BRDF is a common problem in remote sensing and also in oblique photogrammetry. Common approaches of BRDF-measurement with a field goniometer are costly and rather cumbersome. UAVs may offer an interesting alternative by using a special flight pattern of oblique and converging images. The main part of this paper is the description of a photogrammetric workflow in order to determine the anisotropic reflection properties of a given surface. Due to the relatively low flying heights standard procedures from close range photogrammetry were adopted for outdoor usage. The photogrammetric processing delivered automatic and highly accurate orientation information with the aid of coded targets. The interior orientation of the consumer grade camera is more or less stable. The radiometrically corrected oblique images are converted into ortho photos. The azimuth and elevation angle of every point may then be computed. The calculated anisotropy of a winter wheat plot is shown. A system four diagonally-looking cameras (Four Vision) and an additional nadir looking camera is under development. The multi camera system especially designed for a Micro- UAV with a payload of min 1 kg. The system is composed of five industrial digital frame cameras (1.3 Mpix CCD-chips, 15 fp/s) with fixed lenses. Also special problems with the construction of a light weight housing of the multi camera solution are covered in the paper.


BACKGROUND
Government policy advocates maternal choice in pregnancy care. Two key issues are place of birth and type of lead professional. Anecdotal evidence suggests there is variation in both these issues across the UK, but there has been no recent national assessment of whether maternal options are in line with government policy.

AIM
To establish the range of women's childbirth delivery options, degree of midwife autonomy, and supporting training and governance mechanisms.

DESIGN
Two postal questionnaires.

SETTING
UK maternity units.

METHOD
Questionnaires were sent to maternity services managers.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
number and type of units and births, transfers and care types; midwifery procedures; clinical governance and training activities.

RESULTS
Completed questionnaires were received from 301 out of 308 (97.7%) units in 2002 and from 258 out of 309 (83.5%) units in 2001. Midwife-led care is available in 186 English (76.9%), 15 Welsh (78.9%), 18 Scottish (48.6%) and three Northern Ireland (30.0%) units. There are 73 (24.3%) stand-alone, 22 (7.3%) alongside, 127 (42.2%) integrated and 79 (26.2%) consultant units (for definitions of unit types, see main text), with a median 2215 hospital, 25 home and 210 midwife-led births. The median antenatal and labour transfers from midwife-led units are 25.5% (interquartile range [IQR] = 18.5-36.5%) and 18.0% (IQR = 13.4-24.8%) respectively; transfers are independent of distance to nearest consultant unit, country and unit type.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite government policy promoting greater parental choice, this is not in evidence in many parts of the UK. The wide variations in home birth, midwife-led care and maternity-unit types merit further exploration. If more midwife-led units are to be established as a way of promoting parental choice and dealing with junior doctor rota problems, then such units must have adequate governance and training activities in place.


Continuous quality improvement is an effort to improve the quality of products, processes, or services. A program intended to effectively implement such efforts begins with the collection and analysis of data. The primary purpose of the normal probability plot, which is one of the most frequently used graphical tools by quality practitioners and researchers, is for normality testing; however, the plot offers other valuable insights into data analysis that have rarely been addressed in the research community. This article provides an overview of distributional characteristics in the context of the four sample moments and investigates how variations in these moments affect the normal probability plot, focusing primarily on the presence of skewness and kurtosis and the effects of variability. This article then lays out a comprehensive analysis of how various statistical characteristics within a data set can influence the shape and corresponding properties of a normal probability plot, demonstrating how variations in the characteristics of the data can reveal or mask the degree of concavity, convexity, or the S shape in the plot, as well as the spread of the data about the mean and in the tails. This can provide engineers with a better understanding of the ways in which data "communicate" through the plot, thereby providing a better basis for initial assumptions, as well as facilitating more accurate model estimation and optimization results thereafter. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Introduction Right heart failure after left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) implantation is a severe complication, in extreme cases necessitating additional mechanical assist. We present our institutional experience with the Levitronix CentriMag used for right ventricular support commencing LVAD implantation with refractory right ventricular failure. Material and Methods Between March 2001 and November 2010 109 patients underwent implantation of long term, total implantable, continuous flow LVADs: 60 HeartMate II, 25 Jarvik 2000 and 24 HeartWare. All patients requiring right ventricular support were included (n=24), for which the Levitronix CentriMag continuous flow, paracorporeal device was used. The analysis included patient demographics as well as overall duration of support and outcome parameters, including survival at 30, 90 days and 1 year. Results 24 pts. underwent implantation, age 37.9±13.7 years, gender: M/F-15/9, underlying disease: dilated cardiomyopathy 22(92%), peripartum cardiomyopathy 1(4%), viral myocarditis 1(4%). Median duration of support: 28 days (5–146). 3(12.5%) pts. underwent heart transplantation (HTx) on RV support, 14(58.5%) underwent RVAD explantation. Of these, 3 underwent successful HTx, 4 recovered LV function and underwent successful LVAD explantation, 3 remain on continuing LVAD support, 4 patients died after RVAD explantation (post explantation day 1, months 3 and 4 and at 2 years), 7(29%) patients died during RV support. Median ITU/hospital stay: 19.5 days (6–145)/78.5 days (10–219). 30-day/90-day/1-year survival: 79%/71%/60%. 15(62.5%) patients were discharged from hospital after treatment. Median survival after procedure: 473.5 days (10–1917). Conclusion Levitronix CentriMag right ventricular support is an excellent option for post LVAD implantation treatment of refractory RV failure. It allows either bridging to transplantation or RV function improvement and provides an acceptable rate of survival.


We study here a natural situation when constraint programming can be entirely reduced to rule-based programming. To this end we explain first how one can compute on constraint satisfaction problems using rules represented by simple first-order formulas. Then we consider constraint satisfaction problems that are based on predefined, explicitly given constraints. To solve them we first derive rules from these explicitly given constraints and limit the computation process to a repeated application of these rules, combined with labeling. We consider two types of rule here. The first type, that we call equality rules, leads to a new notion of local consistency, called rule consistency that turns out to be weaker than arc consistency for constraints of arbitrary arity (called hyper-arc consistency in Marriott & Stuckey (1998)). For Boolean constraints rule consistency coincides with the closure under the well-known propagation rules for Boolean constraints. The second type of rules, that we call membership rules, yields a rule-based characterization of arc consistency. To show feasibility of this rule-based approach to constraint programming, we show how both types of rules can be automatically generated, as CHR rules of Frühwirth (1995). This yields an implementation of this approach to programming by means of constraint logic programming. We illustrate the usefulness of this approach to constraint programming by discussing various examples, including Boolean constraints, two typical examples of many valued logics, constraints dealing with Waltz's language for describing polyhedral scenes, and Allen's qualitative approach to temporal logic.


This study examined the relationships between children's stress about obsesity and depression. In order to expand the study on the relationships, special attention was given to the possible moderator effects of child's ego-resiliency. The subjects were 494 4th and 6th graders residing in Seoul. It was found that 6th grade children's stress about obesity and depression was higher more than 4th graders in every boys and girls. Otherwise, 4th grade children's ego resiliency more higher in girls, 6th grade children's ego resiliency more higher in boys. Children's stress about obesity was significantly related with the levels of children's depression. The results indicated that children's higher obesity stress was related to higher levels of children's depression. Children's ego resiliency were found to be a significant moderator of relationship between children's obesity stress and depression. These findings indicated that children's ego resiliency could fuction as a protecting factor for children who perceive obesity stress.


In cold spraying, for successful bonding powder particles have to exceed a critical velocity upon impact, which is dependent on properties of the particular material. So far a detailed physical explanation of the underlying mechanisms of bonding is still lacking. In the present study, computational materials science and high resolution microscopical methods are used to investigate the microstructural development at the particle-substrate interface. The modelling can show that the critical velocity is related to a transition in the flow-behaviour on the particle or substrate surfaces. The presence of microstructural features predicted by modelling in detail could be confirmed by SEM and TEM analyses of internal interfaces of cold sprayed coatings. By describing the mechanisms of bonding, the calculations could also demonstrate the influence of material properties or microstructural defects on the conditions for successful impacts. With respect to particular powder properties, the results should promote the development of optimum process parameters in cold spraying.


The TSH, T4 and T3 responses to TRH were measured in 48 patients who underwent selective goitre resection (hemithyroidectomy, ablation of single nodule); moreover 3 groups of healthy, hypothyroid and hyperthyroid persons served as reference groups. The main object was to detect eventual onset of preclinical hypothyroidism. This condition was observed after hemithyroidectomy only in 12.5%, and never after ablation of single nodule. Were detected too, among operated patients, 2 subjects with light and 1 with clear hyperthyroidism. Therapeutic implications of such a finding were taken into consideration.


Ammonium ion-exchange performance of the natural zeolite was investigated in both batch and column studies. The effects of zeolite dosage, contact time, stirring speed and pH on ammonium removal were investigated in batch experiments. The result showed that ammonium removal efficiency increased with an increase in zeolite dosage from 25 to 150 g/L, and an increase in stirring speed from 200 to 250 r/min. But further increase in zeolite dosage and stirring speed would result in an unpronounced increase of ammonium removal. The optimal pH for the removal of ammonium was found as 7.1. In the column studies, the effect of flow rate was investigated, and the total ammonium removal percentage during 180 min operation time decreased with the flow rate though the ion-exchange capacity varied to a very small extent with the flow rate ranging from 4 to 9 mL/min. The spent zeolite was regenerated by sodium chloride solution and the ammonia removal capacity of zeolite changed little or even increased after three regeneration cycles.


