Routing protocols for ad hoc networks need to overcome the problems associated with dynamic and unpredictable topologies due to mobile nodes and the absence of base stations and central controllers. Currently, routing protocols are evaluated using discrete event simulators. Analytical methods to evaluate the end to end blocking probability are required in order to generate faster results for routing protocol comparison and network optimization. This paper proposes a semi-analytical method that incorporates fixed point approximation to account for mobility in ad hoc networks. Results are compared to those obtained by discrete event simulation.


We report here the design and construction of several gene vectors for expression in mammalian cells of membrane-bound and soluble human T cell receptors (TR). We designed a vector (TR-ALPHA-IRES-TR-BETA pEF4) that encodes high-level expression of the full-length TR on the surface of T cells. Furthermore, we engineered TR that does not require the presence of endogenous CD3 molecules for surface expression and thus expression is not limited to T cells. We also constructed a vector encoding a single-chain TR (scTR) as a fusion protein of V-ALPHA-V-BETA-C-BETA with CD3Z. Since it is encoded and expressed as a single molecule, this scTR is well suited for gene therapy. Lastly, we successfully used a mammalian expression vector for generation of soluble human TR. The approaches we used here for manipulation of a human tumor-specific TR can be useful for other investigators interested in TR-based immunotherapy.


Occlusal splint is a commonly prescribed dental appliance in the dental office for the management of bruxism or temporomandibular disorder. The use of digital dental technology facilitates fabrication of this therapeutic device. The digital technology improvement had helped in designing and producing occlusal splints that show better precision and accuracy, ease of manufacturing in terms of time-consuming and materials, in addition to the option of simple and straightforward duplication process. This technical report describes the digital workflow steps that need to be followed to design an occlusal device in a fully digital protocol. Maxillary and mandibular models' scans were acquired in centric relation, and a virtual 3D occlusal device was designed using a free, open-source 3D modelling software program.


Does the written press give a fair account of a complex medical question: "The Vincent Lambert Case"? We have studid press articles referring to Mr. Vincent Lambert's situation from 2013 to 2017. Analysis using a reading grid (including 7 questions) of press articles from four French daily newspapers (Libération, Le Monde, Le Figaro and La Croix) and a specialized medical news site (Agence de presse médicale) so that they can build their own opinion. 341 articles were analyzed (61 articles from Libération, 65 articles from Le Monde, 86 articles from Le Figaro, 82 articles from La Croix, 47 articles from the APM), writing a chronology of the main facts of the patient's history from 2013 to 2017 in order to have benchmarks to estimate the accuracy of the information reported in the various articles. Articles are rarely fully explicit. Inadequate expressions ("passive euthanasia", "end-of-life procedure") are used in the majority of newspapers. Some articles present the facts in a partisan way and contribute to mask the complexity of the patient's situation. Court decisions are often shortened and therefore simplified, which does not help the reader to understand the situation in an informed way. Reflective benchmarks are sometimes found in the various newspapers from 2013 to 2016. From 2016 onwards, we notice that the articles are shorter and that they no longer give any reference points for reflection. The daily written press in its current format does not seem to be able to help the general public to obtain accurate information on complex issues involving broad areas of reflection. The difficulty of the journalist's work in addressing this type of questioning comes partly from the constraints of brevity that are often imposed on them on the one hand and from the constant evolution of the information itself on the other.


The problem of detecting various kinds of update conflicts in file system synchronization following a network partition is well-known. All systems of which we are aware use the version vectors of Parker et al. These requireO(R.F) storage space for F files shared amongR replicas. We propose a number of different methods, the most space-efficient of which uses O(R.F) space in the worst case, but O(R+ F) in the expected case. To gain experience with the various methods, we implemented a file synchronization tool called Tra. Based on this experience, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each particular method. Tra itself turns out to be useful for a variety of tasks, including home directory maintenance, operating system installation, and managing offline work. We discuss some of these uses.


The European Union has styled itself a global leader in climate action. In so doing, it presents itself as responding to science and public concern and its historic responsibilities. In terms of its means of response, the European Union's emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) has been the primary instrument. A rational response to liberal economic theory, the EU ETS is often trumpeted as a cost-effective success story internally and as a model to be adopted externally. This optimistic narrative is challenged herein.


On June 11, 2013, in Stichting Mothers of Srebrenica, a chamber of the European Court of Human Rights found that the Dutch courts' grant of immunity to the United Nations in a case brought by and on behalf of relatives of individuals killed by the Army of the Republika Srpska in and around Srebrenica in July 1995 did not run afoul of Articles 6 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention). Those provisions guarantee, respectively and among other things, the right of access to a court and the right to "an effective remedy before a national authority" if any Convention right is violated. Having found that the challenged decisions accorded with Dutch obligations under the Convention, the chamber declared the application before the Court inadmissible as "manifestly ill-founded" and "rejected" it pursuant to Article 35(3)(a) and 4. The chamber's decision was unanimous.


The Financial Support and Sponsorship statement in the article, 'Healthcare-associated infections in the elderly: what's new' [1], which published in Volume 29 Issue 4, was missing information. The correct Financial Support and Sponsorship should read as follows: This work was supported by the National Institute of Health T32 AI007291-27 to MJK. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The record is hereby corrected.


Nucleic acid replication is essential to the emergence of life. Unlike canonical ribonucleotides, aminonucleotides have shown great promise in non-enzymatic replication, but are assumed to be prebiotically irrelevant due to perceived difficulties with their selective formation on the early earth. Here we demonstrate that, contrary to expectation, 3′-amino-TNA is formed diastereoselectively and regiospecifically from prebiotic feedstocks in four high-yielding steps. Our results suggest that 3′-amino-TNA may have been present on the early earth. Formation of the amino-sugar moiety by 3-component coupling of glycolaldehyde 1, 2-aminooxazole 3 and an aminonitrile 6 regiospecifically positions both the 3′-amine and glycosidic bond. Phosphate provides an unexpected resolution of the two diastereomers formed, leading to purification of the genetically relevant threo-isomer. Under phosphate catalysis, the inhibitory erythro-isomer rearranges to an unreactive guanidinium salt, whilst the Watson-Crick base paring threo-isomer co-crystalises with phosphate, leading to its spontaneous purification and accumulation. Nucleobase construction on the amino-sugar scaffold is observed upon reaction with cyanoacetylene 8, and subsequent thiolysis and photochemical anomerisation sets up the ideal stereochemistry for Watson-Crick base pairing. The resulting 3′-amino-TNA can be phosphorylated directly in water, under mild conditions with cyclic trimetaphosphate (PO3Na)3, forming a nucleotide triphosphate (NTP) in a manner not feasible for canonical nucleosides. The ease with which these activated NTPs form, and the inherent selectivity for the Watson-Crick base pairing structure, warrants further study of 3′-amino-TNA as a precursor to the genetic material of life.


In March through May of 1996-1998, we conducted research in the Cayos Miskito Reserve, Nicaragua, to assess the status, ecology, and distribution of Sotalia juviatilis, a dolphin known from southern Brazil to Honduras. Aerial and boat surveys of lagoons, inlets, and coastal areas were conducted and observational information collected on Sotalia activity, behavior, and other factors relating to its ecology. During boat surveys 183 groups (536 individuals) were sighted (for areas with Sotalia, mean overall density = 0.604 individuals/km2, coastal areas = 0.647/km2, inlets = 0.578/km2, and lagoons = 0.486/km2). Overall, based on all sightings, mean group size was 3.01 (SD = 1.79, range 1-15) and varied among years (2 = 4.20 in 1996, 2.58 in 1997, and 3.39 in 1998), but not for different months. We estimate That 49 Sotalia inhabited the portions of the Reserve we studied. Sightings of Sotalia groups were non-random (nearest-neighbor analysis); clumping of sightings indicates that some areas were preferred. In both Pahara inlet and Wauhta lagoon, sightings were more frequent after 1200 than in the morning. In coastal areas Sotalia were sighted most often within 100 m of shore (54.0%), less often from 101 to 200 m (39.1%), and infrequently from 201 to 300 m (6.8%). Seldom were animals observed in more than 5 m of water, and usually it was considerably shallower (k, <2 m). Feeding was the predominant of five recorded activities (ie., traveling, feeding, socializing, resting, and other), based on time of group sighting (70.3%) and during instantaneous sampling (56.3%). Resource distribution appears to be an important factor influencing Sotalia distribution in the Reserve.


The use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) for Automated Essay Scoring (AES) has been well explored in the English language, with benchmark models exhibiting performance comparable to human scorers. However, AES in Hindi and other low-resource languages remains unexplored. In this study, we reproduce and compare state-of-the-art methods for AES in the Hindi domain. We employ classical feature-based Machine Learning (ML) and advanced end-to-end models, including LSTM Networks and Fine-Tuned Transformer Architecture, in our approach and derive results comparable to those in the English language domain. Hindi being a low-resource language, lacks a dedicated essay-scoring corpus. We train and evaluate our models using translated English essays and empirically measure their performance on our own small-scale, real-world Hindi corpus. We follow this up with an in-depth analysis discussing prompt-specific behavior of different language models implemented.


From 1965 to 1975, 452 total laryngectomies were performed at the Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, Mo. During this period, 33 stomal recurrences were diagnosed. These are clinicopathologically analyzed with regard to tumor size, site, histopathology and original surgical procedure. An association with transglottic tumors, emergency tracheotomy and, surprisingly, hemilaryngectomy is noted. Three theories of etiology are discussed. Since treatment to date is disappointing, several proposed methods of prophylaxis are presented. These include emergency laryngectomy, recurrent laryngeal lymphatic dissection and postoperative radiotherapy. The role of wide local excision and mediastinal dissection is also examined. Based upon the analysis and the proposed methods of prophylaxis, a protocol is suggested for the future management of this dreaded complication.


