The human gut hosts a microbial community which actively contributes to the host metabolism and has thus remarkable effect on our health. Intestinal microbiota is known to interact remarkably with the dietary constituents entering the colon, causing major metabolic conversions prior to absorption. To investigate the effect of microbial metabolism on the phytochemical pool of rye bran, we applied an in vitro simulated colonic fermentation where samples were collected with intervals and analyzed by LC-MS based non-targeted metabolite profiling. The analyses revealed extensive metabolic turnover on the phytochemical composition of the bran samples, and showed effects on all the metabolite classes detected. Furthermore, the majority of the metabolites, both the precursors and the conversion products, remained unidentified indicating that there are numerous yet unknown phytochemicals, which can potentially affect on our health. This underlines the importance of comprehensive profiling assays and subsequent detailed molecular investigations in order to clarify the effect of microbiota on phytochemicals present in our everyday diet.


Abstract Depression is frequently seen in patients with medical illnesses yet the link between medical illnesses and depression remains unclear. There is increasing data to suggest that the array of depressive symptoms experienced by the medically-ill may involve inflammation. The activation of the immune system and the subsequent release of innate immune products such as cytokines can have important effects on behaviour. The treatment of choice for chronic viral hepatitis C, interferon-alpha IFN-α, acutely induces the production and release of other innate immune cytokines, and has been indicated to cause clinically significant depression in 30% of patients receiving treatment. This in turn can impair quality of life and affect treatment compliance. We and others use IFN-α induced depression as a model to identify alterations in psychological and biological pathways that predispose to depression in the medically-ill, and thus provide an explanatory link between inflammation and the subsequent behavioural changes. In this editorial, we aim to describe the main biological pathways involved in IFN-induced depression and to discuss psychological, clinical and biological factors that have been found to predict those who will develop more severe psychiatric symptoms during treatment with IFN-α. Among these, particular attention would be given to psychological traits, genetic polymorphisms regulating inflammation and serotonergic function, and changes in plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines.


This thesis presents a method for detailed landscape presentation. The method incorporates both fieldwork-based comprehensive geomorphological description and digital data handling and thus contributes in filling the gap between traditional geomorphological mapping and modern geomorphological studies performed in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).The main part of the thesis relates to development of a new detailed geomorphological mapping system, constructed to be easy to use and yet present a large amount of geomorphological information. The legend of the mapping system has successfully been applied to various types of landscapes, mapped at various scales between 1:5,000 and 1:50,000 without any modifications needed. The information presented in the map is based on simple descriptive criteria and thus the subjectivity is kept low, which enables a broad field of usage. In parallel with the mapping system a GIS-based geomorphological database has been developed. The structure and data presentation of the new mapping system allows for easy transformation of the data to form part of this database. The selected format of the GIS database is the ESRI ArcGIS®, Personal geodatabase.In the development of the geomorphological mapping system four field areas have been mapped in central (Bonas, Risa and Liden) and northern Sweden (Tarfala). In addition the new legend has been adapted to a field area situated in Vorarlberg, Austria (Upper Gamperdona valley).In relation to the Tarfala field area an added issue of the project has been to give insights in the effects of physical and chemical weathering on various rock types to see if this can be detected in materials and landforms. The results from this study point at that resistance towards weathering vary among rocks even though they are of same rock type.


The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility of neonatal immune tolerance induction in mice to enable long-term pharmacokinetic studies with immunogenic therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAb). Neonatal immune tolerance was induced by transfer of a mAb to neonatal mice via colostrum from nursing mother mice treated with two subcutaneous doses of a tolerogen starting within the first 24 h after delivery. Adalimumab and efalizumab were administered as tolerogens at various dose levels. Tolerance induction was evaluated in the offspring after reaching adulthood at 8 weeks of age. After a single intravenous injection of the same mAb as used for tolerance induction, the pharmacokinetics of the mAb and formation of anti-drug antibodies (ADA) in plasma were assessed using ELISA. Tolerance induction to adalimumab was achieved in a maternal dose-dependent manner. Adalimumab immune-tolerant offspring showed a slower adalimumab clearance (4.24 ± 0.32 mL/day/kg) as compared to the control group (12.09 ± 3.81 mL/day/kg). In the control group, accelerated clearance started 7 days after adalimumab dosing, whereas immune-tolerant offspring showed a log-linear terminal concentration-time course. In the offspring, the absence of predose ADA levels was indicative of successful tolerance induction. The second test compound efalizumab was not immunogenic in mice under our experimental conditions. Overall, the present study demonstrated the suitability of neonatal immune tolerance induction for a 4-week single dose study in adult mice with a human therapeutic mAb that is otherwise immunogenic in laboratory animals.


The Multispectral Thermal Imager (MTI) satellite is a research and development project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The primary mission is to demonstrate advanced multispectral and thermal imaging from a satellite, including new technologies, data processing, and analysis techniques and validation by reference to ground truth. The MTI builds on the efforts of a number of earlier efforts, including Landsat, National Aeronautics and Space Administration remote sensing missions, and others, but the MTI incorporates a unique combination of attributes designed to advance the state of the art. The MTI satellite was launched on March 12, 2000 into a 580 km/spl times/610 km, sun-synchronous orbit with nominal 1 a.m. and 1 p.m. equatorial crossing times. The Air Force Space Test Program provided the Orbital Sciences Taurus launch. The satellite-based sensors obtain radiance data that are subsequently processed into measurements of atmospheric and surface properties such as column water vapor, atmospheric aerosol loading, surface temperatures, material composition, and others. This paper provides an overview of the MTI research objectives, design, operations, data products, and data processing and analysis. Several other papers provide greater detail on selected topics.


It is often said that one geophysicist's noise is another's data, but today it seems that it has never been more the case. Features of seismic records that once were considered noise are now routinely used to aid in imaging the Earth's interior and in deriving rock properties. Sacrosanct noise such as surface waves is now inverted to derive near-surface properties. Multiple reflections, once the interpreter's bane, have long been estimated and removed but now are being used in the imaging process. Even seismic interference is now actively pursued as a source of new data in the guise of simultaneous-source acquisition. And then there is the emerging use of passive seismic data, which once would have been considered as pure noise.


Worldwide, fish industry wastes are an important contaminant having an impact on the environment. The recovery of value added products from these residues constitutes an important waste reduction strategy for the industry. In East Africa, Nile perch fish processing into chilled fish fillet for export along Lake Victoria generate large proportions of both solid and liquid wastes. However, no thorough auditing and characterization of the waste has been done that would guide potential value addition through bioconversions and waste management. Auditing by surveying and mapping the fish processing industries was conducted along the lake. Waste quantification was done using specific guidelines for assessment of fish wastes. Analysis of the waste was carried out using standard methods. Annual solid waste and wastewater generation was estimated at 36,000 tonnes and 1,838,000 m 3 , respectively. The wastewater generated was high strength with a total chemical oxygen demand of 12,400 mg/l and solid content of 5,580 mg/l. The wastewater contained 6,160 mg/l of lipids and 2,000 mg/l of protein. The Nutrient content was 20 mg/l of total phosphorous, 340 mg/l organic nitrogen and 61 mg/l of ammonia nitrogen. The current fish waste management systems in place were found to be neither efficient nor profitable, thus profitable options of fish waste utilization and waste reduction strategies are imperative. Modern and economically viable options of fish waste value addition, decision scheme and waste reduction strategies have been highlighted in this paper. In conclusion, large amounts of fish waste generated are a rich source of lipids and proteins, which could be utilized for production of value added products through bioconversions. Key words : Nile perch, fish waste, auditing, characterization, value addition, utilization.


Streptococcus suis is an important swine pathogen responsible for a diverse group of diseases. Studies on vaccines have focused on S. suis serotype 2 strains, which are the most invasive isolates worldwide. However, in China S. suis serotype 9 (SS9) is also a prevalent serotype, which is frequently isolated from diseased pigs. Little is known about immunogenic proteins for SS9. Therefore, an immunoproteomic-based approach was developed to identify immunogenic proteins of SS9. Cell wall proteins extracted from SS9 strain GZ0565 isolated from a diseased pig with meningitis were screened by two-dimensional Western blotting using anti-SS9 sera pooled from specific pathogen-free mice. Protein spots were excised from preparative gels and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight MS (MALDI-TOF-MS) or MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS, which led to the identification of eight immunogenic proteins (arginine deiminase, extracellular solute-binding protein, translation elongation factor Ts, neprilysin, peptide ATP-binding cassette transporter peptide-binding protein, pyruvate kinase, phosphate acetyltransferase, and fructose-bisphosphate aldolase). These immunogenic proteins, which are encoded by genes that are reasonably conserved among SS9 strains, could be developed as vaccine candidates.


Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common tumor in the hand, with actinic keratosis being its precursor lesion. It is a common tumor in light-skinned individuals with a history of excessive sun exposure and advanced age. It presents a wide variety of clinical forms, which can generate diagnostic doubt. The combination of clinical and pathological evaluations, together with detailed anamnesis, is the best way to achieve at the final diagnosis. The gold standard treatment for these tumors is surgical excision of the lesion with adequate safety margins; in some cases adjuvant radiotherapy is an excellent option. In this paper, we review the subject addressed and report the case of a patient with giant squamous cell carcinoma in one hand, with eight months of evolution, treated by surgical excision and adjuvant radiotherapy; the treatment was successful and preserved the motor function of the patient's hand.


