To provide quality care at the end of life or for chronically sick patients such as cancer, nurses must have good knowledge, attitude and practice about palliative care (PC). In Democratic Republic of the Congo, PC is a new concept and very little is known about the type of services offered and the readiness of nurses to provide PC. A cross-sectional descriptive study design was carried out using 112 nurses working in selected hospitals in Lubumbashi from February 2017 to March 2017, which were selected on the basis of the existence within the institution of Intensive Care Unitable of management of patients at the end-of-life with chronic diseases. A selfadministered French questionnaire was used for data collection. The researchers used triangulation in their study method making use of: Frommelt's Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) Scale, Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN) and practice questions. This led to enhanced validity of the data. Excel and SPSS 23 software statistical packages were applied for data entry and analysis. Descriptive statistics and bivariate statistical analysis were fitted to identify significantly associated factors with knowledge and attitude towards palliative care. The majority of nurses 57(50.9%) had above 15 years of experience, 58% of them had less than 2 years of experience in terminal and 90.2% hadn't obtained training course. Out of the total study participants, 69 (70.5%) had poor knowledge level of palliative care, and only 33 (29.5%) had good knowledge. The most respondents' attitudes levels towards palliative care were positive attitude 66 (58.9%) and 46(6.2%) negative attitude level. The nurses had poor knowledge, but their attitude towards PC was favorable. Educational status of nurses was significantly associated with Knowledge nurses towards PC. Furthermore, educational status of nurses, No PC training, Hospital institutions and the age of nurses were statistically significant with attitude of nurses towards PC. Palliative care training and continuous professional education should be regularly given for the nurses.


Ramzia Ibrahim ,Sonia T. Hassib, Hany M. Safwat . Professor of Pharmaceutical chemistry, Head of Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department. Abstract Four non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents have been determined titrimetrically using N-bromosuccinimide. Flufenamic and mefenamic acids react quantitatively with N-bromosuccinimide in an acidic medium whereas allopurinol and indomethacin can be determined with reproducible results in an aqueous pyridine solution. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of flufenamic acid, mefenamic acid and allopurinol in their pharmaceutical formulations. In addition, a sensitive spectrophotometric method, based on the same reaction, has been used to determine selectively indomethacin in admixture with its hydrolysis products, and for the determination of indomethacin in capsules


ABSTRACT Combined practice of sulfuration and drying is widely applied for extending shelf life of fruits. The differences in fruit size are not taken into consideration during these applications and during fresh fruit consumption. In this study, effect of fruit size and drying methods (hot air-drying and sun drying) on the chemical composition of fresh and sulfurated apricot was investigated. Total drying times for sun drying and hot air-drying were 11 d and 51 h, respectively. A temperature gradient was applied during hot air-drying. The fruit size substantially affects the composition of both fresh and dried apricots. The results were subjected to principal component analysis. The small-sized fresh apricots discriminate themselves from large ones with higher amounts of phenolic compounds, whereas the large-sized fresh apricots contain more sugar and organic acids. Size classification and hot air-drying are advisable for high-quality dried apricot production.


Patient reported outcomes (PROs) refer to any report of the status of a patient's health condition that comes directly from the patient. While PROs are a well-developed technology with robust standards in research their use for informing health care decisions is generally poorly understood. In this paper we review relevant examples of their application in health care provision to date, and examine the challenges associated with routinely implementing PROs in clinical settings. We evaluate evidence for their use, and examine key barriers, such as where there is a lack of alignment between interpretation of scores and clinical decision making on the ground. Based on available evidence we have developed a framework of the key requirements for the successful implementation of PROs in clinical practice. We conclude by exploring potential future developments for the use of PROs in clinical practice, such as individualised measurement and efficient administration through the use of computer adaptive tests (CATs).


In this work we deal with the non-linear control of aerial vehicles under external disturbances. We develop a non-linear velocity controller able to accommodate estimations of the external disturbing forces and moments. To estimate the external actions and at the same time provide improvements on the state estimation we make use of the EKF approach. Finally, we present simulations comparing close loop performance of a system with the proposed methodology implemented against close loop performance of the same controller but without the
estimation of the external forces.


The goal of the APROSYS project was to offer a significant contribution to the reduction of road victims in Europe and in this way contribute to the road safety goals of the European Commission as defined for instance in the White Paper for transport. The general objective of APROSYS was the development and introduction of critical technologies that improve passive safety for all European road users in all relevant accident types and accident severities. Furthermore, APROSYS aimed to increase the level of competitiveness of the European industry by developing new safety technologies (safety is a proven selling point) and by developing design tools (computer-aided design (CAD)) and evaluation methods that will increase the efficiency of the development process of the involved industries.


Play therapy is an empirically supported intervention used to address a number of developmental issues faced in childhood. Through the natural language of play, children and adolescents communicate feelings, thoughts, and experiences. Schools provide an ideal setting for play therapy in many ways; however, several challenges exist in implementing play therapy as a preventative or responsive intervention in the school setting. This article presents a brief overview of play therapy as a component of a comprehensive developmental school counseling program. The authors present a case study outlining how child-centered play therapy as a theoretical approach to play therapy can be used to effectively work with a child experiencing emotional and academic issues in the school setting.


The aim of this paper is to determine how people value species for conservation and apply it to policymaking. This paper is the first attempt to value one of the UK´s rarest birds specifically; the redbilled chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax). Classical economic theory struggles to assign value to resources that are not a product of markets, such as endangered wildlife. The contingent valuation method will be used to gauge how P pyrrhocorax is valued in Cornwall via a questionnaire method, eliciting responses to how much individuals are willing to pay to preserve this rare species. The methodology requires diligent questionnaire design, implementation and regression analysis. It was found that the average willingness to pay was £23.60 to mitigate habitat damage to this endangered and iconic bird. Economic valuation has a large role to play in determining policy for species conservation. However, there are other more complex and non-orthodox forms of valuation occurring such as aesthetic, intrinsic bequest and relational values that cannot be accounted for by direct valuation.


The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit investigated plains at Gusev crater, where sedimentary rocks are present. The Spirit rover's Athena morphological investigation shows microstructures organized in intertwined filaments of microspherules: a texture we have also found on samples of terrestrial stromatolites and other microbialites. We performed a quantitative image analysis to compare 45 microbialites samplings with 50 rover's ones (approximately 25,000/20,000 microstructures). Contours were extracted and morphometric indexes obtained: geometric and algorithmic complexities, entropy, tortuosity, minimum and maximum diameters. Terrestrial and Martian textures resulted multifractals, while terrestrial abiogenic minerals showed a simple fractal structure. Mean values and confidence intervals from the Martian images overlapped perfectly with those from terrestrial samples. The probability of this occurring by chance was less than 1/28, p<0.004. Our work show the presumptive evidence of microbialites in the Martian outcroppings explored by "Spirit", confirming our previous results concerning the Martian outcroppings explored by Opportunity at Meridiani Planum: unicellular life was widespread on the ancient Mars.


Abstract. Maps are the foundation of indoor location-based services. Many automatic indoor mapping approaches have been proposed, but they rely highly on sensor data, such as point clouds and users' location traces. To address this issue, this paper presents a conceptual framework to represent the layout principle of research buildings by using grammars. This framework can benefit the indoor mapping process by improving the accuracy of generated maps and by dramatically reducing the volume of the sensor data required by traditional reconstruction approaches. In addition, we try to present more details of partial core modules of the framework. An example using the proposed framework is given to show the generation process of a semantic map. This framework is part of an ongoing research for the development of an approach for reconstructing semantic maps.


The microstructures and mechanical properties of friction stir welded lap joints of Inconel 600 and SS 400 were evaluated; friction stir welding was carried out at a tool rotation speed of 200 rpm and welding speed of 100 mm/min. Electron back-scattering diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were introduced to analyze the grain boundary characteristics and the precipitates, respectively. Application of friction stir welding was notably effective at reducing the grain size of the stir zone. As a result, the reduced average grain size of Inconel 600 ranged from in the base material to in the stir zone. The joint interface between Inconel 600 and SS 400 showed a sound weld without voids and cracks, and MC carbides with a size of around 50 nm were partially formed at the Inconel 600 area of lap joint interface. However, the intermetallic compounds that lead to mechanical property degradation of the welds were not formed at the joint interface. Also, a hook, along the Inconel 600 alloy from SS 400, was formed at the advancing side, which directly brought about an increase in the peel strength. In this study, we systematically discussed the evolution of microstructures and mechanical properties of the friction stir lap joint between Inconel 600 and SS 400.


The Kempas District is one of the area that has the opportunity to develop food commodities, namely rice, especially wet rice. The rice productivity of Kempas District is higher than other districts in Indragiri Hilir Regency with a productivity yield of 39.96 kw / ha with an area of 2,300 ha. This study aimed to (1) determine the performance of agricultural instructors; (2) find out the level of farmer empowerment and farmer independence. This research was carried out in Kempas Jaya Village, Kempas District, Indragiri Hilir Regency for three months, October 2017 - December 2017. The type of data used in this study are primary data and secondary data. Primary data were obtained from interviews and questionnaires. Secondary data were obtained from information related to agricultural extension in Kempas District and online journals. The research method is quantitative through 30 rice farmers in Kempas Jaya District. Analysis of the data used in this study is descriptive analysis with a Likert scale. The results showed (1) the performance of extension workers in Kempas Jaya was "quite good" with a percentage of 73.3%; (2) the level of empowerment of farmers in Kempas Jaya village is "very empowered" with a percentage of 60.0% and the independence of farmers in Kempas Jaya village is "Very Independent" with a percentage of 60.0%.


