Abstract In the context of the comprehensive implementation of rural revitalization strategy, ecological protection and sustainable territorial spatial pattern are important elements of spatial planning and ecological civilization construction. With this as the starting point, this paper can use spatial analysis, hierarchical analysis, entropy method, integrated learning and other technical methods to divide the national spatial evaluation units under the MOLA model. Carry out spatial suitability evaluation of national land based on double constraints as well as spatial planning and design. The test results show that the villagers' trust in the implementation of rural revitalization policies reached 78%, and most of them agree more with various policies on rural construction and development, which illustrates the necessity of territorial spatial planning in rural revitalization. The research data have good score validity when the observed variable of the questionnaire under the experimental test is greater than 0.4, which indicates the spatial planning layout under the proposed model. On the basis of mastering the current situation and problems facing rural revitalization, it not only proposes an effective path, but also scientifically adjusts and optimizes the space of rural areas, providing a boost to promote the construction and sustainable and healthy development of new rural areas.


Abstract The present work is aimed at conducting a screening survey to determine the parasites infesting goats in Algeria evaluation of their prevalence, and studying the influence of some risk factors on the incidence of these parasites. For this reason, the fact sheets on 100 animals belonging to 10 visited farmers were filled, macroscopic research of ectoparasites was completed and the faecal samples were taken. Different methods such as direct examination, flotation method, the method of Ritchie, Lugol staining technique and modified Ziehl - Neelsen staining were used to identify the parasite eggs. The results showed a total prevalence of vermin infestation of 97%. The observed mesoparasites were: Eimeria spp. (89%), Cryptosporidium spp. (70%), Ostertagia spp. (19%), Nematodirus spp. (14%), Skrjabinema spp. (10%) and Strongyloides spp. (8%). Ectoparasites were detected in 3% of examined goats and they were represented by two species of lice: Linognathus africanus (3%) and Damalinia caprae (3%). Following the statistical analysis of the influence of some risk factors, we obtained a significant influence of age (p= 0,004) on the parasitic infestation rate of the examined goats. Key words: survey, mesoparasites, ectoparasites, goats, Laghouat


This paper presents a method that is used to determine the coherent bus groups of a system with similar reactive reserve basins. The differences between this proposed method and another widely accepted voltage stability analysis method are highlighted, and results obtained from the proposed method are discussed. This method is more efficient and requires comparatively less VQ curve computations. Definitions are proposed for the categorization of buses by the cause of their loading limitation. Results obtained from the test systems support the method's validity and the validity of the bus categories proposed. By determining the reactive reserve margin, it is possible to determine which generators will have an impact on the maximum permissible loading of a bus and which will not. This information is particularly useful for performing voltage stability analysis.


ABSTRACT
Aditia (2021611001) The  Community Structure of Fish in Lulak Stream and  Gendir Stream of West Bangka Regency.
(Supervisors: Wahyu Adi, S.Pi.,M.Si dan Andi Gustomi, S.Pi.,M.Si)

            The waters of the stream in west Bangka nowadays facing the threat of the deforestation or the fragmentation of the alteration of land function such as for the plantations, agriculture mostly for the program of rice field print that makes the forest area and the watershed threaten the fish habitats, for instance the Lulak stream and gendir stream in Kelapa, West Bangka regency.  The goals of this study is to examine the diversity of the fish, examine the community structure  and examine the relation between the waters quality  with the fish diversity in Lulak Stream and Gendir Stream. The data was took and conducted in February 2020 using the gill net and dip net. The result showed that the diversity value  has the index with the amount is 1,948 for Lulak Stream and 1,881 for Gendir Stream with the category is moderate.  The community structure of fish in Lulak stream and Gendir stream was dominated by Cyprinidae with 5 species from 14 species based on what was found  in both of the stream.  There was 14 fish  with 12 of fish species found in Lulak stream and 11 fish in Gendir stream  that dominated by cyprinidae ( Puntius binotatus, Puntius lineatus, Cyclocheilichthys apogon dan Rasbora chepholataenia). The  Physic and Chemistry factors in Lulak Stream and Gendir Stream supports the survival life of the cyprinidae that dominate both of the river.

Keywords: Diversity, Fish , Stream, fresh waters, West Bangka


Abstract 1738 Introduction: Hydroxycarbamide (HC) is an antimetabolite used as first-line therapy in high risk essential thrombocythemia (ET) and polycythemia vera (PV). In treatment-naive patients, HC achieves complete hematological and partial molecular response in 80% and 50% of patients, respectively. Genetic factors involved in the pharmacokinetics of HC, as well as in the acquisition of the JAK2 V617F mutation, could play a role in the variability among these patients in achieving a molecular response. Objective: To assess the influence of 46/1 JAK2 haplotype and urea transporters polymorphisms on the molecular response in JAK2 V617F-positive PV and ET patients treated with HC. Methods: JAK2 V617F allele burden was measured by quantitative PCR at diagnosis and every 6 months during follow-up in 53 PV patients and in 41 ET patients receiving HC therapy. Molecular response to HC treatment was defined according to European LeukemiaNet (ELN) criteria. SNPs rs12340895 and rs12343867 were used to determine 46/1 haplotype status and SNPs rs2298720 (SLC14A1), rs9960464 (SLC14A2), were used to genotype urea transporters. The rate of molecular response was compared according to 46/1 JAK2 haplotype status (negative, heterozygous, homozygous), and genotype of 2 urea transporters: SLC14A1 (GG, GA, AA) and SLC14A2 (GG, GA, AA). The study was approved by the local Ethics Committee and informed consent was obtained according to the Declaration of Helsinki. Results: Overall, molecular response (CR or PR) was achieved in 48 patients (51%), corresponding to 46% and 57% in PV and ET patients, respectively (p=0.3). In ET patients, there were no significant differences in the proportion of patients achieving a molecular response according to 46/1 JAK2 haplotype or to the different transporter genotypes. PV patients with the GG genotype in transporter SLC14A2 obtained more frequently a molecular response than those with AA or GA genotype (71% versus 36%, p=0.03). No significant differences in molecular response were observed in PV patients according to transporter SLC14A1 and 46/1 JAK2 haplotype. Conclusion: 46/1 JAK2 haplotype status did not influence molecular response in PV or ET patients treated with HC. Polymorphisms in urea transporters showed a minimal effect on the rate of molecular response in these patients. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Replication stress response is a protective mechanism against defects in chromosome replication for maintaining genome integrity in eukaryotic cells. An alternative clamp loader complex termed chromosome transmission fidelity protein 18 and replication factor C (CTF18‑RFC) has been shown to act as a positive regulator of two types of replication stress response: S‑phase checkpoint signaling and translesion DNA synthesis. However, it remains largely unknown how CTF18‑RFC responds to replication stress and is recruited to stalled replication forks. The present study demonstrated that endogenous CTF18 forms a physical complex with a single‑stranded DNA‑binding protein replication protein A (RPA) in mammalian cells. Using an in situ proximity ligation assay (PLA), it was demonstrated that the interaction between CTF18 and RPA occurs in chromatin when replication stress is elicited by treatment with hydroxyurea during S phase. Similar results were obtained after exposure to ultraviolet irradiation, which triggers translesion DNA synthesis. Furthermore, the PLA demonstrated that the kinetics of the interaction between CTF18 and RPA was positively correlated with that of checkpoint kinase 1 phosphorylation, which is an indicator of activation of the ATM and Rad3‑related pathway. These findings provide novel insights into the molecular mechanism underlying the participation of CTF18‑RFC in the regulation of replication stress response.


Background. Pushing in the second stage of labor can be forced or follow the spontaneous urge to bear down. Recent studies have shown that spontaneous pushing results in a longer second stage, fewer CTG changes, higher arterial pH and less damage to the birth canal. Method. Randomized trial of spontaneous vs. forced pushing in 350 primiparous women. Results. There was no difference between the randomized groups in duration of second stage of labor, umbilical arterial pH or damage to the birth canal. Of the women allotted to spontaneous pushing, 65.6% used the closed glottis technique for more than half the expulsive phase. When dividing the women into two groups according to the actual pushing technique used most, open or closed glottis, it turned out that women who used the open glottis technique had a shorter second stage of labor and gave birth to infants with lower birth weight. Conclusion. Recommending of spontaneous bearing down during the expulsive phase of labor did not result in a significant difference in duration of the second stage of labor, fetal arterial pH or less damage to the birth canal. Women who chose the open glottis technique had a shorter expulsive phase and gave birth to smaller infants than those who used the closed glottis technique.


Twitter is a popular platform to share opinions and claims, which may be accompanied by the underlying rationale. Such information can be invaluable to policy makers, marketers and social scientists, to name a few. However, the effort to mine arguments on Twitter has been limited, mainly because a tweet is typically too short to contain an argument — both a claim and a premise. In this paper, we propose a novel problem formulation to mine arguments from Twitter: We formulate argument mining on Twitter as a text classification task to identify tweets that serve as premises for a hashtag that represents a claim of interest. To demonstrate the efficacy of this formulation, we mine arguments for and against funding Planned Parenthood expressed in tweets. We first present a new dataset of 24,100 tweets containing hashtag #StandWithPP or #DefundPP, manually labeled as SUPPORT WITH REASON, SUPPORT WITHOUT REASON, and NO EXPLICIT SUPPORT. We then train classifiers to determine the types of tweets, achieving the best performance of 71% F1. Our results manifest claim-specific keywords as the most informative features, which in turn reveal prominent arguments for and against funding Planned Parenthood.


