Agile software development (ASD) has become standard in software development. ASD methods share a preference for face-to-face communication rather than formal comprehensive documentation. As agile teams are independent in their internal processes they can decide on, whether or not, to use documentation artefacts. Their decisions elaborate the Agile Manifesto's second statement: "Working software over comprehensive documentation". Therefore, our main research question is: What is the role of artefacts in communication in agile software development teams? The hypothesis underlying this research is that artefacts have proven their value in traditional software development and that agile teams will carry over some of this value to their current practices. In first instance the use of artefacts in agile teams was investigated through interviewing team members in three agile teams in a case study. Its conclusions demonstrated the basic validity of our hypothesis. The teams did use artefacts and we partially confirmed previous findings and complemented them with additional artefacts. Having established the blend of traditional and agile artefacts does not shine light on reasons for using them. In a holistic view we first investigated the existence of a relation between maturity of an agile team's ASD and its use of artefacts. Evidence was found for maturity to be negatively correlated with the non-agile/all artefacts ratio. In a follow-up study we explicitly investigated rationales for the use of artefacts. In fourteen agile teams interviews were held with prominent team members to discuss the use of artefacts and the motivation for using them. Agile teams stated five groups of rationales, among which one for agile artefacts and four for traditional artefacts, for instance to promote internal team communication. Formal and informal communication in ASD are often regarded as two distinct end points, resembling the distinction between explicit and tacit knowledge. This distinction is recognized not to be a black and white one and this raised the question whether or not agile teams also experience intermediate appearances between formal communication (artefacts) and informal communication (face-to-face). We coined this appearance a 'fuzzy' artefact, an artefact which is not formally documented, but one that is still explicitly recognized by an agile team. The findings confirmed their existence and teams use them, for instance, in the requirements process, the elaboration of user stories and in taking Go/ No-Go decisions. The overall answer to our research question thus is: Yes, artefacts play an important role in the communication within agile teams. This is no surprise as far as agile artefacts, artefacts that are inherent to ASD, are involved, for instance a product or sprint backlog, or user stories. Agile teams use, in addition, non-agile artefacts, which are associated with traditional software development rather than ASD. However, they have sound reasons to do so. Two examples: (1) Team-internal communication benefits from functional and technical design artefacts, (2) Quality assurance leads to test-related artefacts. In general, agile teams are able to explain why they are using the artefacts they use. Artefacts do not replace face-to-face communication, but complement it.


In liver tissue of dogs with experimental chronic enterocolitis rate of phosphorylation and P/O coefficient were decreased, when succinic acid was used as a substrate of oxidation. Within 10-40 days after resection of 1/2 part of small intestine in rats oxidation of succinate was increased with simultaneous decrease in P/O coefficient in liver tissue. In mitochondria of liver tissue on 20th and 30th day after the operation the succinate dehydrogenase activity was increased. In remote period after resection of small intestine (90 days) rates of succinate oxidation and P/3 coefficient approached the normal values, found in liver tissue.


We analyze the performance of a variant of Newton method with quadratic regularization for solving composite convex minimization problems. At each step of our method, we choose regularization parameter proportional to a certain power of the gradient norm at the current point. We introduce a family of problem classes characterized by H\"older continuity of either the second or third derivative. Then we present the method with a simple adaptive search procedure allowing an automatic adjustment to the problem class with the best global complexity bounds, without knowing specific parameters of the problem. In particular, for the class of functions with Lipschitz continuous third derivative, we get the global $O(1/k^3)$ rate, which was previously attributed to third-order tensor methods. When the objective function is uniformly convex, we justify an automatic acceleration of our scheme, resulting in a faster global rate and local superlinear convergence. The switching between the different rates (sublinear, linear, and superlinear) is automatic. Again, for that, no a priori knowledge of parameters is needed.


Subspace learning algorithms have been well studied in face recognition. Among them, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is one of the most widely used supervised subspace learning method. Due to the difficulty of designing an incremental solution of the eigen decomposition on the product of matrices, there is little work for computing LDA incrementally. To avoid this limitation, an incremental supervised subspace learning (ISSL) algorithm was proposed, which incrementally learns an adaptive subspace by optimizing the maximum margin criterion (MMC). With the dynamically added face images, ISSL can effectively constrain the computational cost. Feasibility of the new algorithm has been successfully tested on different face data sets.


Through the development and accessibility of the Internet, nowadays the cloud computing has become a very popular. Through the development and accessibility of the Internet, nowadays the cloud computing has become a very popular. This concept has the potential to change the use of information technologies. Cloud computing is the technology that provides infrastructure, platform or software as a service via the network to a huge number of remote users. The main benefit of cloud computing is the utilization of elastic resources and virtualization. Two main properties are required from clouds by users: interoperability and privacy. This article focuses on interoperability. Nowadays it is difficult to migrate an application between clouds offered by different providers. The article deals with that problem in multicloud environment. Specifically, it focuses on the application performance optimization in a multicloud environment. A new method is suggested based on the state of the art. The method is divided into three parts: multicloud architecture, method of a horizontal scalability, and taxonomy for multicriteria optimization. The principles of the method were applied in a design of multicriteria optimization architecture, which we verified experimentally. The aim of our experiment is carried on a portal offering a platform according to the users' requirements.


Recent geological and geophysical data from southern Tibet allow refinement of models for the closing of southern (Neo-) Tethys and formation of the Himalaya. Shelf sediments of the Indian passive continental margin which pass northward into deep-sea Tethyan sediments of the Indus-Tsangpo suture zone were deposited in the Late Cretaceous. An Andean-type margin with a 2,500-km-long Trans-Himalayan (Kohistan-Ladakh-Gangdese) granitoid batholith formed parallel to the southern margin of the Lhasa block, together with extensive andesites, rhyolites, and ignimbrites (Lingzizong Formation). The southern part of the Lhasa block was uplifted, deformed, and eroded between the Cenomanian and the Eocene. In the western Himalaya, the Kohistan island arc became accreted to the northern plate at this time. The northern part of the Lhasa block was affected by Jurassic metamorphism and plutonism associated with the mid-Jurassic closure of the Bangong-Nujiang suture zone to the north. The timing of collision between the two continental plates (ca. 50-40 Ma) marking the closing of Tethys is shown by (1) the change from marine (flysch-like) to continental (molasse-like) sedimentation in the Indus-Tsangpo suture zone, (2) the end of Gangdese I-type granitoid injection, (3) Eocene S-type anatectic granites and migmatites in the Lhasa block, and (4) the start of compressional tectonics in the Tibetan-Tethys and Indus-Tsangpo suture zone (south-facing folds, south-directed thrusts). After the Eocene closure of Tethys, deformation spread southward across the Tibetan-Tethys zone to the High Himalaya. Deep crustal thrusting, Barrovian metamorphism, migmatization, and generation of Oligocene-Miocene leucogranites were accompanied by south-verging recumbent nappes inverting metamorphic isograds and by south-directed intracontinental shear zones associated with the Main Central thrust. Continued convergence in the late Tertiary resulted in large-scale north-directed backthrusting along the Indus-Tsangpo suture zone. More than 500 km shortening is recorded in the foreland thrust zones of the Indian plate, south of the suture, and > 150 km shortening is recorded across the Indian shelf (Zanskar Range) and the Indus suture in Ladakh. There was also large-scale shortening of the Karakoram and Tibetan microplates north of the suture; as much as 1,000 km shortening occurred in Tibet. The more recent deformation, however, involved the spreading of this thickened crust and the lateral motion of the Tibetan block along major approximately east-west–trending strike-slip fault zones.


Accurately measuring the aerosol optical depth (AOD) is essential for our understanding of the climate. Currently, AOD can be measured by (i) satellite instruments, which operate on a global scale but have limited accuracies; and (ii) ground-based instruments, which are more accurate but not widely available. Recent approaches focus on integrating measurements from these two sources to complement each other. In this paper, we further improve the prediction accuracy by using the observation that the AOD varies slowly in the spatial domain. Using a probabilistic approach, we impose this smoothness constraint by a Gaussian random field on the Earth's surface, which can be considered as a two-dimensional manifold. The proposed integration approach is computationally simple, and experimental results on both synthetic and real-world data sets show that it significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art.


Findings from the 1995 National Nursing Home Survey suggest that elderly Americans are reducing their use of nursing home care. The numbers reflect a change in the role of the nursing home, as defined in this survey. By 1995 nursing facilities were increasingly focusing on patients with greater disability and postacute care needs. Preferred alternatives, most notably home-delivered care and assisted living, were likely filling the gap left by declining nursing home use. Better population-based studies are needed to track emerging trends and ascertain whether elders with disabilities are receiving the care they need. Such data could inform development of better public and private financing strategies for long-term care.


A novel 3-D time-domain terahertz (THz) imaging system based on piecewise constant Doppler (PCD) algorithm and step-frequency continuous-wave (SFCW) signaling is proposed in this article. First, the SFCW THz imaging system configuration and the Gaussian beam propagation model are introduced. Then, the conventional time-domain correlation imaging algorithm is reviewed, and the closed-form expression of its point spread function (PSF) is derived to quantify the range and lateral resolutions. To reduce the computational complexity, a 2-D recursive imaging process based on the plane approximation of the range surface is proposed, by which the original PCD algorithm is extended for 3-D imaging with 2-D aperture synthesis. The 3-D PCD imaging principle, implementation, and complexity analysis are discussed afterward. Finally, simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the theoretical analysis of the 3-D time-domain THz imaging and demonstrate the high quality of the proposed imaging algorithm at a low computational cost.


