Terrorism refers to the use or threat of force or violence against people or their property. The challenges of countering biological threats faced by the international community in the twenty-first century are broader and deeper in purpose the incidents connected with this series of events reveals certain important challenges and obstacles for the coordination and communication of public and private sector emergency responses to the possible terrorist bioweapon attacks. They do not only refer potential threat of States developing biological weapons but also to prevent the pathogens released into the environment and the accidental infection to the laboratory workers.


This 6-week study investigates the effect of Yaji on body and organ weights of rats averagely weighing 229g. The rats (n=32) were divided into 4 groups (A-D) with 2 subgroups (A1-D1 and A2-D2) respectively. Group A served as the control, while B-D served as tests. B1, C1, and D1 (n=8 each), received 80g/20g, 60g/40g and 40g/60g of feed/ Yaji  respectively for a period of 3 weeks (acute period), while B2, C2 and D2 (n=4 each) received 40g/10g, 30g/20g and 20g/30g of feed/ Yaji respectively for the remaining 3 weeks (chronic period). Control subgroups A1 (n=8) and A2 (n=4) received normal feed. Throughout the study, the physical and behavioral changes of the rats were recorded as well as the body and organ weights of the rats before and after the rats were sacrificed. Results showed statistically significant weight changes (weight loss in group B during the acute and chronic periods and in C and D during the acute period only) and weight gain in C and D during the chronic period only. Although human data remains yet undetermined, our findings however, supports earlier claims that Yaji has potentials for weight management, while suggesting a working reference weight reduction rat-dose of 20g. Keywords : Yaji , Addictives, Spices, Nutrition, Weight changes, Physical observations.


I. INTRODUCTION This paper describes the current status of deposit insurance systems in Japan and reviews the history of deposit guarantees in the past several years. During this period, some of the Japanese financial institutions have faced near or outright insolvency for the first time in the postwar history. This paper gathers publicly available data and facts on deposit guarantees in Japan in order to gain perspective on the problems. II. BUBBLE, BURST Of THE BUBBLE, AND FINANCIAL DETERIORATION The Japanese economy of the second half of the 1980s is commonly known as a "bubble economy" while the first half of the 1990s is known as the burst of the bubble economy. Starting in 1986, asset prices including stock and land, fine art paintings, and country club memberships doubled and then tripled within a few years. Following the peak in 1989, asset prices rapidly came down in the first half of the 1990s. Stock prices declined by 60 percent from 1990 to August 1992. Even as late as Spring 1995, stock prices remained at about half of the peak level. Representative land prices in metropolitan areas also declined by half from 1991 to 1995. In retrospect, the rise and fall of asset prices from 1985 to 1995 is a typical financial bubble, but one that rivals many other spectacular examples in history. The burst of the bubble in the first half of the 1990s left many corporations, especially in the real estate business, holding large debts without sufficient earnings from properties to service outstanding loans. The financial deterioration, manifested by a nonperforming loan problem of major proportions, is Japan's most serious financial challenge in the postwar period. The total size of the nonperforming loan problem is open to debate. In July 1995, the Ministry of Finance reported that Japanese banks and other creditors held about [yen]40 trillion worth of nonperforming loans of which 30 percent were regarded as uncollectible. The Ministry further indicated that another [yen]8 trillion in loans were "questionable" if one applies a more rigorous definition of "nonperforming loans." This qualification made the total estimate of nonperforming loans [yen]48 trillion.(1) Of this amount, the 21 major banks - consisting of the 11 city banks, three long-term credit banks, and seven trust banks - held approximately [yen]23 trillion. As a result, credit rating agencies have continually downgraded Japanese banks, once regarded as among the most financially secure in the world. In August 1995, Moody's released a new rating system for the major Japanese banks. The new rating system is designed to rate banks on a "stand alone" basis without government support and gives the top 50 Japanese banks an average rating of D because of weak fundamentals and earning powers. The financial press and regulatory authorities have focused on the bank nonperforming loans held by banks and housing loan companies or jusen. However, the nonperforming loans held by credit cooperatives represent a serious though less publicized problem because of their relatively small capital base. Their similarity to SL Cargill, 1993; Kane, 1993) have drawn several parallels between the credit cooperatives in Japan and the S&Ls in the United States. These parallels include the following: (i) Agricultural credit cooperatives have diversified significantly away from their traditional specialization on loans to farmers related to agricultural operations. (ii) Some credit cooperatives have strong ties to the local community and politicians. (iii) Credit cooperatives hold significant amounts of real estate related loans. (iv) Credit cooperatives are not directly supervised by the Ministry of Finance or Bank of Japan but by local prefectural governments such that the extent and sophistication of local supervision is likely uneven. Some credit cooperatives have diversified without adequate supervision. …


Drought, caused by a prolonged deficit of precipitation, bears the risk of severe economic and ecological consequences for affected societies. The occurrence of this significant hydro-meteorological hazard is expected to strongly increase in many regions due to climate change, however, it is also subject to high internal climate variability. This calls for an assessment of climate trends and hot spots that considers the variations due to internal variability. In this study, the percent of normal index (PNI), an index that describes meteorological droughts by the deviation of a long-term reference mean, is analyzed in a single-model initial-condition large ensemble (SMILE) of the Canadian regional climate model version 5 (CRCM5) over Europe. A far future horizon under the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 is compared to the present-day climate and a pre-industrial reference, which is derived from pi-control runs of the CRCM5 representing a counterfactual world without anthropogenic climate change. Our analysis of the SMILE reveals a high internal variability of drought occurrence over Europe. Considering the high internal variability, our results show a clear overall increase in the duration, number and intensity of droughts toward the far future horizon. We furthermore find a strong seasonal divergence with a distinct increase in summer droughts and a decrease in winter droughts in most regions. Additionally, the percentage of summer droughts followed by wet winters is increasing in all regions except for the Iberian Peninsula. Because of particularly severe drying trends, the Alps, the Mediterranean, France and the Iberian Peninsula are suggested to be considered as drought hot spots. Due to the simplicity and intuitivity of the PNI, our results derived from this index are particularly appropriate for region-specific communication purposes and outreach.


The increase in global trade has prompted the need for managers to control the impact of negative country of origin (COO) effects on consumers' product evaluations. Yet, extant research in the area is limited and findings are mixed. This study empirically tests whether theories from the social stereotype change literature, known as subtyping and conversion theories, are effective in diluting consumers' negative country-oforigin stereotypes. Additionally, it examines the specific conditions under which dilution may take place. Two experiments were conducted utilizing mall intercept methodologies in the United States. Evidence suggests that conversion theory is an effective COO stereotype change agent. The results imply that international marketers may be able to reduce negative country-oforigin beliefs merely through exposing their consumers, under particular conditions, to disconfirming product information.


Objective To assess the sex difference in the prevalence of COVID-19 confirmed cases. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Setting PubMed, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar were searched for related information. The authors developed a data extraction form on an Excel sheet and the following data from eligible studies were extracted: author, country, sample size, number of female patients and number of male patients. Using STATA V.14 for analysis, the authors pooled the overall prevalence of men and/or women using a random-effect meta-analysis model. The authors examined the heterogeneity in effect size using Q statistics and I2 statistics. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed. Publication bias was also checked. Participants Studies on COVID-19 confirmed cases were included. Intervention Sex (male/female) of COVID-19 confirmed cases was considered. Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome was prevalence of COVID-19 among men and women. Results A total of 57 studies with 221 195 participants were used in the analysis. The pooled prevalence of COVID-19 among men was found to be 55.00 (51.43–56.58, I2=99.5%, p<0.001). Sensitivity analysis showed the findings were not dependent on a single study. Moreover, a funnel plot showed symmetrical distribution. Egger's regression test p value was not significant, which indicates absence of publication bias in both outcomes. Conclusions The prevalence of symptomatic COVID-19 was found to be higher in men than in women. The high prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption contributed to the high prevalence of COVID-19 among men. Additional studies on the discrepancies in severity and mortality rate due to COVID-19 among men and women and the associated factors are recommended.


Objective: This work assesses the efficacy of the "prevalence effect" as a form of cyberattack in human-automation teaming, using an email task. Background: Under the prevalence effect, rare signals are more difficult to detect, even when taking into account their proportionally low occurrence. This decline represents diminished human capability to both detect and respond. As signal probability (SP) approaches zero, accuracy exhibits logarithmic decay. Cybersecurity, a context in which the environment is entirely artificial, provides an opportunity to manufacture conditions enhancing or degrading human performance, such as prevalence effects. Email cybersecurity prevalence effects have not previously been demonstrated, nor intentionally manipulated. Method: The Email Testbed (ET) provides a simulation of a clerical email work involving messages containing sensitive personal information. Using the ET, participants were presented with 300 email interactions and received cyberattacks at rates of either 1%, 5%, or 20%. Results: Results demonstrated the existence and power of prevalence effects in email cybersecurity. Attacks delivered at a rate of 1% were significantly more likely to succeed, and the overall pattern of accuracy across declining SP exhibited logarithmic decay. Application: These findings suggest a "prevalence paradox" within human-machine teams. As automation reduces attack SP, the human operator becomes increasingly likely to fail in detecting and reporting attacks that remain. In the cyber realm, the potential to artificially inflict this state on adversaries, hacking the human operator rather than algorithmic defense, is considered. Specific and general information security design countermeasures are offered.


