Abstract The main problem with using acoustic emission to control and diagnostics of composite materials and products from composite materials is the interpretation and identification of recorded information during development processes occurring in the material's structure. This is due to the high sensitivity of the acoustic emission method to various influencing factorsand the practical absence of acoustic radiation models. To solve this problem, it is necessary to determine the influence of various factors on acoustic radiation parameters. In this study, based on the acoustic radiation developed model we simulate the influence of one parameter characterizing composite properties on acoustic emission energy parameters during composite material destruction by shear forces according to the von Mises criterion. Simulation of acoustic radiation under given conditions makes it possible to determine the patterns of acoustic emission signals energy parameters changes and their sensitivity to changes of influencing factor, as well as to obtain mathematical expressions for describing obtained patterns. The results of this case study can be useful for developing methods of control, monitoring and diagnostics of composite materials and products made from composite materials.


This research aimed at studying the effect of location, sowing date. The experiment was carried out in the growing season 2012/2013 under Sudan conditions using two sowing dates; optimum sowing date, and late sowing date, at two locations; Shambat in Khartoum state and Hudeiba in the River Nile state. The experimental design was a split-plot with three replications. Seeds were tested for seed moisture content, falling number, seed germination percentage and rate of germination. Results revealed that the effect of location was highly significant for both falling number and rate of germination, and was significant for germination percentage. There was no significant effect of sowing date on all studied seed quality characters. The effect of genotype was highly significant for falling number and non-significant for the other three traits which were positively correlated with rate of germination at the two locations.


Cohort‐based, partial life tables were constructed to determine the sources and rates of mortality factors affecting Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) on cotton in the eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey over a two year period. Mortality factors were recorded as due to predation, parasitism, dislodgement and unknown for five developmental stages. Across 10 independent cohorts, the highest median rate of marginal mortality pooled over all stages was attributed to parasitism (0.69) followed by predation (0.67). The key factor was hypothesized to be parasitism based on graphical and regression‐based comparison of individual factor k‐values to total generational mortality. The greatest amount of marginal immature mortality occurred during the fourth nymphal stadium (median = 0.77) and mortality during this stage was also most predictive of variation in total mortality. Pooled over all developmental stages, the highest rates of irreplaceable mortality were associated with parasitism (median: 0.112), followed by predation (0.088), dislodgement (0.020) and unknown (0.017). Although crawler mortality was not explicitly measured, sensitivity analyses indicated that mortality during this stage would have changed total mortality by only 0.45–1.21% and had no effect on identification of key factors. There was no significant effect of cotton cultivar on any mortality factor or total mortality over the two years of study. Results suggest that conservation of natural enemies, particularly parasitoids, may provide for more sustainable management of B. tabaci on cotton in Turkey.


The simultaneous measurement of plasma and ascitic fluid N-terminal and C-terminal portions of the 126 amino acid atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) prohormone (proANF) concentrations in six cirrhotic patients revealed that the C-terminus (amino acids 99 to 126; ANF) and the N-terminus (amino acids 1 to 98) are present in high concentrations (mean = 30 +/- 2 fmol/mL and 701 +/- 43 fmol/mL, respectively) in the ascitic fluid of these patients. In addition to the whole N-terminus, the midportion of the N-terminus (amino acids 31 to 67; proANF 31 to 67) was present in ascitic fluid as a separate identity at a concentration of 711 +/- 63 fmol/mL. The concentrations of the C-terminus, proANF 31 to 67, and N-terminus in ascitic fluid were nearly equal to their concentrations in plasma (32 +/- 4 fmol/mL, 761 +/- 54 fmol/mL, and 772 +/- 54 fmol/mL, respectively). The plasma levels of the N-terminus and C-terminus in the cirrhotic patients were considerably higher than the mean plasma concentrations of these peptides in 54 persons without cirrhosis (531 +/- 25 fmol/mL, 371 +/- 22 fmol/mL, and 22 +/- 1 fmol/mL, respectively [p less than 0.05; analysis of variance (ANO-VA)]. Data demonstrate that the whole N-terminus, midportion of the N-terminus (proANF 31 to 67), and C-terminus of proANF are present in ascitic fluid in high concentrations that are nearly equal to plasma levels. This suggests that their presence in ascitic fluid is due to capillary leakage of peptides in the hepatic sinusoids.


Pancreas divisum is a well known condition that results when the embryologic dorsal and ventral pancreatic buds fail to fuse. An association between pancreas divisum and acute recurrent pancreatitis has been suggested. The authors report the radio-graphic finding of partial pancreas divisum in which a rudimentary connection persists between the ventral and dorsal portions of the pancreatic ductal system. Its clinical significance is uncertain but may be similar to that of pancreas divisum proper.


R Hitimana, L Lindholm, G Krantz, M Nzayirambaho, JP Semasaka Sengoma, J Condo, AM Pulkki-Brännström Umea University, Umea, Sweden Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com Health related quality of life determinants for Rwandan women after delivery. Does Antenatal care utilization matter? Maternal health conditions are still a major problem in most low-income countries. The postpartum health status and the effect of antenatal care utilization on health are relatively under researched. This study aims at (1) assessing whether receipt of antenatal care according to Rwandan guidelines is associated with mother's health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and (2) exploring determinants associated with mother's HRQoL in the first year (1-13 months) after delivery in Rwanda. In 2014 a cross-sectional survey was conducted on 922 women from Kigali City and Northern province of Rwanda, who gave birth in the period of 1–13 months prior to survey. The study population was randomly selected and interviewed using a questionnaire. HRQoL was measured using EQ-5D-3L. Average values of HRQoL were computed by demographic and socio-economic characteristics. The effect of adequate antenatal care on HRQoL was tested in two multivariable linear regression models with EQ-5D weights and the Visual Analogue Scale score as outcomes respectively with ANC adequacy and socio-demographic and psychosocial variables as predictors. Mean HRQoL was 0.92 using EQ-5D and 69.58 using EQVAS. Fifteen per cent reported moderate pain/discomfort and 1% reported extreme pain/discomfort, 16% reported being moderately anxious/depressed and 3% reported being extremely anxious/depressed. Having more than one child and being cohabitant or single/not married was associated with significantly lower HRQoL, while having good social support and belonging to the highest wealth quintile was associated with higher HRQoL. Antenatal care utilization was not associated with HRQoL among postpartum mothers. Policy makers should address the social determinants of health, and promote social networks among women. There is a need to assess the quality of Antenatal care in Rwanda.


The most important features of artistic conceptions and musical dramaturgy in symphonic engravings «Don Quijote» and the Fourth symphony «Goya» by Q. Qaraev are elucidated in the article. The researcher characterizes program-music specificity of this works which is depended on its connection with the literary origins by M. Cervantes and L. Feuchtwanger. The ways of realization of soundtracks' music material (from movies by G. Kozintsev and K. Wolf) in «Don Quijote» and «Goya» are examined. The role of pictorialism and abstract plotness as basic types of program-music thinking in symphonic works by Q. Qaraev is marked.


A hierarchical decentralized network reconfiguration approach to minimize power losses for smart distribution systems is presented in Part I. In this paper, the proposed approach is applied to four test distribution systems to examine its performance. A demonstration system consisting of the test system and distributed intelligent agents is built using Matlab/Simulink to illustrate how the decentralized approach is implemented. Simulation results of the proposed approach are then compared with results of a centralized implementation and the harmony search method. It is shown that the decentralized approach can achieve similar results as other methods with significantly reduced computation time. The impacts of time-varying loads and faults are also studied through dynamic network reconfiguration on the 118-bus test system. Simulation results illustrate that dynamic network reconfiguration with time-ahead planning can determine the optimal configuration for each operating period to significantly reduce system energy losses. The enhanced performance of the hierarchical decentralized approach is clearly established.


Spectrum is an indispensable and scarce resource in modern communication systems. Reduced hardware complexity is therefore traded for bandwidth-efficient modulation that increases the signal's peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR).For applications requiring high linearity amplification at microwave frequencies, class-A and -AB power amplifiers have been the traditional choice. However, due to the large PAPR of the modulated signals, they must be operated at several decibels back-off to comply with linearity requirements. Though class-A/AB amplifiers offer descent efficiency at peak envelope power, efficiency decays rapidly with input power back-off. The designer is seemingly left with an inevitable linearity– efficiency trade-off. Though there are several alternatives around the problem, in the context of point-to-point radios the challenge is to find low-cost, reliable solutions that are independent of carrier frequency and manage large bandwidths (e.g., 40 MHz) for moderate output powers (i.e., not larger than 10 W).It is therefore that dynamic biasing—the joint variation of input and output biases following envelope power—is attractive. Following envelope power instead of envelope amplitude and varying also the input bias makes DB substantially different from envelope tracking (ET). Varying the output and input biases as first and second order polynomials of the input power, the bias bandwidth can be controlled to be only twice and four times the RF bandwidth, respectively. Bias bandwidth in a typical ET system would be at least twice as large. This dissertation specifically addresses the problem finding the polynomial coefficients for bias variation, first through simulation methods, and then through direct measurement on different technologies (an MMIC HBT transistor, a discrete GaAs amplifier, and a discrete GaN amplifier). The dynamic biasing problem is formulated mathematically and solved using random search optimization, for which a multi-objective cost function and a linearity measure—different from least square error—are introduced. The effect of output matching on the linearity of the amplifier, and the inclusion of digital predistortion without affecting bias bandwidth are also considered. The results from this research study show that dynamic variation of the input bias alone can significantly improve linearity—a low-complexity, low-cost solution due to the low current levels at the input—. The largest benefits in efficiency are certainly obtained from output bias variation. Though it may adversely affect linearity if used alone, in many cases full dynamic bias (both at input and output)is a win–win combination both in regards to linearity and efficiency. The technique is also attractive because the transistor can be biased higher at peak power if the PAPR of the signal is large, and hence higher average output power can be obtained than with static biasing.


