BACKGROUND
The effectiveness of breast cancer screening programs in reducing mortality is well established in the scientific literature. The National Breast Cancer Screening Program in Israel provides biennial mammograms for women of average risk aged 50-74 and annual mammograms for women aged 40-49 at higher risk. Compliance is high, but differential. This study explores different factors associated with breast cancer screening attendance among women aged 40-74 years.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Two main outcomes were studied: ever been screened and been screened in the 2 years preceding the study, using the cross-sectional Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) Survey conducted in 2010-2012 among 2575 Israeli women aged 21+ years. The independent variables were sociodemographic characteristics, perceived health status, lifestyle habits, and healthcare fund membership. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were conducted.

RESULTS
Of the 943 participants aged 50-74, 87% had ever been screened and 74.8% had attended screening for breast cancer in the last 2 years. In multivariable models, Jewish compared to Arab women (adjusted prevalence ratio [APR] = 2.09, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-4.32), and unmarried compared to married women (APR = 2.9, 95% CI: 1.2-7.2), were more likely to have ever been screened. The only factor associated with breast cancer screening in the 2 years preceding the study was healthcare fund membership. In women aged 40-49 years, ethnicity was the only contributing factor associated with breast cancer screening, with higher screening rates in the 2 years preceding the study in Jewish versus Arab women (APR = 3.7, 95% CI: 1.52-9.3).

CONCLUSIONS
Breast cancer screening attendance in Israel is high. However, significant differences are observed by membership of healthcare fund and by ethnicity, calling for better targeted outreach programs at this level.


Emerging applications involving low-cost wireless sensor networks motivate well optimization of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) in the power-limited regime. To this end, the present paper develops loading algorithms to minimize transmit-power under rate and error probability constraints, using three types of channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT): deterministic (per channel realization) for slow fading links, statistical (channel mean) for fast fading links, and quantized (Q), whereby a limited number of bits are fed back from the transmitter to the receiver. Along with optimal bit and power loading schemes, quantizer designs and reduced complexity alternatives with low feedback overhead are developed to obtain a suite of Q-CSIT-based OFDM transceivers with desirable complexity versus power-consumption tradeoffs. Numerical examples corroborate the analytical claims and reveal that significant power savings result even with a few bits of Q-CSIT


Through a combination of selective pressure and genetic drift, there has been a notable erosion of genetic diversity in domesticated animal populations. In response, many countries, including France, have developed gene banks in order to conserve reproductive genetic material. Cryopreserved resources can potentially be used to manage the genetic diversity of populations, but this opportunity is seldom exploited. As an initial step toward this goal, we describe here a methodology for the characterization of the genetic diversity of cryopreserved collections. Using the example of the French National Cryobank, this study employs newly proposed biodiversity metrics to conduct a detailed assessment of the status of collections for six livestock species: cattle, sheep, goat, horse, donkey, and pig. Both the amount of resources available and their characteristics varied among species and/or breeds. Overall, breeds with a large commercial distribution had more donors in the collection than local breeds, while the number of doses available was mainly determined by the physiology of the species. An adapted version of the Gini-Simpson equitability index revealed an unbalanced number of donors between breeds for some species. Similarly, estimates of effective donor numbers (De) highlighted the unequal distribution of donors within a breed. Finally, we developed a new index of diversity impact (IDI) to assess the potential of a collection to reintroduce genetic diversity in contemporary populations. The IDI was calculated on the basis of pedigree data for 17 breeds of three livestock species, pig, sheep, and cattle, which differed in both population size and management program. IDI values are negative when the use of cryoconserved sires would decrease the overall kinship of the current population and positive when it would increase it, enabling the most interesting donors to be chosen for immediate use. Negative (favorable) IDI values were found for both local breeds as well as for commercial populations. In general, older collections exhibited better IDI values but recently collected donors could also be useful for populations undergoing strong selection. Within a breed, IDI can be computed individually and thus be used to select the best sires for a given objective. In the absence of pedigree data, IDI values could also be calculated on the basis of marker genotypes. Overall, this study proposes a framework for the assessment of germplasm collections in the service of various objectives. Compared to FAO indicators motivated by breed reconstitution, the Gini-Simpson and De indices can help to plan sampling more efficiently, whereas IDI can guide donor selection in order to manage the diversity of existing populations. These indicators can be calculated at regular intervals to support the planning and management of collections at national and international levels and help population managers to exploit the resources currently available.


In this paper we perform a characterization of the objectionable image content (pornography and nude images) of the Chilean Web (.cl domain). This characterization is based on a novel objectionable image filtering system that detects porno and nude images. In an automated process we examine all .cl Web sites, and download a large number of the available images. Then, we analyze the images' contents and we detect human-skin blobs. Afterwards, special features are derived from these skin blobs (size, orientation, position, solidity, eccentricity, etc.). Finally, a statistical classifier is employed for classifying the images in three classes: normal, porno and nude. In addition to these, we characterize the three classes by their faces content. We present statistics of use to anyone concerned with the objectionable image content of the Web in Chile. We believe that the described methodology can be employed for carrying out similar studies in other segments of the Web, and also for the automatic discovering of new pornographic sites.


Background: Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs among young women to breast milk are still low. Aim: This study wanted to assess the effect of exclusive breastfeeding module on knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of young women in the town of Tarakan. Method: Quantitative research with pre-posttest without control subjects were students of SMK Health Kaltara Tarakan with the number of samples (n=50) of respondents. Before the module manufacturing, the survey was conducted as drafting. Modules were in narrative form and were tested before correction by experts. Submission of exclusive breastfeeding module is done after pre-test for the measurement of knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of young women against exclusive breastfeeding. The data were analyzed using the t-test. Results: Characteristics of respondents in general age was at 15-16 years (80%). The majority was among the first and second children (74%) and the number of siblings was between 2-3 years (54%.) Knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs after the intervention were 10.08 ± 0.85, the attitude was 29.64 ± 1.41, and confidence was 31.50 ± 1.31. It was statistically significant at p<0.05. Conclusions: Learning with exclusive breastfeeding module method can improve knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of young women against exclusive breastfeeding in Tarakan.


In this paper, some simulation design techniques used in the study of a new architecture called the multi associative processor (MAP) architecture are discussed. The architecture executes multiple single-instruction-multiple-data stream (SIMD) programs simultaneously (i.e., it is a specialized multiprocessor). The design analysis of the system includes topics such as the generation of a suitable job mix for the machine; simulating the execution of a SIMD program; and simulating the competition between executing programs for various shared resources.
 The approach to analysis of the MAP system design is based on a highly detailed (low level) simulation model that interpretively executes a single SIMD program at a time. This interpreter provides a medium for testing various SIMD algorithms that could be executed on a real system corresponding to the hypothetical MAP system. Although the interpreter does not allow for the simulation of the simultaneous execution of two or more SIMD programs, the single executions are measured with a (simulated) hardware or software monitor to obtain data indicating the performance of that program in an isolated (non-competitive) environment. These data are then used to drive higher level (lower detail) simulation models that focus on particular aspects of the design, e.g., the competition for main memory cycles.


Polar codes based on 2 × 2 non-binary kernels are discussed in this work. The kernel over GF(q) is selected by maximizing the polarization effect and using Monte-Carlo simulation. Belief propagation (BP) and successive cancellation (SC) based decoding algorithms are extended to non-binary codes. Additionally, a successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding with a pruned tree is proposed. Simulation results show that the proposed decoder performs very close to a conventional SCL decoder with significantly lower complexity.


Creeping determinism, a form of hindsight bias, refers to people's hindsight perceptions of events as being determined or inevitable. This article proposes, on the basis of a causal-model theory of creeping determinism, that the underlying processes are effortful, and hence creeping determinism should disappear when individuals lack the cognitive resources to make sense of an outcome. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were asked to read a scenario while they were under either low or high processing load. Participants who had the cognitive resources to make sense of the outcome perceived it as more probable and necessary than did participants under high processing load or participants who did not receive outcome information. Experiment 3 was designed to separate 2 postulated subprocesses and showed that the attenuating effect of processing load on hindsight bias is not due to a disruption of the retrieval of potential causal antecedents but to a disruption of their evaluation. Together the 3 experiments show that the processes underlying creeping determinism are effortful, and they highlight the crucial role of causal reasoning in the perception of past events.


Turbocharged diesel engines are widely used in the marine industry and have a significant impact on global CO2 and NOx emissions. Turbochargers are an integral component of any diesel engine and they play a critical role in their performance. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Calnetix Technologies have developed a unique technology called the "Electro-Assist Turbo" (EAT). The EAT unit consists of a specially designed high speed permanent magnet motor directly mounted to the turbocharger rotating assembly. The high speed motor applies torque to the turbocharger rotor enabling it maintain or vary rotor speed at low engine exhaust flow rates in order to supply sufficient charge air to maximize engine performance. Turbocharged diesel engines suffer from inherent deficiencies at low engine speeds; there is not enough energy in the exhaust to produce an optimum and readily available level of boost for the engine intake air system at off-design points. This technology proves even more important as the majority of large marine vessels are now operating in a "slow steaming" part throttle mode. To date the majority of marine diesel engines use auxiliary air blowers (AAB) to supply additional air to the engine intake during off design point operation. These AABs are inefficient and not intended nor designed to be used in constant operation. The EAT unit can provide a higher discharge pressure at the same electrical power consumption as an AAB. This more efficient design with higher discharge pressure further improves fuel efficiency and eliminates the need to run an external piece of machinery during operation, thus lowering maintenance costs.This paper will provide an overview of the design, integration and initial testing of the 100kW Electro-Assist Turbo into a Mitsubishi Exhaust-gas Turbocharger (MET)-83 marine diesel turbocharger. In addition this paper will go over the custom designed aerodynamic motor housing structure that holds the non-rotating components without penalizing performance of the turbocharger, special software developed for the variable frequency drive system that enables the flexible operation of the high speed motor, and features of the high speed permanent magnet motor that allows for operation without any active cooling. Also, this paper will provide and discuss the initial test results of the EAT integrated into the MET-83 turbocharger along with engine testing results provided by MHI. Low cost designs will be discussed that enable turbochargers currently in operation to be retrofitted and the further improvements taking place to commercialize.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


OBJECTIVE
To examine associations between parents' and children's agricultural injuries in a cohort of farming and ranching households.

