Abstract The debate on the effects of regionalism and European integration on European nation states is currently at an all time peak. Sub-state government is examined with fascination maybe for the first time. A Europe of the Regions has been prematurely hailed on the assumption that the Committee of the Regions would have implied some enhanced status for EU regions. However, the implementation of the so called 'Partnership' principle on European Commission regional development funding has created a side-effect. This is most often linked to a presumed Europeanisation of EU policy space, that is further combined with broader tensions for administrative reform, that emanate at the sub-state level across most states in Europe. I examine the different context of these changes for the Greek state viewed within the imaginary continuum offered by a quasi-federal (Spain), a federalising (Italy), an almost decentralised (Greece) and attempting to decentralise (Portugal) states. The case of the Greek state has interest since evidence suggests that decentralisation has been the outcome of an attempt for institutional modernisation and compliance to EU requests for probity. This has been a half-hearted effort from the legislating elite to limited modernisation. Present demands for economic decentralisation could conceivably transform into demands for political devolution.


Tumor initiation and progression is a complex interaction between host and tumor. One of the essential elements for tumor progression is evasion of the host immune system. Among the mechanisms important for host immune cell evasion is the amplification of receptor tyrosine kinases, and tumor secretion of immune suppressive cytokines, like TGF-β, suppression of activated T cells by various intrinsic immune response regulatory mechanisms 1-3. Additionally, tumor cells evolve to express cell-associated programmed death 1 (PD1) ligands (PD-L1 or LD-L2), which promotes tumor cell growth by inactivating PD1 expressing activated T cells 3-4. Recent reports suggest a role of the tumor microenvironment (TME) as an immunosuppressive environment by accumulating hyaluronan (HA)5-7, which then results in accumulation of water and resulting high interstitial fluid pressure and sequelae, including blood vessel compression, and decreased perfusion8-10. Hyaluronan depletion from solid tumors with high levels of HA (HAhigh) reverses these physiological effects, resulting in increased chemotherapeutic drug penetration and tumor growth inhibition in preclinical animal models 8-10. In this report we investigated whether increasing the access of therapeutic immune checkpoint monoclonal antibodies and effector T cells into the HAhigh tumor can enhance activated T cell-mediated tumor cell lysis. We have generated human hyaluronan synthase and PD-L1 overexpressing tumor cell lines to study (i) the role of HA in PD-1 and PD-L1 interaction in HAhigh tumor cells, and (ii) whether HA depletion increases the efficacy of tumor cell killing by PD-1 positive cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the presence of PD-L1 blocking monoclonal antibody. Our data show that HAhigh tumor cells form an HA-rich barrier that restricts T cell access to tumor cell and HA depletion by PEGPH20, a pegylated PH20, allowed T cells to access tumor cell. HA depletion increases HAhigh PD-L1 positive tumor cells killing by activated T cell in the presence of anti-human PD-L1 monoclonal antibody (MAb). Furthermore, HA depletion by PEGPH20 increased the access of T cell and anti-human PD-L1 MAb in HAhigh xenograft tumors, suggesting that PEGPH20 may enhance efficacy of immune check point blocking therapeutic PD-L1 MAb in HAhigh tumors. References: 1. Rabinovich et al. Annu Rev Immunol., 2007;25:267-96. 2. Hudzika et al. Cell Growth Differ. 1990; 1:129-34. 3. Quezada et al. British Journal of Cancer, 2013; 108: 1560-1565. 4. Zou et al. Nature Reviews Immunology, 2008; 8: 467-477. 5. Sironen et al. Exp Cell Res 2011;317:383-91. 6. Kultti et al. Cancers 2012;4:873-903. 7. Tlsty et al. Annu Rev Pathol 2006;1:119-50. 8. Thompson et al. Mol Cancer Ther 2010;9:3052-64. 9. Jacobetz et al. Gut 2013;62:112-20. 10. Provenzano et al. Cancer Cell 2012;21:418-29. Citation Format: Netai C. Singha, Chunmei Zhao, Jesse Bahn, Adrian Radi, H. Michael Shepard, Zhongdong Huang. Hyaluronan (HA) depletion increases tumor accessibility of T cell and therapeutic PD-L1 monoclonal antibody in HAhigh tumors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 982. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-982


This article is devoted to the origin and development of the propagandist ideology of Russian-language jihadism. It develops the idea that the jihadism in Russia should be considered not so much in the context of the Islamic issue or as a result of the influence of foreign countries, but rather as an example of post-Soviet radicalism, formed on a native ideological and intellectual base. The article states that this meaningfully diverse ideology originated under the influence of Soviet and post-Soviet intellectual traditions, which made this ideology so effective in the Russian context.


Kikuchi-Fujimoto Disease (KFD), also known as histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, is a self-remitting, immune-mediated rare disorder having unique histopathological characteristics which is commonly seen in young Asian females, but can occur in all ethnicities. There is a strong association between KFD and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). We present a case of a young Pakistani boy who presented with cervical lymphadenopathy, fever, blackish discoloration of finger tips, and Raynaud's phenomenon. His lymph node biopsy was suggestive of KFD. The American Rheumatology Association diagnostic criteria were not met as no other features of SLE were present. His autoimmune workup including Anti-Nuclear Antibodies (ANA) and Anti-Double Stranded DNA (Anti-Ds DNA) antibodies were positive and supported the diagnosis of SLE. He improved clinically with steroid therapy and nifedipine with resolution of symptoms.


Efforts have been made to present the status of scientific research publication in Hindi particularly agriculture and allied science. Continuous holding of national seminar by different institutions and organisations has been important step to attract scientists for writing and presenting agricultural research in Hindi. Such efforts and suggessions for quality writting agricultural science in Hindi by different forums and experts are also mentioned in this article.


1. We tested the hypothesis that the Ca(2+)‐loaded sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of coronary artery smooth muscle spontaneously releases Ca2+ preferentially toward the sarcolemma to be extruded from the cell without increasing the average free myoplasmic [Ca2+] (Ca(im)) concentration. 2. The SR of bovine cells was Ca(2+)‐loaded by depolarization‐induced Ca2+ influx. Release (unloading) of Ca2+ from the SR during recovery from depolarization was determined by Fura‐2 microfluorometry of Ca(im). The SR Ca2+ unloading was maximal following a long (14 min) recovery from depolarization, as shown by the 66% decrease in the peak caffeine‐induced Ca(im) transient compared to the Ca(im) transient after a short (2 min) recovery. No increase in Ca(im) occurred during the long recovery. No unloading of the SR Ca2+ store was noted in porcine cells. 3. Approximately 80% of the outward K+ current in bovine and porcine cells was sensitive to subsarcolemmal Ca2+ (Ca(is)) concentrations. Whole‐cell voltage clamp using pipette solutions with Ca2+ concentrations clamped between 0 and 1000 nM with Ca(2+)‐EGTA or Ca(2+)‐BAPTA buffers showed increasing K+ currents (normalized for cell membrane surface area) as a function of both membrane potential and Ca(is). Clamping of Ca(im) and Ca(is) was verified by the lack of changes in K+ current and Fura‐2 ratio in response to Ca2+ influx, Ca(2+)‐free external solution, or caffeine‐induced Ca2+ release. At +30 to +50 mV the K+ current amplitude showed a similar sensitivity to Ca2+ as Fura‐2. These data indicate that in this experimental preparation Ca(2+)‐activated K+ current is a valid estimate of Ca(is). 4. Simultaneous Ca(im) and Ca(is) measurements in bovine cells which were not Ca(2+)‐clamped (2 x 10(‐4) M‐EGTA pipette solution) showed that during the long recovery period the K+ current (reflecting Ca(is)) increased 55%, while Ca(im) did not change. 5. In quiescent bovine cells the Ca(is) was higher than Ca(im), while the higher resting Ca(is) gradient was not apparent in porcine cells. 6. The Ca(is) concentration was directly related to the amount of Ca2+ in the SR in bovine, but not porcine cells. Depletion of the SR in bovine cells by caffeine resulted in a 58% decrease in K+ current compared to the resting K+ current. 7. Caffeine‐induced Ca2+ release caused an increase in Ca(is) which preceded the increase in Ca(im) by approximately 2 s.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


The history and present condition of Geography have to be understood historically. A review of the roles of geographical knowledge under capitalism illustrates how it has changed in relation to shifting societal needs. Against such a background it is then possible to fashion an historical materialist interpretation of the present dilemmas of Geography as an academic discipline and to formulate concrete proposals for its transformation.


Nuclear electricity is considered to be an alternative energy production solution for the power industry in many countries. To ensure the sustainability of this energy solution, the disposal of the produced waste is one of the biggest issues facing nuclear electricity industries. Deep geological disposal of waste with multi-layered engineered barriers has been shown to be one of the safest solutions. However, degradation induced in barrier material by long-term contact with water during the required operational life time of the repository should be accounted for in safety assessments. Cementitious materials are considered to be one of the most efficient alternative barrier materials, providing high pH buffering capacity, good mechanical properties and low diffusivity. The major degradation scenario to consider for these barriers is the dissolution of calcium-containing phases and the eventual leaching of calcium. Decalcification occurs due to the low concentration of calcium ions in the groundwater that comes in long-term contact with the barriers. To facilitate long-term durability predictions, acceleration methods that enhance the calcium leaching process from cementitious materials are needed. However, experimental studies of the natural leaching process under long-term degradation are hampered by the tedious and complicated process of manufacturing large enough decalcified specimens with a composition and pore structure that corresponds to that of concrete leached under natural leaching conditions. In this study, a new acceleration test method for cementitious specimens of flexible size is developed. The electrochemical migration method facilitating both the dissolution and transport of calcium ions provides a higher acceleration rate than other available methods. With application of a current density of 125-130 A/m2 for 53 days a depletion depth of 75 mm is obtained. The dissolution front, comparable to a natural leaching process, corresponds to the complete leaching of Portlandite, with a certain degree of phase changes in calcium silicate hydrates. The changes in the pore structure, adsorption, ionic diffusion, mechanical strength, elastic modulus, permeability and frost resistance of Ca-depleted concrete, mortar and paste specimens are demonstrated. The results indicate that a considerable increase in pore volume and specific surface area can be expected due to the complete leaching of the Portlandite. This coincides with up to 70% decrease in mechanical strength, more than 40% decrease in elastic modulus and a significant increase in the adsorption capacity and ionic diffusion rates of the leached specimens.


