BACKGROUND/AIMS
The standard treatment for chronic hepatitis C patients infected with HCV genotype-2 is a combination of pegylated interferon alfa and ribavirin over a 24 week period. It is unclear if a shorter treatment duration is possible for patients showing a rapid virological response (RVR) without compromising the sustained virologic response (SVR) in Korea.

METHODS
42 patients chronically infected with the HCV genotype-2 were treated with peginterferon alfa-2a 180 mcg/wk plus ribavirin 800 mg/d for 24 weeks and followed up for 24 weeks. The HCV RNA was qualitatively assessed after 4 weeks of treatment, and RVR was defined as undetectable HCV RNA at the 4th week. Retrospectively, 26 patients were treated with the standard treatment strategy (>/=80% of the intended duration and dosage), 14 patients with a short-term treatment strategy (<80% intended duration and dosage) and 2 patients were excluded.

RESULTS
Among the 42 patients, 35 patients (83%) had RVR and 38 patients (90%) had a sustained virologic response (SVR). All 7 patients without RVR were treated with the standard treatment strategy, in whom 6 patients (86%) had SVR. Among the 35 patients with RVR, 14 patients were treated with short-term treatment and 19 patients were treated with the standard treatment. SVR was obtained in 12 out of the 14 patients (86%) in the short-term treatment group and 18 out of the 19 (95%) in the standard treatment group (P=0.373).

CONCLUSION
HCV genotype-2 patients who have RVR with peginterferon and ribavirin treatment can be treated with a short-term treatment without compromising the chances for SVR. However, an additional trial will be needed to optimize the treatment duration.


Background Melanoma and non- melanoma skin cancer show the highest increase of any form of cancer during the last 20 years. Objective We wanted to know if we could find an increased rate of skin cancer precursors (actinic keratosis) in outdoor sportsmen. Design Setting and Patients 900 patients with actinic keratosis (age 35–75) were investigated in their outdoor sport behaviour. Corresponding to the sport ( where, when, how long) we calculated the cumulative dose of sun with "UV Index hours". The kind of tumor and tumor precursors were counted and the skin damage characterized with a confocal laser microscope. A healthy aged group was used for statistical analysis. Results 27 different outdoor sports were found in our groups of patients. Watersport and skiing are known for a higher sun exposure, but only a few patients without statistical significance to the control collective were detected. But, in contrast, we found a 8.5 fold increased risk of skin cancer among golfers. Conclusions We were able to give another hint for the relation of skin cancer development and the higher increase in outdoor sportsmen. From these data we developed in the UIPM for the athletes a "skin tumor prevention program". With this program the individual risk and the individual damage is analysed based on the cumulative UV-Dose of training and competition. Athletes, trainers and officials should be more sensitized in skin cancer prevention.


Abstract North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis Müller 1776) present an interesting problem for abundance and trend estimation in marine wildlife conservation. They are long lived, individually identifiable, highly mobile, and one of the rarest of cetaceans. Individuals are annually resighted at different rates, primarily due to varying stay durations among several principal habitats within a large geographic range. To date, characterizations of abundance have been produced that use simple accounting procedures with differing assumptions about mortality. To better characterize changing abundance of North Atlantic right whales between 1990 and 2015, we adapted a state–space formulation with Jolly‐Seber assumptions about population entry (birth and immigration) to individual resighting histories and fit it using empirical Bayes methodology. This hierarchical model included accommodation for the effect of the substantial individual capture heterogeneity. Estimates from this approach were only slightly higher than published accounting procedures, except for the most recent years (when recapture rates had declined substantially). North Atlantic right whales' abundance increased at about 2.8% per annum from median point estimates of 270 individuals in 1990 to 483 in 2010, and then declined to 2015, when the final estimate was 458 individuals (95% credible intervals 444–471). The probability that the population's trajectory post‐2010 was a decline was estimated at 99.99%. Of special concern was the finding that reduced survival rates of adult females relative to adult males have produced diverging abundance trends between sexes. Despite constraints in recent years, both biological (whales' distribution changing) and logistical (fewer resources available to collect individual photo‐identifications), it is still possible to detect this relatively recent, small change in the population's trajectory. This is thanks to the massive dataset of individual North Atlantic right whale identifications accrued over the past three decades. Photo‐identification data provide biological information that allows more informed inference on the status of this species.


This book traces the evolution of the highly integrated global financial system from 1750 to the present. It examines the corporate form of business organization in the 18th century that saw an explosion of growth in the 19th, which facilitated the international movement of capital. The author also deals with the parallel growth of financial markets and explains how the need to finance public debts paved the way for stock markets as well as outlining the role of private merchant bankers, who originated as international bankers with family-run offices across Europe. He charts the development of banks into public corporations and follows the evolution of modern paper money, explaining the emergence of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. While tracing the development of foreign-exchange markets and the history of trading blocs, the book also examines how economic powers such as Britain and France used access to capital to wield power in less-developed parts of the world. Finally, a history of financial crises is presented, revealing how economic shocks reverberate from one country to another today through the global financial network.


Estimating individualized treatment effects (ITEs) from observational data is crucial for decision-making. In order to obtain unbiased ITE estimates, a common assumption is that all confounders are observed. However, in practice, it is unlikely that we observe these confounders directly. Instead, we often observe noisy measurements of true confounders, which can serve as valid proxies. In this paper, we address the problem of estimating ITE in the longitudinal setting where we observe noisy proxies instead of true confounders. To this end, we develop the Deconfounding Temporal Autoencoder, a novel method that leverages observed noisy proxies to learn a hidden embedding that reflects the true hidden confounders. In particular, the DTA combines a long short-term memory autoencoder with a causal regularization penalty that renders the potential outcomes and treatment assignment conditionally independent given the learned hidden embedding. Once the hidden embedding is learned via DTA, state-of-the-art outcome models can be used to control for it and obtain unbiased estimates of ITE. Using synthetic and real-world medical data, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our DTA by improving over state-of-the-art benchmarks by a substantial margin.


This paper investigated materialism inclination of the parents recognized by the adolescents and analysed the relationships between 5 categorized types about parents' materialism inclination and financial characteristics of the adolescents. Statistical analysis was achieved by using Cronbach'α, paired t-test, one-way ANOVA, two-way ANOVA, Duncan's multiple range test, chi-square analysis, and Ward' hierarchical cluster analysis with a total of 801 questionnaires. The results are summarized as follows: First, the adolescents felt that calculated points of father and mother's materialism inclination were lower than median points and mother's inclination for materialism was higher than that of father. Second, five categories were classified according to materialism inclination of parents. First classified category was the type which showed both parents had little interest in materials and the second category was the type which father had strong interest in materials. The third one was the type which mother had strong interest in materials. The last two categories were the ones which both parents had much interest in materials. Final result of this study revealed that attitudes of the adolescents for materialism and money were higher for those whose parents had strong interest in materialism than those whose parents had little materialism interest. They showed not only the behaviors of impulsive and overspending consumption but also low financial satisfaction and high financial stress.


The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has been developing a nuclear hydrogen production system by using heat from the Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR). This system will handle a large amount of combustible gas and toxic gas. The risk from fire, explosion and acute toxic exposure caused by an accident involving chemical material release in a hydrogen production system is assessed. It is important to ensure the safety of the nuclear plant, and the risks for public health should be sufficiently small. This report provides the basic policy for the safety evaluation in cases of accident involving fire, explosion and toxic material release in a hydrogen production system. Preliminary safety analysis of a commercial-sized VHTR hydrogen production system, GTHTR300C, is performed. This analysis provides us with useful information on the separation distance between a nuclear plant and a hydrogen production system and a prospect that an accident in a hydrogen production system does not significantly increase the risks of the public.


Importance
Hospital transfers among nursing home residents in the United States who have been diagnosed with advanced illnesses and have limited life expectancy are often burdensome, costly, and of little clinical benefit. National initiatives, introduced since 2012, have focused on reducing such hospitalizations, but little is known about the consequences of these initiatives in this population.

Objective
To investigate the change in hospital transfer rates among nursing home residents with advanced illnesses, such as dementia, congestive heart failure (CHF), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), from 2011 to 2017-before and after the introduction of national initiatives to reduce hospitalizations.

Design, Setting, and Participants
In this cross-sectional study, nationwide Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessments from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2016 (with the follow-up for transfer rates until December 31, 2017), were used to identify annual inception cohorts of long-stay (>100 days) nursing home residents who had recently progressed to the advanced stages of dementia, CHF, or COPD. The data were analyzed from October 24, 2018, to October 3, 2019.

Main Outcomes and Measures
The number of hospital transfers (hospitalizations, observation stays, and emergency department visits) per person-year alive was calculated from the MDS assessment from the date when residents first met the criteria for advanced illness up to 12 months afterward using Medicare claims from 2011 to 2017. Transfer rates for all causes, potentially avoidable conditions (sepsis, pneumonia, dehydration, urinary tract infections, CHF, and COPD), and serious bone fractures (pelvis, hip, wrist, ankle, and long bones of arms or legs) were investigated. Hospice enrollment and mortality were also ascertained.

Results
The proportions of residents in the 2011 and 2016 cohorts who underwent any hospital transfer were 56.1% and 45.4% of those with advanced dementia, 77.6% and 69.5% of those with CHF, and 76.2% and 67.2% of those with COPD. The mean (SD) number of transfers per person-year alive for potentially avoidable conditions was higher in the 2011 cohort vs 2016 cohort: advanced dementia, 2.4 (14.0) vs 1.6 (11.2) (adjusted risk ratio [aRR], 0.73; 95% CI, 0.65-0.81); CHF, 8.5 (32.0) vs 6.7 (26.8) (aRR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.65-0.81); and COPD, 7.8 (30.9) vs 5.5 (24.8) (aRR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.57-0.72). Transfers for bone fractures remained unchanged, and mortality did not increase. Hospice enrollment was low across all illness groups and years (range, 23%-30%).

