Recently, considerable attention has been focused on the application of nanoparticles (NPs) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) purposes. Previous studies on NPs transportation in porous media were conducted in subsurface alluvial zones and sandy soils which did not cover the whole conditions in oil fields. Besides, issues of how and where these materials distribute into the porous media remain major challenges. In this study, mechanisms governing the transport and retention of three metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) namely Al2O3, TiO2, and SiO2 through limestone and quartz sand porous media were firstly investigated. Then, the named NPs were applied for enhanced oil recovery purpose in these porous media. For this aim, the nanopowders were dispersed in de-ionized water at concentration of 0.005wt%. Vertical columns were packed using limestone, and quartz sand grains in the range of 125 to 175μm. Breakthrough curves in the columns effluents were measured by UV-VIS spectrometry. It was found that the mobility of named NPs through mentioned porous media strongly depends on the NPs surface charge and stability as well as porous media surface charge and roughness. The obtained results from transport experimental tests were found to be in agreement with the classical filtration and Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theories. Moreover, amount of oil recovery by the NPs was found to have direct relationship with their mobility through porous media where NPs with higher mobilities cause higher oil recoveries.


Drawing on ethnographic research conducted at three lower secondary schools in the northern Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haiphong, this article provides a contextually nuanced conceptualisation of Vietnamese school bullying. In doing so, the article not only addresses the lack of knowledge about Vietnamese school bullying, but also poses a number of critical questions about how school bullying is more widely understood. The descriptions of school bullying provided by teachers and students in this article suggest that school bullying cannot be reduced to the negative actions and aggressive intentionality that are so often used to define it in the mainstream literature. Instead, these actions are perceived as instruments for bullying that serve a function in the social and institutional context of the school. Furthermore, the descriptions provided by teachers and students challenge the view of meekness (the passive victim) as an individual personal trait. While they suggest that students who are perceived as meek in the social context of the school are most likely to be bullied, they also highlight that some students accede to the demands of their peers in order to escape being subjected to more direct negative actions. The study thus suggests that a key for understanding the role that bullying plays in students' day-to-day life at school is to acknowledge the function of 'meekness' in bullying situations and to thus place more focus on the social and institutional context within which bullying occurs.


The detection of and recovery from transient faults that cause errors in microprogrammed control units are addressed. Error detection is based upon a particular form of signature analysis, namely the run-time computation of a value (the signature) that depends strictly on the microprogram path (the sequence) under execution. The microprogram is statistically segmented (sequences are defined in a fixed way, at design time), and an anticipated signature is associated with each sequence. At run time, at the start of each sequence the computation of the signature is restarted, whereas at the end the computed signature is compared with the anticipated signature of the sequence. If the check is passed, the status of the control unit is saved in suitable registers, and the previously saved status is discarded. If the check fails, the last-saved status is restored (rolled back) and microprogram execution restarts from this last-saved point. >


The dynamical behavior of a hybrid optical bistable system with a short delay is calculated numerically in detail. The quasi-periodic motion and frequency locking of the system are observed experimentally.


This review outlines the main indications for the measurement of procalcitonin (PCT) on the intensive care unit (ICU): diagnosis or exclusion of sepsis (severe sepsis, septic shock) and assessment of severity and course of sepsis-related systemic inflammation, control of focus and response to antibiotic therapy. Follow up measurements of PCT are frequently done on the ICU and recommended to individualize decisions regarding the indication and duration of antibiotic therapy. Studies related to this topic and also the practical experience with the routine use of this marker as a guide to treatment are summarized in this review. Furthermore, conditions, which may increase PCT independently from sepsis, are prevalent in ICU patients and will also be discussed. Use of PCT as a sepsis marker on the ICU


Proactive tile-based video streaming can avoid motion-to-photon latency of wireless virtual reality (VR) by computing and delivering the predicted tiles in a segment to be requested before playback. All existing works either focus on tile prediction or on tile computing and delivering, overlooking the facts that these three tasks have to share the same duration and the quality of experience (QoE) depends on the worst performance of them. In this paper, we jointly optimize the duration of the observation window for prediction and the durations used for computing and communication to maximize the QoE of watching a VR video. We find the global optimal solution by decomposing the original problem equivalently into subproblems, with which we find prediction-limited or resource-limited region. Simulation results demonstrate the gain of the optimized durations by using two existing prediction methods with a real dataset.


When treated with adjuvant peloids (peloidin, gumizol, torfot), tuberculosis patients demonstrated a positive trend in biochemical parameters. Therapeutic benefit shown by rapid recovery of blood picture was attributed to antiinflammatory and resolving effect of pelotherapy.


Breast cancer is the most common form of malignant tumor in females, accounting for the second highest mortality among cancer patients. In the breast tumor microenvironment, tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs) are the most abundant immune cells, which regulate the progression of breast cancer. During breast cancer tumorigenesis and progression, TAMs support breast tumor growth by promoting angiogenesis and cancer cell metastasis, inducing cancer stemness, regulating energy metabolism, and supporting immune system suppression. TAMs exhibit a high degree of cellular plasticity. Repolarizing tumor‐related macrophages into M1 macrophages can promote tumor regression. This study reviews the role and mechanism of action of TAMs in the development of breast cancer and establishes TAMs as effective targets for breast cancer treatment.


Background and Objective: Microalbuminuria is a well accepted marker for micro and macrovascular damage in patients with diabetes mellitus. There is growing evidence that microalbuminuria is an important risk indicator for development of ischemic heart disease. This study was conducted to establish a relationship between microalbuminuria and ischemic heart disease in non-diabetic subjects. Methodology: Fifty randomly selected non-diabetic patients with ischemic heart disease who fulfilled the criteria for the study were evaluated for traditional risk factors and microalbuminuria. Results: Microalbuminuria was detected in 36 (72%) patients with Ischemic Heart Disease (p


During mechanical ventilation, changes in inspiratory flow and tidal volume (VT) have been shown to alter respiratory frequency (f ). However, the changes in flow and VT have been accompanied by alteration in ventilator inspiratory time (TI,(vent)), and it is not clear which variable is the primary determinant. To address this issue, we employed four protocols in 15 healthy volunteers receiving assist-control ventilation. When VT was fixed and flow was delivered at 30, 60, and 90 L/min, f increased as a function of the increase in flow and the decrease in TI,(vent). When flow was held constant and VT was changed among 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 L, f increased as a function of the decreases in VT and TI,(vent). When flow was increased from 60 to 90 L/min and these changes were balanced with VT settings of 1.0 and 1.5 L to maintain a constant TI,(vent), f did not change. When flow and VT were held constant and TI,(vent) was varied by the application of inspiratory pauses (0 to 2 s), f decreased as a function of the increase in TI,(vent) (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the imposed ventilator inspiratory time during mechanical ventilation can determine f independently of delivered inspiratory flow and VT.


Objective: To present a rare case of maxillary swelling; its investigation and management.

Methods:
Design: Case Report

Setting: Tertiary Rural Private Teaching Hospital

Patient: One

Results: A 45-year-old female presented with a right maxillary swelling of six months duration. Radiological investigation revealed a radiolucent lesion arising from the inferior aspect of the right maxilla with no areas of calcification. Incisional biopsy report was consistent with giant cell tumor. The mass was excised via a Weber Ferguson incision under general anesthesia.
 Conclusion: Though rare, giant cell tumor should be considered as one of the differential diagnosis in cases of maxillary swelling. Adequate surgical excision with long-term follow-up should be the treatment of choice for managing a giant cell lesion of the maxilla.

Keywords: maxillary swelling, giant cell tumor


IL-17-producing CD4+ T cells have been recognized as key players in organ-related autoimmune disease; however, the parameters that govern their development are yet to be elucidated fully. By using both in vivo and in vitro systems, we have investigated the role of antigen dose, pathogen-associated molecular patterns, and CD40–CD40 ligand (CD40L) cross-talk in Th17 differentiation. We found that the strength of antigenic stimulation critically influenced the extent of Th17 differentiation, because high, but not low or intermediate, antigen concentrations led to IL-17 production. Strong antigenic stimulation of T cells up-regulated CD40L expression, which in concert with certain microbial stimuli (i.e., cytosine phosphate guanine, curdlan, and zymosan) synergistically increased dendritic cell (DC) IL-6 production and Th17 polarization. CD40-deficient DCs exhibited reduced cytokine release and failed to drive Th17 development in vitro. These results were confirmed in vivo where the absence of CD40–CD40L cross-talk was found to prevent the expansion of IL-17-producing cells and accordingly the development of experimental autoimmune encephalitis. Our data demonstrate that CD40–CD40L cross-talk is important for Th17 development by translating strong T cell receptor and microbial stimuli into IL-6 production.


Conventional, sustainable or organic farming practices are assumed to have distinct effects on soil fertility and health. This is often supported by arguments linking management and resulting soil parameters to crop yield and produce quality. Soil microbial communities are sensitive to management practices that alter soil water fluxes and the pools and fluxes of nutrients. These effects might be accentuated in arid or semiarid agriculture. Conversion to vineyard use, under Mediterranean conditions, and the subsequent application of different management types creates the conditions for divergent soil microbial communities. An off-season survey of variably managed vineyards located in a Mediterranean climate showed that both organic and conventional vineyard management had the most distinct impact on soil abiotic parameters, and on the bacterial and fungal communities; both organic and sustainable management enhanced soil organic carbon, water holding capacity and nitrogen availability. The sustainable management led to soil microbial communities most similar to the natural conditions. Fungal diversity was better than bacterial diversity at discriminating between soils under different management types. Classes of the dominant Ascomycota phylum had best discriminating power; Mucoromycota declined significantly after conversion to vineyard use and was a key taxonomic indicator for such conversion. Regarding bacterial communities, a focus on functional categories, e.g. nitrogen-fixing taxa, may be more informative than total diversity assessments.


