The properties of interface polarons in a strained (111)-oriented zinc-blende GaN/AlxGa1−xN heterojunction at finite temperature under hydrostatic pressure are investigated by adopting a modified LLP variational method and a simplified coherent potential approximation. Considering the effect of hydrostatic pressure on the bulk longitudinal optical phonon mode, two branches interface-optical phonon modes and strain, respectively, we calculated the polaronic self-trapping energy and effective mass as functions of temperature, pressure and areal electron density. The numerical result shows that both of them near linearly increase with pressure but the self-trapping energies are nonlinear monotone increasing with increasing of the areal electron density. They are near constants below a range of temperature whereas decrease dramatically with increasing temperature beyond the range. The contributions from the bulk longitudinal optical phonon mode and one branch of interface optical phonon mode with higher frequency are important whereas the contribution from another branch of interface optical phonon mode with lower frequency is extremely small so that it can be neglected in the further discussion.


During the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide into bicarbonate by the enzyme human carbonic anhydrase II, the rate-determining step of proton transfer across the active site has been suggested to involve side chain rotation of the residue His-64 shuttling an excess proton in and out of the active site. In the present article, we have determined the reaction coordinate for this catalytically important conformational transition starting from a set of 32 order parameters (or candidate collective variables). Following the original work by Peters and Trout (J. Chem. Phys. 2006, 125, 054108), unbiased dynamical transition paths connecting the two major side chain conformations are harvested using an aimless shooting algorithm, and the reaction coordinate is determined using the method of forward-trajectory likelihood maximization. Several different models are tested involving a single order parameter or linear combinations of several of them chosen from the preselected set. An optimum reaction coordinate, identified using a Bayesian information criterion, is found to be a linear combination of 4 order parameters. This reaction coordinate is subsequently utilized to explore the associated free energy profile and diffusive barrier crossing dynamics. To the best of our knowledge, previous instances of this calculation include only alanine dipeptide and photoactive yellow protein (125 residues) in explicit water solvent. The present work is the first report of a quantitative determination of the reaction coordinate for conformational transition in a protein having as many as 259 residues in the presence of explicit water and sampled near the free energy barrier for about 1 μs.


Future wireless devices have to support many applications (e.g., remote robotics, wireless automation, and mobile gaming) with extremely low latency and reliability requirements over wireless connections. Optimizing wireless transceivers while switching between wireless connections with different circuit characteristics requires addressing many hardware impairments that have been overlooked previously. For instance, switching between transmission and reception radio functions to facilitate time-division duplexing can change the load on the power supply. As the supply voltage changes in response to the sudden change in load, the carrier frequency drifts. Such a drift results in transient carrier frequency offset (CFO) that cannot be estimated by conventional CFO estimators and is typically addressed by inserting or extending guard intervals. In this paper, we explore the modeling and estimation of the transient CFO, which is modeled as the response of an underdamped second order system. To compensate for the transient CFO, we propose a low complexity parametric estimation algorithm, which uses the null space of the Hankel-like matrix constructed from phase difference of the two halves of the repetitive training sequence. Furthermore, to minimize the mean squared error of the estimated parameters in noise, a weighted subspace fitting algorithm is derived with a slight increase in complexity. The Crámer-Rao bound for any unbiased estimator of the transient CFO parameters is derived. The performance of the proposed algorithms is also confirmed by the experimental results obtained from the real wireless transceivers.


Focusing on invasive plants, we find many examples of highly destructive species throughout the United States. These plants, when left unfettered, can slowly dominate an ecosystem, out-competing all of the native botanical species. A community in which all individuals are the same, a monoculture, is very susceptible to predators and diseases. The members of the invasive species also compete with each other for the resources. The more diverse the life is in an ecosystem, the smaller the chance is that the community will be destroyed by the loss of a single species. This paper fulfilled C. Masterson's Honor Contract for Honors Botany. Her faculty supervisor was Professor Steven Giambrone of Johnson County Community College.


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Corporate takeover is a very important economic activity that generates profound consequences on many classes of market participants. The great financing needs and transaction costs directly change the wealth of both shareholders and creditors. The corporate restructuring induced by the takeover results in a significant impact on the welfare of management, employees, and customers. The reshaped industrial map due to the takeover further influences the competition strategies of other firms. Moreover, the changes in the taxable revenues when the takeover happens across the industry can also affect the tax income to the government. The paramount impact on corporations and the economy highlights the importance of studying the efficiency in corporate takeovers. This dissertation contributes to the discussion on takeover efficiency by exploring three key questions.


The setting is 1920s Berlin, cultural heart of Europe and the era's only serious cinematic rival to Hollywood. In his engaging study, Thomas Saunders explores an outstanding example of one of the most important cultural developments of this century: global Americanization through the motion picture. The invasion of Germany by American films, which began in 1921 with overlapping waves of sensationalist serials, slapstick shorts, society pictures, and historical epics, initiated a decade of cultural collision and accommodation. On the one hand it fueled an impassioned debate about the properties of cinema and the specter of wholesale Americanization. On the other hand it spawned unprecedented levels of cooperation and exchange. In Berlin, American motion pictures not only entertained all social classes and film tastes but also served as a vehicle for American values and a source of sharp economic competition. Hollywood in Berlin correlates the changing forms of Hollywood's contributions to Weimar culture and the discourses that framed and interpreted them, restoring historical contours to a leading aspect of cultural interchange in this century. At the same time, the book successfully embeds Weimar cinema in its contemporary international setting.


A self-consistent theory of the free electron laser instability is developed for a hollow electron beam propagating through an undulator (multiple mirror) magnetic field. The stability analysis is carried out within the framework of the linearized Vlasov-Maxwell equations. The dispersion relation describing the free electron laser instability in a hollow relativistic electron beam is obtained for an equilibrium distribution function in which all electrons have same value of transverse energy and the same value of canonical angular momentum, and a Lorentian distribution in axial momentum. It is shown that the influence of finite radial geometry plays a critical role in determining detailed stability behavior. Moreover, the growth rate and bandwidth of the instability can be expressed in terms of Budker's parameter upsilon, instead of the plasma frequency as in the case of a uniform density beam. Furthermore, it is found that free electron laser stability properties exhibit a sensitive dependence on axial momentum spread.


In this paper detection method for the illegal access to the cloud infrastructure is proposed. Detection process is based on the collaborative filtering algorithm constructed on the cloud model. Here, first of all, the normal behavior of the user is formed in the shape of a cloud model, then these models are compared with each other by using the cosine similarity method and by applying the collaborative filtering method the deviations from the normal behavior are evaluated. If the deviation value is above than the threshold, the user who gained access to the system is evaluated as illegal, otherwise he is evaluated as a real user.


Background Although both low physical activity (PA) and high sedentary behaviour (SB) levels may increase cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among older people, the independence of their effects on CVD risk and the impact of PA and SB bouts of differing durations remain uncertain. We have therefore examined the associations between objectively measured PA of different intensities and bout durations, SB of different bout durations, and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), a non-invasive marker of CVD risk, among older men. Methods We used cross sectional data from community-dwelling men aged 71–91 years (British Regional Heart Study) (71–91 years) recruited from 24 primary care practices. Men wore an Actigraph GT3x accelerometer to quantify physical activity and sedentary behaviour, and had CIMT measured using ultrasound. We used linear regression models to investigate whether CIMT was independently associated with (i) total physical activity (counts per minute, cpm), (ii) moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA, >1040 cpm), (iii) light activity (LPA, 100–1040 cpm) and (iv) sedentary behaviour (SB, <100 cpm) and to examine whether bouts of different durations of MVPA, LPA and SB were associated with CIMT independently of total amounts. Results 1438/3137 men (46%) had data for CIMT, all covariates and >= 600 min/day of accelerometer data. 239 men with pre-existing CVD were excluded, leaving 1199 in analyses. After adjusting for accelerometer wear time, season, region of residence, age, social class, living alone, smoking and alcohol consumption, both higher total PA and higher LPA were associated with lower CIMT, and SB with higher CIMT. Each additional 1000 cpm/day of total PA was associated with a 0.0012 mm (95% CI –0.0022, –0.0002) lower CIMT and each additional 30 min/day of LPA with a 0.007 mm (95% CI –0.012, –0.002) lower CIMT. A non-significant inverse association was observed between MVPA and CIMT. Conversely, each additional 30 min/day of SB was associated with a 0.005 mm higher CIMT (95% CI 0.002, 0.009). The associations between LPA, SB and CIMT were little affected by adjustment for MVPA. We found no associations between CIMT and bouts of different durations of LPA, SB or MVPA, independent of total amounts of LPA, SB or MVPA respectively. Conclusion Our findings suggest that LPA reduces CVD risk and that sedentary time is detrimental. Few older adults meet current guidelines for physical activity, which include moderate and/or vigorous activity. Light activity may also be important for older adults, and studies such as this may inform future discussions of physical activity recommendations for this age group.


Building on empirical data from author's fieldwork along the Ethiopia-Kenya border, this chapter provides epistemological and methodological insights to peacebuilding research and calls for a paradigm shift towards culture-sensitive approaches. It argues that researching peacebuilding in Africa should consider local cultural settings and epistemological paradigms by carefully designing appropriate methodological approaches. Drawing on this latter perspective, the author argues that peacebuilding research among societies with intact indigenous cultural practices, values and customs should be grounded within the societies' epistemological and cosmological orientations of their place in nature. First, the author visited Borana land along the Ethiopia-Kenya border in 2015 to conduct research on cross-border conflict funded by the African Peacebuilding Network.