Recently, the GMPLS controlled WSON has emerged as a promising optical transport network. In order to guarantee the optical signal transmission feature without deformation, the optoelectronic 3R regenerators still need to be sparsely placed in the network, termed as translucent networks. The growing size and complexity of the translucent network requires a transition of control plane to move from the traditional centralized model to a fully distributed architecture in the future. However, centrally designed routing, wavelength assignment, and 3R regenerator allocation approaches become unfeasible under the distributed paradigm due to the outdated and inconsistent network state information. A common solution is to accelerate the update frequency of network state, but the fundamental problem remains that the inaccurate state information is still inevitable. Furthermore, it adds a significant increase to the control traffic volume which adversely degrades the performance and scalability of the network control system. In order to mitigate the impact of having inaccurate state information on network performance in the distributed systems, a novel RWA approach is proposed in this paper, termed as routing and distributed wavelength assignment with top ranked probing wavelength set computation. In our proposal, the wavelength assignment is performed by signalling process with a set of carefully preselected probing wavelengths. This set is dynamically computed based on the resource utilization each time the network state is refreshed. The PCE module is adopted in WSON control plane to be responsible for the computation of RWA and 3R allocation. The performance of the proposed approach is studied by extensive simulations. The experiment results reveal that by employing the proposed scheme, without loss on the blocking performance the inaccuracy of the wavelength availability information can be well tolerated, and the set-up delay in lightpath provisioning can be kept at a low level.


Spirometry is available in most GP surgeries and provides an invaluable tool for assessing respiratory function in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. Spirometry alone may not provide the clinician with an accurate assessment of lung disease as it misses two important measurements of lung volume. By measuring Residual Volume (RV) and Total Lung Capacity (TLC) it is possible to determine true restrictive or hyperinflated disease processes. Helium dilution, body plethysmography and nitrogen washout are three different methods which may be used to measure lung volume. These tests are normally only provided in the acute setting. Comparing values of RV and TLC to predicted values makes it possible to grade the severity of disease far more accurately than spirometry. Four case studies of asthma, obesity, COPD and pulmonary fibrosis clearly demonstrate anomalies that may arise when interpreting lung disease from spirometry compared to the interpretation made with additional lung volume data. Chronic Respiratory Disease 2007; 4: 151—157


Columnar stalagmites in caves of the Guadalupe Mountains during the late Holocene record a 4000-year annually resolved climate history for the southwestern United States. Annual banding, hiatuses, and high-precision uranium-series dating show a present day–like climate from 4000 to 3000 years ago, following a drier middle Holocene. A distinctly wetter and cooler period from 3000 to 800 years ago was followed by a period of present day–like conditions, with the exception of a slightly wetter interval from 440 to 290 years before the present. The stalagmite record correlates well with the archaeological record of changes in cultural activities of indigenous people. Such climate change may help to explain evidence of dwelling abandonment and population redistribution.


Neutrophilic dermatoses are characterized histologically by a sterile infiltration of neutrophils throughout the dermis. The condition may affect various internal organs, notably the lungs, the digestive tract, and the joints, whereas muscle impairment is considered to be extremely rare. We describe the case of a patient with pyoderma gangrenosum in whom severe sterile neutrophilic myositis developed as the first manifestation of an acute myelogenous leukemia.


Range shift is the primary short-term response of species to rapid climate change but it is hampered by natural or anthropogenic habitat fragmentation. Fragmented habitats expose different critical areas of a species niche to heterogeneous environmental changes resulting in uncoupled effects. Modelling species distribution under complex real-life scenarios and incorporating such uncoupled effects has not been achieved yet. Here we identify the most vulnerable areas and the potential cold refugia of a top-predator with fragmented niche range in the Southern ocean by integrating genomic, ecological and behavioural data with atmospheric and oceanographic models. Our integrative approach constitutes an indispensable example for predicting the effect of global warming on species relying on spatially and ecologically distinct areas to complete their life-cycle (e.g., migratory animals, marine pelagic organisms, central-place foragers) and, in general, on species constrained in fragmented landscapes due to continuously-growing anthropogenic pressure.


Adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV), a nonpathogenic human parvovirus, has gained attention as a potentially useful vector for human gene therapy. Here, we report successful AAV-mediated stable transduction and high-efficiency, long-term, erythroid lineage-restricted expression of a human beta-globin gene in primary murine hematopoietic stem cells in vivo. Bone marrow-derived primitive Sca-1(+), lin(-) hematopoietic stem cells from homozygous beta-thalassemic mice were transduced ex vivo with a recombinant AAV vector containing a normal human beta-globin gene followed by transplantation into low-dose-irradiated B6.c-kitW(41/41) anemic recipient mice. Six months posttransplantation, tail-vein blood samples were analyzed by PCR amplification to document the presence of the transduced human beta-globin gene sequences in the peripheral blood cells. Semiquantitative PCR analyses revealed that the transduced human beta-globin gene sequences were present at approximately 1 copy per cell. The efficiency of the human beta-globin gene expression was determined to be up to 35% compared with the murine endogenous beta-globin gene by semiquantitative RT-PCR analyses. Peripheral blood samples from several positive recipient mice obtained 10 months posttransplantation were fractionated to obtain enriched populations of granulocytes, lymphocytes, and erythroid cells. PCR analyses revealed the presence of the human beta-globin gene sequences in granulocytes and lymphocytes, indicating multilineage reconstitution. However, only the erythroid population was positive following RT-PCR analyses, suggesting lineage-restricted expression of the transduced human beta-globin gene. Southern blot analyses of total genomic DNA samples isolated from bone marrow cells from transplanted mice also documented proviral integration. These results provide further support for the potential use of recombinant AAV vectors in gene therapy of beta-thalassemia and sickle-cell disease.


The epidemiology, safety, and efficacy of pediatric multiple tandem extracorporeal therapies are not well understood. We conducted a retrospective chart review of therapeutic apheresis (TA) from January 1, 2012 to October 31, 2015. We collected procedural/clinical demographics, American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) indication, complications, and mortality. One hundred eighty tandem TA procedures were performed in 53 patients. Median age was 9 years (range: 2 months to 21 years) with a median weight of 28 kg (range: 6–170.3 kg) with nine patients weighing < 10 kg. Forty-five percent of patients were in tandem with continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH), 21% cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), 4% extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and 11% had multiple extracorporeal therapies (CVVH and ECMO). Common indications were solid organ transplant (50% cardiac, 13% renal) and sepsis-induced thrombocytopenia-associated multiple organ failure (26%). Equipment (4%) and patient (4%) complications occurred, with rare failure (1%) and no procedure-related mortality. Tandem procedures are used in critically ill pediatric patients with higher morbidity and mortality (21%) than typical TA patients. The high percentage of patients outside of category I or II (83%) underscores the emerging nature of tandem extracorporeal therapies and need for further investigation.


Motorcycle frames are mechanical components that need to be optimised in terms of performance and costs but with a limited amount of resources compared to, for example, car frames. Fatigue testing of the component is required for qualification and this is typically performed by using rotating drums with steps or servo-controlled hydraulic actuator based test benches. Therefore a fast and simple measurement and testing technique that operates during the fatigue tests will be a very useful tool. In this paper the possibility of analysing these components by measuring the stress levels and stress concentration in critical parts by thermoelasticity is investigated. The development of a multibody model, useful to simulate the typical working conditions of the motorcycle frame, is also described.


In this study, the authors extracted gait-phase information from natural sensory nerve signals of primarily cutaneous origin recorded in the forelimbs of cats during walking on a motorized treadmill. Nerve signals were recorded in seven cats using nerve cuff or patch electrodes chronically implanted on the median, ulnar, and/or radial nerves. Features in the electroneurograms that were related to paw contact and lift-off were extracted by threshold detection. For four cats, a state controller model used information from two nerves (either median and radial, or ulnar and radial) to predict the timing of palmaris longus activity during walking. When fixed thresholds were used across a variety of walking conditions, the model predicted the timing of EMG activity with a high degree of accuracy (average error=7.8%, standard deviation=3.0%, n=14). When thresholds were optimized for each condition, predictions were further improved (average error=5.5%, standard deviation=2.3%, n=14). The overall accuracy with which EMG timing information could be predicted using signals from two cutaneous nerves for two constant walking speeds and three treadmill inclinations for four cats suggests that natural sensory signals may be implemented as a reliable source of feedback for closed-loop control of functional electrical stimulation (FES).


Search and inference are two main strategies for optimally solving Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCOPs). Recently, several algorithms were proposed to combine their advantages. Unfortunately, such algorithms only use an approximated inference as a one-shot preprocessing phase to construct the initial lower bounds which lead to inefficient pruning under the limited memory budget. On the other hand, iterative inference algorithms (e.g., MB-DPOP) perform a context-based complete inference for all possible contexts but suffer from tremendous traffic overheads. In this paper, (i) hybridizing search with context-based inference, we propose a complete algorithm for DCOPs, named HS-CAI where the inference utilizes the contexts derived from the search process to establish tight lower bounds while the search uses such bounds for efficient pruning and thereby reduces contexts for the inference. Furthermore, (ii) we introduce a context evaluation mechanism to select the context patterns for the inference to further reduce the overheads incurred by iterative inferences. Finally, (iii) we prove the correctness of our algorithm and the experimental results demonstrate its superiority over the state-of-the-art.


This paper addresses the daily fuel scheduling problem of optimum allocation of fuels to various generating units to meet the hourly load requirementeemnt subject to hourly. and daily constraints. The hourly constraints consist of maximum and minimum limits on unit capacities, fuel consumption by a single unit or combination of units, and fuel supply from each contract. The daily maximum and minimum limits on fuel supply from each contract constitute the set of daily constraints. In addition, units with shared and mixed fuels and contracts supplying to different units are considered simultaneously.


Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) improved arterial oxygenation in patients with sleep apnoea as well as those with acute pulmonary processes such as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Despite an expanding pool of clinical information, little if any attempt seems to have been made to see whether nCPAP alters ventilatory patterns. The effect of nCPAP was assessed by respiratory inductance plethysmography in 14 healthy males. nCPAP reduced respiratory rate (14.3 +/- 1.47 to 9.7 +/- 1.98, p less than 0.0001) but increased tidal volume (0.483 +/- 0.090 to 0.602 +/- 0.140 l, p = 0.01). Accordingly, minute ventilation decreased (6.91 +/- 1.20 to 5.64 +/- 0.93 l.min-1, p = 0.0002). Duty cycle (TI/TTOT) decreased from 0.43 +/- 0.04 to 0.35 +/- 0.05 s during nCPAP (p less than 0.0001). Mean inspiratory time and mean expiratory time increased with nCPAP (1.79 +/- 0.19 to 2.20 +/- 0.41 and 2.44 +/- 0.38 to 4.27 +/- 1.07 s, respectively, p less than 0.02), but there were no significant changes in mean inspiratory flow rate or partitioning of rib cage and abdominal/diaphragmatic contributions to tidal volume. We conclude that nCPAP effects ventilatory pattern in a manner similar to that described for expiratory threshold loading; that is, by decreasing respiratory frequency and minute ventilation. nCPAP does not appear to stimulate healthy subjects to increase their level of ventilation.


The purpose of this report is to provide a concise status update for value-added products (VAP) implemented by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility. The report is divided into the following sections: (1) new VAPs for which development has begun, (2) progress on existing VAPs, (3) future VAPs that have been recently approved, (4) other work that leads to a VAP, and (5) top requested VAPs from the archive.


Banks in bank-based financial systems tend to engage in long-term lending that requires substantial own capital to guarantee solvency. In market-based systems, in contrast, they tend to undertake short-term lending that requires adequate reserves to guarantee liquidity. Theoretical support for these two approaches to banking can be found in, respectively, Steuart and Smith. The innovative Marxist analysis of banking by Hilferding combined elements of both. Banks in the early stages of development are Smith-like but, as the scale of fixed investment in industry grows, they lend long-term and become Steuart-like, also developing 'commitment' relations with enterprises. However, Hilferding also implied, erroneously, that financial systems historically evolve in a bank-based direction. Based on Hilferding but also drawing on Japanese Marxist analysis of finance, it is suggested instead that bank behaviour in bank-based systems results from institutional changes imposed by policy-makers in order to achieve 'catching up.'


OBJECTIVE
To determine incidence of the Ile118Lys endothelin receptor B (EDNRB) mutation responsible for overo lethal white syndrome (OLWS) and its association with specific types of white patterning.

ANIMALS
945 horses of white-patterned bloodlines and 55 solid-colored horses of other breeds.

PROCEDURE
Horses were genotyped by use of allele-specific polymerase chain reaction to determine incidence of the Ile118Lys EDNRB mutation.

RESULTS
Genotypes detected were homozygous Ile118, homozygous Lys118, and heterozygous. All foals with OLWS were homozygous for the Ile118Lys EDNRB mutation, and adults that were homozygous were not found. White patterning was strongly associated with EDNRB genotype. Color patterns with highest incidence (> 94%) of heterozygotes were frame overo, highly white calico overo, and frame blend overo. White-patterned bloodlines with lowest incidence of heterozygotes (< 21 %) were tobiano, sabino, minimally white calico overo, splashed white overo, nonframe blend overo, and breeding-stock solid. The mutation was not detected in solid-colored horses from breeds without white patterning.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
In homozygotes, the Ile118Lys EDNRB mutation causes OLWS. In heterozygotes, the mutation is usually responsible for a frame overo phenotype. The frame pattern can be combined with other white patterns, making accurate estimation of EDNRB genotype by visual inspection difficult. Wide range of incidence of heterozygotes in various subtypes of white-patterned horses indicates different genetic control of these color patterns. Determination of EDNRB genotype by use of a DNA-based test is the only way to determine with certainty whether white-patterned horses can produce a foal affected with OLWS.


Background: In Sweden and Northern Europe, cardiovascular disease mortality rates are high. The clinical picture in the Western world is dominated by lifestyle diseases in which individual behavior and attitudes have a significant impact on the health effect. In the society cardiovascular disease is seen as an illness factor and contribution to disability. Conditions for a good life are not only good health also factors such as intimate relationships and meaningful work which affect the person's quality of life. Aim: Lifestyle changes and quality of life for patients, regarding cardiovascular disease. Method: A literature review was made. Eight articles, quantitative and qualitative were analyzed. The analysis revealed three themes and four subthemes. Results: Through interventions bodily- and behavioral change occurred, for example weightloss, better cholesterol- and bloodpressure levels and increased physical activity. Respondents also had better quality of life. Great importance was laid on education and information about different lifestyle changes. On the contrary, the nursing staff was careless with the documentation. Conclusion: Lifestyle changes such as smoking cessation, increased physical activity, reducing obesity and improving dietary habits and psychosocial factors such as reduced stress and depression, have a positive impact on the health of cardiovascular disease. Because these changes should not affect patients' quality of life, the nurse's communication and information are important. It's also important to combine good lifestyle changes with good quality of life, as adherence then is better. The nurse has to consider the patients whole life situation.


In this paper, we present a point spread function (PSF) modelling technique to improve restoration of x-ray diffraction pattern (XRD). Different diffraction areas have different distortion orientations due to diffuse light distortion (DLD). A new multiple PSF model is introduced and used to restore XRD data. Raw PSFs are collected from isolated spots from x-ray diffraction pattern in high resolution areas which represent orientation of DLDs. An adaptive ridge regression (ARR) technique is used to remove noise from the raw PSF. A target Gaussian function is used to model the raw PSFs. A gradient descent algorithm (GDA) is used to find optimum parameters in a Gaussian function. A set of XRD data are restored by an iterative deconvolution algorithm (IDA) using the modelled PSFs. Experimental results using a single and multiple PSFs are presented and discussed. We show that by using a multiple PSF model in the deconvolution algorithm improved restored X-ray patterns are obtained and as a result the symmetry estimator and χ2 are improved.


The problem of inductive learning is hard, and--despite much work--no solution is in sight, from neural networks or other AI techniques. I suggest that inductive reasoning may be grounded in sensorimotor capacity. If an artificial system to generalize in ways that we find intelligent it should be appropriately embodied. This is illustrated with a network- controlled animat that learns n-parity by representing intermediate states with its own motion. Unlike other general learning devices, such as disembodied networks, it learns from very few examples and generalizes correctly to previously unseen cases.


With the rapid development of information technology in modern society to promote the informatization process, the world has accelerated the pace of modernization of education forward. Education technology has experienced from the traditional teaching, the common media technology to the computer technology and communication technology on the basi s of the development of multimedia information network technology. This paper is to implement an English learning system based on Android platform. In this system, learning service provider can learn listening resources released by the server and system management work, which can satisfy English learning, learning, communication and other activities. Keywords—English Learning System; Android Platform; Mobile Learning


This study investigates the effect of preheat temperature, blank holder force and feed rate on the formability of polypropylene based Fibre-Metal Laminates. Finite element method combined with Design of Experiments was used to determine the influence of the forming process parameters. The design of experiments was used to identify the relative influence of each process parameter considered in this study. A reduced set of coupled structural-thermal simulations using Ls-Dyna were carried out using a L9 orthogonal array. Simulations were carried out on the forming of domes. It was found that the blank holder force has the greatest influence to increase the minor/major ratios followed by feed rate and pre heat temperature. A more thorough investigation of preheat temperature illustrated an optimum preheat temperature at 130 °C.


This clear, concise summary of the in-depth analyses presented in The Political Economy of American Trade Policy examines the level, form, and evolution of American trade protection. In case studies of trade barriers imposed during the 1980s to help the steel, semiconductor, automobile, lumber, wheat, and textile and apparel industries, the contributors trace the evolution of efforts to obtain protection, protectionist measures, and their results. A chapter assessing the common themes that emerge from the studies concludes that the focus of current trade law is exclusively on the individual protection-seeking industries, with little regard for indirect effects on using industries or for consumers. Reform could usefully take these effects into account. This volume will interest policymakers, business executives, and anyone interested in trade policy formulation and practice.


Strombolian eruptions are caused by the bursting of large gas bubbles through essentially stagnant melt that resides in the uppermost part of the conduit. We investigate the physical properties of this shallow melt via a detailed analysis of vesicularity textures in lapilli ejected during a period of moderate-intensity activity at Stromboli volcano (Italy) in 2002. The lapilli show clear evidence that the erupted material is the product of a late-stage dynamic mingling of melts that are distinct in terms of density and rheology. Vesicle-volume distributions for two end-member melts indicate contrasting degrees of outgassing that can be linked to different residence times in the shallow conduit. We propose a model in which actively vesiculating melt rises with the gas phase and mingles with more mature stagnant melt en route to the magma's free surface. We suggest that the complex rheology of this mingled melt feeds back to strongly influence eruption dynamics.


Traditionally, the cost of expected inflation has been seen as the \\"shoeleather cost\\" of going to the bank more often. This paper focuses on the other side of these transactions--i.e., on the increased production of financial services by financial firms. I construct a model in which households must make purchases either with cash or with costly transactions services produced by firms in the financial services sector. Higher inflation leads households to substitute purchased transactions services for money balances, increasing the size of the financial sector. A test of the model using cross-sectional data suggests that this effect is large.


