The 2D face recognition systems encounter difficulties in recognizing faces with illumination variations. The depth map of the 3D face data has the potential to handle the variation in illumination of face images. For feature matching an efficient fuzzy-neural technique is proposed. This paper presents a new approach in which the depth maps of the 3D face images, containing the depth information of the face image are used. Since the input images contain the depth information the input to the fuzzy neural network is illumination invariant. Using the normalized depth map and fuzzy-neural network, a fully automatic 3D face recognition system is developed. The system is evaluated on the 3D face databases; the CASIA database. The proposed system efficiently handles the varying lighting effects and provides significant recognition accuracy.


Background: Focal lung masses are common radiological fi ndings which need to be characterized to plan management. Suspicious lesions require invasive investigations and aggressive treatment. However, likely benign lesions require no invasive investigations. Objectives: We aimed to correlate the computerized tomography fi ndings of focal lung lesions with pathological diagnoses. Methods: A total of 56 patients were enrolled in the study. Plain and contrast enhanced computerized tomography scan of chest was done in spiral computerized tomography. Radiologist's computerized tomography reports were obtained. Pathological diagnosis were followed in all cases and recorded. Computerized tomography reports were compared with pathological reports and validity of computerized tomography in predicting the nature of lung lesion was assessed. Results: Overall, squalors cell carcinoma was the most common histological cell type (46.34%) followed by adenocarcinoma (41.46%). In 95.12% of total cases, size of the malignant lesion was more than 3cm. Squalors cell Carcinoma was the most common tumor located centrally (71.42%) and adenocarcinoma peripherally (55.55%). Spiculated margin was most commonly associated in malignant lesions. Among morphological characters, chest wall invasion and meditational invasion were statistically significant for malignancy. Contrast enhancement more than 20 hounsfield unit had more than 80% sensitivity and specificity for malignant lesions. Sensitivity of computerized tomography combining all morphological characteristics for depicting malignancy was 97.6% and specificity was 46.7%. Conclusion: The present study showed that contrast enhanced computerized tomography provides more precise tumor localization, characterization and intrathoracic extension to differentiate benign from malignant lung lesion. Enhancement of the lesion is more specific for malignancy than other morphological characteristic. Journal of Kathmandu Medical College, Vol. 4, No. 2, Issue 12, Apr.-Jun., 2015, page: 59-64


Oral cancer presents a serious public health problem in south-east Asian countries. In Sri Lanka and India 35-40% of all cancers are reported to be oral cancers, which are curable if detected in the early stages. The idea that, in developing countries, one of the few practical approaches to early detection of these cases could be through the utilization of primary health care workers was tested in a field study carried out in Sri Lanka. In a control area the subjects with oral lesions were identified by medical/dental officers. In the study, 34 primary health care workers were able, alongside their routine duties, to examine the oral cavity of 28 295 subjects during a period of 52 weeks; 1220 subjects were detected with lesions needing re-examination. The performance of these primary health care workers was very satisfactory in terms of the number of cases detected and the accuracy of their diagnoses, which were verified by re-examination at a specially designated referral centre. The clinical diagnoses of the three categories of lesions detected were as follows: stage 1 lesions for observation (homogeneous or ulcerated leukoplakia), stage 2 lesions for investigation (speckled leukoplakia, erythroplakia, or submucous fibrosis), and stage 3 lesions for treatment (cancer). There was 89% correspondence between the stage 1-3 diagnoses by the health workers and the clinical diagnoses made at the referral centre. However, compliance by patients was low because only 50% of the cases detected in the field attended the referral centre. The cost-effectiveness of this approach to cancer control has been demonstrated.


This appendix section contains the data for villa sites in Tuscany. Occupation density is the number of villas that were occupied in each century in the region. The section presents the chart which represents the percentage values with respect to the total number of villas. Since a precise dating of the construction and abandonment of the villas is usually not available, the villa chronology has been arranged by centuries; this means that if an occupation of a villa started, say, ca. 50 A.D. and ended ca. 150 A.D., it would show a length of occupation of two centuries, although it was actually occupied for only 100 years. The section presents the histogram which shows the original occupation start date of the villa. It also presents the graph which shows the final abandonment date of the villa, and does not take into consideration previous breaks in occupation, if any.Keywords: occupation density; occupation start date; Tuscany; villa chronology; villa sites


String theory is constructed on group manifold which is locally neither a Minkovski nor a Euclidean space. It is shown that Lorentz algebra is satisfied and ghost states can all be eliminated. The string theory constructed is just like a string theory in four dimensions.


Centralised workplace and decentralised facilities management organisations combine several interacting functions. Different roles in •network service organisation` are presented. The interacting functions are divided into three organisational levels: strategic clients, network integrators, and functional service units. Strategic and operational forms of business support activities need both ways interaction. Strategic programming in partnership network is presented and the contents of each stage analysed by studying a case network environment. The presented case study function as a laboratory for the authorsI further case studies by demonstrating proposals, data collection plans, and relevant lines of questioning for network analysis.


Soil salinity due to irrigation is a major constraint to agriculture, particularly in arid and semi-arid zones, due to water scarcity and high evaporation rates. Reducing salinity is a fundamental objective for protecting the soil and supporting agricultural production. The present study aimed to empirically measure and simulate with a model, the reduction in soil salinity in a Vertisol by the cultivation and irrigation of Echinochloa stagnina. Laboratory soil column experiments were conducted to test three treatments: (i) ponded bare soil without crops, (ii) ponded soil cultivated with E. stagnina in two successive cropping seasons and (iii) ponded soil permanently cultivated with E. stagnina with a staggered harvest. After 11 months of E. stagnina growth, the electrical conductivity of soil saturated paste (ECe) decreased by 79–88% in the topsoil layer (0–8 cm) in both soils cultivated with E. stagnina and in bare soil. In contrast, in the deepest soil layer (18–25 cm), the ECe decreased more in soil cultivated with E. stagnina (41–83%) than in bare soil (32–58%). Salt stocks, which were initially similar in the columns, decreased more in soil cultivated with E. stagnina (65–87%) than in bare soil (34–45%). The simulation model Hydrus-1D was used to predict the general trends in soil salinity and compare them to measurements. Both the measurements and model predictions highlighted the contrast between the two cropping seasons: soil salinity decreased slowly during the first cropping season and rapidly during the second cropping season following the intercropping season. Our results also suggested that planting E. stagnina was a promising option for controlling the salinity of saline-sodic Vertisols.


China has a reputation as a county that lacks the rule of law. For the past years, a judicial reform has been taking place in the country with an aim at promoting "impartiality and efficiency" in people's courts. A significant part of the judicial reform is to develop sound evidence rules as applied to both civil and criminal proceedings. Realizing that China has no unified evidence code and that the scattered evidence provisions in various laws have been applied inconsistently, the Supreme People's Court of China adopted the Several Rules of Evidence in Civil Litigation (known as Civil Evidence Rules) in 2002 to provide the courts with urgently needed gap-fillers in the area of evidence. Focusing on the production of evidence by the parties, the Civil Evidence Rules place more weight on the parties' burden of proof than on courts' investigating evidence. In addition, the Civil Evidence Rules attempt (not always successfully) to introduce into trials rules such as a cross-examination of evidence rule, an exclusion rule and a hearsay rule in order to achieve judicial justice. It is expected that the Civil Evidence Rules will provide experimental experiences in helping China ultimately enact civil evidence law in the country.


. This paper establishes the precise asymptotic behavior, as time t tends to infinity, for nontrivial, decaying solutions of genuinely nonlinear systems of ordinary differential equations. The lowest order term in these systems, when the spatial variables are small, is not linear, but rather positively homogeneous of a degree greater than one. We prove that the solution behaves like ξt − p , as t → ∞ , for a nonzero vector ξ and an explicit number p > 0.


Plant growth is mainly N‐limited in the alpine grasslands because of slow mineralization of soil organic matter due to low air temperature. Different plant species dominate in soils of different N concentrations. For example, more forbs occur in severely degraded alpine meadows than do sedges and Gramineae. We hypothesized that a more efficient uptake of low soil N by forbs than by sedges and Gramineae was the mechanism that allowed forbs to dominate. The amount and rate of soil N uptake and N allocation were determined in seven dominant alpine plant species using 15N isotope tracer. The plants, which included one forb, Ajania tenuifolia, three sedges, Kobresia humilis, Carex scabrirostris, and Carex enervis, and three Gramineae, Elymus nutans, Festuca sinensis, and Stipa purpurea, were maintained in pots with four different N concentrations (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg ha−1). The forb had the highest efficiency of N utilization (N uptake rate, 60.4%) in low N soil concentration, the Gramineae had intermediate efficiencies (27.9–47.9%), and the sedges had the lowest efficiencies (5.2–34.9%), and, consequently, our hypothesis was supported. N utilization of the seven species decreased with an increase in soil N concentration, from 32.1% at N50 to 18.0% at N150, which indicated that soil N uptake by plants was affected by soil N concentration. The mechanism used by forbs to be the dominant species in severely degraded alpine meadows was a more efficient utilization of soil N than Gramineae and sedges in conditions of low soil N. We concluded that plant species have different efficiencies in soil N uptake and utilization, which allow them to adapt and survive in habitats of different soil nutrition levels. These results implied that forbs should be reduced, and that Gramineae and sedges should be planted and N be added during the restoration and development of severely degraded grasslands on the Tibetan plateau when the soil N content is low.


In this paper, we study some group-theoretic constructions associated to arithmetic fundamental groups of hyperbolic curves over finite fields. One of the main results of this paper asserts that any Frobenius-preserving isomorphism between the geometrically pro-$l$ fundamental groups of hyperbolic curves with one given point removed induces an isomorphism between the geometrically pro-$l$ fundamental groups of the hyperbolic curves obtained by removing other points. Finally, we apply this result to obtain results concerning certain cuspidalization problems for fundamental groups of (not necessarily proper) hyperbolic curves over finite fields.


