Abstract. We compare MOPITT Version 7 (V7) Level 2 (L2) and Level 3 (L3) carbon
monoxide (CO) products for the 1 ∘ × 1 ∘ L3 grid box containing the
coastal city of Halifax, Canada (longitude −63.58 ∘ , latitude 44.65 ∘ ), with a focus on the seasons DJF and JJA, and highlight a
limitation in the L3 products that has significant consequences for the
temporal trends in near-surface CO identified using those data. Because this
grid box straddles the coastline, the MOPITT L3 products are created from the
finer spatial resolution L2 products that are retrieved over both land and
water, with a greater contribution from retrievals over water because more
of the grid box lies over water than land. We create alternative L3 products
for this grid box by separately averaging the bounded L2 retrievals over land
(L3L) and water (L3W) and demonstrate that profile and total column CO (TCO)
concentrations, retrieved at the same time, differ depending on whether the
retrieval took place over land or water. These differences ( Δ RET)
are greatest in the lower troposphere (LT), where mean retrieved volume mixing ratios (VMRs) are
greater in L3W than L3L, with maximum mean differences of 11.6 % (14.3 ppbv, p=0.001 ) at the surface level in JJA. Retrieved CO concentrations are more similar, on average, in the middle and upper troposphere (MT and UT), although large differences (in excess of 40 %) do infrequently occur. TCO is also greater in L3W than L3L in both seasons. By analysing L3L and L3W retrieval averaging kernels and simulations of these retrievals, we demonstrate that, in JJA, Δ RET is strongly influenced by differences in retrieval sensitivity over land and water, especially close to the surface where L3L has significantly greater information content than L3W. In DJF, land–water differences in retrieval sensitivity are much less pronounced and appear to have less of an impact on Δ RET, which analysis of wind directions suggests is more likely to reflect differences in true profile concentrations (i.e. real differences). The original L3 time series for the 1 ∘ × 1 ∘ grid box containing Halifax (L3O) corresponds much more closely to L3W than L3L, owing to the greater contribution from L2 retrievals over water than land. Thus, in JJA, variability in retrieved CO concentrations close to the surface in L3O is suppressed compared to L3L, and a declining trend detected using weighted least squares (WLS) regression analysis is significantly slower in L3O (strongest surface level trend identifiable is −1.35 ( ±0.35 ) ppbv yr −1 ) than L3L ( −2.85 ( ±0.60 ) ppbv yr −1 ). This is because contributing L2 retrievals over water are closely tied to a priori CO concentrations used in the retrieval, owing to their lack of near-surface sensitivity in JJA, and these are based on monthly climatological CO
profiles from a chemical transport model and therefore have no yearly change (surface level trend in L3W is −0.60 ( ±0.33 ) ppbv yr −1 ). Although our analysis focuses on DJF and JJA, we demonstrate that the findings also apply to MAM and SON. The results that we report here suggest that similar analyses be performed for other coastal cities before using MOPITT surface CO .


Some parents and students perceived demanding homework assignments as a frequent source of grievance, particularly for those high performing students who want spare time for independent study and cultivation of talents through extracurricular activities. Teachers tended to perceive homework assignments as a meaningful extension of instruction time and a media of communication between school and home. Cognizant of the possible conflicts about homework practices between school and home, the current study investigated homework issues from the students' and their parents' perspective while maintaining the integrity and information provided by the teachers of those students. The overarching goal of the current study was to establish a conceptual and applicable model for evaluating homework practices in local schools. Data collected included student and parent surveys, teacher homework philosophies, sample homework assignments, and homework hallway charts. The survey results were analyzed inductively and six key issues were identified pertinent to homework assignments in a well performing middle school in a Mid-western state in the United States of America. The six prominent factors identified include: grade-level homework coordination, positive perception about homework, homework as academically engaged time, motivation of doing homework, uniqueness of math homework, and ability-matching of homework. Some implications for parents and educators were articulated.


AbstractThe fallopian tube hosts a range of epithelial proliferations including high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC). Stem cell outgrowths—benign epithelial hyperplasias—are common in tubal epithelium of postmenopausal women with or without HGSC and exhibit a wild-type p53 immunohistochemical pattern. In contrast, epithelia with TP53 mutations comprise a serous carcinogenic sequence from benign epithelium to HGSC. Mild atypias with 12 to a few hundred cells and aberrant p53 immunohistochemical staining (p53 signatures) are common and carry negligible risk of an HGSC outcome. More expansile serous tubal intraepithelial neoplasias (STINs) exhibit a spectrum of atypia from low (serous tubal intraepithelial lesion) to high (serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma) grade, the latter characterized by both atypia and loss of epithelial cell polarity. In the risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy for BRCA mutations (BRCA+), STINs carry a low risk of an HGSC outcome (5%–10%). Serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma will be discovered in the fallopian tube of 40%+ of women with HGSC. Serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma is a dualistic entity. (1) Isolated serous tubal intraepithelial carcinomas emerging in a background of low-grade STIN most certainly originate in the tube. (2) Serous tubal intraepithelial carcinomas appearing abruptly in the mucosa of women with HGSC could either be an initiating event or an intramucosal metastasis. The concept of precursor escape—implantation of tubal precursors in the pelvis leading to later extratubal malignancy—also deserves attention. Thus, the serous carcinogenic sequence must be continually revisited and reexamined, and the pathologist remains a central and critical participant in its solution.


Nowaday, environment alteration and computer appearance depended on development of science and technology make a considerable change on textile design products following on new technology. Textile design products in futurism present a new trend emphasizing the character and appearance of materials recently. This study aims to analyzing the affect of futurism on textile design products in latest trend. The scope of this research includes the origin and development of futurism, and the case studies about futurism on apparel, fashion accessaries, and interior textile. The results of this study are adjusted as below. First, development of high technology influences on exploitation of peculiar materials, and inspires designers to creating ideas about futuristic look design. Color and material on apparel represent characteristics of retro-futurism, and increase double effects by various attempts. Second, futurism influences on not only apparel but also fashion accessaries. Typical characteristics of fashion accessaries-shoes, handbag, and briefcase-represent retro-futurism using splendid metallic images on exaggerative simple silhouette. Third, futurism on interior textile presents comfortable and classical characteristics of semi-futurism. Interior textile keeps modern style using silver and gold as main colors besides showing warm texture on futuristic materials, and soft curve lines from classical elements. Therefore, it was figured out that futurism effects to modifying retro-futurism in field of apparel and fashion accessaries, and semi-futurism in field of interior textile. As conclusion, it was predicted that futurism in the future would be developed and expressed as fusion style based on atypical formation with the idea of `return to nature`. This research offers basic academic data to develop new textile design products in industries and educational organizations related in textile design area.


Inhalation of metal dust or fume can cause granulomatous lung disease that mimics sarcoidosis. Particular metals that possess antigenic properties which promote granuloma formation include aluminum, barium, beryllium, cobalt, copper, gold, rare earths (lanthanides), titanium, and zirconium. The occupational and environmental exposure history holds the key to linking such metals with seemingly idiopathic disease. We propose clinicians use a systematic approach to investigating the occupational and environmental history and immunologic responses of patients with sarcoidosis, in order to discriminate metal-induced granulomatosis from sarcoidosis.


Interest in the effect of martyrdom television programming on Palestinian children's culture culminated in 2007, after Hamas's Al-Aqsa television station tried to promote its political platform with the aid of a Mickey Mouse look-alike character in The Pioneers of Tomorrow. Critics of this television program assumed that martyrdom programs must have a major impact on Palestinian children. Although this assertion may seem reasonable, it is not supported by my research exploring how Palestinian children use television amidst a cultural context pervaded by ongoing conflict. My analysis reveals, among other important findings, that Palestinian children do not watch martyrdom programs. Thus, somewhat unexpectedly and contrary to concerns voiced about Palestinian martyrdom programming, Palestinian children have not been tuning in. Above all else, Palestinian children negotiate the available options by choosing to tune into global, rather than local Palestinian television content. The television program they consume the most is Tom and Jerry. Their parents, on the other hand, prefer that they watch religious programming, including that which airs on Iqra, and that which is hosted by modernist Muslim televangelist Amr Khaled. Nevertheless, family practices around the television set indicate, ultimately, that these children, not their parents, decide what to consume. My findings are based on survey analysis of Palestinian children's television consumption decisions, surveys of their parents' opinions about these decisions, my viewing of related television programs, and ethnographic analysis of related family practices around the television set. I conducted my analysis during a period of two and a half years with over 400 Palestinians in the Palestinian Authority and Israel.


SUMMARY

In this report on the taxonomic studies on the genus Urospora Areschoug in Western-Europe, a reclassification of the species is proposed. Comparative studies were made on natural collections, uni-algal cultures, herbarium collections and sections prepared for electron microscopy. These studies confirm the recognition of four species, viz. Urospora wormskioldii (Mertens in Hornemann) Rosenvinge, U. bangioides (Harvey) Holmes & Batters, U. penicilliformis (Roth) Areschoug and U. neglecta (Kornmann) nov. comb. The morphology of the gametophytic filament and the uni-celled sporophytic (Codiolum-)phase, the life-history, the nomenclature and historical aspects, and details of the ultrastructure of the vegetative thallus and the zoospores (in particular the flagellar apparatus) are discussed. Reliable, diagnostic characters for these species are shown to be the degree of rhizoidal development in the most basal cell and its neighbouring cells, the shape of mature vegetative cells in the filaments and their cell diameter, the dimensions of zoospores and gametes, and the presence of dwarf plants in the life cycle. The shape and size of the developing Codiolum-plants are shown to vary with external conditions. The Codiolum-plants in culture are clearly shorter than their natural counterparts. Moreover, differently shaped Codiolum-plants, collected from various natural populations, proved to belong to the life-history of the same Urospora species. A brief discussion is given to the taxonomic status of the genus Codiolum Braun. No species-distinguishing ultrastructural features were found among these four species. The micro-anatomy of the pyrenoid and the unique flagellar apparatus proved to be similar for all Urospora species. At the fine structural level, Urospora forms a clear-cut taxonomic unit.