1. Orientation 2. Theoretical Approaches 3. Edge of Empire: Yayoi Interaction with the Continent (1st Century BC to Mid-3rd Century AD) 4. From Yamatai to Yamato (3rd Century) 5. Hashihaka and Mounded Burials (3rd Century) 6. Early Kofun Polities (Mid-3rd to Mid- 4th Centuries) 7. Prestige Goods and Class Identity (Mid-3rd to Mid-4th Centuries) 8. The Miwa Court and Cult (Late 3rd to Mid-4th Century). Epilogue. Appendix 1: The Chinese Court Chronicles. Appendix 2: The Japanese Court Chronicles. Glossary and Character List


The NS8 lymphoma induced with Radiation Leukemia Virus (RadLV) presents in vitro a specific cytotoxic activity. This line was established from a lymphoma induced by injection of lymph node cells from mice bearing the MCA-fibrosarcoma T2 to congenic mice. These cells present a cytotoxic activity limited to the T2 cells. They develop no significant cytotoxic activity against other syngeneic or allogeneic tumoral lines.


In the freshwater planarian Dugesia polychroa (Tricladida, Paludicola), both animals fulfil the male and female role simultaneously in any given copulation. This study presents the first detailed account of the copulatory behaviour, timing and frequency in this species. We also describe an experimental set-up that enables continuous, undisturbed observation of large numbers of animals.

D. polychroa pairs copulate repeatedly in the lab (up to eight times in 5 d). Animals that were kept in isolation for longer, were more likely to copulate. The mating behaviour lacks a behaviourally recognizable precopulatory courtship sequence, suggesting that precopulatory assessment is absent or only marginally important. Copulation duration ranged from a few minutes to 2.5 h and showed a distinct bimodal distribution. Two copulation types were recognized: short (<35min) and long (≥35min). Histological analysis showed that sperm transfer is rare during short copulations, but after long copulations all animals had received sperm and sperm transfer was reciprocal in all pairs where both partners could be investigated. Hence, only long copulations are 'true' copulations with sperm transfer. Pairs with short copulations (40 % of all pairs) had fewer long copulations, but a higher overall copulatory activity. Copulation rate is constant over 5 d for both copulation types. It does, however, fluctuate with the time of day: most (long) copulations take place at night. Pairs that copulated more often, also produced more cocoons. We argue mat in-copula assessment during the first 30 min of the copulation determines whether copulations are sometimes interrupted before sperm are transferred and that this explains the occurrence of short and long copulations.


Abstract : The Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed into law a mandate directing the Department of Defense (DoD) to develop and procure Unmanned Systems through FY 2030. These unmanned air, ground, and sea systems are being designed to support Full Spectrum Operations (FSO) in a hybrid-threat environment. The impact for the 2020 Joint Task Force (JTF) is that it will operate with unmanned systems that will revolutionize the way it conducts its operations. Furthermore, the 2020 JTF will be required to leverage cutting-edge information technologies that will ensure a secure and collaborative command and control network in a security environment that is increasingly competitive due to the proliferation of advanced unmanned systems. The challenge then is to posture the 2020 JTF to integrate these revolutionary unmanned systems. The essential tasks are to ensure operational reach and establish operational access throughout operations that are increasingly ready to be accomplished with revolutionary unmanned systems in lieu of manned systems.


The stereo event-intensity camera setup is widely applied to leverage the advantages of both event cameras with low latency and intensity cameras that capture accurate brightness and texture information. However, such a setup commonly encounters cross-modality parallax that is difficult to be eliminated solely with stereo rectification especially for real-world scenes with complex motions and varying depths, posing artifacts and distortion for existing Event-based Video Frame Interpolation (E-VFI) approaches. To tackle this problem, we propose a novel Stereo Event-based VFI (SE-VFI) network (SEVFI-Net) to generate high-quality intermediate frames and corresponding disparities from misaligned inputs consisting of two consecutive keyframes and event streams emitted between them. Specifically, we propose a Feature Aggregation Module (FAM) to alleviate the parallax and achieve spatial alignment in the feature domain. We then exploit the fused features accomplishing accurate optical flow and disparity estimation, and achieving better interpolated results through flow-based and synthesis-based ways. We also build a stereo visual acquisition system composed of an event camera and an RGB-D camera to collect a new Stereo Event-Intensity Dataset (SEID) containing diverse scenes with complex motions and varying depths. Experiments on public real-world stereo datasets, i.e., DSEC and MVSEC, and our SEID dataset demonstrate that our proposed SEVFI-Net outperforms state-of-the-art methods by a large margin.


We demonstrate a new form of interferometry which is independent of Maxwell's equations and measures optical frequency differences rather than wavelength ratios. Stable laser and electro-optic FM sideband techniques make a direct measurement of the mode spacing of a high finesse cavity with subhertz precision (0.4 Hz rms) over a 50-THz region. Experiments indicate errors below 10−10 over a 50-THz bandwidth and that improvements of several orders of magnitude are possible. New variables for interferometry simplify the use of multilayer dielectric mirrors and are directly measurable in situ.


Contextual variables appear to strongly impact the results of software engineering research. But little attention has been directed at better understanding this apparent impact. This report reviews the small body of research that has investigated industrial context. The report is something of a work in progress and, therefore, lacks some coherence. Therefore, a summary of insights is provided at the beginning of the report, with an appendix containing the remainder of the work.


The failure of androgen deprivation therapy in prostate cancer treatment mainly results from drug resistance to androgen receptor antagonists. Although an aberrant caveolin-1 (Cav-1) expression has been reported in multiple tumor cell lines, it is unknown whether it is responsible for the progression of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine whether Cav-1 can be used as a key molecule for the prevention and treatment of CRPC, and to explore its mechanism of action in CRPC. For this purpose, tissue and serum samples from patients with primary prostate cancer and CRPC were analyzed using immunohistochemistry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, which revealed that Cav-1 was overexpressed in CRPC. Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and univariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis demonstrated that Cav-1 expression in tumors was an independent risk factor for the occurrence of CRPC and was associated with a shorter recurrence-free survival time in patients with CRPC. Receiver operating characteristic curves suggested that serum Cav-1 could be used as a diagnostic biomarker for CRPC (area under the curve, 0.876) using a cut-off value of 0.68 ng/ml (with a sensitivity of 82.1% and specificity of 80%). In addition, it was determined that Cav-1 induced the invasion and migration of CRPC cells by the activation of the H-Ras/phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase Cε signaling cascade in the cell membrane caveolae. Importantly, simvastatin was able to augment the anticancer effects of androgen receptor antagonists by downregulating the expression of Cav-1. Collectively, the findings of this study provide evidence that Cav-1 is a promising predictive biomarker for CRPC and that lowering cholesterol levels with simvastatin or interfering with the expression of Cav-1 may prove to be a useful strategy with which to prevent and/or treat CRPC.


The hot carrier solar cell is an advanced concept photovoltaic device that is predicted to deliver efficiencies in excess of conventional single bandgap devices. The design requires the ability to concurrently have extended carrier thermalization times within an absorber material, giving a hot carrier population, and the ability to efficiently collect the hot carriers at an energy above the bandgap of the absorber material. In order to achieve this, we require an absorber material with a long-lived hot carrier population. We investigate the carrier thermalization rates of InIn0.17Ga0.83As/GaAs0.80P0.20 multiple quantum well samples with different barrier thicknesses. For a 40 quantum well strain-balanced structure, the cooling lifetime is found to be 1.23 ± 0.07 ns, but in samples which are not strain-balanced, defect-assisted carrier cooling increases the thermalization rate. Immediately following an ultrafast excitation, the initial carrier temperature is greater in samples with wider barriers. However, any gain in carrier temperature from utilizing wide barriers is negated by an increased thermalization rate as one deviates from strain-balanced conditions. We conclude that strain balancing is required for multiple quantum well hot carrier absorbers.


MYRRHA (Multi-purpose hYbrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications) is a flexible fastspectrum research reactor under design at SCK•CEN, the Belgian Nuclear Research Center. MYRRHA is a pool-type reactor with Lead Bismuth Eutectic (LBE) as primary coolant. The proper understanding of the thermal hydraulic phenomena occurring in the reactor pool is an important issue in the design and licensing of MYRRHA. Model experiments are necessary for understanding the physics, for validating numerical simulation tools and to qualify the design for the licensing. The E-SCAPE (European SCAled Pool Experiment) facility at SCK•CEN is a thermal hydraulic 1/6-scale model of the MYRRHA reactor, with an electrical core simulator, cooled by LBE. It will provide experimental feedback to the designers on the forced and natural circulation flow patterns. Moreover, it enables to validate the computational methods for their use with LBE. The paper elaborates on the pre-test analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamics and system thermal hydraulics codes. The analysis predicts the behavior of the E-SCAPE facility in the different operational conditions described in the test matrix and compares it to the anticipated MYRRHA behavior. Moreover, the paper shows and discusses the possibilities and limitations of both the CFD and the system code approaches.


&NA; Date Presented 3/31/2017 This study explores the effectiveness of microteaching for developing a range of clinical skills among occupational therapy students. Findings show that microteaching is more effective than traditional methods for developing students' professional behaviors and facilitating peer‐supported learning. Primary Author and Speaker: Dragana Krpalek Additional Authors and Speakers: Sharon Pavlovich Contributing Authors: Heather Javaherian‐Dysinger, Katie Beach, Anna Boehning, Jacqueline Lim, Meryl Paja, Aishani Patel, Christine Pham


The victimization of civilians and combatants during internal conflicts causes large and persistent socioeconomic costs. Moreover, it is not clear whether peace negotiations can significantly reduce this burden, as some sources of harm persist well after conflicts end. This is the case of antipersonnel landmines, which are hidden underground and remain active for decades. Looking at the recent experience of Colombia, and using a difference-in-differences empirical strategy, we study the conditions under which peace agreements reduce landmine blasts and victimization. Our findings point to the importance of post-conflict information sharing and comprehensive humanitarian mine clearance campaigns.


