Chylopericardium is a rare pathologic condition consisting of the accumulation of excess amounts of chylous fluid within the pericardial cavity. Most patients are asymptomatic at presentation; however, chest pressure, chest pain and lightheadedness have been reported, and the most common presenting symptom is shortness of breath. Patients are noted to have enlargement of the cardiac silhouette on routine chest radiograph, and evidence of a pericardial effusion on echocardiography. The diagnosis is only definitively confirmed with pericardiocentesis and fluid analysis. The fluid is typically turbid white or milky in appearance, with a triglyceride level in excess of 500 mg/dL. The mechanism by which chyle accumulates within the pericardium is believed to be secondary to abnormal or damaged lymphatics or due to elevated pressure within the thoracic duct that results in chyle reflux into the pericardium. Following drainage with a pericardiocentesis or pericardial drain, attempts at conservative therapy with nothing by mouth and parental nutrition can be made, but have a high rate of failure and subsequent reaccumulation of chyle. Surgical treatment provides the most definitive management and consists of ligation of the thoracic duct just above the level of the diaphragm and creation of a pericardial window. With this treatment, risk of recurrence is incredibly low (<5%).


The synthesis in good yields (71–85%) of diand tristannylated benzenes from commercially available anilines, involving their conversion to the corresponding aryltrimethylammonium salts followed by the reaction with Me3SnNa 1 in liquid ammonia, is described. The results obtained clearly indicate that the stannylation reactions proceed through an SRN1 mechanism.


Study Design. A comparison study of Back Pain Functional Scale (BPFS) with Roland Morris Questionnaire (RMQ), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and Short Form 36-Health Survey (SF-36). Objective. The aim of this study is to investigate the correlation of BPFS with RMQ, ODI, and SF-36. Summary of Background Data. The primary goal in the treatment of patients with low back pain is to improve the patients' levels of activities and participation. Many questionnaires focusing on function have been developed in patients with low back pain. BPFS is one of these questionnaires. No studies have investigated the correlation of BPFS with ODI and SF-36. Methods. This study was conducted with 120 patients receiving outpatient and inpatient treatment in physiotherapy and rehabilitation units of a state hospital. BPFS, RMQ, ODI, and SF-36 questionnaires were used to assess the disability in low back pain. Spearman and Pearson Correlation were used to compare the data obtained in the study. Results. There was a good correlation among the 5 functional outcome measures (correlation r = −0.693 for BPFS/RMQ, r = −0.794 for BPFS/ODI, r = 0.697 for BPFS/SF-36 Physical function and r = 0.540 for BPFS/SF-36 Pain). Conclusion. BPFS demonstrated good correlation with RMQ, ODI, SF-36 physical function, and SF-36 pain. Level of Evidence: 2


The eightfold 2a0×2b0×2c0 superstructures of 6R-CuxTa1+yS2 are reported for crystal A with x = 0.237 and y = 0, and crystal B with x = 0.23 and y = 0.06. Compelling evidence is presented for the self-intercalation of tantalum onto octahedral sites, based on the diffraction data and crystal chemical arguments. The eightfold superstructure is formed by partial vacancy ordering within planes of intercalated atoms, while the stacking of TaS2 layers remains that of the 6R polytype. Temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction experiments show that the superstructure exists between T = 14 K and at least 370 K. Intercalated atoms enter the compound at octahedral and tetrahedral sites in alternating Van der Waals gaps. Intercalation is inhomogeneous, with average occupancies varying between 0.11 for octahedral sites within one Van der Waals gap and 0.23 for the tetrahedral sites within another Van der Waals gap. It is proposed that partial vacancy ordering is governed by the principle of maximum separation between intercalated atoms.


Polo is a popular sport in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and many other European countries. Polo is a vigorous sport involving players and horses moving at speed and can result in head injuries caused by falls. Helmets play a vital role in the safety and protection of polo players. This study investigates different hemispheric bumper shapes of the helmet to improve the impact resistance performance using finite element analysis (FEA) and Explicit Dynamic Analysis (EDA). The aerodynamic performance of the proposed helmet is investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to account for drag impact on the polo player's speed. These are investigated for impact resistance and the drag coefficient under different speeds. The EDA results show that the new proposed bumper will absorb the impact and reduce the energy transferred to the inside foam at a relative impact speed of 6.2 m/s, as recommended by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), with a maximum total deformation of 4.42 mm compared to 4.19 mm and 3.85 mm for impact speeds of 5.9 m/s by the European standard PAS 015:2011 helmets for equestrian use and 5.42 m/s BS EN 1078 helmets for bicyclists' use, respectively. Additionally, under speeds ranging from 15 km/h to 65 km/h, the new helmet demonstrated a drag coefficient of 0.454, similar to that of the national team helmet, at 0.423.


The results of a study of markers of infection/immunity by hepatitis B virus in a community of the health area in "Cristobal Labra" polyclinics, City of Habana in 1995. The studied healthy adult population was not included in any vaccination strategy with hepatitis B vaccine. Two markers were studied: Hepatitis B surface antigen and its corresponding antibody (anti-HBs). HBsAg-positivity was 1.05% and anti-HBs positivity was 13.39%. Of anti-HBs-positive cases, 13.39% had titers from 10-50 UI/L and the rest (43.68%) had titers over 50 UI/L.


Cicero's Topica is a kind of compendium of arguments that functioned in ancient philosophy and rhetoric and were destined for jurists. The present book analyzes one of the patterns of argumentation described by Cicero, an argument drawn from the similarity of cases (argumentum a simili). Although this pattern was so important for the Roman legal discourse, it has hardly been discussed in modern scholarly literature so far, as it extends beyond formal logic. The study by Agnieszka Kacprzak is clearly interdisciplinary, drawing from the Roman law, theory of rethoric, philosophy, and history of logic. Therefore, its should be of interest not only for specialists in the Roman law but also for those who study antiquity in its various aspects.


We present a rare case of primary synovial chondromatosis of the elbow joint as well as a review of the literature and discuss the clinical, imaging, histological findings and clinical outcome of this condition. It is a benign condition characterized by nodular proliferation and metaplasia of the synovium. Histology findings however suggest that the condition is not solely a metaplasia as the cartilage is often very cellular and could be interpreted as a neoplastic process. This may explain in rare cases the incidence of recurrences and malignant transformation of this condition. Awareness of the atypical histology is paramount and therefore referral to a tertiary oncology centre is mandatory. An experienced pathologist is crucial for the correct diagnosis, prognosis and management of this condition.


This paper proposes a speech encryption scheme based on a generalized modified chaotic tent map and bit permutation and presents its hardware realization. The generalization scales the output range and increases the key space. The modification controls the bounds on the output range through a parameter such that chaotic output exists for almost all values of the parameter. The security and efficiency of the speech encryption scheme are validated through the randomness of the encrypted signal, the key sensitivity and the hardware resources utilization. The proposed scheme utilizes less FPGA resources compared to previous works and increases the throughput from 1.49 Gbit/sec to 4.35 Gbit/sec.


We have performed immunohistochemical staining of lymphocyte subpopulations (CD16+, CD56+, CD20+, CD138+), and HLA-DR antigen (II class) using monoclonal antibodies by "Novocastra" (United Kingdom). The cell were counted in uterine scrapings of patients with verified chronic endometritis (CE). The samples were taken before and after treatment. The endometritis treatment was carried out according to standard procedures. In a group of patients, rehabilitation treatment was made by means of CAPELM-01 "Andro-Gin", whereas another group was treated by of hormone replacement therapy and combined physiotherapy with CAP-ELM-01 "Andro-Gin". There was a significant reduction of cytotoxic lymphocytes after treatment applied.


Using the chronicles of three friends, this chapter presents a counterstory that sets the stage for the examination of racism in teacher education, within the United States of America, using critical race theory (CRT) as an analytical tool. The setting of these chronicles is during a time when postracial rhetoric in the United States was at its highest—just after the 2008 election of President Barack Obama. The three friends take the readers on a journey through their graduate experience in teacher education and into their first faculty position in teacher education. Their experiences, as students and junior faculty, are akin to what many faculty and students of color and their White allies experience daily in teacher education programs across the United States. The analysis of their chronicle, using CRT, reveals that postracial discourse has disguised racism and racial microaggression in teacher education. Racial microaggres-sion is as pernicious as other forms of racism and, through its passive-aggressive orientation, validates institutional and individual lack of attention to issues of race.


Herbal medicine despite its increase usage globally is being plagued by inadequate research on their effectiveness. Stachytarpheta indica commonly known as snakeweed is used locally in the management of asthma, headache, alopecia, bronchitis, bruise, chest cold, constipation, itch, diarrhea, skin sore, vermifuge, dysentery, dysmenorrhea among others. This study investigated the phytochemical composition, quantitative proximate parameters and in vitro anti-inflammatory activity of the leaves of S. indica using established methods. Results confirmed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, carbohydrate, cardiac glycosides, terpenoid, tannin, anthraquinones, phenolics and flavonoid. Moisture content (9.16 ± 0.04%), total ash (19.42 ± 0.15%), water insoluble ash (7.17 ± 0.22%), acid insoluble ash (3.63 ± 0.26%), alcohol soluble extractive (0.99 ± 0.06%) and water-soluble extractive (0.36 ± 0.02%) values were obtained from the quantitative proximate analysis. An infusion of the methanol leaf extract of Stachytarpheta indica demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory activity in a dose dependent manner comparable to that of indomethacin standard.


The Kent Model Transformation Language is the third generation of
model transformation approaches developed at the University of Kent. In this
paper we show a grammar for the language and illustrate its differences to the
predecessors. The major difference of the latest approach is the inclusion of a
Model Driven Development Environment for manipulating models and
transformers as first class entities.


