Bilinear models based feature space Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression (FMLLR) speaker adaptation have showed good performance especially when the amount of adaptation data is limited. However, the model dimensionality selection is very critical to the performance of bilinear models and need more work to find the optimal selection method. In this paper, we present an empirical study on this issue and suggest using a piecewise log-linear function to describe the relationship between the relatively optimal dimensionality parameter and the variant amount of data. This relationship can be used to efficiently select the bilinear model dimensionality in FMLLR speaker adaptation with the variant amount of data for each test speaker to improve recognition performance on the English voice control dataset.


Algorithms for solving agreement problems can be classijied in two categories: (I) those relying on fuilure detectors that we call FD-based, and (2) those that rely on a Group Membership Service that we call GMS-based. The paper discusses the advantages and limitations of these two approaches, and proposes an extension to the GMS-approach that combines the advantages of both approaches, without their drawbacks. This extension leads us to distinguish between timetriggered suspicions of processes and space-triggered exclusions.


The threat from Hackers is complex,which perhaps infects internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular. The paper presents the potential risks associated by hacking analyzing different types of hacking and cracking like Inside Jobs, Rogue Access Points etc & its countermeasures like firewall, intrusion detection system and intrusion prevention system. Integrity Checkers, Virus Construction Kits, and Rogue Access Points The paper has presented different motives behind hacking & cracking. The Jargon Wiki's first definition for hacker says: Hacker is a person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary, whereas cracker is someone whose purpose is to circumvent or break security measures. Some security crackers end up using their powers for good, providing penetration testing services or otherwise making efforts on the side of the angels.


This article studies the occupational attainment of those who leave unemployment. Specifically, the paper addresses the factors that explain initial differences found between foreigners and Spaniards, and examines the extent to which the economic context reduces or increases the gap between those groups. In order to do so, panel data from the Spanish Labour Force Survey from 2005 until 2010 are used. The logistic regression analyses show that, while it is important to consider various socio-demographic factors, the type of occupation in which people worked before becoming unemployed has a remarkable influence on the skill-level of subsequent jobs. Even after controlling for all relevant variables, it remains more likely for foreigners from outside EU15 to occupy the lowest positions in the labor market, regardless of the state of the economy. With regard to the risk of falling into a lower occupation relative to the last one, this is equal for all national groups in gross terms, but not when taking into account socio-demographic variables and the professional status of workers before the spent in unemployment.


Background : The study was conducted in preparation for the early implementation of the integrated management of childhood illnesses. Methods : Caretakers of a cohort of 1034 under-five children in two districts of Eastern Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, were interviewed weekly in their homes for a one-year period for symptoms of disease. Possible risk factors for disease in the home were identified during a preceding base-line survey. Results : The overall incidence of perceived illness was found to be 5.26 per child-year, that of ARI 5.53 per child-year and of diarrhea 3.05 per child-year. Recall appears to be influenced by asking caretakers for illness in general as compared to asking for specific symptoms. A lower incidence of overall illness was found in children above 2 years of age, and in those from Christian families, those living in houses with corrugated iron roofs and those from households with 2 or more children under-five. Increased incidence was associated with the use of open pit latrines compared to open air excreta disposal as there were no properly covered latrines. Conclusions : Age, housing factors and water supply and sanitation are important determinants for disease.
(Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, 2001, 15(3): 165-172)


Mnemonic verses were one of the most popular tools for medieval teaching. These verses are attested in all genres of medieval literature, but strangely enough they are rare in medieval bestiaries, which are primarily a didactic genre. My paper will discuss a previously neglected case of one Second Family late thirteenth-century bestiary of English origin, namely Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 533. Surprisingly, in this manuscript there are eleven sets of verses, mostly quatrains of so-called Leonine hexameters, which represent sui generic summaries for the chapters on various bestiary creatures. The present article discusses for the first time these previously unpublished verses and analyzes their function in the manuscript.


In this paper we present a tool that uses comparable corpora to find appropriate translation equivalents for expressions that are considered by translators as difficult. For a phrase in the source language the tool identifies a range of possible expressions used in similar contexts in target language corpora and presents them to the translator as a list of suggestions. In the paper we discuss the method and present results of human evaluation of the performance of the tool, which highlight its usefulness when dictionary solutions are lacking.


Electronic governance is the future of public governance globally. Governments that do not make the transition from paper-based systems of public administration to electronic platforms of public governance may swiftly undermine their chances of developing their societies as 21st century information societies. At the turn of the century, South Africa started out as a leader in e-government among developing countries. A decade later, it has been surpassed by states that were much less developed. Why did this happen? Can the competitive edge that South Africa had 10 years ago be regained, and if so, how? This article summarises the strategic importance of the shift from paper-based public administration to electronic governance. It uses the Rorissa, Demissie and Pardo (2011) model of e-government assessment to analyse progress in South Africa's migration to a digital state. It presents a perspective on institutional arrangements, the state of e-government and the e-barometer measurement approach. It discusses the reasons behind the decade-long stagnation in the South African migration to electronic platforms of governance and concludes by identifying the main policy and implementation lessons that can be learned. These lessons may have relevance to many developing countries, including those on the African continent.


3040 During malignant transformation, the rich environment filled with growth factors and extra-cellular matrix is rapidly lost. In their absence, normal epithelial cells undergo anoikis, a programmed cell death. Therefore, it is highly important for carcinoma cells to maintain their survival and induce angiogenesis in tumor-micro environment. Our previous findings implicate a critical role of integrin α6β4 in the survival of breast carcinoma cells by maintaining cap-dependent translation of angiogenic/survival factor, VEGF under serum starvation via activation of the mTOR. Clearly, VEGF is only the 'tip of the iceberg' and, most likely, α6β4 stimulates the translation of other mRNAs that contribute to breast carcinoma survival. In addition, the mechanisms by which this integrin activates mTOR remain elusive. We have found that α6β4 activates mTOR in cooperation with its signaling partner c-Met in Akt and Ras dependent manner. Activated mTOR mediates α6β4 dependent breast carcinoma survival under stress conditions that mimic tumor micro-environment because downregulation of mTOR expression by shRNA or inhibition of mTOR acitivity via rapamycin blocks α6β4 dependent carcinoma survival. α6β4 to mTOR signaling enhances translation initiation of pro-survival and anti-apoptotic mRNAs that ultimately contribute carcinoma survival in vivo and progression. Considering that translational control is understudied, but important regulator of progression, our studies will provide the novel paradigm of integrin regulation of translation initiation that plays a pivotal role in cancer progression.


This paper presents an unsupervised statistical model for simultaneous clustering, feature selection and outlier rejection in the case of count data. The proposed model is based on a finite discrete mixture to which a uniform component is added to ensure robustness to outliers and noise. The consideration of a finite mixture model is justified by its flexibility, its solid grounding in the theory of statistics and its competitive results. We derive a complete maximum a posteriori learning approach that does not require a priori knowledge about the number of outliers and the number of clusters. A rigorous expectation maximization (EM) algorithm, based on the formulation of a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation, is also provided. We report experimental results of applying our model to the challenging problems of visual scenes categorization and texture discrimination.


This study describes the design and testing of a dual-lane electric drive for a prototype, electromechanically actuated, nose wheel steering system for a commercial aircraft. The drive features two independent motor controllers, each operating one-half of a dual three-phase motor, resulting in an actuator capable of full performance following an electrical fault. An isolated communications link between controllers allows parameter consolidation to identify faults and to synchronise outputs, ensuring even load sharing. A selection of results is presented from motor dynamometer performance analysis and from fully loaded output tests, performed on a hydraulic load rig at Airbus, UK.


The aim of this study was to investigate physicochemical properties of porcine blood hydrolyzed by proteases under various conditions for utilization as a food source. Five kinds of proteases (Alcalase, Neutrase, Protex-40L, PTPF-1430, and KMFP-15) were tested at different concentrations (0.1, 0.2, and 0.3%, w/v) during hydrolysis at 55 for 4 hr. Hydrolysis with °C KMFP-15 showed the lowest pH by 7.3. The highest soluble solid (24.3 °Brix) and free amino acid (4,944 mg%) contents were obtained by hydrolysis with KMFP-15 (w/v) at 0.2% addition level, which was not significantly different from the sample hydrolyzed at 0.3% level. Under the optimal condition of KMFP-15 at 0.2%, porcine blood was hydrolyzed at 60 up to 8 hr. The °C free amino acid content reached the highest at 4 hr, and then decreased with longer hydrolysis time. Under the optimal hydrolysis conditions, porcine blood hydrolysis powder had plenty of crude proteins, amino acids, and minerals, including iron, potassium, and zinc. The results showed that porcine blood could be utilized as an useful source of food supplement. The optimum conditions of hydrolyzing porcine blood, using 0.2 KMFP at 60°C for 4 hr, can be used in the commercial production of protein supplements, amino acid sources, and iron fortifying agents


OBJECTIVES
To study the involvement of sensory peptidergic fibers in the posttraumatic regional pain syndrome (RPS).

MATERIAL AND METHODS
We examined 57 patients with distal radial bone fractures (27 with noncomplicated fractures and 30 with the development of posttraumatic RPS) using computed thermography and laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) with wavelet-analysis of skin blood flow oscillations.

RESULTS
It has been shown that neurogenic inflammation, along with sensory peptidergic fibers activation, is an early component of posttraumatic RPS. Thermographic and LDF criteria for early diagnosis of posttraumatic RPS during the 1st month after the injury are singled out.

CONCLUSION
The microvascular blood flow oscillatory structures, reflected sensory peptidergic activation and inflammatory sympatholysis are the most effective diagnostic signs (diagnostic effectiveness is 91.2%).


