Multiphase machines are attracting significant attention due to their advantages over three-phase ones. When using pulsewidth modulation (PWM), a zero-sequence signal can be injected so that the dc-link utilization is improved. For instance, in five-phase machines, for a certain dc-link voltage the fundamental component is increased in this way in 5.1 %. Instead of PWM, it is possible to apply a square voltage waveform, which permits even better dc-link exploitation (27.3% with respect to conventional without zero sequence). Given the substantial voltage distortion, filters with large impedance at the low-impedance no-torque subspaces were devised. In any case, some of the square-waveform harmonics are mapped into the torque-producing plane without being attenuated by the filters, thus generating torque ripple. This paper proposes a carrier-based PWM method for five-phase drives that include a filter for circulating currents. This PWM technique takes advantage of the no-torque-producing components, which see a high filter impedance, to exploit the dc link to a degree similar to square voltage waveforms (23.1 % versus 27.3%), but without the extra torque ripple. Simulation results are provided.


Abstract In Norway's upper secondary schools, pupils can choose dance as their main subject of study in a programme designed to prepare them for higher education in general and, more specifically, higher education in dance. A committee selected by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training was appointed in autumn of 2015 and given a mandate to evaluate the structure of the programme and suggest changes that would increase its relevance. A reference group was selected to respond to the committee's first draft in December 2015, before the draft was open to comments from the rest of the dance environment (spring 2016). The author took part in the reference group. In this process, several individuals representing the fields of education and professional dance argued that the traditional hegemony of the three scenic dance forms (classical ballet, jazz and contemporary dance) needs to be challenged as it no longer sufficiently prepares pupils for a career in dance. One could argue that new dance forms, personal expression, performative and collaborative skills are more in demand today. In her own teaching of contemporary dance in upper secondary school, the author has found it relevant to focus on what she sees as core elements in the training of today's performers in addition to, and sometimes instead of, (traditional) technical exercises, especially early on in pupils' dance education. She proposes that it would be beneficial to pupils to replace some of the technical training in the scenic dance forms with these core elements in a restructuring of the dance programmes in upper secondary education.


The types of microcrystallization in the dried saliva drop are described. The saliva microcrystallization differed in children with different resistance to caries. Apart of this, its characteristics changed under impact of carbohydrates intake and anticaries preventive drug treatment.


Recent studies on deep convolutional neural networks present a simple paradigm of architecture design, i.e ., models with more MACs typically achieve better accuracies, such as EfficientNet and RegNet. These works try to enlarge the network architecture with one unified rule by sampling and statistical methods. However, the rule is not prospec-tive to the design of large networks because it is obtained from the experience of researchers on small network architectures. In this paper, we propose to enlarge the capacity of CNN models by fine-grained MACs allocation for the width, depth and resolution on the stage level. In particular, start-ing from a base small model, we gradually add extra channels, layers or resolution by using a dynamic programming manner. With step-by-step modifying the computations on different stages, the enlarged network will be equipped with optimal allocation and utilization of MACs. On EfficientNet, our method consistently outperforms the performance of the original scaling method. In particular, the proposed method is used to enlarge models sourced by GhostNet, we achieve state-of-the-art 80 . 9% and 84 . 3% ImageNet top-1 accuracies under the setting of 600M and 4.4B MACs, re-spectively.


Dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD) cement was effective in our prior study as a bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) delivery vehicle in a rat segmental defect regeneration study. In this study, we investigated the effects of liquid-to-powder (L/P) ratio on the in vitro degradation and protein release behavior of this material. The L/P ratios used in this study ranged from 0.50 to 0.83. DCPD cylinders were formed with a diameter of 1/4" and a height of 1/4". The effect of L/P on the initial compressive strength was found to be related to the porosity of the material at different L/P level. The strength of the material in phosphate buffered solution was found to degrade roughly 20% in 14 days. The relation between the final porosity and the compressive strength after degradation was modeled with Ryshkewitch equation. A liquid-to-powder ratio of 0.55, 0.7, and 0.8 was then used to fabricate samples for the protein release kinetic study. The low porosity (L/P = 0.55) group was found to have the fastest release rate, while the L/P = 0.8 group had the lowest. More then 60% of the loaded protein was released after 10 hours in all three groups with a final total release ranging between 75% and 93%. The findings suggested that the protein release profile of DCPD cements can be adjusted by the L/P ratio.


The paper presents the solution of closed cylindrical shell structures working in the moment state. Internal forces and deformations were described by general expressions which are sums composed of particular integrals representing the momentless state and of a general integral representing the moment state. The general integrals have a form of hypertrigonometric series. An example given in the latter part of the paper is illustrated by diagrams of some characteristic quantities.


Under the conditions of potentiostatic electrolysis, the electropolymerization of o-toluidine (OT) and para-phenylenediamine (PPDA) and the electrocopolymerization between OT and PPDA on an indium tin oxide (ITO) conductive glass electrode at potentials of 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9 V were studied in detail by in situ ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectrometry in 0.5 mol/L sulfuric acid media. It was shown that both OT and PPDA could be electropolymerized on the ITO electrode, which depended on the applied electrolysis potential and the concentration of the monomer. Furthermore, in situ UV–vis spectra indicated that the electrocopolymerization between OT and PPDA could happen. The presence of PPDA not only promoted polymerization but also accelerated polymerization, which was attributed to the formation of an intermediate result from the coupling of PPDA and the toluidine monomer cation radical. PPDA could be incorporated into the copolymer to make the copolymer have a phenazine or phenazine-like cyclic structure, which was proven by the reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectra of the polymer and copolymer. The scanning electron microscopy morphology images of the polymers obtained showed that, in addition to accelerating polymerization, PPDA also could change the method of nucleation for the polymer to make the copolymer possess a fibrous surface morphology. The diameter of the fibroid copolymer was about 100 nm, and the length of that reached about 1000 nm. In the article, a newer concerned mechanism of copolymerization was proposed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010


Effective thermal conductivity of copper powders of different particle size has been measured experimentally at room temperature and normal pressure using the transient hot strip method. A variation in the values of the effective thermal conductivity of these powders with their porosities is observed. To explain this variation a model for a two-phase system (powders) is developed. Theoretical calculations of the effective thermal conductivity of powders using this model and a model developed by Hadley (1986) (volume-averaging formalism) have been carried out. It has been found on comparison that the theoretical results are in good agreement with the experiment.


Environmental bilateral conflicts, such as in international environmental agreements, often involve more than one conflictive issue that requires solution. The theoretical literature suggests that linking issues of conflict open new opportunities for cooperation. We present a new experimental setting of bilateral conflicts, in which each issue is modeled as a different prisoner dilemma game. In two experiments, the effect of issue linkage on cooperation is evaluated by comparing a treatment in which the two games are played sequentially (isolated treatment) with one where they are played simultaneously (linked treatment). Specifically, in the linked treatment each agent observes the payoffs from playing the different paths across games (e.g., cooperate in game1 but defect in game2) and then act accordingly by committing to one of these paths. We differentiate the case where issue linkage implies symmetrical payoffs across games (Experiment 1), from the asymmetric case where one agent receives higher benefits from issue linkage (Experiment 2). The results reveal that issue linkage increase mutual cooperation and decrease mutual defection. We also find that asymmetry reduces the level of cooperation in both isolated and linked games, yet issue linkage facilitates higher cooperation rate even when the payoffs are asymmetric.


Recently, fibroblast activation protein (FAP), an overexpressed transmembrane protein of activated fibroblast in pulmonary fibrosis, has been considered as the new target for diagnosing and treating pulmonary fibrosis. In this work, mesoporous polydopamine (MPDA), which is facile prepared and easily modified, is developed as a carrier to load antifibrosis drug pirfenidone (PFD) and linking FAP inhibitor (FAPI) to realize lesion-targeted drug delivery for pulmonary fibrosis therapy. We have found that PFD@MPDA-FAPI is well biocompatible and with good properties of antifibrosis, when ICG labels MPDA-FAPI, the accumulation of the nanodrug at the fibrosis lung in vivo can be observed by NIR imaging, and the antifibrosis properties of PFD@MPDA-FAPI in vivo were also better than those of pure PFD and PFD@MPDA; therefore, the easily produced and biocompatible nanodrug PFD@MPDA-FAPI developed in this study is promising for further clinical translations in pulmonary fibrosis antifibrosis therapy.


The present report is devoted to the overview of topography mapping of convex aspheric surface using the created interferometer for large convex optical aspheric surfaces. The testing method is also presented. It is based on an orthogonal ray scheme, where the convex testing surface is illuminated by a collimated beam, that is perpendicular to the optical axis of the surface. The interference pattern is formed on a screen by the interaction of the reference beam passing over the test surface and the object beam reflected from the test surface. The interference pattern is a system of quasi-straight fringes, containing information about the shape of the tested surface as the distance between those fringes. The experimental data obtained on the interferometer and presented.


The article concerns political relations between the Sforza dominion and its alpine neighbors. Many actors operated within and across the frontiers: lords, state officials, communities and so on. International relations gave these protagonists the opportunity not only to promote bold political initiatives, but also to outline their identity. A community, a jurisdictional district, a fiefdom, and finally a state were not statically defined entities, but configurations in the making. The same hierarchy of powers in the state was remolded, because reprisals and collective responsibility for damages suffered by foreigners could strengthen the solidarity between the duke, the officials and the subjects, but periodically the subjects reacted by promoting initiatives that were so autonomous that even the subordination to the prince was put into question.