ABSTRACT Four orthologous genes (TK1108, TK1404, TK1777, and TK2185) that can be annotated as phosphomannomutase (PMM) genes (COG1109) have been identified in the genome of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakaraensis KOD1. We previously found that TK1777 actually encodes a phosphopentomutase. In order to determine which of the remaining three orthologues encodes a phosphoglucomutase (PGM), we examined the PGM activity in T. kodakaraensis cells and identified the gene responsible for this activity. Heterologous gene expression and purification and characterization of the recombinant protein indicated that TK1108 encoded a protein with high levels of PGM activity (690 U mg−1), along with high levels of PMM activity (401 U mg−1). Similar analyses of the remaining two orthologues revealed that their protein products exhibited neither PGM nor PMM activity. PGM activity and transcription of TK1108 in T. kodakaraensis were found to be higher in cells grown on starch than in cells grown on pyruvate. Our results clearly indicate that, among the four PMM gene orthologues in T. kodakaraensis, only one gene, TK1108, actually encodes a protein with PGM and PMM activities.


Introduction: Blood transfusions are an important treatment modality for patients with either acute or chronic onset anemia such as trauma, sickle cell disease, and hematological malignancies. Transfusion poses a risk for alloimmunization, which may lead to potentially lethal transfusion reactions. A promising strategy to prevent alloimmunization is extensive matching on blood groups, yet this is a costly procedure and should be reserved for patients at highest risk for alloimmunization. Identification of genetic variants that increase the risk for alloimmunization might help to identify high-risk patients and could be used as a screening tool for patients receiving multiple transfusions.
 Objectives: To summarize all available evidence on genetic risk factors for alloimmunization after blood transfusion.
 Design: Systematic review with meta-analysis of observational studies. Studies were only included in the meta-analysis if polymorphisms were tested at least 3 times, and if ethnic background of the population and the control populations were comparable between studies.
 Data sources: The online databases Embase, MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library were search for relevant articles with search terms: 1) transfusion, 2) alloimmunization 3) genetics. The search was last updated March 2018.
 Eligibility criteria: 1) Primary study that assessed the association of genetic polymorphisms with transfusion related alloimmunization, 2) a human population, 3) studies with at least 50 patients, 4) full text availability.
 Data extraction: Two reviewers independently screened articles for eligibility, extracted data using a standardized data extraction form. Extracted data included study setting, study population, participant demographics, baseline characteristics, study methodology, comparisons and outcome, and risk of bias.
 Primary outcome measure: Alloimmunization after one or more blood transfusions.
 Risk of bias assessment: The quality of the included studies was assessed by the Q-genie tool for genetic association studies.
 Results: A total of 2045 cases and 24084 controls were derived from 18 genetic case-control studies that were included in this systematic review. Most commonly studied disease group was sickle cell disease (SCD) (8 studies). Three studies included patients with different diseases and seven studies did not report the underlying disease. Eleven studies identified the association of HLA polymorphisms with alloimmunization and 8 studies focused on non-HLA variants. Overall quality of the included studies was moderate (11 studies), 2 studies were of high quality, and 5 studies were ranked as poor.
 HLA-DRB1*04 (Odds Ratio 7.16, 95%CI 3.87-13.22, P<0.00001) and HLA-DRB1*15 (OR 3.01, 95%CI 1.84-5.53, P<0.0001) were by meta-analysis significantly associated with anti-Fy(a) formation, although there was considerable heterogeneity (I2=78% and 55% respectively). Moreover, HLA-DRB1*10 (OR 2.64, 95%CI 1.41-4.95, P=0.002), HLA*DRB1*11 (OR 2.11, 95%CI 1.34-3.32, P=0.001), and HLA-DRB1*13 (OR 1.71, 95%CI 1.26-2.33, P=0.0006) were overall associated with anti-Kell formation. Heterogeneity was less prominent with an I2 of 0%, 54% and 19% respectively (Figure 1). No other variants were eligible for meta-analysis.
 Non-HLA variants were tested less extensively, as most variants were reported by only 1 study. Polymorphisms of genes in the immunomodulatory pathways were assessed most frequently. Of these variants, FC-gamma-receptor 2C.nc-ORF was associated with a decreased risk of alloimmunization in SCD (OR 0.26, 95%CI 0.11-0.64, p=0.003). All other associations that were described as significant by the original articles were summarized in Figure 2.
 Discussion: There is limited evidence supporting the role of genetic risk factors for alloimmunization. The results of our meta-analysis suggest that several HLA polymorphisms potentially influence antigen presentation of the Duffy(a) and Kell antigen. Once confirmed by experimental studies, these polymorphisms could be used as a screening tool for the prevention of alloimmunization among frequently transfused patients.
 Overall, the effect of genetic variants on alloimmunization has mostly been assessed by small studies, hampering reliable interpretation of the results. Future studies should include large and well-defined cohorts when performing genetic analysis on this complicated subject.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


In this paper we present the composition of a general dynamic scenario, the relations of its components and a dynamic making algorithm called ECA (Evaluation and Correction Algorithm). The paper proposes three relations, namely, stable relation, controllable relation and uncontrollable relation. Numerical results are given by some simple dynamic scenarios.


Purpose - – Money laundering schemes are inextricably linked to corruption whereby the latter is utilised either as "a means to an end or as an end in itself". The prevalence of one of these offences in a country usually signifies the prevalence of the other. The foregoing connection is supported by studies carried out by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to correlate the connection between money laundering and corruption. Corruption has been exploited to facilitate commission of other crimes such as drug trafficking, prostitution, small arms trafficking and illegal currency trafficking. It has destroyed the myth that corruption is a domestic political issue amenable within individual states borders. Therefore, the design of anti-corruption policy measures should incorporate effective implementation anti-money laundering (AML) strategy and their enforcement on corrupt public officials. It needs to be noted that money accrued from corruption constitutes criminal property under the majority of global AML/CFT frameworks which have been domesticated by individual national governments. Both corruption and money laundering thrive in an environment of bad governance, lack of requisite local oversight institutions, a tenuous legal systems and laws and bad governance. These offences have become so intertwined that it is not easy to tell which is which because they are embedded in each other and in the context of this paper are symbiotic. Design/methodology/approach - – The paper articulates that there is a close connection between corruption and money laundering offences. It was undertaken by evaluating primary and secondary data sources to demonstrate the interconnectivity of the foregoing criminal offences in the regulatory realm. The overlapping relationship between corruption and money laundering has been acknowledged by many oversight institutions and national governments. For example, Singapore enacted a legislation: "Corruption, Drug Trafficking and other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act" in (1999) recognizing the foregoing interconnectivity. The G20 imposed on Financial Action Task Force the requirement to incorporate mechanisms within its framework to combat money laundering and terrorist financing measures to fight corruption. Therefore, this paper has demonstrated a close correlation between corruption and money laundering and what ought to be done at various oversight levels to forestall them. Findings - – Corruption and money laundering are inextricably linked such that where one exists, the other one will be also lurking in the background. The paper has articulated the connection between corruption and money laundering and the context they are manifested either together or differently. It has demonstrated that the foregoing offences are literally "Keith and Kin" and should be accorded the same level of attention as serious financial crime, both in theory and practice of states. Research limitations/implications - – While there are many papers which have been published on the subject of money laundering and corruption, not many articulate the connection between corruption and money laundering in the context of this paper. The paper was undertaken by evaluating primary and secondary data sources and analysing this data in different contexts of this paper. However, it would have been better to corroborate some of the foregoing sources by working with oversight AML/corruption institutions. Therefore, the author will ensure that future studies carried out on the subject matter of money laundering and corruption are undertaken with a high measure of collaboration with oversight AML/corruption agencies and possibly also civil society organisation which have a mandate on these similar issues. Practical implications - – This paper is of practical significance for governments, policy and oversight institutions in dealing with issues relating to corruption and money laundering. The paper provides insights into the dynamics of the foregoing twin offences, the context they are manifested and how the law can be better utilised to forestall them. Corruption and money laundering have eviscerated the individual economies capacity to engage in national development programmes, and they need to be addressed as a matter of seriousness, both nationally and internationally. This paper will provide insights into what states need to do to harness the law relating to corruption and money laundering offences, both at an oversight institution and individual national government's level. Social/implications - – Corruption and money laundering crimes have eroded the fabric of societies, eviscerated individual states capacity to pursue national development goals and not to mention fuelling other crimes such as financing of terrorism, human and small arms trafficking, drugs trafficking, to mention but a few. Therefore, no state can afford to ignore the foregoing transgressions against humanity because no state can claim to be immune from the offshoot effects of corruption and money laundering. Originality/value - – There are not many published papers which articulate the connection between money laundering and corruption in the context of this paper. This paper is one of its kind, original and a must read. It is a must read because it has a lot offer literally to every one u academics, researchers, students, policy and regulatory institutions and the list goes on.


The relationship of hillslope erosion rates and sediment yield is often poorly defined because of short periods of measurement and inherent spatial and temporal variability in erosion processes. In landscapes containing hillslopes crenulated by alternating topographic noses and hollows, estimates of local hillslope erosion rates averaged over long time periods can be obtained by analysing colluvial deposits in the hollows. Hollows act as local traps for a portion of the colluvium transported down hillslopes, and erosion rates can be calculated using the age and size of the deposits and the size of the contributing source area. Analysis of colluvial deposits in nine Oregon Coast Range hollows has yielded average colluvial transport rates into the hollows of about 35 cm3cm~1yr~1 and average bedrock lowering rates of about 007 mm yr ' for the last 4000 to 15000 yr. These rates are consistent with maximum bedrock exfoliation rates of about 0-09 mm yr ' calculated from six of the hollows, supporting the interpretation that exfoliation rates limit erosion rates on these slopes. Sediment yield measurements from nine Coast Range streams provide similar basin-wide denudation rates of between 0-05 and 0-08 mm yr -1 , suggesting an approximate steady-state between sediment production on hillslopes and sediment yield. In addition, modern sediment yields are similar in basins varying in size from 1 to 1500 km2, suggesting that erosion rates are spatially uniform and providing additional evidence for an approximate equilibrium in the landscape.


