ABSTRACT The construction and operation of a multi-level piezometer (multisampler) designed to collect pore water from permeable sediments up to 230 cm below the sediment-water interface is described. Multisamplers are constructed from 1 inch schedule 80 PVC pipe. One-quarter-inch flexible PVC tubing leads from eight ports at variable depths to a 1 inch tee fitting at the top of the PVC pipe. Multisamplers are driven into the sediment using standard fence-post drivers. Water is pumped from the PVC tubing with a peristaltic pump. Field tests in Banana River Lagoon, Florida, demonstrate the utility of multisamplers. These tests include collection of multiple samples from the permeable sediments and reveal mixing between shallow pore water and overlying lagoon water.


Continuous wave barriers are mitigation measures to reduce vibrations induced by railway traffic which have been well studied in technical literature. Nevertheless, there are not many studies about discontinuous concrete wave barriers. By this reason, in this paper continuous and discontinuous concrete wave barriers are studied and compared. With this objective, two theoretical cases with discontinuous barriers have been analysed and the results have been compared with those from both continuous barriers and without barriers cases. The study has been carried out with a dynamic numerical 3D FEM model formulated in the space/time domain, which has previously been validated by authors on the Lisbon-Oporto (Portugal) railway line. The numerical results show the discontinuous barriers with a small separation between axles (less than twice the thickness of the continuous barrier) are an efficient measure in the reduction of vibrations, reaching values of insertion loss of up to 13 dB. So, these could be a very interesting alternative to continuous barriers, in order to conjugate a somewhat lower level of reduction of vibration at a considerable lower cost.


The half-time of cells and molecules used in immunotherapy is limited. Scaffolds-based immunotherapy against cancer may increase the half-life of the molecules and also support the migration and activation of leukocytes in situ. For this purpose, the use of gelatin (Ge)/hyaluronic acid (HA) scaffolds coupled to CpG and the tumor antigen MAGE-A5 is proposed. Ge and HA are components of the extracellular matrix that stimulate cell adhesion and activation of leucocytes; CpG can promote dendritic cell maturation, and MAGE-A5 a specific antitumor response. C57BL/6 mice were treated with Ge/HA/scaffolds coupled to MAGE-A5 and/or CpG and then challenged with the B16-F10 melanoma cell line. Survival, tumor growth rate and the immune response induced by the scaffolds were analyzed. Ge/HA/CpG and Ge/HA/MAGE-A5 mediated dendritic cell maturation and macrophage activation, increased survival, and decreased the tumor growth rate and a tumor parenchyma with abundant cell death areas and abundant tumor cells with melanin granules. Only the scaffolds coupled to MAGE-A5 induced the activation of CD8 T cells. In conclusion, Ge/HA scaffolds coupled to CpG or MAGE-A5, but not the mixture, can induce a successful immune response capable of promoting tumor cell clearance and increased survival.


We study the charge transfer between a positronium and an antiproton in the presence of a laser field. The interactions of positronium and antihydrogen with the laser field are treated to first order as time-dependent perturbations. The wavefunction of the ejected electron is described by the Volkov state which makes the scattering matrix decompose into a series of sub-amplitudes for multiphoton processes. The cross section for antihydrogen formation, and its dependences on laser parameters (intensity, frequency and polarization direction) are discussed.


This was a longitudinal observational cohort study to investigate the association of stunting at 24 months of age and attained adult height. A cohort of 104 Peruvian males (n=47) and females (n=57) was studied from 24 months to after puberty in a rural community in the Peruvian Amazon located 15 km southeast from the urban center of Iquitos. Anthropometric measures were made at 24 months and after puberty. Height for Age Z (HAZ) Scores were calculated and compared to assess the association of HAZ score at 24 months and adult height. 67.7% of males and 54.1% of females who were stunted at 24 m (HAZ<-2.0) recovered (HAZ>-2.0) after puberty, whereas 6.25% of males and 6.06% of females who were not stunted at 24 m (HAZ>-2.0) became stunted (HAZ<-2.0) after puberty. The first 1000 days are not the only critical window for growth promotion. Global and national initiatives to reduce stunting should not exclusively focus on the first two years of life, but also work to promote the nutritional initiatives to promote optimal nutrition and growth throughout childhood and adolescence.


A bilayer structure was constructed on gold by Langmuir-Blodgett deposition of a fullerene (C 60)-cyclic peptide-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) conjugate and thereafter a pyrene derivative from the air/water interface. The cyclic peptide moiety acts as a scaffold to prevent the fullerenes from self-aggregation and accordingly makes the monolayer homogeneous and stable. In addition to this gold/C 60-cyclic peptide-PEG/pyrene bilayer, a pyrene monolayer, a gold/C 60-PEG conjugate/pyrene bilayer (lacking the peptide scaffold), and a gold/pyrene/C 60-cyclic peptide-PEG bilayer (with the opposite order of layers) were also prepared, and their anodic photocurrent generation were studied in an aqueous solution containing a sacrifice electron donor. The most efficient photocurrent generation was observed in the gold/C 60-cyclic peptide-PEG/pyrene bilayer. It is considered that the C 60 unit acts not only as sensitizer but also as an electron acceptor facilitating the electron transfer from the excited pyrene unit to gold, and that the fullerene layer suppresses quenching of the excited pyrene unit by energy transfer to gold. Furthermore, the cyclic peptide scaffold helps the fullerenes disperse without aggregation in the membrane and seems to protect their redox properties or inhibit self-quenching of their excited state. It is thus concluded that a bilayer structure with desired orientation of functional units is important for efficient photoinduced electron transfer and that a cyclic peptide scaffold is useful to locate hydrophobic functional groups properly in a thin layer.


The paper is concerned with developing novel multiuser detection algorithms. The main stress is on blind decorrelation of weakly stationary processes which can successfully combat multiuser interference (MUI) and intersymbol interference (ISI). The detector architecture includes an adaptive channel identifier (capable of blind decorrelation), followed by a stochastic Hopfield net which performs the task of multiuser detection. The key contribution to mobile communication lies in two factors: (i) blind decorrelation which can identify the channel even in the case of fading; (ii) the use of the stochastic Hopfield net which can guarantee good performance due to its ability to reach the global minimum of the associated quadratic form. The proposed detector structure is proven to be superior to the RAKE or Viterbi receivers. The results are demonstrated by simulations as well.


A new genus of Ianeirina (Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae: Selenocephalini), Gyrosus gen. nov. including the new species Gyrosus deltodontus sp. nov. as the type species, is described and illustrated from South Africa. Habitus photographs of adult leafhoppers and the genitalia of this new species are provided. Type specimens of this new species are deposited in the Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town, South Africa (ISAM).


Novel multiblock polypeptides with a structure similar to the unique sequence observed in spider silk proteins (spidroins) were synthesized via a two-step chemical synthesis method, that is, chemoenzymatic polymerization, using papain followed by postpolycondensation. Two types of polypeptide fragments were prepared by chemoenzymatic polymerization: polyalanine as a hard block, which forms β-sheets in the spider silk fibers, and poly(glycine-random-leucine) as a soft block. These two fragments were ligated by postpolycondensation using polyphosphoric acid as a condensing agent. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and IR measurements revealed that the resulting multiblock polypeptides formed an antiparallel β-sheet structure with a degree of crystallinity similar to that of spider silk, which resulted in a fibrous morphology. This work provides the first example of a synthetic multiblock polypeptide mimicking the secondary structures of spider silk.


The cholesterol-lowering property of beans has been shown in several studies. The propose of the present work was to investigate the effect of black beans (Phaseolus vulgaris, L.) without hulls on blood cholesterol of hypercholesterolemic rats. Four groups of 8 male rats, Wistar strain, initial body weight of 200 g were kept at +/- 25 degrees C in a light-dark cycle of 12 h, for 28 days. The group Standard received a basal casein diet. Group Control received the basal diet added of 1% cholesterol plus 0.1% cholic acid. The group BB received a diet similar to the Control, substituted by 30% black beans, on dry-weight. The group SBB received black beans without hulls, equivalent to 30% of whole beans. The addition of cholesterol and cholic acid raised blood cholesterol levels of rats on Control diet by 58%, in relation to the Standard. BB diet reduced blood cholesterol by 15% (non-significant-NS) and SBB diet reduced (p < 0.05) by 35%, in relation to the Control diet. The levels of HDL-cholesterol were reduced (p < 0.05) by both bean diets. SBB diet promoted a higher excretion of fecal cholesterol, compared to the Control. This suggests that beans without hulls promote a higher cholesterol output and that the whole beans, although had lowered blood cholesterol (NS), kept it in the enterohepatic circulation. The hypocholesterolemic compounds of beans seem to be located in the inner part of the grain. Further studies are necessary to identify these compounds and to elucidate their mechanisms of action.


This study explores investigation of applicability of impact factors to estimate solar irradiance by four machine learning algorithms using climatic elements as comparative analysis: linear regression, support vector machines (SVM), a multi-layer neural network (MLNN), and a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network. The methods show how actual climate factors impact on solar irradiation, and the possibility of estimating one year local solar irradiance using machine learning methodologies with four different algorithms. This study conducted readily accessible local weather data including temperature, wind velocity and direction, air pressure, the amount of total cloud cover, the amount of middle and low-layer cloud cover, and humidity. The results show that the artificial neural network (ANN) models provided more close information on solar irradiance than the conventional techniques (linear regression and SVM). Between the two ANN models, the LSTM model achieved better performance, improving accuracy by 31.7% compared to the MLNN model. Impact factor analysis also revealed that temperature and the amount of total cloud cover are the dominant factors affecting solar irradiance, and the amount of middle and low-layer cloud cover is also an important factor. The results from this work demonstrate that ANN models, especially ones based on LSTM, can provide accurate information of local solar irradiance using weather data without installing and maintaining on-site solar irradiance sensors.


