Introduction : In the context of endometrial cancer, visceral obesity as a risk factor is associated with achronic inflammatory process, confirmed by the increase in inflammatory marker levels. Material and Method : The study is a case-control analysis including 2 groups of patients: group I – 50 patientsdiagnosed with endometrial cancer, group II – 70 patients without gynecological pathology orinflammatory disorders (control group). The diagnosis of endometrial cancer was made followinghistopathological examination that evaluated the tissue material obtained following endometrialbiopsy. After clinical examination and anthropometric measurements, these patients underwentultrasound and computer tomography examination by which intraperitoneal fat was determined. All parameters were included in the study database. Results : A significant correlation coefficient was alsofound between visceral fat evaluated by CT and visceral fat assessed by US (r =0.96, p<0.0001). Inthe case of the control group, the mean visceral fat area was 159.14±42.5 cm2), while in the groupof patients with endometrial cancer, the mean visceral fat area was 251.37±59.78 cm2. Thus, there isa statistically significant difference in intraperitoneal fat between the two groups (p<0.0001). Conclusions : A visceral fat area larger than 250 cm2 is a risk factor for endometrial cancer. Themeasurement of visceral fat by US can be a screening method for endometrial cancer in obesepatients.


We analytically compute the internal electric fields in a spherical model and numerically calculate the fields in the head of a realistic human model exposed to the incident magnetic fields only or to both the incident electric and magnetic fields. We then investigate the effects of ignoring the electric fields incident on a biological object that is exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from an IF source, such as an induction hob or a wireless power transmission system, in which the magnetic fields are generally dominant. The induced electric fields inside a lossy dielectric sphere exposed to a plane wave are computed using rigorous formulas and quasi-static approximation (QSA) formulas. The highest frequency to which a QSA is valid and the difference made by ignoring the incident electric fields by varying the ratio of incident electric field intensity to incident magnetic field intensity (field impedance, <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$E/H$</tex></formula>) are investigated through this computation. We also estimate the internal electric fields and specific absorption rates in the head of a Japanese adult male model exposed to EMFs or to magnetic fields only at 1 and 10 MHz with the finite-difference time-domain method, a full-wave analysis that takes both electric and magnetic fields into consideration, and the impedance method, a QSA calculation that takes only the magnetic fields into consideration. The <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$E/H$</tex></formula> ratio must be lower than 17 <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$\Omega$</tex></formula> to ignore the electric fields incident on the sphere with errors of less than 5% from 10 Hz to 10 MHz. The difference made by ignoring the incident electric fields in the realistic head model is a little larger than that in the sphere model. The results suggest that we should carefully consider <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$E/H$</tex> </formula> to exactly evaluate the dosimetry.


Road bridges are typically designed with a 100-year lifetime, so protective coatings with very long durability are desired. Thermal spray zinc (TSZ) duplex coatings have proven to be very durable. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) has specified TSZ duplex coatings for protection of steel bridges since 1965. In this study, the performance of TSZ duplex coatings on 61 steel bridges has been analyzed. Based on corrosivity measurements on five bridges, a corrosivity category was estimated for each bridge in the study. Coating performance was evaluated from pictures taken by the NPRA during routine inspections of the bridges. The results show that very long lifetimes can be achieved with TSZ duplex coatings. There are examples of 50-year old bridges with duplex coatings in good condition. Even in very corrosive environments, more than 40-year old coatings are still in good condition. While there are a few bridges in this study where the coating failed after only about 20 years, the typical coating failures are due to application errors, low paint film thickness and saponification of the paint. Modern bridge designs and improved coating systems are assumed to increase the duplex coating lifetime on bridges even further.


Decreased availability of arginine and impaired production of NO (nitric oxide) have been implicated in the development of endothelial dysfunction. Citrulline formed by the NOS reaction is recycled to arginine by the citrulline-NO cycle, which is composed of NOS, argininosuccinate synthetase (AS), and argininosuccinate lyase. Therefore, we investigated the alterations of these enzymes in the aorta of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. eNOS and AS mRNAs were increased by three- to fourfold 1-2 weeks after STZ treatment and decreased at 4 weeks. AL mRNA was weakly induced. Induction of eNOS and AS proteins was also observed. Cationic amino acid transporter (CAT)-1 mRNA remained little changed, and CAT-2 mRNA was not detected. The plasma nitrogen oxide levels were increased 1-2 weeks after STZ treatment and decreased at 4 weeks. Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) mRNA in the aorta was also induced. TGF-beta1 induced eNOS and AS mRNAs in human umbilical vein endothelial cells but inhibited the proliferation of HUVEC. These results indicate that eNOS and AS are coinduced in the aorta in early stages of STZ-induced diabetic rats and that the induction is mediated by TGF-beta1. The results also suggest that TGF-beta1 works antiatherogenically at early stages of diabetes by increasing NO production, whereas prolonged elevation of TGF-beta1 functions atherogenically by inhibiting endothelial cell growth.


Institutional history has not had the wind in its sails over the past generation. This is unfortunate because, at its best, it brings together all that makes historical works exciting and intelligible. This remarkable volume, to which it is difficult to do justice in this short review, exemplifies what good institutional history can achieve. It is the culmination of a project that began in 1994 by publishing on CD-Rom a searchable transcription and index of the deliberations from all forty-six sessions of the Estates of Languedoc from 1648 to 1789 — a research asset of the first importance and a formidable achievement (Les Délibérations des états de Languedoc: 46 sessions de 1648 à 1789, ed. Arlette Jouanna and Élie Pélaquier (Montpellier: CRISES–Université de Montpellier III, 2009)). This volume completes the project with a thorough and magisterial investigation of the Estates of Languedoc on the basis of the impressive bulk of the relevant documentation. Its thirtythree chapters are mostly written by the principal directors of the work, writing independently or collaboratively; but additional specialists contribute chapters on the Estates of Languedoc and the Protestant minority in Languedoc, the Enlightenment, and constitutional debates leading up to the Estates-General in 1789. The whole makes for a coherent ensemble, presenting a clearly thought through position on the chronology and status of the Languedoc Estates in the period from the Edict of Béziers (1632) to 1789. The Estates were not the shadow of a powerful and independent entity, the subordination of which began in 1632, and which was progressively hobbled into a corrupt adjunct of the Ancien Régime monarchy; on the contrary, their significance as an important mediator and partner in governing this huge province began to emerge in the seventeenth century, and reached its apogee in the eighteenth century with its more complex administrative tasks and role as a broker in monarchical finance and borrowing. Their financial role was at the heart of divergent views about the Estates: the Chambre des comptes in Montpellier, sometimes with the connivance of royal intendants, was inclined to believe that the provincial Estates, which headed up (as this work amply documents) a complex substructure of local deliberative assemblies and officials, were an unnecessarily cumbersome and expensive machinery for diverting resources from the crown and into local pockets. The Estates, and increasingly in the eighteenth century the monarchy itself, championed their positive role, one which would emerge in Alexis de Tocqueville's famous analysis. This study of the complex financial mechanisms at the heart of the Estates shows why neither view was correct. The individuals, the politics, the dynamics, and the institutional culture of the Estates are all illuminated thoroughly in these pages, to the accompaniment of excellently prepared tables, maps, and index. The volume is a triumphal tribute to the virtues of institutional history, properly understood, and to the collaborative role of this institution within the absolute monarchy.


Previous studies have shown that the bradykinin agonist, RMP-7, can safely permeabilize the blood brain barrier (BBB) by activation of constitutive B2 receptors on endothelial cells. The paper describes a series of studies using quantitative autoradiography and intracarotid infusions of RMP-7 to further elucidate the effect on BBB permeability. Because earlier studies also demonstrated that even greater effects of RMP-7 were observed in the BBB associated with brain tumors, animal models were employed so that comparisons could be made between the effects of RMP-7 within tumor, brain tissue proximal to tumor, and brain tissue distal from tumor. In the first study, the effect of RMP-7 on enhancing the BBB permeation of three compounds of different physical characteristics was directly compared ([14C]carboplatin, small, hydrophilic; [14C]dextran, large, hydrophilic; [14C]BCNU, small, lipophilic). RMP-7 increased permeability of the vascular barriers to both hydrophilic compounds, carboplatin and dextran. While the effects of RMP-7 were observed on nontumor BBB, the greatest and most consistent effects were observed on the blood brain tumor barrier. This was true for both carboplatin and dextran, with progressively less effect seen as the distance from tumor boundary increased. This topographic effect was more pronounced with the larger molecular weight compound, dextran. No effect of RMP-7 was seen in permeabilizing the BBB or the blood brain tumor barrier for the lipophilic drug, BCNU. In a second study, the generality of RMP-7's effects was established by demonstrating similar increases in permeability to carboplatin in both inbred (Fischer 344) and outbred (Wistar) rat strains, implanted with varying tumor cell lines. Finally, several additional studies were performed to gain greater insight into the dynamics involved with eventual restoration of the BBB following RMP-7 administration. In one series, it was demonstrated that the BBB begins to close nearly immediately upon withdrawal of RMP-7, with complete restoration occurring within minutes. In another series, tachyphylaxis or desensitization resulting from continuous RMP-7 infusion was studied. These studies demonstrated that 60 min of continuous RMP-7 infusion resulted in complete, spontaneous restoration of the barrier to both carboplatin and dextran. Moreover, the desensitization appears to be linked to the initial activation of the receptors in a way which suggests that obligatory desensitization may exist as part of a more complete response. These data are discussed as they relate to practical issues to enhance delivery of drugs across the BBB, as well as more fundamental issues involving the function of the BBB and its interaction with the brain.


