The function of image processing systems usually consists of three basic steps: (i) image acquisition, (ii) image processing, and (iii) output of the results with possible intermediate image data presentation. 'Off the shelf' architectures, used, e.g., in the standard personal computers, achieve the necessary bus performance in the required real time only in few inline applications. Highly innovative bus systems with pipeline architectures are therefore needed for ensuring huge data throughput in the specifically oriented optical quality inspection systems. The imaging systems for quality inline inspection have to meet specific requirements on data acquisition and communications, mainly: -to ensure a connection of various sensors of heterogeneous nature, such as area scan cameras, line scan cameras, fast CMOS cameras with selectable readout capabilities, -to incorporate carefully designed high speed communication buses between the processing nodes and the sensor adapters, -to manifest a good balance between real time behavior, flexibility, performance and cost efficiency. We have developed innovative real time communication buses for the real-time imaging system designed in the ARC Seibersdorf research Ltd. and used in optical quality inspection of printed matter. In this paper we address in details: -the hardware layout and the individual functions of the innovative buses, -the evaluation of the behavior of the buses in a quality inspection system with extreme real-time demands. All benefits are explained and numerically documented that can be of interest for reader dealing with other applications.


Summary form only given. The need exists for a compact efficient high power millimeter wave source for high resolution radar. At Northrop Grumman-Electronic and Information Warfare Systems (NG-EIWS) this need is being addressed through the development of an advanced fast wave device-the harmonic peniotron. The primary effort under this program involves the development of a high power field-reversed electron gun. The Northrop Grumman gun design is based on the injection of an initially converging electron beam through a gradual field reversal. Due to the absence of a center magnetic polepiece, the design provides simplicity of construction and ease of adjustment. Design goals for the gun development program are: beam current 3.5 A magnetic focussing field 6.5 kG, beam alpha 1.5, beam ripple <=10%, and axial velocity spread <5%. A first order gun design meeting these specifications has been completed and fabrication of subassemblies has begun. A floating cathode pole piece was found to be required to meet the beam velocity spread and ripple requirements. A beam tester incorporating a cerium glass scintillator witness plate, electrostatic beam velocity/position probes and a retarded field energy analyzer has been designed and is presently under construction for verifying gun performance. In addition to the gun development underway, progress has also been made on the design and testing of high power peniotron devices.


The early Universe after inflation may have oscillations, kinations (nonoscillatory evolution of a field), topological defects, relativistic and non-relativistic particles at the same time. The Universe whose energy density is a sum of those components can be called the multi-component Universe. The components, which may have distinguishable density scalings, may decay modulated. In this paper we study generation of the curvature perturbations caused by the modulated decay in the multi-component Universe.


Abstract I argue that the attempts of astrobiologists and philosophers to provide an ethical justification for planetary protection policies (in particular, those aspects of policy concerning forward contamination) suffer from a 'life bias' in that reasons for protection are regarded as genuinely ethical only when they include some kind of direct moral consideration for extraterrestrial life. There are, I maintain, good reasons for the protection of space environments, including the protection of sites of interest to disciplines other than astrobiology. These reasons are no less ethical simply because their aim is something other than the protection of extraterrestrial life. While the possible existence of such reasons has been recognized, they have yet to be developed in a philosophically satisfying way. This paper aims to fill this lacuna by motivating and articulating an ethical perspective which recommends broader protection of the space environment. Long-range implications for such a broadening of planetary protection are considered, including implications for interstellar exploration.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the probability of job separations of immigrants and natives in the UK before and during the economic crisis of 2008.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed proportional hazard duration model with a semi-parametric piecewise constant baseline hazard is used on a data sample of inflows into employment.

Findings

It is found that the crisis increased the probability of exits to unemployment for all groups, while immigrants from the new countries of the European Union seemed to have the lowest hazard towards unemployment even after controlling for their demographic and labour market characteristics. More specifically, even when we account for the fact that they tend to cluster in jobs that are most vulnerable to the business cycle, they are still less likely to exit dependent employment than natives. However, this migrant group is adversely affected by the crisis the most.

Research limitations/implications

Possible implications of out-migration of the lower performers are discussed.

Originality/value

This paper makes use of the panel element of the UK Quarterly Labour Force Survey, and uses duration analysis on the individual level to assess the labour market outcomes of natives and immigrants in the UK.


This article reports on a multi-resolution and multi-sensor approach developed for the accurate and detailed 3D modeling of the entire Roman Forum in Pompei, Italy. The archaeological area, approximately 150 × 80 m, contains more than 350 finds spread all over the forum as well as larger mural structures of previous buildings and temples. The interdisciplinary 3D modeling work consists of a multi-scale image- and range-based digital documentation method developed to fulfill all the surveying and archaeological needs and exploit all the intrinsic potentialities of the actual 3D modeling techniques. The data resolution spans from a few decimeters down to few millimeters. The employed surveying methodologies have pros and cons which will be addressed and discussed. The results of the integration of the different 3D data in seamlessly textured 3D model are finally presented and discussed.


The procedure for reinnervation of bilateral vocal cord paralysis using nerve-muscle pedicle technique has now been well established in the literature. Moreover, several other centers have reported success using this technique. Nevertheless, the author is aware that a significant number of well trained otolaryngology-head and neck surgery practitioners have found difficulty in making the procedure successful in their hands. It therefore seems appropriate to address those aspects of patient evaluation, technique and postoperative follow-up that have brought a satisfactory level of success in the author's hands. Preoperative evaluation of patients is the cornerstone of success in nerve-muscle pedicle reinnervation. It is imperative that the larynx be properly evaluated to be certain that there does not exist fixation or ankylosis of one or both arytenoids in addition to paralysis. Clearly if such fixation exists, nerve-muscle pedicle reinnervation cannot be successful. Several pertinent aspects of technique with special reference to the identification of the proper nerve-muscle pedicle, the design of the pedicle and proper identification of the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle will be discussed. Postoperative evaluation of patients may be difficult for inexperienced operators. The author has seen at least three patients who were operated on by other surgeons who were referred because of "failure" of the procedure only to find that all three of them were successfully reinnervated with satisfactory motion of the reinnervated cord for reasonable day-to-day activity. All aspects of postoperative evaluation and management will be discussed as well.


Effects of selected polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on vesicular catecholamine release from rat PC12 phaeochromocytoma cells have been measured using carbon fiber microelectrode amperometry. Exocytotic responses were evoked by superfusion of single PC12 cells with high K(+) saline. Subsequent exposure of the same cells to saline containing the nonplanar congener 2,2'-dichlorobiphenyl (PCB 4) and the coplanar congener 3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB 126) at concentrations between 5 and 25 microM for 15 min caused an enhancement of the frequency of basal vesicular catecholamine release at the lower concentrations but not at the high concentrations tested. The nonplanar congener 2,2',3,3',4,4'-hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB 128) did not affect basal release. The PCBs caused only marginal effects on the frequency of evoked events during high K(+) stimulation and did not affect vesicle contents. Prolonged exposure of PC12 cells to low concentrations of the same PCBs in the culture medium for a period of 3 days did not cause significant changes in vesicle contents. The results demonstrate that low concentrations of PCBs may cause acute vesicular catecholamine release but do not influence the contents of catecholamine-containing vesicles either on acute or after subchronic exposure.


The solvent extraction of cadmium(II) from nitrate medium was studied. The using extractants were quaternary ammonium-based room temperature ionic liquid Aliquat 336 in either the chloride [(C8H17)3 CH3N+·Cl-], thiocyanate [(C8H17)3CH3N+·SCN-] and hydrogenophosphate forms, diluted in the kerosene. The effects of different parameters such as equilibration time, initial pH, O/A molar ratio (nextractant/nCd), initial extractant concentration and ionic strong on extraction of cadmium(II) were investigated. The extraction yields of cadmium(II) increase with increasing initial pH and initial extractant concentration. The stoichiometry of the extracted species was determined on the basis of slope analysis. The effect of various salts such as KSCN and NaNO3 in the feed solution within the concentrations of 10 to 100 mM on extraction of cadmium(II) was studied at optimal initial pH = 6.2. The relation between the percentages of the extracted species () and the extraction yields were investigated by a calculation program using CHEAQS V. L20.1. The results showed that the decrease of the extraction yield of Cd(II) was related with the decrease gradually of percentage of cadmium(II) free and the increase of percentage of and species with the addition of KSCN. More the hydrophobic character of the extractant is high, more the extraction is better. The metal ion was stripped out satisfactorily using nitric acid as stripping agent, in one step.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factors limiting nodule detection in thoracic computed tomography (CT) and to determine whether prior knowledge of nodule size and attenuation, available from a baseline CT study, influences the minimum radiation dose at which nodule surveillance CT scans can be performed while maintaining current levels of nodule detectability. Multiple nodules varying in attenuation (-509 to + 110 HU) and diameter (1.6 to 9.5 mm) were layered in random and ordered sequences within 2 lung cylinders made of Rando lung material and suspended within a custom-built CT phantom. Multiple CT scans were performed at varying kVp (120, 100, and 80), mA (200, 150, 100, 50, 20, and 10), and beam collimation (5, 2.5, and 1.25 mm) on a four-row multidetector scanner (Lightspeed, General Electric, Milwaukee, WI) using 0.8 s gantry rotation. The corresponding range of radiation dose over which images were acquired was 0.3-26.4 mGy. Nine observers independently performed three specific tasks, namely: (1) To detect a 3.2 mm nodule of 23 HU; (2) To detect 3.2 mm nodules of varying attenuation (-509 to -154 HU); and (3) To detect nodules varying in size (1.6-9 mm) and attenuation (-509 to 110 HU). A two-alternative forced-choice test was used in order to determine the limits of nodule detection in terms of the proportion of correct responses (Pcorr, related to the area under the ROC curve) as a summary metric of observer performance. The radiation dose levels for detection of 99% of nodules in each task were as follows: Task 1 (1 mGy); Task 2 (5 mGy); and Task 3 (7 mGy). The corresponding interobserver confidence limits were 1, 5, and 10 mGy for Tasks 1, 2, and 3, respectively. There was a fivefold increase in the radiation dose required for detection of lower-density nodules (Tasks 1 to 2). Absence of prior knowledge of the nodule size and density (Task 3) corresponds to a significant increase in the minimum required radiation dose. Significant image degradation and reduction in observer performance for all tasks occur at a dose of < or = 1 mGy. It is concluded that the size and attenuation of a nodule strongly influence the radiation dose required for confident evaluation with a minimum threshold value of 1-2 mGy (minimum dose CT). A prior knowledge of nodule size and attenuation is available from the baseline CT scan and is an important consideration in minimizing the radiation exposure required for nodule detection with surveillance CT.