Background Stroke is a major cause of long-term disability. While there is potential for improvements long after stroke onset, there is little to support functional recovery across the lifespan. mHealth solutions can help fill this gap. mRehab was designed to guide individuals with stroke through a home program and provide performance feedback. Objective To examine if individuals with chronic stroke can use mRehab at home to improve upper limb mobility. The secondary objective was to examine if changes in limb mobility transferred to standardized clinical assessments. Methods mRehab consists of a smartphone coupled with 3D printed household items: mug, bowl, key, and doorknob. The smartphone custom app guides task-oriented activities and measures both time to complete an activity and quality of movement (smoothness/accuracy). It also provides performance-based feedback to aid the user in self-monitoring their performance. Task-oriented activities were categorized as (1) object transportation, (2) prehensile grip with supination/pronation, (3) fractionated finger movement, and (4) walking with object. A total of 18 individuals with stroke enrolled in the single-subject experimental design study consisting of pretesting, a 6-week mRehab home program, and posttesting. Pre- and posttesting included both in-laboratory clinical assessments and in-home mRehab recorded samples of task performance. During the home program, mRehab recorded performance data. A System Usability Scale assessed user's perception of mRehab. Results A total of 16 participants completed the study and their data are presented in the results. The average days of exercise for each mRehab activity ranged from 15.93 to 21.19 days. This level of adherence was sufficient for improvements in time (t15=2.555, P=.02) and smoothness (t15=3.483, P=.003) in object transportation. Clinical assessments indicated improvements in functional performance (t15=2.675, P=.02) and hand dexterity (t15=2.629, P=.02). Participant's perception of mRehab was positive. Conclusions Despite heterogeneity in participants' use of mRehab, there were improvements in upper limb mobility. Smartphone-based portable technology can support home rehabilitation programs in chronic conditions such as stroke. The ability to record performance data from home rehabilitation offers new insights into the impact of home programs on outcomes. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04363944; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04363944


IMPACT was established in Bristol in 1999, and after a successful tour of nine previous cities around the world, IMPACT10 took place in Santander, Spain. In total, there was 22 presentation panels and various exhibition scattered around the city addressing multifaceted nature of contemporary printmaking.

Presentation of "Resonating Visual, Resonating the Visual: Printmaking and Sound Practice" was presented in the panel 'Printmaking and Perception', including speakers such as: Carinna Parraman, Clare Humphries

Abstract: In this paper, I would like to reflect on the relationship between printmaking and sound practice. I am interested in how one method of creative technological practice informs and translates to others, for example how working with printmaking can influence the way artists approach sound or music and vice versa how working with sound, deep listening can change the way we create and read the visual image. The elements of printmaking techniques such as layering, transparency, and viscosity can easily be recognised in the creation of sound compositions but equally the rhythm, passage of time, performance can also be read in the examples of printmaking when moving image qualities flow back and feed into the works on paper. In particular, I am interested in how the visualisation of sound can affect the image making and how the ephemeral qualities of sound and memories translate into printmaking forms.
In my presentation, I will refer to examples from my practice, which connect printmaking, visual elements with sound in the context of a recent group exhibition Sounds Like Her in New Art Exchange, Nottingham (Ain Bailey, Sonia Boyce MBE RA, Linda O'Keeffe, Elsa M'bala, Madeleine Mbida, Magda Stawarska-Beavan and Christine Sun Kim). Collectively the selected works represent sound in the broadest sense, exploring voice, noise, organic and synthetic sounds, rhythmic patterns, sonic structures and non-sonic materialisations of sound. The result is a varied exhibition of mixed media bringing together audio, immersive installation, painting, print, drawing, video, as well as interactive practice. Alongside those examples I will also consider some details from my installation work "Krakow to Venice in 12 Hours"


Endometrial regeneration is mediated, at least in part, by the existence of a specialized somatic stem cell (SSC) population recently identified by several groups using the side population (SP) technique. We previously demonstrated that endometrial SP displays genotypic, phenotypic and the functional capability to develop human endometrium after subcutaneous injection in NOD-SCID mice. We have now established seven human endometrial SP (hESP) cell lines (ICE 1–7): four from the epithelial and three from the stromal fraction, respectively. SP cell lines were generated under hypoxic conditions based on their cloning efficiency ability, cultured for 12–15 passages (20 weeks) and cryopreserved. Cell lines displayed normal 46XX karyotype, intermediate telomerase activity pattern and expressed mRNAs encoding proteins that are considered characteristic of undifferentiated cells (Oct-4, GDF3, DNMT3B, Nanog, GABR3) and those of mesodermal origin (WT1, Cardiac Actin, Enolase, Globin, REN). Phenotype analysis corroborated their epithelial (CD9 + ) or stromal (vimentin + ) cell origin and mesenchymal (CD90 + , CD73 + and CD45 2 ) attributes. Markers considered characteristic of ectoderm or endoderm were not detected. Cells did not express either estrogen receptor alpha (ER a ) or progesterone receptor (PR). The hESP cell lines were able to differentiate in vitro into adipocytes and osteocytes, which confirmed their mesenchymal origin. Finally, we demonstrated their ability to generate human endometrium when transplanted beneath the renal capsule of NOD-SCID mice. These findings confirm that SP cells exhibit key features of human endometrial SSC and open up new possibilities for the understanding of gynecological disorders such as endometriosis or Asherman syndrome. Our cell lines can be a valuable model to investigate new targets for endometrium proliferation in endometriosis.


Androgen supplementation in women has received enormous attention in the scientific and lay communities. That it enhances some aspects of cognitive function, sexual function, muscle mass, strength, and sense of well‐being is not in question. What is not known is whether physiological testosterone replacement can improve health‐related outcome in older women without its virilizing side effects. Although it is assumed that the testosterone dose‐response relationship is different in women than in men and that clinically relevant outcomes on the above‐mentioned effects can be achieved at lower testosterone doses, these assumptions have not been tested rigorously. Androgen deficiency has no clear‐cut definition. Clinical features may include impaired sexual function, low energy, depression, and a total testosterone level of less than 15 ng/dL, the lower end of the normal range. Measurement of free testosterone is ideal, because it provides a better estimate of the biologically relevant fraction. It is not widely used in clinical practice, because some methods of measuring free testosterone assay are hampered by methodological difficulties. In marked contrast to the abrupt decline in estrogen and progesterone production at menopause, serum testosterone is lower in older women than in menstruating women, with the decline becoming apparent a decade before menopause. This article reviews testosterone's effects on sexual function, cognitive function, muscle mass, body composition, and immune function in postmenopausal women.


Al-12wt%Si alloy has been manufactured by chill-casting and melt spinning. The resulting microstructures have been examined by optical microscopy. It was found that the microstructure of the ribbons is substantially different from that of the chill casting x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were obtained. The structure of Al-12wt%Si ribbons for the different disk speeds were examined. In addition, the micro-hardness of the chill casting and the ribbons were measured. It was found that there is a linear relationship between the micro-hardness of ribbons and the disk speeds.


The results of the treatment of 75 patients with ovarian carcinoma of epithelial origin are reported. The authors give a randomised clinical comparison of the efficacy of two schemes of complex treatment of 54 patients with ascitic ovarian carcinoma and 21 patients with non-ascitic ovarian carcinoma. The first scheme included cytoxan chemotherapy plus surgery plus polychemotherapy (25 patients); the second--surgery plus polychemotherapy (29 patients). Patients with non-ascitic carcinoma (21) received the second type of treatment. Polychemotherapy consisted of two alternating schedules: 5 fluorouracil plus cyclophosphamide and hexamethylamine plus cyclophosphamide after a two week interval. Better results were obtained in the group of patients treated surgically at the initial stage of treatment.


The results of this research provide a detailed account of social media addiction among international students. A qualitative investigation using a focus group discussion was carried out among 25 affirmative Nigerian students studying at one public university in Northern Cyprus. It was found that Facebook is the most used and preferred social media among the students. In addition, the students primarily use social networking technologies for chatting, commenting and posting, reading news feeds, dating, and only occasionally employ it for academic purposes. Hence, the excess use of social networking sites transformed students into addicts as the entire respondents divulged that they use social media for more than 6 hours in a day. It was similarly discovered that depression and anxiety trigger students higher social networking sites involvement. Furthermore, social loneliness was likewise established as a factor that triggers their constant use of social media. This implies that the use of social media reduces boredom and provides maximum relaxation. In addition, higher levels of perceived support from online social networking friends similarly encouraged students to stay more online, thereby resulting in excessive social media use. This study concludes that the utilisation of social media has no direct negative influence on the students' academic performance, rather has a negative effect on their psychological well-being and health, resulting to sleep deprivation, fatigue, weakness, tiredness and blurry vision.


The task of dynamic scene graph generation (SGG) from videos is complicated and challenging due to the inherent dynamics of a scene, temporal fluctuation of model predictions, and the long-tailed distribution of the visual relationships in addition to the already existing challenges in image-based SGG. Existing methods for dynamic SGG have primarily focused on capturing spatio-temporal context using complex architectures without addressing the challenges mentioned above, especially the long-tailed distribution of relationships. This often leads to the generation of biased scene graphs. To address these challenges, we introduce a new framework called TEMPURA: TEmporal consistency and Memory Prototype guided UnceR-tainty Attenuation for unbiased dynamic SGG. TEMPURA employs object-level temporal consistencies via transformer-based sequence modeling, learns to synthesize unbiased relationship representations using memory-guided training, and attenuates the predictive uncertainty of visual relations using a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method achieves significant (up to 10% in some cases) performance gain over existing methods highlighting its superiority in generating more unbiased scene graphs. Code: https://github.com/sayaknag/unbiasedSGG.git


The adoption of European norms has led to a high degree of legal and policy convergence. However, national laws remain divergent in many ways, and the assessment of discrepancies is becoming increasingly problematic because of the growing volumes of legislation. So far, comparative law has been the go-to solution for investigating similarities and differences between Member States as a result of harmonization policies. However, the vast complexity of current multilevel governance structures and their policies challenges the usefulness of classical comparative law as a method of investigation for such meta-issues. This article holds that comparative law can be considered Big Data and investigated as such. In other words, more complex and voluminous law and legal interpretations can be either coded into more quantitative observations on the basis of the premises of numerical comparative law, or, alternatively, they can be analysed with the help of new research technologies.


