The possibility of a highly precise spot marking of those areas of the tissue which are of interest for the investigator of the group and individual cells revealed during the photo-optic investigation of preparations, is of particular importance for their subsequent ultrastructural studies. However, the markers used new for marking photo-optic preparations, whose effect is based on the principle of delineation and of the area concerned, suffer a number of shortcomings, one of them being the impossibility to variate while marking the geometrical form of the mark on the preparation and to apply to it simultaneously more than one mark. In combined photo-optic and electron-microscopy studies of preparations it would be invaluable to apply a highly precise spot marker capable of applying simultaneously to the preparation two marks differing from each other by their geometrical form. In this case, the process of formation of "pyramid" would have been considerably easier for the investigator during the preparation of the specimen for ultratomy. Exactly this kind of a highly precise spot universal marker based on the principle of stamping has been designed and used by the author.


Award in Creative Writing. Student Honor Awardees are selected by the faculty who teach courses in these areas of Liberal Arts and by the Kearse Awards Committee. Twenty-Eighth Kearse Distinguished Lecture Award Ceremony, nomination for Jessica Bryant.


: The Office for Family Practice began in-office graded exercise testing utilizing the Bruce or Balke protocol in March of 1978. Over the past six years approximately 275 graded exercise tests have been done. The purpose of this paper is to outline the indications, results, complications, and follow-up of those patients who have had graded exercise testing done in the office over this six-year period. These results demonstrate (1) the various indications and utilization of a treadmill machine in the family practice office setting, (2) the results of graded exercise testing and complications in those graded exercise tests done in the office in comparison with those reported in the literature done by other health care providers, and (3) the usefulness and applicability of graded exercise testing in the residency training and private practice setting. In addition to the above-collected data, the results of a questionnaire sent to former residents show the benefits of having training in graded exercise testing and also the applicability of this training in their practice settings. The results support the concept that graded exercise testing should be taught in the residency program and that this can be done both safely and effectively in the model office setting.


: Morbidity patterns were studied among female workers engaged in the production of porcelain. The above patterns were found to be related to the worker's occupation and in a lesser measure to her age. The greatest case rate was among those female workers engaged in paint grinding whose work involved the use of organic solvents, with the least one recordable in those engaged in burning operations exposed to radiant heat. Age-related case rate in the group of women of basic occupations was at its highest at ages 30 to 39 years, with the above rate at its lowest in the group within 20 to 24 age bracket, acute respiratory viral infections coming first.


Being one of the most significant technological developments over the past two decades, automated people mover (APM) has many advantages over traditional guideway transit technologies and may be modified to serve future transportation needs. The major problem faced by the technology is its high capital costs, which have become a major obstacle for its further development and wide applications. In this report, capital costs of five urban APM areas are analyzed and compared. Cost comparisons are also made between the urban and airport APM systems. Moreover, a case study of the Miami Metromover extension project with the purpose of identifying and evaluating the effects of various cost contributing factors is developed. Particular consideration is given to the costs associated with guideway and station construction, control and communication systems, vehicles, engineering management, various design issues, construction tolerance and quality control, construction materials and techniques, etc. The cost issue is also examined from the performance and planning perspectives. Costs reduction recommendations are made based on the results of the study.


OBJECTIVE
Sex-determining region Y-box 9 (SOX9) is a transcription factor linked to stem cell maintenance and commonly over-expressed in solid cancers. In the present study, the effects of SOX9 on proliferation and apoptosis of human lung carcinoma cells and its mechanisms were investigated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Following over-expression or knock-down of SOX9 in human lung carcinoma cell line A549, cell viability was evaluated using XTT method, and cell apoptosis was measured by Flow cytometry. Caspase-3, Caspase-8, Caspase-9 and SOX9 expression was measured by RT-PCR, and Wnt, phosphorylated Wnt (p-Wnt) and β-catenin expression was detected by Western Blot.

RESULTS
Results showed that SOX9 expression was elevated in human lung carcinoma cells. Knocking down cellular SOX9 by short hairpin RNA (shRNA) decreased cell proliferation while promoted apoptosis of A549 cells. Furthermore, down-regulation of p-Wnt and β-catenin expression levels was detected in A549 cells lack of SOX9. However, over-expression of SOX9 played the opposite roles in proliferation and apoptosis of human lung carcinoma cells. To further demonstrate the functions of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in SOX9 regulated-cell functions, the inhibitor IWP-2 was used to block the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signal. No significant differences between IWP-2-treated cells and SOX9 plus IWP-2-treated cells suggested the existence of a regulatory role for SOX9 through targeting the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings establish the significance of SOX9 in lung cancer pathobiology and heterogeneity, with implications for targeting the Wnt/β-catenin-SOX9 signaling pathway as a rational therapeutic strategy.


VGF (non-acronymic), belonging to a large granin family, gives rise to a number of bioactive peptides by proteolysis and exert an extensive array of biological effects on energy metabolism, pain modulation, gastric secretion function, reproduction, mood regulation, and, diabetes. Among VGF-derived peptides, TLQP-21 (The first four amino acids, in short TLQP (Thr-Leu-Gln-Pro) generalizes the nomenclature of the peptide by its length) is the most studied although little is known yet about downstream molecular mechanisms of action of VGF-derived peptides like TLQP-21. So here as a preliminary analysis, total protein expression was carried out in addition to the phosphoproteomic study of SH-SY5Y cells treated with TLQP-21, using the same cell extracts. Comparison of simple 1D SDS-PAGE gels stained with SYPRO® Ruby protein gel stain was carried out to assess whether changes in protein expression could be seen even at such low separation resolution. Expression of several proteins most likely Microtubule-associated protein 1B (MW 271 kDa), Tubulin beta chain (MW 57), Tubulin beta-4B chain (MW 50), Alpha-2-macroglobulin (MW 163), etc. in TLQP-21 treated and control samples was found significantly different, indicating that the peptide TLQP-21 exerts biological effects on SH-SY5Y cells. Further studies are required to validate the identity of the modulated proteins, obtained from mass spectrometry. Identification of modulated proteins after TLQP-21 treatment would open new avenues to discover the molecular mechanisms of its physiological and pharmacological state.


arbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a technology for trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and storing them underground before they escape into the atmosphere. The Canadian government wants CCS to be a major part of Canada's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This briefing paper examines some major questions concerning how much CCS will cost, what risks it will entail and its adequacy as a method for mitigating climate change. It warns that investing in CCS cannot be a substitute for adopting serious conservation, efficiency and renewable energy measures.


Abstract. The Paris agreement aims to hold global warming to well below 2 ∘C and
to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 ∘C relative to the pre-industrial
period. Recent estimates based on population growth and intended carbon
emissions from participant countries suggest global warming may exceed this
ambitious target. Here we present glacier volume projections for the end of
this century, under a range of high-end climate change scenarios, defined as
exceeding +2 ∘C global average warming relative to the pre-industrial
period. Glacier volume is modelled by developing an elevation-dependent mass
balance model for the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES). To do
this, we modify JULES to include glaciated and unglaciated surfaces that
can exist at multiple heights within a single grid box. Present-day mass
balance is calibrated by tuning albedo, wind speed, precipitation, and
temperature lapse rates to obtain the best agreement with observed mass
balance profiles. JULES is forced with an ensemble of six Coupled Model
Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models, which were downscaled using
the high-resolution HadGEM3-A atmosphere-only global climate model. The
CMIP5 models use the RCP8.5 climate change scenario and were selected on the
criteria of passing 2 ∘C global average warming during this century. The
ensemble mean volume loss at the end of the century plus or minus 1 standard
deviation is -64±5 % for all glaciers excluding those on the
peripheral of the Antarctic ice sheet. The uncertainty in the multi-model
mean is rather small and caused by the sensitivity of HadGEM3-A to the
boundary conditions supplied by the CMIP5 models. The regions which lose
more than 75 % of their initial volume by the end of the century are
Alaska, western Canada and the US, Iceland, Scandinavia, the Russian Arctic, central
Europe, Caucasus, high-mountain Asia, low latitudes, southern Andes, and New
Zealand. The ensemble mean ice loss expressed in sea level equivalent
contribution is 215.2±21.3 mm. The largest contributors to sea level
rise are Alaska (44.6±1.1 mm), Arctic Canada north and south (34.9±3.0 mm), the Russian Arctic (33.3±4.8 mm), Greenland (20.1±4.4), high-mountain Asia (combined central Asia, South Asia east and west),
(18.0±0.8 mm), southern Andes (14.4±0.1 mm), and Svalbard (17.0±4.6 mm). Including parametric uncertainty in the calibrated mass
balance parameters gives an upper bound global volume loss of 281.1 mm
of sea level equivalent by the end of the century. Such large ice losses will
have inevitable consequences for sea level rise and for water supply in
glacier-fed river systems.


Natural biological hard tissues are nanocomposites of proteins and calcium hydroxyapatite (HAp) with superior strength and bioresorbabilities. Nanometer scale hyroxyapatite is the key material to manufacture bioresorbable bone substitute. An attempt was conducted to synthesis nano-crystalline hydroxyapatite with a hydrothermal chemical method. The prepared nano-crystalline HAp was characterized for its phase purity and nanoscale morphological structure by XRD, TEM and FTIR. The obtained results indicated that hydrothermal synthesized nano-crystalline HAp was pure single phased HAp with a diameter of 20 to 50nm and length range between 50 to 200nm and each HAp particle was observed to be a monocrystal of HAp. It's suggested that hydrothermal treatment may be an effective method to get pure and nice crystallized nano-sized stoichiometric hydroxyapatite.


