Introduction: The distance is a critical factor in the Amazonas, limiting people's access to Primary Health Care centers, a challenge for public health in the development of Primary Health Care (PHC) in Amazon communities rural in the rivers. For the development of health in the riverine areas were adopted strategies that involve the use of a Basic Health Riverine Unit, using vessel adapted for outpatient use. Objective: Describe the improvement in access to health of riverine populations, by implanting of Basic Health Riverine Units in the Amazon. Methodology or experience description: Each Basic Health Riverine Unit contain medical and dental offices, procedure and vaccine rooms, pharmacy and laboratory. Has a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, dentists, biochemical, social worker, nurse technicians, auxiliary oral health and pathology. It also has the support of Community Health Agents present in the communities served. Each Unit, in turn, performs, on average, 20 days of travel a month watching the riverine communities. Results: With the development of the activities of Basic Health Riverine Units, we highlight the implementation and consolidation of actions in the area of women's health (prevention of cervical and breast cancer, family planning and prenatal care), child health, oral health, control hypertension and diabetes, eradication of leprosy and tuberculosis control in the assisted riverine communities. Also emphasize the continuity of actions and the implemented a system for the regulation of references. Currently, the municipalities of Borba and Manaus are noteworthy in the deployment and implementation of the Basic Health Riverine Units. Conclusions or Hypothesis: Among the strategies adopted, the use of Basic Health Riverine Units has shown excellent results, enabling access to health in communities geographically isolated and solving, even partially, the problem of permanent staff in these areas. The continuity of actions is another plus, allowing the construction and monitoring of indicators related to health in rural riverine area of the Amazonas.


The objective of this study was to identify factors leading to significant differences in truck ride quality for a representative sample of long haul trucks in regular commercial use. Representatives of industry and labor organizations were contacted in order to obtain their assessments of key problem areas, and the state of the art in ride assessment technology was reviewed. A new experimental methodology was evolved which avoided most of the problems of earlier research. Data acquisition and analysis systems were developed for obtaining accurate, repeatable, and reliable ride data during in-service truck operations. In-service measurements were made with a typical variety of truck types, tires, seats, loads, speeds, roadways, and drivers. An array of in-cab data was tape recorded, with measurements being made in several short bursts for each of several roadway pavement categories and operating conditions. The IRIG Standard FM tape recordings included speed and six channels of in-cab vibration, cab floor and seat accelerations. Other recorded variables included: sound power level, air temperature, and driver and experimenter subjective ride ratings. The collected data were used to compute various ride quality measures, and include comprehensive statistics, spectra and ISO weighted measures. Preliminary correlations between objective and subjective ride measures were established. The dominant truck ride factors were found to be: pavement condition, wheel asymmetries, truck design and loading variations, and, to a lesser degree, cruising speed. No clear ride superiority was shown for any one type of tractor configuration, suspension, or seat. (FHWA)


OBJECTIVE
Inpatient treatment effectively increases body weight and decreases eating disorder symptoms in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN). However, there is a high risk of relapse within the first year after discharge, which calls for investigating long-term treatment success and its moderators.

METHOD
Female adolescent inpatients with AN (N = 142) were assessed, of which 85% participated at 1-year follow-up. Dependent variables were body mass index percentiles, eating disorder symptoms, depressive symptoms, compulsive exercise and life satisfaction.

RESULTS
On average, body weight increased and eating disorder symptoms and depressive symptoms decreased from admission to discharge and remained stable at follow-up. Compulsive exercise decreased and life satisfaction increased from admission to discharge and even improved further at follow-up. Age, duration of illness, previous inpatient treatments, length of stay and readmission after discharge moderated changes in several outcome variables.

CONCLUSIONS
This study confirms the high effectiveness of inpatient treatment for adolescents with AN and demonstrates that treatment effects remain stable or even improve further within the first year after discharge. However, subgroups of patients (e.g., those with an older age, longer duration of illness, and previous inpatient treatments) require special attention during inpatient treatment and aftercare to prevent relapse.


Abstract. In this study, a frozen soil parameterization has been modified and incorporated into a distributed biosphere hydrological model (WEB-DHM). The WEB-DHM with the frozen scheme was then rigorously evaluated in a small cold area, the Binngou watershed, against the in-situ observations from the WATER (Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research). First, by using the original WEB-DHM without the frozen scheme, the land surface parameters and two van Genuchten parameters were optimized using the observed surface radiation fluxes and the soil moistures at upper layers (5, 10 and 20 cm depths) at the DY station in July. Second, by using the WEB-DHM with the frozen scheme, two frozen soil parameters were calibrated using the observed soil temperature at 5 cm depth at the DY station from 21 November 2007 to 20 April 2008; while the other soil hydraulic parameters were optimized by the calibration of the discharges at the basin outlet in July and August that covers the annual largest flood peak in 2008. With these calibrated parameters, the WEB-DHM with the frozen scheme was then used for a yearlong validation from 21 November 2007 to 20 November 2008. Results showed that the WEB-DHM with the frozen scheme has given much better performance than the WEB-DHM without the frozen scheme, in the simulations of soil moisture profile at the cold regions catchment and the discharges at the basin outlet in the yearlong simulation.


Effects of increasing fuzziness on analytic hierarchy process for spatial multicriteria decision analysis. Abstract Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) involves techniques which relatively recently have received great increase in interest for their capabilities of solving spatial decision problems. One of the most frequently used techniques of MCDA is Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). In the AHP, decision-makers make pairwise comparisons between different criteria to obtain values of their relative importance. The AHP initially only dealt with crisp numbers or exact values in the pairwise comparisons, but later it has been modified and adapted to also consider fuzzy values. It is necessary to empirically validate the ability of the fuzzified AHP for solving spatial problems. Further, the effects of different levels of fuzzification on the method have to be studied. In the context of a hypothetical GIS-based decision-making problem of locating a dam in Costa Rica using real-world data, this paper illustrates and compares the effects of increasing levels of uncertainty exemplified through different levels of fuzzification of the AHP. Practical comparison of the methods in this work, in accordance with the theoretical research, revealed that by increasing the level of uncertainty or fuzziness in the fuzzy AHP, differences between results of the conventional and fuzzy AHPs become more significant. These differences in the results of the methods may affect the final decisions in decision-making processes. This study concludes that the AHP is sensitive to the level of fuzzification and decision-makers should be aware of this sensitivity while using the fuzzy AHP. Furthermore, the methodology described may serve as a guideline on how to perform a sensitivity analysis in spatial MCDA. Depending on the character of criteria weights, i.e. the degree of fuzzification, and its impact on the results of a selected decision 1 rule (e.g. AHP), the results from a fuzzy analysis may be used to produce sensitivity estimates for crisp AHP MCDA methods.


In a period spanning less than a decade, deep learning with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) has become the standard for Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications. While most of the key concepts were introduced decades ago, the two driving forces behind its success have only started building momentum at the dawn of this century: (I) an exponential increase in computational power and (II) the growing availability of large sets of labeled data. These two developments reached critical mass first in speech recognition (1), and later in computer vision, with the introduction of AlexNet (2): the first deep learning architecture to win the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge (ILSVRC) (3).


Empirical software engineering has produced a steady stream of evidence-based results concerning the factors that affect important outcomes such as cost, quality, and interval. However, programmers often also have strongly-held a priori opinions about these issues. These opinions are important, since developers are highlytrained professionals whose beliefs would doubtless affect their practice. As in evidence-based medicine, disseminating empirical findings to developers is a key step in ensuring that the findings impact practice. In this paper, we describe a case study, on the prior beliefs of developers at Microsoft, and the relationship of these beliefs to actual empirical data on the projects in which these developers work. Our findings are that a) programmers do indeed have very strong beliefs on certain topics b) their beliefs are primarily formed based on personal experience, rather than on findings in empirical research and c) beliefs can vary with each project, but do not necessarily correspond with actual evidence in that project. Our findings suggest that more effort should be taken to disseminate empirical findings to developers and that more in-depth study the interplay of belief and evidence in software practice is needed.


The objective of the Nanning Urban Environment Project for China is to assist the Nanning Municipality in arresting further deterioration of water quality in selected rivers by expanding coverage of wastewater treatment services, carrying out environmental rehabilitation of river courses, and providing technical assistance for development of the integrated mini-river basin management systems. Negative impacts of the project are: (i) land acquisition; (ii) demolition of residential houses and land attachments; (iii) impacts of demolition of non-residential houses; and (iv) demolition of land attached facilities. Mitigation measures include: 1) compensation shall include compensation for land, resettlement subsidies and attachments and young crops on the acquired land; 2) land compensation shall be owned by collective organization; and crops compensation and resettlement subsidies belong to the land contractor; 3) gain industrial reserved land, in-kind subsidies, project employment, employment training, social insurance for displaced farmers etc ; 4) the compensation for the temporary use of agricultural land shall be calculated as per the multiplier of average annual production value for the past three years before the land is temporally used by the years of temporary use. Necessary crops compensation shall be also paid according to actual situation; 5) house demolition compensation at replacement cost; and 6) the dislocated people shall be exempt from any charges and administration fees involving grievance against resettlement.