Animism has had a long and controversial history that has led to the topic being avoided as a subject of concern amongst scholars. Recently, however, there has been renewed interest in the subject, thanks both to a re-evaluation as to the significance of the concept and a redefining of the core principles involved. By assimilating this reappraisal with some recent insights with regard to neuropsychology, the authors show how the concept can be further supported and expanded, especially in relation to understanding how animism can help in the understanding of rock art.


Background Boschniakia rossica (Cham. & Schltdl.) B. Fedtsch. (Bu-Lao-Cao in Chinese name) is a famous Chinese traditional drug and mainly distributed in Korea, Japan, Russia, and China. The dried whole grass of Boschniakia rossica is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat kidney deficiency, yang deficiency, waist and knee aches and constipation. In order to quantify the active ingredients in B. rossica chinensis and body weight, clinical features and serum SOD and MDA activities, cAMP, cGMP, and testosterone (T), follicle-stimulating growth hormone (FSH), mouse bone morphogenetic protein-5 (BMP-5), mouse activin receptor IIA (ActRIIA) were measured to elucidate the mechanism underlying its treatment of kidney yang deficiency potential. Methods Extracts of B. rossica were evaluated by HPLC-MS analyses. Kidney-yang deficiency syndrome was induced in mouse with hydrocortisone (10 mg/Kg, 15d) and treated with B. rossica extract. The animals were treated orally with 3 doses of B. rossica extract: 1000, 500 and 250 mg/Kg, for 15 days. Body weight and clinical characteristics were recorded daily. For biochemical analyses, the following tests were performed: superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) activity, testosterone (T) content, follicle growth hormone (FSH) content, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) content, mouse bone morphogenetic protein-5 (BMP-5) content and activin receptor IIA (ActRIIA) content. Results Our study found that all the mice except the blank group showed significant systemic depletion caused by hydrocortisone. Low T content, low cAMP activity and high cGMP content were consistent with the physiological and biochemical indexes of kidney-yang deficiency syndrome. After oral gavage, the pathological conditions were improved in both the Positive group and the B. rossica groups.Conclusions The high-dose extract of B. rossica showed similar therapeutic effects as Jingui Shenqi Pill. The extract of B. rossica can be used to treat with hydrocortisone-induced kidney yang deficiency syndrome by increasing serum testosterone content and decreasing FSH content. More importantly, the experiment found that activin A and BMP-5 also have effects on kidney yang deficiency syndrome.


The sensitivity and specificity of bone scintigraphy in the evaluation of meniscus tears was investigated in a prospective study of 44 younger patients referred for arthroscopy with a suspected meniscus tear. We found a sensitivity of 0.74 and a specificity of 0.76 for pure meniscus pathology; thus, the test cannot so far be recommended as a routine in evaluating meniscus pathology. However, the test was highly sensitive if used to divide the patients into 2 groups: a potential surgery‐demanding group with meniscus pathology, osteochondritis, degenerative joint disease or rotational instability, and a group with synovitis, hot patella or a healthy knee where surgery (arthroscopy) could be avoided. The accuracy in this division was 0.92. We find the test valuable if used this way.


Neural networks have been showing great promise in several areas!, one of which is the classification of underwater acoustic transients. The classification of low-frequency underwater acoustic transient signals using a neural network based system is investigated. The received acoustic transients are simulated using a time-domain parabolic equation modeL The neural network is trained on three source signals and tested by classif ying the same signals at 25 different receiver locations in a noise-free, range-dependent (upslope) environment. Overall classification performance is above 90%.


Quasi-two-dimensional random-site percolation model objects were fabricated based on computer-generated templates. Samples consisting of two compartments, a reservoir of H2O gel attached to a percolation model object, which was initially filled with D2O, were examined with nuclear magnetic resonance microscopy for rendering proton spin density maps. The propagating proton/deuteron interdiffusion profiles were recorded and evaluated with respect to anomalous diffusion parameters. The deviation of the concentration profiles from those expected for unobstructed diffusion directly reflects the anomaly of the propagator for diffusion on a percolation cluster. The fractal dimension of the random walk d(w) evaluated from the diffusion measurements on the one hand and the fractal dimension d(f) deduced from the spin density map of the percolation object on the other permits one to experimentally compare dynamical and static exponents. Approximate calculations of the propagator are given on the basis of the fractional diffusion equation. Furthermore, the ordinary diffusion equation was solved numerically for the corresponding initial and boundary conditions for comparison. The anomalous diffusion constant was evaluated and is compared to the Brownian case. Some ad hoc correction of the propagator is shown to pay tribute to the finiteness of the system. In this way, anomalous solutions of the fractional diffusion equation could experimentally be verified.


The concepts and use of several diversity assessments are presented and applied to a practical situation. Burning, mechanical methods of site preparation, and cattle grazing are common disturbances in forests of the South. Their influence on plant diversity indices are examined in a longleaf-slash pine forest of north Florida. Species richness, Shannon's index, and Simpson's index showed increases in diversity shortly following burning and site preparation and a trend toward pre-treatment conditions after 6 years. Deferred-rotation grazing systems had no influence. Comparative diversity profiles showed similar trends but were more informative by providing both qualitative and quantitative information. These techniques are useful for assessing community responses to management practices, that is, they are effective methods for understanding the impacts of forest management and range management practices on plant community structure and succession.


### Key points

Ultrasonography offers significant advantages in the practice of regional anaesthesia, including faster sensory onset and improved success rates compared with landmark-based techniques.1 Adequate visualization of neural and surrounding structures together with monitoring the spread of local anaesthetic (LA) are absolute prerequisites for the safe and successful practice of ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia (USGRA). The creation of an ultrasound (US) image is based on the physical properties of the US beam formation, propagation of sound in matter, interaction of sound with reflective interfaces, echo detection, and machine processing. However, there are often a number of significant challenges to acquiring the optimal US images necessary to achieve successful nerve blocks. Such challenges include the acquisition and interpretation of optimal US images of the target structure and needle while avoiding tissue and needle artifacts. Other difficulties may include physiological, pathological, and anatomical factors attributable to the patient and which may affect image quality and interpretation. This article will describe some of these problems, discuss strategies to avoid them, and highlight current and future advances which may assist the practice of USGRA.

The spatial resolution of any imaging system is defined as its ability to distinguish two points as separate entities in space. Spatial resolution is commonly subcategorized into axial and lateral resolution.2 Axial resolution is defined as the US machine's ability to differentiate two objects located at different …


OBJECTIVE
To investigate an inhibitive effect of the chitosan nanoparticles with the proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-antisense oligo deoxy nucleotides (ASODN) on the intimal cell proliferation after the vein grafting.

METHODS
Fifty-four male SD rats, weighing 450-600 g, were randomly divided in the experimental group and the control group of 27 rats each. In the experimental group, the chitosan nanoparticles with PCNA-ASODN were infused into the anastomosis segment of the right jugular artery and vein; then, the anastomosis segment was transplanted to the jugular artery on the same side. The rats in the control group were infused with normal saline by the same procedures. There were 24 rats in each group which used to experiment. The hemodynamic data were obtained from the Doppler ultrasound examinations at 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks. The specimens were taken. Immunohistochemistry, Western-blot, and blood-vessel-wall histopathology were performed at the different week points.

RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the thrombogenesis rate between the experimental group and the control group (3/27 vs. 3/27, P > 0.05). During the 4-week observation, PCNA Western-blot showed that the PCNA level was lower in the grafted vein and the anastomosis segment in the experimental group than in the control group. The indexes of the PCNA-postive proliferating cells in the intimal area (0.13% +/- 0.11%, 0.79% +/- 0.28%, 0.45% +/- 0.29%, 0.43% +/- 0.25%) and the medial area (1.90% +/- 0.84%, 2.11% +/- 0.98%, 2.48% +/- 0.77%, 2.17% +/- 0.36%) were significantly decreased at 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks in the experimental group when compared with those in the control group (P < 0.05). The lumen areas in the grafted vein (88.71 +/- 16.96, 95.98 +/- 21.44, 88.48 +/- 32.81, 97.86 +/- 34. 11 microm2) and the anastomosis segment (41.49 +/- 3.34, 45.15 +/- 11.65, 46.27 +/- 8.90, 51.62 +/- 8.85 microm2) were significantly greater in the experimental group than in the control group (P < 0.05). The ratios of the initmal area to the medial area in the grafted vein (22.73% +/- 3.11%, 32.40% +/- 4.55%, 45.14% +/- 3.19%, 45.70% +/- 5.01%) and the anastomsis segment (41.49% +/- 3.34%, 45.15% +/- 11.65%, 46.27% +/- 8.90%, 51.62% +/- 8.85%) were significantly smaller in the experimental group than in the control group (P < 0.05). The maximum velocities (Vmax) of the blood flow in the grafted vein and the anastomsis segment were almost the same in the two groups at 1 week, but had different changes at the next 3 week-points. In the control group, the Vmax of the blood flow gradually increased and at 3 weeks it reached the peak point; however, at 4 weeks it decreased. In the experimental group, the Vmax of the blood flow gradually decreased, and at 3 weeks it decreased to the lowest point; however, at 4 weeks it increased. So, at 4 weeks the Vmax of the blood flow in the grafted vein and the anastomsis segment was almost the same in the two groups. There was no significant difference in the Vmax of the blood flow between the two groups (P > 0.05), but in the same group there was a significant difference at the different time points.

CONCLUSION
The chitosan nanoparticles with PCNA-ASODN can effectively inhibit the intimal cell proliferation after the grafting of the blood vessel, so that the neointimal thickening can be prevented.


