work of intellectuals, journalists and filmmakers combined with that of transnational solidarity activists during the 1980s to negotiate the legacies of the U.S. New Left and create a radical anti-interventionist movement forged around opposition to the policies of the Reagan administration in Central America. The case studies examined include the revisionist historiography of Walter LaFeber and Gabriel Kolko, transnational debates about the meaning of "solidarity" in the pages of several important publications by Verso Books, antiinterventionist journalism at left-liberal magazine The Nation and radical weekly newspaper the Guardian, and political filmmaking including Haskell Wexler's Latino (1985) and Oliver Stone's Salvador (1986), as well as feminist documentaries When the Mountains Tremble (1983) and Maria's Story (1991).
Detailed historical analysis of each case study casts light on the relationship that developed between cultural work and political activism during the 1980s, a relationship that helped to sustain the U.S. left through a long and difficult period of Republican ascendency, economic restructuring and decline in trade union militancy. Ultimately, whilst the individuals and institutions examined often used their work to provide representations of the ideas and impulses of the Central America solidarity movement, they also played a sometimes unanticipated role in the constitution of antiinterventionist politics. In other words, the cultural work of intellectuals, journalists and filmmakers played a role not only in reflecting political processes, but also in helping to shape them. Analysis of the uses to which U.S. cultural radicalism was put in the immediate period "after the New Left" therefore provides an excellent opportunity not only to engage with the complex legacies of 1960s radicalism in recent American history, but also to rethink the question of the relationship between radical culture and activist politics.


This study examines the effect temperature has on stock returns, and whether clean energy stocks respond differently to temperature than the general stock market. The paper focuses on three different indices; a clean energy index, a market index, and an oil/gas index, with the majority of stocks trading at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Psychological studies suggest that temperature affects people's mood, in turn leading to behavioural changes. Further on, the feeling of apathy and aggressiveness has been linked to warm and cold temperatures, respectively. With aggressiveness related to increased risk-taking and apathy linked with a reduced appetite for risk, we expect to see a general negative correlation between temperature and stock market returns. With climate change poising a growing threat, it has become a major reason for concern, both globally and locally. Studies on temperature and perceived climate change have shown that temperature anomalies have a significant influence on global warming attitudes. In light of this, we expect sufficiently high and low temperatures to have a positive impact on clean energy returns. After examining and comparing three different US stock indices, we find convincing evidence to support our primary hypotheses. Apathy seemingly dominates aggressiveness when temperatures rise, resulting in generally lower returns. For colder temperatures aggressiveness seem to be the dominating factor, leading to overall greater returns. However, the impact on clean energy returns is positive for both warm and cold temperatures, relative to the market. In addition, clean energy -and oil/gas companies have a completely opposite response pattern to warm weather, with a very positive reaction on clean energy stocks and an equally negative reaction on oil/gas stocks. This suggests that abnormally warm temperatures increase people's beliefs and awareness of climate change, resulting in excess returns for clean energy stocks. The observed results are statistically significant and robust to alternative tests, both before and after controlling for seasonal effects.


Purpose: To illustrate the use of one particular graphical method, the event chart (Lee et al., 2000), for the display of adverse events (AE's), along with other important considerations such as time on treatment/intervention, severity of AE's, treatment assignment, gender, etc., in longitudinal studies. These graphs can also include other key information such as efficacy measures and time-dependent covariates of interest. Methods: Emphasizing an application of a dose-ranging smoking cessation trial of naltrexone, we use event charts to convey a few potentially interesting findings from the complex data from this trial, with particular attention paid to the analysis of the safety (AE) data from the subset of individuals who dropped out before the end of the treatment phase of the study. Results: The event charts conveyed some interesting findings regarding relationships between gender, AE's and dropout time, as well as between treatment group, AE's and dropout time, and between AE burden and dropout time. Conclusion: Event charts can be one of the helpful exploratory tools in investigating the pattern of adverse events and their possible association with covariates and time on treatment/intervention in longitudinal studies. Findings from the event chart analysis of AE's could potentially lead to more formal statistical analysis and modeling. Software for generating these event charts is available in R and S-Plus.


Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the most prevalent disabilities for which effective therapeutic treatment is currently lacking. Auditory injury caused by excessive or constant noise exposure damages the sensory elements of the ear, leading to metabolic or mechanical damage to hair cells and subsequent degeneration of spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). To improve hearing in the NIHL patient population, maintenance and regeneration of inner hair cell-SGN synapses is critical. Although effective compounds for the treatment of NIHL have been suggested, challenges in delivery of the compounds to the inner hair cells (IHCs) hinder translation of these therapies to a clinical setting. Current routes of administration are ineffective in reaching IHCs or are invasive and may damage the cochlea. In this study, we examined less invasive delivery routes, via intrathecal (cerebrospinal fluid delivery) or intravenous injection, to administer adeno-associated virus serotype 9 (AAV9) expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) to target IHCs and SGNs. To induce auditory injury, mice were exposed to 100 dB sound pressure level (SPL) octave band noise for 2 hours. Mice were then injected at various time points post noise injury to determine if noise exposure influenced targeting efficiency. Three weeks post injection, cochleae were processed and analyzed for GFP expression using immunofluorescence. Our results demonstrate that intravenous delivery was not successful in targeting of IHCs or SGNs at any time point measured. However, intrathecally injected AAV9 was highly effective in targeting cells in both healthy and noise-damaged cochleae at multiple time points post-noise exposure. We conclude that gene therapy techniques can be utilized to efficiently deliver therapeutic transgenes to the cochlea using cerebrospinal fluid as a delivery route. These findings determine a novel route of delivery and open a new avenue of therapeutic treatment for auditory injury and cochlear disorders.


This paper provides a new mathematical foundation for the locally nameless representation of syntax with binders, one informed by nominal techniques. It gives an equational axiomatization of two key locally nameless operations, "variable opening" and "variable closing" and shows that a lot of the locally nameless infrastructure can be defined from that in a syntax-independent way, including crucially a "shift" functor for name binding. That functor operates on a category whose objects we call locally nameless sets. Functors combining shift with sums and products have initial algebras that recover the usual locally nameless representation of syntax with binders in the finitary case. We demonstrate this by uniformly constructing such an initial locally nameless set for each instance of Plotkin's notion of binding signature. We also show by example that the shift functor is useful for locally nameless sets of a semantic rather than a syntactic character. The category of locally nameless sets is proved to be isomorphic to a known topos of finitely supported M-sets, where M is the full transformation monoid on a countably infinite set. A corollary of the proof is that several categories that have been used in the literature to model variable renaming operations on syntax with binders are all equivalent to each other and to the category of locally nameless sets.


The pseudoparticle approach is a numerical method to approximate path integrals in SU(2) Yang‐Mills theory. Path integrals are computed by summing over all gauge field configurations, which can be represented by a linear superposition of a small number of pseudoparticles with amplitudes and color orientations as degrees of freedom. By comparing different pseudoparticle ensembles we determine properties of confining gauge field configurations. Our results indicate the importance of long range interactions between pseudoparticles and of non trivial topological properties.


Aims/Objectives: Although recently approved treatments for IPF delay lung function decline, novel therapeutic options are needed. c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), a stress-activated protein kinase, has been implicated in pulmonary fibrosis (PF) (Alcorn, 2009). In a previous study, CC-930, a first generation JNK inhibitor with a JNK2 bias, maintained stable FVC in subjects with IPF treated for 6 mos and decreased serum disease biomarkers (van der Velden, 2016). A study using mouse knockouts suggest JNK1, rather than JNK2, is the key JNK isoform in mediating PF (Alcorn, 2009). Methods: CC-90001 is a selective JNK inhibitor 12.9-fold more potent for JNK1 inhibition than JNK2 in a cell-based model. In a phase 1b study in patients with PF, CC-90001 (100mg QD, 200mg QD and 400mg QD) was continuously administered over 12 wks. Results: 16 subjects with PF (15 IPF; 1 RA-ILD) were treated with CC-90001, 100mg (n=3), 200mg (n=7) or 400mg (n=6). Fifteen subjects completed 12 wks of treatment. The most common AEs were GI in nature (all mild to moderate). Two of 3 subjects in the 100mg group had FVC declines at week 12 whereas 10 of 12 (83%) subjects in the combined 200/400mg groups had positive FVC changes at week 12. Mean FVC change from baseline in the combined 200/400mg groups was +168 ml (95% CI: +71 to +276). Plasma tenascin-C levels were reduced from a mean 717 at baseline to 585 ng/ml at week 12 (-132 ng/ml, 95% CI: -212 to -51). Conclusions: CC-90001 was associated with an overall lack of FVC decline in the 200/400mg dose groups, trends in reduced tenascin-C, and acceptable safety over 12 wks of treatment in patients with PF. These data support further clinical development of CC-90001 in patients with IPF.


