Students perform bedside exams in different real life settings and their performance are assessed. They are prior to and during the exam nervous, and for that reason make avoidable mistakes. The aim was to explore undergraduate nursing students' feelings, reasoning, and preparations prior to a skill-based exam performed in clinical practice. Data was collected by interviews performed as unstructured everyday dialogues based on two main questions: "Tell me how you feel when you think of the coming skill-based exam, and how are you reasoning and prepare for this exam". Eigtheen Swedish nursing students (17 women and 1 man, median age of 28, range 22-43 years) in their final semester of a three-year nursing programme were interviewed. The collected data were analysed by content analysis, and the findings were interpreted into one theme, Balancing fear with competence, which is a metaphor for students' turbulent emotions and thoughts prior to a real life skill-based exam. The subthemes Being in an emotional turmoil, Attaining increased knowledge and skills and Preparing for collaboration comprise the different experiences. The students were fearful of failing and were focused on the assessment itself, which created nervousness, and stress. They expressed a lack of self-confidence, and were not sure of their capability after three years of nursing studies. By supporting the students to develop their awareness of their own theoretical knowledge as well as their emotional, practical, and interpersonal skills by using different teaching methods, the students might handle the stressful nature of a bedside exam better.


: Introduction: Legislative Decree no. 101, published on 31 July 2020 in the Italian Official Gazette, the official journal of the Italian Government, sets out the provisions of Directive 2013/59/Euratom, which establishes the basic safety rules for protection against the risks arising from occupational exposure to ionizing radiation. Methods: The main purpose of the legislator was to improve the safety of workers exposed to radiation, updating the previous laws adopted by the Italian government 25 years earlier. Many strategies have been attempted in the past to increase the level of protection of these categories of workers. Still, it is too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed measures. Results: Medical professionals play a leading role among other figures involved in the field of occupational radiation protection. To achieve a reliable and detailed evaluation of the risk assessment, which in Italy must be reported in a specific mandatory report called the "Risk Assessment Document", the legislator has assigned differentiated but coordinated tasks to all the actors involved with different responsibilities in radiation protection. Conclusion: The drastic reduction of the dose limits for the crystalline lens is a tool for more effective protection of workers against exposure to ionizing radiation.


The author presents a digest of the main French reference works on bipolar mood disorders from the outset of the 19th century to 1914. Contributions come essentially from the Paris psychiatric schools of Charenton (Esquirol, Ritti, Antheaume), Salpêtrière (Baillarger, Jean-Pierre and Jules Falret, Deny) and Sainte-Anne (Magnan, Gilbert Ballet). Publications by these authors prepared the ground for Kraepelin's manic-depressive madness (1899). Many clinical pictures recently updated in American psychiatry were described long ago by French authors: hypomania, cyclothymia, mixed bipolar disorders, type II disorders, rapid-cycling forms and seasonal forms. Two intellectual trends were simultaneously active during this period: the first was analytical, syndrome-based and empirical, and maintained that bipolar pathological features were a "disorder" distinct from unipolar depression, much like the American DSM IV; the other synthetic, stage-oriented and more theoretical tradition viewed it as an "illness", a very broad nosological group encompassing most mood disorders.


In recent years, the rubber industry has come under pressure to improve health and safety at work, minimize damage to the environment, reduce costs, and increase competitiveness. Rubber compounds contain additives including curing chemicals, which are hazardous and harmful. Reducing their use or eliminating them altogether will be beneficial to rubber compounders and manufacturers of rubber articles. A styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) was cured and reinforced with a high loading of precipitated amorphous white silica nanofiller. The silica surfaces were pretreated with bis(3-triethoxysilylpropyl) tetrasulfide (TESPT), which is a sulfur-bearing bifunctional organosilane to chemically adhere silica to the rubber. The chemical bonding between the filler and rubber was optimized via the tetrasulfane groups of TESPT by adding accelerator and activator. The rubbers were subsequently cured and their hardness, tensile strength, elongation at break, stored energy density at break, tearing energy, tensile modulus, Young's modulus, and bound rubber content were measured. This study showed that using the filler in combination with a sulfur-donor accelerator was the most efficient method for curing and reinforcing the rubber. This led to a significant reduction in the use of the curing chemicals, a faster curing cycle, and very good mechanical properties for the rubber vulcanizate. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011


The winds of change are creating uncertainty about how hospitals can protect themselves from liability claims. While there is no way to guarantee that a storm won't strike, information about the latest liability decisions offers hospitals the best protection they can have against the unexpected.


A significant member benefit offered by organized dentistry is peer review. DSSNY President Henry Gaines refers to peer review as "the crown jewel" of the Society's programs. Indeed, dental societies throughout the country look to DSSNY's peer review program as a model for how to provide quality assurance to patients and the profession.


Freedom of innocent passage at sea (also called freedom of navigation) is well-established through customary international law and international conventions. However, freedom of overflight is not exercised according to customary international law, and no international convention on freedom of overflight (International Air Services Transit Agreement of 1944) (Transit Agreement) is universally accepted. The debate at the beginning of the era of aviation between two schools (the freedom of the air school and the sovereignty of the air school) cuts to the heart of the question of why freedom of overflight is not allowed. The Paris Convention 1919 embraced sovereignty of the air, and the Chicago Convention 1944 leaned toward the extreme version of the sovereignty of the air principle. However, fundamental changes over the past seventy years (namely changes in law, policy, international politics, and technology) demand that we revisit freedom of overflight. There have been efforts by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to revitalize The Transit Agreement. Although the Sixth Worldwide ICAO Air Transport Conference failed to discuss the importance of freedom of overflight, the ICAO must continue to call for universal adherence to the Transit Agreement for the sound development of international air transport and for minimum multilateralism in international air transport.


To the Editor.— The report by Linger 1 as well as the American Medical Association-Medical Student Section advocate pass/fail reporting for the new US Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE), which will soon replace the current National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) tests. One reason for this position is that some residency program directors use the numerical scores to screen residency applications: 86% of 405 directors would not rank an applicant who had not passed NBME part 1, and 25% of directors would not rank applicants with scores under 450 on NBME part 1, even though 380 is a passing score. 2 Therefore, by making the USMLE pass/fail, program directors will have to rely on traditional evaluations by medical school faculty, medical school grades and clerkship evaluations, and dean's letters. I strongly disagree with Linger and the American Medical Association-Medical Student Section. Let us examine the method for advancement that permeates higher


Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) entered the food supply in 1973 and have since been shown to be toxic to animals. PBBs stimulate renal mixed function oxidase in developing rats. Since the renal organic ion transport systems are important in the elimination of several xenobiotics from plasma, further investigations of the renal effects of PBBs were conducted. Adult female rats were given a single intraperitoneal injection of 130–165 mg PBBs/kg body weight. After J day there was a significant increase in total liver lipids. The liver weight/body weight ratio was higher after 8 days in the PBB‐treated animals. These changes were still apparent 48 days after injection, when the study was terminated. Kidney weight was not altered by treatment, nor was accumulation by renal cortical slices of the organic base N‐methylnicotinamide (NMN). Uptake of the organic acid p‐aminohippuric acid (PAH) appeared to be elevated throughout the study, but this was only significant at 32 days after injection. Direct exposure of ...


Salivary cortisol is often used as an index of physiological and psychological stress in exercise science and psychoneuroendocrine research. A primary concern when designing research studies examining cortisol stems from the high cost of analysis. Planned missing data designs involve intentionally omitting a random subset of observations from data collection, reducing both the cost of data collection and participant burden. These designs have the potential to result in more efficient, cost-effective analyses with minimal power loss. Using salivary cortisol data from a previous study (Hogue, Fry, Fry, & Pressman, 2013), this article examines statistical power and estimated costs of six different planned missing data designs using growth curve modeling. Results indicate that using a planned missing data design would have provided the same results at a lower cost relative to the traditional, complete data analysis of salivary cortisol.


Introduction: in order to establish the dimensions in depth, width and length of the masseter muscle according to gender, a non analytical experimental observational study was performed on selected patients who attended the echography service at the Base Hospital of Linares-Chile between July and September 2005. Methods: the sample consisted of 180 masseter muscles, 90 from female individuals and 90 from male individuals. Measurements of each masseter muscle were performed utilizing an echographic exam. ANOVA test statistical analysis was performed. Results: the masseter muscle depth on male individuals has an averaged 10.8 ± 1.6 mm and on female individuals an average depth of 8.1 ± 1.4 mm. Conclusion: according to the findings, we concluded that in male individuals with a depth of the masseter muscle higher to 12.4 mm and in female individuals with a depth of masseter higher to 9.5 mm could be considered a diagnosis of masseteric hypertrophy.


Real world testbeds, like the POWDER platform (Platform for Open Wireless Data-driven Experimental Research), enable a broad range of mobile and wireless research. Given the flexibility of this platform, a key concern for platform users is selecting a set of wireless resources that will satisfy the requirements of their experiments. In this paper we present the design and implementation of WiMatch a wireless resource matchmaking system. We illustrate the utility of our approach by evaluating it in the POWDER platform.


This paper demonstrates that SSDs, which perform device-level versioning, can be exposed to data tampering attacks when the retention time of data is less than the malware's dwell time. To deal with that threat, we propose SGX-SSD, a SGX-based versioning SSD which selectively preserves file history based on the given policy. The proposed system adopts Intel SGX to implement the version policy management system that is safe from high-privileged malware. Based on the policy, only the necessary data is selectively preserved in SSD that prevents files with less priority from wasting space and also ensures the integrity of important files.