This policy note summarizes the findings and recommendations from the recent Indonesia education Public Expenditure Review (PER), which examines in detail how additional resources were spent and the extent to which they have translated into outcomes, with the ultimate objective of providing recommendations to improve outcomes by improving the quality of spending.


This paper presents a current controlled AC/DC converter for high frequency power architecture. The proposed converter employs a resonant network, a bi-direction shunt switch, an output transformer, synchronous rectifiers and an output filter. The resonant network is designed in such a way that it provides an AC current source at its output while drawing near sinusoidal input current. The operating principle of the circuit is given, and the steady state analysis is performed. It is shown that the converter has very high input power factor, low total harmonic distortion and fast transient response. Experimental and simulation results of a prototype converter converting the input AC voltage of 28 V RMS at 1 MHz, to 1.6 V DC at 20 A are given to verify the proof of concept, and analytical work reported in this paper.


The seven species of rock lobster in the genus Jasus have a fragmented circumpolar distribution, inhabiting continental or island waters of the Southern Ocean. Gene flow between nominal species is possible as the planktonic larval stages of Jasus are widely dispersed in major oceanic gyres. Restriction endonuclease analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from five species (J. verreauxi, J. novaehollandiae, J. edwardsii, J. lalandii and J. tristani) was used to assess taxa previously defined only by morphological criteria. Intraspecific mtDNA nucleotide sequence diversity was generally high (0.33-0.99%). An absence of episodic population bottlenecks and extinctions, attributable to a teleplanic (far wandering) and prolonged pelagic stage, may be a significant factor contributing to this variation. New Zealand (J. edwardsii) and Australian (J. novaehollandiae) populations appear to be conspecific and should be referred to as J. edwardsii; however, a significant difference in the magnitude of mean sequence diversities between these populations may indicate restrictions to gene flow across the Tasman Sea. The genome of J. verreauxi is highly distinct from the genomes of the other species (nucleotide sequence diversity: 14.92-16.67%), supporting the existence of 'verreauxi' and 'lalandii' groups within Jasus. High sequence diversities separating J. edwardsii, J, lalandii and J. tristani (4.41-7.36%) indicates long-term reproductive isolation. Hypotheses for the evolution of 'lalandii' group Jasus, which suggest a relatively recent divergence of J. lalandii and J. tristani, are not supported by phylogenetic reconstruction. Instead, it gives systematic validity to the grouping of J. lalandii with J. edwardsii as proposed by the existing taxonomy.


How does one go about choosing the name for a scientific journal? For instance, why is this journal called Lignocellulose ? Why not something simpler, such as Wood ? Or, alternatively, how about Biomass ? Or maybe "wood-derived products" would be the most accurate descriptor for what the journal is about. Compared to these terms, the word "lignocellulose" is not nearly as well known. But the fact is that scientists are increasingly using the term "lignocellulosic" to describe the gross chemical composition of woody material. The irony is that this journal is not just for scientists; there is a lot in this journal that will be of interest to the public, as well as to practical industrial technologists. So in the end, the title Lignocelluose becomes known for the journal itself – regardless of how or whether different readers would define the term.


Any discussion of the research policy of the pharmaceutical industry must take account of two factors that have dominated the last decade: consumerism and inflation. The thalidomide disaster led to a wave of public disenchantment in which pharmaceutical firms were pilloried as indifferent to the safety of their drugs, and in consequence governments throughout the world introduced drug-regulatory agencies. Detailed and prolonged tests were required by the agencies, but in addition the major manufacturers themselves adopted a defensive approach to the development of drugs, for at all costs they wished to avoid the adverse publicity that would result from any suspicion of inadequate safety testing. If anything, testing has become more and more stringent so that nowadays any new drug has to go through several years of animal toxicity studies before equally extensive clinical trials can be started. At the same time inflation has not spared the pharmaceutical industry: in common with other manufacturers, drug firms have found their costs rising rapidly. The result of these two trends has been that the minimum cost of developing and testing a drug is now of the order of £1 million, and it often amounts to much more. With development costs of this order, it is inevitable that research programmes have become concentrated on drugs for which there is likely to be a large market and in practice (as became clear at the Medico-Pharmaceutical Forum meeting reported in December, p 885) this means that there is little prospect of research by the pharmaceutical industry into diseases limited to developing countries or into rare diseases. Peptic ulcer, arthritis, and hypertension attract research interest; porphyria does not. Recently there has been a further reason for disquiet about the problem of providing drugs for patients with rare diseases highlighted by Dr John Walshe's difficulties with his patients with the disorder of copper metabolism, Wilson's disease (Walshe 1975). Twenty years ago, when Walshe first postulated that the chelating agent penicillamine might be an effective treatment for Wilson's disease, he did some simple toxicity tests on rats in his own laboratory, took a test dose himself, and then found little difficulty in persuading the firm of Merck, Sharp & Dohme to provide him with supplies. That was all before the new, cautious attitudes provoked by thalidomide. Unfortunately some of his patients have become intolerant of penicillamine (which, by chance, has become a commercial success from its use in rheumatoid arthritis) and he has had to find an alternative, triethylene tetramine dichloride or trien. This time, however, he has been unable to find any pharmaceutical firm willing to supply him with the drug. It is not difficult to make, nor is it expensive; but quite simply no firm has been willing to accept the risk to its reputation of supplying a drug that has not gone through the full range of conventional toxicity tests and clinical trials. It would be unfair to blame the Medicines Act for these difficulties, though its provisions do complicate the issue. An individual physician can apply for an exemption from the licensing authority and there are other alternatives, but all leave the doctor concerned carrying the risk of any civil liability for damage caused by the drug. The most satisfactory solution as became apparent at an informal meeting in Cambridge (Lancet 1976) arranged recently by Dr Walshe would be for the supplies division of the DHSS to hold the licence in such cases, cooperating with the Government chemist for checks on quality control, and supplying the drug through one or more identified hospital pharmacists. A compromise along these lines seems likely in the case of trien; whether a precedent will be established remains to be seen. ANTONY J SMITH Assistant Editor, British Medical Journal


The authors propose combined therapy improving cerebral circulation in patients in an intermediate period of a mild craniocerebral trauma. The combination consists of radon baths and transcranial magnetotherapy which raise blood volume filling, relieve vascular resistance, improve venous outflow.


Clinical Waste Water (CWW) possesses the risks of spreading antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment. In Bangladesh, liquid discharge is directly released into the municipal sewage system and pollutes the surroundings water bodies/rivers. Liquid samples were collected from the three CWW discharge sites connected to DMCH (Dhaka Medical College Hospital) and from one control group non-connected to DMCH. About 32, 30 and 26 times higher ciprofloxacin, cefixime and multi-drug resistant bacterial count were found in CWW over control samples. Among the isolates, two Escherichia spp. isolates, denoted 26N and 28N, were found to be resistant against fluoroquinolone (MBC of Ciprofloxacin > 1024 μg/ml), cephalosporin, glycopeptide, monobactam, penicillin, tetracycline, rifampicin, macrolides, sulfonamide and nitrofuran classes of drugs and were also ESBL positive through phenotypic assay. Plasmid curing experiment detected possible plasmid mediated resistance of fluoroquinolone, cephalosporin, tetracycline, lincosamide and nitrofuran classes of antibiotics. Phylogenetically, isolate 26N and 28N were characterized as Escherichia coli and Escherichia fergusonii. These MDR and ESBL positive bacteria are potent to disseminate resistant determinants in the surrounding environments.


The search for new photosensitizers with strong absorption bands, fast elimination from the body and high singlet oxygen generation quantum yield has been the subject of intensive research over the past two decades. Perylenequinonoid pigments, such as hypocrellins and hypericin, stand out among other photosensitizers due to their remarkable properties, which fulfil these requirements. Besides, it was shown that hypocrellin B complexes with metal ions possess even more notable optical and photodynamic properties. In this work, a study of the photosensitizer hypocrellin B and its complexes formed with the lanthanide ions europium, lanthanum and terbium, in ethanol and dimethyl sulfoxide solutions, was carried out by spectroscopic methods, with the purpose of verifying its potentiality for use in photodynamic therapy. The photobleaching of this molecule was also investigated, and our results show that, under experimental conditions, there is a significant decrease in HB emission intensity after about 30 min of exposure to white light. Moreover, lanthanide ions are able to modify hypocrellin B energy levels, as well as its radioactive decay probabilities. Infrared emission revealed the capacity of these complexes for generating singlet oxygen. Hypocrellin B complex with lanthanum in ethanol showed the best results among the studied complexes regarding optical characteristics of ideal photosensitizers, since it induced the larger redshift of about 30 nm, as well as enhanced HB singlet oxygen generation quantum yield of about 32%.


A recent reanalysis of the original Eotvos experiment suggests the existence of a repulsive intermediate-range deviation from Newtonian gravity with coupling strength on the order of ~ 7.2 · 10-3 and a range on the order of 200 m. If such a force exists, it would induce a test mass in the interior of a laboratory-scale spherical mass shell in Earth orbit to undergo linear harmonic oscillation about the shell centre. If the non-Newtonian force couples to baryon number, two such test masses of different composition would oscillate at different frequencies. The fractional change in oscillation frequency is more than one million times the fractional change in acceleration incurred by the same test masses in an Eotvos experiment at the Earth's surface.


