Objective Uveitis and retinal vasculitis are sight-threatening manifestations of Behçet's disease with limited treatment options. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics and clinical activity of XOMA 052 (gevokizumab), a recombinant humanised anti-interleukin 1β antibody, in Behçet's disease patients with uveitis. Methods Patients with acute posterior or panuveitis, and/or retinal vasculitis, resistant to azathioprine and/or ciclosporin, and receiving 10 mg/day or less of prednisolone, were enrolled into the 98-day study. Immunosuppressive agents were discontinued at baseline. Patients received a single infusion of XOMA 052 (0.3 mg/kg). The safety and uveitis status and pharmacokinetics of XOMA 052 were evaluated. Results Seven patients enrolled and completed the study. No treatment-related adverse event was observed. XOMA 052 treatment was associated with rapid and durable clinical response in all patients. Complete resolution of intraocular inflammation was achieved in 4–21 days (median 14 days), with a median duration of response of 49 days (range 21–97 days); one patient remained exacerbation free throughout the study. Conclusions Well tolerated, XOMA 052 resulted in a rapid onset and sustained reduction in intraocular inflammation in patients with resistant uveitis and retinal vasculitis. Moreover, the effect was observed despite discontinuation of immunosuppressive agents and without the need to increase corticosteroid dosages.


In this paper, a new analytical technique, combining the energy balance method (EBM) with harmonic balance method (HBM), is presented to obtain higher-order approximations of a conservative oscillator with strong odd-nonlinearity. To show the accuracy of the present method, one nonlinear oscillator named as cubic-quintic Duffing oscillator is investigated. The results obtained in this paper are compared with those results determined by other methods and exact solutions. The results give high accuracy and also provide better result than other existing results for both small and large amplitudes of oscillation. The main advantage of the present paper is its simplicity, which contains a few harmonic terms with lower order terms and these terms make the solution quickly converges. The present technique can be used to other nonlinear oscillators.


Background Tai Chi has shown beneficial effects on the motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD), but no study has reported the effect of long-term Tai Chi training. Objective To examine whether long-term Tai Chi training can maintain improvement in patients with PD. Methods Cohorts of patients with PD with Tai Chi training (n=143) and patients with PD without exercise as a control group (n=187) were built from January 2016. All subjects were assessed at baseline and in November 2019, October 2020 and June 2021. A logarithmic linear model was used to analyse rating scales for motor and non-motor symptoms. The need to increase antiparkinsonian therapies was presented as a Kaplan–Meier plot and as a box plot. The bootstrap method was used to resample for statistical estimation. Results Tai Chi training reduced the annual changes in the deterioration of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and delayed the need for increasing antiparkinsonian therapies. The annual increase in the levodopa equivalent daily dosage was significantly lower in the Tai Chi group. Moreover, patients benefited from Tai Chi training in motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms and complications. Conclusion Tai Chi training has a long-term beneficial effect on PD, with an improvement in motor and non-motor symptoms and reduced complications. Trial registration number NCT05447975.


hyperlactatemia is an early indicator of poor prognosis and mortality in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery
Objective: To establish the association between lactate levels with morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery at the Hospital Universitario Clinica San Rafael , in Bogota, Colombia .
Methods: Observational and descriptive study with prospective design where 120 adult patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery between May 15, 2012 to October 15, 2012 were evaluated , who were sampled periods lactate in pre , intra , post-operative , 6 24 and 48 hours, in the period covered . The variables measured were : lactate levels , cardiopulmonary bypass time , creatinine , platelets, international ramdonizado ratio (INR ) , oxygenation index ( PAFI ), need for inotropic support , seizures, myoclonus , psychomotor agitation and death.
Results: High levels of lactate were found in 31.67% (n = 38) of patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery. Highly significant ( p 0.05) . Also 2.5 % (n = 3 ) had to be reoperated and 10 % (n = 10 ) died during or after the surgery , but not hyperlactatemia factor represented a significant risk of death following cardiovascular surgery ( OR = 0.122 , 95% CI = 0.031 to 0.483 ) .
Conclusion : The elevation of lactate is not associated with an increased risk of mortality or organ system dysfunction in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery


We here describe a previously unrecognized nosological entity in 12 patients from 8 unrelated pedigrees. All patients presented with severe congenital neutropenia and severe invasive bacterial infections. In addition, patients had a variety of additional syndromic features such as congenital heart disease (8/12), urogenital malformations (5/12), inner ear hearing loss (2/12), and myopathy (1/12). Furthermore, most patients (10/12) showed increased visibility/angiectasia of subcutaneous veins. The bone marrow smear was characterized by a typical "maturation arrest" due to premature apoptosis of mature neutrophils. Similar to Kostmann's disease secondary to mutations in HAX1, myeloid cells from patients with this novel syndrome showed increased susceptibility to apoptosis. Myeloid progenitor cells revealed an abnormally enlarged rough endoplasmic reticulum and increased endoplasmic reticulum stress evidenced by increased expression of BiP. A genome-wide linkage study, performed in two consanguineous pedigrees, gave statistical evidene of a linkage interval on chromosome 17q21 (LOD score 5.74). We identified homozygous missense mutations in G6PC3, a ubiquitously expressed paralog of glucose-6-phosphatase. Biochemical studies confirmed deficient enzymatic activity. Using retroviral G6PC3-gene transfer into primary hematopoietic stem cells and in vitro differentiation into myeloid cells, the phenotype of increased susceptibility to apoptosis could be reverted. Eight distinct biallelic mutations were found, including missense and nonsense mutations. G6PC3-deficient myeloid cells showed a predominance of the unphosphorylated form of GSK3beta, a key molecule controlling cellular differentiation and apoptosis. As a consequence of increased GSK3beta activity, increased phosphorylation of the antiapoptotic molecule Mcl1 was detected, explaining increased susceptibility to apoptosis in neutrophils. In summary, our study describes a novel disease, determines its molecular etiology, and sheds light on the role of glucose-dependent pathways in controlling the homeostasis of the endoplasmic reticulum and control of apoptosis.


Today, Remotely Operated Vehicles, or ROV's, are the dominating type of vehicles for underwater operations and very much the working horse of the North Sea, and both the military and the scientific sectors are increasing their use of ROVs. An ROV is normally designed for underwater work using oil hydraulics or electricity for propulsion and tool control. ROV's using the surrounding water itself as the energy carrier for propulsion and tool control has never been successfully developed. The paper presents research results on a new ROV with water hydraulic propulsion system is being developed at Bergen University College. The design of the propulsion system is based on components available on the market. The ROV will have two thrusters for manoeuvring in the horizontal plane, and one thruster for vertical positioning. Static calculations and dynamic simulations have been performed to investigate the performance of the water hydraulic propulsion system. The simulations have been performed applying VisSim. The flow control valve has been tested to investigate the capability of flow regulation at low flow rates. Furthermore, this paper presents the selected experimental results and performance results.


In traditional network management, data acquisition realized by polling and traps will cause huge waste of network bandwidth, and cause delay and congestion problems. To solve this problem, based on mobile agent platform aglets, this paper developed a data acquisition system, which realized transparent access of distributed configuration data acquisition. This design can reduce the computational load of network management, and reduce bandwidth demands by a large number of information exchanges.


Streptococcus constellatus is a member of Streptococcus milleri group which is a subgroup of Viridans streptococci, first described by Guthof in 1956 after being isolated from dental abscesses. S. constellatus, a gram positive, non-sporing, non-motile, catalase negative cocci, is the normal flora of the oropharyngeal, gastrointestinal and urogenital tract. It is not a commonly encountered pathogen but has a propensity to form abscesses and cause bacteremia in the immunocompromised patient. Here, we report a 78-year-old man with sepsis due to Streptococcus constellatus liver abscess. The patient had a history of hypertension, stroke, benign prostatic hyperplasia, vascular dementia and myocardial infarction status post coronary artery bypass grafting. There has been no particular link between any of these conditions to S. constellatus. However, immunocompromised status predisposes to fulminant infection and formation of abscesses. The patient was febrile with a temperature of 99.1°F, blood pressure of 143/73 mmHg and the heart rate (HR) of 98. Labs revealed a leukocytosis of 16.90 K/uL, hemoglobin 11.8 g/dL, hematocrit 35.8%, total bilirubin 1.7 mg/dL, direct bilirubin 1.0 mg/dL, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) 44 IU/L, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) 28 IU/L, alkaline phosphatase (ALKP) 176 IU/L and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was 290 IU/L. He was started on intravenous Maxipime and Unasyn which was switched to Rocephin and Clindamycin based on the Infectious disease recommendations. Metronidazole was also started and the serologies were sent for Entamoeba histolytica. Computerized tomography (CT) scan showed an abscess in the right lobe of the liver which was finally drained using an interventional radiology (IR)-guided approach. The cultures from the fluid and blood yielded S. constellatus and thus Metronidazole was discontinued. The patient improved after a few days and the drainage catheter was pulled out and the patient discharged in stable condition.


The application of sucrose gradient sedimentation for synchronization of murine lymphoma L5178Y-S cells was investigated. Centrifugation of the cells in a linear 2--10% sucrose gradient in Fischer's medium allows to obtain populations enriched in (I) young cells, (II) DNA-synthesizing cells, and (III) old cells. Population I showed highest degree of synchrony and contained at least 70% G1 cells. However, only a proportion of cells from population I progressed normally (approximately 30% of cells from this population remained in G1 during post-separation incubation). It was shown that the sucrose concentrations used for separation did not affect growth of L5178Y-S cells. On the other hand, relatively gentle mechanical treatment severely inhibited proliferation of these cells. It is suggested that excellent adaptation of cells to the culture medium and complete stability of the medium's composition are the prerequisites for a successful synchronization of L5178Y cells by gradient centrifugation.