The method of Graph Cuts converts a Maximum a Posteriori (MAP) inference problem on a Markov Random Field (MRF) into a network flow, which can be solved efficiently. Many computer vision problems can be conveniently cast as an inference task to find most likely labels for pixels. The method is widely used, but computationally burdensome. Prior accelerator attempts have failed to exploit the problem's attractive, maximum available parallelism: push-relabel flow solvers can run in parallel across every pixel. This paper describes the design and implementation of the first pixel-parallel Graph Cuts inference engine. Our prototype implements a 256-pixel tile of an image, implemented as 256 locally-connected pixel processors. A checkerboard scheduling scheme allows for maximum parallelism while avoiding critical data dependencies. A 150MHz implementation on an FPGA can solve a segmentation task in 6 microseconds. We also discuss strategies for extending our prototype to larger "virtual" images that span more than the physical extent of the inference tile. Our model suggests 2–40× speedups compared with previous accelerator experiments. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully functional, pixelparallel accelerator demonstration for Graph Cuts inference.


ABSTRACT After infection by flaviviruses like Zika and West Nile virus, eukaryotic hosts employ the well-conserved endoribonuclease Xrn1 to degrade the viral genomic RNA. Within the 3ʹ untranslated regions, this enzyme encounters intricate Xrn1-resistant structures. This results in the accumulation of subgenomic flaviviral RNAs, an event that improves viral growth and aggravates viral pathogenicity. Xrn1-resistant RNAs have been established throughout the flaviviral genus, but not yet throughout the entire Flaviviridae family. In this work, we use previously determined characteristics of these structures to identify homologous sequences in many members of the genera pegivirus, hepacivirus and pestivirus. We used structural alignment and mutational analyses to establish that these sequences indeed represent Xrn1-resistant RNA and that they employ the general features of the flaviviral xrRNAs, consisting of a double pseudoknot formed by five base-paired regions stitched together by a crucial triple base interaction. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the pestivirus Bungowannah virus produces subgenomic RNA in vivo. Altogether, these results indicate that viruses make use of a universal Xrn1-resistant RNA throughout the Flaviviridae family.


: A biophysical dispersal model was used to simulate hydrodynamic connectivity among canyons located within Australia's southwest marine region using ophiuroid (brittlestars) larvae as a model species. The results show that exchange among canyons in this area is greatly influenced by the Leeuwin Current, transporting larvae in a unidirectional manner around Cape Leeuwin, and continuing eastwards along the Great Australian Bight. Larvae within canyons tend to remain within them; however, if they are transported above the canyon walls, they then have the opportunity to be transported significant distances (thousands of km). Analysis of the variability in connectivity patterns reveals concentrated larval flow near the shelf break, with increasing levels of variability in larval flow leading offshore from the canyons. While the average potential larval flow distance and duration (unweighted by dispersal probability values) between canyons were approximately 550 km and 33 d, respectively, the average realized larval flow distance and duration (weighted by dispersal probability values) were approximately 20 km and 5 d, respec-tively. This study provides the first consideration of larval connectivity among submarine canyons and will help improve management of these features by providing a better understanding of larval movement, transboundary exchange and the potential spread of invasive species.


: When fish increase in size, the size spectrum of ingested prey increases. This observation has led to the impression that the available food resource increases as fish grow. However, it has been proposed that the size spectrum of prey remains the same on a relative scale and, accordingly, that the available biomass of food as a proportion of the predator biomass will not increase. In order to assess the uniformity of relative prey size spectra of herring larvae and their background in larval foraging behaviour, a set of experimental and field investigations has been carried out. In the experiments, 4 size groups of larval herring Clupea harengus L, were studled when preying on 6 slze groups of copepods. Larval swimming and attack behaviour changed with prey size and were related to the ratio between prey length and larval length. The effective search rate showed a maximum when prey length was about 0.027 of larval length. In the field investigations, the relative prey size spectra of 6 size groups of larvae were described. The widths of these spectra were not significantly different and they all attained maxima when the relative length of prey was about 0 028 of larval length. Thus, larval foraging was, to a large extent, determined by the relative size of prey, with s~gnificant selection for the preferred sizes. Results imply that only a restricted part of the potential prey (sizes) is of value in larval foraging and consumption and that coincidence between prey size spectra and peaks in the biomass spectra of the environment is important to larval growth and survival.


PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and severity of incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) and associated factors in acute care settings in Southeast Norway. DESIGN: Descriptive, multisite epidemiologic survey. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: The study setting was 29 wards across 4 hospitals, in a hospital trust in the southeast of Norway. Data were collected from 340 patients (age ≥18 years). More than half (56.2%) were 70 years or older (median age category 70-79 years) and 53.3% were male. METHODS: Data collection was conducted in parallel with a pressure injury prevalence study undertaken in 2016. A modified Pressure Injury Prevalence Minimum Data Set, including documentation of fecal or urinary incontinence, use of indwelling fecal collection system or urinary catheter, and presence of IAD, was completed. RNs participating in the study were trained by the researchers on skin assessment and data extraction from the electronic medical record. Descriptive statistics were used for prevalence figures; the Kruskal-Wallis and &khgr;2 tests were used to determine associated factors. RESULTS: Analysis revealed that 16.5% (56 out of 340) of the sample were incontinent. The prevalence of IAD in the total population was 7.6% (26 out of 340). The prevalence of IAD was 29% (16 out of 56) among patients with urinary or fecal incontinence. Of those identified with IAD, 5.2% (18 out of 340) had category 1 (red intact skin) and 2.4% (8 of 340) had category 2 (red skin with breakdown). Bivariate analysis revealed that fecal incontinence (P < .001), immobility (P < .01), and 70 years or older (P < .03) were associated with IAD. CONCLUSIONS: The overall prevalence (patients with and without incontinence) of IAD was lower than reported in prior studies; frequent use of indwelling urinary catheters and a relatively low prevalence of incontinence may explain this finding. Similar to prior studies, almost 1 in 3 patients who were incontinent suffered from IAD, showing a need for evidence-based guidelines to prevent IAD in hospitalized patients. Findings suggest that particular attention should be given to prevent IAD among patients with fecal incontinence patients, 70 years and older, and those with immobility.


Fibrosarcoma represent a rare group of soft tissue malignancies derived from fibrous connective tissue and immature proliferating fibroblasts or undifferentiated anaplastic spindle cells. It affects patients in the fourth and fifth decade of life. Fibrosarcomas can be classified in subtypes such as low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma (LGFMS) and sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma (SEF), and others. Histological features that overlap between types of fibrosarcomas is well known and reported in the literature. We report the case of a 53-year-old patient who presented a tumor in the axillary fossa, which was initially diagnosed as a solitary fibrous tumor. Due to recurrence of the lesion, as well as the presence of distant metastases, the histological revision considered the diagnosis of breast metaplastic carcinoma, since the tumor expressed the p63 antigen and estrogen and progesterone receptors. Unexpected resistance to chemotherapy motivated the diagnosis re-evaluation, which was due to MUC4 expression and morphological characteristics concluded by a hybrid LGFMS-SEF tumor. The authors call attention to the difficult diagnosis in cases of soft tissue tumors. A broad panel of immunohistochemical research is required as the clinical course is essential to the final diagnosis.


Malaysia has been considered one of the fastest developing country in the entire ASEAN region,
with many parts of the country being urbanised and industrialized. Same can be said for wastewater
treatment facility in Malaysia that has also seen much improvements since the 1950s as the method
of treatment and technologies used now are more advanced and produces a cleaner, more purified
effluent. However, with that being said, presently many of the rural areas in Malaysia lack
complete sewage treatment facilities as many of them are still using outdated treatment methods
such as the septic tank or directly discharging their wastewater into the environment Thus, a
plausible solution would be applying the integrated pilot plant in rural communities for a more
complete sewage treatment facility that is expected to produce effluents that will adhere to the
discharge limits of Standard B in Malaysia. The pilot plant integrates an anoxic tank where the
anoxic condition is achieved by suspending and mixing the wastewater with sludge via the
pumping action of influent wastewater to the bottom of the anoxic tank. Also, aerobic treatment
where organic biodegradation happens in the aeration tank with the help of two rings of fine bubble
diffusers powered by the air compressor.


The antimicrobial activities of Xylopia aethiopica and Syzygium aromaticum extracts on fungi associated with rotting white and water yam was investigated. Diseased and healthy yam species of Dioscorea spp. were obtained from some markets. Fungal isolation was done from the samples using standard procedures. Leaves and fruits of X. aethiopica and S. aromaticum were obtained from the botanical garden, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. Crude aqueous and ethanol extracts of the plants were obtained using standard procedures. After pathogenicity tests, the isolated fungi were cultured on acidified potato dextrose agar (APDA) that were impregnated separately with the leaves and fruits of X. aethiopica and fruits of S. aromaticum extracts at specific concentrations for 10 days. Experimental design was completely randomized design (CRD) with three replicates. Mycelial extension of the fungi was measured daily using a meter rule. Data were subjected to statistical analysis using SAS software. Means separation was done using LSD (DMRT) at P≤0.05. The isolated fungi were identified as Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Penicillium chrysogenum. Pathogenicity test showed that the three fungi caused rotting in the yams. Growth inhibition of the fungi was significantly (P≤0.05) higher with ethanol extracts than aqueous extract. Highest mycelial growth inhibitory effect was recorded in the S. aromaticum fruit ethanol extracts on all the organisms. Likewise, X. aethiopica leaf aqueous extract showed high mycelial growth inhibition on A. fumigatus at 50 and 75% concentrations while X. aethiopica fruit ethanol and aqueous extracts was noted to have inhibitory effects on the growth of A. niger and P. chrysogenum at 50 and 75% concentrations respectively. The in vitro result underscores the antifungal abilities of these plant extracts and is also suggestive of their promising potential in vivo. Further works are underway to examine their antimicrobial potentials in the field.