SUMMARY In Down syndrome screening by maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) determination at 15, 16, 17, and 18 weeks of gestation, we prospectively examined 23 369 sera from white (21 549), North African (970), black African (525), and Asian (325) patients. When expressed as multiples of the median (MOM), no difference was observed between white, North African, and black African patients. However, higher serum hCG concentrations were noted in Asians, for whom we therefore recommend correction of hCG values before calculation of the risk of Down syndrome.


Using a sample of 388 securities fraud lawsuits filed between 2002 and 2017 against foreign issuers, we examine the effect of the Supreme Court's decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd. We find that the description of Morrison as a steamroller, substantially ending litigation against foreign issuers, is a myth. Instead, we find that Morrison did not significantly change the type of litigation brought against foreign issuers, which, both before and after this case, focused on foreign issuers with a U.S. listing and substantial U.S. trading volume. Although dismissal rates rose post-Morrison, we find no evidence that this was related to the decision. Settlement amounts and attorneys' fees remained unchanged post-Morrison. We use these findings to theorize that Morrison was primarily a preemptive decision about standing that firmly delineated the exposure of foreign issuers to U.S. liability in response to the Vivendi case, which sought to expand the scope of liability for foreign issuers whose shares traded primarily in non-U.S. venues. When Morrison is placed in its true context, it is justified as a decision in line with administrative and court actions that have historically aligned firms' U.S. liability to be proportional to their U.S. presence. Although Morrison had this defining effect, it did not change the litigation environment for foreign issuers, which was the oft-cited import of the decision. More generally, our analysis of Morrison underscores how the decision has been mistakenly characterized as a case primarily about extraterritoriality rather than standing.


An EPDM terpolymer grafted with silane vinyl triethoxysilane (EPDM-g-VTES) was prepared by melt grafting, with dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as an initiator. Next, dibutyl tin dilaurate was added as a catalyst to promote moisture crosslinking of EPDM-g-VTES. By means of the rheological response of the rubber compound, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and moving die rheometer, the VTES graft ratio and DCP partial crosslinking (pre-crosslinking) of EDPM-g-VTES were characterized to show the feasibility of moisture crosslinking. The mechanical properties of moisture crosslinked EPDM-g-VTES specimens were tested by universal material tester. The results showed that when the weight ratio of VTES to DCP was fixed at 15:1, the VTES graft ratio and DCP partial crosslinking of EDPM-g-VTES increased with the increase of VTES content. But the torque in the moisture crosslinking curve of EPDM-g-VTES increased significantly with the extension of crosslinking time, which proved that EPDM grafted with VTES was cured by moisture successfully. The tensile strength and elongation at break of EPDM-g-VTES were improved by moisture cure. Furthermore, the moisture cured specimen with 3 wt% VTES had the best mechanical performance.


There has been a great deal written about the difficulties faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) compared to larger businesses. SMEs face difficulties complying with environmental legislation, particularly because of the amount of complex law. This can result in the 'environment' being treated as less of a priority even though SMEs collectively have a significant environmental impact. Over the past few years, the UK has been focused towards achieving 'better regulation'. In particular, Hampton highlighted the need for more strategic thinking when it comes to developing regulation. Hampton suggested that regulators should use a risk-based model similar to that used by the England and Wales Environment Agency (EA). This view is shared by Local Authorities and other environmental regulators; however, there has been criticism from some commentators who suggest that certain legislation is not successfully enforced. The increased use of risk assessment by the EA has reduced the number of inspections resulting in more 'pressure' being put on remaining inspections as well as there being less opportunity to identify non-compliance. In addition, those businesses not included under direct regulatory regimes are unlikely to be audited for compliance against any environmental legislation; consequently a significant portion of all businesses go un-inspected and uncontrolled. Because of the number of SMEs, there needs to be an effective system of regulation that controls activities and targets those businesses that pose a risk to the environment, without unnecessarily over-burdening SMEs. It is clear from the coalition Government's planned austerity measures in 2011 that management of the environment will have to be done with less resource than before. This thesis draws together findings from research conducted between 2005-2011. Previous research on compliance with legislation has often been conducted in isolation with little research comparing compliance across a range of legislation, and certainly not using triangulation methods to assess SMEs' overall legal performance. This study aimed to investigate the legal performance of UK SMEs with a range of environmental legislation. This study identifies: • the level of compliance ('spirit' and 'letter' of the law) with environmental legislation; • the impact and effectiveness of environmental legislation; and • ways of improving the environmental compliance control systems for SMEs. The study incorporated a wide range of environmental legislation, including that covering:waste management/ transfer, environmental permitting (including waste exemptions), site waste management plans, WEEE, RoHS, packaging, oil storage as well as identifying other potential environmental offences. Detailed compliance audits were conducted with 44 SMEs from 5 different sectors from the north-west of England. Interviews with SME management, site staff, regulators, Government policy officials and support organisations; in total 99 individuals were interviewed. The study indicates: • Low levels of compliance with the 'letter' and 'spirit' of the law. • Knowledge and understanding of environmental legislation was poor; no single SME, regulator or support organisation appreciated 'environmental compliance' as a whole. • Enforcement activity and surveillance of the SMEs audited was very low; this reflected nation enforcement figures. • The impact of environmental legislation on SMEs is overstated. The impact increased commensurate with 'effort to comply' and 'enforcement action'. • There was evidence of direct and indirect environmental harm as a result of noncompliance. • Regulation can only be effective if it is complied with; measuring the link between the legislation and environmental protection must be accompanied by a clear understanding of compliance levels. This study produces an initial assessment methodology for SMEs, compliance performance indicators and recommendations to improve SME compliance controls.


Given a deterministically time-changed Brownian motion $Z$ startingfrom $1$, whose time-change $V(t)$ satisfies $V(t) > t$ for all $t > 0$, we perform an explicit construction of a process $X$ which is Brownian motion in its own filtration and that hits zero for the first time at $V(\tau)$, where $\tau := \inf\{t>0: Z_t =0\}$. We also provide the semimartingale decomposition of $X$ under the filtration jointly generated by $X$ and $Z$. Our construction relies on a combination of enlargement of filtration and filtering techniques. The resulting process $X$ may be viewed as the analogue of a $3$-dimensional Bessel bridge starting from $1$ at time $0$ and ending at $0$ at the random time $V(\tau)$.  We call this a dynamic  Bessel bridge since $V(\tau)$ is not known in advance.  Our study is motivated by insider trading models with default risk, where the insider observes the firm's value continuously on time. The financial application, which uses results proved in the present paper, has been developed in a companion paper.


Curcumin is a polyphenolic compound derived from the Indian spice turmeric. We used nanoparticle-encapsulated curcumin to treat medulloblastoma and glioblastoma cells. This formulation caused a dose-dependent decrease in growth of multiple brain tumor cell cultures, including the embryonal tumor derived lines DAOY and D283Med, and the glioblastoma neurosphere lines HSR-GBM1 and JHH-GBM14. The reductions in viable cell mass observed were associated with a combination of G2/M arrest and apoptotic induction. Curcumin also significantly decreased anchorage-independent clonogenic growth and reduced the CD133-positive stem-like population. Down-regulation of the insulin-like growth factor pathway in DAOY medulloblastoma cells was observed, providing one possible mechanism for the changes. Levels of STAT3 were also attenuated. Hedgehog signaling was blocked in DAOY cells but Notch signaling was not inhibited. Our data suggest that curcumin nanoparticles can inhibit malignant brain tumor growth through the modulation of cell proliferation, survival and stem cell phenotype. See commentary: Indian gold treating cancer in the age of nano


The concept and valuation of ecosystem services have emerged as growing and dynamic areas of research over the past few years. The adoption of these ideas and methods into mainstream policy discussions and practice has occurred at a rapid pace. Conventionally, the valuation of ecosystem services has been synonymous with estimating the economic (monetary) value of these services. However, monetisation has limitations that need to be acknowledged before it is adopted in policies. In addition, the socio-political and institutional dimensions of ecosystem services are largely overlooked in the debate. Against this backdrop, the Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE) has put together this special section to critically review the current thinking and practices surrounding ecosystem services and to present emerging alternative approaches.


Polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides are a rich source of bioactive compounds. These natural products, as well as fatty acids, are made by carrier proteins dependant synthases. In these biosynthetic pathways the carrier protein functions to isolate building blocks from the cytoplasm and deliver growing intermediates to the proper enzyme active site. The carrier protein mediates this tethering via a posttranslationly attached 4'phosphopantetheine arm. This arm is derived from Co- enzyme A. Our goal was to manipulate the posttranslational modification of the carrier protein domain in order to modify, identify, and isolate carrier proteins and their synthases from natural product producing organisms. Initially we used CoA derivatives to modify carrier proteins in vitro. However, we have found that both in vitro and in vivo, pantetheine analogs can be converted into CoA analogs using the native CoA biosynthetic pathway. Using this knowledge we made a panel of pantetheine analogs and tested them for the ability to be processed by the CoA biosynthetic machinery as well as the ability to modify carrier proteins in vivo. We found that a wide range of pantetheine analogs can be converted into CoA analogs in vitro, but only analogs that have a good kinetic profile with the first enzyme in the CoA biosynthetic pathway, panK, are competitive enough with natural substrates to modify carrier proteins in vivo. From our studies of pantetheine analogs we were able to select analogs for in vivo labeling of carrier proteins in their native systems. A fluorescent pantetheine analog was used to modify the human fatty acid synthase in the SKBR3 cell line. Additionally, using a azide terminal pantetheine analog we were able to modify native carrier proteins from a number of bacteria. These in vivo modified carrier proteins can be visualized via gel or pulled-down via affinity label after reaction with an alkyne reporter. Mass spectral analysis of excised carrier proteins from SDS-PAGE allows for identification of the carrier proteins. This technique allowed us to identify and characterize the previously unreported acyl-carrier protein from Brevibacillus Brevis


Abstract
This chapter presents the principal interpretations that took place in Denmark and Sweden regarding the discourse on 'Diversity Management'. We organise our presentation around three major themes that are central to the local Scandinavian context: gender equality, migration and moral grounds. This chapter shows the important role of gender equality work practices and how these practices now tend to be progressively incorporated in a broad Diversity Management construct, possibly leading to a less radical stance. Moreover, the comparison between Denmark and Sweden reveals the political associations with Diversity Management and migration in Denmark, but not in Sweden. Our third contribution unveils the tensions between the value of equality, which remains strong in the Scandinavian welfare state model, and the actual practices of Diversity Management.


Weakly bound cell wall proteins of Arabidopsis thaliana were identified using a proteomic and bioinformatic approach. An efficient protocol of extraction based on vacuum‐infiltration of the tissues was developed. Several salts and a chelating agent were compared for their ability to extract cell wall proteins without releasing cytoplasmic contaminants. Of the 93 proteins that were identified, a large proportion (60%) was released by calcium chloride. From bioinformatics analysis, it may be predicted that most of them (87 out of 93) had a signal peptide, whereas only six originated from the cytoplasm. Among the putative apoplastic proteins, a high proportion (67 out of 87) had a basic pI. Numerous glycoside hydrolases and proteins with interacting domains were identified, in agreement with the expected role of the extracellular matrix in polysaccharide metabolism and recognition phenomena. Ten proteinases were also found as well as six proteins with unknown functions. Comparison of the cell wall proteome of rosettes with the previously published cell wall proteome of cell suspension cultures showed a high level of cell specificity, especially for the different members of several large multigenic families.


National and international rankings of universities are now an accepted part of the higher education landscape. Rankings aggregate different performance measures into a single scale and therefore depend on the methods and weights used to aggregate. The most common method is to scale each variable relative to the highest performing entity prior to aggregating. Other approaches involve transforming the data to allow for the different spread of the variables. This paper evaluates alternative methods and the sensitivity to weights with illustrations from the Times Higher Education and Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings of universities and the U21 rankings of national systems of higher education. The authors conclude that transforming the data clouds interpretation; the choice of included variables is more important than the weights attached to them; and there are limitations in extending ranking to a large number of universities/countries.


In this paper, we propose and study a variant of the dynamic ridesharing problem with a specific focus on peak hours: Given a set of drivers and a set of rider requests, we aim to match drivers to each rider request by achieving two objectives: maximizing the served rate and minimizing the total additional distance, subject to a series of spatio-temporal constraints. Our problem can be distinguished from existing ridesharing solutions in three aspects: (1) Previous work did not fully explore the impact of peak travel periods where the number of rider requests is much greater than the number of available drivers. (2) Existing ridesharing solutions usually rely on single objective optimization techniques, such as minimizing the total travel cost (either distance or time). (3) When evaluating the overall system performance, the runtime spent on updating drivers' trip schedules as per newly coming rider requests should be incorporated, while it is unfortunately excluded by most existing solutions. In order to achieve our goal, we propose an underlying index structure on top of a partitioned road network, and compute the lower bounds of the shortest path distance between any two vertices. Using the proposed index together with a set of new pruning rules, we develop an efficient algorithm to dynamically include new riders directly into an existing trip schedule of a driver. In order to respond to new rider requests more effectively, we propose two algorithms that bilaterally match drivers with rider requests. Finally, we perform extensive experiments on a large-scale test collection to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed methods.


Study Design. Randomized controlled trial. Objective. To compare the effects of full range of motion (ROM) and limited ROM isolated lumbar extension exercise upon full ROM lumbar extension strength, ROM, perceived pain, and disability. Summary of Background Data. Limited ROM is common in chronic low back pain as is lumbar extensor deconditioning. Limited ROM exercise is a common prescription but is yet to be empirically tested. Methods. Males (n = 21) and females (n = 17) with nonspecific chronic low back pain were initially recruited. Participants were randomized to either a full ROM (FullROM) or limited ROM (LimROM) training group or a control group. A total of 24 participants (males: n = 14, females: n = 10) completed the study and were included in analysis. The intervention lasted 12 weeks. FullROM and LimROM groups completed isolated lumbar extension resistance training once per week, performing one set of exercise at 80% of their maximal tested functional torque to failure. FullROM group trained through a full ROM. LimROM group trained through the mid 50% of their full ROM. Full ROM isolated lumbar extension strength, lumbar and standing ROM (Schobers test), perceived pain (visual analogue scale), and disability (Revised Oswestry Disability Index) were measured pre- and postintervention. Results. FullROM and LimROM significantly improved in full ROM lumbar extension strength, perceived pain, and disability compared with the control group. No changes occurred in lumbar or standing ROM. No significant differences were found between either FullROM or LimROM for any outcome measure. Changes in perceived pain and disability met minimal clinically important change values for FullROM (visual analogue scale, −30.3 + 25.76 mm and Oswestry Disability Index, −18.2 + 6.63 patients) and LimROM (visual analogue scale, −16.29 + 10.97 mm and Oswestry Disability Index, −12 + 5.16 patients). Conclusion. The results suggest that both FullROM and LimROM are equally effective in increasing full ROM lumbar extension strength and producing clinically meaningful improvement in perceived pain and disability. Level of Evidence: 2


High blood pressure is a crucial risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases, and a diet rich in whole-grain foods may modulate blood pressure. This study investigated the effects of dehulled adlay consumption on blood pressure in vivo. We initially fed spontaneous hypertensive rats diets without (SHR group) or with 12 or 24% dehulled adlay (SHR + LA and SHR + HA groups), and discovered that it could limit blood pressure increases over a 12-week experimental period. Although we found no significant changes in plasma, heart, and kidney angiotensin-converting enzyme activities, both adlay-consuming groups had lower endothelin-1 and creatinine concentrations than the SHR group; the SHR + HA group also had lower aspartate aminotransferase and uric acid levels than the SHR group did. We later recruited 23 participants with overweight and obesity, and they consumed 60 g of dehulled adlay daily for a six-week experimental period. At the end of the study, we observed a significant decrease in the group's systolic blood pressure (SBP), and the change in SBP was even more evident in participants with high baseline SBP. In conclusion, our results suggested that daily intake of dehulled adlay had beneficial effects in blood-pressure management. Future studies may further clarify the possible underlying mechanisms for the consuming of dehulled adlay as a beneficial dietary approach for people at risk of hypertension.


A guide to resources for students preparing to take the Praxis Core with a focus on Research Skills for the Writing Test


Aerial surveys have detected alarming declines in counts of harbour seals in several regions across Scotland.
Demographic data and simple models were used to examine the recent decline in the numbers of harbour seals counted in one population within a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) on the east coast of Scotland. The models suggest that the continuation of current trends would result in the species effectively disappearing from this area within the next 20 years.
While the cause of the decline is unknown, it must be reducing adult survival because the high rate of decline cannot be wholly accounted for by changes in other demographic parameters.
Recovery of the population to the abundance recorded at the time the SAC was designated (2005) is likely to take at least 40 years, even if the cause of the decline is immediately identified and removed.
The models suggest that partial removal of the cause can have only limited benefits to population recovery, and there are unlikely to be any long-term benefits from introducing or reintroducing additional individuals while the underlying problem persists. Therefore, if the population of harbour seals in this area is to recover it is essential that the sources of the increased mortality are identified and measures are put in place to manage these.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Emerging new technologies like distributed generation, distributed storage, and demand-side load management will change the way we consume and produce energy. These techniques enable the possibility to reduce the greenhouse effect and improve grid stability by optimizing energy streams. By smartly applying future energy production, consumption, and storage techniques, a more energy-efficient electricity supply chain can be achieved. In this paper a three-step control methodology is proposed to manage the cooperation between these technologies, focused on domestic energy streams. In this approach, (global) objectives like peak shaving or forming a virtual power plant can be achieved without harming the comfort of residents. As shown in this work, using good predictions, in advance planning and real-time control of domestic appliances, a better matching of demand and supply can be achieved.


A modification is described of the previously developed procedure for isolation of acid stable proteinase inhibitor (ASI) from urine of patients with nephritis. The modified procedure enabled to increase the yield of the inhibitor and to obtain its highly purified preparations. These preparations possessed a property to inhibit effectively the activity of human granulocyte elastase (ki = 10(4) M-1 min-1). The modified procedure is based on affinity chromatography on chymotrypsin-Sepharose 4B, substitution of dialysis by gel filtration on Sephadex G-25, use of alternative methods for concentration of protein fractions instead of membrane ultrafiltration and chromatography on polyamide for ASI depigmentation. The inhibitor yield amounted up to 75% of the initial activity in urine. The possibilities of the human urine ASI use in medical practice are discussed.


