The use of therapeutic agent for the cancerous patient with underlying disease must be carefully done. An important common hematological disorder that can be seen around the world is G-6-PD deficiency. The problem of the effectiveness of the cancer therapy regimen and the possible trigger on deficient red blood cell are the important concerns.[1] Here, the author reports an experience on a case with post-colectomy colon cancer. This case is a referred case consulting on the problem of prolonged anemia. The patient has been diagnosed for colon cancer and got surgical treatment with capecitabine chemotherapy for 1 year. The patient has also got the additional new immunotherapy by nimotuzumab regimen. On the consulting visit, this patient was completely investigated for possible cause of hematological disorder and the G-6-PD deficiency was detected. Focusing on blood picture, normochromic normocytic anemia without evidence of hemolysis could be seen. Based on this history, it can be seen that using new nimotuzumab treatment in cancerous patient did not lead to hemolytic blood picture. This is the first world report that nimotuzumab should be safe for the patient with G-6-PD deficiency. The left issue is to follow-up and study the efficacy of nimotuzumab in the case with G-6-PD deficiency.


There are hundreds of programming languages available for software development today. As a result, modern software is increasingly developed in multiple languages. In this context, there is an urgent need for automated tools for multi-language software quality assurance. To that end, it is useful to first understand how languages are chosen by developers in multi-language software projects. One intuitive perspective towards the understanding would be to explore the potential functionality relevance of those choices. With a plethora of publicly hosted multi-language software projects available on GitHub, we were able to obtain thousands of popular, relevant repositories across 10 years from 2010 to 2019 to enable the exploration. We start by estimating the functionality domain of each project through topic modeling, followed by studying the statistical correlation between these domains and language selection over all the sample projects through association mining. We proceed with an evolutionary characterization of these projects to provide a longitudinal view of how the association has changed over the years. Our findings offer useful insights into the rationale behind developers' choices of language combinations in multi-language software construction.


Texture coefficient is one of the most influential parameters in rock engineering specifications in various projects including drilling, cutting, permeability of all-section drilling devices, etc. Meanwhile, investigating and forecasting the energy consumption of saw cutters are one of the most important factors in estimating the cutting costs. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between rock texture characteristics and the amount of energy consumption of the gang saw machine in the process of cutting carbonate rocks. To evaluate the effects of texture on the rocks' engineering specifications, 14 carbonate rock samples were studied. A microscopic thin section was made from each rock specimen. Then, five digital images were taken from each section under a microscope and the values of area, environment, the largest diameter and the smallest diameter of all grains in each image were determined. Using these specifications, the coefficient of texture of all rock samples was calculated and the relationship between the texture coefficient and the rate of energy consumption of the gang saw machine was investigated for the studied samples. The study results indicated that there was a significant relation between the texture coefficient and energy consumption rate in the three groups of carbonate rocks.


The molecular structures and stabilities of the lowest singlet states of the five most stable isomers of C 3 H 3 F, derived from fluorine substitution at various positions in methylacetylene, allene and cyclopropene, have been studied by the MNDO method. The structures and stabilities of the lowest singlet and triplet states of various monofluoro-substituted carbenes derived by fluorine substitution at various positions in propenylidene, cyclopropylidene and vinylmethylene have also been investigated. Fluoroallene is found to be the most stable structure. Fluorine substitution in the stable systems does not lead to appreciable change in geometries, while for the carbenes, large variations in geometry are observed. In general, fluorine substitution results in the withdrawal of a large amount of electron density from the a carbon.


Background: This prospective randomized study aimed to evaluate the surgical outcomes of single-incision laparoscopic appendectomy (SILA) comparing with open appendectomy (OA) and standard 3-port laparoscopic appendectomy (SLA) in the treatment of acute appendicitis (AA). Methods: Adult patients older than 18 years presenting with AA were randomized into 3 groups to undergo OA, SLA, and SILA from September 2010 to May 2011. The groups were compared with regard of patient's characteristics, perioperative findings/complications, operative time, pain severity, analgesic requirement, time to oral tolerance and flatus, length of hospital stay, and cosmetic results. Results: A total of 75 consecutive patients enrolled in the study. Each group included 25 patients. The groups showed no significant differences in patient's characteristics. The mean operative time was significantly longer in SILA than OA with a mean difference of 7 minutes (P<0.05). Postoperative pain after OA were significantly higher than SLA and SILA (P<0.05). The average time to oral tolerance and flatus was significantly higher in OA than the laparoscopic groups with a mean difference of 1 and 2.5 hours (P=0.04 and 0.023, respectively). The length of hospital stay in SLA and SILA was significantly lower than OA with a mean difference of 0.8 days (P<0.05). There was no difference in overall complications between the groups. There was no difference between SLA and SILA in terms of surgical outcomes. Conclusions: Either SLA or SILA offer patients faster recovery period with acceptable complications than OA. Hence, laparoscopic approach might be considered as first option in the treatment of AA. However, all 3 techniques provide equivalent clinical outcomes despite the significant findings. Therefore, technique selection is based on surgeon's decision, experience, and availability of laparoscopic instruments.


The Bungo District Environmental Agency as the prime mover in responsible waste management and encourages the community to be involved in waste management, that waste problems in Rimbo Tengah Subdistrict Bungo Regency will not be solved if it only depends on the government alone, and therefore needs support and community participation in waste management. The purpose of this study was to determine waste management in the Rimbo Tengah District of Bungo Regency. The method used in this research is descriptive method with a qualitative approach. As for the informants in this study amounted to eight people consisting of five informants from the Bungo Regency Environmental Agency and three informants from the local community who are in Central Rimbo District. The data collection techniques are through observation, interviews and document review. The results showed that waste management in Rimbo Tengah Subdistrict, Bungo District, by the Bungo Regency Environmental Agency was well implemented. This can be seen from the application of management perspective which plays an important role in the whole process of waste management starting from planning, organizing, implementing / mobilizing and controlling. However, in the process of waste management by the Bungo Regency Environmental Agency, there are still some problems and shortcomings in the management process, namely the implementation or mobilization and supervision processes.


Sulfonylureas have been regarded as potential drug candidates against tuberculosis (TB) because they can inhibit the biosynthesis of branched-chain amino acids by targeting acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS). We demonstrated previously that novel monosubstituted sulfonylureas showed potent in vitro activities against TB. In the current study, we further explored the anti-TB activity of monosubstituted sulfonylureas in a mouse model. Compounds 30 and 31 exhibited the most efficacy: a single intragastric administration at a dose of 250 mg/kg led to a reduced lung bacterial count, and the dose of 500 mg/kg achieved a >99% reduction in bacterial load for both H37Rv and extensively drug-resistant isolates. These results indicate that these compounds are more potent than commercial sulfonylureas in vivo and may provide insight into the potential implications for the design of novel drugs to combat TB by targeting AHAS.


Self-assembly owing to noncovalent interactions provides a powerful tool for the creation of structures at a molecular level. Metal-connected diblock polymers offer a versatile building block for a large variety of nanostructures. Here, we report the supramolecular self-assembly of bis(2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine) metal-connected diblock copolymer on graphene nanoribbons by the formation of donor–acceptor complexes mediated by enhanced van der Waals interactions. This approach promotes the self-assembly of metallopolymers and graphene nanoribbons, which yields a prospective route to novel nanomaterials.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Somatic genetic aberrations are a fundamental driver of cancer. Their characterization in cancer genomes is increasingly being used to guide therapeutic decisions. The ongoing evolution of subclones in a growing tumor leads to a heterogeneous and complex mixture of mutations and other genetic aberrations with a wide range of different allelic fractions. Accurately deciphering a tumor's clonal composition and structure frequently requires very high genome sequencing coverage, in the thousand-fold range if not higher, to reliably detect and quantify variant mutant alleles. However, current short read sequencing technologies are unable to distinguish individual DNA molecules from duplicates without the use of error-prone and complicated molecular indexing strategies. Thus, the vast majority of cancer genome sequencing data is confounded by limitations on linking cancer genome DNA sequences to their clonal origin.

In this study, we developed a new and robust strategy to identify individual DNA molecule sequences in cancer genomes, improve detection of mutations at minor allelic fractions, and thus reliably delineate clonal populations in tumors. We introduce a unique and highly error-resistant DNA molecular tag that can identify every individual DNA molecule in the sample. This molecular tag is based on the combinatorial assembly of rationally-designed sequences and utilizes engineering principles that minimize data transmission errors. It readily scales from billions to trillions of molecular species without prior sequence knowledge and is easily incorporated using a rapid transposase-based sequencing library protocol. In stark contrast, existing molecular indexing methods require random nucleotide DNA barcodes to ostensibly quantify molecular species. Unlike our new combinatorial molecular tagging system, the older random barcode method is highly sensitive to sequencing errors that substantially reduces performance in clonal delineation.

As a proof-of-concept, we assessed the quantification of variants and gene isoforms respectively from known admixtures of well-characterized diploid genomes and mRNA samples. We determined that high depth sequencing leads to hidden but extensive variability in variant quantification, but can be corrected with our approach. Subsequently, we applied our combinatorial DNA molecular tagging technology to matched normal-primary tumor samples. By performing ultra-high depth sequencing for approximately 100 cancer-related genes, we can identify mutations at single molecule resolution and can determine clonal composition. We also observed substantial variability in somatic variant abundances that was previously undetectable. Overall, we demonstrated an approach to study the clonal structure in cancer genomes through the identification and characterization of individual molecules.

Citation Format: Billy Lau, Hanlee Ji. Clonal structure analysis of cancer genomes at single molecule resolution. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4889. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4889


A brief survey of the present state of the development of tunable dye lasers is given, and their application to atomic spectroscopy is reviewed.