Among the controversial issues in the Faulkner canon is that concerning the genre of Co Down, Moses. This paper takes the relationship between the blacks and the whites in the American South as a starting point and attempts to elucidate, by close reading of the text, its unity in both theme and structure, so as to demonstrate that the unity in Go Down, Moses provides basis for its gene as a novel.


Trabajo presentado al: VII International Seminar "Biodiversity management and conservation" sobre "Planning and management of agricultural and forestry resources" (Calabria, Italia, 2-7 Junio, 2013).


The ototoxicity of occupational exposure to toluene below 50 p.p.m. was investigated in a longitudinal study over 5 yr with four repeated examinations starting with 333 male workers from rotogravure printing plants. Past lifetime weighted average exposures (LWAE) to toluene and noise were determined from individual work histories; recent individual exposures were measured 10 times during the study (toluene, active sampling; noise, stationary measurements). The auditory thresholds were measured with pure tone audiometry. The mean LWAE exposures to toluene and noise were 45 +/- 17 p.p.m. plus 82 +/- 7 dB(A) for printers (high toluene intensity) and 10 +/- 7 p.p.m. plus 82 +/- 4 dB(A) for end-processors (low toluene intensity). The mean current exposures to toluene and noise during the study were 26 +/- 20 p.p.m. plus 81 +/- 4 dB(A) for printers and 3 +/- 3 p.p.m. plus 82 +/- 4 dB(A) for end-processors. Repeated measurement analyses (grouping factors: toluene intensity, exposure duration and noise intensity) and logistic regressions did not reveal significant effects of toluene intensity, of exposure duration and of interactions between toluene intensity and noise intensity. The stratification dependent on noise intensity itself [79 +/- 3 versus 84 +/- 1 dB(A)] was significantly associated with the auditory thresholds. Regarding the missing toluene effects, it was concluded that the threshold level for developing a hearing loss as a result of occupational toluene exposure might be above the actual limit of 50 p.p.m.


Background: The most commonly used technique in the treatment of contracture bands is Z-plasty. The subcutaneous pedicle rhomboid flap is a relatively new flap whose efficiency in the treatment of wide or linear contractures with two or more contracture bands has been demonstrated. This experimental study was planned to compare the lengthening provided by the subcutaneous pedicle rhomboid flap with that provided by the Z-plasty. Methods: The lower extremities of 10 male Sprague-Dawley rats were strained by hanging 500 g of weight to create tension lines over both inguinal areas. Z-plasty, with a 1-cm central limb and 60-degree angles, was planned over the inguinal tension line on one side. On the other side, a subcutaneous pedicle rhomboid flap was sketched, with a 1-cm-long axis and inner 60-degree angles located over the tension line. In the Z-plasty technique, triangular flaps were elevated over the muscle, transposed, and sutured. In the subcutaneous pedicle rhomboid flap technique, the flap was incised down to the muscle and freed from the tension line, which was later relieved by relaxation incisions. The resulting defects were then closed by suturing the rhomboid flap in V-Y advancement along the tension line and in Y-V advancement along the relaxation incisions. The final lengthening provided by both techniques was measured, and the results were analyzed statistically. Results: Both techniques were effective in relieving tension over the inguinal areas and in lengthening the tension lines. The lengthening provided by Z-plasties with 1-cm central limbs ranged from 3 to 3.8 cm. The difference between preoperative and postoperative Z-plasty measurements ranged from 2.0 to 2.8 cm (mean ± SD, 2.43 ± 0.28 cm). The lengthening provided by the flaps with 1-cm axes ranged from 3.9 to 5.0 cm and the difference in measurements before and after surgery ranged from 2.9 to 4.0 cm (3.27 ± 0.33 cm). Statistical analysis revealed that the elongation provided by the subcutaneous pedicle rhomboid flap was longer than that provided by Z-plasty (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: The subcutaneous pedicle rhomboid flap technique is a more effective than Z-plasty in lengthening the tension lines in rat inguinal skin.


# Background

Reliable, complete and accurate documentation of key health indicators form a critical part of quality of care to improve outcomes of pregnancy especially when dealing with preterm labor. Unfortunately, this is often not achieved in the rural areas in low- and middle-income nations due to a myriad of challenges, including lack of tools, low staffing, task shifting and inadequate training. Poor reporting from the source facilities lead to inaccuracies of data reported to the central registry at the Ministries of Health (MOH) which compounds the problem. As part of a large cluster randomized trial that used facility data as a primary source, we explored whether data quality assessments (DQAs) combined with facility-level mentorship, feedback and upgrades of patient chart storage space improved the quality of routine data in maternity units in a rural county in Kenya.

# Methods

Within the East Africa Preterm Birth initiative, we conducted three DQA's sequentially in 17 selected health facilities, in Migori County, Kenya. The process involved reviewing of key indicator data collected from the maternity register over a period of time while noting gaps in documentation. We also compared the concordance of data reported from the maternity register into the facility-level integrated service delivery form (MOH 711). Each DQA was followed up with targeted trainings and feedback on areas that needed strengthening. Over the period, we also renovated several facilities' documents storage spaces for safety and better traceability of patient's charts.

# Results

Results show that over time the patients' charts traceability and the quality of key indicator data captured in the maternity register improved significantly. The concordance of data reported from the primary source document to the central registry through the data capture tool MOH 711also showed significant improvement over time.

# Conclusions
Targeted regular DQA with facility-level mentorship and upgrades in records storage can improve data capture, patient-records retrieval and quality of data reported to the MOH; ultimately helping in improving the care for preterm cases.


Abstract To correct the empirical design rules for locally loaded beams and blocks of Eurocode 5, the theoretical explanation of these rules and of the applied test data is given. It appears that the design rule may be far too conservative, or too unsafe in other cases, and only approximately applies for thin long bearing blocks and not for the short test specimens and support stresses of beams. The theory of the determining influence of load spreading possibility on the strength is verified by all other sufficient extended investigations leading to simple and reliable design rules.


This paper presents Scenario Generation and Management Framework for in-Depth Analysis and Extended Control, or simply Scenargie, for the analysis, evaluation and control of various networked systems. It was originally developed as a wireless network system simulator, and has significantly extended its target systems and capabilities for over a decade. This paper gives an overview of Scenargie and its primary modules with several use cases, and describes its simulation models and their fidelity. It also presents its system control capability recently added as part of its evolvement with two demonstrative projects.


The High Frequency Instrument (HFI) on Planck will obtain all-sky images of the cosmic microwave background and other astrophysical sources of emission with resolution of 9 arcmin at 100 GHz, 7 arcmin at 143 GHz and 5 arcmin at 217, 353, 545 and 857 GHz. The HFI focal plane will contain 48 silicon nitride, micromesh, bolometric detectors operating from a 100 mK heat sink. Four detectors in each of the 6 bands will detect the sum of the power in both linear polarizations. Additionally, four pairs of detectors will provide sensitivity to linear polarization of emission at 143, 217 and 353 GHz. We report on the development of these detectors, which are being produced at the JPL Micro Devices Laboratory, packaged at JPL Electronics Packaging, characterized at 100 mK before delivery to our HFI consortium partners at Cardiff University.


The purpose of this study is to explore the presence and implications of a Jewish exegetical tradition in Paul's appeal to the exodus/wilderness episode in 1 Cor 10:4. The goal is threefold: (1) to establish that 1 Cor 10:4 is in fact an example of a ubiquitous exegetical tradition that understood the rock in the desert (Exodus 17; Numbers 20–21) as being in some sense mobile: it "followed" the Israelites; (2) to explore briefly the exegetical process that gave rise to this tradition; and (3) to explore some of the implications raised by the presence of this tradition in Paul's letter, specifically concerning the nature of inspiration and scriptural authority, and to offer a time-honored suggestion toward a solution.


Many working on communitarian bonds among members of small groups, on inter-firm arrangements in competitive markets, on new public management in state bureaucracies and, not least, on negotiations between public and private actors in new modes of governance tend to share two core assumptions being essential to their arguments. Firstly, networks aimed at cooperation are structured horizontally while vertical networks reflect power and subordination. Secondly, horizontal networks tend to be ascribed positive properties such as, for instance, trust, the ability of providing solutions to legitimacy problems, increased efficiency and participation while vertical ones, often seen to reflect pre-modern or outdated forms of governance, are not. This contribution tries to qualify these assumptions, firstly, by looking at the structural features of networks in different systems of societal order and, secondly, by presenting and then discussing counter-intuitive empirical evidence drawn from an older research project on territorial governance in Europe. We shall see that a generalized version, at least, of the horizontalist expectation is anything but warranted and that hierarchy may be more beneficial both to those cooperating in networks and to the production of public goods than believed by many.


Dermatology has rested on the foundation of clinical observation and microscopic correlation. The founders of the American Dermatological Association and their successors were clinical microscopists, and much of the discussion at the yearly meetings has been concerned with dermatopathology. The microscope was not a tool of an isolated scholar who delivered judgment from afar, but was part of the common experience of the clinic. This egalitarian approach to dermatopathology was codified by the requirement of the American Board of Dermatology that all candidates must demonstrate proficiency with the microscope. For 40 years, all training programs have incorporated continued study of the microscopic patterns of skin disease into the three years of residency and some have included as much as one full time year of experience in this training. The emphasis on pathology of the skin has been a major strength of American dermatology and has accounted for the many


Summary-This part of the report on routing procedures is devoted to procedures involving no random choices. Estimates of the average traverse time of each message and average traffic flow through each node are derived by statistical methods and compared with the corresponding results obtained in Part I for routing procedures based on random choices. These estimates are verified by means of a large-scale simulation experiment. The overwhelming advantages of directory procedures in efficiency and capacity of operation are expressed quantitatively by these results. The disadvantages of directory procedures are also investigated. Principal among these are the necessity of determining optimal routes from directory information and maintaining the directories in the presence of a hostile or fluid environment. Estimates of the degradation characteristics of such procedures are obtained under various assumptions on the effects of the environment. The final section presents a summary pd conclusions.