The Qingxi Depression, over an area of merely 490 km2, is a petroliferous depositional center within the Jiuxi Basin. Lower Cretaceous source rocks in this depression are a suite of mudstones, dolomitic mudstones and argillaceous dolostones formed in a deep lacustrine environment. Although their distribution area is small, their thickness is sizable. High abundance and favorable types of organic matter provide an important material basis for petroleum generation. The majority of the source rocks in the Qingxi Depression are of maturation conditions for generating significant volumes of petroleum, and with only one peak generation period that commenced in the Neogene. The Himalayan movement results in a northerly overthrusting of the Qilian Mountains nappe to form a series of compressional faults, shear faults and rock fractures, all of which serve as main conduits for petroleum migration from west to east, and, in addition, as the reservoir space of the Qingxi Oilfield. Based on these factors, it is suggested that the future exploration be on the Qingxi low bulge and favorable fracturing zone within this depression.


High temperature Raman spectra of nanocrystalline PbOe8Ba0.2Ti03, Pb 0.8 SrO.2 Ti03, PbOq8LaOo~Ti03 and PbTiO.75Zr0,25Ti03, have been measured, as a function of particle size. There appears respectively a distinct temperature-induced soft mode phase transition in every sample whose Curie temperature can be determined from the mean-field theory. The detailed Curie temperature shift in modified PbTi03 ceramics by Ba, Sr, La and Zr, has also been investigated as a function of particle size, This study will favor preparations of high efficiency PbTi03 sensors with an adjustable Curie temperature.


This paper describes the analysis of the effects of a frequency selective surface (FSS) on the characteristics of a microstrip line fed antenna with a bow-tie slot in the ground plane for operation in the frequency range 1 to 10 GHz. The use of the FSS is proposed to miniaturize the antenna structure and increase the number of resonance frequencies and the gain. Air gaps can be inserted between the antenna and the FSS to allow for the adjustment of the resonance frequencies and increase the bandwidth. To prove the concept, antenna prototypes printed on a 30×30 mm2 FR4 low-cost substrate are designed, fabricated and tested. Good agreement is obtained between numerical simulations and experimental results, thus validating the proposed design procedure. The obtained miniaturization and multiband effects can be most convenient for multiservice wireless system applications such as WLAN, WiMAX, 4G, and 5G mobile communication systems.


Systemic and nonspecific stress response effects on the cellular defense mechanism were studied in the male rat kidney. Two days after laparotomy-induced surgical stress, rats showed increased serum corticosterone and renal cortical reduced glutathione (GSH). Rats were then injected s.c. with mercuric chloride (HgCl2) to oxidatively injure renal tubuli. Increased serum creatinine levels indicated that laparotomy pretreatment lessened renal damage. To study the effects of the activated pituitary-adrenal axis on renal cortical GSH content and vulnerability to subsequent oxidative injury, rats were injected s.c. with ACTH on two consecutive days. ACTH administration increased both corticosterone and aldosterone. These rats showed increased, dose-dependent renal cortical GSH content, i.e., controls (n=7): 1.25 +/- 0.23 micromol/g tissue, daily dose of 10 microg/100 gBW (n=7): 1.53 +/- 0.24 micromol/g tissue, and daily dose of 40 microg/100 gBW (n=7): 2.31 +/- 0.23 micromol/g tissue. Rats receiving daily doses of 40 microg of ACTH/100 gBW acquired resistance to oxidative injury, indicated by serum creatinine levels: controls (n=6), 22 +/- 4 micromol/L; HgCl2 (n=6), 145 +/- 88 micromol/L; ACTH and HgCl2 (n=6), 37 +/- 11 micromol/L. Morphological evidence indicated that ACTH pretreatment in HgCl2-injected rats prevented renal tissue from inflammatory cell infiltration but not from tubular degeneration. Cellular GSH content of LLC-PK1 cells, porcine renal-tubule-derived culture cells, increased significantly in incubation with dexamethasone or aldosterone, suggesting that adrenal steroids directly stimulate renal cell GSH. We demonstrated that stress or ACTH administration activates the defense mechanism in the kidney via increased GSH. This stress-activatable defense system may therefore indicate a connection between endocrine stress response and the cellular defense mechanism.


Switched array antenna with six microstrip patch elements was designed and characterized for UHF RFID application. A hexagonal-shaped RF switching circuit board was developed to select one of the array elements to read RFID tags surrounding the RFID reader antenna. The designed switching network ports have exhibited isolation greater than 30 dB and insertion loss less than 2.4 dB. The polarization direction of the microstrip patch elements is arranged perpendicular to RF switching circuit board. The measured characteristics of each antenna element at 915 MHz include gain of 9.06 and 8.62 dBi, half power beam width of 60deg and 70deg at E-plane and H-plane, respectively. Total switched array antenna can scan 360deg with 60deg incremental angle.


Using a firm-level data set for 1998 and 2005 including all of China's 'above designated size' enterprises that together account for more than 85% of China's industrial output, this paper investigates three issues. One key issue in China's industrial system is the extent to which growth has been driven by productivity change. A second issue is the relative productivity performance of enterprises of different ownership types, including a comparison of state-owned versus various forms of non-state ownership. The third issue is whether productivity across China's key regions–coast, northeast, central, and west–exhibits convergence or divergence. One key finding that cuts across all three issues is the exceptional contribution to productivity growth made by exiting and entering firms, much of which is associated with restructuring. During 1998–2005, the phenomenon of firm exit and entry contributed substantially to China's overall industrial productivity growth, to the relatively rapid growth of state industry productivity, and to substantial productivity catch-up with the coastal region by many of the interior provinces.

http://people.brandeis.edu/~jefferso/JCEBS, final version, July 5, 2007.pdf


Stream power can be an extremely useful index of fluvial sediment transport, channel pattern, river channel erosion and riparian habitat development. However, most previous studies of downstream changes in stream power have relied on field measurements at selected cross‐sections, which are time consuming, and typically based on limited data, which cannot fully represent important spatial variations in stream power. We present here, therefore, a novel methodology we call CAFES (combined automated flood, elevation and stream power), to quantify downstream change in river flood power, based on integrating in a GIS framework Flood Estimation Handbook systems with the 5 m grid NEXTMap Britain digital elevation model derived from IFSAR (interferometric synthetic aperture radar). This provides a useful modelling platform to quantify at unprecedented resolution longitudinal distributions of flood discharge, elevation, floodplain slope and flood power at reach and basin scales. Values can be resolved to a 50 m grid. CAFES approaches have distinct advantages over current methodologies for reach‐ and basin‐scale stream power assessments and therefore for the interpretation and prediction of fluvial processes. The methodology has significant international applicability for understanding basin‐scale hydraulics, sediment transport, erosion and sedimentation processes and river basin management. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Higher-order integrated wavetable synthesis (HOIWS) is an efficient technique to reduce aliasing in wavetable and sampling synthesis. A periodic audio signal is integrated repeatedly before it is stored in a wavetable. During playback, the pitch of the audio signal can be changed using interpolation techniques and the resulting signal is differentiated as many times as the wavetable has been integrated. Previous discrete-time integrators approximate ideal integration, which leads to magnitude and phase errors. This paper proposes an ideal integration method, which is applied in the frequency domain with the help of the FFT. Its remarkable advantage is that both the magnitude and the phase errors are completely avoided in the special case of periodic signals. The proposed ideal integrator shows a superior performance over previous digital integration methods. It improves the sound quality of the HOIWS algorithm and helps it to maintain the original waveform after interpolation and differentiation stages.


Despite improvements in the therapeutic efficacy of rationally designed cancer treatment regimens, most cancers remain incurable once spread beyond their sites of origin. Failure to achieve sustained control or eradication of cancers arises in large part because a sub-population of quiescent "cancer stem cells" is insensitive to drugs targeting cell growth and replication and because defense mechanisms critical to survival of the normal cell also protect the cancer cell from cytotoxic injury. Global alteration of signal transduction by inhibition of serine/threonine dephosphorylation has recently been shown to markedly potentiate cancer cell killing by the DNA-methylating drug, temozolomide. Inhibition of the multifunctional protein phosphatase 2A appears to drive quiescent cancer cells into cycle and simultaneously inhibits cycle arrest, permitting cancer cell entry into mitosis despite the presence of chemotherapy induced DNA-damage. Absence of toxicity in animal models suggests that multi-site mutations in pathways regulating cell cycle in cancer cells make them more vulnerable than normal cells to large changes in the balance of phosphorylation-regulated signaling. Global modulation of the serine-threonine phospho-proteome may be a general method for enhancing the effectiveness of cytotoxic cancer therapy.


THIS paper is offered as an addition to the recorded preliminary results of the treatment of general paralysis by malaria, and is based upon a series of eighteen cases.


Remotely sensed vegetation indices are increasingly being used in wildlife studies but field‐based support for their utility as a measure of forage availability comes largely from open‐canopy habitats. We assessed whether normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) represents forage availability for Asian elephants in a southern Indian tropical forest. We found that the number of food species was a small percentage of all plant species. NDVI was not a good measure of food abundance in any vegetation category partly because of (a) small to moderate proportional abundances of food species relative to the total abundance of all species in that category (herbs and shrubs), (b) abundant overstory vegetation resulting in low correlations between NDVI and food abundance, despite a high proportional abundance of food species and a concordance between total abundance and food species abundance (graminoids), and (c) the relevant variables measured and important as food at the ground level (count and GBH) not being related to primary productivity (trees and recruits). NDVI had a negative relationship with the total abundance of graminoids, which represent a bulk of elephant and other herbivore diet, because of negative interaction with other vegetation and canopy cover that positively explained NDVI. Spatially interpolated total graminoid abundance modeled from field data outperformed NDVI in predicting total graminoid abundance, although interpolation models of food graminoid abundance were not satisfactory. Our results reject the utility of NDVI in mapping elephant forage abundance in tropical forests, a finding that has implications for studies of other herbivores also.