Graphene, a 2D material, has motivated significant research in the study of its in-plane charge carrier transport in order to understand and exploit its unique physical and electrical properties. The vertical graphene-semiconductor system, however, also presents opportunities for unique devices, yet there have been few attempts to understand the properties of carrier transport through the graphene sheet into an underlying substrate. In this work, we investigate the epitaxial graphene/4H-SiC system, studying both p and n-type SiC substrates with varying doping levels in order to better understand this vertical heterojunction.


The US Navy made a major step forward in the protection of switchgear from arcing faults with the installation of Arc Fault Detection Systems beginning in 1990. These systems have a proven history of responding to arcs quickly enough to minimize damage and have reliability high enough to be certified for use in nuclear reactor power systems. However, all damage is not eliminated and loss of power never occurs at a convenient time. The predominant cause of arcing failures in Navy switchboards has been identified. Test data that confirms how these failures develop will be discussed. A low cost sensor has been designed that will allow the detection of the majority of impending arcing failures by performing Continuous Thermal Monitoring of the switchboard. A single detector can determine if a connection within the switchboard has exceeded 300/spl deg/C, which is well below the 1083/spl deg/C needed to melt copper. The operator is notified upon the detection of an impending failure and corrective action can be taken before arcing occurs. Details of the development of the sensor will be discussed.


Invertebrates are often overlooked in assessments of climate change impacts. Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) are a significant component of freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and are likely to be highly responsive to a changing climate. We investigate whether climate change could lead to significant alteration of continental patterns of diversity and whether vulnerable species are taxonomically clustered.


Ensuring that societies can function well while securing the rights of women within them to have opportunities and freedom to flourish as individuals in their own right is one of the most current social protection and development policy priorities. Recently, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have recognised gender equality and women's impowerment as key to reducing inequalities, gender-based violence and poverty, giving women's struggles a prominent perspective. While adequate policy and institutional change are fundamental underpinnings of the promotion of well-being for women and girls, this process lies at the core of complex, dynamic and intertwined social systems and beliefs. However, many policies and development programmes are designed within a neoliberal ethos which takes the woman, and not the social systems to which the woman belongs, as the key player responsible for driving change. Drawing on some experiences and evidence from developed and developing countries, and looking in particular at conditional cash transfer programmes (CCTs), we will revisit what it means to empower women as a process and as a goal. Should we empower women? And perhaps more importantly, are we empowering women?


In a mobile ad hoc environment, the available wireless technologies can be effectively exploited in the development of platforms for peer-to-peer exchanges among all nodes. Considering such an environment, we have defined a multilevel platform for empowering a set of mobile terminals to securely communicate, in peer-to-peer mode, using the most appropriate technology according to the context. More concretely, we target an application scenario involving information sharing among the different mobile entities of a system. This scenario has led us to identify the main operations to perform within the multilevel platform and, more particularly, to consider the specification of a set of targets. This operation is meant to allow the definition of a set of nodes to target so that an entity can look for the information it may need. Then, the objective is to propose an efficient solution for the specification of targets so that it can be performed in the most realistic way in the considered environment. In this paper, we first present the multilevel platform and the approach that we have devised for its design. We then focus on the specification of a set of targets to describe how it is performed within the multilevel platform. Finally, we detail some elements that highlight the realistic aspect of our approach from an analytical perspective and through the results of tests that we have conducted.


To better understand the effects of hot spots on mid-ocean ridge thermal structure, we investigate the subsurface density structure of the Galapagos spreading center and nearby lithosphere. Using shipboard gravity and bathymetry data, we obtain maps of mantle Bouguer anomalies (MBA) by removing from the free-air gravity the attractions of seafloor topography and a 6-km-thick model crust. Comparison of observed and theoretical MBA profiles along isochrons for ages 0.0–7.7 Ma suggests that seafloor topography is isostatically compensated by mass anomalies primarily in the upper 100 km of the mantle. This result is consistent with the notion that seafloor topography along the Galapagos spreading center is supported by lateral changes of crustal thickness and upper mantle density, both of which are controlled by temperatures in the upper mantle where decompression melting occurs. Along the ridge axis, the MBA decreases from the east and west toward the Galapagos hot spot by ∼90 mGal, reaching a minimum nearest the hot spot at 91°W. Seafloor topography mirrors the MBA along axis, increasing by ∼1.1 km toward the hot spot. These variations in MBA and bathymetry can be explained by crustal thickening and mantle density variations resulting from a gradual axial temperature increase of 50±25°C toward the hot spot. The predicted crustal thickening of 2–4 km nearest the hot spot accounts for 70–75% of the along-axis MBA and bathymetry anomalies; mantle density variations account for the rest of the anomalies. From the crustal isochron of age 7.7 Ma to the present-day axis, the along-isochron amplitudes of MBA decrease from ∼150 to ∼90 mGal. The corresponding along-isochron bathymetry anomalies decrease from ∼1.7 to ∼1.1 km. These observations along the paleoaxes of the Galapagos spreading center indicate that the axial temperature anomaly was 70% hotter in the past (86±25°C) and has steadily decreased to 50±25°C as the ridge axis migrated away from the Galapagos hot spot. These along-isochron temperature anomalies, however, have remained well below that estimated for the hot spot itself (200°C), indicating that the lateral temperature gradient between the hot spot and the ridge axis has remained 10–20 times greater than that along the ridge axis over the past 7.7 m.y.


Abstract In the field of alcohol, drug, tobacco, and gambling studies, empirical research on the barriers and facilitators for public prevention policies has been scarce. Public policy studies show that the implementers of different organizational positions impact on policy implementation. In this paper, the barriers and facilitators for the implementation of an integrated national policy for addiction prevention, as seen from the positions of managers, prevention specialists, and frontline workers, are analyzed on the basis of qualitative interview data. The results indicate that the managers were structurally oriented in their thinking and emphasized local structures as facilitators. All the groups saw prevention as underfunded and undervalued. The specialists were most focused on the official structures and regarded the functioning of the structures as a key facilitator. The frontline workers underlined that their position was a facilitator in itself, offering a unique viewpoint to the localities and to the lives of their clients. A key finding is also the normalcy of gambling that both the specialist and frontline workers regarded as a major barrier. The results show that studying the policy implementation context is important: it makes it possible to understand social and cultural factors that can function as barriers or facilitators.


This paper is on sequential portfolio choices by w-MPS risk averse investors in a continuous time jump-diffusion framework. The performance process is characterized as a solution to a partial differential and integro-equation, and the optimal portfolio holding is shown to belong to a newly derived 'temporal efficient frontier' (t.e.f.). Qualitative properties of the t.e.f. are studied, in addition to some interesting connections with the static instantaneous efficient frontier. The paper also sheds light on the difference between w-MPS risk averse investors and the expected utility investors concerning their trading bahaviour.


During operation, the acoustic signal of the drum shearer contains a wealth of information. The monitoring or diagnosis system based on acoustic signal has obvious advantages. However, the signal is challenging to extract and recognize. Therefore, this paper proposes an approach for acoustic signal processing of a shearer based on the parameter optimized variational mode decomposition (VMD) method and a clustering algorithm. First, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm searched for the best parameter combination of the VMD. According to the results, the approach determined the number of modes and penalty parameters for VMD. Then the improved VMD algorithm decomposed the acoustic signal. It selected the ideal component through the minimum envelope entropy. The PSO was designed to optimize the clustering analysis, and the minimum envelope entropy of the acoustic signal was regarded as the feature for classification. We then use a shearer simulation platform to collect the acoustic signal and use the approach proposed in this paper to process and classify the signal. The experimental results show that the approach proposed can effectively extract the features of the acoustic signal of the shearer. The recognition accuracy of the acoustic signal was high, which has practical application value.


Some physicochemical characteristics and heavy metal levels in soil samples around metal scrap dumps at Abraka and Agbor vicinities of Delta State, Nigeria, were analysed in order to assess the effects of the dumps on the soils. Conventional analytical methods were employed for the determination of these physicochemical parameters while heavy metals in the soil samples where analysed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The results of the physicochemical analysis showed that the pH values in all the sites ranged from 7.01 to 7.99 indicating neutrality to slight alkalinity of the soils. The Total Organic Carbon values ranged from 0.38 to 0.54% indicating presence of some organic matter and some microbiological activities in the soil samples. The high conductivity values ranging from 165 to 201μs/cm indicated significant presence of some soluble inorganic salts in soils studied. For all the physicochemical values recorded, the soil samples at Agbor had slightly higher values than those of Abraka. The heavy metal levels for the soils in Abraka and Agbor respectively were (mgkg -1 ) 1.50 and 1.52 for Cd, 5.10 and 4.48 for Ni, 1431 and 1411 for Fe, 74.26 and 97.21 for Zn, 14.31 and 34.21 for Cu, 24.0 and 18 for Cr, 9.73 and 10.54 for Co, and then 12.24 and 14.47 for Pb. The levels were all higher than those recorded in the control sites. A consistent trend showing a decrease in the concentration of heavy metals was observed for soil samples at increased distances from the impact points for the two towns studied. Metal was observed for soil samples at increased distances from the impact point for the two towns studied. The results from the contamination index indicated a significant degree of soil contamination for Pd, Cd, Co, Cu and Zn in the soils studied showing a higher degree of contamination for these metals. These soils therefore constitute a major health risk to the local population. This study successfully related and attributed the presence of heavy metals with anomalous concentration in the soils to anthropogenic inputs from the metal scrap dumps. @JASEM. J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manage . December, 2010, Vol. 14 (4) 57 - 60