Fatty acid synthase (FAS) expression is low in liver and adipose tissue of suckling rats and increases markedly after weaning on to a high-carbohydrate low-fat diet. It has been shown previously that glucose alone, via an increase in intracellular glucose-6-phosphate level, stimulated the accumulation of FAS mRNA in cultured white adipose tissue of suckling rats. The regulation of FAS expression by glucose and hormones (insulin, dexamethasone and triiodothyronine) was studied in cultured hepatocytes from suckling rats. In hepatocytes cultured for 48 h in the absence of hormones and glucose, FAS mRNA, as well as glucokinase mRNA, levels remained undetectable. Glucose alone was unable to stimulate FAS expression. The combination of hormones, in the absence of glucose, has a marginal effect on FAS mRNA levels. However, FAS mRNA levels were increased in the presence of both glucose and the combination of hormones. This demonstrated that the hormonal induction of FAS mRNA was dependent on the presence of glucose in the culture medium. We have then investigated if glucokinase expression could be a prerequisite for the stimulation of FAS expression in response to glucose. Hepatocytes were cultured for 48 h in the absence of glucose but in the presence of insulin, dexamethasone and triiodothyronine. In these conditions, glucokinase mRNA and activity were markedly increased but there was no accumulation of FAS mRNA. When these hepatocytes were then exposed to various levels of glucose, FAS mRNA rapidly accumulated. Glucose stimulation of FAS expression was observed only in hepatocytes which expressed glucokinase activity. The importance of glucokinase expression for the induction of FAS mRNA by glucose is supported by the striking correlation between glucose-6-phosphate concentrations and the levels of FAS mRNA. This study clearly demonstrates that: (a) glucose metabolism is directly involved in the regulation of FAS gene expression; (b) the effect of hormones is partly due to their capacity to induce in the hepatocytes the capacity for glucose phosphorylation.


Due to rapid urbanization, population growth, rising living standards as well as changing lifestyle and diets, food waste has emerged as a crucial issue with far reaching implications on food security and environmental sustainability in developing countries, including Nigeria. Consequently, this study examined socioeconomic factors influencing household food waste in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Data were collected using multi-stage sampling procedure, and analysed using descriptive statistics and Tobit regression. The average value of food waste was N1, 499.67 per month with cereals accounting for the largest percentage (27.97%) of total value of food waste. Food waste is mostly experienced during storage and as left-over across various food groups. The results of the Tobit regression model showed that gender and age of household, location of households (rural dummy), household income, type of work of household head, presence of children, presence of refrigerator and unawareness of the environmental effects of waste had varying significant influences on household food waste of different food groups in the study area. The study recommends that government should improve the level of infrastructure development (electricity), in order to encourage households to utilize refrigerators and other electricity dependent storage equipment, which can help reduce the amount of food waste. In addition, public enlightenment about the moral and environmental effects of food waste should be pursued vigorously.


Recent work [1], [2], [3] has shown promising results in learning from demonstrations for the manipulation of deformable objects. Their approach finds a non-rigid registration between points in the demonstration scene and points in the test scene. This registration is then extrapolated and applied to the gripper motions in the demonstration scene to obtain the gripper motions for the test scene. If more than one demonstration is available, a quality score for the non-rigid registration is used to determine the best matching training scene. For many manipulation tasks, however, the gripper's direction of approach with respect to the objects' surface normals is important in order to succeed at the task. This prior work only registers points across scenes and does not register the surface normals, often leading to warps between scenes that are inappropriate for transfer of manipulation primitives. The main contributions of this paper are (i) An algorithm for non-rigid registration that considers both points and normals, and (ii) An evaluation of this registration approach in the context of learning from demonstrations for robotic manipulation. Our experiments, which consider an insertion task in simulation and also knot-tying and towel-folding executions in a PR2, show that incorporating normals results in improved performance and qualitatively better grasps.


We studied the development of Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in three cultivars of the herbaceous cotton plant: CNPA Precoce 1, CNPA Precoce 2 and CNPA 7 H. Cotton plants 20-cm high, maintained individually in caged pots, were infested with 20 adult aphids. We recorded the number of aphids in each plant of the three cultivars 15, 30 and 45 days after the infestation. Significant differences were found in the mean number of aphid between the cultivar CNPA Precoce 2 and the other cultivars. No significant difference was registered between the cultivars concerning to the vertical distribution of aphids on the plant, except at 45 days after infestation, when the cultivar CNPA Precoce 2 presented higher density of aphids in the medium region in the comparison with the basal region.


We carry out 1D hydrodynamical simulations of the evolution of a spherically symmetric supernova remnant (SNR) subject to an external radiation field (ERF) that influences the cooling and heating rates of the gas. We consider homogeneous media with ambient hydrogen number densities nH,0 of 0.1 and 1 cm −3 permeated by an average radiation field including the cosmic microwave, extragalactic, and Galactic backgrounds, attenuated by an effective column density NH,eff from 10 18 to 10 cm. Our results may be classified into two broad categories: at lowNH,eff , the ERF presents little absorption in the ultraviolet (ionising) regime, and all the 'unshielded' cases feature an equilibrium temperature Teq ∼ 7000 K below which the ambient gas cannot cool further. In this scenario, the SNR develops a nearly isothermal shock profile whose shell becomes thicker over time. At higher NH,eff , the ERF is heavily absorbed in the UV range, yielding a roughly constant heating function for temperatures . 10 K. These 'shielded' cases develop a thin, cold and dense shell throughout their evolution. Energy and momentum injection to the medium do not change significantly between both scenarios, albeit luminosity is higher and more uniformly distributed over the shell for unshielded SNR.


abstract:Takeo Rivera's Model Minority Masochism: Performing the Cultural Politics of Asian American Masculinity examines the ways in which Asian American subject formation since the 1980s bears a masochistic relationship with the model minority myth, highlighting this dynamic in a wide range of Asian American texts and performances.


We present a new approach for constructing debuggers based on declarative specification of bug conditions and root causes, and automatic generation of debugger code. We illustrate our approach on several classes of bugs, memory or otherwise. For each bug class, bug conditions and their root cause are specified declaratively, in First-order logic, using 1 to 4 predicates. We employ a low-level operational semantics and abstract traces to permit concise bug specification and prove soundness. To facilitate locating bugs, we introduce a new concept of value propagation chains that reduce programmer burden by narrowing the fault to a handful of executed instructions (1 to 16 in our experiments). We employ automatic translation to generate the debugger implementation, which runs on top of the Pin infrastructure. Experiments with using our system on 7 versions of 4 real-world programs show that our approach is expressive, effective at finding bugs and their causes, and efficient. We believe that, using our approach, other kinds of declaratively-specified, provably-correct, auto-generated debuggers can be constructed with little effort.


Supply modulation for RF power amplifiers according to the modulated signal's envelope (i.e. envelope tracking and polar modulation) is an effective approach for achieving high efficiency in transmitters. Various current and emerging wireless standards produce signal envelopes with wide bandwidths and high peak-to-average ratio (PAR), which makes efficient supply modulation very challenging. In this paper, a reduced bandwidth class H supply modulation scheme is proposed, which provides efficient supply modulation with high PAR and wide bandwidth. It leverages a novel bandwidth reduction DSP algorithm to effectively exploit an efficient narrowband switching modulator without increasing its switching losses. Analyses and simulation results for LTE and WiMAX signals indicate significant modulator efficiency improvements (up to 15%) over similar existing techniques.


A three-level downhole array is being operated in a 1500-m-deep borehole within the seismically active Newport-Inglewood fault zone, Los Angeles basin. The array consists of three three-component 4.5 Hz seismometers deployed at the surface, and at 420 and 1500 m depth. An M = 2.8 earthquake that occurred 0.9 km away from the array at a depth of 5.3 km on 31 July 1986 generated rays traveling almost vertically up the downhole array. The P- and S-wave pulse shapes show increasing pulse rise time with decreasing depth, and the initial pulse slope is less steep at the surface than at 1500 m. The average value of t_s/t_p between 1500 and 420 m depth is 1.7 and between 420 and 0 m is 3.4. A near-surface site response results in amplification on the P wave by a factor of four and S waves by a factor of nine. These data indicate a near-surface Q_α of 44 ± 13 for rays traveling almost vertically. In the case of S waves, most of the high frequency content of the waveform beyond ∼ 10 Hz observed at 1500 m depth is lost through attenuation before the waveform reaches 420 m depth. The average Q_β is 25 ± 10 between 1500 and 420 m depth and 108 ± 36 between 420 and 0 m depth. The spectra of the S waves observed at 420 and 0 m of the downward reflected S phases may overestimate Q_β, because they are limited to a narrow band between 5 and 10 Hz and affected by the near-surface amplification. A Q_c of 160 ± 30 at 6 Hz was determined from the decay rate of the coda waves at all three depths. The corner frequency as determined from displacement spectra may be higher (f_c ∼ 10 Hz) at 1500 m depth than at (f_c ∼ 7 Hz) 420 and 0 m depth. Similarly, f_(max) significantly decreases as the waveforms travel toward the earth's surface, indicating that f_(max) is affected by near-surface attenuation. Beyond f_c, the average slopes of the spectra falloff of P-wave spectra is ∼f^(−2) at 1500 m depth and ∼ f^(−3) at the surface.


