The issues of Christianization in Salatiga become the other side from a city that presumed was peacefully plural place. Begin from Salatiga impression as a Christian city because of the alleged huge housing Christian worship, The Christian domination in Salatiga cause of the largest Christian university faith-based local that lifted up named Satya Wacana Christian University, Until a long cases related to land disputes in Salib Putih at year end 2007 involving two groups of full of ambition on behalf of Islam and Christian that making the issue continues to roll in speculation without clarification. This research aims to analyze how Salatiga's moslem perception in defining the issues and factors that affect the perception. In order to refine the analysis in the fields of communication, this research also uses the concept of Coordinated Management of Meaning to understand the construction of the perception being created every informant. The results showed that the tendency of perception lies in the context of the majority and minority. The difference lies in the perception is factors among people (informant) , factors on the object of perception, and the factors on the situation. The factors that influencing informant itself is attitudes, interests, and experiences. Factors that influence the perception of an object is the movement, size, and proximity. While the perception of the factors influencing the situation is the time. Keywords : Issues of Christianization in Salatiga, Perception, Muslims – Christians, Majority – Minority.


Greater Wellington Regional Council is responsible for the Regional Land Transport Strategy(RLTS) for the Wellington region, comprising of four cities, numerous towns and governedby eight disparate territorial authorities. The strong central core of Wellington City and thegeographically enforced 'Y' formation of the transport corridor have traditionally dominatedthe region's urban development. To date, transport and land use planning in the region havebeen undertaken independently, when research demonstrates that a combination of land use,transport, financial and regulatory planning mechanisms are required to establish a successfulsustainable transport solution. This research examines six different policy interventionscenarios, and identifies the optimal transport - land use intervention (for growth projectionsto 2026) as the densification of development around key public transport nodes. This policyintervention meets the RLTS vision of providing a balanced and sustainable transport systemthrough the increased adoption of active modes across all trip types of short duration, anincrease in public transport use for longer distance trips and an overall decrease in daily tripsby car.


This book challenges the approaches to human interaction based on supposedly universal 'maxims of conversation' and 'principles of politeness,' which fly in the face of reality as experienced by millions of people crossing language boundaries (refugees, immigrants, etc.) and which cannot help in the practical tasks of cross-cultural communication and education. In contrast to such approaches, this book is both theoretical and practical: it shows that in different societies, norms of human interaction are different and reflect different cultural attitudes and values; and it offers a framework within which different cultural norms and different ways of speaking can be effectively explored, explained, and taught. The book discusses data from a wide range of languages and it shows that the meanings expressed in human interaction and the different 'cultural scripts' prevailing in different speech communities can be clearly and intelligibly described and compared by using a 'natural semantic metalanguage,' based on empirically established universal human concepts. As the book shows, this metalanguage can be used as a basis for teaching successful cross-cultural communication, including the teaching of languages in a cultural context.


To lower the fracture appearance transition temperature (FATT) of Nb-treated HSLA H-beams further, boron-nickel-added Nb-treated HSLA H-beams were tempered after they were quenched at 870, 910 and 950°C respectively. Microstructures and mechanical properties, especially low temperature toughness of the experimental steels were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), uniaxial tensile test and Charpy impact test (V-notch). The results indicate that the FATTs of quenched & tempered specimens are all below -70С and that of some specimens is even below -90°С . Tensile strength of all quenched & tempered steels and their total elongation value are above 570 MPa and 21 % respectively. It can be seen that dual-phase microstructure of ferrite and tempered martensite in steels leads to the best low temperature toughness, and carbides along grain boundaries are beneficial to low temperature toughness.


Citizen science includes a suite of research approaches that involves participation by citizens, who are not usually trained scientists, in scientific projects. Citizen science projects have the capacity to record observations of species with high precision and accuracy, offering the potential for collection of biological data to support a diversity of research investigations. Moreover, via the involvement of project participants, these projects have the potential to engage the public on scientific issues and to possibly contribute to changes in community knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. However, there are considerable challenges in ensuring that large-scale collection and verification of species data by the untrained public is a robust and useful long-term endeavor, and that project participants are indeed engaged and acquiring knowledge. Here, we describe approaches taken to overcome challenges in creation and maintenance of a website-based national citizen science initiative where fishers, divers, and other coastal users submit opportunistic photographic observations of 'out-of-range' species. The Range Extension Database and Mapping Project (Redmap Australia) has two objectives, (1) ecological monitoring for the early detection of species that may be extending their geographic distribution due to environmental change, and (2) engaging the public on the ecological impacts of climate change, using the public's own data. Semi-automated 'managed crowd-sourcing' of an Australia-wide network of scientists with taxonomic expertise is used to verify every photographic observation. This unique system is supported by efficient workflows that ensures the rigor of data submitted. Moreover, ease of involvement for participants and prompt personal feedback has contributed to generating and maintaining ongoing interest. The design of Redmap Australia allows co-creation of knowledge with the community – without participants requiring formal training – providing an opportunity to engage sectors of the community that may not necessarily be willing to undergo training or otherwise be formally involved or engaged in citizen science. Given that capturing changes in our natural environment requires many observations spread over time and space, identifying factors and processes that support large-scale citizen science monitoring projects is increasingly critical.


The article analyses the achievements of Galina Lewicka (1901–1949) in the fields of piano performance and journalism. She promoted the artistic output of Mykola Lysenko (1842–1912) –a Ukrainian composer, teacher, pianist, conductor and folklorist. As one of the greatest Galician pianists, Lewicka took part in a series of concerts held in the years 1930–1940 to honour Lysenko, during which she performed his First rhapsody – a remarkably difficult piece created on the basis of folk dumas. In 1937, her interpretation of this work performed in Lviv was enthusiastically received by several critics. She wrote about the experience of performing the piece in the articleLysenko's "First rhapsody." Lewicka also performed other works written by the composer, including vocal-instrumental pieces played with the famous singer Michail Golynski. The pianist is also the author of a book for young people entitled Mykola Lysenko, which she published under the pseudonym of Oksana Piatygorskaya. Furthermore, she wrote an article about a jubilee exhibition for the 100th anniversary of Lysenko's birth, which was held in Lviv in 1942, and a review ofa concert that took place in an opera theatre as part of the event. Lewicka's promoting activity is an expression of her sincere respect for Mykola Lysenko – the founder of the Ukrainian school of composition, an activist and a patriot. The pianist's achievements in performing drew the attentionof numerous authors: Oleg Krysztalski, Tetiana Worobkewycz, Natalia Kaszkadamowa, Oksana Ditczuk and others. None of them, however, paid attention to her accomplishments in the field of promoting Lysenko's activity and works. Hence the need for a comprehensive study of this sub-ject. The aim of this article is, therefore, to present Lewicka's achievements in the field of performing Lysenko's pieces and to determine the degree to which she contributed to popularizing the knowledge of the composer in Galicia.


Background The effect of hydroxyapatite (HA) on implant survival in the medium and long term is uncertain. We studied the effect of HA coating of uncemented implants on the risk of cup and stem revision in primary total hip arthroplasty (THA). Patients and methods Using the Danish Hip Arthroplasty Registry (DHR), we identified patients less than 70 years old who had undergone uncemented primary THA during 1997–2005. 4,125 HA-coated and 7,737 non-HA-coated cups and 3,158 HA-coated and 4,749 non-HA-coated stems were available for analysis. The mean follow-up time was 3.4 years for cups and 3.2 years for stems. We estimated the relative risk (RR) of revision due to aseptic loosening or any cause, and adjusted for possible confounders (age, sex, fixation of opposite implant part, and diagnosis for primary THA) using multivariate Cox regression analysis. Results The adjusted RRs for revision of HA-coated cups and stems due to aseptic loosening were 0.89 (95%CI: 0.37–2.2) and 0.71 (95%CI: 0.27–1.9) with up to 9 years of follow-up, compared to non-HA-coated implants. When taking all causes of revision into consideration, the risk estimates were 0.85 (95%CI: 0.68–1.1) and 0.81 (95%CI: 0.61–1.1) for HA-coated cups and stems, respectively. Interpretation In this medium-term follow-up study, the use of HA-coated implants was not associated with any clearly reduced overall risk of revision compared to non-HA-coated implants.


An overwhelming number of news articles are available every day via the internet. Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to peruse more than a handful; furthermore it is difficult to ascertain an article's social context, i.e., is it popular, what sorts of people are reading it, etc. In this paper, we develop a system to address this problem in the restricted domain of political news by harnessing implicit and explicit contextual information from the blogosphere. Specifically, we track thousands of blogs and the news articles they cite, collapsing news articles that have highly overlapping content. We then tag each article with the number of blogs citing it, the political orientation of those blogs, and the level of emotional charge expressed in the blog posts that link to the news article. We summarize and present the results to the user via a novel visualization which displays this contextual information; the user can then find the most popular articles, the articles most cited by liberals, the articles most emotionally discussed in the political blogosphere, etc.


Background The association between diets that focus on plant foods and restrict animal products and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is inconclusive. We investigated whether cumulative intake of a plant‐centered diet and shifting toward such a diet are associated with incident CVD. Methods and Results Participants were 4946 adults in the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) prospective study. They were initially 18 to 30 years old and free of CVD (1985–1986, exam year [year 0]) and followed until 2018. Diet was assessed by an interviewer‐administered, validated diet history. Plant‐centered diet quality was assessed using the A Priori Diet Quality Score (APDQS), in which higher scores indicate higher consumption of nutritionally rich plant foods and limited consumption of high‐fat meat products and less healthy plant foods. Proportional hazards models estimated hazard ratios of CVD associated with both time‐varying average APDQS and a 13‐year change in APDQS score (difference between the year 7 and year 20 assessments). During the 32‐year follow‐up, 289 incident CVD cases were identified. Both long‐term consumption and a change toward such a diet were associated with a lower risk of CVD. Multivariable‐adjusted hazard ratio was 0.48 (95% CI, 0.28–0.81) when comparing the highest quintile of the time‐varying average ADPQS with lowest quintiles. The 13‐year change in APDQS was associated with a lower subsequent risk of CVD, with a hazard ratio of 0.39 (95% CI, 0.19–0.81) comparing the extreme quintiles. Similarly, strong inverse associations were found for coronary heart disease and hypertension‐related CVD with either the time‐varying average or change APDQS. Conclusions Consumption of a plant‐centered, high‐quality diet starting in young adulthood is associated with a lower risk of CVD by middle age.