We find that motion in internal moduli spaces of generic domain walls has an upper bound for its velocity. Our finding is based on our generic formula for all-order effective actions of internal moduli parameter of domain wall solitons. It is known that the Nambu-Goldstone mode $Z$ associated with spontaneous breaking of translation symmetry obeys a Nambu-Goto effective Lagrangian $\sqrt{1 - (\partial_0 Z)^2}$ detecting the speed of light ($|\partial_0 Z|=1$) in the target spacetime. Solitons can have internal moduli parameters as well, associated with a breaking of internal symmetries such as a phase rotation acting on a field. We obtain, for generic domain walls, an effective Lagrangian of the internal moduli $\epsilon$ to all order in $(\partial \epsilon)$. The Lagrangian is given by a function of the Nambu-Goto Lagrangian: $L = g(\sqrt{1 + (\partial_\mu \epsilon)^2})$. This shows generically the existence of an upper bound on $\partial_0 \epsilon$, i.e. a speed limit in the internal space. The speed limit exists even for solitons in some non-relativistic field theories, where we find that $\epsilon$ is a type I Nambu-Goldstone mode which also obeys a nonlinear dispersion to reach the speed limit. This offers a possibility of detecting the speed limit in condensed matter experiments.


Balloon cell nevus (BCN) is a histopathological variant of cutaneous acquired melanocytic nevi characterized by junctional and/or dermal nests of large cells with a clear and foamy cytoplasm which has rarely been described in children. Three cases of BCN firstly reported on the scalp in two pediatric patients are presented along with a literature review. Dermoscopy is particularly indicated in those pigmented lesions showing a yellowish hue, in ruling out in real time those disorders that may clinically be similar such as xanthogranuloma and sebaceous nevus, and to suggest the diagnosis of BCN. The final diagnosis, however, is established by histopathological examination.


Ligand-gated ionic channels are integral membrane proteins that enable rapid and selective ion fluxes across biological membranes. In excitable cells, their role is crucial for generation and propagation of electrical signals. This survey describes recent results from studies performed in the Department of Cellular Neurophysiology, Institute of Physiology ASCR, aimed at exploring the conformational dynamics of the acetylcholine, glutamate and vanilloid receptors during their activation, inactivation and desensitization. Distinct families of ion channels were selected to illustrate a rich complexity of the functional states and conformational transitions these proteins undergo. Particular attention is focused on structure-function studies and allosteric modulation of their activity. Comprehension of the fundamental principles of mechanisms involved in the operation of ligand-gated ion channels at the cellular and molecular level is an essential prerequisite for gaining an insight into the pathogenesis of many psychiatric and neurological disorders and for efficient development of novel specifically targeted drugs.


The report discusses the results of an evaluation of the effectiveness of combined radiotherapy in 1,192 cases of head and neck tumors divided into 4 groups: distant radiotherapy in standard fractions of 1.8-2.3 Gy, 5 times a week, TTD of 60 Gy (group 1 - 486 40.8%); radiotherapy + local UHF hyperthermia + regional intraarterial chemotherapy + hyper glycemia + administrations of regional intraarterial chemotherapy + hyperglycemia + local UHF hyperthermia (group 2 - 244 20.5%); accelerated superfractition radiotherapy with variable STD of 1 and 1.5/2 Gy, TTD of 60 Gy, plus neoadjuvant polychemotherapy with cisplatin 100 mg/lm2 + 5-fluorouracil, continuous intravenous infusion of 3,000 mg for 72 h (group 3 - 204 17%1); combined photon-neutron therapy (group 4 - 258 21.6%): neutron beam therapy - 36 (3%); interstitial neutron brachytherapy with 252 Cf sources in combination with external beam gamma-therapy and chemotherapy. Overall radiation injury incidence was 1,087 (91.2%); oral mucositis grade I (WHO) - 110 (9.2%), grade II - 166(13.9%), grade III - 811 (68%), radiation dermatitis - 279 (23.4%), grade I/II - 196 (16.4%), grade III/IV - 83 (7%). Grade III/IV side effects developed in 26.7% after gamma therapy and in 72.2% - in the photon-neutron group (p < or = 0.0001). Skin damage was rare, as expected, in the photon-brachytherapy group (1.8%) (p < or = 0.0001). Hence, Cf252 neutron brachytherapy and radiotherapy with concomitant chemotherapy appeared to produce the most sparing effects.


Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the chemical and fermentation quality of silage from two sorghum hybrids in different layers of the silo feed-out face, as well as the interference of the aerobic exposure time of structured and/or unstructured silo face (after feed-out). The AG-2005E hybrid silage presented higher crude protein content and higher pH compared to hybrid AG-60298 (6.33% and 4.0 versus 6.06% and 3.8, respectively). Silages from stratum 0 to 20cm had the lowest dry matter content and the highest crude protein content (38% and 6.35%, respectively). The pH did not differ between layers, and the NH3 content was higher in the stratum 60 to 80cm (4.5%). During 72 hours of aerobic exposure, the unstructured silage presented a higher increase in temperature than the silage from the structured face, but this period was not enough to result in differences in dry matter, mineral matter, NH3, and pH. The chemical and fermentation quality of the silage was directly influenced by hybrid and silo stratum. After aerobic exposure, silage from the structured face seems to suffer less interference compared to the silo feed-out face.


This study is about the analysis of figures of speech used in ten hair care advertisements published in Cosmopolitan and Cleo magazines (April 2007). More specifically, this study discussed types of figures of speech used in those hair care advertisements and their meanings. In finding the meanings, the writer paid attention to the context. The writer chose this topic because there are many hair care advertisements using figures of speech as their language style to attract and persuade potential consumers to read the advertisements and buy the products. The writer chose two different magazines because the writer wants to compare hair care advertisements from these two magazines. Besides, these two magazines are published in many countries using many languages. The main theory used in this study was taken from Perrine and Arp (1992). Besides, in finding out the meaning, the writer used theory proposed by Verdonk and Widdowson (2002). In this theory, contexts are divided into two types; internal linguistic and external non-linguistic context. These two types of context were used for analyzing the data. The approach of the study is descriptive qualitative. It was found that those ten hair care advertisements had fifteen statements containing three types of figures of speech namely personification, hyperbole, and simile. In general, these figures of speech carried one meaning, i.e. the consumer might get benefits when he or she uses the advertised products. Furthermore, there are three things which are emphasized by the advertisers through the language use, the picture and the colour of the advertisements, in order to persuade or convince the consumers. These three things are the flexibility of the product, the results after using the product, and the convenience of the consumers when they are using the product.


Introduction and aims The role bacteria play in the development and progression of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is unclear. We used culture-independent methods to describe differences and/or similarities in microbial communities in the lower airways of patients with COPD, healthy non-smokers and smokers. Methods Bronchial wash samples were collected from patients with COPD (GOLD 1–3; n = 18), healthy non-smokers (HV; n = 11) and healthy smokers (HS; n = 8). Samples were processed using the Illumina MiSeq platform. The Shannon-Wiener Index (SW) of diversity, lung obstruction (FEV1/FVC ratio) and ordination by Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity indices were analysed to evaluate how samples were related. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to assess the effect specific taxa had within each cohort. Characteristics of each cohort are shown in Table 1. Results There was no difference in taxa richness between cohorts (range: 69–71; p = 0.954). Diversity (SW Index) was significantly lower in COPD samples compared to samples from HV and HS (p = 0.009 and p = 0.033, respectively). There was no significant difference between HV and HS (p = 0.186). The FEV1/FVC ratio was significantly lower for COPD compared to HV (p = 9*10–8) and HS (p = 2*10–6), respectively. NMDS analysis showed that communities belonging to either of the healthy groups were more similar to each other than they were to samples belonging to the COPD group. PCA analysis showed that members of Streptococcus sp. and Haemophilus sp. had the largest effect on the variance explained in COPD. In HS, Haemophilus sp., Fusobaterium sp., Actinomyces sp., Prevotella sp. and Veillonella sp. had the largest effect on the variance explained, while in HV Neisseria sp., Porphyromonas sp., Actinomyces sp., Atopobium sp., Prevotella and Veillonella sp. had the largest effect on the variance explained. Conclusions The study demonstrates that microbial communities in the lower airways of patients with COPD are significantly different from that seen in healthy comparison groups. Patients with COPD had lower microbial diversity than either of the healthy comparison groups, higher relative abundance of members of Streptococcus sp. and lower relative abundance of a number of key anaerobes. Abstract S21 Table 1 Characteristics COPD HV HS Age (yrs) [Mean ± SD] 58 ± 1 50 ± 11 55 ± 1 Sex (% Female) 22 46 63 Richness [Mean ± SD] 71 ± 16 69 ± 13 69 ± 16 SW [Mean ± SD] 1.90 ± 0.63 2.66 ± 0.51 2.51 ± 0.34 FEV1 [Mean ± SD] 1.46 ± 0.45 3.12 ± 0.55 3.20 ± 0.71 FEV1% Predicted [Mean ± SD] 58 ± 17 98 ± 6 95 ± 13 FEV1/FVC Ratio [Mean ± SD] 0.51 ± 0.08 0.82 ± 0.06 0.79 ± 0.06


In this work, the effect of a magnetic island on Alfvén waves is studied. A physical model is established wherein Alfvén waves propagate in the presence of a magnetic island in a cylindrical geometry. The structure of the Alfvén wave continuum is calculated by considering only the coupling caused by the periodicity in the helical angle of the magnetic island. The results show that the magnetic island can induce an upshift in the Alfvén continuum. Moreover, the coupling between different branches of the continuous spectrum becomes more significant with increasing continuum mode numbers near the boundary of the magnetic island.


