Mapes, C. and Xu, Y. 2014. Photosynthesis, vegetative habit and culinary properties of sage (Salvia officinalis) in response to low-light conditions. Can. J. Plant Sci. 94: 881-889. Culinary sage (Salvia officinalis) is known to grow better at sunny locations with good drainage. However, when there is a necessity to propagate it in controlled environments with minimal additional lighting, or at shady locations, how significantly its growth and production would be restricted has not been well investigated. The objective of this study was to examine the responses of sage grown in a greenhouse over the winter when ambient light in the greenhouse is lower than 212 µmol m-2 s-1 (or a daily light integral of 9.2 mol m-2 d-1). Sage seedlings were planted in growing media and covered with various shade cloths to reach 70, 50 and 30% of the ambient irradiance. Photochemical efficiency and in situ chlorophyll status were estimated at 7, 21, and 56 d. The daily leaf emergence rate was calculated by monitoring changes in leaf number. Plant height, leaf size, biomass, aroma rating and soluble protein content of the sage plants grown under various light levels were measured at 84 d. The results indicate that light impacted the integrity of chloroplasts and the photosynthetic capacity of sage plants, as manifested by the lower the light level, the more the declines in variable fluorescence/maximal fluorescence and chlorophyll content index. Biochemical analysis revealed that the concentration of chlorophyll (per gram leaf dry mass) slightly increased under 50 and 30% light, but that of carotenoids was not changed. Light also affected the vegetative habit of sage plants. With reduced light intensity, plant height increased, whereas leaf size and number decreased. Double-blind aroma testing suggested that adequate light intesity might be required for the biosynthesis of essential oil in sage, attenuating its aroma. The soluble protein content in sage leaves declined at 50 and 30% light, suggesting a deminished source of essential amino acids contained in the plant. In summary, sage responds sensitively to reducing irradiance, which directly restricts its photosynthesis, and thus alters its vegetative growth and culinary properties.


Abstract Polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are essential fatty acids that cannot be produced by the body itself and therefore must be provided through nutrition. Omega-6 and particularly omega-3 fatty acids have important roles in the organism, contributing to the maintenance and promotion of health. The optimal proportion of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids is 2:1, or even better 1:1. They are involved in normal growth and development, play a role in the prevention of coronary and cardiovascular diseases, of diabetes mellitus, of arterial hypertension, arthritis and cancer. Omega-3 fatty acids mainly have an anti-inflammatory effect, but also act as hypolipidemic and antithrombotic agents. A potential role of omega-3 fatty acids is that of increasing physical performance. Their role in the physical activity refers on one side to the global health of athletes and on the other side to their anti-inflammatory effect, as high intensity physical exercise induces increased free-radical production and microtraumas, with the induction of an inflammatory status. The anti-inflammatory effect of these fatty acids manifests through an increased production of endogenous antioxidant enzymes, through decreasing the production of prostaglandins metabolites, decreasing the production of leukotriene B4, etc. They are also effective on reducing muscle pain post eccentric exercise and on decreasing the severity of bronchoconstriction induced by exercise, as well as improving pulmonary function variables. In conclusion it seems that supplementing diets with omega-3 fatty acids, apart from having benefic effects on health and on the prevention and management of certain affections, proves to be a beneficial for physical activity and athletic performance.


A 32-pole superconducting magnet with a 12 /spl times/ 80 mm/sup 2/ cold bore aperture was designed to serve as a multipole wiggler in the Taiwan synchrotron light source. The magnet consists of 32 pairs of racetrack NbTi superconducting coils with a periodic length of 60 mm, and can produce a maximum magnetic field of 3.2 Tesla at a pole gap of 18 mm. The superconducting coils, the aluminum-supporting block, and the return iron yokes are cooled to 4.4 K in LHe bath. The temperature of cold bore beam duct will be at 70 K using liquid nitrogen. Technical issues concerning the design of the magnet and its construction are discussed. A prototype magnet with five poles was also constructed to characterize the magnet design by means of various methods of magnetic field measurement.


Abstract Nine species of the genus Dysdera were found to occur in central Europe: D. adriatica Kulczyński 1897, D. crocata Koch 1838, D. dubrovninnii Deeleman-Reinhold 1988, D. erythrina (Walckenaer 1802), D. ninnii Canestrini 1868, D. hungarica Kulczyński 1897, D. lantosquensis Simon 1882, D. longirostris Doblika 1853, and D. taurica Charitonov 1956. Two species, D. dubrovninnii and D. lantosquensis, are newly recorded from central Europe. The original description of D. hombergi (Scopoli 1763), the name used for a common species of the genus Harpactea, probably refers to D. ninnii. We retain the name D. ninnii as a nomen protectum. Dysdera hamulata Kulczyński 1897 appears to be a junior synonym of D. maurusia Thorell 1873. This North African species probably does not occur in central Europe, and a previous record from Slovakia is probably based on mislabeled material. A review of all species of Dysdera named from outside the Palearctic region demonstrated that D. australiensis Rainbow 1900 and D. magna Keyserling 1877 are junior synonyms of D. crocata, and that D. bicolor Tatzanovski 1874 and D. solers Walckenaer 1837 are erroneously placed in the genus Dysdera; the former is likely to be an oonopid and the latter a caponiid. In central Europe, Dysdera spiders prefer xerothermic forests, particularly sites enriched by calcium. All species probably have biennal life-cycles. The karyotype of males of seven species were examined, and diploid chromosome numbers were found to be extraordinarily variable, ranging from 9 (D. crocata) to 40 (D. longirostris). Karyotypes consist of holocentric chromosomes.


Selection of plants tolerant to sulfentrazone and potential for phytoremediation Among the new technologies, phytoremediation is considered as an option for the decontamination of areas that thave undergone intense herbicide applications. This work aimed to select species with potential to the phytoremediation of soils contaminated with the herbicide sulfentrazone. The tested species were Calopogonium mucunoides, hybrid Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor x Sorghum sudanense), Crotalaria breviflora, Crotalaria juncea, Canavalia ensiformis, Dolichos lablab, Stizolobium deeringianum e Stizolobium aterrimum . The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse, using 6 dm 3 vases filled with soil samples collected at a depth of 20 cm. The experimental design was the randomized blocks in a factorial scheme of 8 x 5, with four repetitions, which were composed by the eight plant species, and five doses of sulfentrazone (0, 200, 400, 800 and 1,600g ha -1 ). We evaluated the phytotoxicity of the herbicide, plant height and dry weight of shoots and roots. The species showing the least symptoms of phytotoxicity and the highest rates of height and fresh and dry biomass were C. juncea, C. ensiformis and D. lablab, which were selected as tolerant to the herbicide sulfentrazone and with potential for phytoremediation.


The sensitive and quantitative analysis of mucin 1 (MUC1) is very important for the prevention and early diagnosis of cancers. In the present work, based on the mechanism of the four-way DNA branch migration cascades, we constructed a simple and effective signal amplification strategy for aptamer-based sensitive detection of MUC1. The specific binding of MUC1 to the aptamer sequence in the hairpin probe unfolds and switches its structure, triggering the formation of the DNA Holliday junction structure for cascaded branch migrations with the assistance of two fuel DNA duplexes. Importantly, a target analogue DNA complex can be generated in such processes for recycling the branch migration reactions for the production of substantial amounts of G-quadruplexes, which can bind the thioflavin T dye to show significantly intensified fluorescence for detecting MUC1 with a low detection limit of 2.8 nM without the involvement of any labels or enzymes. In addition, this detection strategy could be successfully applied to monitor the target MUC1 in diluted human serums with a high selectivity and acceptable accuracy to demonstrate its potential application for real samples with the advantages of simplicity and signal amplification capability.


Polyketide natural products are a major source of pharmaceutical and agricultural compounds. Their biosynthesis is highly complex and the elucidation of intermediate steps is highly desirable to the scientific community for microorganism engineering purposes.

In this work, novel photoactivatable 'chain termination' probes were prepared as tools for the off-loading and capture of biosynthetic intermediates from polyketide synthases (PKSs); novel methods to analyse polyketide biosynthetic intermediates via FTICR-MS were also investigated.

The chemical probes herein reported are nonhydrolysable analogues of ACP-bound malonate used in polyketide biosynthesis for carbon chain elongation. This research focused on the preparation of a chemoenzymatically modified acyl carrier protein that, upon activation via UV irradiation, should compete with discrete 'natural' acyl carrier proteins to capture biosynthetic intermediates from challenging type II polyketide iterative assemblies. Promising preliminary results for the use of this tool in vitro were obtained in the form of putative actinorhodin ACP-bound intermediates observed and characterised by FTICR-MS. Moreover, a 4,5-dimethoxy-2-nitrobenzyl group was also prepared and successfully employed for trapping biosynthetic intermediates from the in vivo assembly of the antibiotic lasalocid A.

Lastly, mass spectrometric methods involving alkali metal adduct ions were explored in order to improve the characterisation of free and enzyme-bound biosynthetic intermediates. Overall this work contributes further to our current and future understanding of polyketide synthases and related systems.


Impulse approximation sum rules are established which describe the spin transfer parameter in the break-up reaction d+X to p+n+X induced by vector-polarised deuterons.


