Listeners judged whether a target tone was contained within a previously or subsequently presented major chord, and targets consisted of either the root, third, fifth, or tritone of the scale based on the root of the chords. Chord position influenced the relative recognition of targets, but listeners exhibited greater recognition of the fifth regardless of chord position (root, first inversion, second inversion). The data were not consistent with notions of root tracking or melody tracking. The data were broadly consistent with the notion that different chord positions may be harmonically equivalent (i.e., that listeners may recognize components of a chord regardless of chord position), with notions of analytic set and the importance of an instantiation of musical context for chord processing, and with the importance of the fifth in harmonic progression.


Acute kidney injury (AKI) frequently leads to systemic inflammation and extrarenal organ dysfunction. Volatile anesthetics are potent anti-inflammatory agents and protect against renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. Here, we sought to determine whether isoflurane, a commonly used volatile anesthetic, protects against AKI-induced liver and intestinal injury, the mechanisms involved in this protection, and whether this protection was independent of the degree of renal injury. Bilateral nephrectomy-induced AKI under pentobarbital sodium anesthesia led to severe hepatic and intestinal injury with periportal hepatocyte vacuolization, small intestinal necrosis, apoptosis, and proinflammatory mRNA upregulation. In contrast, isoflurane anesthesia reduced hepatic and intestinal injury after bilateral nephrectomy. Mechanistically, isoflurane anesthesia upregulated and induced small intestinal crypt sphingosine kinase-1 (SK1) as SK1 mRNA, protein, and enzyme activity increased with isoflurane treatment. Furthermore, isoflurane failed to protect mice treated with a selective SK inhibitor (SKI-II) or mice deficient in the SK1 enzyme against hepatic and intestinal dysfunction after bilateral nephrectomy, demonstrating the key role of SK1. Therefore, in addition to its potent anesthetic properties, isoflurane protects against AKI-induced liver and intestine injury via activation of small intestinal SK1 independently of the effects on the kidney. These findings may help to elucidate the cellular signaling pathways underlying volatile anesthetic-mediated hepatic and intestinal protection and result in novel clinical applications of volatile anesthetics to attenuate perioperative complications arising from AKI.


Over the past decade, cameras have colonised the mobile phone. Just as no phone is complete today without a camera, more phone cameras are sold today than any other kind of camera. Indeed, the mobile phone company who can now claim to be the world's largest camera maker, Nokia, has reportedly put more cameras into people's hands than in the whole previous history of photography. Apple can't be far behind. The upshot is that these days most of us in the developed world carry at least one camera at all times, capable not only of recording and displaying images but also instantly sharing them, via the Internet or messaging services.


Primarily, a laser gated-viewing (GV) system provides range-gated 2D images without any range resolution within the range gate. By combining two GV images with slightly different gate positions, 3D information within a part of the range gate can be obtained. The depth resolution is higher (super-resolution) than the minimal gate shift step size in a tomographic sequence of the scene. For a state-of-the-art system with a typical frame rate of 20 Hz, the time difference between the two required GV images is 50 ms which may be too long in a dynamic scenario with moving objects. Therefore, we have applied this approach to the reset and signal level images of a new short-wave infrared (SWIR) GV camera whose read-out integrated circuit supports correlated double sampling (CDS) actually intended for the reduction of kTC noise (reset noise). These images are extracted from only one single laser pulse with a marginal time difference in between. The SWIR GV camera consists of 640 x 512 avalanche photodiodes based on mercury cadmium telluride with a pixel pitch of 15 μm. A Q-switched, flash lamp pumped solid-state laser with 1.57 μm wavelength (OPO), 52 mJ pulse energy after beam shaping, 7 ns pulse length and 20 Hz pulse repetition frequency is used for flash illumination. In this paper, the experimental set-up is described and the operating principle of CDS is explained. The method of deriving super-resolution depth information from a GV system by using CDS is introduced and optimized. Further, the range accuracy is estimated from measured image data.


Behaviour and diet composition are critical elements in conservation biology within the scope of reintroduction programs. Here we focused on addax (Addax nasomaculatus), a Critically Endangered antelope species, in the Jbil National Park, Tunisia. In this study, we advanced the hypothesis that season, day period, sex and social structure have an effect on the activity budgets and diet composition of addax. Three groups were selected (large group, adult pair and solitary male). Resting, moving, grazing, vigilance and other behaviours were recorded during two seasons (dry and wet) and in the morning and the afternoon. In addition, faecal samples were collected. The results indicate that season and day period were the main factors affecting the activity budgets. The resting behaviour increased from the wet to the dry season, and from morning to afternoon. The grazing and moving behaviours increased during the wet season and decreased from morning to afternoon. Addax select a mixed diet composed of perennial and herbaceous plant species notably during the wet season. In addition, we observed that addax modify their behaviour according to the season and forage availability. This represents an adaptive strategy to survive in a desert climate with a stochastic low-resource environment and depending on ambient climatic conditions.


Abstract Objective The objective of this study was to compare clinical outcomes of preeclamptic pregnancies according to the proteinuria level. Study Design Secondary analysis of a multicenter prospective cohort study of women with preeclampsia (PE) symptomatology. Nonproteinuria, mild-proteinuria, and massive-proteinuria PEs were defined as: < 165 mg in 12 hours or < 300 mg in 24 hours, 165 mg to 2.69 g in 12 hours or 300 mg to 4.99 g in 24 hours, and ≥ 2.7 g in 12 hours or ≥ 5.0 g in 24 hours, respectively. Individual and composite maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes were compared among the PE groups. Results Of the 406 analyzed pregnancies, 36 (8.8%) had massive-proteinuria PE, 268 (66.0%) mild-proteinuria PE, and 102 (25.1%) nonproteinuria PE. Compared with the other groups, massive-proteinuria PE women had significantly higher blood pressures (p < 0.001), epigastric pain (p = 0.007), and uric acid serum levels (p < 0.001) prior to delivery. Composite maternal morbidity was similar across the groups. Delivery < 340/7 weeks occurred in 80.6, 49.3, and 22.5% of massive-proteinuria, mild-proteinuria, and nonproteinuria PE groups, respectively (p < 0.0001). Composite adverse neonatal outcomes were significantly higher in the massive-proteinuria PE compared with the other groups (p = 0.001). Conclusion While potentially not important diagnostically, massive proteinuria is associated with more severe clinical manifestations of PE prompting earlier delivery.


For the train positioning system currently applied in high-speed MAGLEV train systems, it is classified into absolute positioning systems which discontinuously detect train positions, and relative positioning systems which continuously detect train positions. In this paper we analyze the configuration model and the numerical model of the absolute positioning system applied in TRANSRAPID which is a representative high-speed MAGLEV train, and design the two configuration models specific to the recognition structures of absolute positioning systems. We also verify the compatibility of the design models of absolute positioning system through simulation using MATLAB and propose the optimal configuration model of absolute positioning systems for high-speed MAGLEV train system.


Theoretical predictions of wall shear stresses in unsteady turbulent flows in pipes are developed for all flow conditions from fully smooth to fully rough and for Reynolds numbers from 103 to 108 . A weighting function approach is used, based on a two-region viscosity distribution in the pipe cross section that is consistent with the Colebrook–White expression for steady-state wall friction. The basic model is developed in an analytical form and the resulting weighting function is then approximated as a sum of exponentials using a modified form of an approximation due to Trikha. A straightforward method is presented for the determination of appropriate values of coefficients for any particular Reynolds number and pipe roughness ratio. The end result is a method that can be used relatively easily by analysts seeking to model unsteady flows in pipes and ducts.


Scene meaning is processed rapidly, with 'gist' extracted even when presentation duration spans a few dozen milliseconds. This has led some to suggest a primacy of bottom-up information. However, gist research has typically relied on showing successions of unrelated scene images, contrary to our everyday experience in which the world unfolds around us in a predictable manner. Thus, we investigated whether top-down information – in the form of observers' predictions of an upcoming scene – facilitates gist processing. Within each trial, participants (N=336) experienced a series of images, organised to represent an approach to a destination (e.g., walking down a sidewalk), followed by a final target scene either congruous or incongruous with the expected destination (e.g., a store interior or a bedroom). Over a series of behavioural experiments, we found that: appropriate expectations facilitated gist processing; inappropriate expectations interfered with gist processing; the effect of congruency was driven by provision of contextual information rather than the thematic coherence of approach images, and; expectation-based facilitation was most apparent when destination duration was most curtailed. We then investigated the neural correlates of predictability on scene processing using ERP (N=26). Congruency-related differences were found in a putative scene-selective ERP component, related to integrating visual properties (P2), and in later components related to contextual integration including semantic and syntactic coherence (N400 and P600, respectively). Taken together, these results suggest that in real-world situations, top-down predictions of an upcoming scene influence even the earliest stages of its processing, affecting both the integration of visual properties and meaning.


This paper describes an approach to analyze the facial appearance of building in image. Detecting the line segments and grouping them make a mesh of parallelograms. The belongings of face as principal component parts (PCPs) as doors, windows, walls are detected by merging neighborhood of parallelograms with similar color. We use MSAC to group such line segments which have a common vanishing point. We calculate one dominant vanishing point for vertical direction and maximally five dominant vanishing points for horizontal direction. The vertical group and one of horizontal groups create a mesh of basic parallelograms. Each mesh represents one face of building. Each face contains windows, doors and the wall. The PCPs are separated into two groups according to their properties. The first one is represented by windows and doors. This group caries geometrical information of building such as how many windows and doors there are. So the robot can measure that how tall and wide the building is. The second one is wall region containing an important visual information such as what color of building is. This information can help the robot to distinguish a building from others. The proposed approach can apply to building detection, recognition and reconstruction.


