Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) of the tongue is an extremely rare subgroup of primary head and neck aggressive sarcomas with only six cases documented. Current recommended treatment in head and neck MFHs is wide resection of the tumor with adequate margins. However, technically this aggressive tumor type forms a challenging group for surgery due to difficulties in achieving tumor free margins without significant cosmetic and functional impairment. Elective neck dissection is not considered as a standard surgical option in head and neck MFHs, except for those patients presented with advanced stage and aggressive tumor histology. Local recurrences occur in 50% of head and neck MFHs treated with surgery alone, therefore adjuvant radiation therapy has an essential role in management of this aggressive tumor group. However, the role of postoperative radiation therapy in primary MFHs of tongue has not been addressed yet. In this report, we describe a further case of primary tongue MFH with positive surgical margins treated with postoperative radiation therapy in curative intent, and its clinical course following treatment. To our knowledge this is the first report of postoperative experience in MFHs of this disease site. Additionally, we review the clinicopathologic features and treatment aspects of all cases documented in the literature.


Inhibitors of mitochondrial respiration, phosphorylation inhibitors, and uncoupling agents have been reported to delay or inhibit mitosis in cultured mammalian cells. Although the molecular mechanism by which mitosis is delayed in the presence of most respiratory inhibitors presumably involves lowered ATP production for mitotic requirements, one respiratory inhibitor, rotenone, was determined to arrest mitosis by an unrelated mechanism. Cell cycle kinetics studies, oxygen consumption measurements, and viscosity assays indicate that rotenone arrests cultured mammalian cells in mitosis by inhibiting spindle microtubule assembly by a mechanism analogous with colchicine, Colecemid and related antimitotic drugs. Amytal, which blocks electron transport at the same site as does rotenone, failed to arrest cell progression at mitosis. Rotenone delayed cell progression in all phases of the cell cycle, apparently as a direct result of respiration inhibition. Thus, rotenone appears to exert a dual function on events of the cell cycle.


Nevil Maskelyne FRS held the post of British Astronomer Royal from 1765 to 1811. As Astronomer Royal, Maskelyne's main task was to ensure that the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets and stars were regularly observed and that those observations were published in an accessible form. To do this, and simultaneously to maintain his role within London's scientific society, Maskelyne hired an assistant to undertake the routine work of the Observatory. This paper considers Maskelyne's assistants at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, identifies who the assistants were, and describes their working conditions.


A new algorithm for jointly estimating the channels and the symbols sent through these channels is presented. Although the symbols are assumed to belong to a finite set, we use this prior information only partially. The rationale is that under some precise circumstances the plain deterministic maximum likelihood method seldom, if ever, exhibits local minima, while a full use of the finite alphabet property is more efficient, but introduces numerous local minima. The use of a partial information allows to considerably improve the performance in terms of symbol estimation without adding a new local minimum. Our algorithm combines a least-squares estimation of the channels and a constrained minimisation of a quadratic criterion for the symbols. If the data are noise-free, it is shown that the global minimum is attained only for the true filter and symbols. Furthermore, me propose a growing window technique which permits to evaluate whether the actual solution is a global minimum or not. In the second case, our technique permits to escape from this local minimum. Numerical simulations illustrate the accuracy of our algorithm in the presence of noise.


INTRODUCTION
There has never been an investigation about the in vivo clitoral structure.

AIM
To study the "in vivo" age-related structural changes of the clitoris in healthy women and in those affected by metabolic disorders.

METHODS
Forty-three women subgrouping in (i) five teenagers, aged 14-18; (ii) eight young premenopausal women, aged 23-32; (iii) 10 premenopausal women, aged 38-47; (iv) nine diabetic premenopausal women, aged 27-43; and (v) 11 naturally postmenopausal women aged 51-55. Each woman underwent microbiopsy of the clitoral body by means of an 18G needle, length 100 mm, using a semiautomatic gun during total anesthesia for a benign gynecological pathology. The tissue removed was processed for electron microscopy. A morphometric procedure was used on electron micrographs.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Micro ultrastructure observation of clitoral tissue.

RESULTS
The cavernous tissue from the teenagers and young women showed large amounts of smooth muscle cells (SMCs). The intercellular connective tissue showed scanty, small isometric collagen fibers and amorphous extracellular matrix. In the premenopausal diabetic women, ultrastructural abnormalities of SMCs were observed, consisting of increase of glycogen deposits, infolding cell borders, and cytoplasmic vacuoles. Moreover, the intercellular connective tissue was increased by densely packed collagen fibers. Finally, in the healthy, natural postmenopausal women, the SMCs were moderately reduced in number. We observed age-related structural changes of the vascular spaces and of the vascular lacunae. The SMC mean thickness was reduced with age; vascular abnormalities appeared to be correlated with the presence of metabolic diseases, such as diabetes.

CONCLUSION
Our "in vivo" study could help to understand some aspects of the physiology of the clitoris and its role in sexual response. Apart from data obtained by studying healthy women and women affected by diabetes, other investigations are needed to study subgroups of otherwise healthy sexually dysfunctional women.


Wear debris from ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene components used for joint replacement prostheses can cause significant clinical complications, and it is essential to be able to predict implant wear accurately in vitro to prevent unsafe implant designs continuing to clinical trials. The established method to predict wear is simulator testing, but the significant equipment costs, experimental time and equipment availability can be prohibitive. It is possible to predict implant wear using finite element methods, though those reported in the literature simplify the material behaviour of polyethylene and typically use linear or elastoplastic material models. Such models cannot represent the creep or viscoelastic material behaviour and may introduce significant error. However, the magnitude of this error and the importance of this simplification have never been determined. This study compares the volume of predicted wear from a standard elastoplastic model, to a fractional viscoelastic material model. Both models have been fitted to the experimental data. Standard tensile tests in accordance with ISO 527-3 and tensile creep recovery tests were performed to experimentally characterise both (a) the elastoplastic parameters and (b) creep and relaxation behaviour of the ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. Digital image correlation technique was used in order to measure the strain field. The predicted wear with the two material models was compared for a finite element model of a mobile-bearing unicompartmental knee replacement, and wear predictions were made using Archard's law. The fractional viscoelastic material model predicted almost ten times as much wear compared to the elastoplastic material representation. This work quantifies, for the first time, the error introduced by use of a simplified material model in polyethylene wear predictions, and shows the importance of representing the viscoelastic behaviour of polyethylene for wear predictions.


From X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), it is evident that the spin state transition behavior of Fe(II) spin crossover coordination polymer crystallites at the surface differs from the bulk. A comparison of four different coordination polymers reveals that the observed surface properties may differ from bulk for a variety of reasons. There are Fe(II) spin crossover coordination polymers with either almost complete switching of the spin state at the surface or no switching at all. Oxidation, differences in surface packing, and changes in coordination could all contribute to making the surface very different from the bulk. Some Fe(II) spin crossover coordination polymers may be sufficiently photoactive so that X-ray spectroscopies cannot discern the spin state transition.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify factors that predict successful work hardening outcomes. Two measures of success were used: return to work and case closure (ie, resolution of medical treatment issues).

SUBJECTS
Persons with spine-related injuries who completed a work hardening program were the subjects. One hundred fifteen subjects participated in a 3-month follow-up survey, and 111 subjects participated in a 12-month follow-up survey.

METHODS
Data were collected on subject characteristics, treatment history, job factors, program payer, and program factors. Subjects were contacted by telephone at 3 and 12 months after program completion to determine work status. Logit analysis was used to identify predictors of successful versus unsuccessful outcomes.

RESULTS
Three months after program completion, 68% of the subjects had returned to work and 86% had successful case closure. Twelve months after program completion, 77% of the subjects had returned to work and 90% had successful case closure. The more treatment subjects received prior to entering the program, the less likely they were to be working or achieving case closure following treatment. Subjects' work status and initial time off of work were factors predicting early return to work, but not 12 months after program completion. Subjects who were working with an attorney were less likely to achieve case closure than those who were not working with an attorney. Subjects who were satisfied with the program were more likely to have achieved case closure or return to work than those who were not satisfied with the program.

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
Several factors have been identified that predict successful work hardening outcomes. This information can be used to identify clients who are unlikely to benefit from work hardening.


Glioblastoma (GBM) ranks the most common and aggressive primary brain malignant tumor worldwide. However, the survival rates of patients remain very poor. Therefore, molecular oncology of GBM are urgently needed. In this study, we performed an integrative analysis of DNA methylation and gene expression to identify key epigenetic genes in GBM. The methylation and gene expression of GBM patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were downloaded. After data preprocessing, we identified 4,881 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between tumor and normal samples, including 1,111 upregulated and 3,770 downregulated genes. Then, we randomly separated all samples into training set (n = 69) and testing set (n = 69). We next obtained 11,269 survival-methylation sites by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. In the correlation analysis, we defined 198 low promoter methylation with high gene expression as epigenetically induced (EI) genes and 111 high promoter methylation with low gene expression as epigenetically suppressed (ES) genes. Key markers including C1orf61 and FAM50B were selected with a Pearson correlation coefficient greater than 0.75. Further, we chose the 20 CpG methylation sites of above two genes in unsupervised clustering analysis using the Euclidean distance. We found that the prognosis of the hypomethylated group was significantly better than that in the hypermethylated group (log-rank test p-value = 0.011). Based on the validation in the TCGA testing set and GEO dataset, we validated the prognostic value of our signature (p-value = 0.02 in TCGA and 0.012 in GEO). In conclusion, our findings provided predictive and prognostic value as methylation-based biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of GBM.