Domain of unknown function 1644 (DUF1644) is a highly conserved amino acid sequence motif present only in plants. Analysis of expression data of the family of DUF1644-containing genes indicated that they may regulate responses to abiotic stress in rice. Here we present our discovery of the role of OsSIDP366, a member of the DUF1644 gene family, in response to drought and salinity stresses in rice. Transgenic rice plants overexpressing OsSIDP366 showed enhanced drought and salinity tolerance and reduced water loss as compared to that in the control, whereas plants with downregulated OsSIDP366 expression levels using RNA interference (RNAi) were more sensitive to salinity and drought treatments. The sensitivity to abscisic acid (ABA) treatment was not changed in OsSIDP366-overexpressing plants, and OsSIDP366 expression was not affected in ABA-deficient mutants. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that OsSIDP366 is presented in the cytoplasmic foci that colocalized with protein markers for both processing bodies (PBs) and stress granules (SGs) in rice protoplasts. Digital gene expression (DGE) profile analysis indicated that stress-related genes such as SNAC1, OsHAK5 and PRs were upregulated in OsSIDP366-overexpressing plants. These results suggest that OsSIDP366 may function as a regulator of the PBs/SGs and positively regulate salt and drought resistance in rice.


Terminal Schwann cells (tSCs) are non-myelinating glia that cover the nerve terminal at the neuromuscular junction. They are required for the maintenance of the neuromuscular synapse and are likely to play essential roles in the restoration of synaptic connections after nerve injury. Terminal SCs acquire a reactive phenotype after nerve damage characterized by the extension of cellular processes that may facilitate reinnervation. The molecular signaling events underpinning the tSC reactive state remain elusive, in particular, little is known about transcription factors involved in the transcriptional reprogramming during tSC activation. Prior research implicated nine members of the zinc-finger transcription factor family in SC development and myelination, and levels of one such protein were reported increased in other nonmyelinating SCs after denervation. We hypothesize that zinc-finger transcription factors could play a role during tSC activation. Because of their relative paucity, tSCs are difficult to study molecularly. Here, we used the rat cervical sympathetic trunk (CST), an autonomic nerve in which non-myelinating SCs are the predominant cell type, to isolate zinc-finger protein (ZFP) cDNAs by RT-PCR. We isolated 29 unique ZFP sequences of which zinc proliferation 1 (Zipro1) was the most abundant. We found that after CST transection, levels for Zipro1 mRNA doubled and that Zipro1 protein expression increased in non-myelinating CST SCs. We also determined that Zipro 1 is expressed in tSCs and its levels increased following skeletal muscle denervation. Thus, Zipro1 is a


and accept if he does not approve all the forms of that Church even after exposing the glaring absurdity of many of them. He interprets the faith and the hope of the "average man" with keenest insight and sympathy in parts of his experience. Hankey had not seen through and throughout all the questions he faced. He was yet under twenty-five when he was slain. On some he speaks with the authority of clearest insight and information. On others he obviously knew as yet too little to speak fairly and his work had been better if he had let alone the things he as yet had not fathomed. On experience he is very strong and clear. On missions he is in the half-light. It is a very stirring little volume. W. O. CARVER.


The authors have developed a highly parallelized special-purpose computer GRAPE (GRAvity PipE)-3 for gravitational many-body simulations. It accelerates gravitational force calculations which are the most expensive part of the many-body simulations. The peak computing speed is equivalent to about 15 GFLOPS. The GRAPE-3 system consists of two identical boards connected to a host computer through a VME bus. Each board has 24 custom LSI GRAPE chips which calculate gravitational forces in parallel. The gravitational force calculation is easily parallelized because the forces on different particles con be calculated independently. Using the pipelined architecture, one GRAPE chip calculates one gravitational force between a pair of particles at every clock cycle. The number of floating point operations needed to calculate one force is about 90. Therefore, one GRAPE chip running at 10 MHz clock-rate has a computing speed equivalent to 0.3 GFLOPS. The GRAPE-3 with 48 GRAPE chips achieves about 15 GFLOPS. One GRAPE chip has 110000 transistors in an 8 mm*8 mm area and its power consumption is 1.2 W at 10 MHz. Its package is ceramic PGA with 181 pins. One GRAPE-3 board is a 9U Eurocard, on which 159 chips are wire-wrapped.<<ETX>>


The availability of 3D environment models enables many applications such as visualization, planning or simulation. With the use of current mobile laser scanners it is possible to map large areas in relatively short time. One of the emerging problems is to handle the resulting huge amount of data. We present a fast and adaptive approach to represent connected 3D points by surface patches while keeping fine structures untouched. Our approach results in a reasonable reduction of the data and, on the other hand, it preserves details of the captured scene. At all times during data acquisition and processing, the 3D points are organized in an octree with adaptive cell size for fast handling of the data. Cells of the octree are filled with points and split into subcells, if the points do not lie on one plane or are not evenly distributed on the plane. In order to generate a polygon model, each octree cell and its corresponding plane are intersected. As a main result, our approach allows the online generation of an expandable 3D model of controllable granularity. Experiments have been carried out using a sensor vehicle with two laser scanners at an urban test site. The results of the experiments show that the demanded compromise between data reduction and preservation of details can be reached.


Abstract:  Two fluvial facies associations, braided and ephemeral fluvial, are recognized in strata of the Cambrian–Ordovician Potsdam Group in the Ottawa Embayment and Quebec Basin in northeastern North America. Braided fluvial sedimentation was dominated by the migration of coarse-grained sandy dunes and rare unit bars and local gravels that built up low-relief 0.4–5-m-thick downstream-accreting compound bars in very wide and shallow braided channels. Rare meter-scale confluence scours, incision, and filling of decimeter-thick bypass channels, and thin (≤ 7 cm) overbank deposition also occurred. Ephemeral fluvial sedimentation was dominated by the progradation of lobate terminal splays, most of which were deflated and/or reworked into thin (10–95 cm) sheets by eolian processes during the long recurrence intervals between floods. These strata were locally incised by rare, 0.3–1.9-m-thick scour-filling high-energy supercritical bedform strata and decimeter-thick bypass channels. Both braided and ephemeral fluvial deposits consist of meter-scale stacked, high-order stratal units separated by horizontal, laterally extensive surfaces recording the recurring buildup, avulsion, and finally abandonment of channel belts. In braided fluvial strata of the Potsdam the dominance of thin (≤ 2 m) elongated compound bars with low-relief (≤ 5°) bar margins and internal accretion surfaces (≤ 15°) suggest that braided channels and in-channel compound bars expanded laterally with negligible increase in flow depth during periods of increased discharge in the absence of bank-stabilizing vegetation, similar to other examples of the pre-vegetated "sheet-braided" style. However, in areas where bedrock topography inhibited the lateral expansion of channels, thicker compound braid bars (1.2–3.5 m) with higher-relief accretion surfaces (up to 35°), like those observed in post-Silurian and modern systems, preferentially formed in relatively deep channels. Ephemeral fluvial deposits here are similar to ephemeral examples throughout geologic history in that they mostly comprise poorly confined sheet-like terminal splays that accumulated in topographic lows. However, compared to several post-Silurian examples, strata in the Potsdam exhibit considerably more eolian reworking of splays and preservation of supercritical-bedform strata, a manifestation of greater rates of surface-water infiltration due to a lack of sheltering by rooted plants and propensity for unconfined flooding. Finally, in the upper part of the Potsdam two regional ephemeral fluvial units are interstratified with two braided fluvial units, providing evidence for shifts in regional climate. The sharp, areally extensive surfaces that separate these fluvial systems are interpreted to approximate time lines, and therein provide a means for relative and absolute chronostratigraphic correlation. These changes are correlated with documented Late Cambrian to Earliest Ordovician global climate fluctuations, with semiarid conditions and related ephemeral fluvial systems corresponding to global cooling events at ca. 491 and 487 Ma.


Based on the characteristics of construction materials management of expressway projects, this paper analyzes the operation processes of the construction materials combined with operation management contents of all participants. Then it builds the index system of evaluation matrix, construction materials operation processes-participant. It establishes the AHP model of performance evaluation, and evaluation the performance from the three dimensions of operation phase, participants, and projects. Through the empirical study on LY expressway of Hunan Province, this paper drew up the performance evaluation conclusions which are in line with the project construction.


Background:
 Mail order pharmacies are increasingly being used to deliver medications for chronic disease management. Their use is linked to similar or even greater medication adherence than local pharmacy use. Medication adherence is associated with improved outcomes, including reduced cardiovascular events, health care costs, and mortality. We are unaware of any studies that have evaluated the association of mail order pharmacy use with drug adherence among stroke patients.

 Objective:
 To investigate whether stroke patients who use mail-order pharmacies were more likely to have good medication adherence than those who used local pharmacies.

