A finite volume large eddy simulation–conditional moment closure (LES-CMC) numerical framework for premixed combustion developed in a previous studyhas been extended to account for differential diffusion. The non-unity Lewis number CMC transport equation has an additional convective term in sample space proportional to the conditional diffusion of the progress variable, that in turn accounts for diffusion normal to the flame front and curvature-induced effects. Planar laminar simulations are first performed using a spatially homogeneous non-unity Lewis number CMC formulation and validated against physical-space fully resolved reference solutions. The same CMC formulation is subsequently used to numerically investigate the effects of curvature for laminar flames having different effective Lewis numbers: a lean methane–air flame with Leeff = 0.99 and a lean hydrogen–air flame with Leeff = 0.33. Results suggest that curvature does not affect the conditional heat release if the effective Lewis number tends to unity, so that curvature-induced transport may be neglected. Finally, the effect of turbulence on the flame structure is qualitatively analysed using LES-CMC simulations with and without differential diffusion for a turbulent premixed bluff body methane–air flame exhibiting local extinction behaviour. Overall, both the unity and the non-unity computations predict the characteristic M-shaped flame observed experimentally, although some minor differences are identified. The findings suggest that for the high Karlovitz number (from 1 to 10) flame considered, turbulent mixing within the flame weakens the differential transport contribution by reducing the conditional scalar dissipation rate and accordingly the conditional diffusion of the progress variable.


Endothelial cells are constantly subjected to mechanical forces due to blood flow. The forces have been implicated in vascular pathogenesis; therefore, the consequences of these forces need to be examined. Using cDNA microarray technology, we studied the gene expression of human umbilical vein endothelial cells subjected to a 10% cyclic strain for 6 and 24 hours. Of the 4000 genes included on the Research Genetics GeneFilter/sup /spl reg// 211, thirty genes were determined as differentially expressed. The most highly upregulated gene at 6 hours was carboxypeptidase A3 at 3.2-fold; whereas, the most downregulated gene was dystrobrevin, alpha at 0.4-fold. At 24 hours, the most highly upregulated was matrix metalloproteinase 10 at 3.6-fold and the most downregulated was secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor at 0.5-fold. These genes were not only regulated by the strain of the cells, but some were actually regulated by the fluid agitation inherent in the system over the cells.


This brief presents a system design technique for improving the energy utilization of radio frequency (RF) circuits powered by renewable energy sources. Different from conventional systems, the operation of self-powered RF circuits is largely constrained by two factors: time-varying channel conditions and nondeterministic renewable energy levels. The proposed technique dynamically adjusts the modulation scheme to deal with these two factors in a coherent manner. This is the effective way to maximize the data rate of RF circuits while maintaining the required performance under unstable energy supplies. A detailed VLSI implementation is developed with negligible energy overheads. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed technique outperforms conventional RF circuits based on the fixed modulation scheme under variable channel and energy conditions.


Sensor networks as cooperative spatial diversity (CSD) is implemented and analyzed for cyclic delay diversity (CDD) distributed MC-CDMA system. In such as cooperative system, it is proposed a distributed SISO analysis employing CDD to simplify the system evaluation in terms of probability of errors and maximum achievable throughput [bits/s/Hz]. Furthermore, the moment generating function (MGF) of the correlated Nakagami-m random variable is used and considered for the realistic case of frequency-correlated MC-CDMA subcarries. To this end, an explicit allocation strategy for the distributed diversity is deducted. Simulation results are also presented which show excellent agreement with the analytical framework.


We evaluated the association of the APOE polymorphism with serum C-reactive protein levels and white blood cell count in two large population-based studies in Korean. The datasets included the Dong-gu study (n = 8,893) and the Namwon Study (n = 10,032). APOE genotypes were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship of APOE genotypes with C-reactive protein levels and white blood cell count with adjustments for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and serum lipids. In the multivariate model, carriers of E3E4 or E4E4 genotype had significantly lower C-reactive protein levels compared with carriers of E3E3 genotype group (0.50 mg/L vs. 0.67 mg/L; 0.37 mg/L vs. 0.67 mg/L, respectively, for the Dong-gu Study and 0.47 mg/L vs. 0.66 mg/L; 0.45 mg/L vs. 0.66 mg/L, respectively, for the Namwon Study). However, there was no difference in white blood cell count among APOE genotypes. We found that the APOE E4 allele is associated with lower C-reactive protein levels, but not white blood cell count. Our results suggest that APOE genotype may influence C-reactive protein levels through non-inflammatory pathway. Graphical Abstract


An elevated metro system is more preferred type of metro system due to ease of construction and also it makes urban areas more accessible without any construction difficulty. An elevated metro system has two major elements pier and box girder. This research concentrates only on the design of pier and its performance. Conventionally the pier of a metro bridge is designed using a force based approach. During a seismic loading, the behaviour of a single pier elevated bridge relies mostly on the ductility and the displacement capacity. It is important to check the ductility of such single piers. Force based methods do not explicitly check the displacement capacity during the design. Conventionally the pier of a metro bridge is designed using a force based approach. During a seismic loading, the behavior of a single pier elevated bridge relies mostly on the ductility and the displacement capacity. It is important to check the ductility of such single piers. Force based methods do not explicitly check the displacement capacity during the design. The codes are now moving towards a performance-based (displacement-based) design approach, which consider the design as per the target performances at the design stage. Performance of a pier designed by a Direct Displacement Based Design is compared with that of a force-based designed one. , performance of a pier designed by a Direct Displacement Based Design is compared with that of a force-based designed one. The design of a pier is done by both force based seismic design method and direct displacement based seismic design method and performance assessment is done based on both the methods.


When analyzing the pharmacokinetics (PK) of drugs, one is often faced with concentration C vs. time curves, which display a sharp transition at a critical concentration Ccrit. For C > Ccrit, the curve displays linear clearance and for C < Ccrit clearance increases in a nonlinear manner as C decreases. Often, it is important to choose a high enough dose such that PK remains linear in order to help ensure that continuous target engagement is achieved throughout the duration of therapy. In this article, we derive a simple expression for Ccrit for models involving linear and nonlinear (saturable) clearance, such as Michaelis‐Menten and target‐mediated drug disposition (TMDD) models.


In this paper, we study the problem of learning representations of entities and relations in the knowledge graph for the link prediction task. Our idea is based on the observation that the vast majority of the related work only models the relation as a single geometric operation such as translation or rotation, which limits the representation power of the underlying models and makes it harder to match the complicated relations existed in real-world datasets. To embrace a richer set of relational information, we propose a new method called dual quaternion knowledge graph embedding (DualE), which introduces dual quaternions into knowledge graph embeddings. Specifically, a dual quaternion behaves like a "complex quaternion" with its real and imaginary part all being quaternary. The core of DualE lies a specific design of dual-quaternion-based multiplication, which universally models relations as the compositions of a series of translation and rotation operations. The major merits of DualE are three-fold:1) it is the first unified framework embracing both rotation based and translation-based models, 2) it expands the embedding space to the dual quaternion space with a more intuitive physical and geometric interpretation, 3) it satisfies the key patterns and the multiple relations pattern of relational representation learning. Experimental results on four real-world datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our DualE method.


Increased glutamine uptake has been found to drive cancer cell proliferation, making tumor cells glutamine-dependent or even addicted. Glutamine is believed to provide additional carbon and nitrogen sources for cell growth. The first step in glutamine utilization is its conversion to glutamate by glutaminase (GLS). Glutamate is a precursor for glutathione synthesis, a pathway known to be activated in tumor cells. Additionally, glutathione concentrations are known to be elevated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and is believed to protect against oxidative stress. In contrast, glutathione9s participation in the γ-glutamyl-cycle is less well studied. Here we investigated the hypothesis that glutamine drives glutathione synthesis and export, drives the γ-glutamyl-cycle, and thereby contributes to NSCLC tumor cell proliferation. Glutamine consumption and glutathione excretion were measured in H460, A549 and MRC-5 cell lines. Treatment with BPTES, a known GLS inhibitor, led to reduced cell proliferation. This was also demonstrated when γ-glutamyl-transferase (GGT) was inhibited with acivicin. GGT transfers glutamyl groups from glutathione to amino acids to facilitate the amino acid transport into the cell. These results suggest active utilization of the γ-glutamyl cycle in the tumor cells. The formation of metabolites downstream of GLS and GGT were essentially abolished at the lowest inhibitor concentrations studied. In contrast, biological endpoints, such as MTT assay response, required up to 30-fold higher inhibitor concentrations. Culturing in stable isotope-labeled glutamine demonstrated that >50% of excreted glutathione and >80% of γ-glutamyl amino acids were derived from glutamine. Together these results demonstrate that glutamine is actively utilized for synthesis and excretion of glutathione which, in turn, is utilized to promote amino acid uptake by the formation of γ-glutamyl amino acids. These findings add yet another important function to the glutamine dependence of tumor cells. In addition to providing TCA cycle intermediates, we show that glutamine promotes glutathione synthesis to increase cellular defense mechanisms, and drives the γ-glutamyl cycle to enhance amino acid uptake. Citation Format: Daniel R. Sappington, Eric R. Siegel, Rosalind B. Penney, Gunnar Boysen. Glutamine, glutaminase and γ-glutamyl-transferase activities are essential for lung tumorigenesis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 747. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-747


Dynamic Analysis of the Two-Mass System to Imitate Rectilinear Motion of a Snake A few previous decades the researchers and the designers started to copy the animal motion to the mechanisms. The principal motivations of the snaky locomotion are the environments where the traditional machines are not applicable due their dimensions or shapes and where the accessories like the wheels or the legs fail. The paper deals with the dynamic analysis of the two-mass system imitating the snake rectilinear motion on the level surface. Within the research there were made various modifications of the system and through the simulation was verified the behavior of the kinematic parameters. Based on the mentioned displacements and the speeds depending on the time it is possible to determine the optimal parameters of examined dynamic system.


