Remote sensing imaging technology is one of the most powerful tools for gas leak monitoring in chemical industrial parks. In the case of leaks, it is necessary to quickly and accurately obtain detailed information of the gas cloud (volume, distribution, diffusion situation and location). This paper proposes a 3-D quantitative reconstruction method for gas clouds. Two scanning Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) remote-sensing imaging systems were used to perform telemetry experiments in a monitored space with a total volume of 314.9 m3, and the released gases were SF6 and CH4. One scanning FTIR remote-sensing imaging system can only measure a 2-D concentration-path-length product (CL) image of a 3-D gas cloud, where each pixel has attitude information of elevation and azimuth. Geometric methods are applied to locate the monitored space and construct a 3-D grid (longitude, latitude, altitude). The optical path length (OPL) sparse matrix of each layer is generated, and the concentration distribution of each layer is reconstructed by the simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART). The reconstructed results of each layer are stacked into a 3-D gas cloud and displayed on the 3-D Earth software at a set threshold. Three-dimensional leaking gas clouds (CH4, SF6) with geometric information and concentration distribution has been generated through the above processes from measurement, localization to reconstruction and display. On the premise that the gas cloud is completely covered by the field of view of each scanning system, the localization and quantification of the gas cloud is available. Then weighted concentration centers can be calculated from these gas clouds to approximate the leak source. The proposed method effectively extends the online leak monitoring application of the scanning FTIR remote-sensing imaging system.


Upper extremity deep vein thrombosis (UEDVT) is rare, especially after benign trauma. We report the case of a 31-year-old male nurse with UEDVT after elbow trauma with no fracture. This occupational accident caused thrombosis of basilica vein extended to humeral and axillary veins, collateral circulation in the arm and the right cervical and axillary regions. Thrombophilic tests and assessment of malignant tumor were negative. Treatment by low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) then by vitamin K antagonists was conducted and evaluation by Doppler ultrasonography realized 18 months after trauma showed recanalization of basilica and humeral veins and thrombosis of axillary and subclavian veins. Management of occupational activity was prescribed including eviction of heavy loads handling and repetitive gestures of upper limbs.


Abstract West Nile virus (WNV) in the Americas is thought to be transported at large spatial scales by migratory birds and locally spread and amplified by resident birds. Local processes, including interspecific interactions and dominance of passerine species recognized as competent reservoirs, may boost infection and maintain endemic cycles. Change in species composition has been recognized as an important driver for infection dynamics. Due to migration and changes in species diversity and composition in wintering grounds, changes in infection prevalence are expected. To these changes, we used PCR to estimate the prevalence of WNV in wild resident birds during the dry and rainy seasons of 2012 in Yucatan, Mexico. Serum samples were obtained from 104 wild birds, belonging to six orders and 35 species. We detected WNV in 14 resident birds, representing 11 species and three orders. Prevalences by order was Passeriformes (27%), Columbiformes (6%), and Piciformes (33%). Resident birds positive to WNV from Yucatan may be indicative of local virus circulation and evidence of past virus transmission activity.


Abstract By reflecting upon recent theoretical developments in open innovation studies, we shed new light on diverse potential sources of complementarities between corporate R&D activities as well as on contextual factors that could affect the complementarities. In particular, to break from the previous discussions confined to absorptive capacity, we considered the diverse knowledge management processes of knowledge exploration, retention, and exploitation. Then we empirically examined the existence of complementarities between corporate R&D strategies and uncovered the contextual factors. Our empirical results suggest the possible existence of a complementary relationship between in-house and joint R&D. We also discovered the firm-specific contextual variables, such as a firm's cumulative patent stocks and scientific information inflows from public research institutes and universities, that drive the decision to combine in-house and joint R&D. Our theoretical discussions on firms' diverse knowledge management processes allow more enriched understanding on these empirical findings.


A coox/ceo2 catalyst was prepared by the co-precipitation-oxidation method, and its catalytic performance for co oxidation was investigated under humid and dry conditions respectively. the coox/ceo2 catalyst exhibited excellent activity and good resistance to water vapor poisoning. remarkably, 99% co conversion could be achieved at 196 k for more than 400 min under dry condition, and when the reaction was carried out at 298 k, the conversion of co was maintained at 94% after 2 400 min. even when 3.1% of water was added, the conversion of co was still kept at 79% after 2 400 min on-stream at 383 k.


Existence of different kinds of synchronizations, namely anticipatory, complete and lag type synchronizations (both exact and approximate), are shown to be possible in timedelay coupled piecewise linear systems. We deduce stability condition for synchronization of such unidirectionally coupled systems following Krasovskii-Lyapunov theory. Transition from anticipatory to lag synchronization via complete synchronization as a function of coupling delay is discussed. The existence of exact synchronization is preceded by a region of approximate synchronization from desynchronized state as a function of a system parameter, whose value determines the stability condition for synchronization. The results are corroborated by the nature of similarity functions. A new type of oscillating synchronization that oscillates between anticipatory, complete and lag synchronization, is identified as a consequence of delay time modulation with suitable stability condition.


The particles of titanium-iron (Ti/Fe) complex with different Fe contents were prepared by means of the sol-gel method and used as a photocatalyst. The activity of the catalyst was investi gated as a function of the Fe content during the liquid-phase oxidation of tetracycline, which showed an enhancement at the low Fe content. The XRD, Raman, XPS, and UV-Vis absorp tion spectra indicated that the crystalline structure of the Ti/Fe complex particles changed from anatase phase to rutile phase when the Fe content increased. The isolated Fe2O3, Fe3O4, FeO species were observed and Fe3+ ions were highly dispersed in the TiO2 matrixes, then Ti--O--Fe species were formed. These species increased the surface defects of the Ti/Fe particles. Also, ac tive hydroxyl radicals could be generated in the catalytic transformation, which led to the higher activity of the catalyst than bare TiO2 for the degradation of tetracycline.


The combined effect of space charge and nonlinear resonance on beam loss and emittance was measured in a benchmarking experiment over a 1.2 s long flat-bottom at 1.4 GeV kinetic energy in the presence of a single controllable octupole. By lowering the working point towards the resonance, a gradual transition from a loss-free core emittance blow-up to a regime dominated by continuous loss was found. We compare the observation with 3D simulations based on a new analytical space charge model and obtain good agreement in the emittance blow-up regime. Our explanation is in terms of the synchrotron oscillation, which causes a periodic tune modulation due to space charge, and leads to trapping and de-trapping on the resonance islands. For working points very close to the resonance this induces a beam halo with large radius. The underlying dynamics is studied in detail, and it is claimed that the predicted halo in conjunction with a reduced dynamic aperture for the real machine lattice is the source of the loss observed in the experiment.


Brain simulation, as one of the latest advances in artificial intelligence, facilitates better understanding about how information is represented and processed in the brain. The extreme complexity of the human brain makes brain simulations only feasible on high-performance computing platforms. Supercomputers with a large number of interconnected graphical processing units (GPUs) are currently employed for supporting brain simulations. Therefore, high-throughput low-latency inter-GPU communications in super-computers play a crucial role in meeting the performance requirements of brain simulation as a highly time-sensitive application. In this article, we first provide an overview of the current parallelizing technologies for brain simulations using multi-GPU architectures. Then we analyze the challenges to communications for brain simulation and summarize guidelines for communication design to address such challenges. Furthermore, we propose a partitioning algorithm and a two-level routing method to achieve efficient low-latency communications in multi-GPU architecture for brain simulation. We report experiment results obtained on a supercomputer with 2000 GPUs for simulating a brain model with 10 billion neurons (digital twin brain, DTB) to show that our approach can significantly improve communication performance. We also discuss open issues and identify some research directions for low-latency communication design for brain simulations.


We report a case of VURD syndrome in a three day old neonate who was diagnosed with hydronephrosis on a prenatal ultrasound. Severe tortuosity and dilation of the upper urinary tracts in the presence of progression of hydronephrosis or a persistently elevated creatinine may favor a proximal urinary diversion rather than primary valve ablation or cutaneous vesicostomy. Because of a persistently elevated serum creatinine, a nonfunctioning kidney with grade 4/5 vesicoureteral reflux and worsening contralateral hydronephrosis despite lower tract drainage, a left cutaneous pyelostomy was performed, contralateral to the kidney involved with VURD. Postoperatively the serum creatinine stabilized at 1.0 mg/dl and decreased to 0.3 mg/dl at one month of age.


Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 15 to 20% of breast cancers. Despite initial chemosensitivity, patients with TNBC had a poor outcome with worse disease-free and overall survivals than others with non-triple-negative breast cancer. The aim of this single-center study was to describe clinical characteristics, pathologic complete response rate, disease-free survival and overall survival rates after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in TNBC.Methods: Forty six consecutive patients with TNBC were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy at Georges-Francois Leclerc Cancer Center. Median follow-up lasted 6.3 years [4.4-10.5y]. Descriptive statistics were performed in this population. Survival rates were calculated according to Kaplan-Meier.Results: Clinical characteristics of patients were the followings: median age was 46 years [24-80y]; 24% had a breast neoplastic hereditary. Initial characteristics of tumors were: 4 T1 (9%), 25 T2 (54%), 17 T3 (37%), 18 N0 (39%), 25 N1 (54%), 3 N2 (7%); 12 grades II (26%), 31 grades III (68%) and 3 (6%) unknown. All the tumors were invasive ductal carcinomas. After neoadjuvant chemotherapy, tumors were classified as pT0 (33%), pT1 (35%), pT2 (30%), pT3 (2%), pN0 (67%) and pN+ (33%). Forty patients (87%) were treated with anthracyclines-based neoadjuvant therapy, 4 (9%) with taxanes and 2 (4%) with another regimen. Pathologic complete response rate was 28.2% according to Chevallier9s classification. Forty-five patients (98%) had adjuvant radiotherapy and 20 (43%) had adjuvant chemotherapy. Median disease-free survival was 9.7years [4.4-ND]. The disease-free survival rate was 82.4% [66.6%-91.2%] and 44.8% [23.7%-64%] at 2 and 10 years respectively. Median overall survival was 10.2years [6.4-ND]. The overall survival rate was 97.4% [86.2%-99.6%] and 53.7% [31.8%-71.5%] at 2 and 10 years respectively.Conclusion: The pathologic complete response rate is consistent with that reported in other studies involving neoadjuvant chemotherapy of TNBC and higher than that observed in the other subgroups of breast cancer. However, disease-free and overall survivals are lower than in non triple-negative breast cancers, thereby confirming the worse prognosis of TNBC Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 1103.