 Methods:
 We conducted cross-sectional analyses of patients discharged with ischemic stroke from 24 hospitals who received a new anticoagulant and/or lipid-lowering medication between 31/DEC/2006 and 26/JUN/2015. We defined good adherence as medication availability at least 80% of the time (i.e, a continuous measure of medication gaps value of less than or = 20%) and compared adherence between mail-order users (at least 66% of refills by mail) and local pharmacy users (all refills in person). Adherence was calculated from the initial dispensing based on the average percentage adherence and days between fills.

 Results:
 A total of 48,746 eligible patients refilled an index medication. There were 205,085 prescriptions for statins (136,722 by pharmacy and 68,363 by mail), and 50,483 prescriptions for anticoagulants (34,682 by pharmacy and 15,801 by mail). Overall, patients were adherent 46.48% of the time if they picked up their prescriptions from the pharmacy versus 73.87% of the time if they had their prescriptions mailed to them (p <.0001). Compared with those who only used local pharmacies, patients who received medications by mail were more likely to have good adherence to lipid modifiers (87.61% vs. 56.4%, OR 5.43, 95% CI = 5.3 - 5.57, p < .0001) and anticoagulants (44.88% vs. 56.16%, OR 1.57 95% CI 1.52 - 1.63, p < .0001).

 Conclusions:
 Stroke patients who obtain medication by mail are more likely to have good medication adherence than those who obtain them from local pharmacies. Future studies should examine the impact of mail-order pharmacy use on vascular risk marker control and events after stroke.


The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out on behalf of a research project about the Swedish startup/internet community and suggests that the 1990s can be seen as an iconic period of time for the Swedish Internet scene. It is argued that mental associations and imaginations associated with the 1990s are still relevant for the intellectual construction of the present-day internet-scene through providing a framework for the making of a space in Michel de Certeau's sense of the word. The article presents reoccurring themes from the interviews with the informants, highlighted as examples of important stories about the 1990s that are active in constructing the framework for the organization of later experiences.


In 1970 Banaszak and colleagues described four office workers from a total of 27 who complained either of intermittent chills, fever, malaise, aches and pains, cough, and breathlessness or of a more persistent cough and breathlessness alone.' The more acute symptoms generally began towards the end of each work day and regressed within 12 hours. All the symptoms were less obvious at weekends and all subsided completely during holidays. The presence of auscultatory crackles, diffuse interstitial abnormalities on the chest radiograph, a restrictive ventilatory defect (with increase in residual volume), and impairment of gas transfer in some, but not all, of these subjects provided powerful supporting evidence for a diagnosis of occupational extrinsic allergic alveolitis. Transbronchial biopsy in one subject confirmed the presence of alveolitis, but the working environment contained no obvious organic dust. The answer was found to lie with the office humidifier and air conditioner. Scrapings from the heating coil over which the newly moistened air was passed produced Micropolyspora faeni on culture at 56°C, while sera from each of the affected subjects contained precipitins to the same organism. An inhalation provocation test was carried out in one of the affected people with an extract of the cultured organism, and the clinical features of the disorder were reproduced. The air conditioning process was then modified radically and all these symptoms ceased. These authors had no doubt that they were observing a new cause of extrinsic allergic alveolitis (humidifier lung), but there was a novel feature to which they drew attention-the absence of an aetiological agent in particulate (dust) form. A further point of some interest is that all four affected workers were non-smokers. Subsequent investigations from many different countries have confirmed the validity of these observations, and it is now clear that both occupational and domestic environments are readily vulnerable to contamination with a variety of water borne microorganisms that pose a threat of hypersensitivity (or toxic) responses in substantial proportions of exposed populations without any risk of infection.


Democratic or authoritarian, every society needs clean air and water; every state must manage its wildlife and natural resources. In this provocative, comparative study, Paul R. Josephson asks to what extent the form of a government and its economy--centrally planned or market, colonial or post-colonial--determines how politicians, bureaucrats, scientists, engineers, and industrialists address environmental and social problems presented by the transformation of nature into a humanized landscape. Looking at the experiences of the industrialized and industrializing world, Resources under Regimes explores the relationship between science, technology, and the environment. Josephson considers global responses to deforestation, water pollution, and global warming, showing how different societies bring different values and assumptions to bear on the same problem, and arrive at different conclusions about the ideal outcome and the best way of achieving it. He reveals the important ways in which modern governments facilitate power generation, transportation, water production, and other technologies that improve the quality of life; and the equally critical ways in which they respond to the resulting depredations--the pollution, waste, and depletion that constitute the global environmental crisis at the beginning of the twenty-first century.


An overview of the process of urbanization in the State of Arunachal Pradesh during the last two decades brings out the inadequacy of the existing institutional structure in managing urban centers in the "borderless" world of today. These institutions are noted to have least capacity to deal with the demands and pressures that are being generated as a result of the present focus of globalization. Managing these processes was considered to be an exclusive responsibility of the government and state owned and state led institutions, just a few decades back. Now, under a decentralized system of planning, it is viewed as a joint responsibility of stakeholders like industrial and business enterprises, public and private organizations and resident associations, etc. These tasks include providing the infrastructural services and other civic amenities etc. for the urban dwellers. Cities and towns are a product of complex forces that include market dynamics, over which town and city managers have only a limited control. Consequently the extent to which an individual city or town can accelerate or retard its economic, social, or for that matter, demographic growth, depend largely on internal dynamics and external factors boosting the dynamics.The new perspective, thus, urges the government at different levels in the hierarchy to function in collaboration with the other stakeholders, if they want to make an impact on the pace, pattern and trend of urbanization.


The electric power grid is a crucial part of societal infrastructure and needs constant attention to maintain its performance and reliability. European grid project investments are currently valued at over 5 billion Euros and are estimated to reach 56 billion by 2020 [2]. Successful smart grid deployment will require a holistic analysis and design process if it is to function properly and in an environmentally sustainable way. The entire system must be treated as integrated, not as isolated parts [3]. System integration and full customer engagement are crucial elements of this development. An evaluation of European smart grid projects showed that it was very difficult to grasp technological and non-technological key characteristics of this complex system [4].


Solid urea fertilizers can be produced in two forms: granules and prills. The study of comparison between granules and prills is nearly non-existence and hence it becomes the ultimate goal of this project. Due to different physical structures, granular and prilled fertilizers are distinguishable in terms of their structural strength and properties while their chemical properties remain similar. In Malaysia, there are currently two operating plants producing granular urea, namely Asean Bintulu Fertilizer (ABF) and PETRONAS Fertilizer Kedah (PFK). Comparison of products from these two companies was being investigated. The scope of work includes size distribution, surface morphology, dynamic strength, solubility and moisture content. More than 50% of ABF and PFK granules have the size range around 3.00mm. Prills have an average size of 1.66mm. SEM images of granules exhibited the aggregation of crystals to form a single urea particle while prills appear as one unit. The sticking out structure of granules makes them tend to stick to one another while prills have good flowablity. Naturally, granules have greater strength due to the stacking of crystals which prevent instant damage to the urea. This justification was verified as more fine particles are produced from prills when being milled which defined the idea that prills are easily crushed. For a fixed mass of urea fertilizers, prills dissolve faster in water due to larger surface area. Granular urea fertilizers have higher amount of moisture content compared to prills which causes it have higher tendency to form cakes during storage due to the cohesive nature of water. In short, granular urea fertilizers are relatively better for its superiority compared to prills.


SINCE Cooley and Lee's description of Mediterranean anemia, in 1925, a voluminous literature has accumulated on the subject. This disease entity, because of its variable manifestations, has been described and discussed under several names— Cooley's anemia, erythroblastic anemia, thalassemia, Mediterranean hemolytic disease, Mediterranean anemia, and Mediterranean hemopathic syndrome. This constitutional hereditary defect in hemopoiesis is manifest clinically as a disease whose severity may vary from exhibiting only characteristic abnormalities of the erythrocytes to being a severe anemia with hepatosplenomegaly, leg ulcers, and bone changes, with fatal termination in infancy or early childhood. The erythocytes characteristically show anisocytosis, poikilocytosis, leptocytosis, and increased resistance to hypotonic saline, with the presence of many target cells. Although this disease occurs usually in persons of Mediterranean extraction, well-documented examples of its occurrence in persons of Indian, Chinese. African, and pure English stock have been reported. Despite the variable clinical manifestations and varied racial incidence of


The purpose of the study was to examine the factors affecting Endodontic Therapy Failure (ETF). The study was descriptive cross-sectional conducted at College of Dental Science & Research Centre. Dental school in Pune, India. In the present study, 90 patients were analyzed in the treatment ward. According to the results, the highest endodontic failure was observed in 41-50 years age group (41.11%) and the least was in 21-30 (24.44%). According to the tooth type, most endodontic failures were observed in maxillary molars (44.4%), mandibular molars (20%) and maxillary premolars (15.5%). Endodontic treatment by general dental practitioners (GDPs) showed the highest failure rate (78.8%). The factors contributing to the most common endodontic problems were under-filled canals (33.3%) and unfilled and missed canals (17.7%). The study concluded that ETF occurred when the treatment was not according to the accepted standards. The main causes of ETF are microbial infection in the root canal system and these patients' not attending the specialists.


The electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) results presented in this thesis demonstrate a spin dependence of the charge transfer between an electrode and an electrolyte. These results were found using simultaneous detection of continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance (CW EPR), EDMR and cyclic voltammetry. The electrochemical cell was located inside a microwave cavity and the electrolyte was saturated with methyl viologen radicals. Electrodes were either spin polarized using optical spin-pumping in p-GaAs or electrodes functionalized with chiral self-assembled monolayers. Sample preparation and characterization are presented in depth. The measurement and evaluation schemes for combined cyclic voltammogram sweeps and stepwise magnetic field scans are discussed. The resulting detection of spin dependent charge transfer at a spin polarized electrode/electrolyte interface is demonstrated and quantified. The magnitude of this effect is compared with the one observed when using chiral molecules. This brings confirmation of a chirality induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect, based on an experiment in which the spins are excited selectively by magnetic resonance.