Wildfires represent an important factor in the disturbance in Mediterranean ecosystems, although the effects of wildfires on the insect communities of mountain environments remain largely unknown. This research investigated the effect of fire on dung beetles in a Mediterranean high-altitude area, located in Central Italy (1500 m elevation). Sampling in each of the three main vegetation types of the study area (conifer plantation, beechwood forest and grassland) used pitfall traps during Spring to Autumn. For each habitat, three burnt and three unburnt sites were sampled. We considered the following community structure parameters: abundance, richness, Shannon diversity and Simpson diversity. Effects of fire, habitat and sampling period were investigated using generalised mixed-effects models. Abundance, species richness and diversity were higher in the grassland than in the two forest habitats and June was the month with the lowest values because of the late emergence of insects at high altitudes. Fire negatively affected dung beetle abundance, but not diversity. Forest habitats were less favourable to dung beetle recolonisation than the secondary grassland. Thus, dung beetles are sensitive to vegetation type, but not to fire, possibly because of their high recolonisation capabilities and preference for open habitats.


Due to the influence of the local noise at the distribution level, the frequency curve obtained from the frequency disturbance recorder (FDR) unit is too non-stationary to observe its wave-front directly, which causes some problems in the event location estimation method. In this paper, a morphological filter (MF) is employed to extract the wave-front arrival time and the trend of the frequency curve. With the help of the MF, the accuracy of the event location method is greatly improved.


The diving beetle genus Neobidessodes Hendrich & Balke, 2009 contains 10 species. Nine of them were considered endemic to Australia, one of them to the Trans Fly Savanna and Grasslands Ecoregion of New Guinea island. Here, we provide the first report of one of the Australian species, Neobidessodes mjobergi (Zimmermann, 1922), from the same region of New Guinea. We suggest that more focused research will reveal the occurrence of far more Australian diving beetle species in that region of New Guinea.


This research examines the linkage between entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable innovation. Research shows that the effects of entrepreneurial orientation on the exploitation and exploration of sustainable innovation are significantly positive, whereby absorptive capacity acts in a significant mediating role. The interaction between entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity helps organizations overcome organizational inertia and strengthen the sustainability of innovation. By introducing the absorptive capacity theory and the view of organizational inertia, we have conducted empirical research on 392 Chinese environmentally friendly companies that have passed China's national high-tech enterprise certification. We verified the relevant hypotheses in our framework in a structural model analysis using Mplus. To further look at the interaction terms of potential and realized absorptive capacity, we used PROCESS in SPSS to evaluate the conditional effects of absorptive capacity on coefficient paths between entrepreneurial orientation and the two types of innovation. The results show that entrepreneurial orientation improves the absorptive capacity of organizations, thereby promoting their sustainable innovation. Furthermore, based on the theory of sustainable innovation, we proved the positive impact of realized and potential absorptive capacity on the exploitation and exploration of sustainable innovation. Organizations could balance exploitation and exploration to implement sustainable innovation by adjusting their potential and realized absorptive capacities. Our results can help environmentally friendly organizations adjust the combination of entrepreneurial orientation and absorptive capacity to overcome organizational inertia, manage exploitation and exploration, and implement sustainable innovation.


Water cycle, land management, and environmental sustainability are intimately linked. Sustainable land and water management practices are vital for sustaining agricultural productivity and regional development. Unsustainable land and water management practices that violate the system's carrying capacity constraint over long periods can impose significant costs in terms of lost opportunities in farm production and regional development, say by causing waterlogging and salinity. On‐farm and regional salt and water balance dynamics are modeled as a sustainability or carrying capacity constraint, proxied by regional salt and water balance; on‐farm land and water management practices are then adjusted to meet the constraint, such that individual actions do not lead to a net change in the ground water and salt balance. Common actions across the farms would achieve the overall environmental sustainability. An irrigated area in southern Murray‐Darling Basin in Australia serves as a case study example. Integrated hydrologic, economic, agricultural, and environmental models called SWAGMAN series are used to evaluate the impacts of a range of on‐farm interventions on farm income and environmental sustainability. The results show that policies such as restrictions on area under certain crops, and tradable groundwater recharge/salinity credits both offer higher total gross margin and net present value than the business as usual scenario, specifically in the long run—win–win options for the farmers and the environment. The modeling results thus confirm the widely held view that unsustainable land and water management practices that violate the system's carrying capacity can impose significant costs on regional communities. In‐depth hydrological and economic analyses are needed to shape and guide society's vision for sustainable land and water management. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Natural indicators are indicators that are continuously developed to determine whether a sample is acidic or basic. This study examined how red spinach can be developed into an environmentally friendly acid-base indicator that intends to be non-toxic, easy to obtain, and affordable. The natural indicator used in this study was red spinach leaf extract (Alternanthera amoena voss). The samples used were salt water, tea, pineapple, detergent, and oranges. Red spinach leaf extract was dropped on each sample which had a volume of 150mL resulting in a color change. The results of this study indicated that red discoloration occurs in samples of salt water, tea, oranges, and pineapples according to their acidic properties. Furthermore, detergent water turned to a bluish green color, and according to the basic properties of a detergent. This study concluded that red spinach leaf extract can be used as an environmental friendly natural indicator.


As the 21st century begins, gravitational wave astronomy is poised to open a new observational window on the universe. Ground-based kilometer-scale interferometers, such as LIGO, VIRGO, and GEO600, will observe high frequency gravitational radiation, while the space-based LISA detector will probe the low frequency regime. Taken together, these gravitational wave detectors will provide an unprecedented look at astrophysical systems that have previously been viewed almost exclusively through electromagnetic "eyes". This workshop focused on the astrophysics of anticipated gravitational wave sources and the scenarios that surround them. The papers encompass theoretical studies as well as observations of associated electromagnetic or particle signatures and emphasize issues that need to be clarified for a better astrophysical understanding of these sources. Topics include: overview of gravitational wave astrophysics, astrophysical collapses and bursts, gamma ray bursts and neutron stars, gravitational captures, intermediate mass black holes, massive black holes, massive black hole binary mergers, gravitational waves and binary stars, gravitational wave detection, as well as conference summaries.


The communication is the great obstacle in the education of the people with deafblindness. The vision and the hearing are two important senses in the process of acquisition of the communication. The sensorial privation of modalities causes problems of communication, mobility, information and it needs specific stimulation and also spcefic support. The objective of the study was to evaluate the levels of communication of an adolescent pupil with deafblindness to program, fortify and implant communication forms. An adolescent and her/his mother participated on the stydy, as mediators. The communication occurred by means of familiar and iconics gestures and isolated gestures of the Brazilian Language of Signals (Libras). The sessions (15) had been filmed and transcribed. The data categorized and analyzed considered by Rowland e Stremel-Campbell levels of communication. There was a reduction of the behaviors' frequencies in more primitive levels and gradual increase in elaborated levels of communication.


India is a large subcontinent with remarkably varied topography, situated within the tropical and subtropical belts of the world. In the study patients with Tinea infections were examined clinically by dermatologist. Isolation, confirmatory test were done as per the standard procedure, and Antifungal Susceptibility test was done by Disc diffusion method.Other conditions such as seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis, alopecia areata, folliculitis and pseudopelade may mimic ringworm of head and other tinea must be identified. A total of sixty six patients of dermatophytosis were studied. Males were predominantly affected 51 (77%) cases as compared to females15 (23%) cases. Male to female ratio was 3.4:1. Most common age group affected was 21-30 years with 20 cases (23%). Least common age group affected was 61-70 years with 3 cases (4%).Tinea corporis was more common in the age group 21-30 years with 13 cases (37.14%) and in males with 29 cases (82.85%) than females with 6 cases (17.15%).Tinea unguium was more common in the age group of 31-40 years with 6 cases (37.5%) and in males with 10 cases (62.5%) than females with 6 cases (37.5%).Tinea cruris was more common in the age group 51-60 years with 2 cases (40%) and was more common in males with 5 cases (100%).In tinea pedis, one case was seen in the age group of 11-20 years and the other in the age group of 41-50 and 51-60 years, and was more common in males with 3 cases (100%).Tinea barbae was more common in the age group 21-30 years with 2 cases (66.66%) .Tinea capitis was more common in the age group of 31-40 years with 2 cases (66.66%) and was more common in females with 3 cases (100%). Tinea manuum was more common in the age group of 31-40 years and in males with 1 case (100%). In males, commonest infection was T. corporis while in female commonest infection was T.corporis.rate of direct microscopy and culture (78.79%). About 89.47% of the dermatophytes grew faster in DTM with compare to SDA, so the growth rate of dermatophyte is better in DTM. A total of thirty five species of dermatophytes were isolated and identified. T.rubrum 15(42.85%) is commonest among other isolates.Ketoconazole showed best susceptibility i.e 26 (74.28%). The present study suggests that every patient of tinea infection should be properly studied for mycological examination and should be treated accordingly. This study revealed that Ketaconazole highest susceptibility.DTM is better medium than SDA.


Natural dyes are an alternative dye that is not toxic, environmentally, friendly and easily degraded. Therefore, optimizing the use of body coloring sources is carried out. One of the natural dyes released is tannin from betel nuts. Tannins are polar pigments. This study aims to determine the results of natural dyes in betel nuts and find out the durability produced and known organoleptic results. Dyestuff extraction from betel nuts was carried out with 96% ethanol. Testing the color stability of betel nut seedlings was carried out on the effect of pH, temperature and storage time with the method UV-Vis Spectrophotometer. Then the application of betel nut dyes on beverage products was carried out. The results showed that betel fruit produced tannin dyes in brownish red color with an average tannin content of 28.002 mg/L. Dyes stabilized at pH of 6 by heating at 400C and storage for 2 days. The results of organoleptic tests showed that the extract of areca nut powder can be used as a natural dye in beverage products with a level of color, smell and flavor that emits at a concentration of 0.005 g/mL of dyes.
Keywords: Extraction, tannin, areca nuts, color stability, organoleptic


ABSTRACT Groundwater use for agriculture has the potential to improve rural households' income and reduce poverty, but the linkages are not always straightforward. Taking Laos as a case study, this article illustrates how differential access to water, land, and capital shape farmers' livelihood strategies in two nearby, yet contrasting villages on the Vientiane Plain. It examines the factors driving farm households' decisions to invest in groundwater for agriculture. The findings highlight the need to better understand how farmers view groundwater in relation to their farm household characteristics if groundwater is to be successfully used as a means to improve rural livelihoods.