Tensor-network techniques have enjoyed outstanding success in physics, and have recently attracted attention in machine learning, both as a tool for the formulation of new learning algorithms and for enhancing the mathematical understanding of existing methods. Inspired by these developments, and the natural correspondence between tensor networks and probabilistic graphical models, we provide a rigorous analysis of the expressive power of various tensor-network factorizations of discrete multivariate probability distributions. These factorizations include non-negative tensor-trains/MPS, which are in correspondence with hidden Markov models, and Born machines, which are naturally related to local quantum circuits. When used to model probability distributions, they exhibit tractable likelihoods and admit efficient learning algorithms. Interestingly, we prove that there exist probability distributions for which there are unbounded separations between the resource requirements of some of these tensor-network factorizations. Particularly surprising is the fact that using complex instead of real tensors can lead to an arbitrarily large reduction in the number of parameters of the network. Additionally, we introduce locally purified states (LPS), a new factorization inspired by techniques for the simulation of quantum systems, with provably better expressive power than all other representations considered. The ramifications of this result are explored through numerical experiments. Our findings imply that LPS should be considered over hidden Markov models, and furthermore provide guidelines for the design of local quantum circuits for probabilistic modeling.


This article considers the workings of an individual juvenile court – the branch of the Inner London Juvenile Court, which sat at Old Street from 1910 and Toynbee Hall from 1929. It examines the spatial environment of the juvenile court before using data sampled from the court registers between 1910 and 1950 to analyse the progress of children and young people through the court and the strategies used by the magistrates to deal with them. Finally, it looks at the social work backgrounds and connections of the magistrates at this court, the ways in which this impacted upon their practice, and the consequences of this for the development of youth justice and welfare policy since. I argue that the welfarist principles of the 1908 Children Act were worked out both at grassroots and policy formation levels during the interwar and early post-war periods, before becoming the mainstream position in youth justice by the 1960s.


: Scanning-Transmission and Transmission Electron Microscopy techniques (STEM and TEM) have been applied to the characterization of nanostructured gadolinium oxides doped with europium synthesized by spray pyrolysis. The High Angle Annular Dark Field (HAADF) – Scanning Transmission Electron Micros-copy (STEM) tools have been used to perform a tomographic study to identify morphological character-istics of nanostructured particles, and to differentiate them according to the heat treatments to which these have been subjected. With these techniques it has been possible to confirm the hollowness and por-ous nature of samples subjected to low temperature annealing (900 º C). Moreover, the beginning of the densification and sintering processes in samples subjected to thermal treatment at higher temperature (1100 º C) have been evaluated. Chemical analysis by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and X ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) carried out in STEM mode have allowed to confirm the high uni-formity and the expected chemical composition. The high resolution tools either allowed to confirm the presence of a cubic (Ia3 symmetry) and the monoclinic (c2/m symmetry) phases in the nanostructured particles.


To facilitate fruitful conceptualization and research in business history among scholars throughout the world, the Review herewith inaugurates a series of reports by our International Correspondents. These reports will supplement the American activities regularly recorded in our pages. It is our hope that comparative studies of common problems and the exchange of data and ideas will thus be encouraged.


The bulk material MoSr2YCu2O8-δ has been discovered coexistence of antiferromagnetism and superconductivity. In order to understand the mechanism of these long-range orderings, the size effect on the superconductivity and magnetism were studied over wide temperature and magnetic field ranges. Nanoparticles of MoSr2YCu2O8-δ were fabricated by Pulsed Laser Deposition technique. The phase and size of the nanoparticles were examined by the X-ray diffraction, FE-SEM and HR-TEM. Based on the experimental results on the nanoparticles, the antiferromagnetism disappears and the superconductivity still remains. A possible anomalous local-pairing mechanism in this system is suggested.


In fetus, while minor degree of hydrocephalus often goes undetected, severe cases of obstructive variety present with the following features: 1 .the head is felt larger, globular and softer than the normal head 2.the head is high up and difficult to push down into pelvis 3.fetal heart sound is situated high up above the umbilicus 4.internal examination during labor may reveal widening of sutures and tense fontanelle. In breech presentation however, the diagnosis is not made until the after-coming head is arrested at the brim. In the communicating variety, often the head is of normal size at birth and its enlargement starts only at 6-12 weeks of age.


Recent acquisition of high resolution, deep penetration seismic in the Central North Sea has permitted imaging of the basement structure. The results indicate strong similarities between the deep structures of the Jaeren and Forties–Montrose highs. The Triassic and Zechstein strata show a distinctive relationship on these graben margin and median highs. Interpretation of the pre-Zechstein structure may indicate the distribution of Devonian and Carboniferous intervals in an area where previous imaging of the deep section has not been successful. Southern parts of both the Jaeren and Forties–Montrose highs show the presence of a sub-Permian reflective package; this (?possible Carboniferous) sequence is absent in the north, where reflectors may be recognized within the deep section. A prominent horizontal reflector may represent a Middle Devonian limestone marker or the Devonian basal unconformity. This reflector may alternatively mark the top of Upper Paleozoic volcanic rocks. A deeper, westward- or northwestward-dipping reflector may represent the top of the crystalline basement or a deeper fault or shear zone of Caledonide origin. The potential occurrence of Carboniferous strata at depth over extensive areas of the Central Graben and surrounding highs would have important implications for exploration in the area. Carboniferous coal measures might provide a sub-Zechstein gas-prone hydrocarbon source.


Miss M. C., age 20; left ear; general health not good; has had naso-pharyngeal colds for two or three weeks, accompanied by a hard cough. Nov. 11,1895, at about 11 P.M., experienced suddenly a severe earache, which continued with increasing severity till the morning of November 12, when I was consulted. I found the view of the membrana tympanum obstructed by three large bullae situated as follows: One at the upper anterior quadrant, extending down nearly to the inferior extremity of the handle of the malleus. This was large and deeply congested, the redness passing on to the meatal wall, as it joins the drum-head. Another was situated at the junction of the drum-head with the posterior meatal wall, and was more on the latter than the former. This was also much inflamed and large. Another blister occurred exactly at the inferior extremity of the malleus, and was smaller than


In this paper, we look at the problem of few-shot image classification that aims to learn a classifier for previously unseen classes and domains from few labeled samples. Recent methods use various adaptation strategies for aligning their visual representations to new domains or select the relevant ones from multiple domain-specific feature extractors. In this work, we present URL, which learns a single set of universal visual representations by distilling knowledge of multiple domain-specific networks after co-aligning their features with the help of adapters and centered kernel alignment. We show that the universal representations can be further refined for previously unseen domains by an efficient adaptation step in a similar spirit to distance learning methods. We rigorously evaluate our model in the recent Meta-Dataset benchmark and demonstrate that it significantly outperforms the previous methods while being more efficient.


Privacy preservation is a crucial issue for smart buildings where all kinds of messages, e.g., power usage data, control commands, events, alarms, etc. are transmitted to accomplish the management of power. Without appropriate privacy protection schemes, electricity customers are faced with various privacy risks. Meanwhile, the natures of smart grids and smart buildings—such as having limited computation power of smart devices and constraints in communication network capabilities, while requiring being highly reliable—make privacy preservation a challenging task. In this paper, we propose a group key scheme to safeguard multicast privacy with the provisions of availability, fault-tolerance, and efficiency in the context of smart buildings as a part the smart grid. In particular, hybrid architecture accommodating both centralized and contributory modes is constructed in order to achieve both fault-tolerance and efficiency with only one set of group key installed. Key trees are sophisticatedly managed to reduce the number of exponentiation operations. In addition, an individual rekeying scheme is introduced for occasional joining and leaving of member smart meters. Experimental results, on a simulation platform, show that our scheme is able to provide significant performance gains over state-of-the-art methods while effectively preserving the participants' privacy.


The quality of fresh meat is an extremely important characteristic influencing the consumer's purchase decision. The behavior of biodegradable tray in contact with meat is important also for food chain logistic management. The stability of this system meat-biodegradable tray is depending by a variety of factors and can be monitored through physicchemical and microbiological assessment of meat on the one hand and tray material behavior on the other hand. The effect of chilling temperature on both meat and tray material have been experimented in this work. For this purpose, Longissimus dorsi from pork carcass was packed in biobased trays and stored at 4 o C ±1 for 7 days. During the chilled storage physic-chemical analysis as pH, color, dry matter content, aw, titratable acidity, presence of hydrogen sulfide, ammonia in the free state and microbiological analysis as total plate count, number of yeasts and moulds, coliform bacteria, the enterobacteriaceae, Salmonella sp., also thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA-DTG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) of biobased trays were performed. Thermal analyzes showed no changes in the properties of polymeric materials used in the manufacture of food trays. FTIR and TGA analysis revealed the occurrence of some deposits consisting especially in moisture and organic material on the inside of the food trays.


Modern realism claims that the fear that others will enjoy relatively greater benefits frequently impedes international cooperation. Recent articles in this Review by Duncan Snidal and Robert Powell modeled conditions under which the impact of relative gains varied. Joseph Grieco criticizes Snidal's model as based on assumptions that allow him to avoid, rather than confront, the realist arguments. He also argues that Powell's model, while constructive, ignores important additional sources of sensitivity to relative gains. In response, Powell discusses the value of alternative assumptions about preferences and constraints in international relations. Snidal defends his analysis and presents an additional proof to support the independence of his central result—the diminishing impact of relative gains with increasing numbers of states—from assumptions of concern to Grieco. Both responders emphasize their work as contributing to a contextually rich theory of international politics that builds on elements of both realism and neo-liberalism.