The article presents a survey of requirements concerning hydraulically bound road bases and results of compressive Rc and tensile strength Rt tests. Also the relationships between properties of hardened mixtures according to PN-EN 14227-1÷5 were considered. Relationships between different properties for concrete are known and are established (Eurocode 2). There is lack of such relation for road hydraulic bound mixtures of lower compressive strength 0.5 MPa ÷ 20 MPa. The analysis presented in this study discovered a relationship between compressive strength Rc and tensile strength Rt for various hydraulically bound mixtures (bound by cement, granulated slag, fly ash or hydraulic road binder) of compressive strength within the range 5 MPa ÷ 20 MPa. Properties of hydraulically bound mixtures of aggregates graded 0/22.4 mm using various types of aggregates (crushed or uncrushed, sedimentary or metamorphic rock and recycled concrete) were analyzed in this study. Test results and relationship between tested properties can be helpful for mechanistic design of road construction especially because the fatigue life of rigid or semi-rigid road pavement depends substantially on durability of hydraulically bound layers.


The phenomenon of quantum localization in classically chaotic eigenstates is one of the main issues in quantum chaos (or wave chaos), and thus plays an important role in general quantum mechanics or even in general wave mechanics. In this work we propose two different localization measures characterizing the degree of quantum localization, and study their relation to another fundamental aspect of quantum chaos, namely the (energy) spectral statistics. Our approach and method is quite general, and we apply it to billiard systems. One of the signatures of the localization of chaotic eigenstates is a fractional power-law repulsion between the nearest energy levels in the sense that the probability density to find successive levels on a distance S goes like [proportionality]S(β) for small S, where 0≤β≤1, and β=1 corresponds to completely extended states. We show that there is a clear functional relation between the exponent β and the two different localization measures. One is based on the information entropy and the other one on the correlation properties of the Husimi functions. We show that the two definitions are surprisingly linearly equivalent. The approach is applied in the case of a mixed-type billiard system [M. Robnik, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 16, 3971 (1983)], in which the separation of regular and chaotic eigenstates is performed.


Abstract The COVID‐19 pandemic has prompted Canada and several other countries to impose an economic shutdown to prevent a deadly public health crisis from becoming much deadlier. In the agriculture and food sector, several hundred thousand restaurant workers have lost their jobs. The rise in unemployment, the closing of restaurants and schools, and social distancing have triggered demand reductions for certain commodities and foods and demand increases for others, bringing along changes in demand for inputs including labor. Canadian employers of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) are facing delays and additional constraints in recruiting, but so have US and European employers of TFWs. Rising food security concerns are making protectionist trade policies popular. Domestic and foreign firms may export less and do more foreign direct investment, inducing trade in jobs.


Service discovery in mobile ad hoc networks is challenging because of the absence of any central intelligence in the network. Traditional solutions as used in the Internet are hence not well suited for mobile ad hoc networks. This paper focuses on traditional application layer service discovery protocols (SDP) shortcomings by presenting a fair comparison between application layer and cross-layer protocols. We present and examine our simulation results for both BF-SD-ZRP and SLPManet protocols in order to demonstrate their efficiency and shortcomings in terms of overhead, energy consumption and service discoverability using the scalable network simulator Jist/Swans.


The overall goal of this project is to create a method for predicting traffic congestion on freeway corridors. This report documents the calibration of the model and demonstrates its verisimilitude across full days and over 10 mi. In addition, it provides a demonstration of the utility of the model by testing its ability to perform simulation of vehicle behavior under unusual conditions. Inter-vehicle communication via wireless communication to improve safety is simulated, and the resulting safety and congestion reduction that can be gained by sharing vehicle states is demonstrated.


Natural rubber (NR) is a renewable material, which combines excellent mechanical and dynamic properties. It has been and still is in use in a variety of applications, mostly in the form of filled vulcanizates. Silica filler technology used for rubber is relatively new, since silica can reinforce rubber and gives high performance of articles, particularly in tires. The major problem of this combination is that silica has a relatively high polarity by nature and can not easily be mixed with NR which is a non-polar material. In addition, NR is rather susceptible to degradation under excessive mixing conditions, compared to its synthetic counterparts.

Bifunctional organosilane coupling agents effectively solve the incompatibility drawback as they are able to hydrophobize silica to become more compatible with hydrocarbon rubber and to additionally strengthen the interaction between silica and rubber. Bis-(triethyxysilypropyl) tetrasulfide (TESPT) is the most commonly silane coupling agent in the rubber industry nowadays. However, silane chemistry of rather complicated because of the necessary in-situ reactions during rubber processing. The mixing temperature necessary for silica/silane filled rubber requires a high energy input. In the presented project, the mixing conditions and formulation for the silica/silane/NR system are optimized ad subsequently a search for alternative routes for improving processability and utility of silica-rubber mixes is carried out. Polar-modified natural rubber is of interest in this contex because it may lead to a reduction or a possible replacement of conventional silane coupling agents.


Between November 1980-August 1989 physicians in Cairo Egypt followed 1488 infertile couples. The study reported the extent of infertility its etiology and problems related to its management. Primary and secondary infertility affected 70.7% and 29.3% of the couples respectively. Length of infertility ranged from 1 to 23 years (mean = 7.18 for primary infertility and 6.05 for secondary infertility). 306 husbands (20.6% of the couples) had either an insufficient sperm count ( 40% abnormal sperm. Both the husband and wife of 181 couples (12.2%) suffered from infertility. The physicians could not identify the cause of infertility in 49 couples (3.3%). 952 wives (64% of the couples) were infertile. Tubal problems were mainly responsible for female infertility (42%) followed by ovulatory disorders (25.3%) multiple factors (23.4%) pelvic endometriosis (5.6%) and cervical effects (4.2). Various treatments included laparoscopic adhesiolysis in 30 patients tubal microsurgery in 523 patients induction of ovulation and monitoring (e.g. clomid and HCG) in 224 patients in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer (ET) in 256 patients artificial insemination with husbands capacitated sperm along with ovulation induction in 114 couples intrauterine synechia and septa via hysteroscopy in 17 patients and abdominal myomectomy in 57 patients. The follow-up pregnancy rate for 523 microsurgery patients was 55.2% and 38% went full term. Only 51-63% of the couples could afford to pay for IVF and ET induction/monitoring of ovulation or artificial insemination with husbands sperm all of which only the private sector provided. Patients had to wait for laparoscopy and microsurgery which were also available through government hospitals. These results demonstrate that prevention of infertility is preferable to treatment particularly in developing countries such as Egypt. Islams view of infertility and family is also addressed.


This study basically examines the relationship between government external debt, corruption, and ECNG in selected five ASEAN countries, by estimating the magnitude and direction of the regression relationship, as well as the causal relationship. In addition, as a contribution in the direction of government and economic policymakers, this study intends to proffer recommendations as to the efficient management of public resources, in order to cushion the adverse effects of external indebtedness on other macroeconomic variables and welfare standards. Such effects include high cost of servicing, corruption, and capital flight, considering that investors fear being highly taxed when debts get to a certain level by the government. The findings of the study have revealed the fact that the the negative results on the economy, there is need for addressing the threat of increasing debt by the government through using alternative sources of capital investment. This can include economy openness for capital and relaxing the import restrictions and increased valuable exports. Investment can be increased in the domestic economy and wealth can be created through realizing the in-tax revenue from capital imported, which is against the interest payment on external debt. Moreover, the investment can increase ECNG, which results in transfer of technology to the domestic economy increasing the probability of more employment opportunities.


BACKGROUND
A long-acting FSH preparation has been developed by site-directed mutagenesis and gene transfer techniques.

METHODS
In this open-label trial, we investigated the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of FSH-CTP (corifollitropin alpha, Org 36286) in healthy female volunteers. Twenty-four subjects were treated with a high-dose oral contraceptive (OC) to suppress pituitary function. A single dose of 15, 30 or 60 micro g FSH-CTP was injected (s.c., eight subjects per dose group) and seven of these 24 subjects were subsequently treated with a single dose of 120 micro g.

RESULTS
Maximum serum FSH-CTP concentrations (0.42, 0.66, 1.49 and 3.27 ng/ml after administration of 15, 30, 60 and 120 micro g Org 36286 respectively) were reached between 36 and 48 h after injection and t(1/2) varied between 60 and 75 h. Dose proportionality was shown across the studied dose range, whereas t(max) and t(1/2) were dose independent. In most subjects follicular growth was observed; the number and maximum diameter of the follicles increased with the dose. Follicles with a diameter vertical line 8.0 mm were observed only in the 60 and 120 micro g dose groups, diameters between 12.0 and 15.9 mm occurred only in the 120 micro g group. Serum LH and 17beta-oestradiol levels remained low due to profound pituitary suppression whereas inhibin-B levels increased with dose. Maximum mean inhibin-B levels were 30.4, 322.7 and 1059.3 pg/ml in the 30, 60 and 120 micro g dose group respectively. The preparation was safe and well tolerated, and no FSH-CTP antibody formation was observed.

CONCLUSIONS
The pharmacokinetics of FSH-CTP were shown to be proportional with the dose. The elimination half-life was approximately two times longer than that of rFSH. A single dose of FSH-CTP was shown to be safe and able to induce multiple follicular growth accompanied by a dose-dependent rise in serum inhibin-B concentrations.