There is increasing demand for broadband wireless personal area networking devices, mainly fuelled by mobile multimedia applications such as wireless home networks. This paper investigates the suitability of iterative equalisation as a means of achieving low bit and packet error rates in a future high data rate personal area network standard. Baseband simulation results demonstrate the powerful IS1 mitigation and error correcting performance of such receivers when operating in representative indoor wideband channels


This paper proposed a fast search algorithm that are based on particle swarms algorithm with using images' entropy we decide the position of the particle swarm according to the factor of variation,which we get from local entroy, At last the results of particle swarms calculation are compared and the optimum particle is obtained as the searching result. The simulation results show that the presented multiple particle swarms algorithm of video tracking is able to apply in real time, and the tracking performance is superior to conventional algorithms.


Previous studies have documented that the increase in the incumbency advantage in the 1960s did not decrease the probability of defeat of incumbents in the U.S. House. I define a method for establishing bounds on the probability of incumbent defeat and find that it decreases significantly in the 1950s, before the rise of the incumbency advantage. Incumbency advantage does not have a direct relationship with incumbent defeat rates, raising questions about the use of the incumbency advantage as a means for making inferences about the electoral security of incumbents.


The key in agglomerative clustering is to define the affinity measure between two sets. A novel agglomerative clustering method is proposed by utilizing the path integral to define the affinity measure. Firstly, the path integral descriptor of an edge, a node and a set is computed by path integral and exponent generating function. Then, the affinity measure between two sets is obtained by path integral descriptor of sets. Several good properties of the path integral descriptor is proposed in this paper. In addition, we give the physical interpretation of the proposed path integral descriptor of a set. The proposed path integral descriptor of a set can be regard as the collectiveness measure of a set, which can be a moving system such as human crowd, sheep herd and so on. Self-driven particle (SDP) model is used to test the ability of the proposed method in measuring collectiveness.


Driven by the twin forces of industry-wide deregulation and the explosive demand for Internet access and bandwidth-intensive multimedia services, broadband local access has emerged as one of the key issues in modern telecommunications. We describe a broadband local access network consisting of small, densely spaced packet-switching nodes interconnected by focused free-space optical links in a multihop mesh arrangement. Each switch serves a client, which may be an office building (containing, for example, conventional PBXs and LANs), a picocellular base station, or both. It is the responsibility of our local access network to economically and reliably extend broadband local access service (perhaps OC-3 or OC-12 for building LANs and PBXs; perhaps several tens of megabits per second to base stations) from an infrastructure end office or fiber ring add/drop multiplexer without requiring the installation of new buried optical cabling. Computed is the capacity of the multihop mesh, defined to be the maximum number of virtual connections which can be delivered to the infrastructure access point such that, independent of the traffic distribution among clients, all quality of service guarantees are maintained.


The study focuses on the relationship between instructional differences and learning outcomes of learners studying english preparatory program at the university level. In order to establish a background for the experimental study, a survey was carried out to find out the opinions of english teachers, specialist teaching staff of faculties and students about the effectiveness of english preparatory programs of some universities in north cyprus. The medium of instruction of these universities is english and students who are not proficient in using the language skills at least at the intermediate level are required to take the english preparatory program before beginning to study at the faculty programs. After obtaining the opinions of relevant participants, the experimental study was carried out at the english preparatory school of one these universities. The official language teaching program was integrated with a more communicative teaching program for two experimental groups. The results of the experimental study revealed that the experimental groups performed in exams significantly better than other groups following the official program only.


This paper presents fundamental solutions of an anisotropic elastic thin plate within the context of the Kirchhoff theory. The plate material is inhomogeneoous in the thickness direction. Two systems of problem's with non-self-equilibrated loads are solved. The first is concerned with in-plane concentrated forces and moments and in-plane discontinuous displacements and slopes, and the second with transverse concentrated forces. Exact closed-form Green's functions for infinite and semi-infinite plates are obtained using the recently established octet formalism by the authors for coupled stretching and bending deformations of a plate. The Green functions for an infinite plate and the surface Green functions for a semi-infinite plate are presented in a real form. The hoop stress resultants are also presented in a real form for a semi-infinite plate.


We report about long term follow ups of treatment of Morbus Perthes with Chiari's Pelvic Osteotomy. Average follow up time was 8 years. One of our two main indications for operating was a distinct coxa magna with lack of sufficient roofing or with secondary osteoarthritis caused by this very lack. Cases with advanced destruction or strong lateralisation of the femoral head were the second major indication. Osteotomy as near to the joint as possible and extensive dislocation with maximal medialization of the head are the decisive factors for success for this operation. Two thirds of the cases showed a marked improvement of complaints at follow-up with almost unchanged range of motion. Improvement of the CE-angle and a remarkable increase of the sclerosed parts of the acetabular roof is also noticed in all x-rays at follow up. Nine cases can be judged as excellent, two as good and three as mediocre according to the cup-head-quotient of Heyman and Herndon. A remodelling of the femoral head with a Pelvic Osteotomy is possible even after conclusion of the reconstruction stage.


Pedestrian trajectory prediction in dynamic scenes remains a challenging and critical problem in numerous applications, such as self-driving cars and socially aware robots. Challenges concentrate on capturing pedestrians' social interactions and handling their future uncertainties. Pedestrians' head orientations can be used as an oracle that indicates relevant pedestrians[1], thus is beneficial to model social interactions. Moreover, latent variable distributions of pedestrians'future trajectories can be termed as another oracle. However, few works fully utilize these oracle information for an improved prediction performance. In this work, we propose GTPPO (Graph-based Trajectory Predictor with Pseudo Oracle), which is a generative model-based trajectory predictor. Pedestrians'social interactions are captured by the proposed GA2T (Graph Attention social Attention neTwork) module. Social attention is calculated on the basis of pedestrians' moving directions, which are termed as a pseudo oracle. Moreover, we propose a latent variable predictor to learn the latent variable distribution from observed trajectories. Such latent variable distribution reflects pedestrians'future trajectories, and therefore can be taken as another pseudo oracle. We compare the performance of GTPPO with several recently proposed methods on benchmarking datasets. Quantitative evaluations demonstrate that GTPPO outperforms state-of-the-art methods with lower average and final displacement errors. Qualitative evaluations show that GTPPO successfully recognizes the sudden motion changes since the estimated latent variable reflects the future trajectories.


The influence of employee engagement on organisational performance has been widely acknowledged and confirmed. However, there are scanty empirical investigations on the mediating role of organisational commitment on the relationship between employee engagement and organisational performance. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the mediating influence of organisational commitment on the relationship between employee engagement and performance of selected state corporations in Kenya. The study adopted a positivistic approach to investigate the relationships among and between the variables. Descriptive and explanatory research designs were used to describe the variables and establish the nature of the relationships among them. The study is based on employees of state corporations in research and training in the republic of Kenya. A sample of 378 respondents was selected using a multi stage sampling strategy. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result indicates that employee engagement influences organisational performance and that the relationship is partially moderated by organisational commitment.


The widespread use of aesthetic f illings has highlighted their advantages and disadvantages. One of the most troublesome features of earlier aesthetic materials was the difficulty of finishing the restoration surface to decrease adherence of food debris. The rougher the finished surface, the greater the possibility of bacterial accumulation and discolouration of restoration along the restoration margin with secondary caries formation. Aside from these clinical implications, patients are highly discerning and could detect roughness of 0.30 μm with their tongue. The aesthetic restoration should mimic the appearance of natural dentition and should have an enamel-like appearance. An increased demand for superior aesthetics from composite resin has increased the demand for more eff icient and simple polishing techniques. The development of nanocomposites has given a new perspective to the polishing of composite resins. Nanocomposites claim the advantage of improved gloss, optical characteristics and reduced wear. To date, results of in vitro studies have been equivocal regarding the most efficient and effective polishing system. There is variation in the effects of different finishing and polishing instruments on the surface roughness due to great diversity in size, shape, composition and distribution of the filler particles of composite resins, type of resin and a wide variety of finishing and polishing instruments. This paper will review the different factors that affect polishing techniques used in achieving the desired polish on composite resin restorations.


A curing process in post-printing section of R2R process is required for an electrical property of the printed pattern when devices such as RFID, Solar cell are printed. PEN as well as heat-stabilized PET which is used as a plastic substrate would be deformed at high temperature due to change of its elastic modulus. And crack in the printed pattern, which is on the plastic substrate is occurred due to the deformation of the substrate. The occurrence of crack causes electrical resistance to increase and the quality of the device to deteriorate. In case of RFID antenna, the range of reading distance is shortened as the electrical resistance of the antenna is increased. Therefore, the deformation of the plastic substrate, which causes the occurrence of crack, should be minimized by setting up low operating tension in R2R process. In low tension, slippage between a moving substrate and a roller would be generated when the operating speed is increased. And scratch would be occurred when slippage is generated due to an air entrainment, which is related to the thickness of the air film. The thickness of the air film is increased when operating speed is increased as shown by simulation based on mathematical model. The occurrence of scratch in conductive pattern printed by roll to roll process is a critical damage because it causes degradation or failure of electrical property of it.


Purpose of review Abortion services are essential in sexual and reproductive health and should be held to the same standards as other health services. Patient (or person)-centeredness is a key dimension of healthcare quality that incorporates the perspectives of patients in care provision. The purpose of this review is to summarize studies published in the last year examining women's experiences with abortion care and to describe facilitators and barriers to person-centered care. Recent findings Considering person-centeredness in abortion care using dimensions of dignity, autonomy, privacy, communication, social support, supportive care and health facility environment allows for critical evaluation of data describing women's experiences with abortion and postabortion services. Review of the available literature shed light on the impact of social stigma, health policy and abortion restrictions on women's abortion experiences. Summary Considering multiple domains and varied settings, current data suggest abortion services worldwide generally fail to provide person-centered care. Institutions and providers may be limited in their ability to provide patient-centered abortion care because of deeply embedded social stigma, institutional regulations and legal restrictions.