The in vitro fluid dynamic characteristics of a variety of old- and new-generation porcine and pericardial aortic bioprostheses were investigated under pulsatile flow conditions. The pressure drop results indicate that the old valve designs have performance indices in the range of 0.30 to 0.42, while the new, low-pressure fixed designs have performance indices of 0.50 to 0.70. Leaflet photography indicated that the new designs also have superior opening and closing characteristics. Flow visualization, and velocity and turbulent shear stress measurements, conducted with a two-dimensional laser Doppler anemometer system, indicated that all the tissue valve designs create jet-type flow fields. The intensity of the jets and turbulence levels were less severe with the new designs. The old designs created turbulent shear stresses of as little as 1500 dynes/cm2, while the new designs created turbulent shear stresses of as little as 750 dynes/cm2.


Background: A significant proportion of new parents in high-income countries have lower health literacy, but few health literacy interventions exist for this group. Objective: This study investigated the feasibility of delivering health literacy content within existing postnatal parenting groups. Methods: Multicenter feasibility study using a seven-group pre-test post-test design. Parents older than age 16 years with children between age 4 and 26 weeks with sufficient English fluency were invited to participate in a 4-week health literacy program (four 2-hour sessions) delivered by trained facilitators (e.g., child and family health nurses). Mixed-methods evaluation was used, with quantitative data analyzed descriptively and qualitative data (e.g., focus groups, observations, interviews) analyzed using the Framework approach. Key Results: Our health literacy program was successfully delivered at six sites in New South Wales, Australia, in 2018. Our recruitment strategy was successful in reaching diverse learners (N = 73), many who were born in a country other than Australia. However, few had limited health literacy as assessed by a subjective, single-item measure, and only half completed the follow-up questionnaires. High baseline knowledge, skills, and confidence among participants limited the potential for change in these quantitative outcomes but shed light on the utility of different measurement instruments in this context. Qualitative analyses suggested that the health literacy program aligned well with the institutional objectives of child and family health services and was acceptable to learners from diverse cultural backgrounds. However, in its current form, it may be perceived as too simple for learners with higher levels of education and literacy. Conclusions: Our study has offered practical insights into the feasibility of embedding a health literacy intervention into established postnatal parenting groups and shown how program resources and facilitator training could be adapted to make the program more suitable for a range of learners and better support facilitators. [HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2020;4(1):e67–e78.] Plain Language Summary: This study looked at the feasibility of delivering a 4-week health literacy program to new parents using existing postnatal parenting groups in New South Wales, Australia. Although the program was generally acceptable to learners and facilitators, this study offers several strategies to further improve the program so that it better supports facilitators and suits a wider range of learners.


We introduce a large dataset of narrative texts and questions about these texts, intended to be used in a machine comprehension task that requires reasoning using commonsense knowledge. Our dataset complements similar datasets in that we focus on stories about everyday activities, such as going to the movies or working in the garden, and that the questions require commonsense knowledge, or more specifically, script knowledge, to be answered. We show that our mode of data collection via crowdsourcing results in a substantial amount of such inference questions. The dataset forms the basis of a shared task on commonsense and script knowledge organized at SemEval 2018 and provides challenging test cases for the broader natural language understanding community.


The demand for multifunctional requirements in aerospace, military, automobile, sports, and energy applications has encouraged the investigation of new conductive composite fibers. This study focuses on the development of Vapor-grown carbon nanofibers (VGCNFs) filled Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) composite fibers. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) reinforced with (1, 3, 5, and 8 wt.%) carbon nanofibers were produced as a masterbatch. The production of PVDF and PVDF/CNF composite fibers have been done successfully by using melt spinning processing technique. Conductive woven fabrics were produced with composite fibers on handloom machines to measure electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding efficiency. Tensile strength of fibers increased with increase in CNF loading up to 3%. The tensile strength displayed a decrease of 5% and 8% CNF loading. Electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (EMSE) of woven fabrics with composite fibers were tested by using the coaxial transmission line method for planar materials standard that is based on ASTM D 4935-10. The electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of woven fabric which is consist of conductive composite fibers were increased with increasing CNFs loading and amount of fabric layers. It can be seen that the woven fabrics displayed between 2–10 dB and 2–4 dB EMSE values in the 15–600 MHz and 600–3000 MHz-frequency range, respectively. Nevertheless, it was observed that conductive filler content, dispersion, and network formation within the composite fibers were highly influent on the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness performance of the structures.


Background and Purpose: Improved employee health contributes to improved employer outcomes in productivity, attendance and workplace satisfaction. Wellness programs focus on the employee to improve these outcomes, but fail to offer opportunities that include the family. A focus on the employee and their child may yield greater health improvements. This pilot study explored the impact of an e-mail intervention targeting the employee and his/her child on their physical activity level, self-efficacy and social control (SC). Methods: Parent and child dyads were recruited from faculty and staff at a university and were subsequently randomized into an intervention group (family-focused activities) or a control group (employee-focused activities). Both parents and children (ndyads = 19) completed a baseline and follow-up (10 weeks later) online questionnaire that measured physical activity, self-efficacy, and SC. Results: Significant differences in parents were found in task efficacy, scheduling efficacy, and collaborative SC, where the intervention group reported higher changes for these outcomes compared to the control group (p<0.10). Changes in collaborative SC reported by children in the intervention group approached significance (p = 0.13). Conclusion: Findings provide initial support for an e-mail based wellness programs' targeting family-based activities compared to an intervention targeting the employee alone. © 2016 Californian Journal of Health Promotion. All rights reserved.


Fractional flow reserve (FFR) has proved its efficiency in improving patient diagnosis. In this paper, we consider a 2D reconstructed left coronary tree with two artificial lesions of different degrees. We use a generalized fluid model with a Carreau law and use a coupled multidomain method to implement Windkessel boundary conditions at the outlets. We introduce our methodology to quantify the virtual FFR and conduct several numerical experiments. We compare FFR results from the Navier–Stokes model versus generalized flow model and for Windkessel versus traction-free outlet boundary conditions or mixed outlet boundary conditions. We also investigate some sources of uncertainty that the FFR index might encounter during the invasive procedure, in particular, the arbitrary position of the distal sensor. The computational FFR results show that the degree of stenosis is not enough to classify a lesion, while there is a good agreement between the Navier–Stokes model and the non-Newtonian flow model adopted in classifying coronary lesions. Furthermore, we highlight that the lack of standardization while making FFR measurement might be misleading regarding the significance of stenosis.


Biliary cancer (BC), or cholangiocarcinoma originates from the malignant transformation of epithelial cells in the bile ducts. This deadly cancer is typically refractory to standard therapies and has a 3 year survival rate of only 10%. Therefore, novel treatment strategies are desparately needed against this malignancy. One important feature of BC cells is their ability to secrete interleukin-6 (IL-6) in an autocrine manner. This characteristic affords them an opportunity to activate numerous pro-oncogenic signaling pathways including MAPK, and STAT3 within the tumor cell, while simultaneously promoting immunologic changes in patients with advanced disease. We hypothesized that inhibitors of Signal-Transducer and Activator of Transcription-3 (STAT3) pathway may elicit a dual effect by promoting apoptosis of human BC cell lines, and limiting the secretion of immunosuppressive cytokines from these cells. A panel of human BC cell lines with various genotypic profiles was utilized, and all demonstrated secretion of IL-6 (range 5149-68pg/mL) and had constitutively phosphorylated STAT3 as determined by western blot. Similar to positive control conditions with IL-6 + GM-CSF (10 ng/mL each), exposure of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells to 5% or 10% BC culture supernatants induced in vitro differentiation into myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC). These data indicate that BC cells have robust activation of the IL-6/STAT3 signaling axis, and that culture supernatants contain factors capable of promoting expansion of immune suppressive cell subsets. A novel small molecule inhibitor FLLL100, could directly inhibit Tyr705 phosphorylation within the SH2 domain of STAT3, and induce apoptosis in the BC cell lines regardless of genotypic profile. Both growth inhibitory (by MTT assay) and pro-apoptotic effects (by Annexin V/PI staining) were observed within 24-48 hours of drug exposure at micromolar concentrations. Apoptosis was confirmed after drug exposure by assessment of PARP cleavage by immunoblot. Exposure of BC cell lines to FLLL100 resulted in significantly reduced secretion of immunomodulatory cytokines including IL-6 (p Citation Format: Jennifer Yang, Kaitlin Keenan, Thomas Mace, Tanios Bekaii-Saab, James Fuchs, Eric Schwartz, Chenglong Li, Jiayuh Lin, Pui-Kai Li, Gregory Lesinski. STAT3 inhibitors elicit direct anti-tumor effects against human biliary caner cell lines and limit release of immune suppressive cytokines in vitro. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4073. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4073


Thirty years ago, dramatic events were about to begin in Potomac River basin with the publication of a report of study recommending 16 major reservoirs and hundreds of small ones to solve the foreseeable water supply problems in the basin, especially those of the Washington metropolitan area. The proposed solution was confounded by its shear size, the emergence of an era of more critical thinking, and the growing development of more sophisticated analytical tools. When viewed from the perspective of the current Drought Preparedness Studies, the Potomac Experience does seem in some senses to have been a forerunner. Among the greatest similarities is the simultaneous consideration of demands and resource availability on an operational time step with the aid of computer modelling. Other contributions to the success on the Potomac which are hoped to be included in the DPS include: involvement of local elected officials and citizens groups, technical input from the affected water utilities, creative use of analytical techniques, and the dedicated commitment of the project leadership.