Objectives : It will be necessary to make statement about the competence targeted in the dental hygienic education that adopts the competence-based curriculum from the standpoint of core competence which the students need to be equipped with in the society. Methods : To achieve the education objective of Dental Hygienics, the information available on the website of the Korean Dental Association, universities and graduate schools were used, and the education objectives of the concerned universities which were posted in the websites of 82 universities from July to August, 2011 were analyzed. Results : C7 and C1 accounted for 21.1%, the highest percentage, in the core capability, while HP1 comprised 79.6% in the health improvement and disease prevention. CM1 stood at 73.7%, the highest percentage, in the community involvement(CM) area, and PC4 accounted for 90.8%, the highest percentage, in the patient care(PC) area. In the professional growth and development(PGD) area, PGD1 was the highest, followed by PGD3. In relation to the comments on the occupational types after graduation, 63.1% of respondents mentioned the dental hygienists at the school, while 33.3% did not make any comment on the dental hygienists. Conclusions It was necessary to re-establish the essential objectives of the graduates based on the competence as the accomplishments of studying and learning in the department of dental hygiene. It may be a useful method to set the competency-based education objective on the basis of the implementation ability and the level of graduates.


Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) modality has been widely employed to measure neuronal activations of the human brain using such as a model-based general linear model (GLM) and data-driven independent component analysis (ICA) approaches. In this study, we were motivated to investigate the performance of two popular methods with a hypothesis that these methods would have advantages and disadvantages depending on the variability of the fMRI data across subjects in both temporal and spatial domain. To quantitatively evaluate two methods, the pseudo-real fMRI data were generated by combining the decomposed non-neuronal components estimated from real resting-state fMRI data and artificially generated neuronal components with varying degree of temporal and spatial pattern variability of task related activation patterns in an individual level. Using the pseudo-real fMRI data, the assessment of each method was conducted by comparing the estimated activations to reference neuronal activations. Our results indicated that the degree of spatial overlap size across subjects and degree of temporal pattern variability would be important factor to choose a proper analytical method.


B7-H3, also called CD276, is a type I transmem-brane glycoprotein that is encoded on human chromosome 15. It was discovered back in 2001. The original study described it as a positive co-stimulant, as it can stimulate T-cell response and IFN-γ production. However, recent researches have shown that B7-H3 is involved in T-cell inhibition. A B7-H3 receptor has not been yet identified, and this may explain the complex immunomodu-latory activity of B7-H3, as it can have more than one binding partner with different functions. Expression of the B7-H3 protein has been found on activated immune cells such as T-cells, NK cells and antigen presenting cells. Interestingly, it is overexpressed in a wide range of tumor cells and is associated with disease progression and outcome. The soluble form of this protein is also of particular interest. Increased sB7-H3 levels in the plasma of bone tumor patients might be their im-portant diagnostic criterion.


Competition for sulfur among Trifolium hirtum, Bromus mollis, and Erodium botrys was studied under adequate (20 lb./acre) and inadequate (5 lb./acre) levels of sulfur and three temperatures (10 degrees, 15.5 degrees, and 21.1 degrees C) under controlled environment conditions. At low levels of sulfur there was little difference in yield or sulfur uptake among the three species with regard to temperature when grown in mono-, di-, or trispecific combinations. In general, both sulfur uptake and yield increased slightly with increasing temperature. At the adequate sulfur level there was a large increase in yield and sulfur uptake of T. hirtum both when grown alone and in combination with other species. This increase was most marked at higher temperatures; it was reduced by the presence of B. mollis, but was unaffected by the presence of E. botrys. The growth and sulfur uptake of B. mollis was increased somewhat by the presence of T. hirtum, but was unaffected by the presence of E. botrys.


Polar code lattices are formed from binary polar codes using Construction D. In this paper, we propose a design technique for finite-dimension polar code lattices. The dimension $n$ and target probability of decoding error are parameters for this design. To select the rates of the Construction D component codes, rather than using the capacity as in past work, we use the explicit finite-length properties of the polar code. Under successive cancellation decoding, density evolution allows choosing code rates that satisfy the equal error probability rule. At an error-rate of $10^{-4}$, a dimension $n=128$ polar code lattice achieves a VNR of 2.5 dB, within 0.2 dB of the best-known BCH code lattice, but with significantly lower decoding complexity.


OBJECTIVE
Evaluate the association between AGD and the risk of PCa.

METHODS
Incident case-control study, conducted on 153 patients. All patients underwent prostate biopsy for abnormal digital rectal exam and/or prostate antigen elevation. Two variants of AGD [anus to scrotum base (AGDas) and anus to dorsal insertion of penis (AGDap) were measured. Student's t-test was used to analyze continuous variables and chi-square for discrete variables. Differences in AGD (raw and adjusted) measures between cases and controls were assessed using the ANCOVA test.

RESULTS
There is significant association between the diagnose of PCa and both AGD, patients diagnosed with PCa had both AGD measures shortened, in the crude and the full adjusted models.

CONCLUSIONS
This research suggests that the same gestational environmental exposures, could represent a weak androgen signaling and may also have an increased risk of prostate cancer.


Summary Lake Bogoria is a perennial, saline, alkaline closed lake fed by hot springs and ephemeral runoff. Detailed studies of the sedimentology, mineralogy and chemistry of the late Quaternary sediments, both from exposures around the shoreline and from lake bottom cores, have provided abundant evidence for early diagenesis and mineral precipitation. Marginal fan-deltaic clastics exhibit carbonate (calcite, dolomite), iron oxide, opaline silica and zeolite (analcime, natrolite) cements, especially where groundwater is shallow and subject to evaporative concentration. Travertines associated with microbial activity around hydrothermal springs are predominantly calcite; high temperature, inorganically precipitated travertines are aragonitic. Most are relic deposits. In places, spring carbonates have been silicified (opal-A) or altered to fluorite in response to changing groundwater composition. Fan-delta conglomerates have been hydrothermally altered by alkaline spring waters yielding zeolites (analcime, thomsonite, clinoptiloite, mordenite), clay minerals, opaline silica and magadiite. The lacustrine sediments include prodeltaic clastics, organic oozes and sodium carbonate evaporites. Trona and nahcolite predominate in the central sub-basin. The local occurrence of thermonatrite may be associated with sub-lacustrine hydrothermal activity. In the north subbasin, evaporites are exclusively gaylussite. Sodium silicates (magadiite, kanemite) occur in black organic oozes and formed in an anoxic environment rich in sodium carbonate and dissolved SiO2. Other authigenic minerals in the lacustrine sediments include pyrite, siderite, fluorite, zeolites (analcime, mordenite, clinoptilolite), opaline silica (formed from a gel precursor around sub-lacustrine springs?) and vivianite.


Under conditions of Organic Farming, we investigated whether direct seeding of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) into straw mulch from residues of precrop oats used for weed control enables at least occasional/opportunistic direct seeding in Organic Agriculture. Eight field trials were carried out at different study sites in North RhineWestphalia, Germany, in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. Direct seeding (DS) was performed into mulch layers of 0, 4 and 6 t ha of straw residues applied to the remaining stubble, simulating different yield levels of the precrop oats. LBS was used as a reference treatment, where straw was harvested, stubble tillage performed and seedbed prepared in fall and oil radish (Raphanus sativus) grown as winter cover crop. Mouldboard ploughing combined with conventional seedbed preparation was performed in early spring to V. faba. Compared with LBS, straw mulch with subsequent direct seeding suppressed especially dicotyledonous annuals significantly. DS treatments with straw reduced the abundance of this group by 81 and 85% compared with LBS. Straw mulch resulted in effective suppression of photosensitive weeds such as Matricaria spp. and late germinating Chenopodium album. Grasses and perennial species occurred independent of the amount of straw. Compared with DS, the abundance of these weeds was reduced by 64 and 82% in LBS treatment. The shoot dry matter production of faba bean was retarded by DS compared with LBS, but significant yield losses could be avoided with straw residues of at least 4 t ha. Sufficient amount of straw of from the previous crop is a key criterion to facilitate organic no-till farming of faba bean in a suitable crop sequence when pressure of perennials and grasses is low. 26. Deutsche Arbeitsbesprechung über Fragen der Unkrautbiologie und -bekämpfung, 11.-13. März 2014 in Braunschweig 484 Julius-Kühn-Archiv, 443, 2014


Despite Ghana's strong democratic track record in recent decades, the economy remains underdeveloped. Industrial policies are necessary to transform the colonial trading economy that Ghana inherited at independence, but successive governments have been unwilling or unable to implement them. In this highly original interpretation, supported by new empirical material, Lindsay Whitfield exposes the reasons for why the Ghanaian economy remains underdeveloped and sets her theory in the wider African context. She offers a new way of thinking about the political economy of Africa that charts a clear path away from defining Africa in terms of neopatrimonial politics and that provides new conceptual tools for addressing what kind of business-state relations are necessary to drive economic development. As a study of Ghana that addresses both the economy and politics from early colonialism to the present day, this is a must-read for any student or scholar interested in the political economy of development in Africa.


Reducing the environmental impact of aviation is a primary goal of NASA aeronautics research. One approach to achieve this goal is to build lighter weight aircraft, which presents complex challenges due to a corresponding increase in structural flexibility. Wing flexibility can adversely affect aircraft performance from the perspective of aerodynamic efficiency and safety. Knowledge of the wing position during flight can aid active control methods designed to mitigate problems due to increased wing flexibility. Current approaches to measuring wing deflection, including strain measurement devices, accelerometers, or GPS solutions, and new technologies such as fiber optic strain sensors, have limitations for their practical application to flexible aircraft control. Hence, it was proposed to use a biomimetic optical sensor based on the common housefly's vision system to track wing deflection in real-time. This fly eye sensor has several advantages over conventional sensors used for this application, including light weight, low power requirements, fast computation, and a small form factor. This paper reports on the fly eye sensor development and its application to real-time wing deflection measurement.