Proceedings: AACR 107th Annual Meeting 2016; April 16-20, 2016; New Orleans, LA

High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) is a challenging disease characterized by poor survival and relapse. Our group has revealed extensive clonal diversity of malignant cells in HGSC, which is thought to facilitate the emergence of resistance and recurrence in response to chemotherapy. Moreover, we have shown that the presence of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is associated with longer patient survival in HGSC, suggesting that the immune system can contend with the clonal diversity of tumors in some patients. We sought to determine how TIL abundance and repertoire diversity relates to the degree of tumor clone diversity in HGSC.

We performed whole-genome sequencing, targeted amplicon deep sequencing, gene expression profiling, and T-cell receptor sequencing on 34 spatially separated HGSC tumor samples (8 patients) including ovarian masses and peritoneal foci. In addition, tissue sections were immunohistochemically stained for CD3, CD8, CD20, CD79a, and CD138 to detect major TIL subsets. Using PyClone, we decomposed each tumor sample into its constituent malignant clones and inferred clonal genotypes.

We discovered profound intra- and inter-patient variation in the degree of tumor clone diversity from phylogenetic analysis. Widespread inter-patient variation was also observed in TIL counts and T-cell receptor repertoires. Intraepithelial CD3+ cell counts ranged from 2.2-173.2 per HPF and the number of unique T-cell receptor clonotypes varied from 422 to 3164 per sample. Remarkably, quantitative metrics of tumor clone diversity—as defined by phylogenetic divergence and entropy in the malignant composition of each tumor—was associated with the 'proliferative' molecular subtype and, accordingly, low TIL density. Tumor clone diversity showed no correlation with the number of unique T-cell receptor species. Moreover, preliminary analyses reveal no association between tumor clone diversity and the expression of several ligands and receptors involved in inhibitory immune signaling (CTLA-4, PD-1, PD-L1, PD-L2).

Our results reveal an association between low TIL abundance and high diversity of malignant clones. This suggests that immune infiltration may inhibit tumor proliferation and clonal diversification, or vice versa. Collectively, our findings expose a relationship of the immune microenvironment with the clonal dynamics of malignant cells that could be exploited to overcome therapeutic resistance associated with clonal evolution in HGSC.

Citation Format: Allen W. Zhang, Andrew McPherson, Andrew Roth, David R. Kroeger, Katy Milne, Wyeth W. Wasserman, Jessica N. McAlpine, Robert A. Holt, Brad H. Nelson, Sohrab P. Shah. Properties of the immune microenvironment associated with clonal diversity in high-grade serous ovarian cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4136.


We study domain growth properties of two species of particles executing biased diffusion on a half-filled square lattice, consisting of just two lanes. Driven in opposite directions by an external electric field, the particles form clusters due to steric hindrance. While strictly one-dimensional systems remain disordered, clusters in our quasi-1D case grow until only a single macroscopic cluster survives. In the coarsening regime, the average cluster size increases significantly faster than in purely diffusion-controlled systems, with an effective exponent of at least 0.6. Remarkably, however, the cluster size distribution displays dynamic scaling, following a form consistent with a diffusion-limited growth mechanism.


Profitability measures are omitted from performance analyses of marketing pool cooperatives that do not include raw products in their reported costs. A procedure to estimate the profitability of these cooperatives is proposed, converting net proceeds to a figure comparable to standard net profit or net margin. The median ROE calculated using the proposed adjustment was found to be significantly different from the median ROE of "net-margin-reporting" pools over the period 1971-1987. Application of this procedure will allow pool cooperatives to compare their profitability to other cooperatives and investor-owned firms.


Last year's review on adult and pediatric asthma highlighted reports related to asthma genetics, the importance of upper airway management, the costs of asthma, and the importance of early recognition and intervention. This year we will organize our discussion to review recent reports related to the origins and persistence of asthma in both adults and children. We highlight Journal publications from 2004, along with recent key publications from other medical journals, to provide a perspective on the rapidly developing areas of genetics, including pharmacogenetics, respiratory infection, biomarker measurements, and asthma pharmacotherapy. This new understanding of the pathogenesis of asthma combined with clinical applications of genetics and biomarkers should lead to new management strategies. Asthma management is likely to change in the coming years from a strategy directed to the best outcome in groups of patients to an individualized approach to assessment and management. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2005;115:470-7.)


A whipping machine for cream analysis (Cream Tester CTII) was used to foam egg white, milk proteins and soy protein isolate. Foam formation and final rigidity were characterized by the current input to the beating motor. In addition, specific volume, rigidity (compressive strength by Instron) and stability (drainage) of the foams were determined by methods that minimized foam damage during handling. Current input during whipping distinguished fresh vs pasteurized egg white and positively correlated with compressive strength of final egg white foams. Such correlation was not found for milk protein and soy protein isolate foams of lower strength and stability.


Case: We present a case of a 6-year-old male child with ipsilateral proximal and distal physeal separation of humerus with subperiosteal extrusion after manipulation by a bonesetter. Treatment included open reduction and internal fixation with Kirschner wire proximally and distally. At 1.5-year follow-up, the child had a shortening of 0.5 cm, no pain, and/or no instability. Conclusion: Manipulation by bonesetters, a commonplace in developing countries, can produce unpredictable complications and compromise outcomes. Although accepted in certain settings, the regional orthopaedic surgeons should be mindful of the unique clinical challenges imposed by such a practice.


The strong minimum energy topology (SMET) problem is to assign transmission range to a set of sensors, such that the resulting topology is strongly connected and the sum of transmit powers of all the sensors is minimized. This problem, having wide range of applications, is known to be NP-hard and also APX-hard for 3-dimension space. Several heuristics and approximation algorithms have been proposed for this problem. In this paper, we first present an enhanced version of Prim-incremental power greedy heuristic which improves the running time of the existing algorithm by a factor of n, i.e., from O(n3) to O(n2), where n is the number of nodes in the network. Simulations results are also presented to support the theoretical result. Next we propose a new heuristics for SMET problem called Hybrid heuristic, which is based on BorÛvka and Prim MST algorithms and is shown to have lower complexity than both of them. Lastly, we show that this Hybrid heuristics which can provide energy efficiency gains over the existing ones is also the fastest power greedy heuristics for SMET problem when the nodes and links of the network form a planar graph.


Photoconductive sampling of 10-GHz radio- frequency (RF) signal is demonstrated using interdigitated photoswitches made from low-temperature grown GaAs. We study the linearity of the device for RF input power ranging from -3 to 20 dBm. For moderate levels, the sampler shows a spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) better than 40 dB. For the largest values, it exhibits a nonlinear response that deteriorates both SFDR and resolution. This nonlinearity is attributed to drift velocity saturation in the semiconductor material.


Mediation analyses are a statistical tool for testing the hypothesis about how the relationship between two variables may be direct or indirect via a third variable. Assessing statistical significance has been an area of active research; however, assessment of statistical power has been hampered by the lack of closed form calculations and the need for substantial amounts of computational simulations. The current work provides a detailed explanation of implementing large scale simulation procedures within a shared computing cluster environment. In addition, all results and code for implementing these procedures is publicly available. The resulting power analyses compare the effects of sample size and strength and direction of the relationships between the three variables. Comparisons of three confidence interval calculation methods demonstrated that the bias-corrected method is optimal and requires approximately ten less participants than the percentile method to achieve equivalent power. Differing strengths of distal and proximal effects were compared and did not differentially affect the power to detect mediation effects. Suppression effects were explored and demonstrate that in the presence of no observed relationship between two variables, entrance of the mediating variable into the model can reveal a suppressed relationship. The power to detect suppression effects is similar to unsuppressed mediation. These results and their methods provide important information about the power of mediation models for study planning. Of greater importance is that the methods lay the groundwork for assessment of statistical power of more complicated models involving multiple mediators and moderators.