Herein, we report the directional stimuli-responsive self-assembly of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) coated with a thermoresponsive block copolymer (BCP), poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PEG-b-PNIPAM) and charged small molecules. AuNPs modified with PEG-b-PNIPAM possessing a AuNP/PNIPAM/PEG core/active/shell structure undergo temperature-induced self-assembly into one-dimensional (1D) or two-dimensional (2D) structures in salt solutions, with the morphology varying with the ionic strength of the medium. Salt-free self-assembly is also realized by modulating the surface charge by the codeposition of positively charged small molecules; 1D or 2D assemblies are formed depending on the ratio between the small molecule and PEG-b-PNIPAM, consistent with the trend observed with the bulk salt concentration. A series of charge-controlled self-assembly at various conditions revealed that the temperature-induced BCP-mediated self-assembly reported here provides an effective means for on-demand directional self-assembly of nanoparticles (NPs) with controlled morphology, interparticle distance, and optical properties, and the fixation of high-temperature structures.


A European Union (EU) member state, Cyprus is a country with a population of ~850,000 citizens. According to the Cyprus Ministry of Health, since 2009, more than 3,000 new incidents with neoplasm are diagnosed every year (i.e., 3% increasing rate). Projections estimate an average annual increase of 2.2% of new incidents until 2040. However, the National Health System (NHS) of Cyprus lacks a Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) care framework and infrastructure. Patients can only have a PET/CT exam in the private sector, either in Cyprus or a neighboring country (e.g., Greece or Israel). This requires the government of Cyprus to cover financial expenses related to medical treatments while the patients may also need to cover their expenses for traveling to a neighboring country. This study presents a cost analysis to examine whether the integration of a PET/CT with, or without, an F18-FDG cyclotron unit in the NHS of Cyprus is an efficient investment that can be recovered within the unit's service life. To perform this study, we estimated necessary resources for purchasing and operating such unit for a period of 15 years. The results of this study indicate that an investment in a PET/CT unit is not financially viable. Alternatives, such as the reimbursement of PET/CT operated by the private sector is recommended.


Many fire-adapted ecosystems in the northeastern U.S. are converting to fire-intolerant vegetation communities due to fire suppression in the 20th century. Prescribed fire and other vegetation management activities that increase resilience and resistance to global changes are increasingly being implemented, particularly on public lands. For many fire-dependent communities, there is little quantitative data describing historical fire regime attributes such as frequency, severity, and seasonality, or how these varied through time. Where available, fire-scarred live and remnant trees, including stumps and snags, offer valuable insights into historical fire regimes through tree-ring and fire-scar analyses. In this study, we dated fire scars from 66 trees at two sites in the Ridge and Valley Province of the Appalachian Mountains in central Pennsylvania, and described fire frequency, severity, and seasonality from the mid-17th century to 2013. Fires were historically frequent, of low to moderate severity, occurred mostly during the dormant season, and were influenced by aspect and topography. The current extended fire-free interval is unprecedented in the previous 250–300 years at both sites.


We present two different approaches for the identification of independently moving objects (IMOs) and demonstrate their application to outdoor imagery taken from a moving autonomous vehicle. Both approaches involve image stabilization followed by an analysis of the stabilized image sequence. The stabilization reduces the effects of the movement of the autonomous vehicle, facilitating the detection of the IMOs. In the first approach, IMOs are detected based on a filtering approach that integrates the results of velocity tuned filters over several frames. In the second approach IMOs are identified by constraints on allowable values of the optic flow field after stabilization.


In health up to 6% of human lymphocytes will form rosettes with homologous group O rhesus-negative erythrocytes (H rosettes). Increased numbers of H rosettes were found in T-cell-proliferative diseases-- namely, infectious mononucleosis, Sézary's syndrome, and T-cell leukaemia. H-rosette formation is thus a marker for a subpopulation of T lymphocytes, and this easily performed test of T-cell activation may have clinical value in characterising changes in blood lymphocyte populations in disease.


There has been much consideration given to supporting the post-16 transition needs of young people with learning difficulties and complex needs who have been educated within special school settings, but limited attention paid to those within mainstream schools. This study explores the transition planning and support experiences of four young people with identified additional educational needs, attending a mainstream comprehensive secondary school as they approach their transition into further education or work-based training. It also explores the views of their SENCO, Connexions Personal Advisor and a teacher in order to illuminate professional perspectives. The impact of the framework for transition support outlined in the SEN Code of Practice (DfES, 2001) on the support delivered and the resulting experiences of young people constitute a further area of enquiry.
Within an integrating conceptual framework derived from Bronfenbrenner's (1979 & 2001) ecological systems theory and bioecological model, qualitative data derived from semi-structured interviews were analysed and interpreted using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
Within Bronfenbrenner's (2001) 'person, process, context and time' model, a range of factors that independently and in combination influenced the transition planning and support experiences, were indentified. The research highlights how these factors interact with one another, and how the complex interactions within and between systems further mediate the young person's experiences. The research also draws attention to a difference between espoused theory and theory in practice (Argyris & Schon, 1974), in regard to transition support and planning provided in the school.


Introduction HIV-Associated Dementia (HAD) is a significant neurological complication which occurs years after the acute viral sero-conversion reaction responsible for progressive Immuno-suppression and high viral loads. Many patients infected with HIV-1 suffer cognitive impairment ranging from mild to severe HAD. With Present available treatment system, there is no satisfactory treatment for HAD available. Methods In this study, nifedipine loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) were developed for targeting drug into CNS, to block the apoptosis by HIV-1 virus. This would decrease the process of neurodegeneration and increase survival time of neuronal cells. Also, this targeted delivery to brain will minimise the systemic effect of nifedipine, avoiding its delivery peripherally.The uncoated SLN were prepared by Solvent Injection Method and coated with tween 80 and Lyophylized. Shape and surface morphological studies were done by Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The in-vitro release profile of entrapped drug was studied using dialysis membrane. Ex-vivo studies consisted of DNA fragmentation followed by in-vivo studies. Results The SEM and TEM images show smooth and spherical surface of SLN. In-vitro release profile of drug shows more than 90% of drug release in 48 hours. DNA fragmentation was determined in presence and in absence of gp120 mimicking agent which shows no DNA fragmentation thus developed carrier system works properly in releasing drug and blocking apoptosis in cortical cells. Fluorescence microscopy shows qualitative uptake and localization pattern of coated SLNs in brain. Conclusion: In-vitro and in-vivo studies results shows more specific delivery of Nifedipine to Brain. DNA Fragmentation and Cell Viability studies shows dementia blocking activity on brain cells. Brain specific delivery of Nifedipine could reduce the dose and potential systemic side effects, thus providing site specific delivery to brain. Thus, CNS delivery of these Nifedipine loaded SLNs via Intra-venous delivery will also open new opportunities for other Anti-Retroviral drug delivery to brain.


America is segregated and so is pollution. Race and class still matter and map closely with pollution, unequal protection, and vulnerability. Today, zip code is still the most potent predictor of an individual's health and well-being. Individuals who physically live on the "wrong side of the tracks" are subjected to elevated environmental health threats and more than their fair share of preventable diseases. Still, too many people and communities have the "wrong complexion for protection." Reducing environmental, health, economic and racial disparities is a major priority of the Environmental Justice Movement.


Recent years have seen a growing recognition of the role of goal and affect recognition in intelligent tutoring systems. Goal recognition is the task of inferring users' goals from a sequence of observations of their actions. Because of the uncertainty inherent in every facet of human computer interaction, goal recognition is challenging, particularly in contexts in which users can perform many actions in any order, as is the case with intelligent tutoring systems. Affect recognition is the task of identifying the emotional state of a user from a variety of physical cues, which are produced in response to affective changes in the individual. Accurately recognizing student goals and affect states could contribute to more effective and motivating interactions in intelligent tutoring systems. By exploiting knowledge of student goals and affect states, intelligent tutoring systems can dynamically modify their behavior to better support individual students.
To create effective interactions in intelligent tutoring systems, goal and affect recognition models should satisfy two key requirements. First, because incorrectly predicted goals and affect states could significantly diminish the effectiveness of interactive systems, goal and affect recognition models should provide accurate predictions of user goals and affect states. When observations of users' activities become available, recognizers should make accurate early" predictions. Second, goal and affect recognition models should be highly efficient so they can operate in real time.
To address key issues, we present an inductive approach to recognizing student goals and affect states in intelligent tutoring systems by learning goals and affect recognition models. Our work focuses on goal and affect recognition in an important new class of intelligent tutoring systems, narrative-centered learning environments. We report the results of empirical studies of induced recognition models from observations of students' interactions in narrative-centered learning environments. Experimental results suggest that induced models can make accurate early predictions of student goals and affect states, and they are sufficiently efficient to meet the real-time performance requirements of interactive learning environments.


BACKGROUND
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a cornerstone of treatment for advanced prostate cancer (PCa); however, it accelerates the loss of bone mineral density (BMD), which increases fracture risk. Guidelines recommend BMD testing when initiating ADT to assess baseline fracture risk properly. The objective of this study was to examine the proportion of BMD testing in men initiating ADT in Quebec and to identify factors associated with receipt of this testing.

METHODS
The study cohort consisted of men extracted from Quebec public healthcare insurance administrative databases who initiated continuous ADT from 2000 to 2015 for >12 months. The primary study outcome was receipt of BMD testing in the period from 6 months before through 12 months after ADT initiation. Multivariable generalized linear mixed regression modeling with a logit link was performed to identify variables associated with BMD testing.