ABSTRACT The role played by towns in the political and institutional life of the kingdom of Sardinia during the 1400s is a subject that has been long neglected by historiography. The growing and privileged status of the feudal class has tended to monopolize the attention of existing studies and research, thereby practically ignoring the reality of urban life. First published in the collection Acta Curiarum Regni Sardinie, (the Acts of Parliaments in the Kingdom of Sardinia) in particular, proved to be of fundamental importance in providing knowledge of the institutions that governed the administrative, political, economic and social life of towns, communities and ville under the direct control of the crown. Among others, the towns in question included the capital city of Cagliari and the fortified villa of Alghero. The introduction of parliaments as an institution in the kingdom of Sardinia provided a new occasion for dialogue between urban communities and royal authority. With the establishment of the first assembly, summoned by Pietro IV in 1355 in the Castello quarter of Cagliari, the state-controlled towns and the ville not living under feudal regimes were called upon to participate in the proceedings of a parliament forming their own so called braccio (arm).


Although studies have demonstrated that resveratrol administration following adverse circulatory conditions is known to be protective, the mechanism by which resveratrol produces the salutary effects remains unknown. We hypothesized that resveratrol administration in males following trauma-hemorrhage decreases cytokine production and protects against lung injury. Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent trauma-hemorrhage (mean blood pressure 40 mmHg for 90 min, then resuscitation). A single dose of resveratrol (30 mg/kg of body weight) or vehicle was administered intravenously during resuscitation. Twenty-four hours thereafter, tissue myeloperoxidase activity (a marker of neutrophil sequestration), cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant (CINC)-1, CINC-3, intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, and interleukin (IL)-6 levels in the lung and protein concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were measured (n = 6 rats/group). One-way ANOVA and Tukey's test were used for statistical analysis. Trauma-hemorrhage increased lung myeloperoxidase activity, CINC-1, CINC-3, ICAM-1, and IL-6 levels and protein concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. These parameters were significantly improved in the resveratrol-treated rats subjected to trauma-hemorrhage. The salutary effects of resveratrol administration on attenuation of lung injury following trauma-hemorrhage are likely due to reduction of pro-inflammatory mediators.


Samples of convicted male rapists, pedophiles, homosexuals, transsexuals, heavy pornography users, and to a community control group were interviewed to assess experience with erotic material in photographs, films, and books, during adolescence and adulthood. Adolescent exposure to erotica was significantly less for all nonheterosexual and offender groups compared to the controls. During adulthood, the sex offenders and transsexuals continued to report less exposure to erotic stimuli than controls. The homosexuals and users, however, both report greater exposure during adulthood. Less than a quarter of the respondents in any group imitated sexual behavior seen in the erotic material immediately or shortly after its' viewing. The hypothesis that extent of exposure to erotica during adolescence is positively associated with the later emergence of sexual pathology is not borne out by this study. The control groups sampled had significantly greater exposure to erotic materials during adolescence than the deviants, convicted sex offenders, or heavy adult users of pornography. Language: en


It is demonstrated experimentally that at high average radiation power, the optical isolation in the recently proposed design of a Faraday isolator is substantially higher than in the conventional scheme. The Faraday isolator with the isolation of 45 dB at the radiation power of 100 W is implemented. The data obtained show that a 30-dB isolator for the average laser radiation power of 1 kW can be realised.


The aim of this study is to compare the effect of lateral thinking dispositions on groupwork in a collaborative learning environment from different angles as quantitatively and qualitatively in line with methodological pluralism. The population of the study included freshmen students studying Gastronomy and Culinary Arts in Tourism Faculty of a state university. The study was conducted in three samples within the scope of methodological pluralism including data triangulation (for SPSS analysis: N= 83- all the students in the study universe-; for thematic analysis: N= 66- selected on a voluntary basis depending on voluntary response sampling-; and for the Rasch analysis: N= 16 students accepting to participate this aspect of the study voluntarily and 3 faculty members who have the responsibilities of the groupwork of the students). In the quantitative phase, descriptive analysis was performed through the Rasch Measurement Model and SPSS program while in the qualitative part of the study, the case study approach was conducted under the checklist of COREQ Statement. Rasch results indicated the LATD (Lateral Thinking Dispositions) scores of the students graduating from tourism or cooking related vocational high schools and having work experience were higher than their counterparts not graduating from tourism related high schools and had no work experience beforehand. Qualitative results showed consistency with the quantitative results. Teachers are suggested to be trained so that lateral thinking skills can be implemented in class environment.


A method is described for preparing, by filtration on Millipore filters, very thin (about l0 #) pellicles of packed particles. These pellicles can be embedded in Epon for electron microscopic examination. They are also suitable for cytochemical assays. The method was used with various particulate fractions from rat liver. Its main advantages over the usual centrifugal packing techniques are that it produces heterogeneity solely in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the pellicle and that sections covering the whole depth of the pellicle can be photographed in a single field. I t thus answers the essential criterion of random sampling and can be used for accurate quantitative evaluations. The electron microscopic examination of subcellular fractions is usually performed on material collected by centrifugation. When the particles belong to various categories differing in sedimentation coefficient or in density, as is usually the case, their distribution in the pellet is far from homogeneous. The resulting heterogeneity does not occur solely in the direction of the centrifugal field, a difficulty which could be obviated by the preparation of pellets sufficiently thin to be examined over their whole depth, as was done by Ernster et al. (4). In our experience, this heterogeneity also extends along the surface of the pellet, causing particles of different types to occur with differing frequencies in the center and in the periphery of the preparation. For this reason, a truly quantitative evaluation of the morphological composition of a fraction packed by centrifugation requires scanning in at least two directions, a laborious procedure in view of the amount of material which has to be processed for convenient handling. Thus there is an obvious need for a method that would allow a rapid and accurate morphological evaluation of subcellular fractions. The problem is mainly one of adequate sampling. Since any physical procedure used to pack heterogeneous particulate material is likely to introduce some heterogeneity, our attempts were aimed primarily at restricting this heterogeneity to a single direction of space and at minimizing the dimension of the sample in this direction. A very thin (about 10 t~) pellicle, eventually organized along its depth but not in any other direction, would meet these requirements. As already mentioned, we found centrifugation inadequate for the preparation of such pellicles, and we turned instead to filtration procedures which gave satisfactory results with various subcellular fractions. M A T E R I A L S A N D M E T H O D S Subcellular Fractions Female rats of a Wistar strain were used in all experiments. Fractions were isolated from normal liver according to the scheme of de Duve et al. (3). The large granule fraction is equivalent to the sum of 181 on A uust 7, 2017 jcb.rress.org D ow nladed fom the M and L fractions, and the microsomal fract ion to the P fraction of these authors . Except in the case of p repara t ion of the microsomal fraction, animals were s tarved for 16 h r before sacrifice. T h e purif ied lysosomal fraction, obta ined after injection of Tr i ton WR-1339 ( R o h m & Haas , Phi ladelphia, Pa.), was prepared by the m e t h o d of T roue t (9).


Abstract Japanese knotweed is an aggressive alien species in Europe, North America, and Australia, causing a range of environmental problems. Eradication of Japanese knotweed is proving to be a difficult task, because the plant is able to propagate generatively by intra- and interspecific hybridization, and vegetatively from shoot and tiny rhizome pieces. Despite the economic consequences of Japanese knotweed on natural and built environments, its physiology is not yet fully understood; especially important are sink-source relations between old and young parts of the rhizome and growth of lateral and latent rhizome buds. Current methods of chemical control include three types of phloem-mobile herbicides, such as glyphosate, imazapyr, and synthetic auxins. These herbicides have limitations on their use, and all fail to eradicate the plant completely, for the reasons discussed in this review. Our aim is to suggest prospective approaches to enable chemical eradication: use of signals to induce controlled growth and development of quiescent rhizome buds; use of phytohormones, sugars, and light to increase allocation of phloem-mobile herbicides to the rhizome; use of xylem-mobile herbicides to exterminate the old rhizome parts; and use of different phloem-mobile herbicides at different growth stages. Nomenclature: Glyphosate; imazapyr; synthetic auxins; Japanese knotweed, Fallopia japonica (Houtt.) Ronse Decraene POLCU.


Purpose Radioactive iodine (RAI) is widely used for adjuvant therapy after thyroidectomy, while its value for thyroid cancer has been controversial recently. The primary objectives of this study were to clarify the influence of Radioactive iodine (RAI) on the survival in rare oxyphilic subtype of thyroid cancer (Hürthle cell carcinoma, HCC). Methods Patients diagnosed with oxyphilic thyroid carcinoma from 2004 to 2015 were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program database. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) among patients who had adjuvant RAI use or not. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were performed for survival analysis, and subsequently visualized by nomogram. Results In all, 2,799 patients were identified, of which 1529 patients had adjuvant RAI use while 1,270 patients had not. Based on multivariate Cox analysis, the RAI therapy confers an improved OS for HCC patients (HR = 0.57, 95% CI [0.44–0.72], P < 0.001), whereas it has no significant benefit in the survival analysis regarding CSS (HR = 0.79, 95% CI [[0.47–1.34], P = 0.382). In a subgroup analysis, the same survival benefit of RAI treatment on OS, but not CSS was observed among patients stratified by AJCC stage and tumor extension. Nevertheless, patients with regional lymph node metastasis benefited from RAI therapy both in OS and CSS (P < 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, nomograms used for predicting long term survival of HCC patients exhibited a better prediction power for OS compared with traditional tumor, nodal and metastatic (TNM) stage made by American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) (C-index = 0.833 of the nomogram model vs. 0.696 of the AJCC system). Conclusions This study suggests that RAI therapy is significantly associated with improved OS in patients with Hürthle cell carcinoma. However, there was no association between treatment with radioiodine and CSS, possibly due to small number of deaths that were related to HCC.