 Key words: Dioscorea alata, Dioscorea rotundata, postharvest rot, Syzygium aromaticum, Xylopia Aethiopica.


China's relationship with Africa is changing. From what was once a narrative built on the sale of primary commodities, to fuel China's booming economic growth, it is increasingly being defined by an emerging, confident Africa with its own socio-economic and political priorities. Many African countries now want tangible and credible benefits beyond the revenues from natural resource exports. In short, China's relationship with Africa has transformed into one defined by dynamism and African agency, lessening the hold the former previously had.


Thermonuclear bursts from slowly accreting neutron stars (NSs) have proven difficult to detect, yet they are potential probes of the thermal properties of the NS interior. During the first year of a systematic all-sky search for X-ray bursts using the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope we have detected 15 thermonuclear bursts from the NS low-mass X-ray binary 4U 0614+09 when it was accreting at nearly 1% of the Eddington limit. We measured an average burst recurrence time of 12 ± 3 days (68% confidence interval) between 2010 March and 2011 March, classified all bursts as normal duration bursts and placed a lower limit on the recurrence time of long/intermediate bursts of 62 days (95% confidence level). We discuss how observations of thermonuclear bursts in the hard X-ray band compare to pointed soft X-ray observations and quantify such bandpass effects on measurements of burst radiated energy and duration. We put our results for 4U 0614+09 in the context of other bursters and briefly discuss the constraints on ignition models. Interestingly, we find that the burst energies in 4U 0614+09 are on average between those of normal duration bursts and those measured in long/intermediate bursts. Such a continuous distribution in burst energy provides a new observational link between normal and long/intermediate bursts. We suggest that the apparent bimodal distribution that defined normal and long/intermediate duration bursts during the last decade could be due to an observational bias toward detecting only the longest and most energetic bursts from slowly accreting NSs.


The human ability of deep cognitive skills is crucial for the development of various real-world applications that process diverse and abundant user generated input. While recent progress of deep learning and natural language processing have enabled learning system to reach human performance on some benchmarks requiring shallow semantics, such human ability still remains challenging for even modern contextual embedding models, as pointed out by many recent studies [9, 10, 22, 24, 32]. Existing machine comprehension datasets assume sentence-level input, lack of casual or motivational inferences, or can be answered with question-answer bias. Here, we present a challenging novel task, trope detection on films, in an effort to create a situation and behavior understanding for machines. Tropes are frequently used storytelling devices for creative works. Comparing to existing movie tag prediction tasks, tropes are more sophisticated as they can vary widely, from a moral concept to a series of circumstances, and embedded with motivations and cause-and-effects. We introduce a new dataset, Tropes in Movie Synopses (TiMoS), with 5623 movie synopses and 95 different tropes collecting from a Wikipedia-style database, TVTropes. We present a multi-stream comprehension network (MulCom) leveraging multi-level attention of words, sentences, and role relations. Experimental result demonstrates that modern models including BERT contextual embedding, movie tag prediction systems, and relational networks, perform at most 37% of human performance (23.97/64.87) in terms of F1 score. Our MulCom outperforms all modern baselines, by 1.5 to 5.0 F1 score and 1.5 to 3.0 mean of average precision (mAP) score. We also provide a detailed analysis and human evaluation to pave ways for future research.


The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) would have wide-ranging and likely devastating effects on New Zealand's horticultural industries if it were to establish here. This insect has spread rapidly around the world, becoming pestiferous only a few years after detection; therefore, there will be limited time to develop management strategies to prevent damage if viable BMSB populations were to establish in New Zealand. Lures containing BMSB pheromone paired with 92 sticky panels were deployed near transitional facilities and other potentially high-risk entry points in the Auckland, Hawke's Bay and Nelson regions. Traps were monitored fortnightly from November 2018 to April 2019 and all pentatomid species identified and enumerated. No BMSB were captured, but seven other pentatomid species were caught. Numbers and species varied among site, region and date. The phenology of the pentatomids captured supports reports of one to two generations occurring in pipfruitproduction regions depending on growing-degree days. The phenologies of the pentatomid species caught suggest that any control measures for prevention of fruit damage by BMSB would be limited to late summer. A number of recommendations for a BMSB monitoring programme are provided.


Lithium-ion Li-ion batteries are currently considered as vital components for advances in mobile technologies such as those in communications and transport. Nonetheless, Li-ion batteries suffer from temperature rises which sometimes lead to operational damages or may even cause fire. An appropriate solution to control the temperature changes during the operation of Li-ion batteries is to embed batteries inside a paraffin matrix to absorb and dissipate heat. In the present work, we aimed to investigate the possibility of making paraffin nanocomposites for better heat management of a Li-ion battery pack. To fulfill this aim, heat generation during a battery charging/discharging cycles was simulated using Newman's well established electrochemical pseudo-2D model. We couple this model to a 3D heat transfer model to predict the temperature evolution during the battery operation. In the later model, we considered different paraffin nanocomposites structures made by the addition of graphene, carbon nanotubes, and fullerene by assuming the same thermal conductivity for all fillers. This way, our results mainly correlate with the geometry of the fillers. Our results assess the degree of enhancement in heat dissipation of Li-ion batteries through the use of paraffin nanocomposites. Our results may be used as a guide for experimental set-ups to improve the heat management of Li-ion batteries.


In the analysis of microarray data, and in some other contemporary statistical problems, it is not uncommon to apply hypothesis tests in a highly simultaneous way. The number, N say, of tests used can be much larger than the sample sizes, n, to which the tests are applied, yet we wish to calibrate the tests so that the overall level of the simultaneous test is accurate. Often the sampling distribution is quite different for each test, so there may not be an opportunity to combine data across samples. In this setting, how large can N be, as a function of n, before level accuracy becomes poor? Here we answer this question in cases where the statistic under test is of Student's t type. We show that if either the normal or Student t distribution is used for calibration, then the level of the simultaneous test is accurate provided that log N increases at a strictly slower rate than n 1/3 as n diverges. On the other hand, if bootstrap methods are used for calibration, then we may choose log N almost as large as n 1/2 and still achieve asymptotic-level accuracy. The implications of these results are explored both theoretically and numerically.


This paper presents the measurement of the spectrum-averaged cross section (SACS) of 63Cu(n,2n)62Cu reaction in 252Cf spontaneous fission neutron spectrum. The SACS in the 252Cf spectrum was chosen as a validation tool since 252Cf is the only standard neutron field and 62Cu isotope is not easy to measure by gamma spectroscopy since the gamma line of interest is an annihilation peak, which is also produced by 64Cu isotope. Fortunately, contributions to the annihilation peak from these isotopes can be distinguished due to the very different half-lives. SACS was inferred from the experimental reaction rate. The SACS in the 252Cf spontaneous fission neutron field for the 63Cu(n,2n)62Cu reaction was determined as equal to (0.1763 ± 0.0077 mb). This value agrees with value (0.183 ± 0.007) × 10−3 b within uncertainty presented by W. Mannhart. However, it differs by 12.7% from IRDFF-II value, which is equal to (0.19874 ± 8.954 10−3) × 10−3 b. Furthermore, reasonable agreement is not achieved with ENDF/B-VIII.0, JEFF-3.3, CENDL-3.1, ROSFOND-2010, nor JENDL-4.0 nuclear data libraries.


Unsupervised object discovery in images involves uncovering recurring patterns that define objects and discriminates them against the background. This is more challenging than image clustering as the size and the location of the objects are not known: this adds additional degrees of freedom and increases the problem complexity. In this work, we propose StampNet, a novel autoencoding neural network that localizes shapes (objects) over a simple background in images and categorizes them simultaneously. StampNet consists of a discrete latent space that is used to categorize objects and to determine the location of the objects. The object categories are formed during the training, resulting in the discovery of a fixed set of objects. We present a set of experiments that demonstrate that StampNet is able to localize and cluster multiple overlapping shapes with varying complexity including the digits from the MNIST dataset. We also present an application of StampNet in the localization of pedestrians in overhead depth-maps.


Philoteris (the modern name is Watfa) was founded under Ptolemy II in the 3rd century BC, and abandoned in the 4th century AD. A geomagnetic plan of the site in the north-western Fayum Oasis, produced by T. Herbich and his team in 2011–2014, shows water ways and canals around and within the village to allow for a thorough understanding of the water supply of the inhabitants of the village, and the gardens and fields around. An impressive building outside the settlement and well connected to the water canals attracted attention; it turned out to be the only archaeologically attested Gymnasium in Egypt so far. The 2016 campaign focussed on that building and its connection to the water network around.


Toxoplasmosis is a widespread parasitic infection by Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite with at least three distinct clonal lineages. This article reports the whole genome sequencing and de novo assembly of T. gondii RH (type I representative strain), as well as genome-wide comparison across major T. gondii lineages. Genomic DNA was extracted from tachyzoites of T. gondii RH strain and its identity was verified by PCR and LAMP. Subsequently, whole genome sequencing was performed, followed by sequence filtering, genome assembly, gene annotation assignments, clustering of gene orthologs and phylogenetic tree construction. Genome comparison was done with the already archived genomes of T. gondii. From this study, the genome size of T. gondii RH strain was found to be 69.35Mb, with a mean GC content of 52%. The genome shares high similarity to the archived genomes of T. gondii GT1, ME49 and VEG strains. Nevertheless, 111 genes were found to be unique to T. gondii RH strain. Importantly, unique genes annotated to functions that are potentially critical for T. gondii virulence were found, which may explain the unique phenotypes of this particular strain. This report complements the genomic archive of T. gondii. Data obtained from this study contribute to better understanding of T. gondii and serve as a reference for future studies on this parasite.


