The members of the CuMo(1- x)WxO4 series (0 < or = x < 0.1) undergo a first-order phase transition that can be induced by pressure application; the thermochromic properties of such a series have already been reported. The two polymorphic forms exhibit two distinguishable colors: green for the low pressure form (alpha) and brownish-red for the high pressure one (gamma). These oxides can open up a new market for friendly pressure indicators, particularly for the compositions (0.07 < or = x < or = 0.1) for which the two polymorphs are stable at room temperature, that is, for which the color transition via pressure application is nonreversible. Within the CuMo(1- x)WxO4 solid solution domain, the dependence of the transition pressure versus tungsten content, temperature of measurement, and sample thermal-pressure history was studied. A large control of the transition pressure (from 5 to several 100 MPa) was brought to the fore. The transition was then studied using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray analyses. This first-order transition, occurring by atomic migration inside the cell, seems to be preceded by an atomic disordering; moreover, transition temperatures may be modified by W segregation at the surface of the grains.


Recent works on Brain Machine Interface (BMI) has given promising results for developing prosthetic devices aimed at restoring motor functions in paralyzed patients. The goal of this work is to create a part mechanical, part biological robot that operates on the basis of the neural activity of rat brain cells. In our method, first the rat learns to move the robot by pressing the right and left lever in order to get food. Then, we utilize the data of multi-electrode recordings to train artificial neural controllers, which are later employed to control the robot motion based on the brain activity of rats. The results show a good performance of artificial neural network controlling the real robot.


In many realistic applications, process noise is known to be neither white nor normally distributed. When identifying models in these cases, it may be more effective to minimize a different penalty function than the standard sum of squared errors (as in a least-squares identification method). This paper investigates model identification based on two different penalty functions: the 1-norm of the prediction errors and a Huber-type penalty function. For data characteristic of some realistic applications, model identification based on these latter two penalty functions is shown to result in more accurate estimates of parameters than the standard least-squares solution, and more accurate model predictions for test data. The identification techniques are demonstrated on a simple toy problem as well as a physiological model of type 1 diabetes.


Peripheral nerve injury can lead to neuropathic pain which is a chronic pain state like hyperalgesia, spontaneous pain, mechanical allodynia, and thermal allodynia. Aging may affect the severity of neuropathic pain symptoms. In humans, there is difference between old and young persons in susceptibility of neuropathic pain. The present study was conducted to determine whether the behavioral signs of neuropathic pain following peripheral nerve injury depend on age at the time of the peripheral nerve injury. Under halothane anesthesia, the tibial and sural nerves were injured and the common peroneal nerve was left intact. Neuropathic pain behaviors were compared between young and old groups of rats. Rats with injury to the tibial and sural nerves showed the vigorous mechanical allodynia, cold allodynia, and spontaneous pain. Young rat group showed more profound mechanical allodynia, cold allodynia, and spontaneous pain compared to old rat group. The results suggested that all the behavioral signs of neuropathic pain may be manifested more robustly in young rat group rather than old rat group in our animal model of neuropathic pain which was produced by injury to the tibial and sural nerves, while leaving the common peroneal nerve intact. Aging appears to affect several factors related to the generation or maintenance of neuropathic pain.


Shoulder pain is a common complaint--almost 20% of the population will suffer shoulder pain during their life time. Despite the availability of newer imaging techniques for evaluation of the shoulder, the first imaging study should be radiography. Recently, ultrasonography of the shoulder has become one of the first studies performed. Sometimes, ultrasonography is conducted before radiography; moreover, many patients are being referred to a shoulder specialist without performing an X-ray. There is a plethora of pathologies that can cause shoulder pain--rotator cuff tears, impingement syndrome, calcified tendinitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, neoplasms and more. This review aims to show the significance of plain radiography in the diagnosis of shoulder pathologies, in order to encourage the use of this modality. In this paper we shall review the different causes of shoulder pain and their radiographic characteristics.


Foraging hummingbirds and nectar bats oxidize both glucose and fructose from nectar at exceptionally high rates. Rapid sugar flux is made possible by adaptations to digestive, cardiovascular, and metabolic physiology affecting shared and distinct pathways for the processing of each sugar. Still, how these animals partition and regulate the metabolism of each sugar and whether this occurs differently between hummingbirds and bats remain unclear. Kenneth C. Welch, Jr., Alexander M. Myrka, Raafay Syed Ali, and Morag F. Dick Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Cell & Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Center for the Neurobiology of Stress, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada firstname.lastname@example.com


One of the long-standing puzzles in economics is why wages do not fall sufficiently in recessions so as to avoid increases in unemployment. Put differently, if the competitive market wage declines, why don't employers simply force their employees to accept lower wages as well? As an alternative to reviewing statistical data we have performed an experiment with a lower competitive wage in the second phase of an employment relationship that is known to both parties. Our hypothesis is that employers will not lower wages correspondingly and that employees will resist such wage cuts. Our experiment casts two subjects in the highly stylized roles of employer and employee. We find at most mild evidence for resistance to wage declines. Instead, the experimental results can be more fruitfully interpreted in terms of an "ultimatum game", in which some surplus between employers and employees is split. In this view, wages and their lack of decline are simply the mechanical tool for accomplishing this split.


The objective of this research paper is to design and develop a linear regenerative electromagnetic shock absorber for automotive suspension system. The significance of the arrangement of magnetic and coil materials as components of the linear regenerative electromagnetic shock absorber is to generate continuous electric energy to deliver power to a vehicles electronics. Different magnets and coil arrangements will be reviewed and analysed. Additionally, a novel design of linear regenerative electromagnetic shock absorbers will be modeled by using the computer aided design software program (SolidWorks®) and tested using apparatus such as a shock absorber dynamometer. The linear regenerative electromagnetic shock absorber system was simulated by using Matlab® and Simulink®. The simulation model was established and validated via experiments. The validated simulation model was then used for the analysis of the system parameter sensitivity. The sensitivity analysis then lead to the design optimization phase which allowed for the harvesting of maximum vibration in the design phase.


The paper presents the preparation of Ti-(1-30wt.%)Y2O3 composites using the mechanical alloying process. Ti based materials are the best metallic biomaterials because of their excellent properties: biocompatibility, low Young moduli and high corrosion resistance. Pure Ti and Y2O3 powders were alloyed under argon atmosphere in shaker type mill (Spex 8000) followed by pressing and sintering. The ultra-low grain size structure improves the mechanical properties and hardness of the new materials in comparison to microcrystalline Ti-based sinters. However, because of the porosity of approx. 20-30%, a decrease in the Young modulus is observed. Moreover, the new composites show good tendency towards covering by Ca-P compounds during soaking in SBF.


Weltkriegs," Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts– und Sozialwissenschaften 118 (1998): 275–94; Jochen Streb, "Das Scheitern der staatlichen Preisregulierung in der nationalsozialistischen Bauwirtschaft," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte 1 (2003): 27–48; Christoph Buchheim and Jonas Scherner, "The Role of Private Property in the Nazi Economy: The Case of Industry," Journal of Economic History 66 (2006): 390–416). In the endnote section, Turner discusses the literature on Opel when his results differ from earlier accounts. But nowhere does he contrast his history of GM's German subsidiary with that of Ford's Fordwerke in Cologne, which is, apart from several company histories, fairly well documented in books and articles of Reinhold Billstein, Karola Fings, Anita Kugler, Peter Lessmann, and others. This is all the more astonishing as the history of Fordwerke in the Third Reich is much more stained than that of Opel. That an eminent historian like Henry Turner has not used this obvious (and easy to grasp) chance to put his results in a comparative perspective, and that he does not even bother to explain this curious omission, casts serious doubts on his claim that this work was undertaken independently.


The incidence of stress-related, psychophysiological disorders in children is increasing. A goal of both parenting and pediatric health care is to teach children the skills of problem solving, affective and physical regulation, and techniques to better manage stress. In primary care pediatrics, both hypnotherapy and biofeedback can be used to teach psychophysiological self-regulation through relaxation and stress management affecting cognitive change and improving the child's self-image. This article uses case examples to review how hypnosis and relatively inexpensive biofeedback equipment can be implemented in primary care pediatrics to teach psychophysiological self-regulation through relaxation and stress management to effect cognitive change and improving the child's self-image.


The Hellmann—Feynman (H-F) theorem is generalized from stationary state to dynamical state. The generalized H-F theorem promotes molecular dynamics to go beyond adiabatic approximation and clears confusion in the Ehrenfest dynamics.


The documentary Bully was released nationwide in theaters in March 2012. Originally titled The Bully Project, the filmmakers followed five families whose lives had been turned upside down by bullying. Two of the families in the movie lost their sons, Tyler and Ty, to suicide, and three of the youth in the movie,Alex, Kelby, and Ja'Meya, were bullied in school and on the school bus. The movie shows the devastating consequences of bullying and the depressingly poor response on the part of adults. What the movie does not address is the mental health history of one of the boys, who commits suicide, as well as the developmental disabilities affecting another boy in the movie, who was born prematurely (Bazelon, 2012). Understandably, this is a difficult narrative. The filmmakers did not want to delve into the complexity of mental health issues and bullying for fear of creating a story line that those who are bullied are obvious victims. However, by not addressing the issues of ADHD, bipolar disorder, Asperger syndrome, and developmental disabilities, an important narrative was missed. Bullying is a complex phenomenon, and both mental health and physical health difficulties play into involvement in bullying. While there is no narrative that those who are bullied somehow deserve such egregious treatment, we shirk our professional responsibilities if we do not shed light on the compelling evidence that youth with disabilities are at great risk for involvement in bullying-both for bullying others and for being bullied (AbilityPath.org, 2011; Rose, Monda-Amaya, & Espelage, 2011). The purpose of this article is to review the research on bullying and students with disabilities and to propose an inclusive narrative: when differences are celebrated rather than used as fuel for maltreatment, a world will be created where bullying is not tolerated. This will be a better world for everyone.