Leuconostoc mesenteoides is commonly used in fermented food. The study on developing molecularly targeted drugs to achieve a higher grade of drug delivery system that is one of the indispensable issues in pharmaceutical fields. This paper reported the effects of carbon sources including in glucose, maltose, lactose, saccharose at the different concentrations as 0, 5, 10, 20, 30 g/L on the cell differentiation of Leuconostoc mesenteroides VTCC-B-871. As results, L. mesenteoides VTCC-B-871 formed minicells with highly significant number of 4.6 ± 0.3 (%) starting cells in modified MRS broth with 20 % glucose. The minicells were collected and checked for the less than 400 nm in size and round shape under scanning electron microscope. Minicells (6x10 5 ) showed effect against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, equaled to 0.85 µg of silver nitrate (AgNO3) in agar diffusion test. Moreover, minicells (6x10 5 ) could package with 0.069 µg AgNO3, approximately. Therefore, minicell could be used as a nanoparticle as well as a potential drug delivery in pharmaceutical science.


Traditional multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithms are not scalable to environments with more than a few agents, since these algorithms are exponential in the number of agents. Recent research has introduced successful methods to scale multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithms to many agent scenarios using mean field theory. Previous work in this field assumes that an agent has access to exact cumulative metrics regarding the mean field behaviour of the system, which it can then use to take its actions. In this paper, we relax this assumption and maintain a distribution to model the uncertainty regarding the mean field of the system. We consider two different settings for this problem. In the first setting, only agents in a fixed neighbourhood are visible, while in the second setting, the visibility of agents is determined at random based on distances. For each of these settings, we introduce a Q-learning based algorithm that can learn effectively. We prove that this Q-learning estimate stays very close to the Nash Q-value (under a common set of assumptions) for the first setting. We also empirically show our algorithms outperform multiple baselines in three different games in the MAgents framework, which supports large environments with many agents learning simultaneously to achieve possibly distinct goals.


We obtain asymptotic expansions for probabilities of moderate deviations for stationary causal processes. The imposed dependence conditions are easily verifiable and they are directly related to the data-generating mechanism of the underlying processes. The results are applied to functionals of linear processes and nonlinear time series. We carry out a simulation study and investigate the relationship between accuracy of tail probabilities and the strength of dependence.


Background Twice-daily dosing of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) may reduce drug adherence compared with once-daily dosing of NOACs in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), thus worsening clinical outcomes. We evaluated adherence to apixaban and dabigatran requiring twice-daily dosing compared with edoxaban or rivaroxaban with a once-daily dosing regimen and the subsequent clinical outcomes in patients with AF. Methods Adherence to each NOAC and outcomes were compared between patients who were diagnosed with AF and initiated NOACs between 2016 and 2017 using Korean claims data. High adherence was defined as the proportion of days covered (PDC) of the index NOAC ≥80%. The clinical outcomes included stroke, acute myocardial infarction, death, and composite outcome. Results A total of 33,515 patients were analyzed (mean follow-up, 1.7 ± 1.3 years). The proportion of patients with high adherence to NOACs was 95%, which did not significantly differ according to the dosing regimen. The mean PDC for NOACs was as high as ~96%, which was the highest for apixaban users, intermediate for edoxaban or rivaroxaban users, and lowest for dabigatran users, regardless of the dosing regimen. Adverse outcomes in low adherence patients for each NOAC were higher than that of high adherence patients, regardless of the dosing frequency. Conclusions Adherence between once- and twice-daily dosing NOACs in patients with AF was high and similar among both dosing regimens. Patients with low NOAC adherence had poorer clinical outcomes, regardless of the dosing frequency.


ABSTRACT In the last few years, several end-user tools have been designed to help people who are not professional developers in programming their smart environments. However, such tools are often based on structured visual editors providing abstract representations of the available connected sensors and objects, which can be problematic for end users, and do not particularly encourage their participation. This work aims to make the end-user experience of creating everyday automations involving various types of connected sensors and objects more engaging by replacing extensive, static, structured and comprehensive abstract visual tools with more narrowed, relevant, context-sensitive, dynamic, augmented reality-based representations. We present a solution for this purpose that mobile users can exploit through their smartphone. End users can use the smartphone camera to frame the relevant sensor or object through the developed prototype, then get the current automations associated with it, edit their definition, create new ones as well as monitor the automations involving the whole current environment. We also report a first user test of the developed prototype deployed in a home equipped with connected sensors and objects, which yielded positive feedback.


BACKGROUND
Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a main reason for paclitaxel (TAX) treatment failure. Indirubin-3'-monoxime (IRO) and Matrine are traditional Chinese medicines, which may reverse the resistance of tumor cells to some chemotherapy drugs, but the relationship between paclitaxel resistance and Matrine is still unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the potential molecular mechanism of IRO and Matrine in reversal of TAX resistance.

METHODS
In this study, MTT assay was used to measure the non-cytotoxic dosage of IRO and Matrine on NCI-H520/TAX25 cells and determine the reversal extent of TAX resistance under non-toxic doses. In addition, RT-PCR and Western blotting were used to evaluate the mRNA expression and the protein level of survivin, Oct-4, and Sox-2 in NCI-H520/TAX25 cells using semi-quantitative methods.

RESULTS
There was no obvious inhibition on sensitive cell strains and drug-resistant strains, when the final concentration was at lest 4 µmol/L for IRO and 100 µmol/L for Matrine. So 4 µmol/L of IRO and 100 µmol/L of Matrine were considered as the reversal dosage. When 4 µmol/L of IRO or 100 µmol/L of Matrine were used together with TAX, the sensitivity to TAX increased evidently in NCI-H520/TAX2 cells; the reversal rate of IRO and Matrine was about 1.92 (43.56/22.6 nmol/L) and 1.74 (43.56/25.0 nmol/L), respectively. The mRNA expression and the protein level of survivin, Oct-4, and Sox-2 in NCI-H520/TAX25 decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after addition of IRO or Matrine in TAX treatment, compared to that of TAX treatment alone.

CONCLUSION
The decrease in both mRNA expression and protein level of survivin, Oct-4, and Sox-2 might be the molecular mechanism, by which IRO and Matrine mediate the reversal of TAX resistance.


Since the Korean criminal DNA database was launched in 2010, we have focused on establishing an automated DNA database profiling system that analyzes short tandem repeat loci in a high‐throughput and cost‐effective manner. We established a DNA database profiling system without DNA purification using a direct PCR buffer system. The quality of direct PCR procedures was compared with that of conventional PCR system under their respective optimized conditions. The results revealed not only perfect concordance but also an excellent PCR success rate, good electropherogram quality, and an optimal intra/inter‐loci peak height ratio. In particular, the proportion of DNA extraction required due to direct PCR failure could be minimized to <3%. In conclusion, the newly developed direct PCR system can be adopted for automated DNA database profiling systems to replace or supplement conventional PCR system in a time‐ and cost‐saving manner.


Numerous authors reported a prevalence of perfectionism in gifted populations. In addition, an unhealthy form of perfectionism that leads to anxiety disorder has been described. Using self-report measures (CAPS and R-CMAS) with 132 children, we hypothesized that intellectually gifted children express a higher level of perfectionism and anxiety. Our results pointed out a paradox: the gifted group obtained a higher self-oriented perfectionism score than the control group in 6th grade, but present the same level of anxiety. In contrast, the gifted group showed the same level of perfectionism than non-gifted 5th graders, but reported a higher anxiety level. Thus, the interplay between perfectionism and anxiety appears to be more complex than a simple linear relationship in giftedness.


The ability to successfully grasp objects is crucial in robotics, as it enables several interactive downstream applications. To this end, most approaches either compute the full 6D pose for the object of interest or learn to predict a set of grasping points. While the former approaches do not scale well to multiple object instances or classes yet, the latter require large annotated datasets and are hampered by their poor generalization capabilities to new geometries. To overcome these shortcomings, we propose to teach a robot how to grasp an object with a simple and short human demonstration. Hence, our approach neither requires many annotated images nor is it restricted to a specific geometry. We first present a small sequence of RGB-D images displaying a human-object interaction. This sequence is then leveraged to build associated hand and object meshes that represent the depicted interaction. Subsequently, we complete missing parts of the reconstructed object shape and estimate the relative transformation between the reconstruction and the visible object in the scene. Finally, we transfer the a-priori knowledge from the relative pose between object and human hand with the estimate of the current object pose in the scene into necessary grasping instructions for the robot. Exhaustive evaluations with Toyota's Human Support Robot (HSR) in real and synthetic environments demonstrate the applicability of our proposed methodology and its advantage in comparison to previous approaches.


Low-dose irradiation of the neck in childhood is associated with a markedly increased incidence of thyroid cancer. Such carcinomas have almost all been well differentiated, papillary or follicular types. This paper describes the development of metastatic anaplastic thyroid carcinoma in cervical lymph nodes a year after subtotal thyroidectomy for well-differentiated papillary carcinoma in a 32-year-old man who had had low-dose cervical irradiation at the age of 7 years. It appears that irradiation-related thyroid carcinomas, in at least a very small number of people, may be associated with aggressive carcinoma.


Abstract. The city of Cadiz, located in a peninsula, was initially defended by its only land access through a wall of land extended from coast to coast across the isthmus; this access was erected at the beginning of the 16th century. After being devastated by an Anglo-Dutch attack in 1596 (where they had access by this flank), Felipe II decided to rebuild the city and this defensive element. Furthermore, after the Spanish War of Succession, Puerta Tierra [Land Gate] experienced a considerable metamorphosis that would complete its integration in the first quarter of the 18th century, becoming now a complete defensive system that would protect one of the most important squares of the Kingdom of Spain. In this sense, this work can be considered one of the most representative examples of the application of military treatises based on the ideas developed by the French marshal Vauban and applied by the Spanish engineer Ignacio Sala. This research focuses on the defensive elements whose works, which were developed between approximately 1730 and 1760, involved large earthworks and an intensive use of the oyster stones, resulting in the final configuration of the work. The analysis developed below is based on the plans prepared by the Spanish engineers involved in this construction.