ONE OF the more engrossing medical consultations of the 19th century began when Tom spied Huck ambling down the road swinging a dead cat. Curiosity getting the better of him too, Tom asked the obvious question and learned that what dead cats "is good for" are to "cure warts with." But warts could also, Tom rejoined, be cured with "spunk-water," if one followed his instructions: back up to a stump filled with water, and just at midnight, thrust a hand into the stump while reciting "Barley-corn, Barley-corn, injun-meal shorts, spunk-water, spunk-water, swaller these warts," then rapidly walk away 11 steps, with eyes closed, turn around three times, and finally continue home without speaking to anyone. True, Huck acknowledged, and they could be cured if one split a bean in half, rubbed one side with the blood of the incised wart, buried it at a crossroads at midnight, and then burned


four cases to varying degrees of prolapsus uteri, not allowing the bladder to be properly emptied, in consequence of which the urine underwent slight (lecomposition. The second set of cases l)ointed to some alterationi in the menstrual function ; anid the patienits simply complained of troubles due to the " clhange of life", to use their own expression. The main symptom was excessive and frequent menstruation in three cases, anid no pain was complained of; yet examination revealed extensive malignant disease of the cervix uteri. The absence of pain must not, as is too often the case, throw on one side our suspicions of malignant disease, or negative an examination. The third set of cases illustrated that pregnant women suffering from rather profuse hoemorrhage when they are about three or four months "gone" should not be looked upon as having miscarried without a proper examination having been instituted; for in three cases an examination revealed denuded and hypertrophied papilke surrounding the os uteri, which bled freely on pressure, the course of pregnancy not having been interrupted at all. The bleeding surface was in each case healed by applying a little liquor ferri perchloridi and glycerine, equal parts, on cotton-wool. The other points touched upon in the paper referred to the necessity of making a digital examination as well as by the speculum. This advice was shown to be needed in a case where a small polypus was detected, growing from the os uteri, wvith the speculum ; but a fibroid of the uterus was niot recognised until twvo weeks later, when a digital examination was made. The rule to be observed in making vaginal examinations is, the finger first; after that, if necessary, the speculum, sound, etc.


Conshohocken, PA, 2000, pp. 51-60. The cleavage fracture model of Wallin et al. [1] suggests that the variation of median and bounding values of fracture toughness with temperature is predictable on a micro-mechanical basis. ASTM has recently adopted a standard [ASTM Standard Test Method for the Determination of Reference Temperature, T o , for Ferritic Steels in the Transition Range (E 1921-98)] for characterizing the variation of the fracture toughness of ferritic steels in the transition temperature range that draws heavily on the work of Wallin et al. and on subsequent developments [1-5]. The new standard expresses the median toughness transition for a IT specimen as: k J c | m e d i a n = 30 = 70.exp[0.019(T - T o )] where temperature is measured in degrees Celsius and K J c is measured in MPa√m. Similar equation express the variation of bounding toughness values (e.g., 95% lower bound) with temperature. The numeric coefficients in all of these equations do not depend on the type of steel tested. This invariance suggests that chemistry, heat treatment, and other metallurgical variables are not thought to influence the exponential increase with temperature of the plastic work necessary for crack propagation, the dominance of carbides as the particles that initiate cleavage fracture, or the distribution of carbide particles. The ASTM E 1921 Master Curve represents existing fracture toughness data well for nuclear pressure vessel steels and their weldments [6]. This empirical evidence suggests that the material invariance attributed to the Master Curve coefficients in ASTM E 1921 is at least approximately correct for this class of steel. But the microstructural bounds of applicability for the Master Curve are not clear. In this paper we ecamine the physical basis for the Wallin et al. Master Curve with the aim of distinguishing the classes of steels to which the methodology applies from those to which it does not. We use this physical understanding to calculate the temperature dependence of the pastic work for ferritic steels to demonstrate theoretical validity of a single "master curve".


A derivation of N=1 supergravity action from string theory is presented. Starting from a Nambu-Goto bosonic string, matter field is introduced to obtain a superstring in four dimension. The excitation quanta of this string contain graviton and the gravitino. Using the principle of equivalence, the action in curved space time are found and the sum of them is the Deser-Zumino N =1 supergravity action. The energy tensor is Lorentz invariant due to supersymmmetry.


Synthesizing images of a real scene at novel viewpoints other than those of some given images is important for image-based rendering, hybrid reality, and other applications that involve real scenes. Novel view synthesis has been dealt with via explicit 3D reconstruction, image transfer, or plenoptic modeling. In this paper we present an interpolation-based solution that avoids the need of explicit 3D reconstruction. The key difficulty in the interpolation approach is, as viewpoint changes, not only could a scene feature's intensity profile in the image change, its image position could also shift. We show that a novel interpolation scheme, which we refer to as iEBI (indexed function example-based interpolation) mechanism, could tackle the difficulty and acquire quality novel views even from only a few example views. Experimental result on some benchmarking image data is shown to illustrate the solution's performance.


To confirm whether surface winds strengthen above warm waters around oceanic fronts using in situ data, a field measurement was conducted using both expendable bathythermographs and Global Positioning System sondes released concurrently across the Kuroshio front in the East China Sea in December 2010. In contrast to previous studies mainly based on satellite observations, the finding of the present field survey is the local weakening of surface winds at the northern flank of the Kuroshio front. From the above field observation in conjunction with a regional numerical model experiment, it is suggested that the northwesterly winds crossing the Kuroshio front from the cooler side first weaken at the northern flank of the front because of the onset of upward transfer of the "nonslip" condition at the sea surface. Thereafter, as the atmospheric mixed layer with warm and humid air mass develops gradually downwind over the Kuroshio region, the surface winds are gradually accelerated by the momentum mixing with strong winds aloft. The surface winds remain strong over the cool East China Sea shelf, and it is thus considered that the surface winds only weaken at the northern flank of the Kuroshio front. However, numerical modeling indicates that this local weakening of the surface winds occurs as a transient state with a short duration and such a structure has thus rarely been detected in the long‐term averaged wind fields observed by satellites.


Creative Class, Creative Economy, and the Wisdom Society as a Solution to their Controversy The paper briefly introduces the notion of creativity, linking the concepts of creative class and the related creative economy that are considered by Florida (2002) and his followers as the driving force of the current social and economic development. The concept of creative economy and its quantification in form of the Creative Class Index 3T or the Euro-Creativity Index were submitted to strong critique. The critics overturn some key issues of the concept of creative class with an indication that the creative people give priority in choosing the work from the place; and there is no or almost nil correlation of a perceptual representation of the persons of homosexual orientation and the high-tech growth which confirms the opinion that the assertion about higher creativity of homosexual persons is a myth only. The purpose of the article is the examination of propriety of the concept of creative class and its quantification at one hand, and the rightfulness of their critique at the other. The analysis of the axiology of the concept of creative class is the method of examination. From point of view of axiology probably the most significant characteristic of the creative class is its accompanying destruction of thee social capital of creative people and it substitution of the creative capital. The rise of creative class takes place in parallel with the implosion of values at which basis our Jewish-Christian civilization is established. To this Florida expresses rather vague attitude by a statement that all socio-cultural changes that accompany the rise of the creative class will have no favorable impact on society. Florida (2009) labeled creativity as a basic human law, furthermore, he announced the need for a new live style in which the quality of life will increase and people become better men. The concept of creativity as an instrument of urban planning evolved into a left-liberal ideology with elements of social engineering that is the most important finding of the axiological analysis. The second finding is the need to accept the meaning of creativity. By implication of the two findings there arises a proposal for wisdom as a new driving force of social and economic development. The conclusion is the contribution is a requirement for formulation of the concept of wisdom society that is currently likely absent in the academic world, and the statement that if the West will not create the wisdom society, it will lose the raison d'être of its existence.


This paper proposes to establish the definitional boundaries of the term literature in its aesthetic sense from points that derive from the cultural history of its two centuries of existence and from the limitation imposed on it by the irruption of cyberculture. It will also put forward some of the institutional consequences implied by the notion literature in accordance with the development of this culture. This research connects philological and cultural studies, respecting their respective epistemological criteria.


The presence of force-feedback inhibition was explored during reflex responses in thirteen stroke subjects. Using constant velocity stretches, it was previously found that after movement onset, active reflex force progressively increased with increasing joint angle. However after the reflex force magnitude exceeded a particular level, it began rolling off until maintaining a steady-state value. We hypothesized that the force plateau could be explained by a force-feedback inhibitory pathway. To help facilitate an understanding of this force roll off, a simple model representing the elbow reflex pathway was developed. This model contained two separate feedback pathways, one representing the monosynaptic stretch reflex originating from muscle spindle excitation, and another representing force-feedback inhibition arising from force sensitive receptors. It was found that force-feedback inhibition altered the otherwise linear stretch reflex response, resulting in a force response that followed a sigmoidal shape similar to that observed experimentally. Furthermore, simulated reflex responses were highly dependent on force-feedback gain, where predicted reflex force began plateauing at decreasing levels with increases in this force-feedback gain. The experimental results coupled with simulations of elbow reflex responses suggest the possibility that after brain injury, the effectiveness of force-feedback inhibition may increase to a level which has functional significance.