This is a very useful addition to the Clio Dictionaries in Political Science series. Like the other volumes in the collection, this dictionary is divided into sections that in this case cover history, ideology and theory; the communist party; the government; the economic system; the legal system; citizens and the state; and foreign policy. The index allows the user easily to locate specific entries and many terms used within individual entries. Each entry is explained and its significance is discussed. The primary focus is on the Soviet Union, but there are useful comments and comparisons concerning the political systems of Eastern Europe as well as separate entries on them. I have found a number of the entries to be especially useful for courses on Soviet politics, for instance, those on the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Supreme Soviet. But as one might expect, especially in a first edition, some useful terms are missing, for example, pokazuka ("doing things for show") and "alcoholism." "Drunkenness" is mentioned in several places, but there is no discussion of it and no entry in the index despite the overwhelming importance of this problem. In general, there is a lack of discussion of increasingly important social problems including suicide, divorce, declining birth rates, and growing infant mortality. The entry on "hooliganism" admirably defines this term but does not note the growth and importance of youthful rebellion. In most instances the authors do a good job of at least implicitly presenting both the official Soviet "definition" of a term and the facts when these diverge from the party's preferred version of reality. This is not always the case, however. For example, the entry for "verification" (pravo kontrolia) claims that it "ensures that all economic plans, party directives, and government orders are implemented in conformity with party policy." (This obviously conflicts with the discussion of corruption in, for example, the entry on "The Second Economy.") In another instance it is correctly noted in the entry on "leveling" that women receive "equal pay for equal \Vork," but there is no discussion of the difficulty women have in getting "equal work." Neither of the two index entries on women mentions the "double burden" most women must carry with all its important ramifications. If the history of the other dictionaries in this series is a reliable guide, subsequent editions will be expanded and improved. This first edition is well worth owning. It will be especially helpful to students, journalists, and other interested nonspecialists.


In this work, we analyze three - dimensionally, by the finite element method, the performance of the repair of aeronautical structures damaged by cracking and repaired by patch of composite materials. The effect of crack-crack interaction according to their position and interdistance was analyzed. The criterion of rupture retained for this study is the factor of intensity of constraints. We show that this factor increases considerably and reaches a critical threshold when the two cracks develop towards each other. The repair of such damage using a composite patch ensures the stability of this structure during the commissioning process. The sharp fall in the stress intensity factor is characteristic of this stability.


A stack of a plurality of cellulose-containing absorbent towels (3) for a dispenser (1), the towels being separable upon dispensing. The stack (2) is compressed to a predetermined density dependent on material choice. The invention also concerns a process for manufacturing such a stack.


SUMMARY This study was performed to determine whether, as an adjunct to cyclophosphamide (CY), a number of//-2-incom patible lymphoid cells too small to induce clinically evident graft-wsws-host disease would exert a significant antitumor effect and whether clinically significant antitumor specificity might be imparted to a subclinical graft-vmus-host reaction by preimmunization of the spleen cell donors. Adult BALB/c mice bearing a disseminated transplantable BALB/c Moloney virus-induced lymphoma (LSTRA) with tumor-associated antigens were treated with sublethal CY plus spleen cells from C57BL/6 mice that either were nonimmune or had been immunized with normal BALB/c tissue, a BALB/c chemical sarcoma, an antigenically related murine sarcoma virus (Moloney), or LSTRA cells. The results, represented by long-term survivors, showed that, in the absence of detectable graft-versMS-host disease and in conjunction with CY, nonimmune spleen cells exerted a significantly greater antitumor effect than was observed with CY alone; that spleen cells immune to host isoantigens were no more effective than nonimmune cells; but that preimmunization of the spleen cell donors with murine sarcoma virus (Moloney), or LSTRA rendered their cells significantly more immunotherapeutically effective in the CY-treated tumor-bearing hosts.


We have investigated how veratrine does act on the contraction elicited by the motor nerve of a quick muscle on one side, the frog's sartorius, and of a slow muscle on the other side, the frog's hyoglossus. We have found that the contraction of the slow muscle is increased and lengthened and that its graphic has the shape of the veratrine intoxication, whereas the contraction of the quick muscle does not show the slightest alteration.


During recent years we have been gathering information about interatomic distances, bond angles, and other properties of simple substances related to proteins, and have been attempting to formulate configurations of the polypeptide chain that are compatible with this information and that might constitute a structural feature of proteins. We have reported the discovery of two helical configurations that satisfy these conditions.1'2 In the following paragraphs we discuss the atomic positions for these configurations, and their form factors for diffraction of x-rays in the equatorial direction. The -y Helix.-Let us first discuss the 5.1-residue helix. This configuration is obtained by coiling a polypeptide chain into a helical form, in such a way that the planar amide groups, N C*


We know that cigarette smoking is a leading preventable cause of carcinogenesis in lung cancer. Cigarette smoke is a mixture of more than 5000 chemical compounds, among which more than 60 are recognized to have a specific carcinogenic potential. Carcinogens and their metabolites (i.e., N-nitrosamines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) can activate multiple pathways, contributing to lung cell transformation in different ways. Nicotine, originally thought only to be responsible for tobacco addiction, is also involved in tumor promotion and progression with antiapoptotic and indirect mitogenic properties. Lung nodules are frequent in smokers and can be transformed into malignant tumors depending on persistent smoking status. Even if detailed mechanisms underlying tobacco-induced cancerogenesis are not completely elucidated, this report collects the emergent body of knowledge in order to simplify the extremely complex framework that links smoking exposure to lung cancer.


We study the conditions to have supersymmetric D-branes on general = 1 backgrounds with Ramond-Ramond fluxes. These conditions can be written in terms of the two pure spinors associated to the SU(3) × SU(3) structure on TM⊕TM, and can be split into two parts each involving a different pure spinor. The first involves the integrable pure spinor and requires the D-brane to wrap a generalised complex submanifold with respect to the generalised complex structure associated to it. The second contains the non-integrable pure spinor and is related to the stability of the brane. The two conditions can be rephrased as a generalised calibration condition for the brane. The results preserve the generalised mirror symmetry relating the type IIA and IIB backgrounds considered, giving further evidence for this duality.


A total of 1,146 growing pigs (PIC 1050 × 337, initially 85.8 lb) were used in a 104-d study to evaluate the effects of diet form (meal vs. pellet) and feeder design (conventional dry vs. wet-dry) on finisher pig performance. The treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial with 11 replications per treatment and 25 to 27 pigs per pen. Half of the pens were equipped with a 5-hole conventional dry feeder and the other half had a double-sided wet-dry feeder. All pigs were fed a corn-soybean meal-based diet containing 20% dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) during the first 4 dietary phases and 10% DDGS in phase 5. The only difference in diet among treatments was diet form (meal vs. pellet). Pen weights and feed disappearance were measured on d 0, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70, 86, and 104. Pictures of feeder pans were taken once during each phase and evaluated by a panel of 4 individuals for percentage pan coverage. From d 0 to 28, no diet form × feeder design interaction was observed for ADG or F/G. Pigs fed pelleted diets had poorer ( P < 0.001) F/G compared with those fed meal diets, which appeared to be due to poor pellet quality (39.6% fines). From d 42 to 86, pellet quality improved (4.4% fines), and a diet form × feeder interaction ( P < 0.02) was observed for ADG, whereas pigs presented meal diets in a dry feeder had decreased ADG compared with pigs presented pelleted diets in dry feeders or pigs presented feed via wet-dry feeders regardless of diet form. Pigs presented pelleted diets had improved ( P < 0.001) F/G compared with those fed meal diets. Pigs fed via wet-dry feeders had increased ( P < 0.03) ADFI and poorer F/G compared with pigs with dry feeders. Overall, pigs fed with wet-dry feeders had increased ( P < 0.02) ADG and ADFI, and poorer F/G compared with those with dry feeders, whereas pigs presented pelleted diets had a tendency for improved ( P < 0.06) F/G compared with those presented meal diets. In conclusion, regardless of diet form, pigs fed from wet-dry feeders had increased ADG and ADFI compared with pigs fed via dry feeders. Additionally, pellet quality appeared to influence responses because pigs provided higher-quality pellets via dry feeders had increased growth performance compared with pigs fed meal diets. Conversely, if pellet quality was poor, feed efficiency benefits associated with pelleting were lost.


The Brazil – Taxation and Charges panel report has rekindled a long-standing debate over the scope and meaning of the public morals exception in the GATT/WTO legal system. This article offers two criticisms of the panel report. First, the report has set an exceedingly low threshold for the identification of public morals. Second, the Panel ' s hands-off approach is likely to trigger a slippery slope risk of what sorts of objectives could be properly called ' public morals ' .


Data from the newly commissioned Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has revealed a "hot Earth" around LHS 3844, an M dwarf located 15 pc away. The planet has a radius of R⊕ and orbits the star every 11 hr. Although the existence of an atmosphere around such a strongly irradiated planet is questionable, the star is bright enough (I = 11.9, K = 9.1) for this possibility to be investigated with transit and occultation spectroscopy. The star's brightness and the planet's short period will also facilitate the measurement of the planet's mass through Doppler spectroscopy.