Chronic renal failure is a common complication of spinal cord injury. When end-stage renal disease supervenes in the spinal cord injured patient, hemodialysis has almost exclusively been selected for its long-term management. Though a number of theoretical concerns exist which might dissuade one from the active use of peritoneal dialysis, in practice, this dialytic modality can be safely and effectively employed in this patient population. Herein we discuss the successful long-term use of peritoneal dialysis in two spinal cord injured patients.


Purpose: Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been extensively studied for their potential biomarker value in patients with acute coronary syndromes. However, the association between miRNAs and the diagnostic and prognostic in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) has received less attention.

Methods: 294 patients with acute dyspnea (236 AHF and 58 non-AHF), and 44 patients with stable chronic heart failure (CHF), were included in this prospective, single-center case-control study. This study was set up in the emergency department and in the 10-bed cardiac intensive care unit of an academic hospital. Circulating levels of miR-1/-21/-23/-126/-423-5p were assessed by quantitative PCR in plasma samples obtained at admission and after 5 days.

Results: At admission, levels of miR-21 and miR-23 were comparable among AHF, non-AHF and CHF patients. Levels of miR-1 were lower in AHF and stable CHF patients compared to non-AHF patients (p=0.0016). Levels of miR-126 and miR-423-5p were lower in AHF and in non-AHF patients compared to stable CHF patients (both p<0.001). All miRNAs had a poor diagnostic value for AHF. During the 5 days post admission, miRNA levels were stable in AHF patients. In non-AHF patients, levels of miR-23, miR-126 and miR-423-5p decreased over the same period. Interestingly, admission levels of miR-423-5p were lower in patients who were re-admitted to the hospital, mostly for cardiovascular disease, in the year following the index hospitalization compared to patients who were not (p=0.0001). Adjusted odds ratios [95% confidence interval] for one-year readmission was 0.70 [0.53-0.93] for miR-423-5p (p=0.01). Admission levels of the five miRNAs were not associated with one-year mortality.

Conclusion: In AHF patients, low circulating levels of miR-423-5p at presentation are associated with hospital readmission. This study supports the value of miR-423-5p as prognostic biomarker of AHF.


These last few months the move toward the standardization of electronic purses has gained considerable momentum. Card issuers and newspapers present this move as crucial for crossborder transactions, and especially urgent for the Euro-zone. Starting from the network externalities theory, I argue that interoperability is more important for electronic commerce over the Internet than for real-world cross-border transactions.


PURPOSE
To demonstrate the usefulness of ethinyl estradiol, a drug no longer commercially produced in most countries, in treating various fertility related issues.

METHODS
Twenty to 40 micrograms of ethinyl estradiol can be started on day 2 or 3 of the cycle and combined with exogenous gonadotropin can be useful in improving hostile cervical mucus or inducing ovulation in women with hypergonadotropic amenorrhea. It can be used from the day after stopping clomiphene citrate to help negate the adverse effect of this drug on cervical mucus.

RESULTS
Successful pregnancies have been achieved saving the couple the expense of intrauterine insemination (IUI) or using donor oocytes.

CONCLUSIONS
This drug can be very helpful for those physicians who treat each infertile woman on an individual basis and carefully ascertain the couple's input as to their preferences rather than a "herd" type of medicine.


The relentless growth in Mexico City's aviation traffic has inevitably strained capacity development of its airport, raising the dilemma between the possible solutions. In the present study, Mexico's Multi-Airport System is subjected to analysis by means of multi-model simulation, focusing on the capacity-demand problem of the system. The methodology combines phases of modelling, data collection, simulation, experimental design, and analysis. Drawing a distinction from previous works involving two-airport systems. It also explores the challenges raised by the Covid-19 pandemic in Mexico City airport operations, with a discrete-event simulation model of a multi-airport system composed by three airports (MEX, TLC, and the new airport NLU). The study is including the latest data of flights, infrastructures, and layout collected in 2021. Therefore, the paper aims to answer to the question of whether the system will be able to cope with the expected demand in a short-, medium-, and long-term by simulating three future scenarios based on aviation forecasts. The study reveals potential limitations of the system as time evolves and the feasibility of a joint operation to absorb the demand in such a big region like Mexico City. © 2022 The Authors.


In metabolic diseases such as obesity, metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes, the over-expression of uncoupling proteins (UCPs) in a response to increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation by mitochondrial respiratory complexes, and to the excess of free fatty acid (FFA) supply from adipose tissue, may protect cells from oxidative stress, lipotoxicity and in turn from death. UCPs by reducing superoxide anion and H2O2 generation trigger several signals to cell for their adaptation to the lipotoxic microenvironment. In mitochondria, a decrease of cytochrome c (cyt c) and proapoptotic protein release promotes cell survival and proliferation. The altered lipid metabolism also affects cardiolipin susceptibility to the peroxidation, a process involved in the dissociation of cyt c from mitochondrial inner membrane and its release, a key step of apoptosis. Therefore, UCPs by attenuating ROS generation and lipotoxicity may downregulate programmed cell death, a well-known physiological process controlling cell proliferation contributing to uncontrolled cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. In addition, tumor cells over-expressed UCPs, by inhibiting ROS generation acquire resistance to death during pharmacological treatment with oxidative stress drug inducers. Therefore, the aim of this review is to discuss recent findings regarding the role that UCPs play in cell survival by protecting against ROS generation and maintaining bioenergetic metabolism homeostasis to promote cell proliferation.


Background: Thapsigargin (TG) is a cytotoxic natural product isolated in high yields from the plant Thapsia garganica. In the NCI 60 Cancer Cell Line screen, TG has a GI 50 of ∼10 -10 M which compares favorably with agents such as paclitaxel (10 -8 M) and doxorubicin (10 -7 M) in this assay. TG is a non-cell type specific cytotoxin that kills cells in a proliferation independent manner via its potent inhibition of a critical intracellular protein, the Sarcoplasmic/Endoplasmic Reticulum Calcium ATPase (SERCA) pump. Sustained inhibition of the SERCA pump by TG produces an elevation of intracellular calcium to micromolar levels which induces apoptosis via activation of the ER stress response and release of apoptotic factors from the mitochondria. TG has no therapeutic index in vivo with an LD 100 of 0.2 mg/kg.Methods: In order to create a theraputic index that would allow for sytemic therapy of human breast cancer we generated prodrugs by coupling water soluble acidic amino acid containing peptides to a potent analog of thapsigargin, (12Aminododecanoyl)-8-O debutanoylthapsigargin (12ADT). In addition to solubilization, the peptide also serves to mask the cytotoxicity of the TG analog until it is released by specific active proteases present within tumor sites. One of these prodrugs (G202) was selected for further in vivo evaluation based on its solubility and ability to be hydrolyzed by the carboxypeptidase Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA). PSMA is membrane protein that is highly expressed by normal and malignant prostate epithelial cells. PSMA, however, is also expressed by the neovasculature within most solid tumors, but not by normal tissue vasculature. In this study we evaluated the toxicity and efficacy of this PSMA-activated thapsigargin prodrug against human MCF-7 breast cancer xenografts.Results: In preliminary studies with prostate cancer xenografts we determined that a single intravenous dose of 56 mg/kg G202 formulated in propylene glycol/Solutol could be administered safely without acute toxicity. Mice bearing MCF-7 xenografts were thus treated with one, two or three doses of 56 mg/kg G202. Three doses produced significant tumor regressions and prolonged growth inhibition but was associated with toxicity whereas a single dose of G202 had no discernible toxicity but produced only transient growth inhibition. In contrast, two consecutive doses of G202 produced only transient weight loss and resulted in significant tumor regression and sustained growth inhibition, with complete responses observed in a subset of animals. High levels (∼5 μM) of the active drug 12ADT-Asp were measurable in the tumor tissue 96 hrs post injection while negligible hydrolysis of G202 was observed in plasma. Discussion: The effectiveness of G202 against a panel of ER positive and negative breast cancer xenografts is currently being evaluated. On the basis of this encouraging preliminary data continued clinical development of G202 as therapy for metastatic breast cancer appears warranted. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 5074.


The main purpose of this study was to analyze the economic efficiency of resource utilization in cocoa production among cocoa farmers in Ghana to provide information for effective application and management of farm input on cocoa farms. A random sample of 300 farmers was selected in six cocoa growing districts in Ghana using the multi-stage sampling approach. Individual farmers were interviewed with the help of a standard structured questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential analyses of the survey data were performed. The mean age of the farmers was 51.5 years. The educational status of the farmers was low as the majority (52.0%) had middle school education and 21.5% of them were illiterates. The magnitude of the parameter estimates from the Cobb-Douglass production function of household size, cocoa farm size, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizer were 0.261, 0.514, 0.273, 0.09 and 0.325 respectively. The quantity of fertilizer applied to the cocoa farm had the highest marginal physical product (133.11 kg/bag), followed by cocoa farm size (126.31 kg/ha), the quantity of insecticides was 30.49 kg/litre, household size (22.46 kg/person) and finally, the quantity of fungicides (1.39 kg/sachet). Household size, farm size, insecticide, fungicide and fertilizer used were found to have statistically significant (p cultivation by cocoa farmers since household size, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizer were underutilized and farm size over utilized. Farmers are advised to increase the use of household labour by spending more hours on the farm or increasing the number of adult family members helping on the farm, insecticides, fungicides, and fertilizer while reducing the use of land through intensive farming to ensure resource use efficiency in cocoa production. Key words: cocoa, production function, efficiency, Ghana.