Essential to a firm theoretical basis for the mathematical theory of one-ports, as it is presently constituted, is some knowledge of the theory of functions of a complex variable. In terms of quadratic forms and the rudiments of mapping in the complex plane, this paper presents an algebraic basis for the study of RL-, RC-, and LC-one-port driving functions which circumvents, for the most part, use of function theory. Undergraduates, even earlier than the senior year, have sufficient mathematical maturity to fully understand the concepts.


"News of Peter Robins' death will be met with much sadness by all those who knew him, but his contribution to Norfolk's archaeology is assured. A gentleman of the old school, and one of the last true sons of colonial empire, Peter was active for many years in the Norfolk Archaeological Rescue Group and its successor organisation NAHRG, and of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, serving on its Council 1993–1999. He will also be remembered for his longstanding contribution to the Archaeology Department at Norwich Castle Museum in which he worked for many years, officially as a volunteer but in reality often as an extra member of staff for which his title of Research Associate did not adequately cover. Peter was also very proud to serve on the Council of the Prehistoric Society, and was at that time the only amateur member. . . ."


Accurate hfs measurements in both the singlet and the triplet states of the first excited configuration of the group II elements have recently been obtained. These results have shown that the hfs of the singlet state cannot be reliably predicted from a knowledge of the hfs of the triplet states. A modification of the Breit-Wills theory for the hfs of the $\mathrm{sl}$ configuration is developed which takes into account the fact that the $l$ electron has a different radial wave function in the singlet and the triplet state. The theory introduces a new parameter $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ (the ratio of the off-diagonal to the diagonal matrix element of the spin-orbit operator) which can be estimated from the fine structure. This modified Breit-Wills theory is compared to recent experimental data for first excited $\mathrm{sp}$ configuration of Cd, Ba, and Hg. For Hg and Ba excellent agreement between all the hfs of the $\mathrm{sp}$ configuration is obtained. For Cd a significant improvement is obtained but a discrepancy still remains which, however, can be explained.


The Khwarezmids, with an origin of slavery in their process of evolution, absorbed military elements with different origins and they tried to hire them, parallel to each other, by enforcing (power) from top to bottom. Despite limitations in the corps in their local government, even those small conflicts caused several revolts which delayed the Khwarezmids from growing and becoming a great power. But during the period of power, the structural conflicts of this dynasty were speeded up. In this article we are going to analyze and explain the influence of structural conflicts in the corps which was collapsed from inside – by the free use of the analytic conflict theory. The kingship of Mohammad of Khwarezm was challenged by government duality in the court and multiple conflicts in the corps – hierarchical conflicts, population composition, center and province. Moreover, the increasing influence and the totalitarian manner of Ghanghli Turkish, sponsored by the Queen, led the Khwarezmids to downfall and collapse. Inability to design suitable military tactics, failure to resist coherently and stably in front of Mongols and also the escape of Shah before the confrontation with the enemy – despite having several hundred thousands of corps – are the obvious signs of such a structural conflict.


This paper gives a new presentation of Kozen's proof of Kleene algebra completeness featured in his article A completeness theorem for Kleene algebras and the algebra of regular events. A few new variants are introduced, shortening the proof. Specifically, we directly construct an ε-free automaton to prove an equivalent to Kleene's representation theorem (implementing Glushkov's instead of Thompson's construction), and we bypass the use of minimal automata by directly implementing a Myhill-Nerode equivalence relation on the union of equivalent deterministic automata.


The study aimed at establishing the effect of hormone and ripening agent on mass transfer as well as to find the effect of solution type and fruit to solution ratio for mass transfer of pineapple. Two types of pineapple, organic pineapple and GRM pineapple (pineapple cultivated with growth regulator and medicine) were collected and sliced into 8mm thickness. The slices were immersed in 60% sugar, 55/5% sugar-salt mixture solution for different periods of time at three different fruit to solution ratio (1:6, 1:8 and 1:10) and mass transfer coefficient were determined from the data. Results indicated that for organic pineapple mass transfer coefficient was higher than GRM pineapple (0.1583/min 1/2 vs. 0.1502/min 1/2 ). Again, for 55/5% sugar-salt mixture solution, mass transfer coefficient was higher than 60% sugar solution. Maximum rate of mass transfer (0.2281/min) was determined at 1:6 fruit to solution ratio and minimum (0.1504/min) was at 1:10 fruit to solution ratio for GRM pineapple.


The New Zealand Government has recently increased investment in high performance sport with the justification that elite sport helps to produce a more active, cohesive and economically robust nation, with a positive sense of identity. In this paper, in order to encourage reflection, debate and research, these justifications for the support of elite sport are critically examined, with particular reference to case studies of rugby union and the America's Cup Regatta. The proposition that significant public investment in a small number of elite sport participants, will result in increased sporting activity levels, is shown to be currently unsubstantiated. In addition, it is argued that it is problematic to rely on functionalist justifications, related to social cohesion and national identity, for promoting high performance sport. Finally, it is suggested that, although economic benefits associated with investment in high performance sport can be significant, concern should also focus on how the returns from these investments are distributed and how they affect factors associated with social, political and economic inequities.


OBJECTIVES
Gender differences in caregiving may determine social and/or health inequalities among family caregivers (FCs). This study aimed to analyse gender specific differences of burden and quality of life (QoL) in FCs belonging to ten different rare diseases (RD).

METHODS
Burden levels and QoL data, derived from a sample of 210 FCs of RD patients, were analysed by student t-test, Anova and Kruskal-Wallis followed by multiple comparisons and evaluation of factors, including sex, by correlation and multiple regression analyses.

RESULTS
FCs caring for Prader Willi, X-fragile, mucopolysaccharidosis and epidermolysis bullosa patients showed significant higher levels of burden as compared to other RDs. Burden is related to FC's QoL and can be down modulated by the reduction of the number of hours/week devoted to care and by the improvement of patient's QoL. No gender-specific burden differences were observed among all FCs. However, female FCs devoted to care significant more numerous hours/week than men and perceived more emotional/physical burden and poorer psychological health than males. Women, who are more frequently early retired from work, not occupied or homemakers than men, suffered more burden as compared to men in the same conditions.

CONCLUSIONS
This study showed gender specific differences in RD caregiving, which are important for planning personalized health prevention policies.


85 Abstract— In the recent years, cloud computing has emerged as one of the hottest and revolutionizing trends in the field of information technology. Even as more and more people and organizations are migrating towards cloud computing, security issues posed by the cloud is a growing concern. In this paper, we propose a layered architecture to enhance the protection of data in cloud infrastructure. The architecture, which is a software solution, mitigates some of the security issues such as DDoS attacks, of data by malicious insiders and hackers and unauthenticated users. It encompasses three layers, the authentication layer, the transport layer and the storage layer. The authentication is done by 'Private cookie authentication scheme' and 'Homomorphic encryption scheme', while the DDOS attacks have been handled by building an analyzer that detects and blocks the attacks. The data is split into different chunks and encrypted before storage. Also an N dimensional mechanism has been proposed for key management, thus ensuring that the interests of the customers at large are protected.


Abstract Background Robot-assisted nephroureterectomy (RANU) is the primary treatment for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) at our hospital for patients with clinical stage less than T2, and for patients with invasive tumours, but unfit for major surgery. Objective To assess peri-operative conditions and outcomes of RANU at our unit, and to evaluate the safety of the procedure. Methods The medical records of all 166 patients undergoing RANU for suspected UTUC and followed for more than three months in a large university hospital in Sweden were reviewed retrospectively. After the exclusion of twenty patients because of previous cystectomy, simultaneous surgical procedure, or other tumour types than UTUC in the pathological report, 146 patients remained for the analyses. The primary endpoint was complication rate according to Clavien-Dindo at 90 days. Secondary endpoints were perioperative bleeding, violation of oncological surgical principles, hospital stay, and re-admission within 90 days. Results The median age was 75 [(Inter Quartile Range) IQR 70–80] years and 57% of the patients had an ASA score above 2. According to Clavien-Dindo, one patient had a grade 3 complication, and no patient had a grade 4–5 complication. The median blood loss was 50 (IQR 20–100) ml and the median hospital stay was 6 (IQR 5–7) days. Twelve patients were re-admitted to the hospital within 90 days (eight with urinary tract infection/haematuria, one with hematoma, and three with other diseases). Conclusion Robot-assisted nephroureterectomy is a safe procedure for patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma, with a low risk of major surgical complications.


NKp46 is a cell surface receptor expressed on natural killer (NK) cells, on a minute subset of T cells, and on a population of innate lymphoid cells that produce IL-22 and express the transcription factor retinoid-related orphan receptor (ROR)-γt, referred to as NK cell receptor (NKR)+ROR-γt+ cells. Here we describe Nkp46iCre knock-in mice in which the gene encoding the improved Cre (iCre) recombinase was inserted into the Nkp46 locus. This mouse was used to noninvasively trace cells expressing NKp46 in vivo. Fate mapping experiments demonstrated the stable expression of NKp46 on NK cells and allowed a reappraisal of the sequential steps of NK cell maturation. NKp46 genetic tracing also showed that gut NKR+ROR-γt+ and NK cells represent two distinct lineages. In addition, the genetic heterogeneity of liver NK cells was evidenced. Finally, Nkp46iCre mice also represent a unique mouse model of conditional mutagenesis specifically in NKp46+ cells, paving the way for further developments in the biology of NKp46+ NK, T, and NKR+ROR-γt+ cells.


Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) has been deployed in several areas of interest for controlling the region, automation of mundane tasks due to features such as smart sensor nodes, low cost, and small-scale factors. Earlier, the sensory units were costly and deficient in the computational and communicational capabilities which were overcome by sensing, processing, storing, and forwarding the data powered by a battery. There predominates diverse applications which affects the low-cost solutions of WSNs in numerous specialties such as observing patients in health care, target exposure, and tracking purposes, examining the atmosphere and climate, home applications, contributing protection for vehicular networks Owing to the diversity of the applications of Wireless Sensor Network, it needs to impose varying design, implementation, and performance requirements on the Wireless Sensor Network to have deep knowledge about the characteristics of WSNs. The pervasiveness of designing and optimizing WSN appeared to be a surplus to several application fields which influenced countless researchers to pay attention to several issues such as routing, mobility of nodes, coverage, and security. In recent years, designing of WSN becomes the leading domain for many researchers. A WSN is bounded with a collection of devices that are associated in the network to communicate the information collected from the field through the wireless links that have been established in the network. The data thus collected is transmitted through multiple nodes and also, the data is communicated to other networks through the gateway. During the design and deployment of WSNs, more attention is required at various levels like routing, coverage, and security. A complete system could be designed so that it could resolve the problems such as energy exhaustion, network lifetime, throughput, end-to-end time, routing, and intrusion detection could also monitor and keep control of the network environment. Therefore, this proposed technical research survey work has been carried out by devising an automaton system that can learn, monitor and control the dynamic behaviour of the network environment as well as can obtain an optimal route using Computational Intelligence Techniques. Besides, it detects the malicious activities that occur in the network using Hybrid Intrusion Detection System (IDS) model to enhance the throughput, lifetime of the network, utilization of the energy, end-to-end delay, accuracy, detection rate, computational time and recall rate.


Abstract Numerical solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations, such as the generalized and extended Burgers-Huxley equations which combine effects of advection, diffusion, dispersion and nonlinear transfer are considered in this paper. Such system can be divided into linear and nonlinear parts, which allow the use of two numerical approaches. Barycentric Jacobi spectral (BJS) method is employed for the spatial discretization, the resulting nonlinear system of ordinary differential equation is advanced with a fourth-order exponential time differencing predictor corrector. Comparative numerical results for the values of options are presented. The proposed method is very elegant from the computational point of view. Numerical computations for a wide variety of problems, show that the present method offers better accuracy and efficiency in comparison with other previous methods. Moreover the method can be applied to a wide class of nonlinear partial differential equations.


The small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) are an essential class of non-coding RNAs first identified over 30 years ago. Many of the well-characterized snRNAs are involved in RNA processing events. However, it is now evident that other small RNAs, synthesized using similar mechanisms, play important roles at many stages of gene expression. The accurate and efficient control of the expression of snRNA (and related) genes is thus critical for cell survival. All snRNA genes share a very similar promoter structure, and their transcription is dependent upon the same multi-subunit transcription factor, termed the snRNA activating protein complex (SNAPc). Despite those similarities, some snRNA genes are transcribed by RNA polymerase II (Pol II), but others are transcribed by RNA polymerase III (Pol III). Thus snRNA genes provide a unique opportunity to understand how RNA polymerase specificity is determined and how distinct transcription machineries can interact with a common factor. This review will describe efforts taken toward solving those questions by using the fruit fly as a model organism. Drosophila melanogaster SNAPc (DmSNAPc) binds to a proximal sequence element (PSEA) present in both Pol II and Pol III snRNA promoters. Just a few differences in nucleotide sequence in the Pol II and Pol III PSEAs play a major role in determining RNA polymerase specificity. Furthermore, these same nucleotide differences result in alternative conformations of DmSNAPc on Pol II and Pol III snRNA gene promoters. It seems likely that these DNA-induced alternative DmSNAPc conformations are responsible for the differential recruitment of the distinct transcriptional machineries.


In this paper, we evaluate international experiences (in Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States) with tax incentives that support thermal retrofits, and draw a comparison to the experience of preferential loan and grant programs offered by the German development bank, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau KfW). We find that tax incentives as well as loans and grants had high pick-up rates, but the added value of these schemes remains to be analyzed. We also find that progressive support of comprehensive retrofits compared to single measures appears to be important. Countries that have provided the same level of support for both comprehensive retrofits and single measures have experienced, almost exclusively, investment in single measures.


ABSTRACT There are striking differences in chronic kidney disease between Caucasians and African descendants. It was widely accepted that this occurred due to socioeconomic factors, but recent studies show that apolipoprotein L-1 (APOL1) gene variants are strongly associated with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, HIV-associated nephropathy, hypertensive nephrosclerosis, and lupus nephritis in the African American population. These variants made their way to South America trough intercontinental slave traffic and conferred an evolutionary advantage to the carries by protecting against forms of trypanosomiasis, but at the expense of an increased risk of kidney disease. The effect of the variants does not seem to be related to their serum concentration, but rather to local action on the podocytes. Risk variants are also important in renal transplantation, since grafts from donors with risk variants present worse survival.


Most cloud data centers are over-provisioned and underutilized, primarily to handle peak loads and sudden failures. This has motivated many researchers to reclaim the unused resources, which are by nature ephemeral, to run data-intensive applications at a lower cost. Hadoop MapReduce is one of those applications. However, it was designed on the assumption that resources are available as long as users pay for the service. In order to make it possible for Hadoop to run on unused (ephemeral) resources, we have designed a heterogeneity and volatility-aware holistic scheduler consisting of three different components: (1) A MapReduce task and job scheduler that relies on a global vision of resource utilization predictions, (2) a scheduler-based data placement strategy that improves the data locality, and (3) a reactive QoS controller that ensures customers' service-level agreement (SLA) and minimizes interference between co-located workloads. Our framework makes it possible to take advantage of ephemeral resources efficiently. Indeed, for a given set of jobs, it reduces the overall execution time by up to 47.6% and an average of 18.7% as compared to state-of-the-art strategies.


Diabetes and hypertension are the major causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Epidemiological studies within the last few decades have revealed that obesity-associated renal disease is an emerging epidemic and that the increasing prevalence of obesity parallels the increased rate of CKD. This has led to the inclusion of obesity as an independent risk factor for CKD. A major complication when studying the relationship between obesity and renal injury is that cardiovascular and metabolic disorders that may result from obesity including hyperglycemia, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, or the cluster of these disorders [defined as the metabolic syndrome, (MetS)] also contribute to the development and progression of renal disease. The associations between hyperglycemia and hypertension with renal disease have been reported extensively in patients suffering from obesity. Currently, there are several obese rodent models (high-fat diet-induced obesity and leptin signaling dysfunction) that exhibit characteristics of MetS. However, the available obese rodent models currently have not been used to investigate the impact of obesity alone on the development of renal injury before hypertension and/or hyperglycemia. Therefore, the aim of this review is to describe the incidence and severity of renal disease in these rodent models of obesity and determine which models are suitable to study the independent effects obesity on the development and progression of renal disease.


Abstract. The Tiangong-II space lab was launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center of China on September 15, 2016. The Wide Band Spectral Imager (WBSI) onboard the Tiangong-II has 14 visible and near-infrared (VNIR) spectral bands covering the range from 403–990 nm and two shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands covering the range from 1230–1250 nm and 1628–1652 nm respectively. In this paper the selected bands are proposed which aims at considering the closest spectral similarities between the VNIR with 100 m spatial resolution and SWIR bands with 200 m spatial resolution. The evaluation of Gram-Schmidt transform (GS) sharpening techniques embedded in ENVI software is presented based on four types of the different low resolution pan band. The experimental results indicated that the VNIR band with higher CC value with the raw SWIR Band was selected, more texture information was injected the corresponding sharpened SWIR band image, and at that time another sharpened SWIR band image preserve the similar spectral and texture characteristics to the raw SWIR band image.


This report is a summary of the accomplishments of the 'Scalable Solutions for Processing and Searching Very Large Document Collections' LDRD, which ran from FY08 through FY10. Our goal was to investigate scalable text analysis; specifically, methods for information retrieval and visualization that could scale to extremely large document collections. Towards that end, we designed, implemented, and demonstrated a scalable framework for text analysis - ParaText - as a major project deliverable. Further, we demonstrated the benefits of using visual analysis in text analysis algorithm development, improved performance of heterogeneous ensemble models in data classification problems, and the advantages of information theoretic methods in user analysis and interpretation in cross language information retrieval. The project involved 5 members of the technical staff and 3 summer interns (including one who worked two summers). It resulted in a total of 14 publications, 3 new software libraries (2 open source and 1 internal to Sandia), several new end-user software applications, and over 20 presentations. Several follow-on projects have already begun or will start in FY11, with additional projects currently in proposal.


The dissemination and maintenance of AIV in wild birds is important for understanding the factors that contribute to transmission of AIV from wild birds to poultry. This study examined the impact of Avian flu on the consumption of chicken and egg among university of Ilorin staff, in Ilorin, Kwara state, Nigeria. A survey was conducted by interviewing 110 University of Ilorin staff. Information was collected on the same economic characteristics of the respondents, income and consumption of chicken and eggs. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that Avian flu outbreaks and spread in Nigeria have caused serious threat to the poultry industry, the food security and livelihoods of urban communities. It was also noted that there was a decline in consumers' confidence in poultry product (e.g chicken and egg) as indicated by the respondents. Perception of people about avian flu pandemic indicates 90% of respondents perceived it as deadly, incurable and easily transmissible disease and that was why 77.27% of the sampled households were found to have stopped or drastically reduced the consumption of poultry products for the fear of being infected by the disease. The research conclude that since most of people perceived avian influenza as deadly disease, government enact measures to prevent the virus from spreading and to reduce the risk of infection and ban on transporting poultry in the area where bird flu has occurred. Keywords: avian virus, wild birds, domestic poultry, egg, chicken


Apoptosis is an essential biological process in the development and maintenance of immune system homeostasis. Caspase proteins constitute the core of the apoptotic machinery and can be categorized as either initiators or effectors of apoptosis. Although the genes encoding caspase proteins have been described in vertebrates and in almost all invertebrate phyla, there are few reports describing the initiator and executioner caspases or the modulation of their expression by different stimuli in different apoptotic pathways in bivalves. In the present work, we characterized two initiator and four executioner caspases in the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. Both initiators and executioners showed structural features that make them different from other caspase proteins already described. Evaluation of the genes' tissue expression patterns revealed extremely high expression levels within the gland and gills, where the apoptotic process is highly active due to the clearance of damaged cells. Hemocytes also showed high expression values, probably due to of the role of apoptosis in the defense against pathogens. To understand the mechanisms of caspase gene regulation, hemocytes were treated with UV-light, environmental pollutants and pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and apoptosis was evaluated by microscopy, flow cytometry and qPCR techniques. Our results suggest that the apoptotic process could be tightly regulated in bivalve mollusks by overexpression/suppression of caspase genes; additionally, there is evidence of caspase-specific responses to pathogens and pollutants. The apoptotic process in mollusks has a similar complexity to that of vertebrates, but presents unique features that may be related to recurrent exposure to environmental changes, pollutants and pathogens imposed by their sedentary nature.