Background: The corticosteroid prednisone is an important component of posttransplantation immunosuppressive therapy. Pharmacokinetic parameters of prednisone or its pharmacologically active metabolite, prednisolone, are not well characterized in transplant recipients. The objective of this study was to compare the pharmacokinetics of total and unbound prednisone and prednisolone in diabetic and nondiabetic stable kidney transplant recipients and to evaluate the factors influencing plasma protein binding of prednisolone. Methods: Prednisone and prednisolone concentration–time profiles were obtained in 20 diabetic and 18 nondiabetic stable kidney transplant recipients receiving an oral dose of 5–10 mg prednisone per day. In addition to drug and metabolite exposures, factors influencing prednisolone protein binding were evaluated using a nonlinear mixed-effects modeling approach. This model takes into account the binding of prednisolone and cortisol to corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) in a saturable fashion and binding of prednisolone to albumin in a nonsaturable fashion. Finally, we have investigated the influence of several covariates including diabetes, glucose concentration, hemoglobin A1c, creatinine clearance, body mass index, gender, age, and time after transplantation on the affinity constant (K) between corticosteroids and their binding proteins. Results: In patients with diabetes, the values of dose-normalized area under the concentration–time curves were 27% and 23% higher for total and unbound prednisolone, respectively. Moreover, the ratio of total prednisolone to prednisone concentrations (active/inactive forms) was higher in diabetic subjects (P < 0.001). Modeling protein binding results revealed that the affinity constant of corticosteroid-binding globulin–prednisolone (KCBG,PL) was related to the patient's gender and diabetes status. Conclusions: Higher prednisolone exposure could potentially lead to the increased risk of corticosteroid-related complications in diabetic kidney transplant recipients.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Surveillance of individuals with colon polyps is important for the prevention of colon cancer, and its interval is based on the clinical status. Our aims were to determine the recurrence rate of advanced polyp after polypectomy and estimate the adequate interval of surveillance colonoscopy as well as the risk factors of recurrence in Korea.

METHODS
Ninety-seven patients who underwent follow-up colonoscopy after initial colonoscopic polypectomy were retrospectively studied. All polyps were endoscopically removed with electrocautery.

RESULTS
Mean number of initial polyps were 2.2 and advanced polyps were observed in 40% of the patients. The cumulative recurrence rate of colon polyp was 13.8% within 1 year, and 60% within 3 years, while that of advanced polyps was 2.5% and 31% within 1 and 3 years, respectively. The significant difference was noted according to the initial polyp number in both overall and advanced polyp recurrence rate. The age at the diagnosis of colon polyps was a significant factor only in overall polyp recurrence rate. Patients who initially had one polyp showed 15% of advanced polyp recurrence within 3 years.

CONCLUSIONS
Recurrence of advanced polyp is very rare within one year after polypectomy. Patients with single polyp have low risk and thus, their surveillance may be delayed beyond the standard 3 years. When surveillance colonoscopy is to be performed for the patients with 2 or more polyps, initial polyp number and age should be considered.


As a country's current development is path dependent, the rise of China and its strategic implications can only be understood in a historical context. Hence, the key to understanding contemporary China is the understanding of its past. So far there has been an absence of a comprehensive text dealing with Chinese economic history in the English language. An Economic History of Modern China fills this important gap, focusing on modern Chinese economic growth and comprehensively surveying the patterns of China's growth experience over the past 200 years, from the Opium wars to the present day. Key events are traced back to their foundations in history to explain their impact on China's modern economic growth.


Abstract The incorporation of medical library services in an academic library will bring about substantial changes, and should include the review of the impact of this transition on each individual department. The use of electronic systems to request and deliver Interlibrary Loan documents has evolved gradually in the past twenty years, and affects medical libraries in unique ways. The electronic submission, publication and access to biomedical journal articles are still changing constantly, and contribute to new challenges in interlibrary borrowing and lending. This article focuses on new developments. It includes instructions on how a library can prepare to incorporate a new dimension of service in the midst of these changes.


We have used the monoclonal antibodies IL-A111, CACT116A, to investigate the expression of interleukin 2 receptors (IL-2R) by ovine peripheral blood T cells. Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) IL-A111 and CACT116A reacted with concanavalin A (Con A) activated ovine lymphocytes and both mAbs did so with similar FACS (fluorescence activated cell sorting) profiles and fluorescence intensity. Following activation by Con A all three major ovine T cell subsets, namely CD4+, CD8+ and gamma/delta T cells, express the IL-2R. All gamma/delta T cells express IL-2R within 12 h following activation by Con A in vitro whereas alpha/beta T cells do not express the IL-2R until 24 h after the start of culture with the mitogen. In freshly isolated peripheral blood a small percentage of lymphocytes, which are almost all CD4+, express the IL-2R.


The problem of automatic steering control of a large tanker in a seaway is formulated within the framework of linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control theory. Wave disturbance are characterized by shaping filters, and Kalman filters are designed using these disturbance noise models. LQG controllers are designed to minimize a performance criterion commonly thought to be representative of propulsion losses due to steering. Performance of the controllers is determined by simulation results, which apply for deep water and are based on data from scale model tests.


Environmental filtering, where the environment selects against certain species, is thought to be a major mechanism structuring communities. However, recent criticisms cast doubt on our ability to accurately infer filtering because competition can give rise to patterns identical to those caused by environmental filtering. While experiments can distinguish mechanisms, observational patterns are especially problematic. The environment determines community composition not only directly via survival, but also by influencing competition. If species population growth rates covary with environmental gradients, then outcomes of competitive exclusion will also vary with the environment. Here, we argue that observational studies remain valuable, but inferences about the importance of the environment cannot rely on compositional data alone, and that species abundances, population growth, or traits must be correlated with the environment.


There are various contributing factors to sporting success among elite athletes, including Olympians. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the enablers and/or barriers to sporting success among South African former Olympians from historically disadvantaged areas (HDAs) using the SPLISS framework. This would enable an understanding of the factors that lead to sporting success among athletes from HDAs. A qualitative research design was employed for this study, whereby semi-structured interviews were conducted among 15 former Olympians who represented South Africa between the 1992 and 2016 Olympic Games. The ATLAS.ti (version 22) software tool was used to analyse the data. The study found that athletes from HDAs attributed their sporting success to the functional competition structure, sports access at community level, access to scholarships and bursaries to elite schools/universities, good coaching support and mentorship, access to local and international competitions, as well as community and peer athlete support. The highest barriers reported by athletes were inadequate financial support, a dysfunctional school sport system, lack of sports facilities, equipment and transport system, poor post-career and scientific support. Elite athletes from HDAs need consistent financial support, school/foundation level sport access, quality sports facilities, equipment, and reliable transport to training and competitions, post-career, as well as scientific support to achieve their full potential and attain international sporting success.


A novel anti-sway control system for cranes is proposed. The proposed method is based on the formation of a predetermined sway angle as a piecewise-continuous function, the second derivative of which does not experience discontinuity. Its third derivative is a rectangular pulse of certain variable-sign amplitude, which results in eliminating the mechanical stress in the crane construction and kinematic gears. A comprehensive mathematical model and an experimental prototype of the crane are developed. Simulation and experimental results prove that the proposed anti-sway method enables damping of the oscillations of the suspended load during its horizontal motion (in two orthogonal coordinates) and hoisting/lowering. The control method is invariant to the mechanism/load mass ratio, lift height and hoisting speed. Keywords— Anti-sway system, Container crane, Motion control, Oscillations damping.


Bioisosterism is a key concept in medicinal chemistry, as it allows medicinal chemists to interchange structural fragments without significant perturbation in biological activity. Not surprisingly, given the vast amount of bioactivity data and chemoinformatics resources now available, there has been a significant surge in the number of computational approaches available to mine and identify bioisosteric replacements for fragments of bioactive compounds. Such methods have certainly provided medicinal chemists with a diverse arsenal of in‐house, commercial, and academic tools and interfaces to aid in the optimization across a number of end points such as bioactivity; selectivity; and absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity properties for effective and efficient drug design. These in silico bioisosteric replacement mining approaches can generally be divided into two categories, namely ligand based and structure based. The approaches of the former category use information that is derived from ligands, whereas the latter category requires knowledge of the biological target, as well as specific knowledge of the interactions between ligand and target in the binding pocket. Ligand‐based methodologies are also typically divided into similarity‐based and database mining (or knowledge‐based) approaches. In general, the former provide an assessment of putative bioisosteric fragments and substructures, in terms of molecular topology and descriptors, whereas the latter extract structural transformations from large chemical repositories and associate them with the induced change in biological or any other property of interest. Following systematic retrospective studies, a large number of nonclassical bioisosteric equivalents have been reported in the literature.


Bremsstrahlung radiation measurement is one of the most commonly used plasma-diagnostics methods. Most of the bremsstrahlung measurements with electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRISs) have been performed in continuous-operation mode yielding information only on the steady-state bremsstrahlung emission. This paper describes results of bremsstrahlung and argon ion-current measurements with the JYFL 14-GHz ECRIS operated in a pulsed mode. The bremsstrahlung radiation was studied as a function of neutral-gas pressure and radio frequency power. The timescale of ECRIS bremsstrahlung production is compared to ion-production timescale for different charge states of argon for the first time. It was observed, for example, that the ion currents of different charge states reach the steady state before the bremsstrahlung emission rate saturates.


Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L) is an important spice crop and is used in Indian diets. Physiological characters of plants and biochemical constituents like structural carbohydrate and phytate were studied in developing coriander (var Narnaul and Panth) seeds. Moisture decreased with advancement of seed development. Neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre, hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin levels increased with maturation of seed in both coriander varieties. Significant variations were observed in biochemical constituents between varieties and during different stages of seed development. The presence of phytate did not vary at different stages of seed development. The height of plants varied from 134 to 139 cm with 10 branches. Umbels varied from 89 to 99 with an average of six umbellets. Narnaul seed weight was double that of the variety Panth.