Background Undernutrition continues to be a major public health problem throughout the world. The present study aimed to understand the prevalence and determinants of undernutrition in India and determine what extent it differs by birth order, other child level, maternal and socioeconomic factors.MethodsThis study used information from a total weighted sample of 128859 mothers from India National Family Health Survey 4. Univariate and Multivariate logistic regression were used to investigate the association between undernutrition with birth order, other child level, maternal and socio-economic factors. Three models were constructed for the study, model 1 as univariate, model 2 adjusting with birth order and socioeconomic predictors and model 3 adjusting with all the predictors included in the study. Results The prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting were 37.9, 34.0 and 20.7 respectively. The mean age of children was 2.4 years (standard deviation 1.3) of which majority were second order birth (33.6%), males (54.5%), anemic (58.9%) and normal birth weight (87.2%). All three models showed that higher birth order was a strong predictor of a child being stunted and underweight after adjusting for potential confounders. Children with lower wealth quintiles, anemia, male, low birth weight and vaginal delivery had higher odds of being stunted, wasted and underweight in model-3 adjusted analysis.Conclusion The findings from this study provide an important interaction between birth order and child undernutrition status in India. However, further longitudinal studies are required to establish such cause-effect relationship between birth order and undernutrition.


Eisenmenger syndrome (ES) is considered an absolute contraindication for pregnancy. ES is characterized by a congenital heart abnormality that results in a significant anatomical shunt. Hemodynamic forces generate a left-right shunt, leading to severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Eventually, the shunt will become a right-to-left shunt due to increased pulmonary vascular resistance, leading to significant hypoxemia and cyanosis. Pregnant women with ES experience volume overload as a result of the syndrome and the physiological response of pregnancy. The decrease in systemic vascular resistance that occurs during pregnancy also increases the right-to-left shunt, resulting in left ventricular failure. Due to the significant risk to both the mother and the fetus, women are advised to terminate their pregnancy during the first trimester. However, with all the odds, very few cases show positive neonatal and maternal outcomes. Appropriate management of ES includes a multidisciplinary team assembled to monitor and manage the patient carefully and thoroughly. In this paper, we present a case of ES secondary to an atrial septal defect with severe PAH in a 32-year-old woman who underwent a cesarean section at 33 weeks of gestation. She delivered a healthy baby girl. On the seventh postoperative day, she was discharged with no complications.


ABSTRACT Beyond somewhat vague allusions to Sufi influence, a qualitative sense of early Javanese Islamic praxis remains sadly lacking among scholars. This article attempts to rectify that deficiency by re-assessing the importance of a Kubrawī silsila (spiritual genealogy) found within the 17th- to early 18th-century Javanese chronicle, Sejarah Banten Ranté-Ranté. First identified by Martin van Bruinessen in 1994, this silsila preserves detailed information about two separate Sunni-orientated Kubrawī lineages attributable to the latter's Central Asian sub-branch, the Hamadānī. Set within the context of other early Javanese Muslim texts containing previously overlooked evidence of Kubrawī praxis, in addition to hagiographical traditions identifying one Jumadil Kubra (a probable cypher for Kubrawī founder, Najm al-Dīn al-Kubrā) as the island's earliest Muslim practitioner and a resident of Gresik, we argue that this silsila indicates considerable Kubrawī influence over Java's initial Islamisation. Further consideration of the silsila's specific Hamadānī characteristics set against wider 13th- to 15th-century Islamic history suggests either a north Indian or, more probably, Sino-Muslim origin for that influence. We therefore conclude by interpreting the Sejarah Banten silsila as a possible window onto the substantive nature of Sino-Muslim involvement in early Javanese Islam, adding further nuance to our understanding of that island's Islamisation.


The escalating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB) epidemics have had a significant impact on public health services in resource-limited settings. The province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa is estimated to have one of the greatest TB/HIV coinfection burdens on the African continent, coupled with historically low TB treatment success rates. In May 2004, the South African government began providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV-infected individuals within the public sector. As in many counties, this HIV treatment program was established in parallel with an existing TB treatment service. In 2005, the Integration of TB in Education and Care for HIV/AIDS (iTEACH) Program was launched in KwaZulu-Natal at Edendale Hospital. The goal of iTEACH was to identify barriers to effective treatment and develop support interventions to enable rapid expansion of access to ART and improve ART and TB treatment outcomes within the district served by this facility. In the present article, we discuss challenges to the delivery of TB and HIV care by these separate treatment programs, as well as opportunities to improve both TB treatment and ART outcomes through lessons learned during ART scale-up in the context of the HIV and TB coepidemics.


Using soft-collinear effective theory (SCET), we examine the 1/mb corrections to the factorization formulas for inclusive semi-leptonic B decays in the endpoint region, where the hadronic final state consists of a single jet. At tree level, we find a new contribution from four-quark operators that was previously assumed absent. Beyond tree level many sub-leading shape-functions are needed to correctly describe the decay process.


We develop a procedure to remove interference from gravitational wave spectrum. The method is applied to the data produced by the Glasgow laser interferometer in 1996 and all the lines corresponding to the interference with the main supply are removed.


The results of a field trial with a novel, live attenuated human diploid cell vaccine (HDCV) against measles, mumps and rubella are described. The study was performed double blind and included 120 children aged 15 to 24 months. 60 children received the new vaccine and a control group of another 60 children were vaccinated with M-M-RR II. The seroconversion rates found 6 to 8 weeks after the vaccination were high without exception (95% to 100%). The multiple chi 2-test revealed no statistically significant difference in immunogenic efficacy between the two vaccines (p greater than 0.05). No reports of side effects were received from the 12 physicians participating in the study. It is pointed out that all components of the new vaccine are highly attenuated and that the vaccine is free of avian protein, animal protein extracts and antibiotics. This excludes all theoretical and practical contraindications due to the corresponding hypersensitivities.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Introduction: Angiogenesis and invasion are essential attributes of metastatic cancer cells. The Wnt-Induced Signaling Protein-2 (Wisp-2 /CCN5) is a secreted protein implicated in modification of extracellular matrix, invasion, and angiogenesis. The regulation of Wisp-2 and its function in CaP is poorly explored although it is highly expressed in advanced CaP cells. We discovered recently that a pro-inflammatory chemokine, Interleukin-8 (IL-8) strongly modulates Wisp2 expression in CaP cells. Since chronic inflammation is thought to be significant in CaP metastasis and IL-8 is a major effecter of inflammatory pathway, we investigated the physiological consequence of Wisp-2 modulation in CaP cells.

Hypothesis; Wisp-2 is a down-stream effector of IL-8 induced angiogenesis and invasion, and is essential for metastatic progression of prostate cancer.

Methods: Quantitative PCR (qPCR) was used to determine the expression of Wisp-2 mRNA and other mRNA in prostate epithelial and cancer cells (e.g. RWPE-1, LNCaP, LAPC-4, DU145, and PC3). Wisp-2 mediated-VEGF secretion was determined by ELISA and endothelial tube formation assay using human vascular endothelial cells (HUVEC cells). Invasive activity and their attributes were determined using gelatin-zymography for matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), Matrigel invasion assay and chemotaxis assay.

Results: Wisp2 RNA was strongly expressed in two highly metastatic CaP cell lines, DU145 and PC-3 and moderately in less invasive LAPC4 and LNCaP cells. Constitutive autocrine expression or external addition of IL-8 increased Wisp-2 mRNA by ≥15.2 times in LNCaP, and 7.4 times in LAPC4 cells. Depleting Wisp-2 by RNA interference caused 82% reduction of Wisp2 in DU145, and 75% in PC-3. Depletion of Wisp2 did not affect cell proliferation in DU145 and PC3 but it reduced expression of VEGF mRNA by 64% in DU145 and 43% in PC3. Secreted VEGF protein in cultures of DU145 and PC-3 cells showed a decrease of 62% in DU145 and 30% in PC3. Condition medium of Wisp-2 depleted DU145 cell cultures showed 20% decrease in proliferation and vessel formation activity in HUVEC cells. Further, Wisp-2 depletion in DU145 cells resulted in significant decrease in chemo-invasion activity (28%) and secretion of MMP-9 (25%).

Conclusions: These results show that Wisp2 is down stream effector of IL-8 and is an important modulator, affecting extracellular matrix to stimulate angiogenesis and invasiveness in CaP cells. Suppression of Wisp-2 in CaP may reduce their metastatic potential.

(Grant Support; VA MERIT Review, VA5312.01 (BLL))

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5159. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5159


Healthcare leaders have enthusiastically welcomed the unprecedented £40bn ($58bn; ![Graphic][1] 65bn), five year investment plan for the NHS announced in the Budget last week, while also sounding notes of caution over elements of the reforms that are tied to the money.

Chancellor Gordon Brown's Budget outlined annual rises of 7.4% above inflation for the NHS over the next five years, taking total UK healthcare spending from £65.4bn in 2002-3 to £105.6bn in 2007-8. The total 61% boost, which will be paid for by a 1% rise in national insurance, is in line with increases recommended by the report on health resources by Derek Wanless (see p 998).

The extra investment will increase the UK health bill from 7.7% to 9.4% of gross domestic product by 2008—matching the EU average that Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged two years ago that the UK would meet ( BMJ 2000;320:205).