Cells undergo reprogramming/de-differentiation through nuclear and cytoplasmic remodelling. Autophagy is a physiological stress response, in which cytoplasmic contents including mitochondria are recycled to aid cell survival in response to nutrient starvation. It has recently been demonstrated that a functional autophagy response is required for factor-based reprogramming to pluripotency, but there is little work explicitly linking the stimulation of autophagy with the mechanism of cytoplasmic clearance and metabolic remodelling. Human multipotent stromal cells/mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are cells of mesenchymal origin, which are cultured as adherent monolayers in vitro. MSCs can also be cultured as 3D cell aggregates or spheroids. Variations in spheroid size should result in variations in nutrient availability. I hypothesised that in 3D spheroids, controlled autophagy, stimulated by nutrient deprivation, and balanced in favour of its pro-survival/anti-apoptotic effects, would be sufficient to drive cytoplasmic remodelling and de-differentiation towards a more primitive state. When MSCs were cultured under optimal conditions, they had a multi-lobed irregular nuclear morphology, and reduced staining for the heterochromatin marker H3K9me3. 3D spheroids increased expression of Oct4, Nanog, Sox2 and telomerase. Under optimal conditions markers of increased autophagy were observed along with indicators of a shift to anaerobic metabolism. Mitochondria underwent remodelling to a small, rounded morphology, highly similar to mitochondria observed in pluripotent cells. Furthermore, oxygen consumption rate reduced significantly in 3D culture, and genes associated with oxidative metabolism were down-regulated. 3D MSCs increased expression of early mesendoderm markers including Brachyury (T), Goosecoid, KDR, Mixl1 and CXCR4. In vitro haematopoietic induction stimulated disaggregated 3D MSCs to form blast-like colonies, whilst 2D MSCs were unresponsive to haematopoietic stimulation. On implantation into nude mice, 3D MSCs formed organised mesodermal tissues, indicating enhanced lineage-restricted regenerative capacity, but did not form teratomas, so avoiding associated risks. Strikingly optimal 3D culture restored proliferative capacity and reversed senescence-associated hypertrophy in culture-aged MSCs, suggestive of cellular rejuvenation. Together these results suggest that a scaled autophagy response could play a fundamental role in reprogramming/de-differentiation and tissue regeneration in human cells.


We presented an exact unbiased inverse of the Anscombe variance-stabilizing transformation in [M. Mäkitalo and A. Foi, "Optimal inversion of the Anscombe transformation in low-count Poisson image denoising," IEEE Trans. Image Process., vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 99-109, Jan. 2011.] and showed that when applied to Poisson image denoising, the combination of variance stabilization and state-of-the-art Gaussian denoising algorithms is competitive with some of the best Poisson denoising algorithms. We also provided a MATLAB implementation of our method, where the exact unbiased inverse transformation appears in nonanalytical form. Here, we propose a closed-form approximation of the exact unbiased inverse in order to facilitate the use of this inverse. The proposed approximation produces results equivalent to those obtained with the accurate (nonanalytical) exact unbiased inverse, and thus, notably better than one would get with the asymptotically unbiased inverse transformation that is commonly used in applications.


Limno-terrestrial pygmy grasshoppers are mostly recognised using morphology but characters used are not always clear-cut for species identification. From a faunistic survey in Singapore, Eucriotettix were collected and two new species are identified and described here: E. guentheri sp. nov. and E. simulans sp. nov. This was done by iteratively incorporating morphological, molecular, morphometric, and ecological data. Mitochondrial COI trees, COI cluster analysis, microhabitat preference, and morphometric analyses provide strong enough indirect evidence that the specimens comprise a pair of species. A key to species of Eucriotettix from Singapore is also provided.


Imagine hearing someone call a particular dalmatian a "dax." The meaning of the novel noun dax is ambiguous between the subordinate meaning (dalmatian) and the basic-level meaning (dog). Yet both children and adults successfully learn noun meanings at the intended level of abstraction from similar evidence. Xu and Tenenbaum (2007a) provided an explanation for this apparent puzzle: Learners assume that examples are sampled from the true underlying category (strong sampling), making cases in which there are more observed exemplars more consistent with a subordinate meaning than cases in which there are fewer exemplars (the suspicious-coincidence effect). Authors of more recent work (Spencer, Perone, Smith, & Samuelson, 2011) have questioned the relevance of this finding, however, arguing that the effect occurs only when the examples are presented to the learner simultaneously. Across a series of 12 experiments (N = 600), we systematically manipulated several experimental parameters that varied across previous studies, and we successfully replicated the findings of both sets of authors. Taken together, our data suggest that the suspicious-coincidence effect in fact is robust to presentation timing of examples but is sensitive to another factor that varied in the Spencer et al. (2011) experiments, namely, trial order. Our work highlights the influence of pragmatics on behavior in experimental tasks.


The most consistently used scoring system for the rod-and-frame task has been the total (or average) number of degrees in error from the true vertical, regardless of the initial or final directions of the rod and frame. Since a logical case can be made for at least four alternative scoring systems, a thorough comparison of all five systems seemed appropriate. Comparisons consisted of: (1) an inter nal consistency/reliability analysis, with split-half and test-retest reliabilities and a multitrait-multi- method matrix analysis of each scoring system, chair, frame, and man position; (2) a repeated mea ures ANOVA, with ethnic group, sex, and grade as between factors and chair, frame, and man posi tions as within factors; and (3) correlations of each scoring system with a selected set of external cri teria. Results suggest strong support for use of the natural logarithm of the sum of absolute errors as the preferred scoring system, that concern with the confounding of field dependence and the E effect is largely unwarranted, and that all but one of the scoring systems perform adequately.


The existing sampled-data observers for 2D heat equations use spatially averaged measurements, i.e., the state values averaged over subdomains covering the entire space domain. In this paper, we introduce an observer for a 2D heat equation that uses pointlike measurements, which are modeled as the state values averaged over small subsets that do not cover the space domain. The key result, allowing for an efficient analysis of such an observer, is a new inequality that bounds the $L$2-norm of the difference between the state and its point value by the reciprocally convex combination of the $L$2-norms of the first and second order space derivatives of the state. The convergence conditions are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities feasible for large enough observer gain and number of pointlike sensors. The results are extended to solve the $H$∞ filtering problem under continuous and sampled in time pointlike measurements.


Despite many and important changes that have taken place in Mexican society in recent decades, women still face several obstacles to enjoying their rights effectively. Discrimination due to gender stereotyping is one of these obstacles. According to psychological research, stereotyping is part of individuals' cognition and socialization process, but it can be negative in certain circumstances. The main hypothesis of this article is that there is a lack of gender perspective and an inadequate application of international human rights standards by Collegiate Circuit Courts of the federal judicial branch in Mexico, since the use of gender stereotypes persists in the process of judicial argumentation. This situation prevents women from fully exercising their rights and constitutes a violation of International Human Rights Law. Therefore, the State, and specifically the federal judicial branch, should adopt the necessary measures to fulfill its international obligations.


We exploit the panel dimension of a price levels dataset for more than one hundred product items across 140 cities in 90 countries for the period from 1990 to 2009 in order to improve our understanding of international price dispersion and the evolution of prices over time. We consider a panel data model with exchangeable units that allows for the possibility of common components for different dimensions of the panel. This allows one to gauge the contribution of each dimension of the data to total variation and to disentangle the sources of potential non-stationarity. It also allows us to identify differences in the speed of convergence for different time-varying components in response to location-specific, product-specific, and idiosyncratic shocks. Finally, we proceed to identify the economic determinants of different components to show that particular dimensions of the data are more suited for examining particular theories.


A deep draft semi-submersible hull has been developed by SHI (Samsung Heavy Industries) and Williams as a standardization concept which can support the topside structures up to the facility weight for the specific level of daily oil production in GOM (Gulf of Mexico). The designed hull has the optimized dimensions of pontoon and column which secure the sufficient level of GM for the stability and ballast capacity for coping with the weight change of topside structures. The hull form also has the good global motion in waves to be able to use the SCR (Steel Catenary Riser) as a deep draft semi-submersible concept.
 Two hull forms are designed to have 4 columns with two different cross sections and the conventional ring pontoon. The compartmentation and basic hydrodynamic analysis are performed at the hull sizing stage to achieve the sufficient stability and the motion performance as well. The mooring systems are also designed for two different water depths of 1000m and 3000m as a standard design concept of hull including mooring lines.
 To verify the feasibility of the proposed hull concept with regard to the hydrostatic/hydrodynamic characteristics and mooring line design, the numerical global performance analyses are carried out. Hydrostatic stability is investigated for intact and damage condition of operational loading condition and the proper tank compartments are verified under the given topside weight and the environment condition in GOM.
 The global motion is validated for all the possible combinations of wave, wind, current for a site in central GOM. Through the frequency-domain analysis and quasi-static time-domain analysis as well, the essential items such as the maximum offset, mooring line tension/fatigue, air-gap and the extreme acceleration at topside are examined and confirms that the certain design criteria of Semi FPU (Floating Production Unit) operation are satisfied. The possibility of SCR usage is also investigated with the fully coupled time domain analysis using the preliminary design of risers and confirms that the designed hull form has the suitable hydrodynamic characteristics to permit the minimum motion performance for SCR in the sense of extreme load and fatigue life.


This paper presents and applies a methodology for determining the optimal scale, type, and timing of IC manufacturing capacity additions when demand is uncertain. Using the methodology, six different 200-mm fab designs are evaluated, including standard 10 K- and 20 K-wafer start per month (ws/mo) facilities, a 5 K-ws/mo "minifab," and "sequentially deployable" or "expandable" 10 K- and 20 K-ws/mo facilities. The results suggest that in the presence of uncertainty, manufacturers should follow a conservative deployment policy (better late than early to avoid periods of costly underutilization). In addition, when optimally deployed, larger, more efficient facilities are economically more viable than smaller fabs, since they are capable of generating substantially larger profits with comparable risks of loss, Sequentially deployable large fabs are even more attractive since they offer the economies of scale of larger fabs but require a smaller initial capital outlay.