This study focus on shaft box facade, special form of box window construction. It consists of a system of box window with continuous vertical shafts that extend over a number of stories to create a stack effect. The subject building was decided by analyzing various types of exiting apartments. Shaft box type balcony was devised by setting up shaft space at a part of balcony. Air flow and indoor air temperature were simulated, performance of shaft box type balcony was compared with existing types using VE computer simulation program. Research consequence can be summarized as follow: 1) In the case of existing types, the change of window opening rate has only a little effect on the improvement of indoor temperature. But, air flow rate increased two times in the case that changed opening rate 20% to 40% 2) In the case of existing types, the growth of air flow rate has little effect on the improvement of indoor temperature. But, shaft box type represented the remarkable effect on the improvement of indoor temperature as well as the growth of air flow rate.


Landscape pattern vulnerability reflects the instability and sensitivity of ecological system to external disturbances and helps to understand the status and trend of ecological environment. This paper used landscape sensitivity index and landscape adaptability index to construct the landscape pattern vulnerability index of Yinchuan Basin, and got the distribution of the landscape pattern vulnerability in 2001 and 2013. Our study explored the effect of the land use degree composite index, the integrated land use dynamic degree, the importance index of land use change and various types of land transfer on landscape pattern vulnerability. Results showed that the land use degree composite index was mainly caused by the increase of the arable land, forest and the construction land. The higher proportion of the arable land or forest, the lower the vulnerability was, and the construction land had the opposite effect. With the increase of integrated land use dynamic degree, the construction land significantly increased the vulnerability, followed by grassland, and the forest significantly decreased the vulnerability, followed by the arable land. As the importance index of land use change increasing, the arable land could significantly decrease the vulnerability, followed by the forest, the grassland had a weaker trend with no obvious pattern, and the construction land significantly increased the vulnerability. When the arable land, forest and the grassland were the maintypes of land use transfer, the increasing proportion of the construction land increased the vulnerability. When the construction land was the main type of land use transfer, the grassland and forest improved the vulnerability and the arable land had the opposite effect. Changes in the number of land use types influenced the spatial structure of land use to a certain extent, which could offer a reference on using and developing the land resources scientifically. The ternary diagram could reflect the impact of various types of and use change on the landscape vulnerability, which diagram enriched the content of the research on the land use and change.


The regular commercial activated carbon is expensive, so there is a need of alternatives for such application. In present study Neem leaves powder activated using chemical treatment as a low-cost adsorbent. And experiment has done with different weight of adsorbent. The potential of Neem leaves powder adsorbent to remove color impurities from industrial effluent is good. Adsorption isotherm of color solution on adsorbent were determine and correlation with common isotherm equations such as Freundlich Isotherm and Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum removal efficiency was observed up to 80% from prepared Neem leaves at optimum value of parameter. Industrial effluents, dyes from textile industry are common water pollutants and they may be frequently found in trace quantities in industrial waste water so treatment can be done using this adsorbent. Adsorption has been used successfully in the removal of color from effluents. This adsorbent as local replacement for existing commercial adsorbent materials.


Summary Institutions for formal education and most work places are equipped today with at least some kind of tools that bring together people and content artefacts in learning activities to support them in constructing and processing information and knowledge. For almost half a century, science and practice have been discussing models on how to bring personalisation through digital means to these environments. Learning environments and their construction as well as maintenance makes up the most crucial part of the learning process and the desired learning outcomes and theories should take this into account. Instruction itself as the predominant paradigm has to step down. The learning environment is an (if not 'the') important outcome of a learning process, not just a stage to perform a 'learning play'. For these good reasons, we therefore consider instructional design theories to be flawed. In this article we first clarify key concepts and assumptions for personalised learning environments. Afterwards, we summarise our critique on the contemporary models for personalised adaptive learning. Subsequently, we propose our alternative, i.e. the concept of a mash-up personal learning environment that provides adaptation mechanisms for learning environment construction and maintenance. The web application mash-up solution allows learners to reuse existing (web-based) tools plus services. Our alternative, LISL is a design language model for creating, managing, maintaining, and learning about learning environment design; it is complemented by a proof of concept, the MUPPLE platform. We demonstrate this approach with a prototypical implementation and a – we think – comprehensible example. Finally, we round up the article with a discussion on possible extensions of this new model and open problems.


The possibility of transmission of microwaves through the plasma layer with an electron concentration of more than critical value is considered. The problem is solved by consideration of the interaction of a microwave with the plane layer of magnetoactive plasma. The problem is formulated by such a way as to obtain the estimation of the greatest lower bound of microwave transmission coefficient through the plasma layer. The results of numerical parametric investigations are applied for the transparency conditions of the shock wave plasma in space communication. The possibility of stable (without interruptions) microwave communication through the shock wave plasma is demonstrated.


This paper aims to present historical examples of collaborations between brand strategists and artists; provide an extensive, structured overview of existing published research on such collaborations and their effects; present seven papers comprising this special issue; and discuss ideas for further research into brand–art collaboration.,This is an editorial based mainly on an extensive and broad literature review.,First, this editorial underpins the relevance of brand–art collaboration in the past and present by reference to real examples. Second, it structures the diverse literature into four key aspects of the topic: inspiration, insights, identity and image. Third, it provides a glimpse of the seven papers selected for this special issue. Fourth and finally, it identifies a total of 16 avenues for further research, on four levels (artist, brand owner, consumer and cooperation process).,This editorial and the entire special issue together represent the first anthology on the topic of the interface between brand management and arts. The collection and classification of the existing literature, the formulation of ideas for future research and the content of the seven papers are collectively excellent starting springboards for new and fresh brand research projects.


Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) is the most harmful form of cholesterol associated with vascular atherosclerosis and hepatic injury, mainly due to inflammatory cell infiltration and subsequent severe tissue injury. Lox-1 is the central ox-LDL receptor expressed in endothelial and immune cells, its activation regulating inflammatory cytokines and chemotactic factor secretion. Recently, a Lox-1 truncated protein isoform lacking the ox-LDL binding domain named LOXIN has been described. We have previously shown that LOXIN overexpression blocked Lox-1-mediated ox-LDL internalization in human endothelial progenitor cells in vitro. However, the functional role of LOXIN in targeting inflammation or tissue injury in vivo remains unknown. In this study, we investigate whether LOXIN modulated the expression of Lox-1 and reduced the inflammatory response in a high-fat-diet mice model. Results indicate that human LOXIN blocks Lox-1 mediated uptake of ox-LDL in H4-II-E-C3 cells. Furthermore, in vivo experiments showed that overexpression of LOXIN reduced both fatty streak lesions in the aorta and inflammation and fibrosis in the liver. These findings were associated with the down-regulation of Lox-1 in endothelial cells. Then, LOXIN prevents hepatic and aortic tissue damage in vivo associated with reduced Lox-1 expression in endothelial cells. We encourage future research to understand better the underlying molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutic use of LOXIN.


This thesis is concerned with the choice of the uncertainty structure in robust control problems. This choice affects the optimization carried out to obtain a robust feedback controller, and determines how robust a feedback loop will be to discrepancies in the parameters or dynamics of the plant model. Firstly, it presents readily applicable distance measures, robust stability margins and associated robust stability and robust performance theorems for several commonly used uncertainty structures for linear time-invariant systems (additive, multiplicative, inverse multiplicative, inverse additive, right coprime factor uncertainty).Secondly, the thesis discusses the robust stabilization problem for linear plants with a coprime factor uncertainty structure where the coprime factors of the plant are not necessarily normalized. The problem considered here is a generalization of the normalized coprime factor robust stabilization problem. It is shown that the minimum of the ratio of (non-normalized) coprime factor distance over (non-normalized) coprime factor robust stability margin, termed the robustness ratio, is an important bound in robust stability and performance results. A synthesis method is proposed which maintains a lower bound on the normalized coprimefactor robust stability margin (as a proxy for nominal performance) while also robustly stabilizing a particular perturbed plant, potentially far outside a normalized coprime factor neighbourhood of the nominal plant.The coprime factor synthesis problem is also considered in a state-space framework. It is shown that it admits a simple and intuitive controller implementation in observer form. Via the solution of one Riccati equation, an optimally robust observer gain L can be obtained for any state-feedback matrix F. One particular method for obtaining a suitable F is also proposed, ensuring that the feedback loop is particularly robust to uncertain lightly damped poles and zeros.


The problem of projective lag synchronization of coupled neural networks with time delay is investigated. By means of the Lyapunov stability theory, an intermittent controller is designed for achieving projective lag synchronization between two delayed neural networks systems. Numerical simulations on coupled Lu neural systems illustrate the effectiveness of the results.


Background: Bile duct injuries remain a calamitous complication after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. An observational study was carried out to evaluate the outcome of a delayed repair carried out on major bile duct injuries and the complications associated with it. Materials and Methods: A total of 25 patients with a mean age of 46.40 ± 14.24 years with major bile duct injuries evident on magnetic resonance cholangiopancreaticography were included in the study. Results: Two patients (8%) presented with a bile leak, 3 (12%) with a wound infection and 2 (8%) patients with cholangitis. Conclusion: Bile duct injuries that require biliary reconstruction are commonly carried out by delayed intervention ensuring adequate optimization preoperatively. Less than half of patients (40%) experienced complications after undergoing surgery stressing that these injuries presented a substantial surgical challenge and hence, an early referral to an experienced hepatobiliary center is strongly recommended.


RATIONALE
Blood pressure reduction in response to antihypertensive agents is less for patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Increased sympathetic and inflammatory activity, as well as alterations in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, may play a role in this context.