Cell division in Escherichia coli begins by assembling three proteins, FtsZ, FtsA, and ZipA, to form a proto-ring at midcell. These proteins nucleate an assembly of at least 35 components, the divisome. The structuring of FtsZ to form a ring and the processes that effect constriction have been explained by alternative but not mutually exclusive mechanisms. We discuss how FtsA and ZipA provide anchoring of the cytoplasmic FtsZ to the membrane and how a temporal sequence of alternative protein interactions may operate in the maturation and stability of the proto-ring. How the force needed for constriction is generated and how the proto-ring proteins relate to peptidoglycan synthesis remain as the main challenges for future research.


In this paper, we propose an iterative detection scheme in the presence of residual frequency offsets (RFOs) using the space-alternating generalized expectation-maximization algorithm for an orthogonal-frequency-division-multiple-access uplink system. In the proposed scheme, the expectation step intends to remove intercarrier interference (ICI) due to the RFOs of simultaneous users in the received signals. Then, the maximization step is utilized to estimate the required parameters for each user (i.e., RFO, data symbols, and channel state information) employing the ICI-cancelled signals. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves almost ideal bit-error-rate performance as long as the magnitude of the normalized RFO value is within 0.2


Background

Histologically, follicular lymphoma (FL) grade 3 is subdivided into grade 3A and 3B. However, there are limited studies on outcomes of FL grade 3A and 3B treated with frontline of RCHOP treatment.
Methods

We retrospectively analyzed 61 patients of FL grade 3 treated with frontline RCHOP regimen between January 2009 and December 2019. We divided them into FL grade 3A (n = 42) and aggressive FL (n = 19). Aggressive FL included grade 3A with an additional 3B component (n = 2), grade 3B (n = 8), and grade 3 with areas of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (n = 9).
Results

The baseline characteristics were similar between FL grade 3A and aggressive FL. The 3-year overall survival (OS) was 97.1% in FL grade 3A and 81.9% in aggressive FL (P = 0.041). The 3-year progression free survival (PFS) was not significantly different between two groups, with 69.1% and 71.1%, respectively (P = 0.546). However, patients of aggressive FL reached a plateau in the PFS curve after 2 years.
Conclusions

Compared with patients of aggressive FL, FL grade 3A patients presented an uncurable feature but associated with a better OS with frontline RCHOP treatment.


"Pomona Britannica", originally published in 1812, celebrated the richness of food variations cultivated in England, with superb illustrations by George Brockham of 256 species of fifteen kinds of fruit. For this compact, enhanced reprint, we have been fortunate enough to obtain the use of a very rare original copy: the exquisite, limited edition, hand-colored volume that was first owned by Princess Elizabeth, daughter of George III. Each chapter of our publication focuses on one family of fruit and is accompanied by a contemporary text giving nutritional information about the fruits as well as cultural and historical analyses. Lovingly drawn on charcoal backgrounds, the mouth-watering cherries, apples, figs, and other divine fruits seem to jump right off the page.


Insulin has many actions within cells many of which are dependent on the cell type. For example, insulin stimulates glucose uptake in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle but not in liver. In liver glucose influx will increase as insulin stimulates the phosphorylation of glucose and eventual storage in the form of glycogen. Insulin also increases glucose oxidation, decreases glucose production, decreases lipolysis, increases protein synthesis and inhibits protein degradation in addition to others. Many actions have been related to insulin binding to its receptor and subsequent phosphorylation cascades, but insulin action on protein degradation has been shown to be linked to insulin degradation, specifically insulin degradation by the insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE). This activity has been shown to be due to an interaction of IDE with the proteasome, which is responsible for degradation of ubiquitin-tagged proteins. Smaller fragments of insulin that are produced by the action of IDE that do not bind to the insulin receptor show a small effect on protein degradation and a modest effect on mitogenesis. These small fragments do however inhibit lipolysis in a similar manner to insulin. If fragments are larger and can bind to the receptor they have been shown to increase glucose oxidation. Studies show that fragments of the insulin molecule have cellular activity, and that the varied actions of insulin are not completely controlled by insulin binding to the insulin receptor, even though the mechanisms may not be mutually exclusive.


OBJECTIVE
To quantitate nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in healthy and interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta)-exposed equine synovial membrane.

ANIMALS
6 healthy horses, 2 to 8 years old.

PROCEDURE
Recombinant human IL-1beta (0.35 ng/kg of body weight) was injected intra-articularly into 1 metacarpophalangeal joint of each horse. The contralateral joint served as an unexposed control. All horses were euthanatized 6 hours after injection of IL-1beta, and synovial membrane specimens were assayed for NOS activity by measuring conversion of arginine to citrulline. Severity of inflammation was semiquantitated by analysis of synovial fluids and histologic examination of synovial membrane.

RESULTS
Equine synovial membrane had minimal NOS activity. A significant difference was not detected in NOS activity between control and IL-1beta-exposed specimens. Histologic examination revealed a neutrophilic infiltrate in synovial membrane exposed to IL-1beta. Synovial fluid from IL-1beta-exposed joints had a moderate inflammatory response and significantly greater concentrations of IL-1beta and interleukin-6 than fluid from healthy joints.

CONCLUSION
Healthy equine synovial membrane had low NOS activity that was not affected by exposure to IL-1beta.


Single-carrier frequency-domain equalization (SC-FDE) has recently been receiving much attention as an attractive method for broadband wireless communications for its advantages such as lower peak-to-average ratio and reduced sensitivity to carrier frequency offsets, when compared with orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. In this paper, we investigate its combination with multi-input multi-output (MIMO) technology and propose two novel FDE-MIMO structures, which we refer to as FDE with noise prediction (FDE-NP) and FDE-NP with successive interference cancellation (FDE-NP-SIC). It is shown that the proposed schemes have lower complexity and achieve better performance and complexity tradeoff than the conventional FDE scheme with decision feedback processing. To evaluate the system performance, we will propose an accurate theoretical analysis based on the modified Chernoff bound (MCB) and show that it is not only applicable to the proposed FDE-NP and FDE-NP-SIC schemes, but also to general MIMO systems with equalization. By using the developed MCB along with simulation results, we will show that the proposed FDE-NP and FDE-NP-SIC schemes can achieve significant performance improvement over the conventional FDE MIMO schemes


Exchange type chromosome aberrations (ETCAs) are rearrangements of the genome that occur when chromosomes break and the resulting fragments rejoin with other fragments from other chromosomes. ETCAs are commonly observed in cancer cells and in cells exposed to radiation. The frequency of these chromosome rearrangements is correlated with their spatial proximity, therefore it can be used to infer the three dimensional organization of the genome. Extracting statistical significance of spatial proximity from cancer and radiation data has remained somewhat elusive because of the sparsity of the data. We here propose a new approach to study the three dimensional organization of the genome using algebraic statistics. We test our method on a published data set of irradiated human blood lymphocyte cells. We provide a rigorous method for testing the overall organization of the genome, and in agreement with previous results we find a random relative positioning of chromosomes with the exception of the chromosome pairs \{1,22\} and \{13,14\} that have a significantly larger number of ETCAs than the rest of the chromosome pairs suggesting their spatial proximity. We conclude that algebraic methods can successfully be used to analyze genetic data and have potential applications to larger and more complex data sets.


The adult stage of the horn fly, Haematobia irritans (L.) is a permanent haematophagus parasite of cattle throughout the United States. Populations may exceed 1,000 flies per animal in some areas. Nationally, the loss due to this ectoparasite is estimated to be 730 million dollars per year (1). Heavy populations decrease weight gains 0.10 lbs per day and decrease feed conversion efficiency about 9% (2). Historically, the horn fly was controlled by various types of insecticide treatments applied as sprays or dips, or by self-treatment devices such as cable rubbers or dust bags. Insecticide-impregnated cattle ear tags rapidly became the treatment of choice in the 1980's because they provided efficient, economical and season-long control with one treatment. Unfortunately, ear tag treatment provided an ideal mechanism for development of insecticide resistance. Within a few years following the introduction of pyrethroid-impregnated ear tags, horn flies began to show widespread resistance to this entire class of insecticides (3). Hom fly control for the future should rely on strategies that minimize exposure of horn flies to a single class of insecticide, and particularly to the pyrethroids. Studies reported herein show the efficacy of topically applied ivermectin against the horn fly on pastured cattle. In addition, studies evaluating the persistence of topical ivermectin treatments on animals exposed to controlled environmental conditions are presented.


Cyber Attacks are reportedly being conducted world-wide on a daily basis targeting individuals, corporations and countries alike. The motive and reasoning behind these attacks are normally categorized as monetary gain, politically motivated or just for kidding and enhance credibility amongst peer groups. During the last few years, the Web has evolved into an integral part of our daily lives. Unfortunately, as our dependency on the Web increases, so does the interest of attackers in exploiting security vulnerabilities in Web applications. In the context of Bangladesh the increasing rate of Web attacks is alarming. Last few years country has faced lots of major Web incidents. The Website of RAB, Prime minister's office, Bangladesh police, education ministry etc are few of the examples. Government of Bangladesh is taking few initiatives to enhance the interaction between government and citizens through the various Web applications. So it is necessary for government to ensure strong security of the Web applications to establish trust with the citizens. In this book few common Web attacks techniques and their mitigation process will be addressed.