Compressive spectral imaging (CSI) acquires coded projections of a spectral scene reducing storage costs. The single-pixel camera architecture (SPC) excels among several CSI devices due to its low implementation cost. Traditionally, before applying any post-processing task, e.g., clustering, it is required to solve a computationally expensive optimization problem to reconstruct the 3D information. Instead, this paper proposes a hierarchical approach to design the sensing matrix of the SPC, such that the pixel clustering task can be performed directly using the compressed infrared SPC measurements without a previous reconstruction step. Specifically, a sensing matrix is designed to extract features directly from the compressed measurements at each hierarchy step. Then, a final segmentation map is obtained through majority voting in the partial clustering results. Through simulations and experimental proof-of-concept implementation, we demonstrate the efficient proposed alternative to estimate clustering maps without relying on oversampling sensing protocols.


This research illustrates, in the frame of social vulnerability, the consequences of the impact of hurricane 'Manuel' in a Pacific coastal landscape of Mexico. The paper discusses the following topics: the spatial incidence of hurricanes in the Mexican rural areas, the previous events in the study area, and the approaches to prevention, mitigation and damage control. Ethnographic and meteorological data, official primary sources and media material were collected and analyzed. Results suggest, despite hurricanes are common in the area, no early warning systems or mitigation schemes are on place. Omission of government action creates what we describe as government-driven vulnerability, increasing the exposure of settlers to such events in the study area and similar regions.


With a view to providing contextual background for the Special Issue, this opening article analyses several dimensions of 'The end of International Relations theory?' It opens with a consideration of the status of different types of theory. Thereafter, we look at the proliferation of theories that has taken place since the emergence of the third/fourth debate. The coexistence and competition between an ever-greater number of theories begs the question: what kind of theoretical pluralism should IR scholars embrace? We offer a particular account of theoretical engagement that is preferable to the alternatives currently being practised: integrative pluralism. The article ends on a cautiously optimistic note: given the disciplinary competition that now exists in relation to explaining and understanding global social forces, International Relations may find resilience because it has become theory-led, theory-literate and theory-concerned.


We propose a compact phase-shifting radial shearing interferometer based on a pixelated micro-retarder array (MRA). The MRA is made of a thin birefringence plate, and is composed of identical units that have pixels of four different thicknesses. We demonstrate that pixelated phase delay between two shearing beams can be introduced by applying the fast axis of birefringence plate in the horizontal or vertical orientation. We also present an approach to extract the wavefront under test with random phase shift, which dramatically reduces the machining difficulty of the MRA. The feasibility and accuracy of the proposed method are further validated through our numerical analysis. With the advantages of vibration immunity, simultaneous phase stepping, and broad spectral range, the presented interferometer is expected to be of potential use in a variety of applications, such as the detection of moving objects and dynamic processes.


Objective: To compare the efficacy of 40 mg and l0 mg atorvastatin on serum levels of 8-Hydroxy-Guanin (8-OHdG) and the cardiac function in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM). Methods: One hundred twenty three hospitalized ICM patients and 120 healthy controls were included in this study. All subjects were randomly divided into two groups: 10 mg/d atorvastatin group (n=62) and 40 mg/d atorvastatin group (n=61). Serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), creatine kinase, glutamic-pyruvic transaminase, lipids and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) were tested in all subjects both at the initial phase and the terminal phase of this study. Adverse drug reaction events were recorded in this study. Echocardiographic method was applied to compare the cardiac function before and after treatment in the double blind study. Serum 8-OHdG levels were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) before and after treatment, and the results in atorvastatin treatment groups were compared with the healthy controls. Results: Serum 8-OHdG levels in ICM patients were significantly higher than that in normal control groups (p<0.05). There was significant difference of Serum 8-OHdG levels in 40 mg/d atorvastatin group (p<0.05), but was no significant difference in 10 mg/d atorvastatin group before and after the treatment. The 8-OHdG level in 40 mg/d atorvastatin group was significantly lower than that in 10 mg/d atorvastatin group before the treatment as well as after the treatment (p<0.05). The systolic and diastolic function improved significantly in 40 mg/d atorvastatin group before and after treatment, as well as in comparison with 10 mg/d atorvastatin group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Serum 8-OHdG possibly plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ICM. Atorvastatin is safe and effective in ICM treatment; furthermore atorvastatin which also has independent lipid lowering effect, is significantly better in the dose of 40 mg/day.


Abstract Feather destructive behavior is an ever-increasing problem in captive birds of prey and any associated self-mutilation can be challenging to manage. This clinical report describes a noninvasive, nonpainful, temporary beak modification technique used to prevent self-mutilation in 3 Harris' hawks (Parabuteo unicinctus), when other methods and husbandry modifications had failed. The technique was successful in all 3 birds, and no adverse effects were observed. Further investigations are required to further evaluate if this beak modification technique causes any psychologic or physical stress to the avian patient.


As the pace of urbanization is accelerating, increasing amount of floodplain has been projected as the future cities. Subsequently, urban flooding is being studied by global emergency management exports due to its increasingly significant impact on us. Some existing research on flooding emergency management based on the case-based reasoning (CBR) method have made tremendous progress, but the urban flooding case with its stratified data characteristics is required a new methodology which is different from the ones applied to flash floods. So, based on the case-based reasoning (CBR) method, this paper proposed a CPIE-CBR model with four layers, classification filtration, punctiform similarity, interval similarity and entropy weight method, to calculate the case similarity among the urban flooding case with stratified data characteristics. Then we carry out the numerical simulation with the real data about China and conduct some comparison with original ways so that we observe the validity and efficiency of our model in the end.


Purpose
The concept of "buy now pay later" leads Malaysian Generation Y (Gen Y) to excessively use their credit cards for spending. To gauge the extent of this worrisome scenario, the purpose of this paper is to attempt to investigate the factors, including credit attitudes, knowledge on credit card, materialism, social norm and self-efficacy, that influence credit card misuse amongst Gen Y in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors have collected responses from a total of 501 respondents in two urban areas in Malaysia and estimated six multiple regression models to test five hypotheses.

Findings
The results suggest that credit card knowledge and self-efficacy are negatively related to credit card misuse amongst Gen Y in Malaysia. In contrast, positive relationships were found to exist between credit card attitudes, materialism and social norm and the dependent variable.

Research limitations/implications
In this study, the authors limit the data collection to the two biggest urban areas in Malaysia, namely, Klang Valley and Ipoh.

Practical implications
For the regulator's perspective, the results can be used to understand the alarming indebtedness behaviour amongst working members of Gen Y and outline appropriate and effective policies to reduce their serious indebtedness. Financial service providers, however, can collaborate with regulators to curb credit card misuse amongst Gen Y, so that the latter can avoid high bad debt from line of credit facilities and bankruptcy.

Originality/value
The study's findings will further enrich the existing literature on the factors affecting the credit card misuse, especially for the unique Gen Y cohort in Malaysia.


Virtualization-based memory isolation has been widely used as a security primitive in various security systems to counter kernel-level attacks. In this article, our in-depth analysis on this primitive shows that its security is significantly undermined in the multicore setting when other hardware resources for computing are not enclosed within the isolation boundary. We thus propose to construct a fully isolated micro-computing environment (FIMCE) as a new primitive. By virtue of its architectural niche, FIMCE not only offers stronger security assurance than its predecessor, but also features a flexible and composable environment with support for peripheral device isolation, thus greatly expanding the scope of applications. In addition, FIMCE can be integrated with recent technologies such as Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX) to attain even stronger security guarantees. We have built a prototype of FIMCE with a bare-metal hypervisor. To show the benefits of using FIMCE as a building block, we have also implemented four applications which are difficult to construct using the existing memory isolation method. Experiments with these applications demonstrate that FIMCE imposes less than 1% overhead on single-threaded applications, while the maximum performance loss on multithreaded applications is bounded by the degree of parallelism at the processor level.


A growing number of households benefit from the government subsidies to install renewable generation facilities such as PV panels, used to gain independence from the grid and provide cheap energy. In the Romanian electricity market, these prosumers can sell their generation surplus only at regulated prices, back to the grid. A way to increase the number of prosumers is to allow them to make higher profit by selling this surplus back into the local network. This would also be an advantage for the consumers, who could pay less for electricity exempt from network tariffs and benefitting from lower prices resulting from the competition between prosumers. One way of enabling this type of trade is to use peer-to-peer contracts traded in local markets, run at microgrid (μG) level. This paper presents a new trading platform based on smart peer-to-peer (P2P) contracts for prosumers energy surplus trading in a real local microgrid. Several trading scenarios are proposed, which give the possibility to perform trading based on participants' locations, instantaneous active power demand, maximum daily energy demand and the principle of first come first served implemented in an anonymous blockchain trading ledger. The developed scheme is tested on a low-voltage (LV) microgrid model to check its feasibility of deployment in a real network. A comparative analysis between the proposed scenarios, regarding traded quatities and financial benefits is performed.


Melatonin is a general organizer that promotes plant development and moderates defense responses to abiotic stresses; e.g., heat, cold, and heavy metals. Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal that can be uptaken by cereal crops. It causes toxicity in plants and poses serious health risks due to its accumulation in the human body through the food chain. This study demonstrates that melatonin in the form of gold nanoparticles (Mel-AuNPs) can alleviate Cd toxicity to a greater extent in hydroponically grown rice plants compared to melatonin applied alone. When rice was grown in a medium supplemented with 200 μM Mel-AuNPs, the melatonin content significantly increased in the roots (18.0%) and leaves (20.3%), and the Cd level significantly decreased by 33.0% and 46.2%, respectively. Furthermore, the Mel-AuNP supplement restored chlorophyll biosynthesis and mitigated Cd-induced oxidative stresses, while the anti-oxidant enzyme activities were significantly increased. Further study showed that supplying Mel-AuNPs inhibited the Cd-induced gene expression of metal transporter-related genes (OsHMA2, OsHMA3, OsIRT1, OsIRT2, OsNramp1, OsNramp5, and OsLCT1) in rice roots. Overall, this study suggests that Mel-AuNP application could mitigate Cd toxicity in rice seedlings by enhancing melatonin absorption and suppressing Cd uptake.


