The design of software-based algorithms for fast IP address lookup targeted for general purpose processors has received tremendous attention in recent years due to its low cost implementation and flexibility. However, all work to date fails to account for the hierarchical memory structure of the processor when designing algorithms. In this work, we propose a dynamic memory model that captures data movement between hierarchical memories and the memory access cost. Using the model, we formulate the design of IP address lookup algorithms as a well-defined optimization problem that minimizes an algorithm's average lookup time. We first show the problem is NP-hard. We then present an optimization framework and associated algorithm based on Lagrange multipliers that terminates in a bounded-error solution. Simulation shows the synthesized algorithm has noticeable performance gain over existing techniques.


Away from the well-trodden paths of clinical medicine and remote even from the established fields of investigation, such as cardiac disease, arteriosclerosis, cancer, or infectious diseases, labors a force of workers silently intent upon a single goal. Though few of them will mention it, still their ultimate goal is apparent to all—the successful transplantation of tissue from man to man. What a pity that man must "wear out" in a single place, be it heart, lung, liver, or kidney, while the rest of him remains whole and useful. The dreams of "spare parts" transplantation have been legion, yet the obstacles have been seemingly insurmountable. I pondered these thoughts as I read the "Third Tissue Homotransplantation Conference" articles, admiring the ingenuity of some and industry of others who contributed, each in his small way, to a greater understanding of the mysteries of tissue transplantation. The parade is endless, varied, ingenuous or


Varied context reasoning approaches are used across a variety of applications in the pervasive computing domain including: health monitoring, intrusion detection, airport security and military target tracking. The same types of context are being inferred in diverse ways across a number of platforms. For example, human activity has been inferred using a number of statistical, ontological, and logical approaches. What we do not find in sufficient measure is context aware reasoning framework and knowledge reuse. Lack of reuse limits rapid context aware application development. This further restrains innovation. Among the factors contributing to this situation are: i) insufficient modeling formalisms; ii) limited generalized APIs for reasoning; and iii) inefficient and inflexible reasoning choices that fail to meet application needs. Utilizing reusable components for application development is a fundamental challenge in generalizing context reasoning. In this paper, we attempt to design and develop a foundation for implementing a generalized hierarchical hybrid context reasoning engine for pervasive applications. With such a framework we can achieve greater context reasoning framework and knowledge reuse, support for context modularization and improved context aware application performance.


With further applications of AI, IoT, and digital twin technology to plant operation and maintenance, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure data reliability. Data validation and reconciliation (DVR) represents one promising technique to ensure data reliability by minimizing the uncertainty of measurements based on statistics. DVR has been widely applied to nuclear power electrical generation plants in Europe and the United States in recent years. The most important input for DVR analysis is measurement uncertainty. In Japan, performance management of nuclear power plants is often done by measuring condensate flow rate. While the uncertainty of other flowmeters is handled by the JIS standard, the condensate flowmeter is specially calibrated every few cycles. This leads to reduction of effectiveness of DVR analysis due to variations in measurement uncertainty management. To overcome this issue, we propose an estimation method for measurement uncertainty by utilizing process data, an incidence matrix between sensors, and a reference instrument. The conventional method proposed in the previous study only treats the random error. The proposed method quantitatively estimates not only random error but also bias error by considering the uncertainty of the reference instrument. Using several benchmark problems, we found that the proposed method was applicable to various flow conditions, including physically fluctuating flow such as that observed in the feedwater flow in nuclear power plants. We anticipate that the proposed method will promote use of DVR analysis in nuclear power plants in Japan.


Magnetosonic waves have been demonstrated as effective for bounce resonant scattering. Electron scattering rates due to bounce resonance interaction with magnetosonic waves are derived in a general form, where the effects of the finite Larmor radius, of violation in the first adiabatic invariant, and of latitudinal wave power distribution are considered. Such bounce resonance diffusion coefficients are important, but missing, from radiation belt modeling. Additionally, we provide a parametric study on the electron energy and equatorial pitch angle, magnetosonic wave, and background parameters to identify the factors that determine effective bounce resonant scattering.


A novel microwave bandpass filter using microstrip stepped impedance ring resonators is reported. The new filter has the advantages of compact size together with sharp rejection of outbands. A two-pole microstrip bandpass filter of this type has been implemented and examined, theoretically and experimentally.


This paper explores gender-equity issues from three distinctive perspectives: numeric distribution, compensation, and sense of empowerment. It is based on large-scale national surveys--the School and Staffing Surveys--in which public-school administrators assessed the differences between female and male principals. Based on findings from the study, it appears that significant gains have been made in achieving gender equity among public-school administrators. From 1984 to 1994, female representation in the administrator work force increased from 21.4 percent to 34.5 percent. Among principals with fewer than 5 years of administrative experience, more than 38 percent are female. However, such gains are still not significant enough to offset the large gap in numeric distributions between female and male principals; female principals continue to be underrepresented among public-school administrators. In terms of compensation, differences in annual salary between female and male principals seem to be statistically insignificant. However, it takes women longer to become principals, and they are less likely to be paid as highly as their male counterparts. Even so, female principals have a greater sense of empowerment, believing that they have more decision-making power in school matters than do their male counterparts. Seven tables provide data on gender distributions of principals and other information. (RJM) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** Exploring Gender Differences in America's School Administrator Workforce: Statistical Evidence from National Surveys Paper Presentation at The American Education Research Association Annual Meeting Montreal, Canada


Cobalamin adenosyltransferases transfer a 5'-deoxyadenosyl moiety from ATP and covalently attach it to the cobalt(I) ion of the corrin ring of cobalamin to generate adenosylcobalamin. The PduO-type adenosyltransferase from Bacillus cereus was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized as the apoenzyme as well as in complex with Mg(2+) and ATP (MgATP). Diffraction data were collected to 1.9 A resolution for the native crystals and 2.0 A resolution for the complexed crystals. Both crystals belonged to the orthorhombic space group C222(1); the native crystals have unit-cell parameters a = 64.93, b = 137.08, c = 158.55 A. The asymmetric unit contained one trimer, with a corresponding V(M) of 2.69 A(3) Da(-1).


Author(s): Fragoso, Victor Manuel | Advisor(s): Turk, Matthew A | Abstract: Classifiers generally lack a mechanism to compute decision confidences. As humans, when we sense that the confidence for a decision is low, we either conduct additional actions to improve our confidence or dismiss the decision. While this reasoning is natural to us, it is currently missing in most common decision algorithms (i.e., classifiers) used in computer vision or machine learning. This limits the capability for a machine to take further actions to either improve a result or dismiss the decision. In this thesis, we design algorithms for estimating the confidence for decisions made by classifiers such as nearest-neighbor or support vector machines. We developed these algorithms leveraging the theory of extreme values. We use the statistical models that this theory provides for modeling the classifier's decision scores for correct and incorrect outcomes. Our proposed algorithms exploit these statistical models in order to compute a correctness belief: the probability that the classifier's decision is correct. In this work, we show how these beliefs can be used to filter bad classifications and to speed up robust estimations via sample and consensus algorithms, which are used in computer vision for estimating camera motions and for reconstructing the scene's 3D structure. Moreover, we show how these beliefs improve the classification accuracy of one-class support vector machines. In conclusion, we show that extreme value theory leads to powerful mechanisms that can predict the correctness of a classifier's decision.


For outsource-type manufacturers, as they are increasingly outsourcing more and more activities to suppliers in order to focus their core competences, more and more these companies become interested in developing and implementing strategic partnership with their suppliers. Hence, an effective tool is needed to help these companies in evaluating their suppliers and selecting the best suppliers for long-term partnership. On analyzing the criterion system for outsourcing supplier evaluation, a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach based on fuzzy neural network is proposed in this paper. An illustrative numerical example is also provided to verify the approach and demonstrate its feasibility and practicality.


In breast cancer screening for high-risk women, follow-up magnetic resonance images (MRI) are acquired with a time interval ranging from several months up to a few years. Prior MRI studies may provide additional clinical value when examining the current one and thus have the potential to increase sensitivity and specificity of screening. To build a spatial correlation between suspicious findings in both current and prior studies, a reliable alignment method between follow-up studies is desirable. However, long time interval, different scanners and imaging protocols, and varying breast compression can result in a large deformation, which challenges the registration process. In this work, we present a fast and robust spatial alignment framework, which combines automated breast segmentation and current-prior registration techniques in a multi-level fashion. First, fully automatic breast segmentation is applied to extract the breast masks that are used to obtain an initial affine transform. Then, a non-rigid registration algorithm using normalized gradient fields as similarity measure together with curvature regularization is applied. A total of 29 subjects and 58 breast MR images were collected for performance assessment. To evaluate the global registration accuracy, the volume overlap and boundary surface distance metrics are calculated, resulting in an average Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) of 0.96 and root mean square distance (RMSD) of 1.64 mm. In addition, to measure local registration accuracy, for each subject a radiologist annotated 10 pairs of markers in the current and prior studies representing corresponding anatomical locations. The average distance error of marker pairs dropped from 67.37 mm to 10.86 mm after applying registration.


Application of the nuclear approach for the detection of inherited diseases is an important goal for nuclear medicine and will likely result in an important breakthrough, which will, hopefully, lead to improved diagnoses of genetic defects and objective evaluations of the efficacy of therapeutic strategies. Although still largely in the research realm, molecular imaging is in the process of emerging as a vital component of the diagnosis of disease and monitoring of the therapy. The clinical research in nuclear medicine has made major advancements in the direction of molecular medicine and targeted therapy. In the past few years, exponential achievements have been accomplished in the development of molecular nuclear imaging agents, as described below.