This investigation is concerned with the performance of tapered roller bearings under a pure thrust load. The design and development of a suitable test rig is described in some detail and the results of friction torque and film thickness measurements are compared with values predicted using recent elasto-hydrodynamic theory. It is shown that the reaction torque on the outer race may be ascribed to two principal sources. Firstly, to viscous rolling friction depending upon the product of speed and viscosity, and secondly to metallic hysteresis depending upon the load. If the maldistribution of load due to small dimensional differences in the rollers, is taken into consideration close agreement is obtained between the experimental and theoretical values of friction torque for a wide range of loads and speeds. At higher loads a third source becomes significant due to sliding between the ends of rollers and the lip of the inner race. A further important effect of the uneven loading of rollers is its influence on the life of a bearing. It is suggested that improved roller matching would result in an increase in bearing life. Measurements of race and cage speeds, taken throughout the investigation failed to detect any cage slip. Electrical resistance measurements made across the races confirm the presence of a lubricant film of a thickness which is consistent with theory. A visual display of the voltage drop indicated that the degree of asperity contact dependedupon the surface finish and the thickness of the oil film. An analysis of the dynamics of the tapered roller bearingshowed that although the geometry leads to a gyroscopic couple acting on the rollers, its magnitude is small and of little practical importance.


Nearly 40% of the more than $270 billion spent on advertising throughout the world occurs in the United States and more than 25% more is spent in Europe (Adler 1996). Both the United States and European Union (EU) have a central government that is the source of marketwide law, as well as numerous states, each with its own individual laws. Although the EU drew on U.S. law when drafting its 1984 Directive on Misleading Advertising, many of its member states have legal traditions predating those of the United States, and they are reluctant to change. The author examines advertising law in both the United States and EU, specifically exploring the law of misleading, comparison, and unfair advertising. Differences between states in each market, the states and central government, and the United States and EU are analyzed to develop implications for both marketers and policy makers.


MANY engineers look upon plastics and allied materials as entirely new to the aircraft industry, but such is not the case. Phenol fibre sheet and resin bonded waterproof plywood have been used for years, and acrylic resin sheet has been in use for transparent enclosures for some time past; yet all come under the above category. The primary difference between the past and present uses of these materials is that they are now used in applications where structural loads are involved, while they were previously used only in non‐stressed parts where special characteristics, such as transparency or insulating qualities, were of paramount importance. If these materials are classified according to their major characteristics they fall into three categories; those made with thermosetting resins, those made with thermoplastic resins, and those made with wood veneer. This classification also in a general way divides them according to their principal uses; thermosetting materials being used mostly in the production of relatively small structural parts, the thermoplastics being used mostly for their transparent properties, and the wood veneer materials being used mostly in relatively large structural parts and assemblies.


A real-time estimation of water distribution system state variables such as nodal pressures and chlorine concentrations can lead to savings in time and money and provide better customer service. While a good knowledge of nodal demands is prerequisite for pressure and water quality prediction, little effort has been placed in real-time demand estimation. This study presents a real-time demand estimation method using field measurement provided by supervisory control and data acquisition systems. For real-time demand estimation, a recursive state estimator based on weighted least-squares scheme and Kalman filter are applied. Furthermore, based on estimated demands, real-time nodal pressures and chlorine concentrations are predicted. The uncertainties in demand estimates and predicted state variables are quantified in terms of confidence limits. The approximate methods such as first-order second-moment analysis and Latin hypercube sampling are used for uncertainty quantification and verified by Monte Carlo simulation. Application to a real network with synthetically generated data gives good demand estimations and reliable predictions of nodal pressure and chlorine concentration. Alternative measurement data sets are compared to assess the value of measurement types for demand estimation. With the defined measurement error magnitudes, pipe flow data are significantly more important than pressure head measurements in estimating demands with a high degree of confidence.


Soil variability in watersheds accounts for the problem of partitioning downstream water quality data and evaluating sources of non-point pollution. This review of previous water quality studies was conducted to examine more closely the influence of soil properties on pollutant export. The approach used in this paper was to start with data from the two largest watersheds (Maumee and Sandusky) and then compare them on a unit area export basis with data from intermediate-size and smaller watersheds. General relationships between pollutant levels at the river mouth and upstream soil conditions are vague and seemingly contradictory at the large-watershed scale. With smaller watersheds, it can be determined that soil texture, slope, and internal drainage are controlling factors for pollutant export. Although Paulding (very-fine, illitic, nonacid, mesic Typic Epiaquept) and Roselms (very-fine, illitic, mesic Aeric Epiaqualf) soils occupy only 5% of the Maumee basin, they generate more than 10 times as much sediment per unit area as the tile-drained Hoytville (fine, illitic, mesic Mollic Epiaqualf) soils that occupy 16% of the Maumee basin. Tile drainage of very poorly drained soils that are formed from either glacial till or silty to sandy lake deposits reduces runoff and increases downward movement of soluble nutrients into tile drains. The assumption that sloping moraine areas are the primary source of pollutants should be reexamined based on this review.


Contentless dreams or white dreams are defined as waking up with the impression of having dreamed but unable to recall any specific dream content. A sample of 69 students completed a dream recall frequency scale, an attitude towards dreams scale, and kept a diary for a two-week period. Comparable to previous home and lab studies, content less dreams are quite common (about one third of the mornings). The number of contentless dreams however did not correlate with dream recall frequency (questionnaire), the number of mornings with successful dream recall, and attitude towards dreams. Thus, the findings indicate that contentless dreams are not simply an intermediate category between successful dream recall and no recall. Future research, e.g., using cueing techniques, is necessary to shed light on the phenomenon of contentless dreams whether these are simply forgotten dreams (due to interferences) or a minimal form of conscious experiences during sleep.


In recent years, cathode interfacial layers (CILs), as versatile functional layers, have been extensively investigated for use in organic electronics. Many excellent CILs have been designed and prepared, and these have provided a distinct improvement in device performance. In this study, two bathophenanthroline-based cationic CILs (Bphen-Et and Bphen-Pr) were synthesized via a simple intramolecular cyclization reaction with 1,2-dibromoethane and 1,3-dibromopropane, respectively, for use in polymer solar cells (PSCs), and their chemical, thermal, photophysical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties were characterized. Bphen-Et and Bphen-Pr exhibited high thermal stability, and their glass transition temperatures exceeded 100 °C. Additionally, Bphen-Et has a glass transition temperature above 181 °C. The electrochemical characterization shows that Bphen-Et and Bphen-Pr have very deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels, where the HOMOs and LUMOs of Bphen-Et and Bphen-Pr are −6.63 and −6.67 and −4.16 and −4.18 eV, respectively. These very low HOMOs and LUMOs enhance the photovoltaic performance and decrease interfacial energy loss. The PSCs based on the poly[4,8-bis(2-ethylhexyloxyl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithio-phene-2,6-diyl-alt-ethylhexyl-3-fluorothithieno[3,4-b]thiophene-2-carboxylate-4,6-diyl] (PTB7): [6,6]-phenyl-C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) system with Bphen-Et and Bphen-Pr CILs exhibit simultaneous enhancement in open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density, and fill factor, and their power conversion efficiency increases from 3.98% to 8.05%, relative to that of the bare Al device. This type of cationic aromatic compound shows promise as a candidate CIL for use in PSCs.


HIV infections show great variation in the rate of progression to disease, and the role of viral genetic factors in this variation had remained poorly characterized until recently. Now a series of four studies [1–4] published within a year has filled this important gap and has demonstrated a robust effect of the viral genotype on HIV virulence.


Gut-resident T cells morph into disease-causing natural killer (NK)-like cells during Celiac disease (CD), according to Meresse and colleagues on page 1343.

For people with CD, dietary gluten is the enemy. Gluten consumption somehow stresses the epithelial lining of the gut and triggers the activation of gluten-specific CD4+ T cells. CD8+ cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in the gut also expand during CD, but their role in disease is less clear.

Meresse and colleagues now show that gut CTLs from patients with CD express high levels of the activating NK cell receptor NKG2C, which is typically expressed only by NK cells. Binding of NKG2C by its receptor HLA-E (which was expressed on diseased gut epithelium) caused the CTLs to kill NK target cell lines, proliferate, and produce interferon (IFN)-γ—all in the absence of T cell receptor (TCR) ligation. In short, it caused them to act like NK cells.

This induction of NKG2C on gut CTLs might free them from their normal TCR-mediated activation constraints, thus unleashing them on gluten-stressed gut cells. NKG2C+ CTLs from patients with CD showed that these cells—but not normal CTLs—also expressed other activating NK cell receptors, suggesting that the cells get reprogrammed during CD.

Why would the immune system de-evolve antigen-restricted CTLs into indiscriminate killers? The authors speculate that this may have developed to help clear local infections, as NK cells have a hard time penetrating tissues, but that the process is taken to the extreme during CD.


RefWorks is a web-based tool to manage references and research. The resources can be manually entered or exported from EagleSearch. It also coordinates with Microsoft Word to make citing papers and creating bibliographies easier.