Conclusions and Relevance
The findings of this study suggest that concurrent with new initiatives aimed at reducing hospitalizations, hospital transfers declined between 2011 and 2017 among nursing home residents with advanced illnesses without increased mortality rates. Opportunities remain to further reduce unnecessary hospital transfers in this population and improve goal-directed care for those residents who opt to forgo hospitalization.


-As per Government of India, India is losing 5,334 million tonnes of soil every year due to soil erosion [The Hindu, Nov 26, 2010]. Another survey says soil erosion in India estimated to be occurring on 147 million hectares of land including 94 mha from water erosion, 16 mha from acidification, 14 mha from flooding, 9mha from wind erosion, and 7 mha from a combination of factors. [R. Bhattacharya, Sustainability 2015, 7]. In this study based on mobile river bed setup, plan form development around an island and corresponding soil erosion and deposition are evaluated. Directional current (DCM) and acoustic Doppler Velocity (ADV) meters are used for the field measurements of velocity and turbulence particularly in the interface region between main channel and floodplain. The values of local shear velocity and roughness length for the reach under study being calculated and analyzed using measured velocity data in order to provide a scientific pattern of plan form development. Measurements are carried out through different steps. Such as, Measurement of Discharge by Electronic Flow Meter, Discharge measurement using V Notch, Measurement for the Velocity Distribution with the help of ADV, The value of dry density are computed by using the observed value of bulk density and antecedent moisture content. The void ratio was derived from the computed value of dry density of the sediments.


This volume explores the concept of safety as applied in the long term care context. Chapters examine the way in which the quest for safety may work either synergistically or adversely upon other worthy social goals. Among the initiatives considered are promoting the decision-making autonomy of patients/clients and their surrogates, enhancing the quality of care and quality of life available to long term care residents, and providing fair compensation for injured victims when serious harm occurs. Questions addressed that are of concern to legal and ethical theorists, social science researchers, and patient/client advocates include: To what extent do litigation and/or regulation accomplish the safety and other legitimate objectives of public policy in the long term care arena? Do the costs of various approaches outweigh the benefits in promoting safety and other goals? And, how do litigation and regulation compare with alternative approaches to achieving the same goals, in terms of an acceptable cost/benefit balance?


Background: The risk of thyroid disease has been increased during recent years; more than 200 million people are suffering from various types of thyroid diseases. The rate of thyroid nodules in women is 4 times more than that of men. Epidemiological findings and experimental evidence of thyroid lesions suggest that sex hormones, especially estrogen, may affect this gland and its neoplasms. Objectives: Considering the prevalence of benign and malignant thyroid disease in women, we investigated the association between rs2987983 polymorphism in the estrogen receptor beta gene and nodular thyroid disease. Methods: In this case-control study, 146 patients with thyroid nodules from Amir- Almomenin Hospital in Arak were compared with 151 healthy individuals. The diagnosis was performed by ultrasonography and confirmed by an endocrinologist. After DNA extraction, genotyping was performed with T-ARMS PCR. Finally, statistical analysis was carried out. Results: The frequencies of AA, AG, and GG genotypes in the case group were 48 (32.9%), 83 (56.8%), and 15 (10.3%), respectively. These values in the control group were 64 (42.4%), 64 (42.4%), and 23 (15.2%), respectively. Overall, a statistically significant association (P = 0.042, χ2 = 6.3, df = 2) was observed between rs2987983 polymorphism and thyroid nodules. Conclusions: Considering the significant association between rs2987983 polymorphism and thyroid nodules, it can be suggested that the mentioned polymorphism may be used as a diagnostic biomarker. Because this polymorphism is in the promoter region of the gene, it probably alters gene expression levels.


Edible insects are considered a promising nutritious, sustainable alternative protein source for feed. The effect of black solder �y (BSF), Hermetia illucens meal on growth performance, heat stress-responses and heat shock protein (HSP70) gene expression in sexed Japanese quail were assessed. The quails were fed on three different diets containing 100% soybean meal (diet A), 50% soybean and 50% BSF meal (diet B) and 100% BSF meal (diet C). Results revealed that overall live body weight, the relative weight of carcass, heart, liver, spleen, bursa of Fabricius, small intestine and sex organs of Japanese quail were signi�cantly increased for diet B and C as compared to diet. The interaction of dietary treatment and heat stress had a signi�cant effect on the diet A group's live body weight, the relative weight of carcass, and measured organs, whereas the diet B and diet C groups had no or the least effect on their traits. Investigating HSP70 gene expression with heat stress exposure in control diet A was 13.215. While, the diet B was expressed of 8.487 with the HSP70 gene. Moreover, the gene expression of the birds fed on diet C were 3.203, respectively. Our �ndings point to a bene�cial role for BSF meal as a quail feed in improving growth performance and combating the negative effects of heat stress exposure on bird growth.


We demonstrate a new method of achieving topologically protected states in an elastic hexagonal system of trusses by attaching gyroscopic spinners, which bring chirality to the system. Dispersive features of this medium are investigated in detail, and it is shown that one can manipulate the locations of stop-bands and Dirac points by tuning the parameters of the spinners. We show that, in the proximity of such points, uni-directional interfacial waveforms can be created in an inhomogeneous lattice and the direction of such waveforms can be controlled. The effect of inserting additional soft internal links into the system, which is thus transformed into a heterogeneous triangular lattice, is also investigated, as the hexagonal lattice represents the limit case of the heterogeneous triangular lattice with soft links. This work introduces a new perspective in the design of periodic media possessing non-trivial topological features.


J. Paleont., 77(2), 2003, p. 400 Copyright © 2003, The Paleontological Society 0022-3360/03/0077-400$03.00 tremendous amount of information that had to be digested and incorporated into the insights presented therein. Some idea of the general tenor of this thought-provoking book can be gleaned from a few examples of insights that could expand understanding of non-human fossil groups beyond the human re cord. Disappointingly, no universal correspondence exists be tween morphologic, genetic, and reproductive variations or dis continuities of the kind one would have hoped to find to make taxonomy simpler or more repeatable. Morphologic variability and genetic diversity are partially decoupled to varying degrees; particularly striking is the great (99%) genetic similarity between modern humans and chimpanzees, which is not matched by the observably greater differences in morphology, function, and be havior. Most workers know about sibling species, reproductively isolated but morphologically indistinguishable—but how many are also aware of the opposite aspect, populations which main tained morphologic distinctness over long periods but still remain interbreeding today? A number of fossil species are known only from a single distinctive specimen; if that specimen represents an extreme variant within its population, rather than a typical or av erage condition as is so often assumed, the interpretive conse quences can be spectacularly different. Finally, Eckhardt consis tently emphasizes population-oriented thinking, a welcome re-em phasis in the present day; in particular, he focuses on hominid fossils as samples of once-living ancient populations as variable and successful as those now living. Human Paleobiology is well produced, as one would expect from such an experienced publisher. Eckhard writes well, clearly, and with many connections to the intellectual context of studies of hominid evolution and human fossils. He also challenges the reader; the concepts and data discussed are complex and thoughtprovoking, resulting in text that requires careful attention. Overall, his picture is of a discipline still rapidly developing. Much has already been learned, but much remains to be researched and added.


These studies are designed to clarify a field of legal study and professional practice that has begun to emerge only in recent times. The choice of sanction is frequently carried out in improvised, confused, and even contradictory fashion. The main questions that the authors try to answer are: Why bother to extend the meaning of the term sanction to include so much? What do we expect to see accomplished? Arens and Lasswell show that many sanctioning arrangements now current in the U.S. are on their face inconsistent with the articulated goals of the American system of public order, and that in actual operation the goals of our system suffer chronic and substantial defeat.


Thanks to spectacular advances in the techniques for identifying proteins separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis and in methods for large-scale analysis of proteome variations, proteomics is becoming an essential methodology in various fields of plant sciences. Plant proteomics would be most useful when combined with other functional genomics tools and approaches. A combination of micro array and proteomics analysis will indicate whether gene regulation is controlled at the level of transcription or translation and protein accumulation. In this review, we described the catalogues of the rice proteome which were constructed in our program, and functional characterization of some of these proteins was discussed. Mass-spectrometry is a most prevalent technique to identify rapidly a large of proteins in proteome analysis. However, the conventional Western blotting/sequencing technique us still used in many laboratories. As a first step to efficiently construct protein data-file in proteome analysis of major cereals, we have analyzed the N-terminal sequences of 100 rice embryo proteins and 70 wheat spike proteins separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis. Edman degradation revealed the N-terminal peptide sequences of only 31 rice proteins and 47 wheat proteins, suggesting that the rest of separated protein spots are N-terminally blocked. To efficiently determine the internal sequence of blocked proteins, we have developed a modified Cleveland peptide mapping method. Using this above method, the internal sequences of all blocked rice proteins (i.e., 69 proteins) were determined. Among these 100 rice proteins, thirty were proteins for which homologous sequence in the rice genome database could be identified. However, the rest of the proteins lacked homologous proteins. This appears to be consistent with the fact that about 30 % of total rice cDNA have been deposited in the database. Also, the major proteins involved in the growth and development of rice can be identified using the proteome approach. Some of these proteins, including a calcium-binding protein that turned out to be calreticulin, gibberellin-binding protein, which is ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase activase in rice, and leg insulin-binding protein in soybean have functions in the signal transduction pathway. Proteomics is well suited not only to determine interaction between pairs of proteins, but also to identify multisubunit complexes. Currently, a protein-protein interaction database for plant proteins (http://genome.c.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/Y2H)could be a very useful tool for the plant research community. Recently, we are separated proteins from grain filling and seed maturation in rice to perform ESI-Q-TOF/MS and MALDI-TOF/MS. This experiment shows a possibility to easily and rapidly identify a number of 2-DE separated proteins of rice by ESI-Q-TOF/MS and MALDI- TOF/MS. Therefore, the information thus obtained from the plant proteome would be helpful in predicting the function of the unknown proteins and would be useful in the plant molecular breeding. Also, information from our study could provide a venue to plant breeder and molecular biologist to design their research strategies precisely.