ABSTRACT Defence procurement in the UK has drawn a large degree of political and academic attention due to large-scale projects regularly being delayed and costing significantly more than the original estimate. The focus on contemporary defence procurement, however, suffers from one major drawback: a lack of historical contexualistation. This article redresses this imbalance between the focus on contemporary defence procurement and the problems faced purchasing military equipment in the past. The defence industry most representative of the contemporary procurement environment is the British aircraft industry in the inter-war period. This was an industry that was not publicly owned and presented dynamics that are comparable to today. This article explores the problems associated with twenty-first century defence procurement through this historical lens, demonstrating that many of the problems faced, and solutions proposed are not necessarily as new or innovative as has been claimed.


A spatial/frequency encoder-decoder scheme is proposed for optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) communications. The coders adopt codewords with multiple-weight-per-row property and can be realized via compact hardware. With the proposed decoding scheme, an intended user will reject any interfering user and theoretically achieve quasiorthogonality between OCDMA users. The performance degradation due to various noise sources in previous discussed one-dimensional coding scheme can be improved.


In the early design stages of design processes, system architecture defines the interaction among product, process, and company organization as well as the integration across different domains of design such as mechanical, electrical, and software engineering. During system architecture design, companies decide the balance between innovative and incremental development. System architecture decisions have a fundamental impact on overall project and company success, especially in complex systems. An effective decision on system architecture has to consider the wider context of the product and its design process. Thus, it has to engage issues such as product planning, product platforms, product families and variants, designing for the changing market underlying the need for flexible design. However, in complex systems it is also essential to carefully choose new technologies and innovations, and therefore value engineering related to the reuse target. The notion of commonality and diversity also become important. In the context of complex systems, design is often characterized by a high level of uncertainty arising from changing user environments and operating conditions. System architectures are developed by heterogeneous teams and bridge knowledge across domains. Hence, there is a strong need to develop formalized system architecture models to support design teams. This Special Issue seeks to bring together the state of the art on system architecture design from a variety of perspectives. We welcome papers addressing theory and methods as well as case study and review papers. Some of the areas of interest include the following:


A joint Working Group from the Canadian Paediatric Society and Health Canada met in the early 1990s to consider the applicability of recommendations to restrict total and saturated fat in children > or = 2 y of age. The Group weighed information from the literature on the nutritional needs for growth and development against evidence relating diet to risk of nutrition-related diseases. The Group concluded that the efficacy of the fat-restricted diet could not be assumed. There was no evidence that implementation of the diet would reduce illness in later life or provide benefit to children as children. Regarding safety, some children consuming self-selected diets with low fat intakes have lower energy intakes and food patterns that may compromise the intake of certain key nutrients. The primary recommendations of the Group were that the provision of adequate energy and nutrients to ensure adequate growth and development remains the most important consideration in the nutrition of children and that during the preschool and childhood years, nutritious food choices should not be eliminated or restricted because of fat content. Once linear growth has stopped, fat intake as currently recommended (30:10) is appropriate.


This study examines how low-income African-American older adults, one of the groups most vulnerable to misinformation online, assess the credibility of online information. In examining this, we conducted both face-to-face interviews and a survey and then analyzed how their digital media use, demographics, self-efficacy, and involvement with particular topics were associated with their credibility assessments of online information. Our results suggest that education and topic involvement are statistically significant factors associated with assessments of message content and source credibility. Moreover, for our respondents, assessments of content credibility, as opposed to those of source credibility, were far more challenging. This research is one of the few studies examining online information credibility assessments made by low-income minority older adults. Theoretical and practical implications of our results are discussed in the context of misinformation, credibility assessment, and the digital divide.


This paper argues that present-day imperialism is strongly related to the domination of a precise form of capital, namely highly concentrated interest- and dividend-bearing money-capital which operates in financial markets, breeds today's pervasive fetishism of money, but is totally dependent on surplus-value and production. Two mechanisms ensure the appropriation and/or production of surplus-product and its centralisation to the world system's financial hubs. In the 1980s, foreign debt prevailed. Foreign production and profit repatriation by TNCs now represent the main channel. Following the transfer abroad of part of its production by US TNCs, the issue for the US in their relations with the rest of the world is not the commercialisation of surplus through exports, but dependency on imports and, more crucially, on large inflows of money-capital to support the stock market, buy T-bonds and refinance mortgage. This new dependency helps to explain the 'paradox' that US imperialism is increasingly forced to try and offset this through extra-economic and even military coercion where it can.


Background English-speaking countries, such as USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada have embraced Recovery-orientation as a guiding principle of their mental health policy. The recent UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) – historically for the first time – explicitly includes persons with psychosocial disabilities. Aim Discuss how Psychiatric Advance Directives (PAD) can support Recovery-Orientation in times of new human rights legislation in mental health. Methods Non-systematic review of recovery concepts and data in view of current human rights development. Results The 2013 General Comment on Article 12 of the CRPD – Equal Recognition before the Law – by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities includes a call for the immediate abolition of all substitute decision-making regimes. Research on means and meanings of recovery as well as on the lived experience of coercion underline the importance of choice, self-determination and empowerment for people struggling with mental health problems. Psychiatric advance directives support the realisation of these capacities in a rights-based relationship between persons with mental health problems and the mental health system built on the person's experience-based expertise. Discussion Support and excitement about possible historical changes as well as confusion, indignation and essential worries have been discussed and formulated in the international mental health community in the light of new human rights challenges for mental health care. Conclusion Psychiatric Advance Directives could play a crucial bridging role for the controversial discourses between long-standing clinical traditions and requirements of currently evolving international human rights standards.


In the long view, recent grain price volatility is not anomalous. Wheat, rice, and maize are highly substitutable in the global market for calories, and when aggregate stocks decline to minimal feasible levels, prices become highly sensitive to small shocks, consistent with storage models. In this decade, stocks have declined due to high income growth and biofuels mandates. Recently, shocks including the Australian drought and biofuels demand boosts due to the oil price spike were exacerbated by a sequence of trade restrictions by key exporters beginning in the thin global rice market in the fall of 2007, which turned market anxiety into panic. To protect vulnerable consumers, countries intervened in storage markets and, if they were exporters, to limit trade access. Recognizing these realities, vulnerable countries are building strategic reserves. The associated expense and negative incentive effects can be controlled if reserves have quantitative targets related to the consumption needs of the most vulnerable, with distribution to the latter only in severe emergencies. More-ambitious plans manipulate world prices via buffer stocks or naked short speculation to keep prices consistent with fundamentals. Past interventions of either kind have been expensive, ineffective, and generally short-lived. Further, there is no significant evidence that prices do not reflect fundamentals, including export market access.


Introduction: Approval of generic drugs requires only bioequivalence studies. Some research suggests that generic vancomycin is not clinically equivalent to the branded drug, and this exposes patients to therapeutic failure and the development of microbial resistance.
Aims: Compare the rates of microbiological and clinical failure between generic vancomycin and Vancocin-CP®.
Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis of hospitalized adults with culture-proven methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection, treated with vancomycin in a tertiary care hospital in Medellín, Colombia. General clinical variables, laboratory findings, severity and mortality scores, and type of vancomycin used were recorded. Logistical regression models, adjusted for potential confounders, were fitted to estimate the effect of vancomycin on clinical and microbiologic outcomes.
Results: Of 209 patients, 153 (73.2%) received generic vancomycin and 56 (26.8%) Vancocin-CP®. Systems more commonly affected were skin and soft tissues (28.5%), blood with involvement of catheters (27.6%) and blood without the involvement of catheters (23.3%). There were 62 clinical failures (29.5%) and 41(38%) microbiological failures. The hospital mortality rate was 15% (n = 31); only 7 (3.4%) episodes of adverse drug reactions were documented. No difference was found in the risk of clinical or microbiological failure between Vancocin-CP® and generic products with OR = 2.3 (95% CI = 0.8; 6.3) and 0.89 (95% CI = 0.4; 1.9), respectively.
Conclusion: There were no association between the use of generic vancomycin and the outcomes of clinical or microbiological failure. Sample size is an important limitation for these findings.

Keywords: Vancomycin, bioequivalence, MRSA, clinical equivalence


An equivalence of a discrete norm and a continuous norm of a trigonometric polynomial is proved for the case of irregular knots in Lp-spaces, where 0 < p +1:


The products in commerce today that are produced by Bacillus fermentations include enzymes antibiotics , and insecticides. This chapter focuses on the basic principles necessary for an understanding of growth and product production in Bacillus spp. The authors show the important link between some very basic observations and how these can be (and need to be) applied in medium development processes, choice of equipment, and elimination of bottlenecks in production. Using protease production as a model, examples show the potential value of using controlled fermentations in identifying some of the limitations of product formation in Bacillus spp. Bacillus spp. as a class are known to secrete a large number of extracellular enzymes, including several proteases , amylase, cellulase, and other degradative enzymes. Costs of exoprotein production can be estimated from material balances, molecular formulae, and growth parameters. Results of these calculations can be a key element in choosing a fermentor type and mode of operation for desired product formation. The functions included under strain development are identification and isolation of an organism exhibiting the trait (or traits) of interest; analysis and optimization of cultural conditions that allow expression of the trait; and mutagenesis, selection, and screening for isolates that hyperproduce the trait. In addition, overexpression of these proteins may improve the secretion efficiency of heterologous proteins, as has been demonstrated for signal peptidase.