Abstract High dimensionality is a well-known problem that has a huge number of highlights in the data, yet none is helpful for a particular data mining task undertaking, for example, classification and grouping. Therefore, selection of features is used frequently to reduce the data set dimensionality. Feature selection is a multi-target errand, which diminishes dataset dimensionality, decreases the running time, and furthermore enhances the expected precision. In the study, our goal is to diminish the quantity of features of electroencephalography data for eye state classification and achieve the same or even better classification accuracy with the least number of features. We propose a genetic algorithm-based feature selection technique with the KNN classifier. The accuracy is improved with the selected feature subset using the proposed technique as compared to the full feature set. Results prove that the classification precision of the proposed strategy is enhanced by 3 % on average when contrasted with the accuracy without feature selection.


The work presented in this thesis aims to bridge an existing gap in the state of droplet aerobreakup knowledge associated with the fundamental flow physics that govern the experimentally observable droplet morphologies. Using direct numerical simulations of the aerobreakup of water cylinders and droplets in the flow behind shock waves in air, we investigate the behavior of the surrounding gas flow to gain insight into the droplet's deformation and evolution in the stripping breakup regime. The compressible multicomponent Navier-Stokes equations are solved using the Multicomponent Flow Code — a high-order accurate structured finite-volume flow solver with shock- and interface-capturing. Following qualitative descriptions of the aerobreakup process, comparisons are made with available experimental data. In 2D, accurate measurements of the cylinder's center-of-mass acceleration across a range of incident shock Mach numbers allow characterization of the unsteady drag coefficient. Additionally, mass loss measurements from viscous simulations refute a well-known boundary layer stripping theory. The results of a 3D nonaxisymmetric aerobreakup simulation are presented with an emphasis on describing the intricate flow phenomena observable in the wake region. Subsequent analyses of the surface instabilities and a Fourier decomposition of the flow field reveal asymmetrical azimuthal modulations and broadband instability growth that result in the devolution of the wake region into chaotic flow.


Thermomyces lanuginosus is thermophilic fungus in which was isolated from widespread material. A high number of this fungus was found in composts especially mushroom composts. This fungus has been reported to produce a high level xylanase when cultivated in the medium containing xylan and corn cob as a carbon source. Various strains of T. lanuginosus produced a single xylanase with molecular masses in range of 22.0 to 29.0 kDa. Pure beta-xylanase obtained from various strains of this fungus exhibited highly stability at high temperature and wide pH range. The optimal temperature and optimal pH of pure beta-xylanase from various strains of T. lanuginosus have been reported in range of 60-75 degrees C and pH 6.0-7.0, respectively. The great thermal stability was resulting from the present of hydrophilic amino acid on beta sheet of the surface of xylanase structure. Moreover, the relatedness between high and low xylanase producing strains can be distinguish by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Based on nucleotide sequences and T. lanuginosus xylanase gene has been classified to be a member of family 11 (formerly known as cellulase family G) glycosyl hydrolases. This enzyme was endo-type xylanase having main product are xylose and xylobiose. The expression of xylanase gene from T. lanuginosus was achieved in Escherichia coli and methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. The ability of T. lanuginosus in which produced large amount of high thermos stable xylanase has made this fungus to be a source of xylanase production for biobleaching in pulp and paper process.


This paper is concerned with quantized feedback control in the case where logarithmic-type dynamic quantizers are adopted instead of conventional static (memoryless) ones. First, when the plant and the state feedback controller are given, the admissible coarsest quantization density which guarantees quadratic stability of the closed loop system is given in a closed form, which does not depend on the choice of controller in contrast to the static quantizer case. Second, when the plant, the state feedback controller and the coarseness of the quantization density are given, we provide a design method of the dynamic quantizers via convex optimization. Third, these results are extended to the case of output feedback control systems. Finally, some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Tracking segmentation masks of multiple instances has been intensively studied, but still faces two fundamental challenges: 1) the requirement of large-scale, frame-wise annotation, and 2) the complexity of two-stage approaches. To resolve these challenges, we introduce a novel semisupervised framework by learning instance tracking networks with only a labeled image dataset and unlabeled video sequences. With an instance contrastive objective, we learn an embedding to discriminate each instance from the others. We show that even when only trained with images, the learned feature representation is robust to instance appearance variations, and is thus able to track objects steadily across frames. We further enhance the tracking capability of the embedding by learning correspondence from unlabeled videos in a self-supervised manner. In addition, we integrate this module into single-stage instance segmentation and pose estimation frameworks, which significantly reduce the computational complexity of tracking compared to two-stage networks. We conduct experiments on the YouTube-VIS and PoseTrack datasets. Without any video annotation efforts, our proposed method can achieve comparable or even better performance than most fullysupervised methods1.


This paper discusses the energy consumption for a mid-size electric vehicle(EV) under various conditions. In order to analyze which driving style is more efficient in terms of the system of the EV, we develop the electric vehicle model and apply several types of speed profiles such as different steady speeds, acceleration/deceleration, and a real world driving cycle including the elevation profile obtained from a GPS device. The results show that the energy consumption of the EV is affected by the operating efficiency of components when driving at low speed, while it depends on required power at wheels when driving at high speed. Also this paper investigates the effect of the elevation of a road and the rate of electrical braking on the energy consumption as well as the fuel economy of a conventional vehicle model under the same conditions.


This thesis analyzes the relationship of housing tenure, mobility and unemployment. With data on the municipal level in Sweden from 1998 to 2010 it is shown that the share of house ownership affects mobility and unemployment negatively while the share of tenant ownership has no effect on mobility and unemployment. The share of house ownership affects primarily the share of out migration from the municipality. The majority of the negative effect of house ownership on unemployment does not go through mobility. The model used is a two way fixed effect model. The different effects of the two types of ownership indicate that they have different characteristics. One explanation could be that house owners are more tied to the municipality than tenant owners. The result does not support the argument that owners in general have higher unemployment because they are less mobile. There is no evidence for that an increase in the share of owners increases the unemployment rate in Sweden.


BACKGROUND
Tamoxifen's effect of reducing the risk of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer is well established. Its effect on the time to first diagnosis of breast cancer has not been reported. We used information from the randomized, placebo-controlled Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT) to make that evaluation.

METHODS
A total of 13,388 women enrolled in BCPT, of whom 174 were diagnosed with ER-positive tumors and 69 were diagnosed with ER-negative tumors. A flexible semiparametric cure rate model was used to assess the effects of tamoxifen vs placebo treatment on the time to disease diagnosis. Multivariable logistic regression, adjusted for age and tumor size at diagnosis, was used to assess the association between the mammography detection rate and treatment with tamoxifen. All statistical tests were two-sided.

RESULTS
The median times to diagnosis of ER-positive tumors were similar in both treatment groups (43 months for the placebo arm and 51 months for the treatment arm). Times to diagnosis of ER-negative tumors, however, differed between treatment groups, with median times to diagnosis of 36 months in the placebo arm vs 24 months in the tamoxifen arm (difference = 12 months, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3 to 17 months, P = .037). ER-negative breast cancers in the tamoxifen arm were more likely than those in the placebo arm to be detected by mammography than by clinical breast examination alone after adjustment for age and tumor size, but the increase was only marginally statistically significant (odds ratio for mammography detection = 4.68, 95% CI = 0.86 to 25.32, P = .073). No differences were found in the mammography detection rates for ER-positive tumors by treatment arm.

CONCLUSION
Although tamoxifen treatment does not reduce the incidence of ER-negative breast cancer, it may have advanced detection of such tumors by approximately 1 year, compared with that in the placebo arm. The time to diagnosis of ER-positive breast cancer was similar in both treatment arms.


The Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG) was founded in September 2004 at Maastricht University. The mission of the School is to train specialists who combine a high level of academic scholarship with leadership, in order to strengthen democratic governance in domestic and international organizations, by focusing on policy analysis, risk assessment, policy design, monitoring and evaluation, and methodologies and techniques of policy research.


Medical textbooks are used as a pedagogical tool in the training of medical translators from English into Spanish. However, researchers have paid little attention from a contrastive perspective to this genre—of crucial importance for
translation didactics.

Based on the contrastive analysis of 13 textbooks in the field of medicine (5 in English, 8 in Spanish), this paper has the following objectives: (1) to study a set of text-external features (the prominent communicative function of the text, speech acts, communicative partners, text reception and production; (2) to study textinternal features—metacommunicative strategies that provide useful information about how writers alleviate the addressee's reception of the information conveyed in the text, build a relationship with readers and show how the genre "textbook" presents specialist knowledge in a didactic way; (3) to show how the results obtained may contribute to planning and defining learning objectives for the training of medical translators according to didactic criteria.


Objectives
In recent years, various formulations containing rapamycin, mainly petrolatum-based, have been tested on facial angiofibromas in tuberous sclerosis. They are often poorly tolerated due to irritation and bleeding. In addition, their effectiveness was insufficient in young adults. The objective of this study was to develop and characterise a hydro-alcoholic gel containing solubilised rapamycin. The stability of the product stored at 4°C was evaluated over 1 year.

Methods
Two different 0.1% rapamycin gels were formulated with or without α-tocopherol and urea. Different methods were used to characterise the gels: HPLC, gas chromatography, pH, visual observation and optical microscopy. A physico-chemical and microbiological stability study was also conducted for 1 year at 4°C.

Results
Gels were physically and microbiologically stable after 1 year at 4°C: organoleptic characteristics and pH unchanged, no significant decrease in rapamycin was observed, tocopherol droplet size was constant and rheological behaviour was not altered.