The velocity profile shape and boundary layer thickness of an equilibrium boundary layer grown over a long fetch of roughness are closely matched with those of a boundary layer artificially thickened using spires (by adjusting the shape and height of the spires). Other turbulent characteristics of these two wind tunnel simula tions of the atmospheric wind are then compared. At the same time, more information on rough wall boundary layers is obtained to allow for a rational choice of the shape and spacing of roughness elements required to produce a particular simulation of the full scale boundary layer.
A technique for calculating the shape of boundary layers in exact equilibrium with the roughness beneath, using a data correlation for the wall stress associated with very rough boundaries and a semi-empirical calculation method, is examined experimentally. Wall shear stress, measured directly from a drag plate, i combined with boundary layer integral properties to show that the shear stress formula is reasonably accurate and that the boundary layer grown over a long fetch of roughness is close to equilibrium after passing over a streamwise distance equal to about 350 times the roughness
element height.

The boundary layer quickly generated using spires proved to be a fair approximation to that grown over a long fetch of roughness, but did not accurately represent the longitudinal turbulence intensity of the full scale atmospheric wind or the naturally grown boundary layer.
The boundary layer produced here by spires showed little change in gross characteristics after travelling
about eight spire heights downstream of the spires. A distance of six or seven such heights has been advised by other workers in the past.


For more than 50 years, research into III–V compound semiconductors has focused almost exclusively on materials grown on (001)-oriented substrates. In part, this is due to the relative ease with which III–Vs can be grown on (001) surfaces. However, in recent years, a number of key technologies have emerged that could be realized, or vastly improved, by the ability to also grow high-quality III–Vs on (111)- or (110)-oriented substrates These applications include: next-generation field-effect transistors, novel quantum dots, entangled photon emitters, spintronics, topological insulators, and transition metal dichalcogenides. The first purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive review of the literature concerning growth by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) of III–Vs on (111) and (110) substrates. The second is to describe our recent experimental findings on the growth, morphology, electrical, and optical properties of layers grown on non-(001) InP wafers. Taking InP(111)A, InP(111)B, and InP(110) substrates in turn, the authors systematically discuss growth of both In0.52Al0.48As and In0.53Ga0.47As on these surfaces. For each material system, the authors identify the main challenges for growth, and the key growth parameter–property relationships, trends, and interdependencies. The authors conclude with a section summarizing the MBE conditions needed to optimize the structural, optical and electrical properties of GaAs, InAlAs and InGaAs grown with (111) and (110) orientations. In most cases, the MBE growth parameters the authors recommend will enable the reader to grow high-quality material on these increasingly important non-(001) surfaces, paving the way for exciting technological advances.


The study aimed at examining the relationship between cost leadership strategy, market orientation and business performance of manufacturing, Small and Medium Enterprise performance (SMEs). A quantitative survey method was employed, using a cross-sectional research design. The data were collected through self-administered questionnaires from a sample of 287 respondents. The study indicated that SMEs are essential to the economic growth of Nigeria; because they serve as an indispensable source of employment generation. SMEs contribute immensely towards the formation of industries, enhanced capital accumulation, served as an intermediary for goods, and assist in the uplifting the living standard through the provision of variety of products and services. The research model used in this survey was designed in line with the theoretical evidence which in turn lead to the correlation between the research variables. The study employed the Multiple regression method; the findings indicated that cost leadership strategy and market orientation has a significant positive relationship with the performance of SMEs. The discussion provided some limitations and offer suggestions for future research directions.


In this paper an elementary theory of hydromagnetic turbulence is developed along the lines of Heisenberg's theory of ordinary turbulence. The basic physical idea underlying this theory is to conceive the transformation of the kinetic energy at a particular wave number into kinetic energy and magnetic energy at higher wave numbers, and similarly, the transformation of the magnetic energy at a given wave number into kinetic energy and magnetic energy of higher wave numbers, as a cascade process which can be visualized in terms of suitably defined coefficients of eddy viscosity and eddy resistivity. The resulting equations for the cascade process have been solved under stationary conditions in the limiting case of zero viscosity and infinite electrical conductivity. It is shown that in this limiting case there exist two distinct modes of turbulence; these have been distinguished as the velocity mode and the magnetic mode respectively. In both modes equipartition between the two forms of energy prevail among the largest eddies present (i.e. as k->0); and the spectrum of both the kinetic energy and the magnetic energy have a Kolmogoroff behaviour for k->0. The two modes differ in their behaviour for k-> oo. In the velocity mode the ratio of the magnetic energy to the kinetic energy tends to zero among the smallest eddies present (i.e. as k->oo), while in the magnetic mode the same ratio tends to about 2.6 as k->oo. The bearing of these results on the possible character of the interstellar magnetic fields is briefly discussed.


Unintentional modulation on pulse (UMOP) is the basis for specific emitter identification and has been studied for decades. However, the isolated distribution of UMOP in frequency domain has not been investigated. This Letter first gives the signal model of UMOP, and then evaluates its frequency-domain distribution based on sinc-function fitting. Experiments on real-world data validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, and further indicate that UMOP mainly distributes in low frequencies with dramatically limited bandwidth. Furthermore, the proposed distribution density can also serve as a practical UMOP feature which exhibits better recognition performance than conventional spectrum features.


Purpose: Evaluate the performance of an implantable MOSFETdosimeter designed for hypo‐fractionated protocols. Method and Materials: The DVS® implantable dosimeter has been developed for use with external beam radiotherapy. A new version is currently under development for use with hypo‐fractionated protocols (DVS‐HFT*). This dosimeter is pre‐calibrated for use at body temperature in a dose per fraction range of 340–1200 cGy. The dosimeter response was evaluated in a water phantom at 37°C to validate the accuracy as a function of dose. Since delivery times for high dose fractions can vary, a study of the response as a function of treatment time was performed. In addition, dose rate dependency for high doses was evaluated. Final dosimeter accuracy was validated by delivering simulated hypo‐fractionated treatments on a body phantom at 37 °C. Two dosimeters each (total six) were irradiated inside the phantom with a breast BID plan at 340 cGy per fraction (10 fx), two prostate IMRT plans at 700 cGy per fraction (5 fx) using 6 MV and 18 MV. Results: The dosimeter had minimum dependency on dose fraction size from 340 to 1200 cGy. Phantom testing found a response accuracy of <6% for 50 dosimeters tested with different doses and fractionation schemes. Dose rate dependence measurements in the range of 300 to 600 MU/min showed <0.6% variability. The dosimeter was found to have a slight dose response fall off as a function of fraction number for irradiation times larger than 1 hour. Simulated clinical treatments on six dosimeters resulted in an overall accuracy of −0.65% (σ=1.9%). Conclusion: Hypo‐fractionated treatments have fewer fractions requiring increased treatment accuracy. Phantom testing suggests that the DVS‐HFT could be used to measure the dose per fraction delivered helping optimize hypo‐fractionated treatments. *Not FDA cleared for use in the US Research sponsored by Sicel Technologies, Inc.


Numerous studies of flame interaction with a single vortex and recent simulations of burning in vortex arrays in open tubes demonstrated the same tendency for the turbulent burning rate proportional to U-rms lambda(2/3), where U-rms is the root-mean-square velocity and lambda is the vortex size. Here, it is demonstrated that this tendency is not universal for turbulent burning. Flame interaction with vortex arrays is investigated for the geometry of a closed burning chamber by using direct numerical simulations of the complete set of gas-dynamic combustion equations. Various initial conditions in the chamber are considered, including gas at rest and several systems of vortices of different intensities and sizes. It is found that the burning rate in a closed chamber (inverse burning time) depends strongly on the vortex intensity; at sufficiently high intensities it increases with U-rms approximately linearly in agreement with the above tendency. On the contrary, dependence of the burning rate on the vortex size is nonmonotonic and qualitatively different from the law lambda(2/3). It is shown that there is an optimal vortex size in a closed chamber, which provides the fastest total burning rate. In the present work, the optimal size is six times smaller than the chamber height.


We study the quantum dynamics of a simple translation invariant, center-of-mass (CoM) preserving model of interacting fermions in one dimension (1D), which arises in multiple experimentally realizable contexts. We show that this model naturally displays the phenomenology associated with fractonic systems, wherein single charges can only move by emitting dipoles. This allows us to demonstrate the rich Krylov fractured structure of this model, whose Hilbert space shatters into exponentially many dynamically disconnected subspaces. Focusing on exponentially large Krylov subspaces, we show that these can be either be integrable or non-integrable, thereby establishing the notion of Krylov-restricted thermalization. We analytically find a tower of integrable Krylov subspaces of this Hamiltonian, all of which map onto spin-1/2 XX models of various system sizes. We also discuss the physics of the non-integrable subspaces, where we show evidence for weak Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis (ETH) restricted to each non-integrable Krylov subspace. Further, we show that constraints in some of the thermal Krylov subspaces cause the long-time expectation values of local operators to deviate from behavior typically expected from translation-invariant systems. Finally, we show using a Schrieffer-Wolff transformation that such models naturally appear as effective Hamiltonians in the large electric field limit of the interacting Wannier-Stark problem, and comment on connections of our work with the phenomenon of Bloch many-body localization.


BACKGROUND
Alport syndrome (ATS) is a progressive inherited nephropathy characterized by irregular thinning, thickening and splitting of the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) often associated with hearing loss and ocular symptoms. ATS has been shown to be caused by COL4A5 mutations in its X-linked form and by COL4A3 and COL4A4 mutations in its autosomal forms.

METHODS
Five families with a suspicion of ATS were investigated both from a clinical and molecular point of view. COL4A3 and COL4A4 genes were analysed by DHPLC. Automated sequencing was performed to identify the underlying mutation.