E-commerce and social media have become increasingly essential and influential for sustainable business growth, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has permanently altered the business landscape. The vast amount of consumer data available online holds significant potential and value. The strategic utilization of this information can expedite the research and development of new products, leading to shorter product cycles and increased innovation. This study explores the effectiveness of employing the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) method and various deep learning technologies to predict Amazon consumer ratings. We propose a product service system that utilizes natural language analyses of online sales data and user reviews, enabling industries to quickly identify and respond to market demands. We present a data-driven procedure for the customer-to-manufacturer (C2M) business model, specifically focusing on sustainable data-driven business models based on knowledge and innovation management. This procedure analyzes user comments on online shopping platforms to match product requirements and features, optimize product values, and address issues related to product specifications and new product development planning. The results of the business verification demonstrate that this procedure accurately evaluates product specifications under different demands, facilitates effective product planning, and enhances research and development decision making. This approach, based on sustainable data-driven business models and knowledge and innovation management, expands market opportunities for the sector and improves overall production efficiency, starting from the research and development stage.


Anomaly detection (AD) has been an active research area in various domains. Yet, the increasing data scale, complexity, and dimension turn the traditional methods into challenging. Recently, the deep generative model, such as the variational autoencoder (VAE), has sparked a renewed interest in the AD problem. However, the probability distribution divergence used as the regularization is too strong, which causes the model cannot capture the manifold of the true data. In this paper, we propose the Projected Sliced Wasserstein (PSW) autoencoder-based anomaly detection method. Rooted in the optimal transportation, the PSW distance is a weaker distribution measure compared with $f$-divergence. In particular, the computation-friendly eigen-decomposition method is leveraged to find the principal component for slicing the high-dimensional data. In this case, the Wasserstein distance can be calculated with the closed-form, even the prior distribution is not Gaussian. Comprehensive experiments conducted on various real-world hyperspectral anomaly detection benchmarks demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed method.


In this paper, the key challenges (loss due to distance, entanglement routing, multi‐commodities) for the coming quantum internet, relying on entanglement of quantum bits (for short, qubits) on top of an existing network, are analyzed. A unifying framework enabling to compare the various entanglement distribution, purification, and routing protocols published so far is presented. With regard to entanglement routing, the introduction of different time windows will be essential in order to cope efficiently with the main challenges like complex route calculation and fidelity estimation on the one hand, actual entanglement route selection and entangled photon generation on the other hand. For a roll‐out on top of existing transmission networks, all the research publications for the last 20 years start to cover pretty well the global scheme. Nevertheless, open questions remain, like the actual advantage of some task execution prior to the online quantum path selection, or the design of algorithms approximating the multi‐commodities flow optimization problem, or the issue of dealing with a processing time not much longer than the qubit life time.


PURPOSE
Bisphosphonates are commonly used for the treatment of osteoporosis and for prevention and treatment of skeletal lesions due to malignancy. However, the association between the use of bisphosphonates and the risk of developing breast cancer has not been reported.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The Breast Cancer in Northern Israel Study is a population-based case-control study in northern Israel of patients with breast cancer and age-, clinic-, and ethnic-group matched controls. Use of bisphosphonates was assessed in 4,039 postmenopausal patients and controls, members of Clalit Health Services, using pharmacy records.

RESULTS
The use of bisphosphonates for longer than 1 year before diagnosis, but not for shorter than 1 year, was associated with a significantly reduced relative risk of breast cancer (odds ratio [OR], 0.61; 95% CI, 0.50 to 0.76). This association remained significant after adjustment for age, fruit, and vegetable consumption, sports activity, family history of breast cancer, ethnic group, body mass index, use of calcium supplements, hormone replacement therapy use, number of pregnancies, months of breast feeding, and age at first pregnancy (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.57 to 0.90). Breast cancer risk did not change further if bisphosphonates were used for more years. Breast tumors identified in bisphosphonates users were more often estrogen receptor positive and less often poorly differentiated.

CONCLUSION
The use of bisphosphonates for longer than 1 year was associated with a 28% relative reduction in the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. Tumors developing under bisphosphonates treatment tended to have a favorable prognostic factors profile.


Robot simulators provide an easy way for evaluation of new concepts and algorithms in a simulated physical environment reducing development time and cost. Therefore it is convenient to have a tool that quickly creates a 3D landscape from an arbitrary 2D image or 2D laser range finder data. This paper presents a new tool that automatically constructs such landscapes for Gazebo simulator. The tool converts a grayscale image into a 3D Collada format model, which could be directly imported into Gazebo. We run three different simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms within three varying complexity environments that were constructed with our tool. A real-time factor (RTF) was used as an efficiency benchmark. Successfully completed SLAM missions with acceptable RTF levels demonstrated the efficiency of the tool. The source code is available for free academic use.


Approaches to recommendation are typically evaluated in one of two ways: (1) via a (simulated) online experiment, often seen as the gold standard, or (2) via some offline evaluation procedure, where the goal is to approximate the outcome of an online experiment. Several offline evaluation metrics have been adopted in the literature, inspired by ranking metrics prevalent in the field of Information Retrieval. (Normalised) Discounted Cumulative Gain (nDCG) is one such metric that has seen widespread adoption in empirical studies, and higher (n)DCG values have been used to present new methods as the state-of-the-art in top-$n$ recommendation for many years. Our work takes a critical look at this approach, and investigates when we can expect such metrics to approximate the gold standard outcome of an online experiment. We formally present the assumptions that are necessary to consider DCG an unbiased estimator of online reward and provide a derivation for this metric from first principles, highlighting where we deviate from its traditional uses in IR. Importantly, we show that normalising the metric renders it inconsistent, in that even when DCG is unbiased, ranking competing methods by their normalised DCG can invert their relative order. Through a correlation analysis between off- and on-line experiments conducted on a large-scale recommendation platform, we show that our unbiased DCG estimates strongly correlate with online reward, even when some of the metric's inherent assumptions are violated. This statement no longer holds for its normalised variant, suggesting that nDCG's practical utility may be limited.


Follistatin (FS), a specific binding protein for activin, neutralizes the diverse actions of activin by forming an inactive complex with activin. FS is a monomer derived from two polypeptide core sequences of 288 (FS-288) and 315 (FS-315) amino acids originated from alternatively spliced mRNA. We purified six molecular forms of FS from porcine ovaries. Their structural differences were caused by truncation of the COOH-terminal region and/or the presence of carbohydrate chains, resulting in the formation of FS-288, FS-315 and FS composed of 303 amino acids (FS-303) in various forms of glycosylation on the two potential Asn-linked glycosylation sites. All six molecular species have almost the same activin binding activity (Kd = 540-680 pM). By contrast, the COOH-terminal truncated form, FS-288, showed much higher affinity for heparan sulfate proteoglycans of the cell surface than FS-303, whereas the intact form of FS, FS-315, had no affinity. Furthermore, FS-288 more effectively blocked the suppression of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) secretion from rat pituitary cells by activin. This implies that activin binds to the cell surface through FS-288 which adheres to the cell surface. To clarify the physiological role of cell-associated FS, we then investigated the binding of activin to cell-associated FS and the fate of cell surface-bound activin and FS using primary cultured rat pituitary and ovarian granuloma cells. When the cells were incubated with 125I-activin A in the presence of FS-288 or 315, the binding of activin A to the cell surface was promoted much more markedly by FS-288 than by FS-315. The amounts of radioactivity recovered in trichloroacetic acid-soluble fractions (degraded activin) from the incubation medium were greatly increased by the addition of FS-288. This increase was abolished by heparan sulfate, monensin (an endocytosis inhibitor), chloroquine (a lysosome function inhibitor) and several lysosomal enzyme inhibitors. These results suggest that cell-associated FS-288 accelerates the internalization of activin into the cells, leading to its degradation by lysosomal enzymes, and that cell surface-associated FS therefore plays a role in the clearance system of activin.


The article concerns the Stefan Themerson's novel The mystery of the sardine (polish title: Euklides był osłem). First, it discusses the philosophical inspirations inherent in the novel. Then a critique of the mental tendencies in Western philosophy symbolized by Euclid is presented. Themerson criticizes the assumption, that eternal and immutable things are the basis of mutable and temporal things. He also rejects the view, that a priori knowledge about the real world is possible. Instead, he proclaims the primacy of factual truths over those of reason, and the primacy of experience over abstract inferences. He also argues that assigning too much of a priori cognition leads to the creation of world repair projects, which justify fanaticism and cruelty. Instead, he proposes an ethics of good manners resp. rules of decency.


Undocumented migrant workers living with HIV/AIDS in Israel, like their counterparts elsewhere, are doubly abject due to their lack of legal status on one hand and their ill health on the other. Unlike Israeli citizens living with HIV/AIDS, who can access an array of state funded treatments and support services, undocumented migrant workers living with HIV/AIDS are marginalized both by the state's exclusive immigration regime and by its efforts to shake off responsibility for their health needs. At the same time, HIV treatment and care are generally unavailable in migrants' countries of origin. Despite the state's exclusionary orientation and in contradiction of official policies, certain forms of HIV treatment are available to undocumented migrants through the day-to-day efforts of a small array of activist Israeli NGOs, (state-employed) doctors, and state officials.

