Hyperparathyroidism is an endocrinopathy affecting calcium metabolism. The leading cause of hypercalcaemia is primary hyperparathyroidism most often caused by a parathyroid adenoma. Symptomatic hyperclacemia secondary to parathyroid adenoma is usually managed by surgical excision of the adenoma1,2. We present a 54 year old female patient who presented with palpitations, general body malaise, nausea and headache on her index admission and managed for severe hypertension. She had been treated for hypertension for three years but with poor adherence to follow-up and medication. During her laboratory work up, her total calcium level was found to be elevated at 3.82mmols/l (2.2-2.5mmols/l).Her albumin level was normal. In addition, she was diagnosed with end stage renal disease and haemodialysis instituted. Parathyroid mass was diagnosed on a parathyroid 99Tc methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI) scan. Parathyroidectomy was performed two months later and diagnosis of parathyroid adenoma was confirmed on histology of the excised tissues. Hypercalcemia resolved after the excision. The case report aims to highlight the challenges in the management of hyperparathyroidism in a patient with end stage renal disease scheduled for parathyroidectomy in a resource restricted tertiary hospital. Keywords: Parathyroidectomy, Hypercalcemia, Hypertension, Renal disease


The purpose of this article is to describe the etiology of neural tube defects (NTDs) and the role of folic acid in their prevention. NTDs are all too common and devastating outcomes of many pregnancies. The brain and spinal cord malformations that develop during gestation in the NTD-affected pregnancies are expressed through various anomalies. Estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 1995 reported over 4,000 occurrences of NTDs in the United States alone. Research has demonstrated that the preconception and prenatal addition of folic acid can greatly reduce the incidence of NTDs. Recent advances in genetic studies have increased awareness of the important role of folic acid in preventing NTDs. Identification of a genetic marker will allow for specific treatment of those women at high risk for NTDs. Despite recommendations from the CDC for folic acid supplementation, there is insufficient awareness of these guidelines by both the public and by healthcare providers. A National campaign to promote awareness of the role of folic acid in the prevention of NTDs has been initiated, and has been successful at reducing NTDs's by 19%. Nurses can be instrumental in the dissemination of information not only to women of childbearing age, but also to other nurses and physicians.


The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is emerging as playing a central role in regulating T cell activation, differentiation, and function. mTOR integrates diverse signals from the immune microenvironment to shape the outcome of T cell receptor (TCR) antigen recognition. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) enzymes are critical mediators of T cell activation through their generation of the second messenger phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5) triphosphate (PIP3). Indeed, PIP3 generation results in the activation of Protein Kinase B (PKB, also known as AKT), a key activator of mTOR. However, recent genetic studies have demonstrated inconsistencies between PI3K disruption and loss of mTOR expression with regard to the regulation of effector and regulatory T cell homeostasis and function. In this review, we focus on how PI3K activation directs mature CD4 T cell activation and effector function by pathways dependent on and independent of mTOR signaling. Importantly, what has become clear is that targeting both mTOR-dependent and mTOR-independent PI3K-induced signaling distally affords the opportunity for more selective regulation of T cell differentiation and function.


In the mesencephalic torus semicircularis of fish, visual processing is carried out in addition to acousticolateral processing, and takes place in unimodal and bimodal units. To study the encoding of visual stimuli in the torus of the rainbow trout, unit recordings made in the torus were compared with recordings made in the tectum. The receptive fields (RFs) of the torus units in the rainbow trout ( Salmo gairdneri ) mostly measured more than 80°, generally had no well-defined borders and showed non-X type behavior. As in the tectum, the majority of the units showed On-responses and the RFs of On units were smaller than those of On/Off and Off units. From single unit and evoked potential data, obtained up to an eccentricity of 45°, it appears that the rostral visual field projects to the rostral and central part of the torus. In contrast to the features of tectal units, the RFs lacked spatial antagonism, wavelength coding was practically absent and directional selectivity rare. The responses, generally with latencies between 40 and 160ms, were often erratic. The most striking neurophysiological feature of the torus units as habituation to repetition of the stimulus, e.g. to an on-off flashing spot. The visuo-auditory interaction of most bimodal units showed algebraic summation, but for about 20% the visual modality enhanced the sensitivity to auditory stimulation. The data from the trout confirm that the tectum plays an important role in visual functions such as acuity, pattern vision and vision of movement. The common feature of habituation in the torus suggests that the torus may be involved in signalling of sudden changes in the visual scenery.


Software testing is a core activity in quality assurance. To improve the test process, we can use best practice models which describe in detail what to do in organizational test processes. The improvement activities using best practice models are performed as follows: checking the current status of test processes, suggesting and planning new actions, and implementing the actions. However, it is difficult to apply all of these actions to the organization due to the limitation of resources. In this paper, we suggest a strategy for optimizing test process action plans. The background of this research is TMM (Testing Maturity Model), which is the most representative test process model. By applying design of experiments to the TMM assessment procedure, we can accept the actions selectively by statistical significance and find the best solution.


FIGHTING TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN METROPOLITAN PHOENIX BY MAKING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION A SUCCESS May 2007 David Frias, B.A., Boston University M.A., University of Massachusetts Boston Directed by Professor Peter J. Taylor The past two years in the Critical and Creative Thinking Graduate Program have been a time of learning and life changing experiences. I found the confidence to make a career change and gained the knowledge and tools necessary to study the complex problem of traffic congestion and attempt to solve it by utilizing public transportation. My plan to move to Phoenix, Arizona in 2009 motivated me not only to learn about the area and its attempts to fight urban sprawl and traffic congestion, but also to attempt to find solutions to these problems. I utilized creative thinking and critical thinking skills to understand the complexity of the problem, analyze the problem, and make suggestions that could help solve the problem. This synthesis project explores the rise of urban sprawl due to federal, state, and local policies regarding urban planning, and how urban sprawl led to a decline of public transportation usage and an increase in automobile dependence which in turn spawned traffic congestion. Traffic congestion problems have led to a loss of economic productivity, increased pollution, increased dependence on foreign oil, and the rise of health issues across America. By studying the current solutions being attempted across the United States and in Phoenix, I was able to understand what is working, what isn't, and why. Utilizing my critical thinking skills and creativity, I make suggestions on how Metropolitan Phoenix can reduce traffic congestion by promoting public transportation and making it a success. These suggestions attempt to make public transportation a success in the area by using smart growth in urban planning, improving the existing transit system and ensuring future success, as well as instituting fee structures that will discourage citizens from utilizing the automobile as often as they do. The solutions I propose would involve the cooperation of federal, state, local officials as well as private business, and ultimately, the individual citizen. Undertaking this synthesis project not only educated me on the issues at hand, but I hope the product will educate the reader on the complexity of the problem and motivate them to become involved in trying to solve it.


Signal processing on graph is attracting more and more attentions. For a graph signal in the low-frequency subspace, the missing data associated with unsampled vertices can be reconstructed through the sampled data by exploiting the smoothness of the graph signal. In this paper, the concept of local set is introduced and two local-setbased iterative methods are proposed to reconstruct bandlimited graph signal from sampled data. In each iteration, one of the proposed methods reweights the sampled residuals for different vertices, while the other propagates the sampled residuals in their respective local sets. These algorithms are built on frame theory and the concept of local sets, based on which several frames and contraction operators are proposed. We then prove that the reconstruction methods converge to the original signal under certain conditions and demonstrate the new methods lead to a significantly faster convergence compared with the baseline method. Furthermore, the correspondence between graph signal sampling and time-domain irregular sampling is analyzed comprehensively, which may be helpful to future works on graph signals. Computer simulations are conducted. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the reconstruction methods in various sampling geometries, imprecise priori knowledge of cutoff frequency, and noisy scenarios.


Many parameters have a significant influence on c-commerce evolution. This complicates the assessment of the requirements for and the consequences of e-sales adoption. In order to support the decisions of companies thinking about a possible e-sales channels introduction a Decision Support System (DSS) is proposed. The relevant e-commerce success factors, which constitute the DSS input, have been identified and their influence described relying upon a literature review. The DSS output aims at describing typical e-commerce evolution patterns taking into account the speed of adoption and the steady state potential diffusion (saturation level). These variables point out the considerable discrepancies between the e-commerce evolution charactering different industrial sectors. The DSS, which is based on a system of rules, allows to qualitatively predict the expected e-sales evolution for companies introducing a specific e-sales channels strategy in a given environment and to explain it in terms of different e-commerce success factor configurations.


Thermo-acoustic instabilities in high power density gas turbine engines need to be understood to avoid unexpected shutdown events. This dissertation is focused on the combustor-turbine interaction for acoustic waves. The first part of the study is based on the acoustic reflection coefficient analysis, where the region of interest is located at the interface between the can-type combustion chamber and the first turbine stage. Simplified two-dimensional geometries and the corresponding three-dimensional engine alike turbine design have been investigated. The real engine case consists of a can-annular combustion chamber sector and the first vane section. Numerical simulation methods have been used and Compressible LES is applied based on the open source CFD package OpenFOAM. A forced response approach is applied imposing a sound wave excitation at the inlet of the combustion chamber. The applied Non-Reflecting Boundary Conditions are verified. Multi-harmonic excitation with small amplitudes is used. The post-processing for the geometries is performed using the two-microphone and the multi-microphone method. The numerical results obtained are compared to analytical formulae. In the second part of the work, the objective is to investigate the acoustic coupling between two neighboring cans in a can-annular combustor design. Measurements in such machines indicate that the pressure modes in neighboring cans synchronize and oscillate in or out of phase. This fact implies the existence of non-negligible cross-talk between neighboring cans and it justifies the usage of numerical methods to validate the experimental results. A forced response approach is used. A can-can transfer function has been computed to evaluate the percentage of the pressure waves transferred to the second can. Simplified 2D and 3D equivalent systems are investigated. Possible solutions able to reduce the cross-talk effect will be carried out and the accurate agreement between correspondent 2D and 3D configurations will justify the analysis of 2D systems to reduce CPU time. Finally an extension of the current solver into a moving-mesh combustion solver has been developed together with the generation of a 3D mesh. This solver could be used to couple more gas turbine components, leading to a more accurate analysis of the interaction between different engine parts.