This thesis examines the role of the churches in educating their congregations for political involvement. It does this by examining three aspects of the political thought of three theologians, Augustine, Gustavo Gutierrez and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The first aspect is eschatology, on the grounds that thought on the eschaton influences thought on how to react to the present. The second is ecclesiology, with particular reference to how the theologian expects the church to relate to the civil society in which the church is located. The third is the 'prepolitical' education, or the education of the ordinary Christian for political involvement, in that civil society. The thesis concludes by stating that there is no formula, or curriculum, for prepolitical education, but there is a 'summary grammar' expressed in the form of three inter-related tensions on which all prepolitical education must rest if it is to be a properly Christian prepolitical education. The first tension concerns the 'now' and the 'not yet' nature of the coming of God's kingdom; the second relates to the idea that that the church should be in the world but not of it; and the third is based on how the church relates to the world in a prophetic and an embodied manner.


England, Scotland and Wales planning regulations require zero carbon homes by 2016. This can be expected to accelerate the uptake of microgeneration technologies. To incentivise small low-carbon generators the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) proposed two new systems: the Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). This paper investigates the impact of these two systems on the carbon performance and the economics of various microgeneration technologies under two scenarios: (a) at the single dwelling level and (b) a local microgrid at the street level. The economic implications of combining a number of houses to form a local microgrid are assessed and expressed in terms of percentage of capital investment outstanding. The paper concludes that the current structure of the FIT and RHI does not incentivise microgeneration technologies according to their carbon performance and does not favour street-level schemes such as the one investigated in this paper. However it is sufficient to drive the market forward.


This paper is part of a larger project that forays into the murky waters of sub-national identity contestation, understood here as struggles among members of a state's population who support competing various proposals for the content of that state's national identity. The paper attempts to capture these contours, map their shifts, and parse out the mechanisms by which these changes occur in Turkey, a state with multiple, politically salient identity cleavages. To do so, the paper analyzes these three key episodes that each constitute major challenges to the ruling party's pursuit of identity hegemony for its own proposal of Ottoman Islamism. Each of these challenges shaping the contours of Turkey's identity debates over the course of just two years (May 2013 – May 2015) represents a different dynamic of identity contestation: hybridization of opposition demonstrators during the Gezi Protests, polarization among supporters of the AKP and the Gülen Movement, and self-marginalization of the AKP through its increasingly radical rhetoric. Drawing from a wide array of popular culture and social media sources as well as interviews, surveys, and participant observation, the analysis provides new insight into the vernacular politics of identity in contemporary Turkey, while contributing to wider studies of social movements and contentious politics through its examination of various mechanisms of change.


Our original attempt was to examine whether inhibition of Na/H exchange in proximal tubule would affect the expression of basolateral membrane protein Na,K-ATPase. Three amiloride analogues were tested within the range of 10(-6) M to 10(-4) M in primary cultures of proximal tubule cells. Only ethylisopropyl amiloride (EIPA) dose-dependently downregulated Na,K-ATPase activity in cultured proximal tubule cells. The time course study revealed that EIPA (10(-4) M) significantly decreased Na,K-ATPase alpha- and alpha-mRNA abundance within 4 hr and suppressed Na,K-ATPase alpha- and beta-mRNA levels by 76.3 +/- 4.5% and 85.5 +/- 5.8%, respectively, within 24 hr. The decrease in Na,K-ATPase mRNA was followed by a decrease in Na,K-ATPase activity by 22.5 +/- 10.8% and 48.8 +/- 5.9% within 12 and 24 hr, respectively, which could be reflected by a coordinate decrease in levels of both alpha- and mature beta-protein. The cell viability was not affected until 20 hr of EIPA treatment, when an increase in LDH release and cell detachment was observed. Because EIPA rapidly decreased intracellular pH (pHi) to 6.7 within 2 hr and raising pHi to 6.6 by metabolic acidosis could not elicit changes in Na,K-ATPase activity, EIPA-induced downregulation of Na,K-ATPase should not be mediated through H+. In view of the time course of EIPA effects on Na,K-ATPase subunit mRNA, protein, activity and cell toxicity, the cytotoxic effect is likely resulted from a decrease in Na,K-ATPase activity. Take together, we conclude that EIPA induces downregulation of Na,K-ATPase expression via both pre- and post-translational mechanisms, which confers cytotoxic effects on proximal tubule cells.


Polish local elections in 2018, many months before their commencement, became one of the main elements of the political discourse. Due to the specificity of the electoral calendar, for the first time since the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2015, voters had to assess the actions taken by the Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) in the electoral act. Of course, this could only happen indirectly, precisely through local  elections, which due to their specificity, are not able to fully reflect the balance of powers that operates on the national arena. However, also in this way voters could refer to national events. Expressing support for them by voting on PiS, or by showing negations of their actions by voting for groups remaining in opposition. The aim of the paper is to check whether, in the perception of voters, events on the national political arena determine the behavior of two types of participants in local elections: local politicians  and voters.


The Jehovah's Witnesses denomination works in more than 230 countries and endeavors to teach the Bible in the local languages. Currently their Bible-based literature is available in more than 500 languages, including 58 or more sign languages. In South Africa the Jehovah's Witnesses are active in the Deaf community, using South African Sign Language (SASL) to conduct one-to-one Bible discussions, local congregation meetings, and larger gatherings. This voluntary work is done without charge, and no collection plates are passed at meetings. Sign language publications on DVD may be obtained through the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. All these Bible-based publications are distributed at no charge, although contributions toward the denomination's worldwide work are accepted. Meetings are being held entirely in SASL. As of December 2009, all teaching was signed directly by the speaker in the nine congregations located in Bloemfontein, Johannesburg (Brixton), Cape Town, Durban, George, West Rand (Randfontein), Soweto, East Rand (Kempton Park), and Tshwane. In addition, 15 or more groups across the country provide meetings with interpreted instruction, with the goal of providing all instruction in SASL. There are also active groups in Swaziland, Namibia, and Botswana—countries neighboring South Africa. These groups are growing rapidly and consist of both Deaf and hearing members. Currently, about 300 Deaf and a similar number of hearing members regularly conduct Bible discussions with interested people who are Deaf.


The influence of family and peers on dieting and body image is well known, but, despite the centrality of romantic partnerships in the lives of adults, little research has investigated dieting and body image in the context of intimate relationships. This study investigated unhealthy dieting (e.g., skipping meals, vomiting), healthy dieting (e.g., reducing calories, reducing or eliminating snacks), and body satisfaction in intimate relationships in 57 predominantly unmarried couples, who were recruited in a college setting. The within-participant findings replicated prior research showing that women with higher self-esteem and lower depressive symptoms were more satisfied with their own bodies and dieted less. Controlling for body mass index and the relevant self-perceptions of each partner, the across-partner associations showed that men who had more depressive symptoms and were less satisfied with their relationships had female partners who dieted more and were less satisfied with their bodies. In contrast, men dieted more when their female partners had higher self-esteem and fewer depressive symptoms. These results suggest that psychological processes in intimate relationships are linked with dieting and body satisfaction but that these links are different for men and for women.


We present a new catalog of spectroscopically confirmed white dwarf stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 spectroscopic catalog. We find 20,407 white dwarf spectra, representing 19,712 stars, and provide atmospheric model fits to 14,120 DA and 1011 DB white dwarf spectra from 12,843 and 923 stars, respectively. These numbers represent more than a factor of two increase in the total number of white dwarf stars from the previous SDSS white dwarf catalogs based on DR4 data. Our distribution of subtypes varies from previous catalogs due to our more conservative, manual classifications of each star in our catalog, supplementing our automatic fits. In particular, we find a large number of magnetic white dwarf stars whose small Zeeman splittings mimic increased Stark broadening that would otherwise result in an overestimated log g if fit as a non-magnetic white dwarf. We calculate mean DA and DB masses for our clean, non-magnetic sample and find the DB mean mass is statistically larger than that for the DAs.


This article concerns the comparative dimension of the digital divide, the global digital divide, assessing processes of various sorts that shape this differentiating feature and mapping its trends of change. The authors (a) "map" the global digital divide with multiple indicators to find patterns of varying degrees of differentiation between countries worldwide and between blocs of countries and (b) assess the various national characteristics that contribute to the level of IT connectedness. The authors compare the effects of these various social national conditions on the pervasiveness of IT. Their preliminary results indicate that it is neither political nor economic national characteristics that are the determinants of IT connectedness but that cultural features are the prime causes. In this sense, the global digital divide is more a product of networking into global society than it is a mere reflection of local economic capabilities.