The little known window design and corresponding glass cartoon kept in the Municipal Archives of Leiden are the remains of a now lost window with the representation of Pallas Athena and her owl, given by the Board of Governors of Leiden University to the Pieterskerk. They have been first published by Pelinck in I943 with the correct destination, donor's name and even the date, I629 (note 2). He was able to do so by linking the drawings with a description from c. I630 by the Utrecht antiquarian Arnoldus Buchelius and the published resolution of the Cu-rators taken on I4 May I629 (notes 6, 9). The Curators offered a gift of glass to the former churchmaster Heinrick Egbertsz. van der Hal, whereby no artist's name or subject matter are mentioned, only the obligatory inclusion of the city arms. The practical arrangement for the commission was left to the Burgomasters of Leyden, who were all members of the Board of Governors. The small-scale drawing, severely damaged, concentrates on the architectural and heraldic design (fig. i). An aedicule supported by Corinthian columns and crowned by a pediment offers room below to the city arms of Leiden and the university flag, with a still life of books and globes in front, covering the floor. Two more coats of arms are depicted on either side of the pediment: on the left the arms of Holland held by the Dutch lion, and on the right those of Prince William of Orange, founding father of the university, held by Fame. The drawing provided with scale indications and an unfinished, alternative design on the reverse is apparantly not a vidimus, but a working document to facilitate the elaboration of the cartoon. The latter consists of two long segments for the first two lights and two shorter ones, with the missing information added either on the reverse of the same strip or of the corresponding second (for the third) and first (for the fourth) lights (figs. 2-9). The working method is so far similar to that of the Gouda cartoons, of which the latest pieces date from the early I7th century. With the repetition of parts of the architecture in mirror image the Leiden cartoon is now considered, contrary to Pelinck, complete. It represents minor improvements in composition and ornament with respect to the small drawing, but most important, it depicts the figures in the second and third lights, still missing in the small design. Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and protector of science and the arts is standing on a pedestal in the aedicule, paging in a book placed on the cathedra on her leftside. Her attributes, the owl and the shield with Medusa head, are nearby. Below her feet four children are engaged in writing and reading. They are identified now as personifications of the four then faculties of the young university: on the left theology, distinguished by a piece of paper inscribed with Hebrew-like characters bound to the figure's head, and medicine, depicted as a naked child, only the head covered by a drapery. The two helmeted boys on the right represent law and philosophy. The donation can not be linked to any special occasion, in I629 the university existed just 54 years. The old attribution by Pelinck on presumed stylistic ground of design and cartoon to the Utrecht painter and glass-painter Jan Gerritsz. van Bronchorst (c. I603-I66I) was already rejected in the past in the artist's biography on the same ground (note 25). A new candidate is proposed now in the person of the Leiden artist Pieter Kouwenhorn (I599/I600-I654), who originated from Haarlem and was inscribed in I6I9 as master glass-painter in the rolls of the Leiden Guild of St. Luke. Although he has already been studied in the past in some detail, more information is given now on his life and the small œuvre of his drawings (notes 29-30, 56). The Burgomasters of Leiden, responsible for commissioning the artist, were familiar with him, as Kouwenhorn has just finished in I628 a documented window in the Aldermen's Chamber of the City Hall (fig. II). Although the figural scenes of this cartoon are smaller and they are therefore executed in the favourite technique of the artist in pen, grey and brown ink and wash instead of black and white chalk, they also present certain parallels in support of the attribution. More stylistic arguments are provided by Kouwenhorn's signed drawing with a related subject matter, Minerva and Mercury from I635 in the Album Amicorum of the Leiden scholar Petrus Scriverius (fig. I5). The new attribution is finally substantiated by documents. The artist's correct Christian name, mis-spelled surname and his qualification as a glass-painter occur in the church administration, when he was paid on 25th of March I630 the sum of f 6 s I4, without precising his services; on 30th December of the same year payment of f I0 s I6 is recorded again to him as Pieter Pieters. (notes 5I, 52). The first item most probably concerns the customary gratuity given by the churchwardens after installment of the window in the Pieterskerk, with payment perhaps for additional work in December. Completion of the glass within a year, announced by the Curators of the university on I4th May I629 is reasonable, and full payment was due from the latter. The question remains, if Kouwenhorn was only the glass-painter or also the author of the window's design and the draftsman of the cartoon with figures of exceptional quality, which are executed more carefully than the protagonists of the smaller cartoon for the Aldermen's Chamber. His oeuvre of independent drawings made in a variety of techniques (figs. I0, I2, I4, I6, I7), the reference made to him shortly after his death as an excellent draftsman, and his involvement in giving drawing lessons leave no doubt as to his capacities in this field (notes 36-38). Together with Bronchorst, Kouwenhorn follows in the footsteps of such famous I6th-century glass-painters as the Crabeths from Gouda and Willem Tybout from Haarlem, who all worked from own design. As to Kouwenhorn, unfortunately none of his windows is preserved. The exact location of the university glass in the Pieterskerk is unknown, just like the date when it fell into decay and was removed.


Semiclassical time-dependent solutions to the Schroedinger equation can be obtained by use of integral formulas known as initial value representations (IVRs). Over the last few decades IVR formulas have established a sucessful reputation, most notably in the field of physical chemistry, for it is often found that the quantum behavior of molecular systems is very well approximated by semiclassical wavefunctions. The IVR input consists in a swarm of independent classical trajectories, each of which obeys the dynamics dictated by the system's unquantized Hamiltonian. In a recent work [Aguiar et al, Chem. Phys. 370 (2010)] an IVR expression based on complex classical trajectories was formulated. The complex nature of the classical trajectories in this particular formula is a consequence of employing minimum uncertainty wavepackets (coherent states) to represent the time evolution operator upon which the formula is constructed. Here, an improved and simpler version of this complex IVR formula is presented. In order to test its accuracy, we apply it to a simple model system.


As projects are getting complex by the day and for the fact that project failures – project abandonment, collapsed structures are constant discourse in the Nigerian news media, the need for constructability becomes very crucial in order to achieve project success. This study is aimed at investigating and analyzing the implementation of constructability in project delivery process in the Nigerian construction industry using Rivers State, Nigeria as a case study. Data was collected through questionnaire and interview approach. Results of data analyzed revealed that although a high percentage of the sampled population are familiar with the term "constructability", nearly all do not have corporate constructability implementation manual nor apply formal constructability implementation programs and techniques as obtained in more developed countries. Constructability implementation is therefore neither systematic nor comprehensive in virtually all the firms surveyed. The universal principles of constructability were accepted by the professionals and rated in the order of importance. The most critical was identified as the carrying out of thorough investigation of site and development of a project plan. Conditions that constrain constructability in the opinion of the professionals were also identified and rated in the order of impact. Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed an agreement of opinion between different respondent groups in the sampled population. Engineers, project managers and other industry practitioners are enjoined to adopt these principles in their planning, design and construction activities in order to improve the overall project performance and achieve best practices in the industry.


Introduces a multirate repetitive learning controller with an adjustable sampling rate that can be used as an "add-on" module to further enhance the performance of a feedback control system. As a result of its multirate characteristics, the user can choose a sampling rate to achieve the required performance based on a trade-off between the accuracy and the complexity of the controller. The controller learns the plant input based on the tracking error down-sampled using a weighted averaging filter. The learned control input is subsequently passed to the plant through an arbitrary hold mechanism determined by the user. The paper extends the existing stability results for single-rate repetitive controllers to the proposed multirate scheme. It also provides an explicit procedure for its design and stability analysis. In addition, the proposed multirate controller has been implemented on hardware and its effectiveness in tracking applications has been verified experimentally.


The concentration of gross alpha and gross beta radioactivity were analyzed in current sediments of the Gulf of Izmir (Eastern Aegean Sea). The sediments were collected from four different locations where are very wealthy in terms of industry on the coast of the Gulf of Izmir. Each processed sample was determined for gross alpha and gross beta radioactivity by using a low-background counter (Berthold, LB 770 10- channel a - b low-level counter). The obtained results show that natural gross alpha and gross beta activity concentrations in the drilling cores range from 537 ± 77 to 1800 ± 207 Bq kg -1 and 993 ± 60 to 1842 ± 102 Bq kg -1 , respectively. These results were compared with previous studies throughout the world, and the study could be a reference data for the future research related to radiological mapping or environmental monitoring in the area.


