Britain and the United States differ in their attitudes to screening for early neonatal group B streptococcal disease. Americans have long recognised it as a major preventable disease, especially in deprived urban areas, and have implemented screening. The US Centres for Disease Control advocates universal screening. British doctors have been more cautious, and if the paper by the Health Protection Agency Group B Streptococcus Working Group (pp. 1006–1011) is correct they may have been rather cavalier about the whole issue. In arguing that screening may not be worthwhile, doctors in the UK relied on prevalence studies that largely excluded deprived areas and probably underestimated the risk, and when they did detect at risk women British doctors rarely used the recommended antibiotic regimes. The present report shows that the disease is sufficiently common, at least in London, to justify the current RCOG recommendation of risk-factor based screening. Whether it justifies universal screening is debatable. I suspect most women would want screening if the issues were explained, but in Britain the final decision will, rightly or wrongly, depend on an economic cost benefit analysis. Although there is no similar transatlantic divide over Rhesus prophylaxis with anti-D immunoglobulin, routine antenatal prophylaxis also remains controversial. It has been slow to catch on, partly because of limited supplies of naturally derived anti-D, and partly because of cost and safety concerns. The supply and safety issues largely disappeared with the development of synthetic recombinant anti-D, and the cost issue is addressed by an economic analysis on pp. 892–902 commissioned by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence from the Sheffield School of Health and Health Related Research (ScHARR). The bottom line is that the marginal cost of offering antenatal prophylaxis to primigravidae is about £12K per Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) gained. Extending it to all at risk women pushes the marginal cost up to about £50K per QALY. The authors leave it to readers and policy makers to make the final decisions about implementation, but such people may wonder how reliable such analyses really are. There seems to be no major methodological flaw in the study, and the accuracy of the authors' quality of life estimates is probably as good as anyone could achieve. On a scale where full health is 1 and death zero, the authors valued minor developmental problems as 0.8 and major ones as 0.4, although even they baulked at valuing the parental grief associated with fetal death or handicap. This meant they had to ignore this in their calculations, although to their credit they discuss the problem. The real problem is the difficulty of finding valid prices to put in the model. The whole point of economics is to allocate resources efficiently, i.e. where they will do the most good. If it cost £50K to gain a QALY from antenatal anti-D but only £30K to gain one from doing say more cervical screening I made the latter figure up then we should put money into cervical screening. The validity of all such calculations depends on using market prices, i.e. prices that reflect the balance of supply and demand for the resource. The problem is we know the market price for potatoes but not for health care. The NHS list price for anti-D is not a market price; bureaucrats set it. Neither does measuring the time staff spend on say amniocentesis, fetal transfusion or neonatal care and calculating a proportion of their government-regulated salaries give a market price. Free market prices carry information, but they don't exist in the NHS. The USSR had no market prices either and eventually collapsed, partly for that reason; no-one knew whether they should be investing in women's fashions, or more steel production. As health care expenditure increasingly goes on treatments of relatively marginal benefit, it is becoming increasingly difficult for an NHS without market prices to allocate resources sensibly. Perhaps the private sector will provide the missing information. In the present study the authors turned to the independent Association of Radical Midwives to estimate the cost of administering each dose of anti-D.


Efficient wide-band transitions play a critical role in integrating substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) and air-filled substrate-integrated waveguide (AFSIW) systems with conventional rectangular waveguide (RWG) systems in millimeter wave communication. However, existing techniques lack a systematic design approach, overlook mode purity, encounter performance issues, involve tedious optimizations, and feature complex structures. This paper presents a first-of-its-kind design technique that addresses these limitations, enabling seamless transitions from RWG to both SIW and AFSIW. For the first time, a clear and systematic design flow is introduced, covering both transition scenarios. The proposed technique eliminates the need for separate design procedures, simplifying the process, reducing complexity, and offering a cost-effective solution with state-of-the-art performance. The key innovation lies in the analytical expression for the shortest transition length, derived for both SIW and AFSIW cases, facilitating the design process and optimizing transition performance. The effectiveness of the design flow is extensively validated through four design examples, evaluating mode purity, reflection coefficient, and insertion loss. The results demonstrate excellent performances, confirming the accuracy of the approach. Furthermore, a fabricated prototype achieves remarkable results with an insertion loss of 0.35 dB and a relative bandwidth of 40%, exhibiting state-of-the-art performances when compared to reported works in the literature. In summary, the novel design technique enables seamless wide-band transitions from RWG to both SIW and AFSIW, offering a unified approach with state-of-the-art performance.


© Cambridge University Press 2002, 2007. In July 2000 I wrote the preface to the first edition of this book, which read: Performance measurement is on the agenda. New reports and articles on the topic have been appearing at a rate of one every five hours of every working day since 1994. A search of the World Wide Web reveals over 170,000 sites dedicated to it. In 1996, one new book on the subject appeared every two weeks in the US alone. Since 1994 Business Intelligence, a professional conference organising company based in the UK, has organised some 90 separate events on business performance measurement (BPM). Some 2,700 delegates from over 1,400 different firms attended these conferences. In terms of delegate fees alone, Business Intelligence has accrued over $5 million. Add to this, the revenues received by other conference organisers, publishers, market research firms, software vendors and consultants and it is clear that business performance measurement is a multi-million dollar industry. Like many multi-million dollar industries developments are rapid. Recent years have seen the introduction of new methods of measurement, such as activity-based costing, throughput accounting and shareholder value analysis. New measurement frameworks, most notably the balanced scorecard and the business excellence model, have taken the business community by storm. Data collected by the US research firm, Gartner, suggest that 70% of firms will be using balanced scorecards to measure business performance by the end of 2000. Other data, such as that collected by the US consulting firm Towers Perrin, indicate that the majority of firms have introduced their balanced scorecards during the last five years.


A pairs trading strategy (PTS) constructs and monitors a stationary portfolio by shorting (longing) when the portfolio is adequately over- (under-)priced measured by a predetermined open threshold. We close this position to earn the price differences when the portfolio's value reverts back to the mean level. When the portfolio is significantly over- (under-)priced measured by another predetermined stop-loss threshold, we close the position to stop loss. This paper develops a two-stage deep learning method to improve the investment performance of a PTS. Note that the literature executes a PTS by selecting the best trigger threshold (a combination of open and stop-loss thresholds) from a restricted, heuristically-determined set of trigger thresholds. Such a design significantly degrades investment performance. However, selecting the best threshold from all possible thresholds yields a non-converged training problem. To resolve this dilemma, we propose in the first stage of our method a representative label mechanism by which to construct a set of candidate trigger thresholds based on all possible thresholds and then train a deep learning (DL) model to select the best from the set. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed first-stage method avoids the non-converged training problem and outperforms most state-of-the-art methods. To further reduce the trading risk, the second stage trains another DL with the profitability of each trade labeled by executing the PTS with trigger thresholds recommended in the first-stage mechanism to remove unprofitable trades. Compared to models that indirectly judge profitability by price movement similarity without considering the quality of the recommended trigger thresholds, our model produces higher win rates and average profits. Furthermore, we find that training with the PTS portfolio value process exhibiting time invariance clearly outperforms training with only time-varying stock/return processes, even though the latter training set contains more information. This is because unpredictable changes in market trends cause the model to learn time-varying patterns from the training set that may not apply to the testing set.


Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) represents an unprecedented worldwide health problem. Although the primary site of infection is the lung, growing evidence points towards a crucial role of the intestinal epithelium. Yet, the exact effects of viral infection and the role of intestinal epithelial-immune cell interactions in mediating the inflammatory response are not known. In this work, we apply network biology approaches to single-cell RNA-seq data from SARS-CoV-2 infected human ileal and colonic organoids to investigate how altered intracellular pathways upon infection in intestinal enterocytes leads to modified epithelial-immune crosstalk. We point out specific epithelial-immune interactions which could help SARS-CoV-2 evade the immune response. By integrating our data with existing experimental data, we provide a set of epithelial ligands likely to drive the inflammatory response upon infection. Our integrated analysis of intra- and inter-cellular molecular networks contribute to finding potential drug targets, and suggest using existing anti-inflammatory therapies in the gut as promising drug repurposing strategies against COVID-19.


A technique was developed for fabricating spherical shell targets for implosion physics experiments with diameters up to several millimeters and with unique structural features such as thin metal layers or texture on the inside surface. We start with a spherical bead or thin shell of poly(alpha‐methylstyrene) (PAMS) of the desired size, which can be textured by laser photoablation or overcoated with a thin layer of diagnostic material. The mandrel is next overcoated with plasma polymer (CH) 2–50 μm thick. Upon heating, the PAMS depolymerizes to a gaseous monomer which diffuses through the thermally stable plasma polymer coating leaving a hollow shell. Shells produced by this technique are uniform in wall thickness, and highly spherical. If the PAMS mandrel is textured, the mandrel topology is transferred to the inner wall of the plasma polymer shell. Likewise, thermally stable coatings on the mandrel are transferred to the inner shell wall.A technique was developed for fabricating spherical shell targets for implosion physics experiments with diameters up to several millimeters and with unique structural features such as thin metal layers or texture on the inside surface. We start with a spherical bead or thin shell of poly(alpha‐methylstyrene) (PAMS) of the desired size, which can be textured by laser photoablation or overcoated with a thin layer of diagnostic material. The mandrel is next overcoated with plasma polymer (CH) 2–50 μm thick. Upon heating, the PAMS depolymerizes to a gaseous monomer which diffuses through the thermally stable plasma polymer coating leaving a hollow shell. Shells produced by this technique are uniform in wall thickness, and highly spherical. If the PAMS mandrel is textured, the mandrel topology is transferred to the inner wall of the plasma polymer shell. Likewise, thermally stable coatings on the mandrel are transferred to the inner shell wall.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the inelastic behavior of hollow reinforced concrete bridge column sections with reinforcement details for material quantity reduction and to provide the details and reference data. Among the numerous parameters, this study concentrates on the shape of the section, the reinforcement details, the diameter of the transverse reinforcement and loading types. Eighteen column section specimens were tested under quasi-static monotonic loading. In this study, the computer program RCAHEST (Reinforced Concrete Analysis in Higher Evaluation System Technology) was used. A modified lateral confining effect model was adopted for the hollow bridge column sections. This study documents the testing of hollow reinforced concrete bridge column sections with reinforcement details for material quantity reduction and presents conclusions based on the experimental and analytical findings.


