A review of endoscopic records at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation over a 7-yr period yielded 72 cases of Barrett's esophagus. Ten patients had adenocarcinoma at the time of diagnosis of Barrett's esophagus (14%). Sixty-two were followed for a mean of 31 months (range 2-154 months). During this follow-up period, cancer developed in one patient, an incidence of one cancer per 166 patient yr and an annual incidence of 0.6%. Males predominated in the group with both Barrett's esophagus (55 of 72) and adenocarcinoma (10 of 11). Symptoms were similar in those with simple Barrett's esophagus and those complicated by cancer. Our findings on incidence of cancer in Barrett's was applied to a model surveillance program. The cost of yearly endoscopic surveillance is estimated to be +62,000 and 78 lost work days to discover one cancer during the follow-up period. An endoscopic surveillance program requiring every-other-year studies appears justified and would cost only half as much, annually.


This paper presents Pyramid code, an optimal code for transmitting sequential addresses over a DRAM bus. Constructed by finding an Eulerian cycle on a complete graph, this code is optimal for conventional DRAM in the sense that it minimizes the switching activity on the time-multiplexed address bus from CPU to DRAM. Experimental results on a large number of testbenches with different characteristics (i.e. sequential vs. random memory access behaviors) are reported and demonstrate a reduction of bus activity by as much as 50%.


This book is not primarily for software test and QA professionals who are working in 'typical' organizations. The Best Practice approach in this book is based on ITIL and is well suited to any IT organization that takes its software testing serious. Moreover, unless software engineering practices across the organization are mature the approach will probably fail. However, that does not prevent even an organization with a yet to be developed testing process from selecting best practices and tasks set forth in this book and applying them. The net result will be an incremental improvement, and may be the catalyst for larger improvements with large wins. This book is invaluable to organizations that are committed to software engineering at the defined, managed or optimizing levels of maturity. It distills formal test practices drawn from a variety of ITIL and IT service Management sources into a succinct, process-oriented guide. The book is filled with templates and examples to set up and manage the process. ITIL and IT Service Management are not rigid, but can be tailored to any software practices and approaches, especially by using the plans and templates provided. If your organization is pursuing software change without risk, or are contractually required to have a formal software engineering process or process capability, this book will address the software testing process areas of a larger initiative. However, do not overlook many of the small wins a chaotic organization can achieve by using many of the ideas in this book.


The aim of this study is to evaluate and validate a possible reading of 1 Corinthians 14.20-25 in regular order. The main finding of this study can be summarized as follows. a. In a contradiction between 14.22 and 14.23-25, 14.22 is not Paul the Apostle?s logical mistake, but his pastoral wisdom to remedy a conflict between the strong and the weak within the divisions of the Corinthian church. Paul?s plan is for two or three to speak, with other believers weighing this, whereas, problematically, all are speaking and non-believers are judging. This contradicts the principle set out in 6.1-11. It also exacerbates the Corinthian divisions because the judgement of the non-believers will tend to favour the ?strong?.b. The second finding is another interpretive possibility of tongue described in 1 Cor 14 as silent tongue. c. The third finding is a relationship between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the law of 1 Corinthians 14.21. This thesis explained on how this finding is related to a conflict between the strong and the weak centering around speaking in tongues. The results of this study indicate that 14.23-25 can be read as Paul the Apostle?s worry over the Corinthian church?s wrong application of the gifts of the Holy Spirit by which outsiders might judge believers? speech and actions.


We derive interface models for 3D Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI), making use of a novel asymptotic expansion in the non-locality of the fluid flow. These interface models are derived for the purpose of studying universal features associated to RTI such as the Froude number in single-mode RTI, the predicted quadratic growth of the interface amplitude under multi-mode random perturbations, the optimal (viscous) mixing rates induced by the RTI and the self-similarity of horizontally averaged density profiles, and the remarkable stabilization of the mixing layer growth rate which arises for the three-fluid two-interface heavy-light-heavy configuration, in which the addition of a third fluid bulk slows the growth of the mixing layer to a linear rate. Our interface models can capture the formation of small-scale structures induced by severe interface roll-up, reproduce experimental data in a number of different regimes, and study the effects of multiple interface interactions even as the interface separation distance becomes exceedingly small. Compared to traditional numerical schemes used to study such phenomena, our models provide a computational speed-up of at least two orders of magnitude.


Radionuclide thyroid angiography was performed in 252 patients with hypofunctioning thyroid nodules to evaluate differences in vascular flow and washout patterns in benign and malignant disease. Time activity curves of Tc-99m pertechnetate flow through the cold nodules were generated using region of interest software. Retention ratios of counts in the nodule at 2 minutes after radionuclide administration versus those at peak activity were derived. Patients subsequently underwent surgical excision and histopathologic examination. One hundred forty-four of the 204 benign nodules were avascular with absent radionuclide flow through the nodule. Fifty-six benign nodules were vascular with a prolonged radionuclide washout pattern with retention ratios ranging from 0.60−0.92. Forty-six of the 48 malignant nodules displayed increased perfusion with rapid radionuclide washout with retention atios ranging from 0.28−0.48. Four benign nodules exhibited a similar flow and washout pattern. Radionuclide thyroid angiography with vascular flow and washout analysis appears to be a useful technique to differentiate between benign and malignant thyroid nodules with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity.


Idiopathic (viral) pericarditis (IP) is one of the most common etiologies of acute and recurrent pericarditis in children. IP is associated with significant morbidity, and recurrence rates of IP are high and require treatment to decrease risk of recurrence and pericarditis-related chest pain. Despite significant morbidity, sparse guidance exists to comprehensively address management of IP in children. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the pharmacotherapy of IP in children, including clinical pearls for managing pediatric patients. Clinicians should consider using the combination of colchicine and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as first-line therapy, in order to reduce the risk of recurrence and foster symptom improvement in IP. Colchicine dosing may vary depending on patient age, weight, concomitant pharmacotherapies, and disease states. Choice of NSAID should be based on cost, tolerability, and adverse drug events (ADEs). Children should receive higher NSAID attack dosing for >1 week to ensure a reduction in high sensitivity C-reactive protein concentrations and symptom relief. Corticosteroids should be considered last-line for treatment of IP in children, because they increase the risk of recurrence. Immunotherapies may be considered for children with multiple recurrences related to IP despite the use of NSAIDs, colchicine, and/or corticosteroids. Similar to adults, diligent monitoring should be implemented, to prevent drug-drug interactions, drug-disease interactions, and/or ADEs in children.


The World Wide Web is rapidly emerging as an important medium for commerce as well as for the dissemination of information related to a wide range of topics (e.g., business and government). According to most predictions, the majority of human information will be available on the Web. These huge amounts of data raise a grand challenge, namely, how to turn the Web into a more useful information utility (Garofalakis et al., 1999) . At the moment with the popularity of Internet, people are exhibited to a lot of information that is available for study. Nowadays there is also a great amount of applications and services that are available through Internet as they are seeking, chats, sales, etc., nevertheless much of that information is not useful for many people, but in the area of Data Mining, all the information available in the Internet represents a work opportunity and it is possible to do a lot of analysis on the basis of these with specific purposes. Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining are powerful data analysis tools. The rapid dissemination of these technologies calls for an urgent examination of their social impact. We show an overview of these technologies. The terms "Knowledge Discovery" and "Data Mining" are used to describe the 'non-trivial extraction of implicit, previously unknown and potentially useful information from data (Wahlstrom & Roddick, 2000). Knowledge discovery is a concept that describes the process of searching on large volumes of data for patterns that can be considered knowledge about the data. The most well-known branch of knowledge discovery is data mining.


A retrospective analysis of hospitalisation due to oral and dental conditions (ODC) was performed for patients in Queensland. The aim was to identify the rate and cost of hospitalisation and to examine the association between hospitalisation and age, geographical location and Indigenous status. There were 81528 admissions to Queensland's hospitals due to ODC during the 3-year study period (2011-2013). The annual cost of ODC-related hospitalisation was estimated to be AU$87million. Indigenous infants (Z=4.08, P<0.001) and primary school children (Z=2.01, P=0.046) were significantly more likely to be hospitalised than their non-Indigenous counterparts. A non-Indigenous high school child was almost fourfold more likely to be hospitalised. There was no significant difference in the rate of hospitalisation for adults. Infants (Z=6.70, P<0.001) and primary school children (Z=8.73, P<0.001) from remote areas were significantly more likely to be hospitalised than their age-matched metropolitan counterparts. Whereas high school children (Z=2.74, P=0.006) and adults (Z=6.02, P<0.001) from remote areas were significantly less likely to be hospitalised. Our findings suggest that there is a need for alternative models of primary dental care to service remote areas of Queensland and Indigenous populations. Strategies that enable Indigenous Health Workers to provide dental care, and the use of teledentistry, are models of care that may reduce potentially preventable hospitalisations and lead to cost savings and better health outcomes.