Background
Health insurance among people of low income, such as female food vendors and others in the informal sector, is one of the vital steps towards universal health coverage in Tanzania. Little is known to explain reasons for low enrolment of informal workers in health insurance schemes. We studied what is hindering uptake of health insurance among female food vendors in Kinondoni district in Dar es Salaam.
Methods
The study took place from January to March 2018. A mixed methods design was employed using a quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interviews. We included 75 respondents of which 70 were female food vendors selected using the snow-balling method. Five respondents were officials from the National Health Insurance Fund, who were purposefully selected.
Results
Almost half of respondents (45.7%) were earning less than TZS 100,000 (equivalent to US $44.80) a month. Most (82.9%) could not afford health insurance. Attitudes did not affect uptake of health insurance as the majority (60.0%) agreed that health insurance is vital for their survival. However, a majority (63.4%) of respondents did not know how health insurance works.
Conclusion
The low level of income and limited awareness of health insurance options limited enrolment into health insurance. Interventions should ensure that everyone is enrolled irrespective of economic status. Moreover, the government should design innovative strategies to increase awareness about health insurance.


Abstract Disease mechanisms underlying neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), termed neuro-COVID, are poorly understood. Investigations of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA and antibodies, as well as autoantibodies against neuronal surface antigens, could improve our understanding in that regard. We prospectively collected CSF and blood from patients investigated by lumbar puncture for neurological or neuropsychiatric symptoms during or after COVID-19. Primary outcomes were the presence of (i) SARS-CoV-2 RNA in CSF via polymerase chain reaction (PCR), (ii) SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti-S receptor-binding-domain antibodies via the Euroimmun and Wantai assays and (iii) IgG autoantibodies against neuronal surface antigens using commercial cell- and tissue-based assays (Euroimmun). Secondary outcomes were (i) routine CSF investigations and (ii) correlation between SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels in CSF with serum levels, blood–brain barrier permeability and peripheral inflammation. We obtained CSF from 38 COVID-19 patients (mean age 56.5 ± 19.2 years, 53% women) who developed neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms. CSF pleocytosis (>5 cells) was observed in 9/38 patients (23.7%), elevated CSF protein (>0.50 g/L) in 13/38 (34.2%) and elevated CSF/serum albumin ratio in 12/35 (34.3%). PCR for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in CSF was negative in all. SARS-CoV-2 CSF antibodies were detected in 15/34 (44.1%; Euroimmun assay) and 7/31 (22.6%; Wantai assay) individuals, but there were no signs of intrathecal SARS-CoV-2 IgG production. SARS-CoV-2 CSF antibodies were positively correlated with serum levels (R = 0.93, P < 0.001), blood–brain barrier permeability (R = 0.47, P = 0.006), peripheral inflammation (R = 0.51, P = 0.002) and admission to the intensive care unit [odds ratio (OR) 17.65; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.18–264.96; P = 0.04; n = 15]. Cell-based assays detected weakly positive NMDAR, LGI1 and CASPR2 antibodies in serum of 4/34 (11.8%) patients but not in CSF. The tissue-based assay showed anti-neuronal fluorescence in CSF from one individual, staining for Purkinje cells. In summary, whereas we did not detect active SARS-CoV-2 infection in the CSF, SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were prevalent. The absence of intrathecal antibody production points towards blood–brain barrier impairment as the origin of CSF SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. In contrast, CSF autoantibodies against neuronal surface antigens were rare. There was no evidence for a clinical correlate of these antibodies. We conclude that, rather than specific autoimmune neuronal injury, non-specific effects of critical illness including an impaired blood–brain barrier are more likely to contribute to neuro-COVID.


The different substitution lines and genotypes behaved differently in their biomass yield and nutrient uptake. Plant height, number of productive tillers, straw yield and number of earhead were more in substitution lines than the mother cultivars and check wheat genotypes. Yield of different substitution lines were lower than in check genotypes. The contents of N, P and K in plant parts of shoot, straw and grain were more in substitution lines than the check genotypes. No marked differences were observed in the contents of Ca, Na and Mn both in the lines and genotypes.


ABSTRACT Meaningful reflection on their learning and skill development is often lacking in the experience of undergraduates. Many students do not recognise the curriculum-embedded development of transferable skills and lack the ability to articulate such skills. This mixed-methods study sought to investigate whether engaging students in reflection would increase their ability to recognise and articulate their skill development. Sixty science undergraduates from Monash University completed a voluntary semester-long program recording and reflecting on course-related skill development, supported by email prompts and group discussions. The impact of students' involvement was evaluated through pre- and post-participation surveys, reflections and group discussions. Most students were challenged by the unfamiliarity of thinking beyond knowledge attainment in order to identify and reflect on skill-related experiences. However, they recognised a range of benefits from doing so, including an improved ability to recognise their skill development, strengths and weaknesses and to articulate their skills in readiness for seeking employment. They also valued previously unappreciated learning tasks and gained motivation to improve skill deficits and seek out opportunities to improve their employability. Based on this study, recommendations are made regarding best practice for implementing skills reflection in the curriculum.


We prove that the tetracanonical map of a variety $X$ of maximal Albanese dimension induces the Iitaka fibration. Moreover, if $X$ is of general type, then the tricanonical map is birational.


Background: Dalbavancin is a lipoglycopeptide antibiotic with Gram-positive activity and novel pharmacokinetic (PK) properties that result in a prolonged terminal half-life of 15.5 days in adults. Once weekly dosing in adults in phase 3 studies of complicated skin and skin structure infections documented dalbavancin exposures associated with clinical and microbiologic efficacy. PK properties have not been examined in children. The primary objective of this open-label, multicenter single-dose phase 1 study was to characterize the PK of dalbavancin in hospitalized pediatric subjects 12–17 years of age. Methods: A single dose of 1000 mg of dalbavancin (the standard adult dose) was administered as a 30-minute intravenous infusion to subjects weighing 60 kg or greater and 15 mg/kg for subjects weighing <60 kg. A noncompartmental PK analysis was performed. Results: The apparent terminal t1/2 was approximately 9 days and was similar for dalbavancin dosages of 1000 mg and 15 mg/kg. Median dalbavancin plasma exposures (Cmax and AUCinf) when administered as 1000 mg to subjects weighing 60 kg or greater were similar to those when dalbavancin was administered at 15 mg/kg to subjects weighing <60 kg and slightly lower than exposures in adults given 1000 mg in prior PK and treatment studies. Single dose dalbavancin was well tolerated. Conclusions: Given dalbavancin exposures documented in children 12–17 years of age, and recognized dose proportionality, appropriate dosing can be modeled for pediatric phase 3 trials in acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections, to achieve the same exposure that is reported to be safe and effective in adults.


Thermal design of dual circulating fluidized bed reactors for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture was carried out. To handle large heat duties for regeneration, a thin rectangular reactor was proposed. For feasible thermal design, the effect of varying reactor thickness on the gas-solid flow and heat transfer of the thin rectangular fluidized bed was investigated. Reactor thickness of 10, 30, and 60 mm was tested. Numerical simulations were conducted to analyze the pressure difference, solid particle hold-up distribution, particle velocity, granular temperature, and heat transfer in detail. According to our results, when the reactor is between 10 mm and 30 mm thick, a large solid hold-up occurs adjacent to the narrow wall. This causes a large pressure difference due to the wall effect. Furthermore, the particle velocities were analyzed to evaluate that there is the two-dimensional (2D) particle mixing behaviors. On the other hand, in the case of reactors with a thickness of 60 mm, tuning flows occur adjacent to the narrow wall. This reduced the pressure difference and the three-dimensional (3D) particle mixing behaviors. This difference in particle behavior affected heat transfer. In the case of reactor thicknesses between 10 mm and 30 mm, the heat transfer increased with the reactor thickness. In particular, the heat transfer at the narrow wall of the reactor with a thickness of 10 mm was extremely low due to the low particle mixing. On the other hand, there was more heat transfer with a thickness at the 60 mm wall, despite the low solid hold-up.


A high luminosity Circular Electron Positron Collider(CEPC) as a Higgs Factory will be helpful for precision measurements of the Higgs mass. The signal-background interference effect is carefully studied for the Higgs diphoton decay mode in associated Z boson production at future e~+e~-colliders at energy 246 GeV. The mass shifts go up from about 20 MeV to 50 MeV for the experimental mass resolution ranging from 0.8 GeV to 2 GeV.


In this work, we present a new planning formalism called Expectation-Aware planning for decision making with humans in the loop where the human's expectations about an agent may differ from the agent's own model. We show how this formulation allows agents to not only leverage existing strategies for handling model differences but can also exhibit novel behaviors that are generated through the combination of these different strategies. Our formulation also reveals a deep connection to existing approaches in epistemic planning. Specifically, we show how we can leverage classical planning compilations for epistemic planning to solve Expectation-Aware planning problems. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed formulation is the first complete solution to decision-making in the presence of diverging user expectations that is amenable to a classical planning compilation while successfully combining previous works on explanation and explicability. We empirically show how our approach provides a computational advantage over existing approximate approaches that unnecessarily try to search in the space of models while also failing to facilitate the full gamut of behaviors enabled by our framework.


A 19 year-old woman admitted to Emergency Department with hypotension, sudden loss of vision and acute abdominal pain. Ultrasound and computed tomography demonstrated an occipital infarct in brain and ruptured intraperitoneal cyst of hydatid liver disease. Urgent laparotomy was performed and it included aspiration of cyst contents, peritoneal washing and drainage. Her vision loss improved by 15 hours postoperatively but generalized seizures were started. Weakness in all extremities was present. Cranial MRI demonstrated ischemia in the areas of middle, posterior and anterior cerebral arteries. She was discharged from the hospital with severe neurological deficits (unable to walk, not able to eat herself). Neurological deficits were improved with physiotherapy after two years. There was no recurrence of hydatid cysts in the follow-up of three years. We assumed that anaphylaxis after intraperitoneal rupture of hydatid liver cyst resulted with hypotension and reduced cerebral perfusion, caused the acute vision loss and other neurological symptoms. This unusual presentation of intraperitoneal rupture should be kept in mind particularly in endemic areas of hydatid disease.