Objective: To reflect upon the professional autonomy of nurses within the biomedical care model. Methods: This study will analyze the issue based on the reflection built from the theoretical reference regarding the work in the area of health and in nursing. Results: It was identified that in the biomedical model, the professional autonomy of the nurse is limited and conditioned by the decisions of the physician (in which the work process command the use of roles and health services), due to a fragile construction of a body of understandings linked to the profession, and because of the growing technical division of work in health and in nursing. Conclusion: The nurse can widen his/her professional autonomy in other care models that enable the construction of knowledge related to the field of nursing, such as the areas of Mental Health, Obstetrics, and Primary Health Care. These are areas destined to the nurse to develop his/her own autonomous professional practice, consonant to the holistic care in health care.


Background: To explore the associations of several genetic variants identified in the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of European ancestry with mild renal impairment glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in Chinese Han population.Methods: Data of 1788 community-dwelling elders from the baseline survey of the ageing arm of the Rugao Longevity and Ageing Study was used. Plasma creatinine based GFR was estimated using the eGFR-EPI equations.Results: Of the 10 common polymorphisms identified in GWAS of the European ancestry, rs17319721 located in the first intron of the SHROOM3, was associated with GFR. A allele was associated with both decreased GFR level and greater odds of mild renal impairment (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.01-1.23, p=0.029) defined by GFR<90 mL/min/1.73 m2 after adjusting for multiple confounds of chronic kidney disease. In addition, compared with rs17319721-GG genotype, AA was associated with both higher depressive score and greater risk of depression prevalence, showing a pleiotropic effects of rs17319721. However, we did not found significant association of GFR levels with another 42 common polymorphisms that was previously reported to be associated with the traditional risk factors of kidney diseases.Conclusions: SHROOM3-rs17319721 is associated with GFR levels, kidney impairment, and depressive symptoms in a Chinese population.


The effects of lithium imide and lithium orthoborate dual-salt electrolytes of different salt chemistries in carbonate solvents on the cycling stability of lithium (Li) metal batteries are systematically and comparatively investigated. Two imide salts (LiTFSI and LiFSI) and two orthoborate salts (LiBOB and LiDFOB) are chosen for this study and compared with the conventional LiPF6 salt. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the chemical and electrochemical stabilities rank in the following order: LiTFSI-LiBOB > LiTFSI-LiDFOB > LiFSI-LiDFOB > LiFSI-LiBOB. The experimental cycling stability of the Li metal batteries with the electrolytes ranks in the following order: LiTFSI-LiBOB > LiTFSI-LiDFOB > LiFSI-LiDFOB > LiPF6 > LiFSI-LiBOB, which is in well accordance with the calculation results. The LiTFSI-LiBOB can effectively protect the Al substrate and form a more robust surface film on Li metal anode, while the LiFSI-LiBOB results in serious corrosion to the stainless steel cell case and a thicker and looser surface film on Li anode. The key findings of this work emphasize that the salt chemistry is critically important for enhancing the interfacial stability of Li metal anode and should be carefully manipulated in the development of high-performance Li metal batteries.


Regulation of genetic expression occurs at different levels, from transcriptional control to post-translational modification of proteins. Ubiquitination is one such late process, where target proteins are labeled covalently on a lysine residue with one or more ubiquitin moieties. Ubiquitin itself is a small protein. This mechanism is evolutionarily conserved, present to some degree in bacteria. In eukaryotes, it is organized around three conserved enzymes: E1, an activation enzyme, E2 a conjugation enzyme, and E3, a ligation enzyme. This last class is by far the most diverse, being the main one conferring specificity by guiding E2-ubiquitin complexes to appropriate targets. Depending on the activation domain they possess, there are three classes of E3 enzymes: RING-finger, HECT, and U-box. Ubiquitination can signal different outcomes, yet the most studied one is protein degradation via the 26S proteasome. Studying ubiquitination in whole organisms, especially genetic model organisms, confers many advantages, chief among them being the possibility of recording responses of neighboring groups of cells, whether directly affected or not, by the process.


We present a robust and flexible sequential solution approach in which the flow equation is solved on the original grid, whereas the transport equations are solved with a new dynamic coarsening method that adapts the grid resolution locally to reduce the number of cells as much as possible. The resulting grid is formed by combining precomputed coarse partitions of an underlying fine model. Our approach is flexible and makes very few assumptions on cell geometries and the topology of the grid. To further accelerate the transport step, we combine dynamic coarsening with a local nonlinear solver that permutes the discrete transport equations into an optimal block-triangular form so that these can be solved very efficiently using a nonlinear back-substitution method. Efficiency and utility of the overall approach are assessed through a number of conceptual test cases, including the Olympus field model.


Summary. In the last decade, apoptosis has emerged as a key determinant of target organ damage in cardiovascular diseases. The suggestion that increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis participates in the etiology of heart failure probably contributed to the negative view of the prevalence of apoptosis in the field of cardiovascular diseases. However, we and others have shown that up-regulation of apoptosis in certain cardiovascular cells may contribute to the beneficial action of antihypertensive drugs on target-organ structure. As an explanation for this apparent discrepancy, the same stimulus, e.g. angiotensin II, can induce apoptosis or stimulate cell growth in different cell types (e.g., cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts, respectively). Using the angiotensin pathway as a paradigm, this review proposes an integrative view of cell growth and cell death regulation in cardiovascular cells in order to illustrate how cell-specific responses to the same stimulus may in part explain the patterns of cell population dynamics during the development and treatment of target organ damage in hypertension.


Following on from the text-driven monographs published by Greenwood and the University of Michigan Press on Maria Irene Forties's dramaturgy, Marc Robinson's welcome casebook offers a more comprehensive assessment of Fornes's theatrical output. Here the plays are examined within a structure which recognizes the importance of discussing their theatrical trajectory. Reviews of early productions (The Successful Life of 3 and Promenade) are reproduced alongside more expansive considerations of Fornes's directing of her own plays as well as those of other dramatists. Susan Letzler Cole's valuable chapter on Fornes in rehearsal with Uncle Vanya and Abingdon Square meticulously traces the tensions which arise when the roles of dramatist and director come into conflict. Scott Cummings's essay on scenography carefully argues through Fornes's use of theatrical space and her collaboration with the designer Donald Eastman in creating domestic environments of haunting eloquence. Robert Coe brings together comments from a range of performers who articulate the acting styles required by Fornes's startling dramaturgy. Rebecca Schull, John Seitz, Madeleine Potter, and Sheila Dabney all testify to the challenges posed both by the unusual nature of the writing and also by Fornes's directorial work, which Coe astutely summarizes as 'at once formalist and improvisational, demanding and permissive, fiercely insistent on the truth of her own vision, yet attuned to the contributions of others'. It is, as Dabney indicates, Fornes's interest in 'the moment being portrayed' rather than how 'her own imagination has perceived it' which so marks her collaborative relationships. In the final section of the book, a selection of interviews with and articles by Fornes provide a commentary on her own artistic decisions and on the creative strategies that she employs in her writing which were to be passed on through her INTAR Hispanic Playwrights' Lab to a new generation of Latino dramatists, including Nilo Cruz, Caridad Svich, and Migdalia Cruz.


Currently, e-recruiting is one of the most successful e-commerce applications as a method for quickly reaching a large pool of the potential job seekers. The capability of advanced e-recruiting tools has enabled recruiters to quickly identify and hire qualified candidates, and to build ongoing relationships with prospective employees. The aim of this paper is to review and analyze the E- recruitment in Iranian banks and insurance industry. And content analysis was used to achieve this. In other words, in this study The website content was analyzed by researchers. These organizations are selected based on the ranking of the top 100 organizations in 1390. The results of this study indicate that Most of these organizations have at least part of the electronic recruitment and Obviously, these organizations have understood the importance of the electronic recruitment. also in this organizations more have been emphasized on advertisement and HR Policies and activities. also these organizations had less attention to recruitment process, internship, Types of employment, HR Vision, Announcing the results & Post Resume.


Ethnicity plays an ambiguous role in the great transformation. On the other hand, ethnicity creates: By providing inentives that organize the flow of resources across generations, it provides the capital for urban migration and the acquisition of skills for industrial employment. On the other hand, ethnicity destroys : Ethnic conflict leads to costly acts of violence. Using data drawn largely from Africa, this paper explores the two faces of ethnicity. In so dong, it finds that the presumed link between ethnicity and violence is more complex and less threatening than most assume. Those who claim a straightforward link are making an elementary error in the reading of tabular data.


This article discusses the common nutritional problems of children in their first years of life, leading to nutritional deficiency in infants. A high frequency of micronutrient and vitamin deficiencies in nutrition is observed in both nursing mothers and their children; it can be explained by a lack of awareness of parents about the rules of feeding, the introduction of complementary foods and the fear of introducing solid food to children, especially if they have typical functional gastrointestinal disorders. This problem is solved by the fulfillment of the available clinical feeding recommendations, the rules for the timely and safe introduction of complementary foods using high-quality industrial products to ensure the physiological needs of the child in food ingredients while observing the psychological comfort of the children and their parents.


This paper highlights the essence of foreign language learning in today's globalizing world as well as underscores its benefits and hindrances. It emphasizes that foreign language does collectively bind us together as human beings predicated upon our irresistible interdependence in various ways. Rationally speaking, being knowledgeable of a second or foreign language is extremely pertinent because it provides numerous life time opportunities. Yielding the dividends of studying abroad, employment, personal development, security, political and economic benefits among others make foreign language learning absolutely beneficial. Consequently, this paper sees foreign language conversance as a key that could unlock the door of your life and it must not be ignored. However, despite its overarching benefits, foreign language learning is continually constrained with the challenges of complexity, ignorance of its importance, learner-native speaker gaps, weak policies and inadequate support. Some of these challenges are related to the constructs of motivational beliefs and strategies which are vital to foreign language learning because learners must believe in themselves, value tasks and use appropriate strategies if they are to succeed. Finally, it recommends a collective concerted effort against monolingualism, but supports the formulation of salient policies and programs including the inclusion of foreign languages in the curricula, increased financial and moral supports, and early teaching of foreign languages to kids. Key words: foreign language, language benefits and barriers, motivational beliefs, language learning strategies, globalizing world.