Background: Menstrual cycle is affected by a number of factors either positively or negatively. Disturbed menstrual cycle impacts physical, mental and social well being of women. Physical activity and exercise affect pattern of menstrual cycle depending upon its intensity. Aim: To explore the relationship of physical activity and pattern of menstrual cycle particularly dysmenorrhea and its impact on absenteeism. Study Design: Cross-sectional study Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Community Medicine, HITEC-IMS Taxila from 1st March to 31st August 2020. Methodology: One hundred and six randomly selected female undergraduate medical students of 1st to 4th year. A self-reported structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Results: Mean age of respondents was 21.1+1.6 years. Body mass index of 47.2% respondents was normal, 26.4% were overweight and 15.1% were obese. Menstrual flow was reported light by 11.3% respondents, 74.5% had moderate and 14.2% had heavy menstrual flow. Dysmenorrhea was reported by 85% respondents, 13% had mild, 14% had moderate and 33% had severe pain during menstruation. Absenteeism was reported by 28.3% participants and was found to be associated with dysmenorrhea. Statistically significant (p<.05) association was found between physical activity and dysmenorrhea. Conclusion: Abnormalities of menstrual cycle among medical students can affect their physical well-being leading to class absenteeism. Regular and continuous physical activity can be of a great effect in improving menstrual pain and related problems. Keywords: Menstrual cycle, Dysmenorrhea, Physical activity, Undergraduate medical students


Silurian (Llandovery–Ludlow) Encrinurinae from Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois include species of Balizoma Holloway, 1980, Curriella Lamont, 1978, Distyrax Lane, 1988, Encrinurus Emmrich, 1844, Mackenziurus Edgecombe and Chatterton, 1990a, and Nucleurus Ramsköld, 1986. Mackenziurus lauriae n. sp. is described from Wenlock strata of the Racine and Sugar Run Dolomites; nine segments in the holaspid thorax are the fewest known for any encrinurid. A square rostral plate is diagnostic of Mackenziurus. New morphological data are provided by Illinois specimens of Balizoma indianensis (Kindle and Breger, 1904) from the Wenlock–Ludlow Racine Dolomite, and of Curriella tuberculifrons (Weller, 1907) from the Llandovery Elwood–Wilhelmi Formations. Nucleurus n. sp. is possibly from Llandovery strata in Wisconsin. Distyrax n. sp. occurs in the Brandon Bridge Member (late Llandovery–early Wenlock) of the Joliet Dolomite in Illinois. The type pygidia and possible topotype material of Encrinurus nereus Hall, 1867, confirm assignment to that genus as currently viewed; this reefal species is distinct from the closely related inter-reef species E. egani Miller, 1880, and appears to be distinct from reefal E. reflexus Raymond, 1916. Lectotypes are selected for these Encrinurus species.


The ESPON program aims to promote and stimulate the European territorial dimension in development and cooperation by providing evidence, knowledge transfer and policy delivery to public authorities and other public policy actors at all levels. The objective of the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Program is to support the strengthening of the effectiveness of EU cohesion policy and other sectoral policies and programs under the European Structural Funds and European Investment Funds (ESI funds) as well as national and regional territorial development policies through the production, dissemination and promotion of territorial data covering the entire territory of the 28 Member States and the four partner countries - Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Romania as a member country of the program, will benefit from the results of ESPON 2020, consisting of territorial analyzes and studies on European trends in various topical areas: labor market or investment developments, commuting models, demographic change, climate change impacts on European territory, etc


Studies on the surface modification of commercial styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) rubber with different carbon black (CB) nanofiller content (10–80 parts per hundred parts of rubber (phr)) performed by low-pressure oxygen plasma are presented in this paper. The adhesion properties of the rubber were determined by the peel test for adhesive-bonded joints prepared with a water-based polyurethane (PU) adhesive. The chemical structure and morphology of the SBS rubber surface before and after plasma treatment were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The peel tests showed that the plasma treatment significantly improved the strength of adhesive-bonded joints in the entire range of CB tested, revealing a clear maximum for approximately 50 phr of CB. It was also found that as a result of plasma treatment, functional groups that are responsible for the reactions with the PU adhesive, such as C−OH and C=O, were formed, and their concentration, similar to the peel strength, showed maximum values for approximately 50 phr CB. The occurrence of these maxima was explained using the bound rubber model.


The success of social computing has generated a host of workplace collaboration tools. However, adoption of these tools by entire groups is a major problem. One reason for the adoption problem is a lack of methods for considering collaborative groups in technology design. Even when designing collaboration tools, designers often employ methods that focus on individuals. This leads to tools that are not well targeted at the groups who will use them. To solve this problem, we propose the notion of collaboration personas, which are empirically derived descriptions of hypothetical groups, including details that inform the design of collaboration tools. Collaboration personas differ from individual personas in having (1) multiple, inter-related individuals playing specific roles; (2) a focus on collective goals and elaboration of individual goals that affect the collective goal; and (3) new attributes that characterize collaborative aspects of the group's work. We contrast collaboration personas with other design approaches and provide examples of how they can be used to design new collaborative tools that better meet the needs of typical groups.


We consider the possibility of suppressing super-horizon curvature perturbations after the end of the ordinary slow-roll inflationary stage. This is the opposite of the curvaton limit. We assume that large curvature perturbations are created by the inflaton and investigate if they can be diluted or suppressed by a second very homogeneous field which starts to dominate the energy density of the universe shortly after the end of inflation. We show explicit that the gravitational sourcing of inhomogeneities from the more inhomogeneous fluid to the more homogeneous fluid makes the suppression difficult if not impossible to achieve.


Serologic monitoring is the way to determine adequate treatment response, which is typically defined as a fourfold decline in Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) or Veneral Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) titer within 6 months of treatment for patients with primary or secondary syphilis and within 12 months of treatment for patients with early latent syphilis. Studies documented close to 100% rate seroreversion 1 -2 years after penicillin treatment, depending on the stage of syphilis and duration of symptoms. HIV co-infection has several effects on the presentation, diagnosis, disease progression, and therapy of syphilis. Unusual syphilis serologic titers have been reported in HIV-infected patients, with either unexpected high or low titer, as well as delayed serologic response at the time of diagnosis. There are several studies concerned to syphilis serological treatment response comparing HIV-infected and HIV-negative patients. Some studies reported a slower serological response in HIV infected patients. A recent study showed that the use of high active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and the routine use of macrolides for the prevention of opportunistic infections may reduce syphilis serologic failure rates among HIV-infected patients who have syphilis. Penicillin G, administered parenterally, is the preferred drug for treating all stages of syphilis (French et al., 2009; Workowski & Berman, 2010). Treatment failure can occur with any regimen. Assessing response to treatment frequently is difficult, and definitive criteria for cure or failure have not been established. According to the CDC guidelines recommendations, clinical and serologic evaluation should be performed 6 months and 12 months after treatment of patients with primary or secondary syphilis; more frequent evaluation might be prudent if follow-up is uncertain. Patients who have signs or symptoms that persists or recurs or who have sustained fourfold increase in nontreponemal test titer probably failed treatment or were reinfected. The latent syphilis is not transmitted sexually; the objective of treating patients with this stage of disease is to prevent complication. Quantitative nontreponemal serologic tests should be repeated at 6, 12, and 24 months for followup. Limited information is available concerning clinical and serological follow-up of patients who have tertiary syphilis. HIV-infected persons should be evaluated clinically and serologically for treatment failure at 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 months after therapy (Workowski & Berman, 2010). Usually, treatment failure cannot be distinguished from reinfection with T. pallidum; in these cases a CSF analysis is recommended.


Chemotherapy-related fatigue (CRF), one of the most severe adverse effects observed in cancer patients, has been theoretically related to oxidative stress, and antioxidant treatment might be one of the most valuable therapeutic approaches. However, there are still few effective pharmacological therapies. Yifei Sanjie pills (YFSJ), a classical formula used to treat lung cancer as complementary and alternative medicine, have been proved to alleviate CRF of lung cancer patients in clinical practices. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been clarified. In this study, our data showed that YFSJ alleviated CRF presented as reversing the decline of swimming time and locomotor activity induced by cisplatin (DDP). Moreover, YFSJ significantly reduces the accidence of mitophagy and mitochondrial damage and reduces apoptosis in skeletal muscle tissues caused by DDP. It probably works by decreasing the oxidative stress, inhibiting the activation of the AMPK/mTOR pathway, decreasing protein expression levels of Beclin1 and other autophagy-related proteins, and attenuating the activation of Cytochrome c (cyto. C), Cleaved Caspase-9 (c-Casp 9), and other apoptosis-related proteins. Furthermore, YFSJ enhanced DDP sensitivity by specifically promoting oxidative stress and activating apoptosis and autophagy in the tumor tissues of mice. It was also found that YFSJ reduced the loss of body weight caused by DDP, reversed the ascent of serum concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aminotransferase (AST), and creatinine (CREA), increased the spleen index, and prolonged the survival time of mice. Taken together, these results revealed that YFSJ could alleviate CRF by reducing mitophagy and apoptosis induced by oxidative stress in skeletal muscle; these results also displayed the effects of YFSJ on enhancing chemotherapy sensitivity, improving quality of life, and prolonging survival time in lung cancer mice received DDP chemotherapy.


Current imaging techniques lack the ability to image the airways with subcellular resolution. To overcome this limitation we built an optical coherence microscope (OCM) which combines confocal microscopy and optical coherence tomography and tested the image modalities on human and murine airways. Images were taken with a custom built OCM using a normal and an endoscopic objective. Ex vivo imaging was done with explanted concha nasalis samples from patients and trachea from mice. For intravital experiments the trachea of anesthetized and ventilated mice were exposed and imaged. With OCM we could image the whole tracheal wall of the mouse ex vivo and in vivo. Structures like the dense fiber network, cartilage and blood vessels with erythrocytes in the lumen as well as lymph vessels could be visualized. Epithelial cells and beating cilia could be observed though the tracheal wall. With high resolution imaging, individual epithelial cell-cell borders and cilia bundles were observed. Time-lapse OCM allowed the determination of ciliary beat frequency with single cell resolution and visualization of cilia-driven particle transport. Imaging with the endoscopic objectives showed the epithelium with beating cilia and the transport of particles through the tracheal wall. Imaging of the concha nasalis also showed the airway epithelium with beating cilia and the transport of mucus and particles. Imaging over several hours was possible without tissue damage. Our results show that OCM is a useful tool for imaging structures of the airway wall with subcellular resolution and minimal photo damage. It holds a great potential for high resolution functional imaging in animals and in patients.