Abstract
 In most avian species, parents incubate their eggs until they hatch, paying an energetic cost in the process. Incubating individuals are expected to efficiently adjust their investment in incubation according to the thermal demands of their eggs and their partner's contribution to the process. In this study, the effects of ambient temperature, incubation stage, clutch size, and food provisioning by males on the incubation behavior of females, were investigated in the Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus. We video recorded behavior at 16 nests throughout the 15-day incubation period and established that only females incubate. During the early stage of incubation (5–7 days after completion of the clutch) female shrikes spent more time incubating, with longer periods on the nest (on-bout duration) and shorter periods off the nest (off-bout duration), than during the late stage (9–11 days after clutch completion). Females with larger clutches spent more time incubating than those with smaller clutches. Ambient temperature did not strongly affect female incubation behavior. Male provisioning was positively correlated with the length of time females spent incubating and their on-bout duration. Male provisioning plays an important role in the greater involvement of females in incubation, thereby ensuring normal embryonic development.


ObjectivesFamilial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autoinflammatory disease characterized by recurrent attacks of fever and polyserositis and an autosomal recessive inheritance mode. Up to 15 % of FMF patients are reported to experience perimenstrual attacks. Primary dysmenorrhea could be an incomplete abdominal attack, or patients with dysmenorrhea may have increased frequency of MEFV gene mutation carriage. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the frequency of MEFV gene mutations in patients with dysmenorrhea.MethodsEighty-four patients with primary dysmenorrhea attending consecutively to our gynecology department and 73 healthy female controls selected from hospital staff were included in the study, and MEFV gene mutations were analyzed.ResultsThe prevalence of total allelic variants was significantly increased in dysmenorrhea patients (p = 0.015); analysis of individual variant rates revealed a significant increase in the frequency of MEFV gene mutations in dysmenorrhea patients compared with the control group (p = 0.036).ConclusionGynecologists and primary care physicians must be aware of FMF in the differential diagnosis of dysmenorrhea.


Abstract Introduction: In the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, lung ultrasound can be of decisive importance for planning further treatment approach in patients with infection. There is still no clear priority for the choice of lung ultrasound protocol in an outpatient setting. Aim: The objective of the study was to evaluate the applicability of 12-zone protocol lung ultrasound for the diagnosis of COVID-19 associated pneumonia in outpatients. Materials and methods: We examined 39 outpatients meeting the diagnostic criteria of COVID-19 infection (17 men and 22 women) aged 31–75 years (median 49 years). All patients underwent lung ultrasound immediately after chest computed tomography performed by a blinded specialist. Correlation analysis of the results of a quantitative assessment of the detected signs, assessment of the diagnostic significance of lung ultrasound for identifying signs of pneumonia were performed. Results: Pneumonia was diagnosed by computed tomography in 25 (64%; 95% CI 47–79) out of 39 patients. At the same time, ultrasound signs of interstitial abnormalities were detected in 31 patients. Multiple (narrow) B-lines, confluent (wide) B-lines, as well as areas of subpleural consolidation and "white lung" were the most common lung ultrasound abnormalities. When evaluating the method, the optimal sensitivity/specificity ratio was obtained for a value of ≥2 points, the area under the curve = 0.970 (95% CI 0.858–0.999; p <0.0001). The score of lung ultrasound significantly correlated with computed tomography quantitative assessment (r = 0.928, p <0.001). Conclusion: Despite some limitations, lung ultrasound can be extremely useful in primary care settings, also in the case of a significant number of admitted patients, to detect features of COVID-19 associated pneumonia.


Abstract Objectives: Most research examining the impact of patients seeking online health information treats internet information homogenously, rather than recognizing that there are multiple types and sources of available information. The present research was conducted to differentiate among sources and types of internet information that patients search for, intend to discuss with their doctors, and recall discussing with their doctors, and to determine how accurate and hopeful patients rate this information. Methods: We surveyed 70 breast cancer patients recruited from the waiting rooms of breast medical oncology and surgery clinics. The main variables in the study were as follows: (1) the sources and types of online information patients have read, intended to discuss, and actually discussed with their doctors, and (2) how accurately and hopefully they rated this information to be. Results: Patients read information most frequently from the websites of cancer organizations, and most often about side effects. Patients planned to discuss fewer types of information with their doctors than they had read about. They most often intended to discuss information from cancer organization websites or WebMD, and the material was most often about alternative therapies, side effects, and proven or traditional treatments. Some 76.8% of total participants rated the information they had read as very or somewhat accurate, and 61% rated the information they had read as very or somewhat hopeful. Significance of Results: Internet information varies widely by source and type. Differentiating among sources and types of information is essential to explore the ways in which online health information impacts patients' experiences.


Introduction: DSP is a common situation in medical dispatching.Only little information is available about medical trajectories. We wanted to describe DSP's medical courses from medical dispatch to hospital admission. We also analyzed epidemiological, toxicological and clinical data of each course to identify severity criteria. Methods: We conducted a retrospective and monocentric study including all patients admitted for DSP after medical dispatch, from 01/01/08 to 31/12/10. We compared epidemiological, toxicological and clinical data between medical trajectories. Results: 2218 patients were included (62.3% are women). Median age was 41 y/o [30;49]. We identified 6 different courses of care. More than 90% had an appropriate trajectory. DSP with carbamates, neuroleptics, tricyclic, cardiotropes, and antiepileptic were more frequent in severe DSP and the number of ingested pills was higher. 5.6% of our population was transferred in an intensive care unit after emergency admission. There was no significant difference in terms of epidemiological and toxicological criteria between these patients and those from the severe group. 12% of ICU transferred patients arrived at hospital with mobile intensive care unit and had a lower Glasgow score than patients transported to hospital by a medical team and admitted to ED without requiring a higher level of care. The minimal GCS (p<0.001) recorded during the transport were also lower in this group. Conclusion: We identified different toxicological profile corresponding to different medical trajectories for DSP patients. Drugs related criteria seem to be major determinants of medical dispatch. GCS also seems to be a key factor in DSP patients'orientation.


In this study, heat transfer investigation is done in order to improve the cooling effect for green building without damaging the environment. This proposal is provoked by the desire to reduce the temperature for the green building and to sustain the environment and natural resources.To this end, we have been addressing sustainability concerns related to building construction materials through many research approach applied to building elements where we can collectively influence design, materials, construction, energy consumption and disposal. Bio-composites can best be used in the building industry today and what fundamental advancements are needed to facilitate more widespread application of these clean, energy-efficient and resource-rich construction materials. The use of heat insulation in the building envelope in hot and humid climate is investigated through computer simulation. Simulation of heat transfer in the aspect of reducing the temperature phenomenon inside the green building using FLUENT-GAMBIT. This study was carried out to study the cooling effect of bio-composites materials when combining with solid wood. ln this project work the simulation of heat transfer and the temperature curve in the traditional wood house and green building model is computed out using gambit and fluent software. The use of thermal insulation in the building envelope ill hot and humid climate is investigated through computer simulation and experimental method. The problem will be solved by using the software package FLUENT — GAMBIT. The results showed that the lowest heat convection process occurred on combination of Merawan wood and Biocomposite 2 ( Cob ) that is 396.75 W. After comparing the result between experimental and simulation method it is found that the percentage of difference between these two methods is in a small range and below 5 % percentage of difference. Hence it is proven that the simulation result by using CFD simulation is an excellent software to predict the effective thermal conductivity, thermal contour and distribution of the whole model.


Purpose : Visceral obesity is a more reliable indicator of cardiovascular risk factor than BMI. Our study was designed to compare the prevalence of visceral obesity in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients to hemodialysis (HD) patients with abdominal fat CT in a single center. Methods : In this cross sectional study, the result of abdominal fat CT of dialysis patients was investigated from January, 2007 to March, 2007 in Uijeongbu St. Mary■s Hospital. To evaluate the risk factors related to visceral obesity, we analyzed patients■medical records such as duration of dialysis, lipid profiles, anthropometric data and the presence of DM. Results : We enrolled 65 HD patients and 67 PD patients. PD group had higher mean body weight, mean body mass index (BMI), and triglyceride level, compared to HD group. The PD group had higher visceral fat area, measured by abdominal fat CT than HD group. The prevalence of visceral obesity was higher in PD group than HD group. Visceral fat area showed positive co-relation with BMI in HD group, but did not in PD group. The age related prevalence of visceral obesity was significantly increased in the patients with older age group (>65). Conclusion : Our cross sectional study points to the fact that visceral obesity is more common in PD patients than HD patients. It is necessary to control weight and nutritional status, especially in PD patients for preventing metabolic complications.