The determination of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn in the exchangeable, carbonate, Fe-Mn-oxides, organic matter and residual sediment chemical fractions of Kubanni Dam during dry and raining seasons was carried out using the spectrophotometric method after Tessiers' sequential scheme for speciation had been carried out. The pH and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) of the sediment samples were also determined to study their effects on the distribution of metals. The results indicate that pH influenced the release or adsorption of each metal in the different sediment fractions. At low average pH of 5.21 recorded during dry season, desorption of metals from the
reducible sediment fraction into the water column occurred, which may have effect on aquatic organisms. Due to increased metal complexation at high pH, total extractable fractions of metals generally increased. Higher TOC levels during the rainy season indicated larger adsorption surfaces for Cr (19.92%) Pb (19.97%) and Zn (21.14%) on the organic matter fraction, which, under oxidizing condition, these metals may be remobilized into the aquatic environment. Cu correlated positively with the organic carbon content of the sediment samples. The positive correlation of Pb, Cd and Cr with sediment pH may reflect the tendency of cation adsorption to increase at high pH.

 Key words: pH, TOC, Trace metals, Distribution, Sediments


Activated mouse peritoneal macrophages produce nitric oxide (NO) via a nitric oxide synthase that is inducible by interferon gamma (IFN- gamma): iNOS. We have studied the mechanisms by which transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta) suppresses IFN-gamma-stimulated NO production. TGF-beta treatment reduced iNOS specific activity and iNOS protein in both cytosolic and particulate fractions as assessed by Western blot with monospecific anti-iNOS immunoglobulin G. TGF-beta reduced iNOS mRNA without affecting the transcription of iNOS by decreasing iNOS mRNA stability. Even after iNOS was already expressed, TGF-beta reduced the amount of iNOS protein. This was due to reduction of iNOS mRNA translation and increased degradation of iNOS protein. The potency of TGF-beta as a deactivator of NO production (50% inhibitory concentration, 5.6 +/- 2 pM) may reflect its ability to suppress iNOS expression by three distinct mechanisms: decreased stability and translation of iNOS mRNA, and increased degradation of iNOS protein. This is the first evidence that iNOS is subject to other than transcriptional regulation.


The isothermal and cyclic oxidation behaviors of bulk pure nickel and its Ni-0 5Y microcrystal coating sputtered by magnetron at 1 000 ℃ in air were studied. The scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) were used to examine the structures of the coating and the NiO oxide films. The laser Raman spectrum was also used to measure the stress level in NiO films formed on bulk nickel and the coating. It is found that the Ni-0 5Y microcrystal coating has lower oxidation rate, and the grain size of NiO formed on Ni-0 5Y coating is also relatively smaller than that formed on bulk nickel. Meanwhile, the compressive stress level of oxide film formed on Ni-0 5Y coating was lower than that formed on bulk nickel, and the high temperature plasticity of oxide film was much improved in coating case. The improvements of anti-oxidation properties of the sputtered Ni-0 5Y coating are due to the microcrystal structure and yttrium.


Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is characterized by a high risk of fetal macrosomia and placenta hypervascularization. There is a need to investigate the underlying mechanism to explain these associate complications. Exosomes had been known participating in the regulation of various angiogenic processes. However, the effects of exosomes from cases of GDM on placental vascular network formation remain unclear. Methods and Results: Capillary branching per placental villi and protein level of CD31 were identified to be increased in GDM. Exosomes derived from umbilical cord blood (UE) enhanced endothelial cell vascularization significantly, especially in GDM pregnancies. The proteome of 10 normal exosomes and 10 GDM exosomes showed different profiles and uncovered two up-regulated proteins in GDM cases, namely leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein-1 (LRG1) and extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1). Genetically engineered exosomes that overexpressed LRG1 or ECM1 resulted in hyper vascularization, including proliferation and migration. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate for the first time the expression of LRG1 and ECM1 in normal and GDM UE and their role in regulating pathological placental angiogenesis. These findings support the potential role of LRG1 and ECM1 in monitoring placental pathologies in this increasingly prevalent condition and novel insights into the causes. Disclosure J. Yao: None. T. Duan: None. K. Wang: None. Funding National Natural Science Foundation of China; National Key Research and Development Program of China


To the Editor.— We read with special interest the article by Lutzner et al in the JanuaryArchives(1981;117:43-46) about a curious type of wart in a renal allograft recipient. We recently observed a boy with a peculiar tendency for common warts. One of them persisted for five years and, microscopically, had a surprising pseudoepitheliomatous appearance. Report of a Case.— An 11-year-old boy, with no substantial previous medical history, had a verrucous lesion of five years' duration on his right buttock. For the past year, this lesion had appeared to be thicker, and additional lesions had appeared on the extremities, eyelids, and knees. A biopsy specimen from the buttock lesion showed microscopic changes on epidermal acanthosis with pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia and a chronic inflammatory cell infiltrate in the dermis. Features of viral cytopathogenic effect, eg, vacuolation, were rare. We did not detect papilloma viral antigens with immunoperoxidase staining. Comment.— This lesion


Our research uses the concept of "territories" to describe the production of migrant space. The article describes a project based in London where the everyday practice of walking is used to map migrant territories, which are conceptualized as dispersed and overlapping, causing topological deformations to the actual lived space. We interrogate these deformations through focusing on the micro-scale and the everyday, mapping them as "scapes" and "spheres." Using specific computational techniques, we transform the original walks into an architectural tool for investigating the fluctuations and flows of the contemporary city. In doing so, we approach territories from two distinct angles: from the geopolitical perspective of territories seen as the product of the interplay of politics, power, and space and from the biological perspective of territories seen as the primal need of all animals, including humans, for space and a certain distinction from their environment and from others.


We present a theoretical model of two-component lipid membranes in close contact with a polyelectrolyte solution. Fluid mixtures of charged and neutral lipids as well as oppositely charged polyelectrolytes were considered, the lipids being allowed to redistribute themselves in order to maximize their interaction with the polymer. In the dilute regime the adsorption of polyelectrolyte onto oppositely charged lipid surfaces induces lateral phase separation of the charged lipids, which form clusters near the polymer adsorption sites. On raising the polymer concentration to the semidilute regime (overlapping chains) the polyelectrolyte solution forms a homogeneous ionic background interacting with the membrane lipid heads. Naively one might guess that a redissolution of the clusters would then take place because of electrostatic repulsion and entropic effects. A mean-field model of the short-range polymer-surface interactions, augmented with the possibility of polymer lateral density variations, is proposed. We assume that only one kind of lipid can favorably bind to the polyelectrolyte, while the other ones do not exhibit any interaction with the polyelectrolyte. For ideal chains the model predicts the onset of slowly decaying attraction forces among nearby lipidic clusters which are simultaneously interacting with polymer chains (force (distance) -2 ). The force between lipid clusters is entropic in nature and is due to the deformation of the polymer density at the membrane-water interface. Inclusion of excluded volume effects greatly reduces the magnitude of the attractive forces which now decay exponentially. The model also suggests very slow kinetics for the clustering process, characterized by a long latency period followed by a burst in the aggregation rate when the process is near completion. Preliminary differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements performed on lipid vesicles suspended in aqueous solutions of polyelectrolyte support the theoretical predictions, showing the onset ofa permanent lateral phase separation in dilute polymer solutions which remains stable on further raising the polymer concentration to the semidilute or even concentrated regime.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the major influences shaping higher education today and how they will transform higher education over the next 20 years. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on research and observation of the higher education system in America. It uses LaGuardia Community College, a large, two-year college located in Queens, New York, as a signpost for the anticipated changes. Findings – There are three fundamental and monumental changes that will profoundly alter the field of higher education in the next several decades: the globalization of higher education; the impact of technology on changing definitions of students, faculty and knowledge; and the impact of the marketplace on the basic ''business model'' of higher education. The paper describes how each of these three forces will reshape higher education, while identifying factors that may accelerate or inhibit the impact of these influences. Originality/value – This paper draws on the knowledge, experiences and insights of two leading higher education leaders, who regularly interact with countless faculty, administrators, students and policy makers.


We have shown previously that a type-specific neutralization domain is located within a 39 aa sequence in the fourth variable domain of gp135 in visna/maedi virus. We now show that neutralizing antibodies detected early in infection are directed to this epitope, suggesting an immunodominant nature of this domain. Ten antigenic variants were previously analysed for mutations in this region, and all but one were found to be mutated. To assess the importance of these mutations in replication and neutralization, we reconstructed several of the mutations in an infectious molecular clone and tested the resulting viruses for neutralization phenotype and replication. Mutation of a conserved cysteine was shown to alter the neutralization epitope, whilst the replication kinetics in macrophages were unchanged. Mutations modulating potential glycosylation sites were found in seven of the ten antigenic variants. A frequently occurring mutation, removing a potential glycosylation site, had no effect on its own on the neutralization phenotype of the virus. However, adding an extra potential glycosylation site in the region resulted in antigenic escape. The results indicate that the conserved cysteine plays a role in the structure of the epitope and that glycosylation may shield the principal neutralization site.