Background: Atherosclerosis-induced vascular disorders are major causes of death in most western countries. During the development of atherosclerotic lesions, foam cell formation is essential and formed through the expression of CD36 and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ). Objective: To investigate whether dansameum extract (DSE) could show anti-atherosclerotic effect through down-regulating cellular redox state including CD36 and PARP-γ expression in oxidative low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)-treated RAW264.7 cells and on differentiated foam cells in ApoE Knockout (ApoE-/-) mice. Materials and Methods: The Korean polyherbal medicine DSE was prepared from three plants in the following proportions: 40 g of Salvia miltiorrhiza root, 4 g of Amomumxanthioides fruit, and 4 g of Santalum album lignum. The immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used for analysis of protein and mRNA involved in foam cell formation. Results: We first showed that effects of DSE on foam cell formation in both oxLDL-induced RAW264.7 cells and in blood vessels from apolipoprotein E deficientApoE-/- mice with high fat diet-fed. DSE treatment significantly reduced the expression of CD36 and PPAR-γ in oxLDL-stimulated RAW264.7 cells and ApoE-/-mice, in the latter case by regulating heme oxygenase-1. Furthermore, DSE treatment also reduced cellular lipid content in vitro and in vivo experiments. Conclusion: Our data suggest that DSE may have anti-atherosclerotic properties through regulating foam cell formation. Abbreviations used: DSE: Dansameum extract, PPAR-γ: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, HO-1: Heme oxygenase-1, CVD: Cardiovascular diseases


Gq is the heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein that activates the beta isoforms of phosphatidyl-inositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC). The Gq alpha-subunit polypeptide (alpha qa) was N-terminally modified by addition of a 9-aa sequence, YPYDVPDYA. Placement of the 9-aa epitope tag at the N terminus allowed expression of functional alpha q polypeptides and selective identification of plasmid-expressed wild-type and mutant G-protein alpha subunits. Mutation of glutamine-209 to leucine in the N-terminally epitope-tagged alpha q (N(epi) alpha qQ209L) inhibited GTPase activity and persistently activated PI-PLC, resulting in high steady-state levels of inositol phosphates. The elevated levels of inositol phosphates resulting from N(epi) alpha qQ209L expression were similar to those obtained with carbachol activation of the M1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor. The Gq-coupled M1 receptor, which stimulates PI-PLC activity, and phorbol esters, acting via protein kinase C, activate the cytoplasmic mitogen-activated protein kinase in COS cells. However, the constitutive activation of PI-PLC enzymatic activity resulting from expression of GTPase-deficient alpha q was unable to persistently activate this kinase. The results indicate that persistent PI-PLC activation is insufficient to sustain the stimulation of a cytoplasmic serine/threonine protein kinase regulated by Gq-coupled receptor signal-transduction pathways.


Explainability is an important factor to drive user trust in the use of neural networks for tasks with material impact. However, most of the work done in this area focuses on image analysis and does not take into account 3D data. We extend the saliency methods that have been shown to work on image data to deal with 3D data. We analyse the features in point clouds and voxel spaces and show that edges and corners in 3D data are deemed as important features while planar surfaces are deemed less important. The approach is model-agnostic and can provide useful information about learnt features. Driven by the insight that 3D data is inherently sparse, we visualise the features learnt by a voxel-based classification network and show that these features are also sparse and can be pruned relatively easily, leading to more efficient neural networks. Our results show that the Voxception-ResNet model can be pruned down to 5% of its parameters with negligible loss in accuracy.


The diet of adult females of the parasitoid Aphytis melinus DeBach (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) includes host insects and sugar‐rich foods such as nectar and honeydew. We compared the contributions of host feeding to longevity and fecundity in A. melinus females in the presence and in the absence of honey meals. First, we assessed the longevity of females that were not allowed to oviposit. While the longevity of females fed honey was significantly increased by host feeding (median ages were 30.5 days for host‐fed females and 17 days for females not allowed to host feed), the lifespan of parasitoids not fed honey did not exceed 3 days for any individual and there was no effect of host feeding on longevity in this group. In the second set of experiments, we assessed the fecundity and longevity of females allowed to oviposit. We conducted two experiments, one in which honey was continuously available, and one in which honey was not available. In both experiments, daily observations were made of females that were either allowed to host feed or manually prevented from host feeding. In the presence of honey, host feeding significantly increased both fecundity and longevity, and in the absence of honey, parasitoids died within 2 days and host feeding had no significant effect on either fecundity or longevity. The lifetime fecundity of females fed honey but not hosts exceeded the initial egg complement by 60% on average. Approximately one host per day was used for host feeding whether honey was supplied or not, and each host‐feeding meal contributed approximately 3.9 eggs to the lifetime fecundity of honey‐fed females. In the last experiment, we compared the rate of egg resorption over a 36‐h period in A. melinus females that were deprived of hosts and either fed honey or starved. While no egg resorption was detected in honey‐fed females over this time period, starved females resorbed approximately 9 eggs. Thus, the availability of a sugar‐rich food interacts strongly with host feeding in influencing longevity and fecundity and has a strong direct effect on egg resorption.


Aim: The aim of the study is to learn how children left behind in El Salvador and Nicaragua, due to parental migration, experience care across borders. Demographics: 80 participants: adolescents (n = 21; age 13–18 years; 11 females and 10 males); emerging adults (n = 10; age 19–30 years; whose parents had migrated when they were children); grandparents and guardians caring for children whose parents had migrated (n = 14; 12 females and 2 males); professionals (social workers, nurses, lawyers, and teachers); and community leaders involved and/or working directly with children and youth whose parents had immigrated (n = 35). Methodology: Using grounded theory, the study began with one sensitizing concept: parental migration. Analysis: Modified grounded theory principles centered the exploratory nature of the study. Findings: The reconfiguration of the family after parental migration did not meet the emotional needs of children, challenging notions of a "better life." Implications: These experiences are redefining notions of the transnational family through new geographies of care.


The Mississippi River represents a major commercial waterway, and periods of anomalously low river levels disrupt riverine transport. These low-flow events occur periodically, with a recent event in the fall of 2022 slowing barge traffic and generating sharp increases in riverine transportation costs. Here we combine instrumental river gage observations from the lower Mississippi River with output from the Community Earth System Model v2 Large Ensemble (LENS2) to evaluate historical trends and future projections of Mississippi River low streamflow extremes, place the 2022 low-flow event in a broader temporal context, and assess the hydroclimatic mechanisms that mediate the occurrence of low-flows. We show that the severity and duration of low-flow events gradually decreased between 1950 and 1980 coincident with the establishment of artificial reservoirs. In the context of the last ∼70 years, the 2022 low-flow event was less severe in terms of stage or discharge minima than other low-flow events of the mid- and late-20th century. Model simulations from the LENS2 dataset show that, under a moderate-high emissions scenario (SSP3-7.0), the severity and duration of low-flow events is projected to decrease through to the end of the 21st century. Finally, we use the large sample size afforded by the LENS2 dataset to show that low-flow events on the Mississippi River are associated with cold tropical Pacific forcing (i.e. La Niña conditions), providing support for the hypothesis that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation plays a critical role in mediating Mississippi River discharge extremes. We anticipate that our findings describing the trends in and hydroclimatic mechanisms of Mississippi River low-flow occurrence will aid water resource managers to reduce the negative impacts of low water levels on riverine transport.


This research was conducted in order to determine the best fish density for growing both fish and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) in aquaponics, under greenhouse conditions. Densities of 10, 15, 20 and 25 kg m-3 of tilapia (Rocky Mountain strain.) with a plant density of 25 lettuce m-2 were established in an aquaponic system. The variables measured were related to vegetative growth (fresh weight, plant height and stem diameter), nutrient content in plant tissue (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn and B) and concentration of N-NO3-, P-H2PO42-, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ in the nutrient solution, during two aquaponic cycles of lettuce cultivation. The highest fresh lettuce weight, plant height, stem diameter, nutrients in aquaponic solution and tissue nutrients content were obtained with a fish density of 25 kg m-3. The nutrient concentration in aquaponic nutrient solution increased according to fish density. At the end of experiment (60 days after transplanting), N-NO3-, Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentration reached its highest values of 105, 38.5 and 38 mg L-1, respectively; meanwhile P-H2PO42- and K+ reached its highest concentration (15 and 14 mg L-1, respectively) between 21 and 35 days after starting the experiment. These results indicate that the aquaponic system provide only 62% of N-NO3-, 48% of P, 5% of K, 21% of Ca and 79% of Mg in relation to the Steiner Universal Nutrient Solution for hydroponics. However normal tissue nutrient content was observed, with exception of K, Ca and Cu, but no signs of nutrient deficiencies were observed in lettuce leaves.


We examined changes in a microbial community in reaction to shifts in predation pressure and resources in a meso-eutrophic reservoir. Manipulations consisted of size fractionation and either in situ incubation or transplantation from the dam area to the river area, which differed in P-availability. Three treatments, in which samples were incubated for 96 h in dialysis bags, were used: a bacterivore-free (<0.8 µm) treatment, an enhanced flagellate grazing (<5 µm) treatment and a control treatment (all bacterivores present). We monitored bacterial abundance, mean cell volume (MCV), bacterial production, protistan grazing, as well as bacterial community composition (BCC) using fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) with oligonucleotide probes with different levels of specificity. Populations transplanted to the relatively P-rich river area showed a 3- to 6-fold increases in bacterial and heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF) abundance and bacterivory compared to the corresponding treatments incubated at the dam area. In the transplanted community, nearly all phylogenetic groups of bacteria distinguished showed increased growth rates, even in the top-down manipulation treatments of increased bacterivory. In contrast, at the more resource-limited dam, the top-down manipulations induced significant changes in bacterial community composition. Thus, we found that BCC changes with predation in resource-limited bacteria but that predation plays a minor role when resource limitation is relaxed.


Let~$E$ be a Hilbertian field of characteristic~$0$. R.W.K. Odoni conjectured that for every positive integer~$n$ there exists a polynomial~$f\in E[X]$ of degree~$n$ such that each iterate~$f^{\circ{k}}$ of~$f$ is irreducible and the Galois group of the splitting field of~$f^{\circ k}$ is isomorphic to the automorphism group of a regular,~$n$-branching tree of height~$k.$ We prove this conjecture when~$E$ is a number field.