Background Health care is a basic human right, and Saudi Arabia affirms these rights for all its citizens. Objectives To assess the knowledge of medical students regarding health rights in Saudi Arabia. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) from September 2015 through November 2015. A questionnaire written in English collected demographic data and included questions about reproductive health care and health rights of women and patients with cancer, senility, or special needs. Results Of the 267 participants, 184 (68.9%) were female, and 252 (94.4%) were Saudi. Regarding consent, 87 (32.6%) and 113 (42.3%) participants believed a female patient required the consent of a male guardian to receive medical treatment or surgery, respectively, in Saudi Arabia, and only 106 (39.7%) knew that a female patient could provide consent for a caesarean section. Sixty-six (24.7%) believed that abortion is never allowed in Islam. Only 93 (34.8%) were aware that acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients had health rights, about half (144, 53.9%) knew that cancer patients have a right to full information, and most (181, 67.8%) believed that a patient had the right to withhold health information from his/her family. Approximately half were aware that cancer patients have the right to free medical treatment (138, 51.7%) or that health rights applied to special needs patients (137, 51.3%) and senile patients (122, 45.7%). Conclusions The knowledge of KAU medical students regarding health rights of certain patient populations highlights the importance of health rights education in medical school.


Zinc finger proteins of the Cys2His2 class are DNA sequence-specific transcription factors. Previous structural studies of zinc finger protein-DNA complexes have shown that amino acids in the finger tip and alpha-helix regions within individual finger domains make base-specific contacts with the major groove of DNA. The nine finger protein transcription factor IIIA (TFIIIA) from Xenopus oocytes binds a 43 base pair region of the 5S RNA gene through major groove interactions with two sets of three fingers (fingers 1-3 and 7-9) and with finger 5. Previous studies have suggested that zinc fingers 4 and 6 each bind in or across the minor groove to bridge these major groove-binding zinc fingers. Here it is shown that a polypeptide containing zinc fingers 1-5 (zf1-5) binds oligonucleotides with modifications in the major groove of the finger 4 binding site with wild-type affinity. Mutagenesis and binding site selection studies were performed to determine whether high affinity DNA binding by zf1-5 requires a particular sequence in the binding site for finger 4. Several mutations in this region of the 5S gene reduced the DNA-binding affinity of zf1-5; however, selection and amplification binding assays did not recover the wild-type finger 4 binding site sequence from a pool of mixed sequence oligonucleotides. Rather, a purine-rich sequence on the top strand was highly selected within the finger 4 binding site. We suggest that high affinity DNA binding by zinc finger 4 may be dictated by a sequence-specific DNA structure rather than by a unique DNA sequence. Deletion of finger 4 from zf1-5 results in a protein with poor binding affinity, demonstrating the importance of finger 4 in proper alignment of neighboring fingers with the DNA, and/or the importance of correct protein-protein interactions between fingers.


This study was focused on detection of Magnesium (Mg,) Zinc (Zn),Cadmium (Cd) and Manganese (Mn) as minerals in aqueous solution using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and chemometrics. Although detectable, minerals have no absorption in NIR region, but alteration of the vibration mode of water matrix caused by minerals can be detected by NIRS. Artificial samples used in this research were contained metal diluted in aqueous solutions. Analyses were performed in the 680-1090 nm and 1110-1800 nm region and were subjected to a partial least-square (PLS) regression analysis; validation was performed by mean center and transformed by smoothing. The metals were scanned by NIRSystem 6500 using cuvette cell with 2 mm path length, in three consecutive days. Data for two days were used as data set and the rest of the data were used as prediction set. The calibration and prediction statistics obtained in this study indicated the potential of NIRS to predict Metals in aqueous solution with correlation coefficient (R2pred. > 0.7). The RPD (residual predictive deviation) or ratio of standard error of prediction to the standard deviation, values were greater than 2, indicating that the model is appropriate for practical use. These results showed that the PLS model were able to detect metal ions in the NIR region of electromagnetic spectra with high accuracy even at low concentrations (0 -10 ppm). PLS model provided a powerful tool for investigation of the vibration and interaction of a mineral with water.


Abstract The literature indicates that chronically ill patients have a remarkable capacity to adapt to their illness. For example, they will generally report a better quality of life (QoL) than individuals in the general population who are asked to imagine themselves as chronically ill and to rate their QoL. The present study further explores this phenomenon in type I diabetic transplant recipients with end-stage renal disease. In a prospective, longitudinal study, we assessed the QoL in 22 patients, both before and after they received a combined pancreas-kidney transplant. After transplantation, the patients were also asked to assess their pretransplant QoL by rating it on a 10-point scale. What we found was that prior to transplantation, QoL was prospectively given a mean rating of 5.23; this score increased to 7 after a successful transplant procedure. During follow-up assessments 5, 12, and 18 months after successful transplantation, patients retrospectively scored their pretransplant QoL as 3.27, 3.14, and 3.05, respectively.We conclude that when type I diabetic patients with end-stage renal disease undergo a transplant procedure to improve their health status, they re-evaluate their pretransplant QoL, and this retrospective assessment is significantly lower than their prospective one when transplantation is successful.


In a case-control study of adult acute and chronic myelogenous leukemia in Los Angeles County, we tested the hypothesis that excess exposure to electromagnetic fields from electric blankets was associated with risk of leukemia. We did this by studying 116 cases of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and 108 cases of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) along with matched neighborhood controls. The cases and controls were queried as to electric blanket use and the risks computed. For AML the risk was 0.9 (95% CI 0.5-1.6) and for CML the risk was 0.8 (95% CI 0.4-1.6). Cases did not differ from controls by duration of use, year of first regular use, year since last use, or socioeconomic status. Our best estimates of exposure indicate that electric blanket use increases overall exposure to electric fields by less than 50% and magnetic fields by less than 100%. We conclude that there is no major leukemogenic risk associated with electric blanket use in Los Angeles County.


Based on the equilibrium of combined girders, a set of models for the strain a nd stress distributions in heterostructures introduced by lattice mismatch, ther mal mismatch and the combination of the two factors are set up, and the analyti c solutions, including lattice mismatch strain, thermal mismatch strain, bending strain and the radius of curvature of the system, are also given. Furthermore, by using the models given here, strain and stress distributions in HgCdTe/CdZnTe heterostructures are calculated. The results show that both the maximum stress in HgCdTe films and the maximum stress in CdZnTe always appear at the interface between them, and that the neutral axis as a function of thickness and elastic parameters in the heterostructures are not related to lattice mismatch, lattice relaxation, thermal mismatch, and so on. In addition, the radius of curvature of HgCdTe/CdZnTe decreases with decreasing thickness of CdZnTe. In order to avoid cracking of HgCdTe/CdZnTe device at 77K, the thickness of CdZnTe must b e larger than the limited value.


Literature has continued to be a vehicle for satirizing societal ills with a view to engendering value reorientation and sanity. This onerous task is achieved through a conscious use of language to subtly condemn vice and commend virtue. There is, thus, a mutual and profound affinity between language and thematic goals. What varies is the style adopted by authors in their art. This paper assesses the salient stylistic peculiarities of Okoye's use of language in portraying the corrupt practices, moral decadence, vanity and materialism that pervade a typical African state. It reveals that the author's stylistic dexterity, evident in her skillful combination of  linguistic and literary devices, is superb. Okoye employs a simple diction, choice registers, connotations, pidgin, repetition, preponderance of  complex and compound - complex sentences, parallelism, balanced construction, figures of speech, idioms, and proverbs to reinforce the themes. The enormous use of titles and aliases and the undue emphasis on their use before people's name not only speak volumes about vainglory but also give the work a touch of humour. The language is etched with meticulous detail that enables the reader to visualize in his mind's eye the loathsome nature of corruption and materialism.


We investigated the robustness of the linear detector operating in a Gaussian environment in the presence of a mismatch between the design interference covariance matrix and the actual one. We have suggested that the Gaussian environment consists of a known colored clutter, a white noise and a strong unwanted periodical signal with unknown nonstationary power. It has been obtained the asymptotic inverse covariance matrix of the interference when the unwanted signal power tends to infinite. Using this formula we developed the asymptotic likelihood-ratio test (LRT). The performance of the new test statistic is analyzed and compared with well known optimal detector. The effect of the unwanted signal removing on the performance is evaluated for an example scenario.


C/C-SiC-(ZrxHf1−x)C composites were prepared by the reactive melt infiltration method. The microstructure of the porous C/C skeleton and the C/C-SiC-(ZrxHf1−x)C composites, as well as the structural evolution and ablation behavior of the C/C-SiC-(ZrxHf1−x)C composites, were systematically investigated. The results show that the C/C-SiC-(ZrxHf1−x)C composites were mainly composed of carbon fiber, carbon matrix, SiC ceramic, (ZrxHf1−x)C and (ZrxHf1−x)Si2 solid solutions. The refinement of the pore structure is beneficial to promote the formation of (ZrxHf1−x)C ceramic. The C/C-SiC-(ZrxHf1−x)C composites exhibited outstanding ablation resistance under an air–plasma environment at around 2000 °C. After ablation for 60 s, CMC-1 appeared to possess the minimum mass and linear ablation rates of only 2.696 mg/s and −0.814 µm/s, respectively, which are lower than those of CMC-2 and CMC-3. During the ablation process, a Bi-liquid phase and a liquid–solid two-phase structure were formed on the ablation surface which could act as an oxygen diffusion barrier to retard further ablation, which is responsible for the excellent ablation resistance of the C/C-SiC-(ZrxHf1−x)C composites.


This paper determines the loadability of a 500 kV series-compensated transmission line that are consistent with available var reserves taking into consideration the distributed nature of the line parameters and the effects of load-voltage characteristics and transformer taps at the load end.