ABSTRACT Romantic partners' communication about sex has been shown to enhance marital satisfaction and well-being, yet is often associated with high levels of uncertainty due to the challenging and potentially face-threatening topics involved in such discussion. While much literature focuses on sexual health information seeking, relational partners' uncertainty management related to sexual satisfaction has not been examined. This study focused on married couples' discussion of sexual satisfaction, tested the theory of motivated information management (TMIM; Afifi & Weiner, 2004) within this context, and examined relational moderators that could influence relational partners' communication about sexual satisfaction. Data from 248 married participants suggested that TMIM effectively predicted five different information management strategies, including direct and indirect information seeking, avoidance, cognitive reappraisal, and disclosure, although the processes through which uncertainty discrepancy influenced information management differed depending on the information management strategy. Furthermore, results indicated relational factors such as marital quality, relational closeness, and communal coping moderated TMIM paths in distinct ways. Theoretical and practical implications for relational partners' uncertainty management about sexual satisfaction are discussed.


We have observed efficient atomic diffraction at normal incidence on an evanescent standing wave with a very weak spatial modulation. A modulation as small as 1.5% causes 66% of the atoms to be diffracted into the orders ±1. The measured diffraction efficiencies agree quantitatively with a scalar treatment of diffraction in the thin phase grating approximation.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the phenomenology of family members of homicide victims; known as "co-victims". In particular, co-victims experiences of the criminal justice system (CJS) in England and Wales.

Design/methodology/approach
In 2018, 10 kV methodology facilitated an electronic-focus group. Anonymously, volunteers from families of homicide victims responded to key questions in a session entitled "a conversation which matters: confidence". The thematic analysis presents the responses to three questions around "what works" and "what does not" in CJS practice.

Findings
The responses indicate four themes in relation to confidence building: communication and information; outcome; honesty and fairness; and family support. Responses indicate three themes in relation to what the CJS does well: family liaison officers, homicide detectives and court services. Responses indicate three themes in relation to what is not working: court proceedings, police budget cuts and preventative interventions.

Research limitations/implications
The research considers benefits and limitations of methodology and makes suggestions for how these facets could be addressed by future research.

Practical implications
The research findings reveal good practice and points for attention to support confidence building in the CJS. Amongst other considerations, the work advances CJS practical good practice principles from the perspective of co-victims: education, interpersonal relations, working together, communication and justice.

Originality/value
Findings are of value to CJS policy makers, training and education for co-victim support, police and academics.


This paper presents a cooperative work perspective on the role of computer artifacts in organisations. Traditionally the issue of cooperative work has been given little attention in the design of computer artifacts, and in fact much cooperative work has been disrupted rather than supported by computers. Cooperative work is seen as a specific, prototypical kind of work with many desirable properties. Cooperative work has an informal nature and often this will not be reflected in the formal organisation of the work, its importance often being neglected. Cooperative work will often be found in health care teams, in office work, in many project groups, and also in many kinds of mechanical work. Two ways of coordinating cooperative work can be identified. Coordination by explicit communication and coordination through the shared material of the working process. In parallel to this there are two main forms of computer support for cooperative work, computerised media for explicit communication and computer implemented shared material.


Face recognition aims to establish the identity of a person based on facial characteristics. On the other hand, age group estimation is the automatic calculation of an individual's age range based on facial features. Recognizing age‐separated face images is still a challenging research problem due to complex aging processes involving different types of facial tissues, skin, fat, muscles, and bones. Certain holistic and local facial features are used to recognize age‐separated face images. However, most of the existing methods recognize face images without incorporating the knowledge learned from age group estimation. In this paper, we propose an age‐assisted face recognition approach to handle aging variations. Inspired by the observation that facial asymmetry is an age‐dependent intrinsic facial feature, we first use asymmetric facial dimensions to estimate the age group of a given face image. Deeply learned asymmetric facial features are then extracted for face recognition using a deep convolutional neural network (dCNN). Finally, we integrate the knowledge learned from the age group estimation into the face recognition algorithm using the same dCNN. This integration results in a significant improvement in the overall performance compared to using the face recognition algorithm alone. The experimental results on two large facial aging datasets, the MORPH and FERET sets, show that the proposed age group estimation based on the face recognition approach yields superior performance compared to some existing state‐of‐the‐art methods.


From the view of knowledge accumulation, knowledge accumulation cost (KAC) model is built in information systems integration project. With this model, get conclusion that high knowledge sharing would be helpful for project cost controlling, and on condition of fixed knowledge sharing degree higher information systems integration innovation introduces higher project cost, while higher study capability makes it lower. Further more, when innovation degree for integration is high controlling project cost would demand high knowledge sharing, on the contrary when study capability is high knowledge sharing gives little influence on project cost. Then application case is introduced and this conclusion is used in getting some action for project cost controlling.


Organic waste recycling is an efficient and environmentally friendly technology to convert wastes into value added products. Vermicomposting uses earthworms to turn organic wastes into very quality compost. Major nutrient status of vermicompost of agro waste processed by species of earthworm namely, Eudriluseugeniae. There is very little information on the use of earthworm meal in poultry diets. Care must be taken when growing earthworms for use in animal feeds. Heavy metals and other pollutants are taken up by the worms and can be passed on to the birds consuming the earthworms ([1]). In the present investigation, live earthworms bred from vermicompost were used as feed. Carbohydrate, protein was increased in earthworm fed fish when compared to fish with control diet. The lipid content was lower in in earthworm fed fish as compared to fish with control diet. The study concludes that earthworm fed fish has good nutritional impact as compared to fish with control diet. This study suggested that earthworm superior feed for fish than artificial or control feed.


The biogeochemical behaviour of plutonium and americium was investigated incontaminated soils from the UK to help determine possible remediation andmanagement options. Stimulating anoxic sediments from Aldermaston, through theaddition of a carbon substrate (glucose), induced reducing conditions resulting in anegligible change in Pu mobility. This was despite a substantial shift in the bacterialprofile from a diverse community to one dominated by fermentative Betaproteobacteriaand Clostridia. The latter group also includes organisms associated with metal reduction,such as close relatives to Clostridium species, reported previously to facilitate thereduction of Pu(IV) to Pu(III). A sequential extraction was performed on soils fromAldermaston and the Esk Estuary to identify which selected fractions the Pu and Am aremost strongly associated with. The majority of Pu was associated with the ?residualfraction?: 63.8 ? 85.5 % and 91.9 ? 94.5 % in the Aldermaston and Esk Estuary soilsrespectively. Metals associated with this fraction are highly recalcitrant and are unlikelyto be released into solution over a significant time span under most geologicalconditions. The Am was more evenly distributed with the ?organic fraction? being themost dominant. Degradation of organic matter under oxidising conditions may result inmobilization of metals associated with this fraction. The Aldermaston soil was alsosubjected to bioleaching using a sulfuric acid producing microbial community, whichresulted in a maximum 0.18 % of Pu released into solution. However, up to 12.5 % ofAm was found in solution suggesting Am is more susceptible to mobilization than Pu.The potential for Pu mobilization through abiotic oxidative leaching was investigatedusing permanganate. Even when carbonate was added to act as a potential complexantfor the Pu, less than 1 % of the Pu was leached. Greater success was observed whenleaching was attempted using citric acid; an estimated 25 ? 30 % of Pu was releasedinto solution offering a potential route for remediation of Pu-contaminated soils. Thesedata would suggest that the Pu is highly recalcitrant, and may exist in a small particulateform in the Aldermaston soils, possibly in the oxide form, and is unlikely to mobilizeunder natural biogeochemical conditions.


Concentrating magnetic energy in a desired volume is an important requirement for many technologies. Here, we experimentally realize a superconductor-ferromagnetic metamaterial that allows to concentrate the magnetostatic energy in its interior and in other situations to amplify the energy in its exterior. We show that surrounding two distant current loops with two such metamaterials enhance the magnetostatic coupling between them. We also demonstrate that a ferromagnetic-only metamaterial, without superconducting parts, achieves these properties with only a slight decrease in performance. Results may be applied to increase the sensitivity of magnetic sensors or for enhancing wireless power transmission, where efficiency depends critically on the magnetic coupling strength between source and receiver.


Research on Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) is increasing at a rapid pace; therefore, it is crucial to maintain rigor in characterizing EVs from a new model system. Neuronal derived EVs have been well described in the central nervous system; however, studies in the peripheral nervous system have largely focused on EVs derived from supporting cell types such as endothelial cells or glia. Additionally, EVs are heterogeneous in size, shape, cargo and biogenic origin and therefore a multimodal approach to characterization must be used. Here we conduct a thorough description of EVs derived from sympathetic neurons using immunoblot assays, nanoparticle tracking analysis and cryo-electron microscopy. We show that primary sympathetic cultures secrete EVs in a density-dependent manner and that their sizing aligns with those reported in the literature. Lastly, using a compartmentalized culture system we show that EVs secreted by the somatodendritic domain of neurons contain cargo that originated at their distal axon. This work establishes foundational protocols to explore the biogenesis and function of EVs in the peripheral nervous system. for further exploration into the roles of sympathetic EVs.


This paper presents research that has been conducted into the utilization of heuristics to improve the performance of an agent-based Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) controller. The agent-based controller has been shown to maintain the deadlock-free flow of AGVs within a free space world model. However, the performance in terms of deliveries was lower than a comparable industrial controller. Heuristics were used to ascertain whether or not an AGV could be redirected during negotiations. Experiments were conducted using simulations and one heuristic was found to improve the performance of the agent-based controller significantly.