Background: There are notable health disparities among Latinos in the US associated with chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes) and depression. Further, chronic diseases and minor depression tend to co-occur among Latino populations. This paper reports findings from a community-based participatory research study using dyadic focus groups with Latinos who have chronic disease and minor depression and their family members (FM). The goal of this study was to better understand barriers and facilitators to chronic disease self-management among underserved Latinos living with both chronic illness and minor depression and their families using a socio-ecological approach. Methods: In total, five focus groups were conducted with individuals with the chronic disease (n = 25) and four with nominated FM (n = 17). All focus groups were digitally recorded and transcribed by a professional transcription agency in Spanish. Transcripts were imported into Atlas.ti V 6.2 software program and analyzed in Spanish by a team of bilingual researchers using content analysis. Qualitative results are presented thematically by the level of analysis or behavioral influence (i.e., individual, family, and community levels) and barriers and facilitators are discussed within each level. Results: Results revealed individual, family, and community-level barriers (e.g., transportation, expressed emotion, and lack of health care providers) and facilitators to managing chronic disease and minor depression (e.g., acceptance, family support, and Spanish speaking support groups). Conclusion: Findings have important implications for the understanding of chronic disease management for Latinos and emphasize the need to use evidence-based approaches that address barriers and facilitators across the social-ecological continuum.


An effort was conducted to numerically determine, by the nonlinear Schrodinger split-step Fourier method, whether using cross-phase modulation (XPM) could cause temporal soliton pulse propagation in a silicon slow-light photonic crystal waveguide (PhCWG) shorter than a millimeter. The simulations demonstrated that, because of the higher powers and shorter scales of photonic crystals, two-photon absorption (TPA) would cause an optical soliton pulse to be extremely dissipative. The model demonstrated, however, that by utilizing XPM, it is possible to sustain a compressed soliton pulse within a silicon PhCWG subjected to TPA over longer relative distances.


The traditional plat network design method can not meet the requirements of scale enlarge and performance expansion of network. Based on the analysis of deficient of traditional plat design method and referring to structured system analysis method, the paper brought out a structured network design method and analyzed its advantages. Using OPNET network simulation tool, the scalability of these two design method and performance of the designed networks were analyzed with simulation. The simulation result shows that the structured network design method is superior to plat design method in scalability as well as the overall and local performance of the designed network.


It is necessary to know the type and quantity of wastes to select the proper applications and waste management strategies. This study investigates the type, quantity, and utilisation methods of wastes generated by micro-sized enterprises that produce timber and furniture, which are two major sub-sectors of the forest products industry in Trabzon. A total of 885 enterprises of manufacturing timber and furniture in Trabzon were identified by reviewing the records from the professional chambers of commerce. The stratified sampling method was used to compare the sub-sectors, and the sample size was determined as 120. Among these, 70 furniture- and 50 timber-producing enterprises were interviewed. The chi-square test was used to determine whether the applications of timber and furniture enterprises are dependent on each other. In general, there are no differences in waste utilisation applications and education level between the sub-sectors. The percentage of the owners/managers that received any vocational training is 77.5% in two sub-sectors. In general, engineered wood wastes are used as fuel. The majority of the owners/managers in the timber industry believe that their waste has an economic value compared to those in the furniture sector. The total amount of wood waste generated by sectors was 528 tons in a month.


C++ Programming in Easy Steps instructs you how to program in the powerful C++ language, giving complete examples that illustrate each aspect.C++ Programming in Easy Steps begins by explaining how to download and install a free C++ compiler so you can quickly begin to create your own executable programs by copying the book's examples. It demonstrates all the C++ language basics before moving on to provide examples of Object Oriented Programming. The book concludes by demonstrating how you can use your acquired knowledge to create programs graphically in the free Microsoft Visual C++ Express Integrated Development Environment (IDE).C++ Programming in Easy Steps makes no assumption you have previous knowledge of any programming language so it's ideal for the newcomer to computer programming. It has an easy-to-follow style that will appeal to programmers moving from another programming language, and to the student who is studying C++ programming at school or college, and to those seeking a career in computing who need a fundamental understanding of object oriented programming.


Airborne particulate matter is known for its environmental impact and is suspected of causing adverse health effects. Especially the role of ultrafine particles smaller than 0.1μm, which amongst others are emitted by diesel engines, is the subject of current health related discussions. In order to solve this problem, many filtration methods have been researched, while so far the results are unsatisfactory. In this paper, a method of utilizing the carbonized micron wood fiber (CMWF) as the filter material is presented and a corresponding numerical simulation method is applied. Furthermore, a kind of detachable DPF is developed, a diesel engine bench test is conducted and the influence elements upon Δp/H are researched. Theory and test prove that the numerical simulation method can be consistent with the test very well and the CMWF DPF has not only the low flow resistance and high efficient filtration but also very suitable for diesel exhaust gas purification.


59 patients with bronchial asthma (BA) combined with hypertension have been observed. The authors have studied the level changes of cortisol and sexual hormones. Considerable decrease in level of progesterone and cortisol, and also increase in the level of estradiol have been revealed in the patient's blood. It enhances maintenance and progression of bronchoobstructive a syndrome. The authors have also assessed the dynamics of sexual hormones against antihypertensive therapy of patients with BA. Increase in the level of progesterone against administration of amlodipin has been observed in women and increase in the level of testosterone against administration of of enalapril in men. Obtained data allows to optimize the choice of hypotensive medication in patients with BA combined with hypertension.


The diffusion of wireless communication services (telephone, internet, etc.) is continuously growing these days. Unfortunately, the cost of the equipment to provide the service with the appropriate quality is high. Thus, selecting a set of geographical points allowing optimum coverage of a radio frequency signal by minimizing the use of resources is essential. The above task is called the Radio Network Design (RND) and is a NP-hard problem, i.e., this can be approached by using metaheuristics techniques. Metaheuristics are methods comprising local improvement procedures and high-level strategies for a robust search in the problem space. In this work, different versions of the CHC algorithm with a fitness function based on the efficiency of resource use are proposed. The achieved results are encouraging in terms of efficiency and quality in all the analysed scenarios.


Fort William Henry, in upstate New York, was the site of a legendary siege and massacre in 1757 during the French and Indian War. As part of the terms of surrender, the British garrison was to retreat with all their arms and possessions, thus denying the Indian allies of the French their spoils of war. Contemporaneous and fictionalized accounts of the resulting massacre have often been regarded as exaggerations of actual events. Five men buried in a mass grave within the fort, known as the crypt, however, were clearly victims of the massacre. These men were among the sick and wounded who were unable to make the 15 mile (24 km) journey to Fort Edward and were left in the care of the French. Four of the five men sustained pre-mortem leg trauma that would have resulted in their hospitalization and prevented them from walking. The other massive perimortem trauma on these remains vividly depicts the results of the massacre. Three of the five men were shot in the knee; two of these three were shot elsewhere as well. One man was decapitated. Both the front and back of all the bodies bear cut marks, probably from the use of both axes and long-bladed knives as weapons. The numerous gashes in the thoracic and pelvic regions indicate the men were mutilated. Our analysis of the remains from this mass grave confirms and enhances the historical accounts of the massacre at Fort William Henry. The skeletons of these five men provide gruesome testimony of the assault to which they were subjected.


BACKGROUND: Intraoperative rupture of an intracranial aneurysm is a potentially devastating but avoidable and manageable complication of aneurysm surgery. OBJECTIVE: To describe a surgical technique that the authors have used successfully to repair a tear at the neck of an intracranial aneurysm, as well as alternative options for managing this intraoperative complication. METHODS: The tear on the neck of the aneurysm is covered with a small piece of free cotton and held in place with a suction device to clear the field of blood. The cotton is then clipped onto the tear with an aneurysm clip, using the cotton as a bolster to obliterate the tear. The cotton increases the surface area, allowing the clip to be placed more distally on the neck to preserve patency of the parent artery. Case examples are used to illustrate the technique. RESULTS: Both authors independently have used this technique on several occasions to successfully repair tears at the neck of an aneurysm. CONCLUSION: Intraoperative rupture of an intracranial aneurysm is a potentially devastating complication, particularly if a tear occurs at the neck. This simple yet effective method has been very useful in repairing a partial avulsion or tear of the neck of an aneurysm.