Nanoenergetic materials are beginning to play an important role in part because they are being considered as energetic components for materials, chemical, and biochemical communities (e.g., microthermal sources, microactuators, in situ welding and soldering, local enhancement of chemical reactions, nanosterilization, and controlled cell apoptosis) and because their fabrication/synthesis raises fundamental challenges that are pushing the engineering and scientific frontiers. One such challenge is the development of processes to control and enhance the reactivity of materials such as energetics of nanolaminates, and the understanding of associated mechanisms. We present here a new method to substantially decrease the reaction onset temperature and in consequence the reactivity of nanolaminates based on the incorporation of a Cu nanolayer at the interfaces of Al/CuO nanolaminates. We further demonstrate that control of its thickness allows accurate tuning of both the thermal transport and energetic properties of the system. Using high resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry to analyze the physical, chemical and thermal characteristics of the resulting Al/CuO + interfacial Cu nanolaminates, we find that the incorporation of 5 nm Cu at both Al/CuO and CuO/Al interfaces lowers the onset temperature from 550 to 475 °C because of the lower-temperature formation of Al-Cu intermetallic phases and alloying. Cu intermixing is different in the CuO/Cu/Al and Al/Cu/CuO interfaces and independent of total Cu thickness: Cu readily penetrates into Al grains upon annealing to 300 °C, leading to Al/Cu phase transformations, while Al does not penetrate into Cu. Importantly, θ-Al2Cu nanocrystals are created below 63% wt Cu/Al, and coexist with the Al solid solution phase. These well-defined θ-Al2Cu nanocrystals seem to act as embedded Al+CuO energetic reaction triggers that lower the onset temperature. We show that ∼10 nm thick Cu at Al/CuO interfaces constitutes the optimum amount to increase both reactivity and overall heat of reaction by a factor of ∼20%. Above this amount, there is a rapid decrease of the heat of reaction.


A perturbation-based approach is implemented to study the sound attenuation in distorted cylindrical mufflers with various inlet/outlet orientations. Study of the transmission loss (TL) in mufflers requires solution of the Helmholtz equation. Exact solutions are available only for a limited class of problems where the method of separation of variables can be applied across the cross section of the muffler (e.g., circular, rectangular, elliptic sections). In many practical situations, departures from the regular geometry occur. The present work is aimed at formulating a general procedure for determining the TL in mufflers with small perturbations on the boundary. Distortions in the geometry have been approximated by Fourier series expansion, thereby, allowing for asymmetric perturbations. Using the method of strained parameters, eigensolutions for a distorted muffler are expressed as a series summation of eigensolutions of the unperturbed cylinder having similar dimensions. The resulting eigenvectors, being orthogonal up to the order of truncation, are used to define a Green's function for the Helmholtz equation in the perturbed domain. Assuming that inlet and outlet ports of the muffler are uniform-velocity piston sources, the Green's function is implemented to obtain the velocity potential inside the muffler cavity. The pressure field inside the muffler is obtained from the velocity potential by using conservation of linear momentum. Transmission loss in the muffler is derived from the averaged pressure field. In order to illustrate the method, TL of an elliptical muffler with different inlet/outlet orientations is considered. Comparisons between the perturbation results and the exact solutions show excellent agreement for moderate (0.4∼0.6) eccentricities.


This paper presents a review of filtering methods to eliminate echo in antenna measurements. Two different methods, fast Fourier transform and Matrix Pencil, are explained, compared, and simulated in a planar near field where other effects, such as aliasing, can and will be present if the simulation is not appropriately made and the parameters are not carefully chosen. Finally both methods are applied to real measurements of a dipole in a Microwave Vision Group multiprobe system and of a horn in a single-cut measurement. Other effects, such as window shift, may appear depending on the geometry of the system where the measurement is taken. These effects must be taken into consideration and carefully corrected.


This study aims to examine the effect of authenticity and walkability on revisit intention mediated by tourist satisfaction. These four variables are measured using a number of statements on a Likert scale which are confirmed to have completed the validity and reliability tests. Data were collected using a questionnaire which was distributed to 271 respondents based on convenience sampling. Furthermore, the data were obtained and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and the Sobel test as a basis for hypothesis testing. The results of the hypothesis test explain the rejection of the null hypothesis, which means that there is support for empirical data on the proposed research hypothesis. This illustrates that authenticity and walkability directly affect tourist satisfaction positively and significantly. Meanwhile, revisit intention is influenced positively and significantly both directly by authenticity and walkability and indirectly through tourist satisfaction. Thus, all attributes of authenticity and walkability have a very important role in fulfilling tourists' expectations when appreciating historical buildings in a heritage tourism area. The authenticity attributes of historical buildings that need the attention of relevant stakeholders are historical value, authenticity, originality, and maintenance. Some of the critical elements of walkability that also need to be maintained such as security, comfort, accessibility, connections with other destinations, and pedestrian friendliness for pedestrians.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception and utilization of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) for diabetic patients in Busan. The subjects were 227 patients at two general hospitals (over 400 bed). This study was performed through the interviewing process using questionnaires conducted from January to April, 2010. Of a total of subjects, 109 patients (48.0%) had taken CAM at least one time. The patients used CAM recognized that they were ``auxiliary medicines`` (39.4%), ``supplementary health foods`` (32.1%) and ``medicines`` (19.3%), but inexperienced patients perceived them as ``supplementary health foods`` (29.6%), ``unscientific treatment`` (22.6%) and ``medicines`` (20.2%), It was significantly different between two groups of patients (p < 0.001). The number of CAM types used for the patients was 51. The CAM types were plant foods (64.3%), dietary supplement (23.6%) and animal diets (12.1%). The patients used an average of 5.9 different kinds of CAM and an average of 3.8 years them and paid \93,345 per month. The patients with diabetic complications and for longer morbidity periods used CAM for significantly (p < 0.05) longer periods. The mean effectiveness scores of the patients used CAM were 3.31/5.00 for efficacy satisfaction, 3.58/5.00 for fewer side effects compared to those of oral drugs, 3.60/5.00 for psychological stability, 3.81/5.00 for easiness to use, and 3.06/5.00 for economic satisfaction. Of the patients that used CAM, 55.9% did not consult with doctors about CAM. More than two-thirds of the patients (77.1%) did not feel the need to consult with doctors. (Korean J Community Nutr 16(4) : 488~496, 2011)


Of all suspicious pigmented skin lesions considered for analysis, a large portion is often benign. The pressure of pathology services and secondary care must be reduced throughout the patient trials using modern techniques for improving the melanoma diagnosis accuracy. Dermoscopic images obtained from digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, smartphones and a lightweight USB camera are compared using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm for determining the accuracy of melanoma identification. Datasets are obtained from thousand test samples undergoing plastic surgery. The diagnostic trial is masked, single arm and multicentered. The controlled and suspicious skin lesions as well as the suspicious pigmented skin lesion are captured on the aforementioned cameras while scheduling for biopsy. The possibility of melanoma is assessed using deep learning (DL) techniques on the pigmented skin lesions seen in the dermascopic images for identifying melanoma. For this purpose, we train a deterministic AI algorithm based on malignancy recognition by deep ensemble and inputs from clinicians. The histopathology diagnosis is used as a standard criterion for determining the specialist assessment, algorithmic specificity, sensitivity and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC).


Using primary sources with students has untapped potential for expanding and deepening the reading experiences of elementary and middle grade students. Primary sources expands teachers' palette of reading materials, allows students to connect more closely to topics for learning, and deepens their understanding of the past. This article argues for the inclusion of more primary sources as a way to expand students' world knowledge and develop their critical thinking skills. In addition, using primary sources is one way to support teachers in meeting the new common core state standards. Benefits of using primary sources and how to analyze primary documents are highlighted. Ideas for primary source collections and working with students are shared.


To better understand structural requirements for a mu ligand of the trans-3,4-dimethyl-4-(3-hydroxyphenyl)piperidine class to interact with the mu opioid receptor, we have described in the previous article (Le Bourdonnec, B. et al. J. Med. Chem. 2006, 25, 7278-7289) new, constrained analogues of the N-phenethyl derivative 3. One of the active constrained analogues, compound 4, exhibited subnanomolar mu-opioid receptor affinity (K(i) = 0.62 nM) and potent mu-opioid antagonist activity (IC(50) = 0.54 nM). On the basis of structure 4, a new series of mu-opioid receptor antagonists were designed. In these compounds the octahydroquinolizine template of 4 was replaced by an octahydro-1H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrazine scaffold. The new derivatives were tested for their binding affinities and in vitro functional activity against the cloned human mu-, delta-, and kappa-opioid receptors. From this study, we identified compound 36, which displays high affinity toward the mu-opioid receptor (K(i) = 0.47 nM), potent mu in vitro antagonist activity (IC(50) = 1.8 nM) and improved binding selectivity profile mu/kappa and mu/delta, when compared to 4.


The complexity of gynaecologic surgery has increased in recent years, while the duration of residency training has remained fixed with reduced work hours compared with our predecessors. Residents may not be graduating with the advanced surgical skill set required for complex cases, which are now considered standard of care. The ever-changing advancements in the field of gynaecologic surgery warrant the development of training programmes for practicing surgeons to incorporate recent advances and best practices. This can be accomplished through mentorship in training residents as well as the continuing professional development of safe gynaecologic surgeons. This review outlines the process of mentorship to enhance surgical skills, and objective feedback tools for surgeons seeking to improve performance. Mentorship programmes can help surgeons incorporate new technologies in a structured environment, which seeks to decrease the risk of complications for our patients.


The simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of corn and different varieties of grain sorghum (i.e. high digestible and low digestible) were carried out using commercially available alpha amylase and glucoamylase enzymes and Saccharomyces cerevisiea yeast. The hydrolysis and fermentation conditions, such as enzyme, yeast and substrate concentrations, pH and temperature in all the runs were similar so that the ethanol yield will just be dependent on the starch digestibility. Among the three substrates, the highest ethanol concentration was obtained from the highly digestible sorghum. The study revealed that the high yielding sorghum cultivars with modified endosperm matrices can be used as an alternative for corn and can be optimized as a substrate for low energy input ethanol production. Since the food consumption demand for sorghum is lower compared to corn, the new variety of highly digestible grain sorghum has a great potential for ethanol fermentation, especially in semi-arid region. Savings in energy and time in this process could be accomplished via saccharification at lower temperature (32oC) concurrent with the fermentation process. The fermentation system needs to be optimized to ensure that there is no shortage of reducing sugars during the entire fermentation process.


Component models for IoT devices regain popularity. As more and more devices must be semantically connected within IoT platforms, digital abstractions for these devices are needed. For this purpose, textual device descriptions which encapsulate device-specific characteristics are a suitable candidate. Such component descriptions formally describe a device's information model as well as the offered functionality in a standardized way. However, smart IoT platforms mainly solve user goals by composing various IoT devices in a suitable manner. Current IoT descriptions, such as Eclipse Vorto do not address this need at all. In this paper, we introduce a formal mapping language that allows to capture functional interaction semantics already during device integration time. Our evaluation shows that only few mapping elements are needed to define functional mappings between operations as well as to capture the underlying communication pattern.


Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate sexual dimorphism in nasal proportions of Class I and Class II skeletal malocclusions in adults. Materials And Methods: The sample comprised 120 patients (females 18 years and above and males 21 years and above), with no history of previous orthodontic treatment or functional jaw orthopedic treatment. They were divided into different groups based on point A-Nasion-point B (ANB) angle and gender. Groups I and II included 30 males and 30 females with skeletal class I malocclusion (ANB 0–4 degrees). Groups III and IV included 30 males and 30 females with skeletal class II malocclusion, respectively (ANB above 4 degrees). Results: In regards to the comparison between males and females (Class I + Class II), nasal length (P < 0.001), nasal depth 1 (P < 0.001), nasal depth 2 (P < 0.001), nasobasal angle (P < 0.001), soft tissue convexity angle (P < 0.001), and nasal bone length (P < 0.008) were found to be statistically significant. Nasobasal angle was found to be significantly higher in females than in males (Class I) (P < 0.001). Nasolabial angle was prominent in class I males than in class I females (P < 0.001). Soft tissue convexity angle of Class I participants was significantly lower than that of Class II participants (P < 0.001), whereas nasobasal angle and nasomental angle of Class I participants were found to be significantly higher than that of Class II participants (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Sexual dimorphism was found in various nasal parameters. Significant amount of differences was found in the nasal proportions of Class I and Class II (male and female) participants.


The effects of topography on the linear stability of both barotropic vortices and two-layer, baroclinic vortices are examined by considering cylindrical topography and vortices with stepwise relative vorticity profiles in the quasigeostrophic approximation. Four vortex configurations are considered, classified by the number of relative vorticity steps in the horizontal and the number of layers in the vertical: barotropic one-step vortex (Rankine vortex), barotropic two-step vortex, and their two-layer, baroclinic counterparts with the vorticity steps in the upper layer. In the barotropic calculation, the vortex is destabilized by topography having an oppositely signed potential vorticity jump while stabilized by topography of same-signed jump, that is, anticyclones are destabilized by seamounts while stabilized by depressions. Further, topography of appropriate sign and magnitude can excite a mode-1 instability for a two-step vortex, especially relevant for topographic encounters of an otherwise stable vortex. The baroclinic calculation is in general consistent with the barotropic calculation except that the growth rate weakens and, for a two-step vortex, becomes less sensitive to topography (sign and magnitude) as baroclinicity increases. The smaller growth rate for a baroclinic vortex is consistent with previous findings that vortices with sufficient baroclinic structure could cross the topography relatively easily. Nonlinear contour dynamics simulations are conducted to confirm the linear stability analysis and to describe the subsequent evolution.


A bearing is an important component in contemporary machinery and equipment, whose main function is to support the mechanical rotator, reduce the friction coefficient during its movement, and guarantee the turning accuracy. However, assembly of a nanoscale bearing and sleeve is a challenging process for micro-nano mechanical manufacturers. Hence, we show the cold-welding mechanism of a copper nanobearing-nanosleeve via molecular dynamic simulations. We demonstrate that it is feasible to assemble a bearing and sleeve at the nanoscale to form a stable mechanism. The effect of temperature in the range of 150 to 750 K is investigated. As the temperature rises, the mechanical strength and the weld stress of the welded structures markedly decrease, accompanied by the observation of increasing disorder magnitude. This comparison study is believed to facilitate future mechanical processing and structural nano-assembly of metallic elements for better mechanical performance.


We present an approach to designing capacity-approaching high-girth low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes that are friendly to hardware implementation, and compatible with some desired input code structure defined using a protograph. The approach is based on a mapping of any class of codes defined using a protograph into a family of hierarchical quasi-cyclic (HQC) LDPC codes. Whereas the parity check matrices of standard quasi-cyclic (QC) LDPC codes are composed of circulant submatrices, those of HQC LDPC codes are composed of a hierarchy of circulant submatrices that are, in turn, constructed from circulant submatrices, and so on, through some number of levels. Next, we present a girth-maximizing algorithm that optimizes the degrees of freedom within the family of codes to yield a high-girth HQC LDPC code, subject to bounds imposed by the fact that HQC codes are still quasi-cyclic. Finally, we discuss how certain characteristics of a code protograph will lead to inevitable short cycles and show that these short cycles can be eliminated using a "squashing" procedure that results in a high-girth QC LDPC code, although not a hierarchical one. We illustrate our approach with three design examples of QC LDPC codes-two girth-10 codes of rates 1/3 and 0.45 and one girth-8 code of rate 0.7-all of which are obtained from protographs of one-sided spatially coupled codes.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Activating KRAS mutations are the most frequent genetic abnormality in over 90% of pancreatic cancers. Evidence indicates that these mutations not only play a crucial role in initiating pancreas carcinogenesis, but also are required for pancreatic tumor maintenance. From a clinical perspective, oncogenic KRAS represents a therapeutically relevant target in pancreatic cancer, of which the proof-of-concept was demonstrated by the effectiveness of siRNA-mediated silencing of KRAS to suppress pancreatic tumor growth in vivo. Nonetheless, attempts to develop small-molecule agents to inhibit oncogenic KRAS activity have proven futile to date. Consequently, recent strategies have focused on targeting downstream effectors of KRAS signaling, including Raf, MEK, and PI3K kinase, each of which, however, shows limited clinical benefit as single agent. In this study, we have identified a novel KRAS-E2F1-ILK-hnRNP A1 regulatory circuitry that governs the expression of oncogenic KRAS. Integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is a serine/threonine kinase that mediates a diversity of cellular functions including cell survival, cell-matrix interactions, angiogenesis and also plays a role in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cancer cells. Dysregulation of ILK expression has been observed in several tumors including breast, ovary, melanoma, lung, prostate and pancreas and reported to be correlated with tumor progression, metastasis and chemoresistance to gemcitabine in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells, but the mechanisms by which ILK is required for the tumorogenesis in pancreatic cancer are yet to be understood. In this circuitry, KRAS induces ILK expression via an E2F1-dependent mechanism, which, in turn, stimulates KRAS expression through hnRNP A1 upregulation. Mechanistically, hnRNP A1 binds and relaxes the G-quadruplex structure at the KRAS promoter, thereby enhancing the transcription initiation of the KRAS gene. As a result, disruption of this circuitry via siRNA-mediated knockdown of any of these intermediary effectors (E2F1, ILK, or hnRNP A1), or pharmacological inhibition of ILK by T315, a novel ILK inhibitor developed in our laboratory, led to suppression of KRAS expression and reversal of the mesenchymal phenotype of pancreatic cancer cells. The therapeutic relevance of ILK in regulating this regulatory circuitry is also evident in the suppressive effect of ILK knockdown on epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced KRAS expression. Together, these findings provide a rationale for targeting ILK as a novel strategy to suppress oncogenic KRAS signaling.

Citation Format: Po-Chen Chu, Ming-Chen Yang, Samuel K. Kulp, Ching-Shih Chen. Targeting a novel kras-integrin-linked kinase regulatory circuitry in pancreatic cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4455. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4455


Purpose:  To compare diagnostic accuracy of Bruch's membrane opening minimum rim width (BMO-MRW) and Retinal Nerve Fibre Layer (RNFL) in detection of glaucoma taking cup to disc ratio as gold standard.
Study Design:  Descriptive observational.
Place and Duration of Study:  Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi from September 2017 to February 2018.
Methods:  Total 344 participants including healthy and glaucoma suspect (according to the cup disc ratio or high intra ocular pressure more than 21 mmHg) were included. They were evaluated to compare diagnostic accuracy of MRW and RNFL taking cup to disc ratio as gold standard. Spectral domain OCT was performed. Sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of MRW and RNFL were calculated keeping cup-disc finding as gold standard.
Results:  Mean Cup to Disk Ratio was 0.54 ± 0.10. Total 97.4% cases were diagnosed to have Glaucoma by Cup to Disk Ratio, 84.3% cases were diagnosed with Glaucoma by RNFL and 94.8% cases by MRW. By RNFL, 288 patients were true positive and 7 patients were true negative. Sensitivity, Specificity, and accuracy were 86.0%, 77.8%, and 85.7% respectively. The results showed that by MRW, 324 patients were true positive, and 7 patients were true negative. Sensitivity, Specificity, and accuracy were 96.7%, 77.8%, and 96.2% respectively.
Conclusion:  The sensitivity of RNFL for diagnosis of glaucoma is higher than MRW. While the specificity of both RNFL and MRW was similar.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ileal interposition (IT) on glucose and insulin resistance (IR) in type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM), and the role of T-cell factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2), formerly known as TCF4, in the downregulation of hyperglycemia following IT. Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats subjected to IT surgery (GK-IT group), GK rats subjected to sham surgery (GK-Sham group) and Wistar (WS) rats subjected to sham surgery (WS-Sham group) were investigated in this study. Fasting plasma glucose, body weight, food intake per 1 kg body weight, insulin and a homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were measured pre- and post-surgery. The rats were euthanized 28 days post-surgery and the pancreas of each rat was dissected. The expression levels of TCF7L2 mRNA and protein were analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR and western blotting, respectively. Our results revealed that IT improved both fasting plasma glucose levels and IR in GK rats by upregulating the expression of the TCF7L2 protein. IT provides a valuable therapeutic option for patients with T2DM. Upregulation of TCF7L2 protein expression may be a possible mechanism underlying the improvement of T2DM following IT.