Several approaches to interpreting the Cascadia paleoseismic record are used to derive relationships between fault area, slip, and moment and to compare the results with the scaling relationships determined by Somerville et al. (2015) for recent subduction‐zone events. In two models (CA12a and CA12b), taken from Goldfinger et al. (2012), paleoevents are classified into five characteristic areas (CA), with the slip during each event estimated based on the time between the event and either the following or the previous event. In model CA14, taken from Scholz (2014), slip on four characteristic segments is determined from the plate tectonic convergence rate, assuming a constant stress drop. In model CL, introduced in this article, the fault length for paleoevents is defined by the along‐strike length over which the observations have been correlated; width and slip are interpolated from model CA14. CA12a and CA12b show large scatter compared with the global compilation because of large variations in slip for a given area. Models CA14 and CL reproduce the relationship derived for asperities (defined as patches in finite‐fault models with slip >1.5 times the average slip). These models can be reconciled with the total area and average slip from Somerville et al. (2015) by increasing the fault area and decreasing the slip using scaling factors derived from the analysis of recent earthquakes (CLmod1) or by reducing the slip by a factor of ∼8 (CLmod2). CLmod1 implies that the paleoearthquake observations are controlled by high‐slip patches, whereas CLmod2 implies that much of the plate tectonic convergence is accommodated aseismically. A scenario intermediate between CLmod1 and CLmod2 is considered most likely. This study demonstrates the value of using scaling relationships based on modern earthquakes as a tool for evaluating earthquake histories derived from paleoseismic data.

Online Material: A table summarizing the source parameters for the different models presented in this article to enable figure reproduction. Figures that summarize the data points used by Somerville et al. (2015), data points from a new analysis that became available after preparation of the main article (Ye et al. , 2016), and results for the turbidite mass model (Goldfinger et al. , 2012) for estimating seismic moment.


OBJECTIVE
Chronic lead (Pb) exposure affects the developing central nervous system, whereas Tanshinone IIA (TSA) improves cognitive deficits.

METHODS
In this study, we investigated the effects of TSA against lead-induced neurotoxicity in a rat pup model. A total of thirty two healthy male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: lead-treated group, lead plus TSA-treated 1 group, lead plus TSA-treated 2 group, and controls. After a 4-week lead exposure, memory function was determined using Morris water maze and the concentration of lead was measured in blood. Total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), glutathione (GSH), malonaldehyde (MDA) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) activities were determined in hippocampus samples.

RESULTS
Lead exposure causes decrease of body weight; increase of the blood lead concentration; decrease of antioxidant activities and BDNF content. However, co-administration of TSA with lead ameliorated the weight loss. Furthermore, TSA inhibited neurotoxicity as evidenced by decreased latency period and increase in percentage of time spent in the target quadrant. Administration of TSA also improved antioxidant activities by increased T-SOD, GSH, and decreased MDA activities compared to lead-treated group.

CONCLUSION
This study provides evidence of that TSA has a neuroprotective effect against lead-induced cognitive deficit by enhancing antioxidant activities in the brain (Tab. 2, Fig. 3, Ref. 27).


Electrical distribution system operators (DSOs) are facing an increasing number of challenges, largely as a result of the growing integration of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. Amid global climate change and other energy-related concerns, the transformation of electrical distribution systems (EDSs) will most likely go ahead by modernizing distribution grids so that more DERs can be accommodated. Therefore, new operational strategies that aim to increase the flexibility of EDSs must be thought of and developed. This action is indispensable so that EDSs can seamlessly accommodate large amounts of intermittent renewable power. One plausible strategy that is worth considering is operating distribution systems in a meshed topology. The aim of this work is, therefore, related to the prospects of gradually adopting such a strategy. The analysis includes the additional level of flexibility that can be provided by operating distribution grids in a meshed manner, and the utilization level of variable renewable power. The distribution operational problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming approach in a stochastic framework. Numerical results reveal the multi-faceted benefits of operating distribution grids in a meshed manner. Such an operation scheme adds considerable flexibility to the system and leads to a more efficient utilization of variable renewable energy source (RES)-based distributed generation.


Personal balancing transporter now be operating widely in every country and closely interacting with human environments. There were a lot of challenges in the development of personal balancing transporter especially on their operation, navigation and interaction. In other words the development of balancing transporter had two commitments that is to increasing efficiency of urban transportation for short distance travel and helping conserving the environment. The system architecture comprises an Arduino microcontroller board, a single-axis gyroscope and a single-axis accelerometer was employed for attitude determination. In addition, a complementary filter was implemented to compensate the gyro drifts and eliminate accelerometer distortion signal cause by disturbance. The PID controller was used in sensor fusion to reduce an error reading and stabilize the final angle measurement. The 350 Watt DC motor drive by 2x60 Amp Roboclaw motor driver with Serial Protocol to define the proportional speed control. There were many research had been done on balancing transporter development. However the robustness of the system is not fully tested and more experiment needs to be performed to evaluate the robustness of the system by transferred the signal conditioning to Matlab GUI and fine tuning of the control algorithm for better performance.


Introduction Previous studies have suggested a higher prevalence of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) in patients with aortic aneurysms (AAs). Objective To carry out a preliminary study to evaluate the prevalence of IAs in these patients and the diagnostic feasibility of extended aorta CT angiography (CTA), including intracranial arteries as well as the aorta. Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed all patients with a clinical diagnosis of AA or aortic dissection (AD) who had undergone aorta CTA as well as MR angiography, CTA, and/or DSA of the brain between 2009 and 2014. Since 2012, the extended aorta CTA protocol has been applied in these patients. Characteristics of IAs were classified with baseline clinical data. For quantitative and qualitative assessment by two independent raters, brain images obtained by extended aorta CTA and brain CTA were compared. The radiation dose of the two aorta protocols was compared. Results The prevalence of IA was 22.2% (35/158). All IAs were detected by extended aorta CTA, except one small aneurysm (<3 mm). The mean vascular attenuation value between brain images showed no difference (p=0.83), but the contrast-to-noise ratio was significantly lower in extended aorta CTA (p<0.001). In qualitative assessment, the interobserver agreement was substantial (k=0.79). For the radiation dose, the dose–length product of the extended aorta CTA increased with increment of the scan range (p=0.048). Conclusions With a high prevalence of IAs in patients with ADs or AAs, extended aorta CTA could be used to evaluate aorta disease and IA in a single session. However, further prospective studies are needed to prove efficacy and safety of the extended aorta CTA protocol in patients with AAs or ADs.


A commentary on the Mental Health Research Goals paper, emphasising the importance of the involvement of young people at all stages of mental health research pertaining to their demographic. Examples are highlighted from the UKRI Emerging Minds Network's research challenge on the impact of racism on young people's mental health in the UK, which has implications for research on racism and youth mental health specifically but also mental health research generally.


ABSTRACT Roberts, H.H.; DeLaune, R.D.; White, J.R.; Li, C.; Sasser, C.E.; Braud, D.; Weeks, E., and Khalil, S., 2015. Floods and cold front passages: Impacts on coastal marshes in a river diversion setting (Wax Lake delta area, Louisiana). Diversion of the Mississippi River is considered the most effective way of offsetting Louisiana's coastal plain land loss. The Wax Lake delta, a man-made diversion that represents mostly sand-rich distributary mouth bar deposits, is cited as a model for land building from a large river diversion. The fine-grained suspended load is mostly deposited outside of "the delta." Numerical simulations of diversion delta building focus primarily on sand deposition. The fine-grained suspended load is only secondarily considered. Research results reported here suggest that natural processes associated with the synergistic relationship between floods and cold front passages can effectively distribute suspended sediments to maintain and rebuild wetlands outside the sand-rich delta. Measurements (fixed acoustic Doppler current profilers) of current speed, current direction, and water level in a mainland marsh channel, north of Atchafalaya Bay, indicate that as cold fronts approach, local water levels can be elevated by as much as 1 m, and normal discharge into the bay is reversed so that flow is into the coastal plain marshes. LIDAR bank elevations indicate that overbank flow is initiated by these events. Streamside sediment accretion (2-y monitoring period) using feldspar plots indicates up to 6.8 cm. Longer term Cs-137 data reveal an average sediment accretion rate of >1 cm y−1 over 50+ years. Marsh flooding results in denitrification of nitrate in river water plus nutrient uptake resulting in increased plant productivity, considerably greater than for similar coastal plain marshes free of riverine sediment input. Fine-grained suspended sediments are important for rebuilding Louisiana's coastal plain, which is naturally constructed mostly of riverine silt and clay plus organic matter.


The release behavior of the basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) from copolymer hydrogels of N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAAm) and sodium methacrylate (SMA) was investigated in relation to the volume phase transition temperatures, which was increased by the incorporation of SMA. In the case of the copolymer hydrogels, a higher volume phase transition temperature was obtained when poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) was used as the crosslinking agent, suggesting that the chain length of the crosslinking agent has a significant affect on the volume phase transition temperature of a P(NIPAAm-co-SMA) hydrogel. The concentration of bFGF released from the hydrogels with PEGDA increased relative to the water content, thereby showing a dependence on the volume phase transition temperature. Hence, the release behavior of bFGF from the PNIPAAm and P(NIPAAm-co-SMA) hydrogels was found to be affected by the volume phase transition temperature, which can be easily controlled by changing the comonomer, monomer feed ratio, and crosslinking agent.


Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries still constitute the greatest single problem in orthopaedic sports medicine. The natural history is not well known. Conservative treatment is appropriate in cases where there are no instability problems, and where activity modifications are acceptable to the patient. However, there is an increased risk of meniscus and cartilage injuries, and thus of arthrosis. The indication for surgery depends on the level of activity, and on whether instability symptoms are present. Arthroscopic surgery of the ACL seems to yield good short-term results in 80-90 per cent of cases. Out-patient ACL surgery is becoming increasingly common. Rehabilitation is often vigorous, with early mobilisation and weight-bearing. Functional range-of-motion and closed kinetic chain exercises predominate. Successful surgical outcome often allows former levels of activity to be resumed. There is still uncertainty as to whether surgery reduces the risk of arthrosis. The nature of the original trauma, and continued top level sports activity may be factors of importance. Further research is needed to elucidate the natural history, and determine the long-term effects of modern ACL surgery.


An inactive form of the Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis phospholipase D (PLD) gene was constructed and expressed in a PLD-negative strain (designated Toxminus) of C. pseudotuberculosis. Antibody responses specific to Toxminus and both Toxminus and PLD proteins were detected in sheep following oral administration of Toxminus or Toxminus expressing the PLD toxoid, respectively. However, only those sheep vaccinated with Toxminus expressing PLD toxoid were protected against wild-type challenge. These results confirm the importance of PLD as a protective antigen and demonstrate both the potential for developing an oral caseous lymphadenitis vaccine and C. pseudo_aberculosis Toxminus as a live vaccine vector.


This research paper aimed to answer the question whether, under the current
system of funding for higher education, introducing variable interest rates on tuition loans
would inform and influence the prospective student. These rates would be dependent on
the financial outcomes expected from each course. For example, the rate applied to a STEM
course would, under this proposal, be less than that of an arts and humanities. This is due to
the expectation of the STEM student entering a more prosperous career and therefore has a
greater chance of repaying their loan in full, therefore being less of a burden on the
taxpayer. The hypothesis of this paper is that introducing variable rates would influence
prospective students into considering another course, one which has a greater chance of
yielding a greater income for that individual. The reason this proposal has been put forward
in two-fold. Firstly, current methods of communicating information to the student is poor
and, as this paper will go into detail, can mislead the prospective students. Students often
rely on the information of such organisations as the National Student Survey, which gathers
data by asking third-year students how the felt about their course. This serves very little
purpose in the rational decision-making of the consumer student. Therefore, introducing a
clear economic signal could be far more beneficial to the student. This assumes students are
entering higher education to primarily maximise their future earnings in their chosen career.
The secondary reason for conducting this research concerns the taxpayer. Students
who are more likely to borrow £27,000 at a low, uniformed rate of 6.1% (as of April 2018)
are also more likely to default on their tuition debt. This leaves the taxpayer to cover those
outstanding, unpaid loans, causing financial stress on the UK budget. This paper will conduct
research into whether interest rates can be adjusted to influence students to undertake a
Page | 4
STEM course instead of an arts and humanities course. This would benefit the student, as
the information displayed through interest rates would allow for the individual to make a
more informed choice, and also the taxpayer who would have to contribute less to paying
off outstanding loans.


Past presented papers have discussed the integration efforts of incorporating Central Test & Evaluation Investment Program (CTEIP) sponsored Joint Advanced Missile Instrumentation (JAMI) components (namely the JAMI TSPI Unit-JTU), Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) parts (e.g. ARTM Tier I SO-QPSK Transmitter, Encryptor and Thermal Battery), and in-house developed devices (such as PCM Encoder and Dual Band Antenna) into a five-inch diameter Missile Telemetry (TM) Section. A prototype of this TM Section has been built up and integrated into an All Up Round (AUR) Missile and twice flown as a Captive Carried Test Missile (CTM) on an F/A-18 jet with great success. This TM Section is in the process of undergoing flight qualification testing (including environmental and electro-magnetic interference-EMI tests). After which it will be ready for mass production. This paper will detail these current efforts. In addition, the effort to upgrade some Navy and Air Force Test Ranges (with JAMI Ground Stations and Decommutators/Demodulators) to track and gather data from this Missile containing the new TM section will be discussed. Future plans to incorporate Flight Termination System (FTS) capabilities into the TM section will be covered as well.


Islamic banks are financial institutions that are regulated according to sharia principles in providing credit or financing and other financial services, which have the function to expedite economic processes through business activities such as profit sharing (Mudharabah), buying and selling (Murabahah) and leasing (Ijarah) based on sharia values.

This study aims to examine the effect of Mudharabah, Murabahah, and Ijarah Financing on Net Profit at BRI Syariah Bank for the 2016-2020 period. The population and sample in this study were the BRI Syariah Bank Monthly Financial Reports, January 2016 - December 2020, which amounted to 60 data. Samples were selected using the saturated sampling method. The analytical method used in this study is multiple linear regression with time series data processed using SPSS IBM.23 and Microsoft Excel 2010.

The results of this study indicate that the independent variables Mudharabah, Murabahah, and Ijarah financing have a simultaneous effect on the dependent variable Net Profit. Mudharabah financing has no partial effect on Net Profit. Murabahah financing partially positive effect on Net Profit. Ijarah financing has a partial negative effect on Net Profit.

Keywords: Mudharabah, Murabahah, Ijarah, and Net Profit


Lactoferrin is an iron-binding protein found in many bodily secretions and in the secondary granules of polymorphonuclear leukocytes. While there are many proposed functions for the lactoferrin protein e.g. for iron storage, antibacterial properties, or a role in inflammation, the specific function(s) of lactoferrin have yet to be elucidated. Evidence that lactoferrin may be involved in inflammation was observed by Harmon et al. (1976) where after the induction of bovine mammary infections, a significant increase in secreted lactoferrin protein was seen during the early phase of the infection. As this increase was during the period of the acute phase response, this suggested that lactoferrin, as was the case with other proteins induced during this time, may have a role in the inflammatory response. The bovine lactoferrin (bLf) promoter contains many putative binding sites for inflammatory modulators, which suggests that the increases in lactoferrin seen during inflammation may be due to activation of lactoferrin gene transcription by these specifically-induced transcription factors . Substantiation of this suggestion would provide further evidence for a specific role for lactoferrin during inflammation. To investigate the cytokine-responsiveness of the bLf promoter, constructs corresponding to various lengths of the putative bLf promoter were linked to the luciferase reporter gene and introduced, by transient transfection, into RL95-2 human endometrial carcinoma cells. Cytokines, glucocorticoids or expression vectors for transcription factors were added to the cells, or potential 'masking' factors in the media such as phenol red or insulin were removed. The luciferase activity of the transfected cells was monitored for significant variation from the basal levels. The addition of cytokines with or without phenol red or insulin did not cause any significant changes in bLF promoter activity. In phenol red-free media, increases in luciferase reporter gene activity were observed after the co-transfection of an expression vector for NF-IL6, the addition of dexamethasone and also the addition of dexamethasone together with the co-transfection of a glucocorticoid receptor expression vector. These data provided evidence that lactoferrin transcription may be induced by inflammatory factors which support the suggestion that lactoferrin has a role in the inflammation process.


Humor is the lingua franca of the Jewish people. Even outside the world of the professional comic, we find ordinary folk answering a question with a question, employing a sarcastic retort, offering self-deprecating witticisms. For Jews, this special brand of humor has become a defining characteristic, marking their uniqueness among the peoples of the world. This paper explores this oeuvre, first looking at Jewishness itself; then theories of why we laugh, from the field of humor studies; and finally the humor of the Jewish people. Jewish humor is not new; it dates back to the Talmud, the Midrash, even the Hebrew Bible. Humor, after all, is not only medicine for the body; it is good for the soul as well. In examining what a people laugh at, we come close to learning what they value. The material in this paper is excerpted from a book manuscript in preparation about the ancient origins of Jewish humor.


The General Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is one of the most enduring works of English literature. Beloved by scholars, teachers, students, and general readers, it has been given a great many different interpretations. This annotated, international bibliography of twentieth-century criticism on the Prologue is an essential reference guide. It includes books, journal articles, and dissertations, and a descriptive list of twentieth-century editions; it is the most complete inventory of modern criticism on the Prologue. The extensive annotations provide uniquely convenient access to many publications that are otherwise difficult to obtain. In her introduction, Caroline Eckhardt provides a careful and comprehensive overview of modern trends in criticism, trends which can be traced through the bibliography. At the beginning of the century, for example, Chaucer's Prologue was often described as a 'portrait gallery' and praised for its realism - social, psychological, and dramatic. Later in the century came emphases on irony, rhetoric, Freudian interpretations, elaborate allegories, and stylistic complexities. At present, the Prologue is often interpreted as a system of signs and symbols in which realism, if it exists at all, serves purposes beyond itself. The smiling and serene poet of the earlier period has been replaced by a self-conscious ironist, sometimes with a split personality. The portrait gallery of the beginning of the century is still there, though the spectator who walks along it tends to see something less fixed textually (the Prologue is now commonly discussed as work-in-progress) and more complicated structurally, generically, and thematically. It is the spectator, of course, who has changed.