1. The effects on behaviour of selecting light-hybrid laying hens for high and low efficiency of food utilisation were investigated. Efficiency of food utilisation was measured as the proportional deviation of observed food consumption from expected food consumption. 2. Videograms of the day-time behaviour of 48 to 53-week-old individually caged hens from the F3 generation were analysed by instantaneous sampling. 3. Low-efficiency hens spent more time food-pecking, walking, pacing, and showing escape and aggressive behaviour than did high-efficiency hens. High-efficiency hens spent more than twice as much time resting and sleeping, and were never observed pacing prior to laying. 4. These differences were larger during the 2 h before laying than at other times of day. 5. Low-efficiency hens had poorer plumage, especially on the neck and the breast, and the poorer the plumage the more agitation they showed. 6. Time spent food-pecking was negatively correlated with laying frequency. 7. Differences in the occurrence of specific behaviour patterns, particularly those symptomatic of pre-laying frustration, partly explained differences in efficiency of food utilisation. Selection for higher efficiency of food utilisation might eliminate hens which are most frustrated prior to laying in cages.


OBJECTIVES
The eighteen-month evaluation of a clinical librarian project (October 2003-March 2005) conducted in North Wales, United Kingdom (UK) assessed the benefits of clinical librarian support to clinical teams, the impact of mediated searching services, and the effectiveness of information skills training, including journal club support.

METHODS
The evaluation assessed changes in teams' information-seeking behavior and their willingness to delegate searching to a clinical librarian. Baseline (n = 69 responses, 73% response rate) and final questionnaire (n = 57, 77% response rate) surveys were complemented by telephone and face-to-face interviews (n = 33) among 3 sites served. Those attending information skills training sessions (n = 130) completed evaluations at the session and were surveyed 1 month after training (n = 24 questionnaire responses, n = 12 interviews).

RESULTS
Health professionals in clinical teams reported that they were more willing to undertake their own searching, but also more willing to delegate some literature searching, than at the start of the project. The extent of change depended on the team and the type of information required. Information skills training was particularly effective when organized around journal clubs.

CONCLUSIONS
Collaboration with a clinical librarian increased clinician willingness to seek information. Clinical librarian services should leverage structured training opportunities such as journal clubs.


During October and November 1973, outbreaks of hepatitis A associated with consumption of raw oysters occurred in Houston and in Calhoun, Ga. The oysters implicated in both outbreaks had been harvested in two Louisiana bays. Although the bays had been contaminated with polluted Mississippi River water two months before the oysters were harvested, at the time of harvesting the bays met national sanitation standards for shellfish growing and were certified for oyster fishing. These epidemics raise serious questions about the adequacy of shellfish sanitation monitoring systems currently in use.


Recent studies report the occurrence of withdrawal reactions in a significant number of patients after long-term use of benzodiazepines, i.e. daily use for one year or more. The abstinence syndrome is partially characterized by anxiety, dysphoria, sleep disturbances and other unspecific symptoms. In addition, some patients experience symptoms, which, so far, have not been described as typical part of a withdrawal syndrome, especially disturbances of sensory perception. The withdrawal syndrome is less acutely distressing than a classical withdrawal syndrome of the barbiturate type, but occasionally it can show a protracted course.


AIM
The available evidence supporting the importance of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in the regulation of renal haemodynamics and excretory function is summarized. Cyclooxygenase-2-derived metabolites play a very important role in regulating renal haemodynamics when sodium intake is low whereas it plays a minor role in the control of cortical blood flow when sodium intake is normal or elevated. The importance of COX-2 in the regulation of renal haemodynamics seems to be dependent on the endogenous production of other vasoactive products such as nitric oxide (NO) or noradrenaline. The activation of COX-2 in response to a decrease in NO may represent a mechanism aimed at defending the renal vasculature in the face of a decrease in NO levels.

CONCLUSION
Contrary to the important role of COX-2 in the long-term regulation of renal haemodynamics, the metabolites derived from COX-2 seem to be only involved in the acute regulation of renal excretory function.


In accordance with the WHO (World Health Organization) definition applicable since 1980, stroke (BS) is a disease syndrome characterized by a sudden occurrence of focal or generalized cerebral dysfunctions, which last longer than 24 hours, unless they are fatal. Thrombolytic therapy is currently the recommended and most effective method of treatment of recent ischemic stroke. The success of treating stroke equally depends on the appropriate organization of the entire team caring for the patient. In order to efficiently conduct thrombolytic treatment in a patient with acute ischemic stroke, medical and nursing staff working in the Department of Stroke Treatment should have the following skills: high level of professional responsibility, high professional competence, have the ability to cooperate in a team and establish interpersonal contacts, including those with the patient and their family. Team members should make difficult decisions jointly, analyze and modify their activities so that treatment could be implemented as soon as possible while maintaining the utmost discretion and clinical alertness. This article was prepared in order to summarize and organize available knowledge on the cooperation between the doctor and nursing staff in the diagnosis and thrombolytic therapy of patients in the acute stroke period. (JNNN 2019;8(1):37–43)


SUMMARY

Seeds of Dactylorhiza majalis (Rchb. f.) Hunt & Summerhayes were sown in vitro with a compatible fungus. A mycorrhiza was established after infection through the rhizoids of the germinating seedling. Infection through the suspensor did occur, but these hyphae did not form pelotons, and embryo cells in contact with the hyphae were filled with a tannin-like substance.

Germination, and establishment of mycorrhiza, took about 14 days in vitro. From day 9 the protein reserves were hydrolysed, the protein vacuoles coalesced and starch accumulated in plastids. Certain epidermal cells developed nuclei about eight times original volume and produced rhizoids which emerged from day 11. After infection the hyphae formed pelotons in central cells with enlarged nuclei (16–64 times original volume). The intracellular hyphae developed close contacts with the hypertrophied host nuclei. Collapsed pelotons could be observed in cells from day 12, one day after infection. Meristematic activity in the uninfected chalazal end of the seedling began on day 12. On day 28 the first vascular tissue started to develop and on day 35 the beginning of a leafy shoot could be detected.


For wireless data access applications where objects are frequently updated and fast access to objects is required, we propose a fast wireless data access scheme (FW - DAS), which extends the callback (CB) scheme to minimize the access latency and combines it with the poll each read (PER) scheme to mitigate the traffic load over the wireless link. Extensive simulations are carried out to show the effects of operation mode, access-to-update ratio, data popularity, and cache size. Simulation results show that FW-DAS can reduce the access latency with reasonable traffic load compared with PER/CB and their combinations.


Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model is well suited for describing agent's mental state. The BDI of an agent represents its motivational stance and are the main determinant of agent's actions. Therefore, explicit understanding of the representation and modelling of such motivational stance plays a central role in designing BDI agent with successful behavioural change interventions. Nevertheless, existing BDI agent models do not represent agent's behavioural factors explicitly. This leads to a gap between design and implementation where psychological reactance has being identified as the cause of BDI agent behavioural change interventions failure. Hence, this paper presents a generic representation of BDI agent model based on behavioural change and psychological theories. Also, using mathematical analysis the model was evaluated. The objective of the proposed BDI agent model is to bridge the gap between agent design and implementation for successful agent-based interventions. The model will be realized in an agentbased application that motivates children towards oral hygiene. The study explicitly depicts how agent's behavioural factors interact to enhance behaviour change which will assist agent-based intervention designers to be able to design intervention that will be void of reactance.


This is a study of the symbiotic relationship between the film industry and the United States armed services. Since the first edition, the nation has experienced several wars, both on the battlefield and in movie theatres and living rooms at home. This is a revised and extended edition of this history of the mutual exploitation of the film industry and the military, exploring how Hollywood has reflected and effected changes in America's image of its armed services. It includes contemporary war films such as ""Saving Private Ryan"", ""U-571"", ""Pearl Harbor"" and ""Windtalkers"".


In this paper we introduce a new multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) estimator for multi-dimensional SDEs driven by Brownian motions. Giles has previously shown that if we combine a numerical approximation with strong order of convergence $O(\Delta t)$ with MLMC we can reduce the computational complexity to estimate expected values of functionals of SDE solutions with a root-mean-square error of $\epsilon$ from $O(\epsilon^{-3})$ to $O(\epsilon^{-2})$. However, in general, to obtain a rate of strong convergence higher than $O(\Delta t^{1/2})$ requires simulation, or approximation, of L\'{e}vy areas. In this paper, through the construction of a suitable antithetic multilevel correction estimator, we are able to avoid the simulation of L\'{e}vy areas and still achieve an $O(\Delta t^2)$ multilevel correction variance for smooth payoffs, and almost an $O(\Delta t^{3/2})$ variance for piecewise smooth payoffs, even though there is only $O(\Delta t^{1/2})$ strong convergence. This results in an $O(\epsilon^{-2})$ complexity for estimating the value of European and Asian put and call options.


We propose a semiparametric multi-state frailty model to analyze clustered event-history data subject to interval censoring. The proposed model is motivated by an attempt to study the life course of dental caries at the tooth level, taking into account the multiplicity of caries states and the intra-oral clustering of observations made at periodic time points. Of particular interest is the study of the intra-oral distribution of processes leading to carious lesions, and whether this distribution varies with gender. The model assumes, in view of the covariate profile, a proportionality of the transition intensities conditional on subject-level frailties, coupled with a linear spline approximation of the log baseline intensities. The model estimation is conducted using a penalized likelihood where the smoothing parameters are estimated as reciprocal variance components under a mixed-model representation. A Bayesian method is proposed to predict tooth-level caries transition probabilities, which can be used for tailoring tooth-level caries treatment and prevention plans. Intensive simulation studies indicate that the model fitting and prediction perform reasonably well under realistic sample sizes. The practical utility of the methods is illustrated using data from a longitudinal study on oral health among children from low-income families residing in the city of Detroit, Michigan.