Using to the relative data from 1989-2010 in Sichuan province, with ADF unit root test, cointegration test, error correction model and Granger causality test, we make an empirical study on the relationship of scale of rural finance development, structure of rural finance development, rural finance development efficiency and peasant income growth. The empirical results show that: there is positive correlation among peasant income and scale, structure of rural finance development, on the other hand, there is negative correlation between peasant income and rural finance development efficiency. The result of Granger causality test shows that there is no cause-and-effect among peasant income and the scale, structure, and efficiency of rural finance development.


Although perovskite solar cells exhibit excellent power conversion efficiency, the poor stability toward electrical fields and the typically observed device hysteresis phenomenon severely restrict their applications. Ionic migration comes from the migration of halogen from lattice points to halogen vacancies. Considering the strong built-in potential located at the interface between perovskite and carrier transport layers, here we propose that it is the ionic migration at the interfacial depletion region that dominates device hysteresis. The most effective way to achieve hysteresis-free devices is to passivate ionic migration at the interface rather than within perovskite films. We utilized Cs4SnO4 as a modification layer, which could effectively suppress the defects at the interface and thus eliminate hysteresis, as well as shift the conduction band of perovskite/SnO2 closer and decrease the band misalignment. In addition, the partial diffusion of Cs+ into (FAPbI3)0.85(MAPbBr3)0.15 is beneficial for phase stability toward long-term light illumination. Hence, we believe this paper provides a new understanding about the ionic migration process within perovskite solar cells, and Cs4SnO4 modification is an effective and also general method to overcome the device hysteresis issue.


In a constantly changing and increasingly globalized world, the construct of culture and subculture have become increasingly central to the consumer behavior literature. Religion still plays a significant role in influencing social and consumer behavior. This paper will shed some light on measuring religiosity fom Islamic perspective. All possible alternatives within different dimensions were assessed to find out the most suitable combination of dimensions that gives the best results in measuring Islamic religiosity. Seven Factors were extracted by factor analysis form the four dimensions. The findings of the study indicated that the combination of three dimensions namely (Current Islamic issues, religious education, and sensitive products) produce the best results among other dimensions.


Abstract Porcine milk contains hormones and growth factors that stimulate piglet intestinal growth and development. Milk-borne insulin-like growth-factor-I (IGF-I) has received considerable attention. In swine, IGF-I concentrations range from 0.10 to 0.4 mg/L in colostrum and approximately 0.01 to 0.04 mg/L in mature milk. Two experimental approaches have been utilized to investigate the role of orally administered IGF-I in neonatal intestinal development. In the first approach, piglets were reared on sow milk replacer formulas containing recombinant human IGF-I (rhIGF-I) at concentrations of 0.1 to 12 mg/L. The advantage of this approach is that specific effects of IGF-I can be assessed in the absence of other bioactive components, changes in milk composition, and other environmental factors. However, the applicability to swine production is limited. A second approach has been to develop transgenic mice or swine that overexpress IGF-I in milk under the direction of promoter regulatory elements of milk proteins to result in animals experiencing mammary specific overexpression of IGF-I during lactation. Herein, the effect of orally administered IGF-I on neonatal intestinal development in artificial rearing studies, as well as studies utilizing transgenic overexpression of IGF-I in milk, was reviewed. Both rhIGF-I in formula or transgenic IGF-I overexpression increased villus growth and disaccharidase activity; however, these effects were primarily observed late in the suckling period (d 21 postpartum) in piglets suckling IGF-I transgenic sows. We speculate that piglets suckling IGF-I transgenic sows may have improved intestinal health during the weaning transition.


Sport management undergraduate and graduate programs have gained popularity throughout the United States and around the world. Despite this, women are still underrepresented in sport leadership positions. Although women have made it to the highest levels of sport leadership roles, studies suggest that advancement to such roles is more challenging for women than for men. Extant literature examines perceptions of women employed in the sport industry but fails to consider perceptions of prospective employees, specifically women, with career aspirations in sport business. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate sport management students' perceptions of barriers to women's success and upward mobility in the sport industry using the Career Pathways Survey. Results suggest that female sport management students perceive barriers to advancement in the sport industry, whereas male students do not perceive that barriers exist for women. Practical implications for the sport management classroom include developing male advocates, gender diversity and inclusion in guest presentations, and intentional internship placement.


The objective of this work is to develop intelligent integrated composites capable of detecting the applied dynamic strain of composite structures. The composites consist of fabrics composed of interwoven bare conductive carbon fibers and orthogonal carbon fibers coated with ZnO nanowires. Nanowires with diameter range between 80 and 344 nm with average length of ~5 μm are grown on carbon fibers using hydrothermal technique. X-ray diffraction results indicate that the ZnO nanowires have a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure that is responsible for the piezoelectric form of ZnO. The functionalized fabric was subjected to mechanical deformation and revealed piezoelectric behavior with effective piezoelectric coefficient of 2-3 pC/N. The proposed hybrid fabric can serve as the structural backbone for aircraft, automobile and many other structures allowing for integrated monitoring of structural health in real time


The ever-increasing complexity of automotive embedded systems and the need for safe advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) represent a great challenge for car manufacturers. Furthermore, we expect that in the near future, authorities require a software certification in order to get convinced that ADAS are safe enough. Theoretical research and experience show that when using conventional design approaches it is impossible to guarantee high confidence to those systems. The way taken by some industries (e.g. aerospace, railway, nuclear) was by partially using formal verification techniques. In this paper, we first present a background of the formal verification techniques and how they can contribute to achieve the requirements of some safety standards. Next, we share our experience with the application of those techniques that seem to be mature enough to be used in an industrial context: Static analysis based on Abstract Interpretation, SMT-based software Model checking and Deductive proof. Finally, we make a detailed analysis about our experiments and propose an approach introducing formal methods into the development of automotive embedded software.


Today, it is not possible to use human power alone to cope with the increasing amount of data. For this reason, some automated methods are needed to group similar documents together or to place documents in predefined categories according to certain rules. The use of automated classification techniques is becoming increasingly important for this reason. In this study, a database consisting of 22 thousand samples was created in order to respond to the need for Turkish data and various methods used for text classification in the literature were tested on this data. Multinomial Naive Bayes (M-NB) and Support Vector Machines (SVM) algorithms which are frequently used for text classification, were compared by applying the n-gram word vector selection and information gain ratio. Beside these, it has been focused on the number of categories, the content of data used to train the model and the completeness of this data, and also the effects of these on classification success are examined.


Regional cooperation arrangements (RCAs) have produced vastly dissimilar performances; some have spurred remarkable expansion in trade and cooperation among members, while several others have achieved little. Studies show that performances vary because RCAs differ from one another in important characteristics, namely the (i) objectives they aim to achieve, (ii) balance of power among member states, and (iii) political structures and processes of decision-making within individual member states. Subject characteristics uniquely influence and condition the functioning of RCAs. An assessment of the performance of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) reveals that the extremely skewed balance of power within the region and antagonistic inter-state relations among member states have stunted the organization's effectiveness. To reverse the situation, SAARC's member countries need to repair the prevailing atmosphere of distrust and suspicion, and build cordial inter-state relations. They also need to empower the SAARC Secretariat to function as a competent and neutral facilitator of cooperation in South Asia.


Combustor-exit conditions in modern gas turbines are generally characterized by significant temperature distortions and swirl degree, which in turn is responsible for very high turbulence intensities. These distortions have become particularly important with the introduction of lean combustion, as a mean to control NOx pollutant emissions. For this reasons combustorturbine interaction studies have recently gained a lot of importance. Past studies have focused on the description of the effects of turbulence, swirl degree and temperature distortions on the behavior of the high pressure stages of the turbine, both considering them as separated aspects, and accounting for their combined impact. Aspects like pressure losses, hot streaks migration and film-cooling behavior have been widely investigated. Even if some studies have focused on the characterization of the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) on the nozzle guide vane external surface, none of them have addressed this aspect from a purely experimental point of view. Indeed, when inlet conditions are characterized by both swirl and temperature distortions they represent a severe challenge for the commonly adopted measurement techniques. The work presented in this paper was carried out on a non-reactive, annular, three-sector test rig made by a non-reactive combustor simulator and a nozzle guide vane cascade; it is able to create a representative combustor outflow, characterized by all the flow characteristics described before. A novel experimental approach, that was developed in a previous work, was exploited to experimentally retrieve the heat transfer coefficient and the adiabatic wall temperature distributions on a non-cooled nozzle guide vane. Temperature measurements on the cascade inlet and outlet planes were also used to provide boundary conditions and achieve a better understanding of the investigated phenomena. The results allowed to evidence the effect of the inlet swirl on the heat transfer coefficient distribution, as well as the evolution of the temperature distribution on the vane surface moving through the cascade, constituting the first attempt to evaluate these aspects from a purely experimental point of view.


N UMERICAL design optimization provides a powerful tool that assists designers in improving their products. Design optimization automatically modifies important design parameters to obtain the best product that satisfies all the design requirements. This thesis explores the use of Support Vector Regression (SVR) and demonstrates its usefulness in the numerical optimization of a low-speed wind turbine for the power coefficient, Cp. The optimization design problem is the three-dimensional optimization of a wind turbine blade by making use of four two-dimensional radial stations. The candidate airfoils at these stations are selected from the 4-digit NACA range. A metamodel of the lift and drag coefficients of the NACA 4-digit series is created with SVR by using training points evaluated with XFOIL software. These SVR approximations are used in conjunction with the Blade Element Momentum theory to calculate and optimize the Cp value for the entire blade. The high accuracy attained with the SVR metamodels makes it a viable alternative to using XFOIL directly, as it has the advantages of being faster and easier to couple with the optimizer. The technique developed allows the optimization procedure the freedom to select profiles, angles of attack and chord length from the 4-digit NACA series to find an optimal Cp value. As a result of every radial blade station consisting of a NACA 4-digit series, the same lift and drag metamodels are used for each station. This technique also makes it simple to evaluate the entire blade as one set of design variables. The thesis contains a detailed description of the design and optimization problem, the implementation of the SVR algorithm, the creation of the lift and drag metamodels with SVR and an alternative methodology, the BEM theory and a summary of the results.