RESULTS
Molecular analysis indicated that in all 5 cases the correct diagnosis was autosomal recessive ATS. In three families in which parental consanguinity clearly pinpointed to autosomal recessive ATS, we found COL4A4 homozygous mutations in two of them and COL4A3 homozygous mutation in the other one. In the remaining two families a differential diagnosis including X-linked ATS, autosomal recessive ATS and thin basement membrane nephropathy was considered. The molecular analysis demonstrated that the probands were genetic compounds for two different mutations in the COL4A4 gene pinpointing to the correct diagnosis of autosomal recessive ATS.

CONCLUSIONS
A clinical evaluation of probands and their relatives of the five families carrying mutations in either the COL4A3 or the COL4A4 gene was carried out to underline the natural history of the autosomal recessive ATS. In addition, this paper stresses the complexity of the clinics and genetics of ATS and how a correct diagnosis is based on a combination of: (i) an in-depth clinical investigation; (ii) a detailed formal genetic analysis; (iii) a correct technical choice of the gene to be investigated; (iv) a correct technical choice of the family member to be included in the mutational screening. A correct diagnosis is the basis for an appropriate genetic counselling dealing with both the correct prognosis and the accurate recurrence risk for the patients and family members.


The Event Detection area is gaining increasing interest among researchers. The social media data growth induces the emergence of new algorithms along with the improvement of existing solutions. In this paper we propose to improve of existing algorithm for event detection, SEDTWik (Segment-based Event Detection from Tweets using Wikipedia). The authors define event as a set of similar segments of words within a given time window. A segment is defined as a word or phrase taken from the analyzed text data. The SEDTWik uses Wikipedia as a "supervisor" to identify the segments, to calculate the segments' bursty value and to calculate the segments' newsworthiness. We examined the SEDTWik algorithm using our data from Telegram online social network. The overall network message construction of Twitter is different from that of Telegram. Therefore, we transformed the Telegram meta-data to fit the SEDTWik requirements. Another much relevant difference in our experiment lies in the fact that our corpora contain messages in Russian and Kazakh languages. Our results show that the SEDTWik algorithm is strongly dependent on the broad and unfocused Wikipedia data. Such dependency was shown to have a loss effect on the event detection accuracy. This result founds our motivation to improve the SEDTWik algorithm using dynamically calculated segment probabilities from the analyzing data streams.


Abstract Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis is a common, heterogeneous condition. An effective means of mitigating disease in chronic rhinosinusitis patients remains elusive. A variety of causes have been implicated, with the biofilm theory gaining increasing prominence. Objective: This article reviews the literature on the role of biofilms in chronic rhinosinusitis, in terms of pathophysiology and with regard to avenues for future treatment. Methods: A systematic review of case series was performed using databases with independently developed search strategies, including Medline, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane library, and Zetoc, in addition to conference proceedings and a manual search of literature, with the last search conducted on 18 January 2014. The search terms included the following, used in various combinations to maximise the yield of articles identified: 'biofilms', 'chronic rhinosinusitis', 'DNase', 'extracellular DNA' and 'biofilm dispersal'. Results: The existing evidence lends further support for the role of biofilms (particularly the Staphylococcus aureus phenotype) in more severe, recalcitrant disease and poorer surgical outcomes. Conclusion: Multimodality treatment, with a shift in paradigm to incorporate anti-biofilm strategies, is likely to form the mainstay of future recalcitrant chronic rhinosinusitis management.


Background/Aims: Endoscopic biliary stent drainage plays an important role in the palliative treatment of malignant biliary obstruction. The aim of this study was to investigate predictors of occlusion of first metal inserted stent in patients with malignant biliary obstruction. Patients and Methods: The retrospective analysis was performed in 178 patients with malignant biliary obstruction. Factors associated with stent occlusion were analyzed by Cox regression analysis. Results: Median overall stent patency was 178 days. Total cumulative obstruction rate of the first stents during the follow up was 33%, 57%, 83%, and 96% at 90, 180, 360, and 720 days. Multivariate analysis revealed that hilar obstruction (hazard ratio [HR] =3.26, 95% confidence interval [CI, 2.31–4.61), metastasis cancer (HR = 2.61, 95% CI, 1.79–3.80), and length of stent (HR = 1.74, 95% CI, 1.24–2.46) were independent predictors of stent occlusion. Conclusions: Hilar biliary stricture, metastatic cancer, and length of stent were important predictors of occlusion of first-inserted metal stent in patients with malignant biliary obstruction.


Over the past decades, Assisted History Matching has been the new norm for history matching that leverages the rapid advancement in digital computational performance. Continuous advancements such as parallel computing and GPU accelerates numerical simulation which overcomes the cumbersome experience of working with large fine-scaled model that mainly concerns the simulation time and intervention of engineers. As more interest emerges around artificial intelligence in the optimisation process, this paper explores the Artificial Intelligence algorithm to optimize two proxy modelling techniques: Quadratic Polynomial and Artificial Neural Network proxy model. These techniques are compared with stochastic optimisation method known as Differential Evolution algorithm on their efficiency of optimizing the objective functions, time taken, and knowledge investment needed by engineer, given today's hardware technology.
 This paper starts off by using Latin hypercube experimental design to generate first ensemble of simulation cases to generate proxy models to match the historical cumulative oil and water production by well level. The quality of both proxy modelling techniques is evaluated using R2 coefficient and proxy plot. Proxy models are then further validated by creating real simulation models from variants generated via Monte Carlo Analysis. The history matching quality and practicality were compared between the AI algorithm that runs optimizer on top of existing proxy models, and Differential Evolution algorithm in optimizing the regional porosity and permeability multipliers.
 The ANN proxy model prevailed over quadratic proxies to mimic the numerical reservoir model output with high degree of accuracy. The black-box nature of the ANN proxies limits the interpretability of predicted model when compared quadratic proxies where the formula for the proxy model can be obtained. Quadratic approximations are more flexible, simplistic in nature, and requires less computational cost to be constructed. Despite that, its prediction quality maybe subjected to the degree of non-linearity in the simulation model. The use of AI algorithm vastly reduces the number of full reservoir simulation required to achieve the minimum objective function at a shorter timeframe, which is proved to be the strength of such method. However, AI optimisation is highly susceptible to be trapped in local minimum. This paper proved the superiority of Differential Evolution algorithm over AI, that it may avoid being trapped in local minimum to achieve high degree of prediction accuracy for the history matching given the larger number of iterations required.
 This paper provides a preliminary understanding of optimisation workflow and how to go about each optimisation strategies: quadratic polynomial proxy, ANN proxy, stochastic optimisation, artificial intelligence techniques, and a novel approach of converting proxy predicted variants into real simulation cases to evaluate proxy quality. Hence establishes engineers' expectation by appraising the pros and cons of each optimisation strategies.


Extract: The cell-free media from cultured skin fibroblasts derived from 16 healthy subjects, 13 homozygotes, 6 obligate heterozygotes, and 1 potential heterozygote for cystic fibrosis (CF) were investigated for ciliary dyskinesia factor (CDF) by a modified rabbit tracheal bioassay. Fluid was obtained for study from cultures during growth phase, 24 and 48 hr after feeding, before confluence had been reached. A positive CDF response was demonstrated in the media of all homozygous and heterozygous for CF skin fibro-blast cultures, after incubation of the culture fluid with human immunoglobulin G (IgG). No CDF response was observed before the addition of IgG. Although there was a tendency of the cell-free media obtained from the CF homozygous fibroblast cultures to elicit a stronger CDF response than the media from heterozygous cultures, no consistent distinction between homozygous and heterozygous fibroblast cultures could be obtained. The fluid of 15 out of 16 fibroblast cultures derived from normal donors did not demonstrate CDF activity before or after the addition of IgG. The media from cultured amniotic fluid cells obtained from a pregnant woman homozygous for CF and from four pregnancies derived from heterozygous parents demonstrated CDF activity in the presence of IgG. The media of 10 out of 11 control amniotic fluid cell cultures were CDF negative. In the one CDF-positive control culture a positive CDF response was also elicited in the maternal serum. Media from CF fibroblast cultures, to which IgG had been added, lost their CDF activity after treatment with anti-IgG. The culture fluid from confluent fibroblast and amniotic fluid cell cultures of all types of subjects, including control subjects, inhibited the ciliary activity of rabbit tracheal explants without addition of IgG. No CDF activity was observed in the amniotic fluid of a fetus affected with CF. Amicon filtration experiments demonstrated that a molecule with molecular weight between 1,000 and 10,000 produced by CF fibroblast cultures causes ciliary dyskinesia in the presence of IgG. The findings suggest that cultured skin fibroblasts and amniotic fluid cells that carry the CF gene in a homozygous or heterozygous state produce a small molecule, preciliary dyskinesia factor (pre-CDF), which is activated in the presence of IgG, as tested with the rabbit bioassay. It appears that this activation of pre-CDF could be reversed by its removal from the IgG.Speculation: Cells from all individuals produce a pre-CDF, which is a normal product important for rapid changes in electrolyte flux at the cell membrane. This molecule is normally rapidly inactivated by an appropriate enzyme. The genetic defect in CF is in the reduced activity of this enzyme, which results in abnormalities at the cell membrane because of excess of pre-GDF, and, after activation of pre-CDF to CDF by IgG, in interference with bronchial ciliary function.