With the push to repeal the Affordable Care Act, there is renewed interest in using tax credits to increase health insurance coverage. Another tax credit-driven policy, the Health Insurance Tax Credit (HITC), was implemented during 1991-1993. To date, only one paper has analyzed the effectiveness of the HITC on coverage rates. In this paper, I reexamine the effectiveness of the HITC by using the Survey of Income Program Participation and provide the first estimates of its effects on utilization and self-reported health status. Despite using the different data set, I find a similar result regarding coverage as the previous paper-the effect of the HITC was about 5.8 percentage points. I also find that self-reported health was significantly improved because of the HITC. I conclude by discussing the implications of these findings on the larger debate regarding current health care reform.


Critical process parameters in bioprocessing include pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature and agitation rate. Glucose is a critical process parameter because it affects the cell's metabolic profile, production of waste products and post-translational non-enzymatic glycation of proteins. Glycation can also lead to generation of advanced glycation end products, which results in binding inhibition, loss of therapeutic function and, in some cases, can generate an unwanted immunogenic response. Glycation can be minimized through careful control of glucose concentration in the process. Recent research has shown that online measurements of glucose can optimize fed-batch strategies to improve cell density and titer, and increase process robustness. Continuous glucose measurements offer important bioprocess information for process understanding and enables feedback control feed conditions from process development (PD) to manufacturing.


This venture is entitled "Portable voting framework" is produced by utilizing android as front end and SQLite as Back End. Amid decision period the rate of making of choice is turning out to be less step by step. The Indian subjects the individuals who are living in different nations can't make their choice, those whose are debilitated, old matured and for all intents and purposes disable. Every last individual has their own particular appropriate to vote as an Indian native and it is additionally a control followed in the nation. We give a chance to the general population the individuals who are not ready to vote. Our application depends both on security and coordinated web administrations to vote from anyplace with every single vital evidence, for example, voter id, photograph, Aadhar card, and so forth. An occasion can be depicted as an open get together with the end goal of festivity, instruction, showcasing, get-together or to settle on a choice. It as a rule requires a lot of investment and exertion from many individuals to put on an occasion of significance. Sometimes is difficult to settle on a choice on whether to offer for, and after that compose, a noteworthy occasion. Individuals will have varying perspectives dependant regularly on how agreeable they are with the degree of work that is included. The center of the application is to broaden the usefulness of the cell phone which can be utilized as opposed to voting frameworks' remote parts. The fundamental objective of the application in view of customer server design is to wipe out the overhead related with the remote parts taking care of. The effects of the application are decrease in time; voting number may increment up to 20% to 30% than the present situation, bringing about less issues in discretionary arrangements, peace, hopeful's use and give simple and precise checking with no devilishness at the tallying focus.


Many methods have been described for the detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), but the homogeneous or heterogeneous expression of methicillin resistance affects the reliability of those methods. This study demonstrates that close association between methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and MRSA strains in the host colonisation site can present additional problems for the detection of MRSA in clinical laboratories, which may contribute to failure in the control of MRSA infection in hospital. Worse, this association may also account for the emergence of MRSA during antibiotic therapy.


ABSTRACT As founder of a religious movement emphasizing soteriological goals, Paramahansa Yogananda is at odds with the prevailing scholarly portrayal of yoga as a modern, syncretic bodily practice focused on mindfulness and physical well-being that, even when employing language of transcendence, magic, or the supernatural, typically has this-worldly perfection in mind. Yogananda, thus, offers an important counterpoint to the dominant historiography of yoga. Whereas more recent "global gurus" often remained in India and recruited among diaspora Indians, Yogananda was the first Indian to establish a thriving yoga-based Hinduism among white converts in the United States. He worked to make his message compelling in the often-hostile milieu of a dominant Christian culture. In this article, I consider Southern California's identity as a "spiritual frontier" that offered a uniquely conducive space to launch a Hindu religious movement in a virulently xenophobic era. I explore Yogananda's vision of the "science of religion," language that reflected not a materialist reduction of yoga to somatic goals, but a precise, systematic meditation method designed to achieve God-contact. Yogananda offered various products in an effort to build brand loyalty for his yoga-based religion. Although he strategically promoted the very real health and energy benefits of his instruction, the heart of his commercial and spiritual enterprise was a yoga correspondence course that promised to train disciples in a devotional relationship with a God he often depicted as a personal Being. I conclude by examining Yogananda's role as the authoritative divine guru who mediated his religious products to devotees and remained present after his death to guide them toward ultimate bliss.


There is a large number of subsea production wells offshore Norway approaching the end of their lifetime. Considering high spread rate of semisubmersible rigs, abandonment operations of these wells will be quite expensive. Moreover, Plug and abandonment (P&A) can easily contribute with 25% of the total costs of drilling for exploration wells offshore Norway. Hence it is of great importance to seek approaches and solutions to reduce the P&A cost. This paper reviews some possible new ways and also alternative technologies as the solutions to cut down the P&A expenses. Some of these technologies are now being used offshore Norway.In the first section of this paper, challenges of performing P&A operations offshore Norway together with the main cost drivers are discussed. It is then briefly argued how to consider issues such as barriers setting depth, cementing depth and logging in the design and well construction phases to ease or avoid future P&A challenges. For hydrocarbon exploitation in the Barents Sea and Arctic regions it is important to take into account the P&A phase in the early stage of planning and development.Light well intervention vessels as alternatives to semisubmersible rigs are recognized of being the largest contributor to cost saving. It will then be discussed to what extent vessel technologies can cut down the expenses for subsea abandonment. New ways of performing P&A can be another contributor to cost saving. It is shown how research and testing can assure the operators of new ways for performing P&A. Retrieval of production tubing is a challenging suboperation such that it imposes significant cost to subsea well abandonment. There have been performed studies on how P&A could be performed with tubing left in hole and it is of interest to pursue this further. We will investigate how the abandonment operations can be simplified and be more cost efficient if the production tubing can be left inside the well where the basic assumptions for being able to do it is accounted for.In addition, some complexities in abandonment operations can cause additional cost. An example of such complexities can be the need to establish two permanent barriers for potential permeable zones in overburden. It will be demonstrated how much can be saved with respect to cost if the regulations allow to ease some parts of abandonment operations.In this study, a probabilistic approach as a systematic tool to produce unbiased results is applied to quantify cost savings of new alternatives compared to the traditional ones.© 2015 ASME


This thesis is concerned with identification of realistic requirements for the cattle monitoring system and design of the practical architecture addressing these requirements. Automated monitoring of cattle with wireless monitoring devices mounted on the animals can increase efficiency of cattle production, decrease its reliance on human labour and thus increase its profitability. Multi-hop ad hoc wireless communication has the potential to increase battery life of the animal mounted devices, decrease their size and combat disconnections. This thesis reveals that no current approach sufficiently addresses energy constrains of the animal mounted devices and potential disconnections.

We propose a delay tolerant store and forward architecture that provides data retention, detecting custom events, issues notifications, answers remote and in-situ queries, based on requirements identified during field experiments we conducted. This architecture utilizes fixed infrastructure but also works in ad hoc infrastructureless conditions. The core of the proposed architecture, Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) communication, provides offloading data for long term storage by sending data to farm servers via sinks that are a part of MANET and handles in-situ queries issued by users collocated with the animals. The proposed MANET routing algorithm addresses high mobility of nodes and disconnections. It provides lower and more balanced energy usage, shorter delays and increased success ratio of delivering answers to in-situ queries than more generic existing approaches.

Problems of large scale deployment of the envisaged system are also addressed. We discuss the necessary configuration process performed during the system installation as well as pervasive mobile and home access to the target system. We propose cost efficient strategies for sinks installation and connecting sinks to farm servers, adaptive to different requirements, estates layout, available infrastructure and existing human and vehicle mobility. We also propose a cost efficient security model for the target system based on public key cryptography.


Moir~ fringes are observed on X-ray diffraction topographs of silicon on insulator structures produced by different SIMOX (separation by implantation of oxygen) processes. The parameters that can be extracted from a diffraction Moir6 experiment are discussed. A Moir6 experiment is sensitive to the relative strain between the two parts of a bicrystal system. The sign of the relative strain and its components perpendicular to the sample surface cannot be determined from the geometry of the Moir6 fringes. The influence of sample curvature on Moir6 fringes is considered. Different deformation models are discussed to interpret the experimental findings. It is found that a triclinic relative deformation explains the observed symmetries between Moir6 topographs from different reflections, the spacings of the Moir6 fringes and their angles to a reference direction. Both the dilational and the shear components of the relative strain tensor are found to be in the order of 10 -7 . Significant differences in relative strain are observed on SIMOX samples produced by different processes.


Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a serious and frequent concern in pregnancy. Worldwide, the prevalence of GDM ranges from 8 to 20%. In 5% of cases, this pathology is accompanied by complications such as diabetic fetopathy, preeclampsia, neonatal hypoglycemia, and hyperbilirubinemia. Modern national and foreign guidelines for detecting hyperglycemia during pregnancy and diagnosing GDM recommend lifestyle changes and adherence to a carbohydrate-restricted diet as initial therapy. In the absence of positive dynamics against the background of non-drug therapy, the Russian Federation recommends only the use of insulin.
A number of foreign guidelines consider the use of oral hypoglycemic agents (metformin and/or glibenclamide) during pregnancy as an alternative to injectable drugs. In this review, we compared the efficacy and safety of metformin and/or glibenclamide for treating GDM. Metformin and glibenclamide are reliable and safe for correcting the level of blood glucose in pregnant women, but the optimal therapeutic strategy includes their combined use or combined use with insulin.


Keywords: Debt default, switching auditors, company size, going-concern audit opinion. ABSTRACT The survival of a business entity, is always associated with the management capability to bring these business units to survive as long as possible. Accordingly, the fair if the first allegation is addressed to management. But the accusation was also great potential to widen to the auditors. Going concern problem, which is relatively complex and continues to exist. So that the necessary factors factors as the definitive benchmark for determining the company's going concern status. In order to factors can be consistent, then the required testing that in a volatile economic situation going concern status can remain in the prediction. The purpose of this research is to show demonstrate the effect of debt default, auditors switching and company size with the chance of receiving going concern audit opinion at service company listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2005 to 2009. The research method used in this research is purposive sampling and data used in this research is financial statement and independent audit report from each company that published on website www.idx.co.id. The model used in this research is logistic regression. The result of this research indicates the debt default not affect to the receiving of going concern audit opinion, while


This paper propose a real-time human motion forecasting system which visualize the future pose in virtual reality using a RGB camera. Our system consists of three parts: 2D pose estimation from RGB frames using a residual neural network, 2D pose forecasting using a recurrent neural network, and 3D recovery from the predicted 2D pose using a residual linear network. To improve the prediction learning quantity of temporal feature, we propose a special method using lattice optical flow for the joints movement estimation. After fitting the skeleton, a predicted 3d model of target human will be built 0.5s in advance in a 30-fps video.


Background: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are multipotent cells that can be isolated from many tissues and are the subject of multiple clinical investigations. While adipose tissue is a reliable source of MSC, it still requires enrichment to increase potency and decrease volume prior to use in autologous cellular therapy. Prolonged in vitro culture can enrich and expand MSC but may also induce functional changes and stem cell senescence. Methods: The stromal vascular fraction (SVF) obtained by enzymatic digestion of lipoaspirated human adipose tissue was plated at a maximum density of 100,000–200,000 cells/cm 2 onto tissue culture flasks. A method which involved washing every 24 hours to remove non-adherent cells (Method A) was compared to a method that involved harvesting and re-plating cells in fresh cell culture flasks (Method B). Adherent cell populations containing the purified MSC could then be harvested and assayed at various time points. Results: MSC from the SVF were enriched from 16% of cells positive for CD73 at day 0 to 39% at day 1 to 59% within 2 days, with minimal (1–2 cell doublings) cellular expansion for Method B. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated co-expression of known MSC phenotypic markers (CD73, CD105, and CD90) along with maintenance of functional capabilities (e.g., cell growth, colony formation and directed differentiation). After enrichment MSC can be harvested and concentrated for resuspension in minimal volumes for clinical use. Discussion: The maximum density plating and short-term culture approach described herein represents a simple and novel method to rapidly isolate MSC for clinical therapies, with minimal costs and time, which can also be performed in a closed culture system.


Bee products are best known as one of the beneficial natural products providing multiple pharmacological effects, such as antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects. The present study aimed to identify potent products derived from the stingless bee Trigona spp. from Luwu Utara (South Sulawesi, Indonesia), focussing on the water-soluble extract of propolis and bee pollen, against the proliferation of the human breast cancer MCF-7 cell line. The results from DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) method of antioxidant assay revealed that water-soluble propolis and bee pollen had high antioxidant activity, with half-maximal effective concentrations against DPPH radicals of 1.3 and 0.4 mg/ml, respectively. Additionally, water-soluble propolis and bee pollen exhibited a significant antiproliferative activity in MCF-7 cells, with IC50 values of 10.8±0.06 and 18.6±0.03 mg/ml, respectively (P<0.05). Significant cytotoxic effects were observed after 24 h of treatment via microscopic and flow cytometric analysis, where a morphological change toward late apoptosis was observed. By contrast, honey had low antioxidant activity and no antiproliferative effect in MCF-7 cells. The water-soluble propolis also exerted its antiproliferative effect in the human keratinocyte HaCaT cell line. The antiproliferative activity was similar (P>0.05) at 24 and 48 h of treatment, with IC50 at 2.7±0.06 mg/ml and <0.4 mg/ml, respectively. Notably, bee pollen was less toxic to HaCaT cells after 24 h of treatment than the water-soluble propolis, with IC50>50 mg/ml. Its antiproliferative activity was significantly increased after 48 h of treatment, with IC50 at 9.6±0.07 mg/ml (P<0.05). In addition, similar to other poplar propolis, the high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry analyses revealed that caffeic acid phenethyl ester was not the main bioactive compound of the samples examined. Furthermore, two major proteins (between ~50 and 75 kDa) were identified in the water-soluble propolis and bee pollen. The present results suggested that water-soluble propolis and bee pollen may have the potential to be elaborated further as a breast anticancer therapy.


Gower doesn't seem to have made a secret in CA either of his debility or of his old age. In both versions of the Prologue, he refers to his lingering illness, and in the revelation in the mirror at the end, he depicts himself as a withered old man. But Levine would have us dig Gower's true feelings about himself out of more subtle clues in the text of the main body of the poem. CA is, he asserts, "among other things, the long, bad dream of a sick old man" (p. 89). It is evidently important to his argument that it be a dream rather than some other form of covert self-revelation, for he labors to assimilate the poem to the genre of the dream vision though Gower neglects to say precisely that his narrator ever falls asleep. Among the passages that Levine finds most revealing are the several scattered allusions to blindness in the poem, which he interprets in view of the poet's more specific references to his loss of sight in the prefatory epistle of VC, not noting that some ten years passes between the composition of CA and the VC dedication. When Amans, seeing his wrinkled face in the mirror, declares that "Mi will was tho to se nomore" (8.2831), Levine finds not a turning away from the glass but an allusion to the poet's literal inability to see of considerable dramatic irony. Blindness was associated in Gower's mind with castration, he asserts. He finds other evidence of the poet's fear of impotence in his consciousness of the world's decay, and evidence of his fear of "reification" in the recurring image of the key. The great length of Book 5, finally, is due to the link between greed and sexuality, but also to the association of Avarice with old age. It is not a pretty picture. For a contrast to this pathological view, and for a consideration of some of the many passages that Levine does not refer to (such as the vision of the company of old lovers at 8.2666 ff.), that suggest a broader range of feeling about old age than he is willing to allow, one should return to J.A. Burrow's discussion of the ending of CA in his 1983 essay in Responses and Reassessments or more briefly in The Ages of Man (1988). [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 16.1]


The Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI) is a compact cm-wave interferometer designed to image anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and to measure its angular power spectrum. The power spectrum will be densely sampled over the l range 160 to 710, corresponding to angular scales of 0.25 to 1.15 degrees. DASI consists of 13 elements. Each element consists of a 20-cm diameter lensed corrugated horn followed by a cooled low-noise HEMT amplifier operating from 26 - 36 GHz. All elements are mounted on a single alt-az mount, which fixes the projected baselines and obviates an IF tracking delay. The mount also includes rotation of the aperture plane along the line of sight to improve the u, v coverage and the control of instrumental systematics. The 10 GHz IF bandwidth will be correlated in 1 GHz bands to provide spectral index information. The instrument is scheduled to be completed in Summer 1998. After extensive testing it will be deployed at the South Pole for year-round operation starting in November 1999.