Chronic heart failure is common, debilitating, and often the culmination of pervasive cardiovascular insults that systematically undermine the heart's circulatory capacity and invoke counterproductive neuro-hormonal compensatory changes. Prevention of chronic heart failure therefore requires minimising the impact of traditional cardiovascular risk factors with incisive treatment of hypertension and type II Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and prompt lifestyle interventions for smoking, lack of exercise, obesity and hypercholesterolemia. This review is narrative, with selected emphasis on major studies, rather than structured on a specific clinical question, and should be read as such.


The residential demand for energy has been growing steadily in tact with the societies' increasing economic affluence. As a result, the household sector accounts for a significant share of total energy use and economic welfare in modern economies. The residential energy demand is expected to continue to grow in the foreseeable future. This has, in recent years, attracted much attention mainly in relation to the debate on the effect of energy use on climate change.


Massarina proprietunicata sp. nov., is described and illustrated based on a specimen occurring on submerged wood in the Lam Tsuen River, Hong Kong. It is characterized by verrucose ornamented ascospores bearing a narrow mucilaginous sheath, which is drawn out at the poles to form tapering appendages, with thickened and arrowhead-like tips. Massarina proprietunicata is compared with other aquatic Massarina species having ascospores bearing a narrow mucilaginous sheath or polar appendages. Details of morphology are illustrated with interference and scanning electron micrographs.


Transient hyperglycemia during acute illness may represent the earliest clinical sign of impaired beta cell function. This study sought to characterize the clinical presentation of patients with stress hyperglycemia and to determine the prevalence of immunologic and endocrinologic markers associated with prediabetes. Thirty-six children were studied. They were referred to us for routine evaluation after an episode of hyperglycemia during severe intercurrent illness. Immunologic markers (insulin autoantibodies and islet cell autoantibodies) and intravenous glucose tolerance test for evaluation of first phase insulin secretion rate were performed in all participants. Islet cell autoantibodies were negative in all patients. In eight patients, the first phase insulin response was below the first percentile (46 microU/ml) at the first determination. Insulin autoantibodies were positive in another three children (> 60 nU/ml). Twelve to sixteen months later, all children were re-evaluated and all had normal results. None of the patients developed diabetes during the study (mean 3.2 years). Our data support the idea that episodes of hyperglycemia during severe illness without additional risk factors are a minimal risk factor, if any, for future development of IDDM.


A review of storage battery applications in the railroad, motor bus, and aircraft transportation fields. Historical notes are recorded of events in the development of gas and Diesel-electric rail cars and Diesel-electric locomotives, especially as those events relate to storage batteries. Similar treatment is given to other battery applications — car lighting, air conditioning, busses, and aircraft. The changes made in the construction of batteries for these services are described. Physical and electrical characteristics are emphasized where they have a bearing on the application.


Spatial patterns of soil erosion and deposition can be inferred from differences in ground elevation mapped at appropriate time increments. Such changes in elevation are related to changes in near-surface soil carbonate (CaCO3) profiles. The objective is to describe a simple conceptual model and detailed protocol for repeatable field and laboratory measurements of these quantities. Here, accurate elevation is measured using a ground-based differential global positioning system (GPS); other data acquisition methods could be applied to the same basic method. Soil samples are collected from prescribed depth intervals and analyzed in the lab using an efficient and precise modified pressure-calcimeter method for quantitative analysis of inorganic carbon concentration. Standard statistical methods are applied to point data, and representative results show significant correlations between changes in soil surface layer CaCO3 and changes in elevation consistent with the conceptual model; CaCO3 generally decreased in depositional areas and increased in erosional areas. Maps are derived from point measurements of elevation and soil CaCO3 to aid analyses. A map of erosional and depositional patterns at the study site, a rain-fed winter wheat field cropped in alternating wheat-fallow strips, shows the interacting effects of water and wind erosion affected by management and topography. Alternative sampling methods and depth intervals are discussed and recommended for future work relating soil erosion and deposition to soil CaCO3.


Parvovirus B19 infection causes 5% to 15% of cases of nonimmune hydrops fetalis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the use of immunohistochemistry in diagnosing parvovirus infection in fetal and placental tissue during routine fetal and perinatal autopsies. Histology slides of 20 cases of confirmed parvovirus infection were reviewed, and immunohistochemistry was applied to selected blocks of fetal and placental tissue. Immunohistochemistry was positive in all 20 cases, and histologic viral inclusions were seen in 19 cases. Immunohistochemical staining was closely correlated with histology and was more sensitive than histology in detecting virally infected cells, especially in autolyzed tissue. All cases also had confirmatory evidence of parvovirus infection by polymerase chain reaction of fetal liver and positive maternal serology, where it was available. We conclude that parvovirus immunohistochemistry is a reliable method for diagnosing parvovirus infection, especially in autolyzed tissue where histologic assessment may be suboptimal.


Map Reduce is a parallel and a distributed computing framework used to process datasets that have large scale nature on a cluster. Due to the nature of data that needs to be handled in the Map Reduce problem which involves huge amount of data, many problems came up that are of great importance. Scheduling tasks is considered one of these major problems that face Map Reduce frameworks. In this paper, we tackled this problem and proposed a new scheduling algorithm that is based on a multi-threading principle. In our proposed algorithm, we divided the cluster into multi blocks where each one of them is scheduled by a special thread. Two major factors are used to test our algorithm; the simulation time and the energy consumption. Our proposed scheduler is then compared with existing schedulers and the results showed the superiority and the preference of our proposed scheduler over the existing schedulers.


Objective

The triglyceride-glucose index (TyG index) has been regarded as a useful alternative marker for the early identification of insulin resistance (IR). Accordingly, the objective of the present study is to explore the association of the TyG index with microalbuminuria (MA) in T1DM children.
Methods

The study retrospectively enrolled 129 patients ((boys/girls = 51/78) with T1DM in the Endocrine inpatient wards of Tianjin Children's Hospital from June 2017 to May 2019. 43 patients with MA were randomly matched 1:2 with 86 patients without MA based on the Propensity Score Matching. TyG index was calculated as follows: ln[fasting triglycerides (mg/dL)×fasting plasma glucose (mg/dL)/2].
Results

TyG index and related lipid parameters were significantly higher in patients with MA compared with those without (all p < 0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that the TyG index in patients with MA was 2.166 times compared with those without (OR = 2.166; 95% CI, 1.559–3.009; p < 0.001). FPG (OR = 1.068; 95% CI, 1.026–1.112; p = 0.001), HBA1c (OR = 1.193; 95%CI, 1.066–1.334; p = 0.002), and the occurrence of DKA (OR = 9.863; 95% CI, 2.764–35.192; p < 0.001) were still associated with a higher MA risk. ROC curves analysis shown that the area under the curve (AUC) of the TyG index for predicting MA was the largest (0.78) compared with fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and HAB1c. The cumulative incidence of MA in the higher TyG index group was significantly higher than that in the lower TyG index group in 15 years (p < 0.001).
Conclusions

The TyG index was significantly correlated with MA levels. An elevated TyG index had a significantly greater risk of MA events independent of DKA, even after adjusting for confounding risk factors. The TyG index was more specific than FPG and HBA1c in predicting MA. Compared to patients with a lower TyG index, those with a higher TyG index had an apparently higher cumulative incidence of MA.


A broadband microstrip patch antenna well suited for monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) is presented. The antenna exhibits a measured bandwidth of 35%, low surface wave loss, a high front-to-back ratio, and is fabricated directly on the MMIC substrate material. The predicted and measured input impedances are given along with the measured radiation performance.


Introduction: Human sexuality is generally described as the sum total of manner through which people experience and articulate their sexual sensations. Female sexual dysfunction (FSD) is a continuum of psychosexual disorders centered on sexual desire with interrelated problems of arousal, orgasm and sexual pain that impairs quality of life for many women. Female sexual dysfunctions (FSDs) range from short-term aggravations to major emotional disturbances adversely affecting family and workplace. This research article is focus on the herbal treatment of psychosexual disorders of females. Objective: The purpose of this study is to find out the herbal treatment of the psychosexual disorders of females. Method: The duration of the study is 1 year, from July 2013 to June 2014. Total 40 patients randomly collected and divided into 2 groups. One is control group (CG) which received traditional therapy and one is Main group (MG) which received study drug Femion capsule for the 60 days. Patient were collected using female sexual function index (FSFI) and seeing inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results Efficacy: High efficacy 4 point: 86.6%, Moderate efficacy 3 points: 12.4%, low efficacy 2 points: 1.0% women. Tolerance: No side effects and adverse clinical events caused by the administered medicinal product were observed at patients during clinical study and data analysis Conclusion: Female sexual dysfunction in women is reputed to be intractable and difficult to treat. This view has changed. Sexual health does matter. Both psychological and physical factors are predisposing for sexual difficulties. To optimize psychosexual comfort the use of this Femion capsule seems to be very effective and safe.