Anticoagulants are commonly utilized during surgeries and to treat thrombotic diseases like stroke and deep vein thrombosis. However, conventional anticoagulants have serious side-effects, narrow therapeutic windows, and lack safe reversal agents (antidotes). Here, an alternative RNA origami displaying RNA aptamers as target-specific anticoagulant, is described. Improved design and construction techniques for self-folding, single-molecule RNA origami as a platform for displaying pre-selected RNA aptamers with precise orientational and spatial control, are reported. Nuclease resistance is added using 2'-fluoro-modified pyrimidines during in vitro transcription. When four aptamers are displayed on the RNA origami platform, the measured thrombin inhibition and anticoagulation activity is higher than observed for free aptamers, ssRNA-linked RNA aptamers, and RNA origami displaying fewer aptamers. Importantly, thrombin inhibition is immediately switched off by addition of specific reversal agents. Results for ssDNA and ssPNA (peptide nucleic acid) antidotes show restoration of 75% and 95% coagulation activity, respectively. To demonstrate potential for practical, long-term storage for clinical use, RNA origami was freeze-dried, and stored at room temperature. Freshly produced and freeze-dried RNA show identical levels of activity in coagulation assays. Compared to current commercial intravenous anticoagulants, RNA origami-based molecules show promise as safer alternatives with rapid activity switching for future therapeutic applications.


This study focuses on disaster observations in Pariaman (West Sumatera) and Wasior (Papua) using remote sensing techniques (differential SAR interferometry). Differential interferometry (DInSAR) method was performed on two PALSAR data sets with different acquisition months, i.e. about a month after and before disaster, respectively. The center damage of Pariaman earthquake and Wasior flood can be determined by deriving Land Subsidence using DInSAR method.


Polanyi saw the economy as properly embedded in society and argued that the capitalist free market, in commodifying social relations of production, seeks to disembed the economy from society. The resulting lack of continuity between society and economy, he maintained, created conflict which necessarily required state intervention. The market economy, therefore, in contrast to neoclassical/neoliberal economics' vision of an autonomous, self-regulating market, required more, not less, state intervention to sustain it than alternative, more embedded economies. This article explores this conflict in the context of a specific neoliberal claim: that institutional shareholders are capable of being good "stewards" of the companies in which they invest. Utilising Polanyi's embeddedness, this article assesses the "stewardship" approach as it is manifested in the US and in the UK. This approach is posited on a vision of a disembedded, self-regulating market. Putting it into practice is thus a retrograde step which will only exacerbate the problems created by the market-based corporate governance strategies which have prevailed since the late 1970s onwards.


Since 1987, at least eight morbillivirus infection (MI) epidemics have caused mass mortality of several free-living pinniped and cetacean populations around the world. The responsible agents, all belonging to the genus Morbillivirus (family Paramyxoviridae), have been characterized as either "canine distemper virus" strains, infecting pinnipeds, or as three new morbilliviruses, namely "phocid (phocine) distemper virus" , "porpoise morbillivirus" and "dolphin morbillivirus" . The last two agents are currently gathered under the common denomination of "cetacean morbillivirus". At post-mortem examination, a commonly occurring macroscopic lesion is represented by more or less severe bilateral pneumonia, with consolidation, congestion and oedema of both lungs, which fail to collapse. Histologically, a non-suppurative broncho-interstitial pneumonia, characterized by type II pneumocyte hyperplasia and by formation of endobronchial, endobronchiolar and endoalveolar "Warthin-Finkeldey type" syncytia, as well as a multifocal, non-suppurative encephalitis, associated with a severe and generalized lymphoid tissue depletion, are common pathological findings. Furthermore, eosinophilic viral inclusions are often detected, at both the intracytoplasmic and intranuclear level, within bronchial and bronchiolar epithelial, pulmonary syncytial, neuronal and other cell types. These inclusions, along with lymphoid and other cellular elements, are often found to be immunohistochemically positive for morbillivirus antigen. Among the still debated, or even controversial issues regarding MI in sea mammals, the one related to the origin of their causative agents is of particular concern. Another intriguing issue regards the synergistic effects, if any, associated with chronic exposure to a number of environmental pollutants, such as organochlorines and heavy metals. In fact, it is also unknown whether and how these chemicals contribute towards modulating the pathogenic and pathogenetic activity primarily displayed by sea mammal morbilliviruses.


Objectives: to determine the significance of different clinical, inflammatory (procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP)), immunological (CD4, CD8) markers as predictors of survival in patients with severe CAP.

Methods: 51 patients with verified severe CAP without HIV (age – 57,50±4,31 years, men – 37 (72,5%),women – 14 (27,5%)). General analysis, SMRT-CO count, determination of serum PCT and CRP, blood CD4, CD8 prior antibacterial therapy (ABT) (visit 1), on 8–10 day of ABT (visit 2) with count of delta (v 2-1), statistic including factor loading.

Results: in 6 (11,7%) patients with severe CAP, despite adequate ABT, lethal end of disease was determined. Statistical value on survival of different parameters is present in table (maximum is 1)

View this table:

Factor loading of different parameters in patients with severe CAP

.

Conclusions: 1) initial SMRT-CO count cannot serve as a predictor of survival in patients with severe CAP; 2) feature of survival predicting in patients with severe CAP is the complex account of immune and inflammatory markers; 3) the most significant laboratory predictors of outcome in patients with severe CAP is individual dynamic of CD4 and PCT.


Background Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) and lichen planopilaris (LPP) is scarring alopecias with limited evidence supporting their treatment options. We investigated the use of low-dose naltrexone (3 mg oral daily) as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of FFA and LPP. Methods A single-center, uncontrolled open-label prospective study was performed, with 26 patients who took low-dose naltrexone for one year included in the per-protocol analysis. Both patient-reported (pruritus and burning/pain) and physician-assessed (erythema, scale, and scalp involvement) outcomes were analyzed. Results There were decreases in erythema and scale for the overall longitudinal outcomes using linear mixed effects model analysis. However, only erythema had a significant decrease at 12 months compared with baseline. Mean erythema decreased by 0.93 at 12 months compared with baseline on a 0-3-point scale (p<0.0001, 95% mean CI [-1.32, -0.53]). There was no statistically significant difference comparing 12 months to baseline for the other outcomes including pruritus, burning/pain, and scalp involvement. Limitations include the possibility of spontaneous stabilization, concurrent medications, a small sample size with limited racial diversity, and mild subjective symptoms at baseline. Conclusion Our study supports further investigation of oral low-dose naltrexone as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of FFA and LPP if there is prominent erythema, and possibly scale.


The use of microfluidic systems is a recent trend in diagnostic assays and bioreactors based on protein and cellular engineering. Most microfluidic biodevices would require combination with a technique to pattern proteins and living cells within microchannels just prior to the use of the devices, since these bio-elements are delicate against desiccation, oxidation and heat. Here, we present a simple, electrochemical method to locally immobilize proteins and cells on substrate surface, easily applicable to the microfluidic system. The integration of the technique into a microfluidic device and the on-demand immobilization of proteins and cells were achieved. The sandwich immunoassay within the microchannel was demonstrated, in which a series of protocols from immobilization to measurement can be carried out under physiochemical conditions.


In this paper, we propose a simple and low-cost fabrication method of polymer microlens using solvent-vapor-assisted reflow (SVAR). Metal molds for replication of polymer were fabricated using micro milling and the cylindrical shape of polymer was imprinted using hot-embossing process. The cylindrical shape of polymer was changed to hemispherical lens shape by SVAR. The characteristics of fabricated microlens were evaluated according to the condition of SVAR such as temperature and time. The focal length of polymer microlens could be controlled more easily in low-temperature and long-time condition than in high-temperature and short-time condition. That is, the level of concentrated light to focal point could be improved through the control of temperature and time. Also, we confirmed that toluene was more appropriate solvent than acetone in fabrication of PMMA polymer microlens using SVAR.


This paper provides a critical analysis of natural history museums and their display practices. It explores the contradictions inherent in the concept of "natural history" and the dominance over nature it implies. The paper argues that museums still promote authoritative classification and knowledge systems that reinforce hierarchical structures and colonial ideologies. The author, an artist-curator and printmaker, shares her experiences with three exhibitions that challenge traditional display methods. By disrupting linear progression, introducing complex interconnections, and emphasizing sensory experiences, the exhibitions aim to create alternative models of display that reflect the entangled and web-like nature of speciation. The goal is to move beyond colonial narratives and imagine new ways of representing and understanding the natural world within museum spaces.


Key words: Australia; Accounting standard; Efficient contracting; Lease accounting; Signalling The objective of this study is to examine the economic factors motivating Australian listed lessee firms to adopt capitalization of finance leases policy from 1985 to 1987 as permitted by the transitional provision of AAS 17. Capitalization is considered as the preferred accounting policy for finance leases compared to footnote disclosure. Adopting a joint efficient contracting and quality signaling perspective, support for the research hypotheses would be construed as suggesting that capitalization is a means for lessee firms to reduce or mitigate agency and/or political costs and concurrently as a signal to the market that they are better quality firms. The sample consists of3l4 lessee firms; 67 firms as capitalizers and 247 firms as non-capitalizers. A pooled multivariate cross—sectional analysis for 1985 to 1987 was performed incorporating sensitivity analysis to determine the "best" logistic regression model. This model was then assessed to determine its validity and predictive efficacy. the results provide evidence that lessee firms adopted the capitalization as response to the media attention as being politically visible firms and concurrently as a signal to the market that they are better quality firms. The evidence also suggests limited usefulness of a lengthy transitional period.


For most of evolutionary history, scientific understanding of the environment and life forms is extremely limited. In this commentary I discuss the hypothesis that ontogenetic features of living organisms can be considered biomarkers of coevolution between organisms and physicochemical agents during Earth's history. I provide a new vision of evolution based on correlations between metabolic features and stage-dependent susceptibility of organisms to physicochemical agents with well-known environmental signatures. Thus, developmental features potentially reflect environmental changes during evolution. From this perspective, early multicellular life forms would have flourished in the anoxic Earth more than 2 billion years ago, which is at least 1.2 billion years in advance of available fossil evidence. The remarkable transition to aerobic metabolism in gastrula-stage embryos potentially reflects evolution toward tridermic organisms by 2 billion years ago. Noteworthy changes in embryonic resistance to physicochemical agents at different developmental stages that can be observed in living organisms potentially reflect the influence of environmental stress conditions during different periods of evolutionary history. Evoecotoxicology, as a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach, can enhance our understanding of evolution, including the phylogenetic significance of differences in susceptibility/resistance to physicochemical agents in different organisms.


Hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwater from a limestone and granite area were studied in the Hwanggangri district, where important fluorite ore deposits are distributed. The geochemical properties of groundwater from limestone and granite are commonly characterized as Ca-HCO and (Ca+Na)-HCO type, respectively. Groundwater, contaminated by mine drainage water from the neighboring ore deposits, has not been observed yet. However, fluoride in groundwater exceeding the drinking water permission level is found in the wells located in a Cretaceous granite area. The concentrations of F in the groundwater show a positive relationship with the values of Na, HCO, Li and pH. This may suggest that the groundwater come from the decomposition of fluoride-bearing silicate minerals within highly differentiated granitic rocks.


The issue of territorial division of a state has been subject of the science of administrative law for years. The aim of territorial division is to introduce certain order in human activity in a given area. This refers in particular to general territorial division, which has most significance and plays the most important role in functioning of state and society. Thus, the issue of legal regulations concerning the prerequisites for shaping this order and the conditions for making alterations to it remains topical. The author presents the issue of legal regulations regarding the premises this order and the conditions for its transformation as still topical and being rather a long-term process than a single undertaking. It stems from the tension present in the science of administrative law between assuming that the territorial division of the state should be characterised by relative stability, and the simultaneous projection of its alterations in the face of changing conditions forcing transformation in the functioning of public administration. The current model of the basic territorial division is based on the concept laid down in the Constitution of 2 April 1997, assuming that the territorial division of the state must take into account the social, economic or cultural ties, at the same time ensuring that the territorial units are capable of performing public tasks. Moreover, the formal criterion for alterations to the basic territorial system is introducing them by means of an Act. The paper also presents the modern tendency to change the perspective and gradual, however constant, move from the analysis of the territorial division of the state as an element of effectiveness of public administration to the emphasis of the significance of territorial division as the real framework of local and regional self-governance and the areas of social activity.


Microspectrophotometric analyses combined with model experiments using polyacrylamide films containing different types of purified glycosaminoglycan or glycosaminoglycan and basic protein, have been applied to investigate the chemical characteristics of the glycosaminoglycan moiety present in rat mucosal mast cell granules. The results obtained with these histochemical techniques present evidence of the absence of significant amounts of heparin and the presence of lower sulfated glycosaminoglycan(s) in the granules of these cells.


CIC-fused sarcomas represent an emerging family of tumors, for long connected to the Ewing family group of tumors, but underlined by distinct CIC fusions with different partners. 3′ Fusion partners include DUX4, FOXO4, and, as recently emphasized, NUTM1. In this study, we report the clinicopathologic and molecular features of a series of 6 CIC-NUTM1 sarcomas. Mean age at diagnosis was 6 years (2 to 27 y), and 4 patients were male individuals. Primary tumors were located in the central nervous system (n=3), paravertebral soft tissue and epidural spaces (n=1, each), and lung (n=1). Median overall survival was 17.5 months (7 to 37 mo), and all but one patient died of disease. All tumors displayed classic features of CIC-DUX4 sarcomas with round cell to epithelioid microscopic appearance. Most tumors expressed ETV4 and NUTM1 (n=5/6 and 6/6, respectively), whereas WT1cter was positive in only 2 cases. All tested tumors were positive for break-apart fluorescence in situ hybridization for CIC and NUTM1. Apart from CIC or NUTM1 genomic breakpoints, no other recurrent copy number alteration was seen on genomic profiles. Fusion transcripts were identified by RNA-sequencing on either formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded or frozen material. CIC and NUTM1 breakpoints were located between exons 16 and 20 and exons 2 and 5, respectively. Altogether, CIC-NUTM1 sarcomas represent a new molecular variant of CIC-fused sarcomas with a predilection for the central nervous system and younger pediatric population. Its phenotype may be confused with NUT carcinomas.


We consider a fading channel in which a multi-antenna transmitter communicates with a multi-antenna receiver through a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) that is made of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${N}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> reconfigurable passive scatterers impaired by phase noise. The beamforming vector at the transmitter, the combining vector at the receiver, and the phase shifts of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${N}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> scatterers are optimized in order to maximize the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) at the receiver. By assuming Rayleigh fading (or line-of-sight propagation) on the transmitter-RIS link and Rayleigh fading on the RIS-receiver link, we prove that the SNR is a random variable that is equivalent in distribution to the product of three (or two) independent random variables whose distributions are approximated by two (or one) gamma random variables and the sum of two scaled non-central chi-square random variables. The proposed analytical framework allows us to quantify the robustness of RIS-aided transmission to fading channels. For example, we prove that the amount of fading experienced on the transmitter-RIS-receiver channel linearly decreases with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${N}~\gg ~1.$ </tex-math></inline-formula> This proves that RISs of large size can be effectively employed to make fading less severe and wireless channels more reliable.


Symbolic algebra languages offer an exciting opportunity for the development of online teaching aids which are closer to a textbook format. Some of the facilities developed to support the teaching of control engineering concepts, using Mathematica, are introduced. The type of user-interface facilities that can be created and the ease with which control manipulations can be carried out are presented.


Redigobius bikolanus (Gobiidae), which is distributed widely in the tropical regions of the West Pacific, is categorized as an amphidromous fish. Such fish reproduce in fresh water and newly hatched larvae immediately drift downstream to the estuary and sea where they spend a pelagic stage before returning upstream as juveniles. The morphology of larval R. bikolanus has been reported mainly from Japan, whereas little is known about the early stages of this species on the Asian continent. To understand larval growth of this goby, monthly and bimonthly collections with ichthyoplankton nets were made in the Tien Yen estuary in northern Vietnam, from October 2014 to September 2015. A total of 282 larvae (preflexion to postflexion stages, 2.3-5.4 mm body length) of R. bikolanus were collected from the center of the current in May, but none were captured in the waters near the banks. The larvae were similar in general morphology to those of common gobies, but could be distinguished from other gobiid genera by two very large stellate melanophores on the ventral surface of the trunk and tail. Descriptions of R. bikolanus larvae based on a series of wild specimens are provided. The fishes occurred in low salinities (0.2-2.3 PSU) within 1 m from the surface layer. Together with the wide range of size and developmental stages, this suggests that larvae of R. bikolanus utilize the center of the current of the Tien Yen estuary as their nursery area. This habitat has not been recorded in Japan.


In the present work, a fast and simple method for the separation and purification of triterpene saponins from Actaea racemosa was successfully established. Accelerated solvent extraction was used for defatting and extracting of the subaerial parts, giving a triterpene enriched crude extract. Size exclusion chromatography was used to separate actein and 23-epi-26-deoxyactein from other triterpenoids, which were collected in a third fraction. This most complex third fraction was applied to high-speed countercurrent chromatography, a well-established technique for the separation of saponins. Separation parameters were first optimized on an analytical level, using a hyphenated HSCCC-ELSD setup, before the system was scaled up to preparative size. The resulting two-phase solvent system, consisting of N-hexane-acetone-ethyl acetate-2-propanol-ethanol-water (3.5 : 1 : 2 : 1 : 0.5 : 2, v/v/v/v/v/v), enabled the isolation of 23-O-acetylshengmanol-3-O- beta-D-xylopyranoside (17.4 mg), cimiracemoside D (19.5 mg), 25-O-acetylcimigenol-3-O-beta-D-xylopyranoside (7.1 mg) and the aglycone cimigenol (5.9 mg). Purity of the isolated substances was 96.8 %, 96.2 %, 97.9 %, and 98.4 %, respectively. The same method was suitable for the purification of actein and 23-epi-26-deoxyactein, with purities of 97.0 % and 98.3 %.


The quality of indoor air depends on external pollutant concentrations and on internal sources, such as heating and air conditioning systems, building materials, ventilation, cleaning products, personnel and their activity. This study assessed environmental air pollution in an intensive care unit (ICU) for nephrology and dialysis. Air-dispersed particulate pollution was measured using a gravimetric method and spectroscopic photocorrelation. Microbiological pollution was evaluated by passive and active collection. Particulate concentrations exceeded recommended limits in some of the environments. There was a prevalence of small particulates, which are the most harmful type of all. An overall evaluation of bacterial pollution showed low levels of contamination in some of the rooms. In none of the environments we were able to detect pathogens such as Aspergillus fumigatus, methycillin-resistant Staphylococci or toxin-producing fungi.


Information technology (IT) has been used widely in many aspects of our daily life. Social media as a leading application on the internet has changed many aspects of life become more globalized. This article discussed the use of social media to support learning activities for students in the faculty of computer science. The author used Facebook and WordPress as an alternative to electronic learning, those were: 1) online attendance tool, 2) media storage and dissemination of course materials, 3) and event scheduling for the lectures. Social media succeed to change the way of modern learning styles and environment. The results of this study are some learning activities such as (1) Preparation, (2) Weekly meeting activities, (3) Course Page, (4) Social Media as Online Attendance Tool, (5) Social Media as Learning Repository and Dissemination, and (6) Social Media as Online Event Scheduling. Change conventional learning model becomes visual and distanceless.


As sports become more commercialized, and with an increasing coverage of sports events in media, baseball, and other major sports, are more easily accessed and expanding in popularity. This type of wider exposure has made sports games and their language known to almost every American. That, in turn, has led to an unprecedented pervasive use of sports terms and analogies in present-day American English. This study investigates the frequency of baseball metaphors within US political discourse. Through the CSPAE (Corpus of Spoken Professional American English), White House press briefings were searched for occurrences of baseball metaphors. The metaphors searched for were selected from Sports Talk: A Dictionary of Sports Metaphors (P & R, 1989). The findings were cross-referenced with data from COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English) in order to provide a point of comparison towards a corpus with a broader and more general discourse (language use). COCA was searched for the same expressions as those that were found in the CSPAE. The results showed that there was a more pervasive use of baseball metaphors in White House press briefings than in AmE in general, as represented in COCA. This indicates that sports, specifically baseball, metaphors seem to be a persuasive way of using metaphors in political discourse.


