The real-time applications have a growing complexity and size which have to be well controlled. They can be viewed as a set of synchronized tasks, communicating and sharing critical resources. One of the main difficulties in the real-time application design is time constraints meeting. All tasks have to be running before their predefined deadlines. At this level, the integration of real time operating systems (RTOS) in the real-time systems design flow is necessary to enable scheduling tasks and managing the competition between them with respect of timing constraints. One of the problems encountered here is that one task may have different execution times. It may exceed its predefined WCET and then its deadline for many reasons. The problem is that one deadline exceeding may cause subsequent constraints violations which may disrupt the functioning of the system. This paper deals with this particular issue. It presents a new technique that permits the monitoring of tasks under execution. It controls their timing constraints by means of watchdog concept and detects deadline missing. That information is used to tune the target application parameters in order to satisfy timing constraints for the further computation iterations. We have implemented this technique in the RTOS MicroC/OS-II using the EDF scheduling policy. This technique has been validated using an Altera FPGA prototyping platform and the 3D rendering application.


With its aging population, the Western world is experiencing a significant increase in the prevalence of chronic kidney disease, which has actually been defined as ''pandemic''. The high mortality and comorbidity, especially in terms of cardiovascular disease, have led to a significant increase in hospitalizations and rising public health expenditure, setting a trend that will become unsustainable in the next decades, even in the most developed countries. These epidemiological data have underlined the need for prevention campaigns and urged researchers and clinicians to develop new and more specific treatments able to slow down the progression of chronic kidney disease towards dialysis. To obtain such results, a deeper understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms of nephropathy progression is mandatory. Once sclerosis is established and the initial pathogenetic noxa, whether or not involving the glomeruli, has been extinguished, the sclerotic progression of different nephropathies follows a standard pathway, irrespective of the initial cause. The achievement of an effective therapy for this condition, in native kidneys as well as transplanted organs, is the third-millennium challenge for nephrologists. In this review we will first describe the main risk factors and pathogenetic mechanisms involved in nephropathy progression and then discuss the results obtained with drugs that basic research has identified as potentially useful in experimental animal models as well as rigorous clinical trials.


We theoretically predict strong coherent scattering in the backward direction from forward propagating fields only. It is achieved by applying laser fields with proper chosen detunings and an approprate spatial phase to excite a molecular vibrational coherence that corresponds to a wave propagating backwards. The applications of the technique to coherent scattering and remote sensing are discussed.


Physiochemical processes at the photo-electrode and the counter electrode of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) involving having carbon nanotubes (CNTs) instead of the TiO2 layer, within the working electrode, are simulated in this work. Attention is paid to find the effect of CNT layer thickness on photo-electrochemical (PEC) characteristics of the CNT-DSSCs. Comparison with other conventional TiO2-DSSC systems, taking into account the working electrode film thickness, is also described here. To achieve these goals, a model is presented to explain charge transport and electron recombination which involve electron photo-excitation in dye molecules, injection of electrons from the excited dye to CNT working electrode conduction band, diffusion of electrons inside the CNT electrode, charge transfer between oxidized dye and (I−) and recombination of electrons. The simulation is based on solving non-linear equations using the Newton-Raphson numerical method. This concept is proposed for modelling numerical Faradaic impedance at the photo-electrode and the platinum counter electrode. It then simulates the cell impedance spectrum describing the locus of the three semicircles in the Nyquist diagram. The transient equivalent circuit model is also presented based on optimizing current–voltage curves of CNT-DSSCs so as to optimize the fill factor (FF) and conversion efficiency (η). The results show that the simulated characteristics of CNT-DSSCs, with different active CNT layer thicknesses, are superior to conventional TiO2-DSSCs.


JACK BAYLES. The specific examples the author used in Figs. 1 and 2 are misleading in that a shell cannot exist for the complete range of Rv/R:c that is shown. From the geometry of the shells, Rx must be equal to, or greater than, L/2 or the side will not meet the ends; also for the inward bulge the side must not cross the axis of revolution. Since Ry/L is given as L/i, it can be shown that Rv/Rx cannot be greater than /i for the outward bulged barrel and not greater than /6 for the inward bulged barrel. With these restrictions it now follows that the author's second conclusion on inward bulged barrels is not valid.


The performance evolution of p-n, p-i-n, and p-i-p-i-n optical modulators based on free-carrier concentration variation is studied. Main figures of merit are recalled for such devices and used to compare one structure to another. The modulation efficiency, optical loss, and -3 dB cutoff frequency are thus optimized for each sort of studied junction. General performance results are presented and discussed at the end.


Following gamma-irradiation at 90 K, the thermoluminescence (TL) and the thermally stimulated current (TSC) from high-density polyethylene film have been simultaneously recorded. Measurements were made from 90 to 330 K; and in addition to the usual TL peaks, a broad, weak TL peak was found at approximately 300 K. The TSC curves were measured at different field strengths, and current always flowed in the direction of this field. The major feature of the TSC was a sharp increase of current of about two orders of magnitude at a temperature of 250 K. In addition, the TSC showed smaller peaks and points of inflexion which correlated well with the TL peaks. The results were interpreted in terms of non-geminate electron motion, and were compared with those of other workers.


Objective The ability to derive cardiomyocytes from human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells provides a novel approach to study inherited cardiac channelopathies. Fibroblasts from patients can be reprogrammed to iPS cells and differentiated into cardiomyocytes that carry the patient's exact genetic background. Although this technique has enormous potential for modeling inherited channelopathies the derived cardiomyocytes have not been fully characterised and compared to adult and foetal cells. Knowledge about their maturity will be critical if assessments of cellular function are to provide insight into disease processes that manifest in the adult. Methods Healthy control human iPS cells were differentiated into cardiomyocytes using an unguided differentiation protocol. Embryoid bodies from undifferentiated iPS cells were cultured in suspension for 4 days before being plated onto 0.1% gelatin. Spontaneously contracting areas were disaggregated and single cardiomyocytes were characterised using immunocytochemistry, TEM, electrophysiology and Ca2+ imaging. Cells were stained for Troponin T, Troponin I and α-actinin. Ca2+ release into the cytoplasm was detected by fluo-4 and fluorescence intensity was traced before and after Tetrodotoxin (TTX) treatment. Sodium channel activity was measured in a low sodium buffer using perforated patch-clamping. Ultrastructure of cells was analysed with transmission electron microscopy while the presence of t-tubules was investigated using the fluorescent dye Di-8-ANEPPS. Cardiac cells derived from iPS cells were then compared to primary cardiomyocytes isolated from human foetal and adult cardiac tissue. Results iPS derived cardiomyocytes express a wide range of cardiac markers as well as Tetrodotoxin resistant voltage activated sodium channels that inactivate and recover from inactivation and exhibit action potential triggered Ca2+-induced-Ca2+-release. Spontaneous contraction and lack of t-tubules were observed in derived cardiomyocytes and immature human foetal cardiomyocytes. Conclusion iPS cells give rise to mostly immature cardiomyocytes, that express typical cardiac proteins and have functional cardiac sodium channels. This differentiation system may be utilised to investigate patients with and without known genetic mutations to provide a better understanding of the pathophysiology of inherited cardiac channelopathies.


We consider answering queries on data available through access methods, that provide lookup access to the tuples matching a given binding. Such interfaces are common on the Web; further, they often have bounds on how many results they can return, e.g., because of pagination or rate limits. We thus study result-bounded methods, which may return only a limited number of tuples. We study how to decide if a query is answerable using result-bounded methods, i.e., how to compute a plan that returns all answers to the query using the methods, assuming that the underlying data satisfies some integrity constraints. We first show how to reduce answerability to a query containment problem with constraints. Second, we show "schema simplification'' theorems describing when and how result bounded services can be used. Finally, we use these theorems to give decidability and complexity results about answerability for common constraint classes.


We have studied the active properties of erbium-doped aluminophosphosilicate (APS) core fibres in wide ranges of erbia, alumina and phosphorus pentoxide concentrations. The absorption and luminescence spectra of the P2O5- or Al2O3-enriched erbium-doped APS fibres are shown to be similar to those of the erbium-doped fibres singly doped with phosphorus pentoxide or alumina, respectively. The formation of AlPO4 in APS fibres leads not only to a reduction in the refractive index of the glass but also to a marked increase in Er2O3 solubility in silica.


The objective of the statement of cash flow is to facilitate an understanding of the financial consequences of business activities by providing detail pertaining to the sources and uses of a company's cash. While the income statement and balance sheet are based on accrual accounting, the statement of cash flow is intended to represent the cash-flow consequences of business activities. Most of the challenge with preparing, and ultimately understanding, the statement of cash flow is due to a failure to appreciate the relation between the statement of cash flow and other financial statements. The purpose of this note is to discuss the conceptual framework underlying the preparation of the statement of cash flow that is based on that relation.


Failure or degradation effects lead to power losses in solar panels during their field operation and are identified commonly by electroluminescence (EL) imaging. Some failures like potential-induced degradation (PID) and light and enhanced temperature induced degradation (LeTID) require an identification of the EL pattern over the entire solar panel. As the manual process of analyzing patterns is prone to error, we seek for an automatic detection of these failure types. We predict automatically the failure types PID and LeTID by adopting the principal component analysis (PCA) method in combination with a k-nearest neighbor (kNN) classifier. We increase the explained variance of the PCA by 4 %abs using a Gaussian blurring preprocessing step and gain insights into the basic mechanism of the machine learning algorithm by analyzing schematic EL images. The kNN classifier predicts the failure classes in the same way as the expert. Finally, we work with a larger test dataset of 40 similar images to mimic a field-typical user case and meet again the expert classification.