DESIGN
Analyses from a population-based, nested case-control study.

SETTING
The 1999 Regional Rural Injury Study-II, involving a cohort of 3765 agricultural households. Demographic, injury, and exposure data were collected for household members for 1 year.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 203 injured children (cases) and 755 randomly selected control children were identified for the study.

MAIN EXPOSURE
Children's risk of injury was estimated in reference to individual and combined parental injury experience. Two periods were evaluated, separately and in combination.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by using logistic regression; directed acyclic graphs guided selection of potential confounders.

RESULTS
When controlling for potential confounders, children whose fathers were injured before the study year had twice the risk of injury of those whose fathers were not injured (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.5-3.0). Children had increased risk of injury if their mothers were injured before the study (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.7-3.8) or during the study (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 0.9-4.2). Children whose parents both reported agricultural injuries before the study had a 4-fold increase in injury risk over those with neither parent injured (OR, 4.2; 95% CI, 2.6-6.9).

CONCLUSIONS
Positive associations between parents' and children's injuries were observed, with a potential additive effect if both parents were injured. These results indicate a need for further research into the social and/or physical environments driving these associations so that appropriate interventions for pediatric injury can be determined.


Lentil is commonly grown as a rotation crop in east and southeast of Turkey. It is an important crop because of its high protein content of seed and straw for human and animal nutrition. Phosphorus in the soil has developmental activity in the plant's root growth. The effects of humic substances on plant growth, under conditions of adequate mineral nutrition, consistently show positive effects on plant biomass. An experiment was conducted to study the effect of different levels of humic acid and phosphorous on yield and yield attributes of lentil during 2008-09 and 2009-10 in Agricultural Faculty experiment field of Yuzuncu Yil University. The results of the study indicated that humic acid and phosphorus applications increased significantly the seed yield and yield components. Whereas the highest seed yield were obtained from 80 kg phosphorus ha -1 with 1135 kg ha -1 and 600 kg humic acid ha -1 application with 1097 kg ha -1 in the first year, the values were 80 kg phosphorus ha-1 with 1756 kg ha-1 and 600 kg humic acid ha ha -1 application with 1625 kg ha -1 in the second year.


At the end of the 19th century several surgical procedures for the treatment of upper eyelid entropion were described. At that time this type of entropion was much more common than it is today. The goal of treatment is to evert the lashes away from the lid margin. This can be accomplished by tightening the anterior lamella combined with a tarsal wedge resection, or by an upward transposition of the lid skin after splitting the upper lid apparatus. The resulting free anterior tarsal surface must be covered by a free graft to prevent tarsal shrinking. The latter would soon cause a recurrence. After upward transposition of the anterior lamella, the excised skin is very suitable for covering the free tarsal surface. A fibrin sealing method is used to fix the graft on the tarsus, thus making sutures unnecessary. Good results, primarily with regard to function, can be achieved with these methods.


Invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) are an important cause of septicemia in children under the age of five years in sub-Saharan Africa. A novel genotype of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium (multi-locus sequence type [ST] 313) circulating in this geographic region is genetically different to from S. Typhimurium ST19 strains that are common throughout the rest of the world. S. Typhimurium ST313 strains have acquired pseudogenes and genetic deletions and appear to be evolving to become more like the typhoidal serovars S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi A. Epidemiological and clinical data show that S. Typhimurium ST313 strains are clinically associated with invasive systemic disease (bacteremia, septicemia, meningitis) rather than with gastroenteritis. The current work summarizes investigations of the broad hypothesis that S. Typhimurium ST313 isolates from Mali, West Africa, will behave differently from ST19 isolates in various in vitro assays. Here, we show that strains of the ST313 genotype are phagocytosed more efficiently and are highly resistant to killing by macrophage cell lines and primary mouse and human macrophages compared to ST19 strains. S. Typhimurium ST313 strains survived and replicated within different macrophages. Infection of macrophages with S. Typhimurium ST19 strains resulted in increased apoptosis and higher production of proinflammatory cytokines, as measured by gene expression and protein production, compared to S. Typhimurium ST313 strains. This difference in proinflammatory cytokine production and cell death between S. Typhimurium ST19 and ST313 strains could be explained, in part, by an increased production of flagellin by ST19 strains. These observations provide further evidence that S. Typhimurium ST313 strains are phenotypically different to ST19 strains and instead share similar pathogenic characteristics with typhoidal Salmonella serovars.


OBJECTIVES Empowering managers plays a crucial role in developing the capabilities and competencies of individuals to improve the continuous performance of health centre organisations. The purpose of this study is to design a model of empowerment of health centre managers in Iran during 2018-2019. DESIGN In this applied, exploratory, and cross-sectional study, human resource empowerment components were extracted by reviewing the literature and interviewing subject specialists. Then, the conceptual model of the research was designed, and the questionnaire was formulated and validated. Data were collected by filling out a questionnaire from a total of 416 managers of health centres selected by stratified random sampling. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. RESULTS In the final model of empowerment of health centre managers, five factors were identified as effective factors. The standardised regression coefficients among the contextual, self-efficacy, managerial, organisationalvalue, and psychological factors with empowerment were 0.98, 0.95, 0.92, 0.90, and 0.76, respectively. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicate the suitability of the final model of health centre managers' empowerment. CONCLUSIONS Due to the influence of contextual, self-efficacy, managerial, organisational-value, and psychological factors in the model approved in this study, the health system senior managers can have a systemic approach to issues. In addition, they can improve managers' abilities by employing a continuous self-assessment system in health centres, applying the proposed model, improving administrative infrastructure and working environment, paying attention to organisational culture, reward system, participatory management, information sharing, continuous training, and modeling.


Recent developments in international human rights law have revealed that humanity is at great risk of instability and a likely effect of World War III, which may result from Terrorism; the world's most challenging problem and the biggest threat to international peace and security. The world at large and Cameroon in particular, has suffered from great atrocities caused by terrorist groups. One of such groups is Boko Haram in the Northern part of Nigeria. In a similar vein as Nigeria, Kenya, Chad, United States of America, Belgium, France, Turkey, Britain, Germany and just to name a few, have also been affected by militant groups such as Alshabab, al-Qaeda and ISIS. The devastating effects now echo negatively on fundamental human rights and freedoms, most especially on religious freedom and migration related issues. Cognizant of its impact and with the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack in the United States, several States, if not all, in an attempt to protect national security, have developed measures to fight against this outrageous act-terrorism. In an attempt to protect national security and curtail terrorism, states have gone beyond their obligations to take steps in line with their constitutional processes by intruding in some basic freedoms. What remains questionable is whether counter-terrorism laws adopted by states are applied for the purpose for which they are intended. The significance of this paper is to critically analyze and assess the impact of anti-terrorism measures on religious freedom (human rights) with Cameroon's approach in a comparative perspective and the role of the church in peace building and policy making for a better world and development.


Water is essential to protein structure and stability, yet our understanding of how water shapes proteins is far from thorough. Our incomplete knowledge of protein-water interactions is due in part to a long-standing technological inability to assess experimentally how water removal impacts local protein structure. It is now possible to obtain residue-level information on dehydrated protein structures via liquid-observed vapor exchange (LOVE) NMR, a solution NMR technique that quantifies the extent of hydrogen-deuterium exchange between unprotected amide protons of a dehydrated protein and D2O vapor. Here, we apply LOVE NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and solution hydrogen-deuterium exchange to globular proteins GB1, CI2, and two variants thereof to link mutation-induced changes in the dehydrated protein structure to changes in solution structure and stability. We find that a mutation that destabilizes GB1 in solution does not affect its dehydrated structure, whereas a mutation that stabilizes CI2 in solution makes several regions of the protein more susceptible to dehydration-induced unfolding, suggesting that water is primarily responsible for the destabilization of the GB1 variant but plays a stabilizing role in the CI2 variant. Our results indicate that changes in dehydrated protein structure cannot be predicted from changes in solution stability alone and demonstrate the ability of LOVE NMR to uncover the variable role of water in protein stability. Further application of LOVE NMR to other proteins and their variants will improve the ability to predict and modulate protein structure and stability in both the hydrated and dehydrated states for applications in medicine and biotechnology.