The multiple and tandem promoters and signal peptide-encoding sequence of cell wall protein encoding gene was amplified from Brevibacillus brevis B15 total DNA, the PCR fragment was cloned, sequenced and analyzed, then was submitted to GenBank with a Accession No. AY956423. Another pair of primers were designed to amplify the fragment again, BamHI and Pstl sites was introduced flanking the PCR production. BamHI/Pstl digested fragment was cloned into the corresponding site of shuttle vector pP43NMK to generate the expression-secretion vector pP15MK. The inserted fragment was upstream of mpd gene and the signal peptide-encoding sequence was fused in frame with the mpd gene, which its own signal peptide-encoding sequence was deleted. The recombinant vector was transformed into Bacillus subtilis 1A751, under the control of the promoters and signal peptide from Brevibacillus brevis B15, mpd gene was continuously expressed and secreted at a high efficiency throughout the exponential growth phase and into the late stationary phase, the expression production methyl parathion hydrolase (MPH) was attached on the outside of the cell membrane. MPH activity accumulated to a maximum level of 7.79 U/mL after 48 h of cultivation at the late stationary phase, which was 8.1-fold higher than the expression level of the original Plesiomonas strain M6.


Abstract Context Although the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated the use of telemedicine platforms across the country, medical students may lack confidence in their ability to conduct satisfactory patient encounters and practice clinical medicine through telemedicine. Objectives To evaluate the role of a standardized patient encounter on first year medical student confidence and satisfaction in using telemedicine. Methods One hundred and sixty two first year medical students recruited from Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine-Carolinas campus were surveyed on their confidence and satisfaction with using telemedicine platforms before and after conducting a patient encounter. Participant confidence and satisfaction were assessed with a five point Likert scale: "not confident," "a little confident," "somewhat confident," "confident," and "extremely confident." Results Of 162 students, 103 (63.6%) completed the preencounter survey and 74 (45.7%) completed the postencounter survey. Before the standardized patient encounter, 37 participants (35.9%) reported that they were "a little confident" and 20 participants (19.4%) reported that they were "not confident" in their ability to conduct a patient interview using a telemedicine platform. Following the encounter, 24 students (32.4%) reported feeling "somewhat confident", and 32 (43.2%) reported feeling "confident" in their ability. Conclusions Medical students' confidence and satisfaction with telemedicine improved after a standardized patient telemedicine experience in this study. This experience allowed students to practice the unique skills required for telemedicine. Medical schools might consider adding a telemedicine curriculum and standardized patient experiences in the undergraduate medical setting.


A procedure is derived for numerically computing the variance matrix of the wide sense stationary capacitor voltage processes of a linear active RC network driven by white noise. In contrast to the state-space approach also mentioned, this procedure realizes a transfer function approach which simplifies the formulation of the system equations for the network. Our application of the procedure is in computer-aided noise analysis of switched-capacitor circuits.


Electrostatic image theory is developed for a point charge at the axis of revolution of a perfectly conducting prolate spheroid. A previous theory, introduced in 1995, presenting the image as a line charge between the focal points, was seen to be numerically stable only when the charge is far enough from the spheroid and when the eccentricity of the spheroid is large enough. The theory is improved by extracting a point charge from the line image, whence the remaining line charge becomes numerically better behaved, as demonstrated by some examples. Because the extracted point image theory reduces analytically to the classical Kelvin image in the case when the spheroid reduces to a sphere, and the line image simultaneously vanishes, the present theory can be seen as a generalization of the Kelvin image theory.


Access to reliable energy related data is a fundamental factor when taking decisions that help to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. The increase in the amount of data we have available has led to the need to develop information systems that facilitate the analysis of such data to the agents which are present throughout the building life cycle, from the design phase to maintenance. Semantic web technologies provide a solution to interlink distributed data sources. This requires the construction of shared vocabularies (i.e. ontologies) which capture the meaning that users give to the data and facilitate access to them. As yet there are no consolidated methods to build these vocabularies. This article presents the methodology developed to create SEiS, an energy information system that uses semantic technologies to integrate energy related data and to facilitate services to the different agents involved throughout the stages of the building life cycle.


Satellite transmitters were used to determine the marine habitat utilization and fishery overlap of wintering spectacled petrels Procellaria conspicillata in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean in 2006 and 2007. Kernel density analysis of tracked birds demonstrated intense use of waters in the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone, from 26 to 31° S, mainly over the continental shelf break and off- shore waters (mean depth in the < 20% kernel density areas = 1043 ± 794 m), over warm tropical and subtropical waters (mean SST = 22°C and 21°C in 2006 and 2007, respectively) and mesotrophic/ oligotrophic waters (chlorophyll a density = 0.301 and 0.281 mg m -3 in 2006 and 2007, respectively). These habitats used by spectacled petrels are remarkably different from those used by their sister species, the white-chinned petrel P. aequinoctialis, which occurs mainly over the continental shelf on sub-Antarctic and productive waters. A close association between spectacled petrels and the pelagic longline fishery was demonstrated through comparison of the main kernel areas used by spectacled petrels and the areas used by the pelagic longline fleet determined by fishing effort at resolution of 1 × 1° quadrants. Travel speeds and distances during night and daytime periods did not differ. The present study demonstrates the importance of high resolution fishing effort data to address relation- ships between bird marine habitat use and specific fishing fleets, and to determine marine habitats and investigate at sea segregation between closely related species.


OBJECTIVE
To discuss surgical approaches of ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) of cervical spine.

METHODS
Between June 2005 to July 2010, 36 patients with OPLL of cervical spine were reoperated. There were 23 male, 13 female, age from 39 to 72 years (mean 57 years). The time of the first operation to the reoperation were 4 months to 24 years, an average of 3.9 years. Among 20 patients underwent anterior corpectomy and fusion (ACD) at first operation, 14 cases combined stenosis of cervical spinal canal, 10 cases were insufficient decompression of OPLL, 5 cases injured of cervical spinal cord during the first operation, 1 case was adjacent disc herniation. Among 14 cases underwent expensive open-door laminoplasty (ELAP) at first operation, 6 cases were insufficient decompression of OPLL, 4 cases were inadequate decompressed segment, 2 cases were cervical segmental kyphosis, 2 cases were progression of OPLL combined with disc herniation. Among 2 cases underwent combined approach at first operation, 1 case was insufficient decompression of OPLL, the other was adjacent disc herniation. Their pre- and post-operative X-ray, CT and MRI were analyzed. The complications of reoperation were recorded.

RESULT
There were 30 patients followed-up, with a period of 1.5 - 4.0 years, average 1.8 years. With 36 patients, none had deterioration, 2 patients had no recovery post-reoperation, 34 patients had 31.2% Japanese Orthopedic Association score improve rate. Among 22 cases underwent ELAP at second operation, 3 cases had postoperative segmental palsy. Among 14 cases underwent ACD at second operation, 3 cases had intraoperative dural defects.

CONCLUSION
Surgical strategy for OPLL of cervical spine should consider the type of OPLL and stenosis of cervical spinal canal.


G-Quadruplex DNA structure has been proven to be a binding target for small molecular organic compounds and hence regarded as a promising pharmacological target. Cisplatin is a widely used chemotherapy drug that targets duplex DNA and was recently shown to react also with G-quadruplex, implying that cisplatin actually may also target G-quadruplex. In this work, we employed magnetic tweezers to investigate the influence of cisplatin on the folding kinetics of single human telomeric G-quadruplex. It was revealed that cisplatin and G-quadruplex interact in two different and competitive ways that depend on cisplatin concentration.


This paper extends the observations presented in the previously published work on the afterhyperpolarization (AHP) duration changes in motoneurones (MNs) on the paretic (more affected) side of 11 post-stroke patients by the same analysis on the non-paretic (less-affected) side. The estimated AHP duration for patients' MNs supplying more-affected muscles was significantly longer than control values and the elongation decreased with patient age and disorder duration. For MNs supplying less-affected muscles, dependency of AHP duration on age was closer to the control data, but the scatter was substantially bigger. However, the AHP duration estimate of less-affected MNs tended to be longer than that of controls in the short time elapsed since the stroke, and shorter than controls in the long time. Our results thus suggest that the spinal MNs on both sides respond to the cerebral stroke rapidly with prolongation of AHP duration, which tends to normalize with time, in line with functional recovery. This suggestion is in concert with the published research on post-stroke changes in brain hemispheres. To our knowledge, these dependencies have never been investigated before. Since the number of our data was limited, the observed trends should be verified in a larger sample of patients and such a verification could take into account the suggestions for data analysis that we provide in this paper. Our data are in line with the earlier published research on MN firing characteristics post-stroke and support the conclusion that the MUs of the muscles at the non-paretic side are also affected and cannot be considered a suitable control for the MUs on the paretic side.


Human finger joints are conventionally simplified as rigid joints in robotic hand design and biomechanical hand modelling, due to their anatomic and morphologic complexity. However, our understanding of the effect of the finger joint configuration on the resulting hand performance is still primitive. In this study, we systematically investigate the grasping performance of the hands with the conventional rigid joints and the biomechanical flexible joints based on a computational human hand model. The measured muscle electromyography (EMG) and hand kinematic data during grasping are used as inputs for the grasping simulations. The results show that the rigid joint configuration currently used in most robotic hands leads to large reductions in hand contact force, contact pressure and contact area, compared to the flexible joint configuration. The grasping quality could be reduced up to 40% and 36% by the rigid joint configuration in terms of algebraic properties of grasping matrix and finger force limit respectively. Further investigation reveals that these reductions are caused by the weak rotational stiffness of the rigid joint configuration. This study implies that robotic/prosthetic hand performance could be improved by exploiting flexible finger joint design. Hand contact parameters and grasping performance may be underestimated by the rigid joint simplification in human hand modelling.


The emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in recent years has transformed the landscape of the management of solid tumors. The advancement of immunotherapy has resulted in a brand new set of adverse outcomes not previously seen in classical chemotherapy. One such adverse effect has been termed as hyperprogressive disease (HPD), a phenomenon characterized by rapid tumor progression, which often leads to devastating outcomes. In this report, we present a unique case of a 48-year-old African American female who initially presented with abdominal pain, fatigue, and weight loss. Subsequent CT scan showed extensive irregular wall and luminal narrowing with an eccentric mass and adenopathy along the portacaval space. Tumor markers were found to be elevated and genetic testing was done. The patient was diagnosed with stage IIIC colon cancer with K-RAS wild type, associated with Lynch syndrome. The patient underwent surgical resection, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy for progressive/stage IV disease. In light of the progression of the disease, pembrolizumab was introduced into the treatment regimen. One month after the treatment, a repeat CT scan showed enlargement of the metastatic lesion with almost double the size. The progression of the disease was so rapid and, ultimately, pembrolizumab administration was withheld and the patient passed away after about two months on pembrolizumab. To our knowledge, this is one of the few cases of HPD reported in patients with advanced colon cancer, particularly in one with Lynch syndrome. Further studies are warranted to understand why some individuals benefit from immunotherapy, whereas others experience grave outcomes.


Nowadays, prefabricated concrete components made from Steel-Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) are widely used in the construction industry. These components are often connected to existing or new structural elements through various fastening systems. Previous studies have shown that the addition of steel fibers to concrete mixture substantially improves the fracture properties of concrete. To date, however, rather limited research is available on the behavior of fastening systems in SFRC. To improve the current knowledge of fastening systems to SFRC structures, a pilot experimental study is carried out on cast-in-place anchor bolts embedded in Plain Concrete (PC) and SFRC members. In this study, the influence of the presence of steel fibers and concrete compressive strength on the anchorage capacity and performance is evaluated. Furthermore, the applicability of current design methods is evaluated for anchorage systems in SFRC.


There is a trend in the automobile industry for an increasing number of safety-related electronic systems in vehicles that are directly responsible for active and passive vehicle safety. These applications will increase overall vehicle safety by liberating the driver from routine tasks and assisting the driver to find solutions in critical situations. Thus it is of the utmost importance to solve fault tolerance issues of the electronic systems themselves. This paper gives an overview of the strategies and structures employed in the automotive environment to assure a good degree of fault tolerance both for complete systems and for integrated circuits.


OBJECTIVE
The major limitation of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (US-FNAB) procedures of thyroid nodules are the cytologically nondiagnostic results. The role of increasing the diameter of the needle in the third FNAB (FNAB#3) due to inadequate cytology has as yet not been investigated. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether increasing the needle diameter could improve the cytologic sampling of thyroid nodules following 2 previous nondiagnostic US-FNAB results.

METHODS
Between July 2012 and December 2012, 140 consecutive patients with 2 prior nondiagnostic US-FNAB results were enrolled in this prospective investigation. Group 22G consisted of 70 patients (78.5% women; mean age, 52 years) having nodules examined with a 22-gauge (G) needle. Group 27G consisted of 70 patients (75.7% women; mean age, 53 years) having nodules examined with a 27-G needle.

RESULTS
The rate of nondiagnostic FNAB results was 42.8% (30 of 70) in group 22G and 64.3% (45 of 70) in group 27G, which was a significant difference (P = .011). The large-bore (22 G) needle was found to be statistically significantly superior compared with the small-bore (27 G) needle in diagnostic ability for predominantly solid (P = .014), irregular (P = .013), and halo-free (P = .021) nodules. The accuracy rate was 64.6 and 38% for large-bore (22 G) and small-bore (27 G) needles, respectively.

CONCLUSION
The results of our study showed that increasing the needle lumen diameter significantly improves diagnostic performance in terms of adequate aspirated material and diagnostic accuracy rate following 2 prior nondiagnostic US-FNABs.


Real Time PCR reaction on gel electrophoresis, the size of the DNA marker 50 bp. The IGF-1 gene has a single peak at 86.5 degree and beta-actin gene has a single-peak at 84 degree Abstract In the present study the effect of initial weight on IGF-1 gene expression in breast muscle of Japanese quail was investigated using completely randomized design. Two hundred pieces birds were randomly divided into two different groups including light and heavy weight. IGF-1 gene expression levels were measured using the Real time PCR techniques in breast muscle of the Japanese quail at 24 days of age. Also in this age, the body weight and bone characteristics such as Femur, Humorous and tibia were measured. The results indicate that IGF-1 gene expression in light weight were significantly higher than the heavy weight group (P<0.05). Generally, the bone characteristics in the heavy weight group were significantly heavier than the light weight group (P<0/05). The results indicate that IGF-1 secretion increases in proportion to the animal's body weight, so that the expression of this gene is reduced in the animal approaches to normal weight of this breed (its breed capacity).


In order to reduce the increase of network delay and excessive energy consumption, which are caused by network code in WSNs, a fast random linear mechanism of network coding based on nodes collaboration is introduced. Energy consumption of nodes is reduced by transmitting the initial code of the node, and transmitting linear independent packets received merely. After gathering node coding, ACK return along the best path to reduce the network delay. Simulation results show that delay of data transmission is reduced greatly by introducing random linear network coding for sensor network, and the improved coded mode balances the network load.


Mechanising binders in general-purpose proof assistants such as Coq is cumbersome and difficult. Yet binders, substitutions, and instantiation of termswith substitutions are a critical ingredient of many programming languages. Any practicable mechanisation of the meta-theory of the latter hence requires a lean formalisation of the former. We investigate the topic from three angles: First, we realise formal systems with binders based on both pure and scopeddeBruijn algebras togetherwith basic syntactic rewriting lemmas and automation. We automate this process in a compiler called Autosubst; our final tool supports many-sorted, variadic, and modular syntax. Second, we justify our choice of realisation andmechanise a proof of convergence of the σSP-calculus, a calculus of explicit substitutions that is complete for equality of the de Bruijn algebra corresponding to the λ-calculus. Third, to demonstrate the practical usefulness of our approach, we provide concise, transparent, and accessible mechanised proofs for a variety of case studies refined to de Bruijn substitutions.


Abstract Predators have evolved dedicated body parts to capture and subdue prey. As different predators specialize on distinct prey taxa, their tools for prey capture diverge into a variety of adaptive forms. Studying the evolution of predation is greatly facilitated by a predator clade with structures used exclusively for prey capture that present significant morphological variation. Siphonophores, a clade of colonial cnidarians, satisfy these criteria particularly well, capturing prey with their tentilla (tentacle side branches). Earlier work has shown that extant siphonophore diets correlate with the different morphologies and sizes of their tentilla and nematocysts. We hypothesize that evolutionary specialization on different prey types has driven the phenotypic evolution of these characters. To test this hypothesis, we: (1) measured multiple morphological traits from fixed siphonophore specimens using microscopy and high speed video techniques, (2) built a phylogenetic tree of 45 species, and (3) characterized the evolutionary associations between siphonophore nematocyst characters and prey type data from the literature. Our results show that siphonophore tentillum structure has strong evolutionary associations with prey type and size specialization, and suggest that shifts between prey-type specializations are linked to shifts in tentillum and nematocyst size and shape. In addition, we generated hypotheses about the diets of understudied siphonophore species based on these characters. Thus, the evolutionary history of tentilla shows that siphonophores are an example of ecological niche diversification via morphological innovation and evolution. This study contributes to understanding how morphological evolution has shaped present-day oceanic food-webs.


The pyrochlore material Yb2Ti2O7 displays unexpected quasi-two-dimensional (2D) magnetic correlations within a cubic lattice environment at low temperatures, before entering an exotic disordered ground state below T=265mK. We report neutron scattering measurements of the thermal evolution of the 2D spin correlations in space and time. Short range three dimensional (3D) spin correlations develop below 400 mK, accompanied by a suppression in the quasi-elastic (QE) scattering below ~ 0.2 meV. These show a slowly fluctuating ground state with spins correlated over short distances within a kagome-triangular-kagome (KTK) stack along [111], which evolves to isolated kagome spin-stars at higher temperatures. Furthermore, low-temperature specific heat results indicate a sample dependence to the putative transition temperature that is bounded by 265mK, which we discuss in the context of recent mean field theoretical analysis.