Due to the rapid growth of the global business, the establishment of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which has highly competitiveness is necessary to be conducted. One of several important factors that influence the building of the SMEs mentioned above is the ability of innovation and technological capabilities, where the SMEs due to lack of access to technology. One of the reason why the SMEs do not have the updated technology is because they do not have the access to the Research and Development (RaD) Institutions which create the updated and the appropriate technology. In this instance, the SMEs is solely as the users of technology. In this concept of innovation systems, it is attempted to build an institution which has its role and function, as an intermediate actor between the R a D institutions and the SMEs.  This research was chosen one LI, that is the Technology Incubator Center (BIT) at Puspitek Serpong, which aims (1) to identify the characteristic and conditions of BIT, (2) to identify the factors that influence the successes of BIT as LI, (3) to formulate a strategy and feasibility of developing BIT.  Matrix IFE, EFE, IE, SWOT, and QSPM were used for processing and data analyses. Factors that influenced the successes of BIT performance were the number of human resources, fund availability and financial services, infrastructure, networking, appropriate services and serious/strong commitment for tutoring and helping tenants (SMEs). Based on analysis of functional feasibility, BIT has fulfill the requirement as a good organization, as an intermediary institution and as a business incubator. Based on the determination of QSPM matrix, there were three main strategies to be implemented to BIT are: (1) To increase the utilization and the use of existing human resources to enlarge  the number and to enhance the competitiveness of assisted SMEs; (2) To maintain and to enhance the quality and the quantity of technology services for SMEs assisted, via utilization technology produced by R a D institutions; (3) To maintain and to enhance the quality and the quantity of market access services to acquire bigger share of  market for assisted SMEs's  products


Dispersed generation systems need several elements that should work together. One possible way to connect these elements is through a common dc link. This paper discusses a new control method for the doubly fed induction generator when connected to a dc link. Considerable benefits are obtained in this configuration, because a simple diode bridge can be used on the stator and only an ac/dc power electronic inverter is needed to control the rotor currents. As the ac mains do not impose the stator frequency, this should be regulated to get an appropriate operation of the induction machine. This paper proposes a method to regulate the stator frequency and control the torque based on adjustments of the d - q rotor reference currents by using the field-oriented control. The analysis and synthesis of the control system based on a simplified model is discussed. Simulations and experimental results show that the proposed control exhibits good dynamics in the torque control and in frequency regulation.


Rails Core developer Jose Valim guides you through seven different tutorials, each of them using test-driven development to build a new Rails extension or application that solves common problems with these new APIs. You will understand how the Rails rendering stack works and customize it to read templates from the database while you learn how to mimic Active Record behavior, like validations, in any other object. You will find out how to write faster, leaner controllers, and you'll learn how to mix Sinatra applications into your Rails apps, so you can choose the most appropriate tool for the job. In addition, you will improve your productivity by customizing generators and responders. This book will help you understand Rails 3's inner workings, including generators, template handlers, internationalization, routing, and responders. With the knowledge you'll gain, you'll be ready to tackle complicated projects more easily than ever before, creating solutions that are well-tested, modular, and easy to maintain.


Background

Novel findings in biochemical characteristics of placenta can bring new insight for further studies on the potential markers of physiological/pathological pregnancy or function of placenta. In this study, we compared the proteome of dairy cow placenta enzymatic hydrolysis by different proteases using a label-free mass spectrometry approach.
Results

In total, 541, 136 and 86 proteins were identified in trypsin group (TRY), pepsin group (PEP) and papain group (PAP), respectively. 432 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified between the proteomes of PAP and TRY. 421 DEPs were identified between PEP and TRY, while 136 DEPs were identified between PEP and PAP. Further analysis of the up-regulated DEPs and down-regulated DEPs of each comparison showed the proteins identified by papain are mostly derived from extracellular matrix and collagen and enriched in relaxin signaling pathway, advanced glycation end products-receptor of advanced glycation end products (AGE-RAGE) signaling pathway in diabetic complications. Moreover, pepsin digestion resulted in more muscle-related proteins, which enriched in lysosome, platelet activation, cardiac muscle contraction,bacterial invasion of epithelial cell and small cell lung cancer. Trypsin mainly enzymatically degrades extracellular matrix, blood particles, and cell surface proteins which enriched in arginine and proline metabolism, olfactory transduction proteasome, protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, pyruvate metabolism and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC).
Conclusions

In summary, these data provide insights into the selection of protease in dairy cow placenta proteomics.


Systems biology is an emerging multi-disciplinary field in which the behaviour of complex biological systems is studied by considering the interaction of all cellular and molecular constituents rather than using a "traditional" reductionist approach where constituents are studied individually. Systems are often studied over time with the ultimate goal of developing models which can be used to predict and understand complex biological processes, such as human diseases. To support systems biology, a large number of biological pathways are being derived for many different organisms, and these are stored in various databases. There is a lack of and need for algorithms for analysis of biological pathways. Here, a thesis is proposed where three related methods are developed for semantic analysis of biological pathways utilising the Gene Ontology. It is believed that the methods will be useful to biologists in order to assess the biological plausibility of derived pathways, compare different pathways for semantic similarities, and to derive hypothetical pathways that are semantically similar to documented biological pathways. To our knowledge, all methods are novel, and will therefore extend the bioinformatics toolbox that biologists can use to make new biological discoveries.


The Verne plagiogranite-FeTi-oxide gabbro association is exposed in the southern Basal Serpentinite Unit of the Monviso meta-ophiolite and consists of a tabular body (about 400 x 250 m wide and 70 m thick) of jadeite - quartz - bearing massive metaplagiogranite in primary contact with omphacite - garnet - rutile ± glaucophane eclogite (recrystallized FeTi-oxide gabbro). Albite - quartz - bearing leucocratic layers within the metaplagiogranite body are interpreted as late-magmatic dikes.
Despite Alpine re-crystallization under eclogite-facies conditions, both the FeTi-oxide gabbros and the plagiogranites retain most of their primary geochemical features. Composition of the Verne FeTi-oxide gabbros (average Mg# = 31.8) is very similar to those of FeTi-oxide metagabbros from other units of the Monviso meta-ophiolite. Their REE chondrite-normalized patterns are characterized by the typical MORB depletion in LREE; two samples are between 10 and 13 times chondrite and display rather flat patterns; one sample (also having the highest contents in Ce and Zr) is about 100 times chondrite and displays a negative Eu anomaly. The plagiogranites (64.20 < SiO2 < 65.90 wt%, 7.23 < Na2O < 8.28, average Mg# = 19.1) are leucocratic, Fe-rich quartz diorites; the plagiogranite dikes (SiO2 = 70.85 wt%, FeOtot = 3.37 wt% and average Mg# = 17.3) are more differentiated trondhjemite varieties. All plagiogranites are Zr-enriched rocks lying along a typical MORB differentiation trend. Their REE chondrite-normalized patterns are also typical of MORB, ranging between 20 and 500 times chondrite. All samples display a negative Eu anomaly, ranging from weak to strong.
The Verne association represents late stages of the plutonic activity within ultramafic oceanic crust and its occurrence can be modelled by fractional crystallization of an evolved tholeiitic magma, possibly of oceanic andesite composition. After fractional crystallization of the FeTi-oxide gabbros, the remaining liquid has a composition similar to those of the plagiogranites, suggesting that these formed essentially from direct crystallization of such a residual liquid. The trondhjemite dikes, being the most differentiated liquids, were probably emplaced through deformation-controlled, late-stage melt migration in the nearsolidified crystal mush of the plagiogranite.


In the past few years, the number of wireless devices connected to the Internet has increased to a number that could reach billions in the next few years. While cloud computing is being seen as the solution to process this data, security challenges could not be addressed solely with this technology. Security problems will continue to increase with such a model, especially for private and sensitive data such as data personal and medical data collected with more and more sophisticated connected devices (forming the IoT). Thus the need for a fully decentralized peer to peer and secure technology to overcome these problems. The blockchain Technology is a promising approach giving the properties it brings to the field. This paper illustrates an architecture based on blockchain technology, and a protocol for data access, using smart contracts and a publisher-subscriber mechanism.


In an earlier paper (see ibid., vol.36, p.1114-28, 1988) a spectral-domain method was developed for analyzing multiply scattered scalar wavefields propagating in continuous random media. This method is extended to accommodate vector wavefields propagating in discrete random media. The two-dimensional Fourier spectra of vector wavefields propagating in the forward and backward directions are characterized by a pair of coupled first-order differential equations. Dyadic scattering functions characterize the local interaction of the wavefields with the random medium. The results are restricted to sparse distributions whereby the dyadic scattering functions are easily computed. The first- and second-order moments of the vector wavefields can be computed by invoking an assumption essentially equivalent to the Markov approximation as it is applied to scalar wavefields propagating in continuous random media. A complete solution for the coherent wavefield is derived and compared to known results. The results are essentially equivalent to those obtained by using the effective field approximation. >


Baseline 7 Blended Wing-Body design is introduced to study the behaviour of the control surfaces, given four elevons without vertical stabilizer and wingtip. The objective of the paper is to obtain an aerodynamic characteristic of a cranked planform blended wing-body aircraft. The airfoil used for the entire body is NACA 2412, which is selected for ease of fabrication process. The wingspan of the model is 1.4 m with 0.2 m thickness. The sweep angle of the model is fixed to 400. The wingspan area is calculated at 0.405 m2. The experiment is conducted at UTM-LST Wind Tunnel, AEROLAB, Skudai, Johor with test wind speed of 15 m/s. The maximum lift-to-drag ratio for the model is found to be around 21.9, which is better than many conventional aircraft. Nonetheless, the parabolic regression made to the drag versus lift plot only yields maximum lift-to-drag ratio of 10.0. The value of drag coefficient at zero lift is 0.012 while the maximum lift coefficient found is at 0.65 at 150 angle of attack. The lift-to-drag ratio improves 38.3% from 15.9 in the previously-published design. The neutral point is found to be located at 30.6% of the mean geometric chord in front of the wind tunnel model reference center or about 0.398 m from the nose of the 0.63 m long aircraft model or at 63.1% of aircraft length from the nose.