Over 3 mln people in Poland suffer from diabetes out of which 1/3 are undiagnosed. Diabetes is a metabolic disease characterized by the chronic hyperglycaemia resulting from disturbances in insulin secretion and tissue resistance to its action. The most serious clinical problem in the diabetics is periodontal disease since hyperglycaemia influences the disturbance of the immune response and increases the number of periopathogens.

AIM
The aim of the study was an assessment of the oral health in patients with type 2 diabetes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted in the group of 450 people who reported to the selected specialist medical centers at the Rural Medicine Institute. Adult patients from Lublin macroregion were referred to the Department. 153 people among the studied were Diabetic Clinic patients with type 2 diabetes The assessment of the oral health was carried out on the basis of clinical examination included DMFt - the number of teeth with decay (D), the number of teeth removed because of tooth decay (M) or filled (F), index and masticatory function loss index (t). The results are summarized in tables and subjected to statistical analysis. A non- parametric Kruskall-Wallis test was used.

RESULTS
In the group up to 34 years of age the number of extracted teeth was higher in healthy people. The index of masticatory function loss below 100% was higher in the diabetic patients.

CONCLUSIONS
Diabetic outpatient clinic patients should receive special dental care and frequent check-ups.


Electronic devices and sensor networks have witnessed great advancements. Consequently, their limited resources (CPU, memory, bandwidth, and power) are becoming suitable to accommodate some of the enterprise networks solutions. One possible and effective solution is Middleware technology that is able to provide several advantages such as simplifying applications development, portability, scalability, and Quality of Service (QoS). Recently, A publish/subscribe (pub/sub) middleware in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) has gained a lot of attention from both the industry and the academic communities. This paper provides a review to the state-of-the-art of some of these solutions. This paper also investigates the capabilities of these solutions and conducts a comparison study. In addition, a case study is carried out to estimate the cost of adding a middleware to a WSN. Furthermore, a study is performed to the middleware effect on the overall network performance.


Plant factories are perceived as a sustainable agricultural production system, since they provide a cultivation environment for growing agricultural crops with less resource consumption and no pesticide use. However, as the industry and academic participants have been contributing in the development of plant factory technology, consumer acceptance for the crops cultivated from that technology remains unknown. Without consumer acceptance, all the costs spent in the research and development (RD) of plant factories cannot gain the profit. To address this deficiency, this study was aimed to: (1) investigate consumers' attitudes, concerns and willingness to pay for the vegetables cultivated with plant factories, (2) explore the branding mode that is most effective for selling plant factory vegetables to consumers, and (3) determine the influence of consumers' socio-demographics and vegetable purchase behavior for their willingness to pay for plant factory vegetables. With a modified strategy of multi-stage cluster sampling, a consumer survey was conducted and 390 valid questionnaires were obtained for statistical analysis. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistical analysis, analysis of variance, Duncan's post hoc analysis, and regression analysis to meet the study objectives. The study results indicated that over half of the subjects appreciated the value of plant factory technology. However, as high as 64.4% of the subjects revealed concerns. Most of the concerns were about the issues of environmental pollution and food safety. It also showed that price played a decisive role for consumers' purchase intentions to plant factory vegetables. Moreover, consumers were more willing to pay a higher price for the plant factory vegetables labeled with an allied brand of academic institutes and private corporations, compared with those labeled with other types of brand. Consumers who had higher income and/or consume more organic vegetables were also more willing to pay for the plant factory vegetables. The study findings help the industry participants to build up effective market strategies for selling the crops cultivated with sustainable plant factory systems.


The authors aimed to analyze outcomes following transthoracic microsurgical anterior decompression of thoracic ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (T-OPLL), which was causing myelopathy, and determine the predictive factors for surgical outcomes.Patients who underwent transthoracic microsurgical anterior decompression without fusion for the treatment of T-OPLL from December 2014 to May 2019 were included. Demographic, radiological, and perioperative data and clinical outcomes of 35 patients were analyzed. The modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) score and recovery rate were used to evaluate functional outcomes.A total of 35 consecutive patients (8 men and 27 women; mean age 52.2 ± 10.8 years) were enrolled in this study, and the mean follow-up period was 65.5 ± 51.9 months. The mean mJOA score significantly improved after surgery (5.9 ± 1.8 vs 8.3 ± 1.5, p < 0.001), with a mean recovery rate of 47.7% ± 24.5%. The visual analog scale (VAS) score significantly improved after surgery (7.3 ± 1.3 vs 4.3 ± 0.7, p < 0.001). The outcome was excellent in 4 patients (11.4%), good in 21 patients (60.0%), fair in 4 patients (11.4%), unchanged in 5 patients (14.3%), and worsened in 1 patient (2.9%). There were 12 cases of CSF leakage, 1 case of epidural hematoma, 1 case of pleural effusion, and 1 case of pneumothorax. Age, preoperative kyphotic angle, anteroposterior length of T-OPLL at the maximally affected level, and mass occupying rate were identified as predictors associated with postoperative outcome. A multivariate regression analysis revealed that age and preoperative kyphotic angle were independent risk factors for postoperative outcomes.Transthoracic microsurgical anterior decompression without fusion achieved favorable clinical and radiological outcomes for treating T-OPLL with myelopathy. Patient age and preoperative kyphotic angle were independent risk factors for lower recovery rate.


Introduction Studies have suggested a potential association between traffic pollutants and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but findings have been inconclusive. We therefore assessed the risk of RA from occupational exposure to combustion products in a large population-based case-control study. Methods We included participants living in Sweden from 2006 to 2013. Incident cases of RA were enrolled from the Swedish Rheumatology Quality Register. Ten controls per case, matched on sex, age and county, were enrolled from the total population register. Work histories were available through population and housing censuses. We estimated exposure to asphalt fumes, diesel engine exhaust (DEE) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from 1955 to 1995 with job-exposure matrices. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the risks of two histological subtypes of RA (seropositive or seronegative RA) from exposure to either of the combustion products taken separately or all of them combined. All estimates were adjusted for potential confounding from respirable crystalline silica dust and household disposable income. Results We analysed 9180 cases and 81 367 controls. Ever exposure to DEE in men was associated with a marginally higher risk of seropositive RA (OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.00 to 1.23), which was slightly higher among workers with at least 20 years of exposure (OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.00 to 1.49). More than 20 years of asphalt fumes exposure was also associated with a higher risk estimate for seropositive RA among men (OR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.05 to 3.31). Being exposed to asphalt fumes, DEE or PAH combined for more than 20 years resulted in an OR of 1.22 (95% CI: 1.03 to 1.45) among men and 1.27 (95% CI: 0.50 to 3.26) among women for seropositive RA. Discussion Long-term exposure to combustion products may increase the risk of seropositive RA among men after adjustments for respirable crystalline silica dust and household disposable income.


It is well known that the protective capacity of the collateral circulation falls short in many individuals with ischemic disease of the heart, brain, and lower extremities. In the past 15 years, opportunities created by molecular and genetic tools, together with disappointing outcomes in many angiogenic trials, have led to a significant increase in the number of studies that focus on: understanding the basic biology of the collateral circulation; identifying the mechanisms that limit the collateral circulation's capacity in many individuals; devising methods to measure collateral extent, which has been found to vary widely among individuals; and developing treatments to increase collateral blood flow in obstructive disease. Unfortunately, accompanying this increase in reports has been a proliferation of vague terms used to describe the disposition and behavior of this unique circulation, as well as the increasing misuse of well-ensconced ones by new (and old) students of collateral circulation. With this in mind, we provide a brief glossary of readily understandable terms to denote the formation, adaptive growth, and maladaptive rarefaction of collateral circulation. We also propose terminology for several newly discovered processes that occur in the collateral circulation. Finally, we include terms used to describe vessels that are sometimes confused with collaterals, as well as terms describing processes active in the general arterial-venous circulation when ischemic conditions engage the collateral circulation. We hope this brief review will help unify the terminology used in collateral research.


In this work we present a simple and robust method to create 3D building models from a set of architectural plans.
Such plans are created for human readability and thus pose some problem in automatic creation of a 3D model. We
suggest a semi-automated approach for plan cleaning and provide an algorithm for alignment and stacking of the
plans followed by generation of 3D building model. We show results of our method on floor plans that generate
complex 3D models in near real-time.


Intercropping is a correct method of management for crop production and leads to improvement of resource absorption and use by plants. In order to evaluate light interception and some characteristics of canopy in monocropping and intercropping of maize (Zea mays L.) and faba bean (Vicia faba L.) under climatic conditions of Tabriz, a field experiment was conducted in 2006-2007 at the Research Station of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Iran. The experiment was laid out as randomized complete block design with fifteen treatments and three replications. Treatments were including mono-cropping of maize densities (6, 7 and 8 plants. m-2) and faba bean densities (30, 40 and 50 plants. m-2) and 9 treatments of intercropping included combination of densities. Two plant species intercropped on the basis of additive series design. The results showed that leaf area index, light interception and chlorophyll index in intercropping were 2.88, 37 and 11.94 % more than those in monocropping of maize and 2.63, 30 and 9.27 % more than those in pure stand of faba bean, respectively. Among intercrops, combination of 8 maize plants and faba bean plants. m-2 was best intercrop regard to light interception canopy leaf area index, chlorophyll index and canopy temperature. Maximum land equivalent ratio (1.97) was attained by 6 maize plants. m-2 with 40 and 50 plants/m2 of faba bean intercropping combinations. This means that grain yield per unit area in intercropping improved by 97%, compared with monocropping, intercropping had advantage over sole crop.