Aiming at a better electrocatalytic enhancement of ethylene glycol (EG) electrooxidation (EGO) in an alkaline medium for EG fuel cells (EGFCs), a MnOx/Pt anode was developed. A sequential layer-bylayer electrodeposition technique was employed to assemble first platinum nanoparticles (nano-Pt) directly onto the surface of a glassy carbon (GC) electrode then manganese oxide nanoparticles (nanoMnOx) were next immobilized. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were employed to evaluate the surface morphology and the bulk composition of the proposed catalyst in addition to the relative ratio of the catalyst's ingredients. On the other hand, the catalyst was characterized electrochemically using cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique. The results manifested the superiority of the developed MnOx/Pt/GC catalyst for enhancing EGO while the degree of enhancement depended on the loading level of the catalyst components and the acidity (pH) of the EG-containing electrolyte. The best electrocatalytic enhancement towards EGO was achieved at MnOx/Pt/GC electrode with nano-Pt = 3.8 μg and nano-MnOx, θ = 52 %, in 0.5 M NaOH solution (pH= 11.5) containing 0.5 M EG. Under these conditions, an increase in the oxidation peak current, Ip (1.7 times) along with a negative shift in the onset potential, Eonset (ca. 120 mV) of EGO was obtained in reference to the Pt/GC electrode. The developed catalyst exhibited a reasonable catalytic stability upon subjecting for a continuous potential cycling.


The rapid development of artificial intelligence inevitably poses an impact on the old legal system, while in the field of intellectual property, the copyright differences caused by artificial intelligence creations are more violent and urgent. In practice, there is a great disagreement on whether artificial intelligence creations belong to the object of copyright, and the debate on the subject of copyright is more intense. Starting from the purpose and object of copyright protection, the traditional concept of a work has been greatly revised, and "ideological" is no longer an important criterion for the originality of a work. Starting from the dichotomy of "thought" and "expression," artificial intelligence already possesses "ingenuity" in creations, and the development of artificial intelligence also requires copyright protection of its creations. Compared with other entities, investors and transferees as capital contributors need more copyright protection in the early stage of industrial development, and they should also bear the relevant responsibilities in the process of creation of works.


We present a new class of fluctuation relations, to which we will refer as Fluctuation Relations for Current Components (FRCCs). FRCCs can be used to estimate system parameters when complete information about nonequilibrium many-body electron interactions is unavailable. We show that FRCCs are often robust in the sense that they do not depend on some basic types of electron interactions and some quantum coherence effects.


Assertions play an important role in the construction of robust software. Their use in programming languages dates back to the 1970s. Eiffel, an object-oriented programming language, wholeheartedly adopted assertions and developed the "Design by Contract" philosophy. Indeed, the entire object-oriented community recognizes the value of assertion-based contracts on methods.
 In contrast, languages with higher-order functions do not support assertion-based contracts. Because predicates on functions are, in general, undecidable, specifying such predicates appears to be meaningless. Instead, the functional languages community developed type systems that statically approximate interesting predicates.
 In this paper, we show how to support higher-order function contracts in a theoretically well-founded and practically viable manner. Specifically, we introduce ?CON, a typed lambda calculus with assertions for higher-order functions. The calculus models the assertion monitoring system that we employ in Dr Scheme. We establish basic properties of the model (type soundness, etc.) and illustrate the usefulness of contract checking with examples from Dr Scheme's code base.
 We believe that the development of an assertion system for higherorder functions serves two purposes. On one hand, the system has strong practical potential because existing type systems simply cannot express many assertions that programmers would like to state. nOn the other hand, an inspection of a large base of invariants may provide inspiration for the direction of practical future type system research.


Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are an emerging, cutting-edge technology that relies on the microfabrication of small scale mechanical components (actuators, sensors, mirrors, etc.) and the integration of those components with on-board electronic processing. Because MEMS devices must react to mechanical signals, many employ construction topologies that require physical motion and the concomitant lubrication which prevents heating/melting and wear of the device. This talk will address how knowledge of the fundamental origins of friction can be applied to MEMS technology, and vice versa.


Lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) are common pollutants in grains and are extremely toxic. Pb is harmful to human organs even at trace levels, and once it accumulates in the body, it causes inhibition of hemoglobin formation and neurological disorders.1 Cd is even classified as human carcinogen [Group 1 – according to International Agency for Research on Cancer].2 It is reported that Cd leads to severe kidney problems which can be fatal,3 and is also associated with brittle bones and liver problems. Rice, as the most widely consumed cereal grain in Asia/China, can quickly pick up Pb and Cd from toxins, pesticides and fertilizers in the soil, thereby endangering the health of millions of people through their diet. Therefore, it is extremely important to develop a simple, reliable method to monitor the levels of Pb and Cd in rice.


Vectors are responsible for the transmission of many important endemic and emerging diseases. The functional traits of these animals have important consequences for pathogen transmission, but also for fitness and population dynamics of the vectors themselves. Increasing empirical evidence suggests that vector traits vary significantly at time scales relevant to transmission dynamics. Currently, an understanding of how this variation in key traits impacts transmission is hindered by a lack of empirical data as well theoretical methods for mechanistically incorporating traits into transmission models. Here, we present a framework for incorporating both intrinsic and environment-driven variation in vector traits into empirical and theoretical vector-borne disease research. This framework mechanistically captures the effect of trait variation on vector fitness, the correlation between vector traits, and how these together determine transmission dynamics. We illustrate how trait-based vector-borne disease modelling can make novel predictions, and identify key steps and challenges in the construction, empirical parameterization and validation of such models. Perhaps most importantly, this framework can also be used to prioritize data collection efforts.


The forested area around Kuala Keniam is a part of Taman Negara (Pahang) and is categorized as a primary lowland dipterocarp, riparian fringe and limestone forests. A study of flora that focuses on the trees and shrubs was conducted during the scientific expedition in September 2020, organised by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). The results identified as many as 187 taxa of trees and shrubs consisting of 124 genera and 49 plant families from the lowland dipterocarp forest. A total of nine endemic taxa to Peninsular Malaysia were also recorded namely Aporosa globifera, Baccaurea pyriformis, Cinnamomum mollissimum, Enicosanthum fuscum, Lithocarpus curtisii, Mallotus griffithianus, M. penangensis, Ryparosa fasciculata and Schoutenia kunstleri. Another three taxa viz. Elaeocarpus obtusatus ssp. apiculatus, Popowia tomentosa and Sterculia rubiginosa var. setistipula were considered as the new additional record for Pahang state. It is hoped that the information from this study can be used as references to help other researchers as well as stakeholders in ecotourism management and forest conservation plan.


Personalised medicine has existed for quite some time. Physicians have, to varying degrees, adapted treatments to individual patients based on information collected about them. But over the last decade and a half, the advent of systems biology has significantly widened the scope of personalised medicine. In modern practice, the goal of personalised medicine is to interpret collected datasets in a way that improves our understanding of a living system and its pathologies while enabling targeted treatment that is responsive to an individual patient or group of patients. Often portrayed as medicine that is 'custom-made', in opposition to traditional medicine that has a 'one size fits all' character, personalised medicine includes all stages of medical procedure, beginning with diagnosis and ending with targeted medicinal treatments. For many, personalised medicine may be defined as the effort of giving the right treatment to the right patient, with the right medicinal product, at the right time, and for the right duration.

But according to some experts, this definition is too restrictive. To them, personalised medicine is not limited to genetic testing, genome sequencing, or particular medicinal products that are responsive to specific biomarkers. Their alternative definition incorporates big data, internet or computer-connected personal medical devices, artificial intelligence (AI), telemedicine, nutrition (nutrigenomics), medical imaging, and the microbiome (the totality of microorganisms and their collective genetic material present in or on the human body or in another environment), to name but a few. The accepted definition of personalised medicine is likely to shift further in coming years as research applications become an ever more prominent part of the daily practice of medicine. In the same vein, the ethical and legal considerations related to this field of study will also evolve, influenced by new discoveries and innovative uses of personalised medicine. This is true at the regulatory level, where new technologies are challenging traditional product classifications and where regulatory mechanisms will seek to secure that a balance exists between innovation and patient safety.


There are three major subsets of the inflammatory myopathies: polymyositis (PM), dermatomyositis (DM), and inclusion-body myositis (IBM). High-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) has been tried in controlled clinical trials in patients with DM and IBM but not with PM. In patients with DM that is resistant or partially responsive to conventional therapies. IVIg was very effective. The treated patients experienced dramatic improvement not only in muscle strength but also of their skin rash. Repeated muscle biopsies with quantitative histologic studies showed the IVIg-treated patients had a statistically significant improvement of the muscle cytoarchitecture, with resolution of the aberrant immunopathologic parameters. In two controlled clinical trials conducted in IBM patients, IVIg showed marginal improvements in muscle strength which were nonsignificant. However, a few IBM patients had a definite clinical improvement with increased activities of daily living, but when analyzed within the entire IVIg-treated group, their total gains in muscle strength did not reach statistical significance compared to the placebo-treated group. Of interest is that certain muscle groups in the IVIg-treated patients, such as the muscles of swallowing, showed significant improvement compared to those of the placebo-treated patients, implying mild regional effects. In PM, uncontrolled trials have shown improvements in muscle strength, but the controlled clinical trial is still ongoing.


Objective:The current Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines from 2006 recommend a one-time test for low-risk individuals and annual testing for those at high risk. These guidelines may not be aggressive enough, even for those at low risk of infection, due to the earlier initiation of HAART and a movement towards a test-and-treat environment. We evaluated the optimal testing frequencies for various risk groups in comparison to the CDC recommendations. Methods:We build a deterministic mathematical model optimizing the tradeoff between the societal cost of testing and the benefits over a patient's lifetime of earlier diagnosis. Results:Under a test-and-treat scenario with immediate initiation of HAART, the optimal testing frequency is every 2.4 years for low-risk (0.01% annual incidence) individuals; every 9 months for moderate risk (0.1% incidence) individuals; and every 3 months for high-risk (1.0% incidence) individuals. The incremental cost-effectiveness of the optimal policy is $36 342/quality-adjusted life-years (QALY) for low-risk individuals and $45 074/QALY for high-risk individuals compared with 20-year and annual testing, respectively. Conclusion:The current CDC guidelines for HIV testing are too conservative, and more frequent testing is cost-effective for all risk groups.