The authors present a case of a girl who showed flexion spasms, chorio-retinopathy and agenesis of corpus callosum, an association known as the Aicardi syndrome. They have made a wide revision of the literature, examining in detail the clinical aspects and diagnosis with other malformations and infections. Lastly, they comment the aspects of etiology and pathology of the disease which still remain unclear.


The article is concerned to the analysis of a demographic situation in modern Russia, to the prospects of its change and factors depending on which there can be a choice of demographic alternative of the country, including the migratory policy of the state. It is published on materials of the lecture which have been read through by Anatoly Vishnevskiy during the project "Public lectures "ПолиN'.N€Nƒ". A source - site "Polit.ru".


The major components of the Earth's atmosphere, nitrogen, oxygen and argon, are essentially transparent to infrared radiation. Most of the minor and trace gases in the atmosphere have significant infrared absorptions, which provide a means of measuring their abundance. For many years, we have been using the infrared as a remote sensing tool. As Fourier Transform systems (FTS) have developed, they have been increasingly used in our work. We primarily use two techniques for atmospheric measurements: solar absorption spectra and atmospheric emission spectra. In the solar absorption case, the sun is used as an intense source, and the measurement is similar (in principle) to that carried out routinely in the laboratory. Unfortunately, no reference (vacuum) path is readily available, the sample (atmosphere) is not under uniform temperature or pressure conditions and the composition is not uniform. Despite the complications, accurate determinations of gas amounts can be made in many cases, and path lengths unattainable in the laboratory can yield significant information about the molecular spectroscopy of some compounds. Interferometer systems have advantages for recording solar spectra in the infrared: relatively small size for comparable resolution and a highly accurate frequency scale. In most cases there is no multiplex advantage, but the throughput may be higher. FTS can also cover broad spectral intervals, which allows quantification of several gases simultaneously. The atmosphere is a very weak infrared source, and instrument sensitivity is of primary importance. FTS may or may not have a multiplex advantage, but it still provides an accurate frequency scale and substantial throughput.


The concept of culture has undergone changes over time in the international legal order. Variations range from the material conception of the late nineteenth century to the recognition, which occurred more recently, of intangible elements of traditional culture within the concept of cultural heritage. In a chronological structure, this article discusses contributions made by Latin America and it argues that what is proposed by countries of the region beyond its borders, on the one hand, reflects elements pertaining to their internal legal orders and, on the other hand, goes in the opposite direction to that what is practiced into them.


This thesis looks at different aspects of the relatively new and non-invasive technique of remotely estimating vital signs by the use of ambient light photoplethysmography (PPG). Improving signal quality and potentially expanding vital sign detection options can prove a useful tool in several applications. First, an assessment of the signal quality by comparing signals from the visual and the infrared parts of the light spectrum will be done. Possibilities to estimate differential blood pressure by looking at changes in phase difference between a signal from one extremity (forehead) to another extremity (hand) is investigated. Finally, an experiment is done to find information about microcirculations from a colonoscopy and laparoscopy video by analyzing frequency spectrum and performing a pulsality mapping and a power mapping. From recordings of eight subjects by using webcam and thermal video, the webcam proves superior in PPG signal quality. This is likely due the low spatial and temperature resolution on the thermal camera. Results from two videos recorded with prototype camera using a 4-channel CMOS sensor indicates this sensor type as being able to yield good results with correct parameters for the recording. In terms for signal quality, the green channel of the RGB color space outperforms the HSV color space. Using independent component analysis (ICA) also generally gives better results, particularly on the more challenging videos. The phase difference between forehead and hand PPG signal (related to pulse transit time, this is called DPTT) is not possible with the thermal video used, due to poor signal quality and noise. With the webcam video, the estimations are possible, but the accuracy is limited and questionable. The results from the experiment to estimate change in blood pressure (BP) based on a change in DPTT from resting condition to a condition of elevated pulse after short interval workout cannot be deemed reliable. However, with more accurate DPTT measurements through improved compensation of movement and light fluctuations, and possibly higher frame rate, this is a viable next step in remote PPG vital sign detection. The trial with the laparoscopy and colonoscopy videos to see whether any information about the microcirculation in the tissues can be revealed, yields no conclusive results. The spectra show more than one possible PPG peak, so better algorithms to stabilize movement and compensate for light fluctuations are required for reliable results. The theory is still not ruled out, and is encouraged for further works.


The work was conducted for improving textile effluent quality via turbidity removal by electrocoagulation (EC) using aluminum sacrificial electrode. Effluents were treated at 30 minutes and 30 volts (30min-30V) and 60 minutes and 40 volts (60min-40V) condition in a 1000 ml reactor cell with anode distance of 4 cm. Prior to EC experiment, physico-chemical parameters of effluent were measured and turbidity level was found eight times higher than the Department of Environment (DoE) standard. Turbidity removal ranged from 53 to 96.2% and 58 to 97.5% for condition one and two, respectively. Dissolved oxygen (DO) increased satisfactorily for both conditions. Total operational cost ranged from 62.50 to 70.41 taka/m 3 at 30min-30V and 159.57 to 187.7 taka/m 3 at 60min-40V. Moreover, sludge formation ranged from 6.73×10 -4 to 8.41×10 -4 kg in first condition and 1.21×10 -3 to 1.5431×10 -3 kg in second one. So, EC treatment was very effective and capable of elevating quality of the textile wastewater effluent in terms of turbidity to discharge into inland surface water. During EC operation it was also possible to lessen the total cost in maximum removal by changing the operating condition and 30min-30V was enough to get environmental friendly solution. Results will encourage the industry-owner to treat polluted effluents by EC. Keywords: Textile industry; ETP; Electrocoagulation; Sacrificial Electrode; Turbidity; Operational cost. © 2011 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved. doi:10.3329/jsr.v3i3.7533               J. Sci. Res. 3 (3), 567-578 (2011)


In this research, an analysis of the greenhouse gases (GHG) emission of the organic car wax processing from rice bran oil was experimented. By considering the life cycle of the car wax products, the extent of the GHG emissions (during the rice cultivation, rice milling and transportation, refinery of rice bran oil) was examined and studied. To do this, a functional unit (FU) of 100 grams of a car wax product was used. Accordingly, the emission of greenhouse gases from rice cultivation following a conventional cultivation method (i.e., with chemical fertilizer) was compared with rice cultivation with organic fertilizer. The results showed that the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, expressed in g CO 2 equivalents, were 20-21 kgCO 2 -eq/FU for rice cultivation based on the conventional cultivation, whereas the extent of the greenhouse gas emission of the rice cultivation (with organic fertilizer) was found to be 21-22 kgCO 2 -eq/FU, respectively. Furthermore, in this study the influence of the rice cultivation (with organic fertilizer and chemical fertilizer) on emission of GHG was discussed comparatively. The findings showed that a major share (i.e., more than 98%) of the GHG through rice cultivation was found in both systems. However, the extents of the energy consumption during the rice milling, refinery of rice bran oil, and car wax formulation and transportation were led to emission of a minor share of the GHG. Consequently, new cultivation technology should be employed (and highly recommended) in order to decrease the potential threats of the global warming associated with the car wax production.


Milky disease caused by Metschnikowia bicuspidata fungus has significantly harmed the Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis aquaculture industry. However, the effect of M. bicuspidata infection on the metabolism and intestinal flora of the crab remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to explore the changes in the metabolism and intestinal flora E. sinensis after 48 h of infection with M. bicuspidata, using metabolomic and metagenomic analyses. Metabolomic analysis results revealed 420 significantly different metabolites between the infected and control groups, and these metabolites were enriched in 58 metabolic pathways. M. bicuspidata infection decreased the levels of metabolites related to amino acid biosynthesis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, as well as lysine, histidine, linolenic, arachidonic, and linoleic acid metabolism. These results indicated that M. bicuspidata infection significantly affected the energy metabolism, growth, and immunity of E. sinensis. The results of metagenomic analysis showed that the anaerobes and ascomycetes populations significantly increased and decreased, respectively, after M. bicuspidata infection. These changes in intestinal flora significantly upregulated metabolic and synthetic pathways while downregulating immunity-related pathways. The results of integrated metabolomic and metagenomic analyses showed that 55 differentially expressed genes and 28 operational taxonomic units were correlated with 420 differential metabolites. Thus, the intestinal flora changes caused by M. bicuspidata infection also affected the metabolites. This study provides novel insights into the metabolic-and intestinal microflora-based effects of M. bicuspidata infection in E. sinensis, as well as a theoretical basis for the interaction between fungi and crustaceans.


Boards of large corporations sharing some of their directors are connected in complex networks. Boards are responsible for corporations' long-term strategy and are often involved in decisions about a common topic related to the belief in economical growth or recession.
We are interested in understanding under which conditions a large majority of boards making a same decision can emerge in the network. We present a model where board directors are engaged in a decision making dynamics based on "herd behavior". Boards influence each other through shared directors.
We find that imitation of colleagues and opinion bias due to the interlock do not trigger an avalanche of identical decisions over the board network, whereas the information about interlocked boards' decisions does. There is no need to invoke global public information, nor external driving forces.
This model provides a simple endogenous mechanism to explain the fact that boards of the largest corporations of a country can, in the span of a few months, take the same decisions about general topics.


While fertile, opposite-sex couples can have children who carry a mix of their genes without involving third parties in the reproductive process, this option is not available to the majority of the LGBTI community. If this were simply a biological fact, it would not raise any equal protection or other constitutional issues. However, emerging technologies in the field of reproductive cloning may offer the LGBTI community the chance to have genetically related children - possibly even with a mix of both partners' genes. As such, bans on federally funding research that would help to refine and ensure the safety and efficacy of these procedures unconstitutionally denies LGBTI couples right to have children that is not similarly denied to opposite-sex couples who enjoy the fruits of research and technology that allow them to conceive without the use of a third party's organs. Compounding and exacerbating this inequality is the fact that much of the opposition to cloning stems from inaccurate, heterosexist - and, at times, even explicitly homophobic - claims. This article challenges the popular arguments against cloning, suggesting that they are largely fallacious and, in many cases, outright discriminatory. It suggests that reproductive cloning could be incredibly useful for the LGBTI community, and that relegating research on these procedures to the private sphere significantly harms this class. At the same time, cloning should not be treated as the key to LGBTI equality.