In this process-oriented study, we examined the influence of the time dimension on Psi effects in two experimental conditions (present vs. future). For data collection, selected viewers with experience in the remote viewing method gathered information about targets that were distant in space (the present) and time (the future). The present condition was composed of binary truth statements consisting of two possible options related to current world knowledge. The future condition consisted of two options that were not yet determined at the time of viewing, but depended on the outcome of future mixed martial arts fights. According to the associative remote viewing (ARV) method, the binary outcomes of the present and future options were each associated with a photo, which had to be described by the viewers. An independent judge analyzed the viewers' qualitative reports through binary correspondence ratings amounting to a hit (1) or no hit (0) per trial. Independently of the time condition, a Psi effect could be observed. The hit rates of the judge (0.88 and 0.62 for the present and future, respectively) were significantly higher than the expected value (0.5) under the null hypothesis (present: p < 0.001, ESP = 0.73; future: p = 0.027, ESF = 0.22; binomial distribution). In addition, the hit rates in the two time conditions differed significantly from each other (χ2 = 9.01; df = 1, p < 0.003). The results confirm the hypothesis that Psi is not completely independent of the time dimension and that the hit rate is influenced by a priori target probabilities. With regard to the Informational Psi (IΨ) theory, we will discuss the implications of a probabilistic future for the understanding of Psi effects.


Abstract Occurrence of phosphate cemented-sandstone concretions in alluvial sand containing archaeological layers implies that they have formed during the last 2000 years. Morphology and petrography of the concretions indicates a relationship with groundwater cementation. The phosphate cement of the concretions consists of concentric isopachous aureoles, about 10 μm thick, that wrap the detrital grains. Aureoles are formed of collophane, the cryptocrystalline or amorphous variety of hydroxyapatite. Geochemical modeling indicates that the apatite cement likely results from the leaching of a preexisting phosphate deposit (bones?) in an acidic soil environment and the precipitation of dissolved phosphate under pH control at the mixing zone of down-moving soil–water with the calcite-saturated groundwater.


Author(s): Lai, Paul F | Advisor(s): Gutierrez, Kris D; Freedman, Sarah W | Abstract: English Language Arts has historically been tied to the civic purposes of schools, and this qualitative study of a social design-based project (Gutierrez a Vossoughi, 2010) examines the intersection of language and literacy learning and youth civic engagement, a problem space I call "Civics English." In this dissertation, I describe and analyze the experimentation and inquiry process of a Professional Learning Community of English teachers in a diverse middle school as they integrated civic learning and action into their English teaching practices. The dissertation examines this teacher team's development and shifts through various tensions and challenges that arise, analyzing through the lenses of Cultural Historical Activity Theory the ways their Professional Learning Community operated as an English teaching activity system attempting to integrate the cultural activity of civic engagement, leading to the teachers' expansive professional learning (Engestrom, 2001) about possibilities and challenges of Civics English. The English teachers implemented various civic action projects, including producing and sharing multimodal civic advocacy essays online, composing and presenting children's storybooks about civics issues, and organizing and conducting a Town Hall with local leaders about civic dimensions of allyship and youth sports. This study looks at how, contextualized by these civics activities, they adapt and innovate customary English Language Arts practices, such as reading novels, writing in authentic genres with blended text types, and developing literacy and discourse. As the teachers encounter various tensions that arise in their attempts at Civics English, I present evidence of how these tensions emerge from the contradictions of two intersecting cultural activity systems, and what adaptations and innovations the teachers develop to overcome these tensions. Integrating civics causes shifts in the teachers' practices of literary study, writing, and classroom discussion, as they orient students' learning towards public audiences, collective action, and discursive models of political and professional discourse. I identify how reading literature creates an imaginative space for civic deliberation. And I demonstrate how the Town Hall civics project shifts various dimensions of literacy and language activity by recontextualizing them. The potentials and the constraints of these shifts are examined through studying the teachers' work, students' language and activity, and the civic event's efficacy as an English teaching focal point.


In the event of a large scale, biological or chemical terrorist attack it is unlikely that local emergency response organizations will have sufficient quantities of dedicated ambulances to evacuate all of the affected victims. As a potential solution to this problem, we have developed a device that can be retrofitted to a variety of government or civilian utility vehicles in order to convert them for emergency medical transport (US Pat. 7,028,351). Each installed device allows the host vehicle to safely transport either a single patient on a stretcher or multiple ambulatory patients. Additionally, each device provides a means for temporary or permanent attachment of emergency medical equipment. When not in use, the device can be collapsed to improve ease and efficiency of storage. Preliminary analyses of certain highly loaded structures on the device were carried out using known principles of solid mechanics. The analyses were carried out assuming the highest reasonable loading condition. This condition was determined to occur when the device is configured for the transport three 95th percentile males and 20 kg of medical equipment. This loading condition was assumed to be more severe than any that might occur due to an attendant performing CPR, or any other medical procedures, on a single supine patient. The base sections of the load bearing stretcher supports were then modeled using 3D CAD software and run through a finite element analysis (FEA) as a means to more accurately simulate the stresses that are likely to occur in the actual parts. As the device must be highly mobile, these analyses were used to confirm that the load bearing structures can be manufactured from low cost materials and still be light enough to be easily transported. Future work will include sizing and installation studies to ensure that the production version of the device can be rapidly implemented in a wide variety of private, commercial, and government utility vehicles


The Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale is an internationally validated instrument for measuring family outcomes. To revise the scale for better alignment with the Family Quality of Life theory, the authors excluded non-outcome items in this revision. In this study, we examined reliability and validity of the revised scale (i.e., the FQoL Scale-21) and its scores for Taiwanese families of children and youth with intellectual disability and developmental delay (age 0-18). Results from 400 Taiwanese respondents suggested that the FQoL Scale-21 has the potential to be used as an indicator of positive outcomes in intervention evaluation, policy making, and service delivery.


An understanding of how environmental factors can alter accumulation of nutrients by plants is needed to anticipate and prevent mineral deficiencies in both plants and grazing animals. To determine the effects of root zone temperature (RZT) and Ca level on mineral concentrations of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), 'Centurk' seedlings were grown under three RZT regimes (constant 8°C, constant 16°C, and transferral from 8°C after 23 d to 16°C) and four Ca levels (0.2, 0.6, 2.0, and 5.0 mM) in nutrient solution. Plants grown at 8°C RZT had significantly lower shoot and root concentrations and unit absorption rates of P, S, Cu, Zn, and Mn than did those grown at 16°C. Within 2 wk after transfer from 8°C to 16°C RZT, concentrations of P. S, Cu, Zn, and Mn in shoots and roots increased significantly. Increasing Ca levels in solution significantly increased shoot and root concentrations and unit absorption rates of P and Cu. In contrast, increasing Ca levels significantly decreased concentrations and unit absorption rates of Mn and Zn. Thus, a suhoptimal RZT could depress accumulation of P, S, Cu, Zn, and Mn by winter wheat forage, and possihly induce mineral deficiencies in both plants and grazing animals. A high solution Ca level could partially ameliorate this adverse effect on P and Cu accumulation by wheat, but it also could exacerbate the problem of low Mn and Zn concentrations at a cool RZT.


The latest data from a long-term study of the health of tens of thousands of people licensed to apply pesticides show no evidence of a link between exposure to the herbicide glyphosate and cancer (J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2017, DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djx233). The data come at a critical time for Monsanto, maker of the widely used glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup. The company is being sued by hundreds of Roundup users who claim that exposure to the product caused them to get non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The study involves more than 54,000 pesticide applicators from North Carolina and Iowa who enrolled between 1993 and 1997. Initial data from the study were published in 2004 and documented 2,088 cancers through 2001 (Environ. Health Perspect. 2004, DOI: 10.1289/ehp.7340). The latest report finds 7,290 cancer cases through 2013 in Iowa and through 2012 in North Carolina. Neither study found any statistically significant associations between cancer and exposure to


Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are mainly caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). Acute and recurrent UTIs are commonly treated with antibiotics, the efficacy of which is limited by the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains. The natural sugar d-mannose is considered as an alternative to antibiotics due to its ability to mask the bacterial adhesin FimH, thereby preventing its binding to urothelial cells. Despite its extensive use, the possibility that d-mannose exerts "antibiotic-like" activity by altering bacterial growth and metabolism or selecting FimH variants has not been investigated yet. To this aim, main bacterial features of the prototype UPEC strain CFT073 treated with d-mannose were analyzed by standard microbiological methods. FimH functionality was analyzed by yeast agglutination and human bladder cell adhesion assays. Our results indicate that high d-mannose concentrations have no effect on bacterial growth and do not interfere with the activity of different antibiotics. d-mannose ranked as the least preferred carbon source to support bacterial metabolism and growth, in comparison with d-glucose, d-fructose, and l-arabinose. Since small glucose amounts are physiologically detectable in urine, we can conclude that the presence of d-mannose is irrelevant for bacterial metabolism. Moreover, d-mannose removal after long-term exposure did not alter FimH's capacity to bind to mannosylated proteins. Overall, our data indicate that d-mannose is a good alternative in the prevention and treatment of UPEC-related UTIs.


The article deals with the main problems in the production of quantitative information as a tool for the policy making process concerning the social inclusion of immigrants. In this field an increasing demand for knowledge goes together with a lack of shared classifications of policies and beneficiaries. These uncertain definitions are linked to the problem of choosing the correct objects for measurements more than to that of their reliability. The production of data becomes, in this situation, a social and political problem, as numbers can influence policies, while the latter plays an important role in determining classifications. The analysis of different measurements, carried out in the first part of the article, shows the huge variety of possible definitions, and brings to two different conclusions. The first is the need of a critical approach to the meaning of data in order to avoid the risks due to a superficial attitude in their use. The second is that a growing and not structured production of numbers can be useless for the policy makers. This trend, however, seems to be legitimated by the political aspects of the decision making process even more than by the technical one.