ABSTRACT Channel One, an in-school television program, provides a centrally prepared, 10-minute daily newscast accompanied by 2 minutes of commercials. Several states ban Channel One because of concerns about providing advertisers such direct access to students within the walls of tax-supported public school buildings. This paper examines what kinds of schools and what sorts of communities choose to receive Channel One, and where Channel One fits in the pool of educational resources. The study used the data archives of Market Data Retrieval, which involves 17,344 public schools and covers grades 7 through 12, revealing some of the following items: (1) Channel One is most often found in low income area schools, where it is often used instead of traditional educational materials when resources are scarcest; (2) schools that can afford to spend more on their students are much less likely to utilize Channel One; (3) Channel One is more often shown to the students who are least able to afford to buy all the products advertised, thus increasing a sense of alienation and frustration; and (4) increasing commercialization of the culture and the schools suggests a shutting out of other voices and interests of the educational system. The study suggests that the use of Channel One in low-income, socioeconomically deprived schools presents an illusion of providing more and better educational facilities which only contributes to widening the societal gap. (Contains six references.)


The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the cytotoxicity induced by two resin-based sealers, 2Seal and AH Plus, in two osteoblast-like cell lines, MG-63 and Saos-2. Using sterile discs of both sealers in complete media, 24- and 72-h extracts were prepared. The extracts were exchanged with Saos-2 or MG-63 cell culture media at 75% confluence, and after 24 h incubation, cell viability tests were performed for each extract and cell line using MTT and trypan blue dye exclusion assays. Corresponding incubated media were used as negative control groups. For both extracts and sealers, cytotoxicity was observed in both cell lines. For Saos-2, there was no statistical difference in toxicity between the sealers for either extract (p > 0.05). For MG-63, the 2Seal 24-h extract and the AH Plus 72-h extract had greater cytotoxicity than the other extracts (p < 0.05(. Both AH Plus and 2Seal demonstrated significant cytotoxicity in these two cell lines. In contrast to 2Seal, the cytotoxicity of AH Plus in the MG-63 cell line increased with extraction time from 24 to 72 h. The AH Plus and 2Seal 24-h extracts showed different levels of cytotoxicity in the MG-63 cell line, while in the Saos-2 cell line there were no detectable differences. This may reflect higher sensitivity of the MG-63 cell line compared to Saos-2 toward cytotoxicity induced by these two sealers, or different kinetics of toxicant release from the sealers.


Karyotype and morphology of Chironomus sp. larvae from the Caspian Sea have been described. 2n = 8. Chromosomal arm combination is AB, CD, EF, G (cytocomplex thummi). All chromosomes display conjugation of homologues. Centromere areas are of s-type. The nucleolar organizer and two Balbiani rings are disposed in arm C, and another Balbiani ring is in arm B. Half larvae have heterozygotic paracentric inversions in arm D. The larva belongs to salinarius form. One scleritis is colorless, an occipital scleritis is light and irregularly colored. Premandible has 4-5 cogs. Epipharingeal ridge has 18-23 dens. This new species is close to salinarius group, especially to Ch. albidus Konst., but differs from it at the larva stage in the structure of non-massive basal antenna segment, in the presence of large quantity of premandible denses, in light color of occipital scleritis, and in a series of morphometric rates. A similarity berween Ch. paraalbidus and Ch. albidus, on the one hand, and Boeotendipes, on the other one, has been found out.


Abstract
Synchronized cultures of rapidly growing E. coli B/r cells were starved for a required amino acid at various cell ages to allow ongoing chromosome replication to be completed without initiation of new replication cycles. It has been found that when such synchronized cultures are exposed to the mutagen nitrosoguanidine, genetic markers just in the process of replication show a markedly higher mutation rate than markers elsewhere on the chromosome. The number of growing points on the chromosome at each cell age can then be determined by observing the nitrosoguanidine-induced mutation rates for specific genetic markers on the genome. These experiments indicate that there exist multiple growing points on the genome for about ten minutes during the life cycle when the cells are growing with a doubling time of 28 minutes.


This paper highlights the innovations during the environmental impact assessment of the land reclamation (Maasvlakte 2) near the port of Rotterdam (The Netherlands). The construction of this new port area consists of two main activities: sand mining in the North Sea and land reclamation near the harbor entrance of Rotterdam. Various modeling studies have been carried out to assess the effects of the land reclamation and sand mining on the surrounding coastal waters. Three innovative developments are described in this paper: 1) a large-scale three-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the Southern North Sea with a very high resolution along the Dutch coast and in the Wadden Sea, 2) a new fish larvae model that takes account of the behavior of fish larvae in relation to the physical factors (eg. salinity, currents) and biological processes (eg. larval growth), and 3) a process-based model for the dispersion of mud in the North Sea that includes the exchange of mud to and from the sediment bed at various time scales (tide, spring-neap, seasons). Apart from describing these innovations, the paper also discusses the fruitful interactions between various disciplines and institutes, and the lessons learned from this extensive modeling effort


Background and objectives: The ongoing quest for finding treatment against memory loss seen in aging and in many neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, so far has been unsuccessful and more effective and precise therapeutic strategies are needed. The study of memory enhancement seems to hold the potential for developing strategies to treat memory dysfunctions. In line to this, previously, we have shown that the delivery of RGS14(414) gene into V2 visual cortex of rodent's brain enhanced object recognition memory, which is one of the most studied examples of episodic memory. This memory enhancement effect was of such extent that it converted short term memory of 45 minutes into long lasting long-term memory that could be traced even after many months. Therefore, we have tested first whether object recognition memory loss observed in normal aging and Alzheimer´s disease can be recuperated by the same RGS14(414) gene treatment. Further, we explored through various biological processes in brain to provide explanation of RGS14-mediated memory enhancement and recuperation of memory loss. -Results and discussion: In the present thesis work we found that: (i) RGS14(414) gene treatment not only led to full recovery of an episodic memory loss in rodent models of normal aging and Alzheimer´s disease, but also aided in maintenance of the elevated ORM levels for long time; (ii) GluR2, an AMPA receptor subunit, showed upregulated level as well as a dynamic participation in conversion of short-term ORM into long-term memory in RGS14 rats; (iii) Area V2, frontal cortex and perirhinal cortex, areas that participate in brain circuit responsible for ORM processing, are not dependent on each other in RGS14-mediated memory enhancement; This independency of these brain areas in memory enhancement suggests that they are individually adequate for treatment of memory loss, in spite of where the primary cause is localized in brain; (iiii) RGS14(414) gene treatment did not favor Hebbian synaptic plasticity, which included LTP, muscarinic receptor-dependent LTD, and depotentiation. Though underlying cause of this lack in plasticity is yet to be elucidated, we believe that a decrease in calcium influx through RGS14-mediated blockage of L-type calcium channel could trigger the impairments seen in Hebbian plasticity, and that RGS14-mediated ORM enhancement could be reliant on non-Hebbian forms of plasticity. -Conclusions: On one hand, the proteomic results showed that GluR2 subunit is a key in RGS14-mediated ORM enhancement. On the other hand, the behavioral results of memory loss recovery in rodent models and of memory enhancement in lesioned rats demonstrate that RGS14(414) gene therapy might be a viable strategy for the treatment of memory loss in patients.


While we have made significant progress over image understanding and search, how to meet the ultimate goal of satisfying both exploration and exploitation in one single system is still an open challenge. In the context of landmark images, it means that a system should not only be able to help users to quickly locate the photo they are interested in (exploitation), but also to discover different parts of the landmark which have never been seen before (exploration), which is a common request as evidenced by many recent multimedia studies. To the best of our knowledge, existing systems mainly focus on either exploration (e.g., photo browsing) or exploitation (e.g., representative photo identification), while users' need of exploration and exploitation is dynamically mixed. In this paper, we tackle the challenge by organizing landmark images into a hierarchical summary which gives user the flexibility of conducting both exploration and exploitation. In the hierarchical summary construction, we introduce two principles: the coherence principle and the diversity principle. Behind these two principles, the intrinsic concept is "detail-level," which measures how much detail that an image reflects for a certain landmark. A new objective function is derived from the definition of both exploration and exploitation experience on detail-level. The problem of finding an optimal hierarchical summary is formulated as searching over a space of trees for the one that achieves the best objective score. Extensive quantitative experimental results and comprehensive user studies show that the optimized hierarchical summary is able to satisfy both experiences simultaneously.


In order to reduce the error of the phase lock-loop (PLL) and compensate the delay of the low pass filter on harmonics detection, In the paper, a detecting-method without PLL in single-phase circuit is researched. In this method, the PLL and LPF are omitted, the feedback and average theory are used, so that the problem of detecting accuracy induced by PLL and real-time induced by LPF is solved. It is testified through comparison, analysis and simulation, that both methods can reduce the latency, improve dynamic response speed, the feedback method can reduce the delay in a dynamic, continuous process, while the average theoretical method can reduce the delay quantitatively.