Background: Emotions, attitudes, and behaviors toward eating play a very important role in obesity and according to a schema-based approach; patients with obesity learn some coping strategies since childhood to cope with the schemas. So, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of group schema therapy on the cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies in women who underwent bariatric surgery during COVID-19.Methods: Forty women who underwent bariatric surgery were selected and were randomly divided into two groups of control and experimental. The experimental group received ten 90-min sessions of group schema therapy. Both groups completed the CER questionnaire during pre-test, post-test and follow-up stages and data were analyzed using a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) in SPSS software (version 20). Results: Our results indicated that the differences between two groups in variables of adaptive CER strategies (P = 0.0001, F = 31.15) and maladaptive CER strategies (P = 0.001, F = 9.42) were significant.Conclusions: The findings demonstrated that group schema therapy training can lead to increases adaptive CER strategies and decrease maladaptive CER strategies in women undergoing bariatric surgery.Trial registration: IRCT, IRCT20180523039802N2. Registered 5 August 2020, http://www.irct.com/IRCT20180523039802N2


The Working Group on High Temperature Flaw Evaluation, which currently reports to both Section XI and Section III Division 5, has developed Code Case to address high temperature flaw evaluation. The evaluation procedures are based on accepted methods used by other Code bodies around the world. The Code Case integrates the creep rupture rules of Section III Division 5 and the fracture rules in Section XI which are enhanced to address high temperature crack growth. This Code Case will eventually reside in Section XI Division 2 within the Reliability and Integrity Management Program. The purpose of this procedure is to evaluate the growth of a single, characterized flaw for a defined evaluation period in a metallic component where the future thermomechanical loads are known or approximated. The procedure describes the growth of the flaw under periods of constant primary load. Crack growth is accumulated in discrete increments over a series of time increments Δt and continues until one of the following occurs: (i) The remaining ligament fails due to the interaction of net section yield or unsteady time independent crack growth, evaluated using a Failure Assessment Diagram (FAD) defined with Section XI rules. (ii) The remaining ligament fails due to creep rupture over a time less than the time increment Δt using Section III Division 5 rules. (iii) The crack exceeds the depth limits for specific components provided in the relevant Section XI appendix. (iv) The simulation time reaches the end of the evaluation period. Several application examples are provided.


In our study, we propose a web information recommendation framework depending on user behaviors. It is different from traditional recommendation systems depending on single association rule or classification engine. It has an interactive interface with people who could adjust his access manner according to the requirements by himself. It differs from the system which needs each reader to indicate whether or not he likes report in order to extract knowledge by offline analysis. In our system, people could select manners of recommendation, for example clustered information or associated information extracted from user activity history. Simultaneously, meaning clustered and associated information knowledge could be extracted accurately by recursion invoking between K-Means and Apriori. Therefore, surfers could initiatively discover various patterns meeting their requirements accurately.


Primary students are known for being playful and active with a short span of attention. As a result, there is a need to come up with initiatives to keep them engaged. My poster presentation will address some tested-and-tried activities in the classroom which work well with my students. Those initiatives derive from the theory of multiple intelligences and the application of technology. Specifically, I will present how to use games to check students' background knowledge and understanding as well as to connect with others. I will also demonstrate the use of mind maps in develop their high order thinking skills in all skills, especially in writing such as planning and reviewing their peers' work. Finally, hands-on experience such as projects and stem activities, authentic tasks and a real-world connection such as inviting a real guest speaker to the class or taking a field trip, are my suggestions to make lessons more fun and engaging.


A global public health emergency like the Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires accurate and timely data collection in the research community. High impact research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been prioritized in the fight against COVID-19. The present study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on STEM research and the collaboration between global research institutions and industries. It was noted that COVID-19 had caused significant delays in non-COVID-19-related research projects and the onset of several remote studies. Most importantly, researchers in the STEM fields directed their attention and expertise to help mitigate virus transmission, treat patients, and implement appropriate public health interventions. Innovations are being integrated in several fields of technological and engineering research to provide optimal patient care and enhance physical distancing measures. Global research platforms are also designed to encourage accelerated research, especially in potential medicinal treatment. Collaboration amongst different disciplines and countries has enabled remarkable progress in the dissemination of scientific knowledge and appropriate responses to address the consequences of this pandemic on worldwide research in STEM.


Presents the results of a retrospective analysis of the scientific developments in the field of personnel management, and identified three stages of human resource management. The dynamics of changes in the external environment, increased a competition in the pharmaceutical market, lead to an increasing of the role of the pharmacy staff of the organization and require a redefining of approaches to human resource management.


An overview of resource available through the Ryerson University Library for the study of the History of Africa. It covers the modern period (Colonial and Post-Colonial) as well as the pre-colonial period prior to 1850.


Morphological and genetic features in two forms (white form and purple form) of gibbose conch, Gibberulus gibberulus gibbosus, were examined. Morphological characters of the two forms showed no significant differences except the shell coloration. Isozymes detected by horizontal starch-gel electrophoresis were used as genetic markers of 22 loci presumed. There were no significant differences between the two forms in the genetic variability and allelic frequencies at any of the loci examined. The genetic distance (D value) between the two forms, calculated from isozymic allele frequencies was 0.0019, being below the inter-subpopulational level. The morphological and genetic results suggested that the white form and the purple form compose the unique Mendelian population, they represented an intra-specific variation.


Abstract The objective of this article is to outline factors for consideration in the successful engagement of adolescents in therapy. Adolescents face a number of barriers that can affect their ability to successfully engage with mental health clinicians (Booth, et al., 2004). Those working with this population should have a keen awareness of these barriers and their impact. As a first step, preparation for the initial interview with an adolescent is vital. Careful thought should be given to those involved in the assessment process and the manner of their involvement, giving the adolescent as much input as possible. The importance of an honest and respectful attitude should not be underestimated.


Fatigue fractures which originate at stress-concentrating voids located at the implant-cement interface are a potential cause of septic loosening of cemented femoral components. Heating of the component to 44 degrees C is known to reduce the porosity of the cement-prosthesis interface. The temperature of the cement-bone interface was recorded intra-operatively as 32.3 degrees C. A simulated femoral model was devised to study the effect of heating of the component on the implant-cement interface. Heating of the implant and vacuum mixing have a synergistic effect on the porosity of the implant-cement interface, and heating also reverses the gradients of microhardness in the mantle. Heating of the implant also reduces porosity at the interface depending on the temperature. A minimum difference in temperature between the implant and the bone of 3 degrees C was required to produce this effect. The optimal difference was 7 degrees C, representing a balance between maximal reduction of porosity and an increased risk of thermal injury. Using contemporary cementing techniques, heating the implant to 40 degrees C is recommended to produce an optimum effect.


Mobile crowdsensing is a new paradigm in which a requester can recruit a group of mobile users via a platform and coordinate them to perform some sensing tasks by using their smartphones. In mobile crowdsensing, each user might perform multiple tasks with different sensing qualities. Meanwhile, the users participating in the crowdsensing will ask for sufficient rewards to compensate for their expenditures. Hence, an important problem is how to recruit the users with minimum cost while achieving a satisfactory sensing quality for each task. Furthermore, in order to ease users' worries about privacy disclosures, the user recruitment process needs to protect each user's sensing quality and recruitment cost information from being revealed to other users or to the platform. In this paper, we propose two secure user recruitment problems for the cases where the recruitment costs of users are homogeneous and heterogeneous. After proving the NP-hardness of the problems, we design two secure user recruitment protocols by using secret sharing scheme. Both of the proposed protocols adopt greedy strategies, which can recruit nearly optimal users while ensuring that the total sensing quality of each task is no less than a given threshold. The difference lies in that the two greedy strategies are based on two unique utility functions. We analyze the approximation ratios of the two protocols and prove the security under the semi-honest model. Finally, we demonstrate the significant performance of the proposed protocols through extensive simulations and executions on real smartphones.


Programming large systems requires to cut them in smaller pieces (modules, objects, components, agents, ...). In all but trivial cases, choices must be made about what will be the pieces, and some aspects are inevitably spread out over several parts. In Object-Oriented Programming, these have been identified as "Crosscutting Concerns", and Aspect-Oriented Programming is about a reunification of these transversal aspects of the system. In multi-agent programming, one of the crosscutting concerns is interaction.
In this paper, we present a multi-agent model that allows to design agents and interation patterns independently, as first-order objects, and combine them at runtime. The result is a two-dimensional, orthogonal approach of multi-agent systems.
This model features a very flexible agent architecture due to its componential nature. It is targeted towards independance of agents and of interaction patterns, hence increasing their reusability. The model is formalized in an Object-Z/Statechart mixed formalism, and fully implemented in Java.


A workable approach for modernizing existing software into parallel/distributed applications is through coarse-grain restructuring. If, for instance, entire subroutines of legacy code can be plugged into a new structure, the investment required for the re-discovery of the details of what they do can be spared. The resulting renovated software can then take advantage of the improved performance offered by modern parallel/distributed computing environments, without rethinking or rewriting the bulk of their existing code. Our approach is simple and is in fact a cut-and-paste method. First, we try to identify and isolate components in the legacy source code (the cut). Second, we glue them together by writing coordinator modules (glue modules) with the help of a coordination language (the paste). We have used Manifold as the glue language. Manifold is a general purpose coordination language developed at CWI (Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica) in the Netherlands and is specially designed to express cooperation protocols among components in component based systems. Our point of departure is an existing sequential C code for computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This C source code deals with a time-dependent advection-diffusion problem solved with a sparse-grid technique. Applying our cut-and-paste method to this program results in a generally applicable coordinator module that can restructure our sequential programs into a parallel application (i.e. it can run on a shared memory machine) as well as a distributed application (i.e. it can run on a cluster of workstations). We also give some performance results.


TAR1 (transcript antisense to ribosomal RNA) is a young gene, located antisense to the 25S rRNA gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae 1. The ribosomal DNA (rDNA) exists as ∼150 tandem repeats 2, making TAR1 the most abundant protein-coding gene in yeast. Oddly, TAR1 is normally silenced by Sir2p, a repressor of RNA polymerase II (pol-II)-transcribed genes 3. Recent reports suggest Tar1p protein is localised to the inner mitochondrial membrane 4, interacts with Coq5p (a protein involved in coenzyme Q synthesis [5]), and can maintain oxidative phosphorylation capacity 5. Direct elucidation of TAR1 function is lacking however, as available observations derive from monitoring a single, modified TAR1 copy 5. This may not be representative of the majority of genomic copies, and some of these results are in conflict with previous reports on rDNA Pol-II transcript expression 3, 6, 7. Given difficulties in probing the function of a multi-copy antisense gene, we examine available data in an effort to better understand the role of TAR1.