OBJECTIVES
To address the cardiovascular mechanisms involved in response to an angiotensin II receptor antagonist, losartan, and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) as add-on treatment for hypertension and OSA.

METHODS
Newly diagnosed hypertensive patients with or without OSA (allocated in a 2:1 ratio for OSA vs. no OSA) were treated with losartan 50 mg daily during a 6-week two-center, open-label, prospective, case-control, parallel-design study. In the second 6-week, sex-stratified, open-label, randomized, parallel-design study, all subjects with OSA continued to receive losartan and were randomly assigned to either CPAP as add-on therapy or to no CPAP (1:1 ratio for CPAP vs. no CPAP). Study subjects without OSA were followed in parallel while they continued to take losartan. Blood samples were collected at baseline, after 6 weeks, and after 12 weeks for analysis of renin, aldosterone, noradrenaline, adrenaline, and inflammatory markers.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Fifty-four patients with OSA and 35 without OSA were included in the first 6-week study. Losartan significantly increased renin levels and reduced aldosterone levels in the group without OSA. There was no significant decrease in aldosterone levels among patients with OSA. Add-on CPAP treatment tended to lower aldosterone levels, but reductions were more pronounced in measures of sympathetic activity. No significant changes in inflammatory markers were observed following treatment with losartan and CPAP.

CONCLUSIONS
Hypertensive patients with OSA responded to losartan treatment with smaller reductions in aldosterone compared with hypertensive patients without OSA. Sympathetic system activity seemed to respond primarily to add-on CPAP treatment in patients with newly discovered hypertension and OSA. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00701428).


The binding strength between IgG and FcγR is influenced by the composition of the N-linked glycan at position N297 in the Fc-domain of IgG. Particularly, afucosylation increases the binding affinity of human IgG1 to human FcγRIIIa up to ∼20 fold, and additional galactosylation of the afucosylated IgG increases the affinity up to ∼40 fold. The increase in affinity for afucosylated IgG has previously been shown to depend on direct carbohydratecarbohydrate interactions between the IgG-Fc glycan with an N-linked glycan at position 162 unique to hFcγRIIIa and hFcγRIIIb. Here we report that the N162 glycosylation site is also found in the orthologous mouse FcγR, mFcγRIV. The N162-glycan in mFcγRIV was also responsible for enhancing the binding to mouse IgG with reduced fucose similar to hFcγRIIIa. However, unlike hFcγRIIIa, mFcγRIV did not bind more avidly to IgG with increased galactose and reduced fucose. Overall, these results suggest the N162-glycan in the human FcγRIII family and its orthologous mouse FcγRIV to be functionally conserved.


Swedish energy policy aims to increase the use of energy from renewable sources and this should be done in a safe, environmentally and sustainable manner. According to the Energy Agency the use bio-fuel increased by 73% between 1990 - 2006. Stands with high share of slash are often located on areas with high productivity which often are located on soils with poor bearing capacity. This will increase traffic on susceptible soil leading to increased ground damage. To reduce the risk of ground damage at slash-forwarding, ground protection is needed. Presently some slash is used as ground protection at slash-forwarding, causing contamination of the bio-fuel and makes it useless.
The aim of this study was to examine possible alternatives to the use of slash as ground protection and investigate wheel-rut development at unprotected ground. Four different treatments were studied on a silty till soil on a clear-cut area outside Bracke; slash layer about 20 cm, geonet with a thin slash layer, bed of pulpwood and unprotected ground. Variables that were collected during the field study were wheel-rut, soil compaction, time measurement and cost calculation. The ground protective measures were evaluated based on these values. Severe wheel-rut development and change in soil compaction was found during the study. The wheel ruts increased near-linearly between the 2nd and 6nd passage on the unprotected area. All protective measures preserved the ground better than unprotected ground, with some differences in efficiency between measures, but the cost of the different ground protections varied quite strongly.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Background:

Gynecological and gastrointestinal malignancies have the potential to spread into the peritoneal cavity. Peritoneal carcinomatosis is associated with rapid disease progression and poor prognosis. Aggressive cytoreductive surgery combined with intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemotherapy (HIPEC) is actually considered as promising treatment option. However, it is unknown if all cytotoxic drugs currently used in the clinics can be efficiently potentiated by hyperthermia. Furthermore, the mechanisms of hyperthermia induced sensitization of cancer cells to chemotherapy are poorly understood.

Methods:

Two ovarian (Ovcar 3, Ovcar 8) and 2 colon carcinoma cell lines (HCT116, LOVO3) were pulse treated for one hour with clinically relevant dosages of cisplatin, oxaliplatin, doxorubicin, mytomycin C, paclitaxel, and 5-FU at 37°C or 42°C. Long term survival was assessed using colony forming assay. Single and double strand breaks were quantified using alkaline COMET immediately after treatment and in a time course for up to 8 h. Efficacy of DNA repair was determined by γH2AX, Rad51, and P53BP1 foci formation.

Results:

Hyperthermia significantly potentiated cytotoxicity of cisplatin, oxaliplatin, mitomycin C, and doxorubicin in all cell lines investigated. The most prominent effects were observed with doxorubicin leading to an almost complete loss of viability. Of note, hyperthermia did not affect cytotoxicity of paclitaxel and 5-FU.

The molecular mechanism of hyperthermia induced sensitization to doxorubicin was further investigated. Hyperthermia significantly influenced doxorubicin transport since intracellular concentration was approximately doubled at 42°C compared to 37°C. However, despite adjusting the concentration of doxorubicin at 42°C to that observed with 37°C, hyperthermia still potentiated cytotoxicity indicating that other mechanisms are also involved. We detected no differences in the amount of DNA strand breaks immediately after treatment between 37°C and 42°C. However, time course experiments revealed a significant delay in DNA repair at 42°C. Whereas DNA strand breaks were almost completely repaired after 8 h at 37°C, there was hardly any repair detectable at 42°C. This was also mirrored by an enhanced number of γH2AX foci in nuclei of cells treated with doxorubicin at 42°C 3 h after treatment. Interestingly, we observed no differences in the number of Rad51 but a significantly enhanced number of P53BP1 foci at 42°C indicating a shift towards unfaithful non homologous end joining (NHEJ) at higher temperature.

Conclusion:

Hyperthermia significantly potentiated effects of DNA damaging agents such as doxorubicin via two different mechanisms. (1) Enhanced temperature leads to an enhanced uptake or reduced efflux of doxorubicin. (2) Hyperthermia reduces DNA repair capacity and potentially shifts DNA double strand repair to an error-prone NHEJ.

Citation Format: Lea Schaaf, Heiko Van Der Kuip, Thomas E. Murdter, Christoph Ulmer, Walter E. Aulitzky. Effects of hyperthermia on DNA repair capacity and long term survival in ovarian and colon carcinoma cells. [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 3787. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3787


In this work evidence is presented supporting the hypothesis that observers tend to evaluate very differently the same properties of given skin-lesion images. Results from previous experiments have been compared to new ones obtained where we gave additional prototypical visual cues to the users during their evaluation trials. Each property (colour, colour uniformity, asymmetry, border regularity, roughness of texture) had to be evaluated on a 0-10 range, with both linguistic descriptors and visual references at each end and in the middle (e.g. light/medium/dark for colour). A set of 22 images covering different clinical diagnoses has been used in the comparison with previous results. Statistical testing showed that only for a few test images the inclusion of the visual anchors reduced the variability of the grading for some of the properties. Despite such reduction, though, the average variance of each property still remains high even after the inclusion of the visual anchors. When considering each property, the average variance significantly changed for the roughness of texture, where the visual references caused an increase in the variability. With these results we can conclude that the variance of the answers observed in the previous experiments was not due to the lack of a standard definition of the extrema of the scale, but rather to a high variability in the way observers perceive and understand skin-lesion images.


Aerial manipulators are composed of an aerial multi-rotor that is equipped with a 6-DOF servo robot arm. To achieve precise position and attitude control during the arm's motion, it is critical for the system to have high performance control capabilities. However, the coupling effect between the multi-rotor UAVs' movement poses a challenge to the entire system's control capability. We have proposed a new proxy-based super twisting control approach for quadrotor UAVs that mitigates the disturbance caused by moving manipulators. This approach helps improve the stability of the aerial manipulation system when carrying out hovering or trajectory tracking tasks. The controller's effectiveness has been validated through numerical simulation and further tested in the Gazebo simulation environment.


The disease in tomato leaves affects the quality and quantity of the crops. To overcome this problem an early diagnosis of diseases will benefit the farmers. This work uses PlantVillage dataset of 9 tomato leaves and fed to AlexNet and VGG16. It focuses on accuracy of the model by using hyperparameters like batch size, learning rate and optimizer.


The way we represent intentions, behaviors, and the spatial context, is crucial for any approach to mobile intention recognition. Formal grammars are cognitively comprehensible and make expressiveness properties explicit. By adding spatial domain knowledge to a grammar we can reduce parsing ambiguities. We argue that there are a number of mobile intention recognition problems which require the expressiveness of a mildly context-sensitive grammar and discuss Spatially Constrained Tree-Adjoining Grammars.


:  Although capitalist free market economics is in crisis, its assumptions continue to shape not only how we do business or politics but also how we think and feel, and even what we believe. For theologians and scholars of religion this means that we can no longer do our work without taking into consideration what is happening in the economy and how it affects us; before religion can become part of the solution we need to understand how it has become part of the problem. This article investigates how economics has shaped religion and theology and develops alternative perspectives.