The clinical significance of decidual changes and inflammation in Fallopian tubes of women undergoing sterilization shortly after the delivery was assessed microscopically in 133 resected specimens. Thirteen excision specimens obtained from non pregnant patients served as controls. Foci of ectopic decidua in the mucosa were found in 14.3% of cases in the first group, whereas none was noted in the control group. An inflammatory reaction consisting of edema, hyperemia, and lymphocytic, histiocytic and occasional granulocytic infiltration was noted in 67.6% of patients ligated after delivery. No significant inflammatory reaction was demonstrated in specimens of the control group. In the post partum group the clinical findings and the gross examination of the tubes at the time of operation did not suggest any inflammatory changes. The microscopic changes observed therefore do not warrant the diagnosis of a salpingitis and are to be considered as a physiological response during pregnancy.


Selected articles published in scientific journals in the discipline of Public Administration and Management in South Africa appear to have not escaped the influence of ideological thinking. The pre-apartheid writings reflected the dominant thinking of scholars of that era, which were less protest-driven bordering on encouraging the maintenance of the apartheid ideology. The post-apartheid writings reflect the emergence of a confrontational thinking. Voices of deconstruction of what constitute public administration emerged with a sense of vigour and purpose. This article argues that ideology influences the way authors and scholars think and write about various phenomena in the field of public administration. In recent times the ideologies such as romanticism, liberalism and radicalism as primary ideologies are found in the discourse in the discipline. Language, symbols and practical articulation through speeches by public administration scholars suggest a dominant way of thinking within a particular context and time.


Introduction:
Technology is applied regularly in mental health care. One way to do so, is the use of gamification; applying game design elements in non-gaming contexts. Autism is a developmental disorder that is fairly common and creates severe difficulties for patients. The current treatment for children with ASD is intensive, and some parts of this treatment can potentially be executed using gamification. The aim of this review is to create an overview of the existing interventions for children with autism using gaming or game-elements. Furthermore, the goal is to evaluate whether or not these games or game-elements could be effective in treating children with autism and to assess whether or not this could potentially be used as (part of) a treatment program for children with ASD.
Methods:
This review is a continuation of previous research conducted by other students from the University of Twente in 2013. They created a database containing 362 articles by collecting scientific information regarding the use of gamification in healthcare. The research that is now presented continues by collecting literature within this database. Inclusion criteria were keywords "Autism", "Asperger", "Children", "Adolescents" and "Young Adults". Furthermore, articles were excluded if they did not propose a game developed specifically for children with ASD, did not propose an intervention and/or did not present any (preliminary) results. This resulted in seven articles to be reviewed. The articles were compared based on game characteristics, intervention characteristics and the effectiveness of the intervention.
Results:
The reviewed interventions vary in both game characteristics and intervention characteristics. Most of them are designed for PC or tablet, and most are focused on training social skills. The effectivity is often unknown, but most interventions seem promising.
Conclusion:
The use of gamification for children with ASD seems promising, but there has to be more research concerning the effectiveness of the interventions to be able to assess the usability of the interventions as (part of) a treatment program for children with ASD.


The Terascale Optimal PDE Solvers (TOPS) Integrated Software Infrastructure Center (ISIC) was created to develop and implement algorithms and support scientific investigations performed by DOE-sponsored researchers. These simulations often involve the solution of partial differential equations (PDEs) on terascale computers. The TOPS Center researched, developed and deployed an integrated toolkit of open-source, optimal complexity solvers for the nonlinear partial differential equations that arise in many DOE application areas, including fusion, accelerator design, global climate change and reactive chemistry. The algorithms created as part of this project were also designed to reduce current computational bottlenecks by orders of magnitude on terascale computers, enabling scientific simulation on a scale heretofore impossible.


In this paper we present a new approach and a computer software for modeling single event upsets. This model, named Soft Error Monte Carlo Model (SEMM), does not need any experimental inputs or any parameter fitting. It is intended to be a design tool for chip designers when they want to optimize their designs for soft error hardness and performance. The paper focuses on terrestrial cosmic rays that cause single event upsets. Details of the nuclear modeling and of the coupled device-circuit modeling are presented. Also presented are the comparison of SEMM predictions against measurements of single event upset rate in proton beam experiments and in computer main frame field tests performed at high ground elevations. We also present some proton-pion comparisons that are relevant to single event upsets. >


Stimulus-responsive polymers have been used in improving the efficacy of medical diagnostics through different approaches including enhancing the contrast in imaging techniques and promoting the molecular recognition in diagnostic assays. This review overviews the mechanisms of stimulus-responsive polymers in response to external stimuli including temperature, pH, ion, light, etc. The applications of responsive polymers in magnetic resonance imaging, capture and purification of biomolecules through protein-ligand recognition and lab-on-a-chip technology are discussed.


The Jakarta Operational Region I of PT Kereta Api Indonesia is one of the most crowded in Indonesia. The level of accidents in the Operational Region Jakarta I involving trains still very fluctuate. This makes the community and the passengers of train services are threatened their safety and comfort which is detrimental to the PT Kereta Api Indonesia company. This study aims to find out the communication strategy used in the socialization program on the dangers of stone throwing and railroad crossing in the Jakarta Operation Region I. This is because PT Kereta Api Indonesia as a State-owned railway company engaged in the field of transportation services, train service passengers are long-term assets that need to be maintained properly. In this study, researchers uses a qualitative descriptive approach with interview as the data collection methods. Data analysis techniques used in this study is an interactive analysis model and the data triangulation techniques is used for data validity. The results of this study can be concluded that the public relations of Operational Region I Jakarta while conducting socialization runs four stages as communication strategy. They are Planning Stage includes information gathering about the area zones that are prone to the throwing stones and illegal railway crossing behavior that will become the location of the socialization and determine the subject of socialization; Organizing Stages include determining which community will be involved in the socialization, determining how the activity will be conducted and determining what media used in delivering messages in socialization activities; Implementation Stage is compiling informative and educative messages adapted to the target of socialization. Public Relation in this case conveys socialization messages on how danger is the throwing stones and illegal railway crossing behavior through banners, posters and directly using loudspeakers, information related to the Undang-Undang, giving safety pin and stickers and performing theatrical actions to attract the attention of the socialization target; and the Controlling and Evaluating Stage, knowing the motives behind the throwing rocks perpetrators and illegal railway crossing behavior. Public Relation then giving instructions to the Railway Crossing Officers (Petugas Jaga Lintas) to constantly monitor and remind people around the area not to throw stones and illegally crossing the railway. Public relation also held evaluation meetings and media monitoring to evaluate the results of socialization activities that have been implemented to find out what are still lack on the implementation of socialization.


The paper discusses the role of belief in the students' ideology, the conditions and the mechanisms of pedagogic-psychological impacts promoting knowledge transfer into personal beliefs of future specialists.


There are few studies reporting diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) caused by hypertensive emergency. We describe a 41-year-old man who visited the emergency room with hemoptysis and dyspnea. He had a 5-year history of hypertension, though he had not received any treatment. His blood pressure was 233/159 mmHg, his percutaneous oxygen saturation level was 88% on room air, and he had a serum creatinine level of 11.7 mg/dL. Laboratory data showed microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and severe kidney damage, suggesting thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA). Chest computed tomography and bronchoalveolar lavage revealed pulmonary alveolar hemorrhage. In addition to steroid treatment and plasma exchange, antihypertensive therapy was started immediately. On day 3, activity of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin type 1 motif, member 13 (ADAMTS13) activity was not significantly reduced, and clinical markers for vasculitis and connective tissue disease were negative. Therefore, steroid administration and plasma exchange were discontinued. Although antihypertensive therapy centering on angiotensin II receptor blocker was effective for DAH and TMA, renal function did not recover, and maintenance hemodialysis was required. Renal pathological findings were consistent with malignant nephrosclerosis, and features suggestive of vasculitis were not found. The pathophysiology in this case was considered to be mainly hypertension and vascular endothelial injury with renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) activation. The use of RAAS inhibitor was effective in converging DAH and TMA, and it was expected to repair vascular endothelial damage associated with appropriate antihypertensive intervention. The authors present this rare condition with a review of previous reports.


strictions on the formula are carefully discussed. Other chapters are devoted to Federal prohibition of commerce for the protection of destination states, Federal regulation of commerce for the protection of sending states, and Federal adoption of state laws relating to commerce. Each is explored with careful detail. The major concluding suggestion is that the Court is slowly moving over to a position in which, with some limitations, it will permit Congress to determine the general scope of Federal or state action over commerce, rather than relying solely on judicial construction of the clause. Apparently the writer thinks this is a good idea, although his judgments are almost as guarded as the judicial decisions he has been reviewing. On the whole, the book is a substantial addition to the literature of constitutional commentary. The reviewer's only major complaint is that the political science in the book is submerged in a welter of court


BACKGROUND/PURPOSE
In a number of species, fetal wound healing differs from the adult in the absence of inflammation, fibrosis, scar formation, and excisional wound contraction. The lack of inflammation also may explain the relative absence of any cytokine levels at the wound site, such as transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta, and therefore the unique characteristics of fetal wound healing. The authors hypothesized that exogenous TGF-beta1 would induce contraction, inflammation, fibrosis, and scar formation in cutaneous excisional wounds in the fetal rabbit.