The partition coefficients of three homologous anticonvulsant phenylalkylamides [racemic alpha-hydroxy-alpha-ethyl-alpha-phenylacetamide (HEPA); beta-hydroxy-beta-ethyl-beta-phenylpropionamide (HEPP); and gamma-hydroxy-gamma-ethyl-gamma-phenylbutyramide (HEPB)] were determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The system was calibrated with a series of simple amines and amides, using their published log P values. The log kw values (methanol:water, extrapolated to 100% water) were 1.260 for HEPA, 1.670 for HEPP, and 1.852 for HEPB. From these results, the partition coefficients (log P) were calculated by regression as 1.20, 1.83, and 2.11, respectively. The log P values were essentially equal to those calculated by the Leo-Hansch fragmental method. Since the potency of the three anticonvulsants is approximately the same in a variety of tests, no dependence on lipophilicity could be established.


UNLABELLED
The primary objective of this prospective, open, non controlled, multicenter study was to collect data on migraine patients' health related quality of life before and after treatment of their migraine attacks by sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg over a 12 week period. The impact on health related quality of life was evaluated by the mean change from pre-treatment scores french migraine health related quality of life specific questionnaire (QVM). A total of 219 patients have been included in the study, whose migraine attacks were not usually relieved by first line therapy. A statistically significant improvement in health related quality of life (as measured by the global score and the four scores related to the four dimensions of the QVM questionnaire (functional, psychological, social and therapeutic) were observed compared to the pre-treatment score values. At the end of the treatment period, 60% of patients preferred sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg to their usual treatment. Headache relief was reported 2 hours after administration in 66% of attacks treated by sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg during the study period and pain free in 46% of treated attacks. The nature and incidence of adverse events were similar to these observed in previous studies performed with sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg and no unexpected events were reported.

CONCLUSION
Those data suggest for the first time that the use of sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg for the treatment of migraine attacks during a 12 week period may be associated with a significant improvement in migraine patients' quality of life. The clinical efficacy and tolerability results observed in this study are similar to those from controlled studies previously published with sumatriptan nasal spray 20 mg.


Housing markets, which are large and subject to sharp swings, shape to a great extent countries' exposure to economic crises and their capacity to recover from them. This paper analyses the transmission of housing-related shocks to the real economy: it investigates the role that policy plays in (a) mitigating or amplifying shocks and (b) facilitating or hampering a recovery. It considers macroprudential measures, rental regulation, taxation and land use restrictions. The aim is to investigate, which housing policy-related reforms can foster greater economic resilience. Among other results, it finds that a tighter macroprudential stance is generally linked to a lower likelihood of economic crisis and that higher effective rates of housing taxation are associated with smoother housing cycles.


Abstract Statistical measurements of Slovenian libraries' activities and the tools for measuring library development and effectiveness are presented. The Library System Development Centre at the National and University Library started to develop the BibSiSt portal in 2005. The module enables interactive entry of data on libraries' activities as well as data presentation, giving definitions and methodological explanations required to make proper interpretation of statistical data. In 2012, a new statistical module for indicators was released, facilitating simple measurement of library effectiveness on the basis of selected performance indicators. The selection of indicators was based on the ISO 11620 standard and on the generally accepted performance indicators in Slovenia as well as on related international projects. The main criterion for the selection of indicators was the quality of the obtained statistical data. On the basis of the Minimum Standard Guidelines for Public Library Service in Slovenia a methodology for libraries' measurement and formulation of opinions issued by the Library System Development Centre was developed followed by the module for measuring library development and progress. The module enables interactive data gathering and formulation of opinions. The administrator interface allows to maintain a directory of statistical units and to monitor statistical measurements.


Unprecedented progress in our understanding of the biologic and molecular genetic underpinnings of multiple myeloma (MM) has recently led to the development of novel targeted therapeutic agents, including proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, CS1-binging antibody, and histone deacetylase inhibitors, which have produced tangible, evidence-based benefits for patients with MM. Nonetheless, the overall outcome remains grim, due in large part to limitations in treating high-risk MM. We recently determined that the level of FOXM1 mRNA expression is of prognostic significance for myeloma patients, as both event-free survival and overall survival were reduced in cases exhibiting high FOXM1 expression. Forty-six of 351 myeloma patients (13.1%) had elevated FOXM1 message, with the majority (29/46, 63%) residing in the MAF/MAFB and proliferation high-risk molecular subgroups. Upregulation of FOXM1 was also observed in patients deemed high-risk using the 70-gene signature as a metric. These results suggest that upregulation of FOXM1 is a feature of high-risk MM, leading to the hypothesis that up-regulation of FOXM1 contributes to increased MM aggressiveness. To evaluate whether targeting FOXM1 results in reduced growth and survival of myeloma cells, MM cell lines exhibiting high levels of FOXM1 were found to have low micromolar sensitivity to treatment with thiostrepton or siomycin A — two thiazole antibiotics known to inhibit FOXM1 activity. Because of known off-target effects of these inhibitors, we are confirming the results using short-hairpin RNA. Our data suggest that developing effective therapeutic strategies against high-risk MM should include consideration of FOXM1 as a new target. Citation Format: Van S. Tompkins, Zhimin Gu, Hongwei Xu, Guido Tricot, Fenghuang Zhan, Siegfried Janz. Targeting FOXM1 in multiple myeloma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Precision Medicine Series: Synthetic Lethal Approaches to Cancer Vulnerabilities; May 17-20, 2013; Bellevue, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(5 Suppl):Abstract nr B38.


The study examined the occupational activities of female graduates in science and technology related fields with a view to assessing factors influencing their performance and make recommendations to enhance women work experiences in S&T occupations. The data for the study was collected through questionnaire and interview schedule from a sample of 2110 respondents comprising of employed female Science and Technology (S&T) graduates and heads of departments in tertiary institutions and S&T firms in Nigeria. The study reveal that most female S&T graduates (FSTGs) employed in tertiary institutions and research institutions were engaged in S&T based occupations. However, in corporate firms, most of the FSTGs work either in administration, finance or R&D departments. In addition, a large proportion takes less paying non S&T jobs for domestic reasons and lack of suitable vacancies. This suggests gross under-utilization of human resource. Some S&T organizations did not have any female working in S&T departments. Recommendations were made to enhance the recruitment, retention and performance of women in S&T employment in Nigeria.


OBJECTIVE
Perceived discrimination poses risks for psychological distress among Asian Americans, but the differential impact of general unfair treatment and racial discrimination has not been examined. Although social support from distal sources reduces discrimination-related distress either directly or as a buffer, the unique roles of spousal support have remained understudied. Nativity status was examined as another moderator of these relationships to resolve previous inconsistent findings regarding its relationship to the discrimination-distress link.

METHOD
Data were from 1,626 U.S.- and foreign-born Asian American adults (Mage = 42.17 years; n = 1,142 married/cohabiting) in the nationally representative National Latino and Asian American Study, who reported on experiences of unfair treatment, racial discrimination, social supports from spouses, family, friends, and neighborhood, and psychological distress.

RESULTS
Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that both unfair treatment and racial discrimination predicted psychological distress, and spousal support predicted distress above and beyond distal forms of social support in the context of perceived discrimination. Moderation analyses revealed that spousal support buffered against negative psychological consequences of unfair treatment, but not racial discrimination. Spousal support was not differentially protective as a function of nativity; however, U.S.-born respondents reacted with greater distress to unfair treatment than their foreign-born counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS
Psychological effects of both general and race-based discrimination, and the unique contributions of distinct sources of social support, are important to understanding adjustment and cultural transition among Asian Americans. Nativity differentially influences effects of unfair treatment. Implications for future research are discussed.


: The article suggests evaluation of tissue respiration in a pilot experiment, so as to promptly forecast toxicity, jeopardy and reveal metabolic activity and selective effects of industrial poisons.


Opioids play a role in the apoptosis machinery. We studied the induction of apoptosis in endomorphin 1 (EM1) and endomorphin 2 (EM2), 2 newly isolated endogenous mu-opioid receptor agonists. These endomorphins were able to reduce the viability of cultured HL-60 cells. The antiproliferative properties of endomorphins appeared to be attributable to their induction of apoptotic cell death as determined by ultrastructural change, internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, and increased proportion of the subdiploid cell population. To elucidate molecular events in the apoptosis, protein expressions of Bcl-2, Bax, Fas, and FasL were measured by western blotting using specific antibodies in HL-60 cells. The level of Bcl-2 indicated down-regulation, but the Bax, Fas, and FasL expression showed up-regulation as compared with the untreated control cells. These data support the idea that endomorphins induce apoptosis in HL-60 cells through the activation of the Bcl-2-Bax and the Fas-FasL pathway. We suggest that endomorphins may play an important role in the regulation of tumor cell death.


This work presents the effects of a cerium conversion coating, self‐assembling molecules (SAM) treatment, and a combination of these two treatments on the corrosion resistance of the AA3003 alloy. The results were compared to that of a conversion coating treatment with hexavalent chromium (Cr VI). The corrosion resistance of the surface‐treated AA3003 alloy samples was investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and anodic polarization curves in 0.5 mol/L sodium sulfate solution with pH adjusted to 4.0. The results showed that the SAM treatment offered better corrosion protection for the AA3003 alloy than that provided by cerium conversion coating. The combination of cerium conversion and SAM treatments improved the corrosion resistance of the AA3003 alloy due to SAM adsorption on the alloy substrate exposed at the defects in the cerium conversion layer.


This paper opens by distinguishing between the multiple concepts of system and the philosophical idea of system. It then goes on to discuss the differences between systems and other proximate ideas, such as whole, set, aggregate and structure. Subsequently, it proposes a definition of system, and then lays out three classifications of systems. When elaborating a general definition of system, the main challenge is finding a general criterion with which to characterize both technical systems built by men (for instance, machines), and scientific systems independent of human subjects (for instance, the solar system). The criterion proposed in the text solves this difficulty. Lastly, from the tenets of Gustavo Bueno's hyperrealist philosophy of categorial closure, I put forward the consideration of the sciences as systems.