Intermediate water (IW) is known to play an important role in the antifouling property of biocompatible polymers. However, how IW prevents protein adsorption is still unclear. To understand the role of IW in the antifouling mechanism, molecular dynamics simulation was used to investigate the dynamic properties of water and side-chains for hydrated poly(ω-methoxyalkyl acrylate)s (PMCxA, where x indicates the number of methylene carbons) with x = 1-6 and poly(n-butyl acrylate) (PBA) in this study. Since the polymers uptake more water than their equilibrium water content (EWC) at the polymer/water interface, we analyzed the hydrated polymers at a water content higher than that of EWC. It was found that the water molecules interacting with one polymer oxygen atom (BW1), of which most are IW molecules, in PMC2A exhibit the lowest mobility, while those in PBA and PMC1A show a higher mobility. The result was consistent with the expectation that the biocompatible polymer with a long-resident hydration layer possesses good antifouling property. Through the detailed analysis of side-chain binding with three different types of BW1 molecules, we found that the amount of side-chains simultaneously interacting with two BW1 molecules, which exhibit the highest flexibility among the three kinds of side-chains, is the lowest for PMC1A. The high mobility of BW1 is thus suggested as the main factor for the poor protein adsorption resistance of PMC1A even though it possesses enough IW content and relatively flexible side-chains. Contrarily, a maximum amount of side-chains simultaneously interacting with two BW1 molecules was found in the hydrated PMC3A. The moderate side-chain length of PMC3A allows side-chains to simultaneously interact with two BW1 molecules and minimizes the hydrophobic part attractively interacting with a protein at the polymer/water interface. The unique structure of PMC3A may be the reason causing the best protein adsorption resistance among the PMCxAs.


With the availability of high-density genomic data containing millions of single nucleotide polymorphisms and tens or hundreds of thousands of individuals, genetic association study is likely to identify the variants contributing to complex traits in a genome-wide scale. However, genome-wide association studies are confounded by some spurious associations due to not properly interpreting sample structure (containing population structure, family structure and cryptic relatedness). The absence of complete genealogy of population in the genome-wide association studies model greatly motivates the development of new methods to correct the inflation of false positive. In this process, linear mixed model based approaches with the advantage of capturing multilevel relatedness have gained large ground. We summarize current literatures dealing with sample structure, and our review focuses on the following four areas: (i) The approaches handling population structure in genome-wide association studies; (ii) The linear mixed model based approaches in genome-wide association studies; (iii) The performance of linear mixed model based approaches in genome-wide association studies and (iv) The unsolved issues and future work of linear mixed model based approaches.


Since the very beginning, the concept of interlanguage (Selinker, 1972) has never lost its relevance in SLA research, has evolved and is now considered as a complex, adaptive and open system (Han & Tarone, 2014).
Based on a dynamic view of language use (de Bot et al., 2013; Ortega & Han, 2017), we investigate the cognitive flexibility and creative linguistic potential of L2 learners. How do L2 learners, identified with the same proficiency level, cope with production difficulties, especially in lexical retrieval?
In this presentation, we propose a closer look at the variability of interlanguage in L2 oral production. We focus not only on the quantitative and qualitative results of our research but also on methodological considerations.
In attempt to get closer to the L2 processing description, we adopt a different approach through a more fine-grained analysis of the dynamics of interlanguage (PING corpus - Kronert et al., 2015).
Twenty L1 French university students of L2 German (B2 level) were shown 29 sets of 2-line drawings and asked to explicit the differences between the two drawings.
We compared their results not only with respect to accuracy (error analysis) and fluency (pauses, etc.), but also by observing cross-linguistic influence phenomena (L1 and L3 code-switching) and control activities (self-repair, spontaneous meta-comments).
A hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward Method) pointed out 2 distinct groups with different ways of activating their linguistic and metalinguistic knowledge in lexical retrieval. The quantitative analysis showed clearly that, when facing difficulties, a "dynamic", active and creative learner will be more productive, i.e. use all kinds of linguistic, metalinguistic and strategic possibilities to maintain fluency in oral speech production (Kronert et al., 2015). Our qualitative analysis of lexical innovation focuses at the dynamic interplay between all languages involved, with respect to morphosyntactic and phonological criteria (Marijanovic et al., 2016).
Therefore, despite a product-oriented research, we try to approach the dynamics of language production. The more creative and productive learners could be considered as more process-oriented L2 users in comparison to the more static, L2 norm and product-oriented learners.


Wavelength excursions with magnitudes as large as 6 A are seen to occur in single frequency lasers (both C3and DFB) during a transition from one power level to another. The wavelength shifts briefly toward shorter wavelengths and then back to the equilibrium value during turn-on and toward longer wavelengths and back during turn-off. These excursions, which are well explained by a model in which the carrier density is temporarily driven out of equilibrium by a change in injection current, last for hundreds of picoseconds or about one half of the relaxation resonance period. This time dependent behavior gives rise to a dramatic degradation of lightwave system performance with increasing bit rate. Laser structures which heavily damp the relaxation resonance peak are seen to exhibit the least chirp and to perform best in high speed transmission systems.


Research on clinically-based teacher education indicates that facilitating clinical experiences for teacher candidates improves their preparation for the profession. While we have answered the call to implement rich clinical experiences in our teacher education program, we have found that we also needed to design new, robust strategies to assess what the candidates are taking away from their clinical experiences. This paper describes our use of Horn and Campbell's (2015) notion of "pedagogical judgment" to analyze the work of social studies teacher candidates in clinical placements. We describe a rubric developed to evaluate candidates' pedagogical judgment and offer insights into the use of this assessment tool as a component of clinicallybased teacher education. We explore how the use of this rubric enables targeted evaluations of preservice teachers around specific aspects of pedagogical judgments. We conclude that this rubric could offer a way to unpack how preservice teachers make sense of their emerging understandings and pedagogical practices.


The influence of microwave and hot water immersion hyperthermia on lymphedema and lymphedematous skin of the leg in 12 patients was studied using circumference and volumetric measurements, immunohistochemistry and "quantitative" lymphoscintigraphy. Whereas heating was associated with a reduction in the girth and volume of the leg, lymph flow as assessed by lymphoscintigraphy was unchanged. Neither absorption of the radiolabeled nanocolloid from the injection site nor the rate of tracer accumulation in the inguinal lymph nodes was significantly altered by heat therapy. Histologically, the lymphedematous skin after heat treatment showed near resolution of perivascular cellular infiltration, disappearance of "lymph lakes" and dilatation of blood capillaries. Labeling of skin migrating immune cells with monoclonal antibodies confirmed subsidence of dermal cellular infiltration; nonetheless, there was nonspecific stimulation of resident epidermal immune cells, endothelial cells, macrophages, lymphocytes and keratinocytes by intense expression of class II and other antigens. There seemed to be a direct relationship between the subsidence of dermal inflammation and a decrease in leg edema. We suspect that subsidence of local inflammation in the lymphedematous limb with alteration in the extracellular protein matrix after regional heating accounts for the reduction in peripheral edema.


Two signals are required for meiosis and spore formation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae: starvation and the MAT products a1 and alpha 2, which determine the a/alpha cell type. These signals lead to increased expression of the IME1 (inducer of meiosis) gene, which is required for sporulation and sporulation-specific gene expression. We report here the sequence of the IME1 gene and the consequences of IME1 expression from the GAL1 promoter. The deduced IME1 product is a 360-amino-acid protein with a tyrosine-rich C-terminal region. Expression of PGAL1-IME1 in vegetative a/alpha cells led to moderate accumulation of four early sporulation-specific transcripts (IME2, SPO11, SPO13, and HOP1); the transcripts accumulated 3- to 10-fold more after starvation. Two sporulation-specific transcripts normally expressed later (SPS1 and SPS2) did not accumulate until PGAL1-IME1 strains were starved, and the intact IME1 gene was not activated by PGAL1-IME1 expression. In a or alpha cells, which lack alpha 2 or a1, expression of PGAL1-IME1 led to the same pattern of IME2 and SPO13 expression as in a/alpha cells, as measured with ime2::lacZ and spo13::lacZ fusions. Thus, in wild-type strains, the increased expression of IME1 in starved a/alpha cells can account entirely for cell type control, but only partially for nutritional control, of early sporulation-specific gene expression. PGAL1-IME1 expression did not cause growing cells to sporulate but permitted efficient sporulation of amino acid-limited cells, which otherwise sporulated poorly. We suggest that IME1 acts primarily as a positive regulator of early sporulation-specific genes and that growth arrest is an independent prerequisite for execution of the sporulation program.


Polypeptides have attracted considerable attention in recent decades due to their inherent biodegradability and biocompatibility. This mini-review focuses on various ways to synthesize polypeptides, as well as on their biomedical applications as anti-tumor drug carriers over the past five years. Various approaches to preparing polypeptides are summarized, including solid phase peptide synthesis, recombinant DNA techniques, and the polymerization of activated amino acid monomers. More details on the polymerization of specifically activated amino acid monomers, such as amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs), amino acid N-thiocarboxyanhydrides (NTAs), and N-phenoxycarbonyl amino acids (NPCs), are introduced. Some stimuli-responsive polypeptide-based drug delivery systems that can undergo different transitions, including stability, surface, and size transition, to realize a better anti-tumor effect, are elaborated upon. Finally, the challenges and opportunities in this field are briefly discussed.


We report what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first observation of transient spectral hole burning in erbium-doped fluorozirconate glass around 1.53 μm. Holes deeper than 12% were burnt. A study of the hole width as a function of power density, wavelength, temperature, and erbium concentration has been performed and underlines the role of spectral diffusion. Dynamics of refilling of the holes, involving optical pumping of the long-lived 4I13/2 excited state, was also investigated. The nearly linear temperature dependence of the hole width behaves as reported for other rare-earth ions and is interpreted within the framework of the two-level systems theory. Hole-refilling dynamics has been studied for three different erbium concentrations and is used to interpret the origin of the saturation.