The health secretary, Alan Milburn, immediately translated the money into plans for an extra 80000 staff, …

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Background Bladder cancer (BC) is a common urinary tract system tumor with high recurrence rate and different populations show distinct response to immunotherapy. Novel biomarkers that can accurately predict prognosis and therapeutic responses are urgently needed. Here, we aim to identify a novel prognostic and therapeutic responses immune-related gene signature of BC through a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis. Methods The robust rank aggregation was conducted to integrate differently expressed genes (DEGs) in datasets of the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the gene expression omnibus (GEO). Lasso and Cox regression analyses were performed to formulate a novel mRNA signature that could predict prognosis of BC patients. Subsequently, the prognostic value and predictive value of the signature was validated with two independent cohorts GSE13507 and IMvigor210. Finally, quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis was conducted to determine the expression of mRNAs in BC cell lines (UM-UC-3, EJ-1, SW780 and T24). Results We built a signature comprised the eight mRNAs: CNKSR1, COPZ2, CXorf57, FASN, PCOLCE2, RGS1, SPINT1 and TPST1. Our prognostic signature could be used to stratify BC population into two risk groups with distinct immune profile and responsiveness to immunotherapy. The results of qRT-PCR demonstrated that the eight mRNAs exhibited different expression levels in BC cell lines. Conclusion Our study constructed a convenient and reliable 8-mRNA gene signature, which might provide prognostic prediction and aid treatment decision making of BC patients in clinical practice.


This paper explains the statistical methods used to reach the conclusions regarding the relationship between selected social variables and oral health status reported in subsequent papers referring to specific countries. The procedure called 'stepwise regression' was employed in relation to each of the three clinical categories of data. The single social variable which explains the greatest variation in the oral data is identified as the most important predictor. Its influence is then removed by mathematical adjustment and the second and subsequent social variables are similarly identified until no further ones remain which are significant in explaining remaining variability in the oral data. The effect of utilization was always removed first regardless of its predictive power. The findings for each country were used to construct 'tree' diagrams on which the best and worst pathways are indicated to give a profile of those subjects having the fewest and the most decayed teeth.


Economic values in euros (€) were calculated for traits of economic importance in Irish grass-based systems. The economically important traits selected were spring, midseason, and autumn grass dry matter (DM) yield (€/kg of DM per ha), grass quality (€ per unit DM digestibility), first- and second-cut silage DM yield (€/kg per ha), and sward persistency (€/% change in persistency per ha per yr). The economic value for each trait was calculated by changing the trait of interest while keeping all other traits constant, using the Moorepark Dairy Systems Model. Herd parameters (including cow numbers and calving pattern), milk production, energy demand, supplementary feeds, and land area were readjusted to calculate the economic value for the trait of interest. The base scenario assumed fixed cow numbers with 40 ha of land available, with full costs included. The results for the base scenario show the economic values were: €0.15/kg of DM spring yield, €0.03/kg of midseason yield, €0.10/kg of DM autumn yield, the quality value was €0.001, €0.008, €0.010, €0.009, €0.008, and €0.006 per unit change in DM digestibility/kg of DM yield for the months of April, May, June, July, August, and September, respectively; €0.036/kg of DM first-cut silage; €0.024/kg of DM second-cut silage; and -€4.961 per 1% decrease in persistency/ha per yr. Sensitivity of the economic values to changes in milk price and scenario were tested. The economic values were applied to experimental production data collected over 3 yr for 20 perennial ryegrass cultivars to establish the total economic merit for each cultivar and then to rank each cultivar based on its economic performance. Rank correlations between the base and alternative scenarios ranged from 0.90 to unity. This indicates that the economic values are reliable regardless of system, intensity, or price. The total merit index will identify the cultivars that can make the greatest economic contribution to a grass-based production system.


AT the annual meeting on March 23, Dr. Arthur Mitchell, F.R.S.E., in the chair, it was stated in the Report of the Council that since last meeting in July two new stations had been established—one at Lednathie, Kirriemuir, and the other at Comrie, Perthshire. During the summer and autumn the Secretary inspected twenty-six stations. In addition to the ordinary work of the office he had prepared a third paper on the climate of the British Islands, embracing the rainfall, which would appear in next issue of the Journal. As regards the Ben Nevis Observatory, the observations during the winter had been carried on by Mr. Omond and his assistants every hour by night and by day, without the break of a single hour, except during a great storm which raged around the Observatory in February, when from 6 p.m, of the 21st to 7 a.m, of the following day Mich was the violence of the wind, that for those fourteen hours no light could be carried outside by which the thermometers could be read. The directors had given permission for the erection of a seismometer for registering earth-movements at the Observatory, a grant of 200l. for its erection having been obtained by Mr. George Darwin and Prof. Ewing from the Government Grant Committee. The total cost of the erection and maintenance of the Observatory up to January 31, 1885, was 5935l., which was 325 in excess of the subscriptions and other moneys received. The actual cost above what was originally estimated amounted to upwards of 1600l. This excess arose chiefly from the additions it was found necessary to make to the buildings, the extra furnishings required for the new portion, the great cost of making and maintaining the road, and of the transport to the top of building materials and stores. It was hoped that the public, to whose liberality this great national observatory owed its existence, would by additional subscriptions enable the directors to place the Observatory in efficient working order. The work at the Scottish Marine Station continues to be prosecuted with energy and success. The Council had recommended that the grant from the Fishery Fund of the Society for the year ending November next be increased from 250l. to 300l. In November, 1884, an application on the part of the Tweed Salmon Commissioners was made to the Council for advice and assistance in investigations which the Commissioners had resolved to undertake into the salmon disease, and questions generally affecting the salmon fisheries; and the Commissioners were now carrying out a scheme of observations recommended by the Council.


A collection from stomach contents of 30 sperm whales Physeter catodon comprised a total of 46 cephalopods belonging to six families. Nine species were identified, including Ommastrephes bartramii, which is recorded for the first time in the diet of sperm whales caught off South Africa, and Todarodes filippovae, which has only previously been identified from whale stomachs to genus. Sexed individuals of all species were female and most were gravid. Comparisons are made with a much larger collection of beaks from the same source and the species identity of some of these can now be established or confirmed.


Recovering Five Generations Hence: The Life and Writing of Lillian Jones Horace. Edited by Karen Kossie-Chernyshev. (College Station: Texas AM cloth, $48.50, ISBN 978-1-60344-976-2.) In 2003 Texas Southern University history professor Karen Kossie-Chernyshev discovered the records of Lillian Jones Horace, a prominent African American teacher, novelist, and publisher, in an archival collection in the central branch of the public library in Fort Worth, Texas. Historians often dream of discovering an unknown or untouched primary source, and now readers can reap the benefit of this rare find in Recovering Five Generations Hence: The Life and Writings of Lillian Jones Horace. This text contains Horace's novel Five Generations Hence, complete with helpful historical endnotes by the editor and a collection of eight scholarly essays that discuss Horace's life experiences and her writings. By helping Horace's writings gain public attention, Kossie-Chemyshev's work contributes to the disciplines of history and literature by recovering the intellectual legacy of one of the first black women in Texas to write a novel and the first African American female publisher in the state. Published in 1916, Five Generations Hence opens with the central character, Grace Noble, a melancholy rural unmarried Texas teacher in her late twenties, lamenting about her life and the dismal social conditions of her fellow African Americans. Noble, the granddaughter of a slave, overcame great adversity to become a teacher. She represented the quintessential ideal of the African American educator, who promoted educational attainment as a key to social advancement. While Five Generations Hence begins as a classic racial uplift novel with Grace as an ardent proponent of the politics of respectability, it offers a surprising twist that complicates this assessment. After much soul searching, Grace finds her life's purpose when she decides to write a manuscript that encourages blacks to emigrate gradually from the United States to an unnamed African country. In the course of promoting her emigration vision, the protagonist espouses prevalent internalized racist views reminiscent of Booker T. Washington's arguments, such as "the Negro as a race is yet a child." when she argues that emigration to Africa would enable blacks to learn the "great lesson of self-reliance as a race" (p. 50). While the theme of African emigration is not new in literary texts, it is novel that the idea is conveyed by a black female character. Through Grace's views and the character of Grace's best friend, Violet Gray, an African missionary, Horace engenders black nationalist beliefs by promoting the importance of women's perspectives on missionary work and emigration. Although Grace Noble's book sparks controversy among anti-emigrationists, the character becomes a successful novelist. In another surprising turn in Five Generations Hence, Grace, who has failed to find a romantic partner during the majority of the novel, eventually marries the man of her dreams and has children after years of contentment as a financially independent novelist. …


This paper proposes a method to enter characters and/or character string in an augmented reality using a gesture motion. The proposed method detects the region of character string using the gesture motion. It consists of five phases; template generation, skin color detection, hand region detection, gesture motion extraction and designation of character string region. The template image consists of two fingers because a gesture is to take hold the tips of the first and second fingers. In the skin color detection, we extract the skin color on the basis of values in saturation by using threshold processing. The hand region is detected by calculating areas and detecting the area with the maximum value as a hand. The gesture motion is extracted using template matching. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method, we conduct experiments for character string specification.


OBJECTIVES
Using equations to predict resting metabolic rate (RMR) has yielded different degrees of validity, particularly when sex and different physical activity levels were considered. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine the validity of several different predictive equations to estimate RMR in female and male adults with varying physical activity levels.

METHOD
We measured the RMR of 50 adults (26 females and 24 males) evenly distributed through activity levels varying from sedentary to ultra-endurance. Body composition was measured by dual X-ray absorptiometry and physical activity was monitored by accelerometry. Ten equations to predict RMR were applied (using Body Mass [BM]: Harris & Benedict, 1919; Mifflin et al., 1990 [MifflinBM ]; Pontzer et al., 2021 [PontzerBM ]; Schofield, 1985; FAO/WHO/UNU, 2004; and using Fat-Free Mass (FFM): Cunningham, 1991; Johnstone et al., 2006; Mifflin et al., 1990 [MifflinFFM ]; Nelson et al. 1992; Pontzer et al., 2021 [PontzerFFM ]). The accuracy of these equations was analyzed, and the effect of sex and physical activity was evaluated using different accuracy metrics.