Page 1/18 10/26/2019 https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/what-is-mormon-transhumanism-and-is-it-mormon/ Abstract: Some sources have described Mormonism as the faith most friendly to the intellectual movement known as Transhumanism. This paper reviews an introductory paper by the past President of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. A syllogism that purports to show that Mormonism is compatible with — or even requires — Transhumanism is analyzed. The syllogism's premises are shown to misunderstand or misrepresent LDS scripture and doctrine. The proffered Transhumanist conception of "human nature" and the perspective offered by LDS scripture are compared and found to be incompatible. Additional discrepancies between the Transhumanist article's representation of LDS doctrine and the actual teachings of LDS scripture and leaders on doctrinal matters (the Premortal Council in Heaven, the relationship between substance dualism and LDS thought, and the possibility of engineering or controlling spiritual experiences) are examined. The article does not accurately reflect LDS teachings, and thus has not demonstrated that Transhumanism is congenial to LDS scripture or doctrine.


Given the increase in cache capacity over the past few decades, cache access efficiency has come to play a critical role in determining system performance. To ensure efficient utilization of the cache resources, <italic>non-uniform cache architecture</italic> (NUCA) has been proposed to allow for a large capacity and a short access latency. With the support of networks-on-chip (NoC), NUCA is often employed to organize the last level cache. However, this method also hurts cache access fairness, which denotes the degree of non-uniformity for cache access latencies. This drop in fairness can result in an increased number of cache accesses with overhigh latency, which leads to a bottleneck in system performance. This paper investigates the cache access fairness in the context of NoC-based 3-D chip architecture, and provides new insights into 3-D architecture design. We propose <italic>fair-NUCA</italic> (F-NUCA), a co-design scheme intended to optimize cache access fairness. In F-NUCA, we strive to improve fairness by equalizing cache access latencies. To achieve this goal, the memory mapping and the channel width are both redistributed non-uniformly, thereby equalizing the non-contention and contention latencies, respectively. The experimental results reveal that F-NUCA can effectively improve cache access fairness. When F-NUCA is compared with the traditional static NUCA in a simulation with PARSEC benchmarks, the average reductions in average latency and latency standard deviation are 4.64%/9.38% for a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4 \times 4 \times 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mesh network, as well as 6.31%/13.51% for a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4 \times 4 \times 4$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mesh network. In addition, a 4.0%/6.4% improvement in system throughput can be achieved for the two scales of mesh networks, respectively.


To promote the practical fire Probability Risk Assessment (PRA) among Japanese industries based on the domestic fire experience, it is important to estimate generic fire ignition frequency distributions for Japanese nuclear power plants (NPPs), which are applicable to the fire PRA during full power operation.
 Firstly, the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) proposed the estimation process of the distributions, which consists of the four steps including sub steps as follows:
 Step 1: Fire event data collection including development of criteria
 Step 2: Fire event data analyses including development of criteria:
 Step 2.1: Screening of fire events to identify events to be classified
 Step 2.2: Classification of fire events from the viewpoint of fire severity of each event.
 Step 2.3: Categorization of fire events from the viewpoint of fire ignition source types
 Step 3: Estimation of generic fire ignition frequency distributions
 Step 4: Comparison of the results of Step 3 with fire ignition frequency estimated in other countries
 In this paper, CRIEPI introduced the detail of Step 1 and 2 above and discussed the study results for them, which are essential to estimate generic fire ignition frequency distributions properly. Through Step 1, CRIEPI established a preliminary fire event database based on fire records at Japanese NPPs provided by domestic utilities. In step 2.1, CRIEPI identified the 180 fire events for future steps. Finally, CRIEPI classified the fire events and defined the fire ignition source categories in Step 2.2 and 2.3. As a result, CRIEPI found the major three risk contributors among fire ignition source categories: transient related fires, electrical cabinet fires and pump fires.


THE BACTERIA which may be recovered from the normal human eye have been recorded in the literature a number of times.* The consistent findings of Micrococcus pyogenes var. albus (Staphylococcus albus) and diphtheroids in the great majority of cultures from the conjunctivae and lids of normal eyes characterize these reports. The present investigation is a study of the organisms grown from eye cultures of patients admitted to the Thigpen-Cater Eye Hospital for cataract extraction over the period from 1947 to 1952. The organisms recovered are considered as normal flora in that there are included only those cultures from patients who, upon ophthalmological examination at the time cultures were made, revealed no evidence of an infectious process in either eye. A point of interest which warrants a brief report of the results was the frequency with which certain members of the enteric Gram-negative group of bacteria were encountered. The importance of


The report of 2021 hunger map of the World Food Program of the United Nations (WFP) shows that even though Southeast Asia has fertile land and is surrounded by maritime wealth, however many ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries still has a number of poverty and inability to access food and nutrition. ASEAN through the AIFS (ASEAN Integrated Food Security) Framework encourages ASEAN countries try to achieve ASEAN regional food security. This study will examine the role of ASEAN through AIFS (ASEAN Integrated Food Security) in achieving Indonesia's food security. This research used qualitative method, and the collecting data used primary data collection conducted through interviews with related parties, and secondary data through literatures review related to the role of ASEAN through ASEAN Integrated Food Security Framework or other food security policies. The theory of international organization role is used to answer the research question. This research found that ASEAN through AIFS framework plays role as an arena rather than instrument and independent actor in achieving food security in Indonesia.


In this research, we propose a method of extracting business segments from securities reports and extracting sentences containing causal and result information concerning business performance for each extracted business segments. For example, our method extracts" In the aluminum rolled products business, shipments of high purity foils for aluminum electrolytic capacitors for industrial equipment and automotive use increased and sales increased."as a sentence containing causal information concerning business performance. Moreover, our method estimates that the sentence belongs to business segment" aluminum". Our method extracts" As a result of this segment sales in this segment were 105,439 million yen, operating profit was 6,697 million yen."as a sentences containing performance result information belong to"aluminum"segment. We evaluated our method and the method of extracting sentences containing causal information attained 69.3% precision and 72.5% recall, and the method of extracting sentences containing performance result information attained 78.8% precision and 91.1% recall.


The Samigaluh area, Kulon Progo, Indonesia, is composed of rocks from the Old Andesite and Jonggrangan Formations, with very different physical properties. The difference in physical properties indeed results in the engineering properties of rocks, for example, in terms of compressive strength. Studying the relationship between physical properties and rock compressive strength in these two different formations is exciting to find out the extent of the relationship between physical properties and rock engineering. A geological engineering survey was carried out simultaneously with the collection of six rock samples representing intrusive andesite, andesite (breccia and lava fragments), and tuff of the Old Andesite Formation (OAF), limestone (reef/calcarenite) Jonggrangan Formation. Furthermore, rock samples were analyzed physically (petrographically) and mechanically (compressive strength) in the laboratory. The results of field surveys and analysis of laboratory data yield knowledge about the relationship between the physical properties of rocks and their compressive strength. The intrusion andesites and OAF andesites generally have a porphyroaphanitic texture, anhedral - subhedral, hypocrystalline, inequigranular crystal form, with a massive structure, and the composition of plagioclase, quartz, and accessory minerals (hornblende). Fine-textured tuff, hypocrystalline, in the form of glass and crystal tuffs. The Jonggrangan limestones are fine to medium textured, well-sorted, grain supported, with variations of wackestone – packstone. The compressive strength of andesite is 39.98 – 49.36 MPa, calcarenite is 43.32 MPa, reef limestone is 20.44 MPa, and tuff is 11.15 MPa. The compressive strength of rock is influenced by texture (grain size/crystal) with a correlation coefficient of 68% (strong correlation). In comparison, rock composition (percentage of quartz) has a very weak correlation (correlation coefficient of 18%).


Self-modifying code is extensively used to obfuscate malware and to make reverse engineering harder. It consists in code that can modify its own instructions during the execution. Being able to analyse such code is crucial nowadays. In this paper, we consider the CTL model-checking problem of self modifying code. To model such programs, we use Self Modifying Pushdown Systems (SM-PDS), an extension of pushdown systems whose set of rules can be modified during execution. We reduce the CTL model-checking problem to the emptiness problem of Self-Modifying Alternating Büchi pushdown systems (SM-ABPDS). We implemented our techniques in a tool. We obtained encouraging results. In particular, our tool was able to detect several self-modifying malwares; it could even detect several malwares that well-known antiviruses such as McAfee, Norman, BitDefender, Kinsoft, Avira, eScan, Kaspersky, Qihoo-360, Avast, and Symantec failed to detect.


The study was primarily undertaken to check the efficacy of De Ritis ratio as a simple, sensitive, reliable and economical biochemical indicator of liver diseases especially alcoholic liver disease. The study was also focused on the controversy surrounding De Ritis ratio as an unequivocal marker of liver diseases. Our study indicated that the De Ritis ratio based on the levels of non-functional proteins is a better indicator of liver diseases in comparison to the ratio of Albumin and Globulin (based on plasma functional proteins). De Ritis ratio values were 1.01+ 0.24, 1.49+ 0.74 and 2.39+ 0.94** respectively with viral hepatitis, non viral hepatitis and Alcoholic liver disease. De Ritis ratio was highly significant as also the Total bilirubin (p-value 0.000 for both). Hence, the De Ritis ratio could be used in association with serum total bilirubin in differentiating Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) from viral (VH) and non viral hepatitis (NVH). The levels of Total protein and Albumin in serum and also the Albumin/ Globulin ratio were insignificant, thereby implying that the ratio of the Non-functional proteins (AST/ALT—the de Ritis ratio) could be used as an independent and reliable indicator of liver diseases in general and ALD in particular.