DURING a study of the frequency of generalized albinism in the various Indian populations occurring in the southwestern part of the United States, two Hopi male siblings with piebaldness (partial albinism) and congenital deafness were encountered. 15 Since this syndrome has never been presented before, and these siblings, born in 1952 and 1956, show a remarkably similar pattern of pigment variegation, it was considered worthwhile to describe them in detail. Scientific impetus for this paper is the interest shown in recent years on the association between deafness and pigment defects. 4,10,11,13 Albinism Among the Hopi Indians The Hopi Indian Reservation is located in northeastern Arizona, where it is completely surrounded by the Navajo Indian Reservation. Hopis lived in the same region when the Spaniards first encountered them in the sixteenth century. Their origin is unknown. Today there are 12 Hopi villages, most of which are situated on top of three


Literature is replete with articles on the subject of diaphragmatic hernia, giving minute details as to its embryologic anatomy and differential diagnosis. Richards1recently discussed it from the point of view of embryology, and Morrison,2from that of the differential diagnosis. I shall refrain from discussing these points. and take up the subject principally from the roentgenologic point of view. Several years ago, my associate, Dr. T. R. Healy, and I made a careful roentgen-ray study of the fundus of the stomach, hoping to determine some method whereby malignancy could be earlier diagnosed. My attention was attracted to the varying shapes of the fundus in the upright, prone, supine, lateral and oblique positions, when filled with the barium meal. The position of the esophageal opening into the stomach was noted, as well as the position and movements of the diaphragm, the behavior of the heart and lungs, and


The aim of the study was to examine the role of traditional cultural beliefs ceremonies on girls' access to secondary school education provision in Tanzania. The study was done in urban Njombe region. Specifically at Luhororo, Uwemba and Mpechi secondary, and also at Luponde Madobole and Mkela primary school. The targeted population was students and parents. The study employed qualitative approach. Randomly and purposive sampling were used. Data were collected through structured and semi-structured interview. Data were analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings revealed that, most of the traditional cultural beliefs ceremonies does not fervor the equal chance for boys and girls in provision of education specifically secondary education in Tanzania. Also the girls' access to formal education been hampered by traditional convictions that girls do not need education, because their main responsibility is limited within the household. The study recommended that the society needs powerful traditional culturally beliefs based campaigns to enable it eliminate all traditional practices, beliefs and attitudes that discriminate against girls' access to secondary education in Tanzania. Article visualizations:


The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has an effect on children, either directly or indirectly. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) immunization in children and adolescents plays a role in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. As of December 2021, a limited number of COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for use in children and/or adolescents. Both mRNA vaccines (BNT162b2 and mRNA 1273) were found to be well tolerated and effective in large phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials. BNT162b2 vaccine was approved for children and adolescents aged 5 to 18, and mRNA-1273 vaccine for children aged 12 to 17. CoronaVac, an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, was also found to be safe and immunogenic in a phase 1/2 clinical trial in China, and is presently used for pediatric immunization in some countries as a routine. As COVID-19 is less severe in children than it is in adults, the benefit of its vaccination in children is less than that of adults. Immunization with an effective and safe vaccine in children and adolescents is likely to provide protection against severe COVID-19 infection. Pediatric COVID-19 vaccines may also protect against the long-term effects of COVID-19 (MIS-C and long COVID) and community transmission, as well as mitigate the indirect effects of the pandemic on them. Vaccination should be prioritized for children and adolescents who have an increased risk of severe COVID-19 infection. If vaccines were evenly distributed worldwide, they would be the safest way to return normal life. Otherwise, low-and middle-income countries will crash, resulting in mortality, undermining global recovery, and allowing more virulent variants (such as Omicron) to emerge. If health officials incorporate the COVID-19 vaccine into routine immunization, they should also regularly evaluate their benefits and potential risks.


Purpose
The purpose of this study is to highlight and critically assess the salient features of the Worker's Rights Act 2019 of Mauritius.

Design/methodology/approach
The various essential sections of the Act is assessed to underline the way they provide for an upgrade and progress in comparison with former labour legislation of Mauritius. The standards set by the International Labour Organisation are used as parameters to assess the salient features of the Act.

Findings
The new law puts the worker, as an individual human being, at the centre of the law and employment-related legal provisions have been designed accordingly. This law is an essential and much-needed shift from employer's centred labour legislation to labour legislation that emphasises on rights of workers.

Practical implications
This study enables foreign and local employers and workers operating in Mauritius to understand and be acquainted with the new provisions on employment laws in force in the country.

Originality/value
This study is currently amongst the few available legal literatures on worker's rights in Mauritius which adds to its originality. In addition, it is proposed as a building block on which further research on employment laws can be invited.


Introduces an iterative method that deforms brain models built from tomographic images. The deformation is used for normalization purposes: individual models are deformed to match the shape, orientation and internal morphology of a reference model. In this method, the individual and the reference models are each enclosed in a cube which is subdivided to form a rectangular grid. The vertices in the individual model's grid are perturbed and the contents of each cell is then trilinearly mapped into a cube. The composite of all resulting cubes form the deformed model to be compared with the reference model. The perturbations on the vertices are generated by a simulated annealing optimization technique. To maximize the performance, the models are represented in a multi-resolution fashion and the method is parallelized.


Valgrind, and specifically the included tool Memcheck, offers an easy and reliable way for checking the correctness of memory operations in programs. This works in an unintrusive way where Valgrind translates the program into intermediate code and executes it on an emulated CPU. The heavy weight tool Memcheck uses this to keep a full shadow copy of the memory used by a program and tracking accesses to it. This allows the detection of memory leaks and checking the validity of accesses.
Though suited for a wide variety of programs, this approach still fails when accelerator based programming models are involved. The code running on these devices is separate from the code running on the host. Access to memory on the device and starting of kernels is being handled by an API provided by the driver being used. Hence Valgrind is unable to understand and instrument operations being run on the device.
To circumvent this limitation a new set of wrapper functions have been introduced. These wrap a subset of the CUDA Driver API function that is responsible for (de-)allocation memory regions on the device and the respective memory copy operations. This allows to check whether memory is fully allocated during a transfer and, through the functionality provided by Valgrind, whether the memory transfered to the device from the host is defined and addressable. Through this technique it is possible to detect a number of common programming mistakes, which are very difficult to debug by other means. The combination of these wrappers together with the Valgrind tool Memcheck is being called Cudagrind.


In women at risk of early preterm imminent birth, from viability to 30 weeks of gestation, use of MgSO4 for neuroprotection of the fetus is recommended. In pregnancies below 32–34 weeks of gestation, the use of MgSO4 for neuroprotection of the fetus should be considered. MgSO4 should be administered regardless of the cause for preterm birth and the number of babies in utero. MgSO4 should be administered when early preterm birth is planned or expected within 24 h. When birth is planned, MgSO4 should commence as close as possible to 4 h before birth. If delivery is planned or expected to occur sooner than 4 h, MgSO4 should be administered, as there is still likely to be an advantage from administration within this time. The optimal regimen of MgSO4 for fetal neuroprotection is an intravenous loading dose of 4 g (administered slowly over 20–30 min), followed by a 1 g per hour maintenance dose. This regimen should continue until birth but should be stopped after 24 h if undelivered. When MgSO4 is administered, women should be monitored for clinical signs of magnesium toxicity at least every 4 h by recording pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and deep tendon (for example, patellar) reflexes.


Nitrogen metabolism is not only one of the basic processes of plant physiology, but also one of the important parts of global chemical cycle. Plant nitrogen assimilation directly takes part in the synthesis and conversion of amino acid through the reduction of nitrate. During this stage, some key enzymes, e.g., nitrate reductase (NR), glutamine synthetase (GS), glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), glutamine synthase (GOGAT), aspargine synthetase (AS), and asparate aminotransferase (AspAT) participate these processes. The protein is assimilated in plant cell through amino acid, and becomes a part of plant organism through modifying, classifying, transporting and storing processes, etc. The nitrogen metabolism is associated with carbonic metabolism through key enzyme regulations and the conversion of products, which consists of basic life process. Among these amino acids in plant cell, glutamic acid (Glu), glutamine (Gln), aspartic acid (Asp) and asparagines (Asn), etc., play a key role, which regulates their conversion each other and their contents in the plant cell through regulating formation and activity of those key enzymes. Environmental factors also affect the conversion and recycle of the key amino acids through regulating gene expression of the key enzymes and their activities. Nitrate and light intensity positively regulate the gene transcription of NR, but ammonium ions and Glu, Gln do the negative way. Water deficit is a very serious constraint on N2 fixation rate and soybean (Glycine max Merr.) grain yield, in which, ureide accumulation and degradation under water deficit appear to be the key issues of feedback mechanism on nitrogen fixation. Water stress decreases NR activity, but increases proteinase activity, and thus, they regulate plant nitrogen metabolism, although there are some different effects among species and cultivars. Water stress also decreases plant tissue protein content, ratio of protein and amino acid, and reduces the absorption of amino acid by plant. On the contrary, soil flooding decreases the content and accumulation amount of root nitrogen in winter wheat by 11.9% from booting to flowering stages and 39.1% during grain filling stage, and reduces the ratio of carbon and nitrogen by 79.6%. The results misadjust the metabolism between carbon and nitrogen, and result in the end of the root growth. Elevated CO2 level could decrease plant leaf nitrogen content under well-watered condition, but almost maintain stable under water deficit condition. The radiation of UV-B significantly reduces the partitioning coefficient and synthetic rate of Rubisco, which significantly decreases the photosynthetic rate. This paper reviewed the pathway of plant nitrogen assimilation, characteristics of key enzymes and their regulating mechanisms with picturing the regulating mode of NR, and described the signal sensing and conduct of plant nitrogen metabolism and the formation, transportation, storage and degradation of plant cell protein with picturing the schedule of protein transport of membrane system in plant cell. Seven key tasks are emphasized in this paper in terms of the review on the effects and mechanisms of key ecological factors including water stress on plant nitrogen metabolism. They are: 1) the absorption mechanism of plant based on different nitrogen sources and environmental regulations, 2) the localization and compartmentalization of the key enzymes of nitrogen mechanism in plant cell, 3) the gene and environmental regulating model and their relationships in various key enzymes of nitrogen metabolism, 4) the function of main cell organs and their responses to environmental factors in nitrogen metabolism process, 5) physiological and chemical mechanism of nitrogen and the relationship between the mechanism and protein formation during crop grain filling, 6) improving gene structure of special species or cultivars using gene engineering methods to enhance the resistance to environmental factor stress and the efficiency of absorption and transportation of nitrogen, and 7) the mechanism of natural nitrogen cycle and its response to human activity disturbance.