RESULTS
Equations using BM were less accurate for females, and their accuracy was influenced by physical activity and body composition. FFM equations were slightly less accurate for males but there was no obvious effect of physical activity or other sample parameters. PontzerFFM provides higher accuracy than other models independent of the magnitude of RMR, sex, activity levels, and sample characteristics.

CONCLUSION
Equations using FFM were more accurate than BM equations in our sample. Future studies are needed to test the accuracy of RMR prediction equations in diverse samples.


Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a major causative factor of inflammatory disease. Although IL-6 and its signaling pathways are promising targets, orally available small molecule drugs specific for IL-6 have not been developed. To discover IL-6 antagonists we screened our in-house chemical library and identified a novel synthetic compound as a candidate IL-6 blocker. The activity, mechanism of action, and direct molecular targets of the compound were investigated. A reporter gene assay showed that the compound suppressed activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3) induced by IL-6, but not activation induced by leukemia inhibitory factor. In addition, the compound downregulated IL-6-stimulated phosphorylation of STAT3, gp130, and JAK2 protein in HepG2 cells and substantially inhibited IL-6-dependent TF-1 cell proliferation. The compound antagonized IL-6-induced TNF-α production in vivo, but did not affect IL-2-induced TNF-α production. In pathologic models, oral administration of the compound ameliorated collagen-induced arthritis and acute pancreatitis in mice. We subsequently demonstrated direct and specific interaction between the compound and gp130, which was measured by SPR analysis (KD = 7.4 μM) and was simulated by a docking study. Taken together, our data suggest that the compound is a novel synthetic IL-6 inhibitor that functions through direct binding to gp130.


Fifty-nine persons, who immigrated into a Brugia timori endemic area from non-filarial areas on the island of Flores, Indonesia were examined for filariasis after residing in the village for 2 to 10 years. Six persons had B. timori microfilaremia and 31 had filarial disease. The disease seems to affect immigrants from non-filarial areas severely within a relatively short period. Among those residing in the village, for 2 years, the microfilaria rate was 5% and the elephantiasis rate 21%. Selective treatment using 50 mg diethylcarbamazine per Kg body weight was given to all microfilaria (Mf) positive persons. Approximately one year later the Mf-rate by finger stick and Nuclepore filtration was 9% and 18% respectively. There was indirect indications that the Mf-rate might increase with the passage of time. However, the total filarial disease rate remained constant during the one year period. The relationship between these findings and American servicemen exposed to filariasis during World World II is briefly discussed.


Elastic collisions of polarized electrons with manganese (Mn) atoms (nuclear charge Z = 25) have been studied at 20 eV and scattering angles ranging from 20° to 140°. The results are compared with predictions from R -matrix (close-coupling-type) calculations. As expected, the spin-orbit interaction for the continuum electron is found to be negligible. However, significant spin exchange is observed and also predicted by theory. The exchange effects observed for Mn at 20 eV are significantly larger than those obtained for sodium (Na) at comparable energies. The quantitative agreement between a five-state R -matrix calculation and experiment is fair.


The motivation for the work comes from the requirement to assess the feasibility of using alternative fuels in lean-premixed land-based stationary gas turbine combustion systems. Lean-premixed systems are prone to combustion instability issues and the need is to determine how the use of alternative fuels would affect such instabilities.The paper presents the results of an acoustically-forced laminar flat flame study that was conducted to measure the influence of flow velocity oscillations on the response of syngas flames under various operating conditions and in comparison to natural gas flames.The results indicate that syngas concentration in a methane-syngas-air mixture significantly affects the flame response. On the other hand, the ratio of hydrogen-to-carbon monoxide in the syngas was found to have a negligible effect on the flame response for a fuel blend made up of 50% methane and 50% syngas. Flame liftoff distance and flame speed were found to be important parameters that govern the flame transfer function magnitude and resonant frequency for a thermally stabilized flat flame. The paper also presents insights into flame transfer function scaling based on a refined Strouhal definition.© 2014 ASME


BACKGROUND
We carried out a phase I clinical trial to establish the dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) and the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of the combination of liposome-encapsulated doxorubicin citrate (LD) and docetaxel in breast cancer patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients with HER-2-overexpressing stages II and IIIA breast cancers were treated in different dose cohorts of three patients. The MTD cohort was expanded up to six patients. The patients received LD and docetaxel every 21 days, plus weekly trastuzumab, with pegfilgrastim support.

RESULTS
A total of 20 patients were enrolled, 18 of them being assessable for toxicity and response. DLTs observed for this combination were diarrhea, fatigue, febrile neutropenia, stomatitis, myalgia, and nonneutropenic infection (pneumonia). LD 50 mg/m(2) and docetaxel 60 mg/m(2) every 21 days have been the MTD, with no episode of DLT observed. Seven patients developed left ventricular ejection fraction decline (six grade 1 and one grade 2). No interruptions of the treatment were needed as a consequence of cardiac toxicity. Pathologic complete response was achieved in eight patients (44%).

CONCLUSIONS
The MTD and recommended dose for phase II trials of LD and docetaxel are 50 and 60 mg/m(2), respectively. The achieved results on cardiotoxicity are promising.


European Commission closes preliminary investigations into Apple's iPhone policies* On 25 September 2010, the European Commission declared that it would not open formal proceedings against Apple,…


Lead-free piezoelectric 0.97(Bi0.5Na0.5Ti1−xNbx)O3-0.03BaZrO3 (BNT-BZ3) ceramics (x = 0 ~ 0.03) were prepared by a conventional solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the formation of single-phase perovskite structure with x ≤ 0.015. The depolarization temperature and the dielectric constant decreased with increasing Nb content. The remanent polarization (Pr) and the piezoelectric constant (d33) increased from 28 μC/cm2 and 98 pC/N for x = 0 to 31 μC/cm2 and 128 pC/N for x = 0.005, respectively. In addition, the electric field induced strain was enhanced with a maximum value Smax = 0.17% with a normalized piezoelectric coefficient of d*33 = 283 pm/V at an applied electric field of 6 kV/mm for x = 0.015.


In this article we presented simulated and fabricated MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) antenna for WLAN applications. The designed MIMO antenna consist of four element microstrip patch antenna by using FR-4 substrate and proposed size of the four element MIMO antenna is 62.8X60X1.6mm. The antenna is fabricated and tested. Fabricated measured results are good in agreement with simulation results. The designed antenna resonated at 5.9GHz frequency and its isolation -21.3dB with overall bandwidth 204MHz and it supported data rate of 5Gbps with maximum correlation coefficient is less than 0.03 and VSWR is 1.2. The result of this proposed MIMO antenna system shows a good isolation, bandwidth, VSWR, and correlation coefficient, hence proposed antenna suited for WLAN applications.


The purpose of the present study was to determine discrimination learning rates as a function of the nature of the stimulus and the relevant dimension. Ss were 160 preschool boys and girls. The design consisted of two stimuli (faces and cups), two constant dimensions (size and form), and two relevant dimensions (form and color when the size dimension was held constant, and size and color when the form dimension was held constant). The errors to criterion scores revealed that for cup stimuli the color dimension was learned more rapidly than size and form, while for face stimuli the dimensions of size and form were learned more rapidly than color.


Background
The purpose of this study is to present clinical outcome data from a 2-year post-market study of a viscoelastic one-piece cervical total disc replacement (TDR) in Europe.

Methods
Thirty-nine patients were implanted at five surgical sites in an European post-market clinical study. Clinical outcomes included improvement of neck disability index (NDI) and visual analog scale scores for neck and arm pain from baseline to 2-year follow-up, neurological examinations, patients view on the success of surgery, complications, and subsequent surgical interventions.

Results
Thirty patients had the Freedom® Cervical Disc (FCD) implanted at a single level, and nine patients were implanted at two adjacent levels. The population had a similar distribution of male [20] and female [19] subjects, with a mean age of 45 years. All self-administered outcome measures showed significant clinically important improvements from baseline to the 2-year follow-up. Mean preoperative NDI score improved from 48% to 20%, 13%, 8%, 6% and 4% at 6 weeks, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively. Average preoperative visual analog scale (VAS) scores of the neck, right and left arm pain intensity and frequency showed significant improvement. All neurological outcome measurements showed immediate improvement from preoperative values and continued improvement throughout 2 years follow-up. From pre-op to 24 months, neurological deficits declined in the population from 21% to 6% for reflex function, 62% to 17% for sensory function, and 38% to 3% for motor function. No patients experienced a deterioration in any measured outcomes compared with the preoperative situation. Patient satisfaction increased over 2 years post-op, with 83% of patients responding that they would "definitely" choose to have the same treatment for their neck/arm condition and another 11% responding that they would "probably" choose to have the same treatment.

Conclusions
The FCD performs as expected in patients with single-level and two-level degenerative disc disease.


Triality is a classical notion in geometry that arose in the context of the Lie groups of type $D_4$. Another notion of triality, Wilson triality, appears in the context of reflexible maps. We build a bridge between these two notions, showing how to construct an incidence geometry with a triality from a map that admits a Wilson triality. We also extend a result by Jones and Poulton, showing that for every prime power $q$, the group ${\rm L}_2(q^3)$ has maps that admit Wilson trialities but no dualities.