Color plays a major role affecting a consumer's first perception towards product. Artificial food colorants were widely used by people. However, the usage of synthetic food colorants were found to cause several health problems such as cancer and hypersensitivity. Thus, this study presents new discovery of natural purple color from Gynochthodes sublanceolata, which have high potential to be developed as natural food colorant to replace synthetic colorant. Purple colored pigment (PCP) was successfully extracted and separated from pitang leaves. The objectives of this study were to provide biological activities and phytochemical profile of PCP. Biological activities of PCP were determined by DPPH free radical scavenging assays, antibacterial test by disc diffusion test, brine shrimp lethality test, sulphorhodamine B assays, and heat stability test. Phytochemical profiles of PCP was determined by anthocyanin analysis using high performance liquid chromatography, folin-ciocalteu method, aluminium chloride colorimetric method, fatty acid methyl ester, and amino acid profile. The result shows that PCP has moderate antioxidant activity with IC50 267.38 ± 2.47 µg/mL. PCP was inhibited the growth of Edwadsiella tarda, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Flavobacterium columnare. PCP was found to be non-toxic towards human cell line MCF-7, HT-29, and WRL-68 and Artemia salina with IC50 > 1.00 mg/mL and IC50 2.11 ± 0.02 mg/mL respectively. Heat stability test shows that PCP was stable after heat treatment. Anthocyanin pigments were detected in PCP and expected to contribute for purple color of pitang leaves. Total phenolic contents and total flavonoid compounds in PCP were
10.90 ± 0.25 µg GAE/mg PCP and 0.92 ± 0.02 µg CE/mg PCP respectively. PCP
contained fatty acids and amino acids about 325.00 ± 21.21 mg/100 g PCP, and 1.11 ±
0.04 mg/100 mg PCP. In conclusion, PCP shows moderate antioxidant and antibacterial
activities, as well as non-toxic. Heat treatment did not effects purple color faded. The main group of compound presence in PCP was phenol group, including anthocyanin, flavonoid, fatty acids and amino acids. Collectively, PCP might have potential to be developed as natural food colorant in order to replace synthetic food colorant.


G-protein coupled receptor(GPCR) agonists are well-known inducers of cardiac hypertrophy. We found that the shedding of HB-EGF via metalloproteinase activation and subsequent transactivation of the epidermal growth factor receptor occurred when cardiomyocytes were stimulated by GPCR agonists, leading to cardiac hypertrophy. A new inhibitor of HB-EGF shedding, KB-R7785, blocked this signaling. We cloned a disintegrin and metalloprotease 12(ADAM12) as a specific enzyme to shed HB-EGF in the heart and found that dominant negative expression of ADAM12 abrogated this signaling. KB-R7785 bound directly to ADAM12, suggesting that inhibition of ADAM12 blocked the shedding of HB-EGF. In mice with cardiac hypertrophy, KB-R7785 inhibited the shedding of HB-EGF and attenuated hypertrophic changes. These data suggest that shedding of HB-EGF by ADAM12 plays an important role in cardiac hypertrophy, and that inhibition of HB-EGF shedding could be a potent therapeutic strategy for cardiac hypertrophy.


P2P traffic has become one of the most significant portions of the network traffic. How to improve the accuracy of the traffic identification efficiently is still a difficult problem. A promising approach that has recently received some attention is traffic classification using machine learning techniques. In this paper, we propose a BP Neural Network algorithm for P2P traffic classification problem. We implement a P2P traffic identification prototype system which can realize offline learning and online classification of P2P traffic effectively. The results show that the method provides a promising way to measure aggregate P2P traffic. KeywordsPeer-to-Peer; Traffic Identification; Neural Network


The institutionalization of sustainability agendas on the local and global levels has largely failed to deliver the promised change. In this essay, we develop the idea of sustainability metamorphosis as a way to break with the pathological paradigm of sustainable development that weakens society's capacity to transform in the face of global crises. Sustainability metamorphosis, in our understanding, draws on the Bakthian perspective of carnivalization and dialogical truth. In this sense, sustainability metamorphosis is an outlook on change in society and a source of strategies for long-term societal change. Our understanding of metamorphosis is inspired by the historical and literary understandings that saw ungraspable forces, acting upon both inner and outer worlds, and suspended hierarchies as the sources of necessary but inconvenient change.


The Universal Verification Methodology is a standard which is designed to enable creation of reusable, robust and interoperable verification IP and testbench components. In this work, we implemented layered UVM testbench for SpaceWire which is a spacecraft communication network based in part on the IEEE 1355 standard of communications. This design helps further analyzes of SpaceWire by testing different SpaceWire layers such as exchange layer and character layer. Transactions were used at all layer of protocol and user can make analysis, coverage collecting and debugging through this design. In the conclusion, all simulator results and details about Verification IP design were given.


In the current research, Cu0.5Co0.3Mo0.2Fe2O4 mixed ferrite nanoparticles have been synthesized using Co-precipitation method. XRD patterns show the development of polyphasic copper, cobalt and molybdenum mixed spinel composition. The particle size of ferrite system is 16nm and they are nanoparticles. The lattice constant was determined to be 8.368 Å used for the highest peak (311). FTIR spectroscopy shows the lower octahedral and higher tetrahedral frequency alignment of ions in the spinel ferrite leading to the octahedral 550 cm− 1 and the tetrahedral 471 cm− 1 vibration modes. TEM micrographs showed spherical morphology and their particle size less than 50 nm, which correlated XRD crystallite size. VSM shows excellent ferrimagnetic properties because of higher coercivity (985.29 G). These higher coercivity materials can make cathode content for Li-ion batteries.


A new equation describing the thermally stimulated depolarization (TSD) currents in Me2+-doped NaCl-type alkali halide crystals is derived. The calculations were performed assuming the presence of Me2+–cation vacancy (I–V) complexes with vacancies in both nearest-neighbour and next-nearest-neighbour positions in the crystal lattice. The effective dipole moments of the I–V complexes have been taken into account. TSD bands of NaCl:Mn2+ crystals have been measured. A comparison between the experimental and calculated TSD bands is made.


Pressure is an important physical stimulus that can influence the fate of cells by causing structural changes in biomolecules such as DNA. We investigated the effect of high pressure on the folding of duplex, DNA i-motif, and G-quadruplex (G4) structures; the non-canonical structures may be modulators of expression of genes involved in cancer progression. The i-motif structure was stabilized by high pressure, whereas the G4 structure was destabilized. The melting temperature of an intramolecular i-motif formed by 5'-dCGG(CCT)10CGG-3' increased from 38.8 °C at atmospheric pressure to 61.5 °C at 400 MPa. This effect was also observed in the presence of 40 wt% ethylene glycol, a crowding agent. In the presence of 40 wt% ethylene glycol, the G4 structure was less destabilized than in the absence of the crowding agent. P-T stability diagrams of duplex DNA with a telomeric sequence indicated that the duplex is more stable than G4 and i-motif structures under low pressure, but the i-motif dominates the structural composition under high pressure. Under crowding conditions, the P-T diagrams indicated that the duplex does not form under high pressure, and i-motif and G4 structures dominate. Our findings imply that temperature regulates the formation of the duplex structure, whereas pressure triggers the formation of non-canonical DNA structures like i-motif and G4. These results suggest that pressure impacts the function of nucleic acids by stabilizing non-canonical structures; this may be relevant to deep sea organisms and during evolution under prebiotic conditions.


To quantify more precisely and more reliably diffusion and reaction properties of biomolecules in living cells, a novel closed description in 3D of both the bleach and the post‐bleach segment of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) data acquired at a point, i.e., a diffraction‐limited observation area, termed point FRAP, is presented. It covers a complete coupled reaction–diffusion scheme for mobile molecules undergoing transient or long‐term immobilization because of binding. We assess and confirm the feasibility with numerical solutions of the differential equations. By applying this model to free EYFP expressed in HeLa cells using a customized confocal laser scanning microscope that integrates point FRAP and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), the applicability is validated by comparison with results from FCS. We show that by taking diffusion during bleaching into consideration and/or by employing a global analysis of series of bleach times, the results can be improved significantly. As the point FRAP approach allows to obtain data with diffraction‐limited positioning accuracy, diffusion and binding properties of the exon–exon junction complex (EJC) components REF2‐II and Magoh are obtained at different localizations in the nucleus of MCF7 cells and refine our view on the position‐dependent association of the EJC factors with a maturating mRNP complex. Our findings corroborate the concept of combining point FRAP and FCS for a better understanding of the underlying diffusion and binding processes. © 2013 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry


For some cities like Istanbul, Rome, Paris and Cairo etc. as being the ones having natural and cultural heritage intensively, the most dominant planning data is the heritage itself. If we talk of sustainable planning, we should talk of not only the true planning regarding ecological principles, but also protection and reassesment of cultural and natural heritage at circumstances regarding sustainability, therefore this has to recognized as a true sign of ecological approach. On the other hand, one of the applied tools of Sustainability; "Sustainable Planning" as a correspondence of "Sustainable Development" in planning, is meant to use the nature and resources in the name of protecting them, for the sake of caring future generations. Today, World's energy strategies based on solid fuel and petrol, unbalanced resource consumption with least sense, consuming environment negatively, increasing rates at population, consumption and urbanization, the lack of fast regeneration in nature, and many other parameters like the ones above which will remain unmentioned, threaten 'Sustainability' in direct. The purpose of this article, instead of consuming resources in the sense above, is to show of assessing cultural and natural heritages (for being ecological resource in essence and reflecting histo-cultural aggregation of humanity) and of using it as an input, by verifying the feasibility of it to be a paremeter providing-supporting the mentality of ecological planning and cultural sustainability. Sustainable planning must be expected to create principles and decisions regarding to protect-use balance for this heritage which is under the threat and pressure of civic developments. The use of cultural and historical heritage as an argument in Sustainable planning is given as of work and reports, International contracts and reported decisions related to these all are also given as references.


The clinical management of patients with fibrosing alveolitis has traditionally been empirical; without lung biopsy, a definitive diagnosis may be impossible and decisions about treatment are often arbitrary. With the advent of high-resolution computed tomography (CT), the proportion of patients needing lung biopsy for confirmation of the diagnosis of fibrosing alveolitis has declined. There is now much evidence that CT provides an accurate guide to disease activity, and more recent work has shown the important role of CT in providing new insights into the biologic behaviour and pathogenesis of fibrosing alveolitis.