Fresnel beamforming is a beamforming method that has a delay profile with a shape similar to a physical Fresnel lens. With 4 to 8 transmit channels, 2 receive channels, and a network of single-pole/single-throw switches, Fresnel beamforming can reduce the size, cost, and complexity of a beamformer. The performance of Fresnel beamforming is highly dependent on focal errors resulting from phase wraparound and quantization of its delay profile. Previously, we demonstrated that the performance of Fresnel beamforming relative to delay- and- sum (DAS) beamforming is comparable for linear arrays at f-number = 2 and 50% bandwidth. However, focal errors for Fresnel beamforming are larger because of larger path length differences between elements, as in the case of curvilinear arrays compared with linear arrays. In this paper, we present the concept and performance evaluation of Fresnel beamforming combined with a novel clutter suppression method called dual apodization with cross-correlation (DAX) for curvilinear arrays. The contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) of Fresnel beamforming followed by DAX are highest at f-number = 3. At f-number = 3, the experimental results show that using DAX, the CNR for Fresnel beamforming improves from 3.7 to 10.6, compared with a CNR of 5.2 for DAS beamforming. Spatial resolution is shown to be unaffected by DAX. At f-number = 3, the lateral beamwidth and axial pulse length for Fresnel beamforming with DAX are 1.44 and 1.00 mm larger than those for DAS beamforming (about 14% and 21% larger), respectively. These experimental results are in good agreement with simulation results.


In connection with a program to study the behavior of punctured fuel elements for the Tokai Atomic Power Reactor, the diffusion coefficient of fission gas in uranium oxide powder formed by CO2 oxidation of U was determined by post-irradiation experiment, in which the fractional release of fission gas during isothermal heating of the powder was measured. The U was oxidized at 600° and 700°C, and in both cases the O/U ratio of the oxides, measured gravimetrically, was 2.0. The diffussion coefficients in the oxide powder formed by oxidation at 600°C were found to be 1.4× 10-20, 1.3×10-19, 1.1×1018 and 1.0×10-17, cm2sec-1, respectively at 450°, 550°, 650° and 750°C, and in the oxide powder formed at 700°C, 7.4×10-19 and 3.6×10-16cm2sec-1 at 600° and 700°C, respectively. Activation energies calculated for the two oxide powders were comparatively low.


Education and training development is determined as the leading national policy to ensure equality in learning for poor ethnic and mountainous children. The lack of access to quality education also means losing a potential source of future growth for the country. No schooling and access to written language and education not only reduce children's individual potential but also stifle their intellectual attainment and equal opportunities and increase cycles of poverty and disadvantage for all generations over the country. For mountainous and ethnic minority regions, illiterate children are becoming a drag on the development and integration process, preventing the industrialization and modernization of rural agriculture. Besides the positive changes, education in those regions still reveals several limitations and shortcomings that need to be overcome soon to improve the quality further.


We investigated the development of young children's moral emotions, i.e., sympathy and guilt, within a multi-informant longitudinal research design. One-hundred and seventy-five 6-year-old Swiss children participated at the first assessment (T1; re-assessed after one year; T2). Mothers and teachers participated as well. Sympathy was measured with self- and other reports and within children's play narratives. Guilt feelings were assessed by emotion attributions to protagonists and self-as-protagonist following different hypothetical moral transgressions. Mother-rated sympathy at T2 was positively related to guilt feelings at T2, whereas no relations between sympathy and guilt were found at T1. Sympathy ratings within informant were stable over a year. Guilt feelings to protagonists and self-as-protagonist were stable over a year as well. Guilt feelings predicted subsequent guilt feelings, whereas earlier sympathy did not predict guilt feelings. The results are discussed in regard to the differential development of moral emotions.


Variations of the symbolic delayed-matching-to-sample procedure were used to study a pigeon's memory for a small number of pecks. In the first experiment a choice of a left or right sidekey after a delay or retention interval was reinforced if a bird had not pecked at all or had pecked exactly once, before the delay, respectively. In the second experiment a choice of a red or green sidekey, regardless of its position, was reinforced if a bird had not pecked at all or had pecked exactly twice, respectively. In the first experiment a bird could orient toward the correct choice during the delay, whereas it could not in the second experiment. In a third experiment a feature-probing method was used to study a pigeon's memory for a number of pecks in the context of certain other pecks. The results showed that a pigeon can remember a small number of pecks for one-half to one minute or more and that the percent correct is a decreasing function of the log retention interval. When a second number of pecks is different from the first number, memory for the first number lasts only a few seconds. When a second number is the same, memory lasts considerably longer. The more recent number of pecks is remembered better. The results are interpreted in terms of a theory which holds that a reinforcer, in general, may act on a subjects' memory for recent behavior to generate patterns of behavior.


Introduction: Influenza is a serious health threat for people of all ages. The causative virus is evolving continuously and the risk of an unexpected mutant, which cannot be controlled by seasonal vaccination, is real. New and more effective antiviral drugs are needed. Areas covered: This review examines the antiviral drugs with confirmed efficacy in combating influenza, as well as newer compounds that are currently undergoing testing and will hopefully be marketed in the near future. A comprehensive, state-of-the-art picture of drug therapy for influenza is presented, including novel solutions and effective strategies for prescribing currently available antiviral drugs, with emphasis on the importance of updated local epidemiological data, clinical assessment and laboratory testing. Expert opinion: Current anti-influenza drug research is no longer tied solely to viral envelope protein targets like haemagglutinin and neuraminidase. New drugs act on the viral RNA polymerase complex, which is involved in transcription and replication of the viral genome, and can prevent the maturation, replication and dissemination of numerous viral subtypes. Combating this infection and reducing the duration of symptoms also has important socioeconomic implications related to health-care spending (including hospitalization for complications) and sick-leave pay for workers.


This study analyzed the child-educator interactions at public daycares, considering the educators' linguistic styles and the children's communication. The studies about the linguistic styles are relevant for adult-child interactions, especially around the age of 24 months, due to the emergency of the first short sentences. It included 6 educators and 12 children aged between 23 and 25 months, attending public daycares in Joao Pessoa, Paraiba. The child-educator interactions were systematically observed dyadic contexts and polyadic reading. Interactional categories were elaborated a posteriori , for data analysis. The educators used more styles associated with the promotion of language development in dyadic contexts, while the styles related to the direction and to the behavior control predominated in polyadic contexts. The analysis considered the mutual influence between communicative styles and children's level of language development, beyond the contextual aspects.


Subsequent to the western effort in researching the history of interpreting, Chinese scholars have also shown initial interest in the subject. Since China has always valued the recording of history, it seems that historical resources would offer the data required for such an investigation. Interestingly, some historical data relating to interpreting events seem to display a regular linguistic device: the use of dialogues to document exchanges between Chinese and foreign envoys. According to Li Nanqiu (2002), this observation suggests that interpreters' words were put down in writing as part of historical records. Such a claim, however, is not entirely conclusive. Based on examples drawn from primary historical records, this article analyzes discourse features of historical records of interpreting events, and shows the possible role of interpreters as historians, or consultants, in the recording of history in the early diplomatic history of China.


Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is considered to be an effective alkaline adsorbent for SO2 removal and surprisingly, the concentration of NO is significantly reduced along with the generation of NO2 during its desulfurization. Unfortunately, the mechanism of NO interaction with NaHCO3, SO2 and O2 is ambiguous. In this work, the effects of absorption gas and absorber composition on SO2/NO absorption performance were explored, the absorption products were characterized using XPS and SEM, and the Gibbs free energy of the inferred reaction path was calculated based on density functional theory (DFT). The results showed that SO2 and O2 synergistically promoted the absorption and removal of NO by NaHCO3, which could completely remove SO2 and absorb 90% of NO at 160 °C. Sodium metabisulfite (Na2S2O5) and sodium dithionate (Na2S2O6) were identified as the active substances responsible for efficient NO absorption, and the oxidation of Na2S2O5 to Na2S2O6 is the controlling step of the NO removal reaction. Specifically, Na2S2O5 is an intermediate produced by the reaction of NaHCO3 with SO2, and subsequently reacts with O2 to produce Na2S2O6, which releases reactive oxygen species to oxidize NO to NO2. In addition, when the S/N ratio is greater than 1 and the O2 content is greater than 5%, both SO2 and NO can maintain removal efficiency higher than 90%, indicating that the absorption reaction of SO2 and NO by NaHCO3 is highly adaptable to the flue gas composition.