Universities around the world have modified their computer engineering curricula to include courses and modules focusing on the design of embedded systems including reconfigurable hardware, real-time processing, embedded processors, and firmware/software systems. This paper describes a different approach to embedded systems education - the development of an embedded systems track within an existing computer science program. This approach allows for an intentionally designed balance of computer science, computer engineering, mathematics, and science courses deemed necessary for a comprehensive embedded systems program


The rising interest in polymer nanocomposites leads also to an increasing concern for their photo-oxidation resistance. The main properties and photo-oxidation behaviour of polypropylene-based microcomposites and nanocomposites were investigated. The results show that the use of nanosized calcium carbonate may lead to a higher photo-oxidation rate than that of pristine polypropylene, in a way that is comparable to organo-modified nanoclays. It is also observed that nanosized calcium carbonate causes higher photodegradation rates than microsized calcium carbonate. The main reasons for the increased photo-oxidation rates when using organo-modified nanoclays include the presence of iron ions, the degradation of the organo-modifier and the formation of acidic sites on nanoclay layers, while in the case of calcium carbonate the main reasons are related to the achieved morphology and structure. The presence of calcium carbonate, especially when nanosized, significantly modifies the distribution of photo-oxidation products in comparison to clay-filled nanocomposites. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry


These days, biomimetic and compliant actuators have been made available to the main applications of rehabilitation and assistive robotics. In this context, the interaction control of soft robots, mechatronic surgical instruments and robotic prostheses can be improved through the adoption of pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs), a class of compliant actuators that exhibit some similarities with the structure and function of biological muscles. Together with the advantage of implementing adaptive compliance control laws, the nonlinear and hysteretic force/length characteristics of PAMs pose some challenges in the design and implementation of tracking control strategies. This paper presents a parsimonious and accurate model of the asymmetric hysteresis observed in the force response of PAMs. The model has been validated through the experimental identification of the mechanical response of a small-sized PAM where the asymmetric effects of hysteresis are more evident. Both the experimental results and a comparison with other dynamic friction models show that the proposed model could be useful to implement efficient compensation strategies for the tracking control of soft robots.


In this paper, control of inter-area oscillation in power systems with high wind power penetration is achieved via doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). The DFIG is modeled in Matlabreg/Simulink. A two-area system is investigated with a wind farm connected in the area that exports power. Control schemes for active power and reactive power regulation are designed firstly. The paper finds that without active power and reactive power regulation, it is impossible to design an effective inter-area oscillation damping controller through DFIG machine side inverter. An auxiliary control loop for oscillation damping that adjusts the active power command can help damp the inter-area oscillation. Time domain simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the control.


In this study, endometrial samples were collected in 14 Nelore cows on days zero (ovulation), five, nine, thirteen and nineteen of the estrous cycle (biopsy group), and in 15 females these collections weren't performed (control group). Biopsies were done on the uterine horn endometrium contralateral to the ovary with corpus luteum. Blood samples were taken at -24, -16, -8, 0 +8, +16 and +24 hours in relation to progesterone drop (<1ng/mL, zero moment) and evaluated for 13, 14-dihydro-15-keto prostaglandin F2-alpha (PGFM) by radioimmunoassay (RIA). Plasma progesterone concentration was determined by RIA every 24 hours. Data were analyzed by ANOVA using the PROC GLM and MIXED of the SAS. The mean value for PGFM during the entire period evaluated was greater in the biopsy group. The mean concentration of PGFM at moment zero was not different between the groups; the mean concentration of PGFM was higher in the biopsy group before and after the drop in progesterone level. The maximum mean concentration observed was not different between the groups; however, the mean minimum concentration was different with high values in the biopsy group. Although the PGFM concentrations were higher in the biopsy group, the biopsy and control groups had similar length of estrous cycle showing that repeated endometrial biopsy on the side contralateral to the ovary with corpus luteum does not affect luteolysis and the length of the estrous cycle.


In this study, effective diffusion coefficient of drying clay of ceramics drying clay ceramics have been studied. In this study, the effects of temperature (40-60-80 °C), relative humidity (30-50-70%) and air velocity (1-2-3 ms-1) on the drying behavior of clay ceramics were investigated. A full factorial design of experiments on a cubic sample was performed. In each trial mass and volume reduction using balance and camera was registered and the drying curve was plotted. Effective diffusion coefficient of moisture using drying curves were calculated using the newly developed algorithm of firefly. In this algorithm, the goal is to reduce the error between the analytical values and experimental values. Statistical analysis and analysis of variance showed that in calculation of the effective diffusion coefficient the velocity, temperature and humidity are independent of each other. The greatest impact on the effective diffusion coefficient is respectively related to the temperature, velocity and environment humidity. The comparison between this study and other studies show that 97% similarity and applicability of this method in calculating the effective diffusion coefficient of the ceramic drying processes.


The concept of "Global Ethics" refers to the analysis and identification of ethical solutions to the challenges of the contemporary world. Among the current global problems we bring to the fore: illegal immigration as a component of human trafficking, but also other global issues interdependent with the two crimes above: violation of human rights and freedoms, poverty, resource scarcity, discrimination, illegal international business and trade, all of which, requesting from the authorities and beyond, legislative and ethical solutions. Legal migration is the widely accepted form globally, since it can be determined over time, but also controlled in terms of the number of people, fields and jobs. Illegal migration is the alternative used by people who cannot use the legal route to go abroad. A component of trafficking in human beings, illegal migration is a global scourge, hard to control, caused by organised criminal groups, but also by the increasing ingenuity of criminals. Although the phenomenon is manifesting itself worldwide, it is accentuated by the fact that there is a lack of appropriate legislation and an effective system of cooperation between government institutions and civil society.Trafficking in human beings must be related to the causes that led to its emergence: discrimination in the labour market revealed by high unemployment rates (women vs. men), poverty combined with low remuneration for work performed, corruption of authorities, poor border control, restriction of legal migration opportunities, internationalization of criminal groups correlated with high profits from human trafficking, poor information of people who want to emigrate about the real effects of the labour market. Knowing this phenomenon, but also of the causes that cause it to occur, determines the process of working for knowledge, resolution and fight against it. The present work is intended to be a source of information that makes available to those interested that information about illegal migration, as well as how state structures can and should be involved in the situation.


This tutorial paper addresses foreign-language support in corpus-based concatenative text-to-speech systems. We give an overview of application domains where strictly monolingual speech synthesis is not sufficient and where multilingual text-to-speech is required or highly desirable. We describe two approaches to multilingual corpus-based speech synthesis: phoneme mapping on the one hand, and the creation of multilingual speech databases on the other. We list the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches.


Rugby League (RL) is an intermittent, collision, invasion game, played internationally at professional, semi-professional and amateur level. The physiological attributes required for RL performance include, aerobic and anaerobic power, speed, acceleration, momentum, change of direction speed (CODS), strength, power and technical skill. Professional clubs operating in the Super League, develop academy players, as a method of talent development. However, not all players make the transition to senior, professional status, frequently required to leave this environment and participate at the semi-professional level. This study sought to better understand the physiological differences between these two levels, affording a better understanding of the career transition faced by academy graduates. The variables of examination were unilateral leg strength, strength symmetry, linear and change of direction speed. It was hypothesised that there would be significant differences between all variables. Rugby league players (n = 50), recruited from three different clubs, were used to investigate the physiological differences in unilateral leg strength and speed, both linear and COD. Tests of unilateral leg strength (rear foot elevated split squat 5RM, Helme et al, ePUB) and speed (20m sprint, modified 5-0-5 test) were separated by 48 hours. A magnitude based decision approach was used to determine between group differences in all variables measured. Semi-professional players were significantly heavier (+7kg, p =0.03, possibly moderate difference) than academy players, but there was no difference in height. No significant differences between groups in unilateral leg strength, either in absolute load or relative to body mass, nor was there any difference in strength symmetry. Analysis of linear sprint speed identified no differences between academy and semi-professional players between 0 and 10m, of a 20m sprint, however, between 10and 20m academy players had a possibly moderately higher mean velocity (7.57m/s vs 7.7m/s, p =0.35). Despite the difference in body mass no significant differences in momentum was observed. There were no significant differences between either group for change of direction speed or change of direction deficit. Academy and Semi-professional players exhibit comparable qualities with respect to unilateral leg strength, speed and change of direction ability. Such findings suggest that a career transition from academy to semi-professional Rugby League is an appropriate step, from a physiological perspective. However anthropometrically, the differences in body mass between groups suggests that such progression may not be so advantageous. Whilst both groups have equitable abilities, semi-professional players can perform these tasks at a significantly larger body mass, which is beneficial in collision sports. It should be concluded then, that in the transition to exit academy rugby league environments players should be focused on a strategy to simultaneously develop speed and change of direction ability, whilst accumulating greater lean body mass.