Ahyi seamount, a shallow submarine volcano in the Northern Mariana Islands, began erupting on 23 April 2014. Hydroacoustic eruption signals were observed on the regional Mariana seismic network and on distant hydrophones, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scuba divers working in the area soon after the eruption began heard and felt underwater explosion sounds. The NOAA crew observed yellow‐orange bubble mats along the shore of neighboring Farallon de Pájaros Island, but no other surface manifestations of the eruption were reported by the crew or observed in satellite data. Here, we detail the eruption chronology and its morphologic impacts through analysis of seismic and hydroacoustic recordings and repeat bathymetric mapping. Throughout the 2‐week‐long eruption, Ahyi produced several thousand short, impulsive hydroacoustic signals that we interpret as underwater explosions as well as tremor near the beginning and end of the sequence. The initial tremor, which occurred for 2 hr, is interpreted as small phreatomagmatic explosions. This tremor was followed by a 90‐min pause before the characteristic impulsive signals began. Occasional tremor (lasting up to a few minutes) during the last 1.5 days of the eruption is interpreted as more sustained eruptive activity. Bathymetric changes show that a new crater, about 150 m deep, formed near the former summit and a large landslide chute formed on the southeastern flank. Comparing to other geophysically detected submarine eruptions, we find that the signals from the 2014 Ahyi eruption were more similar to those from other shallow or at‐surface submarine eruptions than those at deep (>500 m) eruptions.


In this correspondence we analyze the computational complexity of fault detection problems for combinational circuits and propose an approach to design for testability. Although major fault detection problems have been known to be in general NP-complete, they were proven for rather complex circuits. In this correspondence we show that these are still NP-complete even for monotone circuits, and thus for unate circuits. We show that for k-level (k ≥ 3) monotone/unate circuits these problems are still NP-complete, but that these are solvable in polynomial time for 2-level monotone/unate circuits. A class of circuits for which these fault detection problems are solvable in polynomial time is presented. Ripple-carry adders, decoder circuits, linear circuits, etc., belong to this class. A design approach is also presented in which an arbitrary given circuit is changed to such an easily testable circuit by inserting a few additional test-points.


Battelle, Pacific Northwest Division (Battelle) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory1 (PNNL) are developing a miniature absorption heat pump. Targeted applications include microclimate control ranging from manportable cooling to distributed space conditioning. The miniature absorption heat pump will be sized to provide 350 Wt of cooling2. A complete manportable cooling system, which will include the microscale heat pump, an air-cooled heat exchanger, batteries, and fuel, is estimated to weigh between 4 and 5 kg. For comparison, alternative systems weigh about 10 kg. Size and weight reductions in the microscale heat pump are possible because the device can take advantage of the high heat and mass transfer rates attainable in microscale structures.


We analyzed the heavy metals and water quality of a post-mining area of silica for material of cement factory. The research was located in the Cibadak district, Sukabumi West Java Indonesia. The water sampling method was carried out in two locations, namely a large settling pond and a small settling pond. Water quality parameters were analyzed such as pH, alkalinity, turbidity, total organic matter, and total ammonia nitrogen. The results showed that the water in both pond contents heavy metals. The heavy metals in the form were Mercury (Hg), Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Arsen (As), Ferrum (Fe), and Cromium (Cr6+) in the both settling ponds. However, in small ponds there was a higher Fe value so the water is yellowish. There is a difference in acidity showed in the two ponds, pH 3-4 in the small pond and the large pond pH 7-8. Total organic matter was higher in large pond. Small settling pond has a very low pH value, so they are classified as acidic waters and contain high iron content so they cannot be used for human needs or aquatic life. Large settling ponds can still be used for aquaculture activities.


A purified alkaline thermotolerant bacterial lipase from Bacillus coagulans BTS-3 was immobilized on nylon-6 matrix activated by glutaraldehyde. The matrix showed ∼ 70% binding efficiency for lipase. The bound lipase was used to perform transesterification in n-heptane. The reaction studied was conversion of vinyl acetate and butanol to butyl acetate and vinyl alcohol. Synthesis of butyl acetate was used as a parameter to study the transesterification reaction. The immobilized enzyme achieved ∼ 75% conversion of vinyl acetate and butanol (100 mmol/L each) into butyl acetate in n-heptane at 55°C in 12 h. When alkane of C-chain lower or higher than n-heptane was used as an organic solvent, the conversion of vinyl acetate and butanol to butyl acetate decreased. During the repetitive transesterification under optimal conditions, the nylon bound lipase produced 77.6 mmol/L of butyl acetate after third cycle of reuse. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007


In this research, we aim to answer the question: How to combine Closed-Loop State and Input Sensitivity-based with Observability-aware trajectory planning? These possibly op-posite optimization objectives can be used to improve trajectory control tracking and, at the same time, estimation performance. Our proposed novel Control & Observability-aware Planning (COP) framework is the first that uses these possibly opposing objectives in a Single-Objective Optimization Problem (SOOP) based on the Augmented Weighted Tchebycheff method to perform the balancing of them and generation of Bézier curve-based trajectories. Statistically relevant simulations for a 3D quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) case study produce results that support our claims and show the negative correlation between both objectives. We were able to reduce the positional mean integral error norm as well as the estimation uncertainty with the same trajectory to comparable levels of the trajectories optimized with individual objectives.


Phosphorus (P) is increasingly being applied in concentrated bands to satisfy plant nutrient requirements. To quantify changes in plant-available P in the fertosphere of highly concentrated fertilizer bands, we conducted a soil-fertilizer incubation experiment using seven soil types, three highly water-soluble P sources [monocalcium phosphate (MCP), monoammonium phosphate (MAP), and diammonium phosphate (DAP)], and coapplication of potassium chloride (KCl). First, we found that soil properties were important in influencing P availability. For a calcareous soil, availability was generally low irrespective of treatment, presumably due to precipitation of the fertilizer as Ca-P minerals. For all six noncalcareous soils, fertosphere pH was critical in determining potential P availability, with decreasing pH values decreasing availability, presumably due to precipitation of Al- and Fe-P minerals. Second, given the importance of pH, we also found that the form of P supplied (MCP, MAP, or DAP) had a pronounced effect on P availability due to associated changes in fertosphere pH. Finally, we also found that the coapplication of K also decreased P availability in some soils. We conclude that the selection of the P source is of utmost importance when fertilizers are placed as highly concentrated bands and that soil properties also need to be considered.


INTRODUCTION
High intakes of total fat are long known as a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD), but the association between fatty acids and CHD remains unclear. This scoping review aims to collate and analyze the association between types of fatty acid and risk of CHD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This review uses the methodological framework of Arksey and O'Malley. A total of 19 studies were selected from 9456 studies screened from the electronic databases.

RESULTS
Majority of the studies reported no association between saturated fat (SFA) and monounsaturated fat (MUFA) with CHD. Meanwhile, seven out of 12 studies reported inverse association between polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) and risk of CHD whilst 67% of the studies found that trans-fat intake was positively associated with CHD risk.

CONCLUSIONS
This review finds that all the types of dietary fat have different effects on the risk of CHD. Nevertheless, intakes of healthy fat such as MUFA and PUFA in controlled amounts are expected to reduce CHD risk. In addition, the divergence of findings found between studies might be due to the methodological inconsistencies. More robust research is needed to determine the actual dietary determinants of CHD as it will provide important information for future development of dietary intervention.


Bovine cartilage-on-bone samples taken from healthy mature patellae and from the intact regions of degenerate patellae were subjected to dynamic and static compressive loading. In-plane articular surface strain and rupture behavior were investigated and compared with previously published data obtained from immature bovine patellae. Both aging and proximity of the intact tested region to the fibrillated lesion increase the likelihood of articular surface rupture under both impact and static loading. Substantially higher levels of stress can be applied dynamically than statically without increasing the risk of articular surface rupture. Articular surface rupture is a result of lineal strains generated by the indentation profile, but any direct measurement of its in situ rupture strength is not possible. However, differences in both measured articular surface strains and rupture characterisitics between the three categories of tissue suggest that there is a progressive reduction in the intrinsic strength of the intact surface layer of cartilage with both aging and proximity to site of fibrillation.


In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the effect of exogenous ethylene on longevity and sensitivity of heliconia 'Golden Torch' stored under ambient conditions. Inflorescences were harvested with two expanded bracts and one closed bract, from a commercial area, located in Petrolina, Pernambuco State, Brazil. The treatments consisted of doses of ethephon (0, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 mg L-1) and evaluation time (0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 days, at 20.4 ± 3.7 oC and 49 ± 11% RH). The experimental design was a completely randomized, in a 6 x 6 factorial arrangement with four replications of four stems. It was observed a decrease on fresh weight, appearance, lightness and chroma of bracts when the concentrations of ethephon and evaluation time increased. The Hue angle of the bracts that received 100 and 1.000 mg L-1 of ethephon indicated a lighter orange color. The water uptake of the inflorescences decreased with storage time, independent of the treatments with ethephon. The longevity of inflorescences was reduced only with the higher doses: 100 and 1.000 mg L-1 of ethephon, which restricted it to two and four days, respectively. For those reasons, the heliconia 'Golden Torch' bracts were characterized as low sensitive to ethylene.


The challenge of the construction world in Indonesia is the unpreparedness of this industry in facing competition at the local and global level. In dealing with industry 4.0 the costruction sector needs to improve the efficiency, reduce production cost and improve production process. Project succesfull can be seen from the effectiveness of the project in coordinating overall good factors, quality, cost and time of the project. The most importan thing to deal with is to identified the risk the risks faced in the main supply chain of the road project in Bali is one of the objectives of this research. This paper contribute to identify the risk experienced by the Asphalt Mixing Plant Unit as hotmix supplychain in Bali. The questionnaire was distributed to 20 AMPs in Bali with the sampling technique used was purposive sampling. Risk analysis by determining Risk Exposure Value with Risk Consequence Index and Risk Probability index. From the study was find out that the results of the validation test and the reliability test compared to t arithmetic and t table obtained that t arithmetic is greater than t table with a 95% confidence level which means that all questions in the questionnaire declared valid. There are 77 risk was identified which 19 risk classified as unacceptabele risk, 23 risks classified as undesireable risk and 42 risks as desireable.