Background: The PMD100™ (Medasense Biometrics Ltd., Ramat Yishai, Israel) is a novel non-invasive nociception monitor that integrates physiological parameters to compute a real-time nociception level index (NOL) in the anesthetized patients. Thoracic epidural analgesia provides effective analgesia and improves surgical outcomes. Side effects include sympathectomy, hypotension, changes in skin temperature and a decreased cardiac accelerator fiber tone. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate changes in NOL values after incision in patients with and without epidural analgesia. Methods: Half of the patients scheduled for Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) received a thoracic epidural catheter, placed and tested 2h before surgery and activated prior to incision. The other half of the patients received i.v. fentanyl (1 mcg/kg) five minutes before incision. Anesthesia and analgesia were maintained in a standardized manner. NOL and heart rate (HR) were compared before and after the nociceptive stimuli intubation and skin incision. Results: NOL significantly increased in all patients after intubation by 10.2 points (CI: 4.5-16.0; p=0.002) as well as HR by 9 beats per minute after intubation in all patients (CI: 3.3-15.6; p=0.01). After incision, in patients without epidural analgesia the NOL increased by 13.9 points (CI: 7.4-20.3; p=0.0001), compared to 5.4 points (CI: -6.3-17.1; p=0.29) in patients with epidural analgesia. HR did not significantly vary after incision in both groups. The area under the curve of delta NOL and delta HR variations after incision were significantly different (p<0.05) between groups and delta NOL variations were significantly different from baseline values but not the delta HR variations. Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that the PMD100™ Monitor may be a useful tool to evaluate the efficacy of an intraoperative thoracic epidural analgesia. Clinical Trial Registry Number: ClinicalTrials.gov record ID: NCT01978379 registered 10/25/2014.


The study of animals' interactions with technology and the development of animal-centered technological systems is gaining attention since the emergence of the research area of Animal Computer Interaction (ACI). ACI aims to improve animals' welfare and wellbeing in several scenarios by developing suitable technology for the animal following an animal-centered approach. Among all the research lines ACI is exploring, there has been significant interest in animals' playful interactions with technology. Technologically mediated playful activities have the potential to provide mental and physical stimulation for animals in different environmental contexts, which could in turn help to improve their wellbeing.
As we embark in the era of the Internet of Things, current technological playful activities for animals have not yet explored the development of pervasive solutions that could provide animals with more adaptation to their preferences as well as offering varied technological stimuli. Instead, playful technology for animals is usually based on digital interactions rather than exploring tangible devices or augmenting the interactions with different stimuli. In addition, these playful activities are already predefined and do not change over time, while they require that a human has to be the one providing the device or technology to the animal. If humans could focus more on their participation as active players of an interactive system aimed for animals instead of being concerned about holding a device for the animal or keep the system running, this might help to create stronger bonds between species and foster better relationships with animals. Moreover, animals' mental and physical stimulation are important aspects that could be fostered if the playful systems designed for animals could offer a varied range of outputs, be tailored to the animal's behaviors and prevented the animal to get used to the system and lose interest.
Therefore, this thesis proposes the design and development of technological playful environments based on Natural User Interfaces that could adapt and react to the animals' natural interactions. These pervasive scenarios would allow animals to play by themselves or with a human, providing more engaging and dynamic playful activities that are capable of adapting over time.


Flora Tristan's only novel, Mephis ou le proletaire (1838) is of particular interest considering the author's indictment of fiction in the preface to Peregrinations d'une paria (1838). Tristan's novel represents then a departure from the form of her previous writings as well as from other feminine social novels of the time. Tristan uses her meta novel to explore the reasons for the genre's devalorized status. In this reading, I focus on the embedded narrative of Mariequita's story, as it constitutes a candid glimpse of the feminine experience, the complexity of representing it and a paradoxal defense of le « romanesque ».


OBJECTIVE
The polymorphic tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) gene encodes a cytokine involved in inflammation, angiogenesis, and apoptosis. One polymorphic variant is associated with increased production of TNFalpha. This study examined the frequency of this polymorphic variant in African-American patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) compared with controls.

METHODS
We determined the gene frequency of the polymorphic variant of TNFalpha in an African-American SLE patient population and in a geographically matched African-American control population.

RESULTS
The gene frequency of the TNFalpha -308A polymorphism was higher in the African-American SLE population than in the control population. This relationship was independent of major histocompatibility complex DR alleles.

CONCLUSION
The TNFalpha -308A polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of SLE in African-Americans.


One theme of the article ("Time for Lifestyle Medicine to Take Injury Prevention Seriously," by Teitge and Francescutti) that should resonate with contemporary injury prevention proponents—whether they are researchers, practitioners, policy makers, or advocates in the public health arena or providers, administrators, and patient advocates in the health care arena—is the need for an increased injury prevention focus among health care providers. In particular, the call for providers to link injury prevention approaches and tools to the clinical care of patients is both noteworthy and compelling. However, the authors' description of the current injury experience in the United States fails to acknowledge important changes over the past decade and a half that have had an impact on the injury prevention roles of providers. Plus, the notion that progress in injury prevention has been limited in the 3 decades since the publication of Injury in America, undervalues the advances that have occurred.


Objectives : This study aimed to overview the current education status of a traditional medicine by medical schools in Japan. Methods : We surveyed the literatures regarding a traditional medicine education in Japan, and get the information via email-interview with an officer of medical schools in Japan as well as from their websites. Results : Japan`s education ministry presented the appropriateness of education for traditional medicine to medical students in 2001, and most of medical schools begun to set up the classes in Japan. We received the detail information of the traditional medicine education from 21 medical schools. Nineteen colleges(approximately 90%) of those have the regular classes for traditional medicine while two colleges don`t have the education program for the traditional medicine. Most of medical schools have single class for introduction of traditional medicine, and have average hours during the grade(61.9%). Conclusions : We presented the general feature of education for traditional medicine in Japan, and this result would be basic information for an establishment of a strategy regarding the enhancement of national competitiveness of traditional Korean medicine.


We previously reported substantial disagreement among expert physician panelists about the appropriateness of performing six medical and surgical procedures for a large number of theoretical indications. A recently completed community-based medical records study of about 4,500 patients who had one of three procedures--coronary angiography, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and carotid endarterectomy--shows that many of the theoretical indications are seldom or never used in practice. However, we find that there is also substantial disagreement (5, 25, or 32 per cent for angiography, endoscopy, or endarterectomy, respectively) about the appropriateness of indications used in actual cases if disagreement is defined by first discarding the two extreme of nine ratings, then looking for at least one rating near the bottom (1 to 3) and one near the top (7 to 9) of the 9-point scale. Patients should know that a substantial percentage of procedures are performed for indications about which expert physicians disagree.


In general, a mobile robot that operates in unknown environments has to maintain a map and has to determine its own location given the map. This introduces significant computational and memory constraints for most autonomous systems, especially for lightweight robots such as humanoids or flying vehicles. In this paper, we present a novel approach for learning a landmark selection policy that allows a robot to discard landmarks that are not valuable for its current navigation task. This enables the robot to reduce the computational burden and to carry out its task more efficiently by maintaining only the important landmarks. Our approach applies an unscented Kalman filter for addressing the simultaneous localization and mapping problems and uses Monte-Carlo reinforcement learning to obtain the selection policy. Based on real world and simulation experiments, we show that the learned policies allow for efficient robot navigation and outperform handcrafted strategies. We furthermore demonstrate that the learned policies are not only usable in a specific scenario but can also be generalized towards environments with varying properties.


This study reports three distinct analyses of consensus on literary quality: consensus between expert juries, between expert juries and consumers (non-experts), and between experts over time. The study looks into the verdicts of three American juries (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, National Book Award for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction) and three Dutch/Flemish juries (AKO Literatuurprijs, Libris Literatuurprijs and the Gouden Boekenuil) that annually award books and investigates whether they nominate/award the same books in a given year. This research recognizes the argument raised by Dekker and Popik (2014) which states that this type of interjury consensus cannot be appropriately measured by the means of reliability analysis and the Cronbach's alpha composite. Following Dekker and Popik, different aspects of consensus are discussed, after which the measure (β) is used to assess the level of agreement. Deviations from the overall consensus by particular juries are also indicated. This is followed by an examination of the accordance between the juries' judgments and consumer preference. The latter is indicated by bestseller lists on the one hand and online ratings on the other hand. Finally, this research employs a test-of-time analysis. It examines whether books that are honoured by the expert juries appear in anthologies too. The analyses reveal an interjury tendency towards dissensus rather than consensus, which contrasts with findings for the film industry reporting moderate to high levels of agreement. Theoretical reasons for this inter-industry difference are put forward. Moreover, results on the level of consensus between expert juries and consumers suggest that consumers also find that the nominated/awarded books are superior to general books. This does however not persuade them to buy these honoured books in great numbers. A final finding is that experts over time agree moderately with each other on literary quality


Convective quasi-equilibrium (QE) and weak temperature gradient (WTG) balances are frequently employed to study the tropical atmosphere. This study uses linearized equatorial beta-plane solutions to examine the relevant regimes for these balances. Wave solutions are characterized by moisture–temperature ratio (q–T ratio) and dominant thermodynamic balances. An empirically constrained precipitation closure assigns different sensitivities of convection to temperature (εt) and moisture (εq). Longwave equatorial Kelvin and Rossby waves tend toward the QE balance with q–T ratios of εt:εq that can be ~1–3. Departures from strict QE, essential to both precipitation and wave dynamics, grow with wavenumber. The propagating QE modes have reduced phase speeds because of the effective gross moist stability meff, with a further reduction when εt > 0. Moisture modes obeying the WTG balance and with large q–T ratios (>10) emerge in the shortwave regime; these modes exist with both Kelvin and Rossby wave meridional structures. In the υ = 0 case, long propagating gravity waves are absent and only emerge beyond a cutoff wavenumber. Two bifurcations in the wave solutions are identified and used to locate the spatial scales for QE–WTG transition and gravity wave emergence. These scales are governed by the competition between the convection and gravity wave adjustment times and are modulated by meff. Near-zero values of meff shift the QE–WTG transition wavenumber toward zero. Continuous transitions replace the bifurcations when meff < 0 or moisture advection/WISHE mechanisms are included, but the wavenumber-dependent QE and WTG balances remain qualitatively unaltered. Rapidly decaying convective/gravity wave modes adjust to the slowly evolving QE/WTG state in the longwave/shortwave regimes, respectively.