In this paper, we propose a new transport protocol, namely scalable streaming video protocol (SSVP), which employs an AIMD-oriented congestion control mechanism. SSVP, in a complementary role, operates on top of UDP and is specifically designed to support unicast video streaming applications. The transmission rate is controlled by properly adjusting the inter- packet-gap, spacing outgoing packets evenly to produce a smoothed flow. SSVP attempts to optimize the performance of streaming video delivery with concern to friendliness with interfering traffic. Quantifying SSVP's performance, we identify that the protocol utilizes a higher fraction of the available bandwidth, and maintains a regular transmission rate with oscillations of a smaller magnitude in comparison with existing congestion control schemes.


Four cases of unilateral spread of epidural anesthesia are presented. All were documented by X-ray epidurography. In two patients the catheter had passed immediately into one of the intervertebral foramina so that the local anesthetic had almost totally been injected into the paravertebral space. In the third and fourth cases a membrane was present in the dorsal epidural space that had prevented bilateral spread of the local anesthetic. This article discusses the fact that strands of the dorsomedian connective tissue band of the lumbar epidural space can cause catheters to coil up, be diverted, and not infrequently be directed into the next intervertebral foramen. These strands sometimes form a dense membrane, which together with the plica mediana of the dura mater prevent symmetrical spreading of epidurally injected fluids. When informing a patient about epidural anesthesia, the anesthesiologist should mention that anatomical variations in the epidural space can cause epidural anesthesia to spread unilaterally.


The article constitutes a collection of notes related to the lesser known and rarely commented works by an emigre writer – Adam Czerniawski: his poemstranslated into English, short texts of literary criticism, short novels and his memoirs. Modern Polish prose is still frequently treated as a ciphertext, of interest only to a limited number of readers who revel in this labyrinth of thoughts. It may seem that at the end of the 20th century – a period so involved in the debate about the traditional understanding of literature – avant-garde variants of prose should be understandable for everyone or, at least, that literary criticism would assign them to the appropriate level in the hierarchy of modern forms. However, the situation turned out to be different. The prose model imposed by Positivism still remains predominant in the habits and tastes of both literary critics and readers, and only recently has thismodel been questioned. As a result, the short novels by Czerniawski have not yet been sufficiently analysed. Reminiscent of Gombrowicz, these texts can be seen as absolute stories. The feature of absoluteness is visible at all their levels: origin, narration, reading. Everything is possible, yet nothing is accidental or random. However, limiting these narratives to only avant-garde rules would, without a doubt, distort their sense. Czerniawski's prose also uses the infinite potential of the grotesque, plays with its own language, thus making it into an undoubtedly philosophical Ding an sich. The prose was also written in order to face traditional sanctities such as, for instance, the incorrigible "Polishness" that glorifies old symbols and sees a divine influence in them. Finally, Czerniawski's prose is based on the "common sense" that can be found in numerous amusing contexts of the surrounding world.


BACKGROUND Previous research has concentrated on the quantum and timing of partnership statuses during the transition to adulthood, but it has however remained unclear how partnership trajectories unfold and how trajectories interdepend. It is furthermore unknown how individual characteristics and regional living conditions relate to the type of partnership trajectory an individual experiences. OBJECTIVE By studying longitudinal partnership trajectories in a sequence analysis, this article examines the types of partnership trajectories that are observable between the ages of 15 and 40. It furthermore asks how individual characteristics and regional living conditions relate to the sequencing, timing, and quantum of partnership transitions. It finally shows how the turbulence in partnership trajectories relates to these factors. METHODS AND DATA I analyze the 1971–1973 birth cohort in the German Family Panel (pairfam). RESULTS Partnership trajectories split up into four patterns. Educational level, gender, and ethnic background significantly influence the probability of experiencing one of these partnership trajectories. Urban residents experience greater diversity in partnership statuses and are single for longer periods than rural residents. Twenty-six years after Germany's unification, socialization in eastern or western Germany still matters: Eastern Germans are more likely than western Germans to remain in a cohabitation until they are 40. CONTRIBUTION This article presents novel evidence on the typical partnership trajectories of a recent cohort. It shows that partnership histories are closely linked to membership in a social 1 Technische Universitat Chemnitz, Germany. E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. http://www.demographic-research.org 1101 Fulda: The diversity in longitudinal partnership trajectories during the transition to adulthood group and socialization in an institutional setting. Only some social groups are prone to experiencing turbulent partnership histories.


Background Data: The optimal treatment of unstable thoracolumbar spine due to trauma, tumors, and tuberculous spondylitis remains controversial. Treatment goals of thoracolumbar corpectomy are: to prevent neurological deterioration; enhance neurological recovery; stabilization, and to prevent late pain and deformity. Purpose: This retrospective study was conducted to determine the safety and efficacy of stabilization using titanium mesh cage reconstruction filled with autogenous bone graft and anterior plating after thoracolumbar corpectomy due to trauma, tumors or tuberculous spondylitis. Study Design: A retrospective clinical case study. Patients and Methods: A series of patients underwent reconstruction of the anterior column after thoracolumbar corpectomy between June 2006 and June 2011 were reviewed. Sixteen patients underwent reconstruction using titanium mesh cages, and retrospectively analyzed data from the medical records and radiographs including immediate postoperative and latest follow up. The etiology due to trauma in ten cases, tuberculosis in three cases, metastasis in two cases and myeloma in one case. An average duration of follow up was 18 months [ 8-58 months ], single level reconstruction done in trauma and tumor cases, two level corpectomy done in tuberculous spondylitis cases. The degree of kyphosis, construct height and the subsidence of the cage in relation to the vertebral endplates were measured preoperatively, early post operative, and at the latest follow up. The surgical approach was thoracoabdominal in 10 cases and retroperitoneal in 6 cases. Results: Neurological recovery in our study; 4 patients were neurologically intact, Frankel grade E on admission , and all of them remains intact postoperatively. Of the 6 patients with Frankel D on admission, all had recovered full motor and sensory function. Of the 6 patients with Frankel C on admission, three improved one grade, the other three improved two grades. The mean construct height of the involved vertebrae before surgery was 41 mm and the mean construct height immediate after surgery and at follow up were 47 and 44 mm respectively. Solid fusion was observed in all patients, there were no hardware failure. The sagittal alignment of the fractured segment was satisfactorily restored immediately after surgery as a significant decrease in the local kyphotic angle. Conclusion: Anterior instrumentation is an effective and safe treatment for thoracolumbar instability by demonstaring satisfactory clinical and radiological outcomes. (2012ESJ028)


In an advanced case of hyperostosis frontalis interna the thickening of the pars frontalis was very unequal, the osteophytic growth being much more evident on the left side than on the right.

The brain showed a massive lobar softening of three years' duration, limited to the right cerebral hemisphere, the other hemisphere showing only a minor degree of senile atrophy. The opinion is expressed that this crossed relationship between the gross atrophy of the right cerebral hemisphere and the thicker left half of the pars frontalis lends no support for the view that in hyperostosis frontalis interna, reduction of the volume of the brain stimulates the deposit of new bone on the inner table of the frontal bone.


With the demographic shift in age in advanced countries inexorably set to progress in the 21st century, dementia will become one of the most important health problems worldwide. Vascular cognitive impairment is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease and is frequently responsible for the cognitive decline of the elderly. It is characterized by cerebrovascular white matter changes; thus, in order to investigate the underlying mechanisms involved in white matter changes, a mouse model of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion has been developed, which involves the narrowing of the bilateral common carotid arteries with newly designed microcoils. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive summary of the achievements made with the model that shows good reproducibility of the white matter changes characterized by blood-brain barrier disruption, glial activation, oxidative stress, and oligodendrocyte loss following chronic cerebral hypoperfusion. Detailed characterization of this model may help to decipher the substrates associated with impaired memory and move toward a more integrated therapy of vascular cognitive impairment.


There are many resolution enhancement methods to produce 4K-UHD videos including interpolation and deep learning based Super-Resolution, but lack of details, aliasing and unnatural transition are still inevitable and affect viewer's immersive experience. Therefore, it is necessary to detect authenticity and native resolution of 4K-UHD videos. In this paper, we propose a new native resolution detection method for 4K-UHD videos. The method is based on extracting feature from the DCT frequency domain and integrating this feature in all frames. Our method can determine authenticity of 4K-UHD videos as well as native resolution, no matter which kind of SR model is applied for upscaling.


As far as spatial layout is concerned the question of "architectural determinism" has two components: does spatial layout influence the pattern of space use and movement? and does this patterning of "spatial life" have social implications? In this paper, an attempt is made to answer the f ist question by, first, using space syntax to analyse generic properties of a large sample of towns and urban areas; and second, using the hypotheses derived form this analysis to explore the relation between spatial layout and movement patterns in a sample of real case studies of urban areas and housing estates. It is argued that the results show that spatial layout in itself generates a field of probabilistic encounter, with structural properties that vary with the syntax of the layout. Finally, it is argued that this encounter field may be a more important social and psychological factor than has been allowed.


In view of the remarkable growth in the number of users and the limited network resource, an efficient network management is very important and has been an active area of research over the years. Especially, during wireless network operations, adaptive power control is an effective way to enhance the network performance. In this study, a new online power control scheme is proposed based on the evolutionary game theory. To converge a desirable network equilibrium, the proposed scheme adaptively adjusts a transmit power level in a distributed online manner. For the efficient network management, the online approach is dynamic and flexible that can adaptively respond to current network conditions. With a simulation study, the author demonstrates that the proposed scheme improves the network performance under widely diverse network environments.