Purpose: Canada's multicultural population poses challenges for culturally competent nutrition research and practice. In this qualitative study, the cultural relevance of a widely used semiquantitative fruit and vegetable food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was examined among convenience samples of adults from Toronto's Cantonese-, Mandarin-, Portuguese-, and Vietnamesespeaking communities. Methods: Eighty-nine participants were recruited through community-based organizations, programs, and advertisements to participate in semi-structured interviews moderated in their native language. Data from the interviews were translated into English and transcribed for analysis using the constant comparative approach. Results: Four main themes emerged from the analysis: the cultural relevance of the foods listed on the FFQ, words with multiple meanings, the need for culturally appropriate portionsize prompts, and the telephone survey as a Western concept. Conclusions: This research highlights the importance of investing resources to develop culturally relevant dietary assessment tools that ensure dietary assessment accuracy and, more important, reduce ethnocentric biases in food and nutrition research and practice. The transferability of findings must be established through further research. (Can J Diet Prac Res 2005;66:231-236)


This study was designed to assess the phytochemical screening of leaves and seeds of Vitex agnus castus harvested south-East of Morocco and to evaluate their potential antioxydante activity properties using 2, 2 diphenyl-1-picrylehydrazil radical scavenging. Methanol 80% extracts of leaves and seeds were obtained by maceration. Phytochemical screening, quantitative determination of total polyphenols, total flavonoids, Aglycones and anthocyanins contents were assessed. Antioxidant activity was tested using 2, 2 diphenyl-1-picrylehydrazil radical scavenging. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, terpenes and catechic tannins in leaves and seeds, anthraquinones in seeds and saponins in leaves. Leaves and seeds showed a high content of total polyphenols (574.895 ± 4.600 mg GAE/g dried extract and 551.895 ± 2.300 mg GAE/g dried extract respectively); Total flavonoids content was high in leaves. Quantification of aglycones revealed an important amount of aglycones in leaves (0.118 ± 0.032 mg QE/g dried plant material). Thin layer chromatography revealed a wide variety of flavonoids and the presence of kaempferol in seeds. Results of the present work suggest that there is strong pharmacological potential in developing V. agnus castus as a drug to be used in antioxidant activity


Using the Weidman (1989) Undergraduate Socialization model, the present study attempts toexamine the distinction between educational and career aspirations in public and privateuniversity freshman of Semarang, Indonesia. The correlation between the four dimensions ofindependent variables, student characteristics, parental socialization, significant others, andcollegiate experiences, and four dependent variables, educational aspirations, expecting aposition as a government employee, expecting a position as a private employee, and careeraspirations were analyzed.Data were collected through a survey distributed to 379 freshmen students from two public and two private universities, using a stratified sampling method to analyze data from each university. Data were analyzed using zero order correlations and multiple regressions analysis.For both public and private university students, almost all student characteristic variablesthat correlate with educational and career aspirations showed a significant positive effect, and the degree of its correlation for the public sample is greater than for the private counterpart.For both public and private university students, almost all parental socioeconomic statusindicated a positive significance for educational and career aspirations. For private students,there were some significant negative effects of parental encouragement, but, on the other hand,no significant negative effects appear on educational and career aspirations.All variable significant other for public university showed a positive effect on careeraspirations and some negative effects on three other dependent variables, while for the privateuniversity only one variable, significant other, showed a positive significant effect on careeraspirations and two variables had negative effects on expecting a position as a private employee.In the public university sample, almost all collegiate experiences variables that had acorrelation to educational and career aspirations showed significant positive effects. In addition,the relative absence of collegiate experiences for educational and career aspirations, especiallysocial integration, is somewhat contradictory to Weidman's model.Expecting a position as a government employee and expecting a position as private employee are new variables and were never used as criterion in the previous research on educational and career aspirations. However, it is not effective enough to employ in the model of educational and career aspirations.


Summary: Ancient schwannoma, is a rare variant of schwannoma with characterization of degenerative changes and diffuse hypercellularity. Retroperitoneal presacral form is often found incidentally, because they present with vague symptoms or symptomless. Schwannoma occurring in this area occasionally presents with enormous dimensions, known as a giant schwannoma. The tumor removal is a surgical challenge due to the difficult approach and abundant vascularity. In this report we describe a 61 –year old female presented to ER with vaginal bleeding and lower abdominal pain. The case diagnosed on clinical, CT and MRI findings to be a fibroma of the left ovary. Exploration by the gynecology team revealed a huge retroperitoneal presacral tumor compressing the left external iliac vessels and displacing the left ureter; they took a biopsy and closed the abdomen. Histopathological result was benign schwannoma. The patient were referred to our hospital (Al Hada Armed Forces Hospital, Taif, Saudi Arabia) to be managed from postoperative DVT when her family asked our department of surgery for further management and signed a high risk consent. We explored the case after insertion of IVC filter and ureteric catheter. A 20x20 cm mass was thoroughly dissected and resected with part of sacrum. The final histopathological result was benign nerve sheath tumor with features consistent with degenerated (ancient) schwannoma and the tumor was completely resected. The patient was discharged from the hospital without complications and follow up for three years revealed no recurrence.The clinical, radiological, and pathological features of this disease are discussed in this report.
 To conclude, retroperitoneal giant ancient schwannomas are a rare variant of the benign schwannoma and often present as unrecognized slow growing masses. Keep in mind potentially severe bleeding and neurological deficit risk of surgical intervention without away from oncologic principle. Therefore, careful preoperative evaluations and postoperative monitoring are necessary.


ABSTRACT A number of prominent theories have linked tendencies to mimick others' facial movements to empathy and facial emotion recognition, but evidence for such links is uneven. We conducted a meta-analysis of correlations of facial mimicry with empathy and facial emotion recognition skills. Other factors were also examined for moderating influence, e.g. facets of empathy measured, facial muscles recorded, and facial emotions being mimicked. Summary effects were estimated with a random-effects model and a meta-regression analysis was used to identify factors moderating these effects. 162 effects from 28 studies were submitted. The summary effect size indicated a significant weak positive relationship between facial mimicry and empathy, but not facial emotion recognition. The moderator analysis revealed that stronger correlations between facial mimicry and empathy were observed for static vs. dynamic facial stimuli, and for implicit vs. explicit instances of facial emotion processing. No differences were seen between facial emotions, facial muscles, emotional and cognitive facets of empathy, or state and trait measures of empathy. The results support the claim that stronger facial mimicry responses are positively related to higher dispositions for empathy, but the weakness and variability of this effect suggest that this relationship is conditional on not-fully understood factors.


Barry Mazur famously classified the finitely many groups that can occur as a torsion subgroup of an elliptic curve over the rationals. This thesis deals with generalizations of this to higher degree number fields. Merel proved that for all integers d one has that the number of isomorphsim classes of torsion groups of elliptic curves over number fields of degree d is finite. This thesis consists of 4 chapters, the first is introductory and the other tree are research articles. Chapter two deals with the computation of gonalities of modular curves, and the application of these computations to the question which cyclic subgroups can occur as the torsion subgroup of infinitely many non-isomorphic elliptic curves over number fields of degree <7. In the second chapter a general theory for finding rational points on symmetric powers of curves is developed that is similar to symmetric power Chabauty. Application of this theory to symmetric powers of modular curves allows us to determine which primes can divide the order of the torsion subgroup of an elliptic curve over a number field of degree <7. The last chapter studies elliptic curve with a point of order 17 over a number field of degree 4.


Modern life implies a constant exposure of living organisms to many sources of radia- tion, especially electromagnetic fields (EMFs) generated by our technological devices. The question of whether or not EMFs in the non-ionizing extremely low frequency (ELF) range can induce genotoxic effects is currently a subject of interest. People of industrialized societies are commonly exposed to EMFs and waves in a very broad range of frequencies, including power lines, telecommunications, and domestic and industrial equipment. In this review, we present controversial evidence from our research group and others of genotoxicity induced by ELF-EMFs, since scientific community consider EMF devices produce marginal amounts of energy, which does not justify any DNA alterations, together with conflicting laboratory results and few epidemiological studies. However, in 2002 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) categorized ELF-EMFs as being potential carcinogenic and genotoxic agents to humans. The aim of the present chapter is to discuss the role of ELM-EMFs on human


: Transmission electron and light microscopy studies were carried out on morphologic characteristics of cellular organelles of normal and different neoplastic cells of hepatoid circumanal glands of 16 dogs. The ultrastructural features of the reserve and transitional cells in the adenomas and carcinomas are highly suggestive of different carcinogenic stimuli for each form of hepatoid circumanal gland neoplasm. The reserve cells, in response to the carcinogenic stimuli, appear to be growing at the expense of the degenerating glandular cells.


In this paper, an analytical method is proposed to derive the dynamic model of a rigid serial manipulator using the Euler-Lagrange equations. The novelty of this paper is to form the dynamic equations of manipulator on vector fields. The dynamic equations are calculated simply and more convenient in comparison with the common approach. This approach provides the dynamic equations in a matrix form directly using vector fields while in the common method the matrix form of dynamic equations are obtained indirectly. An example, a two-link elbow manipulator is modeled to demonstrate the simplicity of the method.


We analyzed bathymetric and gravity anomalies along present and paleoaxes of oceanic spreading centers influenced by the Iceland, Azores, Galápagos, Tristan, and Easter hotspots. Residual bathymetry (up to 4.7 km) and mantle Bouguer gravity (up to2340 km) anomalies are maximum at on-axis hotspots and decrease with increasing ridge-hotspot separation distance (D), until becoming insignificant at D ;500 km. Along-isochron widths of bathymetric anomalies (up to 2700 km) depend inversely on paleo–spreading rate, reflecting the extent to which plume material will flow along axis before being swept away by the spreading lithosphere. Flux balance arguments suggest that the five hotspots feed material to ridges with comparable fluxes of;2.2 3 10 km/m.y. Assuming that the amplitudes of these geophysical anomalies reflect temperature-dependent crustal thickness and mantle density variations, we suggest that ridge temperature anomalies are maximum (150–225 C) when plumes are ridge centered and decrease with increasing ridge-hotspot distance due to cooling of the ridgeward-migrating plume material.