The Epoch of Reionization (EoR) 21-cm signal is expected to become increasingly non-Gaussian as reionization proceeds. We have used seminumerical simulations to study how this affects the error predictions for the EoR 21-cm power spectrum. We expect SNR = root N-k for a Gaussian random field where N-k is the number of Fourier modes in each k bin. We find that non-Gaussianity is important at high SNR where it imposes an upper limit [SNR](l). For a fixed volume V, it is not possible to achieve SNR > [SNR](l) even if N-k is increased. The value of [SNR](l) falls as reionization proceeds, dropping from similar to 500 at (x) over bar}(H1) = 0.15 for a [150.08 Mpc](3) simulation. We show that it is possible to interpret [SNR](l) in terms of the trispectrum, and we expect [SNR](l) proportional to root V if the volume is increased. For SNR << [SNR](l) we find SNR = root N-k/A with A similar to 0.95-1.75, roughly consistent with the Gaussian prediction. We present a fitting formula for the SNR as a function of N-k, with two parameters A and [SNR](l) that have to be determined using simulations. Our results are relevant for predicting the sensitivity of different instruments to measure the EoR 21-cm power spectrum, which till date have been largely based on the Gaussian assumption.


We describe work in progress on roBlocks, a computational construction kit that encourages users to experiment and play with a collection of sensor, logic and actuator blocks, exposing them to a variety of advanced concepts including kinematics, feedback and distributed control. Its interface presents novice users with a simple, tangible set of robotic blocks, whereas advanced users work with software tools to analyze and rewrite the programs embedded in each block. Early results suggest that roBlocks may be an effective vehicle to expose young people to complex ideas in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.


The main objective of today's companies is to cope with rapid changes in the environment. For this, they must ensure the integration and interoperability of their applications. To manage and automate the life cycle of these applications, companies are adopting web services technology. The current problem is that the content of these web services cannot be processed automatically. Only humans can interpret its contents. The semantic web is a new vision of the web that promises to overcome this difficulty. The goal of this technology is to automate the retrieval, assembly, and selection of web services. In this post, we are interested in semantic detection of web services. The main problem is automatically discovering web services on request from clients. Against this background, we first describe the principle of the proposed detection mechanism and then present the designed matchmaking algorithm. Finally, we implement our proposed method. To verify our work, we run tests against various user requests and web service panels. As part of a case study, we consider an online hospital problem. This problem is a typical web service discovery scenario to which the concepts of our method are applied.


OBJECTIVE
Contrast can be similar on fast spin-echo and conventional spin-echo MR images, but data acquisition is faster with fast spin-echo sequences. This study was designed to evaluate the performance of fast spin-echo sequences in the detection of meniscal tears in the knee, with the established conventional spin-echo technique used as a reference standard.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
We imaged 66 consecutive patients (129 menisci) who were referred for MR examination with suspected meniscal tears. We used our routine two-dimensional, multisection, long repetition time/double-echo spin-echo sequence and one of two fast spin-echo sequences. The fast spin-echo parameters were chosen to minimize the loss of high-resolution detail while otherwise maintaining the sequence as close as possible to the spin-echo sequence. We then did a retrospective evaluation of the fast spin-echo images, using the spin-echo images as the gold standard.

RESULTS
Fast spin-echo images showed only 30 (65%) of the 46 meniscal tears seen on the conventional spin-echo images. In addition, four of the 30 tears seen with both sequences were diagnosed with greater confidence on the conventional spin-echo images. In the cases in which both sequences allowed a diagnosis of definite meniscal tear, the abnormalities tended to be more conspicuous on the spin-echo images.

CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that the fast spin-echo sequence should not be used for the diagnosis of meniscal tears.


Inter-layer prediction of H.264/SVC can help to improve the coding efficiency with increased computation complexity. This paper presents a low complexity algorithm for inter-layer prediction. The proposed algorithm focuses on the reduction of the candidate modes by making use of the correlations of the encoding cost between the base layer and enhancement layers. For macroblocks with the collocated macroblock coded by INTRA or INTER type two algorithms are proposed, respectively. Both algorithms efficiently decrease the redundant candidate modes by estimating from the base layer coding information. The experiment results show that the proposed algorithm can significantly reduce redundant computation complexity with almost no coding efficiency loss.


I am distinctly puzzled by Saad Shafqat's article on cerebral localization (December 2005 JRSM1). The foundations of cerebral localization are generally accepted to have been laid by Paul Broca2 and, more significantly, by Gustav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig3 and David Ferrier.4

Dr Shafqat goes on to say `The problem, unfortunately, is that lesion localization became an end in itself'. Oh? Within 5 years William Macewen was operating on abscesses of the brain that he had successfully located. He was soon followed by the likes of Victor Horsley, Charles Harrison Frazier and Harvey Cushing, all active before the end of the first decade of the 20th century. Besides abscesses, tumours and epilepsy were tackled by a handful of men with pretty satisfactory results considering the state of surgery at the time.5

Before computerized tomography and magnetic resonance scanning appeared on the scene, Walter Dandy had devised pneumoventriculography and Egas Moniz had introduced arterial encephalography.


Organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and (6,6)-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) hybridized with ZnO nanorods were fabricated by growing vertical ZnO nanorods on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates and filling with bulk heterojunction polymers (P3HT:PCBM). The interface between the organic and inorganic nanostructures influences the performance of the organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells. In this paper, the influence of the state of the P3HT:PCBM/ZnO interface on the performance of organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells is examined. The solar cell performance was high when the P3HT:PCBM/ZnO junction area was large. The charge separation is effective when the active layer/electron transport layer junction area is large, resulting in increasing photocurrent and a high conversion efficiency. The bulk-heterojunction polymer concentration was kept low to infiltrate into the ZnO nanorods, resulting in a large active layer/electron transport layer junction area.


Delivery of safe drinking water to consumers is a vital infrastructure of all populations. Any large water distribution system is inherently prone to fault from intentional or accidental contamination, placing large populations at risk. Monitoring these systems through a wireless network of stationary sensors (WSN) has shown to be an effective method to protect a water supply. Recent technological advancements allow for the implementation of a high resolution mobile wireless sensor network (MWSN); where sensors function within the water flowing through municipal pipes to measure water quality parameters and to transmit data to fixed ground transceivers. With mobile sensor prototypes being developed and tested, a MWSN is likely to be physically deployed in the near future. Previous work has shown an ideal MWSN to increase water security system performance. Accounting for uncertainties in: data collection, data transmission to fixed transceivers and sensor lifetimes will provide beneficial insight to the realistic performance of a MWSN. The non-ideal operation of mobile sensors is simulated and applied to sample municipal networks using EPANET and genetic algorithms to optimize the deployment of multiple mobile sensors, and quantify operational sensitivity. Results show a MWSN used for protection of public water supply to be highly sensitive to battery life and receiver network coverage, while the interval between measurements shows little affect to MWSN performance.


Abstract Using a conceptual forecasting format that is similar to some in current operational use, trade-offs between climate forecast quality and economic value are examined from the perspective of the forecast user. Various scenarios for climate forecast quality are applied to corn production in east-central Illinois. A stochastic dynamic programming model is used to obtain the expected value of the various scenarios. As anticipated, the results demonstrate that the entire structure of the forecast format interacts to determine the economic value of that system. Additional results indicate two possible preferred directions for research concerning climate forecasting and economic applications such as corn production in Illinois. First, increasing forecast quality by decreasing the error between the observed condition and the forecast condition may be preferred to increasing quality by increasing the number of predictions in the correct category. Second, corn producers may prefer research to increase the ...


The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is among the world's most vulnerable regions to climate change. The region is projected to experience increasing temperatures, water stress, and instances of extreme weather events, with direct consequences for regional food and water security. The links between climate change and conflict have been much discussed and debated among policy makers and academics alike. There is increasing consensus around a more moderate view that climate change alone will not likely generate conflict, instead, it will more likely serve as a threat multiplier that can put pressure on already scarce resources and exacerbate pre-existing issues, such as political instability, poverty, and unemployment, - underscoring the importance of a conflict-sensitive approach to climate change in this context. The greater use of technology, big data, and advanced modeling present a significant opportunity to inform targeted and appropriate guidance and policy options. With this approach, policymakers and practitioners can be better equipped to anticipate and effectively plan for changes, avoid unintended consequences, while strengthening the long-term viability of the environment and natural resources and encouraging cooperation and strengthened social contract.


Objective Recent neuroimaging studies have suggested that brain changes occur in subjects at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis while experiencing prodromal symptoms, among which depression may increase the risk of developing a psychotic disorder. The goal of this study is to examine brain metabolite levels in the anterior cingulate cortex, the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the left thalamus in subjects at UHR for psychosis and to compare brain metabolite levels between the UHR subjects with comorbid major depressive disorder and healthy controls. Methods Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to examine brain metabolite levels. Twenty UHR subjects and 20 age- and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched healthy controls were included in this study. Results Overall, no significant differences were observed in any metabolite between the UHR and healthy control group. However, UHR subjects with major depressive disorder showed significantly higher myo-inositol (Ins) levels in the left thalamus, compared to the healthy control. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that increased thalamic Ins level is associated with prodromal depressive symptoms. Further longitudinal follow-up studies with larger UHR sample sizes are required to investigate the function of Ins concentrations as a biomarker of vulnerability to psychosis.


Through the dynamification of testing intervals the flexibility level of confirmation systems for measuring equipment can be increased considerably. Since confirmation of inspection, measuring and testing equipment is a significant part of quality management and an essential requirement for the entire production process, especially with the increasing demands of micro- and nanotechnology, it is absolutely necessary to increase the efficiency of confirmation systems. Through a special method developed for this purpose, the flexibility level and efficiency of confirmation systems can be achieved and the expenses can be substantially reduced by the use of fuzzy logic for dynamification of testing intervals.