Study Design: Uncontrolled retrospective observational study. Objectives: Surgery for patients with back pain and degenerative disc disease is controversial, and studies to date have yielded conflicting results. We evaluated the effects of lumbar fusion surgery for patients with this indication in the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network (CSORN). Methods: We analyzed data that were prospectively collected from consecutive patients at 11 centers between 2015 and 2019. Our primary outcome was change in patient-reported back pain at 12 months of follow-up, and our secondary outcomes were satisfaction, disability, health-related quality of life, and rates of adverse events. Results: Among 84 patients, we observed a statistically significant improvement of back pain at 12 months that exceeded the threshold of Minimum Clinically Important Difference (MCID) (mean change -3.7 points, SD 2.6, p < 0.001, MCID = 1.2; 77% achieved MCID), and 81% reported being "somewhat" or "extremely" satisfied. We also observed improvements of Oswestry Disability Index (-17.3, SD 16.6), Short Form-12 Physical Component Summary (10.3, SD 9.6) and Short Form-12 Mental Component Summary (3.1, SD 8.3); all p < 0.001). The overall rate of adverse events was 19%. Conclusions: Among a highly selective group of patients undergoing lumbar fusion surgery for degenerative disc disease, most experienced a clinically significant improvement of back pain as well as significant improvements of disability and health-related quality of life, with high satisfaction at 1 year of follow-up. These findings suggest that surgery for this indication may provide some benefit, and that further research is warranted.


Background: Acne Vulgaris is a rife and chronic dermal disorder, which commonly occurs in pubescent. This disease is characterized by the emergence of comedones, papules, pustules, nodules, or cysts which results from obstruction and inflammation of pilosebaceous units.

Objective: To finding out the prevalence and psychological impact of acne on the quality of life in undergraduate medical students of Lahore, Pakistan.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the month of October 2020, 291 among undergraduate medical students from eight medical colleges of Lahore, selected through simple random sampling, on both male and female undergraduate medical students. To assist them; they were given a simple grading criterion to self-diagnose their current acne severity and quality of life was evaluated by Cardiff Acne Disability Index. Data were analyzed by using SPSS version 22.

Results: A total of 213 (73.2%) prevalence of acne was found among the participants who responded (291). No significant relation between acne severity and gender was found (p=0.151). There was no association between CADI score and gender (p=0.366). However, a significant correlation was found between CADI score and acne severity (p=0.000). In the population studied, 4.7% showed their acne severely impacting their quality of life, 27.7% have moderate, 58.7% have mild and 8.9% have no impact at all.

Conclusion: High Prevalence rate of acne and its significant negative impact on QOL indicates that it is a very common dermatological disorder. Effective interventions can make substantial contributions to derogate the impact of acne severity on QOL.


Objective: To see if adding a mild dosage of ketamine to tramadol can help avoid shivering when under spinal anaesthesia. Study Design: Randomized study Place and Duration: The study was conducted at the department of Anesthesia, Sindh Government Liyari General Hospital Karachi and Shiekh Khalifa Bin Zayed Hospital, Quetta for the duration of six-months from December 2020 to May 2021. Methods: There were one hundred and seventy patients of both genders undergoing inguinal hernia were included in this study. Informed permission was obtained before to calculating demographic information such as age, sex and BMI. Patients were divided equally into two groups. Group A had 85 patients and received low dose ketamine 0.25 mg/kg (K) into tramadol and group B had 85 patients and received tramadol 0.5 mg/kg (T) alone. Post-treatment effectiveness among both groups was compared in terms of shivering control. We used SPSS 19.0 version to analyze complete data. Results: In group I the mean age of the patients was 33.9±9.76 years and mean age in group II was 31.5±3.23 years. There were 55 (64.7%) males and 30 (35.3%) females in group I while in group II 65 (70.6%) were males and 30 (29.4%) females. HTN and diabetes mellitus were the most common comorbidities found among both groups. 50 (58.2%) patients in group I had ASA class II and in group II 54 (63.2%) had ASA class II. We found that low dose ketamine to tramadol was effective in reduction of shivering in 33 (38.9%) as compared to tramadol alone shivering found in 41 (48.2%) cases. Conclusion: We concluded in this study that low dose ketamine into tramadol under spinal anesthesia is an effective and useful in terms of reduction in shivering as compared to tramadol alone in patients undergoing surgery. Keywords: Spinal Anesthesia, Ketamine, Tramadol, Shivering


This work looks at some definitive signatures of magnetars, in particular of period closures accompanied by a decline of X-ray radiation in two models. We review some of the previous works which are based on the well known dynamo model in which the star is born with a period of a few milliseconds at high temperatures. In such a convection regime the dynamo mechanism can amplify the the magnetic fields to the magnetar value. This is in contrast to a screened core model which posits that a high density phase transition occurs in the inner core of magnetars that dynamically aligns all the neutron magnetic moments producing a large magnetic field in the core. The accompanying change of flux gives rise to shielding or screening currents in the surrounding high conductivity plasma that do not permit the field to exit to the surface. Ambipolar diffusion then transports the field to the crust dissipating energy in neutrinos and X-rays. The up-welling field cleaves the crust resulting in flares and X-ray radiation from ohmic dissipation in the crust till the screening currents are spent and the surface polar field attains its final value. In the dynamo model the polar magnetic field decreases with time whereas in our screened model it increases to its final value. One consequence of this is that in the latter model, as a function of time and period, the ratio of the dipole radiation loss, Ė to the X-ray luminosity, LX , is a 'U' curve, indicating that it is the exponential decline in LX , that brings closure to the periods that are observed for magnetars.


ABSTRACT Purpose: We describe the clinical features of a boy with bilateral Duane retraction syndrome (DRS), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and other medical problems. Methods: The child was followed-up for five years; his chart was reviewed, including the results of a muscle biopsy and genetic testing. Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) was used to interrogate deletions/duplications in the dystrophin gene. Results: The proband had bilateral DRS with otherwise normal ocular motility; he also had developmental delay, mild mental retardation, and seizures. Clinical diagnosis of DMD included progressive proximal weakness, highly elevated creatine kinase levels, and a muscle biopsy showing significant dystrophic changes including contracted, degenerative, and regenerative fibers, and negative dystrophin immunostaining. MLPA documented duplication of exons 3 and 4 of the dystrophin gene. Conclusions: This boy is the third patient to be reported with DRS and DMD, the second with bilateral DRS and the only one with other neurologic features. Mutated dystrophin is present in extraocular muscles and in the central nervous system (CNS) in DMD, leaving open the question of whether this co-occurrence is the result of the genetic muscle abnormality, CNS effects caused by dystrophin mutations, or chance.


This brief investigates variable structure reliable control (VSRC) issues of a set of second-order nonlinear systems and their application to spacecraft attitude stabilization. Both passive and active reliable designs are presented. To achieve the active task, an observer to identify faults as they occur in the spacecraft actuators is also presented. These VSRC laws do not require the solution of a Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) equation, which is essential in the optimal approaches such as linear quadratic Riccati (LQR) and Hinfin reliable designs. As a matter of fact, this approach can relax the computational burden for solving the HJ equation. Simulation results regarding spacecraft attitude stabilization with comparisons among the VSRCs and the LQR reliable designs are also given. It is shown from these simulations that the active VSRC is the most flexible, robust and effective method because it does not need to prespecify susceptible actuators and because it allows more space for the control parameter adjustment


We consider the question: "If the zero-framed surgeries on two oriented knots in the 3-sphere are integral homology cobordant, preserving the homology class of the positive meridians, are the knots themselves concordant?" We show that this question has a negative answer in the smooth category, even for topologically slice knots. To show this we first prove that the zero-framed surgery on K is Z-homology cobordant to the zero-framed surgery on many of its winding number one satellites P(K). Then we prove that in many cases the tau and s-invariants of K and P(K) differ. Consequently neither tau nor s is an invariant of the smooth homology cobordism class of the zero-framed surgery. We also show, that a natural rational version of this question has a negative answer in both the topological and smooth categories, by proving similar results for K and its (p,1)-cables.


Extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is known to reversibly increase the cation permeability of a variety of freshly isolated and cultured cell types. In this study the effects of extracellular ATP were studied using peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) isolated from both normal subjects and from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Changes in the permeability to Na+, Rb+, and Li+ ions were measured using conventional isotope and flame photometry techniques. In addition, changes in cytosolic (Ca2+) were fluorimetrically monitored to assess possible changes in net Ca2+ influx. ATP produced a 12-fold increase in 22Na+ influx into CLL cells but only a 3.5-fold increase in this flux in PBL cells. A maximal response was produced by 0.1 mmol/L ATP in the absence of Mg2+, while a twofold molar excess of Mg2+ over ATP abolished the response. ATP had no effect on the passive (ouabain-insensitive) 86Rb+ influx into PBL cells but stimulated this flux by fivefold in the CLL cells. Li+ influx into CLL cells was also stimulated threefold by ATP. Under these same conditions ATP also produced a net increase in total cell Na and a decrease in total cell K in the CLL cells. Exclusion of two normally impermeable dyes, trypan blue and ethidium bromide, was not altered in the ATP-treated CLL cells. Finally, extracellular ATP (3 mmol/L) produced no significant change in the cytosolic (Ca2+) of normal, monocyte-depleted populations of PBL. Conversely, this same concentration of ATP produced a very rapid (complete within 30 seconds) and a significant (an average threefold peak change) increase in the cytosolic (Ca2+) of cell preparations derived from five out of nine CLL patients. In these latter CLL cells, the ATP-induced elevation in cytosolic (Ca2+) appeared to be due to a net increase in Ca2+ influx, since no elevations were observed when the extracellular (Ca2+) was reduced to less than 0.1 mmol/L. These actions of ATP were specific in that equimolar concentrations of other nucleotides were without effect. These data indicate that treatment of CLL lymphocytes with extracellular ATP4 produces large increases in cation permeability. In contrast, there is less or no ATP-induced permeabilization of normal PBL.