In statistical modeling of computer experiments sometimes prior information is available about the underlying function. For example, the physical system simulated by the computer code may be known to be monotone with respect to some or all inputs. We develop a Bayesian approach to Gaussian process modelling capable of incorporating monotonicity information for computer model emulation. Markov chain Monte Carlo methods are used to sample from the posterior distribution of the process given the simulator output and monotonicity information. The performance of the proposed approach in terms of predictive accuracy and uncertainty quantification is demonstrated in a number of simulated examples as well as a real queueing system application.


Background The Michigan Hand Questionnaire (MHQ) is a self-administered questionnaire on hand function which, in contrast to other commonly used hand function questionnaires, yields results for each hand separately. The MHQ has been translated into German [1]. Its reliability and validity in patients with carpometacarpal osteoarthritis (CMC OA) have not been proved for either the English original or the German version, although it has already been used in several studies [2,3]. Objectives To investigate the internal consistency and convergent construct validity of the German MHQ for patients with CMC OA. Methods Baseline data from consecutive patients included in a prospective, observational study on conservative and surgical treatment of CMC OA were used. All patients were asked to complete the MHQ, which consists of 37 items including six subscales: hand function, activities of daily living (ADL), pain, work performance, aesthetics, and satisfaction with hand function. The total score as well as the subscale scores are normalised and range from 0 to 100; higher scores indicate better performance, except for pain, where a higher score denotes more pain. Patients also filled in the Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire (DASH). For the MHQ, the percentage of missing items was calculated, as well as the percentage of patients obtaining the minimum or maximum score, in order to evaluate floor and ceiling effects. Internal consistency was measured by calculating Crohnbach's alpha. To investigate the convergent construct validity, correlations between the MHQ, its subscales and the DASH were calculated using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Results 41 female and 10 male patients with a mean age of 64 years (SD ± 8.7) were included in the study. The median total score of the MHQ was 49 (range 23-88) for the affected hand and 65 (28-92) for the non-affected hand, with 0.03% missing items in total. No patient obtained either the minimum or the maximum total score. Internal consistency ranged from α =0.76 for the MHQ work subscale to α =0.89 for the ADL subscale. ADL (r=-0.69**), work (r=-0.55**) and pain (r=0.64**), as well as the total score (r=-0.62**), correlated well with the DASH, whereas satisfaction (r=-0.44**) and hand function (r= -0.28*) showed modest, yet statistically significant correlations (*=p≤0.05, **=p≤0.01). The aesthetics subscale did not correlate significantly with the DASH (r=-0.19). Conclusions The German MHQ seems to be an internally consistent and valid questionnaire for measuring hand function in patients with CMC OA. Its responsiveness in this particular patient group needs to be determined in future research. References K Knobloch, et al. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2011; 128: 39e-40e J Van Rijn, et al. J.Hand Surg.Am. 2010; 35: 572-9 NG Burke, et al. J Hand Surg Eur Vol. 2011; Epub 2011/09/15 Disclosure of Interest None Declared


To investigate the fate of betanodavirus, the causative agent of viral nervous necrosis (VNN) in cultured fish, the tissue distribution of virus in experimentally infected fish was investigated. Two genetically different betanodaviruses, striped jack nervous necrosis virus (SJNNV; SJNNV-genotype) and kelp grouper nervous necrosis virus (KGNNV) belonging to red spotted grouper nervous necrosis virus (RGNNV)-genotype, were intramuscularly cross-injected with a dose of 106 TCID50/fish/200 I¼l in striped jack Pseudocaranx dentex or kelp grouper Epinephelus moara and sacrificed at scheduled to titre the virus in the spinal cord, brain, eye, kidney and blood at day 0, 1, 3, 5, 14 and 21. As a result, intramuscularly inoculated virus was recovered at high titres from the brain, spinal cord, and eye of their natural host species, i.e., striped jack for SJNNV and kelp grouper for KGNNV during 3-week experimental period, while the virus titres were relatively low in the organs of non-natural hosts, particularly in kelp grouper injected with SJNNV. In every case, no virus was detected in blood samples, suggesting that infection did not develop to be systemic. Keywords: Betanodavirus, Viral nervous necrosis, Fate, Tissue distribution, Pseudocaranx dentex, Epinephelus moara, 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50)DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjm.v24i2.1252 Bangladesh J Microbiol, Volume 24, Number 2, December 2007, pp 100-104


This study aims to analyze the role of competitive advantage as a variable moderating innovation capability and entrepreneurial marketing on the marketing performance of food and beverage SMEs in Central Java. Problems caused by declining MSME marketing performance around the Covid-19 pandemic.
This study was conducted using a quantitative research approach and analyzed using SmartPLS 3. The population of this study is the SMEs in the catering industry in Central Java Province, including a total of 100 SMEs, and the sample is determined by simple random sampling.
The results of the analysis show that innovation capability, entrepreneurial marketing, and competitive advantage have positive and significant effects on marketing performance. Competitive Advantage


NLP and automatic text analysis necessarily involve the annotation of natural language texts. The Apache Unstructured Information Management applications (UIMA) framework is used in several projects, tools and resources, and has become a de facto standard in this area. Despite the multiple use of UIMA as a document-based schema, it does not provide native database support. In order to facilitate distributed storage and enable UIMA-based projects to perform targeted queries, we have developed the UIMA Database Interface (UIMA DI). UIMA DI sets up an environment for a generic use of UIMA documents in database systems. In addition, the integration of UIMA DI into rights and resource management tools enables user and group-specific access to UIMA documents and provides data protection. Finally, UIMA documents can be made accessible for third party programs. UIMA DI, which we evaluate in relation to file system-based storage, is available under the GPLv3 license via GitHub.


Knowledge discovery from GPS trajectory data is an essential topic in several scientific areas, including data mining, human behavior analysis, and user modeling. This article proposes a task that assigns personalized visited points of interest (POIs). Its goal is to assign every fine-grain location (i.e., POIs) that a user actually visited, which we call visited-POI, to the corresponding span of his or her (personal) GPS trajectories. We also introduce a novel algorithm to solve this assignment task. First, we exhaustively extract stay-points as span candidates of visits using a variant of a conventional stay-point extraction method and then extract POIs that are located close to the extracted stay-points as visited-POI candidates. Then, we simultaneously predict which stay-points and POIs can be actual user visits by considering various aspects, which we formulate as integer linear programming. Experimental results conducted on a real user dataset show that our method achieves higher accuracy in the visited-POI assignment task than the various cascaded procedures of conventional methods.


Endotoxin was detected in all erythropoietin preparations tested and was removed from four lots, without loss of erythropoietic activity, by adsorption with limulus amebocyte lysate. Comparison of adsorbed (endotoxin-depleted) and nonadsorbed (endotoxin-containing) erythropoietin preparations demonstrated significant inhibition of CFU-e and BFU-e in vitro by nonadsorbed erythropoietin at concentrations higher than 0.25 U/ml and 2.0 U/ml, respectively. CFU-e and BFU-e were inhibited significantly by readdition in vitro of 10(-5)-10(-3) mug of endotoxin per unit of limulus-adsorbed erythropoietin. Administration of saline or 6 U of nonadsorbed or adsorbed erythropoietin twice a day for 4 days of CF1 mice resulted in reticulocyte counts of 2.1%, 9.9%, and 15.9%, respectively. Nonadsorbed erythropoietin resulted in a 29% decrease in erythropoiesis, a 42% decrease in CFU-e, and a 16% increase in granulopoiesis in the marrow, whereas adsorbed erythropoietin caused a 28% increase in erythropoiesis, no significant change in CFU-e and a 19% decrease in granulopoiesis in the marrow. Both preparations resulted in marked increases in splenic erythropoiesis and granulopoiesis. The effects of adsorbed erythropoietin are similar to those produced following stimulation of hematopoiesis by endogenous erythropoietin. Hemopoietic changes induced by nonadsorbed erythropoietin in vivo and in vitro are affected substantially by contamination of the erythropoietin preparations with endotoxin.


BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of severe lower respiratory tract infection in infants and young children. Recently RSV has also been recognized as a serious health risk in the elderly, but the pathogenesis of RSV infection in the elderly remains unknown.
 METHODS: Dynamics of pulmonary cytokine response (including IFN-gamma, IL-4, IL-10, IL-6, MCP-1, and GRO mRNA) during acute RSV infection were investigated in young (<2 months old) and aged (>9 months old) cotton rats S.hispidus. Therapeutic treatments that diminish viral replication (antiviral antibody) and pulmonary pathology (anti-inflammatory corticosteroid) in RSV-infected animals were used to evaluate contribution of virus replication and inflammation to the development of RSV disease with respect to age.
 RESULTS: The time of the peak expression of majority of cytokines was shifted with respect to age. Antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatments had similar effect on cytokine expression in aged and young animals. GRO mRNA transcripts were more abundant in the lungs of aged animals.
 CONCLUSIONS: The present work reports the age-related delay in the pulmonary cytokine response to RSV, imbalance in chemokine production with respect to age and underscores different components of RSV pathogenesis with respect to their molecular signature.


Our previous work on specialized digital libraries showed that each expert was brought to enrich the documentary corpus with his/her point of view (expressed by a model of knowledge). These points of view can be contradictory and therefore, it would be interesting to provide expert communities with tools, enabling them to point out meaning dissensions. In Archaeology, comparison between different temporal models of knowledge then makes it possible to publish relative models of knowledge and tend towards the building of a community knowledge.


A rare case of a 3 month old child with lipoprotein lipase deficiency who presented with bronchopneumonia is reported. After noticing lipaemic serum and lipaemia retinalis, a diagnosis of hyperlipoproteinaemia was considered. Lipoprotein lipase deficiency was confirmed with post heparin lipoprotein lipase enzyme activity estimation.