Serotonin transporter (SERT), a member of Na+/Cl– dependent transporter family, is predicted to be a protein with a twelve membrane-spanning structure, which terminates the serotonergic neural transmission by re-uptaking serotonin into pre-synapse. It has been well-known that SERT is a target of antidepressants and abusive drugs. Although the pathogenesis of depression and mechanism underlying antidepressants action remains unclear, recent accumulated evidences have revealed that antidepressants promote the regeneration of neurons, which was damaged by repeated stress and recurrences of depression. In addition, analysis of crystal structure of bacterial leucine transporter, a homologue of mammalian Na+/Cl– dependent neurotransmitter transporter, provides us a new information concerning the interactions of tricyclic antidepressants with serotonin transporter.


Tris and phosphate buffer are regularly used in experimental investigations. These buffers might have radical scavenger properties toward different kinds of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) produced in solutions during chemical reactions like Fenton reaction and gamma radiolysis. Hydroxyl radicals (oOH) are the most reactive and oxidizing agents having a great potential in oxidization of macromolecules like DNA and proteins. This in vitro study was aimed to evaluate radio-protective effects of Tris and phosphate buffer toward hydroxyl radicals generated by Fenton reaction. Hence, oOH radicals were produced using a mixture of Hydrogen Peroxideand Ferrous Sulfate, called Fenton system. Human serum albumin (500µM) was prepared in Tris (10mM) and phosphate buffer (10mM), separately. These two samples were incubated with Fenton reaction (Ferrous Sulfate + Hydrogen peroxide) (10 mM) for 30 minutes and carbonyl groups were quantified by spectrophotometric carbonylation assay. The results of this study revealed the values of 1.04 ± 0.02 and 1.73 ± 0.03 for Tris and phosphate buffer treated samples, respectively. In conclusion, these findings confirmed that Tris buffer is a stronger radical scavenger toward oOH radicals than phosphate buffer.


Intercropping is an important cultural practice in pest management and is based on the principle of reducing insect pests by increasing the diversity of an ecosystem. The aim of the study was to determine the abundance and species composition of weevil assemblages noted in the fields of narrow-leafed pure stands lupin and lupin intercropped with spring triticale. Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in mixed crops were studied at Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland, in 2010–2012. The experiment was designed as a split-plot with four replicates for each mixture of plants. Lupin and triticale were sown at three different proportions. The abundance of adult weevils was recorded using pitfall traps. The feeding damage caused by adult beetles on lupin plants was monitored weekly. Weevils were more numerous in the pure stands of lupin than in those intercropped with triticale. Usually more species were found in the pure stands of lupin than in mixtures. In each year, the dominant species in all the three treatments was Charagmus griseus. Sitona macularius and Ch. gressorius were also abundant. The seasonal fluctuations of the number of notches caused by weevils on the leaf margins were similar in all treatments, irrespective of the lupin seed ratio in the intercropping system.


A model is presented for transdermal drug delivery from single-layered silicone matrix systems. The work is based on our previous results that, in particular, extend the well-known Higuchi model. Recently, we have introduced a numerical transient model describing matrix systems where the drug dissolution can be non-instantaneous. Furthermore, our model can describe complex interactions within a multi-layered matrix and the matrix to skin boundary. The power of the modelling approach presented here is further illustrated by allowing the possibility of a donor solution. The model is validated by a comparison with experimental data, as well as validating the parameter values against each other, using various configurations with donor solution, silicone matrix and skin. Our results show that the model is a good approximation to real multi-layered delivery systems. The model offers the ability of comparing drug release for ibuprofen and diclofenac, which cannot be analysed by the Higuchi model because the dissolution in the latter case turns out to be limited. The experiments and numerical model outlined in this study could also be adjusted to more general formulations, which enhances the utility of the numerical model as a design tool for the development of drug-loaded matrices for trans-membrane and transdermal delivery.


Enhancing root-zone (RZ) dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) levels of plants grown hydroponically and aeroponically can increase biomass accumulation but may also alter plant nutrient uptake. These experiments investigated how bicarbonate (HCO3−) added to a hydroponic nutrient solution and CO2 gas added to an aeroponic system affected biomass and nutrient concentrations of lettuce and pepper plants. Applying high RZ HCO3− concentrations (20 mM) to lettuce plants grown hydroponically decreased foliar N, P, Cu, K, Mn and Zn concentrations, concurrent with decreased biomass accumulation (50% less than control plants). On the contrary, 1 mM RZ HCO3− promoted biomass accumulation (10% more than control plants), but this could not be attributed to higher tissue nutrient concentrations. While elevated RZ CO2 did not alter biomass accumulation and nutrient concentrations in pepper grown aeroponically, it decreased foliar Mg and S concentrations in lettuce grown aeroponically even though nutrient contents (concentration x biomass) did not differ between treatments, due to 22% more biomass than control plants. In addition, elevated RZ CO2 enhanced N, P, Cu and Zn contents relative to control plants, indicating greater uptake of those elements. Nevertheless, there was no consistent relationship between plant growth promotion and altered plant nutrition, suggesting alternative mechanisms of growth regulation.


A Russellian theory of (definite) descriptions takes an utterance of the form
'The F is G' to express a purely general proposition that affirms the existence of a (contextually) unique F: there is exactly one F [which is C] and it is G. Strawson, by contrast, takes the utterer to presuppose in some sense that there is exactly one salient F, but this is not part of what is asserted; rather, when the presupposition is not met the utterance simply fails to express a (true or false) proposition. A defender of Strawson's approach, however, must square up to what appear to be straightforward counterexamples to the presupposition thesis, and must also provide an account of certain linguistic
phenomena that supposedly demand treating descriptions as quantifiers, as the Russellian theory does. In this paper I propose fresh considerations in favour of Strawson's approach. I shift attention from what the utterer presupposes to preconditions for the use of descriptions, and distinguish between referring and predicative uses of descriptions (not to be confused with referential and attributive uses); importantly, the referring and predicative uses have different preconditions, I argue, and these provide some satisfactory responses
to the aforementioned challenges facing the Strawsonian. South African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 27 (3) 2008: pp. 242-257


Despite past failures and a higher standard of regulation, excessive forecast optimism among financial analysts is still observable. It is mainly attributed to incentives provided by an underlying affiliated relationship. This paper investigates diverse market settings in the Thai stock market between 2005 and 2017 to break down the incentive structure in the analysts' forecasting process. First, banks and brokerage houses with an affiliated mutual fund family show an extreme forecast behavior, especially when the fund family is backed by high capital and has a large stake in the covered firm. Secondly, full-service banks are among the most optimistic analysts in the market, particularly when they act as a lead underwriter during an IPO. However, lead underwriters tend to revert optimism to average level one year after the equity issuance. Banks acting as share distributors during an IPO are not necessarily more optimistic than the analysts' general favorable level of optimism. The paper concludes that the pressure for banks and brokerage houses to generate trading, enhance deal flows, and favor the management of the covered company impacts the forecasting behavior of individual analysts.


Purpose The effects of ω-3 fatty acids (PUFA) on the prevention of atrial fibrillation (AF) appear inconsistent in randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Several RCTs appeared to show benefit, but others provided conflicting findings. The authors performed a meta-analysis of RCTs to assess the efficacy and safety of PUFA for the prevention of AF. Methods The authors searched the electronic databases of Medline via PubMed (January 1966 to March 2011), EMBASE (January 1974 to March 2011), Web of Science (January 1986 to March 2011), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Cochrane Library Issue 3, 2011) and the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (January 1978 to March 2011) for all RCTs dealing with the prevention of AF with PUFA compared with placebo. No language restriction was applied. Two reviewers independently selected studies for inclusion and extracted the data. Outcomes of interest include incidence or recurrence of AF, complications and adverse events. The same reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality of every study using the Jadad's scale that assessed randomisation, allocation concealment, blinding and withdrawals/dropout of studies by classing them on a scale 1∼7. Disagreements were resolved by discussion or by involving a third reviewer. RevMan 5.1 was used to combine and analyse the data. Studies were pooled using relative risk (RR) after assessing for heterogeneity. The data were analysed using fixed effects models. When significant heterogeneity was present, a random effects model was used. Results The authors identified twelve RCTs with 2146 patients that met our inclusion criteria. Of the twelve studies, six studies with 859 patients were designed to evaluate the effects of PUFA on postoperative AF (POAF) in patients undergoing open heart surgery as primary prevention, and six studies with 1287 patients were designed to evaluate the effects of PUFA on AF either in the postelectrical cardioversion setting or in patients with symptomatic paroxysmal or persistent AF as secondary prevention. For primary prevention: the use of high dose of PUFA (content of DHA>1g/d) significantly reduced the incidence of POAF (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.93, p=0.01), whereas low dose of PUFA (content of DHA≤1g/d) did not significantly reduce the risk of POAF (RR 1.06, 95% CI 0.83 to 1.35, p=0.65). For secondary prevention: the use of PUFA no significantly reduced the recurrence of AF compared with control (RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.17, p=0.57). Complications and adverse events are no different between two groups (RR 1.09, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.29, p=0.30). Conclusion Our meta-analysis shows that high dose of PUFA revealed statistically significant prevention effects on primary prevention, whereas low dose of PUFA did not reduce the risk of POAF. PUFA did not reveal statistically significant prevention effects on secondary prevention. Complications and adverse events are no different between two groups. Unfortunately, our meta-analysis does not provide the optimal duration and dosage of perioperative PUFA. Large-scale RCTs designed to compare different dose intensity and lengths of PUFA therapy should be conducted in the future. PUFA might be a choice for patients undergoing open heart surgery. However, as it is now, the authors cannot recommend the routine use of PUFA for the prevention of AF.