This paper explores methods of increasing the speed of a Viterbi-based word-spotting system for audio document retrieval. Fast processing is essential since the user expects to receive the results of a keyword search many times faster than the actual length of the speech. A number of computational short-cuts to the standard Viterbi word-spotter are presented. These are based on exploiting the background Viterbi phone recognition path that is computed to provide a normalisation base. An initial approximation using the phone transition boundaries reduces the retrieval time by a factor of 5, while achieving a slight improvement in word-spotting performance. To further reduce retrieval time, pattern matching, feature selection, and Gaussian selection techniques are applied to this approximate pass to give a total /spl times/50 increase in speed with little loss in performance. In addition, a low memory requirement means that these approaches can be implemented on any platform, including hand-held devices.


A wireless device (100) communicates in a wireless system by selecting a communication channel (202) for communication, identifying a control channel or control channels (204) designated for communication of control information for the selected communication channel, and listening for the control information (212) on the control channel to determine if the selected communication channel is bonded with any other communication channel. When control information is received via the control channel(s) indicating that the selected communication channel is bonded with at least one other communication channel, then the wireless device abstains from communication on the selected communication channel, or communicates in a narrowband mode. When control information is received via the control channel(s) indicating that the selected communication channel is not bonded with another communication channel, or when no control information is received via the control channel, then the wireless device communicates via the selected communication channel.


Passive fit of metal frameworks has been a major concern for the researchers because of its possible contribution in the development of complications that could endanger the prognosis of implant-supported prosthesis. The transmission of forces from a non passive metal framework, through the abutment, to the underlying bone has raised concerns about the possible complications. The extend of the problem is enhanced by the fact that achieving passive fit with current know-how seems not feasible. The uneven distribution of forces combined with their increased values, related to the lack of passive fit, have been related to both biological and mechanical problems concerning bone-abutment-superstructure system. In literature, loss of
osseointegration, pain and inflammation, loosening or fracture of screw joints, abutments, metal framework or even implants, comprise the possible complications attributed to the misfit. At the same time, the term misfit is not completely clarified and the variety of clinical methods that are used to identify it, display many restrictions. Apart from lack of determining with specific criteria the fit of the framework clinically, the confusion concerning the degree of misfit that is biologically accepted merely perplexes the problem. Current bibliography has not yet achieved to document a clear correlation between those complications and misfit of metal framework. On the other hand, the presence of unfavorable forces cannot be underestimated.
Therefore in order to prevent this phenomenon in the laboratory a great number of techniques and different alloys have been developed so as to achieve passive fit of superstructures if possible. However, this has not been accomplished for the time being.


I-deals (that is, personalised, non-standard employment arrangements negotiated between employees and their employers) arise at different stages of the employment lifecycle. I-deals can vary by timing, such as those created before hire (ex-ante) versus after hire (ex-post). However, scholars have not fully considered the impact of the temporal context (environmental, social, economic, individual) on I-deals or how a range of organisational actors may respond to enabling/constraining conditions when creating I-deals. Our paper focuses on the under-explored issue of I-deals' timing by applying the theoretical lens of institutional entrepreneurship (IE). Key IE concepts enable a more critical understanding of broader temporal context impacts and the role of various actors (I-dealers, organisational agents) in creating I-deals. Drawing on a multicase study of 3 Nigerian organisations (62 semi-structured interviews, including fieldnotes and organisation-specific documents), our data revealed that field-level conditions and actors' social positions interact to highlight (i) several distinctive temporal contexts, (ii) with differential impacts on I-deals' timing and subsequently (iii) organisational actors adopting a range of tactics in response to enabling/constraining conditions. Based on these findings, we offer a theoretical model that reconceptualises I-deals' timing by specifically focusing on the invisible concept of time. Finally, we discuss our study's implications for I-deal research and offer future research directions and recommendations for practice.


Disruption of electric power operations can be catastrophic on national security and the economy. Due to the complexity of widely dispersed assets and the interdependences among computer, communication, and power infrastructures, the requirement to meet security and quality compliance on operations is a challenging issue. In recent years, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) established a cybersecurity standard that requires utilities' compliance on cybersecurity of control systems. This standard identifies several cyber-related vulnerabilities that exist in control systems and recommends several remedial actions (e.g., best practices). In this paper, a comprehensive survey on cybersecurity of critical infrastructures is reported. A supervisory control and data acquisition security framework with the following four major components is proposed: (1) real-time monitoring; (2) anomaly detection; (3) impact analysis; and (4) mitigation strategies. In addition, an attack-tree-based methodology for impact analysis is developed. The attack-tree formulation based on power system control networks is used to evaluate system-, scenario -, and leaf-level vulnerabilities by identifying the system's adversary objectives. The leaf vulnerability is fundamental to the methodology that involves port auditing or password strength evaluation. The measure of vulnerabilities in the power system control framework is determined based on existing cybersecurity conditions, and then, the vulnerability indices are evaluated.


We investigate the regional seismic signature of the 9 October 2006 North Korean nuclear test. Broadband regional data for the nuclear test and a group of earthquakes close to the test site were obtained between December 2000 and No- vember 2006. Epicentral distances from the stations to the test site are between 371 and 1153 km. We first use these regional events to calibrate the Lg-wave magnitude in the network. Then the network is used to calculate mbLg �� 3:93 for the North Ko- rean nuclear explosion. Using a modified fully coupled magnitude-yield relation, the yield of the North Korean nuclear test is estimated to be 0.48 kt. Because of large uncertainties in the source depth, the estimate is preliminary. The P=S-type spectral ratios Pg=Lg, Pn=Lg, and Pn=Sn are calculated for the nuclear explosion and a group of earthquakes close to the test site. At frequencies above 2 Hz, the network-averaged P=S spectral ratios clearly separate the 9 October 2006 explosion from the regional earthquakes. Our result indicates that a single-blast explosion in the North Korea re- gion shows different seismic characteristics from an earthquake. Any well-coupled single-blast explosion detonated in this region with yield similar to that for the North Korean nuclear test has a large probability of being identified by a regional seismic network such as the one adopted in this study.


INTRODUCTION
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common condition affecting aging men. While holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) is one of the most effective treatments for BPH, variations of the procedure, such as median lobe HoLEP (MLHoLEP), are rarely reported. Here, we report our institution's experience with pHoLEP.

METHODS
Our institutional prospective database was queried for patients having undergone median or individual lateral lobe enucleation between 2007 and 2018. A control cohort of patients who underwent standard HoLEP (sHoLEP) was identified using 1:2 propensity score matching based on age, prostate size, maximal flow rate (Qmax), postvoid residual volume (PVR), and AUA symptom score (AUAss). Three and 12-month AUAss, PVR, and Qmax were compared.

RESULTS
Forty-seven patients were identified as having undergone MLHoLEP. At three-month followup, AUAss (p<0.01) and incontinence rates (p=0.045) were lower for MLHoLEP patients, in addition to them having shorter operative (36.5 mins vs. 64.5 mins, p<0.01) and enucleation (13.8 mins vs. 37 mins, p<0.01) times as compared to sHoLEP patients. No difference was noted between MLHoLEP and sHoLEP cohorts with respect to age, prostate volume, PVR, or Qmax. Significant improvement in AUAss, PVR, and Q max from baseline to three and 12 months was noted overall in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS
MLHoLEP could provide a surgical option with reduced operative time, quicker improvement in AUAss and restored continence in appropriately selected patients. Ultimately, MLHoLEP represents a safe and effective treatment option to select patients who may not be eligible for or face potential morbidity concerns associated with sHoLEP.


Focusing on Kenya as an example of a market where food production is mostly for subsistence purposes, this article seeks to establish whether licensing of plant breeders' rights is a mechanism that can facilitate access to seeds and planting material to smallholder farmers. Through a case study method and qualitative interviews of a wide range of stakeholders, it was found that licensing strategies that are employed in market conditions such as those prevailing in Kenya usually involve some form of market differentiation. This is in order to ensure that the targeted beneficiary is reached. It was also found that whatever licensing strategy is employed, each has some advantages and disadvantages. Further, not-for-profit technology brokers have emerged with a view to absorb some costs in the licensing process which are otherwise out of reach for smallholder farmers. Breeders also waive some of their rights with respect to protected varieties. The article concludes that the use of licensing as a tool to facilitate access to seeds and planting material for smallholder farmers in market conditions such as those prevailing in Kenya has received little attention and only involves very few commercial crops.  Where breeders choose to waive some of their rights, they should let farmers know so as to create legal certainty on utilization of accessed varieties.