We propose that TAR1 ameliorates the behaviour of selfish yeast mitochondrial mutants first identified over fifty years ago. The location of TAR1 in the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) repeat array is crucial to our model, as this means it is also present on extra-chromosomal ribosomal circles (ERCs). ERCs are rDNA repeats that have 'popped out' of the chromosome by intra-chromatid recombination, and exist in the cell as plasmid-like circular DNA (Fig. 1). ERC generation is thought to curtail replicative (though not chronological) lifespan 8, 9. However, as well as accumulating in old cells, they also accumulate in yeast with defective mitochondria 10.

Figure 1

Relationship between the retrograde response and rDNA. A: Simplified view of the retrograde response. The retrograde response enables yeast cells to detect and respond to mitochondrial damage. In brief, some signal, possibly a drop in mitochondrial membrane ...

Significantly, ERC accumulation follows activation of the retrograde response pathway in yeast, upon mitochondrial dysfunction (Fig. 1) 11, 12. This enables survival despite diminished respiration capacity. The extent of the response corresponds to the level of mitochondrial dysfunction 13. The downstream effect of the retrograde response is upregulation of mitochondrial damage, nuclear-encoded metabolic, and stress response genes, enabling yeast to grow on fermentable carbon sources 11, 12. It also extends lifespan.

Our proposal resolves the seemingly paradoxical outcomes of the retrograde response: on one hand it extends lifespan, yet it also generates lifespan-shortening ERCs that have no known role in this response 11, 12. These lifespan effects are paradoxical only if ERCs serve solely as senescence factors 8. We propose that ERCs have a positive function: suppressing the ability of selfish mitochondrial mutants to overrun populations of sexually reproducing yeast by upregulating TAR1 expression. Available experimental evidence supports this interpretation, which, if correct, indicates that the effect of the retrograde response on lifespan is but a side effect of ERC production, the primary aim of which is preventing the spread of respiration-deficient mitochondria.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the clinical and pathological features, treatment and prognosis of dendritic cell sarcoma (DCS).

METHODS
A group of DCS was described, including two cases of follicular dendritic cell sarcoma (FDCS), one each of interdigitating dendritic cell sarcoma (IDCS) and langerhans cell sarcoma (LCS). The related English literatures were reviewed.

RESULTS
Two patients with IDCS were a 19-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman respectively, both exhibited fever of unknown origin and painless lymphadenopathy. Pathological diagnosis of lymph node biopsy was FDCS with positive CD21 and CD35. Both patients achieved complete remission (CR) after 6 cycles of chemotherapy (CHOP: cyclophosphamide, epirubicin, vindesine, and prednisolone). However, the male patient relapsed 5 months later and another patient was still in CR at 5 months follow-up. One case of IDCS was a 42-year-old man, who manifested as paraneoplastic pemphigus. Biopsy of mediastinal lymph node demonstrated IDCS and immunohistochemistry showed positive S-100 staining. This patient died of pneumonia after two cycles of CHOP. One patient of LCS was a 54-years-old woman with fever, painless lymphadenopathy and diffused pulmonary nodules. The diagnosis of LCS was established after excisional biopsy was taken from inguinal lymph node. Positive staining of CD1a and S-100 was displayed by immunohistochemistry. Electron microscope examination confirmed the presence of Birbeck granule in tumor cells. Four cycles of chemotherapy (including ECHOP, FND) were administered, but the disease progressed.

CONCLUSION
DCS is a group of very rare sarcoma, FDCS, IDCS and LCS have different characteristic clinical features, immunophenotype and prognosis. The prognosis of most patients is poor.


Summary. Furfural (C5H4O2), unsaturated cyclic aldehyde, is a well-known hepatotoxic substance that rapidly oxidizes into pyromucic acid (C 4H3OCOOH) that is responsible for damage to liver parenchyma and development of hepatic insufficiency. In animals treated with this aldehyde, severe degenerative and necrotic alterations may occur, leading to cirrhosis development and hepatic carcinoma. Considering numerous anabolic, catabolic, detoxifying, and excretory functions of the liver, as well as a functional relation between the liver and the pancreas, we set out to examine the effect of furfural upon endocrine B-cells of the insula. An analysis was done of immunocytochemical and ultrastructural properties of pancreatic B-cells in rats treated with furfural for two months. In the treated animals, hypogranulation of the examined cells was found along with their nesidioblastosis in the exocrine pancreas. A conclusion can be drawn that furfural reduces hormone deposit in B-cells. Ultrastructural analysis of these cells shows that they contain granules of wide-ranging maturity, density, size, and shape, whilst the smooth endoplasmic reticulum is edematous and dilates tubules.


Drug delivery is the method or process of administering a pharmaceutical compound to achieve a therapeutic effect in humans or animals. Most common routes of administration include the preferred non-invasive peroral (through the mouth), topical (skin), transmucosal (nasal, buccal/sublingual, vaginal, ocular and rectal) and inhalation routes. Many medications such as peptide, antibody, vaccine and gene based drugs, in general may not be delivered using these routes because they might be susceptible to enzymatic degradation or cannot be absorbed into the systemic circulation efficiently due to molecular size, to be therapeutically effective. For this reason such drugs have to be delivered by injection. For example, many immunizations are based on the delivery of protein drugs and are often done by injection. Current effort in the area of drug delivery include the development of targeted delivery in which the drug is only active in the target area of the body (for example, in cancerous tissues) and sustained release formulations in which the drug is released over a period of time in a controlled manner from a formulation Cemaẑar et al. (1998); Serŝa (2000); Serŝa et al. (1993). This is achieved by combining phenomenon of electroporation with the application of drugs. This makes the area of drug delivery a study in which experts from most scientific discipline can make a significant contribution. To understand the barriers to drug delivery, it is useful to consider anatomical structures at a length scale suitable for variety of structures: a cell, a tissue, a muscle, organ. Better medical treatments may not always require stronger medicinal drugs. A better effect could be achieved by an effective method of administration. Often differences in the mode of drug administration produce substantial changes in drug concentration requirement, and thus can affect the unnecessary side effects of some of the drugs in favor of the patient. A good example of this is electrochemotherapy. The major disadvantage of clinically established chemotherapeutic drugs is their lack of selectivity of tumor cells. Therefore for a noticeable antitumor effect, high doses of the chemotherapeutic drugs are needed, which often cause systemic toxicity leading to severe side effects Serŝa et al. (1993). In cancer chemotherapy, some drugs do not exhibit anti-tumour effects because of impeded transport through the cell membrane Miklavĉiĉ and Kotnik (2004). To overcome this difficulty, a number of new approaches for drug delivery systems have been attempted. One of the approaches to better drug delivery is by making it topical and more effective at the tumor site with the use of electric field . This is electrochemotherapy. In this article a brief overview of electroporation and its use in electrotherapy is discussed. 7


We propose a variation of the standard genetic algorithm that incorporates social interaction between the individuals in the population. Our goal is to understand the evolutionary role of social systems and its possible application as a non-genetic new step in evolutionary algorithms. In biological populations, i.e. animals, even human beings and microorganisms, social interactions often affect the fitness of individuals. It is conceivable that the perturbation of the fitness via social interactions is an evolutionary strategy to avoid trapping into local optimum, thus avoiding a fast convergence of the population. We model the social interactions according to Game Theory. The population is, therefore, composed by cooperator and defector individuals whose interactions produce payoffs according to well known game models (prisoner's dilemma, chicken game, and others). Our results on Knapsack problems show, for some game models, a significant performance improvement as compared to a standard genetic algorithm.


Numerous studies have underscored the importance of religious coping in psychological health and illness; however, the majority of research in this area has been conducted with Christian samples and knowledge about other religious groups is lacking. Although recent investigations have developed scales to measure religious coping among Hindus and Muslims, the potential for future research in Jewish populations remains limited as no measures of religious coping have been validated in the general Jewish community. This two-part study reports on the development and validation of the 16-item Jewish Religious Coping Scale (JCOPE). In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis identified two factors reflecting positive and negative religious coping strategies, and the concurrent validity for the measure was evaluated by examining correlations with indices of Jewish beliefs and practices. In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) verified the JCOPE's 2-factor structure, and the scale's incremental validity was evaluated by examining Jewish religious coping as a predictor of psychological distress over and above significant covariates. Results suggest that the JCOPE has good psychometric properties, and that religious coping is a significant predictor of psychological distress among Jews.


Backpacks are common devices that enable people to increase their load carriage capabilities, not only in military missions but also in civilian activities. When heavily loaded, some inadequate load-carriage systems may lead to excessive fatigue or even impair the user. The purpose of the study described here is to increase the understanding of dynamic backpack behaviour and its impact on the user's performance. Such knowledge can then be used to optimise the design of load carriage systems.


Household food security, feeding practices, dietary diversity and copping strategies to household food insecurity are largely interconnected. Using a cross sectional study approach involving 162 mothers and care givers in Kole district of Northern Uganda, this study examined the scenarios of household food security status, child feeding practices, dietary diversity and copping strategies. The study revealed that majority of the households (55%) were food secure with an overall observation of low dietary diversity at the household level (72.8%), largely showing dominance of starch-based Cereals, roots and tubers (82%) and limited consumption of other food groups, notably fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products (18% combined). In terms of feeding practices, majority of the children were fed breast milk for at least 24 months, with mandatory exclusive breastfeeding highly adhered to, but the introduction of complementary foods often delayed and not well planned. Results also showed that a wide range of coping strategies are employed however the major ones were, reliance on less preferred food (54.9%), limiting portions of meals (35.2%), reducing number of melas taken in a day (29%), and gathering wild fruits and harvesting immature crops (29.6%). Generally, it was observed that household food security is a strong determinant of dietary of child dietary diversity, may influence feeding practices and the range of coping strategies applicable to households when they experience food insecurity. It is apparent that nutritional education, household size and livelihood diversity also play a significant role in as far as household food security status, child feeding, diversity and food insecurity copping are concerned within rural households.