A new recess structure called a graded recess structure was developed to improve the performance of power GaAs MESFETs. The investigation on the light emission from the device confirmed that the anomalous electric field outside the gate region was eliminated by the graded recess structure. Due to the elimination of the anomalous field, the drain and the gate breakdown voltages were improved. The linear gain and the output power of the devices were resultantly improved by 1–2dB, and the output powers of 15 W (4 dB gain) and 4.3 W (3 dB gain) were obtained at 6 and 11 GHz band, respectively.


Birth defects may originate through multiple mechanisms and may be caused by a variety of possible exposures, including medications in early pregnancy. In this review, we describe six principal teratogenic mechanisms suspected to be associated with medication use: folate antagonism, neural crest cell disruption, endocrine disruption, oxidative stress, vascular disruption, and specific receptor- or enzyme-mediated teratogenesis. Knowledge about these mechanisms, for some of which evidence is mainly derived from animal models, may not only be relevant for etiologic and post-marketing research, but may also have implications for prescribing behavior for women of reproductive age. Since combinations of seemingly unrelated medications may have effects through similar teratogenic mechanisms, the risk of birth defects may be strongly increased in multi-therapy.


We consider the application of non-homogeneous hidden Markov chain (NHMC) models to the problem of hyperspectral signature classification. It has been previously shown that the NHMC model enables the detection of several semantic structural features of hyperspectral signatures. However, there are some aspects of the spectral data that are not fully captured by the proposed NHMC models such as the relatively smooth but fluctuating regions and the fluctuation orientations. In order to address these limitations, we propose an improved NHMC model based on Daubechies-1 wavelets in conjunction with an increased the model complexity. Experimental results show that the revised approach outperforms existing approaches relevant in classification tasks.


Osteoarthritis is also known as 'wear and tear' arthritis and is the most common form of arthritis. In people with osteoarthritis, the cartilage in the joints becomes worn down. Cartilage covers the ends of the bones and allows for the bones to move smoothly against each other (cartilage is the protective cushion on the end of the bones). Damage to the cartilage typically results in pain and leads to stiffness of the joint. In some cases, reduced joint movement and function may affect a person's ability to perform daily tasks such as climbing stairs, walking or opening jars. Any joint may be affected; however, the joints in the knees, hips, fingers, feet and spine are most commonly affected by arthritis.


Abstract Young-of-the-year Giant Sea Bass (Stereolepis gigas) (hereafter YOY GSB) spend the first several months after planktonic settlement within recreational dive limits. After settlement, YOY GSB morph through pigmentation phases where patterns of black spots unique to individual fish appear against the fish's lighter background. In order to prove that underwater photographs of spot patterns could be used to individually identify and possibly track YOY GSB in the field, several YOY GSB were captured and raised at public aquaria. Both sides of each fish were planned to be photographed monthly for a year from the capture date. The black spots of YOY GSB are so few and distinct that computer programs developed to discern individuals of species with complicated spot patterns were not necessary for re-identification of individuals. Three fish that were followed for twelve months in captivity could be individually identified by comparing photographs of their spot patterns by eye. A fourth fish that survived for six months could also be individually distinguished through photographs. This is the first published study to follow the development of YOY GSB spot patterns. Underwater photo-identification techniques could be used to re-identify individuals from several months to at least a year after planktonic settlement. That no capture-recapture studies have been conducted on YOY GSB to date hinders the basic understanding of species ecology and population dynamics. This study opens the door to the use of underwater photography as a passive mark and recapture method for studying YOY GSB along soft-bottomed nursery beaches where they can be found for the first few months after settlement.


Ceramic materials based on the garnet structure Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) show great promise as lithium-ion conducting electrolytes for solid-state lithium batteries. However, these materials exhibit surface degradation when exposed to air and moisture, which adversely impacts their functioning in operating devices. In this work, we use several depth-profiling and in situ techniques to probe the nature of the surface reactions that occur when aluminum (Al)-substituted LLZO is exposed to air. These experiments show that a proton exchange reaction occurs near the surface of the LLZO and leads to change in its chemistry and structure, concomitant with the formation of Li2CO3. But these reactions can be readily reversed by heating samples at 250 °C under an inert atmosphere to recover LLZO surface chemistry and structure. Symmetrical cells containing samples treated this way exhibited much lower area specific impedances than those containing air-exposed LLZO without the treatment, confirming the reversal of the deg...


Objective: To investigate the effect of alcohol consumption on acoustic reflex, to emphasize that alcohol is a factor which increases acous-tic trauma and to offer new suggestions on the precautions necessary to take in terms of ear health. Materials and Methods: In 30 healthy male adults, values of acoustic reflex threshold at 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz before and 30 and 60 minutes after ethyl alcohol consumption were compared. Then the relationship between the amount of alcohol in the air exhaled at 30 and 60 minutes and the values of acoustic reflex threshold before and after alcohol consumption were statistically evaluated. Results: There was an increase in all the values of acoustic reflex threshold measured at 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz after ethyl alcohol consump-tion compared to those before ethyl alcohol consumption. The increase in the values of acoustic reflex threshold measured at 1000 Hz was statistically not significant. However, the increases in the values of acoustic reflex threshold measured at 2000 Hz were 4.2 dB at 30 minutes and 5.1 dB at 60 minutes and were considered statistically significant. Conclusion: Ethyl alcohol consumption in noisy environment is a factor which potentializes the effect of noise causing acoustic trauma. Therefore, otolaryngologist should question whether the patients consume alcohol in noisy environment and warn them that alcohol consumption in noisy environment is more harmful to ear health.


SUMMARY: The six plasmid species of Zymomonas mobilis ATCC 10988 were isolated, separated and purified. Evidence is presented that the 1·6 kb (pZMO1) and 1·9 kb (pZMO2) species can co-migrate on agarose gels, contain single sites for BglII and HindIII, or EcoRI and EcoRV respectively, and are related at the nucleotide level. The 16·7 kb species (pZMO5) appears to be a tetramer and is partially homologous with pZMO1 and pZMO2. The 2·7 kb species (pZMO3) has a single SphI site and does not show sequence homology with pZMO1 or pZMO2. Structural features of the 7·3 kb (pZMO4) and 31·3 kb (pZMO6) molecules are discussed.


This work presents the evaluation of multi-stage adsorption dryers with air dehumidification by zeolite and alumina pillared clay. In a multi-stage dryer product is dried in a number of succeeding stages and for each stage the air is dehumidified by the adsorbent. The exhaust air from each stage is reused for product drying in a following stage after passing a bed with adsorbent. The heat efficiency of the drying system is evaluated and compared with a conventional drying system using air dehumidified by condensation. The evaluation concerns the effect of stage number, inlet dryer temperatures 10-50°C and inlet ambient air 10-25°C. Results show that the performance of the multi-stage adsorption dryers increases with the number of stages and a three stage system is economically most promising. For varying ambient air conditions, zeolite as adsorbent is the most favourable.


BACKGROUND
Management of patients with severe hypertension without progressive target organ damage remains controversial. Some guidelines mentioned oral anti-hypertensive medication as a treatment to reduce blood pressure in the emergency department, while others recommended against such treatment.

OBJECTIVE
To review the management ofpatients with severe hypertension without progressive target organ damage in the emergency department, Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai hospital.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
In a retrospective descriptive analysis study, medical records ofadult patients diagnosed with severe hypertension without progressive target organ damage between January 2011 and December 2012 were reviewed. Patient demographics, data on management including investigation sent and treatment given were collected. Statistical analysis was done by using descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance test.

RESULTS
One hundred fifty one medical records were reviewed. Four oral anti-hypertensive medication were used to reduce blood pressure, Amlodipine, Captopril, Hydralazine, and Nifedipine. There were no significant diference between each medication in terms of their effect on bloodpressure reduction (p = 0.513). No side effect or other complications from the use of oral anti-hypertensive medication were recorded

CONCLUSION
The choice of medication used for the treatment of hypertensive urgency ranged from Amlodipine, Captopril, Hydralazine, and Nifedipine, which varied in dosage. However their efficacies were the same when compared with each other and none produced any notable side effects.


This article aims to discuss the management process of the maintenance function of companies depending on the degree of organization maturity concerning maintenance. Maintenance management makes use of some tools and techniques to improve efficiency and minimize the impacts of unplanned stoppages, such as Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). The identification of the degree of maturity on maintenance, leads us to a better planning of actions to implement the more appropriate management strategy and to propose suitable computerized tools, performance indicators, technical analysis and management tools and techniques, providing a set of potential improvements necessary for the successful evolution of the maintenance process and the resulting progress in the maintenance maturity level. Understanding the aspects which define the degree of maturity of an organization may not be an easy task. In this paper, a study of the maintenance function of some companies was carried out in order to define their maturity levels regarding maintenance. A maturity model is also proposed for the maintenance function through the definition of dimensions and levels. Aspects related to maturity levels have been fairly dealt with in various segments of the knowledge and the use of the proposed models have contributed to the achievement of better results in organizations in general.


This article attempts to explore the possibilities of grounding human rights theoretically. It examines arguments that such an attempt is futile because the concept itself is flawed, arguments that the concept is a valid one and only becomes flawed when it is overextended in scope, and presents my own "holistic" argument that some of the arguments for constraining the scope do not hold up under deeper scrutiny.


This book deals with synthesis and biological evaluation of some new heterocyclic compounds derived from Chalcone and Curcumin derivatives. Diphenylcyclohexenone and curcumin compounds share similar functions. Both of them have α,β-unsaturated carbonyl structures (enone). Diphenylcyclohexenone and Curcumin were reacted with different reagents to form some new heterocyclic compounds such as Pyrazole, pyrane, pyrimidine and pyridine derivatives. These compounds have been characterized based on IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and Mass spectra. Biological activity evaluation was performed on most of synthesized compounds; The anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects for diphenylcyclohexenone and curcumin derivatives were evaluated.