ALTHOUGH presenile sclerosis (Alzheimer's disease) has relatively well defined clinical and pathoanatomic characteristics, there may be significant variations in both these aspects of the disease. The usual clinical course is marked by progressive intellectual deterioration and personality changes which develop in the presenium. Occasionally, however, the disease may begin in adolescence 1 and manifest localizing neurologic signs, 2 aphasia 3 and convulsions. 4 The pathoanatomic features may also vary from case to case. The usual gross change is a diffuse atrophy of the cerebral cortex, and the microscopic picture is one of depletion of the cytoarchitecture, the presence of senile plaques and neurofibrillary degeneration of the neurons. In some instances instead of diffuse atrophy, there may occur areas of focal atrophy, resembling those of Pick's disease, 5 in association with otherwise typical histologic changes of presenile sclerosis. There is also considerable latitude in the relative concentration and distribution of the


The translingual approach has become an increasingly popular pedagogy in writing education to respond to linguistic diversity in the past decade. It emphasizes nonstandard language varieties and encourages learners to employ all linguistic repertoire. Writing scholars and educators proposed various research from different viewpoints to investigate how the approach can affect writing pedagogy and practice. However, so far, limited attention has been given to the potential influence of translingual writing in China's classrooms. Exploring the young and fast-growing landscape is necessary, and adapting the translingual approach to the Chinese context. To fill the gap, the purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the literature investigating translingual writing in China. Hopefully, the paper can facilitate the English as a foreign language (EFL) writing instructors who plan to adopt a translingual approach in China.


Background Supplementation with vitamin D3 was previously demonstrated to have a number of positive effects in models of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In this study, metabolic changes associated with vitamin D3 supplementation in rats kept on choline-deficient (CD) diet were studied. Methods Animals were randomly assigned into three groups: a control group (CG, n = 5) with adequate level of dietary choline content, a CD group (CDG, n = 5) which was kept on CD-diet, and a vitamin D3 supplementation group (CDVDG, n = 15) with CD-diet plus IP vitamin D3 injection. To explore the effects of different vitamin D3 doses on the progression of NASH, the animals in CDVDG group were randomly assigned into three subgroups with the vitamin D3 dosage of 1, 5, or 10 µg/kg of body weight administered IP twice a week (CDVDG1, CDVDG5 and CDVDG10, respectively). Results After 12 weeks of the experiment period, as compared with the CG, the CDG had an increase in the serum fasting insulin (29.50±0.34 mU/L vs 26.49±0.76 mU/L, p < 0.05), HOMA-IR (homeostasis model of assessment for insulin resistance index) (11.07±0.20 vs 9.07±0.34, p < 0.05) and leptin (569.71±38.97 ng/L vs 408.24±43.71 ng/L, p < 0.01), with no significant difference in the serum fasting blood glucose (8.44±0.11 mM vs 7.70±0.22 mM, p = 0.07). As compared with the CDG, the CDVDG had significantly decreased fasting blood glucose (CDVDG5: 7.70±0.03 mM vs 8.44±0.11 mM, p < 0.05), fasting insulin (CDVDG1, 5, 10 vs CDG: 27.20±0.91 μIU/mL, 22.94±0.90 μIU/mL, 21.47±0.77 μIU/mL vs 29.50±0.34 μIU/mL, respectively, p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.01), HOMA-IR (CDVDG5, 10 vs CDG: 7.85±0.32, 7.56±0.59 vs 11.07±0.20, respectively, p<0.01, p<0.05) and leptin (CDVDG5 vs CDG: 445.87±14.98 ng/L vs 569.71±38.97 ng/L, p<0.05) (Fig. 1). In addition, serum fasting blood glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR and leptin levels in the CDVDG were significantly decreased upon treatment with vitamin D3 in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions These results show that vitamin D3 supplementation could effectively control the critical metabolic parameters known to be affected by NASH. The findings suggest that VD3 supplementation could be an effective measure for the treatment of patients with clinical NASH.


To improve both sensing and communication performances, this paper proposes a coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission design for a dual-functional radar-communication (DFRC) system. In the proposed CoMP-DFRC system, the central processor (CP) coordinates multiple base stations (BSs) to transmit both the communication signal and the dedicated probing signal. The communication performance and the sensing performance are both evaluated by the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). Given the limited backhaul capacity, we study the waveform and clustering design from both the radar-centric perspective and the communication-centric perspective. Dinkelbach's transform is adopted to handle the single-ratio fractional objective for the radar-centric problem. For the communication-centric problem, we adopt quadratic transform to convexitify the multi-ratio fractional objective. Then, the rank-one constraint of communication beamforming vector is relaxed by semidefinite relaxation (SDR), and the tightness of SDR is further proved to guarantee the optimal waveform design with fixed clustering. For dynamic clustering, equivalent continuous functions are used to represent the non-continuous clustering variables. Successive convex approximation (SCA) is further utilized to convexitify the equivalent functions. Simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of all proposed designs.


Locally irradiated bone marrow was uniformly depressed during the first week after radiation doses of 2000 to 10,000 rads. The early appearance of hemopoietic regeneration between 7 and 14 days at all dose levels suggested an influx of stem cells from unirradiated sites. Between 2 and 6 months post-irradiation a second wave of hemopoietic depression occurred at all dose levels and was correlated with the disappearance of the sinusoidal microcirculation. Between 6 and 12 months diffuse hemopoietic regeneration occurred only at the 2000 rad level and could be correlated with regeneration of the sinusoidal microcirculation. No significant hemopoiesis or sinusoidal regeneration was observed at the higher dose levels after 6 months or 1 year. Although large vascular channels developed, indicating circulation through the marrow cavity, the characteristic and essential anatomy of the microcirculation was not restored.


The recovery of polyethylene from strains of up to 50% was examined for constant stress and constant strain types of loading. The recovery is divided into an instantaneous component I and a time-dependent component R(t) both of which are shown to be independent of the type of deformation, contrary to the behaviour expected of a substance with a Boltzmann-type `memory'. The time-dependent recovery is shown to follow a single master curve as observed for an activated rate process.


This study aimed to prepare pharmaceutical formulations of mouthwashes, containing extracted Yemeni myrrh as a single active constituent, and testing their quality criteria and antimicrobial activity on common pathogens of the oral cavity. In order to determine the best extracting solvent for myrrh antimicrobial constituents, different solvents were used to prepare myrrh extract. The antimicrobial activity of those extracts against Staphylococcus aureus was then investigated. The extract that showed the best activity was also investigated against Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans. It was found that the hydroalcohol extract extracted by ethanol: phosphate buffer pH 7 (85:15) showed the best antimicrobial activity. Thus, this extract was used, thereafter, to prepare 10 pharmaceutical formulations of myrrh tinctures. Each 100-ml tincture formulation was prepared from 65 ml of myrrh hydroalcohol extract (equivalent to 2.6 g extracted constituents of myrrh). All formulations contained a solubilizing agent, antioxidant, sweetener, flavor and colorant. In order to prepare corresponding aqueous myrrh mouthwash formulation form each tincture, 1ml of the tincture was diluted up to 50 ml with water. The viscosity, pH and palatability of those mouthwash formulations were tested. It was found that two formulations (M9, M10) prepared from the myrrh tinctures (F9 and F10, which contained 9.5 and 10.5 % w/v of sodium lauryl sulphate, respectively, showed accepted results. However, formulation M9 showed better antimicrobial activity than the other formulation. The antimicrobial activity of formulation M9 was also superior to those of two commercial mouthwashes and one oral antifungal suspension. Moreover, the formulation exhibited good isothermal short-term stability when stored at three different conditions for 9 weeks.


The results of theoretical and experimental investigations of the spectra of and the kinetic phenomena occurring in materials with magnetic-impurity states on impurities with a finite-range potential are reviewed. The spectra of magnetic-impurity states for different types of negative ions in strong magnetic fields are studied: weakly bound electron with an isotropic effective mass, negative ion with a markedly anisotropic electronic energy spectrum, and the H− system. The current status of the theory of transverse galvanomagnetic phenomena, stemming from the interaction of carriers with neutral impurities having a potential with a finite range, is discussed. Current theoretical and experimental results concerning oscillation effects in quantizing magnetic fields on different types of negative ions in semimetals and semiconductors are compared.


Background:The incidence rate and mortality rate of melanoma have been increasing in recent decades. Increasing evidence has depicted the correlation between melanoma prognosis and immune signature. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a robust prognostic immune-related gene pairs (IRGPs) signature for estimating overall survival (OS) of melanoma.Methods:Gene expression profiling and clinical information of melanoma patients were derived from two public data sets, divided into training and validation cohorts. Immune genes significantly associated with prognosis were selected. Results:Among 1,646 immune genes, a 25 IRGPs signature was built which was significantly associated with OS in the training cohort (P=1.80×10−22; hazard ratio [HR] =9.50 [6.04, 14.93]). In the validation datasets, the IRGPs signature significantly divided patients into high- vs low- risk groups considering their prognosis (P=2.47×10−4; HR =2.99 [1.66, 5.38]) and was prognostic in multivariate analysis. Functional analysis showed that several biological processes, including keratinization and pigment phenotype-related pathways, enriched in the high-risk group. Macrophages M0, NK cells resting and T cells gamma delta were significantly higher in the high-risk group compared with the low-risk group. Conclusions:We successfully constructed a robust IRGPs signature with prognostic values for melanoma, providing new insights into post-operational treatment strategies.


BACKGROUND
Anaemia is a common disorder occurring in about 33% of the global population. It is an important cardiovascular risk factor and a key indicator of some chronic complications of Diabetes Mellitus (DM). This study aimed to determine the burden of anaemia and its correlation with some clinical and biochemical parameters among patients with DM attending a tertiary health facility in Zaria, Northwestern Nigeria.