A number of international efforts have been initiated during the past few years leading to the definition of educational metadata specifications for the commonly agreed description of educational resources. As more and more applications are implemented using educational metadata, it becomes obvious that it would be difficult for a single metadata model to accommodate the functional requirements of all applications. As a result, application profiles aim to facilitate the application-oriented implementation of educational metadata specifications. In this paper we discuss the issue of standardization vs. conversion and will present different existing specifications with the relative merits of each one, we will examine the fundamental techniques for the definition of application profiles and will focus on discussing interoperability issues in the case of application profiles. Finally, we will demonstrate the use of a tool which offers a graphical user interface for straightforward metadata authoring and at the same time has the necessary suppleness to easily incorporate new educational metadata specifications and/or application profiles.


Metastatic lesions within the ovary constitute a serious diagnostic problem in daily practice. We present an interesting case of Krukenberg tumor in a woman 13 years after partial gastrectomy due to stomach cancer. Our case confirms that every woman with history of cancer should remain under gynecological control. It is important due to a high risk of metastatic changes localized in the ovaries, regardless of the time elapsed since the diagnosis of the primary tumor


A power transmission device capable of adjusting a torque to be applied to an output shaft easily and removing a backlash between gears exactly, and a display device and a display panel pedestal that have the power transmission device. A power transmission device 101 includes a display panel 102, an output shaft 103 to which the display panel is connected, output gears 104 and 105 rotating integrally with the output shaft, transmission gears 106 and 107 engaged with the respective output gears, motors 108 and 109 providing driving forces to the respective transmission gears, and a control circuit 110 controlling the motors. The control circuit 110 causes the motors 108 and 109 to rotate the transmission gears 106 and 107 at different rotation numbers, and to transmit different driving forces to the respective output gears 104 and 105. The output shaft 103 receives not only a torque on a rotation direction side, but also a torque on a side opposite to the rotation direction, whereby the occurrence of play due to the direction change of a weight torque of the display panel 102 is suppressed.


The directional MAC (DMAC) protocol improves the spatial reuse, but directional packets on the control channel cause the deafness problem. In this paper, we propose a tone dual-channel DMAC protocol for mobile ad-hoc networks. In the proposed MAC protocol, the use of omnidirectional transmissions using an omnidirectional out-of-band tone solves the deafness problem and decrease packet collisions on the control channel. The use of an omnidirectional out-of-band tone also mitigates the hidden terminal problem. We use the negative CTS (NCTS) mechanism to solve the exposed terminal problem. The throughput performance of the proposed MAC protocol is confirmed by simulations using the Qualnet simulator.


Neurotransmitter release by Ca2+‐triggered synaptic vesicle exocytosis is essential for information transmission in the nervous system. The soluble N‐ethylmaleimide sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs) syntaxin‐1, SNAP‐25, and synaptobrevin‐2 form the SNARE complex to bring synaptic vesicles and the plasma membranes together and to catalyze membrane fusion. Munc18‐1 and Munc13‐1 regulate synaptic vesicle priming via orchestrating neuronal SNARE complex assembly. In this review, we summarize recent advances toward the functions and molecular mechanisms of Munc18‐1 and Munc13‐1 in guiding neuronal SNARE complex assembly, and discuss the functional similarities and differences between Munc18‐1 and Munc13‐1 in neurons and their homologs in other intracellular membrane trafficking systems.


We present an experimental study and performance improvement of periodic and aperiodic Ni/SiC multilayer coatings. Periodic Ni/SiC multilayer mirrors have been coated and characterized by grazing incidence X-ray reflectometry at 8.048 keV (Cu Kα radiation) and by measurements at 3 keV and 5 keV on synchrotron radiation facilities. An interdiffusion effect is found between Ni and SiC layers. A two-material model, Ni(x)Si(y)/SiC, using a silicide instead of Ni, was used to fit the measurements. The addition of 0.6 nm W barrier layers at the interfaces allows a significant reduction of the interdiffusion between Ni and SiC. In order to obtain a specific reflectivity profile in the 2 - 8 keV energy range, we have designed and coated aperiodic multilayer mirrors by using Ni/SiC with and without W barrier layers. The experimental reflectivity profiles as a function of the photon energy were measured on a synchrotron radiation facility in both cases. Adding W barrier layers in Ni/SiC multilayers provides a better precision on the layer thicknesses and a very good agreement between the experimental data and the targeted spectral profile.


Objectives: To assess potential hypercoagulability during diabetic ketoacidosis in children. Design: A prospective, controlled pilot study. Setting: University-affiliated pediatric critical care unit and emergency department in a tertiary care children's hospital. Patients: Children (1–18 years) admitted with an episode of diabetic ketoacidosis and healthy children as controls. All patients with diabetic ketoacidosis managed according to a preestablished protocol. Interventions: Thromboelastography was performed using citrated whole-blood samples drawn at the time of admission and upon biochemical and clinical resolution of diabetic ketoacidosis. Citrated whole-blood samples drawn from healthy nondiabetic children acted as control samples. Measurements and Main Results: Fifteen patients (11.7 ± 4.1 years) in the diabetic ketoacidosis group and 20 patients (8.9 ± 4.5 years; p = 0.06) in the control group completed the study. Values for standard thromboelastography parameters (R and K time, &agr; angle, maximum amplitude, coagulation index, and Ly30) in the diabetic ketoacidosis group, both on admission and resolution, were within the control range; thromboelastography profiles of diabetic ketoacidosis patients on admission were not significantly different from profiles obtained upon diabetic ketoacidosis resolution. The mean &agr;-angle was significantly higher in known diabetic patients compared with newly diagnosed diabetics on admission; however, it still remained within the control normal range. Conclusions: Thromboelastographic assay results do not reflect a hypercoagulable state in this group of children with diabetic ketoacidosis. Further investigation is required to examine the potential role of injured endothelium in the suspected hypercoagulability during diabetic ketoacidosis.


The genome of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes two cyclic AMP (cAMP) phosphodiesterases, a low-affinity one, Pde1, and a high-affinity one, Pde2. Pde1 has been ascribed a function for downregulating agonist-induced cAMP accumulation in a protein kinase A (PKA)-governed negative feedback loop, whereas Pde2 controls the basal cAMP level in the cell. Here we show that PKA regulates the localization and protein concentration of Pde2. Pde2 is accumulated in the nucleus in wild-type cells growing on glucose, or in strains with hyperactive PKA. In contrast, in derepressed wild-type cells or cells with attenuated PKA activity, Pde2 is distributed over the nucleus and cytoplasm. We also show evidence indicating that the Pde2 protein level is positively correlated with PKA activity. The increase in the Pde2 protein level in high-PKA strains and in cells growing on glucose was due to its increased half-life. These results suggest that, like its low-affinity counterpart, the high-affinity phosphodiesterase may also play an important role in the PKA-controlled feedback inhibition of intracellular cAMP.


Given that evolution can generate rapid and dramatic shifts in the ecological tolerance of a species, what prevents populations adapting to expand into new habitat at the edge of their distributions? Recent population genetic models have focused on the relative costs and benefits of migration between populations. On the one hand, migration may limit adaptive divergence by preventing local populations from matching their local selective optima. On the other hand, migration may also contribute to the genetic variance necessary to allow populations to track these changing optima. Empirical evidence for these contrasting effects of gene flow in natural situations are lacking, largely because it remains difficult to acquire. Here, we develop a way to explore theoretical models by estimating genetic divergence in traits that confer stress resistance along similar ecological gradients in rainforest Drosophila. This approach allows testing for the coupling of clinal divergence with local density, and the effects of genetic variance and the rate of change of the optimum on the response to selection. In support of a swamping effect of migration on phenotypic divergence, our data show no evidence for a cline in stress-related traits where the altitudinal gradient is steep, but significant clinal divergence where it is shallow. However, where clinal divergence is detected, sites showing trait means closer to the presumed local optimum have more genetic variation than sites with trait means distant from their local optimum. This pattern suggests that gene flow also aids a sustained response to selection.


Survivin is a 16.5 kDa protein highly expressed in centrosomes, where it controls proper sister chromatid separation. In addition to its function in mitosis, survivin is also involved in apoptosis. Overexpression of survivin in many cancer types makes it a suitable target for cancer therapy. Western blotting and confocal microscopy were used to characterize the effect of chemotherapy on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. We found enhanced survivin expression in a panel of AML cell lines treated with cytarabine (Ara-C), which is part of a first-line induction regimen for AML therapy. Simultaneously, Ara-C caused growth arrest and depletion of the mitotic cell fraction. Subsequently, the effect of a second component of standard therapy protocol, idarubicin, and of a known survivin inhibitor, YM-155, on cell viability and survivin expression and localization in AML cells was investigated. Idarubicin reversed Ara-C-induced survivin upregulation in the majority of AML cell lines. YM-155 caused survivin deregulation together with a viability decrease in cells resistant to idarubicin treatment, suggesting that YM-155 might be efficient in a specific subset of AML patients. Expression levels of other apoptosis-related proteins, in particular X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP), Mcl-1, and p53, and of the cell-cycle inhibitor p21 considerably changed in almost all cases, confirming the off-target effects of YM-155.