The first part of this article investigates the distribution and emergence of front rounded vowels (FRV) in the Portuguese dialect spoken on the Azorean island of Sao Miguel in light of data taken from the Ethnolinguistic Atlas of the Azores (ALEAc). The analysis confirms previous findings about the distribution of FRV. Additionally, the ALEAc shows that this phenomenon spreads beyond the well-known contexts of stressed positions. FRV also occur in unstressed syllables and the mid-front rounded vowel [o] alternates with its diphthongised counterparts [oj] and [ow]. This alternation calls for a reflection about the historical and articulatory background of [o] in Portuguese dialects. The extensive use of FRV opens up further research perspectives in terms of the sociolinguistic significance of the phenomenon. The second part of this article focuses on the sociohistorical background of the emergence of FRV in Portuguese dialects. The concept of the feature pool provides a framework for the processes of feature selection in a situation of linguistic contacts such as those preceding the settlement period of the Azores and subsequent contact on the islands. A combination of three different concepts of markedness helps understand why a highly unusual feature like FRV emerged and persists until today.


The objective of this study was to observe the effects of Tasco ( Ascophylum nodosum ) on swine growth traits and carcass characteristics.  Tasco was fed to sows, piglets, and finishing pigs to determine the effects on various production traits and carcass merit.  All sows in the study were from crossbred genetic lines and were represented by Yorkshire, Hampshire and Duroc breeding.  The study was divided into three stages:  lactation (n=48 for sows), (n=335 for piglets), finishing and carcass (n= 117).  There were no differences for soundness or body condition score, yet sow weight loss showed a difference in favor of the Tasco group.  The sows receiving Tasco had a trend less feed intake, less body condition loss with no affect on soundness while there was an advantage in less weight loss. Birth weight of the piglets was not different, yet piglets from the sows supplemented with Tasco were heavier at weaning (P< 0.0001).  There were no differences for performance in the finishing phase of the study and for carcass cutability traits.  Tasco fed pigs were significantly higher for marbling (P< 0.001), and firmness of lean (P< 0.05).  Data showed no differences for lean color.  Consequently, Tasco has a positive effect on weaning weight for piglets and enhanced pork quality.


In this era of globalisation, occupational safety is the main spotlight in every industry. By implementing a safety management system in the workplace, it is hoped that it can shape the safety climate and positive safety culture, which can be assessed from zero accidents, workforce behaviour and support for the safety of oneself and coworkers.
The main objective of this research was to analyse the effect of leadership on safety climate, safety culture and safety performance. This research was conducted at a plastic packaging manufacturer, PT. Berlina Tbk Tangerang with 133 participants and used the SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) analysis method.
The results of the research analysis showed that leadership, safety climate and safety culture have a simultaneous significant effect on 83% safety performance.


A novel SARS-CoV2 virus appeared since December 2019 and triggering the Corona virus disease (2019-nCoV or COVID-19). Usually the symptoms begin as mild, with only fever, cough, and occasional dyspnea. The severe symptoms such as

pneumonitis, and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), may occur 5-8 days into COVID-19 illness in a minority of patients. Method:  for this narrative review, more than 25 related scientific articles and reports about COVID- 19 were used from different databases (e.g., PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science) using keywords such as SARS-CoV2, COVID-19, Mortality, and CO-morbidities. Results The results of this review reported that aged people are more vulnerable to severe pattern of COVID-19 disease than people younger than 50 years; probably because of health issues and comorbidities in that population group. Male more than female affected by COVID-19. On the other hand, children might be less probable to infected or might show mild symptoms if infected. The small percentage of current smokers infected with COVID-19 compared with the actual percentage of smokers (50·5%) in China are unlikely to be related with the incidence, severity, or mortality rate of COVID-19. The poorer clinical outcome in COVID-19  infected patients may have related to the presence and number of co morbidities especially hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.  The direct SARS-COV2 infection of liver cells might be the cause of liver damage but might be related to other reasons such as systemic inflammation and drug toxicity. The data   suggested that liver damage is more predominant in severe cases especially with pre-existing liver diseases. patients with cancer might be more prone to COVID 19 due to their immunocompromised status but whether or not they have high risk of poor prognoses and sever event not fully established.


BACKGROUND
Despite calls from professional organizations to prepare a nursing workforce with the requisite skills to address social determinants of health (SDOH), there is little guidance for nurse educators about how to actively promote student learning of these complex issues.

METHOD
We applied a critical service-learning (CSL) pedagogy to enhance graduate public health nursing curriculum and support learner skill building in approaches to combat health disparities by addressing the underlying social conditions.

RESULTS
Course content and critical reflection activities were built incrementally across four courses and semesters to introduce and apply antioppressive frameworks, encourage students to examine their personal identities of privilege and oppression, and examine historical context and systems of power in public health settings.

CONCLUSION
CSL supports student development of structural competence and their understanding of approaches that can dismantle inequitable systems by addressing SDOH that contribute to health disparities. [J Nurs Educ. 2021;60(1):38-43.].


Drag reduction for aerial and underwater vehicles has a range of positive ramifications: reduced fuel consumption, larger operational range, greater endurance and higher achievable speeds. This work capitalizes on recent developments in direct numerical simulation (DNS) studies on turbulent drag reduction techniques and active material based actuation to develop an 'active' skin for turbulent drag reduction. The skin operation principle is based on computational evidence from DNS studies indicating that spanwise traveling surface waves of the right amplitude, wavelength and frequency can result in significant turbulent drag reduction. Such traveling waves can be induced in the skin via active material actuation. The flow control technique pursued is 'micro' in the sense that only microscale wave amplitudes (order of 30 µm) and energy inputs are expected to produce significant benefits. In this work, a generalized actuation principle that can generate a traveling surface wave is proposed and analyzed. Two actuation schemes, that are approximate implementations of this generalized actuation principle, are considered. Treating these actuation schemes as design paradigms, several skin designs are developed. The feasibility of the different actuation possibilities, such as shape memory alloys and piezoelectric material based actuators, and the relative merits of the different skin designs are discussed. The feasibility studies include analytical solutions based on geometric idealizations, that are further refined using quasistatic finite element analysis. The dynamic responses of the skin designs to complicated loading sequences are investigated using dynamic finite element analysis. Rayleigh damping is used in the dynamic analysis to model the total damping present in the system.


The introduction of shock wave lithotripsy into clinical practice revolutionized the management of urinary tract stone disease. As experience has been gained with its use, however, the limitations and adverse effects associated with it have been recognized.


This research shows the practical strategies which were chosen for maintenance and conservation of textiles discovered in Tuna el -Gebel excavations, Egypt. This process represents the first aid to these objects, hidden in tombs over thousands of years. Thus, the operations carried out are very important in detecting the state of conservation of these remains of human activity. They also aimed at reducing the damage caused by storage conditions through thousands of years. The challenge that conservators of historic textiles face in this case is the decrease of the available and necessary possibilities for conducting the process of restoration in the best way. On the other hand, leaving these textiles without a conservation process may double the causes of damage in the textiles leading eventually to their complete loss.. The process of restoration has been recorded step by step, from the historical records of textiles to the cleaning processes. Moreover, the choice of a new holder for displaying textile pieces in museum and their placement in it are discussed.


A combination of neutron diffraction and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements on a pure antiferromagnetic stripe Rb 1 − δ Fe 1 . 5 − σ S 2 is reported. A neutron diffraction experiment on a powder sample shows that a 98% volume fraction of the sample is in the antiferromagnetic stripe phase with rhombic iron vacancy order and a refined composition of Rb 0 . 66 Fe 1 . 36 S 2 , and that only 2% of the sample is in the block antiferromagnetic phase with √ 5 × √ 5 iron vacancy order. Furthermore, a neutron diffraction experiment on a single crystal shows that there is only a single phase with the stripe antiferromagnetic order with the refined composition of Rb 0 . 78 Fe 1 . 35 S 2 , while the phase with block antiferromagnetic order is absent. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements on the same crystal with the pure stripe phase reveal that the electronic structure is gapped at the Fermi level with a gap larger than 0.325 eV. The data collectively demonstrate that the extra 10% iron vacancies in addition to the rhombic iron vacancy order effectively impede the formation of the block antiferromagnetic phase; the data also suggest that the stripe antiferromagnetic phase with rhombic iron vacancy order is a Mott insulator.


A unique aspect of the retrovirus life cycle is the obligatory integration of the provirus into host cell chromosomes. Unlike viruses that do not integrate, retroviruses must conserve an ability to activate transcription from a chromatin context. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 encodes an unusual and an unusually potent transcriptional transactivator, Tat, which binds to a nascent viral leader RNA, TAR. The action of Tat has been well studied in various reductive model systems; however, the physiological mechanism through which Tat gains access to chromatin-associated proviral long terminal repeats (LTRs) is not understood. We show here that a nuclear histone acetyltransferase activity associates with Tat. Intracellularly, we found that Tat forms a ternary complex with p300 and P/CAF, two histone acetyltransferases (HATs). A murine cell defect in Tat transactivation of the HIV-1 LTR was linked to the reduced abundance of p300 and P/CAF. Thus, overexpression of p300 and P/CAF reconstituted Tat transactivation of the HIV-1 LTR in NIH3T3 cells to a level similar to that observed for human cells. By using transdominant p300 or P/CAF mutants that lack enzymatic activity, we delineated a requirement for the HAT component from the latter but not the former in Tat function. Finally, we observed that Tat-associated HAT is preferentially important for transactivation of integrated, but not unintegrated, HIV-1 LTR.