Popular real-world events often create huge traffic on Twitter including real-time updates of important moments, personal comments, and so on while the event is happening. Most of the users are interested to read the important tweets that possibly include important moments of that event. However, extracting the relevant tweets of any event is a challenging task due to the endless stream of noisy tweets and vocabulary variation problem of social media content. To handle these challenges, the authors introduce a new approach for computing the relative tweet importance based on the concept of the Pagerank algorithm where adjacency matrix of the graph representation of tweets contains semantic similarity matrix based on the word mover's distance measure utilizing Word2Vec word embedding model. The results show that top-ranked tweets generated by the proposed approach are more concise and news-worthy than baseline approaches.


Metarhizium anisopliae has been known as a biological agent that can kill and control pests especially arthropods. Recently the efforts on controlling arachnid: mites and scabies known as ectoparasites for ruminants have been done by using this fungus. This fungus can be used as a biological control on ectoparasite since it is not harmful for human and animal health. At the same time the availability of microbes as the Indonesian germ plasm especially fungi is sufficient to support the development ofM. anisopliae as a biological control agent, and eventually its development prospect as a controlling for ticks and mites in the future is promising. Key words: Metarhizium anisopliae, control biology, ectoparasite


Subsurface flow and contaminant transport models are often used in solving groundwater management problems. Automated optimization involving such models is becoming commonplace, and researchers are increasingly encountering problems for which standard gradient-based search algorithms are inadequate. Such cases have motivated an interest in the use of more robust, but computationally expensive, heuristic algorithms.
The research reported in this dissertation advances the state-of-practice of heuristic optimization in groundwater management by applying a variety of heuristic methods to three groundwater management problems: (1) optimization of pump-and-treat containment systems, (2) optimization of multi-layered sorptive barrier systems, and (3) calibration of reactive transport models involving nitrate contamination. These studies were facilitated by the development of a new open source software package for model-independent multi-algorithm optimization, which includes special tools for calibration and model ranking and selection.
Overall, the optimization studies make several important research contributions by (1) suggesting methods and guidelines for the effective selection and use of heuristic algorithms, (2) investigating techniques for reducing the computational demand associated with heuristic algorithms, (3) providing general insight into the behavior of the selected problems, (4) utilizing modeling techniques, remediation constraints, and/or parameter representations not previously applied to the selected problems, and (5) introducing a novel optimization software package to the research community.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated as regulatory molecules that could play a considerable role in the pathogenesis of different diseases including asthma. This work aims at exploring the role of miR-146a and miR- 106b in the pathogenesis of asthma and their association with asthma severity, IgE, and inflammatory cytokines in asthmatic children. Thirty asthmatic children and twenty age-matched healthy children aged 4-17 years old were enrolled. Expression of plasma miR-146a and miR-106b was measured using quantitative real-time PCR. Plasma levels of interleukin-5 (IL-5) and interleukin-13 (IL-13) were assessed using ELISA. Lung functions were measured by Spirometry. MiR-146a and miR-106b were significantly over-expressed in asthmatic children compared to healthy children. A significant positive correlation between total IgE and both miR-146a and miR-106b was found while no significant correlation could be detected between these miRNAs and asthma severity in asthmatic children. Plasma levels of IL-5 and IL-13 were non-significantly higher in asthmatic children compared to healthy children, and there was no significant correlation between them and both miR-146a and miR-106b expressions in the asthmatic children. The aberrant expression of immune-related miRNAs (miR-146a and miR-106b) and inflammatory cytokines (IL-5 and IL-13) among asthmatic children suggest their probable role in asthma pathogenesis.


The projection of fast afferents to the cerebral cortex of the monkey was studied in acute experiments, in which various lesions were made in the cervical cord, and chronic experiments, in which similar lesions were made under aseptic conditions. By stimulating various peripheral nerves and recording evoked potentials from sensory and motor cortex, it was found that section of dorsal funiculi generally causes no significant change in latency or threshold of evoked potentials. The paths still available include the spinothalamic tract contralaterally and an ipsilateral path the nature of which is still uncertain. These additional paths are available for several modalities. As in the cat, muscle afferents do not reach the medulla directly by way of dorsal funiculi. Chronic lesions of these funiculi cause little deficit in animals observed for several weeks or months. Latency of potentials recorded from motor cortex is longer than that of postcentral potentials. The former apparently use different thalamocortical projections. The predominant projection to both motor and sensory cortex is cutaneous.


ABSTRACT This article focuses on how different actors frame and respond to violence, rights, and solidarity along the U.S.-Mexico border, and points to the institutions available for redress – focusing on migrants, activists, and state actors. Through this comparison, the article highlights the way violence along the U.S.-Mexico border becomes pervasive, normalized, and incontestable due to the lack of institutional paths to address this violence, while solidarity work remains largely symbolic and unsupported by the state. This article shows that solidarity with people on the move is often the result of a politicized view that takes into account the violence the border engenders – and that this work is also limited by ideology and legal boundaries. This article draws on media and governmental reports, as well as surveys, interviews, and participant observation data collected in the border town of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, between July 2009 and August 2010.


Institutional venture capitalists (IVCs) and corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) deploy analogous activities but adopt different approaches to financing innovation and value creation for venture-backed firms. Thus, this paper aims to investigate their potential ambidexterity as a result of knowledge management (KM) strategies and processes.,After a focused literature review showing evidence of KM behaviors as a source of potential ambidexterity for IVCs and CVCs, descriptive, inferential and discriminant analyses on the 15 most active IVCs and CVCs in the world in 2019 are presented. Correlations between numbers of deals, prevailing entrepreneurial intensity and potential ambidexterity are investigated.,Specific differences are analyzed from a KM perspective, revealing that the number/percentage of operations per round can result as a misleading criterion of knowledge accumulation. Finally, a theoretical model for ambidexterity for venture capitalists is developed.,The study shows that IVCs act with greater investment capacity because of their organizational structure and purpose and focus on financial goals; moreover, they are ambidextrous, although their exploration may more frequently entail exploitation than "real" exploration. CVCs tend to invest in sectors related to their core business, coherent with their strategic purpose and more oriented with KM strategies for accumulating intellectual capital.


To examine the habitat usage of adult Pacific bluefin tuna (PBF), electronic tagging was conducted in the Sea of Japan during May and June of 2012−2017. Archival tags were internally im planted and pop-up satellite archival transmitting tags were deployed; data on the horizontal movements and diving behaviours of 36 individual PBF were successfully retrieved. In the summer spawning season, the tagged PBF were concentrated near Sado Island and Oki Island in the Sea of Japan, and they were distributed widely to the southwest (near Tsushima Island) or northeast (near the Tsugaru Strait) in the autumn and winter. We obtained the first long-term tracking record (246 d) for adult PBF, and this individual exhibited residency in a known spawning region during the spawning season in the proximity of warm-core eddy features. This fish spent most of the daytime below the thermocline between 30 and 150 m depths where the surface ambient temperature was 26.0 ± 1.5°C, but at night it ventured into the warm surface layer. Its whole-body heat transfer coefficient increased when it experienced warm waters (≥24°C), which we suggest is a physiological response to avoid overheating. The mean peritoneal cavity temperature was only 1.8°C higher than the ambient temperature, compared with 6.9°C higher during the cooler autumn−winter period. Our hypothesis is that the warm surface temperatures found in the spawning grounds induce a physiology−reproduction trade-off in adult PBF, which must behaviourally and physiologically therOPEN ACCESS Large Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis. Photo: K. Fujioka moregulate their body temperature to gain spatial and temporal access to oceanographic conditions that may promote larval survivorship and growth.


Introduction: Obesity is a known risk factor for the development of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children. Because of the possible complications associated with OSA, there is a high need for early screening. Currently, polysomnography (PSG) is the gold standard for diagnosing OSA, but there are multiple limitations: it9s expensive, labor intensive and not universally available. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of oximetry as a screening tool for OSA in obese children and adolescents. Previous studies showed conflicting results. Methods: 130 obese children who underwent a PSG at the Pediatric Sleep Laboratory of the Antwerp University Hospital between November 2010 and May 2014 were retrospectively included. The oximetries were scored manually, blinded for the PSG results. Oximetry was scored according to Brouilette et al. OSA was defined as an oAHI ≥ 2 on PSG. Results: A total of 130 obese patients (38% boys, mean age 12 years) were included. 44 (34%) of them had OSA according to PSG. Oximetry, classified 16 patients as positive, 43 as negative and 71 as inconclusive. Further analysis on the positive and negative oximetry results showed a sensitivity and specificity of 58% and 88% respectively and a negative predictive value and positive predictive value of 81% and 69% respectively. A second analysis, using the ODI showed inferior results compared to scoring by Brouillette (sensitivity 57%, specificity 73%). Conclusions: These results indicate that oximetry alone is insufficient as a screening tool for OSA in obese children. In the future, other screening methods need to be explored.