RESULTS
We identified 22,033 patients, of whom 3,910 (17.8%) underwent BMD testing. Rates of BMD testing increased from 4.1% in 2000 to 23.4% in 2015. After multivariable analyses, prior history of osteoporosis (odds ratio [OR], 1.84; 95% CI, 1.32-2.57; P<.001), rheumatoid arthritis (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.15-2.34; P=.006), use of bisphosphonates (OR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.25-1.73; P<.001), and long-term corticosteroid use (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.15-2.31; P=.006) were associated with higher odds of BMD testing. Patient age >80 years (OR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.59-0.76; P<.001), metastases (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.70-0.89; P<.001), higher Charlson comorbidity score (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.51-0.81; P<.001), and rural residence (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.68-0.87; P<.001) were associated with lower odds of BMD testing.

CONCLUSIONS
In our study population, BMD testing rates in men initiating ADT were low, although they increased over the years especially in the years after the publication of recommendations for BMD testing in these patients. Potential gaps identified include being older, more comorbid, and rural areas. Overall, additional efforts emphasizing the importance of BMD testing in PCa guidelines may be needed.


Coronary bypass is the most common intervention for coronary obstruction. When autologous vessels are unavailable, synthetic grafts are employed. The challenge of rapid endothelialisation to reduce complications is still far from being achieved. This study describes a novel approach to synthetic graft design, based on the spatially defined presentation of functionalities within the scaffold, contributing to the biological activity of the pre-seeded pro-angiogenic human saphenous vein-derived pericytes (SVP). Indeed, the electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) presented two distinct functionalities on either side: the osteopontin-derived adhesion peptide (Adh) to facilitate endothelial adhesion on the luminal side and the heparin binding peptide (Hep) to create a reservoir of SVP-produced growth factors on the adventitial side. Conjugated peptides retained functionality within the scaffold, with Adh increasing endothelial cells (EC) adhesion and Hep binding the SVP-produced VEGF and releasing it to improve EC growth over time. Additionally, seeding of the scaffold with SVP increased EC migration and proliferation, suggesting their supporting role in re-endothelialisation of the graft. When seeded on the dual peptide scaffold, SVP acted synergistically with the peptides determining a greater EC coverage, as compared to each component alone. SVP-seeded scaffolds were cryopreserved for up to 2 weeks in GMP-grade medium preserving cell viability and functionality. In conclusion, we engineered a progenitor cell-seeded vascular graft, which incorporates spatially organised biomolecules that act synergistically with the cells to support EC coverage.


Current statistics, such as those of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), show that people spend almost 90% of their time indoors, while the concentrations of some pollutants indoors are often 2× to 5× higher than typical outdoor concentrations.1 CO2 concentration is a key indicator of air quality. At this point, it is worth noting that about 140 years ago, Max von Pettenkofer laid the foundations for current regulations relating to air quality with his studies on CO2 levels. The higher the CO2 value in a building, the less comfortable it becomes for the people inside. In poorly ventilated rooms, the CO2 concentration increases rapidly. For example, in a space of about 4 m2 occupied by only one person, the CO2 value rises from 500 ppm (0.05%) to more than 1,000 ppm (0.1%) in just 45 minutes. At this level, the odorless and colorless gas can cause headaches, drowsiness, and poor concentration, often resulting in reduced productivity. From 2,000 ppm onward (0.2%), even the cognitive abilities of humans are influenced, and there is a significant risk to health at higher levels (Figure 1).


Interactions of the mu-opioid receptor antagonists, naloxone (0.3 and 1 mg/kg), cyprodime and clocinnamox (3 and 10 mg/kg for both drugs) with phenytoin (7 mg/kg), phenobarbital (7 mg/kg), carbamazepine (10 mg/kg) and valproic acid (130 mg/kg) were investigated using the electroconvulsive threshold in mice as a model in order to elucidate a possible role of mu-receptor mediated reactions in the mechanism of action of antiepileptic drugs. All 3 mu-antagonists are devoid of an effect on the electroconvulsive threshold. Pretreatment with the mu-antagonists resulted partly in an increase of anticonvulsant action, partly in a decrease, and partly the pretreatment had no effect on the electroconvulsive threshold. The anticonvulsant effect of phenytoin was antagonized dose-dependently by naloxone, that of phenobarbital by the dose of 10 mg/kg of clocinnamox. A common denominator of the mu-antagonistic interactions with anticonvulsants cannot be found and the effects observed are therefore considered as "unspecific".


The SLAC T-510 experiment provides the first beam-test of radio-frequency radiation from a charged particle cascade in the presence of a magnetic field (up to 970 G), a model system for radio-frequency emission from a cosmic-ray air shower. The primary purpose of this experiment is to provide a suite of controlled laboratory tests to compare to simulations based on particlelevel models of RF emission, making the calibrations of critical importance. We present system calibrations and analysis of the experiment from end to end. Measurements of the beam charge and two-dimensional magnetic field map are fed directly into the simulations using two different formalisms: ZHS and Endpoints. Simulated electric fields are forward-folded with the system response, allowing for direct comparisons of spectra and waveforms with the simulations.


Blended learning can provide academic resilience in times of natural disaster, civil emergency, and crisis. While blended pedagogies are widely used in tertiary settings, very little has been written about the role of blended learning in times of crisis, or the pedagogical challenges of rapid course redesign to mitigate disruptive circumstances. This case study describes the immediate post-earthquake challenges of redesigning courses using different blends of face-to-face and online activities to meet the needs of on-campus, regional campus, and distance pre-service teacher education students. The research question asked, "What can be learned from the experiences of academic staff directly involved in the adaptation and redesign of blended courses in a time of disaster?" This descriptive case study employed quick-response research strategies to gather time-sensitive data while it was fresh in the minds of the participants. This article discusses key findings and concludes with recommendations to assist program and course leaders to prepare in advance for resilient blended learning in times of natural disaster, crisis, and emergency.


How to improve the logistics service quality is one of significant problems for logistics alliance which formed by manufacturing enterprise and TPL. Firstly, the decision behavior of manufacturing enterprise and TPL under decentralized decision is analyzed. Then the results under decentralized and centralized decision are compared, and find that results under decentralized decision are inferior to those under centralized. Based on analyzing the cause of that, the coordination strategy is proposed which manufacturing enterprise motivated TPL to reduce the delay rate with reward contract. The conditions for logistics alliance to realize coordination are conducted, and it is revealed that the Pareto improvement of logistics alliance parties can be achieved and the benefit of logistics alliance can be optimum by choosing appropriate reward, Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the correlative conclusions.


This paper considers how marketing can be made more appropriate in entrepreneurial contexts by proposing a conceptual model of the processes of marketing as undertaken by entrepreneurs. Although marketing is a key factor in the survival and development of business ventures, a number of entrepreneurial characteristics seem to be at variance with marketing according to the textbook. These include over‐reliance on a restricted customer base, limited marketing expertise, and variable, unplanned effort. However, entrepreneurs and small business owners interpret marketing in ways that do not conform to standard textbook theory and practise. An examination of four key marketing concepts indicates ways in which entrepreneurial marketing differs from traditional marketing theory. Entrepreneurs tend to be "innovation‐oriented", driven by new ideas and intuitive market feel, rather than customer oriented, or driven by rigorous assessment of market needs. They target markets through "bottom‐up" self‐selection and recommendations of customers and other influence groups, rather than relying on "top‐down" segmentation, targeting and positioning processes. They prefer interactive marketing methods to the traditional mix of the four or seven "P's". They gather information through informal networking rather than formalised intelligence systems. These processes play to entrepreneurial strengths and represent marketing that is more appropriate in entrepreneurial contexts, rather than marketing which is second best due to resource limitations.


Experiences with a virtual reality (VR) system show that VR techniques provide the chance for a new generation and a new quality of intuitively operable man machine interfaces. In this paper the background is given for the control of a space laboratory mockup, that is operated by two 7 DOF robots which are commanded with the help of a virtual-reality based man machine interface. It is shown how actions that are carried out by the user in the virtual environment are translated into robotic actions in a way that the robots physically perform the task, that was commanded in the virtual reality.


Cladophora rhodolithicola sp. nov., a small green macroalgal epiphyte on rhodoliths, is described from the Atlantic coasts of the British Isles, France and Spain, based on morphological and molecular evidence. Molecular phylogenetic analyses reveal that the rhodolith epiphyte is closely related to C. pygmaea, a dwarf species that also grows on maerl and small stones and whose systematic position was previously uncertain. The fact that both species, along with two other distinct Cladophora species (C. echinus and C. battersii), are resolved among species traditionally assigned to the Cladophora section Longi-articulatae, has implications for our understanding of the evolution of the genus. The section Longi-articulatae is one of the most distinctive groups in Cladophora, being characterized by coarse thalli with conspicuous basal cells, strict acropetal growth and the lack of intercalary rhizoids. Here we show that deviant character states such as reduced and irregular growth, and intercalary rhizoids have evolved independently several times within this clade.


Objective: To discuss the nature of climate change and both its immediate and long-term effects on human respiratory health. Methods: This review is based on information from a presentation of the American College of Chest Physicians course on Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease held in Toronto, Canada, June 2013. It is supplemented by a PubMed search for climate change, global warming, respiratory tract diseases, and respiratory health. It is also supplemented by a search of Web sites including the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, World Meteorological Association, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, and the World Health Organization. Results: Health effects of climate change include an increase in the prevalence of certain respiratory diseases, exacerbations of chronic lung disease, premature mortality, allergic responses, and declines in lung function. Conclusions: Climate change, mediated by greenhouse gases, causes adverse health effects to the most vulnerable patient populations—the elderly, children, and those in distressed socioeconomic strata.