This study was undertaken to evaluate the efficiency of a liquid-solids separation process and microwave pretreatment, as well as anaerobic biodegradability of microwave pretreated dairy manure. Liquid-solids separation of raw dairy manure resulted in solid and liquid fractions having different properties, with the solid fractions richer in total and volatile solids content and liquid fractions richer in nutrients and metal ions. Substantial amounts of soluble chemical oxygen demand and nutrients were released into the solution after the microwave treatment. The microwave pretreated dairy manure was also subjected to anaerobic digestion. The kinetic parameters of methane production potential, maximum methane production rate and lag time were determined using the modified Gompertz equation. Anaerobic digestion of liquid manure, without microwave treatment, outperformed the sets with microwave treatment. The microwave-treated liquid dairy manure, without acid addition had better results in terms of methane potential and methane production, than with acid addition. Thermophilic digestion exhibited a higher maximum methane production rate than that of mesophilic digestion, but lower methane yields. The microwave pretreatment of dairy manure resulted in high soluble chemical oxygen demand; however, methane yield was not increased.


This article compares the significance of self-entrepreneurship in France and individual micro-enterprises in Brazil in the redefinition of employment standards of both countries. Self-entrepreneurship employment forms are located at the intersection between independent, salaried and informal work. The first part of the article traces the socio-historical dynamics of these constitutive categories of employment regimes in both countries. From the previous socio-historical analysis and from both national public debates in the period of institutionalisation of self-entrepreneurship, the second part situates self-entrepreneurship in their national contexts. The third part presents a comparative sociology of self-entrepreneurs in France and Brazil based on portraits from both countries.


Incorporating race into tactical spending for electoral gain, this article revisits the relative effects of vote production and vote retention on distributive politics. It investigates whether a "compassion strategy" to influence the electoral behavior of voters while being responsive to need-based social welfare demands affected federal discretionary grants to faith-based organizations (FBOs) during the administration of George W. Bush. The findings suggest that federal domestic social welfare funding of FBOs may have involved a combination of the tactical use of grants for both electoral purposes (i.e., vote production and vote retention) and the reduction of need among the states.


Abstract This opinion piece is a response to the JOMBA! Conference title: African Contemporary Dance? Questioning issues of a performance aesthetic for a developing continent. Here the author engages the issue of contemporary African dance from a southern African choreographic perspective. Emanating from the personal, the author and choreographer responds to the urban, (in)tense landscape of Johannesburg, using this space as both inspiration and analogy. In an address entitled 'Beyond ethnicity', the author proposes a fusion or a cocktail of cultures as an escape from the essentialism of apartheid and multiculturalism of the rainbow nation. Further, the response to a broader Third World context demands that African contemporary creators become watchdogs and create a domain of reality in which social and emotional conflicts can be brought out into the open and made available for public discussion.


To fabricate a demountable current lead for MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) superconducting magnets with less heat loss, the heat transfer equation of a gas-cooled current lead is introduced. The authors discuss the character of demountable coaxial gas-cooled current leads and make careful selection of lead materials. Leads of 250 A for MRI magnets were made and tested. It is concluded that these current leads are adaptable to all kinds of closed-loop superconducting magnets and very convenient to use. The lead is safe to use even when there is no helium gas glow in it. >


This paper describes the development and characterisation of a novel, electrical impedance spectroscopy-based (EIS) immunosensor array for point-of-care applications. EIS is a highly sensitive, label-free, real time technique suitable for single use, point-of-care cardiac marker detection devices. However, the underlying source of the observed change in EIS immunoassay response has not been well characterised or understood. A full understanding of the relationship between target binding and impedance response would significantly advance biosensor design and most probably increase detection limit sensitivity. The development of micro-/nano- structured electrodes for multi-frequency EIS procedure propose substantial benefits over classical macro-structured systems.Countless manipulations of electrode features and inter-electrode spacing will enhance the electrode surface area, increase the charge-transfer resistance and reduce the double-layer capacitance. These in turn give rise to improved signal-to-noise ratios, therefore affording greater sensitivity, lower detection limits and faster detection times.The sensor sensitivity range was within that required for human myoglobin determination, following acute myocardial infarction (heart attack). Real-time MyAb-MyAg interaction monitoring, permitted the determination of the binding events in less than one minute.


PURPOSE
Currently available clinical studies on porcelain laminate veneers seem to support their use as a standard treatment method in modern restorative dentistry. The purpose of this study, which comprises 3 parts, was to evaluate the clinical applicability and the survival probability of porcelain laminate veneers for an observation period of up to 10 years. This first part of the study describes the step-by-step clinical procedure.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The reasons for provision of porcelain laminate veneers were mainly for the treatment of worn anterior teeth, surface enamel defects, intrinsic discolorations, and hypoplasia. As the treatment time for try-in, cementation, and finishing of veneers differs significantly from that needed for conventional restorations, the total time required for veneer treatment was evaluated.

RESULTS
A total of 205 porcelain laminate veneers, 117 in the maxilla and 88 in the mandible, was placed in 72 patients (43 females and 29 males). Mean cementation time was 38.7 minutes, which increased significantly to 43.9 minutes if single discolored teeth were being restored. Clinical experience and a familiarity with the strict step-by-step procedure followed throughout the study reduced the mean treatment time from 40.8 minutes during the first 5 years to 36.7 minutes in the following years.

CONCLUSION
The porcelain laminate veneer concept provides excellent esthetic and conservative restorations, but it should be stated that the cementation and finishing procedure is highly time consuming.


In the last 20 years, dendritic cells (DCs) have been largely used as a platform for therapeutic vaccination in cancer patients. However, despite its proven safety and ability to induce cancer specific immune responses, the clinical benefits of DC-based immunotherapy are currently very limited. Thus, novel approaches are still needed to boost its efficacy. Our group recently showed that squaric acid treatment of antigens is an important adjuvant that can increase vaccine-induced downstream immune responses and therapeutic outcomes. Here we further improved this dendritic cell vaccine formulation by developing a new method for differentiating and maturing DCs from their bone marrow precursors. Our data demonstrate that bone marrow-derived DCs differentiated with GM-CSF and IL-15 and matured with a maturation cocktail in two steps present a more mature and immunogenic phenotype, compared to standard DC preparations. Further suppression of the prostaglandin E2 pathway achieved even more immunogenic DC phenotypes. This vaccine was more potent at delaying tumor growth, improved animal survival and induced a more immunogenic and Th1-skewed T cell response in an ovarian cancer mouse model. These promising results support future efforts for the clinical translation of this approach.


It is pointed out that recent cosmological findings seem to support the view that the mass/energy distribution of the universe defines the Newtonian inertial frames, as originally suggested by Mach. The background concepts of inertial frame, Newton's second law and fictitious forces are clarified. A precise definition of Mach's principle is suggested. Then, an approximation to general relativity discovered by Einstein, Infeld and Hoffmann is used and it is found that this precise formulation of Mach's principle is realized provided the mass/energy density of the universe has a specific value. This value turns out to be twice the critical density. The implications of this approximate result are put into context.


A procedure for the determination of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), along with dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl sulfoniopropionate (DMSP), at nanomolar levels in natural waters has been developed. After removal of DMS by purge and cryotrapping, DMSP is removed by the same method after alkaline hydrolysis, and DMSO is reduced to DMS using a combination of sodium borohydride and hydrochloric acid. The DMS produced is stripped, cryotrapped, and analyzed by gas chromatography. Detection of 3 pmol of DMSO was achieved, resulting in a detection limit of 0.05 nM for a 50 mL sample. Mean yield for standards in the range 0.7-130 nM (n = 31) was 95%, and mean precision (as coefficient of variation) was 14%. Precision for replicates of natural seawater samples was always ≤10%. Mean yields of the sequential analysis of DMS + DMSP + DMSO (1.5-25 nM) standard mixtures in seawater were >90% for the three species. Filtered seawater samples stored frozen (-20 °C) showed no significant changes in DMSO concentration. Since DMSP is the only compound, other than DMSO, that gives rise to DMS upon reduction with NaBH(4), tests were performed to ensure that DMSP is quantitatively removed before the DMSO analysis. Boranes were identified as the substances that produced two major peaks in the chromatogram of the reduction products. Adequate chromatographic conditions were established to avoid their coelution with DMS. This entire protocol allows the sequential determination of DMS, DMSP, and DMSO in natural waters and is suitable for field work, so it should be very useful in studies of dimethyl sulfur biogeochemistry. Some examples of DMSO (along with DMS and DMSP) measurements in the Mediterranean Sea are presented.


For many years, investigators have attempted to inhibit yeast growth and fermentation in fresh, unclarified apple juice in order to increase its shelf-life. At low temperatures, quality deterioration of apple juice is minimized due to the low metabolic activity of the yeast cells. Gore (1910) observed no fermentation in apple juice held at 0 C for periods of 36 to 86 days, and Poe and Field (1947) could not detect any quality changes in juice stored at 4 C for 60 days. Since the storage of apple juice at low temperatures has been considered expensive and impractical, chemical additives have been studied for their inhibitory effect on yeasts in apple juice. Rice and Markley (1921) and Tanner and Strauch (1926) found that 0.1 per cent sodium benzoate in apple juice inhibited the growth of yeasts; however, sodium benzoate in this concentration imparts an undesirable flavor to the juice (Fabian and Marshall, 1935). Fabian and Bloom (1942) found that sodium benzoate was a more effective inhibitor of yeast growth than chloroacetic acids. Sorbic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid, inhibits yeast growth in pickle brines (Jones et al., 1956; Jones and Harper, 1952; Phillips and Mundt, 1950); preliminary studies (Salunkhe, 1955) have indicated its effectiveness in apple juice. The investigation reported here represents a study of the effect of sorbic acid on yeast growth in fresh, unclarified apple juice. Since it has been reported (Melnick et al., 1954) that sorbic acid is oxidized in solution, ascorbic acid was added as an antioxidant to juice with and without sorbic acid to determine its effectiveness in extending the fungistatic action of the latter in apple juice.