The tension between these simultaneous, oppositional processes of exclusion and inclusion generate a "gray area"— a zone of competing values, claims and interests- in which undocumented migrants living with HIV/AIDS and these other stakeholders search for new options and possibilities while continually taking pains to protect their own varied, and often competing, interests. Actors thus constantly bargain with laws, health policies, and one another in a collective battle not only over migrants' chances of survival, but also over the rationality and the morality underlying the state's "and their own" decisions and choices.

Anchored within this complex, indeterminate zone, the present article draws upon ethnographic field research conducted among undocumented HIV+ migrant women in Tel Aviv to explore some of the stakes, mechanisms, and outcomes of these complicated, high stakes negotiation processes.


The rovibrationally resolved density distributions of molecular hydrogen are measured in expanding thermal hydrogen plasmas by means of laser induced fluorescence in the vacuum-UV range (VUV-LIF). The results reveal a non-Boltzmann distributions, where the low rotational states (J = 1-6) follow a temperature of 700 K, while the higher rotational states are overpopulated compared to these lower states and follow higher temperatures up to 4500 K. Experiments were performed under variation of the surface area in the plasma source by varying the nozzle length. We assume surface association processes of atomic hydrogen at the surface of the nozzle, producing rovibrationally excited H2 molecules. While the atomic hydrogen flow decreases with increasing surface areas, the H2 rv distribution shows a more pronounced non-Boltzmann behaviour. A simple 0D model of (de)excitation processes by collisions with electrons and neutrals results in additional information about the formation of the measured H2 rv distributions.


This article draws on research in one teacher education course in England and examines the ways in which the programme prepares student-teachers for inclusive practice in science teaching. We frame our analysis by drawing on aspects of institutional mediation of official policy in teacher education, as well as theories around inclusion and critical pedagogy. Using data from official sources, lecture material, and interviews, we argue that in order to achieve real inclusion in teacher education programmes, we need pedagogies of praxis that move beyond (and sometimes against) the official policy definitions of inclusion, and draw instead on a more critical approach to the formation of future professionals.


The purpose of this study is to develop and verify the effectiveness of a group art therapy program to help children from multicultural families adapt to school life by using Kinetic School Drawing(KSD). The result of this study showed that the group art therapy program of the multicultural family's children may have a positive effect in aiding their school life adaptation. The results showed considerable and statistical outcome in the fore and after drawing inspection of the dynamic KSD. Also, the size of the self-image became bigger and their expressions has been increased. The qualitative analysis also showed a huge change in dynamistic personal relationships due to the relationship with their peers with the same aged and the tutor. This study emphasizes the importance of the group art therapy program to be applied before children are admitted to school because of growing recognition of concern about the maladjustment of rapidly growing multicultural family's children. It is also suggests that the group art therapy program of growing multicultural family's children should be viewed with an ecological point of view.


The research work has been carried out to study the aerodynamic characteristic i.e., drag coefficient torque coefficient etc. of a vertical axis type six bladed Savonius rotor. At first drag and torque characteristics of the six bladed Savonius rotor are determined by measuring the pressure distribution over the convex and concave surfaces of each blade at different angle of rotation. The experiment has been carried out at a Reynolds number of 2×105 in a uniform flow jet produced by an open circuit wind tunnel. The pressure measurements have been made at 13 tapping points on each two blades of the rotor. Pressure on the convex and concave surfaces have been measured for every 10° interval of rotor angle up to 360° angle of rotation. The data obtained experimentally has been presented in terms of non-dimensional coefficients. To calculate drag force and torque in non-dimensional form, computer based software has been used and the output has been subsequently plotted and analyzed. The effects of individual blade and also the combined effects of six blades on different aerodynamic characteristics are analyzed in this research work. A quasi-steady approach has been applied for the prediction of the dynamic performance of the rotor using the static drag and torque coefficients. Power coefficient versus tip speed ratio curve for six bladed Savonius rotor has been drawn. This method results in a reasonable agreement with the measured power coefficient.


The main purpose of the study was to check the relationship between work environment and teachers' job satisfaction in private business universities of Karachi, Pakistan. The factors that include in work environment are freedom of teachers, involvement of teachers, management policies, co-workers' relationships and employer – employee relationships used as independent variables and teachers' job satisfaction used as a dependent variable. The structured 5 points likert scale questionnaire was used to collect the data from 105 private business universities' teachers from Pakistan. The data was analyzed through SPSS 17 by using statistical tools such as descriptive statistical, Pearson correlation and simple linear regression. The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between all factors of work environment and job satisfaction in teachers. Research also found that the employer – employee relationships is most important factor of work environment in private business universities of Pakistan. It is suggested that the universities' management should focus on favorable work environment particularly the factor of relationship between employer and employee to increase the job satisfaction amongst teachers, which may lead to higher performance. As research only was conducted with teachers of private business universities of Pakistan, it cannot be generalized to all sectors of country. Variables and sample size should be increased in the future research to get the better results. Keywords: Work Environment, Job satisfaction, Teacher, Education Sector, Private Universities Area of Research: Human Resource Management, Education


OBJECTIVES. After-hours call centers have been shown to provide appropriate triage with high levels of parental and provider satisfaction. However, few data are available on the costs and outcomes of call centers from the perspective of the health care system. With this study we sought to determine these outcomes. METHODS. Parents who called the Pediatric After-hours Call Center at the Children's Hospital of Denver from March 19, 2004, to April 19, 2004, were asked an open-ended question before triage: "We would like to know, what you would have done if you could not have called our call center this evening/today?" RESULTS. The response rate for the survey was 77.8% (N = 8980). Parents reported that they would have (1) gone to an emergency department or urgent care facility (46%), (2) treated the child at home (21%), (3) called a physician's office the next day (12%), (4) asked another person for advice (13%), (5) consulted a written source (2%), or (6) other (7%). Of the 46% of callers who would have sought emergent care, only 13.5% subsequently were given an urgent disposition by the call center. Fifteen percent of cases in which the parents would have stayed at home were given an urgent disposition by nurses. Assuming that all callers followed the advice provided, the estimated savings per call, based on local costs, was $42.61 per call. Savings based on Medical Expenditure Panel Survey national payment data were $56.26 per call. CONCLUSIONS. Two thirds of the cases in which parents reported initial intent to go to an emergency department or urgent care facility were not deemed urgent by the call center, whereas 15% of calls from parents who intended to stay home were deemed urgent. If call-center triage recommendations were followed in even half of all cases, then these results would translate into substantial cost savings for the health care system.


This paper reports on one of the first steps in building a very large annotated database of American English. We present and discuss the results of an experiment comparing manual part-of-speech tagging with manual verification and correction of automatic stochastic tagging. The experiment shows that correcting is superior to tagging with respect to speed, consistency and accuracy. Comments University of Pennsylvania Department of Computer and Information Science Technical Report No. MSCIS-90-46. This technical report is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/cis_reports/569 First Steps Towards An Annotated Database of American English MS-CIS-90-46 LINC LAB 175 Mitchell P. Marcus Beatrice Santorini David Magerman Department of Computer and Information Science School of Engineering and Applied Science University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19 104


In clinical research, we are often interested in assessing how a biomarker changes with time, and whether it could be used as a surrogate marker when evaluating the efficacy of a new drug. However, when the longitudinal marker is correlated with survival, linear mixed models for longitudinal data may be inappropriate. By contrast, it may be possible to recover information from the so‐called informative censoring by modelling both the longitudinal information and the survival process. The objective of this work is to jointly model longitudinal and survival data to assess surrogacy. Two competitive modelling strategies were used, either a multistate model summarizing the course of longitudinal data and occurrence of disease progression or death, or a joint longitudinal‐survival model. We present both analyses based on a case study from two randomized clinical trials that enrolled patients with stage A chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in order to obtain further insights into these different approaches. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In this paper we extend the theory of conformal graph directed Markov systems to what we call conformal pseudo-Markov systems. These systems may have a countable infinite set of edges and, unlike graph directed Markov systems, they may also have a countable infinite set of vertices. Our first goal is to develop suitable symbolic dynamics, which we then use to analyze conformal pseudo-Markov systems by giving extensions of various aspects of the thermodynamic formalism and of fractal geometry. Most important, by establishing the existence of a unique conformal measure along with its invariant version, we obtain a generalization of Bowen's formula concerning the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set of a conformal pseudo-Markov system. Here, we also obtain an interesting formula for the closure of the limit set. Finally, we give some applications of our analysis to the theory of Kleinian groups. We show that there exists a rather exotic class of infinitely generated Schottky groups of the second kind (acting on (d + 1)-dimensional hyperbolic space), containing groups with limit sets of Hausdorff dimension equal to any given number t ≤ d, whereas their Poincar´e exponent can be less than any given positive number s t. Moreover, we show that the dissipative part of the limit sets of these groups has further interesting properties.


Abstract An Early Devonian (Pragian) plant, Hueberia zhichangensis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Posongchong Formation, Wenshan district of southern Yunnan, China. It is characterized by stems < 2 mm wide and closely helically-arranged enations. A creeping habit is suggested due to K-type branching. No fertile organs are preserved. Hueberia gen. nov. resembles Drepanophycus and Kaulangiophyton, but is much smaller and has a more regular phyllotaxy.