This paper describes a simulation model to calculate thermal energy demand of air handling units (AHU) centrally installed in buildings with focus on laboratories. The model's design gradually supports energy demand calculations of multiple buildings, e.g. on district level. The AHU is modelled in the open source, object-oriented modelling language Modelica ® . The model uses particular operation modes while neglecting dynamic transitions as this reduces computational effort to allow simulations on district level. A comparison of simulation results to experimental results, gained with a test bed at the Institute for Energy Efficient Buildings and Indoor Climate, RWTH Aachen University gives insights into the model's accuracy. The results justify using the model in district simulations, where reduced calculation efforts outweigh acceptable deviations. Moreover, this paper presents thermal demand simulations of a research site with 195 buildings and a comparison to monitoring data. The computed hourly heating power is satisfying compared to this measured data, e.g. in terms of the coefficient of determination with a value of R2 = 0.939.


Two-component systems (TCSs) form a distinct family of factors which have been reported to participate in the regulation of plant responses upon water-limiting conditions. Previous studies conducted by our group have shown that MTD777-2 had better drought-responsive capacities than DT20. Therefore, in this research, we would like to identify the tissue-specific expression patterns of two TCS members genes encoding a histidine kinase GmHK06 and a response regulator GmRR34 in these two local soybean varieties. The isolated RNA samples from root and shoot of plants grown under normal condition and 15-day drought treatment were used for cDNA synthesis followed by quantitative Real-time PCR. The analyses indicated that under the water stress, GmHK06 expression was repressed in root yet up-regulated in shoot, especially with a higher level in the shoot of MTD777-2. Meanwhile, there was a significant increase in the gene expression of GmRR34 in tissues of both cultivars. These findings suggested that while GmHK06 was a tissue-dependent factor, GmRR34 was a positive regulator against drought stress. Therefore, they could be considered as potential candidate genes for genetic engineering application that need to be deeply studied in future.


The aim of the current study is to establish a simple and fast method that can be easily applied in hospitals for the differentiation of biofilm and planktonic Staphylococcus aureusstrains. To achieve the objective, two reference strains, methicillin resistant S. aureus(MRSA) and methicillin sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) were examined using three types of methods; adhesion capacity of bacteria on polystyrene surfaces was verified using the quantification method followed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) in order to confirm the production of biofilm. In addition, to make a meaningful comparison of biofilm cells in stationary phase with a planktonic phase, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method was used. The results from this study demonstrated that the cells of the biofilm and planktonic cells can be differentiated by the simple MIC method. This study led to the development and improvement of methods for differentiation and detection of biofilm production of S. aureus.

 Key words: Biofilm, methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin resistantS. aureus, microtiter plate, scanning electron microscope, minimum inhibitory concentration, vancomycin.


This study aims at the effects of an intake of low molecular weight corn peptides(LMCPs) prepared from zein on alcohol metablism in rats. LMCPs(1.0 g/kg body weight) in 15% ethanol(10 mL/kg body weight) were given to Wister rats by intragastric gavage. The assay of blood ethanol was conducted by using the enzyme based assay kit. The amino acid analysis was made with an amino acid analyzer. The data of the animal experiments showed that LMCPs could accelerate the metabolism of alcohol in rats. In the control group, the blood ethanol concentration reached the maximum level of (827.0±77.3) mg/L after ethanol loading for 30 min, then gradually decreased. In contrast, the blood ethanol concentration only reached (527.25±47.0) mg/L after 30 min in the group of LMCPs taken. These results indicate that LMCPs could decrease ethanol concentration in blood rapidly.


Although both books are by the same publisher and about African art, they are otherwise as different as they possibly could be. Gardi gives essentially a personal account of his journeys up and down the African continent in search of a vanishing species, for whom no game reserve offers asylum, the craftsman. His art safari takes him to the weavers and iron-workers of the Cameroons, the brass founders, goldsmiths and fabric painters of the Ivory Coast, the glass-makers of Nigeria, the wood carvers of the Congo, the tapestry-makers, dyers and calabash decorators of Dahomey and the leather workers, saddle-makers and stone carvers of the Sahara. These are just the highlights of the trip. They are interspersed with particular case studies about an individual or a group of individuals carrying out their art at one specific spot and general studies of many of the arts of Africa, treated as a whole. For Gardi this was his sixteenth African journey. He has travelled a lot farther than Livingstone but for the same reason, he likes the African and his ways. Unfortunately, as far as the craftsman is concerned, this has been a death-bed visit. Everywhere the author went it was the same story. Sons refused to follow in their fathers' footsteps, they had got enough education to move on to some perhaps less exacting but better rewarded calling. While remaining craftsmen carried on bravely, the economic props of their being were pulled from below them by an unstemmable flood of cheap competitive goods, coming in some cases from industrial centres of Africa itself. Two poignant examples underline the author's comments on the vanishing crafts, one of beautifully decorated calabashes from Wangai, the other of cheap enamel basins with horribly garish stencilled patterns from Birmingham. Gardi arrived, not a minute too soon, to record several crafts that had received only the most perfunctory notice so far-such as Tuareg parchment box making and Bida glass blowing. The fine photographs and the step by step descriptions make the reader feel he might like to try some of these crafts for himself. A splendidly large type fount, a pop-out picture caption sheet and a well designed map enhance this beautiful book. Chase's book is the story of another loving journey, back in time to the African past from which emerged the skills of urban or plantation slave craftsmen, through the pioneer artists of the Negro renaissance (who are given very able biographical treatment) and the following depression, to the Afro-American art and craft of today. A slave found it very difficult to become an artist in America, for he had left behind him the tribal and religious background that had inspired most of his art. That any African crafts survived at all in the new homeland is something of a miracle, but they did. The best productions of Negro artists and craftsmen, many of which will be completely new to the reader, are ably presented by the author. Beautiful photographs, most of them by the author, accompany this scholarly account. She does not shrink from the very many controversial topics that a discussion of Afro-American art poses. Is Negro art, whether in America or elsewhere, different because of the African's quality of negritude?


Organoselenium-induced cyclofunctionalization of the (S)-N-(α,β-unsaturated) acylprolinamides 1, 7 and 14 has been found to produce the 7-membered bislactam products 2 and 15, or the 6-membered phenylselenolactam products 8 and 9 depending on the substitution pattern of the enone moiety of the starting material. The structural identities and stereochemistry of the cyclized products have been determined by X-ray diffraction, and the diastereoselectivity in the formation of the 7-membered ring bislactam product was found to be 91.6% de. The mechanism of the cyclolactamization is discussed.


This guide serves as a portal to researching LGBTQ populations and issues and covers resources for both contemporary and historical research. Created by Jenny Bowers and Louise Treff-Gangler.


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic and has been widely reported; however, a comprehensive systemic review and meta-analysis has not been conducted. We systematically investigated the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in mainland China to guide diagnosis and treatment. We searched the PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, bioRxiv, medRxiv, and SSRN databases for studies related to COVID-19 published or preprinted in English or Chinese from January 1 to March 15, 2020. Clinical studies on COVID-19 performed in mainland China were included. We collected primary outcomes including signs and symptoms, chest CT imaging, laboratory tests, and treatments. Study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were performed by two independent reviewers. Qualitative and quantitative synthesis was conducted, and random-effects models were applied to pooled estimates. This study is registered with PROSPERO (number CRD42020171606). Of the 3624 records identified, 147 studies (20,662 patients) were analyzed. The mean age of patients with COVID-19 was 49.40 years, 53.45% were male, and 38.52% had at least one comorbidity. Fever and cough were the most common symptoms, followed by fatigue, expectoration, and shortness of breath. Most patients with COVID-19 had abnormal chest CT findings with ground glass opacity (70.70%) or consolidation (29.91%). Laboratory findings shown lymphopenia, increased lactate dehydrogenase, increased infection-related indicators, and fibrinolytic hyperactivity. Antiviral therapy, antibiotic therapy, and corticosteroids were administered to 89.75%, 79.13%, and 35.64% of patients, respectively. Most clinical characteristics of COVID-19 are non-specific. Patients with suspected should be evaluated by virological assays and clinically treated.


Plasmonic metasurfaces have been widely used in biosensing to improve the interaction between light and biomolecules through the effects of near-field confinement. When paired with biofunctionalization, plasmonic metasurface sensing is considered as a viable strategy for improving biomarker detection technologies. In this review, we enumerate the fundamental mechanism of plasmonic metasurfaces sensing and present their detection in human tumors and COVID-19. The advantages of rapid sampling, streamlined processes, high sensitivity, and easy accessibility are highlighted compared with traditional detection techniques. This review is looking forward to assisting scientists in advancing research and developing a new generation of multifunctional biosensors.


Two InGaP/GaAs resonant tunneling bipolar transistors (RTBTs) with different superlattice (SL) structures in the emitters are fabricated and studied. The uniform and modulated widths of barriers are respectively utilized in the specific SL structures. Based on the calculations, the ground state and first excited state minibands are estimated from the transmission probability. The electron transport of RT through SL structures is significantly determined by the electric field behaviors across the barriers. Experimentally, the excellent transistor characteristics including the small saturation voltage, small offset voltage and high breakdown voltages are obtained due to the insertion of /spl delta/-doping sheet at the base-collector (B-C) heterointerface. Furthermore, at higher current regimes, the double- and quaternary-negative difference resistance (NDR) phenomena are observed in agreement with the theoretical prediction at 300 K.


