Background and Purpose— Early hematoma growth (EHG) occurs in about one third of patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. The main aim of this study was to investigate the potential of plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) for predicting EHG after acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. Methods— Plasma CRP was measured within 6 hours of onset (median, 120 minutes) in 399 patients with primary or vitamin K antagonist–associated spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage and without recent infection. Computed tomography brain scans were performed at baseline and repeated within 24 hours (median, 22 hours). The primary outcome was EHG, defined as absolute growth >12.5 cm3 or relative growth >33%. Secondary outcomes included early neurological worsening (ENW) using the Glasgow Coma Scale and 30-day mortality. Multivariable regression analyses were used to evaluate associations of CRP concentration and outcomes. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used for survival. Results— EHG occurred in 25.8%, ENW in 19.3%, and mortality was 31.8% at 30 days. Thirty-day mortality was significantly higher in patients with ENW (hazard ratio, 3.21; 95% confidence interval, 2.00–5.17; P<0.0001) and in patients with EHG (hazard ratio, 2.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.42–3.18; P<0.0001, log-rank test). Median CRP was 12 mg/L (interquartile range, 10–17) in the EHG group and 7 mg/L (interquartile range, 4–12.1) in those without EHG (P<0.0001). In multivariable analyses, plasma CRP>10 mg/L independently predicted EHG (odds ratio, 4.71; 95% confidence interval, 2.75–8.06; P<0.0001) and ENW (odds ratio, 2.70; 95% confidence interval, 1.50–4.84; P=0.0009). Conclusions— CRP>10 mg/L is independently predictive of EHG and ENW, both of which are associated with increased mortality. Inflammation may be important in contributing to EHG and warrants further investigation.


The study was aimed to evaluate the potential of existing genotypes of Jerusalem artichoke ( Helianthus tuberosus L.) as biomass feedstock for ethanol production. We investigated the biomass productivity and chemical composition of twenty-six Jerusalem artichoke clones grown in a semi-arid region of China. Jerusalem artichoke was demonstrated to be a sustainable feedstock for bioethanol production. All structural and non-structural carbohydrates in whole plant of Jerusalem artichoke could be 5000 L/ha. The above-ground biomass of Jerusalem artichoke could be a promising feedstock for cellulosic ethanol. The ethanol potential yield from cellulose and hemicellulose in aboveground biomass were 1821 to 5930 L/ha, contributing 29.8-66.4% of the total ethanol yield, which could be as high as that from switchgrass and sweet sorghum stem. Large variation among the investigated genotypes for carbohydrates makes it possible to select suitable clones to be used in bioethanol production in semiarid regions. Clones HB-3, HEN-3, IM-1, SC-1, SHX-3, SX-2 and ZJ-2 yielded tuber total soluble sugar higher than 4.0 t/ha. Clones BJ-4, HUB-2, HUN-2, QH-1, SD-2 and SHH-1 produced more than 5.0 t/ha cellulose and hemicellulose in above-ground biomass. Clones BJ-4 and HUB-2 have the highest ethanol potential based on structural carbohydrates. These clones were promising material if used as biofuel feedstock in this growth condition.


The mechanism of the reaction of aluminium triethyl with various n-alkenes is investigated. The rate of disappearance of alkene obeys an equation which is first-order in alkene and half-order in aluminium triethyl concentration, indicating that the monomeric form of the aluminium triethyl is reactive. Arrhenius parameters are evaluated in terms of the aluminium triethyl dimer dissociating prior to reacting. The solubilities of the alkenes propene-1, butene-1, butene-2 and pentene-1 are measured to obtain their heats of dissolution in dekalin. The unreactivity of butene-2 to aluminium triethyl addition under the conditions used for studying the n-alkene has also been established.


This correspondence deals with a comparative analysis of parametric detectors versus rank ones for radar applications, under K-distributed clutter and nonfluctuating and Swerling II target models. We show that the locally optimum detectors (LODs) (optimum for very low signal-to-clutter ratio (SCR)) under K-distributed clutter are not practical detectors; on the contrary, asymptotically optimum detectors (optimum for high SCR) are the practical ones. The performance analysis of the parametric log-detector and the nonparametric (linear rank) detector is carried out for independent and identically distributed (IID) clutter samples, correlated clutter samples, and nonhomogeneous clutter samples. Some results of Monte Carlo simulations for detection probability (P/sub d/) versus SCR are presented in curves for different detector parameter values.


This article, from the perspective of how agency is nested in this choice, explores why women marry imprisoned insurgents from the southern Philippines. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Maharlika Village, a major Muslim community in Manila, the article discusses how women negotiate gender relations, family, and insurgency politics against the backdrop of political conflict and their precarious everyday lives. The analysis asks how prison marriages feed into the women's everyday maneuvering of the metropole, and how marrying a political prisoner is embedded in moral and gendered obligations arising from the entangled relationship between kinship and insurgency politics. Theoretically, the article argues that prison marriages are part of the women's composite agency, which captures how they aim at fulfilling contradictory desires, notions of morality and gendered obligations, which enables them to momentarily attain their own aspirations.


Coexisting multi-phases in PbZrxTi1−xO3 multilayer thin films were successfully fabricated using the sol–gel method. The microstructure and electrical of the multilayer films with different growth sequences, including the up multilayer films and down multilayer films, have been systematically investigated. The results indicate that a large electrocaloric effect (ECE) is obtained at the temperatures much below the Curie temperature. At room temperature (25 °C), the change in temperature (ΔT) values of the up multilayer and down multilayer thin films are 20.2 K with the applied electric field E = 826 kV cm−1 and 46.3 K with the E = 992 kV cm−1, respectively. In addition, both the films exhibit outstanding ECE of around 145 °C, and ΔT values of 28.9 K and 14.8 K have been obtained for the up multilayer and down multilayer thin films. The results indicate that the antiferroelectric/ferroelectric (AFE/FE), ferroelectric/ferroelectric (FE/FE) phase transition and the synergistic effect of the AFE/FE and FE/FE phase transition are as effective as the FE/PE phase transition. In particular, the multilayer thin films are endowed with refrigeration ability at multi-temperature zones due to the coexistence of multi-phases.


In copper halide lasers, the excitation of copper atoms is produced through the discharge of a storage capacitor. Performances of it were essentially linked to the type of switch used and also to its mode of operation. Thyratrons are the most common switches. Nevertheless, their technological limitations do not allow a high repetition rate and high rate of rise of current. But these limitations can be surpassed by combining the thyratron to magnetic pulse compression (MPC). The MPC driver can improve the laser excitation pulse rise time and increase the repetition rate. A single stage MPC system for CuBr laser has been developed in this paper. With this MPC, the power of laser output was increased more than 20%. The mechanism of MPC performance was analyzed. The design advisements and parameter choices of MPC were presented particularly.


The ability of ZnO photodetectors to absorb UV light plays a key role in enhancing responsivity and performance in electronic, optical, and photonic devices. Herein, the light trapping effect of ZnO is used to design and fabricate a novel honeycomb-like ZnO nanomaterial-based UV photodetector with an excellent photoelectric performance. Compared with the traditional ZnO film UV photodetector, the photoresponsivity of the film with honeycomb nanomaterials can reach up to 4.79 A W−1, which is an improvement of about 300 times. In addition, the honeycomb ZnO nanomaterials UV photodetectors exhibit an improved light absorption, a very photo-to-dark current ratio (2.46 × 103), and an excellent detectivity (4.61 × 1012 Jones). The ZnO honeycomb nanostructure synthesized in this work exhibits a strong trapping effect, providing new insights into the research of nanomaterials used for UV photodetectors.


Abstract This study aims to describe the role of Siauw Giok Tjhan and Abdurrahman Wahid in mainstreaming the discourse of ethnic Chinese citizenship into an integral part of the Indonesian nation. This study uses historical research methods. The results showed that Siauw Giok Tjhan through Baperki (Indonesian Citizenship Consultative Body) an organization founded in 1954 had helped ethnic Chinese from discriminatory policies in order to obtain Indonesian citizen status (WNI). Siauw Giok Tjhan suggested that the ethnic Chinese should carry out a proper integration into the Indonesian nation-society. Through the concept of fair integration, Siauw Giok Tjhan tries to instill awareness in the ethnic Chinese about their Indonesian identity and nation building. However, the political changes after the G30S 1965 have become a setback for the ethnic Chinese to integrate. When Abdurrahman Wahid was president, various policies were carried out to assist ethnic Chinese in the integration process and eliminate discriminatory policies. The strengthening of identity politics today is also due to the absence of these two national figures.


Background: Chest CT is working as a first-line imaging modality for diagnosing Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Whether the CT findings could differentiate between the COVID-19 admitted out of Wuhan and common pneumonia has not been investigated. This study aimed to compare the chest CT features of patients with COVID-19 admitted out of Wuhan, as against the patients with common pneumonia. Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 37 individuals with COVID-19 from six medical centers out of Wuhan from January 17 th to February 26 th . Another group of 41 patients with acute pneumonia collected from the same timeframe in 2019 were enrolled as the control group. All the patients had high-resolution chest CT (HRCT) scans. Clinical variables were recorded including exposure history, clinical symptoms and laboratory findings. For each HRCT, pulmonary lesions including ground-glass opacification (GGO), consolidation, and evidence of fibrosis were recorded. The Student's t test or Wilcoxon's test was used for comparison between COVID-19 and common pneumonia. Spearman correlation was used to evaluate correlations between the pneumonia findings on CT and clinical variables. Results: A total of 37 patients (M/F:19/18; 43.73±16.71 years) in COVID-19 group and 41(M/F:13/28; 49.77±15.00 years) in common pneumonia group were evaluated. Patients with COVID-19 demonstrated a typical pattern of bilateral, multi-lobal GGO, sometimes with consolidation and fibrosis, but a mild degree of pneumonia findings than the control group ( P = 0.0024). 23/37 (62.16%) patients with COVID-19 had a preferable subpleural distribution, while the patients with common pneumonia had higher frequency of peribronchovascular pattern (16/41, 39.02%, P =0.0046). The duration between the illness onset and CT were significantly correlated with the severity scores in both groups. Conclusion: Patients with COVID-19 admitted out of Wuhan demonstrated a milder pulmonary change and a preferable subpleural pattern on HRCT when comparing with the patients with common pneumonia.