Conclusions
This study describes a new gel formulation to improve skin penetration using various excipients to promote skin tolerance. This study provides, for the first time, detailed stability data for a hydro-alcoholic rapamycin gel.


Most information on the distribution, movements and ecology of cetaceans in the N.E. Atlantic have come from whale catches mainly in the early part of this century, and from strandings records collected by the British Museum (Nat. Hist.). With the formation of the Cetacean Group in 1973, a scheme for recording live cetaceans at sea was started. This paper summarizes the results of about two thousand sightings involving nearly 25,000 individual animals between the years 1958– 1978 (but mainly from the last 10 years), and relates them to existing information collected from other sources. Difficulties of identification and potential sources of bias are discussed.

Most large cetaceans are present in British waters as part of a latitudinal feeding migration whereas smaller species may be present in the N.E. Atlantic throughout the year with movements being mainly of an offshore-inshore nature. Some species are clearly very rare probably as a result of over-exploitation in the last century and early part of this century. These include the Right whale, Blue whale and probably Humpback whale. Other species are rarely recorded because their usual range is some distance from British waters. These include narwhal and White whale (from Arctic waters), Pygmy sperm whale, smaller beaked whales and Euphrosyne dolphin (from warm temperate to tropical waters). The Harbour porpoise is by far the most common and widespread species in British waters, occurring mainly in inshore waters, although it has apparently declined in certain regions (e.g. Southern North Sea, English Channel, Irish Sea) in recent years probably as a result of pollution, disturbance and/or over-exploitation of food resources. Bottle-nosed and Risso's dolphins are also widely distributed close to the coast, although the latter is restricted to the west and south coasts and the former is associated particularly with some large estuaries. Common dolphins are relatively abundant and widespread, and are more pelagic than the previous three species. White-sided dolphins have a mainly pelagic distribution centred on the Northern North Sea whilst the White-sided dolphin has a wider distribution which includes all the western seaboard.

Of larger cetaceans, the Killer whale is relatively common particularly on the west coasts and the Pilot whale is locally and seasonally abundant at the north and south ends of Britain and Ireland where they probably represent distinct populations. The Bottlenose whale, Minke, Fin and Sei whales are confined to the west and north coasts, all but the Minke whale having a primarily pelagic distribution. Sperm whales although increasingly commonly stranded on British coasts, are rarely sighted in inshore waters.

The west coast of Britain and Ireland are the most important regions for cetaceans whereas the Southern North Sea has the smallest number although in previous decades numbers were probably higher. Most cetacean species occur mainly in the summer months, particularly August and September, although some species, e.g. White-sided Dolphin, Pilot whale and Minke whale show peaks later in the year. A number of species show secondary spring peaks, e.g. Bottle-nosed and Common dolphins, Risso's dolphins, and Pilot whales. Present evidence suggests that only the large whales exhibit definite latitudinal migrations, all other species being resident at high latitudes although they may show offshore-inshore or possibly small latitudinal movements. Many of the movements indicated from the present analysis can be linked to the seasonal changes in food availability and to the timing and geographical location of breeding, and these are described in detail. Many concentrations of a particular cetacean species occur regularly in the same area year after year and these may often be related to spawning concentrations of a particular fish species.

Variations in herd size are noted between species and within species at different times of the year. These are related to aggregations associated with feeding, breeding, and long-distance movements winch will vary according to the biology and ecology of different cetacean species.


Motivation. Regression modeling through generalized linear models (GLM) has known increasing popularity in last decades after milestone papers published in actuarial literature, representing one of the most used tools to assess the variability of unpaid claims reserve. Generalized additive models for location scale and shape (GAMLSS) represent an extension of classical GLM framework allowing not only the location parameters but also shape and scale parameters of a relevant number of distributions to be modeled as function of dependent variable like accident and development years. The paper applies GAMLSS to triangles coming from NAIC loss triangle databases in order to assess the distribution of unpaid loss reserve in term of best estimate as well as distributional form. The results of GAMLSS are critically compared with those of classical stochastic reserving approach. All the analyses will be performed using R statistical software.


We describe a highly specific RIA for blood and urine 6-keto-PGF1 alpha, the principal metabolite of PGI2. The method requires extraction and column chromatography prior to assay and uses a tritium trace for assay monitoring. Dextran-coated charcoal is used to separate bound from free trace. Acceptable standard curve reproducibility over six assays had a mean correlation of 0.991 with a coefficient of variation of 6.61%. Good precision and accuracy data were generated with this assay, and normal human blood levels in 80 control subjects was less than 125 pg/ml. Significant elevations of blood 6-keto-PGF1 alpha were found in a high proportion of cancer patients with various solid tumor malignancies.


Background: Occlusion therapy is effective in older children with amblyopia. Objective: To evaluate and compare visual outcomes in older children aged between 9 and 18 years with unilateral refractive amblyopia after treatment with patching and/or optical correction. Settings and Design: Prospective randomized controlled study. Materials and Methods: Sixty children (9-18 years) with unilateral refractive amblyopia (anisometropic/meridional) with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) ≤6/12 (0.3 logMAR) in the worse eye were 1:1 randomized into nonocclusion and occlusion group. Both treatment groups underwent 4 weeks refractive adaptation period (RAP) and three follow-up visits at 6 weeks interval. After RAP, the better eye in the occlusion group was patched for 6 h daily, while the nonocclusion group children continued to wear spectacles for 18 weeks. BCVA (logMAR) at each visit was compared with the baseline reading. Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were used. Student′s t-test and Chi-square/Fisher exact test was used to calculate the P value. Results: There was a significant improvement in BCVA from baseline to 18 weeks after RAP within both treatment groups (P < 0.001) and significant higher proportion of children in occlusion group showed three lines of improvement compared with nonocclusion group (P = 0.011). Improvement in BCVA from baseline to 18 weeks was noted irrespective of the severity of amblyopia and age of the participants more so in occlusion group. Conclusion: Occlusion therapy is an effective and better treatment than only spectacle correction in children aged between 9 and18 years, with unilateral refractive amblyopia.


We report a rare finding of two male breast cancer patients with HER2-positive breast cancer who also developed thyroid cancer. We reviewed 45 male breast cancer patients treated in our institution from 2003 to 2008. Only five male breast cancer patients were HER2-positive. In reviewing the published data, we found no cases of thyroid cancer and concurrent breast cancer in men. However, breast cancer and thyroid cancer have shown close association in women. This finding therefore provokes speculation as to whether we should investigate whether women with HER2-positive breast cancer are at a higher risk for thyroid cancer. Although this observation seems to be clinically prevalent, publications are sparse in clinical research areas linking thyroid cancer to breast cancer.


Salto Quântico is a rapidly growing religious movement based in Aracaju, Brazil. Syncretizing New Age, Spiritist and Christian precepts, the group exposes followers to spiritual discourse and ideology imparted by enlightened spirit guides through leader and medium Benjamin Teixeira de Aguiar Machado. Followers are encouraged to embrace the adage, "Happiness is not only your right; it's your duty!" This article will draw on ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews conducted in Aracaju in 2012 to depict a profile of the group. It will also critically consider and explore ways in which the group encourages adherents to seek happiness in the midst of the challenges of late-modern life in Brazil, through participation in the group's spiritual community, progressive interpretations of sexual identity and sexuality, and spiritual discourse around happiness and the combating of depression.


This study starts with an observation: human rights and humanitarianism are often conflated into one and the same thing, even by scholars of these respective fields. A muddled use of terminology makes this lack of clarity evident; as such, the importance and power of language and discourse lies at the centre of this project. This thesis is set out to explore intersections and map convergences of human rights and humanitarianism—as discourses, as practices, and as related bodies of law (International Human Rights Law (IHRL) and Humanitarian Law (IHL)). In doing so, it seeks to draw attention to the beneficial potential of an interaction that can –at times– be synergetic, but also to the tensions it creates, when, far from mutually strengthening, human rights and humanitarianism work in contradiction. First, this thesis analyses the rapprochement between IHL and IHRL. This initial focus on the legal frameworks sets the ground for the subsequent study of converging discourses and practices, but it is also intrinsically valuable, laying bare some of the tensions around the jurisdictions, scopes of application, and protections afforded by these bodies of law. Second, focusing on four big player – two on the human rights side (Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch), and two on the humanitarian side (the International Committee of the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres), this thesis turns to analysing dominant discourses. Noting the increased overlap in scopes of activities, and thus in discourse, it studies the impacts of the humanitarian-isation of human rights reporting, as well as of the human rights-isation of humanitarian discourse and practice. Looking at the predicament between denunciation and access, central to humanitarian work, we see how the pervasion of rights-speak has influenced that dilemma, and the way humanitarian actors navigate it. Third, taking inspiration from Raymond Williams's keyword approach, this study then zeroes in on the term 'protection', having identified it as central to this convergence. A closer analysis of this term's evolution, (contested) meanings and uses allows us to unlock understandings of this phenomenon. This thesis considers 'Protection' –ubiquitous in both discourses– as it partly constitutes, and furthers the convergence. This thesis studies the efforts to make its definition consensual and some of the consequences of the confusion around it. Finally, by analysing the compounded terms of 'protection of civilians' and 'responsibility to protect', it explores the ways in which 'protection' penetrated UN discourse, acting as a Trojan horse for the tensions created by the convergence of human rights and humanitarianism


Industrial robot has played a central role in the production automation such as welding, assembling, and painting. There has been however, little effort to the application of robots in machining works (grinding, cutting, milling, etc.) which are typical 3D works. The machining automation requires a high stiffness robot arm to reduce deformation and vibration. Conventional articulated robots serially connected links from the base to the gripper. So they have very weak structure for the machining work. Stewart platform is a typical parallel robotic mechanism with a very high stiffness but it has a small work space and a large installation space. This research proposes a new machining robot arm with a double parallel mechanism. It is composed of two platforms and a central axis. The central axis will connect the motions between the fist and the second platforms. Therefore, the robot has a large work space as well as a high stiffness. This paper will introduce the machining automation with a robot and design a machining robot arm using the double parallel mechanism.