Cassia auriculata L. (CAL) popularly identified as Tanner's Cassia and Cassia fistula L. (CFL) is generally known as Golden Shower. Both plants belong to the Family, Fabaceae. These plants are used in skin disease, as hepatoprotective, as anticancer agent and as antioxidant agent. The intention of current article is to put forward the comparative pharmacognostical analysis of Cassia auriculata and Cassia fistula roots in terms of macroscopic evaluation, microscopic evaluation, physicochemical evaluation, extractive values and phytochemical analysis. Thin Layer Chromatography study was carried out for CAL and CFL and data pertaining to the above cited evaluations were recorded for both, CAL and CFL roots. The present study may help in differentiating among these species and these pharmacognostic parameters may serve as a tool for identification, authentication and standardization of CAL and CFL.


In India, disease of cattle caused by tick-borne pathogens (TBP) constrains the rearing of high yielding Bos taurus dairy breeds that often develop clinical, fatal disease. Bos indicus and bufflao show resistance to TBP infection, and this has led to a policy of rearing crossbred indicus-taurus cattle. On dairy farms, co-grazing more resistant animals alongside crossbreeds could contribute positively (by removing potentially infective ticks) or negatively (by acting as a reservoir for infection). We investigated epidemiological factors that contribute to the prevalence of five tick-borne pathogens with links to milk-yield in co-grazed host types in dairy farms of two regions of Tamil Nadu, India; a region of high dairy production importance. A high prevalence of T. annulata and Anaplasma spp. was detected, but with lower prevalence in the Cauvery Delta than in the Northwestern zone. A strict host-type association with prevalence was observed: buffaloes had lower prevalence of TBP than cattle; and native breeds had a lower prevalence of Anaplasma spp. than crossbreeds. The results indicate that while susceptibility to becoming a carrier animal for TBP depends on exposure to ticks; aspects of resistance are determined by host type independent of tick exposure. There was no clear evidence that co-grazing, with more resistant host types, will provide a positive contribution (protective effect) to crossbreeds with greater milk productivity.


Semiconductor-clad optical waveguides possess unique properties which arise from the periodic coupling effect between the lossless modes of the dielectric waveguide and the lossy modes which are supported by the thin semiconductor layer. This paper presents a detailed analysis of this mode structure showing mode conversion as a function of cladding thickness. The analysis predicts that several types of mode may exist for certain guide thicknesses, depending on the magnitude of the absorption in the semiconductor. The combined effects of waveguide coupling and loss are determined and illustrated in devices using silicon claddings.


Translation from source to the target language is an emerging field in applied linguistics. This plays a significant role in compressing the cultural and communication gap. Literal translation makes the reciprocal communicative process more fluent. Translation of Punjabi mystic poems creates a new path to exploring indigenous Sufi literature in Pakistan and foreign culture. The researcher has researched 'Tere Ishaq Nachyaa by B. Bulleh Shah' a Punjabi poem and translated it into the target English language. This is analyzed qualitatively under the theoretical framework of Newmark's (1988) Literal Translation approach. This study aims to find out the structure, syntactic and semantic levels. The result based on analysis reveals the translator uses the present perfect tense at the most frequent ratio. There has been used past participle, adjectives, adverb, transitive verbs, possessive and objective pronouns, proper nouns, and interjection as well. Furthermore, Nicholson makes elegant variations in this poem like the structure of the poem comprises five stanzas and each stanza consists of five lines except the fourth stanza which comprises four lines but the poem in source language consists of six stanzas. The first stanza consists of five lines but the last stanza consists of three lines and the rest of the stanzas comprise four lines. Investigator finds out there are some lexicons in the translated poem and those are used out of context. Like, romance, ablest, lid, and lie are used out of context i.e. the word spiritual ecstasy can be used in place of romance. There are used elision in translated text like '^eacock. The result shows the translation is well woven but there is some loophole in semantics because of the cultural and religious gap.


This research explores the effects of various training settings on a Polish to English Statistical Machine Translation system for spoken language. Various elements of the TED, Europarl, and OPUS parallel text corpora were used as the basis for training of language models, for development, tuning and testing of the translation system. The BLEU, NIST, METEOR and TER metrics were used to evaluate the effects of the data preparations on the translation results.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the apical sealing ability and adaptation to dentine of two resin-based root canal sealers. The root canals of 55 human maxillary anterior teeth were prepared using a step-back technique and the smear layer removed with 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. The teeth were divided into two groups of 25 teeth and the remaining five teeth served as control. Then the teeth were prepared and obturated with gutta-percha by a lateral condensation and either AH plus and EndoRez used as a sealer. Twenty teeth from each group were used for the apical leakage test and the remaining five teeth from each group were used for examination under the scanning electron microscope (SEM). For apical leakage test, teeth were covered with nail varnish and sticky wax to within 1 mm of the apical foramen and placed in 2% methylene blue for 7 days. After this period, the teeth were sectioned longitudinally and apical leakage measurements made. The mean value of dye penetration for AH plus was 2.87 +/- 0.43 mm, while that of EndoRez was 4.54 +/- 0.36 mm. The difference between mean of dye penetration was statistically significant (P < 0.01). The SEM examination showed both sealers had better adaptation and penetration in coronal and middle thirds than apical third of root canal. In apical third, AH plus was adapted better adpated to dentine than EndoRez. In conclusion, AH plus sealer has better apical sealing ability and adaptation to dentine than EndoRez sealer.


Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of anemia among COVID-19 patients in Saudi Arabia and evaluate their hematological parameters. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional, hospital-based study was conducted between February 2021 to March 2021, data collection covered the period between September 2020 to March 2021. All the patients were hospitalized for confirmed COVID-19. Results: A total of 6048 COVID-19 patients included in our study, 2358 (48.9%) were anemic, 3666 (60.61%) were normal HGB level, and only 24 (0.49%) were having polycythemia. Hemoglobin level ranged from 5 g/dL to 18 g/dL with a median (interquartile range) of 11.8 g/dL (8.9 to 13.1) g/dL. The median for male (interquartile range) was for anemic patient's 9.8 g/dL (8.5 to 11.4) g/dL, normal 14 g/dL (13.5 to 14.8) g/dL, and polycythemia 17.4 g/dL (17.2 to 17.7) g/dL. The median for female (interquartile range) was for anemic patient's 9.1 g/dL (8.2 to 10.2) g/dL, normal 13.5 g/ dL (12.5 to 14.5) g/dL, and polycythemia 17 g/dL (16.82 to 17.2) g/dL. Hematological parameters detected are indicative of severe complications in anemic patients compared to non-anemic patients. Conclusion: Our findings were consistent with other studies that reported poor outcomes of anemia in COVID-19 patients. © 2022, Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India. All rights reserved.


National and international economic evaluations of universal vaccination
against hepatitis B were systematically selected from the literature.
Only the studies meeting the following criteria were selected: (a)
original data reported in Dutch, English, French or German; (b) at least
one universal vaccination strategy evaluated; (c) a high methodological
quality shown and (d) conducting of the study in countries with a
hepatitis B epidemiological pattern comparable to the Dutch situation.
Sixteen relevant studies were identified out of 1060 publications
registered in the databases, COCHRANE LIBRARY, CURRENT CONTENTS, DARE,
HEED, INAHTA DATABASE, MEDLINE, NEED, and by applying the system of
reference tracking. Despite the strict inclusion criteria, great
divergence was seen among assumptions applied to a study, methodologies,
outcomes and conclusions. Some studies show universal screening to be
cost-saving, while others report unfavourable cost-effectiveness ratios.
Studies that investigated similar vaccination strategies reach dissimilar
conclusions on the most cost-effective strategy. Several parameters were
found to have a usually large impact on the results and conclusions of a
study. These are: a) vaccine costs, b) discount rate, c) hepatitis B
incidence, d) inclusion of indirect costs and effects, e) percentage of
acute infections that lead to chronic hepatitis, f) discounting effects
and h) assumed lifelong costs of hepatitis B infection, including
long-term consequences such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Hence, in any
further study these important variables should be subject to an extensive
sensitivity analysis. Economic evaluations that are intended to assist
in local policy-making should take careful account of local
circumstances. The 16 selected studies have little practical relevance
for Dutch policy-makers.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Background: Circulating free DNA (cfDNA) represents a minimally-invasive resource for detecting mutations in advanced cancer patients. The primary objective of this study was to determine if cfDNA is representative of tumor tissue for multiplex mutation detection utilizing Sequenom MassARRAY.

Methods: Metastatic colorectal, breast, melanoma and ovary cancer patients referred to the Drug Development Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital between 9/09-8/10 gave their consent to provide DNA from matched archival formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumor and plasma. Samples mutation genotyping using the Sequenom MassARRAY technology and the OncoCartaTM Panel allowed the parallel analysis of 238 simple and complex mutations across 19 selected key oncogenes. Dilutions (10ng/µl to 0.01ng/µl) of HCT116 DNA containing KRAS G13D mutation were used to determine assay sensitivity and specificity.