The effects of free radicals in the liver tissue of 20 mice were studied. The mice, separated into acute and chronic groups, were injected with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) to trigger the release of free radicals. For evaluation of the effects of free radicals, malandialdehyde (MDA) measurement and electron microscopic examination were performed. The results showed that the level of lipid peroxide in the chronic PMA group was significantly higher than it was in the acute PMA group (P<0.005). In the electron microscopic examination of liver biopsy materials of the acute group, a disruption of the inner mitochondrial membranes, an increase in lysosomes and a slight dilatation of the granular endoplasmic reticulum were observed. However, these structural changes were more prominent in the chronic group. It is concluded that injection of PMA results in the formation of free radicals and liver degeneration.


V- and Ti-Cr-based solid solutions with body-centered cubic (BCC) type structure were investigated on hydrogen absorbing-desorbing cycle durability by using H2 without and with 10ppm CO (Hereafter they are expressed as H2 and CO/H2, respectively.). The solid solutions showed excellent cycle durability even after 1,000 cycles of hydrogen absorption and desorption under H2 atmosphere. On the other hand, the capacities decreased rapidly during hydrogen absorbing-desorbing cycles in the beginning of the tests under CO/H2 one. The solutions were not disproportionate though the stable monohydride phase increased, that is, stored hydrogen increased gradually. It was observed that not only microscopic pulverization but also nanoscopically fine-grained crystallization occurred in degraded particles. It is considered that the impurity CO influences bulk structure as an intrinsic factor as well as surface area as an extrinsic factor as regarded as ever. This causes the degradation of the cycle capacities.


illiam Shakespeare is known to the world as one of the greatest dramatist in the history of English Literature. It is unusual to attribute either Shakespeare or his works in the world of marketing, yet it is the fact that, even after 450 years, Shakespeare is still a recognizable and powerful brand in the world of today. Shakespearean festival was still being celebrated all over the world. Royal Society of Shakespeare still performs Shakespearean dramas every year, in more than twenty languages. It shows the brand image of Shakespeare, having in the world today. Aristotle, a Greek Philosopher, in his attempt to understand poetry and drama, expressed his view in his famous work Poetics that, both drama and poetry appeals to the emotions of a reader and spectators. The success of a drama, depends on the extent to which, a dramatist can able to capture the emotions of the audience. It is necessary for writers to have a unique brand personality to market their art. Every writer has their own set of target audience and follows various strategies to satisfy them. This paper deals with, how Shakespeare employed different strategies to create his own brand image, that helped him positioning his art among his target audience, thus ending up creating one of the greatest and powerful brand image in the History. KeywordsShakespeare, Brand image, Target Audience, Marketing, positioning.


In the past fifty years, Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have evolved greatly from a single perceptron to complex multi-layered networks with non-linear activation functions. Today, they form the backbone of Artificial Intelligence, with a diverse application landscape, such as smart assistants, wearables, targeted marketing, autonomous vehicles, etc. The design of DNNs continues to change, as we push its abilities to perform more human-like tasks at an industrial scale.Multi-task learning and knowledge sharing are essential to human-like learning. Humans progressively acquire knowledge throughout their life, and they do so by remembering, and modifying prior skills for new tasks. In our first work, we investigate the representations learned by Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), and how to share this knowledge across tasks. Our prior task was MNIST image generation using a spiking autoencoder. We combined the generative half of the autoencoder with a spiking audio-decoder for our new task, i.e audio-to-image conversion of utterances of digits to their corresponding images. We show that objects of different modalities carrying the same meaning can be mapped into a shared latent space comprised of spatio-temporal spike maps, and one can transfer prior skills, in this case, image generation, from one task to another, in a purely Spiking domain. Next, we propose Tree-CNN, an adaptive hierarchical network structure composed of Deep Convolutional Neural Networks(DCNNs) that can grow and learn as new data becomes available. The network organizes the incrementally available data into feature-driven super-classes and improves upon existing hierarchical CNN models by adding the capability of self-growth. While the above works focused solely on algorithmic design, the underlying hardware determines the efficiency of model implementation. Currently, neural networks are implemented in CMOS based digital hardware such as GPUs and CPUs. However, the saturating scaling trend of CMOS has garnered great interest in Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) technologies such as Spintronics and RRAM. However, most emerging technologies have inherent reliability issues, such as stochasticity and non-linear device characteristics. Inspired by the recent works in spin-based stochastic neurons, we studied the algorithmic impact of designing a neural network using stochastic activations. We trained VGG-like networks on CIFAR-10/100 with 4 different binary activations and analyzed the trade-off between deterministic and stochastic activations. NVM-based crossbars further promise fast and energy-efficient in-situ matrix-vector multiplications (MVM). However, the analog nature of computing in these NVM crossbars introduces approximations in the MVM operations, resulting in deviations from ideal output values. We first studied the impact of these non-idealities on the performance of vanilla DNNs under adversarial circumstances, and we observed that the non-ideal behavior interferes with the computation of the exact gradient of the model, which is required for adversarial image generation. In a non-adaptive attack, where the attacker is unaware of the analog hardware, analog computing offered varying degree of intrinsic robustness under all attack scenarios - Transfer, Black Box, and White Box attacks. We also demonstrated ``Hardware-in-Loop" adaptive attacks that circumvent this robustness by utilizing the knowledge of the NVM model.Next, we explored the design of robust DNNs through the amalgamation of adversarial training and the intrinsic robustness offered by NVM crossbar based analog hardware. We studied the noise stability of such networks on unperturbed inputs and observed that internal activations of adversarially trained networks have lower Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), and are sensitive to noise than vanilla networks. As a result, they suffer significantly higher performance degradation due to the non-ideal computations, on an average 2x accuracy drop. On the other hand, for adversarial images, the same networks displayed a 5-10% gain in robust accuracy due to the underlying NVM crossbar when the attack epsilon (the degree of input perturbations) was greater than the epsilon of the adversarial training. Our results indicate that implementing adversarially trained networks on analog hardware requires careful calibration between hardware non-idealities and training epsilon to achieve optimum robustness and performance.


Across the country many people engage in recreational boating. In 2008 there were over 12 million registered recreational boats in the United States, and nearly 8% of these were in Florida (US Coast Guard, 2008). Launching boats from publically available ramps is one of the primary methods of marine access. Within Florida, nearly 25% of all boating related trips in 2007 involved launching a trailered boat from a publically available ramp (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation [FWC], 2009). With hundreds of thousands of boating trips from dozens of publically accessible ramps, Lee County planners need analytical tools to understand demand and consumer surplus to assist them in evaluating new and enhanced launch facilities. To accomplish this, we developed recreational demand models based on the random utility model (RUM) approach to travel cost modeling in the presence of multiple possible substitute sites. The model was specified as a nested-logit RUM where boaters choose a combination of ramp and on-the-water destination with a nest for ramps and a nest for the water sites available from each ramp. The RUM applies to boaters that trailer boats to ramps that are publicly accessible. Lee County has 35 such ramps -- most are publicly owned but some are private with fee-based public access. The demand model provides a tool for evaluating investments in boating infrastructure. The tool was applied to assess the benefits of potential policy scenarios facing Lee County planners. The three scenarios were: adding an additional access point, improving some access points by enlarging the parking lots, and removing an access point. Benefits were aggregated by combining per-choice occasion benefits with total trips to Lee County. The aggregated present values of social benefits ranged from $4 to $17 million dollars. Thus, the boating demand model serves as a tool to improve the efficiency of investments in the maintenance and supply of boating infrastructure.


The Lidcombe Program is an early childhood stuttering treatment delivered by parents in the child's everyday environment, under the guidance of a speech-language pathologist (SLP). Given the parents' central role in the treatment delivery, the way it is implemented away from the clinic and away from the SLP's input is very important. And yet, to date there has been very little investigation into this process. This study investigated to what extent parents deliver contingencies for stuttering and stutter-free speech, in structured and unstructured conversations, as directed in the treatment manual. Participants were three mothers and their children who were receiving the Lidcombe Program. They recorded two treatment sessions each week and completed a daily treatment diary. The recordings were analysed for the use of parent verbal contingencies (PVCs). This method detected differences in PVC delivery by the mothers both across and within cases over time. The results show that valuable information can be gained from analysing home treatment sessions in this way and with a few modifications this methodology would be useful in larger scale studies. The strengths and limitations of this methodology are discussed with future larger studies of this type recommended.


Protein lysine deacylases comprise three zinc-dependent families and the NAD+-dependent sirtuins Sirt1–7, which contribute to aging-related diseases. Few Sirt6-specific inhibitors are available. Trichostatin A, which belongs to the potent, zinc-chelating hydroxamate inhibitors of zinc-dependent deacylases, was recently found to potently and isoform-specifically inhibit Sirt6. We solved a crystal structure of a Sirt6/ADP-ribose/trichostatin A complex, which reveals nicotinamide pocket and acyl channel as binding site and provides interaction details supporting the development of improved deacylase inhibitors.


