Like the diasporian, the Buddhist knows the displacement from home to homelessness. Practicing, the Buddhist makes homelessness her home. Writing, the diasporic writer (re)constructs a movable home in words. Using the Buddhist five thesis on form, this paper attempts to apply these principles to the notion of diaspora. Five new insights to the experience of diaspora are gained from this approach. The method is then applied to the diasporic Filipino poet Jose Garcia Villa's poem "Before, One, becomes, One." In conclusion, it is argued that the Buddhist perspective offers a new critique useful in understanding the challenges of the postmodern world.


Currently NTSC, PAL, and SECOM are widely used for TV broadcasting systems. In Korea, NTSC has been used to reduce transmission bandwidth and broadband flickers using the Interlaced scanning method. Image data in the Interlaced scanning method require De-interlacing compensation for PC-based multimedia applications. The existing compensation algorithms such as ZOI, FOI, and ELA provieds simple computations and effective image compensation while the PSNR is low and horizontal and vertical edges are hardly detected. In this paper, the ADI(Adaptive De-Interlacing) algorithm that can increase PSNR and detect horizontal and vertical edges is proposed and a hardware system is implemented using three ACTEL 1020B FPGA chips. The system consists of the algorithm part implemented using two FPGAs and the memory control part implemented using rest one. Also the system operation is investigated for real time processing.


Recommendations are given for maintenance of female Onchocerca volvulus; conditions as standardized here for drug screening and harvest of secreted-excreted products resulted in survival of worms in culture medium for up to four and six weeks in absence and presence of serum, respectively. As parameter for viability of worms lactate excretion was determined beside control of motility.


We examined effects of body mass index (BMI) on quality of life, asthma severity and treatment response of disease in patients with asthma.

Demographic data, occupation and education status, symptoms, smoking, allergy, atopy, additional diseases, age started asthma, age diagnosed asthma, and drugs of subjects were recorded, and body mass index was (BMI) calculated. Hospital-Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaires (AQLQ) in the subjects were evaluated.

The sample consisted of 414 subjects (73% female) with a mean age of 47,6±13,8 years. Regarding chronic severity, 9,8% were intermittent, 63,2% mild persistent, 24,4% moderate persistent, and 2,6% severe persistent. Furthermore, 44,1% of the subjects were controlled asthma, 47,9% partly controlled,%8 uncontrolled. Patients were considered to be obese if their BMI was ≥30 kg/m2. BMI was mean 26,62±5,37 kg/m2 in men and 28,88±6,21 kg/m2 in women (p<0.05). There was no correlation between BMI and severity of asthma, asthma control. There was a positive correlation between BMI and age started asthma (p<0.05). Regarding AQLQ results, there were negative correlations between scores of symptoms, activity limitations, emotional function, environmental stimuli and severity asthma (p<0.05). There were negative correlations between only environmental stimuli, activity limitations and BMI (p<0.05). There was no correlations between BMI and HADS depression-anxiety scores, physician-diagnosed depression-anxiety.

Our findings suggest that obesity is associated with poor asthma-specific quality of life. BMI control was important as well as optimal asthma therapy in patients with asthma for optimal asthma control.


Text compression is of considerable theoretical and practical interest. It is, for example, becoming increasingly important for satisfying the requirements of fitting a large database onto a single CD-ROM. Many of the compression techniques discussed in the literature are model based. We here propose the notion of a formal grammar as a flexible model of text generation that encompasses most of the models offered before as well as, in principle, extending the possibility of compression to a much more general class of languages. Assuming a general model of text generation, a derivation is given of the well known Shannon entropy formula, making possible a theory of information based upon text representation rather than on communication. The ideas are shown to apply to a number of commonly used text models. Finally, we focus on a Markov model of text generation, suggest an information theoretic measure of similarity between two probability distributions, and develop a clustering algorithm based on this measure. This algorithm allows us to cluster Markov states, and thereby base our compression algorithm on a smaller number of probability distributions than would otherwise have been required. A number of theoretical consequences of this approach to compression are explored, and a detailed example is given.


Using the generalized conditional symmetry approach, a complete list of canonical forms for the Korteweg de-Vries type equations with which possessing derivative-dependent functional separable solutions (DDFSSs) is obtained. The exact DDFSSs of the resulting equations are explicitly exhibited.


The study was carried out in Jere, Konduga, Damboa and Biu Local Govrnment
Areas ( LGAs) of Borno State to investigate farmers perception of of the volume of credit insurance on crop production in Borno State, Nigeria.. Five wards were purposively selected from each LGA and from each ward, ten village communities were selected. Having found out that all the selected villages had about equal participants in the scheme, a simple random sampling technique was used to select four hundred respondents. However, only three hundred and sixty five successfully completed interview schedules which were used for the analysis. Data was collected by means of pre-tested interview schedule and analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The respondents who were mostly youths perceived the volume of credit insurance on crop production in the state to
be significant. It was recommended that farmers apply for bigger credit insurance for higher production. Extension workers were also advised to encourage more farmers to participate in the scheme because the result has shown that most of the farmers that participated had doubled their net farm income over the before the credit insurance situation. Keywords : perception, insurance scheme, credit and production. Global Approaches to Extension Practice Vol. 4 (1) 2008: pp. 114-122


Introduction: Experimental pinealectomy in chickens shortly after hatch produces scoliosis with morphological characteristics similar to that of human idiopathic scoliosis (Coillard et al., 1996). The objective of this study was to develop a finite element model (FEM) incorporating vertebral growth to analyse how bone growth modulation by mechanical loading affects development of scoliosis in chicken.

Materials and Methods: We have adapted the experimental set-up of Bagnall et al. (1999) to study spine growth of pinealectomised chickens. Three groups were followed for a period of six weeks:

1. wild-type (controls) (n=25);

2. shams (surgical controls) (n=20);

3. pinealectomised (n=76).

The experimental data was used to adapt a FEM previously developed to simulate the scoliosis deformation process in human (Villemure et al. 2002). The FEM consists of 7 thoracic vertebrae and the first lumbar, the intervertebral discs and the zygapophyseal joints. The geometry was measured on specimens using a calliper. The material properties of human spines were used as initial approximation. The growth process included a baseline growth (0.130 mm/day) and a growth modulation behaviour proportional to the stress and to a sensitivity factor. It was implemented through an iterative process (from the 14th to the 28th day). Asymmetric loads (2–14 Nmm) were applied to represent different paravertebral muscle abnormalities influenced by the induced melatonin defect.

Results: Within the pinealectomised group, 55% of the animals (n = 42) developed a scoliosis. In the FEM model, by varying the value of the applied moment, different scoliosis configurations were simulated. The resulting Cobb angle varied between 6° and 37°, while the maximal vertebral wedging appeared at T4 or T5 (range between 5° to 28°). A descriptive comparison of the simulation results with the experimental deformation patterns (n = 41; mean Cobb angle: 26°) was made as a preliminary validation. In 2 typical cases, the scoliotic shapes were quite similar to that seen in the scoliotic chickens.

Discussion and Conclusion: The basic mechanisms by which the metabolism of the growing spine is affected by mechanical factors remain not well known, and especially the role of tissue remodelling and growth adaptation in scoliosis. The agreement between the experimental study and preliminary simulation results shows the feasibility of the model to simulate the scoliotic deformation process in pinealectomised chickens. When completely developed and validated this modelling approach could help investigating the pathomechanisms involved in the scoliotic deformation process. Especially, computer simulations could be used to complement bio-molecular and mechanobiological studies concerning the neuroendocrinal hypothesis implicating melatonin signalling dysfunction, which could trigger a complex cascade of molecules and mechanoreceptors leading to an accumulation of specific factors in specialised tissues (Moreau et al. 2004), directly or indirectly implicated in proprioception, and which can be implicated in the pathomechanisms of scoliotic deformities.


An understanding of icing physics is required for the development of both scaling methods and ice-accretion prediction codes. This paper gives an overview of our present understanding of the important physical processes and the associated similarity parameters that determine the shape of Appendix C ice accretions. For many years it has been recognized that ice accretion processes depend on flow effects over the model, on droplet trajectories, on the rate of water collection and time of exposure, and, for glaze ice, on a heat balance. For scaling applications, equations describing these events have been based on analyses at the stagnation line of the model and have resulted in the identification of several non-dimensional similarity parameters. The parameters include the modified inertia parameter of the water drop, the accumulation parameter and the freezing fraction. Other parameters dealing with the leading edge heat balance have also been used for convenience. By equating scale expressions for these parameters to the values to be simulated a set of equations is produced which can be solved for the scale test conditions. Studies in the past few years have shown that at least one parameter in addition to those mentioned above is needed to describe surface-water effects, and some of the traditional parameters may not be as significant as once thought. Insight into the importance of each parameter, and the physical processes it represents, can be made by viewing whether ice shapes change, and the extent of the change, when each parameter is varied. Experimental evidence is presented to establish the importance of each of the traditionally used parameters and to identify the possible form of a new similarity parameter to be used for scaling.


As anyone who has written a book can tell you, when you finally finish wrestling with it and it is confined between covers, or tucked away in e-book form, it goes on to have an afterlife, sometimes quite a complicated one, which the author may glimpse only in intermittent and fragmentary form. An original and provocative book such as Judith Butler's Gender Trouble will travel to places its author never anticipated and become embroiled in conversations the author may not overhear. A book's influence on another field far from its point of origin is not best assessed by a citation index—though Gender Trouble's numbers are massive. To take the measure of the work that Gender Trouble has done for scholars working in Asian studies (itself a constructed and constantly morphing category, like gender), we should ask how the book traveled. Which pieces were taken up by scholars of Asia, and what conversations and challenges did the book enable, not as a blueprint but as an incubator of locally grounded thinking? How has it been adapted, pruned down to one or two insights, or expanded into new domains?