This paper focuses on post-buckling analysis of Timoshenko beams with various boundary conditions subjected to a non-uniform thermal loading by using the total Lagrangian Timoshenko beam element approximation. Six types of support conditions for the beams are considered. The considered
highly non-linear problem is solved by using incremental displacement-based finite element method in conjunction with Newton-Raphson iteration method. As far as the authors know, there is no study on the post-buckling analysis of Timoshenko beams under uniform and non-uniform thermal loading considering full geometric non-linearity investigated by using finite element method. The convergence studies are made and the obtained results are compared with the published results. In the study, the relationships between deflections, end rotational angles, end constraint forces, thermal buckling configuration, stress distributions through the thickness of the beams and temperature rising are illustrated in detail in postbuckling
case.


With the ever-growing production of data coming from multiple, scattered, highly dynamical sources (like those found in IoT scenarios), it is compelling to (i) provide a seamless way to outsource the management and sharing of data (as provided by cloud services); (ii) assure an high security and privacy level to such data. As such, objectives (i) and (ii) are not easily reconcilable: for example, the way data is accessed may vary according to access policies of the users and of the cloud providers that share such data. In this paper, we argue that attribute-based proxy re-encryption is a viable solution for providing the flexibility needed in dynamic scenarios like the ones envisioned by large IoT deployments. Towards, this goal we present an efficient attribute-based, proxy re-encryption scheme that can be deployed in such scenarios, along with experimental results that confirm the viability of our approach.


Classical Cepheids are blue loop stars that have famously been dubbed "magnifying glasses of stellar evolution" and have been studied for a long time. As more and more precise observations of Cepheids are secured over ever-increasing temporal baselines, our ignorance of the physics governing these crucial stars is becoming increasingly clear. Thus, it is time to turn up the magnification and investigate the limitations of our understanding of classical pulsators. Of course, classical Cepheids are also standard candles thanks to the Leavitt law that allows one to measure distances in the nearby Universe. Nowadays, Cepheids serve as the backbone of a precisely calibrated distance ladder, that allows one to measure Hubble's constant (H0) to better than 2%, thus providing crucial constraints for precision cosmology. The recently established discord among H0 values measured in the late-time Universe and inferred from observations of the early Universe requires utmost diligence in estimating systematic uncertainties in order to strengthen the significance of the results. In this presentation I focus on two main aspects of recent Cepheid-related research. First, I present the Geneva Cepheid Radial Velocity survey (GE-CeRVS) and an update on the modulated spectroscopic variability exhibited by the 4 d Cepheid QZ Normae based on 8 years of monitoring. Then, I discuss some efforts directed towards a 1% H0 measurement needed for understanding the cosmological implications of discordant H0 values. Finally, I argue that now is a particularly opportune time to leverage the synergies between stellar physics and observational cosmology.


An essential component of an autonomous robotic swarm system is the ability to form an accurate map of its environment. In this paper, we consider the fuzzy approach to map generation using a swarm of robots fitted with multi-sonar sensors. While adopting an approach to map making similar to that in [1] we have reduced and simplified the number of parameters employed without significant loss of accuracy. These parameters are first optimized using a synthetic image of the target environment using differential evolution. A parallel implementation of the differential evolution optimizer is developed in MPI on a 200 core cluster. The algorithm has been tested on real-time data through experiments with three Parallax Stingray robots, each equipped with three sonars, with good results.


The message of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court is that the criminal law does not have to be activated with behaviors that should be matters of civil jurisdiction, but of course depending on who rush or run? (Remember that the case in question involves a college professor) and could it be that the theoretical and practical difficulty of matching the conduct to criminal offenses related to copyright, means that criminal law is not the institutional instrument appropriate to punish the infringement of the rights of that particular area of law? The answer to these questions should be the beginning to think or rethink whether the expansion of criminal law has come to the field of intellectual property is worth checking and maintenance. Cesare Becaria noted: "What prevents crime, not the number of criminal reprimand, but the guarantee of its punishment." If there is no certainty or guarantee that the punishment will it be worth resorting to the judicial application of these types of crimes? This article seeks to open the discussion on this point.


We investigated the quality of 12 commercial salted and fermented anchovy Engraulis japonicas sauces by measuring their chemical compositions, bacteria concentrations, and biogenic amine contents. The sauces had a moisture content of 67.13-69.83% (mean: 68.17%), salinity of 20.00-25.84% (mean: 22.29%), pH of 5.14-6.28 (mean: 5.63), volatile basic nitrogen content of 119.12-273.37 mg/100 g (mean: 199.19 mg/100 g), total nitrogen content of 0.82- 1.50% (mean: 1.30%) and amino nitrogen content of 550.17-1,086.62 mg/100 g (mean: 774.99 mg/100 g). The viable cell counts ranged from not detected to 1.6×103 CFU/mL, and the number of biogenic amine-forming bacteria was very low or undetectable. The tested samples contained 372.32-2,111,61 mg/kg (mean 813.48 mg/kg) histamine, 29.62-144.29 mg/kg (mean 98.14 mg/kg) cadaverine, 87.89-530.84 mg/kg (mean 329.91 mg/kg) tryptamine, 20.89- 127.17 mg/kg (mean 60.49 mg/kg) putrescine, and 13.08-109.91 mg/kg (mean 57.74 mg/kg) tyramine. Whereas no spermidine or spermine was detected in any sample. These results strongly suggest the necessary of monitoring the biogenic amine contents of commercial salted and fermented anchovy sauces carefully to ensure consumer health.


Lake-shore and wetland settlements of the Circum-Alpine region are well known for their excellent preservation of organic remains and their potential for accurate dating through dendrochronology. This settlement tradition spans from the Neolithic to the Early Iron Age, though several hiatuses in lake-dwelling construction are observed. Traditional models for the abandonment of lake-settlements rely upon climatically deterministic models, linking declining climatic conditions to increasing lake-levels, which would have impacted upon settlements and forced the inhabitants to relocate. Recent studies of Neolithic lake-dwellings have indicated that social factors also influenced the development of these settlements, while the 'social biography' of settlements has been an area of increasing interest in terrestrial settlements. A review of selected Late Bronze Age (LBA) lake-settlements illustrates the development sequence seen at many lake-dwellings from across the Circum-Alpine region. The proposal of a biographical model linking cultural influences to the development sequence observed in LBA lake-dwellings, and to the choice to abandon areas and relocate villages, offers further insights into the development of enigmatic settlements.


Oogenesis in the anuran Xenopus laevis can be divided into six stages based on the anatomy of the developing oocyte. Stage I consists of small (50 to 100 μ) colorless oocytes whose cytoplasm is transparent. Their large nuclei and mitochondrial masses are clearly visible in the intact oocyte. Stage II oocytes range up to 450 μ in diameter, and appear white and opaque. Stage I and II are both previtellogenic. Pigment synthesis and yolk accumulation (vitellogenesis) begins during Stage III. Vitellogenesis continues through Stage IV (600 to 1000 μ), the oocytes grow rapidly, and the animal and vegetal hemispheres become differentiated. By Stage V (1000 to 1200 μ) the oocytes have nearly reached their maximum size and yolk accumulation gradually ceases. Stage VI oocytes are characterized by the appearance of an essentially unpigmented equatorial band. They range in size from 1200 to 1300 μ, are postivtellogenic and ready for ovulation. These stages of oocyte development have been correlated with physiological and biochemical data related to oogenesis in Xenopus.


Recent advances have demonstrated the existence of a B cell subset with regulatory function named (Bregs). Bregs have been shown to restrain the severity of several autoimmune disease and contribute to the development of infection and cancer. In human CD19+CD24hiCD38hiCD1dhiregulatory B cells inhibit the activation of T helper (Th)1 and Th17 responses whilst supporting the differentiation of FoxP3+ Tregs. We have shown that in addition to regulate CD4+T cells differentiation, Breg are essential for iNKT cell homeostasis in healthy individuals but fail to exert the same effect in SLE patients. CD1d-restricted invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells play an immune-regulatory role functioning in both innate and adaptive immunity. Defective B cell-mediated stimulation of iNKT cells in SLE, was associated with rapid internalization and reduced surface expression of CD1d on immature B cells from SLE patients compared with B cells from healthy individuals. iNKT cell number and function were restored in SLE patients responding to B cell depletion therapy, upon normalization of CD1d levels in repopulated CD19+CD24hiCD38hiCD1dhiregulatory B cells. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Previous work has demonstrated that the activity of the enzyme cholesterol sulfotransferase is rapidly and dramatically increased upon squamous differentiation of a variety of epithelial cells in culture, including epidermal keratinocytes. As a step toward understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying this differentiation-related change, we now report the partial purification and characterization of this enzyme activity from rat skin. Supernatant solutions from rat skin homogenates were subjected to a series of column chromatography steps including anion exchange, gel filtration, chromatofocusing and hydrophobic interaction chromatography. The purification procedure resulted in cholesterol sulfotransferase activity purified 2,700-fold with a 11% recovery. The most purified preparation yielded a major Coomassie blue-stained band on denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of an apparent molecular weight (MW) of 40,000 Da. Photoaffinity labeling with the donor substrate, 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phospho-[35S]-sulfate resulted in a single radiolabeled protein band on denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, again of apparent MW 40,000 Da, strongly suggesting that the major Coomassie blue-stained band in the most purified preparation is the cholesterol sulfotransferase protein. Among 3beta-hydroxysteroids with a A5 double bond that were tested, each served as a substrate, while androgens, estrogens, corticosteroids, p-nitrophenol and DOPA did not serve as substrates. Apparent Michaelis constants for the 3beta-hydroxysteroid substrates ranged from 0.6 to 8 microM.