The magmatic evolution of The Pleiades, a Quaternary alkalic volcanic complex in Northern Victoria Land (NVL), Antarctica, is investigated using major and trace element, and Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic data. The volcanic rocks can be subdivided into two distinct magmatic lineages based on petrography and whole-rock compositions: (1) a sodic silica-undersaturated lineage with abundant kaersutite phenocrysts and (2) a potassic and mildly-alkalic, silica-saturated to slightly undersaturated lineage containing olivine phenocrysts but no kaersutite. The pressure–temperature paths estimated by clinopyroxene–liquid thermobarometry are similar in each lineage. Massbalance calculations using whole-rock and mineral compositions show that kaersutite fractionation without olivine has played a major role in magmatic differentiation of the sodic lineage, whereas the compositional variations of the potassic lineage can be ascribed to fractionation of an assemblage of plagioclase, clinopyroxene, olivine, titanomagnetite and apatite, combined with about 10% lower crustal assimilation. The higher Sr/Sr (> 0 7035), lower Nd/Nd (< 0 51285), and Pb/Pb (< 19 3) ratios of the evolved potassic lavas compared to the mafic lavas support crustal assimilation. The mafic lavas from both lineages are characterized by elevated Pb/Pb (>19 5) ratios and narrow ranges of Sr/Sr (0 70313–0 70327) and Nd/Nd (0 51289–0 51290) ratios, which is consistent with a high m-like (HIMU, where m1⁄4(U/Pb)t1⁄40) component typical of Cenozoic volcanic rocks in Antarctica and Zealandia. This HIMU-like isotopic signature of The Pleiades volcanic rocks, together with elevated Nb concentrations and negative K anomalies in primitive mantle-normalized diagrams, suggests an amphibole-bearing metasomatized lithospheric mantle source. We suggest that the primary magmas of the two lineages were formed by partial melting of metasomatic hydrous veins in the lithospheric mantle with varying degrees of reaction with the surrounding, anhydrous peridotite. The drier potassic magma experienced greater peridotite assimilation relative to the more hydrous sodic magmas. This hypothesis is supported by lower contents of Al2O3, TiO2, K2O, Rb, and Nb in the mafic potassic lavas compared to the sodic ones. This initial difference was intensified by crustal assimilation in the potassic magma suite, resulting in a silica-saturated alkalic trend which is distinct from the trend of the sodic silica-undersaturated alkalic magmas. VC The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com 117 J O U R N A L O F P E T R O L O G Y Journal of Petrology, 2019, Vol. 60, No. 1, 117–150 doi: 10.1093/petrology/egy108 Advance Access Publication Date: 5 December 2018


Introduction – Package has many functions for what is packed. Package provides physical protection for materials that protect it from temperature, pressure, shock, or physical contact. The most common package materials that used to package the medicine is plastic. Plastic packaging consists of two types those are primary packaging and pharmaceutical waste. Paper is a natural fiber products derived from cellulose fiber networks that in turn is derived from wood resources. Compared to plastic, paper is a novelty in the field of medicine packaging and so far only used for food packaging.Advantages – Paper packaging is one alternative packaging relatively cheapest than other types of packaging. The paper also has a light weight so it does not provide significant additional weight to the product. In addition, a paper-based laminate composites can improve the storage time of the product so that it can be used for packaging that require a modified atmosphere.Disadvantages – Paper is suitable for bringing solid products that do not require a very high limit characteristic. Paper is able to make migration of nitrates to products that contained thus requiring additional materials as a coating. In addition, the paper is vulnerable to radiation. Irradiation toward the paper material cause this material loses its mechanical characteristic and heat can penetrate into the product.Feasibility – Developments in materials science have produced some important innovations. Packaging paper-based composites have been developed for packing materials that have strict boundary conditions, including medicines. This is done by coating the paper with polymer coating materials that is not decompose as polyethylene (PE), waxes, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polibutilene terephtalate (PBT). However, non-biodegradable polymers give environmental impacts that actually wanted to be avoided by plastic packaging. The alternatives of paper look promising to overcome the ecological problems. Its application as a medicine package made possible by coating with a material that can be abstracted from biological sources.Discussion – The plastic has weaknesses, particularly related to environmental issues. The use of paper can overcome these problems and the development in the field of materials science provides the possibility for application in the field of drug packaging. Regardless of the method of production, the use of paper is better than plastic because it is easily decomposed, even if it is coated with a specific material for medical purposes such as hydrocolloids and fatty substances. The alternatives of paper look promising to overcome the ecological problems. Its application as a medicine package made possible by coating with a material that can be abstracted from biological sources. Nevertheless, the real impact of paper and plastic in global warming is still debated. Therefore, for the application of medicine package, is not only should be tested for feasibility in protecting medicine, including escape from the impurity (impurity), but also the feasibility of reducing the risk of global warming.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to observe the apoptosis of A2780 cells transfected with the recombinant plasmid of pcDNA-Bax and to observe the release of cytochrome C from the mitochondria.

METHODS
The recombinant plasmid of pcDNA-Bax was constructed and transfected into A2784 cells. The Hoechst 33258 stain method was applied to evaluate the apoptosis of the transfected cells and MTT mothod was used to test the cell viability. Western blot analysis was performed to determine the overexpression of Bax and the release of cytochrome C from the mitochondria.

RESULTS
The recombinant plasmid of pcDNA-Bax was successfully constructed by using endonuclease digestion and the sequence analysis. The apoptosis of A2780 cells was induced after transfected with pcDNA3. 1-Bax as demonstrated with Hoechst staining. The cell viability were decreased in the pcDNA3. 1-Bax transfected group by MTT assay. The release of cytochrome C from the mitochondria was observed when using Western blotting analysis. And the caspase-9 and the caspase-3 were activated.

CONCLUSION
Our data suggestted that Bax exhibited potent pro-apoptotic activity against the ovarian cancer cells. This study is a foundation for the further research in the pro-apoptotic activity of Bax.


Tourism has been traditionally regarded as a business and management concern. This paper explores how cultural settings can be used to open opportunities for other stakeholders in communities to participate in touristic activities. It aims to contribute to what the authors believe to be the emerging importance of alternative definitions of tourism as a phenomenon. It documents research activities of two academics that did participant observation and interviews in a third-class municipality known for heritage skills in embroidery. Content analysis of field notes obtained months before the off icial start of the university's semester was done to put structure in an out-of-classroomlearning activity (OCLA) of three sections of undergraduate students. Pre- and post-trip surveys were conducted to gather data on the one-day OCLA. Data obtained from students and local tourism stakeholders were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively using a culture tourism framework. The paper ends with insights on OCLAs of undergraduate students and a description of how a visit to a destination can uncover meanings that contribute toward understanding of embroidery, self-identity, and embedded meanings of the visited place. Keywords: Embroidery, self-identity, tourism, culture, embedded meanings, tourism stakeholders


Background. Probiotics have been shown to reduce incidence, duration and symptom scores of acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI). Objective. To study a potential of probiotics in prevention of ARTI in children. Materials and Methods. 96 otherwise healthy children aged 3-12 years closely contacted to a household with ARTI were randomized to receive 1 g of a powder containing 5 billion CFU of L. acidophilus DDS-1, B. lactis and 50 mg fructooligosaccharide (DDS Junior, UAS Laboratories) (group I, n=48) or rice maltodextrine powder (group II, n=48) once daily for 30 days. During one-month follow-up, we recorded incidence, duration, and clinical course of ARTI using Canadian acute respiratory illness and flu scale (CARIFS). Results. At baseline groups I and II were comparable on age, number of social contacts, history of attending daycare/school, and history of previous ARTI. 85% (n=41) of children in the group I and 90% (n=43) in the group II developed ARTI (p=0.368). In sick children at group I 50% clinical recovery from baseline value of CARIFS occurred on day 6.2(1.9), while in the group II on day 7.2(2.1) (p=0.025). For the group I return to normal health was observed on day 8.5(3.3) vs 10.7(3.9) in the group II (p=0.007). In the group I nasal decongestants, throat preparations, and antipyretics were used for a shorter course than in the group II (2.3(1.2) vs 3.2(1.7) p=0.007; 1.9(1.1) vs 2.5(1.6) p=0.046; 2.7(1.2) vs 3.5(1.5) p=0.009, respectively). Conclusions. At tendency toward prophylactic potential in limitation of household spread, probiotics have a clear attenuating effect on the clinical course of ARTI in young children and shorten use of flu/cold drugs.


Abstract New similarity expressions for turbulent Ekman layers have recently appeared, the theoretical foundation of which is analyzed in this paper. It is shown that the flow in Ekman layers has to be solved by singular perturbation methods. The similarity laws given by Gill and Csanady are, in first approximation, independent of the surface Rossby number if it is sufficiently large.