Language development is very important in early childhood, because it can provide a stimulus to the children so there are no obstacles in the learning process. This study aimed to improve their language skills, especially in the introduction of the Arabic language mufrodat through the game of snakes and ladders in class B RA An-Nawaa I Cirebon. The subjects of this study were class B2 16 children. collection techniques are observation, interviews, and documentation. The results showed that the introduction of the language component mainly mufrodat Arabic can be introduced through the game of snakes and ladders. component of the introduction of the Arabic language can be seen before action gained 18.75% or 3 children on criteria developing with hope, in the first cycle was obtained 50% or 8 children on criteria developing very well, and criteria developing with hope 9 children, and the second cycle was obtained 81.25% or the criteria developing very well 5 children, and on developing with hope criteria 11 children.


Purpose The purpose of this study is to report the short-term results of the Gore® Acuseal graft for prosthetic vascular access (pVA) in patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis. Methods Between October 2011 and October 2013, all the consecutive patients who underwent implantation of a new expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) tri-layer graft were included in the study. Primary and secondary patency rate, time to first cannulation, and complications were recorded. Follow-up was performed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the intervention. Results Thirty ePTFE tri-layer heparin bonded grafts were implanted in 18 males and 12 females. The graft configuration was radial-basilic (n=12, 40%), brachial-basilic (n=10, 33.3%), femoro-femoral (n=3, 10.0%), radial-cephalic (n=2, 6.7%), radial-antecubital forearm (n=2, 6.7%), and brachial-axillary (n=1, 3.3%). No patient was lost during a mean follow-up time of 6.3±5.9 months (range, 1-24; median, 5). Mean time to first cannulation was 2.4±1.2 days (range, 1-15). Primary functional patency rate was 68.0% ± 10 at 6 and 12 months. Secondary patency rate was 93.3% ± 6 at 6 and 12 months. Pseudoaneurysm, bleeding, seroma, or graft infection was never observed. Conclusions In our experience, the Gore® Acuseal graft was useful and safe. Early cannulation was always performed, and structural complications did not occur. Primary functional and secondary patency rate are satisfactory in the short term.


The Tec kinase Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) represents a key intermediary for B cell receptor (BCR) signaling. Btk mutation produces B cell deficiency in mice with X-linked immunodeficiency ( xid ), and surface Ig-mediated responses of mature B cells are seriously deranged. The cen-tral role that Btk plays in directing downstream events produced by BCR engagement is demonstrated by the complete failure of NF- (cid:1) B induction and cellular proliferation following anti-Ig treatment of B cells obtained from xid mice. In this study, we report that the block in BCR signaling produced by Btk mutation is reversed by CD40 engagement. Prior treatment with CD40 ligand normalized subsequent responses of xid B cells to BCR cross-linking, so that typical outcomes of BCR signaling such as NF- (cid:1) B activation and cell cycle progression oc-curred in a Btk-independent fashion. These results demonstrate that a specific genetic lesion interrupting BCR-mediated intracellular signaling is circumvented through stimulation of CD40. The Journal of Immunology, 2003, 170: 2806–2810.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the insidious onset of cognitive, emotional and language disorders. These attacks are sufficiently intense to affect the daily social and professional lives of patients. Today, in the absence of a reliable diagnosis and effective curative treatments, fighting this disease is becoming a real public health issue, prompting research to consider non-drug techniques. Among these techniques, speech processing is proving to be a relevant and innovative field of investigation. Several Machine Learning algorithms achieved promising results in distinguishing AD from healthy control subjects. Alternatively, many other factors such as feature extraction, the number of attributes for feature selection, used classifiers, may affect the prediction accuracy evaluation. To surmount these weaknesses, a model is suggested which include a feature extraction step followed by imperative attribute selection and classification is achieved using a machine learning classifiers. The current findings show that the proposed model can be strongly recommended for classifying Alzheimer's patient from healthy individuals with an accuracy of 79%.


1. Making contact 2. No thanks 3. Help yourself! 4. Getting around and about 5. What'll we buy? 6. Let's go to the kiosk! 7. Isn't it great to get home for Christmas! 8. From bad to worse 9. Time and space 10. What'll we do today? 11. More and more quickly 12. There seems to be something under the carpet 13. Easy come 14. Bears can be dangerous, I suppose 15. Serious matters 16. Let it not be said! Key to exercises Appendix A: Finnish names Appendix B: Overveiw of Finnish verb inflection Appendix C: Overview of Finnish nominal inflection Finnish-English glossary English-Finnish glossary Glossary of grammatical terms Index


Abstract The Raman effect is at the basis of Raman scattering and microspectrometry: in the first part of the chapter, it is very shortly exposed together with differences with infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and advantages and drawbacks of the technique. The importance of the choice of the excitation wavelength, of the spectrometer (fixed, portable and handheld) and of the optics is underlined, while the information provided by the technique for inorganic and organic materials is considered. The surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) theory and principle applications are also taken into account. In the second part of the chapter, all the different applications of Raman and SERS to cultural heritage materials are contemplated: minerals, gemstones, rocks, patinas and corrosion products, glass, pottery, mortars, dyes, binders, resins, paper, parchment, inks and human remains. For each category of objects, the answers that Raman microspectrometry and SERS can give to the archaeometric and conservation-related questions, the in situ investigations, the search of specific spectral parameters and the use of chemometrics are shown, together with the most recent advances in the field.


A monoazo dye was synthesized and applied to nylon 6,6 fibers. The effect of heat-set and auxiliary treatment on the absorption of acid dyes by nylon fibers was investigated. The dye was synthesized by the diazotization of primary amine to form a diazonium salt and coupling it to a coupling component (Schaeffer's acid). The effect of increasing heat-set time at 200, 210, 220 and 230oC, was investigated. The effects of increasing temperature of heat-set at 90 seconds, auxiliary concentration and dyeing time respectively were also investigated. Exhaustion dyeing method was used in all the investigations. The results showed that as the heat-set time increased percentage exhaustion decreased, indicating that the nylon 6,6 fibers were getting nearer to their glass transition temperature (Tg). The effect of increasing acid concentration showed that 3% acid concentration gave the maximum percentage exhaustion with increasing time, but as the acid concentration increased, the dye began to go out of the fiber. Specifically, at 40 minutes the shade was deep but at 5% concentration with increasing time of dyeing, the liquor darkened and the color that was absorbed got stripped-off. Keywords : Monoazo dye, Schaeffer's acid, diazonium salt, nylon 6,6 fibers,


A cytoplamic calcineurin-like-dependent protein kinase affects salt and osmotic stress responses by preferentially localizing to the vacuolar membrane under stress. The role of calcium-mediated signaling has been extensively studied in plant responses to abiotic stress signals. Calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs) and CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs) constitute a complex signaling network acting in diverse plant stress responses. Osmotic stress imposed by soil salinity and drought is a major abiotic stress that impedes plant growth and development and involves calcium-signaling processes. In this study, we report the functional analysis of CIPK21, an Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) CBL-interacting protein kinase, ubiquitously expressed in plant tissues and up-regulated under multiple abiotic stress conditions. The growth of a loss-of-function mutant of CIPK21, cipk21, was hypersensitive to high salt and osmotic stress conditions. The calcium sensors CBL2 and CBL3 were found to physically interact with CIPK21 and target this kinase to the tonoplast. Moreover, preferential localization of CIPK21 to the tonoplast was detected under salt stress condition when coexpressed with CBL2 or CBL3. These findings suggest that CIPK21 mediates responses to salt stress condition in Arabidopsis, at least in part, by regulating ion and water homeostasis across the vacuolar membranes.


This paper investigates the financial performance of the U.S. airline industry, especially the industry's sensitivity to business cycles, since the 1978 passage of the Airline Deregulation Act. The industry's potential return to profitability through restructuring, particularly through its advocacy and pursuit of globalized markets, is explored. Altman's Z-score model, which reflects 22 financial items (obtained from the Industrial Compustat) for each airline company, is applied to illustrate the stability of the industry during the 1982-1989 period and its deterioration since 1989.


Our basic metaphor: in this chapter, we present a taxonomy of self-replicators as if they were animals in a zoo. In the zoo, we play the role of an external observer (a zoologist) whose role is to describe the animals (artificial organisms) and their behavior. Different species reproduce in different ways some sexually, some asexually. We observe differences in their developmental dynamics and differences in the way they adapt to their environment. In each case, what we see are life-like self-replicators, each adapted to a specific habitat. In Chapters 7 and 8, we have seen how evolutionary techniques can create a broad variety of self-replicators. The complex ways in which these self-replicators grow, reproduce and become extinct bring to mind the behavior of biological systems. In Chapter 11, we examined their genetics. Here we examine their behavior at the individual and the species level, applying a range of observational and experimental methods and using the results as the basis for a taxonomy. Like eukaryotic cells, artificial organisms can divide, creating offspring similar to themselves and transmitting their genetic heritage to the next generation. In our artificial world, we can identify several different models of mitosis. As in biology, it is these models that underlie the growth of individual organisms and of popula-


In this paper, a comparative study of the lattice Boltzmann (LB) models for the Allen-Cahn (A-C) and Cahn-Hilliard (C-H) equations is conducted. To this end, a new LB model for the A-C equation is first proposed, where the equilibrium distribution function and the source term distribution function are delicately designed to recover the A-C equation correctly. The gradient term in this model can be computed by the nonequilibrium part of the distribution function such that the collision process can be implemented locally. Then a detailed numerical study on several classical problems is performed to give a comparison between the present model for the A-C equation and the recently developed LB model [H. Liang et al., Phys. Rev. E 89, 053320 (2014)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.89.053320] for the C-H equation in terms of tracking the interface of two-phase flow. The results show that the present LB model for the A-C equation is more accurate and more stable, and also has a second-order convergence rate in space, while the convergence rate of the previous LB model for the C-H equation is only about 1.5.