We investigated leaf anatomy and micromorphology in the New World Vitis using light and scanning electron microscopy to understand the correlation of these traits to molecular phylogenetic relationships and environmental affinity. We observed traits known to differ among species of Vitis with importance in traditional taxonomy of Vitis: trichome type, stomata morphology, mesophyll organization, and midrib vascularization. We found that traits associated with water conductance and photosynthesis comprised the highest loadings of axis one of a principal components analysis (PCA) while traits related to gas exchange (i.e., the stomatal apparatus) had high loadings on axis two. Using the PCA, we identified seven clusters of species, which showed little correlation to recently reported molecular phylogenetic relationships. Moreover, analyses using Bayes Traits and Bayesian Binary Method revealed little to no phylogenetic signal in trait evolution. PCA axes one and two separated species occurring in dry southwestern North American habitats from those in mesic places. For example, a cluster of V. monticola and V. arizonica occurred adjacent to a cluster of V. californica and V. girdiana in ordination space, and the latter three species share key leaf anatomical traits. Nevertheless, among these, only V. arizonica and V. girdiana are closely related according to molecular phylogeny. Thus, the leaf micromorphological/anatomical traits of Vitis observed in this study are highly correlated with environment, but not phylogenetic relationships. We expect that trait similarities among distantly related species may result from evolutionary convergences, especially within xeric habitats of western North America.


A mutant of Prevotella ruminicola B14 was isolated after chemical mutagenesis with ethylmethanesulfonate. The mutant, MW1, did not produce polypeptides that cross-reacted with antibody to wild-type β-1,4-endoglucanase and virtually no β-1,4-endoglucanase or mannanase activity was detected. MW1 grew more slowly on cellodextrins and no growth was observed with guar gum (mannan) as an energy source. MW1 cultures that were repeatedly transferred with cellobiose and mannan eventually regained the ability to utilize mannan as an energy source. The revertant (MW1R) had 40 and 25% of β-1,4-endoglucanase and mannanase activities compared to wild-type B14, respectively. Western immunoblots indicated that MW1R produced a β-1,4-endoglucanase that could crossreact with wild-type B14 enzyme. Wild-type B14 had β-1,4-endoglucanase and mannanase activities when either cellobiose or mannan was the energy source, but MW1R had these activities only when mannan was provided.


Background: Spinal dysraphism (SD) is a common birth defect resulting from incomplete closure of the neural tube during the first month of pregnancy. SD at children is difficult and unsolved problem in pediatric neurosurgery. Pathology of the lumbosacral area is 30% 50% of the total number of SD at children. Objective: To estimate the types, manifestation, complications and to determine the optimal terms and methods of surgical treatment of SD on lumbosacral area in infants. Methods: 23 infants with SD were operated. 3 were died after surgery. 20 children were assessed in follow up period (from 1 to 3 years). The children were operated at once after birth to 2 months. Depending on the anatomical variants of SD, the patients were divided into: meningocele (10%); meningoradiculocele (35%); myelomeningocele (30%), myelocystocele (5%) myeloschisis (20%). Findings: 8 children were operated from 1 to 2 days after birth. The best results for surgery were age of 8 days to 2 months (12 children). The late term of surgical operation was due to presence of hernia's coats infection and purulence, which demanded the implementation of preoperative preparation. Cerebrospinal fluid leakage (7 children) has needed to urgent surgery. The disadvantage of all methods of surgical treatment of SD is the danger of damage to neural elements during surgery. Conclusion: During the execution of surgical treatment of SD is necessary to use radiculolysis with precision microsurgical excision of all cicatricial adhesions, cerebrospinal fluid cysts and other intraradicular formations and spinal canal's revision. Dysfunction of the pelvic organs (urine and anal incontinence) in 75% and lower limbs in 40% that observed in children operated on SD in the neonatal period requires further development of methods of their surgical correction at the later age.


The aim of this work is to investigate the average properties of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) magnetic fields, and to search for possible correlations with the ICM thermal properties and cluster radio emission. We have selected a sample of 39 massive galaxy clusters from the HIghest X-ray FLUx Galaxy Cluster Sample, and used Northern VLA Sky Survey data to analyze the fractional polarization of radio sources out to 10 core radii from the cluster centers. Following Murgia et al (2004), we have investigated how different magnetic field strengths affect the observed polarized emission of sources lying at different projected distances from the cluster center. In addition, statistical tests are performed to investigate the fractional polarization trends in clusters with different thermal and non-thermal properties. We find a trend of the fractional polarization with the cluster impact parameter, with fractional polarization increasing at the cluster periphery and decreasing toward the cluster center. Such trend can be reproduced by a magnetic field model with central value of few $\mu$G. The logrank statistical test indicates that there are no differences in the depolarization trend observed in cluster with and without radio halo, while the same test indicates significant differences when the depolarization trend of sources in clusters with and without cool core are compared. The comparison between clusters with high and low temperatures does not yields significant differences. Although therole of the gas density should be better accounted for, these results give important indications for models that require a role of the ICM magnetic field to explain the presence of cool core and radio halos in galaxy clusters.


Within a global context of growing health inequities, the fostering of partnerships and collaborative research have been promoted as playing a critical role in tackling health inequities and health system problems worldwide. Since 2004, the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research (CCGHR) has facilitated annual Summer Institutes for new global health researchers aimed at strengthening global health research competencies and partnerships among participants. We sought to explore CCGHR Summer Institute alumni perspectives on the Summer Institute experience, particularly on the individual research pairings of Canadian and low- and middle-income countries researchers that have characterised the program. The results reveal that the Summer Institute offered an enriching learning opportunity for participants and worked to further their collaborative projects through providing dedicated one-on-one time with their international research partner, feedback from colleagues from around the world and mentorship by more senior researchers. Positive individual relationships among researchers, as well as the existence of institutional collaborations, employer and funding support, and agendas of local and national politicians were factors that have influenced the ongoing collaboration of partners. There is a need to more fully examine the interplay between individual and institutional-level collaborations, as well as their social and political contexts.


Often property owners or land managers have several trees of significant value to the landscape. These trees may be prized for their size and/or aesthetic value. With the recent extreme drought conditions, the bark beetle has become a formidable pest. Therefore, it is important to understand methods and control strategies that minimize the impact of this pest. It is critical in the management of these trees that lowering tree density through thinning gives the best long term benefit in reducing the risk of damage from bark beetles. (For more information on thinning refer to: Guidelines for Thinning Ponderosa Pine for Improved Forest Health and Fire Prevention, University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Bulletin az1397). In addition, these high value trees can be given additional care by supplemental irrigation and being sprayed with a preventive insecticide. The application of fertilizers will not help protect trees from the effects of drought, and will not protect against bark beetle attacks. In fact, fertilizers may even hinder the trees ability to defend against bark beetles. Fertilizers often cause trees to put on extra growth; this growth will require higher levels of moisture to maintain healthy conditions. Fertilizers may also burn foliage if improperly applied. For additional information on irrigating trees refer to "Beyond the Ponderosa: Successful Landscape Trees for Higher Elevations in the Southwest".


Introduction The proportion of elderly patients who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is growing. There is increasing awareness that frailty, which is common in the elderly, may be an important marker of adverse outcomes. This study evaluates a national cohort of patients who underwent PCI regarding the prevalence of frailty, changes over time, and associated outcomes using a validated Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS). Methods We included adults who underwent PCI procedures between 2004 and 2014 in the National Inpatients Sample. Frailty risk was measured using a modified HFRS based on ICD-9 codes using the cutoffs <5, 5–15 and >15 for low, intermediate and high HFRS. Multiple logistic regressions were used to examine the associations between HFRS group and adverse outcomes after PCI. Results There were 7,306,007 admissions for PCI and 94.58% had a low HFRS(<5), 5.39% had an intermediate HFRS(5–15) and 0.03% had a high HFRS(>15). Frailty increased over time as the prevalence of intermediate or high frailty risk was 1.9% in 2004 to 11.7% in 2014. Common variables contributing to frailty in the PCI cohort appear to be fluid and electrolyte disorder (8.43%), hypotension (4.15%), kidney disease (acute renal failure 5.29%, chronic renal failure 8.88%) and anaemia (5.33%). In-hospital death increased from 1.0% with low HFRS to 13.9% with HFRS and length of stay increased from 2.9 days to 17.1 days from low to high HFRS. A cost difference was observed depending on frailty which was $17,743, $38,824 and $56,119 for low, intermediate and high HFRS, respectively. High frailty risk was independently associated with a significant increase in in-hospital death (OR 9.91 95%CI 7.17–13.71), bleeding complications (OR 4.99 95%CI 3.82–6.51) and vascular complications (OR 3.96 95%CI 3.00–5.23) as compared to patients with low risk of HFRS. Conclusion Frailty is prevalent among patients who undergo PCI. There is a strikingly increased in frailty over time and those with high HFRS had a 10-fold increase in odds of mortality compared to low risk of frailty. Improved education and increased awareness of the impact of frailty could facilitate better tailored care to minimise risk of adverse outcomes and its associated costs in PCI. Conflict of Interest None


Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sofosbuvir plus ribavirin therapy and prevalence of hepatitis C relapses.Methodology: A descriptive case series study was planned and executed for the evaluation efficacy, safety and relapsers of among HCV patients treated with sofosbuvir plus ribavirin. One hundred patients were enrolled after careful monitoring of inclusion criteria. PCR, LFTs, CP, RFTs, Serum albumin and ultrasound performed in all patients and they were given 400mg of sofosbuvir and 1000mg of Ribavarin. There was no dropout of haemoglobin and ALT was normalized in both groups.Results: 69% male and 31% females between January 2014 to March 2017. All patients were naive having genotype 3 and average age in males being 33.3 years whilst in females being 51.61 years. At one-month post treatment, 87.09% females and 78.265% males achieved RVR while ETR was 83.87% in females and 86.95% in males. Treatment related adverse effects were myalgias, insomnia and flu like symptoms which need symptomatic treatment. After 3 months of follow up, SVR was observed to be 90.32% in females and 88.405% in males. However, subsequent follow up of 1 patients revealed a relapse rate of 12.9% in females and 8.69% in males after achieving SVR.Conclusion: The combination of sofosbuvir and ribavarin is safe and effective treatment for genotype 3 (GT3) non cirrhotic patients


SUMMARY We consider a team of autonomous kinematically controlled non-holonomic planar Dubins car-like vehicles. The team objective is to encircle a given target so that all vehicles achieve a common and pre-specified distance from it and are uniformly distributed over the respective circle, and the entire formation rotates around the target with a prescribed angular velocity. The robots do not communicate with each other and any central decision-maker. The sensing capacity of any vehicle is heavily restricted: It has access only to the distance to the target and to the distances to the companion vehicles that are in a given disc sector centered at the vehicle at hand; no robot can distinguish between its companions, and does not know their parameters. A distributed control law is proposed, and mathematically rigorous proofs of its non-local convergence as well as collision avoidance property are presented. The performance of the control law is illustrated by computer simulations and experiments with real robots.