The normalization constant in the distribution of a discrete random variable may not be available in closed form; in such cases, the calculation of the likelihood can be computationally expensive. Approximations of the likelihood or approximate Bayesian computation methods can be used; but the resulting Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm may not sample from the target of interest. In certain situations, one can efficiently compute lower and upper bounds on the likelihood. As a result, the target density and the acceptance probability of the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm can be bounded. We propose an efficient and exact MCMC algorithm based on the idea of retrospective sampling. This procedure can be applied to a number of discrete distributions, one of which is the Conway–Maxwell–Poisson distribution. In practice, the bounds on the acceptance probability do not need to be particularly tight in order to accept or reject a move. We demonstrate this method using data on the emergency hospital admissions in Scotland in 2010, where the main interest lies in the estimation of the variability of admissions, as it is considered as a proxy for health inequalities. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Rice production in Iran needs to increase to feed a growing population whereas water for irrigation is getting scarce. There are 230000 ha paddy fields in Guilan province in north of Iran. About 73% of paddy fields irrigated by Sepeedrood dam. Shortage of water for rice production will be a problem in near future. In order to investigate the best irrigation regime and nitrogen level an experiment was conducted in split plot based on completely randomized block design with 3 replications at the rice research institute of Iran in 2008. Four levels of nitrogen (N1= 0, N2 = 90, N3 = 120 and N4 = 150 kg ha-1) w ere splited on 4 different irrigation managements (I1= con tinuous submergence (CS), I2 = 5, I3 = 8 and I4 = 11 days interval). The results clearly indicate that nitrogen levels and irrigation management in most of studied characteristics had very significant differences. Not only grain yield was statistically the same under CS and 8 days interval but also water consumption decreased 18%. Thus, concluded that water limited irrigation can lead to reduce water consumption in paddy fields and minimum 150 million m3 water of Sepeedrood dam saved annually.


Introduction: One Man, One World 1. Starting with Columbus 2. The Mammoth Land 3. Necessary and Sufficient Acts 4. Plain and Fancy Fictions 5. Transgression and Transformation 6. The Rebirth of Tragedy Epilogue: After the Culmination Notes Works Cited Index


Background : ELISPOT assays are an integral part of many clinical trials or basic immune monitoring research projects and detection of cytokines can be used in conjunction with other functional assays to gain a better overall picture of an immune response. Aim : Detection of cytokines secreted by ex vivo stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) by ELISA is usually hampered due to low frequencies of specific T cells and cellular receptor consumption.Hence it would be ideal to study the cytokines by Elispot assay which shows the actual number of cells secreting the cytokine. Methods : IL-10 and IL-17 cytokines in 12 asthmatic patients were studied and compared to 12 healthy controls by ELISPOT assay. Results : Significant difference in IL-10 cytokines by elispot on stimulation by mitogen was observed, but no difference in IL-17 cytokine seen.There was spontaneous production of IL-17 cytokines in asthmatic patients. Increase in IL-10 cytokines seen only after the trigger of and by the allergens that may act as mitogens. Conclusion : ELISPOT gives information about how much cytokine these cells secreted, but no quantitative cytokine concentrations.

 Key words : Allergy, asthma, Elispot, interleukins, T-cell cytokines


to assure content integrity and confidentiality by exploiting the structural properties of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document object model (DOM). Our approach proposes Enhanced Dewey Code (EDC), an encoding scheme for XML document and is based on the notion of enhanced level order numbers that supports the integrity and confidentiality requirements of an XML document and also facilitates efficient identification and distribution of selected content from an XML document. By using such notion, we develop a policy-based routing scheme for XML content dissemination which assures that the content is delivered to users according to the access control policies by preventing information leaks. Our XML content dissemination approach represents an efficient and secure mechanism for XML Documents to use in applications such as publish-subscrib e systems. Our content dissemination approach provides different levels of confidentiality


The decision to undertake this research was a pragmatic response to the debates which followed the introduction of a new secondary system in Ghana and Nigeria and it is intended to investigate the reform during its life cycle in Ghana between 1974 and 1987 and in Nigeria between 1982 and 1985 to see how much foundation there was for the doubts being expressed. The reform was designed as a complex package offering an integrated approach to change educational values, orientation and learning outcomes. The changes subsumed in each aspect of the reform have far-reaching implications for the entire education system. Especially one element, the vocationalised curriculum, caused immediate concern at the time because of the discouraging evidence of similar previous attempts in both Ghana and Nigeria and other countries. Further concern was on the changes in the examination system and the introduction of guidance and counselling.


The performance of speech enhancement algorithms to a large extent is related to the employed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation techniques. Many of the existing SNR estimation techniques are based on approaches that require either an experimentally pre-specified weighting factor or prior assumptions of the parameters in the signal model. In this reported work, a closed form SNR estimator is derived by modelling the noisy speech signal as a generalised normal-Laplace distribution and estimating the variance of the signal and variance of the noise using high-order sample moments. The performance of the proposed technique is tested using real speech signals and compared with the well-known eigenvalue method.


A one-pot method was developed for the chelation of copper ions onto the surface of filtration membrane to provide antibacterial properties. This simple, universal and cost-effective dopamine-Cu2+ approach provides a method of mitigating the long-term biofouling of surfaces.


A perennial problem in quantum scattering calculations is reducing the 3N degrees of freedom (three for each atom or electron present) to a more computationally manageable number, while still retaining the information present in each degree of freedom. We present a method of extracting a nonadiabatic, multiply-valued potential-energy surface from electron nuclear dynamics (Deumens et al., Rev Mod Phys, 1994, 66, 917) trajectories; we then perform nuclear wave packet dynamics on that surface and calculate differential cross sections for two-center, one-active-electron systems. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2012


Mammalian species are well known to differ in their sensitivity to glucocorticoids, but the molecular basis for this difference remains largely uncharacterized. To address this issue, the transcriptional activity of the mouse and human glucocorticoid receptor (GR) was analyzed on two model glucocorticoid-responsive promoters. Mouse GR (mGR) displayed unique promoter discrimination in response to a range of glucocorticoids, with enhanced activity on a simple glucocorticoid response element (GRE)-based promoter and diminished activity on the complex mouse mammary tumor virus promoter compared with human GR (hGR). Promoter discrimination between mGR and hGR was mapped to a single amino acid change at residue 437 (glycine to valine) of mGR and to sequence differences within individual GREs of the different promoters. Mouse GR displayed higher activation on GREs with a guanine rather than a thymine at the –6 position. Binding studies indicated mGR (mGR437V) displayed a weaker affinity for GREs containing a thymine at the –6 position than a mGR mutant containing a glycine at residue 437 (mGR437G). Despite distinct transcriptional activities, both receptors had similar affinities for response elements that contain a guanine at the –6 position. Our findings support a model by which the presence of a valine residue at position 437 of mGR induces a conformational change that leads to alterations in affinity and/or transcriptional activation in a promoter-dependent context.


Tableau paintings, described as "living pictures" often take the form of a painting or photograph in which characters are arranged for picturesque or dramatic effect. These paintings and photographs are inherently defined by the motion of a character, but have traditionally been presented as static two dimensional images. What would it feel like to create a tableau painting that is not static, and is inherently three dimensional? This talk will center around an analysis of the creative and technical work-flows used during the production of Joji - 777, in which a small crew created an animated video where each scene was composed with intention of depicting a moving, 3D tableau painting. The technical complexities of achieving the desired result were amplified due to COVID lockdown restrictions, which at the time of production ruled out the ability to motion capture multiple per-formers at once. Using real time game engine technology in conjunction with skeletal retargeting in post production, a novel approach was developed to allow a single performer to play multiple characters simultaneously.


This paper proposes a Transformer-based model to generate equations for math word problems. It achieves much better results than RNN models when copy and align mechanisms are not used, and can outperform complex copy and align RNN models. We also show that training a Transformer jointly in a generation task with two decoders, left-to-right and right-to-left, is beneficial. Such a Transformer performs better than the one with just one decoder not only because of the ensemble effect, but also because it improves the encoder training procedure. We also experiment with adding reinforcement learning to our model, showing improved performance compared to MLE training.


ABSTRACT The promulgation of Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD-5) has resulted in a significant training mandate for the Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard. An outstanding effort has been put forth to roll out the current training regime. Since training is an iterative process of Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation (ADDIE), equal emphasis must be placed on all phases of the process, including analysis. In the haste to roll out training to meet an immediate need, little, if any analysis was conducted. The author suggests that the time may be right to conduct the analysis needed to streamline the current program and provide better training for Coast Guard personnel conducting contingency response operations.


Internet Service Providers (ISP) furnishing cloud storage services usually rely on big data centers. These centralized architectures induce many drawbacks in terms of scalability and reliability as datacenters represent single points of failure, and in terms of data access latencies as they are not necessarily located close to the users. This paper presents the design choices about a distributed storage system that targets these issues by leveraging only high available nodes in the Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) infrastructure of an ISP, namely a large number of home gateways, Points of Presence, and datacenters.


In this paper, three versions of WENO schemes WENO-JS, WENO-M and WENO-Z are used for one-dimensional detonation wave simulations with fifth order characteristic based spatial flux reconstruction. Numerical schemes for solving the system of hyperbolic conversation laws using the ZND analytical solution as initial condition are presented. Numerical simulations of one-dimensional detonation wave for both stable and unstable cases are performed. In the stable case with overdrive factor f = 1.8, the temporal histories of peak pressure of the detonation front computed by WENO-JS and WENO-Z reach the theoretical steady state. In comparison, the temporal history of peak pressure computed by the WENO-M scheme fails to reach and oscillates around the theoretical steady state. In the unstable cases with overdrive factors f = 1.6 and f = 1.3, the results of all WENO schemes agree well with each other as the resolution, defined as the number of grid points per half-length of reaction zone, increases. Furthermore, for overdrive factor f = 1.6, the grid convergence study demonstrates that the high order WENO schemes converge faster than other existing lower order schemes such as unsplit scheme, Roe's solver with minmod limiter and Roe's solver with superbee limiter in reaching the predicted peak pressure. For overdrive factor f = 1.3, the temporal history of peak pressure shows an increasingly chaotic behavior even at high resolution. In the case of overdrive factor f = 1.1, in accordance with theoretical studies, an explosion occurs and different WENO schemes leading to this explosion appear at slightly different times. Mathematics subject classification: 65P30, 77Axx.