SUBJECTS, MATERIALS AND METHODS
This was a case-control study in which 168 participants were enrolled (84 DM patients, 84 controls). It was conducted in the Endocrinology and Metabolic clinics of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria. Consenting DM patients were enrolled consecutively and subsequently, sex- and age-matched with non-diabetic controls. Data on age, gender and Haemoglobin (Hb) concentrations were collated for all study participants. Additional data on type of DM, duration of DM once diagnosis, treatment, type of treatment, history of hypertension, chronic kidney disease, peripheral neuropathy, and Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) were collated for all cases. Data were collated and analyzed using SPSS version 21. Level of significance was set at <0.05. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Institutional Health Research Ethics Committee and informed consent was obtained from the all the participants.

RESULTS
Females constituted 39/84(46.4%) of each arm of the study. The mean ± SD of age for both cases and controls was 53.7 ± 8.9 years. The mean ± SD duration of DM, treatment for DM and FBS were 8.4 ± 5.7 years, 5.0 ± 3.6 years and 6.1 ± 2.5mmol/L respectively. Cases had significantly lower Hb concentration compared to controls (12.1±2.2g/dl vs. 13.1 ± 1.4g/dl, t= -3.446, p = 0.001). Overall prevalence of anaemia among cases and controls was 36/84(42.9%) vs. 26/84(31.0%) Z = 1.6, p = 0.110. Among cases, haemoglobin concentration had very weak, inverse and non-statistically significant relationships with age, duration of DM diagnosis, duration of therapy and FBS levels. There was a significant relationship between anaemia on one hand and type of DM and treatment on the other. The odds of DM patients with history of CKD or uncontrolled FBS having anaemia were OR= 0.600 (95% CI 0.196, 1.836) and OR=1.755 (95% CI 0.737, 4.181) respectively.

CONCLUSION
The burden of anaemia amongst patients with DM is high in Zaria, Northwestern Nigeria, and it is associated with poor glycaemic control. Hence, the need to include haematological assessment as part of routine care of patients with DM.


Abstract Mental health concerns of people impacted by the coronavirus pandemic have not been adequately addressed. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the properties of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), which is a brief mental health screener to identify probable cases of dysfunctional anxiety associated with the COVID-19 crisis. This 5-item scale, which was based on 775 adults with anxiety over the coronavirus, demonstrated solid reliability and validity. Elevated CAS scores were found to be associated with coronavirus diagnosis, impairment, alcohol/drug coping, negative religious coping, extreme hopelessness, suicidal ideation, as well as attitudes toward President Trump and Chinese products. The CAS discriminates well between persons with and without dysfunctional anxiety using an optimized cut score of ≥ 9 (90% sensitivity and 85% specificity). These results support the CAS as an efficient and valid tool for clinical research and practice.


Adaptation to climate change necessitates serious adjustments to the spatial organization of our environment. However, the uncertainties, the controversial character of the climate debate, the variety of climate change consequences and the inherently complex character of climate change puts specific demands on adapting spatial planning to climate change. Due to these characteristics of climate change, climate adaptation demands "adaptive spatial planning". One of the main challenges is to balance between a robust and a flexible approach. On the one hand adaptive spatial planning tries to enable social and economic functions to flourish. On the other hand flexibility is required in finding creative combinations between the fulfillment of climate adaptation and other spatial interests. In this article we reconsider the strategic departure points for spatial planning (norms, values and principles), the interactive organization of planning processes, and the allocation of responsibilities, costs and benefits in planning processes which in our view constitute adaptive spatial planning practices in the context of climate change.


The rapid rise of China as a dominant global player in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic (PV) industry has drawn much attention from scholars and policy-makers. However, few studies have been done to examine how the implementation of solar PV policies have affected the pace of domestic deployment of solar PV technology in China. This research aims to fill this gap. The purpose of this research is to understand the effect of PV laws and policies on the deployment of solar PV panels as well as the factors affecting the performance of the laws and policies. The promotion of legislation and policy-orientated strategies are both a vital path for China to catch up with the frontier states in the area of science and technology related industries. Moreover, from the perspective of technological and industrial development trends, the author carried out an analysis of China's PV industry chain, pointing out that China's PV industry has the potential to take it one step further in the areas of R&D and the possibility of acquiring breakthroughs in international cooperation.


In recent years clinicians concerned with intensive care have become increasingly aware that pulmonary insufficiency may develop shortly after the apparently successful immediate resuscitation of the critically ill. The incidence of this complication is high, a figure between 30% and 50% being generally accepted (1). In its initial stages respiratory tract infection does not appear to play a part though bronchopneumonia may later supervene. The impact of this adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) on surgeons dealing with extensive trauma, sepsis, burns and haemorrhagic shock has been dramatic and since 1968, when the first conference devoted to the pulmonary effects of nonthoracic trauma was held (2), investigation into the problem has been energetic. Essentially two opposing viewpoints have evolved to account for the occurrence of ARDS. That they are interrelated should become clear in the following discussion.


Contains a report on three‐dimensional finite element (FE) analyses of deformations and stresses resulting from the excavation of shallow underground railway tunnels. Multisurface elasto‐viscoplastic material models are employed for consideration of the mechanical behaviour of the soil and the shotcrete shell supporting the excavation. Both are formulated within the framework of closest point projection algorithms. For soil a cap model is used, consisting of a curved failure surface, a tension cut‐off and an elliptical cap. The latter allows consideration of the evolution of plastic strains even for the limiting case of a purely volumetric stress state. The movement of the cap is governed by a hardening law, describing the relation between the hydrostatic pressure and void ratio. The shotcrete model is a rotating crack model, taking ageing of the maturing concrete into account. It consists of a strain‐hardening Drucker‐Prager cone and three Rankine (crack) surfaces. Demonstrates the usefulness of the cap model to predict the mechanical behaviour of the soil by means of tests on remoulded, saturated clay. The model parameters of the clayey silt of Vienna, where the analysed tunnel is located, are fit to standard test results. The parameters of the shotcrete model are fit to test results published in the literature. Compares the analysis of a single‐track tunnel with the results of field measurements from sliding micrometers. Furthermore, the stresses in the shotcrete lining are examined. In view of the inhomogeneity of the material and of unavoidable deficiencies of the measurements it is fair to say that the mechanical effects resulting from the excavation of tunnels are modelled reasonably well.


Various promising concepts exist for improving the performance of productions of pure enantiomers. An efficient approach is developed for the systematic conceptual design of such processes. The proposed three-step procedure aids a fast selection of the optimal process configuration out of many possible candidates and leads to an optimally designed process. The approach is applied in a case study for an industrially relevant compound, considering different process concepts based on simulated moving bed chromatography, enantioselective crystallization, and racemization. It is demonstrated that mixed-integer nonlinear programming is capable of predicting simultaneously the optimal process configuration and optimal design parameters.


The object of this article is the eros of love in the latest poetry by K. Platelis: books Palimpsestai (2004) and Įtrūkusios mėnesienos (2018). Theoretical-methodological scope – phenomenology; the main references – M. Merleau-Ponty and E. Levinas. The phenomenology, reflecting eros subjectivity, corporeality, time and space, allows for more actualization and understanding of the phenomenon of the eros of love. It suggests new categories through which individual and subjective poetic meanings come through. Love and its eros is one of the dominants in works of poets of K. Platelis' generation. This phenomenon, related not only to the experiences of love, but also to the experiences of death, encompassing not only individuals, but also things, in works of this author gets into the complex cultural, historical, mythological context, grows out of this context and gives it a distinct poetic form. The hunger of eros (eros as a hunger), set up at the beginning of the article, and its analysis allow a better understanding of the otherness of mythopoetic transformations typical to K. Platelis' poetry, as well as the dynamics of the eros of love and death, the interaction of eros of different times, reality and its simulation, the connection between passion and the world of things. Time, as one of the most important phenomena in the eros world, makes it possible to feel the particular dynamics of eros, a certain rhythm based on contradictions and ambiguities, and refers to the dynamics of the roles of different subjects in the eros situation. One of the main phenomena in the latest poetry is the middle aged eros, characterized by the autoironic rehabilitation of eros. Poems of Platelis have a distinctly erotic space. From the wide spectrum of the spatial eros imagination, it is worth highlighting its cultural aspect. It is necessary for identifying intersubjective relations, emotional and material experiences of eros. The eros, arising from the subjective observation of space and its objects, is characterized by the tension of a real and simulated world, metaphysical and concrete physical reality.


Abstract The existence of an Arctic stratospheric jet stream in winter, hitherto largely inferred from mean geostrophic wind sections, is considered on the basis of actual winds for the Canadian Arctic area during the winter of 1955–1956. Temperatures at the 100-millibar level at a number of stations over the Canadian Arctic were examined to throw light on the intensely baroclinic zone below the jet stream. Meridional movements and intensity changes of the jet stream during this winter, as inferred from a statistical study of the 100-mb temperature field, are in accord with the conventional view that the jet stream is maintained by differential radiational heating and cooling of the ozone layer across the boundary of polar night.


The Indian subcontinent is ubiquitous with some social factors such as caste, gender (discrimination), poverty. One particular factor that has taken up the imaginations of the Netflix-watching audience of late is the practice of arranged marriages. A series called Indian Matchmaking catapulted the notion of arranged marriages into the drawing rooms of both people who are highly aware of the notion (probably having been through it themselves), as well as people who have a very vague idea about it. Nevertheless, it has become a highly talked about television show across the Anglophone world. A little before its release, another English-language reality show, What the Love! with Karan Johar was released by Netflix. This explores the world of romantic connections with a few chosen people from India. While placing itself on the opposite side of the spectrum when compared to Indian Matchmaking, in many ways, it lends itself to similar tropes, albeit under a progressive garb. This paper delves into the portrayal of people from India or of Indian origin in the reality shows Indian Matchmaking and What the Love! with Karan Johar. I examine the two shows through the lens of postfeminism and how, while raising several social issues that plague Indian society, both citizens and the diaspora, they inadvertently propagate a certain self-policing and conservatism that people, particularly women, are expected to adhere to.