In long-term evaluation (LTE) self-optimizing networks (SONs), load balancing is an essential part. In this paper, load unbalance problem is presented and a new game model based on cell load (BCL) is proposed. Optimal load allocated to each cell is formulated as a Nash Equilibrium, and it is proved that the new game model can improve the low system blocking probability (SBP), unsatisfied users and guarantee the throughput of the system.


In colorectal cancer, oncogenic mutations transform a hierarchically organized and homeostatic epithelium into invasive cancer tissue. To define differences in cellular composition between the normal colon and colorectal cancer, and to map potential cellular interactions between tumor cells and their microenvironment, we profiled transcriptomes of >50,000 single cells from tumors and matched normal tissues of eight colorectal cancer patients. We find that tumor formation is accompanied by changes in epithelial, immune and stromal cell compartments in all patients. In the epithelium, we identify a continuum of five tumor-specific stem cell and progenitor-like populations, and persistent multilineage differentiation. We find multiple stromal and immune cell types to be consistently expanded in tumor compared to the normal colon, including cancer-associated fibroblasts, pericytes, monocytes, macrophages and a subset of T cells. We identify epithelial tumor cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts as relevant for assigning colorectal cancer consensus molecular subtypes. Our survey of growth factors in the tumor microenvironment identifies cell types responsible for increased paracrine EGFR, MET and TGF-β signaling in tumor tissue compared to the normal colon. We show that matched colorectal cancer organoids retain cell type heterogeneity, allowing to define a distinct differentiation trajectory encompassing stem and progenitor-like tumor cells. In summary, our single-cell analyses provide insights into cell types and signals shaping colorectal cancer cell plasticity.


A set of equations is derived which permits the calculation of the figure of merit for a communications channel in which a binary error correcting code is used in conjunction with correlation decoding at the receiver. The figure of merit is expressed in terms of the required probability of error and the parameters of the code. These equations are then used to determine the figure of merit for a number of systems using error correcting codes. In particular, a comparison is made between those systems which use orthogonal codes, and a class of systems using codes for which the ratio of bandwidth to information rate is equal to two.


Due to the advancement of Information Technology IT, the hospitality industry is seeing a great value in gathering various kinds of and a large amount of customers' data. However, many hotels are facing a challenge in analyzing customer data and using it as an effective tool to understand the hospitality customers better and, ultimately, to increase the revenue. The authors' research attempts to resolve the current challenges of analyzing customer data in hospitality by utilizing the big data analysis tools, especially Hadoop and R. Hadoop is a framework for processing large-scale data. With the integration of new approach, their study demonstrates the ways of aggregating and analyzing the hospitality customer data to find meaningful customer information. Multiple decision trees are constructed from the customer data sets with the intention of classifying customers' needs and customers' clusters. By analyzing the customer data, the study suggests three strategies to increase the total expenditure of the customers within a limited amount of time during their stay.


ID: 12711 Title: Increasing source to image distance is a consistent dose reduction method across a range of attenuator thicknesses and collimation strategies Purpose: Increasing the source to image-receptor distance (SID) for radiological exposures is an effective yet under-utilized optimization technique. Although several studies have demonstrated that dose reductions are achievable using this technique, there is little agreement in the literature as to the precise mechanism behind this reduction. The objective of the current work was to investigate the mechanisms through which SID reduces dose by use of a physical attenuator methodology and to examine the combined effect of this with collimation. Method and Materials: A total of 810 dosimetry measurements were acquired using thermoluminescent dosimeters. Exposures of a homogeneous attenuator composed of poly methyl meth-acrylate were taken with a GE tube at 90kVp using SIDs of 100cm; 130cm and 150cm respectively. As field size is a known contributor to patient dose three different collimation strategies were also considered: collimating to the outer surface; collimating to the mid-point and collimating to the image-receptor. Results: A significant difference was determined for each of the SIDs tested (p<0.001) with a trend of decreasing dose with increasing SID. Reductions in the ratio of the dose recorded at the image-receptor to that at a position 30cm from the image-receptor were found to be between 3.9% and 37.9% for 150cm and between 7.5% and 30.6% for 130cm respectively when compared to 100cm. Conclusion: Results from this study demonstrate that increasing the SID above 100cm reduces the dose to a 30cm object as the ratio of the dose at the entrance surface to that at the exit point is reduced with increasing SID. This reduction in dose with increasing SID is exclusive of patient size or collimation method. Further work will investigate if anthropomorphic phantom and patient based studies produce equivalent results. Radiographers should be strongly encouraged to increase the SID above 100cm in the clinical setting.


ABSTRACT As the world watches millions of refugees whose livelihoods ripped apart by deadly missile attacks, this editorial investigates the forces that lead to the marginalization of populations as they battle for their sovereignty from the margins. It draws upon current publications to offer insights into the transformation of the lives of those residing in world's economic margins. Places that were once economic peripheries are now at the center of the digital transformation of the global economy as it changes how those at the margins can attain their freedoms. Insights from patching development and technologies of the oppressed offer unique insights into ways out of the structural oppression. Insights from these and papers published in this issue offer contributions to what we know about digital transformation in the context of socio-economic and human development and how the battle for the soul of self-sovereignty is won by digital transformation at the margins.


This paper examines purchase intentions and brand loyalty with five dimensions of Quick Service Restaurant. The objectives of the study are to investigate the associations between consumers' perceptions of Quick Service Restaurant and brand loyalty, and whether purchase intentions mediate these relationships. The measures used for the constructs were adapted from past studies and our hypotheses were tested using online survey data. This research was conducted from the perspective of Generation Y consumers in Singapore and we used McDonald's, the market leader in the Singapore fast food industry, as the context for this study. The findings provided support for all the hypotheses, namely, that consumers' perceptions of location, product menu, food quality, service crew and collectibles were positively related to purchase intentions. Moreover, the results indicate that the purchase intention variable played a mediating role in the relationship between location, product menu, food quality and brand loyalty. The findings have some useful managerial implications for the foodservice industry.


Oral route is one of the most patient friendly routes for the most of the pharmacologically chronic disease treatment. Nearly 40% of new drug candidates exhibit low water solubility and hence high intra- and inter-subject variability and lack of dose proportionality. Much attention has been given to lipid-based formulation with particular emphasis on self-micro emulsifying drug delivery system to improve the oral bioavailability of lipophilic drugs. It requires small amount of dose and also drugs can be protected from hostile environment in gut. Self micro emulsifying drug delivery systems are specialized form of delivery system in which drug is encapsulated in a lipid base with or without pharmaceutical acceptable surfactant. Self micro emulsifying drug delivery systems are isotropic mixtures of oil, surfactant, co-surfactant and drug with a unique ability to form fine oil in water micro emulsion upon mild agitation following dilution with aqueous phase. SMEDDS is evaluated by various methods like visual assessment, droplet polarity and droplet size, size of emulsion droplet, dissolution test, and charge of oil droplets, viscosity determination, and in-vitro diffusion study. With future development of this technology, SMEDDS will continue to enable novel applications in drug delivery and solve problems associated with the delivery of poorly soluble drugs.


Background: Doxorubicin (DOX) is an effective anti-tumor agent; however, it causes cardiotoxicity. SIRT1 is an NAD + -dependent protein deacetylase that plays a crucial role in cell survival. Hypothesis: SIRT1 protects against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. Methods and Results: In wild type (WT) and tamoxifen-inducible cardiomyocyte-specific SIRT1 knockout (SIRT1 cKO) mice, either DOX or PBS was administered (4 injections of 5 mg/kg/wk) starting at 3 months of age. Echocardiography at 1 week after final DOX showed that left ventricular dimension, thickness, and fractional shortening (FS; 32.7 vs. 33.8%) were comparable in WT-PBS and cKO-PBS groups. DOX decreased FS in both genotypes; but FS was lower in cKO-DOX than in WT-DOX (24.6% vs. 27.3%, P<0.05). Cardiac level of nitrotyrosine, a marker of oxidative stress, was higher in cKO-DOX by 68% than WT-DOX. At 12 weeks after DOX, cardiac level of ANP mRNA, a marker of heart failure, was significantly higher in cKO-DOX than WT-DOX. Protein levels of LC3-II, a marker of autophagosomes, and p62 that is degraded by autophagy were significantly higher in SIRT1 cKO, suggesting suppression of autophagy. Conclusion: The findings suggest that SIRT1 affords protection against DOX-induced cardiotoxicity, probably via attenuating oxidative stress through activating autophagy.


The article presents materials of experimental and theoretical studies of the excited state parameters, as well as conditions of their applicability, permitting to evaluate the rocket engines capacity by a factor of high-frequency stability of processes occurring in the combustion chamber and the gas generator. Recognizing the existence of a link between the engines capacity and values of a few parameters of the excited state, the researches of informativeness of characteristics of engines capacity, defined using the combinations of values of complexes of these parameters, were conducted. The conditions for the recognition of the link between the engines capacity and the values of parameters of the excited state that is conditions for recognition of informativeness of parameters on tests outcomes, were formulated. Two ways of evaluation of the informativeness of characteristics of the engines capacity according to the combination of the values of parameters of the excited state were formulated: direct, based on the comparison of frequencies of nonoccurrence of the engines failure, and indirect, based on the comparison of conditional characteristics of the measure of differences of parameters from marginal combinations.