Repeatability analysis has been used to study traits in several crops, assisting in the definition of the minimum number needed to evaluate genotypes more efficiently and with less time and resource consumption. So far, however, no repeatability studies on cactus pear have been found in the literature. The objective of this study was to determine the coefficient of repeatability for cactus pear fruits traits and the minimum number of evaluations (fruit) that can provide acceptable accuracy for the prediction of the true value. The experiment was conducted at the Federal Institute of Bahia/Campus Guanambi, with 150 fruits collected from three municipalities in the state of Bahia. The coefficients of repeatability were estimated by the methods of analysis of variance, principal components based on the covariance (PCCV) and correlation (PCC) matrices, and structural analysis based on the correlation matrix (SA). The analysis of variance showed that, except for fruit diameter, the effect of the production site (municipality) was significant for all traits evaluated. The PCCV method was proven the most suitable for studying the repeatability of quality traits of cactus pear fruits. Seven fruits were required to determine, with 90% confidence, the traits length, diameter, fruit firmness, skin thickness, number of seeds, fruit mass, bark mass, pulp mass, pH, titratable acidity, soluble solids, SS/AT ratio, and pulp yield.


We demonstrate the application of the combined experimental-computational approach for studying the anionic impurities in hydroxyapatite (HAp). Influence of the carbonation level (x) on the concentration of the NO3(2-) radicals in the HAp nanocrystals of Ca10-xNax(PO4)6-x(CO3)x(OH)2 with x in the range 0 < x < 2 and average sizes of 30 nm is investigated by different analytical methods including electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Stable NO3(2-) radicals are formed under X-ray irradiation of nano-HAp samples from NO3(-) ions incorporated in trace amounts during the wet synthesis process. Density functional theory (DFT) based calculations show energetic preference for the PO4 group substitution by NO3(-) ions. Comparison of the calculated and experimental spectroscopic parameters (g and hyperfine tensors) reveals that EPR detects the NO3(2-) radicals located in the positions of the PO4 group only. It is shown that with the increase in x, the carbonate ions substitute the NO3(2-)/NO3(-) ions. DFT calculations confirm that carbonate incorporation in HAp structure is energetically more favorable than the formation of the nitrate defect.


The authors examined changes in caregiving satisfaction and information needs among 462 relatives of individuals with mental illness who participated in a study of a family-led education course, the Journey of Hope (JOH). Participants were randomly assigned to receive JOH or to a control group waiting list and followed for 9 months. General linear model repeated measures analysis of variance found that, compared with the control group, the intervention group showed significant improvement in caregiving satisfaction and information needs following course completion and maintained these gains for another 6 months. Education and support from other family members in the form of a structured course is effective in meeting the caregiving needs of relatives of persons with mental illness.


OBJECTIVE: To evaluate lung fissures completeness, post-treatment radiological response and quantitative CT analysis (QCTA) in a population of severe emphysematous patients submitted to endobronchial valves (EBV) implantation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Multi-detectors CT exams of 29 patients were studied, using thin-section low dose protocol without contrast. Two radiologists retrospectively reviewed all images in consensus; fissures completeness was estimated in 5% increments and post-EBV radiological response (target lobe atelectasis/volume loss) was evaluated. QCTA was performed in pre and post-treatment scans using a fully automated software. RESULTS: CT response was present in 16/29 patients. In the negative CT response group, all 13 patients presented incomplete fissures, and mean oblique fissures completeness was 72.8%, against 88.3% in the other group. QCTA most significant results showed a reduced post-treatment total lung volume (LV) (mean 542 ml), reduced EBV-submitted LV (700 ml) and reduced emphysema volume (331.4 ml) in the positive response group, which also showed improved functional tests. CONCLUSION: EBV benefit is most likely in patients who have complete interlobar fissures and develop lobar atelectasis. In patients with no radiological response we observed a higher prevalence of incomplete fissures and a greater degree of incompleteness. The fully automated QCTA detected the post-treatment alterations, especially in the treated lung analysis.


Hyperinsulinemia is often viewed as a compensatory mechanism for insulin resistance, but studies have shown that high levels of insulin may also contribute to insulin resistance. The precise mechanisms by which hyperinsulinemia contributes to insulin resistance remain poorly defined. To understand the direct effects of prolonged exposure to excess insulin in muscle cells, we incubated differentiated C2C12 mouse myotubes with elevated insulin for 16 hours, followed by a 6-hour period of serum starvation, before examining key insulin signaling nodes. Using our model, we found that prolonged high insulin treatment significantly increased the phosphorylation of insulin receptor (INSR) and AKT, but not ERK. After serum starvation, acute AKT and ERK signaling stimulated by 0.2 - 20 nM insulin were attenuated. INSR protein levels were significantly downregulated by hyperinsulinemia in an insulin-dose-dependent manner, which resulted in the comparative reduction of acute insulin signaling. Surface INSR was also reduced proportionally to total INSR levels. Mechanistically, we found that both isoforms of Insr mRNA were reduced by hyperinsulinemia and implicated the transcription factor FOXO1. Interestingly, 6h serum starvation reversed the effects of high insulin on basal phosphorylation of INSR, AKT and FOXO1, and Insr transcription. Finally, we validated our results in vivo by determining that INSR levels in mouse skeletal muscle were negatively correlated with circulating insulin. Together, our findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying hyperinsulinemia-induced insulin resistance in muscle cells, which are likely to be relevant in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes.


Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of Pareuchiloglanis sinensis, an endemic Chinese sisorid fish, was determined by DNA sequencing based on the PCR fragments. The complete mtDNA genome sequence of P. sinensis is 16,593 bp in length, with a gene content of 13 protein-coding, 2 ribosomal RNA, and 22 transfer RNA genes, and a typical gene arrangement identical to many other reported fishes. The overall base composition of the heavy strand was 30.6% A, 24.2% T, 16.0% G and 29.2% C, with a relatively high A + T content (54.8%). This will provide a useful tool for understanding the genetic diversity, population structure and conservation status of P. sinensis in future.


Microbial enzymes have been established as a powerful tool in bioremediation. In this review, applications of microbial enzymes in degradation of endocrine disruptive chemicals are explained. Endocrine disruptive chemicals (EDCs) are a number of pollutants reported bringing negative impacts on human being and wildlife. Exposure to EDCs may cause effect on endocrine system thus detrimental to the health eminently on the developmental and reproductive abnormalities. Physical approaches such as ozonation, activated carbon, nanofiltration have been implemented to remove EDCs in waste water. Over the past decade, bioremediation has been a preference method in EDCs degradation due to its environmental friendly approach. Lignin-modifying enzymes; LMEs have been the attractive candidates in EDC treatment due to their characteristics such as broad selectivity in substrate affinity and ability to degrade either complex, individual pollutants or low water solubility compounds. Usage of microbial enzymes either by using the whole organism or free enzymes has been introduced in water treatment. Current technology by immobilizing enzymes to certain matrix allow the enzymatic recycling process thus giving an advantage in operational cost.


This article analyses and problematises central assumptions in Sweden's National Strategy for Developing Parenting Support, a document that addresses children's deteriorating psychological health. The analysis was performed with Bacchi's (2009) approach to policy analysis. The results show how parental determinism is expressed; psychological ill health among school-aged children is described as an individualised problem caused by insecure parents, who are represented as the most important persons in a child's life and, therefore, are considered to be risk factors that require continuous support. Evidence-based parenting support programmes in particular are described as a central tool for improving parents' sense of responsibility and parenting skills. While the strategy aims to offer all Swedish parents support, it underlines ideals that have been related to gendered, middle-class notions of parenting. The issue concerning children's psychological health is problematised and discussed in relation to parental determinism, the risk society, equality, equity and psychological health.


Four different beta-glycosidases have been separated from leaves of chick pea plants, Cicer arietinum L., by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. One is specific for isoflavone 7-beta-glucosides and has been described elsewhere. Two others showed very similar protein properties and identical catalytic activities. They have been further purified and both appeared as single, homogeneous protein bands after alkaline disc electrophoresis as well as isoelectric focusing. Isoelectric points are at pH 4.35 and 4,45, respectively. Both beta-glycosidases have molecular weights of 120000-140000 and have two subunits with identical molecular weights of 65 000. Both beta-glycosidases preferentially catalyze hydrolysis of diglycosides like biochanin A 7-beta-apiosyl(1 leads to 2)glucoside (Km=1.5 X 10(-4) M; V=10 mumol X min-1 X mg-1). The apiosylglucoside unit is liberated as an intact disaccharide. beta-Glucosides like biochanin A 7-beta-glucoside or 2-nitrophenyl glucoside are also efficiently hydrolyzed. These beta-glycosidases also possess transferase activity, but only when measured with isoflavone aglycones as acceptors. Transfer of the intact apiosylglucoside unit of biochanin A 7-beta-apiosylglucoside could be demonstrated. The enzymes have a pH optimum of 5.5. The beta-glycosidates are strongly inhibited by p-hydroxymercuribenzoate and Bromocondurite. Glucono-1,5-lactone, Ag and Hg2 showed only weak inhibition and Condurit B epoxide had no effect at all. A fourth beta-glycosidase activity from chick pea leaves shows no preferential activity for isoflavone 7-glycosides.


Gel mobility shift analysis was utilized to investigate the molecular function of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-(OH)2D3) and 9-cis-retinoic acid (9-cis-RA) ligands in the binding of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) and retinoid X receptor (RXR) to mouse osteopontin and rat osteocalcin vitamin D-response elements (VDREs). At physiological ionic strength and reduced concentrations of expressed proteins, efficient binding to either VDRE occurs as a VDR·RXR heterodimer, not as a VDR homodimer. 1,25-(OH)2D3 dramatically enhances heterodimer-VDRE interaction, whereas somewhat higher concentrations of 9-cis-RA inhibit this association, perhaps related to the role of this retinoid in facilitating RXR homodimer formation. Interestingly, if VDR is occupied by 1,25-(OH)2D3 prior to complexing with RXR, the resulting heterodimer is relatively resistant to dissociation and diversion to other pathways by 9-cis-RA. Therefore, a proposed molecular action of 1,25-(OH)2D3 is to generate an allosteric switch in VDR to a form that not only binds to the VDRE with high affinity and specificity as a heterodimer with RXR, but also interacts with the RXR partner to conformationally restrict the action of its cognate ligand.