The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) mandates annual depression screening in primary care; however, veterans often delay seeking treatment after screening positive, which can increase the severity and impact of depression. This mixed-methods study examined the association between stigma and treatment utilization among veterans (N = 271) in primary care with a positive depression screen. A subsample of veterans (n = 23) participated in a semistructured interview to qualitatively explore the social and cultural contexts of treatment utilization for depression. Treatment utilization data based on Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) guidelines were obtained by chart review 3 months following the positive screen date. Logistic regression indicated a lack of evidence that stigma was associated with treatment utilization. However, grounded thematic analysis suggested that stigma negatively influenced perceptions of depression and treatment utilization for some veterans. Four themes emerged: (1) depression is weakness; (2) depression is an unwanted label; (3) depression is normal; and (4) overcoming stigma. Evidence from interviews suggests that stigma may play a larger role in decisions about treatment seeking, which was not quantitatively evident. Addressing the psychosocial ramifications of stigma for depression may help minimize treatment lapses and maximize treatment seeking among veterans who screen positive for depression in primary care.


Continuous improvement in quality of products/services, more often than not, requires implementation of new ideas in the systems. Consequently, generation of good ideas is regarded as a crucial task in quality management. This paper shows how a traditional brainstorming technique can be integrated with the analytic hierarchy process in generating and subsequently prioritizing a large number of ideas. The working of the integrated technique has been shown by means of two exercises: (1) Identifying important factors to improve quality in teaching, and (2) Identifying important factors to improve quality in academic institutions administration. The method can be applied in many similar situations.


We present an effective simulation technique for large antenna array using parallel FDTD method in this paper. One of the important issues in the simulation of antenna array is the coupling consideration between the antenna elements. The full wave simulation can take the coupling of the antenna elements into account; however, it is either beyond the ability of computer resources or not reasonable simulation time. We introduce an effective simulation method to consider the coupling effect through the multiple simulations of a small local region. The parallel FDTD method has been successfully applied to solve the various EMC and other electromagnetic phenomena. There are two important issues in the simulation of large phase antenna array using parallel FDTD method: (1) each phase distribution requires an independent simulation that losses the wideband feature of FDTD method; and (2) for a very large antenna array, the parallel FDTD algorithm running on a powerful computer cluster cannot solve the most practical phased array problems today. Here, we use the concept of characteristic basis function of an antenna array to efficiently simulate one large antenna array. In this method, we only need to simulate a small array as a basis function with different excitation patterns. The solution to the original array can be obtained by summarizing the basis function weighted by the element factor.


Turn-milling is a relatively new machining process technology offering important advantages such as increased productivity, reduced tool wear and better surface finish. Because two conventional cutting processes turning and milling are combined in turn-milling, there are many parameters that affect the process making their optimal selection challenging. Optimization studies performed on turn-milling processes are very limited and consider one objective at a time. In this work, orthogonal turn-milling is considered where spindle and work rotational speeds, cutter (tool-work axes) offset, depth of cut and feed per revolution are selected as process parameters. The effects of each parameter on tool wear, surface roughness, circularity, cusp height, material removal rate (MRR) and cutting forces were investigated through process model based simulations and experiments carried out on a multi-tasking CNC machine tool. Tool life and surface roughness are formulated including cutter offset for the first time in this present work. Also, for the first time, turn-milling process is defined as a multi-objective problem and an effective method is proposed to handle this optimization problem. Minimum surface error, minimum production cost and minimum production time are aimed at the same time, and results are generated for selection of optimal cutting process parameters. After optimal parameter sets are found, they are compared with the parameters proposed by tool suppliers in machining tests. In addition, orthogonal turn-milling process is compared with conventional turning process comprehensively in order to demonstrate the process advantages.


We investigated the identity of the limiting nu- trient of the pelagic microbial food web in the Mediter- ranean Sea using nutrient manipulated microcosms during summer 2008. Experiments were carried out with surface waters at the center of anticyclonic eddies in the Western Basin, the Ionian Basin, and the Levantine Basin. In situ, the ratio of N to P was always higher in both dissolved and particulate organic fractions compared to the Redfield ra- tio, suggesting a relative P-starvation. In each experiment, four different treatments in triplicates (addition of ammo- nium, phosphate, a combination of both, and the unamended control) were employed and chemical and biological param- eters monitored throughout a 3-4 day incubation. Temporal changes of turnover time of phosphate and ATP, and alkaline phosphatase activity during the incubation suggested that the phytoplankton and heterotrophic prokaryotes (Hprok) communities were not P-limited at the sites. Furthermore, statistical comparison among treatments at the end of the in- cubation did not support a hypothesis of P-limitation at the three study sites. In contrast, primary production was con- sistently limited by N, and Hprok growth was not limited by N nor P in the Western Basin, but N-limited in the Ionian Basin, and N and P co-limited in the Levantine Basin. Our re- sults demonstrated the gap between biogeochemical features (an apparent P-starved status) and biological responses (no apparent P-limitation). We question the general notion that Mediterranean surface waters are limited by P alone during the stratified period.


The article continues the series of the author's publications on the topic of higher school ethos. The author considers the elite corps of professors to be an intellectual reserve of Russia. This paper proposes an option of choice of the actual pattern characteristics of higher school professors, which are considered within a multi-dimensional model of a professor; it includes the psychological hierarchy of needs, the national higher school modernization plans and examples of financial incentives.


A facile approach for the synthesis of a novel epoxidised soybean oil–Cu/Cu2O (ESO–Cu/Cu2O) bio-nanocomposite material via ultrasound irradiation was investigated. The synthesis was carried out using epoxidised soybean oil (ESO) and Cu/Cu2O nanoparticles (NPs) in presence of 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP). In this composite, Cu/Cu2O NPs homogeneously anchored onto epoxidised soybean oil. The morphology and elemental compositions of the bio-nanocomposite material were determined with the help of scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy analysis. Investigation of plant-derived antibacterial materials as alternatives to synthetic antibacterial agents has generated great interest recently. In that direction, the antibacterial activity of resulting bio-nanocomposite material against Staphylococcus aureus as well as Escherichia coli bacteria was investigated. The synthesized ESO–Cu/Cu2O bio-nanocomposite material showed better antibacterial activity as compared to ESO, DMAP, and Cu/Cu2O NPs alone for the first time. This study endorses the bio-nanocomposite as a promising antibacterial material in a wide range of biological applications.


Missions that involve tasks such as search-and-rescue or reconnaissance have traditionally involved humans, perhaps with the assistance of one or more robots. The robots, or unmanned systems, are typically teleoperated - operated by remote control to inspect a suspicious object, for example. With the advent of newer and less expensive forms of autonomy and one-on-one communication, the robots are becoming more capable of acting as peers, rather than tools, alongside the humans. As the diversity of mixed human-robot teams is increased, so is the complexity of trying to decide on questions regarding configuration: what robots should be used, how many, and how many humans should be employed in the teaming process? We propose a decision support approach that builds a large number of discrete event simulations, with dynamic queuing models partially induced from CAD layout specifications in an urban environment. This work describes a detailed design with an implementation plan for the decision support.


Abstract Gotts, Chow and Martin provide a very nice review of repetition priming and suppression that reaches a compelling conclusion—we need to look more closely at synchronization in learning and priming. Indeed, current modeling work focuses on this issue—namely, the dynamic causal modeling of electrophysiological responses to address the role of synchrony in Bayesian explaining away. This commentary revisits the nature and relationships among the four theories in Gotts et al. and nuances some of their empirical predictions. In particular, I emphasize precision or uncertainty in predictive coding as a unifying consideration.


The conception by René Descartes of the human brain, notorious as it is for placing the soul or mind in the pineal gland, had yet within it the basic idea of the brain as a highly organized mechanism with topographical sensory mapping and different functions localized in specific areas. Descartes was directly led to this idea by his appreciation of what the retinal image conceived by Johannes Kepler implied, not only for the nature of vision, but for the operation of the brain in general. The linkage between Kepler and Descartes is not widely appreciated but is one of the best examples of synergism in the history of science.


The aim of the study was to assess whether stents covered with a membrane of polytetrafluoroethylene spanned over the mashes of a sandwich-configured double stent (n = 15) prevent migration of smooth muscle cells through stent spaces, leading to less neointima formation compared with uncovered stainless steel stents (n = 14) in iliac arteries of male Chinchilla Bastard rabbits (n = 18). Lumen stenosis was assessed by quantitative angiography immediately before the animals were killed 5 weeks after stent deployment. Neointima formation was quantified by histomorphometric analysis. There were large regional and individual differences in neointima formation, leading locally to a significantly higher degree of stenosis in covered stents (histologically, 76.0 +/- 13.7 vs. 62.9 +/- 12.9%; angiographically, 33.5 +/- 21.1 vs. 7.8 +/- 8.8%) compared with uncovered stents, though mean neointimal and lumen area values were not significantly different. In conclusion, polytetrafluoroethylene-covered stents do not prevent neointima formation compared with uncovered stents. Although the membrane reduces local smooth muscle cell migration, the neointima hyperplasia at the proximal and distal ends of a covered stent stimulates migration along its longitudinal axis. In this stent-restenosis model, regional and individual proliferation processes and not the membrane-covering strut-to-strut distances determine lumen restenosis.