In this letter, we present the first demonstration of a long wavelength-tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) using an InP-InAlGaAs distributed Bragg reflector (DBR). The use of such a DBR improves the thermal resistance of the VCSEL while keeping the growth process simple. The devices show operation to temperatures greater than 75/spl deg/C, and single-mode devices emit powers as high as 0.9 mW at room temperature. The tuning range is as high as 17 nm.


Recently, we explored the effects of weak fluid elasticity (El ≪ 1) on the stability of co- and counter-rotating Taylor–Couette (TC) flows [Dutcher and Muller, J. Rheol. 55(6), 1271–1295 (2011)], where accessible flow states were primarily governed by the dominant inertial forces, yet modified by the weaker elastic forces. Here, the study of the inertial–elastic TC problem is expanded to El near unity, illuminating the effects of increasing the elastic forces on the inertially driven instabilities. A polyethylene oxide solution was carefully chosen to have optimal rheological properties and exhibit limited shear and oxidative degradation. The sequence of transitions to turbulence found here is notably different from that observed previously for either Newtonian or low-elasticity fluids. As El approaches order 1, laminar and turbulent flows are separated by only two coherent flow states: Standing vortices and disordered rotating standing waves. In contrast to our experiments at lower El, we also observe flow state hysteresis. In addition, the final turbulent flow state was not turbulent Taylor vortices (TTV) as seen with Newtonian and weakly elastic fluids, but rather a state we refer to as elastically dominated turbulence, which occurs at a significantly lower Reynolds number than TTV. Stability mappings involving rotation of the outer cylinder show that the flow states and transitions depend on the amount of counter- or co-rotation. As the degree of counter rotation increased, greater deviations from Newtonian and low El behavior were found, due to the presence of a nodal surface that changes the characteristic length scale of the flow.


During the tabulation of votes in the 2000 presidential election, the world was shocked at the technological inadequacy of electoral equipment in many parts of the US. In reaction to public dismay over "hanging chads", Congress quickly enacted the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), legislation to fund the acquisition of advanced vote-counting technology. However, the intention was to enable, rather than mandate, choices of new electoral equipment. This paper takes advantage of a unique historical opportunity to test whether electoral equipment follows the pattern predicted by well-established models of innovation diffusion, merging electoral data with census data on socioeconomic characteristics. We infer that fiscal constraints to acquisition are strong but are not the only limitations to technology adoption, particularly within certain types of easily identifiable populations.


Maintaining a "sense of place" involves preserving the cultural, historical, and visual relationships of an area. Gentrification occurs because existing residents cannot find affordable housing. Manufactured houses are the best housing value, but they are excluded from residential neighborhoods due, in part, to their appearance. Zoning which discriminates against this housing type is particularly harmful to and promotes gentrification in lower income neighborhoods. This thesis attempts to prove that inclusionary regulations could be used to ensure compatibly-designed manufactured housing. This thesis considers the factors that contribute to compatibility and uses historic resource surveys of a predominantly African-American, workingclass neighborhood to identify characteristic attributes of its historic houses. The attributes are then examined to determine whether a standard manufactured house could be modified to create a compatible design.


Abstract 1065 Introduction: Clofarabine is active in both relapsed and newly diagnosed AML, and combinations of clofarabine with low-dose cytarabine appear superior to clofarabine alone. Because high-dose ara-C (HiDAC) is often more effective than lower doses, we combined clofarabine with HiDAC, together with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) priming in patients with relapsed AML or AML that failed to respond to initial therapy (refractory). Methods: Beginning in 2008, a phase I dose-escalation trial was conducted using clofarabine at 15, 20, and 25 mg/m2 daily × 5, in combination with cytarabine 2 g/m2 daily × 5, and G-CSF 5 mcg/kg subcutaneously, beginning 1 day before chemotherapy and continuing daily until neutrophil recovery (GCLAC). The phase I study was followed by a phase II expansion at the maximum tolerated dose (MTD; 25 mg/m2). We used multivariate analyses to compare complete remission (CR) and survival rates in patients given GCLAC with those seen in 101 relapsed/refractory patients given fludarabine 30 mg/m2 daily × 5 and cytarabine 2 g/m2 daily × 5 with (FLAG, 20 patients) or without (FA, 81 patients) G-CSF at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDA) before 2008. Independent analyses were done by statisticians at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) and MDA to examine whether outcomes were affected by treatment type after accounting for first CR duration, number of prior salvage therapies, cytogenetics, and age. Results: Fifty patients received GCLAC at the FHCRC including 34 using clofarabine at the 25 mg/m2 MTD and 32 as first salvage therapy. Thirty-two patients had relapsed after a median 1st CR (CR1) duration of 6 months, while 18 patients were refractory. The CR rate among the 46 evaluable patients was 46% (95% CI, 31–61%) and the CR + CRp rate was 61% (95% CI, 45–75%). Ninety percent of the CRs were observed after the first course of therapy. Twelve patients who had >5% blasts on day 14 of course 1 subsequently achieved CR without further therapy. The CR rate was 4/8 in patients given a second induction course. Median time to neutrophil count >500 was 21 days (range 17–39) and to platelet count >100,000 was 30 days (range 21–42). Grade ≥3 toxicity was similar to that seen with other HiDAC regimens, with infections and pulmonary toxicity (invariably associated with infection) being the most frequent adverse events, occurring in 40% and 46%of patients, respectively. Response rate was similar at all dose levels of clofarabine, and amongst all cytogenetics risk groups. The 30 day mortality from day 1 of salvage induction chemotherapy was 0%. In contrast, CR rates were 22/81 with FA (27%; 95% CI 18–38%) and 4/20 with FLAG (20%; 95%CI 6–44%) salvage. For the comparisons with FA and FLAG, both the FHCRC and MDA multivariate analyses indicated that after accounting for CR1 duration, salvage number, age, and cytogenetics, GCLAC was associated with a higher CR rate (p= 0.001 MDA, p Conclusion: This study indicates that GCLAC is active in relapsed and refractory AML, may be qualitatively different from regimens such as FLAG, and warrants prospective comparison with them. Disclosures: Becker:Genzyme: Research Funding. Off Label Use: Clofarabine is approved for treatment of relapsed pediatric ALL. Faderl:Genzyme: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding.


Anthropogenic alteration of the landscape is a long-term disturbance both in duration and consequences. This study addresses land-cover responses to a history of human land use in northeastern Puerto Rico. Analysis of aerial photographs indicated that the pattern of land use in the municipality of Luquillo changed dramatically between 1936 and 1988. In 1936, sugar cane and pasture were the dominant land uses, occupying about one third of the study area each, while dense forest was rare. Pasture still occupied about a quarter of the area by 1988, but the area of sugai cane had declined to zero. Most sugar cane land was transformed to pasture after abandonment, while much of the pasture at higher elevations reverted to forest. More than half the study area in 1988 was occupied by dense forest, and the degree of forest regeneration was greatest adjacent to the Luquillo Experimental Forest and around patches that were dense forest remnants in 1936. The overall trend was from high-intensity agriculture to dense forest, but urban areas increased more than 2000 percent between 1936 and 1988 and are presently encroaching on forested areas. It is unclear from one study whether the same pattern would hold true at other sites in the tropics, but our study indicates the importance of preserving remnants of mature forest as sources of forest regeneration. In addition, the nature of the patches in the Luquillo landscape has changed as the land use has changed. In 1936, dense forest was highly fragmented, the patches were small and many of them had linear configurations (riparian corridors and hedgerows). By 1988, the average patch size of dense forest had increased greatly, although with one exception the patches were still small relative to other land-cover types.


Background and Aims Bone grafting to replace missing bone with synthetic porous Biomaterial (i.e. bone graft scaffolds) and associated new bone formation and remodelling, have been investigated for over 30 years [Hing K., 2005]. Limited availability of autografts and the risk of disease transfer of allografts, however, has produced an increase in requests for synthetic bone grafts. This study estimate the osteogenic effects of white marble (powder). Methods A bone defect 2.5 mm in diameter and 2 mm deep was made in the diaphysial part of femoral bone of male Wistar rats. The defects were filled with white marble powder (WM) and autogenous blood clot (control). The animals were euthanized 7, 15, 30, 60 and 90 days after surgery, and specimens were collected for radiographic and microscopic analyses. The bone defects were processed for paraffin embedding and H&E staining. Results X-ray after the operation did not reveal obvious evidence of angiogenesis in the femoral condyles, where the X-ray density underwent slight changes. The optical density decreased significantly after the implantation, and the quantity of the osteoid, woven and lamellar bone increased in the bone tissue with time. The osteogenesis area with H&E staining showed obvious bone formation, which was significantly different from the control group. Conclusion Although osteo-conductive activity was not shown, the dolomite favored the repair process, compared to the control group. This study has shown that the white marble powder can be used as a graft to a small cortical bone defect.


Software project management is one of the critical activities in software development process. Many software development projects fail due to poor management of projects. The main aim of software project management team is to count what is countable, measure what is measurable and prepare measurable parameters for continuously monitor and manage a software development project. One of the very important factors in proper management of a software project is software estimation. At present most of software projects developed are using object oriented technology for the development of software projects. Researchers across the globe have used object oriented technology based method known as use case point method for estimating efforts for a software project development. This research work is an effort to review different invariants of use case point method of effort estimation. The research work also highlights the importance of continuously refining the UCP method in order to reduce the gap between the estimated and actual efforts.


This paper describes three neural network (NN) based approaches for on-line human signature verification: Bayes multilayer perceptrons (BMP), time-delay neural networks (TDNN), and input-oriented neural networks (IONN). The backpropagation algorithm was used for the network training. A signature is input as a sequence of instantaneous absolute velocity (|/spl upsi/(t)|) extracted from a pair of spatial coordinate time functions (x(t), y(t)). The BMP provides the lowest misclassification error rate among the three types of networks.