Networks of nanomaterials sit at a confluence of desirable features for the fabrication of advanced electronic devices, including facile fabrication, high conducting element density, and novel electrical characteristics. The spatial conduction through carbon nanotube (CNT) and Ag-Ag₂S-Ag atomic switch networks was investigated to determine how better to implement them in novel sensing and computation device platforms.  Selective gating of localized regions of CNT networks with varying densities was investigated. To achieve this, lithographically defined FET structures were developed that allowed gating of localised regions of the CNT FET network area. The CNT FET device sensitivity to gating of different regions of the CNT network was measured for devices with network densities close to the percolation threshold. A 10² increase in sensitivity to local gating for CNT FET devices with low network densities was observed compared with high-density CNT networks. Networks densities were all well below a density where metallic shorts could be present, so the trends observed were attributed to m-s junction dominated gating of the network. A better understanding of the dominant conduction in CNT network FETs at low network densities is important for tuning their properties for use as novel biosensing platforms or a tunable connectivity conducting film.  A CNT network simulation was developed to test the effects of local gating on networks of bundled CNTs with varying densities. Up to 70,000 bundles on a 60 µm x 60 µm simulated network area were used to generate an electrical network of field sensitive elements where the gate field could be spatially modified to investigate the effect of local gating. Monte Carlo methods were used to simulate large numbers of random networks with m-s junctions as the dominant gate-dependent element. Networks with 13.5% metallic bundles were shown to exhibit trends in local gating similar to the experimental systems. Current density maps showed key conduction paths in low-density devices, which supports a model of m-s junction dominance to explain the local and global gate responses measured in experimental CNT FET systems.  Prototype Ag-Ag₂S-Ag atomic switch networks (ASN) device were fabricated using spray-coated silver nanowires which were sulfurised using gas-phase sulfur after deposition. Electrical formation of memristive junctions and hysteretic switching curves were shown under swept voltage bias demonstrating memristive behaviour. ASN devices have been demonstrated to show critical dynamics and memristive characteristics due to the complex connection of atomic switches formed at Ag-Ag₂S-Ag junctions between wires.  A fabrication and measurement protocol for ASN based neuromorphic devices on multi-electrode array (MEA) platforms was developed. The electrical measurement system was designed and deployed to facilitate time-resolved measurement across multiple channels simultaneously on those MEA platforms. Under DC bias, MEA-based ASN devices showed switching events with a power-law distribution over two orders of magnitude of conductance changes and time intervals consistent with self-organized criticality within the network. The dynamic response of the critical system was measured across the network area. Changes in the relative voltage across the ASN network area were observed using 16 channel MEA platforms, showing spatiotemporal variation in voltage across the network. Novel application of principal component analysis to ASNswas used to demonstrate reduction of dimension while preserving relative voltage changes. This paves the way for scalable analysis of the complex dynamic signals from critical ASN systems.


Background. Dysthymia is a common mental disorder, associated with considerable disability and high co-morbidity. This review assessed the role of pharmacological treatment. Methods. All randomized-controlled trials that compared active drug versus placebo for dysthymic patients were included. Pooled relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated with the Random Effect Model method. Where possible, number needed to treat and number needed to harm were estimated. Results. Fifteen trials were included for the main comparisons. Similar results were obtained in terms of efficacy for different groups of drugs, such as tricyclic (TCA), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI) and other drugs (sulpiride, amineptine, and ritanserin). The pooled RR treatment response was 0·68 (95% CI 0·59–0·78) for TCA, 0·64 (95% CI 0·55–0·74) for SSRIs, 0·59 (95% CI 0·48–0·71) for MAOIs. Other drugs (amisulpride, amineptine and ritanserin) showed similar results. Patients treated on TCA were more likely to report adverse events, compared with placebo. There were no differences in response to active treatment when dysthymia was compared to either dysthymia plus major depression or briefer non-major depressive states. Conclusions. Drug treatment appears to be effective in the short-term management of dysthymic disorder. The choice of drug should take into account specific side-effects profile of each drug.


EDITOR,-We read with interest the paper by Dr Oriishi and colleagues (Gut 1995; 36: 891-6) investigating intestinal permeability and the immune response to enteric bacterial antigens in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Their finding of an increased systemic concentration of antibodies to lipid A in patients with inflammatory bowel disease is in agreement with studies showing increased titres of antibodies to the endotoxin core,l to peptidoglycan-polysaccharide complexes,2 and to a variety of enteric bacteria3 in these diseases. These studies offer indirect evidence of mucosal barrier dysfunction in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, which supports the more direct evidence provided by the measurement of systemic endotoxin concentration or by bacterial culture studies.' 4 The study by Dr Oriishi and colleagues also provides confirmation that the pattern of antibody response to endotoxin antigens is different in patients with Crohn's disease from those with ulcerative colitis. ' There is an increase in the systemic concentration of IgG to endotoxin core/lipid A in patients with Crohn's disease but not in those with ulcerative colitis. Systemic IgM concentration to endotoxin core/lipid A is not increased in either disease. With regard to IgA, wye similarly found that the plasma concentration of IgA to the endotoxin core was increased (though not significantly) in patients with Crohn's disease (107-3+20-5 median units) and ulcerative colitis (93 0+24.2) in comparison with healthy controls (613+15 7).5 We are unable, as yet, to explain these differences. Their study is also interesting with regard to treatment for impaired gut barrier function. Lactulose has been shown to eliminate systemic endotoxaemia in a hapten induced rat model of colitis6 and had been suggested as treatment for patients with inflammatory bowel disease.6 7 The mechanism of the antiendotoxin action of lactulose is not clear, as lactulose treatment did not have any significant effect on the faecal count of Gram negative bacteria or faecal endotoxin concentration in the experimental model of colitis.6 It has generally been assumed that lactulose is fermented rapidly by colonic bacteria and that colonic absorption after oral administration would be minimal.8 The study by Dr Oriishi and colleagues, however, suggests that there is significantly increased lactulose absorption in the presence of colonic inflammation. It is possible, therefore, that absorbed lactulose was effective as an antiendotoxin agent in experimental colitis by exerting a direct neutralising effect on systemically circulating endotoxin.6 9 K R GARDINER R J MAXWELL B J ROWLANDS Department of Surgery, The Queen's University of Belfast, Institute of Clinical Science, Grosvenor Road, Belfast BT12 6BJ


Hopanoids are steroid-like bacterial lipids that enhance membrane rigidity and promote bacterial growth under diverse stresses. Roughly 10% of bacteria contain genes involved in hopanoid biosynthesis, and these genes are particularly conserved in plant-associated organisms. We previously found that the extended class of hopanoids (C35) in the nitrogen-fixing soil bacterium Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens promotes its root nodule symbiosis with the tropical legume Aeschynomene afraspera. By quantitatively modeling root nodule development, we identify independent consequences of extended hopanoid loss in the initiation of root nodule formation and in the rate of root nodule maturation. In vitro studies demonstrate that extended hopanoids support B. diazoefficiens motility and surface attachment, which may correlate with stable root colonization in planta. Confocal microscopy of maturing root nodules reveals that root nodules infected with extended hopanoid-deficient B. diazoefficiens contain unusually low densities of bacterial symbionts, indicating that extended hopanoids are necessary for persistent, high levels of host infection.


The aim of General Game Playing (GGP) is to create intelligent agents that can automatically learn how to play many different games at an expert level without any human intervention. One of the main challenges such agents face is to automatically learn knowledge-based heuristics in real-time, whether for evaluating game positions or for search guidance. In recent years, GGP agents that use Monte-Carlo simulations to reason about their actions have become increasingly more popular. For competitive play such an approach requires an effective search-control mechanism for guiding the simulation playouts. In here we introduce several schemes for automatically learning search guidance based on both statistical and reinforcement learning techniques. We compare the different schemes empirically on a variety of games and show that they improve significantly upon the current state-of-the-art in simulation-control in GGP. For example, in the chess-like game Skirmish, which has proved a particularly challenging game for simulation-based GGP agents, an agent employing one of the proposed schemes achieves 97% winning rate against an unmodified agent.


Cholestatic liver disease is characterized by the progressive destruction of biliary epithelial cells (BECs) followed by fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver failure. Activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and portal fibroblasts are the major cellular effectors of enhanced collagen deposition in biliary fibrosis. Apamin, an 18 amino acid peptide neurotoxin found in apitoxin (bee venom), is known to block Ca2+-activated K+ channels and prevent carbon tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis. In the present study, we aimed to ascertain whether apamin inhibits biliary fibrosis and the proliferation of HSCs. Cholestatic liver fibrosis was established in mouse models with 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine (DDC) feeding. Cellular assays were performed on HSC-T6 cells (rat immortalized HSCs). DDC feeding led to increased hepatic damage and proinflammtory cytokine levels. Notably, apamin treatment resulted in decreased liver injury and proinflammatory cytokine levels. Moreover, apamin suppressed the deposition of collagen, proliferation of BECs and expression of fibrogenic genes in the DDC-fed mice. In HSCs, apamin suppressed activation of HSCs by inhibiting the Smad signaling pathway. These data suggest that apamin may be a potential therapeutic target in cholestatic liver disease.


When collecting in the Pendleside series of Pendle Hill for the British Association Committee on Life Zones in the British Carboniferous Rocks, Mr. D. Tate, collector on the staff of the Geological Survey of Scotland, found a curious specimen in the shaly limestones in Hook Clough. He sent it to me with a note that he believed that he had discovered Dictyonema in Carboniferous rocks. The specimen was sent to various specialists. Mr. R. Kidston expressed his opinion that the fossil belonged to Dictyonema, a view with which I agreed. Subsequently Mr. Tate, while collecting for the same Committee in beds of presumably the same horizon at Poolvash, Isle of Man, discovered a specimen of a similar organism in the black shales with Posidonomya Becheri. This specimen was evidently specifically distinct from the one found on Pendle Hill. I wrote a short description of the two forms, under the modest title of "Note on Some Dictyonema-like Organisms from the Pendleside Series of Pendle Hill and Poolvash," and it was read at the Geological Society on March 25th, 1903. The Society, with that caution which characterises the Publication Committee when new matters are brought before the Society, decided not to publish the note. Subsequently I asked Miss G. Elles to examine the fossils, and she wrote :—"I think the specimens from Poolvash and Pendle Hill are Dendroid Graptolites without a doubt. The Poolvash specimen looks like a Desnograptus, and the other is a Callograptus, I think. The Desnograptus is more ...