(51) Int. Cl. C22B3/00 (2006.01) The objective of the present invention is to selectively extract cobalt from an acidic Solution containing a high concentra tion of manganese. This cobalt extraction method extracts cobalt from an acidic solution containing manganese and cobalt by Subjecting the acidic solution to solvent extraction by means of a valuable metal extraction agent comprising an amide derivative represented by general formula (I). The valuable metal extraction agent is represented by the general formula. In the formula: R' and Reach represent the same or different alkyl group; R represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group; and R' represents a hydrogen atom or any given group aside from anamino group bonded to the C. carbon as an amino acid. Preferably, the general formula has a glycine unit, a histidine unit, a lysine unit, an aspartic acid unit, or an N-methylglycine unit. Preferably, the pH of the acidic solu tion is 3.5-5.5 inclusive.


We design statistical hypothesis tests for performing leak detection in water pipeline channels. By applying an appropriate model for signal propagation, we show that the detection problem becomes one of distinguishing signal from noise, with the noise being described by a multivariate Gaussian distribution with unknown covariance matrix. We first design a test procedure based on the generalized likelihood ratio test, which we show through simulations to offer appreciable leak detection performance gain over conventional approaches designed in an analogous context (for radar detection). Our proposed method requires estimation of the noise covariance matrix, which can become inaccurate under high-dimensional settings, and when the measurement data is scarce. To deal with this, we present a second leak detection method, which employs a regularized covariance matrix estimate. The regularization parameter is optimized for the leak detection application by applying results from large dimensional random matrix theory. This second proposed approach is shown to yield improved performance in leak detection compared with the first approach, at the expense of requiring higher computational complexity.


Lipins are a conserved family of phosphatidate phosphatase (PAP) enzymes that catalyze a critical step in glycerolipid biosynthesis, namely the removal of the phosphate group from phosphatidic acid to form diacylglycerol. While most lower organisms possess a single lipin gene, mammalian genomes contain genes for three lipin family members--lipin-1, lipin-2, and lipin-3--which presumably arose through gene duplication. Distinct tissue expression patterns, as well as unique disease phenotypes associated with different lipin deficiencies, suggest that each family member has a unique role in vivo. Lipin-1 deficiency causes lipodystrophy in the mouse, a consequence of its vital role in adipogenesis and triglyceride storage in adipose tissue. Lipin-2 deficiency affects lipid homeostasis in non-adipose tissues, including liver and brain, and causes a cyclical fever disease in humans called Majeed Syndrome. Little is known about the physiological function of lipin-3, expressed mainly in kidney, intestine, adipose tissue, and liver.We are interested in teasing apart the unique physiological roles of each lipin family member. A simple working hypothesis is that each lipin is responsible for providing PAP activity in a unique but potentially overlapping set of tissues. In this dissertation, we expand on that model with the discovery of a complex system of cooperative relationships between lipin family members. We demonstrate that lipins work together to maintain lipid homeostasis in diverse tissues, from liver and brain (lipin-1 and lipin-2) to adipose tissue (lipin-1 and lipin-3) to intestine (lipin-2 and lipin-3). We also explore further the established roles of lipin-1 in adipogenesis and lipin-2 in Majeed Syndrome. Together, the findings in this dissertation build upon our previous model of lipin family function and demonstrate that the three mammalian lipins exist not only as separate enzymes specialized for distinct tissues. Instead, they should also be viewed as a cohesive family unit, responding to and functionally interacting with one another to achieve a common end of lipid homeostasis. The combination of individual and cooperative roles is customized for each tissue to create a sophisticated mammalian organism.


Tamil Hindu and Sinhalese Buddhist pilgrims gather each year at Sri Lanka's most important polyethnic shrine, Kataragama, where they worship the deity Skanda (or Murukanṉ). The remarkable tone of ecumenism and tolerance there stands in clear contrast to the mutual mistrust which has recently characterized Tamil-Sinhalese interaction in other social institutions. Does Kataragama help to quell mistrust and to create a bond of common identity between Hindus and Buddhists? The role of Kataragama in Sri Lanka's poly-ethnic social system is examined by comparing the role of the Kataragama pilgrimage in the religious lives of Hindu and Buddhist villagers. These roles are radically different; indeed, most Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims find themselves in disagreement about the qualities of the deity and about the way he ought to be worshipped. Despite the appearance of ethnic harmony at the site, pilgrims are today likely to leave with a sharp impression of the gulf that separates Tamil and Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka—yet there is evidence that the site may come to play a different role in the future.


Adipose tissue engineering holds promise to address the unmet need in plastic and reconstructive surgery for strategies that promote the stable and predictable regeneration of adipose tissue for volume augmentation applications. Previous studies have demonstrated that decellularized adipose tissue (DAT) scaffolds can provide a pro-adipogenic microenvironment, and that seeding with adipose-derived stromal cells (ASCs) can enhance in vivo angiogenesis and adipogenesis within DAT implants. Recognizing that bioreactor systems can promote cell expansion and infiltration on tissue-engineered scaffolds, this study evaluated the effects of culturing human ASCs on DAT scaffolds within a perfusion bioreactor. Using this system, the impact of both shear stress stimulation and hypoxic preconditioning were explored in vitro and in vivo. Initial studies compared the effects of 14 days of culture within the perfusion bioreactor under 2% O2 or ~20% O2 on human ASC expansion and hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) expression in vitro relative to static cultured controls. The findings indicated that culturing within the bioreactor under 2% O2 significantly increased ASC proliferation on the DAT, with a higher cell density observed in the scaffold periphery. HIF-1α expression was significantly higher when the scaffolds were cultured under 2% O2. Subsequent characterization in a subcutaneous implant model in athymic nude mice revealed that in vivo angiogenesis and adipogenesis were markedly enhanced when the ASCs were cultured on the DAT within the perfusion bioreactor under 2% O2 for 14 days prior to implantation relative to the other culture conditions, as well as additional freshly-seeded and unseeded DAT control groups. Overall, dynamic culture within the perfusion bioreactor system under hypoxia represents a promising approach for preconditioning ASCs on DAT scaffolds to enhance their capacity to stimulate blood vessel formation and infiltration, as well as host-derived adipose tissue regeneration.


The study reports functional and morphological findings in eight male subjects undergoing anticonvulsant therapy for periods from 20 days up to 15 years. All subjects showed an increased activity of the hepatic microsomal NADPH cytochrome c reductase and an increased amount of smooth membranes in hepatocytes. The enzymatic activity was higher in the first years of treatment. Quantitative ultrastructural analysis showed that a twofold increase of the smooth membranes of hepatocytes had already been reached after 20 days of therapy, with a modest additional increase occurring thereafter. Both enzymatic and structural changes appear to be related to therapy. In addition, abnormal lipofuscin-related cytoplasmic formations were present in the hepatocytes of five subjects. Such formations are thought to represent an accumulation of abnormal degradation products, possibly related to an interaction of the drug(s) metabolites with cellular components.


The aim of this research is to identify the critical driving parameters that affect speeding using data from smartphones. To achieve this objective, data collected from sixty-eight (68) drivers who participated in a naturalistic driving experiment for fifteen (15) months, are analyzed. Through linear regression models, it was examined whether driving characteristics recorded by smartphone affect and can therefore predict the percentage of speeding time during driving. Four statistical linear regression models forecasting the percentage of speeding time during driving were developed: one overall model and three models for each road type (urban, rural, highway). The results revealed that six parameters namely, distance, high intensity harsh acceleration and braking events as well as cornering events, average deceleration and mobile usage, were found to be statistically significant in the regression models.


Non-Ribosomal Peptide Synthetases (NRPS) are mega synthetases that are predominantly found in bacteria and fungi. They produce small peptides that serve numerous biological functions and crucial ecological roles. Adenylation (A) domains of NRPSs catalyze ATP dependent activation of substrates harboring carboxy terminus. A-domain substrates include not only natural amino acids (D and L forms) but also non-proteinogenic amino acids. As the substrate repertoire is large and specificity rules for fungi are not established well, there is a difficulty in predicting substrates for fungal A-domains. In bacteria, ten amino acid residues were established as NRPS code, which determine specificity of A-domains. To study relationships between fungal A-domains and their specificity, the cluster analysis of NRPS code residues was done. NRPS code residues were encoded by physicochemical properties essential for binding small molecules and these residues were clustered. Cluster analysis showed similar NRPS codes for α-amino adipic acid, and tryptophan, etc. between bacteria and fungi. Fungal NRPS codes for substrates such as tyrosine, and proline, did not cluster together with bacteria, which indicates an independent evolution of substrate specificity in fungi. This emphasizes the need for the development of a fungus-specific prediction tool. Currently available A-domain substrate specificity prediction tools accurately identify substrates for bacteria but fail to provide correct predictions for fungi. A novel approach for fungal A-domain substrate specificity prediction is presented here. Neural Network based A-domain substrate specificity classifier (NNassc) was developed using Keras with TensorFlow backend. NNassc was trained solely using fungal NRPS codes and combines physicochemical and structural features for specificity predictions. Internal and external validation datasets of experimentally verified NRPS codes were used to assess the performance of NNassc.


The effects of salt and bicarbonate solution on overall meat quality in beef biceps femoris muscle were investigated with the application of chilling and freezing conditions. Muscles were injected to a target of 120% of original meat weight with a solution containing 1.2 M sodium chloride, 0.25 M sodium bicarbonate and 0.1% ascorbic acid (pH 7.2). Half of the meat samples, considered as chill treatment and chill control, were stored at 4°C up to five days; while the other half, frozen treatment and frozen control, were kept in a freezer at -20°C for seven days. Compared with untreated control, treated meats had higher water holding capacity (p<0.05), lower drip loss (p<0.05) and lower shear force (p<0.07) with higher overall acceptability (p<0.05) in sensory evaluation. Morphological observations demonstrated smooth and gummy meat surface due to the solubilization of myofibrillar proteins and the distortion of connective tissue in treated raw meats; and in the case of cooked meat, treatment caused the fragmentation of myofibrils, which might be responsible for a lower shear value in salt-bicarbonate treated beef biceps femoris muscle.