Core carrier techniques are unique among the various root canal filling techniques for delivering and compacting gutta-percha in the prepared root canal system. Thermafil (TF), considered the major core carrier device, is provided as an obturator consisting of a master core coated with thermoplasticized gutta-percha. We have devised a thermoplasticized gutta-percha filling technique using a polypropylene core, FlexPoint® NEO (FP), which was developed as a canal filling material that can be sterilized in an autoclave. Therefore, FP can be coated onto thermoplasticized gutta-percha and inserted into the prepared canal as a core carrier. The FP core carrier technique offers many advantages over the TF system: the core can be tested in the root canal and verified radiographically; the core can be adjusted to fit and surplus material easily removed; furthermore the core can be easily removed for retreatment. The clinical procedure of the FP core carrier technique is simple, and similar that with the TF system. Thermoplasticized gutta-percha in a syringe is heated in an oven and extruded onto the FP core carrier after a trial insertion. The FP core carrier is inserted into the root canal to the working length. Excess FP is then removed with a red-hot plastic instrument at the orifice of the root canal. The FP core carrier technique incorporates the clinical advantages of the existing TF system while minimizing the disadvantages. Hence the FP core carrier technique is very useful in clinical practice. This paper describes the FP core carrier technique as a new core based method.


Abstract. Biogas digestate (BD) is increasingly used as organic fertilizer, but has a high potential for NH3 losses. Its proposed injection into soils as a countermeasure has been suggested to promote the generation of N2O, leading to a potential trade-off. Furthermore, the effect of high nutrient concentrations on N2 losses as they may appear after injection of BD into soil has not yet been evaluated. Hence, we performed an incubation experiment with soil cores in a helium–oxygen atmosphere to examine the influence of soil substrate (loamy sand, clayey silt), water-filled pore space (WFPS; 35, 55, 75 %) and application rate (0, 17.6 and 35.2 mL BD per soil core, 250 cm3) on the emission of N2O, N2 and CO2 after the usage of high loads of BD. To determine the potential capacity for gaseous losses, we applied anaerobic conditions by purging with helium for the last 24 h of incubation. Immediate N2O and N2 emissions as well as the N2 ∕ (N2O+N2) product ratio depended on soil type and increased with WFPS, indicating a crucial role of soil gas diffusivity for the formation and emission of nitrogenous gases in agricultural soils. However, emissions did not increase with the application rate of BD. This is probably due to an inhibitory effect of the high NH4+ content of BD on nitrification. Our results suggest a larger potential for N2O formation immediately following BD injection in the fine-textured clayey silt compared to the coarse loamy sand. By contrast, the loamy sand showed a higher potential for N2 production under anaerobic conditions. Our results suggest that short-term N losses of N2O and N2 after injection may be higher than probable losses of NH3 following surface application of BD.


The Midland Basin Wolfcamp Shale is very early in the horizontal well development phase and has many unique technical challenges. First, the Wolfcamp has the largest vertical shale interval of active US shale plays and requires multiple stacked laterals to fully develop the field. This presents considerable challenges in determining an optimal spacing and stacking development strategy. Second, multi-phase flow complicates reservoir engineering analyses by limiting our ability to accurately predict bottom-hole pressures (BHP) from surface pressures and flow rates. Finally, many Wolfcamp shale wells require artificial lift very early in their producing lives, and the efficiency of horizontal well artificial lift techniques to drawdown the BHP must be accounted for in well performance analysis. To help address these issues, we have run over 100 BHP gauges with real-time monitoring in Wolfcamp Shale horizontal wells. While real-time BHP gauges are common in high-rate conventional reservoirs, they are much less common in the onshore US shale environment. This paper will present several examples of real-time BHP data and analyses used to improve profitability of field development and operations. In particular, we will demonstrate how real-time BHP can be combined with other subsurface data in the Wolfcamp shale to evaluate interference between horizontal wells, quantify variability of depletion vertically in stacked pay intervals, develop flowback strategies, optimize artificial lift, and characterize the fracture system within the reservoir. These examples will demonstrate that although real-time BHP gauges have not yet been widely adopted in the onshore US shale environment, this information has yielded value far beyond the cost of obtaining the data and likely has wider application in other onshore shale plays.


Real-time advertising allows advertisers to bid for each impression for a visiting user. To optimize specific goals such as maximizing revenue and return on investment (ROI) led by ad placements, advertisers not only need to estimate the relevance between the ads and user's interests, but most importantly require a strategic response with respect to other advertisers bidding in the market. In this paper, we formulate bidding optimization with multi-agent reinforcement learning. To deal with a large number of advertisers, we propose a clustering method and assign each cluster with a strategic bidding agent. A practical Distributed Coordinated Multi-Agent Bidding (DCMAB) has been proposed and implemented to balance the tradeoff between the competition and cooperation among advertisers. The empirical study on our industry-scaled real-world data has demonstrated the effectiveness of our methods. Our results show cluster-based bidding would largely outperform single-agent and bandit approaches, and the coordinated bidding achieves better overall objectives than purely self-interested bidding agents.


In this issue I intend to depart somewhat from the general editorial policy by attacking everyone, instead of confining my attack to one or two individuals. I say that science fiction fandom has had its day, it has lost its crusading appeal, it has remained unchanged while it has changed other things (like Allah) .


Document recording a mortgage taken out by Andrew Jensen from the First National Bank of El Campo, Texas. Andrew took out three hundred dollars with a ten percent interest. A piece of paper has been stapled on the back with a stamp of approval and two postage stamps.


The production of therapeutic glycoproteins typically relies on the purification of the desired
glycoprotein from engineered tissue culture systems. This process is costly and inefficient,
and the isolated glycoproteins are adorned with an array of heterogeneous sugars.
Expression of glycoproteins in cheaper non-mammalian host cells such as yeast produces
large quantities of folded glycoproteins though the sugar chains are immunogenic to humans.
This project initially aimed to develop a general strategy for the humanisation of yeast
glycoproteins using the copper (I) mediated ligation between azide and acetylene functional
groups, commonly known as "click" chemistry. It required that azide and acetylene groups
could be efficiently incorporated into (glyco)peptides and sugars respectively, and to this end
propargylic glycosides of mannose, N-acetyl glucosamine, and N-acetyl lactosamine were
successfully prepared.
Two different glycoprotein remodelling methods were ultimately investigated. The first
method explored a chemoenzymatic strategy developed in our group. A target glycoprotein,
erythropoietin (EPO), was expressed in the presence of azide bearing mannose sugars in
the hope that azide groups would be incorporated during glycoprotein biosynthesis.
Subsequent elaboration of the azide functionality with propargyl N-acetyl lactosamine
followed by enzymatic sialylation was expected to yield a glycoprotein with human-like sialyl
lactosamine antennae. However, upon purification from Pichia pastoris incorporation of
azide could not be detected, limiting the strategy to in vitro glycoprotein remodelling. Several
technological advances were made including optimisation of the final "click" reaction
between the propargyl glycoside of N-acetyllactosamine and 4-azidomannose followed by
enzymatic transfer of sialic acid. While considerable effort was directed towards the key
transfer of unnatural azidosugars, from nucleotide donors to potential substrates using an α-1,2-mannosyltransferase, this step proved unreliable.
The second method introduced azide groups into fully synthetic peptides using the amino
acid azidohomoalanine (Aha). Click chemistry with synthetic propargyl glycosides allowed
further modification to homogeneous glycopeptide analogues which were shown to be
compatible with native chemical ligation, a proven tool for glycoprotein synthesis and semisynthesis.
Ultimately both methods may eventually facilitate glycoprotein synthesis and
remodelling such that the biological activity and immunogenicity may be modulated to suit
future therapeutic requirements.


Development of new city needs comprehensive planning to answer urbanization challenges, such as environmental crises and socio-economic crises. The natural trait of human activities is destroying nature and a city is the most significant place of human activities. Sustainable approaches are important to ensure future's ability to fulfill their needs by regulating today's consumption sustainably. Smart city applications are more than just technology, rather smart city is a way to achieve better city services and offer highest quality of urban life. Therefore, technological usage to achieve sustainability is key for the sustainable smart city concept. This research aims to develop conceptual design based on sustainable smart city concept for Indonesia's New Capital. Conceptual design is developed with urban planning knowledge based on the result of site analysis and case study from other country city's development which later are validated by expert. The result of this research is conceptual design that show spatial and usage form with the application of sustainable smart city concept for the construction of Indonesia's new capital.


In the continuing effort to understand exchange rate changes, this article chronicles and analyses, for the first time, the proximate reasons for large daily movements in four leading US dollar exchange rates in the 1990s. A sample of 111 events highlights the importance of expectations and the role of subtle political influences on currency markets. While 19% of all events studied had mainly economic reasons, over 60% of all events could be partly or wholly attributed to political factors. Events related to monetary policy changes were the most significant economic factor, while intervention activity and war/coup attempts were the most significant political factors. This research indicates that large changes in the Japanese yen were caused mostly by the political dynamics of the bilateral trade balance, while big moves in the German mark and British pound stemmed mainly from European politico-economic events. The enigmatic Canadian dollar was driven by domestic politics related to the Quebec secession issue.