Demineralised bone matrix (DBM) products are complex mixtures of proteins known to influence bone growth, turnover, and repair. They are used extensively in orthopaedic surgery, and are bioassayed in vivo prior to being used in clinical applications. Many factors contribute to the osteogenic potency of DBM, but the relative contributions of these factors, as well as the possibility of interactive effects, are not completely defined. The "gold standard" measure of the therapeutic value of DBM, the in vivo assay for ectopic bone formation, is costly, time-consuming, and involves the use of numerous animal subjects. We have measured the levels of five growth factors released by the collagenase digestion of DBM, and statistically related these levels with osteogenic potency as determined by a standard in vivo model, in order to determine which value or combination of values of growth factors best predict osteogenic activity. We conclude that the level of BMP-2 is the best single predictor of osteogenic potency, and that adding the values of other growth factors only minimally increases the predictive power of the BMP-2 measurement. A small, but significant, interactive effect between BMP-2 and BMP-7 was demonstrated. We present a statistical model based on growth factor (e.g. BMP-2) analysis that best predicts the in vivo assay score for DBM. This model allows the investigator to predict which lots of DBM are likely to exhibit in vivo bioactivity and which are not, thus reducing the need to conduct in vivo testing of insufficiently active lots of DBM. This model uses cut-point analysis to allow the user to assign an estimate of acceptable uncertainty with respect to the "gold standard" test. This procedure will significantly reduce the number of animal subjects used to test DBM products.


Pattern recognition is the research area of Artificial Intelligence that studies the operation and design of systems that recognize patterns in the data. Important application areas are image analysis, character recognition, fingerprint classification, speech analysis, DNA sequence identification, man and machine diagnostics, person identification and industrial inspection. The interest in improving the classification systems of data analysis is independent from the context of applications. In fact, in many studies it is often the case to have to recognize and to distinguish groups of various objects, which requires the need for valid instruments capable to perform this task. The objective of this article is to show several methodologies of Artificial Intelligence for data classification applied to biomedical patterns. In particular, this work deals with the realization of a Computer-Aided Detection system (CADe) that is able to assist the radiologist in identifying types of mammary tumor lesions. As an additional biomedical application of the classification systems, we present a study conducted on blood samples which shows how these methods may help to distinguish between carriers of Thalassemia (or Mediterranean Anaemia) and healthy subjects. Keywords—Computer Aided Detection, mammary tumor, pattern recognition, thalassemia.


In response to the pressing need to psychologically empower people with mobility challenges (PwMC) to travel, this study proposes the facilitation of self-determined travel motivations as a promising approach. The variation of self-determined travel facilitation across different challenge levels is examined through a quasi-experimental design and analyzed with a new test of moderated mediation based on Hayes' (2015a) model. The results indicate that for PwMC with significant travel challenge levels, the tourism industry should prioritize the cultivation of intrinsic travel motivations and perceived travel competence satisfaction over less-autonomous motivation dimensions and satisfaction of alternative psychological needs. Such cross-context exploration extends self-determination theory with a new moderator of challenge levels. The adopted new analysis of moderated mediations is competitive regarding accuracy, efficiency, and robustness for less-controlled, real-world tourism experiments. Results can also guide the customization of motivational programs for different PwMC to maximize the effectiveness of psychological empowerment for travel.


Numerous commercial and non-commercial nuclear medicine imaging phantoms are used for quality assurance studies, teaching, training, and research. Commercially available phantoms are sometimes not applicable in specific medical studies. As non-commercial phantoms are not easily accessible, many researchers have chosen to construct their own distinct phantom. This thesis describes the design, development and characteristics of a novel anatomical lung phantom. The phantom was uniquely developed to model perfusion conditions of patients with suspected pulmonary emboli. Two imaging modalities were chosen in this study: planar imaging and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) imaging. Applications of the phantom as a quality assurance (QA) device and as a training and teaching tool were studied. The phantom was used as a QA tool to compare the interpretations of Nuclear Medicine physicians on lung perfusion and ventilations
scans using the revised Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis (PIOPED) criteria. The studies showed both the correct and incorrect diagnosis of pulmonary embolism by the physicians. A comprehensive lung perfusion imaging atlas is also included in the thesis. A close ended Likert-scale survey was carried out to study the significance of the imaging atlas to Nuclear Medicine physicians. Nuclear Medicine physicians acknowledged the ability of the atlas to help in training new Nuclear Medicine physicians. The atlas was classified as an adequate teaching material for the physicians who are developing experience to diagnose lung perfusion and ventilation scans. In summary, the thesis demonstrates an original contribution to the nuclear medicine imaging field through the development of the novel anatomical lung phantom.


Thomas Kuhn's model of the structure of scientific procedure is outlined and applied to salient aspects of recent psychopharmacological research into the bioneural substrates of the affective disorders. It is argued that the amine hypotheses of these disorders are irrefutable in practice although not in principle and that their survival despite a lack of convincing supporting evidence and dis-proof of their initial premises suggests that they serve a paradigmatic function and that the core of this paradigm is psychological in nature rather than neurobiological. An attempt is made to show how an awareness of such functions may help explain otherwise puzzling features of the literature on the psychopharmacology of the affective disorders. Such an awareness may also help to indicate the steps necessary to replace the amine hypotheses or the likely future prospects for these hypotheses.


[1] Satellite imagery reveals that a series of large icebergs (B15B in April 2001, C19 in June 2003, and B15A in October 2005) broke up or fractured while exiting the Ross Sea in a narrowly defined area off Cape Adare, Antarctica. Examination of recent swath-mapped bathymetric observations revealed that the principle agent of these breakups is a previously unknown 9 km long ridge with minimum depths of 215 m that we call Davey Shoal. Satellite imagery shows that the icebergs are driven into the shoal by coastal currents that converge over the narrow continental shelf. One of the icebergs, the 120 km by 30 km B15A, was instrumented with a seismograph, GPS, and fluxgate compass. This instrumentation provided a unique opportunity to establish the details of the iceberg kinematics that were not revealed by satellite imagery alone and to correlate seismic events observed both on the iceberg and in the far field during breakup. B15A fractured from multiple strikes against Davey Shoal and the adjacent Possession Islands; these strikes were driven by the combination of tidal currents and the coastal mean flow. The periods of iceberg-sourced seismic radiation were correlated with the strikes. The iceberg- and land-based seismic signals showed that the iceberg fracture, its sliding across the shoals, and the ice-on-ice stick-slip contacts among the postbreakup iceberg fragments generated the strong chaotic and harmonic tremor episodes that were observed at distances as far as the South Pole, where these signals propagated as seismically coupled hydroacoustic T phases.


Abstract. The limits to atmospheric pollutant concentration set by the European Commission provide a challenging target for the municipalities in the Po Valley, because of the characteristic climatic conditions and high population density of this region. In order to assess climatology and trends in the concentration of atmospheric particles in the Po Valley, a data set of PM10 data from 41 sites across the Po Valley have been analysed, including both traffic and background sites (either urban, suburban or rural). Of these 41 sites, 18 with 10 yr or longer record have been analysed for long-term trend in deseasonalized monthly means, in annual quantiles and in monthly frequency distribution. A widespread significant decreasing trend has been observed at most sites, up to a few percent per year, by a generalized least squares and Theil–Sen method. All 41 sites have been tested for significant weekly periodicity by Kruskal–Wallis test for mean anomalies and by Wilcoxon test for weekend effect magnitude. A significant weekly periodicity has been observed for most PM10 series, particularly in summer and ascribed mainly to anthropic particulate emissions. A cluster analysis has been applied in order to highlight stations sharing similar pollution conditions over the reference period. Five clusters have been found, two encompassing the metropolitan areas of Turin and Milan and their respective nearby sites and the other three clusters gathering northeast, northwest and central Po Valley sites respectively. Finally, the observed trends in atmospheric PM10 have been compared to trends in provincial emissions of particulates and PM precursors, and analysed along with data on vehicular fleet age, composition and fuel sales. A significant basin-wide drop in emissions occurred for gaseous pollutants, contrarily to emissions of PM10 and PM2.5, whose drop was low and restricted to a few provinces. It is not clear whether the decrease for only gaseous emissions is sufficient to explain the observed drop in atmospheric PM10, or if the low drop in particulate emissions is indeed due to the uncertainty in the emission inventory data for this species.


Friction joining techniques, such as Friction Stir Spot Welding (FSSW) and high power Ultrasonic Welding (USW), could offer a solution for joining dissimilar materials combinations, such as aluminium (Al) to magnesium (Mg), where high intermetallic reaction rates make the use of conventional joining techniques problematic. Ultrasonic welds have been produced between 1 mm gauge Al 6111-T4 and Mg AZ31-H24 sheets, and the interfacial reaction has been studied as a function of welding time. For this welding system, the mechanical properties of the joints were optimised when a double reed welding system was employed to join materials that had been prepared using 800 grit SiC paper under a clamping force of 1.9 kN, and when the materials were oriented with the rolling direction parallel to the vibration direction. Welds produced between Al and Mg achieved similar peak lap shear strengths to those produced between Mg and Mg at welding times of 0.4 s, but the failure energy of the Al-Mg welds was less than half that of the parent material. In addition, the Al-Mg welds always failed at the interface between the sheets, rather than the desirable, and more energy intensive, pullout mechanism. The inferior mechanical properties were attributed to the rapid formation of a brittle intermetallic layer that initially formed as islands of the ?-Al12Mg17 phase. These islands rapidly spread and became continuous within 0.3 s of welding time, at which point a second sublayer of the ?-Al3Mg2 phase began to form on the Al side of the intermetallic reaction layer. The combined layers reached a total thickness of 20 �m within 0.9 s of welding time, with the ?-Al3Mg2 sublayer becoming the thicker of the two by this point. At longer welding times, interface liquation was observed at temperatures below the recognised lowest temperature eutectic reaction in the Al-Mg binary phase diagram. This was the result of the alloying elements present in the system and there was no depression in the melting point as a result of the high strain rate associated with this process, as has been proposed elsewhere. The rate of growth of the intermetallic layer during welding was higher than in static heat treatments, which was most likely due to the deformation causing microcracking in the brittle intermetallic layer, allowing short circuit diffusion to occur, and enhancing the growth rate by a factor of approximately 2. Finally, attempts were made to limit the rate of intermetallic compound (IMC) formation by applying coatings to the Mg sheet. The effect of the coatings was to reduce the overall IMC layer thickness by 50 %.