Recent evidence indicates that methyl jasmonate, a plant stress hormone, exhibits anticancer activity on human cancer cells. Whether methyl jasmonate could inhibit the growth of human neuroblastoma cells still, however, remains largely unknown. In this study, administration of methyl jasmonate to cultured neuroblastoma cell lines, SK-N-SH and BE(2)-C, resulted in a decrease of cell viability in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner as demonstrated by MTT colorimetry and colony formation assay. The results from RT-PCR indicated that the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen, but not of cyclin D1, was downregulated by methyl jasmonate. Accordingly, the cell cycle of methyl jasmonate-treated neuroblastoma cells was arrested at the G0/G1 phase. Moreover, incubation of SK-N-SH and BE(2)-C cells with methyl jasmonate resulted in characteristic changes of apoptosis, as demonstrated by acridine orange–ethidium bromide (AO/EB) staining, Hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometry. Moreover, methyl jasmonate decreased the expression of the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein and survivin, critical members of the inhibitors of apoptosis protein family, in neuroblastoma cells. These findings indicate that methyl jasmonate suppresses the growth of cultured human neuroblastoma cells associated with downregulation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen, and induces apoptosis accompanied by downregulation of the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein and survivin, which lays the groundwork for further investigation into the mechanisms of methyl jasmonate-mediated anticancer activities.


This article tests whether the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ("SOX") affected the premium that investors are willing to pay for shares of foreign companies cross-listed in the United States. I find that from year-end 2001 (pre-SOX) to year-end 2002 (after SOX adoption), the Tobin's q and market/book ratios of foreign companies subject to SOX (cross-listed on levels 2 or 3) declined significantly, relative to Tobin's q and market/book ratios of both (i) matching non-cross-listed foreign companies from the same country, the same industry, and of similar size, and (ii) cross-listed companies from the same country that are not subject to SOX (listed on levels 1 or 4), whose Tobin's q and market/book ratios declined only slightly and increased in some specifications, compared to matching non-cross-listed companies. Thus, the premium associated with trading in the United States was roughly constant, while the premium associated with being subject to U.S. regulation declined. The biggest losers were companies that were more profitable, riskier, and smaller, companies with a higher level of pre-SOX disclosure, and companies from well-governed countries. These results are consistent with the view that investors expected SOX to have greater costs than benefits for cross-listed firms on average, especially for smaller firms and already well-governed firms. In a related paper, Kate Litvak, The Effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Foreign Companies Cross-Listed in the U.S., Journal of Corporate Finance, vol. 13, pp. 195-228 (2007), http://ssrn.com/abstract=876624, I conduct an event study of the reaction of level-23 cross-listed companies, and find that their prices declined during SOX-relevant event periods, relative to level-14 cross-listed companies and non-cross-listed companies.


Based on symbolic dynamics, a novel computationally efficient algorithm is proposed to estimate the unknown initial vectors of globally coupled map lattices (CMLs). It is proved that not all inverse chaotic mapping functions are satisfied for contraction mapping. It is found that the values in phase space do not always converge on their initial values with respect to sufficient backward iteration of the symbolic vectors in terms of global convergence or divergence (CD). Both CD property and the coupling strength are directly related to the mapping function of the existing CML. Furthermore, the CD properties of Logistic, Bernoulli, and Tent chaotic mapping functions are investigated and compared. Various simulation results and the performances of the initial vector estimation with different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) are also provided to confirm the proposed algorithm. Finally, based on the spatiotemporal chaotic characteristics of the CML, the conditions of estimating the initial vectors using symbolic dynamics are discussed. The presented method provides both theoretical and experimental results for better understanding and characterizing the behaviours of spatiotemporal chaotic systems.


CuI catalyzed coupling of 2-bromobenzamides and beta-keto esters takes place at 90 degrees C in i-PrOH to afford substituted homophthalimides in good yields. This transformation undergoes a cascade coupling/intramolecular condensation process, which allows assembly of a wide range of substituted homophthalimides by varying 2-bromobenzamides and beta-keto esters.


Objectives: To determine whether neuroticism, cognitive ability, and their interaction predicted mortality and to test whether neuroticism or cognitive ability effects were mediated by socioeconomic status (SES), physical health, mental health, or health behaviors. Methods: Participants were 4200 men followed up for > 15 years. Participants took part in telephone interviews and medical and psychological evaluations. The neuroticism measure was based on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which was administered during the psychological examination. Cognitive ability was measured via the Army General Technical Test given at induction and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale subtests administered during the psychological examination, approximately 17 years later. We used covariance structure modeling to analyze the data because it enabled us to conduct Cox proportional hazards analyses with latent variables and mediator variables. Results: Even after adjusting for age, ethnicity, and marital status, high neuroticism and low cognitive ability were independent mortality risk factors. A significant interaction indicated that participants high in neuroticism and low in cognitive ability were particularly at risk. In a second series of models, we examined whether education, income, seven physical health measures, two mental health measures, drinking, and smoking were related to mortality. SES and physical health variables attenuated the effect of cognitive ability but not that of neuroticism. A third series of models revealed that cognitive ability was related to mortality via its direct effects on income and health. Conclusions: The effects of high neuroticism, low cognitive ability, and their interaction predict mortality. Cognitive ability effects are mediated by health, income, and education. SBP = systolic blood pressure; DBP = diastolic blood pressure; FEV1 = forced expiratory volume in 1 second; BMI = body mass index; WAIS-R = Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised; MMPI = Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory; SES = socioeconomic status; HR = hazard ratio; AIC = Akaike's Information Criterion; BIC = Bayesian Information Criteria; VES = Vietnam Experience Study.


Around a horizontal cylinder submerged beneath waves with its axis parallel to the wave crests there exists, owing to streaming flow in the boundary layer, circulation with the same sense of rotation as that of the orbital motion in the waves. Experimental results, for conditions in which the effects of separation are not important, confirm theoretical predictions of the mass-transport velocity at the outer edge of the oscillatory boundary layer. Pressure measurements on the cylinder reveal a nonlinear component which is interpreted as a consequence of circulation induced by steady streaming.


The extant exploration was conceded to investigate the genetic divergence among 24 finger millet genotypes for ten agronomic traits in randomized complete block design with three replications at Assosa agricultural research center in 2016 main cropping season. The objectives of the study were to evaluate and select high yielding with head blast tolerant finger millet genotypes, to estimate comparative influence of traits for entire variability and to cluster or group genotypes based on their genetic distance. The analysis of variance revealed the existence of highly significant (P<0.01) variation among genotypes for all tested traits. This implies the expediency of selection for these traits in the genetic resources used for imminent enhancement. High genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variations were recorded for logging, plant aspect, head blast, grain yield and finger length. High heritability estimate were resulted from plant aspect, finger length, maturity date, logging and flowering date. Traits like logging score, plant aspect, head blast score, grain yield and finger length verified comparatively high genetic advance as percentage of the mean estimates while low for phenological traits Viz. flowering and maturity date. The principal component analysis illustrated the first three principal components explained most of the variability observed in the data set. Traits like days to flowering, days to maturity, blast score, plant aspect and grain yield found to be more important in contributing the observed variability. Four phenotypically divergent clusters which showed highly significant intercluster distance were observed from cluster analysis. Resistance to stress and high yielder genotypes were found under cluster two which could be utilized as a parent to develop superior and adaptable finger millet varieties to the area.


South American fur seals (Arctophoca australis) inhabiting the Rio de la Plata plume and adjoining areas are known to forage upon a wide range of prey (i.e. pelagic, demersal and benthic species).
Since the 1960s, trawlers have operated in the area, targeting primarily demersal and benthic species. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios from 54 adult male fur seals dead stranded along the coast of southern Brazil from 1994 to 2011 were analysed to investigate whether the intensification of fishing in Rio de la Plata and adjoining areas since the mid-1990s has reduced the availability of benthic and demersal prey to the growing population of South American fur seals.
No significant correlation between δ13C or δ15N values and stranding year was found, thus revealing that fur seals maintained a steady diet over 17 years.
Reconstruction of the isotopic landscape of the study area using potential prey of fur seals showed a spatial segregation, with prey from southern Brazil typically enriched in 13C and depleted in 15N compared with those from northern Argentina. Most adult male fur seals relied mainly on small pelagic fishes and squid captured on the continental shelf, whereas medium pelagic and demersal–benthic prey played a minor role in the diet.
It is concluded that South American fur seals rely on pelagic resources (i.e. small pelagic fish and squid) more strongly than previously thought and that their diet does not reflect the varying abundance of demersal–benthic resources in the area.
As long as small pelagic fish remain under-exploited in the area, competition between fisheries and fur seals is not expected. However, it is difficult to foresee how changes in the structure and dynamics of the ecosystem caused by fisheries may affect South American fur seal conservation in the long term.

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In this thesis, we provide evidence on the performance of an unethical investment strategy during the 21st-century. We examine publicly traded US companies engage in one of these five industries; gambling, oil/gas, alcohol, tobacco, and defense. Using a sample of approximately 200 unethical stocks from 2001-2016, we hypothesize that the unethical portfolio does not outperform the market and SRI comparables and that there is a clear trend before and after the global financial crisis in 2008. Consistent with the first hypothesis and contrary to previous research, we could not prove that the unethical portfolio generated any excess return over the market. Meanwhile, there is a clear trend before and after the financial crisis, whereas the unethical portfolio overperforms prior and underperforms the market and comparables post, due to the inclusion of oil/gas industry.


The informal childcare sector provides a significant proportion of childcare in the U.S. However, because informal sectors are not captured in our national income accounting sys-tem, the value to our economy is largely unknown. This study examines the size of the infor-mal childcare sector in the state of Kansas. Using IMPLAN data we also calculate implicit multipliers for the sector in order to estimate the full economic effects of informal childcare on the economy of Kansas and its regions. We find that the informal childcare sector creates large economic effects compared to the formal childcare sector. More specifically, the study estimates that informal childcare created about 128,494 direct jobs within the sector, another 6,842 jobs in other sectors, and $971.5 million in total value added in Kansas in 2005. We found that families in non-metro areas are more likely to use informal childcare than those in metro areas. As a result, even though the non-metro multipliers are smaller than those of met-ro areas, the informal childcare sector generates larger economic effects in non-metro areas than metro areas in general.