METHODS
Cellulose discs (3 mm in diameter) were formulated with either 1.0 microg TGF-beta1 (n = 6) or bovine serum albumin (BSA; n = 7), as a control, for sustained-release over 3 days. Each disc was implanted into the subcutaneous tissue on the backs of fetal New Zealand White Rabbits in utero on day 24 of gestation (term, 31 days). A full-thickness, 3-mm excisional wound (7.4 mm2) was then made next to the implanted cellulose disc. All wounds were harvested 3 days later.

RESULTS
At harvest, the excisional wounds in the TGF-beta1 group had contracted (5.6 +/- 2.0 mm2), whereas those in the control group had expanded (13.5 +/- 1.2 mm2, P< .01). The surrounding dermis in the TGF-beta1 group had 16.3 inflammatory cells per grid block compared with 12.4 cells in the control group (not significant). In addition, a greater amount of fibrosis was induced by the TGF-beta1 implant (1.7 +/- 0.3) than the control implant (0.4 +/- 0.2) on a scale of 0 to 3, P < .01. In situ hybridization analysis showed an increase in procollagen type 1alpha1 gene expression in the surrounding dermis of the TGF-beta1 group (36.7 +/- 3.6 grains per grid block) compared with the control group (7.1 +/- 0.9 grains per grid block, P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
These results demonstrate that the cytokine TGF-beta1 can induce fetal excisional wounds to contract, stimulate fibrosis, and increase procollagen type 1alpha1 gene expression. These findings further suggest that the absence of TGF-beta1 atthe wound site may be responsible in part for the lack of a postnatal healing response.


Six new species of Coleoxestia Aurivillius, 1912 (Cerambycidae, Cerambycinae, Cerambycini) are described: C. clarkei from Bolivia; C. chemsaki and C. eyai from Peru; C. fragosoi and C. rafaeli from Brazil; and C. hovorei from Ecuador. Coleoxestia rachelae Eya and Chemsak is also newly recorded from Peru (new country record). Dorsal, ventral and lateral illustrations along with illustrations of various other structures are provided for each of the new species. In some cases, existing key couplets by Eya and Chemsak (2005) or Martins and Monne (2005) are modifi ed to help separate a new species from similar existing species. A reproduction of the general descriptive terminology for the head, prothorax and antennomeres of Coleoxestia, from Fragoso (1993), is also included in the illustrations.


The parasitic mite Acarophenax lacunatus kills the eggs upon which it feeds and seems to have potential as a biological control agent of stored grain pests. The lack of biological studies on this mite species led to the present study carried out in laboratory conditions at eight different temperatures (ranging from 20 to 41°C) and 60% relative humidity using Rhyzopertha dominica as host. The higher the temperature, the faster: (1) the attachment of female mites to the host egg (varying from 1 to 5 h); (2) the increase in body size of physogastric females (about twice faster at 40°C than at 20°C); and (3) the generation time (ranging from 40 to 220 h). In addition, the higher the temperature, the shorter the maximum female longevity (ranging from about 75 to 300 h). The two estimated temperature thresholds for development of A. lacunatus on R. dominica were 18 and 40°C. The average number of female and male offspring per gravid mite were 12.8 and 1.0, respectively, with sex ratios (females/total) ranging from 0.91 to 0.94 (maximum at 30°C). The net reproductive rate and intrinsic rate of increase also presented maximum values at 30°C (12.1 and 0.04, respectively).


Objective To describe the effective treatment of a ruptured lateral sacral artery aneurysm presenting as a spinal epidural hematoma. Design Case report and literature review. Setting University teaching hospital, neurovascular center. Participant A man with a history of renal allograft who presented with sudden onset low back pain. Intervention The patient underwent emergent decompressive surgery, diagnostic angiogram and endovascular embolization. Main outcome measure Obliteration of aneurysm and restoration of neurological function. Results Surgery resulted in decompression of the cauda equina. The patient's aneurysm was endovascularly obliterated. There was complete restoration of neurological function. Conclusion Lateral sacral artery aneurysm formation and rupture is a rare cause of epidural hemorrhage and one described only in patients who have undergone renal transplantation. It may be caused by high flow from transpelvic collaterals between both internal iliac arteries. Treatment includes endovascular obliteration and may necessitate operative decompression in the setting of neurological compromise.


The abundance and richness of Internet photos of landmarks and cities has led to significant progress in 3D vision over the past two decades, including automated 3D reconstructions of the world's landmarks from tourist photos. However, a major source of information available for these 3D-augmented collections—namely language, e.g., from image captions—has been virtually untapped. In this work, we present WikiScenes, a new, large-scale dataset of landmark photo collections that contains descriptive text in the form of captions and hierarchical category names. WikiScenes forms a new testbed for multimodal reasoning involving images, text, and 3D geometry. We demonstrate the utility of WikiScenes for learning semantic concepts over images and 3D models. Our weakly-supervised framework connects images, 3D structure, and semantics—utilizing the strong constraints provided by 3D geometry—to associate semantic concepts to image pixels and 3D points.1


Detailed measurements of the total ionization cross-sections for Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe by positron impact are presented in the energy range from threshold up to ~1 keV. From these and other available data, the cross-sections for positronium formation are extracted. Comparison is made with other results where available. Structure in the positronium formation cross-section has been found which appears to be associated with positronium formation in excited states. Upper and lower limits on the contribution from these are estimated.


Bond Team are back and preparing to battle for the prestigious Sherlock Shield. Victory means a place in the Deveraux College Hall of Fame. But to win, they'll have to beat their arch-rivals - and Solo Team are prepared to do anything to stop that happening. Bond Team will have to watch their backs, and myabe everywhere else too, because in the world outside Spy High, a terrorist organisation is about to send its first explosive announcement: Chaos is coming! The Spy High series continues with: 3. The SERPENT SCENARIO (Jul '03), 4. THE PARANOIA PLOT (Sep '03), 5. THE SOUL STEALERS (Nov '03), 6. THE ANNIHILATION AGENDA (Jan '04)


Madrasah as one of educational institutions under Ministry of Religious Affairs in Indonesia has been rapidly enhanced to construct civilized generations that can contribute to the Muslim transmission. One of which is through the concern on developing student's academic tenacity in some learning subjects of astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology in madrasah. Regarding to this growth, this article is intended to elaborate the inspiring students' profiles at secondary madrasah of Insan Cendekia Serpong (ICS) for their grit, independence and perseverance in education that they excel astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology. By interviewing the students, teachers, parents and peers, and documenting the management of institution, this research elucidates that the socio-cultural factors and the students' beliefs in nature can optimize the students' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for the advancement of their academic tenacity in natural science subjects. Accordingly, the exemplary students of madrasah can be the agent of change maintaining tradition of being knowledge pioneer that instill a self-concept of being a scientific and religious scholar. Madrasah is also an appropriate institution to integrate and deepen student's spirituality and modern knowledge.


The Philippine's coffee production has now shifted to Mindanao, which accounts for 70% of the annual production. However, several gaps in its supply chain management are needed to be addressed. This study assesses the supply chain management practices of the coffee industry in selected areas of Misamis Oriental and identifies areas for improvement. It focuses on the following objectives: first, to map out the flow of the product; second, to analyze and assess the current state of the supply chain management performance of coffee; and lastly, to identify areas for improvement in the supply chain such as behavioral, institutional, and processes. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study. It uses simple random sampling method in selecting the respondents. Descriptive statistics is used in the analysis of data and chain performance analysis. Results indicate that the absence of market information and inconsistency of performance responsiveness in terms of price, volume, and quality of the products greatly affects the efficiency of the coffee industry's supply chain. The flow of price, supply, and technical information are more inefficient at the farmers' level than the traders. The overall performance of the coffee industry in the study needs further improvement in terms of efficiency (cost minimization), flexibility (customer satisfaction), responsiveness, and product quality.


The synthesis of ethers derived carbohydrates/polyols used as intermediates in multistep synthesis or large scale commodity products such as detergents is since a long time an issue of concern for organic chemists. The conventional Williamson reaction is the most used synthetic method to build an ether function from a free hydroxyl group. Very selective transformations that use this procedure have been achieved and progresses based on this reaction are always of actuality. Alternatively to the Williamson reaction, catalytic approaches aiming at opening salt free accesses to ethers have more recently emerged. This evolution is pushed by the growing interest dedicated to greener synthetic approaches that find a particular echo in the field of carbohydrates chemistry. This chapter sets up a panorama of the methods used to access ethers derived from the free hydroxyl groups of carbohydrates/polyols. This overview of course includes the stoichiometric Williamson reaction, largely and even, in some cases, routinely employed at the laboratory and industrial scales. A particular attention is given to the recent developments in protecting groups for multistep synthesis and the large scale production of alkylcelluloses. New approaches based on the use of homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysis have more recently emerged and now offer a new panel of reactions to build ether functions. Several examples of salt free acid or metal catalyzed reactions transformations are depicted, thus showing progresses that have been and remain to be done in this field.