ABSTRACT G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent the single largest molecular target of therapeutic drugs currently on the market, and are also the most common target in high throughput screening assays designed to identify potential new drug candidates. A large percentage of these assays are now formatted as radioligand binding assays. Fluorescence polarization ligand binding assays can offer a non-rad alternative to radioligand binding assays. In addition, fluorescence polarization assays are a homogenous format that is easy to automate for high throughput screening. We have developed a series of peptide ligands labeled with the fluorescent dye BODIPY® TMR whose binding to GPCRs can be detected using fluorescence polarization methodology. BODIPY® TMR has advantages over the more commonly used fluorescein dye in high throughput screening (HTS) assays due to the fact that its excitation and emission spectra are red-shifted approximately 50 nm relative to fluorescein. Assays based on BODIPY® TMR ligands are therefore less susceptible to interference from tissue auto-fluorescence in the assay matrix, or the effects of colored or fluorescent compounds in the screening libraries. A series of BODIPY® TMR labeled peptides have been prepared that bind to a range of GPCRs including melanin concentrating hormone, bradykinin, and melanocortin receptors. Conditions have been optimized in order to utilize a comparable amount of receptor membrane preparation as is used in a radioligand binding assay. The assays are formatted in 384-well microplates with a standard volume of 40 µL. We have compared the assays across the different fluorescence polarization (FP) readers available to determine the parameters for each instrument necessary to achieve the required precision.


Recently physician extenders (pediatric mU'se practitioners, corpsmen) have been assuming increased clinical responsibilities in primary health care delivery. To assure that certain medical standards are being met, decision guides (clinical algorithms) offer one acceptable mechanism. In developing a decision guide for m eningitis in children, 193 cases were reviewed and statistically analyzed to determine optimal clinical discriminators for this disease. A statistical technique was used to assign numerical weights to various signs and symptoms so that the sum of the weights for present symptoms produces a discriminant equation for the diagnosis of meningitis. Optimal clinical discriminators as determined through the statistical techniques reveal a close association with presently known signs and symptoms indicative of meningitis in children, The optimal clinical discriminators were: nuchal rigidity, bulging fontanel, altered sensorium, seizure, and fever plus Kernig/Brudzinski sign. It is reasoned that this statistical technique has applicability for developing optimal clinical discriminators for diseases and that this technique will also 'l~lld to the development of more reliable decision guides.


Aims: To report a case of bilateral endogenous endophthalmitis in an elderly Asian female. Presentation of Case: An elderly Filipino female complaining of sudden blurring of vision of the right eye sought consult at our institution. Ophthalmologic examination, and vitreous tap were done for both eyes and systemic work-up was facilitated to localize the source of infection. Vitreous sample of the right eye yielded positive for Klebsiella pneumoniae, but cultures were sterile on the left. Systemic work-up revealed a complicated nephrolithiasis. Within 24 hours of her admission, vision rapidly deteriorated to no light perception. There was no return in vision despite systemic and topical antibiotic treatment. Discussion: Endogenous endopthalmitis is a relatively rare condition. Among Asians, the patient at highest risk for endogenous endophthalmitis is a diabetic with Klebsiella hepatobiliary infection. However, this patient was found to have a urinary tract infection. Conclusion: Klebsiella pneumoniae endopthalmitis confers a poor prognosis necessitating a high index of suspicion and early intervention.


Relaying is considered a promising cost-efficient solution in 3GPP LTE-Advanced for coverage extension and throughput enhancement. Due to compact physical characteristics and low power requirements of the relay nodes, the relay deployment has a high degree of freedom. In this paper, the impact of site planning on the backhaul performance of relay networks within the LTE-Advanced framework is investigated. The site planning strategies are formulated in terms of SNR and SINR based selection criteria. 3GPP compliant simulations are performed comparing relay site planning strategies. It is shown that proper site planning yields significant SINR gain on the eNB-RN link along with a clear reduction in the shadowing standard deviation compared to random deployment.


Paola Pennelli * Tecnopolis ~CSATA Novus Drtus . Str. Prov. Casamassima km 3 Valenzano (Bari),· Italy email@example.com • at present staying at GMD In 1Q88 the standardization bodies ISO and CCnT released the first international standard of a distributed Directory Service [8]. The purpose of the Directory as it is described by the standard is to supply a global nam.eserver and an application independent management and infonnation service. But these applications are not exhausting the possibilities of a Directory usage. It is the intention of this paper to present the possibilities and chances the Directory offers to applications in the CSCW area. Our investigation focuses on CSCW models and applications that support and coordinate communications in groups [15]. First the paper identifies ami analyses components which most of these applications have in common. For the analysis we introduce the classification of activity oriented models and conversation oriented models. Then, after a brief introduction into the X.50D Directory Service, it is shown in which way the identified components can be represented by the Directory Service. The paper concludes with a discussion of desirable improvements on the Directory Service.


Background Migraine without aura (MWoA) is a nervous system disease, which is closely related to autonomic nerves dysfunction. As a popular non-pharmacological alternative treatment for preventing migraine, it remains unclear whether the acupuncture can prevent MWoA. Thus, this trial aims to evaluate the preventive effect and safety of the acupuncture method of stimulating acupoints that regulate autonomic nerves in MWoA patients. Methods This is a single-center, prospective, double-dummy, randomized controlled clinical trial. A total of ninety-six patients with MWoA are randomly allocated to acupuncture combined with the placebo group and sham acupuncture combined with the medication group in a 1:1 ratio. All subjects will receive intervention for 8 weeks and follow-up assessments three times (one month, three months, and six months in follow-up visiting). The frequency of acupuncture in both groups is three times a week for eight weeks. The primary outcome will be evaluated using a visual analog scale (VAS) and the number of migraine attacks per four weeks. The secondary outcome measures will include the migraine-specific quality of life (MSQOL) scale and headache needs assessment survey (HANA) questionnaire scale. Results The acupoint selection of this clinical trial is based on the combination of traditional Chinese medicine theory with modern medicine, thereby evaluating the efficacy and safety of the acupuncture method of stimulating acupoints that regulate autonomic nerves in the prevention of MWoA. The results may provide evidence of the beneficial effects of acupuncture on the prevention of MWoA by regulating autonomic nerves dysfunction. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04766762.


Soil contamination with heavy metal(loid)s has increasingly become a serious global environmental issue in recent years with considerable efforts made to remediate the contaminated soils. Interest in using biochar as a soil amendment is increasing because of its capacity to adsorb metal(loid)s and organic pollutants. This study investigated the effect of hairy vetch (HV) and poultry manure biochars (PMBC) (2% w/w) at 450 and 700℃ on the availability of arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) to earthworms ( Eisenia fetida) in a highly contaminated As soil. The bioavailability of As and Cd to earthworms was determined bymortality and avoidance tests. Biochars reduced the extractable As and Cd by 45-89% in treated soils. Weight loss of worms was observed in all the treatments. The mortality percentage reduced by 70-80% in biochars compared to control. Biochars PMBC 700, and HVBC 450 greatly reduced the metal(loid) accumulation in worm tissues compared to control. In the avoidance test, earthworms preferred the low-temperature biochars compared to the high-temperature soils. The worms partially selected both the treatments when placed between the control and biochars which may be due to presence of metal(loid)s in biochars. The availability of metal(loid)s to earthworms varied between the biochars (feed stock and temperature), therefore, care must be taken during the selection of amendments to remediate contaminated soils.


The modeling of complex X-ray tube setups or photon detectors in the lower energy range of a few tens of keV requires a reliable simulation code which is also easy to use. ROSI (ROentgen SImulation, http://www.pi4.physik.uni-erlangen.de/Giersch/ROSI) was developed for that purpose and represents an object-oriented open source Monte Carlo simulation code that is based on the C++ library LSCAT-Gismo. The library uses the well established EGS4 code and its low energy extension LSCAT. We have worked thoroughly on validating the simulation results by comparing them to recently acquired experimental data and also cross checking with other established Monte Carlo tools such as Penelope and Geant4. Experimental setups that were used for validation were amongst others a setup for measuring the X-ray dose emitted by a thin tungsten target. This experiment was very valuable since the data was used to find the reason for the discrepancies between the different simulation tools in simulating the angular dose distribution. Two other experiments; one being the measurement of the backscattering coefficient for electrons and the other being the measurement of the angular distribution of the radiant power for various targets. The results of all three experiments served us as a good foundation for a thorough evaluation of our Monte Carlo tool.


Backgorund: The three stages of Snehapaka formulations namely Mridu, Madhyama and Khara Paka have been characteristically advocated for different routes of administration—Nasya, Pana/Basti and Abhyanga, respectively. Guidelines or established method for post-formulation characterization for the same is hardly available. Objective: The present communication is the comparative study of Mridu, Madhyama and Khara Paka of Panchagavya ghrita (PGG). Materials and Methods: Laboratory prepared samples of PGG following classical method were analyzed for different physicochemical, spectroscopic, chromatographic parameters, and antioxidant activity. Results: No significant difference was found among Mridu, Madhyama and Khara Paka in physicochemical parameters as well as chromatographic profiles. The ratio of absorbance at 240 and 294 nm showed steady increase from Mridu to Madhyama to Khara Paka in the ultraviolet (UV)-visible spectra of unsaponifiable matter. The high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC)-2,2 Diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazil (DPPH) bioautography assay revealed presence of two antioxidant compounds in low concentration in all the samples. This was further supported by estimation of total reducing power and DPPH assay. No significant difference was found among the three samples. Conclusion: Comparison of various physicochemical parameters, chromatographic profiles, and in vitro antioxidant activity determination is of little help in establishing any significant difference among the samples. However, spectrophotometric analysis of unsaponifiable matter reveals some encouraging characteristic findings which will be useful in establishing difference among the three stages of processing of PGG as well as Snehapaka in general.