Abstract We described the population structure and habitat selection of Anisakis simplex in 46 franciscanas, Pontoporia blainvillei, 8 Burmeister's porpoises, Phocoena spinnipinis, 2 Dusky dolphins, Lagenorhynchus obscurus, and 2 common dolphins, Delphinus delphis, caught incidentally in the coastal fisheries of northern Argentina. Prevalence ranged from 50% to 100%, but mean intensities were low (1.0–3.6), suggesting that A. simplex has low recruitment rates to coastal dolphins in this area. Adult nematodes were found exclusively in the main stomach of 64.5% of franciscanas (the first stomach of this species) and the forestomach of 50% of Burmeister's porpoises and Dusky dolphins. Other developmental stages occurred in the first stomach but were also found in posterior digestive chambers. The median worm of the distribution among chambers was more anterior for preadults than for L4s and more anterior for L4s than for L3s. Our data are compatible with the hypothesis that individuals of A. simplex tend to select the site where digestion begins. This preference is more pronounced in adult worms. The greater restriction of adults to the first chamber could be viewed as a strategy to enhance mating opportunities. Alternatively, it might indicate that adults have stronger requirements for the resources provided by the first chamber.


This paper reports our findings on how to prepare a graphene oxide-based gas sensor for sensing fast pulses of volatile organic compounds with a better signal-to-noise ratio. We use rapid acetone pulses of varying concentrations to test the sensors. First, we compare the effect of graphene oxide deposition method (dielectrophoresis versus solvent evaporation) on the sensor's response. We find that dielectrophoresis yields films with uniform coverage and better sensor response. Second, we examine the effect of chemical reduction. Contrary to prior reports, we find that graphene oxide reduction leads to a reduction in sensor response and current noise, thus keeping the signal-to-noise ratio the same. We found that if we sonicated the sensor in acetone, we created a sensor with a few flakes of reduced graphene oxide. Such sensors provided a higher signal-to-noise ratio that could be correlated to the vapor concentration of acetone with better repeatability. Modeling shows that the sensor's response is due to one-site Langmuir adsorption or an overall single exponent process. Further, the desorption of acetone as deduced from the sensor recovery signal follows a single exponent process. Thus, we show a simple way to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in reduced graphene oxide sensors.


Questions In southern California, shortened fire return intervals may contribute to a decrease in native chaparral shrub presence and an increase in non-native annual grass presence. To test the hypothesis that short-fire return intervals promote a loss in shrub cover, we examined the contribution of single short-interval fires and abiotic conditions on the change of shrub cover within Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Through evaluating pre- and post-fire historical aerial images, we answered the following questions, 1) How has vegetation type cover changed after repeat fires? and 2) What landscape variables contribute the most to the observed change? Location Ventura County and Los Angeles County, California, USA. Methods We assessed the impact of a single short-interval fire by comparing vegetation recovery in adjacent once- and twice-burned fire burn polygons (long- and short-interval respectively). Pixel plots were examined within each polygon and vegetation cover was classified to vegetation type. We determined the best predictor of vegetation type cover with a linear mixed effects model comparison using Akaike Information Criterion. Results Pre-fire and post-fire community type cover was highly correlated. Burn interval was the best predictor of tree cover change (lower cover in twice-burned pixel plots). Aspect was the best predictor of sage scrub cover change (greater cover on north-facing aspects). Years since fire was the best predictor of chaparral cover change (positive correlation) and sage scrub cover change (negative correlation). Conversion of chaparral to sage scrub cover was more likely to occur than conversion of chaparral to annual grass cover. Conclusions Our study did not find extensive evidence of a decrease in chaparral shrub cover due to a single short-interval fire. Instead, post-fire cover was highly correlated with pre-fire cover. Chaparral recovery, however, was dynamic suggesting that stand recovery may be strongly influenced by local scale conditions and processes.


Web mining is a technique through which various analyses can be done so that it can be used for a variety of applications such as page ranking. Page ranking denotes the popularity or usage of web pages over internet. Although there are various page ranking algorithms implemented, but HITS and Google Page ranking are the most popular raking algorithms. This technique provides efficient ranking of Web pages and provides less computational time, but here in this paper the algorithm is enhanced on the basis of response time of each Web page. The idea is to compute access time of each Web page and then compute average response time on the basis of which ranking of Web pages can be predicted. The technique implemented here provides efficient page ranking as well as provides better goodness factor.


We have studied a scheme of lasing without inversion (LWI) that uses the Pauli exclusion principle. We perform simulations to demonstrate the gain at 58 nm using parameters for 3He. The usage of the Pauli principle allows us to meet the necessary condition for LWI and provides also the efficient control of the coupling between X-ray radiation and atomic system. This approach can be extended to other atoms and ions to obtain lasing at shorter wavelengths.


Abstract In Betula celtiberica (Iberian white birch) stemwood, the content and composition of lipophilic and hydrophilic extractives were determined; these have not been reported previously in this species. The total gravimetric amount of extractives was 2.2% of dry wood, of which lipophilic extractives accounted for 0.39% and hydrophilic extractives 1.84% (determined by gas chromatography–flame ionisation detection [GC–FID]). The lipophilic extract contained mainly triterpenoids and steroids. The hydrophilic extract (acetone–water 95:5 v v−1) contained mainly sugars, compounds not eluting on GC, and a large number of unidentified compounds, which accounted for 0.87% of dry wood and dominated the extract. The compounds were isolated from the extract by silica column chromatography and further purified. GC–electron impact (EI)-MS of the silylated compounds showed characteristic mass fragments that suggested them to be diarylheptanoids (DAHs). This is an interesting compound group, as many of them have shown a large variety of beneficial biological effects. Of over 80 detected DAHs, the exact mass of 17 compounds was determined by electrospray ionisation-quadrupole-time-of-flight (ESI-QTOF)-MS, and of these, the structure of 11 compounds was elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). One was a meta,para-bridged diphenylether and 10 were meta,meta-bridged biphenyls, of which one, 3,8,9,17-tetrahydroxy-[7,0]-metacyclophane, has not been described previously. Because of low concentrations, 21 DAHs were only tentatively identified, and of these, as many as 17 seem to be previously undescribed compounds.


Aiming at developing intuitive and easy-to-use portrait editing tools, we propose a novel vectorization method that can automatically convert raster images into a 3-tier hierarchical representation. The base layer consists of a set of sparse diffusion curves (DC) which characterize salient geometric features and low-frequency colors and provide means for semantic color transfer and facial expression editing. The middle level encodes specular highlights and shadows to large and editable Poisson regions (PR) and allows the user to directly adjust illumination via tuning the strength and/or changing shape of PR. The top level contains two types of pixel-sized PRs for high-frequency residuals and fine details such as pimples and pigmentation. We also train a deep generative model that can produce high-frequency residuals automatically. Thanks to the meaningful organization of vector primitives, editing portraits becomes easy and intuitive. In particular, our method supports color transfer, facial expression editing, highlight and shadow editing and automatic retouching. Thanks to the linearity of the Laplace operator, we introduce alpha blending, linear dodge and linear burn to vector editing and show that they are effective in editing highlights and shadows. To quantitatively evaluate the results, we extend the commonly used FLIP metric (which measures differences between two images) by considering illumination. The new metric, called illumination-sensitive FLIP or IS-FLIP, can effectively capture the salient changes in color transfer results, and is more consistent with human perception than FLIP and other quality measures on portrait images. We evaluate our method on the FFHQR dataset and show that our method is effective for common portrait editing tasks, such as retouching, light editing, color transfer and expression editing. We will make the code and trained models publicly available.


Sections of the peripheral nerve-trunks of the metathoracic leg of the cockroach ( Periplaneta americana ) were studied with the electron microscope. Paraffin sections were also prepared and stained. Protargol succeeds in staining the nerve-fibres. Osmium tetroxide, a modified Weigert procedure, and Luxol fast blue stain the myelin sheaths, as does mercuric bromphenol blue, a protein stain. The axoplasm is relatively free of formed elements; it contains mitochondria. The myelin sheath, when present on the largest and also some smaller fibres, consists of about two or three loose over lapping processes of Schwann cells, covered by their plasma membranes, enclosing lipid-like droplets and having a beaded appearance. Between the nerve-fibres in the nerve-trunk is Schwann-cell cytoplasm, which arises from Schwann cells that surround the whole nerve-trunk. The same fold of Schwann-cell membrane may enter into the formation of the myelin sheath around more than one nerve-fibre. Several small non-myelinated fibres, which may be as small as 0.3 µ in diameter or less, may be enclosed in the same fold of Schwann-cell membrane. Outside of the Schwann-cell layer and surrounding the nerve-trunk is a thin layer of connective tissue, which does not send trabeculae into the interior of the nerve. Tracheae and tracheoles accompany the nerve but are not included within the sheaths surrounding a nerve-trunk, even near the termination of the nerve-fibres in muscle. The structure of the cockroach peripheral nerve is compared with that described by previous investigators, with that of other insects, and with invertebrate and vertebrate nerve.


Saccharomyces boulardii (S. boulardii), a live yeast, has been shown to be a safe and useful treatment for HIV-related diarrhea. Although the mechanism of action is uncertain, researchers believe it may reduce inflammation or increase immune responses in the blood. However, the yeast may take advantage of an immune deficiency and cause a systemic infection. Other trials have studied S. boulardii for treatment or prevention of diarrhea due to various causes unrelated to HIV, such as antibiotic-associated diarrhea and Crohn's disease. Researchers found statistically significant benefit of S. boulardii in reducing diarrhea in many of these studies. At least two different S. boulardii products are available in AIDS buyers' clubs today. Laboratoires Biocodex, the French company now running clinical trials of S. boulardii, markets a lyophilized (freeze-dried) form of the yeast in Europe, South America, and Africa. Jarrow Formulas, a competitor, sells a less expensive S. boulardii product. For now, patients must rely largely on anecdotal and imprecise studies for information on how to use the treatment, since most of the clinical trials have been with HIV-negative patients. According to one buyer's club, most people start with three grams a day, and then work down to one gram a day to control the diarrhea.