Introduction: Many factors effect on pregnancy and its outcome. Although, the role of nutrition on the outcome of pregnancy has not been confirmed, it was determined that the nutritional status of pregnant woman affect the pregnancy outcome considerably. Therefore, this study was done to compare the energy and nutrient intake of pregnant women in Sabzevar city (north-east Iran) with the values recommended by Dietary Reference Intakes. Methods and Material: This cross-sectional analytic study was done on 561 pregnant women who were selected by using cluster sampling method from all the municipal regions of Sabzevar city. They are including who no disease and like to be in this research. Their nutritional intake in the last 24 hours was recorded, using the food recall technique, by filling a questionnaire for three days. The data of the nutritional intake were analyzed by using the Food Processor (CAT-2 factory and the U.S.A country) software for each person to find the exact amount of nutrient each woman had received. Also, their pregnancy time was evaluated by sonography. The obtained data were statistically analyzed by SPSS version 11.5. Descriptive statistics and one sample t test were used to compare data with the values recommended by Dietary Reference Intakes. Result: The mean pregnancy duration was 4/29±3/2 months. The results of our study showed that mean energy and all nutrient intakes except vitamin B12, phosphorous, sodium, and selenium in our study sample were less than the values recommended by Dietary Reference Intake. Conclusion: Having considered the low nutritional status in pregnant women in our region, educational programs regarding the recommended nutrition for pregnant women should be prepared.


Message passing algorithms have proved surprisingly successful in solving hard constraint satisfaction problems on sparse random graphs. In such applications, variables are fixed sequentially to satisfy the constraints. Message passing is run after each step. Its outcome provides an heuristic to make choices at next step. This approach has been referred to as `decimation,' with reference to analogous procedures in statistical physics.
The behavior of decimation procedures is poorly understood. Here we consider a simple randomized decimation algorithm based on belief propagation (BP), and analyze its behavior on random k-satisfiability formulae. In particular, we propose a tree model for its analysis and we conjecture that it provides asymptotically exact predictions in the limit of large instances. This conjecture is confirmed by numerical simulations.


Local feature descriptors have been widely used in fine-grained visual object search thanks to their robustness in scale and rotation variation and cluttered background. However, the performance of such descriptors drops under severe illumination changes. In this paper, we proposed a Discriminative and Contrast Invertible (DCI) local feature descriptor. In order to increase the discriminative ability of the descriptor under illumination changes, a Laplace gradient based histogram is proposed. A robust contrast flipping estimate is proposed based on the divergence of a local region. Experiments on fine-grained object recognition and retrieval applications demonstrate the superior performance of DCI descriptor to others.


Introduction Intravenous (IV) iron is established as an effective management for patients with iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) and is indicated in those with severe iron deficiency, malabsorption, intolerance to oral iron and/or those requiring rapid correction of IDA. 1 The use of traditional agents iron dextran (CosmoFer) and iron sucrose (Venofer) are inexpensive in drug cost (£50–60), however they require test doses, slow intravenous infusions (4 h+) and the incidence of hypersensitivity reactions are high. This required a day case attendance which increased the overall cost of an infusion significantly. Then introduction of Ferric Carboxymaltose (FCM) has changed the landscape. Whilst the drug cost is 4 times higher, infusions only take 15 min and are much better tolerated. Also a higher dose of 1 g can be given. This only requires a short hospital appointment and reduces the overall cost of an infusion to less than traditional agents. The majority of patients with IDA undergo endoscopy for investigation +/- management. We trialled the use of IV FCM in patients whom it is indicated during the post-procedure observational time. Methods Since January 2013, patients receiving IV FCM post endoscopy had their details recorded in a database. Results - 15 patients underwent IV FCM infusion post endoscopy; - 9 women / 6 men, age range 33–83, mean age 64/ median 70; - Mean dose 940mg / median 935.7mg (12 patients received 1g IV); - 13 patients received IV sedation during endoscopy; - 6 had gastroscopy, 9 had colonoscopy; - Indication (s): Intolerant to oral iron 8, severe IDA 9 (GAVE, CRC), malabsorption 1; - Adverse events: 1 patient with bruising post IV cannula removal (not related to FCM). Conclusion The safety and cost effectiveness of IV FCM has been established. This study shows that this is also the case for patients who receive IV FCM post endoscopy. The benefits of this approach are significant. Patients are already observed post-endoscopy so giving a short IV infusion is appropriate and does not require extra staff. This is also very convenient for patients, reducing the number of attendances required in addition to the benefits of IV iron for anaemia. Giving IV FCM post endoscopy reduces the costs significantly when compared those of a separate appointment to a day case unit. Reference 1 Andrew F Goddard, Martin W James, Alistair S McIntyre, Brian B Scott, on behalf of the British Society of Gastroenterology. Guidelines for the Management of Iron Deficiency Anaemia. Gut 2011:60:1309–1316 Disclosure of Interest None Declared.


This is a superbly illustrated collection of historical maps of Malaya and Borneo, dating from the 1500s to World War II. Maps of Malaya and Borneo showcases the extensive map collections of His Royal Highness Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Sultan of Selangor, and Richard Curtis. The combined collections contain more than 150 maps ranging from what may now appear to be inaccurate medieval maps based on the workings of Ptolemy to maps given to troops during World War II. The collections include early Portuguese, Dutch and French maps, nautical charts, maps of the interior, maps from atlases and encyclopaedias, maps of the Malaysian states, maps showing economy and infrastructure and city maps. Extensive and enlightening text highlights key features of the maps, insights into their creators and the technical developments that enabled them to be made.


In this paper, hardware accelerator (FHA) applications realized on FPGA that can be offered as a service in cloud computing systems are discussed. It is necessary to know the hardware resources used by FHA applications and the performance they provide for the efficient meeting of the user requests and effective resource planning. To this end, the first contribution of this paper is to provide a compilation of the literature on the features of frequently used hardware accelerators (matrix multiplication, face detection, FFT) in the last three years, based on common parameters and metrics. The numerical values we provide can be used for cloud resource allocation and creation of sample cloud workloads. The second contribution of our paper is the implementation of the Canny edge detector, a sample hardware accelerator implemented in HLS (High-level Synthesis), using an open source library. In this way, the work flow for the implementation and operation of the hardware accelerator together with its performance are presented.


Two studies assessed the development of children's understanding that thoughts and feelings are closely interlinked. These studies showed that, unlike 8-year-olds and adults, 5-year-olds seldom explained a sudden change in emotion that had no apparent external cause by appeal to the occurrence of a thought. They also tended not to recognize that a person who is feeling sad is probably also thinking sad thoughts, or that people may be able to make themselves feel happy just by thinking of something happy. These results are consistent with evidence that young children tend to be unaware of the stream of consciousness and have poor introspective skills. A possible developmental sequence leading to an understanding of these thought-feeling links is proposed.


abstract:The logic of humor has been acknowledged as an essential dimension of every joke. However, what is the logic of jokes, exactly? The modern theories of humor maintain that jokes are characterized by their own logic, dubbed "pseudo," "playful," or "local," which has been the object of frequent criticisms. This article intends to address the limitations of the current perspectives on the logic of jokes by proposing a rhetorical approach to humorous texts. Building on the traditional development of Aristotle's almost neglected view of jokes as surprising enthymemes, the former are analyzed as rhetorical arguments. Like enthymemes, jokes are characterized by natural inferences that can be represented as topics, and quasi-formalized in argumentation theory as argumentation schemes. Like rhetorical arguments, jokes express a reason in support of different types of conclusions and proceed from distinct kinds of reasoning and semantic relations.


Chitosan-alginate polyelectrolyte complex (CS-AL PEC) is water insoluble and more effective in limiting the release of encapsulated materials compared to chitosan or alginate. Coherent CS-AL PEC films have been prepared in our laboratory by casting and drying suspensions of chitosan-alginate coacervates. The objective of this study was to evaluate the properties of the CS-AL PEC films prepared with chitosans of different molecular weights. Films prepared with low-molecular-weight chitosan (Mv 1.30 x 10(5)) were twice as thin and transparent, as well as 55% less permeable to water vapor, compared to films prepared with high-molecular-weight chitosan (Mv 10.0 x 10(5)). It may be inferred that the low-molecular-weight chitosan reacted more completely with the sodium alginate (M(v) 1.04 x 10(5)) than chitosan of higher molecular weight. A threshold molecular weight may be required, because chitosans of Mv 10.0 x 10(5) and 5.33 x 10(5) yielded films with similar physical properties. The PEC films exhibited different surface properties from the parent films, and contained a higher degree of chain alignment with the possible formation of new crystal types. The PEC films exhibited good in vitro biocompatibility with mouse and human fibroblasts, suggesting that they can be further explored for biomedical applications.


: A total of 742 men, aged 20-69 and representative of a random male population from a Leningrad district, were investigated. The incidence of coronary disease was 3.2% in subjects aged 20-29, and 33.3% in those aged 60-69. In 40-49-year-olds, coronary disease was mostly manifested in angina of effort (57.9%), whereas painless forms reflected in ECG at rest prevailed (55-58.5% in men above 50 years of age. The frequency of ischemic response to the treadmill test increases with advancing age (8.3% in subjects aged 40-49 and 28.2% at age 60-69). The results of the WHO Questionnaire on Angina of Effort demonstrate that ECG at rest and exercise tests are mutually complementary procedures for epidemiologic diagnosis of coronary disease, their combination ensuring the fullest possible identification of coronary disease in population screenings.