The southern green stink bug Nezara viridula (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) is a global pest of considerable ecological, agricultural and economical interest. The ancestral home of this species is supposed to be Africa and/or Mediterranean and presumably it was spread worldwide during the last two centuries with human trade and agriculture. Bugs found today on different continents do not differ morphologically, however there are substantial differences in their mating behaviour. We used horizontal starch gel electrophoresis to determine the suitability of biochemical markers for assessment of genetic variation between geographically isolated populations of N. viridula. The initial survey of populations from Slovenia, France, French West Indies and Brazil resulted in the resolution of polymorphic banding patterns within the following enzyme systems: GPI, IDH, MDH, ME, MPI and PGM. Results indicate there are consistent differences among tested populations.


【In spite of the development of the service industry, research on measuring customers' service satisfaction is far insufficient. Therefore, ways to measure the service quality accurately need to be established due to the ambiguous types of service business. This research classifies the types of service business into service factory, service shop, mass service, professional service by using Schmenner's Service Process Matrix and conducts research on domestic literature that measured service satisfaction with Servqual and ServPerf. This study intends to suggest guidelines to measure customer satisfaction according to types of service business by researching ways to measure service satisfaction according to the types of service business and analysing the actual application methods based on a table that summarizes previous research on Servqual and Servperf.】


Human α- and β-protryptase zymogens are abundantly and selectively produced by mast cells, but the mechanism(s) by which they are processed is uncertain. β-Protryptase is sequentially processed in vitro by autocatalysis at R−3 followed by cathepsin (CTS) C proteolysis to the mature enzyme. However, mast cells from CTSC-deficient mice successfully convert protryptase (pro-murine mast cell protease-6) to mature murine mast cell protease-6. α-Protryptase processing cannot occur by trypsin-like enzymes due to an R−3Q substitution. Thus, biological mechanisms for processing these zymogens are uncertain. β-Tryptase processing activity(ies) distinct from CTSC were partially purified from human HMC-1 cells and identified by mass spectroscopy to include CTSB and CTSL. Importantly, CTSB and CTSL also directly process α-protryptase (Q−3) and mutated β-protryptase (R−3Q) as well as wild-type β-protryptase to maturity, indicating no need for autocatalysis, unlike the CTSC pathway. Heparin promoted tryptase tetramer formation and protected tryptase from degradation by CTSB and CTSL. Thus, CTSL and CTSB are capable of directly processing both α- and β-protryptases from human mast cells to their mature enzymatically active products.


Chemical abundances are an essential tool in untangling the Milky Way's enrichment history. However, the evolution of the interstellar medium abundance gradient with cosmic time is lost as a result of radial mixing processes. For the first time, we quantify the evolution of many observational abundances across the Galactic disk as a function of lookback time and birth radius, $\rm \text{R}_\text{birth}$. Using an empirical approach, we derive $\rm \text{R}_\text{birth}$ estimates for 145,447 APOGEE DR17 red giant disk stars, based solely on their ages and $\rm [Fe/H]$. We explore the detailed evolution of 6 abundances (Mg, Ca (α), Mn (iron-peak), Al, C (light), Ce (s-process)) across the Milky Way disk using 87,426 APOGEE DR17 red giant stars. We discover that the interstellar medium had three fluctuations in the metallicity gradient ∼9, ∼6, and ∼4 Gyr ago. The first coincides with the end of high-α sequence formation around the time of the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus disruption, while the others are likely related to passages of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. A clear distinction is found between present-day observed radial gradients with age and the evolution with lookback time for both [X/Fe] and [X/H], resulting from the significant flattening and inversion in old populations due to radial migration. We find the $\rm [Fe/H]$–$\rm [\alpha /Fe]$ bimodality is also seen as a separation in the $\rm \text{R}_\text{birth}$–$\rm [X/Fe]$ plane for the light and α-elements. Our results recover the chemical enrichment of the Galactic disk over the past 12 Gyr, providing tight constraints on Galactic disk chemical evolution models.


Some of the more important recent studies on the effect of thiazides and beta-adrenoceptor blocking agents is conflicting, possibly because of differences in patient compliance and in lipoprotein methodology and quality assurance between studies. It is likely that in the short-term, thiazide diuretics produce an increase in plasma triglyceride and cholesterol and in LDL-cholesterol. No consistent effect of monotherapy with beta-adrenoceptor blocking agents was seen. Further long-term studies of monotherapy with both of these classes of drugs are required. Combined therapy with thiazides or beta-adrenoceptor blocking agents consistently increased plasma triglyceride concentrations, but their effect on VLDL, LDL and HDL concentrations is uncertain. Further research required into the effect of these drugs on apolipoproteins which may be useful discriminators for patients with coronary heart disease (Avogaro et al., 1979) and on HDL subfractions.


Prestigious awards and recognition seem to follow Estella B. Leopold where ever she goes. She is a Fellow, Geological Society of America; Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science and has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1974 (I too received recognition that year, in the form of a high school diploma). In 2010 Professor Leopold received the International Cosmos Prize; if you are not familiar with that prize, you may be familiar with some of the other recipients—David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins, E. O. Wilson, Peter Raven. Last week she received the highest award of the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists in San Francisco. At this point, I'm afraid Estella may feel that she's being stalked by paleontological groupees. Nevertheless, it gives me great pleasure to recognize Estella again, and reflect on her important contributions to our field.

Estella is active as Professor Emerita of Botany, Forest Resources, and Quaternary Research at the University of Washington and has been teaching and conducting research in paleopalynology for more than 60 years. She pioneered in the use of fossil pollen and spores to document how ecosystems have responded to environmental changes and land-use activities. She completed her undergraduate work at University of Wisconsin, received a M.S. degree from Berkeley (1950), followed by Ph.D. from Yale in 1955.

No stranger to Denver, Estella served as Research Botanist at the Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch, U.S. Geological Survey from 1955 to 1976. She is known for her innovation in bringing stratigraphic palynology to the Rocky Mountain region during her work at the USGS. In 1976 she moved to Seattle where she served as Director of the Quaternary Research Center and as Professor of Botany and Forest Resources at University of Washington.

Estella was always keen to link scientific research to …


In the retina of warm‐blooded vertebrates, photoreceptors are specified many days before the onset of synaptogenesis and the expression of photopigments. The factors that regulate the maturation of photoreceptors in the developing retina remain unknown. We report here that photoreceptors transiently express LIM‐domain transcription factors during the development of the chicken retina. We examined the differentiation of photoreceptors through the normal course of embryonic development and at the far periphery of the postnatal retina, where the differentiation of photoreceptors is slowed and persists across a spatial gradient. In the embryonic retina, we find visinin‐positive photoreceptors that transiently express Islet2 and Lim3 starting at E8 and ending around E15, but persisting in far peripheral regions of the retina through the first 2 weeks of postnatal development. During early stages of photoreceptor maturation, there is coincident and transient expression of the LIM‐domain factors with axonin1, a cell surface glycoprotein that is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily. Coincident with the downregulation of Islet2 and Lim3, we find the upregulation of calbindin, red/green opsin, rhodopsin, and a synaptic marker in the outer plexiform layer (OPL; dystrophin). In the periphery of the postnatal retina, photoreceptors that express Islet2, Lim3, and axonin1 do not overlap with photoreceptors that express calbindin, red/green opsin, rhodopsin, and dystrophin. We propose that Islet2 and Lim3 may promote the expression of genes that are involved in the early stages of differentiation but may suppress the expression of genes that are required in the mature photoreceptors. J. Comp. Neurol. 506:584–603, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Although productivity and employment are rising in the United States, many US workers continue to suffer from stagnant wages and poor benefits. This essay reviews three books about the state of labor organization, both through formal unions and informal workers' groups, in the United States and globally: What Unions No Longer Do, by Jake Rosenfeld; New Labor in New York: Precarious Workers and the Future of the Labor Movement, edited by Ruth Milkman and Ed Ott; and The Promise and Limits of Private Power: Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy, by Richard M. Locke. It concludes with some suggestions of ways to increase employee voice and raise labor standards.