Gyrotwystrons are gyrotron amplifiers with resonant cavities, field free drift regions, and a nonresonant output waveguide. They are expected to be more wideband than gyroklystrons, and more efficient than gyro-travelling wave tubes. A theory of gyrotwystrons has been developed which describes gyrotwystrons with cavities of different transverse geometry than the output waveguide. An analytical approach permits one to estimate in a simple manner the effect of mixed transverse geometry on the interaction between the electron beam and the microwave field. Numerical studies of an NRL gyrotwystron design show it possible to realize a rather high efficiency over a large bandwidth (e,g., 35% efficiency with a bandwidth of 6%). >


Two questions regarding the scientific literature have become grist for public discussion: 1) what place should P values have in reporting the results of studies? 2) How should the perceived difficulty in replicating the results reported in published studies be addressed? We consider these questions to be 2 sides of the same coin; failing to address them can lead to an incomplete or incorrect message being sent to the reader. If P values (which are derived from the estimate of the effect size and a measure of the precision of the estimate of the effect) are used improperly, for example reporting only significant findings, or reporting P values without account for multiple comparisons, or failing to indicate the number of tests performed, the scientific record can be biased. Moreover, if there is a lack of transparency in the conduct of a study and reporting of study results, it will not be possible to repeat a study in a manner that allows inferences from the original study to be reproduced or to design and conduct a different experiment whose aim is to confirm the original study's findings. The goal of this article is to discuss how P values can be used in a manner that is consistent with the scientific method, and to increase transparency and reproducibility in the conduct and analysis of nutrition research.


The aluminyl anion K[Al(NONDipp)] {NONDipp = [O(SiMe2NDipp)2]2-; Dipp = 2,6-iPr2C6H3} engages in oxidative additions with the E-H (E = Si, P, N, or O) bonds of phenylsilane (PhSiH3), mesityl phosphane (MesPH2; Mes = 2,4,6-Me3C6H2), 2,6-di-iso-propylaniline (DippNH2), and 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (ArOH). The resulting (hydrido)aluminate salts are formed regardless of the E-H bond polarity. All of the products were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopic techniques and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. This study highlights the versatility of aluminyl anions to activate hydridic, acidic, and (essentially) nonpolar E-H bonds.


Over the last years, prepectoral implant-based breast reconstruction has undergone a renaissance due to several technical advancements regarding mastectomy techniques and surgical approaches for the placement and soft tissue coverage of silicone implants. Initially abandoned due to the high incidence of complications, such as capsular contraction, implant extrusion, and poor aesthetic outcome, the effective prevention of these types of complications led to the prepectoral technique coming back in style for the ease of implant placement and the conservation of the pectoralis muscle function. Additional advantages such as a decrease of postoperative pain, animation deformity, and operative time contribute to the steady gain in popularity. This review aims to summarize the factors influencing the trend towards prepectoral implant-based breast reconstruction and to discuss the challenges and prospects related to this operative approach.


The ever more frequent and forceful criticisms of management sciences suggest that we need a new model. In fact, the number of proposed alternatives has multiplied, with some suggesting that the range of economic points of departure be extended, while others turn to other sciences (sociology, psychology, neuroeconomics, political sciences, philosophy) for their inspiration. This article suggests returning to the origins of economic science, action theory, with a broader approach that takes in the contributions of realist philosophy (Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas), with a view to laying the foundations for a richer organizational theory in which ethics plays a clearer role.


Objectives Preliminary evidence suggests non-contact boxing exercise is feasible and possibly beneficial for Parkinson Disease (PD). Current studies lack detailed description of component elements and documentation of exercise intensity. We present the protocol of FIGHT-PD; which explores the feasibility, tolerability and safety of a non-contact boxing exercise program for PD, developed by a neurologist (who has PD), a professional boxing trainer, a neurophysiotherapist and exercise physiologists. Methods Twenty early stage (Hoehn and Yahr 1 and 2) PD subjects will undergo baseline evaluations of PD and cardiac stress testing. Training includes quantifiable balance and movement drills, high intensity aerobic bursts, and sequences of punches using the Fightmaster training machine. Over 15 weeks, three 30-60 minute workouts per week will be conducted in three, 4 week blocks separated by rest weeks. Block one focuses on technique; the second escalates the physical intensity, and the third adds cognitive challenges. Rate of perceived physical exertion (RPE) and mental exertion will be measured by the Borg scale for every component of each workout, and heart rate continuously recorded by Polar monitors. Numerous standardised PD scales and a body chart discomfort scale will be administered at each workout, monitoring the development of pain or injuries. These observations will provide the primary outcomes of tolerability and safety, and secondary outcomes of quantified heart rate measuring exercise intensity, and effect on quality of life. Feasibility details including recruitment, retention and adherence rates will be measured. Conclusions This trial should provide essential details to plan future exercise-based studies.


In this paper, we discuss the properties of curves of the form y3 = f(x) over a given field K of characteristic different from 3. If f(x) satisfies certain properties, then the Jacobian of such a curve is isomorphic to the ideal class group of the maximal order in the corresponding function field. We seek to make this connection concrete and then use it to develop an explicit arithmetic for the Jacobian of such curves. From a purely mathematical perspective, this provides explicit and efficient techniques for performing arithmetic in certain ideal class groups which are of fundamental interest in algebraic number theory. At the same time, it provides another source of groups which are suitable for Diffie-Hellman type protocols in cryptographic applications.


Primary cardiac malignant lymphoma within a cardiac myxoma is extremely rare. Here we report a case of a previously healthy 71-year-old woman who developed acute myocardial infarction. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a 69×45-mm solid tumor in the left atrium that was moving in a circular manner in the left atrial and ventricular cavities. Coronary angiography revealed an occlusion due to a coronary emboli in the distal part of the right coronary artery. Thrombectomy with an aspiration catheter was successfully performed to remove large red thrombi from the arterial lumen. Emergent surgical removal of the left atrial tumor along with tricuspid valve annuloplasty was performed under cardiopulmonary bypass. The postoperative course was uneventful. Histological examination demonstrated presence of malignant lymphoma within the myxoma. The patient was treated with rituximab, tetrahydropyranyl adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and predonisone (R-THP-COP) and is doing well without recurrence of lymphoma at 18-month follow-up. We emphasise that all surgical cardiac specimens should be sent for histological analysis aiming at the best treatment.


VITHEA is an on-line platform designed to act as a "virtual therapist" for the treatment of Portuguese speaking aphasic patients. Concretely, the system integrates automatic speech recognition technology to provide word naming exercises to individuals with lost or reduced word naming ability. In this paper, we present the solution adopted for the word naming task, which is based on a keyword spotting approach with hybrid HMM/MLP speech recognizer. Furthermore, we explore a simple cross-validation method that makes use of the patients measured word naming ability to automatically adapt to their speech particularities. A corpus with word naming therapy sessions of aphasic Portuguese native speakers has been collected to test the utility of the approach for both global evaluation and treatment. In spite of the different patient characteristics and speech quality conditions of the collected data, encouraging results have been obtained.


Abstract Type of refrigerant the most recognized and the most used today in the vapor compression cycle is R-12 refrigerant (halocarbon group), which is technically quite good.  The refrigerant also has low toxicity and low flammable. But, in the mid 1970's known that chlorine has contained in the refrigerant were released into the environment could damage of ozone in the stratosphere and caused greenhouse effect. Because of that, it using has stopped. An alternative refrigerant is hydrocarbon refrigerant (HCR) and one of it is hydrocarbon-12 (HCR-12). HCR-12 have several advantages, besides friendly environmental because have low global warming effect and low destruction of ozone, this type of refrigerator can be used as direct changer on the refrigerant machine so no needed compressor replacement and more efficient electric energy than R-12. In this research, did a study experimental to compared R-12 with HCR-12 with used vapor compression cooler machine. The result of measurement have been get performance of vapor compression cooler machine COP R (Coefficient of Performance Refrigeration) and COP HP (Coefficient of Performance Heat Pump) for R-12 and HCR-12 relatively are 2.4 – 9.8 (COP R ) and 3.4 – 10.8 (COP HP ) and 6.4 – 14.1(COP R ) and 7.4 – 15.1 (COP HP ). Performance of vapor compression cooler machine COP R and COP HP have tendency increase with increase rate of flow of refrigerant until 0.035 for R-12 and 0.014 for HCR-12. Performance vapor compression cooler machine of COP R increase if absorbed of heat (Q e ) by evaporator increase and COP HP increase if released of heat (Q k ) by condenser increase. According of the results concluded that performance of vapor compression cooler machine with hydrocarbon-12 (HCR-12) better than R-12. Key words : refrigerant, hydrocarbon, R-12, ODP, GWP.


e20545 Background: Pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (PLELC) is a rare subtype of non-small cell lung cancer associated with Epstein-bar virus (EBV) infection. Even less reported were those with Epithelioid granuloma (EG) and were frequently misdiagnosed. Current study aimed at investigating the clinical presentation, pathological characteristics and treatments of PLELC complicated with EG to improve our understanding of this disease. Methods: Data was collected from January 2013 to December 2017. A total of 105 patients were diagnosed as PLELC, in which 14 patients were with EG. Their clinical features, pathological characteristics and treatment were analyzed. Results: The 14 patients with EG (13.3%) in our group were followed-up 15 months (10-31 months).The median age was 48.5 year-old (38-67 year-old) and 85.7% were under the age of 60, meanwhile females had a slightly higher proportion than males (1.8:1). Most patients were at early stage (71.4%) with nonspecific manifestations such as cough, expectoration and lack of rich-lewis phenomenon. EG were often located in tumor or beside the tumor (71.4%), others were located in lymph node. It was all negative in specific stain of pathology and all positive in situ hybridization of EBV-encoded RNA (EBER). In our study, two patients received palliative chemotherapy with the duration of progression-free survival in 8 and 10 months, respectively. Twelve patients underwent surgical resection including ten with adjuvant or neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. Three patients had disease relapsed in 8, 13 and 25 months after surgery, respectively. None of them had tuberculosis occurring, progression or relapse, even if anti-tuberculosis therapy were not taken. Conclusions: PLELC complicated with EG, a rare phenomenon, was lack of rich-lewis phenomenon and specific clinical characteristic compared with those without EG. The formation of EG may be caused by immunological hypersensitivity to tumor cell or EBV infection instead of tuberculosis. It was important for us to make an exact pathological diagnosis, and attention should be paid to obtain samples by biopsy and make differential diagnosis. PLELC complicated with EG could receive multimodality therapy such as chemotherapy and surgery. However, anti-tuberculosis therapy was not necessary.