Background: Therapeuc radiopharmaceucals are designed to deliver high doses of radiaon to selected target organs with an aim of minimizing unwanted radiaon to surrounding healthyssue. Due to the potenal of targeted radiotherapy to treat a wide range of malignant condions, ( 153 Sm)-samarium maltolate was developed for possible therapeuc applicaons. Materials and Methods: The organ radiaon-absorbed doses have been evaluated for human based on animal data. A%er intravenous administraon of 153 Sm-Mal to four groups of rats, they were sacrif iced at


Use of short-term mechanical circulatory support (MCS) for cardiogenic shock has rapidly increased. Most common initial MCS strategies entail institution of peripheral extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) or temporary ventricular assist devices. For patients with anatomically small peripheral arteries or insufficient circulatory support, sternotomy and central cannulation techniques may be necessary. These invasive approaches are associated with increased risk of bleeding and other significant complications. We describe a minimally invasive, off-pump technique to provide adequate hemodynamic support and left ventricular unloading, allowing early postoperative ambulation, and ability to easily provide additional right ventricular/ECMO support if needed.


Abstract   Globally, countries endeavor toward improving tax compliance behavior with the ultimate goal of increasing tax revenue collection. This study examined the quality of the e-tax system and its effect on the tax compliance behavior of large taxpayers in Tanzania. The data were gathered from 313 large taxpayers from three regions in Tanzania, namely Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, and Arusha. The study employed Information System Success Model (The IS model) with constructs service quality, system quality, information quality, user satisfaction, behavioral intention, and tax compliance behavior (actual behavior). A Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS3 was used to evaluate the latent variables and their indicators.  The results showed that behavioral intention to use the e-tax system has the strongest effect on tax compliance behavior. Thus, service and information quality had an incredible effect on creating eagerness to accept and utilize the e-tax system which improves tax compliance behavior. However system quality has not shown a significant effect on tax compliance behavior


Tact scheduling is accepted as an efficient method that can reduce idle times during construction. To achieve an optimized tact system, various conditions should be satisfied. Many existing studies addressed various aspects related to applying tact system on construction job-site, including 1) crew balancing by working site rotation in a condominium construction with multiple buildings, 2) the tact system involved in synchronizing a single type of crew on finishing work, and 3) the development of a scheduling model of structural framing construction by working space zoning in a high-rise building. However, no existing studies attempt to apply the tact scheduling method to the structural framing construction for the single building having multiple units. Therefore, this study develops the optimization model and presents its application, which can schedule the tact system for a high-rise building. It is concluded that the proposed method can efficiently optimize the tact scheduling in case of multi-crew to milti-process model.


In this paper, a data fusion method through Kalman filtering for condition monitoring (CM) and fault detection (FD) of electrical motors (EM) is proposed. Moreover, sensor validation (SV) and tracking the fault source (either the sensor or the process) are possible through this approach. A current signal, obtained from different sensors, is used for the case study. A fused current information is calculated through Kalman filtering. Afterwards, the effects of the measurement and process noises on the fused signal, are discussed, respectively. Then, it is noticed distinctive features by the comparison of the fused and original signal in terms of spectral and statistical properties. In addition, Kalman gain is monitored to investigate the impact of the process noise and measurement noise to perform SV. The proposed method is developed on the artificial data and then tested on the real data collected from an Induction Motor (IM).


BACKGROUND
In the United States, cigarette smoking accounts for almost 20% of all deaths attributed to heart disease. More women than men die each year of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Women who smoke have shown to be at a higher risk of cardiac deaths. The current study aims to determine the trend in smoking prevalence among women with CVD and their utilization of smoking cessation agents from 2004 to 2011.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This was a retrospective exploratory study using Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data from 2004 to 2011. All female respondents with any one cardiovascular condition were identified. Descriptive statistics were carried out to obtain the number of female patients with CVD, their smoking status, and their use of smoking cessation agents. Furthermore, disparities in smoking status and smoking cessation agent utilization with respect to race and ethnicity were studied.

RESULTS
Among total CVD patients, 53% were females, which corresponded to 25.3 million females in the United States. Around 12.3% among them were current smokers. Only 6.9% among these females used smoking cessation agents. Smoking trends in females were inconsistent throughout the 8 years. Overall, the trend showed a decrease in the percentage of female smokers, while use of smoking cessation agents remained low from 2004 to 2011. Whites and non-Hispanics had more current smokers and women using smoking cessation agents.

CONCLUSION
The eight-year trend shows that the use of smoking cessation agents among females is very low, particularly among non-whites and Hispanics. This is of great concern and future efforts could focus on increasing the utilization of smoking cessation agents and collectively decreasing the risk of smoking in CVD by healthcare professionals.


Under global warming, surface air temperature has risen rapidly and sea ice has decreased markedly in the Arctic. These drastic climate changes have brought about various severe impacts on the vulnerable environment and ecosystem there. Thus, accurate prediction of Arctic climate becomes more important than before. Here we examine the seasonal to interannual predictive skills of 2-m air temperature (2-m T) and sea ice cover (SIC) over the Arctic region (70°–90°N) during 1980–2014 with a high-resolution global coupled model called the Met Office Decadal Prediction System, version 3 (DePreSys3). The model captures well both the climatology and interannual variability of the Arctic 2-m T and SIC. Moreover, the anomaly correlation coefficient of Arctic-averaged 2-m T and SIC shows statistically significant skills at lead times up to 16 months. This is mainly due to the contribution of strong decadal trends. In addition, it is found that the peak warming trend of Arctic 2-m T lags the maximum decrease trend of SIC by 1 month, in association with the heat flux forcing from the ocean surface to lower atmosphere. While the predictive skill is generally much lower for the detrended variations, we find a close relationship between the tropical Pacific El Niño–Southern Oscillation and the Arctic detrended 2-m T anomalies. This indicates potential seasonal to interannual predictability of the Arctic natural variations.


The aim of this paper is to provide an experimental examination of the application of linear system identification techniques in the design of linear model-based controllers for systems suffering nonlinear distortions. The study is conducted on an analog electrical circuit, which simulates a nonlinear mechanical resonating system. Parametric linear models are estimated from measurements taken using random-phase multisines. Furthermore, a full nonlinear model is estimated for the system. Initially, the estimated linear models and the nonlinear model are compared in terms of their performance in simulating the system dynamics. This is followed by the design of linear optimal controllers for the system based on the different models, and the performance obtained from the controllers based on the nonlinear model is set as the benchmark. It is shown that although the performance of the linear models estimated from the random multisine measurements is poor in terms of the simulation error when compared to that of the nonlinear model, it closely matches the performance of the nonlinear model in terms of controller design


It is argued that fear of fear, or phobophobia, can be an important maintaining factor in cases of seemingly free-floating anxiety with periodic panic attacks and that effective treatment consists of exposure to the feared neurovegetative sensations. The case history presented suggests that inhalation of CO2-O2 mixtures induces the phobic interoceptive sensations and that it can be used in the exposure treatment of phobophobia.


Liquid metal ion sources (LMIS) in view of the quasi-point-like geometry of their emitting region and confined emission cone possess brightness (0I6 A cm 'sr-') which is adequate for the realization of high current density (I A cm-'), finely focused (>20 rm) probes. A 40 keV scanning ion microprobe, which makes use of a Ga LMIS (UCHRL SIM) is currently employed in our laboratory to obtain chemical maps of materials in a variety of interdisciplinary applications [1]. The instrument is composed of a two-lens focusing column, a hightransmission secondary ion energy analyzer and transport system, and an RF quadrupole mass filter for secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). in addition, two-channel electron multiplier detectors, overlooking the target region, collect secondary electrons or ions for imaging of the surface topography and material contrast of a sample. Although a lateral resolution of 20 nm has been attained, sensitivity considerations favor operation at somewhat larger (50-70 nmt) probe size. The analytical image resolution is in fact critically dependent on the statistics of the mass analyzed signal [2], which in turn is determined by the rate of material removal by sputtering from the sample surface. Such a rate is proportional to the probe current, which decreases with the square of the probe diameter for chromatic-aberration-limited probes such as those extracted from LMIS. Thus at, e.g., 20 nm probe diameter, only 1-2 pA of probe current are available, the erosion rate is of the order 10-' rnonolayers/s and probe-size resolution can only be attained for elements of high ionization probability which will provide the highest signal statistics over an acceptable recording time (>I count/pixel in a 1024 x 1024 pixel scan for a 512 s acquisition time for the UC-HRL SIM). In view of the well known range of ionization probabilities (ion fractions) among sputtered atomic species, as well as of sputtering yields, the attainable analytical lateral resolution of finely focused probes becomes target-species dependent due to the above considerations. It also follows that for species difficult to ionize, high resolution SIMS imaging microanalysis is altogether precluded, unless by recourse to postionization techniques [3]. Two examples of applications of the UC-HRL SIM to the study of materials will be illustrated in the present context.


The effects of instructing kindergarten students (five-year-old in their first year of public school) on patterning were tested. Up to nine students in each class were randomly assigned to three groups in each of six classes, i.e., as many as three from a class in each group. One group received instruction on complex patterns similar to those employed by other researchers with first graders. Another group was instructed in early literacy, and another in early mathematics. For each group, the experimental instruction was scheduled in a counterbalanced order for 15 minutes in the morning, five days per week for most of the school year. When tested in late May-early June, the children taught patterning scored significantly better on a test of patterning. There were no significant differences on tests of mathematics and early literacy. However, there were correlations between the children's patterning scores and some literacy scales.