Sensitivity formulation and calculation is an important task in several electromagnetic induction systems, notably those used for measurement, nondestructive testing (NDT), and inductive imaging systems such as magnetic induction tomography (MIT). Previously, the sensitivity formulation used in these cases did not consider the velocity of the objects being imaged as these are considered to be static compared to the rate of change of the applied ac field. More recently, practical applications such as eddy current NDT for high-speed rail or wheel inspection and liquid metal flow imaging have used the interaction between the velocity of the material and an applied magnetic field for inspection purposes. Clearly in these applications the effects of velocity are fundamental to the operation of the technique. However, a direct sensitivity formulation for the velocity term has not yet been reported. In this paper, we present a derivation of the sensitivity coefficients for general induction measurement systems taking into account of the effect of moving objects. The sensitivity formulation is derived from electromagnetic field theory. It is believed that this is a more complete formulation than those previously reported. The sensitivity formulation has been validated on a test example based on contactless inductive flow tomography (CIFT). This example consists of a refractory tube carrying liquid metal. The tube is surrounded by an array of coils which apply a dc field. The secondary magnetic field caused by the velocity of the liquid metal is measured with an array of magnetometers. The sensitivity of the magnetometer signal to the axial component of the velocity, derived from the new formulation, is compared to values obtained from an independent numerical model based on the finite difference method. A good agreement was obtained for the cases considered, some of which are reported here.


Three patients with solar urticaria were treated with plasmapheresis. By intradermal injection of in vitro irradiated serum the existence of a circulating photoallergen was demonstrated in cases 1 and 2 but not in case 3. Plasmapheresis induced complete remission of solar urticaria in case 1 and transient improvement in case 2. In case 3, however, no beneficial effect was observed. It is suggested that some patients with solar urticaria, probably those with a circulating photoallergen, may benefit from plasmapheresis.


This paper presents a high-performance design of dc-dc switching power converter system, which can deliver a regulated 0–50V and 0–15A output. The full-bridge phase-shift converter is realized with zero voltage switching and UCC3895 IC to achieve higher efficiency and pulse width modulation. For wide range of adjustable voltage output control, a PI gain-scheduling control scheme is proposed and implemented using a conventional FPGA chip. Experimental results justify the feasibility and performance of the proposed power converter control system.


Patellofemoral disorders continue to present as some of the most common and challenging pathologic conditions of the orthopedic and sports medicine community. Numerous surgical and rehabilitative approaches have been suggested to treat patients with such conditions, but no single approach has been shown to be the most beneficial because of the numerous etiologic factors associated with patellofemoral pain. Rehabilitation programs should be implemented based on a thorough clinical evaluation and continuously modified based on the unique and specific presentation of each patient. Early emphasis is placed on eliminating pain and inflammation. In addition, reestablishing soft tissue and muscular balance is an essential component to patellofemoral rehabilitation programs. As the patient improves, the rehabilitation program is advanced in a progressive and sequential manner to ensure that adequate stress is applied to the injured tissues to facilitate healing while minimizing detrimental loads. This article outlines specific treatment principles commonly associated with nonoperative and postoperative patellofemoral management to restore function as quickly and safely as possible.


Abstract The Neosho madtom is a small, short-lived catfish species endemic to gravel bars of the Neosho River in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, U.S.A. It spawns during summer in nesting cavities excavated in gravel. Although the species has survived dam construction within the Neosho River basin, its declining numbers resulted in it being added to the federal threatened species list in 1991. To test how water flow affects the reproductive behavior of Neosho madtoms, we compared activities of male-female pairs in static versus flowing-water aquaria. Using a behavioral catalog, we recorded their behavior sequences during randomly selected 5-min nighttime periods. For males and females, Jostle and Embrace were the most performed reproductive behaviors and the Jostle-Embrace-Carousel was the most performed reproductive behavior sequence. Water flow decreased the mean frequency of occurrence, percentage of time spent and mean event duration of male Nest Building. Because Neosho madtom courtship, reproduction and parental care is a complex and extended process, disturbances such as heightened river flows during the species' spawning season may negatively affect nest quality and reproductive success.


Obesity is becoming an increasingly prevalent health problem among individuals in affluent societies, and can lead to life-threatening conditions like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Increased dietary fat intake in combination with a sedentary existence are precipitating factors for the development of obesity and the associated metabolic syndrome. Whereas most animal studies have investigated effects of exercise using "forced" activity protocols, in the present study we investigated the role of "unforced" physical activity in the interaction between dietary fat on regulation of energy balance and fuel homeostasis. This was done using selectively-bred mice which display a high level of voluntary wheel-running activity relative to control lines. Control and selected males and females were fed with a standard lab chow or an iso-caloric 60% fat diet. All fat-fed mice rapidly increased in body mass and decreased food intake, with the exception of the selected females. Selected females did not develop diet-induced obesity and even increased their food intake on the fat diet. In addition, they had improved glucose tolerance on the standard diet compared to the other groups, but this difference was lost upon feeding the fat diet. Adiponectin was increased in selected mice (specifically in males) compared to control mice on the fat diet. Leptin and insulin levels increased on the fat diet in control females and both groups of males, but not in selected females. In conclusion, selected females fed a high-fat diet did not develop diet-induced obesity as the other groups did, but they did become slighty glucose intolerant relative to selected mice on standard chow. This effect could not be explained by differences in adiponectin levels and may be related to a failure to upregulate leptin. (Female) mice selected for high spontaneous wheelrunning activity are an attractive model to further investigate mechanisms involved in the metabolic syndrome and associated type 2 diabetes mellitus. Chapter5


Endometriosis is a serious human gynecological disorder of women of reproductive age. The present study was designed to explore the therapeutic implications of rhein in the management of endometriosis. The results showed that rhein significantly (p<0.05) inhibited the proliferation of endometrial stroma cells in a dose-dependent fashion. Besides, the rhein treated endometrial stroma cells showed significantly (p<0.05) lower migration and invasion, in vitro. Transwell and wound healing assays showed that rhein also suppressed the migration and invasion of the endometrial stroma cells. Rhein was shown to target miR-135 at the molecular level to exert its anti-proliferative effects against the human endometrial stroma cells. Conversely, overexpression of miR-135 could nullify the anti-proliferative effects of rhein. Taken together, the findings of the present study highlight the therapeutic utility of rhein against human endometriosis. However, more in vivo studies are required.


A multiproxy integrated chronological framework, based on oxygen and carbon stable isotope stratigraphy, biostratigraphy (foraminifera and nannoplankton bioevents and foraminifer assemblage‐based climate cyclicity), magnetostratigraphy, sapropel stratigraphy, and 14C AMS radiometric dates, has been achieved for borehole PRAD1‐2, collected in 185.5 m water depth in the central Adriatic. This work was carried out within the European Community project Profiles across Mediterranean Sedimentary Systems (PROMESS1). The 71.2 m long borehole spans a time interval between late MIS 11 and MIS 1 (the last 370 ka), showing a chronological resolution of 500 and 250 years per cm during interglacial and glacial intervals, respectively. At present, this record is the most expanded and continuous marine record available for the Adriatic Basin. Several orbital cycles can be recognized in the PRAD1‐2 record: the 100 ka glacial‐interglacial fluctuations and the 23 ka precession‐related cycles, which in turn control the deposition of sapropel layers. An integrated analysis of short‐term oscillations within the Last Glaciation interval (MIS 4–MIS 2) allowed the identification of the Adriatic signature of Dansgaard‐Oeschger events, showing the potential to achieve a more refined chronostratigraphic framework for the top part of the PRAD1‐2 record. Finally, the age model obtained by this study allowed the chronological integration of the main foraminifera bioevents detected in the borehole as well as of the volcanoclastic layers present in the upper part of the record. Despite its proximal location, PRAD1‐2 presents a continuous record and shows the potential to be consistently correlated both with deep‐sea and continental records in the Mediterranean region and beyond.


Presence of non-lint materials (trashes) in commercial cotton bales at various amounts degrades the market values and further influences the end-use qualities. In order to ensure a fair trading, the USDA's AMS has introduced the high volume instrument (HVI) measurement as a universal standard index. Trash contents are generated by one of three HVI modules and represent the trash portion only detectable on samples' surfaces. In additional to HVI's geometric method, gravimetric-based Shirley analyzer (SA) and advanced fiber information system (AFIS) have also been utilized to yield the trash contents. With the increasing acceptance of HVI readings in the domestic and international trading, there is a continued interest in the relationship between HVI trash and SA trash from cotton fiber customers and regulators. Due to the complexity of not only trash type, size, and its weight distribution but also the nature of HVI and SA tests, it is understandable that there are few studies available trying to bridge two types of trash readings and, apparently, this is a challenge. This study first investigated the correlations between two HVI trash readings, and revealed a general conversion of HVIcount=104.5*HVIarea among low trash samples (HVIarea ≤ 0.40). Then, correlations between the HVI and SA trash and also against AFIS trash were examined, and a stronger relationship between HVI and SA trash than between HVI and AFIS trash was observed. Next, the samples were sub-grouped subjectively according to the ratios of HVIarea/SAvisible (or HVIcount/SAvisible), and from the plots with the least intercepts, it was proposed two general conversions of SAvisible = 6.82*HVIarea and SAvisible = 0.069*HVIcount. In order to verify the likely conversion, NIR spectra were correlated with HVIarea readings. Considering the heterogeneous distribution of trashes in fibers and different sampling specimens between NIR spectral and HVI reference measurement, a 90% confidence interval was applied to exclude outlier samples from the calibration and validation sets. The recalibrated models revealed different response to validation samples in various subsets. Remarkably, the model from samples with the HVIarea/SAvisible ratio of 0.12-0.18 suggested the highest r, RPD, and means/SEP, indicating the most appropriate references for the samples in this subset and echoing the earlier finding from simple descriptive approach of least intercept. Unquestionably, conversion constant might change with relative amount of trash size and type and also their weight distribution.