We consider a linear city model where both firms and consumers have to incur transport costs. Following a standard Hotelling (1929) type framework we analyze a duopoly where firms facing a continuum of consumers choose locations and prices, with the transportation rate being linear in distance. From a theoretical point of view such a model is interesting since mill pricing and uniform delivery pricing arise as special cases. Given the complex nature of the profit function for the two-stage transport cost sharing game, we invoke simplifying assumptions and solve for two different games. We provide a complete characterization for the equilibrium of the location game between the duopolists by removing the price choice from the strategy space. We then find that if the two firms are constrained to locate at the same spot, the resulting price competition leads to a mixed strategy equilibrium with discriminatory rationing. In equilibrium both firms always have positive expected profits. Finally, we derive a pure strategy equilibrium for the two-stage game. Results are then compared with the mill pricing and uniform delivery pricing models.


Semen cryopreservation is associated with low productivity results. This study aimed to test the Coconut Water Powder (ACP®-103) as a ressuspension diluent after thawing semen, also evaluate sperm quality during the cooling curve until thawing of the semen. For this, the semen was collected from 15 boars once a week, incubated at 30 °C for 15 minutes, and afterwards, the samples were diluted in the diluent Beltsville Thawing Solution – BTS (Control) or ACP-103®, and subjected to a slow cooling curve, where the force and the motility were analyzed in each step. The thawed semen was ressuspended in its respective solvents and analyzed in the characteristics of vigor, motility, vitality, acrosome integrity and functionality of the membrane. During the analysis of vigor and motility that make up the cooling curve, and thawing, for analysis of vitality and intact acrosomal membrane, it was observed that there was no significant difference between treatments. Besides, after thawing, the BTS showed better results of sperm vigor, sperm motility and membrane functionality. However, the cooling curve and coconut water powder can be used in the protocol for cryopreservation of boar semen, as both ensured quality of sperm viability that may be used in artificial insemination. Keywords:  Swine semen; alternative extender; freezing; sperm viability.


In the first half of 19th century, the Rio de La Plata was involved in a process of militarization and changing of political orders. During this time the conflictive relation between the old schemes of government and the tendency to centralize and to create new structures of power and social control was extended all across the territory. Among those Institutions thought to provide new forms of discipline, appeared the Police, created in 1812, which immediately would be involved in a tension between the local authorities and the central government. In this article, by analyzing the juridical concepts deeply rooted in legal reasoning used by the actors to create the force, it will be explained some structural elements of the meaning and logic of police order in the Spanish legal tradition (domestic government, localization, negotiation, etc.). After the study of those categories, inscribed in the legal sources which breathed life to the police's institution, it will be examined the problems that faced the diverse attempts of building a central police-government, especially, in front of a traditional negotiable juridical culture that persisted in the mentality of the agents of Buenos Aires in the period comprehended between 1812-1853.


Background: There is an urgent need to look at New Models of Care to improve quality of care for patients whilst providing the best value for money. Community Pharmacy has been an untapped resource which can assist in achieving the goals of managing long term conditions. Psoriasis is one such example affecting 1% to 3% of the population with upto 40% of these patients at risk of developing psoriatic arthritis (PsA). There is plenty of evidence that early diagnosis of PsA remains suboptimal leading to poorer outcomes. Objectives: The objective of this proof-of-concept study was to utilise community pharmacists in collaboration with the local Rheumatology service to screen patients with psoriasis aiming to achieve earlier diagnosis of PsA. Methods: A pilot site was identified including a community pharmacy with a neighbouring GP surgery. An educational session was organised with the team to help them understand the need for the project. Logistics were finalised and a dedicated teaching was delivered covering PsA and Psoriasis Epidemiology Screening Tool (PEST) tool. PEST was chosen for its high sensitivity and specificity and positive NICE recommendation. The dispensing personnel highlighted all patients requesting prescribed standard psoriasis-treating topical applications to the pharmacists. They confirmed the history of psoriasis with the patients, ensured the absence of a formal diagnosis of arthritis and offered the PEST questionnaire. Those who scored positive were signposted to their GPs for further consultation. The data was gathered anonymously and analysed to assess the utility of the service. Results: 37 patients were identified during the 12-week proof of concept phase. 24 (65%) participants were women. Median age of the group was 48 years (range 19–73). 23/37 (62%) were white Caucasians with eight Asian and three each of Afro-Caribbean or Mixed race background. 18/37 (48%) answered yes to three or more of five-question PEST tool thereby scoring positive. Ten (27%) replies were negative and another nine (24%) declined to pariticipate. No reasons were offered for not filling in the questionnaire. Two of the positive patients have since been reviewed by GP and referred to Rheumatology for further evaluation. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study ever conducted utilising community pharmacists to employ a screening questionnaire to help early identification of possible PsA patients. This novel approach of involving community pharmacy helps explore new and proactive ways of early detection of psoriasis patients at risk of PsA and challenges the traditional model of confining the screening process to GPs in primary care. Early findings have already identified nearly half of this cohort with hitherto potentially undiagnosed PsA. This pioneering development highlights a new model of care streamlining the diagnostic pathway thereby providing better quality of care. Considering over 90% of psoriasis is managed in primary care, it would also encourage quicker assessment by a rheumatologist without burdening the already busy GP practices. Focused strategy and better utilisation of community pharmacists can be pivotal to providing better care for PsA patients in the long term. Disclosure of Interest: None declared


The new POS-tagged Icelandic corpus of the Leipzig Corpora Collection is an extensive resource for the analysis of the Icelandic language. As it contains a large share of all Web documents hosted under the .is top-level domain, it is especially valuable for investigations on modern Icelandic and non-standard language varieties. The corpus is accessible via a dedicated web portal and large shares are available for download. Focus of this paper will be the description of the tagging process and evaluation of statistical properties like word form frequencies and part of speech tag distributions. The latter will be in particular compared with values from the Icelandic Frequency Dictionary (IFD) Corpus.


Immobilization of Aspergillus oryzae β galactosidase on concanavalin A-layered calcium alginate-cellulose beads and its application in lactose hydrolysis in continuous spiral bed reactors In this study, Aspergillus oryzae β galactosidase was immobilized on concanavalin A layered calcium alginate-cellulose beads as a bioaffinity support. Immobilized enzyme showed a remarkable broadening in temperature-activity profiles as compared to the native enzyme and exhibited 65% activity in the presence of 5% galactose. Michaelis constant (Km) was 2.57 mM and 5.38 mM for the free and the immobilized β galactosidase, respectively. Crosslinked β galactosidase showed greater catalytic activity in the presence of Mg2+ and was more stable during storage at 4°C for 6 weeks. Immobilized enzyme hydrolyzed 67% lactose in milk in 8 h and 85% lactose in whey in 9 h in the stirred batch process at 50°C. The continuous hydrolysis of lactose by crosslinked β galactosidase in spiral bed reactor exhibited 93% and 88% hydrolysis of lactose at flow rate of 20 ml/h and 30 ml/h, after 1 month operation, respectively.


(3R,5R)-Clavulanic acid, a clinically used inhibitor of serine β-lactamases, is produced by fermentation of Streptomyces clavuligerus. The early steps in clavulanic acid biosynthesis leading to the bicyclic β-lactam intermediate (3S,5S)-clavaminic acid have been defined. However, the mechanism by which (3S,5S)-clavaminic acid is converted to the penultimate intermediate (3R,5R)-clavaldehyde is unclear. Disruption of orf15 or orf16, of the clavulanic acid biosynthesis gene cluster, blocks clavulanic acid production and leads to the accumulation of N-acetyl-glycyl-clavaminic acid and N-glycyl-clavaminic acid, suggesting that these compounds are intermediates in the pathway. Two alternative start codons have been proposed for orf17 to encode for two possible polypeptides, one of which has 92 N-terminal residues less then the other. The shorter version of orf17 was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli and purified as a monomeric protein. Sequence analyses predicting the ORF17 protein to be a member of the ATP-grasp fold superfamily were supported by soft ionization mass spectrometric analyses that demonstrated binding of ATP to the ORF17 protein. Semisynthetic clavaminic acid, prepared by in vitro reconstitution of the biosynthetic pathway from the synthetically accessible intermediate proclavaminic acid, was shown by mass spectrometric analyses to be converted to N-glycyl-clavaminic acid in the presence of ORF17, ATP, and glycine. Under the same conditions N-acetyl-glycine and clavaminic acid were not converted to N-acetyl-glycyl-clavaminic acid. The specificity of ORF17 as an N-glycyl-clavaminic acid synthetase, together with the reported accumulation of N-glycyl-clavaminic acid in orf15 and orf16 disruption mutants, suggested that N-glycyl-clavaminic acid is an intermediate in clavulanic acid biosynthesis.


This essay considers how dance improvisation involves processes of interpretation which are fundamental to human experience. Particular attention is given to psychosomatic practices, that is, approaches to performance that depend on a relation between a 'score' of external actions and an 'underscore' of internal images. The essay first refers to several historically significant psychosomatic methods that promise a plenitude of self-presence, but then questions those methods through Paul Ricoeur's critique of idealist phenomenology. However, the essay also argues that improvised dance in general, and the work of Marie-Gabriella Rotie and Jennifer Monson in particular, can offer an alternative psychosomatic approach which exemplifies the phenomenological hermeneutics of Ricoeur and Hans Georg Gadamer. Through exploration of concepts such as distanciation, appropriation, conversation, and occasion, the essay grasps dance improvisation as a unfinished practice in which the moving body unfolds the world—in particular the natural world—of which it is already a part by relating to it through a subtext that it interprets kinaesthetically.