Tea leaves are a rich source of plant secondary metabolites such as tannins and saponins that have the potential to manipulate rumen fermentation and to lessen methane (CH 4 ) production.Samples of green tea (GTL), black tea (BTL), their spent leaves after water extraction (SGTL and SBTL), ryegrass hay (RH), ryegrass silage (RS), paddy straws (PS), barley straws (BS), and wheat straws (WS) were compared for their rumen in-vitro organic matter degradability (IVOMD, g/kg DM), pH, ammonia (NH 3 , mg/L), total volatile fatty acids (tVFA, mmol/L), total gas production (tGP, L/kg OM), and methane output (CH 4 ,L/kg OM) after 28h incubation with buffered rumen fluid under anaerobic conditions at 39 o C in glass syringes. One-way ANOVA on Minitab 16 was used to examine differences between products at P<0.05 for four replicate samples. There were no differences between tea leaf products, RH and RS but the straws tended to have lower IVOMD compared with tea leaf products and other forages. GTL produced the lowest NH 3 followed by BTL, SGTL, SBTL, and other forages. There were no differences between most tea leaf products, RH, RS, and the straws for tVFA concentration but PS and WS produced the lowest tVFA. GTL, SGTL, and RH had higher tGP than BTL, SBTL, and the straws but they had a lower tGP than RS. GTL, BTL, and SBTL produced similar levels of CH 4 as the straws but this was less than RS and SGTL. The results suggest that if tea leaf products are included in the straw-based diets as natural feed additives, they may improve degradability, tVFA, NH 3 ,and tGP production without increasing CH 4 output. Low NH 3 production for tea leaf products could be the sign of more by-pass protein to be absorbed in small intestine. Keywords: Tea leafproducts, in-vitro measurements, and ruminants.


Abstract We surveyed the coast of Chile between Isla Terhalten (54° 20′ S) and Islote Leonard (55°  44′ S) by boat during November–December 2005 to document breeding locations of Rockhopper (Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome) and Macaroni (E. chrysolophus) penguins, and to count the number of nests during the early incubation period. A yacht-based observation recorded 1,000 Rockhopper Penguin nests at Isla Terhalten. Ground-based counts at Isla Noir estimated a total of 158,200 Rockhopper and 3,470 Macaroni penguin nests in 17 mixed colonies and one Macaroni Penguin breeding colony. The Rockhopper population on Isla Noir increased significantly from the previous estimate of 70,000 pairs, making this island the most important breeding site for the southern subspecies of Rockhopper Penguin. The new estimate for Rockhopper Penguins suggests a population increase over the last 20 years, consistent with recent data for the main colony in Argentina. Conservation status of the species and the factors potentially responsible for population declines elsewhere may need to be re-evaluated.


The annual reproductive cycle of  Cyprinus carpio  was investigated using morphometric parameters of the body and gonads, including fecundity estimations, gonadosomatic indexes as well as histological evaluation and classification of oocyte developmental stages. It was concluded the  C. carpio  has an extended spawning season under temperate conditions, from early spring (September) to late summer (February). Results further suggest that by manipulating temperature and daylight period during late winter (August) it would be possible to induce spawning during this period.


We have developed an ac power distribution scheme which provides switched regulated power of alternating polarity (no rectification necessary) for Josephson interferometer latching logic circuits. Distribution from the power source relies on a tree system of thin film transformers having single primaries and multiple secondaries to maintain low current levels and small phase skews throughout the system. Power signals are clipped on chip to the desired voltage supply level by series connected large area Josephson junctions ("regulator" junctions) and distributed across the chip by voltage busses. Supply resistors between the regulated voltage bus and the logic circuits define the operating current level. A detailed design is presented for a specific interferometer latching circuit family. We report experimental data on the two major components of the power system design - the regulators and the transformers. A series string of four regulator junctions provides a trapezoidal waveform of 11 mV amplitude at > 66% logic duty cycle (that portion of the machine cycle in which logic operations can be performed). Thin film transformers have their designed inductance (350 pH) and coupling coefficient ( > .90).


Clients' perspectives on the therapeutic alliance were examined using written descriptions of factors that clients believed to be helpful in developing a strong alliance. Fifty participants sorted previously collected statements into thematically similar piles and then gave each set of statements a title. Multivariate concept mapping statistical methods were used to obtain the most representative sort across participants. The resulting 14 categories (Emotional Support, Ability to Relate, Sharing the Counsellor's Personal Experience, Good Boundaries, Interpersonal Demeanour, Body Language, Provided Resources and Homework, Availability, Planning and Approach, Directed Process Appropriately, Attentiveness, Approachable, Nonjudgemental, and Effective Listening ) provide a conceptual foundation useful for counsellor training and clinician development.


Objectives: The aim of the study was to explore the association between different time periods and acute myocardial infarction. Methods: In the study, 124 patients with coronary heart disease were selected as the study participants, and they were divided into observation group and control group averagely, with 62 patients in each group. The control group chose not to exercise, the observation group chose to exercise, and they were divided into morning exercise group and the evening exercise group. The exercise information of patients was collected by the questionnaire, and the relationship between different sports intensity, different movement frequency, duration of different movement, and movement in different time periods was compared with that of acute myocardial infarction. Results: The corrected odds ratio (OR) value of the observation group and the control group was 0.68, and the incidence of acute myocardial infarction was lower in the case of exercise. Different exercise intensity, different exercise frequency, different exercise duration, and different time periods have an important impact on the occurrence of acute myocardial infarction. If the exercise intensity is high, the frequency is high, and the duration is long, they can prevent myocardial infarction. Compared with the control group, the observation group morning exercise group and evening exercise group correction values of OR were 0.61 and 0.57, the difference is distinct, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Compared with the morning exercise group, the risk of acute myocardial infarction was 0.92. Conclusions: The risk of acute myocardial infarction in patients with coronary heart disease with high exercise intensity, high frequency, and long duration was lower. Moreover, an exercise in the morning and evening had a similar protective effect on the prevention of acute myocardial infarction.


Data analysis for metabolomics is undergoing rapid progress thanks to the proliferation of novel tools and the standardization of existing workflows. However, as datasets and experiments continue to increase in size and complexity, standardized workflows are often not sufficient. In addition, as the ground truth for metabolomics experiments is intrinsically unknown, there is no way to critically evaluate the performance of tools. Here, we investigate the problem of dynamic multi-class metabolomics experiments using a simulated dataset with a known ground truth and evaluate the performance of tinderesting, a new and intuitive tool based on gathering expert knowledge to be used in machine learning, and compare it to EDGE, a statistical method for sequence data. This paper presents three novel outcomes. First we present a way to simulate dynamic metabolomics data with a known ground truth based on ordinary differential equations. This method is made available through the MetaboLouise R package. Second, we show that the EDGE tool, originally developed for genomics data analysis, is highly performant in analyzing dynamic case vs control metabolomics data. Last, we introduce the tinderesting method to analyse more complex dynamic metabolomics experiments that performs on par with statistical methods. This tool consists of a Shiny app for collecting expert knowledge, which in turn is used to train a machine learning model to emulate the decision process of the expert. This approach does not replace traditional data analysis workflows for metabolomics, but can provide additional information, improved performance or easier interpretation of results. The advantage is that the tool is agnostic to the complexity of the experiment, and thus is easier to use in advanced setups. All code for the presented analysis, MetaboLouise and tinderesting are freely available.


Large scale computer networks provide access to a bewilderingly large number and variety of resources, including retail products, network services, and people in various capacities. We consider the problem of allowing users to discover the existence of such resources in an administratively decentralized environment. We describe an approach for a system that accesses the distributed collection of repositories that naturally maintain resource information, rather than building a global database to register all resources. A key problem is organizing the resource space in a manner suitable to all participants. Rather than imposing an inflexible hierarchical organization, our approach allows the resource space organization to evolve in accordance with what resources exist and what types of queries users make. Concretely, a set of agents organize and search the resource space by constructing links between the repositories of resource information based on keywords that describe the contents of each repository, and the semantics of the resources being sought. The links form a general graph, with a flexible set of hierarchies embedded within the graph to provide some measure of scalability. The graph structure evolves over time through the use of cache aging protocols. Additional scalability is targeted through the use of probabilistic graph protocols. A prototype implementation and a measurement study are under way. hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 1 This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement DCR-84200944, and by a grant from AT&T Bell Laboratories.


This thesis begins with an examination of the various multifaceted issues facing human energy use, illustrating the contention that the theoretical framework upon which modern energy studies are built must be expanded. Accordingly, it is maintained that a comprehensive study of modern energy systems and, similarly, modern energy use, which employs more than the standard one-dimensional analysis technique, will help to explore many currently overlooked problems, as well as the interconnected foundations of these same problems. Consequently, it is argued that any attempt to develop policies pertaining to the notion of social development, when maintaining a focus on energy use, must begin from this starting point. The primary goals of this thesis are, therefore, to simply: (1) depict the manner in which most contemporary energy studies perpetuate a limited understanding of energy use; (2) elaborate upon how this understanding can be expanded, within the context of a discussion of the evaluation of the concept of sustainable development; (3) discuss the consequences of this in terms of fossil fuel use; (4) point to how alternatives solutions may, in fact, be reached. The central argument is that a shift in global energy systems is not only possible and desirable, but may well be inevitable.