This work was focused on the identification of predictive biomarkers for response to Zalypsis®, a bis-tetrahydroisoquinoline derivative structurally related to the marine-derived compounds jorumycin and renieramycins. Zalypsis® binds to the minor groove of DNA through its reactive carbinolamine group, establishing covalent bonds with the amino group of selected guanines in the DNA, with preference for the triplets AGG, GGC, AGC, CGG and TGG. This particular molecular interaction of Zalypsis® with the DNA creates the equivalent to a functional interstrand crosslink that lead to a strong inhibition of the early phases of transcription. Zalypsis® showed potent antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo, in preclinical models, against a wide variety of human tumors and is currently in phase II clinical trials for solid tumors, showing a tolerable toxicologic profile. In order to gain knowledge on the molecular basis of sensitivity/resistance to Zalypsis®, we used a panel of cell lines from untreated sarcoma tumor samples, keeping the cell lines low passaged to avoid extensive genetic alterations as a consequence of genetic instability of the tumor. These cell lines were extensively characterized for molecular markers and for response to chemotherapeutic drugs, including Zalypsis®. When analyzing the correlation of the sensitivity of these sarcoma cell lines to Zalypsis® and the expression of different molecular markers, it was found that, in general, high basal protein expression levels of PDGFR-a were associated with increased resistance to the drug in vitro. However, among the 20 cell lines studied, two of them expressed low levels of PDGFR-a and were quite resistant to the drug. After analysing other markers, it was found that these cell lines expressed constitutively phosphorylated c-kit receptor, which could have accounted for the observed resistance. To validate the predictive value of PDGFR-a in vivo, and due to the fact that the established sarcoma cells were not tumorigenic in mice, we selected a panel of 9 human epithelial tumor cell lines and tested their sensitivity to Zalypsis® in xenograft models, and, in parallel, the expression of PDGFR-a. HGC27, SW1990, Calu-6 and A2780 showed relative high levels of expression of PDGFR-a in vitro, while UM-UC-3, MX1, MDA-MB-231 and HepG2 showed relative low levels. The subset of cells expressing high levels of PDGFR-a was consistently resistant to Zalypsis®. SKOV-3 cells, which expressed low levels of the marker, were also resistant to the drug. However, after analyzing the expression of other molecular markers, we found that these cells expressed high levels of constitutively phosphorylated EGF receptor that, again, could have accounted for the relative resistance to the drug. Altogether, these results suggest that PDGFR-a could be considered as a useful predictive biomarker of response to Zalypsis®. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1685.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Despite wide availability of treatment regimens for HBV infection it has remained a common cause of end stage liver disease in the tropics. The aim of this study is: (a) to reaffirm if the high prevalence has persisted and; (b) to ensure if a prerequisite for treatment is performed.

METHODOLOGY
The study included two groups. Group A: 50 patients with more advanced liver disease presented with clinical manifestation(s) of portal hypertension. The recommended treatment was offered to them as in-patients. Group B: 25 patients with uncomplicated disease (no portal hypertension) referred for further outpatienevaluation with abnormal LFT and a positive HBsAg and/or antiHCVAb. Liver ultrasound and relevant blood investigations; excluding PCR were done in all patients.

RESULTS
43% of group A presented with haematemesis while ascites and encephalopathy were reported in 30% and 9% respectively. HBsAg was detected in 48% and 14% while anti HCV was detected in 60% and 16% in group A and group B respectively. PCR testing was possible in only minority 9/25 patients (36%). In 2/3 of these PCR results supported the decision to treat. No decision on treatment was made in those who were not PCR tested (64%).

CONCLUSIONS
In high HBV prevalence areas it is rational and probably cost effective to consider offering anti-viral treatment when appropriate rather than to remain unenthusiastic about it. This way the disastrous and more costly-to-treat complications could be avoided.


During development of a device a large set of testcases is executed to ensure the qualitative requirements. Nevertheless because of timing issues it is not possible to perform all possible test cases and therefore it is not possible to guarantee a product that works always as expected by the end user.Finding the root cause of failures in returned devices is still largely manual work by an expert because the exact system and environment state is not known.In this paper we present an approach which allows automatic mutation of test cases for hybrid systems to reproduce failures based on vague user descriptions.


Separation of particles on the order of 100 nm with acoustophoresis has been challenging to date because of the competing natures of the acoustic radiation force and acoustic streaming on the particles. In this work, we present a surface acoustic wave (SAW)-based device that integrates a Fabry-Perot type acoustic resonator into a microfluidic channel to separate submicrometer particles. This configuration enhances the overall acoustic radiation force on the particles and thereby offers controlled manipulation of particles as small as 300 nm. Additionally, SAW-based excitation generates high-frequency acoustic waves in the system relative to bulk acoustic wave (BAW)-based actuation, which suppresses Rayleigh streaming effects on the submicrometer particles. We demonstrate a continuous-flow acoustophoretic separation of 300 and 100 nm particles in our device with a separation efficiency of 86.3%. We also present an analytical stochastic method to model the transport of submicrometer particles in the device and predict the migration trajectories as a function of acoustic and velocity potential field strengths. Our model incorporates particle diffusion, which is important for small particles, and successfully predicts the size-dependent separation modality of our system. This device can be used for several applications in microfluidics that require sorting of the submicrometer particles, and the analytical method can also be extended to predict the particle transport in other systems.


Objectives A sufficient screening rate is indispensable to optimize the positive impact of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of an additional outreach of providing an opportunity to obtain a kit for fecal immunochemical test (FIT) during the general health check-up to increase CRC screening rate. Methods This was a longitudinal study using pre-existing data in Kujukuri Town, Japan. The town provided CRC screening in the fiscal year (FY) 2017 using an existing procedure for all beneficiaries of the National Health Insurance, whereas in FY 2018, an additional outreach effort was made to only those with an even number of age (exposed group), who were offered an opportunity to obtain a kit for FIT at the time of general health check-ups but not to those with an odd number of age (control group). To estimate the effectiveness, generalized estimating equation (GEE) with individuals as clusters was performed. Results In total, 3,530 individuals were included (1,708 in the control group and 1,822 in the exposed group). GEE showed significant interaction between the groups (control and exposed) and FYs (2017 and 2018) (p<0.001), indicating that the change in CRC screening rate from 2017 to 2018 was significantly different between the two groups. Although an achieved actual rate of 17.1% in the exposed group in FY 2018 was low, the additional outreach increased the rate by 5.8 percentage point (95% confidence interval, 3.5–8.1) compared with an existing rate. Conclusions Additional outreach of providing an opportunity to obtain a kit for FIT at the time of the general health check-up improved the CRC screening rate. However, screening rate achieved by this strategy remained low, indicating further efforts is required.


The main the argument of this article is that, in our epoch, resistance against imperial domination is the first law of motion of development. How did I come to this conclusion? I came to it through a critical look at the existing theories of development, and through my active participation in over fifty years of Africa's struggle to 'develop'. The article looks at various aspects of the theory and practice of 'development', focusing mainly on the theory as expounded by economic theoreticians for the last three hundred years. The article also makes use of specific cases or case studies to sharpen its main argument and support the conclusion reached. The discussion is situated firmly in the context of the harsh reality of imperialism. The west suffers from an acute case of amnesia when it comes to recognising imperialism … and its role in destroying the cultural, economic and social roots of Africa's (admittedly slow) evolution into self-sustaining and respected members of the international community. Today, Africa's economy is shattered – devastated – by the so-called 'free trade' dogma. I can say with some degree of authority as a political-economic historian that there has never existed anything called 'free trade' – never.


Background: Concerns have been raised about the long-term performance of aortic stent grafts for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms, in particular, unibody stent grafts (eg, Endologix AFX AAA stent grafts). Only limited data sets are available to evaluate the long-term risks related to these devices. The SAFE-AAA Study (Comparison of Unibody and Non-Unibody Endografts for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair in Medicare Beneficiaries Study) was designed with the Food and Drug Administration to provide a longitudinal assessment of the safety of unibody aortic stent grafts among Medicare beneficiaries. Methods: The SAFE-AAA Study was a prespecified, retrospective cohort study evaluating whether unibody aortic stent grafts are noninferior to non-unibody aortic stent grafts with respect to the composite primary outcome of aortic reintervention, rupture, and mortality. Procedures were evaluated from August 1, 2011, through December 31, 2017. The primary end point was evaluated through December 31, 2019. Inverse probability weighting was used to account for imbalances in observed characteristics. Sensitivity analyses were used to evaluate the effect of unmeasured confounding, including assessment of the falsification end points heart failure, stroke, and pneumonia. A prespecified subgroup included patients treated from February 22, 2016, through December 31, 2017, corresponding to the market release of the most contemporary unibody aortic stent grafts (Endologix AFX2 AAA stent graft). Results: Of 87 163 patients who underwent aortic stent grafting at 2146 US hospitals, 11 903 (13.7%) received a unibody device. The average age of the total cohort was 77.0±6.7 years, 21.1% were female, 93.5% were White, 90.8% had hypertension, and 35.8% used tobacco. The primary end point occurred in 73.4% of unibody device-treated patients versus 65.0% of non-unibody device–treated patients (hazard ratio, 1.19 [95% CI, 1.15–1.22]; noninferior P value of 1.00; median follow-up, 3.4 years). Falsification end points were negligibly different between groups. In the subgroup treated with contemporary unibody aortic stent grafts, the cumulative incidence of the primary end point occurred in 37.5% of unibody device–treated patients and 32.7% of non-unibody device–treated patients (hazard ratio, 1.06 [95% CI, 0.98–1.14]). Conclusions: In the SAFE-AAA Study, unibody aortic stent grafts failed to meet noninferiority compared with non-unibody aortic stent grafts with respect to aortic reintervention, rupture, and mortality. These data support the urgency of instituting a prospective longitudinal surveillance program for monitoring safety events related to aortic stent grafts.