The problem of extending that part of the fuel life cycle during which a reactor is capable of sustaining load-follow operation is formulated as an optimal control problem. A two-node model representation of pressurized water reactor dynamics is used, leading to a set of non-linear ordinary differential equations. Differential Dynamic Programming is used to solve directly the resulting nonlinear optimization problem and obtain the trajectories of soluble boron concentration and control rod insertion. Results of computations performed for a reference reactor are presented, showing how the optimal control policy stretches the capability of the reactor to follow an average daily load curve towards the end of the fuel life cycle.


Many biological systems exhibit natural regulation mechanisms as necessary functions. Proteins, peptides, charged receptors, RNAs, and DNAs clearly demonstrate such varieties of structural dynamics in their biocomplexity. To understand the proper structural functionality of biomolecules, this requires integrated information from initiation, regulation, transfer and transport to desirable sustainable processes. Here, we demonstrate the orientation kinetics of stable chiral-nematic (N*) domains that are consistently formed in the suspensions of charged DNA rods at low ionic strengths. This is enhanced by large access of released dissociated condensed ions and the mobile diffusive ions of DNA rods, acting onto the perpendicular motions of the DNA rods in bulk. The quantification of collective orientations for these interacting charged DNA rods is extracted by image-time correlation (ITC) performed in Fourier transforms (FTs) for overall spectral density distributions. Three distinguishable length scales are clearly shown corresponding to the relevant motion of the N* domain in parallel, perpendicular and the optical pitch within the domains as well as the kinetics of local distributions in FTs. Particularly strong concentration transitions are confirmed by replica symmetry breaking of elastic deformations in N* domains in terms of the average twist angle and the order parameter. This work can be interesting for sufficient cooling of the given concentration of charged DNA rods, at low ionic strengths (below the critical value), mimicking super-cooled liquid and orientation glass in other biomacromolecules.


Fatigue crack propagation (FCP) rates in submerged arc welding (SAW) seam welds of 1524 steel (API 5L X42) pipe were measured by using an arc-shaped bend specimen with the same radius of curvature of the body of the pipe so the material did not have to be cold worked to get a flat shape nor extensively machined. The test direction was girth radial and the stress intensity factor (K) function was calibrated for this type of nonstandard specimen. The FCP tests were carried out in air at room temperature, testing the three zones: The base metal, the deposited metal, and the heat affected zone (HAZ). A fractographic analysis was done to analyze the role of the microstructure in the FCP in the three zones. It was found that the zone of greater resistance to FCP was the base metal, whereas the deposited metal showed the least resistance to crack propagation. FCP in the deposited metal and the HAZ behaved according to the Paris law, unlike the base metal, which showed a high data dispersion. The behavior in the base metal was attributed to the propagation of the crack in the transverse direction of the preferential alignment of the microstructure, while the deposited metal and the HAZ had a more homogeneous microstructure.


The attainment of adequate electoral participation in a democratic setting is essential to maintain legitimacy, credibility, and stability since democracy is about popular representation. However, from available data worldwide, voter participation is gradually on the decline. The study aimed to ascertain the reasons, nature and implication of voter abstention for Nigeria's democratic development. This study thus surveyed the perceptions of Nigerians on the factors influencing low-level participation of eligible voters in the Nigerian electoral process. The study adopted the mixed model research design. A sample of 1,200 respondents was chosen from the selected local government areas of the six zones using the stratified random sampling technique. The simple percentages and Pearson's Correlation Coefficient statistical technique were used to test and determine the degree of association intrinsic in the stated research questions for the quantitative data. The descriptive-analytical technique was adopted to analyze the qualitative aspect of the data. The findings from the study showed that the failure of elected political officers to fulfill electoral promises, electoral fraud, and violence, are responsible for voter alienation in Nigeria. Consequently, the following suggestions are made: The elected political officials should ensure good governance based on meeting the needs of the citizenry; fraudulent practices during elections should be penalized with appropriate sanctions and the governments at all levels should put on modalities to mitigate the incidences of violence during elections. Achieving a credible, free, fair and effective electoral process would, therefore, require the partnership of all stakeholders in the Nigerian democratic project.


The general problem of computing the false-alarm probability vs the detection-threshold relationship for a bank of correlators is addressed, in the context of maximum-likelihood detection of gravitational waves in additive stationary Gaussian noise. Specific reference is made to chirps from coalescing binary systems. Accurate (lower-bound) approximants for the cumulative distribution of the whole-bank supremum are deduced from a class of Bonferroni-type inequalities. The asymptotic properties of the cumulative distribution are obtained, in the limit where the number of correlators goes to infinity. The validity of numerical simulations made on small-size banks is extended to banks of any size, via a Gaussian-correlation inequality. The result is used to readdress the problem of relating the template density to the fraction of potentially observable sources which could be dismissed as an effect of template space discreteness.


This Letter proposes a robust multi-view spectral clustering approach. It first calculates a normalised graph Laplacian for each single view, and then uses them to recover a shared low-rank Laplacian by the low rank and sparse matrix decomposition. To achieve matrix decomposition, partial sum minimisation of singular values is leveraged to design a novel objective function, which can be optimised by the augmented Lagrangian multiplier algorithm to recover a common normalised graph Laplacian. Accordingly, multi-view clustering results can be obtained by taking spectral clustering on the common Laplacian. Experimental results illustrate its effectiveness over other related approaches.


This is a thought provoking article. Easily accessible additional information would have answered some questions. What was the final pathology result of the prostatic urethra? The riddle of the low incidence of urethral recurrence following orthotopic reconstruction compared to a not perfused but retained urethra continues. The most simple explanation of these findings might be that patients selected for orthotopic reconstruction present with more favorable disease characteristics. In the analysis by Boorjian et al an antitumorigenic "ileal factor" is reported (reference 2 in article). While the urethral recurrence rate in Bern is not lower than in other reported series following orthotopic reconstruction, the biological aggressiveness of urethral recurrence seems to be much less in Bern. In this context Niegisch et al investigated whether an immune response of urethral tissue potentially induced by contact of the urethra with ileal tissue might be present as a morphological substrate of an "ileal factor." When comparing patients with a neobladder to control patients, the distribution of B-cells and T-cells was statistically not different. However, a trend toward an increased presence of B-cells in the urethral tissues of orthotopic reconstructions, which could become relevant in a larger study, might be suggestive of an immunological response induced by connecting urethral and ileal tissue.


This paper motivates a comprehensive academic study of metadata and the roles that metadata plays in organizational information systems. While the benefits of metadata and challenges in implementing metadata solutions are widely addressed in practitioner publications, explicit discussion of metadata in academic literature is rare. Metadata, when discussed, is perceived primarily as a technology solution. Integrated management of metadata and its business value are not well addressed. This paper discusses both the benefits offered by and the challenges associated with integrating metadata. It also describes solutions for addressing some of these challenges. The inherent complexity of an integrated metadata repository is demonstrated by reviewing the metadata functionality required in a data warehouse: a decision support environment where its importance is acknowledged. Comparing this required functionality with metadata management functionalities offered by data warehousing software products identifies crucial gaps. Based on these analyses, topics for further research on metadata are proposed.


Purpose of the Study. To examine factors associated with a diagnosis of atopic dermatitis (AD) at 3.5 years of age, especially factors implicated by the hygiene hypothesis. Study Population. There were 871 children enrolled at birth for the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative study, 744 (85.4%) participated at 1 year, and 550 (63.2%) at 3.5 years. AD was diagnosed in 87 (15.8%) children at 3.5 years. Methods. The Auckland Birthweight Collaborative study is a case-control study of risk factors for small-for-gestational-age infants. Case subjects were born at term with birth weight at ≤10th percentile; controls were appropriate for gestational age, with birth weight >10th percentile. AD was defined as the presence of an itchy rash in the past 12 months with ≥3 of the following by history: flexural involvement, generally dry skin, atopic disease in parents or siblings, or visible flexural dermatitis by photographic protocol. Results. The prevalence of AD did not differ by birth weight. AD at 3.5 years was associated with raised serum immunoglobulin E, wheezing, asthma, rash, or eczema at 1 year. In multivariate analysis adjusting for parental atopy and breastfeeding, AD at 3.5 years was associated with atopic disease in the parents (maternal atopy only [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 3.83; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2–12.2]; paternal atopy only [aOR: 3.6; 95% CI: 1.09–11.75]; both parents atopic [aOR: 6.12; 95% CI: 2.0–18.5]). There was a higher risk of AD with longer duration of breastfeeding (<6 months [aOR: 6.13; 95% CI: 1.5–25.9]; >6 months [aOR: 9.70; 95% CI: 2.5–38.2]) compared with never breastfeeding. AD at 3.5 years had a negative association with cat ownership (aOR: 0.5; 95% CI: 0.2–0.97) but was not associated with owning a dog at 3.5 years, having pets at 1 year, or with older siblings. AD at 3.5 years was not associated with gender, socioeconomic status, maternal smoking, parity, mold exposure, immunizations, BMI, or antibiotic use in the first year of life. Conclusions. A personal and a parental history of atopic disease are risk factors for AD at 3.5 years. Duration of breastfeeding was associated with an increased risk of AD. No association was found with factors implicated by the hygiene hypothesis. Reviewer Comments. This is one of many studies to look at various risk factors for atopy, here focusing on AD. Similar to other studies, the authors show that family history of atopy is a risk factor for AD. However, compared with other studies, the authors did not find any association with gender, socioeconomic status, environmental risks, or BMI. This discrepancy is probably attributable to differences in populations and different environmental factors. The data on atopy prevention by breastfeeding remain unclear and may be affected by reverse causation (breastfeeding longer in response to observing AD); although this is one of several negative studies, meta-analyses of multiple studies typically show a prevention effect.