In haematite the magnetic phase change from a weak ferromagnetic state to an antiferromagnetic state that occurs as the temperature is decreased through the critical value is known as the Morin transition. The different magnetic states give rise to distinct Mossbauer spectra and this technique was used to study the phase changes in samples of haematite that had been exposed to different levels of neutron irradiation. The magnetic phase transitions occurring in all the irradiated samples were studied and the critical temperatures measured. The mechanism and conditions required for the normal and reverse Morin phase transitions are discussed in terms of a model of competing single-ion and magnetic dipole anisotropy energy.


The lupus clinic at University College Hospital has been established since January 1978. It was started by Michael Snaith and has been responsible for the long-term care of over 500 patients. I have been involved with the clinic since July 1979 and in this article offer some thoughts about the complexities of managing systemic lupus erythematosus.


Torsion tests at strain rates 1×10–3, 1.6×10–1 and 1 s–1 and at temperatures between 850 and 1100°C were carried out (1) on Al and Al-Ti mild steels after heating directly to the testing temperature, (2) on Al steel soaking for 30 min at 1200°C, then cooling the specimen to the testing temperature and (3) after soaking, cooling to 700°C and then heating to the testing temperature. Both steels showed a clear trough in ductility between 850 and 1050°C, the ductility being lowest for the directly heated Al treated steel and the soaked, cooled below A1 and heated again, highest for the 1200°C soaked steel and intermediate for the directly heated Al-Ti steel. The lowest ductilities are associated with the inhibiting effect of AlN and TiN exerted on grain boundary migration and preventing the completion of dynamic recrystallisation, as shown also by their effect of increasing the peak strain and making the reaching of equilibrium dynamic recrystallised grain size difficult, which would markedly improve ductility. Soaking at 1200°C, by dissolving and/or coarsening the AlN precipitates has the marked effect of increasing ductility. The present results can be explained in terms of the drag exerted by the dispersed particles making dynamic recrystallisation and grain growth difficult.


ABSTRACT Radon is a prevalent carcinogenic gas and the leading cause of lung cancer in the United States besides smoking. As the residential environment is the primary source of radon exposure, accessible and accurate measurements of radon in this environment are essential. However, no radon monitors have been evaluated that are inexpensive enough for regular household use. In this study, we examine two household-grade, continuous monitoring devices, the Ecosense RadonEye and EcoQube. We compare them to two research-grade instruments, the Durridge Company Rad7 and the Rad Elec Inc. E-PERM. In our study, the Ecosense household radon monitors performed accurately and can be used by homeowners and researchers alike as an affordable and reliable radon sensor. Implications: The ability of homeowners and renters to regularly monitor the radon levels inside their home is an important preventative health measure. However, low-cost instrumentation is needed that can provide accurate radon measurements. In this study, we show that the affordable Ecosense continuous monitors produce results that are in line with expensive research-grade instruments in a residential environment, over a range of concentrations. The Ecosense monitors may be suitable for home use, and they may provide a solution that can be used by policymakers and home-dwellers alike to improve regular radon monitoring in residences.


Large artery stiffening may be both a cause and a consequence of atherosclerosis and is independently related to coronary outcome. This relationship is likely to be causal given the unfavourable effect of large artery stiffening on coronary hemodynamics. There is clear experimental and clinical evidence that large artery stiffening promotes myocardial ischemia secondary to central pulse pressure elevation. Many agents commonly used to treat ischemic heart disease symptoms also reduce large artery stiffness, through both functional and structural mechanisms. Such effects likely contribute to the anti-ischemic actions of these drugs. However, it remains to be elucidated whether agents specifically targeted to reduce large artery stiffness provide ischemic protection in the setting of coronary disease.


The operation of a longitudinally magnetized fully filled square-waveguide reciprocal-ferrite phase shifter is described. The frequency characteristics of the phase shifter are predicted and measured. An error analysis, including rotational errors incurred in wide-band operation and manufacturing tolerances, is used to predict the loss performance of the device. The effect of the ferrite parameters and the waveguide geometry on phase-shifter performance may be calculated using this analysis. The variation of the phase shift with temperature as well as high-power effects are presented, and design considerations, including choice of ferrite saturation magnetization for wide-band performance, are discussed. Experimental results closely confirm the key aspects of this theory.


We investigate the possibility that blazars in the Roma-BZCAT Multifrequency Catalogue of Blazars (5BZCAT) are sources of the high-energy astrophysical neutrinos detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, as recently suggested by Buson et al. Although we can reproduce their ∼4.5σ result, which applies to 7 yr of neutrino data in the southern sky, we find no significant correlation with 5BZCAT sources when extending the search to the northern sky, where IceCube is most sensitive to astrophysical signals. To further test this scenario, we use a larger sample consisting of 10 yr of neutrino data recently released by the IceCube Collaboration, this time finding no significant correlation in neither the southern nor the northern sky. These results suggest that the strong correlation reported by Buson et al. using 5BZCAT could be due to a statistical fluctuation and possibly the spatial and flux nonuniformities in the blazar sample. We perform some additional correlation tests using the more uniform, flux-limited, and blazar-dominated Radio Fundamental Catalogue and find a ∼3.2σ equivalent p-value when correlating it with the 7 yr southern neutrino sky. However, this correlation disappears completely when extending the analysis to the northern sky and when analyzing 10 yr of all-sky neutrino data. Our findings support a scenario where the contribution of the whole blazar class to the IceCube signal is relevant but not dominant, in agreement with most previous studies.


Helicopters achieve three-dimensional flight using a rotor capable of both collective and cyclic pitch. It was proposed that this type of propulsion system could propel and maneuver an underwater vehicle. A collective pitch and cyclic pitch propeller (CPCPP) was designed and developed as a full scale working prototype for the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) propulsion. This paper discusses the design and construction aspects of the CPCPP.


Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and affective disorders are frequently comorbid and share underlying mechanisms that could be targets for comprehensive treatment. Post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has high comorbidity with AUD, but comprehensive models of this overlap are nascent. We recently characterized a model of comorbid AUD and PTSD‐like symptoms, wherein stressed rats receive an inhibitory avoidance (IA)‐related footshock on two occasions followed by two‐bottle choice (2BC) voluntary alcohol drinking. Stressed rats received the second footshock in a familiar (FAM, same IA box as the first footshock) or novel context (NOV, single‐chambered apparatus); the FAM paradigm more effectively increased alcohol drinking in males and the NOV paradigm in females. During abstinence, stressed males displayed avoidance‐like PTSD symptoms, and females showed hyperarousal‐like PTSD symptoms. Rats in the model had altered spontaneous action potential‐independent GABAergic transmission in the central amygdala (CeA), a brain region key in alcohol dependence and stress‐related signaling. However, PTSD sufferers may have alcohol experience prior to their trauma. Here, we therefore modified our AUD/PTSD comorbidity model to provide 3 weeks of intermittent extended alcohol access before footshock and then studied the effects of NOV and FAM stress on drinking and PTSD phenotypes. NOV stress suppressed the escalation of alcohol intake and preference seen in male controls, but no stress effects were seen on drinking in females. Additionally, NOV males had decreased action potential‐independent presynaptic GABA release and delayed postsynaptic GABAA receptor kinetics in the CeA compared to control and FAM males. Despite these changes to alcohol intake and CeA GABA signaling, stressed rats showed broadly similar anxiogenic‐like behaviors to our previous comorbid model, suggesting decoupling of the PTSD symptoms from the AUD vulnerability for some of these animals. The collective results show the importance of alcohol history and trauma context in vulnerability to comorbid AUD/PTSD‐like symptoms.


The presented study explores opportunities for using the balanced scorecard methodology in the development of measures to counter the shadow economy and corruption with allowance for their systemic and interdisciplinary nature.Aim. The study aims to substantiate the efficiency of using the balanced scorecard methodology in the development of a state policy to counter the shadow economy and corruption.Tasks. The author determines and describes the systemic nature of the shadow economy as the subject of the study, which does not allow for aspectual countermeasures; proposes an algorithm for developing a state policy to counter the shadow economy and corruption using the balanced scorecard meth-odology, by setting a goal, objectives, and methods of influence; identifies the major projections of the system, objects of monitoring, and subjects of control; recommends focus areas for working with the information base obtained as a result of monitoring, which are crucial for ensuring the security of the institutional environment.Methods. This study uses the methodology of the systemic and institutional approach to the research of economic phenomena and processes, methods of systems analysis and modeling.Results. It is established that threats generated by the institutional environment are the main factor in the development of the shadow sector of the national economy. The operational conditions of economic entities, which have developed within the economic, political, and socio-cultural environment, are too burdensome for ensuring profitability as a key business goal. The study provides an example of an algorithm for developing a policy to counter the shadow economy and corruption based on the balanced scorecard. The major identified projections are the spiritual, moral, political, social, and economic projections. The projections are selected in accordance with the areas where threats to the security of the institutional environment emerge.Conclusion. The author proposes directions for monitoring and further work on decomposing the set goal to the level of operational activities in the aspect of combating shadow economic transactions.