Computational methodologies of signal processing and analysis based on 1D-4D data are commonly used in different applications. In particular, image processing and analysis methodologies have enjoyed increasing deployment in automated recognition, human-machine interfaces, computeraided diagnostics, robotic surgery, and many other areas; however, in the last years their application in Biomechanics has gained special attention. This issue of the EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing constitutes the special issue related with Image Processing and Analysis applied to biomechanical systems, including data compression, data fusion, image segmentation, image registration, objects recognition, objects modeling, tracking and motion analysis, shape reconstruction, 3D vision, and virtual reality. One important feature to retainment of this special issue is the interdisciplinary of works resulting from the collaboration between mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, biomedical engineers, medical doctors, computational engineers, biologists, physicians, mathematicians, among others. The success of this special issue is directed and associated with the high significance on analysis and simulation of biomechanical structures from images and their challenging problems, regarding geometric modeling, numerical modeling, material models and experimental methodologies, as well as their real application and validation. This great interest has been revealed by users, students, researchers, and all who are interested on areas related with signal processing, image processing and analysis, medical imaging, computational and experimental biomechanics, enhanced computation, and software applications. For this special issue, 31 works were submitted from 18 countries: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, and USA. After the review done by 55 international experts, 19 works were accepted for publication. The guest editors would like to express their deep gratitude to the Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editors of EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing for this opportunity, to all authors that shared their excellent works with us and to all members of the Scientific Committee of this special issue that help us in the review process.


A bacterium, designated F199, utilized toluene, naphthalene, dibenzothiophene, salicylate, benzoate, p-cresol, and all isomers of xylene as a sole carbon and energy source. This bacterium was isolated from Middendorf sediments, a Cretaceous age formation that underlies the Southeast Coastal Plain in South Carolina, at a depth of approximately 410 m. F199 is a gram-positive, irregular-shaped bacterium that has a varied cell morphology that is dependent on culture medium type and growth stage. F199 required microaerobic conditions (40 to 80 μM O2) for growth on hydrocarbons, glucose, acetate, and lactate in mineral salts medium but not for growth on rich media. [14C]naphthalene mineralization by F199 was induced by either naphthalene or toulene; however, [14C]toluene mineralization by this strain was induced by toluene but not naphthalene. F199 was also found to harbor two plasmids larger than 100 kb. Restricted F199 plasmid and genomic DNA did not hybridize with toluene (pWW0) or naphthalene (NAH7) catabolic plasmid DNA probes. The presence in the Middendorf formation of bacteria with the capacity for degrading a variety of aromatic compounds suggests that indigenous microorganisms may have potential for in situ degradation of organic contaminants.


Purpose: Nocardia infection of the eye is uncommon. A case of choroidal abscess due to Nocardia farcinica infection is presented, and the literature is reviewed. Methods: A 41‐year‐old immunocompromised man with chronic myeloid leukemia developed a unilateral choroidal abscess. N. farcinica was isolated from a simultaneous subcutaneous abscess and both infections responded to systemic sulfonamide therapy. Results: Three weeks after discontinuation of the sulfonamides, the choroidal abscess recurred with involvement of the vitreous. The infection was brought under control after reinstitution of the same drug. Conclusions: Nocardiosis is a multisystem disease that has high mortality and ocular morbidity rates. The eyes of immunocompromised patients should be examined frequently as early detection and administration of the proper antibiotics may reduce the risk of this life‐threatening infection.


Data curation is discussed as one of the methods for efficiently processing the rapid increase of research data. This research encourages the further establishment of further data curation policy, and also analyzes and systemizes components to consider when the policy is established. The research was conducted by analyzing previous research and related outstanding cases. Specifically, in regard to operators, we analyzed the roles and relations of curators, producers, and users. And then we specifically examined the contents of executive tasks according to the data's Life-cycle. Also, we classified the cases of data curation policy inside and outside of Korea, then summarized essential components to check when establishing the process. Based on the essential factors extracted as above, I examined the role of the operator as charted on life cycle. As a result, the roles commonly found with the three operators include evaluating and screening Received (April 4, 2017), Review Result (April 18, 2017) Accepted (April 25, 2017), Published (June 30, 2017) Dept. of Library and Information Science & History, Dong-Eui Univ., Eomgwangno, Busanjin-gu, Korea email: firstname.lastname@example.com 2 (Corresponding Author)Dept. of Library and Information Science, Dong-Eui Univ., Eomgwangno, Busanjin-gu, Korea email: email@example.com 이 연구는 동의대학교 석사학위논문의 일부를 요약.수정한 것임. A Study on the Guidelines for the Development of Data Curation Policy Copyright c 2017 HSST 768 objects of collection, data documentation, creating collection checklist, allowing reuse of metadata, data backup, data evaluation and screening, setting data retention period, method of sharing, and creating sharing checklist.


Self-reported health status (SRHS) is an imperfect measure of non-fatal health, but allows examination of how health status varies over the life course. Although women have lower mortality than men, they report worse health status up to age 65. The SRHS of both men and women deteriorates with age. There are strong gradients, so that at age 20, men in the bottom quartile already report worse health than do men in the top quartile at age 50. In the bottom quartile of income, SRHS declines more rapidly with age, but only until retirement age. These facts motivate a study of the role of work, particularly manual work, in health decline with age. The Grossman capital-stock model of health assumes a technology in which money and time can effect complete health repair. As a result, declines in health status are driven, not by the rate of deterioration of the health stock, but by the rate of increase of the rate of deterioration. We argue that such a technology is implausible, and we show that people in manual occupations have worse SRHS and more rapidly declining SRHS, even with a comprehensive set of controls for income and education. We also find that much of the differences in SRHS across the income distribution is driven by health-related absence from the labor-force, which is a mechanism running from health to income, not the reverse.


There has been a massive growth in the study of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) over the past decade, based upon their interesting and unusual electronic, optical and mechanical properties, such as tuneable and strain-dependent bandgaps. Tungsten disulphide (WS2), as a typical example of TMDs, has considerable potential in applications such as strain engineered devices and the next generation multifunctional polymer nanocomposites. However, controlling the strain, or more practically, monitoring the strain in WS2 and the associated micromechanics have not been so well studied. Both photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy have been proved to be effective but PL cannot be employed to characterise multilayer TMDs while it is difficult for Raman spectroscopy to reveal the band structure. In this present study, PL and Raman spectroscopy have been combined to monitor the strain distribution and stress transfer of monolayer WS2 on a flexible polymer substrate and in polymer nanocomposites. It is demonstrated that WS2 still follows continuum mechanics on the microscale and that strain generates a non-uniform bandgap distribution even in a single WS2 flake through a simple strain engineering. It is shown that these flakes could be useful in optoelectronic applications as they become micron-sized PL emitters with a band gap that can be tuned by the application of external strain to the substrate. The analysis of strain distributions using Raman spectroscopy is further extended to thin-film few-layer WS2 polymer nanocomposites where it is demonstrated that the stress can be transferred effectively to WS2 flakes. The relationship between the mechanical behaviour of single monolayer WS2 flakes and that of few-layer flakes in bulk composites is investigated.


Innovation is a challenge for many SME entrepreneurs, but it is extremely important for both the company's performance and the growth of the regional economy. This dissertation investigates from different perspectives what enables SMEs in the manufacturing industry to come up with successful innovations. This research shows that innovation subsidies are an effective means of ensuring that employees become more structurally involved in innovation. In addition, the ability to recognize and use relevant knowledge from the environment is essential for successfully innovating services. Finally, the thesis demonstrates which customer wishes, depending on the business strategy, SME entrepreneurs must take into account when they enter the market with innovations.


The method of electron microscopy with morphometric analysis was applied to the study of some ultrastructural indices of frog heart (ventricle) myocardium - the interlocated discs, the lateral junctions and mitochondria - in spring and in autumn. The results obtained pointed to seasonal differences in the cardiomyocyte ultrastructure, this being confirmed by the quantitative analysis.


Cells abortively infected with oncogenic adenovirus (Ad) show evidence of abnormal cellular DNA replication (Strohl 1973), and Ad mutants that are temperature-sensitive for viral DNA replication have altered abilities to transform the host cell (Williams et al. 1975). These effects are most probably a result of the expression of early viral proteins, which are necessary for viral DNA replication and which, in transformed cells, cause cellular DNA replication under conditions that restrict normal cells. Thus, in order to understand the process of Ad-induced cell transformation, it is necessary to understand the mechanism of initiation of viral DNA replication and the proteins involved in that process, and also the effect of viral infection on cellular DNA replication. Consequently, we have studied the replication of Ad DNA during productive infection and viral and cellular DNA synthesis during nonproductive infection.

Ad DNA, isolated from the virion, exists as a linear double-stranded chromosome with...


Although amino acids (AA) synthesized by enteric microbiota in the upper gut of nonruminants can be absorbed, they do not necessarily make a net contribution to the host's AA supply. That depends on whether protein or nonprotein nitrogen sources are used for microbial protein production. We determined the contributions of urea, endogenous protein (EP), and dietary protein (DP) to microbial valine (M.VAL) at the distal ileum of growing pigs, based on isotope dilutions after a 4-d continuous infusion of l-[1-(13)C]valine to label EP and of [(15)N(15)N]urea. Eight barrows were assigned to either a cornstarch and soybean meal-based diet with or without 12% added fermentable fiber from pectin. Dietary pectin did not affect (P > 0.10) the contributions of the endogenous and DP to M.VAL. More than 92% of valine in microbial protein in the upper gut was derived from preformed AA from endogenous and DP, suggesting that de novo synthesis makes only a small contribution to microbial AA.