Background: Headache is one of the most common disorders, and shows ethnic or geographic diversities. Moreover, the prevalence and epidemiologic characteristics of headache, especially in people living in an island area, is lacking. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence and subtypes of headache in an island area of Korea. Methods: We collected the demographic and clinical data of all residents living in the survey island area. A neurologist interviewed 352 respondents in a face-to-face method. The specific headache diagnosis was based on the diagnostic criteria of the International Headache Society. Results: The survey island area represented a typical aging society like that of a rural area in Korea. Tension-type headache was the most common type. The prevalence of migraine, tension-type headache, and other headache were 4.0%, 7.1%, and 1.7%, respectively. Migraine with aura occupied 1.7% and migraine without aura occupied 2.3%. Episodic tension-type headache occupied 6.5% and chronic tension-type headache occupied 0.6%. Migraine showed a peak prevalence below the third decade of age and tension-type headache showed a peak prevalence above the sixth decade. Conclusions: This study showed a characteristic pattern of the prevalence of headache in an island area of Korea. We thought this low prevalence of headache might be due to not only subject age but also social-environmental factors. This study may be helpful in understanding headaches and can provide some basic information for future studies.


The electromagnetic continuity condition is extended from the classical condition on an interface between two media to a more general one relating sources and fields in a region between two regions of arbitrary media. The condition allows one to extend the classical Huygens principle to involve equivalent sources in a spatial region volume or on multiple surfaces. As an example, the generalized Huygens principle is applied to the formulation of a scattering problem in terms of a surface integral equation. Also, the transparent absorbing boundary (TAB) condition can be interpreted in terms of the extended Huygens principle.


Introduction and aim. Endometriosis is a common inflammatory disease affecting 6-10% of women of reproductive age. It is defined as the growth of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterine cavity. Dysmenorrhea, pelvic pain, dyspareunia and infertility are the main symptoms of endometriosis patients. Endometriosis treatment methods can be broadly divided into surgical and pharmacological. Currently, hormonal drugs are often used for women with endometriosis to relieve bothersome symptoms. The aim of this article is to review new publications presenting the effectiveness as well as side effects of the use of progestins and combined oral contraceptives in the hormonal treatment of endometriosis. Material and methods. A review of the literature regarding progestins and combined oral contraceptives in the treatment of endometriosis was performed using the PubMed database. In the end, 67 articles were included in this review. Analysis of the literature. Progestins and combined oral contraceptives significantly reduce dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia and pelvic pain in women with endometriosis. However, there is a risk of potential side effects, which should be taken into account when choosing a therapy for each patient individually. Conclusion. Endometriosis is a chronic disease that has a significant impact on the health-related quality of life of patients. When choosing a treatment, many aspects should be considered, primarily the patient's preferences, drug tolerance and safety. Further drug research is needed to determine the most effective treatment for endometriosis.


Drawing on a wide array of statistical indicators reflecting economic activity, states of poverty, structural reform and governance in Greece, this Commentary by Ilaria Maselli provides substance to a debate that has become highly inflammatory and superficial in the latest episodes.


Background & Objective: Viral infections are associated with the pathogenesis and progression of human malignancies. Several studies have suggested the role of viral infections in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). However, the results are still conflicting, and the potential role of viruses in PTC tumorigenesis remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the presence of parvovirus B19, cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1/HSV-2), and human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 in PTC. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of 40 patients with PTC were used. Tissue blocks were studied for the presence of the virus genome using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: Of the 40 patients with PTC, there was 1 positive case of HPV (2.5%), while 6 cases were positive for parvovirus B19. HSV and CMV DNAs were not detected in any cases. Conclusion: Correlations among HSV, CMV, and PTC are unexpected in our patient population. But parvovirus B19 and, to a lesser extent, HPV DNA genomes were detected in PTC using real-time PCR.


Abstract : Noncooperative identification (NCTI) of airborne targets is a top priority for the Air Force and this thesis makes a significant contribution to that area. High range resolution radar (HRR) provides an attractive means to perform NCTI. When measured HRR data is used, classification performance is excellent. However, it is often not feasible to acquire measured HRR signatures for a wide set of targets, thus necessitating the use of synthetically generated HRR data. Classification performance suffers severe degradation when using synthetic data. This thesis suggests that a large portion of HRR signature content is non-discriminatory and that this content is a cause of classifier degradation for the case of synthetic data. A unique wavelet-based denoising methodology is developed which is optimized with respect to classification accuracy. In the case of synthetic data, the denoising method leads to remarkable classification improvements. Classification accuracies are obtained which are comparable to those when training on measured data. This is an unprecedented result. It is also shown that the denoising approach of this thesis leads to superior classification results compared to those obtained with traditional wavelet-based methods.


Quantitative x-ray diffraction investigations were performed on ultrafine-grained copper samples with various crystallite sizes processed by severe plastic deformation. In the x-ray diffraction patterns, common features such as the relative maximum intensity, considerable broadening, long tails, centroid positions of Bragg reflections shifted to larger diffraction angles and increased background integrated intensities are revealed. The evolution of the shape of the Bragg reflections, background integrated intensity, microstrain, dislocation density, lattice parameter and atomic displacement with decreasing crystallite size was investigated. The obtained results are analysed and discussed in terms of the structural model of ultrafine-grained materials processed by severe plastic deformation.


This study compares equity funds that are managed according to sustainability goals with conventionally managed funds with respect to their environmental impacts. Overlap in the portfolios of sustainable equity funds and conventional equity funds can be very large. Further, the sector allocation of both types of funds is generally very similar, because portfolio managers follow a chosen benchmark to minimize risk. These two effects may result in no difference existing between the two types of funds in terms of their environmental impact and damage (null hypothesis of this research). This study comparatively assesses the environmental impact of portfolios of 26 investment funds: 13 sustainable investment funds and 13 conventional funds, which are managed according to the benchmark MSCI World. The study applies input–output life‐cycle assessment (IO‐LCA) in combination with a simulation of company‐specific environmental performance. The environmental impact is evaluated per functional unit for each fund, measured as the risk‐adjusted financial performance. The statistical analysis showed that the analyzed sustainable investment funds performed better with respect to environmental impact assessment but worse in economic risk‐adjusted performance (RAP) over the period 2000‐2004. In 2004, however, the RAP of the selected sustainable investment funds showed better performance. Both samples considerably overlap for the environmental and economic parameters. The results suggest that the environmental impact of sustainable investment funds in the sample is slightly less than that of conventional funds.


The economic decision making of merchants in an urban public produce marketplace in St. Louis, Missouri is analyzed. A computer simulation of merchants' decision process is used as an elicitation aid to help study the recurrent, habitual choices known as attentive or stage-two decisions. The emic analysis of decision models is compared with an etic analysis of the same merchants' behavior. This paper shows the strengths and weaknesses of emic decision models as compared with their etic counterparts.


Looking beyond formal legal protection for geographical indications (GIs), this research project empirically explores the opportunities and constraints which influence whether regional product branding initiatives are successful. The legal protection of GIs is characterised by a variety of legal approaches which translates the many meanings and objectives attached to them. These range from protection of the consumers and producers' interests against unfair competition practices, to territorial development, to preservation of cultural heritage and natural resources. This research seeks to understand the relationships between the type of legal protection, the operation of GI initiatives, their economic and non-economic effects, and the opportunities and constraints that affect such effects. To this aim, it draws upon empirical data collected from twelve GI initiatives involving different means of protection (trade mark and sui generis systems) in France and Vietnam that both associate GIs with economic and non-economic objectives. In doing so, this thesis identifies the factors that impact on the collective dynamics involved in the GI initiatives; those that influence the use and value of GIs on the market; those that hinder their use on the market; and those that contribute to the ability of GIs to create effects outside the market. This thesis argues that the significance of the distinction between the two types of legal protection varies greatly depending on the institutional context in which the GI initiatives are embedded and that the differences between the sui generis and trade mark approaches can be reduced in practice. Further, the type of legal protection is often not enough to bring about economic and non-economic effects. This research suggests that a wide range of organisational, institutional, marketing, socio-economic and cultural factors influence both the use and value of GIs, and the benefits derived from them.


Four cases of aspergillosis of the paranasal sinuses seen recently at the North Carolina Baptist Hospital are reported. Paranasal sinus aspergillosis is prone to develop in patients living in the southeastern states because those states 1. have an agricultural economy and 2. have a hot, humid climate that causes a high incidence of nasal and sinus disorders. The increasing use of immunosuppressive and oncological drugs should further increase the incidence of aspergillosis. Diagnosis of aspergillosis of the paranasal sinuses requires a high index of suspicion which should be present particularly for a patient who has unilateral sinusitis that does not respond to routine therapy, or who has a localized sinus mass or bony erosion. Immunodiffusion tests are specific for aspergillosis. Treatment consists of surgical removal of the diseased mucosa and adequate aeration and drainage of the sinus. Culture of the specimen on Sabouraud's agar will confirm the diagnosis.