Tamara Atkin. The Drama of Reform: Theology and Theatricality, 1461-1553. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2013. Pp. x + 195. 23.70 [euro]. Tamara Atkin's book opens with a quote from the Histrio-Mastix (1633) by the anti-theatrical writer William Prynne, who translates a passage from Honorius Augustodunensis (twelfth century) that affirms a connection between the priest celebrating Mass and acting in the theater; for example, "by the stretching out of his hands, he denotes the extension of Christ upon the Crosse." Prynne, like Protestant polemicists of the first half of the sixteenth century, saw Roman Catholic ritual to be empty shows disconnected from substance and lacking in integrity. Actors in his view are hypocrites, who pretend to be what they are not. Atkin then sets out to provide an extended examination of how early Reformation dramatists, similarly distrustful of the liturgy and especially of the Eucharist, were happy to use drama "to undermine the rituals, symbols, plays, and processions of the Roman Church and promote reformed alternatives" (9). Chapter 1, however, takes up the late medieval Croxton Play of the Sacrament, a Host desecration drama involving the skepticism of some Jews concerning the real presence in the Eucharist, and in so doing once again revives for discussion Cecilia Cutts's view of it as anti-Wycliffite polemic. The drama, like other Host miracles such as the popular Mass of St. Gregory so often appearing in iconography, is a strong affirmation of transubstantiation, and at the conclusion the perpetrators (their blasphemous act is described as like a "new turmentry" or repetition of the Crucifixion), on account of the seriousness of their crime, will require baptism and absolution by the higher authority of a bishop. The miraculous appearances shown in the play are nevertheless not real but only signs, revealed in the rubrics when a cauldron is described as boiling over with what is "apperyng to be as blood" that is, not actual blood (55). Atkin compares the staged events, seemingly miraculous, to the miracles claimed by the monks of Hayles Abbey at the display of their relic of the Holy Blood, which would be revealed by reformers to be false ("it is but duckes bloode," 61). Having myself witnessed a showing of a relic of the Holy Blood at Bruges many years ago, I cannot see a direct comparison here. The blood in the Croxton play is not an actual devotional image, but rather is like one, albeit designating a purported fact: the ability of the Eucharist to perform miracles. The chapter ends with the suggestion that the mid-sixteenth-century manuscript of the Play of the Sacrament might have been copied from its fifteenth-century original for a Protestant who wished to show its theatrical "tricks" in order to reveal the deceptions practiced by the Catholic clergy upon the ignorant (63). While this supposition seems highly unlikely to me, it does provide a rationale for including Atkins discussion of this play in her book. The odd placement here of her comments on A Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge (55-59) does also serve to tie her discussion better to the subsequent chapters in which plays by Protestant playwrights and anti-theatricalism are discussed. More pertinent to the Play of the Sacrament is Margaret Aston's convincing argument that "not all illusions were to be equated with delusion" and that spectators "could both revere the miraculous and respect the limitations of physical enactment" (quoted 58). Bale's polemic in his Three Laws and in King Johan is designed to link Roman Catholic ritual with deceptive and delusional play-acting, the perversion of biblical and theological truths, and the subversion of social order and religious values. His views are characterized by psychological splitting, dividing social and personal reality into good (represented by himself and the Protestant faith) and extreme evil (invoking the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, the Devil, and Antichrist). …


Psychoactive drugs are being prescribed to millions of Americans at an increasing rate. In many cases these drugs are necessary in order to overcome debilitating emotional problems. Yet in other instances, these drugs are used to supplant, not supplement, interpersonal therapy. The process of overcoming emotional obstacles by introspection and the attainment of self knowledge is gradually being eroded via the gratuitous use of psychoactive medication in order to rapidly attain a release from the common problems that life inevitably presents us with. In this paper, I argue that Kant's formula of humanity, which maintains that persons ought never to treat others or themselves soley as a means to an end, proscribes this. Moreover, Kant argues that we have an imperfect duty of self development, and I argue that we fail to adhere to such a duty whenever we seek to evade the process of introspection and self knowledge in favour of the expedient results that drugs may provide us with as we attempt to overcome the emotional hurdles in our lives.


Islamic Business Ethics is an important thing in the journey of professional business activity, and shows. There is an independent structure that is separate from other structures. because business ethics in Islam mostly explains the policy and truth both the level of intention and the idea of  behavior, Islam to trade relations. Trading in Islam is now beginning to show its fangs. This is due to the collapse of the capitalist economy due to the global crisis. And in everyday life a person will never be separated from economic activities, especially Islamic economics In practice, Islam recommends that based on Islamic law of Qur'an and sunnah.


In recent years the cerebellum has been attributed amore important role in higher-level functions than previously believed. We examined a cohort of patients suffering from cerebellar atrophy resulting in ataxia, with two main objectives: first to investigate which regions of the cerebrum were affected by the cerebellar degeneration, and second to assess whether diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) metrics within the medial (MCP) and superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP) - namely fractional anisotropy (FA) and radial diffusivity (RD) - could be used as a biomarker in patients with this condition. Structural and dMRI data of seven patients with cerebellar atrophy (2 with spinocerebellar atrophy type 2, 1 with Friedreich's ataxia, 4 with idiopathic cerebellar ataxia) and no visible cortical lesions or cortical atrophy were investigated with Freesurfer and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) of gray matter (GM) as well as MCP and SCP FA maps. Correlations of MCP and SCP mean FA with ataxia scores and subscores were also evaluated. Freesurfer showed that patients had significantly reduced volume of the thalamus, ventral diencephalon and pallidum. VBM also demonstrated significantly lower local GM volumes in patients, notably in the head of the caudate nucleus, posterior cingulate gyrus and orbitofrontal cortex bilaterally, as well as in Broca's area in the left hemisphere, and a significant increase in RD in the MCP and SCP of both hemispheres. A significant correlation was found between MCP mean FA and total ataxia score (R=-0.7, p=0.03), and subscores for kinetic functions (R=-0.74, p=0.03) and oculomotor disorders (R=-0.70, p=0.04). The regions of the cerebrum found to have significantly lower local GM volumes have been described to be involved in higher-level cerebellar functions such as initiation of voluntary movements, emotional control, memory retrieval and general cognition. Our findings corroborate recent research pointing to a more extensive corticocerebellar system than previously thought. The significant difference in the MCP and SCP dMRI metrics between patients and controls as well as the significant correlation with ataxia total score and subscores support the use of dMRI metrics as an imaging biomarker for cerebellar degeneration and ataxia.


Miscanthus is a fast-growing perennial grass that attracts significant attention for its potential application as a feedstock for bioethanol production. This report explores the difference in the lignocellulosic composition of various Miscanthus cultivars, including Miscanthus × giganteus cultivated at the same location (mainly Lincoln, UK). It also assesses the sugar release profiles and mineral composition profiles of five Miscanthus cultivars harvested over a growing period from November 2018 to February 2019. The results showed that Miscanthus × giganteus contains approximately 45.5% cellulose, 29.2% hemicellulose and 23.8% lignin (dry weight, w/w). Other cultivars of Miscanthus also contain high quantities of carbohydrates (cellulose 41.1–46.0%, hemicellulose 24.3–32.6% and lignin 21.4–24.9%). Pre-treatment of Miscanthus using dilute acid followed by enzymatic hydrolysis released 63.7–80.2% of the theoretical glucose content. Fermentation of a hydrolysate of Miscanthus × giganteus using Saccharomyces cerevisiae NCYC2592 produced 13.58 ± 1.11 g/L of ethanol from 35.13 ± 0.46 g/L of glucose, corresponding to a yield of 0.148 g/g dry weight Miscanthus biomass. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the morphology of raw and hydrolysed Miscanthus samples, which provided visual proof of Miscanthus lignocellulose degradation in these processes. The sugar release profile showed that a consequence of Miscanthus plant growth is an increase in difficulty in releasing monosaccharides from the biomass. The potassium, magnesium, sodium, sulphur and phosphorus contents in various Miscanthus cultivars were analysed. The results revealed that these elements were slowly lost from the plants during the latter part of the growing season, for a specific cultivar, until February 2019.


BACKGROUND
Length of hospital stay is an important determinant of overall surgical costs. Health care resources are finite, so reductions in length of stay are desirable. We reviewed our experience with pulmonary lobectomy to identify preoperative and intraoperative factors that predicted the length of postoperative hospital stay. By identifying these factors, we hoped to favorably influence future patient management.

METHODS
Records of patients undergoing pulmonary lobectomy for benign or malignant disease over a four-year period (1998-2001) were reviewed. Data was collected on age, sex, pulmonary function, pulmonary pathology, cigarette smoking, type of thoracotomy incision, use of surgical sealants, surgeon, and length of hospital stay.

RESULTS
Three hundred and sixty patients underwent lobectomy. Forward stepwise regression identified age (p=0.022), FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in one second) (p=0.047), diffusion capacity (p=0.020), and surgeon (p<0.001) as independent factors predictive of hospital length of stay. When these four factors were analyzed in a multiple linear regression model, the surgeon variable emerged as the strongest predictor of length of stay (p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Although patient factors were influential, the individual surgeon was the most important determinant of hospital length of stay after pulmonary lobectomy. It may be possible to reduce length of hospital stay by identifying variations in practice within the surgical group, and encouraging widespread adoption of "best practice" surgical techniques.


A long-standing open problem in the semantics of programming languages supporting probabilistic choice is to find a commutative monad for probability on the category DCPO. In this paper we present three such monads and a general construction for finding even more. We show how to use these monads to provide a sound and adequate denotational semantics for the Probabilistic FixPoint Calculus (PFPC) – a call-by-value simply-typed lambda calculus with mixed-variance recursive types, term recursion and probabilistic choice. We also show that in the special case of continuous dcpo's, all three monads coincide with the valuations monad of Jones, and we fully characterise the induced Eilenberg-Moore categories by showing that they are all isomorphic to the category of continuous Kegelspitzen of Keimel and Plotkin.


Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) and Deterministic Networking (DetNet) are emerging standards to enable deterministic, delay-critical communication in such networks. This naturally (re-)calls attention to the network calculus theory (NC), since a rich set of results for delay guarantee analysis have already been developed there. One could anticipate an immediate adoption of those existing network calculus results to TSN and DetNet. However, the fundamental difference between the traffic specification adopted in TSN and DetNet and those traffic models in NC makes this difficult, let alone that there is a long-standing open challenge in NC. To address them, this paper considers an arrival time function based max-plus NC traffic model. In particular, the mapping between the TSN / DetNet and the NC traffic model is proved. In addition, the superposition property of the arrival time function based NC traffic model is found and proved. Appealingly, the proved superposition property shows a clear analogy with that of a well-known counterpart traffic model in NC. These results help make an important step forward towards the development of a system theory for delay guarantee analysis of TSN / DetNet networks.