Sir: Recently Hughes and co-workers' have reported in this journal an association between the presence of HLA-DR2 and low CD8 + cells in multiple sclerosis patients and their cohabiting relatives. This finding Correspo was obtained from two partially different Via Pastc series of multiple sclerosis patients, relatives and unrelated healthy controls whose blood lymphocyte subpopulations were serially determined for several months. With a very Referces similar protocol we have followed up 46 multiple sclerosis patients for 18 months2'4 1 Hughes and, in agreement with Hughes' group56 KI, C we fondtht culatii and other investigators7 found that th chronic progressive multiple sclerosis Psych patients have significantly less CD8 + lym2 Ghezzi phocytes or high CD4/CD8 ratios. R, C Now we have concluded the HLA typing poten of 38 out of 46 multiple sclerosis patients ble m originally included in that study. Our follov results, which are summarized in the table, Psych are at variance with the results obtained by 3 Cazzull Hughes from a lower number of patients. dMefiT HLA-DR2 positive subjects do not differ sclero from negative ones with respect to lympho4 Zaffaror cyte subset mean percentages. Cazzu DR2 is the most frequently found HLA as ma phenotype in caucasian multiple sclerosis sclero patients. HLA-A3 and -B7 are also reported Ghen to be more represented in multiple sclerosis for7 subjects than in the normal population. On 1988 the contrary HLA-B12 phenotype is nega5 Compstc tively associated with the disease, almost in in pat Italians.9 Consequently we correlated the Neuro presence or absence of these HLA pheno6 Compstc types to lymphocyte subpopulation numlympp bers. The results, similarly to what we found sclero for HLA-DR2, were negative for a 7 Hanser significant association (data not shown). T-celk Our conclusion is that HLA-DR2 and active reduced CD8 + cells are independently over associated with -multiple sclerosis. 1983;1 M ZAFFARONI 8 Bach M) M Di FALCO Degos


Under the widespread perception of a democratic deficit in practices of local governance across European cities, the neighbourhood has become the principal site for experimentation with participatory models of urban regeneration. In the UK, the recent assimilation of 'Localism' thinking into mainstream urban policy and planning has opened up an institutionalised channel for citizen engagement in the production of the built environment at the local scale. In particular, Neighbourhood Planning procedures as outlined in the Localism Act 2011, have been presented as a new instrument for local communities to produce the statutory planning documents for their area.

The conceptual and practical implications of Neighbourhood Planning have been widely debated in the fields of urban studies and social science; the debate has reanimated academic discussion on appropriate forms of local democracy and community empowerment. Comparatively little consideration has been given to the potentials and limitations this planning framework presents for design activity itself, its methods and the quality and relevance of its spatial outcomes.

On one hand, institutionalised, state-enabled participatory formulas such as Neighbourhood Planning have been presented as an instrument for rebalancing power at the scale of the neighbourhood. In this sense, the localism-driven reforms have been denounced for serving neoliberal agendas in times of austere reorganisation of welfare provision and for resulting in a mere transfer of service delivery functions to citizens rather than in a significant devolution of control. However, advocates of participatory governance still see in these frameworks some potential for various degrees of local transformation "from within" where power can be renegotiated. Neighbourhood Planning, although associated with problems of legitimacy, representativeness and political efficacy, is considered an ongoing process of expansion of citizens' own spaces for engagement, where the scope for empowerment is yet to be redefined.

However, independent of the current academic debate, Neighbourhood Planning is emerging as a burgeoning field of practice where planners, architects and urban designers converge and work together with locals. This is promoting the revival of participatory approaches to planning, architecture and design from the 1960's and 1970s', with a renewed underlying assumption that increasing participation will directly lead to the improvement of the urban landscape. However, the Neighbourhood Plans adopted in London risk reproducing the negative consequences born out of planning and design being artificially phased -first planning, then later design- in the process of local space development.

With the first wave of Neighbourhood Plans and Forums operating across London, the city is providing a wide collection of case studies for critically examining the roles architects and urban designers are playing in the context of the Localism Act 2011. I use the case of Kentish Town to demonstrate that current approaches to Neighbourhood Planning require a re-valorisation of designer expertise, which is often overshadowed by the practicalities of participation. In the purely instrumental use of expert knowledge, urban design could miss out on an opportunity to introduce a spatial approach to planning that remains under-explored and has not yet served to re-imagine policy-making processes and inform the outcomes. In light of this trend, my research seeks to (re)construct an amplified role for design in Neighbourhood Planning that would make better use of design professionals beyond their current scope of involvement.


A thermal unit commitment (UC) computer program has been used at the Riyadh Energy Control Centre of Saudi Consolidated Electric Company, Central Region, (SCECO Central) since 1982. Since then, system growth, plant aging, turbine degradation, ambient temperature effect on unit output, transmission constraints (line loading), MVAr/voltage control problem at light loads, and stringent operating requirements (spinning reserve, etc.) have imposed many constraints on the program, making it nearly impossible to produce a generation allocation schedule that is acceptable to system operators. A study undertaken to decide what should be done with the UC program and how the operator could be supplied with a daily generation schedule that is sufficiently accurate and practically feasible is described. Because it was not feasible to provide a new unit commitment program or to modify the existing one, it was decided to tailor the unit commitment input dataset such that the constraints are appropriately represented. In addition, it was decided to write a suite of computer programs (UCPROG) in FORTRAN that would process necessary input data and results of the UC program to achieve a more realistic, detailed, but precise unit allocation schedule.<<ETX>>


Citation for published version (APA): Bishop, RF., & Farnell, DJJ. (2000). Marshall-Peierls sign rules, the quantum Monte Carlo method, and frustration. In RF. Bishop, KA. Gernoth, NR. Walet, & Y. Xian (Eds.), Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference, Seattle, USA, September 10-15, 1999 (pp. 457-460). (Series on Advances in Quantum Many-Body Theory; Vol. 3). World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. http://www.worldscibooks.com/physics/4434.html


Localization of membrane proteins in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC7942 was determined by transmission electron microscopy utilizing immunocytochemistry with cells prepared by freeze-substitution. This preparation procedure maintained cellular morphology and permitted detection of cellular antigens with high sensitivity and low background. Synechococcus sp. PCC7942 is a unicellular cyanobacterium with thylakoids organized in concentric layers toward the periphery of the cell. Cytochrome oxidase was localized almost entirely in the cytoplasmic membrane, whereas a carotenoprotein (P35) was shown to be a cell wall component. The major photosystem II (PSII) proteins (D1, D2 CP43, and CP47) were localized throughout the thylakoids. Proteins of the Cyt b6/f complex were found to have a similar distribution. Thylakoid luminal proteins, such as the Mn-stabilizing protein, were located primarily in the thylakoid, but a small, reproducible fraction was found in the outer compartment. The photosystem I (PSI) reaction center proteins and the ATP synthase proteins were found associated mostly with the outermost thylakoid and with the cytoplasmic membrane. These results indicated that the photosynthetic apparatus is not evenly distributed throughout the thylakoids. Rather, there is a radial asymmetry such that much of the PSI and the ATPase synthase is located in the outermost thylakoid. The relationship of this structure to the photosynthetic mechanism is discussed. It is suggested that the photosystems are separated because of kinetic differences between PSII and PSI, as hypothesized by H.-W. Trissl and C. Wilhelm (Trends Biochem Sci [1993] 18:415–419).


Mutations that result in the loss of the protein dysferlin result in defective muscle membrane repair and cause either a form of limb girdle muscular dystrophy (type 2B) or Miyoshi myopathy. Most patients are compound heterozygotes, often carrying one allele with a nonsense mutation. Using dysferlin-deficient mouse and human myocytes, we demonstrated that membrane blebbing in skeletal muscle myotubes in response to hypotonic shock requires dysferlin. Based on this, we developed an in vitro assay to assess rescue of dysferlin function in skeletal muscle myotubes. This blebbing assay may be useful for drug discovery/validation for dysferlin deficiency. With this assay, we demonstrate that the nonsense suppression drug, ataluren (PTC124), is able to induce read-through of the premature stop codon in a patient with a R1905X mutation in dysferlin and produce sufficient functional dysferlin (approximately 15% of normal levels) to rescue myotube membrane blebbing. Thus ataluren is a potential therapeutic for dysferlin-deficient patients harboring nonsense mutations.