We studied fluid flow at the stem-cement interface of bonded and debonded, polished and rough model femoral components. In a first series of experiments, fluid flow along the interface between bone cement and well-fixed model femoral components, differing in surface finish, and in shape, was measured. Fluid migration along the bone-cement interface of rough stems (Ra 3 microm) was greater than that on polished stems (p < 0.001). This was true of cylindrical and conical tapered stems. On stems with the same surface finish, shape did not influence fluid migration. In a second series of experiments, fluid flow along the stem-cement interface of 5 highly polished and 10 rough-finished (5 of Ra approximately 1.5 microm and 5 of Ra approximately 3 microm), debonded, tapered circular stems was measured. None of the rough stems could prevent fluid flow along the stem-cement interface. Polished tapered stems sealed the interface and, after 48 hrs of continuous pressure, no fluid flow was observed. This difference in the ability to seal the stem-cement interface between rough and polished stems was significant (p < 0.001). The difference in fluid migration along the stem-cement interface of rough and polished stems which we observed offers a plausible explanation of the occurrence of osteolysis distal to the articulation of cemented THR in the presence of cement mantle defects. It may also explain why osteolysis is uncommon with polished double-tapered stems.


Analyses of recent data show that Floridian molluscan diversity declined markedly during the Pliocene-Pleistocene mass extinction. This decline in diversity was seen at all trophic levels, indicating a complete collapse of the ecosystem. These findings contradict the notion that there was a species diversity stasis throughout the Pliocene-Pleistocene and that the diversity of Pliocene Florida was equivalent to that of Recent Florida. The mass extinction was a two-staged, sequential event. A similar two-staged mass extinction occurred in the Miocene, indicating that two ecological catastrophes in quick geological succession may have produced this mass extinction as well.


Deep neural networks have recently gained popularity for improving state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms in diverse areas such as speech recognition, computer vision and bioinformatics. Convolutional networks especially have shown prowess in visual recognition tasks such as object recognition and detection in which this work is focused on. Modern award-winning architectures have systematically surpassed previous attempts at tackling computer vision problems and keep winning most current competitions. After a brief study of deep learning architectures and readily available frameworks and libraries, the LeNet handwriting digit recognition network study case is developed, and lastly a deep learning network for playing simple videogames is reviewed.


Purpose: The study explores international trends in law on compulsory commitment to care of substance misusers (CCC), and two subtypes – civil CCC and CCC within criminal justice legislation – as well as maximum length and amount of applications of such care. Method: The time period covers more than 25 years, and a total of 104 countries and territories. The study is based on available data in three times of observation (1986, 1999 and 2009). Applications of CCC in number of cases are studied on European level for the years 2002–2006. Trends are analyzed using nonparametric tests and general linear models for repeated measures. Findings are discussed from contextual analysis. Result: There is a trend towards decrease in the number of countries worldwide having civil CCC legislation after the millennium, while CCC under criminal law has increased since the mid-1980s, resulting in some total net decrease. The shift results in longer mean duration of CCC and an increase in the number of cases sentenced. Conclusion: There is a risk that the shift from civil CCC to penal CCC implies more focus on young out-acting males in compulsory treatment and that the societal responsibility for more vulnerable persons might be neglected.


The law of insider trading has developed through a combination of ad hoc judicial decisions and administrative regulations, along with legislative inaction to correct or redirect its application. Although some might fear that traditional notions of due process and fair notice have not been adequately addressed, those concerns have not had an impact. Rather than rational legal development along a relatively clear statutory path, we continue to see that insider trading is for the most part made up as we go along by the courts, including the Supreme Court, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. This is what one should expect for a prohibition that is largely the product of common law development, despite the admonition that there are no federal common law crimes. The law has produced a reasonably stable set of rules that can be applied predictably to most instances of trading on confidential information. The Supreme Court's decision in Salman v. United States in December 2016 shows that the justices are for the most part satisfied with how the prohibition is administered, even with no overarching theory of what should – or should not – constitute a violation. The very simplicity of the Court's analysis in Salman belies any apprehension that the justices are bothered by the state of insider trading law, even if some might view the decision as a missed opportunity to rewrite the law. So when you just make it up as you go along, sometimes you can reach a point where those responsible for enforcement are relatively satisfied, with little prospect of significant change in the future.


Introduction Laparoscopic resection of rectal cancer has been approached with caution, especially after chemoradiation, in view of the results of the MRC CLASICC trial. Two more recent trials, the COREAN trial and the COLOUR II trial, show equivalent results with laparoscopic and open resection of the rectum. We evaluated the perioperative and short term oncological results of a consecutive series of unselected patients with operable rectal cancer treated open or laparoscopic proctectomy in a one-year period. Method All patients with rectal cancer operated at the specialist colorectal unit in the one-year period from July 2013 to June 2014 were evaluated. Patients with inoperable disease at laparoscopy/ laparotomy or those who underwent pelvic exenteration were excluded from the study. 258 consecutive unselected patients of operable rectal cancer, who underwent potentially curative resection of the rectum (laparoscopic or open) during the study period were included in the study. Data was obtained from a prospectively maintained database and analysed. Results Eight three patients underwent laparoscopic and 175 patients underwent open resection of the tumours, depending on availability of laparosopic instruments in the operation theatre. Adenocarcinoma was the most common histology (92%). Median distance of the lower edge of the tumour from the anal verge was 5cm in both groups. The majority (87.5%) of the tumours were staged either cT3+ (74%) or cN+ (72%) or both at initial staging. Overall, 64% of patients received pre-operative radiotherapy. Mean BMI of patients was 23. The overall sphincter preservation rate was 70% (73% in open group and 64% in laparoscopic group which may be the result of a larger fraction of tumours within 5cm of the anal verge in the laparoscopic group). The overall blood loss was lower in laparoscopic group (median 200mL) than open group (median 500mL). The postoperative stay was only slightly lower in the laparoscopic group (mean 7.3 days) than open group (mean 8.4 days). CRM positivity was similar in both groups (3.6% laparoscopic versus 4% open group). Median nodal harvest was similar in both groups (12 nodes). Conclusion Laparoscopic resection of the rectum is at least as good as open resection for rectal cancer with similar short-term oncological outcomes and improved perioperative outcomes. Disclosure of interest None Declared.


Since its early beginnings, the member states of the European Communities have tried to establish a common foreign policy and at the same time were reluctant to implement it. Only the Maastricht Treaty introduced an institutional framework. However, the emerging Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) has been criticized for its lack of democratic legitimacy, since it has been dominated by the member states at the expense of democratic control by the European Parliament (EP). Therefore, it is puzzling that the Lisbon Treaty implemented new powers for the EP in external relations. Why was the Parliament given these new powers? Is it connected to the 'democratic deficit' of foreign relations and therefore a new strategy of the European Union (EU) to enhance legitimacy or is this process a result of inter-institutional dynamics? Are these mechanisms relevant for the integration process in general? Derived from New Institutionalism, this paper argues that the European Parliament was granted new powers due to its strong democratic profile as well as inter-institutional dynamics within the political system of the European Union. The case study on the new European External Action Service (EEAS) focuses on the consequences of the new provisions of the Treaty. Content analyses of inter-institutional documents on the construction of the EEAS suggest that the increasing recognition of the Parliament as an important policy actor by the other European institutions translated into institutional powers to an even greater extent than intended in the Lisbon Treaty. Hence, the results have important implications for institutional as well as democratization analysis of the EU and International Organizations in general.


Future increase in precipitation in Scandinavia may exacerbate the dilemma of spring fieldwork that farmers have, concerning topsoil compaction versus delayed sowing on autumn ploughed soil. The former may lead to soil physical degradation, while the latter may lead to a shorter growing season, both with consequential loss of cereal yield potential. In order to enable farmers to adapt their spring fieldwork to climate change, research needs to include seedbed preparation at higher soil moisture conditions. A split-plot experiment in southeastern Norway in 2014– 2017 explored the effects of timing (early, medium, late) and traffic intensity (zero, one, two or three additional wheelings) of spring fieldwork on soil physics and yield. Early spring fieldwork in the unfavourably wet conditions of 2016 gave rise to larger and stronger aggregates, higher penetration resistance, changed pore characteristics and reduced yields. Increased penetration resistance persisted until autumn. The small effect of traffic intensity was explained by location, soil type and intensity range involved. In this context of spring fieldwork timeliness, the proportion of 2–6 mm aggregates and penetration resistance were the properties most strongly correlated with other soil physical properties and cereal yield.


We present a study of the variability of the minimal transmembrane voltage resulting in detectable electroporation of the plasma membrane of spherical and irregularly shaped CHO cells (we denote this voltage by ITVc). Electroporation was detected by monitoring the influx of Ca2+, and the transmembrane voltage was computed on a 3D finite-elements model of each cell constructed from its cross-section images. We found that ITVc was highly variable, particularly in irregularly shaped cells, where it ranged from 512–1028 mV. We show that this range is much too large to be an artifact due to numerical errors and experimental inaccuracies, implying that for cells of the same type and exposed to the same number of pulses with the same duration, the value of ITVc can differ considerably from one cell to another. We also observed that larger cells are in many cases characterized by a higher ITVc than a smaller one. This is in qualitative agreement with the reports that higher membrane curvature facilitates electroporation, but quantitative considerations suggest that the observed variability of ITVc cannot be attributed entirely to the differences in membrane curvature.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
To determine whether combined 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) could improve the outcome of vitreoretinal surgery with silicone oil for the management of complicated retinal detachment with proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) grade C.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In an interventional, controlled, nonrandomized clinical trial, 33 eyes with complicated retinal detachment and PVR underwent vitrectomy with silicone oil and perioperative infusion of 5-FU and LMWH (study group) and 31 eyes underwent vitrectomy with silicone oil without adjunctive medication (control group).