Vitamin D receptor (VDR), a nuclear receptor that regulates calcium homeostasis, has been found to function as a receptor for secondary bile acids. Because the in vivo role of VDR in bile acid metabolism remains unknown, we investigated the effect of VDR activation in a mouse model of cholestasis. We treated mice with 1α-hydroxyvitamin D3 [1α(OH)D3] after bile duct ligation (BDL) and examined mRNA expression and cytokine levels. 1α(OH)D3 treatment altered the expression of genes involved in bile acid synthesis and transport in the liver, kidney, and intestine but did not decrease bile acid levels in the plasma and liver of BDL mice. 1α(OH)D3 treatment suppressed mRNA expression of proinflammatory cytokines in the liver and strongly decreased the plasma levels of proinflammatory cytokines in BDL mice. These findings indicate that 1α(OH)D3 regulates a network of bile acid metabolic genes and represses proinflammatory cytokine expression in BDL mice. VDR ligands have the potential to prevent the cholestasis-induced inflammatory response.


Canada and the United States are heavily dependent on a few border crossing locations to facilitate international trade between the two countries. These crossings cost firms extra time and uncertainty in their supply chains that reduce the effectiveness of trade. Therefore, a great need exists to study the movement of vehicles traversing these border locations and identify characteristics that make these locations attractive. To this end, this study utilizes GPS data to study trucks traveling between the transportation hubs in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Chicago, Illinois. Two feasible choices are available for these trucks to cross the international border: Blue Water Bridge and Ambassador Bridge. Although most route choice decisions are based primarily on reducing travel time, a unique aspect of this corridor is that the total trip time by route is relatively even. A logit model was estimated to identify other factors that may influence the route choice decisions of trucks in the Toronto–Chicago corridor. The results suggest that a higher average crossing delay for a given time of the day has a negative influence on the selection of a given border crossing. Such an effect is more pronounced for the Blue Water Bridge. Other factors influencing the choice of crossing include the type of industry served by the truck, the carriers operating the trucks, time of the day, and day of the week.


Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is a bone marrow failure syndrome associated with ribosomal protein (RP) deficiency caused by mutations in RP genes. 25% of patients carry mutations in the RPS19 gene. A salient feature of DBA is proliferative arrest of erythroid progenitors. It is still not clear how defects in RPs, which are essential to all cell types, affect the erythroid compartment more severely than the others. Today, DBA patients are treated with glucocorticoids and/or blood transfusions, often for long periods, causing severe adverse effects. We hypothesize that novel drugs with more disease-specific therapeutic mechanisms can be developed and that such drugs will be superior to current therapies. Towards this aim we have developed a method for screening chemical libraries to identify novel drug candidates. Use of DBA patient cells is not feasible as their limited availability severely limits the size of the applied screening library. Immortalized cell lines are also less suitable since the disease mechanism involves TP53 activation and most cell lines have perturbations in the TP53 pathway. Hence, primary c-Kit+ E14.5-15.5 fetal liver erythroid progenitor cells from a mouse model of DBA with doxycycline inducible expression of rps19-shRNA were used (Jaako et. al. Blood, 2011). The DBA phenotype is induced by adding doxycycline to the culture medium which reduces erythroid proliferation >80%. Rescue of this proliferation defect is a simple and relevant readout for large-scale screening. Assay development in 96 well microtiter plates allowed rational liquid handling. Firstly, the proliferation readout method was optimized. Use of CellTiter-Glo Luminescent Cell Viability Assay generated data with superior linear correlation with cell numbers compared to Prestoblue and high content screening microscopy approaches. To enable large-scale screening, the assay was further optimized for cell numbers per well, media composition, culture duration, doxycycline concentration and timing of induction and of addition of test chemicals. We also controlled for evaporation during incubation to significantly reduce plate edge effects. During these optimizations, luminescence readout from uninduced cells was set to represent 100% rescue and readout from doxycycline-induced controls to represent 0% recue. This allows reliable normalization between plates and gives toxic chemicals a negative value and chemicals rescuing proliferation a positive value with 100% meaning complete rescue. To objectively quantify how changes of different parameters improved variability in both induced and uninduced cells, we calculated the Z factor as described by Zhang et. al. (JBS, 1999). The Z factor takes into consideration both the range and variability of data to calculate the suitability of an assay for high throughput screening. It is represented as: (SD: Standard Deviation). Where Z value is meaningful in the range of -1 After assay development we arrived at the conditions shown in the table, resulting in the Z factor of 0.7: For screening involving small molecule based libraries we added the compounds 24 hours after cell seeding and doxycycline addition, which allows for the induction of the proliferation perturbed phenotype. We have pharmacologically validated the assay by testing and quantifying the impact of IL-3, a cytokine known to have a positive effect on erythroid progenitors. IL-3 had a 25% rescue value in our assay. Ongoing experiments (>11,000 compounds screened to date) show that more than 50% of compounds with >20% rescue score in the screen could be confirmed to rescue proliferation in dose-dependent experiments. In conclusion, we have established a robust scalable assay for screening molecules that rescue proliferation arrest caused by Rps19-deficiency in mouse erythroid progenitors. We are currently using this assay to screen small molecule libraries in our search for novel tool compounds for DBA research and drug candidates for DBA treatment. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


To the Editor .—Dr Ravitch's reply to my communication 1,2 requires clarification. I certainly do not feel that patients' behavior is to blame for leaks and perforations following bariatric surgery. However, their noncompliance may well be a factor in early, and possibly even late, staple line disruption after gastric partitioning. This is an entirely different situation. Leaks and perforations are life-threatening but staple line disruptions usually are not. A small disruption may only be apparent on upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy or barium studies, but if the disruption is large, then gastric restriction will be lost. After a small disruption, the whole staple line could "unzip." If restriction is lost, the operation usually fails, particularly if this occurs in the early postoperative stage. We know little about staple line healing in the morbidly obese human's stomach. If gastric restriction is going to be successful, even in carefully selected cases, knowledge of


Ephemeral art is usually understood as reflecting a desire to dematerialize the art
object in order to evade the demands of the market, or to democratize or challenge art
museums. However, in many ephemeral artworks something much more fundamental
is involved. In this thesis I explore the hypothesis that the use of ephemerality by
some artists is best understood, not solely in terms of art world issues but of the
relationship between ephemerality, mourning and loss.
I will begin with a refinement of the definition of ephemeral art, which is often
confused with temporary works. This definition identifies four characteristics of
ephemeral art: time, communicative act, inherent vice and directive intent. Ephemeral
art often involves works that do not exist in a steady state, but change or decay
slowly. This temporal aspect is examined through a discussion of the boredom they consciously evoke, which can be seen not only as an acute awareness of time but also
a form of mouming for lost desire. The different physical state of ephemeral works represents a shift from the art object to communicative act. This shift is exemplified by artists working in the 1960s, particularly those influenced by John Cage. Cage's engagement with Buddhism and the subsequent work he produced demonstrates that the appreciation of transience is a reflection of wider cultural values. The growing interest in Buddhist philosophy and the engagement with transience at that period are discussed, not as cause and effect, but as both stemming from the same desire to find
alternative forms of meaning and expression at a time when traditional structures of
meaning were in decline. The use of non-traditional, non-durable materials and the
incorporation of chance and ephemerality mean that the resulting worlds possess an 'inherent vice' which results in the demise or disappearance of the work. This is a key feature of ephemeral art, which distinguishes it from temporary works. The latter are designed to function for a fixed period, after which they are discarded or destroyed. The conclusions drawn have implications that reach beyond artworld concerns with durable or at least preservable commodities. These works offer insights into the
mourning process which are powerful and profound reflections on the human condition. These works can act as a means of engaging with bereavement,
disenfranchised grief and ambiguous loss. In a world where many societies may be
deemed post-religious traditional myths and rituals that once served to alleviate fear
or mortality and the pain of bereavement are no longer viable or effective, this is of
immense significance.


'/7", /It,/,<,/, sillt'~ (/11m','nliew of the SOCi'H'CUllolllic /,rafile of access to resources mIdsocial behaviourof rural householdsof the Northern Province of South Africa. It is based on the survey conductedin 24 villages covering 586 households.The preliminanj results reflect a number of disparities amongmenandfemalehouseholdheadsand their occupations.Women farmers tend to dominatethe agricultural sector,while menare predominantly in the service and industry sectors.Also, maleheadedhouseholdshave more membersthan female headed households,which are mostly single parents and havehigher percentageof membersunder fifteen (reflecting high fertility rates). Unemployment is rife, coupled with a significant number of old (retired) people, and more women involved in subsistenceagriculture. Migration is prevalent, and is a source of support for householdsto supplement their livelihood, sincefarming is not enoughto meethouseholdrequirements. Thereis still a gap in accessto water and land resources.Theseresultsposemajor challengesfor agriculture in the new millennium sinceaccess and distribution of resourceswill beimminent.


Despite a growing interest in design patterns by the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community, an interaction pattern collection that is universally accepted is yet to be found. Such a collection would aid the design of pervasive computing systems, in which interactions occur in both the material and logical worlds. This paper first seeks to define interaction patterns by adopting a model that captures such duality and then considers the challenges and opportunities that non-traditional interaction brings. Some patterns are then reviewed, with examples relating to motion-aware systems. We conclude that the creation of a widely accepted interaction pattern collection is unlikely in the near future.