. The aim of the research, the results of which are presented in this paper, was to determine factors responsible for the effective employment of new media in the process of making purchasing deci -sions. The article consists of two parts. The irst one presents a review of the literature on the subject, the scope of which comprises the issues concerning the employment of new technologies – new media – in building relationships with customers in individual marketing (B2C). The second part contains the results of the research demonstrating the impact of advertisements appearing through new media on purchasing decisions of customers of B2C market.


The Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR) is a high performance Material Testing Reactor under construction in southern France (CEA/Cadarache research centre), that will carry out experimental irradiations for Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) and fuel vendors, utilities, safety organizations and research institutes. Therefore CEA is developing a set of test devices that will be operational for the start up of the reactor or few years later. These experimental hosting systems will have to fulfil experimental needs concerning current NPP technologies (GEN II-III) and future reactors (GEN IV) as well. Experimental programs could be related to either fuel basis properties acquisition, mastering of margins or improvement of fuel products (clad and pellet), in term of performance, safety, maximum burn up, innovative materials or extension of validation domain of fuel performance codes. Then the present paper will describe the main experimental hosting systems currently under design: • The MADISON device will be available at the JHR start up, and will allow testing the comparative behaviour of several instrumented fuel rods (between 1 to 8 rods of up to 60 cm fissile stack height) under NPP normal operating conditions (no clad failure expected). • The ADELINE device will be available for the JHR start up, and will allow testing a single experimental rod up to its operating limits. The fuel rod will be tested under conditions that correspond to off-normal situations with possible occurrence of a clad failure. The first version so called ADELINE "power ramps" will focus on the clad failure occurrence during one of these abnormal situations. • The LORELEI device will be available few years after the reactor start up and will allow testing a single rod under accidental situation that may lead to fuel damage. It will be able to reproduce all sequences of a LOCA-type transient, including the re-irradiation, the loss of coolant and the quenching phases, on a separate effect approach. In-core and in reflector material test devices will be presented as well, corresponding to large ranges of irradiation conditions, in terms of temperature, neutron flux and neutron spectra. A special attention focuses on the improvement of the thermal stability and gradients in the interest zones of irradiated samples. Some specific devices will be described such as equipments designed to the qualification of reactor pressure vessel steels (OCCITANE test device), to the studies of creep-swelling of structural materials (MICA test device) or to the study of the stress corrosion cracking assisted by irradiation phenomena (CLOE test device: a corrosion loop with an accurate water chemistry monitoring for PWR or BWR requirements).


Block-matching algorithm (BMA) is widely adopted in video coding. However, many blocks contain both background pixels and moving-object pixels, which often differ significantly in true physical motions. Using BMA for these blocks may lead to large prediction error and thus decreased coding efficiency. More accurate prediction can be achieved by object-based coding, which segments a video frame into different objects and codes these objects separately. However, additional bits are required for encoding the shape of the objects, and the computation complexity of object segmentation is often very high. In this paper, a composite-block model and a joint-prediction algorithm are proposed. This algorithm can get accurate prediction without shape coding, and its computation complexity is very close to that of the BMA. The experimental result shows that the new H.264 coder enhanced by our algorithm outperforms original H.264 coder by approximately 0.8~1.5 dB


The demand for high-performance electrochemical energy storage devices is ever-growing as they are critical components for portable electronics, electric vehicles, and efficient storage media for energy from renewable sources. Electrochemical capacitors (also called supercapacitors) are emerging as one of the most promising candidates due to their rapid charge rate, high power density, good rate capability and excellent lifespan. However, their usage is significantly limited by the disadvantages of low energy density. The main aim of this work is to develop advanced electrode materials for supercapacitors with improved energy density while maintaining high power density and long cycle life.

In this thesis, we have developed four novel electrode materials based on the transition metals of Ni and Cu for supercapacitor applications, including the metal oxides (Li2Ni2(MoO4)3 and Cu2O/CuMoO4) and metal sulfides (NiMoS4-A and Ni-Cu-S). These materials were prepared via different techniques, such as combustion, chemical co-precipitation and hydrothermal. Their physical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) etc. Their electrochemical behaviours were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and cycling stability etc. To further measure the performance in practical energy storage devices, the materials were tested with a two-electrode configuration. All the four materials were used as positive electrodes, which were paired with proper activated carbon (AC) or nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) negative electrodes to assemble asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs).

At a current density of 1 A g-1, the Cu2O/CuMoO4 electrode exhibits a high specific capacitance of 4264 F g-1, superior to the1137 F g-1 of the Li2Ni2(MoO4)3, 706.5 F g-1 of the NiMoS4-A, and 938.6 F g-1 of the Ni-Cu-S. In terms of the ASCs, the Cu2O/CuMoO4//AC ASC could expand the operation voltage to 1.7 V, at which the energy density can reach 75.1 Wh kg-1 with a power density of 420 W kg-1. The NiMoS4-A//AC ASC displays a high energy density of 35 Wh kg-1 at an average power density of 400 W kg-1. Meanwhile, it exhibits excellent cycle stability, maintaining 82% of the initial capacitance after 10000 charge-discharge cycles at 5 A g-1. These good results suggest that the developed materials are promising for high-performance supercapacitor applications.


Alcoholism and alcohol abuse can lead to memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. The neuroinflammatory response plays an important role in the neurotoxic mechanism of chronic alcohol exposure. Additionally, the phosphorylation status of the tau protein is closely related to neurotoxicity and synaptic function. As inflammatory cytokines have been shown to regulate tau phosphorylation, in the present study, the aim was to determine whether cognitive impairment caused by chronic alcohol exposure is associated with neuroinflammation and tau hyperphosphorylation in the hippocampus. We established a chronic alcohol exposure model of C57BL/6J mice. The Y maze was used to assess the spatial recognition ability of mice, and ELISA was used to detect the levels of inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 in the serum. Immunohistochemical and western blot assays were used to assess the expression levels of IL-1β and IL-6, as well as tau protein and its phosphorylation status in the hippocampus. We also analyzed the mRNA and protein expression of the synapse-associated proteins PSD95 and synaptophysin in the hippocampus. Our results showed that chronic alcohol exposure impaired the spatial recognition ability of mice upregulated the expression of IL-1β and IL-6 in the serum and hippocampus and increased the phosphorylation of tau protein in the hippocampus. In addition, chronic alcohol exposure downregulated PSD95 and synaptophysin protein levels. The present results indicate that hippocampal IL-1β, IL-6, and phosphorylated tau proteins may be involved in the neurotoxic mechanism of chronic alcohol exposure by mediating synaptic dysfunction.


A technique is discussed for the possible use of the Lg phase for magnitude determination for regional and near regional events. Data used in this study was obtained from several test shots at the Nevada Test Site recorded by Long Range Seismic Measurements stations. The comparison of magnitudes determined by this method appear to give better results for epicentral distances up to about 2000 km than the body wave technique presently in use. This research is the result of a preliminary investigation to determine the feasibility of the method and further study is continuing.


INTRODUCTION Joint power calculations not only are related to muscle force but also provide information on the changes in muscle length and the type of load produced (eccentriclconcentric) (Andrews, 1983; ~inte;, 1990). It was the aim of this study to compute the joint power developed at the wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints during the performance of flat and slice tennis serves. METHODS Five male, right-handed collegiate tennis players were filmed using the DLT method of 3D cinematography. Film analysis procedures and quintic spline functions were used to calculate and to smooth the 3D coordinates of the landmarks, respectively. The following events were defined: ball toss (BAT); maximal elbow flexion (MEF); racket lowest point (RLP), start of forward swing; maximum external rotation (MER); and impact (IMP). Rigid body kinematics and the inverse dynamics approach were used to calculate the resultant torque and force at each joint (Bahamonde, 1994). Joint power (P,) was calculated as the product of the components of the resultant joint torque (T,) and the joint angular velocity (a~()W inter, 1990). RESULTS Table 1. Average Joint Power (Watts) Values for the Flat and Slice Serves CONCLUSIONS Large eccentric loads (pre-stretching) were placed on the internal rotator muscles during the late portion of the backswing and the early forward swing; changing into concentric loads prior to IMP. Elbow loads (extension and pronation) were concentric throughout the forward swing. Wrist concentric (flexion and ulnar deviation) loads increased in magnitude near impact (MERAMP). In general, the magnitude of the joint power values were larger for the flat serves than for the slice serves. The joint power needed to accelerate the racket was the result of shoulder internal rotation, elbow extension and pronation, and wrist flexion and ulnar deviation. REFERENCES Bahamonde R. (1994) Biomechanical Analysis of the Serving Arm During the Performance of Flat and Slice Tennis Serves. Doctoral Dissertation, Indiana University. Andrews, J. (1983) Biomechanical Measures of Muscular Effort. Med. Sci. Sport. Exer., 15(3),199-207. Winter, D.A. (1990) Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement. Wiley & Sons, New York.


PURPOSE
In this paper we report clinical variables on colon cancer series. Oncological outcomes were compared to low-income and high-income countries.

METHODS
We analysed a prospective database of 51 colon cancer patients submitted to primary tumor resection between 2010 and 2011, showing clinical variables and oncologic outcomes.

RESULTS
R0 resection obtained in 80.4%, 21.6% of patients was TNM stage IV, and only 13.7% showed TNM stage I. Disease-free survival was 32 months, overall survival was 46 months, and the tumoral recurrence rate was 9.8%. Univariate analysis showed association of serum CEA levels ≥ 5 ng/dl (p= 0.004), presence of metastasis at diagnosis (p= 0.012), compromised surgical margins (p < 0.001) and poorer tumor differentiation (p= 0.041) to death. Multivariate analysis identified compromised surgical margins as an independent risk factor for death due to colon cancer (P=0.003; odds ratio=0.36; 95% confidence interval=0.004-0.33). Nowadays, 62.7% of patients are alive.