RESULTS
In the study group, 24 eyes (72.7%) had the retina attached and 9 had a retinal redetachment (27.3%) at 6 months. In the control group, 25 eyes (80.6%) had the retina attached and 6 eyes (19.4%) had a retinal redetachment at 6 months (chi-square: 0.53, P > .05). One-year postoperative data were available for 17 eyes in the study group and 19 eyes in the control group. Four eyes in each group (23.5% and 21%, respectively) developed retinal redetachment (chi-square: 0.03, P > .05).

CONCLUSIONS
Combined 5-FU and LMWH does not seem to improve the outcome of vitreoretinal surgery with silicone oil for the management of complicated retinal detachment with PVR grade C.


Debates and debacles surrounding the issue of motherhood have hounded women's writing for decades, and despite advances in feminism, equality, maternity leave and childcare, we are still asking female writers with children how they find time to write.

Through a unique combination of interviews, poems, and essays by established writers, Writing Motherhood interrogates contemporary representations of motherhood in media and literature, queries why so many novels dealing with serious women's issues are packaged in pink covers with wellies and tea cups, and portrays the exquisite moments of motherhood as often enriching artistic practice rather than hindering it.

Entries include an insightful interview with Pulitzer prize-winning poet Sharon Olds, excerpts from Hollie McNish's motherhood diary, Carol Ann Duffy's beautiful portrait of being and having a daughter, and specially commissioned poems by Sinead Morrissey, Rebecca Goss, and many others. Crime fiction fans will enjoy CL Taylor's witty essay, 'How Motherhood Turned Me to Crime', and Nuala Ellwood's heart-wrenching depiction of miscarriage and loss.

By engaging with both the creation of literature by mothers and literary representations of motherhood, Writing Motherhood is a vital exploration of the complexities of contemporary sexual politics, publishing, artistic creation, and 21st Century parenting.


Purpose Noninvasive ischemia testing (NIST) is recommended for most patients suspected to have stable coronary artery disease (CAD) before invasive coronary angiography (ICA). We sought to assess the diagnostic predictive ability of NIST over clinical risk profiling in a contemporary sample of patients undergoing the currently recommended diagnostic triage strategy. Methods From 2006 to 2011, 2,600 consecutive patients without known CAD undergoing elective ICA in a single tertiary-care center were retrospectively identified and the prevalence of obstructive CAD determined. To understand the incremental value of frequently used clinical parameters in predicting obstructive CAD, receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted for six sequential models starting with Framingham risk score and then progressively adding multiple clinical factors and finally NIST results. Results At ICA 1,268 patients (48.8%) had obstructive CAD. The vast majority (85%) were classified in an intermediate clinical pretest probability of CAD and NIST prior to ICA was used in 86% of the cohort. The most powerful correlate of obstructive CAD was the presence of severe angina (odds ratio (OR) = 9.1; 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.3-19.1). Accordingly, the incorporation of NIST in a sequential model had no significant effect on the predictive ability over that achieved by clinical and symptomatic status model (C-statistic 0.754; 95% CI 0.732-0.776, p = 0.28). Conclusions Less than half the patients with suspect stable obstructive CAD referred to a tertiary-level center for elective ICA had the diagnosis confirmed. In this clinical setting, the results of NIST may not have the power to change the discriminative ability over clinical judgment alone.


The aim of this paper is to produce and validate a simulated model of the external flow around the NACA 2412 using ANSYS Fluent; utilising experimental data for a low velocity case (20.73 m/s) from literature. This model will be subsequently used to produce data for a high velocity case (272.1 m/s, Mach = 0.8) which is the practical velocity for commercial aircraft. Both an infinite aspect ratio wing (2D) and a finite aspect ratio wing (3D) will be the subjects of this investigation. Experimental data on which the simulated models will be compared and hence validated is taken from Jacobs et al. [1]. This experimental data contains both a finite aspect ratio wing and an infinite aspect ratio wing. An accurate simulation model of the external flow around a wing will be beneficial in the visualisation of the flow; particularly in the investigation of the onset of a stall and the aerodynamic characteristic differences between the wing root and wing tip. The model will also provide simulated data of an external flow condition of which no experimental data currently exists. Finally, value will be gained in the investigation between the differences of an external flow around a 2-dimensional (2D) wing versus a 3-dimensional (3D) wing. All simulations exhibited flow physics consistent with those seen in experimental data; further validating the results. A detailed methodology has been provided with a view that new data becomes available for this aerofoil and wing geometry. Considering the aerofoil simulation, incredible accuracy has been achieved. However, with regards to the wing simulation, further work is required to identify the issue which resulted in a lower lift curve slope when compared to the experimental data.


Longevity poses a huge financial risk to corporate pension schemes, insurers, reinsurers, and governments, with defined benefit pension schemes holding an estimated $25 trillion of unhedged longevity risk and life expectancy continuing to increase beyond expectations. This article sets out innovative approaches to passing on this risk to appropriate risk holders and the capital markets, using longevity swaps, contingent equity longevity bonds, and synthetic buy-in structures.


Background: The enzyme Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) is found in the cells of almost all body tissues. LDH is believed to vary according to the metabolic requirement of each tissue and alternation in LDH levels have been observed during development, under changing biological conditions, and in response to pathological processes. LDH activity in serum increases as a marker of cellular necrosis. Serum LDH levels have been used as a biochemical marker in diagnosis in various body cancers. The profile of salivary LDH is similar to that found in oral epithelium, indicating that the major source of salivary LDH is probably the oral epithelium-shedding cells . Aims and Objectives: To measure and compare the LDH levels in serum and saliva in patients of oral leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and Methods: Clinically diagnosed seven cases each of Oral Leukoplakia (OL) and Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) were selected and compared with control. After obtaining the consent of the patient, serum and unstimulated whole saliva was collected and processed for LDH measurement by using total LDH Span Kit. Incisional biopsy of selected cases was performed and clinical diagnosis of the cases was confirmed by histopathological examination. Results: LDH activity increased in serum as well as saliva in patients with oral leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma in comparison to normal control. Conclusion: Salivary LDH estimation can prove to be a valuable substitute to serum LDH as a biochemical marker, as it is a simple, non-invasive procedure and easily accepted by the patient.


The correlation between the activities of anti-GQ1b IgG antibodies in sera of patients with Miller Fisher syndrome and their clinical manifestations was investigated. The clinical severity was analyzed for 16 patients by scoring their symptoms during the peak of the clinical course and 4 weeks after onset. Serum samples were obtained from all the patients within the first 2 weeks of onset and from 12 of them 4 weeks after onset. Samples were immunostained by TLC after which antibody activities were measured by the ELISA. Anti-GQ1b IgG antibody activities reflect the severity of the patients' symptoms, especially ophthalmoplegia. Lessening of symptoms, expressed by the difference in MFS severity scores of the two tests, occurred with the marked decrease in antibodies. Results of cerebrospinal fluid and nerve conduction studies, performed during the first 2 weeks, showed no fluctuation with changes in the clinical symptoms or antibody activities.


Abstract
This paper studies the landscapes in Ian McEwan's Solar and examines the narrator's epistemological lens in his description of the landscapes. The research draws upon David Harvey's definition of built environment, which contributes to the generation of a more practical definition of landscape, and argues that the narrator and the focalizer's realistic descriptions of the landscapes have their origin in their scientistic mindset and firm reductionist belief in (neo)liberalism. With regard to such descriptions, the paper focuses on how, since the late twentieth century, the earth, as the cradle of nature and location of countries with definite political borders, is transformed into a landscape of a (blue) planet without any political or spatial borders on it. Using Harvey's Marxist critiques of capitalism and neoliberalism, this study also analyzes the narrator and focalizer's belief in science as a savior and the single avenue towards understanding the world. It is concluded that the ecological stance in the story is grounded in the very epistemology from which the man-made climate change arises.


Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation by GPCRs regulates many important biological processes. ADAM metalloprotease activity has been implicated as a key step in transactivation, yet the regulatory mechanisms are not fully understood. Here, we investigate the regulation of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) shedding by reactive oxygen species (ROS) through the ATP-dependent activation of the P2Y family of GPCRs. We report that ATP stimulates TGF-alpha proteolysis with concomitant EGFR activation and that this process requires TACE/ADAM17 activity in both murine fibroblasts and CHO cells. ATP-induced TGF-alpha shedding required calcium and was independent of Src family kinases and PKC and MAPK signaling. Moreover, ATP-induced TGF-alpha shedding was completely inhibited by scavengers of ROS, whereas calcium-stimulated shedding was partially inhibited by ROS scavenging. Hydrogen peroxide restored TGF-alpha shedding after calcium chelation. Importantly, we also found that ATP-induced shedding was independent of the cytoplasmic NADPH oxidase complex. Instead, mitochondrial ROS production increased in response to ATP and mitochondrial oxidative complex activity was required to activate TACE-dependent shedding. These results reveal an essential role for mitochondrial ROS in regulating GPCR-induced growth factor shedding.