A great concern has been voiced in recent years over the extensive use of energy, the limited supply of resources, and pollution of the environment from the use of present energy conversion systems. Electrical power accounts for much of the energy consumed. Much of this power is wasted during transmission from power plant generators to the consumer. The resistance of the wire used in the electrical grid distribution system -auses a loss of26-30% of the energy generated. This loss implies that our present system of electrical distribution is only 70-74% efficient. Nikola Tesla is best known for his remarkable statements regarding the wireless transmission of electrical power. His first efforts towards this end started in 1891 and were intended to simply "disturb the electrical equ ilibr iurn in the nearby portions of the earth ... to bring into operation in any way some instrument." In other words the object of his experiments was simply to produce effects locally and detect them at a distance.


Many products used in daily life are made by blending two or more components. The properties of such products typically depend on the relative proportions of the components. Experimental design, modeling, and data analysis methods for mixture experiments provide for efficiently determining the component proportions that will yield a product with desired properties. This article presents a case study of the work performed to develop a new rubber formulation for an o-ring (a circular gasket) with requirements specified on 10 product properties. Each step of the study is discussed, including: 1) identifying the objective of the study and requirements for properties of the o-ring, 2) selecting the components to vary and specifying the component constraints, 3) constructing a mixture experiment design, 4) measuring the responses and assessing the data, 5) developing property-composition models, 6) selecting the new product formulation, and 7) confirming the selected formulation in manufacturing. The case study includes some challenging and new aspects, which are discussed in the article.


Abstract Policies aimed at both reducing the costs associated with schooling (particularly through fee-free education) and decentralising responsibility for education delivery have become a central part of international education doctrine. This article draws on the 'politics of scale' literature to highlight how these education reforms are contested at different scales, in turn leading to uneven administrative and material outcomes. It examines education policy reforms in Papua New Guinea, which have – contra international trends – sidelined non-state actors and strengthened the state's role in managing education services. National fee-free education policy has been contested at different administrative scales. Church administrators have rallied (without much success) at national directives; subnational administrators and politicians have had greater success, rolling back some aspects of national policy; while local-level schools have employed their own tactics to resist national fee-free education policy. In turn, this case study highlights how fee-free educational policy shapes and is shaped by conflict at multiple administrative scales. The article's findings have implications for debates about the relationship between fee-free education and decentralisation policies.


Background The high intake of game meat in populations with a subsistence-based diet may affect their blood lipids and health status. Objective To examine the association between diet and circulating levels of blood lipid levels in a northern Swedish population. Study design We compared a group with traditional lifestyle (TLS) based on reindeer herding (TLS group) with those from the same area with a non-traditional lifestyle (NTLS) typical of more industrialized regions of Sweden (NTLS group). The analysis was based on self-reported intake of animal source food (i.e. non-game meat, game meat, fish, dairy products and eggs) and the serum blood level of a number of lipids [total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), triglycerides (TG), glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids]. Results The TLS group had higher cholesterol, LDL and HDL levels than the reference group. Of the TLS group, 65% had cholesterol levels above the threshold for increased risk of coronary heart disease (≥240 mg/dl), as compared to 38% of the NTLS group. Self-reported consumption of game meat was positively associated with TC and LDL. Conclusions The high game meat consumption of the TLS group is associated with increased cholesterol levels. High intake of animal protein and fat and low fibre is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, but other studies of the TLS in northern Sweden have shown comparable incidences of cardiovascular disease to the reference (NTLS) group from the same geographical area. This indicates that factors other than TC influence disease risk. One such possible factor is dietary phospholipids, which are also found in high amounts specifically in game meat and have been shown to inhibit cholesterol absorption.


A comprehensive treatment of digital backward propagation (DBP) accounting for the vectorial nature of optical transmission is presented. Experimental results show that self-phase and cross-phase modulation are the major sources of nonlinear impairments, even for small channel spacings and for transmission in low dispersion fibers. It is verified that compensating only the incoherent nonlinear impairments not only has the advantage of requiring lower computational load but also removes the necessity of using phase-locked carriers for the signal or phase-locked local oscillators. Simulation results show that polarization-mode dispersion has to be taken into account for practical wavelength division multiplexing systems for DBP to work properly. It is found that to compensate interchannel nonlinear impairments, the changes in the polarization states of channels have to be followed at every span.


The growing complexity of both the supply chain and often the product itself has strained organizations in every sector making new product introduction more uncertain. Such supply chain problems are often the worst for short life products like high-tech electronics, toys, and fashion apparel where product lifecycles have shrunk to only a few months. In these environments, changing customer tastes and rapid innovation drive demand. Late entries are typically forced to slash prices to liquidate inventories, hoping the next product will hit the market on time and generate profits. Nowhere are these challenges greater than the apparel industry. Besides relentless pressure on product lifecycle, pricing pressures have driven many players in the supply chain to the brink of bankruptcy. Over the past eight years, apparel has consistently landed at the very button of the consumer price index. Racking up negative price increases in every year but one, apparel makers have been unable to increase prices while the overall index has increased by around three percent each year. For every player in the apparel industry, pressure at the retail level has translated into a struggle to reduce costs throughout the supply chain. From retailers and brands like Macy's and the Gap, to mills and manufacturers like Warnaco and Burlington, the cost pressures have been excruciating. After a decade of searching the globe for ever-lower costs, it is becoming clear to everyone in the industry that adversarial relationships focused on extracting cost reductions from suppliers is unsustainable. Winners in this industry must find ways to leverage their supply chain partnerships through information integration and collaboration - improving products, driving down cycle times, and reducing supply chain costs. In this paper, we will examine how players throughout the supply chain are reinventing their businesses through web-centric product collaboration. Starting from raw fiber producers and working our way to the retail stores, we will see how companies like Dupont - a fiber producer; Burlington - a fabric mill; OmegAlpha Industries - a cut and sew operation; Liz Claiborne - a brand; and Dillards - a retailer, can collaborate and change the structure of the supply chain.


Satirised to lasting effect in Voltaire's Candide, this wry mantra of sanguinity epitomises the philosophy of hapless scholar Pangloss, whose sincerity stands in stark, almost delusional contrast to the abject conditions that he and his companions are subjected to. In context, Voltaire's portrayal of the eponymous Candide and his tutor Pangloss is a candid assault on the philosophical optimism of Gottfried Leibniz, a great thinker of the early Enlightenment era. Optimism, in this usage, connotes the "optimal"; the notion that since the current situation is the one constituting the objective reality, it must therefore be the culmination of the best conditions to form the best outcome. Combined with the idea of "theodicy", which is the attempt to justify the moral evil pervading the worldly narrative, Leibnizian optimism provides a method of rationalisation commensurate with key philosophical notions in liberalism. For instance, it is not far-fetched to draw the parallel between this idea of optimism and key concepts in the theories of other Enlightenment scholars; namely the invisible hand envisioned by Adam Smith, or the concept of objective flawlessness in the ethics of Baruch Spinoza. Summarised somewhat simplistically as the assurance of deterministic equilibrium, such conceptual constructs are characteristic of the focus of classical liberalism on liberty and progress. In terms of utopian thinking, these ideas offer an idealistic view of human progression, and the idea that even amidst strife, or perhaps even because of it, equilibrium will ultimately emerge.


Software for text processing and presentation design is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Nevertheless, it is difficult to find a good solution for collaborative writing of technical course material, allowing the creation of high quality lecture notes and presentation slides from a single source. This article presents a new editing framework for the development of continuing professional development (CPD) teaching material. The courses are developed and delivered jointly by a team of academics, and comprise various engineering subjects. The described workflows, however, are equally applicable for any higher education course. The needs of authors are explored, and good teaching and learning practices are established. Based on these investigations, a catalogue of software requirements is created and compared with features of current commercial and open source applications. Despite the general trend to use graphical interfaces, it is concluded that the workflow has to be based on source files written in a markup language in order to fulfil all specifications. Although the Extensible Markup Language (XML) has become increasingly popular during the last decade, a LaTeX based solution is preferred. Reasons for that decision are discussed, and the developed editing framework is described in detail.