In the framework of the bilateral cooperation on migration control between EU Member States and third countries, readmission agreements stand as key tools in the removal of unauthorized migrants, rejected refugees, and asylum seekers supposed to undergo asylum procedures elsewhere. The return of irregular migrants has become, indeed, an underlying component of the EU immigration and asylum policy. A preliminary question is whether general international law generates upon States an obligation to readmit their own and foreign nationals, and, if so, how this obligation relates to readmission agreements. This Chapter will then attempt to reach an as precise and complete understanding as possible of the technical content of interstate and EU readmission agreements. Since competence in the 'Area of Freedom, Security and Justice' remains shared and the EU and Member States continue to pursue their readmission procedures in a parallel manner, this study aims to investigate the tight relationship between national and supranational readmission strategies. Therefore, whereas it analyses the bilateral arrangements of individual Member States with third countries, it also examines the EU's readmission policy through an overview of the institutional framework, issues of competence, and an outline of the main legal instruments.


Introduction: Before the advent of ultrasound guided regional anaesthesia, post-operative pain in percutaneous nephrolithotomy was mainly confined to opioid consumption and other analgesics. The use of Ultrasound in regional anaesthesia has facilitated the visualization of anatomical structures, needle advancement and the spread of local anaesthetic. This has led to the development and refinement of fascial plane blocks. Quadratus Lumborum block (QLB) facilitates early postoperative ambulation and reduction in length of hospital stay by effective postoperative analgesia. Methods: In this prospective, randomised, double blinded study, 66 patients scheduled for elective percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) between 2021 and 2022 were randomised, 33 patients to receive ultrasound guided QLB with 20 ml of 0.25% bupivacaine and 33 patients receive 20 ml of normal saline post intubation. During the postoperative period, each patient's pain level was assessed by the Visual analog scale(VAS) score for pain: range 0-10 (0=no pain,10=worst pain ever).The VAS score at 15 mins,1hr, 2hr, 6hr,12hr, 24hr intervals, should be monitored. Results: VAS Score in Group A was less as compared to Group B. The difference was statistically significant at 15 min, 1h, 2h, 4h, 6h, 8h, 14h. Conclusion: Hence, ultrasound guided Transmuscular QLB had better analgesic efficacy in post PCNL surgery.


We have undertaken a fresh study of this ancient problem, beginning with the necropsy records of Bellevue Hospital in New York and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In each of these institutions we examined three thousand necropsy records, searching for lesions ordinarily supposed to produce diarrhea. We then traced the cases showing these lesions back to the clinical records, trying to ascertain first whether the lesions actually produced diarrhea, and if so, in what proportion of cases; secondly, whether any special type of symptoms or of discharges was associated with any special lesion of the intestine, the endeavor being to mark out clinical types so far as this was possible. Finally, we reviewed the results of treatment both in necropsy cases and in a considerable series of cases which did not come to necropsy, and endeavored to estimate the value of the different methods used. For various reasons we have excluded from this study certain


A significant part of the World population lives in the coastal zone, which is affected by coastal sea level rise and extreme events. Our hypothesis is that the most accurate sea level height measurements are derived from the Synthetic Aperture Altimetry (SAR) mode. This study analyses the output of dedicated processing and assesses their impacts on the sea level change of the North-Eastern Atlantic.

It will be shown that SAR altimetry reduces the minimum usable distance from five to three kilometres when the dedicated coastal retrackers SAMOSA+ and SAMOSA++ are applied to data processed in SAR mode. A similar performance is achieved with altimeter data processed in pseudo low resolution mode (PLRM) when the Spatio-Temporal Altimeter sub-waveform Retracker (STAR) is used. Instead the Adaptive Leading Edge Sub-waveform retracker (TALES) applied to PLRM is less performant. SAR processed altimetry can recover the sea level heights with 4 cm accuracy up to 3-4 km distance to coast. Thanks to the low noise of SAR mode data, the instantaneous SAR and in-situ data have the highest agreement, with the smallest standard deviation of differences and the highest correlation. A co-location of the altimeter data near the tide gauge is the best choice for merging in-situ and altimeter data. The r.m.s. (root mean squared) differences between altimetry and in-situ heights remain large in estuaries and in coastal zone with high tidal regimes, which are still challenging regions. The geophysical parameters derived from CryoSat-2 and Sentinel-3A measurements have similar accuracy, but the different repeat cycle of the two missions locally affects the constructed time-series.

The impact of these new SAR observations in climate change studies is assessed by evaluating regional and local time series of sea level. At distances to coast smaller than 10 Kilometers the sea level change derived from SAR and LRM data is in good agreement. The long-term sea level variability derived from monthly time-series of LRM altimetry and of land motion-corrected tide gauges agrees within 1 mm/yr for half of in-situ German stations. The long-term sea level variability derived from SAR data show a similar behaviour with increasing length of the time series.


All developed countries are searching hard to eke more value out of the money spent on healthcare. First in line for analysis is hospital care—the most costly part of healthcare, accounting for 50% of costs in the NHS in England in 20011-12. One tool for controlling costs is the way that healthcare is paid for. Payments matter: they influence the services on offer, the viability of hospitals, the cost effectiveness of treatments, and how physicians practise medicine.

Western countries have been developing payments for hospital care over the past 20 years in similar ways. Busse and colleagues set out how and why payments for the care of homogeneous groups of patients (diagnosis related groups, DRGs) have evolved, their broad impact, and future likely direction.1

In the United States DRG payments curbed growth in Medicare hospital expenditures, partly through reduced inpatient stays.2 In Europe (including England) DRG payments have also been associated with reductions in the length of stay (and assumed …


This experiment was undertaken to test two contrasting explanations of the effects of eye gaze on social perceptions and outcomes. A social meaning model holds that differing levels of gaze have such clear meaning that gaze alone accounts for the reactions to it. A nonverbal expectancy violations model holds that normative behaviors are expected in social interactions with strangers and that violating these expectations produces different results depending on whether the violator is deemed highly "rewarding" or "nonrewarding." This experiment, the third in a series, proposed to extend the violations model by incorporating the concept of positive and negative types ofviolations. Subjects (N = 145) interviewed one of four confederate interviewees who manipulated one of three levels of eye gaze (nearly constant, normal, andnearly constant aversion) and who were assigned one of two levels of reward (highly qualified for the job or highly unqualified). Differential gaze behavior resulted in varied impressions of attraction, credibility, and relational communication, with gaze aversion producing consistently negative effects. Interpretations and communication consequences were mediated by reward, gender, and confederate differences.


The critical behavior and magnetic properties of Pr0.65Sr0.35MnO3 (symbolized here by PSMO) were studied using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). The thermal bath algorithm and Ising model in which exchange interactions via the third nearest neighbor were used to calculate the magnetic and magneto-caloric properties. The effects of temperature (T) and external magnetic field (h) on the magnetic behavior of PSMO were examined. The results show that the Curie temperature (TC) is close to the experimental value. The magnetic entropy shows a maximum value around the TC that increases linearly with the increase of the external field. The critical behavior of the PSMO compound was studied by analyzing the magnetization isotherms and by exploiting Arrott plots. The obtained values of the critical exponents are β = 0.336, γ = 1.121, and δ = 4.335. These values are very close to those reported for the 3D-Ising model. The variation of maximum magnetic entropy (ΔSmmax) and relative cooling power (RCP) around the Curie temperature were calculated; the obtained values of ΔSmmax and those of RCP ranging from 3.612 and 92.7 for 1T to 6.191 and 209.9 for 5T, respectively. These results are sufficiently interesting to consider the PSMO compound as a promising candidate for magnetic refrigeration.


This paper is an attempt to investigate feminist stylistic analysis about various voices of gender discrimination in Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns 2007. It unveils the female characters' attempts of resistance to such discriminatory practices and their underlying ideologies. The novel is a chronological narration of the Afghan people beset by their domestic and socio-political issues. However, gender discrimination (or sex80 Clinical Social Work and Health Intervention Clinical Social Work and Health Intervention Vol. 10 No. 3 2019 ism) against the Afghan women at the domestic, social and institutional levels is a dominant thematic issue. The major characters in the novel provide a strong base for various causes of the issue, and their subsequent implications of gender discrimination in different ethnic, ideological and institutional backgrounds. The study highlights not only the linguistic resources, but also the social and institutional underpinnings of gender discrimination. It reveals that the linguistic resources for gender discrimination include attributive, dehumanizing, belittling, oppressing and sexist terms and expressions.


Cryoglobulins are proteins that precipitate when cooled and dissolve when heated. Cryoglobulinemia may be classified into Type I (monoclonal), Type II (mixed), and Type III (polyclonal). About 5 to 10% of myeloma proteins and 7 to 20% of primary macroglobulinemia proteins are cryoprecipitable (Type I cryoglobulin), and more than half of these have no symptoms attributable to cryoglobulin nature of their M-component. The most common symptoms of Type I cryoglobulinemia include Raynaud's phenomenon, necrosis of the toes or legs, vascular purpura, and urticaria. In Type I cryoglobulinemia due to plasma cell dyscrasias, treatment is directed primarily at the underlying disease. Plasmapheresis and cryofiltration may be helpful particularly when this can be combined with effective chemotherapy.


This work presents a new concept for using glass as a component material in FOWLP. Glass exhibits excellent properties for advanced packaging applications, such as low loss tangent, low dielectric constant, CTE values between that of Si and a typical EMC, and a favorable Young's modulus for reducing warpage. Despite the great interest in the properties of glass, its use is still not widespread as traditional glass processing techniques have a detrimental impact on its properties while increasing the effective material cost. Here, we show that by using Laser Induced Deep Etching technology for processing glass, substrates can be produced in an economical manner while retaining all of the its excellent properties. Furthermore, this technology enables the processing of precise cavities with flexible features completely made of glass, capable of passively correcting die position errors occurring during the pick-and-place and EMC-related processes. In addition, issues such as warpage are highly reduced while allowing the integration of other features such as Through Glass Vias and Integrated Passive Devices in the same wafer.