The goal of this study was to gain insight into the experience of chronic peer victimization for boys with ADHD. Using an interview guide, four boys with diagnosed ADHD, aged 11 to 13 years, their parents, and their teachers were interviewed about the children's bullying experiences. Qualitative analysis of the interview data revealed that social exclusion was the most salient form of peer harassment, that the boys were perceived as being different from other children, socially isolated, and psychologically and emotionally beaten down. The pervasiveness of social exclusion and isolation led to the development of the core category of Social Exile. For these children, social skills deficits, emotional volatility, immaturity, and a lack of insight characterized being different. Being different was perceived as causing much of the ictimnization perpetrated upon the boys, which subsequently led to severe psychological and emotional distress.


Nature creates exquisite molecular assemblies, required for the molecular-level functions of life, via self-assembly. Understanding and harnessing these complex processes presents an immense opportunity for the design and fabrication of advanced functional materials. However, the significant industrial potential of self-assembly to fabricate highly functional materials is hampered by a lack of knowledge of critical reaction intermediates, mechanisms, and kinetics. As we move beyond the covalent synthetic regime, into the domain of non-covalent interactions occupied by self-assembly, harnessing and embracing complexity is a must, and non-targeted analyses of dynamic systems are becoming increasingly important. Coordination driven self-assembly is an important subtype of self-assembly that presents several wicked analytical challenges. These challenges are "wicked" due the very complexity desired confounding the analysis of products, intermediates, and pathways, therefore limiting reaction optimisation, tuning, and ultimately, utility. Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry solves many of the most challenging analytical problems in separating and analysing the structure of both simple and complex species formed via coordination driven self-assembly. Thus, due to the emerging importance of ion mobility mass spectrometry as an analytical technique tackling complex systems, this review highlights exciting recent applications. These include equilibrium monitoring, structural and dynamic analysis of previously analytically inaccessible complex interlinked structures and the process of self-sorting. The vast and largely untapped potential of ion mobility mass spectrometry to coordination driven self-assembly is yet to be fully realised. Therefore, we also propose where current analytical approaches can be built upon to allow for greater insight into the complexity and structural dynamics involved in self-assembly.


BACKGROUND
Patients with stroke have hypomobility in the facet joint of affected side. Lumbar joint mobilization could be used to maintain function and mobility of the joints.

OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to investigate the effects of lumbar joint mobilization on trunk function, postural balance, and gait in patients with stroke.

METHODS
Thirty patients with stroke were randomly assigned to two groups. Lumbar joint mobilization was provided for 15 min, 5 times a week for 6 weeks to patients who were allocated into the experimental group. Patients who were allocated into the control group received a sham intervention. Trunk function (trunk impairment scale), postural balance (weight distribution, Berg balance scale, and timed up and go test), and walking (10 m walk test, functional gait assessment, step length, and stride length) were evaluated before and after the experiment for all the patients.

RESULTS
Lumbar joint mobilization significantly improved trunk function, postural balance, and gait compared with pre-test values in the experimental group (P< 0.05). Significant differences were seen in trunk function, postural balance, and walking between the two groups (P< 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Lumbar joint mobilization might be an effective intervention for trunk function, postural balance, and walking in patients with stroke.


We report on the use of photonic crystal surfaces as a high-sensitivity platform for detection of a panel of cancer biomarkers in a protein microarray format. The photonic crystal surface is designed to provide an optical resonance at the excitation wavelength of cyanine-5 (Cy5), thus providing an increase in fluorescent intensity for Cy5-labeled analytes measured with a confocal microarray scanner, compared to a glass surface. The sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is undertaken on a microarray platform to undertake a simultaneous, multiplex analysis of 24 antigens on a single chip. Our results show that the resonant excitation effect increases the signal-to-noise ratio by 3.8- to 6.6-fold, resulting in a decrease in detection limits of 6-89%, with the exact enhancement dependent upon the antibody-antigen interaction. Dose-response characterization of the photonic crystal antibody microarrays shows the capability to detect common cancer biomarkers in the <2 pg/mL concentration range within a mixed sample.


ABSTRACT Agribusiness as the overall activity of the means of production and distribution of farm production, farming activities, as well as storage, processing, distribution of farm commodities, and other activities that make up the product. Agribusiness is a system consisting of sub-systems are interlinked with each other. The subsystem is agroinput, agroproduction, agro-industry, Agroniaga and argroservice. This study aims to determine the performance of agribusiness in farmer groups in Sub Rurukan quinine and farmer groups in the Village agape Rurukan One. The research was conducted from june to August 2014 and data using survey methods. Data collected consist of primary data and secondary data. Primary data is data obtained from interviews with respondents based on a list of questions (questioner), while secondary data obtained from the relevant agencies Rurukan sub-district Office and District Office Rurukan One. Data analysis using descriptive analysis and to determine the performance of the system using a ranking scale agribusiness. The results showed that the performance of agribusiness is between 60-80 value, so it gets the final value 72 thus value indicates that the relatively high performance of agribusiness Key words: Agribusiness performance, farmer group, Rurukan


In this research, the effects of individual and group learning activities on perceptions of block-based programming self-efficacy and attitudes towards robotic programming were tried to be determined. The research was conducted in a private school located in Sariyer, district of Istanbul province in the 2nd academic year of 2018-2019 with 32 students from 7th Grade. The study fulfilled as a semi-experimental pattern on the experimental and control groups using the pretest-posttest design. According to the research results, individual and group learning did not affect secondary school students' perceptions of block-based programming self-efficacy and attitudes towards robotic programming. In addition to this, an increase was found in the perceptions of block-based programming self-efficacy in the experimental and control groups, and the attitudes towards programming of programming of the experimental group students. It was concluded that there was no significant difference between age, gender, taking aScratch lesson, writing a computer program with Scratch, and taking a robotic-programming lessons before. While robotic attitudes of students did not differ significantly according to their age and previous status of taking robotic coding courses, however, they differed significantly according to gender and male students had higher attitudes towards robotic programming than female students.


ABsTRAcr.-We studied reproductive success, growth, and survival of Black-crowned NightHeron (Nycticorax nycticorax) and Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) chicks in two mixed-species heronries on marsh islands in Chincoteague Bay, Accomack County, Virginia in 1992 and 1993. We attached radio transmitters with mortality sensors to the oldest chicks (A-chicks) in 11 to 22 nests of both species to monitor survival during the mid- to late nestling period and into the postnesting dispersal period. For both species, we found significant differences between 1992 and 1993 in growth rates and survival. Mass growth rates of chicks were higher in 1993 than in 1992 for both species. Culmen-length growth rates varied significantly due to year-colony effects for night-herons, but only for hatching order for egrets. Differences in survival rates due to hatching order were found for the egrets in both years, but were found only in 1992 for night-herons. As with mass growth rates, survival of chicks was higher in 1993 than 1992. Survival of radio-marked A-chicks did not differ between species or years for the period from hatching to fledging or from fledging through the end of the study (ca. two months postfledging). Survival ranged from 0.80 to 1.00 from the time radio transmitters were attached (ca. two weeks of age) until dispersal age (53-55 days for egrets; 55-60 days for night-herons). After birds left the colony, survival rates were lower during the next 40 to 55 days, ranging from 0.25 to 0.60. These results suggest that, at least for Snowy Egrets, A-chicks may be buffered from annual variations in food conditions, but that growth and survival of other brood members may provide a barometer of local conditions. Despite problems of variability in measurement, some of these parameters show promise as bioindicators of estuarine conditions. We recommend that a cost-efficient wading-bird monitoring program would include: (1) estimating numbers of nesting birds of selected species (e.g. Snowy Egrets) at particular estuaries, and (2) monitoring "initial brood sizes" and survival of young to at least two weeks of age in a sample of nests for each focal species. However, additional biomonitoring (e.g. marsh forage fish, contaminant loads) is necessary to evaluate how well top trophic-level organisms such as fish-eating birds respond to changes in estuarine production or quality. Received 12 December 1994, accepted 18 March 1995.


The article examines the works of the Dutch artists of the 17 century Delft School of painting, which th exemplify a synthesis of townscape painting and the daily-life genre. The topicality of this subject is due to the fact that it has not been developed sufficiently enough in historiography. The article's scientific novelty lies in that it provides a detailed analysis of paintings based on the formal-stylistic and retrospective methods. Especial attention is given to the works of Carel Fabritius and Pieter de Hooch. The author comes to the conclusion that the paintings of the Delft artists are on the border of two genres - topographical townscape painting and the daily-life genre. In this context, they serve as the basis for the emergence of 18 century veduta th painting.


Land is an inseparable part in planning and developing a region. Land management must be carried out carefully, effectively, and efficiently regarding the principles of spatial planning in order to achieve general prosperity and social justice based on the 1945 Constitution. Spatial planning cannot work alone. It requires active contribution from all parties to improve its quality. One of the significant foundations in achieving optimum and ideal spatial planning is the enforcement of transparency principle. Due to the importance of this principle, this study attempts to discuss: (1) how is the principle of transparency interpreted in spatial planning, and (2) how is the ideal application of transparency principle as a means of public participation in spatial planning? The principle of transparency is very important for the public as it gives information regarding spatial planning, including the planning, utilization, and management. The objective of spatial planning is creating spatial congruence and easy access to discover the functions of the land used as stated in the regional or urban spatial planning.