Recently we have reformulated the octonions as quasissociative algebras (quasialgebras) living in a symmetric monoidal category. In this note we provide further examples of quasialgebras, namely ones where the nonassociativity is induced by a Z Z n-grading and a nontrivial 3-cocycle.


This article aims to rethink today's ethics and moral concepts; such concepts have become trendy and around them a series of imaginary ideas are constructed at all levels. They are appealed as the cure for all diseases, but its significance and scope are not understood. It is not possible to copy all the material covered on these issues to be implemented on today's subjects; so it is suggested to reformulate them considering the characteristics of the postmodern individual, since the great advances in science, technology and the development of capitalism have generated a different subject


Today, malware is one of the primary cyberthreats to organizations. Malware has pervaded almost every type of computing device including the ones having limited memory, battery and computation power such as mobile phones, tablets and embedded devices like Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. Consequently, the privacy and security of the malware infected systems and devices have been heavily jeopardized. In recent years, researchers have leveraged machine learning based strategies for malware detection and classification. Malware analysis approaches can only be employed in resource constrained environments if the methods are lightweight in nature. In this paper, we present MALITE, a lightweight malware analysis system, that can classify various malware families and distinguish between benign and malicious binaries. MALITE converts a binary into a gray scale or an RGB image and employs low memory and battery power consuming as well as computationally inexpensive malware analysis strategies. We have designed MALITE-MN, a lightweight neural network based architecture and MALITE-HRF, an ultra lightweight random forest based method that uses histogram features extracted by a sliding window. We evaluate the performance of both on six publicly available datasets (Malimg, Microsoft BIG, Dumpware10, MOTIF, Drebin and CICAndMal2017), and compare them to four state-of-the-art malware classification techniques. The results show that MALITE-MN and MALITE-HRF not only accurately identify and classify malware but also respectively consume several orders of magnitude lower resources (in terms of both memory as well as computation capabilities), making them much more suitable for resource constrained environments.


The uniqueness of Africa is not because of its geographical location, but because of its diverse rich cultural heritage, symbolic operation and adages that surround the entire spectrum of human learning, reasoning, and communication. This research work on adaptation of the Jukun cultural symbols for textile design gives a brief introduction of the Jukun people, which are called the "karorofawas" with their rich cultural symbols. Its importance to the Jukun societies and how through symbolization, the Jukun people have communicated their ideas, fears, anxieties, moods, sensations, feelings and intuitions. All of these experiences, of course, are subjective or emotional, yet are capable of being graphically represented in line, shape, color, texture, and form. It asserts that, since people easily and readily relate with what they are familiar with, the need for adapting the Jukun cultural symbols and its intrinsic values to the Jukun communities and the world at large cannot be over emphasis. The artistic process of the cultural symbols adaptation for textile design shall also be handled.


In Public-Key Cryptography (PKC) 2015, Bergsma et al.
 introduced an interesting one-round key exchange protocol (which will be referred to as BJS scheme) with strong security in particular for perfect forward secrecy (PFS). In this study, the authors unveil a PFS attack against the BJS scheme. This would simply invalidate its security proof. An improvement is proposed to fix the problem of the BJS scheme with minimum changes.


The characteristic frequency equation for Love waves propagating in a finite layer overlying an anisotropic and inhomogeneous half-space is derived. This frequency equation takes into account the arbitrary variation of density, elastic parameters, and degree of anisotropy factor in the half-space. In fact, the problem of deriving the frequency equation has been reduced to finding the solution of the equation of motion subject to the appropriate boundary conditions. To illustrate the method, the author has derived the frequency equation for a generalized power law variation of density and elastic parameters with the depth, in the halfspace.
 As a step toward the systematic investigation of the effects of anisotropy and inhomogeneity, the relationship between the wave number and phase and group velocities has been worked out for increasing, uniform and decreasing anisotropy factor. The pronounced effects of anisotropy have been noticed in the long-period range compared to the short-period one. The numerical analysis shows that for a given phase velocity (or group velocity), the period of propagation depends on the sign and magnitude of power of variation of the density and anisotropy factor in the half-space. For the increased positive rate of variation of the anisotropy factor, the values of phase and group velocities have been found higher whereas the reverse is found true for an increasing negative rate of variation of the anisotropy factor.


Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) is considered standard of care for patients with 1–3 brain metastases (BM). Recent observational studies have shown equivalent OS in patients with 5+ BM compared to those with 2–4, suggesting SRS alone may be appropriate in these patients. We aim to review outcomes of patients treated with SRS with 2–4 versus 5+ BM. This analysis included consecutive patients from 1994 to 2015 treated with SRS. Of 1017 patients, we excluded patients with a single BM and patients without adequate survival data, resulting in 391 patients. All risk factors were entered into univariate analysis using Cox proportional hazards model, and significant factors were entered into multivariate analysis (MVA). We additionally analyzed outcomes after excluding patients with prior surgery or whole‐brain radiotherapy (WBRT). Median follow‐up was 7.1 months. Median KPS was 90, mean age was 59, and most common histologies were melanoma and lung. Median tumor volume was 3.41 cc. Patients with 2–4 BM had a median OS of 8.1 months compared to 6.2 months for those with 5+ BM (P = 0.0136). On MVA, tumor volume, KPS, and histology remained significant for OS, whereas lesion number did not. Similar results were found when excluding patients with prior surgery or WBRT. Rather than lesion number, the strongest prognostic factors for patients undergoing SRS were tumor volume >10 cc, KPS, and histology. BM number may therefore not be the most important criterion for candidacy for SRS. Patients with 5 or more BM should be considered for SRS.


Purpose: We retrospectively analyzed long-term clinical results after two-stage revision arthroplasty using an antibiotic-impregnated cement spacer for infected total hip arthroplasty. Materials and Methods: Twenty-six hips (group 1: cup exchanged, group 2: cup and stem exchanged) were enrolled in this study. The mean follow-up period was 7.4 years (5 to 11 years). We analyzed the laboratory findings, the time interval between antibiotic-impregnated cement spacer insertion and revision arthroplasty, Harris hip score, Oxford hip score, radiologic changes, and recurrence of infection. Results: Revision hip arthroplasty was performed at 7.5 weeks on average (group 1: 7.2 weeks, group 2: 7.7 weeks) after implant removal and cement spacer insertion. In group 1, Harris hip score was 51.1 points preoperatively, 84.4 points at six months, 89.3 points in at one year, 91.8 points at three years, and 89.8 points at five years. In group 2, the Harris hip score was 49.8 points preoperatively, 78.1 points at six months, 83.7 points at one year, 90.3 points at three years, and 88.7 points at five years. Recurrence of infection developed in one hip in each group. Conclusion: Ninety-two percent of infected hips were eradicated with two-stage revision arthroplasty using an antibiotic-impregnated cement spacer for infected hip arthroplasty at minimum five-year follow-up. When the infection was limited to the hip joint and the stem was fixed well, two-stage revision with stem retained could be a good treatment option.


Introduction Food labeling regulation has been implemented to enable consumers, including those with chronic diseases to make healthy informed choices before purchasing pre-packaged foods. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of obese adults in Malaysia who practice reading food labels. It explored types of labels read and understanding of the information. Methods Findings presented in this study were captured from the secondary analysis of National Health and Morbidity Survey's (NHMS, 2006) food label study which focused only on obese adults (BMI > 30 kg/m2) aged 18 and above. This nation-wide cross sectional study was conducted from April to August 2006 using an interview-based questionnaire. Complex data analysis was done using Stata version 12.0. Results There were 4565 obese respondents with the mean age of 33 ± 9.7 (18 – 60 years old). About 54.7% completed high-school and 9.9% were higher degree holders. Prevalence of obese adults who claimed to read label was 80.5% (95%CI: 79.3, 81.6). Findings showed significant results in reading and understanding labels among all age group categories, Malay, Indian and other Bumiputras, all education categories and married respondents. Expiry date was the highest percentage being read (74.5%), followed by fat content (15.3%), vitamin (11.8%) and carbohydrate (10.9%). Conclusions The obese population in Malaysia claimed to read and understand the food label but did not focus on specific macronutrients related to their health condition. Findings can be used to implement effective education programmes targeting the relevant groups to instill an awareness to read, understand and use the label information as one of the means in combating obesity.


Voice over LTE (VoLTE) emerges as the basis for voice services in future cellular networks. At the same time, Quality of user Experience (QoE) assessment methods have notably evolved in the last years, especially for VoIP services. The question that rises is, are these models ready to be used for VoLTE? In this paper, we contribute to answer this question by: (i) providing a high level exploration of current objective non-intrusive models for VoIP QoE evaluation, (ii) highlighting the review of works aiming to improve the standardized E-model (ITU-T Rec. G.107 (06/2015)) and the examination of non-standardized solutions proposed by the research community, and (iii) bringing forth the challenges identified for the completion of a successful QoE evaluation approach according to modern VoIP services such as VoLTE.