Since 21st century, China's trade in goods has got a rapid development and made remarkable achievements, in which the foreign export trade developed more quickly. In export structure, following the steady growth of primary products, the manufactured products represented by capital-and technology-intensive ones have become sources of China's export commodities. While China's export structure of trade in goods still exist some problems such as lower level, high consumption and high emission etc.. Thus, it's essential to take measures of pushing the transition and upgrade in processed trade, guiding the enterprises to increase the autonomous innovation, developing the low-carbon industries, optimizing and adjusting China's export structure of trade in goods so that promote healthy development of China's foreign trade.


Recent advances in cancer immunotherapy have clearly shown that checkpoint-based immunotherapy is effective in a small subgroup of cancer patients. However, no effective predictive biomarker has been identified so far. The major histocompatibility complex, better known in humans as human leukocyte antigen (HLA), is a very polymorphic gene complex consisting of more than 200 genes. It has a crucial role in activating an appropriate host immune response against pathogens and tumor cells by discriminating self and non-self peptides. Several lines of evidence have shown that down-regulation of expression of HLA class I antigen derived peptide complexes by cancer cells is a mechanism of tumor immune escape and is often associated to poor prognosis in cancer patients. In addition, it has also been shown that HLA class I and II antigen expression, as well as defects in the antigen processing machinery complex, may predict tumor responses in cancer immunotherapy. Nevertheless, the role of HLA in predicting tumor responses to checkpoint-based immunotherapy is still debated. In this review, firstly, we will describe the structure and function of the HLA system. Secondly, we will summarize the HLA defects and their clinical significance in cancer patients. Thirdly, we will review the potential role of the HLA as a predictive biomarker for checkpoint-based immunotherapy in cancer patients. Lastly, we will discuss the potential strategies that may restore HLA function to implement novel therapeutic strategies in cancer patients.


The article is devoted to the actual subject - features development of tourism inUkraine. Tourism inUkrainelegally declared as a priority of national culture and economy. The promotion ofUkraineas a European state requires the development of tourism industry. The modern concept of leisure activities organization leads to increased demand for tourism in those regions, which have the cultural, social, household identity of the nation, local community. These areas are presented in the most regions ofUkraine. Due to the wealth of historical, cultural, recreational, social and economic resourcesUkrainehas all essential prerequisites for intensive tourism development.Tourism plays an important role in regional development. Currently, most researches are aimed at economic aspects of development, which are usually associated with external (international) tourism. However not enough attention were paid to social and environmental aspects of domestic tourism, which may become an important tool for spiritual revival, patriotic education, formation of ecological thinking and future mentality of the Ukrainian society.In the development of tourism inUkrainethere are some features: changing in the ratio of internal and external tourism in favor of external, a small number of foreign tourists, the gradual reduction in the number of citizens covered by domestic tourism. In 2015 the tourist flow was at the level of 2000 and amounted into 2,02 million people. There was a reduction compared to 2013 by almost 40%. Although the highest rates of reduction (30%) occurred in 2014, and 10% - in 2015. So the rate of decrease in tourist flow slowed. The number of foreign tourists significantly reduced to a record 0.75% of the total number of travelers. On the contrary, the number of citizens ofUkraine, which travelled abroad remains very high and exceeds 80%. The number of domestic tourists remains at the level of 17%. Unfortunately, the negative trends in domestic tourism and excursion activity were caused by both economic and political troubles of last three years.


The quadrupolar splitting profiles of methylene groups along the acyl chains of perdeuteriated dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC-d54) in mixtures with dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) were studied by 2H NMR. The quadrupolar splittings, obtained for lipid mixtures in the bilayer state, were measured as functions of temperature and PE:PC ratio and were used to obtain the approximate gauche probabilities at a given chain position, pB. Ratios (R) of pB for C13, C12, and C11 relative to that of the plateau region were used to characterize the effect of increasing PE on the gauche content of PC chains. At all temperatures studied (including the bilayer to hexagonal phase transition region), for each ratio R (e.g., RC13/P), the relative gauche content of the DMPC chains was similar over the range of 25-85% PE. DOPE is viewed in simple terms as having a "conical" shape; if this geometry applies to the acyl chain region of the molecule, a greater lateral pressure would be expected toward the center of the bilayer as the PE content is increased, resulting in a decreased gauche content, relative to the plateau, of those methylene groups of PC. The failure to observe the predicted increase in lateral pressure has ramifications for the cone-shape molecular model. The overall "cone shape" of PE is seen to arise from the smaller size of the head-group relative to the acyl chains; however, the acyl chain region itself is not rigidly cone-shaped and is better represented by a flexible "balloon". These results were supported by small-angle X-ray diffraction, which showed a decreasing trend in the area per molecule with increasing PE content.


Coordinated cell function requires inter-organelle communication across Membrane Contact Sites (MCS). Here we deposit ER-enriched microsomes purified from rat liver or from cultured cells on a coverslip in the form of a continuous planar membrane. We visualize real-time protein and lipid exchanges across MCS that form between this ER-mimicking membrane and lipid droplets purified from rat liver. An Optical trap is used to demonstrate physical tethering of individual lipid droplets to the ER-mimicking membrane at MCS, and to directly measure the strength of this tether. In-vitro MCS formation changes dramatically in response to metabolic state and immune activation in the animal. Surprisingly, we find that the Rab18 GTPase and Phosphatidic acid are common molecular factors to control both of these pathways. This assay could possibly be adapted to interrogate MCS formation between other membranes (e.g. mitochondria, peroxisomes, endosomes etc.), and abnormalities therein that cause neurological, metabolic and pathogenic diseases.


Abstract Aims Hypertension is common. Recent data suggest that macrophages (Mφ) contribute to, and protect from, hypertension. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is the most potent endogenous vasoconstrictor with additional pro-inflammatory properties. We investigated the role of the ET system in experimental and clinical hypertension by modifying Mφ number and phenotype. Methods and results In vitro, Mφ ET receptor function was explored using pharmacological, gene silencing, and knockout approaches. Using the CD11b-DTR mouse and novel mice with myeloid cell-specific endothelin-B (ETB) receptor deficiency (LysMETB−/−), we explored the effects of modifying Mφ number and phenotype on the hypertensive effects of ET-1, angiotensin II (ANG II), a model that is ET-1 dependent, and salt. In patients with small vessel vasculitis, the impacts of Mφ depleting and non-depleting therapies on blood pressure (BP) and endothelial function were examined. Mouse and human Mφ expressed both endothelin-A and ETB receptors and displayed chemokinesis to ET-1. However, stimulation of Mφ with exogenous ET-1 did not polarize Mφ phenotype. Interestingly, both mouse and human Mφ cleared ET-1 through ETB receptor mediated, and dynamin-dependent, endocytosis. Mφ depletion resulted in an augmented chronic hypertensive response to both ET-1 and salt. LysMETB−/− mice displayed an exaggerated hypertensive response to both ET-1 and ANG II. Finally, in patients who received Mφ depleting immunotherapy BP was higher and endothelial function worse than in those receiving non-depleting therapies. Conclusion Mφ and ET-1 may play an important role in BP control and potentially have a critical role as a therapeutic target in hypertension.


Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of bacteriospermia in male patients with clinically proven HIV/AIDS in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Methods: Using standard methods, sperm samples were collected by masturbation after 3 days of abstinence from 120 male patients with clinically diagnosed HIV/AIDS aged 18-57 with a mean age of 39.5; this included 65 single and 55 married men and analyzed for sperm quality and bacteriological profile. Results: Of the 120 patients tested, 90 (75%) had bacteriospermia with at least one pathogen (Staphylococcus aureus, 30%, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, 13%, Escherichia coli, 20%, Proteus mirabilis, 10%, Proteus vulgaris, 10%, Klebsiella spp., 10% and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 7%). The prevalence of bacteriospermia was higher in singles 60 (50%) compared to married 30 (25%) and significantly (P=0.05) higher in subjects 2837 and 38-47 years age group (both 30%) followed by the 18-27 years age group (15%). Conclusion: A relatively high rate of prevalence of bacteriospermia has been identified among HIV/AIDS patients studied. This is dependent of age and marital status of the patients.


We study using in situ transmission electron microscopy the birth of GaAs nanowires from liquid Au–Ga catalysts on amorphous substrates. Lattice-resolved observations of the starting stages of growth are reported here for the first time. It reveals how the initial nanostructure evolves into a nanowire growing in a zincblende 〈111〉 or the equivalent wurtzite〈0001〉 direction. This growth direction(s) is what is typically observed in most III–V and II–VI nanowires. However, the reason for this preferential nanowire growth along this direction is still a dilemma. Based on the videos recorded shortly after the nucleation of nanowires, we argue that the lower catalyst droplet-nanowire interface energy of the {111} facet when zincblende (or the equivalent {0001} facet in wurtzite) is the reason for this direction selectivity in nanowires.


The adsorption of Suwannee River fulvic acid (SRFA) on boehmite, gamma-AlO(OH), has been examined by both macroscopic adsorption and in situ ATR-FTIR spectroscopic techniques. At a SRFA concentration approaching surface saturation (F = 5.3 micromol m(-2)), adsorption is at a maximum at low pH and decreases as pH is increased. The ATR-FTIR spectral features of adsorbed SRFA are very similar to those measured approximately 1-2 pH units higher in solution, indicating that (i) the SRFA appears to be predominantly adsorbed at the boehmite/water interface in an outer-sphere complexation mode and (ii) the positively charged boehmite/water interface stabilizes SRFA molecules against protonation at low pH.