We conducted a survey of Australian and New Zealand anaesthetists to determine self-reported practice of perioperative oxygen administration and to quantify perceptions regarding the perceived benefits and risks resulting from liberal oxygen therapy delivered in a manner consistent with the current World Health Organization guidelines. In addition, we sought feedback on the acceptability of several proposed clinical trial designs aiming to assess the overall effect of liberal and restricted perioperative oxygen regimens on patient outcomes. We developed a 23-question electronic survey that was emailed to 972 randomly selected Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) Fellows. We received responses from 282 of 972 invitees (response rate 29%). The majority of survey participants indicated that they routinely titrate inspired oxygen to a level they feel is safe (164/282, 58%) or minimise oxygen administration (82/282, 29%), while 5% of respondents indicated that they aim to maximise oxygen administration. The mean value for targeted intraoperative fraction inspired oxygen (FiO2) was 0.41 (standard deviation 0.12). Of the survey respondents, 2/282 (0.7%) indicated they believe that routine intra- and postoperative administration of ≥80% oxygen reduces the risk of surgical site infection. Well-designed and conducted randomised trials on this topic may help to better direct clinicians' choices. A high level of willingness to participate (80% of responses) in a study designed to investigate the impact of differing approaches to perioperative oxygen administration suggests that recruitment is likely to be feasible in a future study.


In recent years, animal models of puberty in children have focused on factors responsible for the developmental increase in gonadotropin secretion independent of gonadal negative feedback. Although the testis may play little if any role in timing the initial increase in gonadotropin secretion in the male, the situation may be different for the female. The present study tested the hypothesis that removal of endogenous estradiol by ovariectomy would produce an immediate increase in nocturnal but not daytime LH and FSH concentrations, an effect reversed by estradiol replacement. Morning (1000 and 1030 h) and evening (2200 and 2230 h) concentrations of bioactive LH and, in selected samples, immunoreactive FSH were evaluated in young juvenile female rhesus monkeys (n = 7) before and after ovariectomy at 13 months of age. Evening but not morning concentrations of gonadotropins were significantly increased within 2 wk of ovariectomy, whereas estradiol replacement returned these to presurgical levels and to those observed in age-matched, gonadally intact females (n = 7). By 145 d after ovariectomy, or approximately 17 months of age, evening as well as morning concentrations of LH were significantly higher than concentrations seen immediately after surgery. Estradiol replacement at approximately 18 months of age suppressed both morning and evening LH but not to the degree seen during a similar treatment after ovariectomy. These data support the hypothesis that, for the female, the developmental rise in diurnal gonadotropin secretion is controlled by a gonad-independent mechanism as well as a gonadal negative feedback inhibition. The importance of gonadal restraint on gonadotropin secretion in young juvenile females is evident only in samples obtained during the evening. These data underscore the notion that, for the female puberty, onset, at least in terms of gonadotropin secretion, is a misnomer and that puberty reflects a progression in multiple control mechanisms that ultimately time the attainment of fertility.


A total of 48 lactating ewes, belonging to 2 different Mediterranean breeds –Guirra (rustic native breed) and Manchega (mixed aptitude breed)– were used to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of whole citrus fruits (WCF) in their rations. Four iso-energetic and iso-protein total mixed rations were formulated containing fresh WCF at 0, 10, 20 and 30% replacing dry-rolled barley and pelleted beet pulp on a DM basis. The milk yield and composition were obtained once a week at morning and afternoon milking. Total milk yield values observed for 30% WCF group were 12% higher than for the others. Also, a reduction of the milk fat content with the inclusion of WCF was observed, being 8.2, 7.95, 7.69 and 7.1% for 0, 10, 20 and 30% WCF groups (P<0.05). Milk protein content was maximum for ewes on 10% WFC ration (6.4%) and minimum for 30% WCF group (6.0%; P<0.05), due to the lower milk casein content of 30% WCF group (-0.3% respect to 0 and 10% WCF groups; P<0.05), while soluble protein content was similar for all the groups (mean: 1.17%). Throughout the experimental period, a reduction of 6% fat corrected milk (6%FCM) production was observed with all the rations (-35 ml per week), but it was steeper for 20 and 30% WCF groups than for the other 2 groups. In conclusion, WCF could contribute to diminishing dependence of high-milking ewes on grains without affecting the milk output, however further studies related to WCF effect on body condition and on the capacity of lactating animals to mobilize body reserves should be made.


This study aims to identify in the literature publications that portray the need to disseminate the results of clinical trials as a criterion for their transparency and validation. For that, it was used the documentary survey technique in the biomedical literature of documents that deal with transparency in clinical trial results. For the search, the descriptor "Clinical Trial" and the keyword "transparency" - ("transparency" [All Fields] AND "Clinical Trial" [All Fields]) were used. The Medical Literature Analysis and Retrievel System Online (MEDLINE) database of the National Libary of Medicine (NLM) in the United States was selected. 394 documents were recovered, possible duplicates were removed and 226 documents of interest for the research were selected. I n an integrated manner, the relationship of Information Science was established as the area that is dedicated to sharing information through the organization, communication and dissemination of science.


The action of the putative P2Y1-receptor antagonist pyridoxalphosphate-6-azophenyl-2',4'-disulphonic acid (PPADS) was studied in guinea pig aorta for potential use in the differentiation between P2Y1 and P2Y2 purine receptors. Concentration-effect curves to 2-methylthioadenosine triphosphate (2MeSATP) and uridine triphosphate (UTP), agonists at P2Y1- and P2Y2-receptor sites, respectively, and the common agonist adenosine triphosphate (ATP) were constructed in guinea pig aortic ring preparations with the tone raised by 5 microM of noradrenaline. A ranked order of agonist potency of 2MeSATP > ATP > UTP resulted from the construction of concentration response curves to vasorelaxation of the agonists. Deendothelialization virtually abolished vasorelaxation to UTP but made no significant difference to 2MeSATP-induced responses. PPADS exhibited noncompetitive inhibition at P2Y1-receptor sites by reducing the maximal response to 2MeSATP, although a trend towards a right shift of the concentration-effect curves was observed. In total contrast, PPADS enhanced P2Y2-mediated vasorelaxation to UTP by shifting the concentration-effect curves to the left and increasing maximal responses. Thus, PPADS is a noncompetitive antagonist at P2Y1 receptors but enhances responses, at least to UTP, at P2Y2 receptors in guinea pig aorta via a hitherto unknown mechanism. Thus, PPADS is a potentially useful substance that may be used for differentiation between P2Y1 and P2Y2 receptors in the guinea pig aorta.


Recent studies demonstrate that presenilins (PSs) and signal peptide peptidase (SPP) are members of a novel protease family of integral membrane proteins that may utilize a catalytic mechanism similar to classic aspartic proteases such as pepsin, renin and cathepsin D. The defining features of the PSs and SPP are their ability to cleave substrate polypeptides within a transmembrane region, the presence of two active site aspartate residues in adjacent membrane-spanning regions and a conserved PAL motif near their COOH-terminus. PSs appear to be the catalytic subunit of multiprotein complexes that possess gamma-secretase activity. Because this activity generates the amyloid beta peptide (Abeta) deposited in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), PSs are considered therapeutic targets in AD. In contrast to PSs that are not active unless part of a larger complex, SPP does not appear to require protein co-factors. Because of its requirement for hepatitis C virus maturation and a possible immune modulatory role, SPP is also considered a potential therapeutic target. Four additional PS/SPP homologs have been identified in humans; yet, their functions have not been elucidated. Herein, we will review the recent advances in our understanding of the PS/SPP family of proteases as well as discuss aspects of intramembrane cleavage that are not well understood.


Being old is a biologic process that can not be avoided, where degeneration occurs in many ways, which finally decreases the function. These cause aging people prone to various diseases; including periodontal disease. Prevalence and severity of periodontal diseases vary in world population. These differences seem to be related with age, sex, socioeconomic, education, and also ethnic and geography. This study was aimed to investigate the periodontal tissue of aging Buginese and Mandarnese. Total samples are 390 persons (195 Buginese dan 195 Mandarnese). The condition of periodontal tissue were checked using CPITN from WHO. Of 195 samples, 88 samples of Buginese and 55 samples of Mandarnese were edentulous. The result showed periodontal disease of Buginese were bleeding 2.8%, tartar 39.25%, pocket of 4-5 mm depth, 50.47%, and pocket of 6 mm depth, 7.48%. Periodontal disease of Mandarnese ethnic were bleeding 2.14%, tartar 53.57%, pocket of 4-5 mm depth 21.43%, and pocket of 6 mm depth 22.86%. Therefore, the need for periodontal treatment for aging Buginese were brushing teeth instruct 100%, prophylaxis 97.19%, and restorative 7.46%. Aging Mandarnese; were brushing teeth instruction 100%, prophylaxis 97.85%, and restorative 22.86%.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Early cancer diagnosis and risk assessment are powerful drivers in discovery of oncology biomarkers for diagnostic tests and simultaneous improvement of already identified biomarkers. Molecular tools such as RNA Colorimetric in situ hybridization (CISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) combined with conventional histopathology promise to increase the sensitivity and specificity of cancer staging and overall survival prediction. Changes in oncogene and proto-oncogene expression are a hallmark of cancer. For this reason, simultaneous quantification of mRNA and protein expression using RNA CISH and IHC combined with image-analysis is of interest. One such proto-oncogene is HER2, which is encoded by ERBB2 gene located at the long arm of human chromosome 17 (17q12). Here, we combine RNA CISH and IHC with image-analysis to develop a reliable quantitative HER2 assay that enables quantification of HER2 mRNA and protein expression in the context of human breast cancer. Since HER2 is only over-expressed in a subset of human breast cancers, we initially focused our analysis by screening tissue microarrays (TMAs) using RNA CISH and IHC. TMAs containing 20 normal and 20 breast tumor tissues were tested and whole-slide imaging was used to obtain CISH and IHC signals. HER2 mRNA and protein expression were analyzed, quantified, and compared both at tissue- and individual cell-levels using proprietary image-analysis based tools. Moreover, we compared heterogeneity of RNA and protein expression and further extended our studies to several other cancer-related genes. Finally, since oncogene expression plays a role in cancer pathologies, successful quantification of oncogene in situ expression in human cancer tissues may prove to be beneficial to further understanding of cancer pathology, for drug screening and development of biomarkers and ultimately diagnostic tests.