Diesel Injectors are one of the changing parameters in engine design. Piezoelectric Diesel Injectors are one of the changing designs adopted in engine systems especially CRDi engines. It enables better fuel economy and emission control. This paper provides with an overview, design and constructional features, working and applications of piezoelectric diesel Injectors.


Background: The purpose of this prospective study was to assess the functional outcome of conservative treatment with early ambulation of dorso-lumbar spine fractures with no neurological deficit.

Aims & Objective: The purpose of this prospective study was to identify the risk factors for dorso-lumbar spine injuries, and to assess the efficacy of non-operative treatment with early ambulation, and functional outcome of the patients.

Material and Methods: From October 2008 to June 2010, 48 consecutive patients with single- level thoracolumbar spinal injury, with no neurological deficit were managed non-operatively. A custom-made thoracolumbosacral orthosis was worn by all patients for six months, and early ambulation was recommended. Patients were evaluated as per TLICS score, and if score was


We have evaluated the hypothesis that the performance of a chromium-based photocatalyst (activity and selectivity) can be tuned by means of the wavelength to which the catalyst is exposed. To this end, we synthesized an amorphous, mesoporous silica matrix loaded with 10 at % chromium/silicon, characterized its structure, and tested its performance in selective oxidation of propane to acetone. Spectroscopy, microscopy, and X-ray diffraction show that chromium is present in this catalyst as both isolated Cr(VI) sites and crystalline Cr(III) oxide. The photochemical reaction rate depends strongly on excitation wavelength in the range of 300−700 nm, with a well-resolved maximum at 460 nm. At this wavelength, adsorbed acetone is produced with approximately 60% selectivity over carboxylates. Only very minor variations in selectivity were observed over the same range of wavelengths. By comparison of absorbance, luminescence, and reaction−excitation spectra we are able to identify the photoactivated catalytic sit...


Sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] is grown as important cash and food crop worldwide and has been shown to exhibit allelopathic effects on other plants. However, its metabolome has not been studied extensively, particularly with respect to the production of phytotoxic bioactive secondary products. In this study, the chemical composition of petroleum ether extract of sweet potato was characterized, and the morphological and physiological effects of some individual components against four invasive alien weeds Bidens pilosa L., Galinsoga parviflora Cav., Lolium multiflorum Lam., and Phalaris minor Retz. were determined. Twenty-one components were identified by GS-MS, constituting 96.08% of petroleum ether extract in sweet potato. The major components were palmitic acid (PA) (17.48%), ethyl linoleate (EL) (13.19%), linoleic acid (LA) (12.55%), ethyl palmitate (EP) (11.77%), ethyl linolenate (ELL) (8.29%) oleic acid (5.82%), ethyl stearate (4.19%), and 3-methylphenol acetate (3.19%). The five most abundant compounds exhibited strong inhibition activity against the four invasive weeds tested. The highest inhibition rates were seen for LA, followed by PA and EP, respectively. Catalase (CAT), malondialdehyde (MDA), and peroxidase (POD) content of L. multiflorum were increased by the three allelochemicals, i.e., LA, PA and EP, but superoxide dismutase (SOD), chlorophyll-a and chlorophyll-b levels declined. Overall, the combined impact of all five compounds could be quite effective in suppressing the invasive weeds of concern.


During the first half of the twentieth century, new mass media practices radically altered traditional cultural forms and performance in a complex encounter that incited much debate, criticism, and celebration the world over. This essay examines how the new sound media of gramophone and sound cinema took up the live performance genres of Tamil drama. Professor Hughes argues that south Indian music recording companies and their products prefigured, mediated, and transcended the musical relationship between stage drama and Tamil cinema. The music recording industry not only transformed Tamil drama music into a commodity for mass circulation before the advent of talkies but also mediated the musical relationship between Tamil drama and cinema, helped to create film songs as a new and distinct popular music genre, and produced a new mass culture of film songs.


TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) induces apoptosis through the death receptors (DRs) 4 and/or 5 expressed on the cell surface. Multiple clinical trials are underway to evaluate the antitumor activity of recombinant human TRAIL and agonistic antibodies to DR4 or DR5. However, their therapeutic potential is limited by the high frequency of cancer resistance. Here we provide evidence demonstrating the role of H-Ras in TRAIL receptor mediated apoptosis. By analyzing the genome wide mRNA expression data of the NCI60 cancer cell lines, we found that H-Ras expression was consistently upregulated in TRAIL-resistant cell lines. By contrast, no correlation was found between TRAIL sensitivity and K-Ras expression levels or their mutational profiles. Notably, H-Ras upregulation associated with a surface deficiency of TRAIL death receptors. Selective inhibition of H-Ras activity in TRAIL-resistant cells restored the surface expression of both DR4 and DR5 without changing their total protein levels. The resulting cells became highly susceptible to both TRAIL and agonistic DR5 antibody, whereas K-Ras inhibition had little or no effect on TRAIL-induced apoptosis, indicating H-Ras plays a distinct role in the regulation of TRAIL death receptors. Further studies are warranted to determine the therapeutic potential of H-Ras-specific inhibitors in combination with TRAIL receptor agonists.


This paper explores how wealth and inequality can affect self-governed solutions to commons dilemmas by constraining group cooperation. It reports a series of experiments in the field where subjects are actual commons users. Household data about the participants? context explain statistically the usually observed wide variation found within and across groups in similar experiments. Participants wealth and inequality reduced cooperation when groups were allowed to have face-toface communication between rounds. There are implications for a greater awareness of nonpayoff asymmetries affecting cooperation in heterogeneous groups, apart from heterogeneity in the payoffs structure of the game.


Background: The recent increase in the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) in the Chiropractic profession and the call within the profession for validation of its claims has seen a growing interest in good quality research. It is advocated that the future of Chiropractic research and thus the success of the profession is dependent on future practitioner and student research endeavours. It was the aim of this study to evaluate the student research agendas at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). Secondly, local Chiropractors were asked what they perceived to be clinically relevant Chiropractic research agendas. The agendas that were under-studied by the students, but perceived as important by the practitioners, were recommended as suggestions for more clinically relevant future student research. The intention of this was that future student research would become more congruent with local and international Chiropractic research trends. Methodolody: The study was a prospective exploratory study, which utilised a mixed method approach. Documented evidence giving an overview of student research completed at the DUT was combined with a qualitative questionnaire that was circulated to all Chiropractors practicing in KwaZulu-Natal. The questionnaire aimed to give insight into the research agendas perceived to be most relevant for future research by Chiropractic professionals. Incongruence between the research completed at the DUT and the research that is perceived to be of highest professional relevance by Chiropractors in KwaZulu-Natal was determined. All the Chiropractors practicing in KwaZulu-Natal as per the AHPCSA list received the questionnaire. A neutral third party at DUT collected the returned questionnaires and data analysis followed. The student research completed at the DUT between 1994 and 2013 was obtained from the Institutional Repository (IR) and library archives. These studies were descriptively analysed and compared with the respondents' perceptions of clinically important Chiropractic research. Data analysis highlighted the overlap of agendas and gaps in the research. Following this was a statistical analysis of the questionnaire responses using Pearson's chi square tests for two independent samples. A p value of ≤ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The results were interpreted using frequency tables and bar charts for categorical variables, while summary statistics such as mean, standard deviation and range were used for continuous variables. A descriptive comparison was performed to determine the congruency between the student research agendas and the research perceived to be of relevance by Chiropractors practicing in KwaZulu-Natal. Results: The response rate of 66.3 % was regarded as representative of the entire Chiropractic population. The overall practitioner perception of research was positive with 64.4% of the respondents perceiving improved Chiropractic abilities due to previous research experience. The prevailing practitioner reason for research conducted was that it increased recognition as an EBP, increased development within the profession and validated its claims and theories. An investigation into the student studies found that the majority of the research agendas recommended by the respondents had been undertaken at DUT. Future research into the following areas is encouraged:  Neurological testing.  Orthopaedic testing.  Reduction of posture related disorders.  Gross anatomical changes as a result of the Chiropractic manipulation.  Range of Motion (ROM) assessment.  Muscular testing, motion and/ or static palpation.  Gait and posture assessment. The respondents were asked to give recommendations for future Chiropractic research; the majority was willing to contribute a database of shared research ideas. It was anticipated that the sharing of the practitioner ideas with the students would result in more clinically relevant student research being produced. Conclusion: A comparison of the DUT student research agendas and those of Chiropractors in KwaZulu-Natal highlighted an incongruence of purpose between the two. The research agendas recommended by the Chiropractic respondents were recommended for future student uptake. A shared database of student and practitioner research ideas aimed to encourage future student research that is more clinically relevant and in line with local and international research trends.


We compare the impacts of uncertainties in both binary population synthesis models and the cosmic star formation history on the predicted rates of gravitational wave (GW) compact binary merger events. These uncertainties cause the predicted rates of GW events to vary by up to an order of magnitude. Varying the volume-averaged star formation rate density history of the Universe causes the weakest change to our predictions, while varying the metallicity evolution has the strongest effect. Double neutron star merger rates are more sensitive to assumed neutron star kick velocity than the cosmic star formation history. Varying certain parameters affects merger rates in different ways depending on the mass of the merging compact objects; thus some of the degeneracy may be broken by looking at all the event rates rather than restricting ourselves to one class of mergers.


The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be used and cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions are the authors' own and should not be attributed to the World Bank, its Executive Board of Directors, or any of its member countries.


The purpose of a seismic survey is to produce an image of the subsurface providing an overview of the earth's discontinuities. The aim of seismic processing is to recreate this image. The seismic method is especially well suited for the exploration and the monitoring of hydrocarbon reservoirs. A majority of the algorithms, which are applied for seismic processing, are optimized for regularly sampled data referenced to a flat surface and for a simple velocity distribution in the subsurface. However, in reality, data are collected at irregularly sampled, rugged surfaces and/or with complex structures in the subsurface. As a pre-processing step, the seismic data can be redatumed to a new reference surface prior to further processing, which satisfies the requirements mentioned above. Redatuming virtually places sources and receivers at another level without moving them.