LAF389 is a synthetic analogue of bengamides, a class of marine natural products that produce inhibitory effects on tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. A proteomics-based approach has been used to identify signaling pathways affected by bengamides. LAF389 treatment of cells resulted in altered mobility of a subset of proteins on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Detailed analysis of one of the proteins, 14-3-3γ, showed that bengamide treatment resulted in retention of the amino-terminal methionine, suggesting that bengamides directly or indirectly inhibited methionine aminopeptidases (MetAps). Both known MetAps are inhibited by LAF389. Short interfering RNA suppression of MetAp2 also altered amino-terminal processing of 14-3-3γ. A high resolution structure of human MetAp2 co-crystallized with a bengamide shows that the compound binds in a manner that mimics peptide substrates. Additionally, the structure reveals that three key hydroxyl groups on the inhibitor coordinate the di-cobalt center in the enzyme active site.


Background: Yeasts are important opportunistic pathogens, in individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Yeast species inhabiting the oral mucosa of HIV-infected persons can act as source of oral lesions, especially as the individual progresses towards immunocompromised state. Present study was conducted to evaluate the diversity of yeasts in oral cavities of asymptomatic HIV-infected persons and their association with CD4 + cell counts. Materials and Methods: 100 HIV seropositive subjects and 100 healthy controls were screened for oral yeast carriage using standard procedures. Results: Of the 100 HIV-seropositive persons screened, 48 were colonized by different yeasts, either alone or in association with another species. Candida albicans was the most common species (56.90%) while non C. albicans Candida (NCAC) accounted for 39.65%. Among NCAC, Candida tropicalis and Candida krusei were most common. One isolate each of rare opportunistic pathogenic yeasts, Geotrichum candidum and Saccharomyces cereviseae, was recovered. The control group had an oral candidal carriage rate of 23%; C. albicans was the predominant species, followed by Candida glabrata, C. tropicalis and Candida parapsilosis. Antifungal susceptibility testing revealed no resistance in C. albicans, to the commonly used antifungal agents, whereas resistance or dose dependent susceptibility to fluconazole was observed in some of the NCAC species. Conclusion: Oral carriage of opportunistic pathogenic yeasts was greater in HIV-seropositive persons heading towards immunocompromised state, as evidenced by their CD4 + cell count. The predominant yeast isolated in this study (C. albicans), was found to be susceptible to commonly used antifungals.


BALB/c mice are susceptible and C57BL/6 mice are resistant to Graves' hyperthyroidism induced by immunization with adenovirus encoding the thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) A-subunit. Both strains develop comparable levels of TSHR antibodies, but potent TSH blocking antibody activity in C57BL/6 mice likely blocks development of hyperthyroidism. We used microarrays to compare gene expression in spleens of mice immunized with A-subunit adenovirus (TSHR-Ad) or control adenovirus (Con-Ad). To preclude the effects of variable thyroxine (T(4)) levels, mice were studied when euthyroid as follows: BALB/c mice immunized three times with TSHR-Ad or Con-Ad and C57BL/6 mice immunized three times with TSHR-Ad or Con-Ad. Among the 14,000 expressed probe sets, there were no statistically significant differences in gene expression in BALB/c mice immunized with TSHR-Ad versus Con-Ad. In contrast, expression of 57 transcripts (representing 40 genes) changed in response to TSHR-Ad in C57BL/6 mice. Diverse genes were identified, including proteins involved in immune responses, inflammation, and cell cycling as well as heat-shock proteins and proteases. Down-regulation of chitinase 3- and-4 gene expression likely reflects cytokines produced by T-helper 2 (Th2) type cells. Indeed, the immunoglobulin (IgG) subclass for TSHR antibodies reflects a deviation away from Th2 cytokines and toward Th1 in C57BL/6 mice. In conclusion, TSHR-Ad immunization altered gene expression profiles in C57BL/6, but not in BALB/c, mice. This response primarily involved reduced gene expression. In C57BL/6 mice, decreased expression of genes such as cathelicidin, calgranulins, and lipocalin following TSHR A-subunit adenovirus immunization suggests the importance of innate immunity in this response.


The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for law students tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, bullet-pointed answer plans, suggested answers, author commentary, and illustrative diagrams and flowcharts. This book offers clear advice on what to expect in typical employment law exams. It addresses a wide range of employment law topics that are most often encountered in employment law courses, including questions on 'mixed' topics. The book provides sample essay and problem questions to allow students to practise and refine exam skills. These are supported by suggested answers and diagram plans. Detailed author commentary explains what examiners are looking for, traps to avoid, and how students can best achieve their potential. This book also includes separate chapters on skills and tips for success in both exams and in coursework assessments. It is an ideal tool to help support revision or to use throughout studies to help review learning.


The structures of a PbO.SiO 2 glass and melt have been studied using molecular dynamics simulation employing Born-Mayer-Huggins pair potentials. Various pair distribution functions are presented and discussed. Pb-Pb correlations persist in the melt, in agreement with experimental observations. The calculated and experimental radial distribution functions are compared.


Grouping crimes having similarities has always been interesting for analysts. Actually, when a set of crimes share common properties, the capability to conduct reasoning and the automation with this set drastically increase. Conjunction, interpretation and explanation based on similarities can be key success factors to apprehend criminals. In this paper, we present a computerized method for high-volume crime linkage, based on a fuzzy MCDM approach in order to combine situational, behavioral, and forensic information. Experiments are conducted with series in burglaries from real data and compared to expert results.


A newly developed algorithm for multitarget tracking using multipattern data association is presented. Multipattern data association is based on a novel approach for tracking multiple targets using multiple patterns extracted from measurement sequences.


This text is devoted to theoretical aspects of the perception and evaluation of linguistic phenomena as part of listener judgments about language in social interaction. First, salience (perceptual conspicuity) and pertinence (subjective situational relevance) are considered as fundamental categories and subprocesses of listener judgments, in line with Purschke's (2011) perceptual judgment theory. This is followed by a detailed discussion of salience-relevant parameters that concentrates on the two constitutive elements of salience evaluations, salience potential (phenomenon-based usage) and salience perception (listener-based interpretation). In a second step, the internal structure of pertinence judgments based on relevance is remodeled and located within a theory of judgment deductive scheme through reference to two well-known relevance theories (Schutz/Luckmann 1979; Sperber/Wilson 1995). The paper concludes by proposing and exploring an integrative term to define the main subject of salience- and pertinence-based listener judgments about language – socio-pragmatic indexicality .


The coronal heating mechanism for active region core loops is difficult to determine because these loops are often not resolved and cannot be studied individually. Rather, we concentrate on the "inter-moss" areas between loop footpoints. We use observations from the Hinode EUV Imaging Spectrometer and the X-Ray Telescope to calculate the emission measure distributions of eight inter-moss areas in five different active regions. The combined data sets provide both high- and low-temperature constraints and ensure complete coverage in the temperature range appropriate for active regions. For AR 11113, the emission can be modeled with heating events that occur on timescales less than the cooling time. The loops in the core regions appear to be close to equilibrium and are consistent with steady heating. The other regions studied, however, appear to be dominated by nanoflare heating. Our results are consistent with the idea that active region age is an important parameter in determining whether steady or nanoflare heating is primarily responsible for the core emission, that is, older regions are more likely to be dominated by steady heating, while younger regions show more evidence of nanoflares.


Plant growth determined factors such as environmental manipulation of seeds, including maintenance and pest disease prevention integrated. Intensive maintenance needs to be done especially when the plant is still young-old. Use organic mulch cardboard including part of plant maintenance to suppress weed competition with staple crops at a young age. In addition the use of mulch, organic boxes are expected to give positive influence against the growth of staple crops and chemical properties as well as land reclamation in soil biology. The results showed that organic mulching cardboard gives positive influence against the reclamation plant growth based on parameters of high and in diameter. The development of plants under around staple crops can be suppressed. Chemical properties of the soil showed improvement in some elements of the chemistry of the soil with organic mulch using cardboard. The diversity of types of makrofauna the soil around the plants with mulch treatments staple cardboard categories include being with Shannon's Diversity index value-Wiener of 1.57 while in treatment control categories include low value of 1.48.
Keywords: cardboard mulch, plant growth, reclamation, weed


GP scepticism about demand management has been successfully tackled by a co-operative venture involving GPs and a primary care trust. Using the choose and book system to manage referrals makes it easy for data to be collected and analysed.


The instrumental variables (IV) method provides a way to estimate
the causal effect of a treatment when there are unmeasured confounding
variables. The method requires a valid IV, a variable that is independent of
the unmeasured confounding variables and is associated with the treatment
but which has no effect on the outcome beyond its effect on the treatment. An
additional assumption often made is deterministic monotonicity, which says
that for each subject, the level of the treatment that a subject would take is a
monotonic increasing function of the level of the IV. However, deterministic
monotonicity is sometimes not realistic. We introduce a stochastic monotonicity
assumption, a relaxation that only requires a monotonic increasing
relationship to hold across subjects between the IV and the treatments conditionally
on a set of (possibly unmeasured) covariates. We show that under
stochastic monotonicity, the IV method identifies a weighted average of treatment
effects with greater weight on subgroups of subjects on whom the IV
has a stronger effect. We provide bounds on the global average treatment effect
under stochastic monotonicity and a sensitivity analysis for violations of
stochastic monotonicity.We apply the methods to a study of the effect of premature
babies being delivered in a high technology neonatal intensive care
unit (NICU) vs. a low technology unit.