We have designed and fabricated a compact array-based optical engine for transmitting data at 10 Gb/s. The device consists of a 4-channel ASIC driving a VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) array in an optical package. The ASIC is designed using only core transistors in a 65 nm CMOS process to enhance the radiation-hardness. The ASIC contains an 8-bit DAC to control the bias and modulation currents of the individual channels in the VCSEL array. The DAC settings are stored in SEU (single event upset) tolerant registers. Several devices were irradiated with 24 GeV/c protons and the performance of the devices is satisfactory after the irradiation.


A fluid-plasma model of diffusion-controlled hydrogen discharges sustained in the field of propagating surface waves is presented in this study. The self-consistent description of the discharge structure achieved provides results for the inter-related variations of the discharge characteristics: the electron concentration ne, the concentrations of the three ionic species (H+, H2+ and H3+), the concentrations of the two neutral gas components (H and H2), the electron temperature, the power Θ absorbed on average by an electron, the gas temperature, the wavenumber and the space damping rate α of the wave. Wave behaviour in radially inhomogeneous collisional plasmas is taken into account because it provides the proper description of diffusion-controlled discharges. The general mechanism of nonlocal heating of the electrons in the wave field is considered. The model is extended to comparatively low gas pressures (p⩾0.2 Torr) by introducing effective mobilities of the ions in which, besides the ion–neutral elastic collisions, the production and destruction of ions by collisions are included. Based on these effective mobilities, the ambipolar diffusion coefficients of the charged particles are specified. The most important reactions that contribute—under the gas-discharge conditions considered—to the production of charged particles and hydrogen atoms as well as to the electron-energy and gas-energy balances are involved in the model. It is shown that in hydrogen discharges, the (Θ–ne)-relation, which besides the (α–ne)-relation ensures a self-consistent description of the axial structure of surface-wave-sustained plasmas, in general, stems from the dependence of Θ on the concentrations of the neutral gas components (H, H2) and their relation to the concentrations of the ions (H+, H2+ and H3+). The results obtained using the model are discussed in the context of experiments showing a peculiar behaviour of the axial structure of hydrogen discharges compared to discharges in other gases.


The church and politics in Indonesia are two opposing institutions, but live side by side. On the one hand, the church is prohibited from engaging in various political contexts. But on the other hand, the church also has an obligation to voice the truth in a political context. The church is not involved in the political world, it does not mean that the church turns a blind eye to the political conditions that occur in Indonesia. The church have to give voice its prophethood, so that the political conditions in Indonesia continue to provide a temperature of comfort and justice for all the interests of society.The church is like a small candle which despite its small flame, gives enough light in dark conditions. The Church through its leaders can provide encouragement in actualizing services that are more real amid the development of the nation in competition in the global world.What kind of leader does the church need to survive amid the current political turmoil in Indonesia? This question is the core goal of writing this article in order to address the extent of the role of the church in the midst of a political vortex.The church needs servant leaders, not leaders who are enslaved. Church leaders who are servants are church leaders who want to serve with love, humility and sincere sacrifice. While church leaders who are worshiped are church leaders who are only concerned with personal interests and self-comfort. Church leaders who are able to survive in the midst of political turmoil are church leaders who are servants, not non-worshiped church leaders.Keywords: Church leader who slaves, Jesus Prototype Leader who slaves


This article is devoted to the problem of ontological foundations of three-dimensional Euclidean geometry. Starting from Bertrand Russell's intuitions concerning the sensual world we try to show that it is possible to build a foundation for pure geometry by means of the so called regions of space. It is not our intention to present mathematically developed theory, but rather demonstrate basic assumptions, tools and techniques that are used in construction of systems of point-free geometry and topology by means of mereology (resp. Boolean algebras) and Whitehead-like connection structures. We list and briefly analyze axioms for mereological structures, as well as those for connection structures. We argue that mereology is a good tool to model so called spatial relations. We also try to justify our choice of axioms for connection relation. Finally, we briefly discuss two theories: Grzegorczyk's point-free topology and Tarski's geometry of solids.


The most crucial properties of decentralized, immutable blockchain technologies are being transparent, tamper-proof, and have total traceability. With an increase in overseas students globally, the problem of diploma forgery, and the sale of forged credentials, the management and dissemination of student educational information continue to encounter several problems. Privacy violation issues like security, privacy, trustworthiness, consistency challenges, and traceability issues are considered when managing student academic records in educational sectors. The proposed work is a novel decentralized Chameleon Hash Function and it is applied to overcome these privacy violation issues. Security-aware and privacy-preserving blockchain Chameleon hash functions for Education System are suggested because every redaction needs to be approved by numerous blockchain nodes. A Proof of Continuous Work (PoCW) consensus algorithm entirely based on Blockchain is proposed for data storage and sharing, which minimizes processing power wastage to enhance the accessibility and transparency of the procedure for students receiving educational degree certificates. By consistently giving proof of storage, miners can gain an edge in the mining procedure. Without any outside help, Blockchain has created a reliable blockchain-based storage system that does not depend on a third party. The simulation and theoretical study's findings demonstrate that the proposed scheme has enhanced security, trustworthiness, and traceability.


Integrin receptors mediate the formation of adhesion complexes and play important roles in signal transduction from the extracellular matrix. Integrin-based adhesion complexes (IAC) contain proteins that link integrins to the cytoskeleton and recruit signaling molecules, including vinculin, paxillin, focal adhesion kinase, talin and alpha-actinin. In this study, we describe a approximately 160 kDa protein that is markedly enriched at IAC induced by clustering integrins with fibronectin-coated beads. Protein sequence analysis reveals that this approximately 160 kDa protein is kinectin. Kinectin is an integral membrane protein found in endoplasmic reticulum, and it serves as a receptor for the motor protein kinesin. Fibronectin-induced IAC sequestered over half of the total cellular content of kinectin within 20 minutes. In addition, two other ER-resident proteins, RAP [low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP) receptor-associated protein] and calreticulin, were found to be clustered at IAC, whereas kinesin was not. Our results identify a novel class of constituents of IAC.


Congenital polycystic dilatation of the intrahepatic biliary ways (Caroli's disease) is a rare disease. The "pure" type and the one associated with congenital hepatic fibrosis are accepted. Although the current exploration methods, its diagnosis is rare before the surgical procedure. Treatment of the diffuse pure types and the ones associated with hepatic fibrosis is difficult and the outcome is bad. A case of the less frequent type is communicated, in which, as a novelty, intrasurgical echography was used in its treatment.


The article is concerned with the foreign origin neologisms that have become part of the social and political vocabulary of Japanese in the last 10 years. Author studied new words and phrases that emerged under the influence of the English language; 100 neologisms were selected for the study. The article analyzes the 20 most frequently encountered words and phrases for significant events in the social and political life of Japan. The analyzed neologisms have been widely used in publications and press in recent years. Among the sources studied, one can single out both neologisms of exclusively foreign origin, which are a combination of kango (words of Chinese origin), and borrowings from foreign languages both in a full form or abbreviations. The study paid particular attention to neologisms that emerged under the influence of the political processes in Japan and the United States during the presidency of Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States. The study analyzed and identified the relationship between the economic and cultural influences of the United States on Japan and the large-scale processes of Americanization of the Japanese language. The paper presents the results of comparative studies of political processes and, as a consequence, the reforms of the social and working life of Japanese society and the emergence of neologisms due to this influence.


Purpose
This study aims to investigate how aspects of the sex/gender were scrutinized in a team's production of clinical guidelines for psychiatric compulsory care and what the implications were for the final guidelines and for interprofessional learning.

Design/methodology/approach
The study is a case study, where interviews were conducted and a narrative analysis was used.

Findings
The results reflected how sex/gender arose in a discussion about gender differences when using restraining belts. Furthermore, discussions are presented where profession-specific experiences and knowledge about sex/gender appeared to stimulate interprofessional learning. However, the team's learning about the complexity of sex/gender resulted in guidelines that emphasized aspects of power and focused on the individual patient. Thus, discussions leading to analysis and learning related to gender paradoxically produced guidelines that were gender-neutral.