For personalized recommendations, collaborative filtering (CF) methods aim to recommend items to users based on data of historical user-item interactions.
Deep learning has indicated success in improving performance of CF methods in recent works.
However, to generate an item recommendation list for each user, a lot of deep learning based CF methods require every pair of users and items to be passed through multiple neural layers.
This requires intensive computation and makes real-time end-to-end neural recommendations very costly.
To address this issue, in this paper, we propose a new deep learning-based hierarchical decision network to filter out irrelevant items to save computation cost while maintaining good recommendation accuracy of deep CF methods.
We also develop a distillation-based training algorithm, which uses a well-trained CF model as a teacher network to guide the training of the decision network.
We conducted extensive
experiments on real-world benchmark datasets to verify the effectiveness of efficiency of our decision network for making recommendations. The experimental results indicate that the proposed decision network is able to maintain or even improve the recommendation quality in terms of various metrics and meanwhile enjoy lower computational cost.


The Bookkeepers' Beneficial Association of Philadelphia (BBAP), the first bookkeeping organisation in the United States, was established in 1874. In its early years this organisation was the envy of many accountants and bookkeepers without organisations of their own. It was to serve as a model for New York accountants when the Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers of the City of New York (IA) was organised later in 1882. Its dissolution was probably the result of various reasons, one of which is its inability to obtain closure for its members. Thus it never reached the professional status of its competitors. However, the BBAP outlasted all of the societies formed before the passage of the New York CPA law in 1896 that were its contemporaries, with the exception of the American Association of Public Accountants. It dissolved in 1924 shortly after its fiftieth anniversary. The greatest contribution of the BBAP was the signalling of the need for an organisation of bookkeepers, and recognition of that need helped create an environment for the emergence of professional accounting and bookkeeping organisations in the US.


The microbial contamination of water is a world-wide environmental problem. Many traditional methods are being used in various parts of the world to purify the water. According to World Health Organization, 80% of world's population living in rural areas relies on herbal traditional medicines as their primary health care. So the study on properties and uses of medicinal plants are subject to growing interests. An attempt was made to assess the antibacterial properties of certain selected herbs such as Ocimum sanctum (Krishna Tulsi), Ocimum kilimandscharicum (Karpoora Tulsi), Ocimum tenuiflorum (Ram Tulsi), Azadirachta indica (Neem), Simarouba glauca (bitterwood), Caesalpinia sappan (Pathimugam), Cuminum cyminum (Jeerakam), Vetiveria zizanioides (Ramacham), Saraca indica (Ashoka tree) and Murraya koenigii (curry leaves) against different bacteria such as total coliforms, faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli , Bacillus sp. and Serratia sp. The antibacterial activity of the plant extracts was determined by spread plate method, Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method, most probable number (MPN) method and Petrifilm method. The shelf life of the herbal extract Ocimum sanctum (Krishna Tulsi) was also determined using a UV-visible spectrophotometer. A comparison study of the antibacterial efficiency of the three varieties of Ocimum sanctum, Ocimum kilimandscharicum and Ocimum tenuiflorum was also done. After the complete analysis of the antibacterial activity of different herbs, Ocimum sanctum , the most efficient herb, was selected and treatment methods based on the herb were developed so that it can be used conveniently in various households. Therefore Ocimum sanctum plant can be further subjected to isolation of therapeutic antimicrobial and pharmacological evaluation.


Published by Gumus and Ozdogan formulas for the evaluation of two-center overlap integrals (Gumus, S.; Ozdogan, T. J. Chin. Chem. Soc. 2004, 51, 243) are critically analyzed. It is demonstrated that the formulas presented in this work are not original and they can easily be derived from the relationships contained in our papers (Guseinov, I. I. J. Phys. B 1970, 3, 1399; Phys. Rev. A 1985, 32, 1864; J. Mol. Struct. (Theochem) 1995, 336, 17) by changing the summation indices and application of a simple algebra. It should be noted that the symbolic results of overlap integrals between different combinations of quantum numbers given in Table 1 and 2 can also be obtained from the use of established in above mentioned our papers general formulas or presented in the literature relations for overlap integrals in terms of the products of molecular auxiliary functions A n (p) and B n (pt) (see, e.g., Lofthus, A. Mol. Phys. 1962, 5, 105).


The repercussions of surface ocean currents for the near-surface wind and the air-sea momentum flux are investigated in two versions of a global climate model with eddying ocean. The focus is on the effect of mesoscale ocean current features at scales of less than 150 km, by considering high-pass filtered, monthly-mean model output fields. We find a clear signature of a mesoscale oceanic imprint in the wind fields over the energetic areas of the oceans, particularly along the extensions of the western boundary currents and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. These areas are characterized by a positive correlation between mesoscale perturbations in the curl of the surface currents and the wind curl. The coupling coefficients are spatially non-uniform and show a pronounced seasonal cycle. The positive feedback of mesoscale current features on the near-surface wind acts in opposition to their damping effect on the wind stress. A tentative incorporation of this feedback in the surface stress formulation of an eddy-permitting global ocean-only model leads to a gain in the kinetic energy of up to 10 %, suggesting a fundamental shortcoming of present ocean model configurations.


Understanding business behavior in a city requires acquiring huge amount of data coming from diverse field studies. The growing use of mobile devices in social media provides massive data transactions that can replace such data acquired by field studies. Location‐based social networks' (LBSNs') data can be exploited in urban analysis for economic reasons. In this research, the spatial correlation of business turnouts for venues registered in LBSNs is studied for business behavior predictions. A novel similarity embedded (SE)‐spatial interpolation technique is proposed for business turnouts' predictions. The proposed technique utilizes diverse features provided by LBSNs in the prediction process to improve prediction performance. Moreover, a local filter is introduced to avoid local extreme involvements in the prediction process issuing better prediction results. To test the proposed techniques, experimental case study is implemented for predicting business behavior of venues registered in Foursquare in Texas. The proposed SE‐spatial interpolation has shown better prediction accuracy than classical spatial interpolation predictions. The additional integration of the local filter shows further alleviated prediction errors. Furthermore, this study extends the work for the efficient application of the proposed prediction technique in big datasets. An iterative nearest neighbors first search method is designed for accelerating the execution time of the prediction technique implementation regardless the dataset size. The proposed method was tested over several size datasets. The test results show accelerated execution time for the proposed method when compared with the classical implementation execution time.


Abstract. One of the main issues arising from the comparison of ground-based and satellite measurements is the difference in spatial representativeness, which for locations with inhomogeneous spatial distribution of pollutants may lead to significant differences between the two data sets. In order to investigate the spatial variability of tropospheric NO2 within a sub-satellite pixel, a campaign which lasted for about 6 months was held in the greater area of Thessaloniki, Greece. Three multi-axial differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) systems performed measurements of tropospheric NO2 columns at different sites representative of urban, suburban and rural conditions. The direct comparison of these ground-based measurements with corresponding products from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument onboard NASA's Aura satellite (OMI/Aura) showed good agreement over the rural and suburban areas, while the comparison with the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) onboard EUMETSAT's Meteorological Operational satellites' (MetOp-A and MetOp-B) observations is good only over the rural area. GOME-2A and GOME-2B sensors show an average underestimation of tropospheric NO2 over the urban area of about 10.51 ± 8.32  ×  1015 and 10.21 ± 8.87  × 1015 molecules cm−2, respectively. The mean difference between ground-based and OMI observations is significantly lower (6.60 ± 5.71  ×  1015 molecules cm−2). The differences found in the comparisons of MAX-DOAS data with the different satellite sensors can be attributed to the higher spatial resolution of OMI, as well as the different overpass times and NO2 retrieval algorithms of the satellites. OMI data were adjusted using factors calculated by an air quality modeling tool, consisting of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale meteorological model and the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) multiscale photochemical transport model. This approach resulted in significant improvement of the comparisons over the urban monitoring site. The average difference of OMI observations from MAX-DOAS measurements was reduced to −1.68 ± 5.01  ×  1015 molecules cm−2.


Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the incidence, risk factors, and the impact of posthospital discharge (PHD) chemoprophylaxis on venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients undergoing bariatric surgery (BS). Background: VTE is a major concern after BS, especially during the PHD period. No large-scale study has previously focused on the clinical value of PHD chemoprophylaxis. Methods: In this nationwide observational population-based cohort study, all data from patients undergoing BS were extracted from the French National Health Insurance database (SNIIRAM) from 1st January 2012 to 31st September 2014. Logistic regression models were used to compute odds ratios for potential risk factors for VTE occurring within 90 postoperative days (PODs). The association between use of PHD chemoprophylaxis (heparin) and VTE was also assessed. Results: The majority (56%) of the 110,824 patients had sleeve gastrectomy. VTE rates during the first 30 and 90 PODs were 0.34% and 0.51%, respectively. On multivariate analyses, the major risk factors for VTE during the first 90 PODs were history of VTE [odds ratio = 6.33 95% confidence interval (4.44–9.00)], postoperative complications [9.23 (7.30–11.70)], heart failure [2.45 (1.48–4.06)], and open surgery [2.38 (1.59–3.45)]. PHD chemoprophylaxis was delivered to 75% of patients. No use of PHD chemoprophylaxis [1.27 (1.01–1.61)] was an independent predictive factor of VTE during the first 90 PODs [in the gastric bypass group: 1.51 (1.01–2.29)). Conclusions: In the modern era of BS, this nationwide study shows a non-negligible rate of VTE especially after sleeve gastrectomy, depending on the individual risk level. Use of PHD chemoprophylaxis may decrease the risk of PHD VTE.