Abstract 2283 Poster Board II-260 Background: Reduced intensity allogeneic transplantation was developed to harness graft versus leukemia immune effect to treat older patients and patients with comorbidities who are not eligible for conventional myeloablative transplant. Aim: To prospectively study the safety and efficacy of reduced intensity HCT in patients with myelofibrosis. Methods: Patients with intermediate or high risk MF were eligible if they had adequate organ function and at least 9/10 matched related or unrelated donor. Fifteen patients were conditioned with Fludarabine 40mg/m2 × 4 (days -5, -4, -3 -2) and Busulfan 130mg/m2 × 2 (day -3,-2). Thymoglobulin 2.5 mg/kg x 3 (day -3,-2 and 1) was additionally given to patients receiving unrelated donor graft. Because of high incidence of relapse, Busulfan dose was increased to a target AUC of 4000 μmol/L or a fixed dose of 100mg/m2 × 4 (days -5, -4, -3 -2) in 11 patients. Tacrolimus and mini Methotrexate were used as graft versus host disease prophylaxis. All patients received standard supportive care. Results: Between 6/2005 and 07/2009, 26 consecutive patients with myelofibrosis were treated. There were 13 males and 13 females with a median age of 58 (range 27-74). Seventeen patients had primary MF, 3 post PV MF and 6 Post ET MF. Based on Lille criteria, 14 patients had intermediate risk disease and 12 had high risk disease. Ten patients had splenectomy prior to transplant; remaining 16 patients had enlarged spleen at the time of transplant. Fourteen patients had mutated Jak 2. Median peripheral blood CD 34 count was 57/μl(range 1-3770/μl). Karyotype was abnormal in 11 patients and diploid in 15. Donors were matched siblings for 10 patients, matched unrelated for 12, and one antigen or allele mismatched unrelated for 4 patients. Stem cell source was marrow in 3 and peripheral blood in 23. All patients engrafted with a median time to neutrophil engraftment of 13 days (0-27) days) and a median time to platelet engraftment of 24 (0-105) days. Jak 2 positive patients achieved molecular remission post transplant with negative JaK 2. With a median follow up of 21 (1-43) months, 2 year overall and event free survival are 71% (SE 10%) and 46% (SE 11%), respectively. Cumulative incidence of non relapse mortality was 14% (SE 7%). Cumulative incidence of relapse was 39% (SE10%). Eight patients relapsed; 3 in blast phase and 5 in chronic phase. Four of these 8 are currently disease free after a second transplant. Including these 4 patients, 18 out of 26 patients are currently disease free. These include 10 of 11 patients treated with higher dose of busulfan compared with 8 of 15 patients treated with lower busulfan dose. Conclusion: RISCT induces molecular remission with very low non relapse mortality in older patients with myelofibrosis, but the relapse rate is high. Increasing the intensity of conditioning regimen may reduce the relapse risk and needs to be studied further. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


A mechanism for electron transfer reactions is described, in which there is very little spatial overlap of the electronic orbitals of the two reacting molecules in the activated complex. Assuming such a mechanism, a quantitative theory of the rates of oxidation‐reduction reactions involving electron transfer in solution is presented. The assumption of "slight‐overlap" is shown to lead to a reaction path which involves an intermediate state X* in which the electrical polarization of the solvent does not have the usual value appropriate for the given ionic charges (i.e., it does not have an equilibrium value). Using an equation developed elsewhere for the electrostatic free energy of nonequilibrium states, the free energy of all possible intermediate states is calculated. The characteristics of the most probable state are then determined with the aid of the calculus of variations by minimizing its free energy subject to certain restraints. A simple expression for the electrostatic contribution to the free energy of formation of the intermediate state from the reactants, ΔF*, is thereby obtained in terms of known quantities, such as ionic radii, charges, and the standard free energy of reaction.

This intermediate state X* can either disappear to reform the reactants, or by an electronic jump mechanism to form a state X in which the ions are characteristic of the products. When the latter process is more probable than the former, the over‐all reaction rate is shown to be simply the rate of formation of the intermediate state, namely the collision number in solution multiplied by exp(—ΔF*/kT). Evidence in favor of this is cited. In a detailed quantitative comparison, given elsewhere, with the kinetic data, no arbitrary parameters are needed to obtain reasonable agreement of calculated and experimental results.


A trial was conducted using 144 male and female crossbred piglets (48-to-69-day-old and 15.5kg of initial weight) to evaluate nutritionally and economically sugar cane yeast ( Saccharomyces sp.), dried by spray-dryer (SCYSD), in pelleted or meal diet in the piglets feeding. Isolysine, isocalcic and isophosphoric diets were used, based on corn and soybean meal. The experimental design was of randomized blocks, with four treatments in 2x2 factorial scheme, using two SCYSD inclusion levels (7% and 14%) and two physical forms of diets (meal and pelleted) with four replications and nine animals per experimental unit. There were no effects of SCYSD inclusion levels in diets on feed intake, daily weight gain and feed/gain ratio or on cost of feed per kilogram of live weight gain. The pelleted diets provided better daily weight gain, decrease in feed intake, better feed/gain ratio, decrease in diet cost per kilogram of live weight gain and, reduction in daily intake and intake per kilogram of live weight gain of digestible energy, crude protein, lysine and methionine+cystine.


We examine the contact line friction coefficient of viscous droplets spreading and retracting on solid surfaces immersed in ambient oil. By using the electrowetting effect, we generate a surface tension imbalance to drive the spreading and the retracting motion of the three-phase contact line (TCL). We show that neither the driving force intensity nor TCL direction significantly influences the friction coefficient. Instead, the friction coefficient depends equivalently on the viscosity of liquid droplets and the surrounding oil. We derive and experimentally verify a transient timescale that can be used to characterize both the spreading and retracting dynamics.


Objective: To develop a tool to assess Canadian family medicine residents in regards to continuity of care (COC). Design: Analysis of the first 100 patient visits of family medicine residents during their four-month block time in the second year of residency. Data was collected between the years of 2009 and 2012 and used to construct standardized curves for COC. Setting: West Winds Primary Health Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Participants: 36 second-year family medicine residents training at West Winds Primary Health Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Main outcome measures: The number of unique patients that a family medicine second-year resident encounters within the first 100 patient visits of family medicine block time. Results: Family medicine residents demonstrate individual variation in the number of unique patients they encounter within one hundred patientvisits. Conclusion: It is possible to develop a tool that can assess second-year family medicine residents in their ability to practise COC. This tool can be used to identify residents in difficulty, such that appropriate interventions can be made early on in their family medicine block time. Further research, involving residents from across Canada, is needed before this tool can be employed in a widespread manner.


This qualitative study examines the pre- and post-migration practice experiences of 73 physicians trained in South Africa who have relocated to Canada. The aims are to explore the workings of two different healthcare systems from an insider standpoint and to address the medical autonomy debate as it relates to international medical graduates (IMGs). While study respondents reported practice frustrations in both countries, they generally preferred working in a socialised health insurance environment that grants wider accessibility than a two-tiered system that favours a privileged few. Concerns such as family safety and opportunities for children also contributed to more satisfaction with Canada. We discuss our findings in relation to a broader international context and the sociological literature on medical autonomy. We argue that IMGs face different autonomy issues from other physicians and stress the need to broaden sociological inquiry of medical work by investigating how autonomy interfaces with other neglected aspects of physicians' work and non-work lives.


The goal of the present study was to determine whether pre-hospital 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels are associated with the risk of hospital-acquired new-onset delirium (HANOD). We performed a retrospective cohort study of 4508 adult inpatients at two teaching hospitals in Boston from 1993 to 2006. All patients had 25(OH)D levels measured before hospital admission. The main outcome measure was HANOD, defined as the onset of delirium during an acute care hospitalisation. Patients with a history of delirium or dementia, or those with a diagnosis of delirium or dementia upon acute care hospitalisation were excluded from the analysis. To test the association of pre-hospital 25(OH)D levels with HANOD, we constructed a multivariable logistic regression model to adjust for clinically relevant covariates. Among our patient cohort, the mean 25(OH)D level was 22 (sd 13) ng/ml and approximately 4% of patients met the criteria for HANOD. Following adjustment for age, sex, race (non-white v. white), patient type (medical v. surgical) and Deyo-Charlson Index, patients with 25(OH)D levels < 10, 10-19·9 and 20-29·9 ng/ml had higher odds of HANOD than patients with 25(OH)D levels ≥ 30 ng/ml: OR 2·15 (95% CI 1·32, 3·50), OR 1·54 (95% CI 0·98, 2·43) and OR 1·23 (95% CI, 0·76, 1·99), respectively. These data support the rationale for randomised, controlled trials to test the role of vitamin D supplementation in the prevention of HANOD.


According to the rule of de Candolle-Walles a species diversity decreases from low latitudes regions to high latitudes regions. However in the Weddell Sea the biodiversity of the fauna of some groups are approximately the same (Actiniaria, Mysidacea, Cumacea, Gastropoda, Bryozoa, Echinoidea) or more than this in the Magellan region (Spongia, Pycnogonida, Holothuroidea, Asteroidea, Ohpiuroidea, Ascidiacea). In spite of the rather high species diversity of bivalves in the Weddell Sea, communities where bivalves dominated (like in Arctic seas) practically are absent and average size of gastropods and bivalves is much less than in the Arctic Ocean. Moreover Reptantia from Decapoda crustacean is absent in the Weddell Sea. We will try to explain the reasons of the breach of the Walles rule of the fauna and will try to explain some other peculiarities of the Weddell Sea. For this purpose we will compare the fauna of some groups in the Magellan region and in the Weddell Sea (Table. Number of species of different genera the Magellan Region and in the Weddell Sea).


The present research work focuses on the regionalisation of rainfall-runoff model parameters, fundamental for the implementation of hydrological models in ungauged basins and needed to reproduce the actual sequence of river discharge in time. Regionalisation of parameters is based on the transfer of information from hydrologically similar gauged basins to ungauged basins. This work provides further insights on parameter regionalisation and catchment similarity through the application of innovative methodologies to support the existing knowledge.
The first experiment develops a methodology to test the robustness of regionalisation procedures to the availability of data in the study region. In particular, the effect of the density of streamflow gauging stations and the topological relationships between their corresponding drainage basins on the different regionalisation techniques is investigated. Such work provides useful information for the choice of the most appropriate method, based on data availability in the region.
The focus is then moved to the value of hydrological similarity at sub-basin scale. Driven by the fact that similarity is generally defined between entire catchments, neglecting some significant differences in the within-basin rainfall-runoff transformation processes, a methodology to differentiate hydrological processes at sub-basin scale and to transfer model parameters from similar sub-basins is proposed. The analysis is based on the diversification of the parameter values, and therefore of the corresponding hydrological dynamics, across elevation, one of the main factors influencing the runoff generation processes.
Finally, an innovative catchment signature is proposed for improving our knowledge about hydrological similarity, meant for the delineation of hydrologically similar regions. A new methodology for identifying the dominant rainfall-runoff transformation dynamics is presented: the interaction between the entire time-series of runoff generation forcings and runoff itself is quantified taking advantage of the concepts of the Information Theory and used to characterise catchments with promising results.