Positive magnetoconductance (MC) on n-type porous silicon (PS) based devices was observed at room temperature for low static magnetic field (under 6000 G). We found that the measured MC decreases when the film porosity is increased. Obtained results were analyzed by means of the quasi-1D weak localization (WL) theory. From the dependence of the MC vs. applied magnetic field, we determine the phase coherence length Lϕ. Good agreement between theoretical and experimental results was found (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


"Conoronavirus Disease" (COVID-19) abbreviation is used for the identification of the new disease alerted in Wuhan city of China at the end of year 2019. COVID-19 is caused by "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2" (SARS-CoV-2). Special pandemic precautions are designed for the control of virus spread by inhaling droplets or contact touching surfaces. Authorities were concentrated on the education of healthcare workers, personal protective equipment (PPE) were pursued, and the hospital wards were re-designed during COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, infection control precautions conducted in health facilities were reviewed on the basis of practices of Infection Control Committee (ICC) of Gazi University Hospital following the first COVID-19 case reported at 11 March 2020 in our country. Technical properties of PPEs, donning and doffing procedures, recommendations of PPE for each specific clinical situation for each specific healthcare worker were evaluated in this review.


Intensifying macrovertebrate reconnaissance together with refined age-dating of mid-Cretaceous assemblages in recent decades is producing a more nuanced understanding of the impact of the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum on terrestrial ecosystems. Here we report discovery of a new early-diverging ornithopod, Iani smithi gen. et sp. nov., from the Cenomanian-age lower Mussentuchit Member, Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah, USA. The single known specimen of this species (NCSM 29373) includes a well-preserved, disarticulated skull, partial axial column, and portions of the appendicular skeleton. Apomorphic traits are concentrated on the frontal, squamosal, braincase, and premaxilla, including the presence of three premaxillary teeth. Phylogenetic analyses using parsimony and Bayesian inference posit Iani as a North American rhabdodontomorph based on the presence of enlarged, spatulate teeth bearing up to 12 secondary ridges, maxillary teeth lacking a primary ridge, a laterally depressed maxillary process of the jugal, and a posttemporal foramen restricted to the squamosal, among other features. Prior to this discovery, neornithischian paleobiodiversity in the Mussentuchit Member was based primarily on isolated teeth, with only the hadrosauroid Eolambia caroljonesa named from macrovertebrate remains. Documentation of a possible rhabdodontomorph in this assemblage, along with published reports of an as-of-yet undescribed thescelosaurid, and fragmentary remains of ankylosaurians and ceratopsians confirms a minimum of five, cohabiting neornithischian clades in earliest Late Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems of North America. Due to poor preservation and exploration of Turonian–Santonian assemblages, the timing of rhabdodontomorph extirpation in the Western Interior Basin is, as of yet, unclear. However, Iani documents survival of all three major clades of Early Cretaceous neornithischians (Thescelosauridae, Rhabdodontomorpha, and Ankylopollexia) into the dawn of the Late Cretaceous of North America.


A flow test model of the inlet section of a three channel hypervapotron plate that has been proposed as a heat sink in the ITER divertor was prepared using a rapid prototyping stereolithography process that is widely used for component development in US industry. An existing water flow loop at the University of Illinois is being used for isothermal flow tests to collect pressure drop data for comparison with proposed vapotron friction factor correlations. Differential pressure measurements are taken, across the test section inlet manifold, the vapotron channel (about a seven inch length), the outlet manifold and the inlet-to-outlet. The differential pressures are currently measured with manometers. Tests were conducted at flow velocities from 1-10 m/s to cover the full range of ITER interest. A tap was also added for a small hypodermic needle to inject dye into the flow channel at several positions to examine the nature of the developing flow field at the entrance to the vapotron section. Follow-on flow tests are planned using a model with adjustable flow channel dimensions to permit more extensive pressure drop data to be collected. This information will be used to update vapotron design correlations for ITER.


Background/Aim: Elderly patients with metastatic esophageal cancer may benefit from individualized therapies. A tool to predict the survival of such patients with brain metastases was created. Patients and Methods: In 11 elderly patients (≥65 years) receiving whole-brain irradiation (WBI) for brain metastases from esophageal cancer, age, gender, performance status, number of brain metastases, metastases outside the brain, time between cancer diagnosis and WBI, and WBI regimen were evaluated for survival. Results: On univariate analyses, age ≥73 years (p=0.046) and time between diagnosis of esophageal cancer and WBI ≤6 months (p=0.046) were significantly associated with poorer survival. On multivariate analysis, both showed a trend. Based on these two factors, the following points were assigned: age ≤72 years=1 point, age ≥73 years=0 points; time between cancer diagnosis and WBI >6 months=1 point, and ≤6 months=0 points. Three prognostic groups were thus formed: 0, 1 and 2 points. Survival rates of these groups at 6 months were 0%, 0% and 40% (p=0.012), respectively. Conclusion: This new tool allows estimation of survival and treatment individualization in elderly patients irradiated for brain metastases from esophageal cancer.


Background
 Acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome (AML/MDS) represents a broad and complex group of diseases characterized by involvement of the myeloid lineage on hematopoiesis with remarkable variability on clinical presentation, genes mutations, karyotype and molecular abnormalities. Precise characterization on AML/MDS biology is important and the identification of the pathogenic mutated genes is relevant for risk stratification and therapy strategy, mainly for those patients in which targeted therapies is a must. Among pathogenic mutated genes in AML/MDS; TP53 is associated with lower response and high mortality rates. The cumulated number of mutated genes is associated with bad clinical outcomes as well.
 Aims
 To explore the frequency and impact of mutated genes on clinical outcomes in a cohort of Peruvian patients diagnosed with AML/MDS studied at diagnosis.
 Methods
 In this report we showed 31 consecutive AML/MDS cases treated at three medical centers in Lima (Clínica Delgado, Clínica Anglo Americana and INEN) from January 2016 until July 2020. Information available at diagnosis was: clinical, karyotype, molecular PCR panel, Illumina TruSight Myeloid Sequencing (TSM) panel which include 53 genes involved on oncogenesis, therapy regimen, response to treatment and overall survival (OS).
 Results
 A total of 31 cases were studied. F/M ratio 0.55 (11/20), median age 62 years (range 16-87), number of cases by disease were AML=23 and MDS=8. Among the 26 available karyotypes, the abnormal vs diploid karyotype ratio was 0.18 (4/22). Ad hoc PCR panel were positive in just 5 cases among 30 studies available, for FLT3-ITD(n=2), CBFB-MYH11(n=1), NPM1(n=1) and AML-ETO (n=1). In the TSM analysis, median number of pathogenic mutated genes was 3 (range 0-15). Most common (≥18%) pathogenic mutated genes wereBCOR (n=11; 35,5%), CUX1 (n=7; 22,6%) , DNMT3 (n=7; 22,6%), RAD21(n=6; 19,4%), and STAG2 (n=6; 19,4%)with different rates compare with other series (figure 1). Response rate were as follow: 58,1% complete (18/31), 9,7% partial (3/31), 19,3% non-response (6/31) and 12,9% non-evaluable (4/31).
 The estimated median OS was 36,67 months for the entire cohort, the 1 and 3-years OS rates were 69,9% and 62,2% respectively. For AML and MDS cases median OS was not reached, 1-year OS rates were 68,6% and 72,9% respectively, 3-years OS rates were 54,9% and 72,9% respectively (Log Rank 0,071 p=0,79). MutatedTP53was detected in 5 cases (MDS=3 and AML=2) with no therapy response in 4 and all of them had already dead; median OS for mutatedTP53cases was 3,53±0,43 months; 1-year OS rates for non-mutated vs mutatedTP53cases were 80,2% and 20% respectively, 3-year OS rates for cases with non-mutated vs mutatedTP53were 70,2% and 20% respectively (Log Rank 14,6 p<0,0001) (figure 2). The median OS for mutatedBCORwas not reached; 1-year OS rates for non-mutated vs mutatedBCORwere 77,4% and 52,6% respectively; 3-year OS rates for non-mutated vs mutatedBCORwere 64,5% and 52,6% respectively (Log Rank 0,09 p=0,76). The medians OS were not reached for <3 and ≥3 pathogenic mutated genes cases, 1-year OS rates were 92,3% and 53,5% respectively and 3-years OS rates were 73,8% and 53,5% respectively (Log Rank 1,98 p=0,159). The median OS for ≥4 pathogenic mutated genes cases was 11,93±2,5 months, 1-year OS for <4 and ≥4 were 88,9% and 42,4% respectively and 3-years OS for <4 and ≥4 were 71,1% and 42,4% respectively (Log Rank 3,293 p=0,07). Ad-hoc composite analysis for cases of <4 vs ≥4±mutated-TP53showed medians OS not reached and 9,87±2,9 months respectively; 1-year OS rates were 100% and 40,8% and 3-years OS were 75,0% and 40,8% respectively (Log Rank 9,10 p=0,003)(figure 3).
 Conclusion
 NGS for LMA/MDS is an important tool for diagnosis, assessment and risk stratification in our serie of cases. Only 5 over 53 genes were detected in ≥ 18% of casesBCOR, CUX1, DNMT3, RAD, and STAG. TP53 was related with a high therapy failure response and short OS. Number of pathogenic mutated genes ≥3 or ≥4 by TSM showed tendencies for shorter OS. A composite analysis for patients with 4 mutated genes with or without mutated-TP53showed significant shorter OS. Further studies with mature data and more cases are warrant to propose genetics characterization and risk stratification by NGS in Peruvian AML/MDS cases.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


In polarized conflicts, such as that recently experienced by Ferguson, Missouri, experienced state and local intervenors can help a community develop processes to address its problems more effectively and peacefully. Localized offices of intervenors do not replace the need public officials to make decisions about the problems at the heart the conflict or the need for police to keep order. Still, when experienced and organized effectively, state and local intervenors can give immediate and trusted counsel to local officials, help them understand the value of bringing in the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (CRS) intervenors, augment CRS intervenors, and take on CRS's role when it cannot be there. In addition, state and local intervenors stay on to re-build relationships, help the community create structures to solve the problem illuminated by the incident, and sow seeds to prevent future issues from polarizing the community. The article suggests three questions for those designing such a state or local office: (1) Will public officials make the decisions about when and how to intervene and will they do so informed by experts who can assess the feasibility of intervening? (2) Will the office offer a hospitable work climate and culture for the intervenors as well as a workable approach to accountability to funders that does not undermine creation of a hospitable climate and culture? (3) Will the office appropriately balance the sometimes conflicting needs to engender trust and engagement in the midst of an emotional and divided community, protect the administering agency's other roles, and respond to the changing needs for resources?