MBP-1 acts as a general transcriptional repressor. Overexpression of MBP-1 induces cell death in a number of cancer cells and regresses tumor growth. However, the function of endogenous MBP-1 in normal cell growth regulation remains unknown. To unravel the role of endogenous MBP-1, we knocked down MBP-1 expression in primary human foreskin fibroblasts (HFF) by RNA interference. Knockdown of MBP-1 in HFF (HFF-MBPsi-4) resulted in an induction of premature senescence, displayed flattened cell morphology, and increased senescence-associated beta-galactosidase activity. FACS analysis of HFF-MBPsi-4 revealed accumulation of a high number of cells in the G1-phase. A significant upregulation of cyclin D1 and reduction of cyclin A was detected in HFF-MBPsi-4 as compared to control HFF. Senescent fibroblasts exhibited enhanced expression of phosphorylated and acetylated p53, and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p21. Further analysis suggested that promyolocytic leukemia protein (PML) bodies are dramatically increased in HFF-MBPsi-4. Together, these results demonstrated that knockdown of endogenous MBP-1 is involved in cellular senescence of HFF through p53-p21 pathway.


THE incidence of biliary tract disease appears significantly greater among American Indians than among Caucasians 1,2 and has been called the Southwestern American Indians' burden. 3 However, there has been no report in the literature adequately reviewing the surgical treatment of these patients. In order to better view biliary surgery in the Southwestern American Indian as compared to surgical treatment among Caucasians, the present study was undertaken. Material The US Public Health Service Indian Hospital, Gallup, NM, has been in operation for six years. Three years were selected at random for study and all gallbladder surgery was reviewed from this period. Two hundred and forty-nine biliary tract procedures were performed on 237 patients. This represented 26.3% of the 946 major operations done on the general surgical service. One hundred and eighty-eight of these patients were Navajo, while the remainder were Zuni, Hopi, Apache, and Laguna. There were 59 men—average age


The potential use of waste cashew nut shell (CNS) ash as a source for potash production was investigated in this study. Managing waste ash generated from cashew nut processing is a major challenge, as land filling and open dumping of the waste ashes have been the main options in management of the ash in Nigeria. Economically viable ways of using waste ash rather than having to dispose of it have to be investigated. The CNS was air-dried for 4 weeks and combusted to ashes; the resulting ash was extracted with water for its potash content. Some parameters of the CNS, including moisture, dry matter, and ash content, were determined. Potash yield obtained was 33.4% of 150 g CNS ash used; analysis of the potash gave it a percentage purity of 78%, while purity on recrystalization increased to 86%. Potash yield from CNS ash was comparable to those reported for wood ash, plantain peels, and other agro-wastes. Also, the results showed that the CNS shared similar lignocellulosic properties and characteristics with hardwood biomass.


The aim of this study was to standardize the transtracheal technique to collect the broncoalveolar lavage fluid without broncoscopy and to determine the normal cytologic and microbiologic findings of the lower respiratory tract wash, in healthy dogs. Thirty adult dogs (12 males and 18 females), age from one to eight years old, were submitted to sedation in order to permit the bronchoalveolar lavage. Bacterial and fungal microorganisms were isolated in 46.67% and 16.67 % of the lavage samples, respectively. In 43.3% out of the samples were isolated two or more microorganisms. Mean and standard deviation of colony-forming units (CFU)/ml were 21540±55298 and 13.33±43.4 for bacterial and fungal organisms, respectively. In cytological evaluation, alveolar macrophage was the predominant cell. Small amounts of neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils, epithelial cells and bacteria were observed, besides positive correlation between macrophage score and bacteria CFU. The technique was adequated and showed wide margin of security.


Currently this approach is moving forward to an integrated architectural design process by the influence of developing technologies. The idea that design, Abstract: Depending on population growth in major cities, in our country, the importance of the concept of mass housing has been increasing. Also the studies for solution of the problem haven't been both able to meet the needs of the users and to provide uniqueness, variety and flexibility in terms of the design. However, Cellular Automata (CA), one of rapidly evolving digital design approaches, has some potential (neighborhoods, simplicity-complexity, relations form-function and self-organizations etc.) for solution of this problem. In this study, with a protocol consisting of integration of Cellular Automata rules and the approach of "Reflection in Action", a model taking care of user participation for mass customized housing is presented with a digital approach. In this model developed by scripts of 3DS Max software, design of the site plan, organization of floor plans according to the user preferences and facade design is included. Besides, neighborhoods of the housing blocks in a site plan, relations of spatial units with each other's and cantilevers and setbacks in the facade design are organized by CA rules. This model proposal has been tested by using user scenarios in a site plan. Especially, the outcomes which offer rich alternatives for the floor plans and facade solutions of the generated blocks in a very short time have been obtained. Results of the study have been discussed from the point of view of innovative architecture.


Tobacco and alcohol consumption are known predisposing factors to the development of oral cancer, though the mechanism by which they act is unclear. The density of Langerhans cells (LC) has been shown to decrease in the uterine cervix of smokers, possibly indicating reduced immune surveillance and increased risk of malignant change. This study examined biopsies of normal human lateral border of tongue taken from 41 necropsies whose histories of tobacco and alcohol consumption were known. LC were identified in fixed, wax-embedded sections using a monoclonal antibody to HLADR and an immunoperoxidase technique. The mean density of LC in smokers of the equivalent of 11 or more cigarettes daily was significantly higher than moderate and non-smokers when counts were expressed per mm epithelial surface and basement membrane length. There were no significant differences in LC numbers in relation to alcohol consumption, age or sex, but there was a significant interaction between tobacco and alcohol. The results suggest that either human oral LC respond to external toxins, or that physical changes in the epithelial barrier induced by such toxins necessitate the presence of more LC to maintain the integrity of the epithelium.


The IEEE has established the standardization group 802.15.7r1 "Short Range Optical Wireless Communications", which is currently in the process of developing a standard for visible light communication (VLC). As with any other communication system, realistic channel models are of critical importance for VLC system design, performance evaluation, and testing. This article presents the reference channel models that were endorsed by the IEEE 802.15.7r1 Task Group for evaluation of VLC system proposals. These were developed for typical indoor environments, including home, office, and manufacturing cells. While highlighting the channel models, we further discuss physical layer techniques potentially considered for IEEE 802.15.7r1.


ABSTRACT Nisga'a writer Jordan Abel created Un/inhabited by rearranging and deleting large swathes of ninety-one western novels. Unsurprisingly, then, this poem is largely interpreted as an invitation to readers to join Abel in critically examining the colonial mindset underpinning the western genre. While this alone makes the poem a valuable resource in literary studies classrooms, I look beyond what readings Un/inhabited creates the conditions for to ask what reading practices it affords. The poem's experimental form presents a challenge to readers as it resists attempts to read using conventional strategies. Taking a cue from the book's title, I ask what happens when readers enter the space of the poem as reader-discoverers, and how they can be helped to engage with it in meaningful ways. Guided by Abel's decolonial poetics and his play on the metaphor of text as landscape, I draw on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's theories of nomadology and smooth, striated, and holey space to suggest that Un/inhabited's own spaces invite anti-settler, nomadic modes of reading. These render texts porous, undermining their capacity to determine the shape of the worlds they narrate. Approaching texts in this way enables readers to shift from passive recipients of information to world shapers.


In much of the work on Pentecostalism and development to date, Pentecostals have been considered as individual, adult converts adopting new (in contrast to traditional) socioeconomic approaches. These are seen by some authors as having transformative results for personal wellbeing and economic success as they are no longer subject to the restrictions of state, nation and society; others present opposite conclusions. As an alternative point of departure, this article considers that Charismatic, Pentecostal Christianity has been of great importance in the creation and evolution of Kenya as a state and nation. This understanding is used to illuminate the themes that dominated the country's general election of 2013 and its developmental ramifications. It is suggested that exploring Pentecostalism at the level of nation and state, while continuing to allow for the importance of conceptions of personal responsibility, offers an additional and complimentary approach for exploring Pentecostalism and development.


Shaped porous ceramics have proven to be the most adapted materials for several industrial applications, both at low and high temperatures. Recent research has been focused on developing shaping techniques, allowing for a better control over the total porosity and the pores characteristics. In this study, macroporous alumina foams were fabricated by gel-casting using pre-expanded polymeric microspheres with average sizes of 40 μm, 20 μm, and 12 μm as sacrificial templates. The gel-casting method, as well as the drying, debinding, and presintering conditions were investigated and optimized to process mechanically strong and highly porous alumina scaffolds. Furthermore, a reliable model relating the amount of pre-expanded polymeric microspheres and the total porosity of the presintered foams was developed and validated by mercury intrusion porosimetry measurements. The electron microscopy investigation of the presintered foams revealed that the size distribution and the shape of the pores could be tailored by controlling the particle size distribution and the shape of the wet pre-expanded microspheres. Highly uniform and mechanically stable alumina foams with bimodal porosity ranging from 65.7 to 80.2 vol. % were processed, achieving compressive strengths from 3.3 MPa to 43.6 MPa. Given the relatively open pore structure, the pore size distribution, the presintered mechanical strength, and the high porosity achieved, the produced alumina foams could potentially be used as support structures for separation, catalytic, and filtration applications.


Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have recently emerged as promising targets for anticancer drug discovery. Constitutively elevated levels of cellular oxidative stress and dependence on mitogenic and anti-apoptotic ROS signaling represent a specific vulnerability of malignant cells that can be selectively targeted by novel pro- and antioxidant redox chemotherapeutics. This review discusses small-molecule anticancer redox drugs currently in various phases of preclinical and clinical development that are characterized by their unique mechanism of action, including small-molecule superoxide dismutase and catalase mimetics, bioreductively activated pro-oxidant redox catalysts, metal-based pro-oxidants, hypoxia-selective free radical precursors, and specific antagonists of the cancer cell antioxidant glutathione or thioredoxin redox systems. Based on ongoing redox biomarker discovery and validation, future redox phenotyping and genotyping may guide the selection of novel redox chemotherapeutics that efficiently target the redox Achilles heel of the individual tumor.


The later half of the twentieth century has been witness to the transformation of the turnover and sales taxes to value added taxes (VAT). This trend which began in France in 1954 has been emulated with success in both the developed and developing countries and also at supra-national levels such as the EC-VAT. The assistance offered by IMF to a number of developing countries in designing and set-up their indirect tax structures on a VAT model has only reinvigorated this shift. India's tryst with VAT is no different story. The shift to VAT from sales tax has so far done well, both for the States and industry on the counts of rising collections and smoothening of interface respectively. The positive feedback from this successful transition has not only aggravated the strength of the factors fuelling the reform drive but also accentuated the movement towards redefining of the indirect tax landscape on a broader scale in its quest for simplification and harmonization. The carvings for a comprehensive tax on goods and service are, however, not new. With the introduction of 'Service Tax' in 1994, cross-linking of the credit mechanism between taxes on goods and services became inevitable to avoid the fallouts of cascading effect and double taxation thereon. Though there has been a partial alignment on that front under the 'CENVAT Credit Rules', the existing rules are limited in scope as they cover only the duties of excise. The taxes on sale of goods being beyond their coverage and in the absence of a mechanism for availability of credit across different State taxes, the citizens not only end up paying tax on tax but also have to bear its inflationary ramifications. The intent of merge the major indirect taxes (State level VAT, excise duty and service tax) into a generic 'Goods and Service Tax' (GST) was expressed by the Government in 2006 and international commitments were also made. A lot of water has flown since the assertion of this intent – the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers has undertaken to design the GST Model with similar work also undertaken by the Finance Commission independently. To set the foundation for legislative functioning, a Constitutional Amendment Bill has also been introduced in the Parliament. In this backdrop the author has attempted to sketch the Indian indirect tax paradigm necessitating the transition and provide a basic framework for understanding the GST design. The underlying objective is collate the various issues and aspects facing the GST and thus this paper serves as a backgrounder to bring in context the current status of GST in India.


Antibodies are indispensable tools used for a large number of applications in both foundational and translational bioscience research; however, there are drawbacks to using traditional antibodies generated in animals. These include a lack of standardization leading to problems with reproducibility, high costs of antibodies purchased from commercial sources, and ethical concerns regarding the large number of animals used to generate antibodies. To address these issues, we have developed practical methodologies and tools for generating low-cost, high-yield preparations of recombinant monoclonal antibodies and antibody fragments directed to protein epitopes from primary sequences. We describe these methods here, as well as approaches to diversify monoclonal antibodies, including customization of antibody species specificity, generation of genetically encoded small antibody fragments, and conversion of single chain antibody fragments (e.g. scFv) into full-length, bivalent antibodies. This study focuses on antibodies directed to epitopes important for mitotic cell division; however, the methods and reagents described here are applicable to antibodies and antibody fragments for use in any field.


This work in progress focuses describing the work being carried out at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (CUAS) as a collaborative work around online electronics laboratories together with BHT, Sweden and MIT, USA to integrate two different and well known online lab architectures so that users are not limited to the availability of one or the other. These platforms are VISIR (Virtual Systems in Reality) and the iLab Shared Architecture (ISA). While VISIR delivers, among others, electronics experiments in a highly flexible online workbench where circuits can be built and tested in a similar way as in traditional hands on laboratories, ISA focuses in providing mechanisms for sharing online laboratories in a distributed Web services based architecture by managing lab session scheduling and maintenance while a experiment is executed. Opening VISIR based labs to use the standard online lab support services provided by the ISA brings several advantages to both sides.


BACKGROUND
Disease-specific mortality is a consensus endpoint in cancer screening trials. New liquid biopsy-based screening tests, including multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests, are creating a need to reduce the typically lengthy screening trial process. Endpoints based on the reduction in late-stage disease (stage shift) have been proposed but it is unclear how well they predict the impact of screening on disease-specific mortality across a variety of cancers potentially detectable by MCED tests.

METHODS
We develop a mathematical formulation relating the reduction in late-stage cancer to the expected reduction in disease-specific mortality if cases diagnosed early via screening receive a corresponding shift in mortality. We investigate the similarity between the expected mortality reduction and the observed mortality reduction in published trials of screening for breast, lung, ovarian, and prostate cancer.

RESULTS
The expected mortality reduction for a given stage shift varies significantly depending on cancer- and stage-specific survival distributions, with some cancer types showing little possibility for mortality improvement even under substantial stage shift. The expected mortality reduction fails to consistently match the mortality outcomes of published trials.

CONCLUSIONS
In MCED, any mortality benefit is likely to vary substantially across target cancers. Stage shift does not appear to be a reliable basis for inference about mortality reduction across cancers potentially detectable by MCED tests.

IMPACT
Stage shift may be an appealing endpoint for evaluation of cancer screening tests but it appears to be an unreliable predictor of mortality benefit; further, the same stage shift can mean different things for different cancers.


This rapid review synthesises findings from rigorous academic, practitioner, and policy references published in the past fifteen years that discuss the prevalence of the worst forms of child labour. Globally, children are routinely engaged in paid and unpaid forms of work that are considered not harmful to them. They are classified as child labourers when they are either too young to work or are involved in hazardous activities that may compromise their physical, mental, social or educational development. According to the International Labour Organisation (IPEC, 2013: 7) the term "child labour" is a subset of "children in employment", it includes all children in employment 5-11 years of age; excludes those in the 12-14 year age group engaged in "permissible light work"; and, from among the 15-17-year-olds, includes only those in hazardous work or other worst forms of child labour.


abstract:StellarScape is an immersive multimedia performance synthesizing music, science, visual art, and technology. The performance includes live musicians, sensors, electronic music, and dance, all collaborating through interactive cinematography. The result combines kinesthetic and acoustic sensing with astrophysical simulations of star formation in real time. This convergence research collaboration is catalyzed by the union of concepts at the confluence of astronomy, humanity, artistic expression through music and dance, and sociotechnical experience. This article summarizes the authors' motivation for undertaking the project, the interdisciplinary collaboration required to execute it, the authors' goals for the audience experience, early results of the first performances, and ways the piece can be delivered in the future for entertainment, outreach, and education.


Background: The aim is to determine the pattern of cytokines secretion by assessing interleukins (IL-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 146 consecutive (54 males and 92 females) sputum positive for tuberculosis and 38 apparently healthy age- and sex-matched sputum negative for tuberculosis as control were recruited between May 2016 and June 2017. A volume of 5 mL of blood samples was collected for the determination of serum IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α using the ELISA method. Results: There was a higher cytokine mean ± standard error of the mean for tuberculosis subjects (95.77 ± 6.68 pg/mL; 107.54 ± 14.76 pg/mL, 122.09 ± 16.55 pg/ml) and controls (79.88 ± 3.53 pg/ml; 78.35 ± 6.82 pg/ml; 94.11 ± 14.08 pg/ml) for interleukin-1, interleukin-6, and TNF-α, respectively, when compared. There was strong correlation between mean values of IL-6 and TNF-α (r = 0.72315, P < 0.05). There was significance difference (P < 0.05) observed in the mean serum concentrations of cytokines among the genders (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The study revealed that IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α are important biological markers for tuberculosis disease.


Understanding how the nanoparticles influence flow behavior of nanofluids is important for revealing mechanism of heat transfer enhancement by using nanofluids. The aim of this work was to study the microscopic change in base fluid and micro-motion of nanoparticles due to Brownian motion by molecular dynamics simulation. The present work established shearing flow simulation models considering different shapes of nanoparticles. Velocity distribution and number density distribution of fluid, and angular velocity components and translational velocity components of nanoparticles were statistically analyzed. The results of velocity distribution and number density distribution showed that adding nanoparticles reduces flow boundary layer and causes uneven distribution of mass; and the results for angular velocity components and translational velocity components of nanoparticles showed that nanoparticles rotate fast in the fluid, and vibrate irregularly. The present study suggests that adding nanoparticles causes microscopic change for base fluid including reducing thickness of flow boundary layer and uneven density distribution in fluid. In addition, the micro-motions of nanoparticles including rotation and vibration due to Brownian motion strengthen micro-flow effect and momentum transfer in nanofluids. Furthermore, by comparing motion behaviors of nanoparticles in different shapes the present work reveals that shapes of nanoparticles influence deeply flow behavior of nanofluids.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Sense of coherence is the perception of the world as coherent. Its conceptual similarities to the Big Five personality traits have been demonstrated. We therefore investigated the relationship between sense of coherence and the Big Five. In total, 1088 Japanese youths completed the 29-item Sense of Coherence Scale and the Ten-Item Personality Inventory. Neuroticism was negatively correlated and extraversion was positively correlated with comprehensibility (r = −.47, .35), manageability (r = −.44, .26), and meaningfulness (r = −.28, .30). These correlations were strong, and the overlap between the two scales was about 36 percent. While the Big Five are related to sense of coherence, their differences cannot be ignored.