We propose a new packaging process for an implantable blood pressure sensor using ultrafast laser micro-welding. The sensor is a membrane type, passive device that uses the change in the capacitance caused by the membrane deformation due to applied pressure. Components of the sensor such as inductors and capacitors were fabricated on two glass (quartz) wafers and the two wafers were bonded into a single package. Conventional bonding methods such as adhesive bonding, thermal bonding, and anodic bonding require considerable effort and cost. Therefore CO2 laser cutting was used due to its fast and easy operation providing melting and bonding of the interface at the same time. However, a severe heat process leading to a large temperature gradient by rapid heating and quenching at the interface causes microcracks in brittle glass and results in low durability and production yield. In this paper, we introduce an ultrafast laser process for glass bonding because it can optimize the heat accumulation inside the glass by a short pulse width within a few picoseconds and a high pulse repetition rate. As a result, the ultrafast laser welding provides microscale bonding for glass pressure sensor packaging. The packaging process was performed with a minimized welding seam width of 100 μm with a minute. The minimized welding seam allows a drastic reduction of the sensor size, which is a significant benefit for implantable sensors. The fabricated pressure sensor was operated with resonance frequencies corresponding to applied pressures and there was no air leakage through the welded interface. In addition, in vitro cytotoxicity tests with the sensor showed that there was no elution of inner components and the ultrafast laser packaged sensor is non-toxic. The ultrafast laser welding provides a fast and robust glass chip packaging, which has advantages in hermeticity, bio-compatibility, and cost-effectiveness in the manufacturing of compact implantable sensors.


Summary form only given, as follows. Plasmas have frequently been used in industry as a last step surface preparation technique in an otherwise predominantly wet-etch process. The limiting factor in the usefulness of plasma cleaning techniques has been the rate at which organic materials are removed. Recent research in the field of plasma chemistry has provided some understanding of plasma processes. By controlling plasma conditions and gas mixtures, ultra-fast plasma cleaning and etching is possible. With enhanced organic removal rates, plasma processes become more desirable as an environmentally sound alternative to traditional solvent or acid dominated process, not only as a cleaning tool, but also as a patterning and machining tool. In this paper, innovations in plasma processes are discussed including enhanced plasma etch rates via plasma environment control and aggressive gas mixtures. Applications that have not been possible with the limited usefulness of past plasma processes are now approaching the realm of possibility. Some of these possible applications are discussed along with their impact to environmentally conscious manufacturing.


The airway plays a vital role in allergic lung diseases by responding to inhaled allergens and initiating allergic inflammation. Various proinflammatory functions of the airway epithelium have been identified, but, equally important, anti-inflammatory mechanisms must also exist. We show in this study that syndecan-1, the major heparan sulfate proteoglycan of epithelial cells, attenuates allergic lung inflammation. Our results show that syndecan-1-null mice instilled with allergens exhibit exaggerated airway hyperresponsiveness, glycoprotein hypersecretion, eosinophilia, and lung IL-4 responses. However, administration of purified syndecan-1 ectodomains, but not ectodomain core proteins devoid of heparan sulfate, significantly inhibits these inflammatory responses. Furthermore, syndecan-1 ectodomains are shed into the airway when wild-type mice are intranasally instilled with several biochemically distinct inducers of allergic lung inflammation. Our results also show that syndecan-1 ectodomains bind to the CC chemokines (CCL7, CCL11, and CCL17) implicated in allergic diseases, inhibit CC chemokine-mediated T cell migration, and suppress allergen-induced accumulation of Th2 cells in the lung through their heparan sulfate chains. Together, these findings uncover an endogenous anti-inflammatory mechanism of the airway epithelium where syndecan-1 ectodomains attenuate allergic lung inflammation via suppression of CC chemokine-mediated Th2 cell recruitment to the lung.


The requirement to reduce expenditure on "non‐core" activities, along with building's owners' expectations for improved performance, are the main dilemmas with which a facility manager deals on a regular basis. The primary objective of this research was to identify the effect of defined parameters, such as the actual age of a building and its level of occupancy, on the performance of facilities and their systems. This study contributed to the development of a model capable of integrating these parameters into a Facility Management (FM) tactical and strategic decision‐making process, referred to as the Integrated Healthcare Facility Management Model (IHFMM). The model's guidelines may be outlined for the methodological design and operation of facilities from a life cycle perspective. The paper presents the architecture of the developed model, and four of the 15 procedures that comprise the heart of this model.


We have previously reported that re-dispersible amidinium chitin nanofibers are obtained from an amidinated chitin by CO2 gas bubbling with ultrasonic treatment in water. On the other hand, amylose is precisely synthesized by phosphorylase-catalyzed enzymatic polymerization. In this study, grafting of amylose on the amidinium chitin nanofibers was investigated by the phosphorylase-catalyzed enzymatic polymerization to produce amylose-grafted chitin nanofiber materials. Depending on the reaction conditions, the reaction mixtures turned into hydrogels. The hydrogels were constructed via the formation of double helixes from a part of amylose graft chains closely present among the nanofibers. Microstructures, which were hierarchically constructed by lyophilization of the hydrogels, were changed from network to porous morphologies in accordance with the molecular weights of amylose graft chains. Most of the amylose graft chains with higher molecular weights, which did not participate in double helixes, formed amorphous membranes in the nanofiber networks by lyophilization, to construct porous structures.


It analyzes and discusses in this article the relation of biblical violence in the prophet Habakkuk, based on the concepts developed by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan, according to which questions will be approached about the language of violence in Habakkuk taking as principle the anthropomorphic language developed in the biblical context that seeks to give human form to God so that man may understand the acts and actions of God in the history of mankind. The lack of understanding of anthropomorphic language in humans will define God as a violent, vengeful and cruel being, but this is not the way he perceives in the context of the Scriptures the philosophical principle of language in the definition of violence in the biblical context. In the first part of the text it is well defined what anthropomorphic language is and how we can subtract from this interpretation the correct understanding of violence in the Holy Scriptures. In the second part of the article, we analyze the question of violence in the Hobbesian perspective in the use of power and law (justice), it is pointed out that the violence according to Hobbes is an instrument of fear, therefore and originating from power and justice. As a principle of reflection of the sciences of religion, in the third part we deal with the human God in Habakkuk, delimiting the reactions of emotions and feelings, gradual change of transcendental understanding of "God beyond us," which prevailed was the immanent conception of "God for us, "for the perception of" God in us, "the result of this change is that God is lowered to the human level, so that people can interact more readily with Him, applying the principles of the Leviathan State. The hardening of state power, stricter laws, more rigid justice are elements capable of curbing violence and establishing a society of social peace.


The U937 monocytic cell line was used to determine whether antibodies could facilitate infection and replication of the arenaviruses, Pichinde virus (PV) and Lassa fever virus (LFV). When high dilutions of PV-immune serum were added to cultures simultaneously with PV inoculum, virus replication was dramatically (1000-fold) increased. Low dilutions of this antiserum neutralized the virus. LFV also replicated in U937 cells. The presence of LFV-specific immune serum in the growth medium increased the viral titre as much as 10,000-fold. Addition of heat-aggregated IgG partially inhibited antibody-mediated enhancement, probably by inhibiting the binding of immune complexes to the monocytic cells.


Chronic lower respiratory diseases (CLRDs) are the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. To support investigations into CLRD risk determinants and new approaches to primary prevention, we aimed to harmonize and pool respiratory data from US general population-based cohorts. Data were obtained from prospective cohorts that performed prebronchodilator spirometry and were harmonized following 2005 ATS/ERS standards. In cohorts conducting follow-up for noncardiovascular events, CLRD events were defined as hospitalizations/deaths adjudicated as CLRD-related or assigned relevant administrative codes. Coding and variable names were applied uniformly. The pooled sample included 65,251 adults in 9 cohorts followed-up for CLRD-related mortality over 653,380 person-years during 1983-2016. Average baseline age was 52 years; 56% were female; 49% were never-smokers; and racial/ethnic composition was 44% white, 22% black, 28% Hispanic/Latino, and 5% American Indian. Over 96% had complete data on smoking, clinical CLRD diagnoses, and dyspnea. After excluding invalid spirometry examinations (13%), there were 105,696 valid examinations (median, 2 per participant). Of 29,351 participants followed for CLRD hospitalizations, median follow-up was 14 years; only 5% were lost to follow-up at 10 years. The NHLBI Pooled Cohorts Study provides a harmonization standard applied to a large, US population-based sample that may be used to advance epidemiologic research on CLRD.


INTRODUCTION
Melasma, and its variant chloasma, is an acquired and chronic disorder of hyperpigmentation, characterized by symmetrical hypermelanoses of the face. The exact pathogenesis of melasma remains unclear. Several hormones are thought to play a role, including thyroid hormones. The study's objectives are to determine the proportion of melasma cases in hyperthyroid patients and to compare the severity of melasma before and after medications of hyperthyroid therapy.

METHODS
A quasi-experimental (pre-post intervention) study was conducted in Jakarta from August 2019 to February 2020. Twenty-three patients either newly diagnosed with hyperthyroidism or that had undergone hyperthyroid therapy for a maximum of 3 months and also had melasma were recruited. The severity of melasma was scored with the modified Melasma Area and Severity Index (mMASI), and dermoscopy of the lesions was performed. The evaluation was performed after 3 months of hyperthyroid therapy.

RESULTS
Among the 69 hyperthyroid patients, 45 (65%) had melasma. The mean difference in the mMASI score was 0.49 (p > 0.05). Dermoscopy features did not show any differences between the start and end of the study.