Persuasive health systems such as wearable trackers and mobile applications can facilitate self-reflection on one's physical activity. The gamification approach incorporates game design elements with persuasive systems in order to encourage more physical activity. However, some investigations have shown that using gamification to promote physical activity could have contradictory effects. To explore the conflicted findings in more detail, we designed and studied FitPet – an interactive virtual petkeeping mobile game focused on encouraging physical activity. In a six-week field study, its effectiveness was evaluated and compared with two other gamification strategies, the goal-setting strategy and the use of social communities. Findings are that the social interaction strategy was the most effective intervention among these three. Contrary to prior research, goal-setting was not found to be as effective at providing motivation compared to social interaction. Although FitPet failed to promote significantly higher levels of physical activity, participants enjoyed this approach and provided design insights for future research: implementing social components and more challenging gameplay.


ABSTRACT This study investigates individual vocal traits in three species of fur seal: Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella, Subantarctic fur seal A. tropicalis, New Zealand fur seal A. forsteri and their hybrids. The attraction calls of mothers and pups were highly stereotyped within each individual and markedly different between individuals. Pup attraction calls (emitted by females) were more variable between individual A. tropicalis and A. forsteri than between individual hybrids and A. gazella. However, such a pattern was not evident for female attraction calls (emitted by pups). Pup attraction calls and female attraction calls were both generally tonal calls overlain with regions of pulses. Female attraction calls had relatively high fundamental frequencies. The importance of individual vocalisations for mothers and pups is best appreciated in relation to maternal fitness and offspring survival: individual vocalisations are favoured by natural selection as they facilitate rapid reunion when mothers return from foraging trips, ensuring maternal resources are not invested in unrelated pups.


The traditional herbal medicines are mainly obtained from plants are used in the management of Diabetes mellitus. The main objective of this work was to assess the presence of phytochemical compounds and to evaluate the in vitro antidiabetic activity of isopropanolic extracts of Pimenta racemosa leaves by studying their α-amylase inhibitory activity and glucose transport across yeast cells. Screening of phytochemicals showed positive results for alkaloids, steroids, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, reducing sugars, anthraquinones, and results of in vitro α-amylase inhibitory studies demonstrated there was a dose-dependent increase in percentage inhibitory activity by the isopropanolic leaf extracts of Pimenta racemosa. At a concentration of 1 mg/ml, the extract showed a percentage inhibition 33.6 and for 5 mg/ml it was 91.2. The glucose uptake study was also studied through yeast cells by analyzing the amount of glucose remaining in the medium after a specific time intervals. It serves as an indicator for the capability of isopropanolic leaf extracts of Pimenta racemosa to transport the glucose into yeast cells. As a result, we found that the isopropanolic leaf extract of Pimenta racemosa have inhibitory activity against αamylase and also, which is efficient in glucose uptake. This therapeutic potentiality of Pimenta racemosa could be exploited in the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes mellitus. Further studies are also required to elucidate whether the plant have antidiabetic potential by in vivo for corroborating the traditional claim of the plant.


Abstract: Acute myocardial infarction (MI) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide with premenopausal women showing a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease compared with men of the same age. After menopause, this advantage disappears, suggesting that sex hormones play a cardioprotective role. This study was aimed to assess on the activity of antioxidant enzymes in plasma and the respiratory function of isolated heart mitochondria after the induction of MI in rats after ovariectomy and estradiol benzoate supplementation. Sprague–Dawley female rats were ovariectomized 3 months before the induction of MI and supplemented/not supplemented with oestrogen 3 months before/7 days after the induction of MI. No significant differences in glutathione peroxidase activities were found in any group. Differences between values were only significant in the ovariectomized not supplemented group (P < 0.01) for the glutathione reductase activity and glutathione concentrations. In isolated mitochondria (7 days after MI), the decline in respiration was observed comparing the ovariectomized and nonovariectomized group. Respiratory functions did not show significant differences between animals supplemented with oestrogen before MI or treated with oestrogen after MI. Ovariectomy worsened mitochondrial dysfunction after MI, and oestrogen supplementation before or after the induction of MI did not improve mitochondrial function.


Background: Breast neoplasms has known as the most common cancer among the women worldwide, and relationship between obesity, metabolic syndrome, inflammation and cancer has been recognized since many years ago. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the individual and concomitant effect of 6-weeks water-based exercise and oral ginger supplement on markers that have related to metabolic syndrome and systemic inflammation in obese women with breast neoplasms. Patients and Methods: Forty women whose have diagnosed with breast neoplasms have volunteered to participate in the study. Subjects have randomly assigned into four groups; placebo, exercise training, ginger supplement and exercise training+ ginger supplement groups. Subjects in the ginger supplement group and the exercise training+ ginger supplement group have orally received 4 capsules, 7 days a week and for 6 weeks. The water-based exercise training program have collected at a progressive intensity and time, have ranged from 50% to 75% of heart rate reserve, in a pool, 4 times a week for 6 weeks. Fasting blood sampling has collected at the pretest and post-test. Results: The ginger supplementation and the water-base exercise have resulted in a reduction of hs-CRP, IL-10, insulin, glucose, insulin resistance, LDL-C, TG; but an increase in HDL-C and HDL-C/LDL-C. The water-base exercise and ginger supplement group have significantly shown larger positive effect in all outcomes, in comparison with the water-base exercise or ginger supplement alone groups. Conclusions: Findings have suggested that obese breast neoplasms survivors have commonly shown metabolic syndrome and elevated inflammation, which placed them at an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, data has indicated a protective effect of the nondrug strategies, such as water-base exercise and ginger supplementation have played an important role in pathogenesis of inflammatory and metabolic responses, among diagnosed breast neoplasms.


While the technological evolution since C. Clos's seminal article (see Bell Sys. Tech. J., vol.32, p.406-24, 1953) on multistage switch architectures has been huge, his work and ideas still live on. We discuss node architectures for optical packet switching and show how the multistage approach proposed by Clos can be adopted to solve scalability issues and construct switches with large port counts. As in the old days, the driving factors behind the introduction of multistage concepts also include economic issues: compared to a single-stage architecture, the number of components to realize the switching fabric is reduced.


Ira Katznelson urges labor historians to respond to a crisis in their field by returning to political, institutional, and state-centered history. This state of affairs has come about, he and others tell us, because of the dual challenge of "new social movements" and then the decline of labor movements, the crisis of social democracy, and collapse of communist states. Labor history is in crisis, he concludes, because class no longer provides the best categories with which to describe the world and the working class is no longer the principal historical actor.


The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of traditionally used antibacterial plants (Euphorbia prostrata, Schinus molle, Brickellia veronicaefolia and Lepidium virginicum) in Santa Rosa Range in Guanajuato against major mastitis-causing pathogens. The selected plants were phytochemically screened for alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, saponins, anthraquinone, cardiac glycosides, steroids and terpenoids. Moreover, to achieve the main purpose of the present research, extracts of selected plants were tested for in vitro antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Shigella spp., Bacillus subtilis, Clavibacter spp., Proteus vulgaris and Salmonella spp. All these bacterial were isolated from clinical mastitis in dairy cows. The results indicated that the ethanolic extract of the aerial part of L. virginicum exhibited the strongest antimicrobial activity, and it could be potential candidate specie for the development of novel veterinary drugs with low cost and fewer


As is known, the path of women's emancipation, which developed during the twentieth century, found a fundamental turning point in democratic constitutions. This is of course due to the social and political changes of the second postwar period, but not only. Given that democratic constitutions represent a specific type of constitution built in opposition to the constitutional thought of the nineteenth century, the essay will demonstrate that assuming the widest women's citizenship is an inherent feature of constitutions of this kind. With particular reference to Italy, the essay is divided into two parts. The first shows two main constitutional changes that have been essential to the claim for women's citizenship: one related to the subject of law (from the individual to the person) and the other related to the principle of equality (from formal to substantial equality). The second part of the essay is dedicated to the dynamic aspect of the constitution, to its movement. Through the two engines of this movement - the normativity of the constitution and the political/representative element - it shows how the relationship between the constitution and women's citizenship runs both ways. If one of the constitution's aims is to empower women's citizenship, on the other hand the exercise of a full and conscious female political citizenship is a necessary condition for a healthy constitutional democracy.


The results are given of detailed experimental studies of the model flue gas mixture irradiation by pulsed electron beams and electron-beam-initiated non-self-sustained discharges. The effects of the electron beam parameters, the external electric field and the composition of irradiated gas on the process of sulphur dioxide SO2 removal are analysed. We demonstrate the existence of optimum values of the electron beam current density and pulse duration, and of the external electric field strength, at which the energy required to remove one SO2 molecule is minimum. The energy cost and removal rate are given as functions of the concentration of SO2, oxygen and water vapour in the mixture. The concentration limit that divides the chain and radical mechanisms of SO2 removal is determined.


An investigation was carried out to extend the shelf life of wood apple beverages by up to 50 days from its natural shelf life of 8–12 h. A wood apple beverage was prepared using freeze-dried wood apple powder. Four samples were developed by pasteurizing the beverage at 85 °C for 10 min and treatment with a combination of 50 ppm and 100 ppm of potassium metabisulphite, citric acid, ascorbic acid, and sodium benzoate. Replications and controls were properly maintained. The total soluble solids (°Brix), pH, titrable acidity, ascorbic acid content, microbial growth and sensory attributes of the prepared juice samples were evaluated at an interval of 10 days over a storage period of 50 days. TSS was found to increase (16.30–18.25°Brix) with storage period, while pH (5.43–4.10), titratable acidity (0.67–0.08%), and ascorbic acid content (4.65–1.01 mg/100 mL) decreased with time (Table A1). The microbiological analysis showed little or no growth for samples treated with a combination of 50 ppm potassium metabisulphite, citric acid, ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate up to 50 days. Consumer acceptability of the beverage was found to be satisfactory. Thus, shelf life of wood apple beverage was extended to 50 days satisfactorily, ensuring consumption-safe parameters and satisfactory sensory qualities.