Despite the significant advances that have been made toward a better understanding of microbial transmission and pathogenicity, the levels of food/water-borne infection still remain high. Concern over this situation has led to a search for alternative technologies including the use of pulsed power applications, such as pulsed UV-rich light treatment, for sterilisation and disinfection purposes. Pulsed Ultra Violet (PUV) treatment involves the use of intense and short-duration pulses of UV-rich light to inactivate microorganisms. This method has an advantage over traditional UV delivery systems where applications are limited due to the long exposure times required with the low intensity emissions which are produced. The antimicrobial effect of pulsed light is primarily due to the ultraviolet content, which causes transformations of the pyrimidine bases of microbial nucleic acids. However, a drawback with pulsed light treatment is that many microorganisms are known to possess photo-repair mechanisms that facilitate recovery following sub-lethal exposure to continuous UV rich light. Both light and dark repair mechanisms are known to exist, but the extent to which microorganisms can exhibit photo-repair following pulsed light exposure is not clear. Experiments were carried out in which E. coli was exposed to pulsed UV-rich light from a low-pressure (450 torr) xenon flashlamp (Samtech Ltd). Following exposure to pulsed light, the treated cells were kept for varying periods, either in light (various intensities) or in dark conditions, and the surviving populations enumerated. Results showed little evidence of dark repair, whereas substantial photo-repair took place (2.1 log increase) when cells were exposed to visible light following treatment. The results also show that when the intensity of visible light is increased the greater the level of photoreactivation that occurs.


Objective:Sepsis and acute lung injury continue to be major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide despite advances in our understanding of pathophysiology and the discovery of new management strategies. Recent investigations show that stem cells may be beneficial as prognostic biomarkers and novel therapeutic strategies in these syndromes. This article reviews the potential use of endogenous adult tissue-derived stem cells in sepsis and acute lung injury as prognostic markers and also as exogenous cell-based therapy. Data Sources:A directed systematic search of the medical literature using PubMed and OVID, with particular emphasis on the time period after 2002, was done to evaluate topics related to 1) the epidemiology and pathophysiology of sepsis and acute lung injury; and 2) the definition, characterization, and potential use of stem cells in these diseases. Data Synthesis and Findings:When available, preferential consideration was given to prospective nonrandomized clinical and preclinical studies. Conclusions:Stem cells have shown significant promise in the field of critical care both for 1) prognostic value and 2) treatment strategies. Although several recent studies have identified the potential benefit of stem cells in sepsis and acute lung injury, further investigations are needed to more completely understand stem cells and their potential prognostic and therapeutic value.


Accurate gender classification is useful in speech and speaker recognition as well as speech emotion classification, because a better performance has been reported when separate acoustic models are employed for males and females. Gender classification is also apparent in face recognition, video summarization, human-robot interaction, etc. Although gender classification is rather mature in applications dealing with images, it is still in its infancy in speech processing. Age classification, on the other hand, is also concerned as a useful tool in different applications, like issuing different permission levels for different aging groups. This paper concentrates on a comparative study of gender and age classification algorithms applied to speech signal. Experimental results are reported for the Danish Emotional Speech database (DES) and English Language Speech Database for Speaker Recognition (ELSDSR). The Bayes classifier using sequential floating forward selection (SFFS) for feature selection, probabilistic Neural Networks (PNNs), support vector machines (SVMs), the K nearest neighbor (K-NN) and Gaussian mixture model (GMM), as different classifiers, are empirically compared in order to determine the best classifier for gender and age classification when speech signal is processed. It is proven that gender classification can be performed with an accuracy of 95\% approximately using speech signal either from both genders or male and female separately. The accuracy for age classification is about 88%.


Empowerment is an information-theoretic method that can be used to intrinsically motivate learning agents. It attempts to maximize an agent's control over the environment by encouraging visiting states with a large number of reachable next states. Empowered learning has been shown to lead to complex behaviors, without requiring an explicit reward signal. In this paper, we investigate the use of empowerment in the presence of an extrinsic reward signal. We hypothesize that empowerment can guide reinforcement learning (RL) agents to find good early behavioral solutions by encouraging highly empowered states. We propose a unified Bellman optimality principle for empowered reward maximization. Our empowered reward maximization approach generalizes both Bellman's optimality principle as well as recent information-theoretical extensions to it. We prove uniqueness of the empowered values and show convergence to the optimal solution. We then apply this idea to develop off-policy actor-critic RL algorithms which we validate in high-dimensional continuous robotics domains (MuJoCo). Our methods demonstrate improved initial and competitive final performance compared to model-free state-of-the-art techniques.


This book answers a simple question: How would one redesign the American education system if the aim was to take advantage of everything that has been learned by countries with the world s best education systems? With a growing number of countries outperforming the United States on the most respected comparisons of student achievement and spending less on education per student this question is critical. "Surpassing Shanghai "looks in depth at the education systems that are leading the world in student performance to find out what strategies are working and how they might apply to the United States. Developed from the work of the National Center on Education and the Economy, which has been researching the education systems of countries with the highest student performance for more than twenty years, this book provides a series of answers to the question of how the United States can compete with the world s best."


Surgical illustration follows a wide variety of styles, ranging from photorealism to schematic diagrams. The most widely used approach to surgical illustration relies heavily on realism, despite some studies showing that realism can have a detrimental effect on learning. A current trend towards simplifying surgical art offers the advantage of lowering production time and reproduction costs. This article provides a rationale for this trend by defining a specific model for surgical illustration based on canonical form.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the effect of long non-coding ribonucleic acid (lncRNA) H19 on the apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells in arteriosclerosis obliterans (ASO) via the nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) pathway.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured, and lncRNA H19 was inhibited by Si-H9 and overexpressed by H19-OE. Then, the apoptosis rate was detected by flow cytometry, the target of lncRNA H19 was detected by dual luciferase reporter gene assay, and changes in the protein level were determined via Western blotting (WB).

RESULTS
LncRNA H19 exhibited high expression in serum of patients with ASO, and compared with that in congeneric normal mice, the expression of lncRNA H19 in ASO mice rose. Besides, the proliferation ability of cells transfected with H19-OE was markedly strengthened, and H19-OE treatment could down-regulate the expression level of the apoptin, active cysteinyl aspartate-specific proteinase-3 (Caspase-3). In addition, lncRNA H19 bound to micro ribonucleic acid (miR)-19a in a targeted way. After lncRNA H19 was overexpressed, the expression of the NF-κB pathway key factors, p38 and p65, were notably increased, and the nuclear translocation of p65 was significantly enhanced after transfection with miR-19a.

CONCLUSIONS
LncRNA H19 promotes the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells in ASO and inhibits the apoptosis of them via the NF-κB pathway.


Spectral computed tomography (CT) has attracted considerable attention because of its energy-resolving capability in identifying and discriminating materials. The use of a narrow en- ergy bin can improve energy resolution. However, a narrow energy bin has high noise ratio, which degrades the imaging quality of spectral CT. To address this problem, this study exploits the struc- ture correlations of images in the energy domain and proposed two types of united iterative reconstruction (UIR) algorithms. One type uses the well-reconstructed broad-spectrum image, with all available photons, as a constraint, whereas the other type uses a pseudo narrow-energy image, which is estimated with the use of our proposed structure-coupling (SC) method, as a constraint. The SC method utilizes local structures to connect images that are reconstructed with broad-spectrum and narrow-energy CT datasets. Given a broad-spectrum image, the SC method can ac- curately estimate its corresponding narrow-energy image. Results show that UIR algorithms significantly outperform conventional iterative reconstruction algorithms for narrow-energy image re- construction in spectral CT. Among the UIR algorithms, SC-UIR yields the best results.


This paper presents various definitions of knowledge as human capital, and analyses some fundamental challenges regarding the measurement of employees' knowledge of a firm, especially in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The paper reviews the literature pertaining to the assessment of knowledge assets, proceeds to develop a model of SME employees' knowledge, and presents the results of an empirical test conducted among 173 Slovenian SMEs. Scales were tested for reliability and validity. A structural equation modelling technique was used to verify the theoretically proposed model of the employees' knowledge. The multidimensionality of the developed SME knowledge construct was confirmed. The proposed model of the employees' knowledge consists of five main dimensions: innovation capabilities and willingness to learn, attitude, job qualification, formal education, and work experience. To verify and confirm the proposed model, an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The new construct and concept developed in this study offers a near complete picture that can be used as a research framework in future examinations of the importance of knowledge for SME performance.


: The blossoming of new ecclesial movements before and after Vatican II was unplanned and unforeseen. While each is unique, almost all were inspired by one person who was able to communicate their charism to thousands of others. While these communities include all the Church's vocations, they are characterized by active laity who can enter milieus which had seemed impenetrable to the Church in the past. These communities' personal and collective witness of life builds friendships, leading to very fruitful relationships across all boundar-ies— ecumenical, interreligious and secular; others feel drawn to col-laborate for the good of the human family. Many of these movements are now dealing with the challenge of being creatively faithful to the original inspiration after their founder's death.


Abstract Pandey, Prativa, Benu Lohani, and Holly Murphy. Pulmonary embolism masquerading as high altitude pulmonary edema at high altitude. High Alt Med Biol. 17:353–358, 2016.—Pulmonary embolism (PE) at high altitude is a rare entity that can masquerade as or occur in conjunction with high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) and can complicate the diagnosis and management. When HAPE cases do not improve rapidly with descent, other diagnoses, including PE, ought to be considered. From 2013 to 2015, we identified eight cases of PE among 303 patients with initial diagnosis of HAPE. Upon further evaluation, five had deep vein thrombosis (DVT). One woman had a contraceptive ring and seven patients had no known thrombotic risks. PE can coexist with or mimic HAPE and should be considered in patients presenting with shortness of breath from high altitude regardless of thrombotic risk.