The asymmetric impact of monetary policy on real economy is widely accepted in recent years and has been an important topic for macroeconomic policy. Asymmetries in the context of monetary policy refer to the situations in which the impact of a given policy is not constant but varies depending on the circumstances. This study examines the asymmetric response of real output, stock returns and volatilities to monetary policy over bull and bear stock market regimes. This investigation is of great interest for monetary policy makers to implement effective policy decisions and for financial markets participants to formulate successful investment and risk management decisions. This study examines asymmetries using the pooled mean group (PMG) technique of Pesaran et al. (1999). Bull and bear phases are identified by employing two approaches: the Markov-switching models and the non-parametric approach proposed by Pagan and Sossounov (2003). The empirical results from the panel of the ASEAN5 countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand) for the period 1991:1-2011:12, show that the long-run response of real output, stock returns and volatilities to monetary policy is statistically stronger over bear markets than bulls providing evidences to support the prediction of finance constraints models. Accordingly, policy makers should consider the bull and bear regimes while implementing monetary policies and condition the size of the shifts in policy rate to the specific phase of the stock market at the time of policy implementation. Failing to consider stock market conditions at the time of policy implementation may not have proper impact for stabilizing the stock market. Moreover, stock market investors should not only pay close attention to the development of monetary policy, but also to the specific stock market regime at the time of investment decisions. The empirical results of this study also indicate that increase in the policy rate (restrictive monetary policy) leads to decrease in real output in the long-run, no matter if the stock market is in a bull or bear state. The PMG estimation results also indicate that positive changes in short-term interest rate have negative long-run effect on stock returns as predicted by the asset pricing theories. The empirical results from the PMG estimation of the response of stock market volatility to monetary policy show that increase in the policy rate raises stock market volatility in the long-run. This positive relation can be explained by the "leverage effect" which refers to the asymmetric relationship between stock market returns and volatility.


Synthetic transformations that functionalize unactivated aliphatic C-H bonds in an intermolecular fashion offer unique strategies for the synthesis and late-stage derivatization of complex molecules. Herein we report a general approach to the intermolecular functionalization of aliphatic C-H bonds using an acridinium photoredox catalyst and phosphate salt under blue LED irradiation. This strategy encompasses a range of valuable C-H transformations, including the direct conversions of a C-H bond to C-N, C-F, C-Br, C-Cl, C-S, and C-C bonds, in all cases using the alkane substrate as the limiting reagent. Detailed mechanistic studies are consistent with the intermediacy of a putative oxygen-centered radical as the hydrogen atom-abstracting species in these processes.


1756 Purpose: We previously reported automatic lung segmentation of CT scans using an atlas-based approach with multiple best matches. The objective of the current work is to evaluate an alternative method of lung segmentation which performs iterative Hounsfield Unit (HU) thresholding and processing steps to produce lung volumes-of-interest (VOIs). Methods: The method described in the current work was applied to each CT scan in a 17-subject dataset. This method generates an initial VOI within the lungs and an initial trachea and bronchus VOI using HU thresholding and a sequence of other processing steps including VOI expansion and contraction, volume thresholding, hole-filling, and smoothing. To refine these initial VOIs, they are iteratively updated by expanding the current lung VOI by 5 voxels in each direction and then processing with a similar sequence of steps. The lungs are then separated into left and right components using a simple geometric split followed by additional processing steps designed to correct any regions which were falsely classified as right or left. Each scan had carefully hand-drawn lung VOIs available to use as reference standards for that subject. The Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) and Hausdorff mean distance were computed for each VOI resulting from this method compared to its corresponding reference standard VOI. Results: Average DSCs achieved were 0.963 ± 0.012 (with a range of 0.936 to 0.977) and 0.958 ± 0.014 (with a range of 0.923 to 0.976) for the right and left lungs respectively, while the average Hausdorff mean distance across subjects was 0.859 ± 0.231 mm and 0.920 ± 0.266, respectively. These DSCs are comparable to what was determined from the atlas segmentation previously reported (0.955 and 0.956 for the right and left lungs respectively). Conclusion: An iterative thresholding method for automatic lung segmentation has been described, capable of producing lung VOIs with DSCs comparable to the results of atlas segmentation with multiple best matches. This permits individuals without access to atlas segmentation methods to accurately and automatically generate lung VOIs. Reference: Pirozzi S, Horvot M, Piper J, Nelson AS. Atlas-based Segmentation: Evaluation of a Multi-Atlas Approach for Lung Cancer. Med Phys 2012; 39:3677.


List of Figures. Acknowledgments. Introduction. The Nature of World History. The Nature of World Environmental History. Earth History and Human Origins. Population Growth and the Rise of Cities. Cities and the Rise of Manufacturing and Industry. World Trade and New World Ecology. Fossil Fuels and Climate Change. 1. An Evolving Earth. Introduction. The Origin of the Earth: From Hot to Cold Planet. Icehouse Planet/Greenhouse Planet. Plate Tectonics, Super-Continents, and Climate Change. The Warming. The Cooling. The Elevation of the Tibetan Plateau and Its Effect on the Global Climate. The Birth, Death, and Rebirth of the Mediterranean Sea and its Hemispheric Environmental Effects. The Impact of the Isthmus of Panama on Global Climate Change. The Mid-Pliocene, Glacial and Interglacial Cycles, and "Modern" Times. 2. Evolving Humanity. Introduction. Climatic Changes and Evolution. Another Effect of the Closing of the Mediterranean Sea. Human Ancestry. The Birth of Human Intelligence. Translating Human Intelligence into Action. Population Migration and Expansion. Homo neanderthalensis vs. Homo sapiens. Early Diets and Their Nutritional Value. The Broad Spectrum - an Economic Revolution. 3. Foraging, Cultivating, and Food Production. Introduction. Early Farming and a Warming Climate. Settlement and Domestication. Early Agricultural Communities. Early Agriculture in China. Early Agriculture in Africa. Early Agriculture in Mesoamerica. Early Agriculture in Europe. World Agriculture During the Age of Manufacture and Industry. The Green Revolution. 4. Populating the Earth: Diet, Domestication, and Disease. Introduction. A Modern Demographic Scenario. The Role of Disease in Calculating Population Size. The Impact of Migration and Settlement on Global Population Growth. The Role of Nutrition on Early population Growth. The Role of Animal Domestication in the Spread of Infectious Disease. Nutrition, Climate Change and Population. A Population Bomb or Not? 5. The Making of an Urban World. Introduction. What Does Urban Mean? Early Urbanization and Its Environmental Effects. Ancient Urbanization. The Origin of Writing. The Impact of Changing Rivers on Environmental Quality. Urbanization in the Indus Valley. China's Early Cities. Ancient Mesoamerican Cities. Early European Cities. 6. Mining, Making, and Manufacturing. Introduction. The Age of Copper and Bronze. The Effects of Ancient Mining on Human Health and the Environment. Mining in the Roman World. The Age of Iron. Iron Making in China and India. Iron Making in pre-Modern Europe. Manufacturing in Colonial America. 7. Industrial Work. Introduction. China and India's Economy. European Hegemony and British Industrialization. Economic Development in China, Japan, and India. Harnessing the Power of Water. Disease, Death and a Public Health Response. The Power of Steam. The Role of Invention and Innovation. Comparing Industrialization in the United States and in Britain. Coal, Iron, and Steel. Industrial Transformation and Global Auto Mobility. 8. Trade and Consumption. Introduction. Global Trading Networks. Distancing Consumers from Producers. Material Goods. Luxury Foods Become Commodities. Tobacco. Sugar. Coffee and Tea. Environmental Effects of Increased Cultivation of Coffee. Conspicuous Consumption. Global Consumption. The Automobile and Electronics in Emerging Markets. 9. Fossil Fuels, Wind, Water, Nuclear and Solar Energy. Introduction. The Eotechnic World: Waterwheels and Windmills. The Paleotechnic World: Energy from Coal. The Neotechnic World: Energy from Oil. The Developing World's Demands for Energy. The Case for Natural Gas: A Neotechnic Energy Solution. The Case for Nuclear Energy: Another Neotechnic Solution. The Case for Renewable Wind and Solar Power: A Return to the Eotechnic. 10. A Warming Climate. Introduction. The Rise and Fall of the Mayan Civilization. The Medieval Warm Period (1000-1300 ce) and the Little Ice Age (1300-1850 ce). Current Global Climate Conditions. The Role of Solar Energy. The Role of the Atlantic Circulation Energy Exchange. The Role of Fossil Fuel Emissions. What Is to be Done? Epilogue. Notes. Index.


Summary

Protein isolates from six amaranth lines/cultivars (APIs) were evaluated to study their physicochemical (hunter colour, protein content and zeta potential), structural (thermal and conformational) and functional (emulsification, foaming, water and fat absorption) properties. APIs had protein content, whiteness index and gel temperature in range of 79.4–85.4%, 41.17–54.26 and 87.8–91.8 °C, respectively. The Fourier-transform infrared spectra of APIs revealed α-helix, β-sheets and random coil conformations in the secondary structure. APIs with higher relative proportion of β-sheets had higher Differential Scanning Calorimeter denaturation temperature and gel temperature. Minimum protein solubility (PS) was observed at pH 5.0, indicating isoelectric point (pI) of amaranth proteins. The PS, emulsifying activity index (EAI), emulsifying stability index (ESI), foaming capacity (FC) and foam stability (FS) of APIs at neutral pH were related to their zeta potential (ζ). The emulsifying and foaming properties were also determined at different pHs (between 2.0 and 9.0). The EAI-pH profile of APIs confirmed close relationship between the emulsifying ability and PS.