Affective computing is the study and development of systems that can recognize human emotions and feelings. Emotions are always an interesting topic of research and these days researchers are trying to develop systems which can recognize, interpret and process emotions based on human physiological and neural changes for the development of well-being. As the market for wearable devices is expanding, it provides more opportunity of research in emotion sharing with remote person. This Master's thesis investigates the possibility of using wearable devices for affective remote collaboration. Previous research about affective computing, affective communication and remote collaboration using wearable devices is reviewed before starting the design process. Three wearable devices were developed, evaluated and discussed, two for emotion sharing between remote people, and the third for preliminary research to explore if eye gaze information can increase co-presence in remote collaboration. Conclusions and Future work are discussed based on the results from the research evaluation.


We examine the association between I/B/E/S's disclosure of non-GAAP earnings and investor uncertainty around earnings announcements. On one hand, investor uncertainty may decrease with I/B/E/S's non-GAAP disclosure because these disclosures make investors aware of alternative performance measures for firm valuation and reduce the acquisition costs related to them. On the other hand, investor uncertainty may increase with I/B/E/S's non-GAAP disclosure because the opacity in how I/B/E/S determines non-GAAP earnings imposes additional integration costs on investors. Consistent with the latter effect dominating, we find that investor uncertainty is increasing in the amount of I/B/E/S's non-GAAP adjustments.
In contrast, managers' non-GAAP adjustments, which are accompanied with a reconciliation to GAAP earnings and are therefore relatively more transparent, are not associated with investor uncertainty around earnings announcements. These results expand our understanding of how different sources of non-GAAP information affect capital markets and highlight the nuanced role of information intermediaries in the non-GAAP disclosure environment.


Alcohol and xenobiotics share the same oxidative microsomal pathway, which is mainly located in the endoplasmic reticulum of hepatocytes. This pathway involves enzymes that belong to the super family of cytochrome P450 and allows to explain a lot of pharmacokinetic or toxic interactions between alcohol and xenobiotics. Cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) is the key enzyme of the microsomal pathway of ethanol oxidation. It is inducible by chronic ethanol consumption and its activity is increased by three to five fold in liver from alcoholics subjects. This induction involves to a lesser extent cytochromes P450 3A4 and 1A2 and contributes to the metabolic tolerance of alcohol and drugs observed in alcoholics. The metabolic tolerance persits several days after ethanol withdrawal. Furthermore, CYP2E1 has a high capacity to activate numerous xenobiotics into toxic or carcinogenic compounds. Drugs currently used such as paracetamol, anesthetics (enflurane, halothane), industrial solvents (benzene or its derivatives), halogenated solvents (CCl4, trichlorethylene) and nitrosamines which are present in food or tobacco smoke are included. Therefore, heavy consumption of alcohol, which results in CYP2E1 induction, increases individual susceptibility to the toxic or carcinogenic effects of these xenobiotics.


Lois Carey explores the application of sandplay therapy as she learned it from Dora Kalff, among others, and shares her professional experience in a chapter on equipping the office with miniatures and also with cameras (for give-away Polaroids and for record-keeping slides) touching such bottom lines as how to deal with the mess and how to handle the theft of a figure. While Carey cites case examples, complete with pictures, to illustrate her use of sandplay in working with children, she also demonstrates that the medium appeals to the inner child in the adult. Moreover, the sandbox itself sets physical and symbolic limits that enhance therapy with family members, and the sandplay becomes a forum for alliances that the clinician can observe in action and intervene to restructure. Lois Carey makes the case effortless by teaching lessons bound to be welcomed by any professional looking for new tools or open to fresh perspectives.


We investigate form factors of local operators in the multi-component Quantum Nonlinear Schrödinger model, a prototype theory solvable by the so-called nested Bethe Ansatz. We determine the analytic properties of the infinite volume form factors using the coordinate Bethe Ansatz solution and we establish a connection with the finite volume matrix elements. In the two-component models we derive a set of recursion relations for the "magnonic form factors", which are the matrix elements on the nested Bethe Ansatz states. In certain simple cases (involving states with only one spin-impurity) we obtain explicit solutions for the recursion relations.


This work reports for the first time cleaning activity by fish and shrimps in Santa Luzia, Cape Verde Archipelago and Sao Tome Islands. Three new records of facultative cleaner fish species are presented. Facultative cleaners dominated by Labridae were the most observed cleaner fishes in the two studied islands. Multi-specific cleaning stations were prevalent in Santa Luzia, while cleaner shrimps were more observed interacting in the Sao Tome Islands.


Since the 1960s when paper began to use as a structural material in furniture, design, the way of using paper was dramatically changed. Before the 1960s, paper was used mostly in decorative purposes like paper mache. The development of consumer culture in the 1960s created a new trend for paper in design. Paper became a material for dresses and chairs. Also, the types of paper that adapted on furniture varies from cardboard, paper tubes, glassine paper, honeycomb, etc. The variation of the material results to make possible to create a new form. Moreover, paperboard was broadly used in current society in such area that mostly structural based as architecture. Paper gives great opportunity not only to consumers to buy furniture in inexpensive price also to manufacturers to produce furniture and to test market easily. Moreover, paper furniture is mostly fun. Therefore, the creation of paper furniture becomes diverse in terms of design concept. This study explored the characteristics of paper furniture responding to social backgrounds by decade. Relation between types of paper and the characteristics is one of main points in this research. This study covers furniture design from the 1960s to present and mostly focuses on seating furniture where paper used as structural material. Researching on patent records and contemporary periodicals gave me helpful information on details of design process and consumer culture.


The real-time harmonic monitoring has become a very important concern in so many applications, for instance in electrical power systems, which are suffering from harmonic distortion due to nonlinear loads. The limitation in terms of computing time and complexity of data-processing related to the conventional techniques makes it appealing to investigate alternative techniques. From another hand, the majority of applications, such as filter design, need fast extraction of various harmonic components. Consequently, a technique based on optimized fuzzy neural networks (FNNs) by genetic algorithms (GAs) for the fast extraction of various harmonic components is presented here. It employs a type of fusion between artificial neural networks (ANNs) and fuzzy logic whose membership functions are adjusted suitably, due to the training capability of ANNs to accurately estimate the individual harmonic components of a distorted signal. The suggested technique is carried out, simulated, implemented on a real-time hardware platform and tested. Results clearly show that the proposed technique is appreciably faster, more accurate and less computationally complex than other techniques.


Background In a meta-analysis published in October 2001, we reported that new and old classes of antihypertensive drugs had similar long-term efficacy and safety. Furthermore, we observed that in clinical trials in hypertensive or high-risk patients gradients in systolic pressure accounted for most differences in outcome. Objective To test whether our previous conclusions would hold, we updated our quantitative overview with new information from 14 clinical trials presented before 1 March 2003. Methods To compare new and old antihypertensive drugs, we computed pooled odds ratios from stratified 2 × 2 contingency tables. If Zelen's test of heterogeneity was significant, we used a random effects model. In a meta-regression analysis, we correlated odds ratios with corresponding between-group differences in systolic pressure. We then contrasted observed odds ratios with those predicted from gradients in systolic pressure. Main outcomes Differences in achieved systolic blood pressure and incidence of total and cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular events, stroke, myocardial infarction and heart failure. New versus old drugs In 15 trials, 120 574 hypertensive patients were randomized to old drugs (diuretics or β-blockers) or new agents [calcium-channel blockers, α-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin type-1 receptor (AR1) blockers]. Old and new drugs provided similar protection against total and cardiovascular mortality and fatal plus non-fatal myocardial infarction. Calcium-channel blockers, including (−8%, P = 0.07) or excluding verapamil (−10%, P = 0.02), as well as AR1 blockers (−24%, P = 0.0002) resulted in better stroke prevention than did the old drugs, whereas the opposite trend was observed for ACE inhibitors (+10%, P = 0.03). The risk of heart failure was higher (P < 0.0001) on calcium-channel blockers (+33%) and α-blockers (+102%) than on conventional therapy involving diuretics. Meta-regression Between-group differences in achieved systolic pressure ranged from 0.1 to 3.2 mmHg in seven actively controlled trials (73 237 patients), and from 2.1 to 22.1 mmHg in seven studies comparing varying intensities of blood pressure lowering (11 128 patients). For these 14 new trials, we predicted outcome from achieved systolic blood pressure using our previously published meta-regression models based on 30 trials with 149 407 patients. In general, predicted and observed odds ratios were similar. Larger reductions in systolic pressure (weighted mean 1.8 mmHg) in two trials accounted for the advantage of AR1 blockers over conventional therapy in the prevention of stroke. Only for cardiovascular mortality in very old patients (P = 0.02) and for cardiovascular events and myocardial infarction in old Australians (P < 0.05), the observed odds ratios deviated from our predictions based on the gradients in systolic blood pressure. Interpretation The hypothesis that new antihypertensive drugs, such as calcium-channel blockers, α-blockers, ACE inhibitors or AR1 blockers might influence cardiovascular prognosis over and beyond their antihypertensive effects remains unproven. The finding that blood pressure differences largely accounted for cardiovascular outcome emphasizes the desirability of tight blood pressure control. However, the level to which blood pressure must be lowered to achieve maximal benefit remains currently unknown.


Application of a steady magnetic field allows sum-frequency radiation generated via dipole-forbidden mixing of two-colour fields in an atomic medium to be emitted in the (otherwise forbidden) forward direction. As a result of resonance tuning at low-field strength (not exceeding 0.1 T) a fourth-order magnetic-dipole-induced amplitude for the sum-frequency process can be made comparable to the third-order field-free amplitude. We show that the interference between different terms of the field-dependent amplitude may cause the circular dichroism of the forward-scattering cross section for one of the two incident waves or the sum-frequency wave when the other two waves are linearly polarized. The dichroism effect is due to the dissipation processes determined by the resonant level width Γ and depends strongly both on Γ and the resonance detuning Δ. The effect may be used to control the frequency conversion process or to make possible a frequency mixing laser spectroscopy of excited atomic levels.