Background Medical trainees are expected to provide care for increasingly sick and treatment intensive patients. To improve patient care, hospitals worldwide have developed acute medical units (AMUs), dedicated medical wards that provide care for patients during the first 24 to 72 hours of an emergency medical hospital admission. A distinguishing feature of these units is that they are supervised by senior clinicians and offer multidisciplinary patient-centered care. Little is known about the impact of AMUs on trainee supervision and education. Methods In this educational case study, we describe the evolution, process and structure of our AMU service. We also provide resident and teaching faculty perceptions of the impact of this intervention on education and supervision. Results Questionnaire results showed that residents and teaching attendings believed that supervision and education were improved on the AMU, as compared to the traditional medical ward model. Residents also felt that their knowledge and clinical skills in managing acute patients improved. Procedure skills were less impacted by the intervention. A small number of residents believed that the AMU model worsened supervision and education. Conclusion Integrating medical trainees into an AMU allowed for early evaluation and input from senior clinicians and increased opportunities to work in and learn from multidisciplinary teams, contributing to improved resident supervision and education. Future studies are needed to assess the long-term impact of the AMU on educational outcomes.


alloy substrate by plasma technique DTU Orbit (19/10/2019) Investigation of photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide coating deposited on aluminium alloy substrate by plasma technique Nowadays, there is an increased need for functionalized surfaces with self-cleaning and antibacterial properties. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) in the anatase crystalline structure is one of the most powerful photocatalytic materials available today, which can provide above functionalities. The photocatalytic process is initiated by UV-light in TiO2 which creates electron/hole pairs in the conduction band (CB) and valence band (VB) of TiO2, respectively. The electron/hole pairs generated have sufficient energy to cause reduction and oxidation on its surface providing the self-cleaning effect. Literature consists of large number of publications on titanium dioxide coating for self-cleaning applications, with glass as the main substrate. Only little work is available on TiO2 coating of metallic alloys used for engineering applications. Engineering materials, such as light-weight aluminium and steel have wide spread technological applications, where a combination of selfcleaning properties has a huge business potential. The results presented in this paper demonstrate superior photocatalytic properties of TiO2 coated aluminium compared to nano-scale TiO2 coating on glass substrate. The thickness of the coating strongly influences the photocatalytic properties. In general, the photocatalytic activity increased with thickness. Quantification of images scanned with Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) revealed that there is a linear relationship between the thickness of the coating and the average cell size of the crystals. Furthermore, it manifested that the surface area of the coating increased linearly with crystal size. The optical measurements demonstrated that the ability of the coating to absorb light was depended on the thickness of the coating. As the coating became thicker, the absorption increased up to a certain thickness where a saturation limit was reached. Overall, the results from decomposition studies and electrochemical measurements indicated that the thickness of the coating has a profound influence on the photocatalytic properties.


The purpose of the present study was to examine characteristics of multi-ingredient pre-workout supplement (MIPS) users, their common patterns/habits of MIPS ingestion, and their associated feelings about the effectiveness and safety of this class of supplements. An online electronic survey was distributed through social media to assess self-reported supplementation practices and preferences among adult males and females who reported regular MIPS use. A total of 1045 individuals responded, with 872 of these individuals (males: n = 636, 72.9%; females: n = 233, 26.7%; mean ± SD; age = 27.7 ± 7.9 years; training age = 8.2 ± 7.3 years) completing the survey. The majority of respondents reported the length of current or past MIPS consumption as greater than one year (n = 630, 72.2%), with ingestion frequencies primarily of four (n = 210, 24.1%) or five (n = 212, 24.3%) days per week of training. In addition, the three most popular goals for ingesting MIPS were increased energy and focus (n = 776, 89.0%), muscular endurance (n = 325, 37.3%), and blood flow or "pump" (n = 322, 37.0%). Although most users reported ingesting one serving size with each use, 14% reported ingesting two or more, and 18% indicated they ingest MIPS more than once per day. Importantly, over half (54%) of the respondents reported experiencing side-effects following MIPS use, including skin reactions, heart abnormalities, and nausea. Females were more likely than males to experience these side effects, despite being less likely to consume two or more serving sizes per dose. Our findings also indicated that MIPS users should consume no more than the recommended serving size of a given supplement, as the potentially significant variability in the caffeine content of MIPS products is compounded as more doses are consumed. Furthermore, MIPS users should minimize the ingestion of other supplements which contain high levels of niacin and caffeine, as the concurrent consumption of such products may put users above the tolerable upper limits for these substances.


The purpose of this study was to determinate what requirements there should be on refilling material used as soil remediation based on the soil environment, i.e. soil processes and factors important to soil-dwelling organisms. The study was conducted by investigating which parameters that is important for the soil environment and by comparing them with each other. To exemplify how the parameters may change in different locations, data for total organic carbon, dry matter (i.e. water content), and pH were analyzed from different locations before and after soil remediation. Dry matter, organic matter, pH, compaction, grain size, porosity and soil composition were found to have a significant impact on various soil processes and soil organisms. Field investigations were made to examine dry- and organic matter and pH. The results were indicating that dry matter increased and that the organic matter decreased when the area was refilled with a coarse material. This study showed that there should be requirements on the characteristics of refilling material such as; organic matter content, good water holding capacity, a pH that is as neutral as possible and that the soil should not be too compact. A conclusion from this study was that crushed rock may not be the optimal refilling material after soil remediation.


This paper provides a new model of network formation that bridges the gap between the two benchmark models by Bala and Goyal, the one-way flow model, and the two-way flow model, and includes both as particular extreme cases. As in both benchmark models, in what we call an "asymmetric flow" network a link can be initiated unilaterally by any player with any other, and the flow through a link towards the player who supports it is perfect. Unlike those models, in the opposite direction there is friction or decay. When this decay is complete there is no flow and this corresponds to the one-way flow model. The limit case when the decay in the opposite direction (and asymmetry) disappears, corresponds to the two-way flow model. We characterize stable and strictly stable architectures for the whole range of parameters of this "intermediate" and more general model. We also prove the convergence of Bala and Goyal's dynamic model in this context.


Workflow technologies are becoming pervasive in that they enable the execution of business processes in distributed and ubiquitous computing environments. As long-running transactions, the execution of workflows in environments without dedicated infrastructures raises transactional requirements due to the dynamicity of resources available to run a workflow instance and the integration of relaxed atomicity constraints at both design and instantiation time. In this paper, we propose an adaptive transactional protocol for the pervasive workflow model developed in a previous work to support the execution of business processes in the pervasive setting. The execution of this protocol takes place in two phases. First, candidate business partners are assigned to tasks using an algorithm wherein the selection process is based on both functional and transactional requirements. The workflow execution further proceeds through a hierarchical coordination protocol managed by the workflow initiator and controlled based on a decision table computed as an outcome of the business partner assignment procedure. The resulting workflow execution is compliant with the defined consistency requirements, and the coordination decisions depend on the transactional characteristics offered by the partners assigned to each task. An implementation of our theoretical results relying on ontology Web Language for Series and Business Process Execution Language technologies is further detailed as a proof of concept.


OBJECTIVE
To identify developmental trajectories of drinking between the ages of 18 and 26 years and to identify variables, amenable to policy influence, which predict these trajectories.

DESIGN
Longitudinal data were analysed using latent class mixture modelling.

SETTING
Participants were interviewed in a central location.

PARTICIPANTS
Provincial city birth cohort, cross-national studies suggest findings are generalizable to other similar market economies.

MEASUREMENTS
The frequency of drinking over the past year and the typical quantity consumed per drinking occasion were computed from five location-specific questions. Measures used to predict membership of trajectory groups were ease of access to alcohol, drinking on licensed premises, response to alcohol advertising, educational achievement, parental consumption, age of onset of regular drinking and living arrangements.

RESULTS
Three trajectories of quantities consumed showed reduced consumption after age 21 but one trajectory showed marked increases. Three trajectories of frequency of drinking increased or remained stable over time. Access to licensed premises at age 18 had the most significant impact on membership of the trajectory groups and educational achievement had a significant impact on membership of the heavier quantity trajectory groups. Parental alcohol consumption, access to alcohol at 15 years, liking for alcohol advertising, living arrangement and age of onset of regular drinking also influenced trajectory membership.

CONCLUSIONS
Quantity and frequency of drinking in adolescence and early adulthood had different trajectories. Membership of heavier drinking groups was affected by environmental influences which are subject to policy change, particularly that of earlier access to licensed premises. In a small group high-quantity consumption did not decrease at age 26.


Geopolymer is an inorganic alumino-silicate product that shows good bonding properties. Geopolymer binders are used together with aggregates to produce geopolymer concrete which is an ideal building material for infrastructures. A by-product material such as fly ash is mixed together with an alkali to produce geopolymer. Current research on geopolymer concrete has shown potential of the material for construction of reinforced concrete structures. Structural performance of reinforced concrete depends on the bond between concrete and the reinforcing steel. Design provisions of reinforced concrete as a composite material are based on the bond strength between concrete and steel. Since geopolymer binder is chemically different from Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) binder, it is necessary to understand the bond strength between geopolymer concrete and steel reinforcement for its application to reinforced concrete structures. Pull out test is commonly used to evaluate the bond strength between concrete and reinforcing steel. This paper describes the results of the pull out tests carried out to investigate the bond strength between fly ash based geopolymer concrete and steel reinforcing bars. Beam end specimens in accordance with the ASTM Standard A944 were used for the tests. In the experimental program, 24 geopolymer concrete and 24 OPC concrete specimens were tested for pull out. The concrete compressive strength varied from 25 to 55 MPa. The other test parameters were concrete cover and bar diameter. The reinforcing steel was 500 MPa steel deformed bars of 20 mm and 24 mm diameter. The concrete cover to bar diameter ratio varied from 1.71 to 3.62. It was found from the test results that the failure occurred by splitting of concrete in the region bonded with the steel bar, in both geopolymer and OPC concrete specimens. Comparison of the test results shows that geopolymer concrete has higher bond strength than OPC concrete. This suggests that the existing design equations for bond strength of OPC concrete with steel reinforcing bars can be conservatively used for calculation of bond strength of geopolymer concrete.