The overall objective of this work is to improve the holistic value of energy development strategies by integrating management criteria for water availability, water quality, and ecosystem health into the energy system planning process. The Snake River Basin (SRB) in southern Idaho is used as a case study to show options for improving full economic utilization of aquatic resources given multiple scenarios such as changing climate, additional regulations, and increasing population. Through the incorporation of multiple management criteria, potential crosscutting solutions to energy and water issues in the SRB can be developed. The final result of this work will be a multi-criteria decision support tool - usable by policy makers and researchers alike - that will give insight into the behavior of the management criteria over time and will allow the user to experiment with a range of potential solutions. Because several basins in the arid west are dealing with similar water, energy, and ecosystem issues, the tool and conclusions will be transferable to a wide range of locations and applications. This is a very large, multi-year project to be completed in phases. This paper deals with interactions between the hydrologic system and water use at a basin level. Future work will include the interdependency between energy use and water use in these systems.


Despite a long-standing interest in service offshoring from both academics and practitioners, the questions how and under what conditions customers react when a well-known national brand decides to outsource its services to an offshore service provider (OSP) is an understudied area. Drawing on cognitive consistency theory, we test a new construct called, "service offshoring fit" (SOF) that captures customer overall perceptual consistency in their memory networks between the focal firm and the OSP as indicated by the suitability, appropriability, and logicality of the alliance. Using 393 responses from a panel of customers of focal brands, we show that customer certainty mediates the relationship between SOF and intention not to switch by current customers. Our findings also reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between marketing communications and customer certainty at different levels of SOF. Specifically, if firms communicate consumers' benefits associated with offshoring, they can mitigate or avoid negative customer reactions (and subsequently increase customer certainty); however, after a certain point, such effects are reduced.


The book elucidates the Chinese perception of India through two texts from the Song and Ming periods. It aims to understand how the change in Sino-Indian relations is reflected in Chinese perceptions and representations of India in the medieval period. The two texts are the Zhufanzhi or 'Description of Barbarous Peoples' compiled by the Song official Zhau Rugua in 1225 C.E, and the Yingyai shenglan jiao or 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' compiled from 1425-32 C.E. by Ma Huan who participated in the great naval expeditions led by Zheng He in the Ming period. The book highlights that the image of India carried in Chinese literature from the 13th to 15th centuries began to change from that of the land of Buddhism to a place of commercial significance for the Chinese. In a spatial sense, it is the coastal regions of India with their small principalities that are of greater interest to the Chinese than the northern or central regions with their powerful states that were better known in earlier times, reflecting the increased importance of Chinese sea power and the maritime trade routes.


Probiotics have been associated with a range of health benefits and have been made available
to the consumers via a range of functional food products. However, it has showed that there
still a gap between countries in the acceptance to health benefits of probiotics. The national
variation in the acceptance and awareness of consumers to probiotic-containing products
have affected greatly to the different development of probiotic markets in the world. The global
market for this type of functional foods in the coming years is expected to increase
significantly. The Asia in general and Japan in particular still is the major market, whereas
Europe countries and the US market obtain quickly rate of growth. Several factors affecting
the success of probiotic-containing products also are indicated to achieve greater popularity of
this type of functional foods.
Keywords: probiotics, prebiotics, microencapsulation, functional food, potential market.


Abstract. Based on extensive new material, 2088 valves resulting from search sampling of ∼500 kg of sediment, the Pliocene chiton biodiversity of the Mondego Basin (Portugal) is reassessed. Twelve species were identified, assigned to seven genera. Eight species are new for the Pliocene of Portugal, as well as two of the genera: Hanleya, Acanthochitona. Two taxa are described as new: Ischnochiton loureiroi n. sp. and Lepidochitona rochae n. sp. Until now, the polyplacophoran European Neogene record was too poorly known to be of help in generating a clear picture of the Miocene to present-day biogeography of the group. This new wealth of data from western Iberia, in conjunction with recent data from the Loire Basin Upper Miocene assemblages (France), allows clarification the Late Miocene to Recent eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean biogeography of the Polyplacophora. The northern range of warm-water northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Polyplacophora experienced a sharp contraction since, at least, Late Miocene to Early Pliocene times. Warm-water chiton species represented in the Upper Miocene of the Loire Basin of NE France (European-West African Province) and the Pliocene of the Mondego Basin of central-west Portugal (Pliocene French-Iberian Province) are today confined to the southern Mediterranean-Moroccan Molluscan Province.


The manner in which a development project is designed and implemented can have a significant impact on the nature of the outcomes. There are few examples of international projects funded to support transformation of Higher Education systems in developing countries, so it is important to learn about the factors that emerge as significant and challenge wider assumptions about what works and what does not.
This paper draws on insights from an inception period lasting several months followed by the first full implementation year of the Transformation through Innovation in Distance Education (or TIDE ) project. This project, which runs from 1st February 2018 to 30th September 2021, aims at improving the quality and relevance of the distance education system in Myanmar which reaches over half a million students, and involves the participation of 34 Universities spread across the country. The paper discusses a range of unanticipated insights relating to:
• The opportunities and challenges faced working within a changing policy context
• Sustainability and use of human and financial resources
• Gender and characteristics of a rotation based staffing model
• The value of openness as an approach


Complexins are small synaptic proteins which cooperate with the SNARE-complex in synaptic transmission. Different roles of complexins in the regulation of vesicle exocytosis have been proposed. Based on the results of genetic mutation or knock-down or knock-out studies, it is generally agreed that complexins are involved in vesicle priming and exocytosis for fast synchronous release and in clamping vesicles to prevent asynchronous release. However, depending on cell type, organism and experimental approach used, complexins appear to either facilitate or inhibit vesicle fusion.
Here, we study the function of complexin I at the mouse calyx of Held synapse. By taking advantage of the large size of the calyx terminal, allowing direct patch-clamp recordings, we investigate the consequences of the loss of function of complexin I. We demonstrate a developmentally aggravating phenotype of reduced EPSC amplitudes and enhanced asynchronous release. Because action potential waveform, Ca2+ influx, readily releasable pool, and quantal size were all unaltered, we concluded that the reduced synaptic strength in complexin I-deficient synapses was caused by decreased vesicle release probability by either a changed Ca2+ sensitivity of the release machinery and/or a changed coupling between Ca2+ channels and docked vesicles. The strongly enhanced asynchronous release in complexin I-deficient calyx synapses triggered aberrant action potentials in MNTB principal neurons, and slowed-down the recovery of action potential-evoked EPSCs after depleting stimulus trains. Restricting asynchronous release augmented subsequent synchronous release, suggesting that synchronous and asynchronous release competed for a common pool of vesicles.


This paper briefly summarizes two decades of Space Systems Laboratory experimental research on large space structure assembly. Based on high fidelity neutral buoyancy simulation with direct correlation to space flight data, this research encompasses extravehicular activity (EVA), teleoperation and robotics, and cooperative EVA/robotic assembly activities. Results presented from the extensive data base indicate that humans are significantly more productive in EVA assembly than had been previously thought; that telerobotics have wide applicability in structural assembly tasks, and are nearing humans in performance for a selected subset of tasks; and that direct cooperation between EVA humans and robots in the assembly work site provides maximum performance and robustness to the large space structure scenario.


Sequencing of the trnL–trnF intergenic spacer in chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) from 237 sexual and apomictic species of dandelions (genus Taraxacum) from Europe, Asia and arctic North America revealed 46 haplotypes, which differed mainly by a variable number of polymorphic tRNA pseudogenes next to the trnF gene. The haplotypes could be divided into 20 cpDNA lineages, but independent duplications and deletions of the pseudogene copies made it difficult to further reconstruct the phylogeny. Intraspecific cpDNA variation was found in the primitive sexual T. serotinum. However, in contrast to a recent study, no cpDNA variation was detected within 12 apomictic species representing a variety of haplotypes. The cpDNA haplotype may therefore help to define these critical apomicts. On the other hand, the genetic variation may easily be overestimated, if the clones are not correctly identified, because some morphologically similar microspecies carried very different haplotypes. In all, 36 sections of the genus were sampled. Four primitive, mainly sexual, sections only displayed a group of ancient haplotypes, whereas morphologically more advanced sections often exhibited many different haplotypes from up to seven cpDNA lineages. In the latter cases, the lineages were rarely unique to a certain section. For example, the two most widespread haplotypes, belonging to different lineages, were found together in nine sections. This suggests that significant gene flow has occurred among the advanced sections, although sexual reproduction is not currently known in several of them. The result is consistent with the reticulate distribution of morphological characters among the sections.