CONCLUSION
Recurrence rate, disease-free survival and overall survival was similar to those observed in more developed countries. Serum CEA levels ≥ 5 ng/dl, the presence of metastasis at diagnosis, compromised surgical margins and poorer tumor differentiation were associated with death. A compromised surgical margin was the only independent risk factor for death.


For decades we have known that reciprocal inductive interactions between the embryonic ureteric bud and the metanephric mesenchyme are the basis for kidney development. Signals from the mesenchyme promote the branching of the bud, whereas signals from the bud regulate the survival, proliferation, and differentiation of nephron progenitors. Due to the complex nature of the bud-derived signals, progress in identifying these factors has been slow. However, in the last several years, tremendous advances have been made in identifying specific roles for various secreted proteins in nephron progenitor cell development. Here, we briefly review the roles for Fgfs and Wnts in induction of the nephron progenitors.


Background: Understanding the mechanisms (mediators) of behavior change is crucial to designing more effective interventions. However, this is rarely reported. This paper investigates the mechanisms that explain the lack of intervention effect on physical activity and the significant effect on television viewing time from an early childhood trial. Methods: Secondary analyses were undertaken of data from a cluster randomized controlled trial. The Melbourne Infant Feeding, Activity and Nutrition Trial (INFANT) was a 15-month group program promoting obesity-protective behaviors from the age of 4 months. Outcomes relevant to the current study were child physical activity (accelerometer), television viewing time (maternal report) and 12 potential mediator scales (maternal report). Linear regression models used the product of coefficients method with a joint significance test. Results: Complete data were from 398 mother-child dyads. Despite weak evidence of an intervention effect on the mother's physical activity knowledge and optimism, there was no effect on children's physical activity, and no clear mechanisms were identified. An intervention effect was observed for the mothers' television knowledge (unstandardized regression coefficient for a path (a) = 0.34, 95% confidence interval (CI95) = 0.22, 0.45), with weak evidence for maternal efficacy (a = 0.11, CI95 = −0.02, 0.24) and the use of television (a = −0.10, CI95 = −0.22, 0.01). The intervention impact on television knowledge explained 75% of the difference between the intervention and control groups in children's television viewing. Conclusions: In the very early childhood period, as mothers are commencing their parenting journey, improving their behavioral knowledge appears to be the biggest contributor to reducing child television viewing, constituting a relatively simple strategy that could be implemented across clinical and public health settings. In contrast, it remains unclear what mechanisms may increase physical activity levels in this age group.


Quantitative assessment of motor abilities in stroke survivors can provide valuable feedback to guide clinical interventions. Numerous clinical scales were developed in the past to assess levels of impairment and functional limitation in individuals after stroke. The Functional Ability Scale is one of these clinical scales. It is a 75-point scale used to evaluate the functional ability of subjects by grading movement quality during performance of 15 motor tasks. Performance of these motor tasks requires subjects to reach for objects (e.g., a pencil on a table) and manipulate them (e.g., lift the pencil). In this paper, we show that accelerometer data recorded during performance of a subset of the motor tasks pertaining to the Functional Ability Scale can be relied upon to derive accurate estimates of the scores provided by a clinician using this scale. Accelerometer-based estimates of clinical scores were obtained by segmenting the recordings into movement components (reaching, manipulation, release/return), extracting data features, selecting features that maximized the separation among classes associated with different clinical scores, feeding these features to Random Forests to estimate scores for individual motor tasks, and using a linear equation to estimate the total Functional Ability Scale score based on the sum of the clinical scores for individual motor tasks derived from the accelerometer data. Results showed that it is possible to achieve estimates of the total Functional Ability Scale score marked by a bias of only 0.04 points of the scale and a standard deviation of only 2.43 points when using as few as three sensors to collect data during performance of only six motor tasks.


This book, the latest contribution to the Springer series in social psychology, brings a fresh perspective to the understanding of creativity. Part I focuses on understanding and assessing creativity. In this section, Amabile establishes the overall theme and the premise that underlies much of her own research: that intrinsic motivation is a stimulus, while extrinsic motivation is a detriment to creativity. She does an excellent job of synthesizing the work done


Abstract:This essay analyzes changes in the way Quaker writers represented the landscape of Pennsylvania, particularly the economic features of its built environment, over time. I argue that the promotional writing of William Penn constituted an "official" representation of the landscape, using the genre of imperial georgic to highlight the colony's productive and lucrative potential for an audience of investors while minimizing the role of indentured servitude, African enslavement, and Indigenous dispossession in the process of economic development. Eighteenth-century Quaker reformers, however, developed a more "vernacular" portrayal of the landscape that was attentive to the privations of those who inhabited its built environment. In reading the journals of Elizabeth Ashbridge, John Churchman, Jane Hoskens, Daniel Stanton, and John Woolman, I show how Quaker reformers ironically moved beyond the limits of Penn's vision because of the degree to which they took his articulated ideals seriously.


BACKGROUND: The validity of sleep quality and quantity indices as reported by schoolchildren has not been established. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between subjective sleep habits estimation and objective measurement data in schoolchildren. METHODS: The study consisted of 42 healthy junior high school children aged 13-14. Sleep log information was gathered over 7 consecutive days, using a sleep-monitoring device (Actiwatch®) and a questionnaire which covered the following aspects for sleep quality and quantity: bed time, sleep latency, sleep start, sleep end, wake up and assumed sleep length. The means of the sleep indices for 5 weekdays were used for analysis. Pearson's correlation coefficients and paired t-tests were used to evaluate the correlation and difference between subjective and objective sleep parameters. RESULTS: The correlation coefficient between subjective and objective records was 0.49 (p<0.001) for sleep latency, 0.99 (p<0.001) for sleep start time, 0.99 (p<0.001) for sleep end time, and 0.97 (p<0.001) for assumed sleep length. The difference between subjective and objective records was 7.67 min (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.64-10.71) for sleep latency, and 0:02 min (95% CI: −0:01-0:05) for sleep start time, 0:02 min (95% CI: 0:01-0:03) for sleep end time, and 8.19 min (95% CI: 4.93-11.45) for assumed sleep length. CONCLUSIONS: Although children tended to overestimate sleeping hours, the correlation between subjective and objective sleep indices except sleep latency was quite high. Thus, children's sleep questionnaire can be applied to surveys for sleep habits screening.


Memorizing the Qur'an is ideally applied to children from an early age, so that they are accustomed to using the time to do activities that are beneficial for their lives and future. However, the ability to memorize the Qur'an in early childhood is decreasing in quality and quantity. This is caused by several factors, one of which is an inappropriate and unattractive method for students. Therefore, the mushafahah method can be an alternative solution that is suitable and easy to implement. The purpose of this study was to find out empirical data on the application of the Musyafahah method and to analyze how much the result of the application of the Musyafahah method to facilitate early childhood memorizing short letters in group B in TK Dharma Wanita Persatuan Ngingas Waru Sidoarjo. This research is a field research with a qualitative approach. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the mushafahah method can make it easier for early childhood to memorize short letters well and fluently, especially in the TK B Dharma Wanita Persatuan Ngingas Waru Sidoarjo group. In addition, the mushafahah method can provide experience for students to be able to communicate directly with the teacher, children are also more enthusiastic and more interested in memorizing.


Individuals who invest more in the development of their dispersal-related traits often reduce their investment in reproduction. Thus, there are two possible eco-evolutionary strategies: grow faster or disperse faster (R — D arbitrage). Here we explore, through a reaction-diffusion model, how spatial heterogeneity can shape the R — D trade-off by studying the spreading dynamics of a consumer species exploiting a resource in a spatially fragmented environment. Based on numerical simulations and analytical solutions derived from simpler models, we show that the classical mathematical symmetry between the effects of growth and dispersal on the spatial spreading speed is broken in the presence of competition between phenotypes. At the back of the forefront, the dynamics is almost always driven by the R specialists. On the forefront, R-strategies are favored in spatially homogeneous environments, but the introduction of heterogeneity leads to a shift towards D-strategies. This effect is even stronger when spatial heterogeneity affects the diffusion term and when spatial fragmentation is lower. Introducing mutations between phenotypes produces an advantage towards the R-strategy and homogenizes the distribution of phenotypes, also leading to more polymorphism on the forefront.


This paper presents a Dynamic Vt SRAM (DTSRAM) architecture to reduce the subthreshold leakage in cache memories. The Vt of each cache line is controlled separately by means of body biasing. In order to minimize the energy and delay overhead, a cache line is switched to high Vt only when it is not likely to be accessed anymore. Simulation results from SimpleScalar framework show that even after considering the energy overhead, the DTSRAM can save 72% of the cache leakage with a performance loss less than 1%. Layout of the DTSRAM shows that the area penalty is minimal.


Assessments of the potential size, actual size and growth rate of the European market in value‐added meteorological products and services are brought up to date and set in their historical context. The results show that the European market is orders of magnitude below its overall potential size and has grown very slowly over the past decade. These findings raise interesting and important questions about the structure of the market. In particular, the role of the National Meteorological Services acting simultaneously as quasi monopoly data suppliers to the private sector and as product producers in competition with that sector introduces serious distortions to the market, which restrict market growth for all the players. The underlying reasons for this are analysed and it is concluded that the most significant contribution to the realization of a strong and growing market would be the treatment of the upstream meteorological data as Public Service Information (PSI), a genuine public good available to all downstream players at the marginal cost of handling and dissemination. The distortions arising from the WMO Cg XII Resolution 40 and ECOMET and serious flaws in the provisions of the EC Directive 2003/98EC are considered and it is shown that the current net loss to national exchequers in terms of taxation, which could be returned from the sector, is around 100 million Euros per annum to which can be added the social costs associated with the failure to grow the employment in the sector to its full potential. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society


Intramuscular adrenaline is the gold standard treatment for anaphylaxis. Intramuscular injection provides more rapid and higher plasma concentrations than subcutaneous routes. Given the increasing epidemic of obesity patients are at increased risk of subcutaneous delivery, we therefore assessed the depth of subcutaneous tissue in a population of patients with anaphylaxis. Patients already prescribed adrenaline autoinjectors (AAIs) for anaphylaxis were examined with ultrasound, and measurements of skin‐to‐muscle depth (STMD) at anterolateral thigh and anterior thigh were performed. Twenty‐eight patients (23 female, 5 male) with an age range of 18–75 took part in the study, and in 68%, the STMD was greater than AAI needle length (15.02 mm), using the anterolateral thigh as the recommended administration site. The key predictors for increased STMD were female gender (P=0.0003) and a BMI > 30 (P=0.04). AAIs require longer needles to ensure intramuscular administration, and ultrasound at point of prescription would aid needle length selection.