In this paper, we give a historical overview of the transition from classical game theory to epistemic game theory. To that purpose we will discuss how important notions such as reasoning about the opponents, belief hierarchies, common belief, and the concept of common belief in rationality arose, and gradually entered the game theoretic picture, thereby giving birth to the field of epistemic game theory. We will also address the question why it took game theory so long before it finally incorporated the natural aspect of "reasoning" into its analysis. To answer the latter question we will have a close look at the earliest results in game theory, and see how they shaped our approach to game theory for many years to come.


The structure of land ownership and land use changed significantly after the fall of the communist regime in most CEE countries. The goal of this paper is to present a unique analysis of the highly concentrated Hungarian land system and model spatial differences. Using settlements as observation units, this research proposes a methodology to include data on land of all individual and corporate farms. First, according to the dominant farm size, we classified the farms into six types of land use structures, applying latent profile analysis. Then, we studied the distribution of their geographical location. We examined the statistical relationship between land ownership structure and the economic, social, and infrastructural characteristics and development level of settlements. One of the unexpected results of the research is that the dominance of large farms is mostly related to the higher values of the development indicators of the settlements.


The problem of efficient generation of all trees has been considered in the above paper' by Chen [1]. The method is to decompose the original graph into several components and determining appropriate subgraphs in each component and then combining these subgraphs to obtain the desired results. We show that this method has an undesirable feature, which is the duplicate generation of some trees. Therefore, Theorem 4 of the paper [1] must be corrected. The definitions of all symbols will not be redefined here; we refer to Chen's original paper for detailed treatment.


Efficient new algorithms are presented for maximum-likelihood and suboptimal soft-decision decoding algorithms for linear block codes. The first algorithm, MA*, improves the efficiency of the A* decoding algorithm, conducting the heuristic search through a code tree while exploiting code-specific properties. The second algorithm, H*, reduces search space by successively estimating the cost of the minimum-cost codeword with a fixed value at each of the most reliable and linearly independent components of the received message. The third algorithm, directed search, finds the codeword closest to the received vector by exploring a continuous search space. The strengths of these three algorithms are combined in a hybrid algorithm, applied to the (128,64), the (256,131), and the (256,139) binary-extended Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes. Simulation results show that this hybrid algorithm can efficiently decode the (128,64) code for any signal-to-noise ratio, with near-optimal performance. Previously, no practical decoder could have decoded this code with such a performance for all ranges of signal-to-noise ratio.


Orchidaceae occuring in the Kimberley region of Western Australia are revised. Calochilus barbarossa R.L.Barrett, M.D.Barrett & K.W.Dixon, Calochilus kimberleyensis R.L.Barrett, M.D.Barrett & M.A.Clem., Dipodium ammolithum M.D.Barrett, R.L.Barrett & K.W.Dixon and Dipodium basalticum M.D.Barrett, R.L.Barrett & K.W.Dixon are described and illustrated as new species from the Kimberley, one also occurring in the Northern Territory. The genera Empusa Lindl., Habenaria Willd. s. str., Phoringopsis D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem., Spiranthes Rich. and Zeuxine L. have been added to the Western Australian flora since publication of the Flora of the Kimberley Region. The taxonomic status of a number of tropical Australian Orchidaceae is discussed with recommendations for future research. Descriptions and illustrations are provided for twenty orchid species recorded in the Kimberley Region (one without a verified voucher). Keys are presented to all Kimberley orchid species.


First, the lesion shown is not in the flocculonodular lobe, as suggested by the authors,1 but within the left cerebellar hemisphere, most likely in the superior cerebellar artery (SCA) territory.2 Among 41 SCA strokes reported by Drs. Lee and Kim,3 none had an abnormal HIT, only 11 had nystagmus, and those with nystagmus almost all had more ventrally located lesions. Thus, the clinical findings as described by Witsch et al. cannot readily be explained by the lesion shown. Other possibilities include missed brainstem stroke in the vestibular nucleus, labyrinthine infarction, vestibular neuritis with incidental stroke, old (and coincidental) vestibular loss, or erroneous clinical interpretation of the HIT findings.


Pacing strategy (PS) has a decisive impact on performance, especially on long-term races. The objective of this study is to characterize the PS used in swimming races of 800m and 1500m freestyle by the finalists of the Olympic trials of the United States, Europe and Brazil, and the Olympic finalists of 2016. Time partials of 63 athletes were analyzed using a decision tree and the CHAID method. The results showed that parabolic was adopted by swimmers of 800m, they start in first lap (29.67 ± 0.88 s), followed by an increase in time (+1.77 s) and a subsequent increase in time (32.04 ± 0.89 s), at the end, the swimmers presented an acceleration, reducing the average of the to 31.44 s. And by the free 1500m swimmers, divided into blocks with a faster average start (29.25 ± 1.15 s), half of the slowest race (30.30 ± 0.76 s), and a new acceleration at the end of the event (29.92 ± 1.12 s), both in the selective Olympic Games and the 2016 and 2016 Olympic final. The worst partials times were observed in the Brazilian Selective (Test Event) (31.11 ± 0.78 s). Medalist, despite presetting the same OS, can sustain a better rhythm throughout he 800m (31.52 ± 1.03 s) and 1500-m (29.80 ± 0.78). We conclude that parabolic PS is the optimal strategy adopted by swimmers of 800-m and 1500m freestyle.


In the plenary sittings of the European Parliament (EP), institutional discourse is regulated by pre-established procedures and multilingualism is guaranteed thanks to simultaneous interpreting into each official EU language. In this setting, political leaders speak in their native language when addressing other Members of the EP and are allowed to hold the floor for a specific amount of time. What happens when such rules and procedures are disrupted? This study analyses a particular breach of protocol, which triggered a number of reactions at different levels of re-contextualisation. These are discussed by considering both the micro- and the macro-context, including the interpreters' output in 21 different languages along with the official verbatim report of proceedings and its translation into English. The results point to variability in terms of editing standards in the verbatim reports and professional practices among the interpreting booths, with potential differences in accessibility by target recipients.


The β-hydroxy derivatives of L-glutamic acid, L-glutamine and L-proline, useful for peptide/protein studies, were synthesized starting from D-glucose. The C2 carbon in D-glucose provided the carboxylic acid functionality, while the amino and β-hydroxy groups of the amino acids were amenable from the C3 and C4 hydroxy groups of the sugar, respectively. The key intermediate with appropriate carbon framework of the target molecules was constructed by homologation of a suitable azido-D-glucofuranose derivative using the Arndt–Eistert reaction.


This Article examines the rationales for family-based immigration, observing that most justifications for family-based admissions policies have rested on humanitarian grounds, and asking whether there are economically rational reasons why a receiving country like the U.S. would privilege family-based immigration over other types. It identifies a taxonomy of possible reasons: (1) families may function as a mechanism for integrating immigrants into U.S. society; (2) family-based immigration may be a form of labor migration in disguise, especially in low-skilled markets where employer needs are in flux and difficult to predict, and (3) family-based immigration may allow the government to engage in forms of social engineering (such as ensuring an optimal ratio of male to female immigrants, or restricting same-sex couples from entry) that it would not be able to constitutionally engage in through other means.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of farnesol on the induction of apoptosis in DU145 prostate cancer cells. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay showed that cell proliferation decreased significantly in a dose- and time-dependent manner. 4',6-Diamidino-2-phenylindole staining showed that chromatin condensation in cells treated with 60 µM of farnesol was markedly higher than in the control groups. Farnesol increased the expression of p53, p-c-Jun N-terminal kinase, cleaved-caspase-3, Bax, and cleaved-caspase-9, but decreased the expression of p-phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K), p-Akt, p-p38, Bcl-2, and p-extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase, in a dose-dependent manner. The apoptotic cell ratio increased in a dose-dependent manner. The tumor growth inhibitory effect of farnesol was investigated in a mouse model. Compared to the control group, tumor volume decreased significantly in the group administered 50 mg/kg farnesol. Apoptosis was frequently detected in this same group by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling assay. The results indicated that farnesol induced apoptosis of DU145 prostate cancer cells through the PI3K/Akt and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways.


Understanding Soil Liquefaction of the 2016 Kumamoto Japan Earthquake Donald Jared Anderson Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, BYU Master of Science The Kumamoto earthquake of April 2016 produced two foreshocks of moment magnitude 6.0 and 6.2 and a mainshock of 7.0, which should have been followed by widespread and intense soil liquefaction. A Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance team (GEER) led by Professor Rob Kayen of UC Berkley was dispatched to the Kumamoto Plain –which is in Kumamoto Prefecture, the southern main island of Japan –immediately following the earthquake. The Japanese and U.S. engineers in the GEER team observed mostly minor and sporadic liquefaction, which was unexpected as the local site geology, known soil stratigraphy, and intensity of the seismic loading made the Kumamoto Plain ripe for soil liquefaction. The paucity and limited scale of liquefaction shows a clear gap in our understanding of liquefaction in areas with volcanic soils. This study is a direct response to the GEER team's preliminary findings regarding the lack of significant liquefaction. An extensive literature review was conducted on the Kumamoto Plain and its volcanic soil. The liquefaction of the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake was also researched, and several sites were selected for further analysis. Four sites were analyzed with SPT, CPT, and laboratory testing during the spring of 2017. A slope stability analysis and undisturbed testing were performed for specific sites. The results of the analysis show a general over-prediction of SPT and CPT methods when determining liquefaction hazard. The Youd et al. (2001) NCEES method was the most consistent and accurate in determining liquefaction. The soils in the area including sands and gravels had high levels of fines, plasticity, and organic matter due to the weathering of volcanic ash and pyroclastic material. The volcanically derived coarse-grained soils may also have exhibited some crushability, which gave lower resistance readings. Filled river channels had the worst liquefaction with natural levees and the Kumamoto flood plains having only minor liquefaction. Publicly available boring logs rarely showed laboratory test data of bore holes which led to a general inaccurate soil classification. Boring logs were also not updated with laboratory classifications and data. Undisturbed cyclic triaxial testing of soils at one site showed that volcanic soils had relatively high resistance to soil liquefaction, though drying of samples may have compromised the results. Embankment cracking at one test location was calculated a lateral spread and a seismic slope failure along the pyroclastic flow deposit.