For metered dose inhalers (MDIs), high-flow cascade impaction with a United States Pharmacopia (USP) throat provides a useful prediction of in vivo lung and oropharyngeal aerosol deposition. Particles expected to deposit in the lung are included in the "fine particle fraction" measured on the bench. Comparable in vitro standards are not available for nebulizers. The present study compared aerosol deposition in an in vitro model using low-flow cascade impaction with deposition in vivo in human subjects. A low-flow (1 Lmin), 10-stage cascade impactor measured aerodynamic distributions of aerosolized interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) from two nebulizers (Misty-Neb and AeroEclipse). (99m)Technetium diethylene triaminepenta-acetic acid ((99m)Tc-DTPA) was used as the radiolabel. Two bench conditions were specified: no breathing (standing cloud) and simulated ventilation with a piston pump (tidal volume 750 mL frequency 25 per minute and duty cycle 0.5). Mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) for both nebulizers was affected by ventilation (Misty-Neb vs. AeroEclipse: 5.2 vs. 4.6 microm for standing cloud and 3.1 vs. 2.2 microm during ventilation). In three subjects, measured values of oropharyngeal deposition averaged 68.1 +/- 0.08% for Misty-Neb and 30.9 +/- 0.03% for AeroEclipse. In vivo deposition patterns compared to aerosol distributions from both nebulizers indicated that, for wet nebulization, penetration of aerosol beyond the upper airways (fine particle fraction) will occur only for aerosol particles below 2.5 microm. This assessment requires that the bench aerosol distribution be measured under conditions of clinical use (i.e., during tidal breathing).


OBJECTIVE
Due to the growing aging of societies an increasingly large group of people suffers from age-related impairment of cognitive functions and thus reducing the quality of life of the elderly. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the efficiency of cognitive functions in a group of aging residents of rural areas.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The inhabitants of a rural area were recruited and assessed: cognitive function as well as intellectual and physical activity, number of years of education, presence of diseases, using stimulants, diet, sources of living, marital status and family situation Subjects were divided into two groups: persons above 65 and older, constituting the studied group and persons between 40 and 64 years of age, constituting the control group. Both groups did not significantly differ in terms of sex or years of education.

RESULTS
Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) were found in the results of the tests concerning such functions as the sight recognition memory and spatial recognition memory, spatial operating memory both on the strategy level and on the level of committed errors. An analysis of the results obtained in the group of elderly people did not indicate any major differences between men and women as regards the analyzed cognitive functions, no statistically significant differences were found in cognitive testing depending on the number of years of education. The studied persons included in the physically active group scored better in the visual memory and learning tests.

CONCLUSIONS
The conducted studies elucidated the dependence of the level of cognitive functions on age, a positive impact of physical activity on some cognitive functions, however we could not find differences between the efficiency of those functions and education, sex, presence of somatic diseases and activity of persons aged > 65.


Branching fractions were measured for electric dipole transitions from the 5p upper levels to the 5s levels in neutral krypton atoms. The measurements were made with a wall-stabilized electric arc and a 2m monochromator for the spectral lines in the visible, and with a hollow cathode lamp and the NIST 2m-Fourier transform spectrometer for the lines in the near infrared. A semi-empirical calculation, based on accurately known lifetimes for six upper levels, was used to calculate lifetimes for which accurate measurements do not exist. This resulted in a complete set of lifetimes for all 5p levels. Branching fractions and lifetimes were used to calculate transition rates for the 5p-5s transitions. The relative uncertainties of the transition rates range from less than 1% for the strongest lines to about 10% for the weakest lines. Our data also reveal that most of the previous measurements appear to have been affected by opacity effects in the light sources.


The state of the art in the field of synthesis, structural modification and practical use of polymer membranes for fuel cells is analyzed. Synthetic methods, physicochemical characteristics and specific features of their composition, microphase separation and the structure of water ionic channels are considered for different types of proton-conducting materials together with the approaches to enhancement of their operational characteristics. Attention is focused on Nafion and other fluorinated polymers as the materials that occupy the leading position as regards the design level and the broad use in small sized fuel cells. The newest developments in the field of alternative non-fluorinated membrane materials are also discussed, particularly, polycondensation polymer systems and hybrid organic-inorganic polymers.


Quasiperiodic modulation can prevent isolated quantum systems from equilibrating by localizing their degrees of freedom. In this article, we show that such systems can exhibit dynamically stable long-range orders forbidden in equilibrium. Specifically, we show that the interplay of symmetry breaking and localization in the quasiperiodic quantum Ising chain produces a \emph{quasiperiodic Ising glass} stable at all energy densities. The glass order parameter vanishes with an essential singularity at the melting transition with no signatures in the equilibrium properties. The zero temperature phase diagram is also surprisingly rich, consisting of paramagnetic, ferromagnetic and quasiperiodically alternating ground state phases with extended, localized and critically delocalized low energy excitations. The system exhibits an unusual quantum Ising transition whose properties are intermediate between those of the clean and infinite randomness Ising transitions. Many of these results follow from a geometric generalization of the Aubry-Andr\'e duality which we develop. The quasiperiodic Ising glass may be realized in near term quantum optical experiments.


Background: No studies have determined the optimal location and angular orientation for orthotic dorsal control mechanisms (e.g. dorsal foot strap) for use in lower limb orthoses to resist foot motion for maximum user function and comfort. Objectives: To determine the optimal dorsal location and angular orientation of an orthotic control mechanism to resist foot movements associated with heel rise. Study design: An in vitro cadaveric study quantified the dorsal force required to resist foot motion. Methods: The study simulated heel rise and quantified the force of a dorsal control mechanism in nine test conditions comprising three angles (75°, 90°, and 105°) and three longitudinal axis positions at 2.0 cm increments. Results: The test condition representing the longest lever arm (proximal location) applied at an obtuse angle (105°) required the least force (55.6 N) to constrain foot motion, whereas the shortest lever arm (distal location) at the acute angle (75°) required the greatest force (90.4 N) to constrain foot motion. Conclusion: To resist foot motion relative to the orthosis, clinicians should aim for the most proximal placement (longest lever arm) at an obtuse angle (105°) with the intention that the resultant controlling force be perpendicular to the bony structure. Clinical relevance A dorsal foot control strap applies a critical orthotic corrective force, as part of a force couple to restrict motion of the foot and shank in lower limb orthoses. Foundational orthotic principles that stipulate optimal clinical placement and angular orientation are necessary to ensure maximum function and comfort to users.


Why do some things succeed in the marketplace of ideas? While some argue that content drives success, others suggest that style, or the way ideas are presented, also plays an important role. To provide a stringent test of style's importance, we examine it in a context where content should be paramount: academic research. While scientists often see writing as a disinterested way to communicate unobstructed truth, a multi-method investigation indicates that writing style shapes impact. Separating style from content can be difficult as papers that tend to use certain language may also write about certain topics. Consequently, we focus on a unique class of words linked to style (i.e., function words such as"and,""the,"and"on") that are completely devoid of content. Natural language processing of almost 30,000 articles from a range of disciplines finds that function words explain 13-27% of language's impact on citations. Ancillary analyses explore specific categories of function words to suggest how style matters, highlighting the role of writing simplicity, personal voice, and temporal perspective. Experiments further underscore the causal impact of style. The results suggest how to boost communication's impact and highlight the value of natural language processing for understanding the success of ideas.


A parallel computing strategy for finite element(FE) processing is described and implemented in nonlinear explicit FE code and its parallel performances are evaluated. A self-made linux-cluster supercomputer with 520 CPUs is used as a bench mark test bed. It is observed that speed-up is increased almost idealy even up to 256 CPUs for a large scale model. A communication over head and its effect on the parallel performance is also examined. Parallel performance is compare with the commercial code and developed code shows superior performance as the number of CPUs used are increased.


Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of immediate posttransplant hyperglycemia and new onset diabetes after renal transplantation (NODAT). It also aims at answering whether posttransplant hyperglycemia per se is a risk factor for future development of NODAT. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted among patients undergoing kidney transplantation under a single surgical unit in a tertiary care hospital in the past 5 years. All known patients with diabetes were excluded from the study. Immediate postoperative hyperglycemia was defined as random blood sugar (RBS) ≥200 mg/dl or requirement of insulin. NODAT was defined as fasting plasma glucose ≥126 mg/dl or RBS ≥200 mg/dl or if the patient is receiving therapy for glycemic control at 6 weeks or 3 months posttransplantation. Results: The study population included 191 patients. The overall prevalence of posttransplant hyperglycemia and NODAT was 31.4% and 26.7%, respectively. NODAT developed in 28 patients (46.7%) of those who had posttransplant hyperglycemia. Thus, posttransplant hyperglycemia was associated with a fourfold increased risk of NODAT (P = 0.000). Posttransplant hyperglycemia was associated with increased infections (P = 0.04) and prolonged hospital stay (P = 0.0001). Increased age was a significant risk factor for NODAT (P = 0.000), whereas gender, acute rejection episodes, cadaveric transplant, hepatitis C virus status, human leukocyte antigen mismatch, and high calcineurin levels were not significantly associated with the future development of NODAT. Conclusion: The significant risk of NODAT posed by posttransplant hyperglycemia makes it prudent to follow up these patients more diligently in a resource-limited setting wherein routine monitoring in all patients is cumbersome.


The dynamic structure factor, S(Q,ω), of dense Hg vapour has been measured by high resolution inelastic x-ray scattering for densities of 3.0, 2.1 and 1.0 g cm−3 corresponding to 0.52, 0.36 and 0.17 times the critical density, respectively, and for momentum transfers between 2.0 and 48 nm−1. Analysis of the longitudinal current–current correlation function in the framework of generalized hydrodynamics reveals that the frequencies of the collective excitations increase faster with Q than estimated from the macroscopic speed of sound. The ratios of the frequencies were found to be 1.27 at 3.0 g cm−3, 1.12 at 2.1 g cm−3 and 1.10 at 1.0 g cm−3. The sound velocity obtained from the present experiments is well reproduced by a wavenumber dependent adiabatic sound velocity, which means that the collective modes remain in the spectra of dense Hg vapour.


In this paper, we propose a novel method using multiple-objective programming problems to answer the following question: if among a group of decision making units (DMUs), a subset of DMUs are required to merge and form a new DMU with specific input/output levels and a predefined efficiency target, how much should be the outputs/inputs of the merged DMU? This question answered according to the concept of inverse DEA. Sufficient conditions are established for input/output-estimation of the merged DMU using multiple-objective programming problems. A numerical example with real data is presented to illustrate the goals of this paper.


Abstract. Within this work, an existing model of a Suzlon S111 2.1 MW turbine is used
to estimate potential cost savings when the conventional upwind rotor concept
is changed into a downwind rotor concept. A design framework is used to get
realistic design updates for the upwind configuration, as well as two design
updates for the downwind configuration, including a pure material cost out of
the rotor blades and a new planform design. A full design load basis according
to the standard has been used to evaluate the impact of the redesigns on the
loads. A detailed cost model with load scaling is used to estimate the impact
of the design changes on the turbine costs and the cost of energy. It is shown
that generally lower blade mass of up to 5  % less than the upwind redesign can be achieved with the downwind
configurations. Compared
to an upwind baseline, the upwind redesign shows an estimated cost of energy
reduction of 2.3  % , and the downwind designs achieve a maximum
reduction of 1.3  % .


Multihoming is used by stub networks to improve the reliability of their Internet connectivity. In recent years, commercial "intelligent route control" devices are used by multihomed stub networks to optimize the routing of their Internet traffic. In this work, we first conduct measurement of qualities of alternate paths through multihoming. In the remaining part, we study the route control of traffic among a group of multihomed stub networks which may belong to an organization and exchange data regularly. This type of route control is special because the access links of such networks may not be over-provisioned and are shared by traffic controlled by multiple route control devices. Such shared bottlenecks may affect the effectiveness of uncoordinated "intelligent route control". We propose a global optimization based approach to coordinate the route control among such a group of networks. Our approach can avoid oscillations which may be caused by uncoordinated route control. Simulation results show that our approach has advantages over equal-splitting based static load-balancing.


The current study considers the effect of assertiveness on the first-grade high school female students' self-efficacy. The research method is quasi-experimental and the design is pretest posttest with control group. The participants included all high school students of the second region in Tehran, including 22 schools. The selected sample is in concordance with the research method of the 3 individuals that  were selected with cluster sampling in several stages and among female high schools in the second region of Tehran. The instruments  used in this study were Hezbergru's assertiveness questionnaire and The Morgan-Jinks Student Efficacy Scale (MJSES). Data analysis was done by using SPSS 21software. In order to describe the data, descriptive statistics including mean, frequency, and standard deviation and independent sample t-test was used for testing research hypotheses. The results revealed the effect of  assertiveness skills  training on enhancing self-efficacy and its application in education and training. Students need to be supplied with certain skills and abilities, especially self-efficacy for better operation.


Heme-containing proteins, commonly abundant in red meat and blood, are considered promising dietary sources for iron supplementation and fortification with higher bioavailability and less side effects. As the precise structures and accurate bioactivity mechanism of various heme-containing proteins (hemoglobin, myoglobin, cytochrome, etc.) are determined, many methods have been explored for iron fortification. Based on their physicochemical and biological functions, heme-containing proteins and the hydrolyzed peptides have been also widely utilized as food ingredients and antibacterial agents in recent years. In this review, we summarized the structural characterization of hemoglobin, myoglobin, and other heme proteins in detail, and highlighted recent advances in applications of naturally occurring heme-containing proteins as dietary iron sources in the field of food science and nutrition. The regulation of absorption rate, auto-oxidation process, and dietary consumption of heme-containing proteins are then discussed. Future outlooks are also highlighted with the aim to suggest a research line to follow for further studies.


How to cite this article: Divatia JV. Are Mechanically Ventilated Patients with COVID-19 More Likely to Die Than Those without COVID-19? Perhaps Not. Indian J Crit Care Med 2021;25(12):1341–1342.


The application of computerized models to planning systems is in danger of falling from favour. The paper analyses the causes of this and identifies the main cause as the use of a mechanistic view of the world. The treatment of humans as machines subject to the laws of cause and effect or as statistical assemblages leads to plans being made for people and not by people for themselves. The paper discusses the pioneering work being done to introduce a methodology which recognizes free will among humans. The planning of production processes, on the other hand, can be treated by a mechanistic model of that system, but currently we have inadequate tools to devise such plans.


Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been postulated to contribute to the dissemination of cancer cells, but supporting histopathological evidence is limited. We used a microfluidic device to isolate circulating tumor cells (CTCs), combined with multiplex RNA-in-situ hybridization (ISH) and RNA sequencing, to quantify and characterize EMT in breast CTCs. Whereas only rare cells in the primary tumor expressed both mesenchymal and epithelial markers, such biphenotypic as well as purely mesenchymal cells were enriched among CTCs, across all histological subtypes of breast cancer. Analysis of treatment responses in 10 patients suggested an association of mesenchymal CTCs with disease progression. In an index patient followed longitudinally, fluctuation in epithelial and mesenchymal states was observed as a function of initial response and subsequent resistance to therapy. Mesenchymal markers were predominant in clusters of tumor cells, many of which had adherent platelets. Finally, RNA sequencing of CTC clusters identified EMT-related signatures, including FOXC1, a known transcriptional regulator of EMT. Together, these data support a role for EMT in the blood-borne dissemination of breast cancer and point to the dynamic nature of this cell fate change. Citation Format: Min Yu, Aditya Bardia, Ben Wittner, Shannon Stott, Malgorzata Smas, David Ting, Steven Isakoff, Jordan Ciciliano, Marissa Wells, Ajay Shah, Kyle Concannon, Maria Donaldson, Lecia Sequist, Elena Brachtel, Dennis Sgroi, Jose Baselga, Sridhar Ramaswamy, Mehmet Toner, Daniel Haber, Shyamala Maheswaran. Circulating tumor cells in human breast cancer exhibit dynamic changes in epithelial and mesenchymal composition. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Invasion and Metastasis; Jan 20-23, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(3 Suppl):Abstract nr A75.


PURPOSE
This article presents a quantitative method for assessing instantaneous and average lateral vocal-fold motion from high-speed digital imaging, with a focus on developmental changes in vocal-fold kinematics during childhood.

METHOD
Vocal-fold vibrations were analyzed for 28 children (aged 5-11 years) and 28 adults (aged 21-45 years) without voice disorders. The following kinematic features were analyzed from the vocal-fold displacement waveforms: relative velocity-based features (normalized average and peak opening and closing velocities), relative acceleration-based features (normalized peak opening and closing accelerations), speed quotient, and normalized peak displacement.

RESULTS
Children exhibited significantly larger normalized peak displacements, normalized average and peak opening velocities, normalized average and peak closing velocities, peak opening and closing accelerations, and speed quotient compared to adult women. Values of normalized average closing velocity and speed quotient were higher in children compared to adult men.