Citation Format: Mirza Peljto, Joseph Krueger, Erik Hagendorn, David Young, Steve Potts, Quan Nguyen, Botoul Maqsodi, Takuro Yaoi, Gary McMaster. Tissue image analysis tool to quantify HER2 RNA and protein expression by colorimetric in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry for breast cancer diagnosis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 44. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-44


OF LOW-INCOME MOTHERS ATTENDING A RURAL MIDWESTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE Kristin B. Wilson Dr. Barbara Townsend, Dissertation Supervisor ABSTRACT Education has proven one path out of poverty for low-income single mothers, yet many are not completing and transferring at high rates. Using theories of economic development as the lens for analysis, I sought to study how single mothers used certain government and institutional policies to facilitate their attendance at a rural community college in a Midwestern state, and how these policies shaped the women's choices about college attendance. More specifically, I wanted to understand how the single mothers' college-going decisions related to access, persistence, completion, and transfer were affected by the federal, state, and local policies they used to manage their economic circumstances. This was a qualitative study using a multiple-case study approach, and there were ten cases studied. For the participants in the study, the Pell Grant was an important avenue of access to the community college; however, it was not sufficient to serve as an avenue of access to the baccalaureate. As well, the lack of access to health coverage, child custody agreements, and an unwillingness to relocate proved to be important barriers to degree completion.


Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks(VANET) has basically picked up the consideration of today's examination endeavors ,while ebb and flow answers for accomplish secure VANET, to shield the system from foe assaults still insufficient ,attempting to achieve an acceptable level, for the driver and maker to accomplish wellbeing of life and infotainment. The requirement for a vigorous VANET systems is unequivocally reliant on their security and protection highlight s, which will be circle utilized as a part of this paper .In this paper a different kind of security issues and difficulties of VANET been examined and talked about; more additionally talk about an arrangement of arrangements present to explain these.


PURPOSE: The prevalence of friction skin injury (FcI) in an acute care hospital was evaluated as part of a quality improvement initiative. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: The setting for this quality improvement project was an academic medical center with 728 licensed beds in the central plains of the United States. Data were collected by 33 clinicians: 28 were RN staff members and 5 were patient care technicians. Six of the 28 nurses (21%) were board-certified wound nurses and 2 (7%) were in training but not yet certified. Prevalence data were collected on 354 hospitalized patients. APPROACH: Friction skin injuries were measured in conjunction with the institution's quarterly skin survey for the NDNQI PUPS (National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators Pressure Ulcer Prevalence Survey) in August 2019. The prevalence of FcI was calculated using the number of patients with FcI divided by the total number of patients surveyed. OUTCOMES: Three hundred fifty-four patients completed the survey in this PUPS; FcI was diagnosed in 8 patients, yielding a prevalence rate of 2.3%. Clinical manifestations of FcI such as lichenification, skin/soft tissue discoloration, skin/soft tissue deformation and/or callus formation, and skin ulceration were also documented. In addition, a majority of patients with FcI were found to have fecal or urinary incontinence (n = 5/8, 63%; 2 had both fecal and urinary incontinence, 25%). Braden Scale for Pressure Sore Risk subscales scores were analyzed; the mean subscale score for moisture was 3.4; the mean subscale score for friction/shear was 1.4; the mean subscale score for activity was 2.6; and the mean subscale score for mobility was 2.9. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: To the best of my knowledge, this is the first published article documenting FcI prevalence in any care setting. Additional prevalence studies are needed to establish the epidemiology of FcI across care settings and in the community. Video Abstract Video 1 Prevalence of friction skin injury on the buttocks and/or posterior thighs in an acute care setting: a quality improvement project. Video 1. Evaluating friction skin injury to improve quality of care given to people in acute settings. 1_pn50ntp3 Kaltura


Author(s): Rogers, Julian | Advisor(s): Adler, Amy | Abstract: The paintings included in my thesis exhibit consist of three different series, which are related technically, formally, and art historically. Depictions of fruit, tabletops, and clothing, while recontextualized in a more contemporary conversation, all have their roots in the long tradition of still life painting. This tradition is something I find interesting for its exacting record of both common objects and the means by which they were recorded, as well as the lowly place that still life painting had been historically accorded. The objects in my paintings are represented as they might be seen in the dark, or an approximation or imagination of such. The reasons for this treatment are varied, and they have changed during the course of my making them. In order to explain the reasoning behind this, I will have to first describe the work I have made during my time at the University of California, San Diego.


The swimming pool market has grown at an average of about 3% per year over the last 10 years. The total number of pools in 1991 was about in the United States. The number of spas and hot tubs has grown rapidly since 1970, with an estimated spas and hot tubs in 1991 in the United States in a growing market. Most swimming pools are of the recirculating type. Through filtration, chemical treatment, and dilution with rain and makeup water, the water can be reused without draining and refilling. Sanitizing chemicals must be added regularly to oxidize pool contaminants and kill and control disease-carrying bacteria and other organisms introduced by swimmers and dirt entering the water. It is also necessary to destroy algae whose spores are carried into the water by wind and rain. The pH of pool water must be maintained within a desirable range for swimmer comfort and optimal effectiveness of chlorine sanitizers. In order to control the corrosive or scaling tendencies of pool water, it is also necessary to maintain a proper balance between pH, alkalinity, and hardness. Undesirable trace metals such as iron, manganese, or copper are sometimes found in source water or formed by corrosion of pool equipment. Unless removed, these metals discolor pool water and cause stains, especially damaging to plaster pool surfaces. Filtration of pool water is necessary for removal of suspended solids which otherwise cloud water and interfere with the disinfection process.

Keywords:

Water;
Swimming pools;
spas;
Hot tubs;
Chlorine-based sanitizers;
Ozone;
QUATS;
Water quality maintenance;
Sanitizers;
Chemical feeders;
Disease transmission;
Ancillary chemicals;
Disinfection;
Sanitizer storage;
Test kits


The traditional view of source coding with side information is in the block coding context in which all the source symbols are known in advance by the encoder. We instead consider a sequential setting in which source symbols are revealed to the encoder in real time and need to be reconstructed at the decoder within a certain fixed delay. We derive an upper bound on the reliability function with delay that considers the errors induced by atypically strange side-information. It is shown to be tight for certain "symmetric" sources in low rate regime


The transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) type II receptor (T beta R-II) is a transmembrane serine/threonine kinase that contains two inserts in the kinase region and a serine/threonine-rich C-terminal extension. T beta R-II is required for TGF-beta binding to the type I receptor, with which it forms a heteromeric receptor complex, and its kinase activity is required for signaling by this complex. We investigated the role of various cytoplasmic regions in T beta R-II by altering or deleting these regions and determining the signaling activity of the resulting products in cell lines made resistant to TGF-beta by inactivation of the endogenous T beta R-II. TGF-beta binding to receptor I and responsiveness to TGF-beta in these cells can be restored by transfection of wild-type T beta R-II. Using this system, we show that the kinase insert 1 and the C-terminal tail of T beta R-II, in contrast to the corresponding regions in most tyrosine kinase receptors, are not essential to specify ligand-induced responses. Insert 2 is necessary to support the catalytic activity of the receptor kinase, and its deletion yields a receptor that is unable to mediate any of the responses tested. However, substitution of this insert with insert 2 from the activin receptor, ActR-IIB, does not diminish the ability of T beta R-II to elicit these responses. A truncated T beta R-II lacking the cytoplasmic domain still binds TGF-beta, supports ligand binding to receptor I, and forms a complex with this receptor. However, TGF-beta binding to receptor I facilitated by this truncated T beta R-II fails to inhibit cell proliferation, activate extracellular matrix protein production, or activate transcription from a promoter containing TGF-beta-responsive elements. We conclude that the transcriptional and antiproliferative responses to TGF-beta require both components of a heteromeric receptor complex that differs from tyrosine kinase receptors in its mode of signaling.


Both static and dynamic high pressure applications provide interesting modifications in food structures which lead to new product formulations. In this study, the effects of two different treatments, high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and high dynamic pressure (HDP), on oil-in-water emulsions were identified and compared. Microfluidization was selected from among the HDP homogenization techniques. The performance of each process was analyzed in terms of rheological modifications and emulsion stability improvements compared with the coarse emulsions. The stability of the emulsions was determined comparatively by using an analytical photo-centrifuge device employing novel analysis technology. Whey protein isolate (WPI) in combination with a food polysaccharide (xanthan gum, guar gum or locust bean gum) were used as emulsifying and stabilizing ingredients. The effective disruption of oil droplets and the degradation of polysaccharides by the shear forces under high pressure in HDP microfluidization yielded finer emulsions with lower viscosities, leading to distinctive improvements in emulsion stability. On the other hand, improvements in stability obtained with HHP treatment were due to the thickening of the emulsions mainly induced by protein unfolding. The corresponding increases in viscosity were intensified in emulsion formulations containing higher oil content. Apart from these, HHP treatment was found to be relatively more contributive to the enhancements in viscoelastic properties.