Relative movements of the main wing areas around the major flexion lines are compared during wing folding at rest, and during the supinatory phase of the flight cycle, which involves considerable wing deformation. Folding of the wing apex at rest is achieved by a combination of movements around the median flexion line (the main longitudinal flexion line), the principal transverse fold, and a variety of smaller, oblique 'tucking' folds. During flight, wing tip deformation is strongly influenced by elastic forces involved in the normal wing folding and unfolding processes. Those beetles possessing an inwardly sprung wing apex display partial folding at supination, associated with the temporary relaxation of the forces opposing spring recoil. These beetles also show enhanced mobility about the median flexion line which facilitates leading edge supination. The presence of the principal transverse fold may help to concentrate ventral flexure towards the wing tip. The wings of beetles possessing an outwardly-sprung apex are much less affected by the presence of the flexion lines associated with folding. In these cases, enhanced supination of the leading edge, in the face of an overall increase in wing membrane stiffness, may be related to the presence of the highly-sclerotized pterostigma.


Abstract Some recent results from a research program dealing with the isolation, identification, and synthesis of biologically active compounds for applications in agriculture and forestry will be reported. The solid-phase micro extraction (SPME) technique has been successfully used for identification of the main sex pheromone components of Cydia and Bonagota species (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae). Synthesis of a series of dodecadienols, tetradecadienols, and their corresponding aldehydes and acetates have been performed to be used for testing inhibitory and synergistic effects on pest insects of these species. Behaviorally active volatile compounds emitted from aphids and aphid-infested plants have been identified by SPME-technique, synthesized, and used in olfactometer tests. Methyl salicylate is shown to act in interplant communication released by plants infested by insects. In the presence of the compound, the colonization density of aphids in crop is reduced. Methyl salicylate is a common multifunctional compound, which is active in several biological systems. The action of this compound as an anti-aphrodisiac will be presented. The compound is transferred at mating from the male pierid butterfly Pieris napi to the female and makes the female unattractive for mating.


This research examines the emerging role of fashion manufacture in the context of international development, as an example of market-led development. The role of fashion brands addressing development issues as a core tenant of their commercial operations is systematically analysed, from the perspective of both production and consumption. The research asks whether fashion manufacture can function as a valuable agent or tool within international development, and critically appraises if such practices perpetuate notions of dependency. This study is exploratory and interpretive in nature. Online discourse analysis was initially used to critically deconstruct marketing methodologies and language utilised within fifteen e-commerce platforms of 'fashion for development' initiatives, extending the scope of prior research. Following this initial mapping, the research was furthered by undertaking seven interviews in the Spring of 2017 with leading policy professionals, development charities, trade facilitators, socially motivated garment manufactures, and several 'sole practitioners' operating SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa. Findings indicate a constructive and nuanced discourse amongst professional stakeholders interviewed. Consultation of development professionals, trade facilitators, and socially motivated garment manufacturers established a profitable dialogue disclosing the intent of current practitioners. This study appraises the efficacy and intent of the discourse in light of current development literature. Results suggest, however, that care must be taken in the subsequent marketing of 'fashion for development' products to avoid troublesome tropes concerned with neo-colonial representations of beneficiaries. In addition, the research latterly evaluates the role of consumption within development discourse.


Currently, The method to produce a brewing body for dentistry supplementation water produces a brewing body by fabrication, burying and it is heat wish in city gas and oxygen. It uses an original judgment found airplane the brewing body uses a spring of the back wait that melting temperature dissolved various alloys in by a blow pipe, and to generate centrifugal force and produces it. In addition, because it uses preheating to dissolve an alloy in general, it is hard to regulate the appropriate melting temperature of the alloy and brewing time and generates a brewing defect hereby same as gas industry and pinhole and shows the defect of the supplementation thing due to the super-heating. In this paper, We developed the high induction heating system which it could set brewing time,temperature and had durability and security,by the kind of the alloy to produce a high quality prosthetic thing brewing body.


This article aims to introduce and demonstrate the application of the standardization and decomposition analysis (SDA) method to gauge differences in HIV prevalence rates among injection drug users (IDUs) across regions (Northeast, South, Midwest, and West) in the U.S. Using the SDA, the regional HIV prevalence rates were standardized and a rate difference between regions was decomposed into component effects, such as the "real" rate difference, and component effects attributed to differences in specific compositions of confounding factors. A total of 9,824 injection drug users (IDUs) retrieved from the national database of the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Cooperative Agreement for AIDS Community-Based Outreach/Intervention Research Program (COOP) projects constitute the sample for the study. A computer program DECOMP was used to implement the multi-population SDA.


Microorganisms are regarded as the oldest and most abundant life form on earth and their importance to man cannot be over emphasized. They are the occupants and architect of the biosphere maintaining metabolic cycles essential for life. The aim of the study was to explore the benefits and detriments of bacteria associated with kolanut soil plantation and waste to man and the environment.  Bacterial was isolated from kolanut soil plantation, decayed, decaying and fresh kolanut waste (testa and husk) obtained from Ilara-Mokin (Ondo State) and Owena-Osun (Osun State), Nigeria following standard procedures. Thirteen isolates with distinctive morphological and physiological characteristics were identified using molecular techniques and Sanger sequencing was employed to detect labelled chain-terminating nucleotides that are incorporated by DNA polymerase during replication of the templates. The genus of bacteria identified included; Bacillus , Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Marinobacter, Staphylococcus, Lysinibacillus, Providencia, Erwinia. The most dominant genus however was the Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Citrobacter. A good number of the bacteria isolated can be explored for production of products such as enzymes, use as biocontrols and for environmental cleanups. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v37i4.36


We are interested in the problem of discourse parsing of textual documents. We present a novel end-to-end discourse parser that, given a plain text document in input, identifies the discourse relations in the text, assigns them a semantic label and detects discourse arguments spans. The parsing architecture is based on a cascade of decisions supported by Conditional Random Fields (CRF). We train and evaluate three different parsers using the PDTB corpus. The three system versions are compared to evaluate their robustness with respect to deep/shallow and automatically extracted syntactic features.


Explicit Runge-Kutta schemes with large stable step sizes are developed for integration of high order spectral difference spatial discretization on quadrilateral grids. The new schemes permit an effective time step that is substantially larger than the maximum admissible time step of standard explicit Runge-Kutta schemes available in literature. Furthermore, they have a small principal error norm and admit a low-storage implementation. The advantages of the new schemes are demonstrated through application to the Euler equations and the linearized Euler equations.


Researches on the therapeutic properties of apples and their products have been drawing attention recent years. Their therapeutic features provide an increase on the popularity of these products and their consumption has a protective effect against certain disorders. Weight loss products made from apples and apple products in use among the public bring out an important risk of patulin. Patulin may occur in apples during harvest and post harvest stages. Process stages and stage conditions may cause an increase or decrease in patulin concentrations. Most of the time, it is impossible to prevent the product from patulin formation. Nature of the process steps such as fermentation, heat treatment and clarification applications or additional steps of production line such as gamma irradiation or application of binding material can help remove patulin from products or reduce its concentration with the lowest cost. In this study, patulin concentration changes are explored during the production processes


Introduction Ankle fracture surgery is a common procedure, but the influence of anaesthesia choice on postoperative pain and quality of recovery is poorly understood. Some authors suggest a benefit of peripheral nerve block (PNB) in elective procedures, but the different pain profile following acute fracture surgery and the rebound pain on cessation of the PNB both remain unexplored. We present an ongoing randomised study aiming to compare primary PNB anaesthesia with spinal anaesthesia for ankle fracture surgery regarding postoperative pain profiles and quality of recovery. Methods and analysis AnAnkle Trial is a randomised, dual-centre, open-label, blinded analysis trial of 150 adult patients undergoing primary internal fixation of an ankle fracture. Main exclusion criteria are habitual opioid use, impaired pain sensation, other painful injuries or cognitive impairment. The intervention is ultrasound-guided popliteal sciatic (20 mL) and saphenal nerve (8 mL) PNB with ropivacaine 7.5 mg/mL, and controls receive spinal anaesthesia (2 mL) with hyperbaric bupivacaine 5 mg/mL. Postoperatively all receive paracetamol, ibuprofen and patient-controlled intravenous morphine on demand. Morphine consumption and pain scores are registered in the first 27 hours and reported as an integrated pain score as the primary endpoint. Pain score intervals are 3 hours and we will use the area under curve to get a longitudinal measure of pain. Secondary outcomes include rebound pain on cessation of anaesthesia, opioid side effects (Opioid-Related Symptom Distress Scale), quality of recovery (Danish Quality of Recovery-15 score) and pain scores and medication days 1–7 (diary). Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Regional Ethics Committees in the Capital Region of Denmark, the Danish Data Protection Agency and the Danish Health and Medical Authority. We will publish the results in international peer-reviewed medical journals. Trial registration number AnAnkle Trial is registered in the European Clinical Trials Database (EudraCT 2015-001108-76).


The recent growth of precarious work has sparked a vivid debate on whether this tendency can be reversed by the social partners through sectoral self-regulation. In this sectoral case study of the temporary work agencies sector in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the views, approaches, power and interaction between trade unions and employers' organizations are studied in the context of increasing labour migration in the decade following European Union enlargement. The results show that the employers' organizations have been leading actors in self-regulation, seeking collaboration with trade unions in the Netherlands. In both countries, trade unions have taken an inclusive approach but had little power to affect the deterioration of employment conditions. It has proven difficult to the social partners to reverse the process of increasing precarious work and exploitation. Strict regulatory frameworks imposed by the government are needed to turn a vicious circle into a virtuous one.