Field and laboratory experiments were performed to investigate the palatability to predatory fishes of organic extracts of the Caribbean ascidian Didemnum conchyliatum. This tan-colored compound ascidian grows as an epibiont on seagrass blades. A dichloromethane/methanol extract of the ascidian incorporated into carrageenan food strips at the same volumetric concentrat~on as the extract occurred in the ascidian tissues deterred feeding of a natural assemblage of consumers in the same seagrass beds from which the ascidians were collected. Bioassay-directed fractionation of this extract revealed that the deterrent property was restricted to fractions containing novel indolemaleimide-imidazole alkaloids, didemnimides A to D. Laboratory assays of purified metabolites revealed that didemnimides C and D deterred feeding by a generalist predatory reef fish, but that didemnimides A and B were not deterrent. Only didemnimide D deterred feeding in the field; neither didemnimide C nor the fraction contalning didemnimides A and B were deterrent when assayed in the natural environment of the ascidian. Antipredatory activity of the didemnimides was highly dependent on compound structure: only didemnimide D, which bears both a bromine on the indole ring and a methyl group on the imidazole ring, inhibited feeding in both laboratory and field assays. Didemnimide D deterred feeding at approximately 0.035 mg ml-l, and is among the most potent antipredatory chemical defenses described from tunicates to date.


The Swedish Family-Cancer Database was expanded to include all Swedes born in 1932 and later (offspring) with their parents, totaling 10.2 million individuals. Cancer cases were retrieved from the Swedish Cancer Registry from the years 1958 to 1998, including over 1 million primary cancers and in situ tumors. Some 10%, of offspring diagnosed with cancer lack any parental information. Incidence rates of cancers were similar in the database and in the Cancer Registry to age 70, but at higher ages the rates in the Database were lower, probably because of selection. The familial risk for all types of cancer in offspring was 1.73 when a parent had the same type of cancer. The familial rates were increased for all main cancer sites, except for the upper aerodigestive tract, stomach, liver, pancreas and bone marrow (leukemia). The rates were 7.47 for thyroid, 4.69 for testis, and over 2.00 for melanoma, ovary, prostate, skin, endocrine glands and endometrium.


Background The hindlimb suspended (HLS) rat model has been used in land-based research to evaluate effects of simulated microgravity. Previous research demonstrated that 2-4 weeks of HLS reduced vasoconstrictive responses of aortic, mesenteric, and femoral arterial rings to phenylephrine (PHE) while acute exposure to hyperoxia amplified constrictive responses to PHE. The purpose of this study was to determine if hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBO) during HLS would reverse the attenuation of the vasoconstrictive response. Methods Five-month-old male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into aging controls (AC), AC-HBO, HLS, and HLS-HBO. Groups receiving HBO (AC-HBO; HLS-HBO) were placed in a cage that was fitted for the animal hyperbaric chamber to maintain HLS. HBO groups received 24 treatments, once a day, 6 d/week using a wound care protocol. The chamber was flushed with 100% oxygen, compressed over 10 min to 2.5 atmospheres absolute (ATA) (22.5 psig), a 90-minute treatment, then a 10 min decompression. After 28 d of HLS, animals were sacrificed under isoflurane anesthesia and thoracic aorta segments isolated. Relaxation of aortic rings was measured in response to acetylcholine (ACh) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) after pre-constriction with PHE (3×10-7). Constriction of aortic rings was also determined in response to increasing concentrations of PHE. All drugs were administered cumulatively in vessel baths at 10-10-10-4 M. Data were analyzed using four-parameter (i.e., minimum, maximum, EC50, slope) nonlinear regression, and groups compared using 2×2 ANOVA with HBO and HLS as main effects. Results Responses to ACh and SNP were not affected by HLS or HBO. However, in response to PHE, there was a decrease in maximum vasoconstriction in HLS compared to controls (44.7±7.3% vs 82.4±6.0%, respectively, p≤0.05) and in HBO compared to controls (48.5±6.5% vs 78.6±6.8%, p≤0.05). Conclusion These results indicate that PHE-induced constriction of thoracic aorta is decreased after HLS. HBO did not reverse HLS-induced reductions in contractile responses; instead, HBO independently reduced PHE-stimulated constriction of aortic segments. This suggests that HBO may be useful in conditions where constriction is enhanced, such as diabetes.


The heat transfer response to framing the thermally active cover surface of a flat plate solar collector with adiabatic co-planar extension surfaces has been investigated by wind tunnel experiments. Various framing patterns were employed (leading edge and/or trailing edge and/or side edge framing), along with frames of different width. The experiments were performed for various angles of inclination of the plate surface relative to the oncoming airstream and for a range of Reynolds numbers. It was found that the wind-related heat transfer coefficients can be substantially lower when the collector is framed than when it is unframed. An estimate of the possible reduction of the average heat transfer coefficient can be obtained from the equation h/h +- = (L/sub c//L/sub f/)/sup 1/2/, where h and h +- respectively denote the coefficients in the presence and in the absence of the frame. The quantity L/sub c/ is a dimension that is characteristic of the thermally active area of the cover surface, while L/sub f/ is a characteristic of the outer edges of the frame. With respect to the reduction of the heat transfer coefficient, framing along the side edges appears to be more beneficial than framing along the leading and trailingmore » edges, as is framing along the trailing edge compared with framing along the leading edge.« less


Spherical submicrometer-sized silica particles were prepared from a reaction mixture containing tetraethoxysilane, ammonia and ethanol, and deposited onto silicon wafers. The properties of these SiO2 particles depend on their size, size distribution and shape. Even if some of these characteristics can be perfectly controlled by appropriate synthesis conditions, several alternative approaches must be explored in order to modify the shape of silica particles. The samples were then irradiated at room temperature with Si ions at different energies (4, 6 and 8 MeV) and fluences up to 5×1015 Si/cm2, at an angle of 45° with respect to the sample surface. After the Si irradiation the spherical silica particles turned into ellipsoidal particles, as a result of the increase of the particle dimension perpendicular to the ion beam and a decrease in the parallel direction. This effect increases with the ion fluence and depends on the electronic energy loss of the impinging ions. We observed that the particle deformation decreases with the beam energy, mainly because our samples were irradiated at room temperature. Thermal effects must be studied in detail in order to elucidate the complete deformation mechanism, as the existence of additional mechanisms related to the electronic energy loss effects can not be excluded.


Terahertz (THz) electromagnetic waves have important applications in science and technology but available functional devices suffer from the issues of bulky size, low efficiency and narrow bandwidth. Here, based on Jones matrix and Poincaré sphere analyses, we present a set of general criterions to help design high-efficiency ultra-wide band THz wave plates using ultra-thin reflective metamaterials. Two half-wavelength and one quarter-wavelength THz wave plates are designed and fabricated based on the general criterions, and their excellent polarization manipulation capabilities are demonstrated experimentally. In particular, the realized devices, with thicknesses ∼ λ/7, exhibit polarization-conversion efficiencies higher than 80% in ultra-wide working bandwidths (relative bandwidth >80% at about ∼ 0.7 THz).


Rune yoga is a spiritual practice based on the idea that the Runic alphabet can be used for spiritual and magical purposes. Based on an interpretation of the Runes where every letter in the alphabet is considered to contain within it a source of mystical powers Rune Yoga uses techniques inspired by Indian yoga to channel these forces. While contemporary Rune Yoga has become a part of Heathen and Alternative Spirituality that attracts people from a variety of Ethnic background the origin of the practice lies within the Ariosophical movement, a racial form of Esotericism that developed in Germany and Austria in the early 20th century. In this article the origin of Rune Yoga within the Ariosphical movement is presented, how it was integrated in ideas about Aryan racial supremacy. The article continues to show how Rune Yoga later migrated to North America and became a practice used within a non-racial milieu and what aspects remained from the original Ariosophical movement. The article argues that while some aspects of Ariosophical thinking remains within Rune Yoga the racial aspects have ceased to be important. Rather than focusing on race modern Rune Yoga focus in self-improvement for the individual and there is a lack of collectivist goals.


In this study, we introduce a method of estimating the syntactic tree structure of Japanese speech on the basis of the F0 contour and the time duration. We introduce a method of estimating the syntactic structure including the following phrase by using the local prosodic features of the first and final part of the leading phrase. This method involves discriminant analysis which is statistical method based on a large amount of training data. We applied the method to the ATR 503 speech database, and performed discrimination experiments. The results indicated an estimation accuracy of 84% for the branching judgment of each sequence of three leaves. In addition, the accuracy of discrimination saturated when using only the features up to the head part of the second phrase. We consider this result to be fairly good for the difficult task of estimating a syntactic structure that includes a future part on the basis of using only local prosodic features in the past, and also consider prosodic information to be very effective in real-time communication with speech.


Twenty-four taxa of the genus Cladonia were found in the Garajonay National Park (La Gomera Island, Spain). C. chlorophaea, C. decorticata, C. hammeri, C. humilis, C. phyllophora, C. portentosa and C. subcervicornis are new records for La Gomera Island. C. macilenta is new for the Canary Islands. C. glauca and C. prolifica are new for Macaronesia. An identification key is published.


This paper has presented an artificial olfactory system, based on the structure and mechanism of biological olfactory system. The main goal of our study was to expound the principle of olfaction system of human body. It has complex structure model and of which structure and mechanism still under exploration. We built the model of sensory system mechanism, depicted the olfactory mechanism of the olfactory, and compared the different methods of pattern recognition. The result will show that the SOM method of pattern recognition accord by and large with human mode, and is better than the BP neural network.