The Fuzzy Intrusion Recognition Engine (FIRE) is a network intrusion detection system that uses fuzzy systems to assess malicious activity against computer networks. A key part of an intrusion detection system is the selection of key features that can characterize the state of the network. This work uses interactive data visualization to analyze the features of several different intrusion detection scenarios using the DARPA Lincoln Labs test data. Visualizing the data helps to characterize which features are key for identifying intrusions and if they can be characterized as fuzzy sets or by Boolean variables. These inputs can then be input into a fuzzy cognitive map that serves to fuse the inputs to detect more complex attacks.


Image/video compression is one of the major components used in video-telephony, videoconferencing and multimedia-related applications. Compression allows efficient utilization of channel bandwidth and/or storage size. One of the commonly used methods for image and video compression is JPEG (an image compression standard). In our present work, a real time (the first made in Malaysia) JPEG hardware decoder has been successfully designed and implemented using 100,000 gate FPGA (FLEX10K100 from Altera). The fully functional JPEG decoder prototype is capable of decompressing compressed data to achieve a frame rate of 30 frames per second (for a frame size of 320/spl times/240 pixels). Currently the design supports gray scale images, but with some modification and addition of tables to handle the chrominance component, the JPEG decoder can easily handle color images. The major components that have been implemented include the 2-dimensional inverse discrete cosine transform, inverse scalar quantizer and the parallel Huffman decoder. Parallelism and pipelining were fully exploited in the design to achieve the high frame rate.


Abstract In 2011, SCOEL classified RCF as a secondary genotoxic carcinogen and supported a practical threshold. Inflammation was considered the predominant manifestation of RCF toxicity. Intrapleural and intraperitoneal implantation induced mesotheliomas and sarcomas in laboratory animals. Chronic nose-only inhalation bioassays indicated that RCF exposure in rats increased the incidence of lung cancer and similar exposures resulted in mesothelioma in hamsters, but these studies may have been compromised by overload. Epidemiological studies in the US and Europe showed an association between exposure and prevalence of respiratory symptoms and pleural plaques, but no interstitial fibrosis, mesotheliomas, or increased numbers of lung tumors were observed. As the latency of asbestos induced mesotheliomas can be up to 50 years, the relationship between RCF exposure and respiratory malignances has not been fully determined. Nonetheless, it is possible to offer useful perspectives. RCF and rock wool have similar airborne fiber dimensions and biopersistence. Therefore, it is likely that these fibers have similar toxicology. Traditional rock wool has been the subject of numerous cohort and case control studies. For rock wool, IARC () concluded that the epidemiological studies did not provide evidence of carcinogenicity. Based on analogies with rock wool (read across), it is reasonable to believe that increases in lung cancer or any mesotheliomas are unlikely to be found in the RCF-exposed cohort. RCF producers have developed a product stewardship program to measure and control fiber concentrations and to further understand the health status of their workers.


The purpose of this article is to discuss Kant's concept of juridical state as the foundation of the contemporary rule of law. Therefore, the article tries to answer two questions: (1) what character can be attributed to Kant's concept of juridical state taking into account the obligations arising from it; (2) can the analysis of the Kantian juridical state have any impact on the contemporary understanding of the rule of law and if so, what can this impact be. In order to accomplish this task, moral presuppositions of Kant's juridical state are discussed, according to the commonly accepted view that Kant's political philosophy is closely linked with his moral and ethical reflection. Then, two interpretations of Kant's juridical state – the liberal one and the authoritarian one – are analysed. The crucial difference between these interpretations lies in establishing the circumstances in which the duty of obedience to state power should be carried out. Then, Kantian juridical state is compared with two ways of understanding the rule of law – the material one and the formal one – in order to evaluate whether the rule of law should be considered as continuity of or rupture with the Kantian concept.


Hundreds of millions of language learners worldwide use and purchase language software that may not fully support their language development. This review of Rosetta Stone (Swad, 1992), Duolingo (Hacker, 2011), Babbel (Witte & Holl, 2016), and Mango Languages (Teshuba, 2016) examines the current state of second language (L2) pronunciation technology through the review of the pronunciation features of prominent computer-assisted language learning (CALL) software (Lotherington, 2016; McMeekin, 2014; Teixeira, 2014). The objective of the review is: 1) to consider which L2 pronunciation tools are evidence-based and effective for student development (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 2010); 2) to make recommendations for which of the tools analyzed in this review is the best for L2 learners and instructors today; and 3) to conceptualize features of the ideal L2 pronunciation software. This research is valuable to language learners, instructors, and institutions that are invested in effective contemporary software for L2 pronunciation development. This article considers the importance of L2 pronunciation, the evolution of the L2 pronunciation field in relation to the language classroom, contrasting viewpoints of theory and empirical evidence, the power of CALL software for language learners, and how targeted feedback of spoken production can support language learners. Findings indicate that the software reviewed provide insufficient feedback to learners about their speech and, thus, have unrealized potential. Specific recommendations are provided for design elements in future software, including targeted feedback, explicit instructions, sophisticated integration of automatic speech recognition, and better scaffolding of language content. DOI:10.2458/azu_itet_v5i1_bajorek


The end of the Second World War saw a retreat from empire and a period of decolonisation. During this time Britain's military became embroiled in a series of protracted counterinsurgency campaigns. Counterinsurgency engendered a different set of concerns and stresses than the previous world war, not least that operations took place under a set of Emergency Regulations that purported to control the use of force. The longest running of these campaigns was in Malaya where a State of Emergency was declared in 1948 and did not officially end until 1960. Using the Malayan Emergency as a case study, this thesis will investigate the immediate and long-term psychological impact of participation in Britain's postwar counterinsurgency campaigns on its service personnel. In order to understand impact, this thesis will employ two main concepts: resilience and psychopathology. It will suggest that morale was an earlier analogue of resilience. It will argue that training, which privileged the use of force, was used to instil morale in service personnel and that regimental culture reinforced and sustained morale while on operations. This thesis will then go on to look at when resilience, or morale, gave way to breakdowns. Within the history of military psychiatry, the psychopathological conditions seen during war were largely thought of in terms of predisposition or weakness. This would change in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, with the creation of the diagnostic category, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD shifted the emphasis away from predisposition toward the traumatic event and reduced the stigma surrounding mental illness. At the time of the Malayan Emergency, however, service personnel were subject to a culture that expected resilience. Finally, then, this thesis, will argue that stigma had an immediate and ongoing effect on whether symptoms were reported.


I review recent developments in the economic analysis of crime, focusing in particular on organized crime and corruption. I first discuss the main challenges to the empirical identification of causal relationships—namely, measurement error due to endogenous reporting of crime and the fact that randomized controlled trials are rarely an option when studying crime. I then discuss recent advancements made possible by the combination of detailed micro data and quasi-experimental methods.


Desulforedoxin is a protein purified from cellular extracts of Desulfovibrio gigas. It is a small (7.9 kDa) dimeric protein that contains a distorted rubredoxin like center (one single iron coordinated by four cysteinyl residues). Due to the simplicity of the polypeptide chain and of the iron center, an attempt was made to chemically produce this protein. A 36 amino acid polypeptide chain was synthesized based on the known sequence of native Desulforedoxin. The iron center was then reconstituted and the biochemical and spectroscopic characteristics of this synthetic protein were investigated. The final product has an equal sequence to the protein purified from D. gigas. The synthetic and natural Dx are very similar, in terms redox potential and spectroscopic properties (UV-Visible, EPR, Mössbauer).


BACKGROUNDS & AIMS
Under normal conditions, the biliary tract is a microbial-free environment. The absence of microorganisms has been attributed to various defense mechanisms that include the physicochemical and signaling actions of bile salts. Here, we hypothesized that bile salts may stimulate the expression of a major antimicrobial peptide, cathelicidin, through nuclear receptors in the biliary epithelium.

METHODS
The expression of cathelicidin was analyzed in human liver samples by immunostaining and reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The regulation of cathelicidin expression by the endogenous bile salt, chenodeoxycholic acid, and by the therapeutic bile salt, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), was assessed in human biliary epithelial cells in which endogenous nuclear receptor expression was blunted by siRNA or dominant-negative strategies.

RESULTS
In the human liver, biliary epithelial cells show intense immunoreactivity for cathelicidin and for the vitamin D receptor. In cultured biliary epithelial cells, chenodeoxycholic acid and UDCA induce cathelicidin expression through 2 different nuclear receptors: the farnesoid X receptor and the vitamin D receptor, respectively. Importantly, vitamin D further increases the induction of cathelicidin expression by both bile salts. In a prototypical inflammatory biliary disease (ie, primary biliary cirrhosis), we document that hepatic expressions of the vitamin D receptor and of cathelicidin significantly increased with UDCA therapy.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that bile salts may contribute to biliary tract sterility by controlling epithelial cell innate immunity. They further suggest that in inflammatory biliary diseases, which involve bacterial factors, a strategy systematically combining UDCA with vitamin D would increase therapeutic efficacy.


Electrical resistivity and step coverage on thick oxide steps of various slopes were examined in tungsten silicide films sputter deposited by multilayering of W and Si utilizing magnetron targets. The desired composition was obtained by adjusting power levels to the targets and bias voltage. A broad minimum in electrical resistivity was obtained with bias voltage ranging from −40 to −80 V. Typical resistivity in films of 2500 A thickness after annealing at 1000 °C was 52–66 μΩ cm when deposited on poly‐Si substrates. The effect of bias was found to produce films with much lower levels of impurity such as N, O, C, and H and the sputtering gas Ar. Proper bias voltage (−50 V) was necessary to achieve good step coverage on thick oxide step with various slopes. Zero‐bias sputtering provided minimum step coverage, while too high bias (−100 V) led to poor step coverage and formation of rounded corners and faceting.