Trials were conducted with hot water and chemicals to sanitize Valencia oranges contaminated by natural microflora or inoculated with Escherichia coli. Microbial loads and sensory quality of fresh juice extracted from surface-heated fruit were also evaluated. E. coli on fruit surfaces was reduced by either hot water or chemical treatments. An estimated 5-log reduction of E. coli was attained by immersing inoculated fruit in hot water at 80 degrees C for 1 min or 70 degrees C for 2 min. Immersing inoculated fruit in various chemical solutions at about 30 degrees C for 8 min only reduced E. coli by about 1.8- to 3.1-log cycles on nonstem-scar surfaces of the fruit. In general, both hot water and chemical treatments were less effective at removing microflora from the stem-scar area. Rapid hot-water immersions at 80 degrees C for 1 min and 70 degrees C for 2 min reduced both fruit-surface and initial juice microbial loads without altering original sensory quality of fresh juice.


The North Atlantic is known for decade-long swings in its winds and weather; the most recent turnabout sent brutal chill to northern Europe this winter. Now researchers may have spotted an oceanic driver—changes in the temperatures of various currents—that may be propelling these atmospheric mood swings and could one day yield long-term predictions of European weather


Growth of Clostridium thermocellum in batch cultures was studied over a broad range of cellobiose concentrations. Cultures displayed important differences in their substrate metabolism as determined by the end product yields. Bacterial growth was severely limited when the initial cellobiose concentration was 0.2 (wt/vol), was maximal at substrate concentrations between 0.5 and 2.0%, and did not occur at 5.0% cellobiose. Ethanol accumulated maximally (38.3 μmol/109 cells) in cultures with an initial cellobiose concentration of 0.8%, whereas cultures in 2.0% cellobiose accumulated only 17.3 μmol, and substrate-limited cultures (0.2% cellobiose) accumulated little, if any, ethanol beyond that initially detected (8.3 μmol/109 cells). In a medium with 0.8% cellobiose, ethanol was produced at a constant rate of approximately 1.1 μmol/109 cells per h from late-logarithmic phase (16 h) of growth well into stationary phase (44 h). When ethanol was added exogenously at levels more than twice the maximum produced by the cultures themselves (0.5% [vol/vol]), neither the extent of growth (maximum Klett units, 150) nor the amounts of ethanol produced (∼0.17%) by the culture was affected. The ratio of ethanol to acetate was highest (2.8) when cells were grown in 0.8% cellobiose and lowest (1.2) when cells were grown in 0.2% cellobiose.


The antiallergic potential of Arctium lappa L. was investigated in Sprague-Dawley rats, ICR mice, and RBL-2H3 cells. Ethanol extract (90%) of A. lappa (ALE, 100 μg/mL) inhibited the degranulation rate by 52.9%, determined by the level of β-hexosaminidase. ALE suppressed passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) in rats and attenuated anaphylaxis and histamine release in mice. To identify the active compound of ALE, we subsequently fractionated and determined the level of β-hexosaminidase in all subfractions. Oleamide was identified as an active compound of ALE, which attenuated the secretion of histamine and the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin-4 (IL-4) in cells treated with compound 48/80 or A23187/phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). Oleamide suppressed FcεRI-tyrosine kinase Lyn-mediated pathway, c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK/SAPK), and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (p38-MAPKs). These results showed that ALE and oleamide attenuated allergic reactions and should serve as a platform to search for compounds with antiallergic activity.


Diagnostic criteria have been developed for a new eating disorder, binge eating disorder (BED), to describe the many individuals who have problems with recurrent binge eating but do not engage in the characteristic compensatory behaviors of bulimia nervosa, vomiting, or use of laxatives. The results of a multisite field trial involving 1,984 subjects indicate that the disorder is common (30.1%) among subjects attending hospital-affiliated weight control programs, but is relatively rare in the community (2.0%). The disorder is more common in females than in males and is associated with severity of obesity and a history of marked weight fluctuations. Based on these results, the DSM-IV Work Group on Eating Disorders has recommended that the disorder be considered for inclusion in DSM-IV, either as an official category or in an appendix of categories requiring further study.


Processes that are taking place at the beginning of the 21st century make the creation of a new social contract absolutely essential, from the viewpoint of higher education. The Magna Charta Universitatum issued in 1988 by the rectors of the European universities and the World Declaration on Higher Education for the Twenty-first Century (UNESCO 1998) already recognized this fact. Tendencies well known and foreseeable at the end of the 20th century continued in a surprisingly accelerated form. The present European higher education reform is one of the possible ways to the creation of such a new social contract. In 2008 it became clear that the economic and financial crisis leads to a whole new situation. The future of universities could finally be interpreted and handled according to global interconnections. Practicing academic moral solidarity can help the world of universities survive the crisis without major damage. At the same time the social responsibility of universities includes assisting the world to get past the global economic crisis.


Energy spectra of field emission electrons from some materials at different temperatures are reviewed in the practical points of views; they are conventional refractory metals, multi-walled carbon nano-tubes, Nb superconductors and single-atom electron sources. While the spectra of conventional refractory metals are explained well on the basis of Folwer-Nordheim theory, those of the other systems are not; the main peak with a different shape appears in the spectra of CNT, the extra peaks overlap in addition to the main peak of CNT and the single-atom electron sources. An extra sharp peak appears at the Fermi level of the spectra of a Nb superconductor.


In the present paper I investigate the role that analogy plays in eighteenth-century biology and in Kant's philosophy of biology. I will argue that according to Kant, biology, as it was practiced in the eighteenth century, is fundamentally based on analogical reflection. However, precisely because biology is based on analogical reflection, biology cannot be a proper science. I provide two arguments for this interpretation. First, I argue that although analogical reflection is, according to Kant, necessary to comprehend the nature of organisms, it is also necessarily insufficient to fully comprehend the nature of organisms. The upshot of this argument is that for Kant our understanding of organisms is necessarily limited. Second, I argue that Kant did not take biology to be a proper science because biology was based on analogical arguments . I show that Kant stemmed from a philosophical tradition that did not assign analogical arguments an important justificatory role in natural science. Analogy, according to this conception, does not provide us with apodictically certain cognition. Hence, sciences based on analogical arguments cannot constitute proper sciences.


The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of microfinance on micro and
small business survival in Nigeria. Data for the study are derived from both primary and
secondary sources. First, a survey of MFB entrepreneur- clients was undertaken using simple
random sampling technique to select our respondents; then, some data were extracted from the
cl ient's record with the Microfinance Banks (MFBs) on profit and sales. The data obtained were
analysed using Kaplan Meier and Cox regression analysis. The findings revealed that micro
financing enhance survival of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) but most of the enterprises
remain at the survival level of the business life cycle. We recommend that enterprise finance by
MFBs should be linked up with larger financing window like the Small and Medium Enterprise
Equity Investment Scheme (SMIEIS) fund or Strategic Partners like the commercial banks for
expansion and growth funding after survival. We also recommend immediate recapitalization of
the MFBs to enable them support MSEs adequately.


Radiotherapy is now routinely used for cancer treatment but developments continue in order to maximize the dose to the tumour and minimize that to the rest of the patient. This article explains how the dose from modern x-ray machines is controlled and how physicists assist radiotherapists in planning the details of the dose(s) required.


In the preent work, we find that both diffusion activation energy Ea(D) and Ea(Sex) increase linearly with pressure and have the same slope (0.022±0.001 eV/GPa) for liquid Al. The temperature and pressure dependence of excess entropy is well fitted by the expression −Sex(T,P)/kB = a(P)+b(P)T+c(P) exp (Ef/kBT), which together with the small ratio of Ef/kBT leads to the relationship of excess entropy to temperature and pressure, i.e. Sex ≃ −cEf/T, where c is about 12 and Ef ( = ΔE − PΔV) is the favourable energy. Therefore, there exists a simple relation between Ea(Sex) and Ef i.e. Ea(Sex) ≃ cEf.


PURPOSE
The relationships among dietary behaviours, traditional health beliefs (THB), and demographic characteristics of Chinese Canadians living in Toronto were examined, as were their primary sources of nutrition information.

METHODS
Through the use of probability sampling, 106 adult subjects who originated from China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan were recruited from five Chinese community organizations. A telephone interview, employing a tested questionnaire, was conducted in Cantonese or Mandarin. All data were analyzed with MS Excel and SPSS statistical software.

RESULTS
Dietary acculturation is gradual and individual. Participants reported regular intakes of fruits and vegetables and fat-reducing behaviours. Most used both Chinese and Western cooking methods. Practices based on traditional Chinese health beliefs (THB), such as balancing yin and yang foods to promote health, were prevalent. Participants were grouped as THB-strong, THB-moderate, or THB-weak, on the basis of their health belief scores. Various significant relationships among the variables were identified. Chinese media, friends, and family were the primary sources of nutrition information; dietitians were identified by only 12%.

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study to apply a THB grouping for Chinese Canadians. Results will provide an important basis for nutrition interventions to encourage immigrants to make healthy food choices, using both traditional and Western foods.


Homography normalization is presented as a novel gaze estimation method for uncalibrated setups. The method applies when head movements are present but without any requirements to camera calibration or geometric calibration. The method is geometrically and empirically demonstrated to be robust to head pose changes and despite being less constrained than cross-ratio methods, it consistently performs favorably by several degrees on both simulated data and data from physical setups. The physical setups include the use of off-the-shelf web cameras with infrared light (night vision) and standard cameras with and without infrared light. The benefits of homography normalization and uncalibrated setups in general are also demonstrated through obtaining gaze estimates (in the visible spectrum) using only the screen reflections on the cornea.