Background and Aim: For a decade, chlamydial and herpesvirus infections have caused significant morbidity and mortality in farmed crocodiles. In September 2017, a total of 160 juvenile freshwater Siamese crocodiles (Crocodylus siamensis) with conjunctivitis/pharyngitis lesions were admitted at the Veterinary Aquatic Animal Research Health Care Unit, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Mahidol University. All crocodiles did not respond well to antibiotics or supportive treatments and died. This study aimed to detect and identify the causative agents associated with conjunctivitis/pharyngitis and fatal outcomes in juvenile farmed Siamese crocodiles. Materials and Methods: A total of 138 pharyngeal and conjunctival swabs and conjunctival scrapes were collected from live crocodiles. All swab and scrape samples were DNA-extracted and amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using Chlamydiaceae- and herpesvirus-specific primers. Tissue samples (brain, lung, liver, heart, spleen, and intestine) were collected from two representative postmortem animals. All tissue samples were processed for molecular and pathological analyses. Results: PCR examinations identified chlamydial and herpesvirus DNA in 92% (126/138) and 100% (138/138), respectively, of the tested swab and scrape samples. Of those positive samples, 79% (26/33), 67% (4/6), and 98% (97/99) of the pharyngeal swabs, conjunctival swabs, and conjunctival scrapes, respectively, were positive for both chlamydial and herpesvirus DNA. Histopathological examination indicated necrosis and mononuclear cell infiltration in the liver, kidney, and intestine of the affected animals. The intracytoplasmic accumulation of Chlamydia was randomly observed in the examined tissue sample. Moreover, the presence of chlamydial and herpesvirus DNA was also detected in the tissue samples, including the heart, intestine, brain, lung, liver, and spleen, of the affected animals by PCR. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that Chlamydia spp. detected in the juvenile Siamese crocodiles was notably different from other known species in the Chlamydia genus, while the herpesvirus detected in the crocodiles was closely related to crocodyline herpesvirus 1. Conclusion: Based on histopathological and molecular examinations, this report provided the first evidence of coinfection of Chlamydia spp. and crocodyline herpesvirus 1 in juvenile Siamese crocodiles in Thailand.


Founded in 2002, the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain includes the major institutions, authorities and medical disciplines engaged in therapy and research on Neuropathic pain. Together they work on a better understanding of the pathophysiology, the development of new therapies and the appropriate usage of established interventions for the treatment as well as the prevention of neuropathic pain. The network's central project is the establishment of a data bank, currently including standardized information of more than 1500 patients with neuropathic pain regarding socio-economic, psycho-social, psychological data and the results of quantitative sensory testing (QST), a standardized protocol implemented by the network.


1.1 Forecast for the October-November-December (OND) 2018 "Short Rains" Season The Climate Outlook for the October-November-December (OND) 2018 "Short Rains" season indicates that much of the country is likely to experience above average rainfall. The distribution of the rainfall in time and space is expected to be good over most places especially during the peak month of November. The onset of the OND 2018 seasonal rainfall is expected to be timely over most of the country.


Introduction: Sleep disorders are common among geriatric patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate sleep disorders and related factors among geriatric patients who applied to the hospital with the complaints except sleep disorders. Materials and Method: A hundred geriatric patients (47 women and 53 men) were enrolled to the study. Study was made in two phases. In phase 1, a questionnaire including questions about symptoms and results related to sleep disoders was performed to the patients. In phase 2, suspected patients were evaluated by a neurology expert and a diagnosis has been made. Results: Mean ages of men and women were 72.2±5.1 years, and 72.3±7.0 years; respectively. The prevelances of insomnia, sleep apnea, REM sleep behavior disorder and restless legs syndrome were 50.0%, 51.0%, 17.0% and 20.0%; respectively. In the evaluation of the relationship between sleep disorders and hypertension, asthma, hearth diseases, cerebrovascular diseases and pain, there was a statistically significant difference between insomnia and hearth diseases (p=0.021). But there were not a relation between the other diseases. In the evaluation of cognitive dysfunction, we found a statistically significant difference in the insomnia patients (p=0.003). In the evaluation of daytime sleepiness, we found a significant difference in sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome patients (p=0.015, 0.036; respectively). Conclusion: High prevelance of sleep disorders and cognitive dysfunction were showed that sleep disoders should be examined in all of the geriatric patients. In this way, it could be possible to prevent problems related to sleep disorders and to contribute to increased use of health services.


Accurate feature detection during Image retrieval is important, data retrieves through image retrieval methods like CBIR and CBIR higher dimension data also need storage and access through different methods, content-based Image retrieval uses query like query by feature and query by example. More focus has made on accurate feature detection because need accurate feature retrieval. In simple words objectives are, to develop methods with sequence to classify features with normalization for efficient image retrieval from bulk dataset and also to improve method for local and global feature retrieval with automatic feature detection along accuracy. After study of different detection-based system, a methodology has been proposed which improves retrieval based on feature detection and feature detection had been improve with combination DWT+PCA+KSVM (polygon kernel +RBF kernel + Linear Kernel).


Background Data: In adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), the upper thoracic spine (T1–T5) may represent an additional curve called the proximal thoracic curve (PTC), which is nearly equal and opposite to the main thoracic curve (MTC); this is a classic example of a ''double thoracic curve pattern." So, after selective thoracic fusion (STF) for MTC by either anterior or posterior instrumentation and fusion, what happens to the noninstrumented PTC and instrumented MTC?
Study Design: Systematic review of literature and meta-analysis.
Purpose: To evaluate the fate of the noninstrumented PTC and instrumented MTC after STF for the MTC by either anterior or posterior instrumentation and fusion.
Methods: This study was conducted by searching the PubMed and Cochrane databases and included patients with AIS treated by STF between 1999 and 2020. The type of approach, degree of correction achieved in MTC, PTC, and apical vertebral rotation (AVR), and complications rate were reported independently by two authors.
Results: Our systematic review yielded 1686 patients, with 18 studies meeting the required criteria. MTC has been corrected by 24.89 ± 8.45 degrees, while PTC has been corrected by 14.94 ± 7.18 degrees. Cobb's angle was reported in seven studies for MTC angle and four studies for lumbar and thoracolumbar curves angle and has been corrected by 19.68 ± 6.55 degrees. Moreover, shoulder tilt has been corrected by 0.83 ± 0.83. Data for correction of AVR was reported in two studies and has been corrected by 15.95 ± 4.65 degrees.
Conclusion: Anterior and posterior spinal fusion had no statistical significance difference regarding MTC, shoulder tilt, and AVRcorrection. However, PTC corrections was more significant after anterior spinal fusion (ASF) than posterior spinal fusion (PSF). (2021ESJ228)


Purpose: Latrine is a symbol of cleanness. It is most to have a latrine even for getting basic government facilities. Though the country is declared ODF, in reality, it is difficult to maintain the status for long. There are pieces of evidence that the declared ODF zones have reverted to open defecation over time. It was in this context, that the study was carried out to explore appropriate latrines to be constructed in the case of Mahottari District, Nepal.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Two communities namely Khyarmara (of Bardibas Municipality wards no. 10 and 11) and Pipara (of Pipara rural municipality, wards no. 1 to 7) were selected for the study. Household surveys along with the observation of the latrines constructed in the homestead, focus group discussion with the local people and key informants with the local implementers are the main sources of data followed by secondary data.
Findings/Result: The study has identified three different types of latrines existing in the study areas including water seal offset type single pit latrine (SO), latrine with the septic tank (LST), and water seal offset type double pit latrine (DO). By and large, SO-type latrines exist in the study area. It was found that 87 % of the latrines are currently sustained (SL), whereas the rest fall under either the sustained but at risk (SAR) category or simply not sustained (NS). The study analysis showed that the water seal offset double pit latrine (DO) is more sustainable and cost-effective in comparison to other types of latrines that exist in the study area. This led to the recommendation for constructing DO types of latrines in the study areas. It is very challenging for people having low income to afford to construct the latrines. Therefore, it is worthwhile to provide certain support in terms of capital subsidy to construct the latrines for the weaker section of society.
Originality/Value: This is significant to policymakers and designers to overcome the issue of toilet construction.
Paper Type: Action Research


Most programmers at Texas Instruments feel that writing in a high-level language (HLL) is one effective way to cut costs and that this is particularly true of a language like Pascal, which lends itself to top-down structuring. When our programmers compare writing in Pascal with writing in native microprocessor assembly language, they find that programmer efficiency increases by a factor of 2.5 to 3 and that software development and maintenance time, after the problem has been analyzed, is reduced by a factor of 2. The switch from machine code to Pascal increases productivity for three reasons: Each program high-level statement creates several machine instructions that permit the programmer to solve the problem at an abstract level rather than deal in machine code. A structured HLL like Pascal allows problems to be solved the way the natural thought processes work-from the top down. Because Pascal is easier to read, it is easier to modify.


We have derived the general expression for the energy-dependent cross section of the transition between two resonant states in the continuous spectrum of atoms and molecules, under the physically meaningful conditions of broadband excitation. The profile is expressed in terms of a symmetric, an asymmetric and a background component, and is cast in a form containing as limiting cases the discrete - discrete Lorentzian profile and the discrete - resonance Beutler - Fano profile. The theory has been implemented numerically by ab initio methods on the transition , for tunable radiation around 3.4 eV.