We study the rates of convergence of the posterior distribution for Bayesian density estimation with Dirichlet mixtures of normal distributions as the prior. The true density is assumed to be twice continuously differentiable. The bandwidth is given a sequence of priors which is obtained by scaling a single prior by an appropriate order. In order to handle this problem, we derive a new general rate theorem by considering a countable covering of the parameter space whose prior probabilities satisfy a summability condition together with certain individual bounds on the Hellinger metric entropy. We apply this new general theorem on posterior convergence rates by computing bounds for Hellinger (bracketing) entropy numbers for the involved class of densities, the error in the approximation of a smooth density by normal mixtures and the concentration rate of the prior. The best obtainable rate of convergence of the posterior turns out to be equivalent to the well-known frequentist rate for integrated mean squared error n -2/5 up to a logarithmic factor.


We present how a neutrino condensate and small neutrino masses emerge from a topological formulation of gravitational anomaly. We first recapitulate how a gravitational theta-term leads to the emergence of a new bound neutrino state analogous to the eta' meson of QCD. Then we show the consequent formation of a neutrino vacuum condensate, which effectively generates small neutrino masses. Afterwards we outline numerous phenomenological consequences of our neutrino mass generation model. The cosmological neutrino mass bound vanishes since we predict the neutrinos to be massless until the phase transition in the late Universe, T similar to meV. Coherent radiation of new light particles in the neutrino sector can be detected in prospective precision experiments. Deviations from an equal flavor rate due to enhanced neutrino decays in extraterrestrial neutrino fluxes can be observed in future IceCube data. These neutrino decays may also necessitate modified analyses of the original neutrino spectra of the supernova SN 1987A. The current cosmological neutrino background only consists of the lightest neutrinos, which, due to enhanced neutrino-neutrino interactions, either bind up, form a superfluid, or completely annihilate into massless bosons. Strongly coupled relic neutrinos could provide a contribution to cold dark matter in the late Universe, together with the new proposed particles and topological defects, which may have formed during neutrino condensation. These enhanced interactions could also be a source of relic neutrino clustering in our Galaxy, which possibly makes the overdense cosmic neutrino background detectable in the KATRIN experiment. The neutrino condensate provides a mass for the hypothetical B - L gauge boson, leading to a gravity-competing force detectable in short-distance measurements. Prospective measurements of the polarization intensities of gravitational waves can falsify our neutrino mass generation model.


Seeds are complex structures that unite diploid maternal tissues with filial tissues that may be haploid (gametophyte), diploid (embryo), or triploid (endosperm). Maternal tissues are predicted to favor smaller seeds than are favored by filial tissues, and filial genes of maternal origin are predicted to favor smaller seeds than are favored by filial genes of paternal origin. Consistent with these predictions, seed size is determined by an interplay between growth of maternal integuments, which limits seed size, and of filial endosperm, which promotes larger seeds. Within endosperm, genes of paternal origin favor delayed cellularization of endosperm and larger seeds, whereas genes of maternal origin favor early cellularization and smaller seeds. The ratio of maternal and paternal gene products in endosperm contributes to the failure of crosses between different ploidy levels of the same species and crosses between species. Maternally expressed small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are predicted to associate with growth-enhancing genes.


Artificial intelligence (AI) is about imbuing machines with a kind of intelligence that is mainly attributed to humans. Extant literature—coupled with our experiences as practitioners—suggests that while AI may not be ready to completely take over highly creative tasks within the innovation process, it shows promise as a significant support to innovation managers. In this article, we broadly refer to the derivation of computer-enabled, data-driven insights, models, and visualizations within the innovation process as innovation analytics. AI can play a key role in the innovation process by driving multiple aspects of innovation analytics. We present four different case studies of AI in action based on our previous work in the field. We highlight benefits and limitations of using AI in innovation and conclude with strategic implications and additional resources for innovation managers.


This dissertation presents an automatic registration system for aligning combined rangeintensity scans. The approach is designed to handle several challenges including extensive structural changes, large viewpoint differences, repetitive structure, illumination differences, and flat regions.
First we present a technique for pairwise registration split into three stages: initialization, refinement, and verification. During initialization, intensity keypoints are backprojected into the scans and matched to form candidate transformations, each based on a single match. We explore methods of improving this image-based matching using the range data. For refinement, we extend the Dual-Bootstrap ICP algorithm for alignment of range data and introduce novel geometric constraints formed by backprojected imagebased edgel features. The verification stage determines if a refined transformation is correct. We treat verification as a classification problem based on accuracy, stability, and a novel boundary alignment measure. Experiments with 14 scan pairs show both the overall effectiveness of the pairwise algorithm and the importance of its component techniques.
We also develop a method for directly combining images with range scans for keypoint detection, description, and matching. We extend a 2-D image-based detection and description framework to 3-D using an image backprojected onto a range scan. A key feature of the framework is a physical scale space for detecting keypoints, which eliminates errors in scale during both detection and matching. We develop smoothing, differentiation, and description techniques that are focused on making the keypoint invariant to viewpoint, sampling, and intensity changes. We integrate physical scale keypoints into our pairwise registration algorithm, in turn developing a physical scale keypoint based registration verification measure. We present a new technique for improving physical scale keypoint match ranking by combining an image and a range metric. We demonstrate the power of our algorithm with comparisons to variants of the SIFT algorithm and show that it is able to find and match keypoints in a variety of challenging scan pairs.
Finally, we present an algorithm for the registration of an unordered set of combined range-intensity scans. We use a Bayesian network to combine pairwise verification criteria with a many-scan cycle consistency measure for determining the true overlap in the set range-intensity scans. We finish by refining all pairwise registrations at once to produce a single transformation for each range scan that brings all scans into alignment under a single coordinate system. We demonstrate this algorithm on three different datasets.


One field of organometallic chemistry that has seen great advancements over the last
20 years is that of main-group chemistry, in particular boron chemistry, that has led to a
wealth of new discoveries. In this review, we will focus on modern advancements in this
growing field, such as interesting uses of firmly established reagents, such as tris(pentafluorophenyl)
borane, B(C6F5)3, which has demonstrated extensive applications in a wide
variety of chemistry. In addition to this, a number of novel Lewis acidic boranes and
borocations have been recently synthesised, which are often structurally tailored for a
specific role such as borylation reactions or use in main-group catalysis. The reactions of
these compounds are broad in scope, inclusive of borylation substitution reactions,
addition of B–E across p-bonds and applications in pharmaceuticals and materials science.
In addition, boron reagents often constitute the Lewis acid moiety of frustrated
Lewis pairs (FLPs), an area of main-group chemistry that has also expanded rapidly, with
numerous applications notably in main-group catalysis. Newly discovered Lewis acidic
boron reagents and their implementations are proving to be an appealing and exciting
applications-based field as more advances are discovered.


A successful THF process depends largely on the loading paths for controlling the relationship between the internal pressure, axial feeding and the counter punch. In this study, an adaptive algorithm combined with a finite element code LS-DYNA 3D is proposed to control the simulation of T-shape hydroforming with a counter punch. The effects of the friction coefficients at the interface between the tube and die on the loading path and thickness distribution of the formed product are discussed. Experiments of protrusion hydroforming are also conducted. The final shape and thickness distribution of the formed product are compared with the simulation results to verify the validity of this modeling.


Directional antennas offer many potential advantages for wireless networks such as increased network capacity, extended transmission range and reduced energy consumption. Exploiting these advantages, however, requires new protocols and mechanisms at various communication layers to intelligently control the directional antenna system. With directional antennas, many trivial mechanisms, such as neighbor discovery, become more challenging since communicating parties must agree on where and when to point their directional beams to enable communication. In this paper, we propose a fully directional neighbor discovery protocol called Sectored-Antenna Neighbor Discovery (SAND) protocol. SAND is designed for sectored-antennas, a low-cost and simple realization of directional antennas, that utilize multiple limited beamwidth antennas. Unlike many proposed directional neighbor discovery protocols, SAND depends neither on omnidirectional antennas nor on time synchronization. In addition, SAND performs neighbor discovery in a serialized fashion allowing individual nodes to discover all potential neighbors within a predetermined time. Moreover, SAND guarantees the discovery of the best sector combination on both communication ends allowing more robust and higher reliability links. Finally, SAND gathers the neighborhood information in a centralized location, if needed, to be used by centralized networking protocols. The effectiveness of SAND has been assessed via simulation studies and real hardware implementation.


Solitary metastases are not unusual in renal adenocarcinomas. Vaginal metastases occur but rarely and are the cause of presentation in most patients. Because of the tumor's similarity to other primary gynecologic tumors, the patients present difficult diagnostic and management problems, as shown by the case reported here.


In this paper, a set of Dombi power partitioned Heronian mean operators of q-rung orthopair fuzzy numbers (qROFNs) are presented and a multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM) method based on them is proposed. Firstly, the operational rules of qROFNs based on the Dombi t-conorm and t-norm are introduced. According to these rules, a q-rung orthopair fuzzy Dombi partitioned Heronian Mean operator and its weighted form are then established. To reduce the negative effect of unreasonable attribute values on aggregation result in these operators, a q-rung orthopair fuzzy Dombi power partitioned Heronian mean operator and its weighted form are constructed via combining them with the power average operator of qROFNs. On the basis of the constructed operators, a method to solve the MAGDM problems based qROFNs is designed. Finally, a practical example, a set of experiments, and comparisons are reported to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. The demonstration results show that the method is feasible, effective, and flexible, which has satisfying expressiveness and concurrently can consider the interrelationships between different attributes comprehensively and reduce the negative influence of biased attribute values.