Catheter ablation (CA) is the most popular treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) with good results in paroxysmal AF, while its efficiency is significantly reduced in persistent AF. With the equipment used for CA strongly depending on electro-gram (EGM) fractionation quantification, the use of a reliable fractionation estimator is crucial to reduce the high recurrence rates in persistent AF. This work introduces a non-linear EGM fractionation quantification technique, which is based on coarse-grained correlation dimension (CGCD) computed over epochs of 1 second. Recordings were firstly normalized, denoised and lowpass filtered. The final CGCD value was calculated by the median CGCD value of all the epochs that a recording consisted of. Results were evaluated on three groups. Groups 1 and 2 contained 24 high-quality and 119 mid-range EGMs, respectively, manually pre-classified by AF types following Wells' criteria, then classified according to their CGCD values. 20 pseudo-real Type IV EGMs formed group 3 that was also automatically classified by AF type. In Groups 1 and 2, classification accuracy was 100% and 84-85.7%, respectively, using 10-fold cross-validation. The receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) analysis for highly fractionated EGMs, showed 100% specificity and sensitivity in Group 1 and 87.5% specificity and 93.6% sensitivity in Group 2. CGCD was always consistent with the fractionation degree of EGMs. 100% of the EGMs in Group 3 were correctly identified as Type IV AF. High accuracy results indicate that the method can estimate precisely the AF Type and detect the existence of AF Type IV cases. Both things are crucial in assisting improved substrate mapping during CA procedures of persistent AF.


Recovering a matrix from a sampling of its entries is a problem of rapidly growing interest and has been studied under the name of matrix completion. It occurs in many areas of engineering and applied science. In most machine learning and data mining applications, it is possible to leverage the expertise of human oracles to improve the performance of the system. It is therefore natural to extend this idea of "human-in-the-loop" to the matrix completion problem. However, considering the enormity of data in the modern era, manually completing all the entries in a matrix will be an expensive process in terms of time, labor and human expertise, human oracles can only provide selective supervision to guide the solution process. Thus, appropriately identifying a subset of missing entries (for manual annotation) in an incomplete matrix is of paramount practical importance, this can potentially lead to better reconstructions of the incomplete matrix with minimal human effort. In this paper, we propose novel algorithms to address this issue. Since the query locations are actively selected by the algorithms, we refer to these methods as active matrix completion algorithms. The proposed techniques are generic and the same frameworks can be used in a wide variety of applications including recommendation systems, transductive / multi-label active learning, active learning in regression and active feature acquisition among others. Our extensive empirical analysis on several challenging real-world datasets certify the merit and versatility of the proposed frameworks in efficiently exploiting human intelligence in data mining / machine learning applications.


In this paper we present FICLONE, which aims to improve the performance of DBpedia Spotlight, not only for the task of semantic annotation (SA), but also for the sub-task of named entity disambiguation (NED). To achieve this aim, first we enhance the spotting phase by combining a named entity recognition system (Stanford NER ) with the results of DBpedia Spotlight. Second, we improve the disambiguation phase by using coreference resolution and exploiting a lexicon that associates a list of potential entities of Wikipedia to surface forms. Finally, to select the correct entity among the candidates found for one mention, FICLONE relies on collective disambiguation, an approach that has proved successful in many other annotators, and that takes into consideration the other mentions in the text. Our experiments show that FICLONE not only substantially improves the performance of DBpedia Spotlight for the NED sub-task but also generally outperforms other state-of-the-art systems. For the SA sub-task, FICLONE also outperforms DBpedia Spotlight against the dataset provided by the DBpedia Spotlight team.


Introduces the information theoretic or economics of information approach, shows how this relates to innovation and illustrates an example of an information economics model of innovation. Attempts to demonstrate that an information economics perspective, both generally and in the context of a simple model, improves understanding of and provides new insights into innovation, compared to a more conventional economic approach.


The proof of the intermediate value theorem for power series on a LeviCivita field will be presented. After reviewing convergence criteria for power series [19], we review their analytical properties [18]. Then we state and prove the intermediate value theorem for a large class of functions that are given locally by power series and contain all the continuations of real power series: using iteration, we construct a sequence that converges strongly to a point at which the intermediate value will be assumed.


Diagnostic imaging after orthotopic liver transplant focuses primarily on depicting complications related to surgical hepatic vascular and biliary anastomoses. Less common preexisting vascular conditions include congenital anatomic variants, atherosclerosis, chronic portal venous thrombosis, splenic artery and variceal steal phenomena, and transarterial embolization (TAE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). If unappreciated or left untreated preoperatively, these conditions negatively impact the transplant by impairing hepatic arterial or portal vascular inflow. Many of the complications related to preexisting vascular conditions can be prevented or mitigated by proper performance and careful evaluation of preoperative imaging studies. The authors describe the diagnosis and treatment of complications arising from narrowing of the celiac axis by atherosclerosis and the median arcuate ligament, variant anatomy of the hepatic artery, insufficiency of the portal vein requiring surgical conduits, and large varices or an enlarged splenic artery and spleen that may steal blood and compromise hepatic arterial or venous inflow. While preoperative evaluation primarily involves CT and MRI, postoperative diagnosis involves screening with sonography and confirmation with other modalities. We propose the use of a preoperative checklist of vascular status and measurements in patients undergoing liver transplant. Reports of imaging studies in recipients after transplant should include details of surgical vascular anastomoses and conduits, any history of HCC and preoperative TAE, details of the preoperative α-fetoprotein levels, and any unusual procedures or pathologic findings in the explanted liver that may affect postoperative surveillance. The authors review the pretransplant imaging evaluation of vascular and HCC issues that may affect surgical outcomes and methods to help recognize complications after transplant that can arise from these conditions.©RSNA, 2020.


Twenty-three known species of the Colletes clypearis speices group from China are treated in this paper. C. cinerascens Morawitz 1893, C. clypearis Morawitz 1876, C. floralis Eversmann 1852, C. impunctatus Nylander 1852, Colletes paratibeticus Kuhlmann 2002 and Colletes sodalis (Cameron 1897) are newly recorded from China. C. harrerioides sp. n., C. heilongtenensis sp. n., C. hirsutus sp. n., C. inspersus sp. n., C. xizangensis sp. n., C. xuezhongi sp. n. and C. yanruae sp. n. are described and illustrated as new species. Checklist of the known species from China in Colletes clypearis-group with distribution, floral records, and an illustrated key to all known males and females from China are provided. The type specimens of the new species are deposited in the Insect Collection of Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.


*e phase equilibrium of the ternary system (NaCl + CH3OH + H2O) at 298.15, 308.15, 318.15K, and 0.1MPa has been investigated by the isothermal dissolution equilibrium method. Solubilities and physicochemical properties including refractive index (nD) and density (ρ) in the ternary system were determined experimentally. According to the experimental data, the phase diagrams and diagrams of physicochemical properties versus sodium chloride concentration in the solvents at 298.15, 308.15, and 318.15K were plotted, respectively.*e experimental results showed that the system did not cause stratification and the equilibrium solid phase was anhydrous sodium chloride. Neither double salt nor solid solution was found at the three temperatures. *e physicochemical properties of the ternary system change regularly with the increase of sodium chloride concentration in the solution, and the solvation effect of CH3OH onNaCl was significant. Moreover, the calculated values of NaCl solubility data based on the CNIBS/R-K equations agreed well with the experimental results, and the thermodynamic functions in the dissolution process of NaCl in the CH3OH-H2O binary system were also calculated for further investigation of NaCl dissolution process.


Dressing is one of the most common activities in human society. Perfecting the skill of dressing can take an average child three to four years of daily practice. The challenge is primarily due to the combined difficulty of coordinating different body parts and manipulating soft and deformable objects (clothes). We present a technique to synthesize human dressing by controlling a human character to put on an article of simulated clothing. We identify a set of primitive actions which account for the vast majority of motions observed in human dressing. These primitive actions can be assembled into a variety of motion sequences for dressing different garments with different styles. Exploiting both feed-forward and feedback control mechanisms, we develop a dressing controller to handle each of the primitive actions. The controller plans a path to achieve the action goal while making constant adjustments locally based on the current state of the simulated cloth when necessary. We demonstrate that our framework is versatile and able to animate dressing with different clothing types including a jacket, a pair of shorts, a robe, and a vest. Our controller is also robust to different cloth mesh resolutions which can cause the cloth simulator to generate significantly different cloth motions. In addition, we show that the same controller can be extended to assistive dressing.


A systematic design approach using signal flow graph (SFG) is presented in this paper, tailored for integrated reconfigurable switched-capacitor (SC) power converters. To achieve an optimal power stage, an unified signal flow graph (USFG) model is developed. System transfer function and I/O impedance can be evaluated based on it. To verify the design approach, the paper demonstrates a step-up/down reconfigurable SC power converter with five optional gain ratios. A dual-loop control scheme is employed to reconfigure the converter according to the instantaneous line/load conditions. A low-power, digital controller is designed in the subthreshold region for the feedback control loop. The converter was fabricated with a 130-nm CMOS process. Experimental results show that its output can be continuously regulated from 0.4 to 2.2 V, while allowing the input voltage to randomly vary between 0.9 and 1.5 V. The line regulation is maintained below 1.4%, with a lowest value of 0.07%. The maximum efficiency of 90.22% is measured at 0.55-V output voltage and 20-mW load.