High resolution observations made with intercontinental arrays of up to seven radio telescopes permit resolutions better than one thousandth of an arc second, and have disclosed remarkably complex structure in the nuclei of galaxies and quasars. Dimensions as small as a few hundredths of a parsec have been measured for the nuclei of some nearby galaxies; the source at the nucleus of our own Galaxy contains a component only 7 A.U. across and puts a limit on the size of the fundamental energy machine at the Galactic nucleus. In some compact sources, individual components appear to separate with linear velocities well in excess of the speed of light. Although a variety of explanations have been offered, none are entirely satisfactory.


Abstract This paper describes the synthesis and characterization of Zn2+ decorated (adipic and terephthalic acid as linkers) piperazine-based metal-organic framework (P-MOFs) and their extraction behavior toward the Chicago sky blue (CSB) dye. The formation of Zn2+-decorated P-MOFs was confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, BET surface area analysis and TGA. Adsorption behavior of the synthesized P-MOFs was explored through solid-phase adsorption (batch method) prior to UV-Vis spectrophotometric determination. Adsorption parameters, including adsorbent dosage, pH of solution, dye concentration, and time, were optimized. Excellent percentage removal of 94% and 95% for AP-Zn-MOF and TP-Zn-MOF, respectively, was achieved at pH 7.5. Kinetics studies indicated that the synthesized adsorbents AP-Zn-MOF and TP-Zn-MOF followed the pseudo-second-order rate model with R 2 value 0.9989. The Freundlich isotherm with high R 2 value as compared to Langmuir isotherm indicated that CSB adsorption for the synthesized MOFs follows multilayer adsorption.


A comprehensive empirical investigation is carried out to ascertain the import-reducing effect of trade protection barriers. We first present a statistical summary of the status of global trade protection. Then, based on a monopolistic competition trade model and 1994 cross-country data on trade barriers, trade flows, and production, we estimate the import-reducing effect of trade barriers including both tariffs and non-tariff barriers (NTBs). We use the disaggregated cross-country, cross-industry data on manufactured goods and, unlike previous studies, our sample covers a broad range of countries - more than 70 in total - including countries from the most developed ones like those in the Group of Seven to the least developed one, Bangladesh. We specify an empirical model that captures the stylized facts well and helps generate sensible estimates. Our econometric framework is designed to control for the simultaneous determination of trade flows, trade barriers, and production. We find that both tariff and NTBs are quite significant in restricting imports.


A number of authors (e.g., Brown, 1969; Hubral and Krey, 1980) have discussed systematic velocity estimation errors caused by nonhyperbolic normal moveout. The primary concern of these authors is often the departure of (presumably perfectly accurate measurements of) normal moveout from that predicted by Dix's (1955) equation. In this note the effect of measurement errors on velocity estimates is examined with the aid of standard statistical techniques. The concern is not deterministic errors, but those caused by random errors.


Abstract Objectives The Field Triage Guidelines (FTG) are used across North America to identify seriously injured patients for transport to appropriate level trauma centers, with a goal of under-triaging no more than 5% and over-triaging between 25% and 35%. Our objective was to systematically review the literature on under-triage and over-triage rates of the FTG. Methods We conducted a systematic review of the FTG performance. Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane databases were searched for studies published between January 2011 and February 2021. Two investigators dual-reviewed eligibility of abstracts and full-text. We included studies evaluating under- or over-triage of patients using the FTG in the prehospital setting. We excluded studies not reporting an outcome of under- or over-triage, studies evaluating other triage tools, or studies of triage not in the prehospital setting. Two investigators independently assessed the risk of bias for each included article. The primary accuracy measures to assess the FTG were under-triage, defined as seriously injured patients transported to non-trauma hospitals (1-sensitivity), and over-triage, defined as non-injured patients transported to trauma hospitals (1-specificity). Due to heterogeneity, results were synthesized qualitatively. Results We screened 2,418 abstracts, reviewed 315 full-text publications, and identified 17 studies that evaluated the accuracy of the FTG. Among eight studies evaluating the entire FTG (steps 1–4), under-triage rates ranged from 1.6% to 72.0% and were higher for older (≥55 or ≥65 years) adults (20.1–72.0%) and pediatric (<15 years) patients (15.9–34.8%) compared to all ages (1.6–33.8%). Over-triage rates ranged from 9.9% to 87.4% and were higher for all ages (12.2–87.4%) compared to older (≥55 or ≥65 years) adults (9.9–48.2%) and pediatric (<15 years) patients (28.0–33.6%). Under-triage was lower in studies strictly applying the FTG retrospectively (1.6–34.8%) compared to as-practiced (10.5–72.0%), while over-triage was higher retrospectively (64.2–87.4%) compared to as-practiced (9.9–48.2%). Conclusions Evidence suggests that under-triage, while improved if the FTG is strictly applied, remains above targets, with higher rates of under-triage in both children and older adults.


Possible Lorentz-violating effects in the cosmic microwave background are studied. We provide a systematic classification of renormalizable and nonrenormalizable operators for Lorentz violation in electrodynamics and use polarimetric observations to search for the associated violations.


Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) is a tropical plant which fruit peel is widely used as an antioxidant, anti-diarrhea, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and as an antibacterial. The previous study found the antibacterial activities of extract and metabolites endophytic fungi of mangosteen rind. In this research endophytic fungi was isolated from leaf of mangosteen. This research was aimed to explore utilization of mangosteen leaf and to screen antibacterial potency of the mangosteen leaf endophytic fungi metabolites. Endophytic fungi were isolated from leaf of mangosteen in the Malt Extract Agar (MEA) medium in order to get 2 colonies of endophytic fungi. Screening of potential antibacterial metabolites was assessed using diffusion method and bioautography, obtained results of the antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (Ec) and Staphylococcus aureus (Sa) on the metabolites endophytic fungi of leaf. Macroscopic and microscopic characteristics from fungi isolate which has antibacterial potency, was observed and fermented into Potatoes Dextrose Yeast (PDY) medium for 14 days. At 14th day, biomass and supernatant were separated and carried out separation by liquid-liquid extraction. The supernatant and biomass were fractionated using n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and water. Each fraction was eluated to several mobile phase and tested its antibacterial activity against Ec and Sa. The result showed that there is a potential antibacterial activity of endophytic fungi metabolites leaf ED2 against Sa. Bioautography result was observed thatthe compound has antibacterial activity and is supposed as flavonoid compounds. It was supposed that endophytic fungi ED2 was a group of Trichoderma. Keywords—mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.); endophytic fungi; antibacterial activity; Escherichia coli; Staphylococcus aureus


Vitamin A and its analogues show the ability to prevent malignant cell transformation on induction with different carcinogens, such as nitrosamines. Cyclic GMP has been proposed as a positive modulator of malignant cell growth and the cGMP-forming enzyme guanylate cyclase is strongly stimulated by e.g. nitrosamines. In this study, we found that retinylacetate and retinal were very potent inhibitors of the stimulated guanylate cyclase. When a series of structurally different retinoids were tested in the same system, a wide range of inhibitory activity on guanylate cyclase was found for the different retinoids with some being completely ineffective. The most potent inhibitor was retinylacetate. Furthermore, the inhibitory profile of the retinoids on the guanylate cyclase did not seem to correlate to their in vivo activity as antineoplastic agents, as described in the literature. We therefore conclude that there does not exist a general connection between the anticancer activity and the guanylate cyclase inhibition of the retinoids. However, it can not be excluded that the guanylate cyclase inhibition might be of importance for the antineoplastic activity for some of the retinoids.


To utilize hemicelluloses from biomass as a feedstock to produce various value-added products, the soluble hemicelluloses must be isolated from the liquid phase with a high yield and purity. In this study, acacia wood was extracted by hydrothermal treatment, catalyzed by acetic acid at 170 °C for different lengths of time, and then precipitated after concentration and mixing with ethanol. Acetic acid led to faster hydrolysis of hemicelluloses, a process that was confirmed by a larger amount of total saccharides than the controlled results. A yield of more than 90% oligosaccharides was achieved in the hydrolysate with 1% (w/w) acetic acid. The maximum precipitate yield obtained was reduced, but a faster increase was observed in the first 30 min at 170 °C depending on the utilization of acetic acid. Analysis of 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR) confirmed that the side chains, such as arabinose linked on the xylan chain, were severely broken down, and more dissolved hemicelluloses bonded with lignin (LCC) were present in the precipitates with 1% (w/w) acetic acid. Based on gel permeation chromatography (GPC), a molecular weight of not less than 1900 is suggested when ethanol is used to precipitate the oligosaccharides from hydrolysate.


The binding energy (EB) of oxygen, sulphur and nitrogen was determined in highly concentrated fibrin, collagen, liver parenchyma and muscle tissue using photoelectron spectrometry. Fibrin was mixed with the collagen, liver or muscle homogenisate, with or without substitution of clotting factor XIII or additional inhibiton of fibrinolysis and the EB was determined again. Changes in the binding energy arise from an alteration in chemical binding. The present investigation showed that fibrin builds up new linkages in liver parenchyma and in collagen using nitrogen bonds and, additionally via a sulphur bond. After addition of fibrin stabilizing factor a new chemical link appeared between fibrin and collagen again through a nitrogen bond and, additionally via a sulphur bond. The inhibition of fibrinolysis produced a new oxygen linkage in all the examined substances (fibrin-tissue).