Summary 1. Maternal age effects on life-history traits, including longevity, are widespread and can be seen as a manifestation of ageing. However, little is known about how maternal life span may influence the maternal age effect. At a given chronological age, a long-lived parent may be at a younger biological age than a short-lived parent and thus has a less severe parental age effect. However, earlier work using experimentally evolved short- and long-lived lines did not support this hypothesis. 2. We scored developmental time and longevity of 14 995 individual seed beetles, Callosobruchus maculatus derived from replicate short-lived and long-lived lines created via artificial selection on male life span. 3. Offspring from older mothers had shorter life span, which is consistent with most of the literature. 4. We found support for the hypothesis that detrimental maternal age effects evolve to be weaker under selection for long life span. However, this finding was only apparent in males, suggesting that maternal age affects male and female offspring differently. 5. These results suggest that sex-dependent parental age effects should be incorporated in the studies of longevity and ageing evolution and that selection on one sex can cause evolution of parental age effects in the other sex.


Malcolm Feeley and Edward Rubin's history and analysis of prison reform litigation, Judicial Policy Making and the Modern State: How the Courts Reformed America's Prisons, uses the first fifteen years of systemic prison reform litigation as both context and source for a theoretical description and legitimation of a judicial activity they contrast to interpretation and label policymaking - the process by which [judges] exercise power on the basis of their judgment that their actions will produce socially desirable results. In this review essay, I argue against Feeley and Rubin that institutional reform litigation is not a judicial movement but a political practice. The history of litigated prison reform reveals it to be an intricate set of interactions framed by the rules of litigation and involving many groups, with varying roles, interests, and constraints. Feeley and Rubin's theory, however, almost exclusively concerns the sole institution of the judiciary, and even more narrowly, the judicial activity of doctrine creation. Feeley and Rubin ask a question of the prison cases - How do judges make policy - that the cases cannot answer. They do not engage the more interesting and more appropriate question: How do courts function as an arena of policy disputation? I begin with a brief history of litigated prison reform and a summary of Feeley and Rubin's theory. Then I discuss two topics vital to understanding the cases, but omitted from the book - settlement, and the varying interests and strategies of different prisoners' lawyers. The review concludes by calling for renewed scholarly examination of institutional reform litigation, which remains a regular and important component of the interaction between the court system and the executive and legislative branches of state and local governments. How courts began, and whether they continue, to be an arena for such litigation; how the litigation looks; and whether it succeeds or fails are functions not simply of judicial will and role, but of the goals, resources, and actions of many groups and actors, filtered through the rules of litigation. If scholars are going to be useful observers and analysts of this universe of cases, we must free ourselves from our long-bred urge to talk only about judges and open our eyes instead to the full range of participants and forces at work.


This article discusses the challenges that cultural policy in the Nordic countries faces in regard to the cultural diversity of contemporary society – not only in the shape of a variety of ethnic minorities, but also represented by the differentiation of the ethnic majority into a multiplicity of lifestyle groups. The article criticizes the predominant politico-cultural polarization on this subject where both nationalistic-monocultural and multiculturalistic positions tend to corner themselves into static and particularistic versions of identity politics – the perspective of which seems to be societal fragmentation. Consequently, an alternative, more dynamic concept of identity is presented from which – so it is argued – an adequate late modern cultural policy should take its departure, thus combining the recognition of diversity and the perspective of developing a dimension of cultural community on the level of society as a whole.


The experimental mass transit expressway developed, constructed, tested, and evaluated in South Park near Pittsburgh, Pa., is part of a new concept for much-needed urban mass transportation. The test track supported on steel stringers and columns is 9,360 ft long and required approximately 2,300 tons of ASTM A36 Steel. The stringers were designed and fabricated to follow the many horizontal and vertical curves, grades and superelevations purposely built into the system. The structure forms a test loop and carries electrically powered, computer controlled, lightweight transit cars which may operate through a given point at 2-min intervals. The cars are automatically steered by a continuous steel I-beam located midway between the two track stringers. The steel structure is supported at each column on single 5-ft or 6-ft diam reinforced concrete caissons drilled at least 10 ft into rock. An electronic computer was used in the development of the geometry and structural designs.


The 33S(p,\gamma)34Cl reaction is important for constraining predictions of certain isotopic abundances in oxygen-neon novae. Models currently predict as much as 150 times the solar abundance of 33S in oxygen-neon nova ejecta. This overproduction factor may, however, vary by orders of magnitude due to uncertainties in the 33S(p,\gamma)34Cl reaction rate at nova peak temperatures. Depending on this rate, 33S could potentially be used as a diagnostic tool for classifying certain types of presolar grains. Better knowledge of the 33S(p,\gamma)34Cl rate would also aid in interpreting nova observations over the S-Ca mass region and contribute to the firm establishment of the maximum endpoint of nova nucleosynthesis. Additionally, the total S elemental abundance which is affected by this reaction has been proposed as a thermometer to study the peak temperatures of novae. Previously, the 33S(p,\gamma)34Cl reaction rate had only been studied directly down to resonance energies of 432 keV. However, for nova peak temperatures of 0.2-0.4 GK there are 7 known states in 34Cl both below the 432 keV resonance and within the Gamow window that could play a dominant role. Direct measurements of the resonance strengths of these states were performed using the DRAGON recoil separator at TRIUMF. Additionally two new states within this energy region are reported. Several hydrodynamic simulations have been performed, using all available experimental information for the 33S(p,\gamma)34Cl rate, to explore the impact of the remaining uncertainty in this rate on nucleosynthesis in nova explosions. These calculations give a range of ~ 20-150 for the expected 33S overproduction factor, and a range of ~ 100-450 for the 32S/33S ratio expected in ONe novae.


Black stain root disease of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Doug. Ex Laws.), caused by Leptographium wageneri var. ponderosum (Harrington & Cobb) Harrington & Cobb, is increasing on many eastside Sierra Nevada pine stands in northeastern California. The disease is spread from tree to tree via root contacts and grafts but overland spread of the disease is most likely due to woody root feeding bark beetle (Coleoptera:Scolytidae) vectors. Soil and site relations along with disturbance are factors in the etiology of the disease (Harrington and Cobb 1988). Thinning and prescribed burning are important silvicultural tools in maintaining forest health in eastside pine stands. Because soil compaction is a concern in many sites, skid trails are treated by subsoiling equipment to alleviate compaction where this might be an issue. However, little is known of the effects of these silvicultural treatments on incidence of black stain root disease on sites with high disease risk. Because the woody root feeding insects that vector the disease respond to disturbance (Otrosina – Ferrell 1995), understanding consequences of different disturbances resulting from silvicultural treatments is essential for devising management plans to mitigate disease impact This paper summarizes preliminary results from two long-term studies initiated in 1996 and 2000 to address these issues.


This is the Twenty-First Annual Survey of American Choice-of-Law Cases. It covers cases decided by American state or federal courts from January 1 to December 31, 2007, and reported during the same period. Of the 3,676 conflicts cases meeting both of these parameters, the Survey focuses on the cases that deal with the choice-of-law part of conflicts law, and then discusses those cases that may add something new to the development or understanding of that part. The Survey is intended as a service to fellow teachers and students of conflicts law, both within and outside the United States. Its purpose is to inform rather than to advocate. The following are among the cases reviewed in the Survey: A California Supreme Court decision involving recordings of cross border communications and another California case raising issues of cross-border discrimination in managing a web site; a product-liability decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court backtracking from its earlier pro-plaintiff decisions, and several other cases continuing to apply the pro-defendant law of the victim's home state and place of injury; several cases arising out of the events of September 11, 2001, and a few cases involving claims of torture (by them and us); the first guest statute conflict in years, as well as a case eerily similar to Schultz v. Boy Scouts of America, Inc.; two cases in which foreign plaintiffs succeeded, and many more cases in which US plaintiffs failed, to obtain certification of a nationwide class action; a case involving alienation of affections and one involving palimony between non-cohabitants; several cases involving deadly combinations of choice-of-law, choice-of-forum, and arbitration clauses; three cases involving the paternity or maternity of children born after artificial insemination, in three different combinations (known sperm donor, unknown sperm donor, and unknown egg donor); a case involving the child of a Vermont civil union and holding that DOMA does not trump the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act; a case involving the constitutionality of a Missouri statute affecting out-of-state abortions of Missouri minors; and one US Supreme Court decision allowing federal courts to dismiss on forum non conveniens grounds without first affirming their jurisdiction, and another decision exonerating Microsoft from patent infringement charges arising from partly foreign conduct.