Background

An increasing number of studies demonstrate that histone chaperones play critical roles in tumorigenesis and development. In previous research, we confirmed that CHAF1A was highly expressed in cervical cancer (CC) and was correlated with poor prognosis. However, the biological function and specific mechanism of CHAF1A in the development of CC have not been reported.
Methods

CHAF1A knockdown in SiHa and HeLa.cells by lentivirus vector is verified by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis.CCK-8, flow cytometry assays, colony formation, cell migration assay and real-time cell analysis assay were performed to determine the cellular function of CHAF1A in CC.Tumor xenograft assay was conducted on nude mice to assess the effect of CHAF1A in vivo. Cell immunofluorescence and co-immunoprecipitation were applied to examine the interaction between CHAF1A and PCNA.
Results

We found that CHAF1A knockdown in SiHa and HeLa cell lines inhibited proliferation and promotedits apoptosis. Further research indicated that CHAF1A promoted proliferation and inhibited apoptosis in CC by activating the PI3K/Akt/FoxO1 signaling pathway. Moreover, CHAF1A directly interacts with PCNA and co-promotes CC progression.
Conclusions

The discovery of the mechanism of action of CHAF1A in CC may provide a new direction for the treatment of CC.


Harmonically related peaks in the spectrum of a stationary stochastic process may indicate the presence or wave components that are not sine-shaped, i.e., whose Fourier expansions contain phase-locked higher order terms. But the spectrum itself suppresses phase relations, and more refined methods are needed to decide such questions. Moreover, phase relations might also exist outside of the peaks. We discuss proposals for testing the presence of phase relations and for extracting them quantitatively by means of numerical bispectrum analysis, and we derive their statistical properties and compare their relative merits. Applications of these methods to EEG signals will be presented.


During a VMAT treatment delivery, the interplay effect between the moving target and varying machine parameters result in dose distributions that are different from those initially planned. In this work, we investigate this effect for lung SABR by using 4D dose calculation derived from the Varian TrueBeam trajectory log file. The impact of treatment start phase is also evaluated. A QUASAR™ respiratory motion phantom was scanned with motion amplitudes of 0.4, 1, 2 and 3 cm with a 4 second period. MIP and the average dataset were generated from the 4DCT. A static CT was also acquired with the tumor in its centre position. Plans were optimized with 10X FFF beam until PTV and fictitious critical structures met the dose constraints. Ten temporally interleaved plans were constructed with the temporal machine parameter information from the trajectory log file. Ten plans were calculated with isocentre shifts to simulate respiratory motion and then summed. For each motion amplitude, three separate sum plans were created with various phase shifts (no phase shift, maximum inhalation and maximum exhalation) to assess the impact of treatment start phase. For all the phase shifts investigated, the DVH for PTV demonstrated good dose coverage. However, a careful review of slice by slice plan comparison indicates dose "holes" are observed within PTV. The PTV dose difference between various treatment start phases can be as high as 19%. This assumes all treatment fractions have identical treatment start phase. Our future work includes evaluation of interplay effect for various breathing periods.


Prisons are settings in which tuberculosis (TB) transmission occurs, and TB rates in prisons are often five to 10 times higher than national rates. Data on the prevalence of TB in prisons in Africa are limited; however, studies from Malawi, Ivory Coast, and Tanzania that used active screening found TB rates > or = 10 times higher than national rates. During 1989-2001, TB rates in Botswana increased threefold, from 199 cases per 100,000 population to 620 (Botswana National TB Program, unpublished data, 2002). This increase has been associated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic. In Botswana, prisoners are not screened routinely for TB. To determine the prevalence of TB and drug-resistant TB in the Botswana prison system and to improve future screening for TB among prisoners and guards, CDC, in collaboration with the Botswana Ministry of Health and the Division of Prisons and Rehabilitation, screened prisoners and guards at four prisons during April-May 2002. This report summarizes the results of the survey, which indicate a high point prevalence of TB among prisoners in Botswana of 3,797 cases per 100,000 population and support the need for improved screening.


We evaluated computed tomography during arterial portography (CTAP) for the preoperative evaluation of liver metastases from pancreatic carcinoma. Thirty-one patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the pancreas underwent CTAP for evaluation of liver metastasis. Diagnostic accuracy of CTAP was compared with that of intravenous contrast-enhanced CT (IVCT). In this series, both CTAP and IVCT showed the same diagnostic accuracy for the patients. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and overall accuracy of both CT examinations for detecting liver metastases were 60% (three of five), 100% (26 of 26), 100% (three of three), 93% (26 of 28), and 94% (29 of 31), respectively. CTAP did not confer any advantage over IVCT for the preoperative evaluation of liver metastases from pancreatic carcinoma.


Mass transfer is critical in catalytic processes, especially when the reactions are facilitated by nanostructured catalysts. Strong efforts have been devoted to improving the efficacy and quantity of active sites, but often, mass transfer has not been well studied. Herein, we demonstrate the importance of mass transfer in the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) by tailoring the pore sizes. Using a confined-etching strategy, we fabricate boron- and nitrogen-doped carbon (B,N@C) electrocatalysts featuring abundant active sites but different porous structures. The ORR performance of these catalysts is found to correlate with diffusion of the reactant. The optimized B,N@C with trimodal-porous structures feature enhanced O2 diffusion and better activity per heteroatomic site toward the ORR process. This work demonstrates the significance of the nanoarchitecture engineering of catalysts and sheds light on how to optimize structures featuring abundant active sites and enhanced mass transfer.


The practice of tattooing represents a form of permanent or temporary decoration, which is one way of expressing individuality and identity, a rite of passage and, more recently, a form of makeup for women. In fact, in Burkina Faso the practice of temporary tattooing of the eyebrows, as makeup (Fig. 1), is currently very fashionable for women. Although tattooing used to be carried out with henna, which only produced rare side effects, nowadays the trend is to use new imported products, especially those from China. These new products are responsible for undesirable effects, which are seen increasingly within our context. We report one case of vitiligoid achromia after tattooing carried out with one of these products.


The complexity of patients cared for in modern ICUs, along with continuing advances in the technology of critical care and the escalating costs associated with providing that care, have been motivating factors for critical care practitioner to identify and implement "best" medical practices. Individual best practices are often determined based on their association with improvements in patient outcomes, increased efficiency and cost-effectiveness of medical care, or both. These practices should ideally be determined based on sound medical evidence obtained from rigorously performed clinical trials, the most rigorous being randomized controlled trials. However, such trials have often not been performed for many aspects of critical care medicine. Outcomes research is an emerging field which attempts, in part, to use variations in medical practices, as well as formal scientific investigations, to identify important associations between specific medical practices and clinical outcomes. This review focuses on two areas of mechanical ventilation, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and weaning, to illustrate how outcomes research can be employed to facilitate decision making in the management of patients with respiratory failure.


The routine separation of mothers and infants after delivery, a practice until recently very common in western midwifery and obstetric practice, may have significant negative effects on the establishment of normal mother–baby postnatal interactions, most importantly, the establishment of breast feeding.1 Recognition of the importance of close and direct contact between mothers and babies in the period immediately after delivery has led to the widespread adoption of the practice of 'skin-to-skin' care, in which the infant is placed naked and almost always prone directly onto the mother's chest very shortly after birth. The widely recognised potential benefits of early skin-to-skin contact, include improved prevalence and duration of breast feeding, improved maternal attachment behaviour and reduced crying by infants, together with improved cardiorespiratory stability for preterm infants.1 The Cochrane review notes that this practice has 'no apparent short or long term negative effects'.1

The study by Becher and colleagues,2 investigating sudden unexpected postnatal collapse in the first 12 h after birth of apparently healthy term …


Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP) is a research strength at the University of Wollongong, the main research theme of this centre is to develop prototype novel radiation dosimeters. Multiple detector systems have been developed by Prof Rosenfelds' group for various radiation detector applications. This paper focuses on four current detector systems being developed and studied at CMRP. Two silicon array detectors include the magic plate and dose magnifying glass (DMG), the primary focus of these two detectors is high spatial and temporal resolution dosimetry in intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) beams. The third detector discussed is the MOSkinTM which is a high spatial resolution detector based on MOSFET technology, its primary role is in vivo dosimetry. The fourth detector system discussed is BrachyView, this is a high resolution dose viewing system based on Medipix detector technology.


The Connecting rod is a high volume production from automobile Side. Connecting rod is subjected to more Stress than other engine components. Failure and damage are also more in connecting rod, So stress analysis in Connecting rod is Very important. In this study, detailed load analysis was performed on connecting rod, followed by finite element method in Ansys-13 medium. In this regard, In order to calculate stress in Different part of connecting rod, the total forces exerted connecting rod were calculated and then it was modeled, meshed and loaded in Ansys software. The maximum stresses in different parts of connecting rod were determined by Analysis. The maximum pressure stress was between pin end and rod linkages and between bearing cup and connecting rod linkage. The maximum tensile stress was obtained in lower half of pin end and between pin end and rod linkage. It is suggested that the results obtained can be useful to bring about modification in Design of connecting rod.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of our study is to evaluate the safety and utility of a new single-wall puncture technique for percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage in comparison with the conventional double-wall puncture technique.

CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that the single-wall puncture technique is a useful method for percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage and may be safer than the conventional double-wall puncture technique.