The location selection of logistics center is an investment decision-making issue with strategic meaning in the national economy mobilization logistics system. Based on correlative literature, this paper establishes the index system of location selection of logistics center, and then constructs the model of location selection of national economy mobilization logistics center based on combination of fuzzy set theory and grey analysis. The ability sequence is determined according to each location's relative approximation. We can select the one which has the highest ability if there are several positions to choose when constructing the mobilization logistics center.


This paper proposes a case study to test the relevance of architecture for our understanding of early modern notions of privacy.1 At the Centre for Privacy Studies, privacy is understood as shaping relationships on different levels, from the individual body to society, entities each with their own spatial presence and relationships. To what extent is the spatial component of privacy also a matter of architecture, understood as the intentional design of the elements that define space and materialise its limits? To approach this question I will read the Cornaro Chapel, designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini for Federico Cornaro in 1647–52, as a site where an intimate and interior experience, set in a private space, is made public for the purpose of edification and devotion. I want to reflect on the role of architecture in the process of transforming the private into a public display, by establishing its spatial conditions and making them explicit. This reading is framed by a brief foray into statements about the private and public persona in a particular and historically important treatise on religious art, the Discorso intorno alle immagine sacre e profane written by Gabriele Paleotti and first published in 1582. Paleotti attributes a public dimension to religious art, as its subject matter transcends the intentions and ambitions of the private individual. I propose to read the Cornaro Chapel as a sophisticated device that performs the negotiations between these two dimen-sions. By reading the Cornaro Chapel as a site of conspicuous patronage where an intimate and interior moment is put on public display, this essay hopes to offer some suggestions about how architecture negotiates between the private and public in religious art and to provide some understanding of how the spatial component of privacy can be a matter of architecture.


To secure research funding from grant-awarding agencies such as the US National Science Foundation, scientists – despite not typically being trained in non-technical communication or public engagement – must competitively formulate so-called Broader Impacts activities. Dissemination activities are often proposed as Broader Impacts of research, but what characteristics of these activities truly indicate their potential to be "broad" or "impactful"? How can the "impacts" of very different activities be fairly compared during peer review? Combining the experiences of successful practitioners with communication theory, I have synthesized a five-point framework that could help both proposers and reviewers craft and compare Broader Impacts dissemination activities. This "Broader Impacts Impact Framework" summarizes best practices in communication and outreach, and can be easily used by scientists during proposal writing and review. This framework focuses on five main factors: who, why, what, how, and with whom.


The increasing size and complexity of VLSI circuits has brought testing and design for testability into the mainstream of the design process. However, VLSI designers have been reluctant to incorporate ATPG techniques into their environments because ATPG systems either take inordinate amounts of time in generating tests for faults or do not achieve significant fault coverage in the allotted time. Use of ordered binary decision diagrams (OBDDs) for function representation has provided significant impetus to algebraic CAD techniques. This paper presents techniques for gate-level ATPG using OBDDs. Such a system uses the path sensitization based TPG to generate tests for the easy faults and the OBDD based generator for the hard and redundant faults. The techniques presented can be generalized to arbitrary fault models.<<ETX>>


The size of the objects that are constituted within an alleged nano metric measurement of 1 to 100 nm is generally the main feature of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The system of unharness may be an essential method of acknowledging contained drug delivery systems in the formation of nano drug. Nanoparticles may surpass the crucial troubles of traditional little molecules/biomacromolecules; such as protein, ribonucleic acid, and DNA; utilized in several diseases through permitting objective delivery and surpassing biological obstacles. Many spectroscopical analytical techniques were applied to define the free drug component from the nano drug formation, according various substantial cases, during various duration. One of them is the analytical chemistry which concerns with the development of new techniques to develop old ones and supply the requirements of chemical information constrained by modern issues. Analytical chemistry is greatly affected by the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The aim of this review is to present a comparison of different spectroscopic analytical techniques which are presently applied to various systems of nano drug delivery to present elaborated and helpful data for the other researchers.


Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) have attracted the attention of the clinicians of stomatology and other related disciplines because of the high prevalence and close relationship with multiple disciplines. Medical imaging is of great value in the diagnosis and differential diagnoses for TMDs. Based on the author's clinical practice experience and some related research work, combined with the relevant literatures, the indications, advantages and disadvantages of various commonly used imaging modalities were described. Simultaneously, the importance and limitations of imaging diagnosis for TMDs were discussed and emphasized in the present article.


In this paper, our main contributions are that embeddings from relatively smaller corpora can outperform ones from far larger corpora and we present the new Swedish analogy test set. To achieve a good network performance in natural language processing (NLP) downstream tasks, several factors play important roles: dataset size, the right hyper-parameters, and well-trained embedding. We show that, with the right set of hyper-parameters, good network performance can be reached even on smaller datasets. We evaluate the embeddings at the intrinsic level and extrinsic level, by deploying them on the Transformer in named entity recognition (NER) task and conduct significance tests.This is done for both Swedish and English. We obtain better performance in both languages on the downstream task with far smaller training data, compared to recently released, common crawl versions and character n-grams appear useful for Swedish, a morphologically rich language.


In the context of the era of big data, the cultural industry represented by media is developing rapidly and gradually becoming an important force to promote economic growth.  Based on the relevant principles of Western economics, the article first analyzes how economic influence guides media activities from the perspective of media and audiences.  Secondly, it explores how to promote economic and social development through media from the perspective of media's allocation of production factors, which provides a theoretical basis for scientifically understanding and understanding media economy.


Once again, the wheels of change are turning at JRME. This issue marks the beginning of Volume 47, which will be the last volume under my editorship. To facilitate the transition to the new editor, there is a 1-year period during which the work of the journal is shared by the editor and the editor-designate. I am pleased to announce that Jinfa Cai, Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Delaware, is the JRME editor-designate. His term as JRME editor will span Volumes 48–51, from 2017–2020. Although volumes of the journal correspond to calendar years, the tasks of the editor follow a different timeline, which is governed by production schedules. Thus, the work of the editor-designate begins long before his or her name appears as editor on the journal cover. For example, Jinfa and the University of Delaware editorial team began handling all new manuscript submissions on September 1, 2015. The Illinois State team continued to process manuscripts that were already in the system and conducted reviews for resubmissions of manuscripts that had previously received revise and resubmit decisions. As of January 1, Jinfa and his team will have assumed responsibility for all aspects of the submission and review process. During this final phase of the transition, my role, with the assistance of Amanda Fain, will be to work with authors to complete the final editing of articles that will appear in Volume 47. Another aspect of the transition involves the special section editors, who are appointed by the JRME editor. As you may have noticed from previous issues, some new appointments have already occurred: Steve Williams is now serving as the Research Commentary editor, and Sarah Lubienski has taken on the role of Book Review editor. Randy Groth will continue as the Monograph editor. The gradual shifting of responsibilities between the JRME editor and the editor-designate in this transition period allows for a seamless change in the stewardship of the journal. While the work at one editorial office is winding down, the work at the other is ramping up. I would like to thank the NCTM Board of Directors for supporting both editorial offices during this period of transition. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 2016, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2


How do people get valuable information to solve their problems and to satisfy their needs? Sometimes they can get it from their own experience or intelligence. Most of the time, however, they strongly rely on their network as both radar and filter, compare what they hear and see (and read, in modern societies), and attempt to combine useful information into solutions (Burt 1992). To make beneficial comparisons and combinations, it turns out that, in general, diverse information is key (Page 2007). When studying information search from a network perspective, detailed knowledge about the content of ties is usually lacking; it is a challenge to model information diversity in a general way and to predict its beneficial use in a broad range of fields. Would network diversity, that is, a focal node's connections to mutually disconnected nodes, be sufficient, or would additional indicators be necessary? A large portion of the literature confirms that for ego (a focal actor) to access diverse information, he or she should broker


Narrative disclosure in corporate annual report consists of information both mandatory and voluntary in nature and includes financial and non-financial information. They includes general narratives, management discussion and analysis, information related to product, production and marketing, financial statement narratives, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, human resources and environmental aspects, but the question is who are the users of such information? What are their uses and how they views narrative reporting in corporate annual report? The present study made an attempt to understand the use and user's perception of corporate narrative reporting. The result reveals that corporate annual report is the most preferred sources for fetching corporate information and they believe that corporate narrative outlets are used by the executives to boost the image of the company.


Kruppel-like factor-1 (KLF1) is an essential erythroid-specific transcription factor1, 2. A number of studies have shown up to ∼700 genes are poorly expressed when KLF1 is absent3-6. This global loss of expression is responsible for failure of effective red blood cell production in KLF1 knockout mice, and partly responsible for congenital dyserythropoietic anemia type IV (CDA-IV) observed in humans with dominant mutations in the DNA-binding domain of KLF17. Recently an ENU-generated mouse model of neonatal anemia, 'nan', was also reported to harbour a mutation in the second zinc-finger of KLF18. Remarkably, the 'nan' mutation (E339D) resides at exactly the same amino acid which results in human CDA IV (i.e. E325 in humans). Unlike loss of function point mutations in KLF1, this mutation leads to a more severe phenotype than the KLF1 null allele, suggesting it is an unusual dominant mutation9.