A conductive wire can explode by rapidly heating it to vaporization temperature by flowing a current through it. This process is utilized to generate high-temperature high-density plasmas. The temperature and pressure distributions at the time of the explosion are not easily measured. Moreover, the amount of metal vapor from the wire that remains within the arcing area is unknown. This work presents the whole-process model of a single-wire electrical explosion from solid-state to plasma formation. For this purpose, the voltage drop and resistance of the exploding copper wire in solid-state are simulated through a zero-dimensional thermo-electrical model. Then, compressible Euler equations are implemented with nodal discontinuous Lagrange shape functions in a one-dimensional model to compute the flow of the generated copper vapor (due to the wire explosion) in surrounding nitrogen gas. The aim is to calculate the distributions of pressure, density, velocity, temperature, and mass flow along the cylindrical shock waves to estimate the arc's copper/nitrogen mixture ratio in free burning and nozzle constricted arcs. This mixture ratio is used to calculate the precise percentage of the metal vapor in the arcing area and to calculate Townsend growth coefficients utilizing to estimate the streamer breakdown of the mixture. The simulation results show good agreement with the experimental results in terms of the temporal evolution of the plasma channel boundary, the shock front speed estimation as well as the arc voltage magnitude numerically calculated deploying the extracted mixture percentage from this study, manifesting the validity of the model. It shows that despite the low-pressure studies, the exploding wire method is not suitable for circuit breakers employing supercritical fluids as the insulation.


BACKGROUND: Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) as a bridge to lung transplantation is increasingly used, but information on long-term outcome is scarce. We aim to summarize our experience with an emphasis on health-related quality of life. Secondary outcomes include ICU and hospital stay and pre- and post-transplant mortality. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of all adult subjects receiving ECLS as a bridge to lung transplantation from 2010 to 2014 was reviewed and compared with all adult subjects who underwent bilateral lung transplantation in the same period. For the ECLS group, the general health status was assessed with the use of the EuroQol Group 5-Dimension Self-Report Questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 130 bilateral transplants were performed, 9 transplants were performed after ECLS therapy. Another 11 subjects died on the waiting list while receiving ECLS. Quality of life, at 12 months after surgery, from a subject's perspective was comparable in both groups with a median score of 80 on the visual analog scale. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) EuroQol Group 5-Dimension Self-Report Questionnaire 3L score from the societal perspective in the ECLS group was 0.73 (0.5–0.9). Median (IQR) ICU stay was 25 d (9–68 d) for the ECLS group versus 7 d (4–18 d) for the control group (P = .001), and in-hospital stay was 66 d (40–114 d) versus 42 d (29–62 d) (P = .004). CONCLUSIONS: ECLS can be used as a bridge to lung transplantation. A significant number of subjects were not bridged successfully due to different reasons. Outcomes after successful transplantation after ECLS might be comparable with the general population undergoing lung transplantation in terms of quality of life, lung function, performance tests, and mortality, although ICU and hospital stay are longer.


This study aimed to evaluate the effect of dietary curcuma infusion supplementation on growth performance and survival rate in giant gouramy. This study used a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four treatments and three replications. The treatments tested were giving different doses of curcuma infusion, 0.2 g (P1), 0.4 g (P2), 0.6 g (P3), 0.8 g (P4). The experimental fish used were giant gourami with an average body weight of 0.28 ± 0.01 g which were reared for 30 days in 40x30x25 cm 3 sized plastic box containing 20 L of water. Feed was given at satiation method twice a day, at 08.00 and 16.00 pm. The research parameters observed include Weight and Length Growth Rate, Survival Rate, and water quality. The results showed that the dietary curcuma infusion supplementation was able to increase the growth performance and survival rate of giant gouramy. Curcuma infusion dose of 0.8 g resulted in the best growth performance and survival which was not significantly different between treatments. Water quality parameters during maintenance are still in optimal conditions for fish growth.


1. The majority of malunited Pott's fractures can be satisfactorily corrected by conservative operations which preserve motion in the ankle joint.

2. In acute trimalleolar fractures (Cotton's type), an open operation should be done when it is impossible to secure satisfactory position at the original manipulation or when the deformity recurs during immobilization. In performing such an operation, it is preferable to use some type of internal fixation for the posterior fragment.

3. In cases of malunion following trimalleolar fractures of the more severe types or of long duration, conservative reconstruction operations result in a high percentage of poor functional results.

4. Fusion of the ankle is indicated as a primary procedure in certain types of malunion where experience has shown that conservative reconstructions are unsatisfactory.

5. Fusion of the ankle is indicated as a secondary procedure in those cases of malunion where a more conservative type of reconstruction has failed.


Recently audio-driven talking face video generation has attracted considerable attention. However, very few researches address the issue of emotional editing of these talking face videos with continuously controllable expressions, which is a strong demand in the industry. The challenge is that speech-related expressions and emotion-related expressions are often highly coupled. Meanwhile, traditional image-to-image translation methods cannot work well in our application due to the coupling of expressions with other attributes such as poses, i.e., translating the expression of the character in each frame may simultaneously change the head pose due to the bias of the training data distribution. In this paper, we propose a high-quality facial expression editing method for talking face videos, allowing the user to control the target emotion in the edited video continuously. We present a new perspective for this task as a special case of motion information editing, where we use a 3DMM to capture major facial movements and an associated texture map modeled by a StyleGAN to capture appearance details. Both representations (3DMM and texture map) contain emotional information and can be continuously modified by neural networks and easily smoothed by averaging in coefficient/latent spaces, making our method simple yet effective. We also introduce a mouth shape preservation loss to control the trade-off between lip synchronization and the degree of exaggeration of the edited expression. Extensive experiments and a user study show that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance across various evaluation criteria.


In this study we examined the effects of water extract of garlic on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver injury, and demonstrated increased beneficial enzyme and anti-oxidant activity as well as histopathological changes (by Hematoxylin-Eosin (H&E) staining, Trichrome staining, and TEM examination), and showed that the treatment was dose-dependent and safe. A total of 42 male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided equally (n=7) into six groups. To induce hepatotoxicity in these subjects, carbon tetrachloride diluted in an equal volume of olive oil was intraperitoneally administrated at 0.5 ㎖/㎏ (0.20 g/㎏/day) once a day for five days. Water extract of Korean-grown garlic was administered via a stomach sonde once a day, 5 days a week, for a total of 4 weeks. Groups received 0.35 g/㎏ (E1), 0.70 g/㎏ (E2), or 1.40 g/㎏ (E3), with the dose adjusted for body weight. Administration of garlic extract resulted in positive physiological effects in terms of reduced oxidative stress and toxicity, and induced functional changes in the liver. Comparing the subject groups (E1, E2, E3) administered different doses of garlic extract, the importance of morphological analysis in further studies is emphasized, because morphological changes indicating hepatotoxicity could occur, even though beneficial enzyme activities were found to be elevated.


AIMS & OBJECTIVES: The project was designed to assess the level of professional commitment among Jordanian Registered Nurses and examine how professional commitment among nurses relates to patients' safety.BACKGROUND: Professional commitment has received a great deal of interest worldwide. Nurses constitute the largest group of healthcare professionals that spend a majority of their time at the bedside in direct patient care. Nurses have an important role in improving patient safety and providing quality of care.DESIGN: A descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational design was used to answer the research questions.METHODS: A convenience sampling of 180 nurses selected from three accredited hospitals (governmental, private and university-affiliated teaching hospitals) completed two questionnaires; Professional Commitment Questionnaire (PCQ) and a Patient Safety Scale. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient, independent sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA test were used in data analysis. RESULT: Nurses' professional commitment was significantly and positively correlated with patient safety. Registered nurses perceived that their level of commitment was medium (M=3.47; SD=1.58 of a 7 point scale), with the highest mean recorded for nurses working in governmental hospitals (M=3.88; SD=1.53).  The level of perception of issues related to patient safety was slightly higher than the midpoint (M=5.94; SD=1.38 of a 9 point scale). Nurses' professional commitment was influenced by gender t (158 =-2.33; p =.02), nursing experience in current hospitals (r=- 0.193; p=0.01), current hospital sector (F=4.334, p=0.01), and monthly salary (F=12.327, p=0.000). Patient safety was influenced by nurses' educational level (F=3.306, p=0.03).CONCLUSION: This study provides a preliminary understanding of how professional commitment of registered nurses can enhance patient safety. Managerial support was deemed necessary to enhance nurses' professional commitment, which, in turn, improves healthcare outcomes.


Real-time evaluation of deformations, like stress, strain, displacements of structure components can provide essential information about the state of the structure. It's very important to assess correctly the condition of the structure, to identify its most important parts to be measured. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to choose proper methods of measurements and right instruments. The geodetic techniques of acquiring information about deformations have recently strongly intended for remote methods. This trend can be observed for example in using reflectors for distance measurements, interferometry, scanning or remote sensing methods. Very promising are also approaches employing instruments like clearance gauge or dial gauge. Evaluation of structure deformations is quite sophisticated. It cannot be carried out by geodesists alone on every day routine. The paper presents different measurement methods of deformations for different structures ranging from buildings to bridges, together with the attempt to determine the most suitable ones for each of them. The best technique is chosen based on the accuracy requirements, length of the measurement time and the total cost of the survey including its data processing. Finally the paper takes into consideration that some of the methods need to be backed up by alternative ones and proposes the idea of combining techniques to achieve the goal.


Bulbophyllum lipingtaoi , a new orchid species from Yunnan, China, is described and illustrated. Detailed comparative morphological analyses indicate that this new orchid is distinct from other species of Bulbophyllum in having a single-flowered inflorescence with a scape arising from the node of the rhizome, entire margins of sepals and petals, and lateral sepals twisted near base. Furthermore, molecular phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear ribosomal ITS and plastid DNA ( mat K and atp I- atp H) support the placement of B. lipingtaoi as a member of section Brachyantha . Section Brachyantha is usually characterized by a 2- to many-flowered inflorescence, hence the solitary flower of B. lipingtaoi should be treated as an apomorphy.