Introduction: Right ventricular (RV) workload assessed by RV Stroke Work Index (RVSWI) is a negative predictor of outcome in acute respiratory failure. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) may have a role in detecting central circulatory impairment (CCI) in patients before lung transplantation (LTx) at risk for impaired RV function. Aims and Objectives: To demonstrate correlation of ventilatory inefficiency (VI) on CPET for detection of CCI in patients before LTx with RVSWI. Methods: 172 patients undergoing evaluation for LTx who had CPET and right heart catheterization were included. RVSWI (stroke volume index*(mean pulmonary arterial pressure - mean right atrial pressure)*0.0136) was calculated from invasive hemodynamic data. Pearson9s correlation, significance 0.05, was assessed between RVSWI and CPET parameters. Results: RVSWI correlates highly with VI and inversely with hemodynamics on CPET, but not with peak capacity or workload. Conclusions: High right ventricular workload correlates with ventilatory inefficiency and impaired hemodynamics on CPET. Thus, exercise parameters may predict right ventricular work and LTx outcomes.


Abstract The synthesis and crystal structures of two novel semicarbazones and four gold(III) compound derivatives of these semicarbazones are presented. A pattern in the formation of the semicarbazones shows the association of Cl– ions held together by intra- and intermolecular forces. [AuCl4]− and [AuBr4]− anions are co-crystallised with these semicarbazone ligands, and the packing architectures revealed by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis showed the different influences of the anions and the association of these chemical species by intermolecular forces on the crystal packing. Crystal engineering led to gold(III) compounds that are stabilised by relevant hydrogen bonding networks, which demonstrated their importance to the supramolecular organisation of the studied compounds. Interestingly, Cl∙∙∙Br interactions are observed and contribute to the formation of the supramolecular structures. Elemental analysis data and spectroscopic properties in the solid state and solution are also described. Six new compounds were synthesised, including two semicarbazones and four gold(III) compound derivatives of these semicarbazones. The structural characterisation using single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies revealed cation–anion and Cl∙∙∙Br interactions and some H-bond contributions for the formation of supramolecular structures and crystal packing.


This study had been aimed to conduct the camera calibration on VLBI antenna in the Space Geodetic Observation Center of Sejong City with a low-cost digital camera, which embedded in a mobile phone to determine the threedimension position coordinates of the VLBI antenna, based on stereo images. The initial values for the camera calibration have been obtained by utilizing the Direct Linear Transformation algorithm and the commercial digital photogrammetry system, PhotoModeler Scanner ver. 6.0, respectively. The accuracy of camera calibration results was compared with that the camera calibration results, acquired by a bundle adjustment with nonlinear collinearity condition equation. Although two methods showed significant differences in the initial value, the final calibration demonstrated the consistent results whichever methods had been performed for obtaining the initial value. Furthermore, those three-dimensional coordinates of feature points of the VLBI antenna were respectively calculated using the camera calibration by the two methods to be compared with the reference coordinates obtained from a total station. In fact, both methods have resulted out a same standard deviation of X=0.004±0.010m, Y=0.001±0.015m, Z=0.009±0.017m, that of showing a high degree of accuracy in centimeters. From the result, we can conclude that a mobile phone camera opens up the way for a variety of image processing studies, such as 3D reconstruction from images captured.


Lipid antigen presentation by CD1 molecule is an evolutionary conserved pathway that elicits rapid yet efficient cytotoxic response against fast mutating pathogens. CD1d molecule, the only isoform of CD1 family in mouse, has been shown to recognise important component of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) cell wall like phosphatidylinositol mannosides. We have recently shown that alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) present Mycobacterium bovis - BCG (an avirulent model for Mtb infection) antigens to sensitized Th cells in vitro, however, it remains unexplored whether AECs can also participate in the presentation of lipid antigens through CD1d pathway; that is, so far, know to operate only in professional antigen presenting cells like dendritic cells (DCs) and B cells. We started by establishing the expression of CD1d on LA4 (mouse airway epithelial) cell line and murine AECs by flow cytometry and immuno-histochemistry. qPCR showed significant up-regulation of mRNA expression of some of the crucial molecules involved in CD1d pathway in AECs upon BCG infection. The protein CD1d expression was also found to be boosted upon BCG infection. Finally, a functional CD1d antigen presentation by AECs (in vitro) was shown by using α-GalactosylCeramide (α-GalCer) antigen as model. Our findings suggest that AECs are capable of lipid antigen presentation through the CD1d pathway and this ability of AECs may contribute to the immune defences against pathogens like Mtb.


OBJECTIVES
To describe our technique of using septal bone grafts for correction and stabilization of caudal septal deviation and to evaluate the effectiveness of this technique in the treatment of the deviated caudal septum.

METHODS
A retrospective review of 81 patients who underwent open septorhinoplasty using septal bone grafts for correction of a caudal septal deviation or deformity and nasal obstruction. We reviewed medical records to determine postoperative outcomes in nasal obstruction and caudal septal position.

RESULTS
Of the 81 patients, we included 66 with adequate follow-up information in the analysis. Follow-up duration ranged from 1 to 72 (mean, 8) months. Postoperative examination revealed a midline septum in 55 of the 66 patients (83%). Fifty-seven patients (86%) reported resolution of nasal obstruction; 49 (74%) had a midline septum and resolved nasal obstruction at the longest follow-up. Nine patients (14%) reported postoperative nasal obstruction, of whom only 3 required revision surgery.

CONCLUSION
Nasal septal bone grafts can be an effective tool in stabilizing severe cartilaginous deformities or deviations and correcting caudal septal deviation.


Contact lenses, when worn and cared for properly, are a safe and effective form of vision correction used by an estimated 45 million Americans. However, contact lens wearers are at risk for contact lens–related eye infections, especially when wearers do not practice proper contact lens wear and care habits. These infections, affecting the cornea and known as microbial keratitis (Figure), can lead to serious adverse health outcomes. Because contact lenses are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as medical devices, contact lens–related corneal infections should be reported to FDA as an adverse event. To illustrate their serious health implications, six cases of contact lens–related corneal infection, in which sleeping in lenses was reported as the main risk factor, are presented. Consequences of infection reported among the identified cases included the need for frequent administration of antibiotic eye drops, multiple follow-up medical appointments, and permanent eye damage. Health education measures directed toward contact lens wearers should emphasize raising awareness of the risks of sleeping in contact lenses as well as adherence to all recommendations for the wear and care of contact lenses. Additional measures are needed to educate eye care professionals about the need to report contact lens–related corneal infections to MedWatch, the FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting program (https://www.fda.gov/MedWatch/).


Pilot Added Channel Estimation (PACE) for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) in multiple transmitting antennas causes inter-antenna interference. This can be mitigated by the use of null sub-carriers. However the presence of null sub-carriers degrades the spectral efficiency of OFDM system This paper proposes an efficiency enhancing channel estimation method by estimating composite Channel State Information (CSI) for the given receiving antenna.


This study aims at determining the profile of intensity distribution of horizontally-arranged LED lines and also comparing the distribution of light intensity between the data accounting of several LED lines and direct measurement. The research data collection was done by directly observing the light intensity in angles multiples of 5 starting from 0 to 255. The light intensity in this study was measured with LDR sensor circuit by entering the research object into the light-isolating box. The size of the measured intensity at the time the light touched the LDR had been converted by the electronic circuit in the form of voltage. The research steps included the sensor designing and manufacturing step, LED lines designing and manufacturing stage, light-isolation designing and manufacturing stage, equipment testing stage, and data collection phase. The obtained intensity, then, was normalized and made graphs to determine the intensity profile. Independent variables in this study were the observation angles and the number of LED. The dependent variable was the light intensity and its control variables were the types of LED. Key words : distribution, line intensity, horizontal Year : 2009


This book is devoted to the study of the variational properties of affine curves invariant under centroaffine transformations or equiaffine transformations in two and three-dimensional affine space. It can be considered as a counterpart of the study of the classical Euclidean elastic curves. The basic idea here is to replace the Euclidean space with an affine space. We try to develop some properties about the affine curve which is invariant under some specific subgroups of the affine groups A(2) and A(3). We consider the critial curves of the curvature energy functionals related to the affine curvature or centroaffine curvature of the nondegenerate curve or starlike curve repectively. We completely solve the motion equation by using the Jacobi elliptic functions and finally solve the structure equation by using Killing fields and the classification of the special linear group for the starlike curves.


Although large (≥5 cm) polypropylene packings are frequently used in air stripping towers for environmental applications, few fundamental studies of the mass transfer on these large packing designs have been performed. For small packings, previous research has verified that the Onda correlations are valid for environmental applications. In this research, experimental data for air stripping were obtained using a pilot-scale stripping tower, three test compounds, and four polypropylene packings. Results showed that, in general, Onda is a good predictor of mass transfer for large random packings. However, Onda tended to underpredict mass transfer, with 90% of the data falling between a 16.5% overprediction and a 34.0% underprediction of the observed mass transfer. The underpredictions tended to occur at high gas flow rates and when the gas-film resistance predicted by Onda is large. Further analysis revealed that the functionality of the volumetric gas loading rate is incorrect in the Onda correlations.


This is the first issue of the African Disability Rights Yearbook (ADRY). Drawing
inspiration from the European Yearbook on Disability Law, it is the first publication of
its kind that focuses on Africa. It aims to bring into prominence an area
traditionally neglected by both African governments and academics. Following in
the wake of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities, it is the first peer-reviewed journal to focus exclusively on
disability as human rights on the African continent. The Yearbook, which is
projected to appear annually, is set out in three sections. Section A contains
academic articles: Section B consists of country-based research, charting recent
developments on disability rights legislation, case law and policy developments in
selected African states; and Section C deals with relevant developments in the
African Union (AU) and African sub-regional organisations. The 2013 Yearbook
aims to set out the situation as at 31 December 2012.