— Our study was designed to determine the metabolic changes of some biochemical parameters (cholesterol, triglyceride, Iron, uric acid, Urea and folic acid) and highlight their changes in 57 women of the region Batna, during the first trimester of pregnancy. This practical work was done with 27 women with missed miscarriage, compared with 30 control subjects of normal pregnant women. The assay results revealed a highly significant difference (P = 0.0006) between the two groups in serum iron (64.00 vs 93.54) and in the rate of folate (6.70 vs 9.22) (P <0.001) but no difference was found regarding the rate of Ca (9.69 vs 10.20), urea (0.19 vs 0.17), UA (33.96 vs 32.76), CH (1.283 vs 1.431), and TG (0.8852 vs 0.8290). The present study indicates that iron deficiency and folate are associated with missed miscarriage, but no direct pathophysiological link has been determined. Further in-depth studies are needed to determine the exact mechanism by which these deficits lead to a missed miscarriage.


This study examined the relationship between college women's media use and two sets of variables (disordered-eating symptomatology and a set of related variables, including body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness) and assessed the relationship between college men's media use and their endorsement of thinness for themselves and for women. We expected to find consumption of thinness-depicting and thinness-promoting TDP) media related to disordered eating and thinness endorsement, with the social learning process of modeling accounting for the relationships. For women, media use predicted disordered-eating symptomatology, drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, and ineffectiveness. For men, media use predicted endorsement of personal thinness and dieting and select attitudes in favor of thinness and dieting for women. Magazine reading was a more consistent predictor than television viewing. Several relationships remained significant when interest in fitness and dieting as media topics was partialled out of the analyses. Exposure to TDP media appears to be associated with a subsequent increase in eating disorder symptomatology. Selective exposure to these media based on initial interest in fitness and dieting as media topics is not a viable alternative explanation for this association.


It has been known since Elliott (1998) that standard methods of inference on cointegrating relationships break down entirely when autoregressive roots are near but not exactly equal to unity. We consider this problem within the framework of a structural VAR, arguing this it is as much a problem of identification failure as it is of inference. We develop a characterisation of cointegration based on the impulse response function, which allows long-run equilibrium relationships to remain identified even in the absence of exact unit roots. Our approach also provides a framework in which the structural shocks driving the common persistent components continue to be identified via long-run restrictions, just as in an SVAR with exact unit roots. We show that inference on the cointegrating relationships is affected by nuisance parameters, in a manner familiar from predictive regression; indeed the two problems are asymptotically equivalent. By adapting the approach of Elliott, M\"uller and Watson (2015) to our setting, we develop tests that robustly control size while sacrificing little power (relative to tests that are efficient in the presence of exact unit roots).


Background: The overwhelming majority of strokes can be prevented via optimal vascular risk factor control. However, there remains an evidence practice gap with regard to treatment of vascular risk factors. With the rapid growth worldwide in cell-phone use, Internet connectivity, and digital health technology, mobile health (mHealth) technology may offer a promising approach to bridge these treatment gaps and reduce the global burden of stroke. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of mHealth in vascular risk factor control through a systemic review and meta-analysis. Methods: We searched PubMed from January 1, 2000 to May 17, 2016 using keywords: mobile health, mhealth, short message, cellular phone, mobile phone, stroke prevention and control, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and smoking cessation. We performed a meta-analysis of all eligible randomized control clinical trials that assessed the long-term (at 6 months) effect of mHealth. Results: Of 79 articles identified, 13 of them met eligibility criteria (6 for glycemic control and 7 for smoking cessation) and were included for the final meta-analysis. There were no eligible studies for dyslipidemia or hypertension. mHealth resulted in greater HbA1c reduction at 6 months (6 studies; 663 subjects; SMD: -0.44; 95% CI: [-0.82, -0.06], P =0.02; Mean difference of decrease in HbA1c: -0.39%; 95% CI: [-0.74,-0.04], P =0.03). mHealth also led to relatively higher smoking abstinence rates at 6 months (7 studies; 9,514 subjects; OR: 1.54; 95% CI: [1.24, 1.90], P Conclusion: Use of mHealth improves glycemic control and smoking abstinence rates, two factors that may lead to better stroke outcomes. Future mHealth studies should focus on modifying premier vascular risk factors like hypertension, specifically in people with or at risk of stroke.


The present study aims to explore the moderating effect of cultural values on responses to male and female gender role stereotyping in advertising. Based on an experiment in Sweden ( n = 507) and Germany ( n = 506), we test the impact of respondents' masculinity, power distance, assertiveness values and feminine role orientation on ad attitudes and brand attitudes. The results show that, in general, perceived stereotyping contributes positively to ad and brand attitude, and this effect is enhanced for more masculine, more power distant, more assertive and less feminine role oriented individuals. In addition, consumers respond more negatively to perceived female stereotyping compared to male stereotyping, and this is especially true for more power distant and more assertive individuals.


Many real world problems involve the simultaneous optimization of various and often conflicting objectives. Evolutionary algorithms seem to be the most attractive approaches for this class of problems, because they are usually population based techniques that can find multiple compromise solution in a single run, and they do not require any hypotheses on the objective functions. Among other techniques, in the last decade a new paradigm based on the emulation of the immune system behavior has been proposed. Since the pioneer works, many different implementations have been proposed in literatures. This Paper presents a description of an intrusion detection approach modeled on the basis of three bio-inspired concepts namely, Negative selection, Positive selection and complement system. The Positive selection mechanism of the immune system can detect the attack patterns (nonself), while the Negative selection mechanism of the immune system can delete the Artificial lymphocyte (ALC) which interact with normal patterns (Self). The complement system is a kind of the effecter mechanism, which refers to a series of proteins circulating in the blood and bathing the fluids surrounding tissues. It establishes the idea that only those cells that recognize the antigens are selected to undergo two operators: cleave operator and bind operator are presented, cleave operator cleaves a complement cell into two sub-cells, while bind operator binds Najlaa B. Aldabagh & Mafaz M. Khalil 110 two cells together and forms a big cell. To obtain Complement detectors can recognize only the attack patterns from the NSL-KDD dataset.


Antiplatelet is the cornerstone therapy for patient with coronary artery disease. Several comorbidities can influence the efficacy and safety of antiplatelet agent. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by increased platelet reactivity and reduced response to antiplatelet. Elderly patients have both reduced response to antiplatelet and increased risk of bleeding. Patients with renal dysfunction also had decreased efficacy of antiplatelet accompanied with increased risk of bleeding. In patients with atrial fibrillation, the concomitant use of anticoagulant with antiplatelet poses an increased risk of bleeding. In patients with these comorbidities, caution should be stressed in selecting the best regimen of antiplatelet which translates the most optimal efficacy while minimizing the risk of adverse events. In this review, we will discuss the platelet changes in these comorbidities, current evidence of antiplatelet usage in these group of patients and current recommendation.


We analyze corporate fraud in a model in which managers have superior information but are biased against liquidation, because of their private benefits from empire building. This may induce them to misreport information and even bribe auditors when liquidation would be value-increasing. To curb fraud, shareholders optimally choose auditing quality and the performance sensitivity of managerial pay, taking external corporate governance and auditing regulation into account. For given managerial pay, it is optimal to rely on auditing when external governance is in an intermediate range. When both auditing and incentive pay are used, worse external governance must be balanced by heavier reliance on both of those incentive mechanisms. In designing managerial pay, equity can improve managerial incentives while stock options worsen them.


The aim and objectives of the article are solved, which allows generalizing the content of a number of terms and concepts in modern accounting. The purpose of the article is to reveal the differences between the concepts of "digitalization", "digital transformation", "digitalization" (or "digitalization"). The importance of understanding the essence of the concepts, covering the theoretical and practical aspects, is emphasized, since the incorrect use of terms, their combination and mixing leads to distortion of the digital transformation of information and negatively affects the development of the legislative framework. The article formulates approaches to the differences of these concepts and proposes the author's approach to solving the problem. The theoretical and practical significance of the work lies in obtaining proposals that contribute to solving the problem of methodological support of digitalization in accounting in the conditions of digital support in the practical activities of Ukrainian enterprises in the formation of internal documents on the organization of digitalization of the accounting process in the conduct of control procedures.


During the period 1 April 1983 to 31 July 1984, 214,700 swine were processed in a slaughterhouse in Poznań, Poland. Of these pigs, 122 (0.057%) exhibited macroscopical kidney changes typical for mycotoxic porcine nephropathy. Ochratoxin A was found in kidneys from 52 of these pigs. Porcine serum samples not biased for nephropathy were collected at random in the same slaughterhouse. Of 388 samples, 148 exhibited ochratoxin A residues from 1 to 520 ng/ml. Significant increases in nephropathy and ochratoxin A frequencies were observed during the spring of 1984.


Companies use corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures to communicate their social and environmental policies, practices, and performance to stakeholders. Although the determinants and outcomes of CSR activities are well understood, we know little about how companies use CSR communication to manage a crisis. The few relevant CSR studies have focused on the pressure on corporations exerted by governments, customers, the media, or the public. Although investors have a significant influence on firm value, this stakeholder group has been neglected in research on CSR disclosure. Grounded in legitimacy theory and agency theory, this study uses a sample of Chinese public companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange to investigate CSR disclosure in response to social media criticism posted by investors. The empirical findings show that investors' social media criticism not only motivates companies to disclose their CSR activities but also increases the substantiveness of their CSR reports, demonstrating that companies' CSR communication in response to a crisis is substantive rather than merely symbolic. We also find that the impact of social media criticism on CSR disclosure is heterogeneous. Non-state-owned enterprises, companies in regions with high levels of environmental regulations, and companies in regions with local government concern about social issues are most likely to disclose CSR information and report substantive CSR activities. We provide an in-depth analysis of corporate CSR strategies for crisis management and show that crises initiated by investors on social media provide opportunities for corporations to improve their CSR engagement.