Abstract †Notogoneus osculus Cope, the type species for the geographically widespread Upper Cretaceous to Upper Oligocene genus †Notogoneus (Gonorynchidae), is redescribed in detail based on much new material. This species is known from the Early Eocene Fossil Butte Member of the Green River Formation, southwestern Wyoming. It is geologically the youngest known species of the family Gonorynchidae in North America, although the family is known from Oligocene and Miocene lacustrine deposits of Europe and Australia and is extant today in tropical marine environments of the Pacific (Gonorynchus spp.). In this paper we also correct a number of mistakes in previously published morphological descriptions of †N. osculus (e.g., in skull and caudal skeleton) based on a large, new sample of well-preserved, well-prepared specimens. Accurate description of this species is important because it is the type for the genus and it is also by far the best preserved of all known species of †Notogoneus. In addition, it may shed new light on the interrelationships of Gonorynchidae (work in progress by the authors). †Notogoneus appears to have inhabited a freshwater, subtropical environment. Based on distribution data and species diversity within the Green River Formation, we suspect that †N. osculus may have been a migratory fish, living in the central (off-shore) regions of Fossil Lake during part of its life, and in connecting streams and rivers during other parts of its life. Most or all species of the genus †Notogoneus are known from freshwater deposits and species are known from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Species of the extant gonorynchid genus Gonorynchus are all marine and are known from the Indo-Pacific and southern Atlantic.


ABSTRACT The silt-clay matrix of the greywackes in the Viqueque Formation of Timor is considered to be an original detrital deposit and not the result of post-depositional diagenesis of sand grains. These late-Tertiary greywackes from Timor are associated with calcilutites and calcarenites. This association and the origin of these greywackes are related to their oceanic and tectonic milieu.


Controlling the robot with a permanently-updated optimal trajectory, also known as model predictive control, is the Holy Grail of whole-body motion generation. Before obtaining it, several challenges should be faced: computation cost, non-linear local minima, algorithm stability, etc. In this paper, we address the problem of applying the updated optimal control in real-time on the physical robot. In particular, we focus on the problems raised by the delays due to computation and by the differences between the real robot and the simulated model. Based on the optimal-control solver MuJoCo, we implemented a complete model-predictive controller and we applied it in real-time on the physical HRP-2 robot. It is the first time that such a whole-body model predictive controller is applied in real-time on a complex dynamic robot. Aside from the technical contributions cited above, the main contribution of this paper is to report the experimental results of this première implementation.


The behaviour of mode I cracks in -Fe is investigated using molecular statics computer simulation methods with an EAM potential. A double-ended crack of finite size embedded in a cylindrical simulation cell and fixed boundary conditions are prescribed along the periphery of the cell, whereas periodic boundary conditions are imposed parallel to the crack front. The displacement field of the finite crack is represented by that of an equivalent pile-up of opening dislocations distributed in a manner consistent with the anisotropy of the crystal and traction-free conditions of the crack faces. The crack lies on the plane and the crack front is located along , or directions. The crack tip response is rationalized in terms of the surface energy of the cleavage plane and the unstable stacking energies of the slip planes emanating from the crack front.


The model of enterprise architecture (EA) is often a primary means of steering the business-IT development. It helps to ensure EA qualities in many ways, including identification of weaknesses in an EA or the signs thereof. Such weaknesses have been addressed through the study of EA smell, which focuses on common bad habits in EA practices. Although EA smell problems have been described in various contexts, current solutions lack the basis of evidence and practical details that are necessary for their adoption. Therefore, this study seeks to gain new insights into the solution domain of EA smells by exploring current knowledge about refactoring solutions. We present our findings in a catalog of EA refactoring solutions intended to serve as food for thought for future research directions.


ABSTRACT Macrolide resistance has been demonstrated in group B streptococcus (GBS), but there is limited information regarding mechanisms of resistance and their prevalence. We determined these in GBS obtained from neonatal blood cultures and vaginal swabs from pregnant women. Of 178 isolates from cases of neonatal GBS sepsis collected from 1995 to 1998, 8 and 4.5% were resistant to erythromycin and clindamycin, respectively, and one isolate showed intermediate penicillin resistance (MIC, 0.25 μg/ml). Of 101 consecutive vaginal or rectal/vaginal isolates collected in 1999, 18 and 8% were resistant to erythromycin and clindamycin, respectively. Tetracycline resistance was high (>80%) among both groups of isolates. Of 32 erythromycin-resistant isolates, 28 possessed the ermmethylase gene (7 ermB and 21 ermTR/ermA) and 4 harbored the mefA gene; one isolate harbored both genes. One isolate which was susceptible to erythromycin but resistant to clindamycin (MIC, 4 μg/ml) was found to have thelinB gene, previously identified only inEnterococcus faecium. The mreA gene was found in all the erythromycin-resistant strains as well as in 10 erythromycin-susceptible strains. The rate of erythromycin resistance increased from 5% in 1995–96 to 13% in 1998–99, which coincided with an increase in macrolide usage during that time.


Background Although a number of proteins and genes relevant to schizophrenia have been identified in recent years, few are known about the exact metabolic pathway involved in this disease. Our previous proteomic study has revealed the energy metabolism abnormality in subchronic MK-801 treated rat, a well-established animal model for schizophrenia. This prompted us to further investigate metabolite levels in the same rat model to better delineate the metabolism dysfunctions and provide insights into the pathology of schizophrenia. Methods Metabolomics, a high-throughput investigatory strategy developed in recent years, can offer comprehensive metabolite-level insights that complement protein and genetic findings. In this study, we employed a nondestructive metabolomic approach (1H-MAS-NMR) to investigate the metabolic traits in cortex and hippocampus of MK-801 treated rats. Multivariate statistics and ingenuity pathways analyses (IPA) were applied in data processing. The result was further integrated with our previous proteomic findings by IPA analysis to obtain a systematic view on our observations. Results Clear distinctions between the MK-801 treated group and the control group in both cortex and hippocampus were found by OPLS-DA models (with R2X = 0.441, Q2Y = 0.413 and R2X = 0.698, Q2Y = 0.677, respectively). The change of a series of metabolites accounted for the separation, such as glutamate, glutamine, citrate and succinate. Most of these metabolites fell in a pathway characterized by down-regulated glutamate synthesis and disturbed Krebs cycle. IPA analysis further confirmed the involvement of energy metabolism abnormality induced by MK-801 treatment. Conclusions Our metabolomics findings reveal systematic changes in pathways of glutamate metabolism and Krebs cycle in the MK-801 treated rats' cortex and hippocampus, which confirmed and improved our previous proteomic observation and served as a valuable reference to the etiology research of schizophrenia.


The Korean War has been called the "forgotten war," not as studied as World War II or Vietnam. Choi examines the collective memory of the Korean War through five discrete memory sites in the United States and South Korea, including the PBS documentary Battle for Korea, the Korean War Memorial in Salt Lake City, and the statue of General Douglas MacArthur in Incheon, South Korea. She contends that these sites are not static; rather, they are active places where countermemories of the war clash with the official state-sanctioned remembrance. Through lively and compelling analysis of these memory sites, which include two differing accounts of the No Gun Ri massacre - contemporaneous journalism and oral histories by survivors - Choi shows diverse narratives of the Korean War competing for dominance in acts of remembering. Embattled Memories is an important interdisciplinary work in two fields, memory studies and public history, from an understudied perspective, that of witnesses to the Korean War.


Pure and silica wrapped Fe(II)-triazole (FeHTrz) spin-crossover (SCO) nanoparticles have been prepared following a water-in-oil synthetic procedure. The size and shape can be tuned by controlling the Fe(II) and triazole concentrations in the aqueous phase. The magnetic properties of these nanoparticles are strongly affected by the presence of a silica shell embedding the nanostructured FeHTrz polymer. Whereas bare FeHTrz nanoparticles exhibit abrupt and cooperative spin transition with 24–35K-wide thermal hysteresis loops, for the silica derivates the hysteresis width increases up to 37–42 K. This probes the efficiency of the silica shell to promote interparticle interactions and enhance cooperativity effects. Tomographic studies of the FeHTrz@SiO2 nanoparticles reveal a core–shell structure with the pure FeHTrz polymer wrapped into a thin shell of pure silica. Taking advantage of the chemical properties of the silica shell, these hybrid nanoparticles were coated with a dansyl derivate fluorophore whose luminescence properties can be adjusted by the spin state of the SCO polymer. Time-dependent luminescence studies reveal the existence of a non-radiative energy transfer (Forster type) between the organic fluorophore and the Fe(II)-low spin ions. These nanoparticles have also been functionalized with thiol groups allowing them to be deposited onto a gold surface in a controlled manner.