The improvement of the thermal coupling between the stack of a thermoacoustic refrigerator and the heat exchangers is necessary to achieve high-efficiency and stable operation. Heat transport by the thermoacoustic effect depends on both the velocity and temperature fields. Inside the stack, it can be described by the linear theory of thermoacoustics. However, departures from linear behaviours are expected near the edges of the stack and in the heat-exchangers due to the generation of vorticity and temperature harmonics. The present work focuses on the experimental characterization of temperature harmonics near the edges of a thermoacoustic stack. Experiments are conducted in an 18cm-long resonator operated with air at atmospheric pressure at the resonance frequency of approximately 464Hz. Drive ratios up to 3% are achieved, which corresponds to temperature oscillation amplitudes up to 2.5K. Temperature measurements are performed using a novel procedure recently proposed by Berson et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 015102 (2010). The instantaneous temperature is measured with a cold wire operated by a Constant-Current Anemometer (CCA). In addition, we record the output signal of the same wire, under the same flow conditions — which is made possible by the periodicity of the acoustic wave — and operated in the heated mode by a Constant-Voltage Anemometer (CVA). During post-processing, the thermal inertia of the cold wire operated with the CCA is corrected using the CVA signal. This procedure does not require any physical properties of the wire such as the diameter. In addition, it does not require the knowledge of a heat-transfer/velocity relationship for the wire. This is all the most important for thermoacoustic systems since no such relationship is available in oscillating flows. Results validate the generation of temperature harmonics near the stack edges. The spatial distributions of the first and second harmonic amplitudes are compared with a one-dimensional model. The model is an extension of an analytical model from the literature [Gusev et al., J. of Sound and Vibration 235, (2000)] that takes into account axial conduction. Experimental results show an excellent qualitative agreement with the model and demonstrate the importance of axial conduction on the nonlinear thermal field behind the stack.© 2010 ASME


INTRODUCTION
Collagen type I is a major structural component of human uterus. Recent studies have found that collagen type I turnover is altered in preeclampsia and imbalance occurs between collagen synthesis and degradation processes. This acts as a stimulus for abnormal changes in the concentrations of collagen type I derived products in circulating blood.

AIM
Having in mind the pathological collagen type I turnover in preeclampisa, the aim of the present study was to determine the levels of N-terminal propeptide of collagen type I (PINP), C-terminal propeptide of collagen type I (PICP): both markers of collagen type I synthesis and levels of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1): marker of collagen type I degradation in sera of women with early-onset preeclampsia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Thirty-two patients with early-onset preeclampsia were examined. The mean age of the patients was 28.8±5.5 years; and the mean age of 22 age-matched healthy pregnant women was 28.5±6.0 years. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used for measuring serum levels of PINP, PICP and MMP-1.

RESULTS
There were no statistically significant differences between levels of PINP, PICP and MMP-1 in the sera of women with preeclampsia and healthy pregnancies: 16.991 (15.41÷21.143) vs. 17.189 (15.805÷20.747) µg/L (KW=0.02; p>0.05), 10.929 (8.7÷13.937) vs. 11.474 (7.369÷11.932) µg/L (KW=0.026; p>0.05), and 2.097 (1.384÷2.923) vs. 2.589 (1.41÷4.533) µg/L (KW=0.238; p>0.05), respectively. There were statistically significantly higher number of patients from the preeclampsia group than healthy pregnant women with BMI≥25 (23/32 vs. 4/22) and abnormal UAD (18/32 vs. 2/22) (p.


Recently, the interest in public transit increased because of its contribution in solving the problem in mobility. This resulted in a worldwide need for building new railway stations and expanding existing ones. A railway station forms no longer a building on its own, but part of a larger complex. On the one hand, a station is an integrated part of the city, in that it is supplemented with urban functions, which results in multiple-land use. On the other hand, all transport modalities are concentrated in and around the station, thus turning the station into a multi-modal interchange machine. This report deals with these aspects. Attention is paid to arranging various transport modalities in and around the station, the required flexibility for both railway tracks and real estate development, and the execution and maintenance aspects with regard to the inconvenience for passengers and public transit. Through examples of railway station designs, the effects of all these aspects for structural solutions will be explained.


In temporal-probabilistic (TP) databases, the combination of the temporal and the probabilistic dimension adds significant overhead to the computation of set operations. Although set queries are guaranteed to yield linearly sized output relations, existing solutions exhibit quadratic runtime complexity. They suffer from redundant interval comparisons and additional joins for the formation of lineage expressions. In this paper, we formally define the semantics of set operations in TP databases and study their properties. For their efficient computation, we introduce the lineage-aware temporal window, a mechanism that directly binds intervals with lineage expressions. We suggest the lineage-aware window advancer (LAWA) for producing the windows of two TP relations in linearithmic time, and we implement all TP set operations based on LAWA. By exploiting the flexibility of lineage-aware temporal windows, we perform direct filtering of irrelevant intervals and finalization of output lineage expressions and thus guarantee that no additional computational cost or buffer space is needed. A series of experiments over both synthetic and real-world datasets show that (a) our approach has predictable performance, depending only on the input size and not on the number of time intervals per fact or their overlap, and that (b) it outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in both temporal and probabilistic databases.


We have looked at the relationship between fasting levels of insulin and a small insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-binding protein (IBP-1) in a cross-sectional study of 116 normal subjects aged 5-48 years. The relationship between IBP-1 and insulin was also examined within individual normal children in overnight profiles of IBP-1 and insulin obtained from two children at each stage of puberty (Tanner stages 1-5). In the cross-sectional study high levels of IBP-1 were found in early childhood and these fell throughout puberty as fasting levels of insulin rose. Multiple regression analysis revealed that both these changes were predominantly due to pubertal development rather than to age. After the age of 16 IBP-1 levels remained low despite fasting insulin levels returning to prepubertal levels. A strong negative correlation was obtained between IBP-1 and insulin in children of 5-16 years (r = -0.63; n = 60; P less than 0.001), no such relationship being found after the age of 16. In the second study, IBP-1 underwent a marked circadian variation in all cases and an inverse correlation with insulin, measured at the same time, was obtained at pubertal stages 1 to 4, but not at stage 5 (pooled data stages 1-4, r = -0.69; n = 53; P less than 0.001). We have demonstrated that a potential inhibitor of IGF-activity is inversely related to insulin throughout the period of active GH-related growth and that this relationship weakens after puberty.


Multidimensional indices are becoming increasingly important instruments to assess the wellbeing of societies. They move beyond the focus on a single indicator and yet they are easy to present and communicate. A crucial step in the construction of a multidimensional index of wellbeing is the selection of the relative weights for the different dimensions. The aim of this article is to study the role of these weights and to critically survey eight different approaches to set them. We categorize the approaches in three classes: data-driven, normative, and hybrid weighting, and compare their respective advantages and drawbacks.


Abstract– One transient heating mechanism that can potentially explain the formation of most meteoritic chondrules 1–3 Myr after CAIs is shock waves produced by planetary embryos perturbed into eccentric orbits via resonances with Jupiter following its formation. The mechanism includes both bow shocks upstream of resonant bodies and impact vapor plume shocks produced by high‐velocity collisions of the embryos with small nonresonant planetesimals. Here, we investigate the efficiency of both shock processes using an improved planetesimal accretion and orbital evolution code together with previous simulations of vapor plume expansion in the nebula. Only the standard version of the model (with Jupiter assumed to have its present semimajor axis and eccentricity) is considered. After several hundred thousand years of integration time, about 4–5% of remaining embryos have eccentricities greater than about 0.33 and shock velocities at 3 AU exceeding 6 km s−1, currently considered to be a minimum for melting submillimeter‐sized silicate precursors in bow shocks. Most embryos perturbed into highly eccentric orbits are relatively large—half as large as the Moon or larger. Bodies of this size could yield chondrule‐cooling rates during bow shock passage compatible with furnace experiment results. The cumulative area of the midplane that would be traversed by highly eccentric embryos and their associated bow shocks over a period of 1–2 Myr is <1% of the total area. However, future simulations that consider a radially migrating Jupiter and alternate initial distributions of the planetesimal swarm may yield higher efficiencies.


Diabetes mellitus disease is increasing rapidly and the incidences in 2010 were about 285 million people worldwide. This is projected to increase to 438 million in 2030. The conventionally used drugs possess many side effects. In addition, the cost of modern antidiabetic drugs is beyond the reach of most people with a low income. Because of this, the need for alternatives that are effective, cheap, and safe is very common. Plants and many plant derived preparations have long been used as traditional remedies for the treatment of diabetes in many parts of the world. Recently, ginger (Zingiber officinale) and green tea (Camellia sinensis) have been widely studied to assess their beneficial effects in treatment and prevention of diabetes mellitus. In vitro and in vivo studies evidenced the potential of ginger and green tea to normalize blood glucose level in diabetes mellitus. In this article we reviewed the various mechanisms through which ginger and green tea exert their hypoglycemic effect. Their pharmacokinetics and safety were also discussed. Results from previous studies revealed that ginger and green tea share some mechanisms of action to reduce blood glucose level in diabetes mellitus. Pharmacokinetics studies provided ample information about their absorption, distribution, and metabolism. Toxicological data exhibited their safety as complementary antidiabetic agents; therefore, a study on the administration of these two herbs simultaneously may be needed as they may exhibit a potential hypoglycemic action due to their synergistic or additive mechanisms of action in diabetes mellitus.


Background and Objective Deep learning (DL) algorithms have been developed for various tasks, including lung nodule detection on chest radiographs or lung cancer computed tomography screening, potential candidate selection in lung cancer screening, malignancy prediction for indeterminate pulmonary nodules, lung cancer staging, treatment response prediction, prognostication, and prediction of genetic mutations in lung cancer. Furthermore, these DL algorithms have been applied in various clinical settings in order for them to be generalized in real-world clinical practice. Multiple DL algorithms have been corroborated to be on par with experts or current clinical prediction models for several specific tasks. However, no article has yet comprehensively reviewed DL algorithms dedicated to lung cancer research. This narrative review presents an overview of the literature dealing with DL techniques applied in lung cancer research and briefly summarizes the results according to the DL algorithms' clinical use cases. Methods we performed a narrative review by searching the Embase and OVID-MEDLINE databases for articles published in English from October, 2016 until September, 2021 and reviewing the bibliographies of key references to identify important literature related to DL in lung cancer research. The background, development, results, and clinical implications of each DL algorithm are briefly discussed. Lastly, we end this review article by highlighting future directions in lung cancer research using DL techniques. Key Content and Findings DL algorithms have been introduced to show comparable or higher performance than human experts in various clinical settings. Specifically, they have been actively applied to detect lung nodules in chest radiographs or computed tomography (CT) examinations, optimize candidate selection for lung cancer screening (LCS), predict the malignancy of lung nodules, stage lung cancer, and predict treatment response, patients' prognoses, and genetic mutations in lung cancers. Conclusions DL algorithms have corroborated their potential value for various tasks, ranging from lung cancer screening to prognostication of lung cancer patients. Future research is warranted for the clinical application of these algorithms in daily clinical practice and verification of their real-world clinical usefulness.