According to emergent grammar and exemplar theory in cognitive linguistics, the frequency of an item affects its behaviour in terms of structural change. In this article, I illustrate how high frequency items, such as preterital modal auxiliaries and copulas in Afrikaans, resist regularising with the rest of the Afrikaans verbal system. Items with a moderately high frequency can resist change for a time, but succumb to it eventually, such as mog ("might") and wis ("knew"). While the course of change can also be affected by other factors, such as het ("have") and had ("had"), and dink ("think") and gedink/dag/dog ("thought") show, the data in diachronic Afrikaans corpora from 1911 to 2010 confirm that high frequency items resist structural change to a large extent, while low frequency items do not. This links with the cognitive representation of language and language processing, and illustrates how the use of language shapes the structure of language.


We investigated whether the hypolipidaemic effect of fenofibrate and fasting observed in most omnivorous mammals may also apply to herbivorous fish. Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) fed a high-fat (8 %) diet exhibited a marked increase in blood lipids and body fat after 6 weeks. They were then treated with fenofibrate (100 mg/kg body weight) in the same high-fat diet for 2 weeks, followed by fasting for 1 week. Plasma lipid concentration, body fat amount, fatty acid composition, plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and some parameters related to hepatic fatty acid oxidation were measured, and liver samples were stained for histological examination. Fenofibrate treatment decreased TAG and cholesterol concentrations in plasma, total lipids of the whole body and liver, and EPA and DHA contents in tissues. Further, a mobilisation of mesenteric fat concomitant with an increase in hepatic peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation and lipid peroxidation was observed. Compared with fenofibrate treatment, fasting decreased body weight and plasma TAG, but not plasma cholesterol. It also reduced the fat content of the whole body and increased the EPA and DHA contents in the liver and other tissues. Fatty acid oxidation was stimulated by fasting in mitochondria, but not in peroxisomes. These data suggest that fenofibrate and fasting regulate the lipid metabolism in grass carp through different metabolic pathways. The grass carp is moderately responsive to a fibrate derivative in comparison with the well-known excess responsiveness of the rat model, and so it could be used for the study of lipid abnormalities as a herbivorous model.


This paper discusses a scalable solution for integrating legacy illustrated parts drawings into a Class IV Interactive Electronic Technical Manual (IETM) (1995). An IETM is an interactive electronic version of a system's technical manuals such as for a commercial airplane or a military helicopter. It contains the information a technician needs to do her job including troubleshooting, vehicle maintenance and repair procedures. A Class IV IETM is an IETM that is authored and managed directly via a database. The end-user system optimizes viewing and navigation, minimizing the need for users to browse and search through large volumes of data. The Boeing Company has hundreds of thousands of illustrated parts drawings for both commercial and military vehicles. As Boeing migrates to Class IV IETM systems, it is necessary to incorporate existing illustrated parts drawings into the new systems. Manually re-authoring the drawings to bring them up to the level of a Class IV IETM is prohibitively expensive. Our solution is to provide a batch-processing system that performs the required modifications to the raster images and automatically updates the IETM database.


Fledged family lifeNest-leaving: Behaviors of chicks and parents at nest-leaving of chicks are summarized as followsFeeling near flying of chicks from nest, the female utters her soft nasal nga-notes addressing to chicks, lengthens the feeding intervals so as to invoke the nest-leaving mood of chicks by causing the restless irritation from increasing hunger. The male chiefly watches her, feeding the chicks with still longer intervals.From a few days before nest-leaving, the chicks stand on nest-wall, preening (taking off descamating sheath of growing feathers), stretching and with jumping or wing flapping excercise, and finally they leave the nest to perch on near branches. Then they gradually move to upward branches to roost there for the night.This is usually toward evening and the root of such nest-leaving behavior may be in correlation with inherent roosting drive.Having once left the nest, the chicks would not come back to, or roost, on the nest (although they may temporarily perch on it while moving through the branches).During the day, the fledged chicks sit still in the foliage, sleeping and waiting the parents for food. The feeding frequency by parents 4 days after chicks' flying was 1.3 times per hour.On the 3rd day after fledged, a chick could fly about 30m and on the 8th day they flew 40-50m and came back to their perch.At the first night of fledging from nest, the chicks roosted on perches where they sat during the day and parents took roost (both in 1969 and '70, though they flew off to "flock roost" in 1977) below the nest-tree ("nest-site roost"), as if to guard the chicks (which are sleeping above in the tree, keeping individual distance of several meters. This may have an effect of distrupting the predator's attention. Thereafter, the parents roosted either in "nest-site", "territory" roost or flew off to "flock roost", reacting to the condition of chicks (If fed enough the chicks roosted quietly but if not they were irritated by hunger and in this case parents' (female) reaction involved some judgment behavior (cf. Kuroda 1969).The period of fledged family life can be summarized by dividing four periods:1. First period from fledging to 4th or 5th day.The chicks rest and wait parents' feeding perched in nest-tree (or adjacent taller tree) where they roost at night. The parents may roost below in "nest-site roost" (guarding chicks) or in "territory roost", or flly off to "flock roost" (judging the condition of the chicks).2. Five to ten days after fledged.The chicks begin to fly around the nest-tree, and the parents guide them (one chick after another by repeated trips to and from the roost-site and chick) to "nest-site" roost to sleep there by family.3. Ten to twenty days after fledged.Fledged family accompanied by female may move around for food chiefly within 100m from the nest-tree. But, usually a delayed chick remains in the nest-tree a few more days. Parents may guide chicks to "territory roost" to roost by family. Territory defense of parents are weakened and their chick guard drive reaches to its peak. The begging voice of chicks get lauder.4. After twenty days from fledging.At about 20 days from fledging the young (now to be so called) may be guided by parents to "flock roost" about 1km apart. From this day, well grown young may join to young crow group of the "flock roost" area, and may not return to parents' territory. But, a delayed young, having guided by parents to "flock roost" a few days after well grown mates, would return to parents' territory by itself (possibly urged to do so by "loneliness".).Such a family life of parents and a delayed young may continue 50-100 days, during which the parents would never reject the young from their territory. But, the latter gradually behaves independent of parents, not returning to territory on some days, and finally deserts the territory.


One of the efforts to continuously increase lettuce production is by using hydroponic technology. Hydroponics is a way of farming without using soil media but using water or porous materials. Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) including hydroponic farming methods. In this system, some of the roots of the plants are submerged in water that contains fertilizer and some are above the surface of the water with a continuous 24 hours of circulation. The research was conducted from June to November 2020. The research was carried out on the Hydroponic Roof Top of the Red Building. Plantation Cultivation. This research method used a non-factorial randomized block design (RBD), the treatment of 1100 ppm AB Mix nutrition at the age of 1-14 days, 1300 ppm from the age of 21-28 days, 1500 ppm at the age of 29 - 35 days and B2 = Fertilizer Growmore 1100 ppm at the age of 1 - 14 and 1300 ppm from the age of 21 - 28 days, 1500 ppm at the age of 29 - 35 days Each treatment consists of 20 sample plants.The results showed a significant difference in the application of AB Mix fertilizer to Growmore fertilizer from week 1 to week IV on plant height increase, number of leaves and wet weight or yield on lettuce plants.


Neural progenitor cells may provide for cell replacement or gene delivery vehicles in neurodegen-erative disease therapies. The expression of therapeutic proteins by neural progenitors would be enhanced by viral-mediated gene transfer, but the effects of several common recombinant viruses on primary progenitor cell populations have not been tested. To address this issue, we cultured cells from embryonic day 16-18 mouse brain in serum-free medium containing epidermal growth factor or basic fibroblast growth factor, and investigated how transduction with recombinant viral vectors affected maintenance and differentiation properties of progenitor cells. Neurosphere cultures were incubated with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), adeno-associated virus (AAV) or ade-noviral (Ad) constructs expressing either beta-galactosidase or enhanced green fluorescent protein at low multiplicity of infection. Nestin-positive neurospheres were regenerated after incubation of single progenitor cells with FIV, indicating that FIV-mediated gene transfer did not inhibit progenitor cell self-renewal. In contrast, adenovirus induced differentiation into glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive astrocytes. The AAV serotypes tested did not effectively transduce progenitor cells. FIV-transduced progenitors retained the potential for differentiation into neurons and glia in vitro, and when transplanted into the striatum of normal adult C57BL/6 mice differentiated into glia, or remained undifferentiated. In the presence of tumor cells, FIV-transduced progenitors migrated significantly from the injection site. Our results suggest that FIV-based vectors can transduce progenitor cell populations in vitro, with maintenance of their ability to differentiate into multiple cell types or to respond to injury within the central nervous system. These results hold promise for the use of genetically manipulated stem cells for CNS therapies.


Introduction and purpose: Human abilities are decreased at old age that may eventually, decrease elderly's quality of life and welfare. The present study aims at evaluating effectiveness of recognition therapy (mindfulness) on quality of life as well as welfare among elderly. Materials and Methods: This applied research was done using quasi-experimental method with control group. Statistical population of the present study includes all elderly living in Nursing homes in second half of the year. Convenience sampling method was used to assign 30 elderly in two groups of cases and controls. Data were collected using SF36 questionnaire (to measure quality of life) and Oxford welfare questionnaire (to measure welfare). In order to evaluate the study's hypotheses, covariance analysis was applied and data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Findings: Findings from covariance analysis showed that effectiveness of mindfulness on quality of life variable is 73% (<0.05) and this amount is 58% (p<0.05) for welfare variable. Conclusion: This study indicated that training mindfulness have a positive and meaningful effect on elderly's quality of life and welfare.