Originality/value
The study highlights the potential interprofessional learning in discussions of sex/gender and its complex relation in medicine.


The problem of designing optimal conflict-free maneuvers for planar multiple aircraft encounters is studied. The maneuvers propose suitable heading changes for aircraft in a cooperative manner. The new mathematical approach provides optimal aircraft trajectories to resolve a wide variety of conflicts, especially in the presence of high-altitude clear air turbulence (CAT), normally encountered during en-route flights. The proposed approach effectively uses Genetic Algorithms (GA), together with modified webs, to quickly find conflict-resolving maneuvers. Different case studies show the method is fast enough to be used for real-time applications when resolving conflicts involving two aircraft. It is also efficient enough to resolve conflicts involving as many as 26 aircraft, which would be helpful in designing acrobatic maneuvers or in congested airspaces where emergency plans are needed.


they are presented in note form and in chapters of lecture length. In these books optimum use is made of titles, subtitles, lists, classifications, and diagrams, and wordy explanation is kept to a minimum. The authors of this book have missed the opportunity of producing a book on these lines which would have been useful and unique in this specialty, and have produced instead a short textbook similar in size, style, content, and price to at least three other books currently published in this country. In some ways this book compares favourably with its competitors. The inclusion of chapters on the requesting of tests and the interpretation of results, on chemical toxicology, paediatric biochemistry, and neoplastic disease, and on the use of computers in the hospital laboratory, is a reasonable improvement. But some of these chapters are so short that the topics cannot be dealt with at anything more than an introductory level. In general the book is not sufficiently different from existing textbooks to be considered as an obligatory item on the medical student's reading list but it may be a useful alternative.


Macbeth is one of the most popular and bloody of Shakespeare's tragedies. This accessible introduction offers a springboard into the play, taking a hands-on, performance-based approach, exploring the challenges and the rewards it presents to actors, audiences and students. Springboard Shakespeare: Macbeth has a three-part structure: whether you're watching or reading, Ben Crystal takes you through exactly what you need to know Before, During and After the play. He combines a genuine passion and understanding of Shakespeare with his experience as an actor, giving the reader a clear route to thinking about, understanding and enjoying Macbeth.


The presence of five shallow-water scleractinian species at Ascension Island is confirmed, i.e. Favia gravida, Madracis sp., Siderastrea radians, Polycyathus atlanticus and Rhizosmilia gerdae. The three former are zooxanthellate, the two latter azooxanthellate. A sixth species, Cladocora debilis (azooxanthellate), dredged from moderately deep water is also expected to occur in shallow water. Madracis sp. and P. atlanticus are new records for the island. A previous record of Astrangia solitaria at Ascension is now referred to as P. atlanticus. Favia gravida, S. radians and C. debilis are amphi-Atlantic. Rhizosmilia gerdae is currently known only from Ascension Island and the Western Atlantic. None of the species are endemic to Ascension Island. No member of the family Dendrophylliidae has as yet been found at Ascension, whereas that family is represented at its nearest neighbour, St Helena Island.


&NA; B‐immunoblasts, the precursors of plasma cells, occur predominantly in the interfollicular regions of lymphoid tissue, but may also occur in small numbers in germinal centres (intra‐follicular immunoblasts). We report an unusual case of de nova follicular lymphoma composed of immunoblasts with an appreciable amount of plasmacytoid cytoplasm. We postulate that follicular immunoblastic lymphoma probably represents the neoplastic counterpart of the intrafollicular immunoblast.


Two-dimensional isotropic mixing spectroscopy has been used to confirm assignments of the deoxyribose sugar protons in the H NMR spectrum of the DNA oligonucleotides d(CGCGTTTTCGCG) and [d(GCCGTGGCCACGGC)]2. The broad-band decoupling sequence MLEV-16 was applied during the mixing period to induce isotropic coupling within the spin systems, resulting in net transfer of coherence throughout the coupled spin networks. Nearly all 1', 2', 2'', 3', and 4' protons of a given nucleotide could be identified on the basis of through-bond scalar connectivities. In addition, in the hairpin, a number of connectivities to 5'/5'' protons were found. The dependence of cross-peak intensity on the length of radio-frequency irradiation for several different coherence transfer orders is presented, and implications for optimization are discussed.


We present results from an experimental investigation into the fine-scale structure associated with the mixing of a dynamically passive conserved scalar quantity on the inner scales of turbulent shear flows. The present study was based on highly resolved two- and three-dimensional spatio-temporal imaging measurements. For the conditions studied, the Schmidt number (Sc ≡ v/D) was approximately 2000 and the local outerscale Reynolds number (Reσ ≡ uσ/v) ranged from 2000 to 10000. The resolution and signal quality allow direct differentiation of the measured scalar field ζ(x, t) to give the instantaneous scalar energy dissipation rate field (Re Sc)−1 ∇ζċ∇ζ(x, t). The results show that the fine-scale structure of the scalar dissipation field, when viewed on the inner-flow scales for Sc ≡ 1, consists entirely of thin strained laminar sheet-like diffusion layers. The internal structure of these scalar dissipation sheets agrees with the one-dimensional self-similar solution for the local strain–diffusion competition in the presence of a spatially uniform but time-varying strain rate field. This similarity solution also shows that line-like structures in the scalar dissipation field decay exponentially in time, while in the vorticity field both line-like and sheet-like structures can be sustained. This sheet-like structure produces a high level of intermittency in the scalar dissipation field – at these conditions approximately 4% of the flow volume accounts for nearly 25% of the total mixing achieved. The scalar gradient vector field ∇ζ(x, t) for large Sc is found to be nearly isotropic, with a weak tendency for the dissipation sheets to align with the principal axes of the mean flow strain rate tensor. Joint probability densities of the conserved scalar and scalar dissipation rate have a shape consistent with this canonical layer-like fine-scale structure. Statistics of the conserved scalar and scalar dissipation rate fields are found to demonstrate similarity on inner-scale variables even at the relatively low Reynolds numbers investigated.


Passion fruit stands out as one of the most cultivated fruits in Brazil. As the culture expanded, an increase in phytosanitary problems was observed. Fungal diseases like scab are among phytosanitary problems. The aim of this study was to quantify scab intensity on leaves, and to estimate genetic parameters and selection gains to scab resistance in sour passion fruit full related families (FRF). Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the reaction of FRF, the first period from January to April (environment 1) and the second from May to August 2014 (environment 2). Experiments were conducted in greenhouse. Randomized block design for both experiments with FRF in two seasons was used, with three plants per plot and three repetitions. The evaluated characteristics were: score within 42 days after inoculation (DAI), area under the disease progress curve of severity (AUDPCS) and incidence (AUDPCI). Individual and joint variance trait analyses were carried out, estimating genetic parameters and gains per direct and indirect selection. Heritability estimates in a broad sense were higher than 89.9% for all traits in the individual and joint analysis. Selection gains were high for the evaluated traits in both environments and the greatest genetic progress was obtained by the direct selection in each feature. Of FRF selected, 92% and 36% were classified as moderate for environments 1 and 2, respectively. The highest gains in direct and indirect selection were obtained for AUDPCS in the individual analyses of environments and in the joint analysis. FRF 68, 46, 66, 75, 47, 51, 52, 54 and 77 were moderately resistant, which allows their use in a scab resistance breeding program.


Background. Our objective was to study the prognostic value of liver stiffness (LS) in HIV-infected patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Methods. We analyzed HIV-infected patients with compensated CHC and at least 1 determination of LS. The primary outcome was the occurrence of liver-related events (LRE), namely, decompensation or hepatocellular carcinoma, whichever occurred first. We selected patients without sustained viral response (SVR) or end-of-treatment response (ETR) during follow-up and allocated them to an estimation cohort (EC) and a validation cohort (VC). Results. The study population comprised 1292 patients. After a median follow-up of 5.8 years, 90 patients experienced LRE and 73 died. In the subgroup of 957 patients without SVR or ETR, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) (95% confidence interval [CI]) of LS for prediction of LRE in the EC (n = 634) and the VC (n = 323) were 0.87 and 0.88, respectively. The best cutoff value of LS to rule out LRE in the EC was 12 kPa, with a negative predictive value of 98.3% in the EC and 98.2% in the VC. Per each 1 kPa and 5 kPa increase above 12 kPa, the hazard ratio of LRE (taking into account death as a competing risk) was 1.07 (95% CI, 1.05–1.08) and 1.38 (95% CI, 1.31–1.46), respectively. Conclusions. Liver stiffness is very accurate for predicting LRE in coinfected patients. Patients with an LS <12 kPa had a 98% probability of not developing LRE after a median follow-up of almost 6 years. Above the 12-kPa cutoff, the hazard of LRE increases proportionally with LS.


The design loadings for support of the elevated guideway of the Detroit Downtown People Mover (DPM) consist of high vertical as well as horizontal loads. In order to simplify foundation design for the 170 columns to be installed along the 2. 9 mile route, the soil conditions along the alignment were simplified into as few profiles as possible. Soil borings and subsequent laboratory tests of the samples recovered were used to obtain the design soil strength data. However, a horizontal plate load test, a record search and building and utility surveys provided additional information to aid in design of cost effective and constructible foundations.