The paper aims to shed light on how subtitlers cope with metaphor translation. The paper presents the results of a case study on a set of English subtitles of one Croatian movie. Metaphor translation procedures were analyzed using Conceptual Metaphor Theory. There are four basic ways to translate metaphors: a. using the same conceptual metaphor, b. using a different conceptual metaphor, c. using a non-metaphorical paraphrase; and d. deleting the metaphor. In addition, a non-metaphorical expression can be translated by a metaphorical expression. Metaphors are mental, linguistic, but also cultural entities. Since translation in the contemporary age is recognized as both linguistic and cultural transfer, translating metaphors is at the core of the translation task. Many conceptual metaphors are universal and can be found in (almost) all languages, but some are culturally specific, appearing in just one language (group). This case study shows that the universality of metaphor influences the choice of a metaphor translation procedure, in a way that shared metaphors are mostly translated using the same conceptual metaphor, whereas non-shared metaphors are translated by a different metaphor or a non-metaphorical paraphrase. The paper also explores the ways in which the specifics of subtitling as a constrained type of translation influence the choice of a translation procedure. The results are compared to the results of a previous study, which dealt with the translation of metaphors in literature.

Keywords: conceptual metaphor, translation, subtitling, universality, conventionality, temporal and spatial constraints


Abstract. Remote-sensing observations of Solar System objects with a space telescope offer a key method of understanding celestial bodies and contributing to planetary formation and evolution theories. The capabilities of Twinkle, a space telescope in a low Earth orbit with a 0.45-m mirror, to acquire spectroscopic data of Solar System targets in the visible and infrared are assessed. Twinkle is a general observatory that provides on-demand observations of a wide variety of targets within wavelength ranges that are currently not accessible using other space telescopes or that are accessible only to oversubscribed observatories in the short-term future. We determine the periods for which numerous Solar System objects could be observed and find that Solar System objects are regularly observable. The photon flux of major bodies is determined for comparison to the sensitivity and saturation limits of Twinkle's instrumentation and we find that the satellite's capability varies across the three spectral bands (0.4 to 1, 1.3 to 2.42, and 2.42 to 4.5  μm). We find that for a number of targets, including the outer planets, their large moons, and bright asteroids, the model created predicts that with short exposure times, high-resolution spectra (R  ∼  250, λ  <  2.42  μm; R  ∼  60, λ  >  2.42  μm) could be obtained with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of   >  100 with exposure times of <300  s. For other targets (e.g., Phobos), an SNR  >  10 would be achievable in 300 s (or less) for spectra at Twinkle's native resolution. Fainter or smaller targets (e.g., Pluto) may require multiple observations if resolution or data quality cannot be sacrificed. Objects such as the outer dwarf planet Eris are deemed too small, faint or distant for Twinkle to obtain photometric or spectroscopic data of reasonable quality (SNR  >  10) without requiring large amounts of observation time. Despite this, the Solar System is found to be permeated with targets that could be readily observed by Twinkle.


The genetic basis of infection determines the dynamics of host–parasite coevolution and associated phenomena such as local adaptation and the evolution of sex and recombination. Here, we present parasite resistance as a two–step process in which hosts must first detect parasites and then eradicate them; failure at either step results in infection. The model incorporates –matching–allele– (MA) genetics for detection and –gene–for–gene– (GFG) genetics for eradication. We found that the oscillatory dynamics were similar to pure GFG genetics when the cost of 'virulence' alleles was low, but resembled pure MA genetics when the cost was high. The magnitude of the cost that switched the dynamics from GFG dominated to MA dominated depended on the genetic architecture of defence (i.e. the number of GFG and MA loci).


The parabolic equation program Fepe has been extended to handle a rough air–water interface treated as a series of stair steps. Because much finer vertical spacing may be needed to resolve the interface than to propagate an acoustic wave accurately in the rest of the domain, an option to use one vertical spacing near the surface and a coarser one in the rest of the ocean has been implemented. The necessary Galerkin approximations of derivatives on an unequally spaced grid have been worked out using the symbolic manipulation program Mathematica. A test case with a realistic surface is provided to demonstrate the accuracy of the new program Fepe–rsfc. The code is efficient enough to allow thousands of runs for realistic sized problems, for example to simulate the effect of a moving surface. [Work supported by the office of the Chief of Naval Operations.]


We propose in this paper a novel framework for the study of dynamic mobility networks. We address the characterization of dynamics by proposing an in-depth description and analysis of two real-world data sets. We show in particular that links creation and deletion processes are independent of other graph properties and that such networks exhibit a large number of possible configurations, from sparse to dense. From those observations, we propose simple yet very accurate models that allow to generate random mobility graphs with similar temporal behavior as the one observed in experimental data.


NLDB, a knowledge-based system that automatically categorizes news stories for dissemination, retrieval, and browsing, is discussed. The major knowledge-based component of NLDB is a lexicosemantic pattern matcher that identifies combinations of words and phrases, as well as more complex patterns. These include word roots, grammatical categories, and semantic structures, such as verbs describing classes of events. It is shown that this linguistic analysis outperforms statistical methods. Because building lexicosemantic patterns can be a laborious process, a set of statistical methods that automate pattern acquisition while preserving the benefits of a knowledge-based approach are developed.<<ETX>>


Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata (Wall. & G.Don) Cif. (wild olive) is one of the six subspecies considered important for domestication purposes of olive as it bears favourable physiological and morphological traits. The distribution of wild olive stretches from South Africa over the Middle East and the Mediterranean region to China mainly at mid to high altitudes with reliable precipitation. Wild olive populations are considered isolated outposts of a formerly large and more or less connected Olea europaea population. Nowadays, wild olive populations are poorly connected, situated in fragile habitats, and hence more prone to additional stresses. These stresses include erratic weather extremes and anthropogenic influences such as illegal logging and livestock keeping activities that may result into further fragmentation of stands, shifts of demography, increased clonal growth, and lead to directional genetic change. Wild olive also grows in the Hajar Mountains, Sultanate of Oman, a habitat subjected to many anthropogenic disturbances. Therefore, the present condition of wild olive in the Hajar Mountains was studied to predict the future stability of this population. To this end a total of 362 individuals was inventoried and a subset of 188 individuals were genetically analysed at 12 microsatellite markers. Dendrological measures indicated disturbances mainly due to human activities. Height and crown area of individuals averaged 3.7 m (range: 0.2 to 12 m) and 14 m (range: 1 to 18 m), respectively. The stand conditional index was mainly 50%. The identified genetic variation within the sampled areas was moderate (observed and expected heterozygosity: 0.58 to 0.55 and 0.64 to 0.62, respectively) with the absence of clones. Though significant genetic differentiation was found, there was no evidence of population sub-structure suggesting effective pollen and long-distance seed dispersal. Changes in gene flow patterns may be reflected in the next (seedling) generation. Further studies are necessary to detect any changes in the future and to develop sustainable conservation strategies for this species.


Background & Aim: Extensive surgical interventions as diagnostic and therapeutic methods can cause anxiety in patients. Therefore, health care professionals such as nurses should try to reduce the level of patients' anxiety by addressing beneficial effects of providing preoperative information. The main purpose of the study was to determine the effect of education using a booklet in different times (1 day and 6 day before surgery) on anxiety level of patients as candidates for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG), in Tehran Heart Center Hospital, 2006. Material & method: The study design was a clinical trial. The total sample size was 60 patients. Thirty subjects were given a booklet 1 day before surgery and another group, received education, 6 days before surgery. Sampling method was consecutive. The Spiellberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used for data collection at pre and post education. Results: The result indicated that the anxiety level decreased in both groups, but paired t-test showed that the difference of state anxiety and trait anxiety in the first group (received education at 1 day before operation) at pre and post intervention were statistically significant (t=3.27, P.value=0.030), (t=2.23, P.value=0.034) respectively, whereas there was not statistically significant difference of anxiety level in the group of patient who received education 6 days before the surgery, at pre and post intervention. Conclusion: According to the results, providing educational booklets to the patients in clinical setting one day before surgery, seems more applicable which could reduce patients' anxiety effectively.


The application of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is emerging in many fields, raising the need for a systematic investigation on their safety. In particular, for biomedical purposes, a relevant issue are certainly AuNP interactions with biomolecules, among which proteins are the most abundant ones. Elucidating the effects of those interactions on protein structure and on nanoparticle stability is a major task towards understanding their mechanisms at a molecular level. We investigated the interaction of the 3-mercaptopropionic acid coating of AuNPs (MPA-AuNPs) with β2-microglobulin (β2m), which is a paradigmatic amyloidogenic protein. To this aim, we prepared and characterized MPA-AuNPs with an average diameter of 3.6 nm and we employed NMR spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy to probe protein structure perturbations. We found that β2m interacts with MPA-AuNPs through a highly localized patch maintaining its overall native structure with minor conformational changes. The interaction causes the reversible precipitation of clusters that can be easily re-dispersed through brief sonication.