The Salton Sea is an endorheic, 980-km2 salt lake in the Sonoran Desert of southern California. The historical fish community switched from freshwater to marine species as salinity increased due to evaporation and brackish water inflows. Three species, bairdiella (Bairdiella icistia), orangemouth corvina (Cynoscion xanthulus), and sargo (Anisotremus davidsoni), established from introductions beginning in 1929. Thirty-four marine fish species from the northern Gulf of California were introduced between 1929 and 1956. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, a hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus×O. urolepis hornorum) invaded the Salton Sea and became dominant by numbers and weight. Research has shown that nearshore and estuarine areas have the highest catch rates of tilapia (over 11 kg/50 m net/h). Orangemouth corvina, bairdiella, sargo, and the hybrid tilapia grew faster, but had shorter life spans than conspecifics elsewhere, and Salton Sea conspecifics of 50 years ago. All four species aggregated along the nearshore and estuarine areas in the summer for reproduction and relief from low oxygen conditions in the pelagic areas of the marine lake. Restoration alternatives for the Salton Sea must recognize the value of estuarine and nearshore areas as essential fish habitats for the Salton Sea fisheries ecosystem.


Egypt, with the widespread occurrence of Colloquial and Classical Arabic, is characterized by almost universal diglossia. In fact, AlToma (1971), Iskander (1972) and others recognize four distinct speech varieties which range in a continuum from the Classical Arabic of the Koran to the colloquial speech used by the man in the street. In addition to this diglossic mother tongue situation, nearly all children attending government schools in Egypt study English from grades 7—12. Some pupils attend private "language" schools where it is one of the official media of instruction. Moreover, university students in most specializations are required to write their graduate theses in English. Furthermore, many movies and television programs appear in English so that a large portion of the Egyptian populace has been exposed to English in some manner. The present study — the first of this kind to be conducted in Egypt — was designed to investigate the views held by Egyptians of various ages and educational backgrounds toward several of the speech varieties used in the Egyptian context (Classical Arabic, Colloquial Arabic, Egyptian English, British English and American English); and to ascertain the perceived suitability of these codes for diverse purposes within Egyptian society. We decided to use a variety of the matched-guise procedure in our study. This technique has been used in a wide variety of setttings to compare the reactions of judges who hear the same speaker reading a passage in contrasting languages (e.g., Lambert, Frankel, and Tucker, 1966; Tucker, 1968; Wölck, 1973); in contrasting dialects (Lambert, Anisfeld, and Yeni-Komshian, 1965); or in contrasting accents


Many theories have been proposed for the decision-making conducted by nurses across all practices and disciplines. These theories are fundamental to consider when reflecting on our decision-making processes to inform future practice. In this article three of these theories are juxtaposed with a case study of a patient presenting with an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). These theories are descriptive, normative and prescriptive, and will be used to analyse and interpret the process of decision-making within the context of patient assessment.


This study was performed to analyze 6 day-term variations in bacterial communities contaminating the floor of two dry saunas that were operated at 64℃ (low temp) and 76℃ (high temp). Bacteria were sampled daily from the saunas for 6 days from Monday to Saturday. Genomic DNA was isolated directly from bacteria-collected cotton swabs. The diversity of the bacterial communities collected from the saunas was analyzed using thermal gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE). The total numbers of DNA bands separated by TGGE for bacteria collected from the low temp and high temp sauna were 20 and 18, respectively, during the 6 days. Seven of 20 bacteria in the low temp sauna and eight of 18 bacteria in the high temp sauna were detected more than three times over the 6 experimental days. Twelve of the 26 bacterial genera contaminating the saunas were cross detected. Bacteria belonging to the genera Moraxella and Acinetobacter were selectively detected in the low temp sauna, whereas those belonging to Aquaspirillum, Chromobacterium, Aquabacterium, Gulbenkiania, Pelomonas, and Aquitalea were selectively detected in the high temp sauna. Three species of bacteria contaminating both the low and high temp saunas were thermophile or thermoduric. The results indicate that the saunacontaminating bacteria may have been transferred from outside the saunas by user traffic but did not inhabit the saunas.


Various techniques and methods have been studied and developed to aid nerve regeneration and repairing nerve injuries. Among all, nerve grafting is the gold standard for bridging the gap between the injured nerve stumps. Despite the advantages of this technique, there are also various drawbacks that have encouraged the exploration of alternative, less invasive methods for promoting nerve regeneration. In this thesis, we have fabricated soft micro-channels for cell culturing and migration studies which could act as an interface capable of long-term, reliable, and high-resolution stimulation device for nerve regeneration. Micro-channels fabrication is performed using a combination of photolithography technique and physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods. Initially, the surfaces of the micro-channels are treated with oxygen plasma to convert the surface of PDMS from hydrophobic to hydrophilic and to further provide an optimal environment for cells to adhere and grow. Next, in vitro studies were performed on the fabricated micro-channels to demonstrate feasibility of the platform to promote adherence and growth of PC12 cells (cell line derived from a pheochromocytomas of the rat adrenal medulla).


Abstract.
 Adults of two new species of biting midges in the subgenera Lepidohelea Kieffer and Metaforcipomyia Saunders of the genus Forcipomyia Meigen, F. (L.) ivani sp. nov. and F. (M.) aidae sp. nov., are described from specimens collected in Imbabura province, Ecuador at 2,320 meters above sea level. Color photographs and illustrations are provided of males and females of both new species which are compared with similar, related congeners in their respective subgenera. We also provide the first record of F. (Forcipomyia) catarinensis Marino & Spinelli from Ecuador.


The farm sector in Japan is subject to significant economic distortions. These distortions, consequences of legislative activity in the 1950's and 1960's, have resulted in a flagging agricultural economy. Total agricultural output has declined significantly over the past three decades and the amount of farmland being abandoned is at record levels. Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has targeted the agricultural sector for structural reform as part of a plan for overall economic growth. The success of reform efforts will ultimately depend on the state of productivity in Japanese agriculture and the factors causing farmers to exit farming. Internal restructuring is critical to intrasectoral growth, but the dynamics of these processes are not well understood. Standard economic models based on the behavior of farm households motivate the use of reduced form statistical modeling. A Bayesian hierarchical model is specified to determine linkages between net farm exits over a period of time and relevant economic and demographic variables. Hierarchical models make it possible to utilize data at both the prefecture and town levels. Because several measures of productivity and market distortion are only available at the prefecture level, this modeling flexibility is especially important. The results of this approach make it possible to assess the factors influencing aggregate entry and exit from the farm sector. Additionally, this study demonstrates the importance of productivity dynamics in understanding the changing compositions of agricultural economies.


The reading, writing, and vocabulary skills of 8 children with strokes due to sickle cell disease were compared with 8 control children. The former were delayed in reading and writing skills but not in vocabulary development or use.


Learning acoustic models directly from the raw waveform data with minimal processing is challenging. Current waveform-based models have generally used very few (∼2) convolutional layers, which might be insufficient for building high-level discriminative features. In this work, we propose very deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) that directly use time-domain waveforms as inputs. Our CNNs, with up to 34 weight layers, are efficient to optimize over very long sequences (e.g., vector of size 32000), necessary for processing acoustic waveforms. This is achieved through batch normalization, residual learning, and a careful design of down-sampling in the initial layers. Our networks are fully convolutional, without the use of fully connected layers and dropout, to maximize representation learning. We use a large receptive field in the first convolutional layer to mimic bandpass filters, but very small receptive fields subsequently to control the model capacity. We demonstrate the performance gains with the deeper models. Our evaluation shows that the CNN with 18 weight layers outperforms the CNN with 3 weight layers by over 15% in absolute accuracy for an environmental sound recognition task and is competitive with the performance of models using log-mel features.


Persistent quadriceps weakness after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is a common hurdle to efficient rehabilitation. Therefore, we evaluated a new treatment strategy for athletes with ACL reconstruction. Eleven athletes with unilateral ACL reconstruction performed one set of flywheel Bulgarian split squats to exhaustion with a maximum knee extension of 60°, over 16 sessions, on their reconstructed limb. Quadriceps rate of force development (RFD) 0–50 ms (RFD0–50 ms), and 0–150 ms (RFD0–150 ms), maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC), and central activation ratio (CAR) were measured bilaterally on the week before and after the intervention. In the reconstructed limb, the RFD0–50 ms (p = 0.04; Cohen's d = 0.8) and RFD0–150 ms (p = 0.03; d = 0.9) increased after training. Before-after changes in MVIC and CAR were not significant (p > 0.05), but the lower the baseline MVIC, the greater the gain in MVIC (r = −0.71, p = 0.02). The between-leg difference in MVIC changed from large before (p = 0.01; d = 0.8) to small after training (p = 0.04; d = 0.4). One set of deep knee flexion flywheel Bulgarian split squats to exhaustion improved quadriceps deficits in well-trained athletes with ACL-reconstruction, particularly those with relatively low quadriceps force production.


Within the next decade or two, cancer is likely to become the leading cause of death in the United States. This macabre honor might have been avoided and need not be permanent. In 1981, Doll and Peto served notice that the bulk of cancer should be preventable because most of its causes are avoidable.[*][1] What are those causes and what prospects do they offer for the prevention of cancer?

Cigarette smoking is presently blamed for one-third of all cancer deaths in the United States. The use of tobacco is a dispensable indulgence, but it is also an addiction that is not easily shed. The bitter lesson here has been that demonstration of grievous risk can fail as deterrent, particularly among the young and in the face of vigorous marketing on behalf of the offending agent. What more should be done against smoking remains a matter of controversy, steeped in political and economic connotations.

Dietary factors have been incriminated in another third of cancer deaths in the United States. The Western diet is thought both to contain a surfeit of potential carcinogens (animal fat and red meat are especially culpable) and to be deficient in natural preventives (fresh fruits and vegetables are especially rich sources). But the particulars are far from certain. Pending a better understanding of why diet affects our risk of cancer, we can opt for a culinary version of Pascal's wager: There can be no harm in restricting red meat and fat, while gorging on fresh fruits and vegetables. It is worth noting that preventive measures involving smoking and diet are conveniently similar for cancer and cardiovascular disease (one exception is alcohol—a risk factor for the former, a preventive for the latter; oenophiles can here make a wager of their own).