This study aimed to observe the relationship between iodine nutrition status (dietary iodine intake and estimated iodine intake based on urinary iodine concentration (UIC)) and thyroid disease-related hormones. This study involved 6090 subjects >19 years old with valid UIC, assessed between 2013 and 2015 by the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, using a stratified, multistage, clustered probability-sampling design. The estimated iodine intake in participants was measured using UIC and urine creatinine. To examine the effect of iodine intake on thyroid disease, the iodine intake was divided into Korean Dietary Reference Intakes groups, and logistic regression analysis was performed via the surveylogistic procedure to obtain odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The estimated iodine intake showed a significant positive correlation with dietary iodine intake (r = 0.021, p < 0.001), UIC (r = 0.918, p < 0.001), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) (r = 0.043, p < 0.001), but a significant negative correlation with free thyroxine (FT4) (r = −0.037, p < 0.001). Additionally, as the estimated iodine intake increased, age, TSH, and UIC increased, but FT4 decreased (p for trend < 0.0001). The risk of thyroid disease was higher in the "≥tolerable upper intake level (UL ≥ 2400 µg/day)" group than in the "<estimated average requirement (EAR < 150 µg/day)" group in females (OR: 2.418; 95% CI: 1.010–5.787). Also, as iodine intake increased, the risk of thyroid disease increased (p for trend < 0.038).


Radiation is the most important mode of heat transfer for transition from a small room fire to flashover. Ignition of combustibles, flame spread, and heat release rate in well-developed fires all depend on that. The design concentrations of agents for total flooding gas protection systems should be determined based on the fire size and heat transfer. It is essential to analyze the radiative heat transfer in the fire environment for designing such system. This refers especially to those clean agents, such as substituting heptafluoropropane for halon, where the extinguishing mechanisms might be due to physical cooling. There are always queries on the performance of those systems as chemical inhibition effects are normally not significant. Full-scale burning tests are sometimes required to demonstrate that they can extinguish, or at least suppress, the fire scenario concerned. The main concepts of radiation heat transfer will be introduced in this paper. Both emissivity and absorption of smoke for accurate predictions of the fire environment are discussed. Several radiation heat transfer models commonly used are reviewed.


Background: Breast cancer is the most common and life-threatening cancer in females characterized by the abnormal proliferation of tumor cells in lobules and ducts. For years, many anti-breast cancer drugs have been tested with some of them showing severe health problems and drug resistance. Recently, different biological and pharmacological actions of bee venom have been indicated to play anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory role against different cancers especially breast cancer.
Methods: This review study is based on PubMed, Google Scholar and PubMed search. Search terms used were Melittin, Breast cancer and Honey Bee Venom.
Results: Many studies have shown that a positively charged C-terminal sequence of mellitin facilitates plasma membrane contact and antitumor action. Precise targeting and selective activity of melittin has been found in recent studies as it suppresses the activation of growth factor receptors in HER2-enriched and triple-negative breast cancer that are generally difficult to treat. Significantly, it leaves healthy cells intact. The most striking feature of melittin is the pore formation property. Monomers of melittin bind to the plasma membrane of cancer cells in a collective manner and start forming pores, ultimately bringing cell lysis.
Conclusion: Since melittin has a very selective action against the HER-2 related tumors, a combinational therapy of melittin and HER-2 targeted agents could be a very potent strategy in breast cancer. This review reflects the importance of honey bee venom and melittin as a potential therapy for aggressive breast cancer.


Roux‐en‐Y hepaticojejunostomy stricture is a substantial problem that develops in 10%–30% of patients and requires frequent intervention. Although endoscopic/percutaneous approaches are preferred, especially for refractory stricture, open surgical reconstruction remains the gold standard. However, such an operation may be highly challenging. The recently developed covered, self‐expanding metallic stent is a useful option for such difficult cases. We present a case of recurrent Roux‐en‐Y hepaticojejunostomy stricture complicated by densely packed intrahepatic stones and suppurative cholangitis with failed percutaneous biliary draining. Enteroscopic manipulations were unfeasible, and the case was successfully managed by the laparoendoscopic approach. If treating surgeons have the necessary expertise, this technique may be considered in such difficult scenarios.


The proposed NASA Deformation, Ecosystem Structure and Dynamics of Ice (DESDynI) mission would be a first-of-breed endeavor that would fundamentally change the paradigm by which Earth Science data systems at NASA are built. DESDynI is evaluating a distributed architecture where expert science nodes around the country all engage in some form of mission processing and data archiving. This is compared to the traditional NASA Earth Science missions where the science processing is typically centralized. What's more, DESDynI is poised to profoundly increase the amount of data collection and processing well into the 5 terabyte/day and tens of thousands of job range, both of which comprise a tremendous challenge to DESDynI's proposed distributed data system architecture. In this paper, we report on a set of architectural trade studies and benchmarks meant to inform the DESDynI mission and the broader community of the impacts of these unprecedented requirements. In particular, we evaluate the benefits of cloud computing and its integration with our existing NASA ground data system software called Apache Object Oriented Data Technology (OODT). The preliminary conclusions of our study suggest that the use of the cloud and OODT together synergistically form an effective, efficient and extensible combination that could meet the challenges of NASA science missions requiring DESDynI-like data collection and processing volumes at reduced costs.


We initiate the study of a new model of supervised learning under privacy constraints. Imagine a medical study where a dataset is sampled from a population of both healthy and unhealthy individuals. Suppose healthy individuals have no privacy concerns (in such case, we call their data "public") while the unhealthy individuals desire stringent privacy protection for their data. In this example, the population (data distribution) is a mixture of private (unhealthy) and public (healthy) sub-populations that could be very different.
Inspired by the above example, we consider a model in which the population $\mathcal{D}$ is a mixture of two sub-populations: a private sub-population $\mathcal{D}_{\sf priv}$ of private and sensitive data, and a public sub-population $\mathcal{D}_{\sf pub}$ of data with no privacy concerns. Each example drawn from $\mathcal{D}$ is assumed to contain a privacy-status bit that indicates whether the example is private or public. The goal is to design a learning algorithm that satisfies differential privacy only with respect to the private examples.
Prior works in this context assumed a homogeneous population where private and public data arise from the same distribution, and in particular designed solutions which exploit this assumption. We demonstrate how to circumvent this assumption by considering, as a case study, the problem of learning linear classifiers in $\mathbb{R}^d$. We show that in the case where the privacy status is correlated with the target label (as in the above example), linear classifiers in $\mathbb{R}^d$ can be learned, in the agnostic as well as the realizable setting, with sample complexity which is comparable to that of the classical (non-private) PAC-learning. It is known that this task is impossible if all the data is considered private.


This paper presents overview of government policies for funding higher education in eleven OECD countries. In particular, it describes the mechanisms for funding the university sector and the extent to which the grants to universities are oriented on performance. Are universities funded on the basis of what they produce in terms of graduates and research outputs? And what is the share of public funding supplied through research councils? While in recent decades the attention paid to issues of efficiency, effectiveness and quality has increased, there are only few governments that explicitly link the universities' resources to the universities' results in the areas of teaching and research. This is illustrated by means of a graph. A number of tentative reasons for the popularity of enrolments-based funding approaches are presented in the final section of this paper.


INTRODUCTION
Penile prosthesis implantation is considered to be a satisfactory treatment for erectile dysfunction. Previous studies have assessed mainly prosthesis function and perioperative complications and have measured satisfaction only with regard to sexual performance. Very little, if anything, has been reported on the most relevant question: To what extent does the implant affect the patient's life?

AIM
To develop and validate the pathology-specific Quality of Life and Sexuality with Penile Prosthesis (QoLSPP) questionnaire, which evaluates patients' quality of life after penile prosthesis implantation.

METHODS
Sixty-nine patients aged 32-82 years who received a three-component hydraulic prosthesis between 1997 and 2009 participated in the study; 47 participated in the retest of the instrument. The QoLSPP questionnaire was developed to examine general and sexual quality of life in four domains: functional, personal, relational, and social. All psychometric properties of the QoLSPP were validated. Internal validity was assessed by means of exploratory factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha was used to evaluate the internal consistency of the items within each factor. Paired-sample t-tests were used to investigate metric stability. Independent-samples t-tests and nonparametric tests were used to evaluate the sensitivity.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The main outcome measure for the questionnaire was quality of life as biological and psychosocial-relational well-being. Main outcome measures for validation were internal validity, metric stability, and sensitivity of the QoLSPP.

RESULTS
The QoLSPP met the psychometric requirements of internal validity and reliability. Metric stability and sensitivity were tested and confirmed. Respondents reported high satisfaction levels in all quality of life domains. All domains were significantly and positively correlated; the functional domain was most predictive of overall quality of life. More than half of respondents perceived their partners to be very satisfied.

CONCLUSIONS
Prosthesis implantation was correlated with high quality of life in recipients and high perceived quality of couple relationships; partner satisfaction affected patients' quality of life, self-image, relation to the outside world, and satisfaction with implant function.


A report is given on the results of therapy with the alpha-adrenolytic phenoxybenzamine in 36 patients in a rehabilitation centre for paraplegics. The sole indication for using the preparation was neurogenously disturbed micturition with large quantities of residual urine. The best therapeutic results--i.e. reduction of residual urine to 60 ml or less--were achieved in patients with lesions of the lower motoric neuron (15 patients) and the upper motoric neuron in the region L2-S2 (1 patient). The results in cases of lesion in the region Th10-L2 (3 patients) were so bad that the application of the preparation cannot be recommended in such cases. In cases of paralysis of the thoracic cord and the cervical part of the medulla (14 patients) 50% of the results were good and 35% were bad.