Background/Aim: Detection of pancreatic cancer using small samples of the pancreas obtained by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) remains a challenge. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the detection of KRAS mutations in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) extracted from supernatants of liquid-based fixed cytology (LBC) specimens obtained using EUS-FNA in solid pancreatic cancer can be an auxiliary test for differential diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the detection of KRAS mutations in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) extracted from supernatants of liquid-based fixed cytology (LBC) specimens obtained using EUS-FNA in solid pancreatic cancer can be an auxiliary test for differential diagnosis. Patients and Methods: This was a single-institution cohort study that included 50 patients with pancreatic lesions. cfDNA was isolated from the supernatant of fixed LBC samples, and KRAS mutation status was compared between cfDNA samples and FFPE small fragment tissues. Results: Of the 50 cfDNA samples, 84% (42/50) were valid. KRAS mutations were detected in 57.1% (24/42) of the 42 valid samples. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of KRAS mutation detection using cfDNA samples in the pancreatic lesions were 63.2% (24/38), 100.0% (4/4), and 66.7% (28/42), respectively. KRAS mutation status between FFPE small tissues and cfDNA samples were comparable. Conclusion: Gene mutation analysis using cfDNA from the supernatant of fixed LBC samples is an effective ancillary diagnostic tool for pancreatic cancer.


Bone morphogenetic protein-1 (BMP-1) plays key roles in regulating the deposition of vertebrate extracellular matrix; it is the procollagen C-proteinase that processes the major fibrillar collagen types I-III, and it may process prolysyl oxidase to the mature enzyme necessary to the formation of covalent cross-links in collagen and elastic fibers. Type V collagen is a fibrillar collagen of low abundance that is incorporated into and helps regulate the shape and diameter of type I collagen fibrils. Here we show that, in contrast to its action on procollagens I-III, BMP-1 does not cleave the C-propeptide of pro-alpha1(V) homotrimers. Instead, the single BMP-1-specific cleavage site within pro-alpha1(V) chains, lies within the large globular N-propeptide. This cleavage site is immediately upstream of a glutamine, thus redefining the specificity of cleavage for BMP-1-like enzymes. It also produces an NH2 terminus that corresponds to an equivalent NH2 terminus on the processed matrix form of the similar alpha1(XI) chain, thus suggesting physiological significance. Cleavage of the C-propeptide occurs efficiently in recombinant pro-alpha1(V) homotrimers produced in 293-EBNA human embryonic kidney cells, and this cleavage is shown to occur immediately downstream of the sequence RTRR. This is similar to sites cleaved by subtilisin-like proprotein/prohormone convertases and is shown to be specifically cleaved by the recombinant subtilisin-like proprotein/prohormone convertase furin.


. Monitoring often requires insight into the monitored system as well as concrete specifications of expected behavior. More and more systems, however, provide information about their inner procedures by emitting provenance information in a W3C-standardized graph format. In this work, we present an approach to monitor such provenance data for anomalous behavior by performing spectral graph analysis on slices of the constructed provenance graph and by comparing the characteristics of each slice with those of a sliding window over recently seen slices. We argue that this approach not only simplifies the monitoring of heterogeneous distributed systems, but also enables applying a host of well-studied techniques to monitor such systems.


Since the first nonlinear forced response validation of frictionally coupled bladed disks, more than 20 years have passed, and numerous incremental modeling and simulation refinements were proposed. With the present work, we intend to assess how much we have improved since then. To this end, we present findings of an exhaustive validation campaign designed to systematically validate the nonlinear vibration prediction for the different friction joints at blade roots, interlocked shrouds and under-platform dampers. An original approach for the identification of crucial contact properties is developed. By using the dynamic Lagrangian contact formulation and a refined spatial contact discretization, it is demonstrated that the delicate identification of contact stiffness properties can be circumvented. The friction coefficient is measured in a separate test, and determined as unique function of temperature, preload, wear state. Rotating rig and engine measurements are compared against simulations with the tool OrAgL, developed jointly by the Leibniz Universität Hannover and the University of Stuttgart, in which state-of-the-art component mode synthesis (CMS) and harmonic balance methods (HBMs) are implemented.


Abstract An efficient and reproducible micropropagation protocol of Solanecio biafrae (Oliv. & Hiern) C. Jeffrey has been developed from nodal stem segments. Shoot development was obtained on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with benzylaminopurine (BAP) alone and in combination with zeatin and 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). Elongated shoots were rooted in the presence of zeatin or 3-indole-butyric acid (IBA) alone or in combinations. The highest number of explants forming shoots (100%) as well as the highest number of shoots per explant (3.4) and the longest shoots (22 mm) were recorded on medium containing 4.0 mg·dm−3 BAP, 2.0 mg·dm−3 NAA, and 1.0 mg·dm−3 zeatin. About 76% of shoots formed roots on half-strength MS medium free of plant growth regulators. The best root formation (approximately 88%) was recorded on the medium containing 1.0-1.5 mg·dm−3 IBA. The micropropagated shoots with well-developed roots were efficiently acclimatized under greenhouse conditions. The random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) amplification products were monomorphic in micropropagated plants and similar to those of mother plant showing their genetic uniformity. This is the first report of micropropagation of S. biafrae, which will facilitate in vitro mass propagation, conservation, and germplasm exchange of this endangered African vegetable.


Among the many difficulties, or even paradoxes, that phenomenology has imposed upon us by positing itself as a doctrine, or at least as a radical foundation for philosophy, one must first and foremost consider the operation typically referred to as the reduction. The reasons for detecting difficulties therein are many, but they take on even greater significance since Husserl proclaimed the reduction to be fundamental to any philosophy that wished to establish itself as a phenomenology. The history of phenomenology, then, would appear not only as the history of all the difficulties encountered in the reduction, but principally as the history of Husserl's own self-elucidation of his entire project. This brings us to the point of reformulating Ricoeur's claim—that phenomenology is the sum of misinterpretations of Husserl's doctrine—with this new contention: that phenomenology consists in the sum of discussions and disagreements about the doctrine and practice of the reduction.


Several renal complications may occur during HIV infection, especially in advanced stages related to HIV, to other infectious agents and/or drugs. Little is known about the prevalence of renal diseases that may occur as a complication of or related to HIV infection in asymptomatic patients. This is a single center cross-sectional study of asymptomatic HIV(+) patients referred to a nefrology care service at an Argentine hospital to look for the presence of renal abnormalities. Fifty two consecutive patients were studied between April and November 2008. Patients underwent plasma and urine analysis, ultrasound, and kidney biopsy as needed. Mean age was 39.9 +/- 10.6 years, 88% were male, time from HIV diagnosis 53.2 +/- 41.2 months (2-127); 71% had HIV-disease and 77% were on antiretroviral therapy. Mean plasma HIV-RNA copies number was 7.043 +/- 3.322 and CD4+ cell count: 484 +/- 39. Pathologic findings in urine analysis were present in 30.7% of patients: albuminuria 16.6%, microscopic hematuria 11.5%, hypercalciuria 10.8% and crystalluria 6%. Mean glomerular filtration rate was 102.2 +/- 22.95 ml/min (34-149) and 41% of patients could be classified in stages 1 to 3 of chronic kidney disease. Renal abnormalities prevaled in older patients without relationship with presence of HIV-disease. Two patients were biopsied and the findings included: tubulointerstitial nephritis with presence of crystal deposition in one and IgA nephropathy in the other. No HIV-associated nephropathy was detected. The broad spectrum and the high prevalence of lesions found in this series suggest that asymptomatic HIV-infected patients should routinely undergo renal evaluation.


Somatic mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) domain of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) influence the responsiveness of these tumors to EGFR-TK inhibitors, indicating their usefulness as a predictive molecular marker. However, for mutation analysis, the amount of clinical material available from NSCLC patients is often very limited, suboptimally preserved, and composed of both normal and tumor cells. As a consequence, the total amount of recovered DNA is frequently very limited, with mutant alleles being often strongly underrepresented, and thus requiring highly sensitive methods for the detection of mutations. In the present study, EGFR mutation screening was performed on 210 NSCLC clinical samples by heminested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Candidate mutations were further characterized by sequencing. Seventeen different types of pathogenic EGFR-TK domain mutations were detected in 55 of the 210 samples (26%). We reanalyzed 149 of the 155 samples in which no mutation was found by real-time PCR for the presence of recurrent exon 21 and exon 19 mutations using peptide nucleic acid probes in the PCR mix to increase sensitivity by mutant allele enrichment. Four additional samples with exon 19 mutations were detected. Thus, it is found that the relatively simple and inexpensive PCR-DGGE assay is already very sensitive for the detection of mutations in clinical samples, including samples with low tumor cellularity (10% or higher tumor cell content), although the sensitivity and speed of the assay can be further increased for a restricted panel of mutations by introducing peptide nucleic acid probes in the DGGE or real-time PCR-based assay.


The citizenship status of children born to American parents outside the United States is governed by a complex set of statutes. When the parents of such children are not married, these statutes encumber the transmission of citizenship between father and child while readily recognizing the child of an American mother as a citizen. Much of the debate concerning the propriety and constitutionality of those laws has centered on the extent to which they reflect gender-traditional understandings of fathers' and mothers' respective parental roles, or instead reflect "real differences" between men and women. Based on extensive archival research, this Article demonstrates that an important yet overlooked reason for the development of restrictions on father-child citizenship transmission was officials' felt need to enforce the racially nativist policies that were a core component of American nationality law for over 150 years. At formative moments in the development the laws governing jus sanguinis citizenship – what is now called derivative citizenship – gender- and marriage-based domestic relations laws were enlisted by administrators, judges, and legislators to deny the citizenship claims of nonwhite children, especially those who were excludable under the race-based immigration and naturalization laws. For those who study citizenship and immigration law, Illegitimate Borders illustrates the concrete and enduring ways that ideas concerning family, gender, and race have shaped the rules that govern formal membership in the American polity. For legal historians and scholars interested in the development of the administrative state and nation building, this article provides a window onto the central role administrators played in crafting American nationality law. For family law scholars, Illegitimate Borders highlights the ways that laws regulating illegitimacy – long used to create and maintain racial hierarchies within the American polity – were regularly used to shape the racial composition of the polity as well. Finally, for constitutional law scholars, the history charted here undermines the view that gender-asymmetrical jus sanguinis citizenship laws reflect natural and inevitable means of regulating parent-child derivative citizenship – an understanding that has been embraced by a majority of the Supreme Court. Instead, the historical sources reveal that gender-asymmetrical citizenship laws are the product of choices made by officials and shaped by contemporary norms concerning gender, parental roles, and – as illustrated in great detail – the official imperative to enforce race-based nationality laws. To speak of gender-based distinctions drawn in modern citizenship law as inevitable obscures their origins and elides the ways that such laws continue to play an illiberal role in the practice and politics of citizenship.