Signaling through JAK1 and/or JAK2 is common among tumor and non-tumor cells within peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). No oral therapies are approved for PTCL and better treatments for relapsed/refractory disease are urgently needed. We conducted a phase II study of the JAK1/2 inhibitor, ruxolitinib, for patients with relapsed/refractory PTCL (n=45) or mycosis fungoides (MF) (n=7). Patients enrolled onto one of three biomarker-defined cohorts: 1) activating JAK and/or STAT mutations; 2) ≥30% pSTAT3 expression among tumor cells by immunohistochemistry; or 3) neither or insufficient tissue to assess. Patients received ruxolitinib 20 mg PO BID until progression and were assessed for response after cycles 2, 5 and every three cycles thereafter. The primary endpoint was clinical benefit rate (CBR) defined as the combination of complete response (CR), partial response (PR), and stable disease lasting at least 6 months. Only one of 7 patients with MF had CBR (ongoing PR>18 months). CBR among the PTCL cases (n=45) in cohorts 1, 2 and 3 were 53%, 45%, and 13% (cohorts 1&2 vs. 3, p=0.02). Eight patients had CBR>12 months (5 ongoing), including 4 of 5 patients with T-cell large granular lymphocytic leukemia. In an exploratory analysis using multiplex immunofluorescence, expression of phosphorylated S6 (pS6), a marker of PI3 kinase or MAP kinase activation, in <25% of tumor cells was associated with response to ruxolitinib (p=0.05). We conclude that ruxolitinib is active across various PTCL subtypes and support a precision therapy approach to JAK/STAT inhibition in patients with PTCL. (Registered at clincialtrials.gov, #NCT02974647).


The returns to Canadian federal sheep research expenditures between 1968 and 1984 are estimated using the economic surplus approach. Ex post and ex ante measures of the change in producers' surplus are compared. Regression analysis is used to estimate the lag structure of the effects of research on the national supply function, facilitating the estimation of returns on average and at the margin. The effect of the excess burden of tax collection on returns to sheep research was investigate􀀚 The internal rate of return to sheep research was found to be about·25% at the margin exclusive of the effects of the excess burden. This rate of return fell to 20% when the costs of an excess burden of 20c on the dollar was assumed.


Objective: This study aims to demonstrate the protective effect on mortality among participants of a health education program, Brain-Oriented Obesity Control System (BOOCS). Methods: A quasi-experimentally designed, 15-year (1993 to 2007) follow-up study was conducted with a total of 13,835 male and 7791 female Japanese workers. They were divided into three groups: participants in the program (1565 males and 742 females), nonparticipant comparative obese controls (1230 males and 605 females), and nonparticipant reference subjects (11,012 males and 6426 females). Hazard ratios were calculated with survival curves drawn to evaluate the mortality effects by the program participation. Results: The male participants showed significantly lower mortality risk for all causes of death at hazard ratio = 0.54 (95% confidence interval: 0.31 to 0.94) with significantly different survival curves (P = 0.014 by log-rank test) than obese controls. Conclusions: The results support a protective effect on mortality by participating in BOOCS program.


"Public Opinion on National Priority Issues March 2000" reports on the shades of public opinion about the quality of governance exercised in South Africa, satisfaction with service delivery, perceived national priorities, political preferences and the economy as captured during the national survey of public opinion conducted in November 1999. Respondents were also asked for their opinions on race relations, the fight against crime and the extent to which they trust various national institutions such as labour unions, the courts, the police and the media. The views thus reflect the public mood just five months after the re-election by a wide margin, of the incumbent national government. Public opinion at this juncture can be used as a barometer of the needs and priorities of the electorate and will be of value to all individuals and organisations that are involved in the public domain.


When generating musical sound on a digital computer, it is important to have a good model whose parameters provide a rich source of meaningful sound transformations. Three basic model types are in prevalent use today for musical sound generation: instrument models, spectrum models, and abstract models. Instrument models attempt to parametrize a sound at its source, such as a violin, clarinet, or vocal tract. Spectrum models attempt to parametrize a sound at the basilar membrane of the ear, discarding whatever information the ear seems to discard in the spectrum. Abstract models, such as FM, attempt to provide musically useful parameters in an abstract formula.


Abstract This article argues that post-conflict consociational arrangements in ethnically divided societies incentivize moderation by political parties, but not policy differentiation outside the main conflict. This results in little policy-driven voting. Analysing party manifestos and voter survey data, we examine the evolution of party policy and cleavage voting under power-sharing in Northern Ireland 1998–2016. We find a reduction in ethno-national policy differences between parties and that ethno-nationalism has become less important in predicting vote choice for Protestants, but not Catholics. We also find little party differentiation in other policy areas and show that vote choices are largely independent of people's policy stances on economic or social issues. Our findings are thus largely consistent with a 'top-down' interpretation of political dynamics.


Residues of DDT were detected in 76 of 101 samples of rainwater collected during spring and summer at several sites in the Province of New Brunswick in 1967 and 1968, and at one site in the Magdalen Islands, Quebec, in 1968. The dominant residue was p,p'-DDT. Levels of DDT and metabolites combined ranged from less than 0.01 to 1.33 microgram/kg. Levels of DDT and metabolites in the pollen of four species of forest trees in New Brunswick ranged from 0.544 to 1.01 mg/kg; such contaminated pollen possibly contributed to residues in rainwater. Residue data for rainwater from two sites were used to estimate the amount of DDT aerially transported into the Gulf of St. Lawrence during July to October 1968.


Mike Hayward has resigned as chair of the RCN's Association of Nursing Students due to pressure of work. RCN council will decide at its April meeting on his temporary , replacement, who will be asked to serve until the post is up for election in October.


The reconfiguration graph $R_k(G)$ for the $k$-colorings of a graph~$G$ has as vertex set the set of all possible proper $k$-colorings of $G$ and two colorings are adjacent if they differ in the color of exactly one vertex. A result of Bousquet and Perarnau (2016) regarding graphs of bounded degeneracy implies that if $G$ is a planar graph with $n$ vertices, then $R_{12}(G)$ has diameter at most $6n$. We improve on the number of colors, showing that $R_{10}(G)$ has diameter at most $8n$ for every planar graph $G$ with $n$ vertices.


ABSTRACT Aerodynamic noise becomes a significant noise source at speeds normally reached by high-speed trains. The train bogies are identified as important sources of aerodynamic noise. Due to the difficulty to assess this noise source carrying out field tests, wind tunnel tests offer many advantages. Tests were performed in the large-scale low-noise anechoic wind tunnel at Maibara, Japan, using a 1/7 scale train car and bogie model for a range of flow speeds between 50, 76, 89 and 100 m/s. The dependence of the aerodynamic noise from the bogie region on different factors has been studied for different bogie configurations and inflow conditions representing different positions of the bogie along the train. The speed dependence and the noise directivity have also been assessed. The results show the particular importance of the components exposed to the free flow, whereas those shielded within the bogie cavity are shown to radiate much less noise.


The physiological signals are usually extremely complicated and difficult to analyze. Recently, investigators have tried the fractal dimension that can characterize roughness and self-similarity of them. It turns out that it is also suitable for obtaining the modalities of lower urinary tract during normal micturition. In this investigation, the external urethral sphincter electromyogram (EUS EMG) and the cystometrogram (CMG) of the Wistar rats under both room temperature and cold water stimulation of the bladder are studied. The modified relative differential box-counting (RDBC) method is used to calculate the fractal dimensions of EMG and CMG time series. According to the experimental results, the modalities of micturition for the Wistar rats can be characterized as normal if both the fractal dimensions of EMG and CMG are of low values during voiding. Furthermore, the technique is validated in identifying the dyssynergia of the bladder and EUS under cold water stimulation.


CASE REPORT
The case of a 64-year-old patient with bilateral, progressive and painless diminution of visual acuity is presented. Ophthalmologic evaluation revealed optic neuritis and vitreous cells in both eyes, at different stages. Suspecting a paraneoplastic optic neuritis, the study of antibodies was requested. This showed positivity to the marker CRMP-5-IgG. After mediastinoscopy, a small cell lung carcinoma was diagnosed.

DISCUSSION
Autoantibody CRMP-5-IgG defines a paraneoplastic entity of combined optic neuritis and vitreous inflammatory cells. The serological positivity avoids the vitreous biopsy and expedites the search for cancer. In our case, it allowed the diagnosis a previously unidentified tumor.


The achievements in agricultural innovation over the past century have been impressive, supporting large increases in agricultural yields and low food prices. Critical to this success has been sustained public sector investment combined with a decentralized and competitive research system in the US. Recent intellectual property reforms motivated increased private investment, yet the private sector still relies upon basic research produced by the public sector. Problems with scientific freedom to operate as well as concentration in the agricultural biotechnology industry also emerged due to intellectual property rights. For new technologies, the case of agriculture demonstrates that government has an important role in antitrust, the effective and efficient regulation of technologies, and in facilitating technology adoption.