In this study, a secondary network is underlaid in a conventional downlink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system to formulate a new implementation of cognitive radio, where spectrum sharing is enabled to improve spectrum utilisation. This implementation is applicable to the scenario when the number of active users is larger than the number of subcarriers, which usually cannot be achieved in traditional OFDMA systems. To properly allocate radio resources, some solutions are proposed based on duality theory. The proposed solutions are partially distributed algorithms that can dynamically allocate resources to secondary users (SUs) with the co-operation of primary users (PUs) so that the capacity of secondary network can be maximised and the co-channel interference can be minimised. In addition, the effect of interference temperature limit on the capacity of secondary network is studied, which may serve as a leverage to balance the performance between the PUs and the secondary network.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the changes of myocardial energy expenditure in patients with heart failure following myocardial infarction after treatment with different doses of perindopril.

METHODS
Sixty-three patients with heart failure after myocardial infarction were treated with perindopril for 12 months at the doses of 4 mg (group N) and 8 mg (group H). Doppler imaging was used to measure the structural and systolic functional parameters before and after the treatment, and the circumferential end-systolic wall stress (cESS) and myocardial energy expenditure (MEE) were calculated. The biochemical indicators including serum creatinine and plasma NT-proBNP were detected before and after the treatment.

RESULTS
The two groups had similar measurements before treatment. After 12 months of perindopril treatment, the patients in group N showed higher LA, LV, RA, RV, LVIDs, AD, cESS, lgNT-proBNP, and MEE with lower LVFS and LVEF than those in group H. Compared to those before treatment, LVFS and LVEF were increased and LA, LV, RA, RV, AD, LVIDs, LVMI, lgNT-proBNP and MEEm lowered after the 12-month treatment in group H. Significant changes were also found in the measured parameters except for PWTs, LVET, LVSV and LVFS in group N after the treatment. Bivariate analysis showed a significant positive correlation between MEE and lgNT-proBNP (r=0.513, P<0.01).

CONCLUSION
A 12-month treatment with perindopril can suppress myocardial remodeling, improve left ventricular systolic function, and lower NT-proBNP and myocardial energy expenditure in patients with heart failure after myocardial infarction, and a higher dose can produce better results.


Nowadays, invasive alien species are causing more and more environmental problems in several water bodies around the world, in Africa and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In October 2020, a floristic inventory was carried out around three islands of the Congo River (Molondo, Mipongo and Japon) at the Pool Malebo in Kinshasa. The study focused on the identification and behavior of alien species along with associated abiotic factors in the Malebo Pool of the Congo River in Kinkole, Kinshasa.
The study used a simple random sampling design to select different sites where samples were collected after a direct observation. We collected invasive species in the middle of the Congo River and to achieve that, we used canoe depending on the location of each site. Recorded species were classified either alien species or invasive alien species according to the status in the study region. The identification of collected species was performed according to APG III. Seeing the way these species invade the environment and how they disturb the ecology of rivers, the physico-chemical characteristics of waters were measured between 8:00 am and 3:00 pm with the appropriate electronic probe for each parameter. For each parameter, the comparison between the sites was carried out using the ANOVA test with XLSTAT 2013 software.
The findings show that 19 species have been identified as invasive alien species out of which, four were dominant, namely Echinochloa pyramidalis, Eichhornia crassipes, Salvinia molesta and Pistia stratiotes. Considering the physico-chemical parameters, no significant differences were observed for the temperature (F=0.42 and p=0.66), conductivity (F=1.55 and p=0.25) and turbidity (F=2.28 and p=0.14) for the three sites. While the pH (F=4.98; p=0.026; LSD=0.361), dissolved oxygen (F=12; p=0.001; LSD=3.65) and salinity (F=4.06; p= 0.04; LSD= 1.69) showed significant variation in the three sites. The formation of vegetation groups around these islands in the Congo River at the Pool Malebo in Kinshasa  would also be justified by the influence of these parameters.


Elevated concentrations of serum parathyroid hormone and hypocalcemia occur following the induction of experimental pancreatitis in the pig, but only when the thyroid gland is present. Prior thyroidectomy completely eliminates these changes. Serum magnesium concentrations remained normal throughout the experiments despite the occurrence of hypocalcemia. These data support the hypothesis that calcitonin or another thyroid-related substance plays a role in the mechanism of the hypocalcemia which accompanies experimental pancreatitis in the pig.


Autonomic neuropathy has been reported in association with alcoholic cirrhosis but there is no information on its occurrence in non-alcoholic liver disease. We have examined autonomic function in 64 patients with biopsy-proven liver disease (22 with alcoholic liver disease and 42 with non-alcoholic liver disease) together with 29 age-matched controls. Forty-five per cent of patients with alcoholic liver disease and 43 per cent with non-alcoholic liver disease showed evidence of parasympathetic damage; 11 per cent of patients with alcoholic liver disease and 12 per cent with non-alcoholic liver disease had sympathetic damage. Forty-five per cent of patients with alcoholic liver disease and 22 per cent with non-alcoholic liver disease had peripheral neuropathy on clinical examination. Sixty-eight per cent of those with peripheral neuropathy also had autonomic neuropathy. This study confirms that autonomic neuropathy is common in alcoholic patients but the fact that it is found with comparable frequency in non-alcoholic liver disease suggests that the neurological defect may be secondary to the disturbed liver function. The implications of these observations with regard to prognosis of chronic liver disease are discussed.


The article reveals the peculiarities of the formation of religious (islamic) virtual tourism. The importance of developing a system of tourist religious virtual space is due to the need to comply with innovative processes affecting modern virtual reality technologies, which are especially relevant during a pandemic. The author made an attempt to trace the influence of virtual reality technologies on the creation of virtual religious (islamic) tours and excursions. The comparative analysis made it possible to trace the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and virtual religious tourism.


: The fine structure of the cuticle of A. obtusicaudatus (Dorylaimidae) during the turgor unbalance was studied. Mechanical injury causes the delamination of the cuticle and reveals the tonofibrillary interrelations between its structures. The cortex and basal layer were found to possess the highest tensile strength. The peculiarities of the structures destruction dynamics depending on the removal from the perforation place were recognized.


Background : Indoor residual spraying (IRS), the application of a chemical to the internal walls of the structure in order to kill an insect that sits on the wall treated with such a chemical, is one of the methods adopted by World Health Organisation in combating malaria by controlling the vector mosquito. In line with the Zambian policy on malaria control Kaoma district in Western province of Zambia in 2008, started implementing IRS as the method of combating malaria. The main purpose of the study was to ascertain the effect of indoor residual spraying on incidence of malaria in Kaoma district of Western Province of Zambia. Materials and Methods : The study was a retrospective cohort analysis of incidence data across a single spray season, mixed with cross sectional survey to assess levels of intervention, community understanding and perceptions, and quality of IRS efforts, which were compared with households sprayed. Interviewees included household heads or the representative. The other party interviewed included the supervisors for the IRS program. Multistage sampling was used to select respondents from households and probability proportional to size (PPS) was used to select clusters in which respondents were picked. To validate the findings of the study, statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results : The study demonstrated that areas with a larger percentage of the population (greater than 60%) protected by Indoor residual spraying had lower incidence of malaria (82/1000 and 400/1000) compared to unsprayed area (398/1000 and 773/1000) both at the beginning and pick of malaria transmission season. A chi-square test shows that there was an association between spraying and reduced malaria incidence, p <0.05. Factors such as length of Insecticide Treated Nets ownership and building material for the house (p-value<0.04 and 0.03) respectively, had an association with the level of IRS acceptance. Acceptance of indoor residual spraying program was good at 64% of the 100% response rate interviewed. Reasons given for those who did not have the houses sprayed among others was absence from home (79%). There was an association between Knowledge of the use for IRS and school attendance p-value < 0.001. Management of the program was poor, negatively affecting results of indoor residual spraying, starting from ill timing (wrong season) to management of commodities such as personal protective equipment, Insecticide, inadequate transport and short notice given to the households.  Conclusion : Indoor residual spraying was associated with reduced malaria incidence in Kaoma district in areas where it was implemented. Poor management of the programme, however, negatively affected the results. The district needs to focus on management of logistics, intensify sensitisation and improve on the starting time of IRS if it has to have the desired impact in preventing malaria.


Recurrent pancreatitis is more prevalent in the 4% of people with pancreas divisum (nonfused dorsal and ventral ducts), and it has been proposed that the pancreatitis is caused by stenosis at the orifice of the dorsal duct. We have treated 40 patients with pancreas divisum and proven or probable pancreatitis. The diagnoses were made by endoscopic pancreatography showing a foreshortened (<6 cm) ventral duct (Wirsung) and confirmed by postoperative pancreatograms showing the separate main duct (Santorini) emptying via the accessory papilla. Of these, 32 patients (25 men, 7 women, median age 30) had recurrent acute pancreatitis (22) or persistent pain (10) without chronic inflammation or fibrosis. Twenty-nine have been treated by transduodenal sphincteroplasty of the accessory papilla; 22 were stenotic (0.75 mm or less) and 7 nonstenotic. Among 25 patients observed for longer than 6 months after surgery, the relief of pain and pancreatitis has been good in 17, fair in 1, and poor in 7. There was no difference between accessory papillotomy alone (10–0-3) v papillotomies of both accessory and major papillae (7–1-4). Patients with stenosis (16–1-1) fared better (p < 0.001) than those without stenosis (1–0-6). Those presenting with discrete attacks (12–1-2) also fared better (p < 0.05) than those presenting with chronic pain (5–0-5). The other eight patients (two women, six men, median age 28) had chronic pancreatitis proven by pancreatography and surgical biopsy. In this group, treatment by sphincteroplasty of the accessory papilla failed, and seven patients eventually required a pancreaticojejunostomy (3), distal pancreatectomy (2), or total pancreatectomy (2). In pancreas divisum, pancreatitis is caused by stenosis at the accessory papilla of Santorini. There may be progression from recurrent acute pancreatitis to irreversible fibrosis in some cases. Sphincteroplasty is effective for recurrent acute pancreatitis, but ductal drainage or resection becomes necessary once chronic pancreatitis is established. A preoperative test for stenosis of the accessory papilla is needed to identify patients whose symptoms are genuinely caused by their pancreas divisum.