A protocol including physical examination, plain radiography, and shoulder arthrography was designed to study prospectively the causes of shoulder pain in patients with cervical spinal cord injury. Twenty-four patients (30 shoulders) were studied and subdivided into acute and chronic groups. The causes of shoulder pain in the acute group of 11 patients (15 shoulders) included capsular contracture or capsulitis or both in 6 shoulders; rotator cuff tears in 4; anterior instability in 2; and rotator cuff impingement, osteoarthritis with osteonecrosis, and osteoarthritis in 1 each. Of 13 patients (15 shoulders) assigned to the chronic group, the diagnoses included anterior instability in 5 shoulders; multidirectional instability in 3; capsular contracture or capsulitis or both in 3; and Charcot arthropathy, rotator cuff tear, rotator cuff impingement, and scapular pain in 1 each. To prevent and treat shoulder pain, therapeutic protocols for these patients must be individualized after a correct diagnosis is made.


The properties of principal null directions of a perturbed black hole are investigated. It is shown that principal null directions are directly observable quantities characterizing the spacetime. A definition of a perturbed spacetime, generalizing that given by Stewart and Walker, is proposed. This more general framework allows one to include descriptions of a given spacetime other than by a pair (M, g) where M is a four-dimensional differential manifold and g a Lorentz metric. Examples of alternative characterizations are the curvature representation of Karlhede and others, the Newman–Penrose representation or observable quantities involving principal null directions. The conditions are studied under which the various alternative choices of observables provide equivalent descriptions of the spacetime.


This paper presents an analytical model to analyze the characteristics of fast retransmission and recovery when packets are lost in a TCP/IP network. In the model, we consider multiple packets that may be lost in a TCP congestion window, which makes this analysis technically different from the previous models as described in N. Caldwell et al. (2000), J. Padhye et al. (2000), B. Sikdar et al. (2003) and B. Sikdar et al. (2001). One of the significant observation revealed by this paper is that whether or not the lost packets can be fast retransmitted at the (y+1)-th RTT (round-trip time) round simply depends on N,[y], representing the number of packets followed by the first lost packet and were successfully received at receiver at th y-th RTT round. For clarification, the analytical model consists of two cases. The first case assumes that N,[y] is greater than or equal to a threshold k (the number of duplicate acknowledgments), while the second case assumes that N,[y] is less than the threshold k. From the analyses, we have found out that there are certain necessary conditions for the occurrence of fast retransmission, and we have derived an upper bound of the number of lost packets to be successfully recovered using the fast retransmission algorithm.


This study investigates the disruptive activity of environmental toxicants on sex hormone receptors mediating type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Toxicokinetics, gene target prediction, molecular docking, molecular dynamics, and gene network analysis were applied in silico techniques. From the results, permethrin, perfluorooctanoic acid, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, O-phenylphenol, bisphenol A, and diethylstilbestrol were the active toxic compounds that could modulate androgen (AR) and estrogen-α and –β receptors (ER) to induce T2DM. Early growth response 1 (EGR1), estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1), and tumour protein 63 (TP63) were the major transcription factors, while mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) were the major kinases upregulated by these toxicants via interactions with intermediary proteins such as PTEN, AKT1, NfKβ1, SMAD3 and others in the gene network analysis to mediate T2DM. These toxicants pose a major challenge to public health; hence, monitoring their manufacture, use, and disposal should be enforced. This would ensure reduced interaction between people and these toxic chemicals, thereby reducing the incidence and prevalence of T2DM.


We propose in this paper a simulation framework of pandemic in financial system composed of banks, asset markets and interbank markets. This framework aims at complementing the usual stress-test strategies that evaluate the impact of shocks on individual balance-sheets without taking into account the interactions between several components of the financial system. We build on the network model of Gourieroux, Heam, and Monfort (2012) for the banking system, adding some asset market channels as in Greenwood, Landier, and Thesmar (2015) and interbank markets characterized by collateralized debt and margin calls. We show that rather small shocks can be amplified and destabilize the entire financial system. In our framework, the fact that the system enters in an adverse situation comes from first round losses amplification triggered by asset depreciation, interbank contraction and bank failures in chain. From our simulations, we explain how the different channels of transmission play a role in weakening the financial system, and measure the extent to which each channel could make banks more vulnerable.


Latter-day Lore: Mormon Folklore Studies Edited by Eric A. Eliason and Tom Mould. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press. 2013. Pp. xi + 591, introduction, notes, bibliography, contributors, sources of previously published chapters, index. Austin and Alta Fife's Saints of Sage and Saddle, published in 1956, is still seen by most scholars as the most comprehensive treatment of Mormon folklore, However, Latter-Day Lore: Mormon Folklore Studies stands firmly as a long-needed update to the Fife's seminal work, offering a great retrospective of where Mormon folklore scholarship has been, and pointing to some promising places it can go next. Given such breadth, Latter-day Lore offers a fairly comprehensive--but by no means exhaustive --collection of Mormon folklore, covering a wide breadth of topics, genres, and themes. If a topic is not included in the collection, chances are it can be found in the "notes" or "bibliography" sections in the back. As such, it provides a great "where have we been?" of Mormon folklore scholarship and will surely take its place next to the Fife's work as a cornerstone of Mormon folklore. The book is divided into six sections covering the Mormon Cultural Region (MCR), customs and traditions, supernatural folklore, Mormon history, humor, and, finally, international Mormon folklore. Each section opens with an introduction written by the editors and filled with a collection of previously published articles and chapters from prominent scholars of Mormon Folklore. The organization may seem arbitrary since it mixes genre, theme, topic, and geography as organizing principles; however, the introductions ground each section in Mormon history even as it echoes the history of Mormon folkloristics. The sections are then comprised of chapters of previously published work from prominent and emerging scholars famous in and outside of Mormon folklore. The section introductions provide concise historical overviews that help contextualize the succeeding chapter within Mormon history and folkloristics. This is a great strength of the collection and could have been even more emphasized. One way to do this would have been to incorporate original publication dates of the chapters more prominently. Because Latter-day Lore does want to show where the scholarship has been, foregrounding the original publication dates would help emphasize the historical contexts of each article within Mormon folkloristics. In addition to addressing the history of Mormon folkloristics, the section introductions also discuss key tensions within Mormonism and Mormon folkoristics. Some of these tensions are at the heart of chapters, such as the tension between superstition and belief, the sacred and the supernatural, and belief and skepticism. Other tensions are explored more within and between articles, such as the tensions between official doctrine and vernacular traditions, history and historical memory, and humor and social anxieties. In exploring these tensions, Eliason and Mould's joint editorship, as well as contributions from "Mormons of various levels of belief and commitment and members of other faiths or no particular faith" (19) help Latter-Day Lore benefit from both insider and outsider perspectives. Whatever their affiliation, the chapters included in Latter-day Lore mix some compassion with their insightful analysis of Mormon culture in both etic and emic approaches. Perhaps no aspect of Mormon folklore is better known, more iconic, and more lamented for being overemphasized, than Three Nephite legends. Inevitably but appropriately, Eliason and Mould begin by addressing these legends. Because the collection is dedicated to William A. "Bert" Wilson, it is fitting to begin with the Three Nephites--as Wilson did--and encourage scholarship to move beyond the traditional borders of Mormon folkloristics: Utah, rural populations, America, the supernatural, etc--as Wilson also did. Echoing Wilson's call for where Mormon folklore research should go can be seen as a critique of Mormon folkloristics, since it suggests that folklorists have yet to follow through with Wilson's 1989 call to focus more on Mormon's daily lives rather than the fantastic and supernatural. …


The problem of robust H∞ filtering of uncertain systems with continuous and discrete disturbance is addressed based on sampled measurements. The parameter uncertainty is assumed to be time-varying norm-bounded. The aim is to design an asymptotically stable filter, using the locally sampled measurements, which ensure both the robust asymptotic stability and the prescribed level of H∞ performance for the filtering error dynamics for all admissible uncertainties. The sufficient condition for the existence of such a filter is proposed. An LMI method for designing filters is given by matrix transformations, so it is convenient to obtain the expression of filter. Finally, a numerical example shows that the method is effective and feasible.


The three CARD-containing MAGUK (CARMA) proteins function as scaffolding molecules that regulate activation of the pro-inflammatory transcription factor NF-κB. Recently, mutations in CARMA2 have been linked to psoriasis susceptibility due to their acquired altered capacity to activate NF-κB. By means of two-hybrid screening with yeast, we identified RING finger protein 7 (RNF7) as an interactor of CARMA2. We present evidence that RNF7 functions as a negative regulator of the NF-κB-activating capacity of CARMA2. Mechanistically, RNF7 influences CARMA2 signaling by regulating the ubiquitination state of MALT1 and the NF-κB-regulatory molecule NEMO. Interestingly, CARMA2short (CARMA2sh) mutants associated with psoriasis susceptibility escape the negative control exerted by RNF7. In conclusion, our findings identify a new mechanism through which the ability of CARMA2 to activate NF-κB is regulated, which could have significant implications for our understanding of why mutations of this protein trigger human psoriasis.