Background & Aims: One of the most common causes of infertility in women is ovarian causes, especially polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). However, in patient with PCOS, the number of oocytes taken increased during the IVF, but these oocytes have often low quality, which ultimately leads to reduce fertilization potential. The aim of this research was investigation of PCOS on oocytes quality and potential of IVF and and evaluation of the effect of vitamin E supplementation to embryonic culture medium, as well. Materials & Methods: In this experimental syudy100 female mice were divided into 2 groups: PCOS and control. To create an experimental PCOS stradiolvalerate injected itraperitonealy (100mg/kg). After 8 weeks IVF process was performed and the quality of oocytes, fertilization rate and embryo development process were evaluated. Finally, the effect of vitamin E with doses of 100, 200, 400 micromol, (p<0.05) were investigated in embryo culture. Results: Comparison of results showed that experimental PCOS group showed a significant decreasein oocyte quality and fertilization, dualcell, blastocyst and significant increase in lysis and fragmentation in stopped embryos, on the other hand lysis and fragmentation, reduction of percentage and type of stopped embryos in presence of 100 and 200 micromole vitamin E concentrations were significantly in compare with PCOS group (p<0.05). Discussion & Conclusion: Finally it can be concluded that experimental PCOS decreases the quality of oocytes and IVF and the addition of vitamin E to fetal culture medium as antioxidant can improve fertility.


The supercritical unit boiler systems of a certain power plant, with the properties of time-varying, large delay, large inertia, etc., shows the characteristics of long stable time and great fluctuation in main parameter like the main steam pressure when the AGC (Auto Generation Control) is used and the load changed frequently. To solve the above problem that the controlled parameter is unstable, the generalized predictive control and the fuzzy control technology are adopted in the coordination control system and the problem is been efficiently improved. The practical application indicates that when the unit runs at the rate of 2%/min, it works fast and steady with a smooth transition and small overshoot in the main parameter and also the mainstream deviation is within 0.4MPa, which greatly improves the stability and safety of the unit.


In this paper, the concept of principal component analysis for the quantitative assessment of segmental myocardial deformation characteristics is explored. Hereto, a statistical model including the variations in deformation properties among 80 healthy individuals was built. This model was subsequently used to detect abnormal deformation traces. (Abstract)


ABSTRACT Individuals chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) commonly exhibit hepatic intracellular lipid accumulation, termed steatosis. HCV infection perturbs host lipid metabolism through both cellular and virus-induced mechanisms, with the viral core protein playing an important role in steatosis development. We have recently identified a liver protein, the cell death-inducing DFFA-like effector B (CIDEB), as an HCV entry host dependence factor that is downregulated by HCV infection in a cell culture model. In this study, we investigated the biological significance and molecular mechanism of this downregulation. HCV infection in a mouse model downregulated CIDEB in the liver tissue, and knockout of the CIDEB gene in a hepatoma cell line results in multiple aspects of lipid dysregulation that can contribute to hepatic steatosis, including reduced triglyceride secretion, lower lipidation of very-low-density lipoproteins, and increased lipid droplet (LD) stability. The potential link between CIDEB downregulation and steatosis is further supported by the requirement of the HCV core and its LD localization for CIDEB downregulation, which utilize a proteolytic cleavage event that is independent of the cellular proteasomal degradation of CIDEB. IMPORTANCE Our data demonstrate that HCV infection of human hepatocytes in vitro and in vivo results in CIDEB downregulation via a proteolytic cleavage event. Reduction of CIDEB protein levels by HCV or gene editing, in turn, leads to multiple aspects of lipid dysregulation, including LD stabilization. Consequently, CIDEB downregulation may contribute to HCV-induced hepatic steatosis.


The smart grid (SG) paradigm is the next technological leap of the conventional electrical grid, contributing to the protection of the physical environment and providing multiple advantages such as increased reliability, better service quality, and the efficient utilization of the existing infrastructure and the renewable energy resources. However, despite the fact that it brings beneficial environmental, economic, and social changes, the existence of such a system possesses important security and privacy challenges, since it includes a combination of heterogeneous, co-existing smart, and legacy technologies. Based on the rapid evolution of the cyber-physical systems (CPS), both academia and industry have developed appropriate measures for enhancing the security surface of the SG paradigm using, for example, integrating efficient, lightweight encryption and authorization mechanisms. Nevertheless, these mechanisms may not prevent various security threats, such as denial of service (DoS) attacks that target on the availability of the underlying systems. An efficient countermeasure against several cyberattacks is the intrusion detection and prevention system (IDPS). In this paper, we examine the contribution of the IDPSs in the SG paradigm, providing an analysis of 37 cases. More detailed, these systems can be considered as a secondary defense mechanism, which enhances the cryptographic processes, by timely detecting or/and preventing potential security violations. For instance, if a cyberattack bypasses the essential encryption and authorization mechanisms, then the IDPS systems can act as a secondary protection service, informing the system operator for the presence of the specific attack or enabling appropriate preventive countermeasures. The cases we study focused on the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, substations, and synchrophasors. Based on our comparative analysis, the limitations and the shortcomings of the current IDPS systems are identified, whereas appropriate recommendations are provided for future research efforts.


The contextual knowledge of a word is closely related to the knowledge of phraseological sequences as words are often used in the phraseological forms, either continuous or discontinuous. Much has been done to examine the continuous phraseological sequences for various purposes. However, studies on phraseology often overlook the potentially useful discontinuous phraseological sequences that allow for more flexible and productive use of language forms. To bridge the gap in phraseology studies, this study therefore employed a corpus-driven approach to analyse the characteristics of a form of discontinuous phraseological sequence, namely lexical frames in a one-million-word corpus of research articles in International Business Management (IBM). The characteristics of lexical frames were observed in four aspects: the degrees of variability and predictability of lexical frames, the structures as well as the variable slot fillers of lexical frames. The corpus tool, Collocate 1.0 was used to extract three- and four-word lexical bundles while kfNgram was used to extract three- and four-word lexical frames from the lexical bundles. The results revealed that three-word lexical frames are more prevalent in IBM. The degree of variability analysis indicated that there are more fixed lexical frames in the category of three-word lexical frames compared to the four-word category. In terms of the degree of predictability, the category of four-word lexical frames contains more predictable lexical frames than the three-word category. Also, most lexical frames are function word frames and the lexical frames are mostly filled up by content words rather than function words. This study contributes to the understanding of phraseological variation in academic writing. Keywords: corpus-driven; phraseology; discontinuous phraseological sequences; lexical frames; International Business Management (IBM)


The photoswitchable piperidine general base catalyst is a prototype structure for light control of catalysis. Its azobenzene moiety moves sterically shielding groups to either protect or expose the active site, thereby changing the basicity and hydrogen-bonding affinity of the compound. The reversible switching dynamics of the catalyst is probed in the infrared spectral range by monitoring hydrogen bond (HB) formation between its active site and methanol (MeOH) as HB donor. Steady-state infrared (IR) and ultrafast IR and UV/Vis spectroscopies are used to uncover ultrafast expulsion of MeOH from the active site within a few picoseconds. Thus, the force generated by the azobenzene moiety even in the final phase of its isomerization is sufficient to break a strong HB within 3 ps and to shut down access to the active site.


Abstract

For over 50 years, drug combinations have been the gold standard in the therapy of tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Clinically, synergistic combinations of drugs are favoured over monotherapy as they allow the use of lower doses and also suppress the development of drug resistance. However, multiple drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is on the rise, and is threatening the effective control of the disease globally. Prior to this thesis, drug synergy studies in mycobacteria have largely been determined empirically with little or no mechanistic understanding of the mechanisms of synergy. Also, although it has been assumed that mutation rates for drug combinations are multiples of the mutation rates for single drugs, this assumption has not been thoroughly tested.

In this thesis, drug synergy was demonstrated in Mycobacterium smegmatis (Msm), a model TB organism, using Isoniazid (INH) and Rifampicin (RIF), the two most effective bactericidal drugs used in TB therapy. A novel indirect approach of cell inhibition was employed, whereby the single drugs on their own were utilized at sub-lethal concentrations that alone were only weakly inhibiting, but in combination resulted in synergy. The hypothesis investigated in this study was that synergy was a consequence of the interaction between antibiotics inducing a cryptic perturbation state (AICPs), such that each single antibiotic produced a synergistic effect in combination. To investigate changes induced in the AICPs, RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed on RNA extracted from cells in the AICPs. Perturbed genes were mapped onto Kyoto Encyclopaedia for Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway maps, to identify affected metabolic pathways and identify differences between perturbations due to INH and RIF. Differential Producibility Analysis (DPA) was also used to highlight metabolite differences in states induced by each antibiotic. Mutation rates were also measured to INH and RIF singly and in combination using the fluctuation assay.
Mapping of the differentially expressed genes from RNA-seq onto KEGG pathway analysis identified perturbation of a significant number of genes encoding proteins involved in sulphur metabolism and ribosome synthesis pathways, exclusively in the AICPs to INH, but not in the AICPs to RIF. Perturbations to genes encoding ABC transporters were identified in the AICPs to both antibiotics, but the specific transporters involved differed to the two antibiotics. DPA revealed stronger metabolite signals in the AICPs in response to INH, affecting putrescine, iron, malonate, and β-alanine that affected several areas of metabolism. However, only one metabolite involved in potassium ion transport was significantly perturbed by DPA analysis in the AICPs induced by RIF. The action of these metabolites and genes acting in parallel pathways provides a novel explanation for drug synergy in mycobacteria.

Mutation rates to resistance to INH and RIF were estimated separately and, also, mutations to resistance to both drugs present in combination. Surprisingly, mutations to resistance to both drugs were found at a rate four orders of magnitude higher than expected from the mutation rate to single drugs. This result needs to be confirmed by further studies but, if confirmed, would suggest that drug combinations may, paradoxically, enhance the mutation rate to two or more drugs.