Damage to non-structural components in large roof buildings, failed during the Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku Earthquake in 2008 or an earthquake in the north shore of Iwate prefecture in July 24th of 2008, is reported.The northeastern region of Japan had been hit by major earthquakes frequently in recent years. Nevertheless, the similar damage had been repeated, since the failed parts had been fixed and recovered always with no essential improvements.


Loan Pricing Under Basel Capital Requirements* We analyse the implications for the pricing of bank loans of the reform of capital regulation known as Basel II. We consider a perfectly competitive market for business loans where, as in the model underlying the internal ratings based (IRB) approach of Basel II, a single risk factor explains the correlation in defaults across firms. Our loan-pricing equation implies that lowrisk firms will achieve reductions in their loan rates by borrowing from banks adopting the IRB approach, while high-risk firms will avoid increases in their loan rates by borrowing from banks that adopt the less risk-sensitive standardized approach of Basel II. We also show that only an extremely high social cost of bank failure might justify the proposed IRB capital charges for high-risk loans, partly because the margin income from performing loans is not counted as a buffer against credit losses, and we propose a margin income correction for IRB capital requirements. JEL Classification: E43, G21 and G28


Background High-density lipoproteins (HDL) functionality predicts cardiovascular risk better than HDL concentrations. The apolipoprotein composition of HDL may be a determinant of their function. Lecithin-cholesterol acyl transferase (LCAT) and cholesterol-ester transfer protein (CETP) are key enzymes for HDL-mediated reverse cholesterol transport. We assessed the distribution and activity of LCAT and CETP in HDL subspecies defined by their content of apolipoproteins E (apoE) and C-III (apoC-III) in humans. Methods We isolated in 18 adult humans of both sexes (mean age 55.6, BMI 26.9 Kg/m2, HbA1c 5.4%), four subspecies of HDL containing respectively: No apoE and no apoC-III (E-C-), apoE but not apoC-III (E+C-), apoC-III but no apoE (E-C+) and both apoE and apoC-III (E+C+). In each HDL subspecies, we measured LCAT and CETP concentration and activity using immunoenzymatic and fluorometric methods. Additionally, we determined the size distribution of HDL in each apolipoprotein-defined fraction using non-denaturing electrophoresis and anti-ApoA-I western blot. Results Similar to previous studies, HDL in the E-C- fraction was the predominant subtype. The size distribution of HDL was very similar across all four apolipoprotein-defined fractions. LCAT was most abundant in E-C- HDL (3.58 mg/mL, 59.6 % of plasma LCAT mass), while HDL with apoE or apoC-III had much less LCAT (19.8%, 12.2% and 8.37% of plasma LCAT respectively for E+C-, E-C+ and E+C+). LCAT mass was lower in E+C- HDL relative to E-C- HDL, but LCAT activity was similar in both fractions, signaling a greater activity-to-mass ratio associated with the presence of apoE. Both CETP mass and CETP activity showed only slight variations across HDL subspecies. There was an inverse correlation between plasma LCAT activity and both E-C+ pre-beta HDL (r=-0.55, p=0.017) and E-C- alpha 1 HDL (r=-0.49, p=0.041). Conversely, there was a direct correlation between E-C+ alpha 1 HDL and CETP activity in plasma (r=0.52, p=0.025). Conclusions Our results suggest that LCAT activity in humans is influenced by the presence of small interchangeable apolipoproteins. The presence of apoE in small HDL is correlated with increased LCAT activity and esterification of plasma cholesterol.


This atlas provides satellite images of the UK. The advantage of this type of atlas is the nature of satellite imagery which contains far more detail, more accurately, than a comparable map of similar scale. The satellite imagery contains all the information that can be sensed on or near the Earth's surface and therefore far more information is available to the reader. The images within the atlas fall into three groups: the main group, comprising the systematic coverage of Britain; the specialized Landsat images, illustrating a variety of natural and man-made features; and examples of other satellite images, showing the different techniques and applications of these images. The Landsat images have been generated from the Landsat mosaic produced by the National Remote Sensing Centre at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough. The atlas images have been reproduced on a scale of 1:500,000, in simulated natural colour. The eight special geographical images are at 1:100,000. Each image is accompanied by an interpretive map, compiled directly from satellite images, and a short descriptive text, giving the more important features that can be observed on the adjacent image. The atlas also contains an introduction to techniques and hardware, a glossry of terms and a directory of manufacturers and research institutes.


The Iranian strategic situation has always received the attention of foreign powers including England, Russia and America and these powers; in order to reach their goals in the Middle East have always striven to utilize this situation. This research seeks to answer the question of how the English state interfered in and performed the March 3, 1921 coup d'état. The English failure in implementing the 1919 Treaty was considered a beginning for the devising the March 3, 1921 coup d'état. From the beginning of the March 3, 1921 coup d'état and after that, the English government intended for a strong government in Iran so to carry out the 1919 Treaty in another form in direction of its own benefits in Iran. This research has been conducted based on documents and evidence and via utilization of descriptive-comparative methods. The findings reveal that the main goal of the English government for endorsing the March 3, 1921 coup d'état was to establish an authoritative and centralized state and create a security belt for preventing the influence of Communism into Iran.


Lacrimal gland tumors are rare. We present a case of a 69 year
old male patient with a one year history of an orbital tumor (Pleomorphic Adenoma ). The tumor was surgically enucleated
and patient recovery was very satisfactory, with no signs of
recurrence after one year of follow-up. A review of the clinical
symptoms, radiologic features, treatment and histopathology of
this kind of tumors is also made.


An automatic method for measurement of the resonant frequency and Q-factor of an X-band cavity microwave resonator is described. Results obtained, under computer control, for cavities with a Q-factor of up to 8000 are presented, and values of permittivity and conductivity measured on a number of materials are reported.


Nonlinear regression is quite similar to linear regression, which has been studied extensively by statisticians for many decades. However, the non-linear model is not so easy to deal with, since the loss of linearity creates several theoretical problems, which must be addressed in different ways than in linear regression. The well-known analysis and geometry of least squares are no longer valid, so it is inevitable to resort to asymptomatic methods and iterative algorithms. A non-linear model has the general form Yi=f(Xi,β)+ei, where Xi is the vector of the predicted variables and β is the vector of the parameters. To date, several key results on nonlinear regression have been developed, as this topic is of particular interest and practical importance with mumerous applications to problems in many scientific areas.
 In the present Thesis, the general model of nonlinear regression is first described and then a systematic presentation of the model parameter estimation techniques is made. Statistical inference topics are covered and the various methods that exist are compared. Finally, the Thesis presents specific areas where nonlinear regression models have been used.


Objective: To compare the frequency of Pseudo-Exfoliation Syndrome (PXS) in patients undergoing cataract surgery in different regional hospitals in Pakistan.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Three Tertiary Care Hospitals of Karachi, Rawalakot and Skardu Pakistan, from Sep 2017 to May 2020.
Methodology: Patients aged 45 years and more undergoing age-related cataract surgery were evaluated for Pseudo-Exfoliation Syndrome. Initially, each patient underwent a complete outpatient ophthalmological workup. Demographic details like age and gender were noted. All the patients were screened for hypertension and diabetes mellitus. In addition, patients were screened for pseudo-exfoliation syndrome. Congenital, developmental, secondary and traumatic cataracts were excluded.
Results: A total of 1882 patients were included in the study. Pseudo-exfoliation was carried out in 249(13.23%) patients. In Hospital-A, 23(3.23%); in Hospital-B, 145(14.92%) and Hospital-C, 81(40.70%) of the patients had pseudo-exfoliation. The frequency of pseudo-exfoliation syndrome was significantly more in Hospital-C and then in Hospital-B and least in HospitalA (p<0.01).
Conclusion: Pseudo-exfoliation syndrome was significantly more common in Skardu and then in Rawalakot and least in Malir, which in the same order have more latitude away from the equator, have less average annual temperature and are situated at higher altitudes.


We have investigated indium break junctions and found a strongly reduced critical current as well as a residual resistance R0 when the normal contact resistance RN → RK/2 = h/2e2. These results can be described by the horizon model, taking into account the small lead capacitance of the samples. The horizon of a Josephson point contact equals the Compton wavelength of the quasi-particle oscillating in the washboard potential. Our samples had lead capacitances of order 1 - 10pF/m and very low losses with Q → ∞.


Gas sensors have become an integral component of control systems for internal combustion engines to provide information for feedback control of air-to-fuel ratio (A/F) to achieve improved vehicle performance and fuel economy as well as decreased levels of emission. Increasingly stringent limits on evaporative emissions as well as the requirement of having on-board diagnostics (OBD), which includes catalyst monitoring, necessitate the monitoring of exhaust gas constituents [i.e., carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HCs), and oxides of nitrogen (NO/sub x/)]. The different sensing requirements, testing procedures, environmental parameters, and need for microsystem-based realizations are discussed.


During the past 2 decades, perinatal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has become a major cause of illness and death among children in the United States, having infected more than 15 000 children and having claimed more than 3000 lives. 1 An important turning point in this epidemic occurred on February 21,1994, when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced the interim results of AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Protocol 076, which demonstrated that zidovudine administered to a group of HIV-infected women during pregnancy and labor and to their newborns reduced the risk for perinatal HIV transmission by two thirds. 2 This dramatic prevention breakthrough offered both the hope of substantially controlling the HIV epidemic in children and the challenge of turning this hope into reality. In response to this challenge, a multifaceted campaign was launched by public and private health organizations, community groups, and individuals to translate the


We found that a true ternary fission with formation of a heavy third fragment (a new kind of radioactivity) is quite possible for superheavy nuclei due to the strong shell effects leading to a three-body clusterization with the two doubly magic tinlike cores. The three-body quasi-fission process could be even more pronounced for giant nuclear systems formed in collisions of heavy actinide nuclei. In this case a three-body clusterization might be proved experimentally by detection of two coincident lead-like fragments in low-energy U+U collisions.