Includes the first complete English translation of Jacques Derrida's book-length essay, "Shibboleth for Paul Celan." "Despite a growing interest in Celan over the past twenty years, there is no collection in English which comes as close to the extended critical presentation assembled here. Word Traces will be a standard text on Celan-the variety of the essays is wide and will appeal to specialists in philosophy, German studies, modern poetry, comparative literature, and literary theory. This is an impressive collection of texts written by philosophers and critics whose concerns show the pertinence and breadth of Celan's writings for contemporary thought."-Steven Ungar, University of Iowa


ABSTRACT Live, attenuated viruses have been the most successful vaccines in monkey models of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. However, there are several safety concerns about using such an anti-HIV vaccine in humans, including reversion of the vaccine strain to virulence and recombination with endogenous retroviral sequences to produce new infectious and potentially pathogenic viruses. Because testing in humans would inevitably carry a substantial risk, we set out to test the genetic stability of multiply deleted HIV constructs in perpetuated tissue culture infections. The Δ3 candidate vaccine strain of HIV-1 contains deletions in the viral long terminal repeat (LTR) promoter and the vpr and nef genes. This virus replicates with delayed kinetics, but a profound enhancement of virus replication was observed after approximately 2 months of culturing. Analysis of the revertant viral genome indicated that the three introduced deletions were maintained but a 39-nucleotide sequence was inserted in the LTR promoter region. This insert was formed by duplication of the region encoding three binding sites for the Sp1 transcription factor. The duplicated Sp1 region was demonstrated to increase the LTR promoter activity, and a concomitant increase in the virus replication rate was measured. In fact, duplication of the Sp1 sites increased the fitness of the Δ3 virus (Vpr/Nef/U3) to levels higher than that of the singly deleted ΔVpr virus. These results indicate that deleted HIV-1 vaccine strains can evolve into fast-replicating variants by multiplication of remaining sequence motifs, and their safety is therefore not guaranteed. This insight may guide future efforts to develop more stable anti-HIV vaccines.


Transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) is a minimally invasive technique for local excision of benign and malignant neoplasms in the rectum. Indications for this technique are constantly changing and extending. The aim of this study is to describe a case of a unique and innovative application of this surgical technique. A 72-year-old patient was admitted to the Clinical Department of General and Colorectal Surgery for elective resection of a tumor located in the perianal area using the TEM surgical technique. In August 2005 the patient underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy due to symptomatic cholecystitis. From March 2011 the patient complained about ongoing sharp pain in the perianal and presacral area. Computed tomography revealed two oval areas approximately 30 mm in size to the right of the sigmoido-rectal region communicating with the colon lumen. Subsequently diverticulitis was diagnosed. The TEM technique was uniquely used to successfully remove the gallstone from the 72-year-old patient's presacral area.


Dermatologists when telling young patients that toads may have caused their warts. The word "toad" itself is derived from the old English word tadige , which is of unknown origin, without cognates in other languages, and has obvious negative connotations when applied to people. The common European toad, Bufo bufo , is used for studying moulting and recently has had its epidermal kinetics and epidermal homeostasis investigated in detail. Dermatologists are interested in epidermal kinetics because of psoriasis, the ichthyoses, epidermal malignancies, and the response of the epidermis to chemotherapeutic drugs and the retinoids. When we read studies of the kinetics in those disorders, we may not be dispassionate students and often carry with us all of our experience and hang-ups concerning the disease in question. In thinking about the studies in the toad, hopefully there is less emotional investment. Since man and toad first met each other, it has been known


Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is an integral part of the management of various cardiovascular disease such as coronary artery disease (CAD), peripheral artery disease (PAD), or chronic heart failure (CHF), with proven morbidity and mortality benefits. This article aims to review and summarize the scientific literature related to cardiac rehabilitation programs for patients with PAD and how they were adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of CR programs has been problematic since the COVID-19 pandemic due to social distancing and work-related restrictions. One of the main challenges for physicians and health systems alike has been the management of PAD patients. COVID-19 predisposes to coagulation disorders that can lead to severe thrombotic events. Home-based walking exercises are more accessible and easier to accept than supervised exercise programs. Cycling or other forms of exercise are more entertaining or challenging alternatives to exercise therapy. Besides treadmill exercises, upper- and lower-extremity ergometry also has great functional benefits, especially regarding walking endurance. Supervised exercise therapy has a positive impact on both functional capacity and also on the quality of life of such patients. The most effective manner to acquire this seems to be by combining revascularization therapy and supervised exercise. Rehabilitation programs proved to be a mandatory part of the integrative approach in these cases, increasing quality of life, and decreasing stress levels, depression, and anxiety.


The coming of Big Data is offered as a salve that will reduce global inequalities and grow national economies. The chapter pursues how notions of progress have traveled into schooling through technology and generate differences and exclusions in the past and present. The chapter explores how transnational school reforms during the colonial era were directed to adapting education to "the African," which connected expertise in the U.S., UK, and Africa through a shared set of standards, principles, and values about what constituted civilization and development. In school reforms today, the "African" has disappeared today in favor of the "all"; however, residues of educational values and judgments that made up the African as a peculiar and pathological target of colonial schooling still haunt the present. The chapter argues that today's transnational school reforms continue to presume target communities are passive, pathological objects whose transformation depends upon their learning to act rationally. Whereas in the past this was envisioned as individuals' and communities' assimilation through surveys and questionnaires, today rationality is managed through integration in systems and optimizing users' choices through data mining and algorithms. The narrative of data as grounding rational thought and action is a seductive one that offers optimism to schooling; however, faith in the coming of technology impairs historical reflection and ethical reflexivity toward schooling's values and judgments, and the differences and exclusions they generate.


The transplantation of cardiomyocytes derived from embryonic stem (ES) cells into infarcted heart has been shown to improve heart function in animal models. However, immune rejection of transplanted cells may hamper the clinical application of this approach. Natural killer (NK) cells could play an important role in this process in both autologous and allogeneic settings by eliminating cells expressing low levels of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. Here we characterize embryonic stem cell‐derived cardiomyocytes (ESCM) in terms of their sensitivity to NK cells. We show that despite expression of very low levels of MHC class I molecules, murine ESCM were neither recognized nor lysed by activated syngeneic NK cells in vitro. In contrast, undifferentiated ES cells expressing similarly low levels of MHC class I molecules as ESCM were recognized and lysed by NK cells. This differential susceptibility results from the differential expression of ligands for the major activating natural killer cell receptor natural‐killer group 2 member D (NKG2D) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM‐1) on ES cells versus ESCM. NKG2D ligands and ICAM‐1 were expressed on ES cells but were absent from ESCM. Undifferentiated ES cells were lysed by NK cells in a perforin‐dependent manner. However, simultaneous blockade of NKG2D and ICAM‐1 by antibodies inhibited this killing. These data suggest that in the course of differentiation ESCM acquire resistance to NK cell‐mediated lysis by downregulating the expression of ligands required for activation of NK cell cytotoxicity. STEM CELLS 2009;27:307–316


A petrochemical complex located in central Taiwan is a major emission source of air pollutants locally. Among these air pollutants, it is concern that the health effects of exposure to heavy metal because of its toxicity and persistency. Therefore, we conducted a biological monitoring study to investigate the effect of heavy metal pollutants on inhabitants around this petrochemical complex. According to the distance and the wind direction from the petrochemical complex, the study area was divided into high exposure (HE) and low exposure (LE) areas, and a total of 673 study subjects who aged above 35 years old living in HE and LE areas were recruited to be collected urine sample and personal information by health screen and questionnaire administration. The concentrations of ten kinds of urinary heavy metals were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. After adjusting for age, gender, socioeconomic status, smoking, dietary habits and other potential confounders, the multiple linear regression models showed that the urinary levels of vanadium, manganese, arsenic and strontium of inhabitants in HE area were significantly higher than those of inhabitants in LE area. This study indicated the potential effects of emitted metal pollutants from a petrochemical complex on the residents nearby.


The most useful diagnostic methods in the initial evaluation of horses with colic assess the morphological and functional status of the gastrointestinal tract and cardiovascular status. This evaluation is best achieved using a combination of clinical and laboratory data. Blood lactate concentration (BL) is one of these variables. BL rises mainly due to poor tissue perfusion and anaerobic glycolysis associated with shock, providing an indicator of both the severity of disease and its prognosis. A hand-held lactate meter, Accusport, provides a rapid (60 seconds), inexpensive dry-chemical-based determination of BL. This trial evaluated the Accusport's ability to provide BL data as an adjunct to the initial clinical evaluation of horses with colic. The accuracy of the Accusport was tested by evaluation of its interchangeability with the benchmark enzymatic kit evaluation of BL in a trial using data collected firstly from 10 clinically normal control horses and subsequently from 48 horses presented with signs of colic. The BL values were recorded together with the clinical variables of heart rate (HR), capillary refill time (CRT), haematocrit (Hct), and pain character and severity on the initial assessment of the colic horses. Information regarding choice of therapeutic management (medical or surgical) and eventual case outcome (full recovery or died/euthanased) was recorded. The Accusport was found to be interchangeable with the enzymatic kit for recording BL values in colic horses with BL < 10 mmol/l, which is within the BL range associated with survival. The interchangeability of an additional, laboratory-based wet chemical assay for BL, the Stat 7 was simultaneously evaluated for the colic and control horses. The Stat 7 was found to be interchangeable with the enzymatic kit for BL determination of colic horses. No linear associations between BL values with HR, CRT, Hct or pain assessment were observed. No relationship with either selection of therapeutic method or eventual case outcome was observed. All horses with BL >8 mmol/l died or were euthanased.