Background: Tramadol dependence has been studied recently after large-scale exposure. Although tramadol dependence has increased rapidly in Egypt since 2004, no studies have evaluated the effect of high dose long-term tramadol dependence. Objectives: To address the chronic sequel of tramadol dependence over at least 5 years duration with a large dose (more than 675 mg/day, three tablets or more, each tablet of 225 mg). The study was aimed to check the physical and psychiatric status during tramadol dependence and 3 months after complete treatment. Methods: The present study was applied on 79 patients with single tramadol-dependence dose of 675 mg or more for 5 years or more. We examined the physical and psychological impact of tramadol abuse before and after 3 months of stoppage of the drug. Results: The blood chemistry was nearly within normal parameters, although slight nonsignificant rise in liver enzymes was reported in some cases. Patients during tramadol dependence period were angry, hostile, and aggressive. On the other hand, after treatment the main problem observed was the significant increase in comorbid anxiety, depressive, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, but no increase was found in psychotic symptoms. Tramadol-dependence dose was more important than duration of use in psychiatric illness. Conclusions: Tramadol dependence on high dose could be physically safe to some limit, but psychiatrically it has many side effects.


The article presents empirical data on Internet and social media use in a Russian regional and urban space. Ethnographic methods provide a picture of ordinary users and their online habits. Data was gathered "online" and using traditional participant observation of informants, constituting a "connective ethnography." The empirical findings highlight a degree of "circumspection" by ordinary users in terms of the social networking potential of VKontakte, the main social networking site (SNS) popular in Russia. The SNS use is characterized by limited acknowledgement of social others in contrast to extended communication typical of Facebook. In addition, the article discusses at length the problems with scholarship that seeks to highlight the civic potential of new media in less democratic societies, such as Russia. The complexity of imputing civic or politicized use of the SNS is highlighted by informants' observed use.


We report the discovery of two new Galactic candidate luminous blue variable (cLBV) stars via detection of circular shells (typical of known confirmed and cLBVs) and follow-up spectroscopy of their central stars. The shells were detected at 22 um in the archival data of the Mid-Infrared All Sky Survey carried out with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Follow-up optical spectroscopy of the central stars of the shells conducted with the renewed Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) showed that their spectra are very similar to those of the well-known LBVs P Cygni and AG Car, and the recently discovered cLBV MN112, which implies the LBV classification for these stars as well. The LBV classification of both stars is supported by detection of their significant photometric variability: one of them brightened in the R- and I-bands by 0.68\pm0.10 mag and 0.61\pm0.04 mag, respectively, during the last 13-18 years, while the second one (known as Hen 3-1383) varies its B,V,R,I and K_s brightnesses by \simeq 0.5-0.9 mag on time-scales from 10 days to decades. We also found significant changes in the spectrum of Hen 3-1383 on a timescale of \simeq 3 months, which provides additional support for the LBV classification of this star. Further spectrophotometric monitoring of both stars is required to firmly prove their LBV status. We discuss a connection between the location of massive stars in the field and their fast rotation, and suggest that the LBV activity of the newly discovered cLBVs might be directly related to their possible runaway status.


Tight blood glucose control has been shown to effectively reduce the incidence of retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy in type 2 diabetic patients (1). The American Diabetes Association recommends that patients with diabetes maintain an HbA1c (A1C) level of <7% (2). Our findings, using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data, indicate that from 1999 to 2000, only 36% of adults with type 2 diabetes in the U.S. met this glycemic control goal (3). The current report updates our previous findings of trends in glycemic control from NHANES III (1988–1994) to NHANES 1999–2002. We also appraise the current status of ethnic disparities in diabetes control by examining whether ethnic differences in glycemic control exist among adults aged ≥20 years with type 2 diabetes in the U.S.

We used questionnaire and laboratory data from NHANES III, NHANES 1999–2000, and the newly released NHANES 2001–2002.

Data on demographic information, including race, sex, age, BMI, diagnosis and duration of diabetes, and medication use, were collected by structured questionnaires. To identify diabetes status, participants were asked, "Other than during pregnancy, has a doctor ever told you that you …


Althoughre is still much to be learned about L the relations of hearing loss to noise exposure, we have accumulated enough information through experience and research to enable us to organize and conduct hearing conservation programs. This basic information is, in brief: Many noise exposures can produce a permanent hearing loss that may affect communication by speech. Noise-induced hearing loss may be temporary, permanent, or a combination of temporary and permanent. Permanent noise-induced hearing loss is due to destruction of certain inner ear structures which cannot be replaced or repaired. The amount of hearing loss produced by a given noise exposure varies from person to person. Noise-induced hearing loss first affects man's hearing of sounds higher in frequency than those essential for communication by speech. Therefore, most early noise-induced hearing losses pass unnoticed unless they are detected by suitable hearing tests. Four major factors


This paper investigates the behavior and safety of road users at the pedestrian–bike shared space of Robson Street in Vancouver. The analysis was conducted using video data, collected during the summer of 2016. Automated video analysis techniques were used to detect different road users and extract their trajectories from video scenes. The extracted trajectories were used to evaluate the speed distributions of different categories of road users, and analyze the interactions (conflicts) between pedestrians and bikes to assess their safety. As well, the paper investigates the effect of introducing a bike dismount sign at both ends of the shared space on both the percentage of cyclists' compliance with the sign and the frequency of pedestrian–bike interactions. Finally, the relationship between the speed of both pedestrians and bikes and the density of the shared space was investigated to develop speed–density relationships in this shared space environment.


The game development process involves many different disciplines, ranging from visual arts, sound design, game design, product management, frontendand backend development and many more. All of which are contributing to a single project to create the best possible player experience. The player experience can easily be interrupted by bugs or imbalanced game design. For example if a strategy game has many types of buildings, to which one outperforms all others, it will be highly likely that players would use this advantage and adopt a strategy that may reduce the usage of the surrounding buildings. The game would become monotonous instead of diverse and exciting. This work covers exploratory research whether machine learning can be used during the process of game development by having an Artificial Intelligence agent testing the game. Previous studies from other researchers have shown that Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents are capable to play finished games on super human level. However, none of them are used to improve the games themselves as they treat the environment as unchangeable, but are still facing the problem that game environments often are not flawless. To improve the game itself, this work takes advantage of the reinforcement learning algorithms to unveil the bugs and game design errors in the environment. Within this work the novelty deep reinforcement learning algorithm Proximal Policy Optimization [1] will be applied to a complex mobile game in its production cycle. The machine learning agent is developed in parallel to the game. As a result, the trained agent shows positive indications that the development process can be supported by machine learning. For a conclusive evaluation the additional implementation effort needs to be taken into account right from the beginning.


In the modern era of globalisation demand of natural resources is very high for the well-being of human; high demand results in the degradation of natural resources, uneven pattern of development and changes in naturally available resources. Changes in land use land cover (LULC) is a dynamic process, which varies with time and space. It is the main component in the planning and management of natural resources, and analysing the changes in the environment. There are many remote sensing and GIS-based model used by the researcher in the world to identify the land use pattern. Here, Digital change detection model is used to determine the changes in Land use and Land cover with geo-referenced multi-temporal remote sensing data. This present study is an attempt to identify the spatial-temporal variation of LULC in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, based on the secondary data. Landsat imageries are collected from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for a different period like Landsat TM, Landsat ETM +, and Landsat OLI. Kinnaur district has witnessed many hydro-electric power projects, dam, tunnel and road construction, which has changed the pattern of land use in a few decades. It is indispensable to have a sustainable development mechanism for the fragile ecosystem. It includes the initiative of local government and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), government agencies and global partners to improve the degraded land condition.


Most Hydrogeologic tests to determine suitable geologic sites for disposal of radioactive waste are of short duration when compared to the time span required in the assessment of the safety of the facility. Geochemical studies of fluid and rock offer an opportunity to examine natural processes that have been going on for a period of time comparable to that required for safe retention of radioactive waste. In a study assessing the potential for storing radioactive waste in metamorphic rock at the Savannah River Plant near Aiken, South Carolina, the rate of water movement was determined to be about 0.06 m/yr by analyzing gas dissolved in the water. The gas contained up to 6% helium, which originated from the radioactive decay of natural uranium and thorium in the crystalline rock. The residence time of the water in the rock was calculated to be 840,000 years from the quantity of uranium and thorium in the rock, its rate of radioactive decay, and the quantity of helium dissolved in the water. From this residence time and a flow path of 51 km the average velocity of water through the rock was estimated. This water velocity, which is an average over a broad region (51 km) and a long time period (840,000 years), is more applicable to the assessment of a geologic site for storage of radioactive waste than are velocities estimated from packer tests, pumping tests, or artificial tracer tests, all of which require extensive time and space extrapolations.


Fine needle aspiration is a well-known procedure for the diagnosis and management of thyroid lesions, representing the first diagnostic tool for the definition of their nature. In clinical practice, a thyroid nodule can be classified as solid, cystic, and partially cystic based on its internal components. Different thyroid imaging reporting systems and cytologic diagnostic systems have focused their attention on solid nodules, which are more frequently linked with a malignant outcome. In fact, numerous papers demonstrated that nodules with microcalcifications, a taller-than-wide shape, hypoechogeneity, and irregular margins, are more likely to be malignant on histology. Nevertheless, according to the literature, the risk of malignancy in a partially cystic thyroid nodule ranges between 3.3 and 17-5%, including, for instance, the possible diagnosis of a cystic papillary thyroid carcinoma and other malignant entities. Therefore, in the current review article, we are going to discuss the approach to thyroid cystic lesions on fine needle aspiration cytology.