We present new experimental results of ballistic electron transport through thin n+‐GaAs layers. Measurements were done on tunneling hot‐electron transfer amplifier devices composed of GaAs and AlGaAs layers. In devices with GaAs active regions (bases) of 300 and 800 A, collisionless or ballistic transport was observed. By performing hot‐electron energy spectroscopy we found that the collected ballistic distributions were similar in shape but differed in magnitude. This suggests the existence of a strong scattering mechanism which randomizes the otherwise ballistic electrons. The maximum differential current transfer ratio α was 0.9 in devices for which about 75% of the injected current traversed the base ballistically. The presence of ballistic transport has also allowed the measurement of the AlGaAs barrier height through observation of the onset of current collection in the devices. Barrier heights higher than those recently reported have been measured. In addition we show the effects of grading the co...


Sprites have been detected in video camera observations from Niger over mesoscale convective systems in Nigeria during the 2006 AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis) campaign. The parent lightning flashes have been detected by multiple Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) receiving stations worldwide. The recorded charge moments of the parent lightning flashes are often in excellent agreement between different receiving sites, and are furthermore consistent with conventional dielectric breakdown in the mesosphere as the origin of the sprites. Analysis of the polarization of the horizontal magnetic field at the distant receivers provides evidence that the departure from linear magnetic polarization at ELF is caused primarily by the day–night asymmetry of the Earth–ionosphere cavity. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society


Objective An apparent increase of use of drugs affecting hemostasis in our neurosurgical department since the 1990s has encouraged us to investigate whether these drugs influence the clinical course and results of surgery for chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH). Methods This retrospective analysis included 178 patients admitted for CSDH from 2007 to 2011 who were divided into two groups: on drugs affecting hemostasis (40; 22%) and no bleeding disorders (138; 78%). Medications in the first group included oral anticoagulants (33; 82.5%), antiplatelets (5; 12.5%) and low molecular weight heparins (2; 5%). Results The patients on drugs affecting hemostasis were older (74.3±7.4 vs. 68.4±14.8; p-value 0.01) and the group without bleeding disorders had more head trauma history (61% vs. 38%, p-value 0.01). The groups did not differ in bilateral hematoma rates (25% vs. 20%, p-value=NS). At diagnosis, mean hematoma thickness was lower in patients on drugs affecting hemostasis (18.7±7.4 mm vs. 21.9±7.9 mm, p-value<0.01). Average stay of hospital was 1 day longer in patients on drugs affecting hemostasis (11.7±4.1 vs.10.9±5.3, p-value=NS) and was related to the necessity of bleeding disorder reversal. Mean neurological status at presentation was similar between the groups (p-value=NS) as was the likelihood of hematoma recurrence (p-value=NS). Glasgow Outcome Scale results were comparable. Conclusion Patients on drugs affecting hemostasis are less often aware of a head trauma history, possibly suggesting a higher CSDH risk after minor trauma in this group. In these patients, smaller hematomas are symptomatic, probably due to faster hematoma formation. Drugs affecting hemostasis do not affect treatment results.


BACKGROUND: Mutation or inactivation of the retinoblastoma protein is frequently involved in prostate cancer tumorigenesis resulting in overexpression/deregulation of E2F activity. E2F1-3a overexpression induces genes involved in DNA synthesis and leads to abnormal cellular proliferation, tumor growth, and invasion. Therefore, inhibiting the overexpression of one or more activating E2Fs is a recognized target in cancer therapeutics. In our previous studies we showed that a novel penetratin conjugated 7-mer peptide (PEP) bound tightly to an immobilized consensus E2F1 promoter sequence, was cytotoxic at low micro molar concentrations to many malignant cell lines and as the PEP was unstable in serum, the PEP was encapsulated in PEGylated liposomes and treatment of tumor xenografts of small cell lung cancer H-69 and DU145 tumors propagated in mice caused tumor regression. OBJECTIVE: To determine the antitumor activity and stability of two different modified penetratin peptides: D-Arg PEP (substituting L-Arginine with D-Arginine in the peptide sequence) and N-acetylated as well as C-methylated PEP analog. METHODS: DU145 (prostate cancer) and H196 (small cell lung cancer) cells were used. To compare the efficacy of the peptides, we tested the IC50s of peptides at different time points using the MTS assay. Drug combination experiment results were analyzed using the combination index (CI) method. Peptide conformational studies were carried out using the Amber 12 suite of biomolecular simulation programs. RESULTS: Molecular simulation studies showed that the D-Arg PEP secondary structure is more stable than the L-Arg peptide structure in water. D-Arg PEP was more potent compared to L-Arg PEP, and it was also found to be more resistant to degradation by serum proteases than the L-form. The other modified form, N-acetylated, C-methylated PEP was marginally more effective than the unmodified PEP. Drug combination studies showed that the D-Arg PEP in combination with docetaxel, caused synergistic cytotoxicity against DU 145 cells. Our findings validate D-Arg peptide, an inhibitor of E2F1and 3a transcription, as a drug candidate for targeted molecular therapy of prostate cancers with elevated levels of activated E2F's. Studies in progress are evaluating the combination of the PEGylated liposome encapsulated D-Arg PEP in combination with docetaxel against DU145 xenografts and against primary prostate cancer cells. Supported in part by a grant from the Lung Cancer Research Foundation. Citation Format: Tazeem Shaik, Nitu Bansal, Nadine Johnson Farley, John Kerrigan, Olga Garbuzenko, Tamara Minko, Emine Abali, Zoltan Szekely, Kathleen Scotto, Debabrata Banerjee, Joseph Bertino. Antitumor studies of an E2f1 promoter sequence binding peptide - penetratin conjugate as a molecule targeting E2f in prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1237. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1237


In this ethnographic account, I focused on the interconnections of power, technology, and culture in a University that recently embarked on a program of full integration of electronic technology into its teaching-learning process. I explored how African American and European American students positioned themselves in relation to their University's preferred view of technology. Two codes emerged from the narratives of participants. The dominant code was found to be business-oriented. This code evaluated technology in terms of the degree to which technology promoted administrative economic efficiency. The cultural/communication code favored interpersonal interaction. It was critical of the negative effects that technology might produce due to differences in culture as well as the economic status of students. While there was some evidence that African American students used more of the cultural/communication code than the business code, there was no evidence that these codes marked cultural boundaries. This study stresses the need for more research on how information technology is actually enhancing or hindering the democratization of organization discourse. It also stresses the need to ensure that organization members' understandings are sought through the use of methods that emphasize the communication practices of these members in actual talk situations.


Novel 1,2,3-triazolium-tagged proline derivatives were synthesized by copper-catalyzed click-reaction of alkynes with azides and N-alkylation of the resulting 1,2,3-triazoles. They were applied as recyclable organocatalysts in direct asymmetric aldol and Michael reactions with high enantioselectivity and diastereoselectivity. These catalysts performed better than (S)-proline itself; that is to say, a synergistic effect of the triazolium and the proline moiety exists. The reactions could be carried out either in conventional solvents or in ionic liquids. The catalysts were easily recycled and reused several times.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze endoscopic treatment of choledocholithiasis in patients over 80 years old.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A single-center retrospective study included 90 consecutive patients aged ≥80 years and 58 patients aged 60-79 years. Early outcomes including efficacy of calculus removal, incidence of complications and their risk factors were evaluated.

RESULTS
In 75 patients aged ≥80 years (83.3%), endoscopic treatment was effective definitive single procedure. Between-group differences were insignificant (p=0.163). Patients aged ≥80 years were characterized by higher percentage of ASA classes 2-4 (p<0.001), age-adjusted mean Charlson comorbidity index (p=0.004), and ≥2 calculi (64.4% vs. 32.8%, p<0.001). Postoperative morbidity was similar (7.8% vs. 6.9%, p=0.842). Multivariate logistic regression analysis of potential risk factors did not reveal significant correlations: Chi-square test was 14.94 at 15 degrees of freedom (p=0.463).

CONCLUSION
Similar postoperative morbidity determines safety of endoscopic lithoextraction in patients aged over 80 years. We should emphasize higher percentage of advanced age patients with «difficult» choledocholithiasis that requires appropriate training of specialists, adequate equipment of hospitals and routing of patients.


The use of neurotropic viruses as transsynaptic tracers was first described in the 1960s, but only recently have such viruses gained popularity as a method for labeling neural circuits. The development of retrograde monosynaptic tracing vectors has enabled visualization of the presynaptic sources onto defined sets of postsynaptic neurons. Here, we describe the first application of a novel viral tracer, based on vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which directs retrograde transsynaptic viral spread between defined cell types. We use this virus in the mouse retina to show connectivity between starburst amacrine cells (SACs) and their known synaptic partners, direction-selective retinal ganglion cells, as well as to discover previously unknown connectivity between SACs and other retinal ganglion cell types. These novel connections were confirmed using physiological recordings. VSV transsynaptic tracing enables cell type-specific dissection of neural circuitry and can reveal synaptic relationships among neurons that are otherwise obscured due to the complexity and density of neuropil.


This paper provides a new model-free indicator of liquidity, the so-called LIX index. The computation of the LIX index combines the conic finance theory, which recognizes the two-price economy and is built upon the concept of indices of acceptability of Cherny and Madan (2010), with the option payoff spanning formula of Breeden and Litzenberger (1978). Matching the conic finance bid and ask prices of the stock with those observed in the market allows us to derive a model-free and unit-less indicator of spot liquidity. Just as the VIX and the SKEW index quantify the volatility and the tail risk perceived by today's investors, the resulting LIX index measures, in a similar market-implied fashion, the liquidity risk. The maximum likelihood estimation of popular mean-reverting processes applied to model-free liquidity time series indicates that spot liquidity tends to dry up during distress periods whereas a global drying-up of liquidity could not be detected during turmoil periods in the option market.