Abstract Irrigation according to reliable estimates of crop water requirements (CWR) is one of the key strategies to ensure long-term sustainability of irrigated agriculture. In southern Mediterranean regions, during the irrigation season, CWR is almost totally controlled by the potential evapotranspiration of the irrigated crop. An innovative system for forecasting crop potential evapotranspiration (ETp) has been implemented recently in the Campania region (southern Italy). The system produces ETp forecasts with a lead time of up to 5 days, by coupling the visible and near-infrared crop imagery with numerical weather prediction outputs of a limited area model. The forecasts are delivered to farmers with a simple and intuitive web app interface, which makes daily real-time ETp maps accessible from desktop computers, tablets and smartphones. Forecast performances were evaluated for maize fields of two farms in two irrigation seasons (2014–2015). The mean absolute bias of the forecasted ETp was <0.3 mm/day and the RMSE was <0.6 mm/day, both for lead times up to 5 days.


Pd/C catalyst was used to eliminate chlorine compacted in shellac while it was being bleached with sodium hypochlorite in alkaline solution for the preparation of shellac with low chlorine content, a natural and biological product used in large scale in food industry and pharmaceutical fields. Experiments demonstrated that the Pd/C could catalyze dechlorination process effectively, which was affected by several factors such as reaction temperature, Pd/C ratio, and the induction of Pd/C catalyst, and that the dechlorination efficiency reached 88.2% under the optimal conditions of Pd/C loading ratio of 1.0% (mass), catalyst usage 12 g/L, H2 flowing rate 50 mL/min, and reaction temperature 90 for 120 min. Moreover, the mechanism of catalytic hydrogenation was elucidated through structure characterization of the final products using elementary analysis, and ultraviolet spectrophotometer. It was shown from the result of ultraviolet spectrophotometer that the wavelength of the maximum absorption of seedlac, the raw materials for obtaining shellac, was 235 nm. However, it was blue shifted to the same scope 220~225 nm when the shellac was dechlorinated by catalytic hydrogenation with Pd/C as the shellac without catalyzed. The big difference of wavelength of the maximum absorption between shellac and seedlac was due to that there was a lot of compacted chlorine in the shellac, while the little difference of wavelength of the maximum absorption between the shellac and the low chlorine shellac was due to that chlorine could not be eliminated completely. The results of elementary analysis showed that chlorine content in the final product was only 0.30% under the optimum conditions, compared to shellac it was just 1/9 of that of the product without declorination by catalytic hydrogenation. It was shown from the mechanism analysis that the dechlorination reaction took place mainly on the active surface sites of Pd/C, and chlorine ions compacted in the shellac was substituted by hydrogen ions.


The main objective of this study was to carry out an economic analysis of bread production (using cassava flour) in Akure South Local Government, Ondo State, Nigeria. It ascertained the socio-economic characteristic of the bread producers, estimated costs, returns and profitability in the use of cassava flour for making bread in the study area. Primary data were collected with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire administered to fifty respondents. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis and multiple regression analysis. Result showed that production of bread were dominated by male with (73.5%) flour processors and (26.5%) of female processors. Analysis of costs and returns revealed that bread production is profitable in the study area (mean profit of N1,546,657 per month). The estimated functions were in terms of the statistical significance of multiple determinants (R2) 0.998 as indicated by F-value, the significance of the co-efficient of and the magnitude of standard errors. An increase in age will lead to a further increase in the revenue of the producers. The coefficient of educational level is negative and this implies that a decrease in the educational level leads to an increase in the revenue of producers. The coefficient of years of experience was positive and it connotes a corresponding increase in revenue as years of experience rises, the coefficient of purchasing cost was positive and this connotes that the revenue of the producers increased with an increase in purchasing cost as they tend to hike their prices.


Objectives
The primary objective was to develop a needs assessment questionnaire that assesses perceptions that may serve as barriers to healthy eating behavior, and to assess the differences in perceptions between traditionally underrepresented (US) and represented (RS) students. This study also explored the most commonly used social media platforms used among UC Davis Students.

Methods
The needs assessment was distributed through available listservs using a modified Dillman approach and through the "MyUCDavis" Homepage, a UC Davis marketing channel. Ten $25 Gift Cards were raffled to interested students as an incentive. Likert scale questions were developed for each of the measured perceptions and were then grouped to create composite variables of convenience, finances, cooking skill self-efficacy, interest in improving cooking skill, and cultural background (measured as "healthy options" and "food preferences"). Internal consistency for each composite variable was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Mann Whitney U-Tests were used to analyze the differences in the composite variables between US and RS groups.

Results
Most of the composite variables had at least moderate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.7 - 0.85, while two had low internal consistency. The US group scored higher in the perceived barriers of convenience (P = 0.001) and finances (P < 0.005), demonstrated lower cooking skill self-efficacy (P < 0.005), and preferred more familiar food choices (P < 0.005). There were no differences between groups in the perceptions of healthy options (P < 0.114). The most popular social media platforms included Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Conclusions
US were affected more by the perceived barriers as they scored higher in the convenience, finances, and food preferences composite variables, and had lower cooking skill self-efficacy than RS counterparts. Future studies can examine the effects of addressing the perceived barriers via a targeted social media marketing strategy using Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Funding Sources
Funding and resources were provided by the UCOP Global Food Initiative, the Center for Student Affairs and Assessment, the Student Affairs Marketing and Communications department, the Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center, as well as the Scherr lab group.


We provide new evidence on the extent to which the demand for cigarettes is derived from the demand for weight control (i.e. weight loss or avoidance of weight gain). We utilize nationally representative data that provide the most direct evidence to date on this question: individuals are directly asked whether they smoke to control their weight. We find that, among teenagers who smoke frequently, 46% of girls and 30% of boys are smoking in part to control their weight. This practice is significantly more common among youths who describe themselves as too fat than those who describe themselves as about the right weight. The derived demand for cigarettes has important implications for tax policy. Under reasonable assumptions, the demand for cigarettes is less price elastic among those who smoke for weight control. Thus, taxes on cigarettes will result in less behavior change (but more revenue collection and less deadweight loss) among those for whom the demand for cigarettes is a derived demand. Public health efforts to reduce smoking initiation and encourage cessation may wish to design campaigns to alter the derived nature of cigarette demand, especially among adolescent girls.


The horizontal vibration characteristic of the pile foundation is a key technology in dynamic design of foundation engineering. By researching on the horizontal harmonic loads in layered foundation, use horizontal vibration answers of buried foundation to deal with horizontal vibration impedance problems of pile tip. The transition matrix can be used to analyze the dynamic impedance function for horizontal vibration of pile foundation in layered foundation. And results in the paper is checked with traditional methods, which shows the both results fitting well.


In this study, in vivo and in vitro germination of endemic and under-threat Centaurea fenzlii and Centaurea derderifolia species were investigated. In in vivo germination, seeds were spread with forceps over the drying papers moisturized with distilled water in petri dishes. Then, petri dishes were closed and taken for germination in a climate chamber at 25°C and 16 hours light/8 hours dark photoperiods. In in vitro germination, following the sterilization period, seeds were cultured in MS, B5, SH and WH growth medium with 6 seeds in each in a climate chamber at 25°C under 16 hours light/8 hours dark photoperiod. Present findings revealed high germination rates for C. fenzlii and C. derderifolia seeds in WH growth medium.


Aim To optimize conventional coronary optical coherence tomography (OCT) images using the attenuation-compensated technique to improve identification of plaques and the external elastic lamina (EEL) contour
Methods and results The attenuation-compensated technique was optimized via manipulating contrast exponent C, and compression exponent N, to achieve an optimal contrast and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This was applied to 60 human coronary lesions (38 native and 22 stented) ex vivo conventional coronary OCT images acquired from heart autopsies of 10 patients and matching histology was available as reference. Three independent reviewers assessed the conventional and attenuation-compensated OCT images blindly for plaque characteristics and EEL detection. Conventional OCT and compensated OCT assessment were compared against histology. Using an optimized algorithm, the attenuation-compensated OCT images had a 2-fold improvement in contrast between different tissues in both stented and non-stented epicardial coronaries (P < 0.05). Overall sensitivity and specificity for plaque classification increased from 84 to 89% and from 92 to 94%, respectively, with substantial agreement among the three reviewers (Fleiss' Kappa k, 0.72 and 0.71, respectively). Furthermore, operators were 2.5 times more likely to identify the EEL contour in the attenuation-compensated OCT images (k = 0.72) than in the conventional OCT images (k = 0.36)
Conclusion The attenuation-compensated technique can be retrospectively applied to conventional OCT images and improves the detection of plaque characteristics and the EEL contour. This approach could complement conventional OCT imaging in the evaluation of plaque characteristics and quantify plaque burden in the clinical setting.