A study of steam condensation in countercurrent stratified flow of steam and subcooled water has been carried out in a rectangular channel/flat plate geometry over a wide range of inclination angles (4/sup 0/-87/sup 0/) at several aspect ratios. Variables were inlet water and steam flow rates, and inlet water temperature. Local condensation rates and pressure gradients were measured, and local condensation heat transfer coefficients and interfacial shear stress were calculated. Contact probe traverses of the surface waves were made, which allowed a statistical analysis of the wave properties. The local condensation Nusselt number was correlated in terms of local water and steam Reynolds or Froude numbers, as well as the liquid Prandtl number. A turbulence-centered model developed by Theofanous, et al. principally for gas absorption in several geometries, was modified. A correlation for the interfacial shear stress and the pressure gradient agreed with measured values. Mean water layer thicknesses were calculated. Interfacial wave parameters, such as the mean water layer thickness, liquid fraction probability distribution, wave amplitude and wave frequency, are analyzed.


in New Born Unit at Pumwani Maternity Hospital, Kenya. Methods: A randomised controlled trial was conducted; neonates were randomly assigned by block randomisation. Patients in the control group were treated with antibiotics according to national health guidelines. Serial CRP was done for patients in the intervention group; antibiotics were stopped once two normal CRP levels 24 hours apart were Median antibiotic treatment duration was analysed using Mann Whitney U test, hospital readmission rates one week post discharge was analysed using Fishers' exact test. Results: A total of 120 patients were recruited, 60 assigned to each arm. The median duration of treatment in the intervention group was 6 days (IQR 4–7) and 4.5 days (3–7) in the control group (p=0.055). On per protocol analysis the median duration of antibiotic treatment in intervention and control were 6 days (4–8) and 5 days (3–7), respectively (p=0.075). There were 4 readmissions within one week of discharge in the control group with none in the intervention group (p=0.119). Conclusions: There were no statistically significant differences in the duration of antibiotic therapy in both groups. CRP is a safe and useful marker to guide duration of treatment in suspected neonatal sepsis.


Theoretical problems arising in connection with development and operation of electron field emitters on the basis of carbon nanotubes are reviewed. The physical aspects of electron field emission that underlie the unique emission properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered. Physical effects and phenomena affecting the emission characteristics of CNT cathodes are analyzed. Effects given particular attention include: the electric field amplification near a CNT tip with taking into account the shape of the tip, the deviation from the vertical orientation of nanotubes and electrical field-induced alignment of those; electric field screening by neighboring nanotubes; statistical spread of the parameters of the individual CNTs comprising the cathode; the thermal effects resulting in degradation of nanotubes during emission. Simultaneous consideration of the above-listed effects permitted the development of the optimization procedure for CNT array in terms of the maximum reachable emission current density. In accordance with this procedure, the optimum inter-tube distance in the array depends on the region of the external voltage applied. The phenomenon of self-misalignment of nanotubes in an array has been predicted and analyzed in terms of the recent experiments performed. A mechanism of degradation of CNT-based electron field emitters has been analyzed consisting of the bombardment of the emitters by ions formed as a result of electron impact ionization of the residual gas molecules.


IDO1 catalyzes degradation of tryptophan (Trp) into kynurenines, which plays an important role in the regulation of immune responses by triggering anergy on reactive effector T cells and by modulating differentiation and activation of regulatory T cells (Treg). Indoximod has been demonstrated to relieve IDO-mediated immunosuppression in vitro and in vivo, by creation of an artificial Trp-sufficiency signal that bypasses activation of GCN2 and inhibition of mTOR in conditions of Trp deprivation. Inhibition of the IDO pathway by indoximod in combination with immune-stimulatory treatments leads to increased T cell proliferation, Treg reprogramming and antitumor effect. Indoximod has demonstrated an excellent safety profile in human clinical trials and is being dosed orally at 1200 mg bid. Increases in doses above this level do not generally result in increased plasma concentration or drug exposure due to limiting dose-dependent oral bioavailability. Animal models suggest that increased therapeutic benefit could be achieved at higher levels of exposure. For this reason, we synthesized and tested the pharmacokinetic profile of several indoximod prodrugs in mice, rat and monkeys in both liquid and capsule formulations. We selected clinical development drug candidate NLG802, which increases indoximod exposure and plasma concentration ~ 2-fold in rats and ~ 5-fold in monkeys dosed with capsules of comparable formulation to that being used in clinical trials. NLG802 is rapidly absorbed and metabolized in vivo to indoximod. NLG802 DMPK profile and GLP toxicology studies have been carried out in rats and monkeys suggesting a safe toxicological profile at predicted therapeutic doses. In a preclinical tumor model of mice bearing established B16F10 tumors, administration of NLG802 markedly enhanced the anti-tumor responses of naive, resting pmel-1 cells to vaccination with cognate hgp100 peptide plus CpG-1826 in IFA. In this tumor model, NLG802 plus pmel-1/vaccine produced significant tumor size reduction within 4 days of vaccination. Moreover, the tumor response was achieved at lower doses than equivalent molar doses of indoximod. In conclusion, NLG802 is a prodrug of indoximod predicted to increase clinical drug exposure to indoximod above the current achievable levels and will soon enter Phase 1 safety testing in oncology clinical trials. Citation Format: Mario R. Mautino, Sanjeev Kumar, Hong Zhuang, Jesse Waldo, Firoz Jaipuri, Hima Potturi, Erik Brincks, James Adams, Agnieszka Marcinowicz, Clarissa Van Allen, Nicholas Vahanian, Charles J. Link. A novel prodrug of indoximod with enhanced pharmacokinetic properties [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4076. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4076


Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most common complications after Stanford type A aortic dissection (TAAD) repair surgery, but its risk factors are inconsistent in different studies. So this meta-analysis was conducted to systematically analyze the risk factors for AKI after TAAD repair surgery, so as to early identify the therapeutic targets for preventing AKI and to improve the outcomes. Methods Studies on risk factors for AKI after TAAD repair surgery were searched from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library and Web of science from inception of databases to June 2021. The meta-analysis was performed by Stata 16.0 software. The combined incidence and risk factors of AKI and its impact on mortality after TAAD repair surgery were calculated. Results A total of 11 studies and 4156 patients were included. The combined incidence of postoperative AKI was 56.0%. The advanced age [odds ratio (OR)=1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.19, 1.47), P<0.001], cardiopulmonary bypass time > 180 minutes [OR=4.88, 95% CI (2.05, 11.59), P<0.001], red blood cell (RBC) volume transfused perioperatively [OR=1.13, 95% CI (1.03, 1.24), P<0.01], high body mass index [OR=1.22, 95% CI (1.18, 1.27), P<0.001] and preoperative renal malperfusion [OR= 5.32, 95% CI (2.92, 9.71), P<0.001] were risk factors for AKI after TAAD repair surgery. The in-hospital mortality [rate ratio (RR)=2.50, 95% CI (1.82, 3.44), P<0.001] and 30-day mortality [RR=2.81, 95% CI (1.95, 4.06), P<0.001] were higher in patients with postoperative AKI than that without AKI. Conclusions The incidence of AKI after TAAD repair surgery was high, and it increased the in-hospital and 30-day mortality. Reducing cardiopulmonary bypass time and RBC transfusions perioperatively, especially in elderly or patients with high body mass index, or patients with renal malperfusion preoperatively were important to prevent AKI after TAAD repair surgery.Systematic review registration number: INPLASY 202060100.


What role do contemporary writers have in political discussions and debates on societal issues? International publishing authors like Ohran Pamuk, Salman Rushdie or Michel Houellebecq comment on multiculturalism, globalization or consumerism. However, they watch for making their work a pamphlet or moral guide. In recent Dutch literature we see the same phenomenon of increasing political commitment in work of Joost Zwagerman, Arnon Grunberg and Robert Anker. And we can detect even more. Especially in novels written by female authors we notice an interest in collective themes and deliberations. Authors like Marjolijn Februari, Nelleke Noordervliet and Charlotte Mutsaers write a new form of literature engagee, in which a multiplicity of voices is represented.


Food became scarce during the South African War (1899–1902), which led to large numbers of the population dying from starvation or diseases related to hunger. This was due to certain towns in the country being under siege, while farms and homesteads were burned down. The study on which this article is based, examined three main causes of food shortages during the South African War: the unequal distribution of food rations during the siege of Mafikeng, particularly in the concentration camps; complaints by white communities about the "spoiling of natives"; and the introduction of the "no work, no food" policy. The study further reviewed the use of food during commemorations following the establishment of the so-called relief of Mafeking dinners.


—Microblogs are short and irregular texts in which people express their opinions in social media. While classification of social media microblog texts according to their topics constitutes a semantic substructure, it helps implementation of various applications. In this study, an analysis comparing conventional bag-of-words and deep-learning based models for the problem of topic detection in microblogs is presented. Turkish tweets containing microblog texts related to current events in Turkey are collected for preparation of the dataset. Tweets in dataset are labeled according to the hashtags they contain. One conventional bag-of-words (TF-IDF based SVM) and two deep learning based models (BERT and BERTurk) are trained on dataset. Perfor-mances of the models are measured by using weighted F1 score. TF-IDF based SVM model, BERT and BERTurk perform with F1 scores of 0.807, 0.831 and 0.854 respectively.


Referenda and popular legislative initiatives constitute the main institutions of direct democracy worldwide. By gradually creating a fertile environment for citizens' political maturation and by triggering co-responsibility at the level of decision making, these institutions do not annul nor substitute the representative system of contemporary democracies but operate on a supplementary basis to it, given that they temporarily return the primary power to its origin, the people. The paper will first present an analysis of several types of referenda in EU Member States, followed by a more detailed presentation of historic and recent referenda in Greece. The effectiveness of referenda as policy tools will be discussed as well as several questions related to their contribution to democracy and the strengthening of popular sovereignty.