The pathway for NH3 permeation across the apical membrane of MDCK cells was determined by measuring the effect of membrane fluidizing agents, protein reactive agents, and temperature on cellular NH3 influx. The rate of NH3 influx was calculated from the time course of increase in intracellular pH (pHi), measured with 2,7-biscarboxyethyl-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein, when MDCK cell monolayers were exposed to NH4Cl. The apical membrane NH3 permeability was 7.13 +/- 0.37 x 10(-3) cm/s (n = 12) at 37 degrees C and 1.23 +/- 0.07 x 10(-3) cm/s (n = 7) at 18 degrees C. In comparison, apical membrane permeability at 37 degrees C to the weak acids, valeric acid and acetic acid, were 1.39 +/- 0.11 x 10(-2) cm/s (n = 4) and 6.93 +/- 0.11 x 10(-3) cm/s (n = 4), respectively. The activation energy for NH3 permeation was 15.0 +/- 1.0 kcal/mol (17.5 degrees C-37.5 degrees C). In the presence of the membrane fluidizing agents, heptanol or chloroform, NH3 permeability increased in a dose-dependent manner. Heptanol (15 mM) significantly decreased the activation energy for NH3 permeation to 4.4 +/- 0.6 kcal/mol, P less than 0.001. The carboxyl reactive agent (1-cyclohexyl-3-(2-morpholinoethyl)carbodiimide metho-p-toluensulfonic acid 1 mM), aminoreactive agents (4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid 50 microM; picrylsulphonic acid 1 mM), the sulphydryl reactive agent (p-chloromercuriphenylsulfonic acid 1 mM), and the nonspecific membrane protein cleaving agent pronase (1 mg/ml) had no effect on the NH3 influx. The results suggest that NH3 permeates the plasma membrane of MDCK cells via a lipid pathway.


This study is the first report of its type demonstrating the synthesis of mHAP on the basis of magnetic functionalization with nHAP, which were synthesized using Rutilus frisii kutum fish scale as a benign fishery waste by-product. The mHAP was characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, and FT-IR spectroscopic techniques. The XRD pattern confirmed the formation of a single-phase nHAP without any extra steady phases. It was also found that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model gave a satisfactory fit to the experimental data ( R 2 = 0.99). The maximum removal percentages of Cu and Zn ions in optimal conditions (adsorbent dosage at 0.1 g, 30 min contact time at 25 ± 1 °C and pH = 5 ± 0.1) by mHAP were 97.1% and 93.8%, respectively. Results also demonstrated that mHAP could be recycled for up to five cycles in the case of copper and zinc. The Langmuir isotherm was proved to have a better correlation compared with that of the Freundlich isotherm. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that it was a spontaneously endothermic reaction. In conclusion, mHAP could be regarded as a powerful candidate for efficient biosorbent, capable of adsorbing heavy metals from aqueous solutions.


A large facility for testing superconducting magnets has been in operation at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since the completion of its construction that began in 1999. A helium refrigerator is used to cool the magnets and liquefy helium which can provide 3.8 K-4.5 K, 1.8 bar-5 bar, 20 g/s-40 g/s supercritical helium for the coils or a 150 L/h liquefying helium capacity. Other major parts include a large vacuum vessel (3.5 m in diameter and 6.1 m in height) with a liquid nitrogen temperature shield, two pairs of current lead, three sets of 14.5 kA-50 kA power supply with a fast dump quench protection circuitry, a data acquisition and control system, a vacuum pumping system, and a gas tightness inspecting devise. The primary goal of the test facility is to test the EAST TF and PF magnets in relation to their electromagnetic, stability, thermal, hydraulic, and mechanical performance. The construction of this facility was completed in 2002, followed by a series of systematic coil testing. By now ten TF magnets, a central solenoid model coil, a central solenoid prototype coil, and a model coil of the PF large coil have been successfully tested in the facility.


A new word identification method is proposed to determine text readings and their accentuation for Japanese text-to-speech conversion system. Since Japanese writing characteristics results in an enormous number of word candidates, a technique of reducing the number of identification trials is introduced employing a dynamic programming method. Moreover, plausibility evaluation functions are utilized in the identification algorithm to reflect Japanese writing characteristics : grammatical word transition tendency, phrase number minimization principle, longest matching advantage and unusual kana(Japanese syllabary) expression penalty. Applying this method to 299 Japanese sentences consisting of 6867 words, 95.2% of the words were correctly identified. Further precise analysis confirms that about two-thirds of the errors can be easily corrected by revising the word transition networks and by enriching the word dictionaries. The remaining errors however can be recovered only by fine semantic analysis. Through this experiment, the proposed word identification method is shown to be useful in a Japanese text-to-speech conversion system.


Many food products contain a network of fat crystals. The sizes and shapes of these triglyceride crystals are extremely important in producing the good physical properties and texture for a high-quality final product. Control of crystal habit can affect a fat's structure and hence the resultant behaviour. In this work the effects of phospholipids on the crystal habit of triglyceride crystals have been investigated. Optical and scanning electron microscopy, DSC, and X-ray diffraction have been used. The effects of certain phospholipids on the crystallisation of fats have been shown, and large changes to crystal habit have been demonstrated. These changes are caused by the interactions of the phospholipid molecules with the crystallising triglyceride molecules. Interference with the crystallising molecules causes changes to the shape and size (habit) of the resultant fat crystals. Effects on nucleation and crystal growth are demonstrated. These dramatic changes to the crystal habit can have a significant effect on the properties of the resultant fat system. For example the process of fat fractionation could be significantly enhanced. Alternatively, the network structure of fatty products could be controlled or altered opening up the possibility of the development of new and improved products.


In this work, thermal decomposition of the [Co(NH3)5(H2O)](NO3)3 precursor complex was investigated under solid state conditions. Thermal analysis (TG/DTA) showed that the complexwas easily decomposed into the Co3O4 nanoparticles at low temperature (175 °C) without using any expensive and toxic solvent or a complicated equipment. The obtained product was identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Optical and magnetic properties of the products were studied by UV-visible spectroscopy and a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. FT-IR, XRD and EDX analyses confirmed the formation of highly pure spinel-type Co3O4 phase with cubic structure. SEM and TEM images showed that the Co3O4 nanoparticles have a sphere-like morphology with an average size of 17.5 nm. The optical absorption spectrum of the Co3O4 nanoparticles showed two band gaps of 2.20 and 3.45 eV, which in turn confirmed the semiconducting properties. The magnetic measurement showed a weak ferromagnetic order at room temperature. Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) demonstrated that the as-prepared Co3O4 nanoparticles have good photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation.


This paper presents a detailed analysis of the de- sign, fabrication, and testing of a high-isolation electrostatically actuated capacitive shunt switch for X-band applications. The dual-warped-beam switch's RF performance is fine-tuned simulta- neously in the OFF and ON states by introducing warped bimetallic beams to the switch's edge to increase the effective capacitive area in the downstate and to the switch's center to decrease the effective capacitive area in the upstate. As a result, the dual-warped-beam switches demonstrate an off-to-on capacitive ratio of up to 170 without the need for thin dielectrics or high dielectric constant materials, exhibiting excellent RF performance. High isolation at X-band of less than 40 dB is also obtained with the introduction of inductive meandered springs into the switch structure. This novel tuning design mechanism for capacitive switches utilizing warped bimetallic beams has the advantage of simplicity and flexibility without the added complexity of using thinner dielectrics, tuned circuits, or larger size. (2009-0097)


Background: Fracture is one of the causes of death in the world. Pain is a major symptom reported by patients with fracture.a Nonpharmacology management of pain includes stimulus and cutaneous massage, ice, and heat therapy (cold or hot compress), distraction, guided imagery, hypnosis, and relaxation techniques.
Objectives: the purpose of this study was to determine the differences of pain sensation between cold and warm compresses intervention among patients with limb fractures at the Dradjat Prawiranegara Serang Banten hospital.
Methods: A quasi-experimental method was conducted with two group pretest and posttest design for each teratments. The study was conducted in dr. Dradjat Prawiranegara hospital Serang Banten. A total of 12 respondent has participated in this study. Pain intensity was measured using a numeric rating scale.The data analysis using univariate analysis and bivariate analysis. Bivariate analysis using T test (T-test) that is difference test of two independent mean.
Results: The result shows that the average intensity of pain beforecoldcompresswasgivenwas7andreduce3.13to3.83postintervention.While the average intensity of the pain before given an warm compress was 6 and 3.83 post intervention. (P = 0.000).
Conclusions: Judging from the magnitude of change in pain intensity was concluded that warm compress more effectively than cold compress to decrease pain in fracture patients.


Interleukin (IL)-2 is a type I four-α-helical bundle cytokine that plays vital roles in antigen-mediated proliferation of peripheral blood T cells and also is critical for activation-induced cell death. We now demonstrate that IL-2 potently decreases expression of IL-7 receptor α chain (IL-7Rα) mRNA and protein. The fact that IL-7Rα is a component of the receptors for both IL-7 and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) suggests that IL-2 can negatively regulate signals by each of these cytokines. Previously it was known that the IL-2 and IL-7 receptors shared the common cytokine receptor γ chain, γc, which suggested a possible competition between these cytokines for a receptor component. Our findings now suggest a previously unknown type of cross-talk between IL-2 and IL-7 signaling by showing that IL-2 signaling can diminish IL-7Rα expression via a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt-dependent mechanism.