These results have provided novel insights into the mechanism of drug synergy in mycobacteria.


FRP with low Young's modulus (SoftFRP) was developed in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Polyketone fiber is a kind of new material of FRP with low Young's modulus and made from carbon monoxide and ethylene. And compared with aramid fiber, its material cost is lower. To investigate the improvement of shear strength of column wrapped with this kind of FRP sheets, four specimens among which one was unstrengthened and three specimens were wrapped by different amount of FRP sheets which provided the equivalent shear reinforcement ratio was 0.04%, 0.08% and 0.12% were tested. All specimens were tested under lateral reversal cyclic loading and a constant axial load. It is found that the shear strength of the RC column effectively increased with strengthening FRP sheet. And it prevents the sudden brittle fracture of the column because of the confinement of FRP sheets with large deformation capacity. The shear resistance of the FRP sheet becomes effective after the yield of shear reinforcement, and the strain of FRP sheet becomes large. The shear contribution of the FRP sheets could be explained by truss-arch shear resisting mechanism.


Anti-intellectualism in America not only has a long and established history but has seen an increasing rise in recent years. The figure of the 'genius' archetype on popular television has frequently been presented through a lens of anti-intellectualism, leading intellectualism
 to be read as an illness or disorder. The works of Aaron Sorkin have taken a different position, and, rather than distancing the audience from these geniuses by presenting their differences as traits that need to be corrected, the genius in works such as The Newsroom (2012‐14)
 is held up as the ideal for society at large. Although genius has been predominately presented as a male characteristic, in popular culture there has been an increasing number of female geniuses and Sorkin's writing foregrounds this as an important revision because the images that we
 see in popular culture influence the way we view the world around us. In this article, I consider the history and continued relevance of anti-intellectualism as notably examined by Richard Hofstadter, Jack Nachbar and Kevin Lause and Daniel Rigney. I also explore the rise of the genius on-screen,
 as closely examined in the writing of Ashley Lynn Carlson and David Sidore. I examine the way that Sorkin's works actively counters anti-intellectualism and through exemplary Sorkin characters such as Sloan Sabbith (Olivia Munn) in The Newsroom and Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain)
 in Molly's Game (2017), wherein he opens up the traditionally masculine space of the genius to his female protagonists.


Conazoles are fungicides used as agricultural pesticides and pharmaceutical products. We investigated whether a common core of toxicological and transcriptional responses underlies the observed carcinogenic effects of three conazoles: cyproconazole, epoxiconazole, and propiconazole. In studies where mice were fed diets of these conazoles for 30 days, we found a common set of toxicological effects altered by these conazoles: hepatomegaly, hepatocellular hypertrophy, decreased serum cholesterol, decreased hepatic levels of all-trans-retinoic acid, and increased hepatic cell proliferation. Microarray-based transcriptional analysis revealed 330 significantly altered probe sets common to these conazoles, many of which showed strong dose responses for cytochrome P450, glutathione S-transferase, and oxidative stress genes. More detailed analyses identified a subset of 80 altered genes common to the three conazoles that were associated with cancer. Pathways associated with these genes included xenobiotic metabolism, oxidative stress, cell signaling, and cell proliferation. A common TGFα-centric pathway was identified within the 80-gene set, which, in combination with the toxicological and other transcriptomic findings, provides a more refined toxicity profile for these carcinogenic conazoles.


Thermal conductivity and latent heat are crucial performance parameters for phase change materials (PCMs) in thermal energy storage. To enhance the thermal performance of PCMs, with the help of graphene oxide (GO) acting as a dispersing agent, well-defined hybrid graphene aerogels (HGAs) with a three-dimensional (3D) porous structure were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal reaction of GO and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs). GNPs, dispersing uniformly along the interconnecting graphene network, acted as thermal conductive fillers and supporting materials. Palmitic acid (PA) was impregnated into the HGA by vacuum forces. It was found that the thermal conductivity of the PA/HGA was enhanced without compromising heat storage capacity. Compared with PA, the PA/HGA with 4.2 wt% GNPs exhibited enhanced thermal conductivity of 2.1 W/mK and high latent heat of 206.2 J/g simultaneously. The PA/HGA with good thermal performance has potential applications in thermal energy storage.


The penetration rate of smart phones is increasing rapidly and therefore these mobile devices become more and more dominating in daily life. Within an extremely short period of time the way of communication, reading books, listening music, viewing images e.g. has changed dramatically. For elderly people definitively too little time to adapt to this new type of interaction paradigm accordingly. But the number of senior people is growing worldwide and therefore the user experience of these mobile devices has to be adapted to the needs of the elderly. In this paper we introduce a touch screen based UI concept for senior users. This concept is based on two different interface layers: the integrated scalable help system and the book-oriented application design which uses the metaphor of books for menu selection and a flat navigation tree for reducing short-term memory load.


In arid Australia, flooding rains associated with the La Nina phase of El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) prompt dramatic pulses of primary productivity, which in turn result in irruptions of rodents and their predators. When it is dry, the dense vegetation produced by extreme rainfall events can fuel extensive wildfires. In this study we investigated the effects of a wildfire that followed exceptional rainfalls associated with the La Nina event of 2010–2011 on small mammal assemblages in a stony (gibber) desert ecosystem in central Australia. When the study commenced in July 2011, there was dense grass cover and rodents, particularly, Rattus villosissimus occurred at high abundance. Mammalian predator activity was high throughout the study period and predators primarily consumed rodents. A wildfire in October 2011, reduced grass cover but there was no effect of fire on the abundance or species richness of small mammals, immediately after the wildfire or 11 months after the wildfire. Following the fire event, grass cover increased on both burnt and unburnt grids, but did not reach the levels recorded prior to the wildfire. Small mammal abundance and species richness declined steadily during the study irrespective of the occurrence of wildfire. At 6 and 11 months after the wildfire there was no difference in grass cover on burnt and unburnt grids and Rattus villosissimus were absent. Our results show that the removal of vegetation by wildfire was not a major driver of small mammal assemblage structure in this stony desert ecosystem. Our results are consistent with the predictions of ecosystem organization models that describe switching trophic control along gradients of resource productivity and support the notion that the decline of small mammals was driven by the onset of top-down control by abundant predators coupled with diminished availability of food resources.


OBJECTIVE
To identify risk factors for excessive or inadequate gestational weight gain and associated morbidities among Hispanic women in a U.S.-Mexico border state.

DESIGN
Case-control design.

SETTING
New Mexico.

PARTICIPANTS
Hispanic women responding to the New Mexico Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System 2000 to 2003; 1,597 women in final excessive versus adequate gestational weight gain analyses and 1,351 in final inadequate versus adequate gestational weight gain analyses.

METHODS
Information from birth certificates and Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System questionnaires were use in logistic regression analyses to identify risk factors and associated events.

RESULTS
Prevalence of excessive gestational weight gain was 35.7%, while inadequate gestational weight gain was 30.4%. Among factors associated with increased risk of excessive gestational weight gain were overweight (odds ratio [OR]=2.87, 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.11, 3.90) or obese status (OR=1.82, 95% CI=1.38, 2.39), whereas residing in a U.S.-Mexico border county reduced such risk (OR=0.75, 95% CI=0.59, 0.97). Among risk factors for inadequate gestational weight gain were gestational diabetes (OR=1.58, 95% CI=1.05, 2.37) and inadequate prenatal care (OR=2.17, 95% CI=1.56, 3.02). After adjusting for confounders, inadequate gestational weight gain increased risk of low birth weight (OR=l.92, 95% CI=1.11, 3.29), while excessive gestational weight gain reduced this risk (OR=0.29, 95% CI=0.12, 0.68) but increased risk of macrosomia (OR=2.07, 95% CI=1.32, 3.25).

CONCLUSION
Prepregnant overweight and obese status were among factors associated with excessive gestational weight gain among Hispanic women, whereas inadequate prenatal care was among factors associated with increased risk of inadequate gestational weight gain.


Background: Tube blockage in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) leads to preventable deaths. Routine change of tube for ongoing airway management is one of the indications for tracheostomy tube (TT) changes. However, there are limited data or evidence to recommend the frequency of such change. Aim: The study aims to determine the frequency of routine TT change in adult ICU patients. Subjects and Methods: A retrospective evaluation of ICU records of the patients who had been on TT for >5 days from July 2013 to April 2015 was performed. Data with regard to age, sex, diagnosis, and on tube days (TDs) before the TT was changed with either confirmed/suspicion of blockage and nonblockage were collected. Patients who had blockage and nonblockage were analyzed as individual groups as well as compared using INSTAT software to find the statistical estimates. Results: A total of 62 patients (72.58% males; mean ± standard deviation age: 50.62 ± 18.47 years; mean intubated days of 11.42) with a total of 1022 TT days were evaluated. Fifty-six episodes of tube blockage and 57 episodes (each >5 TT days) of nonblockage were analyzed and compared. The 95% confidence interval (CI) for mean of on TDs for nonblockage and blockage was 7.16–8.27 and 8.08–9.84 days, respectively, in the study population (P = 0.0171). Conclusion: The frequency for routine change of single-lumen TT for ongoing airway management in ICU patient should be 7–10 days taking the lowest 95% CI for nonblockage as the earliest point and the highest 95% CI for blockage as the late point.


OBJECTIVE
to reveal the adaptive problems of the woman abandoned by the child's parent after Congenital Zika Syndrome, in the light of Roy's Adaptation Model.

METHOD
a qualitative, descriptive study, based on Roy's Adaptation Model, developed with six women abandoned by their child's parent after Zika Congenital Syndrome diagnosis, through interview and Content Analysis technique.