Background and objective: Female breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide, affecting more than one million women annually. The objectives of this study were, firstly, to evaluate the effects of breast cancer biomarkers such as human epidermal growth factor receptor-2and hormone receptor status on the stage of breast cancer at the time of presentation, and secondly, to assess the role of "women's age" on the level of biomarker expressions and on the advancement in breast cancer disease stage at the time of diagnosis in a sample of women diagnosed with breast cancer in Erbil City.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of medical records of women affected with breast cancer was performed from January 2013 to April 2014. Cancer staging was done based on the histopathological reports according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer TNM staging system. Patients were classified to either hormone receptor/human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 positive or negative based on immunohistochemistry or FISH analysis.
Results: The mean age (+SD) at diagnosis was 48.9 (+12.4) years. About a quarter of breast cancer cases were diagnosed in young women aged less than 40 years, who had a proportionally more hormone receptor negativity and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 over-expression, and a significantly more advanced cancer stage at time of diagnosis compared to their older counterparts.
Conclusion: Breast cancer biomarkers have huge impacts on disease stage, and are greatly affected by age of women at time of diagnosis of breast cancer.


The paper analyses the organization of the new product development process at FIAT from a resource-based perspective. The focus is on organizational resources for integrating dispersed specialist knowledge required in the development of complex products. The analysis shows how the application of a resource-based perspective is able to uncover negative long-term effects of outsourcing on the knowledge base (hollowing out), despite beneficial short-term effects on cost.


Some recent papers have described a novel resonant current controller, which is well suited for voltage supply inverter current control. Here, the authors study the resonant voltage controller, which involves a single feedback loop as does the resonant current controller. It controls the converter's low-pass filter output voltage and the inverter's maximum switching frequency. Theoretical results justify the principle involved in this recent pulse width modulation. In order to demonstrate its excellent capabilities, experiments have been performed using resistive and inductive loads. Spectral analysis illustrates the accurate tracking of a sinewave reference. Experiments were also performed using a rectifier load. Even if the load is nonlinear, the output voltage tracks the reference well. Moreover, arbitrary waveform tracking has been performed. In short, all measurements confirm the excellent behaviour of the resonant voltage controller.


In two relatively recent papers, Goldberg provides a valuable analysis of transitive constructions without an overt object, as in She contributed to the Leukemia Foundation . Goldberg correctly stresses that this construction, which she terms the Deprofiled Object Construction has a clear semantic value; she further discusses some of the factors that may bring about the deemphasizing of the object (repeated or habitual actions, politeness strategies, etc.) as well as some (lexical) factors that prevent object omission. It is especially the latter issue for which the present paper offers a more nuanced, and at the same time more general, alternative. In our approach, we retain the constructional value but place it in a larger paradigmatic perspective, the opposition between the transitive and the ergative paradigms that structure the English grammar of causative events. Our cognitive lexico-paradigmatic approach is corroborated by ample corpus data, which at the same time brings in important nuances, revealing the intricate and contextually variable interaction between constructional and lexical semantics and it does so in a way different from Goldberg's analysis.


A young male with a previous splenectomy presented with Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis complicated by pyomyositis. Pneumococcal meningitis in asplenic patients is well recognized, but the association of pyomyositis as a complication has not to our knowledge been previously reported.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Objective: In the current study, we retrospectively assessed the efficacy of dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccine in advanced pancreatic carcinoma (PC). Patients: From Jan 2009 to April 2010, 39 patients (19 males and 20 females; aged 32-78 years, median 64 years) with advanced PC were treated with DC-based vaccine, and 38 patients also received GEM and/or S-1. Methods: Patient-derived peripheral blood mononuclear cells were obtained by leukapheresis (400ml×13 cycles), then adherent cells were cultured with GM-CSF, IL-4, OK-432 and PGE2 to generate DCs. The DCs pulsed with tumor specific peptides (WT1/MUC1) were injected at 2-week intervals (mean=8.3, max= 16 vaccinations). Results: The mean observation period was 257.6 days. None of the 39 patients showed CR, but we have found out 9 cases of PR and 9 cases of SD in accordance with RECIST. Response rate was 55% in the patients in combination with S-1+GEM and 9% with GEM alone. Disease control rate was 77.8% with S-1+GEM and 38% with GEM alone. Conclusions: DC-based vaccination in combined with GEM/S-1 was shown to be safe and possibly effective in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5372. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5372


In 1854, physician John Snow helped curtail a cholera outbreak in a London neighborhood by mapping cases and identifying a central public water pump as the potential source. This event is considered by many to represent the founding of modern epidemiology. Data and analysis play an increasingly important role in public health today. This can be illustrated by examining the rise in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), where data from varied sources highlight potential factors while ruling out others, such as childhood vaccines, facilitating wise policy choices.


The aim of the paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of drugs production and marketing by examining respondent's attitude towards counterfeit drugs and the factors influencing the purchase of counterfeit drugs by consumers. The research design is quantitative cross sectional survey using sample of 198 students of the marketing department selected through convenience sampling method. Primary data was collected using self-designed questionnaire and administered during lecture periods. Data was analysed using frequencies, percentages and One-Way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and presented in Tables. Few respondents purchase counterfeit drugs but are suspicious of the quality of drugs purchased. Respondents have negative attitude towards counterfeit drugs. Price and the look of pharmacy are used to evaluate the quality of drugs. Factors such as lack of information on quality of drugs, non-availability of quality drugs, ignorance of health implication and poverty influence the purchasing behaviour. Demographic variables such as gender, age, family income levels, religion significantly influence variations in responses provided by respondents. Manufacturers and marketer of drugs should incorporate these findings into their strategies in selling drug. Future study should increase the sample size in a causal study.


In this paper, a new bandpass filter design has been presented using simple topology of stepped impedance square loop resonator. The proposed bandpass filter has been simulated and fabricated using a substrate with an insulation constant of 10.8, thickness of 1.27mm and loss tangent of 0.0023 at center frequency of 5.8 GHz. The simulation results have been evaluated using Sonnet simulator that is extensively adopted in microwave analysis and implementation. The output frequency results demonstrated that the proposed filter has high-quality frequency responses in addition to isolated second harmonic frequency. Besides, this filter has very small surface area and perceptible narrow band response features that represent the conditions of recent wireless communication systems. Various filter specifications have been compared with different magnitudes of perturbation element dimension. Furthermore, phase scattering response and current intensity distribution of the proposed filter have been discussed. The simulated and experimental results are well-matched. Lastly, the features of the proposed filter have been compared with other designed microstrip filters in the literature.


Approximately 20% to 30% of infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) do not respond to surfactant replacement therapy. Unfortunately there is no uniform definition of 'response' or 'non-response' to surfactant therapy. Response was based on improvement in a/A PO2 and/or mean airway pressure (MAP) by some and on improvement in FIO2 and/or MAP by others. Even the point of time at which evaluation of response was done is different in various reports. There is an urgent need to adopt an uniform definition. Most premature babies are surfactant deficient which is the aetiological factor of RDS. Generally good antenatal care and perinatal management are essential in avoidance of premature birth. Babies with lung hypoplasia and who are extremely premature (less than 24 weeks of gestation) do not respond well to exogenous surfactant replacement because of structural immaturity. Prompt management of asphyxiated birth and shock are necessary as there may be negative response to surfactant replacement. Foetal exposure to glucocorticoids improves responsiveness to postnatal administration of surfactant. Antenatal steroid therapy has become an important part of management of RDS with surfactant replacement. The premature lungs with high alveolar permeability tend to develop pulmonary oedema. With the presence of plasma-derived surfactant inhibitors, the response to exogenous surfactant may be affected. These inhibitors may also be released following ventilator barotrauma. The standard of neonatal intensive care such as ventilatory techniques has an important bearing on the outcome of the RDS babies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Xer site-specific recombination functions in the stable maintenance of circular replicons in Escherichia coli. Each of two related recombinase proteins, XerC and XerD, cleaves a specific pair of DNA strands, exchanges them, and rejoins them to the partner DNA molecule during a complete recombination reaction. The rejoining activity of recombinase XerC has been analyzed using isolated covalent XerC-DNA complexes resulting from DNA cleavage reactions upon Holliday junction substrates. These covalent protein-DNA complexes are competent in the rejoining reaction, demonstrating that covalently bound XerC can catalyze strand rejoining in the absence of other proteins. This contrasts with a recombinase-mediated cleavage reaction, which requires the presence of both recombinases, the recombinase mediating catalysis at any given time requiring activation by the partner recombinase. In a recombining nucleoprotein complex, both cleavage and rejoining can occur prior to dissociation of the complex.


Innovation is required to develop novel interventions in order to improve quality of care. While surgeons are highly innovative, the uncontrolled introduction of unproven innovations may have adverse consequences for patients. The purpose of this article is to propose an innovation cycle whereby surgical innovations can be safely introduced into clinical practice, with a focus on the specific roles of opinion leaders, journals, specialty societies, and certification bodies.

Standardization in most aspects of production leads to more consistent and better outcomes1. While clinical medicine is more complex than industrial production, evidence-based medicine is intended to standardize and reduce variation in clinical care with the express purpose of improving quality and possibly reducing overall costs. The rationale for evidence-based orthopaedics is that best evidence should guide physicians and patients in choosing among treatment options. The consistent and widespread adoption of best practice should lead to improved clinical outcomes by decreasing inappropriate care, addressing unmet needs, and ensuring that patients receive the best treatment. Thus, evidence-based care seeks to standardize clinical practice.

Innovation, in contrast, requires experimentation and variation in practice. Innovation has the potential to create dramatic new interventions that lead to large improvements in patient outcomes. Innovation may include a new surgical technique, a new implant, a new drug, or a different service delivery model. Thus, these two strategies are potentially at odds since evidence-based practice seeks standardization and reduced variation in practice, while innovation requires variation in practice. However, both aim to improve the quality of care.