CONCLUSIONS
There is no significant improvement of melasma severity in hyperthyroid patients after 3 months of hyperthyroid therapy.


In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is an open challenge and critical practical problem to find a optimal way to dynamically prescribe the best policies that balance both the governmental resources and epidemic control in different countries and regions. To solve this multi-dimensional tradeoff of exploitation and exploration, we formulate this technical challenge as a contextual combinatorial bandit problem that jointly optimizes a multi-criteria reward function. Given the historical daily cases in a region and the past intervention plans in place, the agent should generate useful intervention plans that policy makers can implement in real time to minimizing both the number of daily COVID-19 cases and the stringency of the recommended interventions. We prove this concept with simulations of multiple realistic policy making scenarios and demonstrate a clear advantage in providing a pareto optimal solution in the epidemic intervention problem. 1


Background: Static flexibility, commonly known as flexibility, will be lowered during aging. Women's flexibility is better than men but it seems to disappear sooner. Mean while, flexibility is required to do daily activities and to prevent muscle injury. Exercise can help to return flexibility. Recently, Hatha Yoga is a popular exercise and said that it can improve musculoskeletal system, including flexibility.
The aim of this study is to know whether Hatha Yoga modified exercise for 12 weeks can increase static flexibility.

Method: This was a quasi experimental study with One Group Pre and Post Test Design. Samples were taken by purposive sampling based on inclusion criteria. Data is received from toe-touch test results in the early study, 4th, 8th, and 12th week. The difference of toe-touch results in the early study, 4th, 8th, and 12th week were analyzed by Friedman test then continued by Wilcoxon test. The difference is significant if p<0,05.

Results: From 37 samples who exercise Hatha Yoga modified for 12 weeks ,toe-touch results in the end (-10,6 ± 8,21 cm) are much higher than in the early study (-12,5 ± 8,78 cm). Wilcoxon test shows a significant differentiation for static flexibility (p<0,05).

Conclusion: Hatha Yoga modified exercise for 12 weeks increases static flexibility.

Keywords: Hatha Yoga modified exercise, Static flexibility.


A wide range of crimes may be prosecuted in either state court or federal court. A successful federal prosecution typically results in a much longer sentence than would a state prosecution. The disparity between state and federal sentences raises at least two major concerns. First, a federal prosecution may be undertaken in lieu of state prosecution as a result of random chance, vindictiveness, bias, or other questionable considerations. In such cases, the imposition of a relatively harsh federal sentence may appear arbitrary. Second, the imposition of relatively harsh federal sentences may circumvent the criminal justice policy preferences of state and local communities. In light of these concerns, the author proposes that federal judges consider state sentencing laws when deciding whether to depart downward from the presumptive ranges specified in the federal sentencing guidelines. The author suggests a set of criteria to identify those cases for which departure on the basis of federal-state disparities would be most appropriate.


Informative and transparent financial information in the public sector is crucial for improving public sector management and eradicating corruption. Given this, Indonesia has reformed its public sector accounting, reporting and accountability systems by implementing a dual reporting system known as 'cash towards accrual', following similar reforms in developed countries. Drawing on the experience of five local governments (districts) in Indonesia, this study finds that the implementation of the dual reporting system has helped local governments to produce transparent and informative reports. However, the accrual‐based contents of the dual reports produced by the new reporting system are underused for decision making. In addition, there has been a significant increase in costs associated with the implementation of the new accounting regime in the jurisdictions studied. The study also finds that the ability of the users to use information generated by the new accounting system is more important than just a legal and mandatory requirement to use the new system.


HydroTerre web applications and services provide the Essential Terrestrial Variable (ETV) datasets to create common hydrological models anywhere in the continental United States (CONUS). This service allows web users to download data for their own purposes in their own computing environment. The datasets are provided using standard Geographic Information System formats and the data transformation is dependent on the users own needs, goals, and computing environment. In this article, we demonstrate three web applications and web services that share data and models with users via web interfaces, which automate the data-transformations for United States Geological Survey level-12 Hydrological Unit Codes (HUC-12) in order to be consumed in hydrological models. Penn State Integrated Hydrological Model (PIHM) is demonstrated here, but the workflows serve as a template for other models to adapt and become new services. The emphasis of this article is to demonstrate the feasibility of sharing both model input and output data via web interfaces that capture users' provenance. Capturing provenance serves as a new data resource to share amongst modelers, which we believe will improve modeling reproducibility and shift the focus from data preparation to data analysis. We want to demonstrate that workflows empower modelers to create hydrological models rapidly anywhere in the CONUS and the interface to do so is a critical part of the process. To explain the interface, an explanation of both hardware and software architecture is required, as the way they are coupled is critical for performance and constrain the interfaces that execute workflows in a distributed computing environment.


Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare genetic disorder associated with a high frequency of hematological abnormalities and congenital anomalies. Based on multilateral efforts from basic scientists and clinicians, significant advances in our knowledge of FA have been made in recent years. Here we review the clinical features, the diagnostic criteria, and the current and future therapies of FA and describe the current understanding of the molecular basis of the disease.


Land use and land cover change is a major issue in global environment change, and is especially significant in rapidly developing regions in the world. Fast LULC change have resulted in degradation of its ecosystems and affected adversely the environment. It is urgently needed to monitor its LULC changes and to analyses the consequences of these changes in order to provide information for policymakers to support sustainable development. Land use practices are influenced by water and land availability, and land capability and suitability tempered by socio-economic conditions.Aerial photographs of 1980, Landsat satellite ThematicMapper (TM) data of 1998 and IRSIC satellite LISS sensor data of 2006 have been interpreted to generate the land usemap ofUpper Palar Basin, and data of 1988 and 1998 used for the total Palar Basin.While the classification scheme for the Upper Palar Basin study focussed on irrigation intensity (intensely irrigated, less intensely irrigated and dry crop) and forest density classes the total basin study focussed on mapping kharif, rabi and double cropped areas and forest types (evergreen, degraded, etc.). Such maps for different time periods enable detection of location and extent of land use changes, a necessary input to sustainable management.


Administration of small amounts of salmonella endotoxin (20 µg.) or of acetone-extracted BCG cells (100 µg.) increases the resistance of mice to infection with Myco. fortuitum as well as their ability to clear carbon particles from their blood stream. Whereas the increased resistance to infection persists for many weeks, the clearing power returns to a normal level within a few days. When normal mice are infected with Myco. fortuitum, there occurs during the first phase of the infectious process a rise in clearing power for carbon particles followed by a fall during the terminal phase of the disease. The rise occurs more rapidly and is more pronounced in animals previously treated with salmonella endotoxin or with killed BCG cells. This acceleration and intensification of the phagocytic response to infection can be detected even in animals which exhibit a normal phagocytic index when tested several weeks after administration of endotoxin or of BCG. Although increase in resistance to infection is correlated with activation of the so called reticulo-endothelial system, there is no evidence of any direct causal relationship between the two phenomena.


Twenty-five out of 205 (i.e. 12%) babies born to diabetic mothers in the Birmingham Maternity Hospital in the period 1969-1974 were malformed as against 6% in a control group. The incidence was highest in the group where mothers were on insulin at the time of conception (17 out of 117, i.e. 15%). No correlation was observed between major malformation in this group and age of onset or duration of the diabetes, progressive vascular complications, maternal age, or parity. Cardiovascular malformations were over-represented.


According to Thailand's infrastructure development and investment plan, an efficient transportation network will take form over the next three to five years. Dual-track railway will be built to cover more areas of the country and will be offered more routes between central, north-eastern, and eastern Thailand. Therefore, rail transportation or train transportation will become a good choice or an important conveyance of goods from various origins to various destinations in Thailand due to its competitiveness which is low cost of freight. This paper presents a concept of designing the new distribution network in Thailand using rail as a major mode of transportation. Cassava distribution chain is selected as a case study and prototype of this new design, since Thailand is an agricultural country and cassava is one the most exported agricultural product. Various factors influencing the choice of distribution network and transportation mode, such as customer satisfaction, characteristics of products, cost, etc., are investigated and are described. Linear programming models represent the current distribution model and the new distribution model are presented and then solved by Microsoft Excel with Open Solver Software. The result reveals that the new distribution network of cassava product in Thailand can lower the total distribution cost up to 51.63% compare to the current distribution network.


Abstract This article is a comparative study of three Scandinavian countries – Norway, Denmark, and Sweden – all of which have provided the individual patient with extensive rights to choose the hospital where he/she wishes to receive treatment. In the paper, we present an analysis of the utilization of the opportunity to choose between hospitals in these three countries. The analysis addresses two questions: (i) How many patients are exercising the right to choose between hospitals in these countries and who is making use of this opportunity? (ii) How can we explain the observed utilization pattern? The results of the study reveal clear similarities between the three countries and suggest that few patients have actually chosen their hospital. However, a gradual increase can be observed over the years. Few formal, legislative, or economic barriers exist for patients. Instead, limited knowledge amongst patients regarding reforms, combined with insufficient support from GPs and limited information, can explain why few patients choose to receive care outside of their local region.