Aims: The study aimed at assessing the similarities and the differences between French wine producers' perception of Belarusian consumers and the actual behavior of Belarusian consumers.
Study design:  Questionnaires filled in individually were used to compare consumers and producers' perception. The questionnaire was made up of general questions addressing socio-demographic data, the kind of beverage preferred, the frequency of consumption of wine, the type of wine preferred, the origin of the wine preferred (producer country), the price and the criteria for purchasing wine. The aim was to get to know their profiles, their habits regarding purchasing and consuming alcohol and more specifically wine.
Place and Duration of Study: Consumer survey was undertaken in 2018 in Belarus and producers survey was undertaken in 2019 in France.
Methodology: Subjects were all volunteers. Belarussian consumer subjects were healthy (especially no addiction to alcohol, no food disorders) and adult. French participants were experienced producers or novices separated in two sub-samples. Comparison between answers used t-test and z-test.
Results: Producers have a correct representation of the type of wine sought by Belarusian consumers and of the criteria to select it but misperceive who shop for wine and how it is consumed. In addition, French producers imagine their wine to be preferred while it is this of Moldavia.
Conclusion: This may lead the producers to offer the wrong product for the wrong consumer target and contribute to explain why French wines only ranked fourth regarding importation of wine in Belarus while France is the world's leading wine exporter. This also suggests that the teaching program in French wine schools might be adapted.


The current research aims at investigating the comparative effect of two types of Digital storytelling design: Linear Vs. Branched of sequencing events/episodes on knowledge acquisition (KA) and creative thinking skills (CTS) in web based distance learning. The problem statement was that a deficiency in students' performance was noticed in "Computer in Instruction" Course at Al-Aqsa University, and a need for discovering the effect of two designs of Digital Storytelling (DS) on KA and CTS. The developmental research methodology and a two experimental groups design with Pre-Post Tests were selected and a sample of (30) students divided randomly in two groups of 15 each. So, the researchers developed: design standards of DS, a list of CTS, and two validated versions of DS (Linear and Branched) using Elgazzar (2002) ISD model, two approved research tools ( KA and CTS). Experimentation was carried out by the first author at distance during the first semester of 2011–2012. The pre – post tests of KA and CTS were administered. Pre, post, and gain scores were considered in testing five research hypotheses. Statistical procedures include descriptive, t-tests, and One-Way ANCOVA. Results have revealed that both Branched DST design and Linear DST design are found to be effective in developing KA and CTS. Linear DST design is found to be superior to Branched DS in gain scores of (KA), while there are no significant differences found in gain scores of CTS, post-test of CTS, and post-test of KA. In conclusion, the answer to the main question is that an effect is found only on gain scores of KA favouring the linear DST design over the Branched Design of DST, and no such comparative effects found on the other variables of KA and CTS in a web based Distance Learning course.


GMM estimation of autoregressive panel data equations in error-ridden variables when the noise has memory, is considered. The impact of variation in the memory length in signal and noise spread and in the degree of individual heterogeneity are discussed with respect to finite sample bias, using Monte Carlo simulations. Also explored are also the impact of the strength of autocorrelation and the size of the IV set. GMM procedures using IVs in differences on equations in levels, in general perform better in small samples than procedures using IVs in levels on equations in differences. A case-study of the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on GDP, inter alia, contrasting the manufacturing and the service sector, based on country panel data supplements the simulation results.


Abstract The radiation balance consisting of upward and downward components of solar and thermal infrared broadband irradiances is continuously measured from the top of a 300-m tower situated on the Colorado high plains. The data are representative of a weighted areal average over a variety of surface and vegetation types within about a 1.5-km radius of the tower. Data from a three-year period, 1986–88, appears to be sufficient to define smooth annual cycles in monthly averages and 1-h resolution diurnal cycles in seasonal averages. It is found that even though infrared cycles are out of phase with cycles of corresponding solar components, the overall net radiation balance is in phase with surface solar forcing. The latter follows closely the extraterrestrial forcing but with some phase modifications by clouds and surface reflectance variations. The value of the correlation coefficient squared between the extraterrestrial radiation and the measured surface radiation balance quickly increases from 0.89–0.9...


Ninety crossbred weaned piglets "Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire" aged 28 days were randomly allocated into 3 groups(3 replicates for each group and 10 pigs for each replicate). Pigs in the control group were fed with basic diet, in low-dose group with basic diet plus 0.1% Cordyceps militaris fermented Schisandra chinensis residue and in high-dose group with basic diet plus 0.2% Cordyceps militaris fermented Schisandra chinensis residue for 14 days. Then one pig from each replicate was selected for blood collection by anterior vena cava venipuncture for analysis of the routine blood parameters, peripheral T lymphocyte subgroups and their proliferative activities, as well as the IL–2, IFN–γ contents. Results showed there was no difference in white blood cells(WBC), lymphocyte(LYM), mean erythrocyte haemoglobin concentration(MCHC), platelet count(PLT), mean platelet volume(MPV) and platelet distribution width(PDWcv)(P0.05) between the control group and the low- and high-dose groups. Compared to the control, the contents of RBC and HGB in high-dose group were significantly increased(P0.05), the CD4+/CD8+ ratio and proliferation function of peripheral blood T cell in low- and high-dose groups were extremely significantly increased(P0.01), the serum IFN-γ contents in high-dose group were also increased(P0.05 or P0.01), but there was no significant difference in serum IL-2 contents of piglets among groups(P0.05). It was concluded that dietary supplied with Cordyceps militaris fermented Schisandra chinensis residue improves the immunologic function and optimizes blood physiology parameters of piglets.


Major disturbances of magnetosphere occurred when the interplanetary magnetic field turns southward and remains there for a long period of time, then can produce geomagnetic storms which can last for more than a day foe severe storms. The phase is characterized by the occurrence of multiple intense substorms. In this paper, the inter correlation between the geomagnetic storms and different geomagnetic indices are critically examined in connection solar terrestrial relationship.


Chemically modified lysozymes, namely: N-succinyl lysozyme, glycine methyl ester of N-succinyl lysozyme and oxoindole lysozyme have been prepared. Aggregation, fusion and leakage of phospholipid vesicles induced by these derivatives have been studied in comparison with the effect of the unmodified protein. The experiments were carried out with negatively charges 9PC/PA, 9:1) and uncharged (PC and PC/DOPE/Chol (10:5:5)) lipid vesicles of different packing. Fusion and aggregation of negatively charged phospholipid vesicles in induced by proteins positively charged at pH 7.0 involving electrostatic interactions, a similar pattern on fusion and aggregation of the least stably packed lipid vesicles points also to hydrophobic forces playing a role in the lipid-protein interaction. A conformational change of the protein involved increasing beta-turns, loops and unordered structure at the expenses of beta-sheet without affecting alpha helix content. The conformational effect is necessary to provoke the effects studied, since one of the derivatives (N-succinyl lysozyme) neither changes conformation nor causes aggregation and fusion of vesicles. However, there is no relationship between lysozyme activity and fusion or aggregation of lipid vesicles that catalytic and fusogenci sites of, indicating lysozyme are topographically different.


The hepatic blood flow (HBF) of patients with liver disease was measured by per-rectal portal scintigraphy with the use of 133Xe. To analyze the time-activity curves of the liver and portal vein, washout curves of the liver were plotted, and from those, the HBF and the ratio of the HBF of the right lobe of the liver to that of the left lobe (R/L ratio) were calculated. The HBF were 143 +/- 17 ml/100 g/min in 5 patients with chronic inactive hepatitis, 119 +/- 20 ml/100 g/min in 4 patients with chronic active hepatitis, and 73.2 +/- 23.4 ml/100 g/min in 7 patients with cirrhosis of the liver. All of four patients whose HBF was under 100 ml/100 g/min and whose R/L ratio was under 1.0 had cirrhosis of the liver. Only one of the 9 patients whose HBF was over 100 ml/100 g/min and whose R/L ratio was over 1.0 had cirrhosis of the liver. The results suggested that per-rectal portal scintigraphy is a useful and noninvasive method to measure the hepatic blood flow.


As a method of seismic-design for pile-supported wharves, equivalent static analysis, response spectrum analysis, and time history analysis method are applied. Among them, the response spectrum analysis is widely used to obtain the maximum response of a structure. Because the ground is not modeled in the response spectrum analysis of pile-supported wharves, the amplified input ground acceleration should be calculated by ground classification or seismic response analysis. However, it is difficult to calculate the input ground acceleration through ground classification because the pile-supported wharf is build on inclined ground, the methods to calculate the input ground acceleration proposed in the standards are different. Therefore, in this study, the dynamic centrifuge model tests and the response spectrum analysis were carried out to calculate the appropriate input ground acceleration. The pile moment in response spectrum analysis and the dynamic centrifuge model tests were compared. As a result of comparison, it was shown that the response spectrum analysis results using the amplified acceleration in the ground surface were appropriate.


Objectives.The objective of this study was to ascertain the extent to which demographic and health-related variables are related to visits to a complementary or alternative medicine (CAM) practitioner. Methods.This study reports a secondary analysis of visits to CAM practitioners during the year before the 1996 Medical E-penditure Panel Survey (n = 16,038). Results.Overall visits to CAM providers (9%) were lower than reported in widely cited surveys but quite consistent with a previous Robert Wood Johnson study that used a similar sampling procedure. Gender, education, age, geographic location, and race (Hispanics and African Americans proved to be less likely to visit CAM providers than whites) were statistically significant predictors of visits to CAM providers. Individuals in poorer health and those suffering from mental, musculoskeletal, and metabolic disorders also tended to be more likely to have visited a CAM provider. Conclusions.Although the choice of alternative versus orthodo- treatment appears to be a comple- phenomenon, these data suggest that the heaviest users of CAM therapies tend to be individuals with comorbid, non–life-threatening health problems. This finding may help to ameliorate concerns that this type of care is being used in lieu of therapies with more definitive efficacy evidence.


The Brillouin flow equilibrium in magnetically insulated lines is a state in which field-emitted electrons, confined to a sheath near the cathode by a magnetic field, drift laminarly at the ¿¿ x ¿¿ velocity in the self-consistent fields of the anode-cathode gap. Herein, this state is perturbed by a TM disturbance traveling along the direction of electron flow. Asymptotic expansions of all quantities of interest in some small parameter are performed in the long wavelength limit. First order quantities are seen to be governed by the Korteweg-deVries' equation, which admits soliton solutions. In the appropriate limits of either infinite wavelength or vanishingly small amplitude, the results contained herein are seen to agree with other analyses, based, respectively, upon either the nondispersive telegraphers' equations or a linearized analysis.