Hydraulic systems is a class of nonlinear complex systems. There are many typical characteristics with the systems: multiple functional components, multiple operation modes, space-time coupling work, and monitoring signals for faults are multivariate time series data, etc. Because of the characteristics, fault diagnosis for Hydraulic systems is not easy. Traditional fault diagnosis methods mostly ignore the multivariable timing characteristics of monitoring signals, it has made many detection and diagnosis (especially for multiple fault) can not keep high accuracy, and some of the methods are not even be able to multiple fault diagnosis. Aim at the problem, a multivariate time series classification based diagnosis method is proposed. Firstly, extracting timing characteristics (transformed features) from the time series data collected via sensors by 1-NN method. Secondly, training the transformed features by multi-class OVO-SVM to classify multivariate time series. Simulation of the method contains single fault and multiple faults conditions, the results show that the method has high accuracy, it can complete multiple-faults classification.


New technologies spread by the fourth industrial revolution led professionals and workers in building sector to reconsider formal paradigms by now well-established. This attitude determined the birth of complex architectures in which heterogeneous materials and components interact each other to provide an answer to different, interconnected issues, making buildings capable of establish changing relationships with users and the surrounding environment as well. Therefore, the present contribution aims to understand, through the analysis of some contemporary architectures, how the use of such technologies has innovated design practices, modifying the architectural language and enhancing it through the introduction of innovative elements.


This paper introduces a four-channel optical receiver array implemented in a standard 1P4M 0.18μm CMOS technology for the applications of active optical HDMI cables. Each channel consists of a current-mirror transimpedance amplifier, a five-stage differential limiting amplifier, and an output buffer, demonstrating 81-dBΩ transimpedance gain, 1.8-GHz bandwidth even with 0.5-pF photodiode capacitance, −18.3-dBm optical sensitivity for 10−12 BER & 0.6-A/W responsivity, and 51.7-mW power dissipation from a single 1.8-V supply. The whole chip occupies the area of 1.35 × 2.46mm2 including pads. The measured eye-diagrams of the array confirms wide and clear eye-openings up to 4.0-Gb/s operations.


As fashion and distribution companies have increasingly turned to implementing marketing activities that use omni-channel strategies, it is imperative to explore consumer-oriented evaluations of omni-channel shopping for fashion products. Through contributing to the growing research flow of consumer behavior within omni-channel contexts, the current study explores consumer motivations for omni-channel fashion shopping and their impacts on the decision-making stages of fashion products. The authors first performed in-depth interviews with six Korean consumers and confirmed the four types of consumer motivation for omni-channel shopping, and how decision- making processes react to fashion companies' omni- channel marketing strategies. These findings were used to set survey items for the main study. Based on the results and findings of previous literature, an online survey was conducted with 300 participants who had actual experience with omni-channel shopping for fashion products. The statistic results from the survey revealed the following: First, the in-depth interviews allowed the authors to confirm four factors of omni-channel shopping motivation (ubiquity, efficiency, convenience, and impulsiveness). Second, the survey showed the authors that among the four factors of omni-channel shopping orientation, impulsiveness had the greatest effect on consumer behaviors at the preand on-purchase stages, while the ubiquity factor had the greatest effect at the post-purchase stage. As such, the study empirically tested the omni-channel-specific factors of shopping orientation and motivation. In addition, it showed the effect of omni-channel marketing on various stages of the decision- making process and the study's limitations and implications were discussed.


The Laotian shad (Tenualosa thibaudeaui) belongs to the family Clupeidae and is mainly distributed across Lao PRD, Cambodia and northern Thailand. Due to overfishing and dam reconstruction, the Laotian shad is on the verge of extinction and currently listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. Nanopore and Illumina sequencing data were integrated to generate the first high-quality genome assembly for T. thibaudeaui. The assembled genome was 638 Mb in size, including 228 scaffolds with a N50 value of 16.6 Mb. BUSCO analysis revealed the completeness of the assembly to be more than 96%. A total of 24,810 protein-coding genes were predicted. According to the PSMC analysis, the effective population size of the Laotian shad sharply declined from 3 Mya to 20 Kya. We found a significant ratio in contraction of gene families that may reflect secondary gene loss. Our high-quality genome assembly of the Laotian shad will provide a valuable resource for future research in conservation genetics, as well as for investigating the phylogenetics and comparative genomics of shads.


Worldwide, sustained breastfeeding rates are lower than optimal. Mothers and infants with suboptimal breastfeeding present to a wide variety of practitioners to assist their goal of total breastfeeding. To support these mother-infant dyads, a multi-disciplinary chiropractic and midwifery feeding clinic was opened alongside a chiropractic teaching clinic in England. To improve understanding of the presentation and clinical needs of these nursing dyads, a descriptive study was developed. This paper provides an overview of the cases that presented to this clinic over nine months, with a focus on feeding difficulties, birth and musculoskeletal problems in the infant. Mothers frequently reported more than one type of feeding problem, which most commonly included difficulty attaching, painful feeding, and a one sided feeding preference. Birth intervention was more common in this population than the national averages, particularly forceps deliveries. Musculoskeletal problems were prevalent in the babies presented to the feeding clinic, most commonly of the thoracic spine, cervical spine and sternocleidomastoid. Although causation cannot be established from this type of study, intervention at birth, feeding difficulties and musculoskeletal problems frequently coexisted in these infants. Therefore, including musculoskeletal care for infants as part of support for suboptimal breastfeeding may be appropriate.


This work examined the effects of reaction conditions on ring opening polymerization of poly(ecaprolactone) (PCL) by Candida antarctica lipase B (Novozym 435) as the catalyst. Different reaction mediums were obtained by changing of temperature, reaction time and solvent types simultaneously. The main purpose of this study was to observe molecular weight distribution, conversion rates, and thermal behaviors of PCL and to find the highest molecular weight in enzymatic reaction conditions. Three different reaction temperatures and solvent types were studied in this work. Reactions were carried out at 40, 60 and 80°C and n-hexane, toluene and diisopropyl ether were used as solvents. One more reaction series were done for toluene solution at 30°C. Moreover, experiments were undertaken at seven different time periods. During all the reactions, monomer, solvent, and enzyme concentrations were not changed. For 1 ml monomer/solvent solution (0.44 M monomer and 0.56 M solvent), 10 mg lipase were used in the experiments. All samples were analyzed by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H-NMR) to obtain molecular weights, conversion rates, and chemical structures. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis was performed to determine chain structures of PCL samples. Thermal behaviors of samples were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to examine and compare polymers with each other.


Author(s): Shi, Xiaoyu | Advisor(s): Ley, Klaus F; Subramaniam, Shankar | Abstract: This project focuses on the proof-of-concept development of a separation construct to isolate antigen-specific CD4 T cells using a buoyant lipid microparticle (microbubble) reagent attaching major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) molecules. These cells are implicated in the progression of cardiovascular disease. The project relied critically on preexisting reagents produced by collaborators: microbubbles and biotinylated recombinant MHCII monomers.Current cell separation methods rely primarily on either magnetic separation or flow-cytometry based sorting. The method presented here provides the basis for a new avenue of investigation using a principally different separation scheme based on buoyancy. It is intended to be extensible to the separation of antigen-specific T cells in other contexts and was originally intended to be a removable separation reagent (unsuccessful). The ultimate goal is the development of a separation system which may be used to further clinical work or research relying on cell isolation.Here, the buoyancy-based method is first used to perform bulk B and CD4 T cell separations. These are common lab procedures for which many commercial kits are available, which made them an ideal testbed for initial study. Flow cytometric analysis and confocal microscopy were performed to confirm successful cell enrichment. The separation system was then further developed to separate antigen-specific CD4 T cells reactive to the endogenous murine peptide P6 (TGAYSNASSTESASY), relevant in the study of atherosclerosis. Flow cytometric and microscopic confirmation of successful separation was performed in this section as well.Several devices for centrifugation were designed and constructed in the course of this project. These attempted to create a pendant droplet between the buoyant and non-buoyant fractions in a single column of liquid formed by centrifugation, allowing for these layers to be completely sequestered from one another. Though these devices were unsuccessful, they merit further study. Another device, a centrifuge adapter, was created as an all-purpose experimental aid to hold and centrifuge all combinations of reagent tubes used in the cell separation protocol. Computer graphics animations and diagrams of various facets of the project were also made, including molecular-scale models of separation constructs derived from Protein Data Bank (PDB) structural data.


Studying Flourishing is important to understand wellbeing. The current study aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Flourishing Scale (FS) in the Honduran population. The primary sample consisted of 422 residents of the Central District of Honduras; this included 275 (65.17%) women and 147 men (34.83%). Their average age was 28.18 years (SD = 10.58). Findings from the Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis support a unidimensional factor structure. The FS achieved a high internal consistency with McDonald's ω = 0.89, 95% CI [0.86, 0.91]. The average inter-item correlation was 0.48, 95% CI [0.43, 0.53]. Using Student's t-test for paired samples, results indicate that none of the FS items varied significantly between baseline and post-test. Additionally, Spearman's rho was used to correlate test–retest scores; this yielded a statistically significant correlation coefficient of 0.66. The Flourishing Scale had adequate convergent validity with the Subjective Happiness Scale (r = 0.70) and the PANAS-Positive Affect Subscale (r = 0.70) (p < 0.001). In contrast, it correlates inversely with the PANAS-Negative Affect Subscale (r = −0.34) and the PHQ-9 (r = −0.51). Strict measurement invariance for sex was supported. The results indicate that the Flourishing Scale has robust psychometric properties for the Honduran population. Practical implications for public policy are discussed.