The production of starch based bioplastic from durian seed as polymer matrix with addition of chitosan as filler and sorbitol as plasticizer were investigated. The aim of this research to obtain the effect of hydrochloric acid concentration as chitosan solvent on the mechanical properties of bioplastics included tensile strength, elongation at break, modulus young, functional group using FT-IR, surface morphology using SEM. Starch is the raw material for bioplastics which extracted by the durian seeds, then characterized to determine its chemical composition. The method of bioplastic production used in this research was casting method. Variation of hydrochloric acid concentration used 0.9%v, 1.0%v, 1.1%v, 1.2%v and 1.3%v. Bioplastic were analyzed physical and chemical properties. From the analysis, best condition of bioplastics obtained at hydrochloric acid concentration 0,9%v with temperature 70 °C for tensile strength 10,629 MPa, elongation at break 8,207%, and modulus young 129,514 MPa. From the results of FT-IR analysis indicated O-H group and N-H group on bioplastics due to the addition of chitosan and sorbitol. The results of mechanical properties were supported by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed the bioplastic with chitosan as filler and plasticizer sorbitol have the fracture surfaces were a bit rough and jagged.


THE GOAL OF WARM-UP EXERcises is to prepare the entire body for exercise, and they should be directly related to the objective of a client's conditioning program. Although walking, stationary cycles, and calisthenics have traditionally been used as warm-ups, the medicine ball too can be utilized as an effective warm-up tool if the intensity and volume of exercises is appropriately managed. The advantage of using medicine ball warm-ups is that they can involve all the major muscle groups.


The stress response is one mechanism that the bladder urothelium could potentially employ to protect itself from cellular damage after exposure to arsenic and, in so doing, influence the shape of the dose-response curve at low concentrations of exposure to this environmental pollutant. In the present study, we used the cultured human urothelial cell line UROtsa, a model of human urothelium, to determine the expression of heat shock proteins hsp 27, hsp 60, hsc 70, and hsp 70 after acute and extended exposure of the cells to lethal and sublethal levels of sodium arsenite (NaAsO2). Acute exposure was modeled by exposing confluent cultures of UROtsa cells to 100 micro M NaAsO2 for 4 hr followed by a 48-hr recovery period. Extended exposure was modeled by exposing confluent UROtsa cells to 1, 4, and 8 micro M NaAsO2 for 16 days, with the highest concentration producing cell death by 4 days of exposure. The expression of hsp 27, hsp 60, hsc 70, and hsp 70 mRNA and protein was determined by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western analysis. Cell viability was determined by the MTT [(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay. The results demonstrated that the expression of hsp 27, hsp 60, and hsc 70 mRNA and protein were not consistently increased by either acute or extended exposure to NaAsO2. In contrast, hsp 70 expression was induced by NaAsO2 after both acute and extended exposure. The degree and duration of the induction of the hsp 70 protein in the extended time course of exposure to NaAsO2 correlated directly with UROtsa cell cytotoxicity. The substantial level of basal expression of hsp 27, hsp 60, and hsc 70 shown previously in human bladder urothelium, coupled with the inducible expression of hsp 70, could provide the human urothelium with a mechanism to withstand and recover from a low level of arsenite exposure.


The MINMOD high-resolution convective scheme was implemented in a finite-volume code operating in a general curvilinear co-ordinate system by adopting the normalised variable and space formulation of Darwish and Moukalled [1]. Predictions of the flow of UCM fluids in the 4:1 plane contraction and around a planar cylinder in a channel were used to assess the improvements in accuracy and stability of the scheme. For the contraction flow the asymptotic results for the velocity and stresses near the re-entrant corner are found to be in good agreement with Hinch's analysis [2] and the drag forces on the cylinder are in excellent agreement with those of Fan et al [3].


The performance of purebred Romanov (R) lambs and crossbred lambs of Romanov and Morkaraman (M) breeding were compared under a semi-intensive production system. The M breed is a fat-tailed breed native to Eastern Anatolia, Turkey. Analyses were conducted on data from 168 lambs produced from R and M ewes through laparoscopic artificial insemination (LAI) with the semen of pure R and F1 RxM rams. Pure R, F1 (RxM, ½ R), and ¼ R (RxM x M backcross) lambs were produced. The F1 and ¼ R lambs had heavier (P < 0.05) birth weights than R lambs while F1 and R lambs had heavier (P < 0.05) weaning weights than ¼ R lambs. The three groups of lambs differed (P < 0.05) from each other for age of puberty in males and females where with R lambs were the youngest, F1 lambs were intermediate, and ¼ R lambs were the oldest. The percentage of ewe lambs that exhibited estrus within one year of age was higher (P < 0.01) for R (100%) and F1 (67%) lambs than for ¼ R lambs (43%). In conclusion, improvement in growth and early reproductive traits can be obtained from crossbreeding the fat-tailed Morkaraman breed with the Romanov breed.


The NMR conformation of a carbocyclic analog of the Dickerson-Drew dodecamer [d(CGC-GAAT*T*CGCG)]2 containing 6'-alpha-Me carbocyclic thymidines (T*) has been determined and compared with that of its X-ray structure. The solution structure of the 6'-alpha-Me carbocyclic thymidine modified duplex has also been compared with the solution structure of the corresponding unmodified Dickerson-Drew duplex solved by us under the same experimental conditions. The NMR structures have been based on 24 experimental distance and torsion constraints per residue for [d(CGCGAAT*T*CGCG)]2 (1) and on 21 constraints per residue for the natural counterpart. In general, both final NMR structures are more close to the B-type DNA. The cyclopentane moieties of the carbocyclic thymidine residues adopt C1'-exo B-DNA type puckers (the phase angles P = 136-139 degrees and the puckering amplitudes psi = 36-37 degrees) that are close to their previously published crystal C1'-exo or C2'-endo puckers. The main differences between the two NMR structures are for beta(T*8) and epsilon, xi(T*7) backbone torsions (27-50 degrees ), for basepair twist for the 7-8 and 8-9 basepair steps (5-6 degrees), tilt for the 8-9 step (7 degrees), roll for the 7-8 step (7 degrees), shift for the 7-8 step (0.9A) and slide for the 9-10 step (0.6A). The relatively small deviations of helical structure parameters lead to structural isomorphism of these duplexes in aqueous solutions (atomic RMSD = 1.0A). The difference of the minor groove widths (less than 0.7A) in the core part of the modified duplex in comparison with the native one is much smaller than the difference between the X-ray structures of these duplexes. A detailed comparison of NMR and X-ray structure parameters showed significant monotonic differences (0.9-2.5A) for all basepair slides in both duplexes. Deviations between NMR and X-ray structure parameters for the modified duplex were also found for basepair tilt of the 4-5 step (13 degrees), rolls for the 8-9 and 10-11 steps (16 and 19 degrees), twist of the 3-4 step (8 degrees) and shift of the 9-10 step (0.9A).


Objective: To perceive the meaning of competent communication to nurses who are communication-expert nursing professors. Methods: This is a qualitative exploratory study using the following guiding question: "What is competent communication?" Data analysis was performed by means of Content Analysis. Results: Competent communication is an interpersonal process that must achieve the communicators' objectives. It presupposes basic communication knowledge, and that the individuals involved are aware of verbal and non verbal signs during interaction. It also requires clarity and objectivity, promotes self-knowledge and enables a more authentic life. Conclusion: These meanings for communicative competence point out the need for technical and human preparation, as well as the importance of listening and having an accurate perception of others, and the possibility of using that learning as an investment in self-knowledge and as a support for respecting those around us.


A thorough and continuous investigation of the association between education and depression in Southeast Asia is critical, particularly in Indonesia, where depression is highly prevalent. Despite this, studies on education and depression mainly use a cross-sectional design alone, which cannot control the bidirectionality of the relationship. Therefore, this study investigated the longitudinal effects of education on depression symptoms, based on nationally representative survey data. This study used as its basis a longitudinal socioeconomic and health survey in Indonesia, the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS). The survey collected data through face-to-face interviews with individual respondents and their families. The fourth and fifth waves of IFLS datasets were used in the analysis. A total number of 18,374 adult participants were included in the dataset. Depression symptoms were assessed based on a 10-item version of the CES-D (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression) Scale. Education level was the highest level of education attained by the participants. A cross-lagged longitudinal model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) or analysis of covariance structure. The results showed that the model of education and depression fits the data well. The fit indices of the model, χ2 (1, N = 18,374) = 21.592, p = 0.001, RMSEA = 0.033, CFI =. 0999, fulfilled the requirements for a good fit. Meanwhile, further analysis of the cross-lagged model revealed that education predicted depression and not the other way around. The standardized regression weights showed that higher education attainment reduces the risk of depression later in life. This study asserts that educational attainment has longitudinal effects on depression. Therefore, expanding the policies surrounding educational opportunity may prevent the onset of depression. This is important, especially in the Indonesian context, where the prevalence of depression among adults is higher than the global average. Access to further education deserves continued consideration in research and policy discussions on mental health and educational system development.


Invasions by alien plants can alter biogeochemical cycles in recipient ecosystems. We test if Early Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea) alters P fractions. To that end, we compare invaded plots and adjacent, uninvaded resident vegetation for specific fractions of organic and inorganic P, phosphomonoesterase (PME) activity in topsoil, and immobilization of P in aboveand belowground organs and in soil microbial biomass. Invaded plots had lower soil pH and 20%–30% higher labile P fractions (resin-P i , bicarb-P i , NaOH-Pi), and the difference was consistent across seasons. There was no difference in microbial P. Alkaline-PME activity was 30% lower in topsoil of invaded plots. Annual P uptake in aboveground phytomass was not markedly higher in Solidago. In contrast, P in belowground organs steadily increased in autumn in invaded plots, due to both increased biomass and increased P concentrations. This indicated higher net P immobilization in Solidago, far in excess of both resorption from senescing shoots and P requirements for aboveground biomass in subsequent year. Higher turnover rates of P in belowground organs and mobilization of sparingly soluble P forms through rhizosphere acidification may be involved in the observed differences in soil P status between invaded and uninvaded plots.