President Barack Obama's State of the Union message, delivered on 24 January, touched on the need for basic research, energy production, support for clean energy, and environmental protection, but it included just one passing reference to climate change. In addition, the speech made no note of the Administration's recent denial of a controversial application for the Keystone XL pipeline to transport crude oil from Canada to the United States and made just an elliptical reference regarding the bankrupt Solyndra Corporation, which the administration had touted as a clean energy company. Innovation "demands basic research," Obama said, adding that Congress should not "gut these investments in our budget." Noting that one promise for innovation is American-made energy, Obama said he is directing the administration to "open more than 75% of our potential offshore oil and gas resources."


Bangladesh is a potential market for essential commodities, including edible oils, because of insufficient local production, a steadily growing population that now exceeds 150 million, and its improving economy. Edible oil is an energy-dense food nutrient providing 9.0 kcal/g. Oil rich in long chain monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially essential fatty acids (linoleic, and linolenic), is of primary importance for its digestion and absorption. Butter oil, corn oil, mustard oil, olive oil, palm oil, and soybean oil are the six major edible oils consumed in Bangladesh. Soybean oil is the highest consumed edible oil, catering to 59% of the demand. Find out a suitable variety of locally available edible oil for general mass to combat malnutrition and to control cardiovascular diseases and gastrointestinal disorders. Fatty acid analysis of six varieties included butter oil, corn oil, mustard oil, olive oil, palm oil, and soybean oil of locally consumed edible oils was carried out on a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionization detector and stainless steel-packed column. Nitrogen was used as a carrier gas. Corn oil contained the highest percentage of long chain monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids (93.10±3.59%) compared to mustard oil (79.25±5.99%), soybean oil (75.88±2.93), palm oil (51.48±0.75%), olive oil (24.18±.96%), and butter oil (8.29±1.33%). Corn oil with the highest percentage of monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids appears to be the most suitable edible oil for consumption, especially from the standpoint of cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders, and nutritional rehabilitation of post-diarrheal patients. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference. Citation Format: Md. Ariful Haque Mollik. Isolation, identification, and sensitivity pattern on fatty acid composition of edible oil in Bangladesh: From preclinical studies to international clinical trials. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fifth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2012 Oct 27-30; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2012;21(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B46.


We consider high-dimensional inference when the assumed linear model is misspecified. We describe some correct interpretations and corresponding sufficient assumptions for valid asymptotic inference of the model parameters, which still have a useful meaning when the model is misspecified. We largely focus on the de-sparsified Lasso procedure but we also indicate some implications for (multiple) sample splitting techniques. In view of available methods and software, our results contribute to robustness considerations with respect to model misspecification.


International simple glass (ISG) is a six-component alumino-borosilicate glass developed as a reference benchmark glass for six nations collaborating study on high-level nuclear waste glass dissolution/corrosion mechanism. In this study, aqueous dissolution tests were performed for the ISG using microchannel flow-through (MCFT) method to evaluate the initial dissolution rate of glass matrix, r0, precisely and systematically as a function of solution pH and temperature. The test results indicated that the r0 shows a "V-shaped" pH dependence with a bottom at around pH4 at each temperature. Compared with Japanese reference glass of P0798, for which the r0 showed a "U-shaped" pH dependence with a bottom at around pH6 in our previous study, the ISG shows the higher dissolution rate at basic pH, and lower dissolution rate at neutral to acidic pH. The results also indicated that the r0 increases with temperature according to an Arrhenius law, and the apparent activation energy evaluated from Arrhenius relation is 62–77 [kJ/mol] at any pH from 3 to 10, which suggests the initial dissolution of ISG proceeds controlled by a surface-reaction mechanism in this pH range.


The detection system developed for wired networks cannot be deployed in wireless networks due to the difference between the two types of networks. The data transmission of the wired network is a standard physical routing. However, the data stream routing of wireless network are based on radio signals with a variety of problems of evolution. The attacker's packet header data are acknowledged with a port number, option field parameters and IP address. The anomalies detection is carried out at a regular interval to monitor the traffic analysed through statistical variance. The change detection detects the statistical variance of the traffic volume. The results obtained from the proposed system are compared with the existing attack detection systems with the propagation delay metric. It shows a reduction of nearly 10% and an improvement of 13% average throughput.


Although legal professionals may be fully aware of the regulations on the right to translation
and interpreting, they tend to be less aware of the implications of legal and sworn translation and interpreting. It is therefore of the utmost importance to develop the current state of
knowledge on translation and interpreting in legal contexts, in a way that will professionalise
the image of translators and interpreters in these areas. After conducting previous research
studies in which we analysed the combination of language and law in university curricula
and another one in which we sought to raise awareness among law students about the importance of interdisciplinary work between linguists and legal experts (2017a), with this study
we aimed to go further by conducting research on how much legal professionals know about
translation and interpreting in Spain. After a preliminary literature review on the topic, we
will explain the methodology of our study and then show the results of the survey that was
distributed among legal professionals in Spain. The conclusions will allow us to critically reflect on the topic and suggest ways to go past the thick veil of ignorance that still covers the
work carried out by professional translators and interpreters.


The first half of the paper addresses the rationale for why we need to study cognitive dynamic systems, with particular reference to two wireless applications: cogitative radio for communication, and cognitive radar for remote sensing. The second half of the paper discusses the issues involved in dynamic spectrum management and transmit-power control, which are of particular importance to cognitive radio. The iterative water-filling algorithm, in a noncooperative radio environment is discussed, and its virtues and limitations are highlighted.


Prisons are meant to be a way of protecting society and hopefully reforming criminals to become positive members of society upon being released. Providing prisoners with education and educational resources offers a positive distraction for the prisoner whereas leaving them unoccupied allows more socialization into the prison culture, often creating a more violent inmate. Allowing reading materials in the cells helps prisoners escape the walls surrounding them. One prisoner commented that, "I am a devourer of books, through books my mind feels free in total disregard to the present situation". Books provide an escapists route to focus on what can help shorten the days and provide life with goals and dreams outside the prison, since the long days in the prison stretch on for many prisoners.The study addresses the Post Literacy Project and gives recommendations that can make much headway to increase literacy level enhancing prisoners rehabilitation thus prevent them from integrating into the brutal prison culture.This offers the most effective method of reintegrating them into the public and and allow them to become positive contributors in society.


What do we speak of when we speak of 'hybrid warfare', a notion that has become prominent in discussions of European security? The article shows that this question is difficult to answer, as the hybrid warfare discourse is not only vague, but also consists of multiple, and at times contradictory, narratives. While talking and writing about supposedly the same thing, participants in the hybrid warfare debate often suggest markedly different ideas about the precise nature and target of the threat, offer different responses and draw upon different expertise. Grounding our argument in critical scholarship on narratives, security knowledge and hybrid warfare, we build a framework for studying security narratives around the four elements of threat, threatened value, response and underlying knowledge. This framework is utilised in a case study of Czechia, a country that has played a pioneering and outsized role in European hybrid warfare debates. We identify three narratives of hybrid warfare – defence, counterinfluence and education – which present markedly different understandings of 'hybrid warfare', and ways to defend against it. Our intervention hopes to contribute to disentangling the contradictions of the hybrid warfare discourse, itself a necessary precondition for both sound state policy and an informed public debate.


Objective This paper proposes definitions of safety and safety promotion. They apply both to unintentional and intentional injuries or violence. Method These definitions are the result of a consensus reached over a two-year period through a variety of activities involving nearly 50 experts from different sectors (public security, transportation, justice, health and social services, sports and recreation, municipalities.). Results Safety has been defined as a state in which hazards and conditions leading to physical, psychological or material harm are controlled in order to preserve the health and well-being of individuals and the community. Four basic conditions are regarded as essential to achieve safety in a community. Safety promotion was defined as a process that leads to the development and maintenance of those basic conditions. This process involves various actors and may be applied at various levels of intervention. It may put into contribution both environmental and behavioural modifications. Discussion Common operational definitions of safety and safety promotion can facilitate collaboration among those concerned with safety enhancement (e.g., public safety, health and social services, transport, justice, municipalities, etc.) by describing more precisely the goals they are all trying to achieve and by making possible a better understanding of the potential contribution of each sector and of the common areas where they can collaborate most effectively.


Abstract This article discusses Hiroshi Ishiguro, a Japanese celebrity roboticist internationally acclaimed for his creation of androids. While his anthropomorphic machines are intended as models for future human-like robots, participating in work and domestic contexts, Ishiguro
 also regards them as experimental tools for investigations into questions of human identity. Beyond engineering challenges, he is not afraid to ask philosophical questions, such as 'what is the human?' Ishiguro has even had facial plastic surgery to match the appearance of his robot double,
 Geminoid HI-1. He has been described as the bad boy of Japanese robotics, an eccentric genius who is recognized as such in Japan, and overseas. While Ishiguro conducts scientific experiments, he has also deployed his anthropomorphic robots in popular entertainment contexts such as film, television,
 theatre and in museum exhibitions. Although Ishiguro's androids have almost always been included in mainstream western journalism's coverage concerning the development of next-generation robots in Japan, his anthropomorphic machines are often shown along with a photo of Ishiguro in his trademark
 black clothing, and described as 'freaky' and 'creepy'. I argue that Ishiguro's presentation feeds the western fascination with Japanese robot technology. This article examines the relationship between Ishiguro's larger-than-life public persona and his philosophy concerning his work as a kind
 of storytelling and upstream engagement in the context of robotic science.


By now it is acknowledged that the ability of a language group to produce and reproduce itself rests heavily upon the extent to which the associated language enters the labour market and provides opportunities for social mobility at least within the regional labour market (Williams, Roberts and Isaac, 1978). If this is, indeed the case, then language groups which do achieve a presence in the regional labour market are obliged to confront the prospect of economic restructuring and social change, much like the normative language group within society. They are obliged to be capable of flexibly modifying their role in the economic order through formal or informal agencies of Language Policy.