A dual-loop phase-locked loop (PLL) for wideband operation is proposed. The dual-loop architecture combines a coarse-tuning loop with a fine-tuning one, enabling a wide tuning range and low voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) gain without poisoning phase noise and reference spur suppression performance. An analysis of the phase noise and reference spur of the dual-loop PLL is emphasized. A novel multiple-pass ring VCO is designed for the dual-loop application. It utilizes both voltage-control and current-control simultaneously in the delay cell. The PLL is fabricated in Jazz 0.18-μm RF CMOS technology. The measured tuning range is from 4.2 to 5.9 GHz. It achieves a low phase noise of –99 dBc/Hz @ 1 MHz offset from a 5.5 GHz carrier.


Background and Purpose:
 Though utilization of mechanical embolectomy has increased in recent years, the procedure is still associated with significant morbidity and mortality in all age groups. We aimed to compare complications and outcomes after mechanical embolectomy between age groups ≥80 years and <80 years and to identify the predictors of mortality among ≥80 years.

 Methods:
 We identified patients with acute ischemic stroke who underwent mechanical embolectomy in 2006-2009 from Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) of Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). We compared co-morbidities and inpatient complications between age ≥80 and <80 years after sample weighting to get estimates of population. Multivariate logistic regression model was constructed to identify predictors of inpatient mortality in age ≥80 years.

 Results:
 Of the 6723 adults who underwent mechanical embolectomy, 1298 (19%) were ≥80 years. Compared to younger, octogenerians were more likely (p<0.05) to be of female gender (68% vs. 46%) and white race (83% vs. 74%). They also had higher Elixhauser co-morbidity index (mean ± SD: 3.4 ± 1.6 vs. 3.0 ± 1.7). Unadjusted mortality rate was higher (31% vs. 22%) and rate of functional independence at discharge was lower (4% vs. 16%) for age ≥80 years. Age ≥80 years had significantly higher incidence of acute myocardial infarction (7% vs. 5%), acute kidney injury (9% vs. 6%), GI bleeding (3% vs. 2%), need for blood products transfusion (10% vs. 8%), and urinary infections (22% vs. 15%). Use of concomitant thrombolytic treatment (intravenous or intra-arterial) was higher (58% vs. 53%) in age ≥80 years. Incidence of intracranial hemorrhage (11% vs. 10%) was similar (p>0.05) between the two cohorts, as were the rates of mechanical ventilation (29% vs. 30%), gastrostomy tube placement (17% vs. 15%) and permanent tracheostomy (0.8% vs. 0.7%). After adjusting for gender, race, inter-facility transfer status, and length of hospitalization, significant predictors of in-hospital mortality for age ≥80 years were intracranial hemorrhage, sepsis, mechanical ventilation, acute myocardial infarction, acute kidney injury, and chronic pulmonary disease. Use of thrombolytic treatment did not change inpatient mortality (
 Table
 ).

 Conclusions:
 Morbidity and mortality in mechanical embolectomy for ischemic stroke in age ≥80 years are significantly higher compared with younger. Inpatient medical complications independently predict mortality in age ≥80 years.


This study investigated adult listeners' ability to detect age-related cues in child-directed speech (CDS). Participants (N = 186) listened to two speech recordings directed at children between the ages of 6 and 44 months and guessed which had addressed a younger or an older child. The recordings came from North American English-speaking mothers and listeners were native speakers of Turkish with varying degrees of English knowledge. Participants were randomly assigned to listen either to the original recordings or to the low-pass filtered versions. Accuracy was above chance level across all groups. Participants' English level, age, and the age difference between the addressees significantly predicted accuracy. After controlling for these variables, we found a significant effect of condition. Participants' accuracy tended to be better in the unfiltered condition with the exception of male participants without children. These results suggest that age-related variations in CDS are perceptually available to adult listeners. Furthermore, even though sensitivity to the age-related cues is facilitated by the availability of content-related cues in speech, it does not seem to be solely dependent on these cues, providing further support for the form–function relations in CDS.


The technical improvement and new applications of Infrared Thermography (IRT) with healthy subjects should be accompanied by results about the reproducibility of IRT measurements in different popula-tion groups. In addition, there is a remarkable necessity of a larger supply on software to analyze IRT images of human beings. Therefore, the objectives of this study were: firstly, to investigate the reproducibility of skin temperature (Tsk) on overweight and obese subjects using IRT in different Regions of Interest (ROI), moments and side-to-side differences (?T); and secondly, to check the reliability of a new software called Termotracker®, specialized on the analysis of IRT images of human beings. Methods: 22 overweight and obese males (11) and females (11) (age: 41,51±7,76 years; height: 1,65±0,09 m; weight: 82,41±11,81 Kg; BMI: 30,17±2,58 kg/m²) were assessed in two consecutive thermograms (5 seconds in-between) by the same observer, using an infrared camera (FLIR T335, Sweden) to get 4 IRT images from the whole body. 11 ROI were selected using Termotracker® to analyze its reproducibility and reliability through Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and Coefficient of Variation (CV) values. Results: The reproducibility of the side-to-side differences (?T) between two consecutive thermograms was very high in all ROIs (Mean ICC = 0,989), and excellent between two computers (Mean ICC = 0,998). The re-liability of the software was very high in all the ROIs (Mean ICC = 0,999). Intraexaminer reliability analysing the same subjects in two consecutive thermograms was also very high (Mean ICC = 0,997). CV values of the different ROIs were around 2%. Conclusions: Skin temperature on overweight subjects had an excellent reproducibility for consecutive ther-mograms. The reproducibility of thermal asymmetries (?T) was also good but it had the influence of several factors that should be further investigated. Termotracker® reached excellent reliability results and it is a relia-ble and objective software to analyse IRT images of humans beings.


Objective A prerequisite for patient-centredness in healthcare organisations is offering patients access to adequate health information, which fits their needs. A personalised digital care pathway (PDCP) is a tool that facilitates the provision of tailored and timely information. Despite its potential, barriers influence the implementation of digital tools in healthcare organisations. Therefore, we investigated the perceived barriers and facilitators for implementation of the PDCP among stakeholders. Design A qualitative study was conducted to acquire insight into perceptions of the stakeholders involved in the implementation of a digital care pathway in three diverse patient groups. Setting This study is part of the PDCP research project in a large academic hospital in the Netherlands. Participants Purposive sampling was used to recruit internal stakeholders (eg, healthcare professionals, employees of the supporting departments) and external stakeholders (eg, employees of the external PDCP supplier). In addition, existing semistructured interviews with patients involved in pilot implementation (n=24) were used to verify the findings. Results We conducted 25 semistructured interviews using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Content analyses yielded four themes: (1) stakeholders' perceptions of the PDCP (eg, perceived usefulness); (2) characteristics of the individuals involved and the implementation process (eg, individuals express resistance to change); (3) organisational readiness (eg, lack of resources); and (4) collaboration within the organisation (eg, mutual communication, multidisciplinary codesign). The main barriers mentioned by patients were duration of first activation and necessity for up-to-date content. In addition, the most facilitating factor for patients was user-friendliness. Conclusion Our findings emphasise the importance of gaining insights into the various perspectives of stakeholder groups, including patients, regarding the implementation of the PDCP. The perceived barriers and facilitators can be used to improve the PDCP implementation plan and tailor the development and improvement of other digital patient communication tools.


The impact of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation on phospholipase D (PLD) trafficking and activity in mast cells was investigated. The enrichment of mast cells with different PUFA including α-linolenic acid (LNA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), linoleic acid (LA) or arachidonic acid (AA) revealed a PUFA-mediated modulation of the mastoparan-stimulated PLD trafficking and activity. All PUFA examined, except AA, prevented the migration of the PLD1 to the plasma membrane. For PLD2 no PUFA effects on trafficking could be observed. Moreover, PUFA supplementation resulted in an increase of mastoparan-stimulated total PLD activity, which correlated with the number of double bonds of the supplemented fatty acids. To investigate, which PLD isoform was affected by PUFA, stimulated mast cells were supplemented with DHA or AA in the presence of specific PLD-isoform inhibitors. It was found that both DHA and AA diminished the inhibition of PLD activity in the presence of a PLD1 inhibitor. By contrast, only AA diminished the inhibition of PLD activity in the presence of a PLD2 inhibitor. Thus, PUFA modulate the trafficking and activity of PLD isoforms in mast cells differently. This may, in part, account for the immunomodulatory effect of unsaturated fatty acids and contributes to our understanding of the modulation of mast cell activity by PUFA.


Social media are becoming more and more popular in scientific communication. Scientists use them for a range of purposes, from sharing publications, to blogging about their own or others' research, conference tweeting, interpersonal communication and online participation, for example via Q&As on academic social network sites like ResearchGate and academia.edu. Moreover, many social media platforms can be used for impact measurement via so-called altmetrics. Altmetrics capture and aggregate social media metrics such as (re)tweets, Facebook likes, Mendeley bookmarks and Wikipedia cites. They can challenge or at least complement bibliometric impact measures, like the Journal Impact Factor and the h-index, which have been criticized on various grounds. This presentation first summarizes recent studies on social media adoption in science. It then focuses on altmetrics and summarizes key findings in that domain. Finally, it gives a hands-on introduction to altmetrics by demonstrating two prominent services: Impactstory and Altmetric.com.