How fast the ichthyosaur? Reporting from the 60th annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology in Mexico City, Erik Stokstad (Science, v.290 p.1675, 2000) recounts how Ryosuke Motani of the Royal Ontario Museum has devised a method for determining the speed of ichthyosaurs in the water and another for determining their metabolic state. Motani started off by wanting to know how deep ichthyosaurs could dive. From the correlation between dive duration and body size in modern swimmers, he first deduced that ichthyosaurs could stay submerged for about 20 minutes. As for speed, the laws of hydrodynamics for swimming creatures dictate that speed depends strongly on shape; and by comparison with modern tuna, which are shaped much like ichthyosaurs, Motani was able to estimate that ichthyosaurs probably swam at about 1 m s. On that basis, they could probably have dived to about 500 m. Going further, Motani then constructed a mathematical model that estimates the most efficient swimming speed from an animal's features, such as its length and the shape and size of its tail fin. When applied to 12 species of modern whale, fishes and other marine swimmers, the model proved accurate; and so Motani then applied it to Stenopterygius (Fig. 1), one of the few ichthyosaurs with its tail fin preserved intact, finding that the predicted swimming speed came out at 1.3–1.8 m s for a 2-m-long ichthyosaur, not too far from the cruder estimate above. Finally, Motani fed all this information into a model devised by Judy Massae in 1988, which relates swimming speed, size, shape and metabolic rate, to deduce that ichthyosaurs must have had a fast metabolism. They evidently needed it to propel themselves to full speed as well as to keep warm in cold water Evolutionary intermediate The sirenians, or sea cows, which include the living manatees and dugongs, are a group of marine mammals that first evolved in the Palaeogene. Like the whales, sirenians use the forelimbs and tail for swimming and have lost their hind limbs. Whales first appeared in the Eocene. Both the whales and sirenians must have had terrestrial precursors, and ancestral whales with hind limbs have been described from, for example, the Eocene of Pakistan. The sirenians now have a similarly ancient evolutionary intermediate form that has been excavated from the Eocene of western Jamaica by a group led by Daryl Domning of Howard University, Washington DC, and supported by the National Geographic Society. The new species is closely related to a skull, jaw and atlas vertebra that were described from Jamaica by Richard Owen in 1855 as Prorastomus sirenoides. New collections made by Domning's team comprise hundreds of bones, including the pelvis and hind legs. Although still awaiting formal publication of a full description and analysis, a preliminary reconstruction of one of these early sea cows, looking rather more like a sea pig, has been constructed by the Florida Museum of Natural History, at the University of Florida at Gainesville. This important interpretation appears on the museum's web site <www.natural-history.com/manatees/>. The most obvious 'primitive' feature of the reconstruction is the presence of hind legs, a feature not seen in sirenians for about 50 million years. However, it is also apparent that the snout of the ancient species is straight, with the mouth at the front, unlike more advanced species in which the snout is curved down to position the mouth for grazing on sea grass. [Steve Donovan] Geology Today is distributed to schools and colleges teaching A-level geology by courtesy of LASMO plc.


Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is considered a highly prevalent disease associated with various co-morbidities that lead to socioeconomic burden. Despite large-scale investigation, no pharmacological treatment has been approved specifically for NAFLD to date. Lifestyle modifications and diet are regarded as highly beneficial for the management of NAFLD, albeit with poor compliance, thus rendering pharmacological treatment highly important. Based on the current failure to discover a "magic bullet" to treat all patients with NAFLD and considering the multifaceted pathophysiology of the disease, combination therapies may be considered to be a rational alternative approach. In this regard, several drug categories have been considered, including, but not limited to, lipid-lowering, anti-hypertensive, glucose-lowering, anti-obesity, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic medications. The aim of this review is, in addition to summarizing some of the multiple factors contributing to the pathophysiology of NAFLD, to focus on the efficacy of pharmacological combinations on the management of NAFLD. This may provide evidence for a more personalized treatment of patients with NAFLD in the future.


With chronic post surgical pain affecting up to one third of patients undergoing surgeries and the price of treatment being astoundingly high there has been a transition in research to investigate and identify risk factors. Through identification of risk factors new preventative measures can be taken to ensure better surgical outcomes. The role that psychosocial factors can play in the development of chronic post surgical pain has long been recognized yet its mechanisms are still unknown. We aim to investigate how environment can play a direct role in pain perception and sensitivity. We used a Chronic Mild Stress (CMS) paradigm to induce depression in 10 adult male mice, we used 10 control mice who were left in standard opti cages, and 10 enriched mice who were placed in large enrichment cages. CMS mice were exposed to a series of stressors and all mice underwent spared nerve injury surgery. During spared nerve injury the common peroneal and tibial branches of the sciatic nerve were severed while the sural branch was left intact. Overall well-being and pain threshold of mice were tested via Von Frey, Hot Plate, Heat Place Preference, Dynamic Weight Bearing, Hole Board, and Social Interaction. It was found that CMS mice experienced thermal hyperalgesia yet normal thermal threshold sensation. CMS mice also spent less time interacting with novel mice in social interaction, and less amount of time exploring the center of the hole board arena than v control or enriched mice. While Von Frey results did not change over the course of the experiment, dynamic weight bearing results indicated spared nerve injury surgery was successful and produced chronic pain. Results indicate that environment plays a role in thermal pain perception and CMS affected overall well being of mice as CMS mice exhibited more timid and anxious behavior.


Background and importance The National Health Authority calls for initiatives ensuring that relevant elderly polypharmacy patients receive medication reviews during hospital admission to reduce the risk of adverse events. Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) are one of the most frequent causes of adverse events in older people. Pharmacist led systematic medication reviews are time consuming, and while hospital length of stay has progressively reduced to an average of a few days, the effort has to be aimed at PIM interventions that are best suited to being carried out by a hospital physician. Aim and objectives The purpose of the study was to develop a screening model to identify patients who may benefit from a pharmacist led medication review in hospital. Material and methods A screening model was developed using PIMs described in the international literature and the workflow of pharmaconomists and clinical pharmacists in local hospitals. The screening model was applied to all elderly polypharmacy patients admitted to bed wards having pharmaconomist medicine management in five hospitals. Patients fitting the model were identified by pharmaconomists and referred to a pharmacist led medication review. The pharmacist led medication review was performed centrally with the aim of reducing the number of drugs, number of PIMs and complexity of the medication regimen. The primary outcome was the number of PIMs at discharge compared with the number of PIMs at admission to hospital. Results The screening tool in the model comprised 10 medication focus points and demonstrated a specificity of 78% and sensitivity of 80% in detecting the relevant patients when applied to a cohort of elderly polypharmacy patients. From April to June 2018, 17 631 patients were screened using the tool. The pharmaconomists referred 396 patients to the pharmacists (average age 78 years, 52% women). Of these, 229 received a pharmacist led medication review (average of 2.78 interventions/patient). For the 115 patients with a possible follow-up, the average number of PIMs/patient was significantly reduced (p Conclusion and relevance The screening model developed detected relevant elderly polypharmacy patients for a pharmacist led medication review during hospital admission. The model was easily implemented, low resource and resulted in a significantly reduced number of potentially inappropriate medications. References and/or acknowledgements Conflict of interest No conflict of interest


A high temperature superconducting (HTS) bank of optically switchable,-narrow bad, band reject filters is presented. The filter bank is designed to replace YIG filters in protecting the input of wide band receivers. The use of HTS allows large numbers of filters to be used while keeping insertion loss to a minimum.


Coronary heart disease because of atherosclerosis is still the most common cause of mortality. Elevated levels of low‐density lipoprotein and total cholesterol are major risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the olive leaf extract on serum lipid profile, early changes of atherosclerosis and endothelium‐dependent relaxations in cholesterol‐fed rats. For this purpose, rats were fed by 2% cholesterol‐enriched or standard chow for 8 weeks. Some rats in each group were also fed orally by olive leaf extract at doses of 50 or 100 mg/kg/day. Atorvastatin at dose of 20 mg/kg of body weight daily was also given as positive control. After 8 weeks, lipid profiles of rat serums were analyzed. Antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase) and degree of lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde levels) were also measured in the hearts isolated from rats. In addition, expression of adhesion molecules and endothelium‐dependent relaxations of isolated thoracic aortas of rats were evaluated. Total cholesterol and LDL‐cholesterol levels were found to be increased in cholesterol‐fed rats, and both doses of olive leaf extract and atorvastatin significantly decreased those levels. In conclusion, because the olive leaf extract attenuates the increased cholesterol levels, it may have beneficial effects on atherosclerosis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The perfusion of hibernating myocardium by oxygenated blood coming from transmyocardial channels to the left ventricular cavity has been considered as an alternative for patients unsuitable for bypass surgery. Channels created by lasers are believed to assure patency in the long term. At this moment, several laser systems have become available to create these channels with minimal thermal effects. The systems should be ECG triggered and the exposure should preferably be within the relaxation phase of the cardiac cycle (0.1 - 0.2 s). The lasers examined were an ultrapulsed carbon-dioxide laser with long focus delivery optics, a Holmium laser coupled to a 1 mm spot fiber and an Excimer laser coupled to a 950 fiber. Pieces of bovine myocardium (10 - 20 mm thickness) were exposed while the displacement during penetration was monitored. Pulse trains were delivered within 0.05 - 0.2 s with a repetition rate of 1 - 3 Hz. The fiber delivery devices were loaded with weights between 10 - 80 gram to study the influence of exerted force. For the carbon dioxide laser the creation of the channels was also recorded on high speed video and with a thermal imaging method in a model tissue to visualize explosive and thermal effects. With the Holmium laser immediate penetration of the fiber was obtained while with the Excimer laser the penetration of the fiber started only after several pulses within the train depending on force and energy. The carbon-dioxide laser beam created a channel instantly, up to 30 mm/pulse depending on spotsize and energy. We conclude that all three lasers are capable of creating a channel of 20 mm long on the heart within a few cardiac cycles. Histologic analysis showed that in contrast to the smooth channels of the carbon-dioxide laser, the Holmium and Excimer laser create irregular channels with ruptures to the sides with some thermal damage. It is not clear which kind of channels will have the best potentials to provide maximum perfusion of the myocardium.