Adult stem cells play a critical role in tissue repair and maintenance. In tissues with slow turnover, including skeletal muscle, these cells are maintained in a mitotically quiescent state yet remain poised to re-enter the cell cycle to replenish themselves and regenerate the tissue. Using a multiomics approach we identify the PAX7/NEDD4L axis as a checkpoint against muscle stem cell activation in homeostatic skeletal muscle. Our findings demonstrate that PAX7 transcriptionally activates the E3 ubiquitin ligase Nedd4L and that the conditional genetic deletion of Nedd4L impairs muscle stem cell quiescence, with an upregulation of cell cycle and myogenic differentiation genes. Loss of Nedd4L in muscle stem cells results in the expression of DCX which is only expressed during their in vivo activation. Together, this data establishes that the ubiquitin proteasome system, mediated by Nedd4L, is a key regulator of the muscle stem cell quiescent state in non-injured skeletal muscle. Highlights - General inhibition of the ubiquitin proteasome system with MG132 results in muscle stem cells (MuSCs) breaking quiescence. - The E3 ubiquitin ligase Nedd4L is a transcriptional target of Pax7. - The Pax7/Nedd4l axis restricts MuSC activation in homeostatic skeletal muscle. - Genetic deletion of Nedd4L induces MuSCs' transition towards activation.


Disrupted organogenesis leads to permanent malformations that may require surgical correction. Autologous tissue grafts may be needed in severe lack of orthotopic tissue but include donor site morbidity. The placenta is commonly discarded after birth and has a therapeutic potential. The aim of this study was to determine if the amnion from placenta or plasma rich of growth factors (PRGF) with mononuclear cells (MNC) from umbilical cord blood (UCB), collected noninvasively, could be used as bio-constructs for autologous transplantation as an easy-accessible no cell culture-required method. Human amnion and PRGF gel were isolated and kept in culture for up to 21 days with or without small intestine submucosa (SIS). The cells in the constructs showed a robust phenotype without induced increased proliferation (Ki67) or apoptosis (caspase 3), but the constructs showed decreased integrity of the amnion-epithelial layer at the end of culture. Amnion-residing cells in the SIS constructs expressed CD73 or pan-cytokeratin, and cells in the PRGF-SIS constructs expressed CD45 and CD34. This study shows that amnion and UCB are potential sources for production of autologous grafts in the correction of congenital soft tissue defects. The constructs can be made promptly after birth with minimal handling or cell expansion needed.


Background Fragile X syndrome is the number one cause of inherited mental retardation in humans. The syndrome results from the silencing of the Fmr1 gene, which codes for the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). Previous studies have identified functional domains within FMRP, including 2 KH domains and an RGG box, which bind RNA, and a nuclear export signal (NES). FMRP has been proposed to play an important function in cells as it binds brain mRNA associated with polysomes. The gene is alternatively spliced into as many as 12 different mRNA transcripts. The majority of the functional domains of FMRP are affected by alternative splicing. These alterations in FMRP structure are expected to dramatically alter the biological properties of the isoforms. Fragile X syndrome displays the most significant phenotype in the brain and testis, characterized by severe macroorchadism in the latter. To more clearly understand this phenotype, the expression levels of the six major Fmr1 transcripts were determined in whole mouse testis. Study Design and Methods To determine quantitative expression levels of the six major Fmr1 isoforms in testis samples, quantitative real-time PCR was used. Current studies under way in the Morris laboratory are using mouse as a model system to investigate the expression levels of Fmr1 in whole brain samples. They have done this by developing primers that target each of the 12 different Fmr1 isoforms separately. The data have suggested that only 6 of the 12 are expressed to a significant degree. Therefore, primers targeting these 6 isoforms were used to quantitatively characterize whole testis samples. To normalize the data obtained, a gene that has been shown to be uniformly expressed throughout the body, the mouse form of the human acidic ribosomal binding protein, was also quantized. This allowed normaliazation of the data so they may be compared with one another. Results The isoform expression profile shows isoform 8 being expressed most abundantly, followed closely by 1. In descending order of abundance were isoforms 2, 3, 7, and 9. Seven and nine were present in very low quantities and essentially indistinguishable from one another. Conclusion The testis show an isoform expression profile almost identical to that observed in the brain. Although the expression profile was similar, the absolute amounts were far lower than that observed in the brain. Future studies may look at which cells express Fmr1 in the testis to further illuminate the origins of macroorchadism in patients with fragile X syndrome.


Here we describe "Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Medicine" (IEMed), a short elective course that exposed medical students to innovation and entrepreneurship. We assess students' self-rated familiarity with various learning objectives after the course and report survey outcomes. Students were most interested in further educational offerings focused on startups and innovation. However, students self-reported relatively lower levels of understanding in regulatory, reimbursement, and legal aspects of health tech. Most participants reported a desire to collaborate with or consult for industry partners, rather than to found or work at a startup. We conclude with a broader discussion of the need to expose medical students to opportunities in the technology industry.


This paper describes the use of simulation techniques to examine some of the processes involved in the alignment of voids under the influence of one-dimensional self interstitial atom (1-d SIA) transport. The work follows the paper of Heinisch and Singh [1] on this topic but a different and simpler methodology is used. Besides repeating the scenarios studied by Heinisch and Singh, the effects of re-nucleation and the influence of vacancies have been introduced. One of the important processes that emerged from the results was the barrier to precise void alignment caused by the SIA-induced coalescence of aligned voids. This appears to prevent the formation of stable void lattices by any 1-d SIA transport mechanism, a point supported by the initial void alignment in the mechanism requiring swelling values well above those found experimentally. A full consideration of the void lattice phenomenon shows that the one-dimensional diffusion of self-interstitials central to the production bias model of irradiation ...


The Sr isotopic compositions and Rb and Sr abundances, as well as major element abundances in olivine, pyroxenes and glass, were determined for a chip and 21 fractions separated from a shock-melted chondrite Yamato-793533, a dark-colored, porous stone with glassy texture. Two lithologies were recognized for the 1.5g specimen studied (Yamato-793533, 67) ; L (Main portion) and L to LL (Dark portion) chondritic in terms of chemical compositions of olivine and pyroxenes. The chemical compositions of glass are relatively homogeneous (SiO2=67-77%) compared to those of other ordinary chondrites, suggesting a moderate cooling rate after shock-melting. The data points for fractions do not foem any isochron in a 87Rb/86Sr vs. 87Sr/86Sr diagram. However, it is noted that six out of nine points for the dark portion plot around a 1.2 Ga line, while most of points for the main portion plot around a 4.55 Ga chondrite isochron. The observed difference could be responsible for difference in melting degrees between the two portions. Similar Rb-Sr features have been found among shock-melted Yamato-79 LL-chondrites which are considered to be paired stones experienced the same shock-melting event at 1.2 Ga. Consequently, the Rb-Sr systematics as well as petrologic features strongly suggest that Yamato-793533 is a member of a series of the shock-melted Yamato-79 LL-chondrites.


Neuroma formation after peripheral nerve transection often leads to severe neuropathic pain. Regenerative peripheral nerve interface has been shown to reduce painful neuroma in the clinic. However, no reports have investigated the underlying mechanisms, and no comparative animal studies on regenerative peripheral nerve interface and other means of neuroma prevention have been conducted to date. In this study, we established a rat model of left sciatic nerve transfection, and subsequently interfered with the model using the regenerative peripheral nerve interface or proximal nerve stump implantation inside a fully innervated muscle. Results showed that, compared with rats subjected to nerve stump implantation inside the muscle, rats subjected to regenerative peripheral nerve interface intervention showed greater inhibition of the proliferation of collagenous fibers and irregular regenerated axons, lower expressions of the fibrosis marker α-smooth muscle actin and the inflammatory marker sigma-1 receptor in the proximal nerve stump, lower autophagy behaviors, lower expressions of c-fos and substance P, higher expression of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor in the ipsilateral dorsal root ganglia. These findings suggested that regenerative peripheral nerve interface inhibits peripheral nerve injury-induced neuroma formation and neuropathic pain possibly via the upregulation of the expression of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor in the dorsal root ganglia and reducing neuroinflammation in the nerve stump.


This paper presents a new method for locating faults on three-terminal power lines. Estimation of a distance to fault and indication of a faulted section is performed using three-phase current from all three terminals and additionally three-phase voltage from the terminal at which a fault locator is installed. Such a set of synchronized measurements has been taken into consideration with the aim of developing a fault-location algorithm for applications with current differential relays of three-terminal lines. The delivered fault-location algorithm consists of three subroutines designated for locating faults within particular line sections and a procedure for indicating the faulted line section. Testing and evaluation of the algorithm has been performed with fault data obtained from versatile Alternate Transients Program-Electromagnetic Transients Program simulations. The sample results of the evaluation are reported and discussed.


Over the past thirty years, leadership has become a mantra in our culture - a path to power and money, a road to personal and professional success, and a mechanism for creating change that has spawned its own lucrative worldwide industry. Yet why does government remain riddled with inept, corrupt, or badly behaved leaders? Why is business filled with leaders who are venal, self-centered, and seek more power and influence than they can exercise wisely and well? Why, for all attention to ethics, is corruption and malfeasance so pervasive? "The End of Leadership" offers a critical rethinking of the "leadership industry", challenging the idea that leadership can be taught. Breaking with common wisdom, Barbara Kellerman argues that while leaders always were and still are the focus of our collective attention, they have never been as central to success as we think. Even in times past, when leaders had far more power, authority, and influence, they were vulnerable to forces beyond their control, forces that limited their options and constrained their behaviors. In the twenty-first century, she argues, these forces are stronger, more variegated, and more numerous than they ever were before, relegating current notions of leadership to the dustbin of history. Instead, she offers an alternative model that better reflects - and addresses - contemporary political and organizational realities.