Context. The surfaces of airless bodies in the Solar System are continuously altered by the bombardment of micrometeoroids and irradiation by solar wind, flares, and cosmic particles. Major effects of this process – space weathering – are darkening and "reddening" of the spectra of surface materials, as well as a "degrading" of absorption features. Aims. We studied the changes induced by energetic ion irradiation in the ultraviolet-visual-near-infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) (0.2–0.98 μm) reflectance spectra of targets selected to mimic the surfaces of airless bodies in the inner Solar System. Our chosen targets are olivine pellets, pure or covered by an organic polymer (polystyrene), which is transparent before irradiation. Polystyrene is used as a template for organic matter of low volatility that can be present on asteroidal surfaces. Moreover we measured the changes induced by ion irradiation in the absorption coefficient of the polymer. The purpose was to have a tool to better compare laboratory with observed spectra and distinguish between planetary objects with pure silicate surfaces and those whose surface is covered by organic matter exposed to cosmic ion bombardment. Methods. The samples were irradiated in vacuum, at room temperature, with 200 keV protons or 200–400 keV argon ions. Before, during, and after irradiation diffuse reflectance spectra were acquired. Polystyrene films were also deposited on quartz substrates and irradiated while transmittance spectra were recorded. Results. We measured the variations of the absorption coefficient of polystyrene as a function of ion fluence. We showed that after ion irradiation the diffuse reflectance spectra of the samples covered by organics exhibit a much more significant variation than those of pure silicates. The spectra of targets made of olivine plus polystyrene can be fitted by using the measured absorption coefficient of polystyrene. Conclusions. The results obtained for pure olivine extend to the UV the spectral range of previous experiments. The data concerning the absorption coefficient of polystyrene are available on our web site (http://web.ct.astro.it/weblab/dbindex.html) and can be used to compare laboratory with astronomical spectra. This will possibly allow us to obtain information about organic matter on the surface of a given object, as well as on the relevance of the exposure to cosmic ions (space weathering).


The fatty acid compositions of the lipids and the lipid peroxide concentrations and rates of lipid peroxidation were determined in suspensions of liver endoplasmic reticulum isolated from rats fed on synthetic diets in which the fatty acid composition had been varied but the remaining constituents (protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals) kept constant. Stock diet and synthetic diets containing no fat, 10% corn oil, herring oil, coconut oil or lard were used. The fatty acid composition of the liver endoplasmic reticulum lipid was markedly dependent on the fatty acid composition of the dietary lipid. Feeding a herring-oil diet caused incorporation of 8.7% eicosapentaenoic acid (C(20:5)) and 17% docosahexaenoic acid (C(22:6)), but only 5.1% linoleic acid (C(18:2)) and 6.4% arachidonic acid (C(20:4)), feeding a corn-oil diet caused incorporation of 25.1% C(18:2), 17.8% C(20:4) and 2.5% C(22:6) fatty acids, and feeding a lard diet caused incorporation of 10.3% C(18:2), 13.5% C(20:4) and 4.3% C(22:6) fatty acids into the liver endoplasmic-reticulum lipids. Phenobarbitone injection (100mg/kg) decreased the incorporation of C(20:4) and C(22:6) fatty acids into the liver endoplasmic reticulum of rats fed on a lard, corn-oil or herring-oil diet. Microsomal lipid peroxide concentrations and rates of peroxidation in the presence of ascorbate depended on the nature and quantity of the polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet. The lipid peroxide content was 1.82+/-0.30nmol of malonaldehyde/mg of protein and the rate of peroxidation was 0.60+/-0.08nmol of malonaldehyde/min per mg of protein after feeding a fat-free diet, and the values were increased to 20.80nmol of malonaldehyde/mg of protein and 3.73nmol of malonaldehyde/min per mg of protein after feeding a 10% herring-oil diet in which polyunsaturated fatty acids formed 24% of the total fatty acids. Addition of alpha-tocopherol to the diets (120mg/kg of diet) caused a very large decrease in the lipid peroxide concentration and rate of lipid peroxidation in the endoplasmic reticulum, but addition of the synthetic anti-oxidant 2,6-di-t-butyl-4-methylphenol to the diet (100mg/kg of diet) was ineffective. Treatment of the animals with phenobarbitone (1mg/ml of drinking water) caused a sharp fall in the rate of lipid peroxidation. It is concluded that the polyunsaturated fatty acid composition of the diet regulates the fatty acid composition of the liver endoplasmic reticulum, and this in turn is an important factor controlling the rate and extent of lipid peroxidation in vitro and possibly in vivo.


Background Zuo Gui Wan (ZGW) is a classic formula in traditional chinese medicine (TCM). Previous studies have shown that it is beneficial for impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) of adults and the offspring as well. This study aimed to understand the molecular mechanisms of the efficacy of ZGW on IGT. Methods We used high-glucose loaded 2-cell stage mouse embryos as a model and took advantage of single-cell RNA sequencing technology to analyze the transcriptome of the model with or without ZGW. Differential gene expression analysis was performed with DESeq2. Results High glucose can downregulate genes in the ribosome pathway, while ZGW can reverse this inhibition and as a result prevent embryo cell death caused by high glucose. Furthermore, high glucose can affect sugar metabolism and influence mitochondrial function, but ZGW can promote sugar metabolism via the tricarboxylic acid cycle mainly through upregulating the genes in the respiratory chain and oxidative phosphorylation. Conclusions ZGW had a protective effect on embryonic cell death caused by glucose loading. The reversion of inhibition of ribosome pathway and regulation of mitochondrial energy metabolism are main effects of ZGW on high-glucose loaded embryos. This research not only revealed the global gene regulation changes of high glucose affecting 2-cell stage embryos but also provided insight into the potential molecular mechanisms of ZGW on the IGT model.


In Green Laurels, Donald Culross Peattie combines his extensive knowledge of history's foremost naturalists with his personal observations about the subject to form what the New York Herald Tribune calls "a delightful book...one would not wish to miss on any account." This piece is accurate and precise but according to Nation, "there is not a line which is not dramatically vivid and entertaining." Peattie's enthusiasm and enlightened curiosity make Green Laurels appealing to readers of all backgrounds.


{1} It's nice to be here, and I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you all. It's my first time in a School of Law and you certainly have more wood in your rooms than we do in laboratories, so this is a different experience for me. I'm a food microbiologist by training, so to me, food safety means Salmonella and cantaloupe and viruses in cruise ships. With genetically engineered foods, it's a little bit different because the effects aren't as dramatic as far as safety issues as what I see in my daily professional life. Also, it's different because genetically engineered foods are clouded by so much emotion and hearsay; it is an emotionally charged topic. Today, I just want to talk about the product safety issues and not get into the environmental ones, such as containment.


Non-plaque related periodontal diseases are rather rare, and may be based on a wide range of lesions, both benign and malignant. The clinical and radiographic signs often mimic those of the common plaque-related diseases and, therefore, may significantly postpone proper diagnosis and treatment.


As increasingly complex hypothesis-testing scenarios are considered
in many scientific fields, analytic derivation of null distributions is often
out of reach. To the rescue comes Monte Carlo testing, which may appear
deceptively simple: as long as you can sample test statistics under the
null hypothesis, the p-value is just the proportion of sampled test statistics
that exceed the observed test statistic. Sampling test statistics is often simple
once you have a Monte Carlo null model for your data, and defining some
form of randomization procedure is also, in many cases, relatively straightforward.
However, there may be several possible choices of a randomization
null model for the data and no clear-cut criteria for choosing among them.
Obviously, different null models may lead to very different p-values, and a
very low p-value may thus occur due to the inadequacy of the chosen null
model. It is preferable to use assumptions about the underlying random data
generation process to guide selection of a null model. In many cases, we may
order the null models by increasing preservation of the data characteristics,
and we argue in this paper that this ordering in most cases gives increasing
p-values, that is, lower significance. We denote this as the null complexity
principle. The principle gives a better understanding of the different null
models and may guide in the choice between the different models.


Civil lawsuits are growing very rapidly in China and reflect to a great extent the degree of underlying social tensions in cities. We do not know at this point, however, the nature and distribution of such tensions in any of China's urban centers. The release of judicial decisions online enables us to scan and make use of court documents. In our pilot study, we geocoded court opinions from civil lawsuits of neighborhood conflicts in Wuhan, one of China's seven mega cities, for the past decade from 2014 to 2017. We aim to find first, spatial distribution of these lawsuits in the city. secondly, the underlying economic, political and social factors that contribute to the rise of these conflicts. It is our hope that such an approach could contribute to study the urban social capital from the perspective of neighborhood relations.


Pulmonary ErbB4 deletion leads to a delay in fetal lung development, alveolar simplification, and lung function disturbances in adult mice. We generated a model of intrauterine infection in ErbB4 transgenic mice to study the additive effects of antenatal LPS administration and ErbB4 deletion during fetal lung development. Pregnant mice were treated intra-amniotically with an LPS dose of 4 μg at E17 of gestation. Lungs were analyzed 24 h later. A significant influx of inflammatory cells was seen in all LPS-treated lungs. In heterozygote control lungs, LPS treatment resulted in a delay of lung morphogenesis characterized by a significant increase in the fraction of mesenchyme, a decrease in gas exchange area, and disorganization of elastic fibers. Surfactant protein (Sftp)b and Sftpc were upregulated, but mRNA of Sftpb and Sftpc was downregulated compared with non-LPS-treated controls. The mRNA of Sftpa1 and Sftpd was upregulated. In ErbB4-deleted lungs, the LPS effects were more pronounced, resulting in a further delay in morphological development, a more pronounced inflammation in the parenchyma, and a significant higher increase in all Sftp. The effect on Sftpb and Sftpc mRNA was somewhat different, resulting in a significant increase. These results imply a major role of ErbB4 in LPS-induced signaling in structural and functional lung development.


Nowadays, data mining which is a part of web mining plays a vital role in various applications such as search engines, health care centers for extracting the individual patient details among huge database, analyzing disease based on basic criteria, education system for analyzing their performance level with other system, social networking, E-Commerce and knowledge management etc., which extract the information based on the user query. The issues are time taken to mine the target content or webpage from the search engines, space complexity and predicting the frequent webpage for the next user based on users' behaviour. Keywords—Data Mining, Association Rule Mining, Classification, Clustering, Webpage prediction.