Although most therapeutic efforts and experimental stroke models focus on the concept of complete occlusion of the middle cerebral artery as a result of embolism from the carotid artery or cardiac chamber, relatively little is known about the stroke mechanism of intrinsic middle cerebral artery stenosis. Differences in stroke pathophysiology may require different strategies for prevention and treatment. We prospectively studied 30 consecutive acute ischemic stroke patients with middle cerebral artery stenosis detected by transcranial Doppler and magnetic resonance angiography. Patients underwent microembolic signal monitoring by transcranial Doppler and diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Characteristics of acute infarct on diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging were categorized according to the number (single or multiple infarcts) and the pattern of cerebral infarcts (cortical, border zone, or perforating artery territory infarcts). The data of microembolic signals and diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging were assessed blindly and independently by separate observers. Diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging showed that 15 patients (50%) had single acute cerebral infarcts and 15 patients had multiple acute cerebral infarcts. Among patients with multiple acute infarcts, unilateral, deep, chainlike border zone infarcts were the most common pattern (11 patients, 73%), and for single infarcts, penetrating artery infarcts were the most common (10 patients, 67%). Microembolic signals were detected in 10 patients (33%). The median number of microembolic signals per 30 minutes was 15 (range, 3–102). Microembolic signals were found in 9 patients with multiple infarcts and in 1 patient with a single infarct (p = 0.002, χ2). The number of microembolic signals predicted the number of acute infarcts on diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (linear regression, adjusted R2 =0.475, p < 0.001). Common stroke mechanisms in patients with middle cerebral artery stenosis are the occlusion of a single penetrating artery to produce a small subcortical lacuna‐like infarct and an artery‐to‐artery embolism with impaired clearance of emboli that produces multiple small cerebral infarcts, especially along the border zone region.


It is the explicit, political ambition of the Region of the capital in Denmark to apply the principle of patient empowerment on all levels of the health-care system. However, precise operationalized criteria for the application of patient empowerment are still not well-defined. In this article the premises of such an application is analysed and it is shown what kind of evidence should be required as criteria for interventions by the health-care system. A differentiation between two forms of interventions is made: one supporting patients who already control most of their own health care, an other increasing patients' responsibilities.


Transition metal oxides have drawn tremendous interest due to their unique physical and chemical properties. As one of the most promising electrochromic (EC) materials, tungsten trioxide (WO3) has attracted great attention due to its exceptional EC characteristics. This review summarizes the background and general concept of EC devices, and key criteria for evaluation of WO3-based EC materials. Special focus is placed on preparation techniques and performance enhancement of WO3 EC films. Specifically, four methods - nanostructuring, regulating crystallinity, fabricating hybrid films, and preparing multilayer composite structures - have been developed to enhance the EC performance of WO3 films. Finally, we offer some important recommendations and perspectives on potential research directions for further study.


AIMS
This study examined the effect of two components of a model of nursing care delivery, the mode of nursing care delivery, and skill-mix on: (a) quality of nursing care; and (b) patient adverse events, after controlling for nurse demographics, work environment, and workload factors.

DESIGN
A cross-sectional exploratory correlational study that drew on secondary data was conducted.

METHODS
Survey data from 416 direct care registered nurses from medical-surgical settings across British Columbia were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression. Larger study data were collected in 2015.

RESULTS
Nurses working in a team-based mode reported a greater number of nursing tasks left undone compared with those working in a total patient care. Nurses working in a skill-mix with licensed practical nurses reported a higher frequency of patient adverse events compared with those working in a skill-mix without licensed practical nurses. At higher levels of acuity, nurses in a team-based mode reported a higher frequency of patient adverse events than did nurses in a total patient care.

CONCLUSION
Models of nursing care delivery components, mode and skill-mix, influenced quality and safety outcomes. Some of the team-based medical-surgical nurses in British Columbia are not functioning as effective teams. Team building strategies should be used to enhance collaboration among them.

IMPACT
Research into redesigning care delivery has typically focused on only one care delivery component at a time. The study findings could have implications for nurses and patients, nursing leadership and policymakers particularly in medical-surgical settings in British Columbia.


This study aims to establish if the same strong motivational power that using students' own photos as a stimulus for Japanese college students learning to write English indicated in the preceding study of the same title will be sustained in their follow-up course. The same thirty Japanese college freshmen English majors of similar ability studying writing received monthly assignments over the same length of study as previously. Instead of text books, they used their own photographs to stimulate their English expression and interact with each other, using a Dogme approach as one form of Active Learning. Their impressions of the course were re-examined both by in-class and external data in the form of the same two types of evaluation instruments. Their responses are compared both against each other, and against the previous investigation to identify which points stay the same and which and in what way any new points arising change. In addition, those areas that have been developed on the basis of the reactions to the initial research will be re-examined to see if and how they may be successful. The approach is also assessed in terms of linguistic development by ascertaining if there is any discernible difference in the accuracy, complexity and fluency of students' written English over the course of their classes. Finally the results will be put into the overall context of the students' curriculum to assess if the photo approach can be better served by modifying the current English teaching structure in one university and, by implication, in Japanese universities in general. It remains for any findings of linguistic proficiency development that become evident in this present consideration to be further investigated in a future study.


Objective To identify a plasma metabolomic biomarker signature for migraine. Methods Plasma samples from 8 Dutch cohorts (n = 10,153: 2,800 migraine patients and 7,353 controls) were profiled on a 1H-NMR-based metabolomics platform, to quantify 146 individual metabolites (e.g., lipids, fatty acids, and lipoproteins) and 79 metabolite ratios. Metabolite measures associated with migraine were obtained after single-metabolite logistic regression combined with a random-effects meta-analysis performed in a nonstratified and sex-stratified manner. Next, a global test analysis was performed to identify sets of related metabolites associated with migraine. The Holm procedure was applied to control the family-wise error rate at 5% in single-metabolite and global test analyses. Results Decreases in the level of apolipoprotein A1 (&bgr; −0.10; 95% confidence interval [CI] −0.16, −0.05; adjusted p = 0.029) and free cholesterol to total lipid ratio present in small high-density lipoprotein subspecies (HDL) (&bgr; −0.10; 95% CI −0.15, −0.05; adjusted p = 0.029) were associated with migraine status. In addition, only in male participants, a decreased level of omega-3 fatty acids (&bgr; −0.24; 95% CI −0.36, −0.12; adjusted p = 0.033) was associated with migraine. Global test analysis further supported that HDL traits (but not other lipoproteins) were associated with migraine status. Conclusions Metabolic profiling of plasma yielded alterations in HDL metabolism in migraine patients and decreased omega-3 fatty acids only in male migraineurs.


During the inspiral and merger of black holes, the interaction of gravitational wave multipoles carries linear momentum away, thereby providing an astrophysically important recoil, or 'kick' to the system and to the final black hole remnant. It has been found that linear momentum during the last stage (quasinormal ringing) of the collapse tends to provide an ''antikick'' that in some cases cancels almost all the kick from the earlier (quasicircular inspiral) emission. We show here that this cancellation is not due to peculiarities of gravitational waves, black holes, or interacting multipoles, but simply to the fact that the rotating flux of momentum changes its intensity slowly. We show furthermore that an understanding of the systematics of the emission allows good estimates of the net kick for numerical simulations started at fairly late times, and is useful for understanding qualitatively what kinds of systems provide large and small net kicks.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are posttranscriptional regulators that are differentially regulated during cardiac hypertrophy, recapitulating the neonatal pattern. MiRNA-21 is one of the most prominent miRNA identified in cardiac hypertrophy and cancer. During compensatory cardiac hypertrophy it increases up to 8 fold then starts declining with the onset of decompensation. Recently, a unique role of miR-21 has been described in cardiac myocytes where it induces cellular outgrowths in the form of extension that connect adjacent cells via functional gap junctions mediated through downregulation of Sprouty2. Other studies have shown conflicting pro- versus anti-hypertrophic effects of miR-21 in myocytes. To conclusively determine the significance of the upregulation of miR-21 in the heart in vivo, we generated a mouse with a myosin heavy chain-driven miR-21 transgene. Up to 10 months of age the transgenic hearts exhibit normal physical and functional parameters and was negative for hypertrophy markers. This refuted the claim that miR-21 is sufficient for induction of cardiac hypertrophy. To address whether miR-21 was anti-hypertrophic we subjected 12 wk old mice to transverse aortic banding for various time periods. During the early phases the extent of increase in cardiac mass was not significantly different from wild type. But interestingly at the later stages of hypertrophy, while the wild type progressed into contractile dysfunction, the miR-21 transgenic lines had normal ejection fraction and left ventricular end diastolic pressure. This suggested that miR-21 upregulation is not anti-hypertrophic but rather conferred contractile and/or survival advantages to the cardiac myocytes. Consistent with the previously described role of miR-21 and with the remodeling of connexin43 (Cx43) associated with compensatory hypertrophy, the myocytes exhibited frequent lateralization of Cx43 that coincided with lateral connecting extensions between myocytes. This distribution of Cx43 known to be associated with hypertrophy is reversed during failure, which coincides with the return of miR-21 to baseline levels. Thus, we propose that overexpressing miR-21 at that juncture provides a functional advantage to the heart coping with chronic pressure overload.


Adipose tissue is a catchment area for storing, converting and releasing the sex hormones. The role of adipose tissue in the general metabolism of endogenous and exogenous steroids deserves to be considered seeing how big the volume of fat is in the human body. The fatty pool of sex steroids seems to be greater than the plasma pool. Hormones which have been stored can be released by adipocytes into the general circulation even if they have been converted while in the adipocytes. Similarly, androgens are changed by adipose tissue into oestrogens by aromatisation and are liberated. This extraglandular production of oestrogens can have clinical and pathological consequences.


Equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography (ERNA), also termed multigated acquisition scan (MUGA), is an accurate and highly precise method to evaluate left ventricular global and regional function. Multiprojection planar imaging is performed routinely. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and peak diastolic filling rate are derived by quantitative analysis. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) affords the additional benefits of quantification of LV and right ventricle (RV) volume and RV ejection fraction and better definition and localization of regional wall motion abnormalities. Echocardiography has supplanted ERNA for most routine clinical evaluation of ventricular function due to its ready availability and lack of ionizing radiation. However, ERNA remains the diagnostic method of choice in patients who are being followed for chemotherapy cardiotoxicity where changes in LVEF must be accurately quantified. Also, ERNA is useful in patients in whom the LVEF must be known to qualify them for certain interventions such as resynchronization therapy. Finally, in patients for whom echocardiography is technically suboptimal or inadequate, ERNA is of considerable value.