According to the psychological essentialism perspective, people tend to explain differences between groups by attributing them different essences. Given a pervasive ethnocentrism, this tendency implies that the human essence will be restricted to the ingroup whereas outgroups will receive a lesser degree of humanity. Therefore, it is argued that people attribute more uniquely human characteristics to the ingroup than to the outgroup. The present article focuses on secondary emotions that constitute such characteristics. Study 1 showed that members of high- and low-status groups attribute more positive secondary emotions to the ingroup than to the outgroup. Study 2 verified that the differential attribution extended also to negative secondary emotions. No exemplars of emotions were provided in Study, 3. Instead, participants had to estimate the means of two distributions of numbers that supposedly, represented characteristics of the ingroup and of the outgroup. The results of this third experiment illustrated the reluctance to attribute secondary emotions to the outgroup. The findings are discussed from the perspective of psychological essentialism. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The properties of loosely bound proton-rich nuclei around A = 20 are investigated within the framework of the nuclear shell model. In these nuclei, the strength of the effective interactions involving the loosely bound proton s(1/2) orbit is significantly reduced in comparison with that of those in their mirror nuclei. We evaluate the reduction of the effective interaction by calculating the monopole-based-universal interaction (V-MU) in the Woods-Saxon basis. The shell-model Hamiltonian in the sd shell, such as USD, can thus be modified to reproduce the binding energies and energy levels of the weakly bound proton-rich nuclei around A = 20. The effect of the reduction of the effective interaction on the structure and decay properties of these nuclei is also discussed.


Electron spectra from radiationless decay of a Ne 1s vacancy are measured with excitation energies immediately at the 1s ionization threshold. Special attention is given to the excess energy region where Γ is the lifetime width of the 1s vacancy. Spectra are dominated by recapture of photoelectrons into Rydberg states of Ne+ above the threshold, and by a smooth transition into the spectator resonant Auger spectrum below the threshold. High resolution of the present experiment allowed us to clearly observe Rydberg states up to n = 8 and to determine the individual probabilities for populating of these states by photoelectron recapture. Results are compared with calculations based on the semiclassical theory of post-collision interaction extended to high Rydberg excitations of the primary photoexcited electron, as well as with a non-stationary quantum mechanical theory of near-threshold photoionization with subsequent Auger decay.


The magnesium ion metalloporphyrin complex is shown to bind the ligands propyne (p) and ethyne (e) on the metal or nitrogen pyrrole sites as a two site catalyst in their copolymerization. The order of addition of the monomers is (pepee). The steroid ring D (pep) is formed first from the propyne adduct bound to the metal site and the but-diene adduct bound to the N-site. The optimal orientation of these adducts determines the β-orientation of the 17-substituent. Further reaction with hydroxyl radicals allows this to be a 17 β- acetyl substituent. Further addition of two ethyne monomers forms an N-diene cyclopentene derivative able to cyclise to form the steroid ring C (pee) with a trans conformation and a 13-β methyl substituent. The reactions have been shown to be feasible from the overall enthalpy changes in the ZKE approximation at the HF and MP2 /6-31G* level, and with acceptable activation energies.


Toxolasma texasensis acclimated to an artificial pondwater (PW) maintained a concentration of SO4 in the blood of about 1-2 mmol l(-1) . The anion transport inhibitor DIDS (5,5'-diisothiocyanatostilbene 2, 2'-disulfonic acid) reduced the uptake of 35SO4 from the bathing medium by 54%. The clearance of polyethylene glycol (PEG) injected into the blood of T. texasensis ranged between 0.8 and 1.3 ml g(-1) dry tissue h(-1), and provided an estimate of renal filtration in PW-acclimated animals. The clearance of radioactive 35SO4 simultaneously injected into the same animal was about 16% of the PEG clearance, suggesting that sulfate was being reabsorbed by the kidney. Para-aminohippuric acid was cleared about 4.6 times faster than PEG, indicating that this organic acid was subjected to secretion in addition to filtration. When the normal osmotic gradient was abolished by acclimating T. texasensis to 10% seawater (SW), the PEG clearance decreased to 0.17 ml g(-1) dry tissue h(-1). Sulfate clearance in animals acclimated to PW or 10% SW was the same. However, in mussels acclimated to 10% SW, the calculated amount of SO4 reabsorbed was significantly reduced relative to mussels acclimated to PW. T. texasensis conserved SO4 when acclimated to PW, and reduced reabsorption when acclimated to the sulfate-rich 10% SW. When mussels acclimated to 10% SW were returned to PW, there was a transient increase in sulfate clearance during the first 8 h because filtration exceeded reabsorption.


Why do citizens pay hard-to-enforce local taxes, if public funds are likely to be embezzled? Evidence from behavioral experiments with village residents in Tanzania suggests that local norms of moderation in embezzlement can facilitate voluntary contributions to public goods. In villages where greater moderation in embezzlement can be expected, citizens' contribution preferences are less sensitive to the possibility that their contributions can be embezzled. Voluntary moderation in embezzlement can be explained by several behavioral mechanisms, including in-group solidarity, reciprocity, and norms of trusteeship. The findings have important implications for our understanding of tax compliance and public goods provision in situations where limited enforcement capacity coincides with weak public accountability.


The effect of twist on the mechanical and dye sorption properties of twisted textured polyester fabric was studied. 80 denier textured polyester yams twisted to various twisting levelswere used as weft.With increase in weft twist factor, the fabric tenacity initially remained nearly constant and then gradually decreased, the air permeability first increased and then remained nearly constant, the bulk density and intrinsic modulus remained constant up to a twist factor of 81 and then increased, the abrasion resistance gradually decreased, and the KlS value initially increased and then remained nearly constant.


Subclinical hyperthyroidism appears to be a common disorder. It may be caused by exogenous or endogenous factors: excessive TSH suppressive therapy with L-thyroxine (L-T4) for benign thyroid nodular disease, differentiated thyroid cancer, or hormone over-replacement in patients with hypothyroidism are the most frequent causes. Consistent evidence indicates that 'subclinical' hyperthyroidism reduces the quality of life, affecting both the psycho and somatic components of well-being, and produces relevant signs and symptoms of excessive thyroid hormone action, often mimicking adrenergic overactivity. Subclinical hyperthyroidism exerts many significant effects on the cardiovascular system; it is usually associated with a higher heart rate and a higher risk of supraventricular arrhythmias, and with an increased left ventricular mass, often accompanied by an impaired diastolic function and sometimes by a reduced systolic performance on effort and decreased exercise tolerance. It is well known that these abnormalities usually precede the onset of a more severe cardiovascular disease, thus potentially contributing to the increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality observed in these patients. In addition, it is becoming increasingly apparent that subclinical hyperthyroidism may accelerate the development of osteoporosis and hence increased bone vulnerability to trauma, particularly in postmenopausal women with a pre-existing predisposition. Subclinical hyperthyroidism and its related clinical manifestations are reversible and may be prevented by timely treatment.


BACKGROUND
Valproic acid (VPA) is the most teratogenic anticonvulsant drug in clinical use today. Children exposed prenatally to VPA have previously been shown to have dysmorphic craniofacial features, identified subjectively but not by anthropometric methods. Exposure to VPA has also been associated with an increased frequency of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). An increased cephalic index (the ratio of the cranial lateral width to the cranial anterior-posterior length) has been observed in children with ASD.

METHODS
Forty-seven children exposed to VPA during the first trimester of pregnancy were evaluated for dysmorphic facial features, identified subjectively and by measurements. Each VPA-exposed child was evaluated for ASD using the Social Communication Questionnaire, Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised, and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. The same physical examination was carried out on an unexposed comparison group of 126 children. The unexposed children also had testing for cognitive performance by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children.

RESULTS
Several dysmorphic craniofacial features, including telecanthus, wide philtrum, and increased length of the upper lip were identified subjectively. Anthropometric measurements confirmed the increased intercanthal distance and documented additional findings, including an increased cephalic index and decreased head circumference/height index. There were no differences between the craniofacial features of VPA-exposed children with and without ASD.

CONCLUSION
An increased frequency of dysmorphic craniofacial features was identified in children exposed to VPA during the first trimester of pregnancy. The most consistent finding was a larger cephalic index, which indicates a disproportion of increased width of the skull relative to the shortened anterior-posterior length. Birth Defects Research 109:1134-1143, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Successful mitotic cell division is critically dependent on the formation of correct attachments between chromosomes and spindle microtubules. Microtubule attachments are mediated by kinetochores, which are large proteinaceous structures assembled on centromeric chromatin of mitotic chromosomes. These attachments must be sufficiently stable to transduce force; however, the strength of these attachments are also tightly regulated to ensure timely, error-free progression through mitosis. The highly conserved, kinetochore-associated NDC80 complex is a core component of the kinetochore-microtubule attachment machinery in eukaryotic cells. A small, disordered region within the Hec1 subunit of the NDC80 complex – the N-terminal "tail" domain – has been actively investigated during the last decade due to its roles in generating and regulating kinetochore-microtubule attachments. In this review, we discuss the role of the NDC80 complex, and specifically the Hec1 tail domain, at the kinetochore-microtubule interface, and how recent studies provide a more unified view of Hec1 tail domain function.


Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is known to be a key player in apoptosis in animals. The components and pathways regulating H2O2‐induced programmed cell death in plants, however, remain largely unknown. In the present study, rice transgenic lines overexpressing Bcl‐2, a human apoptotic suppressor, were obtained. These transgenic lines showed increased tolerance to high levels of H2O2, resulting in increased seed germination rates, root elongation, root tip cell viability and chlorophyll retention compared to control lines. In the control lines, treatment with H2O2 resulted in DNA laddering and a clear terminal transferase dUTP nick end labeling signal, which are the hallmarks of programmed cell death. However, this effect was not detected in the Bcl‐2‐overexpressing transgenic lines. Further investigations indicated that Bcl‐2 suppressed H2O2‐induced programmed cell death but did not inhibit stress‐elicited reactive oxygen species production in rice. RT‐PCR revealed that the expression of the two vacuolar processing enzyme genes (i.e. OsVPE2 and OsVPE3) was dramatically induced by H2O2 in the wild‐type line but not in the Bcl‐2‐overexpressing line. Moreover, treatment with H2O2 resulted in the disruption of the vacuolar membrane in the wild‐type line. The expression levels of OsVPE1 and OsVPE4 did not significantly differ between the wild‐type line and the transgenic line that was treated or untreated with H2O2. The similar roles of Bcl‐2 and OsVPEs during endogenous reactive oxygen species‐triggered programmed cell death were also confirmed by NaCl stress in rice. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to demonsatrate that Bcl‐2 overexpression inhibits H2O2‐induced programmed cell death and enhances H2O2 tolerance. We propose that Bcl‐2 overexpression in rice suppresses the transcriptional activation of OsVPE2 and OsVPE3, but not of OsVPE1 or OsVPE4.


A retrospective cohort multicenter study was conducted to analyze the risk factors for tumor recurrence after liver transplantation (LT) in cirrhotic patients found to have an intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) on pathology examination. We also aimed to ascertain whether there existed a subgroup of patients with single tumors ≤2 cm ("very early") in which results after LT can be acceptable. Twenty‐nine patients comprised the study group, eight of whom had a "very early" iCCA (four of them incidentals). The risk of tumor recurrence was significantly associated with larger tumor size as well as larger tumor volume, microscopic vascular invasion and poor degree of differentiation. None of the patients in the "very early" iCCA subgroup presented tumor recurrence compared to 36.4% of those with single tumors >2 cm or multinodular tumors, p = 0.02. The 1‐, 3‐ and 5‐year actuarial survival of those in the "very early" iCCA subgroup was 100%, 73% and 73%, respectively. The present is the first multicenter attempt to ascertain the risk factors for tumor recurrence in cirrhotic patients found to have an iCCA on pathology examination. Cirrhotic patients with iCCA ≤2 cm achieved excellent 5‐year survival, and validation of these findings by other groups may change the current exclusion of such patients from transplant programs.


This work deals with the data completion for a multivariate function whose values are given on the nodes, except a few ones, of an orthonormal hyperprismatic grid. The method we develop here uses a recently developed scheme we call "Combined Small Scale High Dimensional Model Representation (CSSHDMR)". This scheme is preferred to be used mostly at constant or perhaps univariate level bringing some discontinuities at the borders of subregions in the function values or its derivatives or both. In the case where certain function values or derivatives are unknown, these discontinuities can be suppressed to get those unknown values. This is done via optimisation. We try to present some details of this issue in this extended abstract.


Mitochondria are the key generators of ATP in a cell. Visually, they are highly dynamic organelles that undergo cellular fission and fusion events in response to changing cellular energy requirements. Mitochondria are now emerging as regulators of mammalian cell motility. Here we show that mitochondria infiltrate the leading edge of NIH3T3 fibroblasts during migration. At the leading edge, we find that mitochondria move to and tether to Focal Adhesions (FA). FA regulate cell migration by coupling the cytoskeleton to the Extracellular Matrix through integrin receptors. Importantly, we find that inhibition of mitochondrial ATP generation concomitantly inhibits FA size. This suggests that mitochondrial energy production regulates migration through FA control.


Background Anti-TNF therapy is successful for achieving low disease activity or clinical remission in patients with axial spondyloarhritis (axSpA). Nevertheless, this therapy has not clearly shown to slow or inhibit radiographic progression in these patients. Based on this, it is unclear what therapeutic attitude should be adopted once remission has been achieved in patients with axSpA. Objectives To evaluate if anti-TNF tapering is efficacious for maintaining remission or low disease activity (LDA) in patients with spondyloarthritis (axSpA). Methods A systematic literature review until August 2014 was performed using Medline, EMBASE and Cochrane databases. The research question was formulated according to the PICOS method: Population (axSpA patients); Intervention (anti-TNF dose tapering); Outcome (flare or change on disease activity); and Setting (longitudinal studies with at least 6 months of follow up after dose adjustment). Data was extracted using a form developed for this specific purpose. Results are shown as median (range) and relative frequencies in percentages. Results In total, 8 studies from 763 citations were included. All studies included patients with ankylosing spondylitis from single centers and no study included patients with non-radiographic axSpA. The study design was retrospective cohort (n=3), prospective cohort (n=3), non-randomized trial (n=1) and RCT (n=1). In these studies, patients receiving standard doses of anti-TNF therapy who were in remission (BASDAI<2 and normal CRP) or with LDA (BASDAI<4 and normal CRP) reduced anti-TNF therapy dose according to an established protocol (n=6) or to the physician's criterion (n=2). The characteristics of the studies were as follows: total number of patients 43 (8-136), number of patients on low-dose regimen 21 (8-109) and follow-up period after anti-TNF tapering 12 (6-21) months. Administered anti-TNF therapy was etanercept (n=5), infliximab (n=1) and adalimumab/etancercept/infliximab (n=2). Baseline characteristics of patients included in the studies were as follows: age 41 (35-54) years old, 78% (75-90) males, disease duration 9 (3-13) years, 89% (75-91) HLA-B27+. Time in remission or LDA before reducing anti-TNF dose was provided in four studies and it was heterogeneous: <3 months (n=1) and at least 3 (n=1) or 6 (n=2) months. The percentage of patients maintaining LDA or remission after reducing anti-TNF dose was reported in 5 out of the 7 studies. These were 47%, 75%, 53-81%, 86% and 100%. The remaining three studies reported mean change in disease activity measures after reducing anti-TNF therapy. Mean BASDAI in these studies before reducing anti-TNF dose was 2.3, 1.6 and 3.1 and at the end of the study was 0.6, 1.4 and 2.1, respectively. Mean CRP (mg/L) before reducing anti-TNF dose was 0.6, 1.0 and 2.3 and at the end of the study was 0.6, 1.3 and 2.1, respectively. Anti-TNF tapering was most frequently done increasing the interval between drug administration than decreasing the dose of the injection/infusion. Conclusions Published data indicates that anti-TNF therapy tapering is successful in maintaining remission or LDA during at least one year in a high number (>50%) of patients with AS. Further data are required to identify which patients with axSpA are included within this group. Disclosure of Interest None declared


An experiment on the effect of microbe as fertilizer on the growth of Acacia mangium on the sand sterile in greenhouse. The aim of the experiment the effect and potency of the microbe as fertilizer to increase the growth of A. mangium. The experiment was carried out in green house condition in Microbiology division, Research Center for Biology-LIPI with sterile sand medium. The Rhizobium strains used of: 1.Bio 199R, 2. Bio 203R, 3. Bio 205R, 4 Bio 238R, 5. Bio 251R, 6.Bio 7R, and 7. mixed strains (Bio 199R+Bio 203R+Bio 205R+Bio 238R+Bio 251R+Bio 7R) The controls were uninoculated with Rhizobium strain and without urea fertilizer (K1), uninoculated and with urea fertilizer equal 100 kg/ha (K2). The research design was Completely Randomized Design with three replications for each treatment. The plants were harvested after 70 days; the parameters of investigation were the dry weight of canopy, roots, nodules root, total plants, number of nodules and "symbiotic capacity". The results showed that all of experiment plant able to from nodule. Strain number of mixed strains has given the best results on the growth of A. mangium plant. © 2004 Jurusan Biologi FMIPA UNS Surakarta


Inflammatory resolution is an active, highly regulated process already encoded at the onset of inflammation and required to prevent the transition into chronic inflammation associated with spreading of tissue injury and exacerbated scarring. We introduce objective, quantitative measurements [resolution indices (Ri) and resolution plateau (RP)] to characterize inflammatory resolution and to determine the persistence ("dwell time") of differential leukocyte subpopulations at the lesion site after acute experimental spinal cord injury (SCI). The cell type‐specific resolution interval Ri (time between maximum cell numbers and the point when they are reduced to 50%) ranges from 1.2 days for neutrophils, 1.5 days for T lymphocytes, to 55 days for microglia/macrophages. As the resolution interval neglects exiting cell trafficking in the later period of resolution (49%–0% of lesional cells), we introduced the RP, a marker for the persisting, chronified leukocyte subsets, which are likely to participate in late degeneration and non‐resolving inflammation. Here, we identify the acute inflammatory response in central nervous system (CNS) lesions as partly non self‐limiting. Both extended resolution intervals (reduced leukocyte clearance) and elevated plateaus (permanent lesional cell numbers) provide quantitative measures to characterize residual, sustained inflammation and define cognate timeframes of impaired resolution after acute SCI.


: The paper presents the results of research on the utilization of textile denim sludge waste, which was used to obtain concrete and mortar. For this purpose, cement and sand were replaced with the powdered sludge in the amount of 5 and 10 wt. The sludge was initially analyzed by FTIR and XRD to identify functional groups and chemical composition, respectively. Replacing sand with sludge resulted in a significant reduction in the concrete compressive and flexural strength (> 50%). Significantly better results were obtained by replacing cement with 5 wt% of sludge. In this case, the concrete compressive strength decreased by only 14%, and the flexural strength by 15%.