Objective Because married couples have many environmental influences in common, spouses may develop similar diseases. This study aimed to determine the concordance of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidaemia, which are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, among married couples in Japan. Research design and methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of married couples who were both aged ≥40 years using the 2016 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions, which is a Japanese national survey. We first determined the proportions of wives and husbands who were receiving therapy for each of the diseases of interest. We then conducted logistic regression analyses using the wives undergoing therapy for each disease as outcomes and the husbands undergoing therapy for the same disease as the principal exposure, adjusting for covariates. Results The subjects of the analyses were 86 941 married couples. The wives of male patients were significantly more likely to be receiving therapy for the same disease. Logistic regression revealed that when husbands were undergoing therapy for these diseases their wives had ORs (95% CIs) of 1.79 (1.72–1.86) for hypertension, 1.45 (1.34–1.58) for diabetes, 2.58 (2.41–2.75) for dyslipidaemia and 1.87 (1.80–1.93) for any of these diseases. Conclusions If men have hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidaemia, their wives were also more susceptible to the same disease. Medical professionals and couples may need to recognise these results and consider couple-based interventions to help the prevention, early detection and treatment of these diseases.


Abstract The lung cancer is often associated with the development of pleural effusion. Neutrophils are the most numerous population of immune system cells which are an essential component of tumor leukocyte infiltration. These cells are engaged in the development and maintenance of the inflammation. It is indicated that neutrophils support the development of cancer. The aim of the study was the evaluation of neutrophils, regarding their presence and activity in pleural effusions. This was achieved by assessing of molecular structures, which are used by neutrophils in chemotaxis and phagocytosis. 60 pleural effusions and 34 peripheral blood samples received from patients and 15 peripheral blood samples from the control group were analyzed. Expression of CD11a, CD11b, CD11c, CD18 and CD62L molecules with use flow cytometry was evaluated. The concentration of the neutrophil elastase in pleural effusions were measured with use ELISA test. The number of neutrophils in the peripheral blood of patients with pleural effusion was lower than that observed in the control group. Neutrophils present in pleural effusions were characterized by an increased ability to chemotaxis and secrete significant amounts of neutrophil elastase. Neutrophils recruited into the pleura during the formation of the effusion are an essential element of the developing inflammatory reaction in this environment. The presence of neutrophils in pleural effusion may promote its further formation and support the development of cancer.


Astragalus adsurgens is a rare species in Hokkaido, Japan. However, there are many large populations of A. adsurgens in Oshima-oshima Island in Hokkaido, and this advanced to bare ground. This suggests that this species is a promising vegetation recovery material around their habitat area, though it is a rare species in Hokkaido. In this study, to conserve and use this as a material for revegetation, germination and initial growth were investigated. Seeds had physical dormancy and the germination rate was 10% or less in seeds without any treatment. The physical dormancy was not broken by freezing and thawing treatments, but by soaking with concentrated sulfuric acid for 20-90 min, near to 100% of germination was brought within six days after sowing. Observation by electron microscopy revealed that the concentrated sulfuric acid causes cracks or cavities in the seed coat. The seeds whose dormancy was broken showed a germination rate of 90% or more within ten days after sowing within a wide temperature range of 10-30°C. Germination of about 90% in the seeds released from dormancy was retained for at least 14 months of storage. Eighty-six percent of the seeds sown in May in the outdoors emerged 25 days after sowing, and six out of ten seedlings, which were transplanted at experimental field, flowered and set seeds in October of the subsequent year.


We study symmetry breaking in the mean field solutions to the 2 electron hydrogen molecule within Kohn Sham (KS) local spin density function theory with Dirac exchange (the XLDA model). This simplified model shows behavior related to that of the (KS) spin density functional theory (SDFT) predictions in condensed and molecular systems. The Kohn Sham solutions to the constrained SDFT variation problem undergo spontaneous symmetry breaking as the relative strength of the non-convex exchange term increases. This results in the change of the molecular ground state from a paramagnetic state to an antiferromagnetic ground states and a stationary symmetric delocalized 1st excited state. We further characterize the limiting behavior of the minimizer when the strength of the exchange term goes to infinity. This leads to further bifurcations and highly localized states with varying character. The stability of the various solution classes is demonstrated by Hessian analysis. Finite element numerical results provide support for the formal conjectures.


Introduction: Telemedicine offers instrumental support in the COVID-19 pandemic, helping restructure overloaded health systems. However, there exists a paucity of evidence regarding the feasibility and aid offered by telemedical consultation during life-threatening situations.

Narrative: This paper is a case report of a confirmed COVID-19 66-year-old female admitted to a field hospital who evolved with an unstable condition and suffered a cardiac arrest. All data were collected through a retrospective analysis of the medical records and relevant information is presented. General practitioners assisted the patient during cardiac arrest, helped remotely by a cardiologist, who orientated the ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) protocol review.

Discussion: A telemedicine-guided tension pneumothorax diagnosis was made, allowing timely drainage. The patient recovered through spontaneous circulation; post-cardiac arrest management was also remotely guided and there was progressive recovery. This case demonstrates that low-cost and easy-access specialist teleconsultation may be feasible and effective to improve protocol-adherence even in extreme situations and can be expanded in several scenarios.


Core fucosylation of N-linked oligosaccharides (GlcNAcb1,4(Fuca1,6)GlcNAcb1-Asn) is a common modification in animal glycans, but little is known about the distribution of core-fucosylated glycoproteins in mammalian tissues. Two monoclonal antibodies, CAB2 and CAB4, previously raised against carbohydrate epitopes of Dictyostelium discoideum glycoproteins (Crandall, I. E. and Newell, P. C. (1989) Development 107, 87–94), specifically recognize fucose residues in a1,6-linkage to the asparagine-bound GlcNAc of N-linked oligosaccharides. These IgG3 antibodies do not cross-react with glycoproteins containing a-fucoses in other linkages commonly seen in Nor O-linked sugar chains. CAB4 recognizes core a1,6 fucose regardless of terminal sugars, branching pattern, sialic acid linkage, or polylactosamine substitution. This contrasts to lentil and pea lectins that recognize a similar epitope in only a subset of these structures. Additional GlcNAc residues found in the core of N-glycans from dominant Chinese hamster ovary cell mutants LEC14 and LEC18 progressively decrease binding. These antibodies show that many proteins in human tissues are core-fucosylated, but their expression is localized to skin keratinocytes, vascular and visceral smooth muscle cells, epithelia, and some extracellular matrix-like material surrounding subpopulations of lymphocytes. The availability of these antibodies now allows for an extended investigation of core fucose epitope expression in development and malignancy and in genetically manipulated mice.


The process of searching good parameter values is a non-trivial task for metaheuristic algorithms. When two algorithms are comparable in terms of speed and probability of convergence, the algorithm with less number of parameters is always preferred. This paper discussed the importance of the initial error covariance parameter, P(0), in Simulated Kalman Filter (SKF) with an intent to make SKF a parameter-less algorithm. To evaluate the importance of initial error covariance value in SKF, several values were selected and statistical analyses using nonparametric Friedman and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were carried out to see if different initial error covariance has any significant difference in the final outcome. The results prove that no matter what the initial error covariance is, SKF algorithm still managed to converge to near-optimal value without any significant degradation or improvement.


Existing Knowledge Base Population methods extract relations from a closed relational schema with limited coverage leading to sparse KBs. We propose Pocket Knowledge Base Population (PKBP), the task of dynamically constructing a KB of entities related to a query and finding the best characterization of relationships between entities. We describe novel Open Information Extraction methods which leverage the PKB to find informative trigger words. We evaluate using existing KBP shared-task data as well anew annotations collected for this work. Our methods produce high quality KB from just text with many more entities and relationships than existing KBP systems.


The year 2021 marked a decade of CARIBE WAVE (CW) exercises organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Coordination Group for Tsunamis and Other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (ICG CARIBE/EWS). This region has had a long history of devastating tsunamis, and over the years the risk to lives and livelihoods of coastal communities has continued to increase. The tsunami threat in the Caribbean provides a strong incentive for countries to prepare and participate in annual tsunami exercises. The CW exercise is carried out with the purpose of validating and advancing tsunami resilient communities in the region. As a result of these exercises, countries have been able to test and improve communications between the Tsunami Service Provider and their National Tsunami Warning Centers (NTWC) and Tsunami Warning Focal Points (TWFP), as well as practice their emergency response plans. Participation of the public (including mass media communications, social media engagements, tsunami walks, etc.) and regional government beyond TWFP and NTWC has played a critical role in developing tsunami awareness in the greater community. This study collates the history and background of exercises since 2011, resulting in enhancing tsunami preparedness and awareness. Ongoing CW exercises should continue and be strengthened so that the region is prepared as possible to respond and recover when the next tsunami strikes the shores of the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Metoclopramide is often used in the treatment of postoperative nausea and vomiting, but a literature review failed to find reports on the influence of this drug on the healing of bowel anastomoses in the setting of abdominal sepsis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of metoclopramide on the healing of left colonic anastomoses in rats with induced abdominal sepsis. Materials and Methods: Forty rats were divided into two groups of 20 animals each to receive either metoclopramide (experimental group: E) or saline (control group: C). Each group was further divided into subgroups of 10 animals each to be killed on the third (E3 and C3) or seventh postoperative day (E7 and C7). A segmental resection of the left colon was performed, followed by end-to-end anastomosis. Sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture. On the day of reoperation, the total number of adhesions was assessed and the anastomosed bowel segment was removed for tensile strength testing, histopathological analysis, measurement of hydroxyproline levels, and histomorphometric evaluation of collagen. Results: Intraoperative findings, number of intra-abdominal adhesions in the anastomosed area, and tensile strength before anastomosis rupture were similar among all subgroups at all assessments. On the third postoperative day, the anastomoses of animals treated with metoclopramide showed significantly lower hydroxyproline levels (p = 0.01) when compared with controls. Collagen content was similar among all subgroups. Conclusions: Metoclopramide does not have deleterious effects on the healing of bowel anastomoses in rats subjected to experimental abdominal sepsis.