Polyhedral optimisation, a methodology that views nested loops as polyhedra and searches for their optimal transformation regarding specific objectives (parallelism, locality, etc.), sounds promising for mitigating difficulties in automatically optimising hardware designs described by high-level synthesis (HLS), which are typically software programs with nested loops. Nevertheless, existing polyhedral tools cannot meet the requirements from HLS developers for platform-specific customisation and software/hardware co-optimisation. This paper proposes $\phi_{sm}$ (phism), a polyhedral HLS framework built on MLIR, to address these challenges through progressive lowering multi-level intermediate representations (IRs) from polyhedra to HLS designs.


deal with such diverse topics as establishing the probable sources for the humanists' own copies of the text; linking specific manuscripts with individual scholars; evaluating the relative merits of French humanists as textual scholars; and discussing the implications of contemporary printing practices for the reconstruction of the text of Petronius. Richardson has rigorously examined the manuscript and printed evidence and is able to discuss it with authority. He deals with a tradition of great complexity and must marshall a wide array of evidence. In general, he does a good job of steering the reader through the relative complexities, though at times one may feel overwhelmed by the sheer mass of material with which he is confronted. Perhaps one of the greatest merits of this deceptively slim volume is its ability to take a seemingly nugatory piece of evidence hitherto overlooked by scholars and draw conclusions of wide-ranging import. So, for example, in chapter eight, Richardson convincingly demonstrates that Parisinus lat. 8790 A, thought to be a worthless manuscript, presents evidence which illuminates the intellectual interests of the young Pierre Dupuy. This is detective work of the highest order and reveals once again the potential for discoveries which remain buried in the riches of European libraries and archives. To conclude, Richardson's study is a tightly argued monograph which draws insightful conclusions. It may not revolutionize Petronian textual studies but nonetheless compels a serious re-evaluation of that history, particularly as it relates to the L class of manuscripts. Future scholars interested in the text of the Satyricon or the fortuna of the author will ignore this book at their peril. University of Toronto Press is to be commended for the attractiveness of the volume. The sixteen plates which illustrate codicological and palaeographical problems discussed in the body of the monograph greatly enhance its scholarly usefulness. FRANK T. COULSON Center for Epigraphical and Paleological Studies, Ohio State University


Background Sorafenib, a kinase inhibitor, is a standard treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) but provides only a limited survival benefit. Disulfiram (DSF), a drug for treating alcoholism and a chelator of copper (Cu), forms a complex with Cu (DSF/Cu). DSF/Cu is a potent inducer of autophagic apoptosis of cancer stem cells, which can demonstrate drug resistance. Thus, we hypothesized that DSF/Cu could increase the sensitivity of HCC cells to sorafenib by targeting hepatic cancer stem cells. Methods The synergistic effect of DSF/Cu and sorafenib on human HCC cell lines was assessed by cell viability MTT assay. Changes in stemness gene expression in HCC cells were investigated by assessing the presence of hepatic cancer stem cells (HCSCs) (defined as ALDH+ cells) using flow cytometry, sphere formation ability as an index of in vitro tumorigenicity, and expression of stemness gene-encoded proteins by western blot. Autophagic apoptosis and the ERK signaling pathway were also assessed by western blot. Most importantly, the in vivo anti-tumor efficacy of DSF/Cu and sorafenib was tested using orthotopic HCC xenografts in mice. Results Compared with sorafenib alone, DSF/Cu + sorafenib synergistically inhibited proliferation of all HCC cell lines, decreased the stemness of HCC cells, and increased the autophagy and apoptosis of HCC cells. The mechanism by which DSF/Cu mediated these phenomena with sorafenib was sustained activation of the ERK pathway. The combination of DSF/Cu (formed with endogenous Cu2+) and sorafenib was significantly more effective than sorafenib alone in inhibiting the growth of orthotopic HCC xenografts in mice. This in vivo anti-tumor efficacy was associated with decreased stemness in treated HCC tumors. Conclusions DSF/Cu and sorafenib can synergistically and effectively treat HCC by targeting HCSCs in vitro and in vivo. Our data provide a foundation for clinical translation.


sequencing (WES) using an ion torrent proton platform (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Two hundred forty-six NSCLC patients were randomly divided into training (n1⁄4 123) and validation (n1⁄4 123) cohorts. We defined patients with a greater than median number of non-synonymous (n-syn) mutations as the higher MB group. To detect higher n-syn MB in the training cohort, clinical data was assessed using a stepwise regression model. The validation cohort was subsequently analyzed. Also, the detected factors were validated via 100 repetitions of this procedure with different randomly divided cohorts using bootstrapping method.


Violent conflicts have led to tragedies worldwide. This happens because society promotes cultural practices in which competition, violence, and aggression are tolerated and even encouraged. The Culture of Peace is intrinsically related to cooperation and peaceful conflict resolution. Taking into account the Military Police context, the present study aims at analyzing and understanding the complexity of the concepts and values of violence, peace, and Culture of Peace presented by the officers. The qualitative methodology was used and semi-structured interviews were conducted with six military police officers, four men and two women. The analyses were based on an interpretive-constructivist approach. The participants demonstrated difficulties in conceptualizing a Culture of Peace and admitting the existence of positive conflicts. Moreover, they did not see themselves as peace promoters in the contexts in which they work. However, they envisioned that possibility after reflecting on the topic.


Adequate usability is important because it is a characteristic of product quality that leads to improving product acceptability, increasing user satisfaction, improving product reliability and it is also financially beneficial to companies. Such benefit can be seen from two points of view, one related with workers' productivity (less training time and faster task completion), and the other with product sells (products are easier to sell and market themselves, when users had positive experiences) (Nunes, 2006).


OBJECTIVE
Bipolar disorder (BPD) is associated with significant functional morbidity at a rate which is particularly elevated among patients discharged from hospital. The aim of this study was to examine the degree to which neurocognitive test performance, measured following hospitalization for an acute affective episode, is predictive of functional recovery 1 year later.

METHODS
Seventy-eight Zucker Hillside Hospital patients aged 18-59 years and having Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV diagnosis of bipolar I disorder (BPD I), bipolar II disorder (BPD II) or BPD not otherwise specified (NOS) confirmed through a rigorous diagnosis consensus procedure, underwent a comprehensive neurocognitive test battery after initial stabilization (baseline) and were followed for at least 12 months (follow-up). Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) and Clinician-Administered Rating Scale for Mania (CARS-M) ratings were made at baseline and follow-up. At follow-up, functionality was assessed using the Multidimensional Scale for Independent Functioning (MSIF). Logistic regression was used to examine the predictive value of each of six validated neurocognitive domains for determining functionality (MSIF) at follow-up. Baseline and follow-up HAM-D and CARS-M were entered as covariates as was number of days between baseline and follow-up.

RESULTS
Attention and Ideational Fluency were significantly predictive of functional recovery 12 months later. Residual mania but not depression was associated with 12-month MSIF rating. Lithium and benzodiazepine treatment at the time of neurocognitive testing did not affect the results.

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study examining the predictive value of neurocognitive deficits, independent of residual mania or depression, for long-term functional recovery following hospitalization. Selective neurocognitive deficits are predictive of long-term functional recovery and, as such, should be candidate targets in treatment and rehabilitation programs.


As a result of the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands in April 1982 and the reoccupation of the Islands by the British Task Force, certain inevitable changes in the Medical Services of the Islands have occurred. This paper describes the Medical Services pre and post-war.


Coding schemes for multimedia fingerprinting in the presence of noise and colluders are investigated. We prove that best such codes have nonvanishing rate, i.e., have exponentially many codewords (users) and can trace the entire coalition of pirates and do it either with zero error probability or w.h.p. depending on the corresponding model of errors.


Two experiments near the kinematical threshold in antiproton-proton collisions are presented. They are carried out at the CERN low energy antiproton facility LEAR. The experiments investigate different aspects of strangeness production. The PS185 experiment studies the production of antihyperon-hyperon pairs. Data on total and differential cross sections, polarisations and spin correlations are presented. The results are discussed in connection to proposed quark based or meson exchange models for these reactions. The PS202 experiment (JETSET) measures the production of four charged kaons to identify the ϕϕ reaction channel. The purpose is to search for resonances in the excitation function. They might signal exotic states of matter such as glueballs or hybrids. First preliminary results are discussed.


This paper proposes a distributed closed-loop control algorithm for optimal coordination of autonomous vehicles at traffic intersections. The main contribution of the paper is a distributed plug-and-play closed-loop optimal control scheme with rear-end collision avoidance constraints enforced on each lane, which maintains recursive feasibility under the assumption that communication between neighboring vehicles is possible. The method is closely related to model predictive control, but at each sampling time new vehicles are allowed to enter the modeled region around the intersection while other vehicles are leaving. In contrast to human drivers, autonomous vehicles can collaboratively form the deceleration strategy before the intersection. Our numerical results indicate that, under certain assumptions, it is optimal for vehicles not allowed to directly pass the intersection to slow down much before the intersection area and then accelerate at the right time so that they can travel through the intersection faster.