SfT6 has been identified in a subtracted cDNA library of Spodoptera frugiperda larval midgut transcripts as a serine-protease gene downregulated within 24 h of intoxication with Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ca1 protein. In the present study, the specific role of SfT6 during Cry1Ca1 intoxication was investigated by RT-PCR and in vivo RNA interference. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis showed SfT6 mRNA levels in the midgut tissue were significantly reduced after injecting or feeding 4th-instar larvae with specific long-size dsRNA. Gut juice-mediated in vitro protoxin activation and susceptibility for Cry1Ca1 were investigated in Sft6-knockdown larvae and compared with control treated with nonspecific dsRNA. Our results demonstrate SfT6 plays a determinant role in Cry1Ca1 toxicity against S. frugiperda since a decreased expression caused a reduced protoxin activation by larval gut juice and reduced susceptibility of insects to toxin in bioassays. We propose SfT6 downregulation occurring at the early stages of Cry1Ca1 intoxication is part of a complex and multifaceted defensive mechanism triggered in the insect gut to withstand B. thuringiensis pathogenesis.


This thesis discusses the influence of Lady Chatterley's sexual experience
on the development on her view about sexual needs in D.H. Lawrence's Lady
Chatterley's Lover. The problem statement is what is the influence of Lady
Chatterley's sexual experience on the development on her view about sexual
needs? This research is a library research with descriptive qualitative method.
The data are divided into two kinds, the primary and secondary data. The main
data of this research is taken from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence,
published in 1957 by Groove Press Inc. NY. It included the words, dialogue,
phrases, sentences occurring in the novel related to the subject matter. Meanwhile
the secondary data were taken from articles, essay, author's biography and
internet that had connection to the subject matter.
The purpose of this research is to find out the influence of Lady
Chatterley's sexual experience on the development of her view about sexual
needs.
In order to achieve the purpose of this research, this research employed
psychological approach, especially woman psychology and sex, supported by
structural approach.
Analysis on the data shows that Lady Chatterley has experienced a
complex psychological phenomenon inside her as a result of other characters'
influences, especially Michaelis, Clifford Chatterley and Oliver Mellors. She is
involved into a complex conflict soon after she realizes her father's warning that
there is a danger in living an intellectual life and devoid of sensuality. Based on
joys of sex, the way she gets sexual satisfaction develops from sexual excitement
to sexual desire and finally, sex in love that connected with her maturity as a
woman. Her mad restlessness and depression occur because of her sexual
unfulfillement and her immaturity. The conclusion that can be drawn from the analysis is that her sexual
experience causes her to regard sex, firstly, as the solution to avoid a danger in
living intellectual life—her sexual experience with Clifford and Michaelis—then
develops into a need—her sexual experience with Mellors—because sexual
activity is not just physical but it has symbolic consequences, and along with the
development of her view about sexual needs, her maturity also improves.
Through her struggle, she knows what she should do to get happiness and she
believes that she can bring it into reality with Mellors beside her and the support
from her father and her sister.


Various types of latch designs for hard disk drives using load/unload mechanism have been introduced to protect undesired release motions of a voice coil motor(VCM) actuator from sudden disturbances. Recently, various inertia-type latches have been widely used because locking performance is better than that of other types of latch. However there has been a limit in the inertia type in order to guarantee perfect latch and unlatch operations because of changes in latch/unlatch conditions due to mechanical tolerance and temperature-dependent friction. In this paper, a reliable and robust magnetic latch mechanism is proposed through only simple modifications of coil and yoke shapes in order to overcome the mechanical limit of current inertia-type latches. This new magnetic latch does not have only a simple structure but it also ensures reliable operations and anti-shock performance. The operating mechanism of the proposed latch is theoretically analyzed and optimally designed using an electromagnetic simulation.


Background There is an ongoing debate about the use of atypical antipsychotics as a first-line treatment for first-episode psychosis. Aims To examine the evidence base for this recommendation. Method Meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials in the early phase of psychosis, looking at long-term discontinuation rates, short-term symptom changes, weight gain and extrapyramidal side-effects. Trials were identified using a combination of electronic (Cochrane Central, EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsycINFO) and manual searches. Results Fifteen randomised controlled trials with a total of 2522 participants were included. No significant differences between atypical and typical drugs were found for discontinuation rates (odds ratio (OR) = 0.7, 95% CI 0.4 to 1.2) or effect on symptoms (standardised mean difference (SMD) = –0.1, 95% CI –0.2 to 0.02). Participants on atypical antipsychotics gained 2.1 kg (95% CI 0.1 to 4.1) more weight than those on typicals, whereas those on typicals experienced more extrapyramidal side-effects (SMD = –0.4, 95% CI –0.5 to –0.2). Conclusions There was no evidence for differences in efficacy between atypical and typical antipsychotics, but there was a clear difference in the side-effect profile.


Environmentally friendly gallic acid coated magnetic nanoparticles (GA-MNP) have been synthesized and evaluated as a novel photocatalyst for degradation of meloxicam; a commonly prescribed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. The synthesized GA-MNP were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. Results showed the formation of core–shell MNP with a mean hydrodynamic diameter of 160.55 ± 5.02 nm and zeta potential of −42.4 ± 1.6 mV. A validated RP-HPLC stability-indicating assay was developed for monitoring of meloxicam concentration in the presence of its degradation products and for determination of the kinetics of degradation. Full factorial design (24) was employed in order to investigate the effects of pH, irradiation time, GA-MNP loading and initial meloxicam concentration on the efficiency of the process. The irradiation time was found to be the most significant parameter followed by initial meloxicam concentration and GA-MNP loading, respectively. At the optimized conditions, increasing GA-MNP loading to 5.00 mg mL−1 demonstrated superior photocatalytic activity when compared to bare MNP and TiO2NP. Meloxicam degradation was found to follow pseudo first order rate kinetics with Kobs and t0.5 of −0.0029 min−1 and 239 min, respectively. The protocol was successfully applied for treatment of incurred water samples collected during various cleaning validation cycles. A percentage degradation of 89.10 ± 0.13% was achieved upon irradiation of samples containing 64.57 ± 0.09 µg mL−1 with UV light (1012 µW cm−2, 8 h) in the presence of 5 mg mL−1 GA-MNP at pH 9.0 ± 0.05. It could be suggested that treatment of wastewaters collected during the cleaning validation of each pharmaceutical product, before pooling into the general waste pool, should improve the efficiency and economics of pharmaceutical wastewater treatment.


BACKGROUND
Exhaled Carbon monoxide has been proposed as a non-invasive marker in several inflammatory diseases of the lung, but no data are available in patients with sarcoidosis.

METHODS
We evaluated the levels of exhaled CO in 78 nonsmoker patients with sarcoidosis and we compared the results with 25 healthy non smoker controls, of 25 patients with a variety of interstitial lung diseases, and 77 smokers.

RESULTS
Mean value of exhaled CO in sarcoidosis was 3.3 (2.9-3.8) ppm (GM with 95% CI in parenthesis), resulting significantly higher than both normal controls, 1.4 (1.2-1.7) ppm (p<0.001), and clinical controls, 2.1 (1.7-2.7) ppm (p<0.02). All these levels, however, were markedly lower than those observed in smokers, 14.6 (12.7-16.9) ppm. No correlation was found with radiological stage, steroid therapy, respiratory function, or serum ACE activity. Using an upper normal value of 4 ppm, an increased level of exhaled CO was found in 50% of patients with sarcoidosis, in 24% of clinical controls, and in 97% of smokers.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data indicate that significant release of endogenous CO occurs in sarcoidosis. It is unlikely that the measurement of exhaled CO could be of diagnostic usefulness, due to its low specificity and to the possible influence by occasional or passive smoke.


Wiki systems have evolved in two different ways : semantic wikis and peer to peer wikis. Semantic wikis integrate the semantic web technologies in order to improve their structure, the search and the navigation between pages. Peer-to-peer wikis offer a support for massive collaboration, off-line editing mode and an ad-hoc collaboration. The main challenge in designing a peer-to-peer semantic wiki combining both approaches is the merge of wiki pages embedding semantic annotations. Merging algorithms used in peer-to-peer wiki systems have been designed for linear text. They do not handle semantic data. In this paper, we present SWooki the first peer-to-peer semantic wiki. SWooki combines the advantages of both semantic wikis and peer-to-peer wikis. We detail SWooki approach and its merging algorithm, we insist on its characteristics and its functionalities. We conclude by presenting its architecture and its implementation.


The author describes the process of translating two texts: Elisa Klapheck's biography of Regina Jonas, the first woman rabbi, and Jonas' 1930 treatise, "Can Women Serve as Rabbis?" Axelrod describes her growing appreciation of Jonas' ideas and arguments, and finds much in them that is useful to contemporary religious feminists.


Sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid is a very rare slow-growing tumor and is considered an aggressive eyelid neoplasm. It can reach mortality rate of about 6%. Diagnosis is often delayed because of its ability to masquerade as other periocular lesions, both clinically and histologically. We present three cases of sebaceous carcinoma, with different surgical outcomes, showing the importance of early diagnosis.


We present in this article a lightweight ontology named PGxO and a set of rules for its instantiation, which we developed as a frame for reconciling and tracing pharmacogenomics (PGx) knowledge. PGx studies how genomic variations impact variations in drug response phenotypes. Knowledge in PGx is typically composed of units that have the form of ternary relationships gene variant–drug–adverse event, stating that an adverse event may occur for patients having the gene variant when being exposed to the drug. These knowledge units (i) are available in reference databases, such as PharmGKB, are reported in the scientific biomedical literature and (ii) may be discovered by mining clinical data such as Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Therefore, knowledge in PGx is heterogeneously described (i.e., with various quality, granularity, vocabulary, etc.). It is consequently worth to extract, then compare, assertions from distinct resources. Using PGxO, one can represent multiple provenances for pharmacogenomic knowledge units, and reconcile duplicates when they come from distinct sources.