CONCLUSIONS
When compared to adult men, developing children typically have higher estimates of kinematic features related to normalized displacement and its derivatives. In most cases, the kinematic features of children are closer to those of adult men than adult women. Even though boys experience greater changes in glottal length and pitch as they mature, results indicate that girls experience greater changes in kinematic features compared to boys.


African catfish species of Heterobranchus longifilis and H. bidorsalis are gaining breeding potentials and receiving great attention among catfish stakeholders. However, very few comparative research works have been done on the natural populations and cultured stocks of these economically important species. In this study, the genetic evaluation of the fish species populations obtained from Lake Kainji, New Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria, was conducted through Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate - Polyacylamide Gel Electrophoresis oftheir serum proteins, and morphometric evaluation. Morphometric data showed that adipose fin attributes [length; depth (cm), % standard length (SL)] of 23.4±1.1; 4.2±0.5 in the H. bidorsalis confirmed its hyper-development compared to H. longifilis of 25.7±3.2; 4.4±0.6 respectively. The pre-dorsal length gave higher value (%SL) in the H. longifilis (38.6±2.2) than H. bidorsalis (34.6±1.2); while H. bidorsalis further possessed more counts at dorsal and anal fin rays than H. longifilis. The comparative dendrogram of the PAST analysis showed a genetic distance of 4.2% that indicated the specificity of these species and, though significantly different, they had very close relationship. Therefore, proper identification of these species is highly necessary to maintain genetic purity in breeding programmes and biodiversity.


There is increasing evidence for the cytokine hypothesis,
which states that exposure to elevated cytokines in utero due to maternal
immune activation is a major risk factor for the development of schizophrenia
later in life. This is supported by numerous epidemicologic studies that
connect multiple infections with schizophrenia emergence. Furthermore, cytokines
are critically involved in early neurodevelopment and deviations from the norm
can result in abnormal neuroanatomy and brain chemistry. Animal models of
schizophrenia also support the critical role of developmental neuroinflammation
in predisposing the brain to anatomical and behavioral abnormalities. Although
there is strong evidence for the critical role of cytokines, they most likely
work with other contributing risk factors such as genetic predisposition. New
evidence indicates that cytokine exposure in utero may prime the brain and that
a second stressor during adolescence, referred to as a second hit, may activate
existing developmental vulnerabilities resulting in the emergence of clinical
schizophrenia. Further knowledge of these pathogenic processes and risk factors
could be very instrumental in reducing risk and slowing emergence of
schizophrenia.


We describe the development of a robot configured to play badminton, a dynamic sport that requires high accuracy. We used pneumatic-electric hybrid actuators, each combining a pneumatic actuator, with high-speed and lightweight attributes, and an electric motor with good controllability. Our first objective was to develop hybrid actuators that are lightweight and compact and with integrated sections. Using parts made of lightweight materials such as plastics and aluminum coils, and using wire for power transmission, we made actuators much lighter and smaller than previous ones. In addition, for high accuracy and power, tension sensor units and a heat countermeasure mechanism were also incorporated. As practice partners, we consider badminton robots to be more useful if they were humanoid in appearance and have a variety of shots. We, therefore, developed a humanoid robot arm. By incorporating actuators as link structures, the overall weight was reduced, and both complex degrees of freedom (DoFs) and a large range of motion were realized. Subsequently, we developed a robot with seven DoFs, three DoFs for the shoulder, two for the elbow, and two for the wrist, similar to the configuration of human arms. The robot, therefore, roughly reproduces human movements. At 19 m/s, the maximum speed of the racket was quite fast. The hybrid control reduced the motion variance, allowing improvements in accuracy of more than three times that of motions with only pneumatic control. In addition, performing path planning and tracking control with high precision was possible, tasks that are difficult for conventional pneumatic dynamic robots.


In vitro cell based drug testing tools have been widely used in drug discovery and early development to evaluate novel drug entities for further evaluation in preclinical in vivo models. However, a poor correspondence with in vivo models has compelled oncologists to pursue complementary in vitro strategies with better outcomes. Within this realm, a 3D ex vivo platform is being extensively used to evaluate the activity of cytotoxic drugs, targeted molecules, and antibodies. To increase the translational value of this model, maintenance of the tumor microenvironment (immune and other stromal cells) is highly pertinent. We have established a 3D ex vivo assay as a patient drug testing platform for personalized medicine therapies in collaboration with our clinical partners. In this study we setup the protocols for obtaining single cell suspensions from biopsy and/or tumor resection samples from patients presenting with Urothelial cancers, Renal cell carcinoma, Pancreatic, NSCLC, Ovarian, and Melanomas to generate 3D microtumors in 96 well format cultured over a period of 7-15 days. The microtumors were monitored for growth characteristics, biomarker phenotype and drug activity profile. As expected the growth characteristics for each tumor varied, corresponding very well with clinical disease progression. Subsequently, these microtumors were assessed using a standard clinical immunohistochemistry diagnostics approach to evaluate disease specific biomarkers and were compared to the clinical diagnostics profile of the patients. The biomarker profile from 3D derived tumor samples showed concordance with the patient diagnostics profile. In the instances were clinical information and treatment regimens were available, the microtumors were tested and followed with single and pairwise drug treatments. The ex vivo 3D treatment outcome clearly reflected the clinical outcome. Currently, this platform is being used to develop 3D ex vivo immune-competent models to study immunomodulatory therapies. Based on the overall data we conclude that the 3D ex vivo assay system offers a highly pertinent platform to perform chemosensitivity testing providing predictive information on the clinical outcome, which enables oncologists to redefine individualized chemo/targeted treatments. Citation Format: Sumeer Dhar, Francesca Chiovaro, Tamara Tanos, Tomas Hejhal, Seife Heilemariam, Jens Kelm, Anja Irmisch, Mitchell Levesque. Establishment of a 3D ex-vivo assay as a preclinical drug testing platform for personalized cancer therapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5781. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5781


Flip chip bonding is an advanced microelectronic packaging technology, which has been developed rapidly in recent years. This paper mainly studies the stress of flip chip bonding process, which provides theoretical basis for the research and development of high density flip bonding equipment. The control of bonding force is a key technology of flip chip bonding process, which can directly affect the deformation of bumps. And the quality of bumps will affect the reliability of reflow soldering, filling glue in the bottom surface and other follow-up processes. In addition, the impact and volatility of bonding force will also result in fragmentation of brittle chip, so that the chip will be invalidation and scrapping. Therefore, based on the theory of stress intensity and aimed at the flip chip bonding, we establish the basic model of chip bonding in this paper. We have studied the relationship between bonding force and deformation of bumps and the relationship between bonding force and fragmentation of the chip by the simulation. And the finite element model is verified and modified based on the experiment result. Finally, we obtain an assessment method of the reliability of flip chip bonding, and this method can be used for the research and development of bonding equipment.


In this paper, we characterize the relationship between the expected optimal value of a stochastic linear program and a stochastic program with recourse and the degree of uncertainty in the objective function coefficients c and the stipulation vector b. It is shown that under certain conditions the expected objective value is nondecreasing as the degree of uncertainty in c increases and the opposite is true for the case of b. The degree of uncertainty of a random vector is defined in terms of a covariance matrix. Some managerial interpretations are also given.


Extracellular stability to protect DNA against nucleases and stimulus-triggered intracellular DNA release are key factors in designing non-viral gene vectors. In this study, the diselenide-linked polycation mPEG-SeSe-PEI was developed as a new type of PEG-detachable gene vector for redox-responsive gene delivery. The corresponding stable analog mPEG-PEI and the disulfide-linked polycation mPEG-SS-PEI were synthesized as controls. The results showed that all the PEGylated polycations could condense DNA into tightly packed spherical nanoparticles about 80 nm in size, which showed excellent stability under physiological conditions. The results of zeta-potential measurements, stability tests and DNA release ability assay indicated that at a GSH concentration of 0.3 mM, the diselenide bonds were more easily cleaved than disulfide bonds, which facilitated dePEGylation and DNA release. Meanwhile, it was interestingly found that mPEG-SeSe-PEI/DNA polyplexes showed higher gene expression than mPEG-SS-PEI/DNA polyplexes in both HEK293T and HepG2 cells. Confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) images revealed that mPEG-SeSe-PEI/DNA polyplexes showed more efficient endosomal escape ability than mPEG-SS-PEI/DNA polyplexes. Based on these results, the diselenide bonds as a novel strategy are more suitable to address the challenging problem of extracellular stability and intracellular DNA release.