John A. Kirchner, MD: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to surgical grand rounds. We have a subject this morning that I think will be of interest to surgeons in general and not just general surgeons. We are going to discuss the subject of cervical mediastinal emphysema under several headings. We will start with the patient who walks into the emergency room with air in the neck, face, and perhaps mediastinum, and consider the diagnosis and management of the problem. We will then proceed to the subject of the usual accumulation of air that develops after trauma or surgery to the neck or larynx and then, finally, consider chest trauma and positive pressure ventilation. Karen Hermansen, MD, will describe the first patient. Dr Hermansen: The patient is a 20-year-old man who was playing hockey when he was struck on the left shoulder by an opponent. Within ten minutes, hyponasal speech


We develop dynamical programming methods for the purpose of optimal control of quantum states with convex constraints and concave cost and bequest functions of the quantum state. We consider both open loop and feedback control schemes, which correspond, respectively, to deterministic and stochastic master equation dynamics. For the quantum feedback control scheme with continuous nondemolition observations, we exploit the separation theorem of filtering and control aspects for quantum stochastic dynamics to derive a generalized Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. If the control is restricted to only Hamiltonian terms this is equivalent to a Hamilton-Jacobi equation with an extra linear dissipative term. In this work, we consider, in particular, the case when control is restricted only to observation. A controlled qubit is considered as an example throughout the development of the formalism. Finally, we discuss optimum observation strategies to obtain a pure state from a mixed state of a quantum two-level system.


The work presented here proposes a terminal guidance law against very high-speed targets. Proportional navigation guidance (PNG) is mostly effective for interceptors and targets with ideal dynamics and constant speeds during the collision course, however, it is nonrobust for the objects with nonconstant speeds, such as the interceptor equipped with thrust-vector-control (TVC). To resolve the problem the interceptor considered here is guided by a 3-dimensional (3-D) modified proportional navigation guidance (MPNG) law, which is developed to account for the interceptor's axial acceleration. The guidance law is potentially applicable to interceptors with TVC to provide lateral accelerations.


Objectives: There is international consensus that elderly patients with head and neck cancer should be treated curatively, like younger patients. Because of common comorbidities in elderly patients, perioperative complications are likely. The McPeek postoperative outcome score was used to evaluate the success of surgical interventions in patients with head and neck cancer. Methods: We included 168 patients in the study (56 in the study group, 75 years of age or more; and 112 in the control group, less than 60 years of age). All patients underwent major surgery for head and neck cancer. Results: The median McPeek scores were 8 in the study group and 9 in the control group (p = 0.04). Regression analysis revealed that neither age (p = 0.085) nor the American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status score (p = 0.342) were independent predictors of the McPeek score. Synchronous surgical interventions (p = 0.00051) and duration of surgery (p = 0.0015) had a significant impact on McPeek score performance. Conclusions: The McPeek score seems to be an appropriate tool for comparing major surgeries for head and neck cancer in different age groups. It is possible to assess the influence of anesthetic and surgical interventions and complications that affect the length of hospitalization. The results confirm that the overall complication rate after surgery in elderly patients does not differ significantly from that in their younger counterparts. Therefore, extended surgical treatment should be offered to both age groups when no serious comorbidities are present. The postoperative outcome seems to depend on the duration and extent of the surgical intervention.


Objective The aim of the study was to identify the frequency of azathioprine-induced acute pancreatitis (AZA-AP) and related factors. Methods Seven hundred eighty-seven inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients on AZA therapy were retrospectively analyzed. Azathioprine-induced AP was diagnosed with positive imaging and/or an at least 3-fold increased amylase level, in presence of typical abdominal pain. The AZA-AP group was compared with patients on AZA therapy with no history of pancreatitis and 4 numerical adjacent cases with the same diagnosis were selected (group B). Results Fifty-four patients developed gastrointestinal symptoms (6.9%); however, only half of them (26 of 54) had pancreatitis, except 1, all within the first 2 months under AZA. When the AZA-AP group was compared with group B, only budesonide usage and active smoking were significantly more common in group A (46.2% vs 25%, P = 0.034, and 77% vs 51%, P = 0.017, respectively). Active smoking was the only independent risk factor for AZA-AP development (odds ratio, 3.208 [95% confidence interval, 1.192–8.632]). Conclusions All IBD patients developed AZA-AP nearly all within the first 2 months. Azathioprine intolerance may be a hidden diagnosis in at least half of the patients with AZA-AP symptoms. All smoker IBD patients should be monitored closely for AZA-AP development.


The paper proposes a genetic algorithm (GA) in conjunction with handy heuristic techniques to solve the single depot capacited vehicle routing problem (CVRP). The genetic algorithm is developed on the basis of experiences in solving the travelling salesman problem (TSP). Few heuristic improvements are added in order to prevent converging to local optima and to reduce the search space domain. To deal effectively with constraints of the problem and prune the search space of the GA in advance, the constraints are embedded in decimal coding of the problem. The proposed GA approach has been tested on several CVRP with different number of consumer nodes and different control parameters. The results of 144 node problem used for sensitivity analysis, reveal that the features of easy implementation, fast convergence, and near optimal solution in solving the CVRP can be achieved by the proposed GA approach.


The object of this article is metaphorical terms in EU legal discourse. It discusses the concept of a metaphorical term, the usage of such terms in EU legal acts and their role in modern LSP texts, with a focus on their translation. The study analyses metaphorical terms with the lexeme "green" as used in secondary legislation, published between 2016 and 2017, and the motivation of term formation in the source language and translation strategies of rendering these terms into Lithuanian and Italian. The results suggest that in most cases word-for-word translation is used when translating colour-based metaphorical terms, thereby preserving the colour lexeme of the source language in the target language and, thus, the metaphorical character of the term itself. Although the study covers a relatively short period, it confirms the idea that has already been raised in some papers on terminology about an increasing trend of using metaphorical terms in Lithuanian legal texts, even though this is less persistent than in Italian, the language chosen for comparison.


Emerging from the growing body of work on English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education are challenges to policy implementation, particularly when it is implemented top-down without a careful needs analysis or when it fails to address problems associated with 'English-only' implementation and so-called 'native speaker' norms. Our study responds to this need by exploring the role of English in EMI classrooms. We draw on data collected from 17 universities in Thailand and Vietnam using questionnaires with 1,377 students, 83 teachers of English for academic purposes (EAP), and 148 content teachers, as well as interviews with 35 students, 31 EAP teachers, and 28 content teachers. We also draw on data from 14 focus groups with teachers and students at seven universities in Vietnam. Findings reveal differences in attitudes amongst stakeholders and highlight that the L1 in EMI classrooms in Thailand and Vietnam, albeit used sparingly, is a useful pedagogical tool. Overall, however, participants preferred native-accented teachers with experience abroad, and English-only instruction. This study calls for more research into raising awareness of Global Englishes and translanguaging practices to challenge such attitudes, university language policies, and teacher recruitment practices that seem to reflect native-speakerism and discourage bilingual instruction or L1 use in EMI classes.


For more than fifty (50) years African American males' have been a major topic of research studies throughout academia and special interest groups or foundations in the United States. These studies have been situated to analyze data on Black males from K - higher education in search of solutions to the numerous issues this particular group of students face as they attempt to navigate the educational system in the United States. A vast majority of the research characterizes and labels African American males as lazy, detached, academically challenged, at risk and endangered. One of the most troubling findings was that regardless of the amount of research conducted after five (5) decades, nothing appears to have changed; this group still continues to struggle academically and professionally. An in-depth review of the scholarly research on Black males showed that most often their voices were not included in the study findings or results. Using data collected from face-to-face, semi-structured individual and focus group interview sessions with Case Study and Phenomenology as the main theoretical lens supported by Critical Race Theory, Stereotype Threat Theory and White Racial Framing Theory used to contextualize the finding, this study seeks to insert the voices of African American males into the research from their perspectives and lived experiences. If African American males are going to be successful, it is imperative educators, parents across the United States understand which educational structures, systems, opinions, and programs negate Black males' ability to navigate and fully engage the academic community in a manner leading to their persistence and graduation.


Description-logic-based knowledge representations and reasoning methods are being used increasingly as the basis for semantically-rich software services. Using such representations and reasoning methods in comprehensive applications is among one of the best ways to identify and understand gaps and limitations. KAoS domain and policy services, which rely extensively on a DAML-based ontology, are used as a case study to investigate an in-depth application of DAML. In this context, we explore the current limitations of DAML semantics. We also describe our observations about the place of ontology description at the heart of KAoS services, and outline requirements for effective interfaces for humans and for translation to and from efficient programming environments. Next, we present the problems implicated by development of ontology descriptions in a distributed dynamic environment. Finally, we assess the utility and maturity of available tools such as editors, programming libraries and inference engines. An application of KAoS to provide policies for DAML-S Web services concludes the paper.


The recent paper by Nucera et al., showed that the basophil activation test (BAT) in flow cytometry is able to monitor an acquired tolerance induced by a desensitization treatment in food allergy. The paper by Nucera et al. reported two standpoints in the CD63 response to food allergy and OAT and their large difference in CD63 response before and after suggests for the optimal performance of a CD123/HLADR/CD63 BAT in oral food allergy immunotherapy.