Transmembrane potentials in the crayfish giant axon have been investigated as a function of the concentration of normally occurring external cations. Results have been compared with data already available for the lobster and squid giant axons. The magnitude of the action potential was shown to be a linear function of the log of the external sodium concentration, as would be predicted for an ideal sodium electrode. The resting potential is an inverse function of the external potassium concentration, but behaves as an ideal potassium electrode only at the higher external concentrations of potassium. Decrease in external calcium results in a decrease in both resting potential and action potential; an increase in external calcium above normal has no effect on magnitude of transmembrane potentials. Magnesium can partially substitute for calcium in the maintenance of normal action potential magnitude, but appears to have very little effect on resting potential. All ionic effects studied are completely reversible. The results are in generally good agreement with data presently available for the lobster giant axon and for the squid giant axon.


Arsenic trioxide (As2O3) has been reported to induce apoptosis in human T-cell leukemia virus type-I (HTLV-I) infected T-cell lines and fresh adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) cells and to induce G1 phase accumulation in HTLV-I infected T-cell lines. The present study aimed to clarify the pathway of As2O3-induced apoptosis in HTLV-I infected T-cell lines, MT-1 and MT-2, and fresh ATL cells separated from peripheral blood of patients with acute or chronic type ATL. Cells were treated up to 72 h at clinically tolerable concentrations of As2O3 (1–2 µmol/l) shown to be safe in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Activation of caspases 3, 8, and 9, loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential and cleavage of poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) were observed during As2O3 treatment. Furthermore, prior exposure to a broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor blocked As2O3-induced apoptosis but not G1 phase accumulation. While pre-treatment with a CD95 receptor-blocking antibody (Ab) or a TNF-α neutralizing Ab did not show such inhibitions in these cells. In conclusion, As2O3 induces apoptosis in HTLV-I infected T-cell lines and fresh ATL cells through CD95 or TNF-α receptor independent caspase activation.


Since internal initiation of translation of cardiovirus RNAs requires the approximately 450-nt segment of the viral genome immediately upstream of the authentic initiation codon for viral polyprotein synthesis, the question arises as to whether the immediately adjacent sequences, the start of the polyprotein coding region, also influence the efficiency of internal initiation. Therefore, a variety of constructs derived from encephalomyocarditis virus and Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus retaining various lengths of viral coding sequence were translated in rabbit reticulocyte lysates. Efficient internal initiation showed no requirement specifically for viral coding sequences, but on the other hand certain motifs, notably G-rich sequences, located immediately downstream of the initiation codon were highly inhibitory. These results suggest a possible explanation for the evolution of cardiovirus polyproteins lacking N-terminal myristylation signals and are also pertinent to the design of constructs in which the cardiovirus internal ribosome entry signal is used to drive the expression of a reporter cistron.


Background: Because of great concerns about mortality and morbidity of infection in febrile neutropenic patients, the appropriate empirical
antibiotic should be started immediately. Although there are established guidelines for the use of empirical therapy, local microbiological
pattern and antibiotic susceptibility should be considered.
Objectives: The current study aimed to identify the etiological pathogens in febrile neutropenic cancer patients in Isfahan, Iran.
Patients and Methods: This single-centre population-based study was conducted on 81 febrile neutropenic patients referring to Sayed-Al-
Shohada hospital, the only referral malignant care center in Isfahan, Iran. Demographic data, duration and kind of malignancy, duration from
last chemotherapy, duration of fever, and also physical exam were recorded for each patient. Moreover, procalcitonin, CRP, ESR, white blood
cells, hemoglobin, platelet, and absolute neutrophil count were measured. BACTEC and E-test were used for blood culturing and determining
the antibiotic susceptibility.
Results: Out of 81 participants, 28.4% had positive blood cultures which mostly consisted of Gram-positive microorganisms. In addition,
Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most isolated Gram positive bacteria (39.1%). ESR, CRP, and procalcitonin were significantly higher in
patients with positive blood culture. The risk of infection increased with raise in duration of hospital stay, catheterization, increased pulse
rate, increased oral temperature, low level of oxygen saturation, decreased systolic blood pressure, and low absolute neutrophile count.
However, in this case, no relationship was found among the patients' age, diastolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, duration of diagnosis,
duration from last chemotherapy, duration of fever, white blood cells, hemoglobin, platelet, and finally the type of malignancies.
Conclusions: It was concluded that Gram-positive bacteria were more prevalent as a cause of infection in the patients with malignancy and
the most common pathogen was S. epidermidis. Larger studies are needed to determine the bacterial susceptibility of this center.


Intelligent agents can cope with sensory-rich environments by learning task-agnostic state abstractions. In this paper, we propose mechanisms to approximate causal states, which optimally compress the joint history of actions and observations in partially-observable Markov decision processes. Our proposed algorithm extracts causal state representations from RNNs that are trained to predict subsequent observations given the history. We demonstrate that these learned task-agnostic state abstractions can be used to efficiently learn policies for reinforcement learning problems with rich observation spaces. We evaluate agents using multiple partially observable navigation tasks with both discrete (GridWorld) and continuous (VizDoom, ALE) observation processes that cannot be solved by traditional memory-limited methods. Our experiments demonstrate systematic improvement of the DQN and tabular models using approximate causal state representations with respect to recurrent-DQN baselines trained with raw inputs.


The drawing design includes a lot of flows in practice, such as flow of transactions, of data etc. This paper discusses how to control the design flows by using flow-message exchange and monitor in design. In order implement a high-efficiency project workflow for the whole design, it includes examination, revision, design submission.


The number of patients suffering from dementia in Japan has been estimated to exceed 1,250,000 and is expected to increase rapidly in the near future. It is quickly becoming a serious medical and social issue. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading cause of dementia, and can be classified into two genetic categories: single-gene and polygenic diseases. Familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) is classified as a single-gene disease, while sporadic AD is classified as a polygenic disease which involves multiple genetic and environmental factors. Using positional cloning, most of the genes which lead to FAD have recently been identified e.g., the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene on chromosome 21, presenilin I on chromosome 14 and presenilin II on chromosome 1. Recent studies indicate that mutations in these genes can result in either overproduction of A beta or in production of A beta 1-42. Although the accumulation of A beta has been suggested to be the "primary cause" not only in FAD but also in sporadic AD, it remains unclear how neurodegeneration in AD is related to the accumulation of A beta. The discovery of ApoE4 as a major genetic risk factor for AD has created a new step of research on AD as a polygenic disease. Although it is confirmed that the presence of the ApoE4 allele greatly accelerates age at onset of AD, the role of ApoE4 as a risk factor for AD remains to be fully elucidated. Now that major genes involved in the pathogenesis of AD have been identified, future research should be directed toward elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of how these gene products are involved in the pathogenesis of AD on protein as well as cellular levels.


The surface water supply management for farming was studied to explore how the surface water resources are utilized for agriculture in selected area in Mandalay Region and to examine the efficiency on surface water supply management in the farming activities of Patheingyi Township. This study was based on descriptive method using both primary and secondary data. For primary data, a survey was conducted on interviewing to farmers of villages in both irrigated and non-irrigated area of Patheingyi with a semi-structured questionnaire. It was found that 60% of total are using irrigation method and remain 40% of total are using rain water for farming water. The 35 % of total respondents got water distribution in terms of adequacy, reliability, timeliness. And the 5 % of respondents from head area of Canal faced the challenges on getting heavy amount of water which made to damage their crops and 10 % of respondents faced same condition as heavy rain made damage their crops. And then 5% of respondents from tail side area of canal faced to the challenges for not getting required farm water in required time when the 2.5% of respondents from electric pump station area faced with the electricity and pump were broken and 2.5% of respondents from rain fed area faced same problems because of drought weather.


Light-emitting electrochemical cells are an emerging class of devices based on solid state lighting technology. The utilization of charged molecules as the main active component gives these devices inherent advantages over other modern lighting technologies such as low turn on voltage, easy device fabrication and the applicability on flexible substrates. These benefits make LECs an excellent candidate for display and large area low-tech lighting applications. Iridium based LECs are well established but face the problem of high material cost due to the low abundance of iridium. Using copper(I) based complexes as active material lower the production cost and therefore make LEC fabrication more affordable. This thesis takes a systematic approach to alter the luminescent properties of [Cu(N^N)(P^P)][PF6] complexes, where N^N is a chelating diimine and P^P is a chelating bisphosphane ligand, and optimize them for LEC application. Chapter 1 gives a brief history of artificial lighting technology, describes the rise of solid-state lighting and gives an introduction to modern OLED and LEC technology. Chapter 2 describes the preparation of 2,2'-bipyridine ligands bearing large aromatic substituents in the 6-position. Complexation with copper(I) and suitable P^P ligands yields new heteroleptic complexes and their structural and photophysical properties are investigated in depth. Chapter 3 presents the preparation of a new asymmetric methyl functionalized 2,2'-bipyridine ligand and the properties of the corresponding [Cu(N^N)(P^P)][PF6] complexes. The particular substitution pattern is designed to optimize the steric demand of the N^N ligand and therefore increase LEC device performance. After in depth investigation of the N^N ligand in [Cu(N^N)(P^P)][PF6] complexes, the development of new P^P ligands is describes in Chapter 4. Altering the bisphosphane ligand allows to influence the HOMO energy level, as well as the coordination sphere around the copper(I) centre. Five new complexes and their structural, photophysical and device properties are described. Chapter 5 combines the previous findings in attempting to prepare a tetradentate N^N^P^P type ligand. Such a ligand is expected to give more stable copper(I) complexes and therefore increase the device lifetime of a corresponding light-emitting cell. Six synthetic approaches to prepare such a tetradentate ligand are described. The results of this thesis and a brief outlook on the project are given in Chapter 6.