Model calibration plays a fundamental role in the implementation of the mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide. The data used in the default calibration effort, which were afforded by the Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database, have a network-level inference space. As implementation proceeds, state highway agencies may be inclined to calibrate at a local network level. However, with a focus on the calibration data set to local project-level conditions, model prediction error can be reduced further. Under this study, Nebraska Department of Roads Pavement Management System data were used to calibrate two design guide smoothness models at the local project level. The focused data set was categorized by annual daily truck traffic and surface layer thickness. Results showed that project-level calibrations reduced default model prediction error by nearly twice that of network-level calibration. This study offers a window into the accuracy that can be achieved with local focus calibrations of design...


Plant and animal pathogens use protein-carbohydrate
interactions in their strategy for host recognition and
invasion. The comprehension of the molecular mechanisms, which
gives a pathogenic bacterium the ability to invade, colonize
and reorient the physiopathology of its host, is a goal of
primary importance and such studies may direct the conception
of new strategies to fight against these pathogenic agents.
Ralstonia solanacearum is a plant bacterial pathogen. It causes
a wilt disease in several economically important agricultural
crops, such as potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and banana
[1]. Cases of this disease are known as Southern wilt,
bacterial wilt, and brown rot of potato. The disease is
transmitted through soil, contaminated water, equipment,
personnel, and by transplanting infected plants. It is not
spread through the air, from plant to plant through the
splashing of water. Lectins are sugar-binding proteins of
non-immune nature that agglutinate cells or precipitate
glycoconjugates. They recognize sugar moieties in cell walls or
membranes and thereby change the physiology of the membrane to
cause agglutination, mitosis, or other biochemical changes in
the cell. Their specificity is usually defined by the
monosaccharides or oligosaccharides that are the best at
inhibiting the agglutination or precipitation induced by the
lectin. Lectins are of interest because of their wide variety
of properties and potential applications (pharmacology,
immunology, cancer therapy, agriculture, etc.). As far as we
know, the R. solanacearum bacterium has been producing three
soluble lectins. RSL (MW 9900), which exhibits sugar specifity
to L-fucose [2] and partial sequence homology to mushroom
Aleuria aurantia lectin AAL [3], RS-IIL (MW 11601) lectin [4]
resembles PA-IIL, from human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa in
structure and properties but differs in sugar specifity [5].
The last one is RS20L (MW 19903), which is described in the
present study. This contribution structurally and functionally
describes RS20L, which has no sequence similarity to any known
amino acid sequence. Although resolution of crystal structure
showed high structural similarity to animal galectins, it does
not display sugar specifity to D-galactose. Further functional
studies using gel permeation chromatography (GPC), surface
plasmon resonance (SPR), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC)
and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) allowed to define
binding properties and thermodynamic parameters.


Large graph datasets are common in many emerging database applications, and most notably in large-scale scientific applications. To fully exploit the wealth of information encoded in graphs, effective and efficient graph matching tools are critical. Due to the noisy and incomplete nature of real graph datasets, approximate, rather than exact, graph matching is required. Furthermore, many modern applications need to query large graphs, each of which has hundreds to thousands of nodes and edges. This paper presents a novel technique for approximate matching of large graph queries. We propose a novel indexing method that incorporates graph structural information in a hybrid index structure. This indexing technique achieves high pruning power and the index size scales linearly with the database size. In addition, we propose an innovative matching paradigm to query large graphs. This technique distinguishes nodes by their importance in the graph structure. The matching algorithm first matches the important nodes of a query and then progressively extends these matches. Through experiments on several real datasets, this paper demonstrates the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method.


Metrics are an important technique in quantifying desirable software and software development characteristics of aspectoriented software development (AOSD). Coupling is an internal software attribute that can be used to indicate the degree of system interdependence among the components of software. Coupling is thought to be a desirable goal in software construction, leading to better values for maintainability, reusability and reliability. Although several coupling frameworks and coupling metrics have been proposed for aspect-oriented software, the tool support and empirical evaluation of these metrics are still being missed. However, there have been very few attempts to systematically review and report the available evidence in the literature to support the claims made in favor or against AOP coupling metrics for maintainability and reuse, modularity etc., compared with OOP approaches. In this paper, we present a systematic review (extended version) of recent coupling metrics for AO designs. In this review work consolidates data from recent research results, highlights circumstances when the applied metrics suitable to AO designs, draws attention to deficiencies where AO metrics need to be improved.


An aqueous extract of Sida acuta leaves (SAL) was prepared and its influence on corrosion inhibition of aluminium in 1N NaOH solution was studied using chemical and electrochemical methods. It was found that the inhibition efficiency increases with the increasing the concentration of Sida acuta extract upto 900ppm. Electrochemical measurements revealed that SAL extract acts as a mixed type inhibitor. Adsorption of SAL extract was found to follow Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The results obtained from chemical and electrochemical measurements were in good agreement. The protective film formed on the surface of aluminium by the adsorption of water-soluble chemical constituents of SAL extract was confirmed by using scanning electron microscopy studies. These results were supported by kinetic and thermodynamic parameters obtained from weight loss data at various temperatures studied.


OBJECTIVES
Oxygen saturation in retinal vessels can be measured by spectrometry. However, there are no studies on the influence of different camera chips on these measurements. The presented study reports the effect of two different camera chips ("1-CCD" vs. "3-CCD") on the spectrometric measurements in the same patients.

METHODS
61 eyes of 61 patients were included in this study. The study was approved by the local ethics commission. Patients were separated in 3 groups: the first group contained healthy volunteers, the second group patients with diabetes mellitus but without previous laser treatment, the third group included patients with diabetes mellitus and previous laser coagulation treatment. The oxygen saturation was calculated from the difference between wavelengths on and right next to the retinal vessel. This methodology uses the different absorption spectra of oxy- and deoxyhaemoglobin.

RESULTS
All 3 groups demonstrated valid outcomes of the retinal oxygen saturation in arterial and venous vessels. No significant differences we found in the arterial-venous oxygen difference between the two different camera chips (group 1 p = 0.063, group 2 p = 0.204, group 3 p = 0.059).

CONCLUSION
As no significant differences could be found between the two camera chips, the less expensive system should be used if the spectrometric measurement of oxygen saturation is added to an analysis system already established on the market.


Biomechanical simulation and modelling approaches have the possibility to make a meaningful impact within applied sports settings, such as sprinting. However, for this to be realised, such approaches must first undergo a thorough quantitative evaluation against experimental data. We developed a musculoskeletal modelling and simulation framework for sprinting, with the objective to evaluate its ability to reproduce experimental kinematics and kinetics data for different sprinting phases. This was achieved by performing a series of data-tracking calibration (individual and simultaneous) and validation simulations, that also featured the generation of dynamically consistent simulated outputs and the determination of foot-ground contact model parameters. The simulated values from the calibration simulations were found to be in close agreement with the corresponding experimental data, particularly for the kinematics (average root mean squared differences (RMSDs) less than 1.0° and 0.2 cm for the rotational and translational kinematics, respectively) and ground reaction force (highest average percentage RMSD of 8.1%). Minimal differences in tracking performance were observed when concurrently determining the foot-ground contact model parameters from each of the individual or simultaneous calibration simulations. The validation simulation yielded results that were comparable (RMSDs less than 1.0° and 0.3 cm for the rotational and translational kinematics, respectively) to those obtained from the calibration simulations. This study demonstrated the suitability of the proposed framework for performing future predictive simulations of sprinting, and gives confidence in its use to assess the cause-effect relationships of technique modification in relation to performance. Furthermore, this is the first study to provide dynamically consistent three-dimensional muscle-driven simulations of sprinting across different phases.


Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome types I and III (TRPS1, OMIM 190350; TRPS3, OMIM 190351) are rare hereditary diseases with autosomal dominant inheritance (1, 2). The first case was reported in 1966 (3). In 2000 the TRPS1 gene was identified as one of its causative genes and mapped to chromosomal region 8q24.1 (1). These syndromes have characteristic sparse and slow-growing hair, craniofacial abnormalities, such as bulbous pear-shaped nose, and skeletal abnormalities (3–5). We report here the effects of TRPS1 protein deficiency in a case of TRPS1.


Cutaneous tumors are commonly found in dogs. To date, few studies have investigated the epidemiology of canine cutaneous tumors in Asian countries. The present study aims to report the prevalence of canine cutaneous tumors in Japan, and assess the association of breed, age, sex, and anatomical locations with the development of common tumor types. A total of 1,435 cases of cutaneous tumors were examined, of which 813 (56.66%) cases were malignant, and 622 (43.34%) were benign. Soft tissue sarcomas (18.40%), mast cell tumor (16.24%), lipoma (9.69%), hair follicle tumors (9.34%), and benign sebaceous tumors (8.50%) outnumbered the other tumor types. Tumors were commonly found on the head (13.87%), hindlimb (10.52%), forelimb (8.01%), chest (5.78%), and neck (5.57%). The risk of developing cutaneous tumors increased significantly in dogs aged 11-year and above (P<0.001). Mixed-breed dogs (14.63%), Miniature Dachshund (9.90%), and Labrador Retriever (8.01%) were the three most presented breeds; while Boxer, Bernese Mountain Dog, and Golden Retriever had an increased risk of cutaneous tumor development in comparison to mixed-breed dogs (P<0.05). Epidemiological information from the present study will serve as a useful reference for regional veterinarians to establish a preliminary diagnosis of canine cutaneous tumors.