RESULTS
adaptive problems appeared in nutrition, activity, rest, and protection patterns, due to limitations in self-care; self-concept, related to dissatisfaction with body image and personal being; in the role of transition role, through difficulties in taking over new roles and in interdependence, related to changes in affective needs.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
the overload of care for children with Congenital Zika Syndrome, added to the challenges of the abandoned woman by her child's parent, led to adaptive problems, showing their main difficulties of coping.


In the recent years membrane technology has gained significant attention from polymer chemists all around the world due to their attractive features such as efficiency, low costs, low energy costs and as effective solutions to longstanding problems in the chemical industries. Membrane technologies have been widely applied in the separation of liquids and even gases. Many separation problems can be solved economically by nanofiltration alone or in combination with other separation processes. This study aimed to synthesize polysulfone based nanofiltration membranes using DIPS (diffusion induced phase separation) technique. Newly synthesized polymer membranes were subjected to Infra red spectral and water uptake studies. Membranes were also characterized using electrochemical spectroscopy for their proton conducting property. Their surface morphology is visualized by SEM.


Abstract The authors present a brief description of a 1.5-dimensional thunderstorm model with a lightning parameterization that utilizes an explicit microphysical scheme to model lightning-producing clouds. The main intent of this work is to describe the basic microphysical and electrical properties of the model, with a small illustrative section to show how the model may be used to determine the electrical properties of clouds.


A multi-phase-species (steel/gas/slag and dissolved elements such as, Al, O, and S) mathematical model based on the fundamental transport equations has been developed. This model was used to study the refining of steel in a ladle, in particular desulphurisation. In this approach, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis was used to predict the flow pattern of the gas-stirred ladle system. The thermodynamic analysis package MTDATA from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) was linked to the CFD model to predict the mass transaction at the steel/slag interface during the refining process. A successful linkage between the Fluent (CFD) package and the MTDATA thermodynamics package has been achieved using a Visual Basic 6.0 environment. The predictions have been compared to data from the literature and a good agreement has been found. In this present work, the capability o f the model to predict the desulphurisation rate under various operational conditions has been demonstrated. The slag viscosity has been predicted using the NPL slag viscosity model and this has been successfully implemented. Therefore, it is possible to study the influence of the slag system composition variation during the refining process. Also, it will be possible to extend the present model to study other types of steelmaking processes involving slag-metal reactions. In this present work, the influence on the desulphurization rate of allowing the Ca++ mobility and the CaS precipitation in the molten slag (slag system CaO-ALC^-SiCV MgO) was examined.


Diplazium esculentum (Retz.) Sw. (Family: Athyriaceae) (Figure 1), a common pteridophytes, is the most popular edible fern used by the Malaysian community in culinary and as a medicinal plant in the traditional system of medicine. Traditionally, the plant is used in treating headache, pain, fever, wounds, dysentery, glandular swellings, diarrhea, and various skin infections. Reported pharmacological and biological properties of this plant include laxative, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anthelmintic, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic activities. In the present paper, we report some pharmacognostic studies on the leaves since there are no standard parameters for this plant reported in the literature. The transverse section of the leaf showed presence of nonlignified covering trichomes, cuticle, upper and lower epidermis, palisade cells, xylem vessels, phloem fibers, parenchyma, collenchyma's and mesophyll. Powder microscopy showed the existence of anomocytic stomata and calcium oxalate crystals. Preliminary phytochemistry screening of different extracts showed presence of steroids, triterpenoids, tannins and phenolic substances, flavonoids, carbohydrates, gum and mucillages. Finding can be useful in establishing pharmacognostic standards for the plant.


—Virtual reality (VR) videos (typically in the form of 360° videos) have gained increasing attention due to the fast development of VR technologies and the remarkable popularization of consumer-grade 360° cameras and displays. Thus it is pivotal to understand how people perceive user-generated VR videos, which may suffer from commingled authentic distortions, often localized in space and time. In this paper, we establish one of the largest 360° video databases, containing 502 user-generated videos with rich content and distortion diversities. We capture viewing behaviors ( i . e ., scanpaths) of 139 users, and collect their opinion scores of perceived quality under four different viewing conditions (two starting points × two exploration times). We provide a thorough statistical analysis of recorded data, resulting in several interesting observations, such as the significant impact of viewing conditions on viewing behaviors and perceived quality. Besides, we explore other usage of our data and analysis, including evaluation of computational models for quality assessment and saliency detection of 360° videos. We have made the dataset and code available at https://github.com/Yao-Yiru/VR-Video-Database


Roman high- (RHA) and low-avoidance (RLA) rats have been used as a model for drug-addiction, showing, respectively, high- and low-responding to psychostimulants, and low versus high dopamine D2/3 receptors (D2/3R) striatal density. Previous studies indicated a major involvement of D2/3R on reinstatement of cocaine seeking, although the respective role of the two receptor subtypes is not clear. Here, we investigated sensitivity to cocaine self-administration (SA) through a dose-response protocol in RHAs and RLAs, and reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior at 15 days and 5 weeks following withdrawal. Compared to RLAs, RHAs confirmed a higher vulnerability to cocaine SA that was not related to a difference in sensitivity to the drug, as highlighted by the dose-response analysis. Both at early and late withdrawal, RHAs showed higher susceptibility than RLAs to reinstatement of drug-seeking when cocaine was used as a primer, but the two sublines did not differ when primed with the D2/3R agonist quinpirole. Moreover, while the specific D2R antagonist L741,626 blocked, the specific D3R antagonist SB-277011A failed to impair cocaine-primed relapse. The higher vulnerability of RHA versus RLA rats to cocaine-primed relapse, which contrasts with their similar vulnerability to quinpirole-primed relapse, suggests that the different propensity of both sublines to relapse likely relies on presynaptic rather than postsynaptic mechanisms. Moreover, our study challenges the involvement of D3R in the mechanisms underlying relapse to cocaine addiction, at least in conditions that may involve high levels of dopaminergic stimulation, and supports a major role of postsynaptic D2R over D3R in the vulnerability to relapse.


Work stress and burnout are common problems in rehabilitation services. Usually, attempts to account for stress and burnout focus on the qualities of the individual and the demands of the organisational environment. However, the current paper has responded to recent demands in the occupational stress literature to examine burnout from a third perspective, namely the institutional level. This level of analysis transcends the boundaries of organisations and can be defined by the various political, economic, social and legal constraints that characterise a broad area. It is argued that the rapid growth of insurance-based rehabilitation in Australia has created a unique institutional context that has significant implications for the development of stress and burnout among rehabilitation counsellors. Rehabilitation counsellors in this context face a diverse array of conflicting demands within a system that often does not support the goals of rehabilitation. It is proposed that the development of strategies to reduce stress and burnout in this area would benefit from an institutional-level analysis. While individualised stress management training clearly has a role in the minimisation of stress and burnout, it is proposed in the current paper that this issue has human resource management and educational implications that must be addressed.


The global energy industry is actively moving toward renewable energy sources in order to meet the ever-increasing demand for energy in a sustainable manner. The South African government, however, has only recently begun creating an environment which is truly conducive to investment into the renewable energy industry. Metso, a Finnish multi-national corporation, has a strong global position in the field of biomassbased power generation for heat, power or combined heat and power applications. The corporation has developed a modular biomass-based power generation solution for power generation in the 3MW to 10MW range, which is highly automated and can essentially operate without the need for extensive human intervention and is known as the Metso Bio-energy Solution. Considering the current state of the South African energy environment, Metso management requested the researcher to investigate the opportunities that exist in the South African market for Metso's Bio-energy Solution, and to propose a market entry strategy which Metso should follow in order to enter the South African market. In the findings, the researcher observed that South Africa has a clear potential for the development of a bio-energy industry for power generation, although the limited availability of biomass in certain regions and the various harvesting methods in industries such as the forestry and sugar industries do restrict the access to this resource. The municipal solid waste industry appears to be an area of interest as well, although very little information exists regarding the volumes of waste available and sorting practices, which may be required in order to access these resources. Interviews were held with experts in the field of energy, renewable energy and energy policy in order to obtain opinions on the market potential for Metso's Bio-energy Solution. The general perception of all interviewees was that the technology has its place within the South African energy mix. The interviewees, however, did confirm that there currently appears to be a major focus on wind and solar energy in the country, although biomass technology may well be a better solution due to its baseload capabilities. It was found that the local policy environment, the lack of government initiative on renewable energy licensing and unclear tariff structures have all inhibited the proliferation of the renewable energy industry. In many cases, frustration with power outages and policy delays has caused companies to invest in biomass co-firing facilities for their own consumption. The factors for success for biomass-based technologies in the South African market would appear to be directly linked to job creation potential, access to reliable and sustainable biomass resources and access to investment capital, from both private equity and the state. It is the recommendation of the researcher that Metso enters into a joint venture with a large international environmental finance company, which would base their business model on the technology provided by Metso, whilst securing the political and financial support for projects of this nature in the country. Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za


Background

We set out to investigate the characteristics and factors related to non-inflammation cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and normal brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) of autoimmune encephalitis (AE) in patients.

Methods

The distribution and characteristics of brain MRI and CSF in 124 patients who were living with anti-NMDAR(71), LGI1(26),CASPR2(4),GABAR(23) encephalitis and who had been admitted between October 2016 and May 2018 were analyzed prospectively.

Results

12 of the 124 patients(1%) had a normal MRI and non-inflammation CSF.Ten of them were LGI1(83%),while the remaining 1 patient was NMDAR(8.3%),1 patient was CASPR2(8.3%).The clinical symptoms including epilepsy, psychosis, cognitive disorders, conscious disorders, headache, faciobrachial dystonic seizure (FBDS), speech disorders and hypoventilation. AE with non-inflammation CSF and normal MRI with good clinical prognosis. The median modified Rankin Scale (mRS) was low, and recurrence rate was also low.