It is well-known that hyaluronic acid (HA) as a component of brain extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a pivotal role in the nervous system and is involved in synaptic plasticity changes in vascular cognitive impairment and dementia. HA breakdown is a feature of the acute stage of stroke injury and may be detrimental through enhancement of the inflammatory response. Recent studies have shown that knockout mice lacking hyaluronic acid synthetase demonstrates epileptic phenotype in vivo and removal of HA leads to delayed development of epileptiform activity in cultured hippocampal neurons in vitro. Here, we studied whether digestion of hyaluronic acid in the hippocampus in early postnatal period can trigger seizures. Hyaluronidase (Hyal) (5 U/μl) was bilaterally injected into C57BL/6j mice (P17) CA1 field of hippocampus using the stereotaxic method to remove hyaluronan-based ECM. Transcriptome analysis of hippocampal tissue 2 h after enzymatic digestion of hyaluronan-based brain ECM revealed increased gene expression of proteins involved in inflammation reactions (TLR2, CCL2,3,5), neuroinflammation, axonal guidance and ephrin receptor signaling, versus the vehicle group. Mice injected with hyaluronidase exhibited delayed audiogenic seizures and improvement in working memory 72 h after injection, while there were no changes in locomotor activity, anxious level and exploratory behavior due to the open field test. The obtained results point to a link between the activation of neuroinflammation by enzymatic digestion of hyaluronan-based brain ECM during the neonatal period and their subsequent reactivity to seizures, which may play an important role in the functional features of the developing brain, including its seizure propensity.


This study presents recent literature that sheds light on the SWRO membrane biofouling, Inventory of causes, consequences, measurement, and possible solutions. In particular, biofouling of SWRO is considered as one of the challenges faced by seawater desalination today. For seawater desalination, mitigating membrane biofouling is essentially required and yet to be overcome. Specific shortcomings and prospective solutions are reviewed towards understanding the biofouling mechanism, pretreatment impacts, level of assimilable nutrients, and real-time monitoring. Accordingly, this review aims to address recent advances in biological fouling measurements and control to better understand biofouling and the best ways of dealing with such a challenging issue.


ABSTRACT The hydrocarbon productive Bassfield Field, Mississippi, is an excellent analog for Lower Cretaceous Hosston exploration and production. This field is a simple anticline overlying a deep-seated salt structure. Production is from the lower portions of two fluvial channel sandstone intervals, the Harper and Booth, within the Hosston Formation. Flow rates are not related to structural position but vary in different parts of the field due to changes in the sandstone depositional facies. The clayey sandstones have been deposited in a meandering river channel network. Three major reservoir rock types were differentiated using SEM, x-ray, and petrology. Porosity and permeability reduction was due to the presence of illite and kaolinite, primary dolomite cement, and secondary quartz cementation and pressure solution of the grains. Early hydrocarbon migration into the reservoirs has prevented further cementation. The petrological and petrophysical analysis also determined that a salt-based or oil-based drilling mud would lessen the damaging effects of migration and swelling on the borehole by the various clay types in the reservoir interval. Hydraulic fracture stimulation has proven to have had a considerable positive effect on production rates of the sandstones. By studying the electric logs and cores of this field, explorationists will have a better understanding of why production occurs and where other fields may be found.


AIM
To investigate the relationship between job crafting and work engagement among hospital nurses.

BACKGROUND
Job crafting is a relatively advanced job redesign concept, and few studies have investigated it among nurses.

METHODS
This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 636 nurses were recruited from one hospital in Saudi Arabia. Of them, 608 (95.6%) completed self-administered, online questionnaires. The questionnaire assessed participants' socio-demographic data, job crafting, and work engagement. Structured equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the association between job crafting and work engagement.

RESULTS
Data from 549 nurses were analyzed. Most of the participants (85.1%) were female, and their mean scores of job crafting and work engagement were 3.54 ± .5 and 4.77 ± 1.1, respectively. The SEM revealed that job crafting accounted for 57% of the variance of work engagement.

CONCLUSIONS
Job crafting is a significant determinant of nurses' work engagement. Implications for nursing management Supporting staff nurses to employ job crafting behaviors would positively improve their work engagement. This may include, but is not limited to, helping nurses to bargain a significance in their labor, reforming the work pattern in a manner that lines up with organizational objectives, and employing an innovative managerial style.


The purpose of this study is to explore social supports for elderly housing and their residential lives in small cities along rural counties of the United States and Canada, and suggest future implications for age-concentrated rural villages in Korea. In this study, five small and medium cities in non-metropolitan counties of California and Ontario province were visited and elderly residents and service experts were interviewed about their perceptions of community integrated social support networks for senior residences. The senior housing complexes were built due to influx of both metropolitan and rural residents seeking warm localities, traffic connections, business purposes in active production areas. and leisure attractions. There are five main social support networks for senior housing issues in these areas. First, the areas are claimed for senior zones and accordingly health industries are encouraged by local authorities. Second, the community is homogeneously constructed as a senior friendly environment and include features such as an RV park and mobile cottages. Third, senior-helping seniors are offered active work through golf-cluster active retirement communities. Fourth, traditional theme production camps are mobilized by the elderly workers. Lastly, an information system is maintained for screening volunteers and for senior abuse prevention. On the other hand, residential lives are occasionally negatively influenced by unbalanced concentrations of elderly facilities such as nursing stations and funeral homes. For the future of Korean rural elderly policies, suggestions are made as follows: first, an integrated urban and rural township that contains attractive places for early retiring people who seek a warm atmosphere in later life needs to be constructed. Second, an integrated model retirement village of urban and rural retirement life needs to be initiated as a measure of evaluating the adaptation process of movers in senior concentrated zones. Third, a cooperation system among governmental ministries needs to be formed with the long- term goal of establishing a traditional rural town of independent housing districts and medical facilities in rural areas. Fourth, productive and active lifestyles need to be maintained as the local community and government develop successful retirement rural villages, by limiting the expansion of nursing related facilities. Finally, generation integrated visiting welfare programs and services need to be further developed for the housing areas especially in the winter, when social integration and activity are relatively low.


In a previous paper by P. Montuschi and L. Ciminiera (ibid., vol. 42, no.2 p239-246, Feb 1993), an architecture for shared radix 2 division and square root has been presented whose main characteristic is the ability to avoid any addition/subtraction, when the digit 0 has been selected. Here, we emphasize the characteristics of the digit selection mechanism used by Montuschi and Ciminiera by presenting a small modification of the digit selection hardware, which has the benefit to further reduce the computation delay with respect to the time estimated in that work. >


Metacognition refers to cognition about cognition and encompasses both knowledge of cognitive processes and the ability to monitor and control one's own cognitions. The current study aimed to establish whether metacognition is impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). According to some theories, the ability to represent one's own mental states (an aspect of metacognition) relies on the same mechanism as the ability to represent others' mental states ("mindreading"). Given numerous studies have shown mindreading is impaired in ASD, there is good reason to predict concurrent impairments in metacognition. Metacognition is most commonly explored in the context of memory, often by assessing people's ability to monitor their memory processes. The current study addressed the question of whether people with ASD have difficulty monitoring the contents of their memory (alongside impaired mindreading). Eighteen intellectually high-functioning adults with ASD and 18 IQ- and age-matched neurotypical adults participated. Metamemory monitoring ability and mindreading ability were assessed by using a feeling-of-knowing task and the "animations" task, respectively. Participants also completed a self-report measure of metacognitive ability. In addition to showing impaired mindreading, participants with ASD made significantly less accurate feeling-of-knowing judgments than neurotypical adults, suggesting that metamemory monitoring (an aspect of metacognition) was impaired. Conversely, participants with ASD self-reported superior metacognitive abilities compared with those reported by neurotypical participants. This study provides evidence that individuals with ASD have metamemory monitoring impairments. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for our current understanding of metacognition in ASD and typical development are discussed.


Background: Linkage and association analysis based on haplotype transmission disequilibrium can be more informative than single marker analysis. Several works have been proposed in recent years to extend the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) to haplotypes. Among them, a powerful approach called the evolutionary tree TDT (ET-TDT) incorporates information about the evolutionary relationship among haplotypes using the cladogram of the locus. Methods: In this work we extend this approach by taking into consideration the sparsity of causal mutations in the evolutionary history. We first introduce the notion of a Bradley-Terry (BT) graph representation of a haplotype locus. The most important property of the BT graph is that sparsity of the edge set of the graph corresponds to small number of causal mutations in the evolution of the haplotypes. We then propose a method to test the null hypothesis of no linkage and association against sparse alternatives under which a small number of edges on the BT graph have non-nil effects. Results and Conclusion: We compare the performance of our approach to that of the ET-TDT through a power study, and show that incorporating sparsity of causal mutations can significantly improve the power of a haplotype-based TDT.


Parental attitudes towards childhood vaccinations are recognized to be important determinants of vaccination compliance. We examined this issue in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet Republic in Central Asia. Some parents expressed concerns about vaccination safety and/or were against mandatory vaccination. Although the fractions were lower than known from developed countries, they should be taken into consideration while implementing planning vaccination programs.


Aims. In this work numerical simulations showing the time evolution of supernova remnants (SNRs) in uniform and non-uniform interstellar medium (ISM) are presented. Methods. We use a hydrodynamic model including a kinematic calculation of the interstellar magnetic field. Important parameters influencing SNR evolution include the ejecta mass and energy of the remnant, as well as the ISM density and adiabatic index. Results. By varying these parameters we constructed an analytical expression giving the return time of the SNR reverse shock to the origin, in terms of these parameters. We also found that the reverse shock spends half of its time moving outward and the other half returning to the origin. Also computed is SNR evolution in non-uniform media where the blast wave moves from one medium into either a less or more dense medium. As the SNR moves into a medium of higher density a reflection wave is created at the interface between the two media which is driven back toward the center. This drives mass via a nonspherical flow away from the discontinuity. As this wave moves inward it also drags some of the ISM field lines (if the field is parallel with the interface) with it and heats the inside of the SNR resulting in larger temperatures in this region. When a SNR explodes in a medium with a high density and the blast wave propagates into a medium with a lower density, a cavity is being blown away changing the geometry of the high density region. Also, once the forward shock moves into the medium of less density a second reverse shock will start to evolve in this region.