Resistin is derived mainly from fat tissue in rodents, and serum levels are elevated in animal models of obesity and insulin resistance. Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that circulating resistin is associated with inflammation, coronary atherosclerosis, renal dysfunction, adverse prognosis in patients with atherothrombotic ischemic stroke and heart failure. In the population-based observational study, increased circulating levels of resistin are associated with incidence of new-onset heart failure, even after accounting for prevalent coronary heart disease, obesity, insulin resistance, and inflammation. In the elderly, incident heart failure rates (per 1000 person-years) elevate with increasing baseline resistin concentrations. In addition, resistin is strongly associated with risk for incident heart failure in Cox proportional hazard models controlling for clinical variables, inflammatory biomarkers, and measures of adiposity.


The seakeeping test is one of the tests done in the Indonesia Hydrodynamic Laboratory (IHL) test tank on a model ship or floating unit. In the test tank, a wave can be generated by using electric and mechanic wave flaps that are pre-programmed on a certain condition of the wave, i.e. different frequencies and amplitude. To measure waves, produced by a wave generator, a wave measuring instrument is needed that can measure changes in water level in the test tank. The current wave measuring instrument is in the form of a 600 mm twin wire wave probe. This instrument is can be used to measure waves in the test tank but has limitations because it is only placed in one location without being moved. Another method is developed to be used in making alternative measuring instruments using ultrasonic sensors. In this paper, this alternative wave measuring instrument shows that measuring waves even when moving the measurement point to a new point location or following a towing carriage can be done and gives better measurement results. Based on these results, this new measuring instrument can be used in a more complex configuration test in the tank.


Two crystalline components were isolated from the roots of Rubus parviforlius and determined as niga-ichigoside F1 and sauvissimoside R1 by spectroscopic evidences and chemical reactions. They were obtained from the plant for the first time.


We have measured length change vs time for several low thermal expansion materials maintained in evacuated environments at constant temperature (near 300 K). Materials were two types of fused silica, Cer-Vit, ULE, Zerodur, Invar, and super Invar. ΔL/L was measured over a period of 170 days to a precision of two to three parts in 109. In addition, we have measured time-dependent changes in optical contact interfaces and have placed an upper limit on drift of optical phase shift on reflection from multilayer dielectric coatings.


Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent event in hospitalized patients, with an incidence that continues to rise, reaching as high as 70–80% in intensive care settings. The need for dialysis and progression to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) after an episode of AKI is relatively low, from 5 to 20%. However, it is now recognized that patients with AKI may have very different kidney outcomes, varying from complete recovery, incipient chronic kidney disease (CKD), to progression to ESKD. Recent studies have shown that even mild AKI episodes can be associated with a 90% increased risk of developing CKD during long-term follow-up. There is a significant need to focus our efforts on factors that could mitigate the progression of kidney dysfunction and ultimately improve outcomes from AKI. The first step toward this goal encompasses a better understanding of tubular and glomerular alterations during and following an AKI episode. Our current approach, based solely on glomerular filtration rate (GFR), is flawed, since the loss of kidney function does not correspond to the degree of decline in estimated GFR (eGFR), and eGFR does not reflect tubular function. Changes in tubular concentration, reabsorptive and secretory capacity are recognized in AKI; however, they have not been incorporated in clinical assessments of overall kidney function. Here we review a few candidates to assess glomerular filtration/permeability, tubular dysfunction, and injury and how we expect these markers to alter during the development and recovery phase of AKI.


According to the media, in spring of this year the experiment CDF at Fermilab has made most likely ("this result has a 99.7 percent chance of being correct", Discovery News) a great discovery ("the most significant in physics in half a century", NYT). However, since the very beginning, practically all particle physics experts did not believe that was the case. This is the last of a quite long series of fake claims based on trivial mistakes in the probabilistic reasoning. The main purpose of this note is to invite everybody, but especially journalists and general public, most times innocent victims of misinformation of this kind, to mistrust claims not explicitly reported in terms of how much we should believe something, under well stated conditions and assumptions. (A last minute appendix has been added, with comments on the recent news concerning the Higgs at LHC.)


Device-independent quantum key distribution (QKD) can permit the superior security even with unknown devices. In practice, however, the realization of device-independent QKD is technically challenging because of its low noise tolerance. In the photonic setup, due to the limited detection efficiency, a large amount of the data generates from no-detection events which contain few correlations but contribute high errors. Here, we propose the device-independent QKD protocol with random postselection, where the secret keys are extracted only from the postselected subset of outcomes. This could not open the detection loophole as long as the entropy of the postselected subset is evaluated from the information of the entire set of data, including both detection and no-detection events. This postselection has the advantage to significantly reduce the error events, thus relaxing the threshold of required detection efficiency. In the model of collective attacks, our protocol can tolerate detector efficiency as low as 68.5%, which goes beyond standard security proofs. The results make a concrete step for the implementation of device-independent QKD in practice.


This study presents advances in the application of laser‐based methods to image and measure the luminescence lifetime of historical wall paintings containing Egyptian blue. Samples from Tel Kabri, a major Canaanite palace dated to 18th C. BCE, from the Roman city of Caesarea Maritima, from the 4–5th C. Byzantine tomb in Lohamei HaGeta'ot, and from a 6th C. Byzantine church of Shivta have been studied using time‐resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy and imaging. Taking into account the high sensitivity of the emission lifetime to the microenvironment surrounding the emitting species, here, we show for the first time that the optical emission from historical samples containing Egyptian blue particles exhibits meaningful lifetime variations. Indeed, the wall paintings from Tel Kabri, Lohamei HaGeta'ot, and Shivta present the shortest emission lifetime, close to 115–120 μs. However, samples from Caesarea Maritima wall paintings exhibit a different optical emission, which dumps more slowly with an average lifetime of 130 μs. Egyptian blue pigment particles, synthetised with modern methods, are associated with the longest emission lifetime of 147 μs. This study suggests that there is a possible link between the lifetime of the pigment's emission and its synthesis method.


SETTING
Underdiagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in asthmatics attending specialty care in Trinidad, West Indies.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of COPD in diagnosed asthmatics receiving specialty respiratory care.

DESIGN
In a cross-sectional study, 258 asthmatics were screened for lung function measures to examine forced expiratory volume after 1 second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC (COPD was defined as FEV1/FVC < 70%).

RESULTS
Of 165 patients evaluated (response rate 64.0%), 53 (32.1%, 95%CI 25.0-39.2) had a study diagnosis of COPD and a mean FEV1/FVC of 60.12 +/- 1.2. Proportionally, more males had COPD (50.9%) than asthma (24.1%, P < 0.001). Patients with COPD were 10 years older than asthmatics (P < 0.001). Persons with asthma who smoked were more likely to have COPD (56.0%) (OR 3.26, 95%CI 1.36-7.80, P = 0.006). In both sexes, FEV1/FVC was lower among older people (P < 0.001), with a greater effect (OR 2.75, 95%CI 1.00-7.56, P < 0.01) seen among men in this cross-sectional study.

CONCLUSIONS
One third of diagnosed asthmatics in specialty care also have COPD. Lung function was lower among older persons. Early spirometric evaluation of elderly asthmatics who smoke can determine the presence of COPD and facilitate appropriate management.


ABSTRACT Eggshell pigmentation is generated by 2 major pigments, biliverdin and protoporphyrin. The latter is mostly deposited in red, brown, and black egg spots and it has been hypothesized that greater expression of egg spottiness (as measured by the number, area, and coloration of spots) may act as an honest signal of female quality for males (sexual signaling hypothesis, SSH). The important assumption of the SSH is that eggshell pigmentation correlates with phenotypic and genetic components of female quality, although phenotypic quality of females may also be under environmental control. The aim of this study was to test for the associations of protoporphyrin-based egg pigmentation with both phenotypic and genetic female traits and environmental variables (microhabitat and urbanization) in a common rallid species, the Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra). We found that the total number of egg spots was positively associated with female condition (size-corrected body mass) and expression of a putative bare-part ornament (frontal shield). The same measure of spottiness negatively correlated with the level of physiological stress in females. No evidence was found for associations between egg spottiness and genetic traits in females (neutral heterozygosity and polymorphism of pathogen recognition receptors, the Major Histocompatibility Complex), but there was a linear increase in the expression of egg spottiness over the breeding season, which may suggest that it is regulated by food availability. Our study indicates that protoporphyrin-based pigmentation of eggs reflects female phenotypic traits (condition, stress, and ornament expression) in the Eurasian Coot, although it remains to be established whether it plays any signaling role and whether it is driven by sexual selection in this species. LAY SUMMARY There is equivocal support for direct associations between maternal quality and deposition of protoporphyrin pigmentation (dark spots and blotches) in avian eggshells. Research on protoporphyrin eggshell pigmentation has primarily focused on a single avian order (Passeriformes). We examined associations of protoporphyrin-based eggshell pigmentation with female phenotypic and genetic traits in a non-passerine species, the Eurasian Coot. Deposition of protoporphyrin in eggshells (total number per area of egg spots) positively correlated with female condition and expression of a putative bare-part ornament (frontal shield), while it was negatively associated with the level of physiological stress. Protoporphyrin-based eggshell pigmentation acts as a reliable signal of female phenotypic (but not genetic) traits in the Eurasian Coot. Signaling properties of protoporphyrin-based egg coloration are likely to largely differ between different evolutionary lineages of birds.