Recent attention to members of the sepiolid squid genus Euprymna and symbiotic associations with luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri strains) has prompted a review of this poorly-resolved group of squids. Twelve nominal species have been placed in this genus of which the majority are ill-defined, known only from their original descriptions and separated on the basis of inadequate characters. As a first step in resolving this group, a temperate Australian species, the Southern dumpling squid, Euprymna tasmanica, is here redescribed in detail. As the genus Euprymna currently stands, most members are only distinguished on the number and position of enlarged suckers in mature males. No diagnostic characters are available to identify females. All nominal species placed in this genus are reviewed and a key to proposed valid species is presented. Six species are considered here to be valid: Euprymna berryi, E. hoylei, E. morsei, E. scolopes, E. tasmanica and an undescribed species treated here as Euprymna sp. 1. Euprymna similis is a synonym of E. morsei of Japan. Due to inadequate original descriptions, and lost or poor type material, two species are considered here to be nomen dubia (E. schneehageni and E. pusilla), while the taxonomic status of four additional species remain unresolved (E. albatrossae, E. bursa, E. phenax and E. stenodactyla).


Critical Infrastructures include facilities, services and installations essential for the functioning of a society and economy. Such infrastructures are generally of a very large scale spanning cities, whole countries, or even crossing international borders. Examples of such Large-Scale Critical Infrastructures (LSCI) are electricity, water and gas supply, transportation, and health service [8]. There are many aspects to the management of LSCI, including security, fault tolerance, availability, and reconfiguration. The particular aspect of LSCI management with which we are concerned and which we view as a grand challenges in autonomic computing is optimization of their performance in changing conditions. Not all circumstances in which these systems will operate can be predicted so it is not possible to fully define their behaviour at design time. Even for the known operating conditions, with hundreds or thousands of nodes, it is infeasible, if not impossible, to define correct behaviour for all combinations of conditions on all nodes. Critical infrastructures need to adapt to various changes in load, both sudden ones and repeated load patterns. They need to optimize their performance with respect to multiple, often conflicting or highly dependent, policies with different levels of priority (high, low), affecting different parts of the systems (local, regional, global), either continuously, or in certain cirumstances (sporadically). In our work, Urban Traffic Control (UTC) is used as an exemplar of a LSCI. A UTC systems consist of hundreds of dependent nodes (traffic lights) that need to coordinate their behaviour to deal with optimizing general traffic throughput, prioritizing emergency vehicles and public transport, as well as adapting to any surges of traffic in particular areas in case of public events or accidents.


The geometry of five preferred structures of the immunodominant epitope of the HIV(Thailand) protein gp120, derived earlier from the NMR spectroscopy data, was refined using the quantum chemical methods. As a result, (i) the energy characteristics of the initial structures were improved significantly, (ii) their relative locations on the scale of formation heats were determined, and (iii) the energy barriers dividing the conformers under study were computed. On this basis, only two out of five starting structures were proposed as biologically relevant conformations for the virus immunogenic crown. The results obtained are discussed in connection with the literature data on the structure of the HIV-1 principal neutralizing determinant.


The Fourth Gospel lays great emphasis on seeing, on seeing the work of the Father in the work of Jesus, on seeing the Father's glory, and even on seeing the Father himself in the Son. The article explores the verses in which seeing Jesus include seeing God or Father (J 6,62; J 1,18;12,45; 14,9). The Fourth Gospel limits "seeing God" to Jesus alone (1,18; 6,45-46). His vision of God bas unique character because only the Son has seen the Father. The disciples see Jesus, or God as manifested in and through Jesus (14,9). Johannine concept of seeing operates on two different levels. The first is that of physical seeing experienced by those who actually saw Jesus and works he did. The second level is that o f spiritual seeing, or faith. Some who physically saw also went on to see by responding in faith that means seeing involves faith to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. To see the Father in the Son is to see the Son and so to come to perceive or understand their relationship and their unity.


ABSTRACT In the strictly aerobic, gram-negative bacteriumVitreoscilla strain C1, oxygen-limited growth conditions create a more than 50-fold increase in the expression of a homodimeric heme protein which was recognized as the first bacterial hemoglobin (Hb). The recently determined crystal structure ofVitreoscilla Hb has indicated that the heme pocket of microbial globins differs from that of eukaryotic Hbs. In an attempt to understand the diverse functions of Hb-like proteins in prokaryotes, we have cloned and characterized the gene (vgb) encoding an Hb-like protein from another strain of Vitreoscilla,V. stercoraria DW. Several silent changes were observed within the coding region of the V. stercoraria vgb gene. Apart from that, V. stercoraria Hb exhibited interesting differences between the A and E helices. Compared to its Hb counterpart from Vitreoscilla strain C1, the purified preparation ofV. stercoraria Hb displays a slower autooxidation rate. The differences between Vitreoscilla Hb and V. stercoraria Hb were mapped onto the three-dimensional structure of Vitreoscilla Hb, which indicated that the four changes, namely, Ile7Val, Ile9Thr, Ile10Ser, and Leu62Val, present within theV. stercoraria Hb fall in the region where the A and E helices contact each other. Therefore, alteration in the relative orientation of the A and E helices and the corresponding conformational change in the heme binding pocket of V. stercoraria Hb can be correlated to its slower autooxidation rate. In sharp contrast to the oxygen-regulated biosynthesis of Hb in Vitreoscillastrain C1, production of Hb in V. stercoraria has been found to be low and independent of oxygen control, which is supported by the absence of a fumarate and nitrate reductase regulator box within the V. stercoraria vgb promoter region. Thus, the regulation mechanisms of the Hb-encoding gene appear to be quite different in the two closely related species ofVitreoscilla. The relatively slower autooxidation rate ofV. stercoraria Hb, lack of oxygen sensitivity, and constitutive production of Hb suggest that it may have some other function(s) in the cellular physiology of V. stercorariaDW, together with facilitated oxygen transport, predicted for earlier reported Vitreoscilla Hb.


We took an innovative approach to service level management for network enterprise systems by using integrated monitoring, diagnostics, and adaptation services in a service-oriented architecture. The autonomous diagnosis for trouble-shooting of web service interruptions is based on Bayesian network models. In this paper, we present our methods for building the diagnostic models. We focus on two types of Bayesian network models of different structure complexity. Our result shows that the two-layer model outperforms the threelayer model in the applied domain. This challenges the common belief that adding unnecessary nodes in a Bayesian network and growing its structural complexity does not deteriorate performance. Hence such practice of building more complex models than necessary should be approached cautiously within the context of the ap-


In this paper, we focus on non-asymptotic bounds related to the Euler scheme of an ergodic diffusion with a possibly multiplicative diffusion term (non-constant diffusion coefficient). More precisely, the objective of this paper is to control the distance of the standard Euler scheme with decreasing step ({usually called Unadjusted Langevin Algorithm in the Monte Carlo literature}) to the invariant distribution of such an ergodic diffusion. In an appropriate Lyapunov setting and under {uniform} ellipticity assumptions on the diffusion coefficient, we establish (or improve) such bounds for Total Variation and $L^1$-Wasserstein distances in both multiplicative and additive and frameworks. These bounds rely on weak error expansions using {Stochastic Analysis} adapted to decreasing step setting.


The drive to eat, like most motivated behaviors, is controlled by both intrinsic signals from the body as well as extrinsic signals from the environment. Although these factors often act in concert, in some instances environmental cues can override the body's homeostatic signals. Prior work investigating the ability of learned cues to promote overeating in the absence of hunger identified a critical forebrain network composed of the amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and lateral hypothalamus (LHA). We hypothesized that a similar forebrain network may also be critical when learned fear-cues inhibit eating despite hunger. The amygdala, mPFC and LHA are each anatomically and functionally positioned to influence feeding, and evidence suggests they could work together to support the fear-cue's ability to inhibit feeding by overriding homeostatic hunger signals triggered by food-deprivation. Prior anatomical work identified direct pathways between these three large, heterogeneous regions; however, less is known about the organization of the underlying circuitries, especially between distinct nuclei and/or subdivisions that comprise these structures. Study 1 used a dual retrograde tract tracing design to map the topographical organization of the connections between the amygdala, mPFC, and LHA in detail, and to determine whether amygdalar pathways to the mPFC and to LHA originated from the same or different neurons. We found evidence for multiple, topographically organized, direct pathways from the amygdala to the LHA, and separate pathways from the amygdala to areas of the mPFC that send direct projections to the LHA. Importantly, nearly all amygdalar projections to the mPFC and to the LHA originated from different neurons, suggesting that amygdala and amygdala-mPFC processing influence the LHA independently. Study 2 used immediate early gene induction to map the patterns of functional activation within this amygdala-prefrontallateral hypothalamic network during the expression of fear-cue inhibited feeding behavior, and to assess whether these patterns were similar in males and females. We found differential activation across the network, and activation patterns related to the presentation of fear-cues, the presence of food-related cues, and the amount of food consumed were associated within distinct cell groups in the amygdala, mPFC, and LHA. Together, the studies presented in this dissertation provide anatomical and functional maps for future interrogation of the circuitry underlying fear-cue inhibited feeding.


Cyclic shifts are intrinsic operations in many parallel algorithms. Therefore, it is important to execute them efficiently. The authors present and analyze algorithms for the cyclic shift operation on n-dimensional (distributed memory) hypercubes. The first algorithm by S.L. Johnsson (1987) always uses shortest paths between hypercube nodes for routing. The authors prove that when using this algorithm, there is no node and link congestion in any communication step on synchronous hypercubes. Consequently, any cyclic shift can be implemented in n steps on such machines, without any local buffering of messages. They show that all previously known algorithms need local buffering, in the context of asynchronous hypercubes. In order to overcome this, they design an algorithm that always uses link-disjoint paths for routing. In this case, they prove that any cyclic shift can be realized by using at most /sup 4///sub 3/n steps, without any local message buffers.<<ETX>>