The article describes an acute inflammation of Bartholin's gland named after the Danish anatomist Caspar Thoméson Bartholin, jr. (1655--1738), which eventually led to hospitalisation of a 47-year old woman for a period of two months involving many complications: truly a case of a small cause producing a great effect! Similar cases have not been found in the literature referred to by us, and hence publication of this unusual case appears justified.


The Animatronics Workshop is a learning experience in which kids conceive and construct a robotic show. They write the story, build the robotic mechanisms and the set, perform voice acting, and create the motion tracks. This provides a deep cross-disciplinary experience, teaching participants how to think creatively across traditional areas of expertise. In an intensive three-day prototype workshop in summer 2013, 14 high school students created a three-character show.


Objectives: The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) logs, indicates that the number of occupational injuries and illnesses in the US has steadily declined by 35.8% between 1992–2003. However, major changes to the OSHA recordkeeping standard occurred in 1995 and 2001. The authors assessed the relation between changes in OSHA recordkeeping regulations and the trend in occupational injuries and illnesses. Methods: SOII data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for years 1992–2003 were collected. The authors assessed time series data using join-point regression models. Results: Before the first major recordkeeping change in 1995, injuries and illnesses declined annually by 0.5%. In the period 1995–2000 the slope declined by 3.1% annually (95% CI −3.7% to −2.5%), followed by another more precipitous decline occurring in 2001–2003 (−8.3%; 95% CI −10.0% to −6.6%). When stratifying the data, the authors continued to observe significant changes occurring in 1995 and 2001. Conclusions: The substantial declines in the number of injuries and illnesses correspond directly with changes in OSHA recordkeeping rules. Changes in employment, productivity, OSHA enforcement activity and sampling error do not explain the large decline. Based on the baseline slope (join-point regression analysis, 1992–4), the authors expected a decline of 407 964 injuries and illnesses during the period of follow-up if no intervention occurred; they actually observed a decline of 2.4 million injuries and illnesses of which 2 million or 83% of the decline can be attributed to the change in the OSHA recordkeeping rules.


Nurses' perception of nursing research is an important variable affecting the successful development of a clinical nursing research program. The objectives of this study were to: examine the perceived value, role, interest, support and experience of cardiac nurses in nursing research; to determine the effects of age and level of education on their perceptions; and to analyze the reliability of Alcock et al.'s questionnaire. The survey was administered to 313 nurses with a response rate of 46%. Frequency distributions were obtained on individual survey items. MANOVAs were performed as a function of age group and education level, followed by post hoc ANOVAs. Findings showed nurses valued nursing research particularly as it related to clinical practice decisions and solutions to patient care problems. They saw a participatory role in the first stages of the research process. Age was not a factor in nurses' perceptions of nursing research with the exception of perceived support. Diploma nurses indicated higher levels of perceived value (p = 0.000), role (p = 0.034), interest (p = 0.000) and support (p = 0.017) for nursing research than baccalaureate nurses. The Cronbach reliability coefficient of each area indicated high internal consistency (> 0.72). When 5 items in the questionnaire are deleted, the tool exhibits high level of reliability and evidence of construct and discriminant validity.


In this paper,
AuNRs colloids with SPRL located at ~810 nm and ~1100 nm were synthesized using an
improved seed method. Based on the NIR lasers available, photothermal
conversion of AuNRs were systematically studied compared with that of water.
Under low power irradiation, the highest temperature is obtained when the SPRL wavelength of AuNRs is equal to the laser wavelength, and temperature of
colloid increases from ~20°C to ~65°C. With increasing laser power (such as 6 W),
the AuNRs colloid boils within a few minutes, and nanorods undergo a shape deformation
from rod to spherical particle and even fusion, and the SPRL disappears.
For further investigation, the obtained AuNRs were coated with SiO2 shell to form a core-shell nanostructure (Au@SiO2). The surface
coating can be used not only in keeping the stability of AuNRs for further
treatment, but also in increasing plasmonic property and biocompatibility. This
work will be useful for designing plasmonic photothermal properties and further
applications in nanomedicine.


It is not a little remarkable that one of the most interesting palæontological discoveries of our times, namely the former existence of a race of colossal Ostrich-like birds in the islands of New Zealand, though made in a British colony, and announced to the scientific world by an eminent British physiologist, has not hitherto been brought under the immediate notice of the Geological Society of London. I therefore consider myself particularly fortunate in having the opportunity, through the researches of my eldest son, Mr. Walter Mantell, of submitting for the examination of the Fellows of this Society, perhaps the most extraordinary collection of the fossil remains of struthious birds that has ever been transmitted to Europe, and which contains the crania and mandibles, egg-shells, and bones, of several genera and species, most, if not all of which have probably long been extinct.


Four species of clams (Macoma sp., Siliqua sp., Pharus sp. and Mactra sp.) were collected from the intertidal area of Peninsular Malaysia, Their different soft tissues (siphon, muscle, foot, mantle, gill and remaining soft tissues), and shells were analyzed for the concentrations of Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn. The relationships of heavy metals in the different tissues of clams were detennined using multivariate analyses including correlation analysis, cluster analysis and multiple linear stepwise regression analysis (MLSRA). Metal distribution in the clams were explained using correlation analysis, which indicated that the shell was not signihcantly (P> 0.05) correlated with other tissues and the shell is also clustered differently from the rest of soft tissues as indicated by the cluster analysis. Among the soft tissues, it was found that the gills and mantle of all clams were identified as the most influential tissues in the accumulation of heavy metals in the total soft tissues for the clams by MLSRA, The present study found that the distributions of heavy metals in the different tissues of clams were related to their differences in biological and ecological aspects. Since the multivariate analyses used in this study can reduce the cost and time involved in identifying an effective tissue to monitor the heavy metal(s) bioavailability and contamination (Yap et al. 2010), this preliminary finding provided an altemative for future environmental management in the intertidal area of Peninsular Malaysia.


This study examined the relation between sibling caregiving and social cognitive knowledge. Fifty-five child-sibling dyads (age 50.6 and 17.7 months) were observed in a 4-min modified Strange Situation procedure. For each sibling dyad, the frequency of preschoolers' caregiving acts was recorded, as well as the number of secons the younder siblings were distressed. In a separate assessment, the preschooler's cognitive and emotional role-taking skills, emotional situation knowledge, and knowledge of caregiving scripts were assessed


New breeding records for 10 species of tundra and boreal nesting birds were documented near the community of Kugluktuk (Nunavut, Canada) over the course of the 2015 and 2016 breeding seasons and incidentally in 2017 and 2018. These species include American Wigeon (Mareca americana), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata), Green-winged Teal (Anas carolinensis), Greater Scaup (Aythya marila), Say's Phoebe (Sayornis saya), Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis), Greycheeked Thrush (Catharus minimus), Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata), and Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis). Previously unpublished breeding evidence for Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is also discussed along with suspected breeding of Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus), White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis), and Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator). These records represent the first described breeding occurrences for these species in the Kitikmeot region, or new records for the mainland of Nunavut. A lack of historical ornithological survey effort in this area has likely led to the diversity of these previously unrecorded breeding observations. These results highlight the need to increase geographic coverage of bird surveys in northern Canada to more accurately delineate the northern limit of breeding ranges and suggest that further formal survey effort will undoubtedly lead to additional new breeding records.


Osteomyelitis of the ischium is a very rare event; it usually occurs unilaterally and often is caused by tuberculosis1,2. To our knowledge, osteomyelitis of both ischia after a urological procedure has not been reported previously. In the case described here, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was identified by biopsy of one of the two ischial bones seven months after radical surgery of the bladder.

Apreviously healthy fifty-six-year-old man underwent removal of the prostate and bladder, together with lymphadenectomy of the ilio-obturator lymph nodes, in September 1998, for the treatment of grade-III bladder cancer3. The lymph nodes were free of metastasis. The bladder was replaced by an ileal graft4. The findings on postoperative follow-up were normal, except for a transient infection of the urinary tract with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which was diagnosed six days after surgery on the basis of urine culture. Antibiotic therapy was administered for ten days with use of gentamicin (150 mg twice daily) as well as ticarcillin and clavulanic acid (12 g and 800 mg daily, respectively). At the end of this treatment, the urine was sterile and the patient was discharged symptom-free.

One month later, he complained of alternating pain in both buttocks. Bed rest and prednisone (40 mg daily for two weeks), together with morphine, were prescribed, despite obvious laboratory signs of systemic inflammation (9.74 109 polymorphonuclear leukocytes/L [normal range, 4 to 10 109 polymorphonuclear leukocytes/L], an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 99 mm/hr in the first hour [normal value, £10 mm/hr], and a C-reactive protein level of 181 mg/L [normal range, 0 to 5 mg/L]). A dramatic reduction in pain was noted. The C-reactive protein level decreased to 16 mg/L, and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate decreased to 35 mm/hr. A urinary cytobacteriological examination performed at the end of November …


The multi-agent pickup and delivery (MAPD) problem, in which multiple agents iteratively carry materials without collisions, has received significant attention. However, many conventional MAPD algorithms assume a specifically designed grid-like environment, such as an automated warehouse. Therefore, they have many pickup and delivery locations where agents can stay for a lengthy period, as well as plentiful detours to avoid collisions owing to the freedom of movement in a grid. By contrast, because a maze-like environment such as a search-and-rescue or construction site has fewer pickup/delivery locations and their numbers may be unbalanced, many agents concentrate on such locations resulting in inefficient operations, often becoming stuck or deadlocked. Thus, to improve the transportation efficiency even in a maze-like restricted environment, we propose a deadlock avoidance method, called standby-based deadlock avoidance (SBDA). SBDA uses standby nodes determined in real-time using the articulation-point-finding algorithm, and the agent is guaranteed to stay there for a finite amount of time. We demonstrated that our proposed method outperforms a conventional approach. We also analyzed how the parameters used for selecting standby nodes affect the performance.