The trend to thinner crystalline silicon wafers in the production of silicon solar cells instigates a re-evaluation of the back surface field (BSF) formation. Aluminium layers, whose thickness is typically over 10 /spl mu/m, are commonly used for BSF formation. Such thick films, however, cause severe warping on thin solar cells (<250 /spl mu/m). This study investigates the use of thin Al films of between 0.1 and 2.0 /spl mu/m and focuses on the aluminium/rear surface structure after sintering in a mixed nitrogen and oxygen gas atmosphere at temperatures between 820/spl deg/C and 995/spl deg/C. It is shown that the rear surface morphology has a strong influence on the reaction of Al with Si. Secondary electron and focused ion beam microscopy reveal that thin Al layers form Al islands on smooth surfaces but the Al agglomerates at the apex of pyramids when the surface is textured. In both cases the Al dissolves the Si rear surface inhomogeneously. The structural results are correlated with electrical measurements of laser grooved buried contact solar cells. The correlation shows increasing short circuit current with increasing Al film thickness. The results are used to explain deviations of the standard theory of the Al:BSF formation when using thin Al films.


Volume I: Physics, Mechanics and Design.- Materials Physics.- Polymer Materials Characterization, Modeling and Application.- Thermo-Optic Effects in Polymer Bragg Gratings.- Adhesives for Micro- and Opto-Electronics Applications: Chemistry, Reliability, Mechanics.- Multi-stages Peel Tests and Evaluation of Interfacial Adhesion Strength Between Brittle Thin Film and Polymer Substrate.- Adhesion and Fracture of Interfaces in Microelectronic Packaging.- The Research Status of Isotropic Electrically Conductive Adhesives.- Electrically Conductive Adhesives.- Adhesive Bonding of Passive Optical Components.- Photorefractive Materials and Devices for Passive Components in WDM Systems.- Advanced Substrate Materials for Power Electronics.- Carbon nanotube Based Interconnect Technology: Opportunities and Challenges.- Materials Mechanics.- Thermal Stress Modeling in Micro- and Opto-Electronics: Review and Extension.- Area Array Technology for High Reliability Applications.- How to make an Opto-Electronic Device into a Product: Role of Accelerated Life Testing.- High-speed Tensile Testing of Optical Fibers - New Understanding for Reliability Prediction.- Uncertainty Modeling in Fiber-Optic Packages.- Multiphysics modelling and optimisation technology for design and reliability of microstystems: Review.- Application of Moire Interferometry to Strain Analysis of PCB Deformations at Low Temperatures.- Characterization of Stresses and Strains in Microelectronics and Photonics Devices Using Photomechanics Methods.- Analysis of Reliability of IC Packages Using Fracture Mechanics Approach.- A Methodology for an Integrated (Electrical/Mechanical) Design of PWBA.- Nonlinear Dynamic Response of Micro-Electronic Structures to Shock Loading.- Physical Design.- Wafer Level Underfill.- The Wirebonded Interconnect: A Mainstay for Electronics.- Metallurgical Interconnections for Extreme High and Low Temperature Environments.- Accelerated Testing for Optoelectronics.- Passive-alignment of Optical Fiber in a V-groove with Low Viscosity Epoxy Flow.- Volume II: Reliability and Packaging.- Fundamental Concepts of Reliability and Stress Testing.- Micro-Deformation Analysis and Reliability Estimation of Micro-Components by Means of NanoDAC Technique.- Packaging and Reliability for Foundry-Fabricated MEMS.- Reliability in Mobile Electronic Productions.- Dynamic of the Physical Reliability of Photonic Materials.- Durability of Packaged Nanostructures: Laser Diode Packages, A Case Study.- Reliability of VCSEL Package Coupling to Optoelectronic Circuit Boards.- Fatigue Life Assessment for Lead-Free Solder Joints.- Reliability of High Density Lead-Free Assemblies Under Shock-loading Conditions.- Design-for-Reliability Methodology for Modeling Lead-Free Solder Materials and Solder Joint Reliability Performance.- Die Attach Quality Testing by Structure Function Evaluation.- The Mechanical Behavior of Flip Chip Packages Under Thermal Loading.- Li Li Stress Analysis on Processed Silicon Wafer and Packaged Micro-device.- Metallurgy, Processes and Reliability of Lead-Free Solder Inconnects.


Background and Objectives: The displacement of molecules is one of the major fabrication faults in manufacturing molecular electronic devices. In this paper, we profoundly study the effect of displacement on the current-voltage, and conductance-voltage characteristics of the Au-Benzenedithiol-Au single-molecule device. Methods: The ab-initio calculations on the isolated molecules were performed to obtain the basic single-level quantum-dot model parameters. These parameters were then used within the self-consistent field algorithm to calculate the electrical characteristics of the device. Results: The maximum conductance occurs when the molecule is placed exactly in the midpoint of the distance between the two electrodes, where the electrostatic capacitance reaches its minimum. When the molecule deviates from this point, and approaches one electrode, the conductance is decreased, and asymmetric behavior emerges. A molecular rectifier can be manufactured by placing the molecule close to one electrode. Conclusion: Although modern software packages may employ advanced and complicated models including the combination of the density functional theory (DFT) and non- equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method s to obtain accurate results, they are demanding in computer memory and time. Moreover, understanding the physical quantities of the systems from large-scale matrices is often difficult. The single-level model is a computationally light method, which provides a profound understanding of the device characteristics since all quantities are presented by numbers.


Generalized category discovery (GCD) aims at grouping unlabeled samples from known and unknown classes, given labeled data of known classes. To meet the recent decentralization trend in the community, we introduce a practical yet challenging task, namely Federated GCD (Fed-GCD), where the training data are distributively stored in local clients and cannot be shared among clients. The goal of Fed-GCD is to train a generic GCD model by client collaboration under the privacy-protected constraint. The Fed-GCD leads to two challenges: 1) representation degradation caused by training each client model with fewer data than centralized GCD learning, and 2) highly heterogeneous label spaces across different clients. To this end, we propose a novel Associated Gaussian Contrastive Learning (AGCL) framework based on learnable GMMs, which consists of a Client Semantics Association (CSA) and a global-local GMM Contrastive Learning (GCL). On the server, CSA aggregates the heterogeneous categories of local-client GMMs to generate a global GMM containing more comprehensive category knowledge. On each client, GCL builds class-level contrastive learning with both local and global GMMs. The local GCL learns robust representation with limited local data. The global GCL encourages the model to produce more discriminative representation with the comprehensive category relationships that may not exist in local data. We build a benchmark based on six visual datasets to facilitate the study of Fed-GCD. Extensive experiments show that our AGCL outperforms the FedAvg-based baseline on all datasets.


During its development, forensic science is not merely useful in law enforcement, but also useful in other aspects of community life, for example in assisting the settlement of violence against women in the household with the victim of data collection. The author makes a simple database application program in the storage data contributing to the victim, so it can be easier in pengumpu lan or data processing. In this study, the authors use the methods of library research. Where all the material taken from books or web sites that are relevant to the writing of scientific material. And in the end have created a simple database application program that will be helpful in offering data processing which is easier in use and more interactive between the user application program.


The hemodynamic effects of celiprolol (CAS 56980-93-9), a betablocker with beta 1 antagonist and beta 2 agonist properties, were compared with those of atenolol (CAS 29122-68-7) in 12 patients with mild to moderately severe hypertension (diastolic BP 95-110 mmHg). Celiprolol and atenolol lead to a similar and significant reduction of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p < 0.005). However, with celiprolol heart rate at rest was significantly less depressed then with atenolol (p = 0.004) and showed a distinctly less pronounced depression of heart rate with exercise (p = 0.004). Cardiac output at rest was reduced by 19% under atenolol, but was increased by 9% under celiprolol treatment; in this respect, the two medications differed significantly (p = 0.03). The adaptation of heart rate and cardiac output to exercise was better with celipropol as compared to atenolol treatment. The difference between arm arterial pressure and ankle occlusion pressure at rest was not significantly influenced by atenolol, whereas celiprolol treatment increased this difference by a mean of up to 16 mmHg (p = 0.009). This different effect on peripheral arterial circulation was even more pronounced after exercise. Both celiprolol and atenolol increased blood cell flow velocity in the nailfold capillaries, but this increases was statistically only significant with celiprolol (p = 0.047). These results demonstrate that the hemodynamic effects of celiprolol were significantly different from those of atenolol; celiprolol produces less bradycardia, increases cardiac output at rest and decreases peripheral arterial resistance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Random Boolean networks that model genetic networks show transitions between ordered and disordered dynamics as a function of the number of inputs per element, K, and the probability, p, that the truth table for a given element will have a bias for being 1, in the limit as the number of elements N → ∞. We analyze transitions between ordered and disordered dynamics in randomly constructed ordinary differential equation analogues of the random Boolean networks. These networks show a transition from order to chaos for finite N. Qualitative features of the dynamics in a given network can be predicted based on the computation of the mean dimension of the subspace admitting outflows during the integration of the equations.


The heterogeneous nature of urban environments means that atmospheric research ideally requires a dense network of sensors to adequately resolve the local climate. With recent advances in sensor technology, a number of urban meteorological networks now exist with a range of research or operational objectives. This article reviews and assesses the current status of urban meteorological networks, by examining the fundamental scientific and logistical issues related to these networks. The article concludes by making recommendations for future deployments based on the challenges encountered by existing networks, including the need for better reporting and documentation of network characteristics, standardized approaches and guidelines, along with the need to overcome financial barriers via collaborative relationships in order to establish the long‐term urban networks essential for advancing urban climate research. Copyright © 2013 Royal Meteorological Society


Shock-wave generation by the laser-heated plasma ablation is studied by extending the existing models. Fluid parameters characterizing the process of laser-driven ablation and ablation-driven shock are derived and expressed as functions of the ratio between the light pressure and the thermal pressure of the plasma.