This is a thoroughly illustrated guide to the history and technology of autochromes with a practical guide for storage & preservation. Louis Lumiere is perhaps best known for his seminal role in the invention of cinema, but his most important contribution to the history of photography was the autochrome. Engagingly written and superbly illustrated with over 300 images, "The Lumiere Autochrome" tells the fascinating story of the first industrially produced form of colour photography. Initial chapters present the Lumiere family enterprise, set out the challenges posed by early colour photography, and recount the invention, rise, and eventual decline of the autochrome, which for the first four decades of the 20th-century was the most widely used form of commercial colour photography. The book then treats the technology of the autochrome, including the technical challenges of plate fabrication, described in step-by-step detail, and a thorough account of autochrome manufacture. A final chapter provides in-depth recommendations concerning the preservation of these vulnerable objects, including proper storage and display guidelines.


We herein report the case of a Japanese woman with familial dysalbuminemic hyperthyroxinemia (FDH) who was initially diagnosed with Graves' disease. Direct genomic sequencing revealed a guanine to cytosine transition in the second nucleotide of codon 218 in exon 7 of the albumin gene, which then caused a proline to arginine substitution. She was finally diagnosed with FDH, which did not require treatment. FDH is - superficially - an uncommon cause of syndrome of inappropriate secretion of thyrotropin (SITSH) in Japan. A misdiagnosis of pseudo-hyperthyroidism will lead to inappropriate treatment. Thus, physicians should strongly note the possibility of FDH as a differential diagnosis of SITSH.


The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) combines extreme adaptive optics, an integral field spectrograph, and a high performance coronagraph to directly image extrasolar planets in the near-infrared. Because the coronagraph blocks most of the light from the star, it prevents the properties of the host star from being measured directly. Instead, satellite spots, which are created by diffraction from a square grid in the pupil plane, can be used to locate the star and extract its spectrum. We describe the techniques implemented into the GPI Data Reduction Pipeline to measure the properties of the satellite spots and discuss the precision of the reconstructed astrometry and spectrophotometry of the occulted star. We find the astrometric precision of the satellite spots in an H-band datacube to be 0.05 pixels and is best when individual satellite spots have a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of > 20. In regards to satellite spot spectrophotometry, we find that the total flux from the satellite spots is stable to ~7% and scales linearly with central star brightness and that the shape of the satellite spot spectrum varies on the 2% level.


We study a 7-dimensional model of the one machine-infinite bus equipped with excitation system for the existence of complicated dynamics. We first reduce the system to 4 dimensions using singular perturbation techniques. Within the 4-dimensional system we "locate" an embedded near-integrable two-degree Hamiltonian system that possesses (horseshoe) chaos for certain parameter ranges. (Some of these parameter ranges are not practical). The transition from the near-integrable to the 4-d model does not nullify the complicated structure introduced by chaos. Work is now in progress to show explicitly that this complicated structure persists in the full 7-dimensional system and for practical, i.e. typical, set of parameter ranges.


Past research shows that teams working on a complex task need developmental space to be successful. They can create this space in their interaction by undertaking four activities: creating future, reflecting, organizing, and dialoguing. These four activities refer to two orientations: the performance orientation, limiting the space, and the sensemaking orientation, opening up the space. Teams need them both, yet it seems inconsistent and impossible to achieve together, thus a paradox. In this exploratory research, we address the way in which teams experience and handle that "developmental space paradox," and how it affects team success. Individual team members (N = 70) from 12 teams were interviewed. Successful (n = 7) and unsuccessful (n = 5) teams were compared. The results show that successful teams experience this paradox differently than the unsuccessful teams, and that both categories choose other coping strategies to handle this paradox.


We report a 19-year-old man who developed a cerebral infarction in the territory of the anterior choroidal artery and showed a hypercoagulable state and nephrotic syndrome after diarrhea and appetite loss. He had suffered from nephrotic syndrome from the age of three and had been treated for five years. MR-angiography showed an occlusion originating in the right internal carotid artery. The right anterior and middle cerebral arteries were imaged from the left internal carotid artery via the anterior communication artery. He showed symptoms of left hemiparesis, agnosia, loss of activity, anasarca and left hypacusis following his clinical course, but had recovered from all but left hemiparesis following medical treatments including steroid therapy. The histologic finding by a renal biopsy revealed focal glomerulosclerosis. In this case, we considered that when he was in a hypercoagulable state and had a second attack of nephrotic syndrome because of inflammation and dehydration due to diarrhea and appetite loss, his hypercoagulable state grew worse, and he then developed a cerebral infarction. When one see a patient with nephrotic syndrome, one should be attentive to the possibility of a complication of cerebral infarction.


Mobile ad hoc networks often support sensitive applications. These applications may require that users' identity, location, and correspondents be kept secret. This is a challenge in a MANET because of the cooperative nature of the network and broadcast nature of the communication media. In this paper, we propose a privacy preserving communication system (PPCS) which provides a comprehensive solution to anonymize communication end- points, keep the location and identifier of a node unlinkable, and mask the existence of communication flows. We present an analysis of the security of PPCS against passive internal attackers, provide a qualitative discussion on its strength against external attackers, and characterize its performance trade-offs. The simulation results demonstrate that PPCS has only 3% lower packet delivery ratio than existing multi-path routing protocols, while effectively providing privacy service in MANETs.


Expanded austenite is a supersaturated solid solution of nitrogen/carbon in austenite that forms as a case by the diffusion of nitrogen/carbon into austenitic stainless steel. Expanded austenite has a high level of hardness that provides resistance against galling and wear, superior resistance against localized corrosion, and contributes to improvement of the fatigue performance. This latter characteristic is a consequence of the huge compressive residual stresses in the expanded austenite case. Such stresses are induced by the high interstitial content in the austenite lattice and are accommodated elasto-plastically. The experimental assessment of the elastic lattice strains is complicated by the presence of steep composition-depth and stress-depth profiles, which necessitate special measurement or correction procedures to unravel the influence of composition and stress on the lattice spacing and avoid artifacts arising from (steep) lattice-spacing gradients. In the present work the sin2ψ method was combined with grazing incidence X-ray diffraction to keep the information depth during measurement shallow, independent of the (effective) tilt angle ψ. The plastic strains in the expanded austenite 27 zone were estimated from the lattice rotations, as determined with electron backscatter diffraction. It is demonstrated that the level of elastic lattice strains in expanded austenite can be adjusted by retracting part of the dissolved nitrogen. The experimental results for elastic and plastic strains are compared to those predicted by a comprehensive numerical model that simulates the time-dependent development of composition-depth and stress-depth profiles in expanded austenite. The work described in this manuscript is a combination of a review of previously achieved and published results as well as the newest results of ongoing research activities.


Stipples are desired for pattern fillings and transparency effects. In contrast, some graphics standards, including OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0, omitted this feature. We represent details of providing line stipples and polygon stipples, through combining texture mapping and alpha blending functions. We start from the OpenGL-specified stipple-related API functions. The details of mathematical transformations are explained to get the correct texture coordinates. Then, the overall algorithm is represented, and its implementation results are followed. We accomplished both of line and polygon stipples, and verified its result with conformance test routines. Keywords—Stipple operation, OpenGL ES, Implementation.


The Network Readiness Index (NRI) is one of the indicators that shows the level of digital development of countries. The NRI for 2021 shows the development of 130 countries, in contrast to the 45 countries covered by the International Digital Economy and Society Index (I-DESI) of the European Union, which measures only the most developed countries. This paper aims to determine the relationship between 12 sub-pillars of NRI. We use Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to perform a mapping of our data to a lower-dimensional space, and further analyse the causal relationships between the principal sub-pillars using partial correlation coefficients, concluding that two of the twelve main sub-pillars can be explained by ten independent sub-pillars. Thereafter, we use cluster analysis to group our objects (i.e. the 130 countries) into clusters.


RFID technology holds the promise of real-time identifying, locating and monitoring physical objects. Complex event processing is the key part of the RFID middleware. Most of the current methods of complex event processing can't support large-scale RFID applications since they have not considered much on performance and distributed data. In this paper, a distributed CEP architecture is proposed which spreads centralized CEP tasks load over multiple communicating stations over CORBA. Based on this architecture, a high performance plan based distributed CEP method is proposed which uses parallel operations to improve performance. The experimental study shows that the performance of our approach is remarkable in large-scale RFID applications.


In our esthetic conscious society people are now demanding all types of treatments possible to have a pleasing and attractive personality. A dazzling and beautiful smile can work wonders for anyone's personality. Our smile mirrors our persona, our unique being. However, a beautiful smile comprises of a perfect balance of the white and pink. This imbalance of excessive gingival display (EGD) can be managed by a variety of treatment modalities, depending on accurate diagnosis. This case report demonstrates the successful management of EGD with a lip-repositioning procedure in a patient with incompetent short upper lip. This was accomplished by removing a partial thickness strip of mucosa from the maxillary buccal vestibule and suturing the lip mucosa to the mucogingival line. This resulted in a narrower vestibule and restricted muscle pull, thereby resulting in competent lips and reduced gingival display during smiling.


The cyclitol bornesitol is the main constituent of the leaves from the antihypertensive medicinal plant Hancornia speciosa. This study aimed to investigate the ability of bornesitol to reduce blood pressure and its mechanism of action. Normotensive Wistar rats were divided into control group and bornesitol groups treated intravenously with bornesitol (0.1, 1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were recorded in non-anesthetized awake animals. Nitric oxide (NO) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) were measured in plasma by using colorimetric methods. Vascular reactivity study was performed in rat aorta rings and the involvement of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), calcium-calmodulin complex and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway in the vasodilator effect was investigated. Administration of bornesitol significantly reduced the SBP, increased the plasmatic level of nitrite, and decreased ACE activity in normotensive rats. In the rat aorta, bornesitol induced endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, which was abolished by NOS blockade. While calcium-calmodulin complex inhibition decreased the vasodilator effect of bornesitol, the inhibition of PI3K/Akt pathway did not alter it. Bornesitol reduced the blood pressure by a mechanism involving an increased production or bioavailability of NO, inhibition of ACE, and by an endothelium- and NO-dependent vasodilator effect. The present results support the use of bornesitol as an active marker for the cardiovascular activity of Hancornia speciosa.