A gel-supported lipid bilayer formed at the base of an artificial hair is used as the transduction element in an artificial, membrane-based hair cell sensor inspired by the structure and function of mammalian hair cells. This paper describes the initial fabrication and characterization of a bioderived, soft-material alternative to previous artificial hair cells that used the transduction properties of synthetic materials for flow and touch sensing. Under an applied air flow, the artificial hair structure vibrates, triggering a picoamp-level electrical current across the lipid bilayer. Experimental analysis of this mechanoelectrical transduction process supports the hypothesis that the current is produced by a time-varying change in the capacitance of the membrane caused by the vibration of the hair. Specifically, frequency analysis of both the motion of the hair and the measured current show that both phenomena occur at similar frequencies (0.1–1.0 kHz), which suggests that changes in capacitance occur as a result of membrane bending during excitation. In this paper, the bilayer-based hair cell sensor is experimentally characterized to understand the effects of transmembrane potential, the applied air flow, and the dimensions of the hair.


Intracerebral malignant brain tumors remain one of the most complex problems of neuro-oncology. Today, promising results of the use of targeted drugs have been received, which determine the important diagnostic and predictive value of molecular genetic markers of glial and metastatic brain tumors.

Aim: The study of the prevalence of MGMT (O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase) and PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10) gene expression by real time polymerase chain reaction in tumor tissue of gliomas and brain metastases.

Materials and methods: From thirty patients were received tumor material (29 cases of glioma III-IV degree of anaplasia and one case of metastatic brain lesion of adenocarcinoma). The normalized expression of MGMT and PTEN genes was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Results: In all 30 (100 %) patients with tumor fragments, we determined normalized expression of MGMT and PTEN genes. In most cases, 53 % of the observations (16 out of 30 patients) showed a low normalized expression of MGMT gene (<40 c. u.) and a low normalized PTEN expression rate of 73 % (22 out of 30 patients) (<40 c. u.). The average expression level of the MGMT gene in the range from 40 to 100 c. u. (6/20 % of patients) was considered prognostic favourable for the response to temozolomide chemotherapy.

Conclusions: The study of MGMT gene expression, a chemotherapy marker for temozolomide, indicates a trend toward correlation between expression levels and therapeutic efficacy. The study of the expression of the PTEN gene, the blocker of the PI3K / AKT signal pathway, indicates a different degree of expression of this enzyme in the tumour samples studied. The predictive value of the indicator for target therapy is appropriate in comparison with the EGFR mutation. Further profound analysis of the results is required with increasing number of sampling and observation period.


Bayesian deep learning approaches that allow uncertainty estimation for regression problems often converge slowly and yield poorly calibrated uncertainty estimates that can not be effectively used for quantification. Recently proposed post hoc calibration techniques are seldom applicable to regression problems and often add overhead to an already slow model training phase. This work presents a fast calibrated uncertainty estimation method for regression tasks, called posterior annealing , that consistently improves the convergence of deep regression models and yields calibrated uncertainty without any post hoc calibration phase. Unlike previous methods for calibrated uncertainty in regression that focus only on low-dimensional regression problems, our method works well on a wide spectrum of regression problems. Our empirical analysis shows that our approach is generalizable to various network architectures including, multilayer perceptrons, 1D/2D convolutional networks, and graph neural networks, on five vastly diverse tasks, i.e., chaotic particle trajectory denoising, physical property prediction of molecules using 3D atomistic representation, natural image super-resolution, and medical image translation using MRI images.


Despite 20 years of chemotherapy trials in advanced NSCLC, optimal regimens leading to complete remissions have not been identified. The decision to treat a patient who has inoperable advanced NSCLC must take into account the toxicity of the chemotherapy. The toxicities most often reported are myelosuppression and emesis; however, these trials were performed before the use of colony-stimulating factors (ie, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor) and serotonin antagonists (ie, ondansetron). Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor has been shown to shorten the duration of neutropenia and thus decrease the incidence of confirmed infections. Colony-stimulating factors also may allow significant escalation of the dose of chemotherapy. Ondansetron has been shown to ameliorate cisplatin-induced emesis better than other antiemetics. The performance status of a patient has been noted to be a predictor for survival, as well as response to therapy, and this should also be taken into consideration when deciding to treat a patient with advanced inoperable NSCLC. Ideally, patients with stage IV NSCLC should be placed on investigational therapy protocols to identify optimally active combinations of agents. One approach to the patient with inoperable NSCLC who is ineligible for a trial, or who does not wish to participate in a trial, is to offer chemotherapy soon after diagnosis, as patients in this category are likely to be less symptomatic and have optimal performance status. A platinum-containing regimen would seem to be the most reasonable regimen in such a patient. It is hoped that ongoing trials in suitable candidates will lead to the identification of more consistently active agents to deal with this devastating disease.


Electronic-Relationship Marketing (E-RM) is an emerging marketing strategy in the banking sector of Bangladesh. For the last few years, RM and E-RM have attracted both customers and bankers as it is considered as a new 'strategic weapon' for maintaining proper relationships with the client. In the study, quantitative as well as qualitative data was gathered by taking personal interviews among 600 respondents, and the response rate was 100%. Empirical tests using factor analysis and tests of hypothesis using SEM were applied. An extensive analysis of the data enabled the researcher to formulate an E-RM model for the banking industry in Bangladesh to conceptualize the customer-banker relationship. It contributes to the existing body of banking and marketing literature by introducing ten factors: commitment, conflict management, responsiveness, ease of use, customization, service expense, security, communication, bonding, and trust. Most of the variables except three showed a significant and positive relationship between E-RM dimensions and customer satisfaction. The impact of customer loyalty on customer retention is also positive. The study suggests some recommendations in order to increase the effectiveness between E-RM dimensions and customer satisfaction. Finally, the thesis ends by setting out an agenda for future research.


Effects of crosslinked molecular structures in glassy epoxy networks on the nonlinear viscoelastic behavior have been studied in terms of strain-induced structural change. We prepared four epoxy glasses with different crosslink densities from the same epoxy precursor by controlling fractions of chain-extender and crosslinker in curing agents. The epoxy glasses were subjected to uniaxial compression at a temperature 18K below the glass transition temperature of each sample. With increasing crosslink density, initial elastic moduli and yield stresses decreased, whereas flow stresses appearing after the strain softening almost unchanged, except for the most tightly crosslinked sample show-ing lower flow stresses. Results of density measurement and DSC showed that an increase in the crosslink density made the glassy structures more unstable. These results show that unstable glassy structures due to constraints on segmental mobility introduced by crosslinked molecular structures lessen the initial elastic modulus and the yield stress. On the other hand, the variation of crosslink density had almost no effect on the flow stresses of the glasses. This observation presumably indicates that molecular crosslinks have little effect on the strain-induced structural change. When the crosslink density comes to quite high, however, the crosslinks are likely to start affecting the flow stress, i.e. strain-induced unstable glassy structures.


Preface Acknowledgments Notes on the Comanche Sound System by Jean O. Charney Chapter 1: The Origins of Native American Code Talking Chapter 2: Native American Veterans and Code Talkers in World War II Chapter 3: "Get him back on that scale and weigh him again!" Chapter 4: "Utekwapa naka: I hear what you say." Chapter 5: Fighting Po'sataiboo': Crazy White Man Chapter 6: "Numurekwa'etuu: Comanche Speakers!" Appendix A: Members of Company E, 142d Infantry, Thirty-sixth Division, World War I Appendix B: World War I Choctaw Code Talkers Appendix C: Organization of the Fourth Infantry Division, 1941-1945 Appendix D: Combat Narrative of the Fourth Infantry Division Appendix E: Fourth Infantry Division Campaign (June 6, 1944, to May 8, 1945) Appendix F: Fourth Signal Company Activities, 1940-1945 Appendix G: Glossary of Comanche Code Terms Appendix H: Known Native American Code Talkers of World Wars I and II (Tribes, Group Size, Form of Code Talking, and Military Units) Notes Bibliography Index


Modern local government in Uganda traces its origins to British colonial rule. As it consolidated its hold on the territory, the colonial administration decided to introduce 'good government' and ensure effectiveness and efficiency in administration by establishing elected local councils.


The writing of university and college histories in this country passed some years ago from the stage of academic filiopietism to scholarly works embracing institutional, curricular, ideological, and even the social development of the educational community. In all these aspects Canadian history has been well served by a succession of authors who have portrayed the role of higher education in national development, and this latest addition to the genre of university history is no exception to the traditions established by W.S. Wallace and C.B. Sissons. Founded like its sister institutions in Canada to provide 'a Christian school of learning,' and to produce an educated clergy, McMaster was the culmination of over half a century of Baptist educational action, and it was also the step-child of Liberal Senator William McMaster, a successful Toronto entrepreneur. Six years after the Toronto Baptist College opened in •88•, that seminary was transformed into McMaster University, endowed with McMaster's near million-dollar estate and offering the liberal arts in competition with its secularized neighbour, the University of Toronto. During the next two generations pent in Toronto, McMaster was beset by a variety of problems. Baptist congregations, especially rural ones, were slow to provide financial support but very ready to attack the institution in the Baptist Conference to which the university was answerable. Constricting anti-intellectualism and denominationalism was not confined to rank and file church members the •9•o 'unorthodoxy' case against Professor I.G. Matthews, proto-social gospeller and higher critic, showed that the growing reaction to modernism was present at every level of the Baptist communion. The troublesome, egocentric T.T. Shields, if not the grey eminence behind the Matthews case, was at least more than a spectator and was certainly preparing for his all-out attack on McMaster for its supposed theological liberalism (and other sins) twelve years later. Quite justifiably Johnston devoted a full chapter to the protracted Shields affair which split the Baptists and seriously damaged the university. Ultimately the •927 decision to move to Hamilton, first bruited in 19• • when McMaster found itself unable to expand physically in its Toronto surroundings, must have indeed provided 'a fresh start' for the troubled institution. Effectively planned, thoroughly researched, incisively written, and handsomely designed, this history is a credit to its author, to the publisher, and to McMaster University. Readers of this first volume will await with interest Charles Johnston's account of the Hamilton years.