The CADTH Horizon Scanning Service identifies emerging health technologies that may be of potential interest to health care decision-makers in Canada.
Chronic pain, including chronic low back pain, challenges many aspects of people's lives, including social, physical, mental, and professional. Approximately 80% of adults will be affected by chronic lower back pain at least once in their lifetime and seek out multiple treatment options, including drug treatments, psychological treatments, and physical therapies.
This Horizon Scan summarizes available information regarding an emerging technology, the Erchonia FX 635 low-level laser system, for the treatment of chronic low back pain.


A clonal cell line has been established from estrogen-induced testicular Leydig cell tumor of BALB/c mouse. This cell line termed as B-1F can be maintained in a serum-free culture condition without any authentic growth factor. The growth of B-1F cells is significantly enhanced by estrogen, androgen or retinoic acid. Biochemical and Northern blot analyses reveal that B-1F cells contain respective receptors for these stimulants, although estrogen receptor has an interesting mutation. The simultaneous addition of these stimulants in combination fails to elevate the maximum levels of B-1F cell growth, suggesting that these stimulants would share some common pathway to stimulate B-1F cell growth. One possible step affected by these stimulants is mapped to 5-lipoxygenase since inhibitors of this enzyme can stimulate B-1F cell growth and estrogen stimuli can lower its activity. B-1F cells grow in a serum-free medium as a cell clump irrespective of the presence of growth stimulants. Interestingly, the addition of low concentrations of elastase or trypsin in the medium changes the cell morphology from a round to well spreaded shape. Furthermore, treatment of conditioned medium from B-1F cell culture with trypsin or elastase results in an appearance of cell-spreading activity. In addition, a relatively high concentration of elastase abolishes estrogen-induced enhancemant of B-1F cell growth. In conclusion, a serum-free culture of B-1F cells can provide us with a model system quite useful for studying the effects of physiologically active molecules on cancer cells.


Abstract A green chemistry approach has been adopted for the synthesis of thirty-four new picolinium-based ionic liquids using microwave (MW) and ultrasound (US) irradiation as well as conventional thermal heating. Their structures were confirmed by FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 11B NMR, 19F NMR, 31P NMR, mass spectra and elemental analyses. The antimicrobial profile of the novel ionic liquids was evaluated and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) showed their moderate to low antimicrobial activity against eight types of human pathogens.


Tongue twisters are meaningful sentences that are difficult to pronounce. The process of automatically generating tongue twisters is challenging since the generated utterance must satisfy two conditions at once: phonetic difficulty and semantic meaning. Furthermore, phonetic difficulty is itself hard to characterize and is expressed in natural tongue twisters through a heterogeneous mix of phenomena such as alliteration and homophony. In this paper, we propose PANCETTA: Phoneme Aware Neural Completion to Elicit Tongue Twisters Automatically. We leverage phoneme representations to capture the notion of phonetic difficulty, and we train language models to generate original tongue twisters on two proposed task settings. To do this, we curate a dataset called TT-Corp, consisting of existing English tongue twisters. Through automatic and human evaluation, as well as qualitative analysis, we show that PANCETTA generates novel, phonetically difficult, fluent, and semantically meaningful tongue twisters.


The bacterium that causes tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, possesses a rather unique outer membrane composed largely of lipids that possess long-chain and branched fatty acids, called mycolic acids. These lipids form a permeability barrier that prevents entry of many environmental solutes, thereby making these bacteria acid-fast and able to survive extremely hostile surroundings. Antitubercular drugs must penetrate this layer to reach their target. This review highlights drug development efforts that have added to the slowly growing tuberculosis drug pipeline, identified new enzyme activities to target with drugs and increased the understanding of important biosynthetic pathways for mycobacterial outer membrane and cell wall core assembly. In addition, a portion of this review looks at discovery efforts aimed at weakening this barrier to decrease mycobacterial virulence, decrease fitness in the host or enhance the efficacy of the current drug repertoire by disrupting the permeability barrier.


Closely examining a range of New York Court of Appeals police-power cases during the period 1885 to 1905, this article demonstrates that the New York Court had a long history of accepting and continually expanding the police power. In these police-power cases, one finds the court grappling with an evolving sense of how to balance the concept of and need for a well-regulated society against the rights of an individual in an increasingly complex and interconnected world, as well as a tenacious refusal to abandon Victorian bourgeois norms regarding the dichotomy between the home and workplace. By contextualizing and historicizing New York Court of Appeals cases, the article challenges the dominant historiographical interpretations about late-nineteenth-century law. Moving away from a paradigm that labels the court conservative or liberal, formalist or realist, it argues that the court participated in creating a regulatory state while also employing a reasoning that adopted a sharp distinction between the market and the site of the domestic.


Plum is commercially cultivated worldwide for the rich nutrient in its fruit. In May 2019, plum with symptoms of fruit rot were collected from fields located in Liuma town, Guizhou Province, China. The incidence of the disease varied from 10 to 20%, which was observed in 15 plum orchards (18 hectares) surveyed. Estimated yield loss was~5 to 10% for each field. Diseased fruits showed deformity, wilting and sunken lesions, and subsequenly became melanized and rotted. Diseased tissues were surface disinfected with 70% ethanol for 45 s and rinsed with sterile distilled water three times. Four morphologically similar colonies with white fluffy aerial mycelium and a reddish pigment were obtained after 3 days incubation on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 25°C. Four single-spore isolates produced conidia with 1 to 2 septa that were sickle-shaped, thin-walled with a tapering and curved apical cell, measuring 15.6 to 29.6 × 4.8 to 8.7 μm (average 19.5×5.9 μm, n=50). Based on the cultural and conidial morphology, the isolates were identified as Fusarium (Mun et al. 2012; Leslie and Summerell 2006). DNA of two isolates was extracted using the Ezup Column Fungal Genomic DNA Extraction Kit (Sangon Bioengineering Shanghai, LTD.). To confirm the morphological diagnosis, DNA sequence data from three loci were obtained. PCR amplification was carried out with universal primers ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), translation elongation factor (EF-1α), EF1-H (5'-ATGGGTAAGGAAGACAAGAC-3') and EF2-T (5'-GGAAGTACCAGTGATCATGTT-3') (O'Donnell et al. 1998) and the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB2), 5F2(5'-GGGGWGAYCAGAAGAAGGC-3') and 7cR (5'-CCCATRGCTTGYTTRCCCAT-3') (O'Donnell et al. 2007). Primers ITS1 and ITS4 produced a 559-bp amplicon (GenBank accession. MW085028). BLAST analysis showed 100% sequence identity to sequences of several species, deposited in GenBank, including F. fujikuroi. The EF-1α sequence (MW086868) was 100% identical to that of Fusarium fujikuroi (MN193860.1). The RPB2 primers amplified a fragment (MW086869) that was 99.9% identical to that of F. fujikuroi (MN193888.1). The BLASTn results based on the partial EF-1α and RPB2 sequences suggest isolate HJGF1 is F. fujikuroi. A pathogenicity assay was conducted using an agar disk inoculation method on plum. Fruits were stab inoculated with HJGF1 by piercing 1-mm at 3 points using a sterile needle, and fruits were mock inoculated with sterile PDA, each fruit was inoculated with three disks. (Fig. 1). The treated fruit were maintained in a growth chamber with 90% relative humidity at 25°C, and a daily 12-h photoperiod. After 5 days, the artificially inoculated fruit showed blotches with sunken lesions similar to those observed in the orchards, whereas no symptoms were observed on the control fruit. The experiment was repeated twice with similar results. F. fujikuroi was reisolated from infected tissues and confirmed by sequence analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of F. fujikuroi causing fruit blotch of plum in China. Considering the economic importance of plum in China and throughout the world, F. fujikuroi may be an emerging problem for plum cultivation. Thus, further study of fruit blotch of plum is warranted.


Overexpression of TMPRSS4, a cell surface-associated transmembrane serine protease, has been reported in pancreatic, colorectal and thyroid cancers, and has been implicated in tumor cell migration and metastasis. Few reports have investigated both TMPRSS4 gene expression levels and the protein products. In this study, quantitative RT-PCR and protein staining were used to assess TMPRSS4 expression in primary non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) tissues and in lung tumor cell lines. At the transcriptional level, TMPRSS4 message was significantly elevated in the majority of human squamous cell and adenocarcinomas compared with normal lung tissues. Staining of over 100 NSCLC primary tumor and normal specimens with rabbit polyclonal anti-TMPRSS4 antibodies confirmed expression at the protein level in both squamous cell and adenocarcinomas with little or no staining in normal lung tissues. Human lung tumor cell lines expressed varying levels of TMPRSS4 mRNA in vitro. Interestingly, tumor cell lines with high levels of TMPRSS4 mRNA failed to show detectable TMPRSS4 protein by either immunoblotting or flow cytometry. However, protein levels were increased under hypoxic culture conditions suggesting that hypoxia within the tumor microenvironment may upregulate TMPRSS4 protein expression in vivo. This was supported by the observation of TMPRSS4 protein in xenograft tumors derived from the cell lines. In addition, staining of human squamous cell carcinoma samples for carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX), a hypoxia marker, showed TMPRSS4 positive cells adjacent to CAIX positive cells. Overall, these results indicate that the cancer-associated TMPRSS4 protein is overexpressed in NSCLC and may represent a potential therapeutic target.