Background Generalisability has been reported as a barrier to using evidence in policy making. Little data are available on whether US and Canadian based evidence on cost-sharing and medication adherence is generalizable to international populations. To explore external validity, we compared the impact of two similar cost sharing policies, one in the US and one in Ireland, on medication adherence. Methods A repeated measures longitudinal study design was employed to measure individual drug adherence before and after the introduction of drug cost-sharing policies. The Irish policy introduced a 50 cent copayment/prescription item in a publicly insured population in 2010. A similar policy occurred in the Massachusetts Medicaid population in 2003. Prescription data were obtained from centrally held pharmacy claims databases; HSE-PCRS, in Ireland and Medicaid Analytical Extract in the US New users of anti-hypertensive, anti-hyperlipidaemic and anti-diabetes drugs entered the cohort 6 months prior to initiation of cost-sharing polices and were followed for 12 months post-policy change. Segmented regression with generalised estimating equations and an autoregressive correlation structure was used. Results The Irish policy change resulted in a 3.9% (95% CI, 2.91%-5.02%) immediate drop in adherence to anti-hypertensive drugs in Ireland, whereas the US policy did not affect anti-hypertensive adherence. Relative to the US, the Irish population had a 5.3% (95% CI, 3.68% - 6.92%) additional decrease in adherence to anti-hypertensive drugs immediately after the policy change. Adherence to anti-hyperlipidaemic drugs was insignificantly reduced (-0.6235%, 95% CI, - 2.41%-1.16%) immediately post-policy change in the U. S. However, adherence to anti-hyperlipidaemics was reduced in Ireland by 3.4% (95% CI, 2.25%-4.62%). Compared to the US, Irish patients decreased their adherence to anti-hyperlipidaemics by 2.8% (95% CI, 0.673%-4.945%). Adherence to anti-diabetic drugs did not differ internationally post-policy change. There was no evidence for international differences in the long-term impact (12 months) of policy changes. Conclusion Irish and US populations had different changes in adherence to anti-hypertensive and anti-hyperlipidaemic drugs directly after implementation of cost-sharing policies, with greater reductions in adherence in the Irish population. However, changes in adherence to anti-diabetic drugs were similar between the populations. This study suggests that North American and Canadian evidence may not be automatically internationally generalizable. Rather, the specific attributes of a setting should always be considered before applying evidence to policy. This novel study will be of interest to global policymakers as they seek to develop evidence based cost-sharing policies.


Background: Soil-Transmitted Helminthes (STH) infection is a major public health problem among school-aged children in developing countries. In Ethiopia, school aged children have been identified as high risk group of population to be infected with Soil Transmitted Helminthes. Effective prevention and control of STH infection requires identification of risk factors among high risk groups. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and determinants of Soil Transmitted Helminthes infection among primary school children in Kerewo Town, Gena Bossa Woreda, Ethiopia. Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted in Kerewo Town, Ethiopia. The data was collected using pre-tested and structured questionnaires. Simple random sampling technique was used. Data analysis was done by SPSS for Windows Version 20.0. Bivariate and Multivariate logistic regressions analyses were conducted. P-value < 0.05 was used to declare statistically significant variables. Result: About 303 (97.7%) of the study subjects were participated in the study. Above one-third (38.3%) of the study participants were tested positive for at least one of the STH species. Lumbricoides (42.1%) was the predominant parasite followed by Hookworms (37.4%) and T. Trichiura (11.2%). Lack of private latrines (AOR = 4.12, 95% CI: 1.64, 3.37), not wearing shoes always (AOR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.01, 3.23), age of children (5 to 10 years) (AOR = 2.43, 95% CI: 1.42, 4.16) and not knowing causative agents of STH infection (AOR = 2.60, 95% CI: 1.37, 4.93) were found to be determinants of Soil Transmitted Helminthes Infections. Conclusion: Lack of private latrines, not wearing shoes always, age of children (5 to 10 years) and not knowing causative agents of STH infections were found to be major determinants of STH Infections. Therefore; public health policy makers and stakeholders working in the area should focus their intervention against STH infections on integrated control programs including regular health education on children's shoes wearing habits, raising awareness of school children and their families on STH infections and promoting private latrines in every household.


This studyaimed todetermine the effectof capital structure, dividend policy, the
company's growthto firmsvaluewithfreecash flowasmoderating variable. The
populationin this studyis the manufacturing companylisted of theIndonesia Stock
Exchange (BEI) in the yearfrom 2006 to2010.The hipotesis of this study were
tested by exploning multiple regresi and hirierchical regression nalysis SPSS 16.
This study faund that capital structure and dividen policy positive infemence firm
value. This study olso found that free cash flow moderates the infhiencing of
capital structure, dividend Policy and growth to firm value.


In previous studies, rat adrenal zona glomerulosa (ZG) cells were demonstrated to release interleukin-6 (IL-6). In the current study, cultures of ZG cells and bioassays for tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and IL-6 were used to determine if ZG cells release TNF and to define more fully the factors that regulate ZG IL-6 release. ZG cells released IL-6 and TNF, and this release was stimulated by lipopolysaccharide, interleukin-1 alpha, interleukin-1 beta, a protein kinase C activator, and a calcium ionophore without affecting intracellular adenosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) content. In contrast, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) increased the intracellular cAMP content, increased basal and secretagogue-stimulated IL-6 release but decreased basal and secretagogue-stimulated TNF release. The effects of ACTH on IL-6 and TNF release may be mediated by increases in intracellular cAMP because ACTH and dibutyryl cAMP modified IL-6 and TNF release in an identical manner. Therefore, IL-6 and TNF release from ZG cells can be differentially regulated. Because IL-6 and TNF modify adrenal steroid release, the adrenal production of these cytokines may have a role in the stress response.


The advent of scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) has augmented at the microscopic level the usefulness of IR spectroscopy. Two-dimensional imaging of chemical constituents makes this a very attractive and powerful new approach. In this paper we present SNOM results on boron-doped silicon and on biological growth medium by means of shear-force, reflectivity and photocurrent measurements. Such experiments allowed us to identify boron clusters embedded in silicon and the distribution of growth medium constituents with a lateral resolution well below the diffraction limit. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Childbirth can serve as a turning point in life requiring appropriate support, and also a new opportunity of development for the family as well as the couple experiencing childbirth. In this research, required are intervention methods enabling holistic nursing care based on comprehensive understanding of women in their 30s on their first childbirth experience and the meaning of it. To accomplish this, the research used qualitative research method as a holistic approach of human being to provide bases for effective nursing intervention by identifying the meaning of first-childbirth experience, and revealing the semantic structure. According to the criterion, the research selected women who understood the research purposes and accepted the participation, out of women who gave a first childbirth in their 30s. The number of research participants is reached when no further content comes out in interviewing, namely, repetitive statements on a phenomenon. The data were collected from January 2013 to October 2014 by using an unstructured, open-ended questionnaire, and administering face-to-face interview with participants. Women going through their first pregnancy in their 30s had anxiety and pressure during pregnant period due to late pregnancy, living a life with carefulness for their behavior and eating habit throughout their pregnancy. Further, they were very sensitive to change in the fetus during prenatal tests in hospital, and took health food such as nutrient supplements on account of late pregnancy. Nonetheless, they were unsatisfied with their changed body resulting from pregnancy, and got pressure on economic, supportive, and social relationship related to child-rearing after childbirth. Therefore, in-depth understanding of pregnancy and childbirth experience through delivery process will contribute to extensive nursing knowledge system, and analyzed and identified pregnancy and childbirth experience of women in their 30s will be a proper foundation of nursing intervention.


Introduction: The association of pulmonary tuberculosis and diabetes presents clinical, radiological and therapeutic particularities. Objectives: To determine the clinical and radiological characteristic and outcomes of pulmonary tuberculosis (PT) in patients with diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: we conducted a retrospective case-control study between 2007 and 2012 on 120 patients hospitalized in a pulmonology department for a first episode of confirmed PT. patients were divided into two groups: group 1 (G1) represents 30 diabetics and Group 2 (G2) included 90 non diabetic patients. Results: The mean age was 45.5 years in G1 and was comparable to the G2. All patients were male. Diabetes was type 2 in 76% of cases. General symptoms were more frequent in the G2 (p=0.04). Dyspnea was more noted in the G1 (p=0.03). The classical various types of radiological lesions of PT were found in similar proportion in the two groups with parenchymal shadowing the most frequent appearance in both diabetics (86%) and control (84%). However cavitations occurred less frequently in diabetics than controls (p=0,04). Radiological abnormalities were bilateral and diffuse in 65% of cases of G1 against 45% in G2 (p=0.01). There was a trend for basal lesions to occur more frequently in diabetics than controls (p=0.005). The delay of sputum smear conversion was longer in G1(p=0.03). An extension of the duration of treatment was necessary in 22% of patients in the G2. Two patients died in the G1 within the first 24 hours of hospitalization. Conclusion: Diabetics have severe forms of tuberculosis, atypical and often extensive radiographic abnormalities, requiring special care to prevent complications.


Background In the Point-Centred Quarter Method (PCQM), the mean distance of the first nearest plants in each quadrant of a number of random sample points is converted to plant density. It is a quick method for plant density estimation. In recent publications the estimator equations of simple PCQM (PCQM1) and higher order ones (PCQM2 and PCQM3, which uses the distance of the second and third nearest plants, respectively) show discrepancy. This study attempts to review PCQM estimators in order to find the most accurate equation form. We tested the accuracy of different PCQM equations using Monte Carlo Simulations in simulated (having 'random', 'aggregated' and 'regular' spatial patterns) plant populations and empirical ones. Principal Findings PCQM requires at least 50 sample points to ensure a desired level of accuracy. PCQM with a corrected estimator is more accurate than with a previously published estimator. The published PCQM versions (PCQM1, PCQM2 and PCQM3) show significant differences in accuracy of density estimation, i.e. the higher order PCQM provides higher accuracy. However, the corrected PCQM versions show no significant differences among them as tested in various spatial patterns except in plant assemblages with a strong repulsion (plant competition). If N is number of sample points and R is distance, the corrected estimator of PCQM1 is 4(4N − 1)/(π ∑ R2) but not 12N/(π ∑ R2), of PCQM2 is 4(8N − 1)/(π ∑ R2) but not 28N/(π ∑ R2) and of PCQM3 is 4(12N − 1)/(π ∑ R2) but not 44N/(π ∑ R2) as published. Significance If the spatial pattern of a plant association is random, PCQM1 with a corrected equation estimator and over 50 sample points would be sufficient to provide accurate density estimation. PCQM using just the nearest tree in each quadrant is therefore sufficient, which facilitates sampling of trees, particularly in areas with just a few hundred trees per hectare. PCQM3 provides the best density estimations for all types of plant assemblages including the repulsion process. Since in practice, the spatial pattern of a plant association remains unknown before starting a vegetation survey, for field applications the use of PCQM3 along with the corrected estimator is recommended. However, for sparse plant populations, where the use of PCQM3 may pose practical limitations, the PCQM2 or PCQM1 would be applied. During application of PCQM in the field, care should be taken to summarize the distance data based on 'the inverse summation of squared distances' but not 'the summation of inverse squared distances' as erroneously published.