The 2- (naphthalen-1-yl (piperidin-1-yl) methyl) phenol compound is an alkylaminophenol compound and has been experimentally synthesized by the Petasis reaction. In this study Structural analysis was carried out by FT-IR, NMR, UV-Vis spectroscopy. The high antioxidant value of the compound showed that it could be a potential biologically active drug. Theoretical data support all experimental analysis of the new compound. Comparisons were made by double method. For this purpose, DFT (B3LYP) and HF methods have been used with 6-311G ++ (d, p) set. Also, the compoundand#39;s electronic and structural properties (bond lengths, bond angles and dihedral angles), the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energies, electrostatic potential (MEP), vibrational frequencies, Mulliken atomic charges, excitation energies, and oscillator strengths were calculated. As a result; the theoretical and experimental values were found to be compatible.


Melanoma is a highly complex disease with multifaceted etiology, whose incidence is on the rise, over and above the impact of screening. Hispanics represent an underserved and understudied population when it comes to melanoma occurrence and outcome. Hispanics are diagnosed with melanoma at later stages than their non-Hispanic white (NHW) counterparts, leading to increased likelihood of metastasis and worse survival. Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in the United States and have rising rates of melanoma, and in particular, increases in tumors with the worst prognosis. While histologic type of melanoma varies by ethnicity (Hispanics tend to get more acral lentiginous melanomas, which tend to present at a later stage), histology does not explain the poorer experience of Hispanics: they are diagnosed with later-stage disease regardless of histology. In our recent analysis, while the risk of presenting with a late-stage melanoma was higher for Hispanics (OR:1.65 [95% CI:1.52-1.79]) than NHW, the overall risk of death from melanoma after accounting for stage at diagnosis was similar for Hispanics and NHW (HR: 0.99 [95% CI: 0.94-1.04]), implying that the overall poorer prognosis for Hispanics is due almost entirely to their later stage of disease at diagnosis, rather than response to treatment or other factors (e.g., ability to access treatment) once they are diagnosed. However, the key question remaining to be answered is why Hispanics are diagnosed at a later stage: without answering that question, we cannot begin to design, test, and implement effective interventions to reduce the melanoma burden in Hispanics. A later stage of diagnosis among Hispanics (compared to NHWs) could be due to a multitude of factors, all of which are modifiable: a lack of access to appropriate screening, lack of adherence to screening recommendations, lack of understanding of appropriate screening approaches in the primary care setting (among both patients and physicians), or a combination of these factors. Addressing the epidemic of melanoma among Hispanics is not limited to investigation of factors resulting in delayed diagnosis: we also lack an understanding of the primary drivers of Hispanics' lower overall incidence of melanoma (roughly 7 times lower than non-Hispanic whites). Melanoma risk factors either have similar frequency in Hispanics and NHWs (e.g., many large nevi) or are less frequent in Hispanics but do not explain a high proportion of disease variation (e.g., red hair). Considering current knowledge of risk factor prevalence, melanoma incidence rates should actually be similar in Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites. Understanding the factors leading to the lower overall rate of melanoma in Hispanics could help inform prevention strategies for non-Hispanic whites—or determine new genetic pathways as yet undiscovered. While it is possible that Hispanics' rates of melanoma are lower because they practice better sun-exposure behaviors, we have recently shown that Hispanic children, while frequently engaging in some sun-protective behaviors, also had a high rate of sunburn (59%). U.S.-acculturated Hispanic children reported less shade-seeking at school (P = .001). The surprisingly high rate of sunburn in Hispanic children suggests that the way in which they are practicing sun protection is not preventing sunburns and is an alarming early warning sign for future increases in melanoma rates among Hispanics. Sun safety interventions should be targeted toward Hispanic youth to provide them with practical methods of effective sun protection, in addition to education on the risks of high sun exposure. The contrast in melanoma experience between Hispanics and NHW implies that we already know how to reduce the occurrence of late-stage melanoma in Hispanics, and a better understanding of the differing rates of melanoma among Hispanics and NHW might actually provide insight into enhanced melanoma primary prevention in both groups. Citation Format: Myles Cockburn, Jennifer Unger, Kimberly Miller. The unnecessary epidemic: Skin cancer in Hispanics and what we need to do about it [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr IA18.


The Hanger Reflex is a phenomenon in which the head rotates unintentionally when it is sandwiched by a wire hanger. The reflex is effectively generated by pressing on specific points, and can be reproduced by pressing with an actuator. We propose the HangerOVER, an HMD-embedded haptic display that can provide both force and motion senses using the Hanger Reflex. In this paper, we designed a mechanism of controlling the Hanger Reflex using air balloons for HMD embedded haptic display, and confirmed the occurrence of the Hanger Reflex.


The prediction of Parkinson's disease is most important and challenging problem for biomedical engineering researchers and doctors. The symptoms of disease are investigated in middle and late middle age. In this paper, minimum redundancy maximum relevance feature selection algorithms is used to select the most important feature among all the features to predict the Parkinson diseases. Here, it is observed that the random forest with 20 number of features selected by minimum redundancy maximum relevance feature selection algorithms provide the overall accuracy 90.3%, precision 90.2%, Mathews correlation coefficient values of 0.73 and ROC values 0.96 which is better in comparison to all other machine learning based approaches such as bagging, boosting, random forest, rotation forest, random subspace, support vector machine, multilayer perceptron, and decision tree based methods.


Salmonella remains one of the notable food-borne bacterial pathogens. It is associated with poultry and poultry products including eggs. This study investigated Salmonella distribution in eggshell and content, their antimicrobial resistance pattern, and the possible risk factors driving contamination in Ogun State, Nigeria. A total of 500 eggs (5 eggs pooled into one sample) were collected and culturally examined for the presence of Salmonella serovars. Isolates were further characterized biochemically using Microbact 20E (Oxoid) and Antimicrobial susceptibility determined by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. A total of 14 Salmonella isolates spread across 10 serovars were recovered from the 100 pooled egg samples; 10 (10%) from the market and 4 (4%) farms, 13(13%) eggshell, and 1(1%) egg content. All tested serovars were susceptible to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, florfenicol, and kanamycin. Resistance was mostly observed in sulfamethoxazole 8 (80%), followed by ciprofloxacin 5 (50%) and tetracycline 3 (30%). Sales of eggs in the market appear to be a strong factor encouraging contamination in addition to poor biosecurity and unhygienic handling of eggs on the farm.


This paper examined the number of qualified teachers and its relationship to students' academic performance in public secondary schools in a sample of Local Government Areas (LGA) of Osun State. This descriptive study used a post-hoc dataset. An instrument titled "Quantity and Quality of Teachers and Students' Academic Performance" (QQTSAP) was used for the study. Twenty-one (21) public secondary schools, one in each LGA from a population of thirty-one (31) LGA in the State, were sampled. The Senior School Certificate Examination results from 2000/01 to 2004/05 were used to analyze students' academic performance and reflected some concerns in the school system. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and Spearman rank correlation coefficient to test the three operational hypotheses. Findings of this study showed teachers' qualifications, experience and teacher–student ratio were significantly related to students' academic performance. These findings can be used to guide planners about the need for qualified teachers to facilitate effective teaching and learning in secondary schools in Nigeria.


Objectives: To characterize the clinical manifestations and risk factors associated with cryptosporidiosis. Materials and methods: A descriptive study was performed on 423 patients, with macroscopic and microscopic faecal sample analyses, to identify the clinical manifestations and risk factors associated with cyptosporidiosis in 3 towns and the principal city in Atlantico (Colombia) over a 4-month period. Cryptosporidium spp oocysts were identified after staining with modified Ziehl-Neelsen. A saturated NaCl parasite-concentration method was also compared with wet-mount method for the detection of all intestinal parasites in 279/423 (66.0%) patients. Statistical analyses were performed using EPI-INFO 6.04. Results: The prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. was 1.9% (8/423). Statistical associations were found between cryptosporidiosis infections and fever (p=0.01), blood in the faecal samples (p=0.01) and the presence of household animals (p=0.02). Most of the patients (267/423: 63.1%) were positive for intestinal parasites. The most commonly identified parasites were the non-pathogenic protozoa, Entamoeba coli (118/423: 27.9%) and Endolimax nana (86/423: 20.3%), followed by Blastocystis hominis (76/423: 18%), Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (28/423: 6.6%) and Giardia lamblia (23/423: 5.4%). Ascaris lumbricoides (6/423: 1.4%) was the most common helminth identified. Sensitivities/specificities of 99.4%/95.2% and 87.5%/99.6% were obtained for protozoa and helminths respectively using the saturated NaCl method. Conclusions: Patients with cryptosporidiosis had fever and bloody faecal samples, and were probably infected by domestic animals. Microscopy, using the modified Ziehl-Neelsen stain, was essential for Cryptosporidium spp. oocyst identification. The saturated NaCl method efficiently concentrated the parasites.