. The poets William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) and Chaim Nachman Bialik (1873–1934) were among the builders of their respective Irish and Jewish national cultures. Their lives and careers were in limited ways remarkably alike and throw light on the dynamics of cultural nationalism. Each emerged in an historical watershed, leading to the establishment of an Irish state in 1921 and a Jewish state in 1948. Though their circumstances, styles, receptions and fates differed, each represented a profound moral vision in an age of declining faith, expressed his people's sense of victimisation and exposed their weaknesses as he saw them. Each saw his culture as being humanist and universal, not narrowly nationalistic. Each identified with his nation for reasons that were in part intensely and disturbingly personal. Each found a poetic voice in a rich heritage of ethnic myth, legend and symbol but was conscious of tension between the need for self-expression and national demands. It is argued that the creative powers of both Yeats and Bialik were set free by the national movements of which they were a part, and that the national struggle for self-determination was, in effect, mirrored on the private scale by the poet striving for artistic freedom and originality.


Principals are responsible for evaluating millions of teachers through a formal teacher evaluation process (US Department of Education, 2012a). Students' achievement relies on effective teachers (Danielson & McGreal, 2000; Darling-Hammond, 2015), and principals are expected to use teacher evaluation systems to accomplish that goal. This qualitative study examined how five principals perceive the current teacher evaluation system to support and develop teachers. It also explored their experiences implementing it. Three themes emerged from the interviews: principal into coach, increased principal-teacher communication, and empathy about challenges. Based on the data, findings were analyzed through the lens of Bass' Transformational Theory (1985) and Greenleaf's Servant Leadership framework (1996). The principals' extensive leadership practices and individualized teacher supports were an illustration of their commitment to serve and transform behaviors that contributed to teachers' growth and thus improve student outcomes. Findings from the analysis suggest that the teacher evaluation system successfully accomplished the goal of supporting the development of teachers. Through the increased communication efforts, the teacher evaluation system was perceived as a fair and empowering process for teachers. The training and natural emergence of the principal into the role of a coach originated from the teacher evaluation system. Although the principals acknowledged the existence of challenges, they felt the issues were outweighed by the net benefit the entire system had to offer. This study informs researchers, practitioners, and policymakers on the value of principals' perspectives as related to the development and implementation of teacher evaluation systems.


Identification of static and/or dynamic roles of different noncanonical base pairs is essential for a comprehensive understanding of the sequence-structure-function space of RNA. In this context, reverse Watson-Crick purine-purine base pairs (A:A, G:G&A:GW:W Trans) constitute an interesting class of noncanonical base pairs in RNA due to their characteristic C1′–C1′ distance (highest among all base pairing geometries) and parallel local strand orientation. Structural alignment of the RNA stretches containing these W:W Trans base pairs with their corresponding homologous sites in a non-redundant set of RNA crystal structures show that, as expected, these base pairs are associated with specific structural folds or functional roles. Detailed analysis of these contexts further revealed a bimodal distribution in the local backbone geometry parameters associated with these base pairs. One mode, populated by both A:A and G:G W:W Trans pairs, manifests itself as a characteristic backbone fold. We call this fold a 'Sharp-turn' motif. The other mode is exclusively associated with A:A W:W Trans pairs involved in mediating higher order interactions. The same trend is also observed in available solution NMR structures. We have also characterized the importance of recurrent hydrogen bonding interactions between adenine and guanine in W:W Trans geometry. Quantum chemical calculations performed at M05-2X/6-31++(2d,2p) level explain how the characteristic electronic properties of these W:W Trans base pairs facilitate their occurrence in such exclusive structural folds that are important for RNA functionalities.


Background Cardiovascular risk factors begin in childhood and adolescence. This study aimed at assessing serum lipids and prevalence of Dyslipidemia in 11-18 year old students of Birjand. Methods The present cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study was done on 2,643 middle and high school students of Birjand aged 11-18 years (1,396 girls and 1,247 boys). Blood samples were collected for the measurement of blood lipids, including Cholesterol, Triglyceride, HDL, and LDL after a 12-hour fasting period. The defined borderline and abnormal values stated in 2011 by the American Academy of Child, was used. Results According to our results, it is concluded that: (i) 34.3% (31.3% girls and 37.6% boys) of adolescents had at least one dyslipidemia. (ii) 24.7% of the individuals had HDL lower than 40, where 14% of them TG≥130, 6.1% of cases TC≥200, and 3.5% of cases LDL≥130. Lipid disorder within low HDL type and hypertriglyceridemia were significantly higher in boys (P<0.05) than girls. Hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia in the age group of 11-14 years and low HDL in the age group of 15-18 years showed the highest values (P<0.05). Conclusion Adolescents of Birjand have high prevalence of dyslipidemia. Preventive measures are recommended to improve lifestyle, including healthy nutrition, encouraging adolescents to exercise, and more mobility.


Outstanding achievements of graph neural networks for spatiotemporal time series analysis show that relational constraints introduce an effective inductive bias into neural forecasting architectures. Often, however, the relational information characterizing the underlying data-generating process is unavailable and the practitioner is left with the problem of inferring from data which relational graph to use in the subsequent processing stages. We propose novel, principled - yet practical - probabilistic score-based methods that learn the relational dependencies as distributions over graphs while maximizing end-to-end the performance at task. The proposed graph learning framework is based on consolidated variance reduction techniques for Monte Carlo score-based gradient estimation, is theoretically grounded, and, as we show, effective in practice. In this paper, we focus on the time series forecasting problem and show that, by tailoring the gradient estimators to the graph learning problem, we are able to achieve state-of-the-art performance while controlling the sparsity of the learned graph and the computational scalability. We empirically assess the effectiveness of the proposed method on synthetic and real-world benchmarks, showing that the proposed solution can be used as a stand-alone graph identification procedure as well as a graph learning component of an end-to-end forecasting architecture.


Due to the large variety of renewable power sources, power electronics play an important role in energy conversion. Different power converter topologies are used to interface distributed power generation systems (DPGS) with the utility network. Introduction of power electronics for DPGS provide several advantages such as energy optimal operation by employing a control algorithm to extract the maximum available power. In addition, load control, reduced noise, controllable active and reactive power and improved power quality. Using a LCL filter to ensure that high quality power is delivered comes at the expense of degraded stability unless mitigation procedures are followed. In this paper, a stationary frame current control for inverter-based distributed generation (IBDG) with sensorless active damped LCL filter is proposed. The Kalman filter sensorless-based technique not only mitigates the stability problem regarding the resonance of the LCL filter, but it improves the overall stability margins. The concluded assumptions were simulated through Matlab/Simulink and verified experimentally with a laboratory prototype.


Comment on "Academic precarity as hierarchical dependence in the Max Planck Society" by Vita Peacock, Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, Volume 6, Issue 1, Summer 2016.


A narrow belt of Mesozoic and(or) Paleozoic crystalline rocks exposed immediately north of the Border Ranges fault of southern Alaska is the southern (trailing) edge of the Peninsular terrane, an exotic micro-continental block that collided with North America during the Cretaceous. The tectonic significance of this crystalline belt has been debated because previous K-Ar geochronology suggested that the belt contains both Early Jurassic high P/T metamorphic rocks—an apparent subduction complex—and Early Jurassic intermediate plutonic rocks—an apparent magmatic arc. Three major observations from detailed mapping in the western Chugach Mountains pertain directly to this apparent problem of mixed rocks association. First, despite major postmetamorphic faulting along the Border Ranges fault, all of the metamorphic rocks have been subjected to a regional, apparently low P/T metamorphism at the greenschist-amphibolite facies transition. The metamorphism is imprinted on rocks ranging from nearly undeformed ultramafic rocks to highly deformed amphibolites, yet regardless of structural histories of fault-bounded slices, the culmination of metamorphism appears to postdate deformation. Second, the metamorphic rocks are locally an argillite matrix melange in which main-phase structural fabrics appear to have formed at relatively low grade but are overprinted by growth of postkinematic, transitional greenschist-amphibolite facies minerals. Third, despite ambiguities in correlation across faults and equivocal absolute age relationships—presumably due to Cretaceous resetting of K-Ar ages—the transitional greenschist-amphibolite facies rocks are intruded by plutons that yield Early Jurassic K-Ar ages. Thus, the metamorphic protolith is presumably pre-Jurassic. In addition, the close association of low P/T metamorphic rocks with a large plutonic complex implies that the regional metamorphism is probably Early Jurassic in age and is associated with extensive plutonism.

New age data from the western Chugach Mountains imply that a belt of Early Jurassic plutonism (and associated low P/T metamorphism) probably extends throughout the southern edge of the Peninsular terrane. The entire terrane probably represents a long-lived magmatic arc, because this Early Jurassic magmatic arc is separated from a parallel belt of Early to Middle Jurassic plutons by an Early Jurassic andesitic-volcanic pile. In the western Chugach Mountains, emplacement of alpine ultramafic bodies and development of chaotic rock bodies is premetamorphic, presumably pre-Jurassic in age. These observations of structural style, together with lithologic associations and regional occurrences of blueschist-facies rocks, suggest that a pre-Jurassic subduction complex may have formed parts of the basement for the Peninsular terrane arc. As a corollary of this conclusion, the blueschists of the southern Peninsular terrane are probably pre-Jurassic in age and represent scraps of the pre-Jurassic basement, not parts of an Early Jurassic high-pressure metamorphic belt.