Introduction/Background Endometrial cancer is one of the most often type of gynecological malignancies all over the world. Lymph nodal status as an important factor of prognosis of the disease and indication to further treatment is still debated. Many investigations shows that sentinel lymphatic node (SLN) dissection using indocyanine green (ICG) is sensitive, safe and effective. In cases of endometrial (submucosal or hysteroscopic applications) or cervical (intracervical administration) cancer, ICG can detect SLN at an accuracy of 95% to 98%. Low toxicity, confinement within the vascular compartment, rapid excretion, and the rarity of allergic reaction are the main advantages of ICG. Methodology Study included 32 patients with early endometrial cancer (FIGO stage IA-IB, grade 1–2 endometrioid adenocarcinoma). We made submucosal injection of 1 ml of ICG solution in 4 points at 1,5,7,11 o'clock around cervix. After 15–20 min using near-infrared imaging (D-light P-system, Karl Storz) we visualized pelvic lymph nodes through the peritoneum and performed SLN identification (SLNI) on each side. In cases where we were unable to identify SLN we preferred extended operation. Results We had successfully identified SLN in 28 (87.5%) cases. In all cases we had no positive nodes, thus complete pelvic lymph node dissection was unnessesary. Operation time was 81.5±12.2 minutes for TLH with SLN identification with ICG and 175.4±26.5 minutes for SLNI+TLH+PLNE. Patients with only TLH+SLNI had much shorter lymphorrhea duration 2–4 days in post operation period in comparison with patients, who had SLNI+TLH+PLNE (6–7 days). Although time of SLNI+TLH+PLNE is longer then TLH+PLNE without SLNI, overall operation time for selected patient group decreased. Conclusion Using ICG in surgical staging of early endometrial cancer may lead to more effective surgical procedures, better detection and removing of cancer cells, reduction of surgical time and postoperative wound-related complications, improved SLN detection rates, avoid radioactivity. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.


head. Biopsy showed dermal hemorrhage and perivascular, congo redpositive material. Further studies including bone marrow biopsy supported a diagnosis of primary systemic amyloidosis and multiple myeloma. Review of the initial skin biopsy did not show congo red positivity, but electron microscopy identified long nonbranching fibrils consistent with amyloid. Bullous amyloidosis is a cutaneous manifestation of systemic AL amyloidosis. The major differential diagnosis of a pauci-inflammatory subepidermal bulla includes cell-poor bullous pemphigoid, epidermolysis bullosa acquisita, pecphycia cutanea tarda, pseudoporphyria, and a phototoxic drug eruption. Bullous amyloidosis should be included in this differential. Electron microscopy is useful for detecting amyloid not identified by conventional amyloid stains. Identifying bullous amyloidosis may lead to early diagnosis of systemic amyloidosis and multiple myeloma.


Method of information process based on test mining and segmentation technology is provided, which uses the relative principles in the filed of test mining and word segmentation to preprocess and transform the information from internet. The problem of large data dimension caused by the redundancy characters extracted from the test is settled and it improves the performance of the CE arithmetic. Finally, the results are showed and the burden of the CPU and memory of the server which is brought by the of the ceramic company testify that this method have the characters of intelligent behavior, precise result, beautiful interface, easy operation and synchronization of running.


DTN is able to adapt any mobility environment where any mobile routers and terminals are combined owing to the DTN's flexible hop-by-hop routing schemes. The existing DTN protocols like Epidemic, Prophet and Spray-and-Wait protocols rely on the message distribution mechanism where each DTN node produces one or more message copies. They can naturally adapt to the mobile situation where the destination node moves from an old connection endpoint to a new connection endpoint because any message copy may luckily be able to reach the new connection endpoint where the mobile node is newly connected. These protocols suffer from long latencies because message copies are not immediately forwarded until any suitable condition for forwarding is met. To solve these problems, we propose a Handoff-based Deterministic Routing Protocol (HDRP) that makes the best use of general handoff mechanisms intended for the IP network. This handoff mechanism includes the registration of locations by mobile nodes and backward propagation and caching of these locations over the experienced route. Our simulation results indicate that HDRP outperforms other existing protocols especially in terms of end-to-end latency.


Co-contraction and overflow of EMG activity of inappropriate muscles are typical features of all dystonic movements whether voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary movements are slow and more variable than normal, and there is particular difficulty switching between component movements of a complex task. Reduced spinal cord and brainstem inhibition is common to many reflex studies (long-latency reflexes, cranial reflexes and reciprocal inhibition). These reflex abnormalities may contribute to the difficulties in voluntary movements but cannot be causal as they can occur outside the clinically involved territory. Clinical and neurophysiological studies have emphasized the possible role of sensory feedback in the generation of dystonic movements. Abnormalities of cortical and basal ganglia function have been described in functional imaging and neurophysiological studies of patients with dystonia and in animal models of primary dystonia. Studies of cortical function have shown reduced preparatory activity in the EEG before the onset of voluntary movements, whilst magnetic brain stimulation has revealed changes in motor cortical excitability. Functional imaging of the brain in primary dystonia has suggested reduced pallidal inhibition of the thalamus with consequent overactivity of medial and prefrontal cortical areas and underactivity of the primary motor cortex during movements. These findings are supported by preliminary neuronal recordings from the globus pallidus and the thalamus at the time of stereotaxic surgery in patients with dystonia. All this evidence suggests that primary dystonia results from a functional disturbance of the basal ganglia, particularly in the striatal control of the globus pallidus (and substantia nigra pars reticulata). This causes altered thalamic control of cortical motor planning and executive areas, and abnormal regulation of brainstem and spinal cord inhibitory interneuronal mechanisms.


The complement C3-like protein TEP1 of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae is required for defense against malaria parasites and bacteria. Two forms of TEP1 are present in the mosquito hemolymph, the full-length TEP1-F and the proteolytically processed TEP1cut that is part of a complex including the leucine-rich repeat proteins LRIM1 and APL1C. Here we show that the non-catalytic serine protease SPCLIP1 is a key regulator of the complement-like pathway. SPCLIP1 is required for accumulation of TEP1 on microbial surfaces, a reaction that leads to lysis of malaria parasites or triggers activation of a cascade culminating with melanization of malaria parasites and bacteria. We also demonstrate that the two forms of TEP1 have distinct roles in the complement-like pathway and provide the first evidence for a complement convertase-like cascade in insects analogous to that in vertebrates. Our findings establish that core principles of complement activation are conserved throughout the evolution of animals.


: Aim: This paper surveys distributions identified with the utilization of CT filters for radiotherapy treatment arranging, explicitly the effect of output convention changes on CT number and treatment arranging dosimetry and on CT picture quality. Methods: A pursuit on PubMed and EMBASE and an ensuing survey of references yielded 53 applicable papers. Our current research was conducted at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore from May 2019 to April 2020. Results: The limits of CT filters mainly influence the image quality. Some also influence the values of the Hounsfield (HU) unit, but this is not discussed in detail. It has been found that cylinder age changes in kilovolt and, on some scanners, field of view and re-calculations, cause significant changes in HU. The level of HU change that can be supported without changing the arrangement portion by more than 2% depends on the area and size of the body, the arrangement calculations, the energy of the treatment bar and the type of plane. A change in the HU estimate for delicate tissues has a more noticeable effect than HU changes for bone and air. The use of human appearances is suggested when evaluating HU changes. Conclusion: There is restricted distributed work on CT check convention streamlining in radiotherapy. Distributions recommend that HU resilience of +/ - 20 HU for delicate tissue and +/ - 50 HU for lung and bone would confine portion changes in the treatment plan to under 2%.


In recent years, a large number of study for rear impact has been conducted and as a result of study, researchers proposed the neck injury criteria and test procedures. But many questions, related to injury criteria and dummy biomechanical levels, remain unresolved . In recently reports, rear impact motions of BioRIDIIg is not humanlike but better than other dummy(HybridIII, RID3d). So, in this paper, 4 times sled test would be done to find the substitutable neck injury criteria in BioRIDIIg. To review corelation trend with neck injury critera and head-neck movement, we compared with recently announced neck injury criteria(NIC, Nkm, T1 ect.) and head-neck X-direction movement in BioRIDIIg. Finally, we find the head-neck X-direction movement on head C.G to T1 point may be considerable as the additional neck injury criteria.


We calculate the self-energy anomaly of a pointlike electric dipole located in a static $(2+1)$-dimensional curved spacetime. The energy functional for this problem is invariant under an infinite-dimensional (gauge) group of transformations parameterized by one scalar function of two variables. We demonstrate that the problem of the calculation of the self-energy anomaly for a pointlike dipole can be reduced to the calculation of quantum fluctuations of an effective two-dimensional Euclidean quantum field theory. We reduced the problem in question to the calculation of the conformal anomaly of an effective scalar field in two dimensions and obtained an explicit expression for the self-energy anomaly of an electric dipole in an asymptotically flat, regular $(2+1)$-dimensional spacetime which may have electrically neutral black-hole-like metrics with regular Killing horizon.


Through an autobiographical lens, Anne McCrary Sullivan explores the sensory and emotional aspects of attending and their implications for teaching, learning, and research. Her poetry and stanzaic prose attempt to awaken in the reader an artistic engagement with the various meanings of attention. Her use of this genre challenges traditional approaches to representing knowledge.