Using the 204Hg(α,2n) reaction and the pulsed beam of our 225 cm cyclotron, we have been able to localize the 12+ and 10+ states of the (i13/2)-2 configuration in 206Pb at the energies 4 027.2 and 3 957.6 keV, respectively. It has been possible to determine the partial E2 transition probability for the 12+ → 10+ transition and to derive an effective charge for the i13/2 neutron, which is 0.94±0.04. It is concluded that the quadrupole polarization charge for the i13/2 neutron is about 50% larger than for the h9/2 proton.


A series of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-y + x Sb 2 O 3 (x = 0.0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.08, 0.2 wt. %) samples were prepared using the solid state reaction method. The structural disorder has been studied using XRD and Raman techniques. XRD graphs show the unchanged orthorhombic structure. The increase in peak width of the XRD pattern in the composites signifies the decrease in crystallite size with Sb 2 O 3 addition. Raman analysis confirms all the vibration modes in pure YBCO along with some peaks of antimony. The structural changes are marked by peak sifting in the XRD pattern and the softening in the Raman modes. Linear relation is portrayed between oxygen content and the c axis lattice parameter. The c axis tends to increase with the decrease in oxygen content as calculated from XRD and Raman data. EDX analysis shows the incorporation of Sb 2 O 3 to grain boundary region along with the presence of all the compositional elements. Microstructure analysis has been studied through SEM. SEM graphs shows that pristine YBCO exhibits large and elongated grains randomly oriented in all directions. The grain size decrease in low wt. % addition of Sb 2 O 3 and increase in higher wt. % addition.


Massive localized lymphedema (MLL) is a rare pseudosarcomatous lesion due to localized lymphatic obstruction from variable causes. It is most common on medial aspect of thigh and inguinal region. Abdominal localization is rare and may cause clinical diagnostic confusion with other malignant tumors due to its large size. We report a case of abdominal wall MLL of a 56-year-old male patient under clinical suspicion of well differentiated liposarcoma. The literature search and differential diagnosis will be addressed. In doubt cases, immunohistochemical stain or fluorescent in situ hybridization can help to separate this entity from the other mimickers.


The ever popular issue on environmental preservation and sustainability all over the world has lead towards the innovation of new materials from either industrial or
agricultural waste. Malaysia being one of the leading producers of palm oil has been conducting numerous researches to discover the various potentials of by-products generated by palm oil mills. The current findings revealed that palm oil fuel ash (POFA) produced in the mills can be used for producing a new alternative lightweight construction material known as POFA cement based aerated concrete having enhanced strength than specimen produced using 100% ordinary Portland cement.
Since, the performance this material in marine environment is unknown, this paper presents and discusses the result on the strength performance of this lightweight concrete upon exposure to sea water for one year. The concrete cubes were prepared and subjected to water curing for 28 days before immersed in sea water. The compressive and flexural strengths of the specimens were tested at 3, 6 and 12 month following the procedures stated in BS 1881: Part 116 and ASTM C293-79 respectively. The study found that integration of POFA as partial cement replacement
in aerated concrete enhances the performance of concrete in sea water environment.


Background: Malaria is still a global health problem especially in tropical countries, such as Indonesia. Based on survey 35% of the Indonesia population were live in endemic areas of malaria, such as Provinces of Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, West Papua, North Sumatra, and East Nusa Tenggara. Malaria is caused by a mosquito bite of female Anopheles sp. containing Plasmodium parasite. Generally it bites humans at night or dawn. Such malaria parasites are Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae, and Plasmodium ovale. Malaria is a disease of both highest in Ternate and mostly occur in general hospitals of Chasan Boesoirie General Hospital. This research aims to identify the type of malaria parasites in the Chasan Boesoirie General Hospital Ternate.
Method: This is a descriptive research conducted in Chasan Boesoirie General Hospital in Ternate, East Nusa Tenggara in March 2015. Research data obtained include: age, sex, education, and employment. Identification of malaria is carried out based on an examination of the existence of Plasmodium in preparation of thin and thick blood apus. Descriptive analysis using STATA programs for Windows version 12.0 (Stata Corp LP., College Station, TX, USA) are presented in the form of tables and narratives.
Result: This research subjects were 69 people suspected with malaria infection. Suspected malaria to be infected by Plasmodium is more are young age group 94%, 88% were males, 100% have a poor education or un-educated, as well as the of 100% were fishermen. As much as 54 people (78%) were infected by Plasmodium parasites consisting of Plasmodium falcifarum 48 people (89%) and Plasmodium vivax 6 people (11%).
Conclusion: The incidence of malaria infections in Chasan Boesoirie General Hospital amounted to 78% and the type of infected parasites were Plasmodium falcifarum and Plasmodium vivax.


Zinc metabolism in the cells is largely regulated by ubiquitous small proteins, metallothioneins (MT). Metallothionein-3 is specifically expressed in the brain and is down regulated in Alzheimer's disease. We demonstrate by mass spectrometry that MT-3, in contrast to common MTs, binds Zn(2+) and Cd(2+) in a noncooperative manner and can also bind higher stoichiometries of metals than seven. MT-3 reconstituted with seven metals exists in a dynamic equilibrium of different metalloforms, where the prevalent metalloform is Me(7)MT-3, but metalloforms with 6, 8, and even 9 metals are also present. The results from pH and stability studies demonstrate that the heterogeneity of metalloforms originates from the N-terminal beta-cluster, whereas the C-terminal alpha-cluster of MT-3 binds four metal ions such as that of common MTs. Experiments with EDTA demonstrate that the beta-cluster of ZnMT-3 has a higher metal transfer potential than the beta-cluster of Zn(7)MT-2. Moreover, ZnMT-3 loses metals during ultrafiltration. MT-3, reconstituted with an excess of Zn(2+) or Cd(2+), exists as a dynamic mixture of metalloforms with higher than 7 metal stoichiometries (8-11). Such forms of ZnMT-3 are unstable and decompose partly already during a rapid gel filtration, whereas CdMT-3 forms are more stable. Extra metal ions may bind to the beta-cluster region as well as to the carboxylates of MT-3. The specific metal-binding properties of MT-3 could be functionally implemented for buffering of fluctuating concentrations of zinc in zincergic neurons and for transfer of zinc to synaptic vesicles.


Radiation has an important role on nasopharyngeal carcinoma therapy because surgery is often difficult, however itcause sensorineural hearing loss as side effect. Longitudinal observational study was conducted to know the effect ofradiation on sensorineural hearing loss of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients at Ear, Nose, and Throat Department,Hasan Sadikin Hospital, February-August 2006. Twenty eight male and 7 female, with no sensorineural hearing lossin one or both ears, age 12–72 years, and met inclusion criteria, were included in this study. All patients receivedradiation and underwent audiometry and tympanometry prior-,during-radiation with a 2.000 cGy and 6,600 cGy, andone month postradiation. Data was analyzed using Chi-square, Mc-Nemar, and exact Fisher test. The results showedthat incidence of sensorineural hearing loss were 7 cases (10%) on 2,000 cGy, 22 cases (31.4%) on 6,600 cGy, and 24cases (34.3%) on postradiation. The relationship between duration 6,600 cGy and 2,000 cGy in the normalpreradiation group were significant (p= 0.001), whereas postradiation and duration with 6,600 cGy was notsignificant (p= 0.5). Sensorineural hearing loss on >30 years was 37.0% on duration 6,600 cGy (p=0.031) and 40.7%postradiation (p=0.018). In conclusion, radiation on nasopharyngeal carcinoma can induce sensorineural hearingloss during- or postradiation and age >30 years is prognostic factor for sensorineural hearing loss.[ MKB . 2010;42(3):108-14]. Key words : Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, radiation, sensorineural hearing loss


Group A streptococci (GAS) cause throat and skin infections, severe invasive diseases as well as the non-suppurative complications acute rheumatic fever and glomerulonephritis. GAS have retained susceptibility to betalactam drugs, but resistance to alternative antibiotics is of concern. In a large Iranian survey the carrier rates among symptom-free children and those with pharyngotonsillitis were 20% and 34%, respectively. There were no macrolide resistant strains, but 42% were tetracycline resistant; of these, 406 isolates were typed by different methods. Though half of the strains were T- and M-nontypeable, more than 20 M types were represented. Non-typeable strains could mostly be typed genetically by a PCR-capture-ELISA procedure. Fingerprinting by PFGE disclosed further strain heterogeneity, suggesting tetracycline resistance to be disseminated among Iranian GAS strains. Among Swedish isolates from 1980-99, a new, non-inducible (NI) resistance phenotype, due to efflux was predominant during the 80ies. Classical MLS resistance, both inducible (IR) and constitutive (CR), seemed to appear only during the late 90-ies. In addition, three novel subphenotypes of MLS resistance were demonstrated. Resistance determinants were traced by PCR and invariably showed ermB in IR and CR strains but mefA in NI strains. Novel subphenotype strains mostly showed both erm and mef genes. Most IR strains were also tetracycline resistant, and typing of 100 such strains serologically as well as by PCR-capture-ELISA and emm-sequencing showed almost all to be of M-type 77, not previously reported from Sweden. In addition, five different clones of such multi-resistant strains were distinguished by PFGE. Thus, new molecular methods represent potent tools for epidemiological typing of antibiotic resistant and other GAS.