A variety of infectious agents have been implicated in human cancers, including two hepatitis viruses (liver cancer), several papilloma viruses (cervical cancer), Epstein-Barr virus (certain lymphomas and nasopharyngeal cancer), a herpesvirus (Kaposi's sarcoma), and the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (stomach cancer). Together these agents account for more than 15 percent of cancers in developing nations and somewhat less in affluent nations. Vaccination against hepatitis B virus is now in progress, and hope abides that prophylactic measures can be devised for the other infectious causes of cancer. Ultraviolet radiation in sunlight causes skin tumors in great abundance, although the majority of these are not life threatening. The minority exception is melanoma, whose rising incidence in the United States has been attributed to the cosmetic craze for tanning.

What of environmental pollution? Although we have badly fouled our planetary nest, with woeful consequences, it is by no means clear that our profligacy has as yet greatly changed the incidence of cancer. Conventional estimates attribute perhaps 5 percent of cancer in the United States to occupational exposures and another 2 percent to environmental pollutants. But some observers place the numbers much higher. The two sides in this highly polarized debate should reserve their energies for the hard work required to obtain more certain evidence.

Not all of the causative agents of cancer are extrinsic to our bodies. For example, the sustained effect of reproductive hormones has been implicated in breast, ovarian, uterine, and prostatic cancers. Strictly speaking, hormones may be facilitatory rather than causative; there appear to be other precipitating factors whose identities we simply do not yet know. Nevertheless, the role of reproductive hormones in tumorigenesis has made them targets for both therapeutic and preventive measures.

Critics of our national research effort on cancer have complained that it favors therapy over prevention. [‡][2]So it is only fair to note that the National Cancer Institute is taking steps to energize its research on the cause and prevention of cancer. [†][3] One point of departure will be our newfound knowledge of the genetic maladies that appear to underlie all cancers (see the related articles in this issue of Science ). Application of that knowledge will bring the once disparate disciplines of epidemiology and molecular biology into a fecund mating. The offspring should be a new era, in which prevention will take its rightful place as the premier means by which to control cancer.

 [1]: #fn-1
 [2]: #fn-2
 [3]: #fn-3


Background and Aim: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) marks the ongoing disease process involving the heart. A precise diagnostic tool needs to be established to accurately determine LVH by electrocardiography (ECG), which itself is a predictor of future cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Assessment of LVH electrocardiographically by Sokolow-Lyon voltage criteria and Cornell voltage criteria in obese individuals. Methods: Obese 50 individuals with LVH secondary to hypertension confirmed by echocardiogram were considered as study subjects. Standard 12-lead ECG was obtained and analyzed for Sokolow-Lyon voltage criteria and Cornell voltage criteria. Statistical analysis was done by unpaired t-test using SPSS package version 20. Results: According to Sokolow-Lyon voltage criteria, 42 cases (38.27 ± 2.96) and 41 controls (37.23 ± 2.01) had LVH which was statistically nonsignificant. According to Cornell voltage criteria, 36 male cases (35.42 ± 2.98) and 36 controls (32.3 ± 2.13) had LVH and it was statistically significant (P < 0.000 1). Ten female cases (26.87 ± 2.01) and 7 controls (22.9 ± 2.36) also had LVH and it was statistically significant (P < 0.002). About 84% of cases were assessed to have LVH by Sokolow-Lyon voltage criteria whereas 92% of cases were assessed to have LVH by Cornell voltage criteria. Conclusion: QRS duration is an independent ECG predictor of the presence of LVH. The Cornell voltage criteria significantly improve identification of LVH relative to Sokolow-Lyon voltage criteria in obese individuals.


Trustworthy Ubiquitous Computing covers aspects of trust in ubiquitous computing environments. The aspects of context, privacy, reliability, usability and user experience related to emerged and exciting new computing paradigm of Ubiquitous Computing, includes pervasive, grid, and peer-to-peer computing including sensor networks to provide secure computing and communication services at anytime and anywhere. Marc Weiser presented his vision of disappearing and ubiquitous computing more than 15 years ago. The big picture of the computer introduced into our environment was a big innovation and the starting point for various areas of research. In order to totally adopt the idea of ubiquitous computing several houses were build, equipped with technology and used as laboratory in order to find and test appliances that are useful and could be made available in our everyday life. Within the last years industry picked up the idea of integrating ubiquitous computing and already available products like remote controls for your house were developed and brought to the market. In spite of many applications and projects in the area of ubiquitous and pervasive computing the success is still far away. One of the main reasons is the lack of acceptance of and confidence in this technology. Although researchers and industry are working in all of these areas a forum to elaborate security, reliability and privacy issues, that resolve in trustworthy interfaces and computing environments for people interacting within these ubiquitous environments is important. The user experience factor of trust thus becomes a crucial issue for the success of a UbiComp application. The goal of this book is to provide a state the art of Trustworthy Ubiquitous Computing to address recent research results and to present and discuss the ideas, theories, technologies, systems, tools, applications and experiences on all theoretical and practical issues.


The clinical utility of behavior modification has frequently been demonstrated with problems in living of the kind often encountered in probation casework. Despite this, the approach has been used only infrequently in the probation context. A review of the literature reveals that probation workers are receptive to behavior modification concepts, and that their knowledge of, and competence with, the approach is enhanced by training. However, the evidence that trained probation officers can implement behavioral procedures in everyday casework, and that behavioral casework then produces successful client outcome, is indicative rather than definitive. Possible reasons for difficulties with the implementation and outcome of behavior modification in probation settings are discussed, and consideration is given to ways in which the potential use of behavior modification in probation casework may be more fully realized.


Aim. The article deals with justifying the means of providing information about movement technique using cognitive visualization. Materials and methods. The following methods have been used for the study: the study and analysis of the psychological, pedagogical, and methodical literature; the synthesis of the advanced theory and practice of teaching movements; the synthesis of concepts and general provisions. Results. Cognitive visualization of educational information provides a better perception of complex knowledge. The principles of cognitive visualization can be effectively used in teaching movements to form in students a general idea about solving a movement task. The information about exercise technique in visual form implies the creation of such a mean which allows establishing key elements in the structure of the action studied (main positions, control movements, phases, cycles) and providing the students with information for a conscious and effective search for the most efficient movement. The effect of cognitive visualization is supposed to be achieved through the integration of the graphical elements into a video of the sports movement. One-hand throwing is used as an example of movement technique. Conclusion. Preparing the information about movement technique using cognitive visualization should be performed based on structured and visually treated information in dynamic form. The most optimal way of providing the knowledge on exercise technique is a video created with multimedia technologies.


Objectives
The high prevalences of ultra-processed foods and obesity in Chile, with increasing climate change, signal an urgent need for novel analyses to characterize sustainable diets. Therefore, the study objective was to describe the sustainability of 24 highly consumed and liked traditional Chilean culinary preparations (dishes) as perceived by those in the Metropolitan Region (RM).

Methods
Pre-existing methods on documenting traditional food systems were adapted, and combined with the FAO's 5 criteria for sustainable diets (culture, nutrition, environment, physical, and economic access). In 2018, 40 individual semi-structured interviews were done by an ethnographer/anthropologist, 8 per age (25-45 y, 45-64 y, > 65 y) or ethnic (first nations or not) group. Each interview involved tasks about 24 traditional dishes (card sort exercises per sustainable diet criteria; and brief surveys to assess diet and taste preferences), was recorded, and transcribed. Based on the positive associations between a dish and the 5 sustainable diet criteria, an average sustainability score (0-100%) was calculated by dish. ATLAS.ti v. 8.3.1 was used to conduct the study analyses.

Results
The traditional dishes identified as the most sustainable were: fruits (91%); salads (90%); scrambled eggs with tomato/onion (82%); vegetable soup (78%), and legumes (78%). With fish soup (52%), shredded beef (48%) and empanadas (39%) as the least sustainable. Of the 5 sustainable diet criteria, the environment dimension was the most difficult for participants to think about in relation to diet, and thus, verbally expound upon. Two-thirds of participants thought that no dish produced any environmental impact. Others erroneously confused environmental impact with health problems or with household contamination from cooking fried foods. The livestock and fishing industries were often cited as having negative environmental impacts.

Conclusions
Chileans in the RM can identify traditional dishes, largely based on primary agricultural products that are both healthy and sustainable. The finding that many lacked an understanding of how diet may be linked to the concept of sustainability; and more specifically, to environmental impacts signals an important need for more education and awareness regarding how sustainability relates to diet.

Funding Sources
CONICYT-FONDECYT Initiation Project.


We investigated the epidemiology and clonality of 175 nonrepetitive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates from clinical specimens collected between 2011 and 2012 in Kinta Valley in Malaysia. Molecular tools such as polymerase chain reaction, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and staphylococcal protein A (spa) typing were used. Our study revealed the predominance of three closely related ermA+ SCCmec type III pulsotypes belonging to spa type t037 (Brazilian-Hungarian clone), which were deficient in the locus F, but positive for the ccrC gene in majority (65.7%) of the MRSA infections in this region. The first evidence of SCCmec type II MRSA in the country, belonging to spa type t2460, was also noted. Although the carriage of pvl gene was uncommon (8.6%) and mostly confined to either SCCmec type IV or SCCmec type V isolates, most of these isolates belonged to spa types t345 or t657, which are associated with the Bengal-Bay CA-MRSA clone. Interestingly, spa t304 and t690 SCCmec type IV pvl+ were also detected among the MRSA isolates. Data from this study show the rise of uncommon clones among MRSA isolates in Malaysia.