Results: Serial dilution spiking experiments revealed that the KRAS G13D mutation was reproducibly detectable to 40ng/ml of HCT116 DNA; 74 patient samples were then analyzed. The median quantity of cfDNA was 305ng/ml (range 10-32000). Of the 25 colorectal patients, the median quantity of cfDNA was 361ng/ml (range 189-4603); KRAS, BRAF and PIK3CA mutations were detected in 8 (31%), 3 (12%) and 3 (12%) tumor specimens respectively; concordant data for matched plasma tumor DNA was found in 88% of patients for KRAS, 100% for BRAF mutations and 33% for PIK3CA (1 patient had a PIK3CA mutation in primary and plasma; one patient had a mutation detected only in the primary; one patient had no mutation in the primary or plasma, but a mutation detected in a metastatic liver deposit). The recently reported oncogenic AKT1 E17K mutation was detected in 1 colorectal patient in tissue and plasma. Of the 19 breast cancer patients, the median cfDNA concentration was 354ng/ml (range 10-32000); PIK3CA H1047R mutation was detected in 4 (21%) FFPE tumor specimens; concordance between matched FFPE and cfDNA was 75% (3 out of 4 patients). The AKT1 E17K mutation was detected in 1 patient in both tissue and plasma. In 15 melanoma patients the median cfDNA concentration was 141ng/ml (range 46-1002); BRAF V600E, NRAS codon 61 and MET R970C mutations were detected in 4 (27%), 3 (20%) and 1 (7%) FFPE tumor specimens respectively. Concordance between matched FFPE and cfDNA was 50% for BRAF, 75% for NRAS and 100% for MET mutations. Another MET mutation, T992I, was found in plasma but not in tissue for one patient. Of the 15 ovary patients, the median cfDNA concentration was 261ng/ml (range 79-957). Two KRAS mutations and 1 PIK3CA H1047R mutation were detected in FFPE, but no mutation was found in any plasma sample.

Conclusions: A high concordance in detected mutations was observed between FFPE tumor and matched cfDNA. cfDNA is representative of tumor DNA and may be used for the prospective selection of cancer patients for targeted therapy.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3072. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3072


BACKGROUND
The Brain is the most complex organ of human body with millions of connections and activations. The electromagnetic signals are generated inside the brain due to a mental or physical task performed. These signals excite a bunch of neurons within a particular lobe depending upon nature of task performed. To localize this activity, certain machine learning (ML) techniques in conjunction with a neuroimaging technique (M/EEG, fMRI, PET) are developed. Different ML techniques are provided in literature for brain source localization. Among them, the most common are: minimum norm estimation (MNE), low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) and Bayesian framework based multiple sparse priors (MSP).

AIMS
In this research work, EEG is used as a neuroimaging technique.

METHODS
EEG data is synthetically generated at SNR=5dB. Afterwards, ML techniques are applied to estimate the active sources. Each dataset is run for multiple trials (>40). The performance is analyzed using free energy and localization error as performance indicators. Furthermore, MSP is applied with variant number of patches to observe the impact of patches on source localization.

RESULTS
It is observed that with increased number of patches, the sources are localized with more precision and accuracy as expressed in terms of free energy and localization error respectively.

CONCLUSION
The patches optimization within Bayesian Framework produces improved results in terms of free energy and localization error.


Medical assistance in dying (MAID) is a relatively new phenomenon in Canada, and is therefore a growing area of interest in the legal and medical communities. Research is hampered, however, by the lack of a standardized approach to collecting data on MAID cases. The authors first discuss the importance of having comprehensive data to improving preventative and end-of-life care across Canada. The authors then canvas the existing framework for reporting MAID cases in Canada before noting its deficiencies, most importantly, a lack of comprehensive, nation-wide data collection. The authors then propose a model for national data collection based on the existing Canadian cancer registry system.


Job performance is one of the most critical topics in literature. Additionally, both managers and researchers paid more attention to this topic due to a crucial role in the success of organizations. There is a limited study conducted in developing countries. Likewise, most of the previous studies focused on organizations and limited studies conducted in the education field. This paper develops a conceptual model for organizational Justice and job performance to fill this gap. The potential participants of this study were academic staff at Iraqi public universities selected depending on stratified sample technic from 9 universities located in Baghdad. Based on the finding of previous studies, the results suggest that organizational justice dimensions are one of the most important factors that influence organizational performance.


We have used neutron diffraction on polycrystalline samples of AnF4 (An=Th, U, and Np) to examine the structures. All are isostructural with monoclinic space group C2/c. The structure of UF4 has been examined in some detail as a function of temperature. The volume of the unit cell has a minimum not at lowest temperature (15 K) examined, but rather at ∼350 K. ThF4 also has a larger volume at low rather than room temperature; suggesting that this effect is caused by structural rather than electronic (as ThF4 has no 5f electrons) interactions. An examination of the coordination around the two independent An sites in UF4 shows that the fluorine configuration changes appreciably around An2 as a function of temperature. At low temperatures the distorted cubic antiprism structure is considerably more ''puckered'' than at higher temperatures. This puckering requires more volume for the molecule, thus causing the volume to expand as the temperature is lowered. The temperature factors and the interatomic distances vary smoothly with temperature and show no unusual behavior.


Xenobiotic persistent organic pollutants are ubiquitous in the environment (air, water, soil, biota), and this is the origin of the rising concern about their potential impact. Recent advances in chemical analysis at trace levels and a lack of knowledge about the fate and transport of reference compounds lead to a strong research demand in this area. In this context, special attention is focused on control technologies in water and wastewater involving the application of advanced technologies to minimize their environmental release. After presenting the environmental and sanitary impacts associated with the main classes of persistent xenobiotic compounds, this article focuses on endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), a class of chemicals interfering with the endocrine systems of mammals and lower animals. In the second part of this article, the basic principles of the advanced technologies used for EDC control in water and wastewater are critically discussed with specific reference to their engineering as...


The academic performance of students is affected by the academic context, their aptitudes and their motivation. The latter is particularly important in Engineering disciplines because the contents to be learnt are especially complex and many students end up having a low performance that leads them to absenteeism and drop out. The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) provides several recommendations related to the academic context (ongoing assessment, mentoring processes and active learning methods among others) that seem to have a positive impact on the students' motivation. However, these cannot always be implemented due to the high number of students per class existing at many Universities. This contribution presents an empirical case study performed with 149 Computer Science students of a University organized around small groups and innovative educational methodologies. The benefits and outcomes of this academic conditions, as well as their impact in the students' motivation, are analyzed and discussed.


Aims/Objectives: To study the feasibility, outcome of ULMPCI in a peripheral centre.

Methods: 83 consecutive patients from February 2008 till September 2019 who underwent PCI of left main coronary were included in this study. Data of all these patients with regard to clinical presentation, procedural details and follow up was obtained. Syntax and Euroscore was calculated in all patients. Primary endpoint was MACCE (mortality, stroke, and revascularisation).

Results: Mean age of the patients was 64.3 years, and majority of the patients presented with ACS 54(65%). Majority of patients had multiple risk factors 58(69.9%) and also renal failure 63(75.63%). Mean Syntax score was 23.61 and mean euroscore 36.04. A cumulative MACCE rate at the end of 5 years was 17/83(20.5%). Mean event-free survival was 7.2 years. Except Euroscore which predicted MACCE at 6 months no other parameters including Syntax score were predictive though lower syntax score had higher event free survival.

Conclusion: PCI of left main coronary artery in challenging environment of a peripheral centre is feasible with comparable results and many times life saving


Evaluation of Heavy-Duty Engine Exhaust Hydrocarbon and Non-Methane Hydrocarbon Analysis Methods Abishek Muralidharan The harmful environmental and health effects of automobile exhaust constituents have necessitated their regulation in many countries. The constituents of concern from diesel fueled engines are oxides of nitrogen (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter. Hydrocarbons combine with the oxides of nitrogen in a photochemical reaction, aided by sunlight, to form ozone which is a major constituent of smog. However methane does not aid in smog formation and is excluded from the present United States on-road hydrocarbon regulation. Flame ionization detectors (FID) are the preferred detectors for hydrocarbon measurement from compression ignition internal combustion engines. Regulatory requirement for nonmethane hydrocarbon measurement involve the determination of total hydrocarbon using a FID-based analyzer and methane measurement using gas chromatographs (GC) and subtraction of these two values. New regulatory standards allow the use of non-methane cutter equipped analyzers for on-line determination of exhaust methane content. The SAE J1151 standard GC method and an in-house GC method, incorporated at West Virginia University (WVU), were compared for correlation in methane measurements. The total hydrocarbon measurements from the WVU method were compared with bench analyzer results. A non-methane cutter equipped California Analytical Instruments (CAI) heated FID hydrocarbon analyzer capable of continuous methane measurements was evaluated for correlation with the SAE J1151 GC method. Day-to-day repeatability of the analyzer and SAE J1151 GC method was studied. Good correlation was observed in the methane measurements by the two GC methods. The SAE J1151 GC methane measurements with natural gas samples were 5% lower than the WVU GC method results. A projection factor was determined to estimate THC concentration from methane concentration. The methane results from the two GC methods showed poor correlation for diesel-based fuel samples but the range of concentration in the values were within the drift limits of the detectors to make any inferences. The total hydrocarbon measurements from the WVU GC method had poor correlation with the analyzer results. The CAI HFID analyzer results agreed well with the results of the SAE J1151 GC method indicating its capabilities in methane measurement. The SAE J1151 GC method showed greater variability with transient exhaust emission test dilute bag samples but the results were within the allowable precision in the standard. The CAI analyzer showed good repeatability when tested with tunnel background samples. The Horiba total hydrocarbon analyzer showed increasing variations in day-to-day measurement in the repeatability tests. Due to the very small magnitude of brake specific methane values associated with diesel-based fuels the final brake specific NMHC concentration reported is not affected significantly by the method of methane analysis.


Link to publication Citation for pulished version (APA): Christensen, L. P. (2016). Bioassay-guided fractionation approach aimed at identifying plant metabolites with potential effect on type 2 diabetes. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.