The information spectrum given by H. Kanamori and M. Matsumoto (1984) is modified by the effect of scatter which decreases the contrast of radiographs. The modification is simply that the signal Wiener spectrum is multiplied by (1-s)2, where s is the scatter rate. An example is demonstrated, where the detectability of low-contrast objects and resolution of high-contrast objects are successfully explained by information spectral values in low- and high-frequency ranges, respectively.


I.-There is a diffuse cicatricial alopecia of the vertex of the scalp which has been noticed for some six months and is progressing. For two years the patient, aged 45, has complained of an irritating eruption in the front of the left leg, where there are to be seen seven or eight grouped nodules with scarring in the centre, about the size of a cherry. The eruption has the appearance of a lichen obtusus. The appearance of the scalp is not typical of pseudo-pelade as described by Brocq, in that the condition is diffuse and there are no small circular areas of baldness which have coalesced leaving islands of normal hair. The skin is slightly erythematous, but no actual infection of the follicles is present, nor is there any red halo round the normal follicles.


This paper addresses a Compensatory Wavelet Neuro-Fuzzy System (CWNFS) for temperature control. The proposed CWNFS model is five-layer structure, which combines the traditional Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy model and the wavelet neural networks (WNN). We adopt the non-orthogonal and compactly supported functions as wavelet neural network bases. Besides, the compensatory fuzzy reasoning method is used in adaptive fuzzy operations that can make the fuzzy logic system more adaptive and effective. An on-line learning algorithm, which consists of structure learning and parameter learning, is presented. The structure learning is based on the degree measure to determine the number of fuzzy rules and wavelet functions. The parameter learning is based on the gradient descent method to adjust the shape of membership function, compensatory operations and the connection weights of WNN. Simulation results have been given to illustrate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed model.


USAA, a diversified financial services firm serving the U.S. military, had long been recognized for outstanding customer service. The company had never operated branches, instead providing services through remote channels, such as the telephone, Internet (USAA.com), mail, fax, and any bank's ATM machines. USAA wanted customers to be able to access their services any way they liked. By 2010, however, USAA recognized that serving customers remotely meant responding to the rapid introduction of mobile consumer devices. To ensure constant innovation and integrated customer services, USAA was transforming its operating model and promoting innovation across the enterprise. The IT unit was focused on providing technology platforms and solutions to support both an integrated business model and rapid innovations. This case describes how USAA was transforming itself and, specifically, how the IT unit was addressing changing demands from customers and business partners.


Author(s): Dana, Craig Matthew | Advisor(s): Clark, Douglas S; Blanch, Harvey W | Abstract: Renewable fuels produced from biomass-derived sugars are receiving increasing attention. Lignocellulose-degrading enzymes derived from fungi are attractive for saccharification of biomass because they can be produced at higher titers and at significantly less cost than those produced by bacteria or archaea. However, their properties can be suboptimal; for example, they are subject to product inhibition and are sensitive to small changes in pH. Furthermore, increased thermostability would be advantageous for saccharification as increased temperature may reduce the risk of microbial contamination. Therefore, there is a need for a generalized platform that can be applied to the engineering of these enzymes. Commercially available lignocellulose-degrading enzymes are produced using a hypersecreting strain of the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei. Among the enzymes secreted by this organism, the cellulase Cel7A is present in the highest concentration and is the only enzyme responsible for non-reducing end directed exo-acting cellulolytic activity. Additionally, the enzyme's presence is critical for growth of T. reesei on cellulosic substrates. Here, a general mutagenesis platform that employed the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was developed to improve the properties of Cel7A. Secretion of Cel7A at titers of 26 mg/L with limited hyperglycosylation was achieved using an S. cerevisiae strain with upregulated protein disulfide isomerase, an engineered α-factor prepro leader, and the deletion of a plasma membrane ATPase. Because cellulase activities are difficult to screen in high-throughput, a DNA shuffling based library generation technique that results in a high percentage of active clones was developed called Biased Clique Shuffling (BCS). BCS allows for the control of DNA diversity during library generation. Applying this technique to 11 homologous Cel7A genes, we generated several libraries that were rich in activity and identified chimeras with improved thermostability, thermal activity, and product inhibition. The libraries generated using the BCS technique were far superior as a source of active and stable chimeras compared to an equimolar library prepared from the same 11 genes (as is classically prepared using DNA shuffling). Finally, we found that Cel7A expressed in the filamentous fungus N. crassa had twice the specific activity at 65°C and a 10°C higher Tm relative to Cel7A expressed in S. cerevisiae. Through a study of the three known post-translational modifications, namely glycosylation, disulfide bond formation, and N-terminal glutamine cyclization, we revealed that S. cerevisiae expressed Cel7A with an unmodified N-terminus, unlike native Cel7A which has an N-terminal pyroglutamate. Furthermore cyclizing the unmodified N-terminal glutamine in the Cel7A expressed in S. cerevisiae to form pryoglutamate in-vitro with glutaminyl cyclase increased the enzyme's specific activity and thermostability to match those Cel7A expressed in N. crassa. This unprecedented result demonstrates the importance of the hydrophobic pyroglutamate in the N-terminal position of Cel7A.


AIM
To review the demographics, clinical manifestations, and surgical experiences of patients with congenital ocular counter-roll, whose treatments were performed exclusively by ophthalmologists.

METHODS
A retrospective review was conducted consisting of patients who received strabismus surgery between 2017 to 2019. Patients with obvious ocular counter-roll were included.

RESULTS
A total of 7008 patients who received strabismus surgery, 28 (12 males, 16 females) were diagnosed as congenital ocular counter-roll, accounting for 0.40%. All patients were initially misdiagnosed: 21 patients were misdiagnosed as superior oblique palsy (SOP), 3 as inferior oblique overaction, 2 as dissociated vertical deviation (DVD), 1 as superior oblique overaction with A-pattern exotropia, and 1 as medial rectus palsy. The mean±SD age was 12.4±9.4y (range 2.5-36y). The most common clinical findings included ocular counter-roll, vertical deviation or vertical deviation combined with outward deviation and head tilt. At follow-up, an excellent surgical result was achieved in 20 patients. Preoperative horizontal deviation of 26±24 prism diopter (PD) and vertical deviation of 18±12 PD were reduced to 0±12 PD (P=0.0001) and 3±4 PD (P=0.001), respectively.

CONCLUSION
Congenital ocular counter-roll is a rare supranuclear vertical strabismus caused by congenital abnormalities involving vestibule-ocular reflex pathways. In addition to ocular counter-roll, the most salient clinical features included, but are not limited to, hyperdeviation, outward deviation, overelevation in adduction and head tilt.


AbstractIn the paper, an asymptotic analysis of G.F. Carrier's mathematical model of string oscillation is presented. The model consists of a system of two nonlinear second order partial differential equations and periodic initial conditions. The longitudinal and transversal string oscillations are analyzed together when at the initial moment of time the system's solutions have amplitudes proportional to a small parameter. The problem is reduced to a system of two weakly nonlinear wave equations. The resonant interaction of periodic waves is analyzed. An uniformly valid asymptotic approximation in the long time interval, which is inversely proportional to the small parameter, is constructed. This asymptotic approximation is a solution of averaged along characteristics integro-differential system. Conditions of appearance of combinatoric resonances in the system have been established. The results of numerical experiments are presented.


There has been extraordinary progress over the last half‐century in the field of medical transplantation in which tissue, organs, or body parts from one human are placed into another. Solid organ transplants have allowed thousands of children with otherwise devastating inherited or acquired disorders to survive. Depending upon the clinical situation, there are many specific peri‐transplant issues that must be carefully addressed to optimize outcomes. Although surgical, immunologic, and infectious concerns are usually in the forefront, important aspects regarding hemostasis frequently arise. The number of solid organs that can be successfully transplanted in children has expanded over the last decades and includes kidney, liver, heart, lung, intestine, pancreas, and thymus. Bleeding complications may occur in the setting of organ failure prior to transplantation, during the surgical procedure, or in the post‐transplant setting, and can results in significant morbidity. This report will focus on preventing and managing non‐surgical‐related bleeding complications in children undergoing liver, heart, kidney transplantation, in whom there are often unique aspects of coagulation to be considered.


In this contribution, I describe the development process of my Masters thesis in which I investigated WhatsApp Voice Messaging through a multi-method approach, using Conversation Analysis in combination with ethnographic methods. This exploratory study allowed me to classify WhatsApp Voice Messaging within Susan Herring's Faceted Classification Scheme for Computer-Mediated Discourse (2007). In the first part, I introduce Voice Messaging and provide some background for the reader to understand the elements founding the multi-method I used. Next, I describe my methodology step-by-step in a comprehensive way. Then I take the reader through a detailed analysis of three selected findings, assembling complementary results. Finally, I list the limitations of my methodology and provide some orientation for future research.