The orthopaedic literature has many examples of innovations in surgical techniques, such as total meniscectomy of the knee, a procedure that was widely adopted but proved not only to be ineffective but also harmful to patients in a few cases2-5. We propose a concept that we …


1. Reich DL, Hossain S, Krol M, et al. Predictors of hypotension after induction of general anesthesia. Anesth Analg 2005;101:622–8. 2. Luce V, Auroy Y, Ausset S, et al. Intraoperative arterial hypotension recorded by an anaesthesia information management system. Ann Fr Anesth Reanim 2004;23: 788–93. 3. Sanborn KV, Castro J, Kuroda M, Thys DM. Detection of intraoperative incidents by electronic scanning of computerized anesthesia records: comparison with voluntary reporting. Anesthesiology 1996; 85: 977–87. 4. Tremper KK. Anesthesia information systems: developing the physiologic phenotype database. Anesth Analg 2005;101: 620–1. 5. Fasting S, Gisvold SE. Data recording of problems during anaesthesia: presentation of a well-functioning and simple system. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 1996;40: 1173–83.


In the title compound, C27H19ClN2O, the quinoline system is planar, with a maximum deviation from the mean plane of 0.003 A for the N atom. This ring makes dihedral angles of 56.64 (5) and 49.26 (2)° with phenanthrene and pyrrolidine rings, respectively. The pyrrolidine ring adopts a twisted conformation. In the crystal, molecules are linked via C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming a two-dimensional network lying parallel to (010).


This study examines why some firms are better able than others to reap benefits from collaborating with their competitors in innovation. Whereas on the general level, collaborative innovation has been studied widely, and firm-specific success factors in collaboration between competitors (i.e., coopetition) have not been exhaustively addressed. Earlier literature describes coopetition as a risky but potentially rewarding relationship in which sharing, learning, and protection of knowledge are recognized as the key issues determining the possible benefits and hazards. This study provides evidence of factors related to this, suggesting that the firm's ability to acquire knowledge from external sources (potential absorptive capacity) and to protect its innovations and core knowledge against imitation (appropriability regime) are relevant in increasing the innovation outcomes of collaborating with its competitors. This study also distinguishes between incremental and radical innovations as an outcome of coopetition, and provides differing implications for the two innovation types. The empirical evidence for the study was gathered from a cross-industry survey conducted on Finnish markets. The data are analyzed with multivariate multiple regression analysis. The results of the analysis suggest that (1) potential absorptive capacity and appropriability regime of the firm both have a positive effect in the pursuit of incremental innovations in coopetition, and (2) in the case of radical innovations, appropriability regime has a positive effect, while the effect of absorptive capacity is not statistically significant. However, the results also indicate that there is a moderating relationship between these variables, in that the potential absorptive capacity is positively associated with creation of radical innovations within high levels of appropriability regime. These results yield important theoretical and managerial implications. As a whole, the results presented in this study provide new evidence on which types of firms can reap success in the challenging task of collaborative innovation with rivals. In the case of incremental innovation, a firm-level emphasis on knowledge sharing and learning will positively affect the results of coopetition, as will an emphasis on knowledge protection. Thus, when incremental developments are pursued in coopetition, firms should not only seek to exchange knowledge to create value but also remember to secure the firm-specific core knowledge within the firm's borders to stay competitive. On the other hand, when the firm is pursuing radical innovation with its rivals, the heaviest emphasis should be on protecting its existing core knowledge and also emerging novel innovations and market opportunities. Capabilities in knowledge acquisition are also beneficial in these cases, but the full benefits of knowledge exchange realize only when the firm's knowledge protection mechanisms are sufficiently strong, allowing for safe knowledge exchange between rivals.


We search numerically for asymptotically flat, static and spherically symmetric black hole configurations in a system which consists of a real scalar field non-minimally coupled to gravity. This issue has been analysed previously, assuming external considerations to the theory which, as we explain, limit the generality of the analysis. We present a method that is useful for obtaining initial conditions for numerical analysis. Our results narrow the range in which one can find black hole configurations without considering any requirements external to the theory.


More than 30,000 samples of blood serum from domestic, wild and synanthropic birds from 50 regions of the Russian Federation were submitted to the FGBI "ARRIAH" (Vladimir) Reference Laboratory for Avian Viral Diseases to be tested for avian influenza and Newcastle disease within the framework of monitoring activities conducted by the Rosselkhoznadzor in 2019. As a result of the laboratory diagnosis, antibodies to type A influenza virus were detected in vaccinated chickens from two poultry farms in the Perm and Primorsky Krais (A/N9). The detected antibodies were specific to the haemagglutinin subtype of the vaccine antigen. As for the backyards in the RF Subjects, where scheduled vaccination against avian influenza A/H5 is carried out, a low level of immunity was seen in the Rostov and Astrakhan Oblasts (35 and 44%, respectively) while a high level of immunity was observed in the Republic of Altai, Krasnodar Krai, the Chechen Republic and the Primorsky Krai (69, 78, 80 and 88%, respectively). High seroprevalence of Newcastle disease virus in adult poultry in indoor holdings was associated with mass vaccination against the disease. In broiler chickens, post-vaccination antibodies were observed, on average, in 42% of the studied blood serum samples. Antibodies to the Newcastle disease virus were detected in 39% of samples from backyard chickens. Seroprevalence in wild and synanthropic birds was high. The obtained results suggest that the risk of introduction and spread of avian influenza and Newcastle disease in industrial poultry farms and in backyards remains.


Abstract Do signers of different signed languages establish and maintain reference the same way? Here we compare how signers of five Western deaf signed languages coordinate fully conventionalized forms with more richly improvised semiotics to identify and talk about referents of varying agency. The five languages (based on a convenience sample) are Auslan, Irish Sign Language, Finnish Sign Language, Norwegian Sign Language, and Swedish Sign Language. Using ten retellings of Frog, Where Are You? from each language, we analyze tokens of referring expressions with respect to: (a) activation status (new vs. maintained vs. re-introduced); (b) semiotic strategy (e.g., pointing sign, fingerspelling, enactment); and (c) animacy (human vs. animal vs. inanimate object). Statistical analysis reveals many similarities and some differences across the languages. For example, signers of each language typically used conventionalized forms to identify new referents, and less conventional strategies to maintain and reintroduce referents. Differences were mainly observed in relation to the patterning across animacy and activation categories and in the use of fingerspelled words from ambient spoken/written languages. We suggest that doing reference in these signed languages involves both signed language-specific and ecology-specific strategies. The latter may be attributed to the different social and historical trajectories of each language.


G-protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) mediate agonist-specific phosphorylation and desensitization of G-protein-coupled receptors. Previous studies have shown that several of these kinases are expressed in hematopoietic cells and that GRK expression is modulated during T-lymphocyte activation. Here, we analyzed the regulation of beta-adrenergic receptor kinase (betaARK) and GRK6 expression and activity in myelomonocytic and lymphoid cells. In the promyelocytic cell line HL-60, GRK6 protein levels and activity rose twofold to fourfold over the course of treatment with agents that induce differentiation toward either the myeloid (dimethyl sulfoxide and retinoic acid) or monocytic [1alpha,25(OH)2-vitamin D3] lineage, whereas betaARK protein levels and activity were only slightly altered. In contrast, treatment with phorbol 12,13-myristic acetate (PMA) led to a reduction in steady-state levels and activity of both betaARK and GRK6. Treatment of human lymphocytes with several polyclonal activators (phytohemagglutinin, anti-CD3 antibody and interleukin-2) resulted in enhanced betaARK and GRK6 mRNA and protein levels and increased activity of both kinases. In contrast, PMA and calcium ionophore treatment significantly elevated GRK6 protein levels, while decreasing betaARK expression. These data demonstrate that betaARK and GRK6 expression are differentially regulated during myelomonocytic cell development and lymphocyte activation.


Dear Sir, It is widely recognized that 3-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) is useful for diagnosing facial bone fractures.1 However, it can be sometimes difficult to obtain such specialized 3D-CT images from radiologists because of the unusual and specific nature of the request. Moreover, it sometimes takes a long time before the 3D photographs are received. Consequently, we have developed a system by which plastic surgeons themselves can immediately and precisely determine the details of a facial fracture. This system involves the use of a personal laptop computer on which a Digital Imaging and Communications (DICOM) viewer has been preinstalled. This viewer is used as follows. When a patient with suspected facial bone fractures comes to the emergency outpatient clinic, the "volumetric data" of the fractures are captured by the multidetector-row CT with either 8-, 16-, 32-, 64-, or 256-row scanners. The CT images can be reconstructed with the maximum intensity projection and the volume rendering technique. This reconstructed DICOM data can then be analyzed by the plastic surgeon by using the software "OsiriX" (http://www.osirix-viewer.com/), which will work on a personal laptop computer. The author employs a Macintosh OS X for this purpose. There are several advantages of using this portable DICOM viewer system, which are listed as follows:


In this study, for experimental area with a ground area of 120 m2 determined in district Midyat of province Mardin in the hot climate zone of Turkey, analysis of energy and exergy are applied to the system by investigating the results of experimental studies for the heating season of solar assisted vertical type ground source heat pump integrated with fan coil system. Solar energy is used with the aim of sustaining the heat pump system. Instant data records were taken in the heating process (01.10.2013 / 31.03.2014) for the 14 node points determined in the installed system. In the analysis of experimental data through immediate data recording, the COP value of the system was 3.61, the energy loss was 8.9952 kW, the loss of exergy was 6.2673 kW, the energy efficiency was 64.52% and the second law efficiency was 24.51%. In the heating season, solar energy's rate of meeting energy need of the heat pump system was found to be 9.75%. The elements with the most loss of exergy in the system are designated as collectors and compressors. In this context, it has been determined that priority should be given to compressor for improvement studies to be considered. As a result, it has been determined that the system examined for Mardin Province is appropriate.