Blast disease of rice caused by the ascomycetes fungus Magnaporthe grisea poses a major threat to rice production from terai to hilly region of Nepal. Field trials were conducted in two successive years, 2021 and 2022 at Bharatpur-5, Chitwan in a farmer's field producing seed of Hardinath-1 variety with the main objective of finding the effective single and/or pre-mix formulation of triazole and strobilurin fungicides against rice blast that could be an alternative to tricyclazole. The trials were conducted in randomized complete block design with three replications and eight treatments viz. azoxystrobin 18.2% + difenoconazole 11.4% SC, propiconazole 13.9% + difenoconazole 13.9% EC, azoxystrobin 11% + tebuconazole 18.3% SC, azoxystrobin 23% SC, propiconazole 25% EC, difenoconazole 25% EC, tebuconazole 25%WDG and a control. The fungicides were applied during  tillering and heading stage at the rate of 0.1%. All fungicides significantly reduced the leaf and panicle blast severity resulting in a higher yield. Among the tested fungicides, pre-mix formulation fungicide azoxystrobin 18.2% + difenoconazole 11.4% SC, propiconazole 13.9% + difenoconazole 13.9% EC and azoxystrobin 11% + tebuconazole 18.3% SC gave excellent performance with the lowest leaf and panicle blast severity and higher yield. Hence, these three fungicides could be used for the management of leaf and panicle blast disease for higher yield. However, controlling rice blast disease has become increasingly challenging due to the pathogens' capacity to adapt and evolve into new, more potent strains, making the management and control of this disease more difficult.


Purpose
We develop a longitudinal statistical model describing best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) changes in anti-VEGF therapy in relation to imaging data, and predict the future BCVA outcome for individual patients by combining population-wide trends and initial subject-specific time points.

Methods
Automatic segmentation algorithms were used to measure intraretinal (IRF) and subretinal (SRF) fluid volume on monthly spectral-domain optical coherence tomography scans of eyes with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) receiving standardized anti-VEGF treatment. The trajectory of BCVA over time was modeled as a multivariable repeated-measure mixed-effects regression model including fluid volumes as covariates. Subject-specific BCVA trajectories and final treatment outcomes were predicted using a population-wide model and individual observations from early follow-up.

Results
A total of 193 eyes (one per patient, 12-month follow-up, 2420 visits) were analyzed. The population-wide mixed model revealed that the impact of fluid on BCVA is highest for IRF in the central millimeter around the fovea, with -31.17 letters/mm3 (95% confidence interval [CI], -39.70 to -23.32), followed by SRF in the central millimeter, with -17.50 letters/mm3 (-31.17 to -4.60) and by IRF in the parafovea, with -2.87 letters/mm3 (-4.71 to -0.44). The influence of SRF in the parafoveal area was -1.24 letters/mm3 (-3.37-1.05). The conditional R2 of the model, including subject-specific deviations, was 0.887. The marginal R2 considering the population-wide trend and fluid changes was 0.109. BCVA at 1 year could be predicted for an individual patient after three visits with a mean absolute error of six letters and a predicted R2 of 0.658 using imaging information.

Conclusions
The mixed-effects model revealed that retinal fluid volumes and population-wide trend only explains a small proportion of the variation in BCVA. Individual BCVA outcomes after 1 year could be predicted from initial BCVA and fluid measurements combined with the population-wide model. Accounting for fluid in the predictive model increased prediction accuracy.


The optical transmission loss in a tapered fiber fabricated by using plasmonic Au nanoparticle deposition was investigated in the tapered region of the fiber. The amount of Au nanoparticle deposition was determined as a function of time, and the transmission loss was then compared with the losses of several spatial modes. The higher-order mode was found to affect the rate of increase in the transmission loss during the initial period of deposition, and a lower-order mode was found to contribute to the process during the latter period of deposition.


A uniform weak consistency theory is presented for the marked and weighted empirical distribution function of residuals. New and weaker sufficient conditions for uniform consistency are derived. The theory allows for a wide variety of regressors and error distributions. We apply the theory to 1-step Huber-skip estimators. These estimators describe the widespread practice of removing outlying observations from an intial estimation of the model of interest and updating the estimation in a second step by applying least squares to the selected observations. Two results are presented. First, we give new and weaker conditions for consistency of the estimators. Second, we analyze the gauge, which is the rate of false detection of outliers, and which can be used to decide the cut-off in the rule for selecting outliers.


Background and aims: This study assessed whether childhood and current adversities: (a) were more prevalent in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) or non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) than in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) or ischaemic heart disease (IHD); and (b) predicted health related quality of life in these disorders. Patients: Cohort study of consecutive attenders to gastroenterology and cardiology clinics in a secondary/tertiary referral centre. Methods: Patients were interviewed using the childhood experience of care and abuse and life events and difficulties schedules. Distress was assessed by questionnaire. Outcome was assessed using SF36 at the index clinic visit and six months later. Results: A total of 133 patients were included (40 NCCP, 43 FD, 29 GORD, and 21 IHD) (67% response rate). The diagnostic groups did not differ significantly in the proportion reporting childhood adversity (30%), ongoing social stress (40%), lack of a close confidant (14%), or level of psychological distress. Reported childhood adversity was associated with poor outcome at the index visit (SF36 physical component score: 36.6 (SEM 1.8) v 42.3 (SEM 1.2) for the remainder; p = 0.014). In multiple regression analysis, childhood adversity was a significant independent predictor for patients with functional disorders (NCCP and FD) but not organic disorders (GORD or IHD). Change in SF36 score at six months was determined by age and distress score at the index visit in both groups. Conclusion: Childhood adversity was common among this consecutive sample but was associated directly with poor outcome only in patients with functional gastrointestinal syndromes. Distress is an important predictor of outcome in all patients. Greatest impairment occurs when lack of social support accompanies reported childhood adversity.


Abstract Objective To assess current performance and identify opportunities and reforms necessary for positioning a food standards programme to help protect public health against dietary risk factors. Design A case study design in which a food standards programme's public health protection performance was analysed against an adapted Donabedian model for assessing health-care quality. The criteria were the food standards programme's structure (governance arrangements and membership of its decision-making committees), process (decision-making tools, public engagement and transparency) and food standards outcomes, which provided the information base on which performance quality was inferred. Setting The Australia and New Zealand food standards programme. Participants The structure, process and outcomes of the Programme. Results The Programme's structure and processes produce food standards outcomes that perform well in protecting public health from risks associated with nutrient intake excess or inadequacy. The Programme performs less well in protecting public health from the proliferation and marketing of 'discretionary' foods that can exacerbate dietary risks. Opportunities to set food standards to help protect public health against dietary risks are identified. Conclusions The structures and decision-making processes used in food standards programmes need to be reformed so they are fit for purpose for helping combat dietary risks caused by dietary excess and imbalances. Priorities include reforming the risk analysis framework, including the nutrient profiling scoring criterion, by extending their nutrition science orientation from a nutrient (reductionist) paradigm to be more inclusive of a food/diet (holistic) paradigm.


Workflow systems are popular in daily business processing. Since vulnerabilities cannot be totally removed from a system, recovery from successful attacks is unavoidable. We focus on attacks that inject malicious tasks into workflow management systems. We introduce practical techniques for on-line attack recovery, which include rules for locating damage and rules for execution order. In our system, an independent intrusion detection system reports identified malicious tasks periodically. The recovery system detects all damage caused by the malicious tasks and automatically repairs the damage according to dependency relations. Without multiple versions of data objects, recovery tasks may be corrupted by executing normal tasks when we try to run damage analysis and normal tasks concurrently. We address the problem by introducing multiversion data objects to reduce unnecessary blocking of normal task execution and improve the performance of the whole system. We analyze the integrity level and performance of our system. The analytic results demonstrate guidelines for designing such kinds of systems.


BACKGROUND
The petrosal artery supplies several structures at the skull base and is often the focus of various neurointerventional procedures. Therefore, knowledge of its anatomy and variations is important to surgeons and interventionalists.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty latex injected cadaveric heads (40 sides) underwent microsurgical dissection of the petrosal artery. Documentation of the course of the artery and its branches were made. Measurements of the petrosal artery's length and diameter were performed using microcalipers.

RESULTS
A petrosal artery was identified on all sides. The mean length and diameter of the artery within the middle cranial fossa was 2.4 cm and 0.38 mm, respectively. Branches included the following: dural, ganglionic, V3 branches, branches extending through the foramen ovale, branches directly to the greater petrosal and lesser petrosal nerves, branches to the floor of the hiatus of the greater and lesser petrosal nerves, branch to the arcuate eminence, and superior tympanic artery. No statistically significant differences were noted between male and female specimens, but right-sided petrosal arteries were in general, larger in diameter than left sides.

CONCLUSIONS
A thorough anatomical knowledge of the petrosal artery and to its relationship to the facial nerve and other neurovascular structures is necessary to facilitate effective endovascular treatment and to preclude facial nerve complications.


The Abstract of the published article is incorrect. Please view the correct Abstract here: For accurate and reliable gene expression analysis using quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qPCR), the selection of appropriate reference genes as an internal control for normalization is crucial. We hypothesized that non-coding, small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) would be stably expressed in different barley varieties and under different experimental treatments, in different tissues and at different developmental stages of plant growth and therefore might prove to be suitable reference genes for expression analysis of both microRNAs (miRNAs) and mRNAs. In this study, we examined the expression stability of ten candidate reference genes in six barley genotypes under five experimental stresses, drought, fungal infection, boron toxicity, nutrient deficiency and salinity. We compared four commonly used housekeeping genes; Actin (ACT), alpha-Tubulin (α-TUB), Glycolytic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), ADP-ribosylation factor 1-like protein (ADP), four snoRNAs; (U18, U61, snoR14 and snoR23) and two microRNAs (miR168, miR159) as candidate reference genes. We found that ADP, snoR14 and snoR23 were ranked as the best of these candidates across diverse samples. Additionally, we found that miR168 was a suitable reference gene for expression analysis in barley. Finally, we validated the performance of our stable and unstable candidate reference genes for both mRNA and miRNA qPCR data normalization under different stress conditions and demonstrated the superiority of the stable candidates. Our data demonstrate the suitability of barley snoRNAs and miRNAs as potential reference genes for miRNA and mRNA qPCR data normalization under different stress treatments.