State-of-the-art DRAM cache employs a small Tag-Cache and its performance is dependent upon two important parameters namely bank-level-parallelism and Tag-Cache hit rate. These parameters depend upon the row buffer organization. Recently, it has been shown that a small row buffer organization delivers better performance via improved bank-level-parallelism than the traditional large row buffer organization along with energy benefits. However, small row buffers do not fully exploit the temporal locality of tag accesses, leading to reduced TagCache hit rates. As a result, the DRAM cache needs to be re-designed for small row buffer organization to achieve additional performance benefits. In this paper, we propose a novel tag-store mechanism that improves the Tag-Cache hit rate by 70% compared to existing DRAM tag-store mechanisms employing small row buffer organization. In addition, we enhance the DRAM cache controller with novel policies that take into account the locality characteristics of cache accesses. We evaluate our novel tag-store mechanism and controller policies in an 8-core system running the SPEC2006 benchmark and compare their performance and energy consumption against recent proposals. Our architecture improves the average performance by 21.2% and 11.4% respectively compared to large and small row buffer organizations via simultaneously improving both parameters. Compared to DRAM cache with large row buffer organization, we report an energy improvement of 62%.


Citizen Cyberscience (CCS) projects are online projects that engage participants with no necessary prior scientific experience in online tasks of very varied types and that contribute to the scientific research in different domains. Many research studies confirm the usefulness of CCS projects to researchers while less has been done to explore their added-value for the participants. Specifically, we are interested to know to what extent CCS projects help participants learn while participating through typically small-sized and very specific tasks. We propose in this work to include another source of quantitative data to the research toolbox usually used to evaluate learning in informal learning contexts as the context of citizen science. This data source is learning analytics that makes use of the already very ubiquitous web analytics and that is heavily used in varied online learning environments. Based on our experience with two CCS pilot projects, we created a framework to help CCS project designers properly implement learning analytics in their project in order to make the full use of these analytics and integrate them with other sources of quantitative data related to the user experience. We apply the proposed framework to explore the interaction between learning and engagement in two pilot CCS projects of different types: volunteer thinking and gaming. We conclude with a number of recommendations to avoid pitfalls and proposals for best practice based on our experience.


Three new species of Phyllotingis Walker, 1873 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Aradidae), Ph. tortugueria sp. nov. and Ph. costaricana sp. nov.from Costa Rica (representing a new generic record for the country), and Ph. moraguesi sp.nov. from French Guyana are described and illustrated. A key to all species of Phyllotingis is presented.


Abstract Background No International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10), diagnosis code exists for injection drug use–associated infective endocarditis (IDU-IE). Instead, public health researchers regularly use combinations of nonspecific ICD-10 codes to identify IDU-IE; however, the accuracy of these codes has not been evaluated. Methods We compared commonly used ICD-10 diagnosis codes for IDU-IE with a prospectively collected patient cohort diagnosed with IDU-IE at Barnes-Jewish Hospital to determine the accuracy of ICD-10 diagnosis codes used in IDU-IE research. Results ICD-10 diagnosis codes historically used to identify IDU-IE were inaccurate, missing 36.0% and misclassifying 56.4% of patients prospectively identified in this cohort. Use of these nonspecific ICD-10 diagnosis codes resulted in substantial biases against the benefit of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) with relation to both AMA discharge and all-cause mortality. Specifically, when data from all patients with ICD-10 code combinations suggestive of IDU-IE were used, MOUD was associated with an increased risk of AMA discharge (relative risk [RR], 1.12; 95% CI, 0.48–2.64). In contrast, when only patients confirmed by chart review as having IDU-IE were analyzed, MOUD was protective (RR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.19–1.22). Use of MOUD was associated with a protective effect in time to all-cause mortality in Kaplan-Meier analysis only when confirmed IDU-IE cases were analyzed (P = .007). Conclusions Studies using nonspecific ICD-10 diagnosis codes for IDU-IE should be interpreted with caution. In the setting of an ongoing overdose crisis and a syndemic of infectious complications, a specific ICD-10 diagnosis code for IDU-IE is urgently needed.


Dynamic extension is useful in the design of observers for non linear systems. The idea is to immerse the given system dynamic into a bigger one having a structure more appropriate for building an observer. The main drawback of such a procedure is the need for inverting on-line an injective immersion. In this work we suggest a solution to overcome this difficulty based on an extension of the initial state space. One of the two crucial steps of our approach is the problem of continuous completion of a full column-rank matrix into an invertible one.


ABSTRACT Energy audit is one of the first tasks to be performed in the accomplishment of an effective energy cost control program. To obtain the best information for a successful energy audit, the auditor must make some measurements during the audit visit. One of the tools that primarily used in audit visit is the portable Power Quality Analyzers (PQA) for measuring single to three-phase lines with a high degree of precision and accuracy. It is utilized for monitoring and recording power supply anomalies. For most survey applications, changing currents makes it mandatory for data to be compiled over a period of time with enormous amount of electricity data. Hence, this paper proposed a Business Intelligence approach that can facilitate the auditor to quickly analyze the PQA data. There are five Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to be displayed for analyze in form of dashboard. The method that uses to construct the dashboard is classification and association rules with the help of orange dataminer tools. Classification method is utilized to display the data distributions by frequency on a bar chart. Once we got the frequent sets, they allow us to extract association rules among the item sets, where we make some statement about how likely are two sets of items to co-occur or to conditionally occur. The result of this paper is a dashboard of five scorecards, namely unbalanced voltage, unbalanced currents, voltage harmonic, currents harmonic, and power factor.  Keywords: PQA Data, Classification, Association Rules, Dashboard


The aim of this paper is to verify and evaluate the variable emotional response in interacting with a well-defined matter, fabrics, through different sensorial channels in order to allow designers to set or select textile parameters according to the emotion they would like to evoke in a specific sensorial condition. The purpose is to create a universal and scientifically-based culture and language as a core for a quality control system of two fundamental elements: "hand" and comfort. The research concerned several aspects of sensorial experience of textiles through the selection of the most influential sensations in textile applications and their relative possible correlation to mechanical properties. A group of subjects in different sensorial modalities was utilized in order to analyse transfer and anticipation phenomena. Interesting deductions have been drawn by comparing objective parameters and correlated subjective sensations thereby opening up the potential to design emotional experience of textiles.


ABSTRACT This study describes the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) among 57 men using illicit opioids who presented to a primary care program for buprenorphine therapy. Participants' mean age was 40 years and 34% reported ED. Low total testosterone was detected in 17% of those reporting ED, but total testosterone was not significantly associated with ED. Examining multiple comorbidities and laboratory parameters, only older age was significantly associated with ED (r = .27, P< .05). ED is highly prevalent among men abusing opioids, but low total testosterone is rarely the cause.


Stephen King's 1985 novel It pits seven children against a shape-shifting monster that takes the form of whatever its victims fear the most. This creature, referred to only as "It," returns to the characters' hometown every twenty-seven years to feed on children. When It surfaces in 1958, the children band together, drawn to each other through their shared experiences as outcasts. Each of the children is endowed with various physical or societal traits for which they are bullied and ostracized. This, along with the realization that each of them has had an encounter with It, leads them to form the Loser's Club. The Losers are temporarily able to defeat It in 1958, agreeing to meet again if It ever resurfaces. Twenty-seven years later, in 1985, they return to face It once more, albeit with no memories of their previous experience. The novel weaves between the two time periods, linking the seven's experiences as children in 1958 with their experiences as adults in 1985. This paper explores how the traits that the children use to defeat It are representative of private fears, how those fears are repressed into adulthood, and how the return of those fears affects them later as adults. All of this contributes to a larger discussion concerning the transition between childhood and adulthood, with particular emphasis on sexuality as both a means of making the transition and as a release of repressed feelings and emotions.


P-cadherin is a major contributor to cell-cell adhesion in epithelial tissues, playing pivotal roles in important morphogenetic and differentiation processes and in maintaining tissue integrity and homeostasis. Alterations of P-cadherin expression have been observed during the progression of several carcinomas where it appears to act as tumor suppressive or oncogenic in a context-dependent manner. Here, we found a significant downregulation of P-cadherin in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines and tissues compared to primary human hepatocytes and non-malignant liver tissues. Combined immunohistochemical analysis of a tissue microarray containing matched pairs of HCC tissue and corresponding non-tumorous liver tissue of 69 patients confirmed reduced P-cadherin expression in more than half of the cases. In 35 human HCC tissues, the P-cadherin immunosignal was completely lost which correlated with tumor staging and proliferation. Also in vitro, P-cadherin suppression in HCC cells via siRNA induced proliferation compared to cells transfected with control-siRNA. In summary, downregulation of P-cadherin expression appears to induce tumorigenicity in HCC. Therefore, P-cadherin expression may serve as a prognostic marker and therapeutic target of this highly aggressive tumor.


If neoliberalism names a mode of "governance by debt," the task which is addressed here, starting from Althusser's article on Ideology and State Ideological Apparatuses is that of the formation of "subjects" within the framework of a social structure where paramount importance is given to "liberty." The mobile hypothesis adopted here involves the reformulation of the question of subjectivity in terms not only of the interpellation of the subject by the policeman, as in the Althusserian scenario, but also in terms of its interpellation through advertising. Without postulating a suppression or replacement of the earlier apparatus, the challenge addressed here is to try to envisage how State coercion is redoubled by Market conditioning. If the "classical" mode of interpellation couples the Forbidden to the logic of guilt, what is to be examined in the case of this new apparatus is the coupling of hedonistic permissiveness and victimization, to ensure that consumers, all by themselves, will walk to credit. In considering these issues, we shall draw upon two contemporary readers of Althusser's text, Slavoj Žižek and Judith Butler.


A nationwide survey for measuring field strengths at 40 and 60 kHz was carried out in the winter months of 2004 to estimate the service area of the standard frequency and time signals. The data obtained were analyzed in comparison with the resultant field strengths of sky waves and the ground wave which were predicted using a method developed by one of the authors. Good agreement was seen between the measured and predicted field strengths.


Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology has been heralded as a tool for energy conservation, resource recovery and valuable compound synthesis, amongst others. The MFC concept is possible due to the ability of electrochemically active bacteria (EcAB) to transfer the electrons produced from substrate degradation, out of the bacterial cell and onto the electrode surface via different mechanisms; a process called exocellular electron transfer (EET). However, despite advances and extensive studies on EET mechanisms and EcAB, like the Fe(III)-reducing Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA, the technology has not reached yet the stage of broad applicability. This thesis investigates characteristics and performance of EcAB in the anodic compartment of pure- and mixed-culture MFCs in an effort to shed light to processes important to MFC performance and efficiency. In order to reliably study EcAB in a microbial fuel cell environment, a gas-tight, sterile MFC setup was developed and optimized for electrochemical and microbiological studies of the anodic bacteria and consequently the electrochemically active biofilm/bioanode. In addition, a method for Geobacter species quantification with quantitative PCR (qPCR) was developed. Furthermore, a multiple-unit MFC setup was designed for convenient and simultaneous operation of identical MFCs 'in-parallel'. A design for a new compact, multi-array MFC to be used as a small-scale culturing platform of EcAB based solely on their electrochemical properties is also introduced. Our research with different titanium (Ti) electrodes in the same MFC setup, suggests that the MFC electrode surface is critical as it determines attachment of EcAB and bioanode formation that leads ultimately to efficient electrochemical activity. Pt- and Ta- coated Ti electrodes performed the best while uncoated Ti with either smooth or rough surfaces performed the worst. Future MFC research could benefit greatly from enhancing the electrode interface for optimum bioanode formation and electron transfer. Our studies with flat-plate, graphite-electrode, mixed-culture microbial fuel cells (Pmax ≈ 1 W/m2) operated for several months with external load (Rext), indicated stable and reproducible characteristics including Coulombic efficiencies, average values of cell voltage, anode potentials, and current densities as well as main microbial populations of both the anolyte and the bioanode. However, transient testing of power maxima values (Pmax) that required lower Rext, or applied potential showed result variability, that might be linked to differences in electrochemical impedance factors, redox-active centers and electron-producing states of the bioanodes. Differences in the quantities of the bioanode microbial species did not seem to correlate with this variability. Since energy-conserving applications like waste-water treatment MFCs would ideally be operated with an Rext rather than applied voltage, addressing interface impedance factors, such as charge transfer resistance and electrical double layer capacitance, is important especially when MFCs are operated at lower Rext. Furthermore, mixed-culture MFCs were shown to be selective for certain bacterial consortia, including Geobacter- and Pseudomonas- related species. Geobacter-related species were dominant on the surface of different electrodes suggesting a pivotal role of the species in electrochemical activity and EET. This was not surprising as the original mixed-culture inoculum - used for starting up several bioelectrochemical systems at our research facilities - was amended with pure cultures of G. sulfurreducens PCA. However, the strain specifically selected for and present in most bioanodes was a novel Geobacter, strain T33 that was phylogenetically closely related (99% by 16S rRNA sequence similarity) to several strains detected in a variety of MFCs operated by other research groups under various conditions and anodic substrates. These strains formed a new phylogenetic Geobacter cluster, distinct from G. sulfurreducens. This observation suggested that strain T33 might have an ecological advantage in MFCs over G. sulfurreducens PCA. In-depth characterization of strain T33 in pure-culture experiments showed that strain T33 forms efficient bioanodes with high Pmax similar to strain PCA, but exhibits different redox-centers than strain T33. Furthermore, strain T33 has a more limited electron acceptor range, but a wider electron donor range than strain PCA, including glucose and succinate. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that strain T33 and recently described electrochemically active strains G. soli GSS01 and G. anodireducens SD-1 are closely related (99% by 16S rRNA) and form a new phylogenetic cluster within the Geobacters, 98% by 16S rRNA similar to G. sulfurreducens strains PCA and KN400. Genome-based analyses indicates that even though the two clusters share common metabolic properties, some differences exist with respect to electron donor utilization, attachment and conductive cell surface components (e-pili) production and genome rearrangement and gene acquisition. It is not sufficiently clear how the differences in the genome of strain T33 are relevant to persistence of the strain in MFCs, biofilm formation and EET, our studies overall suggest that strain T33 even though producing similar power densities as G. sulfurreducens PCA, might be more stable and versatile in MFCs, and therefore a better candidate for waste-water treatment if it can couple the oxidation of several organic substrates, as observed with Fe(III)-respiration, also to electrode-respiration.


To evaluate patient characteristics and treatment factors influencing outcome of patients treated with definitive radiotherapy, we performed retrospective analysis. From 1983 to 2000, 154 patients who were diagnosed as esophageal carcinoma without distant metastasis received definitive radiotherapy with (N = 90) or without (N = 64) systemic chemotherapy. One hundred forty-two males and 12 females were entered in the analysis. Thirty-four patients received an additional boost of intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT). The median patient age was 68 years (range: 46–86). Disease stage was distributed as stage I, II, III, and IV for 33, 42, 33, and 45 patients, respectively. External beam radiotherapy was prescribed with a median 63 Gy (range: 38–77.8 Gy). The 2- and 5-year overall survival (OAS) and local control (LC) rates were 40.8/18.4% and 48.6/28.9%, respectively. In uni-/multivariate analyses, significant prognostic factors of OAS proved to be advanced T stage, absence of ICBT, and age less than 65 years. As for LC, adverse prognostic factors of uni/multivariate analysis were advanced T stage and poor performance status. The pretreatment T stage showed the most powerful influence on both survival and LC. Combination use of ICBT is proven to refine treatment outcome, although eligible criteria should be decided by a prospective study.


ABSTRACT Desferrioxamines are hydroxamate siderophores widely conserved in both aquatic and soil‐dwelling Actinobacteria. While the genetic and enzymatic bases of siderophore biosynthesis and their transport in model families of this phylum are well understood, evolutionary studies are lacking. Here, we perform a comprehensive desferrioxamine‐centric (des genes) phylogenomic analysis, which includes the genomes of six novel strains isolated from an iron and phosphorous depleted oasis in the Chihuahuan desert of Mexico. Our analyses reveal previously unnoticed desferrioxamine evolutionary patterns, involving both biosynthetic and transport genes, likely to be related to desferrioxamines chemical diversity. The identified patterns were used to postulate experimentally testable hypotheses after phenotypic characterization, including profiling of siderophores production and growth stimulation of co‐cultures under iron deficiency. Based in our results, we propose a novel des gene, which we term desG, as responsible for incorporation of phenylacetyl moieties during biosynthesis of previously reported arylated desferrioxamines. Moreover, a genomic‐based classification of the siderophore‐binding proteins responsible for specific and generalist siderophore assimilation is postulated. This report provides a much‐needed evolutionary framework, with specific insights supported by experimental data, to direct the future ecological and functional analysis of desferrioxamines in the environment. &NA; Graphical Abstract Figure. Evolutionary patterns of desferrioxamine genes involved in biosynthesis and transport help to understand the chemical diversity of siderophores and bacterial adaptation.


Although there have been great advances in preventive and therapeutic approaches, malignant tumor is still one of the major causes of death in the world. The control of invasion and metastasis of advanced-stage malignancies remains the pain in the neck. Recently, cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a new supplement for cancer treatment that has weak side effects and favorable applicability. Antigen presentation is critical for triggering such immune response, and Dendritic cells and Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes are very important in this process. Although cancer immunotherapy has shown encouraging results in some human clinical trials, there have been some momentous setbacks: (1) Most Tumor Associated Antigens (TAAs) that have been described are either tissue specific or nonsignificant for cell survival; (2) the poor reactivity of T cells against TAAs; (3) immunosuppressive features of tumor cells; and (4) the expansion of Treg cells. Therefore, it is critical to identify promising TAAs for tumor immunotherapy, and a class of TAA termed 'Universal Tumor Antigens' has been proposed that is supposed not only to induce antitumor immunity against most tumor types, but also to have crucial functional roles in tumor growth and development. Heparanase-1 can degrade the heparan sulfate proteoglycans in the extracellular matrix and basement membrane. Unlike most other TAA, heparanase-1 is found highly expressed in most mammalian malignant tumors, and many hurdles could be overcome when cancer immunotherapy is targeting heparanase-1. It was demonstrated many years ago that the metastatic potential of tumor cells is correlated with heparanase-1 expression. Thereby, it can be hypothesized that heparanase-1 is a key enzyme involved in the metastasis of malignant tumors, and immunotherapy aiming at heparanase-1 may be the dawn of advanced-stage cancer sufferers.


Electroencephalogram (EEG) plays an essential role in analysing and recognizing brain-related diseases. EEG has been increasingly used as a new type of biometrics in person identification and verification systems. These EEG-based systems are important components in applications for both police and civilian works, and both areas process a huge amount of EEG data. Storing and transmitting these huge amounts of data are significant challenges for data compression techniques. Lossy compression is used for EEG data as it provides a higher compression ratio (CR) than lossless compression techniques. However, lossy compression can negatively influence the performance of EEG-based person identification and verification systems via the loss of information in the reconstructed data. To address this, we propose introducing performance measures as additional features in evaluating lossy compression techniques for EEG data. Our research explores if a common value of CR exists for different systems using datasets with lossy compression that could provide almost the same system performance with those using datasets without lossy compression. We performed experiments on EEG-based person identification and verification systems using two large EEG datasets, CHB MIT Scalp and Alcoholism, to investigate the relationship between standard lossy compression measures and our proposed system performance measures with the two lossy compression techniques, discrete wavelet transform—adaptive arithmetic coding and discrete wavelet transform—set partitioning in hierarchical trees. Our experimental results showed a common value of CR exists for different systems, specifically, 70 for person identification systems and 50 for person verification systems.