STUDY OBJECTIVE
To compare the surgical findings of tracheal stenosis caused by percutaneous tracheostomy (PCT) and surgical tracheostomy (SGT).

DESIGN AND SETTING
A combined prospective (from 2001 to 2003) and retrospective (from 1993 to 2001) observational study of the patients undergoing tracheal resection and reconstruction for treatment of tracheal stenosis following PCT or SGT in a national referral center for thoracic surgery in the United Kingdom.

PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS
We studied 29 patients presenting with symptomatic tracheal stenosis requiring tracheal reconstruction. We recorded the demographic data, duration of mechanical ventilation, onset of tracheal stenosis after decannulation, and type of tracheostomy (PCT or SGT) from referral notes. Tracheal reconstruction was preceded by rigid bronchoscopy, through which the distance of the superior level of stenosis to the vocal cords, and the length and the diameter of stenosis were measured. The type of surgical technique for tracheal resection was also recorded. We then compared the stenosis caused by PCT (n = 15) and SGT (n = 14) using an unpaired t test, Mann-Whitney U test, or Fisher exact test as appropriate for statistical analysis.

RESULTS
The mean distance from the superior level of stenosis in the PCT group was significantly closer to the vocal cords compared with the mean distance in the SGT group: 1.6 cm (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1 to 2.1) vs 3.4 cm (95% CI, 2.3 to 4.5), respectively (p = 0.04). The mean onset of stenosis was significantly earlier in the PCT group compared to the SGT group: 5.0 weeks (95% CI, 5.0 to 6.0) vs 28.5 weeks (95% CI, 12 to 84), respectively (p = 0.009). Seven of 15 patients in the PCT group required partial cricoid resection and a mucosal flap, compared with 1 of 14 patients in the SGT group, although the difference did not reach statistic significance (p = 0.23).

CONCLUSION
Stenosis caused by PCT occurred earlier and was subglottic in nature compared to that by SGT. Surgical correction of stenosis was more difficult in the PCT group due to its presentation in the subglottic area.


The magnetic properties of epitaxial Fe(001) films, prepared on GaAs(001) substrates by RF magnetron sputtering, were investigated by ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy operating at Q-band (35 GHz). The in-plane angle dependence of the resonance fields showed four-fold magnetic anisotropy with an easy (hard) direction along [100] ([110]). The anisotropy constant was slightly smaller than the magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant of bulk Fe. Ferromagnetic resonance linewidths, caused by the magnetic damping of Fe films, were narrow (<;70 Oe) and independent of the in-plane magnetic field directions. It will be shown that the observed linewidth gives good estimate of the upper bound of the Gilbert-type damping in Fe thin films.


The English law on illegality as a defence across the law of obligations is in a mess. There have been three recent UK Supreme Court decisions (and we await another) which have, so far, failed to cut through the difficulties. This paper focuses on the core question as regards illegality as a defence in contract: which is, what is the impact of criminal conduct on the enforceability of a contract? It begins by explaining why illegality is such a difficult topic. It goes on to draw a critical distinction between two exercises (or stages): the legislative effect on the contract of the criminal conduct and its effect on the contract at common law. It goes on to favour a multifactorial approach to the effect at common law in preference to a rule-based approach (including the reliance rule favoured by the House of Lords in Tinsley v Milligan [1994] 1 AC 340); and it explains how that preferred approach would apply to some hypothetical examples.


A unified analytic approach is presented for the design of adaptive sampling control law in sampled-data systems. This is accomplished by introducing an objective function which measures the performance of the sampler over each sampling interval, and then minimize it to obtain the sampling control law. A total of six different control laws, which are functions of the sampled function, are derived from the generalized objective function by selecting different weighting coefficients. More than half of these control laws are identical to existing results. Similar control laws as functions of the system output can be derived as well. Also included are some experimental results on the performances of four representative control laws in a second-order system subject to step disturbance.


Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the impact of the different types of prostate involvement at the time of radical cystoprostatectomy (RCP). Methods: Data from 893 male patients treated with RCP at a referral center for bladder cancer (BCa) were assessed. Prostatic urothelial carcinoma (PUC) was stratified as stromal vs. urethral/duct involvements. Multivariable Cox regression analyses were built to test the impact of the presence of incidental prostate cancer (PCa) and PUC on survival outcomes. Results: PCa was present in 319 (35.7%) RCP patients, of which 45 (14.1%) had significant PCa disease. PUC was identified in 181 patients (20%): 75 (41.1%) with urethral/duct involvement and 106 (58.6%) with stromal. Within a median follow-up of 72 months, stromal PUC, but not the other forms of PUC or PCa, was associated with worse survival outcomes. In multivariable analyses adjusted for the effects of standard features, stromal PUC remained associated with recurrence (hazards ratio [HR] 2.01, p = 0.03), cancer-specific mortality (HR 1.65, p = 0.01), and overall mortality (HR 1.45, p = 0.03). Conclusion: Prostatic stromal invasion with urothelial carcinoma confers a poor survival expectation to BCa patients after surgical treatment. Conversely, other type of urothelial prostatic invasions or the presence of concomitant PCa does not seem to be associated with differences in survival outcomes.


This study explores ways in which women are being unfairly treated in some selected religions as a result of menstrual flow. The work showed that in spite of scientific explanation on menstrual flow, some religions still see it as a curse and consequently tagged women unclean during this period. Therefore, for the purpose of clarity, the work specifically focused on Celestial church of Christ and Cherubim and Seraphim church position. For women, menstrual blood is accepted as a fact of womanhood and God given, but our society has seen it as an obstacle to spiritual growth, causing disdain for church practices, which to the present day is seen as a way of emphasizing patriarchal ideologies. Also it was noted that since Jesus Christ was not rendered impure by the woman with the issue of blood, it therefore means that menstrual blood could not have been the cause of unanswered prayers in churches that believed otherwise. After all, men too have periods of ritual impurity and it had never been on record that they were asked to go for spiritual cleansing less being the one responsible for unanswered prayers. Therefore depriving women of space in religious activities as a result of menstrual flow is seen as infringements on women rights and it creates a range of restrictions on her physical mobility that limited her space for action. The work concludes by imploring religious groups particularly Christians to always give correct interpretations and application of the scripture and at the same time to taken into consideration the geographical, cultural and historical situations of that time before any meaningful interpretation can be done.


Background . Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of CTI dependent atrial flutter (CTI-AFL) is conventionally performed under fluoroscopic guidance, or alternatively with 3D mapping and contact force (CF) catheters. Ultra-high density mapping (UHDm) and local impedance (LI) guided ablation have not yet been evaluated for this indication. Methods . An observational study comparing conventional, CF and LI-guided ablation of CTI-AFL to understand whether LI offers superior ablation metrics and UHDm allows accurate identification of breakthrough after initial RFA. Retrospective analysis of consecutive CTI-AFL cases was performed. Irrigated RFA was used in all groups. Contact was determined in the CF group with target >9 g and in the LI group with patient-specific LI. Target LI drop of -20 ohms was used to determine effective lesion formation. Standard generator impedance was used for the conventional group. Power was limited to 40-50W in all groups. In the LI group, if the CTI was not blocked after initial ablation, UHDm was used to identify breakthrough. Mean RFA time, time to CTI block, number of lesions required to achieve block, acute procedural success and complications were analysed with ANOVA. Breakthrough points were manually assessed. Results . Data is presented for 27 patients; 7 conventional, 10 CF and 10 LI. Mean RFA time was 6, 5.8, 3.2min respectively (p=0.0227). Significant differences also seen with LI vs Fluo (p=0.0194), LI vs CF (p=0.0164). Time from first application of RF to block was 22.8, 20.4, 14.2 min (p=ns). No significant difference was seen in the number of lesions required to achieve block. Acute procedural success was 100% in all groups, and there were no acute complications. Breakthrough was identified in 50% of CF and LI cases (5 patients in each group). With LI, there was one case of epicardial-endocardial breakthrough (EEB) 11mm from the CTI (figures A, B), three posterior, and one anterior aspect of the CTI, identified with UHDm. Subsequent LI-guided RFA resulted in block, on average six minutes quicker vs CF. Discussion This data illustrates that UHDm and LI-guided RFA significantly reduces the amount of ablation required (by 47% and 45% versus conventional and CF respectively; p=sig) by shortening lesion duration guided by LI change. A reduction from first RFA to block is also seen (47% and 30% respectively; p=ns). Many patients require further ablation following the initial RFA line, resulting in longer procedures. UHD mapping quickly and accurately identifies breakthrough for further focused RFA, including EEB away from the CTI which may otherwise be difficult to identify and treat using the conventional or standard 3D mapping, and result in prolonged procedure time and/or increased radiation exposure. LI also resulted in more predictable procedure times. We could not directly compare overall procedure times as many in the CF group had CTI combined with left atrial ablation. Conclusion . LI-guided ablation is safe and effective, and has shown favourable ablation metrics when compared with conventional and CF-guided ablation for CTI dependent AFL. Ultra-high density mapping more rapidly and effectively identifies sites of breakthrough after initial RFA application. A larger study is planned to provide more insight. Conflict of Interest None


De-noising and segmentation are fundamental steps in processing of images. They can be used as preprocessing and post-processing step. They are used to enhance the image quality. Various medical imaging that are used in these days are Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI), Ultrasound, X-Ray, CT Scan etc. Various types of noises affect the quality of images which may lead to unpredictable results. Various noises like speckle noise, Gaussian noise and Rician noise is present in ultrasound, MRI respectively. With the segmentation region required for analysis and diagnosis purpose is extracted. Various algorithm for segmentation like watershed, K-mean clustering, FCM, thresholding, region growing etc. exist. In this paper, we propose an improved watershed segmentation using denoising filter. First of all, image will be de-noised with morphological opening-closing technique then watershed transform using linear correlation and convolution operations is applied to improve efficiency, accuracy and complexity of the algorithm. In this paper, watershed segmentation and various techniques which are used to improve the performance of watershed segmentation are discussed and comparative analysis is done.