Using gene fragments encoding the leader peptide of E. coli tryptophane operon (as duplicated fragment HhaI-140) or M13 phage coat protein (as TaqI-381 or HaeIII-1623 fragments) and basing on pDS1 family of plasmids, expression vectors have been constructed which contained transcription promoters Ptrp, PVIII, and Pv + PVIII, respectively. An artificial gene for human leukocyte interferon alpha 2 (ifn-alpha 2) has been cloned into these plasmids, so that its transcription was a part of polycistronic mRNA and preceding translation was terminated upstream to the ribosome binding site and starting codon of the interferon gene. E. coli cells harbouring these recombinant plasmids provided high level of the interferon biosynthesis. The effect of the mRNA length on the amount of protein synthesised under control of the M13 coat protein transcription-translation signals has been found.


With a simply modified circuit design connecting a Pt/NiO/Pt capacitor to a serial load resistor (RL), resistive switching (RS) characteristics are significantly improved. Distributions of current at low-resistance state and switching voltages during reset and set processes are much reduced, and RS endurance is much enhanced. Using percolation theory, we find that a multiply connected conducting filament (CF) is preferentially formed in a Pt/NiO/Pt capacitor serially connected to an RL of 1 kΩ. The multiply connected CF may provide uniform heat distribution to a Pt/NiO/Pt capacitor, resulting in reduced randomness during heat-assisted reset process and improved RS characteristics.


We present the dust properties of a small sample of Virgo cluster dwarf galaxies drawn from the science demonstration phase data set of the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey. These galaxies have low metallicities (7.8 < 12 + log(O/H) < 8.3) and star-formation rates ≲10^(-1) M_☉ yr^(-1). We measure the spectral energy distribution (SED) from 100 to 500 μm and derive dust temperatures and dust masses. The SEDs are fitted by a cool component of temperature T ≲ 20 K, implying dust masses around 10^5 M_☉ and dust-to-gas ratios within the range 10^(-3)–10^(-2). The completion of the full survey will yield a larger set of galaxies, which will provide more stringent constraints on the dust content of star-forming dwarf galaxies.


PurposeThis study explored how teachers change, what teachers learn and how they learn during the implementation of project-based learning through lesson study.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, three university researchers, one doctoral student and six mathematics school teachers formed a lesson study team. Using a qualitative research method, this study employed a locally integrating networking strategy to combine the modified Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth (IMTPG) and Bannister's framework to describe the teachers' knowledge change when participating in a lesson study on project-based learning.FindingsThe research revealed that the school teachers' knowledge about authenticity and assessment in the context of project-based learning was changed after the lesson study and how the changes were triggered.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates how the networking of two different theories—modified IMTPG and Bannister's framework—contributes to a better understanding of the process of teachers' collective practice, as well as the knowledge change in PjBL. This networking was done by combining the two theories, which were superimposed at the domain of practice.


Fundraising activities are essential for the operation of zakat management programs and its operations. In BAZNAS, Tanah Datarregency, it is found that in 2013, the total of zakat fundraising is Rp.8.418.272.757, -, 2014 the total of zakat fundraising is Rp. 8.754.155.665,-, 2015 the total is Rp. 9.179.036.735,-, 2016 the total is Rp. 11.148.298.358,-. While for the following years, it increases signi􀏔icantly. In 2014, Zakat fundraising was enhanced 3.99% with Rp. 335.882.908. It was from Rp.8.418.272.757 to Rp.8.754.155.665. It also increased 4.85% with Rp. 424.881.070 in 2015. It was from Rp.8.754.155.665 to Rp.9.179.036.735. It also significantly boosted in 2016 for 21.45% with Rp. 1.969.261.623. It was from Rp.9.179.036.735 to Rp. 11.148.298.358. These facts indicate a precise strategy used by BAZNAS, Tanah Datarregency in doing zakat fundraising. This type of research was field research with qualitative descriptive approach. Data were collected through interviews, documentation, and literature study. The results showed that BAZNAS, Tanah Datar regency used strategy direct and indirect fundraising. If the muzakki have expressed their willingness to pay zakat through media campaigns and direct fundraising, BAZNAS, Tanah Datar regencyused three ways to ease the muzakki to pay their zakat. First, do direct cutting through UPZ which has been formed to be deposited into the account of BAZNAS Tanah Datar. Second, do "pick up the ball", the of􀏔icer of BAZNAS Tanah Datar will collect zakat directly to muzakki's place. Third, invite muzakki to distribute his zakat through the account of BAZNAS Tanah Datar.


The tools available for monitoring necrotic enteritis caused by Clostridium perfringens in broiler chickens have been limited, particularly for identifying subclinical disease. In this study, a modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to quantify levels of specific immunoglobulin G to C. perfringens alpha-toxin in serum from broilers. We found significantly higher antibody levels in broilers with a history of subclinical necrotic enteritis compared with a zinc-bacitracin-treated group with a low level of gut lesions. Furthermore, in 4.5-week-old commercial broiler flocks, there was an association between the occurrence of C. perfringens-associated hepatitis at slaughter and the immune response to alpha-toxin. Practical solutions for defining cut-off levels for positive serum samples at individual and flock levels are proposed, and were found to be useful on a set of samples available from flocks with different histories regarding the occurrence of C. perfringens-associated disease. This serological approach seems promising as a diagnostic tool in research and disease monitoring regarding C. perfringens-associated disease.


Abstract : Many organizations require quality improvement initiatives to be based on quantified business cases. This leads some organizations to start measurement programs to collect data about current performance-a lengthy and expensive process that requires a strong commitment from management. This report describes a collaboration between the Software Engineering Institute and Ericsson Research and Development, The Netherlands, to build a business case using high maturity measurement approaches that require limited measurement effort. For this project, a Bayesian belief network (BBN) and Monte Carlo simulation were combined to build a business case for quality improvement. Using a BBN gave quick insight into potential areas of improvement based on relevant quality factors and the current performance level of the organization. Monte Carlo simulation enabled a detailed calculation of the likely business results in the areas of potential improvement. This approach led to the decision to implement agile methods to improve the quality of requirements.


OF DISSERTATION ENGINEERED SURFACE PROPERTIES OF POROUS TUNGSTEN FROM CRYOGENIC MACHINING Porous tungsten is used to manufacture dispenser cathodes due to it refractory properties. Surface porosity is critical to functional performance of dispenser cathodes because it allows for an impregnated ceramic compound to migrate to the emitting surface, lowering its work function. Likewise, surface roughness is important because it is necessary to ensure uniform wetting of the molten impregnate during high temperature service. Current industry practice to achieve surface roughness and surface porosity requirements involves the use of a plastic infiltrant during machining. After machining, the infiltrant is baked and the cathode pellet is impregnated. In this context, cryogenic machining is investigated as a substitutionary process for the current plastic infiltration process. Along with significant reductions in cycle time and resource use, surface quality of cryogenically machined un-infiltrated (as-sintered) porous tungsten has been shown to significantly outperform dry machining. The present study is focused on examining the relationship between machining parameters and cooling condition on the as-machined surface integrity of porous tungsten. The effects of cryogenic pre-cooling, rake angle, cutting speed, depth of cut and feed are all taken into consideration with respect to machining-induced surface morphology. Cermet and Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) cutting tools are used to develop high performance cryogenic machining of porous tungsten. Dry and pre-heated machining were investigated as a means to allow for ductile mode machining, yet severe tool-wear and undesirable smearing limited the feasibility of these approaches. By using modified PCD cutting tools, high speed machining of porous tungsten at cutting speeds up to 400 m/min is achieved for the first time. Beyond a critical speed, brittle fracture and built-up edge are eliminated as the result of a brittle to ductile transition. A model of critical chip thickness (hc ) effects based on cutting force, temperature and surface roughness data is developed and used to study the deformation mechanisms of porous tungsten under different machining conditions. It is found that when hmax = hc, ductile mode machining of otherwise highly brittle porous tungsten is possible. The value of hc is approximately the same as the average ligament size of the 80% density porous tungsten workpiece.


We introduce FCclasses3, a code to carry out vibronic simulations of electronic spectra and nonradiative rates, based on the harmonic approximation. Key new features are: implementation of the full family of vertical and adiabatic harmonic models, vibrational analysis in curvilinear coordinates, extension to several electronic spectroscopies and implementation of time‐dependent approaches. The use of curvilinear valence internal coordinates allows the adoption of quadratic model potential energy surfaces (PES) of the initial and final states expanded at arbitrary configurations. Moreover, the implementation of suitable projectors provides a robust framework for defining reduced‐dimensionality models by sorting flexible coordinates out of the harmonic subset, so that they can then be treated at anharmonic level, or with mixed quantum classical approaches. A set of tools to facilitate input preparation and output analysis is also provided. We show the program at work in the simulation of different spectra (one and two‐photon absorption, emission and resonance Raman) and internal conversion rate of a typical rigid molecule, anthracene. Then, we focus on absorption and emission spectra of a series of flexible polyphenyl molecules, highlighting the relevance of some of the newly implemented features. The code is freely available at http://www.iccom.cnr.it/en/fcclasses/.


As the demographics of the United States continue to change to include more foreign nationals, nursing professionals will need to become increasingly aware of multicultural issues. Developing a greater cultural awareness of a particular client population can aid health care providers in improved caregiving. An interdisciplinary multicultural patient care team (IMPCT) was formed to enlarge the scope of nursing practice by educating nurses and other support staff about culturally diverse groups. The purpose of the IMPCT was to promote high-quality care to culturally diverse patients and their families. An IMPCT led by an advanced practice nurse would assist nursing staff in developing cultural awareness and sensitivity and would enhance nurses' ability to provide a holistic approach to nursing care.


Transparent teleoperation under rate mode has proven to be difficult in terms of stability, performance and implementation. This is mainly due to the need for exchange of derivatives and integrals of measured positions and forces. This paper proposes and implements a new control architecture designed based on the environment impedance reflecting controller previously developed. The performance of this new controller, implemented on a haptic simulation test-bed, is compared to that of a conventional controller under different operational conditions.