Take photos with your iPad and immediately model the curves with an equation or a geometric figure – on your iPad! Obtain and "play" over 1000 FREE interactive classroom ready activities – including teacher notes and solutions for grades 6 – 12. Participants will learn how to cleverly utilize these apps: Reflector, Splashtop, Dropbox, and TI-Nspire. All documents referenced will be made available. If you have one iPad or a class set, see how to use this power. Learn the power of the different apps. See how to use Reflector software on your computer in conjunction with the Airplay app on your iPad so that you can wirelessly project what is on your iPad through your projector onto the screen or interactive whiteboard. Experience how to use the Splashtop Whiteboard app that will allow you to control your computer desktop wirelessly. Also be able to make annotations on your iPad screen that will appear on your desktop software apps. See how to utilize the Dropbox app and share files quickly and easily with colleagues and students. And use all the powers of TI-Nspire CX CAS in a touch environment with the TI-Nspire app for iPads. Dynamic Geometry, CAS, graphing, spreadsheets, data and statistics – integrate all these apps into one on your iPad. An excellent teaching and learning tool.


Our aim is to explore (1) whether gestational medication use, mode of delivery, and early postnatal exposure correlate with childhood asthma, (2) the dose responsiveness of such exposure, and (3) their links to early- and late-onset asthma. We conducted a matched case-control study based on the Taiwan Children Health Study, which was a nationwide survey that recruited 12-to-14-year-old school children in 14 communities. 579 mothers of the participants were interviewed by telephone. Exclusive breastfeeding protected children from asthma. Notably, childhood asthma was significantly associated with maternal medication use during pregnancy, vacuum use during vaginal delivery, recurrent respiratory tract infections, hospitalization, main caregiver cared for other children, and early daycare attendance. Exposure to these factors led to dose responsiveness in relationships to asthma. Most of the exposures revealed a greater impact on early-onset asthma, except for vacuum use and daycare attendance.


ABSTRACT Protein kinase C (PKC) represents a family of serine/threonine kinases that play a central role in the regulation of cell growth, differentiation, and transformation. Posttranslational control of the PKC isoforms and their activation have been extensively studied; however, not much is known about their translational regulation. Here we report that the expression of one of the PKC isoforms, PKCη, is regulated at the translational level both under normal growth conditions and during stress imposed by amino acid starvation, the latter causing a marked increase in its protein levels. The 5′ untranslated region (5′ UTR) of PKCη is unusually long and GC rich, characteristic of many oncogenes and growth regulatory genes. We have identified two conserved upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in its 5′ UTR and show their effect in suppressing the expression of PKCη in MCF-7 growing cells. While the two uORFs function as repressive elements that maintain low basal levels of PKCη in growing cells, they are required for its enhanced expression upon amino acid starvation. We show that the translational regulation during stress involves leaky scanning and is dependent on eIF-2α phosphorylation by GCN2. Our work further suggests that translational regulation could provide an additional level for controlling the expression of PKC family members, being more common than currently recognized.


An 8-month-old male Yorkshire terrier was presented for ingestion of 800 mg of an over-the-counter caffeine supplement. Clinical signs included extreme tachycardia, facial fasciculation, coma/stupor and flailing. Due to the lack of response to medical therapies, humane euthanasia was elected. Microscopically, necrotic neurons were scattered throughout the hippocampus, olfactory cortex, pyriform lobe, amygdala, and basal nuclei, with relative sparing of the caudate nuclei. In addition, mild skeletal myocyte necrosis and mural necrosis of cardiac arterioles in the left and right ventricles were noted. This is the first report of the microscopic lesions associated with caffeine intoxication in a dog.


In general, circuit board assemblies experience various mechanical loadings during assembly and in actual use. The repeated cyclic bending can cause electrical failures due to circuit board cracks, solder interconnects cracks, and the component cracks. In this paper, we report on the failure characteristics of semiconductor chips under the repeated cyclic bending. We first describe a new 4-point bending tester, which is developed according to JEDEC standard No. 22B113. The performance of the tester is then estimated through actual experiments. Test results reveal that the cracks first occur on the outer balls around 20,000 cycles and gradually propagate to the inner balls where cracks are found around 70,000 cycles.


Drilling wastes generated in large volumes is recognized to have many effects on the environment. Several techniques have been applied by the oil and gas industry to overcome the impacts of drilling waste on the environment, an example of these techniques is using environmentally friendly drilling fluid additives.
 This work investigates the potential of using Fibrous Food Waste Material (FFWM) as an environmentally friendly drilling fluid additive. This material was prepared in-house. Experimental evaluation has been carried out to investigate the ability of FFWM to enhance several properties of water-based drilling fluid under two different pH conditions. The FFWM was first evaluated at 9.3 pH then the pH was increased using sodium hydroxide to 11.5. Several properties of drilling fluid were measured. The measurements included testing the rheological properties using viscometer, measuring the filtration using standard low-pressure low-temperature filter press, the pH using pH tester, and other important properties.
 The findings of this work showed that FFWM in 9.3 pH environment reduced the fluid loss by 18% and 30% when 1% and 2% concentrations of FFWM were added, respectively. This reduction in fluid loss was along with forming a thin filter cake. The filter cake thickness of the reference fluid was decreased from 3 mm to 2.14 mm and 1.9 mm at 1% and 2% concentrations of FFWM. Additionally, FFWM resulted in increasing the plastic viscosity (PV) compared to the reference fluid by 33.33% at 1% and 2% concentrations. While the yield point (YP) was increased by 22.22% and 44.44% when 1% and 2% concentrations of FFWM were added, respectively. Both the initial and final gel strengths were increased by 27.27%, 44.44 %, 7.14% and 14.28% at 1% and 2% concentrations, respectively. Moreover, the results in 11.5 pH emphasized the efficient performance of FFWM, and it showed better improvement in the filtration specifications and the rheological properties. In other words, PV, YP, and gel strength were significantly increased; while the fluid loss was very low and the filter cake was very thin at 11.5 pH condition compared to 9.3 pH condition for the same concentrations, proving the ability of FFWM to perform better under higher pH condition.
 The significant enhancement in the rheological and filtration properties, suggesting the applicability of using this additive as a rheology modifier and filtration control agent. These results showed the potential use of FFWM as an alternative for some of the toxic materials used today in the oil and gas industry. This work demonstrates that this additive will help to reduce both the impact on the environment along with reducing the cost of drilling fluid and drilling waste handling.


In recent years, a multitude of studies provide comprehenisve evidence that increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases. The ROS are common byproducts of many oxidative biochemical and physiological processes. They can be released by mitochondrial respiration, NADH/NADPH oxidase, xanthine oxido-reductase or the uncoupling of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in vascular cells. ROS mediate various signaling pathways that underlie cardiovascular pathophysiology. In a number of cardiovascular disease conditions, the delicate equilibrium between free-radical generation and antioxidant defense is altered in favor of the former, thus leading to redox imbalance i.e. escalating oxidative stress and increased tissue injury. This review focuses on the updated evidences concerning involvement of ROS in cardiovascular diseases.


The study examined socio-economic factors affecting the adoption of soya bean production technologies in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria. Interview schedules were administered to 180 respondents which were analyzed by the use of descriptive (frequencies and percentages) and inferential (multiple regression analysis) statistics. The study revealed that majority of the respondents adopted the recommended technologies with respect to improved seeds, planting time and harvesting time representing 52.20%, 50.70% and 68.90% respectively. While on the other hand, majority of the respondents did not adopt the recommended technologies with regards to fertilizer application, spacing, weeding frequency and the use of chemicals with 52.20%, 53.30%, 61.10% and 67.80% respectively. The regression analysis revealed that educational level, farming experience and sources of information had significantly and positively influenced the adoption of improved soya bean production technologies by respondents. The major constraints to adoption of soya bean production technologies by respondents were poor extension services (75.60%) and lack of credit facilities (72.20%. The study recommends that agricultural extension services should adequately be provided with input support services in the form of credit facilities among others.


Global soil moisture products are based on passive microwave sensors of brightness temperature at different frequencies, including Land C-bands. Two airborne sensors used to develop and test retrieval algorithms for soil moisture estimation are the L-band Electronically Scanned Thinned Array Radiometer (ESTAR) and the C-band Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSR). In this letter, we compare the statistical and multifractal properties of soil moisture and brightness temperature from ESTAR and PSR during the Southern Great Plains Experiment in 1999. We show that differences between products are minimized at a support scale close to the satellite resolution. Then, we compare the subfootprint variabilities of each product in eight coarse domains of 25.6 × 25.6 km2. Scale-invariance and multifractal properties were found in all the three available soil moisture products, but multifractality was negligible in brightness temperature fields, implying that the nonlinear transformations in retrieval algorithms introduce the multifractal behavior in soil moisture. Subfootprint variability and the multifractal behavior for diverse wetness conditions are also different for the three products. Since discrepancies between the subfootprint variabilities of PSR and ESTAR brightness temperatures are small, the factors leading to the differences among the soil moisture products are mainly due to the level of detail of the retrieval algorithm and to the spatial variability of forcing data and parameters related to surface roughness and vegetation.