Professor Geoffrey Harcourt has been awarded the 2010 Veblen-Commons Award, the highest academic honour given by the Association of Evolutionary Economics. This award is presented annually to a scholar who has substantially advanced an understanding of how economies actually work, in addition to insights that advance economic theory. In his invitation to Professor Harcourt to accept the award, the Association's President, Professor Bob Prasch, identified himself as one who 'has for so long been informed, enlightened, and even delighted' by Professor Harcourt's work. Speaking on behalf of the Association, Professor Prasch commented: 'in our mind, Professor Harcourt's achievements have been monumental'. Professor Harcourt's career began at the University of Melbourne in 1950, where he gained a Bachelor and Master of Commerce degree, before earning his PhD from Cambridge University. His contributions to Post Keynesian Theory are exemplified by his Cantabrigian two-sector model (1965), his investment model developed with Peter Kenyon (1976), and his book The Structure of PostKeynesian Economics, published by Cambridge University Press in 2006. Professor Harcourt's emphasis on applying real world economics to deal with real world problems underpins his active support for ELRR as a working member of its editorial committee. The Executive Editors offer hearty congratulations to Professor Harcourt, and thank him for his contribution to the pursuit of the journal's twin goals of rigour and accessibility.


Quantum computation using continuous-time evolution under a natural hardware Hamiltonian is a promising near- and mid-term direction toward powerful quantum computing hardware. We investigate the performance of continuous-time quantum walks as a tool for finding spin glass ground states, a problem that serves as a useful model for realistic optimization problems. By performing detailed numerics, we uncover significant ways in which solving spin glass problems differs from applying quantum walks to the search problem. Importantly, unlike for the search problem, parameters such as the hopping rate of the quantum walk do not need to be set precisely for the spin glass ground state problem. Heuristic values of the hopping rate determined from the energy scales in the problem Hamiltonian are sufficient for obtaining a better quantum advantage than for search. We uncover two general mechanisms that provide the quantum advantage: matching the driver Hamiltonian to the encoding in the problem Hamiltonian, and an energy redistribution principle that ensures a quantum walk will find a lower energy state in a short timescale. This makes it practical to use quantum walks for solving hard problems, and opens the door for a range of applications on suitable quantum hardware.


The problem considered in the paper is the structure design and modal analysis of Mecha in HD-NVD player. Regarding general DVD player, the influence on pickup from structure designs of spindle motor and base, assembly accuracy etc. have already been solved. But for HD-NVD player, as the speed of spindle motor working in the range from 3000 to 7000 r/m, so the these influence on pickup above correlative element have to be solved by complicated analysis. Through using ALGOR to design and analyze Mecha, obtained the structure dimension of base and modal characteristic, found its material property effecting greatly on the vibration of Mecha. With the increase of material rigidity in the base and motor stator, the system rigidity increases, then the vibration of system decreases. The result indicates that the Mecha designed and analyzed by ALGOR can meet the operating demand of HD-NVD player.


ABSTRACT We studied reproductive ecology and egg survivorship of Podocnemis erythrocephala (Spix 1824) in 4 campina habitats on the Ayuanã River, Santa Isabel do Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil. There were 2 nesting periods, the first in early October and the other in the beginning of December, separated by a period of flash floods. A total of 117 nests were recorded, with a nest density of 19.9 nests/ha, a mean clutch size of 8.7 eggs, and a mean egg volume of 14 cm3. Females chose to nest in the most open sites, with plant cover of up to 50%. Nest loss reached 100% for the season: 70% was from flash floods, 12% was from predation by the weasel Eira barbara (Mustelidae), 9% was by the lizard Ameiva ameiva (Teiidae), 5% by humans, 2% by Crocodilurus lacertinus (Teiidae), and 1% by Daptrius ater (Falconidae).


The mechanical work of breathing was determined in anesthetized dogs by measurements of intrathoracic pressures and tidal volumes, during inhalation of various gas mixtures while vagi reflexes were functional (warm) and blocked (cool). Pressure-volume loops obtained when vagi reflexes were blocked showed that both elastic and viscous work per breath increased during inhalation of 3.8% and 5.2% CO 2 . However, the total work per minute increased during inhalation of 3.8% CO 2 , but remained constant during inhalation of 5.2% CO 2 . During inhalation of 10.1% O 2 in nitrogen, viscous and elastic work per breath increased when vagi were blocked, with no significant changes in total work per minute. When 6.39% O 2 in nitrogen was inhaled, elastic and viscous work per breath increased with blocked vagi, but a significant decrease in total work per minute occurred. Vagal reflexes do not have as prominent a role in influencing the work of breathing during severe hypoxia and hypercapnia as they do during normal and obstructive breathing. Submitted on November 20, 1958


The inactivation of thrombin by antithrombin III was studied in the presence of immobilized heparin. It was found that heparin accelerated the inactivation of thrombin by first forming a complex with thrombin which was then inactivated by antithrombin III contrary to the hypothesis of Rosenberg and Damus (J. Biol. Chem., 248, 6490, 1973) and the results of Salzman et al. Heparin was immobilized onto polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) by acetal coupling with glutaralde- hyde to give a very stable bond at pH 7.4. Using small columns of heparin-PVA beads eluted by 0.14M NaCl buffered at pH 7.4 both thrombin and antithrombin III bound to the immobilized heparin. If thrombin was loaded before an excess of antithrombin III, significant inactivation of thrombin was observed; however, loading antithrombin III before thrombin did not measurably inactivate thrombin. The results suggest that the covalently-bound heparin effectively participates in the inactivation of thrombin through the formation of surface bound heparin-thrombin, which then reacts with antithrombin III to yield a surface bound thrombin-antithrombin III complex. Heparin-PVA is potentially useful as a nonthrombogenic coating in the preparation of small diameter vascular prostheses and blood sampling catheters.


We examined the trends in geographic variation in Medicare per capita spending and growth from 2007 to 2017 and found that the variation narrowed during this period. The difference in Medicare price- and risk-adjusted per capita spending between hospital referral regions (HRRs) in the top decile and those in the bottom decile decreased from $3,388 in 2007 to $2,916 in 2017-a reduction of $472, or 14 percent. The spending convergence occurred almost entirely between 2009 and 2014, during the early years of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The highest-spending HRRs in 2007 had the lowest annual growth rates from 2007 to 2017, and the lowest-spending HRRs in 2007 had the highest annual growth rates. We also found that a greater supply of postacute care providers, especially hospice providers, significantly predicted lower spending growth across HRRs after the implementation of the ACA.


The use of organ-preserving interventions remains the most important direction in improving of surgical treatment of patients with rectal cancer. One of the promising options for its implementation is the TEM (transanal endoscopic microsurgery) technique, which allows local removal of rectal neoplasms by its full-wall resection. However, indications for this intervention are still a matter of debate. The presented clinical case demonstrates the positive potential of the TEM technique, which consists of reducing surgical trauma without violating the basic oncological principles.


We develop a dynamic factor model to compute short-term forecasts of the Spanish GDP growth in real time. With this model, we compute a business cycle index which operates as an indicator of the business cycle conditions in Spain. To examine its real-time forecasting accuracy, we use real-time data vintages from 2008.02 through 2009.01. We conclude that the model exhibits good forecasting performance anticipating the recent and sudden downturn.


. The carbon budget concept is based on discoveries made at the end of the 2000s, claiming that global mean temperature (GMT) increase is roughly linearly dependent on cumulative emissions, with a proportionality metric named transient climate response to cumulative carbon emissions (TCRE). Since its emergence in natural science, the carbon budget concept has gained prominence as a tool for policymakers and climate economists alike. However, its usage in economic assessments has been critiqued due to its inability to capture time-delay effects and TCRE changing with climatic conditions. 5 In this paper, we define the "perfect budget" equation as a purely linear relationship between GMT and cumulative emissions. Hereby, we distinguish two sources of deviations from the perfect carbon budget: emission scenario and climate state dependence. The former stems from the scenario choice under the fixed cumulative emissions, the latter from the change in TCRE with increased cumulative emissions. Introducing Green's function formalism in the context of the temperature response to an emission pulse (pulse response), we provide reasoning behind time delay and possible scenario-dependent deviations and 10 connect Green's formalism with the carbon budget equation. Using an optimization program, we show that extreme scenario-dependent deviations are relatively small compared to the overall GMT increase and even smaller when there are no more emissions after the year of optimization. We explain the behaviour of scenario-dependent deviations by the shape of the pulse response. Additionally, we show that the pulse response changes with climatic conditions, through which we further explain carbon budget state dependency. Finally, we derive a generalized analytical carbon budget equation, which captures the state-15 dependent change of TCRE through a weak exponential GMT increase dependency on cumulative emissions. The analysis is done in FAIRv2.0.0, a simple climate model that includes climate feedback modifying the carbon cycle.