To investigate how this mutation might cause disease, we introduced tamoxifen-inducible versions of KLF1 and KLF1nan into an erythroid cell line derived from Klf1 -/- fetal liver cells10. We performed ChIP-seq to determine genome occupancy site preferences for KLF1 and KLF1nan. We identified about 4-fold the number of binding sites within the genome for KLF1nan versus KLF1; many of these are ectopic or promiscuous. Using de novo motif discovery11, we find KLF1nan binds a slightly degenerate CACC box element (CCMNGCCC) in comparison with wild type KLF1 (CCMCRCCC). This specificity is novel with respect to known TFs, so we think it represents specificity not normally present in mammals. The degenerate motif is consistent with models of how the second zinc finger of KLF1 specifically interacts with the 9bp consensus binding site12,13. We also isolated nascent RNA from wild type and mutant cells, to identify primary transcriptional targets of KLF1 and aberrant targets of the KLF1nanmutation. We performed primary transcript RNA-seq and validation using RT-PCR of pre-processed nuclear transcripts. Together the RNA-seq and ChIP-seq studies have provided a novel explanation for how mutations in KLF1 result in dominant anemia in mice and man. This mechanism, whereby a transcription factor DNA-binding domain mutation leads to promiscuous binding, activation of an aberrant transcriptional program and subsequent derailing of co-ordinated differentiation, is novel.

References:

1. Perkins, A.C., A.H. Sharpe, and S.H. Orkin. Nature, 1995. 375 (6529): p. 318-22.

2. Nuez, B., et al., Nature, 1995. 375 (6529): p. 316-8.

3. Pilon, A.M., et al., Mol Cell Biol, 2006. 26 (11): p. 4368-77.

4. Drissen, R., et al., Mol Cell Biol, 2005. 25 (12): p. 5205-14.

5. Hodge, D., et al., Blood, 2006. 107 (8): p. 3359-70.

6. Tallack, M.R., et al., Genome Res, 2012. 22 (12):2385-98

7. Arnaud, L., et al., Am J Hum Genet. 87 (5): p. 721-7.

8. Siatecka, M., et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010. 107 (34):15151-6

9. Heruth, D.P., et al., Genomics, 2010. 96 (5): p. 303-7.

10. Coghill, E., et al., Blood, 2001. 97 (6): p. 1861-1868.

11. Bailey, T.L., et al., Nucleic Acids Res, 2009. 37 (Web Server issue): p. W202-8.

12. Schuetz, A., et al., Cell Mol Life Sci, 2011. 68 (18): p. 3121-31.

13. Oka, S., et al., Biochemistry, 2004. 43 (51): p. 16027-35.

Disclosures: Perkins: Novartis Oncology: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.


Digital soil models and maps have been developed for pre-European (pre-clearing) levels of soil organic carbon (SOC) over New South Wales, Australia. These provide a useful first estimate of natural, unaltered soil conditions before agricultural development, which are potentially important for many carbon-accounting schemes such as those prescribed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, carbon-turnover models such as RothC, and soil-condition monitoring programs. The modelling approach adopted included multiple linear regression and Cubist piecewise linear decision trees. It used 1690 soil profiles from undisturbed or only lightly disturbed native vegetation sites across all of eastern Australia, together with a range of covariates representing key soil-forming factors. The digital soil maps of pre-clearing SOC (% and mass) over New South Wales provide a more sophisticated alternative to currently available, equivalent maps. Independent validation of the SOC mass predictions over the top 30 cm revealed a concordance correlation coefficient of 0.76, which was 13% higher than the currently used map. Total pre-clearing SOC stocks amount to 4.21 Gt in the top 30 cm, which compared with a current stock estimate of 3.68 Gt, suggesting a total SOC loss of ~0.53 Gt over the entire state. The extent of SOC decline in both absolute and relative terms was found to be highly dependent on the climate, parent material and land use regime, reaching a maximum decline of 44.3 t/ha or 50.0% relative loss in cooler (moist) conditions over mafic parent materials under regular cropping use. The models also provide valuable pedological insights into the factors controlling SOC levels under natural conditions.


Decisions to admit and discharge patients to and from the intensive care unit (ICU) when beds are scarce should be made in accordance with the triage principle--that is, allocate resources on the basis of the ability to benefit from intensive care. However, uncertainty over resource capacity and patient prognosis limits the ability of decision makers to use this prioritization principle and results in ICUs containing inappropriately placed patients who are denying or delaying care to patients who could benefit more. Using Jay Galbraith's "information processing" model, ICU admission and discharge decision making is described. Organizational strategies to reduce uncertainty and improve decision making are discussed, including strengthening the management role of the ICU physician director and employing prognostic instruments (e.g., mortality prediction models) to share and process information.


Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) visualizes the simultaneous lateral distribution of multiple compounds on sample surface. However, it is still difficult to visualize biological indices such as energy charge index from multiple compounds because of the lack of publicly available tools. Here we present MSIdV, a visualization tool for biological indices calculated from mass spectrometry imaging data, which can effectively scan a series of mass spectra and process, calculate and visualize user-defined index measures accurately with a number of signal processing features.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION
MSIdV is implemented in Python 2.7 and is freely available on the web at https://sourceforge.net/projects/msidv/ CONTACT: email@example.com information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Malignant tracheo-esophageal fistulae can be palliated with bifurcate tracheal stents. However, stents must be manufactured according to the individual anatomy. In these instances a foam cuff can result in better sealing of the fistulized area. We present a successful implantation of a bifurcate tracheal stent with foam cuff. To facilitate preoperative planning reconstruction possibilities offered by spiral computed tomography were used.


Microgrid planning is very important for generation and transmission expansion planning in electrical power system. This is an option for co-streamlining of era and transmission extension arranging.In distribution system, all connected microgrids transfer energy from its central to local sources for the network reliability satisfaction and also it satisfies the power quality required by local loads. The main objective is to minimize the power losses in the transmission planning by using distributed generators in 30 bus system and 52 bus system. Newton Raphson method is applied for load flow analysis to get the voltage and load angle for each bus in 30 bus system and 52 bus system. An optimization technique is used for getting optimal values in this transmission planning. Differential evolution algorithm technique is used as optimization technique in this planning. This optimization technique is applied to 30 bus system and 52 bus system. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of distributed generators in microgrid planning.


The demand for reactive dyes in industries has increased rapidly in recent years, and producing a large quantity of dye-containing effluent waste contaminates soils and water streams. Current efforts to remove these harmful dyes have focused on utilizing functionalized nanomaterials. A 3D polyurethane foam loaded with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and ZnO nanocomposite (PUF/rGO/ZnO) has been proposed as an efficient structural design for dye degradation under the influence of visible light. The proposed structure was synthesized using a hydrothermal route followed by microwave irradiation. The resultant 3D PUF/rGO/ZnO was examined and characterized by various techniques such as XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDAX, BET, and UV–visible spectroscopy. SEM data illustrated that a good dispersion and embedment of the rGO/ZnO NPs within the PUF matrix occurred. The adsorption capacity for neat PUF showed that around 20% of the Methylene blue (MB) dye was only adsorbed on its surface. However, it was found that an exceptional adsorption capacity for MB degradation was observed when the rGO/ZnO NPs inserted into the PUF, which initially deteriorated to ~ 70 % of its initial concentration. Notably, the MB dye was completely degraded within 3 h.


Although the final chapter has not been written on the surgical and medical management of the various types of conductive hearing loss, many significant inroads have been made. 1,2 The patient with a perceptive hearing loss, on the other hand, can expect only rehabilitative assistance. Here, unfortunately, where the hearing aid is the most needed, it is the least effective. Some individuals with sensorineural loss, however, have retained normal or near-normal hearing for certain frequencies (Fig. 2, A and B ). The thought arose that perhaps it might be possible to take advantage of such active areas in the organ of Corti by electronic techniques. Obviously the ear with a uniform loss for all frequencies seems beyond electronic help; but in acoustic trauma, some types of neurotoxic loss, congenital deafness, and presbycusis, certain areas of the nerve appear to remain intact. It appears logical that if the information transmitted in


Project AKAMAI is a congressionally mandated Department of Defense (DOD) medical research and development program sponsored by Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC), aimed at applying and assessing the value of telemedicine technologies. Located in the Pacific Region, the project faces the challenge of extreme distances and significant time zone differences. Project AKAMAI is committed to applying emerging technology with a clinical focus to enhance telemedicine and projecting the medical specialty expertise of Tripler to remote sites in the Pacific. This project has significant readiness and humanitarian implications in the region. TAMC is conducting ongoing telemedicine operations supporting the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, Schofield Barracks, Honolulu VA, Hickam Air Force Base, Diego Garcia and multiple DOD sites in Korea and Japan. Additionally, AKAMAI is engaged in a variety of clinical research projects utilizing emerging technologies. Project AKAMAI is the definition phase of an eventual virtual hospital network servicing the entire Pacific Region, and is working to verify a vision for 21st century health care delivery.


Dynamization of fracture fixation constructs provides early rigidity for primary bone healing and late motion for secondary healing. A review of laboratory, animal, and clinical studies investigating the impact, and optimal timing, of dynamization is limited by lack of standardization across studies. However, in animal models, dynamization improves histologic and biomechanical properties compared with statically rigid or flexible controls. In animals, dynamization at 3 to 4 weeks showed improved histologic results. In clinical studies, it showed faster, stronger, and stiffer bone healing. Clinical success dynamizing external fixators and intramedullary nails suggests a role for late dynamization in other fixation types, such as bridge plating. [Orthopedics. 2020;43(x):xx-xx.].


In this research, the integrated carbon dioxide power cycle with a geothermal energy source to supply the required reverse osmosis desalination power for freshwater production is defined. It is also a carbon dioxide power cycle, coupled with thermal energy recovery of infrared energy of liquid natural gas (LNG) to generate more power. A sodium hypochlorite generator is considered to prevent the brine water discharging. The brine water portion of the desalination outlet was the input to this generator. The cycling power is consumed by the desalination system and sodium hypochlorite generator. After modeling, the advanced exergy analyses are studied. By exergy analysis, it is observed that in this model the condenser has the highest exergy destruction rate, equal to 952 kW. Additionally, the unavoidable part of the exergy destruction of carbon dioxide turbine constitutes 88% of its exergy destruction that is equal to 301 kW. So this component is the best option to improve exergy destruction.