As eye balls are in front of the body and are exposed for most of the time, they are quite likely to get injured. Sport includes all types of sporting events as well as games. Such injuries are more prone to occur in children and young persons who are most frequently involved in sports and games. In a study of 1744 eyes involved in ocular trauma, 214 were due to sports injury (12.27%). As would be expected such injuries were more in males (82.5%) than in females (17.5%). The maximum incidence was found in children between 1-10 years (42.26%) followed by children between 11-20 years (35.51%). There was a sharp decline after 20yrs. (10.75%). India is a peculiar country where there are two very different patterns of life styles-rural and urban. Although the rural population is more than double, the sports trauma is much higher in urban population (almost double). One reason for this anomaly may be the type of game. In rural areas usually children play with larger balls like, football or volley ball which are likely to cause less damage. Earlier two games, bow and arrow and gilli-danda were popular causing severe injury. However, they are not very common now and cricket has become popular. In urban areas games like hockey, cricket and golf are more common. These small harder balls cause more severe injuries. It is expected that the difference in sex ratio will decrease as women are participating in all types of sports.


The purpose of this study was to analyse the impact of renewable energy use in Malaysia on the environment and economic growth and directing study findings to stimulate developing economies in Arab region to evaluate its economic returns from renewable energy uses. In this study, a set of time series data has been used which is ranging from the year 1989 to 2018. Moreover, the stationary of the data was tested through Augmented-Dickey Fuller (ADF) test. The normality test of the data distribution was also conducted with the help of Jarque Bera test. In addition to the methods, due to the existence of unit roots, an ARDL technique was also incorporated which tested the influence of renewable energy use on the growth and environment of Malaysia. The findings of the study imply that the renewable sources usage in Malaysia was found to have a positive and significant relation on the CO2 emissions in the case of Malaysia. Furthermore, the findings of the study also suggested that there is no significant relation between renewable energy use and GDP. Also, it was identified that there was no long-run influence in the variables and hence a short-run influences were recognised.


A randomised double blind study was designed to evaluate haemodynamic response to dobutamine and dopamine in 20 hypotensive preterm infants of less than 32 weeks' gestation. Neonates initially received dopamine or dobutamine 5 micrograms/kg/min. If mean arterial pressure (MAP) remained below 31 mm Hg, the infusion rate was increased in increments of 5 micrograms/kg/min. If 20 micrograms/kg/min of the initial drug failed to achieve a MAP above 30 mm Hg, it was discontinued and the other drug was administered at the same infusion rate. Left ventricular output (LVO) was measured by pulsed Doppler echocardiography. Mean (SE) MAP increased significantly from 24.4 (1.0) to 32.0 (1.4) mm Hg at a median dobutamine dosage of 20 micrograms/kg/min and from 25.6 (1.2) to 37.7 (1.5) mm Hg at a median dopamine dosage of 12.5 micrograms/kg/min. The percentage LVO increase was +21 (7)% with dobutamine compared with -14 (8)% with dopamine. Dobutamine failed to increase MAP above 30 mm Hg in six infants out of 10, whereas dopamine succeeded in all 10 infants. Six switches from dobutamine to dopamine were thus performed, providing a rise in MAP (29.2 (0.5) to 41.2 (2.0) mm Hg) and drop in LVO (356 (40) to 263 (36) ml/kg/min). These data indicate that dopamine is more effective than dobutamine in raising and maintaining MAP above 30 mm Hg; however dopamine does not increase LVO.


Recent studies have uncovered that epigenetic regulation, such as histone methylation and acetylation, plays a critical role in determining cell fate. In particular, the expression of key developmental genes tends to be regulated by trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4me3) and lysine 27 (H3K27me3). Osteoclasts are primary cells for bone resorption, and their differentiation is tightly regulated by the receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL) and a transcription factor nuclear factor–activated T cell (NFAT) c1. We found that RANKL‐induced NFATc1 expression is associated with the demethylation of H3K27me3. Jumonji domain containing‐3, a H3K27 demethylase, is induced in bone marrow–derived macrophages in response to RANKL stimulation and may play a critical role in the demethylation of H3K27me3 in the Nfatc1 gene.


Thermal infrared satellite data of June 6 and 8 (Figure 1) reveal that a new large warm-core anticyclonic eddy has recently separated from the Loop Current within the Gulf of Mexico. On June 8, the eddy's dimensions were 546×300 km, with a center at 26° 20.9′ N latitude, 88° 05.8′W longitude. The eddy was justifiably named "Eddy Whopper."

The distance between the eddy and the Loop Current increased by about 70 km during the 56 hours that elapsed between the images shown. Separation of the eddy was preceded by southwestward advection of cool Florida shelf water observed between May 31 and June 6 (Figure la).


Geothermal waters are extensively useful for various purposes such as in industrial plants, societal benefits, irrigation, and domestic consumptions. However, its physiochemical characterization is very important before using it for any rationale. The main objective of this paper is to identify the hydro-chemistry of geothermal water which is placed in southern part of Gujarat such as Unai hot springs and Saputara geothermal springs, and west coast geothermal province (WCGP) like Tural-Rajwadi group of hot springs. The standard methods were used to carry out the analysis of geothermal water. Piper, Stiff, Gibbs, Extended Durov, and Wilcox diagrams have been plotted to categorize water samples in facies. Spatial distribution curves have also been plotted for geothermal regions of Gujarat and Maharashtra. The geochemistry of groundwater is influenced by the presence of most important ions like Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Cl-, HCO3-, and SO42-. Geothermal spring of Unai contains high TDS concentration around 1000 mg/l thus it cannot be used for drinking purposes but it can be utilized for domestic, balneology, and industrial purposes. However, after desalination this water can be utilized for drinking purposes. In Tural-Rajwadi hot springs TDS concentration was > 900 mg/l and pH range was between7-8 hence it can be used for domestic and industrial purposes. The temperature range of Tural-Rajwadi geothermal hot spring is 55-65°C which is very useful for milk pasteurization, industrial operations, space heating, balneology facilities like greenhouses and aquaculture ponds, and domestic purposes.


A new modulation technique, cross-correlated phase-shift keying ( XPSK ), is introduced. XPSK is a band-limited offset QPSK modulation technique which has an almost constant envelope. In XPSK modulators, a controlled amount of cross correlation between the in-phase ( I ) and quadrature ( Q ) channels is introduced. I and Q cross correlation reduce the envelope fluctuation Of the intersymbol-interference and jitter-free OQPSK (IJF-OQPSK) modulation scheme, introduced by Feher et al. [1], [2], from 3 dB to approximately 0 dB, thus further improving the performance of IJF-OQPSK systems in nonlinear radio systems [7], [14]. It is shown that the baseband signal of the modulator, the P_{e} = f(E_{b}/N_{0}) performance, and the spectral characteristics of nonlinearly amplified (hard-limited or saturated) radio systems of XPSK and tamed frequency modems (TFM) are practically the same. The XPSK demodulator is a conventional OQPSK demodulator, the TFM demodulator requires a somewhat more complex signal processor. For this reason, the XPSK approach may lead to significant demodulator hardware cost savings, particularly in point-to-multipoint distribution systems such as broadcast systems. Simulation results for linear and nonlinear (saturated amplifier) systems operated in an adjacent-channel interference environment (in addition to thermal noise) are presented. Measurement results performed on a 128 kbit/s rate hardware-prototype modem are also reported. Experimental eye diagram and power spectrum density measurement results are in close agreement with the computer simulation results.


ABSTRACT This paper studies the impact of political guidelines in social work. The paper is inspired by the literature on street-level bureaucracy and uses this perspective in the discussion of whether different risk assessment models regulate the participation of vulnerable children and families' network in the risk assessment process. The empirical strategy applies mixed methods to the survey data and interviews with social workers. The data are collected in Denmark where the two risk assessment models, Integrated Children's System (ICS) and Signs of Safety (SoS), have been implemented in most municipalities. These two models are discussed and analysed with a third way of assessing risks – the more traditional way, which in this paper will termed the municipality model (MM). The paper will answer the following research question: How do political guidelines such as risk assessment models regulate the participation of the child and families' network in the risk assessment process? The discussion is framed from a social worker perspective. This discussion is important since participation of children and families' network has been on the political and professional agenda. Furthermore, one of the main reasons for implementing the new risk assessment models is more participation and inclusion of the families' network in the process. However, this study will show that it is mainly the social workers using the newer models who are challenged by the participation of children and families' network. The study contributes to the discussion about the extent to which political guidelines regulate social work practice.


Introduction: Radiation pneumonitis (RP) is the most significant dose-limiting toxicity in patients receiving thoracic radiotherapy. The underlying mechanisms of RP are still inconclusive. Our objective was to determine the genes and molecular pathways associated with RP using computational tools and publicly available data. Methods: RP-associated genes were determined by text mining, and the intersection of the two gene sets was selected for Gene Ontology analysis using the GeneCodis program. Protein-protein interaction network analysis was performed using STRINGdb to identify the final genes. Results: Our analysis identified 256 genes related to RP with text mining. The enriched biological process annotations resulted in 47 sets of annotations containing a total of 156 unique genes. KEGG analysis of the enriched pathways identified 24 pathways containing a total of 41 unique genes. The protein-protein interaction analysis yielded 23 genes (mostly the PI3K family). Conclusion: Gene discovery using in silico text mining and pathway analysis tools can facilitate the identification of the underlying mechanisms of RP.