The ability to interrogate total RNA content of single cells would enable better mapping of the transcriptional logic behind emerging cell types and states. However, current RNA-seq methods are unable to simultaneously monitor both short and long, poly(A)+ and poly(A)-transcripts at the single-cell level, and thus deliver only a partial snapshot of the cellular RNAome. Here, we describe Smart-seq-total, a method capable of assaying a broad spectrum of coding and non-coding RNA from a single cell. Built upon the template-switch mechanism, Smart-seq-total bears the key feature of its predecessor, Smart-seq2, namely, the ability to capture full-length transcripts with high yield and quality. It also outperforms current poly(A)–independent total RNA-seq protocols by capturing transcripts of a broad size range, thus, allowing us to simultaneously analyze protein-coding, long non-coding, microRNA and other non-coding RNA transcripts from single cells. We used Smart-seq-total to analyze the total RNAome of human primary fibroblasts, HEK293T and MCF7 cells as well as that of induced murine embryonic stem cells differentiated into embryoid bodies. We show that simultaneous measurement of non-coding RNA and mRNA from the same cell enables elucidation of new roles of non-coding RNA throughout essential processes such as cell cycle or lineage commitment. Moreover, we show that cell types can be distinguished based on the abundance of non-coding transcripts alone.


The relationship between serum total testosterone (T) level and fluid intelligence (Cattell's Culture Fair Intelligence Test) was studied in young men and women. There was no significant difference between IQs of men and women. IQ tended to increase with T in men, except at very high T levels. It was concluded that (i) T may be associated with IQ, even in samples with no sex-related IQ difference; (ii) too low or too high T may be disadvantageous for fluid intelligence in women; (iii) T may be advantageous for this kind of IQ in men, except very high T levels.


Quad Data Rate (QDR) memories are a family of memory products defined and developed by the QDRTM Consortium comprised of Cypress, Hitachi, IDT, Micron, NEC, and Samsung. QDR memories have been developed mainly to address increasing demand for high data bandwidth in today's high speed applications. QDR memories achieve high data transfer rates by providing two independent data paths. One path for read data and another for write data. Each data path uses Double Data Rate (DDR) operation to transfer data. Thus QDR memories effectively transfer four data words (two words on read paths and two words on write paths) in a single clock cycle. This application note shows how to implement a physical interface to QDRII memories in Actel's ProASIC3E devices, as well as IGLOOTMe devices, and A3PE3000L device (ProASIC3L family).


In dual priority scheduling, periodic tasks are executed in a fixed-priority manner, but each job has two phases with different priorities. The second phase is entered after a fixed amount of time has passed since the release of the job, at which point the job changes its priority. Dual priority scheduling was introduced by Burns and Wellings in 1993 and was shown to successfully schedule many task sets that are not schedulable with ordinary (single) fixed-priority scheduling. Burns and Wellings conjectured that dual priority scheduling is an optimal scheduling algorithm for synchronous periodic tasks with implicit deadlines on preemptive uniprocessors. The related article presents counterexamples to this conjecture, and to some related conjectures that have since been stated. This artifact verifies the counterexamples by means of exhaustive simulations of vast numbers of configurations.


Inspired by the strong ties between vision and language, the two intimate human sensing and communication modalities, our paper aims to explore the generation of 3D human full-body motions from texts, as well as its reciprocal task, shorthanded for text2motion and motion2text, respectively. To tackle the existing challenges, especially to enable the generation of multiple distinct motions from the same text, and to avoid the undesirable production of trivial motionless pose sequences, we propose the use of motion token, a discrete and compact motion representation. This provides one level playing ground when considering both motions and text signals, as the motion and text tokens, respectively. Moreover, our motion2text module is integrated into the inverse alignment process of our text2motion training pipeline, where a significant deviation of synthesized text from the input text would be penalized by a large training loss; empirically this is shown to effectively improve performance. Finally, the mappings in-between the two modalities of motions and texts are facilitated by adapting the neural model for machine translation (NMT) to our context. This autoregressive modeling of the distribution over discrete motion tokens further enables non-deterministic production of pose sequences, of variable lengths, from an input text. Our approach is flexible, could be used for both text2motion and motion2text tasks. Empirical evaluations on two benchmark datasets demonstrate the superior performance of our approach on both tasks over a variety of state-of-the-art methods. Project page: https://ericguo5513.github.io/TM2T/


Four original stories of magical creatures from faraway lands told for children just beginning to read. Featuring unicorns, flying horses and a creature that's half-lion, half-eagle, these stories are guaranteed to enthral children. Usborne Young Reading has been developed with reading experts from Roehampton University. The audio CD includes a dramatic listen-along recording with music and sound effects, followed by a read-along version with prompts for page turns.


The present study aimed to analyse the chemical components of the essential oil from Pyrrosia tonkinensis by GC-MS and evaluate the in vitro antibacterial activity. Twenty-eight compounds, representing 88.1% of the total essential oil, were identified and the major volatile components were trans-2-hexenal (22.1%), followed by nonanal (12.8%), limonene (9.6%), phytol (8.4%), 1-hexanol (3.8%), 2-furancarboxaldehyde (3.5%) and heptanal (3.1%). The antibacterial assays showed that the essential oil of P. tonkinensis had good antibacterial activities against all the tested microorganisms. This paper first reported the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil from P. tonkinensis.


The Vf locus, derived from the crabapple species Malus floribunda 821, confers resistance to five races of the fungal pathogen Venturia inaequalis, the causal agent of apple scab disease. In our previous research, the Vf locus was restricted to a BAC contig of approximately 290 kb covered by five overlapping BAC clones. Here, we report on cloning of the resistance gene(s) present in the Vf BAC contig using a highly reliable and straightforward approach. This approach relies on hybridization of labeled cDNAs to amplified inserts of subclones derived from BAC inserts, followed by recovery of full-size transcripts by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). A cluster of four resistance paralogs (Vfa1, Vfa2, Vfa3, and Vfa4) was identified in the Vf locus. Vfa1, Vfa2 and Vfa4 had no introns and are predicted to encode proteins characterized with extracellular leucine-rich repeats (LRRs) and transmembrane (TM) domains. However, Vfa3 contains an insertion of 780 bp at the end of the LRR motif, resulting in multiple truncated transcripts. Comparison of Vfa1, Vfa2, and Vfa4 paralogs revealed a high degree of overall homology in their deduced amino acid sequences, while divergences were mainly restricted within LRR domains, including variable LRR units, numerous amino acid substitutions, and several residue deletions/duplications. Differential expression profiles among the four paralogs were observed during leaf development. Vfa1, Vfa2, and Vfa3 were active in immature leaves, but slightly expressed in mature leaves, while Vfa4 was active in immature leaves and was highly expressed in mature leaves.


The precipitations are due to complex meteorological phenomenon's and unlike other geophysical constituents such as water vapor concentration they present a relaxation behavior leading to an alternation of dry and wet periods. Thus, precipitations can be described as intermittent process. The spatial and temporal variability of this phenomenon is significant and covers large scales. This high variability can cause extreme events which are difficult to observe properly because of their suddenness and their localized character. For all these reasons, the precipitations are therefore difficult to model.
This study aims to adapt a one-dimensional time series model previously developed by the
authors (Akrour et al., 2013, 2015) to a two-dimensional rainfall generator. The original time series model can be divided into 3 major steps: rain support generation, intra event rain rates generation using multifractal and finally calibration process. We use the same kind of methodology in the present study. Based on dataset obtained from meteorological radar of Meteo France with a spatial resolution of 1 km x 1 km we present the used approach: Firstly, the extraction of rain support (rain/no rain area) allowing the retrieval of the rain support structure function (variogram) and fractal properties. This leads us to use either the rain support modelisation proposed by (Schleiss et al., 2014) or directly real rain support extracted from radar rain maps. Then, the generation (over rain areas) of rain rates is made thanks to a 2D multifractal Fractionnally Integrated Flux (FIF) model (Schertzer et al. 1987). This second stage is followed by a calibration/forcing step (forcing average rain rate per events) added in order to provide rain rate coherent with observed rain5rate distribution. The forcing process is based on a relation identified from the average rain rate of observed events and their surfaces. Our model has 12 parameters, 4 are universals and 8 depend on the climatic area.
The presentation will first explain the different steps presented above, then some results illustrating the simulator's capabilities will be provided. They show that the simulated two5dimensional fields have coherent statistical properties in term of cumulative rain rate distribution but also in term of
power spectrum and structure function with the observed ones at different spatial scales (1, 4, 16 km2) involving that scale features are well represented by the model.


Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the anti-inflammation mechanism of Schizonepeta tenuifolia (ST) extract and ST purified chemicals on PMA plus A23187-induced stimulation of HMC-1 human mast cells. Methods: In the present study, the anti-inflammatory effects of ST, Rosmarinic acid (RA), Pulegone (PG), and 2¥á,3¥á,24-thrihydrooxylen-12en-28oic acid (TH) on stimulated HMC-1 cells were then evaluated by analyzing IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-¥á secretion. In addition, the effects of ST, RA, PG, and TH on gene expression profiles in stimulated HMC-1 cells were evaluated by microarray and real time RT-PCR (RTRP). Results: ST, RA, PG, and TH treated HMC-1 cells were significantly suppressed pro-infalmmatory cytokines in dose dependent manner. In addition, the results of the microarray and RTRP revealed that ST regulates several pathways, including cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction (CCRI), MAPK, and the Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling pathways. Conclusions: ST may have potential efficacy for the treatment of inflammation disease through anti-inflammation activity that occurs via inhibition of the CCRI, MAPK, and TLR signaling pathways.