The Sugar industry has played a significant role in producing agriculture-based revenue for the Australian economy. However, intense competition from several countries has resulted in reduced sugar profitability. The current economic condition of the Australian sugar industry may be improved by the utilisation of its by-products. One of the main by-products of raw sugar production is bagasse.
Bagasse is the cellulose fibrous matter remaining after the extraction of juice from the cane stalk. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of bagasse as a thermal insulator. This is achieved by measuring the thermal
conductivity of bagasse using a guarded-hot-plate apparatus, across ranges of mean fibre size and material density. An error analysis was also carried out to determine the confidence level of the experimental data obtained. Results from the investigation show that the thermal conductivity of unprocessed bagasse falls within the range of values normally associated with thermal insulation materials. Hence, with further treatment for fire retarding and density reduction, bagasse has potential as an insulation material.


We induced very low-dose tolerance by injecting lupus prone (SWR × NZB)F1 (SNF1) mice with 1 μg nucleosomal histone peptide autoepitopes s.c. every 2 wk. The subnanomolar peptide therapy diminished autoantibody levels and prolonged life span by delaying nephritis, especially by reducing inflammatory cell reaction and infiltration in kidneys. H471–94 was the most effective autoepitope. Low-dose tolerance therapy induced CD8+, as well as CD4+CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cell subsets containing autoantigen-specific cells. These adaptive Treg cells suppressed IFN-γ responses of pathogenic lupus T cells to nucleosomal epitopes at up to a 1:100 ratio and reduced autoantibody production up to 90–100% by inhibiting nucleosome-stimulated T cell help to nuclear autoantigen-specific B cells. Both CD4+CD25+ and CD8+ Treg cells produced and required TGF-β1 for immunosuppression, and were effective in suppressing lupus autoimmunity upon adoptive transfer in vivo. The CD4+CD25+ T cells were partially cell contact dependent, but CD8+ T cells were contact independent. Thus, low-dose tolerance with highly conserved histone autoepitopes repairs a regulatory defect in systemic lupus erythematosus by generating long-lasting, TGF-β-producing Treg cells, without causing allergic/anaphylactic reactions or generalized immunosuppression.


: Pose estimation refers to the method of estimating human positions from a photo. Pose estimation can be done both in 3-D and in 2-D which helps to analyse the motion. During the early days of human pose estimation, classical techniques called picture structures had been furnished. To come to be aware of human beings successfully in snapshots, key factors at the body are mainly positioned to determine their pose. Human hobby, popularity, human-monitoring, laptop interplay, gaming, signal-languages, and video surveillance all required to estimate the positions. It's been proposed in this paper that several procedures are used to resolve this trouble. XGBoost Gradient neural network algorithm is experimented for the human pose dataset and shows better result for fish pose estimation.


AIM
To study the pharmacological profile and inhibition of smooth muscle contraction by YFa and its analogs in conjunction with their receptor selectivity.

METHODS
The effects of YFa and its analogs (D-Ala2) YFa, Y (D-Ala2) GFMKKKFMRF amide and Des-Phe-YGGFMKKKFMR amide in guinea pig ileum (GPI) and mouse vas deferens (MVD) motility were studied using an isolated tissue organ bath system, and morphine and DynA (1-13) served as controls. Acetylcholine was used for muscle stimulation. The observations were validated by specific antagonist pretreatment experiments using naloxonazine, naltrindole and norbinaltorphimine norBNI.

RESULTS
YFa did not demonstrate significant inhibition of GPI muscle contraction as compared with morphine (15% vs 62%, P = 0.0002), but moderate inhibition of MVD muscle contraction, indicating the role of κ opioid receptors in the contraction. A moderate inhibition of GPI muscles by (Des-Phe) YFa revealed the role of anti-opiate receptors in the smooth muscle contraction. (D-Ala-2) YFa showed significant inhibition of smooth muscle contraction, indicating the involvement of mainly δ receptors in MVD contraction. These results were supported by specific antagonist pretreatment assays.

CONCLUSION
YFa revealed its side-effect-free analgesic properties with regard to arrest of gastrointestinal transit. The study provides evidences for the involvement of κ and anti-opioid receptors in smooth muscle contraction.


We thank Dr Harach for his comments on our recent paper. Firstly, we would like to emphasise that the aim of our study was to draw attention to pitfalls in mucin histochemistry when applied to thryoid tumours, in terms of methodology and interpretation. We only raised the possibility that "positive" staining, obtained with conventional histochemical methods for mucins, may be due to naturally occurring carbohydrates (from thyroglubulin or colloid). We did not refute the alternative that genuine mucin production could also take place in some thyroid neoplasms, through dual differentiation for instance. Obviously, solid cell nests derived from the ultimobranchial body could account for still another mechanism of true mucin secretion in thyroid tissue, as suggested by Dr Harach in his letter. Secondly, we never claimed in our conclusions, as implied by Dr Harach, that positive staining of either genuine acidic mucins or thyroglobulin/colloid carbohydrates (containing sialic acid and sulphate radicals) is the rule in all thyroid tumours. In our opinion, utmost caution is necessary in the interpretation of all primary thyroid neoplasms showing apparent "mucin secretion".


A natural consequence of aerobic respiration is the generation of highly toxic radicals called reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS have been implicated in various human pathologies. Although fluorogenic probes such as Aminophenyl fluorescein (APF) and hydroxyphenyl fluorescein (HPF), and 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA) have been widely used to detect ROS using flow cytometry and imaging platforms, all are excitable by the 488nm laser and emit in the fluorescein channel, and require that labeling occur in a protein-free buffer. In contrast, the novel CellROX® ROS detection reagents from Molecular Probes® offer increased flexibility for multiplex experiments, with fluorescence emission in the fluorescein, PE, or APC channels for CellROX® Green, Orange, and Deep Red. In addition, the CellROX® reagents offer increased ease of use with the ability to label cells in complete growth media, have increased photostability as compared to H2DCFDA, and are compatible with fixation (CellROX® Green and Deep Red). The CellROX® ROS detection reagents are bright and stable ROS sensors that offer significant advantages over existing ROS sensors because they are compatible with labeling in different media and can be used with fixatives. For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.


We extend the theory of complete minimal surfaces in R of finite total curvature to the wider class of elliptic special Weingarten surfaces of finite total curvature; in particular, we extend the seminal works of L. Jorge and W. Meeks and R. Schoen. Specifically, we extend the Jorge-Meeks formula relating the total curvature and the topology of the surface and we use it to classify planes as the only elliptic special Weingarten surfaces whose total curvature is less than 4π. Moreover, we show that a complete (connected), embedded outside a compact set, elliptic special Weingarten surface of minimal type in R of finite total curvature and two ends is rotationally symmetric; in particular, it must be one of the rotational special catenoids described by R. Sa Earp and E. Toubiana. This answers in the positive a question posed in 1993 by R. Sa Earp. We also prove that the special catenoids are the only connected non-flat special Weingarten surfaces whose total curvature is less than 8π.


An elderly female aged 65 years weighing 69 Kgs presented to the Pre-Anaesthetic Clinic (PAC) for transurethral resection of bladder carcinoma. As part of the evaluation of bladder carcinoma, Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography (CECT) abdomen done showed a left adrenal lesion. She was a known case of hypertension since the last 10 years and was on telmisartan tablets 40 mg once daily (OD) since then. She had a history of palpitations 3 years back, which when evaluated was diagnosed as atrial fibrillation. She was started on metoprolol tablets 25 mg OD and warfarin 2 mg OD. In view of her history and positive findings on CECT abdomen, it was decided in the PAC to screen her for pheochromocytoma. There was no definite history of classic triad of headache, palpitation and sweating. No history of headache, weight loss, fatigue, syncopal attacks, hypo / hyperthyroidism were reported. Physical examination showed Heart Rate (HR) of 96 beats per minute (bpm), irregular in rhythm, Respiratory Rate (RR) of 16 breaths per minute and Blood Pressures (BP) of 146 / 98 mmHg and 140 / 90 mmHg in the supine and sitting positions respectively. Biochemical test results showed 24-hour urine metanephrine 0.452 mg / l which is 1.45 mg / 24 hrs. (normally < 1 mg / 24 hrs.) and urine vanillylmandelic acid 8.1 mg / gm creatinine (2 – 7 mg / gm). Electrocardiography (ECG) showed right bundle branch block and AF (Atrial Fibrillation) with controlled ventricular rate. Echocardiography showed mild aortic stenosis, aortic regurgitation and ejection fraction of 68 % with no evidence of clots / thrombus. In terms of clinical imaging, the CECT showed a well-defined lesion in the left adrenal measuring 19 x 12 mm with a relative washout of 21 % and a faint subtle hyperdense lesion in the base of left lateral wall of the urinary bladder measuring approximately 20 x 19 mm. Other blood investigations like Hb, haematocrit, urea, creatinine and blood sugars were within normal limits.


AIMS
Tailored heart failure treatment and risk assessment in patients following ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is mainly based on the assessment of the left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF). Assessment of the final infarct size in addition to the LVEF may improve the prognostic evaluation. To evaluate the prognostic importance of the final infarct size measured by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in patients with STEMI.