Zn electrodeposition was carried out on a steel sheet galvanostatically at 1500 A/m2 in an agitated sulfate solution of pH 2 at 40°C to investigate the effect of a small amount of Mo, W and Sn additives on the morphology, crystal orientation and lightness of deposited Zn. No Mo and W codeposited with Zn, and hardly showed any effect on the morphology of deposited Zn. Mo and W increased the orientation of (0001) plane of Zn irrespective of not changing the overpotential for Zn deposition. Sn codeposited with Zn, and the platelet crystals of Zn was disappeared. Sn increased the crystal orientation of (0001) and (1013) plane of Zn due to a decrease in overpotential for Zn deposition. The lightness of deposited Zn depended on the crystal orientation and surface roughness of Zn. At coating weight of 20 g/m2, Sn, Mo and W enhanced the lightness of Zn due to an increase in orientation of (0001) and (1013) plane. However, with increased coating weight, since the surface roughness became large by addition of Mo, W and Sn, the enhancement of lightness by an increase in (0001) and (1013) plane was canceled.


The Third Fermi-LAT source catalog (3FGL) presents a large number of gamma-ray point sources affiliated with source types and counterparts.
Nonetheless, 1010 sources remain unassociated and 573 sources are associated with active galaxies of uncertain type.
Assigning blazar classes to these unassociated and uncertain sources, and linking counterparts to the unassociated ones, will refine tremendously our knowledge of the population of gamma-ray emitting objects.

To figure out the most likely counterpart, the sample of associated 3FGL sources is used to train machine learning classification algorithms.
For any particular 3FGL source, all possible combinations with measurements of one additional energy range are considered, e.g. from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) source catalog, the catalog of Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty cm (FIRST), or the Swift X-ray Point Source (1SXPS) catalog.
By merging the most probable candidates of each of those studies, the power of multiwavelength strategies is exploited and conclusions with even higher confidence concerning blazar counterpart candidates are drawn.

In this contribution, the statistical model and its validation to estimate the performance is described. Finally, results of the application of this novel wavelength-dependent approach are presented, and its consequences concerning blazar population studies are discussed.


This paper presents two algorithms for ne-tuning rational spatial motions suitable for Computer Aided Design. The rational motions are represented by rational B-spline curves in a projective dual three-space known as the Image Space of Spatial Kinematics. The problem of ne-tuning of rational motions is studied as that of ne-tuning the corresponding rational curves in the Image Space called the image curves. The path-smoothing algorithm automatically detects and smoothes out the third order geometric discontinuities in the path of a cubic rational Bspline image curve. The speed-smoothing algorithm uses a quintic rational spline image curve to obtain a second-order geometric approximation of the path of a cubic rational B-spline image curve while allowing specication of the speed and the rate of change of speed at the key points to obtain a near constant kinetic energy parametrization. The notion of kinetic energy is used in the paper as a natural way of combining the rotational and translational speed of a spatial motion. The results have applications in trajectory generation in robotics, planing of camera movement, spatial navigation in visualization and virtual reality systems, as well as mechanical system simulation.


An efficient heterogeneous silver-catalyzed reaction for construction of the α-methylene cyclic carbonate motif was developed through carboxylative assembly of propargyl alcohols and CO2. Such a CO2 fixation protocol proceeded smoothly with only 1 mol% of Ag2WO4 and 2 mol% of PPh3 as well as atmospheric CO2 at room temperature under solvent-free conditions, in an environmentally benign and low energy manner along with an easy operating procedure. Notably, up to 98% isolated yields of carbonates could be attained with exclusive chemo-selectivity. In addition, the dual activation capacity of Ag2WO4 towards both the propargylic substrate and CO2 is based on which cooperative catalytic mechanism by the silver cation and the tungstate anion is proposed. Recycling trials on carboxylative cyclization of propargyl alcohols and CO2 illustrate that the catalyst can be reused at least 4 times with retention of high catalytic activity and selectivity. Especially, it allows the direct and effective application in the one-pot synthesis of various oxazolidinones bearing exocyclic alkenes and carbamates in moderate to high yields upon the alternative introduction of primary or secondary amines.


The ability of a country to borrow cheaply depends on its rating by the major rating agencies (S&P, Fitch, Moody's). Greece today is in the junk category. The questions which raised are will it be able to borrow cheaply again in the open market? What should it accomplish for this to happen? To answer it one has to examine the previous rating behavior of the ratings firms.
More specific, this study examines the determinants of the sovereign credit ratings provided by the three major rating agencies: Fitch Ratings, Moody's and Standard & Poors. Analysis is employed in order to identify the common factors affecting these ratings. The impact of the variables correlated with these factors on ratings is then assessed through linear regression modeling. The study also highlights the importance of corruption which appears as a proxy for both economic development and the quality of country governance.
The sample of this thesis consists of 11 European countries, including Greece and the data that used cover a period of the last 22 years. The models are specified according to variables that identified as significant in the existing literature.


Now a day, people are using various advanced technologies to solve their real life problem; affordability and the speed with which these procedures can be performed are one of the reasons. Plastic surgery is an example of one of the advanced technologies, which is used to transform a person's physical feature or rather appearance of various facial features (some time non-face features). In this paper we will explain how plastic surgery can affect the process of face recognition [1] [2] [3] and also describe two very popular face recognition techniques, PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and SOM (Self Organizing Map) for plastic surgery face recognition. We will also compare their performance. In case of a face recognition technique, we use database of face images where we can store face images of different expression, pose for the same person. Now for a given input image with different expression and pose the above two approaches PCA (Appearance based method) and SOM (Pattern recognition based) will work properly. Whereas, in case of plastic surgery face recognition, they may not give satisfactory result, but between these two techniques SOM is better than PCA and perform more accurately.


The objective of the research is developing a mobile application (on Android) designed to visualize the basic definitions of the discipline "Radiochemistry and radioecology" in 3D. Studying the education material of this discipline (phenomena of radionuclide, radioisotope, the nucleus, the fundamental particle etc and their specifics) requires a more sophisticated explanation from the teacher and dynamic dimensional image from the student. Decent detailed visualization of the study material makes this process easier. So applying the augmented reality is rational for the purpose of visualizing the study material, applying it allows demonstrate 3D-models of the nucleus, the fundamental particles, the nature of radioactive decay, nuclear fission, the specifics of managing the nuclear weapon and the NPS. Involving this instrument of the up-to-date information and communication technologies while studying the new material gives the opportunity to develop and boost the spatial imagination of the students, "to see" the invisible and to understand the received material in a better way, which improves its better memorizing. As far as the augmented reality is one of the most recent new-age education trends, all the teachers are required to have the ability to use it. In this reason the upcoming teachers, the students of the "General Education (Chemistry)" specialty, must be trained with this technology. Within the study process the students have the opportunity to review the positive moments of applying AR from a student's stand of point and to understand, how to apply similar education tools in the future pedagogic work.


Going beyond the entanglement of microscopic objects (such as photons, spins, and ions), here we propose an efficient approach to produce and control the quantum entanglement of three macroscopic coupled superconducting qubits. By conditionally rotating, one by one, selected Josephson-charge qubits, we show that their Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) entangled states can be deterministically generated. The existence of GHZ correlations between these qubits could be experimentally demonstrated by effective single-qubit operations followed by high-fidelity single-shot readouts. The possibility of using the prepared GHZ correlations to test the macroscopic conflict between the noncommutativity of quantum mechanics and the commutativity of classical physics is also discussed.


Pneumoparotid describes retrogradely insufflated air within the Stensen's duct and/or parotid gland. It is a rare condition with variable causative factors. This study aimed to elucidate the clinical characteristics of pneumoparotid. Reports in all languages were evaluated following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement 2020. A literature search was conducted using electronic medical databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCO, Ovid, Google Scholar, SciElo, LILIACS, and others) from 1890 to 30 June 2022. One hundred and seventy patients (mean age; 28.4 years) from 126 studies were reviewed. Common symptoms included swelling (84.7%) and pain (35.9%). Characteristic findings were crepitus in the parotid region (40%) and frothy saliva from the orifice (39.4%). The common etiologies included abnormal habits such as blowing out the cheeks (23.5%), idiopathic (20%), self-induced (15.9%), playing wind instruments such as trumpets or flutes (8.8%), and diseases inducing coughing or sneezing (8.2%). The treatments included antibiotic therapy (30%), behavioral therapy to avoid continuing causative habits (25.9%), psychiatric therapy (8.2%), and surgical procedures (8.2%). Treatment should be individualized and etiology-based. However, the etiology was not identified in 20% of patients. Further detailed data from larger samples are required to clarify and improve the recognition of this entity.


The most extensive look yet at spider-silk DNA, reported on page
 1477, reveals that the gene for the so-called flagelliform silk used in web spirals has some marvelous architecture of its own. Like other silk genes, the DNA that codes for flagelliform silk is a repetitive string of nucleotides. But these nucleotides are grouped in a way that may be an engine for generating diversity. Although the finding may not have an immediate impact on the way artificial silk is designed, it has excited people who think about spider evolution.


The concomitant use of INTRA-AORTIC BALLOON PUMPING (IABP) and venoarterial bypass (VAB) without oxygenation (VABsO) was performed in 10 experiments using 6 dogs in cardiogenic shock. VABsO was accomplished with the cricuit from the right atrium to the femoral artery and bypass flow rates were set at approximately one third of the baseline cardiac output. Displacement volume of the IABP balloon was 10 or 20 ml. Evaluation of hemodynamic effects of the concomitant use was carried out, as compared with the single use of IABP or VABsO. The following findings were obtained: (1) In the concomitant use, left ventricular afterload decreased, while mean aortic root pressure increased. Increase in total perfusion flow, decrease in mean left atrial pressure and decrease in left ventricular stroke work were shown more effective than each of the single uses. (2) These results suggest that the concomitant use of IABP and VABsO can be used as a second step assisted circulation when IABP is shown uneffective in the case of severe cardiogenic shock.