Summary after evaluating approaches proposed, over the last few years, by several authors, to make the procedure of adenoidectomy safer and more accurate, we have developed a new procedure based on the combined use of a rigid 70° endoscope with a video attachment and a microdebrider, both introduced through the oral cavity. This procedure offers several advantages: an improved field of vision, continuous suction of blood, and extreme precision in removing the adenoid tissue. Compared with current prac tices which employ the adenotome or curette, it is possible with our approach to remove adenoid tissue in the most important centres: the choanal and tubaric regions. The validity and safety of this videoendoscopic adenoidectomy with microdebrider has been demonstrated in 201 patients.


Innovation in family firms is often driven by family assets, valuable resources that are particularly prevalent in family firms. For example, they have particularly strong networks that can be deployed in an innovation context. These family assets can over time atrophy and stifle rather than stimulate innovation performance. However, family firms can fight this process by institutionalizing innovation within the family and the firm by means of family and corporate governance and through incentivizing key individuals in the innovation process.


Dr Ward has written a book which most anaesthetists have wanted for a long time. It deals with anaesthetic equipment in current use in Great Britain, and while that may make it seem rather parochial it is one of the few books available which describe anaesthetic apparatus in this country in particular. There are some 280 pages containing over 300 illustrations and diagrams. The text is not confined to anaesthetic equipment but also covers the associated fields of monitoring, resuscitation, respirator therapy, and sterilisation. A chapter on the design and layout of anaesthetic rooms is succinct and describes the various relevant regulations. In the appendix there are several conversion scales from conventional nomenclature to the SI standard. These scales are clear and readily interpreted; they will provide the reader with a welcome aid until these units are commonplace. Dr Ward's book will be long appreciated in every situation where anaesthetic apparatus is regularly used and maintained.


Anthropogenic heat flux is the heat generated by human activities in the urban canopy layer, which is considered the main contributor to the urban heat island (UHI). The UHI can in turn increase the use and energy consumption of air-conditioning systems. In this study, two effective methods for water-cooling air-conditioning systems in non-domestic areas, including the direct cooling system and central piped cooling towers (CPCTs), are physically based, parameterized, and implemented in a weather research and forecasting model at the city scale of Hong Kong. An extreme high temperature event (June 23–28, 2016) in the urban areas was examined, and we assessed the effects on the surface thermal environment, the interaction of sea–land breeze circulation and urban heat island circulation, boundary layer dynamics, and a possible reduction of energy consumption. The results showed that both water-cooled air-conditioning systems could reduce the 2 m air temperature by around 0.5 °C–0.8 °C during the daytime, and around 1.5 °C around 7:00–8:00 pm when the planetary boundary layer (PBL) height was confined to a few hundred meters. The CPCT contributed around 80%–90% latent heat flux and significantly increased the water vapor mixing ratio in the atmosphere by around 0.29 g kg−1 on average. The implementation of the two alternative air-conditioning systems could modify the heat and momentum of turbulence, which inhibited the evolution of the PBL height (a reduction of 100–150 m), reduced the vertical mixing, presented lower horizontal wind speed and buoyant production of turbulent kinetic energy, and reduced the strength of sea breeze and UHI circulation, which in turn affected the removal of air pollutants. Moreover, the two alternative air-conditioning systems could significantly reduce the energy consumption by around 30% during extreme high temperature events. The results of this study suggest potential UHI mitigation strategies and can be extended to other megacities to enable them to be more resilient to UHI effects.


A Lower Cretaceous (Upper Aptian) succesion of carbonate rocks in the southwestern Maestrat Basin (Iberian Chain) was analysed according to sedimentological and palaeontological criteria. The shallow marine sequence was deposited upon a homoclinal carbonate ramp. Six main facies types were distinguished and grouped into facies belts allowing the elaboration of a conceptual depositional model. The inner ramp is represented by rudist floatstones forming a non-restricted lagoon and bioclastic and peloidal grainstones forming shoals affected by wave base. The middle ramp consists of platestones and domestones of corals that developed in moderate energetic environments, occasionally affected by storms. The outer ramp is characterized by coral sheetstones growth fabrics, wackestones of orbitolines and spiculites indicating deep and poorly light environments probably with nutrient-rich waters.


In this work, both temporal (cycle-to-cycle) and spatial (device-to-device) variability of hafnium oxide based OxRAM cells are investigated at array level. The impact of the resistance variability on OxRAM-based convolutional neural network is then evaluated. Two different types of neurons, analog and digital, are considered. Results show that the studied architecture is strongly immune to both temporal and spatial variability.


We consider the hydrodynamic quantum field theory proposed by Dagan and Bush, a model of quantum dynamics inspired by Louis de Broglie and informed by the hydrodynamic pilot-wave system discovered by Couder and Fort. According to this theory, a quantum particle has an internal vibration at twice the Compton frequency that generates disturbances in an ambient scalar field, the result being self-propulsion of the particle through a resonant interaction with its pilot-wave field. Particular attention is given here to providing theoretical rationale for the geometric form of the wave field generated by steady, rectilinear particle motion at a prescribed speed, where signatures of both the de Broglie and Compton wavelengths are generally evident. While focus is given to the one-dimensional geometry considered by Dagan and Bush, we also deduce the form of the pilot wave in two dimensions. We further consider the influence on the pilot-wave form of the details of the particle-induced wave generation, specifically the spatial extent and vibration frequency of the particle. Finally, guided by analogous theoretical descriptions of the hydrodynamic system, we recast the particle dynamics in terms of an integro-differential trajectory equation. Analysis of this equation in the non-relativistic limit reveals a critical wave-particle coupling parameter, above which the particle self-propels. Our results provide the foundation for subsequent theoretical investigations of hydrodynamic quantum field theory, including the stability analysis of various dynamical states.


Children with convulsive disorder made up 3% of new patients seen in the paediatric department over a ten year period and 51.5% of children subsequently enrolled in the paediatric neuro-developmental clinic of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. Generalised tonic-clonic seizures were the commonest type of seizure (76.5%), followed by complex seizures (14.8%) and temporal lobe seizures (3.4%). Majority of patients had no definable cause and normal neurological examination. 47.7% of electroencephalographs had diagnostic abnormalities. Most patients responded well to conventional antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) leading to discontinuation of drug therapy in 48 (7.1%) patients who remained seizure-free for two or more years. Adverse drug reactions and laboratory test abnormalities were rather uncommon. Discontinuation of antiepileptic therapy after effective long-term control is discussed.


Globally, rapid development of antibiotic resistance amongst pathogens has led to limited treatment options and high indirect costs to health management. There is a need to avoid misuse of available antibiotics and to develop rapid, affordable and accessible diagnostic technologies to detect drug resistance even in resource limited settings. This study reports the development of instrument-free point-of-care devices for detection of antibiotic resistance for rapid diagnosis of drug resistance in the penicillin, cephalosporin and carbapenem groups of antibiotics. The simple paper-based devices for flow through assay determine the presence of resistant bacteria in a sample by a visible colour change within 30 minutes. At the center of this technology is the unique sensing nanomaterial comprising of core-shell nanoparticles layered with specific antibiotics. The core is comprised of chitosan nanoparticles of size ∼15 nm coated with the starch-iodine indicator to form a shell increasing the size to ∼47 nm. The test strip is coated with the nanoparticles, air-dried and overlayed with the required antibiotic. In the presence of penicillin, cephalosporin and carbapenem resistant bacteria, the core-shell nanoparticles undergo a visible colour change from blue to white. The core-shell nanoparticles were deposited on paper to form a point-of-care device. Devices were developed to screen for three main classes of antibiotics namely penicillins, cephalosporins and carbapenems. The devices were validated using standard resistant and susceptible ATCC strains in three different sample types, pure colony, broth culture and saline suspensions. The change of colour from blue to white was considered a positive test. The time of detection was found to be 30 min, while the limit of detection was 105 cfu ml-1. The device exhibited 100% sensitivity and specificity with known resistant and susceptible cultures not only from pure colonies but also from direct samples of spiked saline suspensions with graded confounding factors of albumin, glucose, and urea. The inter-device reproducibility and storage stability of the devices was established. The developed point-of-care devices have potential as screening devices for antimicrobial resistance.


A simultaneous analytical method based on LC-MS/MS was developed for the determination of flufenacet and its metabolites, [(4-fluorophenyl)(1-methylethyl) amino]oxo-acetic acid and [N-(4-fluorophenyl)-N-(1-methylethyl) acetamide]-2-sulfinylacetic acid, in agricultural products. The compounds were extracted from samples with methanol. The crude extracts were purified using Bond Elut C18 and InertSep GC/PSA, then determined by LC-MS/MS. The average recoveries (n=5) from 4 kinds of agricultural products (wheat, soybean, potato and tomato) spiked at the level of the MRLs or the uniform limits (0.01 μg/g) were 70.6-97.0%, and the relative standard deviations were less than 5%. The lower limits of quantitation of flufenacet and its metabolites were 0.01 μg/g.


In an increasingly knowledge-based global environment, American-style economics may be an especially important form of expertise to understand. Existing studies of the discipline present something of a paradox, however, as some suggest that economic discourse is a logically unified and powerful promarket ideology, while others indicate that in practice it is quite fragmented and constrained. A series of 52 interviews with economists working in various jobs is used to reveal a possible way out of this paradox by highlighting three basic features of economic expertise: cognitive and practical framing via a "core" of relatively simple ideas and techniques, great flexibility in results due to various available "subframes," and dependence of the selection of subframes on local institutional contexts. These underlying features potentially explain how the unified academic discourse of economics produces a variety of outcomes and maybe even plays a range of quite different social roles in different situations.