METHODS AND RESULTS
In an observational study the final infarct size was measured by late gadolinium enhancement CMR 3 months after initial admission in 309 patients with STEMI. The clinical endpoint was a composite of all-cause mortality and admission for heart failure. During the follow-up period of median 807 days (IQR: 669-1117) 35 events (5 non-cardiac deaths, 3 cardiac deaths, and 27 admissions for heart failure) were recorded. Patients with a final infarct size ≥ median had significantly higher event rates than patients with a final infarct size <median (17 vs. 6%; Log rank P = 0.002). In a multivariable Cox regression analysis, including age, peak troponin T, LVEF, LV volume index, and heart rate, the final infarct size remained significantly associated with the occurrence of subsequent events (adjusted hazard ratio 1.13 per 1% increase (95% CI: 1.05-1.21; P = 0.001). The overall Wald χ(2) value of a model including known risk factors was 47.3, which increased to 57.9 when the final infarct size was added (P = 0.001 for the difference).

CONCLUSION
Assessment of the final infarct size by CMR 3 months after a STEMI provides strong independent prognostic information incremental to known risk factors including the LVEF, and may help to improve the risk stratification of STEMI patients.


Start with the transition state Zeolites catalyze a wide range of industrial reactions, but identifying the reactions that they catalyze well tends to be done by trial and error. Gallego et al. propose a way to rationalize the process by using structure-directing agents that act as scaffolds for creating the zeolite pores and channels (see the Perspective by Millini). They picked molecules that mimic the transition states for reactions such as the isomerization of ethylbenzene into xylene, and they successfully identified catalysts with improved reactant conversion and product selectivity. Science, this issue p. 1051; see also p. 1028 Organic molecules for directing structure formation in zeolites mimic the transition states of a desired catalytic reaction. Unlike homogeneous catalysts that are often designed for particular reactions, zeolites are heterogeneous catalysts that are explored and optimized in a heuristic fashion. We present a methodology for synthesizing active and selective zeolites by using organic structure-directing agents that mimic the transition state (TS) of preestablished reactions to be catalyzed. In these zeolites, the pores and cavities could be generated approaching a molecular-recognition pattern. For disproportionation of toluene and isomerization of ethylbenzene into xylenes, the TSs are larger than the reaction products. Zeolite ITQ-27 showed high disproportionation activity, and ITQ-64 showed high selectivity for the desired para and ortho isomers. For the case of a product and TS of similar size, we synthesized a catalyst, MIT-1, for the isomerization of endo-dicyclopentane into adamantane.


The Amazon River strongly modifies the biogeochemistry of the Western Tropical Atlantic (WTA). To disentangle the different mechanisms driving these modifications, we conduct a series of modeling experiments with a high‐resolution regional ocean model (ROMS) coupled to a biogeochemical/ecological model (BEC) that we augmented to include Diatom‐Diazotroph‐Assemblages (DDAs). In our model, the Amazon River increases net primary production (NPP) in the WTA by almost 10%, exceeding the stimulation expected from the supplied inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus by a factor of two. This amplification is fueled by new nitrogen stemming from DDA‐driven N2 fixation in the plume region, supported, in part, by the consumption of riverine dissolved organic phosphorus. The vertical export of organic carbon is enhanced by a shift of the phytoplankton community toward diatoms induced by the large amount of Si(OH)4 delivered by the Amazon. These changes in NPP and export production induce a strong uptake of atmospheric CO2. In contrast, the remineralization of the river‐delivered terrestrial organic matter leads to a release of CO2 over the WTA, which is partially offset by a net uptake induced by the riverine dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity. Overall, the Amazon reduces the strong outgassing of the WTA in our simulations by more than 50%. Our study demonstrates how rivers modify the marine biological pump and the air‐sea CO2 fluxes in the downstream ocean through a myriad of cascading effects, highlighting the need to fully consider the land‐ocean aquatic continuum in the modeling of the Earth System.


Type 4 filaments (T4F) – of which type 4 pili (T4P) are the archetype – are a superfamily of filamentous nanomachines nearly ubiquitous in prokaryotes. T4F are polymers of one major pilin that also contain minor pilins whose roles are often poorly understood. Here, we complete the structure/function analysis of the full set of T4P pilins in the opportunistic pathogen Streptococcus sanguinis. We determined the structure of the minor pilin PilA, which is unexpectedly similar to one of the subunits of a tip-located complex of four minor pilins, widely conserved in T4F. We found that PilA interacts and dramatically stabilises the minor pilin PilC. We determined the structure of PilC, showing that it is a modular pilin with a lectin module binding a specific subset of glycans prevalent in the human glycome, the host of S. sanguinis. Altogether, our findings support a model whereby the minor pilins in S. sanguinis T4P form a tip-located complex promoting adhesion to various host receptors. Our findings have general implications for a group of minor pilins widely conserved in T4F.


Worldwide, sport and physical activity rates of women generally lag behind those of men. One reason for this could be the way that sport cultures typically frame and value competition. This study provides an examination of the meaning and impact of 'competition' on the sport participation experiences of men and women. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, individual and group interviews were conducted with 76 current and former male and female collegiate athletes from both varsity and club sports regarding the impact of competition on their sport experiences. Results revealed that women and men tended to view and interpret competition differently, which strongly impacted their sport experiences. Sport programming that embraces a balance of cooperation and competition may be valuable for attracting and retaining both male and female participants.


An efficient method for the numerical time-domain (TD) simulation of near- and far-field propagation of stochastic electromagnetic fields is presented. The method is based on the transformation of field correlation dyadics using TD Green's functions computed for deterministic fields. It accounts for arbitrary correlations between the noise radiation sources and allows to compute the spatial distribution of the spectral energy density of noisy electromagnetic sources. Numerical examples, demonstrating the strong influence of the correlation between the sources on the spatial distribution of the radiated noise field are presented.


The increasing energy demand and the subsequent climate change consequences are supporting the search for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. In this scenario, the link between hydrogen and renewable energy is playing a key role and unitized hydrogen-chlorine (H2-Cl2) regenerative cells (RFCs) have become promising candidates for renewable energy storage. Described herein are the recent advances in cell configurations and catalysts for the different reactions that may take place in these systems, that work in both modes: electrolysis and fuel cell. It has been found that platinum (Pt)-based catalysts are the best choice for the electrode where hydrogen is involved, whereas for the case of chlorine, ruthenium (Ru)-based catalysts are the best candidates. Only a few studies were found where the catalysts had been tested in both modes and recent advances are focused on decreasing the amount of precious metals contained in the catalysts. Moreover, the durability of the catalysts tested under realistic conditions has not been thoroughly assessed, becoming a key and mandatory step to evaluate the commercial viability of the H2-Cl2 RFC technology.


Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) gene defects may play a role in the development of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). In order to search for potentially diabetogenic mtDNA defects we have applied the technique of single stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis to 124 patients with a history of NIDDM and 40 non-diabetic controls. No new heteroplasmic mutations were detected. However, a variety of homoplasmic variants were found in patients with NIDDM; some of these merit further investigation.


Background and objectives Local bone-related adverse events occur more frequently following metal-on metal hip resurfacing (MOMHR) versus convention total hip arthroplasty (THA). High local tissue levels of cobalt and chromium may contribute to impaired bone health, however the systemic effects on bone of exposure to elevated metal levels after MOMHR are unknown. Methods In this cross-sectional study we compared whole body bone mineral density (WB-BMD) and biochemical markers of bone turnover in 31 healthy male subjects at a mean of 8 years after MOMHR versus 31 individually age and time since surgery matched male subjects after conventional THA. All subjects had well-functioning prostheses and were in good self-reported health as assessed by Oxford Hip Score and EQ-5D questionnaire. WB-BMD was measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry and adjusted for pre-morbid osteoporosis risk factors using the FRAX tool, and for the presence of the metal prostheses using identical exclusion regions. Bone turnover markers were measured on fasting morning serum or 24hr urine collection by electro-chemiluminescent assay. Cobalt and chromium were measured by ICP-MS. Results The subject pairs were similar for all matching criteria (P>0.05, all comparisons). Cobalt and chromium were elevated in the MOMHR versus THA group (P Conclusion Subjects 8 years after MOMHR versus THA have higher WB-BMD and lower bone turnover measured by some markers, and marker activity inversely correlate to systemic cobalt levels. These data suggest that this metal has a systemic suppressive effect on bone turnover. The difference in BMD may be due to a reduction in age-related bone loss since surgery, although the measured BMD might also be due, in part, to diffuse metal deposition within the skeleton.


With advances in telecommunication, especially smartphones, teledermatology services offered by specialists are now being directly requested by the patients themselves. This model is known as patient-initiated, direct care teledermatology. It has been pushed to the forefront due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 The objectives of this study were to determine patients' satisfaction and dermatologists' confidence when a diagnosis was made via direct care mobile phone–based teledermatology.

 Patients availing direct care teledermatology services during the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary care center were subjected to a questionnaire within 5 days of the teleconsultation to assess patient satisfaction and opinions regarding using this model during and beyond the current COVID-19 pandemic. The dermatologists rated their confidence in making the clinical diagnosis on a scale from 1-10 for every case.

 Of 437 participants, 419 (95.9%) were satisfied with this mode of teledermatology. An overwhelming majority (n=428, 97.9%) felt safe consulting the dermatologist via teleconsultation and not having to visit the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, 269 (61.6%) patients agreed that they would be happy to use a teledermatology service beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The dermatologists' confidence score in making an accurate diagnosis ranged from 3 to 10, with a mean of 9.20 (SD 1.12).

 The high levels of patient satisfaction and dermatologists' confidence scores indicate that direct care mobile phone–based teledermatology may be a useful tool in providing dermatological services in appropriate settings and its use should continue to be explored beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

 None declared.


High quality data and information are essential for decision-making; yet there is little focus on the inclusion of information quality in the current business curriculum. Quality issues are addressed in the introductory IS course but may not be seen again. This paper reviews current texts for inclusion of quality and notes little change in the model curriculums inclusion of quality. Suggestions for database assignments addressing data quality issues and an information quality component for a data warehousing course are included.