Exoplanet catalogs produced by surveys suffer from a lack of completeness (not every planet is detected) and less than perfect reliability (not every planet in the catalog is a true planet), particularly near the survey's detection limit. Exoplanet occurrence rate studies based on such a catalog must be corrected for completeness and reliability. The final Kepler data release, DR25, features a uniformly vetted planet candidate catalog and data products that facilitate corrections. We present a new probabilistic approach to the characterization of Kepler completeness and reliability, making full use of the Kepler DR25 products. We illustrate the impact of completeness and reliability corrections with a Poisson-likelihood occurrence rate method, using a recent stellar properties catalog that incorporates Gaia stellar radii and essentially uniform treatment of the stellar population. Correcting for reliability has a significant impact: the exoplanet occurrence rate for orbital period and radius within 20% of Earth's around GK dwarf stars, corrected for reliability, is , whereas not correcting results in —correcting for reliability reduces this occurrence rate by more than a factor of two. We further show that using Gaia-based versus DR25 stellar properties impacts the same occurrence rate by a factor of two. We critically examine the the DR25 catalog and the assumptions behind our occurrence rate method. We propose several ways in which confidence in both the Kepler catalog and occurrence rate calculations can be improved. This work provides an example of how the community can use the DR25 completeness and reliability products.


A subsurface investigation at Area G (metal sludge) and O (explosives) ponds located in the Lone Star Ammunition Plant, Texarkana, Texas, was initiated. The study included review of existing data, site drilling, and sampling and analysis of soil and water. Results indicate that the ponds are underlain by massive clay beds (aquiclude), and the potential for contamination of the usable ground water supply appears to be remote. No significant migration of hazardous contaminants through subsurface soils was observed. Groundwater quality is poor due to high total dissolved solids (TDS) and soluble salt content. However, it is relatively free of trace metals, trinitrotoluene (TNT), cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), and trace organics. It is recommended that these ponds be closed and that appropriate post-closure maintenance and monitoring, as mandated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, be implemented.


Rossi, Rittenhouse, and Paradiso (1996) reported a cut-off at 4 Hz in the modulation amplitude of neural responses to large (up to 14°) simultaneous contrast stimuli in the striate cortex of cats, as the temporal frequency of the luminance of flanking patches increased, while the luminance of a central patch covering the neurons' classical receptive fields (CRFs) was held constant. This indicates that the modulation may involve slow processing of information in visual cortex. We develop models with a small set of parameters to explain these brightness-related responses in visual cortex. A model with any of the following mechanisms can fit the data: (a) slow local inhibition (Slow Inhibition Model); (b) slow excitation of the nodes in the second of two layers, which feed back to the inhibitory nodes in the first layer (Slow Excitation Model); and (c) conduction delays along lateral connections (Delay Model). However, the Slow Inhibition Model predicts that neurons in extrastriate cortex show similar response modulations as neurons in V1, while the Slow Excitation Model predicts that, unlike the modulations of V1 neurons shown in the experimental data, neurons in extrastriate cortex show slow modulations of responses to both the direct luminance change and the simultaneous contrast stimuli. The Delay Model predicts that the cut-off frequency of the response modulations depends on the distance from the flanker to the CRFs of the neurons. Further physiological experiments could clarify which mechanism plays an important role in the brightness-related responses in visual cortex.


Abstract  Sustainable development demands institutions manage the conflicts and struggles that inevitably arise over material and ideal interests. While current cooperative theory privileges the economic element, a political economy of cooperation emphasizes cooperatives' tentative bridging of economic and political spheres with a democratic ethos. The cooperatives' democratic political structure exists in tension with a capitalist economic structure and other sites of friction. These contradictions are: in the realm of social relations, between production and consumption; in the realm of spatial relations, between the local and the global; and in the realm of collective action, between cooperatives as both traditional as well as new social movements. Where neo-classical economic models seek to eliminate or reduce these tensions, political economy views these tensions as functional to sustainability by creating an "institutional friction" that facilitates innovation, flexibility and long-term adaptability. This political economy of cooperation is intended as a step toward the development of a multidimensional sociology of cooperation.


Background Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic, systemic, inflammatory disease that primarily affects the sacroiliac joints and spine. Despite overwhelming prevalence of AS in men, it can also occur in women. Since AS mainly affects the sacroiliac joints, a special attention should be paid to the normal labors and pregnancy outcomes in these female patients. However, very little is known about the impact of AS on pregnancy outcomes due to rare occurrence of the disease in women. Objectives To investigate the pregnancy outcomes in Korean female patients with AS. Methods All of the 27 deliveries from 20 AS female patients who had been cared at Seoul National University Hospital between February 1994 and June 2016 were retrospectively evaluated through medical record review. After matching each pregnancy of the AS women with the pregnancies of the control group on a 1 to 4 ratio based on maternal and gestational age, pregnancy outcomes of AS patients were compared with those of the control group. Pregnancy outcomes included cesarean section (CS) rate, preterm birth, low birth weight infant, fetal growth restriction (FGR), fetal malformations and preeclampsia. Each pregnancy was considered as a separate observation, and outcomes between the groups were compared by regression models estimated using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEEs) to account for the matched nature of the data. For zero events in either group in which GEE models do not converge, Fisher's exact test or Chi-square test were used. Results Caesarean section (CS) was performed in 44.4% of deliveries among women with AS compared with 20.4% in controls (p=0.002) (Table 1). The indications of CS included previous uterine surgery, breech position, placenta previa, placental abruption, fetal distress, and cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD), which were comparable between two groups. When excluding the cases of elective CS, 16 pregnant women with AS were tried for the vaginal delivery. Among them, 15 cases (93.8%) achieved successful vaginal deliveries, which was comparable to the successful vaginal delivery rate in controls (86/90 (95.6%), p=0.566). CS due to CPD was done in 1 case (8.3%) of AS women, while there was no case in the controls (p=0.353). Interestingly, the severity of sacroiliitis in AS patients did not show any association with CS (p=0.342). Women with AS had a higher frequency of LBW compared to the controls (22.2% vs 8.3%, p=0.024). However, there was no statistically significant difference in other adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preterm birth, FGR, fetal malformations, and pre-eclampsia. Conclusions Although pregnant women with AS are concerned about CPD during their labors due to the involvement of the sacroiliac joints, vaginal deliveries can be tried in patients with AS. The obstetric and perinatal outcomes in women with AS were also comparable to normal pregnant women. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Hyperspectral images consist of large number of bands which require sophisticated analysis to extract. One approach to reduce computational cost, information representation, and accelerate knowledge discovery is to eliminate bands that do not add value to the classification and analysis method which is being applied. In particular, algorithms that perform band elimination should be designed to take advantage of the structure of the classification method used. This letter introduces an embedded-feature-selection (EFS) algorithm that is tailored to operate with support vector machines (SVMs) to perform band selection and classification simultaneously. We have successfully applied this algorithm to determine a reasonable subset of bands without any user-defined stopping criteria on some sample AVIRIS images; a problem occurs in benchmarking recursive-feature-elimination methods for the SVMs.


Abstract Is there a revolution occurring in the Australian suburb? From a brief examination of demographic, economic, political and aesthetic changes, it appears that the suburbs of the new century are very different from those of the last. With the demise of key underpinnings of the older suburban form—the sexual division of labour, particular family forms, localised communities and bucolic private gardens—has gone an end to official support of the expansive suburb and a major shift in their politics, planning, economies and relationship to the CBD and other centres. With falling household sizes has gone a seemingly contradictory trend toward larger houses on smaller blocks of land. In the context of these many changes along with urban containment and consolidation, this paper argues that there is a convergence occurring between the design of inner, middle and outer suburban dwellings. The negativity long heaped upon the suburban bungalow by the custodians of taste is being revisited. The style wars are easing, as suburban homes increasingly resemble those appearing in densified cities across the nation.


Ergography is a novel technique invented in 2003 by the first author in his attempts to understand, analyze, and quantify at one glance the work of creative scientists without reading through lengthy, usually boring laudations of invited speakers. Traditional enumeration of accomplishments is helpful but less than satisfactory. Simple descriptive texts often do not satisfactorily answer the question of how, when and why certain observations and theories were established and how they influenced the development and advance of scientific fields at large. Five influential entomologists, R.L. Metcalf, H. Schmutterer, P. Karlson, T. Eisner and E.O. Wilson, as well as two biochemists, A. Butenandt and F. Lynen, a few of them still alive, were selected as targets to gain some experience with the new technique superficially resembling chromatograms or spectra. Pretty soon, it became clear that the "when" is easy to answer and follows from simple time diagrams. More difficult is the analysis of the "how" and "why" and "under whose influence" certain subject areas were pursued. Even more difficult to analyze is the impact, if any, certain papers had on subsequent authors and to what extent the "memes" influence contemporary or future authors within and outside established research schools of thought. Ergographic analysis is an ongoing project that learns its rules by trying and doing. It links the forefront of research to the task of the science historian who is looking back over considerable distances. Ergographists try to speed up this process by the tools of analyzing working patterns and hopefully finding similarities and signs of influences in other schools of thought. In the virtual absence of suitable critical electronic software with semantic resolution power, ergography is still a matter of personal enterprise, curiosity, intuition, and willingness to follow with a prepared mind the paths investigated before by ingenious talent and make them more transparent.


In the early Middle Ages the Europe was a chaotic social environment.The empire was so vast that no king could build a centralized government,so the king depended on counts to administrate the regions.There were conflicts,wars,invasion and famine at that time.The decentralized government could not protect people from these sufferings,so the people just could search for the strong to secure them.The lord could provide protection to his vassals and grant fiefs to his vassals,and in turn vassals needed to perform their obligation to the lord.These obligation included loyalty,military service,assistance,offering material and counsel which stabilized the area that the lord ruled.The feudalism in the administration of Merovingian and Carolingian even after the breakup of Carolingian could illustrate the stable units of the empire.