Abstract This study examines the spatiotemporal relationship between the newly built subway line and land price, focusing on difference and correlation between commercial and residential land uses. For a spatiotemporally sensitive analysis, Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) method is used to test land price data in Daejeon, South Korea. A new approach is suggested in the bandwidth selection process of GTWR to consider the interactive relationship between commercial and residential land uses. With the proposed approach, this study develops models to measure the effects of a newly built subway line on commercial and residential land prices. The estimates of the models indicate that commercial and residential land uses have an interactive relationship, and the effects from the nearby environments indicate geographically and also temporally different patterns for each land use. The distribution of coefficients shows that the effect size is greater on the commercial land price than on the residential land price. However, the geographical effect is wider on the commercial land price, while the temporal effect is longer on the residential land price. This study provides a novel perspective on empirical research about the effects of newly built public transit on land prices. Furthermore, the results imply that land price estimation needs to consider the mutual relationship between land uses and to be differentiated by the type of land use.


Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is credible and promising technology methods for industrial wastewater treatment and recycle it to use in different applications. Today MBR has many domestic and industrial applications and it is popular among the types of conventional treatment methods. The main drawback in the operation of MBR is membrane fouling, that drive to the decrease in permeate flux so need some technique to clean the membrane. In spite of more than a decade of significant advances in improvement of fouling reduction technique, various physical and mechanical methods are still necessary to be improved to limit the membrane fouling problems. In this review, the advantages and disadvantages of membrane bioreactor, fundamental of membrane fouling that is affected by some factors and methods of controlling membrane fouling were discussed.


During December 1992, according to the Weekly Climate Bulletin of the Climate Analysis Center in Washington, D.C., heavy precipitation inundated parts of Arizona causing more than 400% of normal precipitation to fall in the southwestern part of the state. Heavy precipitation continued to fall during the next 2 months, causing extensive flooding along the Gila River.

Phoenix Weather Service Forecast Office monthly storm data reports indicated flooding along the Santa Cruz and San Pedro Rivers on December 29. From January 7 to 20, roads, bridges, homes, businesses, and farmland suffered considerable flood damage from Graham County westward to Yuma County as rivers and streams swelled. Several thousand people were isolated in their homes as flood waters cut off roads. The January storm data report shows that the combination of a northward-displaced subtropical jet stream, with its abundant moisture supply and associated low pressure disturbances and a southward-displaced polar jet stream, with its storm track, led to the abnormally wet period from late December to mid-January. In February, severe flooding was reported in several areas as water rose in the Painted Rock Reservoir; water accumulating behind the dam produced the largest lake in the state. After exceeding the 2.5 million acre-feet capacity of the reservoir, water began spilling over the dam and damaging homes, crops, farmland, roads, and bridges. About 3,500 residents were evacuated, and the National Guard responded to the flooding with various relief efforts including helicopter support operations. The U.S. and Arizona Departments of Agriculture reported flood damage in excess of $50 million.


Torreya Arn., a small genus of Taxaceae, consists of six species occurring in North America and eastern Asia. Several phylogenetic studies have previously been undertaken to reveal relationships within this genus, although only a few DNA segments or species were used. In the present study, we sequenced five Torreya plastomes and combined these with two existing plastomes from the genus to investigate plastome evolution and phylogenetic relationships within Torreya. All sequenced Torreya plastomes shared the same complement of 82 protein‐coding genes, 4 ribosomal RNA genes, and 31 transfer RNA genes. Phylogenetic inference using a maximum likelihood framework consisted of an 82‐gene, 17‐taxon dataset, including all species of Torreya, resolved Torreya as a monophyletic clade. Strongly supported relationships within the genus include the position of the early diverging T. jackii Chun, the two sister pairs T. fargesii Franch.–T. nucifera (L.) Siebold & Zucc. and T. grandis Fortune ex Lindl.–T. californica Torr., and the monophyly of the clade including T. fargesii var. yunnanensis, T. fargesii, and T. nucifera. In addition to the inference of species relationships, divergence time estimation and biogeographical analysis were carried out. The diversification of Torreya was estimated to be approximately 8.9 Ma. Ancestral state reconstruction of the geographical area suggested China/eastern North America as the most likely ancestral region for the six extant Torreya species.


Let the seats be plentiful and padded. Let the magazines be recent or let the book I've brought last until we can leave. Let the TV on its bolted stand be off, muted, or showing something I can ignore— weather, game shows, CNN. Let the room be mostly empty—no one shouting, sobbing, asking about my husband's health. Let everyone be strangers except the staff. Let the walls be freshly painted, soothing to behold. Let my husband be there for a physical or routine checkup. Let no one comment on my clothes, my possibly unwashed hair, how I can sit so calmly while he has staples or a catheter removed, his lungs or heart or kidneys tested, an infected wound debrided. Under no circumstances let me be called into the back by a nurse who touches my arm, says I'm sorry but— Let my husband walk out whistling before I've finished my book, looked at my watch too many times. Let the news be good or benign, his next appointment not for months. When the waiting is over, let us walk outside feeling better, or at least no worse, than we did before.


The spread of a source host is the number of distinct destinations that it has sent packets to during a measurement period. A spread estimator is a software/hardware module on a router that inspects the arrival packets and estimates the spread of each source. It has important applications in detecting port scans and DDoS attacks, measuring the infection rate of a worm, assisting resource allocation in a server farm, determining popular web contents for caching, to name a few. The main technical challenge is to fit a spread estimator in a fast but small memory (such as SRAM) in order to operate it at the line speed in a high-speed network. In this paper, we design a new spread estimator that delivers good performance in tight memory space where all existing estimators no longer work. The new estimator not only achieves space compactness but operates more efficiently than the existing ones. Its accuracy and efficiency come from a new method for data storage, called virtual vectors, which allow us to measure and remove the errors in spread estimation. We perform experiments on real Internet traces to verify the effectiveness of the new estimator.


An automatic differentiation tool (ADIFOR) is applied to a warm-rain, time-dependent 1D cloud model to study the influence of input parameter variability, including that associated with the initial state as well as physical and computational parameters, on the dynamical evolution of a deep convective storm. Storm dynamics are found to be controlled principally by changes in model initial states below 2 km; once perturbed, each grid variable in the model plays its own unique role in determining the dynamical evolution of the storm. Among all model-dependent variables, the low-level temperature field has the greatest impact on precipitation, followed by the water vapor field. Mass field perturbations inserted at upper levels induce prominent oscillations in the wind field, whereas a comparable wind perturbation has a negligible effect on the thermodynamic field. However, the wind field does influence the precipitation in a more complex way than does the thermodynamic field, principally via changes in time evolution. The simulated storm responds to variations in three physical parameters (the autoconversion/accretion rate, cloud radius, and lateral eddy exchange coefficient) largely as expected, with the relative importance of each, quantified via a relative sensitivity analysis, being a strong function of the particular stage in the storm's life cycle.


Aim: Numerous publications since the 1970s have reported an apparently high frequency of IBC in Tunisia affecting up to 50% of breast cancer patients. In the past 20 years, 3 complete national population-based cancer registries have provided more precise information about breast cancer (BC) incidence. Moreover, IBC diagnostic criteria moved from the French classification of aggressive or rapidly progressing breast cancer (RPBC) also designated as "pousee evolutive" (PEV) to the current system of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC). In this study we reviewed a series of publications and recent data from the Tunisian Breast Cancer Registries to evaluate the gradual changes in IBC and non-IBC and relate the findings to improvements in the general economic situation in this country.Methods: All indexed Tunisian publications regarding RPBC and IBC since 1970 were compiled and their data were compared to recent data from the Tunisian Cancer Registries. These findings were compared to reports on changing breast cancer patterns in Tunisia overall. Results: Trends in Tunisian BC were compared to the original report of RPBC from Tunisia9s National Cancer Institute, the Institut Salah Azaiz, which noted 340 of 581 (58.5%) consecutive breast cancer patients had RPBC which included 282 (48.5%) PEV 3 patients clinically indistinguishable from IBC in the United States. In 6 subsequent series including 700 to 1400 patients affected by BC published from 1985 to 2008, the relative percentage of IBC patients gradually decreased to 30.3%, 6.2% and 5.7% associated with a concurrent increase in the incidence of breast cancer nationwide. Registry data and hospital-based studies have shown also a progressive decrease in mean clinical tumor size in the past four decades from 60mm to 40mm and a discordant tumor size between private patients and public patients, the latter having significantly larger tumors at diagnosis. This trend, compatible with the early observation of a rural predominance of RPBC and a gradual increase in gross national product supports other etiuologic studies indicating a strong environmental determinant. for IBC. Conclusion : These data support a number of studies indicating that environmental factors, including poorer socioeconomic conditions, prolonged breast feeding, and obesity may be risk factors for IBC, and indicate the importance of environmental factors in the etiology of this disease. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 2077.