We have designed a novel dual-labeled PNA oligomer, having both a fluorescent dye and a quencher, by utilizing key compounds 1 and 2. We showed that the designed dual-labeled PNA oligomer works as a molecular beacon PNA. We also investigated the optimization of a stem-loop structure which can supersensitize the function as a molecular beacon PNA.


Abstract Many women continue to become infected with HIV, particularly in the Southeastern USA, despite widespread knowledge about methods to prevent its sexual transmission. This grounded theory investigation examined the decision-making process women use to guide their use or non-use of self-protective measures when engaging in sexual activity. Participants included women in the Mississippi cohort of the Women's Interagency HIV Study who were infected with or at high risk for HIV. Theoretical sampling was used to recruit a sample of 20 primarily African American women aged between 26 and 56 years, living in rural and urban areas. Data were analysed using constant comparative method to generate a theory of the process that guided women's self-protective decisions. Three key themes were identified: (1) sexual silence, an overall context of silence around sexuality in their communities and relationships; (2) the importance of relationships with male partners, including concepts of 'love and trust', 'filling the void' and 'don't rock the boat'; and (3) perceptions of risk, including 'it never crossed my mind', 'it couldn't happen to me' and 'assumptions about HIV'. These themes impacted on women's understandings of HIV-related risk, making it difficult to put self-protection above other interests and diminishing their motivation to protect themselves.


and then I determined the frequency of occurrence and distribution of the modality expressions used in each unit. 2.2. Classification of modality devices In written academic discourse, there are a number of possible linguistic strategies which permit writers to express grammatically varying degrees of commitment to the truth of a proposition by qualifying their claims. In order to analyse the occurrence of modality devices consistently, these were classified according to the following categories: — Modal auxiliary verbs, such as may, might, can/poder, which are used to express the writer's assesment as to the certainty, probability or possibility that the assertion is true. — Semi-auxiliaries like to seem, to appear/parecer, which are used when the writer dissociates from the reliability of the proposition expressed. — Epistemic lexical verbs like to suggest/sugerir, to indicate/indicar. to speculate/especular, to as sume/asumir, that is, verbs which relate to the probability of a proposition or hypothesis being true. — Verbs of cognition like to believe, to think/creer, to doubt/dudar, which convey the writers' attitude to the truth of their statements. — Modal adverbs (perhaps, possibly, probably) also express the same degrees of commitment that we have seen expressed by verbs. — Modal nouns (possibility, assumption, suggestion) which relate to the probability of the proposition being true. — Modal adjectives (possible, probable, likely) which express varying degrees of certainty. 3. Results In table 1 the quantitative results of my analysis with respect to the frequency of occurrence and category distribution of modality expressions recorded in the English and Spanish abstracts are presented: Revista de Lenguas para Fines Especificos NTM 7 y 8 (2000 y 2001) 201


Among the compliant platforms, TLP is a vertically moored structure with excess buoyancy, used for deep water oil exploration. In this structure tethers can be tensioned to such an extent that heave, roll and pitch motions of the platform induced by ocean waves are virtually eliminated. SeaStar is new generation of mini tension leg platforms which is similar to a spar and has favorable response features of a TLP. This paper illustrates the results of experimental work performed on a 1/100 scaled model of SeaStar TLP in a wave flume. The study refers to the induced tension in different tendons of the model and the motion response behaviour of the model on different degrees of freedom under several directional impinging random water waves. The results are presented in the frequency domain and the response amplitude operator for each motion of the platform has been calculated.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


Negotiation is a process of reaching an agreement on the terms of a transaction, such as price, quantity, for two or more parties. Negotiation tries to maximize the benefits for all parties concerned. Instead of using human-based negotiation, e-commerce provides such an environment as adopting automated negotiation. Thus, choosing agent technology is appropriate for an automatic electronic negotiation platform, since autonomous software agents strive for the best deal on behalf of the human participants. Negotiation agents need a clear-cut definition of negotiation models or strategies. In reality, most bargaining systems embody nearly one negotiation model. In this article, we present a mobile agent negotiation system with reusable negotiation strategies that allows agents to dynamically embody a user's favorite negotiation strategy which can be preinstalled as a component in the system. We develop a prototype system, which is fully implemented in compliance with FIPA specifications, and then, describe the benefits of using the system.


Using hierarchical linear models fitted to data from the World Values Survey and national statistics for 35 countries, this article builds on the postmaterialist thesis by assessing the impact of economic inequality across and within nations on attitudes toward homosexuality. It provides evidence that tolerance tends to decline as national income inequality rises. For professionals and managers, the results also support the postmaterialist argument that economic development leads to more tolerant attitudes. On the other hand, attitudes of the working class are generally less tolerant, and contrary to expectations of the postmaterialist thesis, are seemingly unaffected by economic development. In other words, economic development influences attitudes only for those who benefit most. These findings have political implications, suggesting that state policies that have the goal of economic growth but fail to consider economic inequality may contribute to intolerant social and political values, an attribute widely considered detrimental for the health of democracy.


Background Many combination immunotherapies have been investigated however identifying subsets of patients who will benefit from each combination has been challenging. While immunotherapy combinations have to date centered on therapeutic targets on immune cells, the expression of immuno-oncology (IO) targets on cancer cells has not been well studied. We investigated the gene expression landscape across human solid tumors for seven existing IO targets (CTLA4, GITR, CSF1R, IDO1, LAG3, TIM3, and FOXP3) in conjunc-tion with PDL1 to evaluate tumor-intrinsic patterns and poten-tial for IO combinations in specific patient populations. Methods We used a hierarchical approach on samples from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Normalized RNAseq data was converted to quartile rank to define patient populations of PDL1 high/low in combination with high/low from one of the IO targets. Genes differentially expressed between groups were identified by limma voom (fold change >1.5, FDR 0.05). Upstream regulators were predicted by causal networks from Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (z-score >1.95). Results Patients with PDL1 high expression showed high expression in all seven genes, and those of PDL1 low showed low expression in all genes, consistent with the literature. We identified a unique subset of patients in the PDL1 low setting, however, that demonstrated high CTLA4 or GITR expression, composing 14% and 21% of all tumor samples, respectively. Subsequent analysis of the CTLA4-high/PDL1-low subset indi-cated that high CTLA4 expression in PDL1 low tumors may represent an intermediate-T cell-inflamed tumor microenviron-ment (TME) with activated upstream regulators of Type-I IFN g pathways (IFNG, AHR, TNF, STAT1, NFKB1, IFNA1), which comprised 12% of cervical squamous cell carcinoma, 15% of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and 17% of liver hepatocellular carcinoma. Analysis surrounding GITR sug-gested that high GITR expression in PDL1 low tumors may also represent an intermediate-T cell-inflamed TME. 14% of skin cutaneous metastatic melanoma, 20% of liver hepatocellular carcinoma, 20% of sarcoma, and 11% of testicular germ cell tumor samples fell in GITR-high/PDL1-low group and demonstrated intermediate activation of IFNG, TNF, CD28, AHR, NFKB1, and MYD88. These analyses were not impacted when adjusted by tumor mutational burden across cancer types. Conclusions High CTLA4 or GITR in the context of low PDL1 may represent an intermediate-T cell-inflamed TME and/ or tumor cell-intrinsic expression. Stratification of tumors by T cell-inflamed gene signature, or PDL1 status, as well as expression of a specific therapeutic target may identify patient populations who could benefit from CTLA4 or GITR depletion strategies in IO combination therapies.


This case is designed to highlight the difficulties corporate executives and managers face when seeking to balance their fiduciary duties with their human and ethical obligations. The case involves Save Shop, a fictional regional grocery chain that is considering replacing most of the cashiers in their stores with automated or self-checkouts. This switch would save the company money but would also cost hundreds of employees their jobs. Save Shop's executives will have to decide how to balance their desire to do right by the company's employees with their fiduciary duties to its shareholders. Many business students will at some point in their careers be faced with similar decisions.


This chapter is a review of fundus photography techniques, with particular emphasis on the important parameters of producing high quality fundus photographs. The role of fundus photography has extended beyond that of a documentary service to one with specific diagnostic value. Thus, ocular fundus photography relates directly to patient care and is an essential part of the sophisticated armamentarium of any clinical ophthalmological unit.


In this paper, diffusion bonding of ZK60 superplastic material is investigated according to atom diffusion law. Gleeble-1500 testing machine is used in the diffusion bonding processing on the superplastic ZK60. In additional, shear tests of bonding joints are carried out on electronic universal testing machine. The optimized diffusion bonding conditions are obtained: a bonding time of 90 min at 653K at a pressure of 20MPa. The microstructures of the joints are observed through OM and SEM. It is concluded that the mechanism of diffusion bonding of the ZK60 superplastic material is the slide of original grain boundaries caused by atom diffusion and the grain growth, and sound joints with high shear strength are obtained through sufficient diffusion of the interface atoms.


The Atmospheric Optical Calibration System (AOCS) was developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for making real-time, terrestrially based measurements of selected optical properties of the atmosphere. The original application of the AOCS was to provide measurements of atmospheric optical conditions pertinent to outdoor photovoltaic (PV) device performance measurements. It addresses the dependence of outdoor PV test results on the characteristics of the incident solar radiation that are dependent on these constantly changing atmospheric optical conditions. This paper describes the AOCS, its calibration and its application to PV testing. Additional applications related to the measurement of atmospheric optical properties are also mentioned.