ABSTRACT The measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) of climate finance was originated from discussions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It has been one of the key issues of global climate negotiations since 2009 and will continue to be of significant importance in addressing climate change and strengthening international trust. This paper analyses the concept, the objective, and the progress of the MRV of climate finance based on reviews of the latest literature and think-tank reports regarding climate finance regime and MRV. Following the analysis, challenges faced with the MRV of climate finance are illustrated. This paper presents that the comparability of climate finance data needs to be improved due to the variety of methodologies used for disaggregating climate finance. In addition, the integrality of the MRV system of climate finance has been impaired by the lack of feedback mechanism from the recipients to the contributors in reporting system. Furthermore, although accounting system of climate finance has been developing and improving, it remains incapacity in providing accurate data on disbursed climate finance. Responding to the above challenges, this paper proposes the key tasks in establishing a comprehensive MRV system for climate finance at international level. The tasks involve developing a measurement system with consistent data basis and accounting basis, a reporting system with more detailed guidance and standardized formats, as well as a verification mechanism balancing top-down and bottom-up review processes. In the last section, this paper concludes that the establishment of an improved MRV of climate finance requires concerted cooperation and negotiations between developed and developing country Parties under the UNFCCC. As one of the few developing country donors to the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), China is suggested to clarify its propositions as a developing country in aspects such as concept, coverage, and architecture of climate finance and MRV system, and gain bargaining power in improving operating and technical rules of international climate finance regime.


Hydatid cyst is a parasitic infection transmitted by oral ingestion of Echinococcus granulosus eggs. Hydatid cyst of the genital tract is rare and the occurrence in the uterus is an extreme rarity. We present an 8-yr-old girl with complaints of swelling of lower abdomen, pollakiuria and bilateral flank pain was brought to Emergency Department of Harran University, Turkey, in Jun 2019. The patient had simultaneous hydatid cysts of the liver, mesentery and uterus. We performed abdominal exploration and completely removed the inner germinal layer of cyst through an incision made in the anterior of the uterine fundus. Then, we applied total excision to the two cysts in the right and left colon mesentery. Finally, we performed partial cystectomy to the cyst in the liver, and we removed the cyst membrane totally. In endemic regions, hydatid cysts should be considered for the diagnosis of children with cystic mass lesions. Uterine-sparing approach should be kept in mind as an option, especially in young women. Early surgical treatment of large pelvic cysts that cause obstructive uropathy may prevent the progression of renal damage.


Author(s): Ramesh, Nithya | Advisor(s): Schoenung, Julie M | Abstract: Additive manufacturing has developed as a strong tool in making parts with complex shapes and high qualities. The microstructure evolution of the AlSi10Mg alloy manufactured through Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS®) and Selective Laser Melting (SLM) AM techniques is studied through electron microscopy characterization. The solidified melt pools of both as-deposited samples exhibit a "fish scale" pattern that is inherent to the AM process. A very fine cellular microstructure is seen due to the high thermal gradients and cooling rates on the order of 103-106K/s. Eutectic silicon forms along the cell boundaries of the aluminum matrix. The rapid solidification and non-equilibrium conditions result in the formation of metastable phases. X-Ray Diffraction and Differential Scanning Calorimetry analysis were carried out to identify the phases in the as-deposited samples. In-situ and post-mortem TEM characterization were conducted to observe the formation of silicon and Mg2Si precipitates. The Mg2Si precipitates segregated along the cell boundaries in both of the as-deposited samples. The π-Al8Si6Mg3Fe phase was also observed to segregate along the cell boundary. High resolution transmission electron microscopy studies revealed a crystallographic orientation relationship between the [001] Al matrix and the [110] Si primary phase. A comparative study between the microstructure of the LENS® and SLM as-deposited samples revealed a finer microstructure in the as-deposited SLM sample. A conventional T6 heat treatment caused the cellular network to break down and the Si particles to coarsen. Microhardness tests were conducted on the as-deposited samples and heat-treated samples to correlate the mechanical properties with the microstructure. The hardness of the as-deposited samples was 105 HV which is higher than the hardness of a cast counterpart.


Objectives Chromosome 8p21-12 has been identified as a susceptibility locus for schizophrenia based on several genomewide linkage scans with Caucasian families. The purpose of this study is to investigate the linkage of this locus to schizophrenia i n Korean families. Materials and Methods We recruited ninety-one family members from twenty-seven multiplex schizophrenia families. Fifty-nine of them were affected individuals. Seven microsatellite markers of this region with 3cM intervals were genotyped. Non-parametric linkage analysis was performed by evaluating the levels of allele sharing between the affected relative pairs. Results In the multi-point analysis, all the points tested within this area showed positive but non-significant non-parametric lod (NPL) scores with the peak occurring between D8S1820 and D8S1769. In the single point analysis, statistically significant allele sharing was observed at D8S1769 (NPL=1.65, p=0.049). Higher levels of NPL scores (the highest single point NPL=1.98, p=0.025) were observed when the same analyses were applied to a subgroup of families in which all of the affected individuals showed auditory hallucination. Conclusions These findings support the previous evidence from Caucasian families for a locus predisposing to schizophrenia at 8p21-12. Further studies designed to screen positional candidate genes and their SNPs at this locus are warranted, in order to identify the specific causative genetic variation of schizophrenia.


Environmental trace evidence is often encountered during a forensic investigation and is acknowledged to have the potential to contribute valuable circumstantial information pertaining to the context of an individual criminal event. Although traditional study has focused upon the analysis of terrestrial soil and sediment traces, there is growing potential for the forensic assessment of aquatic crime scenes, particularly those within freshwater environments. This paper outlines the current applications of limnology, particularly algae and diatom analysis, within forensic science and introduces new and ongoing research within the field. Two empirical studies are presented which highlight the importance of developing evidence bases within freshwater trace evidence analysis. These studies demonstrate the analytical capability of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) at various stages of an investigation: in the initial screening and collection of an evidential sample from clothing (1); and in the analysis of preserved diatoms following various levels of their exposure to fire damage (2). The results highlight that the SEM provides a valuable tool during the initial stages of an investigation, determining the presence and abundance of a range of environmental indicators and directing further strategy for the more in-depth collection and analysis of a forensic sample. Furthermore, the preservation of diatoms adhering to clothing following prolonged exposure to fire, indicates that efforts to collect any destroyed evidence are worthwhile given the potential to recover freshwater traces over extended time scales. Finally, the value of adopting an empirical approach for the development of a forensically relevant evidence base within forensic limnology, and the importance of having an appreciation of the legal implications for the interpretation and admissibility of freshwater evidence is presented.


High-throughput plant phenotyping platforms provide new possibilities for automated, fast scoring of several plant growth and development traits, followed over time using non-invasive sensors. Using Arabidopsis as a model offers important advantages for high-throughput screening with the opportunity to extrapolate the results obtained to other crops of commercial interest. In this study we describe the development of a highly reproducible high-throughput Arabidopsis in vitro bioassay established using our OloPhen platform, suitable for analysis of rosette growth in multi-well plates. This method was successfully validated on example of multivariate analysis of Arabidopsis rosette growth in different salt concentrations and the interaction with varying nutritional composition of the growth medium. Several traits such as changes in the rosette area, relative growth rate, survival rate and homogeneity of the population are scored using fully automated RGB imaging and subsequent image analysis. The assay can be used for fast screening of the biological activity of chemical libraries, phenotypes of transgenic or recombinant inbred lines, or to search for potential quantitative trait loci. It is especially valuable for selecting genotypes or growth conditions that improve plant stress tolerance.


OBJECTIVE We explored longitudinal changes associated with switching to hybrid closed-loop (HCL) insulin delivery systems in adults with type 1 diabetes and elevated HbA1c levels despite the use of intermittently scanned continuous glucose monitoring (isCGM) and insulin pump therapy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We undertook a pragmatic, preplanned observational study of participants included in the National Health Service England closed-loop pilot. Adults using isCGM and insulin pump across 31 diabetes centers in England with an HbA1c ≥8.5% who were willing to commence HCL therapy were included. Outcomes included change in HbA1c, sensor glucometrics, diabetes distress score, Gold score (hypoglycemia awareness), acute event rates, and user opinion of HCL. RESULTS In total, 570 HCL users were included (median age 40 [IQR 29–50] years, 67% female, and 85% White). Mean baseline HbA1c was 9.4 ± 0.9% (78.9 ± 9.1 mmol/mol) with a median follow-up of 5.1 (IQR 3.9–6.6) months. Of 520 users continuing HCL at follow-up, mean adjusted HbA1c reduced by 1.7% (95% CI 1.5, 1.8; P < 0.0001) (18.1 mmol/mol [95% CI 16.6, 19.6]; P < 0.0001). Time in range (70–180 mg/dL) increased from 34.2 to 61.9% (P < 0.001). Individuals with HbA1c of ≤58 mmol/mol rose from 0 to 39.4% (P < 0.0001), and those achieving ≥70% glucose time in range and <4% time below range increased from 0.8 to 28.2% (P < 0.0001). Almost all participants rated HCL therapy as having a positive impact on quality of life (94.7% [540 of 570]). CONCLUSIONS Use of HCL is associated with improvements in HbA1c, time in range, hypoglycemia, and diabetes-related distress and quality of life in people with type 1 diabetes in the real world.