Abstract : The use of past performance as a factor in the source selection process intuitively makes sense. A contractor's record of past performance is a good indicator of future performance and should be used to make best value vice low cost contract awards. The Federal Government recognizes the value of assessing past performance and mandates its use by all agencies. This study discusses the issues surrounding the use of past performance. It also provides an overview of current mandatory and discretionary past performance guidance, and describes several past performance information systems applicable to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, NH. An analysis of the shipyard environment is then used to form the basis for an effective policy implementation plan. Currently, past performance shall be a significant factor in all competitively negotiated procurements above one million dollars. Similarly, evaluations must be prepared for each contract valued at five hundred thousand dollars or above. These thresholds will soon be lowered to one hundred thousand dollars each. Implementing the highly discretionary Federal policies at the command level requires a thorough understanding of the issues surrounding past performance such as fairness, the prescriptive versus tailored approaches, new entrant treatment, information validity, and implementation costs. Successful implementation is also dependent upon command specific needs and limitations. This study investigates the issues surrounding the implementation of the Federal past performance policies at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.


Grid computing utilizes the distributed heterogeneous resources in order to support complicated computing problems. Job scheduling in computing grid is a very important problem. To utilize grids efficiently, we need a good job scheduling algorithm to assign jobs to resources in grids. In the natural environment, the ants have a tremendous ability to team up to find an optimal path to food resources. An ant algorithm simulates the behavior of ants. In this paper, a new Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm is proposed for job scheduling in the Grid environment. The main contribution of this paper is to minimize the makespan of a given set of jobs. Compared with the other job scheduling algorithms, the proposed algorithm can outperform them according to the experimental results.


Polycythemia vera is a disease of unknown etiology characterized by an abnormally increased red cell mass. Its symptoms and complications are due to plethora and to thrombotic and hemorrhagic phenomena within various organs. Thrombosis is attributed to the high platelet count and to circulatory stagnation due to increased blood viscosity. This report is concerned with cerebral hemodynamics and their alteration by treatment during the several stages of the disease. Report of Case A 48-year-old Negro woman entered the District of Columbia General Hospital on Dec. 20, 1954, with the chief complaint of "spitting up blood." One month prior to admission the patient had suddenly become aware of a sensation of fullness in her mouth and expectorated "about a pint" of bright red blood. In the course of a similar, second episode, one week prior to admission, she had brought up "about one cupful." Two weeks prior to admission she had


That federalism is 'one of the best known and tested strategies for managing territorially delineated diversity' is perhaps not contestable. Federalism varies from place to place, and from time to time, and the federalness of a system as well as its suitability and viability can only be determined by relating the system to the nature of the plural society it serves at a given point in time (Osaghae, 2006). However, where it is practiced faithfully federalism accords a system a dual advantage of managing deep seated diversity as well as providing a tendency for rapid development to all the nooks and crannies of the territory under federal practice. Federalism affords local (territorial, regional, provincial, state, or municipal) units of government, as well as a national government the opportunity 'to make final decisions with respect to at least some governmental activities and whose existence is specially protected'. In a fundamental sense, this decentralization attribute of federalism creates opportunities for 'separate self-sustaining centres of power, prestige and profit' with a high likelihood of translating into sustainable development. In other words, 'it is not by the concentration of powers, but by their distribution, that good government is effected. We are in total agreement with this observation. Be that as it may, the operation of federal system of government in Nigeria since demise of first republic (1960-66) has been characterized by serious anomalies that authors and scholars have coined such words as 'quasi federal', 'military federalism', 'unitary federalism, etc, in describing Nigerian system of federalism. It is even contended that 'the federal framework in Nigeria from inception in 1954 has been fraught with a number of anomalies that tend to make federal practice in the country rather problematic' This is in spite of wide acknowledgment that a federal system is more suitable for Nigeria than any other system. Among such unfederal practices are hyper centralization of power and resources, increasing fiscal and governmental dependency of the lower tiers of government, the over bearing posture of the federal centre, uncontrollable overlapping jurisdictions by tiers of government, a total lack of autonomy by the organs and tiers of government, etc. all of which collectively and individually erode the concept of co-ordinate supremacy, a critical element of federal system. Thus, by many accounts there is subversion of federalism in Nigeria, and this has constituted the greatest threat to Nigeria's unity and survival as a nation-state, to its lack of democracy and has continued to undermine efforts at achieving sustainable development. This paper examines and documents the sources, causes, and consequences of all unfederal practices in Nigeria since post 1966 era. By the nature of this topic, secondary data sourced from library, internet sites, and government publications are mainly used in this paper, and content analysis is used in analyzing the data. Keywords: Unfederal practices, Nigerian Governments, Good Governance, Sustainable Development


In the title compound, C4H5N3OS2·2C2H6OS, the five-membered heterocyclic ring and the N—(C=O)—C plane of the acetamide group are essentially co-planar, with a dihedral angle of 1.25 (3)°. Intermolecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between the acetamide compound and the dimethyl sulfoxide molecules stabilize the crystal structure. The two dimethyl sulfoxide molecules are each disordered over two positions with occupancy ratios of 0.605 (2):0.395 (2) and 0.8629 (18):0.1371 (18).


Sixteen patients with laparotomy-proved Stages I-III non-Hodgkin's lumphoma were treated with high dose extended field irradiation. All patients obtained complete remission and 75% remain continually free of disease for 22+ to 63+ months. When the extent of disease is carefully delineated by a thorough staging procedure which includes laparotomy, irradiation alone may cure a high percentage of patients.


Introduction: Although continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is effective in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), inadequate adherence remains a major cause of treatment failure. Objective: To determine long term adherence to auto adjusting-CPAP (APAP) and its influencing factors. To evaluate initial compliance and its relation to long-term adherence. Methods: 83 male patients with moderate to severe OSA were enrolled. After beginning, APAP patients9 compliance (% of days usage and median hours per night) was recorded during medical appointments, after 12 days, 6 months and then annually for at least 5 years. Results: Patients mean age was 53.8 ± 10.8 years, mean apnoea-hypopnoea index of 52.5±20.1/h and mean Epworth sleepiness scale of 12.41 ± 5.5. Mean follow-up time was of 61.9±23.1 months, 63 patients (75,9%) are still using APAP (73.43±7.1 months) having a mean percentage of use of 92.6±7.18 for 06:55±01:35 per day. Twenty patients (24.1%) abandoned treatment after 25.4±17.5 months, on average. Patients who abandoned treatment during the follow-up period had lower initial compliance. Percentage of use at 12th day and 6th month was 81.7±23 and 65.8±28.5 for non-adherent patients and 96.6±7.4 and 94.3±9.1for adherents (p=0.01 and p=0.001), mean hours per night were 04:41±01:55 and 04:07±01:57 vs. 06:18±01:28 and 06:18±01:12 (p=0.001 and p=0.001), respectively. Non-adherent patients were younger (p=0.01). No other differences including employment state, marital status or disease severity and symptoms were found between the groups. Conclusions: Patients who maintain long-term treatment have very good compliance. Non-adherent patients have significantly lower initial compliance than long term-adherents.


The motion of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the subarachnoid space and ventricles is greatly modulated when propagating synchronously with the cardiac pulse and respiratory cycle and path through the nerves, blood vessels, and arachnoid trabeculae. Water molecule movement that propagates between two spaces via a stoma, foramen, or duct presents increased acceleration when passing through a narrow area and can exhibit "turbulence." Recently, neurosurgeons have started to perform fenestration procedures using neuroendoscopy to treat hydrocephalus and cystic lesions. As part of the postoperative evaluation, a noninvasive diagnostic technique to visualize the water molecules at the fenestrated site is necessary. Because turbulence is observed at this fenestrated site, an imaging technique appropriate for observing this turbulence is essential. We therefore investigated the usefulness of a dynamic improved motion-sensitized driven-equilibrium steady-state free precession (Dynamic iMSDE SSFP) sequence of magnetic resonance imaging that is superior for ascertaining turbulent motions in healthy volunteers and patients. Images of Dynamic iMSDE SSFP from volunteers revealed that CSF motion at the ventral surface of the brainstem and the third ventricle is augmented and turbulent. Moreover, our findings confirmed that this technique is useful for evaluating treatments that utilize neuroendoscopy. As a result, Dynamic iMSDE SSFP, a simple sequence for visualizing CSF motion, entails a short imaging time, can extensively visualize CSF motion, does not require additional processes such as labeling or trigger setting, and is anticipated to have wide-ranging clinical applications in the future.


Several Fe-Ce catalysts for FT synthesis were prepared following two different methods: coprecipitation from Fe and Ce nitrate solutions and a physical mixture of pure Fe and Ce oxide precursors. Previously to CO hydrogenation, catalysts were activated in syngas (50 ml/min, H2/CO = 2) at 553 K for 1 h at atmospheric pressure. The iron phases de- veloped after activation pretreatment were identified by XRD and in situ Mossbauer spectroscopy with the objective to study the effect of the addition of cerium on the reduction behavior and catalytic properties of Fe systems. A good correla- tion between iron phases detected by both techniques was found. The results revealed that the cerium oxide in the samples prepared by coprecipitation produces two effects: (i) lower reduction rate leading to the metastable Fe1-xO species, and (ii), a decrease in the crystallite size of the iron species upon increasing Ce-contents, as inferred from an increase in su- perparamagnetic species detected by in situ Mossbauer spectroscopy. Since iron carbides are the "real" active phases in FT synthesis, the stabilization of Fe1-xO phase after activation is suggested to be responsible for the drop in catalytic activ- ity in Fe-Ce catalysts prepared by coprecipitation during FT synthesis.