Chile peppers (Capsicum spp.) are among the most important vegetable crops in the world due to their health-related, economic, and industrial uses. In recent years, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping approaches have been widely implemented to identify genomic regions affecting variation for different traits for marker-assisted selection (MAS) in peppers. Meta-QTL analysis for different traits in Capsicum remains lacking, and therefore it would be necessary to re-evaluate identified QTL for a more precise MAS for genetic improvement. We report the first known meta-QTL analysis for diverse traits in the chile pepper QTLome. A literature survey using 29 published linkage mapping studies identified 766 individual QTL from five different trait classes. A total of 311 QTL were projected into a consensus map. Meta-analysis identified 30 meta-QTL regions distributed across the 12 chromosomes of Capsicum. MQTL5.1 and MQTL5.2 related to Phytophthora capsici fruit and root rot resistance were delimited to < 1.0 cM confidence intervals in chromosome P5. Candidate gene analysis for the flanking sequences for the P5 meta-QTL revealed biological functions related to DNA repair and transcription regulation. Moreover, epigenetic mechanisms such as histone and RNA methylation and demethylation were predicted, indicating the potential role of epigenetics for P. capsici resistance. Allele specific SNP markers for the meta-QTL will be developed and validated using different breeding populations of Capsicum for MAS of P. capsici resistant lines. Altogether, results from meta-QTL analysis for chile pepper QTLome rendered further insights into the genetic architecture of different traits for this valuable horticultural crop.


The Hot Spot Temperature (HST) value depends on the ambient temperature, the rise in the top oil temperature (TOT) over the ambient temperature, and the rise in the winding HST over the top oil temperature. In this paper a new semi-physical model comprising of the environmental variables for the estimation of HST and loss of insulation life in transformer is proposed. The winding hot-spot temperature can be calculated as a function of the top-oil temperature that can be estimated using the transformer loading data, top oil temperature lagged regressor value, ambient temperature, wind velocity and solar heat radiation effect. The estimated HST is compared with measured data of a power transformer in operation. The proposed model has been validated using real data gathered from a 100 MVA power transformer. General Terms Power Transformer, Ambient Temperature.


The management of patients with Cardiac Amyloidosis (CA) and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is complex and requires specific skills. Collaboration between centres remains essential because not all centres can perform complex diagnostic techniques (such as endomyocardial biopsy and mass spectrometry) or prescribe disease–modifying therapies, Therefore, in 2019 we created a collaborative network for diagnosis and treatment of CA (TTR and AL) and HCM (sarcomeric and phenocopies) with the aim of enhancing disease awareness among physicians and favoring appropriate access to innovative diagnostic tools/therapies. The network includes all 14 Cardiology Departments and outpatient clinics from 5 Local Health Units. At Referral Centre of the Regional University Hospital, all diagnostic and therapeutic tools necessary for a comprehensive management of CM patients including genetic testing, endomyocardial biopsy, ablation of complex ventricular arrhythmias, and septal myectomy for HOCM, are currently available and at disposal for the entire network.

 Thanks to this network, from December 2019 to December 2022, 283 patients were referred to our Center (fig. 1). Of these, 136 (48%) had CA, 122 (43%) were diagnosed with HCM (68 with obstructive form and 54 with non–obstructive form), 12 (4%) with Anderson Fabry Disease (AFD) and 13 (5%) with other forms of cardiomyopathy (miscellanea: arrhythmogenic, LVNC, etc). As for temporal trends in diagnosis of CM patients, in the first 2 years the diagnosis of HCM was more frequent than that of CA, while the number of CA patients has steadily grown, overtaking that of HCM patients in the last year (fig.2). The number of AFD diagnoses was consistently low over the 3 years, despite the spread use of genetic testing in all HCM patients. All patients with CA (136) were managed according to current algorythm with need of EMB in uncertain cases (8). Of the 136 patients with AC, 122 had TTR while 14 had AL (Fig.3). All patients with ATTR (122) underwent genetic testing: in 14 cases the presence of mutations in the TTR gene was documented (8 Ile68Leu; 4 Val30Met; 2 Val122Ile). 51 ATTR patients were treated with tafamidis, while 3 patients with variant–TTR and neuropathy received patisiran iv.

 Implementing specific clinical network provided excellent results, allowing a precise phenotype/genotype characterization and favoring appropriate access to specific disease–modifying drugs.


With the advent of network functions visualization and software defined networking, cloud content distribution network (CDN) providers can auto-scale their virtual CDN appliances in order to meet changing demands for commercial and user generated content services in a cost and energy efficient manner. However, existing caching policies, constrained to work with dedicated CDN resources and designed to maximize local cache hit rates, do not exploit the elasticity of virtualized cloud environments to adaptively guarantee service requirements with minimum cost. In this paper, we design and evaluate MC3 (MinCostCloudCache), an adaptive distributed caching strategy whose fundamental goal is to guarantee content service requirements while minimizing the use and associated cost of the shared physical infrastructure. MC3 estimates the global benefit of caching an object at a network node using only locally available information. The caching benefit is flexible and adaptive to the particular content service requirements, and is aware of the behavior of neighbor network caches, creating effective cache cooperation using only local information. Through simulation, we show how MC3 not only reduces the experienced average delay with respect to existing caching policies, but it also uses significantly less storage and transport resources, leading to increased revenues and reduced operational costs.


We analyze the recent hints of lepton flavor universality violations in semileptonic B decays within a general effective field theory (EFT) based on a U(2)n flavor symmetry acting on the light generations of Standard Model (SM) fermions. We analyze in particular the consistency of these anomalies with the tight constraints on various low-energy observables in B and τ physics. We show that, with a moderate fine-tuning, a consistent picture for all low-energy observables can be obtained under the additional dynamical assumption that the new physics (NP) sector is coupled preferentially to third-generation SM fermions. We discuss how this dynamical assumption can be implemented in general terms within the EFT, and we identify a series of observables in τ decays which could provide further evidence of this NP framework.


This article treats about a Sign Language concordancer. In the past years, the need for content translated into Sign Language has been growing, and is still growing nowadays. Yet, unlike their text-to-text counterparts, Sign Language translators are not equipped with computer-assisted translation software. As we aim to provide them with such software, we explore the possibilities offered by a first tool: a Sign Language concordancer. It includes designing an alignments database as well as a search function to browse it. Testing sessions with professionals highlight relevant use cases for their professional practices. It can either comfort the translator when the results are identical, or show the importance of context when the results are different for a same expression. This concordancer is available online, and aim to be a collaborative tool. Though our current database is small, we hope for translators to invest themselves and help us to keep it expanding.


OBJECTIVE
To estimate the prevalence of hypodontia in a group of 10- to 14-year-olds from a group of orthodontic clinics in Puerto Rico.

METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of hypodontia in 10- to 14-year-olds from orthodontic clinics located in each of 9 regions (as determined by the government-run health insurance program, Reforma) in Puerto Rico. A total of 1,911 patients, ranging in age from 10 to 14 years, were evaluated using patient charts covering from May 2004 through June of that same year. A logistic regression model was done to evaluate the relation between the prevalence of hypodontia in the study group and clinic location, gender, and age; a 5% significance level was used.

RESULTS
The overall weighted prevalence of hypodontia was 6.02%. Females showed a higher weighted prevalence of hypodontia than did males (7.02% vs. 4.72%, respectively: p = 0.06). The prevalence also varied by geographic region, ranging from 3.21% at the San Juan clinic to 10.68% at the Aibonito clinic (p = 0.01). The most prevalent missing teeth were the maxillary lateral incisors, followed by the lower second premolars (1.9%).

CONCLUSION
The prevalence of hypodontia in Puerto Rico was 6.02%. Females presented a higher prevalence of hypodontia than did males. Each of the clinics in Fajardo, Bayamón, San Juan, and Guayama had a lower prevalence of hypodontia than the Aibonito clinic did. The tooth most frequently missing in the study group was the maxillary right lateral incisor.


Intensive tilapia production (Oreochromis niloticus) is an emerging industry in West Africa. Access and availability of economically viable formulated commercial fish feeds are major constraints. The availability and cost of animal source ingredients such as fishmeal (FM), typically used in limited amounts to ensure balanced diets and high performance, is a global issue. Research has been conducted to identify and utilize locally produced, cost-efficient feedstuffs to partially or completely replace FM with a focus on plant and animal by-products. Interest in insect-derived meals, particularly fly larvae (Musca domestica, Hermetia illucens, etc.) as potential replacements for FM in aquaculture diets has increased. Commercial quantities of insect larvae, maggot meal, (MM) can be produced under tropical conditions due to their high rates of reproduction, growth, and their ability to grow on a large variety of organic substrates. Given the nutritional value and profile (comparability of amino acids, EFA, and micronutrients) of MM, this study evaluates strategies for: substitution of FM by MM, different methods of production and preparation of MM as a feedstuff, and availability of different substrates on which to produce fly larvae. A review of secondary data suggests that the nutritional value of MM is highly dependent on conditions of production (substrate, phenological stage of the maggots harvested) and processing (sun or oven dried, whole, chopped, defatted, etc.). A key question is how MM use can be optimized. This is modeled on a large-scale cage-inlake operation tilapia farm integrated with hatchery and juvenile production. The study is based on secondary data from hatchery, nursery, and grow-out tilapia operations at various locations to estimate annual MM requirements for food fish production of 6,000 metric tons (MT), juvenile production of 20 million fingerlings (10g), and a hatchery maintaining 10,000 broodfish. To substitute 30% of FM, in diets of each of these systems, the required annual MM production would be: 1.4 MTdry matter, (DM) for the broodstock; 60.8 MT (DM) for the juveniles; and 175.5 MT (DM) for the grow-out fish. Broodstock and juveniles have very high feed quality requirements, but the amounts required are relatively lower than for food/grow-out fish. A strategy for MM substitution may be optimized depending on the capacity to produce MM, fish feeding response, and performance results. Experiments on fly larvae production, capacity, and feeding trials with MM substituted feeds to validate this preliminary model, will be conducted in 2014 and 2015 in Ghana and UK.