Novel technologies are constantly under development for vision restoration in blind patients. In some of these techniques, such as photodiode implants or optogenetics based treatment, a glasses mounted optical projection system projects the visual scene onto the retina. The desired projection system is characterized by a relatively high power density, a localized retinal stimulation area and compatibility for wavelengths that are specific for the technology at hand. The challenges of obtaining such a projection system are not only limited by developing the tools and the apparatus for testing the visual performance of artificial retina, but also devising the technique and the methodology for training and testing the behaving animals using this tool. Current research techniques used for evaluation of visual function in behaving animals utilize computer screens for retinal stimulation, and therefore do not fulfill the requirements of the evaluation of retinal implant performance or optogenetics based treatment (inefficient power and no wavelength flexibility). In the following work we will present and evaluate a novel projection system that is suited for behavioral animal studies and meet the requirements for artificial retinal stimulation. The proposed system is based on a miniature Digital Mirror Device (DMD) for pattern projection and a telescope for relaying the pattern directly onto the animal eye. This system facilitates the projection of patterns with high spatial resolution at high light intensities with the desired wavelength and may prove to be a vital tool in natural and artificial vision performance research in behaving animals.


One of the concerns among mothers for delivery is labor pain. There are various methods to decrease labor pain, of which epidural anesthesia is an effective one, but not all mothers agree to receive this invasive intervention. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is an inexpensive, safe, and easily applicable method which can be used in patient control mode. To find proper non-invasive methods to pain relief during labor this study was conducted to compare TENS, Entonox and combination of them during the first phase of labor. In this RCT study, 120 pregnant women in the age range of 20-40 years, singleton pregnancy, at 37-42 weeks' gestation, at cervical dilatation of less than 4 cm in phase one of labor were selected and randomly divided into three groups including TENS, Entonox and combination group. Pain severity was recorded based on VAS at the time of presentation to the maternity unit, cervical dilatations of 4-6cm, 6- 8cm, and 8-10cm and demographic characterizations. There were no significant differences regarding to age, parity, and BMI between the three groups. Pain was less severe in combination group compared to other two groups at cervical dilations of 4-6cm and 6-8cm. At cervical dilation of 8-10cm, VAS score was higher in Entonox group than in other two groups, but no significant difference existed between TENS and combination group. Duration of the first phase of labor was longer in TENS group than the other two groups. TENS is a non-invasive, safe, easy applicable and self-administered method with low rate of complications which can be used alone or in combination with other methods in relieving labor pain . Journal of Medical and Biomedical Sciences (2017) 6(2), 11-16


Purpose: Despite widely disseminated guidelines, pneumococcal and influenza vaccination coverage (VC) remains insufficient in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. We aimed to perform an interventional study to evaluate and improve VC in cancer patients treated in the medical oncology departments of three North-of-France hospitals. Methods: A standardized questionnaire assessed VC in adult cancer patients receiving anticancer treatment in three day hospitals from December 2–7, 2019. Subsequently (January 2020), we organized educational training sessions for medical staff in each hospital to discuss the current vaccination guidelines. To assess the impact of training on pneumococcal and influenza VC, we re-administered the same questionnaire in March 2020. Because there were no specific guidelines on Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (DTP) vaccination and no improvement was expected, DTP VC acted as an internal control. Results: In total, 272 patients were enrolled in the "before study" in all three hospitals; 156 patients were enrolled in the "after study" in only two hospitals, as data collection in the third was impossible because of COVID-19 pandemic national containment. The predictors were age for DTP VC, treatment center for pneumococcal VC, and age, sex, and tumor histology (adenocarcinoma vs. others) for influenza VC. Influenza VC was significantly improved post-intervention (42.6% vs. 55.1%, p=0.0169), especially in fragile patients, whereas pneumococcal VC was not (11.8% vs. 15.4%, p=0.3575).Conclusion:As expected, VC was very low in cancer patients, consistent with the literature. The intervention's impact was limited for pneumococcal VC. The increased influenza VC may reflect the result of the national influenza vaccination campaign.


This study presents a comprehensive review of the ocean wave technology and prospects of the wave energy penetration to cater to clean global energy demand. An ocean wave is a remarkable energy resource, but it presents a very small share in the global energy mix because of various challenges and limitations encountered to unleash its potential. This study evaluates intensively the complex barriers to the ocean energy technology deployment. The existing and prospective major wave energy projects are extensively examined to identify the learned lessons and optimise possible technological solutions to close the gap in the energy market. Furthermore, limiting and motivating factors to foster the global wave energy potential growth are deeply discussed to ignite new research directions and promising solutions. In particular, the wave energy converters as the underpinning enabling technology are fully investigated regarding their technical readiness, reliability, competitiveness and critical challenges. To complete the power equation, possible energy conversion stages, grid connection and integration issues are dealt with in a broad view of the wave energy power system. Eventually, this study aims at providing an updated ocean wave technology review and progress while introducing new research gap to fast-track contributions in the global energy mix.


To improve the quality of multi-focus image fusion result, a focused regions detection based fusion method was proposed in this paper. Firstly, a multi-scale morphological focus-measure strategy was used to generate the rough boundary between the focused and unfocused regions. Then some morphology processes were adopt to improve the boundary. After that the focused regions can be obtained and the fused image can be got by using the focused regions as decision map. Experiment results demonstrate the proposed method achieved best quality in terms of both visual and objective evaluation.


Twenty-seven consecutive fasciocutaneous flaps comprising skin, fat, and deep fascia have been successfully used to close a variety of defects on the lower leg and trunk. The advantages of these flaps are enumerated, and the blood supply of the deep fascia and its relationship to the tissues deep and superficial to it are described.


We investigate $L^1(\R^2)\to L^\infty(\R^2)$ dispersive estimates for the Schr\"odinger operator $H=-\Delta+V$ when there are obstructions, resonances or an eigenvalue, at zero energy. In particular, we show that the existence of an s-wave resonance at zero energy does not destroy the $t^{-1}$ decay rate. We also show that if there is a p-wave resonance or an eigenvalue at zero energy then there is a time dependent operator $F_t$ satisfying $\|F_t\|_{L^1\to L^\infty} \lesssim 1$ such that $$\|e^{itH}P_{ac}-F_t\|_{L^1\to L^\infty} \lesssim |t|^{-1}, \text{for} |t|>1.$$ We also establish a weighted dispersive estimate with $t^{-1}$ decay rate in the case when there is an eigenvalue at zero energy but no resonances.


As of the 1960s, intermarriage has been the most researched, contentious, and discussed topic of American Jewish family life. Jews, like other ethnic groups, struggle and work hard to find a place in American life, while debating what level of their traditional Jewish heritage is to be maintained. As the tensions and pulls between assimilation and ethnic group loyalty ensue, the greatest debate is the context and impact of intermarriage amongst and between the Orthodox and Reform sections of the Jewish people. On one hand, Orthodox families argue Jewish intermarriage decimates the continuity of the Jewish people. On the other hand, the Reform movement views intermarriage as an opportunity to effectively assimilate within American culture while maintaining a sense of Jewishness. As American life continues to evolve, and as Jews continue to intermarry, the debate for optimal stability, functionality, consistency, and continuity for the American Jewish community will continue.


Cucumber sometimes used in sodium chloride solution as a substrate in lactic acid bacteria fermentation. The good fermentation always depending on many overlapped physical, chemical and microbial factors related with suspension of a strong and porous vegetables in a fluid. Keeping the cucumber integrity is very critical issue, and this may affect on the fermentation of liquid ingredients. This chapter tries to focus on the current efforts that conducting to control on the factors that affecting on cucumber fermentation. Modern and advanced technologies of recent studies are included within this chapter just like reducing the brining sodium chloride concentration, fresh cucumber gas exchange to develop their brining properties by using lactic acid bacteria cultures, developing an anaerobic cucumber fermentation tank system; preventing of cucumber gaseous spoilage by pouring of CO2 from fermentation brines.


Acute liver injury causes massive hepatocyte apoptosis and/or fatal liver damage. Fibronectin, an extracellular matrix glycoprotein, is prominently expressed during adult tissue repair. However, the extent of fibronectin dependence on hepatocyte response to acute liver damage remains to be defined. Because identification of hepatic survival factors is critical for successful therapeutic intervention in liver failure, this relationship has been investigated using a fibronectin‐deficient mouse model of acute liver injury. Here, we show that lack of fibronectin induces significantly increased hepatocyte apoptosis, which is accompanied by significant down‐regulation of the antiapoptotic protein, B‐cell lymphoma—extra large (Bcl‐xL). Furthermore, fibronectin deficiency leads to a significantly elevated production of hepatocyte growth factor in hepatic stellate cells postinjury, which, in turn, results in an earlier onset and acceleration of hepatocyte regeneration. Primary hepatocytes on fibronectin are protected from reactive oxygen species–induced cellular damage, retaining the expression of Bcl‐xL, whereas those on type I collagen are not. This retained expression of Bcl‐xL is inhibited by the phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002. Conclusion: We provide evidence that fibronectin‐mediated matrix survival signals for hepatocytes are transduced through the PI3K/Bcl‐xL‐signaling axis in response to injury. This work defines fibronectin as a novel antiapoptotic factor for hepatocytes after acute liver injury, but demonstrates that fibronectin is not essential for subsequent hepatocyte proliferation. (HEPATOLOGY 2012;56:311–321)


Accurate location information is essential for many wireless sensor network (WSN) applications. A location-aware WSN generally includes two types of nodes: sensors whose locations to be determined and anchors whose locations are known a priori. For range-based localization, sensors' locations are deduced from anchor-to-sensor and sensor-to-sensor range measurements. Localization accuracy depends on the network parameters such as network connectivity and size. This paper provides a generalized theory that quantitatively characterizes such relation between network parameters and localization accuracy. We use the average degree as a connectivity metric and use geometric dilution of precision (DOP), equivalent to the Cramer-Rao bound, to quantify localization accuracy. We prove a novel lower bound on expectation of average geometric DOP (LB-E-AGDOP) and derives a closed-form formula that relates LB-E-AGDOP to only three parameters: average anchor degree, average sensor degree, and number of sensor nodes. The formula shows that localization accuracy is approximately inversely proportional to the average degree, and a higher ratio of average anchor degree to average sensor degree yields better localization accuracy. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates a strong connection between LB-E-AGDOP and the best achievable accuracy. Finally, we validate the theory via numerical simulations with three different random graph models.