It is necessary that the satellite transponder has ability to suppress interferences for reliable communications in real applications, specially military areas. Adaptive interference suppression methods using transform domain approach are presented for an on-board filter bank in this paper. The three kinds of algorithms to compute the threshold level are jointly evaluated with the notch filter or the clipper under different interfered environments. From simulation results, it is verified that the proposed methods are helpful to overcome the performance degradation due to interferences. Especially, Notch-Alg. 2 which uses the notch filter and the sample mean of energies of frequency bins shows the best bit error rate (BER) performance in all considered interferences.


Introduction: The scope of dermoscopy extends beyond the evaluation of pigmented lesions, particularly in the assessment of vascular, infectious and inflammatory lesions as well as in the scalp and nail diseases. We aim to show dermoscopic features that may be useful in the diagnosis and follow-up of non-melanocytic lesions. Material and Methods: We selected 19 patients in whom dermoscopy was used for diagnosis and/or follow-up. The dermoscopic features were compared with data from the literature. Results: We describe the dermoscopic appearance of vascular lesions such as infantile hemangioma, glomangioma, hobnail hemangioma, lymphangioma circumscriptum and acquired digital arteriovenous malformation. Within the viral infections and ectoparasitic infestations, we detail the pathognomonic dermoscopic findings of molluscum contagiosum, viral wart, pediculosis capitis and scabies. We also describe the dermoscopic appearance of disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis, psoriasis, pityriasis rosea, lichen planus, sarcoidosis, palmoplantar spiny keratoderma, pitted keratolysis, accessory nipple, sebaceous hyperplasia and subcorneal hematoma, comparing the results obtained with the dermoscopic patterns previously described in literature and herein reviewed. Conclusions: Dermoscopy is useful in the diagnosis, prognosis and follow-up of a diversity of skin lesions, besides to melanocytic lesions. There has been an exponential increase in its applications due to the recognition of new dermoscopic patterns, providing a valuable link between clinical and histologic diagnosis.


The reparation of failures should be done as fast as possible to minimize the impact to the users as well as any penalties agreed in the Service Level Agreement. However, in order to minimize costs, the number of technicians as well as their locations should be minimized to keep the Total Cost of Ownership low. This compromise between cost and time has been studied within an optimization problem and different case studies have been considered.


A study on the status of death in rural area was conducted during the period from July '75 to August '75. 1,225 families and 8,067 population (4,124 male, 3,943 female) had been lived and 149 events of death since 5 years before study were occurred in survey area, Nammyon, Hwasoongun, Chonnam. The summarized results were as follows: 1. Quinquennial death rate was 3.7 (5.2 for male, 2.1 for female). 2. In respect of age group, the highest group was over 70 years old group (age at death, 30.8% of total death). High age groups (over 50 years old) occupied 71.1% of total death and death rate in these groups were higher in male than female. Child death (0-4 years old) occupied 7.4% of total death and infant death rate was higher in female than male. 3. Duration of sickness before die was highest in 1 to 12 months (39.6%) 4. The most frequent cause of death was disease of digestive system (12.1%). Other important causes were disease of circulatory system (10.7%), disease of respiratory system (9.4%) and infectious and parasitic disease (4.7%). Disease of digestive system was the most frequent cause of death in male (14.0%) and disease of respiratory system was the most frequent cause in female (9.5%).


The Zapata Finch (Torreornis inexpectata) is endemic to Cuba in three remarkably different habitats. The first population, consisting today of about 250 individuals, was discovered in the Zapata Swamp near the town of Santo Tomas, in 1926 (Barbour and Peters 1927). The second population (T. i. sigmani), separated by 720 km from the Zapata Swamp was not discovered until 1959 (Spence and Smith 1961) and inhabits the driest area in Cuba, a coastal zone dominated by the shrub called coastal incense (Tournefortia gnuphulodes) near the town of Baitiquiri on the southeastern tip of Cuba (Fig. 1). This population consists of 55-100 pairs. A third population (7'. i. vuronui), discovered in semideciduous dry forest and thorn scrub on Cayo Coca on the northern coast in the mid-1970's, has recently been described (Regalado 1981). Little was known about the biology of the first two populations until two expeditions, of which the authors were members, by the Instituto de Zoologia of the Cuban Academy of Sciences studied various aspects of the ecology and behavior of the species. This report emphasizes the acoustic communication of Torreornis; future publications will cover the species' ecology, demography, conservation, and natural history. Torreornis is thought to be related to the emberizine genus Aimophilu (Paynter and Storer 1970). The rufescent crown and black malar stripe do resemble these features in some members of that genus (see frontispiece). The subspecies of Torreornis are similar in size, but the eastern population is much duller, with the rufous on the crown and the yellow of the breast less intense, than those finches found in the humid Zapata Swamp. The emberizine finches are well known for inter-populational song differences. Through song learning, local song dialects may develop (Marler and Ta433


Teachers' attitudes towards computers play a crucial role in the teaching learning process. The present paper aims to study and examine the attitude of university teachers engaged in teaching students of Preparatory Year Program in Saudi Arabia, towards computers in terms of age, rank, training and gender. Attitudes of a sample of 124 teachers of Qassim University, Saudi Arabia were assessed using Computer attitude scale (CAS) by Loyd and Gressard (1984), which is a Likert scale instrument based on four subscales: Computer Anxiety, Computer Confidence, Computer Liking and Computer Usefulness. The acquired data was analyzed using independent sample t-test and one way ANOVA through the statistical software named Statistical Package for social sciences (IBM SPSS, Version 21). Both the tests revealed that age, rank, training and gender have a significant effect on the teachers' attitude towards computer. The younger Lecturers are found to have more positive computer attitude. Moreover, male respondents in comparison to female ones show more interest and comfort in using computers. Similarly, teachers who have had some computer training show more positive computer attitude. The results also show an overall positive computer attitude of the PYP teachers in Qassim University. Considering these results, it is recommended to organize periodic computer training or workshops for faculty, especially for the females, on various programs, word processing, spreadsheets etc. for futuristic teaching /learning environment.


Undirected gene coexpression networks obtained from experimental expression data coupled with efficient computational procedures are increasingly used to identify potentially relevant biological information (e.g., biomarkers) for a particular disease. However, coexpression networks built from experimental expression data are in general large highly connected networks with an elevated number of false-positive interactions (nodes and edges). In order to infer relevant information, the network must be properly filtered and its complexity reduced. Given the complexity and the multivariate nature of the information contained in the network, this requires the development and application of efficient feature selection algorithms to be able to exploit the topological characteristics of the network to identify relevant nodes and edges. This paper proposes an efficient multivariate filtering designed to analyze the topological properties of a coexpression network in order to identify potential relevant genes for a given disease. The algorithm has been tested on three datasets for three well known and studied diseases: acute myeloid leukemia, breast cancer, and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Results have been validated resorting to bibliographic data automatically mined using the ProteinQuest literature mining tool.


The production of H2 O2 via the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) presents an attractive decentralized alternative to the current industry-dominant anthraquinone process. However, in order to achieve viable commercialization of this process, a state-of-the-art electrocatalyst exhibiting high activity, selectivity, and long-term stability is imperative for industrial applications. Herein, an in-depth discussion on the current frontiers in electrocatalyst design is provided, emphasizing the influences of electronic and geometric effects, surface structure, and the effects of heteroatom functionalization on the catalytic performance of commonly studied materials (metals, alloys, carbons). The limitations on the performance of the current catalyst materials are also discussed, together with alternative strategies to overcome the impediments. Finally, directions of future research efforts for the discovery of next-generation ORR electrocatalysts are highlighted.


DNA methylation is an integral component of the epigenetic code in most higher eukaryotes. Exploring the extent to which DNA methylation can be altered under a specific condition and its heritability is important for elucidating the biological functions of this epigenetic modification. Here, we conducted MSAP analysis of rice plants with altered phenotypes subsequent to a low-dose Nd3+YAG laser irradiation. We found that all four methylation patterns at the 5′-CCGG sites that are analyzable by MSAP showed substantial changes in the immediately treated M0 plants. Interestingly, the frequencies of hypo- and hypermethylation were of similar extents, which largely offset each other and render the total methylation levels unchanged. Further analysis revealed that the altered methylation patterns were meiotically heritable to at least the M2 generation but accompanied with further changes in each generation. The methylation changes and their heritability of the metastable epigenetic state were verified by bisulfite sequencing of portion of the retrotranspon, Tos17, an established locus for assessing DNA methylation liability in rice. Real-time PCR assay indicated that the expression of various methylation-related chromatin genes was perturbed, and a Pearson correlation analysis showed that many of these genes, especially two AGOs (AGO4-1 and AGO4-2), were significantly correlated with the methylation pattern alterations. In addition, excisions of a MITE transposon, mPing, occurred rampantly in the laser irradiated plants and their progenies. Together, our results indicate that heritable DNA methylation changes can be readily induced by low-dose laser irradiation, and which can be accompanied by transpostional activation of transposable elements.


In this manuscript, a purely data driven statistical regularization method is proposed for extracting the information from big data with randomly distributed noise. Since the variance of the noise maybe large, the method can be regarded as a general data preprocessing method in ill-posed problems, which is able to overcome the difficulty that the traditional regularization method unable to solve, and has superior advantage in computing efficiency. The unique solvability of the method is proved and a number of conditions are given to characterize the solution. The regularization parameter strategy is discussed and the rigorous upper bound estimation of confidence interval of the error in $L^2$ norm is established. Some numerical examples are provided to illustrate the appropriateness and effectiveness of the method.