Building on decades of struggle, the January 2011 Tunisian uprising triggered a wave of popular revolt that spread across North Africa and West Asia. After the uprising, Tunisia became the focus of a celebrated project of transitional justice, which is now the globally mandated method of reconciling victims and perpetrators following a nonrevolutionary regime change. However, Tunisia's process of transitional justice must be critically examined. The very paradigm employed—that is, the rule of law that transitional justice consistently seeks to impose—is skewed in favor of imperial interests, which can be traced to the paradigm's origins in the mid–twentieth century victory of European powers over Nazi Germany and its allies. There are other models of justice, however, that are not rooted in this Eurocentric victor's history, but instead derive from revolutionary traditions. A key one is the People's Tribunal, used since the late 1960s. The convening of a People's Tribunal in Tunisia could help amplify and extend the popular-justice claims that surfaced during the country's recent transitional-justice process. Establishing such a tribunal might help build a symbolic reservoir and organizational force that could ultimately contribute to substantial revolutionary change in the country.


Abstract

The majority of familial cancer remains with unknown genetic aetiology. Issues impairing the discovery of new genes in complex diseases such as cancer include multifactorial origin, incomplete penetrance of the disease and late-onset. The authors present an outline of the contribution of constitutive deoxyribonucleic acid copy number variations (CNVs) in cancer predisposition. Even though the mechanisms by which germline CNVs influence disease are hitherto largely speculative, nowadays it is consensual that they play a major role in a range of human pathologies. Point mutations have been far more commonly described, mainly because sequencing is the first-tier diagnostic test, but deletions and duplications of known cancer genes have been reported as an alternative mechanism for cancer susceptibility. Additionally, CNV screening in familial cancer cohorts with unknown genetic aetiology has pointed to new candidate genes for high cancer risk. Therefore, this type of genomic variation must be taken into account in the cancer risk assessment.

Key Concepts:

Structural variation, including copy number variation (CNV), is responsible for a large fraction of the genetic diversity of the human genome.

CNVs can be inherited in a Mendelian fashion or occur de novo.

Germline CNVs play an important role in a range of human pathologies through several mechanisms, mainly affecting gene dosage or function.

Nearly half of the approximately 100 Mendelian cancer predisposition genes were also reported as rare pathogenic germline CNVs.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) combined with automated high throughput data analysis is the most promising approach for elucidating the contribution of both CNVs and point mutations to cancer predisposition.

Keywords:

structural variation;
CNV;
cancer predisposition;
germline alterations;
next-generation sequencing


ABSTRACT Social avoidance is a common component of neuropsychiatric disorders that confers substantial functional impairment. An unbiased approach to identify brain regions and neuronal circuits that regulate social avoidance might enable development of novel therapeutics. However, most paradigms that alter social avoidance are irreversible and accompanied by multiple behavioral confounds. Here we report a straightforward behavioral paradigm in male mice enabling the reversible induction of social avoidance or approach with temporal control. C57BL/6J mice repeatedly participated in both negative and positive social experiences. Negative social experience was induced by brief social defeat by an aggressive male CD-1 mouse, while positive social experience was induced by exposure to a female mouse, each conducted daily for five days. Each social experience valence was conducted in a specific odorant context (i.e. negative experience in odorant A, positive experience in odorant B). Odorants were equally preferred pre-conditioning. However, after conditioning, mice sniffed positive experience-paired odorants more than negative experience-paired odorants. Furthermore, positive- or negative-conditioned odorant contexts increased or decreased, respectively, the approach behavior of conditioned mice toward conspecifics. Because individual mice undergo both positive and negative conditioning, this paradigm may be useful to examine neural representations of social approach or avoidance within the same subject.


In this letter a novel design solution in 90 nm CMOS technology is proposed for the IF amplifier, low-pass filter and square-law power detector of a system-on-chip (SoC) microwave radiometer. To minimize the number of off-chip components (just a single capacitor) the IF filter is based on an active gmC configuration, whereas the power detector exploits the MOS transistor non-linearity, i.e., avoiding the need for Schottky diodes. The fabricated IF chip features a sensitivity of 3 mV/nW, a linearity range of about 25 dB around the -60 dBm level, a noise equivalent bandwidth of 58 MHz and a current consumption of only 1.8 mA at 1.2 V supply. The core area is within a rectangle of 220 mum times 540 mum. The proposed design solution is also compatible with SiGe BiCMOS processes and can be regarded as a further step toward the realization of microwave radiometric sensors fully integrated on silicon.


The investigation was covered by the WHO program "Human Reproduction". The epidemiological survey in Tomsk has established 16.7% infertility rate. Prevalence and pattern of male infertility in families were studied. Disorders of sperm fertilizing capacity were observed in 45% of males from infertile couples. The main cause of male fertility defects was varicocele (11.3%). The percentage of idiopathic pathospermia remains high (20.9%). Inflammatory diseases of sex glands in males are not the leading cause of male infertility.


Finite element model updating has become a mature area of research, that is a useful tool in the modelling of structures and is also able to diagnose faults. However, applying model updating techniques is not easy, and requires a good physical understanding of the structure. This physical understanding is required to enable parameters to be chosen that correct the underlying modelling errors, and also so that the response is sensitive to these parameters. In this way the number of parameters may be reduced, thereby significantly improving the conditioning of the estimation problem. This paper concentrates on the eigensensitivity approach to model updating, and demonstrates the use of this approach in modelling and also for health monitoring applications. The model of the GARTEUR structure is updated, and the physical meaning of the updated model is tested by using design modifications. Fault detection and location often requires a large number of uncertain parameters since the location of the fault is unknown, resulting in ill-conditioned estimation equations that usually require regularization. Here fault location is used as a parameter and this is demonstrated by locating spacers and cracks in structures.


Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) is a constituent of cruciferous vegetables that exhibits antitumor activity. In this study, AITC was shown to inhibit the proliferation of human metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma SW620 cells in vitro by inducing cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase. The signaling pathway of AITC action involved the down-regulation of the pivotal Cdc25B and Cdc25C protein phosphatases in the treated cells. Quantitative real-time PCR of AITC-treated SW620 cells revealed a time-dependent down-regulation of Cdc25B and Cdc25C mRNA levels, which resulted in a decrease in the expression levels of these two proteins. Upon prolonged exposure, AITC induced caspase-mediated apoptosis in SW620 cells. The apoptotic process was evidenced by the activation of initiator caspases (-8 and -9) and effector caspases (-3 and -7), and the cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). The antitumor activity of AITC was further demonstrated in a SW620 xenograft in vivo. Taken together, the results suggest that AITC is a potential candidate for future research in chemoprevention and chemotherapy.


There is a global hype in the development of digital healthcare infrastructure to cater the massive elderly population and infectious diseases. The digital facilitation is expected to ensure the patient privacy, scalability, and data integrity on the sensitive life critical healthcare data, while aligning to the global healthcare data protection standards. The patient data sharing to third parties such as research institutions and universities is also concerned as a significant contribution to the society to sharpen the research and investigations. The emergence of 5G communication technologies eradicates the borders between patients, hospital and other institutions with high end service standards. In patients' perspective, healthcare service delivery through the digital medium is beneficial in terms of time, costs, and risks. In this paper, we propose a novel Multi-access Edge Computing(MEC) and blockchain based service architecture utilizing the lightweight ECQV (Elliptic Curve Qu-Vanstone) certificates for the realtime data privacy, integrity, and authentication between IoT, MEC, and cloud. We further attached storage offloading capability to the blockchain to ensure scalability with a massive number of connected medical devices to the cloud. We introduced a rewarding scheme to the patients and hospitals through the blockchain to encourage data sharing. The access control is handled through the smart contracts. We evaluated the proposed system in a near realistic implementation using Hyperledger Fabric blockchain platform with Raspberry Pi devices to simulate the activity of the medical sensors.


We report the finding of a novel missense mutation at codon 833 in the tyrosine kinase of the RET proto-oncogene in a patient with a carcinoma of the thyroid. In vitro experiments demonstrate that the R833C mutation induces transformed foci only when present in the long 3' splice isoform and, in keeping with a model in which the receptor has to dimerize to be completely activated, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor stimulation leads the RET(R833C) receptor to a higher level of activation. Tyrosine kinase assays show that the RET(R833C) long isoform has weak intrinsic kinase activity and phosphorylation of an exogenous substrate is not elevated even in the presence of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor. Furthermore, the R833C mutation is capable of sustaining the transformed phenotype in vivo but does not confer upon the transformed cells the ability to degrade the basement membrane in a manner analogous to metastasis. Our functional characterization of the R833C substitution suggests that, like the V804M and S891A mutations, this tyrosine kinase mutation confers a weak activating potential upon RET. This is the first report demonstrating that the introduction of an intracellular cysteine can activate RET. However, this does not occur via dimerization in a manner analogous to the extracellular cysteine mutants.


This chapter critically examines our theoretical understanding of the dialectical relationship between emergent social structures and agent behaviors. While much has been written about emergence individually as a concept, and the use of simulation methods are being increasingly applied to the exploration of social behavior, the concept of "social emergence" remains ill defined. Furthermore, there has been little theoretical treatment or practical explorations of how both the range and type of emergent structures observed may change as agents are endowed with increasingly sophisticated cognitive abilities. While we are still a very long way from being able to build artificial agents with human-like cognitive capabilities, it would be timely to revisit the extent of the challenge and to see where recent advances in our understanding of higher order cognition leave us. This chapter provides a brief recount of the theory of emergence, considers recent contributions to thinking about orders of emergence, and unpacks these in terms of implied agent characteristics. Observations are made about the implications of alternative cognitive paradigms and the position is proposed that an enactivist view provides the most logical pathway to advancing our understanding. The chapter concludes by presenting an account of reflexive and non-reflexive modes of emergence, which incorporates this view.