BACKGROUND
Hip fracture surgery and lower extremity arthroplasty are associated with increased risk of both venous thromboembolism and bleeding. The best pharmacologic strategy for reducing these opposing risks is uncertain.

PURPOSE
To compare venous thromboembolism (VTE) and bleeding rates in adult patients receiving aspirin versus anticoagulants after major lower extremity orthopedic surgery.

DATA SOURCES
Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the Cochrane Library through June 2013; reference lists, ClinicalTrials.gov, and scientific meeting abstracts.

STUDY SELECTION
Randomized trials comparing aspirin to anticoagulants for prevention of VTE following major lower extremity orthopedic surgery.

DATA EXTRACTION
Two reviewers independently extracted data on rates of VTE, bleeding, and mortality.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Of 298 studies screened, 8 trials including 1408 participants met inclusion criteria; all trials screened participants for deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Overall rates of DVT did not differ statistically between aspirin and anticoagulants (relative risk [RR]: 1.15 [95% confidence interval {CI}: 0.68-1.96]). Subgrouped by type of surgery, there was a nonsignificant trend favoring anticoagulation following hip fracture repair but not knee or hip arthroplasty (hip fracture RR: 1.60 [95% CI: 0.80-3.20], 2 trials; arthroplasty RR: 1.00 [95% CI: 0.49-2.05], 5 trials). The risk of bleeding was lower with aspirin than anticoagulants following hip fracture repair (RR: 0.32 [95% CI: 0.13-0.77], 2 trials), with a nonsignificant trend favoring aspirin after arthroplasty (RR: 0.63 [95% CI: 0.33-1.21], 5 trials). Rates of pulmonary embolism were too low to provide reliable estimates.

CONCLUSION
Compared with anticoagulation, aspirin may be associated with higher risk of DVT following hip fracture repair, although bleeding rates were substantially lower. Aspirin was similarly effective after lower extremity arthroplasty and may be associated with lower bleeding risk. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2014;9:579-585. © 2014 Society of Hospital Medicine.


Many source separation algorithms fail to deliver robust performance when applied to signals recorded using high-density sensor arrays where the distance between sensor elements is much less than the wavelength of the signals. This can be attributed to limited dynamic range (determined by analog-to-digital conversion) of the sensor which is insufficient to overcome the artifacts due to large cross-channel redundancy, non-homogeneous mixing and high-dimensionality of the signal space. This paper proposes a novel framework that overcomes these limitations by integrating statistical learning directly with the signal measurement (analog-to-digital) process which enables high fidelity separation of linear instantaneous mixtures. At the core of the proposed approach is a min-max optimization of a regularized objective function that yields a sequence of quantized parameters which asymptotically tracks the statistics of the input signal. Experiments with synthetic and real recordings demonstrate significant and consistent performance improvements when the proposed approach is used as the analog-to-digital front-end to conventional source separation algorithms.


With electric vehicles (EV s) becoming more and more prevalent as a reaction to climate change, efficient methods of temperature regulation are becoming necessary. Electric motors are preferred in EVs over mechanical cooler pumps and flow-regulating valves found in conventional vehicles. There are many industries that use permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) due to their high power density, high torque-to-weight ratios, simplicity, and ease of maintenance. This paper provides an overview of PMSM control research in automotive water pumps. Due to the nonlinearity of the PMSM system and its effects on multiple operating points, flatness-based control is discussed as a potential solution to overcome the limitations of field-oriented control (FOC) with proportional-integral-derivative (PID) regulators. An analysis of robustness is conducted to compare PI-based FOC with flatness-based control, and simulations are used to show the results.


(1) No concise picture of the disease could be found, nor even any with which most clinicians would agree. For instance, in England and the Scandinavian countries, there has been described a severe variety of chronic prostatitis unlike anything encountered in the. United States (Giertz, 1955). (2) Little was known about its aetiology; bacteriological studies have been, at best, equivocal and before the conquest of gonorrhoea, chronic prostatitis was considered a regular sequel to that disease. However, the advent of penicillin has not reduced the frequency of prostatitis, and, more recently, it has been suggested that the disease may have a large psychogenic component (Rosenbloom, 1949). (3) Diagnosis was difficult because rectal palpation was thought to miss a significant number of "silent" cases, while the examination of prostatic secretions was often misleading, initially at least, in obvious instances of even severe infections. (4) The results of all forms of treatment were disappointing, and more and more people were resorting to time-accepted methods, chiefly prostatic massage. (5) There was no unanimity of opinion regarding the significance of chronic prostatitis. In view of the foregoing, it was decided to carry out the following investigations:


This article assesses the methods and tools deployed by the Commission to ensure compliance in the environmental sector. This assessment is made using Tallberg's theoretical interpretation of enforcement and management strategies within the EU. The author analyses the statistical data provided in the Commission's annual reports on monitoring the application of EU law, as well as environmental infringement judgments delivered between 2007 and 2013. This examination of the environmental policy area and sources for non-compliance validates the complementary deployment of both strategies as they offer a variety of preventive and coercive measures. However, the analysis demonstrates that the Commission uses the management approach more effectively to ensure compliance in the environmental policy area. Although the Commission is making progress under the enforcement approach in the field of the environment, its potential has not been fully realised without a more rigorous application of art.258 and the imposition of sanctions under art.260.


Objective: The number of refugees worldwide is unprecedented in recent history. Little is known, however, about profiles of psychological symptoms following persecution and displacement. Methods: This study reports on a latent class analysis that identified profiles of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety symptoms in a nationally representative sample of 1625 refugees in Australia. The association between specific symptom profiles, exposure to potentially traumatic events and post-migration stressors, and overall health and help-seeking was examined. Results: Latent class analysis yielded an optimal five-class solution. These classes comprised the Pervasive Symptom class (19.2%), the High PTSD Symptom class (17.1%), the High Depression/Anxiety Symptom class (16.4%), the Moderate PTSD Symptom class (16.2%) and the Low Symptom class (31.1%). Participants in the symptomatic classes were more likely to be female, older and report greater post-migration stressors than those in the Low Symptom class. In addition, individuals in classes characterized by PTSD symptoms had been exposed to more types of potentially traumatic events. Membership in symptomatic classes was associated with poorer overall heath and greater help-seeking. Conclusion: Qualitatively distinct symptom profiles were observed in a nationally representative sample of refugees. In addition to a group of people who reported high symptoms across psychological disorders and may warrant clinical intervention, we identified two subclinical classes who may be missed by existing diagnostic classification systems. Post-migration stressors play an important role in influencing refugee symptom profiles over and above exposure to potentially traumatic events. Clinicians should consider specific symptom profiles and contextual factors when planning interventions with refugees.


This paper mainly studies the surface temperature stability, cooling characteristics, power - surface temperature characteristics of self-limiting temperature electric floor heating plate. And a mathematical model of floor radiant heating was established to explore the thermal performance of Self-limiting temperature electrical floor heating plate which applied to floor radiant heating systems. The results of experimental tests and simulation analysis show that the self-limiting temperature electrical floor heating plate has a fast temperature rise response without heat storage, and its power has a good linear relationship with the surface temperature. The heating system has stable room temperature control, which basically meets the human body's thermal comfort heating requirements.


The biological effects of low-dose radiation have attracted attention, but data are currently insufficient to fully understand the beneficial role of the phenomenon. In the present study, we have investigated the effects of low doses of gamma-irradiation alone and in combination with all-trans-retinoic acid (RA) on proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation of the human promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells. Changes in cell behavior and protein expression were determined with the use of light and fluorescent microscopy, immunocytochemical and Western blot analysis. Low-dose irradiation with 1–100 cGy caused a dose-dependent inhibition of HL-60 cell proliferation, and induced apoptosis and differentiation to granulocytes with an increase in the number of CD15-positive cells. Pre-irradiation with 1–100 cGy for 24 h before treatment with RA promoted apoptosis but did not impair RA-induced differentiation. Both processes were associated with a decrease in the expression of the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), BCL-2, c-MYC, and changes in both cytosolic and nuclear levels of protein tyrosine-phosphorylation as well as protein kinase C alpha or beta isoforms. These results demonstrate the beneficial role of low-dose irradiation in modulating leukemia cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis.


Recently, various methods have been proposed to assess the risk of rolling contact fatigue failure by Ekberg, Kabo and Andersson, and in particular, the Dang Van multiaxial fatigue criterion has been suggested in a simple approximate formulation. In this note, it is found that the approximation implied can be very significant; the calculation is improved and corrected, and focused on the study of plane problems but for a complete range of possible friction coefficients. It is found that predicted fatigue limit could be much higher than that under standard uniaxial tension/compression for 'hard materials' than for 'ductile materials.' This is in qualitative agreement, for example, with gears' design standards, but in quantitative terms, particularly for frictionless condition, the predicted limit seems possibly too high, indicating the need for careful comparison with experimental results. Some comments are devoted to the interplay of shakedown and fatigue.


Due to increasing wind power penetration into utility grids, system operators have instituted stringent standards for ride-through compliance of grid-connected wind turbines. Series voltage compensation can be an effective solution to meet the new standards, especially if a low-cost system can be developed. This paper first presents the characteristics of ride-through behavior of doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) using phasor analysis. The analysis is extended to include the effects of generic series voltage compensation. A new control scheme is then described and analyzed, which allows relatively low-energy ratings in the series compensator, thereby significantly lowering the overall system cost. The new controller enables the DFIG with the compensator to provide the reactive power required for system voltage recovery during grid fault, in compliance with the new grid codes. Simulation and experimental results have demonstrated the enhanced performances resulting from the application of the control scheme.