New institutions of indigenous governance will be the product of negotiations, negotiations that will take place against a background of colonial structures and relationships. Having examined the challenges of structuring a negotiation process that takes due account of pre-existing cultural and power differences between the parties, the author analyzes the significance of their choice of negotiation strategy on the negotiation process and outcome. In particular, this paper reflects on the promise and limitations of the parties' adopting interest-based, or "integrative", negotiation strategies and the potential for fruitful entanglements between those strategies and indigenous diplomatic traditions.


One women dies every minute as a result of problems in pregnancy or childbirth. The vast majority of these deaths are avoidable. Yet on current trends the international target of reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters by 2015 will be missed. Northern governments could transform the prospects of reaching the target by increasing the aid that they give to the poorest countries. It would cost $4bn extra aid a year to save half a million lives a year. Yet they have failed to act. The G8 countries should signal a shift in priorities by setting a timetable for meeting the UN target of devoting 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Product to aid for human development.


State-of-the-art convolutional neural networks (CNNs) typically use a log-mel spectral representation of the speech signal. However, this representation is limited by the spectro-temporal resolution afforded by log-mel filter-banks. A novel technique known as Deep Scattering Spectrum (DSS) addresses this limitation and preserves higher resolution information, while ensuring time warp stability, through the cascaded application of the wavelet-modulus operator. The first order scatter is equivalent to log-mel features and standard CNN modeling techniques can directly be used with these features. However the higher order scatter, which preserves the higher resolution information, presents new challenges in modelling. This paper explores how to effectively use DSS features with CNN acoustic models. Specifically, we identify the effective normalization, neural network topology and regularization techniques to effectively model higher order scatter. The use of these higher order scatter features, in conjunction with CNNs, results in relative improvement of 7% compared to log-mel features on TIMIT, providing a phonetic error rate (PER) of 17.4%, one of the lowest reported PERs to date on this task.


Geodynamic modeling is often related with challenging computations involving solution of the Stokes and continuity equations under the condition of highly variable viscosity. Based on a new analytical approach we have developed particular analytical solutions for 2-D and 3-D incompressible Stokes flows with both linearly and exponentially variable viscosity. We demonstrate how these particular solutions can be converted into 2-D and 3-D test problems suitable for benchmarking numerical codes aimed at modeling various mantle convection and lithospheric dynamics problems. The Main advantage of this new generalized approach is that a large variety of benchmark solutions can be generated, including relatively complex cases with open model boundaries, non-vertical gravity and variable gradients of the viscosity and density fields, which are not parallel to the Cartesian axes. Examples of respective 2-D and 3-D MatLab codes are provided with this paper.


1551 Defining molecular similarities and differences between genetically engineered mouse models of mammary cancer and human breast cancer is critical to the further understanding of molecular mechanisms of oncogenesis and identifying models most relevant to human disease. One goal of this study was to use expression profiling in an attempt to determine whether several important, oncogenic pathway specific mouse models of mammary cancer could be classified according to the basal - luminal distinctions identified for human breast cancer. We demonstrate that all of the models studied in which p53 is mutated or functionally impaired and a BRCA1 mutant model cluster with human tumors in the basal-type category. All models in which the myc, ras, her2/neu and Polyoma middle T-antigen are driven by the MMTV promoter share molecular characteristics that cluster them with human luminal-type breast tumors. Interestingly, these models have been shown to lack ER-alpha expression (which is strongly associated with lack of GATA-3 expression in human breast cancers), but high expression of transcription factor GATA-3 is observed in our data for these models. A third group of mouse tumors include ER+ tumors arising from the p53fp/fp;Wap- cre model, which cluster with ER+ human tumors representing the luminal type A group. This new classification of GEM models provides a rational approach for further investigating the cellular origins of the different tumor classes and the appropriate use of the models in relation to the human tumor subclasses, especially pre-clinical testing. A second objective of this study was to determine whether mouse and human breast cancers share gene signatures based upon the status of ER expression. We have performed the first supervised comparison of gene expression profiles from mouse ER+ and ER- mammary tumors (generated by the mammary-specific conditional knock-out mutation of the p53 gene) with that of ER+ and ER- human breast tumors. Direct integration of gene expression levels from mouse tumors with that from human tumors (based upon ER expression) resulted in the most accurate classifier for ER status in human breast cancer, demonstrating the important added value of mouse data generated in a well-defined genetic background. The mouse-human ER classifier represents a set of genes co-expressed between mouse and human and can be placed into evolutionarily conserved networks based upon estrogen signaling. This approach reveals functionally conserved genes and networks across species important for cancer biology and identifying potential new therapeutic targets.


The compressible laminar and turbulent viscous flows on a slender body in supersonic speed as well as subsonic speed have been numerically simulated at high angle of attack. The steady and time-accurate compressible thin-layer Navier-Stokes code based on an implicit upwind-biased LU-SGS algorithm has been developed and specifically applied at angles of attack of 20, 30 and 40 deg, respectively. The modified eddy-viscosity turbulence model suggested by Degani and Schiff was used to simulate the case of turbulent flow. Any geometric asymmetry and numerical perturbation have not been intentionally or artificially imposed in the process of computation. The purely numerical results for laminar and turbulent cases, however, show clear asymmetric formation of vortices which were observed experimentally. Contrary to the subsonic results, the supersonic case shows the symmetric formation of vortices as indicated by the earlier experiments.


Current mobile imaging pipelines, provisioned for high quality photography, are ill-suited for wearable vision analytics, due to their high power consumption and privacy concerns, as exemplified by the slow adoption of wearables, such as Google Glass. Rather than constructing incremental improvements, we believe it is necessary to completely redesign a dedicated imaging pipeline for vision analytics.

Toward this goal, we study a novel imaging pipeline, revolving around an in-imager analog vision processor that exports a low bandwidth irreversibly encoded signal, generating vision features before analog-to-digital conversion. To produce this signal at low power, we introduce energy-scaling mechanisms into the imager's analog frontend to produce the encoded signal. We use these mechanisms to generate a low-power signal that cannot be used to reconstruct the image, yet suffices as input for vision analytics. This imaging pipeline design will simultaneously achieve privacy and efficiency for continuous mobile vision tasks.


We demonstrate the ferroelectric behavior of (Bi,La)4Ti3O12 (BLT) films deposited on Si(100) substrates by using LaAlO3 buffer layers. LaAlO3 films were prepared by molecular beam deposition method. Then, they were subjected to ex situ dry N2 annealing in a rapid thermal annealing furnace. From the capacitance-voltage measurement, the dielectric constant of LaAlO3 was estimated to be 20 to 26. On these structures, BLT films were deposited by sol-gel method and they were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis. It was found from capacitance-voltage measurements that the characteristics showed a hysteresis loop and the memory window was about 0.5 V for the voltage sweep of ±9 V. It was also found from the retention measurement that the higher and lower capacitance values in the hysterisis loop could be distinguished at least for 3 days. It is concluded from these results that the BLT/LaAlO3/Si(100) structure is one of the most promising structures for realizing MFISFETs (metal-ferroelectric-insulator-semiconductor field effect transistors).


With the growing interest in software defined radios (SDRs), cognitive radios, the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), and the Software Communication Architecture (SCA) comes the need for a rapid prototyping approach to radio design. In the past, radios have traditionally been designed to have a static implementation with the express goal of implementing a specific type of communication, such as 802.11b, CDMA voice communication, or just a simple FM tuner. However, when designing an SDR, the developer must not only be able to understand the radio engineering aspects of the design, but also be able to interface correctly with the underlying core software framework. This added software complexity, along with the general need for faster, more economical waveform development, illuminates the need for a rapid prototyping SDR development environment. This thesis takes a fresh look at the task of providing radio designers with a functional, straightforward design tool that enables the developer to focus more on the radio design than the tedious task of interacting with CORBA, IDL, and the SCA Core Framework. The design approach used to create such a tool is investigated along with an overview of general SDR concepts and an introduction to MPRG's open source SCA Core Framework, OSSIE. Discussion on the design methodology behind creating an SCA waveform is provided and the final result of this research, OSSIE Waveform Developer (OWD), is introduced and explored in detail. The code generated using OWD is detailed and waveform design approaches are presented with some suggested modifications. Finally, the improvements gained by using OSSIE Waveform Developer instead of the traditional approach of manually developing waveforms are presented. For Heather You have made this all worthwhile


Carrier frequency offset (CFO) arises from the intrinsic mismatch between the operating frequencies of the transmitter and the receiver, as well as their relative speeds (i.e., Doppler effect). Despite advances in CFO estimation techniques, estimation errors are still present. Residual CFO creates time-varying phase error. Modern wireless systems, including WLANs, 5G cellular systems, and satellite communications, use high-order modulation schemes, which are characterized by dense constellation maps. Accounting for the phase error is critical for the demodulation performance of such schemes. In this paper, we analyze the post-estimation probability distribution of residual CFO and use it to develop a CFO-aware demodulation approach for a set of modulation schemes (e.g., QAM and APSK). For a given distribution of the residual CFO, symbols with larger amplitudes are less densely distributed on the constellation map. We explore one important application of our adaptive demodulation approach in the context of PHY-layer security, and more specifically modulation obfuscation (MO) mechanisms. In such mechanisms, the transmitter attempts to hide the modulation order of a frame's payload from eavesdroppers, which could otherwise exploit such information to breach user privacy or launch selective attacks. We go further and complement our CFO-aware demodulation scheme by optimizing the design of a low-complexity MO technique with respect to phase errors. Our results show that when combined, our CFO-aware demodulation and optimized MO techniques achieve up to 5 dB gain over conventional demodulation schemes that are not obfuscated and are oblivious to residual CFO.