Objective: To explore the environmental and dietary risk factors associated with oral cancer patients treated at Liaquat University Hospital, Jamshoro and nuclear Institute of Medicine and Radiotherapy (NIMRA), Jamshoro.
Materials and Methods: Total 291 oral cancer patients and 330 locality, age and gender matched controls with negative personal and family history of any cancer were interviewed through a standard questionnaire specially designed to study the risk factors for OC disease. Odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals were measured with level of significance p


The purpose of this study is to explore the factors influencing the Bangladeshi consumers' perception
toward purchasing pirated products. To explore these factors, this study had conducted a survey among
the Bangladeshi consumers'. The data analysis was conducted through exploratory factor analysis,
confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses. Among the four
variables, individual personalities and economic conditions are the most significant followed by social
influences and pricing of pirated products. The outcome of this research showed a comprehensively
integrated framework for policy maker and business enterprise to understand the dynamic relationships
among dimensions of social influence, pricing, economy, and personality to understand the consumers'
perception toward purchasing pirated products. Further research is needed to examine these factors
with additional samples before generalization can be made.


Civic service in Sub-Saharan Africa reflects the complex social, cultural, economic, and political history of the region in a changing global world marked by increasing risks to human security and development. National and international service including local, informal, and community-based service continues to remain prominent and is an appropriate response to the intractable development issues facing these societies. New initiatives to address the marginalization of Africa from the new information economy and society will need to keep human development on the agenda. Civic service can make a significant contribution to mobilizing local and international efforts in partnership with governments and civil society. Future research and policy should address the institutional impediments to service, develop research capacity to strengthen a scholarship of civic engagement, and conceive of service as part of a broader social development strategy.


For Black writers, what is tradition? What does it mean to them that Western humanism has excluded Black culture? Seven noted Black writers and critics take up these and other questions in this collection of original essays, attempting to redefine humanism from a Black perspective, to free it from ethnocentrism, and to enlarge its cultural base.Contributors: Richard K. Barksdale, Alice Childress, Chester J. Fontenot, Michael S. Harper, Trudier Harris, George E. Kent, R. Baxter Miller


The problems encountered in the evaluation of narcotic and sedative drugs in animals, volunteers and patients are considered. The overall assessment of a new drug is best accomplished by the study in depth of the primary effect and the main side effects, comparing these with a standard drug. The advantage of bridging the gap between animal investigations and clinical trials in man by volunteer studies is stressed.


Dynamic programming techniques were used to evaluate the effects of alternative levels of normal flex acreage requirements on a Midwestern corn-soybean farm and a Southeastern cotton farm. Results indicate that increasing normal flex acres from the current level of 15 percent to 35 percent would provide inducement for farmers in both regions to plant more soybeans. In general, the cotton farm incurs considerably higher expected losses from the change. Thus, there are unequal regional consequences of such a policy change.


Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype that displays extensive intratumor heterogeneity and frequently (46%) develops resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Currently, the genomic basis of chemoresistance remains poorly understood. An important question is whether resistance to chemotherapy is driven by the selection of rare pre-existing subclones with genomic mutations and transcriptional programs that confer resistance to chemotherapy (adaptive resistance) or by the spontaneous induction of new mutations and expression changes that confer a resistant phenotype (acquired resistance). To investigate this question we applied single cell DNA and RNA sequencing methods and deep-exome sequencing to longitudinal time-point samples collected from a cohort of 20 TNBC patients. Deep-exome sequencing of the cohort at three time points revealed a random death model, wherein multiple clones were targeted, as opposed to the selection of specific somatic mutations. In contrast, single cell copy number profiling of ~800 cells from 8 patients identified an adaptive resistance model, wherein minor subclones from the pre-treatment tumors were selected and expanded in response to NAC. Similarly, single cell RNA sequencing of ~8000 cells from 8 patients identified subclones with chemoresistant phenotypes that were selected in response to NAC, resulting in the expansion of the resistant tumor mass. These data suggest that chemoresistance evolves through the selection of copy number changes and expression changes in signaling pathways associated with chemoresistance, rather than point mutations. This adaptive resistance model has important translational implications in clinical diagnostics, by suggesting that resistant clones can be detected in TNBC patients prior to the administration of chemotherapy. Citation Format: Charissa Kim, Ruli Gao, Emi Sei, Rachel Brandt, Nicola Crosetto, Theodoros Foukakis, Nicholas Navin. Adaptive resistance to chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer revealed by single cell DNA and RNA sequencing [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 418. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-418


INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER: My early experience as educational developer within an institution was that, although the role was welcomed and applauded, there was little appetite at school and faculty level to engage with initiatives. Professional development within the context of teaching in higher education was not widely accepted or valued by the lecturer on the ground. Their emphasis was on being discipline current and well prepared for teaching. Support initiatives that were well-received tended to be light-touch and more directed at social events with dissemination of college-wide information. Events that were more focused on professional development were not well attended, despite the fact that the lecturers themselves informed and requested the sessions. After two years of trying to hit the right note for lecturers we eventually asked them
why the initiatives being organized were not attended. Their insight was simple. They wanted a value added take-away and recognition. So began the Special Purpose Award in Training and Education that was validated in 2008. The title was deliberate by way of building capacity
and engagement as many of our educators are professionals within their own industry and as such found accreditation within the training space as attractive as education.
The first decade of this century was a time of flux for curriculum development in higher education and so
professional development to support the paradigm shift was of key importance. Modularization, constructive alignment and learning outcomes were the buzz terms and these represented a significant change in curriculum development approach and process, underpinning effective teaching and learning strategies to ensure successful achievement of
learning outcomes was central. Thus the 20 ECTS credit Special Purpose Award (SPA) was designed with the objective of tooling up the professional higher education teacher in the nuts and bolts of programme design, assessment, pedagogy and reflective practice. The case study being presented in this chapter focuses on one 10 ECTS credit module of the professional development SPA, namely Assessment and Programme Design (APD). In particular,
attention is on how the authentic assessment strategy used in this module, acts as a change catalyst for programme design (curriculum development.


Modification of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) with sodium-poly(styrenesulfonate) leads to a ca. 0.3 eV increase in the work function and 15 times enhancement in the photoluminescence intensity of the overlying perovskite layer, which is closely correlated with the formation of a highly PSS-enriched top layer. As a direct result, the hybrid halide perovskite light-emitting devices with a modified PEDOT:PSS layer show the maximum external quantum efficiency of 7.2% and power efficiency of 19.0 lm W-1, which are 14-20 times those of the analogous devices using a pristine PEDOT:PSS layer and among the best reported values for the light-emitting devices using a neat perovskite emission layer. Our results illustrate that insufficient hole injection and luminescence quenching at the PEDOT:PSS anode are among the most important factors limiting the external quantum efficiencies of inverted perovskite light-emitting devices.


Fat embolism syndrome (FES) is a complication of long bone fractures that often occurs within 72 hours of injury. Early-onset isolated cerebral fat embolism is catastrophic and rarely reported. We herein present a rare case of delayed-onset isolated cerebral FES that developed 10 days after definite fixation of a left tibial plateau fracture. A 70-year-old woman was injured in a traffic accident and diagnosed with a left tibial plateau fracture. However, she developed sudden loss of consciousness (E4V1M1) and quadriplegia 10 days after fracture fixation. Her vital signs showed no respiratory distress. Diagnosis of isolated cerebral FES was made based on magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, the findings of which were compatible with the clinical neurological findings. After supportive care and rehabilitation, her consciousness became clear on the second day of admission, and her consciousness changed to E4V5M6. She gradually regained strength in her right limbs but had residual left limb paraplegia. Isolated cerebral FES should always be considered for patients who develop a change in consciousness, even beyond 72 hours after injury. Imaging may not initially show definitive abnormalities. Repeated magnetic resonance imaging should be considered if the initial clinical presentation does not fully meet Gurd's criteria.


Neonatal arterial switch operation for simple dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA) has almost eliminated the occurrence of pulmonary vascular obstructive disease compared to patients who underwent Mustard or Senning procedure at an older age. We report a case of a neonate with d-TGA and intact ventricular septum who underwent arterial switch operation and yet developed severe pulmonary vascular obstructive disease within two months.


RNA polymerases (RNAPs) must transit through protein roadblocks to produce full-length RNAs. Here we report real-time measurements of Escherichia coli (E. coli) RNAP passage through different barriers. As intuitively expected, assisting forces facilitated, and opposing forces hindered, RNAP passage through LacI bound to natural operator sites. Force-dependent differences were significant at magnitudes as low as 0.2 pN and were abolished in the presence of GreA, which rescues backtracked RNAP. In stark contrast, opposing forces promoted passage when the rate of backtracking was comparable to, or faster than the rate of dissociation of the roadblock, particularly in the presence of GreA. Our experiments and simulations indicate that RNAP may transit after roadblocks dissociate, or undergo cycles of backtracking, recovery, and ramming into roadblocks to pass through. We propose that such reciprocating motion also enables RNAP to break protein-DNA contacts holding RNAP back during promoter escape and RNA chain elongation, facilitating productive transcription in vivo.


meso-Tetra (alpha, alpha, alpha, alpha-O-phenylacetyl benzene) porphyrin was used as a complete antigen to elicit monoclonal antibody 1F2 through the immunization and cell fusion techniques. McAb 1F2 obtained was demonstrated very pure by HPLC and MALDI/TOFMS. The retention time of McAb 1F2 was 2. 63 min. The subtype of McAb 1F2 was IgG2a. The relative molecular weight was 156 678. 8. When the McAb 1F2-porphyrin was formed, the maximal absorption of the porphyrin soret region had a redshift from 408 to 416 nm and hyperchromical effect, showing that the antigen-antibody combination was rigid and intense, and the abzyme constancy was high. But compared with HRP, the activity of the abzyme was only 4. 687 5 U/mg and 1. 899 % of that of HRP. Its K-m was 20. 29 mmol/L, k(cat) 396. 82 min(-1), k(cat)/K-m. 1. 955 7 X 10(4) L . mol(-1) . min(-1).