Human experiences in the physical world are inherently multi-modal, in that we rely on all our senses to perceive our environment, yet experiences within virtual reality (VR) are mainly restricted to our primary senses of vision and audition. The sense of smell (olfaction) has been shown to strongly affect human emotions, memories, and behaviour, but there have only been few attempts to integrate olfactory stimuli into virtual environments. This thesis investigates the addition of olfaction as a modality for VR to enhance user experiences through odour emitting virtual objects and olfactory notifications. As part of this research, I introduce a systematic methodology for odour selection, and develop an off-the-shelf, affordable device for odour display (olfactory display) for VR head-mounted displays. My research begins with a preliminary study examining the effect of olfactory stimuli on participants' emotional perception of digital images, which was used as a test-bed for gaining insights into the use of olfactory displays and olfaction in a HCI setting. I then report on three empirical studies that examine how olfactory cues can enhance user experience in VR in terms of three key metrics: the quality of experience, task performance, and the sense of presence, which is the feeling of 'being there' in the virtual environment. The results from these three studies indicated that congruent, pleasant odours could significantly enhance quality of experience, improve task performance, and to varying degrees increase the sense of presence in VR. Incongruent, pleasant odours however often caused confusion among participants and appeared not to have a significant effect on the sense of presence but were able to improve task performance. The third of these studies also examined the use of odour notifications to enhance user experiences in VR. Participants were able to perceive and understand the olfaction-based notifications, which produced an increase in the sense of presence, quality of experience, as well as task performance. Overall, this thesis' findings support the notion that olfaction can enhance user experience in VR and it also draws attention to the importance of a systematic odour selection methodology.


We argue that a closer attention to the everyday visceral experiences of hearing and listening offers new insights into geographies of home and practices of sustainability. We suggest that this approach is significant to understanding how sound helps to assemble and reassemble the relationships that comprise home. We concentrate on a group of 10 amenity-led migrants in their 'new coastal home' in Bermagui, New South Wales, Australia. Each participant recorded a sound diary composed of their everyday sounds. Our interpretation explores the visceral connections in the processes of making bodies feel 'at home'. First, we discuss how the rhythmic affordances of both human and non-human sounds help configure and reconfigure the spatiality and temporality of home. Second, our interpretation explores how sound is bound up with sustainability politics of homemaking. We investigate experiential practices and performativities of listening and hearing that may help constitute and reconstitute 'a' subject. This approach extends current thinking that encourages engagement with the corporeal, affective and emotional dimensions of home.


Although recent films such as The Paper, I Love Trouble, and Up Close and Personal demonstrate the continuing popularity of movies about the press, the journalism film has seldom been recognized as a major genre. This filmography, a detailed analysis of journalists as they have been portrayed in films, consists of 2,165 entries for feature films from the silent era through 1996. In addition to providing an extensive discussion of significant journalism films such as The Front Page, His Girl Friday, Ace in the Hole, and Broadcast News, the text examines lesser-known works which helped to reinforce the image of the press on screen. The book is the first of its type to offer extensive consideration of journalists in silent films, in B films of the 1930s and 1940s, and in made-for-television movies. The filmography is presented chronologically by year, with entries within each year listed alphabetically. A definitive study of a genre long overdue for recognition. Of interest to film scholars, researchers, journalists and students of contemporary culture. Contains 17 black and white photos.


Abstract Background: Increased cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) and the integrity of cf-DNA in plasma of patients with cancer has been described. We investigated the clinical utility of cf-DNA in the detection and monitoring of progression of leukemia. Methods: Plasma samples from 60 patients with acute leukemia were analyzed in comparison to plasma from 30 healthy controls. Plasma DNA was determined by quantitative PCR (qPCR) by amplifying the β-actin gene (ACTB). The DNA integrity index was calculated as the ratio of qPCR results (ACTB384/106). Paired diagnostic/complete remission (CR)/relapse samples from eight of 60 patients were analyzed, and the minimum residual disease (MRD) situations were monitored. Results: DNA concentrations (median: 8.80 ng/mL, p=0.004) and DNA integrity (median: 0.51, p<0.001) in cancer patients were significantly higher. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the area under the ROC curve of DNA and DNA integrity were 0.79 and 0.88, respectively. DNA integrity at CR had a distinct reduction and then an increase at relapse. DNA integrity in CR cases was higher than that observed in healthy controls. Conclusions: Our preliminary data suggest that plasma DNA integrity is increased in acute leukemia and may be a potential biomarker for monitoring MRD. However, more work is needed. Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48:1651–6.


Research on natural resources controversies such as land-use conversions has highlighted how stakeholder groups can have significantly different interpretations of the issue. Differing or opposing social values, political interests, and economic concerns play a large part in shaping how groups of people perceive a conflict. In these instances, opposing sides often use discursive frames to communicate their interests and garner support. While previous research has illustrated how frames are deployed in these cases, less is known about the role of trust in the context of frame resonance, especially when the frame deployer is a large corporation. We use the case of a proposed forestland conversion project in North Florida to investigate how lack of trust in powerful institutions can exacerbate natural resource conflicts. We conclude this article by discussing the implications of our findings for future work on natural resource controversies, elite discursive strategies, and official framing cases.


Research conducted over the past decade indicates that a wide range of psychological and interpersonal problems are more prevalent among those who have been sexually abused than among individuals with no such experiences. Although a definitive causal relationship between such difficulties and sexual abuse cannot be established using current retrospective research methodologies, the aggregate of consistent findings in this literature has led many to conclude that childhood sexual abuse is a major risk factor for a variety of problems. This article summarizes what is currently known about these potential impacts of child sexual abuse. The various problems and symptoms described in the literature on child sexual abuse are reviewed in a series of broad categories including posttraumatic stress, cognitive distortions, emotional pain, avoidance, an impaired sense of self, and interpersonal difficulties. Research has demonstrated that the extent to which a given individual manifests abuse-related distress is a function of an undetermined number of abuse-specific variables, as well as individual and environmental factors that existed prior to, or occurred subsequent to, the incidents of sexual abuse. Research conducted over the past decade indicates that a wide range of psychological and interpersonal problems are more prevalent among those who have been sexually abused than among individuals with no such experiences. Although a definitive causal relationship between such difficulties and sexual abuse cannot be established using current retrospective research methodologies, the aggregate of consistent findings in this literature has led many researchers and clinicians to conclude that childhood sexual abuse is a major risk factor for a variety of problems, both in the short term and in later adult functioning.2 Further, longitudinal studies currently under way suggest that sexual abuse, as well as other forms of child maltreatment, does in fact lead to subsequent psychological difficulties in the short and longer term. As a result, the contention of some earlier clinicians that childhood sexual abuse is a neutral or even benign event has little current acceptance in the field. The Future of Children SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN Vol. 4 • No. 2 – Summer/Fall 1994


Estimates of flood event magnitudes with a certain return period are required for the design of hydraulic structures. While the return period is clearly defined in a univariate context, its definition is more challenging when the problem at hand requires considering the dependence between two or more variables in a multivariate framework. Several ways of defining a multivariate return period have been proposed in the literature, which all rely on different probability concepts. Definitions use the conditional probability, the joint probability, or can be based on the Kendall's distribution or survival function. In this study, we give a comprehensive overview on the tools that are available to define a return period in a multivariate context. We especially address engineers, practitioners, and people who are new to the topic and provide them with an accessible introduction to the topic. We outline the theoretical background that is needed when one is in a multivariate setting and present the reader with different definitions for a bivariate return period. Here, we focus on flood events and the different probability concepts are explained with a pedagogical, illustrative example of a flood event characterized by the two variables peak discharge and flood volume. The choice of the return period has an important effect on the magnitude of the design variable quantiles, which is illustrated with a case study in Switzerland. However, this choice is not arbitrary and depends on the problem at hand. WIREs Water 2016, 3:819–833. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1173


Background: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) with squamous metaplasia is a relatively rare and special subtype adenocarcinoma of thyroid which involves multiple genetic changes. We reported a rare case of atypical PTC with squamous metaplasia and RET/NRAS/TERT/PIK3CA mutations which was confirmed after surgical resection pathologically. Case summary: A 2.5×2.5×2 cm3, smooth, hard, clear boundaries and solid nodule on the left thyroid gland was found on relevant physical examination of the patient. And then, the unilateral radical resection of thyroid carcinoma was performed after diagnosing. The tumor cells were squamous metaplasia and arranged in structures with diffuse growth pattern microscopically. At high magnification, stretched nucleus, nuclear grooves and internuclear pseudoinclusions in tumor cells were detected, and the follicular epithelium cells were atypical. Immunohistochemical staining shown strong positiveness of CK19, TTF-1, P40 and Galectin-3, partial positiveness of TG of tumor cells and negativeness of Calcitonin, which could exclude medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Furthermore, first generation sequencing of 18 PTC related genes techniques shown RET, NRAS, TERT and PIK3CA was mutated. Conclusion: Genetic detection is vital to the diagnosis of thyroid adenocarcinoma, especially for the PTC with atypical morphology or rare metaplasia


Video conferencing systems suffer from poor user experience when network conditions deteriorate because current video codecs simply cannot operate at extremely low bitrates. Recently, several neural alternatives have been proposed that reconstruct talking head videos at very low bitrates using sparse representations of each frame such as facial landmark information. However, these approaches produce poor reconstructions in scenarios with major movement or occlusions over the course of a call, and do not scale to higher resolutions. We design Gemino, a new neural compression system for video conferencing based on a novel high-frequency-conditional super-resolution pipeline. Gemino upsamples a very low-resolution version of each target frame while enhancing high-frequency details (e.g., skin texture, hair, etc.) based on information extracted from a single high-resolution reference image. We use a multi-scale architecture that runs different components of the model at different resolutions, allowing it to scale to resolutions comparable to 720p, and we personalize the model to learn specific details of each person, achieving much better fidelity at low bitrates. We implement Gemino atop aiortc, an open-source Python implementation of WebRTC, and show that it operates on 1024x1024 videos in real-time on a Titan X GPU, and achieves 2.2-5x lower bitrate than traditional video codecs for the same perceptual quality.