Male infertility is increasingly worrisome and has been linked to increase rate of hormonal toxicity and imbalance. Sufferers now result to using medicinal plants due to its availability and cost effectiveness. This study was to assess ameliorating effects of Phoenix dactylifera (date), Cyperus esculentus (tigernut) and Cocos nucifera (coconut)mixture on pesticides-induced hormonal toxicity in male Wistar rats. Aqueous extraction of crops - date (maceration apparatus), tiger nut (rotary evaporator) and coconut (spray drying process) wereconducted after which, 5g of each extract were mixed in equal proportion. Hormonal toxicity was induced in rats using Ochratoxin A and endosulfan before oral treatment of the mix at graded doses (250 to 1000 mg/kg/day) for 28 days. Aseptic bloodsample was obtained before and after treatment for hormonal assay. At termination, animals were euthanized via decapitation; organs were excised, processed histologically, stained with H&E, and testes examined microscopically. Hormonal toxicity in rats was successfully induced, body weight of highly treated rats reduced (P ≤ 0.02) while testicular weight increased insignificantly (P ≥ 0.05). Mixed extract ameliorated the effect of pesticides on testosterone levels in group: B (1.8 ± 0.5ng/dL), C (2.4 ± 0.4ng/dL), D (3.8 ± 0.6 ng/dL) and E (4.1 ± 0.3 ng/dL) including FSH and LH values (P ≤ 0.05). Stained sections of testis were in keeping with normal histology after investigations. High doses of extract mix successfully reversed pesticides-induced hormonal toxicity in rats without harming the testes.
Keywords: Cocos nucifera, Coconut, Cyperus esculentus, Date, Hormonal imbalance, Pesticide, Phoenix dactylifera, and Tiger nut


ABSTRACT The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of the transition period on hematological and biochemical constituents in Mangalarga Marchador mares. Forty-eight mares were used to form a maintenance group (MG) and transition group (TG), formed by pregnant mares and, after delivery, infants. Blood samples were collected at the following times: T-60 (60 d pre-delivery), T-30 (30 d pre-delivery), T-15 (15 d pre-delivery), T0 (first 6h post-delivery), T15 (15 d post-delivery), T30 (30 d post-delivery), and T60 (60 d post-delivery). The TG had lower values (P< 0.05) of red blood cells, hematocrit and hemoglobin at T0, T15, T30 and T60 times than MG. The mean corpuscular volume was lower in MG (P< 0.05) than in TG (T0, T15, T30 and T60) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration was higher (P< 0.05) in MG than in TG (T15, T30 and T60). On the other hand, the diameter distribution of red blood cells presented a lower value (P< 0.05) in MG than in TG (T15 and T30). Mares in transition period presented regenerative anemia. The results demonstrate physiological metabolic variations of different intensities during pregnancy, delivery and early lactation.


We propose a framework for the completely unsupervised learning of latent object properties from their interactions: the perception-prediction network (PPN). Consisting of a perception module that extracts representations of latent object properties and a prediction module that uses those extracted properties to simulate system dynamics, the PPN can be trained in an end-to-end fashion purely from samples of object dynamics. The representations of latent object properties learned by PPNs not only are sufficient to accurately simulate the dynamics of systems comprised of previously unseen objects, but also can be translated directly into human-interpretable properties (e.g., mass, coefficient of restitution) in an entirely unsupervised manner. Crucially, PPNs also generalize to novel scenarios: their gradient-based training can be applied to many dynamical systems and their graph-based structure functions over systems comprised of different numbers of objects. Our results demonstrate the efficacy of graph-based neural architectures in object-centric inference and prediction tasks, and our model has the potential to discover relevant object properties in systems that are not yet well understood.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to assess efficacy and toxicity of temozolomide given alone or in combination with thalidomide, an anti-angiogenetic drug, in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
46 patients with histologically proven GBM were eligible for inclusion. Twenty-three patients (15 males and 8 females) received temozolomide on a conventional schedule; 23 patients (12 males and 11 females) received temozolomide on the same schedule and thalidomide was dose-adjusted in each individual patient based on their tolerance.

RESULTS
The median survival time was 12 months for temozolomide and 13 months for temozolomide + thalidomide.

CONCLUSION
The administration of temozolomide in association with thalidomide after radiotherapy (RT) does not offer an advantage over temozolomide alone in adults with newly diagnosed GBM. The two therapeutic strategies produce similar results for survival, but the latter regimen shows a moderate increase in toxicity.


Since 2007, the PATCH workshop series have been gathering successfully researchers and professionals from various countries and institutions to discuss the topics of digital access to cultural heritage and specifically the personalization aspects in this process. Due to this rich history, the reach of the PATCH workshop in various research communities is extensive.


Article History: Received: 16 May 2018 Revised: 3 Jul 2018 Accepted: 25 Aug 2018 Background: Evaluation is a key process to improve the organization. The maintenance and improvement of the health is the priority of the people of each country these days. Ensuring the provision of appropriate services requires the evaluation of the health system performance. European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model is a self-assessment model and allocates more for health and care organizations and almost evaluates an organization in all structural and functional aspects. This study was conducted with to the aim of evaluating the performance of a public hospital in Tabriz according to the model of Europe Foundation for Quality Management. Methods: This study was a cross sectional study in 2015 in a public hospital in Tabriz. Data collection tools had been standard questionnaire of Europe Foundation Model for Quality Management. Data was gathered through standard and prestigious questionnaire of Europe Foundation Model for Quality Management which consisted of 90 questions, same in the field of nine criteria. After visiting the hospital by experts, meeting was hold among them and proceeded to consult and complete the questionnaire. The data was reported by descriptive tests and software of EXCELL was used for data analysis. Results: The mean score of performance evaluation in terms of leadership was 73.6 points out of 100 points, in terms of policy and strategy, 46.8 points out of 80, in terms of human resources 54.1 out of 90 points, in terms of strategies and policy 41.9 points out of total 90 points, in terms of processes 59.8 points out of 140 points, 66 points out of 200 in terms of customer results, in terms of human resources results 23.76 points out of a total of 90 points, 40.2 points out of a total of 60 points, in terms of society results and in terms of key performance the result was 71.35 points out of 150 points . The average total score of 477 points out of 1000 points was performance evaluation. The results of the report are 47.75%. Finally, the results showed that the hospital had relatively appropriate status. Conclusion: The findings showed the need for more attention to human resources and customer results. Enhancing employee's satisfaction factors to increase their satisfaction and efficiency, identifying foreign customers, categorizing and measuring different needs of patients in order to response and upgrade the system of addressing the complaints through the reform the processes are those cases that are proposed to improve the organization and increase compliance with organizational excellence model .


Purpose of reviewPodocytes are the main gatekeeper of protein filtration in the glomerulus. When podocytes work less efficiently, this translates to the appearance of proteins in the urine, a condition that, if not promptly treated, leads to progression of glomerular damage and renal failure. Recent findingsNovel gene mutations have been uncovered in patients with nephrotic syndrome combined with a better definition of the role of podocin mutations. Although the importance of the inflammasome pathway and of the mechanisms of autophagy in podocyte health and disease have been increasingly recognized, a precise relationship between these processes still needs to be assessed. Numerous potential therapeutic targets have been identified and numerous data support the possibility of boosting podocyte regeneration. However, translation of experimental results into the clinic could largely depend on the avoidance of undesired side-effects; nanomedicine could provide the means to target old and novel drugs specifically to the podocytes. SummaryPodocytes are key cells in the glomerulus, and their damage inevitably leads to proteinuria and glomerular dysfunction. The more is known about the causes and mechanisms of podocyte damage, the more it will be possible to find new cures for glomerular diseases of the kidney.


1 The involvement of cyclo‐oxygenase (COX) products and nitric oxide (NO) in contractile responses of resistance arteries to angiotensin II (AII) were investigated in small mesenteric arteries from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats. 2 In endothelium intact vessels, AII induced concentration‐dependent responses without any significant difference between the two strains. However, removal of functional endothelium resulted in enhanced sensitivity to AII, the pD2 value increasing from 8.4 ± 0.2 to 8.9 ± 0.2 (P < 0.05) in WKY and from 8.2 ± 0.1 to 8.6 ± 0.1 (P < 0.05) in SHR (not significantly different between strains, n = 9–12). In addition, endothelium removal enhanced maximal contractions elicited by AII in SHR (1.4 ± 0.1 to 2.1 ± 0.2 mN mm−1, n = 5; P < 0.01) but not in WKY (1.0 ± 0.1 to 1.2 ± 0.1 mN mm−1, n = 5) vessels. 3 In the absence of functional endothelium, the COX inhibitor indomethacin (10−5 m) reduced contractile responses elicited by AII in SHR arteries, resulting in 33 ± 5% (n = 5) decrease in maximal contraction. However, it produced minimal if any, effect on responses of WKY vessels. In both strains, the TP receptor antagonist GR32191 B (3 × 10−6 m) did not modify contractions elicited by AII in these conditions. 4 In the presence of functional endothelium, indomethacin (10−5 m) almost abolished the responses to AII in both strains. GR32191 B (3 × 10−6 m) reduced the sensitivity of WKY arteries to AII (pD2 = 8.1 ± 0.1, P < 0.01) without any effect on maximal contraction. In SHR arteries, it markedly reduced maximal contraction (47 ± 3.5%). 5 In both strains, the NO synthase inhibitor NG‐nitro‐L‐arginine methy lester (L‐NAME; 10−4 m) had no effect in the absence of functional endothelium but it markedly reduced the inhibitory influence of endothelium on contractile responses to AII Furthermore, in arteries with endothelium, it reduced the effect of both indomethacin and GR32191 B to the same level as observed in vessels without functional endothelium. 6 The results suggest that enhanced contraction caused by COX products was counteracted by enhanced relaxation caused by endothelium‐derived NO in resistance mesenteric arteries of the SHR exposed to AII, compared to WKY arteries. The COX products involved in alterations of SHR responses comprised an endothelium‐derived prostaglandin activating TP receptors and another non‐endothelial unidentified vasoconstrictor compound which did not activate these receptors.