Conclusion

The clinical manifestations of on-inflammation CSF and brain MRI-negative patients with AE are not specific, but suggest a better prognosis and a lower recurrence rates.


Correctness of concurrent objects is defined in terms of conditions that determine allowable relationships between histories of a concurrent object and those of the corresponding sequential object. Numerous correctness conditions have been proposed over the years, and more have been proposed recently as the algorithms implementing concurrent objects have been adapted to cope with multicore processors with relaxed memory architectures.

We present a formal framework for defining correctness conditions for multicore architectures, covering both standard conditions for totally ordered memory and newer conditions for relaxed memory, which allows them to be expressed in uniform manner, simplifying comparison. Our framework distinguishes between order and commitment properties, which in turn enables a hierarchy of correctness conditions to be established. We consider the Total Store Order (TSO) memory model in detail, formalise known conditions for TSO using our framework, and develop sequentially consistent variations of these. We present a work-stealing deque for TSO memory that is not linearizable, but is correct with respect to these new conditions. Using our framework, we identify a new non-blocking compositional condition, fence consistency, which lies between known conditions for TSO, and aims to capture the intention of a programmer-specified fence.


This journal article was written as a study of the Diaspora of the Aceh community in Malaysia. The Tsunami in Aceh 16 years ago has brought big changes to the people, both from the cultural aspects and new ideas that are constantly developing. The earthquake disaster followed by the tsunami caused damage and exacerbated political conflict between GAM and the TNI, which had a major impact on the Acehnese community. This condition made the people of Aceh start thinking about migrating to neighboring countries such as Malaysia because they saw more profitable opportunities. The Diaspora that occurred as a result of the Acehnese who migrated to Malaysia gave birth to a new culture. The presence of the Acehnese in Malaysia is marked by the formation of the Acehnese community and small shops which are the embodiment of the Aceh-Malaysia Diaspora. This study refers to ethnographic principles in the area of the village of Aceh, Yan Kedah. This research is a case study, an exploration and analysis technique in the investigation of a particular social unit. This research was conducted to determine the impact of the presence of the Acehnese diaspora on Malaysia. From the results of the discussion, it was found by researchers that the underlying reason for the Aceh and Malaysian Diaspora was due to the desire of the Acehnese people to leave the conflict zone which threatened the lives of the Acehnese community traders. Then the religious aspects also affect so that it is easy for the Acehnese people to adapt to Malaysia and be able to survive and unite the cultures of Aceh and Malaysia.


--This study aims to describe the application of the principle of cooperation in the film Surga Yang Tak Dirindukan. This research is included in the type of qualitative descriptive research. Data collection methods and techniques use the check-out methods. This research instrument is human instrument. The methods used in this study is the interlingual equivalent methods with qualitative descriptive basic techniques. Based on data analysis and discussion, it can be concluded as follows. (1) Data for the fulfillment of the principle of cooperation were found in 64 of 101 data. In fulfilling the principle of cooperation, the most occurrence is the fulfillment of the quantity maxim which is 50 data. This is because many of the opponents of speech answered by explaining information according to the needs of the speakers, without having to be excessive or not informative. (2) Deviation from the principle of cooperation as many as 37 of 101 data. In the deviation of the principle of cooperation, the most occurrence is the quantity maxim, which is 16 data. This is because many of the opponents say they answer information


The over 700 species of Ficus are thought to have co–speciated with their obligate pollinators (family Agaonidae). Some of these wasp species pollinate figs actively, while others are passive pollinators. Based on direct observations of mode of pollination in 88 species, we show that mode of pollination can confidently be predicted from fig traits only (anther–to–ovule ratio) or from wasp traits only (presence of coxal combs). The presence of pollen pockets is not a predictor of mode of pollination. Data, direct and indirect, on 142 species, demonstrate numerous cases of the loss of active pollination and suggest one or few origins of active pollination. Hence, active pollination, an impressive example of the sophisticated traits that may result from mutualistic coevolution, depends on selective forces that can be overcome in some species, allowing reversions. Despite frequent loss, active pollination remains the predominant mode of pollination in Ficus.


We assessed the mutant 4G allele of the plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) gene in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and its relationship to hypofibrinolytic plasminogen activator inhibitor activity (PAI-Fx), an independent determinant of miscarriage in PCOS. We studied 913 women with PCOS who met the 2003 ESHRE/ASRM diagnostic consensus criteria and 126 healthy normal female controls. Of the 913 PCOS women, 78% had 4G4G or 4G5G genotypes vs 69% of controls (χ2 = 4.98, p = .026). The 4G allele frequency was 53% in PCOS women vs 46% in controls (χ2 = 4.06, p = .044). PCOS and normal women were both in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for the PAI-1 genotype distribution. By stepwise multiple regression, positive independent determinants of PAI-Fx included BMI (partial R2 = 10.8%, p<.0001), serum insulin (partial R2 = 2.7%, p<.0001), 4G4G-4G5G genotype (partial R2 = 1%, p = .0022), and triglyceride (partial R2 = 1%, p<.002); PAI-Fx was inversely associated with age (partial R2 = .5%, p = .02). Of the 913 women, 409 had previous pregnancies. By logistic regression with the dependent variable being live birth pregnancies only (n = 191), or miscarriages only (n= 69), and explanatory variables PAI-1 genotype, PAI-Fx, insulin, BMI, and triglyceride, PAI-Fx was positively associated with miscarriage, p = .017. The 4G polymorphism of the PAI-1 gene is more common in PCOS than normal women and contributes to hypofibrinolytic-miscarriage-promoting PAI-Fx levels in concert with hyperinsulinemia and hypertriglyceridemia. The 4G polymorphism of the PAI-1 gene and high PAI-Fx are markers for PCOS and its endocrine-metabolic-reproductive correlates.


Sr(Ti0.6Fe0.4)O3 (STF) and Sr(Ti0.7Co0.3)O3 (STC) room-temperature ferromagnetic oxides were grown epitaxially on LaAlO3(001), (LaSr)(AlTa)O3 (001) and Si (001) substrates. Both materials were demonstrated to be magneto-optically active, and more optically transparent at 1550nm wavelength compared with other non-garnet ferromagnetic materials. As2S3/STF and As2S3/STC strip-loaded waveguides were fabricated on epitaxial STF or STC films grown on LSAT (001) substrates using thermal evaporation and lift-off processing. The absorption of STF at 1550 nm was measured by ellipsometry and by optical transmission spectrum measurements of the As2S3/STF waveguides, which gave similar results. A novel design for a Non-Reciprocal Phase Shift (NRPS) strip-loaded waveguide using chalcogenide glass (ChG) as the guiding layer is proposed. The NRPS and figure of merit of these waveguides are simulated. The ChG strip-loaded waveguide structure shows advantages both in fabrication and device performance according to the simulation results. Our study suggests the possibility of magneto-optical magneto-optical isolators monolithically integrated on a silicon platform.


Most state-of-the-art approaches for named-entity recognition (NER) use semi supervised information in the form of word clusters and lexicons. Recently neural network-based language models have been explored, as they as a byproduct generate highly informative vector representations for words, known as word embeddings. In this paper we present two contributions: a new form of learning word embeddings that can leverage information from relevant lexicons to improve the representations, and the first system to use neural word embeddings to achieve state-of-the-art results on named-entity recognition in both CoNLL and Ontonotes NER. Our system achieves an F1 score of 90.90 on the test set for CoNLL 2003---significantly better than any previous system trained on public data, and matching a system employing massive private industrial query-log data.


Due to mismatch of the coefficients of thermal expansion of various layers in the positive/electrolyte/negative (PEN) structures of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), thermal stresses and warpage on the PEN are unavoidable due to the temperature changes from the stress-free sintering temperature to room temperature during the PEN manufacturing process. In the meantime, additional mechanical stresses will also be created by mechanical flattening during the stack assembly process. In order to ensure the structural integrity of the cell and stack of SOFC, it is necessary to develop failure criteria for SOFC PEN structures based on the initial flaws occurred during cell sintering and stack assembly. In this paper, the global relationship between the critical energy release rate and critical curvature and maximum Ceramics Fracture mechanism Global fracture criteria E C displacement of the warped cells caused by the temperature changes as well as mechanical flattening process is established so that possible failure of SOFC PEN structures may be predicted deterministically e cur


Structural damage inspection after an earthquake is essential for safety assessment of the affected wood-frame buildings and for making knowledgeable decision regarding their repair, renovation, or replacement. We present a polarimetric radar system for sensing the concealed wood-frames damaged by earthquakes. This system employs an antenna array consisting of four linearly polarized Vivaldi antennas recording full-polarimetric radar echoes in an ultra-wideband ranging from 1 to 20 GHz. The detailed design of the system and the signal processing algorithms for high-resolution 3D imaging are introduced. We conducted a number of surveys on damaged wooden wall specimens in laboratory. The experiment results indicate that the high-frequency radar waves can penetrate the wooden walls. Deformations of wooden structures (about 2 cm displacement) inside the wall, as well as the concealed small metal nails (about 3 mm in diameter and less than 2 cm in length) and bolts can be clearly imaged. The shape and orientation of the wooden members have shown a great sensitivity to the radar polarization. It is concluded that radar polarimetry can provide much richer information on the condition of concealed building structures than the conventional single-polarization subsurface penetrating radar.


A magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stirrer that exhibits chaotic advection is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The stirrer consists of a circular cavity with an electrode (C) deposited around its periphery. Two additional electrodes (A) and (B) are deposited eccentrically inside the cavity on the bottom. The cavity is positioned in a uniform magnetic field that is parallel to the cylinder's axis, and it is filled with a weak electrolyte solution. Fluid motion is induced in the cavity by applying a potential difference across a pair of electrodes. A closed-form, analytical solution is derived for the MHD creeping flow field in the gap between the two eccentric cylinders. A singular solution is obtained for the special case when the size of the inner electrode shrinks to a point. Subsequently, passive tracers' trajectories are computed when the electric potential differences are applied alternately across electrodes AC and BC with period T. At small periods T, the flow is regular and periodic in most of the cavity. As the period increases, so does the complexity of the motion. At relatively large periods, the passive tracer experiences global chaotic advection. Such a device can serve as an efficient stirrer. Since this device has no moving parts, it is especially suitable for microfluidic applications. This is yet another practical example of a modulated, two-dimensional Stokes flow that exhibits chaotic advection.


This paper presents a technique to reproduce human hair's luster with back-lighting, which is most noticeable for light-colored hair. This technique uses an auxiliary buffer, called a density map, to calculate the intensity of light passing through overlapped hairs. The density map for each light source is created by extracting the color values from the frame buffer after models are rendered from the light source's point of view with pixel blending. This technique can be applied to existing hair rendering pipelines with less than 20 percent computational overhead.


MicroRNAs are ~22nt-long small noncoding RNAs that negatively regulate expression of target proteins through mRNA degradation or translational repression. They are functionally important in diverse biological processes including development, oncogenesis, and hematopoiesis. To study a potential role of microRNA for regulating cellular changes during erythroid ontogeny, we examined microRNA abundance patterns in circulating erythroid cells during the fetal and adult stages of human development. Expression profiling of microRNA was performed using total RNA from 4 adult peripheral blood samples compared to 4 cord blood samples after depletion of plasma, platelets, and nucleated cells. Labeled RNA was hybridized to custom spotted array containing 474 human microRNAs species (miRBase release 9.1). Total RNA from Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines was used as a hybridization reference for all samples to generate microRNA abundance profile for each sample. Among the differentially expressed probe-pairs, 40 microRNAs were significantly up-regulated in adult erythroid cells and only 4 microRNAs were down-regulated (p 2). Two microRNAs, miR-144 and miR-451, previously reported as being GATA-1 regulated in erythroid cells, were detected above the dynamic range of the array technology in all eight samples. Quantitative PCR was performed to further quantitate differences in the microRNA abundance profiles of the 10 most differentially expressed microRNAs as well as miR-144 and miR-451 . Per published recommendations, miR-103 was used for signal normalization. Among the studied microRNAs, 8 of 12 demonstrated a more than 4 fold increase in abundance in adult erythroid cells compared to cord blood by qPCR. In particular, let-7d and let-7e demonstrated more than 10-fold increased expression in adult cells. Of note, let-7 microRNAs regulate metamorphic processes in model organisms and inhibit ras-associated growth of cancer cells. According to miRBase predictions, over 1200 genes may be targeted by the 8 microRNAs (p et al. Phy. Gen. 2007) revealed 24 developmentally downregulated genes as predicted targets. Among globin genes, only gamma globin is a predicted target. These findings demonstrate dramatic up-regulation of specific erythroid microRNAs during the fetal-to-adult transition of ontogeny, and support the notion that microRNAs function as developmental regulators of erythropoiesis and globin gene switching.


The quest to understand consciousness, once the purview of philosophers and theologians, is now actively pursued by scientists of many stripes. This paper studies consciousness from the perspective of theoretical computer science. It formalizes the Global Workspace Theory (GWT) originated by cognitive neuroscientist Bernard Baars and further developed by him, Stanislas Dehaene, and others. Our major contribution lies in the precise formal definition of a Conscious Turing Machine (CTM), also called a Conscious AI. We define the CTM in the spirit of Alan Turing's simple yet powerful definition of a computer, the Turing Machine (TM). We are not looking for a complex model of the brain nor of cognition but for a simple model of (the admittedly complex concept of) consciousness. After formally defining CTM, we give a formal definition of consciousness in CTM. We then suggest why the CTM has the feeling of consciousness. The reasonableness of the definitions and explanations can be judged by how well they agree with commonly accepted intuitive concepts of human consciousness, the breadth of related concepts that the model explains easily and naturally, and the extent of its agreement with scientific evidence.


The solubility issues complicating the delivery of these new drugs also affect the delivery of many existing drugs. The various techniques are available for enhancement of solubility. Solid dispersion is one of the most promising approaches for solubility enhancement . Currently only 8% of new drug candidates have both high solubility and permeability. More than 60% of potential drug products suffer from poor water solubility. In solid dispersion particle size of drug is reduced or a crystalline pure drug is converted into amorphous form and hence the solubility of drug is increased. Polymers incorporated in solid dispersion technologies are usually hydrophilic in nature and also showing compatibility with the drug to enhance the drug solubility. The present article reviews the basic concept about solid dispersion, various types of solid dispersion, criteria of solvent selection, the methods of preparation, characterization, their advantages, limitations, applications, future prospect and various types of marketed preparations.


BACKGROUND
An estimated 3.5 million children have been born to date using assisted reproduction technologies. We reviewed the data in order to evaluate current knowledge of medical outcome for IVF/ICSI children born after cryopreservation, slow freezing and vitrification of early cleavage stage embryos, blastocysts and oocytes.

METHODS
A systematic review was performed. We searched the PubMed, Cochrane and Embase databases from 1984 to September 2008. Inclusion criteria for slow freezing of early cleavage stage embryos were controlled studies reporting perinatal or child outcomes. For slow freezing and vitrification of blastocysts and oocytes, and vitrification of early cleavage stage embryos, case reports on perinatal or child outcomes were also included. Three reviewers independently read and evaluated all selected studies.

RESULTS
For early cleavage embryos, data from controlled studies indicated a better or at least as good obstetric outcome, measured as preterm birth and low birthweight for children born after cryopreservation, as compared with children born after fresh cycles. Most studies found comparable malformation rates between frozen and fresh IVF/ICSI. For slow freezing of blastocysts and for vitrification of early cleavage stage embryos, blastocysts and oocytes, limited neonatal data was reported. We found no long-term child follow-up data for any cryopreservation technique.

CONCLUSION
Data concerning infant outcome after slow freezing of embryos was reassuring. Properly controlled follow-up studies of neonatal outcome are needed after slow freezing of blastocysts and after vitrification of early cleavage stage embryos, blastocysts and oocytes. In addition, child long-term follow-up studies for all cryopreservation techniques are essential.


In a recent experimental study, Spohn, Mory & Hopfinger (1998) investigated in detail the flow in a closed cylindrical container with a rotating bottom for Reynolds numbers in the steady and unsteady regimes. Their visualization photographs revealed that the stationary vortex breakdown bubbles, which form along the container axis within a range of governing parameters, are open, with inflow and outflow, and asymmetric at their downstream end. For Reynolds numbers within the unsteady regime, visualizations of the limiting streamlines on the cylindrical wall showed that the Stewartson layer separates asymmetrically along stationary spiral convergence lines that form below the top cover. We study numerically the container flow, by solving the unsteady, three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations, in order to clarify the origin and elucidate the underlying physics of these complex, three-dimensional flow features. The stationary vortex breakdown bubbles we simulate exhibit all the asymmetries observed in the laboratory. By analysing the Lagrangian characteristics of the calculated flow fields, we explain the origin of these asymmetries, clarify the experimentally documented filling and emptying mechanisms, and show that the flow in the interior of stationary vortex breakdown bubbles exhibits chaotic particle paths. We also show that the spiral separation lines observed by Spohn et al. (1998) inside the Stewartson layer at high Reynolds numbers are due to the growth of pairs of counter-rotating, spiral vortices and the interaction of these vortices with the stationary-cover boundary layer.


The polarization properties of stimulated three-photon scattering in a three-level atomic system are presented. In our investigation of the stimulated emission spectrum of Na, we find that interference between the amplitudes of the resonant contributions of the Na doublet states results in interesting polarization phenomena. Particularly striking is the behavior when the laser is tuned near the dispersion-free point. With the laser linearly polarized the stimulated three-photon scattering is polarized perpendicular to the laser polarization. For circularly polarized excitation, total extinction of three-photon scattering is observed.


The extent and persistence of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis environmental contamination on farms with a known history of Johne's disease is a commonly asked question by the agricultural community. Prospective buyers of farms following a dispersal sale often inquire about the possibility of newly acquired cattle becoming infected with M. paratuberculosis from the environment where Johne's cattle had previously been located. Thus, based on continuing inquiries from cattlemen, we developed a prospective research proposal to assess the extent of environmental contamination with M. paratuberculosis associated with known levels of infection in the herds as determined with whole herd fecal culture tests of adult cattle using a sensitive technique utilizing centrifugation1.
Previous studies on the survival of M. paratuberculosis have been largely conducted under standardized laboratory conditions and not from samples taken from the immediate farm environment2,3,4. Those studies suggested that M. paratuberculosis is somewhat long lived in a variety of environmental conditions. Non-laboratory based studies have focused on the survival of M. paratuberculosis in slurry and no studies have focused on the extent of soil and environmental contamination on farms with Johne's disease.
The frequency of occurrence of M. paratuberculosis in the environment of farms with known infection of cattle with M. paratuberculosis has not been reported. But, the survival of M. paratuberculosis in water, slurry, urine and other media has been published2,3,4,5. Previous authors often used laboratory-grown isolates then inoculated a variety of materials and monitored the recovery rate over time. Vishnewskii6 first reported that bovine urine markedly reduced the survival time of M. paratuberculosis to less than 10 days. The inhibitory effect of urine on tubercle bacteria growth has also been recognized for some time but the factor responsible for the inhibition has not been isolated7,8. Urine has a similar inhibitory effect on salmonella9.