This article proposes a temporal and parametric specification language (ParTraP) developed for the verification of execution traces. The language extends specification patterns with nested scopes, real-time and first-order quantification over the data inside a JSON trace, while remaining pragmatic. Its design was directed by a case study in the medical field (computer aided surgery). The paper briefly presents the case study and details the design rationale, syntax and semantics of the language. The language has been implemented and several properties have been successfully evaluated over a corpus of 100 surgery traces.


Mitidja Plain, located in the North of Algeria, is considered as the most important agricultural area of Algeria, where pesticides are widely used. This study assesses pesticides occurrence in the groundwater beneath Mouzaia situated in the west of Mitidja. In 6 selected sampling points, 5 pesticides belonging to different chemical families: oganophosphorus (Malathion, Parathion), organochlorines (DDT and Aldrine) and triazines (simazine); were analyzed using GC-MS techniques preceded by liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) or solid phase extraction (SPE). To identify the subject in its environmental setting, analysis of physicochemical parameters in groundwater and soil samples from study area were also carried out. Results of analysis of those parameters demonstrated the good quality of water and soil samples only rates of phosphates in soil were high up to 300 ppm due probably to fertilizers use. Aldrin, Simazine, and Parathion weren't detected in groundwater samples due to the low use of these pesticides in the study area; whereas DDT, even if it's banned for use in Algeria for years, was detected in one sample which demonstrates its high persistence in the environment. Malathion which was detected in all groundwater samples reached high concentrations that reached 0.96 µg/L, exceeding the current drinking water quality limits established by the World Health Organization (WHO).

 Key words: Solid phase extraction, groundwater, physicochemical parameters, pesticides.


Abstract Based on an ongoing experiment at the Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters (ASTI), University of Buea, Cameroon, the present article discusses the rationale for what is referred to as the Translation Teaching and Learning Corpus (TTLC) project. There is argument for the distinction between general corpora and those that may be designed for specific purposes and properly itemised teaching/learning tasks, with particular emphasis on the development of corpus models that give priority to actual learner needs and integrate both language-based and processbased translating skills. Hence, the importance of the three major components of TTLC discussed: the learner translation corpus, the discourse-item and process-item sub-corpora.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the association of maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in northern China.

METHODS
The dietary intakes of pregnant women were recorded twice by 24-hour dietary recalls for three days prior to having been diagnosed with GDM, at 5-15 and 24-28 gestational weeks, respectively. GDM was diagnosed, and serum glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was measured at 24-28 weeks. Dietary patterns were assessed by factor analysis. The association of the dietary pattern with GDM and HbA1c was examined by multiple logistic models.

RESULTS
Of 753 participants, 64 (8.5%) were diagnosed with GDM. Four dietary patterns were identified: Western pattern (dairy, baked/fried food and white meat), traditional pattern (light-colored vegetables, fine grain, red meat and tubers), mixed pattern (edible fungi, shrimp/shellfish and red meat) and prudent pattern (dark-colored vegetables and deep-sea fish). Compared with the prudent pattern, both the Western pattern and the traditional pattern were associated with an increased risk of GDM (aOR = 4.40, 95% CI: 1.58-12.22; aOR = 4.88, 95% CI: 1.79-13.32) and a high level of HbA1c (aOR = 12.37, 95% CI: 1.47-103.91; aOR = 26.23, 95% CI: 2.54-270.74). Compared to the lowest quartile (Q), Q3 of the Western pattern scores and Q3-Q4 of the traditional pattern scores were associated with a higher risk of GDM.

CONCLUSION
The consumption of the Western pattern or the traditional pattern during pregnancy may increase the risk of GDM.


Mangrove forests provide valuable ecosystem services to coastal communities across tropical and subtropical regions. Current anthropogenic stressors threaten these ecosystems and urge researchers to create improved monitoring methods for better environmental management. Recent efforts that have focused on automatically quantifying the above-ground biomass using image analysis have found some success on high resolution imagery of mangrove forests that have sparse vegetation. In this study, we focus on stands of mangrove forests with dense vegetation consisting of the endemic Pelliciera rhizophorae and the more widespread Rhizophora mangle mangrove species located in the remote Utría National Park in the Colombian Pacific coast. Our developed workflow used consumer-grade Unoccupied Aerial System (UAS) imagery of the mangrove forests, from which large orthophoto mosaics and digital surface models are built. We apply convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for instance segmentation to accurately delineate (33% instance average precision) individual tree canopies for the Pelliciera rhizophorae species. We also apply CNNs for semantic segmentation to accurately identify (97% precision and 87% recall) the area coverage of the Rhizophora mangle mangrove tree species as well as the area coverage of surrounding mud and water land-cover classes. We provide a novel algorithm for merging predicted instance segmentation tiles of trees to recover tree shapes and sizes in overlapping border regions of tiles. Using the automatically segmented ground areas we interpolate their height from the digital surface model to generate a digital elevation model, significantly reducing the effort for ground pixel selection. Finally, we calculate a canopy height model from the digital surface and elevation models and combine it with the inventory of Pelliciera rhizophorae trees to derive the height of each individual mangrove tree. The resulting inventory of a mangrove forest, with individual P. rhizophorae tree height information, as well as crown shape and size descriptions, enables the use of allometric equations to calculate important monitoring metrics, such as above-ground biomass and carbon stocks.


This paper reports new evidence consistent with the post-Keynesian hypothesis of money endogeneity for hitherto unexplored 10 emerging economies. These results were obtained using a vector error correction model to test for long-run and short-run causalities with data from 1996 to 2007. The evidence suggests that money supply is endogenous in five countries, namely China, the Czech Republic, India, Malaysia and Turkey; it is exogenous in Mexico, while there was no causality found in Indonesia, Russia and Taiwan. Thailand showed endogeneity in the long-run causality. Some suggestions are made to explain the mixed results, and we also discuss the limitations arising from our narrow specifications of the money supply and the models.


The participation of pregnant women in radiology can be an emotional experience. The word "radiation" understandably invokes fear and uncertainty. Irradiation of a foetus should be avoided whenever possible. However, radiological examinations of pregnant women are often justified and unintended exposures do occur. Also pregnant radiology staff may remain working in the department. Lack of knowledge about the effects of both ionising (X-rays) and non-ionising (MRI) radiation is responsible for anxiety of patients and workers. If foetal exposures occur, they must be quantitatively evaluated and the risk put into perspective. This paper is intended to inform radiology managers, radiologists, technologists and referring clinicians in their management with pregnant patients and co-workers. The paper describes conceptus doses for both patient and worker that are associated with radiology practice, reviews the risks and effects of in utero irradiation, and discusses current national policies, international guidelines and practical aspects.


The assessment of ship underwater noise signature is highly important not only to a range of naval applications but for the assessment and mitigation of shipping related noise impact on marine animals. One of the main phenomena affecting ship radiated noise measurement is Lloyd's mirror effect, which describes the interference between the direct sound path and the path reflected on sea surface. Having published a first standard for radiated noise measurement in deep waters for comparison purposes, the ISO committee on underwater acoustics is working towards an objective of correcting the Lloyd's mirror effect. While it is assumed that the surface of the ocean acts as a perfect mirror, this is not often the case due to sea surface deformation. The aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of a non-perfect reflection coefficient on the Lloyd's mirror effect. This is achieved through the use of different models taken from the literature that provide an effective reflection coefficient depending on frequency, grazing angle and sea state. Results are presented in the form of acoustic pressure maps at short propagation distances and of frequency responses at different observation points, for sea states up to 3. Simulations show that the effect is small at low frequencies, and at high frequencies a deviation of up to 3 dB appears. However, these results are dependent on the reflection coefficient model used.


Background and Objectives. Tooth decay is an infectious disease of microbial origin. Considering the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance due to their overuse and also their side effects, medicinal plants are now considered for use against bacterial infections. This study aimed to assess the effects of different concentrations of Zingiber officinale extract on proliferation of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sanguinis in vitro. Materials and Methods. In this experimental study, serial dilutions of the extract were prepared in two sets of 10 test tubes for each bacterium (total of 20). Standard amounts of bacterial suspension were added; 100ƛ of each tube was cultured on prepared solid agar plates and incubated at 37°C for 24 hours. Serial dilutions of the extract were prepared in another 20 tubes and 100ƛ of each tube was added to blood agar culture medium while being prepared. The mixture was transferred to the plates. The bacteria were inoculated on plates and incubated as described. Results. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 0.02 mg/mL for S. mutans and 0.3 mg/mL for S. sanguinis. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was 0.04 mg for S. mutans and 0.6 mg for S. sanguinis. Conclusion. Zingiber officinale extract has significant antibacterial activity against S. mutans and S. sanguinis cariogenic microorganisms.