A potential myocardial injury can be induced by intensive sporting activities, which may be due to ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation when individuals continue to exercise during the maximum physical loading period (the aerobic capability plateau, ACP). Herein, we conducted an incremental exercise test with the RR-interval and SV-series measurements as the input and output of the circulatory system. Through time and frequency analyses, we aimed to identify the indicators for distinguishing the normal stage (S1), last stage before ACP (S2), and ACP stage (S3) during different incremental physical loads. The cross-correlation results of the RR interval and SV series showed that the maximum coefficient of S2 was significantly greater (p < 0.05) than that of S1 (median 0.91 to 0.87), and also significantly lower (p < 0.05) than that of S3 (median 0.87 to 0.60). The corresponding spectrum shows that the decreasing correlation coefficient of SVV and Heart rate variability can be used to assess whether the body has reached the ACP. These findings can be used as a guide for exercise healthcare. Pausing or reducing the exercise load before entering the ACP could effectively reduce the risk of myocardial injury.


The contamination with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses occurs via the digestive tract following the ingestion of water or food contaminated with droppings of asymptomatic carriers or sick birds. Regarding the local practice of the use of poultry manure as an agricultural fertilizer, this study focuses on the risk of spread of the HPAI through the manure trade pathway in Côte d'Ivoire. For this purpose, epidemiological data and 96 poultry droppings samples were collected from 18 farms. The droppings samples were tested using the real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The qualitative risk assessment (QRA) took into account event patterns Original Research Article Cyril et al.; AFSJ, 20(7): 38-46, 2021; Article no.AFSJ.68866 39 by integrating all the pathways involved in the spread of HPAI. From the diagnostic test, all the 96 samples tested negative. Further investigations revealed that 74% of the Agnibilékrou farms experienced HPAI outbreaks in the past two years. The main risk factors identified were the movement of people, animals and fomites from one infected area to another. Additionally, the duration of storage of droppings and the distance between stockpiles and farms were potential risk factors. The QRA identified two levels of risk: moderate to high (60%) and low to negligible (40%). The estimated high risk occurs when the dropping is fresh and is low after an optimal period of storage. It is therefore necessary to make storage systematic and mandatory as a measure of treatment before the adoption of other complex measures such as composting and industrial processing.


RATIONALE
Bulk stable isotope analysis (SIA) provides an important tool for the study of animal ecology. Elasmobranch vertebral centra can be serially sampled to obtain an isotopic history of an individual over ontogeny. The measured total δ(13)C value, however, may be misinterpreted due to the inclusion of the (13)C-rich inorganic portion. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is commonly used to remove the inorganic portion of hydroxyapatite structures before undertaking SIA, but more recently ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) has been recommended for elasmobranch vertebrae. These acid treatments may introduce uncertainty on measured δ(13)C and δ(15)N values above instrument precision and the effect of small sample size remains untested for elasmobranch vertebrae.

METHODS
Using a non-dilution program on an isotope ratio mass spectrometer the minimum sample weight of vertebrae required to obtain accurate isotopic values was determined for three shark species: white (Carcharodon carcharias), tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), and sand tiger (Carcharias taurus). To examine if acid treatment completely removes the inorganic component of the vertebrae or whether the technique introduces its own uncertainty on measured δ(13)C and δ(15)N values, vertebrae samples were analyzed untreated and following EDTA treatment.

RESULTS
The minimum sample weight required for accurate stable isotope values and the percentage sample yield following EDTA treatment varied within and among species. After EDTA treatment, white shark vertebrae were all enriched in (13)C and depleted in (15) N, tiger shark vertebrae showed both enrichment and depletion of (13)C and (15)N, and sand tiger shark vertebrae were all depleted in (13)C and (15)N.

CONCLUSIONS
EDTA treatment of elasmobranch vertebrae produces unpredictable effects (i.e. non-linear and non-correctable) among species in both the percentage sample yield and the measured δ(13)C and δ(15)N values. Prior to initiating a large-scale study, we strongly recommend investigating (i) the minimum weight of vertebral material required to obtain consistent isotopic values and (ii) the effects of EDTA treatment, specific to the study species and the isotope ratio mass spectrometer employed.


This work focuses on the decoding algorithm of the LDPC large block FEC codes for the packet erasure channel, also called AL-FEC (Application-Level Forward Error Correction). More specifically this work details the design and the performance of a hybrid decoding scheme, that starts with the Zyablov iterative decoding algorithm, a rapid but suboptimal algorithm in terms of erasure recovery capabilities, and, when required, continues with a Gaussian elimination algorithm. For practical reasons this work focuses on two LDPC codes for the erasure channel, namely LDPC-staircase and LDPC-triangle codes. Nevertheless the decoding scheme proposed can be used with other LDPC codes without any problem. The performance experiments carried out show that the erasure recovery capabilities of LDPC-triangle codes are now extremely close to that of an ideal code, even with small block sizes. This is all the more true with small code rates: whereas the Zyablov iterative decoding scheme becomes unusable as the code rate decreases, the Gaussian elimination makes the LDPC-triangle codes almost ideal. In all the tests, when carefully implemented, the LDPC-triangle codec featuring the proposed decoding scheme is fast, and in particular always significantly faster than the reference Reed-Solomon on GF($2^{8}$) codec. The erasure recovery capabilities of LDPC-staircase codes are also significantly improved, even if they remain a little bit farther from an ideal code. Nevertheless, a great advantage is the fact that LDPC-staircase codes remain significantly faster than LDPC-triangle codes, which, for instance, enables their use with larger blocks. All these results make these codes extremely attractive for many situations and contradict the common belief that using Gaussian elimination is not usable because of a prohibitive processing load. Moreover the proposed approach offers an important flexibility in practice, and depending on the situation, one can either choose to favor erasure recovery capabilities or the processing time.


Penny Schine Gold provides a bold analysis of key literary and artistic images of women in the Middle Ages and the relationship between these images and the actual experience of women. She argues that the complex interactions between men and women as expressed in both image and experience reflect a common pattern of ambivalence and contradiction. Thus, women are seen as both helpful and harmful, powerful and submissive, and the actuality of women's experience encompasses women in control and controlled, autonomous and dependent. Vividly recreating the rich texture of medieval life, Gold effectively and eloquently goes beyond a simple equation of social context and representation. In the process. she challenges equally simple judgments of historical periods as being either "good" or "bad" for women. "["The Lady and the Virgin"] presents its findings in a form that should attract students as well as their instructors. The careful and controlled use of so many different kinds of sources . . . offers us a valuable medieval case study in the inner-relationship between the segments of society and its ethos or value system." Joel T. Rosenthal, "The History Teacher " "Something of a tour de force in an interdisciplinary approach to history." Jo Ann McNamara, "Speculum" "[A] well-written, extremely well-researched book. . . ." The Lady and the Virgin "is useful, readable, and well informed." R. Howard Bloch, "Modern Philology ""


Curvularia lunata has previously been linked to localized sinus infection in immunocompetent hosts. We treated a case of pansinusitis with extensive bone destruction and intracranial extension caused by C lunata. Curvularia lunata was identified when typical fungal macroconidia appeared on culture. Numerous surgical procedures, in addition to a 12-month course of antifungal therapy consisting of 4 g of intravenous amphotericin B and an 8-month course of 400 mg of oral ketoconazole daily, were required to control the infection. This unusual case of invasive sinusitis caused by C lunata alerts the treating physician to the presence of this mold and gives an overview of diagnostic method as well as the management.


Investigates the proposed implementation of neural networks on massively parallel hierarchical computer systems with hypernet topology. The proposed mapping scheme takes advantage of the inherent structure of hypernets to process multiple copies of the neural network in the different subnets, each executing a portion of the training set. Finally, the weight changes in all the subnets are accumulated to adjust the synaptic weights in all the copies. An expression is derived to estimate the time for all-to-all broadcasting, the principal mode of communication in implementing neural networks on parallel computers. This is later used to estimate the time required to execute various execution phases in the neural network algorithm, and thus to estimate the speedup performance of the hypernet in implementing neural networks.


The purpose of this article is to examine the professional activities of mining engineers and other specialists in the South of Ukraine in the modern period and to show their role in the formation and development of metallurgical industry. Outstanding mining engineer A. F. Mevius devoted almost half a century of his life to the development of industry in the Donetsk basin. He worked for many years in the Lugansk mountain district, the chief of which was in 1861. Working on this post he's done a lot for the development of mining and metallurgical production in the Donbass. In 1860-e years supervised the construction of Ukraine's first puddling factories of Lugansk foundry. A. F. Mevius – one of the initiators of convocation of congresses of miners of the South of Russia, which has played a leading role in creating the industry of Donbass and the Dnieper. For 20 years he was the head of the Executive body of the Congress – by the Council, using the authority among mining professionals and Industrialists of the South. Engineering-technical intelligentsia played a significant role in the formation and development of iron-ore and metallurgical industry of the South in the pre- and post-reform period. Engineers and technicians were focused on improving production and exploration in the industrial region of Ukraine. Open engineers with large deposits of iron ore became the basis for the rapid development of metallurgical industry. Technical innovations introduced at the initiative of the engineering and technical personnel, contributed to the growth of manufacturing productivity. In addition to the production activities of engineers engaged in scientific research, contributing to the development of the theory and practice of the mining business. The topic under consideration has prospects for further research, in particular in the period of late XIX – early XX centuries, when there was a rapid industrial development of the Russian Empire, including Ukraine.