A compact low-supply-voltage yet low-noise digital bang–bang PLL (DBBPLL) is proposed. The bang–bang phase detector is based on a dynamic double-tail latch which enables high time-to-voltage gain and low input-referred noise under tight power-supply headroom. The ring-based digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) is made of multiple g m-controlled delay units and a constant-g m-biased current DAC. By combining these two blocks, the DCO can now better tolerate supply noise and process variations. A prototype DBBPLL has been implemented in a mainstream 28 nm CMOS process with a compact die area of 0.014 mm2. When operating at 2.6 GHz, it consumes 2.9 mW with 0.75 V supply and achieves low in-band phase noise of −105 dBc/Hz.


In this thesis, a definition for hollowization settlement is given on the basis of the principles: the relative quality, the functional transformation, the absolute abandonment and the sharp decrease in population. Based on Radar Model, 5 subbreeding environment types of hollowizing settlement are revealed: Type 1: easiest hollowizing environment which contains 4 impelling factors; Type 2: easier hollowizing environment which contains 3 impelling factors and 1 retraining factor; Type 3: plane and easy hollowizing environment which contains 2 impelling factors and 2 retraining factors; Type 4: more difficult hollowizing environment which contains 1 impelling factor and 3 retraining factors; Type 5: most difficult hollowizing environment which contains 4 retraining factors. Two indices including relatively hollowizing rate and absolute hollowizing rate are applied for expounding the hollowizing state of the settlement in the region. Two location sensibility indices( w J and w x ) constitute 2×2 rank matrix which divides the settlements of the region into four hollowizing ranks: Rank 1: high speed hollowizing settlement, w J1,w x1; Rank 2: steadily hollowizing settlement, w J1,w x1; Rank 3: latently hollowizing settlement, w J1,w x1; Rank 4: slowly hollowizing settlement, w J1,w x1. According to the price consumption budget line and the theory of land price, 3 driving powers covering the low building cost, the comparative profit and the consumption budget are discovered. Concerning the basic line, buffering line and end line, one hollowizing settlement space is divided into 3 parts: the core zone, buffering zone and the new expanding zone. Based on the growth declining state of the hollowizing settlement space, 5 patterns of the settlement hollowizing process are posed: (1) the growth process pattern of the core zone; (2) the expanded process pattern of the core zone; (3) the growth process pattern of the buffering zone; (4) the expanded process pattern of the buffering zone; (5) the growth process pattern of the new expanding zone. The checking measures against the settlement hollowizing are discussed lastly.


We present infrared bolometric luminosity corrections derived from the detailed spectral energy distributions of 62 bright quasars of low to moderate redshift (z = 0.03–1.4). At 1.5, 2, 3, 7, 12, 15 and 24 μm we provide bolometric corrections of the mathematical forms Liso = ζ λLλ and log(Liso) = A + B log(λLλ). Bolometric corrections for radio-loud and radio-quiet objects are consistent within 95 per cent confidence intervals, so we do not separate them. Bolometric luminosities estimated using these corrections are typically smaller than those derived from some commonly used in the literature. We investigate the possibility of a luminosity-dependent bolometric correction and find that, while the data are consistent with such a correction, the dispersion is too large and the luminosity range too small to warrant such a detailed interpretation. Bolometric corrections at 1.5 μm are appropriate for objects with properties that fall in the range log(Lbol) = 45.4–47.3 and bolometric corrections at all other wavelengths are appropriate for objects with properties that fall in the range log(Lbol) = 45.1–47.0.


It is a pleasure and a privilege to welcome this distinguished group of dental scientists to the first conference ever held on phosphates and their relationship to dental caries. The Office of Naval Research, which is happy to sponsor this meeting with the co-operation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has had deep interest in dental research for a number of years. The Office of Naval Research prides itself on its pioneering support of research at universities and other institutions throughout the country, and its program aimed at improving oral health is no exception. As you are aware, it was not too many years ago that the panacea of all ailments for individuals who had reached maturity was often considered to be the extraction of all their teeth. This was probably the result of the belief among many in the medical profession that infections of the teeth were basically responsible for most of the aches and pains of the human body. It was the determination of pioneers of dentistry to find the truth about this common belief that provided the impetus for formal research in dentistry. Today studies have broadened to extend into many fields previously ignored. Many dentists are continuing postgraduate work in the basic science. An even more significant trend is that scientists of other disciplines have entered the field. This is important because it means that research in dentistry is benefiting both from techniques developed in other fields and inputs of knowledge from the classical sciences. As a result, we have been able to launch a comprehensive and thorough investigation of the oral cavity. This includes the structure and function of its various parts, the composition of its fluids and their relation to general health, its ability to ward off disease through enzymes and other defense mechanisms, and its response to mechanical and chemical stimuli. Dental research is, of course, also concerned with improving clinical and surgical treatment procedures, and advanced techniques are being applied to develop more effective research methods. Yet, despite the increased and broadened research effort in dental science, the solution to the complex caries problem continues to evade us. This is especially frustrating for the Navy since dental caries is still the prime clinical treatment of the Navy Dental Corps. We are faced with the continuing situation that most of our recruits are in the age range where the problem of dental decay is the greatest. This is one of the reasons why the


The normal operation of Yulangpei tailings reservoir is affected by landslide stability. In this paper, taking the main and side slopes near the dam bank of the Yulangpei ditch as an example, water-soil coupling theory is applied to comprehensively evaluate the reliability of the side slopes of the tailings reservoir. Grading and seepage prevention (GSP) measures and the suction of the substrate are considered, as well as the infiltration of different rainfall and reservoir water levels. We numerically simulate the typical three forms of side slopes under the coupling conditions and conduct a reliable and comprehensive evaluation of tailings reservoir side slopes. The study shows that under six reservoir water level changes, the factor of safety (FS) of the bank slope shows a hysteresis effect. According to nine rainfall infiltration conditions and during rainfall, the greater the rainfall intensity, the greater the weakening effect. When rainfall stops, the FS rebounds. After GSP measures, the initial stability of the bank slope under different conditions is improved, but the main slope is more sensitive to changes in rainfall and water levels.


This paper considers the application of a " global" optimization scheme to the training of multilayer perceptions for signal classifications. This study is motivated by the fact that the error surface of a multilayer perceptron is a highly nonlinear function of the parameters. Therefore the backpropagation which is a gradient descent algorithm converges to locally minimum structures. As an example we consider a signal classification problem where the optimum classifier has been shown to have an exponential complexity and the optimum decision boundary to be nonlinear and nonconvex. In this example when standard backpropagation is used to train the weights of a multi-layer perception the network is shown to classify with a " linear" decision boundary which corresponds locally to a minima of the neural network configurations. In this paper we propose to enhance the learning process of the network by considering an optimization scheme referred to as simulated annealing. This optimization scheme has been proven to be effective in finding global minima in many applications. We derive an iterative training algorithm based on this " global" optimization technique using the backpropagation as the " local" optimizer. We will verify the effectiveness of the learning algorithm via an empirical analysis of two signal classification problems. 1 PRELIMINARIES Artificial Neural Networks are highly interconnected networks of relatively simple processing units (commonly referred to as nodes e. g. perceptrons) which operate in parallel.


A new text classification model based on training samples selection and feature weight adjustment is presented. First it computes representativeness score of samples so as to distinguish noise samples from original training samples. Then a feature weight adjustment taking inter-class distribution and intra-class distribution into consideration is used to further improve the performance of text classification. The presented text classification model is applied on Chinese text dataset provided by Fudan Database Center. The experiments show that the proposed model can improve the performance of text classification to some extent with fewer training samples and fewer feature dimensions.


Evaluation of the immune system parameters can be used in order to assess capacity to adapt under conditions of increased external chemical load, including exposure to metals, which can exert either activating and inhibitory effects upon immune regulation parameters. The aim of this work was the analysis of immunoregulatory markers in a children's population who consumed water with high strontium content (a sample from the Perm region). We carried out immunological evaluation of the children aged 7 to 12 years, living at a territory with a high strontium content in the drinking water. The comparison group included children from the conventionally clean region. We studied differential changes in cellular immunity (phagocytosis rates), humoral factors of immune defense (serum immunoglobulins), development of specific sensitization for strontium, as well as the processes of apoptosis triggering and regulation. A 3.68-fold increase in strontium levels was shown in fresh water within observation area, and the average  blood strontium content in the children of appropriate observation group was 1.55-fold higher than in children of the comparison group. At the same time, 1.2-fold increase in phagocytic activity determined as phagocytic number and phagocytic index was found, as compared to the control group. In 80% of the subjects, a reduction in serum IgG level was observed when compared to physiological norm, as well as a significant decrease in IgG and enhance in IgM production against the levels found in the comparison group. Wehave also shown an enhanced total sensitization in 55.0% of the observation group as shown by the total IgE test compared with normal age ranges, as well as excessive specific sensitization to strontium by 2.49 times, according to the IgG criterion. Disturbance in apoptosis triggering was associated with decreased number of CD95+ lymphocytes and TNFR1+ cells (2.8-fold compared to reference values), shifted balance in apoptogenic proteins, an average of 2.6-fold decrease in Bcl-2 expression, a 2.8-fold reduction of the p53 transcription factor expression relative to the reference interval. Thus, we have shown an ability of strontium excess in drinking water to influence the most important indices of immune regulation in pediatric population. These changes may serve as indices of populational health status under of external strontium exposure.