In the light of the unprecedented growth of mobile broadband services, radio spectrum regulation is undergoing a substantial review in the European Union (EU). The radio spectrum presents a three-level regulatory context. At international level, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) regulates the allocation of radio spectrum. At regional level, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) promotes cooperation and coordination between European countries. At national level, National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) are responsible for assigning the radio spectrum. In addition, the EU has also the power to regulate the radio spectrum. The EU regulatory framework for radio spectrum has only recently been set up. Therefore, an exhaustive understanding of the role of the EU in the three-level regulatory context of radio spectrum is still lacking. Against this background, the purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the implications of the EU regulatory framework for radio spectrum. In other words, this thesis aims to address the following research question: how does the EU influence the three-level regulatory context of radio spectrum? In order to answer this research question, three academic papers are written, each focusing on the role of the EU in one regulatory level. Paper 1 focuses on the international level. Theories of international relations are employed to assess the effectiveness of the EU in influencing international negotiations on radio spectrum regulation. Paper 2 explores the regional level. Theories of EU integration provide the tools to understand the issue of competence distribution between EU and EU member states in the policy field of radio spectrum. Paper 3 deals with the national level. Theories on the regulation-innovation relation guide the assessment of a specific national regulatory regime, which has been particularly promoted by the EU. Although radio spectrum assignment is a national responsibility, the EU may indirectly impact on the national context by providing EU member states with ideas on innovative regulatory tools. A qualitative research strategy is adopted to conduct the research work described in this thesis. In particular, this research work is characterised by an iterative inductive-deductive process between theory and empirical data, whereby purpose, theoretical framework and data collected progressively and mutually shape one another. This thesis is mainly based on secondary data, retrieved from official documents, reports, news articles, academic papers and books. Backward and forward snowballing techniques are used to systematically find relevant secondary sources of data. This thesis concludes that the EU regulatory framework influences the three regulatory levels of radio spectrum to different extents. Firstly, the EU influences the international level thanks to the presence of the European Commission (EC) in international fora. The EC has the right to attend international negotiations on radio spectrum regulation and can oversee the actions of EU member states. Secondly, the EU impacts on the regional level by promoting harmonised availability of radio spectrum across the EU. To this objective, the EU adopts policy instruments which are legally binding for all EU member states. Furthermore, the EC cooperates with the CEPT in order to build consensus across the EU. Thirdly, the EU's influence on the national regulatory level is confined to general regulatory principles for radio spectrum assignment. Nevertheless, the EU can still leverage on national regulation, by encouraging EU member states to adopt specific regulatory instruments. Although interesting implications of the EU regulatory framework for radio spectrum are ascertained in this thesis, the influence of the EU on the three-level regulatory context of radio spectrum has not been captured thoroughly. Future research in the form of a more systematic evaluation of the EU's actorness (Bretherton & Vogler, 2006) is necessary to capture the relevance of the EU's influence on both the international and regional regulatory levels. In addition, a detailed analysis of the issue of competence distribution between EU and EU member states is critical for better evaluating the extent to which the EU influences radio spectrum regulation at national level.


The aim of the paper is to develop pricing formulas for European type Asian options written on the exchange rate in a two currency economy. The exchange rate as well as the foreign and domestic zero coupon bond prices are assumed to follow geometric Brownian motions. As a special case of a discrete Asian option we analyse the delayed payment currency option and develop closed form pricing and hedging formulas. The main emphasis is devoted to the discretely sampled Asian option. It is shown how the value of this option can be approximated as the sum of Black-Scholes options. The formula is obtained under the application of results developed by Rogers and Shi (1995) and Jamshidian (1991). In addition bounds for the pricing error are determined. distribution of information. This criterion allows, not only,


Aims To assess the efficacy of rituximab at inducing and maintaining remission in nephrotic syndrome. Methods A retrospective chart review of 13 patients with nephrotic syndrome who received rituximab in our hospital between September 2006 and October 2013. Results We present 13 children with nephrotic syndrome who failed to maintain remission with other immunosupressive regimes. Mean age at diagnosis was 6.84 years (range 14 years – 2 years). Mean time period of nephrosis prior to rituximab was 5.84 years. Previous treatments: Tacrolimus (11/13) Mycophenolate (11/13) Cyclosporine A (11/13) Cyclophosphamide (6/13). 38% received all 4 immunosupressors. Of those that underwent biopsy: 2 MCD, 3 FSGS, 3 IgM nephropathy and 1 MPGN. Indications for Rituximab: steroid resistance (2/13), steroid dependent frequent relapse (8/13) and steroid dependent excessive steroid side effects (3/13). Rituximab dose was 375 mg/m2. 2 doses were administered while the 2 cases of MPGN received4 doses. Average number of relapses the year prior to Rituximab was 2.87, decreasing to 0.38 the year post. One steroid resistant patient did not achieve full remission. The mean dosage of steroids at time of first Rituximab was 0.27 mg/kg/d, decreasing to 0.06 mg/kg/d two months post. The mean length of time to stopping steroids was 4.63 months. B cell depletion was monitored in 11 patients (84.6%): 8 (72.7%) achieved complete B cell depletion. Six patients (46.1%) received a second cycle of Rituximab at a mean interval of 18.5 months (range 1224). All patients had B cell recovery prior to relapse. At most recent follow up 12 out of 13 patients remain on an immunosuppressor. Conclusion Rituximab markedly decreased both the frequency of relapse and steroid dependency. Only one patient did not achieve remission post Rituximab; this patient was steroid resistant and did not have complete B cell depletion (B cells 2% at lowest count). 46% of patients required subsequent doses within 2 years, while 92% of patients remain on an immunosupressor. Optimal initial dosing of Rituximab to achieve B cell depletion and the need for ongoing immunosuppression post an adequate cycle needs to be reviewed.


The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) not only serves as the bedrock for health statistics but also provides a holistic overview of every health aspect of life. This study aims to facilitate the computer-assisted coding of the 11th revision of the ICD (ICD-11) by leveraging the data structures of ICD-11 and semantics in WordNet. First, a computer-assisted coding framework using WordNet and ICD-11 application programming interface (API) is proposed. Secondly, a network based on entity relations in ICD-11 and synonym sets in WordNet, called CodeNet, is developed. Thirdly, an algorithm for generating ICD-11 code candidates from CodeNet with two tuning parameters on the basis of the input of disease-related text is illustrated. Finally, the discharge summaries in the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III database and textual information from ICD-11 entities are used to evaluate the proposed method. Experimental results indicate that the proposed coding method achieves a precision of 84% and a recall of 89% relative to a precision of 65% and a recall of 81% achieved with the existing ICD-11 API. The proposed method also outperforms other methods in the literature by reducing a failure rate of up to 8% in ICD-11 coding. The proposed thresholds of similarity and percentage can be applied to tuning the performance of our method to meet different coding needs. In sum, improving the new structures of ICD-11 with the use of semantics in WordNet can help develop more reliable computer-aided coding systems for ICD-11 coders.


Forty-eight patients selected as potential early dropouts from insight-oriented psychotherapy were offered a two-week program to prepare them for treatment. Thirty-two were sleep-monitored for eight nights; half were given access to their dreams by awakening them from rapid eye movement (REM) sleep periods; the other half were awakened as often, but only from non-FEM (NREM) stages. A third group of 16 subjects went directly into treatment. All laboratory subjects were asked each morning to recall and discuss the reports they had given during the night. The effect of these discussions was measured on the drop-out rate during the first ten treatment hours and on the development of treatment-appropriate behaviors. Those who successfully retrieved and discussed dreams as opposed to other content stayed in therapy at a significantly higher rate and used the hours more productively.


Natural Cytotoxicity Receptors (NCRs: NKp30, NKp44, and NKp46) trigger NK cell-mediated lysis of tumors and virus-infected cells. Previous studies identified BAT3, B7-H6 and Vimentin as cellular ligands for NKp30 and NKp46, respectively. However, our knowledge of NCR-mediated recognition of cancer cells remains incomplete. NKp44 is expressed exclusively in primates and its expression is induced upon activation of NK cells. We have discovered that NKp44 directly recognizes Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA), which is recruited within target cells to the NK immunological synapse. Over-expression of PCNA was found to inhibit NK cell cytotoxicity in an NKp44-dependent manner. Also, the cytoplasmic immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif (ITIM) in NKp44 is crucial for PCNA-meditated NK cell inhibition. Since PCNA over-expression can promote cancer survival, our study reveals a novel immune evasion mechanism. Our results also further emphasize the role of nuclear proteins as ligands for Natural Cytotoxicity Receptors.