Abstract Neurospora crassa propagates through dissemination of conidia, which develop through specialized structures called conidiophores. Recent work has identified striking variation in conidiophore morphology, using a wild population collection from Louisiana, United States of America to classify 3 distinct phenotypes: Wild-Type, Wrap, and Bulky. Little is known about the impact of these phenotypes on sporulation or germination later in the N. crassa life cycle, or about the genetic variation that underlies them. In this study, we show that conidiophore morphology likely affects colonization capacity of wild N. crassa isolates through both sporulation distance and germination on different carbon sources. We generated and crossed homokaryotic strains belonging to each phenotypic group to more robustly fit a model for and estimate heritability of the complex trait, conidiophore architecture. Our fitted model suggests at least 3 genes and 2 epistatic interactions contribute to conidiophore phenotype, which has an estimated heritability of 0.47. To uncover genes contributing to these phenotypes, we performed RNA-sequencing on mycelia and conidiophores of strains representing each of the 3 phenotypes. Our results show that the Bulky strain had a distinct transcriptional profile from that of Wild-Type and Wrap, exhibiting differential expression patterns in clock-controlled genes (ccgs), the conidiation-specific gene con-6, and genes implicated in metabolism and communication. Combined, these results present novel ecological impacts of and differential gene expression underlying natural conidiophore morphological variation, a complex trait that has not yet been thoroughly explored.


It is not uncommon for education university academics and schoolteachers to create opportunities to collaborate in projects of various kinds - particularly professional development and research activities. While a number of studies have highlighted the advantages of school-university partnerships, there has been little work investigating how these partnerships actually work. This study shows how one such partnership was managed interactionally, focusing on how the participants undertook the delicate and complex work of partnership building. Specifically, the study investigated how a group of teachers and academics developed a project to improve Mathematics teaching in the school. The activity was collaborative, occurring in the context of on-going Professional Development. This paper focuses on one episode of meeting talk to show how the participants constructed the business of doing partnerships. In so doing, they constructed categories of 'expert' in their meeting talk. The meeting talk was audio-taped and analysed using membership categorization and conversation analysis. Of particular interest was the emergence of expertise as a co-constructed category accomplished by participants. Teachers and academics alike constructed themselves as experts. This paper shows that the practical tasks of the meeting were concerned with connecting expert status to the business of partnerships. Such orientations shape what can be said in meeting talk, who gets to speak, and the types of relationships that can be constructed.


This paper shows how shift, add, scale and multiply operations on a few small matrices can compute the integral of any 2-D polynomial f (x,y) within any specified quadrilateral boundaries, including non-convex chevrons, bow-ties and triangles. For applications such as antialiased rendering, compositing, anisotropic texture filtering, and high-contrast imagery, such quad-bounded integrals are usually approximated by sampling or dicing into small fragments, but the method presented here is exact. It may be suitable for hardware implementation, but is practical only for low-degree polynomials ( e.g. N,M < 5) due to machine-precision limits and high cost O(N3M3). Sample C++ source code is provided online. Extending the same method to tensors may be useful for higher-dimensional polynomials within a limited class of curved boundaries as well.


ready-made translations which save the pupil just the sort of trouble he ought to be taking. Both tendencies appear here, though many of the notes are good. There are two useful maps and a number of illustrations. The presentation of part of the Civil War for school reading is to be welcomed: it is only a little more difficult than the Gallic War, it raises interesting historical questions, and it throws much light on the personality of Caesar. On the other hand, a single book goes only a short way towards doing so.


To the Editor: Your editorial on authorship! highlights important threats to the integrity of medical literature. The time has come for instances of false declarations of authorship, and the practices of "gift" authorship (i.e., inclusion of authors who had no actual research involvement) and "ghost" authorship (e.g., researchers putting their names to reports written by industry)! to be regarded as professional misconduct and referred to the appropriate State medical board for action. There are cases of researchers being harassed (e.g., a pharmaceutical company successfully blocked the publication of a study in JAMA which potentially threatened the company's share of an American market worth $600 million per year)." "Gift" authorship was found to result from harassment of the primary author in 40% of cases, and incidence of undeserved authorship increased from 9% in papers with three authors to 30% in papers with more than six authors." Only explicit criteria for authorship will allow an objective assessment of the potential problems. I believe The Medical Journal of Australia has both the right and responsibility to set a standard for what it considers authorship. The following are initiatives which the Journal could take to address the problem. • A study citing more than three authors should be required to justify the presence of the additional authors, rather than the current threshold of eight. • All authors should be given a copy of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors criteria for authorship and be required to sign a declaration indicating they have a bona fide right to be included as authors. • A study funded by a body with a vested interest in the results should be required to detail in the Methods the extent to which the funding body was involved in the study design. • Corporate engineering of studies which deliberately introduce bias or use "ghost" authorship to promote a particular product should be regarded as false advertising and referred to the relevant authorities. The requirement by several medical colleges for trainees to present or publish a paper before obtaining fellowship status merely adds to the problem. Forcing competent doctors with absolutely no interest in research to write a publication creates an environment that favours abuse of authorship. Trainees would be better served if required to complete a basic statistical course, or at least to make this option available as an alternative to a forced publication during their fellowship training.


We study the implications of a scalar bottom quark, with a mass of O (5 GeV), within the minimal supersymmetric standard model. Light sbottoms may naturally appear for large tan(beta) and, depending on the decay modes, may have escaped experimental detection. We show that a light sbottom cannot be ruled out by electroweak precision data and the bound on the lightest CP-even Higgs-boson mass. We infer that a light b scenario requires a relatively light scalar top quark whose mass is typically about the top-quark mass. In this scenario the lightest Higgs boson decays predominantly into b pairs and obeys the mass bound m(h) less, similar 123 GeV.


Introduction Military initial training results in a high incidence of lower limb overuse injuries (stress fractures and medial tibial stress syndrome). This study aimed to determine whether the distance travelled by recruits, both on and off duty, was a risk factor for overuse injury. Methods 14 male airborne infantry recruits from three training platoons carried global positioning system receivers throughout the first 19 weeks of basic military training. Total distance travelled each day was recorded. This was compared with time of clinical manifestation of 52 lower limb overuse injuries (stress fractures and medial tibial stress syndrome) collected from the 276 airborne infantry recruits in the period immediately preceding the study. Results Recruits travelled significantly farther than the UK average male population in 17 of 18 measured weeks. Pearson correlation between distance travelled per week and injuries was not significant (p=0.4448); however, correlation between distance travelled per week and injuries two weeks later was significant (p=0.0263). A generalised linear model found distance travelled as a significant covariate (p=0.0144) to the expected number of injuries two weeks later. Conclusion Recruits travel long distances during basic training, particularly in the first few weeks when they are not yet conditioned. This distance travelled is likely a contributing risk factor to the high incidence of overuse injuries seen during training, and strategies to reduce this distance should be explored.


Challenging the prevailing belief that Mark Twain's position on religion hovered somewhere between skepticism and outright heresy, Lawrence Berkove and Joseph Csicsila marshal biographical details of Twain's life alongside close readings of his work to explore the religious faith of America's most beloved writer and humorist. They conclude not only that religion was an important factor in Twain's life but also that the popular conception of Twain as agnostic, atheist, or apostate is simply wrong. 'Heretical Fictions' is the first full-length study to assess the importance of Twain's heretical Calvinism as the foundation of his major works, bringing to light important thematic ties that connect the author's early work to his high period and from there to his late work. Berkove and Csicsila set forth the main elements of Twain's "countertheological" interpretation of Calvinism and analyse in detail the way it shapes five of his major books--'Roughing It', 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer', 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn', 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court', and 'No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger'--as well as some of his major short stories. The result is a groundbreaking and unconventional portrait of a seminal figure in American letters.


Direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) solutions are presented for the hypersonic flow behind a blunt body in which the wake region is solved in a zonally-decoupled manner. The forebody flow is solved separately using either a DSMC or a Navier-Stokes method, and the forebody exit plane solution is specified as the inflow condition to the decoupled DSMC solution of the wake region. Results are presented for a 70-deg, blunted cone at flow conditions that can be accommodated in existing low-density wind tunnels with the Knudsen number based on base diameter ranging from 0.03 to 0.001. The zonally-decoupled solutions show good agreement with fully-coupled DSMC solutions of the wake flow densities and velocities. The wake closure predicted by the zonally-decoupled solutions is in better agreement with fully-coupled results than that predicted by a fully-coupled Navier-Stokes method indicating the need to account for rarefaction in the wake for the cases considered. The combined use of Navier-Stokes for the forebody with a decoupled DSMC solution for the wake provides an efficient method for solving transitional blunt-body flows where the forebody flow is continuum and the wake is rarefied.


Aim: Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare blood disorder characterized by hemolytic anemia, bone marrow failure and thrombosis, and is associated with high healthcare burden. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of pegcetacoplan, a proximal complement-3 inhibitor (C3i), compared with the C5i, eculizumab and ravulizumab, in complement treatment-naive adults with PNH, from the US healthcare payer perspective. Materials & methods: A de novo cost-effectiveness model based on a Markov cohort structure evaluated lifetime (55-year) PNH costs and outcomes. The 6-month cycles of the model reflected the follow-up period of PRINCE (NCT04085601), an open-label trial of pegcetacoplan compared with eculizumab in C5i-naive patients. Data from PRINCE informed the clinical, safety and health-related quality of life outcomes in the model. Results: Pegcetacoplan was associated with lifetime cost savings of USD1,176,808 and USD213,062 relative to eculizumab and ravulizumab, respectively (largely attributed to reduced drug costs and blood transfusions), and additional quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) of 0.25 and 0.24. Conclusion: In patients with PNH who are treatment-naive, the base-case cost-effectiveness analysis, scenario analysis and sensitivity analysis showed both lifetime cost savings and increased QALYs associated with pegcetacoplan compared with eculizumab or ravulizumab in the USA.


It is shown by the author in [J. Lie Theory 29:4, 1045-1070, 2019] that for every connected linear complex Lie group the algebra of polynomials (regular functions) is dense in the algebra of holomorphic functions of exponential type. However, the argument is quite involved. Here we present a short proof.