1. Changes in the probability of firing of motor units active during voluntary muscle contraction have been studied in human first and second dorsal interosseous muscles in response to muscle afferent stimulation. 2. Short latency, possibly monosynaptic, excitatory responses were found in both first and second dorsal interosseous muscles following brief mechanical pulses applied to the belly of first dorsal interosseous. A second longer latency excitatory response followed the first with a mean latency of 25 msec. 3. All units in both muscles showed qualitatively the same responses but units recruited at low levels of voluntary contraction strength were more responsive to muscle afferent input than units recruited at high contraction strengths. The excitatory effect of muscle afferent input within the two motoneurone pools appears to be weighted in the same way as the more complicated input associated with a gradually increasing voluntary contraction. 4. These findings are discussed in relation to the relative importance of short and long latency reflex effects of muscle afferent input in the control of hand movements.


This report describes an application program interface to UNIX called the q-interface. It is designed to provide the programmer with convenient access to a reliable, message-oriented asynchronous network transport service, and to asynchronous event handling in general. It utilizes a «call-back» paradigm to notify the programmer of the occurrence of asynchronous events, and guarantees that all call-backs are atomic. It hides both the notification mechanism of the underlying operating system and the underlying networking system, which in the first implementation is TCP/IP.


Purpose
As a by-product of the production process, emissions can follow output fluctuations. Hence, disregarding the relationship between economic fluctuations and emissions could result in undesirable environmental outcomes. This study aims to investigate the environmental and economic effects of abatement subsidies on overall emissions during business cycles in Australia.

Design/methodology/approach
A real business cycle (RBC) model is devised and parameterised in this paper. RBC models have been recently introduced to environmental policy analysis, and this study contributes to the literature by investigating the effects of a potential subsidy policy in an RBC framework. The model is also calibrated and provides solutions for the Australian economy.

Findings
The authors find that under a steady-state situation, supporting abatement can result in reducing emissions by 6.45% while it imposes welfare costs to the economy (by 0.61%). Simulation results show that an optimal abatement policy should be pro-cyclical, with the abatement subsidy increasing during expansions and decreasing during recessions. As well, in a subsidy policy setting, emissions would react pro-cyclically, i.e. emissions increase (decrease) when the gross domestic product increases (decreases). The abatement reaction by firms, however, is different, because when a positive productivity shock occurs, firms reduce abatement and allocate resources to production. Nonetheless, as time passes, the increased subsidy provides a strong enough incentive to allocate resources to abatement and, subsequently, abatement increases.

Originality/value
This paper investigates how an emission reduction subsidy should be adapted to macroeconomic fluctuations so that it can limit variations in emissions.


Medical volunteerism continues to attract many doctors from high-income nations to low- or middle-income countries (LMIC). In spite of the wealth of positive experiences of these volunteers documented in the literature, there is little evidence concerning the impact and effectiveness of their activity. We documented our model of five-year experience in the delivery of hand surgery in Cambodia, attempting a qualitative approach with attempts to understand the perceptions of local and volunteer surgeons. We conducted independent qualitative interviews with five visiting and 12 Cambodian surgeons who participated in our community-based and outcome-oriented hand surgery training programme between 2013 and 2015. Data were coded and analysed using a content analysis method and then individually grouped into categories; software was used to generate frequencies and quotations of codes. Our results highlighted factors contributing to the success of the medical volunteering programme, to its success, with suggestions for sustainability, motivation and commitment to such a programme. A clearly defined strategy by the volunteer group and a commitment to time and resources by both partners were found to be effective.


Recent statistics on language diversity among pupils in Swedish secondary school classrooms show that 24% have another L1 than Swedish. Thus, classrooms are multilingual spaces. In the English subject, an 'English Only' ideology dominates, where classrooms are exclusively English-medium, an ideology endorsed by educational policy, agencies like the Swedish Schools Inspectorate, and teacher educators (Kallkvist, Gyllstad, Sandlund & Sundqvist, in press). However, there is no clear empirical evidence supporting such an ideology, and recently an 'English Mainly' alternative has been suggested (Corcoll Lopez & Gonzalez-Davies, 2016). Still, a best practice remains unexplored. The project presented here is aimed at researching ideology and best practice in language-diverse English classrooms. For the purpose of mapping teacher beliefs and practices relating to the use of English and other languages in English classrooms, a questionnaire aimed at targeting 6 relevant constructs was created and administered to a stratified, random sample of English teachers in years 6-9 across Sweden. Based on responses from 139 teachers (response rate: 43 %), results show that 66 % harbour beliefs that align with an 'English Only' ideology. Although 98 % report a general, positive outlook on multilingualism, 16-22 % state that multilingualism is a problem in either their school or teaching of English. Whereas 45 % reported that they often talk about how to teach in multilingual classrooms, only 15 % had received specific training by their employers. Implications of these and other results are discussed, together with the reliability and validity of the questionnaire itself as a measure of the targeted beliefs and practices. (Less)


activity, also had a sterilizing effect. The ideal choice in this case was moxifloxacin. In subsequent visits, the patient reported good tolerance to the drugs, and no changes were detected on clinical laboratory tests. Some systemic diseases increase the risk of developing active TB, and CD is one of these risk factors.5 Although the mechanism has not been entirely clarified, it may be due to malabsorption and lack of vitamin D in individuals with this disease.6 Celiac patients often have persistent low-grade inflammation and vitamin deficiencies, even many years after the introduction of a gluten-free diet. This diet also tends to be low in vitamin D, increasing the risk of deficiency. Vitamin D has been shown to induce nitric oxide synthesis in the macrophages, suppressing intracellular M. tuberculosis growth. It also increases the effect of interferonin promoting the granulomatous process, and induces the differentiation of monocytes to epithelioid cells and multinucleated giant cells that form a major part of the granulomas.6,7 The strongest genetic links with CD are found in the MHC locus, and the correlation with HLA-DQ2 (DQA1*05/DQB1*02) is well established.6 Associations between TB and various HLA alleles have been documented, but they are not as strong as in CD.6 In northern Europeans, HLA-DQ2 is often part of the 8.1 ancestral haplotype8 that contains a number of genes, including specific alleles of class I and class II HLA molecules, and genes coding for TNFand C2 and C4 complement factors. Since the C2 molecule is important in the mycobacterial invasion of macrophages, a C2 allele in particular may promote TB infection in a patient subgroup.6 In addition to increasing the risk of developing TB, CD may be a risk factor for TB complications, increasing severity and the risk of death (up to 6-fold) due to TB.4 An additional complication is that patients with TB who have CD-mediated malabsorption may be at risk of developing resistance to anti-TB drugs, due to their lower bioavailability.6 As in our case, drug tolerance among CD patients may also be poor, since some medications such as isoniazid are formulated with ingredients containing gluten. By replacing some these first-line drugs with a second-line drug, we were able to improve tolerance, and to continue treatment. In conclusion, poor tolerance to TB medications in a celiac patient requires a review of the drug components to see if they contain gluten. If the problem persists after the gradual introduction of the drugs, first-line drugs can be replaced by second-line agents.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal forms of human cancer, due in large part to a high incidence of metastasis and resistance to conventional chemotherapies. As such, new therapies are needed to halt the metastatic process. The proto-oncogene Vav1 is ectopically expressed in over half of human pancreatic cancers, and its expression correlates with a poor prognosis in humans and promotes survival and transformation in isolated tumor cells. We have found that Vav1, through its GEF activity towards Rac1, also potently induces migration by pancreatic tumor cells. In addition, Vav1 also signals through Cdc42 to drive the formation of invadopodia and matrix degradation, which also promotes tumor cell invasion. Importantly, the activation of Vav1 circumvents the requirement for active Src in this process. Because Vav1 is ectopically expressed in pancreatic cancers and is a potent regulator of tumor cell survival, proliferation, and invasive migration, it could provide a specific therapeutic target for these tumors. Recently, the anti-inflammatory agent azathioprine was described as an inhibitor of Vav1/Rac1 activity in hematopoietic cells. Therefore, we hypothesized that azathioprine could also inhibit the Vav1-driven processes of proliferation and invasion in pancreatic tumor cells. Indeed, we have determined that azathioprine treatment of cultured human PDAC cells reduces viability and proliferation. Further, similar to siRNA-mediated depletion of Vav1, azathioprine treatment reduces cell migration, as well as the matrix degradation required for invasion. Vav1-expressing tumor cells were more sensitive to azathioprine than Vav1-negative cells, supporting the premise that the inhibitory effects of azathioprine are mediated through Vav1. Finally, azathioprine also reduces metastasis in a xenograft model of pancreatic cancer. Taken together, these data uncover a role for aberrantly expressed Vav1 in regulation of the cytoskeletal machinery required for migration and invasion, and in the promotion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer. Even with the expression of multiple Rho family GEFs, tumor cells that upregulate Vav1 have become dependent upon this exchange factor, implicating Vav1 as a potent node for therapeutic intervention. Supported by R01 CA104125 and R03 CA155778 to M.A.M. Citation Format: Gina L. Razidlo, Christopher Magnine, Arthur C. Sletten, Rachel M. Hurley, Mark A. McNiven. Attenuation of pancreatic cancer cell migration and invasion through a targeted inhibition of the Rac GEF Vav1. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4026. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4026