So, the epidemiologic study done for 8 years at CMNR Tunis has shown that the incidence is 1.15@1000 births (between 0.52 and 1.66@1000 per year). This anomaly is more frequent in female sex (sex linked = 0.59). The antenatal echographic diagnosis is efficient in 90.5%. This anomaly is more shown at low socio-economic group. The improvement of the socio-economic level and specially the daily uptake of acid folic in periconceptionnel time decrease the frequency of this congenital malformation.


The behavior of power-law shot noise, for which the associated impulse response functions assume a decaying power-law form, is explored. Expressions are obtained for the moments, moment generating functions, amplitude probability density functions, autocorrelation functions, and power spectral densities for a variety of parameters of the process. For certain parameters the power spectral density exhibits 1/f-type behavior over a substantial range of frequencies, so that the process serves as a source of 1/f/sup alpha / shot noise for alpha in the range 0 >


In this paper, we assess the Twitter hashtag from a methodological perspective. Compared to conventional methods in social science research (such as surveys and in-depth interviews), social media as a method is far from being fully understood. We evaluate a popular sampling procedure for Twitter studies, i.e. the hashtag approach. Hashtags are valuable to study the emergence and evolution of Twitter debates around particular topics. However, not all relevant tweets are captured. In particular, we refer to the exclusion of @replies prompted by hashtagged tweets.This paper empirically examines the impact of hashtag sampling on conversation networks.


Background Outcomes of complex pancreatic procedures have been used as an index for quality, and higher volume has been associated with improved outcomes, leading to advocacy for referral to those centers. The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) at a low-volume referral center. Materials and Methods This retrospective study included patients who had a PD within a 7-year period. Operative performance parameters and outcomes were examined. Results Overall, there were 47 pancreatic resections, of which 38 met the inclusion criteria and were used for analyses. The overall median for blood loss, packed red blood cells units transfused, and postoperative days in hospital was as follows, respectively: 675 mL (interquartile range [IQR] = 500-900), 0 units (IQR = 0-2), 12 days (IQR = 9-18). Demographic characteristics, comorbidities, and complications align with the literature. The 30-day in-hospital mortality rate was 5%. Survival probability for those with pancreatic adenocarcinoma at 1 year was 52% and 7% for years 2 and 3. Discussion As cases increased, significant improvement was noted in process outcomes including blood loss, blood transfusion rates, and length of stay (LOS). Survival was comparable to that in the literature, with limitation of not being adjusted for adjuvant therapy. Outcomes of complex pancreatic procedures, like PD, at a low-volume center with commitment and adequate support systems, can match those at high-volume centers.


CONTEXT
Symptomatic pancreatic involvement in sarcoidosis is extremely rare. There are 25 reported cases of detected pancreatic sarcoidosis before death.

CASE REPORT
We report the case of a male patient with a history of pulmonary sarcoidosis, who presented with clinical picture and CT scan findings suggestive of pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic mass biopsy showed lesions consistent with sarcoidosis. Patient had excellent clinical response to steroids.

CONCLUSION
Pancreatic involvement is usually asymptomatic and discovered on autopsy. However, clinicians should be cognizant that sarcoidosis can present with symptomatic pancreatic mass, albeit rarely.


Oxidative folding of secretory proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a redox active process, which also impacts the redox conditions in the cytosol. As the transcription factor Yap1 is involved in the transcriptional response to oxidative stress, we investigate its role upon the production of secretory proteins, using the yeast Pichia pastoris as model, and report a novel important role of Yap1 during oxidative protein folding. Yap1 is needed for the detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by increased oxidative protein folding. Constitutive co-overexpression of PpYAP1 leads to increased levels of secreted recombinant protein, while a lowered Yap1 function leads to accumulation of ROS and strong flocculation. Transcriptional analysis revealed that more than 150 genes were affected by overexpression of YAP1, in particular genes coding for antioxidant enzymes or involved in oxidation-reduction processes. By monitoring intracellular redox conditions within the cytosol and the ER using redox-sensitive roGFP1 variants, we could show that overexpression of YAP1 restores cellular redox conditions of protein-secreting P. pastoris by reoxidizing the cytosolic redox state to the levels of the wild type. These alterations are also reflected by increased levels of oxidized intracellular glutathione (GSSG) in the YAP1 co-overexpressing strain. Taken together, these data indicate a strong impact of intracellular redox balance on the secretion of (recombinant) proteins without affecting protein folding per se. Re-establishing suitable redox conditions by tuning the antioxidant capacity of the cell reduces metabolic load and cell stress caused by high oxidative protein folding load, thereby increasing the secretion capacity.


As children acquire the knowledge of their language's morphology, they invariably discover the productive processes that can generalize to new words. Morphological learning is made challenging by the fact that even fully productive rules have exceptions, as in the well-known case of English past tense verbs, which features the -ed rule against the irregular verbs. The Tolerance Principle is a recent proposal that provides a precise threshold of exceptions that a productive rule can withstand. Its empirical application so far, however, requires the researcher to fully specify rules defined over a set of words. We propose a greedy search model that automatically hypothesizes rules and evaluates their productivity over a vocabulary. When the search for broader productivity fails, the model recursively subdivides the vocabulary and continues the search for productivity over narrower rules. Trained on psychologically realistic data from child-directed input, our model displays developmental patterns observed in child morphology acquisition, including the notoriously complex case of German noun pluralization. It also produces responses to nonce words that, despite receiving only a fraction of the training data, are more similar to those of human subjects than current neural network models' responses are.


We discuss the concepts involved in the evaluation and quantitative verification of ocean forecasts and present two predictive skill experiments to develop and research these concepts, carried out in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea in 2001 and 2002. Ocean forecasting involves complex ocean observing and prediction systems for ocean regions with multi-scale interdisciplinary dynamical processes and strong, intermittent events. Now that ocean forecasting is becoming more common, it is critically important to interpret and evaluate regional forecasts in order to establish their usefulness to the scientific and applied communities. The Assessment of Skill for Coastal Ocean Transients (ASCOT) project is a series of real-time Coastal Predictive Skill Experiment (CPSE) and Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA) experiments and simulations focused on quantitative skill evaluation, carried out by the Harvard Ocean Prediction System group in collaboration with the NATO SACLANT Undersea Research Centre. ASCOT-01 was carried out in Massachusetts Bay and the Gulf of Maine in June 2001. ASCOT-02 took place in May 2002 in the Corsican Channel near the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. Results from the ASCOT exercises highlight the dual use of data for skill evaluation and assimilation, real-time adaptive sampling and skill optimization and present both real-time and a posteriori evaluations of predictive skill and predictive capability.


Solid refrigeration technology based on the elastocaloric effect has a great potential alternative to the conventional vapor compression cooling. Here we report the large elastocaloric effect in Ti–Ni (50 at%) shape memory alloy below its austenite finish temperature Af under different strain. Both Maxwell's and Clausius–Clapeyron equations are used to estimate the entropy change. The strain-induced entropy change increases with raising the strain and gets a maximum value at a few kelvins below Af. The maximum entropy changes ΔSmax are −20.44 and −53.70 J/kg·K, respectively for 1% and 2% strain changes. Large entropy change may be obtained down to 20 K below Af. The temperature of the maximum entropy change remains unchanged before the plastic deformation appears but moves towards low temperature when the plastic deformation happens.


In order to establish whether the maternity blues is peculiar to the puerperium a selfrating blues questionnaire was administered to women after childbirth and after surgery. A period of dysphoria, similar in many respects to the maternity blues, was experienced by women post-operatively. The main difference between maternity and post-operative patterns of dysphoria seemed to lie in the timing of the blues, but on closer analysis many post-operative dysphoric symptoms peaked in a similar way to those in the maternity group. In the search for the cause of the maternity blues it may be helpful to study the same parameters in post-operative dysphoria.


Expected values and variances of several life table functions have been obtained by converting the sample estimates of age-specific mortality rates to probabilities of dying by Reed-Merrell's approximation. The expressions also permit the development of a procedure that will enable the researcher, constrained usually by his limited resources, to maximize the efficiency of his sampling technique. Needless to say, these results will be particularly useful for countries where national vital statistics are not adequate for construction of life tables, and also for countries where such tables are usually obtained by comparing age distributions of successive censuses.


We describe a method for fully automatic object recognition and segmentation using a set of reference images to specify the appearance of each object. Our method uses a generative model of image formation that takes into account occlusions, simple lighting changes, and object deformations. We take advantage of local features to identify, locate, and extract multiple objects in the presence of large viewpoint changes, nonrigid motions with large numbers of degrees of freedom, occlusions, and clutter. We simultaneously compute an object-level segmentation and a dense correspondence between the pixels of the appropriate reference images and the image to be segmented.