Dermatomyositis is an unusual disease, classified among the collagen diseases, which combine inflammatory and degenerative changes in the skin and muscle. It may be fatal. The onset is usually fairly acute, with an erythema described as "heliotrope" in color, and edema which is often brawny, of the face—particularly of the eyelids—and muscular weakness, prostrating usually though by no means always. The edema and erythema may involve the extensor aspects of the extremities, and later progresses to a mottled scaling with firmness in the texture of the skin and atrophy. There is an erythema of the hands occasionally, especially in children, which may be difficult to differentiate from that seen in lupus erythematosus of the disseminate type. Weakness of the muscles may be so great that the patient may have difficulty in swallowing or talking, and there may even be regurgitation of fluids through the


Abstract Questions: Does the litter layer of Pteridium aquilinum (bracken) act as a barrier to certain species in the seed bank? Does bracken control/restoration treatment affect seed transfer through the litter layer? Location: Five experiments at three sites across the UK covering two major vegetation types; acid-grassland and heath-land. Methods: At each experiment a range of bracken control and vegetation restoration treatments were applied for about ten years. The seed bank was sampled in both the bracken litter and the soil. The cover (%) of each species in the vegetation and the bracken litter abundance (cover and depth) was also estimated. Results: The bracken litter layer acts as an inert barrier as it contained a large proportion of seeds available in the litter-soil profile (38% - 67% of the total). Bracken litter depth and cover also influenced significantly the seed bank composition in both the bracken litter and the soil. These effects were site-specific, and species-specific. The application of treatments changed significantly the balance between seed inputs and outputs in the bracken litter layer for some species. This was either a positive or negative response relative to the untreated control plots. Conclusion: For heathland and acid-grassland restoration, the bracken litter layer may be an important seed source, but it must be disturbed particularly before seed addition. Abbreviation: RDA = Redundancy Analysis. Nomenclature: Stace (1997).


It has been viewed as an unsolved puzzle that only for a small number of firms a significant impact of foreign exchange rate risk on firm value could be detected empirically. This paper investigates whether the results of previous studies can be explained by the fact that only the linear exposure component has been estimated or that exchange rate indices were used. For a comprehensive sample of German firms, empirical evidence is presented for the existence of significant linear and nonlinear exposures, which can be identified for bilateral as well as multilateral foreign exchange rates. The percentage of foreign sales, measures of firm liquidity and industry sectors are significant determinants of the exposure.


This work presents a part of the results of a test campaign for channel propagation in aircraft cabins. The measurements were performed in February 2002 in an Airbus A319 in Hamburg (Germany), a single-aisle short-haul aircraft. Wideband measurements were performed inside the passenger's area to determine the propagation characteristics of the indoor cabin environment for personal wireless communications at the downlink band of a UMTS FDD system. The paper describes the measurement site and technique, the scenario under scope, and discusses the results of the statistical analysis for the impulse response characterization. The results of the analysis show that the cabin can be divided into 5 areas of roughly 3 m long each. In each of these areas the parameters of the linear filter modelling the impulse response are governed by the same law. The main outputs of the study are: (i) the distribution of the number of multipath components follows a Nakagami distribution; (ii) the mean amplitude of the multipath components for a certain delay results in an exponential function, with amplitude decaying exponentially with the distance and a different decay factor for each of the five areas of the cabin; (iii) the variations of the echo amplitude with respect to its mean is described by a log-normal distribution in most of the cabin area and by a Nakagami distribution at the furthest positions; (iv) the rms delay spread over the cabin increases with increasing transmitter-receiver distance.


OBJECTIVE
To increase the production of root bark of Fengdan by means of picking bud and cutting old branch cultivated in Nanling, Anhui province.

METHODS
An experimental plot where Fengdan has been culitivated for 4 years was selected, which was divided into 3 sections for the experiment of picking bud, cutting old branch and comparison. The buds were picked in spring of the first year. 20 plants were dug randomly from both of picking bud and comparison section monthly during April and September, and the dry weight of their root bark was recorded, respectively. The old branches were cut in autumn. 20 plants were dug randomly from both sections of cutting branch and comparison monthly during April and September of the second year, and their root bark dry weight was recorded.

RESULTS
The statistical and comparative results showed that compared to the comparison section, prcking bud section botains little increase of production of root bark, while cutting old branch section had got notable increase of production.

CONCLUSION
Picking bud plays an unimportant role in the production of Fengdan bark, while cutting old branch has significant influence on it.


Acknowledgments Introduction Karen L. Levenback PART ONE: WOOLF, WAR, AND GENDERED POLITICS The Value of Three Guineas in the Twenty-First Century - Eileen Barrett, California State University, East Bay Woolf and the War Machine - Gina Potts, Queen Mary, University of London Writing as Unraveling: Woolf's Gendered Decontruction of War - Lisa L. Coleman, Southeastern University PART TWO: WOOLF, WAR, AND IMAGE Photographing Violence: Three Guineas and Contemporary Feminist Responses to Images of War - Kimberly Engdahl Coates, Bowling Green State University Virginia Woolf in the Age of Aerial Bombardment - Stuart N. Clarke Mrs. Dalloway and the Art of Death: Monuments, Merchandise, and Memoirs - Danell Jones, Montana State University, Bozeman PART THREE: WOOLF, WAR, AND TRAUMA Pacifying Bloomsbury: Virginia Woolf, Julian Bell, and the Spanish Civil War - Emily Robins Sharpe, Pennsylvania State University Thinking Peace into Existence: Narrating Trauma and Mourning in Freud, Woolf, and Morrison - Noreen O'Connor, King's College What else can a gnat on a blade of grass do?: Thinking of War, Writing of Peace - Lolly Ockerstrom, Park University PART FOUR: WOOLF, WAR, AND PEDAGOGY The Echo Chambers of War in A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas: Teaching the Interconnection of Gender Oppression and Endless Warfare - Vara Neverow, Southern Connecticut State University Active Pacifism in a World at War: The Legacy of Virginia Woolf's Pacifist Theory on Narrative Structure - Nancy Knowles, Eastern Oregon University The Practical Wisdom of the "Educated Man's Daughter": Feminist Rhetorical Theory and Woolf's Three Guineas - Kristen Garrison, Texas Woman's University Afterword by Jane M. Wood Notes on the Contributors.


Anaplasmosis is caused by the bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilum and transmitted by Ixodes spp. ticks. According to some reports the disease can be introduced into disease-free zones by migrating birds. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of A. phagocytophilum in horses in the Camargue. Data concerning 424 horses were gathered and the sera were tested for A. phagocytophilum and for piroplasmoses using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and a complement fixation test, respectively. The seroprevalence rates were 11.3 % for A. phagocytophilum, 64.4 % for Theileria equi and 19.7% for Babesia caballi. Stallions were less likely to produce antibodies against A. phagocytophilumthan were females or geldings (odds ratio [OR] = 0.3; p = 0.021). The presence of swallows increased the risk of infections in stables (OR = 5.18; p = 0.011). Spatial analysis showed the existence of groups of infected stables along canals and rivers (p = 0.008). These results suggest an emergence of A. phagocytophilum in the Camargue.


We report an all-fibre erbium laser operating in the regime of passive harmonic mode-locking based on the effect of nonlinear polarisation rotation. The generation of the 67th harmonic with a pulse repetition rate of 5.62 GHz and a duration of 1.8 ps is demonstrated. It is shown that as the harmonic number increases, both the frequency modulation parameters and the pulse duration change.


The memory hierarchy in modern architectures continues to be a major performance bottleneck. Many existing techniques for improving memory performance focus on Fortran and C programs, but memory latency is also a barrier to achieving high performance in object-oriented languages. Existing software techniques are inadequate for exposing optimization opportunities in object-oriented programs. One key problem is the use of high-level programming abstractions which make analysis difficult. Another challenge is that programmers use a variety of data structures, including arrays and linked structures, so optimizations must work on a broad range of programs. We develop a new unified data-flow analysis for identifying accesses to arrays and linked structures, called recurrence analysis. Prior approaches that identify these access patterns are ad hoc, or treat arrays and linked structures independently. The data-flow analysis is intra- and inter-procedural, which is important in Java programs that use encapsulation to hide implementation details.
We show Java programs that traverse arrays and linked structure have poor memory performance. We use compiler-inserted data prefetching to improve memory performance in these types of programs. The goal of prefetching is to hide latency by bringing data into the cache prior to a program's use of the data. We use our recurrence analysis to identify prefetching opportunities in Java programs. We develop a new algorithm for prefetching arrays, and we evaluate several methods for prefetching objects in linked structures. Since garbage collection is an integral part of Java, we evaluate the impact of a copying garbage collector on prefetching. We demonstrate how to improve the memory performance of the collector itself by using prefetching. This dissertation shows that a unified whole-program compiler analysis is effective in discovering prefetching opportunities in Java programs that traverse arrays and linked structures. Compiler-inserted data prefetching improves the memory performance even in the presence of object-oriented features that complicate analysis.


Some new realizations of third order lowpass (LP) Butterworth filters using the current differencing buffered amplifier (CDBA) and current feedback amplifier (CFA) type unity gain cells are presented. The circuits are practically active insensitive to the decvice port tracking errors (e). Effects of the device parasitic capacitances on the nominal design are insignificant which can be conveniently compensated. With suitable design alternate bandpass (BP) Butterworth characteristics may also be obtained.


We present an experimental characterization of cylinder wakes in flowing soap films. From instantaneous velocity and thickness fields, we find the vortex-shedding frequency, mean-flow velocity, and mean-film thickness. Using the empirical relationship between the Reynolds and Strouhal numbers obtained for cylinder wakes in three dimensions, we estimate the effective soap-film viscosity and its dependence on film thickness. We also compare the decay of vorticity with that in a simple Rankine vortex model with a dissipative term to account for air drag.