Abstract In recent years, esports have grown from a small number of local gaming activities undertaken by a few recreational participants to a multi-billion dollar industry with professional leagues, franchises, teams and players. While the industry has grown, our collective understanding of some of the most fundamental questions such as who plays esports and why, have received scant attention from academics. In an effort to further understand, profile and categorize players, the purpose of this research is to create a typology of esports players and to cross-validate previous research findings. Using hierarchical and k-clustering techniques, six psychographic factors (socialization, positive affect, competition, fantasy/escape, coping, pass/waste time) and additional demographic and behavioral characteristics are used to create a typology of esports players. Based on a large, diverse and international sample of respondents (n = 1165), five types of players, including (1) Competitive, (2) Casual, (3) Casual-Social, (4) Casual-Fun, and (5) Casual-Competitive esports players, are identified. In-depth examination and discussion of the five types of players are provided. The implications of this research suggest the importance of considering demographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics when attempting to identify, understand and classify different types of esports players.


ECG tracings of three patients in whom AV universal (DDD) pacemakers were implanted intermittently demonstrated dropped P waves. In one patient, true atrial undersensing was present; in the others, sensing of the atrial electrode was appropriate, but sensing of sinus P waves was intermittently blocked by normal pacemaker operation. In this report we discuss the electrocardiographic diagnosis of atrial undersensing in order to avoid unnecessary reinterventions.


Lockdown disruptions to manufacturing and shipping transmit shocks across countries through global supply chains. This column uses a simulation analysis to quantify these impacts and finds that the transmission of foreign lockdowns accounted for one-third of the total Covid-19-related GDP contractions. However, renationalisation of global supply chains is unlikely to help insulate economies from future pandemic-driven lockdowns. The reason is that eliminating reliance on foreign inputs would increase the reliance on domestic inputs. Since a pandemic-related lockdown would also affect domestic input suppliers, there is generally no resilience benefit from renationalising international supply chains.


Although most globular proteins fold into a single stable structure1, an increasing number have been shown to remodel their secondary and tertiary structures in response to cellular stimuli2. State-of-the-art algorithms3-5 predict that these fold-switching proteins assume only one stable structure6,7, missing their functionally critical alternative folds. Why these algorithms predict a single fold is unclear, but all of them infer protein structure from coevolved amino acid pairs. Here, we hypothesize that coevolutionary signatures are being missed. Suspecting that over-represented single-fold sequences may be masking these signatures, we developed an approach to search both highly diverse protein superfamilies–composed of single-fold and fold-switching variants–and protein subfamilies with more fold-switching variants. This approach successfully revealed coevolution of amino acid pairs uniquely corresponding to both conformations of 56/58 fold-switching proteins from distinct families. Then, using a set of coevolved amino acid pairs predicted by our approach, we successfully biased AlphaFold25 to predict two experimentally consistent conformations of a candidate protein with unsolved structure. The discovery of widespread dual-fold coevolution indicates that fold-switching sequences have been preserved by natural selection, implying that their functionalities provide evolutionary advantage and paving the way for predictions of diverse protein structures from single sequences.


Walnut (Juglans regia L.) is the most important species in the genus Juglans due to the high commercial value of its nuts and timber. Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are considered as the markers of choice owing to their codominant nature. Since very few SSRs have been developed in walnut, this study aimed to develop numerous polymorphic SSRs from Class I repeats by using DNA sequences of the Chandler cultivar. In all, 800 SSRs were designed and tested in 8 Turkish, 3 French, and 5 US walnut cultivars, of which 88 (11%) did not produce bands, 161 (20.1%) were monomorphic, and 551 (68.9%) were polymorphic. In all, 2696 alleles were produced by the 551 polymorphic SSR loci in the 16 walnut cultivars, ranging from 2 to 14 alleles per locus with an average number of 4.9. Polymorphism information content ranged from 0.21 to 0.89 with an average of 0.62. Cluster analysis produced a very robust dendrogram. The walnut cultivars were separated into two main groups: all Turkish cultivars were included in one group, whereas the US and French cultivars were included in the other group. A set of 20 SSRs was selected for their high genetic diversity values to be used in further genetic studies in walnut. The novel SSR markers developed in this study could be used in future studies for constructing a genetic linkage map, analyzing population genetics, identifying parents, and conducting marker-assisted breeding, fingerprinting, and germplasm characterization in walnut.


In this essay I review three important volumes for the field of secular studies: Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age, Rethinking Secularism, and The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere. All three volumes explore the nature of the secular and the status, role, and possible futures of religion in our late modern, globalized world. The volumes present 34 essays by 30 authors representing seven disciplines, and at least six end games. For some, questions of religion-secular entanglement are a historical matter and the task is to map intellectual and ideological trajectories. A second purpose is to empirically document the complexities of particular religion-secular entanglements in particular socio-cultural locations. For others, the remit is theoretical, to discern a conceptual agenda for the ongoing study of religion-secular entanglements. Others are more philosophical, chasing the existential consequences of secularity. A fifth end game is applied in nature: reflections on how political actors might best engage the religious and the secular in acts of governance and international relations. Finally, there are normative voices, those seeking to name what a good, productive religion-secular entanglement ought to look like. Taken together, the volumes mark a thriving, mature field of scholarly inquiry: secular studies has come of age.


: To find the optimum solution to the problem of how to protect the environment from pollution by industrial waste, it is necessary, first and foremost, to obtain information on the existing levels of various forms of pollution and the damage caused by them. In this review data are given on all the main sources of contamination of the environment by radioactive substances. The pathways by which these substances reach and affect the human body are discussed, the doses incurred are characterized and the possible consequences of existing levels of exposure are assessed in the light of the latest data on the dose-effect relationship. The wisdom of treating the evaluation of radiation hazards arising from the use of atomic energy not in isolation but as part of a whole complex of ecological factors - including the use of conventional fuels for power generation and transport - is duly noted.


This paper proposes a weighted hidden control neural network (WHCNN) which incorporates a state weighting function into the conventional HCNN. The state weighting function is trained by the generalized probabilistic descent (GPD) method. The GPD method allows minimization of the number of recognition errors directly, and thus allows approximation of the minimum-error-rate recognizer. As a result, we can find that state prediction residuals from each state contain rich discrimination information. Experimental results on the Korean digit recognition have shown 25% and about 16.7% reduction in the number of recognition errors for closed and open test, respectively. The derived algorithm may be easily applied to other predictive neural networks.


The brachial plexus serves as the key conduit between the central nervous system and the extensive innervation of the upper extremity. One of the most common variants of injury to the brachial plexus results in the condition known as Erb's palsy, in which damage renders the arm disabled through a particular constellation of symptoms. The affected arm hangs down at one's side rotated inwardly with the elbow fully extended and forearm internally rotated.

With any peripheral neuropathy, an in-depth knowledge of the anatomy aids in recognising the expected symptomatology. Several classification symptoms characterise the extent of damage after nerve injury, predict neuronal recovery and determine whether surgical repair is needed. In the past, amputation and simple neglect were standard treatments of care. Fortunately, outcomes have improved tremendously over the past few decades, and new procedures are emerging. Today, there are techniques that allow for significant return of function.

Key Concepts

Learn the anatomy of the brachial plexus.
Understand the result of injury to the upper trunk of the brachial plexus.
Erb's palsy from shoulder dystocia.
Basic classification and grading of nerve injuries.
Know which imaging is available to assess nerve injury.
Assessing nerve injury using electromyography (EMG) and nerve conduction studies (NCS).
Understand the basic surgical and nonsurgical management of brachial plexus injury.

Keywords:

brachial plexus anatomy;
Erb's palsy;
brachial plexus injury;
upper trunk injury;
shoulder dystocia;
electromyography (EMG);
nerve conduction studies (NCS);
compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs);
sensory nerve action potentials (SNAPs)


99mTc methoxyisobutylisonitrile planar scintimammography (SMM) is mostly performed using low-energy high-resolution (LEHR) parallel collimators. We studied whether using a different collimator could improve the detection of small (< 1.5 cm) lesions for which SMM sensitivity is poor. Thirty four breast phantom configurations were considered, either with hot spheres simulating lesions or without any spheres. For each configuration, four planar acquisitions were performed using LEHR, low-energy ultra high-resolution (LEUHR), high-resolution fan-beam (HRFB) and ultra high-resolution fan-beam (UHRFB) collimators. Images corresponding to the 20% and 10% energy windows and to the Jaszczak subtraction were calculated. A database including 156 borderline images was derived. After training, 10 observers scored the images for the presence of a sphere. The performances in sphere detection were studied using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. For all types of image, the area under the ROC curve was highest with the UHRFB collimator and lowest with either the LEUHR or the HRFB collimator. For the 10% energy window images conventionally used in SMM, the detection sensitivities averaged 91%, 73%, 60% and 55% for the UHRFB, LEHR, HRFB and LEUHR collimators respectively, for the same specificity of 64%. We conclude that detection of small tumours in planar SMM might be significantly improved by using a UHRFB collimator instead of an LEHR collimator.


The ship motion is characterized by nonlinearity, time varying, uncertainty and complex interference from the environment, therefore there are certain limits in conventional PID control and self-adapting control for ship steering system. This paper combines three intelligent control technologies, that is, fuzzy control, neural network and extension control, to propose a multimode intelligent control method. Fuzzy control is utilized to solve control problem of uncertainty system, and learning ability of neural network is utilized to optimize the controller parameters. A new multi-mode transition controller based on extension control is presented and well designed in this paper, which may realize smooth switching during control process. In order to satisfy the requirements of higher accuracy and faster response of complex system, every control strategy designed can realize ideal control effect within the scope of its effective control. The simulation experiment is made to test dynamic and static performances of ship steering system under model parameter perturbation and wave interference. The simulation results show that the control system achieves satisfactory performances by implementing the multimode intelligent control.