Nitrogen-14 solid-state NMR (SSNMR) is utilized to differentiate three polymorphic forms and a hydrochloride (HCl) salt of the amino acid glycine. Frequency-swept Wideband, Uniform Rate, Smooth Truncated (WURST) pulses were used in conjunction with Carr-Purcell Meiboom-Gill refocusing, in the form of the WURST-CPMG pulse sequence, for all spectral acquisitions. The 14N quadrupolar interaction is shown to be very sensitive to variations in the local electric field gradients (EFGs) about the 14N nucleus; hence, differentiation of the samples is accomplished through determination of the quadrupolar parameters CQ and ηQ, which are obtained from analytical simulations of the 14N SSNMR powder patterns of stationary samples (i.e., static NMR spectra). Additionally, differentiation of the polymorphs is also possible via the measurement of 14N effective transverse relaxation time constants, Teff2(14N). Plane-wave density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which exploit the periodicity of crystal lattices, are utilized to confirm the experimentally determined quadrupolar parameters as well as to determine the orientation of the 14N EFG tensors in the molecular frames. Several signal-enhancement techniques are also discussed to help improve the sensitivity of the 14N SSNMR acquisition method, including the use of selective deuteration, the application of the BRoadband Adiabatic INversion Cross-Polarization (BRAIN-CP) technique, and the use of variable-temperature (VT) experiments. Finally, we examine several cases where 14N VT experiments employing Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) refocusing are used to approximate the rotational energy barriers for RNH3+ groups.


The green shield bug, Palomena prasina (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is a pest of deciduous trees and shrubs throughout Turkey and is found in a large variety of habitats, including gardens. We investigated the facultative cultivable bacterial flora of 10 healthy and 5 dead green shield bugs, collected from the vicinity of Trabzon, Turkey, and tested them for insecticidal activity. Based on the conventional and molecular tests, 12 different bacteria were isolated and identified as Curtobacterium sp., Rhodococcus sp., Arthrobacter nicotinovorans, Arthrobacter oxydans, Agrococcus jejuensis, Pseudomonas poae, Raoultella terrigena, Serratia sp., Lysinibacillus sphaericus, Stenotrophomonas rhizophila, Bacillus thuringiensis and Microbacterium oxydans. Mortalities due to the application of 0.5 mL of L. sphaericus, B. thuringiensis and R. terrigena at a density of OD600 1.89 were 60%, 70% and 60%, respectively, on adult P. prasina. This indicates that facultative cultivable bacterial flora isolated from P. prasina have potential for microbial control of this pest.


Data diversity and volume are crucial to the success of training deep learning models, while in the medical imaging field, the difficulty and cost of data collection and annotation are especially huge. Specifically in robotic surgery, data scarcity and imbalance have heavily affected the model accuracy and limited the design and deployment of deep learning-based surgical applications such as surgical instrument segmentation. Considering this, we rethink the surgical instrument segmentation task and propose a one-to-many data generation solution that gets rid of the complicated and expensive process of data collection and annotation from robotic surgery. In our method, we only utilize a single surgical background tissue image and a few open-source instrument images as the seed images and apply multiple augmentations and blending techniques to synthesize amounts of image variations. In addition, we also introduce the chained augmentation mixing during training to further enhance the data diversities. The proposed approach is evaluated on the real datasets of the EndoVis-2018 and EndoVis-2017 surgical scene segmentation. Our empirical analysis suggests that without the high cost of data collection and annotation, we can achieve decent surgical instrument segmentation performance. Moreover, we also observe that our method can deal with novel instrument prediction in the deployment domain. We hope our inspiring results will encourage researchers to emphasize data-centric methods to overcome demanding deep learning limitations besides data shortage, such as class imbalance, domain adaptation, and incremental learning. Our code is available at https://github.com/lofrienger/Single_SurgicalScene_For_Segmentation.


Huntap is designed as a house that can be improved from time to time until it becomes permanent settlement in accordance with the wishes of its inhabitants. People who live in huntap initially lived in large houses with large yards with a spread pattern of settlements and at the time of relocation of these communities had to be moved and lived in settlements with limited land area with cluster-shaped settlement patterns. This study aims to determine the factors and elements that influence the privacy affirmation in the space transformation of the Huntap Dongkelsari. Factors affecting privacy affirmation can be divided into territorial, security, and personal factors. Elements of privacy affirmation can be elements that explicitly mark boundaries and privacy (such as boxes, fences, and partition walls in the form of brick or plywood) and elements that implicitly mark boundaries and privacy (such as wooden cabinets, chicken coops, fish ponds, and drilled wells). The use of these elements is influenced by the need for privacy, the need for security, occupant's experience and habits conducted in the previous house.


Vehicle dynamics are well understood by both academic researchers and automotive industries. And while modeling and simulation tools are still underutilized, they are becoming more frequently used in the vehicle design process. However, there is still lacking an overall design methodology that can link and integrate in a systematic fashion the design tasks of individual components or systems such that the vehicle performs as intended with a minimal number of design iterations. A process called Target Cascading, applied in the early stages of vehicle design, might serve as this systematic design methodology. In this paper, Target Cascading is evaluated for its ability to propagate top-level design specifications down to specifications for various subsystems and components in a vehicle design problem. More specifically, general ride and handling targets are set for a vehicle and these are cascaded down through the suspension, tire pressure and spring design levels by partitioning the original problem into a hierarchical set of subproblems. At a given level, an optimization problem is formulated to minimize deviations from the proposed targets and thus achieve intersystem compatibility. A coordination strategy links all subproblem decisions so that the overall supersystem performance targets are met. Results are presented that demonstrate Target Cascading's utility in unearthing tradeoffs and incompatibilities among initial targets early in the vehicle development cycle. Throughout the paper, the Target Cascading process is compared to traditional vehicle design strategies for achieving ride and handling targets. Target Cascading appears to be a promising systematic technique for the design of vehicles to meet ride and handling specifications.


Background: Nasal biometrics is vital to facial analyses. This study evaluated nasal biometrics in Hausas and Yorubas of Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Hausas (150 males and 150 females, aged 18-36 years) and Yorubas (150 males and 150 females, aged 15-33 years) were selected as subjects with informed consents and when established as Hausas or Yorubas by parents and grandparents. Height, body weight and cephalometric parameters (evaluated on three-dimensional facial photographs) were measured on subjects. The novel Akinlolu-Raji image-processing algorithm was developed using modified row method of computer programming. Nasal root width, nose height, nose width, nasal bridge length, nasal tip protrusion, nasal index, facial width and nasofacial proportion computed from readings of Akinlolu-Raji image-processing algorithm were analyzed using Z-test (P ≤ 0.05) of 2010 Microsoft Excel statistical software. Results: Computed nasal biometrics showed statistically nonsignificant higher values (P > 0.05) in males of Hausas (100%) and Yorubas (80%) compared to their female counterparts. In addition, results showed nonsignificant higher values (P > 0.05) in 80% of nasal biometrics in Hausas compared to Yorubas in both sexes. Based on classifications of nose types from nasal index, Hausas have the platyrrhine nose type while Yorubas have the mesorrhine nose type. Nasofacial proportion was lower in Hausa males compared to females, but of same values in Yoruba males and females. In addition, nasofacial proportions were lower in Hausas compared to Yorubas in both sexes. Conclusions: Sexual dimorphism of nasal biometrics exists between sexes of Hausas and Yorubas. Furthermore, Hausas and Yorubas are of similar nasal sizes.


A set of 3-D vector field visualization methods is presented. Through its development process, the use of a programming environment, SGI/IRIS Explorer, for visualization applications is presented. A set of methods for vector field visualization, including the isosurface, flux line, and cross section method, is presented. These methods can generate various interactive graphics displays of a vector field for both research and instructional purposes. Due to the modularization nature of the environment considered and the flow-chart style of its map diagram, the development of visualization applications becomes a process of building maps using modules (existing and custom) as the building blocks. >


We test the hypothesis that the antimicrobial peptide (KLAKLAK)(2) enhances the photodynamic activity of the photosensitizer eosin Y upon conjugation. The conjugate eosin-(KLAKLAK)(2) was obtained by solid-phase peptide synthesis. Photoinactivation assays were performed against the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii AYE, as well as the Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus , and Staphylococcus epidermidis . Partitioning assays were performed with E. coli and S. aureus . Photohemolysis and photokilling assays were also performed to assess the photodynamic activity of the conjugate toward mammalian cells. Eosin-(KLAKLAK)(2) photoinactivates 99.999% of 10(8) CFU/mL of most bacteria tested at a concentration of 1 μM or below. In contrast, neither eosin Y nor (KLAKLAK)(2) cause any significant photoinactivation under similar conditions. The increase in photodynamic activity of the photosensitizer conferred by the antimicrobial peptide is in part due to the fact that (KLAKLAK)(2) promotes the association of eosin Y to bacteria. Eosin-(KLAKLAK)(2) does not significantly associate with red blood cells or the cultured mammalian cell lines HaCaT, COS-7, and COLO 316. Consequently, little photodamage or photokilling is observed with these cells under conditions for which bacterial photoinactivation is achieved. The peptide (KLAKLAK)(2) therefore significantly enhances the photodynamic activity of eosin Y toward both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria while interacting minimally with human cells. Overall, our results suggest that antimicrobial peptides such as (KLAKLAK)(2) might serve as attractive agents that can target photosensitizers to bacteria specifically.


The video shows a telepresence system which allows to perfom an assembly task in an extensive remote environment. It comprises a telemanipulator with two anthropomorphic 7-DOF arms controlled by a hyper-redundant 10-DOF haptic display. Dexterous manipulation capabilities are achieved by employing 3-finger grippers at the teleoperator site and data gloves at the operator site. Mounting the telemanipulator on an omnidirectional mobile platform additionally enables the teleoperator to freely move around in the remote environment. Thereby the locomotion is controlled via a specifically designed 3-DOF pedal. The video shows an assembly experiment with toy bricks which involves locomotion, navigation and dextrous manipulation tasks.