Atypical antipsychotics, such as olanzapine, are commonly prescribed to patients with schizophrenic symptoms and other psychiatric disorders. However, weight gain and metabolic disturbance cause adverse effects, impair patient compliance and limit clinical utility. Thus, a better understanding of treatment-acquired adverse effects and identification of targets for therapeutic intervention are believed to offer more clinical benefits for patients with schizophrenia. Beyond its nutritional effects, studies have indicated that supplementation of chromium brings about beneficial outcomes against numerous metabolic disorders. In this study, we investigated whether olanzapine-induced weight gain and metabolic disturbance involved chromium dynamic mobilization in a female Sprague-Dawley rat model, and whether a dietary supplement of chromium improved olanzapine-acquired adverse effects. Olanzapine medicated rats experienced weight gain and adiposity, as well as the development of hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia, and inflammation. The olanzapine-induced metabolic disturbance was accompanied by a decrease in hepatic Akt and AMP-activated Protein Kinase (AMPK) actions, as well as an increase in serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), along with tissue chromium depletion. A daily intake of chromium supplements increased tissue chromium levels and thermogenic uncoupling protein-1 (UCP-1) expression in white adipose tissues, as well as improved both post-olanzapine weight gain and metabolic disturbance. Our findings suggest that olanzapine medicated rats showed a disturbance of tissue chromium homeostasis by inducing tissue depletion and urinary excretion. This loss may be an alternative mechanism responsible for olanzapine-induced weight gain and metabolic disturbance.


We report ultrabroadband optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) with an output pulse energy of up to 250 μJ from an OPCPA stage pumped by short pulses of ∼100 fs duration at 395 nm wavelength. In order to generate ultrahigh-power pulses in the few-cycle regime, such a short-pulse-pumped OPCPA scheme appears to be a promising route, by virtue of its inherently advantageous features. Firstly, the stretching and compression fidelity as well as the pulse contrast are increased due to the short pump- and seed-pulse durations. Additionally, the higher pump powers allow for using thinner OPA crystals, thereby increasing the amplification bandwidth that will support even shorter pulse durations. We present experimental results where the effective bandwidth of the seed pulses was increased in the OPCPA process resulting in a shortened transform-limited pulse duration in addition to the energy gain. The amplified pulses from OPCPA have been compressed to the sub-10-fs, few-cycle range by using chirped mirrors. Scaling of this short-pulse-pumped OPCPA technique for few-cycle-pulse generation to the highest (TW–PW) power levels is also planned (Petawatt Field Synthesizer project at the Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik).


Invertebrate visual opsins are G protein‐coupled receptors coupled to retinoid chromophores that isomerize reversibly between inactive rhodopsin and active metarhodopsin upon absorption of photons of light. The squid visual system has an arrestin protein that binds to metarhodopsin to block signaling to Gq and activation of phospholipase C. Squid rhodopsin kinase (SQRK) can phosphorylate both metarhodopsin and arrestin, a dual role that is unique among the G protein‐coupled receptor kinases. The sites and role of arrestin phosphorylation by SQRK were investigated here using recombinant proteins. Arrestin was phosphorylated on serine 392 and serine 397 in the C‐terminus. Unphosphorylated arrestin bound to metarhodopsin and phosphorylated metarhodopsin with similar high affinities (Kd 33 and 21 nM respectively), while phosphorylation of arrestin reduced the affinity 3‐ to 5‐fold (Kd 104 nM). Phosphorylation of metarhodopsin slightly increased the dissociation of arrestin observed during a 1 hour incubation. Together these studies suggest a unique role for SQRK in phosphorylating both receptor and arrestin and inhibiting the binding of these two proteins in the squid visual system.


Quantitative analysis for the cladding mode coupling in a linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with broad bandwidth is theoretically and experimentally demonstrated for the first time. It is found that due to the cladding mode effect, there exists a strong slope in the reflection spectrum, which could be larger than 5 dB within the 10-nm bandwidth of FBG. Based on this phenomenon, a novel temperature sensor working in the range of 17°C-181°C is first demonstrated by using a power-interrogation technique. Unlike most of the previous FBG-based sensors, here the proposed FBG is simultaneously utilized as both the sensing and the interrogating element.


Wortmannin is a natural product that inhibits signal transduction. One target of wortmannin in mammalian cells is the 110-kDa catalytic subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase). We show that wortmannin is toxic to the yeastSaccharomyces cerevisiae and present genetic and biochemical evidence that a phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase (PI 4-kinase), STT4, is a target of wortmannin in yeast. In a strain background in which stt4 mutants are rescued by osmotic support with sorbitol, the toxic effects of wortmannin are similarly prevented by sorbitol. In contrast, in a different strain background, STT4 is essential under all conditions and wortmannin toxicity is not mitigated by sorbitol. Overexpression of STT4 confers wortmannin resistance, but overexpression of PIK1, a related PI 4-kinase, does not. In vitro, the PI 4-kinase activity of STT4, but not of PIK1, was potently inhibited by wortmannin. Overexpression of the phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5-kinase homolog MSS4 conferred wortmannin resistance, as did deletion of phospholipase C-1. These observations support a model for a phosphatidylinositol metabolic cascade involving STT4, MSS4, and phospholipase C-1 and provide evidence that an essential product of this pathway is the lipid phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate.


In a super-aged Japanese society, it is very important to take advantage of engineering support for elderly assist. In recent years, many assistive and rehabilitation devices using the pneumatic (McKibben) artificial actuators have been developed in such a public situation. In this study, development of a rehabilitation device driven by pneumatic actuator is aimed. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to develop the McKibben artificial actuator with the built-in outer diameter sensor for position control. However, it is difficult to measure the displacement (length) of McKibben artificial actuator which does not lost the flexibility. The developed sensor measures the constraint position (outer diameter) of the actuator by using the Halleffect (magnetic) sensor. In addition, this paper proposes the sensor characteristics between the displacement and the sensor value. The position control scheme is designed by solving the mixed sensitivity problem (robust stability and nominal performance) for the PAM (Pneumatic Artificial Muscle) system. As a result, the effectiveness of the 2 DOF (position) control system using the outer diameter sensor is confirmed by experimental results.


The maintenance CALS system for car of urban transit is a part of standardization and development of urban transit system, and We have been performed the establishment of maintenance CALS system from 2001 to 2005. These 2D and 3D configuration management system are utilized in a variety of CALS system for user`s convenience and safety in maintenance. In this paper, the 2D and 3D configuration system will be discussed for necessity and possibility. This system include RAMS(reliability, availability, maintainability and safety) of the vehicles shall be enhanced in the future.


Left ventricular noncompaction is a condition characterized by prominent ventricular trabeculations, often accompanied by systolic dysfunction. The present case involves an adult with a small ventricular septal defect, initially exhibiting mild systolic dysfunction and slightly prominent left ventricular trabeculations progressing over 13 years to severe dilated cardiomyopathy and overt noncompaction. The present case strongly suggests a correlation between the extent of noncompaction and the degree of systolic dysfunction. The initial presence of a small ventricular septal defect and mild trabeculations highlights the genetic determinants of non-compaction and the importance of closely following patients with mild noncompaction due to the possibility of progression. More sensitive diagnostic criteria are needed to avoid overlooking mild cases, which may show prominent trabeculations without reaching a requisite ratio of compacted to noncompacted tissue.


Abstract Background: Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) infection is a common health problem, which is closely related to peptic ulcers, gastric cancer, and extragastric diseases. Drugs can successfully eradicate it. However, the recurrence of H pylori often occurs after initial eradication. To confirm the global incidence of H pylori reinfection and systematically evaluate its risk factors. Methods: We will search for the relevant literature through Chinese and English databases, with the retrieval deadline being November 2021. Databases include PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, the Chongqing VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database, Wanfang Database, and China Biomedical Literature Database. Stata14.0 will be used to conduct this systematic review. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis protocols statements are followed in this protocol, and the PRISMA statement will be followed in the completed systematic review. Results: The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Conclusions: This systematic review will provide evidence regarding the rate of H pylori reinfection and its risk factors after successful eradication. It can guide the management of patients with H pylori infection.


In this article, Abigail Erdmann reflects on her career as a classroom teacher. She shares her delight in discovering that middle age isn't, as she had once thought, a time of boredom or complacency. Instead, she finds it to be a time of growing vitality as her relationship to teaching deepens and changes. She realizes that her students have educated her as much as she has educated them, and reveals that this reciprocity is a primary reason why she continues to find teaching to be a vital and rewarding career. (pp. 584-589)


Ewing's family of tumors, including Ewing sarcoma, Askin tumor, and peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors, were first identified by James Ewing in 1921. Ewing sarcoma is more common in bones. However, extra-osseous Ewing sarcoma (EoES) is a very rare separate entity and was first described by Tefft and al. in 1969. It is a highly malignant round-cell tumor and contains a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 11 and 22, t(11;22).In this report, we present the case of a 34 years old female patient who was unfortunately diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma of the thyroid after being operated for a hemorrhagic cyst in a context of Hashimoto thyroiditis.The patient was followed at the endocrinology department for an auto-immune thyroiditis for two years. She complained of neck pain and a suspicious hemorrhagic cyst was discovered on thyroid ultrasound. She underwent total thyroidectomy; three weeks later, she suffered from right sided firm swelling in her neck. The pathology was in favor of EoES of the thyroid.To date and to the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of Ewing sarcoma of the thyroid in auto-immune thyroiditis. EoES of the thyroid is a very rare entity and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a solid tumor in the thyroid. Diagnosis is based on ultrastructural examination, immunostaining and evidence of abnormal translocation t(11;22). It is usually an aggressive disease.Early diagnosis with adequate surgical management and chemotherapy are the mainstay of the treatment and may change the outcome


A numerical modeling of dissolution and isothermal solidification during the transient liquid-phase (TLP) diffusion bonding process of Al using pure Cu filler metal based on a diffusion-controlled model was carried out. In the modeling, both the changes in volume accompanying interdiffusion between the base metal (All and the filler metal (Cu) and the solid-liquid transformation were taken into account by using variable grids. The effect of a load applied to the base metal was also examined by considering simple force balance among the surface and interface energies of the base metal and liquid formed in the bonding region. The early dissolution process simulated by the developed model agreed with the experimental results, and the predicted isothermal solidification time of a sample with an applied load also agreed with the experimental results.