The objective of the radar performance prediction is to compute quantities of interest concerning the ability of the radar to observe its surroundings. Besides the properties of the radar system, the performance is affected by the target, whose radar cross section (RCS) is one of the predominant factors. The performance prediction is usually performed in relation to the target RCS characterized by a constant value or a particular statistical distribution. Such representations generalize real-life complex targets rendering them unsuitable for some objectives since the RCS is significantly influenced by the target aspect angle and is inherently stochastic by nature. Thus, a more dynamic description may be valuable e.g. for analyzing the radar performance on a flight path of interest. We propose representing the RCS with a histogram that includes such dynamic properties and is suitable for considering the target in different ways for performance prediction: in a more general manner or dependent on its aspect angle. We consider the case of traditional RCS with low spatial resolution and demonstrate the proposed approach through the probability of detection computed for a generic surveillance radar.


Coxiella burnetii is one of the most common causes of blood culture-negative infective endocarditis (IE). However, only a few cases of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED) infection have been reported in the literature. Herein, we present a case of CIED-related blood culture-negative infection attributed to C. burnetii. A 54-year-old male was admitted to our hospital due to prolonged fatigue, a low-grade fever lasting more than a month, and weight loss. Three years ago, he received an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) as a primary prevention measure against sudden cardiac death. An initial transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography showed a dilated left ventricle with severely impaired systolic function, while the ventricular pacing wire was inside the right ventricle with a large echogenic mass (2.2 × 2.5 cm) adherent to it. Repeated blood cultures were negative. The patient underwent transvenous lead extraction. A transesophageal echocardiography after the extraction revealed multiple vegetations on the tricuspid valve with moderate to severe valve regurgitation. A surgical replacement of the tricuspid valve was determined after a multidisciplinary heart team approach. Serology tests showed increased IgG antibodies in phase I (1:16,394) and phase II (1:8192), and a definite diagnosis of CIED infection was made based on the serological tests.


Abstract : Turkey seeks to become a full partner in the 'European club' by joining the European Union (EU) and Western European Union (WEU) in addition to her current membership in NATO. This has not happened despite a long and intensive effort by Turkey to be accepted, nor will it happen in the foreseeable future. The advantages Turkish membership would bring are outweighed by EU concerns about foreign, economic and domestic policy. Most significant among these are increased exposure to Greek-Turkish issues, Turkish economic strength in areas of little interest to Europe, and an exploding population which is expected to surpass Germany's by 2010. Europeans also question Turkey's democratic tradition, her human rights record and more recently, her secularization. Non-admission, combined with the demise of the Soviet Union, has caused Turkey to begin acting as her own foreign policy center. The result is a shifting paradigm in Turkish foreign relations which often sees Turkish initiatives at odds with those of her post-WWII traditional allies. This Turkish trend toward unilateralism will continue at least as long she is excluded from the EU and WEU and may, in fact, have developed its own momentum. This must be clearly understood to prevent mutual estrangement as Turkey takes initiatives (such as the recent advances to Iran and Libya) which are unpopular with her American and European allies.


After the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, came into effect, a number of patients have filed cases against doctors. This article presents a summary of legal decisions related to medical negligence: what constitutes negligence in civil and criminal law, and what is required to prove it.


BACKGROUND
Vaccines produced in plants have opened up new opportunities in vaccination.

OBJECTIVE
Among the various categories of vaccines, the recombinant vaccine is generally regarded as the most economical and safest type because it cannot cause disease and does not require large-scale cultivation of pathogens. Due to the low cost of their cultivation, plants may represent viable alternative platforms for producing subunit vaccines. Genetic engineering of plastids is the innovation of the last three decades and has numerous benefits when compared to nuclear transformation. Due to the high level of expression, oral vaccines produced in transplastomic plants do not have to be purified as they can be consumed raw, which, therefore, reduces the cost of preparation, transportation and handling of the vaccines. Oral vaccination also excludes the risk of other infections or contaminations, while compartmentation of the plant cell provides an excellent encapsulation to the antigen within the plastid.

RESULTS & CONCLUSION
Herein we review the main biotechnological and immunological aspects of the progress achieved in the field of plastid derived edible vaccines during the last decade. As there is a public debate against genetically modified crops, the advantages and limitations of oral vaccines are also discussed.


The ability of the human body to regulate its heat exchange depends on various environmental factors together with its ability to exchange heat in in-vivo tissue. The environmental factor humidity plays a crucial role in heat regulation within the human body. The heat regulation within in-vivo tissue constitutes temperature regulation in the layers of the dermal part to maintain body core temperature constant. The purpose of this article is to develop a mathematical model to study the effect of humidity on temperature regulation within the human body. The model has been developed for one dimensional steady state flow of heat in human dermal parts with appropriate boundary conditions containing the factors of effect of humidity. Matlab program has been used to simulate the model and obtain numerical results with graphs.


Bipartite ranking is an important supervised learning problem; however, unlike regression or classification, it has a quadratic dependence on the number of samples. To circumvent the prohibitive sample cost, many recent work focus on stochastic gradient-based methods. In this paper we consider an alternative approach, which leverages the structure of the widely-adopted pairwise squared loss, to obtain a stochastic and low cost algorithm that does not require stochastic gradients or learning rates. Using a novel uniform risk bound---based on matrix and vector concentration inequalities---we show that the sample size required for competitive performance against the all-pairs batch algorithm does not have a quadratic dependence. Generalization bounds for both the batch and low cost stochastic algorithms are presented. Experimental results show significant speed gain against the batch algorithm, as well as competitive performance against state-of-the-art bipartite ranking algorithms on real datasets.


Filamentous inclusions (FI) are unusual, irregularly shaped cytoplasmic inclusions, which are mostly found in acinar cell carcinomas of the pancreas and are consequently thought to be an abnormal zymogen granule type. This study describes identical inclusions in acinar, centroacinar, and small duct epithelial cells from nonneoplastic pancreas, as well as those found in tumor cells from a mixed acinar-endocrine pancreatic carcinoma. An ultrastructural and immunogold labeling demonstration indicates that these inclusions are aggregates of intermediate filaments immunoreacting with the anti-cytokeratin AE1/AE3 mixture and with V9 clone anti-vimentin monoclonal antibodies. Their pleomorphic appearance, variable immunoreactivity, and frequent association with lipid droplets and secondary lysosomes, mostly of the angulate type, led to the hypothesis that the FI undergo a degenerative remodeling pathway similar to that proposed for hepatic Mallory bodies. A survey of the literature on FI and human tumors suggests that they are a variably expressed ultrastructural feature of tumor cells originating from exocrine cell-containing tissues, namely the pancreas and gastrointestinal tract.


Blends of biodegradable polyesters; poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) were produced by a variety of preparation methods; solution casting, melt blending and blending in the presence of carbon dioxide using a single screw extruder. The blends were characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mechanical testing, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), rheology and size exclusion chromatography (SEC). Comparison of the blends produced via the different preparation techniques indicated that carbon dioxide was able to improve the morphology and mechanical properties of the PLA/PCL blends.

The influence of carbon dioxide on the reptation time of poly(e-caprolactone) was investigated using oscillatory rheology. It was shown that by introducing CO2 into the polymer melt, the reptation time was significantly reduced, providing evidence that CO2 was interacting with this polymer. Further analysis of the data showed that the activation energy to flow was reduced, which was consistent with the reduction in the reptation times.

Flash DSC, a relatively new thermal analysis technique, was used to explore areas of polymer science that are otherwise unachievable using conventional DSC. It showed the ability to prevent reorganisation and crystallisation in partially crystalline polymers such as poly(e-caprolactone) and was able to evaluate the activation energy of the glass transition temperature for different amorphous and partially crystalline grades of PLA.


It is a common belief that rural farmers' livelihoods are susceptible to climate change. Literature has even suggested that locally driven adaptations are critical complementary strategies that can be targeted to reduce the negative effects of climate change in the short-term. This study examined the determinants of rural households' adaptation to climate change in Ibarapa Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. The paper also assessed farmers' perceived effects of climate change on their livelihood and the strategies adopted by households to adapt to the effects of climate change, as well as the constraints to their adaptation to climate change. One hundred and twenty copies of questionnaire were administered to household heads out of which only one hundred and eighteen copies were found analysable and used for the study. The results showed that there were several effects of climate change perceived by the farmers. These include poor crop yields, which is the most noticeable effect by farmers. Others are a loss of livestock, environmental degradation, and even psychological trauma. The regression results revealed that several socioeconomic variables significantly influenced rural households' decision to adapt to climate change. Some of these variables were farmers' access to weather information, access to credit facilities, farming experience, household size. Some of the challenges rural households encountered in their bid to adapt to climate change were also identified. These were unpredictability of weather, high costs of farm inputs, lack of access to water during dry season and lack of access to timely weather information. It is therefore recommended that government through its agency, Nigerian Meteorological Agency, should provide timely weather information to farmers to help them plan their farming activities. In addition, irrigation facilities should be made available to farmers in the study area so that they can engage in dry season farming and make farm produce available all-year round. This will help boost food security status of farmers and by extension,